by Kimber Lee
“Yeah,” I began slowly, “but you’re a…”
“Succubus?” She shrugged, the slight motion making her look decidedly more human. “I suppose I have always envied the human race its simplicity.”
“Zoning out in front of the TV and shipping Alcide and Sookie? Yeah, I’d say that’s a pretty simple existence.”
Selene didn’t respond.
“For the record, I think Bill’s too wimpy in this season. And short,” I offered. I thought about it. “But that’s in every season. And by the way, he loses those ridiculous sideburns by Season Four.”
Selene’s painted lips twitched at the corners. I ended up finishing the episode with her before deciding to call it a night. It was weird to feel relaxed around her, but I did. I didn’t even want to find out if she fed today. Probably because I didn’t want to know. It still felt like I was aiding and abetting an extremely fashionable psychopath.
I was in the middle of brushing my teeth when I heard the noise in my bedroom. Déjà fucking vu. Marching out the bathroom, sluggish and annoyed, I found Andrei drawing the curtains closed—something I should’ve done the minute I stepped into my room.
“Oh. It’s you,” I murmured, barely able to sound surprised.
He whirled around and eyed me suspiciously. “Were you expecting someone else?”
Ignoring his question, I quickly scanned his body for blood and mentally breathed a sigh of relief when it was clear that he was fine.
More than fine, I thought lasciviously, parts of my body awakening at the sight of him in a white vest and board shorts with so much skin exposed it was surely a sin. I’m such a horny deviant, my God!
“Where did you come from?” My voice sounded breathless, lustful.
“Somewhere hot,” he murmured cryptically, closing the small distance between us in a few strides. His eyes scanned me in the same way I just appraised him. “You weren’t feeling well,” he added.
“You could feel that all the way in ‘somewhere hot’?”
I sighed when he cupped my cheeks in his big hands, his fingers caressing my skin.
“Yes,” he replied, and I could see that he was resisting the urge to smile. He placed a palm on my forehead, the gesture so considerate I nearly lost the ability to breathe. “No fever,” he calmly pronounced.
“Oh, but I do have one,” I whispered, bringing his hand to my right breast where the nipple was perked up against the T-shirt I slept in. “Here.” I moved his hand to my other breast. “And here.”
And before he could retract his hand, I brought it under my shirt and over my crotch. “And finally, right here. Make it go away.”
Andrei’s eyes flashed as his fingers lightly played across my slit. “Dripping already,” he rumbled appreciatively, sinking a finger into me as he dipped his head and crashed his mouth against mine.
I latched onto him, pouring every ounce of passion I felt for this man into the curling and crashing of our tongues. Groaning, he led me to one wall, shoving my back up against it. Sleep was instantly forgotten as he relieved me of my shirt and whipped off his clothing, returning his mouth to mine once those tasks were done.
“Fuck, you taste good,” he growled, nipping my bottom lip with his teeth.
I moaned his name, arching my back and pressing my breasts into his chest. Between us, he reared forward, hot and hard against my lower belly. Moisture from the tip drizzled into the sparse curls between my thighs. Had I taken my pill? Did I care? I had to rack my brain.
‘Yes’ to both questions, my ever-present conscience put in.
I trailed my fingernails down his back, pausing before the slight dip at the base of his spine. “Oh, God,” I gasped when he sank his teeth into the side of my neck. A flash of welcome pain zipped right through me and he soothed the area with his mouth, relieving the bite with his tongue.
“Is he the one who is doing this to you?” Andrei demanded, detaching himself and turning me around.
“No,” I replied, completely mortified. “Andrei, fuck.”
“Not yet,” he whispered, kneeing my legs apart. “Brace yourself against the wall.”
I put my hands on the wall for balance, knees buckling when I felt his hands playing with the lips of my opening, toying with my swollen, sensitive nub.
“Fuck me,” I pleaded, trying to find purchase against his fingers, trying to get him to exert more pressure there. “Please. Please, fuck me.”
