Steal My Soul

I had just returned home from meeting with Michael when my phone started ringing from inside my pocket. I glanced at the caller I.D. and noticed the number was restricted. Which meant it could only be one person.

“Hey, Luc,” I answered tossing my stuff onto the bed as soon I walked into the room. I vaguely wondered how he always knew the exact moment when to call. It’s like he could just sense how distressed I was and wanted to help me relax anyway he could. Unfortunately, the simple sound of hearing his voice wouldn’t put me at ease like normal.

“Leighra, how are you?” he breathed into the phone.

“Alright, I guess. Just returned home from talking to your dad’s oh-so-lovely former brother,” I grumbled sitting down on the edge of the bed.

“What did he tell you?” I could tell by the way he forced out his question that his defenses had gone up.

“That’s the thing, Luc,” I sighed. “You need to come here so we can talk about some things.” Although I didn’t want to possibly get into another fight with him right now, especially with Natalie here in the living room, I knew that the conversation had to happen now while I still had the courage. I only hoped that Michael didn’t turn out to be right and Luc ended up lying to me the way he had predicted.

“I understand,” Luc exhaled through his nose as I heard the muffled sound of things being moved about.

“What are you doing?” I asked with a faint smile on my face.

“I’m looking for some clean clothes to throw on. You caught me just as I got out of the shower. Wow, I really need to do laundry,” he grumbled as he continued to search about his room.

“Demons do laundry?” I chuckled imagining look tossing in a variety of clothing and then pouring an entire bottle of detergent into the washing machine.

“Don’t sound so surprised. And anyways I don’t do it…the maids do,” he sheepishly admitted. I rolled my eyes. I should have known.

“Well, I’ll see you in a few minutes then,” I said before hanging up. I made sure the stone on my ring was adjusted on the top of my finger as I headed out into the hallway. I made my way towards the front door knowing any minute that Luc would be knocking at it from the other side.

When I entered the living room I noticed Natalie eating popcorn while staring intently at the television screen where Jurassic Park was playing. I rolled my eyes wondering why she even bothered to watch it anymore when she could act out the entire movie by herself. I leaned over the back of the sofa to grab up some popcorn when Natalie’s hand rose up and smacked the back of my hand harder than I would have liked.

I retracted my hand with a yelp as I stared down at the large red mark beginning to form on my hand.

“What the hell? I just wanted some popcorn,” I snapped.

“Then fix your own. I don’t want your grubby, soulless hands contaminating my popcorn,” she replied in a monosyllabic tone, her eyes never leaving the television screen.

“What does being soulless have to do with anything?” I grumbled rubbing at the dull pain as a knock sounded at the door. Natalie’s head whipped around at the sound; her stormy blue eyes narrowing into dark slits of anger.

“Who dares interrupt my Jurassic Park movie night?” she hissed.

“Chill out, it’s just Luc. And we’ll be heading to my room so as not to disturb you,” I mocked swinging open the door to reveal my fiancé. Luc wore a black zip-up hoodie over a sapphire blue t-shirt; dark blue jeans clung to the muscles of his long, lean legs as he stood gazing down at me. He stepped into our quaint apartment, throwing his hood back off his damp hair, and lifted his hand in greeting at Natalie.

“’ello, Nat—”

“GET. OUT,” she growled. Luc glanced down at me with worry. I waved away his concern and started leading him back to my room.

“Don’t worry about her. She’s always like that when watching Jurassic Park,” I sighed plopping myself down onto my bed.

“That’s actually quite scary,” he chuckled sitting beside me. “So, what would you like to discuss, love?”

“Michael said some things to me today that had me thinking about….us,” I admitted glancing up at him from under my lashes to see his reaction. Those ice blue eyes had darkened, but other than that his expression remained the same: emotionless.

“And what did he tell you?”

I twisted my body to face the demon beside me; I needed to know something from him before I told anything to him. I had to make sure he wouldn’t lie to me from here on out. I believed Luc was a better person than how Michael was making him out to be, but with him being the devil’s son it only made sense that he would lie in order to get his way. I had to know that everything between us up unto this point had been real and not some fabrication of my love obsessed mind.

“First, I need you to promise me that no matter if I end up liking the answer or not, you will be completely honest to me. Promise me that, Luc,” I pleaded locking my soft brown eyes with those diamond blue orbs.

