An Eternity of Dead Sun (An Eternity of Eclipse Novel Book 2) (30 page)

I scoffed inwardly.

The truth couldn’t have been clearer.

Eclipse wasn’t my friend.

He was my gatekeeper—the one who was cursed with me.

“I ran around like an idiot for you, trying to find someone to help you. I even made a deal with another Demon and had to beg your brothers for help. And all for what? For someone as manipulative as you?” I laughed dryly to myself. “You must’ve had a blast . . . being entertained by my stupidity. Now I know why you look down on humans so much, because you had one beside you who was the dumbest of them all.”

My lower lip quivered uncontrollably as I continued to sit there, drowning in my thoughts.

“I wish I never hugged you that night,” I went on, my voice shaking. The emotions inundating me were more than I could bear. “I wish I never called you my friend and I wish I wasn’t stupid enough to believe that I was special to you.”

In a world where he saw so many insignificant creatures, I thought I was significant—the exception.

But I saw the truth now.

I was simply the trash he was stuck with; the trash he had to carry around with him during his punishment on earth.

This is what I get, 
I thought regretfully.
This is what I get for going against the bylaws of nature and trusting a Demon.

“I hate you, you manipulative bastard,”
I whispered to him as my final thought for that awful, embarrassing, and eye-opening night. “I hate you so much.”

“Who’s there?”
20
: Attack on Heaven

“What did I do to deserve this?” I asked several days later, sitting at a noodle stand with Coco seated across from me. 

After I came out of my room and kicked away the line of salt, Phix and Coco barreled past the door, accusing me of killing their Dark Majesty and screaming that they would never forgive me if they couldn’t resurrect him. When they discovered that Eclipse was still breathing, they forgave me for scaring the “motherfucking hell” out of them. Since then, as Eclipse was still in recuperation mode, Phix and Coco had been taking turns watching us.

Phix watched me in the afternoon, picking me up from school while Coco took over the evening shift. Tonight, she was keeping me company as we ate noodles in the rainy night.

“You killed your entire family when you were a baby midget,” Coco reminded flatly.

Yes, leave it to Coco to do everything in her power to make me more miserable than I already was.

I fixed Coco with a pointed glare. Clearly recalling that I could easily hit her again, her healing black eye twitched and she immediately changed the subject.

“What are you going to do?” she asked, drinking her soju as rain poured over the red tent.

“Once he wakes up, I’m kicking his ass out to the curb.”

“Haven’t you tried to do that already?” she inquired critically, causing my bubble to deflate.

Over the course of the week, I had vented to her and Phix about how I shouldn’t have trusted Eclipse—that I should’ve trusted my instincts when I tried to vanquish him those first couple of days we met. It served me right to be such a big mouth, especially to a Demon.

I nodded sagely, agreeing with her point. Eclipse was one frigging hard Demon to get rid of. Unless he voluntarily left me, there was nothing I could do to get rid of him myself. I wrinkled my nose, considering my options before I caught Coco’s eyes. An idea bloomed in my mind.

Almost too cunningly, I said, “Help me get rid of him.”

“What?!” she screeched out, causing everyone to turn around to stare at us. She ignored all the stares and continued to gawk at me like I was a deranged lunatic. “Are you out of your mind? I’m not going to help you get rid of him!”

“Come on, help me,” I coaxed gently, trying to be friendly and charming. “Please?” I paused meaningfully and added, “I’ll give you cookies.”

Coco’s brows fell into a scowl. “Bribing me with cookies when Phix already told you that I’m a former fatty like you?” She shook her head. “You are so much more evil than you look.” She sighed when my glare settled upon her. “Why would you want to get rid of him?” she remarked instead. “Don’t you know how lucky you are to even be around him? From what Phix told me, no girl has ever been around him for this long. You should feel lucky to have his attention like this.”

“Oh yeah,” I retorted sarcastically. “I’m so lucky to be the trashcan your Prince got dumped into.”

Coco winced at the venom and truth behind my words. When she didn’t say anything to contest that, I looked down at my food and said, “I’m running low on money. Since you’ve been eating my food at home, can you pay for dinner tonight?”

Although she shot me a disgruntled look, she nodded. “I’ll just take money from someone else and we’ll be good.”

I froze, thunderstruck by her words. “Wait, what?”

She furrowed her brows. “What?”

