Page 14 of Zodiac Demons

“Wait, it’s on the night of the full moon?” She choked out. “H-how fun.” It was probably safe to assume that Lamia was not well versed in the plight of her hybrid child, considering my parents barely bothered to understand the plight of their hybrid child, and yet neither of us spoke up to explain why that was a problem at all.

“You’re going to have the best time. I have so many great recommendations for you.” Lila’s mom continued, so vibrant and upbeat. None of that self-assuredness or natural charisma had been passed on to her daughter it seemed. Admittedly, we wouldn’t have gotten along very well if it had been. “Well, this was great. I’m so glad you showed me your work place. It was wonderful meeting you now that you’re all grown up, Ceto. Tell your mom I said hi.” With one last wave, they both headed off on the rest of their tour of Graves, and I was left standing there, dumbstruck, filled with dread, and at a total loss as to what I’d just gotten myself into by simply existing this close to the sun.

At least I wouldn’t have to worry about mate separation sickness.

Small victories.

So, so small.

I stared at the spare ticket in my hand, that apparently wouldn’t be going to Lila.

The intrusive thought that I should offer it to Marcus, just in case she would suffer being away from him without the protection of the shop’s wards, found its way into my mind, followed way too immediately by the mental image of sharing a room with both of them.

No. Absolutely not.

Chapter 6

Lamia a goddess among demons, who founded an entire society to act as a refuge for the supernatural, and survived countless wars before magic kind went into hiding, was now a domesticated mother and accountant living in the Midwest, eating a fucking chocolate chip muffin in the Graves cafeteria at the same table where I permanently bound myself to her virgin daughter. It was only by the unusual mercy of the gods that said daughter wasn’t here with her. Lila had opted specifically not to come, and I would thank her for that before I would blame her.

Being it was summer vacation. I should have been anywhere but work. I purposely never signed up to teach summer classes, and all I wanted in the world right now was to be in the gym, beating a punching bag into submission until the stuffing spilled onto the floor in a satisfying inanimate death.

But no. I’d been so stunned by the revelation that Lila was Lamia’s daughter that I apparently agreed to sit down for fucking brunch with the mother of my biggest mistake to “catch up.” Though for me, I was catching up with what the hell she’d done to be able to birth a child, and she just wanted to know if I still liked fractions.

“How has Sienna been?” Miss Rodanthe—uh Lane Denton, I mean—asked so innocently about my mother. “Last I had heard, she’d given birth to another little boy, and I lost touch before I’d gotten the chance to meet him.”

Oh, excellent, straight into talking about Marcus. Let’s just touch on every miserable problem in my life.

“Oh, she’s great. My half-brother and your daughter are quite close, actually.” Mated even. Did they not invite you to the wedding? I spoke professionally despite myself. I had so much practice being professional in the face of catastrophe lately. Though volunteering that information wasn’t likely to help me very much. “They’re both in my Astrology Club, and they seem to have become good friends.”

That was true, more or less. Marcus, in all of his faults—of which there were near infinite—did genuinely care about her, as evidenced by their completed pact. But also as evidenced by quite a lot of things, if I thought about it. He tried to play the psychopath, and with me, he played it very well, but he’d had feelings and emotions just like everyone else. I’d been the one to help him dispose of bodies in the past, and I’d been the one who felt the hurt he pretended wasn’t there when he’d killed those he hadn’t meant to. We may not ever get along, but he needed and craved affection more than he probably realized.

Maybe that was my fault. He certainly hadn’t gotten much from me, and his father wasn’t exactly emotionally adept. We were disciplined very separately growing up, and one of our fathers was much more ruthless than the other. That came with the territory of a sex demon versus a blood parasite though. Hidalgo Emery was a high ranking lawyer in the Graves Governing Counsel. My father was just another common demon masquerading as a blue collar man with no major significance to his name.

“Oh, what a fun coincidence.” Lane clapped, her face alight with real joy. For a serpentine demon famed for eating children, she was a very light and whimsical person. She hadn’t changed at all since she’d been my third grade teacher. “That must feel so strange though—teaching your younger sibling. I hope the two of them aren’t making too much trouble for you.”

You have no idea, I thought flatly.

