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The strain of reed ers, but it didn’t help "I think I reht the Conroys came for my sister"

Dad nodded "You attacked theuess I didn’t win"

"Your grandfather laughed" Dad shuddered "And then he hit you with a spell that froze you into place" A snarl contorted his face "He told me to chain the little monster up next time"

"Why did he think I was a monster? You didn’t even knohat I was until now"

"He was certain you were spawn and that your sister would be pure human How he knew, I have no idea"

"Did Mom know?"

He shook his head "Of course not She would have told rief? Uncertainty? I had a sickening feeling that neither Dad nor I knehat Moain?"

"Sorcerers have ways of finding people no raphic location interferes with tracking spells andto your mother In the end, they still found us"

"It doesn’t e to put another crack in the kitchen table "Why did she have to wait eleven years?" And why didn’t she take e at which children start their arcane arts training"

"In other words, ic"

He nodded "Your mother was one of the best teachers"

"And eleven years is plenty of tiured I was too old for that"

Rage and sorroarred for dohtened, released, tightened, released, and he took several deep breaths as if he were perfor his own demons

I stood up as a sense of purpose roared into me I would rescue my sister and ain "I’ood de tos with private eyes?"

He shook his head "It’s tied him "Thanks"

He patted my back and squeezed me to him "I love you, son"

For once, I didn’t feel icky for saying it "I love you too, Dad"

We dus and put everything curbside then cleaned the house until the odor of sour beer hovered only faintly in the background, even to our enhanced senses The clock read three in the et so the day when it was safer for us to be out

Despite how tired I was, it took a while to fall asleep I have a sister! That ave uys who even looked at her, right? I was happy but nervous and full of dread all at the same time What if she didn’t like randfather had taken Ivy froh my mind, still blurry from Mom’s atteh to fill e I wanted a sister to protect and to love, and I would get her back from those monsters no matter the cost

But I had to face reality I was in over my head until Dad showed me how to use my abilities and I learned more about the Overworld All the tiirls, I’d never known a gang of people with fangs could kidnap me and use e people who’d watched me practice football Had they been va into humans and then into cats Mo froers Dad ure in a top hat chased h a black featureless wasteland

I jerked awake and couldn’t go back to sleep The breaking dawn seemed surreal Had the conversation with my dad actually happened? Was I really a demon with a sorceress for a mom? Did I really have a little sister?

A yuhts Food before philosophy, I always say Dad had s He srowled as I grabbed the plates and silverware

After breakfast, Dad explained a few basics to ured out on my own When I used th, I used up energy from what he called my psythus, or a psychic well The psythus is the equivalent of a psychic stoy leeched from others When I leeched, I actually took parts of a human’s soul and spirit from them Dad explained the tere separate, that even soulless beings had spirit His explanation about the two only confused me so I took his word for it If I fed too e the person’s soul to the point of no return and leave theht back to Victoria and the girls who I had co I told him my concerns but he assured h soul froe the" as he called the latching process Apparently I could feed off any sort of emotion, but as with food, every incubus had a different taste preference

"There are those who enjoy pain," he said "The things they’ll do to a person while they feed are horrific"