The Billionaire's Heir (Sucubus For Hire Book 1)

by Michael Don Anderson

  “You know as well as I do that the longer I go without feeding the more I lose control.” I stared at the ceiling. Water-stains plagued two of the corners. A defect my plumber couldn’t resolve. Usually I could ignore them. I liked imperfections. It meant things were real. Today I wanted to paint over them.

  I hadn’t eaten in almost a week. Janet didn’t know that. And I didn’t have a good excuse. My appetite had been all over the place lately.

  She shook her head. “You can go a day or two without any problems. Don’t kid a kidder.”

  “You’re a kidder?” I gave her my best innocent expression.

  She scowled. “Get to your files. I’ll call Kenny back and put a fire under that butt of his.”

  “Careful. Kenny might like it.”

  She disappeared around the corner in a huff, but raised her voice disapprovingly. “No homophobic remarks, Bianca. It’s not becoming.”

  “Setting his ass on fire has nothing to do with sexual orientation!” I shouted back at her. “I know some straight men who are just as keen.”

  She stuck her head back through the doorway. “Implying a man might like anything done to his backside is most certainly inappropriate.”

  Janet’s eldest grandson was gay and she was fiercely proud of him. Not because he was gay. Although she admired the role model he’d become for the rainbow community. He’d been valedictorian in high school. Graduating a year early. Handsome and athletic. The first member of her family to get into a serious school. Biology at UCLA. Quarterback on their football team. She supported everything about him. Unconditional love. Like Granny Oglethorpe.

  “Are you crying?” she asked.

  I blinked away the moisture and scowled. “Why would I be crying? I’m not that hungry.”

  I buried my face into the file. She wasn’t fooled. “I’m sorry, Bee. I know you don’t have a bigoted bone in your body.”

  Joseph sprang to my mind. I opened my mouth and then closed it. I didn’t know very many vampires. Not well enough to say I didn’t like them. I wanted her to be right. That didn’t stop me from being cautious.

  “Janet, could you call the gun-shop? Order wood-tipped ammo for the Glock 43. They should carry it. If not, I’ll pay for same day delivery from their supplier.”

  She stared at me. “This case?”

  I nodded. “You might want to start wearing a cross.”

  “But I’m not religious like you.”

  “The vampires won’t know that.” I stared at her to make my point.

  “I’ll order extras just to be safe.” She paused and stared at my desk. “The same for your Sig in the drawer.”

  Shit. I had another thought. “Better add silver.”

  “Silver.” She swallowed hard. I gave her credit for not asking if it was for something demonic or lycanthropic. “Might as well order an Uzi while we’re at it.”

  It was meant to be a joke. She hadn’t realized how close she was to the truth. “It’s on special order.”

  She scurried off and I felt bad. I’d scared Janet for no good reason. I could’ve ordered the ammunition myself. Hell, I might not even need it.

  I pictured Joseph’s smile and shuddered. I wouldn’t need it. Sure. And Santa Claus is real. Fear might just be the one thing that kept Janet safe.

  Chapter Three

  I was just starting the fifth and next to last file when I heard a bleating from the hallway. I stood up. Walked to the opening connecting Janet’s office to mine.

  She was missing from her desk. I went out into the hallway. Found her shooing a small pygmy goat from eating her skirt. Juana Rodriguez held onto the black and white animal’s leash. Letting itl drag her along after Janet’s clothes.

  Juana was young. A teenager. Four-foot-eight. Her face still round with that last vestiges of baby-fat. She hadn’t hit her final growth spurt. Black hair. Dark brown eyes. Wearing a knee-length skirt and baggy t-shirt with some musical artist I didn’t recognize. Her feet were covered in pink tennies with white laces.

  Andre Green, the security guard had an arm out in front of the girl, glancing toward us. “You send for this?”

  Andre was a transplant from the Big Easy. Late twenties. Black and fit. Pleasant looking if not classically handsome. Hair cut short-cropped. A soul-patch on his chin shaped like a perfect triangle. Andre was the breadwinner in the family. But he had a protective Baptist mother and insecure white girlfriend. Neither of which knew he worked for a succubus.

  He was loyal and otherwise impeccably honest. I’d been lucky to find him. It was easy to pretend that Janet was the real owner of the building if it kept his personal life happy. I’d even gone as far as putting the deed in her name. He understood it was all a ruse for his benefit. That gesture had cemented our friendship.

  “It’s all good, Andre, thank you.” I smiled.

  He nodded curtly and turned his back to me. He knew it was dangerous to meet my eyes. I wasn’t wearing my sunglasses and he was too polite to stare at my breasts.

