Chapter 12
Miaka’s P.O.V
“You’ve been following me. Were you ordered to?” I asked him, leaning against the railing that bordered the cliff. The sea roared as the oncoming waves crashing through the rocks, the evening sunlight painting the sky a beautiful gold.
It had been a week since I had last seen him and so far, there had been no new reports from Kathy about Zero or from Rihero about my future engagement. But just because everything was calm didn’t mean it was the end of all my problems. This felt more like the calm before a storm and whatever happened next would blow it all out of proportion.
However, when I had come out of the castle this morning, I had seen a car trailing behind me for quite some time. I was initially supposed to head over to Kathy and Albert to discuss their findings, but I’d changed routes and found the car still trailing. So I ended up here, in the Cherry Blossom Park once more and guess who came out of the car?
“No.” Kaleb spoke from beside me, his back to the railing, dark shades covering his eyes. “I’m here of my own accord.”
“Did you have something to tell me?” I looked up at his face and all I wanted to do was rip off those darn shades and throw them out into the sea.
I missed looking at his eyes, those unique shades had me thoroughly intrigued. He was dressed in his usual clothing today as well, black t-shirt, black denims and a long leather jacket. Does he ever wear normal clothing?
As if reading my thought, he took of his shades and placed them in his coat pocket. “You do realise I have unique coloured eyes?”
“Yes.” I told him. “It’s so rare that I haven’t even seen it among demon kind.”
“It also makes me highly recognisable,” he turned to face me. “If any of the League members were to follow me or if anyone was here that knew me...I’d be instantly reported back to HQ.”
“And yet you took your shades off.” I stated, turning to face him as well.
“It’s because you like to look at my eyes.” He reached out to tuck a strand of my hair behind my ear, the wind having swept it out of my braid. “The things you make me do, Miaka.”
“I’m not making you do anything...” I could use my charm to win anyone over, only the strongest will ever be able to resist me, but I’d never use it on Kaleb. And neither did I want to.
“I know,” he smiled, turning his face devastatingly handsome. “Which is why I think you’re so intriguing. Will you come with me?” He held out a hand.
“Where?” I asked, a bit hesitantly. I didn’t trust Kaleb, but I was starting to like spending time with him. The connection I felt towards him was undeniable and if I wasn’t a demon, I would say he was my mate or my imprint. But demons didn’t have eternal soulmates. We could chose to love whoever we wanted, just like humans. It’s why grapy had two failed marriages before she found the person she loves the most. It’s been three decades since her husband died, but she has had no desire to find another man ever since.
“My house.” He told me. “In case the League ever decides to deal with me permanently, you’ll know where to look for.”
*
*
About forty minutes later, I was standing in front of a standing in front of an old building in a neighbourhood that I wouldn’t exactly call shady but not anything special either. It was one of the many compounds in my lands that were inhabited by both humans and demons. Strangely enough, I found that the people here seemed to live in harmony with each other.
“Your official registered address is in Princep Street. One of the nicest human-only neighbourhoods in the city.” I told him, following him inside the building to the third floor. There weren’t any elevators and the building itself was only five floors high. It was also pretty clean and neat with some occasional potted indoor plants in front of a few doors.
“It’s more of a prison than a house.” He unlocked the second door to the right and walked in to turn on the lights first. “This…well, this is my home.”
The first thing I saw upon entering was a huge picture of Kaleb and Tyanna on the opposite wall, in a golden frame. Both of them were smiling at the camera and Tyanna was in his arms. The resemblance was uncanny and once again, if I didn’t know they were brother and sister, I would’ve thought they were father and daughter.
However, then my gaze turned to another picture right next to the larger one. This wasn’t as big, but it caught my attention instantly and I was moving towards it as soon as I saw it.
“They’re your parents!” I realized as soon as I looked closely.
“Yes,” Kaleb came to stand next to me. “I painted them when from when they were younger. It’s how I remember them from my childhood.”
Now I knew where Kaleb and Tyanna got their looks from. They were the exact replica of their mother.
The woman was absolutely stunning. Her hair was a dark shade of blue and her eyes the same as Kaleb’s. The most beautiful thing about her was her smile. It was lively and contagious. Or was that just how good Kaleb was at painting?
“You seem to have magical hands.” I told him with a smile.
“So I’ve been told.” Kaleb smirked. I frowned, thinking he might have taken it as a sexual reference or inside joke…that was until he held up my phone.
“What the-” I searched my pockets frantically before looking at him accusingly. “That’s how you got my number! Damnit!”
“It was the first day we met.” He laughed, holding the phone up higher. “And you didn’t even realize it.”
I jumped up and snatched my phone right out of his hands and then I gave him my meanest glare. Or at least I tried to, I really did. But it wasn’t long before I burst out laughing.
Damnit! How did I get tricked by a human?
But when I looked at Kaleb, he wasn’t laughing anymore. Instead, he had a small smile on his face as he watched me laugh.
“What?” I asked, awkwardly shifting from one foot to the other.
“You look beautiful when you laugh.” He told me. “I just didn’t think that you could look so carefree and lively when you laughed.”
“And why is that?” I frowned.
“I don’t know…” he shrugged. “You’re the Demon King.”
“So you either expected me to laugh like a maniac in those TV shows or with my hands in front of my face, acting all sophisticated and posh?” I offered.
“Something like that…?” He gave me a sheepish smile before pointing to the couch. “Have a seat. Would you like some coffee? I have the instant kind…oh, wait…you won’t eat or drink anything right?”
“Coffee’s fine.” I shrugged. “I’m not worried about you poisoning me.”
“Why?” It was his turn to frown. “You shouldn’t be so trusting.”
“Don’t worry, I don’t trust anyone easily.” I told him. “But I’m not worried about you poisoning me because my blood neutralizes it anyways. So no poison or sedative usually works on me.”
“Wow…” he looked at me with wide eyes. “Then it must be a blessing to be disease resistant.”
“It is.” I took a seat on one of the couches available and pointed him to sit on the other one. “But it’s a good thing you brought me here today. There’s something important I wanted to tell you.”
“Important?” He took a seat in front of me, but not before taking off his coat. “What is it?”
“Remember when you told me about the experiments the League was performing?” I continued when he nodded. “It looks like they might have succeeded.”
“Succeeded? How?” He looked concerned.
“It’s the boy you helped me rescue.” I said. “He’s Subject Zero.”
