by Lola Taylor
“I could care less about the public,” Hector said, growing serious. “So long as you don’t think badly of me, I can handle gossip.”
I stared at him. “I could never think badly of you.”
Did I know him? No. But ever since the elevator, that tingle – that comforting, safe feeling – had lingered. Hector wasn’t evil, that I could be sure of. In fact, it only served to heighten my already lethal attraction to him.
Hector hesitated, looking like he wanted to say something more. I saw the shift in his eyes, the conflict, and my heart sped up.
Pa-dum, pa-dum, pa-dum.
When he blinked hard, I knew he’d changed his mind, and I’d never know what he was about to say. “So Elias tells me you’ll be heading to Elysian tomorrow?”
My shoulders fell, and I ducked my head, hiding my face. “Yeah. I, uh, have some work to do on my technique, it seems.”
Soft fingers lifted my chin – and consequently, my gaze – to his earnest face. “Hey, nobody can ever make you feel small unless you let them. Elysian isn’t a bad thing. Look at it as a chance for change… good change.”
I smiled at him gratefully. “I’ll remember that.”
His hand lingered on my face, his thumb brushing the soft skin there before he at last dropped his hand. “Well, I’d better get back before Elias has a meltdown. He doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”
“Tell me about it,” I said dryly.
Hector gave me a wistful gaze, smiling. “Maybe I’ll see you at Elysian.”
I smiled back. “Yeah. Maybe.”
Hopefully.
With a small wave, he turned and walked off. I watched him for a moment longer, sad to see him go. There was just something… I don’t know, that felt “good” about being near him, a rightness I hadn’t felt before.
Unable to stand the cold, I started getting in my car but not before I caught Hector glance over his shoulder one more time before he turned and disappeared behind the restaurant.
My breath caught. He’d looked back. Did that mean anything?
I almost ran after him to give him my number. Succubi and incubi were forbidden to have romantic relationships, as in, it was against our laws. Considering the reason I became a succubus in the first place, I had been perfectly okay with never being able to fall in love again.
Until now.
Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to get inside my car, and started the engine before cranking up the heat dials. It felt like stones were strapped to my back as I sat there, waiting for the heat to kick in. Was it the right thing to do, giving up the chance to fall in love ever again? I didn’t think I’d be able to after having my heart broken like that.
But now, with the way Hector made me feel and the vibe I was getting off him, like he might want me too, it made me reconsider.
Sucks to be a succubus. I smirked at my pun and started backing up - then slammed on the breaks.
No, it couldn’t be. I had to be imagining it.
For one, it wasn’t nearly cold enough for frost, and the car hadn’t been cool enough for it to form on the glass. But as I stared at my back window, the impossibility of it being coated in frost wasn’t the eeriest part.
Someone had scrawled a message in the ice, backwards so I’d be able to read it in my rearview mirror.
I’m watching you.
Chapter 4
“ARE YOU SURE YOU saw something in the glass?”
It was the second time Monique had said that since I’d pounced on her when she got home that night, and spilled everything about Damien.
“Positive,” I said, shoveling a mouthful of her homemade lasagna into my mouth. She’d sweetly made it since it was my last night at the apartment. “I’m sure it was the guy I met the other night.”
After spilling everything out in a half-shrieked rush, Monique had gotten me to down a glass of wine so I could tell her and Raoul about Damien and the eerie things that had happened since I met him.
“Hmmm, dangerous and delectable,” Raoul said with a sly grin. “He sounds positively dreamy.” Raoul looked Arabic, like a hotter version of Aladdin. He also looked like he’d come straight from a job, considering the nipple piercings, glittery outfit, and heavy black eye liner. He was definitely one of the more, erm, “dramatic” incubi in the Underworld.
I rolled my eyes. When it came to bedmates, it didn’t matter to either of my roommates the sex of the person joining them. They were what they dubbed “universal lovers.”
“Yeah,” I said dryly, “delectable up until he tries to make you explode into a pile of goo.”
