Heart's Redemption (MxM)

Chapter 24 ~ Sam

Ian kneels in the moss, staring up at me with a very strange look on his face. When he'd said he loved me, when he kissed me like I meant something to him, a happiness unlike anything I'd felt before had flooded my entire body.

I knew I'd transformed, that I'd taken on my demonic form, but Ian had seen it before plenty of times. It didn't explain the expression of rapture and awe on his face now.

A weird feeling pulls at the muscles in my back and, reflexively, I tense and stretch. Movement catches my eye—a shadow above me—and I look over my shoulder and up. To either side of me, sprouting from behind my shoulder blades, are two enormous golden wings, like those of a great eagle.

"Oh fuck..."

Samasa had had wings in his native form, in the demon realms, but even powerful demons don't manifest physically on the earthly plane. Instead, they move unseen, or possess a human host. As far as I know, it either wasn't possible, or it simply wasn't done.

Something about my hybrid nature must be allowing the part of me that was Samasa to manifest more fully as it increases in power, the closer Ian and I become.

Experimentally, I flex the new set of muscles in my wings and back. The feathery appendages obey my will, extending to their full span on either side, and Ian gasps as they unfold.

Although I'm not thrilled with the new development—I stood out enough in this form already—I have to admit there's something beautiful about the way the golden feathers gleam in the sunlight, the long pinions overlaying one another in perfect lines.

"Can you fly?" Ian asks, still looking a little overwhelmed with wonder.

"How should I know? I haven't tried yet," I reply. "Are you okay?"

He nods and I extend my hand to help him to his feet, careful of the short, sharp claws—or talons—tipping my fingers as I do. We're nearly the same height and size now, and his eyes are almost even with mine. He reaches towards me, pauses, and draws back.

"Can I...?"

"Of course," I assure him, a little disappointed that he had to ask.

He reaches again, and touches my hair, pulling it forward over my shoulders. That's when I realize it falls to my waist, a silky black curtain like a shadowy veil.

"How are you so gorgeous all of a sudden?" Ian asks. "You're like an angel, or a god..."

"Neither, sorry," I smile. "Still a demon—although I guess that word isn't perfect either. Samasa was...something like what in Hindu and Buddhist mythology or in Zoroastrianism they'd call a deva or an asura—depending on which was less in favor. Incubi tend to get thrown in with the 'evil' ones because of the whole 'sex-energy' thing." I shrug.

I can tell from his expression that he doesn't really understand that comparison, but he nods anyway. "'Demon' automatically makes it sound like you should be something scary and bad, but you're not. What did Samasa call himself? I mean, do demons, or whatever, have their own names for what they are?"

"Sure. Samasa was an Ainasya. The simplest translation of that in human languages is...lover, or shadow lover. Which is sort of what an incubus is, just without the negative stuff."

"And Samasa had wings like this?" he goes on, reaching out to stroke the golden feathers.

"Sort of. I suppose in the demonic realms, the scale of things is—"

I'm interrupted by a high pitched yelp.

"Holy fuck! What is that? Is that Sam!?"