"Well, obviously, I'm shedding my false face." Samuel forced his voice to remain calm. "I wouldn't want to look like you a second past when I had to."
"Yes, but what you're doing isn't possible."
"And yet you're witnessing it with your own eyes." You presumptuous son-of-a-bitch.
"The only one of you who should have been able to do that, died years ago."
Samuel stepped forward into the demon's personal space. "Did you stay around to see the body?"
He knew his face had been fully exposed. The red, raw looking skin that had never and would never heal tingled as the air hit it. The other part of his face, the scarring, didn't hurt at all. He could never feel anything from the scars. Sometimes he pulled at them just to see if he could get any sensation at all. Most of the time he couldn't.
His appearance was reflected in the demon's eyes. One of his eyebrows hung low on his face while the other was barely visible at all. His nose had survived the flames so at least he still looked human despite the bumps, twists, and distorted skin that now defined his existence when he wore his true features.
"You lived?" Sebastian spoke through gritted teeth. "Why does nothing with you people go the way it is supposed to?"
"Because, ultimately, you don't get to win, demon." Samuel shoved him backward. Sebastian cursed as he lost his footing and slammed into the table.
Samuel wasn't foolish enough to think he was getting into a fistfight or a shoving match with the demon. No, he just needed a temporary distraction and the shove had provided that.
Darting to his left, he grabbed a bottle of black powder from the table there. The minions had been filled with information. Most of it useless but this item he was more than grateful to know about.
"You like fire?" Samuel's hands shook but he knew he could get through this without pause. He'd waited his entire life for this opportunity. "Have some."
Samuel poured the black powder on Sebastian who tried to duck to get out of the way. But it was fruitless. Once even a drop of the highly combustible powder met with the sweat on Sebastian's skin, it lit up.
Darting backward, Samuel shoved Eden to the floor, throwing his body weight over her to shield her as best he could from the blaze that was about to overtake their nemesis. Not one flame would touch Eden.
She made an oomph noise but didn't try to squirm out from beneath him. Smart girl, he knew she'd understand it was best not to move. Raising his head, he watched as the hissing and cracking turned into an orange inferno over Sebastian's body.
To his horror, the demon didn't move at all. He didn't scream, didn't even complain. Instead, he threw his head back, laughter filling the room as Sebastian's skin melted away in front of Samuel's eyes. It almost looked like he embraced the pain.
"Oh, Outsider." he yelled over the roar of the raging fire. "I'm still going to win."
One second, he stood there surrounded by a hot orange light and the next he'd melted to the floor, a puddle of water with pieces of ash floating around. The minions, who still had not moved, collapsed around him into their own liquid pools as if they'd too been on fire when they never had been.
"What the hell?" Samuel blinked a few times to make sure he hadn't imagined what he'd just witnessed. That wasn't at all how he'd pictured the demon's demise.
"What?" Now Eden moved beneath him and he darted up to give her some space. "What's happened?"
"He burned and then he, and all his fellowship, melted into the floor."
Eden pulled herself to her feet. "You're serious?"
"Completely." He walked over to Sebastian's puddle and bent over. "I have no idea what happened."
She pointed to the empty bottle. "Is it that stuff? Did it make him melt?"
Samuel shrugged, hoping he seemed calm when his heart beat very fast against his ribs. "I guess."
"I've never heard of a human being melting."
He touched his own face, realizing for the first time that Eden had seen him mask-less. "No, it's quite different than that. But he wasn't exactly human, was he?"
"You're right." She walked over to him and touched his shoulder. "He almost seemed gleeful."
"I know." And it clawed at Samuel's gut. Something had gone very amiss. Or maybe he was just in shock because it was over?
"Now what?"
He stared up at her for a second, wishing he could stare into her green eyes for a while and let this entire event pass them by. "I have no idea."
"About Leonardo and Marina?"
"Oh." Samuel jumped to his feet. "They should wake up. That's what the book said."
"Good."
