Chapter Eight
For the three days following that encounter, much to my intense chagrin, Spencer still doesn't let me leave the house. His excuse was that he didn't want me putting myself out in the open so soon after I almost died, and that he wanted time to figure out who it was who attacked me, but we both knew he was lying. He was trying to protect me by - unintentionally, I'm sure - taking the same route that my parents did, and believing that keeping me locked up in the house would protect me from the person who tried to hurt me. It didn't make sense to me; if the person really wanted to hurt me, keeping me locked up in the house wouldn't stop them, most particularly if they were a super, and the fact that Eric managed to practically walk through the back door the day after I was attacked only emphasized that point. It made a lot more sense for me to leave the house with Jasmine every morning and go to university like I had originally planned; at least that way, I would constantly be surrounded by people, and the likelihood of someone attacking me would be much less. But I never brought that point up to Spencer, and never openly challenged his decision, because I was terrified that he would tell my parents what happened.
So instead, I spent most of my time sprawled across Jasmine's window seat, alternating between reading the books in her room and listening to the voices in my head. I didn't know what was more interesting; the books, which were full of fascinating worlds that were completely unlike anything I'd ever read down in the Underworld, or the vast array of differing voices that had slowly accumulated in my mind the more time I spent up on the surface. I wasn't entirely sure what it was, but for some strange reason it was like my phantasmal field had been widened the minute I stepped foot on the surface, and suddenly I could reach thousands more people than I ever could down in the Underworld. Despite my better efforts, I'd neglected to really do my job ever since I had traveled up to the surface, and being put on hypothetical house arrest provided me with the opportunity to help as many scared and lonely people as I could without the worry of missing some important aspect of the surface. Several times I became so completely overwhelmed by the voices that it wasn't until Jasmine arrived home from university later that night and shook me out of my stupor that I realised I hadn't moved once the entire day.
But the small relief that I was helping people again was a bittersweet feeling, and I still couldn't help but languish over all the time I was wasting being stuck in that house. I was only up here for another two weeks, and there were so many things I had yet to see, so many tasks to cross off my bucket list; yet here I was, sitting on the same seat for hours on end and staring at the same sights all day. It was absolutely maddening.
It was during one of these moments, where I was internally bemoaning about my predicament, that Eric suddenly decides to randomly turn up again. But this time, fortunately, I'm not taken by nearly as much surprise.
"Get up she-demon. We're going out." He announces loudly, appearing in the bedroom doorway. When I don't reply, he throws my shoe at me, effectively tearing me out of my funk. I start, jolting upright and staring at him in shock. He shrugs. "I was just checking to make sure you're still alive."
"Why? I'm obviously not dead; it would be very easy to tell if I was."
"You're right. I lied. I just wanted an excuse to throw something at you." He replies sincerely. I give him a look. "Oh chill out Bambi. You really have no sense of fun, do you?"
"My sense of fun doesn't include throwing shoes at people."
"Like I said. No sense of fun." He smirks, and I roll my eyes at him. "Ok fine, you got me, I lied again. I'm here to kidnap you."
"You're not doing very well at it then; correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm fairly sure the kidnapper shouldn't inform the kidnapee that they're kidnapping them." I state, and this time he's the one giving me a dry look. My lips curl up into a small smile. "Why are you kidnapping me?"
"Because you've been stuck in this house and you're getting a crazy look in your eye. A crazier look." He corrects after scrutinizing me for a few seconds longer.
"It's not like I want to be here. Spencer said I should stay behind, and-"
"So?"
I stare at him. "I'm not ignoring him."
"Why not?"
"Why?"
"You've only got a couple of weeks left here Bambi, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember you telling me you desperately wanted to experience life on the surface." I nod slowly, and he cocks an eyebrow at me. "That ain't gonna happen if you play by Spencer's rules."
"They aren't rules."
"Yes they are. He's keeping you under house arrest." He retorts. "Why are you even listening to him anyway? Haven't you ever rebelled against anyone?"
I shrug loosely, drawing my knees up to my chest. He bursts out laughing.
"My god Bambi, you really haven't, have you?" He snickers. "Well colour me shocked. I never would have guessed that the Princess of Hell was a complete goody-two-shoes."
