Sinful Cravings
Lake City Stories
Book Two
Annie Nicholas
Pia Blyton, a succubus, isn’t ready for an official engagement since her skillset consists of setting kitchens on fire, singing at vampire hellholes, and most embarrassingly, she recently passed out in bed while feeding Valerio Hunan, the most eligible incubus in Lake City. Yet somehow he turns a blind eye to all her faults and still wants to set his marriage tattoos on her wrists.
The compulsion to have sex forces their people to have unconventional relationships. Every three days, she has to orgasm creating energy to survive. She can’t even live off bad sex. Unlike her, Val can’t feed off just anyone. He consumes the energy only a succubus creates and his hunger isn’t on a clock. Most incubi feed legally by luring multiple succubi into marriage with money and power. Val had caught Pia by the heart strings. Sneaky bastard.
When his food supply suddenly stops, he’s faced with starvation. Despite Pia’s adoration, she’s not an all you can eat buffet. He would suck her dry of all her life force within days. In order to save her, Val forces her to leave. With nowhere to go, Pia ends up at the last place she wants to be—her parent’s home, with nothing but her pink suitcase and a list of all her failures.
Pia needs to pull on her big girl panties and figure out why Val’s energy supplies have stopped arriving before he kills some unsuspecting succubus. But the demon inside Val is closer to the surface than either of them realize. When Pia leaves, the only thing on its mind is tracking her down and dragging her back into its bed where she belongs...even if it kills her.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
About the Author
Other Books by Annie
Bait (free novel)
Chapter One
Day two of my cycle
The necessity to create energy from sex drove my people to live unconventional lives. Not many understood the power of our urge. Vampires with their blood lust did and human drug addicts would. I’d describe my succubus feeding cycle as a soul squashing compulsion. Others of my race would call it a power inducing high.
“How about next month?” Samantha, my birth mother, tapped her French manicured fingernail on the rim of my cup. A frown marred her beautiful face, which hadn’t aged a day since her twenties.
I jerked my dreamy gaze from the blanket of snow covering the garden outside the window.
She’d seemed so distracted during dinner but now pinned me with a hawk’s glare.
“For what?” A spa day? That would be nice. We hadn’t done anything fun in a long time. I could use a deep tissue massage and a full body wrap.
Fading sunlight poured through the open windows, painting the room shades of orange. I took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of her fresh coffee.
Mouth thin, Val made a sharp noise of frustration next to me and leaned away from the table. Hair the color of the midnight skies curled loosely around his ears. When the sun hit it just right, I could spot his blue highlights. He crossed his arms over his broad chest, refusing to meet my confused stare.
“What did I do now?” He’d been so grumpy all week, worse than my sister Rose when she was on a diet. Maybe he wasn’t use to the cold weather. He was from New Orleans after all.
“See what I mean?” Abruptly, he thrust to a stand, sending the chair slamming backward into the wall, and stalked out the door toward the gardens without his jacket.
Gaping, I twisted to face my mom. “Why is he so mad?” I thought men in general incomprehensible but my incubus fiancé perplexed me on whole other level. I couldn’t pass wind without him snapping at me lately.
My mom’s gaze stayed focused on the door where Val left but patted my hand absentmindedly. “You need to stop putting off your engagement party.” She faced me and whispered. “People are starting to talk.”
“I’m not putting it off.” I whispered back and gave her my best innocent expression.
“Stop fluttering your eyelashes and listen to me.” Her tone grew stern. Darn it. That look always worked on my father. Speaking of which…
“Where’s dad? Every time I come over lately he’s gone.”
“Never mind your father.” She gave my hand a sharp little slap.
I snatched it away. “Ouch.” None of my three mothers had ever hit me. I eyed her. “Is it your day three?” Because I knew I could be pretty bitchy when I grew hungry. My mom probably needed to get laid.
Like most compulsions, lust could drive succubi to do drastic things. Every three days, we had to orgasm to create the energy our race survived on. So we couldn’t even live off bad sex. If a succubus didn’t feed on schedule, her demonic nature took over. Then she could be found humping some schmuck in an alley. May that never happen again.
“No, it’s not my day three.” Mom tucked her blonde hair behind her ears. “And your father’s been busy. I heard the Bellario Hotel can accommodate the party next—”
“What’s he working on?” My father ran the charm of incubi and succubi of Lake City but he’d always had time for family.
My other mothers, Estelle and Margie, swept into the kitchen. Margie’s eyes were bloodshot as if she’d been crying. She held a crumpled tissue in her hand. Neither had been present during dinner.
I hurried to my feet and pulled Margie into my arms. She might not have given birth to me but the three of them loved me as if I’d come from their collective womb. “Mama M, what’s wrong?”
She dabbed the corner of her eye. “I’m fine. I’m being silly.” Yet, she squeezed me against her as if afraid to let me go.
Estelle went into cupboard area of the kitchen. She searched behind the baking ingredients and returned to the table with a bottle of brandy, pouring some in a cup with her coffee. She offered the bottle to Sam who nodded. I’d never seen her drink alcohol except at parties. What the hell?