He covered up his face with his hands. "Eden, why don't you go back to the others? I'm going to go find a new persona."
"Don't be ridiculous." She walked to him and grabbed onto his arm. "I don't think it's nearly as bad as you think it is."
"You're being kind."
"I'm not…"
He interrupted. "You are and, regardless, I can't stand having you look at me like this. I'm not vain. It's not that…"
"I understand."
He realized that she did. Nowhere in her gaze did he see disgust or horror at the sight of him. There wasn't even a hint of pity. No, all he saw was compassion and understanding. And love.
Eden loved him. The thought staggered him. He'd been in love with her forever. When had she come to feel that way for him?
"But I'm not leaving you. We'll go together. Whatever you do, I do."
Could he actually not change his look? The thought pounded through his brain. "Eden…"
The door swung open and in a crash, Gabriel, Kal, and a man he didn't recognize stumbled forward. Samuel's cheeks began to tingle.
"You never sent the signal." Gabriel panted. "And then we all felt this tremendous jolt. I can't explain it. Like our insides exploded."
"Are you okay?" Kal moved forward. "What happened in here?"
"Samuel killed Sebastian. He melted him right to the floor." Was that pride he heard in her voice?
"What?" Kal and Gabriel spoke in unison. It would have been funny if he hadn't caught a strange gleam in the eye of the man he hadn't met yet.
"You're hurt." The man moved forward, an intense tone in his voice. "The fire that melted Sebastian, it couldn't have done this to you. These are old wounds."
Eden touched the side of his face. "This happened when he was twelve. Sebastian tried to kill him."
"Who is this?" Samuel wasn't entirely certain what was going on but the longer the newcomer stared at him the more his skin began to tingle. He had the urge to back up and move out of the other man's eyesight. But he'd just burned a demon to death; he wasn't going to run from the longhaired blond guy who clearly had a staring problem.
"This is Jason."
Oh yes, Jason. The one who was soul mated with someone named Charma. He was their healer.
Samuel grabbed at his face. "What are you doing?" More certain than ever that the other man was causing the tingling on his cheeks, he stepped back. He'd been through all kinds of healing. No way was he ever going through another round of that. Nothing would fix him, this was his life.
"Don't move." Jason bound toward him. "I can't control this anymore than I can stop breathing. If you move away, I will chase you."
"Get the hell away from me."
Jason grabbed his cheeks. "I have to make this better."
"Jason…" Gabriel's voice was the last thing he heard before his face erupted in flames. Or at least it felt like it did. He fell to his knees, Jason's hands feeling like suction cups against his face. Samuel tried and failed to wrench him off.
In his mind, he heard Eden scream and then the world went black.
* * * *
"Samuel, can you hear me?" Eden's voice penetrated the painless sleep he'd been enjoying.
He might have groaned a response, he wasn't sure but what felt like only seconds later, a cold cloth was brushed across his cheeks.
"He's coming around." That voice he knew and he didn't like it
. Jason, the asshole who had attacked him.
His eyes flung open and before he'd even seen what room he was in, he swung in the direction he'd heard Jason's voice. He'd teach that guy to attack him. Samuel hadn't been prepared earlier but now he could take on anyone who wanted to have at him.
"Samuel." Eden yelled at him and a soothing, calming feeling filled his brain.
He dropped his hand and lay back down. Everything around him felt… peaceful.
"Thank you." He looked up at Eden who seemed to be addressing a small, blonde woman standing next to Jason.
Samuel blinked for a second as he regarded the room. "This calm sensation is because of you?" He pointed at the blonde lady.
"Yep, just calming you down a bit so you can hear Jason out before you attack my soul mate. I'm Charma, by the way." He'd figured that out.
"Well, you might as well let him talk seeing as I feel like I might start singing any second or float away on a sea of pleasantness."
Jason looked at Charma. "How hard a hit did you give him?"
"He was coming at you. I reacted. I might have gone a little far."