For longer than was comfortable, Luc sat there in silence as he watched me. Those eyes flitted over my face and around my room before settling back on my gaze once more. In the depths of those pale blue irises I could Luc having an inner war with himself. Something had happened in this past week to him that was causing him to falter with his answer. Now I grew concerned that he would begin lying to me just to keep me with him. If that were the case, I didn’t want to admit it, but then I may just have to side with Michael even if he was a manipulating bastard of an angel.

“Luc?” I urged trying to get him to answer me after a few minutes had gone by with him silent. He reached out a tender hand; those rough fingers I had grown to love touching my skin trailed softly across my jawline and down the length of my neck. He touched the center of the pendant that rested snugly beneath t-shirt while his eyes stayed focused on mine. His hand fell back to his side to land against the comforter with a soft thud.

“I promise I will always tell you the truth. Whether you want to hear it or not,” he assured quietly never breaking eye contact. I could tell the war was still raging on inside himself, but his answer was enough to satisfy my fear…for now.

“Ok, well, he told me that I might not be your chosen soul. That you are just…” I waved my hands around in the air trying as I searched for the word I was looking for. “That you’re just keeping it for yourself so that he doesn’t have the chance at stealing it.”

“He’s right,” Luc answered much too quickly. My eyes widened at hearing those words come out of his mouth. Not where he had agreed with Michael, but the fact that Michael had in fact been right.

Luc smiled placing heavy hands on my shoulders. “Leighra, relax yourself. Let me finish what I’m going to say before your mind begins freaking out on me, alright?”

I tried to shake my head loose of any doubting thoughts as I allowed Luc to continue with what he had been saying.

“Michael is right…on one half of it. I am keeping your soul for myself so that he can’t snatch it back. I’m not doing it for selfish purposes though. I genuinely believe you are the soul chosen to connect with mine on levels that go deeper than just mutual attraction. Unfortunately, no, there is no way I can be sure you are the soul I’ve been seeking, but isn’t that normal for anyone? They go through multiple companions constantly searching for their perfect, or near perfect, match until they find someone who they can connect with on a deeper level than just having a few things in common. They want to be able to connect emotionally, physically, mentally…and that’s all I am looking for. You think we demons are different when it comes to finding a companion, but in reality…we yearn for the same thing you humans do…love,” he answered softly, adding a small smile to the last of his explanation.

“That’s just the thing though isn’t it, Luc? We told each other before any of this ever started that we’d never have feelings for one another. We’d never fall in love with each other. So obviously you aren’t keeping my soul because you think I might be the one to connect with you on every level possible; you are keeping it, in a sense, for selfish reasons. That you don’t want Michael to one up you again,” I retorted.

“I…yes, you’re right. We did promise that with each other, but if that is still held true then why are you falling for me?”

I was stunned into speechlessness. There was no way he could possibly know that I was falling for him. I had never told him nor had I confessed it to anyone else as far as I knew. There could be no way he knew how I felt.

“I-I’m not,” I stuttered out my lie feeling my cheeks grow hot with embarrassment at being found out so easily. Although, if I thought about it, it probably hadn’t been that hard for him to deduce just based off my actions around him. He raised a dark brow the way he did when he was about to act all cocky and all-knowing. Without saying a word, Luc reached into the pocket of his hoodie and pulled out a crinkled, folded up piece of paper that appeared to be worn out from the multiple times it had been unfolded and folded again. He placed the paper into the palm of my hand and motioned for me to open it.

Without breaking his gaze, my fingers gingerly opened the paper before I dropped my eyes to see what it was that he wanted me to look at. My free hand flew up to my mouth as tears instantly sprung into my eyes. It was the doodle I had drawn of him the day we had gone to meet his parents. It was the day I had been zoning out in one of my classes and my mind refused to stray away from thoughts of him. Scribbled next to his image in my handwriting were the words ‘why can’t he’ written in the corner next to my drawing of him. Only someone else had finished the sentence I had never gotten to chance to complete myself. In an intricate, beautiful scrawl written in black ink were the words ‘love me’.

I lifted my eyes from the paper as it became harder for me to see the words; hot tears threatened to spill over the edge of my eyelid as I did all I could to blink them back. A blurry vision of Luc swam before me until he wiped his thumb along the bottoms of my eyes with a smile.

