28. Kairhyse

28

Kairhyse

T here's no indication of how long we've been asleep. The curtains in the master bedroom are blacked out, not because I dislike the sun, but because I enjoy sleeping in from time to time.

I feel no movement in the bed, and shift quickly onto my side. My arm is stuck, and the moment I move the blanket that had balled between us, I see her face. Her lips are slightly parted, one arm draped across my hip—she's still here.

Slowly shifting, I turn to face her. I'm beyond grateful to see that her shoulder is completely healed, and the bullet wound in her forehead is gone, which likely means the ones in her chest are as well.

I tighten the arm that is stuck under her and she stirs. I'm personally prepared to be slapped, so I shift her over, guiding her to rest her head on my chest, tucking her just under my chin.

I take a deep breath, inhaling the calm before she inevitably wakes up and all Beyond is unleashed. Her scent is so potent, more so than I have ever smelled before.

"Are you sniffing me?" Her tone is groggy, and I shift my hand up to her dominant side, preparing for the punch to the face. "You're so weird. "

A soft groan comes from her throat as she rubs her forehead and nose against my chest, her legs moving up to hug at my hips.

"You're the one nuzzling against me like a cat," I playfully quip. "What's next, biscuits?" Her head lifts, resting her chin on my chest, and narrowing her eyes.

"I'll move," she warns, and I burst into laughter, my arms enveloping her in a tight embrace. "You're warm, for a dead person." I can't contain my continued laughter as I raise a hand to rub against my face and through my hair. "You're unbelievably loud first thing in the morning—or whatever time it is," she grumbles.

I clear my throat. "Technically it's your fault for saying funny shit." The moment I feel her beginning to pull away, I roll her onto her back and rest on top of her. "Where are you going?"

"To pee." She licks her lips, and I know she can feel my excitement between her thighs because her skin is beginning to warm. "I'm all for morning sex, but I need to eat. I'm hungry for food ."

I'm beyond full, but of course, she needs to eat. "I guess I can't let my little demon starve."

She groans and pushes against my chest, squirming from my hold and scurrying out of bed. Her ass bounces as she slips into the bathroom and closes the door. It has me debating on actually feeding her food first, instead of my cock. "You sure breakfast—"

"Yes, oh my Gods!" The stream of her going is blanketed by my laughter. She's so easy sometimes, and I love it.

I leave her to put a shirt on, or not, and make my way to the kitchen after checking my phone and slipping into some gray sweatpants. It's dark outside, and I glance at the tablet indicating it's nearly midnight. We've slept all day, but it doesn't bother me. There's no need to report in, and there haven't been any calls. I can't recall if she had work, but regardless, she'd not be going in anyway.

After tapping the tablet to get some music playing, I begin gathering everything I need to make her pancakes .

"I'll just take a sandwich, Kai."

I turn, watching her stroll down the stairs in one of my black shirts. It looks like she used my brush on her hair, finishing with a single braid down her shoulder. "No, no. You are getting pancakes. Just don't be too critical since I've never made them—or, well, not in a very long time."

"I hate cooking," she confesses.

"Couldn't tell by the looks of your kitchen." Something smacks the back of my head, and I quickly turn to see that she threw one of the fake apples sitting in a basket on the counter. "What? Just saying, it looks like one of my kind lives there."

She sits on a barstool and rolls her eyes. "Yeah, whatever."

I hum, "How did you sleep?" I ask while pouring the premade pancake mix into a bowl.

"Great," she sounds slightly sheepish, "I… feel incredible. I don't think I've ever been this fulfilled before, and I don't need you to make stupid ass comments about your cock."

"Damn, you got me," I remark, chuckling.

Silence hangs for a moment. I try to focus on the instructions as best I can. When I was Mundane, I had ADHD, which didn't really go away with my immortality. The desire to just wing it is nearly overpowering. I physically have to put the packet down, or else I'd just toss it into the trash.

"Your tattoo," she says, releasing a heavy, lingering breath, "I... When did you get the one on your back?"

