by L. L. Frost
“Checking to see how seriously you messed up your energy core.” He lifts my hair once more, which is still blue-tipped, if a little faded. “The lack of wings worries me, but at least, you’re not completely ruined.”
My chin snaps up. “Excuse me?”
Still rough, he yanks me against his chest, his arms banding around me. “Shit, you scared me. That’s not the way to ditch your corporeal form. If you’d just listened to Landon’s plan—”
“Like you all did?” I snap, my voice muffled against too hot skin.
His physical body shouldn’t be in Dreamland. He’s a bright sensory overload for my system.
Dreamland seems to agree because the fog boils around us, the ground turning sticky.
“Um, guys?” Aren calls from a safe distance. “This isn’t a good idea.”
Kellen leans back to cup my cheeks once more. “Don’t worry, Landon is holding your energy core. He got it back from Julian.”
Anger flashes in his eyes again, and I dig my nails into his arms. “I gifted that to him. He didn’t take it.”
“You’re too sweet.” Kellen leans down the short distance between us to press his lips against my forehead. “But it wasn’t his to accept.”
A spark stings in the back of my mind, and suddenly, I feel Kellen’s thread again, his contract hooking into the ball of energy that makes me a succubus.
At my wince, his kisses my cheek. “There’s no escaping our contract. Run on the human plane or run here, we’ll find you.”
He kisses my other cheek, and ice snaps against my skin, burrowing deep, Emil’s link stabbing into my mind like an ice pick.
I whimper at the pain. Contracts aren’t supposed to hurt, but they’re also not supposed to be ripped free in the first place.
“One more, honey. You can handle it. You’re strong, even now.” His mouth slides over mine, the tongue that delves past my lips bringing with it the weight of landslides, the sting of fire.
Tobias’s thread burns a path into my mind, aggressive and unapologetic, just like the demon himself.
Beneath my feet, the ground shifts and rolls, locking around my ankles, then creeping up my calves.
It feels too much like the mist from the nightmare creatures, and panic flies through me.
Nervousness fills Aren’s voice. “Dude, you need to go. Now.”
Kellen ignores the baku, his mouth hot on mine, distracting me from the fear. “Don’t you ever”—kiss—“scare me like that”—kiss—“again. I am going to beat your ass red as soon as you’re back home.”
I groan and lean into him with a sigh of acceptance. The static from his body nips against my skin without sinking below the surface, but I ignore the small pops of pain. Kellen wants me back. Tobias and Emil want me back. Everything else seems surmountable.
“Seriously, man—”
Beneath us, the city heaves. Locked in place by the ground, my body whips backward but stays put.
Kellen, on the other hand, flies into the air only to be caught by an angry swirl of fog. He struggles, golden body and red hair vibrant against the monotone of Dreamland, but his strength and power mean little when pitted against an entire city determined to eject him.
“Give it up, man!” Aren trumpets from his own locked-in position. “Corporeal forms can’t exist here!”
Defiant, Kellen strains, pulling one arm free. Gray clings to his bicep as he reaches for me. Lightning jitters through the surrounding city, but the clouds absorb the energy.
With a yell, Kellen vanishes behind the gray mass, and a moment later, the city settles once more, fog smoothing out to rejoin the cityscape.
The stickiness around my legs seeps away, then firms beneath my feet, boosting me back up to ground level.
The same happens to Aren, who shakes his massive head, ears flopping. “Well, that hasn’t happened in a few centuries.”
I shake my head slowly. “What was that?”
“Mortal bodies aren’t compatible with demon realms.” Aren lifts one leg then the other, testing the ground. “He should have known better. It was foolish to challenge the higher-ups just to reaffirm your contract.”
I agree, no matter how happy it made me that he came here to bring me back. Life can’t be that easy, though. I didn’t even get any energy from our contract relinking.
I take an unsteady step toward the baku. “How was he able to reach Dreamland in the first place?”
