Page 33 of Craving Demons
It piqued my curiosity, driving me to find out everything I could about this gorgeous, captivating woman. But, at the moment, she wasn’t the topic of conversation.
“Tell me more about daemons,” she asked.
“Anything specific you want to know?”
“Assume I’m completely oblivious,” she said with a grimace. She put down her drink and leaned forward, elbows on the table, head in her hands. “I’m still just a little… I can’t decide whether you’re all mad, or the rest of the world is.”
Ah.
She glanced up, an exasperated look in her shimmering silver-blue eyes. “Whataredaemons?” And how could I be one?I hadn’t outright heard her thoughts, but it was easy enough to figure out that was what she was really asking about.
“It may sound odd to say it, but we’re not the all-powerful beings we may seem to be,” I replied. “You’ve probably heard a lot of mythology about how this god or that one created the world. Well, that’s a load of complete crap.”
She blinked. “Oh?”
I nodded with — what I hoped was — a soft smile. I honestly wasn’t used to being soft… or smiling. I was used to boardrooms and hard faces, mergers and lay-offs, and deals so large most people couldn’t comprehend them. I wasn’t used to this one-on-one sensitive time. Well, not with people anyway. I’d always been better with animals. But for some reason, I wanted to be soft with her,neededto be soft with her.
“Yeah,” I continued, trying to not let my thoughts wander to the strange feeling growing inside me or be distracted by the realization that the feeling wasn’t just lust for a stunning woman. “Gods and daemons didn’t create the world, they didn’t create humanity, none of that. We didn’t create squat. The truth is that humanity has always been the creator. We exist because humanity createdus.”
She frowned and I could see she wasn’t fully comprehending this… or perhaps she was trying to figure out how and when humanity had created her.
“Early humans were very superstitious. They revered the sun in the sky, the fire that burned their forests, the power of a lion, and the mystery of the dark. So they created gods and spirits to help them make sense of things. And when enough of them put enough energy into their beliefs, those beliefs manifested and became real. After that, many of the gods and daemons took on lives of their own. Some, like me, are second-generation. We weren’t brought into existence by humanity, but the normal way, by two parents who happened to be gods.”
She nodded slowly. “You said Hades was your father?”
I nodded. “And Persephone is my mother. They were created by the ancient Greeks as part of their mythos and once they existed, they found love and desire like normal people and had kids.”
“You say that, and it sounds so… normal,” she said shaking her head. “But then you talk about gods and… I can’t imagine what that must be like, to be a god, to have that power.”
I nodded. “For some of us, like you, it can be hard to feel your own power.”
“Actually, I did feel it.”
That was curious. “Oh?” I prompted.
“Well, I didn’t really notice it before I met all of you, but when Harmonia took it away, I noticed a lack of—” she grimaced “—sexiness? And when she brought it back in your office, I felt it then. But before that, I guess I was just used to it?”
And that was something I was desperately curious about. “But you hadn’t had anyone react to it before?”
She shook her head. “No, not until Ramsey cornered me in that elevator. That was the first time anyone had ever mentioned anything.”
The mystery of why her powers hadn’t manifested until recently was another thing I found curious. Perhaps the strange feeling inside me was the hunt for answers, the need to solve the riddle that was Ana. How could she have gone through her whole life without triggering everyone around her to heights of lust and desire? I didn’t ask since it was clear she didn’t know, but perhaps there were other ways to find that information.
“What do you know of your parents?” I asked.
She deflated at that. “My birth parents? Nothing. I was adopted as a baby and raised by the Bakers. They died when I was a teenager.”
I could see the guilt and sorrow on her features and her pain made something twist in my gut. A new emotion? A craving? I mentally shook my head and refocused on what Ana was saying.
“I drove them into an early grave,” she said. “I wasn’t the easiest girl to deal with. I mean, I guess I’ve always been a bit… lusty. I also wasn’t interested in school but put a bad boy in front of me and I was paying attention.” Her gaze dropped and she started drawing circles on the tabletop, trailing her finger through the condensation that had slid down her glass and beaded on the surface.
The urge to get closer to her swelled even though Harmonia had suppressed her power.
“I wanted them towantme. I don’t know why. Some didn’t and just wanted a one-night stand. Some did and I—” She huffed out a heavy sigh. “I got bored with them once things cooled. So, I started looking for the next hot and passionate thing.” She dragged her silvery gaze back up to mine. “Maybe I’ve always had this power?”
“No,” I told her. “If you did, those boys wouldn’t have been able to leave you. They would have taken one look at you andneededto be with you. Always.”
Which was — much to my confusion — how I felt about her.