"What's a goody-two-shoes?"
"Someone who doesn't possess the word 'rebellious' in their vocabulary." He replies wryly. "Which we really need to change; it's physically paining me to keep existing in the same space as your prudish self. So get up and get your rebel on. We're going out."
"No."
Eric folds his arms over his chest, jutting out his chin stubbornly. "Give me one good reason why."
"I've already given you a good reason."
"What, that Spencer said so? And what, I guess you're gonna tell me you always follow your daddy's orders without questioning them?" I don't respond, pulling my sleeves over my fingers so he doesn't see how my fists clench ever-so-slightly.
"He's trying to protect me." I finally say, avoiding his gaze so he doesn't see through my little white lie. I can't tell him the real reason Spencer's making me stay behind.
"From what? No offence Bambi, but people get mugged all the time, even by a super; you're nothing special." He replies. "And I told you that I'm going to teach you to protect yourself, but I'm not going to be able to do that if you hide in here all day. So get up off your ass already."
"For the last time Eric, no." I purse my lips. "I don't think-"
"Oh, I give up." He rolls his eyes, and before I can really process what's happening, he's crossed the room and thrown me over his shoulder. "Guess we're really doing this the official kidnapping way."
I yelp, squirming in his grip. "What the hell are you doing? Put me down!"
"I'm showing you how to throw your bad girl pants on for once and have a good time." He replies conversationally, walking out of my room.
"Put me down right now Eric, or I swear you'll regret it."
"Ooh, I'm shaking in my boots." He snorts. "No please, do show me how much I'm going to regret it. I'm dying of curiosity."'
I narrow my eyes and clench my fists, fighting the irrepressible urge to give into his taunt. Instead, I growl, slamming my fists into his back. "Put. Me. Down!"
"Okay!" He replies cheerily, unexpectedly dropping me down on the concrete in an undignified heap. My breath is torn jarringly from my already battered body, and I swallow back a whimper as I feel every single muscle in my body pulse achingly. I roll over and glower up at him. "Gee Bambi, you really an angry one, aren't you? Maybe I should start calling you she-demon more often."
"Ironically enough, I never get angry." I huff, pushing myself up to my feet. "You just bring out the violent tendencies in me."
"Stop, you're making me blush." He drawls, his lips rolling up into a lazy smirk. I glare at him further and storm past, heading for the house again, but Eric steps in front of me, shaking his head. "Oh hell no Bambi, you're not crawling back into that hermit-hole again. You're already out, and you're going to get into trouble anyway, so you might as well go big before you go home."
"How am I going to get into trouble?"
He gives me a look. "Do you really think that someone as powerful as Spencer wouldn't have several safety precautions set up around this house? Trust me, he knows you left the minute we walked out that door."
My jaw drops in outrage. "Then what the hell Eric?! Why did you drag me out here if you knew that?!"
"Motivation." He says simply, and I shoot him a deadly look. "Oh come on Bambi, even you know there's no point backing down now. You can either explain to Spencer why you decided to randomly trigger his alarms and go back inside again, or you can live a little."
I grumble under my breath, my gaze flickering over to the front door. He's right; I am desperate to escape so I can explore some more. But I'm also still hesitant to trust him. I don't tend to trust people I can't figure out easily.
Or people who think it's okay to kidnap me.
"Seriously Bambi, you're still hesitating?" He rolls his eyes. "You're going to be spending the day with me; what's the worst that could happen?"
I pause, raising an eyebrow at him. "Did you really just say that? You do know that the majority of the time, whenever someone says that, everything goes wrong?"
He shrugs nonchalantly. "Crossed my fingers, doesn't count."
"That's incredibly childish."
"You're saying that like it's a bad thing. That's almost as insulting as your continuing resistance to spending the day with me."
I groan and press my lips together, folding my arms over my chest. He's impossible. "Fine."
"Fine what?"
"Fine, I'll let you..." I wrinkle up my nose. "Kidnap me."
"Really?" I nod at him and he grins. "Perfect. Put this on."
I eye the small black lump of material he's holding out to me. "What's that?"
