Succubus Blessed (Paranormal Prison: Shackled Souls Book 3)

by Heather Long

  It was definitely badass.

  Then again, sticking close to Alfred in this scenario didn’t seem wise. Those blades were hella fast. The clang of the steel on steel, the hiss of the blades slicing through their skin. They were both bleeding. The scent of it clouded the air. I kept glancing from their fight to where bitch-kitty and the crispy fried one were out.

  Neither moved.

  Still, the last thing I expected was for Eamon to lunge at me mid-battle. Maybe I should have. Maybe I’d gotten too complacent. But it had been so vital to all of them that I stay with Alfred, and they’d wanted me out of the fighting as much as possible. I tried.

  I really fucking tried.

  Bitch-kitty’s little letter opener had sliced my wrist, and I really didn’t want to find out what that sword would do. Thanks, I liked my boobs and the baby. Yeah okay, maybe like was strong, but he or she was ours and no way was I letting him hurt them.

  A body slammed into mine and knocked me backwards, and I tripped over bitch-kitty’s prone form and landed on my ass with a startled cry, just as a blade was shoved through Wyman’s body.

  “No!” I launched to my feet as he crumbled in just enough time for the fountain of blood geysering from where Eamon’s head used to be—and by used to be, I meant it was currently bouncing its way to the hearth, so we might have to burn this whole level at this rate—to soak me down.

  So. Fucking. Gross.

  Oh, and it smelled terrible.

  My stomach lurched, and I started to put a hand to my mouth but it was covered in blood too. Oh, this was just foul. Shaking that off, I turned to Eamon, even as Alfred grabbed me. Fin appeared between one breath and the next…

  I’m here, Beautiful. He paused mid-kneel to where Wyman lay and flicked a look over me. Whose blood is that?

  “Eamon’s,” I answered with a shuddering grimace. “And it’s in my mouth. This is nasty.” Okay, yes, I’d earned the right to whine. I didn’t want any part of them in me anywhere, and I spit it back out onto the prone corpse.

  Man, it smelled even worse up close.

  Okay, time to stop being a pussy. “Is Wyman okay?”

  “Oh, hot stuff finally remembers me,” Wyman grunted. “Just had to take a blade for you right between the damn ribs. Pretty sure he fucking broke them with that.”

  “Stop your bitching,” Fin told him with a thump of his hand against his back. “He missed your heart. Told you you lost it a long time ago.”

  “Fuck off, druid.”

  Alfred let out a little chuckle, and I exhaled a breath.

  “Okay, he’s fine. I can go back to freaking out about the smell.”

  “Let me—” Alfred began when a scrape of steel across the floor pulled him around. He barely got his arm up in time for the blade to go right through his forearm, and the point stopped just at my breast plate when a golden dragon head snapped Cyril’s whole body in half.

  Oh.

  Yeah.

  I puked.

  Sorry, not pussying out, but that was fucking disgusting. What had I told Maddox about eating people?

  It was for a good cause, Beautiful.

  Even with Fin’s cheerful words, I just couldn’t. I brought up food and blood, and that couldn’t be good.

  Alfred moved away from me and yanked the sword out of his arm, and I winced. Nauseated and blood-covered just didn’t seem to be on par with a sword going all the way through his arm, and it sounded like it scraped bone.

  A distinctive thunk came from behind me, and seriously, I’d had more than enough. I didn’t even jump. Rogue stood next to the now headless bitch-kitty. At least I didn’t get her blood on me, but it really did stink.

  “And then we were three,” Wyman wheezed.

  Alfred cut a look at him. “We’re six—the five of us, and you have earned your place as family. Your loyalty will be repaid in kind.”

  “What about Synove?”

  With a shrug, Alfred said, “If she keeps the peace, I see no need to disturb her.”

  “Does this mean I get a turn with hot stuff?” I really didn’t know who hit him first, but his groaning redoubled and I snorted as Maddox glared wild fury down at him. “It was a joke,” Wyman said, almost weakly. “Just a joke.”

  “It was a terrible joke,” Alfred deadpanned. “You’re not funny.”

