Violet String {EDITING}

Demons Come in All Forms

Genesis yawned, stretching her legs out under the sheets she never remembered slipping under. "Huh?" She blinked, staring around her room, certain she was forgetting something. "How-?"

"You awake?"

"What are you doing here?!" She was sitting up staring at her mate's back as he sat on the other side of her bed.

"I didn't hear you come back yesterday..." Finn said, staring out of the window. "So I came up here, only to find you safely tucked in bed..."

"My bedroom is a boy free zone." She folded her arms, realising with a start that she was still fully dressed.

"Genesis..."

The sound of her name rolling from his lips made her want to curl up into a ball, earnest grey eyes staring into her own like ice-picks, so much so she almost missed the next words he spoke.

"Do I look like a boy to you?"

Heat rose in her face, her lips trembling as she answered. "No. No you don't..."

"Come here."

"What?" She shrunk back at the sudden request.

"I haven't seen you for a whole day." Finn had both arms at the ready. "Not to mention you were running from me before..."

Genesis bit her lip. "And?"

"Being near you helps settle something inside me." A faint blush stained his cheeks. "But this time I want to hold you for a while."

"I can't..."

"Genie, either I come under those sheets with you, or you come out and join me over here." He sighed, sounding very out of character as he spoke. "I'm tired of being timid and nervous... I just want to get somewhere with you..."

"Get somewhere...?"

"Our relationship... if you can call it that..." Finn sighed, yanking off his shoes. "Now, are you going to come out, or do I have to come in?"

Genesis was sitting on the edge of the bed in a flash, her hands trembling as Finn sidled closer. One arm crept around her shoulders, pulling her into his embrace and she found herself feeling oddly warm somewhere deep inside as his head nuzzled against hers. Her heart raced as he held her there, his russet skin flush up against her own. Whether she was excited or terrified, she didn't know, but the answer soon became clear with Finn's next words.

"You're a survivor of the Flirit Massacre, aren't you?

***

Genesis crept downstairs, relief creeping through her bones as she finally escaped the arms of her mate. He'd been insistent on doing everything with her, from eating to wandering about the nearby forest. She'd spent most of the time avoiding looking at the pulsating veins in his neck, trying to keep her fangs from descending.

She went down to the basement, eager to grab a bottle of the very thing she needed, only to freeze when a knife was pressed up against her throat.

"And what might you be doing down here?" Arrow, the Alpha Assassin, asked, his breath hot against her neck. "You do know what was in that fridge, right?"

"Let go."

"Nu uh." He tutted, pulling out a set of handcuffs. "I'm afraid you've just become very suspicious..."

"Tell me something I don't know."

Her hands were chained to a large steel hoop before she could protest. "Why were you after the blood?"

"I wanted a late-night snack."

"Tell me." His eyes bore into her own.

"I just did."

"Rubbish."

"Tch." Genesis rolled her eyes.

"Tell me the truth."

"I just did."

"Gah." Arrow spun away, storming up the stairs into the kitchen without another word, leaving her trapped in the basement. "Rylan. Thorn." The assassin glanced at the other Alphas in the room, jerking his thumb towards the basement door. "We need to discuss something." He said, striding back towards the small door he'd walked out from only moments before.

"What's going on?" Rylan was hot on his heels.

"Finn's dear little mate seems to have quite a few secrets..."

"What did she do?" Red eyes surveyed the small room, soon finding Genesis's kneeling figure. "I take it you didn't just handcuff her for the fun of it."

"No, only you'd do that." The Alpha King remarked.

"Of course."

"Enough, you two." Arrow sighed. "She went for the fridge with the blood in it."

"Hmm..." Thorn tilted his head. "So she might be involved in this whole demon summoning business too..."

"Demon summoning?"

"Don't try to play the innocent act."

"I'm not acting. I genuinely have no idea what you're going on about..." Genesis sighed, her shoulders sinking.

She'd never understand Alphas.

They were ridiculously stubborn and set in their ways, so much so, that they couldn't even see she was telling the truth.

"Let's humour her." Pale blue eyes locked on her own.

"Demon summoning is one of the few things that involve blood." Thorn folded his arms. "What other use is there for it?"

"Well, it can also feed them too..." Arrow chimed in, his words sinking like daggers into Genesis's heart.

Demon. Monster.

She could still remember the screams the city had cried when the red-haired girl had attacked. Those were the things they'd shouted as they were killed.

She laughed humourlessly. "Yeah." She smiled, but there was no light in her eyes. "You're right..." Her eyes closed, thinking back to those memories she'd tried to suppress for so long, and then she was standing there.

The red-haired girl, her red eyes boring into Genesis's purple ones as they stood in front of each other in the ruins of Flirit.

"It's not my fault..." The girl smiled softly. "After all, you're the only one I can't bring myself to kill..." A short laugh burst from her lips. "Who am I kidding?! It's impossible for me to kill you... But by the same flip of the coin, you'll never be able to defeat me..." Genesis placed her hand up against the other girl's, closing her eyes as she felt the cool surface of the mirror, tears leaking down her face as she opened her eyes, staring at her red-eyed reflection – at the demon that lurked within her. "Because I am you, and you are me."

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