Incubus Freedom

by Emma Jaye

  “And you’re wondering if I’ve been compelled. For what it’s worth, as far as I know, Avery has never compelled me. It’s considered to be incredibly crass these days. The resort of the unskilled, the impatient, or the incapable’,” Razor said adding his own air quotes. “But I’m willing to submit to your compulsion to tell the truth if it helps.”

  The grey eyes across from him didn’t hold a hint of guile. Ezra wished he knew more about sex demon compulsions. Yes, he’d compelled the humans in the cellar to accept him, but he had no idea how a human would react to compulsions by more than one sex demon at a time. Did the last one given override previous ones? Did the strongest compulsion win? Avery was a hell of a lot older than him, and on top of that, he bet the demon had fed well every day of his life, whereas Ezra’s stomach thought he’d been castrated.

  What he did know was that an addicted human would resist approaches from another demon. It had been one of the reasons his mother had addicted as many as she could. It ensured both a supply of energy and cash. However, being addicted to two demons was pretty much a death sentence unless the demon pair were joined at the hip. If they went in different directions, the addicted human’s mind literally tore apart as the urge to follow both overwhelmed them.

  “Do you know how long it’s been since I fed?”

  The flair of lust from the human answered Ezra’s ‘is he addicted to Avery?’ question. This human wanted him.

  “Not as long as it’s been since I fed one,” Razor said as he stood up. Without hesitation, the large human pulled Ezra’s chair sideways so he was no longer facing the table. When Razor’s hands went to his belt buckle, anxiety curled in Ezra’s belly.

  “Here?” he asked, nodding towards the crowd of people around the bar.

  “This is one big sex club. Humiliation and exhibitionism are common kinks. Has anyone looked at you funny because you’re handcuffed to a chair?”

  Hunger knotted his belly. Ezra licked his lips, casting an uncertain glance at the crowd. There were shifters, humans and other supernaturals all enjoying the sunshine.

  The group at the other end of the bar to the still gyrating succubus were trying not to be obvious about watching him. The four canine shifters and Jericho were enjoying a beer with one of the twins pointing and laughing at his elder brother. Silas stood to one side. Ezra met his eyes and the vampire nodded slightly as if giving his permission.

  Anger rolled briefly at the thought that he needed Silas’s permission to do anything in this new, modern world. But if that were the case, why had he looked for him?

  He’s your prey, just like this human. The familiar mantra didn’t feel as comfortable now, probably because he had used it to justify not having a choice. But did he actually have a choice now? He needed to feed, needed the energy this human freely offered.

  “Come on then, human, show me what you’ve got.”

  Contrary to what Ezra feared, Razor didn’t advertise what they were doing. He positioned himself so his back was to the revellers and only unzipped himself rather than dropping his shorts.

  Ezra leaned forward as much as he could and opened his mouth to take the rapidly hardening cock. As soon as it touched his lips, energy flowed into him. He groaned, his belly cramping at the sudden hunger the first taste provided. Pushing greedily forward, he attempted to engulf the source of energy and gorge himself.

  Hands fastened in his hair, holding him still and Razor pulled out.

  “Careful, don’t choke yourself.” Razor’s low voice reeked of passion.

  Ezra glanced up at him. The human’s pupils were already blown with passion. “You must be lying about being with Avery. I’m an incubus, you can’t choke me, can’t hurt me. If this is for me, like you said, I need you to come hard and fast so I can move on to my next course.”

  Razor teased Ezra’s lips with his cockhead. “You’re nothing like Avery, are you?”

  Ezra grinned. “Not by a fucking mile. In sex demon terms I’m a horny, hungry teenager who’s after quantity not quality.”

  Razor pushed in, Ezra sucked causing a delicious wave of energy to flow into him before Razor pulled out again.

  “So, who’ve you got in mind for your main course? I could line them up for you.”

  “Would you stop teasing? I don’t care, as long as they’re horny.”

