by Emma Jaye
“I’m thinking we keep the first child of each, and let them keep the second. We bring the young demons up ourselves, train them properly to be content with the life we provide. We’ll be helping ourselves, other clans, and keeping the sex demon race going.” His father grinned. “I can’t say the prospect of bringing more sex demons to adulthood isn’t a huge perk. That first time with Ezra–” His eyes lost focused for a moment before concentrating on his son again.
“Your diplomatic experience from the last few years, and your rapport with him, makes you the ideal candidate to run this project.” Fabian gave him a broad smile, as if he’d bestowed something momentous on his son.
“What about my addiction?”
Fabian snorted. “Didn’t happen. We tried it with an avarice demon; they’ll do anything for money. They fucked like rabbits for a week, even though the cage bars. Ezra thought he was a human like the other five in there. No addiction, but four of the five humans who were also in there were addicted within days. The weak-minded animals wouldn’t even run when we left the doors open. Those were the first ones he thought he killed. Idiot got it into his head that he’d ‘doomed’ them or something.” Fabian chuckled. “Like we were ever going to let prime meals walk out of here anyway.”
Silas blinked at the news. “So why did you keep me away?”
His father shrugged. “You might not have been physically addicted, but you were obsessed. You needed to know the world revolves around more than one incubus in a cellar, even if he is a great fuck. You hadn’t come up for air in years unless forced. Think you can handle it this time?”
Although it left a bitter tasted in his mouth, Silas said, “Yes. I’ll be wary of his tricks this time.” It was the only way he’d get to see Ezra again.
“See that you are. Never forget he’s a demon too. Just because he feeds on sex, not blood, it doesn’t mean he’s not a dangerous, manipulative predator. So, here’s what I’m proposing; you turn him into a willing stud, happy to fuck anything that stays still long enough, even succubi, and you share in the profits when we sell his offspring. How’s that?”
Silas itched to wipe the self-satisfied smile off his father’s face. Ezra wasn’t an animal; he didn’t deserve to be treated like one. Instead, Silas stood and shook his parent’s proffered hand.
“Well, off you go and have a grand reunion. No one else is booked in for him tonight, but don’t sleep down there. We don’t want to risk anything, do we? I’ve got a council meeting. I’ll be back tomorrow night.”
AFTER CALLING HIS NAME a few times with no response, Silas pulled Ezra onto his lap and wrapped the blanket around him. He rubbed at the incubus’s arms, trying to restore a little circulation. Ezra sat in his lap, neither encouraging nor discouraging him. The word ‘passive’ came to mind. That he knew he could get Ezra to react sexually didn’t help. Silas wanted to care for Ezra’s mind as well as his body, but he might have left it too late.
Silas let his hand drop as he considered the beautiful face he had dreamed about. This Ezra was a million miles away from the frightened, irreverent, reactive youngster he’d known.
It’d taken his father three years to turn Ezra from that animated person to this hard, brittle shell; this killer. That he could, using compulsion, maybe turn the clock back was tempting. But would the old Ezra accept being used a stud bull any more than this one? Silas didn’t have to consider long. That Ezra would have fought with every ounce of his being to prevent bringing a child into this. The demon in his arms? Silas didn’t know, didn’t want to know, what he would do.
Fabian was right about one thing; he couldn’t be sure Ezra wouldn’t try to kill the succubi, or his children if he ever met them. Would that be a bad thing?
He imagined a chubby toddler with Ezra’s curls and breath-taking dark eyes, with Fabian, Morvan or Bones. A little girl or boy who might never see the sun, who might spend their entire life in this cellar. A child he would probably have to feed and care for and then see abused and broken as Ezra and his father had been.
“What am I trying to do, keep you alive so we can do this to your children?”
He sighed as Ezra’s eyes closed but then caught his breath as a single tear ran down the incubus’s temple.
He reached up, brushing away the second tear making its way down Ezra’s cheek. “Ah, my dear, what are we going to do?”
Ezra tilted his chin up and to the side, exposing as much of his carotid artery to Silas as he could.
The incubus’s voice was barely above a whisper as he held his position. “Please. You told me on the train that your kind put humans out of their misery, to prevent future suffering. I did it for the humans they tricked me into addicting. I’m suffering, Silas, so very much, and I will do, every moment of every day till someone puts me out of my misery.”
I can’t drain him, but I could say he attacked me, that I lost it. The thought of subjecting Ezra to any more pain made his stomach turn. That he was planning how to end Ezra’s life didn’t upset him as much as it should. The day he’d taken the youngster from his home, he’d effectively ended his life anyway.
Would they swallow that he died in his sleep?
“You’re sure this is what you want?”
Ezra tilted his chin a fraction higher. Silas gritted his teeth against the tears that threatened.
Even if he somehow managed to smuggle Ezra out of the building, the blood every vampire in the clan had taken on Ezra’s first night would help them track him. Besides, he bet that like him, most had sneaked sips over the years until the Stephen incident. From a hint of the incubus’s unique taste in his mouth, he’d been able to tell he was getting close to Ezra when two miles away. Only death would free Ezra from the connection.
