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Daemon leads me deeper into the property to a line of trees leading into a small patch of woods. He stops in front of a tall tree with small pink flowers blooming on its branches and places a hand on the trunk, his finger playing over a carving.
“My first night in Vegas after moving, the three of us walked out here. We’d celebrated a little hard that night, and in a drunken stupor, we came out here and carved our family name into this tree, at least the one we picked for ourselves.”
Stepping closer, I place my hand over his and gently guide it down. “Kinkade. Why did you pick Kinkade?” I ask.
Daemon lifts our hands, turning his over, he slowly glides his fingers between mine, linking our hands together. It’s an odd sensation, no one has ever held my hand the way he is, and if I’m being honest with myself—I love the feel of his hand in mine. It feels … right.
Daemon continues walking, tugging me along beside him. “Kinkade means battle leader. Since the day I moved into Edward’s home, years after Lucifer and Kain, they were looking out for me. They welcomed me immediately as if I’d always been there. As I got older, I’d stand beside them to face our battles. Kids at school. Outside forces that were trying to split us apart. Whatever it was, we faced it together.”
I squeeze his hand and smile. “It sounds like you were thick as thieves back in the day. I’m glad you all had each other to lean on.”
“Do you have any siblings? Anyone you consider a brother or sister?”
A small, sad smile crosses my face. “There is one person. She’s not blood, but I cared about her like she was my sister. I looked out for her, shielded her from Virgil’s ire—or at least I thought I was. Virgil raised her, he doted on her, she could do no wrong. He truly loved her like she was his own. Who knows, maybe she is. Or maybe it’s that he’s as fucked up as the rest of us, and he had one daughter to feed to his darkness and another to cherish in his light.”
A sudden wave of guilt hits me in the center of my chest, causing me to trip over my own feet. “Oh god, what-if without me there to feed the darkness, he lets it out on her instead? What-if—”
Image after horrid image of everything I’ve endured at Virgil’s hands over the years flashes through my mind like a timeless old movie reel.
“Eden.” The name sounds so unfamiliar and far away.
An invisible force rocks through me, shaking me to the core. Large hands cup my face, and warmth coats my lips. It’s a brief touch, there and gone in a second, but long enough to draw my mind away from the hall of doom it had traveled down.
“Eden.” Daemon’s voice is closer this time. I force my eyelids to open and am immediately drawn into the endless galaxy of browns, coppers, and gold. But it’s the pain I find behind the beauty that roots me back into the present.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper and reach up to wrap my hands around his wrists, slowly drawing his hands away from my face.
“For what?” he asks, the pain that hovered so close to the surface ebbing away.
“I just … well … you kissed me, and I—” Heat flares to life in my cheeks, and my tongue forgets how to work.
Daemon laughs. A true, genuine belly laugh. “You’re apologizing because I kissed you. I figured the shock of a kiss was better than the pain of a slap to draw you back.”
An embarrassed-filled chuckle wrenches out of me. “Well, thank you for that.”
“Where did you go just then?”
“I was thinking about what might be happening now that I’m not around to take the brunt of Virgil’s anger.”
“You had to leave. You have to save yourself if you’re going to be any good anyone else. Soon enough Virgil won’t be a problem for anyone. You believe that, right?”
I nod and smile. With my hand in his, Daemon continues walking, leading me off the path to a grassy area under a large tree with branches that seem to weep, creating a canopy. It’s a place I can see myself reading a good book and enjoying the beauty of nature. He sits down and tugs me down to join him.
“Can you tell me what happened during the time between when you lost contact with my brothers and when they rescued you from the party?”
I knew this day was coming, even though a part of me hoped he’d never ask. I pull my hand free of Daemon’s and rub my sweaty palms over my thighs. A faint tremble takes root in my hands, and an invisible band squeezes around my lungs. Panic wells inside of me, but I refuse it control.
“Donovan forced me to move in with him and made me sleep in his bed. He never touched me, but I always feared he would, so I never slept. During the day, he’d keep me chained in the corner of his office. In the evening, I danced and serviced the VIPs that paid for time with me. But I refused to let Donovan break me, I held onto hope that the guys were coming.
“After the first week, Donovan started letting his men, like Sid, play with me. They’d either come one at a time, or a few times they came as a group. They’d …” My throat thickens. Hands all over me, in me, violating. Putrid breath making me gag. Laughing, cruel words—
Strong arms wrap around me, and Daemon pulls me into his lap. He holds me tight until the band around my lungs snaps, and all the fight inside of me shatters. I break in his arms, and the tears flow from my eyes. He holds me while I slit open every vein and bleed the horrific memories.
“During the day, it was Sid. Sid and his men that tormented me, and when … when the sun went down, it was the VIPs.” I dig my hands into the back of his shirt. “Donovan stopped repressing their hunger, and they became more ruthless, more violent. I’d lost all hope of surviving and just wanted it to end. Just let it end.” I shudder. “I stopped eating and started on heavier drugs and alcohol.”
I take a deep breath, drawing strength from Daemon and dive into my hellish nightmare. “I don’t really remember much from the party. I can’t-I-I don’t. In my nightmares of that night, I’m locked in an empty room with a man … a man with a scar over his right eye. I’m held down. I can’t breathe. I can’t think. Just held to the floor as he r—he r-apes,” I clear my throat, but it’s still dry, “me while cutting on me.”
The cool breeze ghosting over my heated skin, serves to ground my traumatic memories, pulling me from the terror that plagues my nights. I take a deep breath and finish. “The first true memory I have after leaving for the party is waking up here … in the medical room with Wyatt.”
