The Demon's Song - By Kendra Leigh Castle Page 0,73

little bit nervous about these “plans.” If they involved staying in Terra Noctem, she thought she might just go out of her mind. Every moment spent in bed with Phenex was bliss. But when they were out together, with the staring, and the dampness, and the creepy lip-licking from some of the vamps… She was sure some things would be different if she were a vampire, but she wasn’t. Dru was great, but she wasn’t human. Even the werewolves never stayed long underground, different packs coming and going, but always, always leaving before long to get back to their open spaces. To their own kind.

Sofia shuddered, then tried to get back on track.

“The next couple of days. So the thing is, my parents have been wondering where I am.”

“Why? You call them. I know you do,” Phenex said, looking puzzled. “What more could they want?”

Sofia fought back a grimace. This was exactly the sort of reaction she’d been worried about. But there was nothing to do but press on.

“They’d like to see me, actually.” She sighed at his blank stare and had to bite back her annoyance. “I’m their only daughter, Phenex. We’re close, and they like to see me. Which they do, normally. It’s not all that far from here to Baltimore, and I thought—”

“Sofia.” The look on his face was something like a deer caught in headlights. Determined, she pressed on.

“I thought that maybe we could go for dinner one night. My mother makes amazing tamales de mole negro. She’d definitely make them if I asked. I’d like them to meet you, Phenex.”

Even in the dark, he looked paler than usual. “For the love of burning, why?”

She stopped, turned, and looked at him. How could he be so amazing about some things and so god-awful about others?

“Well, let me see. I think I’ve met pretty much everyone in your life. I’m staying in a giant cave city full of vampires, I have dinner with the fallen angels you work with, and last but not least, we’re sleeping together. I’m basically marinating in your life, Phenex. But don’t you ever think about the fact that I have one, too?” Sofia asked. Then she threw up her hands in frustration before he could answer. “No, of course you don’t. You’ve got everything you want, right? Why worry?”

She needed to accept that this was probably all there was with Phenex. Everything but the sex felt like they were only scratching the surface with each other. In bed he was tender, wild, sweet…he let his guard down. Outside of that, he only let her in so far. All she got were glimpses. That, and the sounds of him composing late at night when he thought she was asleep. That music made her ache in ways she hadn’t thought possible. It was pure emotion.

But if those emotions were his, he wasn’t sharing them with her.

“You’re angry.”

“Yes, Phenex, you make me angry. You’re very good at it. Probably because you’re, you know, from Hell.” She rubbed her face with her hands. “What am I doing?”

“Telling me off, I think,” Phenex said, then sighed. She felt his gentle grip on her wrists, and he pulled her hands away from her face. It wasn’t fair of him to look tired and vulnerable, Sofia thought. That was supposed to be her domain. If he needed some kind of reassurance, she was in no mood to give it.

“I’m not trying to be a dick. You just surprised me.”

“Yeah, well, your reaction didn’t really surprise me.” She exhaled loudly, looked up at a sky dotted with stars she wished she could see through the city’s glow, and tried to regain her footing.

“Look, I get it. You don’t have parents. You don’t have friends. You don’t like anybody.”

“I like you.”

He was trying to diffuse this, but she was having none of it.

“Yay. That doesn’t change the fact that I need to go see my parents. And this isn’t want, this is need. I am a human person who loves her parents, and this is nonnegotiable. So consider this notice. I’ll see if Ember will go with me tomorrow. She can go out in the sun, she’s really badass, and it saves you the horror of meeting anyone related to me. Okay? Okay. Back to the Batcave. This is a good spot, right? Let’s just…go.”

It was the first time she really hadn’t wanted to put her arms around him, but she’d get over it. That was the awful thing. Despite all