by Jill Myles
“No, it is yours. Again.” Ariel’s smile was cold. “You seem to be bad luck for your companions, Miss Brighton.”
Understatement of the year. I swallowed hard, trying to think. “There has to be a way to extract the halo from Remy without killing her. I could do that.”
“I’m sorry, but the Serim council is not interested in your friend’s life.” He gave another fluid shrug. “Her ties to the halo are too close to be entirely negated, and we simply cannot take the chance, even if it is removed from her. One of them must be removed from this plane. Death is the only option.”
“Well, that’s not an option for me, so you can forget it.” I would never, ever trade my life for Remy’s. Not when she’d had my back every time I needed her.
“Then it looks like death is your punishment.”
Were they crazy? I pressed up against the wall. “You’re going to kill me because I fed an evil incubus to a demon who was equally evil? You’ve got to be kidding me.”
He set one hand on the wall next to my shoulder and leaned in. “Luc was not yours to torment, Succubus. His punishment is his master’s choice, not yours. But do not worry. I have an alternate plan in mind for you.”
Oh, I could just imagine. I didn’t have to be a math genius to see the intense blue in his eyes or the erection that tented the front of his robe. “Let me guess. You want to have sex with me.”
His mouth quirked slightly and his hand slid to my shoulder. I shoved it off, but he replaced it, then lowered it and squeezed my arm a little. As if … testing it. Weird. “Though I have to have sex with someone, I’d prefer it not be you. I’m not a fan of Noah, and the thought of you being a vampire’s leavings is rather stomach turning.”
Oddly enough, that insult made me feel better. “So what’s the deal?”
“I need a child.”
I wasn’t following. “Is that some sort of code for me to dress up in pigtails and wear a bib? Because—”
He gave me a revolted look. “No. I need a child. I need a female immortal to bear a child for me.”
I still wasn’t following. “But I thought succubi were sterile?”
I didn’t like the look that crossed his face or the fact that his hand stroked my arm. “Oh, but there is a way, my dear. There is definitely a way.”
I shook my head at him, trying to slide away. “What do you mean? Succubi can’t breed. Neither can Serim.”
Which was probably a good thing, seeing as how we were all immortal and for the most part amoral.
He stroked my arm again, then tilted his head slightly. “No muscle tone, but that might be because of the succubus nature.”
Was he judging me to see how fit of a mommy I’d be? Gross. “Yeah, sorry. I guess ridiculous red hair and perky boobs were higher on the list than fitness.”
“No matter,” he said. “I am sure the genetics will not be a factor.”
“Great,” I said and shoved his hand away. “But you’re missing the point. Succubi can’t breed.”
“True. It would take … a miracle.” He smiled at me.
Oh, I really, really did not like that smile. I swallowed hard and edged away. “When you say ‘miracle,’ are you thinking what I think you’re thinking?”
“Those in Heaven believe the Enforcers can do more good on Earth than the Serim do. We simply take the Nephilim and raise them to be the instruments of Heaven here on Earth.”
“Nephilim?” Those were supposedly the children of angels and humans. Like a lot of other things, I’d chalked it up to being more myth than real. Maybe I was wrong. “What do the angels want with children? And what does this have to do with me?”
“If you do a favor for them, it means a favor for the Serim.” He gave me a cold smile. “As for what it means for you … all we need is for the Angel Gabriel to touch your womb as I expel my essence into it, and a miracle will happen.” His hand went over to my waist and nudged the waistband of my shorts. “While it won’t be the most pleasant experience, it is necessary to create the Enforcers. Don’t worry.” He smiled at me. “We’ll take the child off your hands.”
This was the most ridiculous and creepiest plan I’d ever heard. “I’m not sure I understand you correctly. You want to give me your ‘essence’? And some angel’s going to put his finger on my stomach and make a baby?” I gave him an incredulous look. “That is the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard.”
Jeez, if I were a divine soldier for God, I’d have better things to do than create immortal surrogate mommies.
“Really?” Ariel’s smile was cunning. “Did you not meet Ethan, then? Your guard?”
