by C. R. Jane
Other Books by Beth Hendrix
Demon Exchange Series
Hoodwinked
Rise of the Morphlings
Of Blood & Twisted Roots
Underworld Falling
Nightmare (Can be found in the All Hallowed Tales Anthology)
Dedications:
Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me throughout
my whole writing process. This book is dedicated to all the readers as well,
without you all this wouldn't have been possible!
If you want to stay up to date with Beth Hendrix, join her facebook group. You can chat directly with her, and get first looks at her new books/series.
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Chapter One
Life sucks when your whole world is about sex and unfortunately that's what my world revolved around. Once again, I was lying here thinking about my life and feeding on lust while a nameless male continued to get his jollies with my body. I hated being a succubus. It was always the same thing. Dress slutty, hit up the bar or club, take home man or woman, have unimpressive sex, then go home. That was the nightly habit I had fallen into.
It's not that I had anything against sex, because I love it. However, when you do it because you have to, it becomes a chore. Eventually it all just blends together and you find yourself thinking about your life instead of the sex you are supposed to be enjoying.
I heard the man grunt out his release before he fell over and laid beside me panting. "Was it good for you too, baby?" He muttered out, in what I could only assume was supposed to be a sexy tone. Just in case you were wondering, it wasn't.
So I did what I always do, rolled over and laid my hand on his head and focused on making him forget the last 5 minutes. That's right, only 5 minutes. Ugh, I was so over this. I wonder if this was how all succubi feel.
The random guy fell asleep instantly as soon as I was finished with him. I rolled over to get up and find my clothes, where they were in a tidy pile by the dresser. Gah, I was so sick of this. Everytime I had to feed I felt guilty, I knew there was something between Gwen and me. So her face flashed in my head before and after every feeding, causing my heart to ache.
The sad part about it is, that I hadn't even heard from her in over a two weeks. However, I refused to pine over her. It was hard enough to live my life without adding in the extra stress. I still wasn't sure exactly what it was about her that pulled me in. She was gorgeous, of course, but I had seen more beautiful women. It was something inside her that called to me, and I couldn't shake her no matter how hard I tried.
After dressing, I teleported to my home. I had the whole top floor of the tattoo shop that I ran. I loved tattoos, there was just something about the pain they caused that was relaxing. It was definitely time to do some more because I was way overdue. It was something I had always done, tattooing myself with tidbits of important things that happened in my life so I wouldn't forget. Immortality was funny that way, you may live forever, but if you aren't careful you will forget about things. It was one of the reasons many people kept journals. However, I couldn't write to save my life, so I tattooed symbolic tattoos on myself instead.
I went right to the shower and cleaned myself off. I never could stand having some random person's smell on me for very long. My thoughts instantly trailed off to halloween. My birthday. I am not gonna lie, I know it's silly, but I always get excited for my birthday. It was the one day a year that I didn't have to feed and I could be myself--minus all the sex stuff that is. Even though the worst thing in my life had happened to me on this day. I didn't let it stop me from being happy.
If you could call what I was happy, that is. I was just blah over the whole thing. The only bright spot was Gwen. Just the thought of her sent tingles down to my lady bits, but I had to stop the thoughts there. I was going to have to work on getting over whatever this was with her. I think after a few weeks it should be obvious that she had no intentions on getting back in contact with me. That fact hurt me more than I would ever admit to any one else.
Stepping out of the shower, I headed to the bedroom to get dressed. Thoughts still on Gwen, I put on my jeans and leather tank and headed downstairs. I had a few clients later tonight that I had to get ready for. There is a vampire and a wolf shifter coming in later wanting some work done and I needed to finish drawing up what they wanted before they got here. So, I had to feed earlier tonight than usual because of it.
I teleported downstairs to my tattoo table and got lost in the drawings until I heard someone clear their throat behind me. Turning around I saw that it was just Shannon, she answered the phones for me. She was a newly turned vampire, and had a hard time resisting her urges. Jaque, the head of the vampire clan, had called in a favor with me to watch out for her until she gained control. We had warding set up around the shop that put off humans. So she was never in contact with them here and it was a way to keep her busy and for her to earn some money.
"There is a Barrett on the phone for you. It sounds urgent." She said looking down at her feet. I wasn't exactly sure why, but she was terrified of me and never looked me in the eyes.
"Alright, send it through to the phone in my office." I replied before getting up and heading to the small room I called my office. I really needed to make it bigger, but something always came up. Taking a deep breath, I picked up the phone, "Hello, this is Alyanna."
"This is Barrett. We need you here." I heard the hitch and desperation in those words as he said them and it sent a wave of fear all through my body. I knew then that it had to be serious.What the hell had they done to her? Was she okay?
"What have you done to her? She was fine when you left." I hissed out before I could stop it. I wasn't sure why, but it was so easy to think that they were to blame for whatever had happened.
"She was fine until she saw the missing persons ad on facebook of the man she killed. She has been shut down since. We have tried everything, but it's like she is just a shell. She wont eat, bathe, or do anything on her own. I honestly have no idea what else to do." He replied, speaking faster and faster till he finished like if he didn't explain it all as quickly as possible he would explode.
