Page 18 of Succubus Sins
Zack shrugged. “Your powers aren’t always reliable.” A mischievous glint sparked in his eye. “Perhaps I need to help sort you out again.”
Ignoring the tempting invitation, I rolled the empty glass across my palms. “I already have the Blood Stone,” I said, changing the subject. “You didn’t tell her it needs to be charged?”
“Hell no. She’d just run off and leave David to die rather than let you charge that thing on your own.”
I swallowed the rising bile. “She’s that against it?” I was going to have to give in and sleep with an incubus to charge it, and I guessed King Derek would know who’d be strong enough to help me. Not that I knew what he wanted in return, but one night would be worth it to help David and be with Sarah guilt-free, right?
Zack’s eyes softened before he looked down at his half-emptied glass. “That’s between you two.”
I stuck out my lower lip in a pout and pushed myself further into the leather seat. What was Sarah thinking? The only reason I’d gotten Mom’s necklace in the first place was because I’d thought she’d abandoned me. If my powers were really going wonky, I needed the boost to take on someone as dangerous as Anderson without her.
I ventured a gaze to Zack. “If Sarah is with Mr. Anderson, does that mean she thinks she can save David?”
Zack scoffed. “You know what? You and Sarah are perfect for each other. You’re hopeless romantics.” He clicked his tongue. “As if there’s a cure for the deterioration.” His eyes locked onto mine. “Don’t you understand what you do when you feed? Your powers have a cost to maintain.”
I frowned. “What if I don’t want these stupid powers?”
He gave an exasperated sigh. “Sonya. Just accept what you are already. Get with the program and use your powers for once. You need to take out that Anderson bastard. Don’t make Sarah do your dirty work.”
I frowned. “Is she safe on her own? Should we send someone?”
He chuckled. “There you go, giving her too much credit for one thing and not enough for another. She’s a muse. Nobody’s going to touch her if she doesn’t want them to.” His eyes narrowed. “You just better hope what she wants is still you. Nothing worse than a pissed off muse. That’s how the Dark Ages got started.”
Nine Lives
Luke
That Sarah chick was a muse, wasn’t she? There was only one supernatural in the world who can fuck with someone’s brain other than a succubus, and if my mom’s mad ramblings had taught me anything it was to stay the fuck away from a muse. Too bad I was in a locked cell with nowhere to go, stuck with a fucking brain-killing muse just two feet away.
“Sarah, you still there?” David’s voice pierced the darkness.
The door to the security room creaked open, shedding a faint red light across the cement floor. “Will you shut up?” she hissed. “I’m trying to help you. Which is going to be tenfold more difficult if you let Anderson know I’m here.”
I rubbed my temples. She wasn’t going anywhere soon. That was for sure. And every second she stayed, her aura burrowed deeper into my skull like one of those brain-sucking monsters I’d seen on Saturday cartoons. Except, instead of a purple cloud with fangs teething at my brains, a gorgeous girl hid in the shadows and wouldn’t… fucking… leave.
“Blargalargalarg!”
“Will you tell Luke to shut it, too?” Sarah asked.
We all fell silent when the door two floors up slammed shut. That was the lobby, and there were only two kinds of people who came into the lobby: corrupted police officials and the psycho detective.
Unfortunately for me, it was the latter.
I recognized his gait by now, the way he slunk down the steps like a drunken raccoon. Theswish,swishof his faux silk pants made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. It didn’t really matter if I had a day or a week to prepare myself for this moment. The promise of torture always made my knees go weak.
As I curled into a ball, the lights blinked on. Anderson pranced across the floor and seemed to enjoy the fact that his collection of prisoners had grown. “Let’s see. Who gets to play first?”
David slammed against the bars. His cheeks were sunken in and his muscles trembled. The deterioration was slight, but it was there. “Who the hell are you?” David demanded. Even if his body showed all the signs, I was struck by the intensity of his ice-blue eyes and his demeanor that he’d rip Anderson apart the second he got a shot.
Anderson slunk to the cell. “Detective Anderson. Pleased to meet you.” He extended his hand for a handshake, then chuckled. “Ah, right, you’re my prisoner.”
“And why, exactly, am I your prisoner?”
Anderson rubbed his stubbly chin and cast me a glance. He was putting on a good show, but he always shaved. Something had him rattled. “You’re going to help me,” Anderson growled in response to David, “just like my freak here.”
David snarled. “Why would I help you? You’re a fucking maniac!”
Anderson smiled. “It’s cute that you think you have a choice.” He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small gun with a plastic tip. The tranq. I hated that thing.