“You’re not that hard of a puzzle to piece together, love,” he admitted cupping my chin in the palm of his hand.

“B-but how do I know…” I let my voice trail off as I realized there would be no way I could speak without my words breaking. I cleared my throat and inhaled deeply before retrying.

“How do I know that the connection you feel isn’t just you yearning for the one thing you can never have? And because I’m overflowing with that love, you feel that by having my soul it will give you the love you lack?” I questioned thinking of Michael’s words. Luc’s chuckle was low and rumbled deep within his chest as he continued to sweetly remove the fallen tears from my cheeks.

“What?” he asked amused. “Is that what Michael told you? It figures he would try to mess with your head that way,” the demon sighed pulling me close to him so he could wrap his arms around my body. Those slender fingers tangled themselves in my hair as he cradled my head against his chest. Unlike Michael, there was no sound beneath his chest. Each time I realized it, my heart broke a little more.

“Demons don’t feel connected to souls because we found an overwhelming amount of something we lack in ourselves. I already told you; we search for companions the same way you do. I mean, you didn’t choose to be with any of your past boyfriends because they had something you lacked did you?” he rationalized.

“No,” I mumbled into his chest loving the way that familiar warmth crept into my body. This feeling of immense comfort and protection…I couldn’t get this anywhere else except inside Luc’s embrace.

“Exactly, but I’ll be honest. I don’t know why precisely I connect so deeply with your soul over every other person on this planet, but does it matter to me? No because maybe—just maybe—I found that one thing my father has been preaching to me all these centuries about finding someone who can make you feel different from what you are. Someone that can make you feel like a man more than some soul-sucking demon.”

“Satan preaching?” I chuckled, an image of the demon I had met dressed up in robes and speaking to a church audience about love, or something like it.

“Maybe not the best word to use for him, but there’s nothing else I can call it,” Luc said tightening his hold on me.

“Michael…he told me he is my Guardian. That I was born to be loved by him,” I softly confessed pushing myself out of Luc’s arms so I could meet his icy gaze. “Is what he said true?”

A muscle ticked in the demon’s jaw as he thought over my words and the best way to answer my question. I chewed on my bottom lip hoping that whatever came out of his mouth was the truth.

“Yes, what he said is more than likely true. There are some humans guarded by loved ones long past, but others…God creates special for his archangels. Those children that he creates for his archangels hold a very special soul which might explain one reason I felt so connected to you. Typically, once the child has agreed to release their soul to the Guardian, then no claims can be made on that soul after death by any other demon or angel. Since your soul, however, had yet to be handed over to Michael, it was still up for grabs. Of course it’s not anymore, but souls that are meant to be claimed by archangels hold a special…quality, I guess you could say,” he stumbled through his explanation. I could tell by the multiple worried glances he sent my way that he was afraid I might take offense from his explanation and think he had only taken my soul because he knew I was meant to be with an archangel. It did put things into perspective for me, of course, but I wasn’t going to get mad at him for being honest with me.

“So, one possible reason for our strong connection is the fact that I have a soul meant for an archangel?” I summed up for him.

“That’s only an educated guess though!” he quickly tacked on still fearing my reaction. “There could be many reasons why I felt so pulled to you other than the fact you were screaming out for help from anybody willing to save you,” he chuckled.

“Luc, relax, ok? I’m not going to go off on you for telling me what you believe to be the truth. I’d only get angry if you were lying to me,” I reminded him.

Relief visibly relaxed his muscles and softened the tight features of his handsome face at my words. He slid his hand onto my face rubbing his thumb along my bottom lip.

“I know you would, but the fact of the matter that still stands, Leighra, is that I want you to choose the path that you know, without a doubt in your mind, will make you the happiest. That whoever you end up choosing to give your soul to…you won’t regret that decision years down the road. I meant it when I proposed to you and told you I only wanted to make one woman’s dreams come true: yours. If your dream is living a life with a clean soul destined for Heaven once your physical body perishes…then I want to make that come true for you.

“My father might hate me for letting you go; hell, he might even disown me as his son and crown Rafe as the next king, but I don’t care because at least I know that you’ll be living a happy life. You broke our agreement, but…so did I. I ended up caring for you more than I promised myself I would. It’s hard to not want to see that brilliant smile light up your face any chance I can get or watch your cheeks grow pink with embarrassment as your nose scrunches with anger. You might think you’re lucky for finding a demon that isn’t sadistic like Riri, a major player like Rafe, or just plain disgusting like most other demons, but I think the truth is that I’m the lucky one. I was able to find a human who willingly gave up her soul—even though she had no choice—,” he chuckled when I scrunched my nose in playful anger at him.

