“How… interesting,” Lix murmured as he took another drink.
“Is your ability to do that because of your demon ancestry?” Vargas asked me.
“Demons can’t see souls,” Lix said. “We don’t have souls to see, so there’s no need for such a talent. That’s a human trait, and it’s a fascinating one.”
I shifted uncomfortably when they all looked at me again.
“Did you have any abilities manifest after becoming a demon?” Vargas asked.
I removed my hand from Hawk’s and rested it on the table, palm up. I stared at it until orange sparks danced across my fingertips and a small flame sputtered to life in my palm. I jerked back when the fire went from being a couple of inches high to nearly a foot tall. It didn’t burn me, but it had never been so high before.
I recalled Zanta telling me that demons who found and bonded with their Chosen became stronger. Excitement and apprehension coiled in my stomach as I stared at the fire. If I wanted to walk away from Hawk, it might already be too late. But did I want to walk away?
I’d ask myself that question after I got to know him better, but I couldn’t answer it now. I did know I wanted the freedom to walk away if I chose to do so, and it scared me that I might not have the choice.
“This is why my team calls me Ash,” I said as I pulled myself from my troublesome thoughts. “Well, this and it’s a common nickname for my name. The ability to produce fire started after I stopped aging, and it’s how I learned I was a demon.”
Closing my hand, I smothered the flame and lifted my coffee cup. “It’s an interesting world we live in now.”
“It is,” Hawk murmured and sat back.
“My baby really has a beautiful soul?” Erin’s question came out as more of a whisper, and I realized she was scared to ask it not because she didn’t know me, but because she was anxious about her child.
“Yes,” I said and prayed nothing happened to the baby. This conversation would only make things worse if something awful occurred.
“Like its mother,” Vargas said and squeezed Erin’s shoulders.
She beamed at him with so much love it stole my breath; I hoped to have that kind of love one day. I glanced at Hawk from the corner of my eye. We were bound together by some quirky demon DNA, but could I love him?
He was a genuinely good man; he had the soul of a warrior, fought like a champion, and he could make my eyes roll back in my head and my body come apart like no other man, but love? I’d have to wait and see.
I hadn’t planned to settle down for years, especially since I was immortal now, but I also hadn’t planned on the country being torn apart and having to live with demons. Life was a series of compromises.
And at least Hawk wasn’t an asshole. Many of the demons weren’t bad, but some were complete assholes; I could have been stuck with one of them, or worse, a craeton. Maybe one day we could learn to love each other. I couldn’t imagine spending an eternity with a man who didn’t love me and who I didn’t love.
“So, my dear,” Lix said to Erin. “I have a riddle for you.”
Erin’s smile grew. “I’ve missed your riddles.”
“And I’ve missed trying to stump you.”
“Lix has been trying to stump Erin for over a year,” Hawk said to me. “The skelleins once guarded the gateway to Hell, and for us to gain access to it, we had to pass their test.”
“What was the test?” I asked.
“We had to answer three riddles. They allowed us to nominate Erin to answer for me, River, and Vargas. She was our champion and saved our asses. Since then, she has yet to get one wrong.”
“You’ll jinx me,” Erin said.
Hawk snorted. “Hardly.”
“What would have happened if you got a riddle wrong?” I asked.
“Now, nothing would happen,” Erin said. “But if I got one of the original three wrong, they were going to take a pound of flesh from each of us.”
I gulped.
“Those were the good old days,” Lix said with a sigh.
