Page 21 of Nightmares and Numerology

“Stop calling me names!”

“Stop hurting my friends,” she countered. “I like Lydia. I don’t want you to mess things up for her.”

“I didn’t hurt her,” I said, a touch of growl in my voice.

Fifi’s brows lifted, and I realized I’d stood up at some point, my hands bunching in Roy’s checkered tablecloth. I’d torn holes in it with my claws. Except my human form wasn’t supposed to have those, which meant I’d begun to shift into my demonic aspect without realizing it. It wasn’t my husky human voice that drove women wild. The voice escaping my throat was my own, deeper and more resonant. I couldn’t easily pit my energy against Fifi’s, but the demon was still clearly ready for a fight.

I sat back down, abruptly exhausted. What the hell was wrong with me? I wasn’t a teen flushed with hormones and a desperate need to hit something. It had been decades since we’d had a knockdown drag-out fight. It was traditional for youngdemons to battle occasionally, but neither of us had taken it seriously. Why? Because Fifi had always been lost in human romances, and I’d been too busy feeding on any woman who’d have me. We were getting older now. If I fought her, one of us would get hurt. It wasn’t worth the poke she’d taken at my ego.

“Something is wrong,” I groaned. “I don’t know what. It feels like I haven’t fed in a year, which shouldn’t be the case. I’m sorry for snapping, Fifi. I just...”

Her eyes softened. “You’re hungry. Maybe Lydia...”

“No,” I barked. “I’m not begging her to sleep with me. Not only is it humiliating, it would be a breach of my promise. I told her I’d be patient. I’ll just...”

“Do what?” Fifi countered. “You can barely finish a sentence right now. You need food.”

I stood abruptly, pushing away from the table. The chair legs let out a strident squeal, and a petty part of me hoped it scratched Roy’s hardwood floors. He was pissing me off in absentia. Everything was pissing me off.

“I need to leave. I’ll get a breakfast sandwich on the way to my first showing or something.”

Fifi stood and crossed the room in two long strides to seize me. To my shock, I realized she could hold me. That shouldn’t have been the case. She might be feeding regularly now, but I still had years of surplus left.

Except... I didn’t. All that energy that should have been there—it was gone. Every scrap of life force I’d siphoned off willing women over the years was missing. I staggered, stunned by the revelation.

“I think something fed on me,” I whispered, my hand falling to my stomach. The cut there made more sense if it was symbolic instead of literal. A lot of magic worked that way—substituting one thing for another or making a wound on a poppet to produce results in the real world.

Fifi’s eyes widened. “What?”

“It’s gone. Everything I saved—all that backed up energy that should still be there. It’s all gone now...”

Whatever that thing was, it might have killed me. When it had cut me open and drained my life force, it hadn’t just meant to scare me. It had meant toendme. If I hadn’t been such a manwhore, that kind of theftwouldhave killed me. It would have taken Fifi out quickly since she didn’t have the kinds of reserves I did.

Or used to have.

All color drained from her face. For the first time since I’d brought up the issue, she seemed to take it seriously. She reached for my shirt with shaking fingers and lifted the hem, hissing in surprise and sympathy when she saw the wound on my stomach. It made sense why that location had been chosen. Whatever had tried to end my life had done so by taking every scrap of food that could possibly extend it.

“I thought you were...”

“Being an idiot?” I guessed.

She snorted. “You’re still an idiot, but I didn’t realize it was this bad.” She looked up at me. “But I still think you should have taken Talyiah’s advice and called Lydia. I bet she’s upset right now.”

“I missed a date, Fifi. I didn’t run over her cat.”

“She’ll be even angrier when she finds out you were hurt and didn’t think she could handle it.”

I had to fight the urge to snort. Fifi was being dramatic. Lydia knew I wanted her. That hadn’t changed and wouldn’t change at this point. I didn’t think I could stop after just one taste. I craved her like I craved air.

“It’s not like that,” I said.

“Idiot,” she said with less force this time. “Tell her what happened. Consider it a condition before you come back to work.If you’re as hungry as I think you are, you’re going to end up seducing some poor woman on reflex, and then I’ll be pissed. I wouldn’t forgive you if you added cheating on a friend to your long list of offenses. You worry about Lydia, and I’ll figure out what happened in the parking lot.”

“Then you agree that whatever happened, it’s bad?”

She nodded. “I think it’s really bad.” Then she breathed in deeply. “Now march, Mister. You have some serious ass to kiss.”

Chapter Ten

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