“City made of clouds meets demon who controls weather. Not a huge leap of logic there.” Aren rolls his eyes. “But he underestimated Dreamland’s wards.”
I pluck at the threads that now bind me to the guys once more. They provide comfort as well as accentuate the aching emptiness inside me.
“You still want to go look at the other human?” Aren motions down the street.
Right. The mystery of the cocoons. I will my feet to move forward, but instead, I turn to the side, body angling unerringly toward my home. With the links came the knowledge of where my demons are, even if we’re on different planes of existence right now.
The ground shakes as Aren gallops over to join me. “Going back to the house now?”
“Yeah.” My stride lengthens. “Can you ask Tally to watch over the bakery for now? Julian might come for the imps, but until he does, they’re expected to continue to keep things running in my absence.”
Incredulous, Aren snorts. “You expect mischief imps to run your bakery?”
“For as long as they can before Julian reclaims them.” Hopefully, my cousin stays distracted and forgets about them for a little bit. “My bills are on auto-pay, so if Tally handles the deposits at night, things should be okay for a while.”
It’s a lot to ask of Tally and probably hopeless in the long run, but if I can find a way to power up faster than the first time I did this, then maybe the life I started to build won’t be completely gone when I return.
It takes three hours for Kellen to blink into existence in Dreamland once more. Faster than I expected him to settle after his fight with the city.
Did the struggle drain his energy? Or did he purposefully go to bed once he returned to the human plane?
Neither matter once his sleeping self appears. I seal my mouth over his almost before he fully forms, welcoming him back with eager hands and lips.
He mumbles a surprised welcome, finding my waist without error to drag me flush on top of him. The way this new body aligns with his is different, and not in a welcoming way. My breasts squish uncomfortably against his chest, our hips out of sync. His hardening length nudges at my lower stomach instead of at the hollow between my thighs. The way he touches me is different, too, the tingles less, the static missing.
My growl of frustration sinks into his mouth, a mouth less warm than I’m used to. Even his bare skin against mine feels wrong, the barely sheathed storm that usually rolls inside him tamed and dormant.
“It’s okay, baby,” he groans, his mouth dropping to my throat. “We’ll make this work for now.”
But it’s not working. I’m finally back in Dreamland, that part of myself whole for the first time since I left it too early. The feast I desire lays beneath me, pliant and willing, but it lacks substance. Like a picture of a cake instead of the dessert itself. Power trickles from Kellen into me, but it lacks life and vigor. Where are the thunderstorms that rattle my bones? Where is the lightning that burrows into my skin, claiming every part of me?
Right now, Kellen feels more human than demon.
“Come here, let me take care of you.” Strong hands urge me up his body, and I crawl over him until my knees rest on either side of his head, my center poised over his mouth.
The first lick of tongue sends pleasure through me, but not the electric passion that left scorch marks on his desk. It feels more like an echo of pleasure, a gauge to test how much he’s enjoying the moment.
I reach down, hand clenching in his fiery locks, and struggle to focus. Kellen’s good with his mouth. I shouldn’t be th
inking at all right now. But restless dissatisfaction has me pulling off him after only a minute, my attention shifting down his body.
He fists himself, his large hand pushing his hard cock to stand upright. “Want this instead?”
Nodding, I move to straddle his hips, sinking down onto him with a fluid grace I lack on the human plane. Power surges through me, carried by the pre-cum that joins my slick channel. A groan of relief escapes, and I plant my hands on his golden chest, my dirty talons a stark contrast against his hard pecs. Not wanting to think about that, I close my eyes, and my sense of touch heightens.
Kellen surges beneath me, my body giving easily to his thrusts, no friction, no resistance, just smooth movement. I drag in a deep breath, yearning for the scent of ozone missing from the air. All I smell is lust and the salt of sweat and cum. I can’t even smell the clay that still clings to my skin or my own heated desire.
Everything feels flat except for the desire to feed.
