Candy Hearts, Vol. 2

Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

TEN

Our date on Sunday was just as fun as our first date. I'd asked Matthew to pick the movie, and he'd chosen a superhero film with a romantic subplot. It'd been fun, and it'd allowed me the perfect segue for a conversation I'd been hoping to bring up.

"What would you do if you found out your partner was a superhero, or even someone with unusual powers?" I asked as he left the theater, and Matthew gazed up at me, a thoughtful look on his face.

I cupped his elbow and tugged him close before he could slam into a person heading the other way, and he smiled up at me, his dark eyes all sweet and soft.

"Um, if my partner had superpowers? I'd want them to tell me, of course. Trust is everything to me, and I'd want that from them. I would also never break their trust by telling someone else, of course. And I'd hope they knew me well enough to know that."

Tell him, huh? I wondered how he'd react to my true form. It wasn't pretty by human standards, and I'd be closer to the villain in the movie we'd watched than the hero, at least as far as appearance went.

"And what if their powers made them look more like the villain? Even if they are a good guy? Wouldn't you be scared of them?"

Matthew gave me a look, probably wondering why I was taking this so damned seriously. I couldn't tell him I was trying to figure out if I should tell him about my powers, so I stayed silent and waited for him to decide what he wanted to say.

"Hmm...not if I'd gotten to know them. For example, I wouldn't be scared of you . Sure, we've only been on two dates, but in all the time I've spent with you so far, I've never felt unsafe or uncomfortable. You're a kind man, Ten. So if you told me you had a big, scary other form, I'd be shocked, but I'd probably be okay with it."

Probably was good enough, right?

Impulsively, I turned to him, stopping us in our tracks. "Would you like to come over to my place? We could have coffee and talk some more. I'll make an early dinner."

We'd gotten together after lunch because Matthew had an early shift tomorrow and wanted to go to bed early, and I didn't want us to part ways just yet. I wanted to share my other side with Matthew, wanted him to know all of me so he could make an informed decision about his feelings.

Matthew gazed up at me for a long moment, his lips pursed thoughtfully, then nodded.

"Lead the way."

We'd picked a movie theater closer to my place, so instead of getting a cab, we walked, our hands clasped as we chatted. I loved how easy it was to talk to Matthew. While I'd never had trouble communicating with people, I sometimes struggled with humans because there seemed to be nuances to the conversation that I was always missing or misunderstanding. But not with Matthew.

"Home sweet home," I said with a smile as I unlocked my apartment on the fifth floor of my building. It was the topmost floor, and I liked the easy access to the roof because it gave me a great spot to watch the city from.

"Wow, this is nice," Matthew said as he walked inside, and I followed after him, curious what my place looked like to him.

It'd come fully furnished, and I hadn't changed much. The walls were off-white, with framed black and white still-life paintings hanging at uneven intervals.

A comfy dark gray couch sat against the far wall, facing a large flatscreen, my one indulgence. There was a bookshelf in the corner filled to the brim with a mix of books I'd read and wanted to read after I first got to the human realm. I hadn't picked up a book since I met Matthew, since I'd spent every free moment stalking him like an utter creep.

"Sit. Would you like something to drink?"

"Water, please," Matthew said as he settled on the couch, his lips curving slightly when the couch sucked him in.

Nodding, I headed into the small kitchen off to the side. The appliances were all the latest models, and I'd been teaching myself to cook because I'd wanted to see if I could make some of my favorite dishes on my own. Now I was learning so I could feed Matthew.

I filled a glass with water before taking it back to him, and he smiled as he took it from me, our fingers brushing.

"You're always so warm," he said, a note of glee in his voice, and I smiled.

"You won't like it so much when I'm cuddling you," I said with a waggle of my brows, taking a seat on the other side of the couch, and he chuckled.

"Oh we're cuddling now, are we?"

"Maybe." I grinned, then sobered. "But first, there's something I need to tell you."

Matthew's brows furrowed at the seriousness of my voice, and he glanced around the room, as if expecting something to jump out at him.

"You're not secretly married, are you?" He gave a strained laugh, and I winced, shaking my head.

"No, but that might've been easier for you to deal with."

I got to my feet, and Matthew watched me warily as I walked away a few paces until I stood near the kitchen door. This way, if Matthew got scared, he'd have a clear route to the open front door.

"Ten?"

I took a deep breath, and smiled. Or at least I tried to.

"There are a lot of things I need to tell you. But the most important thing is that I will never, ever hurt you. You mean more to me than you realize, and I'd rather die. Just remember that, and the conversation we had before."

As Matthew watched me with puzzled brown eyes, I took a deep breath, and allowed the illusion that made me look human to fall away, revealing my true form. Please let this be the right thing to do.

