Wicked Boy - 7. Chapter 7

When Jeremiah woke he was warm, sated, and slightly itchy where both Kiaza’s and his own come had dried on his skin. He was also noticeably alone. He growled in frustration. The space where Kiaza should have been puddled, happy and full of revitalised morning glory style horniness was conspicuously empty. It was one thing for the little demon to ask him not to tell anyone, and Jeremiah still couldn’t work out why that was, but to up and vanish like a guilty one night stand was quite another. If Jeremiah was sure of one thing, it was that Kiaza was not producing a repeat performance of their first encounter.

Atoki had lent him clothes after the first day, since he was the only one who dressed in anything like what Jeremiah would have called normal, and the young man pulled on thick socks and a pair of sweat pants before exiting the room. The sensible thing would have been to clean the rather obvious remnants of their coupling from his skin, but finding Kiaza seemed more important. He jogged along the long single corridor and down the main staircase, entering the den full of upset and anger for the tricksy snake.

The hearth was empty.

Jeremiah growled and spun on his heel, but in the main living room he found nothing to suggest a fire had even been lit since the previous day. Stomach growling, he followed the scent of food to the kitchen, where several of the houses occupants were busy with breakfast.

“Morning Jem.” Atoki smiled. “Sleep well?”

“I’d say he did.” Sitka smirked. “People generally do after they get ridden hard.”

“Excuse me?” Jeremiah frowned, and then followed the demon’s gaze to the dried evidence on his skin. “Oh…”

“Kiaza saw sense then?” Inai queried.

“Er… no? I mean, I haven’t seen him.” Jeremiah hated to lie to his new… friends. “Do you know where he is?”

Kiorl walked in just behind him and dropped a shirt over Jeremiah’s shoulder.

“He went upstairs first thing. I assume he is working.”

“Oh honey…” Jahke pouted. “You can’t be pining away in the dark for him at night if he’s still working recruitment.” The pale demon smiled. “We’d best find you someone good to take care of you.”

“Huh?” Jeremiah frowned. He could not see how he needed taking care of. “What exactly is it Kiaza does?”

The silence was sudden and absolute.

“I think you’d better come with me.” Kiorl nodded to the boy. “We’ll take a walk.”

Dressed, for a certain value of the word, and with his feet protected by a pair of tall leather boots which Jahke had produced from some magical wardrobe, Jeremiah followed Kiorl along the pathways of hell. However it was that the land worked, it was different from the way Jeremiah normally though of distance and space being. After half an hour it seemed that they were miles from the house, and yet everything in front of them still seemed a long way away. And Kiorl said that should they turn left, they would be at the palace in two minutes. To Jeremiah, the palace seemed further away than their house.

“Kiorl? Why are we out here?”

The big panther seemed to consider his answer.

“Because I thought you might like to see a little more of the land you’ll be calling home. The inner circle at least.”

Jeremiah glanced across at the ring of mountainous fire Shindae had said marked the border between them and the outer rings.

“What happens out there anyway?”

“You don’t want to know.” The way Kiorl said it, Jeremiah figured he was probably correct. “And anyway, we can’t go to the palace, too dangerous, and I didn’t think you’d want everyone at the house overhearing this.”

“Overhearing what?” Jeremiah stared at the big cat as he walked, nearly tripping over a big basalt slab. “Kiorl!”

“Kiaza works in recruitment. Do you know what that means?”

“Yes.” Jeremiah hopped up onto the slab, spreading his arms for balance. For half a second, he could trick himself that he was sixteen again, newly drunk for the first time and standing on the garden wall. “Sitka told me. Corrupting new souls for… whatever it is you guys need them for down here.”

“Sure, you can put it like that.” Kiorl waved him on to follow. “Everyone does it differently. I kill people, I like the blood. Jin-ha talks them around, plays on their fears and weaknesses. Kiaza makes them kill themselves.”

“How?”

Kiorl exhaled heavily, and Jeremiah studied his face. He did not look pleased.

“Kiaza has a special skill. He makes humans kill themselves through prolonged and unnatural ecstasy. It’s what he was going to do with you.” Kiorl shook his head, the strands of his electric blue Mohawk bobbing in the dry, dead wind. “…as he’s done with countless others. He can bring you to the point of no return and keep you there until you go insane. Something stopped him with you.”

Jeremiah felt his blood boil.

“You mean he is up there now fucking some other guy?” Jeremiah spat. His saliva fizzed on the hot stone. “That’s where he went?!”

“Yes.” Kiorl hung his head. “Someone had to tell you. Whoa!” But Jeremiah had already turned back along the road they’d followed. “Jem! Come back!”

He ignored the shout, and pelted back towards the house. Kiaza had spent the night with him, or the part which mattered, and now he had gone upstairs to fuck some other boy, recruit another soul. The thought made Jeremiah want to throw up. His stomach lurched, but he ran anyway.