Hard hands grip my hips as Kellen groans, surging up into my body and freezing. Hot cum fills my core, hotter than anything else in Dreamland, and power rolls through me, finally bringing true pleasure. Only in his release do I truly feel.
My succubus nature takes hold, tendrils of power curling around Kellen’s softening length and bringing him back to full readiness in a heartbeat.
I don’t fight as he rolls me beneath his body, already moving again. Hopeless, my legs curl around his waist, my arms around his shoulders, holding onto him for as long as his dream will last, while inside me, the emptiness grows.
What Kellen feeds me here isn’t the storms that will destroy cities. It’s not even the life force I can steal from humans.
It’s simply lust, and it’s not enough.
Dreamland isn’t made for demons to feed off each other, and the energy that trickles into my core won’t be able to return me to my demons, not even with an entire lifetime of feeding.
“Oh, Boo, how am I supposed to yell at you when you look like that?”
I sniffle and peer up at Landon from my place in the center of Kellen’s empty bed. He vanished over an hour ago, his dream-self not even able to stay long enough to talk. Not his fault. Dreamland only gives visitors a few hours, and Kellen tried so hard to pump me full of energy that I didn’t have the heart to tell him it wasn’t going to work.
Now, Landon fills the doorway. He looks healthier than the last time I saw him, the hollows left from dumping his corporeal form and building a new one so quickly now filled in. His white hair shows touches of yellow where it curls slightly over his ears, softening the chiseled curve of his jaw and the strong line of his nose.
Lean muscles fill out his sweats and t-shirt, reminding me of roman statues that paid homage to masculine perfection. I forget sometimes, when I’m at his house, picking up the mess he refuses to sort out himself, that he’s actually beautiful.
I sniffle again, and pity fills his monarch yellow eyes. “This wasn’t the plan, kiddo.”
My gaze drops, arms tightening around my drawn-up knees. “I didn’t want you to have to do it. I didn’t want them to turn on you for destroying me.”
“People who eavesdrop are their own worst enemies.” He sighs and shuffles over to the edge of the bed. “If you were going to listen in, then you should have stayed for the entire conversation. There’s a way to shed a corporeal body without energy dumping, which you would have known if you’d waited long enough to talk to me.”
A pathetic laugh escapes. “So, I screwed that up, too. Shocking.”
Gently, he smooths his hand over my hair. “You’re in such a hurry all the time. But you’re young. You’re allowed to make mistakes.”
“My mistakes keep hurting people.”
“They do, and it’s good to be aware of that. It means you’re growing up.” His arm slips around my shoulders, pulling me against his side. Landon’s touch feels real here, filled with warmth and quiet acceptance, and my eyes sting all over again. “But you’re intention shines through, for better or worse. You care about people, and that means something.”
“Why?”
He doesn’t ask what I mean, only holds me tighter. “I spent over a millennium killing humans, draining them of their life force. Sometimes, I’d take entire families. And when I grew bored, I turned on my own kind. It didn’t matter where the energy came from, it only mattered that I could take it. It felt good. Very good. There’s something to be said for a life lived without guilt, without compassion. There’s no pain that way.”
When I glance up at him, he stares fixedly at the door, the muscle in his jaw jumping with an emotion I can’t quite see. But I feel the regret in the way he holds me close, as if afraid if he lets me go right now, I’ll leave, too disgusted by his actions. But I grew up on stories of Landregath the Great Devourer, even if I didn’t know that’s who my mentor was, and I’ve made my peace with the man he used to be.
He lets out a shaky sigh. “But slowly, things began to change. I lingered longer, witnessed the ramifications of my actions. It didn’t matter if someone’s parent, sister, brother died in ecstasy. That didn’t help the ones left behind. And then the industrial revolution began, and humans became interesting. Innovative. I’m sure they were before, but I didn’t notice. I was too self-involved before then. So much passion, and not just sexual. Nuances of the human psyche that I was slow to understand. It made feeding even better, more satisfying, but I learned self-restraint.”
