Demon's Hunger by Eve Silver Page A

strange."
    Yeah, he supposed she was, given her line of work. She dealt in the gruesome and the macabre. And yet, she retained an aura of artlessness—natural and unforced—that he found incredibly appealing.
    "Vivien, I'm sorry about your house."
    Her gaze snapped back to his, her eyes wide and a little lost. He felt that look like a blow to his gut.
    Pressing her lips together, she studied him for a moment, then said, "Thank you. I am, too. There were a lot of… memories in that house."
    Memories. He understood that. Understood sweet recollection that would only grow hazy in time.
    "You'll make new memories in a new house," he said, striving to reassure. The look on her face told him he'd fallen flat.
    "No, it isn't the house memories I was talking about. The truth is, I haven't lived there all that long. Just a few months."
    "Then what?" He pushed her mug of tea along the granite counter toward her.
    "The furniture, the rugs, the paintings. I don't really care. They were only things. I can buy new things." She turned the mug of tea, slowly spinning it round and round. "It's… the photos. And the stuffed teddy I won at an amusement park. The T-shirt I still had from my high school boyfriend. I never wore it or anything; I just liked knowing it was in the drawer." She shrugged and turned the mug again. "Nothing of value to anyone but me."
    Her soft statement kicked him hard. He knew about her high school boyfriend. He'd been incinerated in a car crash, the remains identified by dental records.
    Dain tapped his fingers on the countertop, wondering what the hell to say. He knew about loss, knew about pain, but he wasn't about to share a deep moment of commiseration.
    "So, uh, how did you end up working in forensic anthropology?" he asked.
    She glanced at him, her brows drawn together in a frown, and then she laughed. "Why does this feel like the horrible, strained conversation I had on my last blind date?"
    Dain smiled, then sent her an exaggerated leer. "Hey, baby, what's your sign?"
    "I said blind date, not pickup in a bar."
    "Get picked up in bars often?" he asked with a laugh.
    "No, I…" She paused, frowned, shook her head as though trying to grab a thought that kept slipping away.
    For a second, she looked incredibly lost and afraid.
    He half-reached for her, wanting to touch her, to reassure.
    "What about you? You get picked up often?" she asked, her voice falsely bright.
    He meant to throw out a line, something funny and charming that would make her laugh. Instead, he told her the truth. Because she didn't deserve a line.
    "No. I'm more of a lone wolf."
    She played with her mug a little more, then slanted him another of those sexy, sideways glances.
    His magic stirred and rippled, though he didn't summon it, and he tensed, wondering exactly what the hell was going on here. The damned demon bone he'd been carrying around lately must have really scrambled his senses, because Vivien was mortal, and mortals didn't call sorcerer magic.
    She looked away, toyed with her salad, then took a sip of tea, and the odd sensation inside him dissipated.
    "So you were going to tell me about your career path," he said, keeping his tone light.
    Laying her fork flat on the countertop, she stared at it for a long while. He thought she wouldn't answer, would keep her secrets to herself, and he was startled when she didn't.
    "My high school boyfriend, Pat. He died. MVA—motor vehicle accident." Her tone was flat. Emotionless. And it was in the lack of expression that he read her heartbreak. She didn't let herself feel. He understood that, understood her, because he, too, was adept at building walls, locking himself away.
    "Between the crash and the fire, there was almost nothing left to identify. They had to use dental records."
    She shook her head, lifted her fork once more, tapped the tines lightly against the rim of her plate. "A day after his funeral, I changed my course selection for my freshman year at college to include all the