by Myles, Jill
We drove in silence, the radio off. It suited me fine, because I liked the hum of my own thoughts, and Noah seemed to be a kindred spirit. The longer we drove, though, the more curious I became.
“So David lives with you?” I asked, trying to keep my loathing for my sire out of my voice.
Noah paused, glanced over at me. “I am his caretaker, yes.”
Now what exactly did that mean? The David I remembered was a quiet but independent sort. “His caretaker? Has he been…disabled somehow?” Uh oh. I began to feel uneasy. All my plans would be ruined if David was somehow incapacitated. I had to have sex with one of my masters within the next few hours, or the Itch would start burning through me. David not being available was going to make things rather desperate.
“It’s complicated,” Noah said. “You’ll see.”
He didn’t elaborate, his hands relaxed on the wheel. Odd. I bit my lip to keep from asking additional questions – knowledge was power, and I was tired of others having power over me.
So I’d just wait and see.
We drove in silence for several more minutes, and I made note of major streets that we passed, just in case I had to backtrack on my own. Noah’s car was clean and I wasn’t getting the serial killer vibe from him – and after decades of being around Aloysius, it was a vibe I was definitely familiar with.
Noah put on his blinkers, indicating a right turn. I glanced over to see where we were turning into, and frowned at the sight of the building in front of us. “Climate controlled storage? You’re kidding me, right? Thousands of years of knowledge and experience behind him, and David has a job in a storage place?”
He’d fallen lower than I’d even thought. What a loser. I sure had hit the supernatural jackpot with my two masters – one an unnaturally depraved vampire, and the other a sad sack of a fallen angel.
“You take far too much at face value,” said Noah in a chiding voice. “Like I said, it’s complicated.”
“I learned long ago that you can judge a book by its cover,” I replied, unbuckling my seat belt and getting out of the car when it stopped. “And I’m sorry to say that in a hundred and twenty years of immortality, I haven’t really seen anything to change my mind.”
Noah only smiled and moved ahead to hold the door open for me. Guarded, I followed him.
He paused at the front counter and smiled at the desk clerk, showing his key. “We’ll be meeting a friend here.”
The man’s expression was skeptical as he took in my clothing, and David’s. “Here?”
“Don’t ask,” Noah said, in a voice that brooked no disagreement. “It is a personal matter.”
Intimidated, the man behind the counter nodded and returned to reading his paper, watching us out of the corner of his eye. His gaze rested on the ruffled cleavage of my costume, but he said nothing to deny us. Maybe he thought we were sneaking into the storage units to engage in some sort of kinky sex game.
It was all very curious.
I followed Noah down the maze of halls and numbered doors, all padlocked and some with electric keypads that required a computer code. The door that Noah stopped at required both, and he punched numbers into the pad while I waited behind him, arms crossed. The air in this place was bitter cold thanks to the air conditioning, and my get-up wasn’t exactly warm material.. After a moment, the keypad gave an affirmative beep and Noah used the keys to unlock the second padlock.
And then the door opened.
“After you,” he said, gesturing at the cracked door.
Giving him another wary look, I pushed inside.
The interior of the storage room was dark, even colder than the hallway. My breathing echoed in the room which told me that it was not filled to the brim with storage boxes like I had imagined.
The door shut behind me, enveloping us both in darkness. My breath caught in my throat, visions of past memories crawling through my mind – of being forced to live in a cage, trapped in the darkness, no sign of sunlight for years on end–
“Sorry about that. Didn’t want the security cameras getting a glimpse of what we have in here.” With that, Noah flicked on a light-switch and my breath caught in my throat all over again.
The storage room was set up neat and clean, with only one item of note in the room. A large man lay on a narrow bed, unmoving. He hadn’t changed expression with the flicking-on of the light, his hands still clasped over his chest in a relaxed pose. He wore a light robe of some kind, loosely belted at his waist. I could see hints of his bare chest underneath the gape of the fabric, as perfect as I remembered.
David.
