Eleven

Lux

When our drinks arrived, I quickly grabbed one of the little glasses and gulped down the vodka, surprising myself and Archer. The whole 'giving him the origami bird' thing and his reaction to it had flustered me more than I'd expected, and I was sure my cheeks were bright red as a result.

Archer stared at me for a moment, then chuckled before picking up a glass and taking a shot himself.

"Fuck, that's good."

I raised a brow, realizing with a start this was the first time I'd heard him swear in front of me. I also realized that I really liked hearing him swear, which was a strange thing to like but oh well. I'd long since stopped trying to figure out what pushed my buttons and just accepted the fact that I was an oddball.

Right now though, it seemed like everything Archer did was turning me on, so I grabbed another shot, used a bit of magic to make it five times more powerful so it would have some effect on me, and downed it, humming at the pleasant buzz.

Archer and I chatted about inane things as we drank, and I sent up a silent thank you to Jerry for suggesting this. It'd been a fabulous idea, and I already felt much, much better.

"You know, when that car was coming toward us, I saw the craziest thing," Archer said. He was sitting with his arms folded on the table, his head turned as he rested it on his arms and peered up at me. He looked mighty cute, if you asked me.

"Oh? What did you see?" I took another shot because why not? I finally felt properly drunk, and I wasn't going to allow my body a chance to burn through that alcohol too quickly.

"I thought I saw you get hit with the car," he said, then laughed. "Crazy, huh?"

I eyed the amused grin on his face and suddenly had the best thought. I could tell him now! He was all mellowed out, and he already suspected something was off about the accident. It was the perfect segue!

"Not really. What if it actually happened?"

Archer laughed, then sat upright, raising a brow at me. "What? That you stopped a car with your body and didn't even get a scratch?"

"Yeah!" I nodded rapidly in excitement, leaning forward to bring our faces together. "That's exactly what I did. I couldn't let it hit you or Gunner."

"Okay. So you're what, Luke Cage?"

"I don't know who that is. I'm Lux," I reminded, in case the alcohol got to him. "I used magic."

"Magic, huh?" Archer's voice was thick with disbelief, and I smiled. Just wait till I told him everything. He'd believe me.

"Yep, magic. I'm actually a demon." Then I remembered how demons were portrayed in human media, and hurried to explain. "Not like the ones in your stories, though. The real demons are actually the good guys. Well, almost all of us."

"Demons. Right." Archer squinted at me, and I had a feeling if he wasn't drunk, he'd be firing me right now. Or dragging me to a psych hospital.

I also had a feeling that if I was a little less drunk, I never would've opened my bloody mouth. But since I was, I kept going.

"Yes! Demons. We used to live in a place called the demon realm, but then one of our kind escaped with a bunch of dark souls, so we were sent here to protect the humans from them," I whispered, not wanting the other patrons to hear. When we'd first come in, I'd scanned the place and confirmed that I was the only supernatural being here, which was good. The supes who lived in the human realm didn't know about the existence of the other realms, and they weren't supposed to find out until they died. Which was why I couldn't let myself be overheard by a human or a supe.

"Right. Maybe we should stop drinking."

I scowled. If there weren't so many people around, I would've done some magic to convince him, but as such, I couldn't risk it. These days, humans were always recording something or the other on their phones. The last thing I needed was to get recorded using magic in the background of some video.

I tried insisting a few more times that I was a demon, but Archer wouldn't listen, leading me to conclude the mission was a failure. I'd need to figure out some other way to tell him.

Maybe I'd just show him my true form when we were at home and be done with it. Yeah, I could imagine how that would go.

We drank for a while longer, and then one of the servers came over to tell us that the bartender had called us a cab. I supposed it was a perk of Archer being a regular here. Our bill was also added to 'the tab' which I concluded was some kind of ledger that Archer paid once a month.

On our ride back, Archer fell asleep with his head on my shoulder, and I smiled down at him, wishing I could wrap my arm around him and pull him even closer. I couldn't, though, so instead I just pressed a soft kiss into his hair, so soft he probably didn't even feel it.

When we arrived home—I had to get out and enter the gate code, which I put in wrong three times before I got it right—I helped Archer out of the cab and led him up the stairs. I could've simply picked him up and carried him, but the cab driver was still there, and it would've looked strange if someone as small as me had easily picked up someone as tall and bulky as Archer.

Once he drove away though, I unlocked the door and carried Archer in, shutting the door behind us and taking him to his bedroom. I removed his jacket and shoes, unbuttoned his pants, and then covered him up with the blanket. Remembering the TV shows, I magicked him a glass of water and some pills for his impending hangover, then made my way to my own bedroom.

Locking the door behind me, I removed my clothes, shifted into my true form, and lay down on the floor, since the queen bed was too small for me in this form. Sleepily, I thought I'd fit just right on Archer's big bed.

