Demons (Damirae)

Chapter Sixty-Two

In a panting, gasping mess, Damian was wrenched out of sleep, his chest rising and falling like ocean waves crashing down during a full moon. The remnants of that dreadful, explosive pulse of magic lingered in the air, setting his senses alight and sparking the amber flecks in his green gemstones.

Casting his covers to the floor, Damian was out of his room in barely a second, entering the one besides his with Flash-worthy velocity. Not stopping to shut the door (though it closed a moment later), he stopped only when barred by broken glass, all but wading through air thick with magic.

He had only ever once seen Raven in nearly such a state: that was when Trigon was about to turn Earth in to an additional province of Hell. But this...this was so much more. So much worse. He hadn't before had to witness or tackle the crushing weight of her despair. Adyn must have done, but he wasn't in the Manor. And the state she was in...

Sat upright in her bed, staring unblinking in to nothingness with eyes black as the Styx dripping tears of tar on to her pure bedsheets. Yet her mouth, how horrifically it was opened and how haunting a sound it released. What had sirens, creatures of the darkest waters in Poseidon's seas? What had the Dark elves? What had they in comparison to that shriek?

Not caring for his feet, Damian stepped over the shattered glass, causing cracking sounds every few seconds as he took step after step. And with each careless footfall, the darkness ebbed away from the demoness' mind.

"Raven."

He called to her.

And the screaming stopped. The others should have thanked her for the silencing charms placed on her walls.

"Raven."

Again, he moved forwards, now extending a hand in front of him to offer peace. None could have assumed what state of mind she was in, not at that point.

"Raven."

Damian was at the bedside, but the demoness' eyes had not changed and more and more black droplets fell from her eyes. There was nothing he could do to change that, so he did the only thing possible. Damian frowned, then brushed a tear from her cheek, the sad water staining his fingers.
His hand still at her cheek, the demoness mutely turned her head in his direction, and with a single blink, the dam burst.

Soul-consuming black surrendered to amethyst as Raven took a shuddering breath, staring in to Damian's eyes as if they held the answer she yearned for, "I...I..."

And the tears fell. Uncontrollably, they poured from her eyes like they were purple rain clouds. Falling from her eyes and dwelling in her eye lashes. Damian's arms were around her. Warm, comforting, safe. A shoulder that she cried her heart out on- no more blackness in that salt water.

He held her until the tears were through, be that a minute or an hour, he didn't know. And when they subsided and the demoness withdrew her arms ever so slightly, he lifted her chin with a finger and pressed his mouth to hers, soft as the kiss of a butterfly.

The taste of her tears still on his lips, he asked, "Do you want me to stay?"

Water-streaked cheeks glistening in the little moonlight, Raven nodded, leaning her forehead against his.

In the safety of each other's arms, Damian and Raven slept safely and soundly for the first time in many a night, surrounded by shards of shattered glass window, warm despite the cold.

***

"GRUNDY MAD!"

"Tt. We can see that.", Damian muttered, picking up a rubbish bin lid from the side of the road and flinging it in to Solomon Grundy's face. "Let's see what I can do to make Grundy madder."