Page 30 of A Beginner's Guide to Demonic Possessions
Trent could feel everything—the soft material of his boxers and t-shirt pressing against his skin, the cool sheets on his body, the pillow beneath his head. His muscles were sore from rock climbing and ziplining, and he was conscious of his arms and legs and body in a way he didn’t ever remember being. Hismouth was dry and he realized that he was thirsty, and then he was taking a breath, and it came out on a shaky half sob.
Paz was gone.
He was alone in his body, and it was almost unbearable. He breathed in again, trying not to panic. He would summon his demon again. He would go talk to Cassius. He would find one of the demons—Samael or Ari—or someone, anyone, and he would make them bring Paz back.
He flung the covers off, ready to jump out of bed, when suddenly Trent had the realization that he wasn’t alone. He sat up slowly and looked over toward the windows.
Someone was in his bedroom standing on the opposite side of the bed, and he couldn’t make out anything more than the vague shape of whoever it was.
He had a half a second to feel fear, and then hope crowded in over that fear.
“Paz?” he whispered, and he was surprised to hear his voice out loud.
The figure didn’t reply right away, but Trent watched as hands reached up to rub down over a face, and Trent knew that nervous tic.
“Paz!” he cried joyfully, getting up and knee-walking to the other side of the bed. Because his legs got a little tangled in the covers, he ended up basically throwing himself into the figure standing at the edge of the bed.
“Paz, for fuck’s sake, say something!” Trent yelled as he crash landed into hugging his demon. Well, what he hoped was his demon. Because otherwise this was gonna be really awkward really quickly.
But the figure—Paz—put his arms around Trent, hugging him back tightly.
“Trent…” a hoarse voice whispered, almost like it hadn’t been used in a long time.
“Oh my god, Paz! I thought I lost you! I thought you were gone! You weren’t in my head anymore and I was panicking and then I saw you and you didn’t say anything…” Trent babbled.
The arms just squeezed him tighter, and Trent pulled back, trying to see Paz’s face, only it was too dark. He wanted to see his demon more than anything, so he pulled out of Paz’s arms and crawled across the bed to switch on the lamp on the nightstand.
“Wait!” Paz cried out, and Trent stopped, looking at Paz.
Trent had to get used to the fact that Paz’s voice wasn’t his voice anymore, and there was a weird sort of vertigo in hearing his demon using a different voice. Yet it was also weirdly familiar, like he’d heard it before in his dreams.
Trent was waiting, and Paz did that nervous hand rubbing the face thing again. Trent didn’t think he was imagining it, but it felt like he could stillfeelPaz, like his demon had left a little piece of himself behind inside Trent.
Trent didn’t mind—he actually liked it—but what he felt now was nervousness. Which made him nervous.
“Paz?” Trent asked. When Paz didn’t answer right away, Trent felt his heart plummet. “Paz, are you here to tell me you can’t stay? Do you have to go back to hell or possessing people or whatever, and you just came to say goodbye? Because if so, we’ll figure something out. You can come see me between possessions. And we’ll go talk to the other demons or that Cassius guy or someone, and we’ll figure out a way for you to come visit me often. Or I’ll ask to be possessed for like ten years or something. We’ll figure it out,” Trent assured Paz.
Trent didn’t even let himself think about Paz nowwantingto stay, because he knew his demon. He knew what he felt from Paz, and he wanted them to be together. Trent knew that with his whole being. He felt it in his soul.
“This is not our finale, Paz. I swear it. We will figure out a way to be together,” Trent swore.
With those words, Paz seemed to unfreeze, and he leapt onto the bed and into Trent’s arms, both of them kneeling body to body, face to face, and their mouths crashed together in a kiss.
Chapter
Eighteen
IN THE FLESH
Paz’s mouth was hot and wet. Their lips smashed together, and their tongues tangled with each other; Trent barely knew where he ended and Paz began. Their arms both came up, gripping each other tightly, as if they were afraid to be separated.
Trent reached up to grab onto Paz’s hair, and as he felt the softness of hair he also encountered a stiff hardness protruding from Paz’s head, and then Paz was jerking back.
They were both panting and out of breath, but Trent managed to get out, “I’m sorry. Are they sensitive?”
He assumed he had touched Paz’s horns. He still hadn’t seen his demon fully, yet he felt like he knew Paz’s body just the same. Perhaps it was seeing Paz in his dreams. He pictured his demon just like dream Paz, but he was suddenly wildly curious to see his demon in real life. He wanted to know his Paz, not just the dream version.
“They’re…” Paz started, then Trent felt that nervousness coming from him again.
