The Company of Fiends (Tempting Monsters, #2)

by Kathryn Moon

Mrs. Elliston, who'd come to clean our flat every other Wednesday, had once told me it was God's gift to women that He didn't let men's desires rise again when they'd just been satisfied, otherwise women would never get a chance to learn that our feet were for standing.

"My mother was a nymph," I said. "She left me at my father's door." Mr. Reddy nodded slowly and hummed. "Flighty little creatures. Very commitment averse. Incredible fucks."

The truth was, those two brief experiences of sex had taught me only one thing—I wanted more. I wasn't even sure why. I hadn't moaned or giggled like the women here at the theater. I hadn't sweat and rutted like Mr. Reddy. I'd liked being touched. I'd liked the wonder on the young men's faces. No one had ever looked at me that way before, awed and thrilled, like I was exactly what they'd hoped for.

My lips curled up at the sight of the joyous, beaming faces pressed together, watching us, adoring us. Those faces, those stares, the cries for more…the audience was why I was still here after all these years.

there was a kind of power in being able to say no without any consequence, not even a cold shoulder.

At first, it had been a relief to have the freedom to leave the flat and wander the city, to not only care night and day for my father. Lately though, home was just the place I took a few hours each night to rest. The privacy was wonderful compared to backstage, but there was a downside I was reluctantly discovering. Loneliness.

The theater protects its own, humans and monsters alike.

"I want to be erased," I breathed, blinking up at him. "Never," Antin murmured back. "But you can be remade."

"You're a very rare woman, Hazel Nix," Hunter said, hands sliding under his shirt and up my back to draw me closer. "Someone so precious ought to be loved by many."