My breath sucked in as I approached him, staring in shock. Of all the things I had pictured when I saw him again, this was not what I had in mind. Laid out on a narrow slab of a cot, dressed strangely, his skin pale. My fingers reached out to brush against his shoulder and found it cool as well.
“Is he…”
“Dead? No.” Noah’s voice was curt behind me. “But he is under a sleep spell.”
The tension in my shoulders relaxed a little at that, and I brushed a finger under his nose. Sure enough, warm breath brushed my skin. The cold of his skin must have been from the storage room itself.
It bothered me a little that after one hundred or so years of misery and hardship on my part, David looked exactly the same as I had remembered when he’d left. Even his hair was styled the same, I noted wryly. The dark blonde curls were rakishly askew in the style of Victorian gentlemen, and long, thick sideburns graced his cheeks. His body was just as muscled and handsome as I remembered it, and the face as peacefully beautiful. I remembered David’s face well – the delicate cheekbones and elegant line of his chin, and long, thick lashes surrounding his blue eyes. Features almost feminine in their perfect, delicate beauty, if it were not for the stern brow and the large, straight nose that dominated his face, turning all that delicacy into a cutting visage of masculine beauty.
Oh, I remembered David’s face very well. My hand clenched into a fist, tightening with anger. “I see David has not changed over the years.”
“No indeed.”
“I suppose I should not be surprised,” I said in a light voice, though I still was. “It’s not like him to hide away from the world under a sleep spell,” I added, feeling the old resentment stir again. “Very cowardly.”
I felt Noah move behind me, felt him come to my side. “The sleep spell was not of his choosing. From what I remember, he angered a friend who had recently turned vampire and walked into a trap. Something about trying to save a female friend of his.”
I snorted. “Not likely. He never even attempted to save me…” my voice died in my throat and I clenched my jaw. No. Not possible. I moved forward, brushing my fingers across David’s beautiful eyelashes. A fine layer of dust covered his sleeping features, and that made my breath catch all over again. “Exactly how long has David been caught in a sleep spell?”
Noah paused, as if reluctant to explain. Then, very softly, “I believe the number I was given was one hundred and twenty years.”
My mouth went dry, my stomach churning. “I don’t understand.”
“It’s true. He has been caught in this sleep spell since 1889.”
The same year I had been turned. Surely no coincidence. In 1889, I had accepted a Mr. David Thornton as my patron, and one night later I’d been abducted from David’s very bed by Aloysius, and turned into the creature I was now – driven by sex, immortal, beautiful…cold. A plaything of more powerful beings.
I’d hated David with every fiber of my being for the past one hundred and twenty years. I thought of the letters I’d written to him, begging him to help me escape Aloysius, all with no answer. Of appearing on his doorstep, in the rain, only to find out that he’d left the city. Left no option but that of the vampire. Abandoned to a cruel, merciless master who hated me.
I’d seethed with hatred for David for one hundred and twenty years…and he’d been ensorcelled the entire time, oblivious to the entire thi
ng.
He’d gone to save a female friend from a vampire.
My world tilted. My knees went weak, and I shrugged off Noah’s offered assistance. Instead, I sat on the edge of David’s bed, and stared down at his beautiful, unearthly still features. My mind was in turmoil. “Why is he here in a storage unit?”
“Every so often, the vampires – or the Serim - get in their heads that they want to track him down and find him. I move him every few years to someplace they won’t expect. A storage unit is actually ideal – it’s secure, well-locked, and no one needs to go in or out but me. I keep watch over him until he can be awakened. I figure that is best, since I don’t think he wants to be in the grasp of either angel or vampire without his own say-so.”
I brushed the dark golden curl off his forehead, still thinking. “Did you ever try to wake him?”
“Many times over the years, all without success.” Noah loomed over the two of us, placed a comforting hand on my shoulder as if he could somehow sense the turmoil in my mind. “I have tried rituals, witch-doctors to remove the curse, spells, spell-breakers, all for naught.” He cleared his throat. “It has been rumored for some time that Aloysius had the spell keyed specifically for you.”
