Stolen Innocence

13

"How the hell did you get here?" Simon demanded, following Kayden around the room as he wandered around, ignoring Simon and looking at everything that caught his interest. "Stop wandering and pay attention to me!"

Kayden scoffed. "So, you can ignore my questions but I have to answer all of yours?" he asked, climbing on the counter and looking at the see through glass plates. "These look expensive."

"Break one," someone whispered, making Kayden look down.

He saw a boy around his own age... at least physically, because Kayden assumed he must be an immortal like the demons were, as he was apparently living with a demon. The boy had dark purplish-blue hair and matching eyes, a mischievous grin on his face.

"Indigo!" Darius yelled, stomping over to the boy and grabbing the nape of his neck. "Stop being a bad influence! We've talked about this!"

Indigo giggled and pushed Darius' hand off of his neck. "I'm not a bad influence," he said as Kayden climbed off the counter. "It's not my fault people listen to me."

Darius sighed. "This is Indigo. He's one of my shifters." Darius paused as Indigo shook Kayden's hand, since he already knew Simon. "This is Simon's soulmate, Kayden."

Kayden smiled at the mischievous looking shifter. He didn't know why he felt the way he did, but the other shifter had a positive, fun aura to him that made Kayden want to trust him.

"Want something to drink?" Indigo asked, making Darius clear his throat in order to catch his shifter's attention. "I'm not going to get him drunk! I'm just going to make sure he has a good time."

Darius sighed and lead Simon away from the other two. He didn't trust Indigo to stay true to his word in the slightest, but as long as he and Simon kept an eye on the two, Kayden should be okay.

Indigo gave a giddy smirk to his Master and pulled Kayden to a table overlooking the ocean and beach, handing him a tall glass of a bright blue liquid.

"It's sweet," Kayden said, surprised. "I thought alcohol was bitter."

"Who said it was alcohol?" Indigo asked, taking a long drink from his own glass. "Master Alastor makes it himself. It's like alcohol, but flavorless and about ten times as strong, since it's really hard for demons to get drunk. However, it's easy for shifters and humans to get drunk."

"Which is why you only get to have one glass!" Darius called from the other room, making Indigo huff. "Don't start with that attitude. You know the consequences."

Indigo didn't change his angry expression, the threat having no influence over him.

"How do you deal with it?" Kayden asked. "Having a soulmate that's got, like, full control over you?"

"He's not my soulmate," Indigo said, taking another sip of his drink. "Demons have soulmates... well, most of them. Darius didn't get one, because he told Alastor he didn't want to deal with a human soulmate and prefers to collect interesting supernaturals. Like me."

Kayden's eyebrows pinched together. "Collect?"

"Yes." Indigo glanced over to the other room, waving sweetly when he met Darius' eyes. "He bought me at an auction when I was younger. I hated him at first and tried to run, but eventually I learned he just wanted to protect me. His usual yelling that scared his other supernaturals didn't faze me and only made me  more desperate and aggressive, pushing me to be more of a pain. When he realized I wasn't going to yield to his yelling, he tried a more gentle approach and taught me that just because someone bought you doesn't mean they own you."

"Simon didn't buy me, yet he acts like he owns me," Kayden said in a bitter fashion, taking a sip of the beverage, already feeling slightly dazed.