Chapter 4

Nocturne reappeared in his throne room and started pacing back and forth. That had not gone well.

He would have liked to visit Leo much earlier in the day, but it had been a very busy day for deaths and his only free time had been close to midnight. That had been a mistake.

If he had seen Leo earlier in the day there would have been no chance of the human assuming it was all a dream.

Leo was as cute as he had been a year before. The confused look in his eyes had been adorable. Nocturne was still replaying Leo looking fearful when he moved in to grasp his hand in his mind. It pained him.

Then the bigger issue returned to his mind.

Leo had no memory of what had transpired after his death and therefore no memory of their promise. He should have thought of that sooner, if he had given Leo his life back then everything that had happened after he died would be removed from his mind. The scar was the only thing that remained.

He growled in frustration. He had been looking forward to this day all year and now it had failed miserably.

The ruler of the underworld abruptly stopped pacing. He needed to consult someone for help and there was only one person who fit the bill. 

He rushed out the throne room and down the grand staircase that led down to the judgement hall of his castle. This was the location that every soul collected had been to after their death.

As he hoped Celeste was still there. It was just before midnight and she was ferrying off her judged souls to leave with her. The souls were collected in lanterns and looked ethereal floating around her blonde long hair. She was surrounded by her angels who looked surprised at his presence in the judgement hall empty handed and at this time.

“Could I talk to you before you leave?” he requested. “I want your opinion on something.”

Celeste raised an eyebrow and nodded to her servants. “Take the souls back with you. I will come later. Don’t wait for me.”

The archangel followed him back up the staircase and into the throne room.

“Would you like some tea?” he asked and led her to the table by the window.

There was no such thing as sleep in the underworld. He normally spent the few quiet hours he had at this time adding to the collection of journals kept by underworld rulers or staring out into the wilderness outside the windows.

“I’m fine this time,” she said softly. “It’s not like you to want my opinion.”

She took a seat at the table and laid her pale hands down on it. Despite her attempt to look impassive, the curiosity in her wide blue eyes showed her eagerness to know what he wanted to talk about.

“It has been a year since that incident,” he began. “I am not going to openly describe the incident.”

It felt sacrilegious to mention helping a human cheat death.

She blinked in confusion and then her face cleared. “Of course. Did you go to the human world for a visit?”

Nocturne proceeded to tell her everything that had just happened in Leo’s bedroom. By the end of it her lips were turned up into a smile. Fortunately she didn’t look smug at his failure.

“I see,” was all she said. “You were completely unaware that he wouldn’t remember. I take it you want me to give you some advice on how to capture his heart?”

“I am lost,” he admitted. “I have no experience in love.”

“I wouldn’t call any of this love,” she corrected. “Your attention was caught by him when he offered to marry you in return for his life. Love is something much deeper and happens over time.”

That sounded right to him. He really didn’t have much of an emotional range. Seeing the things he had made him feel apathetic about everything.

“Do you want to know how your predecessor Azrael set about romancing humans he saved?” Celeste asked. “It’s a lesson in what you shouldn’t do.”

Immediately his attention was caught. He also hoped she would explain how she knew everything.

“I would.”

“First, he would do something absolutely horrible to his human target,” she said. “He would return their memory of dying to them so they would remember who he was and what they owed him.”

“That’s possible to do?”

“It can technically be done. It’s just not a good thing to do. Remembering your consciousness leaving you forever isn’t nice,” she said and waved her finger. “Whatever you do, don’t return Leo’s memory of dying to him. It messes humans up.”

“What would he do next?”

“He appeared to them as a human in their everyday lives and confessed his love to them. The women would be devoted to him because he saved their lives and he was admittedly pretty good looking.”

Nocturne tried to remember Azrael’s appearance. He was drawing a complete blank. He had only seen him in passing.

Then he processed the significant part of what she had said.

“He appeared as a human?”

Celeste nodded and tapped her fingers on the table. “It’s possible to do. You can go to the human world in a human form. It was easier to have contact with his targets that way. They would have tired of him quickly if he was a ghostly figure all the time.”

Nocturne filed that fact away for future reference.

“Anyway he would do everything with them that any human boyfriend would do. I was traumatized when I saw that,” she continued with a deep shudder. “I wish I hadn’t seen his dick.”

The ruler of the underworld was glad that she had turned down the tea request. If he had been drinking something, he would have spat it out at that line.

“So he had a double life when he worked as the ruler,” he summarized after deciding not to respond directly to the last part. “He spent a lot of time on earth being a human boyfriend.”