Distance twisted with his anger, and he was nearly on the doorstep before he ran smack into a great big red demon with huge horns and leathery wings. The stranger grabbed him.

“Well, well, a rogue little soul wandering around unclaimed.”

Jeremiah snarled, and bit the hand wrapped around his forearm.

“Fuck you!” He dashed up the slope to the main house and met Inai coming the other way.

“Hey Jem.” The big naga grinned wide. “What’s the hurry kid?”

“Can you get me to the portal?” Jeremiah spoke quickly, plan forming fast in his mind.

“Well sure.” Inai frowned. “But you can’t go back up. One way street for you bud: you’re human.”

“I know.” Jeremiah gritted his teeth. “I just wanna be there when he gets back.”

Kiorl was still somehow a mile away, even though he was running, and the red demon stood aside as Jeremiah and Inai passed him. Jeremiah huffed at him, and had the pleasure of watching an evil creature four times his size step back with a quick fearful glance.

It was not far to the portal, and Inai relieved the guard with a short conversation which Jeremiah didn’t bother listening to. He took up a seat on a usefully shape boulder and folded his arms across his knees. The demon Inai had replaced smiled at him, but Jeremiah didn’t even bother looking up. He was too angry. Luckily he didn’t have to wait long.

The portal was not nearly as fancy as Jeremiah had expected. It looked simply like a doorway into utter blackness. Just before it went live, there was a ripple, like a stone in water, and then the doorway glowed with orange flame briefly as Kiaza stepped through. Jeremiah’s heart thumped really hard in his chest. He leapt up, and socked the little snake square in the jaw.

“You bastard!”

Kiaza shook as he tried to stand, and Jeremiah aborted the movement with a swift kick. He pulled Kiaza up by the front of his tabard. Kiaza’s bright green eyes were a swirling mix of anger and pain, shame, sadness and rage. Jeremiah wanted to break him apart and kiss him all at once. He settled for throwing him back on the ground.

“Fuck you!” He stuffed his hands in his pockets and turned away.

“Wait… Jem!”

“NO! You made it pretty clear you don’t give a damn about me Kia.” Jeremiah stepped down from the platform where the portal stood. “Stay out of my bed.”

“You slept with him?” It wasn’t clear to whom Inai had asked the question, but it was enough to make Jeremiah stop in his tracks. Kiaza sniffed audibly.

“Yeah.” The human growled. “But for some reason, I’m not supposed to tell anyone, isn’t that right Kiaza?”

“Duuude…” Inai shook his head. “If I was getting some of that, I wouldn’t be keeping it secret.”

“That’s ‘cause you’re shit at secrets Inai.” Kiorl stood over Jeremiah with his arms folded across his chest. “You two, come with me. No arguing.”

“Don’t-!”

Kiorl snatched up Jeremiah by both wrists before he could get any further and held him up off the ground.

“Between the two of you, my life has become an unliveable mess, and I will damage you beyond Zai’s healing skills if you piss me off.” Kiorl made a tight sort of gesture with his free hand. “You too, Kiaza, follow me.”

*

“Is this safe? I thought you said the palace was off limits?”

Kiorl sighed, and shut the door behind them with a wave of one hand before gesturing to the many worn and homey looking sofas and chairs in the round, well-appointed sitting room.

“Nassau went for a walk in the garden.” When Kiaza didn’t say anything back, Kiorl smirked. “Yes, he’s that pissed off. We sent everyone else home when it became clear there was going to be structural damage. His Majesty went upstairs.”

“You’re kidding?” Kiaza looked shocked. “Sathriel hasn’t gone over the top in forever.”

“Yeah well, he decided he didn’t want to deal with his son’s temper any longer.”

“Fascinating as this is.” Jeremiah folded his arms in a defiant sort of manner. “What the fuck has it got to do with me?”

“Sit down.” Kiorl took a seat in one of his preferred high-backed wing chairs. “This is not going to be quick.”

Kiorl spoke, at length, and Jeremiah was surprised to find himself reaching for Kiaza’s hand on the seat between them. More surprised and pleased to feel the snake’s soft cool fingers gripping him back as Kiorl explained the predicament of their situation. When the big panther had finished, Jeremiah held up his hand.

“I just have one question.”

“I said all that, and you only have one question?” Kiorl was amazed. “You’re shitting me?”

“OK, one important question.” Jeremiah’s smile faded as he turned to Kiaza. Later, he could deal with all that Kiorl had said: all the history between the two demons he sat with and the Prince of hell; the fact the big red demon could have easily claimed him; that while he was ‘alone’ he was fair game and free sport and that there were those who would take his soul to harvest in the outer circles; he was lucky. Later he would work out why it was Kiaza had been so scared to tell people, so worried to say what he wanted. Jeremiah had seen it in the half dark when they had screwed each other senseless, could feel the little snake’s desire to be held and protected. It occurred to him that it was probable that no had had ever protected Kiaza in his whole life. After all, he was a demon; he was supposed to be the strong one. Jeremiah took a deep breath. “Did you go and fuck someone else up there?”

