by K L Rymer
Slowly, he lifts up my hand and places his palm against mine, and I quiver as that electrical current surges between us.
His demonic eyes falter slightly, and I almost see a hint of the man I knew. But then he strains his face, and my palm burns with the light of a thousand fires.
I scream, trying to pull away, but our hands are fused together. Smoke curls from our combined flesh, and then the smell of burning skin fills the room, and I whimper.
“Please... stop!”
It’s not just me he’s burning though. He’s burning himself, and I stare, horrified.
Why would he do that?
I see he’s in pain, the sweat dripping from his tense, snarling face, yet he still hurts us, and if he doesn’t stop, I’ll pass out.
Suddenly, my arm zaps to life, and a brilliant light bursts from my palm, illuminating both of our hands. The pain leaves me at once, and I release a satisfied sigh as a warm, sunny aura passes through my body.
Eli relaxes too, and he closes his eyes, letting go of my hand.
I gaze down at my palm. It’s healed.
Eli’s has healed too, and my heart hammers.
What did he just do?
He grins, and then those long, sharp teeth protrude from his beautiful, carved lips. “Don’t look too surprised, Crystal. You’ve always known you were different too. Admit it.”
I have no idea what he’s talking about.
He gives a dark, chilling chuckle, and I scowl at him.
“Leave... now.”
The smile vanishes, and then his face turns deadpan and sour once again.
Finally, he leaves the room, and I’m alone at last. The lock turns in place, and then I bring my knees up to my chin and curl up into a ball.
I fell in love with a monster.
17. Misaki
I smoke a cigar in my uncle’s chair, blowing shapes like the caterpillar from Alice and Wonderland.
Fuck, it’s a good cigar. Uncle Randall has nice taste.
I don’t regret what I did. Anything to see Eli suffer. That arsehole gets too much glory in this family; I have to put a stop to it.
And my first line of attack: turn his sweet angel princess against him and ruin his plans.
How could I resist? Knowing that she was just on the other side of the door, hearing what he truly had to say about her.
But then Cousin Eli performed much better than I anticipated. It was an Oscar-worthy performance for sure, one that will go down in the history of breakups and betrayals for years to come. I even captured a short video on my phone.
I bring out my phone then, posting the video to my social channels.
I’ve been secretly chronicling Eli and Crystal’s budding romance online. I’ve already garnered several thousand followers. Some of my followers have even spotted them in London themselves and done the dirty work for me.
Soon they will go viral.
That phone box scene has become infamous already. Just hashtag steamyphoneboxsex and you’ll know what I mean.
I just thank god that neither Eli nor Crystal use social media (or have any friends for that matter). I’d have been busted weeks ago.
I don’t ever spill our family’s secret though. According to my followers, the White and Blacks are old family rivals, the theme being “star-crossed lovers”. I tell them that Eli wanted to gain Crystal’s trust in order to destroy the White family legacy by stealing her virginity. But then he started to fall in love with her, and that was about the time it gained popularity.
People eat that shit up.
I’m just finishing my post with the hashtag “truecoloursrevealedatlast” when Eli steps into the room, a black cloud swirling over his head.
A delightful shiver goes up my spine. My cousin’s pisssssed.
One of his eyes are still black crimson, the other his usual grey, but they have nothing on his grim expression.
A shadow forms over his face, giving him a sinister, evil appearance. His hair droops over his eyes.
He’s silent, and for a moment he doesn’t breathe.
Finally, he moves his lips. “You tricked me...”
I roll my eyes. Kind of stating the obvious, but yeah.
I swindled you, mother fucker...
“How could I resist?” I say. “Knowing I had the perfect opportunity to humiliate you.”
He growls and shoots across the room faster than lightning, and now he hovers over me, his hands placed on the arms of my chair.
I blow smoke up into his face but he doesn’t even flinch. He doesn’t even blink.
