Chapter 26
BAD BLOOD
SUYIN SHOWED UP HALF AN HOUR EARLY FOR HER MEETING with Iris.
First, she checked in with Marie-Thérèse, who was working upstairs at the shop, letting her know she was back in town and asking how things had gone while she was away.
After a short conversation, Suyin headed downstairs to the coven’s basement meeting space.
She took one look at their paltry library and sighed regretfully. She’d once been proud of the collection they’d amassed. It seemed laughable now.
While she awaited Iris, Suyin settled herself at one of the worktables with a few old grimoires, trying to see if they contained any useful notes on Sheolic magic, though her hopes weren’t high.
She’d changed her opinion pretty drastically about it since meeting Murmur and learning she was half demon herself.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t going to find much in books written by human witches on Earth.
Iris arrived only a few minutes late, her smile forced. “Hey.” She slid into a chair at the table opposite Suyin and ran a hand through her bright blue hair.
“How are things?” Suyin asked, taking a moment to look over her friend. Besides her obvious apprehension about being here, Iris looked good. Relaxed.
“They’re good.” This time, her smile seemed genuine. “Really good.”
“Glad to hear that.”
“Yeah. We’re thinking about moving actually.”
“Where?”
“I told you Meph’s brother bought a house, right?
Well, my lease is expiring soon, and we were thinking of moving into his place.
There’s a nice basement suite that’s empty.
I mean, the house is huge, way more space than he needs for himself, and we’re honestly kinda worried about him being a total recluse living alone. Which sounds stupid, but—”
“What’s your boyfriend’s real name?” Suyin interrupted.
“Um.” Iris swallowed. “Meph.”
“Yeah, but that’s a nickname, right?”
“Yeah.”
“So what’s it short for?”
“It’s more that he changed his name. He doesn’t like to be called—”
“What’s his real name?”
Iris narrowed her eyes. “Why are you asking?”
Suyin leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. If she was going to interrogate her best friend, she might as well play the part. “Answer the question, Iris.”
“He doesn’t like using his real name, so I don’t. Out of respect for him.”
“Hm.” A convenient answer. “And Lily’s boyfriend? What’s his real name? Because I seem to recall you telling me Mist was a nickname as well.” She remembered wondering if they were all gang members, and that was what Iris had been lying about.
Iris winced. The silence stretching between them was weighted with tension.
“Where were you?” Iris asked suddenly. “It’s not like you to just drop everything and leave on a whim.
And you didn’t even tell me where you were going.
I was this close to calling the cops, honestly, especially since you told me you thought you had a stalker.
It was keeping me up at night, wondering if you were in danger and I was being a terrible friend. You can’t do that to people, Suyin.”
“Don’t try to turn this around on me. I know you’re avoiding my questions—”
“You always keep everyone at arm’s length.
Honestly, it’s exhausting being your friend sometimes.
I love you, but it’s true. When I was angry and hateful, we worked because you just let me stew, and you never tried to encourage me to heal.
I thought at the time it was because you accepted me for who I was.
But now that I’m on the other side of that anger, I kinda wonder if it’s just because you didn’t care. ”
It was Suyin’s turn to fall silent and avoid the perceptive green eyes of her friend.
“I didn’t expect you to fix my problems for me,” Iris continued, “and I’m glad you didn’t waste your energy trying. But I was … toxic. And I can’t help but think that the only way to endure that kind of constant anger was to keep me at a distance.”
Suyin glanced back at Iris. “You accuse me of being detached,” she said coolly, “and maybe you’re right. But I’m not the one who has been lying to my closest friend.”
Iris flinched.
“So why don’t you start by answering my questions and then we’ll go from there.”
“You wouldn’t understand,” Iris said in a small voice. “I can’t.”
“I think you’d be surprised by what I understand.”
“I can’t, Su.” To her credit, Iris’s eyes were sad. “It’s for the safety of the people I love. It’s so important that if not telling you means we can’t be friends anymore, then I’ll have to accept that. I’m sorry, but I can’t risk it.”
Suyin took a breath. She was angry, but if she put herself in Iris’s shoes, she understood. Maybe if she told a couple secrets of her own, Iris would be more inclined to open up. And the only way to find that out was to just do it. No more second-guessing.
So she opened her mouth and said, “I wasn’t on vacation.
I was in Hell.” She was riding the edge of her vow with Murmur by saying this, but she’d been over their bargain carefully in her head.
She’d only agreed not to talk about his work and him, not that she wouldn’t tell anyone she went to Hell or what she’d learned while there.
