by Lucy Auburn
“Positive.”
I sat down in the empty chair opposite him, trying to hide my nervousness. I was about to reach across to take his hand and do the same thing I’d done to Sandra and Marshall when Leon abruptly said, “Wait.”
“You didn’t change your mind, did you?”
“No. But you’re getting ahead of yourself. Do what we practiced earlier. Close your eyes. Breathe. Concentrate.”
I did so, reaching for the calm place I’d found that morning in his office. It centered me until my breathing was deep and calm, and I no longer felt quite so on edge.
The dragon fae was amused by my quiet breathing. “What is this, an amateur? Really, detective?”
Leon ignored him. “Are you centered, Selena?”
“I think so.”
“Alright then. Reach out and take his hand. Start slow. Work up to the big stuff if you need to.”
When I opened my eyes Yrdra was smirking at me, and I could see how his confident smirk probably put people off. He didn’t look intimidated at all by what would happen when I used my powers. Somehow though, instead of making me nervous, his confidence calmed me.
This was no weak human that I could easily hurt or even kill. The look on this fae’s face made it clear that the worst I could do here was fail. And I wasn’t afraid of that at all anymore.
“Let’s see what you’ve got,” I told him.
His hand was warm in mine. He relaxed his palm against my reaching fingers, completely laid back in his chair, the cuffs keeping his wrists tight against the interrogation table. I wondered idly what he looked like in his dragon form; I still knew so little about this new world I was slowly warming up to and learning about.
Just like before, I felt the thread of energy between us. My abilities were quiet and unhurried; my hunger was dormant after having the draught yesterday. I was sure that no matter what, I couldn’t hurt him.
So I tugged on his energy until I felt it wind through me. Yrdra tasted just like I expected a dragon would: like hot fire and cool ash, warm breezes and cold scales. His eyes snapped to my face as I fed off him, that confident smirk changing into a grin. “Well well, little fae. You’re a succubus.”
“Surprised?” I murmured.
“Not in the slightest. Your kind is common among our kin.” Leaning forward, he stared deep into my eyes, and I saw volcanoes roaring to life reflected in his eyes. His voice took on a deep, low tone as he murmured, “Give me your worst.”
Leon spoke up then. “He’s used to being fed off of by your kind, Selena. You’ll have to go deeper if you want him to do what we need him to do. Have you learned yet how to bend others to your will?”
“I can do that?”
Yrdra chuckled low and deep, but I ignored him, focusing on Leon’s steady gaze. “Feed the energy you got back to him until you feel a feedback loop. Then take more—with your mouth will likely be the best way, if you’re comfortable with it.”
“I’ve got to figure this out sometime.”
“Then go for it. The worst you can do is fail.”
His thoughts echoed my own. I focused my attention on Yrdra, whose eyes now glowed with orange and amber heat. His energy felt like coal and ash through our connection. I could tell that I would need to take more if I wanted to create the connection Leon spoke of, so I took his other hand in my own and doubled where we touched.
Breathing deep, I fed the energy I was getting from him back in with my other hand, and marveled at the ease with which this all came to me. It was like walking or breathing: once I knew how, my instincts took over completely and made it all happen.
“Ooohhh.” Yrdra’s eyes fluttered closed briefly only to snap back open again. “You are a powerful little one, aren’t you?” He smiled a toothy grin that somehow felt like a predator’s leer even in his human form. “How pleasurable.”
I ignored the slightly slimy feeling I got knowing that he received pleasure at all from my powers. But I wouldn’t shy back now. I could tell I almost had him from the way he was fighting our connection, forcing his eyes to open and stay clear.
Leon saw it too, because he urged me on. “Keep going. You’re almost there.”
Leaning forward, I grasped the dragon fae’s wrists tight and hovered my mouth near his. I didn’t need to press my lips to his lips to draw energy from inside him. As soon as I was close to him he closed his eyes and parted his lips. I put my mouth against his, and the connection exploded open with the energy that I drew from him.
