Incubus Trial

by Emma Jaye

  “Is he healed? I’ve got a clan full of horny vampires up here, all wanting to take their turn. It’s been twelve hours. And what are you doing cuddling him in the dark? He isn’t a pet. If you can’t handle–”

  Silas sat up. “I can handle it just fine. Physically, he’s healing well, but as he’s still unconscious, I–”

  As Silas spoke, his father strode across the floor, boots clicking on the flagstones. When he got to the bed, he pulled the blanket off Ezra, who was current on his side, and looked him over.

  “He’s still a little pale, but other than that, he looks fine to me,” he said, returning his attention to his son.

  “Believe me, I understand. I’d like to keep him for myself too. It wasn’t easy letting the others have him last night, but that won’t be good for him or the clan. Once he wakes up, he’ll be insatiable; newly adult sex demons have a legendary appetite.

  “You’ll need to work out an almost twenty-four-hour schedule of visitors. I’m hoping a clan of twenty plus males will be enough to keep him healthy through the first few years. Think about appointing a deputy.” Fabian clapped him on the shoulder.

  “Let’s kill two birds with one stone, eh? He needs food; he might even be slipping away because he hasn’t fed.”

  Silas’s gaze shot to the sleeping form beside him, fear clenching his belly. I can’t lose him.

  “And to get used to life here,” Fabian continued. “He needs to get used to all our preferences. Besides, Morvan is about to bust a blood vessel. Wake up our horny sleeping beauty or I’ll start sending them down regardless. It’s not safe to leave him this long without feeding, unless you’ve...”

  “No, my Lord, I haven’t; I wanted to wait until he woke on his own.”

  Fabian’s lips pressed together. “Well from now on, feed him whenever you think he needs it, whether he’s conscious or not. At least every eight hours, less if you can manage it. You have half an hour before I send Morvan down. Set up a timetable but don’t put me on it; I get to use him anytime my schedule permits.”

  Silas inclined his head. “Of course, Father. But before you go, do you know if he’ll need human food while he transitions from juvenile to adult?” Silas asked.

  Fabian snorted. “He’s plenty adult. I felt him change. He went from being like any other human, to clenching on me better than any other incubus I’ve ever had. Believe me, he’s worth everything we did to get him.” Fabian’s eyes unfocused as he stared toward the bench where he’d taken Ezra.

  “I can’t remember coming that hard since I made this country mine. The first time I set foot on Scottish soil, the locals wore blue paint; I wore a Roman centurion’s uniform, and answered to Fabius. But enough about ancient history.” Fabian swept the cellar with a critical eye.

  “Get some more light down here, he’s an incubus, not a blood demon; he can’t see in the dark.”

  “Yes, my Lord,” Silas told his father’s retreating back.

  CHAPTER 13

  “Silas, Silas wake up.”

  The soft, feminine voice confused him, but his perceptions were pulled from the cellar till the dragon-hewn chamber swam back into focus.

  He blew out a breath, trying to calm his racing heart as he opened his eyes to the gently smiling face of the witch.

  “Shanae? Why–” A hand cupped his face.

  “We have more than enough evidence to convict Fabian. He always intended to break the contract with Clarissa and he clearly forced adulthood on Ezra without his consent. We can end this now.”

  Many of the faces around him, who apart from Finn and Ezra still sat upright, wore tight-lipped expressions. Fear and anger thickened the air, but the only regret came from Avery. Finding out he could have stopped what he had just witnessed would be hard on the Council Leader, but it was no more than what he deserved.

  A hand landed on his shoulder as he wiped away a tear. He hoped his father was getting a hit from his regret. Someone should get some use out of it.

  “Silas, did you hear me? We can stop now.”

  His eyes landed on the man he’d thought was his father for the first two centuries of his life. Fabian looked... satisfied. Even after experiencing Ezra’s fear and pain, he didn’t regret his behaviour.

  “No, we go on,” Silas said, hoping his voice sounded firmer than it felt.