“All you need to do is grab my hand, anything, and I’ll stop.”
With a heavy heart, Silas unbuckled the collar, wrapped his hand around Ezra’s throat, and squeezed.
The incubus’s heart rate sped up, but he didn’t fight, didn’t move or even twitch. Silas silently begged him to react, to tell him to stop, but he didn’t. The incubus reached for death as if it was his salvation.
Ezra’s face turned red, then his body went limp as he lost consciousness without lifting a finger to save himself. Squeezing harder would finish this quicker, but it would also leave tell-tale bruises. Silas paused. Why the hell do I care? It wasn’t as if he wanted to be around to see the next poor occupant of this room reduced to suicide like father and son.
Plus, he had no interest in leading a clan, especially this one. What happened here was wrong, and he regretted ever getting involved. On his tour of other supernatural groups, he’d come across vampire clans who didn’t kill. Instead, they passionately protected their feeder humans in return for blood.
He could walk out tonight and never come back. No one would check on them until his father and Morvan returned and by then, he would be far away and embarking on a new life.
“I’ll do it, my dear, I’ll do it for you. I’ll make a difference in the world, just like you wanted to. You’ve taught me so much. Sleep now, I’ll never forget.”
With the first tears he’d ever experienced running down his cheeks, Silas released Ezra’s throat. Grasping incubus’s chin and forehead, he counted to three, intending to snap Ezra’s neck before he had a chance to wake.
“It’s not his time.”
Silas’s eyes shot to the other side of the room. Dressed in black trousers and a black shirt, a red-skinned woman walked out of the central cell. Silas held Ezra tighter and hissed, baring his teeth at the threat.
“How did you get in here?”
The woman tilted her head as she examined him.
“Not bad, even if I do say so myself. Nice cheekbones. Pleased to meet you, Silas. My name is Arioch. I’m a vengeance demon who also happens to be your biological father.”
His fangs retracted with a snap. “You’re my what?”
“Your father. I can take any form I wish; my spirit isn
’t gendered. Your mother thought I was quite handsome.”
Silas blinked as a tall, elegant man, with pale skin, and dark hair like his, replaced the red-skinned female. Envy for the man’s sharply tailored suit lasted until Arioch’s female form reappeared.
“But enough of family reunions. I’m here for Ezra,” she said and stalked toward him like a cat.
Silas instinctively shifted Ezra vulnerable, limp body away from her. “Why? You’re not going to hurt him, are you?”
She laughed. “Hurt Ezra? My word no, I’m not going to hurt him. I’m just sorry the second call for vengeance from his grandmother didn’t come earlier. You were the result of his grandfather’s call for vengeance. Daft sex demons didn’t know they could each exact vengeance. It’s Fabian I want to hurt.”
“Clarissa’s parents?” Silas said in amazement.
She giggled, the light sound obscene in this dark place. “Not in a million years, her parents disowned her five hundred years ago, they even refuse to acknowledge they even have a grandchild. I’m talking about David’s parents.”
“They want Ezra back?”
She snorted. “They might if they ever find out he exists. But reuniting families isn’t my thing, which is exacting justifiable revenge, in case you haven’t worked it out.
“For Fabian, having his most prized possession killed by his beloved heir and then having that son reject him will hurt far more. Especially when he finds out the truth about you being a cuckoo in his nest. The betrayal he’ll feel will be delicious, for both of us. You are half vengeance demon after all.”
Silas blinked, wondering if it was his brain that had been starved of oxygen rather than Ezra’s.
“Could you say that again?”
Her ruby lips quirked in a bright smile. “No. You’ll have to be quicker my boy. Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to stop his heart just before you carry him upstairs. Tell the door guard he attacked you when you suggested you were going to make him sire a child, so you killed him, and you’re disposing of the body.”
“But–”
“Son, I have two minutes before I need to be back in the council chamber, smiling sweetly at Fabian. I will be there. Whether Ezra is here, dead by your hand, or far away, safe and ready to live the life he always should have done, is up to you.”
Silas stood up and marched toward the stairs with Ezra, still in the blanket, lax in his arms. He paused at the bottom of the stairs. The demon, he couldn’t get his head around the fact this female was his father, put her delicate hand on Ezra’s chest. Silas had seen many humans die, but the way Ezra simply... stopped, made his own heart stutter.
“You’re sure you can bring him back?”
She snorted as she draped the blanket over Ezra’s slack face. “As you were just trying to kill him, I don’t suppose it’ll really worry you, but the longer we leave it, the more likely it is that he’ll stay dead. I’ll meet you at the bottom of the driveway.”
The woman vanished. Silas ran up the stairs.
Bones was walking across the hallway.
“What are you doing bringing him up here? Your father will go berserk.”
“He’s dead. I strangled him. I’m going to dispose of the body then I’ll be back to explain.”
He tried to move past, but Bones grabbed his arm.
“Let me see. I’m still not convinced he didn’t addict you; he’s one tricky fucker.” He lifted the blanket. Ezra’s eyes were open, glassy, and fixed. His lips were blue.
