Page 114 of Stone Cold Touch

“You shouldn’t be here with them,” the man repeated, voice low and shaky. “They are the devil’s minions.”

There was a pause and Stacey choked out a laugh. “Oh God, you’re one of those freaks that hates Wardens?” She tugged on Sam’s hand. “Hey, you finally get to meet one in person.”

Sam eyed the man. “Not impressed.”

“You don’t understand,” he said. “It’s not because of him as much—”

“Oh, yeah, we aren’t doing this,” Zayne cut in, his grip tightening on my arm. “Let’s go.”

“I’ll get popcorn later.” Stacey wrapped her hand around Sam’s. “And I’ll come back for your Skittles.”

We were walking away. Not fast enough for me, but we were walking away. My heart started to slow down. We’d made it into the hall leading to the closed doors to the theater Then three words stopped us dead in our tracks.

“She’s a demon.”

Air flew out of my lungs.

“She’s a demon,” he repeated with the kind of conviction only zealots could muster. “And I can prove it.”

Stacey faced him, shaking her head. “Are you nuts?”

I had no idea how he could prove it, but I didn’t want to risk it. Bambi grew restless as tension poured into me. “That’s not true.”

He looked at me with pure hatred in his eyes. What about the rules, I wanted to scream. Humans were never supposed to know that demons existed. Something the Alphas had decreed—that humans must have faith without proof of a Hell. Always sounded crazy to me, but he had to be aware of them and he didn’t care. “All you tell is lies.”

Zayne dropped his arm and moved in front of me. “Don’t make me do something I’m going to regret.”

“There is already plenty you should regret.” He moved away from Zayne.

My heart beat wildly again. He wanted to expose me, right in front of my friends. I didn’t care about the greater consequences of such an action. These were my friends—friends who thought I was normal and accepted me. I couldn’t let this happen.

I grabbed Stacey’s arm as I sent Zayne a panicked look. “Come on, let’s just go. We can—”

“She doesn’t want you to know the truth,” the man said, reaching into his back pocket with his free hand. Zayne stiffened, but all he pulled out was a paper that had been rolled up. He shoved it at us, showing what turned out to be a photo of an older woman. Whoever the lady was, she was wearing some kind of orange shirt, her light blond hair was greasy and stringy. Scabs covered her slack lips and heavy lines crossed her face.

Sam frowned. “You’re showing us a mug shot?”

“Her name was Vanessa Owens,” he said, his hand trembling causing the thin paper to flutter. “She was twenty when she worked at a state-run foster care back in the late nineties, going to school at Georgetown. She had a bright future ahead of her—a loving boyfriend, a close-knit family and friends.”

Stacey cocked her head to the side, brows knitted together. “Let me guess? She found meth? Because it looks like she did. Drugs suck. Not sure what that has to do with any of this.”

I stared at the picture. Nothing about her name or her face was familiar to me, but there was a growing unease that bloomed in my chest.

“This is enough,” Zayne said, wrapping a hand around my arm. “Let’s get the Hell out of here.”

“He doesn’t want you to know either—because the Wardens protect her, protect what she really is and what she did to this innocent woman.”

“I’ve never seen this woman,” I said, feeling trapped. The few people in the lobby were looking over at us, but I didn’t think they could hear what was being said. “I don’t know who she is.”

“You may not remember her, but I’m sure she remembers you. After all, you destroyed her life,” he said, lips curling back in disgust. “She watched over you while you were in foster care and you, true to your nature, fed off her and took a part of her soul, sending her into a downward spiral that ended in drugs, robbery and eventually death.”

Blood drained from my face so quickly I thought I would pass out. The woman’s face in the photo shifted, became younger and was replaced by vibrant blond hair, flawless skin and a warm smile.

Oh my God...

This was the woman I’d fed off when I’d been younger? The woman I’dattacked,which had prompted the Wardens’ discovery of me? I’d known that she had been hospitalized after I’d fed off her, but this?

“Whoa,” Sam murmured, rubbing his brow.

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