Word Count: 1993

~Aspen

"Keep your voice down."

I look over my shoulder, back toward the cabin. At any moment, Kastriv could hear, and I doubt he would be very happy with my plan.

"Is there a change of heart, or did you call me here to insult me some more?" Keo tilts his head, the amused glint to his eyes bothering me already.

I better not be making a mistake.

"I fear Kastriv is using me to find Demon's so he can kill them," I whisper.

If Keo thinks that I distrust Kastriv, he will be more willing to divulge his secrets to me. It feels wrong to slander Kastriv's name, especially now that he is my mate, but I know I have to do it.

Keo's eyes narrow. "How certain are you?"

"I'm not. It's just a feeling."

His expression sobers, as he considers my claim. I stand stiffly, worried he's going to see through my lie and kill me on the spot. He seems so volatile and impossible to predict.

"Enough for you to call me, when you obviously don't trust me."

"You're like me...I've spent my entire life hiding who I am. I want to learn more," I tell him.

At least that's true. I do want to know more.

Keo tenses, considering his options. It favours him to trust me, but if he makes the wrong judgment, his entire plan may be dismantled.

"Then take my hand." He holds it out to me.

I pull back. "Wait...I need you to promise you won't kill me."

He rolls his eyes. "What good would a promise be if I were just going to slaughter the moment I got you away from this place?"

"I-"

"Don't bother," he mutters. "I would have killed you already."

I shiver. I have no doubt he would kill me without mercy, and although I figure he may still be tempted to, especially if it's revealed I'm lying, but what other choice do I have,

"Comforting," I grumble.

He holds his hand out to me again, the sheen of his leather glove intimidating in itself. "It should be. Now, shall we?"

"Where are we going?"

"Take my hand and you'll find out," he prompts softly.

I know I shouldn't be doing this, that he is the last man I should be trusting right now. And yet despite my better judgment, I slide my hand into his.

His dark, cruel smile is the last thing I see as the ground falls away around us, and he transports us far from the beautiful pink forest and the cabin Kastriv sleeps in.

My feet touch the ground before my eyes open.

I'm immediately struck by intense heat, sticking to my skin, to the night clothes I still wear.

We are in some kind of old dilapidated shack. Golden sand buries half the floor we stand on, covering all the furnishings and surfaces.

Looking out a dusty nearby window, I see miles of rolling dunes, the sand light, rather than a deep red which I'm familiar with in Territory One.

This is a place I've never seen before.

"What is this place?" I whisper, watching Keo wipe a heap of sand off a nearby chair onto the floor, inspecting it's stability.

"Never heard of Territory Eleven?" Keo questions.

This doesn't strike me as a place he would ever live, but I figure he doesn't ever stay in once place for very long. Not when so many people want him dead.

"Yes, but I know nothing about it..." I mention.

The ghost of a knowing smirk plays along his lips. "That's probably a good thing."

"Why?"

He choose not to answer me, wandering around brushing sand away. "We will stay here for the rest of the day. Then, we have other places to be."

It's clear the Demon's aren't here, although my curiosity is piqued. He doesn't trust me just yet.

"Where are the other Demon's?" I ask, watching the sand outside start to stir as a strong breeze whips past the old shack.

His expression gives nothing away. "Elsewhere. Safe."

"Will I be safe?" I'm safe with Kastriv, but having two powerful people on my side would only benefit me.

"If you prove yourself to me," he muses, pausing to looking at me, as if he can see lies leeching from my skin, revealing themselves to him.

"And why should I do that?"

"Two reasons, actually."

"Enlighten me."

He turns, throwing the front door open, stepping outside. Frowning, I watch as he stalks onto the sand, reaches down and grabs two handfuls before coming back to stand in front of the table.

"Here's an analogy for how much Demon blood you have..." he says.

I breathe out loosely. This should be interesting.

"Imagine this is a full blooded Demon. Only one such creature exists like that now, who is actually alive, and not cursed unground somewhere."

He dumps an entire handful of sand onto the table, a few granules skittering across the surface toward me. I swallow uncomfortably, hating the sound of someone all powerful like that.

"Wait-"

"Shh," he cuts me off. "Imagine this is how much Demon blood I have."

He dumps around three quarters of his other handful of sand. Next to the larger handful, it's still impressive.

I fold my arms over my chest. "Is this going somewhere?"

"This, my dear, is how much you have."

A few granules of sand come out from his hand. Hardly any, to the point I can barely see them. My nose scrunches up, offended.

"How do you know?" I demand.

"I can smell it in you, see it in you," he explains coolly. "And although you have mere scraps of it, it's actually more than over half of the Demon's I know."

