Steal My Soul

Three Weeks Later

It had been weeks since I had talked to my parents over the phone about the engagement. Surprisingly there weren’t too many questions on their end; however, in my mind, there had been many and most of them concerning why they didn’t have any questions for this sudden announcement. I felt like at any moment they were just going to show up at my doorstep and demand answers face-to-face. My parents were strange in that sense.

I sighed and burrowed my head in my hands as I sat alone at the kitchen table. Luc and I had hardly seen much of one another since that day he told me he loved me.

My heart stopped for a few moments before beating again at that reminder. When those three words had left his mouth…I felt like that right there had sealed my decision on who I wanted to be with. Not like there was much competition anyways, but I still had to play out both options. Yes, it is true, Michael told me on many occasions he loves me, but is it really love? I was made to be loved by him according to his words. So how does he know if what he feels is actually true and not just what he is destined to live by?

Speaking of which, I hadn’t heard from that pestering angel in a while. It would have me concerned if I wasn’t just so damned relieved to have him off my ass for the moment. However, that still didn’t subside my fears that he was up to something. He could put on the act of being an innocent angel all he wanted, but I was completely stupid. I knew how manipulative he was just having that conversation with him a while back.

This brought up another thought in my mind: Luc. He had cheated on me. Even though he had explained things…and I believed him to an extent…I felt like I let him get off easily on that one just because of those three magical words he had spoken lovingly in my ear.

I love you.

Thinking about that declaration slipping from between his lips made my heart ache with ever growing love for him. It’s funny how this had all started out as a deal. A deal to not fall in love with one another and now look where we were. He had confessed to me and it was evident to anyone with eyes that I was falling for him more and more each day that passed by, but can you honestly blame me?

He had turned out to be so much more than I could ever expect. He had turned out even better than I hoped. That, nonetheless, excused for what had happened. The mistake that he had made. Now that the thought was in my mind and stuck there for the moment, I knew we needed to talk in detail about what had occurred. I couldn’t live each day wondering if maybe, while I was here and he there…that he wasn’t doing something with some other demoness or whatnot. Luc is a popular guy in Hell and had been a bachelor for so long…maybe those ways are still ingrained in him. Maybe they would be things I could never diminish. I have read so many instances where kings married, but still had so many mistresses on the side. What if that was our life? What if that was my life? To forever be doomed as the woman who couldn’t even keep her own man in her bed because she just wasn’t doing it for him anymore?

It is true, he has told me many times about how I’m the only woman he wants to be with and make my dreams come true, but…what if those are all empty words? Empty words meant to sound like fulfilling promises just so that I’ll never leave and he wins?

A groan escaped my lips as I curled my fingers tightly into the tangled mess of my hair. And here I was back to this train of thought again. Back to the thought that although I knew his words were truth…they were still lies. These doubts were bad enough on my own, but after Michael surfaced and butted his way into my life I felt like these doubts and this fear had only heightened. Yet if I talked to Luc he would only try to assure me that what Michael said was just lies and I had nothing to worry about. However if I talked to Michael, he would say the same about Luc. Natalie was still in the dark about my conversation with Michael, Luc, AND the betrayal so there was really no talking to her without explaining things. There was certainly no talking to Shabriri or my parents. I could always talk to Luc’s parents, but they would be just as biased as Luc and say basically the same thing he would.

My head fell through my hands to smack against the wood surface of the table. The pain wasn’t nearly as bad as the agony of the words I was about think next.

Maybe the only person I could talk to was…Rafe.

Even the thought made me shudder, but honestly who else was there I could turn to who would already know about what was going on? Sure, Natalie, but she wasn’t clued in on the most recent happenings yet. Raphael, however painful it may be, was. And he was the male version of Natalie. He was a person who would give me the facts about this whole thing straight up no-holds-barred.

A moan of pain and despair emitted from between my lips. Going to him about this stuff may as well bring about the end of the world. And that was all depending on if he would even be WILLING to talk to me after that last punch I had thrown at his face. As if it actually did much damage to him. I released a sigh. How was I even going to go about this?

Lifting my head slowly from the table, I tilted my head to the side as a knock sounded at the door. My eyes flickered over to glance at the time on the stove clock. Who could be knocking on our door near midnight? Just then my eyes widened and my heart plummeted down into my stomach. Don’t tell me it was my parents finally coming to barrage me with the questions they held back over the phone?

“Fuck,” I whispered to myself easing the chair back from the table and standing up. The knock sounded again only a bit louder this time.

“I’m coming, I’m comin’,” I mumbled raising my hands high above my head and stretching the length of my body. I glanced down to make sure my attire was appropriate for answering the door. Cotton pajama bottoms and a tank top with no bra. Meh, appropriate enough for my parents I suppose.

They knocked again louder.

“I’m coming!” I hissed switching my gaze to the hallway listening for the subtle creak of Natalie’s door opening. She hated to be disturbed while she was trying to sleep. Plus she had to get up in the morning for a final exam in one of her classes that she had stayed up all night studying for. She had actually just gone to bed around an hour ago.

I shuffled across the carpeted floor of the apartment to answer the door. Covering my mouth as I yawned, I turned the deadbolt on the door to unlock it and swing it open. To say I was stunned into silence is a major understatement. I think I died for a short period of time before coming back to life just to be sure my eyes were seeing what I thought they were seeing.

Rafe.

Standing on my doorstep.

Knocking like a polite human being.

Rafe.

RAFE.

“Um…hi?” I greeted wondering if maybe he was on the wrong doorstep and was instead looking for the girl down the hall who, as far as I could hear, slept with multiple guys per night.

“I think you’re looking for 2-E,” I grumbled to him about to close the door in his face. Why had I even bothered getting up if it was only go—

I stopped mid-thought when I felt the sharp reverberation of the door against his foot. I lifted my gaze to meet his green, predatorial eyes.

“Um, you kind of need to remove your foot in order for me to-”

“We need to talk,” he responded blandly. A dark bro rose high on my forehead at this interesting turn of events. Here I was dreading about the fact I might have to discuss certain things with him and he actually needed to talk to me. Funny how that works, huh?

“Come in, then. Just be quiet because my roommate is trying to get some sleep,” I warned him. He nodded at my words and slipped through the door. Much like his older brother Luc, just his mere presence seemed to shrink the size of the apartment. I silently closed the door behind him and continued to watch him as he glanced around the apartment checking things out. A small smile came to my face as I observed him. He had probably never stopped to really look at the way a human lived or much less stopped to look at the human world in general.

“Would you like to take a seat or are you going to continue standing there like a weirdo gawking at your surroundings?” I teased moving past him to settle myself down on the couch, folding my legs beneath me.

Rafe glared daggers at me before clearing his throat.

“I’m not gawking. I’m merely observing the way you filth bags live in such a tiny habitat,” he scoffed walking towards the couch, but refusing to sit beside me. Probably just the prospect of coming here to talk to me is putting him through enough shock and rage. I could tell just by how stiff his body was, he was no more comfortable in being here than I would have been when asking for his help.

“So…” I started awkwardly hoping he could just jump in and take hold of the conv—

“You need to drop Luc and pick Michael,” he blurted out, his eyes drilling hard into mine.

My mouth dropped open in shock. If I thought seeing him on my doorstep was mind-blowing, this blew my entire body apart. I could feel my heart stop completely dead inside my chest.

“What?” I whispered so quietly it was almost inaudible.

“Drop Luc. Pick Michael. End of story. Life goes on.”