"It was actually the first one I got when I turned eighteen. Yeah, I know, crazy to get a full back piece but I said, fuck it. Why not go for it?" I break the eggs into the bowl then mix in the milk before going to the microwave to warm the butter. I don't have a mixer, and I really don't want clumps. "I had the idea for a long time, and my parents were the church-going type, so I had to wait until I was old enough to go myself to get it."

I peek over at her, and she's got a peculiar expression. "Don't like it? "

"Um." She shakes her head. "No, that isn't it. They are gates, why did you choose to get gates? Where are they leading you to?"

"Well, the beauty lies in letting anyone interpret where they lead. That's precisely why they rest on my back – concealing my face, allowing room for imagination to explore the paths they lead to.

"For me, I've traversed the gates of my life, and that's why they trail behind me, not in front."

She lowers her head. "Little demon, what is it?"

"When I feed, I see gates opening to the person's lifeforce. I've never seen your back until now, and…" She bites her lip and crosses her arms, slightly hunched over. "Never mind. It just reminded me of it."

I want to push her, but I know doing so will only backfire. There is a reason she stopped herself, and although I'm not one to hesitate to force my cock down her throat, she enjoys that, not this. At least she made some comment. Perhaps over time, I can piece together the puzzle of this demon.

"The butter is melted," she says, prompting me to hurriedly grab it and add it to the bowl for mixing.

Silence hangs once more as I finish up making the slightly burnt pancakes. I remembered to keep honey, which is odd, but I'm not here to question her strange food choices. Then, along with a glass of tomato juice, I present it in front of her.

She graces me with a gorgeous smile and says, "Thank you," before eagerly devouring the plate. As she finishes, she silently clears not only her plate, but also the mess I inadvertently made. I'm not even sure how, but the pre-packed powder seems to have ended up everywhere, including on me.

"How did they taste?" I'm surprised at the slight nervousness in my tone. Do I actually care if they were good or not?

"They were good, thanks again," she says beside me, licking her thumb and swiping it across my chin. "Maybe less honey, but that was on me. I should have said I'd put it on. "

"Less honey, got it." As she drops her hand, I take her wrist into mine. "Can't leave the kitchen without payment," I say playful. "I'll take a kiss instead of a swipe of a card."

The gentle release of her breath is shaky.

I tilt my head slightly, waiting patiently.

"Kai…" I can see her struggling. There is pain behind her eyes, but I don't know why it's there. All I desire is for her to be an open book, allowing me to decipher each line of her fears, to continue unraveling the layers of this enigmatic, vengeance-driven demon.

I gently bring her wrist to my lips and kiss it before releasing it. "I'll just keep a tab."

She grabs hold of her wrist but doesn't make a move to step away from me.

"I'm… just not this type of girl." Her arms tighten at her sides, and she pulls her hands to her chest. "I don't know how to be, and truthfully, I don't know if I want to be."

I put my hands up in defense. "It's just a kiss—"

"It's not just a kiss. I don't do just a kiss, Kai."

"Oh, little demon," I take a deep breath in and shake my head. "Then you don't have to kiss me."

"I'm just…"

I put my hand behind her neck and gently pull her to my chest. My other hand moves to rest against her back, and in small circles, I rub gently. "I get it, you don't need to give me any explanation."

She lets out a pfft and shakes her head.

"Let's move on, hmm?" She lifts her chin and nods. "Can we talk about it? Last night… and beyond that?"

I'm not entirely certain how she'll respond, but I'm taken aback when she simply nods again. Releasing my grip on her, we proceed into the living room, where she's on the verge of asking about the fireplace.

Before she can, I interject, "I'll light it, but can we start with that? What's with your cute obsession with the fireplace? "

She chuckles and settles on the floor. I toss over the pillows and cushions from the couch to her before proceeding to place the wood in the fireplace and igniting it.

"It's warm, and fire can't survive when there is no oxygen. I think it reminds me I'm not in a place that will suffocate me." I stoke it, getting it ablaze while looking down at her. She's moved the cushions and pillows to create a nice little sitting space for both of us right in front. "I'm not good at this talking stuff. It took me years to tell Syd about what happened to me, and just as long to tell my therapist."

