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“Thank goddess I caught the bus,” Rose muttered as she looked out of the window. The strawberry-blonde woman wouldn´t want to be out there in such horrible weather. The sky outside was full of dark clouds and heavy rain was falling from them. Within moments it soaked the whole city, creating large puddles of water everywhere on the roads and on the sidewalks. Heavy and fast droplets hit the clear glass of the window of the bus that, at this time of the day, was only half-full. Grey-green eyes watched as people walked down the soaked streets, their umbrellas shielding them from the rain. Occasionally there was a runner without an umbrella, who tried to get to his goal destination as fast as they could. She wondered if they realized that running like this in the rain only makes them wetter in the end.
Thankfully, Rose wasn’t in hurry anywhere. It was 6 pm and she had already closed her little coffee shop for the day. There were no errands for her to do after work hours, so she was free to do what she wanted. She didn’t have to go shopping, since she managed to do that yesterday and her fridge was thus well-stocked. She didn´t have to meet anybody because the flu season hit her friends pretty badly. And tomorrow was Sunday, so she could stay up to enjoy a movie, then laze around the next day. The thought of that made her smile. Maybe she could order out for a chance. The blonde didn’t have any takeout in a while, so it was a very tempting idea. But which place should she order from? The Chinese place her friend introduced to her? Maybe the little pizza she discovered when she moved to the city? Or try something new?
As she thought about the possibilities, the bus continued its journey. It travelled on for ten more minutes before it arrived at her stop. Once she got off, she headed straight home, her umbrella firmly in her hand, protecting her from the rain. Her home was just a ten-minute walk from the bus stop, so her journey didn´t take long. Soon a, to her, well-known building entered her sights and the blonde couldn´t help but smile at the large windows and the red-brick façade that greeted her upon her arrival. Some might turn up their nose at the idea of living in a factory-turned-apartment building, but she liked the old rustic feel this building had and the large spaces it granted for those living in it. And the fact that on the other side, it faced the river, granted it a nice view, was a bonus in her mind.
Unlocking the front entrance, she entered a dimly lit hallway, before she made her way up the iron staircase. Her apartment was located on the top floor and as she walked upward, she was reminded of the only downside of this place – it didn´t have a lift. But then again, was it necessary in an apartment that only had four floors? Besides, the walk is good for the body, she thought. And what waited for her on top of the staircase, was her comfortable apartment and her little “baby”. When Rose arrived on the fourth floor and stood in front of her apartment, she smiled at the thought of a certain furry little boy greeting her, once she got inside. Picturing that in her mind, she unlocked her door and entered calling out: “Toffee! Mommy is home!”
Usually, her Toffee was waiting close by, and when she came home, he would run up to her and jump into her arms, or start rubbing his head against her leg, until she would pet him. Yet, nobody came to greet her today, which surprised the woman greatly. He never failed to greet her before, so this wasn’t like her baby at all. With a frown on her face, she locked the door behind herself and entered further into the apartment.
“Toffee? Sweetie boy, where are you? Toffee!”
However, she only took a couple more steps inside, before she heard an odd noise that made her pause. Rose remained silent, listening in before she realized that it was the sound of someone sobbing. A messy, uncontrolled sobbing, that, if she guessed right, was coming from her living room. But…the only one supposed to be there was her baby boy, so who could possibly be that? Should she call the police on them? And why were they crying? Were they hurt? And where was Toffee? Did something happen to her baby boy? She didn´t know what to do, but she knew she had to do something. The blonde woman thought long and hard about it before she decided on a simple plan, that left a lot of room for adjusting, based on how the situation developed.
Rose quickly hit the number of the universal emergency line into her phone, then with her finger on the dial button, and determined strides, she crossed the remaining distance towards her living area. Here, she switched on the lights and was temporarily blinded by the lights, but her eyes adjusted quickly. However, the sight that greeted her had Rose staring, frozen in her spot, and wondering if she was hallucinating or if she was dreaming. Her Toffee meowed happily at the sight of her, but the blonde couldn´t focus on the tabby. Instead, her attention was all on the…person…holding her cat.
Looking at them, she had a strong feeling that calling the emergency line was useless, since her unexpected visitor was, apparently, not human. As she took in the greyish-white skin, the waist-long lavender hair, the gazelle horns on tip of his head and the eagle-leg-like appearance of her companion´s legs, from knees down. Her first thought, when she saw this, was that the person was wearing some elaborated costume, probably to scare the owner of this apartment. His clothes did resemble what Rose saw cosplayers wearing – dark blue pants with a ballooning effect, tied around his waist and knees by bandages, a black sleeveless muscle shirt, dark blue gloves and more bandage tied around his head. But she quickly dismissed it, when she saw the talons on his feet flex and move, very much like the real thing, when the male shifted in place. Thought, thinking about it, she wasn´t sure the other was a male. He had a masculine build with muscles, and even from this distance she could tell that standing, he would be taller than she was. But if he wasn´t human, those stereotypes about gender might not apply to them, since she had no idea, what species her visitor was.
