Pretty guys had always been her weakness. Probably because she was bisexual. She liked seeing feminine traits like perfect cheekbones and full lips on men. She’d been wildly attracted to all the elves in the Lord of the Rings movies.
Murmur was like that, except kinda goth looking.
So, better. Way better.
And fuck me, those horns.What was she supposed to do with that?
“Can you repeat that last part?” she said, shaking herself.Get it together, you horny bitch. Pay attention to what the hot dead guy is trying to say.
She reminded herself that this was for her father, for his legacy, and for herself, so she could finally understand who she truly was. It didn’t matter how fuckable her information source was. All that mattered was getting that information.
Murmur shot her a look, to which she responded with a weak smile. He knew she wasn’t listening. Hopefully he didn’t know it was because she was too busy thirsting after him while he was trying to explain complex theory-of-demonic-evolution shit to her.
I am the dumbest dumbass to ever live and breathe.
But damn, he smells good.
BRUSH WITHDEATH
THE MINUTES TURNED INTO HOURS ASMURMUR TALKEDthrough his interpretations ofThe Book of Gamiginand Suyin asked questions. He couldn’t lie—he enjoyed her interest in his studies.
“Does this mean I have a demon form like you?” she asked as they read through the section where Gamigin theorized about Cambion traits. He hadn’t been able to confirm all of his hypotheses because he’d died before his daughter had grown, but from what Murmur had seen, his assumptions were mostly correct.
“Nephilim have an altered form that appears during moments of high emotion and stress,” he replied, “so it would stand to reason that you’d have something similar.”
She pressed her lips together. “I’m pretty sure I would’ve noticed if I sprouted horns every time I got pissed off.”
“The mind is powerful. The false belief of needing food to survive caused you to feel more weakness than you should have. I wouldn’t be surprised if not knowing you had an altered form and believing you were fully human was enough tokeep it repressed. It’s likely that if you’d felt the change coming, you would’ve fought it back unconsciously.”
Her eyes were wide. “So how do I get it to come out? How do you shift?”
“It’s different for everyone. Some demons find it hard to maintain their human form, while others find it as easy as their demon form. When I want to shift, I simply visualize it happening, and it does. Once I’m shifted, I can stay in that form for as long as I choose. It requires energy to shift forms, but not to hold them.”
“I can’t exactly visualize shifting into a demon form that may or may not exist.”
“I suspect it will come naturally in a moment of high emotion. Now that you’re aware of it, you’ll feel the instinct, and if you choose to give into it, you’ll shift. Each time will get easier after that.”
“Huh.” She looked back down at the book. “I guess I’ll have to wait and see what happens.”
She turned the page, only to uncover a spread of sketches that Murmur didn’t particularly want to dwell upon. He started to flip to the next page, but of course, Suyin was too quick for that.
“Wait.” She reached over him, pulled the book off his lap and into her own, and peered at the messy sketches. “What are these drawings about?”
Murmur tilted his head and studied her. She was acting differently tonight. She didn’t shy away from touching him, yet a while ago, when she’d reached over to point at something on the page and their hands brushed, she’d jumped like he’d burned her.
Even stranger was how he continued to react to her himself.
He’d been practicing necromancy for millennia, but he still remembered a time before his body had started to change. Extended and frequent practice of black magic always left amark on the practitioner, and necromancy was the blackest magic there was.
Long ago, his features had been fuller, the sclerae of his eyes had been white instead of red, and his skin, though still gray, had been warm to the touch. His body had begun to die over the years, until he’d finally sacrificed the last of its vitality.
Now, though his heart beat in his chest, the blood it pumped was lifeless. His skin was cold, his cheeks hollow. He’d become as dead as the corpses he could reanimate, and he’d lost all appetites and desires for pleasure.
But last night, with Suyin trapped beneath him … he hadn’t felt dead. She had awoken some sleeping beast inside of him, and he’d started noticing things he wouldn’t have a few days ago.
His gaze would catch on her small hands when she swept her long hair off her neck, and he’d find himself staring at her slender throat, imagining sinking his fangs into it. What would Cambion blood taste like? If its flavor in any way reflected the potency of its magical properties, it would be a delicacy indeed.
He leaned in slightly and inhaled, just to see if he could detect a hint of the taste.