Andrei’s low groan produced another wave of moisture between my legs. I pressed my forehead against the soothing cool wall, panting heavily. The hairs on my back stood up. The quivering in my knees grew stronger. Then, he sank two fingers deep inside me.
My head rolled back. My speech grew unintelligible. His fingers were thick, blunt and oh-so-forceful as they stroked me to an impending climax. Faster and faster, they rammed into me, his knuckles nudging my already overly stimulated bud with every entry and withdrawal.
“Almost… there,” I panted, moaning low in my throat when his mouth found mine again. His kiss was brutal, passionate. I brought one of my hands down between my legs and pinched my nub.
And then I was coming on a shudder. The sheer force of my orgasm propelled me backward, into the solid wall of Andrei’s body. I bucked against his fingers, riding the blissful waves. I didn’t care that Selene could probably hear me, and would definitely know what was going on. And when it was over, I didn’t care that I was greedy for more of Andrei, that I wanted him to fill me, to burn me all the way to my womb…
“Beautiful,” said Andrei, tracing my lower lip with the pad of his forefinger. My tongue flickered out and I tasted the salty tang of myself. Then he brought his hands to my hips and whispered, “Bend for me, baby.”
On shaky legs, I tipped forward, putting my hands up against the wall once again. Without warning, Andrei slid into me, deep and hard, rearing back before immediately pushing in again. The force of his thrust took me by surprise and I cried out, balling my hands into fist against the wall.
“Oh, fuck,” he ground out, pulling me back to him. “Sweet fuck.”
“Yes,” I cried out, clenching my muscles around his cock, keeping him buried deep inside me until he slid out again, the mushroomed tip hitting a spot he knew drove me crazy. “So good,” I affirmed, the tightening in my belly attesting to that. The hypersensitive nub in my crotch pulsed. Sweat drizzled between my swaying breasts, and with one hand, Andrei gave my rock-hard nipples the attention they so desired.
“Oh God, yes!” I wailed, nudging my breasts into his hand, allowing him to pinch my nipples, knead my flesh. “Harder!”
Andrei sank into me again, my tightness swallowing his burgeoning shaft. “Coming,” he groaned, increasing the pace of his strokes into me as he fought for release. “Come with me, Rae. Can’t… fucking… stop.”
I pushed back into him, shuddering when he began to rub my nub in furious circles, sending me over the edge to join him as he blasted his seed inside me. Heat filled me, the sensations drove me dizzy and all the while I was coming, milking the still-hard length of his member for all it was worth.
Breathless and covered in sweat, we languidly remained by the wall, until I reached behind me and pulled Andrei out. My body mourned his exit. I turned around and he gathered me in his arms, carrying me to my bed.
After two orgasms, I was more than ready to call it a night but to my complete and utter shock, Andrei was sporting wood again. Lying on the bed while he loomed over me, I shivered when he raised my legs in the air before spreading them apart.
“Again?” I croaked, my need for him growing anew despite how sore I was. “You’re a monster.”
He didn’t respond, the look in his eyes was answer enough. Instead of sinking into me again, he lowered himself onto the bed and buried his face between my thighs. I jerked in response, arching my back off the bed when he dipped two fingers past my slippery, swollen folds and deep into my heat.
“Andrei,” I moaned, unable to believe that I coul
d need him so much, so soon. “Oh, hell.” I felt his tongue at my entrance and then he was licking me while his fingers were steadily probing me.
I wrapped my thighs around his head, wanting to keep him there, wanting to prolong the assault. But he wasn’t going anywhere. Slowly, agonizingly so, he plunged his tongue into me, his nose bumping painfully against my sensitized bud.
I cried out, bucking against him, rocking my hips. It hurt. It was too much. I needed to explode.
“Please, please, please,” I chanted, and he only licked me faster, sucking me into his mouth.
“Let go,” he murmured around my slippery flesh. He ran a finger along the rim of my anus and suddenly, that was all I could do—I let go.