“Ethan?” I echoed, startled. “He’s a succu-baby?”
“An Enforcer,” Ariel corrected. “And if you breed one for us, we’ll let you go afterward. No penalty. No servitude.”
There was no way in hell I’d bear a kid for anyone in the Serim, but if it would save my lover … “What about Noah?”
“Noah’s fate is already decided. What we need to decide right now is yours.”
I forced a polite smile to my face and moved farther down the wall. “While this is a thrilling offer, I’m going to pass.”
“You’re making a mistake.”
“I’m pretty sure that I’m not,” I retorted. “Now get out of my cell.”
His eyes seemed to glow in the darkness, and my body tingled with anticipation. “I’ll be back in a few hours to persuade you otherwise.”
“Oh, I’ll be here,” I said flippantly to hide how hard my heart was pounding, and the fact that my voice was becoming breathy. Just his proximity turned me on incredibly, and I hated my Itch for it.
He turned and left. As soon as the door shut behind him, I grabbed the cot and dragged it in front of the door, then sat down on it to add weight. My arms hugged my knees close, and I shuddered.
As if they weren’t psycho enough, they wanted me to breed a new little immortal psycho for them to raise and twist to their ways. God, how had Noah turned out so normal compared to these freaks? No wonder the angels hated the Serim.
And no wonder so many of them turned vampire. They were a hair’s edge away from being evil as it was.
A knock came at the door a while later, and I yelped in surprise as my bed moved forward. I shoved back against the door. “No!”
Ethan gave me a look of surprise, pushing his way in. “Are you not hungry, Jackie Brighton? I have brought you a meal since the others have not thought to do so.”
Oh, good! Ethan. I exhaled in relief, fighting the urge to hug him out of gratitude. I took the plate from his hands. Scrambled eggs, bacon, and a biscuit. Breakfast time, then. “I thought you were someone else,” I muttered, then crammed the biscuit in my mouth. “Is it morning?”
“It is,” he said calmly. Then to my surprise, he blushed. My body began to heat in response. “The Serim are unavailable today.”
Ah. Today was curse day—the day that all the Serim had to get their rocks off. Or rather, their partner’s rocks’ off. The Serim curse was a unique one: they had to give their partners sexual release in order to find relief from their curse. While sex drove them, the curse wasn’t lifted until the partner orgasmed, and then they were free for another month.
I suppose that was designed to keep them from living a selfish lifestyle, but I wasn’t complaining. At least, not normally. Right now, though, I wouldn’t have turned down an orgasm. Or three. “Are you not affected by the curse?”
“Me?” He blushed even redder and tried to give me a stern look. “You should not ask about such things.”
I bit into a piece of bacon and raised an eyebrow at him. His blush was a real turn-on. So sweet. So innocent. So sexy. My breasts tightened in response. I forced those thoughts out of my mind. “Why not? I think we’re all adults here.”
“I am an Enforcer,” he said, as if that explained everything.
“So I’ve heard. What exactly does that mean? Are you cursed like me?”
He gave me a slight frown
, as if not comprehending. “My goal in life is to do good deeds. Is that what you refer to?”
“Uh, not exactly.” I licked my fingers, then stopped, because the licking was a turn-on. I decided to try another tactic. “So who is your mom?”
Again, the strange frown. “Enforcers do not have mothers. We come from a womb, but we do not have a sentimental attachment to any females.”
Riiight. “Okay.” I shoved another forkful of egg into my mouth. Maybe food would make me stop thinking about sex.
“Do you have any other questions I can answer for you?” he asked, almost eagerly.
His excitement made my blood pulse, and I had to force myself not to jump on him and start rubbing myself up against his thick, muscled thigh. Mmm … A haze of lust slid over me. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”
“What questions can I answer for you?” Just repeating the question seemed to bring the eagerness out again.
Strange. He was kind of like a big affable nerd who didn’t know how to function around girls. Living with the Serim full-time probably didn’t make one the most well adjusted individual. “You got a girlfriend, Ethan?”
Again, the blush. “I do not have time for personal matters.” He extended a hand, all business again. “If you are done with your plate, I will take it back to the kitchens.”
