This is insane— I shouldn't be able to see this.

Yet, here I am; staring destiny in its face.

A younger version of my mother walks out of a gas station, dirty and her face tear streaked. It's easy to recognize her from her bright gold locks of hair, and her cheekbones. God, those cheekbones are amazing. Guess Claire got the cheekbones gene, but it just skipped me. I watch from across the street as a man follows her out of the store, he's dressed in a fresh crisp suit and I can't imagine what he'd want with her.

God, that sounds like such a bitchy thing to say. She's beautiful— that much radiates through her apparent struggles with life; but blue bloods almost never wanted anything to do with humans that have been beat down by the world.

My eyes catch his face as he turns to scan the area, and I almost faint.

Dad?

I watch as he helps her walk to his car, a comforting smile on his face as she looks at him like he's the best thing she's ever seen. Like he's an angel of some sort.

I furrow my eyebrows as I watch the intimate exchange— never seeing something so tender coming from my dad to any woman. And I'd never seen him in a suit?

It was as if I'd entered an alternate dimension, watching younger versions of my parents interact.

From there the scene morphs a couple times— from driving to a restaurant to then a park where my mother went to a specific bush near a bench and grabbed a hidden purse; to the last location, an estate so big it looked like a Spanish mansion. The gates open at the sight of my dads shiny black car, almost as if he were the owner.

But that's impossible. My dad wasn't someone who was wealthy enough to have a guard and lock system for such a fortress as this. He wasn't the type to wear a suit and tie everyday like this guy either. He's a truck driver... right?

My heart is beating erratically in my chest in reaction to seeing so much new information, my brain refused to process it. I felt as if I were in a whirlpool, spinning and spinning and never stopping.

Until— I see Mahtu.

She strides up to the gates my parents had just driven through, a determined sparkle in her eye as she clutches a note to her chest. She bites at her lip and scans the area before she turns to the steel gate; grabbing onto it as if she were about to climb the monstrous thing.

I feel the scene about to change, and I get filled with anxiety.

I realize that this is the moment that Mahtu interacts with my dad, telling him of the prophecy. This moment would possibly change my understanding of why my dad is the way he is— but that moment never comes.

Instead I hear the rushing sounds of water, like I'm being pulled out of the ocean.

The scenery around me fades to the black portal I'd fallen through from the beginning— I was going back to the real world, away from Mahtu's memories.

"Wait wait wait!" I gasp out, despair swirling into my chest as I feel a muscular arm wrap around my waist and tug me forcefully.

This couldn't be happening- not after she and I made that deal; I haven't seen all that I was promised yet. This had to be a breech of some sort- and last time I checked, Mahtu wasn't on the muscular side; not unless she was hiding a sculpted body builder underneath that frail little cloak. I snarl in rage and frustration, clawing at the darkness as I'm pulled back into the real world.

"You can't do that. The deal has not been completed." I hear that ancient voice possessing Mahtu growl out, a warning in its tone.

"Watch me." I hear the familiar deep melodious voice ring out, defiance in his every word. I knew that sarcastic asshole tone like the back of my hand; There was only one person that I knew willing to risk disrespecting some ancient god in the underworld. I grit my teeth as my back slams into his chest, arm gripping my waist as he presses his mouth to my ear sensually and my heart does a flip. I'm sure I'd just had a heart palpitation, but I try not to focus on my body's natural reaction to him.

The scent of evergreens and cologne envelope me as I open my eyes, gripping onto the cauldron still.

"Kilian." I force out as a million different emotions churn inside of my belly. The most prominent one? Excitement. The thrill of it thick and heavy running through my veins as I wait to hear if he's angry at all with me.

Angry with me? I almost laugh at my inner dialogue, how pathetic. After everything and I still wonder and get antsy at what's going through his mind. If anything, I should be the angry one.

After all, he'd just pulled me out of a powerful deal with an ancient deity- even though I'm not sure if that's not something to be grateful about.

He'd also planned on killing me before I was even born, how can I be so sure that him being here was a good thing? I mean, lets not pretend that he hadn't told me about that the night we got hot and heavy in his tent back at the war camp. His words ring out in my mind from that torturous night;

'After I had stopped laughing- I realized that I hadn't killed you. And then I realized why I hadn't killed you.'

'I couldn't leave you alone.'

Those three bittersweet sentences sound out in my mind- even as a blush coats my cheeks, and I feel the horror in not finding an inch of resentment towards him after it all.

Kilian's cool breath fans out as he opens his mouth and responds to me.

"Found you, beautiful." He murmurs as if this had just been some wicked game of 'tag you're it'. As if I hadn't left him stranded in Holdrex after making a sketchy deal with the Raksha.

"Want to tell me why you're out here making deals with other evil entities who aren't me?" His fake sad voice sends a jolt through me and a delicious curl low in my stomach.

Oh, man.

Demons are something else.

Something else entirely.

•

•

•

•