Chapter 9
Kendyll
I SWEPT THE NONEXISTENT DIRT from the dark marble floors.
Xander gave me the task of taking care of the penthouse in exchange for being here, but there honestly wasn’t much to do as far as that went.
His place stayed spotless, but I’d rather pretend I was washing away grime than fight with his stupid laptop again.
I glanced at the coffee table where the device sat.
Not only was it a pain trying to use the stupid thing, given my lack of experience with technology, but it wasn’t helping me find what I was good at.
I’d searched countless pages and forums for ideas of things I could try that relied on my individual skills and not ones gained from school or real world experience.
I didn’t think people would enjoy the sound of a screeching hawk, so singing was out.
Dancing was also out since, according to Xander, I had two left feet.
Music and art therapy was something I’d received during my time at Mountview, but considering I’d been delegated to the triangle or told I had a very “abstract” talent for painting, I didn’t anticipate either of those working.
My latest effort in finding what I was good at was writing. The notebook paper with the start of a ghost story sat by the laptop where it waited for Xander to get home. He’d verify if I had any potential in the story-telling department.
The thought of my demon roommate had my cheeks warming. I quickly released the broom to smack my cheeks and grumbled, “Be gone, impure thoughts.”
True to his word, he wasn’t here often. I’d already been here three weeks, and in that time, I’d seen him a handful of times, typically when he popped in to change clothes, shower, or to make sure I was still breathing.
While it could be lonely in this big apartment without him, I didn’t mind the fact that he was gone at night.
He’d already seen me in some pretty embarrassing predicaments—hiding in my closet as a child, being held as a mental patient in a psychiatric hospital, causing a ghost to turn crazy.
I didn’t want him to see me in yet another embarrassing state while I slept.
Guilt carved up my chest at the thought of that dead woman from the park.
Her soul was forever gone, torn apart, because of my ignorance.
My ability to see, touch, and hear entities from beyond this realm was something I’d tried to fight and ignore.
Embracing it caused trouble for me and those around me, but not learning about ghosts and my ability to interact with them only served to hurt the spirits.
I couldn’t let something like what happened with that woman happen again. I had to be more careful going forward.
Shaking the troubling thought away, I focused on what Xander and I could get up to later.
The times he was here for an evening, he—albeit reluctantly—hung out with me.
He taught me how to play video games, though I still sucked at all of them.
He showed me countless movies that he insisted anyone with a pulse needed to watch, and he ate dinner with me.
“I wonder when he’ll be back,” I murmured as I put the broom away.
I poured myself a cup of jasmine tea, which he’d gotten me hooked on. I’d just returned the pot to its place when he appeared in a burst of shadow in the living room.
His human-looking dark eyes met mine briefly before he darted into his room. “Sup, Ghost.”
Grinning, I abandoned my tea to follow after him. “Welcome back.”
“I’m not staying,” he announced, popping his head around the open doorway of his bedroom. His corded shoulders were bare as he chucked a shirt at me where I stood in the living room. “Here. Wash that for me.” He ducked back into the room where I heard him rummaging through his closet.
“Where are you going?” I asked, unable to hide the disappointment from my voice. “I thought we could watch a movie whenever you were here next. I searched some lists online and picked out a classic horror film for us.”
His black hair fell into his narrowed eyes as his head peered around the doorframe once more. “What movie?”
“The Exorcist.”
He pursed his lips, nearly making his black septum piercing vanish, and cocked his head. “Tempting.” He disappeared back into the room. “But no. I’m going out with the boys to Hell’s Gate.”
Hell’s Gate was the demonic club in Hell that Xander frequented with “the boys,” a group of demons he was close to.
“But—”
My feeble argument died on my tongue when a chill ran down my back. Most people would have a tremor of fear that followed the sensation, but for me, that icy prickle was as normal as a person smiling and saying hello.
Unbothered, I turned around to see what presence had just appeared behind me. I came face to … chest with a figure. My eyes drifted up the broad torso to meet the black-and-red slitted eyes of the golden-haired man staring down at me.
When our gazes met, his brows rose. “Woah. Are you looking at me?” He looked down at his body and arms as though checking to see if something was out of place.
“Obviously,” I replied flatly.
The corner of his lip lifted, exposing a sharpened canine. “Wow. A Ghost Speaker, huh?”
