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  “Good night, Takeshi.”

  He could practically hear the smile in Takeshi’s voice when he replied. “Good night.”

  Chapter Seven

  T akeshi smiled easily, feeling the warm glow of satiation in his gut. Kieran really was delicious, but he didn’t think the human would appreciate being described that way.

  Takeshi glanced up from the book he was reading. He could see the lump that was Kieran curled up under the blankets from where he was sitting in the living room in one of the armchairs. He seemed to be sleeping peacefully enough.

  But they had to remain separated because Takeshi didn’t have enough self-control and Kieran didn’t have enough awareness in sleep to prevent further feeding from occurring. Takeshi had almost been able to feel Kieran’s disappointment when he’d insisted on the arrangement.

  Part of Takeshi wanted to do something special for Kieran, as if to make up for what he couldn’t provide right now. He had a driving, unignorable desire to improve his chances of keeping Kieran close and all to himself.

  Takeshi looked around the apartment for inspiration. But all he could come up with in the short term was doing some of the chores Kieran had been neglecting, like his pile of dirty dishes. But that was far too noisy to be doing the next room over from someone who was asleep.

  Takeshi’s eyes drifted to the crack of the door to Kieran’s room again, and he was struck by new inspiration. He could do Kieran’s laundry. He knew the machines were in the basement from an offhanded comment Kieran had once made complaining about it. He could also quietly hang it out inside the apartment afterward.

  It was difficult to resist scooping up some of the boundless energy Kieran seemed to have already recovered. But Takeshi managed to enter his room and retrieve his laundry basket and apartment key without taking anything else with him.

  Takeshi carefully closed Kieran’s apartment door behind him so he wouldn’t make too much noise, and then made his way downstairs. It had to be past midnight. Hopefully there wouldn’t be too many people doing the same thing at this time.

  When Takeshi entered the basement, he saw the lights were still on and one of the machines were running. He looked at the instructions printed under the lid of one of the unused machines, and managed to put on a load of clothes and a load of linen with a few hundred yen coins and the communal laundry powder that he wasn’t sure if Kieran paid into.

  The machine was noisy when it first started up, but it quickly settled down and faded into the background. Takeshi sat on one of the old plastic chairs in the corner of the room and took his book out again. It was a Japanese light novel he’d found on Kieran’s armchair about a high school boy being sent to a fantastical world. Funnily enough, most of the main characters were some kind of demon. He wondered whether Kieran had bought the book before or after meeting him.

  Takeshi continued turning the pages, but paused on one when he noticed the rustle of paper as he did so. He looked up and realised he’d been able to hear it this time because the other machine that was going had finished its cycle. He stood up to check on his own machines, and saw there was only fifteen minutes to go.

  When he turned to sit back down again, Takeshi nearly jumped out of his illusory skin. A woman with a tangle of dirty blonde hair and a large coat on over her pyjamas was standing in the doorway with a scowl on her face. Takeshi hadn’t felt her approach at all. She had to be guarding her energy closely, probably protecting herself from his passive feeding and manipulation as much as hiding from him. That meant she had to have some skill.

  “So, this is what’s been draining Kieran,” she muttered, seemingly to herself.

  Takeshi realised the energy he had taken recently was probably still identifiable to someone who knew Kieran well. It was still digesting, in a sense.

  Her skills indicated she was probably a demon hunter, or at least being trained by one. Could she be one of the ‘energy weirdos’ Kieran had been learning from? Based on her appearance he could only assume this was the one he’d referred to as Chevonne.

  “And how many other people have you been feeding off?” she demanded. “I haven’t seen an incubus as big as you for a very long time.”

  Takeshi raised his hands slowly, hoping to handle this in a passive way. If he got rid of one, the whole gang would be after him. And Kieran probably wouldn’t take kindly to him going to extremes, even if it was in self-defence.

  “First of all, Kieran asked me to do that to him. And I only drain tiny amounts from anyone else, definitely not enough to cause them any harm.”

