Page 27 of Succubus Sins
Once the blue essence had run all the way up to Anderson’s shoulder, he took out his bloodied hand. The maniac was actually onto something. Our powers were kept within our hearts. Or at least, the succubus’s curse had settled there in David.
He grinned and his wild gaze caught mine. “Time for the real test.”
As he reached for me, lust for power filling his gaze, Silvia thwacked him from behind. Anderson yelped out in pain. “Bitch!”
Sarah’s wrists dripped with blood, the result of yanking herself free of the plastic ties. She balled her hands into fists, ready to fight. “If you think I’m letting you steal Luke’s powers, you’re insane.”
Anderson laughed. “Ah, told you his name did he? You two getting chatty? Close?”
Sarah swung with an impressive right hook with a grunt and Anderson leaped out of the way. The air shimmered as she delved into her powers.
He laughed. “Your powers don’t work on me.”
But her powers hadn’t been aimed at Anderson. Strength surged through my arms, enough to break my binds. I’d never imagined a muse was capable of anything like that.
I burst off the gurney and pummeled towards Anderson. He swiveled and reached in his pocket for the tranq gun. But I dove on him and began beating him in the face. Blind rage overtook me. I didn’t care about my mother’s vision or saving the world. I didn’t care if I lived or died. All I wanted to do was beat the shit out of that man.
Then Anderson pierced me in the chest with a cold iron rod. It went straight through, nearly grazing my heart, and I doubled over as I vomited up blood. Then a cold chill swept through me, not from blood loss, but Anderson’s stolen magic seeping into my skin, looking for my powers to drain.
Sarah swept in and pushed me off. The rod yanked out of my chest and I gasped. Through bleary eyes I watched in horror as Anderson took a dagger and plunged it into Sarah’s bosom. Anderson smiled as her ice-blue eyes turned dull and grey. Her eyelids fluttered and I knew he’d taken her powers instead of mine.
Anderson grinned and looked my way. “Get back on the table.” The command hit me hard. And before I knew it, I’d done exactly as he’d said.
Takes One to Know One
Sonya
Waking up in the king-sized bed wrapped in maroon velvet sheets gave me a terrifying jolt of panic. This was exactly how I’d imagined I’d die. I froze, sure that the wet warmth running down my lips was my own blood. Everything felt hot and slick with my own sweat. With a stab of fear, I groped across my stomach, looking for the protruding hilt of a knife impaled by a retaliating lover. Instead, I found Silvia’s warm hand draped around my waist just above the rune that had stitched over with cool, pink skin. Whatever Derek had given me, my runes were satisfied.
With a sigh of relief, I wiped the drool from my mouth and peeled off Silvia’s fingers, surprised at the weight until I realized Derek’s arm was on top of hers. Both stirred, smiling with half-closed eyes as I crawled out of the bed.
Silvia, with her long gorgeous hair sprawled across the pillow, was the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen. Her breasts bunched up like they were stuck in a corset made by Derek’s weight, the good bits hidden by his muscular arm. I’d gotten more than an eyeful in the mystical aura of the Blood Stone, but craved to see if she was really that perfect in the stark reality of dawn.
Derek closed his eyes, settling around his wife with a satisfied sigh and his arm slipped. My heart leaped and I bit my lip. Yep. Definitely perfect.
Silvia didn’t mind me looking at her. She seemed to enjoy the scrutiny as my gaze lingered on her skin. But when I met her gaze, I couldn’t look away. Her eyes were so grey they seemed silver, and she hardly looked human by the way her cheekbones arched a bit too high. She kept her magnificent eyes on mine, and her mouth formed a silent “thank you.”
A blush rose to my cheeks. How was she the one thanking me? But as she groped across her stomach and held it there, I realized. Last night I was hit so hard with their elation of a child. But with a heritage like that, what kind of child would it be, especially if it was a girl?
Silvia glanced at my necklace just for the briefest of moments, her face becoming a rainbow of emotions I couldn’t decipher. Then she reached for the nightstand, tugging open the drawer. She flashed me a smile and gestured to it before settling back into the sheets. She pulled her husband’s arm around her body and tucked his hand under her ribs like a child’s blanket and closed her eyes.
Free from the magnetizing hold of Silvia’s gaze, and afresh with curiosity, I peered into the open drawer. A simple purple drawstring pouch was the only object, and when I opened it, a single white pill rested inside.
It was one of Silvia’s blood pills, a resistant, and for some reason… she wanted me to have it.
I wrapped my fingers around the prize and gave the sleeping couple one more glance. Last night had been draining for both of them; and I was the only one left with energy. And damn, there was so much energy! My limbs tingled and I wanted to do a hundred jumping jacks and then run twenty miles. And it wasn’t just from the sheer amount of energy I’d been fed, but the realization I was waking up and the person next to me wouldn’t have to die.
Resisting the urge to clap my hands like a delighted child who’d learned not to kill caterpillars, I drew a deep breath and took in the luxury of the bedroom. The morning light revealed ridiculous amounts of crystal absorbing dawn’s rays, only to spit them out again in blinks of white. The ceiling dripped with glass like we were inside a cave with stalactites that grew nothing but jewels and diamonds. Even the walls glittered, and I became dizzy with the richness of it all. Who had the kind of money to bedazzle their entire room?
I supposed an Incubus King, and his succubus-feeding wife.
Finding my jeans draped across an oak chest, I snatched them up and grimaced at the sight of the dried blood across the denim. I really needed to get home and find a change of clothes. Did I have enough detergent to get day-old blood stains out?
The reality of life hit me then, thinking of laundry and my apartment and such regular things. Sarah was out there… and David could be saved.
My hand shot to my necklace, finding it scalding hot. The skin around my cleavage had grown accustomed to the warmth, but my fingertips were cold and clammy from lying on top of the covers, exuding the heat from the night’s exertions. I bounced the locket from one hand to the other until my hands warmed, and popped it open.
The Blood Stone radiated as if I’d set a ruby on fire. The energy in the gem swirled, roiling like a gleaming whirlpool. I’d never seen a Blood Stone this alive.
