The Demon's Song

CHAPTER Nineteen


He waited for her, as he always did, at the ER entrance.

Sofia would start to walk out, and all of a sudden, Phenex would just be there, appearing out of nowhere and falling into step beside her as though it was the most natural thing in the world. He was what she looked forward to when she was bone-tired, when she was ready to leave the insanity and go somewhere quiet.

She kept thinking she’d gotten dependent on his being there too fast, that she liked it too much. One of the earliest things he’d said to her, no strings, was played on a loop somewhere at the back of her mind. But she couldn’t seem to stop herself, sort of like having sex with him. Amazing, crazy, mind-bending sex. She was even starting to wish he would bite her, though he’d been as good as his word on that. No fangs.

That was another bad decision waiting to happen. Her opinion hadn’t changed on the whole vampire thing, despite the fact that the ones she now knew were very nice. But the thought of having him inside her, and at the same time having his teeth in her…

“How was your day?” Phenex asked, oblivious to the nurses ogling him as they left. A couple of Sofia’s friends flashed her the thumbs-up. She grinned, then ducked her head so Phenex couldn’t see. The man had a big enough ego.

“Fine. Busy shift,” she said.

“Noticed that,” Phenex replied, then proceeded to do something very odd. He whipped his head to the left, grabbed something that was either imaginary or invisible, and punched air with his other hand. It was over in a heartbeat, and then he was walking calmly along again, though looking a lot more smug.

“Do I want to know?”

“It’s just hospitals and their hangers-on. Grumpy old bastard needs to move along. He’s probably been dead for a good week. He wasn’t expecting that one, though. Landed right on his ass.”

“I was right. I don’t want to know,” Sofia said.

The routine was always the same. They’d walk together to the parking lot, look for a place without cameras and with a good amount of shadow. Then Sofia would wrap her arms around his neck, giving him what would look to the casual observer like a hug—until Phenex unfurled his wings and launched them into the sky.

It was cool. But she wished it were cool enough to erase her longing for her car, her apartment, her life…but it wasn’t. She’d spent her break on the phone with Amy, who’d just gotten back into town. She wanted to go for coffee. She wanted to see her, damn it. Being underground was slowly making her want to crawl out of her skin, and Phenex didn’t seem to see. Or maybe he just didn’t want to.

Either way, something had to give. She’d heard nothing about Belial, or more demons, or anything. Just silence.

It was infuriating.

They walked in silence while Sofia struggled to work up the nerve to ask Phenex something she’d been mulling for a couple of days now.

There was no time like the present, she told herself. So she took a deep breath, crossed her fingers, and dove in.

“So I was thinking,” she said. “I’ve got the next couple of days off.”

He smirked. “I know. I have plans. But go ahead.”

“Oh. Um…yeah,” Sofia said, delighted and flattered and more than a little bit nervous about these “plans.” If they involved staying in Terra Noctem, she thought she might just go out of her mind. Every moment spent in bed with Phenex was bliss. But when they were out together, with the staring, and the dampness, and the creepy lip-licking from some of the vamps… She was sure some things would be different if she were a vampire, but she wasn’t. Dru was great, but she wasn’t human. Even the werewolves never stayed long underground, different packs coming and going, but always, always leaving before long to get back to their open spaces. To their own kind.

Sofia shuddered, then tried to get back on track.

“The next couple of days. So the thing is, my parents have been wondering where I am.”

“Why? You call them. I know you do,” Phenex said, looking puzzled. “What more could they want?”

Sofia fought back a grimace. This was exactly the sort of reaction she’d been worried about. But there was nothing to do but press on.

“They’d like to see me, actually.” She sighed at his blank stare and had to bite back her annoyance. “I’m their only daughter, Phenex. We’re close, and they like to see me. Which they do, normally. It’s not all that far from here to Baltimore, and I thought—”

“Sofia.” The look on his face was something like a deer caught in headlights. Determined, she pressed on.

“I thought that maybe we could go for dinner one night. My mother makes amazing tamales de mole negro. She’d definitely make them if I asked. I’d like them to meet you, Phenex.”

Even in the dark, he looked paler than usual. “For the love of burning, why?”

She stopped, turned, and looked at him. How could he be so amazing about some things and so god-awful about others?

“Well, let me see. I think I’ve met pretty much everyone in your life. I’m staying in a giant cave city full of vampires, I have dinner with the fallen angels you work with, and last but not least, we’re sleeping together. I’m basically marinating in your life, Phenex. But don’t you ever think about the fact that I have one, too?” Sofia asked. Then she threw up her hands in frustration before he could answer. “No, of course you don’t. You’ve got everything you want, right? Why worry?”

She needed to accept that this was probably all there was with Phenex. Everything but the sex felt like they were only scratching the surface with each other. In bed he was tender, wild, sweet…he let his guard down. Outside of that, he only let her in so far. All she got were glimpses. That, and the sounds of him composing late at night when he thought she was asleep. That music made her ache in ways she hadn’t thought possible. It was pure emotion.

