by Cassie Ryan
Suddenly self-conscious for the first time she could remember, Amalya mentally shook herself and pulled out her full work arsenal. “You mentioned there was something you could do for me, Levi.” She traced her toes up his inner thigh until she gently brushed against the heavy sac that hung just under his cock. “Why don’t you show me?”
Levi’s hazel eyes darkened to nearly black and his balls tightened against his body making a small surge of triumph snake through Amalya. She’d hated the sensation of being off balance, she liked being the one in control when it came to sex, and she knew exactly what men wanted and how to give it to them.
Without warning, Levi reached out and pulled her across the tub until she straddled him, his hard cock caught between them, nestled against her stomach and burning into her skin like a dark promise. She glanced up to find herself so close to him she could see the small scar that ran just over his right eyebrow. Her heart beat thickly inside her chest as his energy aura pulsed against her in a tempting thrum. Before she could gather her wits and think of something seductive to say, he pulled her firmly against his chest and captured her mouth with his.
The faint taste of warmed whiskey filled her senses as did the scent of something exotic, musky, and very male.
Amalya melted against him as he captured her lips in a slow, but surprisingly firm caress. His arms came around her holding her close but, rather than crushing her to him, gave the impression that she was someone to be treasured.
He sucked gently at her bottom lip, nibbling and teasing without breaking the sensual dance of their kiss.
Surprised and impressed not to be the one doing the leading, Amalya sighed against his lips and laid her palms flat over the muscled male chest in front of her.
He settled her against him more firmly, gently caging her hands between them as he explored her mouth and reactions with lips and teeth and tongue, then artfully repeated those actions that pulled an unwitting sigh, gasp, or shudder from her.
He slowly and expertly kissed her into breathlessness as she enjoyed the sensations of his mouth against hers, and his hard body beneath her. She gave herself up to the unexpected arousal he ignited, wrapping her arms around his neck and spearing her fingers into his silky hair as he continued to kiss her.
One of his large, warm hands cupped her cheek, his thumb feathering a slow, wet line back and forth across her cheek as he thoroughly explored her mouth. She gasped as the first wave of his strong, clean aura knifed into her, absorbing into her pores and converting into usable energy inside her.
Amalya closed her eyes tight against the wave of light-headedness that assaulted her from the sudden influx of strong energy—the succubus equivalent of brain freeze—and greedily kissed him back, wanting more.
Her pussy ached and she ground against his cock as the scent of their arousal perfumed the air around them, overpowering the strong aroma of vanilla and lavender from the bath salts.
Levi growled low inside his throat and in a quick motion cupped her ass in one of his large hands, then lifted and impaled her.
A long moan ripped from Amalya’s throat as her body stretched to accommodate his generous girth. She slowly sank down on him until they were pelvis to pelvis and he filled her completely.
Levi stilled, and Amalya appreciated the moment to allow her body to adjust. It showed consideration for her as a person that he treated her not just as a warm body to fuck—something she didn’t often find in her profession.
She brushed a quick kiss over his lips before she leaned back and began to move. Not wanting to waste the exquisite full sensation he gave her, she ground against him, rubbing her clit against the crispy hairs that covered his pelvis while her sensitive nipples rasped against his chest with each movement.
Levi’s hands gripped her hips, but he let her lead, keeping her gaze as she rode him and he hardened further inside her.
Amalya set a slow, steady rhythm, refusing to move faster when their breathing became raspy and Levi’s fingers tightened against her hips. She continued to move, torturing them both until the world fell away and only this one room and the two of them existed for her.
Curling heat of arousal snaked through her limbs as Levi’s dark gaze bored into her own.
When the first drop of pre-come leaked from Levi’s cock and came into contact with the inner walls of her pussy, a hard blast of energy surged through her and she stiffened on top of him. Her pussy clenched around him as her body absorbed the life-giving energy he offered.
