by Jackie May
“It’s yours. I said no arguments.”
“It’s a car, Terrance. I can’t accept that.”
He grunts again and flops down on the couch, looking anywhere but at me. “I own the dealership. It’s not a big deal.”
I blink. And then I laugh. Of course he owns the dealership. “Even still. I hate feeling like I owe people, and I’m not a mooch. I didn’t earn that car, or the laptop. I can’t accept any of it.”
“Didn’t earn it?” Terrance finally looks up at me. “You’re risking your life to find my clan member. If you need a reason to accept my gifts, consider them payment for a dangerous job.”
I suck in a deep breath through my nose, still feeling annoyed, but seeing his reason. “Well, when you put it that way,” I mutter. I plop down on the opposite end of the couch, scowling at my lap, and grumble, “It still feels like too much.”
Terrance sighs. “You are doing a service for my clan that we can never repay. We are the ones indebted to you. Especially me. If you bring Shandra home, I will be in your debt for life.”
I’m shocked by the admission. A life debt is a huge deal. People don’t just spout off something like that. If Terrance says it, then he means it. “Because she might be your mate?” I ask.
Terrance flinches, and all of the blood drains from his face. I duck my head, cringing. “Sorry. Your sister mentioned it in the vision I saw of her and Shandra at the bar. Shandra was so nervous. She didn’t think you were going to be happy about your clan sending her.”
Terrance’s entire body deflates. After a long sigh, he shakes his head once. “I wasn’t happy. I was shocked more than anything. I sort of freaked. That’s why Shandra walked off by herself.”
And now I see why he’d consider it a life debt. “It wasn’t your fault, Terrance. It may have been your club, and she may have been upset because of you, but you didn’t get her kidnapped. It’s not your fault.”
Terrance lifts his head, his lifeless eyes meeting mine. “She was my responsibility, potential mate or not, she and Nell both. Our clan is not in this city. Here, I am their head of clan. I was her protector, and I failed her.”
I feel awful. I want to make him feel better, but I don’t want to be inside his head right now, so I gently pat his shoulder once and then sit back. “You haven’t failed her,” I promise. “You’re doing everything you can to get Shandra back. You haven’t given up. You even went as far as to hire a crazy human psychic to find her.” When he looks at me again, there’s a spark of hope in his gaze. I shoot him a wink and then make him a promise. “I’m going to find her, T-man. I’m going to get her back for you, and when I do, you’ll be a hero to your clan—a hero to Shandra and your sister both.”
He sucks in a deep breath, swallows hard, and then clears his throat. In a husky voice, rough with emotion, he says, “Thank you, Nora.”
“You’re welcome, Terrance. And I suppose…thank you for the gifts. I admit I do love the car. It’s very badass.”
Terrance grins. “I thought it suited you.”
“Very much so. Now if only I had any freaking clue where and how to buy a dress.”
“I don’t know a thing about that.” Terrance lifts his arms above his head and stretches deep while he releases a mountain of a yawn. “But I do know someone who can help.”
I glance his way, curious as to who he might recommend.
“You met Cecile at the club the other night.”
I want to play it cool, but my eyes bulge of their own accord. “The succubus?”
Terrance laughs. “She’s safe. Or…she will be with you, if I call her.”
“That’s reassuring.” Yes, heavy sarcasm.
Terrance chuckles again. “You have my word, Trouble. She won’t mess with you now that you’re under my protection. She works at the club.”
“She does?”
“Sort of hired eye candy.”
I snort. “Yeah, she’s good at that. It’s probably a mutually beneficial arrangement, too.”
“Very much so. Trust me, she doesn’t want to be banned from my club. She was curious about you anyway. She said she didn’t affect you. That doesn’t happen a lot. She wanted to meet you again. She’ll be good, and I’m sure she’ll know exactly where you can find a dress.”
I sigh. “I’m sure she will. Okay, go ahead and call her. But I only have until seven. I have to meet Parker and get him all caught up.”
Terrance raises an eyebrow at that but doesn’t say anything. He pulls out his cell phone and calls the succubus.
