Succubus Rising, An Urban Fantasy (The Telepathic Clans Saga)

by BR Kingsolver

  He obeyed and she melted into him.

  Somehow, he managed to open the door in spite of her being draped all over him, her mouth locked with his. Once in the room, she managed to step away from him. She was shaking, and to hide it, she sat in a chair and started pulling off her boots.

  Sitting on the edge of the bed, he took off his own boots and started unbuttoning his shirt. He watched her pull her turtleneck over her head revealing a sheer, lacy black bra over firm round breasts with pink puffy nipples. Goddess, he wanted to take them in his mouth, feel them with his tongue. She stood and skinned her jeans over her hips, exposing lacy black panties. For a moment, she stood before him, tall and slender, her curves sensual without being voluptuous. The line where her waist flowed into her hips caused him to draw a sharp breath. She wasn’t Brenna, but she didn’t need to be. She was incredibly beautiful in her own right.

  Carlos was tall, his broad shoulders and chest tapering to a flat stomach and narrow waist. He slipped off his boxers, and she stared at his hard erection like a bird watching a snake. The flutters in her stomach increased, and the warmth between her legs flamed as a flood of moisture soaked her panties.

  She walked slowly to the bed and crawled onto it on her hands and knees, like a cat stalking its prey. Her movements were at odds with the open longing in her face. He had a sudden revelation of her vulnerability. An intelligent, hard, capable woman, but more than anything, a woman. Carlos wasn’t the strongest empath, but Rebecca’s need to be loved filled the room the way Brenna’s pheromones could.

  He reached for her, and when his hands touched her, she felt bolts of warmth radiate throughout her body. His hands were huge, covering her breast completely when he cupped one. She sought his lips and once more melted into his kiss. And then she was lying on her back, dizzy and weak, his hands igniting fires wherever he touched her.

  Her heart hammered in her chest. It surprised her. She just wanted him to take her, use her, fill her, and above all, kiss her again. He did and she surrendered, giving herself up to anything he wanted. Trailing kisses down her throat, nibbling her flesh at the edges of her bra, he freed her breasts and covered them with his hands. She pushed against them, willing him to squeeze them and he responded. She moaned as he took her nipple in his mouth, his tongue teasing it. When he sucked on it the first time, she let out a soft cry, holding his head in her hands, curling her fingers in his hair.

  One of his wonderful hands squeezed one of her breasts as he suckled on the other one. His free hand slid down her stomach and inside her panties. She lifted her hips, urging him to slide his hand between her legs. His fingers slid into her and she arched under him, slick and hot with desire. She called his name in a low moaning voice, and he let his mouth release her breast and rose to kiss her lips.

  “I want you. God, I want you so bad,” she breathed.

  She arched her back, pressing against the hand between her legs, greedily trying to suck his fingers into her as he sucked her tongue into his mouth.

  “I want you inside. I can’t wait. Carlos, please,” she begged. She’d never begged a man before. She’d never felt so empty, so needing to be filled, Shekissed him as she’d never kissed anyone before. Opening her shields, she moved to merge with his mind, trying to show him how much she needed to merge with his body.

  She vaguely heard her panties rip. It didn’t matter. She was free of them, open for him. She wrapped her legs around him, pulling him into her. His hot tip pressed into her and she gasped, arching and pushing up to meet him. He paused and she writhed. As he pushed a little more, her next shield fell. Another push and another shield. When he fully sheathed himself, she loosed a cry of triumph. Holding him, she felt as though their bodies had melted together.