Matthew

My eyes widened as I leaned back into the couch, staring at the...the creature who stood where Ten had been just a moment ago.

The creature was big, almost a foot taller than Ten, and twice as wide, which made him more than two feet taller than me . The creature looked like something out of a comic book, or an old book of mythology.

He looked almost like a giant lizard, with a thick tail that hung down his back, gray skin that was light on his front and darker on his back and appeared leathery to the touch, and the same blue eyes as Ten except with vertical pupils and eyelids. He had slim ears that pointed toward the back of his head, and a jaw that jutted outward like a crocodile's. His nose was flat with a sharp tip, and when he opened his mouth, I could see sharp teeth inside. Very sharp teeth.

"Matthew," he said, his voice all kinds of growly, and a shiver raced down my spine. Not a shiver of fear like any sane person would feel. Nope, it was a shiver of desire. Of lust. What the fuck was wrong with me?

Shouldn't I be straight-up terrified of the literal monster standing in front of me? Why wasn't I scared? Why wasn't I running away?

I would never, ever hurt you.

Because I believed him, I realized. In the short amount of time I'd known Ten, he'd somehow won my trust. Maybe I was an idiot for giving it to him, but he did have my trust. I didn't think he would hurt me, and that was why I wasn't running. It's the only reason , I told myself, ignoring the way my dick twitched in my pants.

Slowly, I got to my feet as Ten watched me with those familiar-yet-not eyes, and when I took a few steps toward him, he went utterly still. Even his tail, which had been swishing slowly until now, froze.

"Ten?" I asked softly, and his head lowered as I drew closer so he could still look at me.

"It's me," he said, still with that growl in his voice, and I reached out before I'd consciously thought of doing it, pausing when my fingertips were just millimeters away from his abdomen. The top of my head barely reached the base of his breastbones, and while he didn't have nipples, if he did, the top of my head would've barely brushed them.

"May I touch you?"

"Of course," Ten said, and I pressed my fingers against his skin, sucking in a breath at the heat. He was as hot as he was in his other form, maybe hotter, and his skin was silky smooth. I followed the dips and lines of his well-defined abs, and he trembled under my touch.

"Why? Why did you show me? Tell me everything," I requested, wondering distantly if I'd freak out about this later. I didn't think I would.

Sure, this felt like another dream, maybe more so than all my other weird experiences until now, but I could feel how real it was with my skin, see it with my eyes, hear it with my ears, and nothing had ever felt as real as this.

"What would you like to know first? What I am and why I'm here? Or why I pursued you?"

I thought about it for a moment, continuing my exploration of his unique form, before coming to a decision. "Tell me about you first."

"I'm a demon," he said, startling me. I arched my neck up so I could look at him, and he nodded. "Not the kind you're probably thinking about. Humanity got us all wrong. We were humans once, and then we were made demons so we could punish all the evil souls after their death. But we haven't done that in centuries. We were in retirement until a few months ago, but then a few evil souls escaped with a demon in tow, so we were sent here to keep the humans safe, track them down, and bring them back."

My brain struggled to process all the things he'd said in a few sentences, and I kept my eyes and hands focused on his skin as I sorted through my thoughts.

Like everyone, I'd wondered if there was a life after death, but I hadn't given it too much thought. Usually, the topic had come up when I was talking to an elderly patient, and most of the time, all I could do was offer them empty platitudes. But to know that there really was a life of some kind after death? That was huge.

It took me a few minutes to gather my thoughts enough to speak, and Ten waited patiently, letting me touch him as much as I wanted to.

"So the demon with the evil souls, he's bad?"

Matthew sighed, then nodded. "He was like us once. But the longer a demon is around evil souls, the darker their own soul gets, and Mammon is one of the three oldest demons who still exist. He should've moved on a long time ago, but he didn't, and the evil souls managed to get him on their side somehow."

I could tell it was a painful topic for him, so I quickly changed tracks, not wanting him to be sad.

"So you've only been here for a few months?"

Ten nodded, then waved around the room. "I've had this place for a few months, yes. But I've been to the human world before that. The demon summoning bit is real, but usually only witches and other powerful magic users can call us. We can also visit the human world on our own, but we can't interact with it then. We're untouchable and invisible, like ghosts."

That couldn't possibly have felt good, but if it was the only other way they had of visiting than slavery, I imagined a lot of demons liked doing it.

"But you're all in the human world now? All the demons?"

"Yeah, all twenty-two of us."

"And why are you telling me this?" I asked the question I'd been dancing around until now, and hoped I wouldn't regret it.

"Because every supernatural being in the world, including demons, has a fated mate. A partner picked by Fate who is perfect for them in every way, and for whom they are the perfect choice. And Matthew, you are my mate."