An Eternity of Eclipse (33 page)

He grinned, stepping closer to the building and waving a graceful hand over the locked doors. At his command, the once locked doors parted like the red sea and obediently slid open for him. “You were saying?”

I grimaced, not knowing what to say. I had never done anything like this and I was so afraid. I was afraid of my phobia getting the best of me, I was afraid of breaking down, and I was afraid of getting in trouble if we got caught. I was feeling extremely apprehensive until Eclipse gave me an assuring smile.

“You’re drunk, and as it would seem, you’re about to die soon. Everything done tonight is forgivable and understandable. So why not say to Hell with your fears and be a bit rebellious with me?” His gentle eyes effortlessly held mine. “It would be a good memory to have before you die, yes? To fight all your fears and overcome them, if only for a night?”

Something in the way he said this quelled my fears. I was afraid, but I also felt brave enough to combat those fears, especially with Eclipse’s words as my catalyst.

“I
am
drunk.” It was more of an uncertain question than a statement, but it was enough to ignite the engine within me.

I’m about to die,
I reasoned to myself.
I should do something naughty and brave while I’m alive.

With a tentative smile of consent, I hurried into the building with him and dashed to the awaiting elevator where we were whisked up to the highest floor. From there, we climbed the remaining stairway. Before I could consider the implications of my rebellious actions, I felt the wind run over me once Eclipse opened the door to the roof. We were instantly gifted with one of the most gorgeous views I would ever see in my lifetime. 

I hesitantly stepped onto the surface of the roof and felt the world around me vibrate with life. Under the canopy of the star-infused sky, the twinkling vista of Seoul in all its incandescent glory left me breathless. I felt like I was swimming in an ocean of lights
.
The powerful wind glided all around us, its numbing embrace causing goose bumps to form on my body. I should have been shuddering, but it was the opposite. I felt refreshed and, strangely enough, I also felt liberated. I was lucky to be wearing a skin-tight dress because no matter how violent the wind, it did little to nudge the fabric of my provocative dress. This small blessing was heavily appreciated because I did not want to flash a sexually frustrated Demon while we were on top of the world.

We reached the edge of the building, and I felt my heart jump in my throat. My astonished eyes reflected the magnificence of the city below. Despite the beauty, my phobia for heights came back at full speed, and I went into panic mode. Oh my God. What was I thinking coming up here? Was I out of my mind?

Sensing my fear, Eclipse reached out his hand and stroked my quivering cheek. His dark eyes ebbed with a warmness that chased away all the fear within me.

“If you fall, then I’ll catch you.”

I stopped trembling.

It was such a simple statement, but for me, it felt so powerful. In that instant, I had never felt safer. I didn’t ask him the mechanisms by which he planned on “catching me.” I didn’t need to. There was such conviction in his gaze that I did not doubt him. So with that fear calmed, I followed his lead and sat down beside him on the edge of the building. I was still feeling nervous, but it was infinitely better than what I felt seconds prior.

Giving me an ample amount of time to adjust to my new setting, Eclipse said nothing while we sat there with our legs hanging over the edge of the skyscraper. Our eyes silently lingered on the twinkling city breathing around us.

After a long moment, I grew comfortable, and as impossible as it sounded, I felt happier as I stared down at the world below me. While walking down there with everyone, I felt out of place, like I didn’t belong. But sitting up here, staring down at the world from high above, I felt like
this
was where I belonged.

“I wish I had the power to disappear like you, to be able to physically escape from my problems with a mere thought.”

The words escaped me before I could filter them. I regretted it immediately.

“You know you can have that,” Eclipse responded, capitalizing on my momentary lapse in judgment. My inadvertent reminder of his task on earth ruined the serene moment we shared. “You know that you can have all of that if you’d give me your consent.”

“I don’t want to turn into a Demon,” I told him firmly.

Eclipse merely smirked. He redirected his attention and stared wistfully at the city lights beneath us. He breathed in a lungful of his cigarette.

“You don’t belong in this world, Gracie,” he began pensively. “Being a broken human may be in your nurtured nature, but it isn’t in your blood. You’d be happier in a world where you can be yourself, where you don’t have to hide behind the mask of being someone you’re not.”

“You speak as if you know so much about me, but I know nothing about you,” I told him, recalling his earlier question in the night about why I disliked him so much. Feeling strangely free and unrestrained up here, I finally chose to enlighten him about why I hated being around him.

I gazed thoughtfully into his eyes, reveling in the feel of wind sweeping past us.

“You asked me earlier in the night why I disliked you so much, why I found it despicable to be around you. I’ll be honest with you, Eclipse. I like you—a lot. You’re very intriguing. I’ve become quite bored with my life. Though I can’t say that you’ve been the bearer of good news, I can say that you’ve livened up my life. Although I find you very entertaining, I don’t trust you. I find you to be tempting, yes. I find it hard at times to control my own whims around you, yes. But what I despise most about you, the big reason why I hate your presence is that I loathe being around someone who knows more about me than I do about them. For as long as I can remember, no one has ever seen my true colors—the type of person I truly am, which is a sadist in sheep’s clothing. But then you came along and pretty much threw everything out of order.”

Bitterness infused my eyes.

“Suddenly there is someone out there who knows my secrets, who knows what makes me tick, and who is aware of the shame I have for myself.” I smiled dryly. “I’ve always led a solitary life and I don’t let anyone in. I’m always more cunning than my fellow human beings and for that, I feel safe with my existence. Yet with you, the great omniscient Demon who is more cunning than me, your presence is poison. You threaten my existence in more ways than one. You know far too much about me. And for that reason and that reason alone, I will always loathe you because I do not like it when someone can see through me and I can’t see through them.”