  Razor pushed in again, and this time, he didn’t tease. Anticipation curled in Ezra’s belly as Razor’s flavour intensified the closer he came to climax. The human didn’t disappoint. His hands tightened in Ezra’s hair and he shot down Ezra’s throat. The human was so far down his throat, Ezra didn’t even taste him, but he did feel the sharp hit of energy.

  Razor stayed still, his belly pressed against Ezra’s forehead as he leaned his weight on the demon’s shoulders. Ezra had more lung capacity than a human, but eventually the urge to breathe overtook the post feeding rush. Clinking his cuffs, he moved his head back and Razor released him, ruffling his hair.

  “I guess there’s something to say for the enthusiasm of youth.”

  “Could you make me your first port of call in a day next time we do this?” His comment caused the human to chuckle, rather than be offended.

  “Sorry, not enough for you? I did warn you to take a little longer. But you’ll have trouble finding anyone that’s gagging for it around here. Sex resort, remember? Well everyone except for Jericho and Pixie.”

  Ezra snorted as he licked his lips, making a mental note of Razor’s unique energy flavour. He pushed back the notion that he wanted to distinguish the human’s energy if he drained Finn. Is that how it worked? He knew vascelli stored the lust energy of others until their demon ‘emptied’ them, but would it just be extra ‘Finn’ he tasted, or would he directly transfer the energy of others?

  “Fat chance of that. Neither of them are sexual.”

  Razor did up his zipper and buttoned his fly. “Not entirely true. One of the twins told me you had Jericho panting for it in the council chambers. Apparently, you did some incubus hocus pocus and Jericho nearly ripped the place apart trying to get to you before you shut it off and he came back to himself. Although looking at him, I’m positive I wouldn’t want to be under him.”

  Ezra snorted. “You wouldn’t want to be under anyone.”

  Razor gave him a bright smile. “You’re right about that. How’s Finn doing?”

  Without thought, Ezra reached down inside himself, searching for Finn’s touch. Disappointment. A touch of jealousy. Confusion. He sent a hug through the link, then realised what he was doing. Opening his eyes, he glared at Razor.

  The human grinned. “Gotcha. Just remember, you supernaturals might be more powerful individually, but guess who rules the world?” He patted Ezra on the shoulder. “Don’t underestimate us, and that includes Finn. He’s a very special young man.”

  Ezra watched the dominant walk away. Razor had given him a lot to think about.

  CHAPTER 14

  Finn stopped swimming and trod water. A fizz of energy flowed through the bond. Ezra was feeding and not with him. He’d done his best to flirt, to seduce Ezra and all he’d done was make him turn to someone else. Whatever spell had been used to mask the bond had vanished when Ezra fed. He could feel the demon’s satisfaction at the energy he’d consumed.

  Finn turned for shore, the need to use physical activity to blanket his emotions gone. Ezra didn’t want him. The realization caused an ache deep inside and a need to curl up on his own to find a way to negotiate this weird and wonderful supernatural world. That he had to stay near to Ezra, while not being with him would tear him apart, but he didn’t have a choice.

  The area of the beach where he chose to leave the water was as far away from where Ezra sat as possible. The distance made his chest ache a little, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Hopefully, in time, he’d be able to extend the range at which discomfort turned into pain. Not seeing Ezra would be preferable for them both.

  Warmth heated his chest and he paused, looking dow
n, he expected to see something physical to explain the sensation. There was nothing. It had to be Ezra, agreeing with his conclusions. This was nearly as much fun as finding out his supposedly gay boyfriend had knocked up his boss’s daughter to get in on her inheritance. You survived that, you’ll survive this, he told himself and tried not to think about the fact that he’d fallen into Ezra’s arms on the rebound.

  There were no possibilities of ‘rebound’ now. If he slept with anyone else, the energy would build up until he’d need help to get rid of it, either from Avery or Ezra. Ezra doesn’t want me. The pain of that conclusion was visceral, he bent over, trying to pull air into lungs that didn’t want to work. I’m tied to Ezra for the rest of my life and he doesn’t want me, but Avery does, or at least he wants a vascellum.

