me and the devil - kai parker

37

content warning: sexually explicit scenes

Her body stood frozen as she scanned his presence. He looked different, his hair was grown out, he had a beard now, and a whole lot of marks on his neck that were in different states of healing.

She couldn't fully comprehend that he was actually there, right in front of her.

"No." she simply said, looking right at him. "You don't get to do that, no, you need to leave Kai. You have no right showing up here." she pointed to the door behind her.

He just stared at her, unmoving, that infuriatingly calm gaze locked onto her face. It was as if her words were nothing more than an irritating buzz. And then, as though daring her to speak again, he took a step closer, the faintest smirk ghosting over his lips.

"No right?" His voice was low, mocking. "I was the one left to die in another prison world, Madelene. For six months. And you say I have no right?"

His voice rose suddenly, a raw, unhinged pain cutting through it, and she jumped, her heart beating faster with a strange mix of fear and something else that left her breathless. It had been so long since she'd felt this way—she wasn't even sure she remembered how to feel anything.

"Left you to die?" she asked confused "You left me, Kai! You walked out that door, and you were gone. No warning, no goodbye—just gone. Do you know what that was like? Watching days turn into months, waiting for you, losing hope a little more every day?" she almost heaved with anger and her mind registered his words, prison world?  "Wait what, what prison world, what are you talking about?"

"Waiting for me?" he scoffed, eyes flashing with anger, a bitterness she'd never seen before. "I would have killed to be waiting for you, instead of chained up, fighting off vampires, starving while they drained me every single day. So don't act like you were the only one suffering, Madelene." He took another step forward, his voice a venomous hiss. "You left me. They left me. And I was nothing more than their prey."

His words cut deep, but she matched his step forward, fury pouring out of her, but most of all confusion, pure disbelief, and confusion. "I didn't know! How could I have known? You were gone without a trace. I was alone, Kai—alone in this apartment, drowning in memories of you, surrounded by all your things, wondering if you'd even come back"

"You didn't even try, did you?" he said, his tone laced with accusation. "Didn't bother with a locator spell, didn't look for answers. Maybe you were better off without me."

Her cheeks flushed, her hands balled into fists, trembling. "Do you think I didn't try? You don't know a damn thing, Kai! Every spell, every trick I knew—nothing worked. I spent sleepless nights wondering if I was going insane and wondering if I meant so little to you that you just—left without a second thought, because I would've never done that to you, never! No matter how much I hate you. "

She felt her voice breaking as the words poured out, her eyes burning with tears she could barely hold back. She wiped them away angrily, clenching her fists. "Do you know what it's like to try and live in a world that no longer makes any sense?" Her words were unraveling, her pain spilling out too fast to contain. Suddenly, as if her body was moving on its own, she closed the distance between them and hit his chest, fists pounding against him. "All on my own!" 

He didn't flinch, didn't move. He just stood there, letting her take out her frustration, his eyes never leaving hers. So she hit again, and again, and again, until her punches grew weaker, her chest heaving, until finally he caught her wrists, his fingers firm around them, holding her just inches from him. She could feel the warmth radiating from his body, could see the scars up close now—the dark bruises, the half-healed cuts—and the anger that had driven her seemed to crumble, leaving only raw ache and confusion.