Luckily, it sounded like I wouldn’t be pissing off the natives by doing so—not if I was careful. My grief over Rans’ rejection of me was being joined by a healthy dose of anger as the days passed, but the simple truth was that I owed the vampire big-time for teaching me how to feed selectively.
Okay. Let’s be honest.
I owed him for a lot of things, not just that. But I was still bitter over how abruptly he’d ended things between us. Yes, that made me a hypocrite, considering how much effort I’d put into guarding my heart against him. And, hey—just look how well that had worked out, right?
Argh.
I was such an idiot.
At the moment, though, I was an idiot who was stuck in Hell with my invalid father—and that observation wasn’t even hyperbole. I had to stay focused on the things that mattered, even though I was finding it increasingly difficult not to just go curl up in an angry, tearful ball somewhere.
True to his word, Li Wei sent me a visitor a few hours later. Sharalynn was a pretty woman a few years older than me, with a bright smile, merry eyes, and skin a few shades darker than mine. She wore her naturally kinky hair close-cut, like a black helmet. I had a couple of inches of height on her, but she had a few pounds of pure muscle on me.
“Hey, girl,” she said, extending a hand and shaking mine with a firm grip. “Li Wei says you’re part succubus and need to get a bunch of the local boys hot for you so you can feed. We’ll need to talk details, but I think you and I may be able to help each other out.”
I liked Sharalynn immediately. We sat in the shade of the hut’s tiny stoop, outlining a plan. Possibly, it would have been more polite for me to invite her inside... but even when he was unresponsive, I drew the line at discussing exhibitionism for the purpose of feeding off random people’s sexual arousal in front of my dad.
As it turned out, Sharalynn was trying to hook up with a hopelessly shy guy that she had a thing for. She’d spent the last few years playing the field, so to speak, but these days she was becoming more interested in settling down. She just had to convince Shy Guy what a great plan that was, when so far all she’d managed to do was make him stutter and blush.
“If we do this,” I said, “how will you convince him to come watch you in the first place, if he’s so shy?”
She shrugged. “I’m friends with his friends. I’ll have them drag him along, and shove him forward to stand at the front of the crowd.”
I snickered, feeling more genuine amusement than I had in some time. “It’ll either work, or you’ll make his head explode,” I told her. “Okay, if you’re good with this, then let’s do it. Now that we’re done talking about seducing people, want to come in for a drink?”
She laughed, too. “Sure thing, hon. It’s hot as Hell out here, ya know?”
We went inside, and an interesting thing happened when I introduced her to my dad. His eyes focused on her face, rather than looking through her.
“Sasha?” he asked, and I nearly dropped the cups I was holding in my haste to get to him.
Sharalynn shook her head. “Fraid not. I’m Sharalynn—it’s nice to meet you, Darryl.”
Dad continued to scrutinize her for a long moment before disappointment crossed his pale features. “Oh. You look like her.”
Sharalynn crouched in front of his chair, holding eye contact. “Really? So who’s Sasha, then? Tell me about her.”
My father blinked. “My wife.” I held my breath, but his gaze started to grow far away. “Miss her...”
I swallowed against the thickness in my throat when Sharalynn looked up at me questioningly.
“Mom was a cambion,” I explained. “She died when I was a little girl.”
She nodded, pursing her lips in sympathy.
My eyes cut to Dad, who was once more in his own little world, though there was a furrow in his brow that hadn’t been there before.
“That’s the longest exchange he’s had with anyone since the Fae took him,” I said. “I think it’s also the first time he’s answered a question.”
Sharalynn looked interested. “Oh? Hey, would you like me to stop by when I’m in the area and chat more with him? Maybe it would help draw him out. Darryl? What do you think—would you like that?”
Dad didn’t reply, but I knew my answer without having to think. “That would be amazing, if you don’t mind doing it.”
She shot me her dazzling smile. “I wouldn’t have offered if I did, hon. Tell you what, Darryl, I’ll swing by whenever I can, and you can tell me more about Sasha. In the meantime, though, your daughter and I need to have a final word about doing something you wouldn’t approve of. Okay?”
