“You want to be friends?” I ask quietly.
He grins and lightly squeezes my leg, sending shivers up my spine. “For now…yes. I think it’s a good place to start. Until we know each other better…until I’m able to better understand how separate you two are.”
“We’re not totally separate, you know…I can feel a lot of her emotions and sometimes I can make her do things.”
“But she doesn’t have your powers…or your memories?”
“No, not usually.”
“And you don’t have any of her memories?”
I make a face. “Not if I can help it.”
He laughs. “I take it you don’t really like her very much?”
I look back at the sky. I am so not interested in opening up that suitcase of emotional baggage. “Well, I do admit I’m a little jealous of her right now. She got to talk with you all day, but I don’t know anything about you.”
“What do you want to know?”
Where do you come from? Why are you here? Why couldn’t you tell Liora wasn’t me? Do you like her better? Why did you say you like me? Did you mean it?
“What’s your Brand?” I finally ask. Best to start with the basics.
“Latros.”
“No way. Really? That’s…whoa. I’ve never met one of your kind before.”
He shrugs modestly. “It’s no biggie. What are you?”
“Aequitas.”
His eyebrows shoot up. “A Justice demon? Wow, remind me never to piss you off,” he says, laughing. “No, seriously, that’s impressive, though.”
“Not that impressive. My sire mated with a peace-loving hippie or something ‘cause… well, you’ve met Liora—all soft and sweet and emotional.” I stick out my tongue in disgust.
“Yes, she is,” he whispers.
I groan and roll my eyes. “Well you’d think they’d at least try to be somewhat compatible when they reproduce. Having two complete opposites for parents doesn’t exactly make for the most well-adjusted demion offspring.”
He laughs again and lightly grazes my arm with his fingertips sending shivers up and down my spine. “I think you’re just fine.”
“Thanks for the endorsement. But what about you…Who do you work for?”
“I’m sort of a free-agent these days.” He subtly avoids my gaze, but there is a guarded change in his tone.
“How? I thought all tracker-demons belonged to someone. You’re like…the best of the best…”
“It’s complicated. I’ll explain it later.”
I narrow my eyes, trying to read his expression. True, there is much about the demon world I don’t know. Hiding beneath the veils of secrecy, illusion, deception and lies is our way of life. But I’ve always believed that Latros demons— highly skilled, extraordinarily gifted, and extremely lethal bounty hunters—always have a master they’re bound to; they have no say in it. But maybe I’m wrong. Wouldn’t be the first time.
I can tell that he’s uncomfortable, so I change the subject. “How are you gonna break the news to Liora about who you really are?” I ask, absently picking at blades of grass beside me.
He furrows his brow and gazes out to the valley. “I hadn’t quite thought it through…It wasn’t like I was trying to keep it a secret or anything, I was just trying to figure out what was going on with you...I mean, her.” Then he frowns, clearly troubled. “Do you think it’ll be a problem?”
I laugh, taking pleasure at his naiveté. “Well, I have some bad news for you, Loverboy. She hates all things demon, and that includes half-breeds like you.”
“You mentioned that, but I just assumed you meant our lifestyle. How can she hate demons when she is one?”
“Because Liora is not a demon. She’s one-hundred-percent pure human. The only demon she has in her is when I break through. And even that’s hard to do unless she wants me to do it, which isn’t very often.”
“So, you’re telling me she dislikes all demons and demions even though she shares her life and body with one?”
I let out a loud sigh and shake my head. How can someone who is so cute and supposedly so brilliant and talented be so dense? But I’m secretly pleased at his predicament. I already have to share my life with Liora. I don’t want to share Kieron with her, also.
“No, I’m not telling you she dislikes them, I’m telling you she hates them. She blames us for something awful that happened a while ago. Of course, it’s silly to hate an entire species for the actions of a few derelicts, but what can I tell you…she’s basically a big, fat, demon bigot. You’re deluding yourself if you think she won’t despise you if she finds out what you really are.” I know I sound smug, but I don’t care. It’s true.