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“Beat it,” Enoch growled.

“Hey, pal. Share the wealth, man.”

I squinted. Really?
I had no idea what that term meant, but it was a pretty dumb thing to say. I opened my mouth to diffuse the situation when the waitress passed by us. “Food’s ready, hun!”

Enoch grabbed my hand and
pushed me in front of him. He told the guy, “You’re saved by the waitress.”

I dug in as soon as I sat down, refusing to look up at him. He kept looking at me though, like I was a puzzle that needed solving. I watched the people as they line danced and slow danced and threw darts. After I finished what I could of the huge burger, I pushed it away and finally glanced up to find him studying me intently, his face indecisive.

I sighed and looked away. “I’m going to the bathroom. Do you mind getting me a diet to-go if she comes back?”

“No, I don’t mind,” he said and leaned back. He watched me cross the entire restaurant. I groaned once safe inside the girls’ stalls. What had I been thinking? Now things were just going to be weird and he wasn’t going to make things easy on me, obviously.

When I emerged from the bathroom, the first guy who asked me to dance was there. I smiled and waved as I passed, but he grabbed my arm. “Hold up.”

I looked at the hand on my arm and up at him. “Yes?”

“You and that weirdo out there dating or something?”

“Why?”

“I saw you check in to the motel. Thought maybe you’d be here a while…”

I scoffed and yanked my arm away. “Yes. We’re dating and c
ompletely head over feet.”

“It looked like you were fighting out there, before that weird prancy, eighteenth century dancing.”

Protectiveness rolled over me. “Don’t knock on him just because he knows how to dance.”

He smiled condescendingly. “I’ll show you how to dance if that’s what you want.” He eyed the back door
, which was right near the bathrooms. “But honestly, I’d rather get out of here.”

“Well, have fun with that.” I turned to go, but knew it wasn’t going to be that easy. He grabbed my arm again.

“Well, just wait. I guarantee you if you give me a minute, I can talk you into going with me.” He smiled. “I’m not such a bad guy. You just need to give ol’ Landon a chance.”

“You shouldn’t have to talk people into going out with you. They should want to or not. And talking about yourself in the third person—weird, Landon.”

His smiled faded. “You’re one of them city girls, ain’t you? Think they’re better than everybody else.”

“No, actually. Now excuse me.”

I moved to leave and his grip on my arm tightened. I turned and snapped my hand into the back of his elbow, slamming him and his face into the wall. He was so shocked that he didn’t even make a sound at the maneuver, just a small, “What the…”

“A couple years in the military at your service,” I muttered. “Not a city girl.”

He started to push back, his surprise gone, but
I heard the commotion to my left. Before I could look Landon was yanked from my hands and dragged out the back door. I followed and found Enoch holding him with one hand to the brick wall as Landon gasped and grunted. Enoch was strong, I knew that; he wasn’t human. He was feeding off of him right now, which was probably a good thing. The blue veins were back in full swing. I watched as they pulsed as if alive under his skin as he seethed looking up at the man who had asked me to dance.

Landon clawed at Enoch’s arms, but he didn’t budge. I went to his back, careful to keep my emotions in check. I couldn’t be afraid right now. Enoch wouldn’t hurt me. For goodness sake, he was doing this
for me
. “Enoch, let him go.”

“He grabbed you. I
saw him.”
              “Then you also saw me take care of things.”

“Doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve to pay for…” he shook his head as if he was wrestling with himself, “for thinking he has the right to touch you.”

“I think he’s going to remember this lesson for a very long time,” I said and sighed looking up to Landon’s eyes. They were as round as muscadines as he looked between me and Enoch. He nodded as much as he could and choked a word that I didn’t understand. “Enoch,” I pleaded. God, please don’t let him kill this man.

Enoch lowered him slowly and got right in his face. “You do realize that her asking for me to release you in the
only
reason you’re still alive?” He nodded. “Go,” he boomed.

The man took off, tripping and
clambering around the corner. I watched and then looked back at Enoch to find him right in my face. I gasped and put my hand on his chest out of reflex.

“Why must you keep…” He growled and lifted his fist. He was angry. At me? I looked up at him and didn’t look away. He may be a coward, but in this moment, I wasn’t going to be one. His breathing was so hard. “Why do you always get into these situations?” he finally boomed.

“I would have been fine,” I answered quietly. “He was harmless.”

