Page 181 of Mayhem and Minnie

The metal cuts into her skin. At first, it’s just a scratch, but as she keeps pushing it into her flesh, blood pools to the surface.

She points her arm at me, letting me see the small gash. In a matter of minutes, it’s closed. The skin is once more smooth, with no hint of injury.

“Damn.” I whistle.

“You’re taking this way better than I expected you to,” she adds nervously.

There it is. I can see the worry reflected in her gaze and her body language. She draws back, huddling into herself as if to protect herself from rejection.

Perhaps someone else wouldn’t have taken this well. Perhaps I wouldn’t have taken it as well if she had told me from the first—I might not even have believed her.

“Minnie, you’re just confirming what I’ve been suspecting for weeks. I suppose I’ve had time to get used to the idea, though what you’re telling me now is nothing short of extraordinary. Are there more people like you?”

“My brother.”

“That’s a given. Besides your brother.”

“There are many of us,” she says, but she doesn’t elaborate.

I suppose I can let her off the hook for now. I’m pleased enough she’s starting to trust me with information. Pressuring her won’t solve anything.

Good Lord! I cannot believe how magnanimous I am. Old me would have had her strapped to the chair in my basement to torture the information out of her.

“You’re really not put off by what I told you so far?” she asks again, wariness entering her features. “Others were not so kind in the past.”

“You’re lucky you came across me,” I tell her proudly. “See, not only am I handsome, rich, and smart. But I’m also open minded and accepting. You got yourself a great deal.”

“You forgot arrogant,” she mumbles under her breath, but I detect a hint of a smile.

“That’s a given,” I scoff. “Though I prefer to call it confidence. Arrogance oftentimes lacks the substance, whereas I’m quite sure of my attributes.”

“Of course.” She chuckles. “You’re just the epitome of perfection.”

“Do you doubt me?” I feign outrage.

“No, no, of course not. You are, indeed, the perfect human,” she adds in a mocking, deferential tone.

“You should be glad for it since it reflects on you, too. A perfect human such as myself could only choose another perfect being to be his partner. It’s no wonder I never bothered with other women, since none of them were you.”

She blinks at me, her cheeks slowly reddening.

“That is…” She swallows. “I’m grateful,” she murmurs. “I’ve been worrying endlessly about how you’d take this, or whether you would shun me or not,” she admits in a low voice.

I narrow my eyes at her.

“Who shunned you in the past, Minnie?” I demand rather harshly.

She shakes her head.

“It doesn’t matter now. It’s long in the past. But not all people are as tolerant as you are. It’s something not exclusive to the human race, though your history is rife with it. Intolerance is something rather…innate. After all, the gods themselves are intolerant of most other beings,” she adds carefully.

“Was it a man who shunned you?” I probe, not wanting to let this go.

“It doesn’t?—”

“Was it Lucien?”

Her eyes widen.

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