Page 20 of Nightmares and Numerology

“Are you sure?” I asked, my throat tight. “It’s… dark stuff. Pretty depressing.”

“I would be happy to help,” she countered. “Promise me you’ll talk to someone.”

By the end of her impassioned speech, she was nearly nose-to-nose with me. I wasn’t sure if I should be alarmed or charmed by her sudden and intense interest in my well-being. I usually took in strays, not the other way around.

“I’ll… think about it. Thanks, Poppy.”

“You’re welcome, Lydia.”

Chapter Nine

Angelo

“You didn’t tell her?” Fifi asked, staring at me over the breakfast table in shock.

I half-expected her slice of bacon to clatter to her plate and shatter into a thousand pieces. The sasquatch liked to cook it within an inch of its life, crisping the pork until it barely resembled meat anymore. I wasn’t sure how Fifi put up with his cooking, honestly, but she must have found a solution. They’d all but moved in together in the past few weeks, and Roy had been hinting strongly that I should move back into Fifi’s vacated home. Something about keeping me from aiming my dubious charms at innocent gypsies.

I ate the damn bacon and the mountain of eggs the enormous sasquatch piled on my plate before leaving for his day job because the alternative was worse. If I wasn’t feeding my demon half, I needed to maintain the human façade I wore better. That meant no more surviving on coffee or energy drinks between feedings. Food at every meal. At this rate, I might even have to resort to supplements. Dark Ones below, I hoped not. Bacon was one thing. A multivitamin was a bridge too far.

I swallowed the mouthful of rubbery eggs with a grimace. It hit my stomach unpleasantly. It wasn’t what I wanted. If I had my way, my sister would be absent, and Lydia would appear in all her naked glory. It was almost the only thing Icouldthink about. I was hungry. Distressingly so. I hadn’t felt anything like this in all my years topside. The only memory that came close was my father cutting me off from my lovers for two weeks to teach me a lesson about control. I felt the same snarling emptiness from the pit where my demon lay.

“There’s not a lot Icantell her,” I said, petulantly stuffing another bite of eggs into my mouth. “Until we have that footageand get it to Chief Morgan, we won’t know who or what attacked me. I’ve got my money on Andrea, though. That witch who nearly killed you suddenly pops back into your life, and I get attacked the night I try to dissuade you from doing her a favor? That seems like more than just a coincidence.”

Fifi rolled her eyes. “For the last time, it wasn’t Andrea that attacked you.”

“That you know of,” I said, jabbing my fork at her. “She wasn’t in your line of sight the entire time.”

“Yeah, but she was in my line of sight when it happened. I heard you leave. I went to the restroom and she was still using it. I could see her feet in the last stall. Unless she can be in two places at once, she didn’t attack you.”

Well, damn. My gut had been leaning toward Andrea as the culprit. She’d come into town with a man who couldn’t score a date with his own hand. Not only that, but Andrea had connections with monsters outside our Hollow that might be dangerous. Granted, she’d felt human to me but that didn’t really mean that much. She could have a charm that hid her beastly half. Any way I looked at it, she appeared guilty as hell. But Fifi was right. If Andrea had been in the bathroom, she couldn’t have been the one who attacked me. Besides, nothing on her was gelatinous enough. Whatever had attacked me had felt a lot like an octopus tentacle wrapping around my ankle. I had a vague notion it might have scooted its way up my body, but there was no indication it had done anything after that.

Nothing physical, at any rate.

Somethinghad happened. Of that, I was sure. Even after sitting in a strip club parking lot, absorbing the ambient energy wafting from the building, I was still famished. It felt like I’d sustained a serious wound and depleted all my reserves. Except there was no evidence to support my suspicion. I wasn’t even sure how to tell a doctor to start testing for a magical assault.

I stabbed another bit of egg, nibbling the edges instead of popping it into my mouth. I was seriously considering whisking Lydia away on a whirlwind vacation. She needed the break, and I needed to feed. At some point, the mood would be right again. She wanted me. I could sense that any time we were near each other. It was as inevitable as gravity. Yes, she wanted me, and I wanted her. I always had. I’d have her. She’d have me. I just had to be patient.

“So you’re seriously telling me you set Lydia up for a date, but then you didn’t tell her why you canceled?” Fifi continued. “Are you a moron or just plain stupid?”

I scowled. “I still have that pocket thesaurus you chucked at my head. Those are synonyms, sister mine.”

“Yeah, because you’re acting like an imbecile! Poor Lydia. Dating you is going to give her a complex.”

I narrowed my eyes, scowling at her. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“That you’re hopeless and this dating thing is beyond your capabilities.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Just that you have no freaking clue how the rules of dating work, do you? You’ve never had to follow them. I shouldn’t even be surprised,” she continued, not allowing me to answer. “You just waltz into a woman’s life, have your way with her, and flee.”

“Because it’s safest that way,” I insisted. “Humans are fragile, as you well know. I have to spread the feedings out so I don’t kill one of them. Do you want me to end up like Euryvos?”

Fifi winced and finally sat back down in her chair. I knew that case still bothered her. Like me, Euryvos had been an incubus, though he’d lived in the Hollow a few decades before I’d moved here. He’d been dating a witch, and things had gone well for a while. Except when she’d become pregnant, the child had fed on her too. It had been too much stress on her heart andshe’d died.

I’d been terrified of repeating the same mistake with Lydia before I knew about the demon grafted onto Lydia’s soul. It could withstand me. Koloths were among the toughest customers around, regularly conscripted for holy wars by infernal generals willing to pay their fees. Mortal women didn’t have the same endurance. Keeping one person too long was detrimental to their health, so I had to move on or kill them one dark night when I pushed too far. It was easiest for everyone if I kept it casual and spread the need around. This was the first time I’d held out for someone since my power had come online. Fifi was right—I wasn’t used to this dating stuff. In the past, any romantic notions I might have had had always been pummeled out of my head. If I didn’t want to kill someone, I couldn’t have a relationship. Until now.

Fifi sighed and sipped her coffee with a put-upon expression. “You’re still an idiot. An ignorant idiot, but still an idiot.”

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