by Lucy Auburn
“Okay,” Selena said, holding a hand over her mouth. “Stab him. Stab him all you want.”
“That’s the plan.”
I leapt over the fallen door and curved around the metal tables, knives at the ready. The dark fae opened his mouth to hiss, but before he could spit his venom at me I sent a knife flying towards his shoulder. He stumbled back in pain and outrage, clutching at the bleeding wound.
That moment of distraction was all I needed. With my free hand, I pulled one of my special knives out of my jacket: my density knife. When it connected with flesh its weight multiplied exponentially and held people down. As the dark fae tried to recover from my first blow, I didn’t give him a chance. Surging forward, I stabbed him through the leg with the knife, and it held him in place just as effectively as any prison.
“There.” I gave Selena a smirk, and she just stared at the struggling fae in awe. “Now you can drain his energy.”
Grimacing, the succubus reached out and grabbed the dark fae’s arms. He hissed at her, but my density knife had stolen most of his strength. All it took was a little of Selena’s energy-draining powers and he was out like a light.
Nothing like a victory to turn a bad day around.
Selena
I watched as our dark fae, Percy Inn, slowly roused from the deep sleep I’d put him into. He had duct tape over his mouth—our makeshift attempt to keep him from spitting venom at us on the car ride over. His stab wounds, courtesy of Naomi, had been clumsily bandaged. She was banished to the hallway outside—apparently she couldn’t be trusted not to carve him up a little more while we waited for him to wake up.
Petyr and Leon were standing opposite the handcuffed man, while I stood in the corner of the room, relegated to observer. But I didn’t just want to observe; I wanted to take him down, to drain the life out of him. I wanted to put him six feet under and make sure he never got up again.
It was a strange and unfamiliar feeling. I’d never thought of myself as much of a fighter, but that was beginning to change. My new powers had given me a tool to use to fight evil and seek justice. Maybe they were changing more than just my sexual relationships; maybe this was why Naomi always seemed so eager to stab things. Facing evil was turning me into an unrecognizable person.
“Where’s Tae Min?” Petyr glanced nervously at the door. “He’s waking up.”
“The doc is on his way.” Leon sounded unconcerned, even though the rash on his face had barely healed after his own run-in with the dark fae’s poison. “I’m sure there’s nothing to be worried about. Besides, you have healing powers.”
That got my attention; other than knowing that Petyr was part tree fae, I’d never heard about his powers. “You can heal?”
“Not fae-inflicted wounds. At least not always.” Petyr gave Leon a look. “We have no idea if I would even be able to heal that venom. And you were only able to recover last time because of your powers; Selena doesn’t have that ability. Taking the duct tape off would be irresponsible.”
Looking thoroughly chastised, Leon sunk down in his chair and grumbled. “I just want to get this interrogation over with already.”
So did I. It felt like getting the demon summoner to talk would solve everything. We’d stop him from summoning demons, find out who he was working for, and Baton Rouge would go back to normal. I’d re-enroll in classes, move back in with Talia, and just be normal for a chance.
Except for the part where I was an energy-draining succubus about to be engaged to a powerful fae knight who created fire with his hands.
As Percy roused until he was fully awake and struggling against his handcuffs, we all impatiently waited for Dr. Lee to show up. Finally he did, practically sliding into the room in his excitement, words I barely understood falling from his mouth. “I figured out a way to suppress the venom! From my studies, it looks like this subspecies of fae has venom sacks on either side of the throat, just beneath the jaw. It took me a while but I found a hormone blocker and some steroids that should do the job. I just need to inject him with twenty milliliters, and after about two minutes—”
“Okay, okay.” Petyr nodded towards Tae Min. “I don’t need to know how. Just do it.”
“Right. On it.” The young doctor approached the dark fae warily, smiling at him like he was any patient and not a trussed-up murderer. “I’m just going to palpate your neck to find your venom sacks now.”
