Chapter 14
The moment we were in my room, I let go of him and walked away. I felt him shift behind me and then planted myself at the table. The whole Caim thing was running through my mind. I felt satisfied but my mood changed when I started to picture myself in a few centuries, ending up dead or forever imprisoned.
The air moved and Draco stood to my right. I didn’t even look at him. I’d learned that by ignoring him, I could piss him off instead. I took pleasure in it every time.
“Go refresh yourself and put this on. Lord Ballen awaits our company,” he commanded, and placed what looked like a dress on the table. Its cloth was hanging over the table edge, and yes, it was black and red, Draco’s favorite colors.
“I don’t think so, demon. Now it’s time for some new arrangements,” I replied, and leaned back in my chair, looking up at him.
“Since when do you have any type of power to negotiate arrangements with me? I’m your master, and you are my pet.”
I smiled at him, waiting a few seconds for him to take it in. I could see the moment when he started to get freaked out by it. “I believe the terms of your first arrangement have been met. Am I not the Bellator?” I asked, my teeth now filling out my smile. His eyes grew wide and he turned, walking to my bed.
“Yes,” he replied, standing with his back to me. I know that all Fallen, even demons, must submit to terms, or in his case, words. I heartily thank Vulcan for that delightful piece of info. For months I had been planning this moment. I knew it would come, and I knew that he would have no other option but to submit, but this time I had the upper hand.
I’d refused a few times to fight until I saw Kali. He would then submit and bring her to me, so I could see her for a few minutes. That’s all it would take to get me to fight for him. She was still in some sort of trance, didn’t recognize me, didn’t take in what was happening around her; she just stood there, looking at me like a zombie. And she was always in one of his black, red, or purple goddess dresses.
“The first arrangement will be that you release Kali and deliver her to me. She will stay with me, in this room, and you will make the necessary arrangements regarding a bed and so on. And the word ‘release’ means that you will release her from your influence completely,” I said, still looking at his back and seeing the exact moment my words hit home.
“And if I do not?” he asked, turning around to look at me again.
“Then I will never fight again. Just like the male tonight, I will submit to my death.” I knew full well that would mean that he would lose any power he had gained with me. And that he would have to start all over again, and the chance of him getting his claws on another hellhound was zero. He stood there, looking at me, and he was mad, extremely mad. Don’t care. This is my moment; this is why I stayed alive.
“Agreed,” he replied and kept his eyes on me. I was smiling at him for once.
“And Draco, if you ever touch her again, the agreement will be broken. Understand?” Now he was pissed, his jaws locking together.
“Yes, is that your only arrangement?” he asked and turned around, trying to compose himself, I suppose.
“No,” I replied, now leaning my arm over the chair’s back, looking at my nails, which, like always, were in perfect shape. I had never broken a nail again after the third fight, and I wondered why.
“What is your other demand?” he asked, turning around to look at me again.
“I believe that you need me to accompany you to occasions, like tonight, to show off your Bellator pet?” I said, looking at him again.
“Yes, it is required by our customs,” he answered, frowning at me.
“If you want me to accompany you on these little trips, I will, first off, not wear demeaning dresses like that. I will dress in what suits me. Second, you will give me my weapons every time,” I replied staring at him, my serious no bullshit face in place.
“Your weapons? Why would you need them?” he asked.
“Because, demon, if your friends decide to attack me on these occasions, I will be able to protect myself. It’s not like I can kill you, true?” I replied, smiling at him again.
He paced up and down, thinking over the terms. Yeah, I knew I was cruel, but I had to be to survive down here. He stopped and regarded me again, his mind made up.
“Agreed, but you may only use them if you are attacked, understand?” he demanded, looking at me, trying to spook me with a serious face. Oh, please.
“Understood. Now, let’s begin. Release her and bring her to me,” I said, getting up to my feet to look him in his face. He backed up a step. Yeah, you should be afraid, demon. You’re number one on my “to kill” list. He shifted out without a word, and I went to my bed, removing my jacket and sitting down to wait for Kali.
