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He ignored her bad teht you a robe I thought youto cover you so that you can leave these chaarded it with an odd expression

"I’m sorry," she at last said softly

"What?" ’

"I’m not usually so bitchy" She lifted her head and offered a wry s angry is bad for ave a bees fluently, but he was beginning to suspect that Darcy spoke a language entirely her own

"Your kared "You know, my life force"

"Ah" Styx sht have had"

Her expression was more curious than horrified at the reer human

"You were a hu tiled to concentrate Hell, what le when there was a beautiful, half-naked wo so close he rapped in the scent of her war skin? "When a human istransformed into a vampire there is no memory of any past life"

"No e"

He s up a vampire in the first place"

"How did it happen?" She ran an absent hand through her short, spiky hair Styx had always liked long hair on women, but the style seemed to suit the tiny, pixie face Not to ave a delicious view of her slender neck "I mean, how do you become a vampire?"

Styx paused As a rule vae with others It wasn’t precisely a secret, but most demons were by nature secretive

In thisDarcy that neither his touch nor his bite would turn her into a vampire

"It only occurs when a vampire drains a human completely," he confessed "Most die, of course, but on rare occasions a huain There is no way to knohich human will survive and which will perish"

"So you were dead?"

"Quite dead"

Her brow furrowed as she attempted to accept the difficult truth "And now?"

"Now?" He shrugged "I live"

"For all eternity?"

He save a s over his words "And what about olves? How are they made?"

Styx frowned Her interest in the deet their hands on her was understandable, but he didn’t care for the thought of her brooding on the undoubtedly handsome Salvatore

"There are true olves, or purebloods, as they prefer to be called," he grudgingly revealed "They are born to a mated pair of Weres and are very rare Then there are curs They are hued to survive the attack They are far less powerful than purebloods and have little control over their instincts"

Darcy abruptly sat on the edge of the bed "So there are va around everywhere?"

Styx resisted the urge to join her on the bed As difficult as it ht be to admit, he was not at all certain he could depend on his once flawless control

It was downright ereat nu

"How many other demons?"

"Hundreds"

There was a sharp intake of breath as she regarded hi that he wasn’t being precisely coht He had a great deal to learn when it ca wo the memories of humans they encounter, and most demons can hide their presence entirely" He studied her intently "Besides, most mortals would rather convince theination"

She smiled, but it held such a deep sadness that it made Styx’s heart clench with an odd sensation

"I suppose that’s true enough," she whispered "No one believed me Even my psychiatrist refused to accept that I was truly different Not even when I showed him hoiftly I healed He swore it was no more than a parlor trick that I had concocted to draw attention to myself He said it was a sih Well, there was nothing like taking a bad situation and roup

"After you change will you join me in the kitchen for dinner?"