Succubus Kiss The Complete Series

by Jennifer Snyder

  Darius.

  He was standing near the center of the dance floor. His head tipped upward to the windows as though he could see me through the distance, and he enjoyed the fact I was watching him. The room was so dark I doubted he could, but it didn’t lessen the electric feeling slicing through me when our eyes seemed to lock.

  “He wants you.” My mother’s voice pulled me from the hypnotic trance Darius had me trapped in. “And Darius always gets what he wants.” There was an edge to her tone.

  “I won’t be sucked in again.” The words were more to convince myself than anything. I had hoped saying them aloud would give them more power. “Guys like him disgust me.”

  A throaty laugh expelled from my mother. “Yes, darling daughter, because you seem to be so disgusted by the sight of him.”

  My lips twitched. She was right, and we both knew it. “Well, the way he goes about things is disgusting.”

  “With him, none of that matters. I know the power he holds over women. I’ve felt it many times.” She reached for a drink sitting on the ottoman I hadn’t noticed before. It was red and frothy. “I can’t say I regret any of the moments I’ve shared with him either.” Her red lips curved into a sly smile.

  Embarrassment heated my cheeks. Was I really sitting with my mother, talking candidly about her sex life with someone a part of me wished I could have? What the hell kind of alternate reality had I stepped into?

  “Anyway, talking about Darius was not why I invited you here.” She sipped her drink, her eyes never wavering from me. They were the same shade as mine. It was strange looking at her, because I was forced to notice the similarities between us. There was no denying I looked exactly like her. “Now that you are awakened fully there are things you need to know.”

  I got the impression this was not a conversation she had ever wished to have with me. The one in New Orleans—what seemed like forever ago—was inevitable, but not this one. This one wasn’t supposed to take place. I understood that from the look in her eyes and the lack of excitement in her voice.

  “You were never supposed to become fully awakened.” She took another sip of the drink she held, and her eyes dropped to stare at the tiled flooring. “It wasn’t what I wanted for you.”

  “Why?” I needed specifics from her this time.

  There was a heavy pause before she finally spoke. “Let me explain a few things first. When I left your father, it was because I loved him.”

  After learning what she was—what I was—I had assumed that would be a problem. I wasn’t sure if she expected me to say something, or if she had become consumed by memories of my father. I chose to remain silent either way.

  “He had no idea what I was, the type of monster he had fallen in love with. I should have never let things between us go as far as they did, because in the end I hurt him more than I ever intended by staying with him for so long.” Her eyes seemed to glaze over as though she were lost in thought. “There were sicknesses he took too long to recover from, days where he would seem locked in the trance-like state that comes after a siphoning. On the night you were conceived, I thought I had finally killed him.” Her words were heavy with the emotions coursing through her.

  “But you didn’t,” I reminded her.

  “His cancer may have very well been my doing. One can only bypass death for so long after tempting it so many times.” She downed the rest of her drink, and I wondered if she was attempting to wash away her guilt. “I stayed until you were five, because I had to know if you harbored too much attraction. Some do. Even as little girls, they seem to attract attention from males without realizing how or why. It’s not sexual in any way while they are young, but by the time they hit their teens, it generally becomes explosive in that sense.”

  I thought back to my teens. I didn’t have the issue of guys wanting me all the time. There was a heightened level of attraction in retrospect before my awakening, but nothing more.

  “When I realized you didn’t harbor a strong level of charm like some, I relaxed and foolishly believed I could have a normal life with you and your father.”

  She tapped the ring she wore to the side of her glass. Her eyes seemed to focus on something in the distance. I assumed she was drowning in more memories.

  “I tried to not feed from your father, but not kissing someone you love is hard, even for the strongest of wills.” Her voice cracked as she spoke, and I knew where this conversation was headed. She must have done something horrible, and whatever it was had been her propelling factor to leave. My heart clenched at the thought.

  “Each time I kissed him, each time we made love, he would fall into a deeper and deeper state of the coma-like trance.” She pressed her fingertips into her temple. “We were young though, and he was healthy and full of stamina and life, at least that’s what I told myself.”

  “How did you manage to not kill him while making love?” I asked. This was a bizarre succubus sex talk.

  “Control. Over time you learn to control the speed in which you siphon after asking.” She paused, seeming to figure out where she had left off in her story before I’d interrupted her. “When you were around five, I nearly killed him again. I was so disgusted with myself for pretending to be normal and leading this normal life when I was anything but. You and your father deserved better. So I left. You didn’t seem to harbor much of the succubus charms; I assumed you could possibly be mute to the genes.”

  “Mute to the genes?” I interrupted her again.

  Her eyes lifted to meet with mine. I could see her past haunting her through her stare. “Not every mating between a human male and a succubus resorts in a succubus being born. Sometimes the human genetics are stronger, and The Kiss of Awakening never happens.” Her lips twisted into a thin line. “This was what I had thought happened to you. What I prayed for. You were a cute kid, but you didn’t seem to harbor the traits of a succubus early on. Your powers were dormant, so much so, that even I couldn’t detect them.”

  “Why?”

