Secret of The Night

Darren twisted his neck to look up at me.

The situation was severe, and certainly did not catalyze laughing, but I couldn’t help a smirk. A deer caught in headlights. A dog being found guilty of a crime. An infant tasting a lemon wedge for the first time.

It only lasted a second, though. Then Darren quickly recollected his jaw from the floor, and narrowed his eyes so he looked less like a crazed psychology ward patient and more like the guy I traveled through hell with.

“No, Vivi, I-I don’t know what you’re talking about. What do you mean?” Darren, or more accurately, Loki, looked behind my head while he spoke to me.

“Yeah, ok.” I continued smirking at him. “Well, anyway, I know now, and you stammering kind of confirms it.” I lifted my chin and whipped my head around, determined to walk out of the room confidently while the fists at my side were shaking and globs of water were threatening to break the boundaries of my bottom eyelid.

“Vivi, wait,” I heard Darren call out from behind me. I turned back but didn’t walk into the room again. Loki stood up and faced me.

“Yoru’s right. He’s my brother. We’re only a few months apart. He used to be my best friend when we were kids. Obviously. But 5 years ago, I was 13, and the king was rushing me to find a demon wife so I could take the throne soon.”

“Wait, hold up. You’re older than Yoru?” I had crossed my arms, but held up a hand at Torriku’s revelation.

“Yeah. I’m actually 20, in human terms. Yoru’s 19. I was supposed to be the next in line. Did he tell you that?”

I shook my head no.

He scoffed. “Of course not. He wouldn’t have said anything to put his power in a vulnerable position. Anyway, I didn’t like what the King said and I didn’t like this world because my mother hated me, my father didn’t understand me, and the only person I trusted was my brother and he wasn’t on my side. So I left. I thought I could clear up my mind or something. And I lived among the humans. With time, my demon-ness started disappearing. I lost my sharp teeth, and my special ability. My strength was cut to almost nothing. I-I was just too embarrassed to come home, you know? And then you came along, and all the guys were in love with you. Danny, Jack, and Richard. You were really pretty. We were like your little slave men, and you never even knew. A lot of the jocks liked you, too, but we formed a team to keep them away from you. Your own fanboy club.” His ears turned red and he was still not looking at my face, which gave me the perfect opportunity to smile really wide. “Your friend, um, Yvonne, had a really big crush on Richard but he liked you too much so he turned her down. Did she ever tell you that? Oh, crap, I shouldn’t have told you. Sorry.”

He looked carefully at my face, gauging my emotions at the moment. Obviously he deemed it safe to continue. “Then, you found out about the whole demon world. I was following you on your date, not because I was a stalker, I really was just in the area. I was visiting Manager, or Sibyl. I knew who she was. Of course I knew who she was. And when you went down that hole, I knew I had to follow you, or else you would die. No mortal ever survives it down here without a demon guide. So I followed you. Sorry, for um, lying to you.” He finished his spiel and looked down.

I smiled slightly, then immediately turned the corners of my mouth into a tight frown.

No. This guy doesn’t deserve forgiveness. Definitely not. I’m mad at him! I’m so mad at him. He’s just a teenager that got mad at his parents, or parent whatever, and ran away from home. He’s immature! Not to mention he lied to me. And all this way, too.

“Ok,” I said. And then I turned on my heel and walked away, letting my lips form themselves into a small smile, quickly covered by a hand.

Another 4 months or so passed. I didn’t speak to Loki once after our meeting, and he never sought me out either. But Yoru came every week, and then every day. He took me on walks and tours. I met Erik and Agatha and the Queen and even Sibyl. Yoru was fine during the Sibyl visit, but he kept being an extraordinary ass. So I pulled him out quickly and apologized to Sibyl. She nodded and smiled placidly at me. “It’s quite alright, hon. He’s always rude to me. I never knew why.”

I knew why. But I nodded and went outside to meet up with Yoru again. He took me to see more paintings and more secret hideouts. We met with Chikau, the third brother, who was also 19, and a few months younger than Yoru. He was pretty handsome too, if I do say so myself. He had the same prominent facial features as Yoru, but Torriku’s light hair. He had light blue eyes, and very tan. I could see the resemblance between the brothers, until Chikau bowed at me and kissed my hand, stooping to one knee. He addressed me as Lady and had like a French accent or something. It threw me off and I whispered to Yoru that I needed to get out of there.

We went to the greenhouse a lot, so much that the unique flowers became a familiar and welcome sight to me, just like Yoru showing up at my door with a jasmine clipping.

He showed me a chamber that had opalescent walls, almost transparent, too. He showed me extravagance in every name and form, and by the end of our “travels” I was always speechless when he brought me back to my room. My own capacious living quarters suddenly felt tight, and then I eagerly awaited the next day, when I would see Yoru and another amazing facet of the palace again.

Week after week, day after day, it was pretty fun. And then I started to actually enjoy my time here. I liked it. The palace had so many intriguing things to share, and I was happy to absorb everything.

I was talking to Yoru just like I had done yesterday, the day before that, and the day before that. We were talking about a flower, one that I had caught a glimpse of in the front portion of the greenhouse. It was strikingly violet, but star shaped. It had 5 ruthlessly sharp points; the violet color was most potent in the center, but as the flower grew, the color weakened. It was beautiful.

“What was it?” I asked Yoru. He looked at me, smiling but not smiling.

“It was my best friend’s favorite flower. Other than Loki, I mean. My mortal best friend. I went up and got it from a garden where it grew. In Japan.”

Yeah. Poppy. I remember. Stupid question, Vivi.

I reached out a hand, instinctively, to pat his shoulder. Honestly, the guy looked like he was going to cry. So I patted him, robotically.

One pat.

Two pats.

A pair of fiercely strong hands grabbed my shoulders and whipped me a good 10 feet away from Yoru in an instant. I swiveled just a few inches to see my attacker’s face. He had a black mask on that covered his upper face. I looked at Yoru, pleadingly.

“What the-” Yoru shook his head furiously and stared at me. “Who are you? What do you want?” He demanded of the attacker.

“You know me, Your Highness,” croaked the familiar voice. I widened my eyes, but Yoru’s blood drained out of his face entirely. The attacker whisked his mask off with his free hand.

“Hello, sir,” purred the eunuch. “Fancy meeting you here.” He laughed and bared his teeth. I couldn’t see much, since his broad hands held my neck from rotating excessively, but the trademark long incisors came out and I panicked.

“Yoru! Yoru, do something! He wants to kill me to get to you! He wants the throne! That’s why he’s threatening me!” I screamed.

Bad move. The traitor swung his head towards me after hearing those words and smiled. “I told you not to tell anyone, darling.” He lunged his head forward, to my neck. I closed my eyes tightly, bracing myself for the pain I knew was coming.