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"What is worse than that?"
"Pedophiles. Mass murderers. People who steal the parking space you were clearly turning into..."
A surprised laugh bubbled up and burst out, surprising us both. "Oh, my God. Was that a joke?" I asked, smiling.
"Things had taken a serious turn there. Figured I'd lighten it up a bit."
"Well, color me impressed. I wasn't sure you had a discernible sense of humor," I teased. "But I guess that makes sense. With you and Ly and Bael."
"How so?"
"Because you're all...colder," I decided. It was the kindest word I could come up with. "Whereas Aram and Seven and Daemon are almost more, I don't know, human. Where did Drex and Minos fit in?"
"Just below us. Wife-beaters, gang shit."
"But then what did Aram and Seven and Daemon deal with?"
"Oh, the other kinds of assholes most people deal with on a daily basis. Asshole bosses who cop a feel, those who abuse their power, people who could have helped others and chose not to. Lower level stuff."
"So, what about those who sleep around a lot or covet their neighbors' nice new car?" I asked, remembering certain rules very clearly.
"If you do it and you are repentant for it, you don't need to worry about us sticking hot pokers in your eye-sockets, Josephine. We handle the people who did what they did and don't give a fuck about who they hurt doing it."
And that was fair, wasn't it?
People who hurt others should have to pay for it.
For that to happen, those like Ace had to exist to exact that punishment.
No, he wasn't human.
No, he didn't have the same feelings as we did.
But that didn't mean he was someone I needed to fear.
You know, anymore than I had to with the whole kidnapping and held captive thing.
Though, let's face it, I wasn't being treated like crap—tossed in a basement somewhere and made to starve and freeze. Most of the bad things that had happened to me since "meeting" them were things I'd done to myself.
I had gone out into the cold and nearly died.
I had chosen not to eat and to sleep in the cold, hard bathroom.
I'd, technically, even been the one to hit my own head.
I wasn't trying to victim-blame myself, but all things said and done, they hadn't treated me badly. Honestly, I think I would have been much more abused at the hands of your average, everyday human kidnappers than I had been by the actual demonic ones I was stuck with.
"What are you thinking about?" Ace asked, snapping me out of my swirling thoughts.
"That for someone evil, you haven't done evil things to me," I admitted, shrugging.
To that, he leaned forward, putting his book on the coffee table, and I could have sworn he mumbled under his breath something that sounded a heck of a lot like I'm not sure I could even if I wanted to.
But he immediately spoke again before I could ask. "Is there anything else you want to know?"
"Are you going to kill me?" I asked.
There.
Point-blank.
It was the one question I'd had swirling through my head for days, weeks at this point, I think. It was getting harder to keep track of time.
I saw the answer to that in his jaw before he could even say it, making my stomach twist, my heart speed up.
"Don't," he demanded, reaching out to grab my wrist just as the thought formed to bolt, to run, to get the hell away from them. Even if it meant dying by the elements. Better at my own hands than theirs, I felt. "You didn't let me answer."
"I can see the answer," I snapped, trying to pull my arm away, only managing to yank him forward, closer to me, towering over me as I leaned back against the arm of the couch.
"You can see part of the answer," he corrected.
"There is no part to this. Either you kill me or you don't, there's no in-between with life."
"The plan was to kill you," he admitted, making my heart squeeze in my chest, a tightness to close around my neck, cutting off my air. "But that isn't the... I can't do that anymore," he told me, shaking his head.
In that moment, I wanted to loathe him, this man who so casually considered taking my life.
But when I looked at his face, all I could see there was confusion and vulnerability, and maybe even something else. Something I didn't want to name because a part of me wasn't ready to accept it yet.
I swallowed past the lump in my throat, wetting my lips. "What changed?"
"You know what changed," he shot back, the grip on my wrist loosening a bit, his thumb stroking across the underside gently.
I knew it wasn't supposed to. I knew he was evil. I knew he should have repulsed me. But there was no denying that the soft touch sent tingles up my arm, then across my chest.