  “I’m hilarious,” Wyman said as Fin did something that made him groan. “Course, you’ve been out of touch for a while.”

  At that, Alfred locked his gaze on me. “Not anymore.”

  That was just…romantic and sweet. And I really stunk like blood and wanted to puke again. On that note, I was going to take a bath.

  ONE MONTH LATER…

  “YOU DO REALIZE that happy people are still asleep right now, don’t you?” I demanded of Rogue as he led me down the steps. Just fifteen minutes earlier, I’d been sound asleep in the middle of the huge bed in Alfred’s chamber. Well, our chamber, I supposed. All of us slept there now. Anyway, I’d been sound asleep and enjoying it. Then Rogue, the party pooper, woke me up and not even in a nice way.

  He chuckled softly as he continued to guide me down the steps. “I will make it up to you, little sváss, I promise.”

  “You better,” I grumbled. “I don’t think having you fuck me awake is too much to ask.”

  “Not at all.”

  “I’d do it for you.”

  “And you have.”

  “Just so we’re clear.”

  “Crystal,” he said with a grin and kissed my cheek. “But this really couldn’t wait.”

  Into the main hall we went. There’d been some renovations done over the last month, mostly cleaning. And I was right, they’d had to scrap what was left of the library level and start over. I did not miss the blood-soaked floorboards one little bit. As it was, the main hall had also undergone a renovation. It was less ‘giant echo chamber, check out the big dick in the center on the dais’ and more family friendly fare with multiple seating areas and the opportunity to actually talk instead of mill about.

  I still wasn’t a big fan of the dais—which stayed, along with a new chair added to it for little ole me—but some things weren’t negotiable. This turned out to be one of them. So Alfred agreed to make the place a little warmer and more gathering friendly, and I agreed to the throne, even if I sat in one of their laps whenever I was up there.

  Look at me, compromising and shit.

  Three steps after I entered the great hall, everything went silent. Every conversation ceased. Fin leaned against the wall next to where I’d entered and he immediately joined me, whereas Maddox stood dead center in the middle of the room with Alfred, and at their feet…

  “Oh!”

  No wonder Rogue had hurried me out of bed.

  “Am I forgiven, little sváss?” Rogue asked, amusement in his voice.

  “Definitely.” I stood on my tiptoes to kiss him. “I will definitely be blowing you later.”

  He laughed and returned the kiss with some ferocity before letting me go.

  “What about me?” Fin asked, all mock wounded. “I may have had something to do with this.”

  I patted his chest. “You should have been the one to wake me up then. But I’ll let you eat me later if you want.”

  He laughed, and there was some mild groaning over by one of the sofas. “Can you fuckers please get a room?”

  Alfred glared at Wyman.

  “Begging Your Majesties pardon and all that.”

  Alfred nodded, and I laughed.

  We seemed to have earned a permanent houseguest out of Wyman—for the moment—and giving him shit had become one of my favorite past times. He also had the best stories of a young Alfred and could be bribed into sharing them. All I had to do was persuade Fin to bring in mead and ale.

  That was fun too.

  But I shuttled all of that aside for the moment as I stalked across the room to where Isaac knelt on the ground next to Dimitri.

  “Hello, Micro Dick, and his friend, Ki
ng Dumbass.”

  Isaac glared up at me and then let out a cry as Maddox stepped on his hand. “You don’t get to look at her. You’re lucky we’re letting you look at her shoes.”

  I blew a kiss to my grumpy dragon, and he winked at me.

  Dimitri didn’t say a word, just stared at the floor like he was waiting for the executioner’s axe. Well, in all fairness, he probably was. Still…if he hadn’t been a fucking moron, I’d never have ended up in prison or been found by Maddox and Fin, then rescued and dragged here and completed my transition.

  I would also probably not be knocked up, a reality that grew each day now that my stomach had begun to swell. I tapped a finger to my lips. What to do? What to do? I snuck a look at Alfred, who watched me with the most placid and serene expression. It warmed me all the way to my toes.

  This was their gift to me.

  Wait…

  “Which of you caught them?”

  “We’re not telling you, Kitten,” Maddox said, and I frowned.