  Shanae indicated the people around him, with a sharp wave of her hand. “Why? Are you getting a kick out of torturing these people? Do you want to reduce Ezra back to that state so you can comfort him again?” She stood up. “Well I’ve got news for you, he’s got a great many more people who care about him now. I won’t–”

  Silas held up his hands. “No, no way on earth would I put him through this again if it wasn’t necessary.” He nodded toward Fabian and Morvan. “Neither of them feels an ounce of guilt.”

  She stood up, a deep frown on her face. “And? I don’t suppose they will, whatever you do. It’s not in their nature. All you’re doing is torturing everyone else, including Ezra. Again.”

  “Council member, do you require assistance?” the vengeance demon’s second, who had the task of providing security, spoke up from the door of the chamber. The distance between his position and Ezra ensured he hadn’t experienced the projection.

  The witch answered without taking her eyes off Silas. “No, no I’m fine.”

  They stared at each other for a few more heartbeats.

  “That wasn’t the worst, was it?” she asked.

  He held her gaze. “Not by a long shot. I’m half vengeance demon, half vampire. So, yes, experiencing their fear is a boost, but unless it’s due to warranted revenge, it makes me sick. Having all these innocent people, particularly the young shifters, experience what Ezra went through will likely give me the supernatural equivalent of a migraine, even if I wasn’t involved in the memory transfer.” He managed a slight smile.

  “Although I can say, hand on heart, that Avery feels at least as guilty as I do.”

  She nodded toward the two full vampires. “Do they will?”

  “Perhaps. But they will suffer, as will I.”

  “You’re conducting revenge on yourself,” she stated.

  A wry smile tickled his lips. “Perverse, isn’t it?”

  “I’ll never understand demons,” she said, standing up. “So, who stays and who goes?”

  IN HIS DREAM, SOMEONE was shaking him, calling his name. Ezra’s eyes flickered open.

  “Wakey wakey sleepy head; you’ve been out for hours.”

  The dark-haired vampire smiled, and adrenaline flooded Ezra’s system. Letting out a grunt of fear he threw himself backward, away from the demon and fell off what he now realised was a bed.

  As Silas didn’t move from his position on the bed, didn’t come after him, Ezra’s focus fled to his surroundings. The cellar had changed a little. Shadows still swallowed the far side of the space, but the revolting bench thing had gone, or at least it had been moved out of view. The only other person he could perceive still watched him from a few feet away.

  It was too close. These bastards could move so damn fast. Heart pumping hard, he reached behind him, wanted to scoot back further. His left arm moved six inches before being brought to a halt by the chain he hadn’t realised was there. His gaze fixed on the cuff on his wrist then followed it up to the fastening on the wall above the bed, above Silas.

  No wonder the vampire hadn’t moved. All Silas had to do was yank on it, and he’d have him again.

  “That’s because you tried to run. There a lot of things that could hurt someone as vulnerable as you out there, and you’d find it difficult to find enough food on your own.”

  He couldn’t believe that Silas thought he would swallow this bullshit, but vampire’s bland, ‘reassuring’ expression said exactly that.

  “The collar is to prevent any of us getting overenthusiastic. You are rather tasty.”

  Ezra’s hand shot to his throat; he hadn’t even noticed the leather around his neck. The band
was an inch and half wide, and thick. A badge decorated the front, but his fingers found the buckle at the back a second later. They’d called him a toy, but there was no way he was going to accept being collared like a dog, like one of his mother’s addicted humans.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” The vampire’s soft voice didn’t hide the implied threat.

  “Why? Am I going to get told I’m a bad dog if I do?”

  Horror followed the sharp spike in arousal at Silas’s smirk. He concealed the evidence of his traitorous body with his arm. The clank of the chain didn’t help dial down his arousal, but it did bring home his situation. Naked and chained in a cellar with a host of horny vampires all wanting to use him.

  He closed his eyes and blew out a breath. No, no that idea doesn’t turn me on. I’m not an animal; I’m not what they think I am.

  “Is that floor as cold as it looks?”

