Our Demons {Kai Parker Book 1}

two: in which he cooks her dinner

"-it's not the same, it's not as appetizing as homemade. I mean it takes a few hours longer to make but at the end, you're left with a masterpiece."

Ria forced her eyes open and realized three things were very, very wrong.

First, there was the smell of food. She couldn't cook, not without setting fire to the kitchen or over salting everything. So who was cooking? Wasn't she supposed to be alone in this world?

Second, she couldn't move. Her legs and hands bounded her to a chair and despite struggling the tape held on.

Finally, she could hear another voice.

"You're awake, perfect timing. I hope you don't mind but I cooked us dinner."

"What?"

Kai set down two plates of spaghetti.

"Dinner, now eat up- Wait," he chuckled shaking his head and setting down his fork. He nodded to the tape, "Silly me. Now, if I free you do you promise not to run away, fight, scream, etcetera, etcetera?"

Ria looked around. A knife, a fork, she could get away as soon as he set her free.

"Yeah, I promise."

She was lying and he knew it. Those round doe eyes were lying to him, they were taunting, saying the moment he ripped off the tapes she would grab a knife and leave.

"Let me tell you a story," he hummed and began to eat from his plate. "I had a sister, well, have, I don't know if she's dead or alive, but she lied to me. I trusted her, liked, even, and she lied to my face. I have never forgotten her betrayal." He looked away, a far-off gaze in his eyes and then he snapped his attention back to her.

Those round doe eyes.

Ria was struck with fear. This man was crazy, she was captured by an insane man again. The thought of what he could do, what had happened to her before, brought tears to her eyes.

"Aw, don't cry," he cooed as he grabbed a napkin and wiped the tears from her cheeks. "I know it's a sad story but I haven't even gotten to the best part. The part where, well, that's a story for another time." He picked up his fork, twirling spaghetti onto it and bringing it to her mouth.

"I'm not hungry."

"You're not supposed to bite the hand that feeds you, silly."

She sat mute as he finished off his plate, but she listened to every word coming out of his mouth. This was the one difference between Kai and her former lover Benedict. Benedict never spoke more than a few words at a time, choosing his words carefully, only speaking when necessary and that was what drew her to him in the first place.

He held onto his words, knowing the power behind each one and it was those carefully chosen words that ruined her.

Kai, on the other hand, spoke a hundred words a minute. He said everything, forcing the listener to hear every word, become overwhelmed, and choose the meaning from the duality.

"Now," Kai dried his hands from washing the dishes and returned back to his seat beside her. "I'm new to this whole truth thing. I'm guessing you don't know much about it either, but I say we give it another try. Who knows," he grinned, "the truth just might set you free.

Kai was eager to learn her story and for the first time, he waited with patience for her to begin. "Start with the witches."

She knew she didn't have a choice. She wasn't exactly in a superior position with an advantage but it had been so long since she had talked to someone that her mouth moved on its own and sentences formed.

"I was trying to bring a friend back from the dead and I knew a witch who was willing to help me. That is until they realized exactly who I was trying to bring back. So, they pretended to do the spell but instead sent me here. That was two years ago."

"And who was this friend that you sacrificed your freedom for?"

"Kol Mikaelson, he was an original vampire."

"A vampire? Wow, yeah witches don't get along too well with others, let alone vampires. I never really saw why though, I mean, if aliens attacked we'd all be on the same team, wouldn't we? Why can't we just divide the world and let humans get Canada, witches get America and Australia, vampires get Britain, and so on?"

"Okay," Ria ignored his banter, "it's your turn. Why are you here?"

His eyes litup with amusement and he leaned back in the chair. "Well I'm a witch, hopefully, you've got nothing against me for what my kind did to you."

"No, just the part where you kidnapped me."

"True," he sighed. "Remember the sister I told you about? She's my twin and as twins of the Gemini Coven, we were supposed to merge on our twenty-second birthday. The stronger one wins becoming the leader and the weaker one dies. Now, I'm not exactly a witch because I can't generate my own magic. I have to steal it from others. During this merge, I would obviously win and become the leader of my coven. My family did not want that. It actually hurt my feelings a bit. So all the while I thought the merge was happening, those two faced hypocrites were sending me here."

"So we've both been tricked. But why did you kidnap me?"

"Well, this is supposed to be a prison world designed specifically for me with no other person here. The fact that you got here means there has to be a way out."

Ria blinked, "Wait, you want to get out of here?"

"Well, I like the peace and quiet not to mention I don't have to pay for anything or put up with humans but yes, I do want to return to civilization."

"I wish you would have just told me that instead of assaulting, kidnapping, and threatening me."

"Again, I'm new to this whole interacting with other people thing." Kai's excuse did not hold much validity to her, but then again, he had been on his own much longer than she had.

"I'm human, but I do happen to have something that may be able to get you out of her."

Kai leaned in, "I'm listening."

"When I realized the witches were going back on their words I took their Grimoire as a useless way to, I don't know, make them angry? They panicked at first but they never came back for it so I guess they don't think I could use it. But if you're a siphoner, then the spell out has to be in the Grimoire and that should be your key out."

Kai stared at the girl; her round eyes were no longer expressing fear. Instead they were determined and neutral. Her lips were parted, irregular breaths showing she was excited to begin this endeavour.

"That all sounds great, awesome actually, but I don't think I heard the part where you want out also. You can't be doing this out of the goodness of your heart."

"I don't want out," she explained. "I thought I did but I hated the world and everyone I knew. Coming here has been the best thing that's ever happened to me. And you're right, I'm not doing this out of the goodness of my heart. Because once you get out I want you to ruin Aja's Coven."

It was in that moment that he understood she wasn't as naive and innocent as he saw her to be.

He knelt down in front of her, his arms going around her body to rip the tape which bounded her wrists. He tilted his head to the side, "Damaged people are dangerous. They know how to survive."

"I'm guessing you agree to my terms?"

Kai helped her stand up. He held her wrists rubbing his thumbs over her veins and feeling excited for the first time in a long time when he felt that she was not a ghost or a figment of his imagination.

"I do" he grinned.