  “Why not?”

  “Because if we all brought them, then we all get the obedience, yes?”

  Oh.

  That was sneaky.

  “But if none of you fess up, then I get the obedience.”

  He grinned. “Already yours, Kitten.”

  “Ha,” I laughed. Because they were as obedient as cats left unsupervised in a house full of breakables. Still, totally worth it. “How about a bargain?”

  “No,” Alfred said, his expression unchanging and his eyes still dark and warm. “We have arrived at our bargain. We have brought them to you. A deal is a deal, Hellion.”

  “Fine,” I agreed, like this was really going to be a hardship. “As soon as I’m done with them, I’m all yours to do whatever you want with.”

  “Like she wasn’t before—” Wyman muttered and then let out a grunt. The air next to me displaced and then settled again as Rogue returned. I didn’t know where Wyman ended up, but he wasn’t in the hall anymore.

  “Much better,” Rogue said, and Alfred chuckled. “What would you like to do first, little sváss?”

  “I want to hear what they have to say, and I’ll start with Micro Dick since he started this whole thing.”

  “You heard the lady,” Fin instructed, and Dimitri let out a harsh breath as he mumbled something.

  “What?” I bent a little so I could try to see him. My hearing had vastly improved. I was a lot faster and stronger. I was my own personal nightlight, and apparently, now I survived on love, the love of my four lovers—mate, chosen, king, etc. I also could convert it like a weapon, which was kind of cool. Not that I got to practice with that much because it required a lot of the contact it had as a succubus, and my guys just weren’t keen on me making out with anyone else.

  Which was fine.

  Also turned out, I could only drink their blood. We’d done a few experiments. Everything else made me sick or nauseated. It was them or nothing.

  So they were as much my life as I’d become theirs. Seemed an okay trade-off in my book. I mean, I was happy with it.

  Still, I hadn’t caught what Dimitri said.

  “I’m sorry,” he repeated, and I blinked. “I’m sorry.” This time he looked up at me. “I was…an unmitigated ass. I thought… I don’t know what I thought. I shouldn’t have done it and I shouldn’t have abandoned you. I swear I didn’t know they’d put you in prison or that any of this would happen. I lost control, and then I was so scared I’d killed you. I never thought the blood would change you.”

  He sounded so miserable.

  “Are you serious right now?” Isaac demanded. Despite his broken posture, his tone still sounded like he was a supercilious jackass. “You’re apologizing to that abomination? It’s bad enough you—” The rest of his words were muffled as he pitched forward into the floor. If I had to bet, Fin had done something to shut him up.

  Sweet, but unnecessary.

  Dimitri glanced from Isaac to me and then cast his gaze down, as if he remembered he wasn’t supposed to look at me. “I’m sorry, Fiona. Truly.”

  And you know what? I believed him.

  Yeah, maybe it was the hormones, but I didn’t taste an ounce of deception on him. He truly was sorry. In the long run, I really couldn’t regret it anymore. I mean, the sloppy technique and lack of really great orgasms, sure, but the rest of it?

  “Kitten?” Maddox prompted, and I grinned at my dragon.

  “Let him go.”

  Dimitri jerked a look up at me, shock all over his face. Alfred studied me a beat.

  “Are you sure, Hellion?”

  “Yeah. He apologized and he meant it. He’s not even begging for his life, like he’s resigned to the fact we could kill him.” I glanced down at Dimitri once again. “Let him go. Just…don’t screw up again, or one of us will find you and you won’t like the result.”

  He damn near wept, and my stomach grumbled. I needed coffee and bacon. Before I could ask Fin though, Rogue cleared his throat. “And this one, little sváss?”

  I glanced back at Isaac. “He’s still a douche. Him, you can kill.”

  I was seriously starving, and I didn’t want to wait.

  Fin just held out a hand and I said, “Yay,” and then we were away in a swirl. Isaac was dead before the room vanished.

  Goodbye and good riddance.

  EPILOGUE

  F ive months after the attack at the keep, we were moving. Not formally, as the keep would be our “home” for meeting with those liaisons seeking Alfred’s advice or counsel with regard to matters affecting their cities. It was a whole lot of politics that I didn’t want anything to do with. For the most part, Wyman’s recovery had ended after seven weeks and he’d taken his leave, promising to check in regularly.

