I glanced at Ren. Had he bought this food for me, the human he was going to purchase tonight? Did this mean he wasn’t going to kill me immediately? Did he…did he care?
He met my gaze, and I looked away quickly from those assessing green eyes.
“Go on,” he said teasingly. “Ask the question on your mind.”
“Why—” I started. “Why do you have food?”
He smiled that wide, feral smile. “Because I eat food. Sheesh. It’s like you have no idea what I am.”
I stared at him unabashedly this time, forgetting that I probably wasn’t supposed to. A vampire who ate food? That wasn’t a thing.
His gaze sharpened. “Oh, I see. You don’t know what I am. That bastard didn’t even warn you, did he, after I returned you to your table?”
“He never really told me anything,” I muttered, shrugging.
“I’m not a vampire,” Ren said, his eyes back on the road. “I’m a Baphometic Demon.”
Chapter 8
Ren’s words meant almost nothing to me.
A Baphometic Demon? I dug through my tired mind for hints. Baphomet was…something related to hell and the devil. Demon… well, that could mean many things. Vampires referred to themselves as “demons” sometimes. Did he mean he was a type of vampire? Or something else entirely? Was that why they seemed scared of him? Was that why he could hurt them?
“You are seriously frustrating,” he said, the words bordering on a whine.
That seemed unfair; I’d been a good little girl for him so far.
“Your eyes are wide,” he went on, “but you aren’t scared right now. You’re surprised, maybe? You have no idea what you just got into a car with, and you’re sitting there like it doesn’t matter.”
“It doesn’t,” I said. He’d startled the words out of me.
He sighed. He seemed to like sighing.
“Don’t you want me to explain?” he asked.
I didn’t say anything.
“Aren’t you curious?” he tried again.
I closed my eyes, bracing my hands on the smooth leather seat beneath me.
“What if I’m dragging you back through one of the dark portals to my home, where I’ll torture you and kill you slowly before eating you?”
He glanced at me and rolled his eyes at my lack of reaction, but he seemed curious and amused rather than truly annoyed. His eyes weren’t flashing or clouding over like they had earlier with Jenna or the Origin staff.
“I’m not, by the way,” he added. “My realm isn’t a good place for humans.” He shook his head. “Why aren’t you talking? Or eating? No one warned me humans were so frustrating.”
A tiny laugh escaped my lips involuntarily.
He glanced at me again. “If I ask you direct questions, will you please answer them?”
“Sure,” I choked out, surprised by his polite question.
“Okay, I’m getting somewhere. Why did you laugh just now?”
“Irony,” I said. “You want me to talk when your kind spent a year beating that inclination out of me.”
He bristled, and the car seemed to get darker for just a moment. “I’m not a vampire,” he repeated, “and I won’t beat you for talking.”
“How about for not talking?” I asked.
“Not for that, either.” He glanced at me again. “You’ve known vampires for only a year?”
“Yes. Exactly a year, actually. I was taken on my eighteenth birthday.”
“Why did your master sell you?”
I shrugged. “I guess he got sick of me. Wasn’t worth the trouble anymore.”
“Trouble?” His tone was interested. “Are you troublesome?”
I snuck a glance at him, but his eyes were fixed on the road. “Maybe a little. I don’t know.”
I haven’t decided yet whether being troublesome will help me or hurt me.
His lips curled into a small smile, revealing those canines again. “Glad to hear it. I don’t mind a little trouble.”
I swallowed, the bottom dropping out of my stomach. I had no idea what that meant.
“Are you from around here?” he asked.
“No.”
“Would you like to go home?”
Pain shot through me, so powerfully and quickly that tears sprang into my eyes. The question had caught me off guard, and I hated that. I gripped the edge of the smooth seat under me, trembling.
“Why would you ask that?” I whispered.
He shrugged. “I’m trying to understand you. You’re the first human I’ve spoken to like this in a while. So…closely. I’m not used to it.” He paused. “Why aren’t you asking any questions?”
“I learned pretty quickly that asking a vampire questions isn’t allowed.”
“I’m not a vampire.” He was obviously sore about this point.
“You said it yourself,” I ventured, “I don’t know what you are. Whatever rules you have, I don’t understand them yet. Humans have this thing called ‘self-preservation.’ It keeps us alive even when we don’t want it sometimes. I’m using it now by not doing anything to annoy the strange creature sitting next to me.”
He smiled. “You are annoying the strange creature by not talking or eating or sleeping or asking questions or doing any of the things I expected a human to do.”
“Sorry,” I said.
He glanced at me, those pretty eyes pinning me. “You want rules?”
“Yes,” I said, because that had been a direct question.
He chuckled— a low, throaty, growling sound. “Sorry, I don’t have any for you. That’s sort of a demon thing. I’m averse to creating arbitrary sets of rules—or adhering to them.”
Great. No way to anticipate him. Vampires loved rules. They had heaps of them, some arbitrary, some not. Ren would be different.
I cleared my throat. “So how am I supposed to know what might anger you?”
“How do you know what will anger a vampire?” he asked.
“They tell me.”
“Hmm.” His expression was thoughtful. “How do you know what will anger a human?”
I shrugged. “That’s harder. I’d have to get to know them.”
His thoughtful expression vanished, melting into a grin. “Ah, yes. So get to know me.”
“That’s, um, a risk,” I said. I glanced at him. He raised his brow at me, inquiring. “You see, I am human. I grew up with humans. I know things about them. I can, um, navigate those conversations because I can read a human’s reactions. I know what generally makes humans happy or unhappy. I’ve never met a…Baphometic Demon. What if I offend you? What if I say something wrong? What if your reaction is to break my neck?”
He nodded as though what I’d said made perfect sense. “Okay, excellent. We’re getting somewhere.” He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel thoughtfully. “What if I promise to…be lenient? What if I understand that you are young and learning? Nineteen is young for a human, I think.”
“I don’t know what that means. What is ‘lenient’ to you?”