Heart of Glass [manxman]

Chapter Twelve

Once upon a time, I'd always thought that would be me. A century ago, when we would be laying there after a long day of demon slaying, that's what I would dream of: a life with Louis with no demons and just being happy. We would have a cottage in the woods, no kids, but plenty of space for our nieces and nephews to stay when our teammates had children and sent them to stay with us during the weekend or for a week out of the summer. We would both have good jobs, Louis teaching, and me... Well, I'd never gotten that far. But, that was what I'd always pictured.

Looking back on it, it'd been sweet. It was a beautiful, imaginary future I concocted for us. Now, though, sitting a floor away from a man I argued with during the day, and sweet talked into blowjobs as the sun sank behind the mountains, I saw nothing. I saw nothing for myself. For Louis, I saw just that, but the kids of all the friends he'd made in the academy, as well as in his survivor support group. Instead of me, it was another man, clean shaven with short blond hair and green eyes, a little lanky, but strong, and right at his height.

I sighed, leaning back in my chair, and shooting Louis a quick text to update him about my arm and ribs, as well as ask about his day. Standing from my chair, I gathered my things for my next lecture, took a deep breath to shake off the remnants of the thoughts still breaking into my head, and went to my next lecture, fully aware of the fact that the backs of my eyes burned and there was a slight lump in my throat.

Fucking hell, if being around Louis was going to make me as emotional as a cranky, sleep deprived toddler, then I either needed to grow the fuck up or discipline myself better, because crying for the second time in less than a week was unacceptable, especially while I was working. With another deep breath, I gritted my teeth and walked into the classroom, reminding myself of the work ahead of me and everything else there was to do. No one gave a shit how difficult the mess with Louis was getting, how guilty possessing two identities made me feel, how fucking alone I felt. I could handle myself, goddamn it. Worse things happened every day, and I sure as hell wasn't about to fall apart because of minor inconveniences and my own emotions.

With a third and final breath, I turned around, facing my students, and began the lecture, pushing every bit of emotion that'd bubbled up during lunch right back down, where I could forget it until I had more to hate myself for and a big bottle of scotch to fuel it.

The rest of the day went by in a blur, everything feeling unreal, dreamlike. I went to meet Louis in his office at exactly 15:45, like we'd agreed, and of course, I was a minute late. When I arrived, he was sitting there, dressed in a black button-up, gray blazer, and jeans. His hair was slicked back, as always, and he was engrossed in his phone, brows drawn and lower lip caught between his teeth as he stared at it.

I cleared my throat and knocked, causing him to jump, looking up at me like a startled deer.

"Oh, hey. Sorry," he said, putting away his phone and standing. "We're going to meet with her in their home, if you're alright with that."

I nodded. "That's fine. It'll be more comfortable for her anyway." Not to mention that if anything were to happen, I was heavily armed, and my arsenal was as mobile as I was, so I really didn't care. "So, what's the background on her?"

"She's a survivor of the first Aquireign defeat. Her partner was as well, and she was attacked and murdered last week by a demon that's believed to have connections to the Aquireign. We're going to talk to her about anything suspicious she may have noticed before the attack, anything her partner may have said leading up to it that hinted at an attack happening—"

"Basically just checking for warning signs, clues, something that's going to get us back to whoever is orchestrating this fuckfest."

Louis nodded. "Basically. Try to be considerate, though. She just lost her soulmate, and she's holding it together well, but these questions might stir up some emotions and—"