Demon Retribution (8 page)

She agreed, leading the way out to the
street. They walked at a leisurely pace, so as not to draw
attention. The moon was bright tonight, and looked to be nearly
full.

Passing a few bars, Kyra stopped in front of
a small pizza shop where the line to order wasn’t too long. “Feel
like a slice?”

“
If it’s edible, I’ll take
it.”

A bell announced their entrance. “I suppose
you don’t have any cash, do you?”

Cale dug through his pockets and produced a
few wallets. One plain looking and black, one brown and fat, and
the other—

“
Oh, god, is that Gucci?”
She flipped it open and read the name on the license to herself.
Paula Cellino. “Put these away,” she growled. “Did you steal
these?”

“
No. I asked for them
politely.”

She scanned his urban biker-gangster image.
“Did they hand them right over, or did they throw them at you and
run?”

He shrugged.

“
Just get rid of them, and
no more stealing. I’ve got plenty of money. If you need anything,
just ask me.”

By his expression, he didn’t like the sound
of that, but the wallets disappeared into the trash. She cringed.
Gucci lovers everywhere were crying out in pain.

After ordering four slices—one for her,
three for him—they claimed a corner table. As she always did, she
bit off a piece of the too hot pizza and blew in her mouth, trying
to cool it fast. Cale had already downed half of his without even a
flinch.

Three police cars and a fire truck barreled
past.

“
So I guess we can go back
to my place if you need some sleep,” she said, ignoring the sirens.
“Where’ve you been staying anyway?”

“
The park.”

She paused, mid bite. “The park? Like a
bum?”

He took another huge bite, not answering at
first. “Like I said before, I’m here to protect you. The park
provided adequate cover.”

“
So you were just camping
out, watching me?”

“
Pretty much.”

“
First of all, creepy.
Second, why?”

“
Did you miss that part
about protecting—”

“
I mean, why didn’t you
ever approach me? Let me know you were here and tell me what’s
going on?” She paused. “What is going on, exactly? I’ve been here
for so long with no word from home. This whole time thinking—” She
couldn’t say it out loud. That she’d been thinking her family had
been destroyed. Then she realized he hadn’t said a word about her
family, she’d just assumed. Sitting back, she said in a guarded
voice, “Please tell me my father sent you.”

He shrugged, starting on a new slice. “In a
roundabout way, I guess he did.”

“
You guess?”

“
Just so you know, you
repeating everything I say is getting annoying.”

“
Maybe if you said
something that made sense,” she spat.

“
Well, I’d rather not get
into it here.” He gestured to the humans dining around
them.

Taking a calming breath, she lowered her
voice. “I’m not a trusting person by nature, and before I take you
back to my home I’d like a little explanation as to why you”—she
flung her hand toward the direction of Little Jitters—“and they are
here.”

He cocked his head. “I thought it would be
obvious.”

“
I am about two seconds
away from shoving the rest of this pizza in your face.”

He smiled, amused by her threat, but
answered, “The Kayadon are here for you, sweetheart.”

“
Why?”

He frowned. “You really don’t know?”

“
I don’t play stupid for
fun, Cale.”

He cocked his head and something
unfathomable passed behind his eyes. Finally, he replied in a
hushed tone, “Four hundred years ago, the Kayadon attacked your
home. I assumed you knew…” He trailed off at her expression. She
figured she must look like she was about to be sick.

“
It was them?” The sudden
tightness in her throat made her voice sound wrong. After all these
years of not knowing, she finally had a name to hate, a face to
replace the shadow of her nightmares. The memory of that day
brought with it all the feelings she’d tried to bury. She covered
her face mostly to hide the pain, but also to hide the
guilt.

She wished Cale would say more but he
remained quiet. Like a typical male, he became uncomfortable when
tears threatened, but she didn’t try to hold them in. And at this
point, with her frayed emotions, it would be dangerous to do
so.

“
What happened?” she
managed to say.

“
I, uh, don’t really
know.”

“
Huh? I don’t
understand.”

“
There’s a lot of stuff I
need to tell you, but…” He gazed around the room in an exaggerated
move.

She grabbed a napkin and wiped away the
dampness around her eyes. He was right, of course. This didn’t need
to be done here. “Alright, let’s go.”

Cale pointed to her half-eaten pizza. “You
gonna eat that?”

After Cale scarfed down the rest of her
slice, they hopped a cab heading for her apartment. The smell of
smoke hung thick in the air. A few more police cars with their
lights flashing passed by in the direction of Little Jitters. Kyra
wondered how big the fire had become. Or maybe they had already
declared it to be arson.

Fat drops of rain began to spatter across
the windshield, steadily increasing in frequency. That should help
in keeping the flames in check, she thought.

Once in her apartment, Cale made himself at
home, heading straight for the couch and stretching out. The rain
came down harder now, banging against the glass balcony doors like
tiny drumsticks.

Fluffing her damp hair with one hand, she
flipped on the television and switched to the news. On the screen,
a helicopter hovered, providing a view of smoke billowing from the
familiar alleyway, while a newscaster interviewed a police officer
at the scene. He didn’t have much to tell.

“
They won’t find anything
that resembles a body,” Cale reassured.

“
That doesn’t mean they
won’t figure it out,” she said. Although, alien carcass would be
the last thing they’d consider.

