When Demetrius appeared in his apartment, everything spun madly around him, he braced himself against the wall as heat and energy crackled over his skin. If the first time he had her blood was a rush, this was an explosion. The energy running through him was intense, as soon as she touched him again after their bonding it ignited the power in a raging firestorm. He was dizzy from the insane rush as it scorched through his body. He could smell the noxious scent of smouldering paint as he looked up at the wall.
A black cloud spread out from where he had his hand braced against the wall, he lifted his hand as smoke began to curl from under his fingers. Embers flickered in the wall as the smouldering heat from his hand scorched the wall. He stumbled and grabbed the door frame, the paintwork soon began to blister and bubble. He needed to do something about this quickly.
As fast as he was able he made his way into the bathroom and pushed open the door and turned on the water, he gasped in shock as the cold water seared his overheated flesh. Steam surrounded him in a veil as unbidden lustful thoughts swarmed into his head, he had to find his way out of this insane morass of power and emotion or it could drive him crazy. The water pouring down his chest, searing at first but then cooling, it allowed him to think.
How had things become so out of hand, so quickly? He had never lost control of himself in such a fashion since his demon form made its first emergence. The flood of power was like an open dam wall, a rapid stream of pulsing power. Now with the water flowing over him, it gave him a chance to collect himself, he had thirty minutes. Then he needed to be at the bar for his arrangement with Ryan, he didn't know how he could contain this. It had happened so quickly, he knew without even looking that his skin still glowed with that unearthly luminance.
He had to wait and see what happened, but he didn't think it would be possible to cover this up, he likely would have to tell Ryan his secret. Because he knew that if Ryan got more suspicious he'd begin digging into dark things and that spelt danger both for him and for Ryan. The Watchers were likely already closely monitoring him, no-one could risk upsetting them, they made sure things were kept secret and if things progressed. He would have to tell Ryan and possibly deal with The Watchers.
Featureless creatures who ensured that the boundaries between the mortal world and the paranormal world were kept sharply defined, you couldn't risk upsetting them or you could end up simply being erased in their efforts to keep things controlled.
Now his breathing he hadn't even realized had been elevated had calmed, the blazing heat burning over his body was beginning to slowly soften. He had to find a way to close it off or he'd be trapped in here for the foreseeable future. He closed his eyes and focused on the cool water running over his skin, the temperature began to decrease further as he could see behind a veil. Amber colored flames in a towering, raging inferno as they pressed against a wall of silver fire which was more substantial. The individual crests all seemed to move in the same pattern unlike the multitude of different heights and sized amber crests that moved in a seemingly erratic fashion.
It seemed as though he had found the solution to his issue, he had to control the fire, make it recede. He opened himself to the coolness of the water which seemed to have decreased in temperature further, he envisioned the water pouring over the flames. He shouted a hoarse cry of surprise as harsh needles of cold dug into him. He opened his eyes to see the glow had faded from his skin and the dizziness had subsided. Goosebumps spread all over his body as the chill from the water settled in, slowly he got up from the floor expecting a surge of dizziness but got nothing, only the last of the heat being swept from his skin. He turned the hot water on and leaned back into the spray, he knew that if demons felt exhaustion the same way that mortals did. He would be flat out on his ass from the energy drain, he relaxed into the spray for a little longer.
Then he picked up off the shelf his soap bottle and sponge and began to wipe the blood from his interrogation off. At least his demonic half would be satisfied for sometime now after dealing with that. He knew that would only be a matter of time before Jasrahel had him in his sights. No-one abandoned the arch-demon. If such a weak willed witch such as Isabel had sensed his master's wish to be rid of him, it would only be a matter of time before another witch or a demon came after him.
The smart thing to do would be to grab his witch and get out of this city, but he wouldn't let anyone no matter how powerful they were scare him away from his territory. Then the thought struck him, he had never even considered having a witch before. But he did now, while it was never the way such partnerships developed the demon always being considerably stronger, he could feel her inside of him. She was like a cool touch, the silver fire felt like ice sliding against his still inflamed skin.
Now that he had control of the flames, maybe now he could re-assert his former strength. He knew Ryan would be watching him more carefully now, he had to regain his ironclad composure. He needed to stomp on these desires, at least for now. He couldn't appear like he was drunk, which was all too common with witch blood. But he didn't take a minimal amount however, he should still be flat on his ass if not completely out with the amount of her blood he had taken, now he knew why demonic power grew slowly. If it was like this all the time a lot of demons would be incinerated by the force.
He reached out and turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, he quickly dried the water droplets from his chest, neck and shoulders with his towel before wrapping it around his hips. He strode out to the kitchen and grimaced at the black marks on the walls and the still acrid stench of melted and burnt paint. He picked up his phone and dialled.
"Ryan, the client wants to meet you, so we'll meet you at the bar in 30 minutes," he said.
"Sure, I look forward to meeting her," said Ryan.
"See you then," he said.
That was one thing sorted he thought as he hung his phone back up on the wall. Now he needed to get dressed into his business clothes again, had to be the same ones. He practiced on calming himself as he walked back into the bedroom, this new power reacted rather violently when she touched him. But maybe that was restricted to bare skin contact, he couldn't take any chances though as he picked up his boxers and slid them on.
***
Katherine looked into the mirror again to check to see if her glowing issue had remained resolved, as soon as Demetrius had left, a sharp chill had washed over her suddenly. She knew that Demetrius was likely in a world of hurt right now as she made up the light balance for their bond, which equated to the cold. He was the darkness and that was the heat part of their arrangement, she knew that he was intelligent enough to figure this out for himself.
She wished that she had been able to do more researching before she was thrust headfirst into this situation. Now she groaned as she looked through one of her dark magic tomes, the bond would significantly boost everything during the connection period. A fact she felt quite clearly as she was beginning to hunger and it hadn't even been an hour since she left the warehouse. It would be a serious issue undoubtly as she continued reading.
They made up two halves for a solid being, but with her making up the light they were unbalanced. She also had dark and she could feel its presence slowly pushing its way into dominance, she had never allowed either side to become too powerful. But with all the dark presence that had pressed on her in less than a day and all the gathering darkness in the past, it was making it harder to hold onto the light side. She would have to conduct her purifying ritual to rebalance her power, now it would be a constant struggle to remain balanced.
