A Demon's Regret

Andy trailed after me, humming happily to himself. I felt incredibly conflicted, like I had a war going on in my mind. I wasn’t sure what I thought, what I felt. But I had realized that, regardless of the mess in my head, we needed to get Andy's poor rose in some water.

I turned to Andy, starting to feel embarrassed that I had gotten it for him in the first place. Would he think me childish? "Close your eyes and hold out your hands."

Andy did as he was told, but sneaked a peek as I went to turn around. "No peeking!" Andy shut his eyes and grinned, while his dark tail made loopy, impatient motions and he stamped his feet.

I turned around and checked that Andy's eyes were still closed one last time before I quickly pulled the blue rose from the bag and went to stand in front of him. Carefully, I took a few of his fingers and closed them around the stem, where there were no thorns.

"Alright, handsome; open your eyes." Andy’s slit-pupiled eyes dilated when he saw the rose, and his mouth hung open for a moment. Oh shit! Had I insulted him? Did he think it was too feminine?

"A rose, (Y/N)… You have brought me a rose. Why?" Andy didn't sound angry. He closed his eyes and brought it closer to smell it. Had I made some bad memory resurface?

I looked at the ground, my entire mind burning with mortification, everything a mental blur. I was ashamed at making Andy feel badly when I had just meant to make him feel special and cared for. I couldn't do anything right...

I felt Andy's clawed hand on my shoulder. "My lady?"

"I'm so sorry, Andy, I just wanted to get you a little something extra to show you that, I mean... I just... You're amazing. I wanted you to feel appreciated. I-" Andy cut me off and stood a little closer.

"-(Y/N), I love roses. In all my years, I have presented literally millions of roses, but this is the very first I have received.” Andy looked at the blue rose for a moment, then back at me, caressing my shoulder with his thumb.

“It is beautiful, mistress, thank you. I certainly hope the choice of color is not intended as a message to tell me you are unattainable. If that is the case, I will descend into an all-embracing madness and then surely expire." He smiled impishly, raising an eyebrow.

"No! No, I meant, I mean, of course not! No, you're the unattainable one, you silly goose!" Andy shook his head.

"Wrong! You have me, you have broken me in every way, I am subjugated completely by you, my little goddess! I cannot survive without you! What more can you want, I have nothing else to offer?" Andy sounded as though he believed what he was saying.

I wanted to believe him too. But some part of me, made resilient over the course of many years, said I knew better. Andy knew nothing of thinking of anything further than the here and now. Andy had no concept of love, of caring beyond today. If I let myself care meaningfully for him, I would be damaged, and he would go on, business as usual.

True, Andy probably was stubbornly fixated on me, for now. But I couldn’t let myself believe he was able to harbor genuine feelings. He surely wanted another notch in his belt, he had a lot of pride, and clearly he was hungry. Andy wasn’t a bad guy, just a demon.

I had to watch out for myself. In a month, at the most, Andy would be gone forever, and I'd have to live with the choices I'd made. Did I really want to look back on me letting myself think I was in love, developing genuine feelings, imagining they were returned, when I knew it was impossible, when I knew, with absolute certainty, that Andy was going to leave and tear my heart out? Didn’t I prefer to have my memories be hot, smart, and fun?

I had to try and keep some kind of control of myself. If no human had found me tolerable, able to love, I knew Andy absolutely could not. I had to keep the floodgates of emotion shut.

"Andy, let's get that in some water." He followed me to the kitchen as I got some scissors and my crystal vase.

"I want to know how to feed it, nurture it, make it grow. I treasure it, because it is from you. I want it to live on, always." I turned to look at him as I brought the vase out of the cupboard. He wanted to grow the rose?

“Andy, as it happens, I’ve read a little about that, and it doesn’t work very well. Most people don’t grow new roses from cuttings, though it’s possible. Besides, it wouldn't stay blue, that's just dye. We could dry it and preserve it for you, instead, if you like?” Andy shook his head.

“Tell me, (Y/N), what botanical methods we must use.” He took my hand. “I beseech you, my queen, that I may have this rose to grow and thrive forever outside the walls of my home.” Well, damn. He looked so determined!

