Kai Villalvazo’s Nemesis (The Kalon Tetralogy #1)

Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

OVER — CHEMICAL GHOST

? YASMINA ?

M y hatred for Kai had grown tenfold since the snow incident.

It had been a few days since it happened and it was still so fresh in my mind. The numb sensation, the void, soulless look in his eyes, the freezing cold that had disarmed me completely.

I should have never given him the benefit of the doubt. He was heartless and that was that.

He would never change. And I had no interest in changing him, anyway.

Coach hadn’t announced the winners yet as they were still compiling the results, but now I was praying that Kai and I wouldn’t win. In the meantime, we were training, socialising, and studying. I kept my circle limited to Yelena and Ethan.

Ethan kept track of Kai’s schedule and whereabouts, but since they always changed, we resorted to training early in the morning between three and five. I also had my meals with them by Ethan’s balcony.

I was doing an excellent job of avoiding him. I didn’t want to face or even speak to him, not after the stunt he pulled a few days ago.

It was also the fear of not knowing what he’d possibly request from me since I agreed to do anything he wanted.

I was in no shape or form ready for that. In fact, I was starting to think that agreeing to that was as good as dying. I should have just drowned in that water.

Thinking about just how cold it was and how I became so numb to the point of helplessness makes me shiver unpleasantly. I hate being that—helpless.

I had told Yelena all about it and we were both out for revenge. He could never get away with shit like that.

And that’s why I was currently picking the lock of his bedroom door after confirming that he was downstairs in the library.

I was going to corrupt his precious laptop that contained most of his information, and my dirty video. He brought it to every class and that’s how I knew it was very important to him.

Too bad he's going down this semester. He messed with the wrong bitch.

It took me a minimum of eight seconds to unlock his door, eight cautious steps to reach his idle desk, and eight gestures to unlock his laptop.

All thanks to my coding skills, I easily intercepted the antivirus system, looking all around the dark, empty room while I did so. The place smelled strongly of him, it made me shiver in unease.

Nevertheless, my typing motions didn’t stop. He was smart. His laptop was command-line, meaning there were no icons. No words. No nothing. Just a black screen that only reacted to manually typed commands. And thank fuck I knew them like the back of my hand.

My father had taught me how to hack and make codes at a tender age.

I carefully inserted my flash and the virus began to load onto the computer. I smiled to myself as I thought about how much he had underestimated me.

Take that, motherfucker.

This was only the beginning. I had so many other tricks up my sleeve and he was going to wish he never met me.

Eighty-eight percent into my mission, a fleeting movement from outside caught my eye and I deeply inhaled to regulate my breathing. My heart was racing at an abnormal rate, and that was because a part of me knew that if he found me, he would kill me on sight.

I had approximately two minutes to leave this place before he came back. He was probably climbing the stairs right now and I had to work fast.

The virus loaded and I quickly typed a few commands then ejected the flash. There, all done. Good as new. The video was probably gone, now I had to worry about the one on his phone.

His files disappeared one by one and I checked the progress with a wicked grin. Next time he won't mess with me like that. This should be a good enough warning.

The thunder was rumbling ominously outside, and the rain was slowly beginning to fall. Normally, this was my favourite weather whenever I was listening to music or reading one of my novels, but this…this only reminded me that I was seconds away from facing Kai’s wrath if I didn’t get the fuck out of here.

I didn’t know why I was so scared of the guy. Well, maybe because he nearly killed me, left my vegetables to rot in the car, beat my high score in both econometrics and snowboarding, and has no emotions whatsoever.

“Now, where do you think you're going, kücük tavsan ?” My entire body froze as terror seeped into my pores.

Fuck, fuck, fuuuck.

I was so fucked beyond redemption right now.

First of all, I was in my short, silk, grey nightdress. Second of all, it was almost midnight and no one would hear me if I cried for help. Third of all, I had failed a part of my mission. I had walked right into the crocodile’s merciless jaws.

I could hardly move as my heart thumped in my ears. My skin prickled with pure, raw fear and in that moment, I began to pray to God inwardly. This man was not going to spare me and we both knew it.

