to hunt, how to take care of animals, and how to handle my basic household chores—something he had to learn himself after Grandma passed away. I didn’t want to disappoint him.”
He invited Adam inside with a heavy heart. The house hadn’t been the same without Grandpa, but Emil kept it the way it had been when they’d lived here together, hoping it would preserve the spirit of the old man.
“Sin aside, he raised you right,” Adam said with a small smile.
“I don’t know. I was twenty when he died. See the connection? I didn’t hold back my sexuality after that. It’s not like I can come out of the closet in Dybukowo, but I don’t care what others think as much as I used to when I had to worry about gossip reaching Grandpa. But I sometimes wonder if I shouldn’t have been honest with him. He was an older guy, but open-minded for these parts, so maybe he would have accepted me the way I am. But I’ll never know.”
Adam stepped closer and pulled Emil into a brief but honest hug before taking away the warmth and scent Emil was already painfully hooked on. “What matters most is to be a decent person. Help your neighbors, don’t be an asshole. And you are a decent guy.”
“If that’s what matters most, why do you call my sexuality a sin and hate it in yourself so much?” Emil turned around, because he couldn’t stand the tension buzzing between them.
For a few precious minutes last night, he’d let himself believe that Adam was his. That he’d lured in a skittish doe, that he would earn its affection by giving it only the most delicious treats with a side dish of love and care. But in the end, domesticating the wild beauty had turned out to be a deluded fantasy of a man who craved companionship more than he’d ever admit.
“You’re not Catholic, and I try not to judge people who don’t share my beliefs. I fail at it sometimes, but respect for different beliefs is the only thing that can keep us all from killing each other.” Adam grabbed the cup of water Emil had poured for him and downed it before loudly placing the empty container on the counter.
Emil took a deep breath, stunned at just how right Adam felt in his home. “I never shared like this. About my granddad. I brought you here because I… I’ve had so much death in my family, so much loss, and I didn’t really want to deal with this stuff after Grandpa died. I put all their stuff in the attic. But my grandma was the local Whisperer Woman. It’s like a folk healer who balances Christianity and pagan rites. Most of it is probably superstition, but if we’re to look for clues of how to get rid of a demon, that’s my best bet. Unless… you want to go down the Church rou—”
The violent headshake Adam gave him was all Emil needed. He looked at the ceiling, toward the attic where he’d tucked away all his family secrets. “I just… I know I could have looked through all that stuff on my own, but I don’t wanna be alone with it. It brings me down so much.” At least he was such a downer that Adam’s excitement for him—if there was any—would surely dampen after today.
Emil’s skin sparked when Adam touched his shoulder. “Thank you for doing this. You have no idea how alone I felt this morning. But you’re here, despite everything.”
Despite the burns and the pain of Adam’s rejection, Emil was still ready to be there for him. A martyr. And a lost cause.
He nodded at Adam and led the way up the steep, narrow stairs to the attic.
“Sorry, it’s very dusty up there,” Emil said, pushing up the trapdoor and climbing in first to get rid of any cobwebs. He wasn’t sure whether the lamp up here still worked and was glad when the single lightbulb illuminated the space enough for Emil to easily reach the window and open the wooden blinds, letting in daylight.
The attic stretched above the entirety of the first floor, but was too low for an adult to stand straight, even at its highest points. Full of boxes and chests, it was a relic of a time Emil hadn’t wanted to confront for too long.
Unease crawled under his skin when he sensed the ghost of old-fashioned perfume so he opened the window to get rid