My Demon

16. The confrontation and the fox

Two days had passed since the brunette had sent the message to the brunet.

Two days in which she hadn't seen him in the corridors of the university, nor on campus. Two days where she had only received a couple of short messages telling her where she should go so that they could meet.

Fortunately for her, it was a place where many people passed by, so her concern had diminished, but it had not disappeared.

The sky was grey that day, making her shake her head at the memories of the day of her break-up with her ex-partner.

She shouldn't think about that...

“Ahh... If only Tom were here,” the girl whispered, clenching her fists somewhat tightly to realise what she had said and slapping her cheeks twice. “No! I shouldn’t think about that p*****t!”

The girl said to herself as she grabbed her things and left her room, but not before looking back at the empty room. For since that morning when the demon had attacked her and she pussed him away from her, she had heard absolutely nothing from him.

On the one hand, she felt calmer not having to be on her guard at all times. And on the other... well, she knew there was something wrong, since the night she had sent the message, the demon was not in her room.

She didn't know what she was doing, or if it was right or wrong, but... She didn't think that the raven-haired boy disappearing overnight was a good thing either.

«I'm a walking contradiction,» the girl thought to herself and then grabbed the keys of her home and simply started walking away.

[...]

Elsewhere, a dark-haired man waited patiently for the appearance of a certain brunette with bright blue eyes. His long fingers drummed on the table, rhythmically and slowly. His right leg crossed over his left, as he listened to the whispers of the women passing by, and the jealous comments of the men watching him.

But none of that could matter to him, he was only glancing at his watch. Seeing that the hour was approaching, and that little by little his nerves were increasing with the turning of the hands.

«She'll be here soon,» he thought with a slight smile as he took a deep breath to calm his nerves.

Our angel

The boy there tensed, and a throbbing pain in his head made him grunt loudly as he lowered his fist under the table and clenched his left hand really hard.

As he began to shiver shallowly, drawing the attention of some of the customers.

«Relax, you need to relax...» Thought the man grunting, and soon felt a rubbing on his back that made him raise his gaze and breathe a sigh of relief.

When he looked up at the girl, he observed her in great detail, delighting in the sweet scent she had, and that outstanding perfume he liked so much.

That sweetness in her gestures, and the worry on her face, which dissipated when she saw that the boy was well.

The man could only sigh in relief, for a part of him feared that she would not go to the appointment they had agreed on.

“Let's get this over with as soon as possible Orfeo,” she said, sitting down in front of the boy, and when the waiter passed by, the girl didn't ask for anything. “Let's just talk about what is strictly necessary, shall we?” The man there nodded softly, and before he said anything, she had already asked him: “How do you know Tom? How did you know of his existence?”

The dark-haired man then sharpened his gaze, why did she have to call him by an affectionate nickname for this creature?

“I can't give you all the details of how I know him. But I can tell you that he is a destructive person, a ruthless being who will not hesitate to devour your soul at the moment you least expect it. That's what demons are like, and you should get away from this guy as soon as possible.”

There, the brunette sharped her gaze slightly. “If you weren't going to tell me everything, and you were only going to tell me what I already knew about him. It's no use coming here,” she growled.

“Caeli, I don't think you're listening to me. You shouldn't be with that guy, you should be with someone else, not hanging out with demons who want to kill you!”

“And who do you think I should be with?”

“With us, of course!” He said, and there he covered his mouth as he realised what he had said, causing the younger girl to sharpen her gaze even more.

“I knew it, I knew it was jealousy, and here I thought... I don't even know what I thought was going to happen!” She said, standing up in annoyance, and the frightened boy grabbed her wrist, causing people to stare at them and she let out a slight whimper. “Orfeo, y-you're hurting me, let go!”

“No! Caeli, please! You must listen to me! You won't listen to me! I just want to get you out of danger! Only I can protect you!” He said, tightening his grip more and more, and there the girl, having no other choice, kicked the boy in the balls, managing to free herself from his grip and get far enough away.

