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36

Excited

Ambrosius

I t was difficult not to get distracted the moment Ambrosius exited the apartment.

The moment his boots hit the concrete, something inside of him rejoiced.

Freedom. This was the smallest taste of freedom beneath his feet, in the wind that blew gently at his hair.

He savored the sensation for a moment before Gwen pulled him into a car.

He would have protested being trapped inside another tiny structure, but Ambrosius realized he had never been in a car.

The novelty wore off quickly due to traffic, and he was happy to see the little thing fuck off into the night after Gwen fed on the driver.

Even happier as Gwen pulled at his sleeve and dragged him along brightly lit shops down an unknown street.

“We don’t have long. Most of these places close in thirty minutes!” she squealed as she hauled him into a clothing boutique .

There were so many things to see, so many sights, that naturally going inside made Ambrosius’ skin crawl.

Gwen had planted him in some kind of seating area outside of a changing room.

Even with the entirely new environment, and with no cursed objects in sight, Ambrosius was having difficulty containing his impulse to just—

“What do you think? It’s not too plain, is it?”

Fuck.

Gwen was standing in the entrance of the changing rooms, dressed in a form-fitting, bright pink dress.

It was about mid-thigh length on her, layered with organza that rucked along the seams. The sleeves were organza as well, see through, and came down to her wrists.

“You’re supposed to wait until after the date to seduce me, my gorgeous girl,” Ambrosius said.

The smile she sent him could have melted his corneas.

“It has hidden pockets. I just need some shoes, accessories, and a lip, and I’ll be all set!”

The rest of her items were easy enough to find.

Gwen managed to apply enough makeup to be up to her standards, and found a pair of black heeled boots before the store closed.

Paying was easy enough, as Ambrosius had a collection of forgotten credit cards from the recently deceased at his disposal.

And if he influenced the human’s mind a little, honestly, no one would know the difference.

Gwen certainly didn’t as she fastened the back onto her earring.

“That was easy!” Gwen grinned, turning on her heel as the store closed behind them.

She tossed the shopping bag containing her old, tattered clothes away.

“Though, I wish I had planned this better. I was hoping we could match.”

The thought delighted him, though he wasn’t certain why.

“I’m not sure I’m up to wearing pink, my bittersweet,” he admitted.

“But I think I can manage something.”

Ambrosius offered Gwen his cane, which she took without hesitation.

He shrugged off his jacket and flipped the material inside out.

When he pulled it on again, the simple dress shirt he had worn had become organza embroidered with blue jade vines.

The jacket now a matching shade of blue green, along with his slacks.

“How do you do that?” Gwen asked as he took the cane from her.

“Very carefully,” he responded.

“Where would you like to go?”

She looked thoughtful for a moment, and Ambrosius took the time to admire her beauty.

The urge to strip her bare and worship would always plague his thoughts, it seemed.

“You said you haven’t been outside of the Antiquarium for centuries, right? I can think of a place if you don’t mind a ton of people.”

“That just means more humans to eat,” Ambrosius replied, tucking her to his side with a wicked smile.

“We’ll stuff ourselves full tonight, my bittersweet.”

Gwen hadn’t been exaggerating when she said there would be a lot of people.

The last time Ambrosius had witnessed anything like it, the Antiquarium had manifested on a busy street during some sort of parade.

The demon had observed the humans walking by with vague interest until one of them had stumbled inside.

Now, Ambrosius was walking among them with a front-row seat to every soul that passed him by.

He saw pain, brilliance, suffering, and all sorts of complicated flavors among them.

Gwen must have been witnessing the same—in her own peculiar fashion.

He had to lightly nudge her when she stopped in the middle of the street, eyes glowing briefly beneath the streetlights.

Her hair growing in vibrancy from the pale pink of earlier.

“Sorry,” she said, quickening her stride as they crossed the street toward a series of white tents.

“That woman over there is mad at her husband, and it tasted like chocolate cake. I don’t usually like chocolate cake, but this one was delicious.”

Ambrosius glanced at the woman standing in front of a Mexican food truck.

“Ah, yes, her soul’s fractured a bit.”

“Souls can fracture?” Gwen asked as they walked past.

“All the time.”

“How do they fracture?”

Ambrosius raised an eyebrow with a knowing smirk.

“Of course, of course,” she grinned, pressing closer to his side.

“I’m guessing you did that with me?”

“Just a little, just a taste, ” Ambrosius whispered into her ear.

“You’ re making this difficult . We’re supposed to be on a date, not speed-running to the end of it, Ro,” Gwen grumbled with a flush to her cheeks.

“Well, forgive me, my bittersweet, but I’ve never been on one.”

Gwen abruptly stopped, catching Ambrosius by surprise.

He looked back at her, felt her limp grip on his arm.

“You … you’ve never been on a date before?”

“Is that so surprising? I told you; I’ve been trapped in that prison for centuries.”

It was difficult to be a creature of impulse, to need constant stimulation, yet never fully experiencing it for himself.

Ambrosius had been around the world more times than he could count.

Had seen metros and tiny villages.

Sometimes, he’d be there for weeks, sometimes days.

Ambrosius had stood by the register and watched the passage of time through crowded windows.

Had witnessed humanity grow and change, and yet somehow, stay exactly the same.

They were all miserable, no matter what they did.

All looking for something to help fill the void, to help them forget their misery.

Ambrosius trusted that Gwen wanted him for more than just that.

“Does that mean you … you’ve never…”

He waited, allowing her to squirm helplessly for the right words.

If for nothing else, but to enjoy how adorably flustered she was.

This same gorgeous woman who demanded he fuck her awake was stumbling over this strange little conversation about his lack of dating history .

