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The demon wrapped a towel around Gwen, hoisted her into his arms, and carried her to the bed. If she noticed her neighbor—or what was left of him, soaking into the floor—Gwen didn’t say anything. He wouldn’t shield her from the horror, either, as they would need to find out exactly how the reanimated corpse came back to life. Therewas a small probability that Gwen’s power—his power—had awakened him, but Ambrosius wouldn’t bet on it. There weremanyavenues to reanimate the dead, nearly as many as there were monsters.
Ambrosius noted that the sheets and pillows were stained black—her tears, of all things, most likely. With a wave of his hand, the sheets were cleaned. Easy enough to do, given the ichor was an extension of his own being. Ambrosius tucked Gwen in—a sentimental thing the demon realized that he had never done before now. He wasn’t sure what to do with the thought, intending to vanish the body when Gwen’s hand weakly grasped the sleeve of his jacket.
“Stay,” she rasped. “Stay and talk to me.”
The fear and lingering death she emanated would be appetizing if she wasn’t so weak. And despite his crueler nature, Ambrosius found himself sliding his shoes off and lying next to her. He propped his head up on one hand and used the other to gather her close. Gwen was shivering—a side effect of dying, no doubt, but she had somehow found the strength to cling to the front of his dress shirt.
“What do you want me to talk about? What do you need?” he asked.
“Anything. Everything,” she shuddered.
Ambrosius ran the tip of his tongue along his canine in thought.
“I … have a tail,” he confessed.
Gwen blinked watery eyes up at him. Her color wasn’t exactly right, still too pale and not for display. Ambrosius knew it would take her some time to recover, at least a night’s rest. Still, he took mercy on her confused state.
“I don’t remember when I got it. I think it came after the horns? I just remember feeling something brush my body that was foreign to me. And when I looked and realized it was attached to my spine, needless to say, I wasn’t excited. It was just one more thing humans had started associating with devils. Another thing to tie me to their concepts, their fears … it also has a mind of its own, which can be infuriating at times.”
Ambrosius was quite aware of Gwen’s hand slowly creeping around his torso, but he didn’t have the heart to bark at her. In fact, he found it quite amusing when her fingers slipped beneath the belt line of his slacks, dipping low.
“It’s not there, my bittersweet,” he chided. “And even if it were, I’d bite your hand before allowing you to touch it.”
The demon wasn’t kidding. What he failed to tell Gwen was howsensitivethe appendage was. Possibly more so than his horns were, especially at the tip, where the shark tooth-like end was. Ambrosius couldn’t predict how he would react, feeling her hands around it.
“Killjoy,” Gwen grumbled, pulling her hand back to her chest.
Ambrosius laughed, “I’m just being honest and doing what I can to keep you safe.”
Gwen’s eyes unfocused, her fingers running along the lapel of his jacket. Ambrosius could search her surface thoughts, but he found no urgency to do so. Instead, he ran his own fingers through the pink strands that curled against her cheek. They were paler than normal, a warning that she needed to feed. He would need to bring a human to her, or at the very least, take her somewhere humans were.
“Thank you.”
The demon peered down at her, blinking in confusion. “For what?”
Gwen bit her lip before pulling on his jacket and drawing him close. Ambrosius was surprised when her lips connected with his cheek.
“You know why,” she whispered. “You’re way too clever not to know.”
An odd feeling tickled at Ambrosius’ being, though he didn’t recognize it. The more he thought about it, the more troubled he was that he couldn’t place it.
“You’re … welcome.”
“Ro?”
“Yes?”
“I … I’m choosing.”
Ambrosius felt his chest swell, felt the chains tighten around him.
“Choosing what, exactly, my bittersweet?”
“You,” Gwen said, voice shaky. “I’m choosing you. I want to finish the doll. I want to do the Soul Covenant. I wantyou.”
Pleasure, unlike anything physical, swept through Ambrosius. It was euphoric and untamed as it coursed through his very being. All the possibilities lay ahead of him, revealing a path that led to one thing. The demon didn’t believe in hope, and he didn’t need it when he had Gwen in his arms. Not when he had herconsentto his will.
Finally.