As her borrowed power surged through her, she faltered and Levi moved his grip to her ass, guiding her to continue the same movements she’d begun, which drove her hard toward a peak that seemed to surge forward in a dizzying rush.
The sound of his harsh breathing merged with hers inside the small room, and it blended with the sounds of sloshing water and the rushing that sounded inside Amalya’s ears from her blood rocketing through her body.
She tried to speed her movements, to meet the urgency of that edge that stayed just out of her reach, but Levi held her firmly, keeping the pace she’d started and torturing her until small whimpers of need spilled from her throat and she dug her nails into his shoulders in a silent protest.
“Patience, my beauty.” His words were a harsh rasp as he began thrusting up inside her with each movement. A small scream of surprise ripped from her throat as the tip of his cock firmly made contact with her cervix again and again until Amalya was sure her body would break apart from the intense pleasure shooting along every nerve ending and threatening to overload her brain.
When she was sure she couldn’t take any more, a hot surging warmth began deep inside her and spilled out into her body, seductive and enticing, until it engulfed her, blanking her mind and leaving her euphoric and boneless.
Almost distantly she heard Levi’s soft cry of completion and felt the hot spurt of his release as he came inside her.
Her body absorbed Levi’s essence, feeding the spreading warmth. Tiny aftershocks quaked through her. Each one equaled an ordinary orgasm, and they continued to rock through her until they blended together to become surreal in their intensity. She lost track of time as the sweet bursts spread liquid ecstasy through her veins until she was sure she’d never be able to move again.
When awareness returned, she was slumped against Levi’s chest, her face buried in the crook of his neck, her arms bonelessly draped over his muscled shoulders.
She sighed against his neck and tried to make her brain cut through the fog of endorphins and the tiny aftershocks of great sex that still twitched through her whenever she moved. The only real movement she could manage was tracing her fingers over his shoulder. When her fingers found a metal medallion on a chain, she stilled.
Amalya frowned, unable to raise her head yet. She didn’t remember him wearing a necklace when he’d undressed, but her attention had definitely been on other things. She wasn’t surprised she’d missed it, especially since the medallion had hung down his back rather than over his chest.
She closed her fingers over it, tracing the etching and wondering what it said.
When the sharp essence of her mistress, Lilith the Queen of the Succubi and Incubi, tingled against her fingertips, shock stabbed through her and she forced herself to sit up and meet Levi’s dark gaze.
She pulled the medallion around to the front where she could see it and ice churned through her blood, chasing away the boneless euphoric sensation of just a moment ago. The medallion was sterling silver with faded ancient Hebrew characters inscribed on it that roughly translated to the current-day equivalent of “Temptation”—fitting and ironic for a succubus.
However, the last place she’d seen this necklace was hanging around the neck of her queen.
Why did Levi have this?
Dread pooled inside her stomach and she swallowed hard against all the horrible possibilities that flashed through her mind like a macabre old-time silent movie.
Movement from the doorway made Amalya sna
p her head around to find Jethro standing in the entranceway, a fully packed duffel in his hand.
“Is she fully energized?”
Fully energized? If she were any more energized, she’d blow the roof off the entire building!
She glanced between the two men. Anger and irritation snapped through her as she realized Jethro was talking to Levi and not her. She stiffened, and with as much dignity as she could maintain while still sitting impaled on Levi’s cock, she demanded, “What the hell is going on here?”
Levi met her gaze. “I think it’s time for the second part of what I can do for you, my beauty.”
Amalya scrambled off Levi’s lap, not caring if she snapped off his cock in the process. She stood at the other end of the tub, the water sluicing off her as she turned to face Jethro. “What’s going on?”
Her friend met her gaze squarely and she thought she saw a flash of guilt before the familiar calm mask fell across those deep blue eyes—which definitely didn’t bode well for the situation.
“Jethro,” she said in a low tone of warning.
“Get dressed, Amalya,” Levi said smoothly as he stood, “and we’ll explain everything.”