“When would I? I was much more concerned with surviving and adapting as the years went by,” Ambrosius explained as he took her hand in his.

“Does that … bother you?”

“No!” Gwen exclaimed, fingers interlocking with his in a tight grip.

“No, not at all. I’m just … you surprised me. You-you’re good.”

“I’m good?”

“You just made it sound like you were more … experienced when we first met. With the whole explicit consent thing.”

“Wanting something and doing something aren’t always the same things,” Ambrosius explained.

“Our … relationship took me a bit by surprise, my bittersweet. Like you said, nothing about us has been normal, and I rather like it that way. Though, I am curious what you meant about being ‘good’?”

“You know what I mean,” she huffed, casting a quick glance around her.

Ambrosius grinned. “No, I don’t. Explain.”

“No way, you liar!” Gwen exclaimed.

“You just want me to feed your ego.”

“Would that really be so awful?”

“You don’t need the help.”

Ambrosius chuckled.

They walked down the long strip of food trucks and tents containing business owners with their small wares.

He browsed handmade ceramics, smelled the oil from French fries and warm pastries, and indulged in every tug on his wrist. It was difficult not to let Gwen dictate their time together.

She was more familiar with the city, and Ambrosius was surprised to find himself content with just gazing at her .

Witnessing her feed was a sight to behold.

Gwen was sure, almost bold in the way she would casually do it.

A stark difference from the unsettled woman after her first meal.

There was a subtlety to it that assured Ambrosius that he would not have to worry about her while he was away.

That she would be able to take care of herself—at least when it came to eating humans.

Defending herself from other monsters was an entirely different matter.

One that he considered very carefully as Gwen retrieved a drink from a lemonade truck.

Ambrosius would have to be sure once the Soul Covenant was complete, Gwen took the book into her arms. The sooner she learned that bit of magic, the stronger she would be.

The safer she would be.

The demon was shaken from his musings by the sight of Gwen’s heels as she approached him.

There was an annoyed expression on her gorgeous face, hands gripping the drinks in each hand a little too tightly.

“The guy behind me totally grabbed my ass,” Gwen grumbled as she handed him a blue drink.

Ambrosius accepted it, so thrown by her words that he didn’t anticipate her sitting in his lap.

Gwen immediately sipped the pink drink in her other hand with a scowl on her face.

“ Who did what to your ass?”

“The guy in the blue cap,” Gwen explained.

“He grabbed me, but I was so startled, I froze. I can’t believe I froze. I should have just eaten him!”

He found the human in question among the crowd, no more than fifty feet away.

The human’s eyes glued to his cell phone with a fresh lemonade in his other hand.

Ambrosius wondered which hand had touched her .

The demon placed the blue drink on the picnic table behind him, then wrapped his arms around Gwen’s waist. She looked upset, rightfully so, and the last thing he wanted was his warlock to be upset.

“We could kill him,” Ambrosius offered.

Gwen paused, eyes darting toward the man and back to Ambrosius.

Slowly, she dropped the straw from her lips.

He found it amusing that she couldn’t tell if he was serious or not.

“We … we could…”

“We could kill him,” he whispered, like a sweet nothing, like a declaration of love.

Then, with a chuckle, “We could just fucking kill him.”

“We could…” she eyed the man, then giggled.

“We could just toss him one of the dumpsters in the alleys…”

“Yes,” Ambrosius murmured, pressing his head against hers.

“Just think about it. You’ll drain him of all those pesky emotions, and I’ll swallow the rest.”

“I want to…” Gwen sighed.

“But, I don’t want to waste time on some nobody loser who listens to too many gym bro podcasts. I want to spend this time with you, just you, on our date.”

There was some disappointment that she didn’t take him up on his offer.

Ambrosius was looking forward to the day when they didn’t just eat, but murdered together, too.

He had an entire list of humans to choose from, after all.

Those would be the first to go.

There would be time, despite his eagerness to start now.

“I suppose you have a point … but I don’t know if I could live with myself if I didn’t at least attempt a romantic gesture.”

Gwen was puzzled as Ambrosius murmured something low under his breath.

She wouldn’t have understood, as it wasn’t an exact language, but a series of broken, dissonant whispers.

The man—as if compelled—suddenly looked up from the screen and turned his head to look at the demon.

The lemonade was the first thing to drop, cup bouncing once before spraying across the concrete.

None of the humans had a chance to react to it before the man followed, dropping to his side, hard.

He clutched his head, shouting in obvious pain as onlookers started to move.

Some did no more than look, few went forward to help, but many had taken out their phones to film.

And this is another reason to loathe them…

“Did you—” Gwen jerked her head toward him.

“Did you do that? What was that?!”

“That, my bittersweet , was just a little fear. I have the ability to frighten humans to the point of pain,” Ambrosius explained, reaching back for the blue drink.

“His mind was very weak. I won’t be surprised if he has trouble sleeping for the next year or so. Sleep deprivation by the way of nightmares isn’t pleasant.”

“You—are you telling me you fucked with that guy’s head because he touched my ass?” Gwen asked.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Ambrosius said.

“Not quite a murder, but better than letting him exist in peace.”

The demon didn’t anticipate Gwen’s enthusiastic response to his gesture.

She dropped her pink drink onto the table, took his face into her hands, and kissed him near senseless.

When she came up for air, her face was flushed and her eyes bright beneath the string-lights .

“That’s so hot,” Gwen said.

“I wanna do something for you, but I need you to trust me a little.”

His lips were still tingling, his mind overwhelmed with lust and destruction.

Yet, when she looked into his eyes, Ambrosius didn’t see a challenge there, so much as an offer.

A chance, a moment with her to do something he had never done before.

Trust.

Gwen bit her lip.

“What do you have in mind, my bittersweet?”