Chapter 19: Dropping By

Adan

I set my glass of blood on the table. "Another." And then, a line cracked through the glass. The strength I used was an ounce too much.

The young female bartender scurried over and swiped the glass away swiftly. "Yes Lord." Her footsteps were quick and filled with haste. I could be quite scary when mad--especially when I was almost drunk on blood at the same time.

Yes, demons could get drunk on blood, though my tolerance was higher than everybody else. I needed a lot of it to get me going. Even now after countless glasses, the warmth in my ears were only beginning to set in.

My bartender was taking too long to return. What took her so long? I let out a sound of annoyance and tapped my fingers on the bar top. Today was definitely not the right day to get me annoyed.

The female stumbled over with an anxious face. "I'm sorry My Lord. We're..." She bit her lip and looked at the crowd behind me, trying to avert my eyes.

"Out with it."

"We're out of blood sir."

It was easy to tell from her face that she was lying. She blinked too many times. Plus, her pulse quickened--the lying pulse. People didn't fool me so easily--I did have millenniums of experience after all.

I scoffed. "Well, go get more somewhere else."

Her heart skipped a few beats. Fear was practically crawling out of her skin. "But My Lord, our supplies aren't coming until next Tuesday." The girl's face was a ghostly white.

Another lie. I guessed that she was a young, not to mention idiotic, vampire. Even fifty year old vampires knew how to tell classier lies. "You're saying that they're going to close this bar down until next Tuesday?"

"Um... No. Boss said that we're just going to serve other drinks for now," she said, her voice lowered and weak.

I gave her hair a second glance. She was a redhead. I fully expected her to be blonde. The only reason why creatures came to this bar was the blood. I knew her boss, and he wasn't so stupid.

I glared at her, then slammed my hand onto the table. "TELL ME THE TRUTH!" The impudence of this little dumbass. I've killed for much less. She lied to me. Twice.

She froze into place. I continued glaring at her. Then, she just crumpled and fell to the ground. "Forgive me My Lord!" I could hear her sobbing over the booming music--not because she sobbed that loudly; I just had good ears.

Word vomit was now spilling out of her mouth. "I didn't mean to Lord, but boss asked me to stop you from drinking somehow, he said that you were drinking too much, and that our supplies weren't going to last and and... I'm sorry My Lord, please forgive me. I'll... I'll... "

They always got like this--all panicky and trying to explain themselves before they die. I wasn't going to kill her though. It wasn't her fault but that old chap's. And I wasn't going to kill that old chap because I actually liked him.

But I still wanted to punish her for being so dumb.

"Stand," I said.  

"Yes My Lord." She clamored to her feet quickly, afraid that I would chop off her head before she could say another word. When she got up, her posture was straight like a plank of wood. "I'll do anything My Lord."

"Shut up." My fist met her jaw, and she flew against the shelf of alcohol that was behind her--it was for decorative purposes, barely anybody wanted the alcohol here. The sound of glass breaking reverberated through the air and the strong odor of alcohol mixed with vampire blood permeated the room.

The young vampire let out a groan, though I was sure that I didn't hurt her much, it was just a light punch--by my standards.

I wiped the back of my hand on my pair of jeans. "You talk way too much." I turned on my heels towards the exit. The bar was almost empty now, except for a few that were frozen like ice. The creatures left pretty hurriedly when I got mad.

It was that Evelyn's fault. It was just a prophecy... I wasn't actually using her. I actually liked her--she was spunky, sweet, pretty, adorab--

Wait. I shouldn't be thinking about those things. I was supposed to be mad!

I, the ancient demon lord that had everybody else licking from the palm of his hand, was like a loser obedient dog next to her. I even wrote a letter and decorated it with a cute, pink heart-shaped sticker. I swept my tired hands across the sides of my face. Stupid stupid stupid...

Would she change her mind after reading the letter?

I sighed. Why did I have to listen to all her orders anyway? She said to stay away, but I didn't actually have to do it. She was my mate so I could do whatever I want... right? I didn't want to be a pet dog licking off the palm of her hand.

That was it. I had to visit. My dignity was at stake.

- - -

"Hollie!" a girl screamed. It was Evelyn. She sounded flustered and it made me worry. Was she attacked? Hollie should have been there to protect her. "Hollie!" she shouted again.

I leapt to the window of her room, and it was hot. Like literally, flaming hot.

I frowned. "What the hell just happened over here?"

She turned around and her eyes met mine. She looked so relieved I almost thought that she would cry. "Adan! Oh my god, please help me."

"Yeah yeah," I said. I flicked my fingers together and expected the flames to dissipate just like that.

But they didn't.

What? A fire this small should go off like a light, but it barely even flinched. I clicked my fingers another few more times, each time harder than the last.

Still, it didn't work.

Evelyn was starting to look more flustered. "Adan?"

"It's not working."

She stared at me like I had a pimple the size of a pumpkin on my face. "Why?"

I wanted to know why too. "I don't know!"

Her expression was as if I owed her a million dollars. "Well, do something."

"Okay okay." I closed my eyes and tried to focus, imagining the fire go down like there was desert rain pouring over it. When my eyelids lifted, I could see my rain gushing over the fire. But her flames still glowed like the sun and danced around the room. I was speechless.

Evelyn was having the most pissed off face in the world. "What the hell are you doing? Now I'm wet!"

I glanced at her. I would've laughed if not for the dire situation, and the fact that my powers weren't working for once. She looked like an angry tiger completely soaked and in the midst of flames. I sighed and turned off my redundant rain.