But if those emotions were his, he wasn’t sharing them with her.

“You’re angry.”

“Yes, Phenex, you make me angry. You’re very good at it. Probably because you’re, you know, from Hell.” She rubbed her face with her hands. “What am I doing?”

“Telling me off, I think,” Phenex said, then sighed. She felt his gentle grip on her wrists, and he pulled her hands away from her face. It wasn’t fair of him to look tired and vulnerable, Sofia thought. That was supposed to be her domain. If he needed some kind of reassurance, she was in no mood to give it.

“I’m not trying to be a dick. You just surprised me.”

“Yeah, well, your reaction didn’t really surprise me.” She exhaled loudly, looked up at a sky dotted with stars she wished she could see through the city’s glow, and tried to regain her footing.

“Look, I get it. You don’t have parents. You don’t have friends. You don’t like anybody.”

“I like you.”

He was trying to diffuse this, but she was having none of it.

“Yay. That doesn’t change the fact that I need to go see my parents. And this isn’t want, this is need. I am a human person who loves her parents, and this is nonnegotiable. So consider this notice. I’ll see if Ember will go with me tomorrow. She can go out in the sun, she’s really badass, and it saves you the horror of meeting anyone related to me. Okay? Okay. Back to the Batcave. This is a good spot, right? Let’s just…go.”

It was the first time she really hadn’t wanted to put her arms around him, but she’d get over it. That was the awful thing. Despite all of his issues, Phenex was impossible not to care about. He had no family, a lot of his friends were what could only be called difficult people, and he was minus a soul. Despite all that, he carried music around inside himself that was heart-wrenching, and he liked to snuggle. A lot.

He made no sense. She just…wanted him to. Just like she wanted him to engage in some kind of life that wasn’t deep underground. Her life. She felt more and more like those stupid flowers he was still trying to make grow down there. He’d planted some new ones just a couple of days ago. She felt sorry for them.

Not everything was made to thrive in the darkness.

“I need to tell you something,” he said.

Sofia looked up, startled, both at the words and the odd tone in his voice. This was it, she realized. This was the part where he told her, “Hey, it’s been real, but things are getting a little too much like serious, and by the way, Gadreel will be watching you from now on. Have fun defending yourself against the slither.” At which point, she would probably inform him that she’d be taking her chances on the surface, thanks very much. Nice vampires notwithstanding, removing Phenex from her situation changed everything.

She couldn’t keep doing this.

It was only the thought of something terrible happening that had kept her from trying to slink off to her parents’ for a visit already. She missed people. Her people.

The hell of it was, she was also going to miss Phenex when all this was over. Not his odd life, but him, even with all his quirks and frustrations. He would go, and she would probably spend the rest of her life wanting him to come back. It didn’t have to be all on her terms, but she had a right to have terms.

Not that he’d ever expressed any interest in what those might be.

Her heart sank, and she tried to brace herself. The weird tickle in the back of her throat indicated she wouldn’t be so stoic later, but she needed to focus on the now.

“What is it?” she asked.

Phenex looked at her with eyes she could fall into, as though he was working up the nerve to say it. Then he shook his head.

“You’re pale,” he said.

“No shit,” Sofia replied. “A week in the dark will do that. Do you have any more compliments to give me?”

“No, I just…” He blew out a breath and rubbed at the back of his neck. “I don’t know. I didn’t notice before. Are you feeling okay?”

Sofia didn’t bother to dignify that with an answer, instead fixing him with a look that was as much reply as a question like that deserved. She’d seen the smudges under her eyes in the mirror earlier. Her energy level was in the gutter. She doubted it was hard to see, at least for someone who was paying attention.

And he had been. That, at least, was something.

“No, I know you don’t,” Phenex said quickly, sounding annoyed. His look said it wasn’t with her, though. He glanced away. “I can’t take you to Baltimore right now, Sofia. I just…I can’t. But I can give you something I should have a few days ago.”

Sofia couldn’t allow herself to get her hopes up. She put up a hand. “If it’s in Terra Noctem, I’d rather not, thanks. I’m tired. I’m just tired, Phenex.”

The feel of his hands sliding around her waist surprised her. She didn’t know how she felt about it. Her body sang the way it always did. Her heart, however, didn’t seem to want to do anything but ache. Whatever this was, it couldn’t be what she needed.

“Hang on to me.”

“Phenex,” Sofia began wearily.

“Just trust me. Please,” he added, surprising her. The earnestness in his voice, along with the look in his eyes, made it impossible to push him away. Even though she knew she probably should.

Just this time, Sofia told herself. Just this one more time. And maybe this time when you wind up disappointed, you’ll quit trying to make him something he can’t be and start accepting reality. Or whatever this is. With a heavy sigh, she wrapped her arms around Phenex, he picked up her legs, and an instant later they were airborne. He pressed his mouth against her ear to be heard above the wind.