“None of you seem fine. What’s—?” The sound of heels stomping on the hardwood floor drew my attention from the moms.
My sister, Adele, stormed into the kitchen in a tight black leather dress. It must have been airbrushed to her skin and matched her hair color. How could she breathe? “He’s fifteen minutes late.” She gripped the whip coiled on her belt as she paced in front of the table.
I let go of Margie, who joined the other mothers at the table with her own glass of spiked sweet tea. “Dad?”
Adele stopped next me and glared. “No. That pup, Larry. He’s my feed tonight.” Larry was Adele’s wolf shifter pet. I wish he’d grow a set of balls and stand up to my sister, but he dropped to the floor whenever she was around as if begging for a belly scratch.
A quiet sob from behind told me Margie had started crying again.
“Nice job, Pia. You shouldn’t mention Dad around them.” Adele huddled around her birth mom, Margie, and stroked her hair. “Pia’s being insensitive. Please, stop crying. You’re going to make me st
art. You know how I am on my day three.” I didn’t argue with Adele. When she wore that whip, I’d agree the world was flat if she insisted.
But I wasn’t being insensitive. I was being clueless. Three months ago, I had moved out of my parent’s house and into Valerio Hunan’s deluxe hotel suite. Being engaged, I thought we should get to know each other a little more before he tattooed his wedding bands on my wrists. This left me out of the family loop apparently.
Margie gave me such a sad look it almost broke my heart without knowing why. “We haven’t told Pia yet.”
“Yeah, I haven’t a fucking clue what’s going on.” I jabbed my finger at Adele.
“Pia, language.” All three of my moms joined in a chorus.
Rose, my oldest sister, joined us in the kitchen wearing a similar dress to Adele’s except hers was flaming red. She stopped and scowled at Adele.
“Did I miss a memo?” I pointed to their dresses. “If I knew we were doing a theme, I would have dressed appropriately.” I could rock a leather dress.
Rose sneered. “Why are you dressed like that, Adele? I’m supposed to have hunting rights to The Cleaver tonight.” The Cleaver catered to the paranormal community only. It was a BDSM private club, which both my sisters liked to frequent.
Adele shook her head. “It’s my day three. I have rights.”
“It’s mine too.” Rose set her hands on the generous curve of her hips and tossed her long, red hair over her shoulder. When people pictured a succubus they imagined Rose with her long legs and double Ds that defied gravity. “We both can’t hunt there.” After last year’s fiasco, my dad forbade them to hunt together. That fraternity still hadn’t recovered.
The bottle of hard liquor between my mothers was already half empty and my sisters were about to go WWE. “Shit, is everyone on day three besides me?” Families could spontaneously combust if all the succubi had to feed on the same day. Just the hormones alone could spark a blood feud. We usually had better control than this.
Well, except for me. I was the screw up, but not today. Way to go me?
Estelle clapped her hands together once. “Girls! Rose, you can go somewhere else. Adele already has a date coming to pick her up.”
“You always side against me.” Rose shouted, her hands fisted, and then left the kitchen in a flurry of crimson. The front door slammed not long after. She spoke the truth though. Her birth mom did seem stricter with Rose. Maybe it had something to do with her being the oldest yet unmarried? I wouldn’t open that can of worms. Not if I wanted to live through the evening.
Margie couldn’t stop her tears and Estelle poured more liquor in her tea.
Adele’s concerned frown grew deeper. “I can feed from Larry here. I don’t have to go out, Mama.”
Margie sniffed. “You know the rules. No feeding in the house.” She hugged her birth daughter. “I’ll be fine. Estelle and Sam will get me good and drunk then tuck me into bed. You give your shifter pet a nice time.” With a swat to Adele’s ass, she pushed her toward the door. “Don’t forget a coat. It’s supposed to get colder tonight.”
The sound of a car pulling into the driveway announced Larry’s arrival. Adele gripped her whip and stomped out of the house. I bet that shifter wouldn’t sit for a week after tonight.
I turned to face the kitchen table where every Sunday, no matter how busy our lives were, we sat to have dinner together. The place I cried on my moms’ shoulders when my heart had been broken and shared stolen cookies with my dad.
My dad…
With a sinking heart, I returned to my chair next to Sam. “What’s going on?”
Sam gave me a brave smile. “Your father has started dating again. We can’t keep up with his demands and nobody wants to deal with a hungry incubus so we told him to find a fourth wife.”
Unlike us, incubi couldn’t feed from anyone. They consumed the energy succubi created and their hunger wasn’t on a clock like ours. They preyed upon us in the most skilled and alluring way… Most fed legally by luring multiple succubi into marriage with money and power. Val had caught me by the heart strings.
Clutching my stomach, I stared at my mothers. “This is all my fault.” Since my sisters and I were old enough to feed, we decided to do our part by placing a small portion of our feeds in vials for our father to use. It wasn’t a solid solution, just a patch. But I had a new mouth to feed with Val as my fiancé. I couldn’t give vials to dad anymore.
