Harlee POV
"Excuse me!" Shouted a voice. I jerked and looked up.
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry! I must have dozed off. How may I help you?" I apologized with a bright smile. The customer in front of me grumbled about useless employees napping on the job needing to be fired and my smile soured. I dealt with it though and got through the transaction.
Zeev POV
I returned to Harlee's house, thoughtful. Harlee's friend Kayla had an interesting proposal. I would have to see what I could to about that.
In the meantime I busied myself about the house, checking in on Harlee regularly. I wanted to leave the link open, but she was still too curious about the Kayla incident. She would not be happy about her friend making deals with Demons, because we both knew how those had a tendency to go.
I washed dishes out of boredom, then mopped the floors. I was counting the hours down, but couldn't deny that the fact a Fallen Angel was doing menial household chores was laughable. Still, I found the tasks mind numbingly...peaceful.
'Zeev' I heard Harlee's call in my mind and I jerked. Had I let the time get away from me? I looked through her eyes and saw no one around her so I stepped up behind her at the counter, grabbing her around the ribs.
"What is it?" I asked, quelling the ache in my chest with her proximity.
Harlee POV
I sighed. He had shut me out and hadn't been answering. After the attack the other day... I had started to worry.
"Harlee, what's wrong?" Zeev turned me around and lifted my face, I avoided his gaze and wiped at my eyes.
"I just got worried, ok? Don't shut me out anymore." I shoved him, but he just snatched me into a tighter hug, feeling my soul fragment crying out in a panic. I started smacking his chest, drawing from his strength. He winced at every blow, but didn't stop me. "You can't just run off with half of somebody's soul and say 'so long, see you later'. You have to stay in contact with that person or else they think something happened and they're gonna..die..alone..half empty.." I sobbed. Zeev just squeezed me tighter as if he could join the two halves of our soul with a hug. I gripped his shirt and clung to him until he cleared his throat.
"It appears you have a customer." He said softly.
'Damn.' I cursed in my head and I could feel the smile tugging at the corners of his lips. He ran two fingers under my eyes.
"Fresh as a daisy." He commented and turned me around. I smiled at the customers, a man and a woman, and asked if I could be of assistance. The man grumbled, but the woman shushed him, her eyes shining.
"It's so nice to see young love." She sighed, side-eyeing her companion. I heard Zeev's gentle snort, and then his curiosity as he reached out within his mind to see if she would be good prey. I mentally slapped his hand.
'Bad dog!' I scolded in my head. He gripped me around the waist from behind in an embarrassing pose in response.
"Zeev!" I squeaked, blushing hard, then hissed "You're gonna get me fired!" The lady across the desk waved a hand.
"Oh don't mind us, we don't mind. I remember those days well. We could hardly keep our hands off each other." She said wistfully. Her companion didn't seem to agree with the not minding part and harrumphed.
'Well if you won't let me play, then you'll have to pay.' Zeev taunted in my head. 'I am after all, a Demon.'
"Hellspawn is right." I hissed at him, as I took the woman's return item. He smiled evilly and gently pulled the item from me, dropping it in the return cart behind the desk.
"Ah, so handsome, so helpful!" The woman gushed, again looking at her companion pointedly. Zeev licked his lips, but gripped me around the shoulders as I counted change. He was hiding a part of his thoughts behind the barrier and it made me uncomfortable. Zeev was still eyeballing the woman hungrily as she sighed, looking at his arms around me and then she and her companion turned to go. I watched them leave, chewing my lip with worry. He was hungry, I could feel it. Well, hungry wasn't quite the right word for it. He needed to be replenished. That was as close as I could get to it in terms of human understanding-hunger. An emptiness he needed to fill-a craving. Zeev pinched me and pulled me out of my reverie.
"Your eye are glowing...sweetie." He murmured, turning my face in to face his shirt. "You have to stop tapping into my Demon side while you're at work, how much security footage have we erased now?" I sighed.