Another meow from her cat made her stop looking at her visitor and instead focused her cat. For some reason, the thought of her cat in the hands of the non-human made her think about the sitcom from the 80s with the cat eating alien, and her spine went rigid. The cat seemed content in his hold, but that could be a deception. Her hand slowly sneaked to the vase on the shelf close to her, ready to throw it if her baby was put in danger. She didn´t care if she made a target of herself, but she was not going to let anybody hurt her baby boy. And if she aimed for the head, she might be able to knock out or, at least, disorient him long enough to grab Toffee and high tail out of here.
The determination to attack the other lasted only until she realized that she was standing there for some time, yet the other made no notice of her presence. Instead, he stayed where he was, sitting in the middle of Rose´s fluffy carpet, with her Toffee cradled in his hands, and crying incoherently. His unfocused gaze was facing forward, as tears ran down his pale face and his big frame shook with each sob that escaped him. The only thing he seemed to be able to notice was the presence of the cat, which he held close and absently petted. Otherwise, the world around him seemed to be beyond his reach and she wondered what could have caused this state…maybe he was in pain?
But what if it was a trap? Rose has seen enough horrors on tv to know that sometimes, the other worldly beings tented to lure in their victims by appearing sad or broken, trying to appeal on the other person´s pity. The being in front of her could easily kill her, or worse, if she let her guard down. For all she knew…the train of dark scenarios in her head was halted when her Toffee moved. The tabby shifted in the other´s hold, until he was sitting on his back legs, with the front paws rested against the being´s chest. The cat head-butted the being´s chin, before he started to lick the wet trails left behind by the tears, clearly trying to soothe the being´s distress. Seeing that, Rose was torn between cooing over the tenderness of her cat, and being terrified over how the non-human was going to react to this.
However, what she expected and what really happened were two different things. The non-human gently reached out and scratched the cat behind his ears, while placing a small kiss on his head, before he muttered “Nice…shweet kitty,” and then continued petting the cat.
Seeing that, the coffee shop owner found herself sighing in relief. If he was this nice to her baby boy, then he couldn´t be that bad. With that in mind she thought about what to do next. Should she call someone? Or try to talk with her unknown visitor and find out who was he? The latter would probably be the best idea, Rose decided finally, before slowly and carefully approached her visitor.
“Hello…um…sir?” the blonde spoke up, as she knelt next to him. “Sir, can you hear me?” When there was no response, she carefully reached out and touched one bare arm.
The moment they made skin contact, the being jerked away and whipped his head to look at Rose. The human woman recoiled in surprise when she saw his face – on the right side of his mouth he was missing a lot of flesh from his lips and a part of his jaw, exposing what was underneath it. Because of that, she got a clear view of two rows of sharp, white teeth with long canines, and a part of his gums. The area around that was also much darker, almost black in comparison with his pale skin and continued in a form of a scar up to his ear. It was a horrible sight…but then again, Rose had seen worse. Since her coffee shop was open to all people, she sometimes got customers that were scarred far, far worse, than this being.
When the non-human noticed her, he pulled away and hunched into himself, his lavender hair standing up like porcupine quills. He scrunched up his face and attempted what was probably supposed to be a growl, but he barely made a half-sound, before he whimpered and groaned, clearly in pain.
“Hey, now! It´s okay, it´s okay! I won´t hurt you!” she promised him, holding her hands up. The blonde hoped he understood her, as she met the dazed and confused gaze of those dark blue eyes with cat-like irises.
“Who are you?” The being´s voice was deep and masculine if a bit shaky as he spoke.
“My name is Rose Warren, but you can call me Rose,” she introduced herself. “And you´re…?”
“B-Balthasar Grimoire. Nice to meet you, R-Roshe.”
“Nice to meet you, Balthasar,” she smiled at him, before carefully asking, “Would you mind telling me, how did you get into my home?”
“Your home?” the lavender-haired male frowned and looked around in clear confusion. “Sho, thish ish not my houshe?”
“No, it is not,” she replied, already getting a feeling where this talk was going. She also noted that he had a lisp when he was talking.
“And thish…the kitty ish not my Nova?” Balthasar asked, looking down at the cat in his hands.
“No, this is my Toffee. Though if your Nova is as friendly as him, then I can understand why you would confuse them,” Rose answered, and to prove her point, she reached out and let her cat nuzzle and lick her fingers, before scratching him under his chin and earning a loud purr in return.