There was a silence where Jeremiah was sure he stopped breathing.

“No. I couldn’t do it.” Kiaza pressed his face into his hands. “I was only ever good at one thing!” He wailed. “And now I can’t even do that!”

Jeremiah gawped at the curled over shape of the lithe shimmering demon. It had never occurred to him that Kiaza had anything to lose by admitting he wanted to be with Jeremiah. The young man reached out and pulled the snake into his lap, holding his narrow body tight against his chest. He laid his cheek against the ridged scales of Kiaza’s scalp and rocked the boy gently. Snakes couldn’t cry, Jahke had said so, but that didn’t mean Kiaza wasn’t giving it his best shot.

“Hey… It’s alright Kia. We’ll find something else for you to be great at.”

Kiaza sniffed and glanced up at him. Jeremiah couldn’t help but smile at the soft green glow.

“Better already.” He stroked Kiaza’s cheek with his thumb. “It’s gonna be fine.”

Kiorl sighed and visibly relaxed in the chair, his posture slumping, taking on the air of a businessman off duty.

“No more fighting then you two, and no more sleeping in separate beds and rooms and all that nonsense. Understood?”

“Yes.” Jeremiah smiled, because they had replied in unison. “What happens now?”

“I suppose we’d best go see about your new room. You’re not fucking in mine anymore, I like that bed.”

“Can we have something a bit flatter?” Jeremiah asked gently. “That bowl shape hurts my spine.”

Kiorl rolled his eyes.

“You ungrateful bastard, get on out of here! I have to go see about the fact the main hall is missing a wall.”

*

“You know, I think this is the first time we’ve walked anywhere together.” Jeremiah stretched his arms up over his head. “It’s nice.”

“You’re annoyingly tall.” Kiaza jabbed his companion in the ribs. “When did that happen?”

Jeremiah measured the height difference between them with his hand. The top of Kiaza’s scales reached midway up his bicep.

“I think you were taller when you were pretending to be human.” Jeremiah slipped his arm over Kiaza’s narrow shoulders. “I like you way better like this.”

“You’re weird.”

“So says the boy with scales.” Jeremiah grinned and scooped Kiaza up in his arms. “God, you weigh nothing at all.”

“Put me down!”

“Not until I find a bed.” Jeremiah kissed him fervently.

A piercing wolf whistle broke them apart.

“Well I never.” The speaker was a shiny, marble pale scaled demon who managed to look absolutely nothing like Kiaza. “You recruited Kiaza? I never thought you’d be tamed.” Jeremiah hated the pale snake instantly. “And by one so… simple. Such a waste.”

Jeremiah stepped up the snake and held out his hand.

“Jeremiah. You are?”

“Tua Asina, Member of the Royal Court.”

“I don’t have a title; maybe I should feel bad about this.” Jeremiah smirked, drew back his fist and caught the marble serpent on the chin. “I don’t.”

“Jem!”

“Uppity little shit.” Jeremiah snapped. “Don’t you dare talk about him that way.”

“Don’t you know who I am?” Tua rubbed his face as he regained his balance.

“Frankly, I don’t give a shit.” Jeremiah took Kiaza’s hand. “Let’s go home.”

They walked in silence for a while, and Jeremiah let Kiaza pick his own footing, fascinated by the way he chose to walk into rivulets of lava, hopping up onto the cracking crusts before wading ankle deep in liquid warmth.

“You can’t keep doing that Jem.” Kiaza flicked his fingertips absently. Little blue sparks materialised briefly before dissipating into nothingness. “I don’t need defending.”

“Sorry.” Jeremiah gripped his lover’s hand. “Who was that anyway?”

“Tua? He’s a bastard. I think he thought I was gonna be gone forever.”

“Why were you gone?” Jeremiah looked sideways at the snake as they reached the main doorway of the house. “I get the feeling all this anger and upset at the palace is over you.”

“It’s not important.” Kiaza stood on not-quite tiptoes to reach his lips. “Come on. I wanna show you something.”

There was a new door in the upstairs hallway. Looking at it, Jeremiah couldn’t be certain if it had been there before, or indeed what had been there before, but the patch of wall seemed as solid and dense as the rest of the house. From the outside, the house didn’t look any different, but the human had already learnt not to necessarily trust what his eyes were telling him when it came to space and distance.

“This is us.”

“How can you tell?” Jeremiah rubbed his hand over the smooth mahogany surface. “It doesn’t have our names on.”

“Would you like it to?” Kiaza flexed his fingers, and pushed the door open with a flat hand. They stepped into the room, and Jeremiah completely failed to notice the wood shavings or cursive, freshly carved lettering which spelled out both their names.

The room was empty.

“There’s nothing here.”

“There will be.” Kiaza grinned, and wrapped his arms around Jeremiah’s neck, lifting himself up to kiss the human. “Trust me.”