I couldn’t keep in a little smile at Tae Min’s careful consideration. He pressed gentle fingers against the dark fae’s neck to find the right injection spot. Thankfully the man was still a little drowsy, because he looked none too happy when Tae Min pulled out a syringe. With a quick swipe of an alcohol cloth against his skin, Tae Min prepped him, injected him, and stared down at his watch.
“Now we wait.” He gave his an apologetic look. “It may take a while.”
Leon muttered, “Maybe I should have Naomi come in here and just extract the venom sacs with her knife.”
The image was an easy one to imagine. If given the chance, Naomi would no doubt carve the poison right out of the dark fae. I wouldn’t stop her, either.
Thankfully it didn’t take long before Tae Min was pressing his fingers against the man’s neck and giving us a short nod. “You should be good to go now. I don’t feel the sacs anymore; the venom appears to have drained from them entirely. I can’t promise long-term results, though, so make sure you get the questioning over with quickly.”
“We have Selena,” Leon said, and Tae Min’s eyes flicked over to me. “She’ll get it done.”
“Right. Of course.” I expected the doctor to be nervous around me, but he seemed to linger instead. “Do you mind if I watch the interrogation? I so rarely get to see fae powers being used in the field, and my field notes about sexual energy fae subtypes are sorely lacking.”
“Selena?” Leon looked to me for an answer. “It’s up to you if you want him to stay.”
Looking into Tae Min’s deeply sympathetic eyes, I knew I couldn’t say no. “The more the merrier. Now if you’ll excuse me...” I motioned for Petyr to get up and he vacated the seat he’d been taking. “Let’s get down to business.”
Sitting across from the dark fae, it occurred to me that maybe it should worry me how comfortable I’d gotten with using my powers. The thing inside me that wanted to feed off the energy of others no longer disturbed or frightened me. I was a predator; others were prey. Some of them even willing prey. So why shouldn’t I feed off them, if we both enjoyed it in the end?
I knew I should feel more reluctance. It shouldn’t thrill me to reach across and pull the duct tape from the dark fae’s mouth, seeing the slight fear in his eyes as I prepared to drain him again, knowing he was defenseless without his venom or dead bodies to raise. This man had tried to kill us. He’d eaten people’s loved ones, and summoned demons to destroy the city, to who knows what end.
But that wasn’t the only reason why I reached across the table to place my hands over his and began to drain his energy from him.
A little part of me wanted to do it just because I could.
Maybe Vincent was right about the darkness inside of me. But I didn’t need his guidance when I had criminals like this one to question. I had perfect control, and the perfect way to use my powers.
Tae Min observed as I channeled energy out of the dark fae. “Fascinating. His pupils are responding. Breathing is slowing down considerably. I imagine that his pulse and blood pressure are dropping as well. I’d love to know what the serotonin levels in his blood currently are.”
“I don’t know how it works,” I told him, “it just does.”
When I was sure that I’d taken energy from the fae, I pulsed it back to him. Normally when I did that I would manage to get at least the power of suggestion over the criminals we interrogated. But this time I felt resistance. It wasn’t working.
Percy’s lips peeled back in a feral smile. “Drain me until I’m dead, little girl. You won’t be able to control me. I’ve b
een around for too many centuries to be swayed by your weak attempts at seduction.”
For a moment I almost panicked, but Leon’s reassuring words kept me grounded. “Don’t listen to him. If hand-to-hand contact isn’t working, up the techniques you’re using.”
I grimaced. “Leon, he eats flesh.”
Tae Min chimed in helpfully. “As a note, from my studies of the incubus, you don’t have to make mouth-to-mouth contact in order to drain someone’s energy. Just hovering near their open mouth with yours open may be enough.”
“Great. I get to inhale his breath.” I shook myself and tried to find some inner strength. “I’ll do it, I just want to complain about it a little.”
Petyr offered, “I could get you a toothbrush for right after.”