He shifted back in with her, and she was once again wearing one of the stupid dresses. Idiot demon. He then moved his hand over her face and stepped back. She was still looking at me, and I watched as the old Kali came back into her eyes, tears filling them. She closed her eyes and sank down to the floor, where she burst out in full tears and sobbed like hell. I walked over to her, looking at Draco, so mad I struggled to keep myself from attacking him. “Leave us! I will be ready in an hour or so,” I said to him slowly, my jaws clamping together, pissed off beyond words. He nodded and shifted out, leaving us alone. I bent down to the floor and closed my arms around her.
“It’s okay. He will never touch you again. I promise,” I murmured to her, trying to comfort her.
“Oh Kas, just kill me. I can’t live with this. Please, just kill me,” she struggled to say, her cries drowning out her words.
“I’m sorry, Kali. I can’t. I am so sorry for what he did to you, but I promise his head for it.”
“No, Kas. I can’t go back like this. Who will take me knowing what I’ve done? I can’t, Kas, please.”
Don’s words came to me again. “We all lose something in this war, young one. Some fall to the loss, but some like him rise above it and try to save others from the same fate. There will be a day when this fate will cross your path. When it does, you would have to make a choice: fall and be conquered by it, or rise above it to do good for others.” She has fallen. No, I can’t let her do this. She needs to survive or everything so far would have been for nothing.
“Listen to me! You are beautiful beyond words. Any male who gets your attention must get down on his knees and say thanks. No one, but no one, will ever know what happened here. When we leave, all of it stays here. Got it?” I asked her in a reassuring tone. I lifted up her face to look at her. After a moment, she looked at me and nodded.
I’m going to kill him slowly for this; he most likely took something that was meant to be special and wonderful with someone you cared for against her will. Yes, slow, very slow. I’ll cut his throat inch by inch and listen to his screams.
“Kas, I’m so sorry. I tried to speak that day and tell you to run, but my mouth would not move. I’m so sorry.”
“No, you’re not going to slip into that. I chose to help you, and you had no control. We do this together, okay. I promise I’ll get us out no matter what,” I replied and she hugged me. I think we both needed that hug. It had been a very long time since someone had held me, and I was sure it had been even longer for her. The irony of the situation was not lost on me, considering we started off hating each other. Now, here we were sitting here, hugging each other. This was a step worth taking. A rough one, and really bad, but worth it.
The mute guy shifted in, and Kali jumped out of my arms and backed up against a wall, frightened by him. I stood up and looked at him, taking a stand between him and her, blocking his view. He stretched out his hands to offer me some new leather clothing. I walked forward and took it, and then took a step back. “Now leave,” I commanded, and he shifted out.
I looked at the clothes, nice black leather with a red shine. Got to give it to the demon. His style was improving. I turned around and my eyes searching Kali’s, worried for her.
“I have to leave for a while, but no one will come near you.
“In the closet, you will find some clothes if you want to get into something else,” I finished and walked to the bathroom.
“Kas, you can’t go with them; it’s awful. You don’t want to see,” she pleaded, trying to stop me from going in the bathroom.
I looked up at her and smiled. “Don’t worry, Kali. They won’t dare touch me,” I proclaimed and patted her hand.
“I know Draco and the other guy talked a lot about you, said that you are the most powerful Fallen they have ever seen, but it’s not that,” she said with what sounded almost like a sneer, and looked away, walking to the bed to sit down.
So they know I am a huge problem then, but what could be so bad? “Tell me, Kali. I need to know what I’m up against.”
“They have clubs in the human world, and in these clubs very bad things happen. Humans mix with them, as if they were gods or something; it’s very disgusting.”
“I heard Chax once tell Vulcan the same thing, but I need to go and see if I can find our way out,” I replied, moving into the bathroom to get dressed. She followed me in and took a stand at the door.
