Kais and Zach, their energy was potent and heady, a more concentrated form due to not indulging in sex for many years—or in Zach’s case, ever. Stavros on the other hand, didn’t have that same potency. Which meant he spent it elsewhere.
I could practically taste the longing from him as he stared at me right then. He wanted to agree with his fellow priests, but he also wanted me. The man was simply wired to touch and crave, to spend his nights wrapped up in a woman. I could read him from the pheromones he produced, but why such a passionate, indulgent man chose a life of priesthood was lost on me.
“Is there any truth to what Zach said?” Stavros asked quietly. “Why you’ve been coming to us in our dreams?”
“It wasn’t to…to manipulate you, Father.” Adding on the title seemed like a good idea in theory, but the sharp pang of hunger was a stark reminder of what I needed. “I couldn’t stand the taste of newborn Hellion anymore, or any Hellion for that matter. Dream-feeding is harmless in small doses, but I…I may have overindulged. Forgive me.” I lowered my eyes demurely. “Father.”
Stavros was quiet. His longing tasted just as strong as ever, but I couldn’t get a sense of where his mind was.
“If we let you in,” Kais spoke up next, “there will be none of that. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Father Kais. I do, but…” My eyes lifted to his—warmth in their brown depths but his pain just as potent as his desire. I didn’t need to be a succubus to see that.
“But what?”
“I do have to feed, in order to live.”
I sucked in a deep breath as they pulled me through the gate, pinned between Kais and Stavros, pretty Zachariah at my back just simmering with anger and fear. And it was fear saturating the air around the crowd too.
Word had gotten out and a mass of humans waited on the other side of the shoddy crucifix gate. That gate was a fucking miracle. A wild animal probably could've torn it down, but the legions of Hell couldn't even come close. I was safe.
From Hell, at least, I thought, tasting spite and suspicion and rage with every breath. Several dozen eyes watched me, like I was part of some little human parade, shepherded by the priests through the town.
"Fathers! How could you?" one woman cried out, bundling younglings to her legs, hiding their faces against her hips.
I glanced down at myself. My dress was shredded but I was decent. It was definitely the horns then.
"Kais, this can't be right," another man began, stepping down from the sidewalk. But his little tantalizing bubble of courage popped as I looked up at him.
"We'll explain everything," Kais answered back, a delicious honeyed echo in his tone as he called to them all. The priest on the pulpit. "You're perfectly safe. I promise!"
"Are they, though?" Zach muttered at my back.
"You know the terms of Sanctuary, Zach," Stavros answered, but his fingers pinched my arm with their grip. Was he afraid I'd slip away for the other humans' sake, or his own?
"I won't touch them," I whispered.
"Do you need to be touching them to hurt them?" Kais snapped under his breath.
I turned my head to study him, the shadow on his jaw and the dark circles under his eyes. He thought he was betraying these people. If he knew how to hurt me in that shed, he would've done it. He wanted me to be demonic, rather than the puzzle I presented. If I were, he would know how to kill me.
"I do, actually," I said.
"We'll get the details later. For now, we need to get her out of the street and calm everyone down," Stavros whispered.
"Do you eat regular food or just people?"
"Zach!" Kais hissed. "Keep your voice down."
Food…I blinked and brightened. "Oh! I think I did once. It grew on a tree…a pretty shade of red."
"An apple?" Zach squawked.
"Pft. No…no it had seeds that burst between your teeth," I said, closing my eyes, ignoring the whispers of the sidewalk and trying to catch the thread of ancient memory.
"Pomegranate," Stavros said softly.
"Mmm, it tasted like…good fortune."
Stavros' grip softened around my arm and I got the first lick of something sweet. Fondness and regret and… I shivered and restrained my moan.
"Tell me what you're thinking about," I whispered. The pounding in my head softened and the burns on my skin stopped throbbing and stinging, just from this little lick of emotion