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She licked her lips, still watching his demon. “Someone dumped me here—I didn’t see them, they grabbed me from behind, dropped me on the floor, sliced my arm, and then disappeared. It happened so damn fast. I called out to you and several other people over and over.”
“I’d have come if I’d heard you. This place is shielded; it prevents telepathic contact.”
She frowned. “Why? And what is this place?”
A place Maddox had never meant for her to ever know existed. Fuck. There was no way he could easily explain any of this away. No way he could convince her that nothing was wrong with the demon who’d attacked her. Which left him only one choice. He’d need to take it all from her mind.
Regret churned in his belly. The thought of stealing her memories made him feel ill. It seemed wrong. A betrayal. And he hated that he had no other option. “A mausoleum near my home.”
Raini slid her gaze back to the demon on the floor. “He used to walk me from my car to your club. He’s one of yours.”
“Yes,” Maddox confirmed, his voice sounding flat even to him. “His name is Gunther.”
“Something’s wrong with him. He licked my blood from the floor. He bit me. He … It was like he was crazy. There was a kind of … bloodlust in his eyes.”
Since she’d very soon forget it all, Maddox admitted, “That’s because he’s going through a haze.”
She blinked. “A haze?”
“That’s what we call it. It’s like a fog in your brain. A red mist. It takes hold of you. Buries everything that makes you you. Takes away your reason, rationality, and control.” He paused. “It happens to descendants sometimes, even if we answer our cravings.”
“Cravings?”
“The madness, bloodlust, is usually short-term. It tends to last about a week. Then it passes. But during that time, we will feed from anyone. We will gorge and gorge until we make ourselves ill. That’s why a descendant in a haze is isolated. We shield the building because otherwise they’d telepathically scream at us day and night.”
Raini stared at him. “When you say ‘feed,’ you mean … ”
“I mean descendants drink blood, Raini,” he said, his voice toneless. “We need it. It’s the curse of every fallen angel, and that curse was passed on to us. We don’t need to feed every day. Most of us can go at least a month without feeding. I can go approximately three months without it. But no matter how consistent the feeds are, a haze can still take us. I didn’t name the club ‘the Damned’ because I liked it. We are damned. Every one of my kind.”
Raini felt her pulse kick up. Blood. They drank blood. Went through fucking hazes. She slid Gunther a quick look. “Has that ever happened to you?”
Maddox gave a slow shake of the head.
“But it could?”
He only nodded.
“Okay.” Reeling from all he’d told her, she pulled in a long breath through her nose. Jesus, it was no wonder descendants kept to themselves; they had a lot to hide.
As he watched her closely with a cold distance in his eyes, she could tell that he was expecting judgment, revulsion, and fear. He thought she’d turn away from him; that she’d be repulsed. And that was plain insulting. He couldn’t help what he was. None of them could. They were making the best out of a bad situation.
“If you’d asked me to guess what you were keeping from me,” began Raini, “I wouldn’t have said this. I suppose it could be worse.”
His brows dropped. “Could it?”
“Things can always be worse.” She bit her lip. “You’re going to take these memories from me, aren’t you?” There was only one reason he’d be so forthcoming—he intended to make her forget it all.
He didn’t respond, he just watched her steadily. Yeah, he was going to wipe away the memories. The thought made her stomach roll, but it was hard to judge him for it. Hard to judge him for protecting himself and his kind as a whole, even as it hurt that he didn’t trust her.
“Someone put me in here with him,” she said. “They wounded me so he’d smell the blood. They left me here to die. Who would do that?”
“Probably the halo-bearers that attacked my club around the same time,” replied Maddox, flitting his gaze over her face, seeing none of the disgust he’d expected. His demon was surprised by her easy acceptance but had no problem trusting it was real. Maddox, however, wondered if maybe she was in shock after her ordeal with Gunther.
“The angels know about this place, about your curse, as you call it?”
“They definitely know about the latter, and they’ve probably watched us while waiting for an opportunity to strike, so they’ll have noticed we isolate those in a haze. They tried taking out the club with holy fire; they intended to kill me. I think they thought that if you were brought here, you’d telepathically call one of your lair for help when I didn’t come. They would then find Gunther, and my kind’s secrets would be exposed.”