“Do that. First, though, let’s get this over with. Leon, can you pry his mouth open for me?”
“Sure.”
Percy watched us through all this, a smug look on his face. “It won’t work,” he said, even as Leon strode around behind him to force open his mouth. “No succubus is powerful enough to control me. And soon enough my gods will break me free from confinement.”
“We’ll see about that.”
I was just about to try what Tae Min suggested—bad breath and all—when the interrogation room door opened again. Leon muttered, “We should really use the lock on the door more often.”
Naomi walked through, a determined look on her face. Walking over to the table, she slapped down the photos she’d taken at the house where Talia was possessed. “I want him to tell me what these are.”
“I told you to stay in the hallway,” Petyr groused.
Holding her hands up, Naomi backed herself into a corner of the room. “I won’t stab anything. Promise. It’s up to Selena to do this.” She looked at me. “Don’t fail me now, Suck. I have to know what those photos were about.”
My heart was beating fast with the pressure of it all. So many people who I wanted to impress, crowded into one room just to watch me interrogate a demon summoner with my powers. More than anything, I didn’t want to let them down. I had to pull this off.
For some inexplicable reason I found myself reaching down to touch the amulets: one from Elah, one from Vincent. Something about their strength gave me confidence and calmed me down. I’d tasted a powerful blackfyre fae and pleasured him with my mouth; a dark fae older than I even knew thought I had something inside me worth noticing. Surely I could bend the will of one demon summoner.
Leaning across the table, I opened my mouth just enough to inhale. At the same time, Leon pried open Percy’s jaw. The dark fae struggled wildly, but Leon kept him still. And I felt it as something inside him shifted.
His energy stretched through the air between us, coursing faster than I ever could have imagined.
I drank from his darkness until it filled me up. When I was done with him, I breathed out the mere whisper of power, and his face went slack as he gave in to my will.
“He’s ours now,” I said, as Leon dropped his hands and stepped back. “He’ll answer any question you have for him.”
Beneath my shirt, the amulet Vincent gave me pulsed with warmth and heat, as if it recognized something within me that called to it.
Chapter Thirty-Five
There was something about my connection with Percy. I couldn’t quite figure it out, but it felt... different somehow. I felt different somehow.
But there was no time to dwell on that. Leon was beginning the questioning. “Have you been summoning demons into Baton Rouge and instructing them to possess humans?”
The dark fae’s mouth stretched in a chilling smirk. “Yes. And for every one you and your half-wit co-workers banish back to the underground, another five spring up in their place, undetected.”
Leon opened his mouth to ask another question, but Naomi sprung forward. She pushed to him the photos she’d taken of the runes in the basement of the house where it all started. “What are these? What do they mean? Did you use them for something?”
The dark fae cocked his head at her. “So many questions. It bothers you not to know, doesn’t it?”
“Tell her,” I pressed him, leaning forward and looking into his eyes. “Tell her now.”
His face went slack for a brief moment, and he nodded. I could almost swear he was afraid of me; it sent a little chill down my spine, made me wonder if I was doing something wrong.
“These are the symbols of my god.” He made a strangled noise, strange in his throat. “I use them to worship... to worship...”
“What?”
Percy’s face turned pale. Reaching up, he clawed at his throat as if something were choking him. “Do not ask. Please. I cannot answer.”
“It’s a spell.” Walking forward, Tae Min stared at the man, a fascinated look on his face. “I’ve never seen something like this before, though I’ve heard of it. Some of the old gods—the very, very powerful full-blood fae—used to do this sort of thing to their worshipers, to keep them from ever telling anyone their identity. I thought those old sects died out, though.”
Leon looked grim. “Apparently not. Is he choking to death?”
“I think so.” To Naomi, Tae Min said, “You’re going to have to take the question back. He’s struggling between the pull of Selena’s powers over him and his gods’ spell. He’ll die trying to answer your questions.”