“Harmless,” he scoffed. “You didn’t feel the lust coming off him like I did. He was not harmless. He was trying to lure you out!” he yelled. I backed away a little out of instinct. “He was trying to lure you away so he could hurt you. If you didn’t cooperate, you don’t think he would have forced you? I know his kind. I used to be his kind!” He kept coming and I kept retreating until I hit the wall and could go nowhere else. He kept getting louder and the blue veins were back, but I didn’t know what I was doing to make him so angry. I watched as the blue rivers of anger crawled across his neck and arms, getting bigger and more vibrant by the second. Up this close, it was almost beautiful how colorful they were. “I know exactly what he wanted to do to you. And you, so gullible, just going to stand right by the bloody exit and let him do it? How stupid do you have to be? How many times do I have to save you before you get it that you have to start saving yourself?” I
felt the first sob shake my chest as I stared into his violet eyes, but he was oblivious. “I can’t wait to get there and finally be done with constantly watching over you.” I just shut my eyes and turned my face, the sob rising in my throat, but he kept going. “You’re just like Clara. Selfish. You don’t care about whose life you’re ruining by being in it, you just care about what you need and what you want.” He pounded his fist on the brick wall by my head to accentuate his angry point. The tears fell from my eyes, but I just stayed right there. I wasn’t scared. I knew he wasn’t going to hurt me. He was just trying to get me to hate him, just like before. He didn’t want to feel anything and didn’t want me to either. He thought making me hate him would be easier because he wasn’t a good guy.

Didn’t he see how this was so much worse?

He sucked in few telling breaths that told me he knew I was upset. But he kept going, though some of his steam was gone. “You’ve got to think. There are forces bigger than us. You can’t just…feel whatever you want. You can’t just do whatever or go wherever… You can’t just make people fall for you.”

I opened my eyes and looked up at him, totally getting it then. He was angry that he learned I wanted him. But why would he care unless that meant he…

He was still so angry, the veins still standing out and vibrant against his pale skin, but he gently swiped under my eye with his thumb and sighed, stirring the hair at my temple.

“How are you not running screaming from me right now?”

My breathing was choppy, but I tried to make it steady. “I trust you.”

He cursed and leaned c
lose, his forehead pressed against mine. “Bloody hell, Fay. Don’t make me fall for you,” he whispered and I sucked in a breath.

“You hate me,” I mused.

He chuckled, still sounding so angry, but opened his eyes and looked right into my soul. “I am so far away from hating you.”

I couldn’t help but laugh a
little at that statement. It was a nervous, scoffing, strange sound. He leaned back just a smidge with a smile on his lips. The blue veins were almost all gone now. He sighed and surprised me by cupping my face. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?”
              I shook my head. “No.”

He pressed his lips together
and gently let my face go. “I saw almost the whole thing. You…did good.”

“It didn’t sound like I did good just now.”

“Devourers are jealous, temperamental, biased, and jealous creatures.”

I tried to hide my smile.
“You said jealous twice.”

“It deserves to be there twice.”
He grinned. “Don’t piss off a devourer who has his sights on someone.”

“Sights?” I asked, but didn’t look at him as we walked back to the car. He didn’t elabo
rate so I continued. “Okay, so devourers are jealous and temperamental.” I met his eyes over the top of the car. “So what does any of that have to do with the fact that some random guy put his hands on me?”

A couple blue veins shivered in his neck. “Don’t even say that,” he growled. “And it has to do with
the fact I don’t hate you, princess. Get in.”

I smiled and did as he asked. We drove the short distance across the lot to the hotel and got back out. I said I needed a shower and went to do just that. I washed my clothes in the sink since I’d been wearing them for two or three days now. I had lost count. I hung them on the rack and put the robe on, opting to sleep in that for the night. He eyed me when I came out. I hooked my thumb over my shoulder. “I had to wash my clothes. Hopefully they’ll be dry by morning.”

He didn’t hide the fact that he was eyeing me, foot to head, his stare lingering on my legs and feet.

“You should turn in,” he said gruffly and l
eaned his head back on the crummy chair, closing his eyes.

“Thanks for your help with that guy tonight, for what it’s worth. Goodnight.”

I flicked the light off by the bed and crawled under the covers. I heard him sigh and shift around. “You’re welcome.”

She was having a nightmare, but was almost awake. Her breathing was changing and I knew it was almost over. I wanted to wake her. I hated to feel her fear; it wasn’t as bad feeding off her sorrow though and honestly,
I needed to feed when I could. So I sat in the chair and soaked up her anxiety, hating every single second of it. I gripped my fists tighter on my thighs, hoping she would wake up soon.

But she kept right on dreaming. The longer she dreamt, the guiltier I felt. Finally, I could take it no longer and went to shake her awake. She gasped and grabbed my collar. Looking down into her eyes, I waited for her to understand that the dream was over and reality was here. Unless she had been dreaming about me and I was the monster. Then she would never wake up, would she?

But she sighed and pulled me down, hugging my neck. My entire body tightened out of reflex. I had never hugged anyone of my own accord, not even women I was trying to feed from. Hugging wasn’t something that came with that. But she seemed to want it, need it even, so I let my elbow rest on the bed to hold me up and lifted a little to look at her. She was crying. “Ah, love, what’s wrong?”

