[ Hey lovely readers! How are ya'll?
I just wanted to let you all know that I definitely won't be uploading as much as much as usual (even though I barely update as is lol) because my junior year starts tomorrow, and I have work and pom taking up all of my freetime. I hope I can still get some chapters out, and I hope you guys can still enjoy reading! ]

☆ Second person POV, past tense

"After I died, my bloodlust was only heightened."

You and Alastor were now sitting down in the grass, surrounded by trees and foggy red skylight. Sharp coos from the crows above head echoed through the spacious forest. Alastor was leaning up against a tree trunk while you had your head tilted against his shoulder quite comfortably. Your left arm and his right were curled together like strings in a rope of Twizzlers, and each time you shifted, he shifted too, just to keep the distance between the two of your bodies as small as possible.

"Why?"

"Probably because of the redness everywhere," Alastor continued, looking up to the sky in thought. "That dark part of me learned to associate the color red with murder, since blood is red."

You picked a strand of grass out of the dirt with your right hand, twirling the dewy blade between your fingers. Distracting yourself from the slightly sickening words that Alastor was saying, you stared at the tiny plant.

Meanwhile, Alastor continued telling his story. "Near the end of one of my murderous streaks, I decided to target a powerful demon, just to challenge myself. He had the ability to make any human, demon, or angel go blind with the touch of his hand. I succeeded in killing him, and soon after, I gained the abilities that he had," he recalled, a terrifyingly happy lilt in his tone. "I discovered my new found powers upon meeting up with an old friend. After I shook his hand, his eyes went grey, and, well... you know the rest—"

"Wait, pause the story."

Alastor glanced your way. A lock of hair fell between his eyes. "What is it, doll?"

"I'm touching you right now, but I'm not blind. How does that work?"

"Well, I learned to control my powers, of course!" he said exuberantly. "Now, most of them work on command, with either the snap of my fingers or just a simple touch."

You frowned, looking down at your little blade of grass again. A tense, weary feeling materialized within your stomach. It was a familiar.

Anxiety.

Anxiety, unease, agitation, distrust.

The unpleasant feeling you get when someone who you are very close to tells you something that just doesn't sit right.

Mental puzzle pieces were forming in your mind, slowly coming together to reveal the masterpiece that was Alastor's backstory. If he obtained the powers of that demon after killing them, then he must have killed a whole lot of powerful demons to get where he was now.

"Did you get Lucifer's powers?" you wondered with a timid voice.

"I did indeed."

You took a deep breath. He was a lot more powerful than you thought.

A thin silence came between the two of you—made comfortable by the ambient sounds of the woods and the distant honking of car horns in the city. You let your mind slip into thought.

Why did I fall in love with someone as fucked up as this?

You blinked a couple of times and tried to ignore the thought, but ignoring things in your head only made you wonder about them more. Like a rubber ducky in a bath, the little thought kept bobbing back up, no matter how hard you tried to push it underneath the surface.

"Can you read minds?" you blurted, unintentionally squeezing Alastor's hand harder.

"No," Alastor muttered, the slightest twinge of a frown making his beautiful eyes narrow. "Why? What are you thinking? Is something wrong?"

You shook your head, but you did so too quickly. Alastor saw through the lie as easy as anything else. "(Y/N), talk to me."

"It's nothing, really—"

There was a splintering crack. It sounded like a plank of wood snapping in two underneath an unbearable amount of pressure, or a branch snapping...

Before you knew what was happening, Alastor had his arms wrapped around your shoulders. He yanked you into his chest in one swift motion.

With your cheeks and eyes pressed into his redstripe pinsuit, you couldn't see what was happening, but you could hear a loud thunk.

When you took a breath in, the smells of Alastor filled your nose, giving you a fuzzy feeling. Musky cologne, pine wood, cinamon and blood. His smells, all rolled into one beautiful concoction. The scent momentarily distracted you from whatever was happening outside of your conjoined circles of personal space.

When you finally did speak up, your words were muffled within the fabric of Alastor's clothes. "Whot was dat?"

Alastor loosened his grip on your shoulders, letting you relax. Although you didn't exactly want to seperate from him and his smell, you did anyways, glancing around for signs of danger. There was nothing, other than a big branch sitting in the spot where you had been not two seconds ago. The bark of the wood stuck out wildly, poking at the grass around it.

"Damn, that was a close one..."

You trailed off as you processed the look on Alastor's face.

His eyes were wide and alert, and, although his smile was as charming and eerie as ever, you knew him well enough to see that he was tense.

"What's wro—"

Alastor slapped his hand over your mouth, cutting you off. Startled, you frowned, keeping your eyes trained on Alastor's, which were darting around like a scared deer's. There was something in the woods, something nearby. Even though you had no clue what it was, and didn't even see it coming, Alastor did.

"We're not alone," he whispered. The sentence reminded you of every horror film ever, which sent a chill up your spine. As much as you loved scary movies, you didn't want to live in one.

Alastor slowly removed his hand from your mouth, sure that you weren't going to make another sound. And you weren't planning on it.

You carefully watched Alastor's eyes until they landed on something behind you. Without turning to see what he was looking at, you watched as his face morphed from a picture of shock, to confusion, to... delight?

Wait a minute.

Could it be?

"Hello again, Al."

Lilith.

☆

Hey everyone!

Sorry this chapter was so short. I wanted to end it on a cliffhanger, and the perfect time to do so ended up happening at only 1000ish words. To put that in perspective, that's half of what I usually write.

But I promise the next chapter will be longer!

So I have a few things to say to ya'll, which you totally don't have to read (because they're mostly about me ahah) but I would really appreciate it if you did :>

1. My first day of school was today, and I am a junior, so this year is going to be pretty stressful for me. After I finish this story, I might not write as much, but I will try to as much as possible in my free time

2. YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING!!! Reading over your comments and seeing your votes makes me so so happy. When I get out of the hell known as high school, and get my college prereqs out of the way, I want to major in creative writing or journalism. Knowing that you guys like my writing means a lot to me, so THANK YOU!

3. I have an art/edit/shitpost account on Instagram, so if you want to give me a follow, that would be super nice :> My username is @//question.marking, minus the slashes lol

4. I wish you all luck in the beginnings of school, or work, or whatever you may be happening to kick off. If any of you—and by any, I mean ANY of you—are stressed out, sad, or just having a bad day, PLEASE feel free to PM me! I'm always here to listen and talk things out. Plus, it can be good to talk to someone who you don't know in real life. It relieves your stress without all of that face-to-face nonsense

Well, that just about covers it. Hopefully, I can get the next chapter out soon. Thanks again!