The Demon's Bride

Chapter 231: Lingering Memory-I

Elise went inside when Ian closed the door behind him. They both walk toward the room and as Ian took a chair, he pulled Elise\'s hand to place her on the seat. "Tell him to show himself."

She nodded and when she was about to tell Sullivan, the ghost huffed, "It\'s not a matter of whether I can show myself. I\'m trapped, this is not my soul you are seeing of, which mean I\'m not a ghost."

Elise couldn\'t understand, "You are not a ghost?" but he was transparent although the difference was that Ian who could see ghost as he was a demon couldn\'t see Sullivan being here.

"I am what you could say as the memory of this house. Once this house gone, I\'ll be gone too. Like a shadow," answered Sullivan and somewhere Elise felt sad for the person as he sounded lonely.

"So he is only a memory of this house," Ian guessed which was right once again and Elise replied with a nod.

"So you are a Demon\'s Bride," Sullivan leaned forward and his eyes seizing her look from top to bottom. His gaze came as sharp but it didn\'t feel uncomfortable for Elise. "How sure are you that you are a Demon\'s Bride?"

"There was an oracle given that says I am a Demon\'s Bride," Elise answered, she didn\'t know if she was sure she was a Demon herself, "How could you tell is someone is a Demon\'s Bride or if they don\'t?"

"The power," answered Sullivan, "Some have a lethal power to kill Demons which the person themselves don\'t know. Do you have power? Other than being able to see ghosts and see things with your eyes."

Elise knew what he was saying, "I do. A power to return thing to ashes with a touch."

"How lethal," remarked Sullivan and his words rub a wound on Elise\'s heart. "Do your power affect the man beside you?"

"Ian isn\'t affected by my power," she answered, "He is an immortal who doesn\'t get affected by wounds or die."

"I think I know someone who are cursed not to die in Hell, but I doubt it\'s him. He was banished from Hell and had never appear anywhere," Sullivan whispered, Elise didn\'t know but she guessed that Sullivan had guessed Ian to be the same person which she knew he was correct, but she didn\'t correct Sullivan. "Try your power on him. I need to see."

Elise frowned, "Is there no way that we could avoid to do that?"

"Please, child, shed your naivety. I know you don\'t want to hurt him, but as you say he is immortal. If he isn\'t going to die, where is the problem then?" Sullivan had spoke to her bluntly and needlessly to say, his words were all daggers. Although Elise could tell the man wasn\'t an evil one, his words weren\'t easy to swallow.

She exhaled a soft breath from her lips, and her eyes look at Ian with full of hesitation. Sullivan called her naive and perhaps he was right, but she believe that no one would want to hurt their love one. Even if they do, it wasn\'t easy to make such choice while knowing the other person have immortality.

"What\'s wrong?" Ian touched her cheeks, turning her face completely to his so his eyes could stare fiercely at Sullivan the sixth. He can\'t see him but the ghost could see him. He could tell that the ghost had said something that disturb Elise which he didn\'t take it easily.

"Sullivan ask if I could use my power on you," Elise answered, and Ian got the cause for her reaction.

"Do it then, don\'t worry. I\'m not a man who promise to protect you but die first," he reached out his hand and placed it on hers, "I guess this will be our first time seeing your power work on people, right? I\'m excited."

Though Elise couldn\'t share the excitement, she tried to be careful with her power, activating it, Elise opened her close eyes when she saw the tips of Ian\'s gloves turn darker before turning to dusts and his skin that showed from his gloves turn black. His flesh hardened, becoming like a stone before it cracked and shattered.

Elise didn\'t know what she should do, her head was thrown in instant panic and she tried to reach out her hand only to pull back as she doesn\'t know if touching Ian would only worsen the condition.

"Don\'t worry," Ian whispered his lips touched her forehead. He appeared to be barely fazed by his hand turning to ashes. "Look now," and Elise shifted her frowning eyes to look at how his hand that was broken mend before his skin that hardened took a lively color and soft. "This what I mean by immortal."

Elise didn\'t doubt Ian\'s words of immortality, but she thought that his span of immortality was his life where he could not age. Now she understood, Ian was immortal because no matter what wound he received he wouldn\'t die.

"So your power affect Demons, pretty strong to point out," Sullivan said as he flew beside her. "And very fascinating to watch, I\'ve never seen power so ambiguous that it could only harm and destroy things. And people to add."

"Is this a power of the Demon\'s Bride?" she asked him as the man knows the most in this room.

"Who knows?" Sullivan shrugged which had Elise to frown. Didn\'t the ghost ask her to show her power so he could determine whether she was a Demon\'s Bride?

"I thought you know which why you asked me to use my power," she saw Sullivan looking at her with a smug smile and her brows knit to a tight frown.

"I did not promise, it was you who concluded that," which was true but Elise didn\'t sit well with the ghost\'s words. "But don\'t worry, I could tell that this power of yours is truly a Demon\'s Bride power. It\'s the first time for a Demon to be with a Demon\'s Bride despite knowing the risk that he would have to take."

"That I will kill him?" questioned Elise for Sullivan to shook his head.

"That and another thing. I conclude that you know it from the oracle where you are fated to be a Demon\'s bride, but you hadn\'t heard anything after it. You are similar like my late wife."

Elise pursed her lips and she clasped her hands together being careful as Sullivan seemed like a person whose mood change accordingly, "Was she a Demon\'s Bride too?"

"No she wasn\'t, who is saying that?" Sullivan snapped and he rolled his eyes, "Edith was a corrupted Angel, she escaped from Heaven and we met by chance when she was sold to Hell to be punish. I was there and we fell in love, so I ran from Hell with her to live here, in the mortal\'s world."

"What happen after?" inquired Elise, "We heard that Mrs. Edith killed you which was false."

"No, that was correct," Sullivan interrupted her, his eyes met Elise\'s for a moment before he turned away to look at the window which could barely help him to see anything as dusts covered the window pane. "Edith betrayed me. She wanted to exchange my life for Heaven to take her back in. She was-" Sullivan sighed before turning to look at her, "-Edith was a Demon\'s Bride through and through even though she wasn\'t one, she was the embodiment of the Demon\'s Bride term— seducing me to love her which I wanted to believe that was true, but it would be naive for me to say that when she had pointed her power to me."

Elise could sense that Sullivan was feeling sorrow from the betrayal he experienced. "I\'m sorry," she said. But that reminds Elise she didn\'t see Edith\'s ghost here.

Sullivan looked at her and only smiled, "You don\'t need to."

"Did she succeeded to Heaven?" she asked, wanting to know if Edith truly came back to Heaven because Blythe was promised of a similar promise which ended up as a lie.

"She didn\'t. Like me, she was betrayed, though I doubt she knew that before she died," Elise couldn\'t see Sullivan\'s expression as the man faced his back to her, "I killed her before meeting with those bastards."

Elise didn\'t know what to say, "I didn\'t see her ghost here."

"She must have disappeared somewhere or maybe she had left with her soul taken by the grim reapers, I don\'t know, I didn\'t see her since then," answered Sullivan with his hand crossed.

"Who betrayed Mrs. Edith?" Elise asked and this time Sullivan turned his body completely to her.

"The dark sorcerers," the three words had instantly pulled Elise\'s brows to a frown, "They feigned themselves as an angel which doesn\'t work to me but it did to Edith. They proved her to be one by showing their white wings, because not everyone could mimic white wings."