  When we last spoke to him, he’d been on his way to annoy Synove, at least according to Alfred. Alfred had been quiet in the days after he left. He missed the others, even if he didn’t want to say it aloud. I was almost getting good at this feelings stuff. I made a point of spending more time with him and picking on him.

  It worked out really well for both of us, I thought.

  But today, we were leaving the keep. There was no hiding my pregnancy anymore, not even the balloon skirts of France in the Dangerous Liaisons era could cover the massive baby bump. I was six months, they thought. Though, fun fact, gestation for each of them turned out to be a bit different, as did being a succubus, so we had no idea how far along I was.

  Yeah, I was cranky about that too.

  But the guys were very determined to make it up to me, and so far, me and the bump were getting along. I only drank their blood, and nobody else was allowed to bleed around me. Win-win.

  “You ready, Hellion?” Alfred asked. I was inside the new library. It wasn’t quite furnished yet. They’d only recently finished the installation of the new windows and bookshelves. Fin promised he had access to all kinds of volumes. I didn’t ask. He didn’t tell. They’d also installed a beautiful set of stained-glass windows to catch the late day light, and I rather loved them.

  Oh, and the rose garden? It was in full bloom now. Even Alfred’s crows seemed to be enjoying it, even if the little tattletales ratted me out every time I stripped off to nude sunbathe out there.

  You’d think I was trying to get his attention or something.

  “I am,” I told him as I turned. Maternity clothes were at least cute. Fin and I spent three days picking out stuff from different cities around the world. I’d even gotten to go and visit Elias for a short bit. His reaction to the pregnancy still left me in stitches.

  “A mini you? The world is doomed.”

  We were besties for a reason. He promised to visit after the baby was born, and the guys all agreed to it. See, we were master negotiators and solid at the compromise.

  “Just feels weird to leave,” I admitted. “I’ve kind of gotten used to living in this mausoleum.”

  He chuckled and tucked my hand into his arm. Wow, he usually played along with my t
aunts. “We’ll be back, but we all agreed. We want to be somewhere no one knows to find us until the baby is born and perhaps even after. A place that is just ours, with no ties to this world.”

  “But everyone comes to me, Hellion.” I deepened my voice as though I were him.

  Ahead of us and down the stairs, Fin laughed. “She almost sounds like you.”

  Alfred shot me an amused look. “Precisely. They come to see Alfred, the King of the Vampires now.” It was not a title he wanted. Not that I blamed him. Let me tell you how much Queen of the Vampires didn’t tickle my fancy. But needs must and all that. “Where we’re going, we are us—Alfred, Fiona, Fin, Rogue, and Maddox.”

  Maddox and Rogue waited with Fin, and they all wore matching looks of smugness. They really were up to something. They liked surprising me. I liked being surprised.

  It worked for us.

  “So what I hear you saying,” I told him, “is you want a place where I can be naked all the time.”

  “Exactly,” Maddox said with a wide grin. When he held out his hand, I squeezed Alfred’s arm and then crossed to take it. Maddox wrapped me up close and then pressed a hand over my swollen belly. “And this little boy needs his mother to be very happy.”

  “That little girl will be fine,” Fin countered. “She’s as resilient as her mother.”

  “And they will never tire of this argument,” Rogue said with a kind of resigned weariness. “The child, male or female, will be perfect.”

  “Exactly,” Alfred said as he glared at both of them. “Enough, it’s time for our lady’s surprise.”

  “Yay.” I would have clapped my hands, but they all gathered close and then we were off in a swirl of magic and the world shifted to a living room.

  A sunken one.

  With all the amenities.

  A bar.

  A television.

  Big huge sofas. Oh yes.

  And windows everywhere.

  On a cliff.

  Over the ocean.

  It…

  I turned and glanced up at the different levels. The stairs. The hidden nooks. There would be a huge bedroom up there with a sunken tub. And windows to see the sunrise in the morning, just as there were windows here to see the sunset at night.