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Lexi leaned back from the table and rested her drink on her knee. “Tisiphone and her wyverns killed our parents when we were teenagers. She nearly killed me as well, but Eryn pleaded for my life. And Tisiphone listened.”

“Did you see her then? Tisiphone?”

“It was my plea that brought her out of the shadows,” Eryn answered. “She said she knew the pain of losing a sister. So, she made me an offer.”

“Fuck,” Vann muttered with uneasy breath.

“In exchange for Lexi’s life, she took some of mine. Said she shared some of herself, to make us truly sisters. Three times, she said, and I would fully become her sister.”

“Whoa, what?” Quinn looked ready to start swinging. “Bitch took advantage of your grief and… you’re going to turn into a fury, aren’t you? How many ‘times’ have there been?”

“Two. The first was that night. The second…”

“That scream… it wasn’t her. It was you.” Vann wrapped his arm around her sweetly.

She looked up at him and nodded, her chin stiff, her bottom lip stiff as she fought a shiver. “She can scream straight into your mind. It’s intense, like she’s shaking the walls of reality with it.”

Astrid pushed her long blond hair back and tipped a thoughtful look. “Typha screamed like that—an immortal demon. I wonder if it’s a trait related to the banshees, as they use screaming as a threat or even an attack, but their screams are not the same rage-filled scream that burrows into your skull. Banshees scream and cry with their voices.”

Vann chewed the edge of his tongue.

Eryn pictured her future, what Tisiphone envisioned. “Tisiphone told me there have been others, but she implied they were failures. I assumed it would kill me if it didn’t go right, or turn me into something like her, if it did.”

Vann traced his fingertips along her bare arm and smoothed over her cold skin. “Demons share power in differing ways. Vampires are obvious. Blood. I’d say, yeah, she forces her power onto you, but I don’t think she’s draining your life away. You’re growing stronger, not weaker. The women we saw today were powerful, really powerful, but not full demons. Like the woman I mistook for a banshee in Astoria, some were fighting against something internal. Tisiphone controls them.”

“That must be how she trained the wyverns,” Bodie said. “Demonic abilities vary widely.”

“I’m two-thirds of the way to turning into a demon of fucking death. I sucked a man’s life away. And I nearly did the same to Vann.”

Ryan cringed and set his beer on the table. “Souls are pretty close to the surface for demons. Like when we marry, we bind our souls with our mates, to share power and as a way to strengthen our connection. My nephew, um… well, that’s a long story. Point is, demons use the soul bond thing to nurture a partner’s soul, but a toxic mate can manipulate.”

“Soul? You think Tisiphone is taking my soul? To control me? And…” Eryn closed her eyes and gasped for air that refused to flow. “Did I take that man’s soul? And what the fuck does that even mean? Souls are an esoteric invention to make people feel better about death. Makes it easier to believe in an afterlife or reincarnation.”

“A lot of myth is based in reality.” Bodie shrugged with unnecessary apology. “Afterlife or not, there is a certain core of life that flows underneath the surface.”

Lana whistled. “If a demon could tap into that, they could fuck somebody up.”

Astrid leaned into Bodie, the baby asleep on her shoulder. “Is it so close to the surface at death, that it is easier to extract, I wonder?”

From her cozy spot on the beanbag chair with Bennett, Adair twinkled a look, almost amused as she pondered. “Back when I fed on humans, I didn’t need them to die, but I liked it. Maybe it’s the soul pulsating, either leaving the body in death or a sort of swan song. Vampires enjoy death, and trust me, it’s not because we enjoy slurping up the last trickle of blood through a thin straw.”

Bennett handed his drink to Adair, and crossed toward Eryn. He crouched in front of her and held out his hand. “Let’s find out. Do it to me.”

“What?”

“Whatever you did to that man.”

“You’re not dying.”

“Quite the opposite, but maybe you can get a taste, and we’ll know what we’re dealing with.”

“No.” Vann coughed and sat up. “Test it out on me.”

Bennett winced and dropped a sympathetic, sad smile on Vann. “Love you, man, but you look like shit. Let’s not tempt Eryn’s resolve by giving her a taste of someone whose heart literally stopped beating a few hours ago.”

“My soulmate,” he mumbled, and leaned back again.

Eryn brushed the backs of her knuckles along Vann’s chin. “He’s right. You’re too tempting, for so many reasons. If I’d gotten even a taste of you a few short hours ago, I wouldn’t have been able to stop.”