Alexi woke up with a start. His heart was beating wildly in his chest and his body was drenched in sweat. He looked out the window to see the sun was just rising. The clock on the wall read 6 AM. He closed his eyes and tried to calm down his pounding heart. What the hell had just happened? A nightmare? He couldn’t remember having dreamed anything…
Sophie stirred in her sleep, and Kain positioned his hand better on her bare breast. Alexi could see the hard nipple poking out from between the blond’s fingers. The air in the room was chilly. He ran his hands through his black hair and decided there was no way he could go back to sleep. They had to get up and leave for the airport soon, anyway. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed, and hung his head between his shoulders, still trying to understand why he was feeling so bad. In fact, it was more than that. He felt slightly ill. He rubbed his tired eyes, then straightened his back and stretched his arms above his head. His joints popped pleasantly.
Sophie and Kain moved again behind him, and he turned around to look at them. He smiled and contemplated getting back under the covers to snuggle against Sophie’s full, inviting chest. Just as he was lifting his legs back on the bed, he felt the skin on his back start to burn. It was barely noticeable at first, then it burned harder, making Alexi freeze on the spot.
“Oh shit,” he whispered. He stood up and took a couple of steps towards the bathroom. What day was today? He couldn’t focus and there was no calendar around. He stopped in his tracks when the skin on his back felt like it had practically caught fire. He couldn’t suppress a grunt, and that was enough to wake up Kain and Sophie.
“Mmm… don’t tell me we have to leave…” whined Sophie.
She stood up in bed and opened her eyes slowly, lazily. Kain was even lazier than her, because he merely moved closer to her body and squeezed her waist when he realized the warm, soft breasts were not within his reach anymore. Sophie chuckled, then looked at Alexi, who was standing in the middle of the room, his back turned to the bed. At first, she thought he was studying himself in the tall mirror on the opposite wall, but then she met his eyes in said mirror and saw the confusion in them.
“Alexi, are you okay?” She barely finished her sentence that a loud gasp escaped her lips. “Oh my! What is that?”
“What? What’s happening?”
Kain jumped up, curious to see what triggered Sophie’s odd reaction. He turned to Alexi, who was taking the last steps towards the bathroom. Kain’s eyes went wide with surprise.
“Holy shit!”
Before he got to say anything else, Alexi slammed the door closed behind him.
“Oh no, you don’t!”
The blond jumped out of bed and was at the bathroom door in a second. He grabbed the knob and pushed, but the door was locked.
“Are you fuckin’ kidding me? Unlock the door! Alexi, we need to talk.”
“Kain, you’re scaring me. What’s wrong? What is that thing on his back?”
The blond didn’t pay attention to her. He pushed harder against the door, determined to break it if Alexi didn’t let him in.
“Stop that!” shouted the Russian from the other side. “Just leave me alone, okay? I don’t wanna talk about it.”
“Are you serious? You don’t wanna talk about it? Remember when you read my case files, my private case files, and I actually told you my story? Now you don’t wanna tell me yours? What’s with that big ass demon sigil on your back, Alexi? Who put it there?”
“It’s none of your business.”
Alexi was silent for a moment, then Kain heard him throw up. Whatever was the story behind the red, glowing mark that had appeared seemingly out of nowhere on his partner’s back, it wasn’t good. Alexi wasn’t feeling well, but neither did Kain now that he knew his friend and lover… lover?… had been keeping something so important from him.
“A demon sigil?” asked Sophie. “Is that what it is? But it’s so big… It covers half of his back. And it looks nothing like the sigil on his shoulder. Can cambions have more than one sigil?”
Kain finally let go of the door knob and turned towards her.
“No. Cambions don’t have that sort of sigil. That’s a demon’s mark.”
Goosebumps rose on Sophie’s skin, and she gathered the covers around her. “What… what do you mean?”
Kain ran his hands through his golden hair and pulled harshly at a couple of knots. “A demon… a very powerful demon put it there, and Alexi has been hiding it. Fuck! I can’t believe he kept something like this from me. From us…”
They heard the shower and they understood Alexi had no intention of getting out of the bathroom for at least half an hour.
“Screw this!” Kain went to his closet, threw the door open, then started looking for clean clothes. Most of what he had was packed in the suitcases, but he managed to find an old pair of jeans and a black T-shirt. “I can’t be here right now. I need to get some air.”
Sophie watched him throw his clothes on, unsure of what she was supposed to do or how she was supposed to react. All right, she could understand that Kain was mad because Alexi had hidden something from him, but she was sure Alexi had his own reasons. Maybe he needed some time alone, to recover from whatever made him sick and take a shower, and then he would probably tell them both about the weird demon sigil on his back. Oh, and what story was Kain talking about? What personal case files?
“We’re still going to Ukraine, right?” asked Sophie. The last thing she needed was for this small incident to ruin their mission.
“I don’t know, Sophie. I honestly don’t know.” Kain threw his leather jacket over his shoulders and made for the door.