Stolen Innocence

09

Kayden ran until he reached a big library. He pushed through the two doors and ran into the room, finding a small crevice between the bookshelf and the wall on the far end near a window that overlooked a big garden.

He forced himself into the tiny crevice, pulling his knees to his chest. His neck still burned and the shirt was still wet and sticky from the spilled coffee and pieces of food that had landed in him. Kayden cried into his knees, the pain all over his body making him cry even harder.

Nothing felt right anymore.

Kayden had been taken against his will to a place he wasn't allowed to leave, and if he dared try he'd be at the mercy of an angry demon. That, or he'd leave an encounter a possessive vampire.

And, on top of all of that, he was straight.

So why the hell did fate leave him at the mercy of a male demon who claimed he was his soulmate? Because Kayden was sure that didn't mean a platonic lifelong friendship and insinuated that they were supposed to be a couple.

He remained in his tiny corner, crying and wallowing in his own sadness until he heard someone clear their voice, the sound echoing through the library.

"I know you're having relationship issues, but can you keep the sobbing to a lower level?" a cold voice somewhere in the library asked. "I'm trying to work and the crying is rather distracting."

Kayden peeked out from his hiding spot and saw a man sitting at a table in the middle of the library whom he hadn't noticed when he ran in earlier.

The man had dark skin and tattoos visible on his arms where his shirt didn't cover. They were different symbols in no language that Kayden recognized, but they were intriguing.

He crawled out from the corner and walked over to the man, sitting at the chair beside him and peering at his tattoos. Kayden had always been intrigued by the art on other people, even more so now that he'd moved to the big city and it was more present than it had been in the country area he'd grown up in.

Where he grew up, people were strict and conserved, refusing to mark their bodies. Kayden didn't ever fit in there, but he tried so hard because his parents wanted him to be the good religious boy that their community wanted him to be.

Kayden knew his parents wanted him to get an education, but he knew they also wanted him to return to their town someday which meant returning to a life that he didn't feel he belonged to.

"Never seen a tattoo before?" the cold man asked, looking away from his laptop. "Or do you just have a staring problem?"

"Sorry," Kayden mumbled, hanging his head to look at his bare legs as he was still only wearing a coffee-covered sleep shirt.

The man sighed and rolled his eyes. "Don't bother yourself with apologies, human," he said in irritation. "They're not worth my time."

"So... I can stare at your tattoos?" Kayden asked hopefully.

"I can't really stop you unless I tear your eyeballs out and I don't think Simon would approve of that."

"It doesn't matter what I approve of?"

"No."

Kayden's fear faded away, replaced by irritation. "You demons are all the same," he grumbled, reaching forward and running his thumb over one of his companion's tattoos.

"I said you could look, human," he growled, swatting Kayden's hand away. "And, yes, we are the same. We were all created by the same person so there's not much difference."

"What's your name?" Kayden asked, taking one of the demon's pens and tapping it on the table, only for the demon to snatch it from him and bare his teeth.