Victoria Goerk - The cold warmth

“Ugh!” The demon groaned loudly, letting the older go to press a button on his watch, which immediately silenced the beeping. “Why can’t they deliver their own messages and stuff?”

“Hey!” Braylon called out with a scowl, drawing out a deep chuckle from Marcellus, who draped himself over the half demon again.

“Not you! I like delivering your flowers.”

“You better.” The florist mumbled under his breath before starting to squirm again. “Okay, let go now. I can walk there by myself, you have a job to do. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Marcellus huffed, finally letting go but didn’t forget to plant a big kiss on the soft honey blond locks of Braylon before disappearing into thin air.

“Great, not even a goodbye. Sulking brat.”

Braylon muttered and set off, locking the shop behind him and walked over to the apartment. It was near, but Braylon never really had a purpose to walk past it, but now it was going to be his new home. He was quite excited to meet the ghost and hopes to befriend it, so he could have a new friend instead of just Adan and Marcellus.

The half demon pulled out a copy of the report, there were only a few words from the reapers but it helped Braylon to prepare himself mentally.

‘Male, 22 years old 8 months Doesn’t speak much, mischievous, smiles a lot. Overall, looks alive and healthy, not pale and gray like normal souls Capable of interacting with solid objects. Remembers his name but wouldn’t tell.’

Braylon scrunches up his face at the third line. He hopes that he would be able to coax the spirit to speak up more. He’s also surprised that it was still looking alive and well. Most souls start with a less saturated color than normal that fades over time.

A few moment later he reaches the apartment and makes his way in easily with the obtained keycard. Despite looking old on the outside, the apartment’s interior was warm and cozy. Decorated with antique furniture and small green plants.

/ I might consider living here myself when this whole thing is over. /

The half demon climbed the stairs up to the third floor, heading straight to number 307 and unlocked the door, trying to heave his luggage into the dark hallway inside the room.

Jaylon perked up at the sound of someone unlocking the door. He was lying on the bed, enjoying the silence and lost in his thoughts when the small beep of the electric lock was heard.

/Great, another one/

He mentally groaned, getting up and peeked his head out from the bedroom, squinting in the darkness. His apartment room was simple, a narrow hallway and if you look from the entrance door, the living room is on the right while the kitchen is on the left. Walk a bit further and the bathroom is right next to the kitchen, the bedroom is next to the living space. At the end of the hallway is a balcony, which has heavy thick curtains hiding the glass door.

Jaylon could see the outline of a small figure in the darkness with some light flooding in from outside. The guest tried flicking on the switch near the door a few times, but the ghost knew that it didn’t work since it broke a few weeks ago. He heard a small sigh and the door closed, before the hallway was dimly illuminated by small rays of light from a phone. Jaylon chuckled softly, pushing his bedroom door open and turned on the light so it can pour in the hallway for the other to see.

Jaylon watched as the smaller jumped a bit at the sudden light and slowly raised his head. The small catlike eyes were wide in the dimly lit hallway, pouty lips gaping at the sight in front of him while Jaylon felt himself freeze as well.

/Oh. It’s a pretty one this time. /

Braylon almost shrieked when the ghost started flying in the air with a lopsided grin plastered on his face. He was twisting and turning around him and was shooting in and out of rooms through the walls instead of using the doors. Braylon waited for a while to see if he would stop, but nope, he started to play with the lights. The ghost was switching the lights on and off in every single room.

/ Oh fun, he is a brat/

“Hey! Get down here...”

The half demon weakly tried to persuade the playful one. He finally stopped moving but was now hanging upside down from the ceiling while grinning cheekily at him. Braylon bit his lip nervously, thinking that it might be a good idea to start with an introduction.

“Well okay, ummm, that’s better I think. So… hi? I’m Braylon. I’m here to help you so… can you tell me your name? I don’t want to call you ‘it’.”

The ghost started to pout, sinking through the ceiling until only his hair and eyes could be seen. Braylon started panicking and waved his hand anxiously in an attempt to stop the ghost that was in front of him.

“Oh! Um… you don’t have to answer me… just take your time ok? I’ll be staying here for a while, look.” He stepped aside to show his luggage. “If you feel like talking, please don’t hesitate to call me! Err… now I need a place to sleep… so if you don’t mind…”

Braylon bravely dragged his stuff forward, peeking into the living room, the kitchen, the bathroom and finally found the bedroom. Each room was a bit dusty, but it was habitable and neatly furnished. Now the half demon started to wonder where he should sleep.

If the ghost has haunted this place for eight months it surely meant that this apartment is something that holds great meaning to him and the bedroom might have been his own. Braylon nodded to himself and turned back to the living room, trying to ignore how the ghost slowly revealed more about himself. He was slowly dropping down from the ceiling to the floor. It was a bit eerie but Braylon has seen creepier things down in the underworld. The only difference was, that Adan never let him near the spirits. It's still a new feeling to him, but he could handle it.

Suddenly a cold wisp of air rushed past him. The young spirit stood proudly at the entrance to the living space and pointed to the bedroom.

“Oh,” Braylon raised one of his eyebrows. “I can sleep in the bedroom? Isn’t it yours?”

The ghost just looked at him and shrugged, not giving a single sound from him.

“It’s okay, the couch looks comfy enough for me.” Says Braylon, while carefully looking at the other’s reaction which resulted in a scrunched up face and a small shake of his head. Braylon was going to continue his protesting but the ghost just huffed and picked up his bags like it was nothing. He moved past Braylon towards the bedroom. The half demon took his chance to look at the spirit closely. He looked younger than his actual age, had chocolate brown hair, was tall and had some muscles.

Braylon shook his head, softly slapping his cheeks to stop checking the ghost out before following him into the brightly lit bedroom. His bags were stacked on the bed and the ghost was once again doing flips in the air.

“Don’t you get tired- … oh, you’re a ghost.” Braylon scratched his neck dumbly. The other grinned at him brightly and plopped himself down on the bed while patting the spot next to him and looking expectantly at Braylon.

“Ah,” The florist was a bit flustered, “I need to wash up a bit… I’ll be right back, wait a minute”

He quickly approached his smallest bag to find all his hygiene products and quickly left the room to do his business in the bathroom, aware of the spirit’s eyes that were fixated on him.

A few minutes later Braylon found himself lying on the left side of the really soft bed, facing the ghost who was in the same position again with a big grin plastered on his face. The half demon scanned the other’s clothing. He was wearing a large black hoodie and dark grey sweatpants while he himself was wearing an oversized white sweater and black sweatpants. The spirit was staring at him with his round eyes as if he was waiting for Braylon to say something.