Ascension by Felicity Heaton

end of the living area, and a large black couch faced it, devoid of pillows and as lifeless as the empty black coffee table and the rest of the apartment.
    She walked towards the couch, her footsteps loud on the wooden floor.
    It looked like a showroom for expensive designer furniture and minimalist living. Not the Taig that she knew. It didn’t suit him.
    A closer look at the black door to the right of the television revealed that there were also markings on that doorframe. She turned to the two huge windows on her left, opposite the kitchen. The black blinds were up. Symbols covered the wooden window frames and sills.
    Taig might have moved into human territory to feel more like them but his protective instincts had gone haywire because of it. Surrounded by demons, he hadn’t needed to defend himself to this extent. The other demons he had lived with would have alerted everyone if they had sensed something wrong. Out here, in this human world, Taig was alone.
    And it showed.
    Lealandra took another swig of the beer and stared out of the windows at the myriad of buildings that crowded the scenery. She couldn’t see Central Park but it was there somewhere. They were facing west. Taig always liked his apartments to face west. It was a demon thing. He had never been able to explain it rationally but she suspected it had something to do with the setting sun and the onset of night.
    Night was on its way out right now. The sky was slowly lightening. She looked around the apartment for a clock but found none. No pictures or anything personal adorned the walls and table in front of her. Nothing that made it feel lived in, like a home. She wrapped one arm about herself and frowned. The whole place felt cold and lifeless. Was that how he felt inside? Was this void a physical representation of what Taig held within him?
    She didn’t like it. It wasn’t Taig, no matter how much he believed it was.
    He moved out of the kitchen, leaned his broad frame against the counter next to the square white column at the corner nearest the front door, and swigged his beer. The messy black spikes of his hair threatened to cover his equally dark eyes. He had them glued on her and they sparkled under the white ceiling spotlights.
    What had happened to the man she had fallen for all those years ago?
    Lealandra took a step towards him but he walked away, disappearing into the room beside the television. She rocked back on her heels when she caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye. It was odd and as out of place as Taig was in this stark environment, but it gave her hope. She walked over to the long black side cupboard that lined the back wall of the apartment and stared at it.
    A picture.
    It sat alone on the expansive low cupboard, right in the middle of it, as though on display. The only sign of life. A glimmer of the Taig she used to know.
    The picture was no bigger than six inches tall and framed with silver. She lowered her beer to her side and studied the photograph it contained.
    A dark haired and dark eyed very handsome man was smiling up at her. In his arms, a lighter haired pretty woman stood with her back against his chest. He had his arms looped under hers and his fingers tangled with hers over her stomach. Her pregnant stomach. It was large and round, stretching the seams of the flowing white top the woman wore. She looked happy enough to burst. They both did. They radiated love so strongly that Lealandra felt a hint of envy. Her gaze fell to their hands, clasped together over their future baby.
    Taig.
    It was such a human picture and a very human thing for him to have. It sent a chill through her, made her smile but want to cry at the same time for the things he had lost. His parents. She was sure if they had still been alive, he would have grown up differently. He would have seen his demonic power as a gift rather than a curse.
    She reached out to touch it.
    “Don’t!” Taig’s voice made her jump, the harshness and