her to go and shut the back door. The demons scattered as he
drew near and he pulled his lips back across his teeth, revealing
razor sharp canines she hadn’t noticed when she’d been kissing
him. “They retract.” He answered absentmindedly as he shut and
locked the door then turned to give her a hard stare.
“This isn’t happening.” She told herself, his words tumbling in
her mind as she desperately tried to piece together everything that
happened in the last forty-five minutes. The bastard demon had
the audacity to chuckle.
“Tsk, you can’t take the easy way out. This is happening. You’re
not insane. You’re…” He trailed off, crossing the kitchen and
taking her face in his hands. His smirk was nothing but cruel,
“You’re going to die a slow, horrible death.”
Chapter Three
Leviathan chuckled again as Kailani slapped him away
from her, a cry of frustration leaving her throat as she left the
kitchen and marched into the dining room. She snatched the
phone off the floor and hit the speed dial number for Cassandra
as outrage filled her.
“Why don’t you just leave?!” She barked at the demon who
sauntered into the room behind her, his unnaturally light eyes
lighting on her briefly before flickering off to take in his
surroundings. He seemed amazed, bewildered, as if he’d been
locked in a cave for the past hundred years completely cut off
from the modern world.
“I have been locked in a cave. It was very pleasant. And I cannot
leave until my summoner recalls me.”
“Well we’re going to see about that right now. And stop reading
my mind it’s annoying.” She said, listening to the phone ring
nonstop against her ear. He just gave her a grin.
“I know it’s annoying, why else do you think I’m doing it?” She
glared as he reached out to fondle a little porcelain figurine on a
nearby shelf. Her mother used to collect them. They were more
than likely very precious to her and seeing a demon touching
them simultaneously enraged her and made her want to weep.
“Just shut up okay? Dammit Cassie answer the phone…” She
growled, her body shaking as she tried to collect herself. There
was a damn demon in her dining room, two if she counted the
dead one on her floor, and who knew how many where standing
outside her home.
“The witch, while powerful, is probably too tired to lift her head
at the moment let alone answer a telephone. I’m not exactly easy
to conjure up.” He paused in his inspection of the dining room
and raised both his brows, making an odd gesture towards her
with one hand. “And you shouldn’t be in such a hurry to get rid
of me. The moment I’m gone they’ll attack. One was bad enough,
but can you imagine a hundred or more demons, just like that
one, ripping into your body? All desperate in their attempt to take
home a little chunk of you?” He chuckled as she paled, her body
trembling at his words. Would they really do that? “Oh yes they
will. And they’ll enjoy it too.” He said and she glared at him,
hitting the end button and slamming the phone receiver onto the
dining room table.
“Well, what the hell am I supposed to do with you? What am I
supposed to do period?” She asked the last part under her breath
as she backed into the wall, her eyes on the floor as her world
seemed to spin around her. This was not what she needed right
now. She was unbalanced, off guard and stuck in the middle of a
crap storm she couldn’t begin to explain. She wanted the world to
stop for a moment so she could just think but it was too busy
teetering on its axis and spinning off into hell.
“I can think of several things you could do with me.” He said and
she lifted her head to glare at him in warning. Leviathan
chuckled, leaning against the doorframe and folding his arms
over his bare chest. His stomach muscles contracted, drawing her
eyes for a fraction of a second, which drew another smirk from
him. Okay so he was sexy, but he was still a damn demon! “You
could start by feeding me. That’s not too demanding right?” He
asked and her brows furrowed.
“Feeding you? There’s some left over Chicken Marsala in the
fridge.” She pointed to the device in question and he shook his
head, lifting a hand to beckon her with one finger, and like an
idiot she obeyed, her body seeming to float across the room until
she stood directly in front of him. Leviathan dipped his head,
taking in her scent as he whispered next to her ear.
“I don’t eat poultry.” His voice was deep, his warm breath
against her neck filling her with both trepidation and arousal.
“Well what do you eat?” She asked breathlessly, her head tipping
back to reveal her neck as if it already knew what was coming.
He leaned in, his lips parting slightly before he whispered against
her pulsating vein.
“Steak sounds wonderful.” Kailani pulled back to stare up at him.
“You’re an asshole.”
“I know.”
Kailani sat at the other end of the dining table, watching
Leviathan meticulously cut his rib eye into little cubes before
bringing it to his lips. Everything about him was sexy,
maddeningly so. Even the way he ate. Her libido wasn’t easy to
disregard but she did her best to try, ignoring the way his eyes
flashed whenever they met hers by focusing on the problems that
had suddenly cropped up in her life. She just wanted this night to
be over with. She wanted her plain, normal life back, the one that
didn’t include demons and witches. She was raised on the
mainland, in the suburbs where the worst thing that could happen
was the mailman accidentally stepping on your grass or the
neighbors threw a garden party and you weren’t invited. Bad
things didn’t happen where she was from, which was a complete
and utter lie but it helped her sleep better at night. But, since the
death of her parents one bad thing after another seemed to fall on
her head, as if she’d been cursed, even though she didn’t believe
in those things. She watched Leviathan arch a brow before
skewering another piece of steak and eating it. Kai didn’t know
what she believed anymore. As for the demon who sat across
from her, he hadn’t said a word since she’d grunted a displeased
‘You’re welcome’ after he’d taken his plate with out so much as
a thank you. Apparently demons didn’t have manners. She
watched him smirk then, undoubtedly reading her mind. The
jackass. His smirk only broadened and she folded her arms over
her chest, leaning back in her chair and wondering if he’d
realized she’d poisoned his steak yet. His eyes flashed, the dark
ring encroaching on his silver irises.