"I'm sorry," I said, "Something's wrong."

She threw her hands up in frustration and turned away. "Whatever. HOLLIE!"

Right then, Hollie rushed into the room. "What the--"

"Don't ask. Just... FIX IT!" Evelyn said. "Adan's being useless."

Hollie chuckled. "Oh he's just playing with you." The redhead demon closed her eyes and concentrated on her task. A strong rush of wind stirred in the room, blowing the fire out. It was gone in less than a minute.

All that was left was a very black and charred room. All the furniture were simply dust laying on the floor. I could imagine my mate's heart sink to the pits of her stomach.

Her eyes were tearing. "You dick!" She stomped towards me and pushed my chest. "What the hell? Why didn't you put them out quickly?"

I tried to show how sorry I felt through my eyes. "I really couldn't."

"Oh, stop shitting around Adan."

"I'm telling the truth."

Hollie rolled her eyes. "Adan, we all know that you were playing around. But don't you think that you're being a bit mean to Evelyn?"

Why were none of them believing me? I would've helped her as soon as I could. Even though I could get quite grumpy at times, I wasn't so petty as to let fire burn down my mate's house--just because I was slightly disgruntled. "I'm telling you guys, I really tried to put the fire out, but my powers weren't working."

Evelyn had her arms crossed. "I don't believe you." She narrowed her eyes.

"And why the hell not?"

"Well for one, you're a demon lord for god's sakes. You're supposed to be able to do anything. Hollie put the flame out." She pointed her hand towards Hollie.

I sighed. That was logical. "I honestly would've helped, just trust me on this okay?"

"No," she said. Hollie nodded at the same time.

How was I going to get myself out of this mess? "I don't think my powers work on yours."

Her nose flared. "Well that's the biggest load of bullshit I've ever heard. Jason put my flames out."

That was new. "When was this?" I asked.

"Before you kidnapped me. At least he was polite and decided to introduce himself properly first. Kayla had her hair on fire."

Who was Kayla? I wanted to ask but then I decided that I didn't care and there were more important things to worry about. "That was then and this is now. You weren't a full demon then."

She pushed her hair to her back smugly. "I was still your mate."

That was true. "Yeah, but you weren't 'complete'." I gestured the inverted commas with my forefingers. "Now your powers are in full bloom. Well, almost, you just need to learn how to control them."

"Stupid excuse Adan."

I let my shoulders down. This was harder than I thought. Time to act smooth.

I ambled over to Evelyn and grabbed her hand, placing it on my chest. "Feel that?"

"Ew, let me go creep." She tried to pull her hand away but I didn't budge.

"I think I'm in the wrong room," Hollie said nervously before slipping out of the door--it was half burned down however.

I turned my attention back to my mate. "Your emotions are linked to mine, though the link is barely there right now."

"That sounds so cliche and dumb Adan." She looked away. Apparently my face wasn't even deserving of a glance from her at the moment. "You're trying to psycho me into believing you."

I had almost none of her trust. It made me want to cry... or slap her. Or perhaps punching Jason would be a better choice. "Feel it yet?" I asked, with the most soothing voice I could muster. I was true that mates could sometimes feel each others feelings, but it didn't happen very often. It hadn't happened for me and Evelyn yet.

I hoped it would. And at this crucial moment where the trust between the both of us depended heavily on it, I needed it to happen. "Feel it?" I asked hopefully.

Nothing.

She let out a sound of frustration. "You're being a tard. Let me go."

All hope was lost. I reluctantly let her hand go.

"You're the biggest dick I've ever met Adan."

"I'm sorry."

"Look at this!" She flung her arm in a semi-circle shape, referring to her previously not-very-black room. "You should've just been nice and helped. Now where the hell am I supposed to stay?"

"You could just stay at my place," I mumbled. Women were scary when they were angry.

She brushed her hand through her black curls. "Ha Ha. Very funny Adan. I don't even want to be next to you right now."

Ah. That was like an arrow to my heart. The korean dramas I watched normally said to wait for the woman to cool down first. Not that I watched much of them. I just glanced at one. One episode. Then I switched the channel to spongebob. "I'm sorry."

"You ought to be."

"I'll... leave you to chill."

"You think I need to chill?" And immediately, her nostrils flared up again. I didn't like it when she did that. It made her more scary than pretty.

"Well, I'll just leave you alone." Just like a sad dejected puppy, I pulled myself to the opposite direction and dragged myself away.

"Good riddance," she said. Her distaste was obvious in her voice.

"I didn't do it..." I mumbled. I realized that I had almost forgotten something. "Oh yes, and one last thing."

She definitely didn't sound welcoming. "What is it now?"

I pulled out the letter I wrote for her and handed it over. "Here."

"What is it?"

"Just take it," I said, sighing at the same time. "I wrote it sincerely."

She let out a grunt that showed her lack of enthusiasm. "Fine." Her grip on the letter was so weak that it almost slipped out of her fingers. Why didn't fate give me a woman that was more easy to please? I just couldn't believe my lack of luck.

I wanted to see her reaction to the heart-shaped sticker, but she hung the letter next to her with her limp, unenthusiastic arm.

"See ya," she said coldly.

Daggers to my heart. Just daggers. Someone kill me now.

"See ya," I replied.

I jumped out the window. If only the height was able to end my life. But I landed on the black road just like an agile cat would.