"Can you back it down a little? I'd like him to be coherent."
Charma nodded. "Sure."
Samuel looked around the room. He was obviously not in the hideout anymore. This looked like a hotel room. To his left, Gabriel, Kal, Isabelle, and Loraine regarded him silently. There were also two other figures in the crowd.
He lifted his arm even though he still felt woozy and awash with happiness. "You're Leonardo and Marina."
It wasn't a question. He didn't know who else could possibly be in the room right at that moment and he'd known Marina from the time he'd spent in Eden's mind.
The dark-haired man, Leonardo, nodded. "You're Samuel. You melted the demon."
"I killed him, yes." It still blew his mind that had happened.
"Not dead." Leonardo turned away. "Just out of his body now."
"What?" All of Samuel's good feelings fell away and he jerked himself into a sitting position.
"Please don't do this right now." Eden stood and sent Leonardo a look that would have made him crumble if she'd shot it his way. Leonardo looked away and although Samuel didn't know the other man, he thought that must be a pretty big move for him to avoid eye contact.
"Samuel has enough he has to do deal with."
He looked back at the woman he'd loved since he'd discovered she existed in the universe. "I do?"
She grabbed his arm, her sweet aroma wafted through his nose and if they'd been alone he would have closed his eyes and bathed in the sensation. In two seconds, he was off the bed and moving with Eden to the mirror that hung on the wall. He knew what he'd see—his red, horrible face staring back at him. There would be little point in finding new faces now. The group he was bound to spend time with from this point on had all seen him in his utter grotesqueness.
Eden pointed at the mirror. "Look."
"Why?"
"Because I asked you to."
For that reason alone, he raised his eyes. The face that met him in the reflection was not the one he'd expected to see. He gasped and grabbed at his face. The skin there didn't feel like the temporary version he got whenever he took someone else's look. Beneath his fingers, the skin seemed solid, complete, like no matter how much he clawed, it wouldn't disappear.
It took him a moment to realize he recognized himself. This was the face he'd looked at for the first twelve years of his life, only older. His face was oval with a perfectly centered nose that sloped downward in a slight curve. His lips were wide and if he smiled, would take up most of his face. The eyes were straight and sharp, more gray than blue, as they stared back at him.
Unable to stop himself, he touched his ears. They poked out. His mother had always said he would grow into them. She'd been wrong. They were still goofy as hell. He covered his mouth to stop the grin that threatened to overtake him at the thought.
"I couldn't help it." Jason walked up behind him. "I know I hurt you but the damage was severe. I'm designed to heal us but I've never been overtaken like that before with anyone. Usually, it's conscious. I have to think about it, but with you I couldn't stop doing it."
"I have a theory about that." Marina moved until she stood behind them.
He heard Leonardo scoff. "Of course you do."
"Can it, Leonardo." Marina grinned at Samuel. He could see her behind him in the mirror. "We're all connected. Even if we don't know each other. Our energies, our Outsider-ness. Jason had to have known, subconsciously, for years that you were out there and needed help. He's probably been saving up energy to do it."
"And," Jason added. "Clearly, the humans couldn't heal you. Only I could."
"An Outsider to heal an Outsider." Samuel cleared his throat. He'd swung at Jason. Turning around, he held out his hand. "I'm so sorry I nearly assaulted you."
Jason grinned. "No hard feelings. I'm glad I could help."
They shook hands. Samuel wanted to stare in the mirror some more but, knowing that would be really weird, he acted like he was just fine. It had been nearly two decades since he had looked like himself, since he hadn't been worried about where his next face would come from. He might never stop startling when he saw himself like this.
"Did you say something about the demon not being dead?" That seemed like it would be more pressing than his newly re-found facial features.
"He's not dead. You can't just kill the body and kill the demon. Otherwise, we would have just taken a gun to him years ago. All we have managed to do is to release him into the world, now without a body, to do whatever damage he can. We won't be able to track him. We may not even be able to see him."
