Deity Boyfriend: Peregrine Part One (special preview)

I try the doorknob and when I open the door, the hinges come off from the rotten wood and collapse into the house. I stand there, holding the knob in my hand. Looking inside, I see the once beautiful and gilded hallway is now dusty, dark, and covered with spiderwebs. 

I step inside and smell something like body odor and mildew. Lord Peregrine was always particular about how his home was kept, this was not it. I then find the parlor where a fire is going. In front of the fire is a bed made of pillows and stacked blankets. All around it are bottles of liquor and wine, empty and covered in dust.

I step further in and realize there is a body buried beneath the pillows and blankets. It’s curled up fetal, stirring slightly the closer I get. The body is large and familiar, the skin is powdery and translucent, revealing dark veins under the surface. The arms extend longer than arms should, and the hands are super long and thin, capped with black fingernails. More empty bottles fall out from the gross little nest, and the body turns itself towards the fire. What once was lean and muscled, is now sagging, weak, and paunch at the belly. 

“Peregrine?” I whisper in shock.

“You came back, did you?” His once sensuous voice is now slurred and raspy. “Or am I drinking the absinthe again?” He raises up a bottle to look at me, then jams the mouth of it into his throat so that the bottle sticks straight up from his neck. 

“My gods, Peregrine!” I gasp in disgust. “What has become of you?”

“Holy shit, are you real?” Peregrine reaches out and slaps the nose of my mask. 

I take off my mask and Peregrine’s posture instantly changes. The bottle falls from his neck, crashing down on the ground to join the others. “It really is you,” he breathes.

I look around at the mess of things. Everything has fallen into disrepair and filth, even Peregrine himself. “What happened?”

“I gave up,” he laughs, extending his arms out with a shrug. “Just...didn’t care anymore.” He searches among the bottles for a full one. “After you left, I didn’t think there was a point to anything.”

“That doesn’t sound like you,” I whisper. “Peregrine, you were-”