I could hardly swallow around the knot of confused frustration in my throat. “Me?”
“That only you could break the spell. Irony, I suspect, given that he imagined you would be under his thumb for all eternity. Though I am surprised you have been free for ten years and never sought him out until now. Obviously Aloysius did not count for that.”
Or perhaps he had, I thought. He would have known of my intense hatred for him, and my angelic sire both. Confusion warred within me. I wanted to be furious at David, but staring at him here, unmoving in this bed and I was just…torn. “I didn’t know that he was cursed,” I said softly, then looked up at Noah. “So how would I lift this curse if I wanted to?”
Noah gave me a wry look. “You could try the old fashioned way.”
A kiss to wake up a sleeping prince, like in the fairy tales. My stomach churned at the thought. I’d known that I’d have to sleep with David to survive – my succubus instincts had accepted that part of the bargain – but for some reason, a kiss was…personal. Romantic. Tied to emotions that I couldn’t possibly feel. I didn’t want to kiss the man I’d just spent the last century hating. To make matters worse, I wasn’t even sure that my hate was justified. I brushed my fingertips over his cool face again, thinking hard. Did I want to wake David up? What would I say to him? I wanted to hold onto my anger, but what…what if he woke up and it was totally unfounded?
Who was I if I wasn’t bitter with hatred for both of my masters?
I shook my head. This was stupid. It was just a damn kiss. I leaned in and slid my hands under his neck, pulling his face toward mine and pressing my mouth against his. His lips were cool, unyielding against mine, but the feel of them evoked a strong surge of emotion in me that I didn’t like. I stroked my tongue into his mouth, parting his lips with my questing. Like it or not, I needed David, and his being cursed was a damn nuisance and an even bigger pain in the ass than I’d anticipated.
And he tasted better than I remembered, too. That was galling. Perhaps it was just my succubus curse, which was due to drive me insane within hours. Perhaps it was something to do with the Serim themselves, but his mouth was sweet under my own, and as I brushed my tongue against his, I felt a spike of desire.
I had to kiss the bastard. I hadn’t expected to like it. Disgusted with myself, I dropped his head. It thunked back against the pallet and made a hard noise that my disgruntled psyche found oddly pleasing. And I watched him, waiting.
Sure enough, David’s jaw moved slightly, then flexed in a yawn, and as I watched, his eyes fluttered open.
God, he was beautiful.
God, I hated him.
God, I was so, so confused.
David’s eyes focused on me slowly, comprehension flickering over his face. He remembered me. Not surprising, given the circumstances of my immortality. His gaze slid over my hair, my clothing, and then back to my face. “Olivia,” he breathed. One cold hand reached up to touch my cheek. “You are safe.” His brow furrowed as he looked at my face, then my body. “You are…changed.”
A succubus always changed with the transformation, and I knew what he meant. Some women had intense changes – breasts growing to an enormous size, hair lengthening, height changing – the works. My changes were subtle, enhancing what I already had. The freckles that had dotted my skin were long gone, and my nearly-flat chest had filled out to small, high breasts. My face had smoothed from prettiness into beauty, thanks to the curse. I never remembered my old looks, but to David, seeing the changes in me seemingly overnight must seem bizarre.
And it confirmed that Noah had been telling the truth. David didn’t know what was going on.
I swatted his hand away, unease churning in my stomach. This wasn’t how I’d pictured our reunion to go. A few death threats, some grudging concessions, and a round of angry sex to sate my urges before I could ask him to help me with Aloysius.
Kindness? Not part of the plan.
“I’m glad to see you’re awake, David.” I kept my voice polite but cold.
He touched a hand to his forehead, as if the bright fluorescent lights overhead bothered his eyes. “Aloysius?”
“Not here,” I said flatly.
“How…how long have I been out?”
“A few years,” I said.
Noah cleared his throat. “It is 2010, David. Much has changed since you were last awake.”
