Page 4 of Succubus Sins
“It’s the rare succubus that lets herself starve.” He tilted his head. “Madame said you have a girlfriend. Would she really want you to die over fidelity?”
I pinched my lips together. He was probably right. If Sarah knew I needed sex with a male to survive, she’d tell me to do it.
But her heart would be broken, and damned if I was going to be the one to break the tender heart of a muse.
“I can’t do this to her,” I said through clenched teeth as tears stung my eyes. “I just can’t.”
He crossed the room and gripped my shoulders with a strength that made my knees buckle. He pulled me close and let me rest against the hard warmth of his chest. “Madame said you’re not welcome back after tonight.”
I stiffened. “What?”
He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “This place is for those who need help. The King doesn’t support what you’re doing, and if word got out, the Den would be forced to shut down.” He cupped my chin. “This pain you’re causing yourself is pointless. After tonight, you’re going to have to go back to the way it’s meant to be.” He leaned in and grazed his lips across my neck. “You’re going to have to prey on men again and do what you do best. What you were made to do.”
Pain splintered through me as I shrieked. “No!” I cried. “I won’t kill to survive! I’m not a monster! Not like you.”
He didn’t seem hurt by my outrage. Instead he gathered the bedsheets and wrapped it around his waist. “I’m sorry. I can only hope you’ll come to your senses and accept what you are, even if yourgirlfriendcan’t.”
As pissed off as that incubus made me, he’d struck a nerve. Sarah loved me, but she’d never been able to accept me for what I was. The runes across my stomach were just an oddity, not a prophecy. That wouldn’t change now, not even if I ever grew the balls to tell her the truth.
I was a killer. And if I wanted to survive, I was going to have to kill again, and the runes across my stomach were trying to tell me something important. When I looked up at the sky, those dark claws were there. I blinked twice, and then they were gone.
Perhaps it was the starvation making me see things, or perhaps it was a prophecy that I’d better start listening to.
I knew what I needed to do in order to survive. I was supposed to kill. Sarah would find out and see me for the monster than I am.
I clenched my fingers into fists and growled at the mocking sky. “I’d rather starve.”
The second I arrived home, I curled into bed with a still-sleeping Sarah and let the sobs take me.
She roused from a deep sleep, her eyes still heavy with satisfaction. That only made me cry harder. “Babe,” she said, wrapping her warmth and sweet magic around me, “it’s okay. I’m here.”
I cried into the curve of her graceful neck, and was surprised that she didn’t try to pry into my head to find out what was bothering me. She was a powerful muse, capable of ripping my mind apart if she so chose.
The reality struck me like a dagger. Maybe she was afraid of what she’d find.
Forcing myself to sit up, I took her hands in mine. “Sarah?”
“Yeah?”
“Let’s go to the bar tomorrow. There’s something we need to talk about.”
A Night to Die For
Walking to the bar, Sarah noticed something was off. She wrapped her fingers through mine and gave a light squeeze. “You doing all right?”
I grit my teeth together. No, I wasn’t fucking doing all right. The rune across my stomach was bleeding again, but I’d worn a bandaid this time. There was no working around what it meant. I was dying.
“I’m fine,” I snapped and wrenched my hand free of hers.
She pouted before crossing the street and pushing her way into the bar. Men parted the instant she got near them, likely not even knowing that they’d been influenced by magic beyond their comprehension.
Frowning, I disapproved of how Sarah blatantly used her powers just because she was mad. I didn’t want to see what she was going to do when I broke up with her in a public place, but I’d decided this would be the best way. I wanted her to think that my starvation was because I’d left her, not because I couldn’t feed on her. I’d much rather her hate me… than hate herself.
“Hey!” David shouted, beaming a smile as I caught our favorite human’s gaze. He waved and propped the door open. “You coming or what?”
Giving him a smirk, I waited for a motorcycle to careen by before crossing the street and brushing past David’s broad chest. “Thanks for coming,” I told him, honestly grateful that he’d shown.
David’s beaming smile dimmed when we made our way inside and he saw that I’d brought Sarah. “Oh,” he said, his disappointment obvious.
