[How I Summoned An Incubus]

A Paranormal Romance

[a man, a demon and a dilemma]

SYNOPSIS

incubus /ˈɪŋkjʊbəs/

noun a male sex demon

»»»«««

This is the story about how a hopeless romantic summons a sex demon. A disaster, because there was no way he was going to let his perfect-first-time fantasy be ruined by some hell creature. No matter how hot he was.

The only way for the frustrated incubus to go back to his world, was if the annoying human allowed to sleep with him, otherwise he was just stuck, and dying with each day that passed.

DISCLAIMER

This book is a work of fiction, names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual places or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

TRIGGER WARNINGS

Strong language

Okay, enjoy! 🖤

Copyright © Cherrykimono7 2022

|01|

violets are blue,

your blood is red.

the window was open,

i’m under your bed.

-Eyeless Jack

Chapter 1.

Rule Number One Of Being

Independent: You Have To Get Your Own Door.

 "I'm telling you man, fish are not pets...they're food," Archie says to Levi. He hoists a box then cradles it between his muscular arms. 

 He isn't actually muscular, although he likes to think so. Pointing out that he is really lean never ends well. Even if you added the facts that he's still strong and insanely attractive. 

 Archie is tall, lean and wiry. Umber skin and deep brown eyes and full lips. He has long hair that has been twisted into locks that fall on either side of his face, the same face that is almost clean shaven save for the evidence of a very subtle moustache. If that isn't attractive to Levi then he doesn't know what is.

 Nevertheless, Archie will not accept that he is slim, so much that he gets sensitive and dramatic about it. Like 

trying to crush nuts in the crook of his elbow dramatic.

     “How can you say that?” Levi folds his arms and crosses them. “Jim, Jimm and Jimmy can hear you. They have really good hearing.”

     Archie moves past him and before he can get the box into the house, he chuckles. “Ridiculous names.”

     “ You named them!“

     “Only because I’m their father,” he replies. “It’s still ridiculous.”

     “Don’t you dare talk about our children that way,” Levi insists with a stern look, then laughs. “On a more serious note, we need to start having more intellectual conversations. We’re geniuses for fuck’s sake.”

     Archie drops the box inside and is back outside within the minute. “Every genius has a little bit of idiot inside them.”

     “Do they now?” Levi asks in a British accent.

     “I mean…look at us,” says Archie, mimicking Levi with his own British accent. “We sired children, and yet ye have never engaged in the shaking of the sheets. You Virgin Mary-ed this bloody shit, lad.”

     Levi laughs at Archie’s theatrics and grabs a box himself. “I’m just waiting for the right guy. My first time has to be perfect, Archie. You know how much that means to me.”

     “Yeah I do. You haven’t even engaged in a swimming of the tongues either—”

     “A swimming of the tongues! Really Archie?”

     “Okay okay,” he gently puts his hands up in mock surrender. “I offered to be your first kiss and you turned me down.”

     “Katya would have my head,” says Levi. “Not forgetting the fact that you’re straight.”

     They met exactly a year ago, and it’s been exactly one year since they’ve been together. Katya is Archie’s girlfriend, his angel, his Russian Aphrodite and the fire in his loins…Levi has heard all the titles.

     “I’m straight but I’ve got eyes,” he says, assessing me. “Red hair, dark and thick eyebrows and lashes, your sharp nose and heart-shaped lush lips…” Archie shakes his head and licks his lips. “Mm mmm, lean…even your fingers are lean. And your head would fit under my chin, so that makes you a worthy candidate…damn, I should write a book. But you’re right, Katya would have your head.”

     Jim, Jimm and Jimmy are a veil tail, goldfish and tamasaba respectively, among several other fish living and swimming in Levi’s aquarium. A gift from Archie and his most prized possession.

     Archie was on a scholarship in his school when they first met, and they’ve been stuck together since. He’d always admired him, his free spirit, genius and kindness. And the fact that he can take care of himself. It is hard for Levi to imagine, but at the same time, it’s the only thing that gives him the courage to move out of his parents’ house.

     It’s a huge step for him, and he’d now have to work hard for himself. The family business is tempting and would have been the easy way, but there is just something thrilling about Archie’s independence, and he wanted some of that. And to find his place in the world without literally being under his parents’ wing. And there’s the added bonus that he could do whatever he wanted, and meet the love of his life the way he wanted, whenever he wanted. He is choosing that road, hard or excruciating.

     When the last box is finally inside, Archie drops to the floor of the empty living room and lies with his back against the floor. “I’m super proud of you for choosing to move out.”

     “This independence thing,” Levi asks. “And be honest—is it really hard?” He sits facing Archie with his knees bent before him.

     “Nah, you’ll do great. It’s a good thing you already know where to start, you have a job so that’s sorted. If you ever need anything, I’m here.”

     The job had come as a frightening surprise, but he grasped it with both hands. The lady who offered it to him was Edith, one of his father’s closest friends. He secretly used to call her dragon because he thought she was the meanest creature alive, but after hearing that he was going to move out and fend for himself, he saw her smile for the first time. She offered him a job right there and he accepted it with the caution one held a water filled balloon with. “Okay…but no, I have to do this by myself.”

     “You’ll do great. I swear it on my black ass.”

     “You really love your black ass man.”

     “What’s not there to love?”

     The doorbell rings and Archie gets up. “Food’s here!”

     Levi immediately makes to stop him. “Drew’ll get it.” He refers to the butler he’s grown up with.

     Archie looks at his friend patronisingly and shakes his head. “Aw, you poor thing.”

     “Shit.”

     “Rule number one of being independent. You have to get your own door,” Archie says and stalks off towards the door. He is back moments later and sets everything down between them. “You also have to put your own spoon in your own mouth.” He extends Levi’s share of the food to him.

     “Fuck you.”

     “Katya will have your head.”

     “Oh yeah. Forgot about that.” Levi starts to eat then immediately almost chokes at what Archie says next.

     “Will you be my best man? I’m getting married.” Archie casually asks. “Rule number two: you cannot choke in the presence of your guests. Here, have some water.”

     “You’re getting married!” Levi finally caught his breath. “You’re getting married Archie! You finally proposed!”

     “I’m not sure it went exactly that way but let’s roll with it.”

     “I’m really happy for you. Ah! I might even blush. Of course I’ll be your best man. Has your wedding been planned?

     “Katya’s younger sister is doing the honours. I can barely contain my excitement either!” Archie exclaims. “That woman has me by the ball sack I tell you, I thought my heart would stop functioning without her, and now she wants my last name. Dreams do come true Levi!”

     “I’m throwing you your bachelor’s party,” says Levi.

     He is confused when Archie starts to laugh and shake his head in disagreement. He frowns and continues to look at him in question.

     “Not that I’m interested, but for chrissakes Levi, my Russian wife will have your head!”

 That was a new one.

-::::-

     Archie leaves after everything is in place, and sure that Levi is ‘fine to be alone’. And after promising that he’d come back to see their kids soon.

     Levi pours himself a glass of wine after he’s showered and prepared for bed. He has to be careful not to drift off and end up spending the night on the couch.

     The thoughts in his head make it hard not to, they are a pleasant daydream in the midst of his fatigue. He imagines that he has moved in with his fiancé or something along those lines. Every surface of their new place would get a proper christening first of all.

     He almost blushes at his fervent and wanton thoughts.

     Instead of one wineglass, they’d be two resting on the table as he leaned on him on the couch. After a few more sips, they’d stop pretending they weren’t dying to be all over each other. The fiancé would take his glass away from him and set it down, then grab his ass. Levi blushes this time, eyes still closed.

     He hears a series of flutters like the turning of several pages at once. The sound is just right by his ear and he pauses, then turns to his right, opening his eyes.

     Nothing.

     He could swear he heard it, clear enough to interrupt his fantasy, so clear that a little part of him thought he was already having his first burglar experience.

     Levi finally manages to convince himself that it is nothing. He continues to think about his future husband. He’d take the man’s clothes off and then trace his skin with his fingers, slowly trailing south…

     Levi only stops when he is flaming in embarrassment. His eyes fly open and he lets out an exaggerated breath.

     He finally notices what must have been the flutter in his ear, he isn’t crazy after all. There is a book on the table, right next to his wine, and it is open, showing frayed, old, blank pages and a tale of nothingness within its borders.

     He immediately sits up.

     That wasn’t there. It wasn’t. Not five minutes ago, not ever. He doesn’t let out a sound, because this is creepy as all hell. Maybe his burglar experience was afoot after all.

     Mustering up enough courage, he lifts the book up from the table and inspects it. The hard cover is rough and extremely detailed, and yet he can’t figure out what it is made of. Bark? Cloth? Skin?

     He’d have dropped the book already if it weren’t for the blood red crystal at the center of the cover. It looks like it’s pulsing, and all he can do is stare in awe at how advanced publishers were nowadays.

     He didn’t think anyone could make something like this and yet here it is. The mysterious book looks like something out of Harry Potter’s world.

     Levi quickly drops it like he’s been burned, then picks it back up when he realises it isn’t going to bite him.

     This time he notices that there are indeed words in it. Two paragraphs written across two open pages. It’s weird because the rest of the pages won’t open or budge, like someone had slathered superglue on every other page but the two open ones.

     It’s the strangest thing, and it does scare him a little. The pages were clearly blank when he first saw the book resting and looking misplaced in his new living room. Now, those same pages each have words on them. That is scary, but he can’t exactly call the cops because there is a strange book in his apartment and it is acting weird.

     He would always blame it on curiosity, but Levi makes the decision to read what it said.

••

That which is not bound to me, I weave

That which is not of my tongue, I utter

If to seek pleasure before I wake,

Or to bask in it upon my slumber,

The Realms will bow in accordance.

I beckon,

Come hither; draw near,

I offer my flesh,

I dare

••

     Weird.

What the hell is any of that supposed to mean? It’s just weird. Come hither? He chuckles. It sounds like something right out of Archie’s mouth.

 Levi doesn't realise how much time has passed with the book on his hands, until he acknowledges that he is exhausted.

     It could well be the effects of hauling boxes the entire day and setting up house and starting a new life. A new independent life. Levi is now sleepy and exhausted, one of the best combinations in the world because the quality of shuteye it offers is phenomenal.

     He places the book on the table and leaves it there because he doesn’t know what to do with it. He’ll figure it out when he wakes up in the morning.

     Levi picks his glass and pours the rest of his wine down the sink, then rinses the glass and goes to bed. He goes to sleep despite being unable to shake the uneasy feeling in his gut.

     If he’d stayed just a few moments longer, he might have noticed the book move a little on the table, then quickly snap shut. He might have seen the blood red crystal glowing brightly, then going back to normal as if the life was being sucked out of it slowly. He might have even heard the dull groan it let out before going completely silent.

     But Levi doesn’t. He goes to bed.

-::::-

     The entire apartment is shrouded in quiet and darkness as Levi is fast asleep, completely unaware of the opening of his window, causing the moonlight to pour in and bathe the room in dim, natural light.

 A calm breeze gently makes its way inside, making the curtains dance to its tune whenever it called.

