"I'll be a girl backstage at your show

Velvet ropes and guitars

Yeah 'cause you're my

Rockstar in between the sets."

- Lady Gaga, Paparazzi

Slate smirks at me, wearing the smug expression as he nods. "And you promised not to kill me," I state, letting all the information sink into my thick skull. Slate nods again, smiling. The memory is a bit blur to me, but I clearly recognize his face now. The face of him in the memory, and the face of him in the present, they match. Only now, he has gotten a bit taller, and his face became more mature. His build also thickened, his shoulders became broader, than the last time I've seen him and that was when I was a four-year-old kid. "So which means that... you can't really kill me. Because you made a promise to me, and now you promised that I will be sent to Hell."

The demon nods at me again and this time, the smug expression he had on his beautifully sculpted face is now gone, replaced with something I can't recognize. There's hardly any expression plastered on his face, and I don't know if I said something that he didn't like, or want to hear at all.

Time seems to slow down when our eyes meet; my heart begins to race faster the longer we stare into each other's eyes. The darkness in his eyes that was there a few minutes ago is gone now, now filled with something that lifts up my spirit. In fact he doesn't look like a demon to me now at all – though he's just still in his demon form, he's just... Slate in my sight. Not a demon. Not a human. Only Slate. I don't know if that should make sense, or if I'm making sense at all, but the surprising thing is, I don't really care at all. Everyone can call him whatever they want to call him, but to me, from now on, he will only be Slate.

Silence fills the bathroom; I'm still sitting on the cold tiled floor, but his heated gaze sets me up on fire. It's not the awkward silence but rather the comfortable one – the tension has long been gone in the air, completely vanished, as if it wasn't there a few minutes ago.

"I promise, Adrian, that nothing bad will happen to you," Slate says in a very low voice, but loud enough for me to hear it. A smile makes its way into my lips, and right there, while he's seated cross-legged, I just want to throw my arms around his neck and force his lips down on mine. Without putting much thought about it, my body jerks forward as if it has a mind of its own; I wrap my arms around him and rest my head on his chest where I can feel the beat of his heart. He said his heart is tainted, but I have this feeling that whatever he has in his heart isn't purely dark. Slate tenses for a second but relaxes immediately, slowly wrapping his strong and lean arms around me and I feel calm. "I promise that."

The words that came out of his mouth, I all believe it. Demon or not, I'm sure that he's going to keep his words. Even though he's a demon, I believe that whatever comes out of his mouth, or when he makes a promise, he will never ever break it. He will do his best to keep it, to keep his promises.

Slate slowly transforms himself back to his human form, and carries me bridal style. Then he brings me back to his bedroom. The moment I'm laid down on the bed, the sheets smell like him, and I just want to bury my nose into the sheets further and take in his aromatic scent. I let out a sigh, feeling myself getting calmer and calmer the more time I spend lying down on Slate's bed.

Bed dipping down as Slate takes a seat on the edge, he just watches me watch him. A small smile makes its way into his lips and my heart stops beating for a few seconds before it explodes. I scoot just enough to give him to lie down on because I'm practically hogging the bed. His bed. And Slate immediately lies down beside me, turning to the side so he can face me.

Just like what I did earlier, I move forward and wrap my arms around him, resting my head on his chest. The beat of his heart is calm, just like mine, and they are in sync. I put a palm where his heart lies, wanting to feel the beat of his heart against my palm and Slate does the same.

"You were so young, so fragile, when I saw you where you were a kid," he whispers to me and plants a kiss on my temple, making me shiver. I listen to him and to the beat of his heart, which is pounding hard now. "And you were brave" – I nearly laugh at that because from what I remember, I cried and hugged his legs tight – "by doing what you had to do to survive. Not all the angels, even the humans, could do what you did. Sometimes your life depends in the moment, in the scenario that is currently happening."

"I'm not brave. I have never been." I whisper back, burying my face further into his chest as if I'm ashamed to admit that I'm not brave. Of course, I am. Warrior angels, my parents, they will fight for whatever they think is right, for what they believe in, and if there's a tip of the sword pointed at their throat held by a demon, threatening their life, until the angels' last breath, they will never ever beg for they know that they will live beside the God and the Good Goddess forever. "And I will never be."

Adrian's breath is pressed against my chest, and our skin is making contact with each other, setting me up on fire, setting up the desire, being spread all over me.

