by A M Boone
“This is inhumane,” I mumbled.
“What did you expect? We’re not human.”
Ice went through my veins.
We’re not human. His words echoed through my ears again and again and again.
I wasn’t human. I was part of this shitshow—
“If it makes you feel better, Elery, you should be happy I’m a cubi. Other demons wouldn’t be so merciful.”
And with that, he tossed her down his throat. I dry heaved as he swallowed, the faint outline of her hand pressing against his throat. Her muffled screams faded with every passing second.
“Excellent, as per usual. She was a powerful fairy, and I can feel her energy—”
Another set of dry heaves wracked my body.
He turned to me. “What’s wrong?”
What the fuck? He had the audacity to eat a young woman, then ask me what was wrong?!
“You just ate someone,” I choked out, my eyes watering. “A living creature.”
“Did you just expect this to be fancy clothing, orgasms and free money?” he said, crossing his arms. “You made the contract and agreed to my terms.”
I stayed silent. If I opened my mouth, I’d puke.
“Anyway. Miss Delacroix. I’ve had a snack, now I think I’m going to have a full meal. Stand up, drop your panties, and bend over.”
I shuddered, balling my hands into the fabric of my pants. I didn’t have a choice. I ran, I disobeyed, I died. I swallowed down the bile creeping up my throat, the nausea churning in my gut, and stood.
Only a demon would fuck me in the same place he just killed someone. Maybe if I closed my eyes and thought about something else, anything else, this could be bearable. He’d get his fill and move on.
I bent over and dropped my pants and underwear. Now I just needed to wait for it to be over. Tomorrow, I could put this behind me. I could pretend this never happened, that he never ate a fairy whole.
Nothing happened.
I glanced back. He was just staring at me with those crimson eyes.
“Are you really that turned off?” he asked.
I pulled my clothes back on. “What do you think? You just killed someone. What, did you think that’d get me off? Just get it over with.”
“I can’t feed from you if you don’t want to have sex.”
“Isn’t that incubi’s MO, though? Sneaking into women’s bedrooms in the middle of the night and—”
If looks could kill, I’d be dead twenty times over.
“That’s a stereotype, and hasn’t been true for over a hundred thousand years. The energy gotten from raping someone is self-destructive.” He sighed. “And by the way, it’s cubi. Using the term incubus is like calling a Native American person an Indian. Yes, everyone does it, but it’s wrong.”
“Oh.”
“Well, no matter. I’m going to drop you back off at your apartment. I can ride on the energy I got from you for another week or so.”
He was calm—strangely calm. I should probably just take it and move on. Could have been worse, he could have fucked me anyway, or just eaten me.
He shrugged. “If you don’t want to have sex, I won’t make you. I’m not that evil.”
At least I had that. But still. Demon. Evil kinda came with the package there…
But if he was willing to do that to one of his debtors, what could he do to me? I was walking on eggshells. Once again.
* * *
The ride back to my apartment went on in silence, and I got back to my apartment around two in the morning. I fumbled with my keys and let myself in, still reeling.
Santi was passed out on my couch, snoring lightly.
“Hey.” I nudged him. “I’m back.”
He jerked awake and glanced around like he didn’t know where he was. “Oh. Hi. I didn’t think you were coming back. Are you okay? You look a bit out of it.”
I wiped at my face, then sat down next to him. “The house call… Didn’t go well. You can crash on the couch.”
“The couch? It must have really gone badly if you’re exiling me to the living room.”
If only I could tell the truth. It wasn’t him. It was never him. It was me. If he got within a five foot radius of my bed, we’d both die.
“Sorry,” I said quietly.
“What are you doing for the shyster, anyway? I didn’t think secretaries did house calls.”
“It’s not important.”
“Ana… I know you’re hiding something from me. Does it have to do with Tony?”
I bit my lip. “No.”
Ugh. Vincent was probably listening in on this and laughing his ass off.
“I’m gonna go to bed—”
He lightly turned my head towards his. “W-what happened to your face?”
“Nothing!” I shoved him. “Nothing’s wrong!”
His eyes narrowed, and for the first time since we’d met, he was different. Wrong.
“You didn’t,”he said softly. “We need to talk.”
Wait. Vincent said ten percent of people were supernatural… Could he be in the loop?
“I need you to be completely truthful with me, okay?” He gave me a small smile.
I stayed silent.
“Are your parents your real parents? Are you adopted?”
Why would he ask me that? He’d known me since we were eleven, he’d know if I was adopted. Hell, I’d even know I was adopted. Daddy always said I was Momma’s splitting image.
“Not adopted.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. I was born to Celia and Robert Delacroix in Los Angeles, then moved to San Leandro when I was eleven. You know this.”
“I do, but…” He sighed, staring at his hands. “I’m not sure if I should be blunt or not.”
“Just spit it out.”
It wasn’t like the night could get any worse.
“Did Tony ever seem… off? His hair and eye color didn’t seem right?”
I shook my head. He had been blond haired and blue eyed since the day we met in middle school.
“Why are you asking me this?”
“Will you at least tell me what happened to him? Did you kill him?”