 Levi wakes up to a scratching sound, and in the haze of sleep and wake, he doesn't think much of it, but he doesn't go back to sleep because it persists. 

 Before anything, he notices that his window is open and thinks to himself, 

I must have forgotten to close it yesterday since I was so tired I just dropped on the bed and blacked out.

As he makes to go and close it, his hands still where they are fisting the edge of the covers. His blood almost runs cold when his eyes adjust better to the darkness. It may well be a figment of his imagination but he sees it nonetheless; an eerie figure perched up on the corner of his window. Whatever it is, has glowing eyes that are trained directly on him.

 Then just as suddenly, the creature is flying towards him.

|02|

And as light from the mirror casts shadows of black,

I smiled at the shadows and the shadows smiled back.

-T.A Johnson

Chapter 2.

The Wrong Type Of Horny

 Levi scrambles around his bed to avoid the projectile determined to slam into him. If there is any chance that it is coming from his dream, then they wouldn't take him alive!

 No, this isn't a dream, it is very real and there is a winged creature flying towards his bed. Scratch that. Towards him like it is out to get him.

     “What the fuck!” His voice is laced with escorts of sleep, and in a moment, he is on the floor against his broken lamp that was on his nightstand just seconds ago. Levi grunts as he realises that he threw himself harder than intended on the floor.

 The hairs on his skin rise up at the prickling realisation that there is a creature on top of him. It is a man...a bare chested man with wings. 

Wings!

     Although bat-like, they look strong and scary. Something possibly out of a horror movie.

 Levi pushes him out of the way with everything he has. 

A bare chested man with wings on top of me, how, when, what, where?! He screams inside his head.

 The thing does not budge, instead, it speaks. "Easy." The voice is cold and rough. "I'll take care of you."

 Levi doesn't like how it makes his heart race. The creature then gently slides a hand up his thigh, to where his pyjama bottoms cling around his waist. 

 Levi doesn't know what to do at that moment so he head-butts him, and almost passes out because of all the force he uses, and it's really hard head. And yet, the creature only pauses to look at him like he is an interesting study. 

His bat-like wings almost blur into the dark but the moonlight reflects on them. Black as the night within the room, and rising higher than the shadow it casts on the floor. Levi thinks it is well within him to faint. 

 "You have wings!" He accuses the creature of what he must have considered a crime. 

     He woke up to a man flying towards him and nearly molesting him. He’s never seen him before, because he’s sure that none of the people in his life have wings. Not even Dragon.

 "Let me fix that," the creature says and before Levi can blink, the wings are gone. Just like that. Gone! "Better?" He asks and keeps moving towards Levi until his lips are dangerously close to his neck. Until they're not. They are soft against his skin. 

     Levi knows that he is shirtless, but in this moment, he is hyper aware of it. Without thinking, he places an arm against the creature only to find a rock hard chest that wouldn’t budge either.

     He applies his other hand to stand a chance. “Just…” he struggles. “Wait a minute! Stop!”

     He somehow scrambles away from under the creature and slides across the bed to fall on the other side of it, the bed being his last line of defense.

     The creature gets up and faces Levi, standing in all of his half-naked glory, eyes trained exactly on his own. The moonlight casts shadows on one side of his body, but Levi still makes out his rippling muscles that radiate so much power he can feel it from where he is.

     The man is tall as he stands firm. He will tower over Levi if they stand together, but he will avoid that at all costs, no matter how much he felt the need to go to him.

     It isn’t natural—this need. He feels compelled in a way, not so strongly but he is slightly struggling to stay where he is. Until the urge suddenly starts to recede.

     Levi notices that in addition to his well defined body, he has dark shoulder length hair, and in the gleam of the moonlight, he sees two tiny horns protruding from his head somewhere between the front of his hair.

     He screams.

     Not quite.

     Levi makes a sound between a scream and a squeal and immediately covers his mouth with both hands, a gasp somehow escaping and his eyes widening in horror.

 "What is wrong with you?" The creature asks. 

 

Oh no no, I must be sleeping, Levi thinks to himself while shaking his head. I just went ahead and dreamt myself a sexy demon. A sexy, sexy demon.

     Levi starts to ignore what he believes is a very realistic dream that he needs to wake up from. He walks right past the man who’s gaze follows him until he is out of the room.

     “I’m talking to a demon?” He laughs. “No, of course not, it’s nothing but a dream. Because I’m not dead. No I’m not dead. And who said I was going to hell anyways?”

     He tries not to acknowledge the man who follows him silently. “It’s not a dream, human.”

     Levi paces around and tries to ignore his voice. “I’ll just go back to sleep and I’ll wake up in the morning when everything is peachy,” he mutters.

     He does not acknowledge the clutter in the room either, because it wasn’t real anyway, only a part of his imagination. Levi climbs back into his bed and draws the covers up his chest. He then turns to his side and settles to go back to sleep.

     It isn’t long before Levi feels the weight of his bed dip. The covers slide away from his body and they are replaced by big strong hands that start to slide his clothes off. “Human…”

     “Hey, hey!” Levi finally reacts. “That’s rape, we don’t do that here.”

     “You summoned me,” the gravelly voice says after its owner has stopped his assault. “And yet you are frightened by me.”

     “What? I didn’t summon you,” says Levi. “I don’t even know whom, or what you are…and I’m not scared.” He is trembling slightly as the truth sinks in.

     “You summoned me, human,” he insists. “Let us finish this.”

     “Finish what?” Asks an exasperated Levi. “I’ve never seen you in my life!”

      “The reason I’m here. Only you can cut me loose—”

     “Okay, go.”

     “I cannot just…leave.”

     “Then what do you want? Only I can let you go right? Go then.”

     “It does not have to be complicated. You don’t have to move a muscle, I’ll grant you true pleasure in no time.”

     The creature looks a little distracted by Levi’s skin where his clothes are askew.

     Levi uses the opportunity and snatches his phone and calls Archie, dashing out of his room this time.

     It is after a while that his friend picks up and answers in a sleepy voice. “Yeah? Levi…Everything alright? It’s like past the middle of the night…”

     “There’s a strange man. Thing. Creature thing—”

     “Incubus,” his voice startles Levi almost out of his skin.

     “Levi, I don’t…I don’t understand what’s going on?” He asks with his scratchy voice right out of sleep.

     Levi decides to go with plan B. He hangs up and calls the cops.

     He glances at the man after giving his address and hanging up. He is standing straight and folding his arms across his broad chest. He has a frown on his face, and his eyes look like they are on the verge of glowing as he openly stares at him.

     The last thing Levi sees him do, is smirk, because by the time the cops arrive, the creature has disappeared. Vanished into thin air, like the freakiest night of his life hasn’t just happened.

     The cops still inspect his apartment and when they are satisfied that Levi has nothing to worry about, they leave after giving him a few precautions, although doubtful that his MIA night visitor has wings.

     When they leave, Levi is unable to go back to sleep. Because of the events of the night, and the unshakable feeling that he is being watched.

|03|

An incubus is only half as powerful as it should be, while in another Realm.

-Fact

Chapter 3.

What To Expect When You Enter The Dragon’s Lair.

 Levi's eyes are painfully groggy when he wakes up a few hours later. With barely any sleep—and all of it accredited to paranoia—he leaves his bed to freshen up, looking over his shoulder every now and then. He still cannot shake off the feeling that he is being watched, like the sinister presence is still hanging around in the deepest crevices of every room he walks into.

     He decides that coffee will be his last saving grace in this trying time of sorts—it is unfair for any innocent person to go through such a thing. He is running on barely any sleep and he has work to go to. He knows that the dragon who hired him will not think twice about firing him for being late on his first day, and he’ll be damned if he let some mythical creature be the cause of that.

     Levi likes his coffee black—something Archie couldn’t deal with because it was illegal for something to be so bitter. He pours the rich dark liquid in a mug, reveling in it’s smell as he sets his phone down in a position that will show his face when Archie answers the video call.

     Just as Archie’s face fills the screen, Levi pulls his bread out of the toaster and onto a plate. His best friend is as audacious as the universe was when inventing him. He is naked and laying on his stomach with his legs folded up behind him. He does not bother to hide any inch of skin or body part, leaving Levi to gape at the mounds of flesh that rose like twin peaks—a very nice butt if he is being honest. Archie seems to have just picked up his call right out of sleep.

     “Archie! Jesus, do you not know what pajamas are?” Levi complains. “I’ll buy you some if you need. Even underwear would do, what is this?”

     “Too stuffy,” Archie replies in a voice full of sleep while the hand that isn’t gripping the phone goes on to scratch his chest. “I like my balls free.”

     Levi groans and angles the camera better. “Of course you do.”

     “You look like crap!” Is Archie’s startling realisation after seemingly looking at his friend closer.

     Levi takes a sip of his coffee and focuses on Archie. “I guess we’re twins now.”

     “Damn Lev, take another sip of that coffee because your comebacks are improving…can’t have that.” His bed voice is really sexy.

     “I barely slept last night,” Levi admits while he gets distracted by his own thoughts; the night before being a big haze and at the same time clear as day. He finally remembers to ask Archie the question he wants to ask. “Hey, did you leave a book here yesterday?”

     “And why would I do that?” Asks an innocent Archie.

     “You always have a book with you at the least convenient time. Like helping your best friend move into a new apartment.”

     “Well…I decided yesterday was a day solely for you, so no. And what was that late night call yesterday about? I mean today… you know in the wee hours of the morning.”

     Levi sets his mug down and looks around just for good measure. “There’s someone here Archie,” he almost whispers.

     “What?” Archie looks skeptical as he carefully asks his next question. “What do you mean?”

     “There really was someone–” He abruptly stops.

     Levi goes quiet at the sound that comes through the phone. It is a loud spank on Archie’s naked butt that causes him to moan pleasantly. “Hello Levi,” Katya says as she keeps her hand firm on her fiancé’s ass, her thick accent filling out every part of her two worded greeting.

     “Hi Katya,” Levi says while trying not to look, he tries to focus on his toast instead. “So much nudity in one videocall.” He says this because Katya is completely naked and not even bothered that he could see her.

     “You are gay, solnishka ,” says Katya. Levi absolutely loves it when she calls him that—her sunflower, but he does not admit it often.

     “Yes I am.”

     “Which is why I must teach my love here what happens when he shows naked buttocks to gay man,” she says as her other hand travels up to Archie’s throat. “Have lovely first day at work solnishka .”

     “Call me when you need anything,” Archie yells before he can end the call.

     “I don’t want to bother you the entire time, so I’ll just–”

     “You better call me Levi!” Archie says and Levi is glad he leaves enough room for loopholes. He would call him, but he just might do it during a lunch break or something of the sorts.

     “Fine,” says Levi. “I have to go.”

     “Bye!”

     “I’m so jealous of you both. Bye!”

     After the call, Levi then realises that he didn’t even finish what he wanted to tell Archie about the creature that appeared and somehow vanished into thin air. If he doesn’t know better, it definitely is just a part of his imagination because it sure does not feel real, and there is almost no proof to support it.

     It is a wonder that he isn’t late to his office, after it takes him a precious forty-five minutes or so, to figure out at least half of the public transport system. Levi does have a car, in fact, he has cars, but he decided he’d only use one. And that one car would only be delivered to him after two weeks of figuring out things on his own. He is hell bent on pushing it to three, or possibly a month if he hasn’t yet mastered the art of public transport.