The male blinked, letting out a soft “oh”, before blushing and lowering his head, and she heard him mutter “Teleporting into a wrong houshe…shomeone elshesh home. Charron help me, sho embarrassing,” with each word he seemed to shrink more into himself, and Rose decided to take pity on him.
“Hey, it´s okay. Accidents do happen, especially if you´re clearly unwell. I don´t blame you,” she reassured him softly, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, before she tried to change the topic “On to another leaf, could you tell me where are you hurt? You were in quiet pain earlier,” she reminded him gently.
“W-why do you want…need to know?” he asked, not even looking at her.
“Because I want to make sure that you´re alright,” she replied honestly, noting how he sometimes got stuck while talking to her, as if he had trouble expressing himself correctly. She wondered what caused it. “You seem to be in a lot of pain, and it worries me…”
That made him look up at her in surprise. “I worry you? You want to help…aid me?”
“Yeah, if it is within my ability to do so.”
“Why? You don´t know me. I don´t know you.”
“I know, but I saw enough from your interaction with my baby boy,” she gestured towards her cat, “to know that you´re not a bad person. And regardless of that, nobody deserves to have their pain ignored, so I want to help you. The question is, will you allow me that?”
The blonde could tell that he was hesitant and she could understand, after all, he had no reason to trust her. Like he said, they didn´t know each other at all, but she hoped he would read her sincere offer for what it was, an offer of help, without any ulterior motives.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity for Rose, Balthasar nodded his head.
She smiled seeing that. “Good. Now, could you tell me where are you hurt?”
“I…my teeth.”
“Your teeth,” Rose repeated, glancing at the bandages around his head. That would explain the lisp when talking. “Could you be more specific? Do you have a toothache? Broken teeth?”
“They ached and sheveral are…sheveral were removed…they´re gone…” Balthazar nodded, then in a quieter voice, he added, “Now they are going…they´re coming back… regrow…they hurt sho much…” the being whimpered, more tears welling up in his eyes and speech getting more stuck, the more distressed he became.
“I see,” she murmured, deciding to ignore the ´regrow´ part of the speech for now. “Did whoever removed the teeth give you anything to soothe the pain?” She knew from experience that teeth removal needed anaesthetics, but from what she saw so far, either Balthasar didn´t get any, or their effect had already passed.
He shook his head. “The dentisht ordersh. Leshon in teaching to care…look after new teeth.”
Rose blinked, before an outraged expression appeared on her face at what she was hearing. To deny someone painkillers after such a painful thing as a teeth removal? Just to make them take care of their teeth later?! Let them suffer, just for a small lesson? What kind of messed up thing that was? Yeah, taking care of one´s teeth was important, but to hammer in the lesson like this…No, just…NO. The blonde was going to fix this first…but only with Balthasar´s permission, so she asked “I might have some pain killers that might help you. Do you want me to get them for you?”
He nodded with a quiet “Pleashe.”
“Okay, then wait there. I´ll go get them,” she promised, already on her feet, as she hurried to her bathroom, where she kept all her medicine. The blonde woman quickly found the bottle of her strongest painkillers and returned to the living room, getting a glass of water on her way along with a pack of ice. She walked back and got down next to Balthasar. She then took out two pills and offered them to the pale male, along with the water. “There you go, this should deal with the pain. And then put ice on where it hurts. Go ahead.”
Balthasar looked at the hand with the pills doubtfully. Then he leaned forward and sniffed her hand before he pulled back and shook his head.
“Balthasar? What´s wrong?
“Shmellsh weird…horrible.”
“Okay…” she trailed off, unsure how to proceed. It didn´t occur to her that her guest might have stronger senses than her. In the hindsight, she should have expected it, considering he was a non-human with animal physical traits too. And since the chemicals in the medicine caused them to taste bad, maybe they smelled bad to Balthasar? That might be a complication, but hopefully not a big one, she thought, before trying to persuade her companion into taking the meds. “I understand, but you need to take them if you want to feel better. Believe me, I know from experience.”
To her disappointment, he shook his head.
“Come on, they will help you…”
“No!”
“Balthazar, eat the painkillers.”
“Will not eat it! No!”
Their argument went on like this for good ten minutes, with Balthasar stubbornly refusing the ´horribly smelling pills´ and Rose slowly growing frustrated. Then her grey-green eyes noticed the clock on the wall and an idea entered her mind. It was dinner time, after all.
“Balthasar, you must be hungry, right?” the blonde woman started, a plan slowly forming in her head.
He looked at her questioningly and nodded.
“How about we make a deal? I will make you something good. Something you can easily eat, even with your aching mouth. But,” she held up her hand with the medicine “I cook for you, only if you agree to take the medicine. So…?”
Balthasar frowned and opened his mouth to reply.
Groooooooooowl.