“This is a longer flight, okay? We’re not going back to the city tonight. Just relax. Well, try.”

“Try” was about as good as it got with the wind whipping at his top speeds. Resigned, she just tucked her head into his neck, breathed in the scent that was singularly him, and hoped that wherever they were going, it was a place that might give her back a little bit of hope.



He cheated, singing in her ear and lulling her to sleep, so Sofia had no idea how long the flight actually took. She knew that with her in his arms he couldn’t travel quite as fast as he’d like, but he also went faster than he probably should with a human passenger.

Regardless, Sofia opened her eyes to the rhythmic sound of ocean waves and the feel of Phenex’s lips on her skin. Light, butterfly-soft kisses over her cheeks, her nose, her mouth. Her lips curved before she could start to worry all over again. Her eyes opened.

“We’re here,” he said.

She rose slowly up on her elbows, finding herself in what looked like a large hotel suite. There was a huge Jacuzzi tub in one corner, an impressive minibar, a sitting area…and to the left of the bed, doors that opened out onto a balcony overlooking the moonlit sea.

The moon and stars were such a welcome sight that she wished she could run and wrap her arms around them. As it was, she breathed in the night air, fresh and scented with flowers and plants she couldn’t quite identify, and felt the welcome buzz of life rippling through her. She’d needed this. It wasn’t home, but…in a way it was, just by being out in the air. God, she’d needed this.

“Wow,” she finally said. “So where is here, exactly?”

He grinned, looking pleased with himself. It was so innocent, so boyish, that Sofia couldn’t help but return it. It seemed he’d been paying more attention to her needs than she’d thought. He just hadn’t been letting on…and she didn’t want to imagine why. Didn’t want to spoil this.

Right now, it was perfect.

“Mirage, Florida. This is the town where Justin and Vivi got together. I liked it,” Phenex said.

Sofia looked around, unable to get past her amazement that she was really here, overlooking the ocean. “I can see why.” She’d heard the story about Vivi and Justin, the vampire hunter falling for the vampire king in a little beach town in Florida. And she knew Phenex had been around to bust some vampire-hunter heads when they’d tried to interfere. But this wasn’t anything she’d expected from the words “I need to tell you something.”

“Same hotel and everything?” she asked.

“No. I’ve been coming back here on and off for a while to chill out when I get a chance. I like this place better.”

“Okay. Not arguing.” He’d never mentioned coming down here. Go figure. Sofia looked around again, and when she inhaled, she could smell the sea. It was a warm night, too, the ocean-kissed air like a taste of summer after a few months in the cold. She shivered, but with pleasure. When she turned back to look at Phenex, he was watching her hungrily. The intensity in his eyes, though it quickly vanished, confused her as much as it pleased her.

“What is this about, Phenex?” She said it with a smile, but at the risk of spoiling it, she needed to know.

“I owe you some sunshine. This place will have it in spades in a few hours.” He paused, and actually looked a little embarrassed. “You look like you need it. I should have noticed. Maybe I could use it, too. What do you say?”

What could she say? It wasn’t what she’d asked for…but it was something she desperately needed. And for once, Phenex hadn’t had to ask or be told. He had simply gone ahead and given this to her. It was far more than she’d expected. It felt like, finally, some movement forward.

The pleasure Sofia felt was impossible to deny, even if it turned out to be foolish.

“Anything I would say would be an understatement, so we’ll go with yes,” she said. But when Phenex reached for her, she held up a hand. “One condition,” she said, and his expression was immediately wary. “Sing for me tonight. Please. You haven’t sung just for me since the first night we were in Terra Noctem. You know you have a beautiful voice. This will only be perfect if you share it with me.”

He looked relieved, then got a wicked gleam in his eye.

“What?”

“I’ll go one better. Sit tight,” he said. As she watched, he sprang from the bed and took a running leap out the balcony doors and over the railing. If it had been anyone else, Sofia would have been terrified that she had a suicide on her hands. As it was, she just wondered what he’d flown off to get.

Five minutes later he was back, carrying what looked like a very nice acoustic guitar, black, the twin of the one the vampires had smashed.

“I got lucky,” Phenex said, looking in that moment like a young boy who’d gotten away with something. “This is where I got the last one. Looks like they still carry the model.”

Sofia eyed him. “Are you planning on returning it?”

He snorted. “No.” But when she just stared at him, he relented. “Hellfire. I’ll send them a check, Sofia. It won’t turn my wings white, but if it’ll make you happy…”

“It will,” she said, getting up from the bed. She went to him, took the guitar from his hand, and laid it gently down on the small couch in the sitting area. Phenex watched her, a bemused expression on his face.

“What are you doing?”

She gave him a wicked look of her own.

“You made me happy. Now it’s your turn.”