The Demon's Song - By Kendra Leigh Castle Page 0,9
Phenex could feel it radiating into him, through him. It worried him, how aware he seemed to be of her every mood and movement.
“What about me?” Sofia asked.
“Good question,” Justin replied. “Right now, you’re the only witness to this who’s in any kind of shape to be of use. I’m just not sure how useful one frightened human can be.”
Sofia’s golden skin paled. Phenex heard her breath begin to catch again. It was all he could do not to gather her into his arms and nuzzle her.
The urge was appalling. And appealing.
He began to feel even more doomed than usual.
“This can’t be happening,” she said softly. “This is nuts. It can’t be. Wings and fangs and cutting guys in half…” It surprised Phenex when Sofia looked not to Justin, but to him.
“Please,” she said. “Whatever this is, I don’t want any part of it. I just want to know that Sara’s okay, and I want to go home. Please.”
How many poor souls had begged him for mercy over the course of his long life, Phenex wondered? And not one had pulled at him the way Sofia’s simple “please” did. He wasn’t sure what that said about him, but he was pretty positive it was nothing flattering. He would have been insulted if it had been.
His eyes moved between Justin and Sofia. Justin’s reddish eyes were steely. Sofia’s were full of her simple plea. Between the two, he knew what he had to do. It was what he had always done…and yet somehow, this time, there was little satisfaction in it. Phenex leaned down to Sofia, breathing in the sweet scent of her.
“No,” he said softly.
And with a single word, he crushed her hope.
Chapter Four
She might still be in one piece, but Sofia felt as though she was the one who’d taken the punch to the windpipe.
“No?” she repeated, turning her head to look into eyes that were fathomless up close. Inches away from her, Phenex’s breath feathered her mouth, almost a kiss. His lashes, long and dark, lowered as his eyes dropped to her lips, as though he’d been thinking the same thing. Heat flooded her cheeks.
Phenex said nothing, just shook his head slowly from side to side, silently reinforcing that simple, biting word. No. Maybe she was imagining it, but he looked almost sorry. He was also completely focused on her, his interest so intense that she felt every hair on her body prickling with awareness. It took a surprising amount of effort to remind herself that she was standing in a blood-soaked bathroom with an inhuman corpse and two men who didn’t seem to be anything like humans. Sofia turned her head, breaking eye contact despite the sharp pang of regret it produced. This wasn’t exactly hookup time on the dance floor. He’d grown wings. Wings. Enormous, beautiful, black ones, complete with feathers. After which he’d sliced her friend’s attacker neatly in half with a sword he’d brandished as if he were some ancient warlord.
Focusing on the gore, and on the slim, dark-haired man staring at her with eyes that gleamed red no matter how she tried to convince herself they couldn’t be that color, worked quickly to clear Sofia’s head. Still, instead of backing away, she found herself moving closer to Phenex. It might have been foolish, but he’d already protected her once.
Hopefully, if things went south here, he’d be inclined to do it again.
“What’s your name? And no games, please. I’ll know.”
She looked at the man with the red eyes and knew he was telling the truth. “Sofia Rivera,” she said, wishing the words had come out less tentatively. He gave a curt nod.
“Miss Rivera,” the man said, his voice commanding but not exactly unfriendly. “I’m Justin, the owner of Amphora. No one here is going to hurt you. But before I let you go, I need to know what exactly happened. Did you know the man your friend was with?”
It was strange. He gave no order, didn’t issue any threats. And yet, the longer Sofia looked into those dark crimson eyes, the more she felt as though she could tell this man anything, that she wanted to tell him everything. Her thoughts were slowly enveloped by a pleasant fog, and she heard herself speaking as though from far away.
“I...I’ve never seen him before...” The word “master” nearly fell from her lips before Phenex’s voice interjected, beautiful but razor sharp, dispelling the fog as quickly as it had rolled in.