Prince of Purgatory (mxm, BDSM, Second of the 'Prince' Series)

Strike Two (K/C)

I decided not to tell him. There will be a better time in the future, and I don't want to overwhelm him right now. Besides, I had enough on my plate with the stressful possibility of Cole getting kidnapped before I can explain myself. 

I stared at him from afar, as he took customer's orders and worked himself to the bone. Poor thing. Once he's mine, I'll get rid of all of the callouses tainting his pretty hands. He gave me a sparkly grin and a wave, and I reciprocated. His attention was stolen by another customer. Damn.

I heard the shop's bells ring, but I didn't bother to look up until a familiar man strolled his way to the empty chair across from me. 

"Is this seat taken?" I stared in shock at Ilya, my father's prized servant, and part-time nanny. 

"Ilya? What are you doing here?" The Russian man said nothing in reply, simply shrugging before taking a sip of coffee. "Gods, that is bitter." Ilya was a 'zombie', so to speak, dying in the disaster of Chernobyl, given a second chance by my father. He and his elder brother, Piotr, were rescued and brought to the castle, and have been a daily part of life since Shiro was born. 

"Listen, kid, you got your poor sister in a lot of trouble last night. Do you know how embarrassed your father was? To be humiliated like that in front of Lucifer?"

Lucifer, of course, was a scary man. He has been ruling Hell singlehandedly since his fall from heaven and had created the demon and vampire species. Belial, Sin of Wrath, Snake of the Garden, just had to be his favorite, and in turn, Belial just had to be my sister's mate. 

And boy, did Lucifer hate that. All the other sins were gay, so he was unpleasantly surprised at the revelation of Belial's straightness, and didn't try to make his hatred for my sister go unnoticed. 

"I was struggling, okay? I really needed some advice." He got comfy in his chair. "I'm all ears. Hit it."

(C)

It had come to a steady stop, thanks to the rain, and I wanted to spend some quality time with Kuro. I had tried to get his attention but to no avail. Some blond was sitting across from him, and they were speaking in hushed tones. 

Is he? No.

I walked right up to the table and waited for them to notice me. Kuro grinned as I stood beside him, and he wrapped his arms around my waist. I sent a smug look to the blond, only for my smile to falter as I took in the state of the man. A giant slit-like scar ran from his hairline to the apple of his cheek, going through his eye.

"Darling, this is Ilya, one of my father's...butlers." the scarred man held out his hand for me to shake. "Pleasure," I grinned, taking his battered hand in my own. "I suppose I should get going. Piotr!" Another scarred, blond man looked up from behind a newspaper. Ilya barked something in Russian, and Piotr stood up, pocketed his newspaper, and gave Kuro a loving head ruffle. "Watch for this one. He is troublemaker."

Kuro blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Those two," he muttered. "What were you talking about?" I asked, taking Ilya's previous seat. "My father, mostly. I did something to upset him, and he's...not happy." I nodded in understanding. "For a very stupid reason, too! He's angry that I want to be able to talk with my siblings. That's stupid, right?" 

I had listened to the first half, but for the second half, I stared down at the slightly stained napkin laying on the table, as words started to spell themselves out, without the use of a hand or writing device. 

"Are you okay, Cole? You looked like you've seen a ghost." 

"I think I have," I murmured, as the words stopped appearing. 

Clear as day, the words 'Strike two' were written. 

Judging by the look on Kuro's face, I think it was safe to say that it was not a good thing.