Anchor, Soulmate, Mate

The car ride was silent, but steeped with tension.

Azaziel had said he needed to talk about something, only to start the car and then zoom off, driving to her house.

Her best bet was that he wanted to speak to her at home instead if in the car.

She still had the blush on her cheeks from his little not so little display in front of Bridget.

It was crazy how he literally came out of nowhere and stood with her while she faced one of her bullies who was once a friend.

It's been over two years now, but she still could not truly believe how quickly life had changed for her.

When he stopped in the driveway, Vynessa leaped out if the car, and rushed into the house, occasionally turning to check that he was still there.

When she walked into the kitchen to get a drink, she found him already there, leaning on the kitchen counter.

"You really need to stop doing that, if you don't plan of giving me a heart attack!"

"What? This?" And with that he appeared right in front of her, his hands splayed on either side of the kitchen counter, caging her in.

"Je─shit! Stop doing that. My heart could literally seize up and I'd die' she whispered. He was so close, so damn close she could still smell the sulfur and deep ocean and rain in his breath. He smelt undeniably manly.

" You won't"

"Oh it's very possible. I could... "

"You're in an unfinished oath with me, even death would not take you even if you begged him to"

It took her a minute to understand what he was saying and when she did...

"WHAT!!? Are you fucking saying I can't even die now!?"

Vynessa yelled.

"Yes. Dying without fulfillment of your own side of the oath means you have cheated me. The laws of life are very all encompassing. There's no loophole out of our oath. Not even death."

Vynessa laughed without emotion.

"I told you to kill me, and you took away that one wish. The one thing I actually told you to do. Begged you to do. You're really something, you know that?"

"You didn't even want to die anyway, Vynessa. Remember? You don't want to, or you could have" he said smugly. Like that information did not just upend her life.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Vynessa said, seeing through him and his ploy to deflect again.

Azaziel's eyes shone, telling her she was right. He had been hoping she would forget what he said in the car.

Azaziel looked like he had finally come to terms with the fact that he had to, because he shook his head twice and then began.

"Vynessa, what I am about to tell you is scary. It will destroy your life as you know it, and it is my greatest desire to keep it away from you till the very end"

Vynessa's heart beat wildly in her chest.

"Well, it's not just about you, so I need to know. Stop trying to scare me, Azaziel"

"Fear is good, remember? Though, I'd much rather prefer that you don't quake in fear and collapse at my presence, but make no mistake, Vynessa, I am still the same being from before. I am not to be trifled with" as if on cue, thunder struck outside followed by heavy torrents of rain.

It was just 11am, but the sky became dark. High winds rattled her windows and shook the scanty trees outside, bending them till they snapped and broke. The lights in the house, twitched, flashed and blew up leaving burnt, static smoke in the air.

"Ok ok... I believe you. Please stop. Stop!! Please" Vynessa pleaded, holding on to the kitchen counter for dear life.

"Why love? I'm not doing anything. This is who I am. Everything else you know about me is just me putting a huge damper on who I really am" Azaziel said as his imaged swiched to and fro from his human form to his demon form.

"Stop fucking deflecting, Azaziel!!! Stop trying to come up with excuses to chicken out. You may think you're doing something, but all you're doing is show me how important this thing you're keeping from me is, and it makes me want to know it even fucking more!!!! So, stop being a big baby demon and tell me what it is you're so damn desperate to hide from me you coward!!?" Vynessa yelled in his face.

Azaziel stilled, his smug smile fading, along with everything else. The winds, rain and darkness bled black into light... Only the wet wind, broken trees and the sounds of various police cars and sirens showed that something like that had happened.

"Anchor. Do you know what it is?"

Vynessa looked blank.

"Just as a shifter or werewolf needs their fated mate to complete their soul, a demon needs their predestined mate, or ‘anchor,’ to complete them" Azaziel paused to take a deep breath before continuing.

"An anchor does exactly that– it anchored a demon and made them stronger,  stabilizes them, so that they no longer roamed the earth or hell without a purpose. A demon's anchor becomes the sole purpose of a demons life.

Without one, prince or not, high demon or not, you're just a larky for the big man down there"

Vynessa had never really heard him talk for this long, she was about to ask why he was telling her all that, but he opened his mouth to speak again.

"Having an anchor means having someone you could rely on, someone whose loyalty would be absolute. They would protect, support, and defend their anchor if necessary.

It is instinctual, such that even if you were human, you would not mind putting yourself in danger to save your demon anchor" he finished and sighed.

"That doesn't sound so bad" Vynessa said. She still didn't understand why he was giving her a lecture on werewolves and anchors.

   "Well, there are downsides. Anchors become possessive and overprotective, Additionally, demons could find it mentally uncomfortable to be away from their anchors for long periods of time. There is also the fact that if a demon died, it was very mentally painful and draining for their anchor."

"Demons die? I didn't know that" Vynessa said. That was a scary, scary thought.

"It's not death as much as it is 'returning'. Every demon has an essence, just like him and have life. If we get hurt one two many times, it depletes and then extinguishes.

" so, it's like having a battery. If you use it, it drains and then goes off, if you don't, it stays?" Vynessa asked.

"Exactly like that" He finished.

"I take it you have found your anchor, if you're talking so much about it. Did you think I would be jealous? I'm totally fine"

She was totally not fine. Now she had no chance. She had no hope, not when he would be obsessed and crazy about some random demon in hell. He'd probably himself hoarse if he ever found out that she had─

"You know I can hear you, right?"

"WHAT!!? WTF DO YOU MEAN?!" Vynessa yelled.

"I told you I could from the very first day"

"So, you have been listening to my thoughts all this while?

" I try not to. Really, I do. And I don't hear all your thoughts. If I wanted to, I could. It's like shutting off a radio channel and switching to something else. It's usually not that strong for low tier demons. Those ones can sense really strong emotions and interpret them."

"You don't?" She asked, mostly to reassure herself.

"I try not to. Sometimes, it's almost like you stand at the door of your mind and shout them out at me. And they're so clear and loud, it's almost like you want me to hear them"

"And who is your demon anchor?" Vynessa asked

"That's the issue. My anchor isn't a demon, Vynessa, she's human. It's you"

Soulmate. Anchor. Confidant. Mate. Purpose. Possessive. Overprotective. Support. Defend. Anchor. Anchor. Anchor. Anchor. Anchor. Anchor...

Vynessa stood still. Very still.

She would not shake, just in case the words she just heard began to move.

.