The Incubus System Chapter 1545. Come With Me

The Incubus System Chapter 1545. Come With Me

I paused, my smile sharpening slightly.

“But…” I shrugged. “I don’t attack people who haven’t attacked me first.”

Simple.

Lysathiel had manipulated her way into the college.

But she'd also listened to me when others wouldn't. She had facilitated my legal entry into the Light Dimension, tried to prevent conflict between Aurelion and me, and helped me leave when everything went sideways.

Compared to the angels I'd hunted tonight, she was practically applying for sainthood.

Pearl sighed. "You have a very strange definition of 'not worth mentioning.'"

“Maybe.”

I opened their portal before she developed a stress-related medical condition. "Home."

Pearl pointed at me. "This conversation isn't finished."

"Of course not."

Diamond stepped toward the portal, then looked back. "And you're certain I shouldn't confront Lysathiel?"

"Don't." That answer came immediately. I softened my tone. "If she's manipulating people, confronting her without protection achieves nothing. Leave her alone for now."

That satisfied Diamond slightly more.

She stepped through.

The portal closed.

I exhaled.

Then turned around.

Only one person remained.

Emma.

She stood near the sofa, finally dressed again, hair still slightly messy from the night's chaos. Compared to Pearl and Diamond, she looked unusually quiet.

"Last passenger."

I raised my hand. ‘Portal.’

Darkness opened.

Her bedroom appeared on the other side.

I stepped aside. "Your stop."

Emma approached.

Then, just as she reached the portal, her hand moved.

Her fingers caught my sleeve. Gently.

I paused. Not because she was strong enough to stop me.

Because Emma didn't usually do things without thinking first.

I looked down at her hand.

Then at her face.

Her expression wasn't playful anymore. Just something quiet. Something uncertain. "Ethan."

My smile faded slightly.

She almost always called me Ethan when she wanted me, not the demon prince, not Damian, not whatever ridiculous title the supernatural world had attached to my existence.

Her fingers tightened around my sleeve. “Come with me, Ethan.”

I looked back at her. “Do you want to talk about something?”

Emma shook her head.

“No.” Her fingers loosened slightly against my sleeve, but she didn’t let go. Her gaze remained on mine, softer than I expected. “I want you.”

I exhaled quietly through my nose.

There was no teasing in her voice.

She was looking at Ethan.

At me.

And somehow that made the simple request hit harder than it should have.

Something warm settled behind my ribs.

“Fine,” I murmured.

I stepped through the portal with her.

The temperature changed immediately.

The heavy atmosphere of Sea Devil Club vanished behind us, replaced by the gentle coolness of Emma’s room. Her familiar scent lingered faintly in the air, mixed with fabric softener and whatever perfume she had used before going out tonight. The ordinary simplicity of it was almost disorienting.

Emma released my sleeve only after I closed the portal.

Darkness stitched itself together behind us.

“You should take a bath,” she said softly.

I glanced at her.

She gestured toward the bathroom. “You drank a lot tonight. I’ll make some tea.”

“Tea?”

“Yes, tea.”

I almost protested automatically, then stopped.

Maybe tea wasn't a bad idea.

My head wasn't spinning. My body could handle far more alcohol than an ordinary human could, especially now, but that wasn't really the point.

She was trying to take care of me.

“Fine,” I said. “Tea.”

I walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind me.

The light came on.

For several seconds, I simply stood before the mirror.

Damian stared back.

The face was mine, yet not the face the Human World knew best. Sharper features. Different presence. The form of the demon prince had once felt like another identity I put on whenever Ethan Strongheart wasn’t enough.

I stared into those eyes.

They seemed calmer tonight.

Darker too.

Not corrupted.

Just finished apologizing.

I raised one hand and touched the mirror with my fingertips.

For so long, I'd divided myself without realizing it.

Ethan was the human.

Damian was the demon.

Ethan went to college, worried about Celia, played games with Larry, argued over stupid things, ate ordinary meals, and tried to maintain something resembling a normal life.

Damian dealt with kingdoms.

Killed.

Commanded.

Protected cities.

Faced monsters and angels.

Carried bloodlines I had never asked for and titles that had been waiting for me before I even understood what I was.

I closed my eyes.

The transformation came almost instinctively.

When I opened them again, Ethan Strongheart stared back at me.

My human face.

My ordinary face.

Yet I stayed there for several seconds because something was different.

The eyes hadn't changed.

The face belonged to Ethan.

The gaze belonged to Damian.

I slowly ran my fingers through my hair. “I guess my human self and my demonic self have already become one.”

Saying it aloud made the realization settle deeper.

Maybe there had never needed to be a line between them.

I was Ethan when I held Celia close.

I was Damian when I stood before an army.

I was Ethan when Larry irritated me enough to make me question why friendship had no cancellation policy.

I was Damian when an angel put a blade near someone under my protection.

Neither was fake.

Neither erased the other.

The mistake had been thinking kindness belonged exclusively to Ethan while violence belonged to Damian.

Tonight had proven otherwise.

Ethan was capable of killing.

Damian was capable of loving.

They were simply different parts of me.

And perhaps that was exactly what the Light Dimension hated so much.

I didn't fit neatly into their categories.

They wanted labels because labels made judgment easy.

Unfortunately for them, I had become rather complicated.

My clothes dissolved into streams of dark energy, slipping from my body like black smoke before vanishing completely. I stepped beneath the shower. Warm water struck my shoulders. I closed my eyes and let it run over me.

I tried not to think.

I'd already thought enough tonight.

The water streamed down my face.

My thought went to Lysathiel.

I wanted her on my side. Not because she was Aurelion's wife. Because she could matter.