Truth be told, I’m nervous to see the seductress again, but I genuinely have no clue about dresses. I couldn’t find a store that sells them, and even if I could, I’d have no idea how to pick one out. I need her help.
I’m still fretting when Terrance hangs up his phone. “She says two hours isn’t enough time to go shopping, but she should have something in her closet. I’ll give you her address. She’s not far. She says she can help with your hair and makeup, too.”
Terrance laughs when I cringe. “Oh, come on now, Trouble, you’re a beautiful woman; don’t be so afraid to show it off.”
My grimace turns into a scowl. “Remember what I told you about self-preservation? I’m not afraid of my looks, I’m just not stupid about them.” Terrance’s confused frown doesn’t surprise me. He doesn’t understand yet, but he’ll learn. “Nothing good will come from me in a dress all dolled up with hair and makeup done.”
Terrance doesn’t believe me. His grin is positively wicked when he says, “I can’t imagine it, so I told Cecile to bring you to the club when she’s finished with you.”
I shake my head and do my best not to laugh. “Am I going to a party or the prom?”
T-man’s eyes start to sparkle. “Cecile won’t know the difference.”
I sigh. This is going to be a long night.
. . . . .
Cecile lives in one of the few high-rise apartment buildings downtown in a penthouse suite. Let’s just say it’s so nice I feel like I lower the resale value when I step through the front door. “Nora!” Cecile cheers, clapping her hands together when she sees me. “Welcome, you beautiful woman!”
I smirk. “So I’ve upgraded from vapid human, then?”
Cecile slices a hand through the air as if to wave off my sarcastic comment. “Bygones, darling, bygones. I can’t tell you how excited I was when Terrance told me what you needed.”
I’ll bet. She has makeover addict written all over her. She’s wearing black leggings and some kind of baggy shirt that reaches to her mid thigh and hangs off one shoulder. She looks tall, leggy, and willowy, like some kind of wispy, delicate faerie, and yet I know she’s got a set of voluptuous curves hidden somewhere. I never knew clothes could change a person’s looks so much. Still, either look works for her. The woman is flat-out gorgeous.
“You’re such a natural beauty, you know. I didn’t realize it the first time I met you, but you are. I’m excited to give you a proper makeover.”
My stomach flips, and not in a good way. “Let’s not get too crazy now. I just need to look acceptable for a sorority party over at Wayne State. This isn’t a wedding or anything.”
“So we need fun, flirty, sexy. Got it.” She looks me over from head to toe in an appraising manner, chewing her bottom lip as she thinks. “I think I know what we want to do.”
She cocks her finger in a come-hither manner and heads across her apartment to her bedroom. Her room is everything I’d imagine a queen of the night’s bedchamber to be. And I use bedchamber, because that’s what it is. Room just doesn’t cut it. The four-poster canopy bed with draping curtains is the focal point, but there’s a lot more going on in here. If I wondered before, stepping into this room, I now know Cecile likes to bring her work home with her. I shiver as she leads me into a walk-in closet.
The closet is almost as big as the bedroom and looks like something you’d see on TV in a rich person’s house. There’s a padded bench in the middle—drawers, she
lves, and racks galore—and several kinds of lighting options. Cecile goes for a brighter light setting and directs me to sit on the bench seat.
While she sorts through a rack of dresses, I fumble for something—anything—to say. I can’t think of a thing. I’ve never been good at being a girl. Cecile glances over her shoulder with a smirk, as if she knows what I’m thinking. She pulls down a green, a blue, and a pink dress from the rack and tosses them beside me. “Okay, honey, level with me,” she says as she continues to hum and haw through dress after dress. “I know you’re downplaying the looks on purpose. You do everything you can to hide from the world. Why, when you are so gorgeous with that shiny straight hair and that hourglass figure?”
She brings over a ruby red dress and snaps her fingers as if she wants me to stand.
“I just don’t like attention,” I say, rising to my feet. “I get too much of it.”
She sighs wistfully as she holds the dress up to me, then spins me around and holds it up to my back. “Is there such a thing as too much attention?”
