Are You Heartbroken?

He still didn't understand why she left the way she did. He had desperately wanted her to spend the day with him. He would have called in sick, and they could have spent the day in bed, kissing, touching, talking…. Eating takeout. He would have asked if he could see her again.

Now, it had been weeks and he still thought about her constantly. He was not bored.

He spent the next few hours walking the streets while carefully examining the faces of the homeless people he met on his way. He must have given away more than a thousand dollars when he started walking home slowly, feeling the depression settle over him.

His cellphone rang shrilly in his pocket. He picked it up although he didn't feel like talking to anyone. It was Penelope.

"Master, are you feeling better? Should I prepare something fun to make you feel better?" she rushed out.

"Master?" Penelope yelled.

"I'm here. I am okay. You don't need to bother."

"Are you coming home?" she asked.

"I will be there shortly."

Penelope was already waiting for him when she arrived at the house.

"Master, what the hell happened to you?" she asked with a shocked expression on her face. "You look like shit!"

"Gee, thanks. You really know how to make a two-thousand-year-old feel special," Ladislas replied sarcastically, although he knew she was right.

They made their way inside and Penelope frowned when he removed his coat.

"I didn't notice earlier but you seem to have lost weight," she commented. "Are you on a diet or something?" She didn't know how his body changed. Being a demon, he never really gained or lost weight or looked different in any way.

"No."

"You look like you lost ten pounds," she said and looked him up and down. "Master, spill. I know you and something happened. This is more than just boredom and getting high," she said with conviction.

Ladislas nodded. He knew he had to come clean. He had allowed someone to enter the house he shared with Penelope. Despite being her superior, he felt obliged to tell her that someone knew how to get into his house.

"What tipped you off?" Penelope was unobservant at home. She was acutely aware of people around her, but she rarely had to gauge the mood of her master. Therefore, Ladislas was surprised she had picked up on his bad mood.

"I went into your room to change the bedsheets. I found some worn clothes and an unchanged sheet. You haven't let me wash yours in weeks. I figured I would look. It smells of a human." She didn't look guilty for snooping.

"I was walking home and stumbled upon a homeless woman. She was on the ground and she would have died outside, so I brought her here with me."

Penelope's eyes widened to the size of saucers. "Master! You brought a homeless human with you? I know you are immortal but that is insane!"

Ladislas held up his finger to stop her.

"Sorry, continue," she urged.

"Well, she was freezing so I offered her a bath and some of your clothes to wear. I heated some food."

"Master, did she do something bad to you? No… that can't be. Did a human being in your house make you fall sick and look like crap?"

They had never had a human in their house before, so she didn't know if that was the true reason.

"Penelope, will you shut up and listen?"

Her face fell and she looked regretful.

"Sorry, master. I am done now."

"I know you are this way because you care for me. No, I wasn't affected by the presence of a human in the house. Not at all."

Penelope relaxed visibly and leaned back against the couch.

"I knew this girl."

Penelope raised a brow.

"She was a pain in the ass in my class and she dropped out suddenly."

Ladislas could see she had a million questions, but she was literally biting her lip to keep from talking. He started telling her about Anna and how she had reacted.

Ladislas told her everything.

"When I touched her… it was like my magic was out of control. I wasn't scared of her finding out what I was. I never hid it from the beginning. But I healed her. And we had sex."

Penelope's jaw dropped at that last bit.

"Afterwards, we snuggled up in bed and watched television. I fell asleep in her arms and when I woke up the next morning, she was gone."

One could literally hear a pin drop after he stopped talking. He had never seen Penelope rendered speechless before but she was just staring at him.

"Say something," Ladislas groaned.

She blinked a few times and cleared her throat.

"That all sounds really sweet and completely insane at the same time, Master," she said and took a sip of water.

"But it doesn't explain why it looks like someone took away your favorite toy and hit you with a train over and over again. Or why you are not eating and why you called in sick from work for a week. Are your powers still out of control? You didn't like that? Did it hurt you in some way?"

"I'm not sure. But it hurts." He pressed his finger to where his heart was.

Penelope blanched and was almost as pale as the many dead bodies he had seen in this lifetime. She came to him and pulled his clothes aside to inspect the area. Finding nothing, she frowned.

"What does this pain feel like?" Penelope asked.

"Like something is pressing down on me… I feel choked."

Penelope looked over the demon curiously and then sat back down.

"I don't sense any abnormal flow of magic in your body. And there is no physical problem with you… are you… heartbroken?"

Ladislas raised his brow. "That's the most disgusting thing you have ever said," he grunted.

"I think you're in love with her," Penelope whispered.