"It's this rather primitive piece of material that us kidnappers use to make sure their kidnappee has no idea where they're going." He says it so seriously that it takes me several seconds to realise what he's insinuating.
"You're giving me a hood?" I stare at him.
He shrugs. "At least I'm not knocking you out."
"I am not putting that thing on."
"Like I said. No sense of fun." He leans forward so his face is mere inches away from mine, staring me down. "You're a boring goody-two shoes."
"I am not!" I splutter, whirling around as he pushes past me. "I just know a ludicrous idea when it's shoved in my face!"
"Using big words won't distract from the fact that you'd rather stick in the boring shadows than actually take a risk, Bambi." He replies, stopping in front of the motorbike that's parked haphazardly in the middle of the driveway. He turns around and leans against it, shooting me a rakish smirk. "You're just like your father, you know that? I thought he was boring as hell too."
I narrow my eyes into slits. "And what, I assume that you want me to ride that wearing the hood?"
"Naturally." He replies, a devilish gleam to his green eyes. "Why? Are you scared Bambi? Don't tell me that you're one of those bimbos who are terrified of motorbikes; that'll just be the icing on an already mundane cake."
"I am a personification of death. Nothing terrifies me." I reply haughtily, unable to curb my offense. He just called me a mundane cake. "This just hardly seems safe."
"Like you said Bambi, you're a personification of death. Why are you worrying about something as boring as safety?" Eric holds the hood up in the air, raising an eyebrow challengingly. "You want to prove to me that you have a sense of fun? Put the hood on."
I try to resist, I really do. I know he's purposefully trying to get a rise out of me with his outlandish insults, and I know the logical thing to do would be to ignore him and outright refuse to bend to his terms. But in what appears to be an annoyingly continuous happenstance whenever I'm around him, I can't stop myself from giving into his outrageous demands. I glare at him furiously, snatching the hood off him and waving the black fabric around in the air. "If I put this on, will you stop saying I have no sense of fun?"
"That's for me to know, and for you to find out." He says cryptically, smirking victoriously. I throw a ball of black smoke at him in response, deliberately making it explode in his face. He snickers as he jumps on his motorbike, turning it on with a roar. "Now who's the childish one?"
I give him a look, and he grins, motioning me forward. "Remove thy stick from thy ass and hurry up Bambi. We haven't got all day."
I huff and clamber on behind him, reluctantly shoving the hood over my head. Everything is immediately thrown into complete darkness, with only the smallest glimpses of light peeking under the bottom of the hood. Ironically enough, I feel completely at ease in the familiar clutches of darkness, a complete contrast to the constant feeling of discomfort I have whenever I'm around Eric. I'm still trying to figure out whether that's a good discomfort or a bad discomfort.
I shyly wrap my arms around Eric's middle, and when I speak, my voice comes out muffled. "Fine. I put your ridiculous hood on. Now where are we going?"
"Well, that all depends on you, Ellie." He says. "You and that little mental bucket list of yours. Where have you always wanted to go?"
I smile slightly despite myself. "You're kidnapping me and then asking where I want to go?"
"I think we've already established I'm not your traditional kidnapper." He retorts. "Stop picking holes in my decisions and make up your bloody mind already."
My eyes widen, and I hesitate. "I..."
"No. Stop thinking about it. You think way too much." He commands. "We're trying to be spontaneous here, are we not?"
"Yes?"
"Then don't stop to think about it. Say the first thing that comes to your mind." I feel him twist around, and he lifts up the hood, abruptly flooding my field of vision with blinding light. I squint, peering up at him, and I'm surprised to see that his expression for once is completely devoid of any impishness. "Where do you want to go?"
"The beach." I respond instantaneously. "I want to go to a beach."
A grin lights up his handsome features and he pulls the hood back down again, turning around. "Good answer."
— — —
We drive for a good ten minutes before Eric finally pulls the motorbike to a complete stop. With the roar of the motorbike finally silenced, the sounds of my surroundings assail my ears; sounds that are so completely alien that I can't help but still and tilt my head to the side ever so slightly as I try to decipher what each different sound is. One sound stands out above the rest that immediately piques my interest; an unusual crashing sound that's unlike anything I've ever heard before.
