ALOR
In the darkness of his unconscious mind, Alor could hear voices, some familiar and others foreign. All of it was indecipherable, like being underwater in Mina's bathtub.
Is this what she meant by death? Eternal sleep in a bathtub? It didn't seem all that bad.
But then his nerves came to life and he felt everything. Muscles stiff and tender, the impact of falling eight hundred feet from C4 tower was like being drawn and quartered.
There was another voice, Jin screaming inside the depths of Alor's possession.
"What have you done!" Crumpling to the ground, Jin's face contorted in rage. "We're gonna die because of you!"
We.
Alor thought.
I am you.
Every fibre of his being bristled at the declaration. Alor had thrown his chance at life away, and with no power he'd be forgotten. Who was he if there was no mark of him left?
It was hard to breathe, his throat constricting with awful unbidden emotions. Emotions he hadn't experienced since being casted out of his domain, all because of her.
Alor would make her pay.
He came to in a white room that smelt of disinfectant, cold light beams burned his vision.
"Am I... dying?" Alor croaked. Death would've been much nicer than feeling like this.
"No sweetheart," Came a feminine voice, "you're lucky you don't have worse injuries." Rushing to his side, a woman's hands wrapped around his, giving warmth and delicious energy. Alor sighed with a smile. At least his powers left him this one little thing.
"May, I need sustenance." He knew the owner of the voice even before his vision focused, regarding the faces before him. Alor's Auntie May gazed down at him in relief, his Uncle David stood at the far end of the room with a grin. They'd come all the way from Texas to check on him, how nice.
Alor's stomach growled and May patted his wrist affectionately. "I'll get you some food."
As May and David left, Alor hadn't noticed the other person sitting in the chair at his bedside. "That's not your Auntie, Alor."
It was like a bolt to the heart. Surely, that was his Auntie? He could recognise his family. But then Mina's face came into focus, and he remembered who he was. He was a demon inhabiting the body of another human, one of his bloodline. Jin.
Despite his groggy state, he recollected the moments before his fall from the tower and his mouth spread slowly into a wild grin. "You promised yourself to me."
Grudgingly, she nodded. It was apparent in the way she was sitting, stiff as a board, that something had weighed on her.
"Why are you so stressed? Were you worried." Alor teased.
"I hate you too much for that." Mina said. "Everyone thinks we're together. It's the only way I could save Jin's ass after the stunt you pulled."
"We must look like lovers now, must we?" There was a salacious tone to his voice that made Mina cringe.
"Jin's family is determined to see that he gets better. I don't know how long they'll stay here, so pretend we're partners."
"You cannot pretend with me, you're my bride. I have no reason to pretend with you." Alor reached out his hand, IV drips in his arm. Jin was already becoming a part of Alor. As it was with the monk priest, he gained core thoughts and memories that shaped his vessel. Pretending he had a family, let alone a partner, would be easy as breathing.
Mina glanced down at his hand, unmoving. "A mutual agreement means I have agency. If I'm to be your bride Alor, what do you expect of me?"
"Let me feed off your energy." Alor wiggled the fingers of his outstretched hand. "Being in close proximity, touching you, fucking you... Each are ways I gain energy."
Fucking was much more preferable. But Alor almost blanched at the thought of excess movement in his current state.
"I have no desire to fuck you. You will respect my word because if you don't." Mina pulled her amulet off her neck, holding it up in emphasis. "This goes back on, and you will receive no energy from me whatsoever. Understand?"
Right now, he'd do anything for her touch. This mortal body, in all its pain, was a nuisance. He could play in the boundaries Mina set, and when the time was right he could plant the seed and she'd be his ticket back to the Spirit Realm.
"Deal." He said, Mina's palm finally closed over his and they were the portrait of a young couple.
***
MINA
I didn't expect Alor to wake up. What with a concussion, skull fracture, and severe bruising I thought he was gone. How could he possibly wake up from this and be fine? But when his glazed red eyes opened, bypassing the drugs in his system to grin in a perfectly coherent manner, I was thankful. Hugh's early interception, heralding the growing crowd below C4 tower to prepare a soft landing was undoubtedly cause for this miracle, and maybe some demonic healing on Alor's part.
Two weeks later, we left the hospital hand in hand as planned. He moved like an old man on a walking frame, sore as I tried to help him into the backseat of Jin's Auntie's car. On the drive, Alor was sleeping like a rock.
"Don't worry Mina, we'll cook dinner for you tonight." May smiled at me through the revision mirror.
It was a chance to interrogate me, and I steeled myself for it. Since she'd never heard of Jin having a girlfriend—one that made him climb up C4 tower like a mad man—I sensed his May was less than distrustful of me.
"You're too kind." I said. "If there's anything I can help with, let me know."
She didn't. In fact, she made my kitchen her own. There was something so invasive about people in your home, rearranging things around to suit their own habits. Jin's Auntie moved the towels off their designated wall hangers to drape them over the overhead stove lights, put the ingredients for quiche back into the wrong shelves in the cupboard. I didn't like it one bit. It felt like she was making herself at home.
The steaming bowl of spaghetti and meatballs did look nice. I'd give her that.
Alor slurped at his noodles aggressively, and his eyes nearly rolled into the back of his head. "You make the best spaghetti, May."
She chuckled across the other side of the table. "Well if you lived with us you'd have it as often as you'd like."
Oh hell no.
My fingers tightened around my fork. I couldn't even taste how good the noodles were now.
Alor shook his head, and clasped his hand over my wrist in an affectionate manner. Finger pads over my pulse.
"Mina would have to come with me."
May gave me an appeasing smile. "We only have room for one, Jin."
If I could've shrivelled into a shell for cover, I would. I slurped at my spaghetti instead. Everything was just peachy.
Alor looked hurt by May's answer and gripped my wrist tighter for it. "Well I won't be moving, but thank you."
Having finished his meal, the David tapped his fork on the table absently, his intent eyes on me. "Mina how did you two meet?"
"At the food stall he works at." I paused, thinking of a timeframe. "That was five months ago."
"Five months!?" May's eyes went wide as she looked to Alor. "And you proposed already?"
Alor rubbed a spot on the back of his neck, not quite looking at her. "You know how impulsive I am. I scared her off."
I jumped in. "You were off your face." I turned to his May and David. "I have no idea what happened but Jin was having a bad trip when I got home."
The David and May gasped in unison. "You took drugs?!"
We were really ruining this for Jin.
"In my defence," Alor began slowly. "I didn't know the brownies I had were loaded with shrooms. I thought I was superhuman, and then Mina refused me. I ran to C4 tower till it was morning."
May covered her mouth and made a sobbing sound, her husband rubbed her back, shaking his head.
"Jin." David said despondently.
They hadn't realised Alor got up on the tower out of free, drug induced will. Not a bad girlfriend. May grasped my hand from across the table, and I knew she felt bad then.
"Please take care of him." She said.
Auntie May and Uncle David said their goodbyes after helping me tuck Alor into bed. They weren't staying, but said they'ed check in digitally, wanting to save their reputation from the taint of Alor's supposed bad trip.
Alor stared at me from the bed.
"Thank you for tonight," I said. "You spin lies as easy as breathing."
His lips stretched into a menacing grin. "And my reward?"
I ungracefully shoved off my jeans, peeled my legs out and threw off my t-shirt. Alor's expression was pure glory, but I pulled out my oversized nightie from my pillow and put it on.