She pondered on that for a moment, then added, “Lila’s always been very reserved and a good student though. I always kind of wished she would cause some trouble sometimes.” Your wish has been granted. “She got bullied a lot by humans, and she would just retreat into herself and close herself off, and I never knew why or what to do about it.”

“Because she was one part Lamia, I assume.” I offered, curious now if she’d somehow not put that together until recently, despite being her literal mother. Lila’s ignorance of the supernatural was at best, completely irresponsible, and I never would have expected that from someone who cared as much about children as Miss Rodanthe. “I thought one of the primary curses thrust upon your bloodline was being repulsive to humans. It almost seems cruel to have raised her among them with very little chance of a single classmate being on her side, unless they were also covertly magical. She must have only really had the option to become tougher and take on the role of the bully, or have her self-esteem beaten into the ground until she wanted to give up on herself. From my observation, it seems she chose the latter.”

Lane frowned, and I was about to apologize for something that could have come off as unfair criticism of her parenting, but she spoke up first. “You’re right, honestly. I wish I’d realized sooner she had actually gotten my blood gifts and curses. The ritual was so complicated, and I never would have guessed that she’d need to…” She stopped herself, and I already knew what she was thinking, but I was absolutely not going to be the one to acknowledge that losing her virginity was the trigger to free her suppressed magic. ”I’m not sure what exactly caused the change to finally release her inner magic,” she said to save face, “but she seems so much stronger and happier now than she ever was among humans. She speaks very highly of you as a mentor, by the way.”

I choked on absolutely nothing but the absurdity of that, and I played it off as coffee going down the wrong pipe. “She’s been a pleasure to have around.” I was latching onto her steady and upbeat emotions to get those words out, because my headspace would be doing me zero favors in this.

“So, I know I said I wanted to catch up, but I also wanted to ask you something.” Lane’s voice was so honeyed, while I could feel the discomfort settling in her chest from here. It was substantially less than my own though, so I still chose to latch on to her emotions over mine. “My daughter is being really flighty about her mates and how she discovered she had powers, and I was wondering if you had any insight into that.” She wasn’t accusing me, specifically, but she was certainly not being subtle. “She mentioned that she’d met an Incubus, and I was worried that maybe she met an incubus… first.” Maybe I should just starve to death. That seemed like a better alternative than my actual life. “But since you’re also an incubus, I was hoping she may have spoken to you about it? Or that you might have some advice for her if that is the case?”

I exhaled when I didn’t get the sense that she was assuming I could be that incubus, and I would not pretend that being in my thirties had made me mature and stable enough to have the sense to tell one of the oldest demons still existing that I’d fucked her daughter when I was supposed to be keeping her safe.

Which was why I went with, “It’s been difficult to advise her much, being she wasn’t aware that our world or such creatures existed at all until recently. I thought she was human myself when I first met her, and I still don’t know her blood rules in comparison to a fairly standard hybrid species like my own.” My deflection even impressed myself. “I’m glad to see you found a way to break your curse of infertility though. I’d always heard the legends of the old feuds among the gods and demons in that region of the ancient world, and you were truly a big inspiration to me as a child. I always thought I’d be good friends with someone raised by a woman like you if you could have had kids of your own.” I was letting myself speak candidly now, the confession so honest, I barely realized I’d felt that way until I let myself say it.

Was that the irony of this situation? The honest admiration I’d had for her, paired with the child she did eventually mother, all resulting in a woman I’ve become entirely too tightly entwined with?

Fated mates weren’t my curse, but the coincidences of this debacle were startling when laid out like that. Despite my reservations over the ethics of our relationship, I had to admit that Lila was a woman worth knowing, and someone her mother should be proud to have raised.

“That’s… such a sweet thing to say.” Lane grabbed her napkin, and dabbed the first traces of tears from her eyes, while leaving the smudges of chocolate chips at the corner of her lips. “I’m so glad you got to meet her. Please continue to be a good presence in her life. I have so much to make up for, and I don’t think I can be the one to guide her at this point in her life.”

“Of course.” I managed to get through the conversation with unexpected candor, yet at the same time, it gave me pause on how to proceed. At some point, I would have to publicly acknowledge that this relationship was real if I couldn’t find any way to break our tie, and I had no idea how I was going to do that.