4

~Kiva

I don’t hesitate, turning back toward the door, only to find it locked.

Panic spreads through me like a plague. The murderer in my room is clearly to blame for the way the door has magically locked. Regardless, I shake and pull at the handle, to no avail.

Slowly, I turn back around. Keo smirks at me.

"How..." I break off, voice sounding strangled.

"Something upset you?" He asks, as if his presence alone is terrifying, whether I know about him or not. I don’t even want to think about how he got in here in the first place…

"You're a Demon,” I say slowly, the words sounding strange coming out of my mouth.

Now that I’m looking at him, I see it. Of course he’s a Demon. You don’t look like him and not have something sinister going on behind the façade.

"So the idiots over there told you, did they?" He tilts his head to the side.

His smile is amused, but his dark eyes are cold. He isn’t here to entertain me, he’s here for a very specific reason and it may just be to murder me.

When I don’t respond, he sighs. “What am I saying, it's not as if I didn't hear."

"You heard?"

He grins, kicking his legs off the bed as he stands. "I hear everything, Toven."

My breath hitches. Next to me, is my desk, and on it, is a pair of sissors that I could stab him with if he suddenly advances on me, but it’s not as if it would do me much good.

But if I get to scar his flawless skin before my death, I would be satisfied.

"Please let me go,” I whisper, realising I sound pathetic, but what else can I do?

"You're terrified of me. What they said worked then, huh?" He shoves his hands in his pockets, striding back and forth in front of me.

"Are you going to kill me?" I’m talking through my dry mouth at this point.

I’ll get on my knees and beg for my life if I have to.

"Not quite,” he says softly, although I don’t believe him. He’s playing with his food, enjoying the terror in my eyes as I stare back at him.

"If you let me go, I won't tell them you're here, I swear,” I breathe. I won’t. I’ll return and act as though nothing happened, and agree to go with them so there is no risk of me being in this situation ever again.

He rubs his hand over the surface of my desk, picking up and examining some of the paper on it. He’s not going to find anything incriminating, I live a normal life. I teach children, I do nothing I shouldn’t do…

"I need something from you, first,” he murmurs.

"What?"

"I need your help." He looks up at me past his black eyelashes. There is no hint of teasing in his expression now, although he doesn’t seem desperate enough for me to believe him.

Because what could a man with all the power in the world need with me?

“I can’t help you,” I tell him firmly, my back still plastered against the door. I haven’t moved an inch, at risk of tempting him to change his mind and have him kill me right now.

“If you help me, I can help you.” He gestures between us.

I swallow tightly. “I need nothing from you.”

“Your friend, Mary, is gravelly ill, and will soon die,” he announces, opening one of the desk drawers before closing it again.

“Mary is perfectly fine…” I mutter.

He raises his brows. “So she hasn’t told you, then?”

My breath catches in my throat. He’s lying. He has to be. I spoke to Mary earlier and she seemed fine, and now some Demon has appeared in my room telling me she’s sick?

“What are you saying?”

“Mary’s condition has returned, but far worse and far more aggressive. She doesn’t have long to live.” His tone is bland, the lack of respect for human life disturbing.

My skin chills. He knows about Mary’s diagnosis.

Over a year ago she was told she had a slim chance of living due to a rare illness. She managed to pull through, against all odds, but there has always been a lingering risk that it could return.

For a moment I’m worried Keo may be able to read minds or something, because how could he possibly know that?

“She would have told me,” I growl.

Keo breathes in deeply. “Would she?”

Mary has lied to me before. When she was first diagnosed I only found out when I saw a medical bill in her counter.

Knowing Mary, there is a good chance she is keeping her sickness from me again to avoid worrying me. The realisation hits me square in the chest, and for a time it’s as if I can hardly breathe.

“How do you know she’s sick?”

“Call it a talent of mine.” He smiles, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

The way this is all a game to him, a way to make me submit is revealing the true horror of who he truly is. He doesn’t care about who he has to hurt to get what he wants.

I just wish I knew exactly what it is that he wants from me.

“What can you do about it?”

“If you help me, I’ll heal her,” he assures me, holding out his hand.

I stare down at it, at those imposing leather gloves. Those are hands that have murdered, that may murder me. Making a deal with him is the slowest but most effective way to end my life.

“I can’t trust you.”

“There is something I need you to do for me, but not yet. If you go into that manor with the Noble's, then you will not be able to save your friend,” he warns, strolling around to the other side of my bed, appearing so comfortable in my room.

I shake my head, squeezing my eyes shut. “I can’t.”

“Afraid?”

When I open my eyes, he is watching me again. There’s a deep complexity somewhere past that calm façade, and for a fleeting moment, I wonder if he’s ever loved anyone, or ever been loved.

“You’re a Demon. Why don’t you just threaten my life to get it?” I ask.

“I need you for more than that, Tove.” He makes is sound like a seductive promise. One that I should be tempted to uncover, but in reality I’m terrified.

“What could you possibly need with me?” I press my palm against my chest, as if I could somehow physically make it clear to him that I’m capable of nothing more than he is.

He’s the powerful one. Not me.

Something wicked flickers in his gaze. “You’ll see.”

I don’t want to see. I don’t want to see what he has planned for me, and I definitely don’t want to work for him.

“That date wasn’t real, was it?” I ask numbly. I don’t even know why I care, but the deceit is still disturbing me.

Being used like that…made to feel one way when something more sinister was gathering beneath it all.

“I don’t date,” he mutters uninterestly, flipping the cover of the book up that lays on my bedside table. I flinch at the intrusion, trying not to be offended by how distasteful he seems to find my mundane life.

“You just wanted to get the Noble’s attention, so they would take me in.”

He gives a half smile, turning back to me. “You’re smarter than you give yourself credit for.”

My eyelids flutter. I won’t let that affect me, not when I’m faced with my friends sickness and my own impending doom. It does hurt though, being nothing more than a pawn in his game.

“Get out of my home,” I growl slowly.

Suddenly he’s only a foot away from me. “Don’t let those Noble’s near you. It takes one touch and they can transport you to their prisons.”

Prisons?

“I trust them more than you,” I say regardless. Because I do. Noble’s are meant to keep us safe, to do the best for us.

Keo frowns, the expression oddly human for his unnaturally flawless face.

“The Noble’s have killed before too, mind you,” he murmurs, leaning closer. “There is no good, justifiable evil, Tove. Evil is evil.”

I shudder. He’s eluding to what evil would I rather align with.

None. I want none of this.

“You step foot into that manor, you’ll never leave. You and Mary will die in there,” he warns quietly.

“Or they will find and kill you.”

He laughs breathily. “You and I both know that won’t be happening.”

I straighten. They haven’t caught him yet, and they are a couple walls away from us. What I’m coming to understand is that Keo seems to be a step ahead of them right now, and that won’t change.

“If you end up in that manor, try not to let any of those Noble’s get too close to you.”

The edge of his lips tilt up as he reaches out and adjusts collar of my jacket. My breath catches in my throat, at the way his gloved fingers brush against it gently.

“They often get bored, and might have too much fun with a pretty thing like you,” he murmurs, gaze flickering up to mine.

I sneer at him. “You’re disgusting.”

“If you choose to oblige me, just ask for an actual date with me, Tove, and I’ll grant you that.” He’s smiling, likely joking with me. I hate that…him thinking I’m so weak that I’ll buckle at the thought of such a privilege.

"You're a monster,” I breathe, hatred dripping off every word.

He leans forward, so close his entire body is almost touching me. I hear the door clock open behind me.

"For Mary’s sake, I’ll see you soon.” And then he vanishes.

As if he never existed.