The Chains Between Us Hold Us Together

“I’ll be back soon, ma,” he yelled to the woman in the back of the house. It was approaching darkness quickly, and he knew it was a stretch to get out this late. The priests would certainly not approve, and let’s not forget his mother would not approve either. She was what you would call . . . oh, what was the word? Moderate? Orthodox? Conservative? Religious. Yes, that was it. She was very mush so a catholic. The last place they lived, the place where they used to call home, was just a little too crude for her. Women were allowed to wear dresses over their ankles. Men were allowed to cat call after them. And, you weren’t required to go to church. That didn’t sit well with mother, no, just a little too crude.

“Just make sure you are back before curfew, Simon,” she screamed from the back of the tiny house. It was a change for them, a big change for Simon especially. He didn’t like it very much here, not very much at all.

There was nothing wrong with this place, no, not at all, but the carriages were just a little too big, the lanterns just a little too bright, the priests just a little too noisy. They looked at him like he didn’t belong, like he was a freak. He felt that way too. He wasn’t like these people. He wasn’t afraid of the things outside their gated community. He wasn’t afraid of the demons running around the chain link fence in his sights. Maybe, the priests were right. Maybe, he was just a little too sinful for his own good, but oh god, did he love every second of it.

His fingers skimmed over the cool metal, hitting each one in perfect tempo. He started to whistle a tune he heard yesterday at daily mass, essentially forgetting where he was. All Simon could think about was how the stars were so dim tonight. Maybe, it was because the moon decided that this night was the night to show its full potential. He didn’t know. He never listened much at school where they taught these things.

Suddenly, he stopped, for no apparent reason. He just felt like this was the place to stop. He was always one for instinct over knowledge, another thing the priests didn’t like about him. This reminded him of a night that seemed to distant now, seemed like it was years ago, when really it wasn’t.

The night was dark, too dark. Simon was running late. He wasn’t supposed to be out this long, but he was. He just hoped his mother wouldn’t say anything when he got home. Running along the outside edge of the fence, he couldn’t help but fear that he should be on the inside. The priests warned him about the creatures that lived on the outside of their town’s thin walls.

He stopped for a moment, to catch his breath. All he remembered was that the entrance wasn’t that far away. It couldn’t be more than a few paces. Simon hadn’t been here long enough to learn the layout. His mother just decided to up and move only a few months ago, and he was still harboring that unsettlement you obtain after moving far, far away from the only place you could ever call home.

The wind seemed to pick up around him. It was nothing, he told himself, just the weather of the night time here. He didn’t really know what happened just here just yet. But, boy of boy, was he wrong.

His ears perked up when he heard a crack of a twigs and sticks. There was one thing that Simon knew, and that was the sound of someone walking in the woods. No one else would be out this late, he thought. They were all home, safe in their beds.

“Wh-Who’s there?” he asked into the dark abyss. There was nothing he could really see in front of him. Another crack and he attempted to whip in that direction, but really only turned to see if anyone was behind him. There was still no one he could see.

Simon shook his head. It was nothing. He was just being paranoid again. It wouldn’t be the first time it happened here. Everything was still so new, so different. It was all so scary to him. He started to walk again only to see a figure in front of him. He tried not to shiver when he realized what was exactly in front of him.

The demon standing in front of him was gorgeous in a way, Simon thought. He didn’t look all that dangerous, but he knew he was. He was tall, taller than most men in his town, he look stronger, too. He didn’t look stronger in the sense that he had more muscle. He just actually looked like he was stronger than most everyone else. It seemed like he had never seen a day of sunlight in his fairly short life. His skin glowed in the dim moon light. It contrasted with his hair that blended with the rest of the night, coming down to his tense looking jaw.

“Who are you?” he asked then.

The demon focused on back on the human in front of him instead of . . . elsewhere. “Most humans call me Valac.”

“V-Valac?” Simon repeated. He knew this name well. The priests warned the town against him multiple times. He was supposed to be one of the worst in the area, bad enough to be feared by everyone.

The demon stepped closer to the frightened boy, circling around him. God, he could just smell the fear coming off of him, and it sure smelled delicious. All he wanted was to reach out and run his fingers over the frail boy’s neck, touch the sweat filled skin that glistened.

“What do you want with me?” Simon asked. All the demon did was smirk.

Simon was pulled out of his memories with the cracking twigs that made him meet the creature walking on the other side of the fence right before him. He sighed, hanging onto the fence. He couldn’t get out tonight, so the fence would keep them separated.

“I missed you,” Valac whispered, laying his fingers over Simon’s. They both wanted more contact, just a little more.

Simon glanced down at their touching digits. “Doesn’t that burn?”

Valac looked down to where his own skin touched the blessed metal. There were very few things that could stop a demon, very few, but when something was blessed by a high priest, there was little even Lucifer himself could do. He ignored the searing burn sensation he felt and just focused on the feeling of skin on skin. “Nothing I can’t handle, darling.”