He studied me, so I crossed my arms and scrutinized him back. Two black horns, shorter than Xander’s, stood in his golden curls, which were pulled back in a bun. A white t-shirt and dark pants hugged bronze skin.
“And what are you doing here?” the new demon asked.
The question made irritation prickle at my insides. This penthouse had become my home, a place of calm and safety. Here this guy was, barging in and stirring up that serenity.
I tilted my chin up and pushed my glasses higher with my middle finger. “I live here.”
He blew out a small laugh, noticing the finger I chose to use, and looked over my shoulder. “Xander, I didn’t peg you as a cradle robber.”
“I’m not,” Xander hissed. “Don’t be fucking gross.”
I turned as Xander joined us. He’d changed into a deep purple silk button-up and charcoal dress pants.
His black hair was freshly combed, and as he crossed the room, his human features morphed so that obsidian eyes gave way to gold, and horns and claws were unleashed.
Those golden eyes with their vertical black slit narrowed on me.
Even with the pointed expression, my heart quickened at the sight of him.
“This is Kendyll, my pet fish,” Xander introduced with a wave of his clawed hand.
“Your what?” I asked with a frown.
“Shh.” Xander held a finger up to his lips before gesturing between him and the demon. “The adults are talking.”
“I’m—”
“A fish,” Xander smirked. “So swim along. We’re heading out.”
My aggravation and disdain for this stranger only increased.
I’d been working hard on finding myself and what I was good at during my time alone, and Xander knew this.
My attempt at a scary story, with its messy handwriting and numerous smudge marks from all the places I’d erased and rewritten, burned within my mind’s eye.
Xander was just going to leave without even looking at it, without looking at me?
The golden-haired demon, ignoring his companion’s dismissal of my presence, held his clawed hand out toward me. “I’m Perseus, your owner’s friend.”
I curled my lip at his outstretched hand and crossed my arms. “Good for you.”
Perseus scoffed around a smile and glanced at Xander. “Your fish is a bit prickly.”
Xander glared at me while patting his pants pockets. “I left my phone in my other pants. Let me grab it, then we can go.”
The two of us alone, Perseus leaned down so that his face hovered in front of mine. “I assume you know all about demons.”
“Flattery will get you nowhere with me.”
His lip twitched with the threat of a smile. “Do you know what kind of demon I am?”
“An annoying one?” I replied with a shrug.
“An Incubus,” he whispered. “You could say all things romance are my expertise, which means I can sense how you feel about him.”
My cheeks warmed, despite the mental walls I slammed into place.
My crush on Xander was no one’s business but mine, and it was a fact I intended to carry to the grave, considering he didn’t see me as anything more than …
a fish, apparently. Even if I were older, that wouldn’t change the reality of my situation. It wouldn’t change—
Perseus’s slitted eyes widened, and his shoulders tensed.
His lips parted slightly while his demonic eyes seemed to peer so deeply into mine, it was like he was staring right into my soul, into my secret.
I realized with a heavy wave of dread that was exactly what he was doing.
If he could see my attraction to his friend, he could see that, too.
“Stop it,” I hissed between clenched teeth.
He swallowed hard and straightened, eyes never leaving mine.
“Okay,” Xander chirped, coming back into the room. “I’m ready—”
“You know,” Perseus began slowly, finally tearing his gaze away from mine to meet Xander’s, “I actually think you should stay here. A pet needs quality time with their owner, don’t you think?”
Xander gaped at him like he’d lost his mind. “Uh … no?”
“Stay here,” Perseus ordered him. “I’m going without you. If you try to follow, I’ll make you impotent.”
“What the fuck, Perseus! You—”
Perseus vanished in a cloud of shadow. Xander stared in furious shock at the place his friend had just been while I smiled. I’d changed my mind. I liked that Perseus character.
“Can he really make you impotent?” I asked carefully.
“He can and would. Asshole.”
Grinning unapologetically at Xander, I chirped, “So The Exorcist?”
His head fell back, and he released a deep sigh. “Sure.”
I used the remote to close the many window shades while Xander dropped onto the couch and pulled up the movie on the TV. As was our movie tradition, I borrowed his phone to place an order for pizza.
Routine was something I’d always lived in, especially at Mountview.
Having a reliable schedule kept me moving, kept me from dwelling on things better left behind, kept the nightmares from closing in.
