The Devil's Lover: The Wish (14 page)

Chevalier pulled her close and out of
Lucifer's reach.

“
Take her north,” Soren
instructed. “There you will find a gate. Command it to open and you
will return to your realm.”

Chevalier didn’t question Soren. He
picked Kali up in his arms and flew north.

“
Sleep well, my lord
Lucifer,” Soren said. “When you wake up, let us make her our
enemy.”

Chapter 13: The Nightmare
of Hell

Kali screamed. Chevalier threw down
the silverware he was putting away and ran to the
bedroom.

“
What? What happened?
Why’d you scream?” he asked as he scanned the room for signs of
danger.

“
I just had a horrible
nightmare!” she said. “I was at this creepy-looking castle that was
surrounded by this wall of black thorns! It was floating over more
black thorns. And there was this scary looking…”

“
That’s it?” Chevalier
scratched the back of his head. “You made me run in here for
that?”

“
You have no idea how
scary it was!”

“
Oh, brush your teeth,” he
smiled. “I made some marinated salmon.”

“
Is today your payday?”
she asked briefly, practically skipping out to the bathroom. Salmon
was one of her favorite dishes.

When she was done, she sat down at the
dinner table. Her eyes trailed to the opposite wall.

“
It's August,” she pointed
out.

"What?"

"It’s August. Isn't it supposed to be
June?" Kali stared at the calendar pinned to the wall. "Is that
thing printed wrong? Where are the other pages?"

"Well," he sat down across from her.
“No, the calendar is right.”

"What aren't you telling me?” she
threateningly pulled on his collar. "Why are there two months
missing from my life?"

He'd forgotten to come up with an
alibi sooner. "There was a motorcycle accident. We were riding back
from the park, and there was this on-coming truck… and anyways, you
got a minor concussion. The doctor said it would be normal for you
to forget a couple of things.”

"A head injury, huh?” She put her
fingers to her temples. "No wonder my head’s been throbbing this
morning.”

He wiped the sweats from his forehead
when she didn't question him further.

Her attention was diverted to the
dinner in front of her. “Looks delicious!”

She nibbled on a piece of salmon for a
moment, but the smell of it suddenly made her feel nauseous. Her
hands flew to her mouth. She tripped on her chair as she bolted
toward the bathroom.

Chevalier followed her. Standing in
the doorway, he watched her with obvious concern. Kali had never
had a problem with his cooking before. The salmon was fresh from
the market. She was kneeling over the toilet, vomiting until he
expected to see her toenails come out of her mouth.

His eyes widened at the realization
hit.

†††††

Chevalier sat in the dark of the
living room, his head buried in his hands. How had things come to
this? Just when he thought he’d have a peaceful life with her, she
might be…

She might be pregnant. He felt angry,
but more than that, he felt regret. If he’d been more honest with
his feelings before, that demon could never have come between them.
His own conscience had always held him back.

He had always known he was in love
with her. The seven year gap between them may seem insignificant to
people her own age, but that difference could mean tremendous
growth, both physically and mentally. And so he had patiently
waited for her to grow up. He had waited patiently until she could
at least understand. There had been nights that his youth led him
to the beds of other women. The whole time, his mind was filled
with nothing but guilty thoughts of her.

It became worse when she came to live
with him. The years refused to move forward. Looking back, he
wished he could have done things differently. If he had known there
would be days like these, he would have ripped out his heart for
her to see. Then she could have judged for herself. It should never
have been a secret.

She betrayed you,
the voice in his head said.
She might be carrying his child. What will you do
now?

“
I don’t know,” he
answered the voice. “I just don’t know.”

Kill her.
The voice said.
It’ll
make you feel better. It’ll save you from your pain.

“
Shut up!” Chevalier shook
his head violently. “I would never hurt her!”

Will you force her to
abort it?

Chevalier squeezed his eyes shut. The
tears that were burning his eyes spilled down his cheeks. “How
could I make her do such a thing?” he said, his voice
trembling.

Will you raise it, then?
Could you ever love a child that belongs to another man?

Chevalier took a deep breath and stood
up. He walked slowly to Kali’s bedroom. He sat beside her bed and
held her hand in his. She looked so peaceful when she slept. He
turned her hand over and kissed her frail fingers.

“
I love her,” he sighed.
"If it is her child, what difference would it makes if it’s mine or
another's?”

You must be
crazy!

“
Maybe I am,” his tears
fell onto her palm. “I love her so much that it’s making me feel
like I’m crazy!”

†††††

Kali tossed and turned in her bed,
troubled by the recurring images in her dreams. They played over
and over each night, in bits and pieces like the shards of a broken
mirror. She couldn’t make sense of the jumbled images of people and
places, real and imaginary. She was beginning to curse these
manifestations of her overactive imagination. She could hear bits
and pieces of dialogue that raised more questions than answers.
Sometimes, she could hear a stranger’s familiar voice reaching out
to her. The voice was as soft as a whisper and inexplicably
harmonized with her heartbeats.

Suddenly a loud, annoying pounding on
the front brought her fully awake. She could hear Chevalier getting
up from the sofa where he slept to answer the door. She relaxed
again when a long moment passed without any suspicious
noises.

 
Hana stood in the
apartment’s doorway, her hands on her hips. As soon as she saw
Chevalier, she wrapped her arms around his neck.

“
I’m so happy to see you!”
Hana said and launched herself up to kiss him. He wasn’t
responding; she felt like she was kissing a statue. She stopped and
pulled back. “Aren't you happy to see me?” she asked, questioning
his aloofness.

