“Your warriors?” Matteo demanded, his voice tight with fury.
“Warriors, yes.” Then she shrugged. “And more. I can use you. To fight. To fuck. If you want to protect Stevie, you will come with me and swear your allegiance in blood. You will be her protectors by being my lovers. And if you agree? I will let her live in peace so long as she never tries to usurp me. If that happens, all bets are off.”
“No fucking way. No. That’s never going to happen,” I bellowed, shaking from head to toe.
And yet, at exactly the same time that I voiced my thoughts on the matter, the guys stepped forward as one.
What in the actual fuck was happening?
“Not just Stevie. Any new succubi,” Lach said.
She shrugged. “So long as you protect my throne from them, what do I care? Fine. I agree.”
“How can we trust your word?” Damon asked.
The same parchment-like paper that had been attached to the first note she sent us, the one that was delivered by our not-so-friendly neighborhood crow, appeared out of thin air in her hand. She flashed her pointed teeth in what I guessed was supposed to be a smile and pulled an ornate-looking dagger from somewhere in the folds of her dress.
Making a show of carving a very thin line on the tip of her left forefinger, she signed her name to the parchment. Words flowed onto the paper, stemming from the blood with which she had signed her name. The terms of her agreement were simple and clear, exactly as she’d set them out earlier.
“It won’t be forever binding, but it’s a start until the full moon and we can do it proper.”
The guys, my guys, were to go with her in order to protect me. They were to become her lovers. I would be allowed to live in peace and without threat from her, unless I ever attempted to usurp her. If there were something else, anything else that she wanted, I would’ve given it to her in a flash.
The vultures had been horrible, tearing at my flesh. But this? It felt like some of Luci’s demon birds had taken up residence in my chest and were tearing chunks out of my heart.
“Don’t do this,” I pleaded, trying to catch Damon’s gaze as Luci held the parchment out to him. “No. Absolutely not! Don’t even think about taking it,” I exclaimed, turning toward them. “You cannot possibly be considering agreeing to this shit. To becoming her slaves?”
“Stevie,” Lach said, taking a step closer to me, his hands reaching for mine. I refused to take them. My heart started hammering in my chest, blood rushed in my ears and my eyes were suddenly wet with tears when I saw their matching grim expressions of resignation.
“No!” I yelled. “This is insane. You are all insane.” Hot tears started spilling down my cheeks. Fat lot of good it did me.
“Our duty is to protect you, angel. If we agree to what Luci’s offering, then that’s exactly what we would have done here today,” Damon said, also coming closer to me.
He was covered in blood and filth, a series of deep cuts on his right forearm, but he didn’t seem to notice any of it as his eyes bore into mine. Silently begging me to understand.
I didn’t.
Matteo’s hair was sticking up in every direction as he crossed the yard to where Luci was standing and snapped his fingers when he held out his hand for the parchment. There were deep scratches on his palms and he was caked in mud, but he looked as cool as ever.
Luci smiled a horrible, satisfied smile and passed the paper to him. Matteo yanked it from her fingers and stalked over to me, holding it out to me. In a way, they were giving me the ultimate gift. My brave, powerful protectors were submitting to a life of slavery so I would be free. But to my mind, the price for my freedom was too high. I would rather have spent my life on the run than be free without them at my side.
A sob broke free, my chest heaving from the strength of it. “Please don’t go.”
Lach and Matteo were nearest to me and wrapped their arms around me, whispering about how this was what was best. Telling me that all they wanted was for me to be safe. My heart was shattering into a million pieces, breaking more with every whispered word that told me with absolute certainty that there would be no changing their minds.
That they were leaving me.
We were interrupted by Luci’s harsh voice. “You have two minutes to say your goodbyes and gather anything you need. There are so many better things to do with our time than to waste any more of it here.”
Matteo had to physically restrain me from launching myself at her. I knew that it wouldn’t help, that I wouldn’t get within ten feet of her before I was likely to be dead or mangled or both, but I didn’t care. A frustrated scream was ripped from my lungs.
“No, babe,” Matteo’s low voice growled in my ear, his arms like a vise around me. “Don’t give her the satisfaction.”
I turned in the circle of his arms, seeing my pain reflected in his eyes. “You are everything to us. Live your life. You didn’t want to run, now you’ll never have to.”
“But, Matty,” I started protesting, my voice thick with emotion, my heart heavy with guilt and despair.
He didn’t let me finish.
“No buts,” he insisted. Then the corners of his mouth turned up into that cocky smirk that I’d come to love. “And no turning on that beautiful brain of yours to help us either. We’re good. Trust that.”
Matteo tugged gently on my ponytail, angling my mouth to his. With one last deep kiss, his arms disappeared from my waist and the cold night air replaced the warmth of his body against mine.
Before I knew it, Rex was there in front of me. His hands cupped my face and thumbs stroked my cheekbones, a meaningful glint in his black eyes. “You’re not ever going to be a victim again, love. Promise.”
My tears pooled in where his hands were glued to my face, flowing freely as he brushed his lips against mine in a whisper-soft kiss, giving me a sad smile as he stepped away. Then Rex was gone too, joining Matteo at Luci’s side.
