Demon Marked by Anna J. Evans Read Free Book Online Page B

killed that man.”
    â€œI get that, Emma. What I don’t get is why.”
    â€œThe aura demons feed on the pain and suffering of humans,” she explained. “When my parents offered me as a sacrifice when I was little, the demons made me like them. I need the energy of other people to—”
    â€œEmma, I’m sorry.” He had to stop this crazy talk before it went any further. “But I don’t believe in invisible demons. And I really don’t believe you’re some kind of life-sucking vampire—”
    â€œHow can you not believe in aura demons? Jace and Sam and your uncle—”
    â€œMy family and I are different in a lot of ways,” Andre said, digging out his wallet.
    It was time to leave some money for Emma’s coffee and go call Uncle Francis to take care of the body behind the bar. Emma clearly hadn’t killed the man. She was insane, but she wasn’t a killer. Still, she’d touched the corpse, so this had to be taken care of right away. The police would check for fingerprints, and Emma didn’t deserve to go to jail.
    And the Contis didn’t need a dead Death Ministry thug to be found behind a place of business where they had close affiliations—no matter what had killed the guy. It would be better for everyone if this body was never found.
    â€œI love my family,” Andre continued, throwing a twenty on the table. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t think they’re crazy.”
    â€œSo you think I’m crazy?”
    â€œMaybe confused is a better word.”
    â€œI’m not confused.” Her hands fisted in the napkins she had ruined, her anger apparent to anyone who cared to look. “I spent two years in a children’s hospital when I was a baby. I almost died three times before I learned how to get what I needed from the people around me. I have to—”
    â€œOkay, fine. You eat people. Can we go now?”
    â€œI don’t eat people; I—”
    â€œThen how does it work?” Andre asked, the part of him that had minored in psychology strangely intrigued. “How do you do this life-sucking thing you have to do?”
    â€œI ... I start off by touching the person. ...”
    â€œOkay.” He kept his face in the neutral position, an expression he’d mastered in his early years of practicing law.
    â€œAnd then I sort of reach into their mind, their memories, looking for all the bad things they’ve done,” she said. “When I find the bad stuff, I pull it out.”
    â€œWith your hands, or with—”
    â€œNo. Psychically. I psychically pull the bad deeds, the bad karma—whatever you want to call it—out of them and into me.”
    â€œAll right.”
    She sighed and drove her long, thin fingers through her hair. “You still don’t believe me.”
    â€œNo, I don’t.”
    â€œWell, you should,” she said, shaking her head in disgust at his lack of imagination. “My hands fucking glow while I’m feeding on people. I’m not making this shit up. Why would I?”
    â€œSo why don’t you show me?”
    â€œWhat?” She seemed as shocked as Andre felt.
    He had no idea why he’d thrown out the challenge. Did he want to prove to Emma that she wasn’t the freak she thought she was, or did he just want to know what it felt like to have her hands on him? He couldn’t answer the question, which should have made him get up and leave. But it didn’t. He stayed, meeting her eyes, watching her lips part in surprise as she struggled to understand what he was asking.
    â€œShow me the glowing hands,” he said. “Suck my bad deeds.”
    Wow. That had come out sounding filthy. Thankfully, Emma didn’t seem to notice.
    â€œAre you nuts? Haven’t you been listening to a thing I’ve said? I might have killed a man tonight because I took too much from him, and