Demon Blood

creatures who will bring that destruction about.”
    Speechless, Taylor shook her head. And though she tried, Taylor could not find the point at which the argument fell apart. If more humans knew about vampires, many of them would choose to become immortal, and demons could kill humans after they transformed. It all made a twisted kind of sense, but was so wrong .
    A layer of Anaria’s harmonic voice deepened in sympathy. “I understand why this troubles you. Certainly you have vampire friends. But you should not let your emotions cloud your judgment.”
    Un-fucking-believable. “And I suppose Khavi’s prophecy, which states that vampires will be the downfall of your children, has not clouded your judgment at all?”
    “Of course not.” Anaria’s brow furrowed delicately. “Nothing that Khavi predicts is certain, and moreover, she is a liar. She foresees much more than she tells anyone, and manipulates everyone to her end. Her prophecy concerns me not at all.”
    That rang far too true. Khavi had predicted Taylor’s death at the hands of a vampire, but had not prevented it. For several months, Taylor had wondered and suspected that Khavi had put the events into motion that led to her death, simply so that Michael would have someone as a tether.
    Anaria watched her face. “You know this is true,” she said.
    “I don’t.”
    With a sigh, Anaria shook her head. “Do not try to lie. Truth was once my Gift, and I still see it clearly.”
    Well, shit. Taylor looked away from her as two of the nephilim strolled by. She glanced back at the grigori, who was smiling at them, her eyes shining with love.
    “They will be humanity’s saviors. First, from the vampires. And when I take the throne in Hell, they will ensure that humans only choose love and kindness, saving all from the tortures of the Pit. Can you not see them as I do?”
    Taylor thought it prudent not to answer that one. “Which one is the savior who killed the two vampires in London?”
    “Do you think I would tell you, when you so clearly wish to do him harm? You have nothing to fear from them—I have told them never to slay a Guardian, unless they must to defend themselves. And I have stressed that you in particular are not to be harmed. Can you not make the same promise in return?”
    Though her gentle expression didn’t change, a note of steel had entered Anaria’s voice. The mother, in full-on protection mode. Taylor stepped carefully.
    “I don’t have enough skill with a sword to harm any of your children.”
    Anaria relaxed and seemed to take that as a promise. “That is true.”
    Taylor hesitated, then ventured further. “The humans whose bodies they’ve taken . . . Do you think that—”
    “My children are in control.”
    Anaria anticipated her, which told Taylor this wasn’t the first time the question had come up. All right. So throw something unexpected at her.
    “So he meant to rape the vampires in London? I thought you only needed them dead. Not violated.”
    But Anaria’s eyes didn’t so much as flicker. “My children are new to their physical forms. They have been imprisoned for more than two thousand years, and have had little opportunity to experience what humans take for granted.” She paused. “And the vampires were not forced or tortured.”
    “Threatening someone’s life until they acquiesce is still force.”
    “That is not what happened.”
    Oh, Jesus . Taylor felt sick as she realized what that meant. “And you think that is okay ?”
    Anaria gave her that infuriating speaking-to-a-child expression again. “My children are only spirit. They are living proof that a body is only a vessel, and without psychic energy to fill it, that vessel becomes empty. You are letting your emotions and your human sensibilities cloud your judgment again. My child did no harm.”
    “Except for murdering them.”
    “ Slaying them,” Anaria said. “Even more necessary to humanity’s survival than slaying the demons.”
    There was no point in arguing there, Taylor realized. Anaria was absolutely convinced that the vampires were a cancer that needed to be eradicated. But to say that a body was just a meatsack, that it meant nothing to violate it? No. And this time, she wasn’t left speechless.
    “Then why do I have Michael’s body in my cache if it is merely a vessel?”
    Khavi had explained it to her: His soul manifested as flesh in Hell, but his physical form matched the resonance of his psyche and completed the