Margie hiccupped. “No.” She shook her head. “Pia Marie Blyton, this is not your fault whatsoever.” She pinned me with a teary eyed glare. “It’s just difficult to let a stranger in our lives.” She glanced at her sister-wives at the table. “A new wife always causes some chaos in a family. God knows Sam did.” She gave my birth mother a watery grin.
Sam snorted. “We’ll be fine, sweetie.” She tried to bring some order to the crazed curls on my head by tugging on them.
“Why didn’t you want to tell me?” For the last few years everyone sheltered me like I was a delicate flower in the eye of a storm. Any chance of my ever being treated as a grown-up had vanished when I had fallen in love with a human in college and almost died of starvation. I had thought my engagement to the most eligible incubus in Lake City would have fixed my family’s opinion.
“You have to focus on Val and his wives.” Estelle drained her cup. “As you can see a new addition can cause a lot of mixed feelings.”
My gaze traveled to the door leading to the garden where Val had left in a fit. Our engagement had thrown both our families in a state of turmoil. Val’s five wives hated my guts and had tried to stop our engagement. As the two most powerful incubi in the city, neither Val nor my father could afford to appear weak and I caused both of them problems. Since I was too sensitive to feed like other succubi, I could only make enough energy to feed myself until I found more suitors, which I’ve been postponing for far too long.
“Val’s on edge.” Sam drew me from my inner pity party. “It’s your job to ease that.”
“He’s hungry.” I fiddled with my glass. “I haven’t found any new suitors so I can’t share my energy with him like I should, but his wives send him vials. He’ll feed when we get home.” I sucked at being a succubus. I wasn’t amoral enough so I used contracted lovers to feed from and I only had two at the moment. I really needed four now that Val wanted to feed from me regularly, but our city lacked a drive thru for decent lovers that both Val and I would approve of. Yes, my fiancé wanted to screen all my lovers. Trust me, it was better than my dad doing it.
Sam rested her hand on her chin. “Oh, Pia.”
I plastered a big smile on my face. “Don’t worry. It will all work out. I’m suitor shopping tonight.” They needed to hear the lie. I wouldn’t add to their worries.
Denial was a beautiful thing.
Chapter Two
The front doorbell rang and my mothers startled in unison. If the subject matter hadn’t been so dire, I would have laughed. Thankful for any reason to get away from the sensitive topic of my suitors, I jumped to my feet. “I’ll get it.” I’m sure they didn’t mind my racing from the kitchen as if a demon chased my shadow.
Holy uncomfortable moments. What could I do to help? Another succubus in the family would change the power base, and in the case of my parents, the love base. I knew this first hand because I was the new potential wife causing Val’s wives to freak out.
I tugged at my dark blue dress and settled the hem where it belonged just under my knees. The scent of evergreen invaded my nose. My mothers must be preparing for the Winter Solstice party they held every year.
Swinging the door open, I stared at the biggest box of chocolates I’d ever seen, and I’d seen some doozies.
The person held it in front of their head like a shield so I couldn’t see who it was.
“Umm…hello?” I leaned to the side and tried to peek around. Glimpsing a pair of familiar dirty running shoes under the worn hem of jeans, I tried to control the sudden thumping in my chest.
“John?” I grabbed the box and tugged it out of his hands. “It is you.”
He held his hands in front of him as if to ward off an attack. “I’m so sorry, Pia.” He fell to his knees on the balcony that wrapped around the house. “I didn’t mean to dump you on your day three. Please, trust me when I say the circumstances were dire.”
I blinked at my demon ex-lover. He had taped a note on this very door three months ago, the day before I met Val to be exact, that read he had to leave town in a hurry. No explanation. Unfortunately, I found out why on my own. “Your brother was coming to drag you back home.”
He froze at my feet. “How do you know that?”
“Because I met Amel.” I set the expensive box of candy inside the house. He wasn’t getting those back. Not after what he put me through.
John rose to his feet. He still wore his glamor, which made him appear human. I’d never been able to convince him to show me his demon. Disheveled mouse brown hair hung in front of his glasses, hiding his pretty violet eyes. “How?” He wore a threadbare winter jacket.
“Don’t you mean how did I survive?” I tried my best to keep my voice under control but John’s abandonment had cost me. I grabbed my coat hanging on a hook. Toeing him out of my way with the tip of my platform wedges, I scooted out of the threshold and closed the door behind me before my moms came to investigate. John would not get a happy welcome. Then again, my moms could use a punching bag and John could use a good beating.
His mouth opened and closed but nothing came out but gibberish. He’d used this kind of charm to seduce me the first time we met. It wouldn’t work a second time.
“What the fuck, John? Did you forget how to use a phone?” I poked him in the rock solid chest but not too hard. I’d just done my nails this morning. “I thought for sure you’d been roasting over hell fire all this time.”
At first glance, John appeared like a geek, right down to the glasses and pocket protector. Under that glamor lived a Mazzikim demon. They were the pillaging, rain-fiery-brimstone-on-the-world types. Not Xbox addicts or crossword puzzle experts. I guess that’s what attracted me to John in the first place—neither of us fit into our separate cultures.
Sinful Cravings: Erotic Paranormal Romance (Lake City Stories Book 2) Page 1
