Heaven (new version)

chapter 37: lovers

While the demon slept, Caleb watched over him.

Sina had been placed in the bed and covered in a warm, quilted comforter. His long hair feathered around him like a halo.

Caleb leaned close and brushed his fingers along Sina's jaw. "People know nothing. That's what I've come to realize." He paused to listen to the wind. Though thunder had been taunting the sky, it sounded like it was getting further away. "I know nothing apart from the fact that I –" Caleb stopped when Sina opened his eyes.

Sina's gaze was misty from sleep and his voice weak from the blood-loss. "Go on, Cal. I want to hear the rest."

"You were listening?"

"I ain't dead."

"I thought you were sleeping."

"Was. Not no more." Sina tugged at Cal's sleeve. "Go on," he gently coaxed.

"I was going to say that I want to be with you forever."

Sina touched his wound. By tomorrow, it would be gone. He smiled. "I said that before."

"You did."

"Is it true?"

Cal's eyes were softly glistening. He rested his hand on Sina's shoulder before nodding. "Priests don't lie."

Looking up at the collar that Caleb had put back on, Sina frowned. "Will you take that off? I mean, for a bit?"

Caleb touched his collar. "Why?"

Sina sat up. His teeth pulled at his lower lips before he spoke. "Because I want to kiss you and it may attack me."

Caleb watched the way Sina bit his lip. It was a hymn for a broken soul.

"I can do that." His fingers curled around the collar. He removed it as if touching the most delicate glass. His gaze never left Sina as he set Mark's old collar carefully on the table.

"Maybe the rest will follow?" Sina curled his finger around the cuff of Caleb's sleeve. "I mean, you kind of looked hot when you had taken this off before."

"You saw my scars."

"And you saw mine. The ones I carry inside. I'm one big demon scar."

"Perhaps that's how the best people are made then – from a collection of scars.

"Are we people?"

"We're not human, but I see you and myself as people. And we deserve happiness."

Sina leaned closer. "You know what, Caleb? You're absofuckinglutely right. But this town is wrong for us. A demon and a Kadisin don't belong in a place like Heaven. Not with your cruel congregation and the hell they could cause. They'll eventually destroy us. Look at what they did to Cook and Travis. And they are not like us. Imagine if they were to ever learn that we're...what we are. They'd say we were monsters."

Caleb knew Sina was right, his congregation would plant the seed of hatred and fear and that seed would grow into a carnivorous plant that would devour them all. They would be labeled as monsters. They would never be happy here. People would not accept them and they would cause more harm than Caleb had ever seen. Cal swore he'd never go through that again. There was too much cruelty and not enough understanding in the sleepy town of Heaven. "I never planned on staying here forever anyway."

"We should go."

"We should go," Caleb echoed.

"Somewhere no storms can find us."

"I'd like that."

The air around them was electric. Static fought with the dust particles that crackled in the atmosphere. Outside, the sound of thunder got softer and softer until it was no more. The storm went away and took the rain with it. The rest of the year would be dry.

Eventually, the farmers would lose their crops again when the drought returned. They'd begin to blame everybody and everything for their shortcomings. Some would stop going to church. Some would find the need to pray even more. And those who were unsure, well, there was always Purgatory.

"Can I kiss you now, Cal? I'm fucking aching here."

Caleb smiled. "I'd like that."

When Sina touched him, it was feathers upon skin. Caleb had never heard of a demon being gentle, nor kind, nor good, but he had never met a demon – or anyone – like Sina.

"We're not going to stop this time." He pulled Sina onto his lap knowing this time it was for keeps.

Propping one leg on either side of Cal's hips, Sina shook his head. "No way." When Caleb curled his fingers through his hair, he leaned into the touch. "I'm not stopping until you are screaming my name this time."

"Don't stop then, either."

"I can do that." Sina leaned into Cal's neck.

As his new lover decorated his neck with kisses, Caleb felt as though he was reborn.

The night became a haunting calm. There were no words. No wind. No crackling of the sky above. All there was now was a perfect moment.

Caleb slid his hand between them and unhooked the top button of Sina's jeans. He wriggled his fingers along the hem of Sina's top and slid them underneath the material. When he touched soft skin, he paused and allowed himself to feel like a man in love should. His lover's blood rested in the core of him now, where dark things remembered how to desire and broken hearts beat. Sina's blood completed him. Sina completed him. With him near, Caleb had never felt closer to God.

* Fun Fact: If Cal had kept the collar on, Sina would have been hurt again no matter how much they loved each other.