The sight made the already shattered pieces of my heart feel like they were pelting into my ribcage and tearing it apart from the inside. It hurt too much. My knees buckled. Lachlan’s arms came around me, the only things that were keeping me from collapsing in a heap on the ground.
Devastation shone in his eyes, but his lips were pulled up into his easy grin. “Your life is yours now, love. Have fun with it. Promise me.”
I didn’t, but Lach wasn’t deterred. Of course he wouldn’t be.
“Don’t be ashamed of who, or what, you are, Stevie. There is nothing wrong with you or with what you’re feeling. No shame. No guilt. No regrets, you hear me?”
I nodded.
“Good,” he said. “I’ll miss you, beautiful.”
Lachlan hooked an arm around my lower back and dipped me almost all the way to the ground in a kiss that was movie-worthy, but once he set me back on my feet he was gone too.
“Time’s a wasting,” Luci singsonged. “Chop chop, Damon.”
“Go fuck yourself,” he muttered. Luci glared at me, but didn’t say anything. Presumably even she knew it was best not to interfere with Damon when his eyes were burning as brightly as they were. He swept me into his arms and kissed me hard.
“You’re braver than you know and stronger than you think,” he murmured against my lips.
“Not without all of you,” I whispered back, my tears falling fast and furious from my eyes. “Please, Damon. Please don’t do this. You don’t have to do this.”
“We don’t have to, no. But we want to. It’s the best way of keeping you safe. It’s been our honor to serve you, and it will be for each and every single day that we know you’re safe. You are everything, angel,” he promised.
Damon pressed a soft kiss to my temple and walked over to where the others were gathered. They were all tense as they stood in a loose line behind Luci, but there wasn’t so much as a hint of hesitation.
The air behind them shimmered and changed, flames burst from the shimmering portal that was forming around them. Luci gave a wave of h
er hand, her evil, smug face the last one to disappear as she took the four quarters of my heart away with her.
Chapter 20
The house was too big, too cold, too empty. No matter what I did, the chill that had crept in during the fight wouldn’t leave my bones. I sobbed for hours and hours, lying outside on the frozen grass where my protectors had disappeared.
It was only once something in me clicked that I would freeze to death if I stayed outside, making their sacrifice meaningless, that I’d managed to drag my sorry ass inside. I cried until I had nothing left to give, a hollow pit in my stomach that felt like it would never go away.
I’d taken a bath in the same bath that Damon and Matteo had cared for me so gently in barely twenty-four hours ago, desperate for warmth. The water scalded my skin but did nothing to bring me any relief. My teeth still hadn’t stopped chattering.
Needing to feel close to them, I’d taken my comforter to the living room and settled in front of the fire that someone had lit much, much earlier. I watched as the flames danced, and added wood to it when it looked like it was about to burn out. In my own way, it was like keeping that fire burning would keep them with me. Would keep them from disappearing altogether.
Their scents hung in the air around me, teasing me with their familiarity and making it feel like they would step back into the room any minute. They didn’t. Of course.
My heart ached and I felt sick to my stomach, replaying the events of the night on a loop in my mind that was driving me insane. I second-guessed everything, then felt guilty for insisting that we stay and stand our ground when they had been adamant that we should leave after Luci found us.
Then I remembered Lach’s voice telling me not to feel guilty and I felt even more guilty because I was feeling it. For hours I could do nothing but sit on my sofa and watch the fire, every second that I’d spent with them intermingling with the memories of the fight that had taken them away from me.
I was terrified for them, my mind conjuring up sickening scenarios of where they were. What they were doing. Imagining their lifeless bodies lying in a ditch and that she’d lied about wanting them as her lovers. Then I felt sick because I was imagining them as her lovers.
It seemed impossible that my four obscenely gorgeous, strong men had been enslaved. Even more so that it wasn’t against their will. All those times that they’d promised to keep me safe no matter what, that they were sworn to protect, I never once in my wildest dreams imagined it would come to this.
It couldn’t. I couldn’t allow this to be it. My mind raced with plans to save my guys from Luci, but the truth was that I had no clue where to start. I needed help and I needed it immediately. Thankfully, I knew where to find it.
My phone was still in the docking station, charging where Rex had left it before we went to sleep. It was a ridiculously early hour of the morning to call anyone, but Brie wouldn’t mind. I knew it.
As I’d expected, she answered after only a few rings. Her voice groggy, but alert at the same time. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“No. I mean, yes. Physically, I’m fine. Wake up and put on a pot of coffee, would you? I’m coming over. I need your help.”
I disconnected, not bothering to wait for her reply. I rushed to the closet and tugged on some winter boots and wrapped a woolen scarf around my neck.
I raced to the garage, relieved to the point of pain when I saw that the keys to all of the cars were hanging on hooks in a neat row next to the light switch. Grabbing the first set that my fingers closed around, I furiously punched at the unlock button.
The lights to the bulletproof SUV lit up. I took it as a sign that I was on the right track. The last time I’d been in that car, I was battered and bruised but we’d all made it home safely.
Together.
I was determined to make it happen again.
