Burning You Down

“…So does this guy have superpowers or something?”

“No! Why did you think that?”

“He surely does. I mean, otherwise he would be dead by now. He just got out of an exploding car and he has only a few scratches and dirt all over his face. I’m sure he has some kind of superpowers, trust me.”

“He doesn’t, Vic, I’ve watched this before. It’s just… it’s just an action movie. It’s not supposed to be realistic.”

Vic went silent as he tried to process the new information and went back to watching the movie. It was stupid, really, just a cliché action film, but he asked me to play it for him because there was a lot of blood in it. After awhile, he spoke up thoughtfully again:

“…Why do these people fall when the main character points his black noisy stick at them? Is it some kind of a magic wand or something?”

I chuckled. “That’s called a gun. When you pull the trigger… the trigger is that thingy over there… so, when you pull it, a bullet flies out of the hole. See? Bullets are small little things that fly really fast and when they hit your body, they enter it, they tear your flesh and get stuck deep inside you, causing major injuries and often lead to your death.”, I explained, hoping he’d understand. He just grinned.

“That’s so cool! Where can I get one?”

“No, no, no, you can’t!” My eyes widened at the idea of the demon walking around with a firearm. It would be more than just alarming. “Those are totally illegal. You can’t find them anywhere.”, I lied, even though I was pretty sure he’d know I’m not telling the truth. Even if he did, he didn’t show it, though, he only nodded and concentrated on the screen.

“…So isn’t the superpower guy with the magic bullet-stick going to die already? He’s started to bore me. I’m only still watching this because I’m hoping he’s going to have sex with that pretty chick with the short blond hair.”, he frowned slightly. I laughed a bit again.

“But dude, she’s from the bad guys.”

“So? That just makes it sexier.”, he winked in a kind of seductive way.

Did I agree? Of course I did. I slipped my look across him, my thoughts trailing off in a totally different direction… Just… makes… it… sexier… How sexy would it be, doing it with a demon…? Oh, God, it would be so… so… ugh…

What the fuck? Did I just think that? Really now?! Ah, goddammit, Kellin, get your shit together! I bet Vic was purposely making me think things like this… I moved my look to his face, but he was calmly watching the screen.

“…This is getting boring.”, he declared after a minute. “How do you change the… what was it called… the channel?”

“Well, you click that button over here.”, I took the remote control and pointed at the button in question. “See?”

“Yeah, okay, let me.”, he grabbed it and cast an accusing look at it, as if it was its fault that he had trouble with understanding how modern technology works, and then he pressed the button I showed him, switching the channel. Some old musical was on. “Ooh, this is different!”, Vic brightened up. “Why are they singing? Because they’re happy?”

“No, it’s, um…”, I laughed, “It’s a kind of film, it’s called a ‘musical’. There sometimes instead of talking they sing.”

“Don’t the other little humans in there think it’s a bit strange?”, he blinked.

“They’re not little.”, I giggled some more. “They just look little, because the TV is small. They’re actually real, tall people, like me and everyone else. They record their acting with a camera… Do you know what this means?”

He furrowed eyebrows, thinking. “Isn’t that when they use that electronic thing to ‘remember’ what they’re seeing and then they can rewatch it over and over again?”

“Yeah, exactly, well done, Vic.”, I nodded. “So yeah. We’re watching the recording, this isn’t actually happening at the moment.”

“Yes, I know that… Anyway, so, they just randomly sing? Just like that, for no particular reason?”

“I guess. It’s just a movie, man, it’s not real, they won’t start singing in the street in real life. They just do it in the film, because it’s fun and it sounds good… They just find a way to combine two kinds of art, y’know?”

“I think I get it…”, the demon nodded slowly. “Mhm. And I like it. A lot. The music is nice. Do you like music?”

Damn, he was surprisingly talkative now. Once he stopped being mad at me he had purposely started to act nice for some reason. I guess we had just forgiven each other.

“Man, I love music.”, I smiled, a bit shyly, and added: “I sing, a little…”

“Oh, awesome, you should sing for me later.”, he cast me a quick smile. “But… yeah, this is really nice, those… musicals. What is this one called?”

“Um, I don’t know.”, I shrugged. “It’s old. I think you’d like some of the new ones, like Chicago or Sweeney Todd.”, I grinned a bit, imagining him watching those. Yeah, he’d definitely like them, especially the second one.

“Okay, you should show me those.”, he approved. “…Now go get me some food. You don’t need to cook it, I spotted some pizza in the fridge, you can warm that up and bring it to me. I wouldn’t mind if you eat some too.”

“Yessir.”, I smirked ironically. At least he didn’t insist to take all of it for himself.

