Sweet Temptation

“What are you doing here?” she yells at me. She’s wearing a threadbare fitted T-shirt and fuzzy blue shorts and has adorable bedhead, ponytail askew. I want to shove Kope from the room so he can’t see her like this.

From the corner of my eye I spy movement, but it’s only Patti. My heart warms a bit when she seems relieved to see me.

“They could come back any second and see us together and tell your father!” Anna is still yelling at me. “Go home!”

No, I want to know what happened. I want her to tell me about the demons and what they did to her, the way she told Kope. I look over at him with his arms crossed, and something inside me cracks. He doesn’t look smug, only resolute, as if he’s not budging from his place as protector. And why should he? Anna’s not telling him to leave.

“Yes, I’ll go,” I say with a measure of bitterness. “You’ve got help.”

I slip past her halfhearted attempt to stop me, and she doesn’t come after me. I’m too angry to listen anymore. I don’t want to hear them talking, even though I’m dying to know every detail about the whisperers.

The footsteps coming down the dim stairs behind me are too heavy to be Anna’s. I flex my fists as I turn to face Kopano at the bottom of the stairs. Rain is falling in torrents around us, and we’re barely protected by the edge of the stairwell’s awning.

“Let us go somewhere and talk,” Kopano says.

“We can talk here. She never uses her senses.” It feels good to throw that fact at him—there’s loads about Anna he doesn’t know.

“Do not be upset, Kai,” he says calmly. “I feel only concern for her.”

Right. If by concern he means attraction and awe. “I’ll bet you do.”

“Even you are willing to risk yourself for her, brother.”

Okay, so he can tell I feel attraction and awe, as well. So what? “That’s because I actually know her. What’s your reason? I suppose you’d like to get to know her, too?”

“You have made it very clear that she is not available in that way.” And yet, he has pursued. “Be reasonable. There is plainly more at stake here. I only wished to help.”

Bullfuckincrikey. How is he going to help? By being her shoulder to cry on? He’s just as powerless against the Dukes and whisperers as I am. He can lie to himself, but not to me. He wants her. “There’s nothing you can do, Kope!”

He tries to calm me, which makes me more furious.

“There is no stronger weapon for Pharzuph to use than your concern for each other. If he learns you were here to console her, you will lose all leverage with him. Do not fool yourself into thinking he will not discard you.”

“Yes,” I say with pure malice. “Some of us have to worry about such things. Thank you for the reminder.”

I’ve been taken off guard by this conversation, and I catch the sound of heavy footsteps too late. Kope’s eyes widen as he peers over my shoulder, and I spin, whipping out my switchblade with a zing and holding it in front of me where Duke Belial stands mere feet away, looking lethal as a bomb.

He smiles down at my knife, water dripping from his face.

“Put it away, boy. Sorry to break up the testosterone party.”

With a shaking hand, I slide the blade back in and slip it into my pocket. Anna comes racing down the stairs barefooted and stops herself just short of us.

She looks up at Belial and yells, “Dad!” Her hands cover her mouth as she looks between us. When Belial faces her full on, her hands fall to her side and her face goes slack.

“It was you,” she whispers. “You sent them.”

My head snaps to Belial to see his jaw set. Everything suddenly makes itself clear, and I nearly sag where I stand. He sent the whisperers to haunt her. Anna is not under suspicion, and her father does not want to hurt her. He’s trying to smarten her up. He’s forced her to acknowledge and see the demons. It’s admirable and heinous all at once.

Belial turns on me and Kopano, stepping closer, and we both stand taller under his intense scrutiny. This is obviously a man who wants to protect his daughter, and right now he’s staring us down like we’re threats. Shame burns me as I realize what fools we were, standing out here arguing when larger issues are at stake.

“This little thing,” Belial says, pointing between Kope, Anna, and me, “isn’t gonna fly. Don’t worry yourselves about Anna anymore. You hear?”

I nod, but there’s no way in hell I can stop worrying about Anna. I’m in too deep.

“Then get on out of here,” he says in that low voice. “And keep your heads in the game.”

Anna is watching the ground where the rain falls next to us. I don’t look at anyone as I turn to leave, climbing into my vehicle, driving straight into the storm, head on.

“Love Letter” by Kaidan Rowe

Staring at this paper

Tryin’ to write a “love letter.”

This is not my thing,

Yeah, it’s just not me.

My mind turns instead

To a wicked beat in my head,

And I bang out the lyrics to a song.

Yeah, I bang out the lyrics to a song.

You’re soft to my hard,

You’re sweet to my salt.

If we both end up naked

It’ll all be my fault.

Yeah, I’ll take the blame,

That’s it, say my name.

You’re gorgeous, you’re stunning,