by Marie Mistry
I shook my head, “I need time…”
He nodded. “I get that but, for now, at least let me make it up to you in the best way I know how.” He came up behind me, putting his hands on my hips and pulling me so that my ass was flush against him.
I sighed, feeling his mouth along my collarbone, travelling up my neck as his hands caressed upwards from my waist to my ribcage. When he boldly cupped my breasts with both hands, squeezing and massaging, I moaned loudly.
“You have such a beautiful body, Lilith,” he murmured as he nibbled along my ear. “I’m so glad you’re giving it to me.”
I felt a flash of warmth against my skin followed by a shocking cool breeze.
I looked down to find my clothes disintegrated, floating away from me as little more than a pile of black ash.
“What–?” I cut myself off with a shudder as Aeron’s hands met skin.
“Controlled pyrokinesis.” Aeron’s voice dropped, turning huskier. “I don’t want anything in my way.”
A flash of fire at my back, and I knew he was now naked too. His hardness settled between my ass cheeks and throbbed with anticipation.
I ground against it, seeking relief, but Aeron moved his hand to between my shoulders, pushing them down onto the bed and leaving my ass up in the air. He kept one hand on my back, holding me against the sheets. With the thumb of the other hand, he stroked a lazy path down my core.
“So fucking wet,” he marvelled, slipping a finger inside me on his second pass. “Tighter than a fist,” he groaned, teasingly thrusting his finger shallowly into me.
I moved with him, trying to get him to go deeper, but he made sure never to go further than his first knuckle.
“Aeron,” I moaned, as the silk of his sheets caressed my nipples.
“Maybe I should tie you up and tease you till you agree to mate me.” Aeron’s voice held a smirk, but I was so turned on I couldn’t do more than pant quietly in response.
I moved back again, trying to get him to give me more. His response was to withdraw completely and give me a sharp smack against my ass.
“No. I decide what you get, and when you get it,” he told me.
I glanced back, fire in my eyes, but his hand moved from my back to tangle in my hair, pushing my head into the sheets, not enough to hurt, but enough to make a point.
“In this bed, I am always in control,” he insisted. “Sometimes, I’ll let you take over. But yesterday, I almost lost you to the Tester. Give me this.”
I understood, in that moment, how much panic and worry Aeron was holding back. I couldn’t answer him – I didn’t really know how to put into words what I was feeling – so instead, I did the only thing I could think of. I arched my back further and thrust my ass up in the air, signalling my submission with my body.
He chuckled. “Good girl.” His clever fingers returned, stretching me open. I jumped as his thumb grazed the sensitive skin of my rear opening, and gasped. He chuckled again. “I’ll introduce you to that particular pleasure another time, Baby Girl,” he groaned, lining himself up with my opening, stroking his manhood against my weeping core. He slid up and down, collecting my wetness along his length before finally, blessedly, sliding home.
I moaned low and long, twisting on his length before another light tap on my ass had me stilling completely.
“I’m in charge. Lay forward, spread your legs, and take it,” Aeron commanded, pulling out almost entirely only to shove back inside roughly, unerringly hitting my g-spot.
I screamed my pleasure into the bedding, fisting my hands in the sheets from the intensity of it all.
“Please,” I begged shamelessly. “I need…”
He thrust into me again, setting a demanding pace that I couldn’t keep up with. In the end, all I could do was as he’d instructed - lay there and hold on for dear life.
He altered his grip on my hair, letting go of my locks briefly to stroke gently along one horn.
I flew apart at the seams, exploding into a billion pieces, but he didn’t stop pounding. His balls slapped against my clit with every thrust, sending me spiralling over again. This time I took him with me. The pulse of warmth inside me preceded a flood of power so exquisite, it sent me over immediately again, knocking me into unconsciousness from the sheer intensity of it.
Chapter 18
When I woke, still shivering with the aftershocks of my pleasure, Aeron was curled around me stroking my hair.
“We really need to work on how you keep passing out. It’s such a massive vulnerability.”
“There’s just so much power at once,” I muttered drowsily. “I don’t feel like I will ever get used to it.”
“It didn’t happen with the Tester,” Aeron noted. “That had to be more power than what I give you.”
“It’s not the same,” I argued. “I wasn’t me, I was so consumed with wanting more that I didn’t feel the effects, all I felt was … hunger.” I met his eyes. “I was so afraid.”
“You’re still afraid,” Aeron muttered. “And you don’t have to be. I’m going to keep you safe.” He stroked along my horn. “I swear on my life, I won’t let them hurt you…and Bane said there were others.” He gave a deep sigh. “I suppose sharing you won’t be so bad, as long as they’re not assholes about it.”
I curled into him, thankful for the reassurance and more than a little surprised by his easy acceptance of the crazy seven mates idea. But he still didn’t understand, it wasn’t people like the Tester that I was afraid of. One way or another I would deal with them. I feared who I would become in the process. I liked the power I got from draining her too much. If I had seven mates at my beck and call, who could say for certain that I wouldn’t become like my parents, so addicted to power that I never left my bed.