"I am on my way." I said before hanging up. Not letting the pain and guilt I had in me stop me from going to her. Quickly, I teleported over without another thought.
Chapter Two
Two weeks later-
"Do I have to wear this? Can I not just wear my leathers and pretend I am dressed as a superhero or something?" Gwen whined from the bathroom. She was not happy with the halloween costume that I had picked out for all of us.
"Yes, you do. You were the one who decided you wanted us all to match. Now you have to live with the consequences of your decision." I giggled as I spoke, because how Ironic was it that we were all dressing up as demons for halloween. I thought it was fucking hilarious. Gwen had too until she saw the costume that she was going to have to wear.
"Gwen, get your ass out here. If I have to look this ridiculous, then I should at least get to look at you in the sexy little outfit Alyanna got for you." Barrett said before knocking on the door causing me to fall back into a giggling fit.
I couldn't believe that this was my life now. Gwen had accepted me, and I had been living up here with her for about two weeks now. I just teleported to the tattoo shop every day for my appointments. It was going surprisingly well. I was never with her when she was with the men and the same with me. I got her all to myself, not saying that they don't stay and watch sometimes. Which didn't bother me at all for some reason. Even though I had thought that it would.
"Fine, I am coming out, but just know that I am not happy about it." Gwen mumbled before finally opening the door and leaving Barrett and me speechless. Her blonde hair was wavy and perfect with a headband that had two red horns on them. Her piercing blue eyes were lined with black and red. My mouth dropped open when I looked down and saw the red leather strapped dress that clung to her curves. She had topped off the outfit with thigh high leather boots and garters. Holy hell, she was perfect.
"Damnit! Somebody better say something or I am marching back into the bathroom and changing." She huffed. I had to shake my head to clear my thoughts. Walking over to her, I put my hands in her hair and pulled her to me so that our lips could meet. Just for a brief kiss, "You look amazing." I purred, running my hands down her body before stepping back. "Now I have to get ready."
I grabbed the bag that held my costume and headed to the bathroom. I always loved dressing up, and with Gwen by my side I was even more excited about it. My outfit consisted of a red leather jumper with thigh high boots, red horned headband, and a big red pitchfork, which still tickled me. Humans and their silly misconceptions.
This was going to be the best Halloween/Birthday ever. I was giddy, which was something I hadn't felt in over a hundred years. Squeezing my curvy body into the leather jumper was nowhere near as easy as I thought it would be, but once I got it on it was definitely worth it. Putting the rest of my outfit together, I grabbed some bright red matte lipstick that supposedly wouldn't smear. I didn't wear makeup often so who knows if it would actually work like it was supposed to.
I looked in the mirror just to double check that I didn't need anything else. My hair was the color of blood and hung straight down my back. I had to suppress a giggle at the horns, because no demons horns looked this way. My emerald eyes shined around my pale skin, which looked even paler against the red of my lips. I just hoped that Gwen liked it.
"We don't have all day, Ally. I swear, I will change if you don't hurry up." Gwen yelled at me through the door. She was so impatient, but after a turn in the mirror I decided I was ready and stepped back into her bedroom.
"What do you think?" I said before performing a spin so she could see the whole outfit.
"You look amazing." She replied before kissing me again. Guess I was gonna see if the lip stuff smeared or not. Unfortunately, the kiss was nothing more than a brush of her lips on mine before she stepped away.
"So whose party is it that we are going to?" I asked curiously, because Gwen kept acting like it was a surprise and hadn't told me or the guys what was going on.
"It's a secret." she replied before looking to the left, which usually meant that the guys were not going to be happy with her antics.
"Damnit, Gwen. We need to know where we are going. How are we going to protect you?" Draven came in the room just then with his black cape flowing behind him and once again I had to contain my laughter. Gwen looked sexy as hell, but the guys just looked ridiculous. They were all in matching black tops and pants with a black hooded cape.
"Let her be, Draven. We have kept her trapped in the house for two weeks." Ethane popped his head in to glare at Draven, before his eyes stopped on Gwen. "Holy shit, you make one sexy little demon. I think we should keep that outfit and play in it later."
"You can put the damn thing on and play in it all you want. I will not be wearing this again." Gwen scoffed and walked towards the door yelling to everyone that we were leaving.
"Yes master. I am yours to command." Donovan yelled from another spot in the house causing all of us to start laughing.
I walked down the hall to meet Gwen in the living room just to see her pop Donovan on the side of the head. He was always doing something to be annoying as hell so there was no telling what was said.
"Let's just go. The bus will be at the stop in a minute." Gwen gave no chance for any argument, just opened the door and headed out leaving us all to scramble after her.
Chapter Three
"What the fuck, Gwen? You know we can't be here. If they find out you are a demon, you will end up being a fucking experiment. Is that what you want? Because that is sure as hell not what we want." Barrett yelled after pulling us all away from the house. Gwen had really done it this time. She had left out that the halloween party we were going to was the annual Paraoffice party. To say that the guys were pissed was putting it mildly.