I held my breath, but my father didn’t react.
“Maybe I’ll tell you the details after the fact,” I muttered. “Because if that doesn’t shock you out of your shell, I don’t know what will.”
Sharalynn snorted.
TWENTY
AND SO I FOUND myself in the center of a circle of torches the following evening, with a crowd of perhaps two dozen interested men and a handful of curious women gathered around. Sharalynn and I had staked out space in the village square, dragging a narrow wooden table out and surrounding it with half a dozen pitch-soaked torches to provide atmospheric lighting.
She’d told her friends what was going to go down, and they’d told their friends, and so on. She assured me that everyone knew they’d be playing succubus snack bar if they came, and that they should speak up if I accidentally started drawing too heavily on anyone in the group.
I was wearing a narrow band of linen cloth wrapped around my breasts and tied in back, along with another length of linen worn loincloth style, draped through a thong tied around my hips so a skirt-like length of fabric covered my ass, and another length fell down the front of my thighs. It was sexy without being blatantly immodest, and I hoped it would reinforce my look-but-don’t-touch vibe.
Sharalynn was holding a sheet of linen around herself like a toga, but when everyone was settled, she dropped it to reveal naked flesh beneath. There were a few whistles and catcalls from the crowd. Sharalynn winked and blew a kiss, but then her eyes settled on a guy in the front row who looked like his cheeks were about to go up in flames, he was blushing so hard.
This, I assumed, must be the man in Sharalynn’s crosshairs. He was cute, despite the large port-wine birthmark covering his left temple and part of his forehead. I was guessing that accounted for a big part of his lack of confidence, and I hoped Sharalynn’s devious plan tonight ended up going well for both of them.
My partner in crime lay down on her front, cushioned by a thick blanket we’d thrown over the table. She rested her chin on her laced fingers, and I stepped up to play my role in the proceedings. I’d acquired a clay vial of some kind of fruity-smelling oil, vaguely reminiscent of olive oil.
Without ceremony, I dribbled a line of oil down Sharalynn’s spine and set the vial aside, then started a slow massage. She hummed in approval as my hands spread the oil over her back and shoulders, pressing into the muscles.
It took almost no time at all before teasing hints of excitement from the crowd began to brush against my awareness. As I’d expected, a lot of the male response was focused more on Sharalynn than me, but there were still several animus trails wafting in my direction, growing in strength as my movements became bolder and more confident.
My attention fell on Fatima and another person who’d been introduced as one of the elders. They were keeping a watchful eye on the proceedings, though I wasn’t sure if they were more worried about me draining someone too much, or about potential misbehavior from the spectators.
The crowd seemed content to watch, aside from the occasional murmured ribald comment. I returned my focus to the interweaving trails of animus, letting everything directed at me soak into my magical core, but not pulling on the sources to get more.
It was interesting—while feeding and replenishing my strength like this felt good, it didn’t feel particularly... sexua
l. I’d noticed the same thing at the fetish club before chaos had broken out. Having Rans splayed out like an offering in front of me had certainly been enough to get me going, but the lust from the onlookers had felt like eating a good meal; nothing more.
Since I wasn’t sexually attracted to women, our little sensual massage routine didn’t do much to turn me on. It was nice to touch someone in a way that was enjoyable for them, and I could appreciate Sharalynn’s beauty from an aesthetic standpoint. But I wasn’t excited.
What was so different about feeding from random people who wanted me, versus feeding from Rans? I pressed my lips together, not really wanting to think about Rans right now... or at all. Damn it.
I couldn’t help it, though. Rans had driven me to near-feral levels of lust using only the taste of his sexual energy. Why did he seem to be the only person who had that effect on me? Was it a vampire thing? I supposed it was possible, since Fae energy also affected me differently—though in an unpleasant, itchy way, like insects crawling on my skin. Whereas Rans’ animus felt more like mainlining the most potent aphrodisiac imaginable.
