Page 5 of Wreaking Havoc (Demon Bound #1)

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Kai

T he human had just…left. With Kai still in the damned summoning circle.

Kai growled, smacking at the invisible barrier that surrounded him. He would have liked to be able to at least pace his frustration out, but the boundary wouldn’t allow him even that much.

Was this a negotiation tactic of some kind? Leave Kai to stew and hope for better terms? If so, the pup had another thing coming to him—contracts only went one way.

But the little human had seemed more frightened than wily.

Had he truly summoned Kai by accident?

Kai grinned wolfishly. Poor pup .

He certainly wasn’t anything like the humans who had summoned Kai before. Kai had always been called by warriors, chieftains, leaders of men. Battle-weary and bloodstained and almost always arrogant to a fault. But this human? He was slender and soft, with delicate features and clear blue eyes, his hair a pale white-blond that was rare to see on a man grown. He looked more likely to warm a man’s bed than lead him into battle.

He was different. Almost…interesting.

Although, anything would be interesting after being stuck in the Void for centuries. Kai had looked through the portal into the human realm enough to know that time had progressed, but he hadn’t paid much attention to the details. He wasn’t like the incubus or Chaos, enraptured by every little thing the humans did. Kai had wanted to be done with this world.

And if he could get the pup to bite—to take the contract—he would be.

As if the human was summoned by his thoughts, the front door opened. Kai’s muscles tensed in anticipation. He could smell him on the air, strangely sweet and almost floral.

And then there he was, the towheaded beauty, his fists clenched in determination, even as his knees visibly trembled.

Kai did his best to look as unintimidating as possible, but it was most likely pointless—he couldn’t revert to human form without a contract in place. He supposed he could have crouched down to the little one’s level, but he’d only feel foolish doing so.

The pup approached the circle, every step small and cautious, like Kai would grab him if he came too close.

He just might, at that. The human smelled good—soft and sweet, just like his pretty face. A far cry from the smoke and ash of the Void.

When he didn’t speak right away, Kai couldn’t resist asking, “What’s your name, pup?”

The human’s eyes narrowed. “It’s Sascha. So you can stop calling me pup .”

“Sascha,” Kai repeated, tasting the sound of it on his tongue. It was a soft sound. Everything soft. Everything sweet.

If Kai had been allowed this kind of variety all along, he might not have tired of his summonings so soon.

“Yes. Sascha,” the human repeated, his tone haughty, like he hadn’t run away less than an hour before. “And I have questions.”

Kai tipped his chin in acknowledgment. “Of course.”

Sascha peered up at him. His lashes were pale, like the hair on his head. “What does the contract entail?”

Kai shrugged a shoulder. “Just as it sounds. A mere bargain.”

“Yeah, likely story.” Sweet Sascha placed his hands on slender hips. “What kind of bargain?”

“That’s up to you, isn’t it?” Kai waved a hand. “Most want me for exactly what I told you—destruction of their enemies. Aid in battle.”

“Aid in battle?” Sascha repeated, disbelief coating his every word. “Who’s asking you for that? The knights of the fucking roundtable?”

Kai frowned at him, recognizing again that he was in a very different time from the last era he’d been summoned into. “Clansmen. Kings. It’s been…perhaps some time since I’ve been in the human realm.”

Sascha took a moment, seeming to digest that fact. “And what do you get in return, in this bargain?”

“Only a small piece of your essence.” Kai put his thumb and forefinger a smidgen apart in demonstration. “A tiny little piece, you see?”

“My essence?” Sascha’s brow furrowed in confusion, and then his pale eyes widened. He stepped back. “You mean my soul? You want my soul ?”

Kai attempted a reassuring smile. He’d never had to coax someone into a bargain before. “Just a piece, as I said. You won’t miss it.”

“Says you!” Sascha cried, his voice taking on a shrill tone again.

He was a loud little thing, wasn’t he?

“Yes, says I,” Kai confirmed. “It’s only to tether me here, in the human realm.”

“And I get it back when the contract’s done?”

Kai cleared his throat. “Well, not exactly. But as I said, you won’t miss it. Think of it like a strand of your hair.” Kai reached out, itching to see if that hair was as soft as it looked. But of course the summoning circle stopped him, his hand hitting that invisible barrier. He lowered his arm. “Would you notice one missing strand?”

Sascha gave him a suspicious glance. “You don’t take the whole thing when you leave?”

Kai shook his head. “I have other pieces already, from other summonings. This is my last contract.” Kai didn’t know what compelled him to give that truth, but it didn’t seem to mean anything to the human anyway. His eyes were still narrowed warily.