  It seemed Chevonne wasn’t inclined to believe him at face value. “Not doing any harm? Look at you! Kieran isn’t a bottomless pit of energy.”

  “Go ask him yourself! I’ve never forced him to do anything he didn’t want, and I’ve never taken enough to do any real damage. He does have a ridiculous amount of energy, it’s not solely because he converts more toward his sexuality than he should,” Takeshi tried to explain in a way that wouldn’t embarrass Kieran later. It really wasn’t any of her business what his energy did in private.

  Chevonne’s glare remained in place. “That’s ridiculous, you’re doing more damage than you think. Or rather, more than you’re willing to admit!” She reached into her coat and withdrew a knife with an ornate pattern engraved into the blade, which was roughly the length of her forearm.

  It seemed to activate as her hand gripped it. Takeshi could sense the energy bound to it churn to life. He already knew getting stuck with it wouldn’t end well for him.

  “If you won’t leave him alone, I’ll make you. Chao told me Kieran has the potential to be the most powerful energy master we’ve seen in over a century. We can’t afford to lose him to a bottom feeder like you.”

  Takeshi, eyes fixed on the dangerous weapon, couldn’t help but take half a step back. But he quickly found himself pressed up against one of the washing machines. Part of him was mildly offended by her comment, but mostly he was afraid.

  Chevonne had shown she wasn’t willing to believe him even though she knew Kieran was special. Before she could get too close, he decided to try a different approach.

  “Doesn’t Kieran’s opinion on this matter at all?”

  “Not when you’re manipulating him,” she snapped, shutting down that line of reasoning.

  Takeshi searched for Kieran’s presence, surprised when he was actually able to mentally reach the third floor from here. He really was growing more powerful than he’d realised.

  Kieran had never even faltered after a session together, and Takeshi knew better than to do nothing but take. He’d assumed he would be able to maintain his strength as long as those two things were true, but it seemed even he had underestimated the extent of Kieran’s power.

  When Takeshi located Kieran, he tried to teleport to him, assuming that doing so without a medium like radio waves was now possible for him. But it seemed Chevonne had realised his intention. She distracted him from his attempt by striking out with her knife.

  Too slow, Takeshi had to transform into his demon form so he could part his body around the blade and zip to the other side of the room. But Chevonne had turned with him and already had another strike on the way.

  Takeshi could still feel Kieran’s presence, and tried to brush up against him to at least get his attention and show him where he was. Takeshi was sure Chevonne wouldn’t attack Kieran, and maybe a fellow human would get more of a chance to explain what was going on.

  Takeshi was distracted by one of the machines on the other side of the room beeping as it finished up the load he’d put on. In that moment Chevonne caught up with him, and managed to run the blade through where his kidney would be if he had internal organs.

  If it were a normal weapon, even now Takeshi would have easily been able to dissipate around it again without being too much worse for wear. But the energy imbued in the blade was holding him in place, and even starting to drain him. Takeshi realised it would keep doing so until he snapped back to
hell.

  He didn’t know how long it would take for him to get another chance to return to this plane. It would probably be long after the end of Kieran’s lifetime.

  Panicking, Takeshi attempted to grab the blade even though he knew it was futile. It scorched his hand on both the illusory and demonic level. He screamed and the sound was clearly not of this world.

  Chevonne looked around wide-eyed as she tried to recover her breath. She seemed to be concerned that someone would overhear and come to investigate. Her eyes indecisively flickered between the door and Takeshi. Her fists clenched and she shuffled her feet impatiently.

  “You’re still here? This really was getting out of hand,” Chevonne said tightly.

  A vision of the dank depths of the world he’d been born in faded into the edges of Takeshi’s vision. In an attempt to conserve energy, Takeshi curled into a mass of darkness around the blade. He was determined to hold onto his place in reality. He’d sacrificed too much to get to this point.

  And he knew there would be no Kieran back there.

  Takeshi wondered if he was becoming delirious when he felt Kieran’s energy approaching. Moments later he heard footsteps racing down the stairs. As depleted as he was, Kieran was like a beacon of light. Takeshi could feel the fear and concern spiking through his energy centre.