“Fine,” the dark hunter snapped. “I take it back. You don’t have to answer the question.”
But it was me the dark fae was looking at, desperation in his eyes as he clawed and scratched at his own neck. “You don’t have to answer her questions. Keep your gods’ names a secret for all I care.”
He sighed as all at once the spell let go of him, letting air back into his throat. “Are you done with your fruitless questions?”
My powers could bend him to my will, but it appeared that I couldn’t make him like me. If there was any part of him that had been seduced by my succubus nature, Percy was burying it down deep inside.
“I have questions.” Petyr stepped forward and placed his hands on the table, leaning into the man’s space. “Why do all this? What’s the end game?”
The dark fae’s eyes flickered, and I wondered if this, too, was a question he’d been cursed not to answer. But he did. “The more of the Underworld we bring to this realm, the wider the gates crack open.” Unflinching, he looked up into the ambassador’s eyes. “We will welcome Hell on earth. And you will rue the day you chose the light.”
There was something about those words that chilled me. I wanted to force answers from the man, to find out whose bidding he was doing and end them. The evil he spoke of couldn’t come to pass.
Reaching out, I put my hands over his and fed the line that connected us, that bent him to my will. “You won’t get away with this,” I said, ignoring the warning look Leon shot my way. “The light will win.”
Percy leaned forward as well, until his dark eyes were staring into mine, the heat of his breath disgusting me. He spoke in a quiet voice. “You should hope the light doesn’t win, little girl. You have darkness inside you.”
“What would you know,” I muttered. “You’re just some dumb flesh eater.”
I wanted to lean away, but he pressed his cheek against mine before I could, that voice an invasion in my ear. “I may eat flesh, but I’m not the dumb one here.” He turned his hands beneath mine and grabbed my wrists, holding me there. “You have demon blood in you, little light succubus. And the as soon as they find out why, these friends of yours will kill you.”
I broke away from him, denying his words even as they lodged in a place inside me. My mind shut down as I pressed my back into the chair behind me. The dark fae smirked. Everything turned into a roar of white noise.
“Let’s continue the line of questioning.” Leon’s voice was a dull buzz, coming from a distance far away. “Tell us about your accomplices. Who helped you?”
The question dropped into the middle of a silent room. I w
aited for what would come next, trying to convince myself that he’d just lied to me, even though I knew he could only tell me the truth while under the spell of my powers.
“Well? Your accomplices. Now.”
Instead of answering, Percy reached with one of his hands and pressed against his neck. Hard. I didn’t understand what he was doing until Tae Min shouted a warning, jumping into action to try to grab his hand.
“The venom! He’s killing himself!”
But he was too late. Percy’s eyes rolled back into his head, the hand falling limply from his neck. Whatever he’d done, it was turning his veins black, his skin like a spider’s web. He choked and spasmed for a few long, terrible moments, then sagged against the chair.
He’d just killed himself. The urge to vomit settled in my stomach, low and deep. I pushed back my chair and backed away from the body.
Tae Min said, “He used his poison sacs to take his own life.”
Turning towards the wall, I vomited noisily in the corner.
Leon gave me the rest of the day off. We all deserved it, but I couldn’t help wondering if he pitied me for my extreme reaction to the dark fae’s death.
It wasn’t the reason why I’d gotten sick though—or at least, it wasn’t the only reason. Some part of me had recognized that what Percy said was the truth, flesh-eater or not.
Because I felt it inside me.
Not just the succubus who wanted to feed.
But the dark thing that had something in common with Vincent. That saw herself reflected in the darkness of her eyes. The way my blood hissed and smoked when the Elders set me up with Elah—it wasn’t a coincidence or something they expected to happen.
I wanted to drain the life out of Percy, to take and take until there was nothing left. I’d revelled in the way my palms glowed with heat from Elah’s energy, how easily I’d taken his powers when we fooled around. Even now, I could feel the venom from draining the dark fae, settling into the back of my throat.