I swallowed. I was more than a little rusty on the subject. “Well, for now, we need to get it in warm water, uh, I have some flower food for it, and I can trim it a bit. Then, if you really want to try it, we need some special hormone powder that will hopefully make it grow roots, and some dirt to plant it in-“

“-Ah! I see! Hormones! The sooner the better, then!” Andy’s tail made little jagged movements as he looked at his rose and licked his lips. “My clever little plum, pray put this worthy flower in that distinctive water mixture you described, in the appropriate fashion, and make haste!” He sounded like an inventor on a roll, so I just followed along, liking the sparkle in his eyes.

I got some warm water, and, knowing we were going to make it a cutting, didn’t make the water too high a level, so not too many leaves needed to be cut. I added the flower food and stirred. Lastly, I trimmed the rose’s stem below the water at an angle and fished out the floating stem segment.

I could hear Andy purring right behind me immediately before he wrapped his arms around my waist. “You are seemingly a virtuoso in all things, my lady.” I felt Andy’s hands mold to my breasts, his purring loud in my left ear, a rumbling I could feel in his chest and throat. “We need no powder if you will give me a snack.”

Snack? I let myself press against Andy, just a bit. He squeezed my breasts a little roughly as he pulled me closer to him with a low grunt. “Ah, my luscious temptress! You see, you are full of hormones yourself, of all kinds. Of course, I have my favorites, my ripe, little nectarine.” Andy gripped my chest again, a little harder still, with a throaty groan. Uhmm... “You are mouthwatering, you have no idea, the way you taste-”

I felt my face get hot at that. I knew what Andy meant, but it sounded like, well, something else. “-the way you respond to touch!” Andy moved to gripping my hip with one hand. He moved my hair aside with the other and started kissing my neck, murmuring and purring at me. It was difficult not to turn to jelly.

Some moments later, Andy stopped kissing and touching me, and my head slowly, reluctantly, started to clear of its besotted stupor. I looked over my shoulder and saw Andy was still behind me, but with a look of concentration. I followed his gaze to his rose, sitting in the vase, which he was lightly touching.

Wait, what the fuck?!? I looked from Andy to the rose again. There were just a few roots, fine as hairs, visible coming from the end of the stem, underwater!

Wow! I beamed at Andy, who was still looking intently at his rose. I turned back to the rose, and saw the blue dye was gradually disappearing, and the roots were a titch longer and thicker.

Excited, when I looked back at Andy, I noticed right away that he looked a little thinner. “Stop! Stop, Andy! No!”

Worried, he looked down at me. “But, my dear-“

“No, it’s too dangerous right now! See, look, it’s already worked, it has some small roots, right?" I gestured to the roots, trying not to sound hysterical. "You can do more later, ok? But right now, you don’t have the energy-“ I wasn’t expecting the reaction I got.

Andy threw a full-on tantrum again. He yanked away from me with a scowl and started pacing and shouting, gesticulating wildly. “I don’t care! You won’t ever have me, will you? Will you? Leave me be, to do as I will! I want this rose to live on as a symbol that you cared for me at all, let it be the last thing I ever do. Can’t you even give me that?” He bent a little to yell in my face. “Can’t you, or must you torment me to the very end, make sure my rose dies with me as well?!?”

He took a breath, looking disgusted. “I will never have the energy, (Y/N)! Not for anything! I cannot live on kisses alone any longer; this is not life! I will die tomorrow when you leave me here alone and untouched-“

All my defenses rushed up at once, jumbled, incoherent. I didn’t even know what I wanted to say. “-I got a long weekend off, to be with you! I, I got you a fountain pen! And candy! But, how can I possibly just believe you? That you’re not going to impregnate me, kill me with penis spines, or give me-“

Andy held up a hand, looking a little calmer. “-I will do anything I can to prove myself to you, (Y/N). I do not have the power left to make another binding contract to prove my truthfulness.” Andy chewed on his lip, and minuscule little curls of smoke escaped both nostrils as he thought.

Suddenly, Andy’s tail twitched, and his eyes widened. “I have it! All I have left to me is to ask someone you may conceivably believe and trust more than myself to vouch for me, that my word is true.”

Huh? Andy knelt in front of me and held one of my hands. “My princess, I have never, ever done this before, for a human. You must be steadfast and brave. I know you have courage or I would not do this thing-“

My heart was starting to race from the look in Andy’s eyes. “-Andy, who would I believe? What are you doing?” I followed him out towards the main room.

The look in Andy’s eyes got darker. “Stand back. I’m summoning my Father.”

Notes

This should go perfectly smoothly, right?