The alarm didn’t dissolve from my eyes. If anything, it heightened with outrage. “Take money from who?”

She scrutinized me for a long minute, dumbfounded by my ignorance. “What? You think money grows on trees? We Demons aren’t rich. We have to take money from somewhere.”

I gasped. “You don’t just create money?”

“No, we take it from someone else in the world.” She laughed. “When Demons tempt you and say they could give you all the money in the world, it’s a literal meaning. They
literally
have to take it from someone else.”

I reflected on all those times Eclipse spoiled Sanctuary with his money and the uncomfortable feeling it gave me. Now it made sense why I possessed those uneasy feelings. It was because, deep inside, I knew he had been stealing all along!

Coco gave me a funny look. “His Dark Majesty never told you?”

“Add that to the list of things he omits.” I scoffed. In addition to being an asshole, Eclipse was also a felon. Discovering his shadiness only added fuel to the animosity I had towards Eclipse. It was more imperative that I kicked his ass to the curb now. “Forget it. I’ll pay.” I looked at Coco once I dumped the money on the table. “Will you help me get rid of him or should I punch you again?”

She glowered at me, her bruised eye twitching in resentment.

“Hey guys!” Phix’s overly cheery voice interrupted. From my peripheral vision, I could see Phix running towards us with a big smile on his face.

“Hey Creator,” Coco unenthusiastically greeted, still giving me the stink eye. “Gracie here is threatening to punch me again. Can I hit her back if she does?”

“Not unless you want her Guardian Demon to burn you alive,” Phix answered worriedly, not realizing that Coco was joking. He was sometimes too naïve. It would’ve been adorable if I weren’t so bitter with my life.

“What are you so cheery about anyway?” Coco asked drearily, grabbing some beef from my noodles with her chopsticks and sticking it into her own bowl.

If it were even possible, Phix’s smile grew wider. “His Dark Majesty just woke up.”

I went still. The once dormant nerves in my body stirred to life at this announcement. Even though a small part of me was happy to hear this news, the other part of me remained furious with him. In addition to that, I was also caught off guard. I had been so angry with him that I hadn’t even anticipated what I’d do once he was awake.

I chewed on my lower lip, doing my best to not display any reaction. I pretended to ignore Phix and went back to eating my noodles, even though I couldn’t taste anything.

My only thought was that Eclipse was awake.

He was finally awake.

“Gracie?” Phix breathed out in anticipation. The idiot was truly oblivious to the fact that I was still pissed at Eclipse. “Did you hear me? Did you hear the good news?”

Where was this fool when I dramatically lined the hall with salt and went into the room to beat up his Dark Majesty? I couldn’t fathom the kid not understanding that I
did
hear him. I just wasn’t cheery with his news.

“I don’t care,” I said dismissively, loudly slurping my noodles.

“Not even a little bit?” asked a familiar voice that had my heart stopping mid-beat.

Someone stepped close to me. The recognizable enticement of his one-of-a-kind cologne engulfed my senses. As always, the tent that was once filled with fellow restaurant patrons was now filled to capacity with his powerful aura. A chair was pulled out from beside me. The heat from his body jumped into the air and swam over to me as he sat down. Even though I didn’t want to, my eyes seemed to have a mind of their own, and instead of ignoring him, my gaze wandered upwards.

My pulse quickened when our eyes locked.

A week had passed since he’d been in his weakened state and Eclipse was back to looking like his usual perfect, breathtaking, and damningly beautiful self.

He was dressed in another one of his impeccable black suits with a red silk tie, and there was not an inch on him that indicated he had been sick. His face glowed, his body radiated power, and his eyes were filled with vitality. He looked exactly like the Demon I met that night I was walking home, like he was the most stunning thing in creation.

He flashed me one of his striking smiles, and if I weren’t so pissed and didn’t hate him so much, then I would’ve melted before him. Damn God for allowing one of Lucifer’s sons to be so attractive when he did such awful things. And damn me for being so shallow as to notice such superficial things.

This is the bastard who made you look like a fool
, I harshly reminded myself.

He wasn’t beautiful. He was despicable.

Taking solace in my hatred for him, I made sure to impart him with a malicious glare before I returned my attention to my food. It was a mistake on my part to look at him. It was harder to face the person who humiliated you than to yell at him while he was unconscious. I felt even more stupid now that he was awake.