He tasted molten and bitter on my tongue. For a moment he struggled, but I pressed forward and grabbed ahold of his energy before he could draw back completely and escape me. Just like that it was over, and he gave in, a dopey grin spreading across his face.
The confidence that had been there before was wiped out and replaced with completely submission. Now that I had him in my grasp he went lax and relaxed all the way.
“That’s it,” Leon egged me on. “Now that you have him you just need to feed a little energy from him to maintain the connection.”
I drew back, sitting down and keeping my hands on him. “Are you going to answer the detective’s questions now?”
“Of course.” He aimed that dopey smile at me. “Anything you want.”
It was almost disturbing how thoroughly I had him, but I felt jubilant to know that I’d successfully used my powers on another fae.
“Let’s get down to things, then.” Leon pulled up a chair next to me and faced Yrdra intently. “Did you steal those jewels from your brother’s safety deposit box?”
“It was so easy.” To me, Yrdra said, “Of course, I’m very smart. It wouldn’t be easy to just any man.”
He seemed to be showing off to me. “I’m sure you’re very, very clever,” I told him, and he beamed at my praise.
“My brother has always been too trusting and simple-minded,” Yrdra said to Leon. “It was very easy to find the passcode for his safety deposit box and the key as well. Those jewels were never really his in the first place. We stole from the caliphate together when we were young—and then when we were divvying up the goods, he lied to me about their worth.” Yrdra sneered at this. “It wasn’t until he’d gotten away with it that I realized what he’d done, and I immediately began planning my revenge. It just took this long for him to move the jewels to someplace unguarded—here in the earthly realm, of all places.”
“Well, that seems to do it.” Leon pushed a piece of paper across to the man and handed him a pen. “Sign this confession?”
“Of course. Anything you want.”
And just like that it was done.
Somehow when we left the interrogation room it wasn’t a surprise at all to run into Naomi. Of course she would be here, dragging a woman whose arms she’d tied together with rope. The woman kept hissing and spitting at her in a very familiar way.
Leon approached the roped woman while I hung back. “Another demon possession?”
“Caught a live one, yeah.” Naomi sounded incredibly smug about it. “I’m bringing this one to the doc to let him take a look at her. I’m hoping maybe we’ll be able to figure something out.”
“How many has it been this week?”
“Too many.” Naomi glanced over and me and made a face. “What’s she doing here?”
I wasn’t going to let them talk about me near me. “I’m apprenticing under Leon now so I can work on using my powers. We were just interrogating a suspect.”
Naomi raised an eyebrow at Leon. “What’s unacceptable for the goose is just fine for the gander, huh? I seem to remember you chewing me out when I told you I let Selena use her powers on a suspect just a couple of days ago.”
“Things change,” Leon said defensively. The possessed woman charged at him and he just casually threw a hand out to push her back, seemingly not worried at all about being eaten to death by her evil. “The Elders wanted me to apprentice her now. And she’s gotten engaged.”
I interrupted again. “Technically I haven
’t accepted the engagement yet. I probably will though, I guess. It’s not like other fae are lining up to date me.”
They both looked over at me. Naomi’s expression was strange and hard to read. “Congratulations on the pending nuptials, Suck.”
“Thank you?” She hadn’t sounded very sincere. “I’m just trying to figure out this whole succubus thing.”
Naomi pulled the possessed woman back and wound another layer of rope around her, seemingly unconcerned about the demonic look in her eyes. “I’ve got to get this one to the doc before she does something crazy like eat my ear. You’re on this case with me, right Leon?”
“Yeah. And I’m about to put her on it too.” He motioned to me. “It’s top priority from what I’ve heard.”
“Then when I’m done here, meet me in your office. I’ll hand off what I know so far about the possessions, and maybe together we can find out who’s behind this.”
For some reason Leon grimaced as he said, “I guess we’ll be working together for a while, then.”
