Page 51 of The Wickedness of Man

“Magda!” I shouted, breath heaving as I moved further into the temporary safe haven. “What’s wrong?”

In the bed, Magda looked up at me in shock, tears in her eyes as she touched two curved horns growing from each side of her forehead.

“W-what’s happening to me?” she whispered. “Am I—am really a demon?”

I dropped the bags with everything I’d bought on the ground, kicked off my shoes, and practically leapt back into the bed to cradle her against my chest. She sobbed, touching the horns, then checking her teeth; the canines on both upper and lower jaws had elongated slightly. She was in a frenzy and her panic invaded my senses.

I squeezed my eyes closed. I’d done this to her… No. We’d done this to each other. Because of the organization. Because of the succubus they’d been chasing, who’d been taunting them with her ability to track down and awaken cambions.

Magda looked at the elongated nails on her fingers, purple eyes brimming with more tears. Her panic was absolutely invading my brain, leaving me shaking with the need to do something—anything—to keep her calm.

That goddamn doctor is going to pay, I thought darkly.

“You’re okay,” I said, once I could speak again.

I didn’t have anything else; didn’t know why I’d said it. I rocked her gently, stroking her hair with one hand and tightening the other around her shoulders so that she was crushed against my chest. My heart was still hammering from the run upstairs; my brain from the urgency in her call.

I had no idea what the hell was going on. There were no lectures from the Church about what it might feel like tobeunder a succubus’s charms, but feeling her pain and panic like it was my own was not something I’d been expecting. “You’re safe. You’re okay. Just breathe.”

Magda blinked up at me, her tears slowing. I could feel her calming down now that I’d returned to her side; the feeling was agonizingly sweet to the point of being unbearable… Only because of how good it made me feel to know that all it had taken was my presence to make her feel safe again.

Don’t go getting a big head over this. You’ve got a timer counting down on your life—and hers.

“Caleb,” she said, tears in her eyes. “You’re back—oh my god!” She blushed, her cheeks flushing an adorably pink color as her hands went to cover her mouth. “I’m sorry… I swear, I’m not that type o-o-of person, orthing, or at least, I didn’tknowI was. I was so forward with you and…”

“Demanding?” I supplied with a bemused tone.

I could feel the blaze of her embarrassment, and I drew her closer. It was the only thing that seemed right, somehow. The thought crumbled almost instantaneously as the scene from the interrogation room entered my thoughts… that poor deformedwoman. I squeezed Magda closer. I couldn’t let them get to her. I just couldn’t let her become… that.

I shook my head to clear the image, my resolve steeling itself. Now, more than ever, I had to keep Magda safe from the organization—from Harry. Something in his demeanor… in the way he’d absolutely enjoyed every part of that so-calleddebriefing… He wasn’t nearly done. I could feel it. Something else was at play here, and I was still missing too much information to figure it out.

I had only days or weeks to avoid the organization’s hunters; months if I wasincrediblylucky. I stared down at the woman in my arms, unable to decide if luck had been involved or if I had been cursed.

“I think,” I said, attempting to soothe the sting of her shame, “you weren’t quite yourself.”

“You don’t understand. Iknewwhat I was doing. I just… couldn’t stop. Did I… did we really…” She looked up at me, mouth turned down into a small, uncertain frown, and then her fingers touched the broken buttons on my shirt. “I practically ripped your clothes off.”

I recalled the way she’d looked when we came together; the bliss that had crossed her face. My cock began to stir. The little bastard had always had a mind of its own, and now, knowing what I knew… it seemed more apt than ever. “…Yeah, you did.”

“We don’t even know each other,” she exclaimed, shoving away from me, breaking the connection between our bodies.

“Well, we can’t say that anymore, can we?” I asked, patiently sitting beside her. I slung an arm over my knee, more to keep from touching her than anything else. “I think we met in quite the biblical sense yesterday.”

Her lower lip jutted out, a tremulous pout forming. “I don’t know why it happened that way—I mean, I never knew sex could be like… that. Or even what it would really be like at all. And all thisdemonshit…? What is going on with my life?”

The distance she’d put between us felt physically painful to me. I fought hard to keep my hands to myself and not to reach out for her before she was ready. I’d prefer the kick-in-the-groin feeling, if I were being honest. At least that sensation had goneaway when I’d come back to her. I forced myself to try and process what she she’d said.

“Magda, I have to ask you something, and it’s important.”

She stared up at me, looking nervous before nodding.

“Have you ever heard the word ‘cambion’ before?”

“Cambion? No, I—” She paused, a wrinkle forming in her brow as she contemplated. “It sounds familiar. Maybe something Dr. Lowe said? Before I went to see her, I’d never even heard of such a thing as succubusses or whatever. I had to Google it!”

“Did she say anything else to you? Anything you can remember?”

She looked at me, miserably. “I thought she was insane at first, if I’m being honest. She started touching me, and it was like I was just… floating and drowning at the same time, y’know? I’d never known anything like it before. I could scarcely think. I wanted to run away and yet, I didn’t want her to stop.

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