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With that, she made her way back to the bathroom, pausing, then dropping down beside the plate, grabbing handfuls of cold food, finally proving Drex right. She didn't have the willpower to starve to death.
"If you weren't so stubborn, you could have eaten it when it was warm," I said, getting a shocked gasp out of her as she tried to get up, get back into her tiled sanctuary.
But I was faster, stepping into the doorway just as she got inside, grabbing the door, preventing her from closing it.
"You should let me explain," I suggested, trying to keep my tone even.
"I don't need an explanation," she said, taking steps backward, wanting as much distance from me as possible. "You're evil."
"Yes," I agreed, nodding.
"You have no soul."
"That goes hand-in-hand with the evil part, so yes."
"You're not even going to try to deny it?"
"What use is there for that? You've seen it with your own eyes. You're not stupid."
"I slept with a, with a, demon," she said, spitting the word like a curse.
"Yes, you did. I don't see how that changes anything, though."
"You're not human," she snapped.
"That's both true and untrue," I said. "I have human flesh. My body functions like any normal man's does."
"You have horns."
"Occasionally. Usually when I'm angry," I clarified. "And, apparently, when I have sex with you."
"Just me?" she asked. "No, don't answer that. It doesn't matter. It is never going to happen again."
"Yes, just you. I've been around for a long time, Josephine. I've known a lot of women. That has never happened before."
"What does that mean?"
"Honestly, I don't know."
"Did you... did you do something to me?"
"Something like what?" I asked, brows furrowing.
"Like impregnate me like a Devil's Due situation?" she asked, looking ashen at the very idea.
"You mean did I put a demon baby inside you? No, Josephine. I wore a fucking condom, remember?"
"Well, I don't know how that works," she said, waving toward my crotch.
"It works similarly to the typical man you're used to. Except I can only impregnate when I intend to. And I didn't," I added when she didn't look convinced. "I know your movies and film make it seem like all we do is come here and knock up unsuspecting women, but that's not how it works."
"How does it work then? Why don't you do that?"
"Because there's no reason to. We don't have typical family structures. There's no real drive to carry on our lineage unless we Claim a human woman. And that rarely happens." Except, not as rarely as it used to, it seemed.
"I don't understand."
"Claiming is, in a way, involuntary. Something in us reacts to a certain woman and Claims her. Lycus and Lenore have that. It means he is attached to her for eternity. He would do anything to protect her, to keep her happy. Even if Lenore had rejected him, the Claiming would be a part of him."
"It sounds like love," she said, shaking her head at me.
"Love is a choice," I countered.
"No, it's not."
"Sure it is. That's how you can fall into and out of it. You choose that. There is none of that with Claiming. We can't fall out of it. It is a forever part of us."
To that, her gaze fell, inspecting the tiles on the floor for a moment before looking back up. "It doesn't matter. That all doesn't matter."
"What does then?"
"You're a demon!" she shrieked before shrinking back like she thought I might charge at her.
"Yes, I am. It doesn't change anything."
"It changes everything!"
"How so? I've been this way since we met. The only difference now is that you know. Nothing has changed."
"What do you want from me?"
"The same thing I've wanted from the beginning. For you to help Red."
"Red is one too, isn't she?" she asked, the dread in her voice letting me know that she hadn't considered that before.
"Yes. We all are. Well, Lenore only partly."
"Partly? How can you be partly demonic?"
"Look, it's a lot," I told her. "If you want the information, I will give it to you. I will answer your questions," I offered, knowing the outcome would be the same regardless, even if an increasingly disproportionate part of me hated the idea of that being her fate. "But you have to come out of this fucking bathroom. You have to eat. There's no reason for you to be miserable."
"I slept with a demon, so, yeah, there is," she mumbled under her breath.
"Hey," I called, moving forward, snagging her chin, forcing it up. "Enough, okay? E-fucking-nough of that. You fucked me. It doesn't matter what I am."
"Does it... hurt your feelings?" she asked, brows scrunching. "That I feel this way?"
"We don't have feelings. Not the way you do."
"It seems like you're upset."
Even as she was saying it, I could see what she was saying. It was in the tension in my jaw, in the churning sensation in my stomach.
