The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance (Trisha Telep) (Kitty Norville 0.50)

ent you to kill her?” Katrina was pale.

“My father.”

“Who is your father?”

“You need only repeat my true name and hear it for what it is to answer that, my lady,” Kyle said quietly, meeting her eyes. “Speak it, and hear.”

“Kailkiril’ron,” Katrina obeyed, speaking the difficult Ancient name.

Ancient. But it was unlike any name of any Ancient she’d come across, and she’d been studying in earnest, trying to learn as much as she could about the new world she had become a part of when she took Nikolai as her husband.

“No, it’s not the name of an Ancient,” Kyle confirmed her thoughts. His pale eyes challenged hers. “Now, what am I called? Speak the whole of it.”

“Kailkiril’ron the Be—,” Katrina began. The word caught in her throat, but she swallowed and forced it out. “Betrayer.”

Kyle nodded. He held Katrina’s eyes and waited for the meaning to clarify itself to her.

It didn’t take long. Kyle watched the realization cross her face and forced himself to endure it. He’d asked her to hear his confession, and he would endure the penance. It wasn’t like he hadn’t been exiled before.

Katrina rose from her chair and backed away instinctively. “You’re a demon!”

“Former, please,” Kyle said calmly, gesturing for her to sit down again in the chair she’d left. “Neither, thankfully, am I a true ‘vampire’. I’m not like your Nikolai or any other Destrati, or any other in any clan. I did not choose this existence. I am a true lost soul. A consciousness in mortal form that must live off the blood of those I betrayed my father - my Master - for. And just to additionally clarify, as I don’t wish to surprise you further, I am a former demon lord, not some common imp. There’s a significant difference. Please.”

Kyle gestured to the chair again.

Katrina slowly returned to it, looking at Kyle with new eyes. “I knew you were powerful,” she said quietly, glancing around nervously though no one could have been watching. “They all say so, and those who don’t speak of you with awe speak of you with contempt. I never understood why. But I didn’t realize. I don’t think any of them truly realize what you really are. You just toy with us, don’t you?”

“Hardly,” Kyle said dryly. “I spend most of my time avoiding you, or have you forgotten that? Wasn’t it you that invited me here? Do you regret it now? Shall I go, now that you know the truth of what I am?”

“No.” Katrina reached for his hand and covered it with her own, squeezing his gently. “And I’m sorry for my reaction. Demons . . . are frightening things, especially when the man you married has sworn himself to fight against them. I’m afraid I still think of myself as human, even though I’m not really. I saw The Exorcist when I was a kid and I haven’t ever forgotten it.”

Kyle smiled and brought her fingers to his lips to brush a reassuring kiss across them. She was at least trying to understand, and that hadn’t happened in so very, very long.

“May you forget that vile film. It isn’t remotely accurate where possession is concerned anyway. But always remember that you were once human,” he said, lowering their hands. He released hers gently. “It is important to remember what you were, even if you might wish to forget at times. Now, I believe you asked a question, and though you may have already answered it for yourself, I shall continue, as there is more.”

He took a sip from his glass and chose his words carefully.

“My father is, as you’ve no doubt surmised, the Fallen one named Lucifer.”

“As in the Lucifer?” Katrina whispered. “As in, War Between The Sides, ‘I will not serve’, losing side, cast-down-into-Hell Lucifer?”

“The same,” Kyle affirmed with a nod. “You know the tale. After angels, the Creator made humans, and a realm for them to live in. Man quickly became loved best above all things. One angel, the one who felt the most deposed, thought this unjust -this replacement - and formed a rebellion. He was met in battle by those loyal to their Father and lost. The rest you know. What you do not likely know, however, is that once cast down with those who had rebelled with him, Lucifer made new creations in his own image. Just as his Father had before him, he created beings to serve and worship him. I was one of the first among those creations. The only children Lucifer has are, as he so named us, demons, and we are all male, as he is. They do his bidding without question, out of blind loyalty, as I once did. Lucifer himself cannot leave the realm to which he is banished. He cannot leave Hell. However, he can send his children out for short periods for various purposes. There is far more to it than I’ve told you but, suffice to say, I was once first among Lucifer’s children and in command of his legions of demons. But then one day he issued an order I could not obey, which brings us back to my ‘betrayal’. My Catrine.”

Katrina tried hard to grasp everything Kyle had said, but it didn’t quite make sense. She had a lot of questions, but decided to wait and see if things would become clearer as he went on. She nodded for him to continue.

Kyle took a sip from his glass and spoke again.

“As I’ve said, I could not obey and take the life of this beautiful creature. I could not deprive the world of so wondrous a thing as she. I didn’t even know at the time what ‘beauty’ was or even that I found her beautiful. All I knew was that I could not harm her. I didn’t speak a word to her on the way to her home; I merely walked by her side.”

Kyle laughed softly.

“I must have made quite the picture,” he said, smiling at Katrina. “I was in this form, you see. It was slightly younger, but only slightly so, and easily inhabited. Demons, in case you don’t know this already, have a form of their own within their own realm (or if they have been summoned into another), but in this case I was in possession of this mortal. He was the most despicable of mortals, truly wicked and corrupt, which is exactly the conduit needed for possession. When I think back on it now, I marvel at her grace. His name ... I don’t even remember what it was, for I gave my true name to her; an unthinkable thing for a demon to do, let alone the lord of demons. She made a wonderful effort to pronounce it, and asked if she could shorten it to simply ‘Kail’. Of course I agreed. Words from her lips were unlike any I’d ever heard before. I have met many of the Host, and I can tell you now, no angel speaks as beautifully as she did.”

Katrina smiled. “Love does things like that,” she said. “She probably didn’t sound angelic to anyone but you.”

“Perhaps not,” Kyle agreed, still lost in his memories. “Again, I didn’t know anything about love, or beauty, or grace, but when I look back on it now, she was so gracious and polite that day. As I said, I was in possession of this form, inhabiting this body and sharing the corrupt soul within. It shames me now, knowing what she saw then, for this form was very dirty, with unwashed greasy hair infected with lice.”

Kyle shuddered visibly.