  However, bonding with Avery would only tie the two demons together and Finn hadn’t seen any evidence that they enjoyed each other’s company. If he accepted Avery, he’d be nothing but a glorified conception tool. The blond incubus was still hung up on his love, his Frederick. Finn would never be in his heart, only in his mind. Being linked to two demons who didn’t want him would be even more unbearable.

  Shock and lust hit him like a freight-train.

  “Finn? Finn what’s wrong?” Amtai’s voice came from beside him.

  He opened his eyes. He could almost see the individual grains of sand and realised he was down on all fours. Lust and pain battered at him through the bond, but lust won hands down. Whoever was feeding the demon was going overboard and Ezra loved it, even if it hurt.

  “Nothing,” he managed to mumble as he got shakily to his feet.

  “You’re a fit young human. Collapsing like that doesn’t happen without a reason,” she said, steel and concern in her voice.

  He pulled his arm away, knowing he was being a brat but not really caring. “Go fuss over Ezra. He might need some attention after whoever is at him finishes.” As he started up the slight slope, his arms around himself, he spat out, “They’ll probably both need iron lungs.”

  An hour later, Milo was the first of a series of visitors who tried to cheer him up and convince him to come to the bar area.

  Amtai had given him the room behind the main building where he’d entertained Razor, Milo and Avery. He could still feel their energy buzzing in his veins. The reminder of something he’d probably never experience again didn’t help his mood. Hopefully it’d fade over time. The first thing he’d done was close the curtains. The living room looked out on the back of the resort building where, according to Amtai, Ezra had moved into the converted office. They needed the medical room free for genuine patients now that the incubus felt ‘better’.

  Finn sent each of his visitors, including the shifter brothers, Selat, and Malcolm, away with a fake smile and an ‘I’m fine, just a bit tired.’ Even though his belly grumbled with hunger, he’d rather wear the spiked cock cage Ezra had imagined than go out there and view the comings and goings from his demon’s room. Although thinking of Ezra as ‘his’ demon probably wasn’t appropriate any more.

  The sun had long gone down and the noise from the bar had ceased before Pixie put in another appearance. She didn’t knock and slammed on the light, making him wince.

  “Sitting in the dark? I didn’t know you were such a wimp,” she announced and put a plate with a juicy burger and crisp, golden fries on the sofa beside him.

  He ignored her and the food.

  “Eat it or I’ll get Silas to compel you.”

  “And who put you in charge?” he growled, but he did pick up the plate.

  “You did when you started sulking like a bratty teenager,” she said as she folded herself into the single armchair. “Oh, wait a minute, that’s what you are.”

  “I’m not sulking. I’m being realistic.”

  She waved her hand in a circular ‘go on’ motion. “Well come on bright spark, out with it, let’s hear your ‘woe is me’ story, I like a good fantasy.”

  “Stop taking the piss. I’m not in the mood.”

  She nodded as if he’d said something profound. “Oh, I’m not either. It took a lot of effort to get Ezra to feed again, or should I say to choose to feed again. There were quite a few votes for compulsion and topping him up whether he liked it or not. But Razor got him in the end.”

  “How nice for you all,” Finn bit out, knowing he sounded petty and bitter.

  Pixie pulled her feet towards her then put a foot on each thigh as if she had rubber joints. She shrugged. “Matter of opinion. I’m pretty sure Ezra regretted pulling the pheromone trick on Jericho again.”

  “No, he didn’t. I can feel him, remember?”

  Pixie gave him an exaggerated pout. “Aw, poor little Finn, all upset because his sex demon fed on someone else before he starved to death and took you with him.”

  “Sod off,” Finn ground out, blinking back the traitorous tears.

  “And leave you to enjoy wallowing in your own personal self-pity paradise? Not likely.”

  There was nothing, absolutely nothing he could say to that. She was right. He couldn’t blame Ezra for behaving like a demon.

  If Finn hadn’t been so damn weak and needy, he would have worked out Charlie was a self-centred, controlling bastard and he wouldn’t have fallen for Ezra’s flattery in the first place. Sex demons could influence their prey. They couldn’t control them like a vampire could. He’d put himself in this fucked up situation and he had to deal with the consequences. It still hurt.