  His soul was beautiful. He allowed her to see it, and she wanted to cry with its beauty. She reached out to touch his soul and it engulfed her, pulling her into him. Reality shattered, and she drifted in a warm sea. His soul caressed her, and her mind felt the way his lips had affected her body. When she felt him reach his climax, felt his pleasure explode through her mind and her body, she realized she was still in the throes of orgasm. They enhanced each other, soared, souls wrapped around each other in perfect resonance.

  ~~~

  Morning dawned with Rebecca lying half on top of Carlos, her head cradled against his shoulder. He felt something warm and wet trailing down his chest and looked to see what it was. She was silently crying.

  “What’s the matter, Rebecca? What’s wrong?”

  “You’re so beautiful, and I love you so much, and I know it can’t last. And that should be okay, but I’m selfish and I want it to.”

  He pulled her face to his and kissed her. When she stilled, he asked, “Why do you think it won’t last? We merged our souls. We love each other.”

  “No one can love me. You don’t know me. You’ll go away, but I don’t want you to. I’m selfish and I want you to love me.” She broke down and sobbed.

  “Madre de Dios,” Carlos breathed. Then he slowly and gently made love to her again, pushing until they merged their souls, and then telling her, There is no more you and I, only us. I’ve looked for you my whole life, my soul mate, and I’m not letting you go. You can’t run from me, Rebecca, you can’t push me away. My heart, my life is yours.

  Her climax branded his words and his feelings on her mind. The energy of his climax roared into her, and looking in his eyes, she began to believe.

  “I want you to come to Ecuador and meet my family,” he said sometime later. She was straddling him, her head resting on his chest. She loved the way he stroked her body and hair.

  “Why?’ she asked languidly.

  “Because in my country it’s traditional to meet each other’s families before you get married.”

  “Married?”

  “Yes. Rebecca, will you marry me?”

  “Marry?” She sat up abruptly, sliding off him. She stared at him as though he’d suggested teleporting to the moon. “Don’t you think this is a bit sudden? I mean, we hardly know each other.”

  “We love each other. I don’t mean we need to get married tomorrow, but people in love normally get married.”

  “Well, yeah, some people do that. That doesn’t mean we have to. Can’t we just love each other without, well, you know, getting married?” She knew she was babbling, but what was coming out of her mouth was organized compared to the chaos in her mind.

  He laughed, “I’m sorry. I scared you. Okay, I won’t mention marriage, but I’d still like you to meet my family.”

  She took a deep breath, gathering her courage. “Carlos, I’m not sure that’s a good idea. I’m really not what you want for a wife. You’re a rico, an aristocrat. For a wife you should marry an aristocrat. I’m happy just to be a mistress. Honest.”

  “Rebecca, this rico would be proud to call you my wife. You’re beautiful, intelligent, strong. Hell, I know you’re a stronger telepath than I am. I don’t know what Gifts you and Brenna have, but I can guess at hers and they’re considerable.” He smiled, “I’ve seen you dressed up, and you’re elegant and sophisticated. Why wouldn’t I be proud to be your husband?”

  “Oh, shit, Carlos. I curse like a sailor. I’m a tomboy. I drink too much …,” she clutched at any excuse she could think of. “I’m not a virgin. Don’t you aristocratic types like virgins?”

  He roared with laughter. “I’m sure we’d like unicorns, too, but virgins are as rare as unicorns in a Clan family. My sainted sister Maria is one of the most pious people I know, but she lost her virginity before she graduated high school.”

  Rebecca’s face flamed. “Okay. There are two reasons why I can’t marry you. One you can understand, and the other you just have to accept. Do you know what a shadow is?”

  “Vaguely. I know that you’re Brenna’s, but I don’t understand exactly what that means.”

  “Do you believe in the Goddess?”

  He nodded. “I believe in God, too.”

  “Ca
rlos, I don’t just believe in the Goddess. I know She’s real and directs my life. The Goddess has made me Brenna’s shadow. It’s not a choice. It means my life is hers,” she said quietly. “Not mine. Not yours. No matter how much I love you, even carrying your baby, Brenna is the only thing in my life that matters. She is the reason I live. If you ever tried to hurt her, I would kill you. I’d mourn and it would tear me apart, but you’d still be dead. As I said, that’s something you have to accept. It doesn’t matter if you understand it or not.”

  She sat up, putting distance between them. “The other thing is, I have a problem, a genetic problem. Carlos, I could swear to you on a stack of Bibles that I would be faithful to you, and it wouldn’t make any difference. Unless we spend every day together for the rest of our lives, I can’t promise that to you. And with my commitment to Brenna, I can’t spend my whole life with you. You deserve a better wife than that.”

  The look on his face was thoughtful, “Explain this genetic problem. Please, Rebecca, I want to understand.”

  “The genes for the Succubus Gift are on the X chromosome,” she began. He nodded. “To have the Gift, a woman needs to have it on both X chromosomes. But those who carry it on only one chromosome have the other Gifts in what we call the succubus gene complex, excepting that Gift. That’s me. It gives me eight Gifts and makes me very powerful, but it has a downside. I don’t have the ability a succubus has to balance my internal energies.”

  “Okay,” he said. “And what does that mean?”

  She felt herself blush. Unable to meet his eyes, she said, “My sexual energies drift out of balance, and the only way to rebalance them is with an infusion of energy from a man. Without that, my mind begins to get fuzzy, I have physical symptoms, and gradually I begin to lose my mind. I lose control. When I was a teenager, I ended up in a mental hospital.”

  Shaking back her hair, she looked up into his eyes. She needed to see his reaction when she told him the next part. “I have to have sex with a man every day. I can’t control it. I have friends, mostly Protectors I work with, who accommodate me. Carlos, I’m a genetic slut. I fuck at least one man every day of my life. And if you’re not around, I will always have to find someone to help me.” Her heart broke while she told him, sure that once he got out of bed he would never want to touch her again.

  Carlos’ empathy wasn’t strong, but the pain rolled off her in waves. When she finished, he sat up and gathered her in his arms and kissed her, as gently and tenderly and thoroughly as he knew how. He kissed her until the tension ran out of her body and she melted against him.

  “You have just described my sister, Maria. She’s my older sister. She watched me when I was young. She taught me to read. She taught me to say my rosary. She is the sweetest, most wonderful woman I have ever known until I met you. Perhaps the pain of this half-Gift creates extraordinary women. But Rebecca, I will never ask you for something you can’t give. All I ask is that you love me. With that, I can deal with anything else.”

  She stared at him in wonder. “You don’t care that I’m a slut? You don’t care if I’m fucking other men?”

  “No, my love, I don’t care. Rebecca, none of the people in my family is an icon of fidelity. I have seven half-brothers and sisters. Six are by my father, one by my mother. But my mother and father have been married for sixty years, and I’ve never doubted that they love each other very much. I would be hurt if you went to bed with someone else when you could have me instead. I won’t lie. But if I’m in Ecuador and you are here, it wouldn’t be love if I denied you what you need, if I wanted you to suffer for my ego.”

  He kissed her again. “Does it bother you that I slept with Brenna?”

  “I wasn’t in love with you then.”

  “Honestly, please.”

  “No, it didn’t at the time. If you asked me to stay outside and wait on you now, I’d kill you.”

  He chuckled, “Well, I think we’ve set some guidelines, yes?”

  “Carlos, if I wasn’t there, if I was in New York or something, and you and Brenna got together, I’d be okay with that. I love you both. If I come home and find you in bed with her, I expect that you’ll welcome me to join you, with joy in your hearts. Do you understand?”

  He kissed her, opening his mind, and as she fell in and he wrapped her in his love, she knew he understood.

