Page 7 of A Wicked Dance of Obsidian and Light (Echoes of Darkness #1)

Wearing the towel as a dress, I make a beeline for the room I woke up in. On top of the bed, clothes are neatly folded and waiting for me as promised, with a pair of strappy sandals on top. Kaiden isn’t anywhere in sight, so I presume he’s in the kitchen, as he previously stated.

I was expecting a T-shirt and sweatpants from Kaiden’s wardrobe, but am surprised to find women’s clothing instead. My first thought is that he’s giving me his girlfriend’s clothes to wear, the notion making me want to rip these clothes to pieces. The unsuspected irrational pang of jealousy burns through my chest like venom.

Why the fuck do I even care?

But the clothes still have the tags attached to them, so I calm down, the Italian brand name sounding foreign on my tongue and too hard for me to pronounce correctly. I haven’t even heard of it before, and I blanch at the price tag on each item.

Jeez. Does he eat money for breakfast?

Unfolding the clothes, I look at them. High-rise straight jeans and a pastel pink linen cropped top with billowy puffy sleeves. There’s also a set of the sexiest lingerie I have ever seen or touched, the soft pink lace silky and partially see-through. Something that I would have never chosen to wear by myself. Well, mostly because I could never afford something like this. The clothes look weirdly sexy and sophisticated at the same time, though. I usually don’t wear pastel colors or any colors; I mostly stick with black since it hides blood stains the best.

Discarding the wet towel at my feet, I start dressing myself, and I’m surprised at how well everything fits, as though Kaiden knows exactly my size. Sometimes, it’s hard for me to find tops that fit nicely around my breasts since I have full D cups, and at times, some of them make me look like a stripper, showing too much cleavage. I always have to buy a bigger top than the bottom, but the clothes hug my body and feel like second skin, which makes me even more annoyed at how perfectly everything fits, even the bra and shoes.

Getting out of the bedroom, I pass a few closed doors on a spacious hallway and a small sitting area. At the end of it, I reach a staircase. The top of the stairs offers a view of the entire first floor of what seems to be a ginormous penthouse decorated in a minimalistic combination of white and black, with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city and snow-capped mountains in the distance. The view is breathtaking. I can only imagine how beautiful it would look at night with all the tiny glimmering city lights. This is so not what I thought a demon’s home would look like. It’s bright and airy but classy and edgy at the same time with light woods and black marble accents. It’s also so clean it almost looks staged.

It’s early in the morning, judging by the placement of the sun in the sky, and it’s sunny, with no traces of clouds. The sudden burst of light makes me blink a few times in order to adjust to the brightness. I’m not used to waking up at this time of day since I work at night, and on the weekends, I like to sleep in.

I descend the stairs and walk slowly toward the kitchen. I stop near the bar, not mentally prepared for the sight of Kaiden flipping pancakes at the stove, barefoot, the movements making his back muscles dance in a way that gets my pulse spiking through the roof.

He thankfully has a black tee on that, at a closer look, somehow seems more erotic than him being naked. It fits him like a glove, hugging his muscles and accentuating the bronze hue of his skin. It all looks so domestic; I want to laugh at the irony. A demon cooking pancakes for a demon hunter. If this isn’t a line from a joke, then I don’t know what the hell is.

Am I trapped in one of Dante’s circles of Hell and have no idea?

Two empty plates are on top of the bar, alongside a spread of scrambled egg whites, bacon, fresh strawberries, and freshly squeezed orange juice.

“Sit. We’re going to eat, and then we can talk,” Kaiden says while turning off the induction stovetop and placing the tower of chocolate-chip pancakes on the bar.

“I’m not hungry; I just want to go home. Say your piece, demon, and I’ll get out of your hair,” I bite back with indignation. As soon as I finish saying it, my stomach grumbles loudly at the smell of the delicious spread, and I want to die inside because I can feel my face getting redder by the minute.

Kaiden looks at me, the ghost of a smile turning up his lips in amusement at my embarrassment. “C’mon, take a seat and eat. You’ve been down for almost fifty-five hours. No wonder your stomach is making loud noises.”

WHOA.

My mouth drops open involuntarily, my eyebrows shooting up all the way to my hairline. “WHAT? Fifty-five hours? I’ve been sleeping that long? What day is it?” I ask in a high-pitched tone. I slept through my twenty-third birthday and my plans with Sam.

