A Demon's Kiss ✔️

EIGHTEEN

Word Count: 1993

~Aspen

"Keep your voice down."

I look over my shoulder, back toward the cabin. At any moment, Kastriv could hear, and I doubt he would be very happy with my plan.

"Is there a change of heart, or did you call me here to insult me some more?" Keo tilts his head, the amused glint to his eyes bothering me already.

I better not be making a mistake.

"I fear Kastriv is using me to find Demon's so he can kill them," I whisper.

If Keo thinks that I distrust Kastriv, he will be more willing to divulge his secrets to me. It feels wrong to slander Kastriv's name, especially now that he is my mate, but I know I have to do it.

Keo's eyes narrow. "How certain are you?"

"I'm not. It's just a feeling."

His expression sobers, as he considers my claim. I stand stiffly, worried he's going to see through my lie and kill me on the spot. He seems so volatile and impossible to predict.

"Enough for you to call me, when you obviously don't trust me."

"You're like me...I've spent my entire life hiding who I am. I want to learn more," I tell him.

At least that's true. I do want to know more.

Keo tenses, considering his options. It favours him to trust me, but if he makes the wrong judgment, his entire plan may be dismantled.

"Then take my hand." He holds it out to me.

I pull back. "Wait...I need you to promise you won't kill me."

He rolls his eyes. "What good would a promise be if I were just going to slaughter the moment I got you away from this place?"

"I-"

"Don't bother," he mutters. "I would have killed you already."

I shiver. I have no doubt he would kill me without mercy, and although I figure he may still be tempted to, especially if it's revealed I'm lying, but what other choice do I have,

"Comforting," I grumble.

He holds his hand out to me again, the sheen of his leather glove intimidating in itself. "It should be. Now, shall we?"

"Where are we going?"

"Take my hand and you'll find out," he prompts softly.

I know I shouldn't be doing this, that he is the last man I should be trusting right now. And yet despite my better judgment, I slide my hand into his.

His dark, cruel smile is the last thing I see as the ground falls away around us, and he transports us far from the beautiful pink forest and the cabin Kastriv sleeps in.

My feet touch the ground before my eyes open.

I'm immediately struck by intense heat, sticking to my skin, to the night clothes I still wear.

We are in some kind of old dilapidated shack. Golden sand buries half the floor we stand on, covering all the furnishings and surfaces.

Looking out a dusty nearby window, I see miles of rolling dunes, the sand light, rather than a deep red which I'm familiar with in Territory One.

This is a place I've never seen before.

"What is this place?" I whisper, watching Keo wipe a heap of sand off a nearby chair onto the floor, inspecting it's stability.