Seduction - Flash Fiction

Thick ropes of smoke formed words in the library’s rafters. Lily could easily read them if she wanted to, but she chose not to. No doubt, it was the same ridiculous message about the tedious set of rules she had already read several times the past couple of weeks.

The clock struck 2 a.m.. She closed the book in her hands and the smoke drifted down, reforming the words right in front of her.

Put the book back on the registration table, please.

She waved her hand, dispersing the message.

The words formed again and followed her to the bookstacks.

So annoying.

She stood on her toes to put the book back into place, but it was still too high for her to reach. So, she placed it in a convenient spot.

A heavy hand landed on her shoulder.

“Mystery belongs on another shelf,” the whisper sounded behind her.

Lily jolted, and wings -- too heavy for her slender build -- sprouted from the small of her back.

She lost her balance and tottered back a few steps. Adjusting her wings to steady herself, she managed to sweep several books from their place.

Her hand reached out to catch one book, while a sinewy hand appeared from the smoke to catch another.

She moved to one side and another book was knocked from its place.

“Please, just stay still.” The whisper turned into a troubled voice. “Do not move around.”

Golden eyes appeared, glowing through the haze of smoke that dissipated to reveal the face of a young man.

“Little dream demon, ” Lily said, through clenched teeth.

This was how he had introduced himself when they first met two weeks ago - on her first visit. He had mentioned something about being the night-keeper of this library and forced her to spend half the night listening to him crowing about the library and its numerous rules.

So boring, Lily had thought about him then.

So annoying, she thought about him now.

Calling him little was ironic, considering he was taller than Lily. When he appeared in front of her in his human-form a week ago, she had burst into laughter and teased him about his height. Since then, he avoided appearing in his not-altogether-unappealing human form.

He sighed, replacing the books to their original position. ““Must you speak so coldly? Why won’t you follow my instructions?”

Lily placed her hands on her hips and glared at the silhouette half-covered in misty smoke.

“Why should an angel listen to a demon?”

The dream demon chuckled, smoke gathering around his face. “Says the newborn angel who made a pact so she could come back to Earth and break into this library every night?”

Lily gave him a dark look. Her wings stretched out without her volition, sweeping books out of their place from the shelf behind her back.

It caused a wave of nervous laughter from the dream demon. ”Look at you! You are not even used to your own wings. How long have you been an angel?”

“It’s none of your business,” she said, blushing.

It’s not like she wanted to become an angel. If it were up to her, she would have come back as a ghost or an elf or, even better, some catgirl - like the one in the books she loved to read so much, books about folklore, retellings of ancient legends in which mystical creatures were the main characters.

When she was human, she had thought they were just stories, old wives’ tales. Who would have thought she’d become an angel and meet a demon?

“Well,” said the dream demon, glancing at her, “it’s my business when you make a mess in the library--”

“I will clean up after myself. So…” Lily waved a hand -- as if she were shooing away some annoying bug -- to dismiss him.

The dream demon chuckled. His golden eyes softened when he looked upon her, even as his expression grew serious. “Oh, you’ve been doing great so far. Putting books back in the wrong places… Removing dust jackets… Not to mention, dog-earing the pages.”

He contrived to look stern, and Lily lowered her eyes.

“Seriously,” he said, raising a finger as if he were some school teacher scolding a pupil, “I thought the librarian was about to lose her mind. Why do you dog-ear pages?” His expression was curious. “A librarian’s urge to kill increases exponentially every time she sees a dog-eared p–.”

“Isn’t that good for you?“ she said, with a snarl unbecoming of an angel. ”Don’t demons feed off people’s dark thoughts?”

“I can’t swallow all the madness you create.” His shoulders sagged as he sighed. “Please find another place to read.”

Lily crossed her arms. She had returned to the human world in the annoying form of an angel so she could read books that she didn’t have time for while she was human.

How dare some creature she met barely a fortnight ago ask her to leave her favorite reading place?

This library was the biggest one in the city, with a wide selection of classics and the world’s foremost folklore collection.

