Page 19 of Demons of Eden

I try to shake the thought out of my head, taking a deep breath, but it’s a mistake. This close, the scents of citrus and leather seem to cling to his skin. He honestly smells so fucking good I can’t help but lean closer to him. The sudden desire to climb right into his lap takes me completely by surprise, but the spell is broken when Daion pulls away from me, his eyes wide. He swallows thickly and then stands before taking several slow steps away, watching me the whole time like one would somethingdangerous.

“Myself and the others will start looking for a way to help you gain some control of the succubus lure while we continue searching for Ash. Hopefully he’ll have more answers on controlling it, though. While their subspecies charm ability is pretty much always in effect, they can turn off the direct lure you’re currently putting out.” Daion turns his head away, looking over at the back of the office like he’s about to leave again, when he pauses, almost unnaturally still. “Eden?”

“Yeah?”

“I want you to know that if you become too weak, or if something happens to put you in danger, I’ll do whatever I can to help you and your child. You have my word,” Daion promises, quickly stalking off before I can dig into whatever the hell that was.

“Pie!” Torrin announces loudly a few seconds later, leaving me no time to ponder over his words either. This time he brings a generous slice of the pie on a plate, clearly not wanting me to demolish the entire thing again. Not that I’m feeling up to an entire pie this time. Honestly, my appetite is feeling more than a little diminished by all the revelations.

“Thanks.” I still take the offering, forcing myself to nibble at it as I appreciate the thought behind him picking it up.

“I know Rio can come across as?—”

“A dick? An asshole? A grouchy baboon?” I offer, making him chuckle, relief spreading through me as I realise I haven’t managed to permanently scare him off quite yet.

“Don’t be so harsh.” Torrin shoots me a stern look, spoiling it with the amusement still obvious in his eyes, and so I shrug. “He’s no less dedicated to helping you find Ash than Daion and I am.”

“Only because he wants to get rid of me,” I grumble, unsure why it bothers me so much. Why should I care what some murder-happy asshole thinks about me? It’s not like I’ll see any of these guys again once this is over.

If I survive that long, anyway.

“If the end result is the same, does it matter what his motivations are?”

“I guess not,” I agree unhappily. It’s not what I really want to say. I want to tell him it matters because Rio hating me for something I have absolutely no say or control over hurts my stupid feelings. It’s so dumb seeing as Rio’s an assbadger, and I don’t give a shit what his opinion of me is. That's what I’ll keep telling myself until I believe it, anyway. It’ll take, eventually. I know from experience I can outstubborn my own emotions.

“There’s something else I’ve been thinking about,” I say after a few moments of silence. Indulging my curiosity has got to be better than continuing to push bits of pie around my platewithout even trying to take another bite. “The first time I walked in here, Rio attacked me because he thought I was a demon. I’m not capable of sensing demons like that…not without casting some kind of detection spell, anyway. So how was Rio able to sense my…demon spawn?” I ask, awkwardly chuckling to myself at the choice of words.

Torrin thankfully also finds me entertaining because he snorts before explaining, “We have these.” He pulls out a glowing pink crystal pendant from under his shirt, holding it up by its leather cord for me to see. There are tiny little runes carved into the silver setting holding the crystal. “It heats up when demons are near. We’ve just had ours charmed to glow different colours now depending on the type of demon. See?”

“So pink is for succubi and incubi?”

“Yep. Not that Rio could have really known when he met you at first, they would only heat up before,” he answers. “Dai thought it would be a good addition to add the colour differential. I’m actually a little surprised it went straight to pink for you. I thought it might have a little more confusion, given you’re not actually a succubus.”

“I guess the energy is enough to trick it?” I say, my uncertainty making it come out as more of a question than a statement.

“Must be. It’s not like any of the luring effects could trick it the way they would with people.”

“Just how many‘luring effects’are there?” I ask, setting the plate down on the table when I realise how tightly I was gripping both it and the fork.

“The uhh…how did you put it again? Fuck-me-vibes?” Torrin questions, lips curling up into a grin when I nod. “Well, that’s the most intense one, as far as I’m aware. The others are more linked to the charm effect, I think. Like how people see succubi and incubi, them appearing as whatever the person desires. I guessthat one doesn’t apply to you, though, unless you’re telling me you don’t have wavy, shoulder-length black hair and pretty blue eyes, and that I secretly have a type?”

“Sadly your type will remain unconfirmed as that’s how I’ve always looked,” I answer, trying very hard not to read anything he hadn’t meant into his words. Thankfully, my curiosity works as a perfect distraction. “Haven’t you hunted any succubi before?”

“A few incubi, but no succubi,” he answers, glancing off across the room, a strange expression crossing his face. It’s gone as he turns back to me. “There are some law-breaking succubi, just not as many as there are incubi or the other subspecies of demons. Not to paint all of a subspecies with the same brush, but we do get sent after a lot of iracaedi.”

“Like Lord Piehole,” I blurt, the inner thought escaping outward. Instantly, I feel my cheeks heating with embarrassment at the dumb nickname when Torrin laughs deeply.

“I’m sure the King of Wrath wouldlovethe nickname you’ve given him. Should I be jealous he got one first?”

“Absolutely not,” I retort. “I normally save nicknames for people I don’t like, but if you really want one, I can think of something. You’ll just have to be a little less likeable. More like acertain someone, who’s had, in the safety of my brain, at least ten insulting nicknames already.”

More like twenty, but who’s really counting?

I smirk to myself, feeling darkly satisfied as a thought then occurs to me. Rio may hate me, but he assumed I was a succubus the first time we met. Surely that means he felt the crystal’s warning about a demon approaching, took one look at me, then decided I must be a sex demon. Essentially confirming, he thinks I’m hot, seeing as they’re meant to appear as what you desire and all. I’ll need to find a way to remind him of that fact nexttime he’s a dick to me. Or maybe I should save it for the perfect moment?

My revenge will be sweet.

“I’m honestly a little afraid of the smile you’ve got going,” Torrin jokes. “Do I want to know what you're thinking about in that scary brain of yours?”

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