“Don’t trust Ballen; he’s like a leader or something. I also think he’s a Chiddigul, a very powerful one.”
“Oh, I’m counting on that. I need someone else’s weapon to kill Draco and get these freaking cuffs off. He might just have some lying around,” I replied and smiled at her the moment I was in my new pants.
“Look at you,” she said, looking at me, her eyes wide.
“What? Is something wrong with it?” I asked and looked down to see what the problem was.
“No, the pants look great. I’m talking about you. Your body, the way you speak and act around them. What happened to you, Kas?” she questioned, pity in her eyes.
“I took the lemons I was given and made them into lemonade, Kali. Don’t worry; I’m still myself, just way better. Besides, I needed to change to survive,” I answered and then closed up the new top. Wow, this leather really looks freaking great.
“I just hope you know what you’re doing,” she said, and then turned around, walking out. I only hoped I did, too. Well, no reason to sit around and wonder. I needed to get going.
I walked out and found her on the bed, staring at the floor. Chax’s kiss came back to me. For months I had forgotten about it, but now seeing her, it was back in my head and I felt very guilty. Would he have waited for her? I really hoped so; she needed some kind of stability when we got back. I walked over to get my jacket and flung it around my shoulders.
Hell, I wonder if Seth was still around, waiting? Don’t think so; don’t care. My life wasn’t fun and games anymore. I had a mission, and I was not letting anything stand in my way. I also needed to get info out of Draco to know how the hell he got into our dreams, so we could fight back. At that I stopped and looked at her again.
“Kali, in your time with Draco, did you see any more girls from Exsilium?”
She looked at me shocked. “No, there was no one else. Why? Did he take someone else too?” she asked, tears starting up again.
“Not that I know of. I just have to make sure. I need to find out how he got into our dreams to get us here, and then we need to find a way to stop more demons from doing it,” I replied, still looking at her sad face. The old Kali had died here too. We both died the day we shifted in here.
“He was in your dreams, too?”
“Yes, I thought I made him up or something, so I didn’t worry about it. But yeah, the moment I saw him standing there, in flesh and blood, I did a retake on that. How long was he in yours?”
“From the first night in the house. I told my Custos, and between him and Chax, they were trying to help me. But it didn’t work. Chax said that no demon could penetrate Exsilium, and that I was making it up from my ordeal. That it must be because of mama and papa,” she replied, her eyes drifting away at the mention of her parents. Poor girl.
Wait, Chax was helping her? “So you and Chax, you weren’t, you know, dating?” I asked, just to make sure.
“Oh, dear heaven, no! No one in their right mind would date him,” she replied and looked at me, disgusted. Oh, my bad! Well, hell, it looked like it. “What made you think that?” Busted.
“The day I found the two of you in the lobby, it looked like I was interrupting something romantic. Sorry, didn’t mean to think something like that.”
“Oh no, I understand. I was worried you knew about my problem, seeing that Chax was your Custos. He was trying to penetrate my mind, but he couldn’t. Then he accused me of consorting with demons and …” she drifted off. Okay, that wasn’t nice of him, and he could have helped her. Wait a freaking minute!
I hit pissed off again. They knew and could have helped! Instead, he accused her and left her to the demon’s mercy. Oh, he is so dead! Good kisser or not, he’s dead. All this could have been avoided. We could have had normal lives, freaking idiot! Fuming, I started to pace the room, pissed off at him. Silence followed my pacing.
“Now you look like Nanini,” Kali broke the silence, and I stopped to look at her.
I stood there for a few seconds, and we both burst out laughing. Then the mute guy shifted in and we stopped. Time to get back to work. I need answers and a way out of this hell hole, and I’m going to get it. I got myself together and looked at her. “I have to go,” I said, and walked over to the guy. Before I took his hand, I wanted to make sure they got the message. “The one that dares to touch her, or try to visit her when I’m gone, is dead,” I threatened, looking him in the face. He nodded and offered his hand to me. Taking it, I braced myself for the next step in my life.