:: Special Chapter ::

SPECIAL CHAPTER

Cullen in his natural form. A demon without horns, as I have seen in the vision. A demon unlike the others, the demonkind.

He was singled out because he stood out from the others. When he grew up, he was determined to find his own place. He travelled the worlds, roamed the planes, until, as he demonstrated to me, he chanced upon the day I was about to jump off the tall building dramatically.

When our bodies met that night (he had his means of transforming a day to night), I saw right through his thoughts and those images in his mind. And this, he called it the Joining. Our bodies fused together like lock and key. There was no gruesome matter on the ground like Xiaoxian had imagined sex to be, neither was it painful. We were locked together in the tightest embrace I had ever experienced.

He was as cool as a cucumber all this while, in contrary to how my heart felt like it was going to burst out of my chest. I could sense my entire abdomen searing hot with flame. During this while, his body remained icy-cold.

In the darkness of the cavern, with only a few luminous pearls lighting our surroundings, I could barely make out the interior of the cave. His large, stiff body shielded my petite figure, enveloping it. He was way taller and bigger now in his natural form, and I have to admit, way more masculine and charming. His charisma stole my breath away and triggered my need for satiety.

"Cull..len," I murmured, convulsing rapidly from the pleasure our fusion granted me. I could not thoroughly explain the feeling of having our bodies entwined so closely. If I had to describe the feeling, it was a wholesome one to have. He felt like he had joined with me and became a part of me.

"Shh, my dear angel, don't break the ambience," he whispered, nudging me with the tip of his nose. The sight of his handsome visage tormented me and made me think of more mischievous acts. Nothing escaped his mind, rendering him to laugh at me savagely.

I scowled, biting my lip to distract myself from how physically needy I was feeling. 

"Aye, Shengyi, what did I just say?" he flashed me a cold warning look. I released my lower lip from my teeth, gazing at him with my most innocent 'lamb' look. 

"That's not going to work on me, Shengyi," he whispered. "You do know that I can read your thoughts."

  After some two hours, I am completely drained of any 'mortal' energy I have and fall asleep on the stone bed. But when I wake again, Cullen is in a corner of the cavern, with his back to me. His naked back is completely enamouring. Devoid of any hair like those of human males, he stands firmly, watching his reflection on the icicles.

"Cull..len?" I call out his name, pulling myself from the bed. The effects of the pleasure he had granted to my body seem to have worn off and my lower abdomen is sore. It hurts to move from the bed. 

It is cold in the cavern. Cullen stands, serene, as if unwilling to turn around and indulge me. For a few seconds, I wonder what is it about our 'play' much earlier that has made him ignore me.

No matter how many times I called him, Cullen does not respond. His non-response brings me to just stagger over and approach him. To my astonishment, when I approach, he turns the other way to avert my gaze. Something doesn't seem right about Cullen. Cullen is a positive, charismatic male who isn't afraid of anything in the world. 

"Cullen, did I do something wrong?" 

He remains silent, but I hear his response telepathically in my mind.

[Don't come near. Shengyi, something has gone awry.]

Cullen is sick? Concern and distraughtness permeate my mind. No, nothing should ever happen to him. Neither of us would be able to go home and we might die.

[It's wild magic and our worst fear, infection.]

Cullen was infected? The more I thought about this, the more it didn't make sense.

But, you are invincible! I argued in my head. 

[I didn't say I am....] His apprehension seemed to have toned down a little, which relieves me.

"Whatever it is, we are already one, aren't we? Shouldn't you tell me what's wrong?"

[If you see me in the state I am in, you will not want to have anything to do with me. I will fix myself, just give me time.]

"How are you going to fix yourself?" I ask. "How long do you need and why can't you let me see you?"

He does not answer, as usual averting questions he does not wish to answer. This is Cullen inside and out. He has selective hearing and answering.

[I am horrendous right now, Shengyi. You will be frightened if you see how I look like now.]

"I don't care. You are NOT walking out of this place and not leaving me alone!" I snap at him. "Whatever it is, we can overcome it together. Don't you tell me all that we have experienced together is a mistake. I am a mistake?" I demonstrate my emotions with a few arm gestures. 

[I lost my voice, so I can't speak. My face is a little bloated now but I know I will have a solution.]

"What do you think happened?"

[Someone has to be here with us. Someone who knows our whereabouts and our next stops. This someone must also know my identity. He must know me!]

"In other words, you mean he is a threat to your life."

[Yes. But for now, I can't be certain who he is, or if he really is…]

"Really is - who?"

[My doppelganger, my rival in demon academy, a demoness who liked me...]

He knows clearly I don't like hearing about others having a thing for him, so it is my turn to fall silent, tumbling under the covers of the stone bed. 

[Neither of these people mentioned is humans.

I pul him closer to me. 

[What is it this time?]

He tells me the answers to the questions that are swimming in my head. 

[It's a long story if I were to tell you of how I came to be who I am.]

"Cullen…" I want to say, but he reassures me that everything is fine.

[Are you sure you will be okay about this?]

I nodded decisively and braced myself to see what it was about him that made him so afraid to be seen. 

[You'll know very soon.]

Again, the waiting game? I grumbled and lifted up my pen and paper.