There was a loud knocking on the door, and Ryon’s voice echoed through the woodwork. “Vrosis has called an emergency meeting,” he hollered. “You two need to get downstairs.”
I looked at Aeron. “They must have found the body,” he grumbled. “It’s a wonder it took this long.”
Now, I was shaking for a different reason, as I quickly dressed and brush my hair. Time passed without my noticing it, and all too soon I sat in my favourite chair, staring down into my glass of wine. Aeron was leaning against the wall nearby as usual, and his presence comforted me. Nelly and Ryon gave me quick apologies for running from me the night before, but I waved them away with a hand. In all honesty, I would have run as well. I apologised to Babette endlessly, but she wouldn’t hear it either. All of our blubbering, whispered apologies ground to a halt, however, as Vrosis entered the room in a swirl of rich fabric, tugging anxiously on his moustache.
“Students,” he addressed us, without even taking his usual spot. “It will have reached you by now that the Tester is dead.” He pulled off his glasses, pinching the bridge of his nose and massaging it before replacing them. “She died of an apparent heart failure, however, she was the last Tester on the British Isles. Her replacement, your classmate Rina Inferna, is being rushed through her training. She will be required to Test one person from each sub-caste in Vice as a method of learning. As such, I need one person from each sub-caste in Lust to volunteer. Some of you, being the only person in your sub-caste, will have no choice in the matter. Those people are as follows.” He pulled out a folded sheet of paper from his pocket. “Aeron Saxon, Murdoh Exilor, Freoa Sazara and Lilith Carazor.”
He put the piece of paper down with a frown, sweeping towards the door of the small office he kept in the basement of the Carnal Tower. “The rest of you may decide among yourselves.” He looked straight at me. “I need to speak with Lilith, privately.”
I looked at him levelly. “Of course, Elder,” I replied, with a sense of calm I didn’t feel.
I deposited my glass on the table and rose, following him through the small door and down the stairs into a gloomy, over-filled room stuffed with statues and ornaments and other curiosities.
Vrosis’ chair in his basement offi
ce was the twin of the one upstairs. With nowhere for me to sit, I stood there feeling as though I was being interviewed.
“You had your sub-caste changed in the records,” Vrosis snapped, and I flinched inwardly. I had never seen him so angry and tired looking.
“It was brought to my attention that falsifying the records could result in my being declared unshown,” I replied with a relaxed voice that didn’t reflect how I was feeling inside. I met his brown eyes. “You must have known that, yet you allowed me to believe it would not make a difference. I demand to know why.”
“Because you were safer and more dangerous as a secret.” Vrosis sounded like he was trying to explain things to a toddler. “A hidden assassin is much more dangerous than a celebrity one!”
“Assassin?” I repeated, numb. “You wanted me to kill for you?!”
“What else were you going to do? Seduce the other side into accepting us with good orgasms?” Vrosis asked, irritated. “Of course, you were going to kill for me. For our caste.”
To think I had trusted him. Of course, he’d declined the offer of helping the Order of Shadows. He wanted to use me, not protect me. Thinking about the ways Vrosis would have used me as a sexual weapon made me feel physically ill.
“You wanted me as your secret, toy Succubus,” I accused. I felt my temper rise until my mind turned icy cold with determination. “I am nobody’s toy, Vrosis.” My voice had turned dangerously husky, and I drew myself up to my full height. As my eyes met his, I saw myself reflected in his eyes. I felt like a predator and, for the first time, I realised that I looked like one too.
“Now, Lilith,” Vrosis began. “Let’s be reasonable.” His Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat as I stroked a hand down from my hairline and across to my breast to draw in his gaze. A predator entrancing prey.
“The cat’s out of the bag,” I murmured. “Be a man and don’t try to excuse your actions.” I moved closer, my hips sashaying from left to right as I walked. The sequins on my top glimmered, and Vrosis was spellbound. His eyes were hooded behind his glasses, and his mouth was slightly open in anticipation. “I won’t kill you, like I did the Tester” I informed him, and it was a measure of how enthralled he was that he didn’t react to my admission. “But I’m going to give you a taste.”
I was so close now. I grabbed the arms of his chair, lowering my body downwards so our heads were level. His eyes never left mine, and I smiled wickedly. “Kiss me, Vrosis,” I commanded him. “Kiss your toy assassin and feel what your betrayal has cost you.”
His lips closed in on mine but, like the Tester, he didn’t have to touch me for my power to latch onto his. With my eyes sharpened by anger and his lack of resistance simplifying things, I was able to keep control of my power. I drained him bit by bit, watching lines appear around his eyes as I did so. His irises began to cloud over before I stopped, pushing away quickly to remove the temptation to go further, as I had with the Tester. He wobbled, though he was sitting down.