Amalya held out a hand to stop Levi’s words and stared at Jethro, piercing him with her steady gaze until he nodded.
“According to Levi, Semiazas has escaped his prison. Lilith sent Levi to bring you back to her lair.”
“It could be a trap.”
Jethro sighed. “I thought of that, but Lilith sent him with more than just that medallion. She told him facts to convince me to help him. And he has a lot of information. He says two bounty demons are moving this way. One pestilence and one famine. Amalya, we can’t take a chance on it not being true.”
“Why did he tell you this instead of me?” she asked Jethro, pointedly ignoring the naked man in the tub.
Levi answered anyway. “We’ll need Jethro’s help in making it back to Lilith. It was necessary I gain his trust. Plus, Lilith told me you would be more likely to trust your guardian than a stranger. We don’t have time to discuss this further. Now that you have the energy you’ll need, we have to get out of here. ”
Amalya took several long seconds to absorb the shock of their words.
She’d known this day would come. Semiazas would either serve his entire term and then hunt down her and her sisters, or he would escape early with the same result. She’d had no illusions that this would end otherwise, but that didn’t make it any less terrifying. She raised her chin as she stepped out of the tub, grabbed a towel, and began drying off in rough motions. “My sisters?”
“No word.” Jethro sounded apologetic.
“How close?” Levi stepped out of the tub and Amalya pointedly turned away so she wouldn’t have to see his muscled body or remember what he had felt like moving inside her.
Jethro set down the full duffel and stepped inside Amalya’s closet as he spoke. “We’ve got maybe ten minutes, give or take. They must have someone on the inside because we had no early warning on this.” Anger vibrated just under the surface of his deceptively calm voice. He came back into the bathroom holding a full set of Amalya’s casual clothes which he gently pushed into her arms. “Get dressed quickly.” He met her gaze for a long moment and then brushed a warm finger over her cheek before he turned to face Levi. “Meet me at the side entrance when you’re done.”
Amalya hurriedly dressed in the jeans, tank top, and sneakers Jethro had chosen for her, then pulled the clips from her hair, letting her long, blond hair spill around her shoulders. She finger brushed the tangles out as she turned to find Levi already dressed and watching her.
“Amalya,” Levi began as he dried off. “We needed you at full strength for the trip ahead and this was the best way to get it done quickly.”
“It?” Anger and embarrassment moved through her, both fighting for dominance. She stiffened and glared up at him. “You mean you both decided that the poor, weak succubus couldn’t be trusted with very important information that concerns her, so you took matters into your own hands to trick me into sex, supposedly for my own good?”
Levi picked up the duffel off the floor, seemingly unaffected by her words or her anger. “Is it better if I paid a lot of money for the privilege of fucking you than Jethro and I making sure you would be ready before we begin this very dangerous journey?”
His reasonable tone grated against her nerves and she stared at him with all the hatred and revulsion she could muster as the full slap of betrayal surged through her. This man had given her the best orgasm of her entire life, she’d shared her private time with him and even her real self, and it had all been an act, a job assigned to him by Lilith.
“Regardless of what you may think of me, Levi, I’m neither a fool nor a woman who is ashamed of what she is or what she does. So fuck off.” She started to step away and then stopped short. “You may have considered it a freebie, but the fuck in the tub will definitely cost you, no matter what you thought when you got into this.”
Levi’s smug chuckle echoed gently around them. “I have very deep pockets, my beauty. Don’t worry about that.”
She glanced back over her shoulder as she hurried down the hall to find Jethro. “I never said it would cost you money, now did I?”
2
“Let’s try this again, shall we? I can smell the damned succubus all over you, so now I just need to know where you last saw her.” Semiazas had grown tired of the man’s brave but ignorant act. He just wanted answers.
