I took Belial with me and left Gerome’s smith shop. Taking hold of Ion’s reins, who waited patiently outside, we got on our way back to the food market. Belial pulsed inside its box, the demon sword had gone from bloodthirsty to happy. He knew he would see daylight and blood once more. Ion nudged me on the shoulder with its nose, it seemed to know about Belial and the possessed piece of steel was making it nervous.

“There, there, boy, it’s not as bad as it seems. Belial is a good demon.” I stroke its nose gaining a neigh from it as if saying it was okay with the action. “Let’s go get your owner, okay?”

Once at the food market, I bought an apple for me and one for Ion. I found a spot where I could sit to wait for Baal. After a while of staring at the crowd inside the market, I noticed a pink haired head making its way to where I was. The small man looked so adorable struggling to walk in between all the other people. He was wearing the cutest annoyed face I had ever seen, guessed he was self-conscious of how short he was relative to everyone else. He finally made it out of the crowd, his satchel full and his hands holding a few more bags. With Belial stashed inside Ion’s bags, I quickly got on my feet and walked over to him.

“Hey sexy, had a hard time going about the market?”

“Shut up, did you do something interesting while I shopped?” Baal smiled and adjusted his hold on the bags in his arms.

“I did, let me help with that…”

Giddy, I took the bags in his arms from him. We walked towards Ion so we could store the things inside our travel bags. Baal didn’t take long to notice the box carrying Belial as half of it stuck out of the bags.

“What in heavens did you get?”

“Well, you said you needed a sword. So, I went ahead and got you one.” I ran my hand over my hair making Baal smirk as he reached to touch the box.

“It’s… weird,” Baal’s fingers stroke the box’s outside, his purple eyes examining it with curiosity. “What kind of sword is it?”

“Umm, open it and you’ll know.” I took the box and held it so he could open it.

Baal looked at me with suspicion all over his face; he bit his lower lip before pressing his hands against Belial’s box. The man opened the lid and almost instantly his eyes got all sorts of sparkly. He took one hand to his face while the other simply rested on the box’s lid.

“Oh Goddess, Luke… it’s beautiful!” He laughed breathlessly. Much like a star, his face lit up while his cheeks turned rose red. “Is this really for me?”

“Yes, why don’t you hold it? Make sure it has the right weight…”

This was the tricky part. I was sure Belial would like him but there was always a small chance he might not.

Baal took hold of the blade’s hilt and raised it with no problem; he gripped it hard and admired the soft pink shade it had. He would have swung it around, I could see he really wanted to, but he might end up slicing someone unintentionally. Belial liked him, all would be good between them from now on.

“It’s perfect… this is a demon sword isn’t it?” He finally asked.

I nodded in response as he took the sheath that lay inside the box, right under where the blade had been, and sheathed his new sword. With joy, he tied Belial to his leather buckle. In my eyes, seeing him with a sword on his belt was like realizing I’d found a piece of the mysterious puzzle his past represented.

“It’s like it has life of its own.”

“You’re not wrong. His name is Belial and his previous owner said he was aching to see some action. I hope you like how he cuts.” I got closer to him, slowly taking hold of his waist and lowering my face close to his. “He likes you probably almost as much as I do.”

“Was that a confession?” Baal chuckled, our lips a few inches away from each other. “You’re confusing, one second you’re wooing me and the next you’re saying how much of a useful friend I am…”

“Sorry about that… you aren’t easy to read either you know? One second you’re seducing me, the next you’re being grouchy and grumpy…”

“Touché, how about we go on a date? I know we should be in a hurry, but I still want a drink before we leave.” He rubbed his nose against mine as he wrapped his arms around my neck.

“A date? That’s an amusing idea, I don’t mind.” I humored him, he seemed a little surprised I had agreed to his proposal. “So, you want to visit a tavern for our first date?”

“I heard there’s a must-go place here at Cordelica, it’s close to the city’s cathedral.” He ended up unwrapping one of his arms so he could start fiddling with his braid as he smiled. “Heard they made the sweetest vodka cocktails in the entirety of the Irisian Spine.”

“Promising! Well then, shall we go?”

Baal winked at me before his expression changed. He turned bashful, his eyes seemed to show he was also very confused.

“You… you really don’t mind going on a date? I was serious about me believing you weren’t interested.”

“You should be able to deduce that had I not been interested, you would have seen the last of me yesterday.” Goddesses, you’d need to be blind, deaf and deprived of sexual needs to NOT want to date Baal. “Tell me, my sweet courtesan, do I have a chance?”

“You might.”

Baal reached for my hand shyly. He hesitated, his hand staying put only a few centimeters away from mine. I decided to help him a little by taking it, his hand was a little cold thanks to the time he spent in the market place. That wasn’t a problem for long since the skin on skin contact and his own nervousness had warmed him up in a few seconds. He looked up at me with a shy smile on his face. I was starting to think he was going through something similar to what I was. We hesitated because our relationship was too good to be true. Deep down we knew it could end at any moment.

With Ion following after us like a loyal hound, we skidded off towards the center of the city.

I had to tell him. If this development between us meant the like was mutual, then I couldn’t keep my race a secret from him.

How would I get around explaining things without scaring him?