Realizing Zoey would probably be worried,
Kyra pulled out her phone and scrolled to her name. While it rang,
she pointed to Cale’s muddy boots resting on the arm of her couch
and added a meaningful look.

He just raised a brow.

She was about to order him to take them off,
but the fact that Zoey wasn’t picking up alarmed her. She usually
answered after the first couple of rings. A robotic voice said,
“Your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice messaging
service—”

She hung up, cursing under her breath. To
Cale, she asked, “They wouldn’t have gone after her, would
they?”

“
Your dark haired friend?
There were no Kayadon around when you sent her off.”

“
How do you
know?”

“
I can smell ‘em. Smell
like aged socks.”

Well, that was comforting, and kind of
gross.

“
Huh. Maybe she’s just
talking with Kevin.” She tried to let that thought ease her mind,
but it didn’t help much, so she called back and left a message.
Before hanging up, she added, “Oh, and I have your mom’s
urn.”

When she finally sat, the cushy chair felt
like a giant puff of cotton. If it weren’t for her unanswered
questions, she would have fallen asleep right then. “Alright, Cale,
start talking.”

He pushed to sit up. Mud crumbled off his
boots as he dropped them to the floor. She had to remind herself
that the carpet was ruined anyway.

“
First of all, how much do
you know about what happened to your planet?”

“
Not much. We were under
attack, I know that. Mine was the first escape-shuttle to be
launched. I, uh, thought the others would be behind me
but…”

“
So you don’t know what
your father had planned?”

She shook her head. “Is he alive?”

“
That I don’t know. The
pirate, I mean, Ethanule believes so.”

“
Ethanule’s alive?” It
shocked her to hear a familiar name. The relief was nearly
overwhelming.

“
And your sister,
Anya.”

“
Anya?”

“
Yeah, er, Analia. We call
her Anya.”

The breath rushed out of her and she sat
forward. “Who else?”

Cale scraped a hand down the back of his
neck, wishing he had more names to give. “That’s it.”

Immediately after he said it, he cursed his
choice of words. Her hands flew to her mouth in horror.

“
No, wait. That’s all we
know of. I didn’t mean that everyone else is dead. Anya and
Ethanule are on our ship.” He thought it wise to leave out the part
about Anya’s condition when he’d left. It would only cause Kyra
pain to hear it, and it was possible she’d made a full
recovery.

“
Our ship?”

“
My family’s ship,
Marada
,” he
clarified.

Along with everything he was omitting, he
decided not to add they’d stolen it from a Kayadon noble. So far,
she was taking everything pretty well, but he didn’t want to dump
too much on her this first night, and that revelation would only
lead her questions in a direction he’d rather avoid for now.

Her initial assumption that he was a
dragonshifter had been convenient at the time, but he couldn’t keep
his horns covered forever, and if he were to retain her trust he’d
have to come clean. Maybe in the morning. Right now he wanted to
feel her out to determine how she might react to the news of him
being a demon.

“
Tell me something about
you. How has it been living on Earth?”

“
At first, it was terrible.
Well, let me rephrase that—it was worse in the beginning.” She
pulled her hair aside to show her ear. “If it wasn’t for these, it
would have been easier. Humans would take one look at them and
declare me an evil creature from hell.”

Cale couldn’t help but laugh awkwardly at
that, and she gave him a questioning look. “Uh, that just reminded
me of some of the myths these humans have come up with. They seem
pretty farfetched, don’t you think?”

“
Actually, I’ve been
surprised by the accuracy of some of them. Nearly every ‘myth’
seems to contain a shred of truth.”

“
Is that so?”

She gestured in his direction. “Like the
dragons. They didn’t get the shifting thing, but they got the
breathing fire thing, and you have to agree some of the images are
uncanny.”

“
Right,” he dragged the
word out.

“
It’s almost as if every
race I’ve ever known, and probably some that I don’t know, have
been here at some point and left their mark on this
world.”

“
I’ve been thinking the
same thing.”

She smiled at him. He wished she’d stop
doing that. “Fascinating, isn’t it? Do your people have any
recorded history of Earth?”

He was relieved by her phrasing. “No, they
don’t.”

“
Hmm.” There was a short
pause. “So, tell me about the Kayadon. Why do they want
me?”

“
We’re not sure, exactly.
It could have something to do with your royal status.”

“
In the alley, I remember
the first one called me princess.”

“
Aye, I heard that. From
what we know, they are still occupying your home world. We believe
your father is being used to keep the people in line.”

A flash of anger crossed her face which
quickly transformed into concern. “Is he well?”

“
I cannot say. I’ve never
met him.”

She waited solemnly for him to
elaborate.

“
Like you, your father sent
your sisters off-planet to hide. Anya found us first and knew
nothing of your people. Ethan came next, and he brought with him a
book that your father had created, which can only be opened by you
or your sisters. It’s how I knew where to find you. Your father’s
intention had been to recruit us to find you and bring you home,
and he couldn’t have found a more willing group. Once we heard the
Kayadon were involved, we were in.”

“
You’ve fought those
monsters before?”

“
No, those were the first
Kayadon I’d had the pleasure of killing. Thought they’d be
tougher.” He hesitated. “The Kayadon destroyed my…family.” He
didn’t want to distress her further by suggesting that her own
planet could destroyed as his was.