I hear Eric snicker. "You look absolutely ridiculous, Bambi."
"Not by choice." I retort, unable to resist making a face even though I know he can't see me. "Need I remind you that you made me wear this ridiculous hood?"
"Yes, but I didn't think you'd actually go through with it."
"What?!" My eyes widen in outrage, and I rip the hood off just to throw it at him. He ducks out of the way, hooting with laughter.
"Oh, if only I had a camera right now."
"You're a terrible person."
"Well, duh; it makes life so much more interesting." He smirks at me. "I'm not just an incredibly handsome face, you know."
"What makes you assume I think you are an incredibly handsome face?"
"Everyone thinks I'm a pretty face Bambi. Just because you've been living in Hell your entire life doesn't mean you're any different." I cross my arms and stare him down defiantly, electing to remain silent. He cocks an eyebrow and slowly walks forward until he's standing mere centimeters in front of me. He leans down, looking me dead in the eye. "Do you really think you can fool me, the god of love and lust? I can see right through you."
"I've barely known you for two weeks, Eric. Are you really that impossibly narcissistic?"
"Yes." He replies without missing a beat. His smirk widens when I roll my eyes. "Admit it Bambi, you find me attractive."
"No." I reply simply. "I don't."
"Careful there Ellie; you'll break my poor, defenseless heart with your cruel honesty if you're not careful." Eric simpers satirically, laying a hand on his chest.
"Get over yourself. Abject narcissism is not attractive."
"Going after my ego now aswell, are we? You know, you're not really doing a good job of convincing me that you don't have a short temper." He winks as he strides past me, and I huff. "C'mon she-demon, the beach is just down here."
I blink, taken aback by the sudden subject change. "Stop calling me that."
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because it annoys you, and you're hilarious when you're annoyed." He informs me over his shoulder as he leads me in the direction of the unusual crashing sound, not bothering to slow down as I scramble after him.
"Trust me, you have not seen me when I am-" I start to reply but end up cutting myself off, the sentence dying in my throat as I stare forward with wide eyes.
Eric chuckles at my expression. "You alright there Bambi? You're acting like you've never been to a beach before."
I'm so enraptured by the picturesque view in front of me that I can't find it in me to respond to his teasing quip. My frustration melts away as I gaze about me in wonder. It's somehow exactly how I always imagined it when Dorian described beaches to me and more; the soft golden sand underfoot, like millions of tiny sparkling gemstones, the crystalline blue water gently lapping at the sand in small concentric waves, even the trees scattered across the edges of the small inlet that stroke the horizon like the edges of a picture frame. Suddenly, I realise what the unusual crashing sound is; it's the very ocean itself, every time it tumbles energetically onto sand at the edge of the beach.
I struggle to find my voice for several seconds. "It's beautiful."
"I thought you might say that." Eric grins. "Take your boots off."
His suggestion is so bizarre that it tears me right out of my bubble of enchantment. "What?"
"Take your boots off." He repeats. "Trust me."
I stare at him suspiciously for a few moments longer before hesitantly bending down and slipping my boots off. My toes immediately sink into the sand, and I can't help but gasp aloud in delight as my bare feet are buried in pure liquid warmth.
"Oh my god!"
Eric laughs even harder at the stunned look on my face. "I don't think I've ever seen anybody quite as excited about stepping onto a beach as you do right now. You look like a baby otter who's experiencing water for the first time."
I slowly sink down until I'm kneeling in the sand and bury my hands in it, watching in abject fascination as it trickles through my hands in a golden waterfall.
"It's both just how I dreamed it, and completely different to everything I ever imagined." I breathe.
"If you're this excited over sand, I can't imagine how much you're gonna freak out over the next bit." Eric leans down, offering me his hand. "C'mon. I want to show you something."
I grasp his offered hand and let him pull me up to my feet. "Show me what?"
"Patience, my dear Bambi." He replies, leading me down to the waterfront. "Hasn't anyone ever told you that curiosity killed the cat?"
"What?" I stumble to a halt, staring at him in horror. "How could curiosity kill a cat? Why would anyone allow this to happen? How could it happen?"