     This morning, he didn’t say anything to Archie because it felt like he owed him some sort of peace. He does not want to be too reliant on him, and Archie of course will not listen to him.

     “You were almost late,” said Dragon. Edith . Her name is Edith Lancaster and everyone would refer to her as such. He has to remember that.

     “Except I’m not…” he replies and is immediately mortified by his response. He quickly adds, “…ma’am.”

     Dragon raises her eyebrows, no smile on her face, no frown. Nothing. He wonders if this is how the firing process goes.

     “What is this?” She asks while holding up her cup.

     “A coffee mug?” Levi answers.

     “Wrong,” she replies sternly. “It is an empty coffee mug. Fill it, and bring it to my office.”

     Levi takes the cup away from her. “I don’t know where your office is.”

     Dragon is already several steps away from him. “Figure it out,” she says without stopping, like her company would lose a few hundred thousand dollars if she didn’t walk away that fast at that moment.

     Levi is already frustrated and cannot think of anything that can help him. Even if he calls his best friend, it isn’t like he will know where everything is—he doesn’t work here and he doesn’t have the blueprint of the area. He gathers all of his guts and decides to approach a random employee, figuring he has to find out where the kitchen is.

     “Good morning,” he says to the first person that comes walking his way. She is a fiery looking woman in every sense of the word. Her red hair uses the light pouring into the building to reflect flames and their crackling energy on her face. Levi has red hair, but his own red hair was no such red as this stranger.

     “Good morning, person I’ve never seen before,” she says, pausing to assess Levi as best as she can.

     “My name is Levi, I’m new here,” he replies nervously. “Could you tell me where the break room is?”

     “No problem,” she says, perking up when her eyes zero in on the mug on my hand. “Right there,” she points to an empty space, and Levi turns to only be met with an extremely huge window. “Exactly there, but two floors up.”

     He exhales in relief. “Thank you.”

     “Uh huh, no problem. That impossible woman did the same thing to me when I was new here, so I feel your pain,” she explains before her gaze is once again transfixed on her tablet as she walks away to wherever she was headed to before being interrupted. Levi then remembers that he forgot to ask her name.

     He finds the kitchen area exactly where he’d been directed. What he notices first in the break room is the kitchen island with a smooth marble surface. There is a sink and several cabinets which he is sure if he checked, would be fully stocked. Levi’s gaze sweeps past the coffee machine briefly to a fridge, a microwave and his most shocking find; an oven. Like what for?

     While he makes the coffee, he takes in the layout of the rest of the room. Tables with either one or two chairs on either side of them, a long sofa at the end of the room and a window seat, beautiful low hanging lights and a huge television. They must have invented 30% of the entire budget to this room. 

     Now, because Levi has no idea what Dragons prefer to drink in the morning, he decides to go with what he knows best. The only coffee he is more than good at making. He makes it smooth, rich, strong and black…exactly like he likes it.

     Feeling proud of himself for no particular reason, Levi almost drops everything to the ground and his future along with it, when a voice pipes up next to him. Miraculously, there isn’t even a spill.

     “Hi!” The voice says elatedly.

     “Hey,” Levi smiles politely at her, pretending that he has everything under control.

     The girl that decides to give him a scare has a tiny face and scrunches her nose in the cutest manner. She has deep brown skin, narrow eyes that make him wonder if she is part Asian, small brows and very soft makeup on her face. She looks so angelic. Her petite frame makes Levi look like his build is larger than it actually is.

     “I’m Aiko,” she says happily.

     “Levi,” he replies then remembers he still has an urgent task at hand. “I have to take this to Dra- Edith, I’ll see you around I hope.” He turns to go, trying to look as polite as he can. He almost makes it out the door.

     “Yeah, if you’ll last long enough,” she replies softly.

     By the time the words have finally registered, Levi quickly looks back to where Aiko is and finds no one, almost like he has just imagined her. It is the meanest thing he has ever heard coming from someone who looks so kind, happy, bright and cheerful. The contempt in her voice didn’t match the adorableness on her face.

     Levi makes it to the dragon’s lair just fine. The dragon’s lair that isn’t dark or scary as he would like to think. It is actually so full of light it’s almost blinding. (A mild exaggeration but oh well…)

     The Dragon sits on a white leather office chair behind a smooth ebony desk, overlooking a low round table and green sofas on either side of it. The large windows bathe the room in sunlight, accentuating the very simple and yet classy decor details. Behind her chair is a huge marble wall and on the edges of it are beautiful shelves. On the far right are bookshelves from the ceiling to the floor, and on the far left is shelves filled with trophies and framed pictures. Beautiful. Just beautiful.

     Dragon reaches her hand out to Levi and he remembers that he still has her coffee in his grip. He walks towards her and finally notices that she has been speaking to a man seated on the green sofas. Dragon takes the coffee from him and puts it to her lips, her watch glinting in the morning light.

     Levi expects ridicule, because there is a ninety percent chance he made the wrong coffee. But he holds his breath for the other ten percent. After she takes a sip, she finally looks at him. “Perfect,” she says much to his surprise, and relief. “If you don’t mind Lukas, could you show him his workstation?”

     “Sure,” Lukas replies, already getting up.

     Levi admits that he has never seen hair look so soft before. Lukas is relatively taller and wider than him as he notes while he brushes past him, leading the way to wherever. He is sure the man is at least five years older than he is. They walk in quietness for a while until he hears his voice suddenly. “What is your name?” He seems so gentle and kind.

     “Levi,” he replies.

     “Levi,” Lukas repeats in a low voice, and then he is quiet again. Levi also notes that it doesn’t make him uncomfortable at all.

     The cubicles have numbers, and he is led to number 9. Levi cannot thank the heavens enough that it is more spacious than he imagined it to be. It is four cubicles stuck together in stations of four workspaces each and close to zero privacy.

     “You can just set up here and then get to work,” Lukas says before pushing his chair out for him.

     “Set up?” Levi asks.

     “Yeah. Framed pictures, a potted plant, a calendar…maybe an action figure?”

     “I don’t have any of…I didn’t bring anything…”

     Shit, what will Dragon think?

     Lukas shrugs and taps the chair. “Get to it then,” he says and makes to go.

     “Thank you,” Levi says and gets only a nod in response. He takes a seat and gets to it as said, nodding and responding briefly to his co-workers’ greetings and welcoming words.

<<<

     “You do know that it’s your lunch break right?” Levi hears Lukas say from nowhere. “You can take a break.”

     “I know, but I don’t want Dragon to fire me,” Levi says then looks up quickly after what he says. “Did I say that out loud? I meant Edith.”

     Lukas’s lips twitch. “Take a break,” he says while getting up. “I promise, she wont fire you.”

     He doesn’t want to take his word for it but takes the break anyway, because Archie is already calling him.

     “Hey heyyyyy! I hope the house has not burned down yet,” says Archie.

     “I’m managing. It’s been meh, so far.”

     “I totally believe you Levi. Have you met your gossip squad yet?”

     “Gossip squad?”

     “Yeah, it’s usually the people working closest to you. Anyway, you’ll meet them sooner or later…just wait for the smallest sign of a scandal at your workplace. Have you eaten?”

     “Not yet, have you?”

     “Just had breakfast now…or is that brunch? Whatever. Katya just made the grandest and most delicious breakfast. I think the sex left her in a good mood,” his lips then twist into a sleazy smile. “We’ve been fucking for hours.”

     “Jesus Archie! I’m at work!” Levi looks around to make sure no one was paying attention to him and his best friend. The space seemed empty enough thankfully.

     “I know,” says Archie. “Are you sure you don’t want to watch us? Even once?”

     Levi shakes his head before his mouth can form the words. “No thanks.”

     Archie and Katya have tried to convince him several times to watch them being intimate–apparently one of the kinks they wanted to explore and couldn’t think of a better candidate than him.

     “Fine, whenever you change your mind.”

     “Not anytime soon.”

     Levi spends the entirety of his lunch break speaking to Archie. He only notices this after everyone has started coming back and resuming wherever they had left their work. Shit. There was no time to find any food, so he would just have to settle for eating after work.

     Just as he makes his conclusion in his head, a package is placed on top of his desk. “I didn’t order any food,” he says to the delivery lady.

     “This is cubicle 9,” she confirms like Levi does not know what he is talking about, which he sort of doesn’t.

     Levi ignores the few stares his way and decides not to argue as he is sure his stomach will growl at any moment’s notice. He shoves down as much of the food as he can down his throat in the shortest amount of time possible then gets back to work, grateful for the food. There is a moment he stops eating and looks at the food strangely, thinking what if it was sent by Aiko and is actually poison. His hunger out-rules this notion and he shrugs and goes back to the food.

     It is late by the time Levi decides to stop working, he doesn’t know this until he actually glances outside. It is dark, and there’s almost no one else left at the office. He gathers his things and gets up. He almost flinches at the sudden contact on his back.

     “Not bad for your first day,” says Aiko. This demon.

     “About what you said earlier…” It is shocking even to Levi, that he takes the confrontation approach.

     “What did I say?” She asks innocently.

     Levi studies her for a moment before finally shaking his head. “Never mind.”

     “I heard someone got you lunch,” she says and Levi could swear he heard the contempt ooze back into her voice. “Who was it?”

     Levi shrugged. “Honestly, no idea.”

     She narrows her eyes before deciding that he isn’t worth her time. “Hmm,” she says before she turns to go. “…get too comfortable…” Levi catches before she completely disappears, he almost doubts he heard right.

     He decides to ignore it once again. He barely knows if he is even doing anything right and there comes this cross between a demon and an angel…he just couldn’t and would not deal with it at the moment.

     After re-organising his workspace and pushing his chair in, Levi turns to go, super-proud of being in one piece by the end of the day. He cannot help the small smile on his lips before he leaves the office and exits the building.

     It has taken an entire day of being busy to forget about the situation inside his own house, his entire spine-chilling and sleepless night and the events that concurred within it. He has forgotten so much of it that it now feels like a distant dream and nothing to worry about.

     This is where he is wrong. Because all it takes is one look at the broken plate on the floor and he is reminded that his fears are as real as his confusing first day at work. Forcing himself to move, Levi cleans every last piece of broken glass and disposes of the rubbish.

     He checks every single corner of every room he enters. Again.

     If this was any normal situation, he’d shower, make himself food (more like order) and just relax before going to bed. But this is no normal situation. He cannot even fathom the notion of taking his clothes off, much less doing any other thing. He stands by the window in his living room, fingers tapping restlessly against his forearm, thinking of what to do.

     Gathering all of his bravery, he speaks. “I can feel you,” says Levi out loud. He feels him everywhere; in the prickling of his skin, in the silence encasing the room without his words, in the thickness of the air in the room and in the forefront of his mind. He almost thinks he sees the flickering of a shadow. “Show yourself.”

     The creature does not show itself, making Levi feel like he held his breath for no reason. Maybe he isn’t here anymore. Maybe he finally left just like he asked him to. Maybe this weird and unconventional episode of his life has finally run its course and come to an end.

