An Eternity of Eclipse (14 page)

Bam!

If the earthquake-like effects consuming my apartment weren’t terrifying enough, at that exact point in time, the windows to my apartment burst open on their own accord. The storm of the night torpedoed into my living room with unmatched force. The powerful gust ravaged my apartment, blowing papers, salt, and a slew of other objects around like we were in the midst of a tornado.

“Ahhh!”

My screams were muffled after I covered my face to protect myself against the windstorm. Through the gaps between my fingers, I peeked out at Eclipse.

He laid at the epicenter of all this pandemonium.

He continued to shake and groan in agony. It was so horrible, so heart-wrenching to hear. I normally enjoyed other people’s miseries, but I did not enjoy his. I hated listening to Eclipse scream in absolute agony.
I do not want him to be in pain.
I squeezed my eyes shut. I wanted to cover my ears to block out his horrible screams. As soon as that thought crossed my mind, his pained groans ceased and abrupt silence spread throughout the room.

Bewilderment clutched me.

What was happening?

I slowly opened my eyes. I gazed at the area where Eclipse had been crouching. My eyes enlarged when I discovered that Eclipse was no longer there.

My confused eyes surveyed the living room. Although the windows remained open, the violent wind was no longer thrashing, the ground had stopped shaking, and the room was no longer filled with screams. The chaos had left with Eclipse.

I
slowly unveiled my face from my hands. My stunned gaze swept over the carnage-infested living room.

Oh my flying pig. What the hell just happened?

I placed a hand over my trembling heart. It took me a while to calm myself down. Once the shock passed, I belatedly grasped something groundbreaking: I had won.

I had successfully vanquished a Demon.

I didn’t even understand what I had done to successfully win this battle. My only thought was that it worked.

It worked! I got rid of the Demon!

I was so deliriously happy that I couldn’t help but play with the thought that I could perhaps make a profitable living out of this.
Grace Hwang, the Demon Slayer!
I was ready to cheer in glory and fantasize about the possibility of my own TV show. It wasn’t until I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist that I froze. The strong arms pulled me back against a hard awaiting chest. Seconds later, I felt a pair of familiar lips glide along my right ear, biting it teasingly while sending shivers of pleasure up my spine.

“Do I get a treat for that award-worthy performance?” the familiar sexy voice purred, skillfully nibbling on my ear, nearly causing me to faint from all the pleasure.

I wanted to cry when I processed that I was back in the arms of the spawn of Satan.

Eclipse was back.

“Y-you’re supposed to be vanquished!” I cried stupidly, fighting to get out of his grasp. My efforts were futile because he only held on tighter, nearly driving me crazy with his lips on my ear. “Stop it! Let go!”

With a warm chuckle, Eclipse showed me mercy by pulling his tempting lips away and loosening his grip. He allowed me to pull free, but he did not let me get far. With every retreating step I took from him, he would follow me with his own step of advancement. The cat and mouse game came to an end when I crashed into a wall.

My escape plan foiled, I glared at him in disbelief. My mind was whirling in mystification. “How could the holy water not work? I got it from the church!”

“Holy water, Bible verses, and crosses,” Eclipse began nonchalantly, his body moving closer and closer to me, “as uncomfortable and uneasy as they make me, are not enough to affect a Demon of my caliber.” He gifted me with a smile that was shrouded with wicked sensuality. He further backed me into the wall, casually crowding me with his hot and tempting body. “You would need more powerful things to affect me.”

“Why did you make me believe it worked then?” I asked, making it sound more like a whine than I would have liked it to be. I did my best to ignore how close our bodies were.

Eclipse lazily lifted his hands and placed them on my hips. Sparks of electricity swam up my body from the points where he touched me. To make matters worse, the sparks of electricity magnified in intensity when he pressed his forehead against mine. His eyes became more potent with desire.

“Because you looked adorable as hell when you were trying to ‘vanquish’ me.” A beautiful chuckle escaped him as he playfully nipped his nose with mine. “And your reaction was funny as hell when you realized it didn’t work.”

Anger cloaked my eyes. “You are cruel to play with my hopes like that.”

With his charms intact, he regarded me like a wounded puppy.

“And you are cruel to make any attempts to vanquish me when I’ve been spoiling you with my affections,” he retorted lightly. His expression showed that he was hurt I would even think about getting rid of him.

“Affections?” I parroted. I couldn’t swallow that bullshit statement. “Making me fall down in class is affection?”

