“Hey, Chaos, catch any mice today?” I asked as I dropped my bag on the sofa. He squinted at me and poked a coffee mug I had left on the table with a little black paw. I narrowed my eyes on him.
“Don’t do it, you asshole,” I warned. He looked me dead in the eye and poked the mug again, inching it closer to the edge of the table. “Chaos… don’t!” I lunged for the mug just as he gave it one final punt. It smashed on the ground, and the cold dregs of coffee exploded across the floor on impact.
“For fuck’s sake, Chaos!” I screeched. He leapt off the table, trotting merrily into my bedroom with his tail straight up in the air like a giant middle finger. I scowled after him as I went to grab some paper towels to mop up his mess.
Little shitdisturber.
I was running low on glassware because of him. Maybe I needed to start buying plastic cups or something.
After cleaning up the mess, I decided to make some food, even though it was almost midnight. I enjoyed cooking and was pretty good at it. It sucked that I never had the chance to cook for anyone else, but on days like today, when I wasn’t working until the wee hours of the morning, I loved making myself a home-cooked meal.
I whipped up a pretty delicious mushroom risotto and watched The Haunting of Hill House while I ate. Rewatching Mike Flannagan’s specials was my little October tradition. I tried to get through as many as I could in the weeks leading up to my birthday, which just so happened to fall on Halloween.
Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw a flicker of my own little ghost settling on the couch to watch with me. She wasn’t nearly as scary as the ghosts on the screen. If anything, I was happy to have her company.
Once I was full of risotto and thoroughly creeped out from my scary show, I decided to get ready for bed. I showered and brushed my teeth, and then I slipped on a band tee and another pair of cotton boyshorts. I winced as I remembered how my demon had ripped off my other pair, and I hoped he wouldn’t be back for another visit.
Chaos was curled up, snoozing at the end of my bed and barely moving as I crawled under the covers.
I lay in the dark and stare at the ceiling, recounting the day’s events. Reaver had beendifferent.It was like he had become an entirely different person overnight.
Sitting at his bar and sipping on my Blood Orange Hauntini with Shem made me feel like I was almost…normal.If things were different, maybe it would have been fun to hang out with the two of them and get drinks more regularly. I imagined what it would be like to say yes one day when Shem invited me out after work. We could get drinks at Yabbos and maybe even go dancing.
I bet Reaver was a good dancer. He seemed to be good at everything else. Maybe he would wrap his large, tattooed hands around my waist and pull me into him, and I would breathe in his scent as he buried his face in my neck. Maybe he would kiss me and whisper into my ear that he wanted to take me home with him.
I let myself fall into my little Reaver fantasy and slid my hand down the front of my boy shorts. I was already wet, and I let out a tiny moan as I spread myself open. I heard Chaos jump off the bottom of the bed and stalk out of the room, but I ignored him. I was quickly starting to feel amazing, and it was probably better if he wasn’t here for this anyway.
The good feeling abruptly dissipated when the temperature of my room dropped to sub-zero.
My heart stopped.
That was why Chaos had left.
He had sensed that my fucking demon was coming.
My eyes flewopen moments before Death manifested at the edge of my bed. He was suddenly looming over me, and without warning, he tore the blankets off. I screamed in horror, ripping my hand out from beneath my panties.
I could feel the rage rolling off of him as I tried to kick away. I attempted to launch myself off the bed, but he somehow managed to take hold of my soul again, and I was forced to freeze.
Frozen and falling halfway out of bed in my botched attempt to escape, I screamed. “I didn’t cut myself! I didn’t touch anyone!” I lied. The cold grip of panic was already starting to take hold of my heart. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed me on my back and onto the bed before him. With another wave of his hand, he forced my legs to spread, and he leaned forward between them.
‘Don’t lie to me, Lilith. I know exactly who you’ve been touching all night. I might have turned a blind eye to the host and the bartender, but you’ve touched what’s mine, and that cannot go unpunished,’he hissed into my mind. I screwed up my eyes, trying to see what lay beneath that hood. I wondered what sort of horrible, grotesque face he kept hidden in there and shuddered.
“Wh- what? I didn’t touch anything!” I was wracking my brain, trying to think what belonging of his I could have touched to make him so angry. If he wasn’t mad about Reaver and Shem, what was he so mad about?
‘Were you not just touching yourself, Lilith?’The cold, rasping voice scraped through my mind like nails on a chalkboard, and I choked on my own terror.
“How did you—I don’t understand…”
He reached forward and ripped my panties off, exposing me to him.
‘You want to come, Lilith?’he asked, and I shook my head, attempting to push back away from him on the bed. He chuckled in my mind, and my fear suddenly turned to anger.
I hated him. I hated him.I hated him!
I bucked and struggled against the hold he had on me, but it just made him spread me open wider. He reached out a finger and gently caressed my bare clit, sending an unwanted rush of pleasure through my body.
“Don’t—” I gasped as he slid his finger down to my soaking-wet entrance. He let out a growl.
