“They don’t. Sexually mature Seminus demons gain the ability to shapeshift into the males of other species. So basically, we trick them into ha**ng s*x with us. If that doesn’t work, rape does.”
“Nice.”
Shade rolled his eyes. “We’re demons. But if it makes you feel any better, most of us are disgusted by our destiny until we go through s’genesis. Then we don’t give a shit anymore.”
“So you do care?”
“Right now, yes. The idea of deceiving or raping any female in order to knock her up disgusts me. So does the reality of what happens to the infants.”
“Which is?”
“Most are slaughtered at birth. Few demons are willing to raise a demon of another species, let alone one that was conceived through trickery or rape.”
“So I’m guessing the fathers don’t have anything to do with the children.”
“Most of us never meet the male that sired us. All we know is the family that raised us, though we can sense our brothers.”
“So you never knew your father?” She shifted to get more comfortable, wincing at the dull ache in her ankle.
“All I knew of him were secondhand stories.”
“Do all sexual demons reproduce like that?”
“Nope. Most incubi and succubi use humans for reproduction, but Sems can’t. Impregnating humans results in cambions.”
“Cambions?”
“Sterile half-breeds.” The way he said it, with a slight sneer, told her what he thought of breeding with humans.
Apparently, screwing them was just fine, however. She tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice as she asked, “So your mother’s an Umber, right?”
Shade nodded. Runa didn’t know much about the cave-dwelling species, had only skimmed the information she’d found while researching demons to identify Shade’s breed. Apparently, they were gray-skinned and humanoid, though they avoided contact with humans. They were extremely social in their family orders, but were isolated within the demon world—probably because they were the natural prey of some of the more vicious species of demons.
“What about your brothers?” She leaned forward, intensely curious. She’d had a rude introduction into the demon world, but once she got over the shock, she’d dedicated every spare minute to learning as much as she could. “What species are their mothers?”
“My older brother, Eidolon, was born to a Justice demon, and Wraith’s mother was a vampire.”
She blinked. “I didn’t think vampires could breed.”
“They can’t. Wraith’s an anomaly.”
Somewhere in the dungeon, something screamed, and Runa shivered.
“What about your parents?” she asked quickly, and a little shakily. “Was what you told me when we were dating true? Your mother lives in South America and your dad is dead?”
A long, awkward silence filled the cell. Finally, just as Runa was about to give up on getting an answer, Shade said, “My mother was killed a couple of months ago.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.”
“Did you kill her?”
Her voice cracked with astonishment. “No.”
“Then don’t be sorry.”
“Am I annoying you with my questions?” she snapped.
“Yep.” He shrugged. “But it’s not like we have a lot else to do.”
As if on cue, footsteps pounded outside. Runa crouched, ready to attack, but Shade remained where he was, looking for all the world as if he was lounging on a couch with a beer. If the fact that he was nude bothered him, it didn’t show.
The door swung open. The Nightlash who had dragged Shade out of the cell earlier entered and dropped a gym bag on the floor. A robed figure slid inside behind the other demon, its face hidden inside a deep hood, though she thought she caught a glimpse of some sort of mask. Only the creature’s hands were visible—clawlike, skeletal things wrapped in leathery skin. Some of its fingers were missing, but that didn’t stop him from holding a wicked-looking spiked club.
It turned to Shade. “I see you’ve recovered from your ordeal.”
“That’s what happens when you hire second-rate whores like Solice. You should have instructed her in the proper art of blowjobs.”
The thing hissed. “I’m going to make you suffer.”
“Promises, promises,” Shade drawled, turning away to study his fingernails.
Runa could practically feel the rage billowing like steam from the robed creature. “I will make what I did to your sister look like fun.”
Very slowly, Shade lifted his head, his dark eyes narrowed and gleaming with hatred. “Where is she? What did you do to her?”
“Do you really want to know?”
Shade leaped to his feet. “Tell me!”
The creature nodded to the Nightlash, who opened the bag on the floor and pulled out what looked like a leather blanket.
Oh, God. Runa’s stomach lurched. She felt the blood drain from her face as the robed one cackled.
“Umber skins are worth a fortune on the underworld market. She’s going to make someone a fine cloak.”