Monique wrinkled up her nose. “Ew. Spare me the gory visual, please.”
“Sorry,” I said with a sheepish smile. “But I’m serious. I really think this guy is stalking me.”
“Have you gone to the D.P.I.?” Raoul asked.
“No!” I said, scoffing he would even think that. “You know they especially hate succubi. They’d probably ask what I’d done to deserve it or try to find Damien so they could award him a medal for doing the paranormal community a service. One less ‘whore’ walking the streets.”
“Eh, they don’t all think we’re bad,” Monique said, though even she didn’t sound that convinced. She’d been into one of the D.P.I’s lead detectives for a few months. It hadn’t ended well. Paranormal relationships rarely did, especially in our field, where such flights of fancy were forbidden.
“And I don’t think they’re all bad either,” Raoul said with a purr. “Especially your old squeeze.” He gave Monique a pinch on the arm, and she smacked away his hand.
“Ugh, remember the Commandments of Monique? ‘Thou shalt not speak of Derek Morrison.’”
“But you didn’t say we couldn’t speak of any other hot things,” Raoul said, turning a mischievous eye on me. “I heard a certain incubus walked a little sweet something here to her car earlier.”
I nearly inhaled my lasagna. “There’s nothing to speak of. Hector’s not interested in me that way.”
“Not from what I hear,” Monique chimed in.
Great, now they were double-teaming me. “You know that’s impossible. I mean, what are the odds of a big Underworld celebrity going for a nobody like me?”
“Oh, the going’s already gone, according to my sources,” Raoul said, getting up to pour himself another glass of wine. “And by gone, I mean Hector’s fallen in love with you.”
“He has not!” I shrieked, though I secretly wished it were so. “He’s just-”
“Hot.”
“Well, yes, but-”
“Sexy as sin,” Monique said.
I sighed. “Yes, that too, but he’s really-”
“Orgasmic?”
“You guys! Stop it!”
They snickered. Raoul came up behind Monique to play with her hair. She ran a hand along his arm suggestively, and I already knew where this was going.
Contrary to popular belief, us denizens of the Underworld still had beating hearts and souls. Succubi and incubi could pull energy from each other without harming one another, which was why you had a lot of “friends with benefits” in my line of work. We were literally free to screw whom we wanted, so long as we didn’t develop any romantic attachments. That was strictly off-limits.
Done with my lasagna and stuffed to bursting, I ran a hand through my hair, thinking. “There’s more to him than his looks,” I said wistfully. “There’s a part of him he keeps hidden, like he’s afraid to show it to the world. It’s… cute.”
Monique sighed dreamily. “Ah, amour.”
“Oui,” Raoul complied
Seeing them standing there around the kitchen table, like we’d done so many times before, drove home the fact I wouldn’t see them for a while after tonight. Possibly never again, depending on how well I did at Elysian. My eyes started to prick. “I really appreciate everything you guys have done for me,” I said, meaning every word. “I don’t know what I would have done if you guys hadn’t taken me in.”
“Aw, Sally-doll!” Raoul gushed, coming over and giving me a hug.
Monique’s eyes shone as she smiled at me. “Anything for you. After all, we couldn’t let you end up at that dump, Wonderland, could we?”
“I hear it’s pretty cool,” I said. “Kind of like an X-rated version of the fairy tale. Plus, they have that whole legend about one of the doors to Faery being in their basement.”
She stared at me as if my hair had just caught fire.
“Er, never mind,” I said, deciding to drop the subject of our most hated rivals.
Raoul snickered. “I’m sure after drinking the jungle juice, you’d be seeing all kinds of doorways. I should know, seeing as I work there.” Raoul bartended part-time and freelanced as an incubus other times. The amount of money he pulled in was ridiculous.
“Speaking of doorways,” Monique said, clapping her hands. “I believe you got a new toy from one of your clients for us to play with.”