“But she also rejected my father, Satan, when he offered her soul back to her and then shot down her Guardian, an archangel of God, when he came to her and proposed to save her soul. Now, I don’t know about you, but she sounds like one badass, stubborn woman that any male would be lucky to have—”

“And she got stuck with an arrogant, cocky, obstinate demon like you,” I interjected with a smirk as I removed his hand from my face and placed a soft kiss on his palm.

A sexy, lopsided grin lit up the demon’s face as he leaned in to press his lips tenderly against mine.

“Ugh, you guys sicken me. Luc, you call yourself a demon? What a disgrace,” a snarky female voice commented from the open doorway of my bedroom.

We pulled away from each other to glance towards Natalie; a disgusted sneer on her face as she watched us separate.

“No one asked for your opinion, heartless wench,” I snapped at her wishing I had remembered to close my door before sitting to talk with Luc.

“I don’t know why you waste your breath calling me such things when you know I have no fucks to give,” she sighed with a roll of her eyes.

“Just leave before I break your nose by closing the door in your face,” I huffed standing up from the bed and making my way over to the door.

Natalie gave me a droll stare as I slowly approached her. I hooked my fingers through the belt loops of my jeans as I watched her knowing there had to be more to her visit than gagging at the sight of Luc and me kissing.

“What did you come back here for?”

“What makes you think I had a reason to come back here and stumble upon your disgusting display of affection?” she retorted with a thin, blonde brow arched high above her blue eyes.

“Because there is always a reason behind your bitchiness.”

“Maybe I just like annoying you.”

“If you have nothing to tell me then leave,” I growled going to swing the door shut.

“Fine, but don’t blame me when you miss out on the season premiere of Psych,” Natalie scoffed walking down the hallway. I flung the door back open momentarily forgetting about Luc as I charged down the hallway, pushing Natalie out of my way as I jumped over the back of the couch to land hard on the cushions. I switched the television to the appropriate channel and became engrossed in the opening credits of the show.

“What’s so spe—”

“Ssshhh!” I silenced Luc’s question as I turned up the volume on the television.

Natalie rolled her eyes and plopped down beside me.

“You may as well go to Hell, Luc. She won’t move until the episode is over,” my roommate advised. Luc nodded his agreement leaning over the back of the couch to place a kiss against my cheek. I didn’t even hear the squeak of the front door opening and closing as he exited the apartment.

Without warning, a steaming bowl of popcorn coated in butter and salt was placed in my lap. I glanced over at Natalie in a daze; her eyes pointed stubbornly toward the television screen. A large smile spread across my face as I watched her.

“Don’t even,” she snapped not even glancing over at me. Just automatically knowing what I was doing.

“You love me,” I teased the wide grin still on my face.

“No. I just don’t want to hear you whine about wanting popcorn later,” she grumbled.

I just laughed at her attitude and went back to watching Shawn and Gus inaudibly argue with each other over some obscure eighties reference Shawn had used.

“What would you do without me?” Natalie inquired finally sliding her gaze over to glance at me. I shrugged in response as I popped a handful of popcorn into my mouth.

“Probably become locked up in an insane asylum due to the psychobabble that often sprouts from my mouth at random,” I answered meeting her gaze out of the corner of my eye with a smile.

“Probably right,” she agreed reaching over to grab a handful of popcorn. I slapped her across the back of the hand the way she had done to me earlier. Her eyes snapped up to my face burning dark with anger and disbelief.

“Say please,” I taunted knowing she would like nothing more than to slap me back right now. Actually she would probably punch me.

“Fuck you,” she retorted.

“Close enough,” I shrugged situating the bowl of popcorn between us. A soft chuckle emitted from between Natalie’s lips as she tossed some popcorn into her mouth.

“If people could see us—” she began.

“They’d think we’d hate each other,” I finished with a laugh.

For the rest of the time we sat on the couch, ate popcorn, and watched the Psych season premiere.

It was nice being able to finally enjoy a normal night in the way I used to before all this happened. Unfortunately, luck is never on my side.