A very short story I wrote in October. Not my favorite, but I like it better now than I did then. I had absolutely no idea what it was about when I started it, it was inspired from this song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7jyUJ0QsMM&ob=av2e which I love passionately :D
There was a demon standing in the rain. The water dripped off his coat and streamed down his fingers and flattened his hair into a black mess, and it looked like he was smiling. He was standing in the very middle of the square, next to the scraggly Christmas tree in the middle of plastic chairs and tables. It was not a cold day even with the rain and he slowly looked up so that it ran into his eyes and slid over his cheeks. I shivered and with that one movement he knew I was there, his head tilted in my direction and then his eyes found mine. From this distance it looked like they were the exact color of the sky, stormy gray and glittering with wetness. I stared back from the safety of the café and did not move.
“That’s very rude you know,” I heard somehow, I could barely see his lips moving but it sounded like he was standing right next to me.
“Show off,” I muttered under my breath. He smiled and tilted his head towards the table next to him.
“Care to join me?” I considered for a moment, he already knew I was there, not like I’d tried to hide, and the rain was slackening off. He was staring at me unwaveringly now but did not seem like he’d particularly care if I stayed inside. But he looked pleased when the bell on the door jangled open and I stepped outside, immediately hunching my shoulders against the rain. It had found its way underneath my collar already and was dripping down my spine-- not very cold but it felt like a spider crawling smoothly down. I twitched and avoided the puddles, only looking up when he was right in front of me.
“You don‘t like the rain,” he said, low and amused. My mouth smiled and I raised a dripping eyebrow. “I like it,” he said with a tiny shrug.
“Makes you stand out,” I said. “No one likes the rain when they’re in it.”
“Maybe I want to stand out,” was his answer, and I laughed at how juvenile he sounded. There was a growl from the sky and I looked up, blinking furiously as a drip fell directly on my eyelid. The rain was not slackening off after all, it had been a brief reprisal and now it came down in earnest.
“You’ve been watching me for the past two days,” he said lightly. His eyes were darker than they‘d seemed before, practically black and they looked at me unblinkingly.
“Much longer than that actually,” I said with a little smile. “I’ve let you see me these past two days.”
“Why?” he shifted in annoyance, he didn’t like to not be in charge of the conversation.
“Because I’m sure now,” I said and made myself straighten, I was almost as tall as him when I wasn’t hunched in the rain.
“Sure of?” He asked and frowned at me. I almost laughed, he was doing it again. He was steaming, warmth and anger making the rain sizzle as it hit his coat. He realized where I was looking and it stopped abruptly, but the cogs were beginning to turn in his head. “You shouldn’t have been able to see that,” he said slowly.
“Your illusions are bad in the rain,” I said with a shrug.
“They are not!” he retorted and I just laughed. Obviously they were or I wouldn’t have seen the steam, and he blinked as he realized he didn’t have an argument. “I think you should leave now,” he said coldly. “You have no idea just who you’re dealing with.”
“Really,” I said, and reached out to brush a straggly flop of hair off his forehead. He was having a hard time looking menacing while dripping everywhere, and he started to steam again.
“Don’t--” He growled, pushing my hand away, but something about my hand against his fingers made him freeze. “Do I know you?”
“I’m a little insulted you have to ask,” I said but I wasn’t, my illusion was very good. It even changed my voice, but my fingers-- he knew the feel of my hands. It had been a long time though, and he must have felt dozens of hands since then so I pulled them away and shoved them in my pockets. He looked up at me again, wary, and searched my unfamiliar face.
“How exactly do I know you?” I didn’t answer and he stepped forward, trying the menacing thing again and succeeding a little this time.
“There‘s just one thing I‘d like to ask you,” I cut in before he could say anything. “Have you ever fallen in love?” He laughed abruptly, and grimaced.
“That’s your question? God, no. You know what I am don’t you? We don’t fall in love.” My fingers gripped the liner of my pockets and I grimaced back at him. Just like I’d thought. His body lost it’s tension and he stepped back, regarding me. I was just a silly girl, asking him strange things about love. “Now for my question. Who are you?”
“What’s the point of telling you?” I shrugged nonchalantly, my fingertips were burning holes in the pocket liners and I took them out to cool in the rain. “In another twenty years you won’t remember me at all.” I gave him another smile with my lips and then I was walking away, splashing loudly in puddles and wiping the rain off my face. I wasn’t upset since I’d never been in love, demons couldn’t fall in love. But we couldn’t cry either, and the rain was making it feel like I was so I hurried back inside. He had turned his face back up to the sky by the time I grabbed my coffee, the odd conversation apparently already forgotten. I didn’t let my gaze do more than skim over him before turning away. There were much better things to be had in this world than soulless ex lovers and tiny, dreary, water infested towns.
Kelia
