Page 40 of The Morning Star
I was a bit confused. There were a lot of reasons to summon a succubus, and sex was probably at the very top of that list. But I’d always supposed that would be some sad, weirdo little guy who hadn’t had fucked with anything but his right hand for his entire life, not a hot redheaded woman who was rich enough to afford to plonk down cash for a house in the mountains.
Didn’t matter. Leethu might be happy to screw this woman normally, but being summoned…well, that was taking things over the line.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and pulled up Google maps. “So I go a few miles down 26, then turn left on this unnamed road here?”
The bartender leaned over and eyed my phone. “Yeah. That’s the road. Five miles down, make a left on a dirt road. It’s easy to miss, so look sharp. Got washed out a few weeks back, so put it in four-wheel drive.”
I wouldn’t be driving, I’d be teleporting. But even with that mode of travel, I still needed to know where the fuck I was going.
“How far down that road is the house?”
The bartender scratched his whisker-covered chin. ’Bout another three miles, but it’s straight uphill and you’re visible the whole way. Gonna get shot.”
“Won’t be the first time.” I shoved my phone in my pocket and dug out some money. Then without even bothering to exit the bar or hide in the bathroom, I summoned my sword, revealed my wings, and teleported.
It was a good thing I’d summoned my sword before teleporting, because I arrived into a war zone. Wards as well as human-style security alarms screamed a warning. A dozen darts slammed into my torso, pumping some tranquilizer into my circulatory system. Over the deafening shrieks of the alarms, I heard several shouts, then felt bullets ripping my body apart.
I know the guys at the bar had said I’d get shot, but somehow I’d thought that a sorcerer would be using more a magical means of home protection than guns and tranq darts. Fighting to recreate torn flesh and clear the drugs out of my body, I readied my sword and saw three girls run out of the house toward me, guns raised.
Girls? Young women? They all looked like high-school kids to me, even the one with the short blue hair. I didn’t mind filling out a four-nine-five report for killing whoever summoned Leethu, but there was no way I was going to do paperwork for killing a bunch of teenagers. The impact analysis alone would take me months.
“Hey! Whoa!” I held my sword up. “Not looking to hurt any of you. The only one I want to kill is this Red Bird.”
The girls screamed in a pitch that nearly set my ears to bleeding, and unloaded on me. If I’d been a human, I would have been dead. If I had been a demon, I probably would have been dead as well. As it was, I was a corpse, blood splattered across the ground, my stupid sword beside me. I made sure they’d emptied their magazines before recreating my physical form, this time hiding my sensitive wings, and jumping to my feet. Before they could reload, I’d knocked the rifle out of the youngest one’s hands and pulled her in front of me as a shield.
The other two girls gasped and immediately jerked their guns to the side, staring at me wide-eyed.
“Hurt her and Red will kill you,” the blue-haired girl told me. “She has so much as a scratch, and you’re a dead demon.”
“I’ve got no intention of hurting her. All I want to do is rescue Leethu. If this Red promises to never summon her again, then I won’t kill her. Honestly, that’s my best-case scenario. I really hate having to fill those reports out. Hate. I’d rather everyone walk away from this alive than have to fill one of those fuckers out.”
“Leethu?” The blue-haired girl shook her head. “You want to rescue Leethu?”
“Ni-ni?” I pivoted, keeping the young girl still between me and the guns as I looked over to see the succubus walking toward me. “Ni-ni, what are you doing? Let Kitten go.”
There was no fucking way I was letting the adorably young “Kitten” go. She was very aptly named, I noted, even though she was quite skilled with a firearm. “Leethu! Where’s this Red person? I’m here to free you.”
“Free me?” She blinked. “Ni-ni, what in the name of Hel are you talking about?”
“This is a rescue operation. I’m here to kill the sorcerer. Or mage. Or woman who got the spell off the internet and figured it would be nice to get laid on a regular basis by someone hot who knew what the fuck she was doing in bed. Whoever summoned you.”
“The human who summoned me is dead. My Red Bird killed him. I live here with her and my human sisters.”
“They haven’t compelled you to stay here? Or to say that?” This Kitten was beginning to squirm in my arms, and I wasn’t sure whether to threaten her or release her. The other girls hadn’t let go of their guns, so I wasn’t inclined to do the same to Kitten.
“No. Ni-ni, please let Kitten go. And all of you,” she turned to the other girls, “put your weapons away. This is the Iblis.”
I let go of the young girl, who shot me a scowl and elbowed me in the stomach before running back to her friends. Leethu strolled up to me as the girls watched, eyeing me with a warm smile. “You came to rescue me? You found me and had come to rescue me?”
“Of course I did, idiot. I’d figured you could handle this guy on your own, but you had been gone for a long time, and I thought you might need a hand.” I glanced around at the girls and the fortress-like security system. “Clearly you don’t need rescue. Sorry about that. Next time check in occasionally so I don’t make a complete ass out of myself.”
“I thought you weren’t coming.” Her voice was soft, with a sentimental note to it. “You’re busy being the Iblis and all that, and I thought maybe you hadn’t noticed how long I was gone, or couldn’t bother to come for me.”
I felt like a total shit. Damn it, I was the worst head-of-household ever. I was the worst foster-sister ever. Overwhelmed was the best word to describe how I’d been the last few years, but there was no excuse for ignoring the fact that a member of my household had been MIA and I’d made no more than half-hearted attempts to find her until recently.
“I did notice how long you were gone. It took me a while to track you down, but honestly I didn’t prioritize it and I’m sorry. You’re so fucking badass, especially for a sex demon, that I never once thought you couldn’t handle whatever asshole was summoning you. I don’t see you as a demon ever in need of rescue, so it really didn’t cross my mind. I’m so sorry, Leethu.”
She launched herself at me, and for a second I wondered what the fuck she was doing. Then her arms came around my neck and I was squashed against her amazing body in a tight hug.