Shit, he’s in full-blown robotic demonic mode. Something he could do effortlessly since he was a kid. It terrified the servants.
Next, he moves his face closer and I wince. Seriously, does he not know the meaning of personal space? I can smell his breath.
“Mark my word... I will make you pay...”
I arch a brow. “What? You mad you lost your sweet little angel? It’s about time she saw you for the cunt you really are. She’s a nice girl.”
His demonic eye twitches, and then he rakes his claws through the arms of the chair. “Watch your tongue...”
“Or what? You’ll breathe on me? Seriously, Eli, take a breath mint.” I pinch my nose and gag.
He chuckles, displaying his sharp teeth. “Well, you know how deadly my breath can be, Misaki...”
Black smoke curls from his lips as he shows off his fire breath, and I groan.
“Yes, yes, dragon mouth, I know, now get away.” I push him back, and I can breathe once again.
God, he’s too intense.
Eli falls down into the chair opposite, keeping his deadly eyes on me. They’ve finally turned back to their normal, boring grey, and now he leans forward, pouring himself a cup of tea.
We carry on in silence.
Our family’s really fucked.
WE DINE WITH UNCLE Randall later that evening. There’s enough food to feed an entire village, and I sink into my chair, sighing.
I have my eyes set on the crispy duck.
Look, just because I’m vegan, it doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy meat from time to time (I’ll get back to my diet when I return to London).
I look up, meeting Eli’s glare from across the table. He still has a face like a slapped arse, staring me daggers as he slouches in his seat. He leans an elbow against the arm of his chair, tapping his mouth slowly as if he’s contemplating the many ways he can kill me.
Yet I can’t take my eyes off his bags. They look worse than ever (he needs to slice up some cucumbers and go to town on those bad boys).
He’s had trouble sleeping lately, and I gloat in his misery. I, on the other hand, have been sleeping like a baby.
There’s an empty place beside him, which was meant for Crystal, but it appears she’s a no show tonight. Eli had gone up to coax her, or more or less demand her to come down, and she replied with the classic: “I’m not hungry.”
Just like in Beauty and the Beast. How sweet.
No man on this cold earth could keep me from my food. I’d even have dinner with The Devil if it so much as meant I’d get some grub.
Speaking of the devil...
Uncle Randall finally enters the room, taking his seat at the head of the table.
His drooping eyes fall on the empty place beside Eli. “Where’s your loving fiancée? Fashionably late I presume?”
I keep my mouth shut. Not my father, not my problem.
Eli keeps his eyes on the candles.
“Well?” Uncle Randall snarls.
Eli takes a deep breath, then releases it back out with a shudder. Even his breathing seems to take effort.
“She’s... not coming...”
“What was that, boy? Move your hand from your mouth!”
Eli does as he asks, keeping his hand by his side now as he glares at something behind me. He clenches his teeth. “She’s not coming...”
Uncle Randall grimaces, and now his face turns bright red. Even redder than
the bowl of beetroot beside him. “She’s not coming?!”
“No.” Eli keeps his gaze behind me and I turn around, wondering what he’s so fascinated about.
Uncle Randall starts to convulse, his face twisting and turning until his eyes burn a deep red.
The candles blow out on the table, and I see the cute footman give a nervous gulp.
Shits really going down now.
“You get back up there now, boy, and you bring her down. No one refuses a meal with me, least of all that insignificant speck of a girl!”
The room charges like the air before an electrical storm, and then I see the red flare up in Eli’s eyes.
No one insults his little speck of an angel after all.
I roll my eyes and rise to my feet lest World War III breaks out. “It’s best I get her instead, Uncle Randall. Eli and Crystal aren’t speaking at the moment.”
Uncle Randall shoots me a glare. “Not speaking? Since when was it a woman’s choice whether she speaks or not?”
I grind my teeth at the sexist comment. Seriously, what the fuck kind of century was he still living in? On behalf of women everywhere, my Uncle Randall’s a Neanderthal. I actually felt sorry for poor Aunt Lily, having to be married to him for so many years, but she was under his thrall.