One of Raoul’s top ten clients owned a sex toy shop catering to every fetish you could dream up. One of his perks was getting to bring home merchandise. The owner claimed it would help her weed out the “bad” products, but I secretly thought she was just looking for an excuse to stay in touch with Raoul. I thought she had a bit of a crush on him.
We cleaned up, cranking up the radio and dancing while we worked. Raoul and Monique’s dancing quickly turned into something much hotter. Before long, clothing started flying off.
Staring at them, I thought of Hector and I in that position. A wave of heat flashed through me as I imagined his hands roving to dangerous places.
Monique twirled Raoul’s tie around her finger, giving me a coy smile. “I’m sure you’ll learn lots at Elysian, but are you sure you don’t want to join us? We could teach you a thing or two.”
I smiled, crossing my arms. “Um, thanks, but I’m good.”
“Aw!” Raoul pouted. “Not even on your last night?” They’d been inviting me to join them for a while now, but I was always too chicken. A part of me was curious to how a threesome worked, but hell, I couldn’t even get a onesome right.
“I promise it will be educational,” Monique added in her smokiest tone.
“Make that fucking transcendent,” Raoul murmured, who’d taken to kissing her neck.
“Um, thanks, but I’m okay. Really.”
Monique shrugged. “Suit yourself.”
“Hey,” Raoul said as they started to walk toward Monique’s bedroom. “You up for board games later?”
I smiled. Board games were a tradition with us. It was one of our favorite past times, especially if liquor was involved. Raoul had a knack for turning practically any game, no matter how innocent, into a drinking game. “Sure!”
“Kay, baby doll. Give us thirty minutes?”
“Okay. I’ll shower and finish packing.”
That last part deflated my spirit. It was so hard admitting I’d have to say goodbye tomorrow.
Raoul and Monique must have noticed too, because the atmosphere mellowed for a bit.
Not wanting to be a Debbie Downer, I slapped on a smile and said, “Well, you two have fun experimenting. I’m gonna get busy.”
With a little wave, I turned and headed toward my room.
Pausing in the doorway, I stood there and stared at the room that would no longer be mine after this evening with an aching heart. Finally forcing myself to get cracking, I grabbed my hot pink suitcase and hauled it onto my bed, where I began shoving items into it. It quickly started filling up as I tucked away clothing, books, shoes, and anything else I thought I’d need. Okay, so maybe half of it was junk I really wouldn’t need but wanted to take with me because I wanted a piece of home to carry away. Space be damned, I was taking my pictures with me. And my autographed Hector calendar. I’d managed to snag it from my cubicle yesterday, not caring if Elias saw it as petty theft.
I hovered over my suitcase, running my thumb along the smooth, wooden frames of my pictures. I stared at them, a feeling of nostalgia mixed with sadness coming over me. All of them were of Monique, Raoul, and me, usually together but in different combinations. I didn’t have any other close friends.
One picture I carried with me wherever I moved. A woman who looked like an older version of myself lay in a hospital bed, smiling at the camera despite the pain I knew the cancer treatments were putting her through.
I smiled back. Miss you, Mom.
Wiping away tears, I quickly wrapped the frames in handkerchiefs so they wouldn’t break, then grabbed my robe and my pajamas before padding away to the bathroom for a much welcome hot shower.
Sad to say, I almost didn’t take a bath because I didn’t want to wash away Hector’s cinnamon cologne smell. But my desire to be clean and smell good won over, and I jumped in the shower. As the hot water ran over me, I kept replaying in my head over and over how securely he’d held me in his arms, as if he hadn’t wanted to let go either.
I closed my eyes and sighed. Maybe he was just being nice. Maybe I was reading too much into his actions.
Killing the water, I climbed out feeling much more relaxed, and toweled off. I pulled on my robe and walked to my room, patting my hair down as I went. My mind was still focused on all things Hector, which was why I didn’t notice the electric tingle of a paranormal presence until I was standing in my doorway.
I froze. Hadn’t I left the light on?
“Monique?” I said. “Raoul? You in here?”