“Would you prefer getting sores all over your face as the alternative?” he countered swiftly. He straightened himself and stared down at me critically. “There are worse things in life that I could bestow upon you, but I’m not going that far. I’m doing the bare minimum right now. You can’t be angry at me for that.” His eyes softened before he gently added, “Say the magic words. Give me your soul and I will stop all of this.”

I could barely contain my irate scoff. How thickheaded could this Demon be? Thank goodness he had his otherworldly good looks because he was definitely lacking in the brains department. How many rejections did he need before he accepted that a certain human wasn’t going to give him her soul?

“I’m calling in a specialist,” I told him dismissively, not even bothering to reject his proposal. He wasn’t going to accept my rejection, and I refused to waste my breath saying it. “I can’t vanquish you, but I’m sure someone else can.”

“And say what?” he challenged, steering me back to the reality of the situation I was in. “The Demon of Lust is after you and he’s making you accident prone while giving you bad grades in the process?”

I blinked at him.

Yeah, that sentence sounded stupid and illogical, even when the culprit himself said it.

Before I was able to conjure up any other bright ideas of how to find help, the clever Demon hammered the final nail in the coffin with his next words.

“Do you not think people will look into your files first? Do you think anyone would take you seriously after they find out that you were admitted into a mental institution when you were younger? You’d be back in there before you know it!”

“At this rate, the only thing that would probably make me sane is the insane asylum!” I replied, knowing that I had lost this battle. I couldn’t vanquish him or find anyone to vanquish him. Knowing Eclipse, he’d probably disappear for days on end and not reappear until they rolled me out with a straitjacket on. I shuddered at the possibility of him visiting me while I was locked inside one of those padded rooms. The thought of spending my entire life in the mental hospital, listening to Eclipse try to persuade me to give him my soul horrified me. If I wasn’t crazy already, I would go crazy for sure!

Hating the quandary in my life, I pushed him away with a huff.

I promptly gave up on the whole endeavor to vanquish him. Who was I kidding? Did I really think it was going to be that easy to get rid of him? Did I really think life was going to be that nice and allow me to be free of Eclipse?

What a waste of time all of this has been
, I thought bitterly.

Biting back my pride and bitterness, I decided to go back to my original plan, which was to ignore him and hope that he would get bored, get the hint, and leave me alone.

“Where are you going, Gracie?” he asked in amusement. His gaze followed me as I irritably threw a black trench coat over myself. The intonation of his voice was filled with pride; he was pleased that he had won this battle. 

“None of your business,” I snapped. I did not bother to make eye contact with him. I simply swept across the room, gathered my books, grabbed my purse, and headed straight for the door. With my chin held high in pride, I walked past him without a second look. I was not going to stop living my life because I had a Demon after me. I was stronger than this. I had planned on ignoring him, but decided at the last minute to cast a glare in his direction. I wanted to dramatically drive my next warning into him.

“Don’t you dare follow me.”

Eclipse’s brow arched in hilarity. I had expected him to make some smartass comment about me not being able to get rid of him. I was taken aback when he obediently inclined his head. “As you wish.”

I pursed my lips, suspicious of his abrupt adherence to my demands. I shook it off once I reasoned that I didn’t have time to deal with him and his calculating ways. I had schoolwork to do. With my priorities set, I walked out of my apartment. I paused in the hall once he came to the doorway and shouted, “Are you stopping by the store to buy a vacuum as well?”

My once ferocious face thawed into a pouting expression. Damn it. I had completely forgotten that I still needed to clean up the apartment after I returned from the library. I begrudgingly made a mental note to buy a vacuum after my study session. I knew I should have thanked him for the reminder. However, when I recalled that he was the reason why
I
had to buy a vacuum in the first place, I killed the urge to be polite. So with a final glare, I walked off, bitterly ignoring his soft chuckles.

The trip to the library was surprisingly peaceful, safe, and accident-free. I had anticipated getting soaked by rain or perhaps getting attacked by dogs or bats from Hell. I was floored by the generosity Eclipse showed me when I made it safely to the main library at school. Perhaps he had gotten the point and decided to leave me alone? I laughed at myself as soon as those ludicrous thoughts came to mind. There was no way he’d relinquish efforts to torture me before he claimed my soul. I hadn’t known him for that long, but I knew him well enough. Eclipse wasn’t the type to give up unless he got what he wanted. He may have pretended to be nice, but I knew better. He would do anything to get what he wanted, and for that reason alone, I would never let my guard down again. Anyone who wanted my soul was my enemy, and Eclipse was definitely my enemy.

