Page 45 of Demon Food

There was something wrong with me. It was like I was unable to watch another person in pain, but I had to remind myself that while he might’ve looked human with his dark under-eyes and freckles, he wasn’t. He was a fucking demon.

So, I receded backward, settling onto the floor with my back against the wall. His coughing had only barely ceased when he sucked hard on the last of his herbs, holding the smoke inside his weakened lungs. Coughing more.

It wasn’t my place to say, but his habits were out of control. He didn’t seem to take his health seriously. But then again, what did he take seriously?

Besides soothing my panic, apparently.

I rubbed my chest. My skin was warmer, and my heart itself less tangled. At peace. “What was that just now? What did you do to me?”

His head rolled to face me as he blew out a long stream of white smoke. “I took command of you, darling.”

He’d said it so straightforwardly. Command. He took command of me.

“Was that like what your father did earlier? When he made me…” I struggled with the word. “Crawl to you.”

“Gods, that.” He smeared a hand over his face like he didn’t want to think about it. Like it disturbed him. “It’s the same, yes. Although we do it differently, he and I.”

“And what is it you’re doing? What’s it called?”

He twisted his head to me once more, but this time, a wicked smile teased his lips. “I don’t want to tell you. Lest I give you more fuel to think I’m a demon.”

I squinted. More fuel?

“What do you guess it’s called, Snow Fox? Think hard. Use your lovely head.”

My gaze swayed around the walls. He took command. I’d think he was a demon. Use my lovely head.

Nothing. I had nothing. I shook my head. “I don’t know. How would I know that⁠—?”

Then it hit me. He must’ve seen the light of awareness bloom on my face, because he grinned.

“Oh, my gods,” I whispered.

“Yes.”

“It’s possession.”

“Yes, human. Well done.”

“You can possess people?”

He nodded. “Every vultus in my bloodline can possess people. It’s the royal family’s crowning achievement.”

I should’ve been terrified, but part of me was in awe. We used to tell stories about it in the orphanage. Late at night under the covers, we’d tell tales of how the old-world incubi would possess humans and the horrifying things they’d make them do. But this was real. I’d felt it myself.

“What of the other thing?” I asked, sitting a little taller.

He sucked on his herbs. “You’ll have to be more specific, my love.”

“The thing your father did where it felt like hands on me that weren’t there. It was different than the possession. It wasn’t inside me. It was outside⁠—?”

A finger tapped my shoulder. I gasped as I whirled around, the chain clinking as I blinked wide-eyed, but there was nothing there.

I twisted back around to find him perched up on his elbow watching me, trying his best to conceal a chuckle.

“Oh, fuck you,” I said, when realization hit.

He let himself chuckle, but it transformed into a brutal cough.