"Chill out Bambi, it's just a saying. Trust me, no cats were harmed in the making of that colloquialism." He laughs, shaking his head. "Do you always take things so literally?"
"Should I not?" I frown. "How else do I take things?"
"Not so literally." He pauses, glancing back at me with a sly smile. "Do you mind getting a little wet?"
"Why?" I eye him warily, suddenly incredibly suspicious of the devilish gleam in his forest-green gaze.
"Oh, no reason." He shrugs, before wrapping his arms around my middle and throwing me into the ocean with ease.
"Eric!" I burst above the water with a loud gasp and stare at him in bug-eyed disbelief. "What the hell?!"
"Spontaneity Bambi." He tells me cheekily, holding his arms up in the air. "Do you really have to ask?"
I glare at him through my sopping wet hair and knock him off his feet with my power. This time it's him jumping up out of the water with shock dusting his features.
"Well that was bloody rude."
"Sorry. I was being spontaneous." I retort sarcastically, and he bursts out laughing. "I told you I wasn't a boring goody-two-shoes."
"You know, from the bitterness practically dripping off your words, I'm getting the feeling I offended you." He comments, and I give him a dead look. "I'm not apologising, Bambi. If offending you spurs you into being more spontaneous, then I'm just going to keep doing it."
"Why?" I splutter incredulously. "That doesn't make any sense!"
"Because you didn't come up here to sit around in a room all day." Eric says, the genuinity colouring his tone stopping my anger short. "You came up here to step out of your comfort zone and experience everything Earth has to offer, and like I said, I'm the best person around here to show you exactly what that's like."
I wrinkle up my nose. "But do you really have to act so abrasively reprehensible?"
He blinks at me blankly. "What?"
I press my lips together to hide my smile. "Do you have to be such an obnoxious asshole about it?"
"Absolutely. That's who I am Bambi; and besides, it's so much more entertaining to wind you up." He beckons me forward. "Now quit pouting and come here."
"The last time you said that you threw me into the ocean."
"Yes, and wasn't that so much fun?" He shoots me a winning smile that I just know would have made any other normal girl weak-kneed. I make no attempt to move. "What, do you really have such little faith in me? Well, that was short-lived; guess you're not as impulsive as you previously claimed."
My nose twitches maddeningly, and I grudgingly wade over to him, pointedly ignoring the smug look on his face. One of these days, I'm not going to give into his increasingly obvious attempts to push my buttons. "What?"
"You know, a smile every once in a while wouldn't kill you." He says. I roll my eyes and plaster a fake smile on my face. He shudders, holding his hands up in the air. "Okay no, I take it back; please stop smiling. It's positively terrifying. I can see why people call you she-demon."
"Nobody calls me that! Only you call me that!"
"Yes, well now I have good reason to."
"Eric!"
"What? It's true; that almost frightened me." He grins, easily ducking out of the way when I try to punch his shoulder. "Easy there, Bambi. You don't want to start a fight with me."
"Trust me, my resolve not to is growing weaker by the minute." I narrow my eyes at him. "Why did you call me over here?"
"Well, you wanted the full beach experience, right?" He raises an eyebrow, and my own crumple in confusion. He starts checking off his fingers. "Burying yourself in the sand, check. Going swimming, check. Now, all there's left is to meet some of the local wildlife."
"Wildlife? What wildlife?" I glance around me, but all I can see is the countless birds hiding in the trees, their collective song dancing in the breeze.
"Well if you quit moving around like a spasmodic bat, you would see."
My mouth snaps open, and I go to fire off a retort. But before I can get a word out, Eric holds a finger up to his lips, indicating I stay quiet. I huff, but reluctantly obey. He nods satisfactorily and lets out a whistle, the sharp sound tearing through the birdsong like a gunshot. All noise ceases, coveting us in complete silence for several long minutes. My gaze flickers from side to side, searching the wildlife he obviously intended his whistle to summon, but my eyes happen upon nothing.
But then, just as I'm about to give up, I spot two very distinctive slim silver shapes streaking towards us through the water. My eyes widen.
"Are those...?" I trail off, glancing over at Eric. He nods.