In one blink, Iris’s features went from apologetic to shocked.
“You wanna explain …?” she ventured when Suyin remained silent.
Suyin took a breath. Part of her was dying to tell Iris whatever she could about the absolute madness she’d lived through for the last month, but she couldn’t help but hesitate.
“If I tell you my secrets, will you tell me yours?”
“I can’t—What secrets do you have? What’s going on? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I am.” Suyin paused, realizing that what she’d just said was completely true. “I actually feel more okay than I have in a long time.”
“Why? What changed?”
“I found out who—what I am.”
Iris could not have looked any more confused if she tried.
“I know you’ve been lying to me, but I’ve also lied to you.” Suyin folded her hands on the table and stared at them. “About my age. I let you think I was in my thirties and just hated birthdays. But the truth is, I turned fifty this year.”
Iris made a nervous laugh that died quickly at the look on Suyin’s face. “Wait. You’re serious?”
“One hundred percent. I just turned fifty.”
“But … I mean. Wow. You’re aging really well. I mean, not that that matters but—”
“I’m not aging, Iris. At all.”
“What? But—Does that mean you have a special ability like Lily and I?”
“It’s not an ability. It’s just happening.”
“Well, if you’re practicing life-prolonging magic, I don’t see why you’d hide that. Lots of powerful witches do it, and you’re definitely—”
“I haven’t done anything, Iris. The opposite. I’ve been checking the mirror every day for the last ten years, hoping to find a single wrinkle.”
Iris frowned. “So … what did you find out?”
Suyin inhaled deeply and then just spat it out. “I wasn’t on some solitude retreat. The truth is, I was taken by a demon and brought to his lair in Hell.”
Iris’s jaw dropped.
“I convinced him to let me out of his dungeon, and we kind of … became friends over the last month.”
She winced. It sounded ludicrous when she said it out loud, and she hadn’t even gone into the part where they blew each other’s minds with out-of-this-world sex.
“Anyway, eventually, we started studying together, and he told me a lot of stuff. Including who my father was.” The vow wouldn’t let her talk about Murmur’s spell or why he wanted her blood, but she could talk about herself.
“Who your—What?” Iris shook her head roughly. “You didn’t know?”
“I thought I did. I mean, I knew what my mother told me about him, but apparently, most of it was lies.”
“Who was he then?”
“A demon.”
Iris did a slow blink. And then another. Suyin could practically see the gears churning in her head. “But that’s not possible. Demons—”
“Are created, not born. They’re sterile, yes. I know. But …” She took a breath. “Shit, this is hard to explain. Basically, demons can evolve.”
Iris didn’t look as surprised or incredulous as one might have expected.
“After enough time spent being evil,” Suyin continued, “I guess they start to wonder what they’re doing or question why they’re doing it. They develop emotional intelligence and a conscience. They start to care about stuff. They—”
“Develop souls,” Iris whispered.
“Exactly.” Suyin frowned. “How did you know that?”
But Iris shook her head. Suyin figured she’d just keep talking. She was going to lay it all on the table, and then she was going to force Iris to tell her everything, even if she had to tie her to the chair and interrogate it out of her.
“So, my father discovered that demons who evolved souls actually can reproduce, and that’s how I—”
“Wait.” Iris suddenly stiffened, holding up a palm. “Wait, wait, wait. Demons can’t have children. That’s the way it is.”
“Like I said, that’s true, but not with demons who have evolved.”
“You can’t know this.”
“I can, considering it’s how I exist.”
“Whoever told you that was lying. You can’t be half demon because there’s no such thing.”
“He wasn’t lying. It’s all in my father’s research.
I can show you the book myself and explain how it’s possible.
But I didn’t need to prove it to believe it.
My whole life I’ve been trying to figure out why I’m different, why I heal faster, why I’m stronger, and now, why I’m not aging.
This is the only thing that makes sense. ”
Iris stared at her. Her face was blank, her eyes wide. Every few seconds she blinked as if hoping when she opened her eyes, all this would have gone away.
“So you’re saying … demons with souls … can have children.”
“Yes.”
“They’re not sterile.”
“Yes.”
Iris leapt to her feet. All of a sudden, she looked quite green. “No.”
“Yes. And my father proved it.” Suyin gestured to herself. “That’s how I—”
“Oh, fuck.” Iris folded at the waist. “Oh, no—”
“Iris, what the hell?”
“I can’t be pregnant!” she suddenly shouted.