by Joshua King
“Something happened when we used the portal,” I told her. “It didn’t bring us where it was supposed to.”
She shook her head.
“That’s impossible. The portals only go one place.”
“Usually, yes. It didn’t this time. But we resolved the problem.”
“That was me,” Bugs said, popping up beside me. “I was the resolution.”
Lilly smiled at him.
“I’m sure they appreciated that,” she said.
“I’m Bugs.”
“It’s nice to meet you.”
He faded back behind me again and I turned my attention back to Lilly.
“Can you bring us to the portal?”
“I think you need to rest,” she said. “You look exhausted.”
Her eyes moved to each of us and it occurred to me I couldn’t remember how long it had been since the last time we stopped for a break. I hated the thought of any more time slipping through our fingers. Darian had already stolen too many hours with his little stunt in bringing us to Nakatomi Tower, and I wasn’t willing to just give up any more if it. The look in Lilly’s eyes was so genuine, however, it cooled the burning at my feet to get us to the portal. Instead, I nodded.
“We could probably slow down for a few hours,” I said.
“Good,” she said. “Your rooms are still available and I can give you another as well.”
“Thank you.”
The bags I carried seemed to press down harder on my shoulders as we climbed the stairs and the idea of bunking down for a while before continuing on with our mission seemed more appealing. Lilly led us to the same doors we’d gone through when we were at the inn before and used an elaborate skeleton key she drew from the pocket in her apron to unlock them. I let everyone go inside first so I stood alone in the hallway with her. Her wide brown eyes stared into mine and I wondered if she could feel any of the same sensation I felt when I looked at her. My body ached for her and I wanted nothing more than to gather her into my arms right there. Just like Ashe warned me, the intensity of my lust hadn’t lessened and even the hardships we’d faced so far weren’t enough to distract me from my need. Before I could say anything else, Lilly turned away and walked down the hallway, disappearing into the stairwell that brought her back down to the desk. Groaning, I ducked into my room and shucked my clothes before crawling into bed.
11
My eyes snapped open and I looked around, trying to figure out what had woken me so suddenly. The room was completely dark and on either side of me, Aurora and Brielle slept quietly. Ashe and Stephana were in the other bed and hadn’t moved. Everything was still. It took me a few seconds to process that what had woken me up was my own body deciding it was done sleeping. No matter how much I tried to convince it I would like to be able to hang out in bed for more than just an hour or two at a time, just when I got comfortable and disappeared off into some awesome dream, the vampire in me kicked in and I bounced awake.
I admit, I was a little miffed. Throughout the room and in others along the hall, the other people in my group were having no trouble sleeping. At least, I knew the women were. They were unbothered by me climbing out of bed and moving around the room, stuffing myself back into clothes and going into the bathroom to splash water on my face. What was going on in the other rooms was entirely a guess, but I had the feeling if Bugs was having any difficulty sleeping, it would be well-known. It got to me that none of them shared my troubles with sleeping, if that was the right way to put it. Describing my body’s new affinity for power naps as “troubles with sleeping” didn’t seem totally accurate, but at the same time, the others in the group were able to sleep through the night. It didn’t seem fair that it didn’t play by the same rules with them. They were lost in their dreams and letting their bodies recover, and I was up wearing holes in the carpet pacing around and waiting for morning.
It should be all or nothing. Either all of us needed the same amount of sleep, or none of us did.
I needed a cookie.
My temper tantrum had ended by the time I got to the steps that led down into the lower floor of the inn. By then it had occurred to me that it wasn’t their choice to need more sleep than me, and it especially wasn’t for Bugs or Brielle, since neither of them were vampires. Bex was still a question mark. I’d continue to work on unraveling him later. As for the others, just because they were vampires, too, didn’t mean they operated by the same rules I did. They’d made it clear to me I was stronger and the intensity of my powers meant I was going to react differently. I’d never be able to predict if I was always going to need to sleep some or if there would come a point in my existence when I’d never sleep at all. That sounded like a shit-ton of productivity and not a lot of cozying up in bed with my women. I wasn’t fond of that idea.
When I got to the lobby, I headed for the dining room. I hadn’t visited it yet, but I figured the kitchen had to be attached to the dining room, and that’s where I was going. I had a craving for a chocolate chip cookie and I highly doubted Stephana had brought any along with her on the trip. That meant I was going to have to source one for myself and though I highly doubted it would be anywhere near as delicious and satisfying as the ones she made for me, extenuating circumstances sometimes dictated urgent behavior. I found the kitchen and slipped in. The blinding lights that burst on when I flipped the switch didn’t immediately draw any staff members, so I headed for the pantry. A vague memory of baking cookies with my mother when I was younger fed the list of ingredients I sourced from the shelves of the large pantry and refrigerator. They were peanut butter cookies then, but I figured if I took out the peanut butter and threw in some chocolate chips, it would be about the same result. When I had a pile of ingredients on one of the brushed metal work surfaces, I turned my attention to the equipment I’d need. That meant bowls, spatulas, measuring cups and spoons, and probably something flat to shove into the oven. Halfway through dismantling a cabinet and succeeding in knocking half the things off the top shelf, I heard the door open and the sound of footsteps across the tiled floor. Someone cleared their throat.
