you…I’ll never forget you.” He hugged me even harder while he patted me on the back.
When we pulled out of our embrace, I saw Scruffy tuck his face away from me for a second and apparently wipe his eyes. I reached over and squeezed his shoulder.
“I love you too, my brother. Hearing that from you fills my soul with warmth and will serve me well as I journey on. It will help me to know, in the event of my death, in those last moments, that you are seeing over my family. I know they’ll be in the best of hands. Take solace in this,” he turned his gaze back upon me, “you are every bit as responsible for all of the good that has happened to me since I’ve been here…every bit of it. Without you in the picture, Mark, without your constant friendship, plucking me from obscurity and honoring me with your loyalty, I know… I know …that I would have never become what I am today, nor would I have even been in such a wonderful situation as I am now. With all the hell breaking lose around me, given what I am, it is you, one of the biggest reasons that peace has come into a demon's life. Think about that for a minute. An intolerant beast as I am, you have broken through that and have made a brother out of it. That, my friend, is a testament to your personality and to who you are. So, thank you, Mark…thank you . It is you … all of you who have saved me.”
Scruffy just smiled and grabbed me by my neck, pulling me in for another hug. Then, as only Scruffy can do…and get away with, he switched gears.
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re awfully longwinded, man?” He started laughing.
I joined in, “Guess that’s better than being hot-winded.”
We both roared out in laughter.
We shared jokes until the end of our cigars were stamped out. Scruffy got up to see if Sandra was ready to go.
“C’mon hun, we better leave these two with some time to themselves tonight.” He called through the front door to her.
Sandra obliged, hugging Shade hard before sharing another embrace with me. Shade and I, arm in arm, waved goodbye to our dearest friends for what could be the last time we saw them together. After their car disappeared down our lengthy driveway, we stood in silence next to one another, just staring out into the dense trees, waiting for their car lights to disappear into the night.
It was eerily silent between us for a short few seconds, the sense of yet another obstacle interfering in our relationship; the biggest one to date. Shade snapped us out of our silence by turning into me and placing her hand on my breast.
“Just you and me now.” She grinned up at me.
“Yes it is…you and me.” I rested my cheek on her forehead.
“Tell you what.” She patted me on the arm, saying, “I’m going to go in and feed Fate, then let’s go up to the roof and look at the stars. Maybe we can go on a short flight like we used to do? Haven’t done that in a while…I think that will help to calm our nerves, huh? What do you think?”
“What do I think? I think that one of the reasons I married you is because you have enough brains for the both of us. That sounds real nice.”
With a kiss on the cheek and a pat on the other one, Shade went inside to feed our furry friend. I waited outside and when she came back out with a couple towels, I grabbed her and flew up to our rooftop.
Shade put down the towels for us to lie on, side by side, and we held hands and looked up at the stars. We talked and giggled for a bit; I thought I would let her know a little something about what Argento and Elysia showed me. I still wanted to keep the fact that Elysia was once my earthbound daughter when I was human a secret for now. Not because I wanted to hold anything back from my wife, but more because it was a personal revelation about myself that I still hadn’t fully processed. A time would come, if I was still alive, that I would tell her, but for now, this part of my story was just for me.
“I have learned
When we pulled out of our embrace, I saw Scruffy tuck his face away from me for a second and apparently wipe his eyes. I reached over and squeezed his shoulder.
“I love you too, my brother. Hearing that from you fills my soul with warmth and will serve me well as I journey on. It will help me to know, in the event of my death, in those last moments, that you are seeing over my family. I know they’ll be in the best of hands. Take solace in this,” he turned his gaze back upon me, “you are every bit as responsible for all of the good that has happened to me since I’ve been here…every bit of it. Without you in the picture, Mark, without your constant friendship, plucking me from obscurity and honoring me with your loyalty, I know… I know …that I would have never become what I am today, nor would I have even been in such a wonderful situation as I am now. With all the hell breaking lose around me, given what I am, it is you, one of the biggest reasons that peace has come into a demon's life. Think about that for a minute. An intolerant beast as I am, you have broken through that and have made a brother out of it. That, my friend, is a testament to your personality and to who you are. So, thank you, Mark…thank you . It is you … all of you who have saved me.”
Scruffy just smiled and grabbed me by my neck, pulling me in for another hug. Then, as only Scruffy can do…and get away with, he switched gears.
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re awfully longwinded, man?” He started laughing.
I joined in, “Guess that’s better than being hot-winded.”
We both roared out in laughter.
We shared jokes until the end of our cigars were stamped out. Scruffy got up to see if Sandra was ready to go.
“C’mon hun, we better leave these two with some time to themselves tonight.” He called through the front door to her.
Sandra obliged, hugging Shade hard before sharing another embrace with me. Shade and I, arm in arm, waved goodbye to our dearest friends for what could be the last time we saw them together. After their car disappeared down our lengthy driveway, we stood in silence next to one another, just staring out into the dense trees, waiting for their car lights to disappear into the night.
It was eerily silent between us for a short few seconds, the sense of yet another obstacle interfering in our relationship; the biggest one to date. Shade snapped us out of our silence by turning into me and placing her hand on my breast.
“Just you and me now.” She grinned up at me.
“Yes it is…you and me.” I rested my cheek on her forehead.
“Tell you what.” She patted me on the arm, saying, “I’m going to go in and feed Fate, then let’s go up to the roof and look at the stars. Maybe we can go on a short flight like we used to do? Haven’t done that in a while…I think that will help to calm our nerves, huh? What do you think?”
“What do I think? I think that one of the reasons I married you is because you have enough brains for the both of us. That sounds real nice.”
With a kiss on the cheek and a pat on the other one, Shade went inside to feed our furry friend. I waited outside and when she came back out with a couple towels, I grabbed her and flew up to our rooftop.
Shade put down the towels for us to lie on, side by side, and we held hands and looked up at the stars. We talked and giggled for a bit; I thought I would let her know a little something about what Argento and Elysia showed me. I still wanted to keep the fact that Elysia was once my earthbound daughter when I was human a secret for now. Not because I wanted to hold anything back from my wife, but more because it was a personal revelation about myself that I still hadn’t fully processed. A time would come, if I was still alive, that I would tell her, but for now, this part of my story was just for me.
“I have learned
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