Page 34 of Demons of Eden

“Deep breaths. It’ll be okay. You’re okay,” Suvi says, grabbing my hand again and squeezing.

“Nothing’s okay,” I mumble into my hands. Though between my hands being in the way of my lips, the continued crying, and the sudden challenge taking a breath has become, the words sound far more like ‘nuf-in-’s o-ay.’

“Things are complicated, but you’re going to be fine.Bothof you will be fine.” The table creaks as she leans over it to be closer, also lowering her voice so she won’t be overheard. “I’ve been doing, and will keep doing, all the research I can for your pregnancy. I have some stuff in my car I’ve copied for you to read. There’s not a whole lot freely available, but I found mention of a few restricted texts an old friend managed to get me some photocopies of. They’ve been very enlightening.”

“What if they talk?” I ask, the alarm caused by her words forcing my head up from the table to look at her. I’m not sure what I’m hoping to find in Suvi’s expression, reassurance or maybe shared fear, but I search for it.

“They won’t,” she answers, her steady eyes meeting mine projecting her complete confidence in that.

“How’d you get them to help?”

“I said it was a personal curiosity of mine, and considering how strange some of my other interests have been over the years, they didn’t question it once they confirmedIwasn’t pregnant.”

“They really asked you that?”

“No, but they did watch me very closely when I took a shot of vodka after I asked for the books. That was out of concern, though. If I’d told them I was the one pregnant with a little demonling, I'm pretty sure they’d have helped anyway. Not that I wouldeverrisk your secret by sharing it with them.”

“But you trusted a strange group of hunters would keep it if I told them?” I point out. The puzzled frown my words put on her face reflects confusion right back at me. “I just mean that whenyou recommended I go to them for help, you seemed weirdly sure I could spill it all out to them.”

“Because they’re not strangers, Eden. Torrin’s my cousin. Well, I guess they all are, technically. Didn’t I mention that?”

“No. You absolutely did not. He’s your cousin?!” I blink as I try to wrap my head around the idea. It bizarrely makes a lot of sense. They even have the same hazel eyes now that I think about it. I’m an utter moron.

“What? Is it really so unbelievable? His mother’s my dad’s sister.” She shrugs.

“Well, I suppose that is how cousins work,” I mutter sarcastically, the information apparently enough to shock me right out of one emotional outburst and into a whole new one. “You mean to say you’ve had this hot, competent, funny, and kind cousin this entire time we’ve known each other, and you never thought to…hmm, maybe set a witch up?”

“You like Torrin?” she asks, clearly surprised. “Honestly, of the three of them, I figured Rio would be more your type. Hell, Daion’s weird brooding would probably be more your thing than Torrin.”

It’s a good thing I gave up drinking my evil decaffeinated coffee after that first awful sip because I surely would have spat it right out atthatsuggestion.

“You’re joking, right?”

“What? No. What did he do? Do I need to make a call and put the fear of Aunt Ava in him?”

“You’re really saying you’d call his mother on him?” I can’t help but grin at the thought. The mental image is too amusing not to. The little I’ve heard of her from Daion, Marbles, and now linking it to the few mentions Suvi’s made about her aunt, she sounds like she wouldn’t be the type to take shit. That she could absolutely, as Suvi suggests, put the fear of Ava Fletcher into people.

“If he deserves it.” She shrugs. “What happened? I imagined you'd get on, what with how similar you two are in some ways.”

“We’renothingalike,” I reply, immediately refuting the claim before adding quietly, “Rio thought I was a succubus when we first met. He tried to kill me, rather persistently, until Daion showed up and talked sense into him.”

“He thought…wait.Fuck.That’s how Ava ended up taking him in. A succubus killed his parents,” she says, more to herself than to me, as she processes the information I’ve given her against what she already knows of him. “I always knew why she’d adopted him, but even if he was traumatised as a kid, I didn’t think he’d act like that to any random demon now. Or towards someone who gave off the energy of one, anyway.”

Damn it. I’d figured as much, but hearing it plainly confirmed is still awful. More sympathy for Rio, just great. Even without the details laid out for me, it was still obvious to some degree what happened and why he reacted the way he does towards me. Dai had said their reasons for being adopted were similar, and it’s always been clear he’s hated succubi and incubi above all others.

“I think it was the fact I was in their office unannounced, giving off ‘demon energy’ that put him on edge,” I admit. “I’m sure they don’t get many of their kind coming into the office by choice.”

“That’s true, I suppose.”

“Then my…uh…vitav issue made it worse. I’m sure that he hates me more every time we interact because of that.”

“It’s been causing you problems again already?” she demands, obviously worried.

“Mostly it’s only feeling tired or dizzy,” I answer, trying to make it sound like it isn’t a huge deal before admitting quietly, “And apparently, I keep letting off a succubus lure thing. It’s not on purpose, though. I wouldn't?—”

“Of course it’s not on purpose. It mentioned this in some of those texts, with thankfully more information than I knew about the topic before,” she whispers, somehow still firm despite the softness to her voice. “It talks about how the mother can absorb traits from the subspecies of demon she’s carrying. Though, if you could successfully feed your vitav drain with sex, it would save me draining myself dry to juice you up with medical techniques I shouldn’t really be doing.”

“That would require someone to have sex with,” I retort, rolling my eyes. “And the fact I can’t control the effect doesn’t make me feel very sure I could do it safely, even if someone was willing to try. No wonder Rio hates me.”

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