Samuel stared at Leonardo. "I had no choice. We were trapped there with him and the book said we had to kill him to free you."
Leonardo raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I'm not blaming you. It is what it is. I'm just explaining. We're now even more royally screwed than we've ever been before."
"Guys," Eden cut in, putting herself between Samuel and the others. "I want to give Samuel some time here. I'm going to have to insist. We'll do this later, okay? Tonight. We'll meet for dinner. Gabriel, pick a place."
"I can do that."
Leonardo stepped forward. "Wow, Eden. It's a whole new you."
Samuel wondered if he was going to have to punch Leonardo in the face but then Eden smiled and he felt better about the whole thing.
"Yep, I'm a totally different person. At least for today. Out. Now."
Jason tapped Samuel on the shoulder. "You should be fine. But if you have any problems, let me know."
"Thanks, man. I will." Samuel nodded at Jason but grabbed Leonardo before he could leave the room. "How do we banish a demon that has no body, now?"
"I don't have any fucking idea."
"Wonderful."
Leonardo nodded. "Yep."
The room fell quiet as each Outsider left. Finally, Eden closed the door. She leaned up against it, as they stared silently at the other for a long moment.
"How do you feel?"
He grinned, unable to stop himself even though he suspected he looked like a lunatic. "I can't believe it. I never dared to hope."
"You're so… beautiful."
"I'm not beautiful. Women are beautiful. I'm kind of goofy but at least I'm me again."
"Oh, no, Samuel." Eden walked to him. When she reached him, she grabbed his neck and pulled his mouth down for a heated kiss. Her soft mouth on his made goosebumps travel up his spine. "You're gorgeous. Not goofy. Gorgeous."
"You like me like this?"
Her blue-green eyes searched for something in his and when she found whatever she looked for, she smiled. "I have always loved you, Samuel. From the moment you came into my mind in the mental institution and saved me from the demon, I have loved you. Even when I didn't know you. Even when I thought you were a figment of my imagination. Now? I love you and, sweetheart, you are so gorgeous I don't know what to do with myse
lf."
He had some ideas.
Chapter Fifteen
Sebastian couldn't have been more pleased if the Outsiders had handed him their dimension on a silver platter and invited him to come in. Well, their parents had sort of done that but this generation seemed bound and determined not to give up. He'd been stuck playing by human rules in his human body but now that they'd released him… well, things were about to change.
He leaned back in his chair at the local coffee shop where he'd stopped to look around. It felt good to see the world through his own eyes again. There were so many more shades of things that the pesky humans couldn't see. Life was so much more vivid. No longer bound by the need to feed from blood, he could exist by simply taking the energy he wanted from whoever was around.
Like the stupid humans at the table next to him. He could just take their energy and be fine for days. In fact, he'd do just that. Reaching out he took the energy field the man existed within and swallowed it down. Yes, Sebastian felt refreshed.
"Honey." The man who Sebastian had fed from looked at his wife. "I don't feel well. I'm dizzy, and all of a sudden, I need a nap."
His wife, who looked to be about fifty with thinning hair and large thighs stood. "Well, let's go home, my love."
The guy would be dead by tonight and there wasn't a damn thing any human medical intervention would be able to do about it. He'd made a good dinner. The little man could feel good about that, if nothing else. His wife had certainly not aged well.
The man's death wouldn't defeat some eternal plan and if it did, so fucking what? This was his time now.
He stretched back in his seat to examine himself. The humans couldn't see him. Most of the Outsiders wouldn't be able to see him. But he looked fantastic. His skin was back to its natural red color. His feet were hooved, which was fine because he didn't need to walk anymore. The black wings on his back allowed him to fly—a much more civilized means of transportation. He stood over seven feet tall and his tongue was long and forked.
Was he a walking demon cliché? Sure. But sometimes clichés became clichés because they were correct. He'd dare anyone who came into contact with him to laugh at what he looked like. They'd be dead before they ever got the chance.