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Author: Midika
last update Last Updated: 2022-10-06 14:23:31

~Aspen

Kastriv didn't get his wish in getting us as far from the ball as possible.

We need to stay close, in case anything changes with Oliver. So instead of returning to our sweet, flower surrounding cabin, we are stuck on the ground floor of an old motel in Territory One.

I haven't wasted any time telling Kastriv about the agreement I've come to with Keo.

I figured I shouldn't keep anything from him, and he's going to find out eventually...

He stares at me. “This is a terrible idea.”

“It’s all I have.” I rub the back of my neck, trying to avoid sitting down on the unstable double bed in the centre of the room.

I've seen the state of those sheets, and it's disturbing.

“I know you think you can trust him, but what benefit does he get from this?” Kastriv questions, trying to make sense of Keo's motivations.

“He’s going to train me to get a firmer hold on my magic." Kastriv knows this by now, he just doesn't want to admit it.

Were it anyone else, he wouldn't mind. I know that. It's Keo
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  • A Demon’s Kiss   Epilogue

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  • A Demon’s Kiss   44

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  • A Demon’s Kiss   43

    ~AspenIt takes me a day to recover.Kastriv doesn’t leave my side the entire time, patiently waiting for me to regain my confidence after my encounter with my mother. Has hasn’t pushed me, which is probably because he doesn’t want me to go through with this anyway.I have no other choice. That’s why today, I’m doing it.“You don’t have to do this,” Kastriv reminds me quietly, watching me pace across the room, making sure everything is in place.This has to go right. “I know, I know. But I need to do this,” I tell him firmly. It’s exactly what I’ve been telling him all night. He hasn’t been interested in listening, though. He’s pushed and pushed with the hope of changing my mind, but nothing can.This is the only chance I’m going to have to save my own life, and all other Demon’s.“It’s not too late to find another way,” Kastriv breathes, grabbing my hand to stop me from pacing.“It is, and you know that,” I remind him pointedly, standing between his legs as he sits on the edge of th

  • A Demon’s Kiss   42

    ~AspenThere is no more conversation for mother and I to have, and she knows it.Someone comes to collect me, taking me upstairs to my old bedroom. The feeling in my legs is taking it's time to come back, so escaping isn't an option right now.I'm laid down on the bed before being left to myself, the door closing behind the guards.I stare up at the roof, gritting my teeth. Beneath me is my old bed. I spent many nights like this, staring up at the ceiling, wishing I were elsewhere.Turning my head, I examine my room.It hasn't changed much, which is a surprise. I would have thought mother would have stripped everything that resembled me away, using the space for her own interests. But nothing has been touched.I screw my nose up at all the dust. This is terrible...I wish I could rip this entire room to shreds, along with all the dark, cruel memories.It takes a few hours of laying on the bed before the feeling in my legs fully returns. I sit up, wincing at the sharp pain in my back.T

  • A Demon’s Kiss   41

    ~AspenEverything hurts. Everything.Groaning, I lift my head up, blinking my wary eyes open.I’m in a room, dimly lit with not a window in sight. When I go to move, I realise quickly that my hands are tied behind me.And even more grimly, it comes to my attention that I have no feeling in my legs. I stare down at them, willing them to move, but it’s as if I can’t remember what it was like to ever control them.I’ve been stabbed in the back. By my own mother. Literally and figuratively.I’m going to die…I can’t feel my legs or even where I’ve been stabbed. Clearly it’s damaged me forever, that there is no coming back from this.I want to scream, but like my legs, my mind is entirely numb.The door in front of me opens, a bright light assaulting my vision.Someone steps into the room, the door closing behind them.“Mother?” I ask, my voice croaky and raw.“Ah. You’re awake. Good.” She clasps her hands together, pulling a chair from the shadows so she can sit in front of her.I haven’t

  • A Demon’s Kiss   40

    ~AspenI explain it all to him as fast as I can manage.The entire time he stays silent, his expression grave. Doubt starts spreading across his face the more I detail the spirits plan, making it clear that he already isn't on board with this."I'm not going to let Atari hurt you," he insists, grabbing my hands, as if to prove to me that nothing to do with the spirit matters...that I don't need its help."I don't think you can stop her. I don't think anyone can, even Keo," I tell him firmly.She's a Demon, her powers unknown. She has managed to manipulate seven powerful Angel-bloods...if she can do this, then she is very capable of using magic to kill all Demon's in an instance.Kastriv looks sceptical. "But this spirit can?""Apparently." I shrug.He frowns, rubbing the back of his neck. "You should know that spirits cannot always be trusted. They don't abide by a moral system as we do."I nod grimly. I know that, but this spirit has spent far too long trying desperately to get in co

  • A Demon’s Kiss   39

    ~AspenKastriv is in shock. Serious shock.So much so that I've booked us into a ancient inn in the centre of the village, because there is no way he's going to transport us out of her."I think we should leave soon," I tell him, looking out the window at a storm is rolling in.Thick, dark crowds crawl through the sky, casting ominous shadows over the village. This inn is hardly clinging to life, so the sooner we get out of here the better."We can't leave yet. I can't leave them," Kastriv mutters.He sits on the end of the rickety bed, head in his hands. I can't even begin to imagine what thoughts are passing through his head. His parents, who he has spent his whole life protecting, don't even remember him."Let's go now. Maybe they are still in the field." I motion stupidly out the window, knowing they would have been chased off by the nearing storm by now.Kastriv's eyes are torn apart by emotion as he looks up at me. "What are we going to say? Atari has shredded apart their minds.

  • A Demon’s Kiss   38

    ~AspenIt doesn't take time for Keo to locate Kastriv's parents.We gave him a day to return home, filled with the knowledge of everything Kastriv could impart about his parents to him. It's not much, since they were taken from him so long ago, but Keo seemed convinced he 's capable of tracking them down.He's returned today, looking both determined and wary.Seeing Keo unsure of himself isn't a good sign. He seems to know the result of everything that happens across these lands. It's uncanny, quite frankly."It's simple, in theory," Keo exclaims, stalking back and forth in front of Kastriv and I.Kastriv sighs. "Go on.""Your parents are in Territory One, not far from here," he announces. Kastriv sits up a little straighter, a dulled down version of his true shock crossing his face.He doesn't want Keo to see how much that information pleases him. He doesn't want him to know how desperate he has been over the years to hear that. To know he is one step closer to seeing his parents aga

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