She smiled a little through her tears. “It’s really cute when you say ‘love’.”

I lifted up and pulled her up with me, moving to the chair. She seemed a little taken aback when I put her in my lap, but sniffed and settled in. I rubbed her back and when she sighed, I sighed. There was something oddly satisfying about knowing she was contented. “Now. What’s wrong? What was your dream about?”

“It’s stupid,” she muttered under her breat
h and rubbed her nose. That adorable little nose…

“It’s not,” my voice answered gruffly.

She looked up then, her eyes still wet. “Clara was in a big field and when I tried to walk toward her…she kept getting farther and farther away. When I yelled her name, she turned and ran, like she didn’t want to see me.”

“Sounds like some
one is letting their fears rule their dreams.”

She looked down and watched as my thumb passed over the hump of her knee, over and over. I hadn’t even realized I was doing it. “I
’m afraid she won’t want to see me. I was awful to her.”

“I was awful to my brother,” I said and shrugged. “It’s what siblings do.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Why don’t we get there and see where you’re at with her before we throw in the towel, yeah?”

She eyed me and cocked her head to the side. “You can be really sensible when you want to be.”

“Sensible is my middle name.”

She laughed softly at first and then picked up steam, leaning forward with no choice but to buckle into my chest.
              “Hey, now,” I said good-naturedly and poked her ribs.

She just laughed harder and it was too good to pass up when I realized how ridiculously ticklish she was. She tried to hold my hand down, but I was so much stronger than her. I let her see that, easily pushing her hands away and going in for the kill. “No, no, no,” she begged and giggled.

Her face fell into my neck, the warm air puffing from her lips against my skin as she tried to catch her breath. The robe covered her body completely, but I could still feel her under the robe, her ribs under my hands. If she were the devourer in this situation, she’d be tasting my want right now. I couldn’t help myself as I leaned my face closer, smelling her hair. Mmm, that shower of hers last night did wondrous things to her smell. She hit her fist against my shoulder, pressing it there, but then she stopped fighting me. I realized I had stopped tickling her and we were just staring at each other.

She licked her lips and was so close that when she breathed out of her parted lips, it hit my own
exhale. I groaned, unable to help it. Her eyes widened a smidge, but she didn’t back away. I waited for her fear to come, but it never did. Before I knew it, her want and yearning were mixing with my own.

I
smoothed her cheek and found myself marveling at how this human was changing me. She wasn’t just soft, she was soft-hearted and kind. I sighed heavily. “Do you feel better now?” I looked down and let my hand fall.

She surprised the hell out of me by
picking my hand up and putting it back onto her cheek. “I do feel better, because of you. Thank you. Why do you do that?”

“Do what?” I asked with an astonished laugh, but still let my thumb coast across her cheekbone.

“Why do you always run? Act like…you don’t feel anything?” She looked as though she wanted to turn away, embarrassed, but she was being brave. If she was going to be brave, then so could I be.

“
Because I’m not good for anyone. It doesn’t matter how much I might want you. It’s not a good idea, Fay.” She seemed surprised that I actually answered her question. “You asked.” I quirked a small smile.

“I did.”
She leaned further into my touch and smiled a little. “You’re not as bad as you think you are.”

“You just don’t know me,” I said easily.

“Yet,” she said, hard and steady, daring me to contradict her.

“Why do you want to?” I felt me brow lower in genuine
curiosity. “You know I’m a monster, right?” I could hear my voice lowering in anger as I went on, but I tried to keep it steady. “I was made to be evil, Fay.” I gritted my teeth, knowing how I laughed and scolded Eli for having this exact conversation with Clara. “Don’t try to find goodness where there is none.”

“Evil didn’t save me when he could have walked away.
” I opened my mouth, but she pressed her fingers over my lips. “Evil didn’t save me last night, either.”

It was the first time I could remember ever wanting to be something else. I would have given anything to be good in that moment, to be someone worthy of her. I let myself have this small piece of time that would flit away into the nothingness when we reached her sister and Clara told
her who I really was. Once she heard it from her sister’s mouth, she wouldn’t deny it any longer. She’d hate me then as Clara does. But for this moment, I just wanted to pretend that I could be what she needed. I took her face in my hands, knowing they were too rough against her soft skin.

She sat pliable and willing, waiting for me to make a move, to say something, anything. I didn’t deserve that kind of devotion and adoration, especially not from Fay, but I still wanted to pretend. “I don’t think I’ve ever met someone so soft.”

“You’ve met a lot,” she remarked evenly.

