My body quivered at the very thought. Of what their ‘boss’ had planned for me.
I couldn’t give them the satisfaction of seeing me scared. I looked back to Blaine, trying to bury the sheer terror beneath all the anger. “Who did this to you?”
“Did what?”
“Dyed your hair,” I countered with equal moxie. “What’d you think? Who turned you?”
Blaine smiled guiltily. “I have what you might call a…preexisting condition.”
“Meaning what?”
That smile quickly turned feline. “You’re a smart girl, Kat. Figure it out.”
My heart sank in my chest. “No.”
He whimpered mockingly. “Afraid so.”
“But you can’t be. I know your parents. Our moms play tennis together for crying out loud!”
“Being a ‘mom’ doesn’t necessarily make a woman a mother, if you catch my drift.”
“Adopted?”
“As I suspect you’re already familiar with. And to think, my folks were so happy at first, having an adorable bundle of joy that never cried. It wasn’t until a bit later that they realized the wiring upstairs just wasn’t quite right,” he remarked, tapping the side of his head.
“But…how? You guys aren’t exactly what you’d call upstanding citizens. You’re more like gremlins on crack.”
“Years of practice on my part. Clinically, I’m what you’d call a sociopath. See, demonic entities such as myself still feel emotion. Our range just isn’t very expansive. And the pesky ones we can just turn off.”
And to think I cried over this man. This whole time, he’d been one of them. A Hellhound, by birth. I could see it on his face. Cold, callous, apathetic.
He strode closer, and I shrank back against the wall.
“Awww, what’s the matter, pumpkin?” he pouted, brushing his fingers down my jaw line.
I writhed away, shuddering at the contact.
“Don’t be like that. I don’t bite.” A fiendish grin crept across his face. “Well, not hard anyway. Not when I mean to play nice.”
My eyes shifted back over to Daniel, seeing his cell pressed against his ear.
His malicious grin stretched from ear to ear. “Slippery little thing she is. Thanks, man.”
“Dare I ask?” Blaine crooned.
“Hate to walk out on this precious little reunion , but the boys think they spotted my girl,” confirmed Daniel, sliding his cell back into his pocket. “And I’m positively dying to sink my teeth into her.”
“Your girlfriend, or more presumably your ex, is hardly the priority here.”
“Why? Are you kids in need of a chaperone?” he laughed to his friend.
“I can manage just fine,” confirmed Blaine.
“Well, then it’s settled. That is, unless you prefer me to stay and watch.”
The pounding in my chest only worsened. I wasn’t sure what was more horrible: being trapped in a room with two of Hell’s minions, or being left alone with just one.
Blaine cut his partner a sharp glare as he shrugged off his jacket, and Daniel threw his hands up in mock surrender. He waltzed out the door, a cheerful whistle echoing down the hall as his footsteps faded into the distance.
My eyes remained pinned to where I’d last seen Daniel, unable to bring myself to behold Blaine again, feeling his own gaze fixed on me.
“You really are a sight for sore eyes.” His hands cupped my face, forcing me to finally look at him.
I didn’t lash out this time. There was no one here to rein him in. All it took was one wrong move, and Blaine could snap at any moment. I was now solely at his mercy.
“And I really am sorry about the restraints,” he huffed, looking up at the cuffs holding me captive. “We just couldn’t risk having you run off again. You understand.”
“What do all of you want with me?” I gritted, trying to fend off the tears burning behind my eyes.
“Right now?” His hands ran through my hair, gently brushing the loose strands from my face. “Right now, I want you.”
My heart, my head, my chest; everything contracted, suffocating me slowly as Blaine rested his forehead against mine. His obnoxiously long, thick lashes fanned the tops of his cheekbones as his eyes fell closed. He really was beautiful. And that very thought churned my stomach. They said that Satan disguised himself as an angel of light, so it only seemed fair that menace would appear in the guise of temptation.
“Don’t be afraid,” he whispered. His voice. He always managed to sound so calm. Even now it still held that soft timbre, making each word more persuasive than the last.
He opened his eyes again, searching mine for…I wasn’t sure. Acceptance? Surrender?