His lashes fluttering as he peeks at me from the corner of his eye. “Who I was before wouldn’t have looked twice at a tiny ball of energy, formed from the weakest storm imaginable. I would have passed you by without a second thought. But the me who was learning to embrace all of the complexities of humanity couldn’t let you fade.” He rubs my arm. “I wanted you to be better than I was, to understand from the beginning what it took me too many killings to realize. I didn’t expect you to become a vegan, though. You continue to surprise me.”
I hiccup out a laugh. “Hey, I eat plenty of meat.”
“It’s the best I got.” He releases a put-upon sigh. “There’s no good word for a succubus who refuses to feed on humans.”
I sniffle and cuddle closer. “Humanegan?”
“That works.” He presses a kiss to the top of my head. “I can’t fix this one for you, Boo. I can return the energy you dumped on Julian, but it won’t be enough to cross back over.”
A thick knot forms in my throat, and I nod in understanding. Part of me expected Landon to arrive and save the day like he always does when I seriously mess up, and it hurts to know his days of flying to my rescue are over. “Feeding from Kellen didn’t give me anything.”
“No,” he agrees. “That’s not how Dreamland works.”
“It didn’t even feel good.” I sniffle again. “The sex sucked.”
“Dreamland isn’t about pleasure for us. It’s about pleasure for them so that we can feed.”
I remember the guys teaching me about pleasure for the sake of pleasure, how foreign that concept felt. Why have sex if food wasn’t involved? Now, my entire being rebels at the idea.
“Why did you set me up with them?”
Again, he doesn’t ask what I mean. “You wouldn’t listen to me, and you wouldn’t feed on humans directly. You needed a safe place to build your power base, with a food source you were willing to accept.”
I hug my knees tighter. “You could have told me.”
“You would have just run farther in the other direction.” He rubs my arm. “For better or worse, you’re headstrong. Determined to do things the way you want to. And I fear I didn’t instill a proper level of confidence in my ability to be a good mentor for you. I only had the method my own mentor used, and I couldn’t apply that to you.”
I peek at him from the corner of my eye. “That bad?”
“Cousin Cassandra times ten.” He stares at the open door once more, his expression hardening. “There’s a reason I killed so many people in the beginnin
g. But it’s on me that I didn’t realize how wrong that was until much too late in my life.”
“Do you think—” I cut off, then try again. “What they feel for me, that’s not part of the agreement?”
“No, don’t doubt that.” He pushes far enough away to gaze down at me. “If you haven’t noticed, they’re not exactly kind demons. They wouldn’t go out of their way to show you affection just because I asked them to take you in.”
A laugh hiccups out of me. “Yeah, they certainly don’t make things easy.”
“Sounds like the perfect match for you, then.”
“How long will it take? To regain enough power?” My throat locks up, but I force the next question out. “From humans?”
“That depends on you and how far you’re willing to go.” Heavy silence fills the room as I wait for him to give me a number. At last, he sighs. “If you go full frenzy, and I continue to bring you more energy, five years.”
Nausea rolls through me. A feeding frenzy will involve casualties. And Landon just revealed he spent the last century and a half digging himself out of that hole. If I demand he join me in the slaughter so I can power up, it will hurt him. I can’t ask him to do that.
And Emil, Tobias, and Kellen won’t be able to go another week without someone skimming off their energy overflow. If they don’t take on a new succubus, they’ll destroy something, and the higher-ups will revoke their right to stay on the human plane.
My heart aches for the actions that led us here, for the words we left unsaid between us. I need to do things better this time. It might take longer, but we’re demons. We have time. My hands clench, talons digging into my palms. I’ll have to get over my men being with someone else while I’m away. However long that may be.
I shake my head. “No, I did everything wrong the first time. I’m not going to be selfish and demand you help me do it again.”
“Boo—”
I straighten away from him. “There are more pressing issues we need to discuss. My recorporealization can wait. You need to see what’s going on.”