I shook my head again. At least that wasn’t a lie.
“What happened to your eye? Did he do it?”
“No,” I choked out.
“Does it have to do with the shyster?”
My breath caught in my throat and tears pricked at my eyes. I balled my fists into the fabric of my pants.
“You can tell me what happened. I know a lot of things.”
Santi had never been one for seriousness, and him being this reserved was just as bad as seeing Vincent at his worst.
But this settled it. He was in the loop.
Why did he keep this from me? We were best friends, always had each other’s backs… Why would he keep a fundamental part of himself hidden?
“Anthony hit me…” I said. The words came out a near whisper. “A lot. It started after we got married.”
His eyes narrowed again, and for a small, heart-stopping moment, they flashed blue.
“That night… that night you told me he was at Cube…” I said, my voice growing stronger. “I confronted him and ran into a man there.”
“All right.” He squeezed my hand, and I gave him a sad smile.
“He offered to get rid of him and… I took it.”
“Oh, Ana,” he said quietly. “You made a deal with a demon…”
“Y-yeah.”
“What are the terms?”
“I have to work for him for the next ten years.”
“Ten years…” he murmured. “That’s so awful… Goddess, I’m sorry. I should have seen this… How did I not see this? I was so blind…”
Or I was just good at living a lie.
“Let me guess,” I mumbled. “You’re a demon too.”
He burst into musical laughter. “No, of course not. I’m an esper.”
I gave him a blank look.
“An… esper?”
“A psychic, Dzramavian, whatever… My parents lived in the alternate supernatural world, Dzramave…”
I buried my face in my hands, trembling. Everyone and their goddamn mother were supernatural now.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I choked out.
“Well…” he said, a small, uncomfortable look on his face. “There was a war, and my parents were on the wrong side. It… ended badly for them, so I moved in with my aunt in the human world. And the exterminators. Can’t forget them.”
“Are you even twenty-six?”
“I wouldn’t lie about that.” He rested his head on my shoulder. “I should have told you. I’m sorry.” He squeezed my hand again. Something about him being there for me after what happened to Elery, calmed my frazzled nerves. I snuggled up to him a bit, but didn’t say anything, just enjoying his presence.
“But that’s not the issue we should be focusing on. We need to break the contract. What type of demon is he? Imp? Devil?”
“A…” I stumbled over the word. “A cubi.”
Great. Now he was going to know about our… exploits.
He cocked his head to the side, a hint of color coming over his cheeks. “A cubi? I didn’t know they made contracts—oh.”
“Oh, what?” I finally looked him in the eye.
“N-never mind.” A dark flush came over his cheeks. Almost blue rather than red. Why hadn’t I noticed that before? But just like Vincent’s red eyes, it was a sign of him being a supernatural. An esper.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“Don’t be,” he said firmly. “If I had known how bad it was, I would have done it myself.”
“And go to jail?”
He deflated. “Well…”
“I shouldn’t even have told you this. He can spy on me with this.” I pulled down my collar and showed him the contract mark.
“I’ll make him break it.”
Good luck with that. Something about the mere thought of them fighting made my skin crawl. If Vincent… If he killed Santi, I’d never be able to forgive myself—or him. Anthony was one thing, my best friend was another entirely.
“I’m going to bed. I can… We can continue discussing this in the morning.”
“We’ll get through this, I promise. It’d kill me if you got hurt.”
“I know.”
* * *
The next morning, I got up. Alone. Usually, on the cold winter nights I was alone after Tony was skirt chasing, Santi would be passed out next to me, or if he was drunk enough, the floor.
But now he was sitting on the couch, texting someone. Bags were under his eyes, and his shoulders slumped. Had he been up all night trying to find some way to help me?
“Hey,” I said. “I’m up.”
He gave me a small smile, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.
“About last night…”
“Don’t worry. I’ve been getting in contact with a few friends of mine, and I’m sure we’ll be able to help you.”
My mark grew warm, and my vision blurred out.
Vincent was sitting at his dining room table like last night hadn’t happened, drinking coffee, and poring over something on a tablet. He met eyes with me, and said nothing.
I shivered, and my mind came back to the here and now. “He knows. Santi, I don’t think this is a good idea…”
He frowned. “But you’re miserable.”
Was I miserable? As long as I forgot he was a demon… a man-eating demon with few scruples and even fewer morals, I was fine. Well, for a given definition of fine.
“Let’s not focus on this right now. Didn’t you say we were going to study?”
“Can you at least give me his name?”
“Vincent Aldana.”
The color drained out of his face, and his phone slipped out of his hand and clattered onto the coffee table. “Oh… That’s why you were on his—you made a deal with Vincent Aldana? Oh, Ana… I don’t think I can help you.”
Was he really that infamous?
“What?”
He chewed on his lips. “He has connections in all the supernatural realms… And I’ve heard rumors… I don’t know how true they are, but… He’s not just a cubi. His father was something else. Something not from this world. It made him insanely powerful…”
It seemed like every time I thought I might be able to get through this, every time I thought I had a chance at survival, someone had to throw me another curve ball.
