The Demon's Song - By Kendra Leigh Castle Page 0,34

plan.

She needed to refocus before she did something she knew she’d regret.

Sofia thought quickly about the things she’d geeked out over when she’d first moved to DC and chose one of her favorites. If Phenex didn’t like it, he couldn’t say he hadn’t asked for it.

“Museum of Natural History,” Sofia said, and then grinned. “They have dinosaur bones and an IMAX. And there’s a great sushi place nearby. They make a mountain roll that’s to die for.”

Phenex listened while he devoured his pancakes, his expression almost comically serious. And when she’d finished, he nodded slowly. “Dino bones and raw fish. Okay. We’ll do that.”

Her brows lifted. “Really?”

“Sure. Works for me.”

Sofia stared at him for a moment while he ate. He looked as innocent as she figured it was possible for him to look, which wasn’t very. She wasn’t fooled at all.

“That’s really all it takes to get an angel to go on a date? The possibility of sex?”

“I’m not an angel. And it’s not a date,” Phenex said quickly.

“Then what is it?” She took a sip of coffee, trying to fight back the smile that wanted to surface. He looked like he was about to choke on his eggs.

“A fact-finding mission.”

Sofia only barely managed to swallow her coffee before she burst out laughing. “You sound like you’re going to present your findings to the UN afterward.”

His smile was reluctant, but it was there, making the deep blue of his eyes glitter. Sofia had a feeling she’d fall in if she wasn’t careful. Still, she found that she was actually excited at the prospect of showing Phenex some of the city today. Apart from the disaster of the other night, it had been a while since she’d done anything outside of the usual routine of work, eat, work, sleep, work, go out. And her dating life had been a bust for longer than she liked to think about. This actually sounded…fun. Which wasn’t the sort of thing she expected to be having with a guy who insisted he’d been a demon for a really long time.

Still, she managed to put aside her misgivings and go with it.

“This is a great idea. I think you’ll like it,” Sofia said, hoping to set him a little more at ease. Instead, he just lifted an eyebrow at her.

“We’ll see.”

She pressed her lips together. “That positive attitude’s really going to set the tone. What do immortals do for fun?”

The look he gave her had her out of her chair and backing away before he could act on what she saw written so clearly across his face. Without a word, he’d circled them right back around to where they’d started last night. Her own cheeks were hot, her feet clumsy. But damn it, she wasn’t just going to throw herself at him. She had a feeling he was used to that. He seemed to have a low enough opinion of humans without her doing exactly what he expected.

“Never mind. It’s about time you saw how the other half lives anyway,” she said.

“I doubt it’s changed much,” Phenex said, his voice a low purr. “I saw a little too much of humanity a long time ago. But maybe you’ll show me something new.”

He sounded utterly unconvinced. Sofia stuck her hands on her hips and glared at him and his casual challenge.

“With your expectations so low, you should be easy to impress,” she said, and then grabbed her plate to go clean it off. As she walked away, his voice followed her.

“My expectations are low for a reason. Humans live short, violent, pointless lives. They waste the spark that my kind lacks. They take beauty and twist it into pain, fear, loathing, or they break it just because they can. For a while I thought it was sad. Then I thought it was interesting, in a pathetic sort of way. Now I just ignore it.”

Sofia put the dish in the dishwasher and slowly came around the breakfast bar to look at Phenex, whose beautiful face had turned to stone. He wasn’t talking about going to the museum anymore. This, she realized, went far deeper. It was a glimpse at what had turned him dark in the first place. His words, and what they revealed, twisted like a sharp little blade deep in her chest.

“What happened to you?”

Phenex looked startled at her question, and Sofia saw a flash of what might have been regret across his face, though it quickly vanished behind a hard mask that didn’t betray any