Consumed » Kai Parker

Thirty Seven

As I slowly return to consciousness, I half-expect to find myself back in the hotel room, wrapped in Kai's arms.

But when I move to stretch my aching limbs, they only make it a few inches before they're abruptly halted by some sort of restraint. I gradually become aware of a clinking sound when I try to move again and the cold feeling of metal around my wrists.

My eyes snap open and I turn my head to find rusted manacles closed around my wrists, connected to chains in the wall. Panic rushes through me, the adrenaline waking me up fully. It takes me a moment to remember what had happened before I blacked out.

Oh, no.

"Hello, Ms. Gilbert."

Whipping my head in the direction the voice had come from, my eyes lock on the man I've grown to despise these last few months.

"Joshua," my voice comes out shaky as he takes his time strolling toward me. "Why did you bring me..."

I trail my fearful gaze away from his approaching figure and scan my surroundings. A chill runs down my spine as I recognize the place he has brought me to.

The shed. Where I'd witnessed Kai being mercilessly tortured in when I went into his mind.

Okay, I try to reassure my chaotic thoughts, it's okay, we aren't far from the ceremony. Kai will realize I disappeared. He'll find us.

I reluctantly meet Joshua's dark stare as he nears, his hands clasped behind his back.

"Why am I here?" I demand.

He smiles, crouching down to be eye level with me and I instinctively lean away from him.

"Why did you come to Portland with my son, to attend a ceremony you don't even belong at?" Joshua responds, tilting his head. "Seems as though we both have questions for each other."

"Let me go," I grit through clenched teeth, yanking at my chains. "I didn't even–"

"Do anything?" He finishes, raising an eyebrow. "On the contrary, Charlotte. You helped Malachai escape the prison I created for him–with a rightful purpose, if you've forgotten. Let me refresh your memory: he killed his own family."

"You tortured him his whole life," I retort. "You isolated him, made him feel like he didn't belong. You acted like it was his fault that he was born a siphon and lashed out when he couldn't change it. Seriously, instead of trying to fix what was 'wrong' with Kai, did you ever take a look in the mirror and realize there's just as much, if not more, wrong with the person who raised him?"

Joshua narrows his eyes at me before shaking his head. "Excusing his actions, hm? I see that he has managed to alleviate you of any rationale you had left. Shame."

"I'm not saying I agree with the way Kai dealt with his pent-up anger," I say lowly, glaring at him. "But you played a big part in leading him down that path."

My mind takes a harsh visit to the memories I'd seen in Kai's mind. Kai, sitting alone at his kitchen table because Joshua didn't let him celebrate his own birthday.The slap that sharply turned the young witch's head and reddened his cheek, after he'd tried to explain that he only siphoned his father by accident. Kai's shirtless, shaking body on the floor of this very shed, his bone-chilling scream bouncing off the walls when Joshua whipped him for failing to light a candle. Kai falling to his knees on the floor of the forest, clutching his head in agony as Joshua stormed toward him angrily chanting Latin.

I'd only seen a handful of what I'm sure is a countless amount of Kai's dark memories but they all involved the cruel man currently bent in front of me.