"You can't keep me locked away forever. Don't you think that they will find that even more strange than us coming and showing our faces like I have done every year since I started here. They will find out eventually anyway, but we can at least keep up appearances until they do. Now, I want a drink so let me go." What Gwen yelled back did make sense. We all knew it was just a matter of time before Paraoffice put two and two together and came after her.
"Fine, we can go in, but you stick to one of us like glue no matter what. Same goes for you, Ally." Draven said before shooting me with a look. Wait, why did I have to stay with them. As far as I knew, Paraoffice had no idea that I was involved in anything.
"I am as old as you and can protect myself." I sneered back at him. The whole he-man act was something that I had never been able to stand. It did nothing, but piss me off. In my lifetime I have been through more than most people and have made it through to the other side. I would continue to take care of myself.
"Let's go party." Ethane squealed out in a ridiculously high voice that broke the tension that had settled in the group, and we all headed inside the big house. I wasn't exactly sure why it was at a house instead of the actual building, but I wasn't super hip on the way of humans and other supes.
The house really resembled a mansion instead of just a house. It was a pale blue on the outside with a wrap around white porch with big grey columns. Feeling a shiver go through me, I looked around trying to see if there was a reason it happened, but never saw anything. So I just brushed it off. It was my birthday nothing was going to ruin it.
Walking through the door, I had to concentrate to get my senses under control. There were people everywhere, music blasting and lust assaulting me to the point I was almost on overload. Gwen must have noticed because she reached back and slid her hand in to mine, grounding me enough that I could calm myself. She was so abrasive sometimes, but when she cared she cared. It made my heart race just thinking about it.
"Who wants some drinks?" Ethane yelled over the pounding beat of the song that was playing. Even with heighten senses it was still hard to hear him. So instead of answering I just nodded my head at him. It seemed like everyone else came to the same conclusion because their heads were nodding as well.
Gwen pulled me closer using our entwined hands, "Wanna dance?" She whispered into my ear before giving me a small kiss on the neck. Instead of answering, I pulled her into the room that looked as though it was serving as a dance floor.
We were face to face, as a upbeat song came on. Our bodies rubbing together to the beat of the music. She ran her hands over me as I did the same to her. Every touch and caress causing my center to warm and wet till I was ready to jump her on the dance floor. It would be the first time we had ever done anything where one of the reasons wasn't my need to feed.
I wasn't sure how she felt about being around all her coworkers and showing affection towards me because I knew humans were weird about that whole thing. So, I was more than a little shocked when she pulled my face to hers and kissed me. Her lips were so soft, I felt her tongue trace my lips wanting me to give her access. I gasped and she took that as an invitation, the world narrowed to just the two of us. The music faded out, and it was just us on the dance floor. Running my hand up her arm, I finally tangled it in her thick blonde hair and pulled her closer. My entire body was on
fire, and all it took was one kiss.
"You both are attracting a lot of attention." Someone said from beside us, causing Gwen to break the kiss and step back. I shot a death glare at Draven who was the one who ruined our moment before I took a look around and noticed most of the people on the floor were staring at us as though they were enthralled. The bad thing about being a succubus was when you were horny it caused the people in your close vicinity to get that way to. So I knew that most of the people around us were feeling the effects of me which caused me to go cold. The last thing I needed to be doing was attracting more attention to Gwen.
"Excuse me, I am going to go freshen up." I said stiffly before pretty much running to the bathroom. I rushed right in when I finally found the damn thing. This place was like a maze. Heading to the sink cabinet, I laid my head on my hands and worked on calming down.
Damn it! I had to get ahold of myself and stay away from Gwen while we were here. If we were anywhere else I wouldn't worry about it, but I did not want to make her any more of a target then she probably already was. I was so lost in thought that I didn't hear the door to the bathroom open, or the footsteps that came up behind me. I did however feel the prick on my neck, and was able to look up and see someone in a skeleton mask holding a syringe before everything went black.
Chapter Four
I jerked awake when I felt the cold splatter of something hit me in the face. Moaning, I went to wipe the wetness from my eyes. Only to be met with some sort of resistance when my hand got up halfway. Wet or not, I opened my eyes blinking the blurriness of whatever was splashed in my face away.
The shock of what I saw in front of me had me shaking my head.What the fuck had happened last night? Where ever I was, it couldn't be a good thing. Moving my head around, I took in my surroundings. I was in a fucking cage! Metal bars were surrounding me on all sides, and the room I was in reminded me of a basement. There was moss growing on the rock walls, a metal door to my left, and a small glass window that was too high off the ground to see out off. Fuck! Even though I already knew what I was going to see, I looked down and saw that not only were my hands shackled to the floor, but my feet were also. The only plus side was that I was chained up to what looked like a black leather office chair. Okay, time to get out of here. I concentrated and attempted to teleport. It didn't work, I was stuck.