I scraped the last of the egg off of the plate and placed it in his waiting hand, feeling a little better. I was even able to resist grabbing his hand and sliding it between my legs like some oversexed cougar. “Thank you. That was delicious.”
His eyes glowed for a brief second, then went back to the normal black, and a faint smile curved his hard mouth. “You are welcome.”
I watched as he exited, feeling a bit of loss. “Will you come back and talk to me when you’re done? I’m kind of …” Lonely. Horny. Scared. “Bored.”
Really horny. And Ethan was pretty to look at.
Ethan nodded, giving me a slight courtly bow. “If it will make you feel better, it shall be so.”
“Great,” I said, watching him leave with a sigh. I pressed my face against the bars of the window in the door, frustrated. I should have used my Suck powers on him. Should have tried to overwhelm him and bust out of this place. But I liked Ethan, oddly enough. He was the only one who had been decent to me since I’d gotten here.
And I was probably going to need him very shortly. The Itch pulsed hard in my thighs, and I bit down a moan. He seemed kind of virginal but he probably had working equipment, and that was enough for me.
God, to think that Noah had proposed marriage to me yesterday. I couldn’t be monogamous because I was cursed to need sex far too often. What if he had a business trip? We’d be chained together at the waist for the rest of our immortal lives. Then it’d be a different kind of hell if we started to resent each other.
No, I suspected marriage was a bad idea for immortals. My best friend Remy was over four hundred years old and she hadn’t married anyone. She rarely kept a long-term relationship, either. Maybe that was for the best.
Poor Remy. Possessed again. I had to help her somehow. Everyone who tried to help me just seemed to get in more and more trouble. I thought sadly of Noah, who had tried to sacrifice himself to save me. He’d said he wanted to marry me to keep me safe. Because of this? It made sense … but would the Serim persecute the mate of one of their own? I doubted they held any kind of sentimental feelings, but you never knew. They’d been cursed to roam the Earth because of the love of a woman. Maybe if Noah and I were in love, they’d have left us alone.
I peered down the hall again, waiting for Ethan to return, and feeling the Itch pulsing through my body. My nipples grew tight, and the flesh between my legs tingled.
My breath caught in my throat as Ariel appeared down the hall, eyes a radiant blue, a jug of holy water in his hands, and a priest at his side.
Oh shit. He was going to call an angel to make a baby on me. And I was so far gone with the Itch that I wouldn’t be able to stop him.
CHAPTER FIVE
A sick frisson of excitement swept through me. Anticipation made my skin shiver, and my panties grew damp with dread. Ariel was going to screw me until I begged for release, and then he’d get me pregnant.
Though I was filled with revulsion at the thought of him touching me, my body ached with need and my head swam. My breath panted out of my lungs, my skin becoming dewy with excitement.
I was a sick, sick freak. I was well over a day overdue for my own Itch, and I could only imagine how much torment Noah was in at the moment. Because succubi needed sex so often, the Itch was a gradual pain in the ass—I could probably survive another day or two without serious repercussions. But the Serim had to fulfill their needs on the day, to the month. I had no idea what would happen to him if he left himself needing for much longer.
The thought worried me. They wouldn’t let me go to Noah; were they at least letting another woman service him? And why did that leave such a bitter taste in my mouth?
I could hear water inside the jar sloshing as Ariel moved forward. Behind him, the priest followed, and Ethan. The Enforcer’s expression was blank, and I clung to the hope that was coming for me.
I could sleep with Ethan, maybe, and not hate myself in the morning. Maybe.
The cell door opened despite my bed propped up against it, and I ran to the other side of the cell, pressing my flushed skin against the cool concrete wall. “What are you doing here?”
Gangbang, my sick mind said to me, making another perverted little thrill shoot through me.
No! Bad! I shook my head to clear the thought.
Ariel’s eyes were the feverish almost-purple of an immortal strained beyond need. His hands tightened on the jar, and a shudder racked his body as he stared at me with heated eyes. Trying to control himself, I guessed. My fingernails dug into the concrete wall behind me for the exact same reason.
