"No..."

I land so hard the sand underneath me flies into the air and I'm hurt, pained even, to disturb the sand of where my love used to roam freely. The closer I get, the more apparent it looks that it was never there in the first place, starts to turn me ugly inside.

I can only put the tiniest amount of effort into focusing my mind on the mist and snapping my fingers. Now, no one can see me fall to my knees.

And no one can hear me scream.

Where did they take him? Was I imagining him all those years? Am I crazy? Is none of this real?

I can't stop hyperventilating but I can't pass out because my lungs don't really work the way they used to. How I long for the silence of unconsciousness as my body shakes with the tremendous force of my shrieks. I'm furious, so furious I don't know what I might do. I screech his name in sorrow and hug myself, trying to fool my brain into believing his arms are comforting me.

There has to be a clue, I know I'm not crazy. I can't be. I force myself to stand, wiping away my tears and take a step forward into thin air.

Except it's not thin air, it's a solid thing in thin air? It's invisible, and my nose and forehead smacks into it.

"What the hell?" I mumble and back up again. I reach out and touch it. It's smooth, but not the kind of smooth that feels correct for a building or tree. I slide them down and feel more softness, softness that responds to my touch and tenses. "M-maybe I can't see it because I'm misted?"

A snap of my fingers and the air around me becomes warmer as I look directly into Stevens wide, tearful eyes. "Connie..."

If my body allowed for bodily function anymore, I would've triple whammied myself on the spot. "St-Steven?"

No, this is not my Steven. It can't be. Humans can't use the mist, and Steven is a human so he can't use it. Me using the mist wouldn't have obscured him, only me. But it's clear he was here for at least most of my mental breakdown. But where's his house if this is really is Steven?

We back away from each other warily. "You're not real," He accuses.

I scoff in offense. "Neither are you."

"Get off my property."

I laugh sarcastically. "Oh yeah, very nice beach you've got going on here. There's not even a house here anymore."

"How would you know there used to be a house here?!" He clenches his fists and widens his stance in preparation for a fight.

But dammit, I don't want to fight.

"Where's my boyfriend?" I know I sound weak and tearful and it's probably unbecoming for... a princess? Heiress? Apology letter? But I can't stand to be yanked around anymore. "I just want to know if he's okay, I promise I won't kill him just please let me see him!"

Probably Not Steven hesitates and drops his fists. He keeps staring at me for a moment, eyes traveling over my newest assets. "Ni?"

His voice. He even sounds like Steven, and now my mind is losing the argument that this isn't him.

Too much, suddenly this is too much. All of my energy has to go somewhere now or there's gonna be two more disappearances on this beach. "Excuse me for a moment, yeah?"

Before he can answer I shoot up as high into the sky as I can go, as fast as I can go. His house still isn't visible, which doesn't make sense unless this Steven is another demon shapeshifting to be mine who can use the mist. Maybe a mimic? No, the aura he gives off feels too powerful for a mere mimic. He gives off vibes that feel adjacent to mine, like an incubus, which gives me very conflicting emotions. I'll deal with those feelings later but I don't want him to leave so I collapse my wings until he's within spitting distance and land gracefully on my tippy toes with my finger jabbed in his face. "What's your name?"

He doesn't look even a little intimidated. "Steven De Mayo. What's your name?" He grabs my wrist, flips me and tugs it up between my wings. "Why the hell do you look like my...? There's no other demons here in Beach City, so what the hell are you doing here?"

"O-ow!" He's strong, really strong. I know factually I have super strength, and if this was a human I'd have already wrestled out of his hands and arms. But I can't budge.

My tail wraps around his ankle and slices into it enough that he grunts and loosens his grip a little, giving me enough time to yank from his grip and spin around. My fist flies straight into his face and another to his jaw.

It would've been really cool if he reacted, like even a little seeing as those are the first punches I've ever thrown. They were solid ass punches, too. It definitely would have hurt a human, I should have killed him with those punches (nice for my first day, huh?). But his head doesn't even turn to the side, it's like hitting a brick wall.