The noise surprised both the human and the non-human before Balthasar blushed and lowered his head. The coffee shop owner could see the inner struggle on the horned male´s face, his hunger clearly in conflict with his stubbornness. Finally, the hunger had won, and Balthasar took the offered medicine, pouting at how bad it tasted, then gladly accepted the water to wash off the taste. She then offered him the ice pack, but he shook his head.
“Not needed. Nothing shwellsh, I´m only loopy. It should passh away…get better by morning. Should be alright…healed by then, too,” he told her, confusing her.
This was not how it usually worked with humans, the blonde thought, before she remembered that he was not a human, so things were probably different for him. It would also explain, how he was able to talk at all, even if the speech was mangled and stuck at some words. Keeping that in mind, she nodded. “Good, now on my part of the deal – What would you like to eat?” she asked him. “Bear in mind that right now, you probably should avoid food too hard to chew…”
“I would like…I want shome shoup, pleashe,” murmured the male, after thinking for a moment.
“Soup? Alright,” she smiled at him. “Now, how about we move to the kitchen?”
Her companion nodded and got up by himself, while still holding her cat in his hands as something precious. It was an oddly sweet sight, from Rose´s view.
The blonde coffee shop owner became aware that her previous guess about his height was a spot on…though she didn´t expect him to reach the seven feet mark. She looked tiny, compared to him, and she was average in height! Shaking her head, Rose beckoned him to follow her, which he silently did. They went to the kitchen, where Balthasar sat down on one of the stools behind the breakfast bar and watched her cooking. Meanwhile, the blonde focused on her task and took out the ingredients for the first soup that came to her mind. But she only got half the ingredients out, before a loud growl stopped her in her tracks. Slowly, she turned around and saw her companion glaring angrily in her direction. While petting her cat and hair standing up like porcupine quills. Confused, she tried to figure out, what could have caused this reaction from her companion. Then she realized what was she holding and to test her suspicion, she moved her hand with the green vegetable.
The lavender haired male´s gaze followed the hand, as he growled “Broccoli bad!”
With a sigh of relief, she asked, just to be sure: “Do you not like broccoli, Balthasar?”
“Broccolish bad!” repeated the male. “Creationsh of devil! Torture devicesh!”
“Alright,” she muttered. With the confirmation, she decided to change her plans. And to be sure they were no more negative reaction from her companion, she decided to run the ingredients by him first. So, for the next minutes, she roamed her cabinets and fridge and showed each ingredient to Balthasar. This was, she was able to put together a small list of things she could use to make the dish that her grandmom made for her, after the removal of her wisdom teeth. It was tasty and she knew from experience that it helped the healing process of wounds left after the teeth removal. And the best part was that she was able to finish it within thirty minutes, along with a side dish!
“There you go – my grandma´s creamy tomato-basil soup with grilled cheese sandwiches. Bon appetite!” she wished her companion as she set the dinner in front of him.
Balthasar looked eager to start, but before he could, he hesitated and looked down at Toffee, contently purring in his lap. Guessing what he was thinking, Rose spoke up. “You can let Toffee go. I need to give him his dinner anyway.” To demonstrate her point, she got her baby boy´s favourite conserved tuna and Toffee meowed eagerly.
Balthasar nodded as he gently set the cat down. The feline immediately ran over to Rose, who emptied the tuna into his bowl, and he immediately started eating.
“Sho good~,” Balthasar´s moan drew her attention back to her guest and the sight of him eagerly eating the soup made her smile.
She wondered, if the missing flesh from his face or the missing teeth would cause trouble for him, while eating. But as she watched him, she noticed how he would only take one spoon-full at time, before gulping it down, in between small bites from his sandwiches, which he didn´t chew, but swallow immediately. It was a bit odd, but if it worked for him, then who was she to judge? She just put a glass of water near him and stayed silent.
Taking her own bowl of soup and plate of sandwiches, she decided to sit down next to him and start eating herself. Peripherally, she noticed her companion pause and look at her in surprise, before he continued eating, occasionally casting curious glances at her.
“Do you want a refill?” she asked once he finished his bowl.
“Yesh, pleashe,” he muttered and when he got it, he added “Thank you, Roshe.”
“You´re welcome,” she grinned, before getting her own refill.
They were halfway through their second meal when Balthasar suddenly asked: “Doesh it not bother…annoy you?”
“What should bother me?”
“My face…shcar.”
Rose looked at him. Since she was sitting on his right side, she got a clear view of his disfigurement. She looked at it, contemplating how to express herself, before she decided to be honest. “It doesn´t bother me. It surprised me when I saw it for the first time, but that´s all.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. And I have seen worse. Besides, I have no room to judge the ´flaws of beauty´ of other people. Not with this,” the blonde angled her head to show him the right side of her face. There, under her right eye, a pinkish birthmark covered a good part of her cheek.