“Don’t I need every piece of my soul?” Sascha asked, teeth worrying at his lower lip.

“Do you?” Kai asked softly, his gaze narrowed in on that pink mouth. “When was the last time you used it?”

“You don’t use it. It just is .” Sascha let up his nibbling and threw his hands in the air. He seemed to waver strangely between hesitation and boldness. It was rather entrancing, in a dizzying way. “I haven’t had enough coffee for a theological debate.”

Kai straightened abruptly. “Coffee? You have coffee here?” He craned his neck, trying to find evidence of the brew. He’d had it just the once, an offering from one of his last bargains, and he’d longed for the taste ever since.

“Not here in the house. I’m a civilized man.” Sascha crossed his arms with a sniff. “I have other people make it for me.”

“Your servants have it, then?” Kai continued to search the room with his gaze, as if maybe one would appear, steaming mug in hand.

“What servants?” Sascha shook his head like he was clearing it of cobwebs. “Stop changing the subject. Okay, so a piece of my soul—which I will not miss, according to you—and you take care of my enemies?”

Kai nodded, anticipation zipping down his spine. They were getting somewhere now. “If that’s what you wish.”

“That’s what I wish.”

“Perfect. I, Kaisyir of the Demon Realm, will vanquish Sascha—” He paused, looking to the human. “What’s your clan name, pup?”

“My clan name? Oh. Um, Kozlov.”

“I will vanquish Sascha Kozlov’s enemies to his satisfaction, in exchange for one piece of his immortal soul.”

“Oh God,” Sascha moaned. “Okay.” Then he straightened, seeming to steel himself, and met Kai’s eyes. Perhaps he wasn’t completely soft, this human.

Kai grinned at him, his smile only widening when Sascha’s gaze caught on his sharp teeth. “And now we seal the bargain.”

“How?”

“The same way you called me. Blood.”

Sascha began shaking his head furiously, stepping back. “Oh no. Nuh-uh. No way. I don’t do blood.”

“It’s only a few drops,” Kai argued, trying to keep the frustration from his voice. He was so close, damn it.

But Sascha kept up his furious shaking. “I can’t. Not on purpose. I can’t—can’t look at it.”

“Then I’ll help you,” Kai soothed, unwilling to lose this chance. “You may look away.”

Sascha halted his retreat. “How?”

Kai beckoned him closer. “Place your hand into the circle.”

“It won’t stop me?” Sascha asked, cocking his head.

“No part of me may leave it, but any part of you may enter. Give me your hand, pup.”

Sascha’s limb trembled, but he did as Kai asked. He had a remarkably slender wrist and delicate fingers. Kai took hold.

The human gasped. “You’re warm.”

“Always.” Kai kept his voice soft and low, as much as he was able. “Look away now.”

Sascha turned his head, and Kai brought Sascha’s index finger to his lips. “Deep breath,” he instructed. Sascha obeyed, inhaling and holding it.

Kai bit down, ever so gentle, slicing the tip of Sascha’s finger with one of his teeth. Copper dripped into his mouth and—unable to resist—he sucked gently, just for a moment.

Delicious.

Sascha made a strangled sound, head still turned away, and Kai released his finger from his mouth, allowing a few drops to fall onto the summoning circle.

There was a flash of bright light, a puff of smoke, and then Kai felt the boundary ease.

He was free.

He let out a joyful cry, stepping out in one long stride and sweeping the human up, tossing him in the air. “It’s done!” he crowed, catching him as he fell.

There was no reply.

He looked down to find Sascha limp in his arms.

The human had fainted.

It took only a brief search—the human a negligible weight in his arms in the meantime—for Kai to find the only bedroom in the house with a made bed, presumably where the human slept.

He set Sascha down gently on top of the covers. He found himself strangely reluctant to let go—it had been so long since he’d had any sort of touch at all, and it was oddly soothing to have that warm bundle in his hold.

But Sascha would no doubt sleep for a while yet—the act of sealing a contract tended to take it out of a human, even those who weren’t squeamish at the sight of blood.

It was almost beyond comprehension: Kaisyir summoned by one who fainted at bloodshed.

What possible enemies could such a slip of a thing have?

Opportunists, perhaps? Aggressors looking to take advantage of his slight build and frail disposition? A hot surge of anger rose in Kai’s chest at the thought of it. He ran his tongue thoughtfully over sharp incisors.

Whoever they were, they had another thing coming, didn’t they?

