Page 13 of Succubus Sins
Maxine shuffled away.
Before I could follow, Zack wrapped both arms around my waist and pulled me in close, pushing his lips against my ear. “Looks like you’re finally getting that blasted necklace ‘cuz of me.” He groped his hands across my breasts and squeezed, filling me with desire mixed with mortification. I’d only slept with Zack once, and as fun as it was, he rubbed me the wrong way. His voice caressed me anyway, building a heat between my thighs. “I think I deserve a reward,” he purred.
If I hadn’t just fed, I would have fallen lips-first into Zack’s influence. I may be a succubus, but he’s an incubus… and much more powerful than I at the art of seduction. When I was sixteen, I had troubles unlocking my powers and had almost starved to death. I couldn’t feed on humans. I tried—my lucky prom date didn’t die. Only an incubus could trigger my powers to their full potential. He’d been one of the incubi to hang out with me when I was growing up. He was my friend, not my lover, but that night, I’d needed him. Ever since then I’d craved what he had to offer. But other than unclogging the succubus plumbing, I couldn’t live off him forever. Screwing him was just a quick fix. It was like swapping spit. Kind of gross and left foreign bacteria in my mouth that’d just linger for days. Does that sound disgusting? Because it is.
I threw his hands off. “Enough. I’m here for the necklace and I’m going to save David with it. I can’t let Sarah think I meant for this to happen.”
Zack chuckled. “If you say so. But,” he thrust his finger in my face before curling it around my collar and tugging me close. “One night with me and you won’t need a lay for a year.” He tilted his head with amusement. “Imagine what you could do in a year not spent finding some poor sod to fuck? You could even scurry back to Sarah for a little while.”
Why was he toying with me? The lust lingered in the air between us, and I knew he could taste it. That just made it even worse.
I jerked away and resumed walking towards Maxine’s stiff frame. She may be old, but she wasn’t deaf.
“I don’t need you,” I said over my shoulder. “Once I have my mother’s necklace, I’ll have all the power I need.”
“You’ll see,” he called as I walked away. “You’re going to need to charge that thing. Then you’re going to be begging for me!”
I clenched my fists and didn’t turn around, keeping my eyes fixed on Maxine’s steady gait as we headed deeper into the cloister.
I was glad Zack didn’t follow and the heat on my skin cooled as I focused on Maxine’s bulbous black habit rolling around on her behind. What could be less sexy? Perhaps that was the point.
“Here we are,” she said as we reached the end of the impossibly long hallway.
I huddled up behind her shoulder and peered at the ancient door. It felt like I was in some Merlin movie and was about to gain entrance to the hidden treasure everyone was trying to get. The door even had handsome engravings of runes in the wood that made it seem mystical and surreal.
Maxine pulled a rusted key from her pocket and fiddled with the lock. The mechanism gave a reluctantclickand the door creaked open.
Maxine stepped inside and flicked the light switch.
The small room didn’t disappoint. Thick velvet drapes framed massive oak chests, making it look like we were inside a monastery that housed the most precious of religious artifacts. The lights glimmered with the soft glow of modest chandeliers covered with frosted glass. The way the lights flickered made them seem like candles and added to the ambiance that I’d walked into a Merlin movie.
“Where’s the necklace?” I asked impatiently. Every second wasted was a second less David had to live.
“What made you change your mind?” Maxine asked, placing both hands on the smallest chest perched on the room’s only table. “Your mother entrusted it to me for a reason. She said it was dangerous until you had completed the destiny you were born into.”
It was strange for a Nun to prattle on about Succbi magical destinies, but she was one of our allies. She knew all about the supernatural community, and that was saying something. There were few humans who’d been accepted into the fold.
My gaze swept over the room, taking in other locked boxes that contained supernatural treasures. Holy ground was the only place we’d store any sort of relic and it took a strong woman like Maxine to guard it. I knew under the frowns and stern face, there was more than met the eye.
I frowned and resisted scratching my runes that had started to bug me again. “It’s time.”
“Anything in particular bring you here?” she asked, still pressing for more answers I didn’t have.
I’d known about my mother’s necklace, that it could give me exactly what I needed to survive. With the power of a Blood Stone, I could swear off men and be with Sarah without any problems, but there had to be a catch. The dark magic lingering inside my chest roiled just being close to it. There would be a price to pay for such a prize and I’d never been brave enough to test it.
I rotated my watch around my wrist, not looking at the timer. “Because, now it’s just not about me,” I admitted. “I fed on David. He’s a human. If there’s anything I can do to save him, then I must do it.”
She offered me a sad smile and a nod. She cupped a box that hummed with familiar power and creaked the small box open, revealing the necklace my mother had always worn around her neck. The chain had always been just long enough to rest it in her cleavage; a silver locket with mesmerizing swirls encrusted along the edge.
Maxine stepped aside and I faced the powerful relic, taking one trembling hand and grazing my finger across the metal. I should have been able to feel the leftover sexual energy still trapped inside. My breath caught in my throat as I took the treasure in my hands and forced myself to pop it open.
A single red gem, a lost precious stone to the history books cradled in the locket’s setting. Some would mistake it for a ruby, but my mother had taught me what it really was. A Blood Stone.
A tear rolled down my cheek. It should have been bright red, yet the Blood Stone had lost all its color and was completely white, looking like a cloudy diamond. A human would call it a moonstone, not really knowing what it was.
The Blood Stone was empty, and if I wanted to save David, I’d need to charge it…
I’d need to fuck Zack.