“I have. This is the first time in my life that I wish I hadn’t.” The surprise washed over her face and I continued. “But I am what I am. I’m not a good guy. I’m a demon who’s messed up more times than I can remember. I eat fear, Fay.” I shook my head, hoping she understood. She just watched me. “Will you please stop looking at me like that and say something.”

“Looking at you like what?” she asked and her eyes fluttered a little when my fingers curled under chin.
              “Like you don’t believe that I’m evil. Like you think I’m savable.”

“
I
know you are. It’s just a matter of getting
you
to see it.” She moved her hands to my chest and this was bad. This was so bad.

We were just feeding off each other’s energy at this point, no pun intended. We barely knew each other, but being stuck together these past few days and all the talking we’d done had brought us closer than I had wanted. And when you save someone, they get a hero complex s
ometimes. Well, I saved her several times. She was attracted to me. I had so many variables working against me. There was no way she wanted me for just me. How could she? It was this devourer’s body and what I was made to do, drawing her in. The one time I didn’t want to snatch up a female and I couldn’t seem to stop wanting to reel her in.

“Fay,” I said, but it was more of a growl. She smiled, but it was so genuine and willing it made my chest ache. “Fay, don’t. It’s just an illusion to trick you, to make you trust us and believe that you’re safe when you’re anything but.”

I went to scoot her up, but she gripped tighter to my shoulders. “I’m sure that most devourers are that way. And I’m sure you used to be that way. You told me so. You’ve told me the truth the entire time, not even sparing my feeling,” she scoffed. “When someone wants to change or goes through something that makes them different…it doesn’t matter what they were, it only matters what they want to be.”

I
let my thumbs caress her cheeks and balked at that revelation. “It can’t really be that simple to humans, can it?”

“Why not?”

“Because the rest of the world is anything but.”

She squirmed a little, settling more on my lap. I held in my groan just barely before she asked, “We’ll be there today, won’t we?”

“Yes,” I whispered. “And then the illusions you have of me will be over.” I let my hands fall to my lap and patted her sides, trying for a smile. “Clara will be sure to set you straight about me, don’t worry.”

“I’m the older sister,” she insisted and finally lifted
herself from my lap. I felt her absence as a relief and a burden at the same time. “I’ll handle her. I just really want to see her.” She smiled, but looked as if she could cry, too.

“Well
, go get dressed. Today will be…interesting.” I wasn’t sure if I needed to find a witch’s stone to get into the camp or not. “I need you to keep an open mind.” I got up and looked in her eyes, holding her chin. “I need you to stay calm and just follow my lead. I’ll keep you safe and I’ll get you there. You’ll see some things that won’t be normal, but you’ll be okay.”

She smiled, looking
a little dazed like they usually did and I hated myself for using persuasion on her, but knew it was best. “Okay, Enoch.”

“Okay, Fay.”

She smiled, back to herself so quickly. “I kinda like it when you say my name with your accent.”

“Most women do,” I said
sarcastically and leaned back against the wall. She stopped and looked back, noticing my tone. I waved her off. “Nothing, princess. Let’s get going.”

She nodded, but
I could tell that she hated the thought she’d insulted me somehow. I wiped my face with my hands. How was I going to survive this human girl who was turning me into such a pansy?

Once we got
dressed and on the road, I told her we’d stop in between breakfast and lunch for something to eat if that was fine. It seemed like all we did was stop and cater to her human needs in some form or another. I was growing tired of the anxiousness building in my gut. Ready to find Eli and the rebels, I wanted to get there as quickly as possible. Rebels being what they were, they didn’t have any phones or cells. Fay said the last thing she had from Clara was a letter telling her where she was going, but she hadn’t heard from here since. That was months ago right after the wedding.

“She’s not ignoring you,” I told her, “they just don’t have any phones where they are.”

“How is that possible? Everyone has phones.”

“Not idiots who join groups who move to the middle of nowhere and take up arms for the greater good,” I mumbled under my breath.

“I heard that,” she hissed and turned in her seat. I rolled my eyes and kicked myself. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Nothing.”

“No, not this
nothing
stuff. You don’t get to blow me off—”

“I can,” I insisted. “Now let me drive in peace.”

She huffed. “Don’t start being grumpy Enoch again. Do you need to feed again already?”

I glared at her for longer than I should have.
“Really?”

“Watch the road!” She leaned over in my lap and grabbed the wheel. “Enoch, don’t be a lunatic,” she scolded as she leaned back in her seat.

“I’m only a lunatic when it comes to you it,” I groaned my annoyance. But for some strange reason, she took that as a compliment. Her cheeks bloomed and her fingers fidgeted as her lips opened. I stopped her by interrupting with, “And don’t even try to cover that up, princess.”

She huffed a surprised breath, as if she didn’t know what to do next. “I don’t know what to do with you sometimes, Enoch.”