Three hours into the study session, I was done with most of my assignments for my classes and was finally finishing up the report for my Business Law class. I was about to make flashcards for next week’s exam when something unnerving occurred to me in the silence of the room: what was the point? Eclipse was going to give me an F anyway. No matter how hard I worked, I would always get an F because Eclipse had cursed me. I groaned to myself. After three productive and hard-working hours, I wish I had come to that earthshattering conclusion earlier.

This was why he didn’t follow me to the library and why he laughed at me when I walked out. He must have been thinking,
“What’s the point of going to the library, human girl? You’re going to fail anyway. I’ll make sure of it.”

With that shitty realization in mind, I pathetically gathered my things and left.

On my way back home, I remembered to stop by the store to buy a vacuum to suck up all the salt I used in hopes of protecting myself from Eclipse (what a catastrophic joke all of that turned out to be). While paying for the vacuum, I spotted a Bluetooth for cellphones and decided to buy it in preparation for talking to Eclipse when out in public. If he was invisible, then the least I could do was make it appear as if I was having a conversation on an earpiece instead of appearing like a looney tune in public. 

It was after I paid for the vacuum, walked back to my apartment, cleaned up the disastrous mess in my living room, and unwrapped the earpiece from its package that it seriously occurred to me that I now had a Demon after me. He was hell-bent on claiming my soul, and there was absolutely no one who could help me. If I tried to find help, then people would look into my history and they would put me back into the mental institution. No one could see him, hear him, or hurt him. The only one who could get rid of the Demon was me. Since I was slaving away, cleaning up the mess of my failed exorcism, one could see that I was doing a wonderful job of “getting rid” of the Demon.

In all honesty, in times like this, the only thought prevalent in my mind was that I was doomed. I threw a bitter palm to my face. I accepted the shittiness of my life with the declaration of three horrible words that summed up the crappiness that was my fate.

“Fuck my life.”

“You have proven yourself to be a far bigger burden than you were ever meant to be.”
0
9: Intertwined Fates

I had never had a more miserable sleeping experience.

My body was sore from all the cleaning and I was embarrassed that I was tricked into believing that I had vanquished a Demon. The most frustrating thing of all was that, despite all of these setbacks, I still found myself fantasizing about throwing myself at him in hopes that he would give me the time of my life. It would always start off with me thinking how much I hated him, how much I wanted to hurt him, and how much I would enjoy making him suffer. Then it would gradually evolve into me biting his scrumptious lips, ripping off his clothes, showering his body with my kisses, and basically having my way with the gorgeous Demon. I said that I would exercise self-control around the Demon, but that didn’t mean I could stop the superficial girl in me from desiring him, even in spite of the fact that he was the one making my life so horrible.

After a few awkward rounds of silently scolding myself for wanting to succumb to my womanly desires, the weight of lethargy was starting to grow heavy on my eyelids. Unfortunately, this development occurred at 7:00 A.M., right when my alarm went off, indicating that it was time to go to school and start my day.

Damn.

Insomnia always ends when it’s time to wake up.

In fear of Eclipse popping in on me while I was naked in the shower, I made it a point to shower quickly before I went to class. I wanted to protect myself from my own body should he appear. Thoughts of what I would like to do to him and his naked body were fresh in my mind. I didn’t want to tempt those fantasies if Eclipse made his appearance. God knows what I would do to the Demon of Lust if I were naked in his presence. I would jump into his arms and therefore to my death—literally!

After spending what felt like two seconds in the shower, I hastily got dressed in my sleeveless pink dress. I even bypassed breakfast (something I never did) because I didn’t want to spend anymore time alone than I had to.

With my hair wet and un-styled, I sat quietly in the back of my Investment Analyses class, literally falling asleep. I couldn’t help myself. My Investment Analyses class was in a theater auditorium so it felt reminiscent to sitting in a movie theater as opposed to a classroom. It didn’t help that the lights were dimmed—a perfect companion for the sleepy college student—because Professor Sku was lecturing from the PowerPoint slides. Though I fought hard to steer clear from the welcoming darkness that was coaxing me to close my eyes, I found myself losing. I couldn’t concentrate and heard absolutely nothing Professor Sku lectured about, which was horrible because he was going over the contents of what would be on the exam next week. The sleep deprivation from the night prior had definitely come back to bite me in the ass. To make matters worse, I was not only sleepy, but I was also ravenous.