“No,” he whispered, looking down at his hands. “No.” His voice was frail. “Give it back to me. Give my youth back.” He looked terrible - gaunt and aged beyond what I had intended. “Lilith, you can’t do this to me.”
I knew that he was right, I could not. Unlike the Tester, people would know for certain that I did this to Vrosis. They would come for me if they saw me as a threat, and I needed him alive, despite his betrayal. The caste listened to Vrosis, where they wouldn’t listen to a newly-shown girl.
Which was why I turned back to him, smiling cruelly. “You don’t get to demand. Beg.”
“What do you want?” he asked, his sightless eyes tearing.
“Not to be betrayed by power hungry elders with overly grandiose plans,” I retorted, cuttingly.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he chanted, falling from the chair to his knees.
“You have influence, Vrosis. It’s time you started pulling your weight, rather than making grand speeches and getting others to do the dirty work. I want you to start building our assets, properly, not in the shadows. Buy up properties, reopen the abandoned embassies and bring wealth to the caste. Make us a financial powerhouse, get us influence and connections instead of just talking about it. I want monthly reports on it all.”
“I agree. Anything and everything.” Vrosis hurried toward me. “Give me my youth back, I’ll have that done by the solstice ball.”
I smirked, looking down at him.
“Vow it to the Strange God,” I insisted.
“I vow to the Strange God to do all that you’ve asked. And never to betray you or seek to use you ever again,” Vrosis stammered.
I felt his youth, held in place on the back of my tongue. I could have absorbed it into me by now, as I had with the Tester’s life force. It was so tempting, and every instinct within me wanted to just take it for myself. But instead I raised a palm to my lips and blew it outwards towards him on a kiss.
The effect was immediate. Vrosis’ youth returned in a rush, but I had intentionally allowed some of the power to dissipate when I blew it back to him, so although he was still young, a few streaks of grey still glinted in his hair and moustache.
I didn’t feel guilty. I just wanted him to remember why he’d gotten them every time he looked in the mirror.
Without waiting for him to get up off his knees, I began to climb the stairs out of the room.
“And Vrosis, I won’t be volunteering as Rina’s test subject. I expect a progress report on all your work by next Sunday.” I tossed the words casually over my shoulder.
“It will be done,” his voice followed me as I returned to my seat.
The rest of the room was still too busy discussing who would volunteer when I sat down; only Aeron noticed my arrival. He had probably deduced from my expression what went down as he leaned forwards and lightly massaged my shoulders.
“I’ll kill him,” he whispered in my ear, “I’ll kill him for whatever he did to put that look in your eyes.”
I shook my head. “He’s learned his lesson, and I’m pretty sure he’s more useful alive than dead at the moment.”
“What did he do?”
“He was going to use me, let me risk being declared unshown at the ball, then keep me as a secret assassin,” I replied. “I can’t believe I ever trusted him.”
I didn’t cry; I’d had enough of crying. Instead, I just waited for Vrosis to reappear with the others.
Fifteen minutes had passed, and I began to wonder whether Vrosis actually remembered he had a class up here. People had long ago decided upon their volunteer for Rina and had turned to muttering amongst themselves. They were caught between looking at me and at Vrosis’ office door with curiosity.
“Whatever you did to him, he’s not coming out of that room for a while,” Aeron began. “They could use the truth of what went down in there before they start imagining it for themselves.”
I nodded slowly, taking a deep breath before standing. Immediately all the low-level noise evaporated, leaving only the sound of my heels clicking steadily as I made my way to the front of the room.
“Lulu, can you pass around a list? I need every volunteer to sign their name. We might as well get this over with and hope Rina will be gentler than the last Tester,” I began, smoothing my hair behind my ear as I looked around at the room. “I guess you’re all wondering what happened to Vrosis, and I suppose I owe you the truth – I haven’t forgotten how you all stood behind me when you agreed to keep my powers a secret to keep me safe. To keep your futures safe.”
I sighed. “I now know keeping my powers secret would have been a straightforward way to have me declared unshown, at which point Vrosis planned to keep me as his secret assassin. He used your loyalty to betray me.”
“Did you kill him?” Alena, one of the Desire demons asked, hand over her mouth.
I shook my head. “No, but now he is committed to doing what he’s been preaching about for so long: building up the funds and assets to really make us a power in the
world. I hope he will redeem himself soon. I will not be so forgiving should he betray us a second time.”
A few heads nodded their agreement to my announcement.
“So, we don’t have to keep you being a Succubus a secret anymore?” Triston asked.
“Keep it quiet, but no, it’s not a secret. Besides, the people who are after me already know, the Tester told them.”
“That bitch,” Lulu muttered. “Practice time, Lilith?”
I sighed, but in truth I was relieved to be out from under the scrutiny of my peers. “Fine.” I allowed her to lead me outside as everyone else dispersed.
“More duelling?” I asked as we reached the outside.
