Samael raised an eyebrow. “You meanyoudid something withyour power.”
I turned and paced away, stopping at the other end of the balcony. “It didn’t feel like that. One minute I was talking to someone and the next I was suffocating her with my magic.”
“How did it feel?”
I blinked at him. “It felt good. I felt powerful.”
“Then what is the problem?”
My hands fisted. “She’s an old lady. Samael. She didn’t want to tell me anything, and I forced her to.” Bile crept up my throat.
“You used her power to hold her in place.” He nodded. “Good work.”
“How can you say that?”
“You were strong. Power makes people think twice before attempting to hurt you. That can only be a good thing.” He studied me like he’d never seen me before. “I find I have a vested interest in keeping you alive.”
I shook my head. “I should go. This was a mistake.” Demons had very different ideas about right and wrong. In the demon world, might makes right.
“You’re still thinking like a human.”
“Iama human.”
He snorted and I wrestled with that. There was no doubt that I wasn’t fully human at this point. The power I was using to shield wasn’t witch magic. “Iwantto be a human.”
“The more you suppress your power, the more it’s going to fight against you, and the worse it will be when you lose control. It has already been suppressed all these years, I doubt it will put up with you suppressing it anymore.”
“You talk about it like it’s alive.”
He shrugged. “Some believe it is.”
“I was a monster, Samael. Unrecognizable.”
His eyes seemed to glow like starlight as he examined my face. I sighed. He just didn’t get it. Or maybeIdidn’t get it. Either way, we weren’t even close to being on the same page. We weren’t even in the same book.
My phone vibrated and I took the distraction, pulling it out of my pocket. Cara. She’d run more tests, but still couldn’t find any reason why the arrow would’ve killed a high demon. Was only one of them poisoned? I wished again that I’d gotten my hands on the arrow that killed Vercan.
I glanced at Samael and he raised one eyebrow. “What?”
His face went blank as I explained the test results and I narrowed my eyes at him. “You know something I don’t.”
He opened his mouth and I held up a hand. “Yeah, yeah, there are many things you know that I don’t. Tell me why those arrows can kill high demons.”
“I don’t think so, bounty hunter. Perhaps when your two weeks are up and you have no doubt about where your loyalties lie.”
“You’ll never have my loyalty, Samael.”
He simply gazed at me, his expression oh-so-satisfied. “I look forward to making you eat those words.”
I scowled at him, turning away once more. Durham stretched out, the lights warring with shadows, accented by neon signs.
“Something else is wrong,” Samael said.
I threw up my hands. “Everything is wrong at this point. Ever since I walked into your tower, my life has turned into a steaming pile of shit.”
The bastard had the gall to laugh at me. I glanced at him and then immediately ripped my gaze away in an attempt to ignore what the sight of him laughing did to me.
“Am I inconveniencing you?” he sounded completely unrepentant and entirely amused.