A blast of darkness hit Runa a second before the icy wind, and then Shade let loose an agonized wail that would stay with her for the rest of her life.
Kynan Morgan was probably the biggest pain in the ass on staff at UGH. Scratch that. Not probably. He was, and he knew it.
He also didn’t give a shit. He didn’t give a shit about much anymore. His give-a-shit meter had broken nearly a year ago when his wife betrayed him and then died at the hands of her lover. One of her lovers, anyway. The human one.
Then there was Gem, with her black and blue hair, Goth clothing, piercings, and tats. He’d forgiven Tayla for being a demon. Mainly, because she hadn’t known the truth of her paternity until Eidolon figured it out. But Tayla’s sister, Gem … not so much. He’d met her a few years ago at the New York City hospital where she’d worked, pretending to be human. She’d talked to him, laughed with him, seen him nearly na**d during exams.
Truthfully, it wasn’t a betrayal; she’d owed him nothing. But he’d liked her, trusted her, and all along she’d been the enemy.
But even that wasn’t entirely true. Since the violent night nearly a year ago, he’d come to the disturbing realization that not all demons were evil, that some strove to be good. The knowledge, on top of his wife’s betrayal, had shaken his moral, spiritual, and emotional foundations. He’d pulled away from The Aegis, from one of the two things he was good at: killing.
Which had left him with only one skill remaining, something he hadn’t even been sure he had the stomach for anymore.
Healing.
At that point, Eidolon had stepped in and offered him a job at UGH, as one of the half-dozen humans already on staff. The irony was flat-out, f**king funny. He’d spent years killing demons, and now they wanted him to heal them.
He’d accepted, but on the condition that he chose who he helped. He would not be responsible for putting evil back on the streets. Eidolon had understood, and he’d even made Kynan a doctor, since the hospital was short on physicians with degrees, and Kynan had a shitload of medical experience thanks to his Army medic training and years of patching up Guardians after battles with demons.
Still, this was a temporary gig. Hanging out with demons was a perfect mirror for where he was mentally, but he had to believe it would come to an end, that he could find himself again. He wasn’t sure he could go back to being the Regent of the New York Aegis cell—hell, he didn’t think they’d even want him. If the Sigil—the twelve supreme leaders of The Aegis—knew he’d been working with the enemy … well, he’d become the enemy. They could never know what he was doing at the hospital. And if they knew that the New York City cell’s temporary Regent, Tayla, was half demon and mated to a demon, he and Tay would both end up with death warrants hanging over their heads.
Apparently, the Sigil didn’t yet know about Tayla’s new approach to demon-slaying—she’d educated the Guardians in her cell to recognize the difference between evil demons and harmless ones, a move that had rewarded them with a handful of demon informants. She’d also instituted a capture-instead-of-kill policy when it came to were-beasts. Another good move—some weres didn’t cause harm intentionally—they had escaped their cages, or were new enough to not understand what had been happening to them three nights a month. Only those with no regard for human life were put down.
Kynan had to admit that after a shaky start in The Aegis, Tay had turned out to be an excellent Regent.
“Hey, grunt.”
Kynan ground his molars at the sound of Wraith’s voice as he snipped the thread of the last stitch he’d put into his patient. The Neethul had been remarkably quiet during the procedure, even though her species’ standard mode of operation seemed to be stuck on snarl. Neethulum weren’t his favorite species of demon to patch up, but they focused their cruelty on other demons, not humans, so he had no problem sending the Neethul back into the general demon population.
Besides, this one had been injured when she was attacked and raped by a posts’genesis Seminus demon, and he wanted her to find the bastard and rip him apart. She was probably pregnant, but there was nothing he could do about that.
Kynan looked over at Wraith, who was looming in the cubicle doorway, his cocky grin begging to be knocked right off his face. “What do you want?”
“Mainly? To irritate you.”
“I swear to God—”
“Uh-uh.” Wraith waggled a finger at him. “You can’t do that in a demon hospital.”
Ky breathed deeply and counted to five, something Eidolon said helped him deal with Wraith. It might help E, but then, Wraith hadn’t slept with his wife. Sure, Wraith denied screwing Lori, but Wraith wasn’t exactly Mr. Straight and Narrow. And if he was this bad now, before s’genesis hit him, he was going to be seriously off the rails afterward.