Page 20 of Fallen Demon

“Well, we’re in a room full of beautiful, powerful supernaturals,” she said. “Can you blame me for being turned on? And when I’m turned on, I burn through the energy faster.”

As a siren, Jasmin needed to consume a male’s soul every few days to survive. I knew that Thea, Almae, and other witches had tried spells to keep her from killing her victims or even needing their energy.

But it had only backfired and made her sick for weeks.

“Ignore her,” Tanner said. “Good call on the meeting-slash-dinner. It has been a while since I have seen some of our friends.” He gestured to Lacey, Abbie, and Maggie. “And some I didn’t know.”

I had introduced the girls to them before but hadn’t gone into detail about it. “They’ve helped me out a lot in the past few weeks.”

“You’ve been through a lot,” Jasmin said. Though her words conveyed sympathy, her tone was indifferent.

“Yes, and I might need your help,” I said. Tanner raised his eyebrows. “You heard that Levi took Ylena to the underworld. I think he’s trapped there and I would like to get him out. And I thought?—”

Jasmin picked up her glass of champagne. “You thought we can just pluck him out of there.”

“Well, it’s probably not as simple as that, but as the rulers, you two probably know that place better than anyone and—” The two of them started laughing. I just stared, appalled. “Did … did I say something funny?”

“Not funny.” Jasmin took a deep breath to calm down and stop laughing. “Just painfully true.”

I was confused. “What?”

Tanner let out a deep sigh. “We took over four years ago, and we've barely explored ten percent of the underworld.”

“That’s what we were told,” Jasmin said. “If the underworld is bigger than our informant says, then it could be as little as five percent.”

“Or one percent,” Tanner said. “I don’t trust our informant that much.”

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.

“Disappointing, right?” Jasmin found another glass of champagne and took a sip. “Believe me when I say, no one is as disappointed as we are.”

“I don’t say this to anyone, but it has been a … difficult reign,” Tanner admitted. “We are young and still newbies in a place we don’t know, filled with our enemies, who are hiding and waiting to strike.”

I didn’t know why I thought they would know the place, or at least maybe most of it. Shouldn’t the rulers know everything about their world? I had assumed …

“So, you have no idea what the fiery pits are? Where it could be?” I knew the answer, but I couldn’t stop the questions from coming.

“Sorry, Ariella, but we don’t,” Tanner said.

“But now that we know about your man and his evil mother, we’ll keep an eye out for him,” Jasmin said.

That didn’t sound like enough, but there wasn’t much I could do.

“Thanks,” I muttered. Slowly, I got up and my brain registered Jasmin’s words.

Your man.

I opened my mouth to tell her he was not my man, but then Tanner offered his hand to her. “Care to dance, dear sister?”

She looked at his hand, almost disgusted, but sighed. “Since there’s nothing better to do.”

I watched as the two of them joined the others for a dance.

Tyren had taken Almae to the dance floor, while Shade took Doreen.

I was the only one left.

My heart squeezed, thinking of Levi, and also of the other times I felt I didn’t fit in. I was the spare tire of our entire community.

---