     Except for one thing.

     “Human,” the soft growl is right into his ear, making goosebumps break out onto his arm. rendering him both speechless and motionless, and driving him mad with anticipation.

|04|

Chapter 4.

Wraxrryn of Hakaš

 "How..." Levi struggles to place his words. "H-how can you possibly be real? There's no such things!"

 He can feel heat emanate from the big body behind him, realer than any feeling of fear or doubt that he has at the moment.

 "I don't understand," he says in a cool and rough voice that doesn't find a hard time wrapping itself tightly under Levi's skin. He doesn't have to notice such irrelevant details while trying to grasp the impossible reality of the situation. Where does one even start?

 "You're not human, you...you just appeared out of nowhere...you have wings!"

 Levi tenses and is sure his soul is about to leave his body when he sees something coiling at the front of his face. It is all he can do not to let his legs give out. "I have a tail too," the creature says before the tail literally disappears into thin air. "You are a lot calmer than you were the night before, so if we are done describing my physique, I suggest we get to the reason why I'm here."

 "But you have a tail," he replies. His voice is almost frantic, dropped down low to a whisper.

 "There are several beasts in this world as I've heard, and they all have tails. Why does this frighten you?"

  "B-Because you're a man."

 "And did you not just accuse me of not being human?"

 Levi shakes his head and makes frantic movements before moving a safe distance away from the creature. He then faces him while shaking his head. "Whatever you need to do, it isn't happening. I suggest you just take your leave already, sir."

 "Take my leave?"

 "Yeah. You should go, disappear...whichever you prefer. The faster the better."

 The creature is suddenly across the room and looming over Levi with his grip tight on his chin, and their faces inches apart. "Fine." He can feel him move a finger from the side of his thigh, dragging it slowly upwards.

 "What are you doing?" Levi's voice is shaky, his breaths getting shallower.

 "Leaving...in the fastest way possible."

 Understanding dawns on Levi just as the man's lips almost touch his. There is that familiar pull towards the creature, fighting with himself not to lean into him. The creature doesn't make it any easier when he gently runs his fingers down Levi's face on his cheek. This was someone so far more experienced in intimate acts than Levi is. His hand is steady, and so is his gaze. He knows exactly what to do, Levi can feel it. There is no uncertainty in his touch, no wavering in his actions. It turns him on to no end, but he cannot be sure if it is really him or some kind of evil force compelling him to submit so easily. Whatever it was, definitely wasn't holy.

 Levi suddenly gathers enough strength to pull away. He is so overwhelmed that it is hard to believe that he has managed the feat.

 "How are we to do this if you keep resisting me?" He asks and for the first time, Levi gets the smallest hint of frustration in his voice. "And just how are you capable of such a thing, what are you hiding from me...

human ?“ The way he speaks the title this time, is sceptical. Levi ignores it.

 "There is no 'we' here. And we certainly aren't doing anything. Or going to. Do you not understand?" 

 The creature chooses silence, but he cannot hide his frustration for too long. His jaw ticks in absolute irritation. "Fucking Hymir," he rasps out before taking two steps back, which does nothing to calm the growing fear within Levi, not with the intense gaze he is suddenly pinning the plausible 'source of his irritation'. 

 Levi swallows, looks away briefly, then looks back after deciding that he is not going to be so easily swayed. He chooses his next words very carefully. "Yeah...so, since that is agreed..." he swallows again. "I'm thinking we should at least understand a few things—you know, about each other?"

 The creature's dark brows furrow even further, he cannot be more unbelieving. How ironic. Levi clears his throat. "First, can you harm me?"

 The same irritated lips curl up in amusement. He keeps watching Levi, so much that he's sure the frustration will kill him before any harm is done. "Not if I don't want to. Not physically anyhow," he answers like the question does not surprise him.

 "And do you want to? Harm me that is?"

 "I should wring your neck for summoning me and refusing to be done with it."

  Levi's voice drops to its lowest yet. "You want to?"

  He sighs, as if deciding to finally put the man out of his misery. "No. I am bound to you. Not that it is in my interests, but I can't raise a hand against you, unless you want it."

 Levi hopes he isn't blushing at the last bit, wondering if what he means is close to some sort of master and servant relationship, where this creature in his living room is his humble and loyal servant. It cannot look more inaccurate.

 "Humble?" His right brow cocks upward.

 "You just read my mind?" Levi utters his disbelief, ignoring the shiver that runs down his spine after hearing that response.

 "I did not."

 "You did."

 He sighs yet again. "I mostly deciphered the emotions attached to your thoughts. They are all over the place. A bit embarrassing honestly."

 Ouch. This is a lot for Levi to accept, so he clings to the silver lining that offers him some sort of relief. "But you can't hurt me."

 "No. But I can...lead your thoughts astray," his eyes seemed on the brink of glowing. "I can influence them, and in turn influence your actions. I can deflect those same thoughts...make you change your mind about certain things. I could make us see eye to eye."

 It almost sends a shiver through Levi. And if this is the case, then it is a little odd that the creature is not already taking the advantage. "But?" He asks.

 "You surprisingly have a strong mind. Quite difficult to sway. And...you are undoubtedly interesting. That was not expected."

 Levi takes offense to this. "Surprisingly?"

 The creature crosses his arms across his broad chest. "Human minds are extremely manipulatable, very delicate and easy things you could say. In your mind right now, I can feel it race. You're thinking too many things at the same time, if I offered you peace, even without knowing it, you'd readily agree to whatever I wanted. If I held your single most important thought and made you focus on it...focus on me, you'd do what I wanted. You'd want to do anything for me, and I wouldn't have to lift a finger. That is how simple you creatures are."

 Ouch, (this time for the human race).

 In the next few seconds, Levi feels his mind go completely quiet and almost blank. It is so peaceful, like the few moments of silence after TV static ceases, before sound begins to return. He has never felt anything close to this in his life—this type of calm. Tears threaten to sting his eyes while his knees threaten to buckle.

  "There it is," the man before him says. He doesn't even understand how he got there, or when, but his voice feels like cool water running down his parched throat on a hot day. He could listen to it all the time. "Your curiosity. The most profound element in your mind right now."

  Being the reason for his curiosity, only the creature fills out every corner of Levi's mind. His hands shake as they grip him. He doesn't know, nor does he decide if it is out of pure need or only to steady himself.

 "Human," says the creature, his voice so tempting, completely alluring. "We have to have sex." Of course it makes total sense, it is obviously the only reason he is here, and the only reason he'll leave, how could he not see that?

 "We do?" Levi asks weakly, and the creature smiles almost sweetly.

 "I'll be extremely gentle, human," he cajoles. "I'll kiss you here," his long fingers graze the side of Levi's neck. "I'll lick every sweet inch of this delicate skin." Levi starts to feel hot. "I'll fuck you so good you'll be begging me not to ever finish, it'll be the single most beautiful experience of your existence. So go ahead," the beautiful fingers now push Levi's hair farther away from his face. He leans into it too readily. "Tell me how you want it." Levi feels tingles run down to his toes from the kisses on the tips of his fingers. "How you want me."

 Levi feels like he might as well erupt. 

 "I...I want so much...I want–" He stops midway. "No." It is a struggle but Levi finally pulls away from him after hearing what he says, his own words betraying him. His own body betraying him, well on his way to getting hard in his obvious need for the hell creature before him. "No," he says as a last effort at resistance.

 The sudden withdrawal causes pain he did not see coming, to shoot up his head. Levi quickly cradles his it between both his hands and bites back the cry of pain that wants to escape his lips.

 First, he is falling down, and next he is weightless, circled by the heat coming from the creature's chest, holding him to a steady, beating heart. "Need...to lie down..." Levi struggles to say.

 The creature walks to the couch and sits down, dragging Levi to sit on his lap and letting him lean against him. "You really are something," the rough, and yet somehow velvety voice says. "Interesting indeed."

 "It really...hurts."

 Levi feels the hands gently stroking his temple to ease the pain. It feels like magic. "You should not have acted so rashly. If only you had asked, I'd carefully detach from you."

 "Why?" Levi asks. What he means to ask is why is it so painful, but the words remain clogged somewhere in his throat, refusing to surface.

 Thankfully, the creature explains anyway. "Your mind was constantly thinking many thoughts at once before it was emptied of its usual process. Everything else disappeared and it went quiet, creating sort of a void. Think of it like a confinement, however ironic. When you tried to escape, both with your body and mind, you shocked all of those thoughts back at the same time. That should be painful. It is a wonder you are still conscious."

 Levi groans and breathes hard against the hard, tight muscle wedged against his face.

 "Better?" The creature asks.

 Levi is fascinated, the man holding him didn't do anything and yet the pain seemed to recede, if only somewhat. He nods, nuzzling his chest this time. "How...how did you do that? Did you do that?" 

 He can feel him tense against him, but Levi doesn't focus on any of it. He is only interested in stealing more warmth from the solid chest.

 When the pain subsides, comfort forgotten, he jumps away quickly, realising that he cannot be so vulnerable with something he cannot even understand. All it would take was such a moment, and he could snap his neck...like he said he should. Levi gets on his feet, moving to stand a few feet away from the man-creature-thing on his couch. They both regard each other suspiciously.

 "Just what especially is wrong with you?" The creature is not irritated this time. He seems distracted, regarding him like the human looking at him is a specimen, and every moment is a different fascinating discovery about it. "I'm not going to hurt you."

 Most of his hair is swept back, but that doesn't stop a few strands from falling forward, past where his small horns are protruding from. This time, Levi outrightly refuses to faint, because at this point, he'd be fainting every two minutes.

 The devil sighs again, and then the horns vanish, just as the tail had, not too long ago.

 "What is your name?" Levi asks while crossing his arms, unable to release the breath he is holding. He fails miserably at trying to feign confidence.

 He is being stared at for long enough to make him nervous, until Levi is almost convinced that he will not answer. But the expression on his face disappears, and he straightens. "Wraxrryn of Hakaš. You may call me Keltyryr."

 Levi understands but doesn't. "What?" The creature doesn't answer him. "Kel...t. Kylt...eer?" He still doesn't answer. "Kelt?"

 "How insulting."

 "Well, I have never heard a name that is mostly sounds," Levi is getting more comfortable. "So I'm going to call you Kelt." 

 A sound of disapproval escapes the creature, looking borderline grumpy.

 Levi's expression softens almost immediately. "Let's call a truce."

 "We are not at war."

 Levi does not succeed in trying not to roll his eyes. "Let's just agree that until we find a solution to this...situation, we'll be civil with each other. And...and I'll let you live in my house." He isn't sure about his last statement. He doesn't even think he can exactly kick the creature out. Much less force him to do anything.

 Kelt chuckles. "I have already given you the solution, human."

 "Unacceptable. We'll find another one."

 "There isn't–"

 "There has to be," he cuts him short. 

 Two pairs of eyes meet, hazel brown shrouded in determination across from black irises, narrowed and hard, darker than the night he appeared.

 He stands still for a moment before speaking. "I'll indulge you for now."

|05|

In shadows, his verses caress the night,

Dark whispers that kindle sinful delight

With fiery words, he spins his wicked tales,

Tempting mortals to unravel, fall apart

• Vince Knight

Chapter 5.