  Her lips curved into a small smile. “They call those like you late bloomers, I believe.”

  “Funny.” I rolled my eyes, sarcasm getting the best of me.

  “While I had no idea if you were truly a late bloomer or if you held no succubus powers at all, I still didn’t want to corrupt you. I wanted you to be raised in a loving home with someone who didn’t harbor a deadly kiss and lead two lives. Your father was a good man. He loved you so much.”

  “I know,” I muttered. A heavy sensation formed in my chest at the thought of him. “Not a day goes by that I don’t think of him.”

  “I feel the same way. When I learned he was sick, I broke down.”

  I snapped my gaze to her. “You knew he was sick?”

  “Yes.” She nodded. “I watched you both, always.”

  “Why didn’t you choose to spend time with him while you could?”

  “Because I couldn’t.” Her words were simple, but the emotions packed within them weren’t. “I wasn’t strong enough to watch him die like you.”

  My heart paused in its thunderous beating, and I felt sorry for her. I knew firsthand what it was like to watch someone you loved come closer to death every day, to know that there wasn’t a thing you could do to save him.

  A new question formed in my mind, one that caused anger to blister my insides.

  “Why didn’t you save him? Why didn’t you have a witch do a spell to heal him? Or have a vampire give him their blood so he would still be here? You could have had him the way you wanted.” I didn’t bother to keep the rage I felt from leaking into my words. She had been a part of the supernatural world and had an ample supply of ways to save him at her fingertips, but she had chosen to ignore them all and let him die. Why?

  “The thought did cross my mind many times, trust me,” she whispered. “A few nights before he passed, I was finally able to gather enough courage to come to him and ask, but he refused anything I tried to offer. He said it was God’s plan for him, and he wa
sn’t about to cheat death. It was his time. He had accepted it. But I couldn’t.”

  Silence filled the room as I processed her words, and she continued to drown in her memories. Mom had offered to save him, to turn him into something supernatural, and he refused. My breathing grew shallow as a hollow sense spread throughout me. I couldn’t believe he had refused. Damn him, and his trust that everything happened for a reason.

  Chapter 19

  A tall, dark-haired man entered the room, interrupting our moment. He was dressed in black leather pants and a red bowtie. My eyes traveled down the length of him, taking in his leanly sculpted chest. I’d never seen a man as willowy as him have such defined muscles. His attention locked on my mother.

  “Care for another drink, my lady?” His accent was thick and unfamiliar.

  “Yes.” She held her empty glass to him. “Thank you, Trent.”

  Trent’s entire face lit up with a kilowatt smile at the sound of his name. He stepped forward to retrieve the glass from her, and I took notice to two things about him. One, he was barefoot. And two, he was human. His aura shimmered around him in a lustful red, moving with his every movement.

  “Anything for you?” His stare shifted to me, and I gasped at the color of his eyes.

  I had always been a sucker for eye color, and Trent had bright green ones that almost seemed iridescent in the dim lighting of the room. They reminded me of cat eyes. His eyes, combined with the fact that he was a human instead of a shifter, seemed like an anomaly.

  I focused on his aura, making sure I hadn’t missed something. A sudden need to feed awoke within me as I did so, causing an empty, gnawing sensation to crawl through my stomach. I would need to feed before I left here tonight. If not, I risked letting the wraith take over again.

  Apparently, my excuse to leave Lexy hadn’t been entirely a lie.

  “Miss?” Trent pressed when I didn’t respond. “Something to drink?”

  “Um, sure.” I blinked. “I’ll have water, please.”

  He nodded before exiting the room, taking his tempting aura along with him.

  “You’re hungry.” My mother’s eyes were on me. I could feel the searing power of them as they bored into me from where she sat. “I can tell from the sudden tension emanating around you.”

  “I’m fine.” I straightened my back. While I knew time was of the essence when it came to feedings now, I didn’t want to choose anyone at random.

  “Trent will let you feed from him. He’s willingly here and knows all the risks, including the costs of feeling our pleasure.” Her words were cold and distant, making me wonder if she was still thinking of my father.

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Are you positive? I could have him stay once he returns with our drinks.” A sly smile twisted her lips. “I’ll even leave the room, if you prefer.”

  “No.” I shook my head. I wasn’t about to feed from a guy who clearly was another of my mother’s playthings. “I’m fine.”

  “You’re not, though.” Her concerned tone had my eyes shifting her way again. “It’s the wraith, isn’t it? He’s making you feed more.”

  “Yeah.” I ran my fingers through my hair. “One of the lovely side effects of being infected by a wraith is that you lose control over feeding habits.”

  The doors to the room opened. Trent walked in, carrying a small silver tray with two glasses setting on top. He handed my mother hers first, and then made his way to me. I took my water from him while flashing a small smile. It wasn’t genuine. I was struggling to keep control of myself now that his tempting aura was back in the room. He was lustful for my mother, a fact that should have been a complete turn off, but for whatever reason, it didn’t harbor the necessary disgust factor it should, because I still wanted him.

  “Is there anything else I can do for you ladies?” Trent’s voice was low and sweet. He was so eager to please, like a loyal puppy.