“But we’ll work through this. I can’t help you break the contract, but I’ll help you through the next ten years.”
As much as I wanted to believe that…
“I think you should leave,” I said. “I need to be alone. Call me if anything comes up.”
He nodded. “I worry about you.”
“Doesn’t everyone.”
He swept me into a hug, cupping my neck and resting his chin on my shoulder. “It’ll be all right,” he murmured.
My heart sped up, and I melted into his embrace. “Thank you.”
He vanished out of my arms. I stood there for a few moments, blinking. He could do that? Explained why he never got a license, at the least.
My cellphone buzzed. Vincent. Great.
Get dressed in a casual outfit and meet me outside. We need to talk.
Well. This was it. He was going to eat me, and then—
Another buzz. I’m not going to eat you.
And of course, the mind reading. He could read me like Cosmo, but whenever I pushed back, it was like hitting a brick wall.
I sighed and pulled out a pair of jeans, a green shirt Marie made me, with a leather jacket, one of the last things Tony bought me before he went all slap-happy. I didn’t even bother to shower.
Now Santi was mixed up in this nonsense. Lovely.
I waited outside my apartment, shivering as an icy wind blew around me. It was sprinkling too, and goosebumps appeared on my skin.
Vincent rolled up in his car just as the rain started to intensify. And thank god for that. Maybe. This could still end with me becoming his breakfast.
I got into his car, and my heart dropped into my stomach. The sheer amount of… something rolling off of him made my stomach churn.
But he looked human—well, as human as he could look.
“All right,” he said, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. “You and that little esper boy need to break it off. Now.”
“But…” My voice was tiny. “He was the only person there for me when Anthony was—”
“He loves you. He’s a distraction.”
What? He thought Santi loved me? He loved me like a sister, but judging by the tone of his voice, he meant…
“No, he doesn’t. He’s just Santi. My friend. My best friend.”
“Look.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I’m a cubi. I can sense these things. And I’m telling you he’s head over heels in love with you. Always has been. Okay?”
“Well, I don’t like him that way, if that’s what you’re worried about.” The words felt like a lie coming off my lips. Was it a lie?
Not that I didn’t think about it when when Tony was—no!
But… if he loved me that much, why didn’t he tell me?
Then again, he didn’t tell me a lot of things. That he wasn’t human… that he wanted to kill Anthony for beating me… Being in love with me was a drop in the bucket compared to all that.
“Love ruins friendships,” Vincent said. “It ruins a lot of things… Brings you nothing but pain and suffering…”
I sighed. “I promise not to fuck him.”
“All right. Fine.” He glanced at me. “But if he touches you, he’ll wish he was never born.”
The rest of our drive went on in silence.
* * *
We pulled up to his apartment, and just like the last time, we went up to the top floor. Oh, this was just great. Me. Vincent. Alone. He had all the power, and I had…
Nothing.
<
br /> Well, near nothing. He claimed Daddy was a witch, but I didn’t feel any power. I was just me. Just a woman who made bad decisions again and again and again.
Vincent was just one piece of a string of bad decisions.
He took my hand and led me to his apartment. Someone was lounging on his living room couch and scrolling through her cellphone. A woman, tall, and curvy, with shiny, bright red hair that tumbled down to her waist.
She glanced up from her phone. “Vincent, you’re back, and—who’s this? The new assistant?”
“Yes. Her name is Eliana Delacroix. Miss Delacroix, this is Felicia Morgenstern, my closest friend.”
She grinned at me—wait. She was the bartender from Cube! What was she doing here? How did she know Vincent?
“Pleased to meet you,” I said, staring at my shoes. “Weren’t you the bartender at Cube?”
“Likewise,” she said. “And yup. Was covering for a friend. Saw everything your jackass of a husband was doing to that poor girl. Anyway, Vincent hasn’t been treating you too badly, has he?”
I stayed silent.
She turned to Vincent, chewing on her lip. “Have you just broken her?”
“No. She’s just upset since we had a meeting with a debtor last night.”
“AKA, you’re being gross and killing people again.”
“She was a fairy. Barely a person.”
Felicia caressed my face lightly, and I froze up. Was she a succubus—cubi—too? Probably. She was taller than me, just enough that I was eye level with her chin, but shorter than Vincent. I swallowed. Was I just going to get sucked dry? Double teamed by a man-eater and his best friend?
“A fairy, eh?” She smiled, showing off a row of bright, too pointy teeth. Definitely a cubi. “How much did she owe you?”
“Twenty-thousand.”
“You killed Elery?”
He nodded and pulled me a little closer.
“Ooh, you’re going to get into so much trouble!” she cried. “She was one of the heirs to the throne of Eskavania…”
“I know.”
I swallowed. This wasn’t so bad. Maybe I’d survive the day.
“So… What type of supernatural is she?” Felicia asked.
“A witch. Only a fourth, but she’s descended from Xavier Delacroix, so she has to have something.”
Xavier Delacroix. My great-grandfather on my dad’s side. Daddy always kept a painting of him in the living room, and now I knew why. He was some powerful witch.
