Chapter 20 #2
“I’ve met someone like her. I have theories,” he said vaguely. “She’s telling the truth.”
Well, that was a good start.
“How did it begin?” I pushed.
Unfortunately, she had the same story a lot of lust demons did, which was so unfair and part of why lust demons had such a bad reputation. We were known for killing and taking life more than any others. We lured people in. It was our fault for being desired.
Right, but so were other demons.
So were other fucking humans and yet others controlled themselves.
If someone attacked a wrath demon after they turned and they were giving off extra anger around them, everyone would say that person was mental. They were already on edge. Clearly, they had a screw loose or any other million sentiments.
Toxic man.
Predator.
And on and on.
But lust?
Oh no, not lust.
That was our fault. We were the problem. The women… Even if lust demons could be men too. Overwhelmingly, they were women.
No one was ever shocked to hear that, but also it was ridiculously unfair. Still, we had some blame. We carried part of the weight.
Bullshit.
Utter and total fucking bullshit.
It was her story though. She was an orphan who became a servant, and when she turned into a demon, the son of the family attacked her. A man of shitty morals and who thought he could do whatever he wanted.
Instead, he was dead. She was terrified and went on the run.
“I’m sorry you went through that,” I told her, truly and honestly when she finished.
She stared at me as if waiting for me to say more, but when I didn’t, she looked away and wiped her eyes. “No one’s ever said that to me before.”
“And that’s a pain unlike any other and we all know it,” I told her, waving one of the guys to get her something to drink or whatever. I sighed when he gave me a glance like he wasn’t sure if I was kidding.
I wasn’t. No matter what she’d turned into, she’d once been where we all had been too and… I didn’t say let her go. Get her a damn bottle of water and some tissues.
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 mean full? 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 I should do, 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—your story matters, 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, as gently as 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.
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 been alone for 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.