She was beyond fascinated as we checked out menus and talked to clubs about who had what buffets and foods that we could grab easily.
But I also saw the sadness.
We had each other and people. She’d beenalonefor hundreds of years. Coming across only other demons who were monsters too. Or I honestly couldn’t say or wasn’t sure until we talked more.
Either way, it was time to get back to that once we had everything ordered that she could possibly want. Which was why we also moved to the dining room.
She knew she wasn’t getting out of this, so there was no reason to treat her as hostile and like tie her to a chair. Samantha even relaxed a bit the more civil we were.
Good, because it wasn’t exactly fun to interrogate demons. It took power and work and… And I wasn’t sure she was the villain anymore.
She wasn’t the hero, but there was clearly more to the story.
Clearly.
She went back to the beginning and told us where. Names. Anything or details she could, Elijah always checking she wasn’t lying.
Was it wrong to murder someone for rape? Yes. Yes, it was. She’d stopped the attempt, and the punishment for rape wasn’t death.
Did I think it should be?
Yes. Yes, I did…. So I wasn’t the best person to judge that.
However, she did take out murderers. Yeah, standard demon stuff with an eye for an eye there. No one in the house or company was judging that.
It was about twenty years of her telling us all of it when my mouth dropped open. Samantha had finally thought bigger and gone after a huge name that was… Impressive. She’d killed someone evil in history. I wasn’t a history buff, but when she named others, I saw Elijah’s eyebrow slightly twitch in recognition.
But not judgment, which meant he agreed with the kill.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
21
Food arrived and Samantha was happy with the quality, eating while telling us everything. Now it was more like she just wanted to get it all off her chest—finally had a captive audience.
Or anyone at all who cared, which hurt my heart.
I recognized a few other names and was impressed. She’d done some real good taking out some monsters in history the world was better off without.
We were on the last thirty years when I saw what made everything change—what changedher.
“I’ve read there are several serial killers in history who carved initials or symbols into their victims,” I interjected when she started to talk faster. “There’s some psychology to it and—”
“Yes, well, I don’t really care much when I was the one he tried to do it to and would be dead if I’d been human,” she snapped. “He was the first feed, and I waited too long because of other circumstances. I didn’t see the gun and—woke in so much pain and—he knew he didn’t kill me because he wanted me to wake up being carved.”
“I’m so sorry,” I told her gently. “I’ve put myself as bait more times than I can count and—I’ve been caught in traps too. The trauma and pain are beyond what others can understand. Even those of us who have had traumas like it.”
She settled back down. “Yes, the monsters scar many of us. That’s why they need to be punished.”
“The men who would mark women,” I pushed.
“Yes, the ones who would brand and own,” she agreed.
Like initials on her nails. That was the correlation. That was the trigger.
It was complete horseshit. A man who wanted his initials on yournailswasn’t the same as a mass murderer who carved initials into live women. It wasn’t even an actual brand like at a ranch.