Co-existence.

          One week later…

     Levi has never had to write a report in his life, not a serious one at least, so he was not prepared when he was told that he had to compile one by the end of the week and submit it to the head of his department. By this time he wasn’t exactly ‘fond’ of the creature inhabiting his house, he still jumped at the sound of his voice sometimes, and his tail still spooked him when he saw it, but at least he wasn’t ready-to-jump-out-of-his-skin scared every time now. Sometimes they even had meals together, which only meant him eating and Kelt watching him. You don’t get used to it, but you do.

     He looks at the papers staring back at him from his desk. Why do reports even have to be compiled every week? He isn’t well versed with this work-life thing but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t feel right, there is something wrong with the entire regulation. It should be at least monthly, at least that made more sense.

     At the moment, he is trying to make sure everything is peachy before he presents it­—apparently at the privacy of his boss’s office, which he has no idea where it is, nor does he know whom this boss is. Thankfully, he got some directions so he knows where it should be, although he doesn’t know what to expect, having never been there.

            How do you present a report to someone? Do you read everything out loud to them, or do you just drop the compiled file onto their table and make your way out of the place like you are the boss of it?

            There is only one factor that isn’t making his work any easier or faster, almost pushing him to a point where he just wants to wing it and present a report straight from his head. He knows he could do it, it just might not be acceptable. Maybe if he tried to be persuasive about the situation, that could work.

            Levi suddenly gets an eerie feeling, like someone is watching him from the back. Stranger than that is the feeling of a gust of wind, like a breeze lingering at the back of his neck like a caress. He gasps as he turns around, his right hand clasping his nape while a few unfiled papers go flying all on their own. Levi struggles to catch them all before they touch the floor. He fails miserably in his frantic endeavors. And when he looks behind him, there is only Clark, from the next cubicle, delighted to see him. Ew.

            “Howdy neighbour!” He looks like Donkey from Shrek, only a little bit more over confident. “See some papers gotcha panties in a twist,” he chuckles annoyingly.

            Levi flashes him a polite smile and finally picks up the last piece of paper, cursing under his breath at the fact that he let himself get so flustered again, making a mess of himself. This entire Kelt thing was really starting to get to him. Clark wouldn’t believe him if he told him that there was an incubus in his apartment to thank for this, he’d probably veer the conversation in an insanely annoying direction.

            “You alright there?” Another disgruntled looking colleague pauses a phonecall to ask Levi.

            “Just fine,” he answers.

            Levi then compiles everything quickly then excuses himself, leaving the papers on the table for the time being. He takes three minutes to collect himself in the bathroom, repeatedly telling himself that whatever he keeps imagining is not real. Papers flew off all the time, nothing so sinister about it…nothing so dramatic.

            Five minutes later, he forgets about Kelt and quickly goes back to pick up his report so that he can make his way to his superior’s office.

            Nothing prepares Levi for the shock that comes after he pushes the door to his superior’s office open. He comes in only to find Lukas seated behind a desk, eyes furrowing before seemingly closing a window and looking up at him, a small but kind smile is slowly aimed at him. “Please, come on in and sit,” says Lukas.

            “Lukas!” Levi says. “You—” He fumbles. “Am I in the right office?”

            “That depends,” he replies. “What are you here for?”

            “The weekly report?”

            The smile on his face widens. “Yes,” he waves him over. “Right office.”

            “You are head of finance? You’re the CFO?” Levi asks in utter shock, forgetting that his voice is raised higher than he thinks it is.

            “Yes,” Lukas answers calmly.

            Levi wants to get over his shock quicker so as to get on with the reason he is here, but he is having a hard time processing the simple fact that this is the same Lukas who casually walked him to his workstation on his first day and saw that he got started. The same one who then came back to urge him to relax during his lunch break and eat something, so calmly, like he was just any other worker.

            But even now it seems to make more sense that as he’d come down with him, everyone remained glued to their screens and didn’t say anything in what seemed like caution. There had been some tension he hadn’t been able to explain…well until now. It all makes sense now as he hugs his folder closely to his chest. Lukas continues to look at him expectantly until he realises that he must have been lost in his head, looking like a fool.

            “Lukas…uh, sir,” Levi corrects. “Sorry.”

            “No, please, keep calling me Lukas,” he replies. “Although, I do want to hear that report.”

            “Right,” Levi mutters.

            He begins by placing the folder that he was clutching onto Lukas’ desk—the folder contains the hard copy of the report he has compiled over the span of a week—and then he goes on to explain everything in great detail as Lukas listens to intently, nodding here and there and placing his fist against the side of his mouth and giving Levi his undivided attention.

            When Levi is finished, Lukas nods and picks up the folder that was previously placed on his desk. “Good, good,” he says, flicking through quickly before putting it away at the side of his table.

            “In actual sense, I do not require anyone to explain their reports. All I require is a compilation of its written form placed on my desk on time whenever it is due. I asked you to present it physically as a test of sorts. And you have met, or maybe surpassed my expectations. That was really good,” says Lukas.

            “What did you expect?” Levi asks, he does not mean for it to come out so sharply, much less to his superior, but he worked hard on the report and tried to do his best, he wouldn’t allow anyone to thwart his efforts.

            Thankfully, Lukas does not seem offended in the slightest. “Edith tells me you have no prior experience in the working world, much less the business world. I have to know what I’m working with before we can go any further.”

            Levi does not realize that his lips are slowly forming a pout when he looks away. “I’ll do my best.” It is obvious to him now that Lukas knows that he got the job a little unfairly. And probably is supposed to make sure or assess whether he is cut out for the job or not. He will prove that he is.

            “Many people can do their best, Levi,” Lukas leans forward to say. “The real question is: is your best good enough?”

            “I…”

            “After the report you just made and presented, I have high expectations of you. All the more impressive is the fact that you have no work experience at all. But that does not mean there’s room to relax because I’ll be keeping an eye on you.”

            Levi feels pressure build on his shoulders and he squeezes his hands together, unknowingly hiding them from Lukas. “Do you…do you fire people easily?” He asks without meeting his boss’s eyes.

            Lukas looks like he is trying not to smile but fails as for the first time, Levi catches sight of shallow dimples on his cheeks. “I do not,” he replies. “There’s only one thing you need to know about my department, if you want to survive in it.”

            Levi listens critically. “I give a lot of chances, but lazy work is unacceptable. You’ll be safe if you keep that in mind.”

            “I will,” Levi says with determination and his boss nods once.

            Lukas gets up from his chair and walks around to the front of his desk next to Levi. “Now that the report is out of the way, there’s something I’d like to ask you.” He leans on his desk and stretches his legs out and crosses them at the ankles, then folds his arms across his chest.

            Levi, who faces him, does not say anything, he waits expectantly for whatever question it is he wants to ask him.

            Lukas looks him in the eye and doesn’t speak until he grabs his attention, leaving Levi no chance but to look back at him. “I’d like to take you out on a date.”

            “What?” Levi asks without thinking. He so easily slipped out of his work mask. Oh god! This could seriously be the beginning of his love story, it could really be, that is if—

            “Will you go out on a date with me?” Lukas asks again. “I’m not asking as your boss, in case you got me wrong. Just as a man, who finds you very attractive, and would like to get to know you better.”

            Levi is in disbelief. First, because Lukas just totally switched personalities in the blink of an eye. He was so serious one second, like he was the CEO himself, and the next minute asking him out.

            “And…what if…what if I refuse, do I lose my job?”

            Lukas chuckled and shook his head. “Your job has nothing to do with this. I’d like you to know, if you said no, it would change nothing about the entire work dynamic. I will not treat you any differently and you will not lose your job because of me. The only thing I won’t be able to promise is trying again. I can’t promise not to try harder. It’s only been a week but I really like you.”

            Levi’s mouth feels dry when he swallows. “Can I…this is really sudden and I’ve got a lot going on at the moment. I don’t know, can I take some time to think about it?”

            “By all means,” says Lukas. “No pressure.”

<<<

     When Levi gets back home, Kelt is standing right at the door, watching him. Levi purses his lips before undoing it, not exactly sure of how to go about this particular situation. He forces an awkward smile and opens his hands out towards Levi expressively. “My day was great, how was yours?”

            “I tire of being here,” says a very irritated incubus.

            “Oh, I’m sure it’s not so bad,” he offers. For the entire week, Kelt has actually kept his word and indulged him. It is almost like having a roommate, just one that was bound within the perimeter of the house, although to be honest, it is only Levi’s assumption. He wonders why it is so.

          This roommate, amongst other things, was a very distracting one. Levi couldn’t take it anymore on the second day because of how much he couldn’t focus whenever Kelt faced him or talked to him. A cock of that size turns out to be very distracting after all. He found his longest pair of pyjama bottoms and made the demon almost swear to wear it at all times.

            Kelt is a bit difficult but Levi has to admit that he is slowly getting more and more comfortable around him. Besides, Kelt probably thinks he’s the more difficult one in this dynamic, so that evens out.

            “What is that?” The demon suddenly asks.

            When Levi turns to him, he seems to be sniffing the air. “What is what?”

            Kelt does not answer, he only looks at the other man quizzically. His dark fingers twitch at the same time his pointy ears do. Levi walks into the house and observes that everything is exactly how he left it. Sometimes he hoped for the opposite, but this is what he always got, for seven days in a row now.

 He follows Levi to his room, studying him suspiciously, and not saying anything in return. "Do you mind?" Levi starts to take his clothes off, then stops nervously. "I need some privacy, need to take a shower." 

     When Kelt does not budge, he ignores him and gets into the shower and closes Kelt out of it. Levi quickly lathers up his wet body, taking his time to make sure the soap covers every inch of him. When he feels a second person with him in the shower, he opens his soapy eyes, he screams at the sight of Kelt materializing inside the shower. “What the hell!” He stifles another scream when the soap gets into his eyes. Groaning angrily.

     “You smell wrong,” the incubus insists, unbothered by his invasion of privacy.

     “I smell wrong?” Levi demands frustratedly, his eyes killing him.

 "There is this scent all over you."

     “Well I’m taking a shower now, aren’t I?”

 "Did anyone cast a spell on you?" The creature asks patiently.

 "No one said abracadabra to me Kelt, so I guess not," Levi is both frustrated and self conscious, he covers his private parts and chooses to suffer with the pain of the soap in his eyes. "Now can you please get out so I can shower?"

 At this, Kelt finally relents and gives him the privacy he needs. Levi lets out a breath that was somehow previously stuck in his throat. His face feels hot as the spray of the water tries to calm it down, along with the sting in his eyes.

      His eyes are still red moments later, when he is at the kitchen, glaring at a nonchalant looking Kelt who stands in the corner of the other side of the kitchen island. His arms are folded over his chest while he watches him make a light dinner. Levi ignores him and fixes his phone on its stand and presses play on the YouTube video previously paused. The ingredients are scattered all over the island and counter.

            “Again?” Kelt is not even bothered to hide how unimpressed he is.

         “What is that supposed to mean?”

     “You’ve been doing this every night. You’re not good at it.”

