Chapter 38
Jaws
Slash
Idon’t understand why the little demon is so adamant about denying our age difference, but humans raise their children with extremely bizarre hang-ups.
Kit is over their legal age, and my brothers and I are well over Hell’s regulations; there’s nothing odd about our association.
Of course, I don’t know that discussing Hell’s laws and rules with him will engender any better responses as they’re…
lax, at best. But demons see things in ways that humans do not, and it is our nature to err on the side of darkness versus light.
Kit hasn’t been here long enough to see the entire picture of this realm, but he won’t like a lot of it when he does.
I fear most demons cannot live up to the code he created for himself after his assault.
But at this moment, I’m too nervous to have a philosophical debate about what is good and what is bad, especially regarding things like age that cannot be changed.
My shark and my demon are both eager to connect with him, to show themselves to this new person who has become a central figure in our lives.
I stretch up on my toes, cracking my neck as I prepare for the shift when I hit the water, then I look down at my little demon.
“Are you ready?”
Kit nods, stepping back from where he was aggressively crowding me to make his point. “I think so. Is it weird that I have vague ideas in my head based on… like movies and stuff? And I don’t know how the real thing will compare?”
“No,” I say firmly. “It’s not weird, as I’m certain you have ideas about crows or pandas or cobras or peacocks, yes?”
He gives me a grateful smile as he sighs. “Yeah, and they were all very different. I mean, you guys can get way bigger, and there’s like the half-shift thing, and um…”
I arch a brow as I tease gently, “We can chat about it or I can do it. Which would you prefer?”
“Oh!” His eyes widen and he waves his hand. “No, go do it. Um, yeah. Let’s make it happen or whatever.”
Chuckling, I wink at him and then dive into the Hellspring, letting my half-shift happen as I swim through the rejuvenating waters.
When I bust through the surface, my face has changed: my teeth are in sharp rows, and my mouth is wider while my features mirror that of my great white.
Kit gulps as he looks up to see me—I’m much bigger in this form, and I’m not a small demon to begin with.
“Holy fish sticks, Sharkman,” the little demon says as he nervously shifts from foot to foot. “You’re so fucking enormous right now. It’s like… it’s hard to even imagine this. But I guess I could have… Jasper is pretty fucking big in half-dragon, too.”
The sound my laughter makes in this form is a raspy rustle that makes ripples across the surface of the pool as I submerge myself so I’m on his level.
Only my head is sticking out of the water now, and that makes it much easier to breathe and control myself as Kit stares.
“The others can get bigger than they’ve shown you.
We are all being careful not to overload you, Kit.
No one wants you to fear their animal or demon; in fact, that may be our worst nightmare.
Being part of our caliphate means you must trust us, and if we frighten you, that will never happen. ”
“I hate being so defective,” he grumbles as he scuffs his shoe on the ground. “Okay, let’s do this. Give me the full monte and don’t hold back. I have to see it to believe it, you know? I don’t want to be shocked into an attack if this happens in the Games.”
The little demon is far braver than he gives himself credit for.
“I will go under and return as the animal.” The moment I relay my intent, I duck under the tingling spring water and allow my shark to emerge for the first time in weeks.
I have not had the time to come and swim with all the upheaval, and he is eager to be free, especially with Kit here.
Swimming toward the edge of the spring with my huge fin sticking out of the water, I wait for his reaction to bounce off the water so I can hear it.
“A bigger boat isn’t gonna do it,” Kit says, and when it gets to me, I have to hold back a laugh. “I’m gonna need lots of bigger things. But… courage isn’t the absence of fear, but triumph over it.”
I don’t know why he said that, but it sounds like a quote.
Perhaps Zavida will tell me later, but for now, I swim even closer to where he is.
Being three times larger than a normal shark has probably scared the shit out of him, and I’m going to feel the vibrations of him running for the hills and slamming the door soon.
My assumption proves to be false when a yell of ‘Cowabunga!’ echoes off the spring water and a body comes flying into the pool nearby.
He’s getting in the fucking pool with me? Really?!
Stunned beyond belief, I keep swimming—that’s what sharks do—but I wait to see what is going to happen next. My animal weighs over eighty tons, and I maneuver very well in large open waters, but not so much in this pool. It’s large, but not large enough for me to be comfortable in for too long.
“Slash?” The water ripples as Kit swims closer, and my animal flicks our tail like an excited puppy as I sense him getting closer.
Suddenly, there are arms draped over me and fingertips touching my skin lightly.
“Damn, this is cool. I guess you don’t talk in this form cuz of the water, and since I don’t breathe under there like you, we’re limited.
But, um… if you can hear me, this is so, so, so fucking cool.
