They finally had a chance to settle down. As crazy as the past few hours had been, it was good for both Jon and Miya to finally be able to relax. After changing his bandage and putting on new pants, they made themselves comfortable in the small living room of his apartment and took turns nursing the bottle of whiskey Miya brought from his kitchen. Jon drank to ease the pain in his leg, while she drank to calm her nerves after her ordeal.

“Okay…” Miya took a deep breath, having consumed enough spirits to feel comfortable talking again. “...so are you gonna finally tell me what the hell that thing was?”

“It was a Doppelganger,” Jon explained while lighting a cigarette. “A creature of darkness that can take the form of anyone it comes into contact with.”

“So...like a shapeshifter?” She guessed.

He nodded. “Doppelgangers assume the identity of their victims then read their thoughts to copy their personality.”

“They can read minds?” She sounded slightly unsettled.

“To a degree,” he admitted. “Doppelgangers aren’t capable of pure telepathy. They can’t pull your thoughts directly from your head. But they can see enough to give them a good idea of the kind of person you are. The longer they copy you, the more they can see. If it goes on long enough, you could put the two side by side together and you’d never be able to guess who was the real and who was the fake. Not in a million years.”

Miya shuddered at the thought. “So I could be talking to a fake and never know it. That’s horrible.”

“They ain’t invincible,” he assured. “Doppelgangers are just as weak to silver and holy water as any other monster. There’s no hiding from that.”

“So as long as you know what to look out for, you can defend against them?”

He nodded before taking another drag of his smoke.

“But there are others out there,” she observed. “Other kinds of creatures, just like you said.”

His expression darkened as he took another swig of his drink. “Afraid so.”

“What kinds of creatures? I know you mentioned vampires. But what else?”

Jon shrugged. “More than I can count, honestly. For every species, there’s a subspecies. For every subspecies, there’s a hybrid. It would take years to tell you everything. Hell, I still don’t know all of it myself.”

“Give me the basics then,” she insisted, leaning forward in her seat with a curious expression on her face.

Jon blew a breath through pursed lips while he thought about how best to sum this up. “Essentially, all creatures of Hell come in two varieties. Highborn and Lowborn. The Lowborn are what most people think of when they hear about monsters. Vampires, werewolves, witches, that sort of thing. They’re called Lowborn because, barring a few exceptions, they all used to be human. Or a species that was descended from humans at one point in time.”

She nodded. “And the Highborn?”

“I...I couldn’t tell you about that. What little the Vatican knows on them was well above my paygrade while I was still a member of the Order.” Jon took one last drag of his smoke before stubbing it out on an ashtray. “All I can tell you is that they’re powerful. More powerful than any other being in existence. The Highborn are the true Lords of Hell, at least that’s what the Church claims.”

“And do these Lords of Hell have a name?”

Jon downed the rest of his whiskey and spoke. “Devils.”

She gave him a weird look. “As in...Devils plural? I thought there was only one.”

He shook his head, his expression grim. “From everything I was told, there are thousands of them. Each with the powers of a Demi-God. Their influence over the Earth and their movements are all but unknowable to mere mortals such as us. I’m honestly not sure even the Church knows much about them. Not that it matters. Even a Lowborn creature is still plenty dangerous.”

They sat in silence for a moment, giving Miya time to process everything he said. Finally, she sighed in a melancholy tone.

“Jon...I owe you an apology. I thought you were just trying to get rid of me, but you were telling the truth the whole time.”

He frowned before turning his gaze away and folding his arms. “I was trying to get rid of you.”

She gave him a confused look.

“Miya, everything I said back there. I meant every word. We can’t be together. Tonight should have been plenty proof of that.”

She smiled reassuringly. “But at least you were there to save me, right?”

“That's not the point,” he insisted before standing up out of his seat and beginning to pace around the room. “That thing never would have attacked you in the first place had we never met. I made you a target. That Doppelganger attacked you because it was after me.”

She frowned. “But why?”

“Because that’s what these things do,” he replied somberly. “They take any weakness they can get their hands on, anything they can use against you, and they exploit it. By attaching yourself to me, you inherit my enemies. Everything that’s coming after me, will come after you as well.”

Miya remained silent, quietly thinking about this grave revelation.

“It happened to my family.” Jon spoke with pain in his voice. “And it’ll happen to you too. So many people have already died because of me, Miya. I can’t add your death to my conscience as well.”

The quiet that followed was agonizing. It was impossible to tell what Miya might have been thinking, until she eventually gazed back at him and spoke.

“Did you kill it?”

“Did I...did I what?” he asked, as if not hearing what she just said.

“Did you kill the vampire? The one that murdered your family?”

Of all the responses he could have anticipated, that was one of the last ones. Was she being serious?

“Yes, I did. It cost the life of one of my closest allies and I very nearly died in the process, but I killed her.” He sighed. “It didn’t bring me any peace if that’s what you’re asking. Another one just as strong took her place. As they always do.”

Again silence. Christ, this was agonizing. He wished she would just hurry up and say what she was thinking already. Finally, Miya stood from her spot.

“Okay,” she replied with a small nod.

He was floored. “Wh...what did you just say?”

She approached him with honest, caring eyes. “Okay. I believe you. That doesn’t change the fact that I still like you, a lot. If being in danger means making this work, I’m willing to take that risk.”

There was no way. He refused to believe what he was hearing. After all that crazy he just threw at her, there was simply no way in hell she was going to be that accepting.

“You were listening, right? You caught everything I just said?”

Miya nodded and smiled at him innocently. “I’m not sure how I feel about all this yet. Vampires, ghouls, ghosts, that’s so far out of the realm of my reality. But…” Her cheeks turned rosy. “...now that I know these things exist, I feel safer staying with you.”

“Miya, no.” He shook his head emphatically and began to back away. “I can’t accept that. If something were to happen to you…”

“That’s not your call to make,” she continued, getting far too close to him for comfort. “I choose to be with you, Jon. I understand the consequences of my decision. And if something happens to me, I’ll be the one to blame. Not you.”

His heart was racing out of his chest even as she pressed up against him. He could feel the heat of her skin radiating off her. Every inch of her gorgeous frame was on him, a look of deep yearning resting behind her two beautiful violet eyes.

“I don’t care about your past. Or whatever danger being with you might bring.” She reached up on the tips of her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck, her gaze never once breaking from his. “I want this, Jon. Not just for my sake, but for yours as well.”

He was petrified to the spot. “Miya…”

Before he could say anything else she kissed him fiercely, gripping the back of his neck and holding him there for a moment before finally breaking free.

“I’m not gonna let you scare me away that easily, cowboy.”

She kissed him again. His gaze slowly shut as he relaxed into her before reaching out and grasping her waist in his hands. She responded by moving her hips for him, desperate to show how badly she wanted this.

They fell back into the couch, giving in to their desires and casting away all doubt. For now, nothing else in the world existed.