Page 61 of The Wickedness of Man

“—for five minutes without needing to…” I shook my head. “I’ve never felt like this in my life. Please, you have to dosomething. I feel like I’m going crazy—this can’t even be real. Can it? Dr. Lowe, I didn’t want to be a demon… I just wanted to be intimate without…”

The doctor stared at me, her gaze contemplative, but Caleb sat up in his chair, looking much more himself. He glared at her. “Her name is Carmilla de Mornay, not Dr. Lowe. She’s apparently been on my former employer’s ‘most wanted’ list for a while. She goes around ruining people’s lives for fun, and you and I got caught up in it this time around. She was targeting you, and they were targeting her… using me.”

The doctor’s mouth tightened; her gaze darkened. “What I do… is not for fun. Nor is it, as you say, ‘ruining people’s lives.’ You two have no idea what that organization has done?—”

“She matches people like us,” he continued, standing up, “in the hopes that we turn eachotherinto demons, since only an incubi can create new succubi—isn’t that right?”

Caleb

Magda stared at her in horror. “Is that what you meant by ‘sexual awakening?’ Jesus, I thought you were talking metaphorically! Are you telling me you put us together knowing that we would… and that would make usdemons?” She turned away, tucking her hand over her mouth, tears welling in her huge gray eyes.

I paced toward the door to put some distance between myself and the two other succubi in the room, afraid that I might react to Magda’s sorrow. I couldn’t stop the images from popping back up in my head of how I’d nearly just snapped her neck.

I’d completely lost my mind—had fully intended to kill her when she’d separated me from Magda. It wasn’t a conscious decision at all; the moment she’d tried to take Magda away, something inside of me reacted with a furious vengeance. She’d been trying to take what was mine—or so it had felt. I shook my head, trying to dispel the thought.

“You two aren’t thinking about this clearly,” Carmilla spat. “I didn’t ‘turn’ you into a demon, Magda. I just saved your life.”

“Saved me?” Magda cried out. “Do you have any idea—after you knew everything I’ve been through—what this is going to doto my so-called life? My parents are probably on their way to set up an involuntary psychiatric hold on me right now?—”

“It’s why Ihadto do it,” Carmilla continued, her voice strangely pleading. “You were about to die.”

I laughed, though it was mirthless. “Excuse me? She waswhat?”

Carmilla crossed her arms, stared at me, as if daring me to challenge the matter. “It’s not the first time I’ve seen it. You’re both cambions—that means you arebornas demons. Caleb, what is it that demons like us need to feed on?”

“Energy derived from sex, touch… intimacy…” I paused, casting an apologetic look toward Magda before continuing, “and, ah… semen…”

“Look—I was really only a virgin in themainsense,” Magda huffed in protest. “He’s not the only guy I’ve kissed or done things with. You must have done something to me—to us.”

“Cambions normally awaken at the conclusion of their first sexual encounter,” she shrugged. “You were starved of that experience due to your parents’ horrific policing of your body.”

Jax’s warnings about the condoms were coming full circle now. “So, you’re telling me?—”

“Much longer, and you could have died—literally—of starvation.” Carmilla shrugged. “I’ve been on a personal mission against the organization, and yes, I used you in the process, it’s true. I’m sorry… but I’m not wrong. Tell me how you look; how youfeel.”

I glanced down at my chest and arms; my torso beneath the tight t-shirt. I’d known it was going to be a bit on the small side, but it should have been tight at worst, but it felt like it had been made for a kid. My pants, too, seemed a bit tighter. I didn’t notice much difference to myself at first, but then I saw what she meant. There was… a vitality I’d never noticed before; a healthy glow.

I had little to do in my down time during missions except to read, go to the chapel, or work out in what we grunt agents had deemed “the yard.” It was an exercising area, kept far away from the university students that required a keycard to enter. Most of us could just go there to shoot the shit, since it was the one place on campus that no one in the organization seemed to care enough to monitor closely. I’d spent a lot of time there, so I’d always been muscular… But my bodylookeddifferent than before; like it had filled out into what I wasmeantto look like.

“Like I said, I would have been back, but the organization’s lackeys were quite difficult to shake this time,” she continued. “I assumed correctly that you would sleep together, and he would help you as you awakened, but feeding too much too quickly can have unintended consequences—such as extreme volatility and possessiveness—among others.”

“Wait a second,” I said, narrowing my eyes, “how the hell wasIsupposed to help? I’m almost completely in the dark on this. And did you say ‘consequences?’”

Carmilla spun to face me, her eyes wide. “Wait a second… You’re not a virgin, are you?

I balked. “I… uh, no—not for a while now…?”

Carmilla hurried toward me and circled me, lifting my arms, examining me like I was some kind of experiment, sniffing along my skin, much in the same way the veiled sister had; the thought made my skin crawl. Magda growled, her hands squeezing tight into the bed, her eyes deeply purple, her nails slowly piercing the duvet. I felt the rush of her possessiveness through me and swatted the doctor’s hands away before things got worse.

“What are you doing?” I demanded, moving back away from her to the other side of the room. “Can you please just stop touching me for a goddamn minute and explain?”

Carmilla chewed her thumbnail. “Oh no. Oh no.”

“What,” I seethed, “is that supposed to mean?”

Carmilla stared between us then removed her wireframe glasses, suddenly looking much younger and far more vulnerable. I could see why she wore them—while they were on, she appeared to be a sophisticated woman in her thirties, but the moment they were removed, she could have basically been a teenager.

“Caleb… have you ever, ah, ejaculated inside of someone before?”

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