No response.
Something shifted, and an icy draft made the hairs on my skin rise. “Saaaaaalllllyyyyy,” something hissed.
My heart rate shot up. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I made out a human-shaped shadow.
Gasping, I flipped on the light about the same time something fell to the ground, followed by the sound of broken glass. Heart pounding hard, I looked around.
Empty.
I stood there, panting and trying to get a grip on my terror. The window was up, my curtains flapping innocently in the breeze. Which would have been fine had I not been ninety-nine percent certain I’d closed that window.
Anxiously glancing around and assuring myself the room was empty, I crossed to the other side and quickly shut and locked the window. Still shaking, I looked around, trying to take a mental tally of anything stolen. It didn’t look like the intruder had touched anything. Then what had made that shattering sound?
I started to step forward when I happened to look down, right before I would have planted my bare foot over a piece of broken glass. Kneeling, I examined the mess.
One of my picture frames lay in shambles, apparently dropped by whoever had been in my room.
With trepidation, I picked up the picture and shivered. It was like picking up a piece of ice, it was so cold.
The photograph was from the time Monique, Raoul, and I had gone to Six Flags. We smiled at the camera as another tourist snapped the photo.
I squinted. Something shimmered along the edges. Brushing my thumb along the icicle-picture, I gasped, realizing it wasn’t shards of fine glass.
It was frost.
“What the-”
I flipped over the picture, my eyes widening as I read the message scrawled in what appeared to be blood.
“Mine.”
That got me to my feet. Feeling cold all over - and not from the chill that lingered in the air - I ran out of the room, calling for my roommates.
Chapter 5
THERE ARE SOME THINGS you’re better off never seeing. Like your roommates going at it, buck naked. But while mentally scarring me for life, that didn’t stop me from telling them what had happened.
They immediately ceased their “sexual exploration” and joined me in my room. Then Raoul did what any loving roommate would do.
He called the D.P.I.
Not fifteen minutes later, “suits” were prowling my room, taking apart anything that might lead to a clue. I wish I could say it looked all cool, like in C.S.I., but actually, there were about two agents who showed up,
both of which looked bored to death.
The woman flipped the picture over again, which apparently no longer bore the handwritten message. “You said the writing was scrawled in blood?” she asked doubtfully.
“Yes,” I gritted out. How many times did I have to answer the same questions?
The woman, Cassandra, apparently didn’t like my attitude. She stood and pursed her lips, shoving the picture in my face. “Then how do you explain this? The canvas is clean.”
“I don’t know,” I said, exasperated. “It evaporated? I thought you were supposed to be telling me that, seeing as how you’re the cop and all.”
“O-kay!” Raoul said, stepping between us so we wouldn’t go at each other’s throats. “I think we’ve both established this isn’t going anywhere fast. Thanks, Officer.” He went to shake her hand, and she looked relieved to go. She handed him a card.
“If anything happens, call me.”
With that, she rounded up her partner and left.
I watched them go, my mouth open and blubbering words coming out. “But - they can’t - they haven’t caught him yet!”
“Maybe because there’s nothing to be caught,” Monique said quietly.
I rounded on her, about to argue, when all the fight was sucked out of me by disappointment. “You don’t believe me.”
Monique’s face fell. “Gosh, I feel terrible saying this because I’m your friend, but do you think there’s a chance you imagined the whole thing? You had a lot of alcohol, plus you’re a lightweight.”
No one could imagine terror like that, drunk or not. “No,” I said woodenly. “I couldn’t - wouldn’t – make something up like that.” I never dropped my eyes from hers.
Raoul watched me with concern. “Baby doll, you’re pale as a sheet.”
I hugged myself. “Guess I’m still pretty shaken up.” That was an understatement. I’d be lucky if I didn’t have to get a prescription to help me sleep.
Monique gazed at me a moment longer before a determined look came over her face. “Raoul, Sally, grab your pillows and the air mattress from the closet. We’re having a slumber party in the living room.”