  “Takeshi?” Kieran exclaimed as he approached. It seemed Chevonne hadn’t tried to stop him.

  Takeshi shuddered when the human tried to take hold of the mass of darkness he’d become. It was his truest form, and the only thing he could manage when he was this weak. Kieran pressed his lower abdomen into him and began releasing energy. Takeshi instinctively tried to pull him closer, but logically knew he had to push him away.

  “D-don’t,” Takeshi managed to force himself to say. “You’re already exhausted. Just take this out,” he said, forcing himself to form a bony and clawed hand to indicate the offending knife.

  Kieran didn’t seem to be put off by it at all. After a few false starts he managed to yank the knife out of the washing machine with a screech. Takeshi heard it clatter to the floor, and could feel he was out of its reach.

  Kieran held himself against Takeshi again, insistently offering him energy. “Just take it, even I can tell you need it.”

  Now that he was able to think and see more clearly, Takeshi noticed when Chevonne darted forward to retrieve the knife. He surrounded Kieran with a protective embrace, covering him in his dark demon essence even though he knew he was the one being targeted. But weakened as he was, he couldn’t help but take what Kieran was offering.

  “It’s ok,” Kieran said soothingly and left a kiss against some nondescript part of the mass of darkness that was slowly becoming more tangible. “Stay with me. Please,” he added quietly.

  The energy sliding through Takeshi took on a warmer quality. He had to get himself out of danger without putting Kieran into it.

  “All right, that’ll do,” Takeshi said quietly, his voice sounding more like it did in his human form. He wouldn’t waste energy conjuring that back up now, though. He was pleased Kieran didn’t seem to mind that too much.

  But he could feel Kieran was about to protest his assessment.

  “I mean it. I’ll stay in your apartment until you’ve recovered properly, and then I’ll take from you when I won’t do any damage,” Takeshi explained.

  Kieran gave him a searching look, but Takeshi wasn’t exactly sure what he was looking for in his faceless dark depths. Either way, he seemed to accept what he’d said.

  “Ok, let’s head back up.”

  However, Kieran faltered when he saw Chevonne was standing in the doorway with the knife still in hand. She looked between them, concern creasing her brow.

  “As you can see, I was being serious,” Takeshi said as he pushed off the machine behind him to make himself stand straight on legs he’d only just remembered he was supposed to have. “Kieran wants to help me, and gets benefits of his own out of it.”

  Chevonne sighed through her teeth and lowered the knife. Takeshi shuffled back over to the machines that had Kieran’s washing in them and began to empty them back into the basket as though nothing was wrong. Kieran made sure to remain between Chevonne and Takeshi.

  “Fine, I won’t push this further for now,” Chevonne agreed reluctantly. “I can see Kieran is just going to hurt himself if I do. But if you’re still in the apartment complex past ten tomorrow morning, you’re fair game,” she added, glaring at Takeshi as he returned to Kieran’s side.

  Kieran snatched the washing basket off of Takeshi. Apparently he was still weak enough to be clearly struggling with the weight of it. Takeshi took the opportunity to become a shapeless mass again.

  Kieran approached Chevonne and used the basket’s awkward size and weight to herd her up against the wall. Takeshi was able to pass her by without needing to worry about being harmed.

  “If you think I’m just going to let you bust into my apartment and hurt him, you’ll have another thing coming,” Kieran said quietly, managing to sound a lot more menacing than his messy hair and crooked glasses made him look.

  “You’re making a mistake, Kieran,” Chevonne replied urgently. “You’re just going to get hurt.”

  Kieran shook his head and turned away from her to follow Takeshi up the stairs. He didn’t slow down until Takeshi was safely inside his apartment again. Kieran kept himself busy, scowling as he threw his washing over the hangers he had set up in the living room.

  Takeshi sat down on the couch with the intent to just rest for a moment, but he ended up collapsing sideways into the cushions. When Kieran tried to reach out with more energy, Takeshi held up a hand.