"Dolphins."
A delighted smile spreads over my lips as the dolphins swim right up to us, their sleek gray bodies weaving around our legs as they study us just as curiously as we study them.
"They are not frightened of us at all." I murmur in amazement, dipping my fingertips in the water and watching as the dolphin visibly tracks the movements. "Why are they not flinching away?"
"I told you that they would turn up if you quit your spasmodic bat imitations." He replies off-handedly, shooting me a grin. "Also, they're one of my mother's sacred animals, so... like you, they kind of love me."
I roll my eyes. "I don't love you."
"Aha!" He points his finger at me like he's caught me in the middle of a lie, like a bug that's flown headfirst into a spider's web. "But you are admitting you like me."
"Not that I abhor the idea of stroking your exceedingly large ego further," I start bemusedly. "But would you finally let up if I said that I did?"
"Why don't you try, and we'll see what happens." He replies, his eyes glinting impishly.
I shake my head, a small smile tugging up the corners of my lips. "Has anyone ever told you that you're incredibly egotistical?"
"Nobody could ever be this ruggedly handsome without being at least a little egotistical." He replies haughtily, evoking laughter from me. "Well, would you look at that. Looks like the little she-demon can smile after all; it's like a little sun, bursting through an impending cloudbank."
His words hit me like a freight train and I freeze, my laughter dying down in my throat. I glance down at the dolphins again. Eric frowns, tilting his head to the side as he scrutinizes my behavior. The afternoon sun sends a warm glow washing over his furrowed features.
"What just happened here?"
I don't answer at first, but when I do, my voice comes out barely louder than a whisper. "Why are you doing this, Eric?"
"I've already told you why."
"That surely cannot be your only motivation." I reply, and he makes a noise of obvious disagreement. "As I have already said, I am incredibly perceptive; I know your reasons are more than just a desire to 'show me a good time'. If you really are as important as you say you are, then why would you be wasting your time entertaining me?"
"This may come as a shock to you Bambi, but I empathise with your cause, and actually enjoy your company, which is more than I can say about 90% of the supers around here." He retorts, crossing his arms and eyeballing me. As his behaviour grows more standoffish, the dolphins themselves become more wary, until finally they decide to flee and leave us standing alone in the shallows. I watch them go out of the corner of my eye, sadness tingling through me at the beautiful creatures' abrupt departure. "Isn't that reason enough?"
No. I don't reply, folding my own arms over my chest and avoiding his gaze. He doesn't speak up either, and it's almost like he's expecting me to answer his question.
Silence descends on us like a shadowy cloak.
I shiver ever-so-slightly as an unexpected chill floods my veins. That shocks me. For the first time ever, I'm cold, and I can feel that iciness in every bone in my body; yet I can't quite decipher whether that's because of the frigid turn the conversation took, or whether it's simply because of the cool evening contesting with my wet clothes.
My shivering doesn't go unnoticed by the brunette god standing in front of me. He gestures me forward with a stiff nod of his head. "Come on. We better get out of the water. I can just about imagine the look on Hades' face if I told him I let you die of hypothermia."
"Mere human afflictions cannot ail me." I reply stoutly as I follow him back up to the beach. "Nor can they kill me."
"Yes, but you're also shaking so much that you look like the walking personification of an earthquake." He replies dryly. "I don't want to take my chances. We all know the world would fall apart if your father killed me."
"My father wouldn't kill you." I reply, pulling my wet sleeves over my wrists. "My mother probably would though."
A funny look passes over his face, like he finds that both hilarious and terrifying, but he's not sure which emotion is more dominant. "Right. Good to know." Before I have the opportunity to ask him what he means by that, he picks up my boots and hands them to me as he walks past. "Here."
"Eric, wait." The words burst out before I can stop myself, and he looks back at me questioningly. I bite my lip, indecision tearing through me. "Can we... can we watch the sunset before we go? I've always wanted to see one."
He arches an eyebrow at me. "Why Ellie, that sounds awfully like you're asking me on a date."
My expression hardens. Does he ever not turn the conversation back to himself? The man is a complete egotist. "Never mind. Let's go."