I startle. How can I not feel very different to other Demon's I know, and yet apparently have more Demon blood than most,

"So what, you're all powerful?" I ask bluntly. He surely has an air about him that's suggests that much.

"No...But pretty much."

"So where is this, very alive, very full demon blooded person?" I question, glancing over my shoulder as if they may just materialise behind me.

All the stories Oliver once told me about a powerful Demon were related to Keo, nobody else. Whoever this person is, they have remained elusive, with Kastriv not even mentioning them before.

Keo laughs breathily. "Even I don't know. And I know everything."

"Are all Demon's pretentious and arrogant?" I narrow my eyes on him, tired of his unpredictable attitude.

One moment he's dismissive, the next he's humours, and then behind it all, there's a darkness, and it's cold and bitter.

I hope I never come to know that part of him.

Keo tilts his head, dark hair shading his forehead. "I don't know, are you?"

I sigh irritably. "What's the second reason I should prove myself to you?"

"Because..." He flicks the front door open, motioning outside. "A sand storm is gathering, and there isn't a lick of civilisation for miles."

Following his gaze, I note how right he is.

The sand it starting to rear up in the wind, dancing around in a building storm. And in the distance, there is nothing. I could walk for miles and not come across a single person.

I truly am stuck here with this monster.

I'm only able to take a trembling step back as Keo stalks closer to me. His imposing figure it only one aspect of what makes him terrifying.

It's those cold, dark green eyes that stare deep into my soul that haunt me the most.

"And the civilisation there is out there...well, it would eat a pretty girl like you alive," he murmurs, dragging his gaze over me before smirking, enjoying his own personal joke.

"Just what I need, another male telling me I'm weak and pathetic," I snap.

He shakes his head slowly. "You have magic. Barely, but what you do have can be coaxed out. But only with my help."

"Of course." I roll my eyes.

Keo regards me quietly, sensing my doubt. "Unless you want to spend the next five decades chasing down a full blooded Demon that doesn't even want to be found."

I shudder. That is the last thing I want, to alert another powerful person to my presence.

"Why would you do that?" I question. What benefit does Keo get out of chasing down someone with more power than him? He seems like the kind of person to enjoying wielding the most magic in the room.

A flicker of something unimaginable passes over his face. Anger.

"Because no matter how much you hate me already, I'm the only one fighting to keep our species alive. Got it?" I breathes lowly.

"From what I've heard, you're a murderer?" He's so close now, I can practically feel his breath against his face. Every fine detail of his face is now visible for me to see, but I can't spot many flaws.

His brow creases. "And who told you that?"

"Noble's."

"Angel bloods. No surprise, is it?"

I draw in a breath. No, I suppose not.

Angel-bloods have fought against Demon's for centuries. They tried to eradicate them, and when they failed, they have chased down every living Demon to finish the job.

Of course the Noble's hate Keo. But it's not unfounded hatred, I know that. Kastriv knows that Demon's should not be hunted to be killed, but he also maintains that Keo is not capable of doing good.

"Were you not such a terrible representation of us, maybe they wouldn't want us all dead!"

He takes a purposeful step at me, forcing me back. "Don't talk to me like that."

Despite his low, threatening tone, I don't feel like he is going to strike out at me. Maybe it's because for a fleeting moment, I see pain in his eyes. Hurt.

"Why not?"

"No one cares about our survival more than me," he growls. "I will kill, torture and manipulate anyone who gets in my way of keeping Demon's alive."

I'm suddenly breathless. No words to respond with seem adequate.

For the first time since I saw him, I finally feel like I'm seeing a stripped down version of him, the real him. His desire to hurt all to save a few.

It doesn't excuse his actions, but now it's starting to make sense.

"You should have come for me sooner..." I should have been introduced to the Demon's before Oliver ever came into my life.

I should have been saved from it all...

"I didn't know you existed until we connected that day, out in that forest. I saw you, and I fell to my knees," he tells me.

"Really?"

He backs up a few steps, looking out the window at the sand storm picking up outside. "I haven't found a Demon your age before. Usually I sense them younger. But something was blocking me from you."

"I want to meet other's like me. Okay?" I insist. This is what it's all for.

"And meet them you will," he murmurs, digging into his coat pocket, pulling something out that I don't quite see. "After this."

My mouth opens to question him, but he cuts me off, grabbing my arm, yanking me toward him, I yelp, feeling him stick something into my skin.

"Keo..." I could curse him for days, knowing exactly what he's done, but I'm unable to feel anything as the use of my limbs dissolves into nothing.

"Sorry sweetheart," he breathes, catching me as my legs become useless. "But I don't trust that mate of yours."

Gritting my teeth, I fight against whatever has injected me with, but it's not use. In one swift moment, unconsciousness washes me away into nothingness.

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