“It looksh like a heart…cute heart,” said Balthasar once he looked at her birthmark. “You´re nice. Cute too, Roshe.”
Hearing this, made her pause because she really didn´t expect to hear this. A small blush crept across her cheeks, since this was the first time somebody said this about her birth mark. It felt nice. Even if the one who said it was a non-human and currently probably not at all by his senses, considering he had some small trouble forming full sentences.
“Would you like some cool tea, or do you want some other drink?” Rose asked, once they finished eating and she put the dishes into the sink.
“Tea, pleashe,” replied Balthasar as he picked up Toffee for more cuddles, with the cat enjoying the attention he was given.
“Alright. Is chamomile and ginger alright with you?” When he agreed, she made a whole jug of the tea before they returned to the living room. There, Rose used the ottoman to turn her couch into a comfortable, soft bed, where they took their seats, with some random movie playing on the tv. The blonde would also occasionally offer to prepare a home-remedy for her guest, like saltwater to rinse the teeth or garlic, which he politely refused as not needed.
“I should probably go…return home,” murmured Balthasar after a while.
“Okay…do you want me to call someone to pick you up?” she asked, already reaching for her phone, but he shook her head. “Come on, somebody must be getting worried about you.”
“None, don´t bother,” he said, but she had some trouble believing him.
So, she pressed on. “What about your parents? Your friends? Won´t somebody be worried about you?” she inquired.
“I don´t talk…get along with parentsh. Too old for them to care about me,” answered Balthasar. “Not many…few friendsh. Betha ish away on a trip for the week. The resht…they vishited dentisht too, sho…”
Rose remembered what he told her about their dentist not using anaesthetics, and she winced in sympathy. “Those poor fellas…I hope they´re alight.”
“Nagy ish creative…capable…can look after himshelf. Rath got picked up…taken home by their brother. They both okay,” he told her simply, before a loud, long yawn silenced whatever else he was going to say. This way the blonde coffee shop owner got a good view at how wide his jaw could open – it reminded her of an anaconda, only with much bigger and wider teeth. He could probably fit her head in there if he wanted to, and Rose was never gladder that her guest was a benevolent presence, rather than a malevolent one. Otherwise, she was under no illusion that she would be screwed.
The blonde cut off the scary thought and instead focused on the small, white things poking through the gums in the areas from which there were missing teeth. She tried not to be horrified by the fact that Balthasar was missing no less than seven teeth, or the thought that the white things poking from the gums were bones or what.
When the lavender haired male finally closed his mouth, Rose quickly shook her head and decided to continue their talk.
“How did you get into my home anyway?” she inquired.
“I teleported, though I wash trying to get home…”
“…but you got lost, because of the state you were…still are in,” Rose finished instead of him. She could see it and the idea of Balthasar going through that again, this time maybe ending in some dangerous place, worried her. True, it has been several hours since she found Balthasar, and she could tell that he was better than before. He was no longer crying or moaning from pain, instead looking relaxed and calm. But at the same time, just from looking at him, she could tell that he was still very loopy and dazed, which concerned her.
She didn´t want him to leave in this state, but she didn´t know what to do with him. She didn´t know where he lived and even if he told her, she doubted any cab would take him. And she didn´t own a car, so she couldn´t take him there. So, as she thought about what she could do with Balthasar, one idea kept popping up in her mind and the more she thought about it, the more she realized it was probably the best option. She just hoped that it wouldn´t backfire at her.
“Would you like to stay for the night?” she voiced her idea, making her companion look at her in surprised.
“What?” the male blurted out loud.
“I asked – would you like to stay for the night here?” she repeated herself.
“B-but what…why offer me thish?” he asked her, unsure.
“Because I´m worried about you and the idea of you…teleporting…away from there, in your current state doesn´t bode well for my mellow,” she told him. “I don´t know about any possible way to get you home safely and in your state I´m definitely not letting you leave alone. I thought about it and the next best thing I could offer you is to let you sleep at my place. This way, I can be sure you´re safe and you have a peaceful place to spend the night, without any possible risk. So, what do you say?”
“I want…I would like to,” he murmured, before he shook his head and looked at her “But, I´m a shtranger. You don´t know me. I could hurt…harm you…”
“You´re right, you could,” she agreed. “But until now, you had plenty of opportunities to hurt me or my cat. You´re bigger and probably stronger than either of us, so overpowering us wouldn´t be a problem for you. Yet, you didn´t attack or otherwise tried to harm us. Even in a state, when you´re not completely in control over yourself, you were calm and cooperated with me up until now. Because of that, I decided to trust you. Will you trust me some more in this and stay the night?”
At those words, Balthasar blinked, before slowly nodding his head with a soft “Okay, I´ll stay.”