“I love watching you come, mea domina,” Andrei commented, lapping up my juices. The slurping sound his mouth made was one of the most erotic things I’d ever heard. “I love the way your cunt is so greedy, so hungry. So pink and wet and bruised from my cock.”
The sound of my heavy breathing filled the air. My heart beat like a drum against my chest, and tears pooled at the corners of my eyes. Too fucking much.
“I don’t know what I would do if something were to happen to you, Rae,” Andrei continued, tracing a path up my leg. He raised his head and I forced myself to look into his eyes. “You were mad at me… for telling you to go. But you understand why this is best… for now.”
I paused and breathed deeply, not answering until I cleared my head. “Yes.”
He gently disengaged himself from my legs and raised himself over me. Nose to nose, we were closer than before.
“Selene will lay her life down to protect you. For me.”
If I were a guy, my boner would have deflated at the sound of her name leaving Andrei’s lips.
“And why Selene? You know I can’t stand her,” I said, feeling a little guilty about that. After all, True Blood had brought us closer. Strange, but true.
“Because I trust her and because she’s powerful enough to protect you. She’s ancient.” Andrei swiped a clump of my damp hair away from my face. “Your brother is a hybrid. Weak. Young.”
Damn. He knew my train of thought as if he were inside my head.
I huffed out a breath. “If you say so.”
“I say so.” He licked away the remaining moisture on his lips, his blue eyes darkening. “Delicious.”
For the next few hours, sleep was definitely the last thing on my mind.
I woke up deliciously late the next morning. And with eyes squinting in the sunlight, I stretched a hand out to the other side of the bed. Cold and empty.
“He’s gone,” a cheerful voice proclaimed. An accented, husky voice.
“Selene?” I croaked, sitting up. “What the hell are you doing in my room?”
She was obviously the sadistic person who’d let the sunshine in. Now she was standing in my room, already dressed in a cornflower blue summer dress, which looked suspiciously like the one I bought in Italy.
“Is that mine?” I grumbled.
She smoothed the front down. “Yes, but I presumed you haven’t worn it in… a few years. It is a bit small for you.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “You calling me fat?”
She appraised me, eyes zoning in on my chest.
Belatedly, I realized I was completely naked and my breasts were on show. I glared at her and pulled the bedsheet up, making myself decent.
“Curvy, mon amie.”
“We’re so not friends, Selene. I think you slightly misunderstood what happened last night.”
She winked at me. “There is no misunderstanding the sound of a satisfied woman.”
“I’m not talking about that,” I mumbled, feeling my face heat up. There was no denying that the noises I made were pretty embarrassing. “I’m talking about us watching TV. We’re not suddenly best friends.”
“Well, fine then,” she huffed, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “I am going out for breakfast. I do hope you will listen to me and stay here.”
“Please don’t kill him or her,” I said through clenched teeth.
It was Selene’s turn to glare at me. “I think, after many millennia, I know how to leave my victims alive, Rainelle.”
“Good.”
“I suppose you don’t want any breakfast?” She nodded at my nightstand.
Only then did I notice the tray of food beside me. My mouth watered. Bacon, eggs, and coffee. Selene was a fucking psychic.
“Thank you,” I offered sincerely, receiving a genuine smile from her before she teleported away.
The coffee went down quickly but I could barely stomach one rind of greasy bacon. God, it killed me to leave it there. Selene might be a total nuisance, but I had to give it to her, she knew how to fry pig’s meat.
I threw my nightgown on and carried the plate downstairs, sticking it into the refrigerator for later. Then, once I got my second cup of coffee, I padded into the living room and flicked the TV on. One horrendous reality show later and I was ready to claw my eyes out from boredom.
The doorbell rang just when I was contemplating which eyeball to tear out first.
And like a bad penny that keeps coming back, Daniel Lawless was standing on my doorstep, hands shoved deep into the pockets of his jeans.
Chapter 21
I closed my eyes and opened them again, positive that a fitful sleep last night was making me see things.
