The Reality Of Nightmare (BxB)

CHAPTER XXX: THE PRESENT

CHAPTER XXX: THE PRESENT

"I'll be a girl backstage at your show
Velvet ropes and guitars
Yeah 'cause you're my
Rockstar in between the sets."
- Lady Gaga, Paparazzi

HADRANIEL "ADRIAN" STARS

"So I kind of met you before, huh?" I ask him as I stare at him wide-eyed.

Slate smirks at me, wearing the smug expression as he nods. "And you promised not to kill me," I state, letting all the information sink into my thick skull. Slate nods again, smiling. The memory is a bit blur to me, but I clearly recognize his face now. The face of him in the memory, and the face of him in the present, they match. Only now, he has gotten a bit taller, and his face became more mature. His build also thickened, his shoulders became broader, than the last time I've seen him and that was when I was a four-year-old kid. "So which means that... you can't really kill me. Because you made a promise to me, and now you promised that I will be sent to Hell."

The demon nods at me again and this time, the smug expression he had on his beautifully sculpted face is now gone, replaced with something I can't recognize. There's hardly any expression plastered on his face, and I don't know if I said something that he didn't like, or want to hear at all.

Time seems to slow down when our eyes meet; my heart begins to race faster the longer we stare into each other's eyes. The darkness in his eyes that was there a few minutes ago is gone now, now filled with something that lifts up my spirit. In fact he doesn't look like a demon to me now at all – though he's just still in his demon form, he's just... Slate in my sight. Not a demon. Not a human. Only Slate. I don't know if that should make sense, or if I'm making sense at all, but the surprising thing is, I don't really care at all. Everyone can call him whatever they want to call him, but to me, from now on, he will only be Slate.

Silence fills the bathroom; I'm still sitting on the cold tiled floor, but his heated gaze sets me up on fire. It's not the awkward silence but rather the comfortable one – the tension has long been gone in the air, completely vanished, as if it wasn't there a few minutes ago.

"I promise, Adrian, that nothing bad will happen to you," Slate says in a very low voice, but loud enough for me to hear it. A smile makes its way into my lips, and right there, while he's seated cross-legged, I just want to throw my arms around his neck and force his lips down on mine. Without putting much thought about it, my body jerks forward as if it has a mind of its own; I wrap my arms around him and rest my head on his chest where I can feel the beat of his heart. He said his heart is tainted, but I have this feeling that whatever he has in his heart isn't purely dark. Slate tenses for a second but relaxes immediately, slowly wrapping his strong and lean arms around me and I feel calm. "I promise that."

The words that came out of his mouth, I all believe it. Demon or not, I'm sure that he's going to keep his words. Even though he's a demon, I believe that whatever comes out of his mouth, or when he makes a promise, he will never ever break it. He will do his best to keep it, to keep his promises.

Slate slowly transforms himself back to his human form, and carries me bridal style. Then he brings me back to his bedroom. The moment I'm laid down on the bed, the sheets smell like him, and I just want to bury my nose into the sheets further and take in his aromatic scent. I let out a sigh, feeling myself getting calmer and calmer the more time I spend lying down on Slate's bed.

Bed dipping down as Slate takes a seat on the edge, he just watches me watch him. A small smile makes its way into his lips and my heart stops beating for a few seconds before it explodes. I scoot just enough to give him to lie down on because I'm practically hogging the bed. His bed. And Slate immediately lies down beside me, turning to the side so he can face me.