“Hold her against the wall, Ethan,” Ariel said in a ragged voice. “Keep us separated until I finish.”
Ethan’s mouth thinned as if with disapproval, but he approached me and put his hands on my shoulders, anchoring me in place so I couldn’t move or run away.
God, his hands felt good. I shuddered in ecstasy, my hips rising from the wall, trying to meet his.
He stared down at me with a distasteful look in his dark eyes, then glanced back at Ariel, frowning. “Hurry.”
Well, if that wasn’t a blow to the ego, I didn’t know what was. But I couldn’t blame the guy; I didn’t like myself much when I was like this, either. I twisted my head and pressed my cheek against the cement, closing my eyes as I tried to control my rapidly pounding pulse. I could control the Itch—a little—when I was by myself, but with a man touching me and another nearby? I was full of quickly spiraling out-of-control need. My hand slid to the waist of my shorts, needing something.
Water splashed. I opened my eyes and watched through my lashes as Ariel splashed water along every corner of the room and the priest muttered a prayer in Latin. They were turning my cell into a holy place. Sanctifying it.
All the better to fuck me with, I supposed. Ugh.
Once the water was gone, the priest exited the room. Ariel’s attention focused on the ceiling. “I request the Archangel Gabriel,” he said softly.
I barely had time to blink before Gabriel emerged from the shadows behind him. The angel was just as beautiful as before, too pure looking for my small, dark cell. His hair was a perfect cap of curls, the fall of his wings as lovely as before, and the drape of his simple clothing was immaculate. Just the sight of him made my body pulse with hunger.
“I am here. What is it you need?”
Ariel’s violet gaze met mine, hot with need. “Leave us, Ethan.”
“No, Ethan!” I grabbed his arms. “Stay. Please stay. Don’t leave me.”
Ethan looked torn, glancing at me and then to Ariel and Gabriel. His hand twitched on my shoulder as he considered the three of us.
That small twitch wa
s enough to send a full body shiver through me, and a small moan escaped my throat, my hips rising again.
Ethan looked stricken and released me as if I’d scalded him. With barely a glance back at me, he bowed at Gabriel and Ariel and then left the room.
Shit. I’d scared him off. Now I was here alone with these two goons.
The moment the door was shut, Ariel began to move toward me, a hint of an evil smile curving his mouth. “Do you need to sate your Itch, Succubus?”
I backed away, glancing at Gabriel. His face was emotionless as Ariel stalked me. He wouldn’t help me, and he wouldn’t help Ariel. He was just going to watch as Ariel used me. I shuddered.
They were supposed to be the good guys.
“What do you want?” I asked, though I pretty much knew at this point. I skittered to my cot, leaping over it to get away from Ariel when he reached for me. If he touched me, I didn’t know that I’d be able to hold out.
“I told you what I wanted, Succubus. If you will bear a child for the angels, the Serim will remove the charges against you.” He continued to stalk behind me as I circled the other side of the small cell, his movements slow and sure. The only sign of his craziness was the intensity of his blue-violet gaze, hot with need and smug with the fact that I was on the run.
“I’m not going to bear a child,” I said, then yelped as he reached out and grabbed my braids. I fell to the floor, my knees and palms hitting the concrete hard. “You can’t make me!”
“Can’t I?” he said. Then he was kneeling over me, his hot skin pressed against mine. Revulsion filled me even as desire coursed through my body. “And how long do you think Noah can hold out before the curse destroys him? Serim are not like succubi. We cannot hold out for days at a time and let our bodies slowly deteriorate. If he goes, it will be fast, like a snuffed candle. And you will be responsible.”
Guilt struck me, almost as palpable as the massive erection pressing against my side.
As Ariel began to run his hands all over my body, I felt the quiver of pleasure beginning at my sex and loathed it. I should have moved his hands away, should have pushed him aside as he knelt next to me and began to brush his hands against my breasts, against the crotch of my shorts. My gaze slid to the corner of the room, where Gabriel stood like a disapproving statue. He watched, dispassionate, even as I arched my neck against Ariel’s lips.
