Page 51 of Mortis

“Don’t forget your PPE,” he reminded me, nodding towards the embalming room door.

Once Maurice and Arlo had started wandering into the embalming room without warning, Teddy explained he’d begun leaving boxes of fresh aprons, gloves, and masks on a small table outside the door. He wanted them protected in case he happened to be working with dangerous chemicals.

It was a tiny gesture. One most people probably wouldn’t even notice. Yet it told me everything I needed to know about Teddy. He thought about everyone else’s safety and well-being before his own.

That needed to change.

Instead of putting on another apron and mask, I crossed the room and stopped beside him. Gently, I brushed a stray lock of hair behind his ear. As my clawless fingertip grazed the shell of his ear, a tiny shiver rippled through his body. Goosebumps bloomed across his pale skin, racing down his neck before disappearing beneath the collar of his scrubs.

“You should hydrate.” Almost without thinking, I traced my fingertip down the side of his neck, following the trail of raised skin towards his shoulder. “Perhaps a coffee?”

I knew the bitter drink was his favourite.

Teddy squirmed as my finger drifted a little further, stopping just above the neckline of his shirt. With my enhanced eyesight, I watched in fascination as every fine hair along the back of his neck slowly stood upright.

“I’m fine,” he mumbled.

That would not do. I required another strategy.

“Would you show me how to make coffee again?”

Teddy turned to face me, forcing my hand to fall away. His eyebrows had drawn together in a frown, and his bottom lip protruded in the smallest, most adorable pout. But what truly captured my attention was the colour spreading across his cheeks. The longer he looked at me, the redder they became.

I wondered whether they felt as warm as they looked.

“I know what you’re doing, demon,” he grumbled, though there was very little conviction behind the accusation. “I’ve already shown you how to make the instant coffee in the staff kitchen. Plus, you made me a drink at home this morning.”

He was correct.

While Teddy showered before work, I had attempted to operate the elaborate coffee machine in the kitchen of the flat. I wished to be helpful, so I tried making his favourite. An espresso. I remembered watching him press the button each morning.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember exactly how many times.

It was certainly fewer than seven.

The instant coffee kept in the staff kitchen was considerably simpler. No machine. Just granules, boiling water, and according to Teddy, milk and sugar if one desired. Since I cared very little how anyone else preferred their coffee, and only wished to remember Teddy’s preferences, I ignored that part entirely.

Black. Always black.

I was hardly an expert on coffee—or human beverages in general—but the drinks produced by the machine at home smelled infinitely better. And judging by the soft groan Teddy made after his first sip every morning, they tasted better too. The instant coffee never seemed to inspire quite the same reaction.

“I’ve forgotten since then,” I lied.

Teddy let out an exaggerated huff, his bottom lip jutting out into a deeper pout. He knew I wasn’t being truthful. I knew he knew. Even so, after a moment, his shoulders sagged in surrender, and he gestured towards the embalming room door.

“After you.”

I inclined my head in thanks and walked ahead of him.

Only once my back was to Teddy did I allow myself to smile.

That evening, Teddy and I were resting on the sofa in his living room, watching something called anime. It was an animated story about flesh-eating humans living somewhere called Japan.

“You’re just like Ken Kaneki,” Teddy said, pointing at the black-haired protagonist. “He refuses to eat human flesh because he doesn’t want to hurt people.”

I hugged one of the unnecessarily colourful decorative cushions against my chest, wriggling my human toes inside the pair of warm socks Teddy had given me.

It had become an unspoken rule that I remained in my human form unless we were inside Teddy’s bedroom. Wearing my mortal disguise all day left my body feeling uncomfortably restrained. My horns longed to tear free from my skull, and my blunt teeth ached with the need to sharpen.