  Silas stood above him, extending his hand. After a moment’s hesitation, Ezra took it. The contact burned. Silas pulled him to his significantly shaky feet. Ezra snatched his hand away despite the danger of ending back up on the floor. The vampire tried to take his elbow, but Ezra swerved, avoiding the more intimate touch even though his legs wobbled.

  “Come on; you need to warm up and have something to drink. You’ll feel the cold more than us, and you lost a lot of fluid last night.” Silas indicated the large bed and a chair pushed up against the wall.

  “Really? I had no idea,” he mumbled. The weak light cast by the single lantern hanging near the steps still left the far side of the room in shadows.

  Ezra peered into the gloom trying to make out if he had an audience.

  “Don’t worry; we’re alone.”

  Is he trying to reassure or threaten me? Whatever the case, there’s no way I’m trotting over to a bed like an obedient cur, even if I am wearing a fucking collar.

  “Here, sit before you fall down. I’ll stay in the chair, promise. How’re you feeling?”

  Ezra didn’t answer, but he did perch on the side of the bed and pull the blanket around himself. He almost groaned in pleasure at its warmth.

  Silence stretched as Silas sat in the chair and watched him. “Not feeling chatty? I get it. It must be a bit of a shock going from living with your mother to this.”

  Sitting as far away from the vampire as he could, Ezra didn’t look at him. ‘Bit of a shock’ didn’t cover it. But just like Fabian, his son wouldn’t shut up.

  It’s Silas’s fault I’m here. But that wasn’t really true. If his mother had hidden him or if she hadn’t gone to Fabian in the first place, he wouldn’t be here. This was her fault. Silas was merely taking advantage of the situation.

  Without a word, Silas produced a mug and handed it to him. After a sniff, Ezra dank the watered-down apple juice in one go. He could almost feel his body soaking up the fluid. When he held the empty mug out, Silas silently filled it from a jug beside the chair. When he drained it a second time, to distract himself from thinking about the past, the future, he held the mug out again.

  “Later.”

  Ezra frowned. “I can tell when I need another drink, you know.”

  “And I know what you’ll be doing for the rest of the day. A full stomach won’t help.”

  A dizzying surge of desire hit him like a runaway horse. Between one heartbeat, and the next, he wanted Silas to pin him down, to penetrate and pound him as his father had done. The movement, the heat, the breathless pleasure. I’m so very fucked.

  He forced his focus back to the vampire who was still speaking.

  “Like me or loathe me, I have the enviable duty of being your keeper. Which means I say how many visits you get, apart from my father, who will always have free access. If you don’t perform adequately, it’s my neck on the chopping block as well as yours. If we work together, you’ll have a long, well-fed life.”

  “In here? Or being like my mother? Not sure I want to live like that.”

  The vampire grinned as if he’d told a joke.

  “You’ll get used to it; it’s what you are after all. Besides, keeping you alive is my main duty, so you won’t be getting out of here that easily. Being a keeper, without something to keep, is tricky. However, I can make things easier, minimize your injuries. No one likes a scarred toy.”

  Ezra brought his knees up and rested his forehead on them. He felt so damn small.

  “Is that all I am now, a toy?”

  Silas moved to sit next to him and rubbed his shoulder. Ezra thought about pulling away, but didn’t; he simply couldn’t be bothered. The bastards had stolen more than his virginity; they’d taken his future. He had no idea if there was anything left.

  Even though Silas’s next words were spoken gently, they still cut as sharply as his father’s dagger and teeth.

  “My dear, a toy is all you ever were, you just didn’t know it until now. What you were before, was only waiting for this. If your mother had taken more time with you, had cherished and taught you, you would never have come up with that ludicrous notion of staying a juvenile. It’s like a caterpillar thinking it won’t turn into a butterfly if it wishes hard enough. This is what you are, and you have more power than you might think. They’re lined up out there, and if you satisfy them, your life will be good one.”

  Ezra shut his mouth when he realised it hung open. “A good life? Seriously? Naked in a cellar getting raped multiple times a day?”