A human might have met that with disbelief or anger, but David was immortal. He simply gave a sad sigh and began to sit up in the cot. The blanket covering his loins slid away, revealing the smooth perfection of his chest and his cock. Embarrassed at the stirring I felt within myself, I grabbed the blanket and hastily shoved it back over him.
David looked startled at my actions, then gave me a soft smile. “My apologies. I forget that I find myself in the presence of a lady.”
I could have wept in that moment. When David and I had met, I was one of the demimonde. A milliner’s daughter brought into high society circles by the patrons I chose to sleep with. Not a lady, but David had always treated me as such and to hear him reference it again made me think of those times, long gone.
I was nowhere close to a lady anymore. So I gave him a brittle, fake smile and moved away.
Noah helped David to his feet behind me. “Much has changed, David. What do you remember last?”
I glanced over as he remained silent. One hand pressed to his forehead, and then David shook his head. “My mind is filled with terrible dreams of last night. It played in my mind over and over while I slept, to the point that I do not recall which portions are truth and which are fiction.”
Except it wasn’t ‘last’ night. It was lifetimes ago. “I remember that night,” I said in a sour voice. “Why don’t you tell us what you recall and I’ll tell you if you are correct or not.”
Noah glanced at his watch. “The sun will be going down shortly, and I must be somewhere secure before my evening sleep.” He glanced over at the newly-reawakened Serim at his side. “David as well. The story can wait.”
“And how are we going to get David out to your car?” I asked. “He’s not wearing anything but that robe.” Trust me, I had noticed. The Itch wouldn’t let the sight of a handsome, well-sculpted chest go without notice. “Unless you want to pretend this is the Playboy Mansion and we’re all about to ham it up with Hef?”
David rubbed his head, tousling his dark blonde curls and then rubbing his long sideburns. “The what mansion?”
Noah shook his head and dug through one of the old boxes. “I kept an extra set of clothing here just in case, though I imagine it is somewhat out of date.” He opened a box and shook out a pair of men’s jogging pants, probably circa the MC Hammer era. Classy. “Here. You can put these on.”
David took the clothes
and glanced over at me. “Have women’s gowns become so…short in the past hundred and twenty years?”
So he’d noticed that my ass cheeks were hanging out of the back of the costume? Not surprising. “You know me,” I said, forcing a teasing note in my voice. “I like to keep on the cutting edge of fashion.”
“If that is the case, then we do not know each other as well as you suggest, Miss Rhodes.”
Was that an insult? It was hard to tell from David’s carefully smooth voice. “Can we get out of here then? I’m cold.”
David began to shrug off his robe. “I will give you my—”
“No.” I pushed it away with a scowl. Not only could I not take it, thanks to the command Aloysius had given me, but I didn’t want it. I didn’t want David’s pitying cast-offs. I needed him to free me from Aloysius’s commands, and then I’d be on my merry way.
I didn’t want – or need – his pity. So I crossed my arms over my chest and left the room, shutting the door behind me. “Get dressed.”
A few moments later, David emerged in a sports-shirt and the pants. His feet were bare, but it didn’t seem to bother him. He stared at his surroundings with intense eyes, as if trying to decipher how much things had changed in the last hundred twenty years. I felt a twinge of sympathy for him, knowing he would quickly be overwhelmed, but squelched it.
Noah locked the storage room and we headed back to the front.
“My word,” David said, rubbing at his sideburns. He stared at the hallway and the rows of locked doors with astonishment, then the ceiling lights. “I see the gas lamps are vast improved, but the decor of this time is appalling. Are all things in 2010 quite so bleak in decor?”
I smothered a laugh. “This is a storage building, David. It’s not meant to be attractive.”
“I see. Not an inn, then?”
My lips twitched at his rueful tone. “Not hardly.”
David ran a large hand down his face, as if that would change the view. He gave me a wry, self-effacing look that made my heart do a curious flip-flop. “I see. There are a great many things that I need to prepare for, aren’t there?”
