Witch's Romance

I met my soulmate while covered in blood. Not exactly the perfect introduction, but we can’t all have the ideal meet-cute. When I saw him, I stood up with an abashed smile and a slight shrug at his appalled face.

“This is not what it looks like,” I scrambled out in a pitiful attempt to explain the situation.

“Really? Because it looks like you just murdered two people,” he choked out as his eyes widened and he started to back up. He was shaking, and the only thing I could think to do was help him understand he didn’t need to be afraid of me.

“These aren’t people, they are demons,” I blurted out, rolling my eyes. Instantly, I froze, and he mirrored my action — obviously, not my best move.

“Demons?”

I shrugged again, unsure how to respond. He started to back away again, but I couldn’t let him leave, thinking I was some crazy girl who claimed demons are real and murdered people.

“Somnus,” I whispered quietly before running up and catching my dream man as he collapsed into a deep sleep. I turned to see the demon's bodies had disappeared, and then shimmered us back to my apartment.

I laid him carefully on the couch and let the cool night wind blow in the room before moving to the kitchen to make tea. I bustled around, set the kettle, and opened a can of soup. I tried to wrap my brain around what I could possibly say to help explain to him what he saw. I tried to think about what would be the easiest or the most believable, but before I could come up with an answer, I could hear him stirring in the other room.

I quickly poured the water into the mugs that I had taken out of the cupboard and walked back into the living room. He was sitting up and rubbing his head.

“How are you feeling?” I asked softly. I placed the cups of tea on the table before taking a seat myself. He sat up carefully and looked around my small space.

“Where am I? What’s happening? Did you kidnap me?” he started fumbling to escape from me in the mists of his rambling.

“Hey, hey! It’s okay. Calm down. I’m not going to hurt you. I made you some tea.” I reached over and lifted the teacup to him. He turned to look at me, confused.

“Who are you? What happened?”

“My name is Lily. You watched me um… kill some demons. You freaked out a little bit, and I’m really sorry, but I had to protect my secret, so I, uh, I um brought you here, to my apartment.” I shrugged and offered him another sheepish smile. “Can I ask, what’s your name?”

“My name is Matt. You keep saying demons. I don't understand. What’s your secret?” I couldn’t help but scoff a little at his question. “What is it?”

“You just asked me to tell you my secret…. That would sort of defeat the purpose of a secret.”

Matt adjusted his position and narrowed his eyes at me.

“Okay, I watched you murder … people…”

“Demons,” I corrected.

“Whatever, then you somehow knocked me out and brought me back to … your apartment? If you’re trying to keep me from knowing information about you, you’re not doing a great job.” He kept his eyes narrowed at me and sighed. I weakly lifted the corners of my mouth.

“I get that. I wasn’t thinking about keeping things from you, well, I was at first, then I was just wanting to keep you … safe.”

“You wanted to keep me safe? I don’t understand. Tell me what the hell is happening!” Matt started to push himself up a bit off the couch.

“Manete,” I whispered again, and against his will, Matt found himself sitting back down. His eyes widened again.

“What the hell?” His eyes tightened.

I sighed. I didn’t see any way around the truth at this point. We were not off to such a great start.

“I am a witch. I have magical powers. I hunt and kill evil things… like demons,” I finally blurted out. Matt just stared at me expressionless. “Look, I know how this sounds….”

“Do you? Do you know how ludicrous this sounds? You’re out of your mind.” Matt finally succeeded in pushing himself up off the couch, but I couldn’t let him get far.

“Luminaria,” I called to the ceiling, and instantly the lights came on. “Musica,” I continued, and the pill box on my dresser started to play on shuffle from my iPad. “Yes, Matt, like I said, I know how it sounds, but it is true.”

Matt stared at me and sat back down.

“Magic, magical people, we all have to keep it secret. This is not the kind of information we can let out into the world. I was afraid of what you might say to someone if I let you go. Then I was worried who might have seen you with me and come after you,” I continued to explain.

“Wait, come after me? I barely saw anything. Why would anyone come after me?” Matt stood up again, but instead of trying to leave, he simply paced around the room, trying to process. I sighed.

“There’s a lot of bad things out there, a lot of them that want to kill me and anyone I’m close to -”

“But we’re not close. I barely know you!”

“They don’t know that. They won’t care about that. They’d kill you anyway. I couldn’t let that happen.” I lowered my head, knowing the emotional weakness rushing through me. Matt turned to look at me now and made his way back to the couch.

“Why? You don’t know me. What does it matter to you if I live or die?” Matt gave me a puzzled expression.

“Well, it's also part of my job to protect innocents - mortals, like you.” Not a total lie. I kept my eyes on the ground.

“Is that it?” he questioned further.

“What do you mean?”

“I have a pretty good sense to know when someone is lying or at least not telling the whole truth.”

“What are you, like, a cop?” I questioned with a forced chuckle. He smirked in kind.

“Actually, I’m a parole officer. So yeah, basically,” he chuckled humorlessly.

“I sensed something when I saw you and again when I moved to touch you and carry you here. Some deeper connection,” I answered.

“Wow, I’ve never had a girl fall for me that quickly before,” he replied with a laugh. I could feel my face turning a dark shade of scarlet.

“It’s more than that. My magic can feel it,” I whispered.

“So you’re saying your magical witchy powers told you that, like, what we are destined for each other?” He was still chuckling, but I could hear in his tone that he was intrigued by the idea.

“Something like that, I suppose. It’s hard to say for sure. I’ve never had it happen before. I’ve only read about it.” I took a sip of my tea, and he picked up his cup from the table.

“Read about it? Is there like a Cosmo magazine for witchy stuff?” He chuckled into his teacup. I couldn’t help but make a snarky face at him.

“No, I read it in my family’s Book of Shadows.”

“Well, that sounds ominous,” he muttered. I smiled weakly and went into the kitchen to start actually making the soup. Matt followed me, bringing his tea.

“It’s not ominous, it’s like a magical history book of all they’ve been through, different spells, potions, and evil beings they’ve come across,” I answered. I poured two cans of soup into the pot and started to stir lightly.

“Demons and spells and potions, oh my!” Matt laughed under his breath.

“Suscitare,” I whispered to the spoon before turning around to look at him. The spoon continued to stir the soup.

“You laugh, but I just proved this is all real. How can you still tease me as if I made it up?” I crossed my arms over my chest, not sure if I should laugh with him or be truly offended.

“Relax, okay?” he requested, holding his arms up in surrender. “Laughter and jokes are just the best way I process information. You laid a lot of truths on me that are hard to swallow; let’s not forget that.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that.”

“Well, if it means I end up with a hot babe like you, I’m not. I just need a minute … to you know, process.” Matt scrunched his eyebrows now and took a seat at the small table in the corner.

I turned back around and hid my blushing face in the steam of the boiling stew. What an interesting beginning. I couldn’t help but think to myself.

“So what do we do now?” Matt asked. I turned in time to see him finish his tea. He stood up - keeping his eyes on me - and moved to put his cup in the sink. Instead of sitting back down, he leaned against the counter, looking at me.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry, hence dinner. Then I guess it’s up to you,” I replied, stealing a glance in his direction.

Abruptly, Matt leaned down and held my cheeks in his hands before kissing me fiercely. It felt like an electric fire zipping back and forth between us. I felt my magic magnify at the sensation, and I reached out to pull him close to me.

Before I was ready, he pulled away from me with that light still in his eyes.

“What was that?” I questioned. He smirked.

“Well, if you’re going to be my ‘magically destined’ lover, I had to make sure you were a good kisser.”