I cranked up the volume on the radio, the silence in the house had been deafening and it was as bad by myself in their car. Having gotten used to the guys’ constant banter and general loudness, I didn’t think I could ever be content without it.
Before I’d met them, I’d been perfectly happy with silence. I was an only child who had grown to be a librarian for god’s sake, silence was one of my best friends. But like so many other things in my life, that had changed when they had crashed into it with the force of four earth-destroying comets.
Brie was waiting for me on her front porch, a heavy robe tied around her waist and her fingers curled around a mug of coffee. She pulled me in for a long hug and demanded to know what was happening.
“That’s fucking terrible, Steves! I’m so sorry,” she exclaimed, devastated for me after I laid out the cliff-notes version of the saga. “What can I do to help?”
“I was hoping you might ask that,” I admitted. “I’m not letting them go without a fight. A fair one. We have to get them back.”
“Right, but how?” She ran her fingers through her hair, a frustrated groan coming from the back of her throat. “God, if only I was a succubus too so I could be of actual help instead of only being able to babysit Maxi and convince your mom and Charlie that you’re eat, pray, loving your way through the state.”
Another succubus would definitely even the odds at least a little. And, so long as we got to them before the full moon and their pledge was set in stone, I wouldn’t be fighting against Luci and my former protectors. I would only be fighting Luci. She’d gone and killed the rest of her minions.
I nodded slowly. “That was exactly what I was thinking. I wonder if it’s possible.”
Brie’s eyes widened in shock. “You think? I mean, the guys said your father had to have been an incubus. Mine’s an accountant in Schenectady.”
“They did say that, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only way, does it?” I mused. “Vampires make more vampires…” Or, at least they did in Twilight.
“When in doubt,” she started.
“Ask Google,” I finished for her. Unfortunately, we came up dry and admitted it to ourselves just as the sun started rising. “What the hell had made me think we had any chance of this working?”
Even if I could figure out how to turn Brie like me, we still needed to find Luci. This was a hopeless cause and had been the second the four of them went with her.
“Apparently, there are some things even the internet doesn’t have the answers to,” I lamented.
“Wait a second,” Brie explained, an excited glimmer creeping into her eyes. “The internet. We’re on the normal web.”
“The normal web?” I raised a brow at her.
“Yeah. Well, I’m sure there’s an actual term for it, but I don’t know it. My point is, that maybe we need the dark web.”
I nearly fell off my chair. “You mean the place where they distribute snuff films like they’re Disney movies?” I demanded.
She rolled her eyes. “I’m sure that’s not all it is. People buy weird drugs and other stuff too.”
“If you say so,” I muttered. “If there’s a chance though, we have to take it. Any idea how?”
“One. But it involves trying to wake Charlie at the ass-crack of dawn which is almost as risky as facing Luci.”
She shot me a look and I laughed. It felt like my face might crack from it, as set as it had been in grief and terror for so long, but it felt good.
Hope, the most dangerous feeling of all, started bubbling in my tummy. If we managed to raise the beast that was Charlie-before-noon, we might stand a chance. Brie reached for her phone and set it to speaker. It rang and rang, going all the way to voicemail seven times before he finally picked up.
He growled into the phone, “I swear to god, Brie, if you’re not lying in a pit about to be ripped apart by wolves I’m coming over after I sleep for a few more hours to do it myself.”
“Good morning to you, too,” she chirped. Now that we’d met people who actually could rip you apart, we knew for sure Charlie was definitely not one of them.
“What do you want?”
“I need to know how to get onto the dark web.”
There was a stunned silence. “Why?”
“I’m helping Steve with something.”
“She’s there?” Charlie sounded wide awake now.
“Yup, you’re on speaker, say hi.”
“Hey, Charlie,” I chimed in.
“Well, well, well. Hear who the cat dragged in. You sick of eating, praying and loving already?” he teased.
“Something like that.” It was as much as I could say without involving him in what could turn out to be a life-threatening situation.
“What do you want with the dark web?” His voice was piqued with curiosity.
“I’m uh…” Shit. What possible excuse was there? “Writing a paper on demons and stuff for a professor at the U who used to come to the library all the time. I’m struggling with my research on one of the topics that he wants covered.”
“What’s the topic?”
“Succubi. Specifically, whether it would be possible to create one instead of being born as one.”
Brie shot me a warning glance and I nodded. I wasn’t about to tell him more.
“Succubi? Hot.” He paused and then sighed. “Okay, here’s what you need to do.”
He launched into an explanation that Brie followed to the letter. We let Charlie get back to sleep soon after and found what we were looking for about two hours later. Two hours of seeing things that made me want to wash my eyes out with acid later, to be specific.
Elation bubbled in my chest when we stumbled onto an ancient spell that reportedly could turn another female into a succubus if it was performed by a true, natural-born one. There were a couple of hurdles, not the least of which being that neither of us possessed a cauldron or knew where we might buy one.
“Urg, a pot’s just going to have to do it, unless we want to wait for Amazon Prime two-day delivery,” Brie exclaimed.
Her Demon Harem: Reverse Harem Duology 1 (The Succubus Chronicles) Page 16