"Ellie wait. I'm kidding." He catches my wrist before I can storm past him, prompting me to turn my scowl upwards. He shoots me a smile that's so completely genuine that it stuns me. I think that's the first time I've seen him smile without an ounce of cheekiness dancing around the edges. "We'll have to kill time for an hour, but sure, I guess we can cross another thing off that bucket list of yours."
I purse my lips and narrow my eyes at him, still not completely convinced. He releases his grip and steps back, holding his hands up in the air. "Look, I was only joking; I don't do the committed dating thing at all anyway. It can be a completely platonic viewing of the sunset."
I frown, successfully distracted by his perplexing claim. "Why? I would have thought that you of all people would..."
"What, you think that because I'm the god associated with love that I'd know what being in a committed relationship was like and want it?" He asks, raising his eyebrows at me. I nod slowly. He shakes his head, lowering himself down to sit on the bank overlooking the beach. "That's not how my magic works, Bambi. And besides, the fact that I'm who I am is the exact reason why I abstain from the whole love thing in general."
"Why?" I ask, sitting down next to him and crossing my legs.
He shrugs, his handsome features deliberately neutral as he stares out at the golden skies. "You're the perceptive one. You tell me."
"Just because I'm perceptive does not mean I can read people straight away, Eric. I'm not that good." I shrug myself. "So why don't you tell me?"
"Maybe you are that good." He finally turns to look at me, and I'm startled when I catch how much his gaze burns. "And maybe the reason you can't figure certain things out is simply because people don't want you sticking your nose in their business."
I pause for several seconds, studying him. "This is a sore subject for you, isn't it?"
"What makes you think that?"
"I've noticed that you have a tendency to lash out and insult people in the hopes it will deflect them away from the subject you don't want to discuss." I reply, and he blinks, taken aback by my frankness. "You've been burned in the past by something to do with love, which is why you abstain from it now, haven't you?"
Eric laughs lowly, rubbing his jaw.
"See? I told you that you were perceptive." He says, and I don't miss the bitterness clinging to his tones. "What's with that, anyway? How does your perceptiveness help you?"
My eyebrows shoot up. "You deflect me away from finding out more information about you, yet expect me to divulge my own secrets?"
"I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the fact that you're perceptive isn't a sore subject for you Bambi." Eric says, resting his forearms on his propped up knees. I watch his expression, not missing the way his features visibly smooth out into a neutral mask that protects the bitter vulnerability I had seen in him mere seconds ago behind a towering wall. "So, yes. You're going to tell me, both because we both know that you want to show off, and also because I'll get up and leave you behind if you don't tell me. Your choice."
Well then. My nose twitches in annoyance. "It helps me to unravel the true personality of each person I meet."
"How's that?"
"People generally believe that our perceptions of one another are made up entirely of our interactions with each other. What you say, how you act, they're all threads that create an identity that solely belongs to you in the minds of those around you. But I believe that there's more to that; that there's more to a person below my visual perception of them." I explain, watching as understanding visibly dawns on him. "So being perceptive helps me to figure out what kind of person everyone truly is underneath that visible persona, so I know exactly how to help them should the need arise."
"Damn. That's pretty impressive." He whistles lowly. "I can see why they made you the goddess of suicide."
I shrug loosely, drawing a pattern in the sand with my finger. "You can't judge a person solely from your visual perception of them. There's always more to a person than meets the eye. Even those who are as obsessed with their ego as you are."
If he finds my quip insulting, he doesn't react to it. "And have you applied that logic to yourself?"
I stop. "What do you mean?"
"I may have only known you for a couple of weeks, but even I can tell that you've got a pretty clear perception of yourself."
"And?"
"There's more to you than that perception, Ellie. You're not all darkness like you clearly think you are."
I smile sadly. "Yes I am."
"What makes you think that?" He asks, and when I turn to look at him, his expression is etched with curiosity.
"Because I..." I stop myself, shaking my head. No. We're not telling him that, remember? I glance down at my toes, digging them into the soft sand. "I've just grown up around darkness my entire life, embodied death for as long as I can remember. It's hard not to see myself as a harbinger of death when that's all I know. It's all I am."
It's all I will be.