Hearing that, she was almost overwhelmed with relief, and she nearly missed how he looked at her and muttered “You´re a shtrange, unique demon, Roshe.”
The woman paused hearing those words, or specifically, one word – demon. Then she looked over her companion, from the lavender hair, the gazelle horns, and the cat-like eyes, to the eagle feet on his legs. As she took it all in, she realized that the one word explained a lot of things about her guest. She should have guessed that it might have been a possibility…but what were the odds of her running into a demon in her own home?
When Rose walked inside the living room the next morning the sight that greeted her, made her pause. “So, it wasn´t a dream,” she muttered, as her grey-green eyes took in the sleeping form on her couch. She had to admit to herself, it made an adorable picture. Balthasar lay curled up on his side, warped up in the soft knitted blanket she lent to him. The…demon…had a peaceful expression on his face, mouth slightly parted as he breathed quietly. And atop his giant form laid her tabby cat, sleeping peacefully, without caring that he was using a being of legends and nightmares as his own personal pillow.
Shaking her head, the blonde turned around and walked to the kitchen. Silently she took out the breakfast conserve for her cat and opened it. Her cat woke up in a moment, eyes wide open and ears tilted forward. When Rose emptied the conserve to the cat bowl, Toffee jumped down from Balthasar and sprinted to his designated feeding spot. Rose gave him his breakfast and he started eating like starved.
“Slow down, sweetie! It won´t go anywhere,” Rose laughed at her cat´s behaviour, gently petting his soft fur before she got up and started making herself a cup of coffee. While she was working, she thought about yesterday night and came to several conclusions.
First, demons, and by extension probably other supernatural beings, were apparently real. If she was a Catholic, she would be freaked out. Mainly because of the idea of having a being vilified by her faith in her home. That would have been almost guaranteed, considering all the legends about demons in faith. Thankfully, she wasn´t a Catholic. She was simply an Ietsist, who didn´t subscribe to any specific religion or dogma. She didn´t believe in ultimate evil or ultimate good, she just saw the world as multiple shades of grey it was, while a higher power looked over things. Because of this outlook, Balthasar´s existence didn´t freak her out. Instead, she was just happy to have her belief in higher power confirmed by association. After all, if demons existed, what stopped other supernatural beings, or deities from existing?
Second, demons apparently weren´t as scary as the books and movies portrayed them. That was a welcomed realization, since the movie ones always scared her senseless. Against this somebody like Balthasar, while intimidating, was somehow harmless, which was a nice contrast. The relatively peaceful night she had, because of that, was great too. It only confirmed that her offer to help her companion was not a mistake. Or at least, so far it didn´t seem like one, but it might change once he woke up.
Third, it confirmed what her grandfather has been telling her for years – she was too nice for her own good. The coffee shop owner understood that nobody she knew would react the way she did to Balthasar´s presence or to what he was…except for her grandmother. That woman probably would pull off something like this, and wouldn´t even bat an eye at his appearance or the fact that he was a demon. She would immediately want to help him and make sure he was alright and taken care off. And considering Rose took after her the most…
She was so absorbed in her work, that she didn´t notice her guest waking up until there was a loud yelp, and something crashed. She whirled around, nearly spilling the milk for her iced coffee, and saw the demon lying on his back on the ground, rubbing his aching head. Seeing that, she quickly put down everything she was holding and hurried over to her companion.
“Balthasar are you alright?” she asked worriedly once she reached him. “Did you hurt yourself? Are you in pain?”
Her guest groaned, but replied “Ouch! Yeah, I´m okay. Guess my body was more asleep than my mind…”
“What happened?”
“I tried to get up, but my body was too uncoordinated, and I got tangled up in the blanket,” explained the lavender-haired demon.
Hearing that, she let out a relieved sigh. “I see. I´m glad you´re uninjured. Do you need help to stand up?”
“No, no, I can manage,” the male waved her off and promptly sat up…only to freeze when he came face to face with Rose. Cat-like eyes widened, and the jaw dropped, portraying an expression of clear disbelief, mixed with shock. Worried by the sudden change in mood, Rose opened her mouth to ask, but Balthasar beat her to it. “Rose…you´re not a demon, are you?”
Blinking at the question, the coffee shop owner shook her head.
“And this is…not the Underworld, am I right?” he asked.
She shook her head again.
“What are you?”
“Human, as far as I know.”
He nodded at her answer and inquired “And I´m in my demon form, am I not?”
“You most definitely are.”
“Oh.”
The small sound was the only warning Rose got before her companion jumped back from her until his back hit the wall. There his body froze as still as a statue, hair standing up like a porcupine´s quills, and the only thing that moved was his mouth. Although, the sounds that were leaving him were almost strangled, and the only words that Rose could make out from him, as she strained her hearing, were the words ´Human´, ´Human world´ and the question “How?” repeated, over and over, in between panicked breaths.