The pup had protection now.

The contract had seen to that, as it always did. Kai could feel it, deep in his chest—that kernel of Sascha’s essence he had taken. A warm weight just as soft and sweet as the feel of Sascha in his arms had been.

Strange. Kai had never enjoyed the feel of a soul piece before. Nor the taste of one. But Sascha’s…

Delicious.

Kai watched that sleeping form a moment longer, his gaze focused on the gentle, steady rise and fall of Sascha’s chest. There was a sliver of pale skin where his shirt had ridden up—Kai could tell, just from looking, that it would be like silk to the touch.

He wasn’t boring, this human. Even in his sleep, he wasn’t boring, his face contorting into little frowns, his hands clenching and unclenching. Bad dreams? Nightmare could have had quite a feast with him, if so.

But it wasn’t Nightmare who’d been summoned, was it?

Just the thought of it sent a strange wave of possessiveness through Kai. He shrugged it off—the beginning of a contract always left one a bit unsettled—studying the rest of the human, from top to toe. The fingernails of his left hand were painted blue. But only the one hand. A strange custom, that. It brought to mind what he might look like with other embellishments. And his clothing was oddly drab—it didn’t fit the essence of him at all. He’d be better suited to bright colors and soft silks, surely. Perhaps fine jewelry as well.

Kai had once seen a man with a gold chain around his middle, one end of it dangling down, dipping low, all the way to…

He shook his head, purging such thoughts. He was becoming just as bad as the incubus. This was not about physical desire. It was a bargain—one boon for another.

Kai did not fuck his bargains.

Although, he’d never had a bargain like Sascha before…

No. It was past time to leave this room. Too long in the Void had left him susceptible to weakness of the flesh; that was all. Best to occupy his mind with other things. Perhaps a search of the house would give him a clue to Sascha’s predicament. The faster Kai could deal with it, the faster he would be free to return to his own world.

And then what?

Kai shook the thought away. If nothing else, a cursory look through the house might help orient him to this time. He’d seen the centuries pass, more or less, from looking through the portal. He knew in his mind the human world had changed. But being immersed in the reality of it was another matter, wasn’t it?

All the plastic doodads, for one. Technology, as they called it. Like the little handheld devices that allowed humans to speak to someone a world away. Or the Internet, however that damned thing worked.

Why hadn’t Kai asked the others to teach him better?

But he already knew why. It was because he’d begun to lose hope he’d ever be summoned again. He’d thought the Book must have been lost or somehow destroyed, no matter that it was supposed to be indestructible.

But clearly not. Sascha had found it.

Sascha had saved him.

He made his way back to the living room. There was his symbol, painted in… Kai picked up the bottle with one clawed hand and sniffed at it, immediately recoiling at the chemical scent. He’d seen this same color on Sascha’s fingernails.

This was what Sascha had painted himself with? How strange.

Kai set the bottle aside, far out of reach. There, next to his symbol—the Book. Kai stared hard at its leather covering, as if to glean its secrets. He couldn’t touch it himself—no demon held within its pages could, lest they attempt to tamper with their own mark.

After a time, he sighed, diverting his gaze. There were no secrets to be learned there, other than the mess Sascha had made of crumpled newspaper and spilled nail paint.

Kai went from room to room after that. He fiddled with the television, turning it on before immediately shutting it off when he was met with painted women screeching at each other from couches. They sounded a bit like Sascha when he was worked up.

After that he played for a while with the burners on the stove. He supposed it was impressive that humans had figured out a way to summon fire in an instant.

But then again, Chaos could do the same, and he didn’t need a stove to do it.

Kai spent a good amount of time searching the cabinets for coffee, but Sascha had been truthful: there was none to be found. He’d have to ask Sascha who made it for him—he certainly hadn’t been lying either about the house holding no servants.

Overall, Kai recognized more than he’d thought he would. He must have absorbed quite a bit vicariously from the others’ viewings. Maybe it wouldn’t be hopeless. He could ask Sascha to fill him in on the rest.

Sascha.

Kai’s hand kept returning to his chest, over the place where the soul piece resided. He found himself strangely impatient for the human to wake. He’d never been that way before—it was usually a relief when his bargains slept, their demands on hold for a number of hours.

But he found himself returning to the bedroom and pulling up a chair. Watching. Waiting.

He told himself it was for Sascha’s protection—Kai didn’t yet know who the pup’s enemies were. It was best to stick close, so as not to muck up the contract.

Yes, that was the reason for his vigilance.

Nothing more.