Dark Path to Heaven [Demon Romance]

Chapter 54

Chapter Music: "The Hidden Chamber" by Derek & Brandon Fiechter

I didn't want to admit it to myself, but I was interested.

What exactly did Merihem mean to tell me? What did he know about Astaroth that I didn't? And why would it be urgent if Astaroth could never return? My friend wouldn't just waltz in his Master's vault for nothing. His eyes were shining with knowledge more than his brows were drawn together in fear.

Merihem didn't have to speak any more words. I had wiped the tears off my face and followed him back to the tower. Astaroth's goodbye was instantly forgotten and I allowed myself to indulge in fantasies. Hope had once again crept into my heart so that it could destroy me anew.

"Come." Holding a pack of dusty old pages, Merihem motioned for me to follow him into Astaroth's office.

"What's going on?" I asked, bewildered.

Ignoring my question, he chose a book from the library and gave it to me.

"He has always liked novels," he murmured, a timid smile on his face. "Take a look at the summary on the back."

Being a rather picky reader, I found myself impressed at how interesting his taste was. Apparently, Astaroth wasn't only interested in argumentative essays, as I had expected. The book I'd been given belonged in the dark fantasy romance genre.

Noticing a connection with the pages my friend was holding, I gestured at his hand.

Before giving them to me, he hesitated. "He ordered me to never look at them," he said. "He even joked that they could scare me off my sleep anyway."

"The pages, Merihem," I calmly demanded, forcing my eyes shut for a moment.

I have a very strange feeling about this.

"H-He told me that if he ever died I could look at them – and maybe show them to you too," he continued, disregarding my apparent distress. "We were still in the academy when he asked me to keep the first copy in case something happened to him or his books. Now, I know he's not dead yet but I won't just stand here and do nothing. We must hold onto whatever chance is left so that we can–"

"Have you read what's written on these pages?" I asked, immersed in my own thoughts, not focusing on anything in particular.

"I-I think it's a love story..." he stuttered, "...about a demon and a human."

Astaroth's perception never ceased to amaze me. He always seemed to know exactly what I needed. In the very end, he'd told me that he knew who I was. And he'd made a very special gift to me: that is, my disgusting ex-boyfriend hanged on a cross.

What did my ex do? He was just unlucky enough to get involved with a twisted person like me. He grew repulsed because of my interest in other men, my melancholy, my emotional dependency, my sexual preferences... The list never ends. My ex was just a normal guy who ended up pushing me away. And, for that, he was punished.

I had loved Astaroth's darkness just like he had always loved mine.

"Do you w-want me to tell you how it starts?" asked Merihem, probably unsettled by my reaction –or better, the lack of it.

I opened my mouth and did it myself: "'You're in a ship sailing in the middle of the ocean,' our professor of Philosophy suggested a variation of the well-known moral dilemma..."

That was the very first sentence of a novel I'd written when I was still 'back home'. It was a novel I had read dozens of times since I had difficulty finding something to suit my tastes.