Nope. Daniel was still on my doorstep, dark brown hair shaggier than ever. With his hands still in his pockets, he asked me to let him in. Standing my ground, I folded my arms across my chest.
“Just how many frequent flyer miles do you have?” I asked incredulously.
“Enough,” he said dryly, brushing hair away from his face. “Hello, Rainelle. May I come in?”
“Absolutely not. I have company.”
“Of the male variety?” His eyes did a slow sweep of my nightgown-swathed body as if he could see right through it. See the hot pink of my bruised pussy, the smattering of deep purple hickeys against shocking parts of my body…
I automatically tightened the band around my waist. “That’s none of your business.”
“It isn’t?”
“Just tell me what the hell you want,” I mumbled. I glanced over my shoulder, back into the empty house. I was freaking blessed that Selene had disappeared. The fact that she could return at any moment was the only thing making me antsy.
“I thought we were friends,” he said, holding his hands up in defeat. “Can’t a friend visit another friend? Spur of the moment?”
“Not when the friend is on another continent. That’s not the definition of spur of the moment.”
He had the nerve to look chagrined. “Well, you won’t pick up the bloody phone, so what else am I supposed to do?”
“Because you were harassing me!”
He looked taken aback. “Harassing you? What the fuck?”
“No means no, Daniel. Sending Teddy fucking Bunting over to my place in Paris to—I don’t know what—bully me was the last straw,” I fumed, grateful for the first time that my neighbors weren’t close enough to the house to watch this show out on my doorstep. Pulling Daniel inside was out of the question. For his safety. “I want nothing to do with the man – and if push comes to shove, nothing to do with you.”
“The man was a mate of your father’s. He’s a good guy! It’s not like I gave a sociopath your address!”
I glared at him. “No, because you’re the sociopath.”
He glared back. “This is stupid. I actually came here to tell you something important.”
“Yeah? What?”
“Paisley’s in the car. I never got ‘round to demon-proofing this house, did I?” He gestured at the silver Mercedes in my driveway, a car I didn’t notice until he did that. “You remember Paisley, right? The witch?”
From the passenger window of the car, a blonde woman waved at me. My eyes swung back to Daniel.
“Oh, hell, no! No.”
; He quirked a curious brow. “Why not? Rae, the least you can…”
“How’d you know I was here, anyway? Were you following me?”
“No,” he replied, bracing himself against the doorjamb. “You should hide your location every time you update your Facebook status if you really want to be incognito.”
“Goddamn stalker,” I said under my breath.
This time, he laughed, easily brushing off the half-hearted insult. “So you don’t want any protection?”
“I’m supposed to believe you came all this way to do that? Put up a ward?”
Daniel leaned in, way too close for comfort; so close our noses almost brushed.
“Let me in, Rae,” he said, his voice barely a whisper. Then he straightened up abruptly, eyes wide as he stared past me, into the narrow hallway.
Mildly unnerved, I whirled around and came face to face with Selene, who looked more refreshed and revitalized than she had hours ago—before she fed.
“We have company?” she asked in a husky voice as she squeezed herself beside me.
Momentarily mute, I could only stare.
“Introduce us, Rainelle,” Selene demanded, sizing Daniel up with hungry baby blues. She made no attempt of masking her attraction to him. I was once like her, judging Lawless by his cover. What a fool I was.
For his part, Daniel did an equally poor job of hiding his instant reaction to the succubus. I was instantly forgotten—practically shoved aside, actually—as he drank in the sight of Selene, dolled up in her ironically indecent thigh-length plaid schoolgirl skirt and transparent button-up white shirt. Obviously she decided to dress up for whoever she was just fucking. I could only hope that he, or she, was still alive after their encounter.
“Daniel, this is Selene. Selene… Daniel,” I muttered. As far as I was concerned, he could have her. It would serve him right if he found out—the hard way—that she was a succubus.
What has Daniel ever done to you? my annoyingly remorseful conscience wanted to know.