My nerves shot up. From her reaction alone, I already knew what kind of man President Belvini was, and I wanted to meet him even less than I did before.
A stern hand at my back pushed me through the doors, and my feet stumbled as I tried to straighten myself. The last thing I heard from Victor was a hissed behave before the door was shut, locking me inside.
The room was modern and sleek. A cleared desk with a single file folder on top of it sat near large, expansive windows. I nearly gasped at the sight of the bright sun and lush greenery. I hadn’t seen the outside in what felt like months. I had to physically stop myself from walking over to it and placing my fingers against the glass.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” a masculine voice in a clipped accent said to my left. I turned my attention toward him and felt my spider revolt.
I’d been in some fucked up situations since signing my life over to Spector, and my spider had reacted accordingly. But I’d never felt such an intense scattering within myself as I did right now. I took in his pressed suit and tall stature. Lorenzo Belvini’s face was smoldering handsomeness made up of sharp angles. You could have cut stone with his jaw and pointed chin. His cheekbones were high and defined, accenting the way the rest of his face seemed hollow and sunken in.
I took a deep breath, trying to scent him and pick up on what sort of supe he was, but the only thing I inhaled was sulfur. No woodsy shifter scent. No cool vampiric blood. No deadly musk of a necro or the sickly sweet magic of an elemental.
This man was one hundred percent demon.
“Are you done scenting me?” he asked with an arched brow as he stood up from behind the desk. “I’m guessing by the look of terror on your face, you’ve figured it out. I’m impressed. Most take longer to determine what I am.”
He took a step toward me, and I felt wave after wave of his dark energy course through me. Even my spider was uneasy. “Why am I here?” I asked while fixing my face in a stern, unconcerned expression.
He chuckled, a dark sound that made my stomach clench. “Brave little thing. I wonder...is it you that’s so hardened, or is it your demon? It’s such a beautiful phenomenon, the blending of powers. I do like to see what mixture comes out of it.”
He sauntered over to me with an outstretched hand. I looked down at it with trepidation, not sure what sort of demon he was or what a simple touch could do.
He smirked and instead gestured to the chair. “Please, have a seat.”
He walked back around his desk to sit behind it, and I took a moment to look around his office as I sunk into the chair. Minimalistic shelves hung on the wall to my left, and on top of them were gems and strange metals spaced perfectly apart.
“I’m a collector of sorts,” he said smoothly, as he unbuttoned the front of his suit jacket, like it would help him seem more casual.
I swept my eyes up and down his body. “I noticed. The dozens of hybrids downstairs sort of tipped me off.”
At my words, he tipped back his head and laughed. It was better than him killing me on the spot for mouthing off, but I still flinched at the sound, while he revealed his dazzling white teeth and sinister grin. “You’re a delight, Miss Coven,” he said, his laughter tapering off. “It will be such a shame to have to destroy your spirit.”
I tensed, my fingernails digging into the black leather of the armrests.
“Let’s get down to business, shall we?” he asked, flipping open the file in front of him.
My eyes flicked down, and I saw my school picture and basic information on the first page. The page on the other side had pictures of me in my cell here at Spector, as well as surveillance photos of me feeding off various humans.
“I was intrigued by your demonic rebirth,” Belvini said, flipping through the pages. “I’ll admit, some of my hybrids are favored more than others. But yours has a certain allure to it.”
“If sexual cannibalism is your thing, then I guess you can say it has tons of allure,” I deadpanned.
Another smirk broke across his face. “Indeed,” he agreed. “As it were, I think you can do great things here at Spector, but unfortunately, you do not seem to be acclimating. Instead, you are headstrong and belligerent, fighting my employees at every turn.”
I swallowed, but it was becoming harder and harder to remain stoic in his presence.
“You have a choice, Miss Coven. Fall in line and take your new role as a Spector employee. Follow orders. Be what our supernaturals need us to be—guardians to propel us into the future.”
“And if I don’t?” I asked, my hands shaking so badly that webs were spreading across my thighs.
He tsked at me. “If you don’t see reason and follow your new role as Spector’s employee, we will have to use other means to ensure you do what is required of you.”
He grabbed something from the file and flung it on the desk in front of me. I stared down at the photograph of Aunt Marie, and I forgot how to breathe. My ears started to ring, and my fangs punched down, puncturing my bottom lip as I raised glassy eyes back up to the demon.
“What did you do to her?” I couldn’t even recognize my own voice. There was shock, hurt, and dark menace lacing my words.
“Nothing. Yet,” he answered, watching me with his cold, fathomless eyes.
Stuck in terrified fury, I glanced back down at the photograph. My aunt’s red hair was blowing around her face as she walked from the mailbox back to the front door of our home. She looked gaunt and fragile, like she’d just