            Levi’s mouth falls open. Ouch . He is at a loss for words. Each night he has tried to create a meal for dinner, and every single night he has failed. He has burned, oversalted, undercooked, overcooked and charred everything he has put his hands on. He is basically any chef’s nightmare. He was truly terrible at it, but for Kelt to point it out so blatantly caught him completely unawares. “Its not as easy as you think!” He said defensively. He was trying his best after all! He ignores him after that.

     An hour later, Levi is collecting a box of pizza and chicken wings from a delivery man at his door. He ignores the look on Kelt’s face, kicking the door closed and walking past him after tipping the delivery man.

 "You see? I told you, you weren't good at it," said Kelt.

 "Yeah shut it!" He doesn't want to hear it.

 "You say this, but by the next nightfall, you will do the same. Why?" Kelt sounds like he genuinely wants to understand such stupidity.

 "It's important to me," he replies frustratedly. "You wouldn't understand anyway."

 "Hmm," Kelt takes a moment to think about what he has said while following him to sit next to him in the living room. "Foolish human."

 "Clueless demon," he shoots back. Kelt smiles pityingly.

 Levi did not know he was starving as much as he actually is, until the smell of the food started to properly waft its way into his nostrils. He grabs a slice of pizza and pushes the box towards Kelt who glances at it disinterestedly, going back to pin Levi with a stare. 

          Levi continues to eat the pizza. Two slices disappear before he picks up the TV remote, adjusting himself to properly sit before the screen. He fails to get comfortable enough because the man next to him is not blinking. He is still staring at him. After his third slice, he cannot take it anymore. “What!”

         Kelt doesn’t miss a beat. “You’re certain no one touched you today?”

          Levi’s eyes widen on their own accord before they roll. “Again with this? What is wrong with you?”

     “It’s what is wrong with you.”

      Levi scoffs. “Nothing is wrong with me, maybe you need to stuff your mouth with some pizza, seriously, it’s delicious.”

      “I’m sure your tongue is just as delicious,” he calmly states, never tearing his gaze away. “How about I stuff my mouth with that?”

     Levi looks away quickly, his face flaming as he momentarily forgets his hunger. He definitely did not see that one coming. And he definitely didn’t expect it to affect him the way it did.

     “You’re so easily flustered,” the demon replies.

     “Sorry I don’t have the confidence of a sex demon.”

     “Is that why your cheeks are so red?” He teases him, tickling said cheek with the tip of his index fingernail. Levi swats the hand away, shoving a drumstick in his mouth. Kelt pulls the bone out clean and drops it onto the other bones. He chews twice or thrice before swallowing. He pushes closer to an unsuspecting Levi who freezes. “Just when you leave tomorrow, be careful…Levi.” His name still sounds a little weird falling off his tongue. It sounds like a cross between Lima and River.

     He realizes that Kelt is waiting for a response so he nods, feeling oddly warm for some reason. He shakes it off quickly and reaches for his strawberry-lime punch. He pops the straw in, takes a long sip and hands the rest of it to Kelt. “Try this,” he says.

 Kelt imitates what he saw him do, but a frown covers his face as nothing happens. Levi who has been waiting to see his reaction to his favorite drink looks at him quizzically, until he bursts into laughter. "Do you not know how to use a straw?" He asks in shock.

 "What is a straw?" Kelt asks grumpily.

 Levi chuckles as he turns to Kelt, food forgotten. "You just put it in your mouth like this, and pull, just suck it in."

 Kelt puts the straw in his mouth, then he pulls a breath in. Levi cannot hold his laughter in, it pours out of him. "This is so cute oh my gosh," he mutters. To his surprise, the creature is not angry, not even irritated, instead he is gazing at Levi with the straw in his mouth and smiling softly. Almost cheekily.

 "Don't suck like you're sucking in a breath, suck it like..." The moment he trails off, the demon pulls it all in successfully, draining the entire cup in one go. "Yeah, like that."

 "Oh!" he says confidently. "It's quite easy." He shakes the cup thoughtfully, the sound of ice cubes sloshing about inside the cup. "What is left in here?"

“Those are ice cubes. They are supposed to keep the drink cold but you already finished that…” Levi trails off just as Kelt rips the cup in half, dumping half the ice cubes in his mouth. Levi has never heard someone crunch ice cubes so loudly before, let alone the amount he happily munched on. “What is this!” He asks delightedly when he has swallowed all the crushed ice.

  "Ice cubes," Levi answers. "But you're not supposed to eat them like that or..." Kelt pours the rest of the ice cubes in his mouth. "Your teeth..." The creature chews on the cubes, crushing them with no visible sign of discomfort, only glee, so Levi gives up. Who knows what demon mouths and teeth were capable of. "Never mind."

 When Kelt looks back down, he frowns. "There's no more," he says disappointedly, offering the destroyed cup to Levi.

 "Wait a second." Levi cannot understand his own excitement as he gets up and rushes to the freezer and retrieves a bag of ice cubes. He brings it to where Kelt is sitting and fills the cup of juice with them. 

 To his amusement, Kelt chews the tiny blocks like he has just found the elixir of life. When he is done he licks his lips. "That is seriously so good," he says to Levi. "More!"

 At this point, Levi gives up, he hands him the entire bag and sits back to watch Kelt devour it. It takes him less than five minutes and the bag is empty. He didn't have the heart to tell him to slow down. "Where did you get this?" He asks. "I've tasted nothing like it before."

 "Are you serious? It's only water you know."

 "No," he answers, squeezing the empty bag in his tight fist. "It's ice cubes."

 "Sure, sure." Levi chuckles and ignores him, making a mental note to do a little shopping on his way back home the next day. He grabs back the tv remote and flicks through several Netflix titles.

     “I like the sound you make when you laugh,” Kelt says, going back to study the human next to him.

     Levi’s insides attempt to jump around, and yet he pretends he hasn’t heard any of it. He picks up a chicken wing and dips it in garlic sauce before taking a bite. Nervously and carefully without looking at him, he asks. “What should we watch?”

 "This is of no importance to me," Kelt answers dryly while he shrugs. He is only amused by Levi's reaction. "Why are you ignoring what I said? Does it make you nervous?"

     First of all, this is what he swears by every time they watch a movie, but Levi knows that he’ll scoot closer to him the moment he has picked one, and will watch with full concentration to the very end. Or at least he assumes. (Because most times, he’ll be asleep before can finish a movie or a show) Second of all, yes, it does in fact make him very nervous when he goes and says things like that, but he will never admit it to him. “Quiet,” he says. “Let’s watch the movie.”

 Kelt obeys, and they watch in silence for a while, Levi too tired to put away the leftovers of their dinner, and Kelt too clueless to do it. Either that, or he really likes movies. He stifles a yawn after about twenty minutes in, and can feel the fatigue finally wash over him. For several nights in the past week, he has remembered falling asleep to a show, but always waking up in his bed. He has never asked about it.

 "Kelt," Levi starts, he wants to bring this out more than he wants to watch the movie.

 "What is it?" The voice is almost irritated. No, the demon definitely liked movies, so he pauses before he can go on.

Levi thinks carefully about what he wants to say. "I'm sorry for leaving you alone everyday. I know it sucks," Kelt stops but he doesn't say anything. "And I know it's unfair, if I could take you with me, I would, but you only seem to reside within this perimeter. I'll find a way to make it up to you. I know it's not your fault you're here." Levi stops himself before he can blabber on about how he is already harassing ChatGPT to find ways to reverse the issue, of course without any sex involved at all.

 Kelt is quiet. So quiet it becomes unbearable. He doesn't say a word as 'Mrs Harris goes to Paris' remains paused on the screen. It's a movie about a poor and honest lady who goes to Paris to buy a dress from Dior. However bland the description may be, her personality makes the entire film electric, so Levi has watched it about twice now. He groans low in his throat in frustration. "Will you say something? Anything?"

     Kelt speaks in a measured voice. “I can leave this perimeter, Levi. You just haven’t permitted me.”

     Levi sits up to stare at him like he has grown three heads. “What?”

     Kelt shrugs. Levi laughs in disbelief. “You’re telling me, this whole time you didn’t have to be here? Do you like being here?”

     Kelt did not answer the question.

     Levi does not expect to laugh but it tears past his lips. The situation is a bit too absurd. He looks back at the incubus in disbelief. The incubus stares back. “You should know this.”

     “How could I know this?”

     “You summoned me!”

     “Jesus Christ. I barely know anything about that!”

     “I thought this is where you wanted me.” The room is quiet for a little while after Kelt says this. Quite honestly at that.

     “Okay look, if we’re going to get to know each other and coexist successfully for the time being, we both have to be on equal footing, communicate our wants and needs so we can both be on the same page and live comfortably, okay?” Levi tries to reason with him. “Is there anything you’d like to express, any needs, maybe you’d like to go outside? To the zoo? Sightseeing? Something you want that I can get when I go shopping? Maybe even something you’d like to do to remind you of home!” Levi is determined to do just about anything to make it a little more comfortable for the incubus.

     Kelt thinks about it for a while, releasing a deep sigh like a burden has been lifted off him before folding his arms across his chest. “The need to fuck you grows stronger with each night we spend together.”

|06|

Under the blood moon, where shadows play,

The creatures of night, come out to sway,

Their hearts beat with darkness, their souls on fire,

As they dance beneath, the crimson desire.

• e.a

Chapter 6.

Dates and Demons and Bitches and Best Friends Too.

     Levi looks at figures and facts on his computer screen. His fingers work at an incredible speed to organize it into information that makes more sense than random numbers. It is many times like this that he feels a familiar heat get closer to him. It is always Lukas. This time however, it definitely isn’t.

     “I don’t believe we have properly introduced ourselves,” a man who sits at a table diagonally across from him says to him.

     Contrary to how shows have made it seem to be, they might have been four tables with four cubicles each in the room he worked in, but it was not anywhere near as loud as he expected it to be. The room was almost always too quiet, getting only crazy during lunch breaks and team discussions. Crazy during lunch breaks only meant louder conversations from the usual norm.

     “I’m Tom,” the man tells him. He looks like he could be Levi’s younger brother. There is a woman right behind him, looking at Levi interestedly, she has pushed one side of her headphones away from her ear so that she can hear what is going on. She smiles brightly at him. “I’m Heidi.” Black people always had perfect teeth, in his experience. His first impression of Heidi was that she was the exception. Whatever was going on in there was a total mess.

     “I’m Levi,” he answers, glancing at his watch, then looking back to smile at them both politely.

     “Yeah,” Tom licks his lips before continuing, Levi catches sight of the piercing in his tongue.  “You’re kind of popular around here.” He doesn’t know what he means by that. “Do you wanna grab lunch with us?” He gestures to Heidi. “You’re new.” He ends by saying like that is all the explanation.

     “It’s been about three weeks,” Levi gets the uneasy feeling that Lukas might decide to come down right now and make this situation worse. “Listen, it’s nice to meet you both but let’s grab lunch another time. I gotta go right now.”

     “See, I told you. Now you owe me,” Heidi says to Tom. Have they been betting on him?