“Balthasar?” she tried carefully, but he didn´t seem to acknowledge her, as he started ahead and continued mumbling.
Seeing this, Rose thought about the best possible way to calm him down. Then she remembered how she was making herself a cup of iced coffee and an idea came to her mind. She went to the kitchen, where she quickly whipped together a sweet drink, while also finishing her own iced coffee, and returned to Balthasar. Said demon remained muttering, frozen in his place until she slowly reached out and held the iced drink right under his nose. She didn´t have to wait long. At first, there was just a small twitch of the male´s nose. The slitted blue eyes blinked, and their owner took a deep breath, and his attention was drawn to the glass the human was holding.
“What…”
“Back with me?” Rose inquired with a small smile as sat down in front of him.
“I-yes?” the demon replied uncertainly.
“Good. Now drink this,” she handed him the iced chocolate. “It is my speciality – iced peppermint chocolate, and if my friends´ words are to be believed, you´ll love it. You seemed to like peppermint. And chocolate is both good for the nerves and for bettering the mood. So?”
The demon hesitated for a moment before he slowly reached out and took the offered drink. At her encouraging smile, he carefully took a sip from the chocolate. Once he tasted it, his eyes widened and the tense expression on his face was replaced by that of awe. He looked at his drink and then back at Rose, before drinking more, with a soft moan of pleasure. The blonde chuckled at that sight, silently pleased that her hunch was right as she watched Balthasar relax his posture and all the tension from his body melted away.
When the lavender-haired male drank about half of his glass, he lowered his hands with the drink and refocused on the blonde, who asked in a soft voice, “Better?”
“Yes, thank you,” Balthasar smiled at her, then ducked his head, cheeks burning red. “And thank you, for yesterday. And this morning too. You were very kind and helpful. Also, I´m…sorry for my reaction just now. I was surprised, confused, and shocked at the same time and I really didn’t know what to do in this situation. So, I…went with the first idea that came to me, which was to put some distance between us, until I sorted my thoughts and figured out what was going on…Though the latter probably took too long, I guess.”
“You´re welcome. It was no problem for me to help you. And I can understand your reaction. Although, I was a bit worried, when you didn´t respond when I called you,” she admitted, drinking from her cup.
“I´m sorry. Usually, us, demons, don´t interact with humans in our true form. We tend to take a human one, instead, so I was naturally shocked to be there with you looking like this,” he gestured to his body. “I wasn´t sure what to do… But that doesn´t excuse my rude reaction. So, again, I´m sorry,” the demon apologized.
“It´s alright, anybody could have reacted this way…”
“But you took it better, than me…unless I´m not your first demon?” he inquired.
“No, you´re my first one,” she confirmed.
He tilted his head to the side. “Then why are you so calm?”
“Oh, believe me, I wasn´t calm when I found you in my house,” she told him, as she thought about the last night. “I was both terrified and didn´t know what to do. And seeing you holding my sweet Toffee, I was openly contemplating throwing a vase at your head to distract you, long enough to grab my cat and bolt out of this place. But then I noticed you weren´t reacting to my presence, and managed to take a better look at you. I saw your interaction with Toffee, saw how calm he was and how nice you were to him, and some of the fear left me,” as she talked, her cat arrived as if summoned and sat down in her lap, where she dutifully petter him. “Afterwards, I realized that, while you´re not human, it didn´t immediately meant you´re dangerous. You might have looked scary, but you were hurt and sad, and I realized you needed help. Then, it was just me playing it by ear and hoping for the best, which, thankfully, paid off and ended well. Though it was easier not to be afraid of you, since with Toffee, you both made a cute image.”
The demon nodded in understanding, but at the last words, he recoiled and stared at her in disbelief, while blushing like mad. “C-Cute?! ME?”
“Yes.”
“B-but my scar…”
“Doesn´t bother me, as I told you yesterday.”
“I´m a demon…”
“Have you tried to possess me? Terrorize me? Kill me? No, you were perfectly well-behaved. Besides, do you know how the movies portray demons? Compared to those nightmares, you´re rather tame,” she told him honestly.
“…you´ve got a point here,” he admitted. “And for the record, I have no idea where the idiots in Hollywood get those ideas from.”
“Me neither, but I´m glad to know a demon, who is nothing like that. You´re way better, Balthasar,” she chimed in. “Right, Toffee?”
“Meow.”
“And I´m glad to know a human who doesn´t fear my true form and is as nice as you, Rose…and a cute little cat who gives the best cuddles,” said Balthasar with a small smile as he reached out to scratch Toffee behind his ear. The cat, enjoying the attention from its new friend and its human, purred loudly.
