Page 12 of Demon Queen
I glanced at him, looking for the accusation, but Tom didn’t accuse, he just listened and gave advice if you asked for it. “What do you know?” I whispered.
“Nothing. You should eat your egg.”
I sighed heavily and cracked it lightly on the dash then started peeling off the shells. “You actually married Gloria. You must be really weird.”
“Oh, I am, but not for marrying my multi-faceted diamond.”
I blinked in delight at Tom. “That was practically poetic.”
“She inspires me.” He said it so matter-of-fact. Who knew that Tom had it in him?
“You aren’t really the immortal descendant of Van Helsing, are you?”
“I am.”
“Oh. Why do you run a movie theater?”
“It just turned out that way. It was actually run by this necromancer who was luring children to him, and I cleaned it out and then settled there when I saw how monsters were drawn to it. To the humans who came to be afraid, or fall in love, or whatever other vicarious emotions they wanted to feel.”
“Huh. So it’s actually owned by a necromancer?”
“No, I sorted out the title years ago. The necromancer killed the actual owner, but naturally the title didn’t transfer.”
“That makes sense. You taught me everything I know about running a business, but there were always gaps in your business plan that I didn’t understand, like how much you spent on disinfectant and acetylene. Roberta had to help me with all of that.” Roberta was a genius when it came to business. She’d been with me for years, but I kept expecting her to leave me to start up her own brilliant scheme.
He grunted. “You’ve done well in your business. Gloria is very proud of you. She thinks you’ll have a whole chain of Candy Kingdoms across the country.” He sounded so proud of Gloria, like her existence was its own miracle.
I flinched. I’d always avoided that kind of expansion because I was avoiding Dorian. And now I was in his claws. Literal claws. Shudder. “Yeah. It’s been a definite growth experience.”
“Did you ever finish college?”
I shook my head and took a bite of egg. It tasted like a hard-boiled egg without salt. Still, it was comforting to know that things like boiled eggs and Tom never changed. “I used Dorian’s money to start a business. I’d already taken a lot of classes, and could do research for everything else I needed to know.”
“Because you suddenly needed security.”
I studied him, but he was driving, not looking at me. “Yeah. You won’t tell him that I had his baby, will you?”
He shrugged, clearly not surprised by my confession. “None of my business. However, at some point you’ll probably want to clear the debt between the two of you. No money is worth the price you paid, trying to raise a demon on your own.”
“He’s not a…” I ran a hand through my hair. If Dorian didn’t deny he was a demon, why should I? “He’s not evil.”
“Maybe not. Most demons who aren’t evil stayed out of our world. Then again, with the Zombie Queen being how she is, we’ve been getting a lot more variety in the last century.”
“Variety sounds exciting.” Nauseating. I might never eat again.
“He was taken at what age?”
“Three.”
“And Catharine’s been looking into it? Smart girl. She manages to uncover trouble without getting into it herself.”
“You won’t tell Gloria, will you?”
“Tell her what? She’s already seen your future. She also saw you with Drigo last night. Your reaction to him wasn’t subtle.”
I winced. “It wasn’t?”
“He also claimed you as his to protect. And he didn’t hunt you down after you stole a lot of money from him. I’m not saying that you can trust a demon, but he has made his position very clear.”