“You’re right; he’s definitely dead.” He looked up at Silas with a grin. “You, golden boy, are in the shit up to your privileged neck. Fabian still had plans for him.”
Silas managed a glare. “That’s Lord Fabian to you, and if you remember, all that happens to me is getting sent away for a few years. The last guy who was in the building when I mucked up ended up as fertilizer before my father gave him a chance to say more than two sentences.
“Stephen didn’t lie about only feeding from him once; I lied through me teeth, and my father believed every word. I was sucking him almost dry every day you were away. If I were you, I’d be thinking about who’s going to be in charge around here in a few decades. Believe me, I make a better friend than an enemy and I’ll need a second. This was an accident, got it?”
Bones stepped aside. “Anything you say, my Lord.”
Silas managed a smile for the deceitful, scheming vampire. “You’re brighter than anyone gives you credit for. I’ll remember this.”
As soon as he got outside, Silas used all his speed to run to the end of the driveway.
The vengeance demon stepped out of the shadows beside the gates said, ‘Too slow,’ as she snatched Ezra’s body from him and vanished.
Silas was left, his breath steaming in the weak early morning light, looking back at the imposing stone building where he had grown up. Turning toward the city, Ezra took the first step into his new life. One in which he hoped he could fulfil some of Ezra’s ambitions to protect the vulnerable.
EPILOGUE
Someone jostling his shoulder pulled Silas from the lonely walk he’d taken over a century before. Blinking, he looked around the room. There were many stoic faces; there were also an equal number of tearful ones. Ezra and Finn were still sleeping. By the look of it, he was the last one to wake.
“You with us?” He blinked up at the bear shifter Jericho.
He nodded. “Yes, yes, I think so, doing that again was...” He paused, remembering that everyone in the room had shared his experiences, and Ezra’s. His initial callousness had shocked him. Over the years, he’d come to remember things a little differently. In modern parlance, he’d ‘spun’ it into something more acceptable.
He’d been there, had smelt, tasted, Ezra’s fear, but it was only now that he knew how brave the incubus had been, how much Ezra had hidden from him. And how much Ezra suffered when he abandoned him.
“Yeah, yeah it was. The council members are about to reach their verdict.” Silas blinked at the shifter’s words, trying to get his mind out of the past and back to the here and now.
“Silas, would you join the other accused?”
Accepting his fate, he stood, but a familiar scent hit his nose. Turning to the sleeping incubus, he lunged toward him. Jericho caught him across the chest with one huge arm.
“You’re not there anymore, he’s safe, no need to try to kill–”
“He’s hurt, I can smell it.”
Every head in the room turned to where Ezra lay senseless, his arms around his vascellum.
There was a growing damp patch on Ezra shirt and bruises were appearing on his neck. Faster than the others could move, Pixie was there, ripping open the incubus’s shirt.
She looked up in horror at the sight of the raw ‘F’ shaped brand on his upper chest. “What’s happening?”
Avery leaned over to look. “Psychosomatic reaction. Ezra still thinks it’s still happening,” Avery said. “Wake them.”
Pixie shook Ezra’s shoulder, hard. When the incubus didn’t stir, she shouted, “Ezra, snap out of it.”
Her efforts moved Ezra away from Finn. Silas resisted a strong urge to push through the growing crowd around the pair to drape Ezra’s arm back over the human again.
“Where’s the witch?” Avery’s voice tight, but Shanae was making her way back through the crowd.
“Sorry, bathroom break, human, remember?”
“You need to wake them; the brands are appearing again,” Pixie snapped.
Shanae scowled. “I can smell that. Being human doesn’t mean I’m incapable of using my senses.”
The blond incubus took a step away from his distant cousin. Silas still wasn’t convinced the head of the council was concerned about Ezra rather than the precious vascellum. Fortunately for Ezra, the two of them were virtually a single entity now. Their fates were unimaginably entwined.
Shanae put a hand on each of the sleeping pair’s foreheads. Silas’s belly tightened as a line appe
ared between the woman’s eyebrows.
“They’re locked in the calming memory I imposed. This is beyond what I can do on my own; it must be something to do with the bond. I’ll need my coven to break the spell.”
“Fine, we’ll transport everyone over to my home when we’re done here.”
“We’re stronger on our own ground, but we don’t need the rest of you to come. I’ll return them when they’re healed,” Shanae blurted. “Don’t worry, we’ve got plenty of people to feed them while they convalesce.”
“If you try to keep me away from them I’ll show you a very special sort of magic, witch,” Pixie said, pushing up her sleeves.
Under other circumstances, Silas would have found the tiny fae’s threatening behaviour amusing. Now, he found her protective instincts comforting.
“They come to my home, so do the others that came with them. Tell your coven members they can meet us there,” Avery announced.
The witch nodded. “I’m sure we can work with that.”
To be continued in the final episode.... Incubus Freedom Free in Amazon KU.
Note From the author
THANKS FOR TAKING THE penultimate part of Ezra and Finn’s journey, they have many adventures (and sticky situations) to come. All my stories are available for free via amazon KU.
Let me know what you loved or hated, I love to chat!
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Best wishes and a very proper English hug.
Emma Jaye.
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