I headed to the kitchen, leaving Vic to mess with the channels by himself, hoping he wouldn’t cause the TV to explode or something. You never know what a demon is capable of. I had to be careful with him.

I put the pizza in the microwave and spotted the newspaper which was still on the floor, from when I had thrown it. I picked it up with a sigh and put it on a table, folding it in a way my mom and sister wouldn’t see the article about Jesse. They knew him and they didn’t know he bullies me – I tried to keep these things a secret from them, not because I was afraid to tell them or something, but because I didn’t want to worry them. Our mother had enough problems already anyway. Our father left us when I was four, and Kailey – five years old, and now our mom had to take care of both of us, even though she wasn’t well-paid or anything. I had promised myself that once I graduate I’d find myself a job instead of going to college, because I knew our family could use some extra money. I just wanted to help them and the last thing I wanted was bothering them with my problems at school.

The microwave let out a cheerful ‘Ding!’, so I grabbed the now warm pizza and rushed back to the living room, not wanting to leave Vic alone for too long. I wanted to keep an eye on him to make sure he won’t do anything stupid.

I found him on the couch in front of the TV, watching something really closely. His body seemed a bit tense and a smirk was dancing on his lips, which made me suspicious right away.

“Hey, I’m back with the pizza. What are you watching?”, I smiled a bit.

But he didn’t even need to reply, because that’s when I heard the sounds coming from the TV, which made the blood rush into my face.

“Turns out the little humans in the TV can fuck! Look!”, he grinned.

“Um, Vic, this is called porn…”, I bit my lip awkwardly. “…Please, turn it off?”

“Why? This is so… educating.”, he gave me a small wink before turning to the TV again.

“Turn it off!”, I insisted, as the woman started moaning louder. I didn’t want my mother to hear this, for God’s sakes!

“But I want to know what the Big Bad Wolf’s going to do to the Little Red Riding Hood!”, he protested. “Have you watched this, do you know if he’s gonna eat her after he’s done fucking her?”

“Of course I haven’t watched this!”, I gave him a scandalized look. “I don’t watch porn!”

Vic ignored me, observing carefully. “…Oh, boy, yes, I’m pretty sure he’s gonna eat her. That would make it twice hotter. Damn, I would do them both…”

“Dude, just turn it off, now!”, I raised my voice. “You don’t watch porn in the middle of the day with another guy in the room!”

“Why?”, he gave me a confused look.

“Well, you just… don’t! And you don’t discuss it out loud! It’s… awkward!”

“Why?”, he repeated dumbly.

“Goddammit, Vic!”

“No, but really, I just don’t understand. What’s so bad about sex? I mean… I mean, don’t you, humans, express your love by doing it? And if so, then why are you so ashamed of it? I don’t get it. It’s just… so confusing.”

I hesitated. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say. I couldn’t think clearly, anyway, because I had noticed the obvious bulge in the front of his pants, caused by this particular film he was watching, and my mind had totally blocked.

“It… it doesn’t matter. We’re just confusing, I guess. Now turn the fucking TV off.”, I finally said.

“What if I don’t want to?”

“Don’t make me make you.”, I gave him a warning look and reached for the remote control. He was faster, though, he grabbed it and held it in a way I couldn’t reach it.

“Oh, you want this, mm?”, he teased me.

“Yes, give it to me!”, I groaned and tried to get it, but he pulled back and held it away from me.

“How much exactly do you want it?”, he went on.

“I just want it, dammit.”, I rolled eyes.

“Uh huh, what’s the magic word?”, he waved the device in the air.

“Just fucking give it to me, now!”, I yelled. “How many times should I tell y-”

But I was interrupted by the sound of footsteps. Someone was going down the stairs.

“Shit! Someone’s coming, quick, turn it off!”, I hissed.

“Nope, you gotta make m-”

“Just do it!”

I finally could grab his wrist and pull his hand with the remote closer, managing to reach it. We struggled for it and fell down on the couch, rolling over. I could press a button, hoping it was the right one, but I just accidentally turned it up and now the moans were incredibly loud. In the meantime the footsteps were approaching…

“Shit!”, I repeated, pushing Vic on his back and sitting on top of him, pressing him down so he wouldn’t try to fight back. He let the remote control go, at last, and I turned the TV off in the last second before the door swung open and Kailey peeked inside the room.

“Kellin, what was that noise…?”, her look fell on us and her eyebrows jumped up. “Oh! Damn, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bother you, boys, I’m out now…”

At first I didn’t understand what she meant, but then I realized how it must’ve looked like – Vic lying on the couch with me on top of him. Oops, awkward…

“Nononono, Kay, it’s okay, we weren’t doing anything!”, I quickly said, climbing off of him.