I gritted my teeth.
Stop. Thinking. About. Rans.
Dragging my attention back to what I was doing, I urged Sharalynn onto her back so I could work on her front. The interest from the onlookers intensified as I worked my way up her calves and thighs, skirting her thatch of pubic hair in favor of massaging her stomach and ribcage. I moved to her arms, and finished by kneading her breasts a few times as a final surge of animus soaked into my body, leaving me energized and tingly.
Sharalynn had basically been eye-fucking the object of her interest for the past few minutes, and the poor guy looked like he might faint on the spot. But when she got up and walked into his arms, pressing her lips to his, something seemed to snap inside him, and he kissed back as though he wanted to devour her right in the middle of the public square.
Cheers and whooping erupted, and I whooped right along with them, clapping and laughing. When he finally let her up for air, Sharalynn glanced over her shoulder at me and shot me a saucy wink. I grinned at her and mouthed, ‘Go get him, girl.’ She grinned back and started tugging Shy Boy away, presumably to someplace private.
A couple of hopefuls approached me, separated by the table in front of us. “Sure you don’t need to feed a bit more, demonkin?” one of them asked. “Vic and me could take you back to his place and show you a good time.”
I didn’t sense any malice from either of them. I just... wasn’t interested.
“Thanks for the offer,” I told them, “but I can only really control how much energy I take if there’s a crowd to draw from. One on one, or... uh... one on two, and I’d drain you way too much without meaning to.”
That was probably a lie, now that I’d learned to filter the energy I let in. But as ego-saving excuses went, I figured there were worse ones I could have chosen. The second guy looked taken aback, and the first one raised his hands in surrender.
“Ah, gotcha,” he said. “Oh, well. We figured it was worth asking.”
He ushered his friend away with a hand on his lower back, and something about the gesture made me think they’d manage just fine on their own. Fatima approached, and her presence seemed to act as a deterrent to anyone else who might have been thinking about trying their luck.
“Was that okay, I hope?” I asked, figuring that if it hadn’t been, she would have stepped in sooner.
The elder wore an expression of thinly veiled amusement. “It was fine, dear. Though I have to say, it was certainly a creative way of feeding, for a succubus.”
“I’m very far removed from your average succubus,” I said. “Two generations removed, to be precise.”
She gave me a knowing look, but didn’t press. “Nigellus said you might wish to return to the portal leading to Earth, so you could attempt to get through. Do you plan on waiting until morning, or would you prefer to try now?”
I thought about it. “Now, I think. This is about the strongest I’m likely to be, so waiting will only hurt my chances.”
Fatima nodded. “I’ll go with you, then. Grab a couple of the torches. The moons will be up shortly, but the torches help to light the way in the meantime.
I checked in on Dad and made sure Li Wei didn’t mind staying with him a bit longer. Fatima and I headed out of the village, up the sloping trail that led to the cave—the darkness turning our surroundings into something deep and mysterious. A couple of demon guards flanked the entrance, and I was fairly sure they weren’t the same two as when I’d arrived.
“Hi,” I called out as we approached. “I’m Zorah. Nigellus said it wouldn’t be a problem if I came back here and tried to get through the gate to Earth?
Glowing red-orange eyes inspected me in the torchlight. “The cambion’s daughter? Yes, we heard about that. Come on through.”
Fatima hung back. “If you don’t mind, I’m not big on caves. I’ll wait out here for you.”
I shrugged. “No problem.”
As I ducked through the entrance, I heard her call after me in a wry voice.
“Yell if you run into anything creepy-crawly!”
My first torch was starting to splutter, but it was sufficient to help me retrace my steps to the stretch of stone wall that had tried to eat my hand on my first attempt to breach the gate. I lit the second torch and propped both of them a short distance away, before turning and regarding the gate of Hell.
