Chapter Seven
Daemon
BLIND
After arriving home just past dusk, I made dinner for myself like I did most nights.
Then I went through my usual workout—a training regimen my father had forced me to do for years in preparation for when I would go on the Hunt.
Though it wasn’t really necessary, I liked the routine as well as the distraction it provided.
Many of the other demons would be out collecting the voted women all around before taking them to the island. And even more demons would be at the Ministry celebrating until the Hunt began. I opted for isolation rather than associating with any of it.
All was silent in my house. I enjoyed the quiet, but at times I wished it weren’t so lonely.
Someday it wouldn’t be—I had built this house with the intention of sharing it with someone in the future—but I was starting to think the day would never come.
Ever since my mother had warned me of what would happen to any woman I chose, I had been apprehensive about long-term relationships.
How my mother was able to handle the stress of the Blood Oath was beyond me.
After my parents fell in love, my father had asked her to spend the rest of her life with him—but told her she had to trust him to do so.
She didn’t know who or what he was until she agreed to take the Blood Oath, then he told her.
According to my father, she didn’t speak to him for a month, but she finally realized that no matter what she did or didn’t know, she fell in love with a demon.
The issue was, I didn’t know if I could do it. I didn’t know if I could lie to someone, make them think they were falling in love with a man, only to find out too late that they’d fallen in love with the one thing all humans hated.
I huffed, displacing the spiraling thoughts. After bathing, washing away the grime of my workout, then getting dressed, I went to my bedroom. I didn’t bother lighting the sconces lining the walls. With my arms behind my head, I rested on my bed in the comfort of darkness.
A light pattering of rain scattered across the window, drawing my attention to the glass.
Four years ago
The storm intensified faster than I expected.
It started out as a harmless shower, then turned into a downpour with torrential winds and thundering skies. Of course, today was the day I stayed late at the jobsite, and now I was sprinting through the rain back home, shielding my eyes from the sharp, biting drops.
Then I saw her.
Vhaena.
She was alone and struggling with a cart, the contents nearly toppling as the wind fought against her. What in the hells she was doing out here in this weather was beyond me. Whatever the reason, it didn’t matter. I didn’t think; I just moved.
“Vhaena!” I shouted over the roar of the rain, already closing the distance between us.
She whipped around, strands of her hair falling from the bun at the back of her head and plastering to her face, etched with determination. She looked like the very storm she was battling—fierce, wild, and magnificent.
“Daemon? What are you doing out here?”
“I’ll explain in a minute. Get inside!” I pointed to the old, abandoned barn across the street and grabbed the cart handle from her hand.
“I’m fine. I just have to—”
I didn’t let her finish her argument before I abandoned the cart, took her by the wrist, and practically dragged her to the barn. I shoved the rusted door open with my shoulder and pulled her inside behind me.
“You trying to get yourself killed?” I huffed a laugh, wiping the droplets from my face.
“No,” she chuckled. “I was trying to get these back to the house, but the damn wheel broke.” She made a move for the door. “I really need to get—”
“Stop.” I pressed my hand against the door just as she gripped the handle.
She spun around to face me and leaned her back against the wood when she realized just how close we were, clearly flustered.
“You’re waiting this out, and I’ll fix the wheel when the storm passes.”
There was no hiding the reddening of her cheeks as she gazed up at me. I wanted to relish the way she was looking at me—the same way I always looked at her. I reached up and brushed a strand of wet hair from her face, and suddenly, time stilled.
All her frustration melted away as I traced along her skin, tucking the hair behind her ear. She shivered beneath my touch as my finger trailed down the side of her neck, lingering longer than it should have to be considered anything less than intimate.
I lowered my hand reluctantly, but my eyes remained on hers.
She swallowed before speaking, her voice hardly above a whisper, “You don’t have to.”
“I know. But I want to,” I said, leaning back to give her space.
She had the opportunity to step away if she wanted to. Yet, she didn’t.
We stood like that for a long moment. As the storm raged outside, the air between us thickened with the echo of every word we’d never dared to speak to one another.
Except we didn’t need words. The tension spoke loudly enough, and it had been there for a long time—unspoken, taut, and carefully entombed in the space between us.
She sucked in a breath as I tilted her head up, beginning to close the distance between our lips.
But I stopped at the sound of Vosten calling her name outside.
Lightning flashed in the dark sky, illuminating my bedroom and bringing me out of that abandoned barn.
Though my eyes were trained on the ceiling above me, I wasn’t truly looking at it—my mind elsewhere, worrying for Vhaena. But at least she was with her brother for the rest of the night, doing their usual routine of eating late with their mother before walking back to their house.
I thought of tonight’s events over and over. Vosten was right to have Vhaena watched. If I hadn’t gotten to her in time, I don’t know what would have happened. Something needed to change. She couldn’t live her life in constant danger, and we couldn’t watch her forever.
Maybe she could move to another town…
“You can’t seriously think she would do that?” my demon asked.
My brows lifted with surprise.
“Since when do you have an opinion on the matter?” He never had an opinion on anything unless it had to do with me letting him off his leash.
“Well, you won’t let us go on the Hunt, so I have to fixate on something else. You’ve been fixating on her for years. Why can’t I?”
“I don’t fixate on her. Not anymore.”
Her feelings didn’t mirror my own. And I was beginning to wonder if they ever did, or if I imagined it all. It didn’t matter either way. She was clear on how she felt about me now.
“Keep telling yourself that. Regardless, she’s not going anywhere.”
I didn’t really know what to think of that, but he was right. Vhaena wouldn’t have left her family and moved somewhere else.
For a split second, I began to imagine what life would be like if she weren’t around.
My gut twisted, and I pushed the thought aside.
If she left, Vosten would likely leave, too.
Then I’d go out of my mind. Aside from my parents, I’d have no one.
But at least I wouldn’t have to watch Vhaena anymore.
The thought should have been relieving, yet it wasn’t.
I shook my head to clear my mind and continued to lie there for a couple of hours until my stomach dropped. Dread coursed through my veins, and my heart nearly stopped entirely. I shot out of bed.
Fuck! No, no, no. This doesn’t make any sense…
All of a sudden, the eyes I had been looking through went dark. I had never had a possession forcibly taken away from me, and it felt unnatural. I needed to see…
I flung myself out of the room, then I bolted out the front door and ran as fast as I could.