I’d been caught.
“What are you doing, Hayden?”
The voice instantly brought my attention away from the elusive spatula I was seeking out and to Lilly standing a few feet away. The confused expression on her face did little to mask the way her eyes traveled up and down my body.
“Um,” I said, scrambling down to the floor. “Looking for a rubber spatula.”
She walked over to a drawer and withdrew the tool, holding it up for me to see.
“Why?”
“I got a craving for a chocolate chip cookie. There weren’t any sitting around, so I figured I’d whip up a batch.”
“Do you know how to make chocolate chip cookies?” Lilly asked.
I opened my mouth to answer, then shook my head.
“Not…exactly. I think I remember how to make peanut butter cookies and I was just going to adapt from there.”
She laughed and shook her head at me.
“That’s not how it works,” she said.
“Damn.”
The tip of her tongue slipped out to run across her plush pink lips.
“I can help you,” she said.
“Sure.”
She walked up to the counter where I’d piled my ingredients and surveyed them, then headed for the pantry. Her arms were loaded with various ingredients I never would have remembered and she immediately went for the refrigerator for a few more things. We stepped up to the counter together and she pulled a large mixing bowl close to her.
“Wet ingredients first,” she said.
It was a completely innocuous statement, but it made my pants tight and my brain swim with images of Lilly in far less than she was wearing right then.
“Mmm-hmm,” I responded.
“Hand me the sugar.”
I grabbed a bag of white sugar in one hand and one of brown in the other, giving her a strange look.
&n
bsp; “I thought you said wet ingredients.”
“Sugar is wet.”
The glint in her eye was brief as she turned back to the bowl and measured sugar into it, but it was there. She knew what she was doing. I helped her through each stage of the process and soon we had a heaping bowl of chocolate chip cookie dough in front of us. The smell was already delicious, but it wasn’t the dough that was drawing me in. I could smell Lilly through it and my mouth was watering. She loaded scoops of the dough onto two huge trays and slipped them into the oven, then came back to the counter to start cleaning up. Her waist leaned over the side of the counter as she reached across the wipe away flour that had escaped the bowl. I couldn’t take it anymore.
I pressed myself against her, pushing my erection between her ass cheeks as she leaned against the counter. She hesitated momentarily, then pushed her hips back into me, rubbing me slightly and encouraging my cock to get even harder. A low groan escaped my lips and her arm raised up, her hand reaching into my hair as she rocked against me again. My hands left the counter, where I had rested them to pull myself into her, and settled around her hips, pulling her as tightly as I could against me.
The smell of her hair was intoxicating, and I breathed it in as my hands began to move up her sides, tracking their way to her luscious breasts. I moved them under the apron she always wore, then dipped them beneath her shirt. Soon they found their way to her lacy bra. Lilly used her free hand to reach behind me, grabbing my ass and squeezing as we continued to rock into each other. I deftly undid the clasp in the center of her chest with my thumb and forefinger and quickly reached up to grab a handful of one of her breasts. The taut nipple under my palms drove my arousal higher and I grabbed the bottom of her shirt with my other hand and pulled it over her head. Her shoulders dropped to let the bra fall off and my hands filled themselves with her soft tits as I kissed her exposed neck.
Lilly turned toward me, locking her mouth into mine and our tongues danced against each other. I savored the taste of her as my hands began reaching for the button of her pants. I felt her hands reaching for my zipper and suddenly I could feel the cool air of the room on my raging hard cock. One hand slipped inside and began to stroke me as my mouth moved down her neck again. I lifted one breast with my hand and latched my lips around her nipple, sucking and then twirling my tongue around it. I could hear her breath hitch as my other hand finally removed the last button on her pants and I slipped it inside, feeling the wet warmth against her lacy panties.
I pushed her panties aside and let my finger get slick against her fluids as I moved my mouth back to hers. Our tongues danced and tangled against each other as she pulled my cock out of my jeans and pulled it closer to her. I let my finger slide into her and she moaned loudly, her head falling back and exposing her neck to me again. I let my tongue trail against it as she stroked me and I let my finger explore her tight walls.
Lilly moved her head back to me and pulled her hips back, removing my fingers from her. I picked her up by her hips and placed her on the counter. Her apron pooled up at her hips and she shook free of her pants. I pulled her panties off and dropped them to the floor. I knelt down on one knee and buried my face in her core. Hungrily, I lapped up her juices, swirling my tongue on her pearl as my finger found its way inside of her again. Soon I could feel her body shaking and her moans grew louder as she tumbled into an orgasm, her hands filling themselves with my hair and her legs squeezing my head between them.
When she stopped shaking, I stood back up, my erection lining up immediately with her center, and I plunged inside her. Lilly let out a cross between a moan and a scream as my cock stretched her walls and brought her to the line between pleasure and pain. I rocked a few times before pushing even deeper, feeling her close around me and then slowly relax to receive me fully. Her legs wrapped around me, and I filled my mouth with her nipple, twirling my tongue around it like I had her clit just before. Her nails dug into my back as I continued to pound into her.