His eyes are watching me hard, face scrunched up in either concentration or disgust, I can't tell. And then, right before my eyes, he lifts his arms and I see him for what he actually is. But his face stays the same.

I'm so bewildered and floored that my heart almost starts again just so I can have a heart attack.

"When's my birthday?" Steven would know.

"Our birthday was... ugh," He grips the bridge of his nose with a hand and squeezes. "What's today minus four? Five? Everything's... blurry."

"Yeah... it is," I allow. Why are things blurry for him? He already had his 18th, he's been turned a year longer than me. And is that why he was so horny all the time? And why didn't he take energy from me? I can't stop asking questions, so I take a deep breath and pick one. "What's my favorite color?"

He gestures to my wings silently. "Royal Purple, and that specific shade. Dead giveaway if I wasn't Steven, which I am."

"Okay..." I tuck them away and decide to do something really stupid and crazy. "I know you're not my Steven, but–," He catches my drift and meets me halfway in a kiss. He doesn't hesitate to grab my hips and pull me in closer, trailing his hands up to my face to hold me in place. I focus on the way his lips feel against mine, the way his tongue brushes over my bottom lip and the way I let him do it because without a doubt...

This is Steven.

I knew it the second my lips touched his. The fizzy, rampant electricity that courses through me can only be because he is kissing me. No clone or fake would make me feel like this, or kiss me like this.

We topple backwards as the passion spikes and now I'm on top of him panting for air I don't need. "You lied to me."

"So did you. And then you dumped me." He tries to push me off of him with no conviction, I barely even move. "Why?"

The audacity of the heartbreak in his voice! "I didn't lie to you, they told me I couldn't tell you! Pearl sent us a letter saying we couldn't see each other anymore! If anything you dumped me!"

The look that appears on his face in response to that is murderous, and for the first time I'm able to see the scars and cuts on his body that I didn't put there. "What happened to you?"

"Looks like you had a rough turn." He runs a finger over the cut under my eye. His eyes flicker to pink and he does it again, this time with a claw sharp enough make a new one underneath it. A single drop oozes from it and instantly he swipes it up and rubs it between his fingers. His breathing gets heavy, lusty even, at the sight of the black ichor of mine. When his eyes raise up again they are full of desire.

Oh... this... that energy is scrumptious. I crash my lips to his and he moans, grabbing my waist hard enough to leave indentations in my side. The kiss is different though, the way he kisses me gives me energy and not as much because I'm taking it, he's giving it to me.

I have no self control, but I need answers.  "What are you, Steven? What are you really?"

He scoffs and we scramble apart again to stand. I need the space in order to think and apparently he needs it too. "I can't say, but I could ask you the same thing. I thought you were an actual siren." He whispers the last part for some reason and that irritates me. "You let me call you that for years!"

"I liked the nickname! Someone needs to read the demonology lore book," I snap. "What the hell does it look like to you? I'm a succubus you–," The wind is knocked out of me as he tackles me, and the sound of air being pierced through narrowly misses my ear. "Ow! What the hell!"

"Welp, way to go." He sighs and yanks me up. "You had to run that pretty little mouth of yours and now we have company."

"What?!" I cry in unadulterated horror. I just got here! "Who just tried to kill me?!"

He points out toward the ocean and at first I don't see anything. "Focus your mind on needing to see, and you'll see."

It works (barely), and now I can clearly see two figures. They look human, but upon further inspection there's something decidedly wrong with them. Those cold grey eyes are staring directly at me.

Goosebumps raise on my skin and so does every hair. My mom used to tell me everything she could find about them, in greater and greater detail every time. We would discuss theories but of course, I can't think of a single one off the top of my head. "Are those–?"

"Albasters." He summons a shield and puts it back. I gape at the space it used to occupy. No way did he just do that. He catches me and huffs out a laugh. "You've figured out how to summon your weapon right?"

"My what?!"

"Heads up."

Something shoots right into my shoulder and I gasp in pain.