     “As rumor would have it,” Heidi pushes forward to talk, she drops her voice down to a whisper. “You and Mr L are dating. You’re going to have lunch with him aren’t you?” How the hell could they already know about that, especially with such a quiet place. 

     He will admit that Lukas is not discreet about his intentions. The man comes down to his workstation so much that now, from time to time, he got uneasy looks from his co-workers especially the ones seated closest to him. He can tell it is beginning to make them maybe the littlest bit uncomfortable, because no one wants their boss breathing down their necks all the time. And he isn’t exactly thrilled to be in the spotlight for this particular reason.

     Lukas is warm with him, kind, and gentle, and while he would love for a boss to have most of these traits towards him, he is a little hesitant when this particular boss claims to be romantically invested towards him because at the end of the day, it is a workplace. What would Dragon Edith think if she found out about it? He has seen enough shows where establishing a romance at an office, always led to disaster, one way or another. The books…those always made sure it was a success.

     “We’re not dating,” Levi says before saving his work on his computer. He makes to get up and the two give him space. “Nice to meet you Heidi, Tom.” He genuinely would not mind getting to know them better, but just not right now.

     Levi picks up his sweater from his chair, and walks away from his work station. He is saving everyone there the awkwardness of having their boss come to remind him of their lunch date, and throwing everything he just said into the trash.

     These two wouldn’t mind…in fact, he is sure they’d be thrilled and smug about their suspicions. Clark definitely wouldn’t mind, because then he’d have enough to talk about and try to tease him about. All with that annoying Tow-Mater voice of his.

     At the elevator, he meets Aiko. Naturally, he tenses up. “I’m going to meet Miss Enid, where are you headed?” She asks, her voice sly. Her cat-like features sharpening to question him.

     “To Lukas,” Levi tries to answer discreetly, willing her not to answer and to leave it at that. He always feels like he is being searched by security every time he speaks with her. He didn’t appreciate the way she always made him feel cautious and tried to avoid her but she continuously proves to be unavoidable.

     “ To Lukas, “ she mimics him in a taunting voice, mocking him.

     Levi tenses up even more than before. He feels his fists begin to ball at his side. “Just what is your problem with me?” He asks, trying hard to keep his composure, trying not to snap at her.

     Aiko does not answer that question. The elevator dings and comes to a stop, opening up to reveal a spotless and empty hallway. “I think you should be getting out now.” She makes a sassy shooing motion with her right hand.

     “Fucking bitch,” Levi mutters under his breath as he walks onto Lukas’s floor. Surprising even himself, he didn’t care whether she heard him or not. She deserved at least that.

     Coming to work here because of the dragon did not mean that he expected everyone to treat him like he run the place, but this was completely uncalled for. Neither of them even knew a thing about each other, but he could feel her hatred towards him like a tangible thing. For a reason he couldn’t even begin to fathom. So what was the big idea!

     He thinks about it so much that he doesn’t think to knock before helping himself into Lukas’ office. He finds him staring at a tiny stack of papers on one side of his desk a little sadly. He clearly wasn’t expecting him to come up, better yet barge in like that, so he quickly wipes the look off his face and replaces it with a smile. “Levi,” he sounds genuinely delighted to see him. “I was coming down to get you, you didn’t have to come up.”

     Levi approaches him. His little mustache looks quite elegant from where he stands, trying to assess the situation. “I know, I figured I’d save you the legwork. Also, you were not coming, so…” Levi looks at him more carefully. “What’s wrong?”

     His boss looks a little jolted that he asked him that. He looks back at Levi affectionately, saying nothing.

     “It’s alright if you have to cancel,” he tells him in sincerity. “We could always go anoth…

     He stops speaking when he sees Lukas shake his head, getting up to leave his desk. “Not a chance.” He picks his jacket up and holds the door open for Levi. “Shall we?”

     Levi nods and turns to walk out, he can tell how much his boss wants to touch him in some way, but is trying to still keep a professional distance between the two of them. He is still his boss after all, and they aren’t in a relationship yet.

     He looks dashing in his khakis, held together with a deep brown belt that matches the colour of his dress shoes. Tucked into them was a deep navy blue collared t-shirt. Levi was not even aware that the building had a garage several levels down from their floors. Apparently there are two sub levels after the ground floor, and he is in awe with the number of cars inside. It looks like everyone at the company drives but him.

     Lukas holds open the door of his Carmine red Porsche Panamera for Levi to get inside before going round to get behind the wheel in the driver’s seat. “You look nice.” He says once he is inside, taking a moment to properly look at Levi. Levi looks down at his slacks, dress shirt and necktie while he wears the seatbelt. He hasn’t worn his sweater yet but to him, just the same, he still looks like an ordinary worker. An intern even.

     “Thanks,” he answers. “But you look better.”

     Lukas smiles but does not respond, and shortly after, they are on their way to have lunch. He only hopes that it is not a high end restaurant, because he is well aware of how much Lukas likes him. The poor man might not be able to help himself and go all out in the hopes of winning him over.

     His boss compliments him for the second time when the waiter has left with their orders. “You have pretty hands,” he says when he notices Levi’s nervous hands on the table. It takes everything in him not to hide them, because that would just make the situation worse in an awkward way.

     The restaurant isn’t the most ordinary, but it wasn’t high end either. That makes him relax a little. He is not as on edge as he initially thought he would be. “I love a good manicure, is all.”

     “May I?” Lukas asks, with his hands out in front of him, asking for permission and reaching out for Levi.

     He nods and extends his hands towards the man. Lukas gently takes his hands in his and rubs his thumbs over his knuckles before leaning in to drop a kiss on each of them. Levi wants to melt at the romantic gesture, having the weakest spot for anything romantic, but it doesn’t exactly make his heart race like the shows and books said it would, but he chooses to ignore that.

     He looks at Lukas’s handsome features and his soft hair falling forward, before he sits back in his chair, letting him go. Levi doesn’t know what else to do so he looks down, suddenly shy. He looks back up when he hears Lukas chuckle. “God, I think I like you a little bit more with each day.”

     Why ? He wonders to himself, he doesn’t voice it. Why does he seem to genuinely like him so much, barely even knowing him, and from his very first day at the office. He’d ask at a later time, right now was a bit too soon for that. “Get to know me a little bit more,” he tells him. “You might be disappointed.” The man doesn’t know that he’s not as well put together as he might seem. He wasn’t even the best at taking care of himself back at his place, after destroying his kitchen, he usually ordered in and watched old movies and dozed off to them sometimes. He wasn’t the best at cleaning, he is actually useless at many things. He feels a touch of horror at the thought of Lukas coming over to his place and assessing him for the mess he currently is. A mess that only Kelt has witnessed. He will definitely pull himself together, he just needs a little more time.

     “I don’t think I will be,” he replies assuredly. Then adds. “How has work been for you so far?”

     “I mean I love it, but I’m not sure if I’m measuring up.”

     “Tell you what, keep doing what you’re doing, and Edith just might give you a promotion. Don’t tell her I said that.”

     Levi beams at him.

     The waiter, a middle aged man with a terrible case of balding, places their food elegantly before them. After muttering a quick ‘enjoy,’ he gives them their privacy.

     Lukas’ plate is more colourful. A medium rare steak sits on a brown sauce that looks and smells delicious. Next to it are mashed potatoes garnished with parsley, then some stir fried asparagus and cherry tomatoes to the side. It looks simple and yet mouthwatering.

     Levi looks down at his own plate and tries not to frown at his bland looking shrimp pasta. But after taking a bite, he takes the thoughts back. It is not so bad after all.

     Lukas has already cut off a big chunk of his steak and smears the sauce all over it, he places it on the side of Levi’s plate. So attentive . He earns points for that. He sits back and takes a sip of his wine after that. “Try the wine,” he says. “It’s really good.”

     “You’re like the perfect guy,” Levi cannot help but blurt out, because who does not want a boyfriend who will give them his food?

     What he earns is a sheepish smile from Lukas. “You really think so?” He sounds very pleased to hear what Levi said.

     Levi nods, smiling back. “Maybe tomorrow I can take you for lunch instead. If you’re not busy of course. You’d have to drive though, I don’t have a car.” Technically, he does have a car, but he’ll get it back after he has proven he can take care of himself without needing it, but Lukas doesn’t need to know this right now.

     “Yes,” his boss answers. He sounds so hopeful that it earns him even more points. “Of course drive, I’ll clear my schedule.”

     “Okay,” Levi answers nervously. “Tomorrow then.”

     Lukas was not done. “Since you do not have a car, I can drop you off to your place too..later after work.”

     “Oh no, that’s okay, I have to go and do some grocery shopping first anyway,” Levi politely declines.

     Lukas looks the slightest bit dejected, but he knows not to push. More points. “Alright.”

      He is completely right about one thing though, the wine is really good, so Levi asks for a second glass, hed worry about work and the harassment from his newly introduced coworkers when he got back. He could just smell it coming, but he wouldn’t deny it. He likes this.

<<<

 "So you are actually in a talking phase with a demon, and he has wings, horns, a tail, and he lives in your apartment with you? Aren't you taking halloween and cosplaying a bit too far?"

 An old man dressed in a dark green t-shirt over baggy khaki pants, is checking out a few yellow and black hammers a little distance away, he wears a cap that covers much of his forehead but tilts his head back to stare at him in mild horror, much to Levi's growing discomfort, he quickly walks away to the next aisle for some privacy. "Shh! Not so loud, you're drawing attention!"

 Levi turns to see the old man has followed after him, he stops a long distance away, but still looks horrified and confused, mouth still hanging open. It is until Levi waves at him, offering a polite smile, that he holds a hand to his hat and hobbles away. "People are about to think I'm crazy."

 "Because what you are saying is the craziest thing I have ever heard," Archie replies. He is currently in his kitchen and Levi can bet that he rushed back from work just to make something for Katya before she got back home. They are so sweet with each other it could give him a toothache. 

 Of course, being Archie, he is doing it shirtless. It feels like progress because at least this time he is not completely naked. "So you're telling me, that you were serious about that mysterious thing you called me about that night? That was real? Because I'm convinced you're trying to prank me."  

 "I am not trying to prank you. And if I wanted to, I'd make something up like Katya is pregnant and refuses to tell you yet."

 At hearing this, Archie's mind immediately wanders off and he is lost in thought for a while. He even pauses dicing a zucchini and takes a moment to think. "Great! Now I'm not going to able to stop thinking about that." He looks back into the camera and lets out a heavy breath.

     “She’s your Russian wife to be. As you should.” Levi continues. “That reminds me, I should add zucchinis to the list, they are best part of any salad.” He goes ahead to look for them.

     “That is exactly right,” Archie replies, then stops again. “Jesus fucking Christ I’m going to fuck her so hard tonight she won’t even remember how to speak…fuck.” He grabs what appears to be carrots. “Make sure there’s a baby in there by the time I’m done.”

     “Okay maybe I shouldn’t have brought that up,” Levi says. Honestly, all Archie ever needs is an excuse to talk about Katya. this, but let archies dirty mind circle back to it.

     “I’m going to knock her right the fuck up, Levi.” He dices the last of the carrots with more force than is necessary. “Mmm!” He cleans it and puts it away. Levi comes to notice that he is standing next to the same old man again, he looks like he was just minding his business before Levi came around again. He still looks shocked before Levi smiles again politely and exits his aisle.