The routine Xander and I had made brought an even greater sense of comfort.
While his schedule and presence weren’t consistent, our relationship when he was here was.
There was no guessing what he felt, what his intentions were, and where we stood.
I joined Xander on the couch and grabbed the many loose notebook papers. “Before we start the movie, I thought you could look over this. I tried writing.”
“Oh yeah?” He held his clawed hand out and took the pages from me. After skimming over just the first two pages, he gave me a patient, fanged grin. “You know me. I’m pretty honest.”
“Uh-huh,” I responded apprehensively, curling a strand of my black hair around my finger.
“Today, I’m gonna lie, because being honest seems too mean.” He cleared his throat, and his face brightened to an exaggerated level. “This is amazing! You’re the next Stephen King!”
I groaned and dropped my head back against the couch to stare at the ceiling. “How can someone be so talentless?”
“Yeah,” he sighed with me. “You’re an oddity, for sure.”
I flopped my head to the side to fix a bland stare on him. “You’re not making me feel better.”
“Not trying to.”
I blew out a hard breath and looked back up at the ceiling.
Was I disappointed that yet another endeavor to find what I was good at had failed?
Yes. I’d spent so many important years confined, medicated, and analyzed for telling a truth that no one else believed.
Figuring out myself and the world was equal parts exciting and terrifying.
But was another part of me kind of glad that I still didn’t have an ability to fall back on? Yeah. The sooner I found what I could do to make a life for myself, the sooner I’d have to leave my safe haven.
The pizza arrived, so Xander hid his demonic features to grab it. I turned and stared over the back of the couch, watching as he hummed and grabbed plates.
“Um,” I started slowly, “I was looking at the calendar you left me. My birthday is this Friday.”
He glanced my way while dividing the pizza slices. “No shit. That means it’s your big eighteen. Humans think that’s a big deal, right?”
I picked at the back of the couch. “Don’t demons?”
He grinned. “We live forever and don’t age, Ghost. Not only that, but we’re created by the Prince of Darkness, not born. Birthdays don’t even cross our minds.”
The news fascinated me, and my gaze traced Xander where he stood. “So then how old are you?”
He paused and tilted his head as he considered the question. “Not a clue, honestly. I’ve been alive for centuries. But I pose as someone in their late twenties. Twenty-six is typically the age I give humans if they ask for one.”
“Wow,” I said slowly. “You’re old.”
He crossed the room with our food in hand and stopped by the couch where I leaned over it to hand me mine. “Shut up.”
“I guess Friday doesn’t matter then. I didn’t realize birthdays were like that for you.”
“We aren’t talking about my birthday. It’s yours.” He pursed his lips and studied me. “I guess eighteen is a big deal for a human like you. No, especially for one like you who hasn’t gotten to celebrate previous ones like a normal person. Should we go out to celebrate on Friday?”
I beamed up at him. “Can we? I’d really like that.”
“Sure,” he answered as he sat beside me once more. “I’m always down to do something fun. Figure out what you want to do, and we will.”
I knew this was already a milestone birthday, but it was even more so for me. My first birthday of freedom. My first day of being a legal adult. My first birthday with … Well, I wasn’t sure what the two of us were. Boss and employee? Pet and owner?
“What do people typically do for an eighteenth birthday?” I asked him, pulling all of the pepperoni off my pizza to put onto his plate.
He ate those as I handed them over and mulled over my question. “Yeah, I guess you wouldn’t know that. Humans do all the things they couldn’t do before. Buy cigarettes, go to a club, get a tattoo, go—”
“That!” I chirped, leaning closer to him. “I want to get a tattoo!”
“Okay. I’ll have an acquaintance make you an ID, and I’ll take you to get a tattoo.”
I couldn’t stop smiling. Even as the horror movie began, a happy buzz filled my body. I’d always loved the art with which people adorned their bodies. Xander had some tattoos that I’d caught little glimpses of, and every time I saw the hint of one, I longed to have my own.
I used to dread my birthday, because I didn’t feel like my life was something to celebrate.
I was a “crazy” person that others looked down on or wanted to pawn off on someone else.
My birth mother gave me up the minute she could, and my adoptive parents threw me away to doctors who could “help my particular needs.” What was there to be happy about on the day I came into a world that didn’t want me and only promised misery?
But for the first time, I actually couldn’t wait for the day to arrive.