I mean, I’ve barely even been to the zoo at home, and I’m swimming with a shark as big as a fucking dinosaur! ”
The relief that floods through me is immense, and it enables me to push back on the shark enough to return to my half-shifted form. Kit squeaks when he goes from holding on to the shark to me, and I let out the rusty chuckle again. “I wanted to talk, little demon.”
“Um… yeah. Yeah, that’s good. I mean, I get it.”
He looks panicked now, and I tilt my head in confusion.
Is he less comfortable with the half-humanoid, half-shark than with the giant animal?
That seems very odd. I do not understand why that would be.
“Are you okay? I did not expect you to jump in, but I feel very pleased that you trusted me enough to do so.”
The little demon looks around, then bites his lip as he frowns. “I…”
“Tell me. I will not judge you if this form is difficult for you to be around—”
“No!”
I blink at his vehement response. “Okay. But you appear to be close to panicking, and I do not want that. Perhaps I went too quickly and you need me to slow down.”
Kit makes a frustrated sound and then he swims backward away from me as he rakes his lower lip through his teeth.
Once I see he’s treading water well, even in our demonic spring, I float quietly while he gathers his thoughts.
Finally, he gives me a sad expression, and it makes my heart stop in my chest. “Slash, I have to tell you something. I’ve been hiding something, and well…
in this situation, I won’t be able to do that anymore.
I… I haven’t told everyone yet because I need to trust them a lot to feel safe doing it.
And, um… I feel like I can tell you now. ”
My visage melts fully into humanoid as I look at him in concern.
Whatever this is, it’s very important to him, and I need my judgement to be unclouded by my animal so I can respond.
“As long as it’s not that Jasper was right about you being a spy for Darkstar, I do not believe it will change anything. ”
He blinks and shakes his head, his short hair flipping water at me as he does so.
“No, no! Not that—never that.”
I grin toothily, relief flooding me yet again as I look at him.
“Thank fuck. He would have been completely obnoxious if his ridiculous claim were true. No one would have been able to be around him for at least a decade without that coming up. I’m not prepared to live through something that irksome once more. ”
Kit frowns, arching a brow. “It’s happened before?”
“We’re ancient, little demon—many things have happened before. But yes, we have disagreed on additions to the caliphate in the past who did not turn out to be suitable. Unfortunately, the prince is right more often than he’s wrong, and he is not a gracious winner.”
“Shocker,” he says as he grins a bit. “But that isn’t the secret, and I’m going to hold you to the promise that nothing else will be a big deal.”
I shrug. “I would not have said that if it were not true. Tell me your secret.”
“I’m not a guy.”
My brows furrow, and I consider that for a second before I shrug again. “Okay.”
“That’s it? Okay? That’s all you have to say?!” Kit’s eyes widen as he gives me a genuinely surprised look, and I meet his gaze without guile.
“Yes. Did you want me to have a more dramatic reaction or be upset?”
The puzzled expression only gets worse, and suddenly, he’s darting at me in the water until we’re within centimeters of one another. “You do realize I mean… biologically, right? Like I’m a girl? With boobs? And… other things.”
I snort before I can stop it, and Kit frowns harder.
Once I am back in control of myself, I look down at him earnestly.
“I don’t know why you think I would be upset about this.
More concerned, yes, and definitely many things make more sense than they did before, but…
I am absolutely not mad in the slightest. Curious how and why, maybe, but…
not mad. No matter what physical features you possess, you belong to our caliphate, and that is sacred. ”
“Oh,” he says, and his chin drops as his eyes fix on the murky waters of the spring. “That makes sense, I suppose. I’m a… brother or I guess… a sister now? So you’re good with me because we’re all bonded and stuff.”
Kit being a girl has not made his reactions and emotions any easier to decipher.
“Little demon, that’s not why it’s okay, nor is what makes more sense to me.
” His eyes skate up my chest to my face, and he waits for me to continue quietly.
“Knowing that you are a girl makes the pull from my shark and my demon toward you classifiable. I have not been attracted to men prior, and you drew them so completely. Now I understand why every ounce of my focus cuts to you the moment you enter a room or speak. I would have adjusted eventually were you not a girl, but this is much less to figure out.”
“Huh?”
He looks confused, and I chide myself internally for being unclear.
“Kit Camponella, my animal and my demon find you mesmerizing, and since I have not been attracted to men before, I was very confused. I would have learned the right things and followed my instincts had you been male, but not being male is much less confusing to me.”
“Slash, are you saying you wanted to kiss a boy and didn’t know what to do about it?”
“I suppose that is accurate, no matter how odd it feels for you to say it out loud.”
Kit ducks his head and murmurs, “Would you like to kiss a girl instead?”
I have the feeling some of my brothers have been doing more than studying with our femme in disguise, and I’m going to thump them.