Archer

"Fuuuuuck."

Yep, I got drunk last night, drunker than I'd gotten in the last decade. Fuck, what had I been thinking?

Sitting upright in bed, I rubbed my face, then glanced down at myself. I was still in the clothes I'd been wearing last night, though my jeans were unbuttoned, and my jacket lay folded over the back of the armchair, my shoes sitting beside it. Had Lux put me to bed last night? While he himself was drunk?

I almost groaned in relief when I spotted the water and pills on the nightstand, quickly downing them both before struggling to my feet.

Stretching my arms above my head, I went into the bathroom, still half asleep as I freshened up and grabbed a quick shower.

Once I was dressed in clothes that didn't stink like vodka and sweat, I followed the scent of coffee to the living room, texting Jerry that I was up and he could bring Gunner over and that he should do it as soon as he could.

Jerry texted back almost instantly, telling me they were out for breakfast and would drop Gunner off in thirty. He also sent over a picture of Gunner hugging a shark stuffie to his chest as he slept, which made me smile.

"Good morning!" Lux greeted me, cheerful as ever, and I squinted, almost blinded by his brightness. How was he so peppy after all the shots he'd drank? I was pretty sure he drank more than me, and yet there wasn't a hair out of place on him.

"Morning," I grumbled as I grabbed my already-full coffee mug and took a few grateful sips. Once I felt marginally more human, I thanked Lux. "Oh, Jerry will be over with Gunner in a bit."

"Awesome! I'll throw some clothes in the laundry and get his bottles ready."

"I'll make breakfast."

Smiling, Lux disappeared down the hallway, and I stared at the counter as I sipped my coffee, mind blissfully blank for a few precious minutes.

I was almost done with the scrambled eggs and bacon I was cooking when Jerry arrived, and he dropped Gunner off with Lux, smirked at my still-a-little-drunk face, and took off, saying something about going on a shopping trip with Kat.

While I plated our food, Lux played with Gunner, murmuring softly to him as he walked around the living room. I smiled at the scene as I carried our breakfast over to the coffee table, and it was only after Lux had placed Gunner on his mat on the floor, placing a toy just outside his reach to encourage him to start crawling, that I remembered some of our conversation from last night.

A chuckle slipped past my lips, and Lux raised a brow at me as he straightened up, curious.

"Just remembered what we were talking about last night. I can't believe you tried to convince me you're a demon. You must've been really drunk, huh?"

Lux blinked, his eyes going wide. He reached up to tug at a lock of his hair, his eyes flicking between me and the floor. He seemed to make some kind of decision, because suddenly his eyes flashed to me as he took a single step closer before stopping.

"What if I said I meant it? That I am a demon?"

"What?" An unbidden laugh escaped my lips, worry closely following behind. Did Lux actually think he was a demon? I'd never speak ill of someone dealing with mental health issues, but I also couldn't trust my son with someone who wasn't completely in control of their actions. "You're joking, right?"

Lux shook his head, making my heart sink in my chest. "I'm a demon. Like I said yesterday, we usually live in the demon realm but are here for a mission. We aren't usually allowed to tell humans about our existence, which is why you're having such a hard time believing me, but there are exceptions. I can tell you because you're my fated mate. I think humans know it as soulmates."

I blinked, thoroughly blindsided by this version of Lux. He needed help, and he needed to not be so close to my son.

"Uh, maybe you should come sit here so we can talk about this, Lux." I patted the couch beside me. Was this something Lux had always believed or was it some kind of trauma response to the accident?

Lux made a frustrated sound, and I bit my lip, my worry mounting. Please don't do something drastic.

"Oh, we're inside. I can just show you!" Lux said suddenly, and my brows furrowed. Show me? What could he possibly show me?

Lux took a deep breath, and before my eyes, he transformed from the small, beautiful man I knew to a...a monster. He was a foot taller than me now, with goat-like horns sticking out of his head, curving backward and adding another foot to his height. His skin had turned a grayish white, his form more muscular, and thick thighs covered in a leathery garment that ended just above his knees. His hands ended in wicked-looking claws, his feet had turned into talons, and a long tail stuck out of his lower back, its end somewhat fluffy. His eyes, previously such a beautiful blue, were now dark, midnight black, with only a hint of blue around the outer edges of his irises.

My voice caught in my throat as I shot to my feet, my eyes flicking from him to Gunner. He could hurt Gunner so easily.

Gunner, completely oblivious to the whole situation, giggled as he reached up and grabbed the end of the monster's— the demon's, I reminded myself—tail, and panic filled me.

I'd thought I knew fear after the almost-accident, but as I watched my son tug at the demon's tail, I realized I hadn't had a clue before at all. Because this? This was the worst fear I'd ever experienced.