First And Last - By Stacey Kennedy Page 0,19

Kyden to see if he knew what she was talking of. He shrugged. I looked back to her. “Afraid of what?”

“You.”

A loud sharp bout of laughter escaped! How ridiculous. “And why would they be afraid of me?”

“We hoped your magic would speak for itself and it did. You shielded our Lord Kyden that night. Do you forget so easily? That has never been done and to see such power is undeniable. If they were to show their alliance to Magnus, then when you destroyed him, they would be as well. They’re not stupid beings.”

“Oh,” I wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that.

“Interesting,” Kyden commented, with a raised brow, but the feeling that shot through me was one of immense pride. The knowledge that he was proud of my strength gave me the warm fuzzies all over. Kyden rested his hand across my thigh and lightly caressed it—feeling the love right back.

“Well that’s the background, which you needed to know.” Misa licked her lips as if her mouth had run dry. “Now, onto the beings. We’re all different and you need to understand that so you can choose appropriate guards to watch over you.”

I sighed and rubbed my temples. “This is giving me a headache.”

Kyden laughed. “Go on, Misa.”

“When the worlds were born and Satan reigned over the Underworld—including Satan—there were seven demons in total that made up his guard and were known as the Demon Lords. Each of them carried one sin to seek out souls. When the human would have a desire to commit one of the sins, the demons would grant their request and steal their soul.”

“Sell your soul to the Devil, right?” I offered.

Misa nodded. “Let’s see, there were Mammon, Asmodeus, Leviathan, Beelzebub, Lucifer, Belphegor, and Satan.” She counted on her fingers as she went along. “Yes that’s seven, each of whom presided over one of the seven sins. You know—lust, greed, envy, etcetera. These are demons’ ancestors. Ones who long ago left our realm to join Satan, but in their place, demons have been born to follow in their duty.”

“You breed?” I snapped out.

She shrugged. “We are destined just as you and Magnus were.”

I cringed at that and Kyden stiffened. The emotions that ran through us both made breathing difficult.

Kyden smoothed his hand over mine, gave me a soft smile in an obvious attempt to settle the pain in my heart. I had to admit, having this bond with him made things between us even stronger. It took the unknown out of the relationship. The wondering what the other person is thinking. Whatever I needed, he would react to it because now he could sense it. Reading Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus was a thing of yesterday.

Misa didn’t notice our little moment and went on. “We’re destined to one that will make our offspring stronger. So, it continues. We seek out humans who are desperate to receive their sin, give it to them with our powers, then drain a part of their life force.”

“Okay that explains that part, but what about the witches and warlocks there,” I stated. “When did they come into the picture?”

“As the battle resumed between the two worlds, Satan’s witches began to breed with the demons and produced warlocks.”

“Oh, I guess that makes sense,” I said with a little shrug. “So getting it straight, demons seek out humans that want to commit one of the sevens sins, and when they do, the demon will give them what they’re after in return for some of their life force?”

Misa nodded.

“Do the humans know?” It was the obvious next question.

She shook her head. “After the life force is drained, the human’s memory is gone with it, and another one put in place to explain the reasons for getting what they were after.” She raised her brows a little and gave a knowing glance. “It keeps our world safe.”

“Hrmph,” I wasn’t at all happy about that. They should know that they’re taking a few years off their life to get that new car, but really, some people would probably do it anyway. I let it go. “What do the witches and warlocks do then?”

“It works in a similar way. They offer souls to the Underworld to give it strength. Before, as you know, it didn’t matter what souls they would take. They would draw the runes and give up whoever they pleased.”

I held up my hand to stop her before she got ahead of herself and left me confused in the wake.