“We're making a scene,” the younger girl whispered, grabbing her wrist, and the brunet, who was about to get up in a rage, was horrified to see the wound he had created on the girl's skin. “Orfeo, please, get away from me. Don't talk to me, don't call me... don't ever come near me,” she whispered, taking a step back as he stood up and she saw the sadness in his eyes, but there Caeli turned around and squeezed her eyes, which were about to leak thick tears. “Akane was right. Please, if you ever really loved me... Just leave me alone, and don't force me to take legal action against you.”

The girl sentenced and before Orfeo could object, she had run away, leaving the boy with the words in his mouth as he clenched his fists and the throbbing pain in his head grew stronger and stronger. He didn't mean to hurt her, that had never been his intention!

Soon, everyone was silent and went about their business when the scene was over, no one had done anything, and they still had no intention of doing anything.

But the grey-eyed man's scowl, and his clenched fists said something very, very different.

«No angel... This is not going to stay like this. Everything will go back to the way it was...» Thought the boy, and leaving what he had to pay, he simply took his jacket, and left the place, disappearing into the crowd. «Just wait and see».

º º º º º º

As I started to run away from there, I felt my heart pounding in my ears. The one I had just run away from... he wasn't the charming brunet I had known so long ago.

This was not the Orfeo I had fallen in love with.

My thoughts obfuscated it, someone in the street had to stop me from being run over. And thanking the person, I felt like I had woken up from the reverie I had ended up in. At that moment I received a call that made me open my eyes in surprise and soon, I called a taxi to take me back home, as my mother needed me.

There, when I received the call, what had happened with Orfeo had been put aside.

[...]

As soon as I got home, I just ran to my mother's room. She had fallen ill and had had to close the shop to come back because she felt faint.

I knew that she sometimes had these falls, especially since she had lost my father, but the worst thing was when she had them and I wasn't around, because anything could happen to her.

Because if she fainted and no one was around, I could lose her in one blow.

If I lost her, I wouldn't be able to get up again, I already lost my father, I couldn't lose her in the same way.

The moment I heard something fall, my whole body tensed, and I ran faster and faster, and as soon as I reached the room I saw my mother on the floor, right at the entrance to her bathroom.

“No, no, no, no, no,” I whispered in complete panic and then knelt down next to her and sighed in relief, “It's just a fever, she'll be fine, she'll be fine,” I said to myself as a kind of mantra to reassure myself.

I carefully helped her up, letting her put her arm around my shoulders. I slowly changed her clothes and kissed her forehead after laying her down and tucking her into bed.

I quickly went to the kitchen and started to prepare something hot for her to eat, I took out a cold compress and when I finished I went back upstairs to start taking care of my mother, who was starting to sweat, I left the plate of soup on the bedside table, I went to the bathroom and filled a small plate taking a small towel to go with her again and wetting the towel, I started to remove her sweat.

With a soft smile I saw her sigh more relieved. I calmly stroked her cheek, checked that the compress was still cold and carefully made her sit up to try to feed her.

“Come on, mum, get up, I've made your favourite soup,” I whispered lovingly, getting her to open her eyes and stare at me.

“You are the best thing that ever happened to me, Caeli. Thank you for taking care of this useless woman,” she smiled softly, starting to cough rather loudly, to fall back against the backrest once more so I could feed her patiently, as she couldn't eat too fast in her condition.

“You always remind me, mum, but you are not useless, and you don't have to thank me, you have taken care of me so many times, I have to reward you by taking care of you now.”

We both laughed quietly, but the moment I saw how she grimaced I put the soup aside, so that it could cool down a little more and be at a temperature that wouldn't hurt her throat, and went to prepare a solution of honey and lemon so that it wouldn't hurt so much.

Once again, the hours passed quickly, by the time I realised, it was already one in the morning, I knew that, from now on, I wouldn't be able to sleep at all, but it wasn't a problem, now that I had been with her, my mother was much better, and asleep, her skin didn't seem so pale anymore, although she was still really hot, so I put the thermometer on her while she slept and waited to hear the beep of the thermometer.