“He left all soul collecting to his servants,” she explained. “He was barely here. That was what made me suspicious that he was up to something. Anyway, the human would eventually lose their mind.”

“Because he returned their memory of dying to them?”

She tilted her head. “You’re absolutely clueless when it comes to romance, aren’t you?”

He was stung by her observation, but she was right. His only experience had been dating Draven for a short term. He squinted at her suspiciously. It was normal for all of them in the underworld to have no romantic experience, they didn’t remember their human lives and they spent a majority of their time working.

“Where is your experience coming from?” he asked. “Remember, I only see humans when they have died. You are the one that gets to see their life experiences when their souls are judged.”

She bit her lip. “I forgot that your only interaction with humans is at the end of their life. I think I’ve got a lot to teach you.”

“You are going to teach me?”

Celeste looked him up and down which made him feel self conscious.

“Someone needs to. Anyway, back to Azrael. The human women would start to lose their minds as time went on because they were traumatized by their memories of dying and they were dating someone from another world and he never spent any time with them in public. He wasn’t a boyfriend they could introduce to their friends or family. They were normally lonely women and they became lonelier the longer the relationship went on for.”

“Then when they got too unbearable for him, he would arrange for their deaths,” Nocturne continued. “I have no intention of doing that. How did you find out all this information? You have a lot of details.”

The angel smiled and Nocturne noticed it had an evil tilt to it. He was beginning to wonder if the angel of paradise might have a devilish streak to her.

“It was simple really. I wanted to talk to him and he was never here whenever I tried to find him. I also noticed that his servants were really busy and were bringing all the souls for the day to the judgment hall instead of him. That meant he was in the human world,” she told him. “That’s when I transported myself to his location in the human world and found him in bed with a human woman having sex.”

“That must have been awkward."

Celeste shuddered again. “I couldn’t get it out of my mind for several days. He was so shocked by my appearance that he teleported us back to this room and confessed to everything that he had done. At that point he was on his third woman. I told him to put some clothes on and I wouldn’t talk about it.”

That was troubling. Celeste had promised to keep his secret and she had so far. She had also done the same for Azrael and betrayed him later. He bit his lip.

“I kept a close eye on him after that. I knew he had manipulated things to kill the third woman, then he moved onto another one without a break. It gets worse, he dated the fourth woman at the same time as the fifth. After he got tired of both of them and got them killed, I couldn’t take it anymore and reported him to the entity,” she said and sighed. “I don’t regret turning him in. Humans are a species we watch over and ensure their world keeps ticking over with new souls. They are not for our manipulation and pleasure.”

Nocturne was silent. It was a lot to take in. He had no desire to manipulate Leo. He just wanted to spend time in his presence and feel something.

“I’m not going to report you to the entity for saving Leo’s life unless you do anything like Azrael,” she added to his relief.

“Where do you suggest I start with trying to get closer to Leo?” he asked. “I did not do what I did just so I could have sex with him later.”

He was surprised when Celeste burst out laughing. It sounded a little like bells ringing. 

“Sex is a natural part of relationships,” she said and waved her hand. “I suggest you go to Earth as a human and get to know him. I don’t mean you should stalk him, just find out some things about him and spend some time with him. Do you still want to marry him?”

Originally that had been his intention, but now he knew it had been naive to think it was possible. Leo had known nothing about how his world worked when he had made the offer.

“I felt something when he offered marriage to me and I want to feel that again,” he confessed. “I don’t normally have any emotions.”

“That’s interesting,” she said with a frown. “I’ll help you in any way I can and no, I will not be a snitch and report you to the entity.”

***

Leo stirred his coffee absently mindedly and yawned. He hadn’t been able to get back to sleep after that weird dream with the handsome man reminding him that he had offered his hand in marriage in return for his life last year. Something in his chest told him that he had never been asleep in the first place. He ignored that niggling feeling.

He looked up at the bright sun in the sky and winced. It was too much for him today. He was going to drink his coffee and then go back home and catch up on sleep. 

The coffee shop was quiet at this time of the morning, it was after the morning rush and before lunch. He normally liked the peace and being able to sit outside feeling the warm rays of the sun shine down on him. He sipped his coffee and tried not to think about his dream too much. His mind had just tried to find a way to explain his single status and had conjured up a good looking Grim Reaper to explain it.

He blinked when he noticed a hand pull out the chair next to him.

“Can I sit here?” 

Leo looked up and saw a man with short gray hair standing over him with a coffee in his hand. He reminded him of the Grim Reaper from his dream.