The storm outside had long since passed, but Elias felt like he was still walking through thunder. His thoughts were a mess, like tangled threads of half-formed memories, unanswered questions, and Rael's soft touch still lingering on his skin.
The warmth between them had grown… quieter, deeper. Like a fire that no longer burned wildly, but smoldered low and steady—dangerous, comforting, impossible to ignore.
Rael sat at the edge of the bed, shirtless, golden hair slightly damp from the steam of the bath he'd just taken. His shoulders gleamed under the low light of the dorm room lamp, muscles taut, relaxed in that strange way only demons seemed to manage. He hadn't said much since Elias let him stay the night again. That quiet between them had taken on a new kind of intimacy. Not tense. Not awkward. Just… waiting.
Elias shifted beneath the sheets, still fully clothed, still refusing to let his guard fall too far. "You've been staring at me for the last ten minutes."
Rael's smile was lazy. "Can you blame me?"
"Flattery isn't going to fix anything," Elias muttered, eyes narrowing.
"I'm not trying to fix anything," Rael said. "I just like looking at you."
Elias flushed but ignored it. He sat up straighter. "I've been thinking… about the fight. About you. About… everything."
Rael didn't move. Didn't interrupt.
"You say you want to help me," Elias continued, voice tighter now, the weight of unspoken things choking up his throat. "You say it like it's simple. Like all this… like what's happening to me doesn't scare the shit out of you too."
Rael stood now, walking over to the bed, his eyes locked on Elias's. "I never said it didn't scare me."
"Then say it!" Elias barked, suddenly shoving the covers off. "Stop pretending like you're just this cool, ancient, golden sex-demon with all the answers and no fear. You can't just seduce your way through this!"
Rael stared at him for a long, tense beat. Then, voice low, he said, "I am afraid."
That stopped Elias cold.
"I'm afraid," Rael continued, "because I don't know how this ends. Because you've changed in ways even I don't understand. And because—" he stepped forward now, kneeling beside the bed, voice dropping—"because if I lose you, I lose something I didn't even think I was allowed to want."
Elias's breath caught. The tension shifted. Heat flickered under his skin. This wasn't seduction. This was something heavier.
Rael reached for his hand, threading their fingers together. "You've been shutting me out, Eli. Since the day we met. You look at me like I'm some monster who's going to devour you."
"You are a monster," Elias whispered, unsure if he meant it or if he just wanted to hurt him.
Rael smiled bitterly. "Maybe. But you're the one I keep crawling back to. Even monsters want something beautiful to believe in."
That silence returned, but now it pulsed with something heavy between them. Regret. Anger. Longing.
Rael leaned in, voice shaking now. "Do you want me to go?"
Elias stared at him for a long time. And then, quietly, he asked, "Why do you keep staying?"
Rael didn't hesitate. "Because you're worth it."
And that—just that—made something break in Elias's chest.
He leaned forward, lips crashing against Rael's. No slow buildup. No careful hesitation. Just desperate, aching want. The taste of frustration. Of apologies unspoken. Of everything they hadn't been saying.
Clothes were stripped between frantic kisses, touches turned rough, then tender, then rough again—fueled by the tension of days spent ignoring what they both felt. Elias gasped as Rael pinned him back against the sheets, every inch of his body alive with fire. The magic surged between them, thick and heady, twisting the air.
Their bodies met with sweat-slick heat, Elias's hands clawing at Rael's back, pulling him closer, deeper. Rael's mouth found his throat, his chest, leaving heat and shudders in his wake. The air was thick with moans and whispered names, the raw connection between them blurring the lines between lust and love, between magic and madness.
And somewhere in the mess of limbs and breath and pleasure, Elias realized: it didn't matter if Rael was a demon, or if the magic inside him was changing everything.
He wanted him.
And that… that terrified him more than anything else.