“That’s what you get for reading my mind jackass.” He continued
to chew, ignoring her words in favor of a different conversation
topic.
“Your problems aren’t nearly as bad as you think. Things could
be a lot worse.”
“Worse than being chased by demons and having to feed one all
your steak?” She scoffed and he laughed, a deep rumbling sound
that set something ablaze deep inside of her.
“Yes, much worse. Imagine if I hadn’t made it here in time, or
had your little witch friend summoned me back already. Your
problems wouldn’t seem nearly as big if you were dead now
would they?” He asked and she narrowed her eyes, her heart
beating faster in her chest. He was right, she’d have to give him
that.
“A little less talk of me dying and a bit more about what the hell
is going on.” She leaned forward in her seat, staring him down
with as much courage as she could muster. Leviathan ignored her
‘menacing look’.
“I already told you, you’re a siphon, a being that’s as close to the
dark source as one could ever be. Your kind are called
‘Hellmouth’ because that’s essentially what you are, an opening
into the source of hells power.” He said simply, as if he were
merely discussing the weather or some other trivial matter. She
couldn’t help but shiver, simultaneously annoyed at his
nonchalance and general disregard for her well-being.
“This seems a bit too science fictiony for my tastes. Lets pretend
for a second that I actually believe you, there are other people,
other Hellmouths around?” He gave a slight, uninterested nod,
“Well then why in the fuck aren’t these demons after them?!
Why me?!” She slammed her fist against the table and he leaned
back in his chair, staring at her as if he were humoring a petulant
child. His face was the very picture of boredom.
“I wish I could give you the answer you’re looking for. You’re
not special, you’re not the most ‘powerful’ Hellmouth, trust me
I’ve seen far stronger, and you’re not the ‘chosen one’. Nothing
so cliché, princess. You’re simply convenient.” He said and while
his words stung a bit she’d expected as much.
“Convenient?”
“Yes, you’re sitting on a hot spot.”
“Hot spot?”
“What are you a parrot?” He asked suddenly and her brows
furrowed in confusion, he just waved her off. “A hot spot,
specific places in which demons and other malicious spirits are
drawn to. In a way, they are like a Hellmouth but they don’t
provide them with the power they seek in your kind. Just enough
to make them feel whole in this realm, to give them a physical
presence. Essentially, every case of demonic haunting
documented by you mortals involves some type of hot spot. The
sight of some great tragedy.” He waved a hand in the air as if
searching for the right words to use, “Such as a rape or a murder.
Something that leaves behind dark residual energy. A stain.”
Kailani frowned.
“This was my parents home, nothing bad ever happened here.”
“Is that so? Where are your parents now?” He asked, already
knowing the answer.
“They…died.” She lowered her eyes to the table unable to bare
his accusing stare. She listened to his chair scrape quietly across
the floor as he stood and made his way to her side.
“And how did they die?” He trailed his fingers up her arm and
into her hair, pulling her head back so he could stare down into
the brown eyes that were quickly forming tears.
“Not the way you think. My parents were happy, loving people.
Nothing bad…” She started but he cut her off, bending to press
his cheek against hers in a way that had her damn near panting.
“You really should take a step out of that safe little bubble you’ve
created. This world isn’t nearly as pristine as you think it is.” His
breath fanned across her face and she shoved him away from her,
leaping out of her seat and moving across the room, needing
distance from the overwhelming demon who tested her.
“Just shut up! You don’t know what you’re talking about! My
parents where nothing like that! They would have never—” She
was cut off once again but this time by an ear splitting scream.
Her eyes widened as she watched the ghostly image of her
mother storm down the hallway leading from the bedroom and
into the dining room. She was crying, tears of fury and pain
streaming down her face as she doubled over next to the table.
“Akela wait!” Her father was the next to shout, running from the
bedroom with a sheet wrapped about his waist. Kailani watched
in horror as another woman emerged from the bedroom, shouting
apologies as she ran naked for the front door. “Akela—” her
father started but her mother spun on him, her hand lashing out to
catch his cheek.
“You bastard! You lying bastard I can’t believe…!” She
screamed again, more tears streaming down her face. Her mother
turned to walk into the kitchen with her father trailing behind,
shouting and begging for her forgiveness.
“Akela, don’t do that! Put that down we can talk about this!” She
listened to him scream, her body weak as she fell against the
doorframe. Kailani couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think past what she
was seeing. She dare not enter that kitchen, not with what she
heard next. She heard her mother’s cry and her father’s scream.
She heard the slashing and rending of flesh as her mother
repeatedly stabbed her father.
“Don’t…!” The words left her lips as childhood memories she’d