"Just because you embody death doesn't mean that's all you are. I embody love, but you don't see me throwing candy hearts around as I skip through town. I'll be the first to say that I'm definitely not all like that." He says, evicting a small smile from me as my mind sketches up that mental image. He points at the horizon, where the sinking sun is slowly transforming the sky from a bright tangerine orange to a rich dark blue the more it dances closer to the horizon. "You see that right there? It wouldn't be nearly as spectacular as it is right now if it weren't for the darkness surrounding it. The same goes for you. You might be associated with death Ellie, but you bring a lot of light into people's lives just by being yourself."
"Do you really believe that?"
"Without a doubt." He replies, his eyes crinkling in the corners as he smiles at me. My heart swells, his kind words stretching my smile out into a beam and almost making me completely forget about his caustic demeanor mere minutes ago. "It's yin yang, Bambi."
"What's yin yang?"
"It's the Chinese symbol for how everything in the world is connected." He reaches down and draws a small picture in the sand between us. "You see this, this is darkness. And this right next to it is light. Now you can't have darkness without a little light, and you can't have light without a little darkness, which is what those little circles represent. Get what I'm saying?"
"Yes. But that's just a symbol, Eric. It doesn't mean it's true."
"Technically we're both symbols Bambi, yet here we are, sitting on a beach and watching a yellow blob drip out of the sky."
I stare at him, asking softly, "You really believe it, don't you?"
"Do you really think I would be telling you this if I didn't believe it?" He throws a question right back in my face, and I shrug slightly. "Ellie, I'm not the kind of person to bullshit you; I always tell the truth. You can't have darkness without light, it's as simple as that. Now you think I'm purely an epitome of light because of what I embody, but I'm not. My life is a hell of a lot darker than you could ever imagine. You think you're purely an epitome of darkness because of what you embody, but you're not. You save people from killing themselves; if that's not embodying light then I don't know what is. Our roles don't define us, and they don't dictate who we are. They're simply tailored to us because we're the best people in the universe for the job." He shakes his head, the corners of his mouth quirking up. "Do you seriously think you would be the goddess of suicide if you didn't have any light inside you? If you were all dark like you think you are, I'm pretty sure there would be a lot more people dead out there than there are right now."
I don't reply for a long time. "I've never thought of it that way."
"Well that's because you've been raised by doom and gloom your entire life." He replies casually, cracking a grin when I give him a dead look. "Don't worry. I can fix that."
"What am I, your personal project?"
"What can I say?" He shrugs, leaning back on his arms. "You can only make people fall in love so many times before you feel the urge to kidnap and un-demonise the daughter of death."
I laugh, ducking my head. "I'm not a demon."
"Yes, you say that, yet you literally just tried to convince me that you're this harbinger of doom." He retorts. I know his words are just joking, but they still strike a very particular chord inside me, reminding me of the whole reason Eric had to 'kidnap' me in the first place. My merriment quickly dries up, along with my desire to continue the conversation. I glance back out at the ocean with a small, indiscernible sigh, pulling my jacket closer around me to stop the cool breeze from sinking it's fingers into my bones. A small lump bumps into my hip as I do so, and when I slip my hand into my jacket's pocket I'm surprised to find the cellphone Jasmine gave me. I hold it in my palm, staring at it in shock as the screen lights up like a Christmas tree. I'm honestly surprised it's still working, despite the abrupt swim I'd been forced into earlier; I'd forgotten I even had it.
I grimace slightly and rub it on my jeans, attempting to wipe off any excess water droplets smattering the surface. Just as I'm finishing off it pings, alerting me that I've received a new text message. I glance surreptitiously over at Eric, but his attention is so swallowed up by the setting sun that he doesn't even react to the small electronic noise. Smiling slightly at his tranquil expression, I turn the phone over and check the message. The smile tumbles off my face.
There are tides in the universe that even you cannot swim against, harbinger. The question is, will he stand by your side when you wreak havoc on his world, or will he too be swept away by your treachery?
Tick tock, Ellie.
— — —
so! what are we all thinking? let me know in the comments who you think is taunting ellie, and also let me know what you think of this side of eric! i'm a little in love, ngl