  ~~~

  CHAPTER 14

  A bee is never as busy as it seems; it's just that it can't buzz any slower. - Kin Hubbard

  “I thought that Don Carlos would join us for breakfast,” Seamus said. Then he noticed Rebecca was also missing.

  “Brenna, do you know where your sister is?”

  “I think she’s on her way, Grandfather,” Brenna said innocently, sending Rebecca a spear thread.

  A few minutes later Carlos and Rebecca made their appearance. Taking in their flushed faces, Seamus crooked an eyebrow at them, then shot a look at Brenna. Rebecca sat in her normal place next to Brenna, and Carlos sat on Seamus’ left side. Although they attempted to interact naturally with those around them and carry on conversations, their eyes constantly sought each other.

  “Collin? Do you have a date tonight?” Brenna asked softly.

  “No, why?” he whispered back.

  “I don’t think I do either. Would you consider me a heartless slut if I asked to sleep with you?”

  “Well, I think you’ll probably have to make it up to me. You know I was crushed when you asked if you could spend the night away.”

  Brenna laughed. “Haul out the ropes and floggers. I’m yours, Master. I shall make whatever obeisance you require.”

  “That’s the kind of attitude I love in a woman. I’ll spend the whole day thinking of penances for you.”

  She pulled his face close and kissed him.

  “Hey, hey,” Jared called. “None of that at breakfast. Good Lord, can’t we have some decorum here?”