“When you aren’t strong enough to defend yourself?” I ask, voice hard. “Yeah.”
She turns me back around, dress forgotten, and stares deep into my eyes as if trying to peel back every layer I have and figure me out all the way to my soul. I decide to save her the trouble. “There’s something…off about me. I’m cursed. I draw men to me. The stronger their attraction, the more they tend to lose their sense of reason. And they generally don’t take no for an answer. I’ve had admirers, stalkers, and abusers my entire life. I don’t know what it is, but I know I’m not imagining it.”
Cecile takes a step back and smiles softly as she looks me over again from top to bottom. She shakes her head. “No, you aren’t imagining it,” she says quietly. “I, myself, am quite taken with you. Not in a sexual way, but I find myself curious, and pleasantly drawn to you. It’s very similar to the allure we succubi and the incubi have on our prey, though we choose when to send out that allure, so to speak.”
My eyes pop wide open. “You can control it?”
“Of course, dear.” She grins and lifts the green dress. “I think this one.”
She points to a privacy screen, and I know that’s my cue to try the dress on. She explains a little about her kind as I move behind the screen and begin to undress. “We lust demons feed off of sexual energy. In order to do that, we must have control of our pheromones so that we can naturally attract our prey. The more pheromones we push into the atmosphere around us, the more anyone in the vicinity will react to us. Like you spoke of, the more natural attraction one might have to myself or others of my kind, the easier they’ll succumb to our charms. However, we do always give off a little more pheromones than any non-lust demon, so we do usually have a little of that natural allure that you speak of. I must admit, though, Nora, darling, you have almost zero reaction to it. You are the least lustful person I’ve ever met.”
I pull the dress up over my hips. It has spaghetti straps and is low cut, tight through the waist but loosening into a small flair at the hips, reaching mid thighs. It’s actually a cute dress that I might like if I didn’t know it would make everyone in the room stop and stare at me.
“It’s actually quite refreshing,” she continues. “I do believe that’s what originally piqued my interest about you.” She chuckles at the memory. “I am not often turned down by anyone once I’ve set my sights on them—male or female.”
“Well, don’t be offended. After what I’ve been through, I have a hard time with anything sexual.”
“Hmm… I suppose you have a point. I’m sorry your sexual experiences have all been so negative. It really can be a wonderful act.”
I’m sure it’s supposed to be, but I don’t think I’ll ever be ready to experience sex the way most do. I’m pretty sure I’m broken. I zip the dress up on the side and am surprised at how well it fits. The green looks great with my dark hair and fair skin tone. Cecile knows her stuff, I’ll give her that.
I walk out from behind the privacy screen slowly, feeling self-conscious since I’m never so exposed. Cecile gasps softly and smiles. “You are positively stunning.” After a moment’s perusal, though, her face falls into a concerned frown. “I see what you mean about attracting attention. You will have someone with you at this party, right? Someone who can protect you?”
I nod. “Nick Gorgeous will be with me. We’re working undercover together tonight, trying to find the missing underworlders.”
“Mmm.” Cecile has her eyes closed, and the moan she’s making is causing me to blush. “Now that man is something else.”
“Do you know what he is?” I ask.
Cecile opens her eyes and focuses her gaze on me. There’s a twinkle in her eyes that makes her look more playful than I’ve ever seen her. “He hasn’t told you what he is?”
“No. And I can’t figure out if it’s polite to ask underworlders what species they are or not, but I’m thinking it’s probably rude.”
Cecile chuckles and heads to a wall of shoes. “No heels,” I say quickly. “I can’t walk in them. Something flat. Please.”
She picks up a pair of flat, strappy green sandals and winks at me as she hands them over. “It is considered rude to ask an underworlder’s species if you can’t naturally tell. And if Gorgeous hasn’t shared that information with you, then it’s not my place to tell you. But rest assured, little darling, he is a magnificent creature, and you are safe with him.” Her face is overcome with lust again, and she adds, “He’s magnificent in every way, Nora. If you ever get the opportunity, I do hope you find the courage to give him a go. He’ll change your mind about sex. I promise.”