  “Kenna?” my mother prompted. Her brow arched as she studied me, waiting for me to say the word. She would have Trent giving up seconds of his life to me in an instant, if I asked.

  My teeth sank into my bottom lip. I felt like a junkie who had been sober for a week trying to turn down a hit of their biggest temptation. My head and body were telling me two separate things. “I’m good. Thank you.” The words pushed past my lips in a way that made them sound stiff.

  “That will be all, for now.” She waved him away. I hated how callous and cold she seemed, as though he was beneath her. Was this who she truly was? A queen in her erotic temple?

  “Tell me more about this wraith situation. Did you manage to find Luke Bloom?” She took a sip from her drink while eyeing me.

  I inhaled a deep breath. Now I could finally catch my mother up on everything. The time had come.

  The last few weeks poured from me easier than I thought they would. In my mind, I compared the moment and sensations of relief to what a Catholic person must feel as they confessed his or her sins to a priest. When I finished, I fixated my stare to the windows overlooking the club, because I couldn’t bring myself to look at my mother’s face. Silence hung through the room, heavy and thick.

  “Well, you certainly are in a mess, my sweet girl,” she whispered after a few minutes.

  It had been so long since I’d heard her call me her sweet girl. My insides warmed at the sound. Now she understood. Now she knew what I was up against.

  “I sent you to Luke in the hopes that his sister’s magic would be able to rid you of the wraith, that she would be able to save you.” She paused to take a sip of her drink. “I had no idea the spell she might use would hold such a hefty price.”

  “Neither did I.” I pursed my lips together. “It’s too much to ask of anyone. I’m glad there’s another way.”

  “It’s not too much to ask, not of someone who loves you.” Her tone was steady. Hope bloomed through my chest that she might offer herself up out of love for me. I wouldn’t accept, not now that we’d found another way, but to hear her say the words would mean so much. “Randal was willing to give up his life to save yours, and you didn’t have to ask him.”

  “I know, but I can’t let him.”

  “You should let him.” She insisted.

  “Why would you say that? I already told you of the alternative option and that he’s missing.”

  She waved my words away with a flick of her hand. “I know. All I’m saying is that you should have let him follow through with the first spell. He was willing.”

  “He only offered because this all came full-circle for him. He thinks now is his chance to do what he couldn’t years ago for his youngest sister.” I tried to rein in my anger toward her, but failed. How could she be so damn heartless? “He thinks by doing this he can save us both. In his mind, it’s a double win, when really it’s not because he would die.”

  “Sweetheart, he’s already dead. In a sense at least.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder, and took a sip from her drink. “And it is a win. You would become free of the wraith, and he would be able to clear his conscience. I don’t see what the issue is.”

  “I love him.” The sharp edge to my words garnered her undivided attention. “I would be free from the wraith if Randal went through with it, and he may finally feel a sense of victory and validation, but I would be tortured and haunted by the thought that I had allowed him to die for me. My conscience would never be clear. It would always eat at me. Always. I couldn’t live that way. I’d rather die.” A sense of peace settled over me as my words hung in the air between us.

  “There’s my pure little girl.”

  “What?” Confusion gripped me.

  “I was worried the wraith had corrupted you completely once it forced you to take that boy’s life, awakening all of your succubus powers.” She dropped her gaze to the windows overlooking the club. “I wasn’t disappointed in you or angry because of what you did. I was upset with myself because no matter what, it seemed as though I couldn’t save you from becoming a monst
er like me.”

  My breath hitched. I shifted through things I could say—should say—in response, but nothing stuck.

  “Now.” Her eyes lifted to mine. There was a sense of pride swirling within their color. “I can see no matter what, you will never become like me. You have a conscience, my sweet girl, one unlike any other succubus I’ve come across, and that is what makes you so special.”

  “Everyone has a conscience.” There wasn’t anything special about me. I didn’t understand why everyone continued to say there was.

  She shook her head. “No. They don’t. Even some humans don’t. Never change, my sweet girl.” She re-crossed her legs. “Now about this hoodoo spell.” She pressed forward, pushing away the moment we could have had.

  “It’s going to be fine. I trust Lexy. She’ll be able to bring me back like she says.” I needed to stay positive. It was time I stopped sulking and worrying about not making it through this ritual.

  Amusement glittered in her eyes. “You’re strong and determined; you got those qualities from me.” She sat forward. “I admire you for being willing to save yourself. Not only do you have a conscience, but you’re also selfless. I could learn a lot from you.”

  “Why do you say that?” The corners of my lips twisted upward as I allowed her compliment to wash over me. It was rare to receive one from my mother, considering how few and far between her appearances in my life had been.

  “Because most, myself included, would allow the man to save us and never think twice.”

  I froze. Her words slipped through my mind on repeat. I had never thought of it that way. She was right. Society had wired it into girls’ heads starting at a young age that the prince, or the knight in shining armor, would save us no matter what. We were taught to expect it and never question. How sad.

  Well, this wasn’t a fairy tale, and I wasn’t one of those girls. I planned on saving myself, even if it meant dying and being brought back to do it.