  “I’ll be fine,” he said flatly. “Even if I snap back to where I came from, I’ll still have a chance to make it back to this world. You, on the other hand, could cause permanent damage to yourself.”

  Kieran didn’t look happy, but he didn’t try to offer his energy again. “I just don’t like seeing you suffer. I do care about you.”

  “I’ll stay right here and conserve my energy for the next two days. By then you should have had a chance to recover enough to share some with me,” Takeshi assured. “As long as I take it easy, I won’t suddenly vanish.”

  Kieran nodded, finally seeming to accept this. “You got really close to doing that back there though, didn’t you? If I had have dawdled getting out of bed after that weird feeling I got about you, things would have been a lot worse,” he said quietly.

  “Fortunately for us, that wasn’t what happened. Now go get some rest. You’ll need it.”

  Kieran hung his last item up and nodded. “Ok, good night. Don’t go anywhere this time.”

  “I’ll be right here,” Takeshi promised.

  Epilogue

  Takeshi basked in the warmth of Kieran’s energy as they spooned on the human’s bed. His hands rested directly over Kieran’s stomach, but the energy remained out of his grasp. Kieran had agreed to attend classes with the other demon hunters over the past few weeks, and the results were already starting to show.

  After Takeshi had had a chance to recover from his close call, the last few weeks had been nice. He had been attending the host club less and less as this thing with Kieran seemed like it was becoming a permanent arrangement.

  Kieran was learning to manage his own energy, and Takeshi was now able to siphon what he needed just by spending a few hours walking down crowded city streets every day. But even though they didn’t need each other for utilitarian reasons anymore, Takeshi knew he’d be devastated if they had to part ways.

  “See? I told you I could do it,” Kieran interrupted his thoughts smugly. “Now you have no excuse to not cuddle me whenever I want,” he teased.

  “Oh yeah? You think that makes you the master of the universe, huh?” Takeshi replied lightly. Privately he was impressed Kieran had managed to learn how to block him from taking his energy so quickly.

  He clamped his arms and legs around Kieran and began t
ickling his stomach in an attempt to break his concentration. Being relaxed and lying down like this were ideal circumstances for him to practice in, but not exactly indicative of his ability in more strenuous situations.

  Kieran squirmed madly as he tried to escape. “S-stop it!” he managed to get out between his giggles. “Takeshi!”

  Takeshi loosened his grip and Kieran relaxed. But Takeshi immediately took advantage of that fact and quickly pressed Kieran onto his back and pinned his hips in place. Kieran tried to lever him off with his hands and feet, but Takeshi ignored his attempts and went straight for his prize. He lifted Kieran’s flannel shirt and moved his lips across his tender stomach in mock biting motions.

  Kieran squeaked and tried to squirm away, but Takeshi had finally managed to break his concentration. Energy flowed into him and Takeshi looked up at Kieran with a smirk. The human’s hair was a complete mess, his glasses were crooked to the point of probably being useless, and his cheeks were bright pink.

  Takeshi growled, feeling something possessive rise up within him, and sank his teeth into the soft flesh of his belly. He didn’t break the skin, of course. He just wanted to feel the way Kieran gasped and pulled at his hair.

  Takeshi ran a soothing tongue over the place he’d bitten, then blew a raspberry, making Kieran giggle again. He gave Kieran a chance to breathe and began crawling back up the bed so they could speak at eyelevel. Kieran’s fingers dug into his sides, clearly not trusting him to not start tickling him again. But his eyes and smile were soft.

  “It’s not fair to tickle someone when you’re not ticklish,” Kieran complained. He had managed to block his energy off again.

  “Fair? Kieran, please. I am a demon,” Takeshi teased, just to hear him huff.

  “You’re lucky I love you,” Kieran muttered.

  A second later he seemed to realise what he’d just said, and his face turned bright red. He guessed Kieran was embarrassed about letting that phrase slip since they had barely known each other for a month.