The man held his hands up in front of him as the putrid stink of fear poured off him in noxious waves. “I told you, I don’t even know what a succubus is, so I’m not sure who you mean. If you’ll just—”
Semiazas darted forward much faster than the human’s eyes could track to wrap the fingers of his right hand around the man’s throat.
When the man clawed at Semiazas’s tight grip, the demon smiled and lifted the human off the ground until his polished Italian loafers flailed above the hardwood floor.
“Let’s make this easier. Who have you fucked in the past several days?” Semiazas grinned and allowed the illusion of flames to flicker inside his eyes. Granted, it was all a bit 1970s horror movie but decidedly effective in his experience.
Understanding lit the man’s eyes as he tried hard to swallow past Semiazas’s grip. With a dramatic sigh, Semiazas lowered the man until his shoes touched the ground and then loosened his grip only enough to allow the human to speak. “Now. Where is my succubus?”
“I bought whores at each of my business stops. But I don’t know what a succubus is,” the man hissed through the limited air Semiazas let get past his grip.
Anger snaked through him and he tightened his hold on the man’s throat until cartilage and flesh gave way like a ripe tomato squeezed too tight. He enjoyed the small surge of power that snaked through him at the fear and pain swimming in the man’s dark eyes.
The sickening gurgle that rose from around the man’s crushed throat sent frustration and disdain searing through Semiazas but definitely not a penchant for mercy. “I’ve been very patient. And if you really knew me, you’d understand that’s not really one of my stronger points, if you get my meaning.” Semiazas leaned close to the man’s face and snapped his neck, enjoying the muffled crunch as bones and vertebrae snapped.
A spurt of evil glee speared through him but quickly faded when the now lifeless body slumped in his grip.
Semiazas cursed. He’d forgotten he wasn’t torturing the human in Hell, which meant rather than unlimited regenerations while the man continued to feel everything acutely, now he was just a rotting meat suit.
Semiazas opened his fingers with a sigh and let the corpse drop to the floor in a heap.
Torturing and extracting information in the earthly realm had been so much easier in the Dark Ages when people were more superstitious and fearful of everything. He’d still killed and maimed, but that had been for pure enjoyment after they’d given up whatever information he�
�d needed at the time, if any.
He turned his wrath toward the demon who had taken the form of the dead man’s roommate. “Tell me you found something before I strip your flesh off a piece at a time and send you back to Hell in a shoe box.”
The demon in human form met Semiazas’s gaze and nodded once. “He just returned from a four-stop business trip—San Diego, Phoenix, Vegas, and Santa Cruz. The scent of the succubus is faint, so it might have been several days since he’s seen her. I’ll backtrack to see if I can find anything on his credit card statements, but I’m betting he paid cash from the large wad he withdrew from the bank before he left.” The demon shrugged. “Apparently, he and my host only shared an apartment to split rent, not because they were friends or confided in each other.”
Semiazas fisted his hands at his sides trying to corral his temper. Regardless of what he’d threatened, killing his demons only poofed them back to Hell, which would force him to go round up more who were willing to work for him. And since he had stripped the flesh off several previously, the pool of demons who fell into that category was beginning to thin. So it was better to save his physical wrath for the humans, who were expendable and populated the planet like goddamned rabbits.
“Your Grace, he may not have known who you were referring to. Most humans wouldn’t know a succubus if one bit them on the ass.”
“Fine,” Semiazas snapped. “If you think you can do better next time, I’ll leave you to it. But find me results soon or you’ll think the torture you’ve endured for the past millennia in Hell was a holiday next to what I’ll do to you.”
The demon paled before he dissipated.
Semiazas wiped his bloody fingers on the curtains and then straightened his shirt and tie before sucking in several large breaths to try to expel the last of the adrenaline surging through his system.
He had more work to do to ensure his plan played out smoothly, and getting sidetracked by his emotions wouldn’t help him reach his goals. Although once he had those four succubus at his mercy . . . He let the thought trail off as images jumbled together inside his mind of what he could spend the rest of eternity doing to them.