I slowly turned my head to get a glimpse of him, and on cue, a bright flash of lightning filled the room, illuminating his deadly, giant silhouette. I was so up shit creak without a paddle and I gulped as I realised that I had no way out.

His sinewy muscles contracted in his black t-shirt as he gazed out of the window, looking sinister and evil. Great. He was probably here the whole time or climbed through the open window.

I could hardly ignore the deathly silence between us, and the slow tapping he made on his knuckle with his thumb. It was a countdown, and he was evidently mocking me because I had already run out of time and luck.

I was holding my breath, clutching my slippery, soft nightie and biting my lip. Gosh, I wish I had a walkie talkie or something to tell my friends that I was officially fucked. Or I could run away. I was athletic and the door was open?—

“If you do that, you won't like the consequences.” Kai finally spoke again, and this time, his deep voice had a dark, malevolent edge to it.

I shivered again, my skin crawling as I inhaled quicker than usual. I was so nervous, so scared, scared, scared?—

“Consequences?” I echoed, surprised that my voice wasn’t trembling the same way my body was.

“Indeed. You can try, but if I catch you, kücük tavsan , you'll be truly sorry.” The solemness in his predatory voice told me that he truly meant it.

Now the most sensible thing to do was stay put and wait for Kai to make a move, but he was my rival and I was determined to challenge him in every way possible. He was so used to everyone bending to his will, but I wasn’t that kind of girl.

So instead of running, I calmly walked out of his room. My blood rushed with every relaxed step I took despite the dimly illuminated corridor that made the whole scenario feel like something straight out of a horror film. I decided against going to Yelena’s room; I wasn’t a coward. If he wanted a fight, then that’s what he would get.

I walked out through the backdoors into the dark night, and I could feel his presence close by. His eyes on me. I was playing a dangerous game, but how bad could it be? I had dealt with a few guys like him before.

The trees were swaying violently and the cold, violent wind rustled everything in its wake. The same trees made all kinds of haunting shadows and I could hear some faint noises from the creatures of the night. The snow had melted away a few days ago, but it was clearly going to be back by tomorrow morning judging by the ridiculously chilling gust of wind that encompassed me.

On instinct, I sprinted to the spot I usually spent my alone time at since we arrived here. It had a few crevices that I could hide in and some random bushes I could use to camouflage.

I probably looked like an insane little girl as I ran across the expanse of the land and right into the deep forest that Ethan, Yelena, and I had explored part of.

Something told me I was going to venture deeper today.

I tried to regulate my breathing as I made out the gigantic silhouette that was fluidly moving towards the same forest I had entered. It was him, and he was out to hunt me.

His prey.

I moved further away, taking haphazard directions to confuse him, and once I was in the dark parts I was sure he'd have a hard time finding me in, I sunk into the branches of the shrub until I was safely nestled inside.

Everything was stable until I heard his footsteps, and as if karma wanted to fuck me over, something cold and long moved over my back, its weight pressing right over my spine. I had to suppress all my fear deep down.

I could scream, but then he would find me. And if I moved, the snake would definitely make a move. Breathe, breathe, breathe. It won't bite you, Yas. You will overcome this phobia. You will overcome this phobia?—

I held my quivering breath as its full length moved over my skin until it disappeared, and through the spaces in the shrub, I noticed Kai’s designer boots standing not so far from where I was, but quite far.

The same snake that had slithered along my back had slipped out of the shrub and I watched in horror as a hand calmly descended with a calculated strategy over its throat. I watched as the slender, snow-white reptile dangled from the same hand, and with bone-chilling skill, he wrapped the snake around his wrist.

“Hmm, aren’t you a pretty one, Stella?” His deep voice rumbled and my eyes widened further.

He’s naming random snakes now?

My body was quivering from both the numbing cold and the psychotic behaviour that Kai had no problem displaying. I was sick in the mind for finding it a bit attractive.

“Do you smell that, Stella?” He tilted his head back and deeply inhaled, a slow, relaxed action that made me clench my thighs. I caught a dangerous glint of his majestic face. Thick lashes over his closed eyes, a vicious snarl that showcased his perfect, sharp teeth and a jaw so sharp that it would certainly wreak havoc. “Fear, and sweet arousal.”

