Page 35 of Succubus Sins
Sonya
The strawberry daiquiri left a wet drizzle against my palms. The ice was nearly melted, but I couldn’t bring myself to raise the drink to my lips. The cabin interior was sweltering and all I wanted to do was get out of this stuffy airplane filled with sweaty men who seemed to be incapable of anything but leering at me.
“Excuse me, Miss?”
Wearily, I peered at the fidgeting flight attendant. By the way her knuckles went white as she gripped the headrest, I guessed she’d been standing there for some time trying to get my attention.
She swallowed. “Would you like me to get you a new daiquiri?”
My fingers tightened around the drink. “No. I’m fine, thank you.”
Her lashes lowered as she considered the slush once more. Her lips forced into a tight smile and she bobbed her head before heading back down the aisle.
This stupid drink was all I had left of Sarah. I was pissed off at her, but at the same time my heart ached. Thanks to the Blood Stone that had saved her, humans acted bizarre around me. Men openly stared and rolled their hips in their seats and I sighed dejectedly. I was a living ball of lust and I couldn’t help how I made them feel. I didn’t ask for this curse.
The women were even worse. I avoided their gazes as best I could. My powers never had an effect on women before, but now it seemed I’d changed. I caught them staring just as much as the men, if not more. Often their gazes lowered to my chest. My leather jacket plumped with my breasts and my pendant resting on my bosom. The Blood Stone was quiet, but constantly warped the air around me like a sexual forcefield. I exuded with its power. It hadn’t been phased by the juice I’d taken from it to heal Sarah from a bullet wound.
A jab in my ribs made me jolt and my drink toppled over my tray. Pink slush splattered in all directions and I cursed, turning to investigate the source of the disturbance, only to find a small boy pushing his nose between the seats like a hound.
“Jeffrey!” his mother cried. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what’s gotten into him.” She peeled the boy away from the seat and offered me an apologetic smile paired with a blush.
The attractive flight attendant reappeared with cocktail napkins and began dabbing away at the mess. The useless bits of paper greedily sucked up the slush and only served to smear the sticky ice across the plastic. She kept her fretting over the tray and didn’t use the excuse to clean my jacket and cop a feel, which I found odd.
“Penny!” An elderly man with slicked-back grey hair and the biggest Adam’s apple I’d ever seen pushed her aside. “Allow me to take care of this.”
Penny frowned down at the sad little napkins and moved out of his way.
The man smiled and wiped the slush into a bucket. “I’m terribly sorry for this, Miss. Please, let’s get you out of this seat. We have an opening in first-class. Please relocate to the front as our apology.”
I balked. I’d gotten a cabin ticket for a reason. If I’d wanted first-class I could have simply asked for one. Heck. If I wanted this man’s kidney he’d cut it out right now if I told him it’d make me happy.
But as I stared into his eyes, I saw a flicker of concern. I’d expected knee-buckling lust, which is all I’d ever gotten from men as of late. But this one seemed unaffected. I squinted, trying to make out any supernatural features. Aside from the piercing blue eyes, he seemed unremarkable. His friendly face was framed by kempt white hair, and his outstretched hand, waiting to guide me to my upgraded seat, was accented by wrinkles. An incubus didn’t age, so that meant he was something I didn’t understand. I frowned. I didn’t like not understanding anything.
I pressed my lips together and squirmed out of my chair, trying to avoid the trickling pink droplets. The elderly man trailed behind me as I picked my way through the narrow aisle to the front of the plane, passing through multiple drapes as I escalated through economy and business class until I reached the front hatch where I’d entered. I glanced at it before considering the over-exuberant drape running past it, shimmering with different shades of blue as it moved with the subtle rolling of the plane that would take me to first class.
I peered over my shoulder and the elderly man smiled warmly and nodded. “Your new seat is 2B.”
I swallowed hard. That was really their only seat left? That was right across from…
With a sigh, I broke through the fragile curtain, sending the metal rings clanging against the rail. A few passengers turned to glare at such a rude intrusion, until they saw who had entered. Even without the Blood Stone, I was my mother’s daughter and could command a room with ease. Or in this case, a class. But with the Blood Stone, my power seeped through my skin and wafted over the crowd like noxious gas. Shoulders rolled back, backs straightened, and all eyes locked onto me.
All eyes…except for the guy sitting in 2A.
Nate, one of the many sons of the Incubus King, and my unwanted escort, took a long swig of his whiskey before exhaling with satisfaction and swirled the gold-tinted ice in his glass. I frowned, not because he was pretending not to notice I’d been forced into first-class, but because he drank whiskey like I did. Why’d he have to ruin a good thing with that smirk?
Finally, he acted surprised to have realized I was standing there while everyone continued to stare at me. He smiled his obnoxious, boyish smile and I returned his unspoken gloat with a glare.
Without a word, I stomped to my seat and plopped down with as little grace as I could muster, crossed my arms, and set my mouth into a pout.
“What’s wrong, babe? Do I get under your skin?” he asked with a wicked grin that matched his father’s, except I’d been fighting the fact that Nate stirred the prophecy within me. He didn’t know that a rune across my stomach burned with need every time he was around, screaming at me that this insufferable human was one of my four… no. No fucking way was I going to accept that.
I glared at Nate, and then transferred my rage to the elderly flight attendant who seemed to be quite pleased with himself.
I crossed my arms. “Don’t tell me you got that little boy to poke me?”
The old man bowed and offered me a cup of ice water in a much nicer cup than what I’d received in economy. “Dear me, no,” he said. “I can’t control children any more than I can control anyone else.” His eyes crinkled in another smile, this time hinting at some hidden joke I didn’t get, before he shuffled to the back of the cabin and disappeared behind the curtain.
An exasperated sigh escaped my throat as I jerked down my armrest and glared at the unnecessarily large cup holder which had something still inside. I fished out a wadded piece of paper. Well-written calligraphy swirled through the scented paper with my name on it. Inside, the note anonymously invited me to dinner, followed by an address which I knew far too well. Ever since I’d inherited the d’Ange mansion, my grandmother’s, then my mother’s, and now mine. The handwriting suggested someone in my family was still here, but who? Dammit, I had to find out now.