“
Lower your voice,”
Chevalier shushed her.

“
Why?” Hana’s brows pulled
together so that they almost looked connected in the center. “Is
there someone in your apartment? It is another woman?”

She barged into his apartment and
began to search. She scanned the kitchen quickly before searching
the bathroom and then the only bedroom in the place.

“
Kali?!” she
exclaimed when she found a woman in her lover’s bed. Shock
resonated in her voice.

Kali sat up and smiled when she saw
Hana. “What are you doing here, Hana?” she asked.

Hana looked to Chevalier,
who was sluggishly entering the bedroom. “What is
she
doing
here
?”

“
What do you mean, what is
she doing here?” Chevalier yawned. “She lives here. The question is
what are
you
doing here?"

“
But didn’t you elope with
Lucien?” Hana asked Kali.

Kali blinked. “Who’s
Lucien?”

“
Nobody,” Chevalier
quickly replied. He turned to Hana. “Go home already, Hana. We’ll
talk about this later.”

“
No!” she protested. Anger
and tears were already swelled up in her brown eyes. “Why is she
still living with you? She was supposed to be gone!”

“
Chevalier
,” his name from Kali’s
mouth sounded like a warning. “What is going on here? Since when
did you and Hana… you know?”

“
It was very brief,”
Chevalier smiled playfully.

Kali shook her head, disapproving.
“Why are you doing this to my friend?”

“
Your friend?” she strode
to Kali and delivered a slap across her face. “Who are you calling
your friend? I don’t even want to know you exist! You disgust
me!”

Chevalier caught her by the wrist and
pushed her out into the living room. "What the hell was that for?
I’m the one you should be angry with.”

“
Stop protecting that
bitch!”

 “
If you hurt her
again, I won’t hold back,” he threatened. Realizing he wasn’t the
kind of man who would threaten a girl, he let out a sigh. “Kali is
very weak right now. Go home, Hana. We’ll talk later.”

"All that ever comes out of your mouth
is 'Kali'!" Hana said hysterically. "All you see is her, but I'm
the one you're going out with! How could you cheat on me like
this?"

“
That’s enough!” Chevalier
decided. He grabbed Hana by the hand and pulled her out of to the
hallway.

“
I’m sorry I didn’t make
it clear enough to you,” he said once they were outside the
apartment. “I’ll make it clearer this time. I’m breaking up with
you. I’m an asshole, so forget about me.”

Chevalier went back inside the
apartment and shut the door in Hana’s face. She kept banging on the
door, but no one answered except a little old lady down the hallway
who poked her head out of her apartment to see what the fuss was
about.

Kali stared at Chevalier when he
returned. “That was rude.”

"She'll get over me soon
enough.”

“
Like your other women?
You’re really a jerk.”

“
Yeah,” he bent down to
place a kiss on her cheek, “but I don’t want to be other women’s
jerk anymore.”

Chapter 14: Her
Lovers

Kali’s hands flew to her mouth as she
felt her lunch backing up. She dashed out of the classroom and down
the hall, intent on getting to the bathroom. Charging into an empty
stall, everything her stomach made a rapid reappearance. She
grabbed a handful of tissue and wiped her lips.

She had been feeling sick too often
lately, nauseous to be precise. She could barely keep anything down
anymore. Other times she felt extremely dizzy just from standing
up. If this got worse, she would need to find a doctor. The thought
of going to a doctor frightened her, though. The expense would be a
burden on Chevalier, and if they found something wrong with her,
they may put her on some expensive treatments. If she could hold it
off, the longer the better. At least until she found a new
job.

She was startled when the door
suddenly opened. Hana, along with some other girls she recognized,
were standing in front of her.

"You're pregnant, aren't you?” Hana
asked, straightforward.

The question made her jump.

"I'm not-" Kali reached down to her
abdomen. Her symptoms were very similar to those of a pregnant
woman, but it couldn't be...could it? It couldn’t be! She wasn’t
even dating anyone. How could that possibly be an acceptable
scenario?

"Don't lie to us, we already know,"
Cyn said. "You’ve been throwing up a lot lately. You’re totally
pregnant.”

Hana grabbed a handle of Kali’s hair,
yanking her closer. "Whose it is? It is Chevalier’s or Lucien’s? Or
maybe you just don't know, you slut!"

"Let go of me!" Kali shouted and
forcing her fingers under Hana’s to reclaim her roots. She pushed
Hana back. “Who is this Lucien you’re talking about?”

"Are you just going to pretend you
don't know him?"

"What do you want?" Kali stood up.
"Even if I am pregnant, it has nothing to do with you!"

"If it’s Chevalier's, I'll
kill you!" Hana raised her hand and slapped Kali across the face.
"You will
not
steal my boyfriend!"

Kali placed a hand over her rapidly
swelling cheek, feeling angry and guilty. She wasn’t even sure
why.

"I couldn’t steal something that was
already mine!" she blurted out. "If I wanted him, I just need to
say one word he would come running to me without a second
thought!"

Hana raised her hand a second time,
but Kali caught her wrist and pushed it aside. "I’ve had enough
slaps from you to last a lifetime,” she said, exiting the
bathroom.

†††††

Kali lowered her eyes. The old woman
at the convenience store was staring at her eyes full of
condemnation, deliberately ringing out her order as slowly as
possible. She quickly paid the woman, grabbed the pregnancy test
without waiting for it to be bagged, and bolted. Running to the
side of the store, she leaned against the wall to control her rapid
panting. Her face was flushed with embarrassment. She shoved the
test into her bag and finally built up her courage enough to dart
across the street.