I chose it - out of all the libraries in this world - with great foresight. Does he think I am here on a whim?

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became.

“You mad at me?” The whisper sounded in her ear as the little demon dissolved into smoke and reappeared behind her.

She rather liked how his voice dropped to a soothing whisper whenever she got angry, and that he could disappear at will but chose to stay. Of course, there was no way she was telling him that.

“You keep invading my precious reading time,“ she snapped. ”Why shouldn’t I be angry?”

When he spoke, his voice was hesitant, but no less righteous. “You don’t follow the library’s rules and have been causing a lot of distress to the librarian.”

She bit back a swearword, since she was an angel now. “I didn’t think a demon would care so much about following rules.”

None of the books mentioned anything about dream demons, so she had no idea what to expect.

Why does he keep coming to disturb me? Always complaining about me breaking one of the library's rules. Does he keep inventing new ones on purpose?

Unbelievable!

Doesn’t he have something better - more demon-like - to do?

“Oh, we only follow rules created by librarians,” said the little demon as if he had read her mind.

He reappeared in human form and shuddered.

“They are the scariest. Their imagination is wild as they have uncontrolled access to different worlds to feed their dreamland… So, their imagination tends to be rather dark when it comes to punishments for dog-eared p--”

“I have a bad memory,” she said, her cheeks heating up, uncertain whether to take offense at the teasing tone in the dream demon’s voice.

To her surprise, he smiled, revealing a set of perfectly even white teeth.

Like some movie star in a toothpaste commercial. Lily’s heart almost stopped.

As if she would fall for looks! She had read tons of books and developed a most discerning taste in men. If he wanted her to follow some stupid set of rules, he would need to be much more persuasive.

“Why not go somewhere else?” the dream demon asked, sounding solicitous.

Why not stop being annoying?

“Look,” she said, “If I had my own place, my own library where I could read in peace and quiet--”

The dream demon raised a hand hesitantly, as if he were about to answer a question in class but wasn’t entirely sure it was the right answer.

“I…I happen to have a large library in the mansion of my ancestors,” he said, with a shy smile. “It has quite the collection of classics and folklore. I…I will bring you a lot of bookmarks…“

His hand disappeared in the smoke only to reappear a moment later, holding out a daisy.

”…so there will be no further need for you to dog-ear any book.”

Lily blinked at the little flower in the dream demon’s hand.

She had a dried daisy as a bookmark when she was human. It had appeared on her bedside table when she woke in the middle of a troubled night. Since then, It had been her charm to keep nightmares away.

Wait…she was not supposed to remember that.

She was supposed to forget everything about the human word once she became an angel.

Why, then, did she remember the books she had loved?

But, no. She did forget. But the memory of her beloved books had returned after she met an angel ranked higher than her.

The one who lost his rank after giving his wings to her, so she could come back to read.

The dream demon’s smile dissipated as she stared from the daisy to him, trying to remember the face of that angel. But, all she could remember about him was his golden eyes...

…the same eyes that were gazing at her through the smoke, with a serious and…hopeful expression.

How very convenient …

…to confess who he was… only to disappear if she rejected him.

She felt like throttling him.

She felt like dragging him out from his cloud of smoke and clutching him close.

Her heart thumped.

She had read a lot of books about demons - most advised not to make contracts with them. But, her dream demon was a fallen angel…

… who gave her his wings so that she could return and enjoy her reading time again.

… who now was offering her a private library.

An ancestral library…with ”quite the collection of classics and folklore.” Hot damn… he is very good at seduction.

She shook herself.

Temptation. I meant temptation.

She tucked the daisy behind one ear and sashayed over to the window, taking care not to topple back as her wings still felt awkward and heavy at her back.

The window opened for her and she turned to give her dream demon a come-hither look before leaping out.

Her mighty wings stretched wide as she plunged into the full moon-lit sky.

Behind her, smoke formed into a crow that flew past her, leading her through a forest to his ancestors’ mansion in the mountains - a place where she could read to her heart’s content.