  Silas frowned. “I was watching last night, just like the rest of the clan. Once you got over the shock, and the inhibitions your own ludicrous ideas caused, you enjoyed it. We all heard you begging, saw you humping his fingers, shooting all over the floor. You begged for the ones that followed.”

  Ezra sighed in frustration. “I don’t even remember the ones that followed; doesn’t that tell you something isn’t right? And in case you didn’t notice, I’m an incubus, you stupid bastard; coming when someone comes inside me is a natural reflex and he bloody well compelled me.”

  Ezra pulled back as Silas raised his upper lip and displayed his extended fangs and rapidly reddening eyes. When he spoke again, his voice was distorted by his altered dentition.

  “You’re right. You’re an incubus, our incubus, and we look after our valuable possessions, including livestock. You will be trained to serve the clan; through pain and compulsion if necessary. That process can be easy or unpleasant for you, but it will happen. I don’t think you quite get what is going on here.” Silas leaned a little closer.

  “My father arranged your birth; he bred you, Ezra, like a fine horse, or a pedigree hound. And he’ll kill you with no more consideration than he has for any other animal if you don’t live up to expectations. Understand?”

  Ezra hated the way he swallowed hard and nodded, capitulating without a fight.

  I’m a coward, a lily-livered, pansy coward. He wrapped his mind around the thought, trying it on for size. It wasn’t comfortable. But were any of his kind fighters? Sex demons needed to please their prey to feed.

  His mother didn’t force the humans that fed her, even though she was stronger. Instead, she manipulated them with sex. He wished he knew more about his own kind. Unfortunately, his only available source of information were vampires who considered his species nothing but livestock.

  Ezra drew a shaky mental line under his old life, and through the life he’d planned. His choices were to become the compliant, mindless plaything they wanted; to endure as his mother suggested until they released him. That seemed a highly unlikely outcome; what possible reason would they have to release him and possibly incriminate them? Or he could fight, resist and get as much payback as he could before they killed him.

  What I need is perspective and time to figure things out. Just because my mother did what she did, it doesn’t mean all my kind lives like that. He was damn sure his high and mighty cousin, Avery, didn’t. He probably had a whole harem of attractive young men and women willing to give their money and their bodies to him. All he’d have to do was
click his fingers and–

  He lifted his head to see Silas grinning at him.

  “Hungry?”

  Ezra gave him a wary nod. He hadn’t eaten in what felt like weeks judging from the gnawing emptiness in his belly.

  “Well, you’re in luck then, because I’ve got a feast lined up for you. The first course will be here when he’s finished his paperwork.”

  CHAPTER 14

  Ezra’s cock throbbed against his belly as he realised what he was hungry for; it wasn’t the ‘baby’ food he’d eaten before, and that hadn’t been the sort of food Silas meant.

  Ezra shifted, trying to hide his discomfort and ignore the warm glow of lust radiating from Silas.

  “So, what do you do for entertainment?” Silas asked.

  Ezra gaped at the vampire in amazement. Was Silas trying to court him? Being locked in a cellar with the guy, chained to a wall and hornier than he’d ever been in his life, he thought he was pretty much a sure thing.

  Sitting back on the bed, tailor style, he kept the blanket over his groin and with a blank expression, said, “I enjoy long distance running, swimming, sailing, and astronomy. You gonna provide any of those for me?”

  His sarcasm produced a toothy vampiric grin. “You’re going to have to work on your lying technique. We’ve kept an eye on our investment over the years. Strangely enough, we didn’t trust your mother.

  “You, Ezra, spend most of your time reading or exercising in your garden. You used to enjoy going for walks by the sea with various servants when you were younger, and you liked going to the market. But your mother didn’t let you leave the property for the last six months after you tried it on with the coal boy.”

  Ezra hung his head. Pretending to be normal wasn’t working. Every time he tried, Silas slapped him in the face with reality. How could she do this to me?

  “He’s sweet, the coal boy. A little common for my tastes, but a tasty treat all the same. Have you ever seen him clean? Morvan took quite a fancy to him when we stopped by his home before we picked you up. Your mother wrote to my father about him.”