  Finn pulled his feet up on the couch where Avery and Milo had been so close, where he felt so very alone, and wrapped his arms around his knees. The delicious trepidation he’d experienced when he’d toured the BDSM building now rubbed salt in the wound. He’d understood that Ezra might not want to be in there because of his past, but that didn’t mean Finn couldn’t pick up energy from the patrons and bring it to him. He shifted such impossibilities to a locked box in his mind and attempted to turn the key.

  Ezra must be able to feel his distress, and yet he didn’t care. And why should he? Who’d ever heard of a demon caring about a human? He wanted to go home, wanted to be ‘normal’ again, but that couldn’t happen either.

  Pixie sighed. “You human’s flip emotions so damn fast it’s hard to keep up. He’s making progress, he’s choosing to talk and feed instead of ignoring everyone and trying to kill himself.”

  Finn’s eyes shot to hers. “What?”

  “He tried to drown himself yesterday. Your heart stopped too. You were so upset it was decided to remove the memory, so it didn’t continue to spiral Ezra down. It’s too dangerous to muck about with his recall again.”

  Finn sat silently, trying to get his head around the new information. Pixie moved to sit next to him, pushed his feet off the sofa and put the plate of food on his lap. He absently picked up a fry and ate it.

  “You lot really have to stop fucking with memories.”

  “I was against it, but not a lot I could do what with Avery being leader of the supernatural council.”

  Finn ate another fry. They really were rather good. “Are you going to get in trouble for telling me?”

  She shrugged. “Don’t care. I’ve told Roman Emperors and Russian Tsars to sit on it and swivel, so Avery is child’s play. Besides, I’m older than him.” Finn glanced at her. He’d thought she was like any other post-graduate art student when he met her. A few years older than him and a little quirky as art students often were. Finding out she was several thousand years old and a fae had been just another bump on this impossible journey into a real-life Twilight Zone.

  “So, are you going to go see him?”

  Finn blinked at her, a fry halfway to his mouth. “Avery?” he put the fry down. “Look, I know this vascellum thing is important to them, but if all it takes to conceive a sex demon baby is very frequent sex, having a place like this would work, wouldn’t it?”

  “No, not Avery. Ezra. And it hasn’t worked apart from with Ezra’s birth because one, the different superna
tural species don’t trust each other, and two, the different supernatural species don’t trust each other. The way you’ve drawn diverse demons, shifters and a fae together in a common cause is unprecedented.”

  “It is?”

  Pixie nodded and nicked a fry from his plate. “Silas is getting on like a house on fire with the shifter twins. They think he’s hilarious; the poor idiots haven’t worked out he’s taking the piss out of them.”

  “You leave Gethin and Glyn alone. They’re nice guys.”

  “And sooo gullible,” she smirked, popping another fry into her mouth. “They need toddler reins more than you do. At least they have being non-swimmers in common. You’ve got that advantage. Maybe you and Ezra could teach them. I’d pay to see Silas doing the doggy paddle.”

  How was he meant to compete and succeed in a group where the next youngest person was at least a decade older than him and some had been around for centuries? He’d always be a child, a pet, to these people. While being looked after, being cared for, had a certain appeal, being appreciated, respected, for more than his physical attributes would be nice.

  “You think I’m being stupid.”

  She nicked another fry. “I think you’re being exactly what you are under these fucked up circumstances, just like Ezra. And although he’s had far longer to perfect his sulking skills, you’re doing pretty damn well.”

  As if she’d opened a tap, all the residual anger drained out of him. “And I suppose you’re going to give me some sage advice on how to fix things?”

  She grinned, her bright pink hair almost glowing with anticipation. “I wouldn’t be here otherwise.”

  He stared at her for several seconds, but the grin didn’t fade, nor did she say anything.

  “Well, do I have to drag it out of you?”

  She got up and the old joke about how to keep an idiot in suspense popped into his mind. But to his surprise, she turned back as she reached the door. “You’re the only vascellum in the world. You’re different, so be different.”