“I’ve been looking for you, Teacup,” he went on softly, the enticing lilt waltzing in every part of his smooth voice. He permitted a moment of peace to envelope us before I saw him look at Coco and Phix from the corner of my eye. He turned back to me, his voice knowing. “I hear that you’re upset with me.”

I should’ve known that Phix had updated Eclipse on everything that happened while he was asleep.

From the way he said those words, I suspected that Eclipse was very well aware of
why
I was furious with him.

“Your Dark Majesty,” Coco started, her voice smaller than ever. She knew she was in big trouble. Even Phix, who was usually so easygoing, looked worried for her. “This is all my fault. I had too much to drink and I was being really stupid. I’m really,
really
sorry—”

“Thank you for helping to take care of her when I couldn’t, Coco,” he replied genially to Coco, who was looking relieved and surprised with Eclipse’s calmness. “Your apology is not necessary. This is all my fault and I’ll make my amends with her now.”

I was glad that he didn’t punish or berate Coco. I would’ve stopped him if he even made a move to, but I was happy that he decided himself that it wasn’t her fault. The only person he should be mad at was himself.

He regarded both of them while I continued to ignore him. “If you two don’t mind, I’d like to spend some private time with her.”

Coco and Phix nodded, flashed me an encouraging look, and left promptly thereafter.

“Gracie,” Eclipse began delicately, moving closer to me once the other two were gone.

“Oh, don’t sit too close to me,” I finally quipped, shifting my chair further away from his. “I don’t want another storm to hit because you’re pissed off at the fact that you’re stuck with me.”

Though he appeared affected by the toxicity of my words, Eclipse kept his cool façade.

“How about we take a walk, Gracie?” he offered instead. “Let’s go somewhere more private where we can talk. Let me explain myself.”

“Go to Hell,” I snapped at him, and he nodded complacently.

There was a somber demeanor to him that obscured his typical easygoing personality. “If you really want me to leave after our conversation is over, then I will.”

My eyes widened when he said exactly what I wanted to hear. I could never get Eclipse to leave by force, but if he voluntarily left, then he would be gone from my life forever. My heart raced. I didn’t know if it was from excitement or dread.

“You mean it?”

He nodded again, his eyes sincere. “Please come with me and let me explain myself. If you still want me to go, then I will. I will leave you and I won’t bother you again.”

I didn’t hesitate to take him up on his offer. I needed to confront him, to get closure anyway. At least with this deal, I could kill two birds with one stone.

“Let’s go then,” I said, getting up from my seat.

His lips curled faintly at the impatience I was exuding. He got up with me, pulled an umbrella over us, and began walking beside me as we stepped out from the noodle stand and onto the streets.

“Where are we going?” I asked when we reached a quiet part of the street.

Under the umbrella, while his luminous brown eyes glowed under the streetlights, he extended his hand out to me.

I smirked wryly, knowing what this gesture meant. He wanted to teleport me somewhere with him. “I see that you’ve gotten your full powers back.”

“Partially, yes.” He moved his hand closer, silently willing me to take it. His eyes were gentle but insistent. “Please, Gracie.”

Not wanting to prolong my time with him, I apprehensively took his hand and felt warm electricity glide through me from the simple exchange.

My surroundings changed instantly.

Instead of standing on the street, we were now on a familiar looking roof that overlooked the entire city. It was the building he took me to that night after the club—that night when I asked him if he was in love with me and he laughed at me for asking that question. Upon being reminded of this embarrassment, I ripped my hand from his grasp, stepped out from beneath his umbrella, and pulled away from him.

As though his only reason for holding the umbrella was to protect me from the rain, he threw it onto the floor of the roof, not even giving it a second thought as the wind tumbled it around the roof for several seconds before it knocked the umbrella over the edge.

“How have you been?”

“You lied to me,” I snapped at once. I would not tolerate useless pleasantries. I didn’t spend an entire week feeling like a fool and rehearsing this confrontational moment to have him charm his way out of it. I glared at him, my gaze scrutinizing everything that encompassed his existence. “You made me believe that you voluntarily came here for me when you were really punished with me.” I smirked at him as the drizzling rain continued to cloak over my head. “Did you have a good laugh, Eclipse? Did you have a good time making me look like a fool in front of your family and friends?”