"They keep having different companies come in to check the cameras and equipment. They can't figure out what's wrong, so they're replacing the whole system. Again." I answered by way of reply. Zeev chuckled, thoroughly amused. Isn't my soul enough though? Can't it sustain you? Do you have to?..." I waved a hand indicating the couple and world in general.
"You forget, it's my soul now too and I can't absorb it without harming us both. It's reawakened part of my Grace, but we burned through a lot of power during that attack. Needless to say-I'm ravenous right now." Zeev whispered against my ear. I shivered in fear.
"Please put up the barricade before you go-I..don't want to see." I looked away.
"Of course." Zeev responded nonchalantly. The rest of the afternoon passed quickly. Zeev left briefly to put dinner in the oven, then returned to bring me home. I ate in silence while he sat next to me with an arm draped casually around the back of my chair. I showered and changed, trying to swiftly go to bed and get to sleep so I wouldn't have to think about Zeev's plans, but the harder I tried to avoid thinking about it, the harder it was to think of anything else.
"I do wish you'd stop tossing about." Zeev remarked as I rolled over again. He readjusted his position to accommodate my new one, wrapping an arm around my ribcage and pulling my back to his chest.
"Sorry, I can't sleep." I responded.
"I know," He sighed. "It's a necessary evil I'm afraid, one we're both stuck with. At least for now."
"Necessary and evil." I scoffed. "How ironic." I rolled over to face him. "I'm supposed to be ok with the killing of innocents-the very thing you left Heaven for and are yet still doomed to repeat?" He flinched but gripped my face with both hands.
"Innocents? None of you are innocent! Let me show you the filth I've had to absorb over the years." He growled at me, eyes glowing orange as his nails dug into my skin. Shadows crawled along his flesh and then the onslaught of memories began and I felt my body arch backwards, my eyes rolling back in my head. I choked, the rush of it almost too much. The one who murdered her own mother for money... The pedophile secretly taking pictures of children in his home.. The stalker terrorizing the woman of his obsession... The abusive man assaulting his family time and time again.. The one who killed animals, but was planning to try for people next... The man who kidnapped children.. The list went on. Some were petty crimes compared to the rest, but Zeev was indiscriminate in his distaste. Greedy souls always hungered for more, and would willingly agree to deal with a Demon...
"That's enough!" I shouted, struggling, trying to push him away. He growled, but I got his nails off me, even if it left furrows in my skin. He stared at the bleeding scratches on my face.
"I have to go." He said dispassionately and stood. With a turn, he was gone.
"Fucking Demon!" I yelled after him, and then rubbed my chest as it began to ache. Fucking Demon with half my soul...
Zeev POV
My face still stung from the gouges I had given Harlee. I lifted a finger as I felt something roll down my cheek and it came away bloody. This irritating soul! I shifted to my Demon form and flowed through the shadows, cutting off all access to Harlee that I had. My inner core-my Heart cried out in pain-but I ignored it. I was hungry, and I knew what I was looking for. The stench of a desperate soul, ripe for the taking.
Harlee POV
I jerked awake as Zeev settled on the bed behind me. He hesitantly lowered the barrier between us, while still hiding the night's activities from me, and gently reached out to take me in his arms. He seemed calmer, almost apologetic. I knew it was no good to feign sleep, but I did so anyway. The ache in my chest eased as the two soul fragments recognized their proximity and I heaved a sigh of relief. This feeling of dependence on another person to survive-another something, that you thought you probably hated at least half the time, I was sure it was going to drive me crazy.
"Hey, don't you need to get some sleep? You have work tomorrow." Zeev whispered.
"Shut up Demon." I grumbled. Zeev chuckled lightly and pulled me closer.
"Just remember, now that your soul fragment has integrated with my Heart, that sort of makes you part Demon too." He murmured against my ear. I flinched. His breath smelled of blood.