“It’s Monday. You didn’t just sleep; you had to heal. You’re lucky you’re alive and that I found you when I did. If it weren’t for my warlock friend, Malik, you would have been dead now.”

“It’s Monday?” I echo in disbelief. I also had dinner plans for Sunday evening with Aunt Josephine to celebrate my birthday. She must be worried sick since I didn’t answer my phone. She probably called me a thousand times.

On top of that, I also have to go to the compound and let Grayson know about the attack. Fuck . He’s going to be so mad when I tell him it happened on Friday, and two days have passed since then. Luckily, I wasn’t on demon-hunting duty this past weekend. I normally have weekends off.

Pulling out a bar stool, I plop down on it. “Where’s my phone?” I ask while staring into space, trying to make the best decision of what to do next. Banging my head on the bar seems like a good option.

“You didn’t have a phone when I found you,” Kaiden says as he pulls the bar stool next to mine. The moment he sits down, his left thigh grazes my right one, which pulls me out of my reverie and leaves a wake of shivers behind.

“Did you throw out my Dr. Martens too?”

“They were all torn up,” he tells me as he starts stacking pancakes on my empty plate, his proximity engulfing me in his decadent, musky, spicy scent, making me hyper-aware of his presence. He’s so close I can feel the body heat radiating off him.

Gah, why does he have to smell so good?

He inches slightly backward while putting some scrambled egg whites on his own empty plate. He doesn’t give me much space, though, our bodies only a breath away, every movement eliciting tingles, starting a slow simmer that I can feel deep into my bones.

Feigning ignorance, I don’t put any space between us. I don’t want to show him how affected I am by our proximity. Ah, what the hell . I’m hungry anyway, and he did make me chocolate chip pancakes, which, by the way, are my favorite thing to eat in the morning.

Has he been stalking me or something?

After slicing a few strawberries on top of the pancakes, I take my first bite while Kaiden starts eating his boring egg whites. Do demons need to eat? I have never seen one eat before.

I suppress a loud moan when the melting chocolate flavor explodes on my tongue, making me almost dance with happiness. Judge me, I’m hungry as hell, and the pancakes are so freakin’ fluffy and perfect.

We finish the rest of our meals in silence. I’m still trying to figure out how I’m going to tell Grayson about everything that happened. The Order is my entire life, it would destroy me if I got kicked out. As much as it pains me, I have to lie. There’s no other option. But how much I’m going to lie and what I can tell still has to be decided.

I vaguely hear “…coffee?” and ask, “Huh?” when I realize Kaiden is now standing near the very expensive-looking coffee machine. I was so immersed in my thoughts again that I didn’t notice him standing up.

“I said, do you want coffee?” he asks again, his back facing me while pressing a few buttons on the machine. It beeps loudly, and hot liquid starts pouring into the mug. Apparently, you need a degree just to make a cup of coffee. I’m sure if I touch it, I will break it or possibly set it on fire.

“Yeah…thanks. I’m trying to figure out what to report to the Order. I can’t exactly tell them you saved me, you know. They would show me the door without a second thought,” I sigh, the predicament I find myself in souring my mood.

He slides the steaming cup of java on the bar in front of me. “It’s best if you don’t tell them what happened. I have reasons to believe someone sent you directly into a trap on Friday night.”

I blow on the surface of the hot liquid and chance a small sip, hoping I will still have taste buds left, and the coffee is perfect, exactly how I usually drink it. Two creams, two sugars, and it tastes as expensive as the machine it came out of looks.

“What do you mean? What reasons?” I flit my gaze to Kaiden.

He’s now facing me on the other side of the bar while his inked forearms rest on top, protruding veins evident over thick ropes of muscles.

Jesus. Are forearms supposed to look this sexy?

“Did the night go as it usually does when you go out hunting, or did something weird happen?” he inquires while raising an eyebrow at me. He straightens and crosses his arms in front of his chest as if he wants to challenge me with his words. His tattooed biceps stand out even more with the move.

“Well, now that you mention it, a series of weird things happened.” Can I really trust him with this? I trust just a few people from the Order with my life. But they took me in when my life was in shambles, and I was just a shadow of a person. Grayson would never do anything to hurt me, would he? I tear a hole in my cheek, trying to decide what to tell him and what I should keep to myself.

“Go on,” Kaiden urges me to continue while tilting his head.

