Chapter 195

"As Joseph said, it’s not exclusively a torture chamber, and it’s not used as such all that often. Only when we’re left with no other recourse," Rhye soothed with a small smile.

Her gentle giant, the man who touched her with such tenderness and care, was talking about torturing people with about the same amount of contrition as confessing he didn’t always take the time to recycle.

That wasn’t actually what shocked her, though. She knew they were on the dark grey side of the morality scale.

When she continued to frown at him, he lifted a hand and cupped her cheek, looking suddenly unsure. "Does that bother you, Livia? Would it help to know we don’t hurt the innocent?"

Rhye was very still at her back, she noticed. He hadn’t pulled away from her physically, but she could sense him closing off, could almost feel him pulling the cold, unfeeling mask back into place.

Joseph, who’d strolled farther into the room, snorted. "Of course she knows that!" He stopped walking when she didn’t immediately agree with him and peered at her over his shoulder, amber eyes searching. "Right? You know, we’re not the bad guys. Villains, sure, and not the good guys, per se, but..."

She stepped out from under Rhye’s arm and moved so she could see all three of them.

"I trust you," she said softly.

That was what shocked her.

It wasn’t just that she believed they wouldn’t hurt her. It wasn’t just that she believed they would be as honest with her as they could be.

The trust she had in them was no longer broken up and parsed out in small, specific instances. She simply trusted them. And that astonished the hell out of her.

Livia hadn’t trusted anyone since she was a teenager. Despite the questions that still surrounded what it was they did when they left at all hours, despite seeing all of them come home with blood on their clothing more than once, despite standing in what was unmistakably a room used to hurt people, she trusted them.

At her softly spoken words, all three of them zeroed in on her, going perfectly, predatorily still. She’d thought Rhye was stiff before; now he could’ve been a statue. She wasn’t sure he was even breathing. But his eyes, those bright blue eyes, shone so brightly in hers that they almost glowed.

Rhye was the first to speak. "Say that again."

"I trust you."

Rhye grunted as if she’d knocked the breath out of him, his beautiful, expressive gray eyes sparkling with emotion.

She met Joseph and Leon’s gaze. "And I do know you’re not bad guys." She gave each of them a small, wry smile. "Despite all"—she gestured to the bloodstained concrete around her—"evidence to the contrary."

The smile Joseph gave her was brilliant. Sniffing, he wiped away the single tear trailing down his scarred cheek and proclaimed, "That decides it. I’m getting your name tattooed on me."

"Don’t you dare," she warned with a giggle, sternly pointing a finger.

He shrugged. "I already made the appointment. No take-backs."

Rhye caught the ends of her hair once more, tugging gently as he ran his fingers down the length of it.

"Come, little witch. Show us that trust you profess to have. It’s time to play with your power."

Livia blew out a nervous breath. "So, what happens now?"

She peered between the three of them, brows raised, containing the urge to anxiously wring her hands or something equally as telling that she was nervous as hell. It wasn’t that she didn’t feel comfortable showing her apprehension, it was just her go-to reaction to appear unrattled.

"Do you have a magic wand? Do we do a little woo-woo dance? Blood sacrifice?"

Please don’t be the last one.

If it were just pricking a finger, that would be fine, but if they wanted to go full-on animal sacrifice, she’d have to draw the line. She could maybe be convinced to sacrifice a bad human, like a serial killer or something, but no animals. That would just be too far.

Rhye’s lips twitched. "No. We’re not demon Livia, we are werewolves, remember?"

"And thank fuck for that," Joseph said, giving an exaggerated little shiver. "Creepy blood suckers."

While browsing, Livia eyed Joseph with surprise. "I didn’t think you knew how to be afraid."

She’d held a gun to his ribs, and he hadn’t so much as twitched. Whatever these Demons were, they had to be the stuff of nightmares for Joseph to despise.

Joseph waved a dismissive hand. "They don’t scare me, they weird me the fuck out."

Leon, to her surprise, rumbled in agreement, "And naked girls."

Livia gave them both a look and drawled, "Ha!"

Joseph’s face scrunched up like he’d just been force-fed kale, something she’d come to learn he hated. Passionately. "Well, take my word for it."

"Wait a minute." Livia held up her hand as realization hit. "Demons are like, um-you know-like vampires? They drink blood?"

Leon hummed and nodded. "Sort of… That’s what the humans call them, yes. We said earlier that banished demons have limited power."

"Because they’re separated from the magic of the underworld," Livia recited.

He sent her an approving smile. "What they retain becomes susceptible to collective human influence. They begin to change, physically, to reflect human beliefs about supernatural beings. Demons become ‘vampires,’ as you call them."

Livia gave him wide eyes. "Whoa. That’s some quantum entanglement shit, right there. So, which supernatural is strongest?"

Rhye answered, "The strength of the one kind which is considered the strongest is fluid. Usually, the amount of power the supernatural possesses depends on the severity of their lineage. We werewolves, like witches and fae, are at the top of the food chain because we can wield magic, but we are stronger and outnumber most of them. But some demons are stripped of the majority of their power before being banished—an ultimate punishment—while others’ powers are left to wither over time. Eventually, all banished demons will devolve to their baser powers, and from there it becomes a ruthless game. There’s only so much excess magic left in the human realm, and as such, it often depends on which demon has the most control of the entertainment industry at the time."