When I'm satisfied with the flame, I shift to sit beside her. I don't say anything, nor do I look at her, just at the fire.

"I don't even know why I'm telling you. Telling my stalker anything about me seems stupid." I catch the playful tone in her voice and let out a deep chuckle that rumbles from my throat.

"Ugh," she grumbles, making me turn from the fire to look over at her, and she's got her head back.

"What?"

"Nothing," she says, closing her eyes. "Just, that noise, don't make it."

A laugh creeps from my lips. "Always telling me what to do, you just enjoy punishment." She looks at me with a smile. "Keep going, Xera."

Her lips press into a tight line, but she leans up and nods. "I was kidnapped when I was eighteen, a few weeks before my nineteenth birthday. At first, I thought I was being trafficked. I remember being shoved into the trunk of a car after working my shift at the bakery, and then being dragged out at a shipping yard."

Sidence doesn't have a shipping yard, so my assumption is it wasn't here, the location seems inconsequential, so I don't ask.

"When they threw me into a shipping container, I was… certain I would find myself in another country by the time it opened again. I was in the foster system, and when I turned eighteen, I was by myself. So, no one would come looking for me. If I was lucky, my boss would alert the authorities, but… you know, without voices to advocate for finding me, I knew the news of my disappearance would all just disappear, like I did.

"When the doors opened hours after I was placed in there, I realized it hadn't been moved. Nothing was different, the sea in front of me all the same. That was when I met my five captors. I don't know if the trauma blocked what they looked like, or there were other elements, but I just remember their smells. They weren't there to traffic me, just torture me."

She takes a deep breath, and when she looks at me, I immediately turn away. I know I'll look at her a certain way, and she won't want that.

She isn't fragile. She isn't glass.

"I was in that shipping container and under their torture for one hundred and forty-four days. In total, I was gone for nearly eleven months. From being tortured, raped, and defiled, to being buried alive."

I gaze at her hand, unwavering and resolute, mirroring the steadfastness of her tone. This story of hers is horrific, yet it's as though she were telling me a bedtime story. One of fiction that had no reality in her life.

"I was buried alive for one hundred and eighty-six days. The only reason I know exactly how long it was is because when I was taken from the shipping container to my burial site, I saw the date. May third. It was the first day I felt the sun on my skin, and the last until I was dug up. Tyson's son was the one that found me by accident. Mischievous kid, digging up old graves."

"You truly can't die…" I say under my breath.

"No, I can't. Even if my head is decapitated, my body will heal it. If it isn't reattached, it will grow back. That just takes… a long time."

My gaze slowly finds hers, "You know from experience?"

"I do." She answers so quickly, it deepens my shock. "I did it to myself, Kai. I laid down on a set of train tracks and tried to end my life. Unfortunately, I just woke up several weeks later next to those same tracks," she laughs through her sentence, "I wasn't even worth being found… Anyway—"

"You know I am about to say something you'll find dumb, right?"

"I know." She pulls her knees slowly to her chest.

"Then why say it?"

"It's how I felt."

"You still do, it seems. Sydni would have combed every inch of this world to find you." She locks eyes with me, intensity burning in her gaze. "And so would I."

"Because you're a stalker."

"Your stalker."

She rolls her eyes, but I see the smile she tries to hid behind her arms, "Stupid…" her murmur is cute. "Anyway, I've been looking for them for about six years. It took me some time to really… come to terms with what happened, and what I was.

"My mother had told me my father was an Incubus—" she says, stealing a glance at me as I maintain a neutral expression. "—When she notified me of his, for all intents and purposes, death. However, I had shown no signs of being one, and she wasn't sure if I was even his. A lot came out of that meeting with her, including her trying to kill me. She was who I was visiting at Eldritch that day."

Dropping her legs, she sighs and leans back onto her hands, the fire flickering in her eyes as she stares into it. "It wasn't until those days in the shipping container that what I truly was came to life. I just didn't know how to use it; how to harness the demon they created. So, I spent these past ten years becoming it."