An idea ran through my mind and I lifted Lilly up by the ass. She kept the motion going, bouncing on my cock as I walked her across the room to an island in the center of the kitchen. I laid her down on the island gently and pulled her legs up to my shoulders. The new angle allowed me to sink even deeper into her and her hands clasped around my wrists and forearms, her eyes rolling back as she let herself completely experience the fullness. I thrust into her with an animalistic fury, fucking her with a passionate intensity as my hands kneaded down into her breasts and then moved to her shoulders to help pull her down into me with every thrust.
I felt myself speeding up and nearing a climax, but I didn’t want it to end just yet. I pulled myself out, and there was a disappointed groan from Lilly as I did so. I rubbed her clit with the tip of my cock for a moment, eliciting a more pleasured sound from deep within her, and then I replaced it with my thumb as I walked around the island. Lilly knew exactly what I wanted as I got nearer, her mouth opening and tongue extending to take me inside of her. Her lips closed around me and the warmth and wetness of her mouth almost made me come right there. She stroked me as her lips moved back and forth and I mirrored the motion on her clit.
I knew I couldn’t hold it much longer, and Lilly met eyes with me, seeming to know what I was thinking without me saying it. She rolled over onto her side, one hand on my ass pulling me into her and the other continuing to stroke me into her mouth. Her tongue swirled around my head and I felt the orgasm coming. One hand filled itself with her breast and the other with her hair as she drew me deep inside, the tip of my cock reaching all the way to the back of her throat. She sucked and pulled with her lips and I couldn’t hold it any longer. I came deep inside her mouth and she milked me with her hand. I pulled her head down deeply over my cock, her mouth reaching to the base of me, and I emptied myself fully. A pleased groan vibrated around me and I felt the last bit of my come spill out. I slowly relaxed and pulled myself out of her and she smiled as she licked her lips, not spilling a drop.
She laughed as the alarm on the oven went off.
“Cookies are done,” she said.
We got dressed and I gave her another kiss.
“I’ll get them.”
My legs felt shaky beneath me as I crossed the kitchen toward the oven and grabbed a pot holder from a nearby hook. That had been intense and I was drawn to Lilly in a new and somewhat strange way. This wasn’t just the strong feeling of attachment I had with the other women. It was something different, something that made me want to ask her if there was anything I could do for her, or to follow her around and help her clean the rooms of the inn. That was definitely not a compulsion I was accustomed to. The look on my face when I slid the hot trays onto the counter must have been less than delighted, because Lilly tilted her head to the side and narrowed her eyes at me.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
Vampirism came in handy as I reached for one of the cookies and pried it off the sizzling metal. It bowed and fell apart, the molten chocolate dripping back down onto the piece that didn’t make it.
“Shouldn’t they stick together better?” I asked.
“You have to let them cool,” she scolded.
The heat was more noticeable on my tongue than it had been on my fingers, but the taste of the cookie was worth it. Not exactly like Stephana’s, but if she didn’t have an emergency stash with her, this would absolutely do. I popped the fallen piece into my mouth and scanned Lilly’s face.
“Something doesn’t feel right,” I said.
“What do you mean?”
She gingerly picked at one of the cookies to get a crumb to place on her tongue.
“I feel…”
“Persuaded by me?”
That was exactly the word I would have used if it had come to mind.
“Yes.”
She nodded and went for another, slightly larger crumb. The air of the kitchen was quickly cooling the cookies and my second had more structural integrity than the pieces of the first.
“That’s because I’m a succubus.”
12
I waited for the punch line. It had to be coming. Any second now, Lilly was going to laugh, tell me she was just kidding, and confirm she was just a regular vampire or some other Underworld species I had at least gotten a chance to get used to. But she didn’t. She just stared back at me and continued to dismantle the cookie in front of her.
“You’re a what?” I finally asked.
“A succubus,” she told me.
“But aren’t…”
She smiled.
“That’s right,” she said. “You were raised in the other world. You have all kinds of ideas of what a succubus is, don’t you?”
“I might have a few.”
“Don’t worry. Most of them aren’t accurate.”
I knew she meant that as a way to reassure me, but it just confused me even more. Obviously, there was still a lot to learn about the Underworld and everything in it. It would be nice if I got a chance to learn about it in more of an abstract way rather than having to figure it out as I went, but it seemed like that was going to be my normal. One of these days I was going to get in the groove.
“There you are.”
Ashe’s voice was unexpected and when I looked toward it, I saw the rest of the group stream through the kitchen door.
“I thought I smelled chocolate chip cookies,” Stephana said. “We could use that to track you down anywhere.”
“What are you all doing down here?” I asked.
“I woke up and you weren’t in bed with us anymore,” Aurora said. “I was worried something had happened but coming to look for you alone didn’t seem like the best idea when we still have my father and the Shades on our asses. So, I woke up Ashe. That woke up Stephana, who smelled the cookies. By the time we were dressed and ready to come down here, the boys had heard us and we decided we might as well just all come.”