     “Jesus we get it. Are you even aware we were having a different conversation here?”

Archie sighs. "I know, you're speaking to demons. Do you miss me Levi? Is that it? Because I'll make time to come and see you, l miss our children."

 "Of course I miss you. And I'm not joking about the demon," this part he whispers. "And Jimm died. But anyway–"

     “JIMM DIED???” Archie hollered through the phone. “And you didn’t think to tell me?! Is it this creature you’re taking about. He killed him? I swear to God I’ll stab him if he did. You know what?” He picks up the knife again. “I’m coming over right now.”

     “Calm down! I’m only kidding. No one’s dead.”

     “That isn’t funny Levi,” Archie throws him a dirty look. “These are our children you’re talking about. TSK. And how has your work been going?”

 "Not so bad, I guess. The dragon is not even blowing fire over my head." Levi looks down at the list he'd come up with that morning. He has picked every item on it but the bottom two.

Cheddar cheese, then ice cubes and ice cube trays. He finds the trays first, and thinks about the most excited he’s ever seen Kelt, and the disappointed look on his face when he had finished them and wanted more. Levi didn’t think he had it in him to be so adorable, he is almost tempted to pick every shape the trays came in.

 "And what are you smiling so much about?" Archie brings his face closer to the screen, Levi cannot believe he almost forgot about him. He quickly smothers the smile and shoves two trays into his cart before rushing to find the cheese and ice. "Nothing." 

     “Yeah right.”

     “What are you doing this weekend?” Levi steers the conversation away.

     “Katya and I–”

     “Are coming on a picnic with me, and Kelt. That is the wedding doesn’t come first.”

     “Kelt? You even gave him a name now?”

     “Oh my God, Archie that’s his name.”

     “His name huh, this ought to be interesting.”

     Levi rolls his eyes. “He’s been cooped up in the house, for more than a week now, and I wanted him to go out for a bit. After all, and don’t tell him said this but it’s my fault that he’s here, what’s worse is that it’s my fault he can’t leave either.”

     “I see we have a lot to talk about. But besides that, your guilt thought a picnic would fix it?”

     “You are surprisingly taking this really well, Archie.”

     “Yeah it’s just every other day a demon materialises in real life.”

     “You still don’t believe me, do you?”

     “Frankly, you can be very dumb sometimes.”

     “Yeah, fuck you. I’ll text you the details, you better be there. I gotta go.”

     “Yeah me too. Love you, bye!”

     “Bye-bye.”

<<<

     When Levi gets home, he finds Kelt standing menacingly before the fridge, as if willing his eyes to shoot lasers through it. His ears twitch before he turns sharply to stare at Levi. “I thought I told you to be careful,” he says in a way that threatens to make the hairs on Levi’s body stand.

 Levi takes more careful steps towards him. "I believe I was," he said. 

 "No. You weren't."

 "Not this again," Levi says. "Nothing happened."

 "You smell worse than yesterday," he comes closer to Levi. Levi freezes when he inhales deeply from the side of his neck, all without really touching him. It feels so intimate he doesn't know what to do with his hands. "I don't like it," his lips curl disapprovingly.

 "I don't know what you're talking about." Levi starts to unpack the items he brought with him. "Can you just look past it?"

 "No."

 He sighs. "Fine, how do I smell."

 "Unpleasant."

     “Maybe you aren’t aware because you’ve probably never been to a biology class, being a demon and everything, but we humans have these things called sweat glands, and these sweat glands contribute a huge deal to what we call body odour.” Levi disposes off of a few items from the fridge as Kelt watches him, a little aggravated. “Now usually–”

     “I like your body odour, you clueless human, it’s delicious. And right now you don’t smell anywhere near it.” Levi stops because he can hear the anger in his voice begin to rise, but it doesn’t feel like it is directed towards him.

     “I think you’re smelling something I don’t then,” Levi looks to him curiously, then places a tray of eggs inside the fridge.

     Kelt’s hand closes around his wrist before he can put it back in the grocery bag. He tugs him close and stares heatedly down at him, irritation etched in every part of his face. “Take this off,” he nearly growls.

     Levi doesn’t question him further than that. He will gladly do it if he hates the smell of his sweater so much. He tears his hand away and shrugs it off, dropping it on a stool, looking back up at Kelt. “Are you happy now?”

     Kelt is still staring. “That too,” he adds.

     Levi suddenly feels self conscious. He looks down at his dress shirt, then back up at the angry demon’s black as coal eyes. He swallows. “What?” The temperature in the room seemed to increase.

     Kelt’s jaw ticked. He was absolutely serious. “Now.”

     Levi’s hand hesitantly rose up to loosen his tie before taking it off, then he went ahead to undo the button of his shirt, then the second. Kelt looks like he is spending a good amount of control in not tearing it off him. He doesn’t look back up at him when he is finally half naked, because he knows his face is starting to flame.

     “Stay still,” he says gently, then gets closer. Before Levi can even guess what is going on, he feels his chest meet Kelt’s bare torso while strong arms circled around him, engulfing him. His own arms remain rigid at his sides. It’s safe to say he could easily be crushed into him with this embrace, if it weren’t for how softly he is holding him. His face is buried in the crook of the demon’s neck, where it feels heated. But maybe that is only him.

      He has never felt so tiny compared to him, and yet this is not the case in actual sense. This has to be the longest hug of his life, and when he tries to move, Kelt does not budge. He simply takes his time, and when he is done, Levi actually feels a little lighter, and a little disoriented.

     Kelt steps back to get a better look at him. “Are you alright?”

     Levi nods, hand going to his head. “What did you do?”

     His head clears very quickly and just like that, it feels like nothing happened. When Kelt does not answer him, he looks up curiously. Only to find him staring. Not at his face, but at his bare chest, then at his bare arms, then his lips part before his eyes fix on his neck, somewhere around the base of his throat. Levi catches a glimpse of movement behind the demon before him, his eyes widen as he realizes he is looking at Kelt’s tail curling behind him. The tip of it whipping left and right in an excited manner. He had almost totally forgotten about that. Kelt doesn’t look like he’s noticed, but when Levi unthinkingly reaches a hand out to touch it, it disappears. Along with Kelt. He reappears at the far end of the room, looking everywhere but at Levi.

     “What was that?” Levi asks again, throwing his shirt back on. Kelt is no longer as angry as he was before. Thank God for that.

     “You smell okay now,” he says as he folds his arms across his chest, then he clears his throat. “Really good.”

     Levi cannot tell the difference. He acts calm as he gets back to taking the groceries out of the bag, but nothing is calm about the way his heart is beating inside his chest. All he feels is Kelt’s arms around him, his hard chest, his firm shoulders. Thank goodness he stands so far away to notice it.

     Kelt is back to his side the moment he sees the ice cubes in his hand, a few of them already melting by the time he has got to them. “You brought ice cubes!”

     Levi can’t help his smile. “Oh so suddenly you’re not mad anymore.”

     Kelt throws him a dirty look as he watches him impatiently. He fishes out a huge cup. Levi opens the pack and pours them into the cup for him. He picks one up and throws it into his mouth, giving him the rest.

     He watches Kelt munch in amusement, keeping the cube he picked in his mouth moving so that the cold does not burn him. The happiness rolling off the demon is a bit too contagious. He refills his cup and puts the second bag in the freezer. “You can have these tomorrow,” he tells him.

     Levi then fills the trays with water. “These go inside the freezer. After some time, the water will turn to ice, then you can take them out. That’s how you make ice cubes.”

     Kelt listens carefully. “So you can make ice cubes,” he says curiously. “But you cannot make human food?”

     Levi closes his eyes calmly, and opens them again. “One of these days, I’m going to wring that demon neck of yours Kelt!” He shoots irritatedly.

     “But it’s true!” He protests. “You’re just good with ice and terrible with fire.” He pours the rest of his ice cubes into his mouth, savoring the taste of water before chewing. “You know how to make the best thing in the world.” He says in between munches.

     “Oh God,” Levi wants to smile and groan at the same time. His attention is then stolen by the ringing of his phone.

     He is prepared to see Archie’s picture but there is only a name; Lukas.

     He excuses himself from the kitchen after putting everything away. ’ Going to take a shower’ he mouths to Kelt then leaves, making his way to his room.

     “Hi,” he says into the phone.

     “ Hi ,“ Lukas replies. “ You get home safe?“

     “I’m a big boy Lukas,” Levi says with a cheeky smile.

     Lukas chuckles. “ Just had to make sure. I keep thinking about you.“

     “My, my, what good taste in thoughts you have.”

    Lukas chuckles again. “ I look forward to tomorrow.“

     “Me too. Today was nice.”

     “ I’m really glad ,“ he said, then paused. “ Okay, I’ll leave you alone now that I know you’re okay. I’ve got some work to still finish up here, I’m working late today.“

     “You’re still at the office!” He cannot hide his surprise.

     “ Yeah .“

     “Damn. Way to make me feel lazy.”

     “You’re not lazy.”

     “You just happen to like me.”

     “Well you’re not wrong about that.”

     Levi sighs pleasantly, he keeps his excitement contained and plays it cool. “Thanks for checking on me Lukas.”

     “ Not at all, “ he replies. “ I’ll see you tomorrow. I can pick you up in the morning if you–

     “No,” Levi quickly says. “Thank you. I mean there’s really no need.”

     He is quiet for a while before replying. “ Okay. Call me if you change your mind. “

      “Okay. Bye then.”

     “ Goodbye .“

     Levi stares at his phone after the call, trying not to blush. He forgot about his shower, but now that he remembers, he hums a happy tune while he takes his shirt off. He stops abruptly when he notices Kelt standing at the door, watching him with an unreadable expression. “Jesus what are you doing here!”

     “Who were you talking to?” He asks.

     “It’s just work,” he replies.

     “That does not answer my question.”

     “Why do you care?”

     “You said you were going to shower.”

     “I am,” Levi says. “If you’ll give me some privacy.”

     Kelt does the opposite and walks into the room a little agitatedly. “You can go ahead and shower. I’m going to stay here.”

     “You can’t be serious,” Levi scoffs.

     Kelt shrugs. They watch each other like they are having a standoff. Levi loses very easily. He harrumphs before stalking off to the bathroom, Kelt does not follow him, but he does not leave the room either, as if afraid he might have another phone call after claiming that he’s going to shower. This sudden behavior is difficult for Levi to understand, even though in the past three weeks he’s seen several sides to this demon. This part is the newest one.

     He is surprised to find out too that while in the shower, it is not Lukas that crosses his mind at all, not his gentle words, not their lunch, not his caring nature, not even the phone call they just had. Contrary to his ideal love story unfolding before his very eyes, all his thoughts revolve around the annoying demon in his room. That hug, his excitement, his annoying side, his unpredictable nature, his anger, the way he follows him around sometimes, his patience, his protectiveness. The way he wrapped around him. He can still feel the places where their skin touched.

     Levi takes his time in the shower, and all he can think of is whether to include two strawberry-lime punches in his food order or three. And if incubuses could come back to life after they’d been strangled to death.