The Demon's Song - By Kendra Leigh Castle Page 0,51

of his voice. Playing at the club filled his need to make music for people, but the audience itself only mattered collectively, not individually. With Sofia, he wanted to know how she felt. He wanted to make music for her. The impulse was strange but welcome. It was something he hadn’t felt in a long time.

“Yeah, I’d like that,” Sofia said, looking surprised but pleased.

“Get comfortable on the ugly couch, then,” Phenex said, “and prepare to be entertained.”

When she laughed, Phenex thought, it was its own kind of music. It was beautiful.

Right then, it was everything.

…

He was amazing.

Sofia couldn’t think of another word for it as she watched Phenex pick up any instrument she chose and immediately launch into a virtuosic rendition of whatever song struck his fancy. There was a playful, boyish side on display that she hadn’t realized a creature like him could have, and it was a delight to see. All she had to do was relax on what really was a very ugly couch and enjoy him.

She couldn’t figure out what had triggered the change in him. Was it being down here where he didn’t have to hide? She wasn’t sure. But she loved that his wings were on full display, big and beautiful, covered in ebony feathers and carried high over his shoulders. The light from the lamps played over his auburn hair, catching every highlight, while his eyes glowed softly. He was, Sofia thought, the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. Beautiful enough to make her heart ache.

The fascination she felt with all of this—the city, Phenex’s home—was enough to keep much of the terror of earlier at bay. But it was so...dark. Sofia loved the night, but not so much that she would ever be able to turn her back on the daylight. She didn’t belong here in this strange and lovely and darkly magical place under the ground. And after seeing Phenex’s attempts at growing flowers down in the eternal night of Terra Noctem, his sad flower boxes, she was convinced that he didn’t really belong here, either.

Another thing to make her heart ache for him. Not that he would probably appreciate it.

Phenex finished a shimmering run of notes down the neck of the twelve-string she’d noticed immediately when she’d walked in, let the final chord echo for a moment, and then, with a faint frown, began to play something different. It was sweet and intricate, rising and falling in a way that reminded her of summer dances in the moonlight. Sofia listened, completely entranced as Phenex lent his voice to the melody. His song was wordless, his voice curling around every note like a lover. Her breath grew shallow as something in the notes connected deep within her. Phenex lifted his eyes, and their gazes caught and held. Something rippled right through Sofia in that moment, something warm and unexpected and perfect.

And then it was gone, as Phenex tore his eyes away. The music stopped abruptly, the unfinished song hanging in the air before he moved to the empty guitar stand and set the guitar on it.

“I guess that’s probably enough for tonight,” he said without looking at her. Sofia frowned. Something had thrown him off. She just wasn’t sure what.

“No, please,” she said. “That last song was gorgeous. What was it?”

She watched his shoulders tense. “Just a thing. Nothing special.”

“You’re wrong,” Sofia protested. “It was very special. Did you write that?”

He made some sound that was neither an affirmative nor a negative, but the way he hunched defensively was all the answer she needed. Yes, Phenex had written it. And for whatever reason, he didn’t want to share it with her. It shouldn’t have hurt, but it did. Every time she felt that he was opening up, something happened to shut him back down.

Tired and frustrated, she shoved her hand into the tangles of her hair and winced.

“I’m a mess,” she said, settling for mundane chatter over fraught silence. “I need my stuff, I need a phone… Do you get cell reception down here?”

“It’s rigged up pretty well, yeah,” Phenex replied. “Who do you need to call?”

“My family, so they don’t worry. I have no idea what I’m going to tell them, but I feel like I should mention I’m not at home. They’ve been known to swing by, since they’re in Baltimore and it isn’t a bad drive.”

“Just lie,” Phenex said, coming to sit in one of the mismatched chairs that sat opposite the couch. Sofia watched the move,