Demon Kissed - Katie May Page 0,65

I’ve been living in a pitch-black room for years and only now are the walls crumbling. Ribbons of light filter through, and I feel oddly bereft, almost as if a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

My parents’ mouths hang open as they gape in obvious disbelief. I wonder if anyone has ever talked to them this way. I imagine not. They walk through life as if their shits don’t stink, but let me tell ya. I sometimes share a bathroom with those fuckers, and I’m pretty sure I need my nostrils sewn shut.

Abruptly, Raz grabs my shoulders and spins me around, planting a tender, chaste kiss on my forehead.

“Sweet dreams, baby girl.” With a wink in my direction—and a scowl aimed at my parents—Raz saunters back to the minivan and backs it out of the driveway.

My parents are still staring at me in abject horror, so I do what any sane teenager would do when faced when her parents’ inevitable wrath: I run like hell to my bedroom.

Pun intended.

They don’t bother me as I get ready for bed, which is a shock. I can only imagine that they’re drinking away their shock downstairs, badmouthing Raz and looking up boarding schools.

I don’t worry too much about the boarding school thing though; I’ve looked into it myself, to see if there was anywhere that Adam and I could both go to get away. The price tags alone will deter my parents.

And if they don’t… I allow myself a vicious grin as I imagine telling Kastros that I need a smidge of his vengeance.

And I’ll do it too. There’s no way I’m leaving Adam.

I climb into bed and realize that Zolroth is right, at least partially. Rules—my parents’ rules—are stupid and arbitrary and deserve to be ignored.

I snuggle my pillow and gently chuckle as I recall how silly Zolroth looked tonight, bowling in a suit. He refused to take it off, which led to an enthusiastic round of chanting “Take it off! Take it off!” from the guys.

And then he’d given me a little lap dance as he’d shrugged his jacket off his shoulders before sliding his tie around my neck.

Good thing I’d had enough sense to take that shit off at the bowling alley. Lord only knows what my parents would have said if I’d come home wearing a tie. They probably would have threatened to lock me in the basement instead of sending me away.

I contemplate that for about a millisecond before reassuring myself that my demons are skilled at B&E and would have no problem getting me out of the house. Wait. Hold that thought. I have to check myself slightly.

I just mentally called them my demons.

Yeah…no. That can’t happen. For a variety of reasons, the least of which is murder.

I fall asleep chastising myself because I can’t get attached.

When I dream, I’m back in my beautiful cloud meadow. Only tonight, I’m in front of a gate I haven’t seen before. It’s not a pearly gate, thank goodness, or I’d rush in the other direction because there’s no damn way Adam and I are going to be separated. Luckily, this gate is boring old wrought iron, not too unlike the gate at the front of my house.

I wonder briefly if my mind is intent on making me relive the worst part of my evening as I push the gate open.

But when I walk inside, I can see that’s clearly not the case. I let out a relieved sigh as I glance around, a bit of awe swirling through my stomach.

I’m in a small enclosed vineyard. But this vineyard isn’t like any I’ve seen before. In true dreamscape fashion, the vines that climb trellises in this vineyard are pitch black, and the tip of each branch ends with an elegant spiral. The leaves are giant swathes of black that cascade down like elephant ears and hide bunches of fruit.

I walk down the first row of vines and peer closer to see what grows here. The grapes aren’t red, but rainbow-colored little marbles, each perfectly spherical fruit a different color. Some are solid red. Some are white. Some have flecks of various colors that almost seem to swirl around them. I blink, at first wondering if the swirling is part of my imagination or if it’s real.

I reach forward and pinch one of the tiny little fruits, surprised to find it’s quite solid. It’s smaller than my thumbnail, and I start to pull it—

“No! Don’t!” Ziel’s voice has me turning, but