They did and she mumbled a thank-you.
“What happened next?” I asked when she seemed lost in the past.
She gave a half shrug before taking a long sip. “I needed to feed. I’d figured out that much getting weaker and weaker each day after I sucked the life out of that man—a hunger nothing could sate. I walked up on a man trying to rape a woman just like that man had. So I grabbed him and fed, taking his life to save hers.”
Elijah held up his hand to me. “And you didn’t get any indication to stop? A warning or feeling of being full?”
She frowned but then slowly shook her head. “No, not until after did I realize I was strong and finally not starving. I had old wounds that healed and—how do you meanfull?Like overeating?”
Wow. She was definitely different. The other demons with us froze or shifted uncomfortably.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t be any help since I never really felt full either. That was because of how powerful I was, but… I basically wasn’t hungry or starving now.
Again, because my power always fed the dampeners.
“You are not the same,” Elijah said under his breath to me before focusing back on her. “Yes, it’s almost like drinking too much. That bloated feeling.”
“Drunk,” one of the other guys suggested. “The closest I could compare it to was drinking a few cases of beer where I got drunk and had so much liquid at the same time that I felt ready to burst.”
She looked at him as if he was speaking another fucking language. “No. Never.” Then she glanced between us. “And you’ve all experienced this?”
I remained silent while the others confirmed it.
Nothing would help the situation and only risk me or gossip if I said the truth.
“So what came next?” Elijah asked, his tone gentler then.
She seemed to shake herself out of this new realization. “It was months later that I was so weak again, starving and—I knew what I had to do. I knew what Ishoulddo, at least if I was to kill.”
“Kill the monsters,” I offered for her, nodding when she did.
We were actually very similar. She wasn’t wrong to feel that way, and if my path had been different… We could have been the same.
Maybe?
“I killed a man who killed his wife for money,” she said. “Everyone knew it. I heard him bragging about it and how he would leave nothing to her children because he bribed someone. So I killed him. Then another. Then another. Over time, I learned—the way I processed it and what I learned told me if I had three a year over a few months, that would be enough.”
“That was safest to kill monsters in one area and move on,” I muttered, impressed. It had taken us long enough to find her with that pattern after all.
“Yes.”
“Except you weren’t killing monsters this time, just assholes,” one of the guys drawled.
I held up my hand to him and focused on her. “Give us the list. Tell us everyone?”
“Why?” she whispered focused on her water. “What does it matter now? You’ve made your judgment and I never had to kill.”
“Because… Because the truth matters—yourstorymatters, Samantha,” I answered honestly, noting the way she flinched at her real name. “We ran because of our circumstances and what we suffered. Tell me your story and we will see how it ends, okay?”
“I agree,” Elijah said gently.
Well, asgentlyas Elijah spoke with anyone but me.
“Tell us your truth—no lies among our people, and we will figure out the ending,” he continued.
She sighed. “Can I get a last meal or something since I don’t have any other choice?”
One of the guys snickered but like… Fair enough.
