My body tensed when I told him about the Mohiri and the demon inside me. I’d come to accept and care for my Mori, but I remembered the fear and revulsion I’d felt when Nikolas had told me what I was. I couldn’t bear it if Greg looked at me that way.

He wore an expression of disbelief as he looked from me to Roland and Peter who smiled and nodded reassuringly. I waited for the truth to sink in and for him to recoil from me, not that I would blame him. I just hoped he would get used to the idea eventually and we could stay friends. That was why I’d wanted to ease him into this slowly. It was a lot for anyone to take in.

His face paled a bit when he realized I was not joking, but he showed none of the abhorrence I’d expected. Encouraged, I continued to tell my story with Roland and Peter’s help. Greg listened quietly when we told him about the events leading up to me leaving New Hastings, and it wasn’t until I got to the part where everyone had believed I was dead, that he finally spoke.

“That was one of the roughest days of my life.”

The emotion in his voice caught me off guard. I swallowed past a lump in my throat, amazed I’d gotten this far without crying. “I’m sorry, Greg.”

“Wasn’t your fault.”

I didn’t reply. I wasn’t responsible for the things the vampires had done, but a lot of the other happenings in Maine were consequences of things I’d done. I had a lot of regrets from that time, and my biggest one was hurting Nate and my friends with my lies. That was why I wanted to be completely honest with Greg, even if it meant risking our friendship.

He rubbed the back of his neck and let out a puff of air. “So you’re a demon and a faerie?”

“I’m half faerie. And I’m not half demon; I have one demon inside me. There’s a big difference.”

“Okay,” he said slowly. He looked at Roland and Peter. “And you two are werewolves?”

“Yes,” Roland answered.

“I see.”

“Greg, you’re taking this a lot better than I thought you would.” Maybe he was in shock and he just wasn’t showing it. Or maybe he thought we were all nuts.

His gaze swung back to me. “I admit, it’s not every day you hear your friends aren’t human, but...”

It was something in his eyes and his voice that made me understand his quiet acceptance. “You’ve seen things, haven’t you?”

He hesitated before he nodded.

“What?”

His expression darkened. “Enough to know you’re not messing with me.”

“I wouldn’t do that to you.”

“I know.” He reached over and took my hand, surprising me again. Greg wasn’t an affectionate person. The last time I’d seen him touch someone was when he’d grabbed another boy by the shirt front for bullying Jeffrey Crumb at school. “If you’re supposed to be hiding from vampires, what the hell are you doing in LA?”

“That’s where the story gets more interesting.” I told him about Westhorne, the vampire attacks, and our journey to LA. I didn’t say a lot about Nikolas because it was hard to talk about him. Greg seemed to understand and didn’t prod me about it, although I could tell he was curious.

“So let me see if I got this right. You have a demon inside you, but you can fry other demons by touching them?”

“I don’t think ‘fry’ is the right word.”

Jordan snorted. “She made a lamprey demon explode once. Totally awesome, but gross.” She went on to describe it in detail. “And she can paralyze vampires long enough to stake them or chop their heads off.”

I made a face. “Thanks for that colorful description, Jordan.”

“Anytime.”

“Does this power work on all demons?”

I nodded. “I started out with small demons and I’ve used it on a few vampires. I did kill one vampire with my power, but he was new. It’s harder the older the vampire is, and I’ve never tried to use it on a large demon.”

“That’s amazing.”

I smiled. “It comes in handy.”

He studied me quietly for a long moment. “And now you are on a mission to find your mother and make her tell you about this Master who’s after you? Did I miss anything?”

“I think that sums it up.”

He leaned forward and waved at the others. “Can I ask why these three have blood on them and you don’t?”

I made a face. “We ran into three vampires, and we had to take them out. They did all the dirty work.”

“Jesus.” He sank back against the cushions. “To think I used to worry about you walking home after school.”

Roland chuckled. “Dude, you should have seen Foley after she kicked his ass.”

Fighting with Scott was not something I was proud of, especially since I’d used my Mori strength against him. If his friend Ryan hadn’t been there, God knows what I might have done to him. “That’s not funny, Roland. I really could have hurt him.”

“Scott is an asshole,” Greg said scornfully.

After all I’d learned, I didn’t think Scott was as bad as they made him out to be. But it would be futile to try to convince Greg otherwise. I was more concerned with how Greg was handling all we’d dumped on him in the last hour. I could only imagine the thoughts that must be going through his mind after everything he’d learned tonight.

I turned to him and found him giving me a pensive look. “What are you thinking about?”