Page 29 of Hers to Claim

Pricilla tapped one finger against her lips. “So we need to figure out what sort of creature he is. I don’t suppose you’ve tried to just ask him?”

“He doesn’t really like to share information like that, and as far as I can tell he hates answering questions of any kind.”

“Of course he does.” Pricilla folded her arms. “Well, you told me he looks like a demon. Let’s start there.”

“He’s not a demon,” Dante said after a moment. “His magic didn’t taste like that.” He rubbed the place on his chest where Dohal had touched him, seemingly without noticing. “He tasted like kin.”

Pricilla tilted her head. “A fae?”

Dante nodded. “Something like it, anyway.”

“That’s puzzling.” She tapped a finger on her chin. “A satyr maybe? They present a little like demons.”

Dante’s forehead wrinkled. “I don’t think so. It was more primal than that. Older maybe.” He shrugged. “It wasn’t like anything I’ve ever experienced. Hedesiredme. And I don’t mean in the usual way. I’m used to that.”

“Avarice.” Mari nodded. “That’s what it is. Like every fiber of his being has been honed by wanting for centuries.”

Pricilla shivered. “That either sounds like the best or the worst time and I honestly can’t decide which.”

“That checks out.” Mari hummed.

“Yup,” agreed Dante.

“Well, I’ll ask around,” Pricilla said. “I have some contacts in paranormal academia who might know more about legendary beings of ridiculous power.”

Mari glanced at Cisco. “Does this mean we should stop the exploration of…my appetites? That sounds weird. Urges? I don’t know what to call them.”

Cisco smiled. “I think you should call them whatever feels right. And no, I don’t think we should stop. This is something you have to figure out if you ever want to understand your power. Hiding from it isn’t going to make it go away.”

“I agree.” Pricilla inclined her head. “I think it’s best not to try and avoid something having to do with your magic just because we don’t understand it yet. It might mean some adjustment to your training, but we can work it out.”

They continued talking for a while with Pricilla and Cisco discussed different training ideas, but Mari stopped listening after a few minutes.

She couldn’t shake the images of Dante that had filled her head during the vision. The lines between pleasure and pain thatshe’d thought were so firm and unyielding didn’t seem that way now. And she had to admit to herself that she craved both in equal measure. She didn’t want to think about what that said about her.

* * *

The next morning at breakfast, Rio sat next to Willow. They talked back and forth excitedly. Mari was next to Rio on the other side and didn’t share their enthusiasm for the topic of exactly what sort of paranormal Dohal was.

“You said he looks like a demon?” Willow moved the remains of their pancakes around on their plate, staring off into the middle distance. “Can you be more specific as to the type?”

“I don’t know very much about demons, I’m afraid.” Even as Mari said it, she knew it sounded ridiculous. Her father had been a demon. “Definitely not an incubus,” she hurried to add. “More like a cambion?”

Willow sniffed delicately. “A cambion isn’t a type of demon, it’s more a class of demons.”

“I don’t know the difference?” Mari hated how sheltered her father her kept her in moments like this. She felt unprepared for the world.

Willow gestured with their fork. “A cambion is to demons what a nephilim is to angels.” When their explanation didn’t seem to create any lightbulbs they continued, “They are the offspring of a human and something else. You would technically be a cambion because your father is an incubus.”

Mari blinked. She didn’t want to tell any more people than she already had that she might be the child of something else altogether, something even more terrifying than her father had been. “Well, he doesn’t look like me.”

“Can you give me a little more to go on?”

“Huge horns. The blackest skin I’ve ever seen with glowing red symbols carved into him. Hooves.” She took a sip of her coffee.“He’s just really fucking big. And kind of scary.” Only he didn’t scare her, did he? She had never been afraid of him. Not from the first moment. She was wary, certainly, but not afraid.

“That doesn’t sound like any demon I know about.” Willow hummed. “Lots of things that aren’t demons have horns. Is that the only reason you think he’s a demon?”

“I guess just his whole vibe seems a little demon-y. With the deep booming voice and his tendency to show up when I’m doing sinful things.”

---