~excerpt from book #2 of the Daemons of San DeLain
“See you then.” Kage
disconnected the call and looked at Austin. “Hey, babe.”
“What’s an arachne?”
Of course Austin would
ask that, especially after hearing Kage didn’t like them. His cock went into
hiding at the subject. “An arachne is a paranormal who can create strong webs,
just like real spiders can do, when they shift.”
“When they shift? Wait.
Wait. There’s a paranormal who can turn into a spider? Really” Then the
excitement drained out of Austin’s face and he paled. “Oh my God. They can
shift? Oh my God. I’m never
killing a spider again! Jesus, Kage, why haven’t you told me this?”
Kage rested his hand on
Austin’s knee. “Babe, they don’t shift into what you’re thinking of. They’re still
human sized with some features of a spider.”
“Features?” Austin’s
eyes widened, then he shivered. “Oh. Features. Oh, wow. Whoooo boy. That’s,
ah, that’s kind of disturbing.”
“I agree.” Did he ever.
“They’re also capable of changing humans by biting them so they can propagate
their species, but most humans die instead of turning.”
“That’s, ah,
counterproductive.”
“It’s why there are so
few of them—only three worldwide. They can also poison humans through their
bites, turning a human’s insides to liquid and sucking them dry.”
“Yuuuck. That’s so
gross. Did I say yuck? Because yuck.” Austin shuddered. “That’s a visual I
didn’t need, thank you.”
“It’s disturbing, I
agree. And like regular spiders, they can spin webs too, like I mentioned, but
their spinnerets are on their forearms. They may or may not use a web to trap their
prey. No one knows for sure, because no one living has ever seen one of
them feed.”
Austin’s shoulders
practically drew up underneath his ears, and he shivered hard. “Nope. No thank
you. That’s one paranormal I have no desire to meet.”
Kage grimaced. “I
assume you overheard mine and Hudson’s conversation?” Since Kage had started
feeding Austin his blood, Austin’s senses had become enhanced.
“Yeah. At least from when
I came in here. Sorry. I’m still learning how to not hear things I
shouldn’t.”
“It’s not a problem,
and it takes time. You’ll get there. So, you did hear Hudson and me
talking about a neutral meeting place and who could offer it?”
“Yes.”
“If Isadora is willing,
we’ll most likely have the meeting at her restaurant, which means you will
most likely meet her.”