I wasn’t a coffee person and didn’t do energy drinks. Due to the fact that I relied on my own body’s energy, it was absolutely crucial that I get enough sleep for my body to become productive. Since I hadn’t received this necessity this morning, my energy was at an all-time low.

“Good morning, Gracie.”

As though sensing my misery, Eclipse materialized by my side in the nick of time.

He was dressed in a simple black dress shirt with gray slacks. His signature cigarette was pressed between his lips while streams of smoke trailed from his smiling mouth. He looked refreshed, uplifted, completely carefree, and as delectable as ever.

But there was something else about him . . . something else that smelled
really
good.

My nostrils flared when I detected a familiar alluring scent.

It wasn’t his cologne—though that was already very alluring. It was something else that was more edible, something I hadn’t been in the company of for a long time. I glanced down at the pullout table top for his seat. My stomach growled in confusion when I observed that along with him came some old enemies who were also looking to ruin my life.

I whined to myself.

Sweet Jesus, why me?

One of the things you should know about me and my obsession with self-control was the fact that while growing up, I was overweight. Because I was locked up in a psychiatric hospital as a young child, I was extremely depressed. My only solace was eating. Being fat in the psychiatric hospital was nothing because in all honesty, I didn’t even think I was that fat. I didn’t think I was fat then because I was in the comfort of a hidden bubble. Lo and behold, when I was released at the age of sixteen, my first day of high school was the only revelation I needed to realize how overweight I was.

My bubble popped
.

I was made fun of incessantly in school; I became an outcast and had absolutely no friends. Bullies used me as their scapegoat to entertain the monotony of their sorry lives. The guys called me a “fat-ass” and the girls called me a “fat pig.” The name-calling varied, but no matter what they called me, I was hurt and depressed all the same.

It was only after I found myself bingeing on pizza in the middle of the night (while choking on my own tears) that I realized I had to save myself. It took me years to maintain some semblance of self-control around food and to be disciplined enough to exercise daily. I was on a yoyo diet with my weight for years. Thankfully, when it finally came time to attend college, I had mastered the art of being healthy and became a completely new girl.

I had won an internal battle with my weight, but my sole weakness would always be sweets. I had the most horrible sweet tooth. Methodically speaking, when you place temptation in front of a sweet tooth addict, no matter if they are a fatty, a former fatty, or a fat kid at heart, it would always be their ultimate demise. It was an understatement to say that I was feeling outraged that Eclipse not only appeared all glorious and mouthwatering, but that he also brought friends who were just as mouthwatering as him.

At that instant, I felt my bitterness towards him escalate.

I glared at him and then glanced down at the bear-claw glazed doughnut that lay on a white napkin on his desk. Its juicy fat calories stared at me in seduction. Beside it sat a cup of hot chocolate with steam rising away from it. Bear-claw glazed doughnut and hot chocolate . . . my favorite combination of food to eat in the morning (or any other time). Oh God, it had been so long since I allowed myself to be this close to these yummy foods. It was just my luck that today would be the day that they would come back and tempt me.

I wanted to cry. Why? Why didn’t I eat this morning?

“You ran out so fast today that you skipped out on breakfast.” Eclipse leisurely pushed the doughnut and hot chocolate over to me. The muscles under his shirt bunched up faintly when he did this. “Eat some to give you energy. You look exhausted.”

Though I had lost the weight, the fact would always remain: I was a fat girl at heart. Bear-claw doughnut and hot chocolate, among other edible companions, were my best friends growing up. They were there for me when I was miserable in the institution, and they were there for me when I was trying to gather my bearings to start a new life after spending a decade in captivity. Even though I had abandoned their friendships for greener pastures (or in this case, a toned stomach and a perky booty), I still felt weak when temptation was thrown at my face.

I glared at Eclipse again.

I wasn’t an idiot.

This was another way for him to torture me.
That bastard
. Making me accident-prone and giving me bad grades wasn’t enough. Now he wanted to use my personal kryptonite against me. I hated the cunning Demon before, but I hated him so much more now.

“I’m not hungry,” I stated harshly. I removed my focus from the stares I was getting from that seductive doughnut and that provocatively enticing hot chocolate. I was convincing. I was
so
convincing that even my traitorous and ravenous stomach growled in agreement.

My face turned beet red once the growls from my hungry stomach permeated the quiet auditorium.

All eyes from the front shifted to me, judged me momentarily, and then returned to the normalcy of the classroom lectures.