I give a good-natured laugh, trying to break the tension. “It’s no problem really, Uncle Randall. I don’t mind. Crystal and I are thick as thieves. I’ll make her come around.”
I click out the room, winking at the cute footman as I pass. He tries so hard to avert his eyes, but I see him looking at my arse. Not to worry; he’ll be mine eventually.
Just as I slip out the room, I hear Uncle Randall say: “You need to start acting like a man, and not let your woman walk all over you, boy. If you ever hope to become the head of this family, you need to learn to take what you want. Not let a little woman...”
I move faster, sick of the sexist talk.
Please, as if Eli could run the family company anyway. He was too weak. I’m much stronger.
I clippity-clop up the stairs then make my way down the hall of the third floor. My eyes soon land on Eli’s childhood bedroom door, and I can almost feel Crystal’s heavenly power pulsating within.
It’s like a heartbeat, bringing life back to the dull halls of the Black Mansion once again.
When I approach, I quieten my footsteps and press my ear to the door. I hear those tiny sniffles inside, then stick out my bottom lip.
Aw, the poor thing’s crying...
But for women everywhere, she needs to buck up and not let a man like Eli get to her.
The helpless Cinderella act gets old after a while.
So he was no prince charming after all. Big deal. What man was?
I knock on the door and Crystal stops. “Go away, Eli!”
“It’s not Eli...” I rely.
She gasps when she recognises my voice. “Misaki?”
“Unless there’s another beautiful half Asian girl around the Black Estate, then yeah, I guess it’s me.”
She remains silent for a while. I count down the seconds. Three, two...
“No. I don’t want to speak with you either. You both tricked me!”
I give a mock sigh. “That I did, Crystal, but you have to understand. I had no other choice. Eli... he... he threatened me...”
It’s an awful lie, but I may as well throw Eli under the bus that much further. Now he’s mangled up under the engine somewhere.
“He... threatened you?”
I give a soft whimper. “Yes.”
Silence again. But then a set of soft footfalls patter up to the door, and now it opens, revealing her mascara smudged face.
Shit, I had a real job of getting her cleaned up for dinner. She’s donned her cute unicorn pyjamas again, and I smile.
At least she’s making herself at home.
I meet Crystal’s big, innocent blue eyes, and I have to admit: they’re rather heart-wrenching. Enough to even melt the heart of a soulless bastard like Eli.
“He... really threatened you?” Her voice is soft and baby-like.
I close my eyes and nod. “M-mind if I come in?”
She blinks then glances up and down the hall. “Okay. But only because it’s you.”
She opens the door wider and lets me inside. Her luggage remains unpacked, and I see that she’s folded my suit up nicely on the back of a chair.
A bunch of stuffed animals pile on the bed where Crystal has made a blanket fort beneath the black sheets, and I grin, wondering if she has colouring books and crayons under there too.
Crystal was like the sweet little girl I never was.
She climbs back under the sheets, hugging a stuffed pink unicorn.
I sit down on the bed beside her, smiling at her toy. “Aw, she’s cute. What’s her name?”
“S-Sparkles...”
“And sparkly she is...” I reply, never breaking my smile.
Someone send me my Oscar.
Crystal looks at everything but me, staring around the room with unease. It could do with a bit of decorating. The Victorian décor was kind of... well, grim.
Finally, she releases a long, pent-up breath, looking my way. “So... how did he threaten you?”
I cast my eyes down, trying to look as innocent and demure as she does, though I don’t quite nail it.
“He... he told me that if I didn’t help him with his plans of seducing you, then he would get his father to cut me off and leave me homeless!”
It’s not entirely untrue. Though my uncle and cousin have never really expressed any desire to cut me off, I still see the looks in their eyes, and I live in constant dread. Call me paranoid, but bear in mind I don’t have my own parents to back me up here.