I sighed quietly and tiredly, leaning my head on the bed - for kneeling was the most comfortable way to be there - while my gaze went to that picture showing my father in front of the flower shop, with a wide smile, showing a radiant happiness.

“Ah... it's getting harder every day since you've been gone, dad. We miss you so much,” I whispered softly, closing my eyes for a moment, just for an instant. Until the sound of the thermometer forced me to open it and with some heaviness, I got up to take it off and see that the fever had gone down a little. I saw the time, I sighed. I turned to see my mother, I changed the cold compress so that the temperature wouldn't rise. I gave her a kiss on the cheek and slowly made my way from her room to mine.

Maybe I would do some work to get my body tired enough to get some sleep, even if it was at the desk.

º º º º º º

To her misfortune, that was not to be. As soon as she walked into her room, the cold chilled her to the bone, the air was freezing, causing mist to form on her breath. She looked around quizzically, as not a single window was open to make the place look like the North Pole itself.

Remembering that she hadn't left the radiator on she sighed regretfully, her room was taking too long to warm up, so it would take quite a while to get back to an acceptable temperature.

She went to her wardrobe to get out her pyjamas, once she had them in her hands she went to the bathroom and carefully started to get rid of the clothes, leaving them in the laundry basket. Then, she put on her pyjamas, which as soon as she put them on made her sigh with gratitude for the comfortable warmth they gave her.

Afterwards, she simply went to the mirror, took the toothpaste and toothbrush and, a little slowly, cleaned her teeth thoroughly and after spitting out the rest, bent down to take some water from the tap to rinse her mouth.

Instead, at what she saw in the mirror, the liquid in her mouth shot straight into it, and her whole body tensed, her pupils constricted and she began to tremble at the sight of a dark shadow of large proportions and fierce amber eyes staring hungrily back at her.

In fear, she turned slowly, clutching her toothbrush to use it as a weapon if it was necessary. But there was nothing there with her, and when she looked back, there was nothing in the glass either.

“Mother of God... I really need to rest, how could I have imagined that?” She thought worriedly to sigh and rinse her face, unaware that, in the mirror, that figure was still watching her, and the moment she looked again, there was nothing.

She just snorted softly and went to the door, as soon as she touched the knob a shiver ran through her from head to toe, a not very good one that made her pull her hand away from it and stare at the door. Carefully she turned off the light and resolutely opened the door, seeing that she was the only one there.

“For a moment I thought Tom was back,” she said in a slightly disappointed tone. «I wouldn't have felt that chill, though».

“You sound disappointed~” a mocking voice whispered from just behind her.

“To tell you the truth… yes”. She said softly, and then tensed again, and turned sharply, so that she fell to the ground in shock and started to walk away in fear. “Y-You... w-what are you?”

She said, trembling with fear at the sight of a creature with white fur, grotesque appearance, sharp eyes and razor-like teeth. It laughed mockingly, and began to approach the younger girl, who started to back away as she got a good look at the monster of colossal proportions and rickety form.

Its paws left a golden imprint on the ground, which then became charred as if by fire. Sharp claws were marked on it as well. A long, slender tail was visible with the tip tinged with orange, elliptical, amber eyes that glowed with intensity and looked at her in a way that made all the brunette's senses tingle. Those sharp fangs that flashed a malevolent grin made her swallow thickly and shiver in place.

And the moment she heard what the hideous creature said in that voice from beyond the grave, her instincts became alert, she was in grave danger.

“Well...” The creature whispered, as it continued to approach her slowly, looking at her coldly. As if she were prey, and in her case, she was. “I'm just the fox that has come to devour your soul~.”

It sentenced with an insane calmness that made the younger girl lose colour almost instantly and only one thought went through her head at that moment.

«Why does this have to happen to me?»