I wait eagerly. Gods, I do not want to interrupt. I want her to keep talking. It's a stupid question to ask how she survived all of this, because she didn't. Surviving would indicate that she had not been reborn into something different, and I cannot imagine the beautiful creature sitting beside me is the same person she was when she was taken. No, she had emerged as a redefined, potent incarnation of her former self.

"I've done incredibly horrible things, and I have no remorse for them. Even those that you or others would deem innocent, I have no pity for, because no one did for me." A toothy grin laces across her lips. "Morals, who needs them?"

Her eyes meet mine, and she softens her expression, "I'm psychotic, and maybe I do get that from the woman that birthed me. I made Dominic suck Dante's dick until he came down his throat, then made Dante shoot Dominic in the head. I was so turned on, oh my Gods." She falls back and laughs, her fingers running up and through her hair. "Watching them suffer, fuck me, it was a euphoria I didn't realize I could have, and I get to do it three more times."

The gentle hum she releases makes my stomach tighten with need. Holy shit, this woman…

"I'd like to say that was the first time I've been truly happy in ten years…" When her hands move down to her eyes, covering them, she takes a deep breath. "That would be a lie, even if in the moments before killing them I thought it would be. I've felt the same way whenever Sydni flutters her way into my apartment unannounced. Or whenever I see your dumb ass face."

It isn't the fire that blazes my skin and makes me take a silent breath.

Her arm drapes across her eyes, and she smiles, "Stupid prick." The words catch in her throat, "Stupid good-looking prick."

I'm over her in seconds, my legs straddling her hips, guiding her arm away to hold her gaze. Though she hasn't shed tears, I can see her eyes turning red. I've never seen her cry, and something tells me I never will.

"It's okay to be happy and still seek revenge, Xera," I offer with a smile. "I'm glad my dumb face brings joy to my little demon. Does that mean I don't have to stalk you in the shadows anymore?"

She presses her lips together, fighting the laugh that bubbles from her throat. "I'll think about it."

"That isn't a no, which is perfect for me."

"Kai?" I have to physically restrain myself because I'm about to kiss her when she calls my name .

"Yes?"

"I can never give you what you want," she says, her gaze shifting between my eyes. The moonlight in them brighter now that she's full. "Not until I get everything I want, and even then, I can't promise anything. I've never been able to open my gate to anyone, not even Sydni. I'll push you away. I'll hurt you. I'll ruin your life. All of these things are inevitable with me."

My chest tightens, not from fear or pain from her words, but from that one word she hates.

She reaches up and brushes my hair over my shoulder, which has in turn fallen onto her. "The smartest thing is to just let me go and stop being ‘my' stalker. Go back to whatever good life you had before being assigned to find me because the one thing I can promise is that I will fuck it all up for you."

"Is that what you want?" I ask quickly, not wanting to hear further bullshit from her mouth. It isn't a question I need a verbal answer to because I already know how she feels. I may not be someone she'll ever love, but I can give her what she needs and wants. I'm enough of a fool to be okay with that.

If all my little demon ever wanted from me was to feed and satisfy her, I would give it, because my obsession with her has ruined any chance I'll ever give her freedom from me.

"No one has ever really asked what I wanted when it matters," she finally says after a brief pause. "I don't, but you should."

I laugh through closed lips, a smirk pulling at the corner. "One of these days you'll stop telling me what I should and shouldn't do."

When she frowns, I lean down closer to her. "If you walk out of here, I'll only chase you." I prop myself up onto an elbow, our bodies flushed together. "I told you I liked the hunt. Especially when it's that tight ass I'm after."

The soft crackle of the fire fills our moment of silence.

"If you think because I have a nice place and fancy car, I had a good life before meeting you, Xera, you are very much mistaken. It's now that I feel like I'm truly living. "

Her eyes search mine, seeking out the lie, I'm sure. When those delectable cherry-red lips turn upward into a smile, I'm captivated.

"Fucking weirdo." Her arms loop over my neck, pulling me to her before I can laugh. She turns her head, deepening our kiss, and I'm ready to lose myself in her.