I tell him everything that happened since I started following the covetorax demons until the moment he found me in the woods, leaving out the part where Grayson sent me the text with the mission. I wasn’t even sure he knew how to text until that very moment. He looks about fifty years old, but I know for a fact that he’s closer to a hundred since we age slower than normal humans, and technology isn’t something he bothers with very often. And then he wouldn’t answer his phone. He is always a phone call away when he gives us missions in case something goes awry and we need backup. Did he send me to my death knowingly?

No…that’s impossible.

Is it?

“The draconic ravengers were clearly just a decoy. Someone wanted you to be in the woods near Shadow Lake when the umbra came through the portal,” Kaiden states calmly as he rests his back on the counter, facing me.

Slumping in the stool, I consider his theory. It’s pretty clear someone sent me into a trap. The draconic ravengers posing as covetorax is a clear indication of that. A demon pretending to be another is unheard of; they even imitated the greenish-black aura unique to the covetorax when they possess a human.

“Fine, I’ll entertain the idea that you’re right for a second. Why me, though? I don’t get it. I mean, yeah, sure, I am a hellseeker, and demons have beef with the Order. But in the grand scheme of things, I’m just a soldier and definitely not special enough for someone to open a portal to Hell for little old me and then send such powerful demons to kill me. It doesn’t make sense,” I scoff.

Kaiden isn’t bothered by my mocking tone and continues as calmly as before, “I don’t know why they chose you as a target. What I do know is that something big is coming. Mutinies have always happened in Hell, but the uprisings against Lucifer have become increasingly frequent in the last fifty years.”

He takes a sip from the mug, looks down, and then his burning gaze locks back with mine. “In the last months, things have gotten so out of control that Lucifer went into hiding. Many demons don’t agree with the Celestial Treaty. They believe all demons should be able to come topside whenever they want, not just a select few that work within the Obsidian Conclave and have Lucifer’s permission.”

If what he’s saying is true, we are utterly fucked. “Lucifer went into hiding? Why doesn’t the Order know about this by now? Shouldn’t the archangels, the all-mighty beings of God, already be aware of the situation and warn the Order about it?” I muse, trying to keep up with all the questions popping up in my head.

He arches an eyebrow at me and takes another sip of coffee before he starts answering my string of questions. “Do you not remember why Lucifer was cast out of Heaven? It was because of his pride. He would never admit that things have gotten so out of control that he cannot rule Hell the way he used to. Admitting to mutinies, especially to the archangels and their chosen ones, the Order members, is simply out of the question for him. Even speaking about these things in his presence would make him go mad and tear every single piece of flesh from your bones while burning you alive.”

“And how have I never heard about the umbra demons before? Also, isn’t opening a portal to Hell a direct violation of the Celestial Treaty? I’m honestly surprised the archangels haven’t paid us a visit yet,” I exasperate as I start sipping my coffee now that it’s not that hot anymore. It almost feels like blasphemy to waste it. It’s practically liquid gold.

“The umbra are ancient demons that haven’t been seen on Earth in hundreds of years, that’s why. Lucifer hid or destroyed almost everything about them in his obsession to gain the upper hand against the Order. It’s not the first time he’s hidden information. No one from the Obsidian Conclave knows what the umbra are and why the portal was created in the first place. We barely managed to kill the ten in the forest.”

He locks his gaze with mine and continues. “I’m just as surprised as you that the archangels didn’t smite us all for the breach of the Celestial Treaty. That’s why you can’t tell anyone in the Order about the portal. It’s going to start a war,” Kaiden finally finishes his lengthy explanation, still sitting with his back at the counter. His forearms are no longer relaxed, though; his fingers grip hard the edges of the counter.

If all he’s saying is true, then we are neck-deep in shit. But why trust a simple hellseeker from the Order with this information?

I lean back in my chair and rotate the cup of coffee in my hands. Then my gaze snaps back to his. “Okay, so if no one knows about the umbra, then how do you? Also, what happened to the portal?”

Kaiden answers with a cruel smile painting his face, “I just had to torture the right demon to get that information.”

A chill goes down my spine at how casually he mentioned torture. I’m no stranger to the notion of it; of course, I have tortured demons before in a failed attempt to find the one who murdered my mother. It’s also a tactic used by the Order in extreme situations. We even have a ruthless enforcer, Cain, who’s brought in whenever the Order needs to get information. I know it’s necessary at times, but still, the way he smiled, like he enjoyed every minute of said torture, makes me shudder. I can’t forget who I’m talking to.