Never would I have thought that he's the kid I encountered a very long time ago, so long that I thought I had forgotten about it already. But it there's there, buried deep into the furthest part of my brain. And it has been Adrian all along. The moment I met him in the woods, knowing that he's an angel, there's no will to kill him. There hasn't been any temptation to kill him. Even know I constantly reminded myself that he's an angel, that he's my enemy, that his kind is the sworn enemy of my kind, but it didn't work. Reminding myself didn't work. And now I know the reason why I cannot kill him – I made a promise to him, a promise that will live inside me for as long as I live.

"You think that you will never be brave," I begin, pressing myself closer to him, wanting to feel every part of his body pressed hotly against mine. "But I'm here to tell you that you will be. If you don't feel that you're brave now, or in the next coming days, be informed that I'll be the brave one for you until you feel it yourself."

"Promise?" he says almost inaudibly. I hate that he doesn't feel brave when he has been brave ever since I met him, ever since he was a kid. Angels will decide to kill themselves rather be held captive by a demon. But Hadraniel isn't like that. He's different than the rest of the angels; he's different than his parents. Hadraniel is a very unique angel. And he will always be my angel.

"Promise," I whisper back, leaning down, capturing his lips with mine.

Adrian complies, his palm making its way at the back of my neck, pressing his lips harder against mine almost hungrily. I return the favor, matching the intensity that he's putting into our kiss. Adrian groans as I bite his lower lip, making him open his mouth and I take that opportunity to slide my tongue inside him, tasting and feeling every inch and part of his sweet mouth.

He doesn't have any idea what we're doing, and I don't as well, but I learned how to go with the flow all by myself. Ever since I became a demon, I learned that. I learned how to stand up for myself. Sometimes I wonder why I became like this when I could have stayed being an angel. I chose to become a demon.

Forneus Furtur was the heir of the throne of the Heavens. Forneus Furtur was the Angel of all folks, the one who kept promises and make them true and alive in the hearts of the people. But then ever since I was thrown out of the Heavens, I became Slate the demon, he who chose the path of becoming evil. Forneus Furtur the Angel is long gone, and can't be retrieved anymore. And I have a chance to become an angel again, I will never ever take that chance – I'm contented with being a demon. And I'm more contented to have this beautiful angel lying beside me. In fact Adrian reminds of myself when I was an angel – though he just lacks of self-motivation, and he freaks out a lot, and he cries a lot, and sometimes he's annoying, but he's my angel. He will always be my angel.

"In the next few days, I will be gone, Adrian," I say to him.

Adrian pushes me, then himself up, looking at me with wide and confused eyes. His brows furrow as he looks at me. "W-w-what do you mean you will be gone?" his tone is scared it almost makes me regret to tell him that I will be gone for Satan knows how long. "W-w-wait, what, wait, um, where are you going?"

My hand cups his face as I stare deeply into his eyes. "Demon stuff, obligations, I just have to do those." I tell him then his face drops, eyes sad. "But don't worry, I'll be back. I'll be back as soon as possible."

"So... you don't know when you will be back," he states sadly. I nod, sighing out loud.

By demon stuff and obligations, I should train the legions of demons I hold – demons are planning something already and they will unleash evil in Earth soon, but I just don't know when that will be. I cannot really tell Adrian what I'm going to do, though. He will stop me. Of course it's his duty to stop me, to stop the demons from causing a havoc in Earth.

"When are you leaving?"

"Within two days," I respond.

"Promise me that you'll be back as soon as you can," he says meekly, hiding his face in embarrassment and I suppress a chuckle. I just want to kiss him again, to devour his lips, to claim and mark him as mine just to let everyone know that this angel lying beside me is mine and only mine. "Promise me."

I say "I promise," because that's what he wants to hear, and that's what I want to happen – to be back beside him as soon as possible. And that's three promises already. One, I promise that I will not kill him; two, I promise that he will never be sent to Hell and that he will not be harmed; and three, I will be back beside him as soon as I can. "I promise. Now can I get a kiss?"

"Slate, you have been kissing me. What language should I use to say no that would stop you from doing so?" he asks me, arching a brow. Adrian looks really cute and perfect and handsome.

"Nothing," I say, grinning ear to ear as I watch his eyes twinkle and I lean down to capture his lips.