I choke on a laugh. “You and Nick?”
Her grin is 100 percent seductress. “Every decade or so. I don’t even feed from him. I simply take him for pleasure. His kind are irresistible to mine.”
“And to Ren?” I ask, remembering the charming incubi I met at the Agency who seemed hopelessly in love with Nick.
Cecile laughs a light, tinkling laugh. “Yes, and to Ren’s kind, too, the poor man. Gorgeous seems abnormally immune to Ren.”
“He was certainly resisting with everything he had the other night. I was more affected, and I’m almost never affected by guys.”
I choose to push away the thought of Parker that suddenly jumps into my mind.
“You were affected by Ren?” Cecile asks, pushing me back out into her room where she sits me at a vanity.
“Yeah. But I also couldn’t breathe or move. I think he had his setting on full blast trying to get Nick to feel it.”
Cecile laughs again. “I’m sure. I do love watching those two in the same room. It’s entertaining, is it not?”
“Maybe for you. For me, it was just painful. I’ve never felt lust like that before. I could literally taste it. But again, the whole not breathing thing was unpleasant.”
“Oh, sweet Nora. That you didn’t rip your clothes off and climb up Ren’s body is a testament to your resistance. You, darling, are a conundrum.”
She plugs in a curling iron and begins brushing my hair out. For a moment, I close my eyes and enjoy the feel of her pampering me. I had one or two decent foster mothers, but for the majority of my life, I’ve never had someone to dote on me like this. I am starved for affection and touch that doesn’t repulse me, and I absolutely love this.
As if she can sense me relaxing, Cecile falls quiet and works on my hair in silence. She curls it into big, long ringlets and puts enough product in it to make it really shine. My hair has never looked so gorgeous in all my life. Honestly, I didn’t know it was capable of looking so pretty.
While she starts pulling out makeup and skin products, I reflect back on our conversation. I can’t stop thinking about how she said she could control her allure. I can’t imagine that. Being able to shut it off? Or at least turn it down to low? “Do you think, maybe, I’m like you?” I ask, finally breaking the silence.
Cecile smiles at me as she begi
ns to brush a light foundation powder over my face. “What do you mean?”
“Everybody keeps saying I probably have a little underworlder blood in me. Do you think maybe it comes from a succubus? Like, way down the line or something? Maybe that’s where my curse comes from. Maybe I could learn how to turn it off, or at least control it like you do.”
Cecile’s smile turns sad. “As much as I would enjoy that—my kind are so very rare—I can’t smell a single hint of demon energy on you. Not to mention, I can smell and taste pheromones. If your allure was from that the way mine is, I would know. I’m afraid you must be something else. Something extraordinary, darling. Close your eyes for me.”
There goes that theory. I’m glad I have to close my eyes so she can’t see the disappointment in them. Not that I would want to be a succubus or anything, but answers would be nice. And a mentor who could teach me to control my curse would be amazing. Instead, my hopes are dashed. But it does make me determined to try and figure out what I am. With my powers, everyone is probably right; I have to be some kind of underworlder. If I could just figure out what kind, maybe I could get some answers.
“Beautiful,” Cecile murmurs. “Okay, open your mouth and relax your lips. It’s time for some light strawberry-flavored gloss.”
I let her gloss my lips, and then open my eyes. I hardly recognize the person staring back at me. “Wow, Cecile.”
She smiles sweetly. “I had a beautiful canvas to work with.”
Terrance changes his mind about having me come to the club the second I get to Underworld. He’s working the floor when Cecile drags me into the main dance hall of the club. He sees me about the same time as everyone else in the room. It doesn’t help that I’m standing next to the gorgeous succubus. Together, we stop all movement. Everyone in the room stills to watch Cecile and I head to the bar.
Because it’s Friday night, the club is three times as crowded as it was on my first visit. Cecile waves at Terrance across the room, and then drags me toward the bar. Two guys immediately stand up, offering us their stools. “Why, thank you, Pellitoris,” Cecile purrs, kissing the cheek of the man on the right that just gave her his seat.