“Don’t get too excited about it.” She shot me a look as she passed me by and I cringed against the wall, trying to get away from her demon-possessed captive. “See ya later, Suck.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
“So the only lead we have is this online message board.” I craned my head over to see what Leon was talking about, and he angled his computer screen towards me. “It’s not much to go on, Naomi.”
Naomi grimaced. “I know it’s flimsy. But what I’m particularly interested in isn’t the message board—it’s the fact that from what we know about our murderer Marshall, he got in touch with this demon summoner’s lackey because he was looking for revenge.”
The three of us were sitting in Leon’s office, trying to figure out who was behind all of the demon possessions in Baton Rouge. I felt completely over my head; I barely knew I was a succubus, much less how to track leads, or what a demon summoner even looked like. So for the most part I just silently listened as the two of them bandied theories back and forth.
“Do we have any other piece of evidence besides this revenge fantasy theory?” Leon leaned back in his chair and stared at Naomi. “Because it’s pretty small to go by.”
“I have photos of some demonic symbols, but no one knows their origin. So revenge is all I’ve got to go on. One of the possessed who I banished a demon from was angry that his co-worker wasn’t interested in him sexually. He nearly raped her while he was possessed,” Naomi said blandly. “The possession was a copacetic one, too. His body showed few signs of distress.”
“So the demon was merely acting out his inner darkest desires.” I made a noise at that, and Leon cut his eyes at me. “You’re going to have to get used to dealing with darkness, Rookie, if we’re going to be working together.”
“Rookie?” I wrinkled my nose. “Really, is calling the new person on the team ‘Rookie’ actually a thing?”
Naomi pointed out, “It is now that you’ve objected to it.”
So I’d painted myself into a corner it seemed. But there was an idea brewing in my head—one that just might get me a little bit of respect if I pulled it off. “What if I go... undercover, or whatever, as someone looking for revenge, and lure this guy out of hiding.”
“A honeypot.” Naomi looked over at Leon thoughtfully. “It could work.”
“It’s a start,” Leon agreed. “But it can’t be our only avenue of exploration. We’ve got to stay out on the streets catching the possessed.”
“You mean I have to,” Naomi muttered. She sighed. “Fine, I’ll stay on patrol all hours of the day. But it’s hard when the sun is out—I only got this demon because she was hiding underground.”
“What has Tae Min discovered about the possession?” I sat up a little at the doctor’s name, trying not to show too much interest on the surface.
“I banished the demon in his little isolation chamber, but the dark energy escaped.” Naomi, no doubt sensing my confusion, explained what she was talking about. “The doc rigged up some kind of booth that he was hoping could trap a demon in its non-corporeal form. That’s why I hauled the lady with the demon in her here instead of just banishing it right away.”
“But it didn’t work,” I murmured, wondering how disappointed Tae Min was at his setback. “Why would it be able to escape? Do the demons never have bodies?”
Leon cut in, “They do when they’re in the Underworld. But when summoners bring them here, through the veil, they’re not able to take corporeal form. Lesser demons can possess lesser animals, like coyotes or cats. The big ones we’re seeing have enough energy and power to possess humans.”
I was finally starting to feel like I understood at least a corner of the strange new world I was now a part of. Somehow what they were saying made at least a little bit of sense, which would’ve scared me just a few days ago. But it wasn’t just that I was in a different world than before—I was different now, too.
Naomi said, “Back to the plan. I can’t just keep hunting down these possessed people and hoping that they’ll lead me somewhere eventually. And no offense Suck, but your honeypot may not work. Just because you meet this guy doesn’t mean you’ll be able to figure out who he works for or take him down.”
“You’re not wrong,” I conceded to her.
“So we have to figure out another way.” Leon stood up and started to pace. “Naomi, you can sense when you’re near evil, correct?”
“I can sense when I’m in danger,” Naomi corrected him. “It’s just that evil usually follows the danger when you’re out hunting demons at their usual haunts.”