  Everyone laughed except Carlos and Rebecca. They didn’t know anyone else was in the room.

  As people finished their meals, Seamus tapped his spoon on a glass. “Listen up, people. I have an introduction to make. I know that you have all enjoyed the company of the quiet and demure Miss Rebecca Healy, but she’s decided to leave us.” Several people cast confused looks at the young woman sitting on Brenna’s left, the rest laughed at the ‘quiet and demure’ description.

  “To my immense joy, she has given her place at the table to the beautiful Miss Rebecca O’Donnell. I’ve adopted Rebecca as my granddaughter. Please, Miss O’Donnell, stand and give us a speech.”

  Blushing furiously, Rebecca asked him, “It’s done?”

  “Finalized yesterday. Say something.”

  She stood, looking around at her friends and new family. She managed to start off fairly composed, “This is probably the best day of my life. I have a family, one that really wants me, and there are no words to describe how wonderful that feels.” Then she blurted, “And I’m in love.”

  Her face flamed so hot that Brenna was tempted to reach for a fire extinguisher.

  “Oh my God, I didn’t mean to say that,” she wailed.

  Cheers, hoots and applause erupted, and Brenna stood and hugged her.

  Carlos turned to Seamus, “O’Donnell?”

  “I adopted her as my granddaughter. I guess I don’t have to ask what you think about my taste in women, do I?”

  Carlos blushed and shook his head.

  Seamus’ voice dropped, and he muttered, “You be good to her, boy. If you ever hurt her, you’d better pray that I get to you before Brenna does.”

  Carlos’ face turned almost as red as Rebecca’s and he nodded.

  After breakfast, Callie caught Carlos and leaned close, “I hope you make each other very happy. But I have a piece of advice for you. No matter how much you love her, how much you might want to protect her, if she’s ever in danger, don’t get in Brenna’s line of fire.”

  “That’s the third time people have warned me about Brenna. Everyon
e seems to hold her in awe. Just how powerful is she? I’ve seen her in action, but …”

  “Don Carlos, I don’t know. No one knows. She’s still so young, and only Seamus could stand up to her now. In ten years …,” Callie shook her head, “I can’t even guess.”

  “And Rebecca?”

  “I suggest you ask her. She’s one of the most dangerous women alive. You and Collin have chosen to ride the tiger. Don’t ever let go. But if you treat her as the treasure she is, she’ll bring you more joy than you or any man deserves.” She smiled and patted his cheek and walked away.

  ~~~

  Thanksgiving dinner was served in the large formal dining room. There had been a quick reshuffling of seating due to Carlos’ new status. Of course, he didn’t know this. Going from honored guest to consort of a granddaughter was an elevation.

  Brenna, Rebecca and Irina chose the gowns they had worn to the Solstice Ball the year before. In Brenna and Irina’s case, minus the corsets, which had been waist cinching for looks and definitely not conducive to a Thanksgiving feast.

  Normally, Rebecca disdained too much of what she called “girly things.” In her role as a Protector, she kept her nails trimmed short and she’d never paid much attention to her hair. But for tonight, Rebecca had gone to Rachel to have her hair trimmed and her nails done. At Brenna’s instigation she’d also received a facial and a pedicure.

  In the maroon silk-satin off-the-shoulder dress and four-inch heels, Rebecca looked and felt incredible as she waited for her date. Carlos called at her room to escort her downstairs, and was stunned when she opened the door. A fairy tale princess stood before him, not the jeans-clad tomboy he had taken to bed the past two nights. He was almost afraid to touch her.

  Rebecca felt lighter than air, and the look on Carlos’ face made her forget all the trouble it had taken to get ready. He looked like he’d been hit with a club, mouth gaping and eyes frozen on her. Blushing slightly, she smiled and offered him her arm.

  “Rebecca,” he said with a deep bow, “you are beautiful. Absolutely stunning.”

  She felt like royalty, walking into the large parlor where people gathered prior to being called for dinner. All eyes were on her and her handsome Latin lover. With the heels, she was almost as tall as he was, and catching a glimpse of themselves in a mirror, she had to stop and look. “I feel so wonderful,” she told him. “Carlos, I’m so happy.”