There was nothing for it, except to press my fingers against the surface as I had last time. It was easier—no doubt about it. But there was still resistance, and that resistance grew greater the further in I pushed. As I had before, I panicked when it felt like I could go no farther and was trapped. This time, I’d gotten in as far as my elbow. I yanked, and the gate released me.
I stared at my arm in the flickering light. If I’d faceplanted into the portal rather than using my hand, I could have gotten my whole body into the stone barrier, judging by the length of my arm that had successfully gotten through. I knew I should try that, but the idea was terrifying. I couldn’t imagine getting my entire body stuck inside that clinging resistance without completely losing my shit.
For long moments, I wavered, before finally wimping out and gathering up the torches. Feeding on animus had made it easier to push against the gate. It seemed more sensible to try doing that a couple more times in the coming days before coming back for a fresh attempt. If I still couldn’t make it, I’d have Fatima contact Nigellus for me so I could talk options with him.
“Any luck?” Fatima asked when I emerged.
“Almost,” I hedged. “I bet if I hang around in Hell for much longer, I’ll be able to do it. I don’t suppose you’re hiding any other female exhibitionists looking for a way to gain male attention?”
Fatima laughed, but I was only half-joking.
“From what I could see,” she said, “Sharalynn owes you now. Maybe she knows someone.”
“I’ll ask,” I answered dryly. “Though she’s already offered to help me with Dad, so I don’t want to push the boundaries too much.”
“Not to worry. If that girl has any boundaries, I’ve yet to see any evidence of it,” Fatima told me with a smile.
We walked slowly back to the settlement, the light from the three moons making the torches unnecessary now that they’d breached the horizon.
* * *
My days fell into a sort of pattern. I came up with ways to make the younger male population of the village happy—or more precisely, horny—so that I could feed more. Sharalynn nominated a female friend of hers for the massage routine on the first occasion, but the poor girl seemed way more nervous than Sharalynn had been at becoming the center of attention. The second time, I went solo, performing the most suggestive scantily clad yoga routine I could come up with, and that seemed to work all right.
It was interesting to me how well behaved everyone was, for lack of a better term. I always had a handful of hopefuls approach me direct
ly after I put on a show, but they took no for an answer easily enough. That was more than I could say about many of the guys I’d known on Earth, and combined with the knowledge that I could protect myself, if necessary, by sucking their animus dry, it made me feel more secure about what I was doing than I might have otherwise.
Meanwhile, Li Wei and Sharalynn were as good as their word, stopping by regularly to help me with Dad. My father responded to Sharalynn’s presence on a few more occasions, though never with more than a simple sentence or two. However, he nearly gave me a heart attack by getting up from his cot and walking outside to sit on the chair I’d set up for him on the stoop one morning, when I was running late.
“Dad?” I asked hopefully, after hurrying out to him.
He frowned a little, and I thought for a moment that he might speak to me. But then he gave a faint shake of his head, as though dislodging an insect, and withdrew into himself once more.
As the days passed, I tried to stay focused on the here and now. To be honest, it wasn’t working very well. I slept poorly, my nights disturbed by dreams of Rans disappearing into thick fog, slipping away from me even as I tried to catch him.
Yeah... all right. I never claimed that my subconscious was big on subtlety.
I was still angry, but I was heartbroken, too. That seemed terribly unfair, given how hard I’d worked at not falling for him. I wondered where he was, and what he was doing. Had he moved on from St. Louis? Had he moved on from me? I ground my teeth together whenever I so much as thought about the possibility.
Of course he’d moved on. Just because I was walking around bleeding like someone had cut off one of my arms, it didn’t mean he was. It didn’t mean he hadn’t found some little doe-eyed human to seduce with those wicked blue eyes and perfect features. Someone to help him turn off the hamster wheel in his brain... someone, presumably, who didn’t have a host of skeletons in her family’s closet, and who didn’t need to be rescued all the damn time.
Christ. I needed to learn to relax my jaw when thoughts like that crept in, or I was going to end up cracking a tooth. And god only knew what the dental plan in Hell looked like.
The Last Vampire- Complete series Box Set Page 48
