Page 81 of Demons and Debts
‘Are you going to be okay in here for a minute by yourself?’
‘Uh huh,’ I answer absently, getting the milk from the fridge.
When I next look up, I'm by myself. At least I think I am until Carrie enters my periphery.
‘You contracted with them?’ She's shaking her head. ‘Are you fucking retarded?’
I recoil a little bit at that word, a word that all too often was used by the other kids at school to describe me. It left a mark that’s still there even all these years later.
‘Are you one of those supe groupies who thinksdemonsare going to catch feelings for you because I’ll tell you right now, they don’t have it in ‘em to love anyone or anything but themselves, their brothers and their Club.’
‘No,’ I say, matching her cold tone. ‘This is business, that's all.’
She snorts and disappears back down the steps and I wonder for a second if I should call her back so I can get some more information about what exactly to expect from the lull and all of this other shit when these guys finally decide to use their power on me, but she's already gone.
I take my bowl to the table by the window and sit down before I pour the milk, so I can eat while I look out over the immaculate lawn. The day is overcast and drizzly, the deck looking sodden and slick.
Vic appears in the kitchen again just as I'm finishing up.
‘Are you finished?’
‘Yeah,’ I say, picking up my bowl and watching him.
His demeanor has changed somehow, and I cant my head, trying to figure out what it is that’s different. I think I'm starting to understand these guys a little better now that I’m getting to know them.
When Vic left a minute ago, he was bedroom Vic. Now he's all business and the friendliness I’ve been receiving from him all morning seems to have been replaced by anger or something close.
The food I just ate churns in my stomach. What’s happening now?
16
VIC
Iwatch as she gets up from the table and puts her dish in the sink. She turns on the water.
‘Leave it,’ I order.
She looks over her shoulder at me, a lot more tense than she was earlier. Maybe she’s picking up on my mood because I can tell she’s a little afraid.
Good.
This morning she did two things no other human ever has. First, she got under my skin. Fuck knows how, but she did it. Perhaps it was her artlessness that intrigued me when she woke up in my bed, trying to keep herself covered by the sheet even though I saw everything while she tossed and turned through the night as I watched from the chair. Second, she resisted the lull. No, that’s not the right word. She didn’t need to resist it. It simply didn’t work on her. At all. I want to know who this girl is.
She's scared of me, but she doesn't fall to her knees begging, whimpering, crying like other humans have done when faced with my wrath.
‘Follow me.’
Her face is blank as she does what she’s told, all emotion disappeared from it as soon as I came back into the kitchen.
I can’t let her get to me like this again. I thought I could keep complete control around her, but I was a fool and if I’m not careful it’ll cost us everything. I have to remember where she comes from,who her father is.
There’s more to this than I thought. It was the orc stone that threw me, made me assume she was a just spy for one of the supe factions, or even for the fae themselves. It wouldn’t be the first time they’d used a human to do their dirty work. Even when I saw that picture of her withhim, I didn’t think he could have sent her. Why would he send his own daughter into a house of sex demons?
But maybe this the result of an alliance between humans and a few opportunistic supes who want to get rid of the competition.
I look back at her and try to see her as a dangerous entity, but it’s difficult. She’s just a human girl to my eyes.
But I failed to lull her this morning. I wonder if it’s because of her condition. Maybe her brain is different, so our power doesn’t work right. Was that why she was chosen?