Not that my father could have won against Uncle Randall anyway. He was a much weaker man.
I truly am helpless.
Crystal gasps. “He can’t do that!”
“He can. He’s second in line to the Black Estate after all, and his father... well, you’ve met him. He’s a merciless man.”
Her big eyes fill with tears. “Oh, Misaki... I’m so sorry...”
“It’s all right, Crystal. You weren’t to know.”
Next, she takes my hand and squeezes it tight, and the touch is so tender, I feel my heart melt.
Again, I can see how she managed to beat life back into Eli’s black, rotten heart.
“It’s okay, Misaki. I forgive you. He’s the one in the wrong here, not you.”
We remain silent as Crystal mulls over everything I said. Next, she tightens her fists, and I gaze up, watching the anger brew inside her eyes.
“Why? Why did he do this to us? How can anyone be so cruel?”
I breathe a sigh. “He hasn’t always been so bad, Crystal. When we were children, he was always looking out for me, especially after my mother left. I was only eight, and so distraught. Eli was more like a big brother than a cousin, but recently... he’s changed. I don’t feel like I know him anymore.”
Her eyes light up at the word ‘changed’, and then she peers over at the window. Her skin visibly pales.
I raise a brow. “Is there something wrong, Crystal?”
She closes her eyes, releasing a shaky breath. “I... I saw something earlier. I’m still not entirely sure if my mind was playing tricks on me, but Eli... he... he turned... into this thing...”
“A demon?”
Her face whitens again. “Y-yes... I thought I was dreaming, but when I look at the window, I see it’s true. He... he melted the handle with his hand!”
I look at said window and see that she’s right. The fucker trapped her in good.
“Yes, melting is often a power of the demon-born.”
Her lower lip trembles. “D-demon-born?”
She gawks up at me with huge, childlike eyes, and I squeeze her hand. “There’s an awful lot about this world you still don’t know, sweet Crystal. Scary things, powerful things that can burn the world to ashes if the
y so desired. But have no fear. In a world filled with demons... there are also angels.”
Her eyes expand. “Angels?”
“Yes, sweetie. Angels. Just like you.”
Crystal’s face freezes, and she doesn’t blink for some time. I wave my hand in front of her face, and she shakes her head, giving a nervous laugh.
“I’m... I’m no angel. I’m just an ordinary girl.”
“You’re not. And neither am I.”
She lets go of my hand and grips the unicorn tighter. “Are... are you, Misaki, a... a demon born?”
I gaze into those beautiful blues. It’s like drowning in a pool of pure heavenly bliss.
Crystal truly was divine. Her mere touch could cure the sick.
“That I am,” I say. “But I would never hurt you, Crystal. I see you as my friend. We may technically be enemies, but I am your ally. You can trust me.”
I give her my winning smile.
She shakes her head, looking beyond over my shoulder. “No. Only Eli is my enemy.”
I take her hand again and squeeze tight. “That’s the way to go, Crystal. Don’t let him win. You go down there and look him straight in his squinty, sleep-deprived eyes and say “Fuck you, Eli.”
She gasps. “I can’t say that!”
“Fine, then at least punch him in his stupid, smug face. Maybe some other time when Lord Black’s not around, promise?”
She giggles. “Okay. I promise.”
We smile at each other, sharing some unspoken female bond about hating the same male arsehole.
It’s great when girls team up against the men.
In fact, it’s been a while since I’ve had such a positive interaction with another woman. The last being my mother before she ran off back to Japan.
Crystal fiddles with Sparkles’ horn, sucking in a deep breath. “Is that why Eli tricked and kidnapped me? Because I’m angel born?”
I chew on the inside of my cheek, wondering how much I should reveal about Eli’s true intentions of avenging his dead mother. It would only make him look sympathetic to someone as kind as Crystal, so I don’t bother.
“More or less,” I say. “Your fathers are old enemies. The Blacks and the Whites are in constant battle.”