“Yeah, right, I can see that.”, she chuckled ironically.

“No, really, it’s not what it looked like, we were just struggling, I swear.”, I sighed, trying to make my blush go away.

“He’s telling the truth, actually. I was watching porn and he tried to turn it off, because he’s shy, but I didn’t want to let him, so we had a little fight.”, Victor added, completely honest.

Yeah, thanks for telling her about the porn, Vic, much appreciated.

My sister gave him a long, odd look, and then just shrugged. She had given up on her little brother (A.K.A Kellin Quinn Bostwick) and his best friend’s weird behavior long ago. She was pretty much used to it. I wasn’t completely sure if she believed us, but it didn’t matter anyway, because with a small smile she left the room, thankfully.

Once alone, I lightly punched Vic in the shoulder.

“It was your fault.”, I growled.

“My fault?”, he grinned.

“Yes. You should listen to me next time when I try to tell you something.”, I rolled my eyes. He chuckled.

“Oh, my dear Kellin, you really are no fun. Come on, cheer up!”

He did that thing with trying to change my facial expression with his hands and this time I couldn’t help but giggle.

“Dude, stop it, I don’t need help, I can smile by myself.”, I pushed his hands away, but gently.

“I can see that.”, he smiled as well, and his features softened significantly. His smile was even somewhat warm now. “Anyways. What time is it?”

“Umm…” I looked down at my wristwatch. “Quarter to eight.”

“Oh, I gotta get ready!”, his grin widened, turning devilish again. “Someone’s waiting for me…”

“You just can’t wait, can you.”, I nudged him lightly.

“Mm, you can bet. This girl’s gonna have the best night in her life.”, he winked.

* * *

I lay in my bed awake, listening to the silence. It was so heavy and thick that I could feel it fall upon me, pressing my chest and suffocating me… or maybe it was just the blanket. Annoyed, I kicked it away, but the moment I did that I felt cold and pulled it back up to cover myself. I had been trying to fall asleep for hours, but it just didn’t work. There was something that made me nervous, even though I couldn’t quite tell what it was. It was just something that… bothered me. I turned to the side and snuggled into the slightly smelling of Vic sheets. It was weird, that even though he used Walter as a meat-suit, he still had his own particular smell, the smell of fire and something I couldn’t quite define, but then again, that was perhaps because he was coming from Hell, it was understandable. I wondered what Hell looks like. Would it be a good idea to ask him? Would he answer me? As far as I knew, there were torture rooms, like, hundreds of them. But what else? There just had to be something else, right? I wanted to know. I was curious to find out, but I wasn’t sure if he wouldn’t be mad at me for asking him.

I turned to the other side. Where was Vic, anyway? He left for his date hours ago, back at eight, and now it was past midnight, maybe about two AM. Could he possibly hold on for this long? I bet he could. I guess demons aren’t like humans, they can’t be easily satisfied… especially after seven hundred years spent locked in a narrow room alone… He was totally having so much fun right now. And I, I was lying in my bed, alone, sleepless and pathetic. I had never had a boyfriend or a girlfriend, if we don’t count a girl called Natasha, but we dated for about two weeks back when I was twelve and then she dumped me, so it doesn’t count. Oh well. I guess some people are better at relationships than others. Especially if they’re demons with irresistible charm. And especially if this particular demon is called Victor and has the amazing talent to piss me off. I smiled a bit. And here we go, thinking of him again…

Hah. Strange how only a few hours ago I eagerly waited for the moment he’d leave the house and finally leave me alone, but now it was almost like… I missed his presence here. I don’t know. I guess it was just that he had spent the last couple of days basically stuck with me and now when he was gone it felt somehow weird. I had gotten used to his constant rambling and sarcastic remarks.

And now the silence was killing me.

I sighed. Fuck this. It was obvious that I was going to devote this night to loneliness and self-pity.

Three AM.

Four AM.

Five AM…

…Obviously he wasn’t going to come back tonight.

At about six I slowly started drifting off, my thoughts mixing with my dreams in a cacophony of demons, flames, and singing TV’s. After awhile I could relax, at last, and I fell into a deeper, more solid, dreamless sleep. So deep, that I didn’t feel the slight movement as Vic appeared in my room. So deep, that I didn’t hear him come to my bed and sit on the edge of it quietly. So deep, that I didn’t feel him fix my blanket, covering me with it completely. But I did sense the slight smell of fire, this special hellish smell, and a small smile stretched on my face in my sleep…

As the demon stood by my bed, I dreamed of angels. And maybe, deep inside, he was one of them…

END OF CHAPTER 8.