His eyes search mine, surely to gauge my reaction before he continues, “Portals to Hell are highly unstable. I don’t know how much you know about them since the Celestial Treaty forbids the use of portals unless you are the leader of the Obsidian Conclave and have business in Hell. Depending on the demon’s strength, it can only stay open for a few minutes. It was already closed when we arrived in the forest.”

“Why should I trust you are telling me the truth?” I wouldn’t put it past a demon to be deceitful in order to get what he wants. What is his plan, his ulterior motive? “I’m just a hellseeker, a good one, but I’m not a member of the Aureal Council, so I don’t have any power to make decisions within the Order like Grayson does. And why did you save me? What, did you happen to casually take a stroll in the woods at three in the morning? Is that a demon thing?” I scoff with anger in my tone, my gaze hardening, trying to remember that I’m talking to an Elite demon after all.

A sexy as sin, delicious smelling demon, but nonetheless, still a demon. I can never put my trust in what he says or does, not after one of his kind murdered my mother and took everything from me.

One minute, I’m staring hard at Kaiden; the next, he disappears without a trace from the spot he was occupying at the counter. He suddenly appears at my back, turning me around in the barstool with inhuman speed to face him. He cages me against the bar with his arms.

What the fuck?

It took him less than a second to do all that. My legs open involuntarily, framing his sculpted hard as steel body, the contact of our legs touching firing my senses.

Shit.

Chest heaving and face hot, I stare back at Kaiden, anticipating his next move, my heart beating a mile a minute. His warm breath is coming in waves, touching my face as his gaze is boring into mine. The intensity of his eyes ensnares me, the red swirls dancing again with the golden streaks in the tumultuous obsidian sea. He’s so handsome it almost hurts to look at him. When he starts speaking, a shiver works its way down my spine.

“I’ve been monitoring demon activity in Ashville for a long time. Especially around bodies of water where the veil that separates our worlds can be easily ripped into. I knew the day would come that the demon behind the mutinies in Hell would make a move. Don’t forget who I am, Iris. I’m the head of the Obsidian Conclave, and I rule Ashville. I know everything that happens at all times. As to why I saved you…well, it’s because you were targeted for a reason. You’re special, and I need to find out why you’re so important to them,” he challenges, the deep tone of his voice rolling over my body.

“All of this is crazy. I’m not special. Get that out of your head. I’ve heard enough; I want to leave now.” I shake my head in disbelief. The headache I woke up with earlier today threatens to take over again with a vengeance.

I need to think about everything that happened since starting my shift on Friday night, and I can’t do that with Kaiden in the same room as I am, even more so when he’s standing this close to me. We are practically sharing the same breath. The close proximity of our bodies is making me frazzled.

The weight of his eyes is like a physical caress, nailing me to the spot I’m in, unable to move because deep down, all I want is for him to close the space between us and kiss me. That makes my insides boil with anger at myself and at his stupidly handsome face.

Eyes on me, Kaiden licks his lips. “You should lay low for a while, take a break from your hellseeker responsibilities. The demon that targeted you will be back to finish what he started.”

I snort a surprised laugh that dies quickly when I realize Kaiden is being dead serious. I abruptly stand up from the bar stool, pushing at his chest and putting distance between us. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t quite get the memo when a demon became my boss and could tell me what to do,” I deadpan. “Clearly, you’re fucking crazy if you think even for a second that me taking a break from my hellseeker responsibilities will ever happen in this reality.”

I spin on my heel, giving Kaiden a withering glare. He’s leaning on the bar, arms crossed over his chest, posture relaxed and head tilted, amusement dancing in his eyes, like I’m cute for getting mad. That gets my hackles rising even more. I want to wipe the stupid smirk off his face.

“You know what? Fuck this! I’ve been civil enough. I’ve heard everything you had to say, and now I’m leaving. Don’t even fucking think about trying to stop me, or I will gut you and send you back to Hell, where you belong!” I yell while stomping my feet quickly toward the elevator. I swiftly enter it and jab the button for the first floor.

As I wait for the glass doors of the elevator to close, I sweep my eyes over the open-spaced floor of the penthouse, looking for Kaiden.

What the fuck? Where did he go?

He probably disappeared somewhere, Houdini-style, just like earlier when he caged me in at the bar.

Good fucking riddance.

The doors finally slide closed, and the elevator starts descending.