It has been three days since that happened. Slate has been awfully clingy. He keeps glancing at me, shooting me looks that I can now comprehend. That started when we slept together. After our making love session, he put much effort into taking care of me. He's always around me (well, he is always around me, but this time, it's like he never wants to leave by my side again). When someone goes near me, he would sneer and scoff, roll his eyes, and shoot heated glares. Of course Leandre noticed and told me that he's probably PMSing. When I asked him what PMSing really means, he told me to search it on Google. I just rolled my eyes at him, wanting to give him the bird. But I figured that was inappropriate and uncalled for. I knew it was going to be a bitchy move so I stopped myself before I offend him.

Slate is acting really weird though. Everyone has noticed, but I keep telling to myself that he hasn't really. He's acting the way he's supposed to act; he does things the way he likes. So there's nothing really wrong with that. I keep checking what has changed, and why he's acting weird but I can't think of any reason. Well, I had one theory that went into the trash bin immediately after that thought occur inside my head. A demon is living in the home of the werewolves. It couldn't be the reason though. Plus, Leandre has been living with them for, like, forever but he hasn't really changed nor is he acting weird. He's still the same Leandre that I grew up with, my servant, my best friend. Though sometimes he's being a pain in the ass, he's still cool.

"Okay, it's time for us to talk," I say as I finally catch to him. Did I tell you that he has been avoiding me as well? He's been around me, but at the same time, he's been practically ignoring me. "You're acting really weird. Did I do something wrong?"

"What? Of course not!" Slate becomes defensive, frowning as he crosses his arms across his chest. I purse my lips. I don't really know what to say after that so I guess shutting up would be the best choice to do. He sighs and scratches the back of his head. "You didn't do something wrong."

"Then why... why are you ignoring me?" I ask below a whisper I doubt he heard it.

To be honest, I'm scared to know what his answers would be. Somehow, I think that I did something wrong that he didn't like that's why he's acting all weird. I keep thinking back to the time we had sex to the present day. When we were making love, everything was perfect. It felt so good and we were having a good time. I poured my emotions there, all of it, bared myself raw, and he did the same, too. So why is this all happening? Having no clue what triggered Slate's action destroys me, bit by bit. It's making me crazy.

Placing his palm on my right cheek, I lean it and savor his affection to me. "It's not that I'm ignoring you, Adrian," I flinch when he calls me by my name. It's unlikely of him to call me that even though he has been calling me love. "See, when we were having sex, I... I might have done something... without your consent."

"What? I don't understand."

He sighs again. "I accidentally began the process of marking," Slate bites his bottom lip and I find that so sexy and hot. "Demon marking. A part of you is already carrying a demon blood. And I fucked up."

"Huh?"

"Demon marking. I told you about that before," he continues and shuts his eyes. I can see his muscles tensed, and he starts clicking his tongue. "Shit, I wanted to do it so bad, so fucking bad."

"Then why don't you do it?"

"You don't really get it, do you?" Slate turns around and runs a hand across his face, frustrated that I'm not getting what he wanted me to get. For a moment, I see how angry he is but then his face goes black and he shuts his eyes. "If I do the demon marking, I would... you would turn into a demon, Adrian. And I don't fucking want that."

I freeze, eyes wide as I stare into his eyes. I'm waiting for him to say he's just kidding, that he's just pulling jokes on me, but he doesn't. His lips are in a thin line, but his eyes tell me that he's as worried and scared as I am. The place goes awfully quiet, and it's like I have lost all of my senses. I don't know what to do, I don't know what to think. My mind is blank. I want to say something but I can't. Do I want to be a demon just for Slate? Do I want to turn myself into something we, angels, fight endlessly?

"Adrian," Slate reaches out to my hand but I yank it away as quickly as possible, hiding it behind my back and taking a couple of steps backwards. Slate's eyes go down and in it, I can see the sadness and regret pooling in his goddamn beautiful eyes. "I'll... I'll just... I'll just be gone. Don't wait for me."

And that's when the real fear kicks in. As he turns on his heels, my arm shots forward, catching his. Slate turns around immediately and I don't see anything on his face and in his eyes; they are just blank, plain, and emotionless. Tears prickle in my eyes, and I try to blink them away, but that doesn't stop them from slipping out.

"Don't go, please." I beg as tears pour out of my eyes.

His arms immediately wrap around me tight, and he plants a soft kiss on my temple. "Don't cry, love," he says as he pushes me gently and tips my chin using his index finger. His eyes and face are no longer emotionless. "I'm... I'm doing this so you can't see... never mind, let's just forget this happened."

"What? You were supposed to say something?" I press.

"Look –"

"Just tell me, Slate. Just fucking tell me!" I burst, shouting right in his face and pushing him rather harshly. His eyes are wide. Of course he'd be shocked. This is the first time I really shouted angrily at him. "I need you to tell me, now, what's going on."

"Calm down, love,"

"No!"

"Listen, love," Slate leans down and cups my cheeks. "I'm doing this so you can't see how I'm hurting. I know that you'd feel hurt, too, and seeing how I'm being hurt is going to add more pain. See, when a demon does demon marking, it should be continued until it's successful. If I'm marking a demon, then everything should be an easy peasy to deal with as the demon I'm marking is a demon. It would just tighten our relationship, but in our case, you're an angel. If I continue the demon marking, you'd turn demon, but you'll die first. And I don't fucking want that. I don't fucking know what would happen because this is going to be a fucking first time in the history. Basically there's no guarantee that you would wake up, ever."

"But... you said it must be continued. What would happen to you?" His eyes lose light.

"I'd... be fine," I can fucking tell that he's lying. Apparently he sees me glaring and he sighs. "I'd... fade away. When the demon marking is not successful, our life would be at risk. Pain will slowly eat our system up, we'd lose all of our powers. See, you might not know it or you might not realize it, but demons, when they get attached, they get attached strongly. And that is rare to happen. We don't call it love, but we just go with the flow of what we feel. Once our power dies out, we die the next. We call it the Inevitable Death, that's why demons rarely do the demon marking. Demons are foolish, treacherous, dangerous, and most of the time, there's no trust between us. It's true that demons get rebirth, but with this, you'll forever be dead."

I'm speechless. Tears stream down my face and I bury my face in his chest, soaking his shirt with my tears. He tightly wraps his arms around me again. All I feel is pain and sadness. So that means basically means I have to be a demon or he dies. Why is this all so hard? Why is this so painful? Why is everything suddenly so complicated?

"Love, I don't want you to choose to be a demon just because you know I'm dying slowly," he tells me, smiling sadly at me. "I want you to choose where you can be happy. Don't do this for me. I'd kill myself in the Holy Land rather than being with you where you are not happy of what you chose."

"Until when?" I ask, hiccupping.

"A week," he replies. "You don't want to be a demon, trust me." I'm about to protest when he puts his index finger over my lips, preventing me from speaking. "You're very kind, Adrian. And... and I'm happy when I'm with you. I've imagined doing everything with you in the future. I'm so fucking grateful I got the chance to be with you. I love you so fucking much." A tear slips out of his right eye and seeing it hurts me.

"I don't want you to leave me," I cry out.

"But I won't, I will always be here for you," he says as he kisses me passionately.