“I know what everyone else knows,” he responded after an extended period of silence. His brown eyes held my own with ease. “Your state of affairs in life and your propensity towards sadism is obvious. Anyone with some semblance of deductive reasoning can see that. All they need to know is some small surface information about you, which is that you were the one who killed your family and you’re still exhibiting sadism—if only in small dosages. Because all of that is public knowledge for a Demon like myself, figuring out what makes you tick isn’t intrusive. It’s simple fact.” He offered me a gentle smile. “Take me for instance. I’m sure you’ve figured out all the coated layers there are to me. You know more or less what type of individual I am and my set personality—just as I know yours. However, we do not know why the other is the way they are.” His eyes implored mine to see reason, to see that he wasn’t the enemy. “I am not a threat to you, Gracie. Contrary to what you may believe, I do not have you figured out. I have my theories, but certainly nothing concrete. You’re actually very complicated, which is one of the reasons why I find such fascination with you. You may feel that I’m a mystery to you, but you’re a mystery to me as well.”

“But you still know more about me,” I argued. Inwardly, I felt slightly better to hear his side, to hear that he found me to be just as complex and puzzling as I found him. “No matter what you say, our relationship is very skewed. You still know more about me than I’ll ever know about you. My background, my world, and certain things about me may be public knowledge, but your background, your world, and your beliefs aren’t.”

He nodded in understanding. “Very well. Ask me.”

“Really?” I blurted out, flabbergasted that he was giving me this concession again.

He nodded again, his features showing no bluff. “Ask me then, Teacup. Just like the other night. Anything you want that will help give you some knowledge of what makes me tick, what has helped embody me to be the entity that I am, and anything that will make me less threatening to you.”

“What’s Hell like?” I asked immediately, going right into one of the things that were such a big part of someone’s upbringing and background: where they were from.

“For me, it’s beautiful.” A favorable smile danced in his eyes at the reminder of his home. He gazed at me with confidence. “For you it would be as well.”

I shot him a curious look. “I take it the pit of despair and misery only exists for the humans who lost their way?”

“Something like that.”

“Can you explain more?”

He took a moment to ponder my question. He slowly began to enlighten me on the inner workings of a world that we humans could only dream (or have nightmares) of seeing.

“There are seven Kingdoms in Hell,” he shared, holding every inch of my attention. The dark sky began to rumble slightly while he spoke, giving me knowledge about something that few humans would ever know. “It is ruled over by the Devil’s seven sons—the seven Dark Majesties. For those residing in any part of the seven Kingdoms, you will never see a more beautiful place. But for those residing underneath the tomb—the pit of Hell—then there will never be a more miserable place. That’s where the assumption of Hell rests for your world, but for our world, it is merely the inverted tip of a much bigger iceberg.”

I swallowed tightly, astounded that even though I had known that Eclipse’s home was in Hell, I had always considered it to be a place with lots of fire and a place filled with miserable souls. It was insightful to learn that there was more to Hell than misery. I recalled the love in Eclipse’s eyes as he thought about his home. A dangerous thought crossed my mind. If Eclipse was so fond of it, then it couldn’t be that bad, right?

Luckily, that dangerous thought was obscured by another prevalent realization. I instantly brought his attention to a certain anomaly in the information he just disclosed. “You said that Hell is ruled over by the seven Dark Majesties—the seven Princes. If it’s ruled over by you and your brothers, then where is your father?”

The light in his eyes dimmed marginally at this question.

“In hibernation,” he said quietly, gradually taking his gaze off of me. He vested his attention to the dark Heavens above.

Bewilderment spread over my face. “He’s in . . . hibernation?”

Eclipse let out a confirming breath. “My father hasn’t been around in a very long time.
”

My curiosity was unquestionably piqued. “Tell me.”

His cautious demeanor told me that he was hesitant to share any information that dealt with his father. Yet, as though recalling my dislike of him for keeping so many secrets from me, Eclipse relented.

The world around us grew quiet as he inhaled deeply from his cigarette. A contemplative expression presided over his face. The wind had stopped howling, the city below had grown silent, and the storms in the skies had stopped brewing for the time being. In that suspended moment, it seemed that the entire world had fallen silent to listen to the biblical story Eclipse was about to tell.

“It is said that after my father fell from Heaven, his first act in the new world order was to create his seven heirs,” Eclipse began, fixing his attention on the full moon in the distance. “Pride was his first heir, the first son he ripped a part of himself to create. Pride was considered the most powerful sin of all and the one that caused him to fall from grace. Then came Wrath and Envy, the next two sins he felt when he fell. Several more long centuries passed, and in that time frame, he created Greed, Gluttony, and Sloth. It was said that by the time he reached me, more than several centuries from the time he fell, he was losing power. In order to create his last son, he had to wait for the moment where God turns a blind eye.”

“A blind eye?” I repeated slowly.

He nodded. “When the moon passes between the sun and the earth, something
extravagant
happens.”

“An eclipse,” I supplied.

Eclipse nodded again, reverting his gaze to me. “The phenomenon is more than astronomical—it is biblical. Eclipses are rare and total eclipses where the moon covers the entire body of the sun is rarer. But for those few times where a totality occurs, those are the times when time stops. It is the time when God is blinded from the world he created, it is the time when the Heavens are powerless, and it is a time when God’s grace is overshadowed, as it is the forces of evil that humankind falls mercy to.” He went on, staring at the incandescent moon with unrivaled interest. “The meaning of ‘Lucifer’ is ‘Light-bearer.’ The root of my father’s powers stems from the control of the luminescent skies. When the eclipse occurs, his power for that brief moment in time is renewed.”

He stopped smoking, flicked his cigarette away, and breathed in the fresh air.