The adrenaline rush in my body was making me light-headed and I was fighting the urge to shiver, because that would certainly catch his attention. I could even sense my nose tickling with a sneeze and I murmured a sweet prayer to The Almighty to get me out of this mess unscathed.

This man was certainly an animal.

“You're quite warm, aren’t you, Stella? That’s not right at all.” His slender, long fingers slid over the snake’s skin and this was his way of telling me one, simple thing.

He had found me.

“Don’t you want to come out and meet my new friend, kücük tavsan ? But I guess you don’t have to, you’ve already met her.” He sounded thoroughly amused in a very deranged manner, I was starting to wish I hadn’t even gone to his room.

“You have five seconds to get out yourself before I help you. I can assure you it won't be pleasant.” His dark voice chilled me to the core and I was on the brink of pleading with him to spare me from whatever pain he wanted to inflict on me.

I watched as he let the snake go then paused for a couple of seconds. He was surprised. Surprised that I hadn’t come out of hiding like he had requested.

“Very well.” His tone shifted into a deep reverb that promised nothing but suffering and I didn’t have time to process anything before a hand fisted my hair and tugged the roots so hard I screamed.

He pulled me up by those same roots and my breath hitched as I stared high up at his beautiful face. His heterochromatic eyes were void and icy, the gold one pale while the silver one sparkled.

Great. He had definitely tapped into that psychopathic energy.

I didn’t want to do this anymore. I wanted out.

“You don’t look so confident, now do you?” he murmured, his canines flashing as he spoke to me.

His presence was menacing, commanding, and not to be ignored. He effortlessly summoned all the dark energy by his mere presence.

“I don’t care about how you think I look,” I retorted, standing on my tiptoes to make his grip on my hair hurt less.

“Oh, but you should. Because I think you look like my new appetiser.” He slowly let my hair go and now I was so many inches shorter. Kai’s unusually titanic physique blocked me from seeing or feeling anything beyond him. Oh why did I have to be so tiny?

“You make me sick.”

“Well you make me ravenous, so I guess we qualify as friends with benefits,” he stated in a dry tone.

“In my honest opinion, we’re not friends. Never were, never will be,” I deadpanned, and that only intrigued him further.

“Good thing I don’t have any fucks to give about your opinion.” He walked towards me with the slow stealth of a panther as I took some steps back until my spine hit a tree.

His robust arms caged me as he took his time to stare down at me. He seemed to be trying to memorise my features once again, or find a way to get under my skin. Literally.

“You’ve been avoiding me, kücük tavsan .” Kai ran a finger across my cheek and I instinctively shivered at the touch.

“What's it to you?” I scowled, flinching when he smiled maniacally.

“We have a deal, no? Or do you want me to remind you of how vulnerable you were?” I could hardly believe this guy. He was the definition of heartless and it amused me.

“I don’t have time for that.”

“Neither do I, so let’s get down to business.” His strong, muscular body pressed against mine and I gasped in half shock and half pleasure when I felt his bulge against my middle.

For a minute, I forgot who he was and all the bad things that he had done. All I could think about was the way electricity buzzed through my body upon the sensual gesture, which undoubtedly sent a wet warmth dripping in my panties.

I tried to push him away, but he let out a deep, sinister chuckle as he bent down to my height. I gasped when he bit my neck with no shame whatsoever, and I suppressed a moan as his teeth went deeper each time I wiggled. This type of pleasure was so dark, it felt like a fatal sin.

When he increased the pressure to the point of pleasurable pain, it became evident that the more I fought him, the harder he would bite me. And as much as I was game, I didn’t want to know what he was truly capable of. Something was very primal about this man and I wasn’t ready to know what else he could do to me.

His tongue sensually caressed the bruise when I came to a complete stop and I almost sighed in stimulation. I was supposed to hate him, but he was making things so fucking hard for me. I was ashamed to admit that I liked it this rough.

Kai pulled away, a hint of sanguine tainting his soft lips and I gaped when he licked them, giving me a cold but promising look.

“Take off your panties, kücük tavsan .”