“I think your tummy would say otherwise,” Eclipse casually stated, pushing the sinful goods closer to my grasp.

“Well, my tummy isn’t the best judge of character,” I responded. My eyes were firmly locked on the PowerPoint slides while my stomach was firmly lusting after the goodies beside me.

I could feel Eclipse smile to the left of me. He evaluated my stubborn state. “One bite isn’t going to hurt, Gracie,” he coaxed in a soothing voice. “You’re going to knock out before your next class if you don’t get some energy.”

I glanced at him and shook my head feebly. I held my breath to keep from inhaling the decadent scent of the fresh baked goods. This was so unfair. I already had a hard enough time saying no to sweets. I didn’t need the Demon of Lust to be sitting there beside me, literally whispering sweet nothings into my ears and convincing me to cross over to the dark side.

“That’s too bad,” he murmured before placing his cigarette aside.

Exhibiting deliberate slowness, his fingers wrapped around a piece of the doughnut. He seductively ripped it off, allowing loose glaze to drop onto the desk like delicious snowflakes. I unblinkingly watched as he bit into the doughnut. A whispered moan escaped from the depths of his chest as his mouth worshipped the bear-claw doughnut. 

He flashed me his most charming grin, and I felt my stomach twist in pleasure.

Watching him in this state made me realize what an amazing lover he would be in bed. He would be attentive, he would savor everything, and he would be the most delicious sin. There was a come hither look in his eyes that said,
“You can eat me too if you want.”

Instead of vocalizing that, he simply said, “Just one bite.” He ripped out a piece of the doughnut for me, brought it to my lips, and gazed at me expectantly. “One bite won’t hurt, Gracie.”

Oh, what the hell? Why not?

There were too many temptations presented to me and because I was tired, hungry, and weak-minded for a ridiculously hot guy and ridiculously delicious food, I gave in. One bite wouldn’t hurt, right?

My mistake was taking one bite because, as we all know, it is virtually impossible to take a mere bite of a damn doughnut. I bit into it and instantly felt all the synapses in my brain flash into life, completely waking me up from the pit of lethargy I was in.

Oh wow, this is delicious.

Throwing all self-control out the window, I grabbed the doughnut and hot chocolate and devoured them. Actually “devour” was too serene of a word. I pretty much
inhaled
my doughnut and hot chocolate. It was the fastest and most delicious meal I had ever consumed and I wanted more.

As though reading my mind, Eclipse contentedly snapped his fingers. Another doughnut appeared before me. At the same instant, my once empty cup was replenished with hot chocolate. I was yet again given the opportunity to screw up my diet, and I reveled in every second of it.

After class was over, I was still munching on the doughnut and drinking my hot chocolate while Eclipse accompanied me to the student café to meet up with Dawn for lunch. In order to prevent anyone from calling the mental hospital in fear for my sanity, I made sure to wear my newly purchased earpiece as I walked with him. Bless my coveted soul for this foolproof plan because it was virtually impossible to ignore Eclipse. I was relieved to have an earpiece as an excuse to have a conversation with the invisible Demon.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked moments later, climbing up the crowded stairs that led up to the café. I bit into a newly appeared doughnut. My suspicious eyes landed on his when I realized that this had been a relatively nice day for me. However peaceful though, I suspected he was up to something. I just didn’t know what it was. “Why hasn’t anything embarrassing happened to me yet? Why are you giving me a break?”

He gave a light shrug as we stepped inside the café and took a seat in a quiet corner of the room.

“I sense that you’re very angry with me. I’m trying to make amends,” he told me simply, sitting right beside me in the red booth. A charismatic smile grazed his lips before he replenished my doughnut and drink. “If you haven’t noticed, I’ve taken a very strong liking to you. Though I’m here for business and am very adamant about taking your soul, I’m also adamant on being on your good side.”

I lifted a caustic brow at him. “By giving me fatty food when you know how obsessed I am with eating healthy?”

“There’s a difference between self-control and masochism. For you, Gracie, I fear that you’re teetering on masochism.” He sighed, his eyes encouraging me to keep eating the doughnut. “There’s nothing wrong with discipline, but there’s also nothing wrong with enjoying the sweet sins of life every once in a while. You humans are not like cats—you don’t have nine lives. You only have one, so you might as well enjoy the hell out of it.”

I smirked at him. “You realize you may have opened Pandora’s Box now, right? What if I get fat? Do you think you’d still want me then?”