Page 22 of Gray

“Can I ask you something?” Mason leaned forward, and my skin tingled. “How did you and those men track the manananggal? You had perfect timing.”

“That word’s such a mouthful, right? I have to pronounce it slow, like man-uh-nangle. Say it too fast and it gets jumbled together.” I thanked the waitress as she brought my orange juice and then took a drink, bouncing on the seat. “What were we talking about?”

Mason stared at me for a moment, saying nothing. He seemed amused by something. “The manananggal.”

“Oh, right.” I spoke softly so the people behind our booth wouldn’t hear, “We can sense monsters. Demons too. Call it a Spidey sense if ya will. Unless you have no idea what I’m talking about. Then just call it pure instinct. My brothers and I heard about the former attacks and sensed the manan-whatever-it-is right when she crossed into Echo Bay—”

“Those men are your brothers?”

I nodded. “Not blood related, but they’re my family. Our dads were really close, and when we were kids, we were kind of… well, forced together for a purpose, and we’ve been together ever since. They’re buttheads sometimes, but I love them.”

“What purpose?”

I studied him. One of my flaws was I trusted people too easily. I tended to blab about anything under the sun, completely disregarding boundaries. Just how my brain operated. Telling Mason that my brothers and I were the literal seven deadly sins, a curse given to us because of our bad-guy dads, might not go over well.

So, I chose to tell him a half-truth. “To fight demons. Nephilim are superstrong.”

“How many of you are there?” His sharp gaze reminded me of a hawk. Fitting for him, given his name. He was gathering intel. Why? In case he realized we were a threat?

“A few.” I took another drink of my juice. “Hey, I have a riddle for you. What needs to be broken before it can be used?”

“An egg.”

“Wow. That was quick.”

“You’re changing the subject.” Mason’s gaze remained pinned to me. What was he thinking? It was hard to read him. “Do I make you nervous?”

Butterflies fluttered in my belly before shooting up into my chest. “No.”

He definitely made me feelsomething. But “nervous” wasn’t it.

Our food arrived, putting an end to that line of discussion. Probably for the best. Mason seemed like a decent guy. He fought monsters and demons, so he clearly wasn’t teamed up with Asa. But. It wasbecausehe hunted monsters that gave me pause.

Would he want to hurt me too if he knew the truth about me? That I had a darker side. That I was the son of someone who was currently trying to destroy the world.

Yeah… best to keep that to myself.

“How old are you?” he asked.

I glanced up from where I was putting blueberries and banana slices on my waffle to make it look like a smiley face. “Um. Do you want my physical age or my real one? ’Cause I’m a lot older than I look.”

His lips did that twitching thing again, like he was fighting a smile. “Both.”

“Twenty-five,” I said, pouring maple syrup over the waffle. I cut into it and took a bite, bouncing as the sugary-amazingness exploded on my tongue. Raiden might’ve been Gluttony, but I loved food too. Especially if it had sugar. “As for my real age, well, I was alive to see gladiators fight in the Colosseum. I saw real-life Spartans. Kissed some of them too.” I grinned at the memory. “Oh, and I sailed with pirates. Chasing booty and all that.”

Mason nearly spewed his coffee.

“The treasure chest kind of booty,” I said, feigning shock. “Get your mind out of the gutter.”

He wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand. “So you’re an ancient soul trapped in the body of a twentysomething.”

“Yeah. Pretty much.” Three or so bites into my waffle, my lids began to droop a bit. My energy from the espresso was beginning to wane. “How old are you?”

“Thirty-three.”

“How did you learn about the supernatural world? Why did you become a hunter? How long have you been one? Do you like it?”

“Whoa, one question at a time.” Mason smiled. It quickly faded though as he dropped his gaze to his plate, moving the scrambled eggs around with a fork. “I learned about monsters the hard way. And it led me down this road. I’ll leave it at that.”