Suddenly, nothing mattered. Instinct took over. My body became shadows and quickly moved through space, hovering in the open air on the other side of the cliff. My shadowy form wrapped around Serenity’s tumbling body in a tight cocoon of dark safety. With her body in my grip, the fast momentum of my lightning quick form and inability to think past the heightened alarm to reach her had my ethereal form coming to a stop in the first place I thought of.
My body resolidified, and I found myself breathing hard from the adrenaline still polluting my veins. Serenity trembled in my arms as I held her close, her face buried in my throat and arms wound tightly around her midsection.
“Are you okay?” I asked, not giving a fuck how shaken my voice sounded.
She let out a hard breath against me before slowly pulling away to look up at me. Her tear-filled eyes were doubled in size,and her already pale skin had gone stark white. She stared up at me as I tried regaining control of my frantically beating heart.
“Wh—” she stammered as her gray eyes flickered to the top of my head. “What … are … you?”
The emphatic beating of my heart, the untamable breathing, and the adrenaline fueling my system all came to a jarring halt. Everything inside of mestoppeduntil I mirrored her unblinking stare. I didn’t need to look in a mirror to see what had made her go so pale. I didn’t need confirmation for what I already knew to be true.
In my panic, I’d lost my grip on my human form.
The eyes she looked into were no longer a rich earthy brown but deep black broken up only by a red vertical slit.
The perfectly trimmed hair on top of my head now sported two short black horns.
The hands still holding her close to me were now sharpened with claws.
And when I opened my mouth, two sharp teeth had replaced my canines.
“You’re dreaming,” I said calmly, setting her on her feet and backing away.
It was then I noticed we were no longer outside under the brilliance of the night sky but in my dimly-lit library before the fireplace. What a horrible choice of venue I’d landed us in during my panic. I could’ve explained this away if I’d kept us outside. I would’ve had a better excuse or cover up, but I’d brought ushere.
She seemed unsteady on her feet, one of which was now bare from where she’d lost a shoe during the fall. She braced a hand against the wall by the fireplace and feebly shook her head while staring wide-eyed at me.
I’d only ever been so careless once before, and I’d paid a hefty price for that mistake. Ever since I regained my freedomfrom that slip-up, I’d never let my true identity out in front of a human. So like an inexperienced imbecile, I plowed on with my ridiculous excuse.
“You hit your head during the fall, passed out, and are now dreaming. No.Hallucinating,” I insisted while simultaneously rehiding my demonic features so that I appeared human once more.
That was a horrendous idea, because her large eyes now practically took up half her face. “What are you?”
“I’m human. You’re—”
“I’m not dreaming, Dante,” Serenity cut me off. “And I’m not hallucinating. I was …falling. I went over the cliff. I-I can still feel the air on my skin from how fast I was falling, but Ineverhit the ground. Instead, I-I … I’mhere.” She waved her hand around the library. “I appeared here just like that.” She snapped her fingers, and my nerves spiked with the sound. “And you …” She gestured a trembling hand in my direction. “You … What are you?”
I wanted to tear my gaze away from hers, but I was afraid the moment I looked away, she’d run. She’d race out of my house, screaming that I was a monster, confirming that there was nothing about me worth staying for, worth listening to. So I stared at her like the paralysed beast that I was.
“Th—That appearance … the horns, eyes, all of it. It’s your demonic persona that you wear during concerts or Sinners Do It Better gigs.”
Again, I remained silent while the mental cogs worked behind her studious gray eyes.
“It’s real?” she asked dubiously. “You’rereal? You’re a-ademon?”
Clenching my fists, I forced a teasing smirk that no doubt came out more like a grimace. “Can’t we just pretend this is a dream or a hallucination?”
“Dante,” she begged in a near whisper.
The feigned joking attitude faded, and I realized that she was right. She wasn’t stupid, and treating her as such to distance myself from this major unleashed secret wasn’t helping. Resolved with the fact that the damage had already been done, I responded to her questions by keeping my eyes locked on hers and shedding my human guise.
She took in a sharp breath, watching my horns, demonic eyes, and claws reappear. Fear lodged in my throat. Was this the moment? Was now when she’d realize I’d been a monster all along and run away, terrified?
Serenity’s glittering gaze traced every new feature. Many moments later, she took a tentative step closer.
Then another.
And another.
