Falling

Ch 6

I stared up at my ceiling after waking up, thinking quietly to myself. I realized that for the second night in a row, I didn't have the dream of running through the cavern. Not since Asmodeus had found me in the human realm.

He admitted that he had been searching for me previously; had my other side been searching for him as well?

This thought stuck with me as I pulled myself out of bed and into the bathroom to shower, and for the rest of the day I couldn't stop thinking about him. While it was somewhat frustrating, I found myself smiling as well; there was a comforting feeling that came with thinking about him, the same one I felt when he took me to the demon realm.

Home.

I sighed heavily and pinched my nose. "I'm well aware that it's your home."

It's your home too.

Instead of answering, I chewed on the inside of my cheek and contemplated this. What's the worst that could happen from me doing this, being with him? While my first instinct was to remember every negative thing I had heard and read about demons, my other side seemed to laugh off those ideas.

They know nothing. Asmodeus is true to his word and he will not harm us.

"How do you know that?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at nothing.

There was another laugh. Demons can tell when others are lying. Why do you think you've believed him when he says something?

That caught me off guard. It was true; while I didn't initially believe him at first, everything that he has said made complete sense to me, and the part of me that was trying to deny it was quickly fading away with every interaction with the demon prince.

A sudden text coming through to my phone made me jump and I reached for it; when I saw Thalia's name though, I hesitated before opening the text.

Want to go to a club tonight? I feel really awful for how I reacted about your date and I wanted to make it up to you.

I immediately smiled and typed back my response, a wave of relief washing over me. At least with everything going on, I could still count on Thalia to be my constant.

The bass was beating through my body from the moment we stepped into the club. I smiled widely as she pulled me immediately towards the bar just outside of the dance floor and said loudly over her shoulder, "They've got a good DJ tonight!"

"They must've known we were coming," I laughed, swaying to the beat of the music.

It had certainly been a while since Thalia and I had gone out, but nothing had changed about this club. Lights flashed on and off as lasers soared across the room, matching the melody and bass in their pattern.

A drink being thrust into my hand caught my attention and I looked over at Thalia in surprise. "You didn't need to buy my drink!"

She shrugged as she took a sip of her own drink and looked around. "I told you, I felt bad and wanted to make it up to you. Come on, let's go check out the crowd!"

She pulled me further into the room and we mingled with the other dancers. I made sure not to lose Thalia in the crowd as I followed her, and thankfully she found a somewhat open spot just big enough for the two of us to fit in with the rest of the crowd.

"It's been too long since we've gone out," Thalia said over the music, leaning closer so that I could hear her.

"I know!" I laughed. "We need to do this more often!"

She grinned in agreement, taking another drink as we danced with the music. I looked around the crowd, swinging my hips back and forth as the dancing bodies around us continued to grind against each other in time to the music.