“Point taken. Do you know of any dark hunters who might be able to home in on the source of these possessions?”
She frowned. “Maybe, if I ask around. But it’s far more likely that you would be able to find the source.”
Leon stared at her, then startled as if he’d suddenly realized something. “Of course! At the moment of summoning, a spell is performed. If I’m within a certain radius in beast form, I’ll be able to smell it.”
I raised my eyebrows at him. “Beast form?”
He turned a somehow charming yet predatory grin on me. “My wolf. It’s a little frightening to the humans, but it gets the job done.” Pacing some more, he started to sound a little excited. “So we’ll set up this honeypot. Selena can meet with this messenger who works with the demon summoner, and we’ll start shadowing him. If we’re lucky, we’ll get close to the summoner while he’s casting a spell.”
“He or she,” Naomi pointed out. “From what I know of demon summoning, its evil isn’t exactly gender specific.”
“Point taken.” He sat down at his chair, swiveling it back and forth with the toe of his heavy boots. “It’s not much, but it’s a start.”
“Great.” Nervously, I looked back and forth between the two of them. “So how exactly do I set up this honeypot thing?”
After we were done brainstorming, Leon freed me to do whatever I felt like for a while. “Meet some other fae,” he encouraged me. “If you’re going to be in this world for the long haul, you might as well learn about it firsthand.”
So that’s exactly what I was doing. And it seemed somehow inevitable that my feet led me straight to Tae Min’s office.
The door was open and he was standing not far inside, his back to me. With his head tilted down towards a screen he held in one hand, there was something pensive and vulnerable about him. I hovered outside the open door for a moment just to watch him.
Blue light from the tablet stroked his face and highlighted his cheekbones. There was a frown of concentration that deepened his brows, and his hair was just a little past needing a haircut, softly brushing against his forehead. Once or twice he touched the corner of his mouth with his splayed fingertips.
A little part of me yearned to go over and kiss him again. I wasn’t sure why—except that things had changed since I became a succubus. Before, I could’ve had any man (or woman, possibly) who wanted me bac
k.
Now I couldn’t risk kissing someone like Tae Min, because I didn’t know if I was in control of my powers enough to avoid hurting him.
I needed to break the reverie before he realized I’d been staring at him. Stepping forward, I pushed the door open further and audibly coughed. “I was wondering if I could have my check up early.”
It took him a moment to glance up and leave whatever place of concentration he’d been immersed in, but when he did Tae Min gave me one of the biggest smiles I’d ever seen. Something about it made my heart do a little backflip.
“Of course,” he said. Gesturing to me, he indicated for me to come in and close the door behind me. “I’ve actually been thinking about you—your powers, that is. I’ve heard from Petyr that they’ve grown stronger.”
“They keep breaking out of the binding spell Maggie put on me.” I hopped up onto the examination table, trying to forget what we’d done the last time I’d been here. “I’m supposed to learn how to use them better now. Leon is teaching me.”
Tae Min chuckled. “Not a patient man, that Detective Hardwick.”
“You can say that again.” Something caught my eye: another woman, laying down on an exam table in the corner of the room, deep asleep. “Who’s she?”
Tae Min followed my glance and frowned a little, worriedly. “The possessed woman Naomi dragged in here. We were trying to capture the demon spirit—or I was, at least—but it was unsuccessful. She hasn’t reacted well to having the demon banished from her body. Apparently it was in her for a long time.”
“Does that change things?”
“Sometimes the longer possessions can kill them.” Tae Min pushed his glasses up his nose and turned back to me, a forced smile on his face. “I’m doing my best for her, though. If we’re lucky she’ll pull through, and maybe even be able to tell us something about her possession. Let’s talk about you now, though. Any concerning symptoms since you last came in?”
“You mean besides the hunger inside me that keeps growing?” I sighed. “I’m not sure. I’ve been practicing using my powers, but I can’t actually—”