All Simon had to do was look in Valac’s red eyes to know he was lying, but he really didn’t want to let go either. “I can’t stay long,” Simon stated.

The non-human sighed. “Why not?”

“I think the priests are getting suspicious,” Simon stated. “They’re keeping a closer watch on me. You’re lucky I could get out this evening.”

Valac could feel the anger festering inside of him, but he had to ignore it for now. “You should just leave already.”

Simon knew something like this was coming. It seemed that this subject was coming up every single time they saw each other since a few months ago. “I can’t leave until my mother is married. You know that, Val. It’s only a few more months.”

“Yes, months you could be spending with me outside of this god-forsaken town,” Valac retorted.

“Two months,” Simon said. “And, I’m all yours, but you still have to wait those two months.”

Valac nodded. This was the end of this conversation. He knew it was. “The sooner you are out of here, the better.”

The human nodded. “I know, but still, two months.”

There was a small silence where they just looked at each other, looked at what they knew they should never be able to have, but still wanted more than anything. All they could think about was the next time they could get away from the confines of both of their civilizations long enough to have a moment of peace with only the other. The demons didn’t mind the fact that Valac wanted to be with a human. It was quite common in fact. All they disliked was where said human was from, the most religious place in this side of the mountain.

“When is the next time you can get out?” Valac asked.

Simon shrugged. “I don’t know, like I said the priests are coming down hard recently. They always have someone watching me it seems.”

“What is the worst they can do? They don’t believe in torture.” Valac scoffed.

“They don’t believe in torture, no,” Simon agreed. “But, they do believe in locking me up in the church tower for the rest of my life where you will never be able to see me again.”

The demon’s eyes widened, but he didn’t want to show his obvious distaste in the idea of not seeing his lovely human again. “You can’t be locked up, if there is no church,” he thought out loud.

“What are you going to do? Burn it down?” Simon laughed quietly.

Valac smirked. “Maybe.”

They didn’t notice the humans sneaking behind them. They didn’t notice the torches and the muskets. They didn’t notice the mob led by the priest, holding a bible in his hand. They didn’t notice because all they were focused on was each other. They thought they were safe. They were dead wrong.

By the Simon noticed, it was too late. He couldn’t run fast enough. Valac watched in horror as the humans over powered his love. Simon tried to rip their grimy hands away from him, but they just kept grabbing hold. They kept holding on. There were too many of them, and there was nothing he could to.

“Simon!” Valac screamed. He felt helpless, useless. He couldn’t help the only person he ever cared for, and he was ten feet away from him. There was no way to get over the fence unless he wanted to kill himself as well. That would be no help to Simon at all.

“Back, you demon!” the priest yelled over Simon’s cries, holding the bible to the fence, setting it on the demon’s fingers.

Valac hissed and removed his hands. A simple blessing was nothing compared to the burn of a bible. “Leave him alone! It’s me you want.”

“Oh, but the boy has sinned. He should be punished for his crimes against God, and the best way to get to you is through him, I have learned.” The evil man responded. “Let us leave this demon to the hands of fate.”

They started to pull him away. They started to pull his Simon away from him. He didn’t know what to you. “Just take me!” he screamed, but it was no use. They weren’t listening. They wouldn’t listen.

Simon’s heart raced as he was leading away from Valac. What were they going to do him? They wouldn’t really lock him up for the rest of his life, would they? They wouldn’t. They couldn’t. Why couldn’t they just leave him alone? It wasn’t his fault they were blind to what he was truly experiencing, so why was he being punished?

“Please, I’ll leave. No one has to know any of this.” Simon scrambled; anything to keep them from dragging him further.

“No, boy,” one of the man leading the pack replied. “You deserve what is coming to you. Loving a demon, a male demon? You are an abomin-“

The man wasn’t able to finish before his head just popped right off of his body. Well, not really. Valac pulled it off. He was a demon. A little gore never bothered him that much. After that, it was a blood bath. The demon started ripping off limbs, hitting out teeth, kicking in ribs, cutting open intestines; the whole nine yards.

He growled as he stepped on the priest’s chest, keeping his body stuck to the ground. The priest’s final hope was the bible, but Valac hit that right out of his hands. He never fell for the same trick twice.

“H-How? I blessed the fence,” the priest wheezed out.

Valac bared his teeth at the man on the ground. “You never blessed the trees above it.”

“The tr-trees?” he sobbed out.

Valac snapped his neck before he bothered to think of a reply. He glanced around to see Simon sitting in the fetal position, his head in between his knees. He walked over, pulling Simon over to him, trying to calm him down. Valac knew that Simon didn’t like to see the demonly things he does, but he did it for the greater good, didn’t he?

“Do we leave now?” Simon asked in Valac’s chest after gaining that much needed comfort from his lover.

“Yes, love,” Valac responded. “We leave now.”