The blonde smiled and raised her half-full glass towards Balthasar. “So, to new acquaintances?”
The demon smiled at her and raised his own glass. “To new acquaintances!”
They clinked the glasses against each other, before taking generous gulps from their respective drinks.
“Now, how about we move to my kitchen? We can talk more while I make breakfast…” Rose started, but the demon interrupted her.
“Wait, please, allow me. I will make us something,” offered Balthasar. “It is the least I could do to repay your kindness for your help.”
“Oh, don´t worry about it. You´re my guest, you don´t have to. It´s alright, really. You owe me nothing – I did what any decent being would have done. Besides I like cooking so it´s no problem for me…”
“Still, I want to do this for you, Rose. I really appreciate what you did for me so far and I want to thank you for that. So please, allow me?” he looked at her, with those hopeful blue eyes, that the coffee shop owner found herself caving into his request.
“Alright.”
“Good. How do you like pancakes?” he asked as they stood up.
“With bananas and caramel sauce…but should we eat something like that?” she frowned. “I mean, your teeth…”
“Are already healed, Rose. See?” to demonstrate his point, Balthasar opened his mouth and showed that there was no longer any empty spot left and all teeth grew back, before closing it again.
“Still…don´t they hurt, or at least ache? You were a mess yesterday, so I can´t believe all the ache is completely gone…”
“They´re still a bit tender,” the demon admitted after a moment. “But my teeth are more durable than human teeth, so pancakes are alright for me to eat.”
She looked doubtful for a moment before she sighed. “Okay, so pancakes. But if your teeth start hurting, you will tell me immediately.”
Balthasar nodded in agreement at her request and soon, Rose found herself seated behind the breakfast bar, watching the demon move around in her kitchen and she couldn’t help but ask: “Do you even know how to operate inside a human kitchen?”
“Hopefully. And if I encounter a problem, I can just do this.” He raised his hand, and twirled his fingers and several ingredients, like eggs and butter, along with cooking equipment, like spatula and pans, rose into the air. Seeing that, the blonde female gasped in awe and watched the floating things follow Balthasar around and flew into his hand whenever needed it.
“Is it magic?” she questioned, poking at one of the eggs, when it floated closer to her. A part of her wished she could do something like this – it would have made working in her shop much easier.
The lavender-haired male hummed in thought as he measured some flour, before pouring it into a big bowl. “Honestly, I don´t know the human word equivalent for the name of the energy, I used for this spell. No text I ever read provided any alternative title. But I suppose we could call it magic if you want,” he offered her.
“Amazing,” she breathed out, making him chuckle.
“If you´re amazed by this, then you should see some of the other things I can pull off,” the horned demon chuckled.
“Maybe on your next visit you could show me,” she said without really thinking about it. When they registered what she had said, they both paused and looked at each other.
“You…want me to come to see you again?” asked Balthasar after a moment.
“Well,” she licked at her lips, this time really thinking about it and finding that she wasn´t against the idea in the least. Quite the opposite, in fact. “Yeah, I think I would like that. You seem like a good company. But only if you´re not against the idea of meeting a boring human like me, that is.”
“Boring human?” he repeated looking her over. “Rose, I might know you for a day, but I can say with certainty that you´re anything but boring. Trust me, you have no idea what I consider boring.”
She laughed at his words. “If you say so.” Then she looked at him hopefully. “Does that mean…?”
He paused, mock thinking over her request, before he grinned at her. “I don´t see a reason not to accept your offer. I would love to visit you again, Rose.”
“I´m glad. Though next time, please give me some warning so I know you´re coming,” she requested.
The demon nodded. “That could be arranged,” he stated, before turning back to his work. “So, banana and caramel sauce, you said? I would have pegged you for a chocolate and strawberry lover.”
“In cakes, maybe. But I like caramelized bananas, and this comes very close to it, so,” she shrugged with a small laugh. “And I bet you´re a carnivore, who eats pancakes with bacon and maple syrup!”
“Nope. I like mine with honey and blackberries. Bacon on pancakes? Never tried that, but it sounds interesting,” he mused.
“I can make you some the next time you´re over,” the blonde offered.
He hummed in thought. “And I´ll bring you some dish from the Underworld to try in exchange.”
“And I would end up trapped in the place once I eat it? No thanks,” she teased him.
“Trapped in the Underworld by eating the food from that place? Are you referring to that old story about Hades and Persephone?” he questioned, looking at her over his shoulder.
She shrugged. “Maybe. Is there any truth to that myth?”
“You really want to know?” at her nod, he started “Alight, this story is actually connected to one of the biggest family dramas that happened in the Underworld…” as Balthasar explained the real origins of the myth, Rose couldn´t help but wonder if this was a start of the most unusual friendship of her life.
Not that she minded it.