TRIAL AND ERROR | short stories + snippets

The Demon of You

"You summoned me, love."

Through the window, he watched Dimitar's black umbrella bob with his strides until he stepped out of the protective enchantments of the house and dispersed into mist.

Arjun pushed the drawer shut and looked at the demon. Teddy had already been above average in looks as a human. Now, there was a supernatural allure to him. It was like a melody had emerged at the very back of Arjun's mind, coaxing him to get closer, just a little closer, and a little closer still, close enough to touch.

He yanked his mind back into the realm of reason. "Where's Abraxas? That's who usually shows up."

"Your grand aunt's had him locked in a shipping container in Felixstowe all summer," Teddy said, collapsing onto the bed. He picked a sheep plush from between the mountain of pillows and hugged it to his chest. "Felixstowe, of all places. Really makes Hell seem pleasurable."

"Let go of Mr Cloud." Arjun wrestled the sheep out of Teddy's grip. "Can you get out of my bed, please?"

"First time I've heard those words," Teddy teased, but stood up all the same. "How long after I died did you wait to shag Mitko? At least a couple days."

Arjun squeezed Mr Cloud a little too forcefully, glaring at Teddy's back as the demon opened his wardrobe. "We weren't together anymore when you died."

"Yes, you kept reminding me of that right before we'd have sex."

Teddy shifted through his hangers and looked through the drawers of his socks and pants while Arjun scowled from the other side of the bed. An almost human smile softened his face when he found Arjun's 187th Annual Magical Convention t-shirt. They used to go to them together.

Opening the lowest drawer, Teddy pulled out a leather harness. He tossed it onto Arjun's bed. "This I need to see you in."

With his lips hooked into a smirk, Teddy's amber eyes remained on Arjun, who, horridly, felt his cheeks flush.

"You can't replace me, Arjun. Definitely not with Mitko. I was your first great love."

"You certainly will not be the last."

Arjun strode to the wardrobe and stuck the harness back into it. Then he dropped onto the edge of the bed, where he sat, watching his dead ex-boyfriend stand on tiptoes and feel around the top shelf of the wardrobe that he couldn't reach properly.

Good. There was a box of sentimentalities up there that he didn't particularly fancy Teddy knowing about.

"How've you been, then?"

"Brill," Teddy answered, abandoning the wardrobe and moving on to the drawers of magical paraphernalia. "Having supernatural abilities really is all it's cracked up to be. I know when I was alive, you tried your best to make me feel just as valuable and special as everyone else, but this, really, is much better."

He snapped his fingers, and a bouquet of pink and yellow lilies appeared in his hand. Bowing, he handed it to Arjun, who had to put in considerable effort to keep scowling. Lilies had always been his favourite, despite the stains their pollen would leave on anything white.

He placed it carefully on the bed beside him to avoid the aforementioned stains. "Have you got a tail now?" he asked, thinking of Abraxas's lion one.

Teddy swivelled around with an athame in one hand and a book of yantras in the other. "You can't just ask a man if he has a tail. That's private information." Before Arjun could apologise, he tacked on, "I do have a penis."

Arjun choked on his spit. "Pardon?"

"Well, they let me alter my physical form however I liked. So I now have a penis."