  I turned to Janet. “I thought you said no goats? I take it Kenny’s no longer our supplier?”

  “Oh, Bee! It’s even worse than I pictured. It’s adorable.” Janet was practically crying. “I thought it’d be one of those ugly gruff things with ragged hair. It’s just a baby.”

  “You asked for something small enough to carry,” replied Juana uncertainly. “Hello, Miss Bianca.”

  “It’s just ‘Bianca,’ Juana. We’ve been friends since you were five.”

  “Mama would spank me if I didn’t speak politely.”

  Juana still had an accent. Born in Mexico, she’d gotten her green card in Texas. Eventually the family had made their way to California. Hard working and honest. We’d met on a case about ten years earlier. The first and last time I took a case out of state. Texas was not a place for someone preternatural.

  I only saw the Rodriguez family once a year. Juana wasn’t wearing much make-up. Child innocent. “You’re always polite, Juana. How old are you now?”

  “Fourteen.”

  She smiled shyly, glancing up at my horns. Curious but not afraid. I wasn’t wearing a hat. Not in my own office. And definitely not when I wasn’t expecting any appointments. After Gibraltar’s typically human fear the previous night, Juana’s acceptance was refreshing.

  “Tell your parents to invite me to your quinceañera. All these years in California and I’ve never been to one.”

  She ducked her head. “I’ll remember, Miss Bianca.”

  Janet was still distracted by her horror at the baby goat. I ignored the bleating. Smiling instead at the girl. Encouraging her to step out of her shell. “How’s the naturalization application going?”

  “My papa, he no talk about it.”

  I stared at her, frowning. Nine years in the U.S. and her English sounded as broken as her parents. “Why are you talking like your parents, Juana?”

  She refused to meet my gaze. “I no know what you mean.”

  “Yes. You do. You speak perfectly good English. I may only see your family at Christmas but your mother brags about how well you do in school.”

  Her smile wilted. Afraid. First Janet. Now Juana. I understood being scary to the Henry Gibraltars in the world. But not to my friends.

  “Luis says that customers buy more goats if they think we’re illegal. He makes me talk like that.”

  “I’m not a customer. Well, I am a customer. But I’m not just a customer.”

  “Sorry, Bianca.” She rubbed one arm at the sleeve. There was bruising.

  “Did Luis do that?”

  She shook her head unhappily. “It’s nothing.”

  I stiffened. Angry. “Does he do that often?”

  She didn’t answer. I stared at her round features. She resented her brother’s bullying. So did I. “Should I have a talk with your mother?”

  Juana tensed, shooting me a flash of dismay. The goat bleated as if on cue. “No. Oh, please. Not that!”

  I nodded, slowly taking a
breath. “Okay. How about I talk to Luis?”

  She glanced at my horns. Thinking. Worried. “You wouldn’t hurt him would you?”

  I laughed. “No. Not the way you mean. I might just scare him a little.”

  “Bee, no! You can’t.” Janet wasn’t happy that I’d offered to talk to the young man. I saw something else in her eyes. She wasn’t worried that I’d scare him. She was afraid I’d lose control.

  “I wouldn’t feed off of him!” I couldn’t hide my wounded expression.

  “No. Of course not.” She frowned. Sad and guilty that I’d said it aloud.

  Great. What was wrong with me today? I sighed. “You think I might enamor him to make my point.”

  Janet nodded.

  “It’d wear off after a few days.”

  “And in the meantime?” Her gaze hardened like a disappointed mother’s.

  “He’d obsess over me.” I looked at Juana. “Have Luis come here. Janet will schedule a time. Tell him I want to talk to him about reoccurring business.”

  Janet mouthed a silent ‘no,’ staring at the baby goat. But she didn’t argue. Too horrified to trust herself not to say something awful. I rolled my eyes.

  Juana bit her lower lip. “If it’s a lie, he’ll take it out on me. Even if you scare him.”

  “Don’t worry. I know how to protect you while making my point.”

  Janet finally found her voice. “Why here?”

  “Because you’ll be here to keep an eye on me.”

  I looked at the baby goat. My body thrummed with hunger. Icy pangs biting into my belly. I could feel the animal’s life force crawl along my skin. It was male. I knew it. Something about my body chemistry reacted to anything with testosterone. The energy it would provide wasn’t as good as sexual energy. But it’d take the edge off. The way a vampire could drink refrigerated blood. It wasn’t great. But better than nothing.

  “Take it away.” I smiled at Juana but my eyes were tight. The thought of feeding made me focus on my hunger. The goat’s warmth seeped past my shields. I shook my head, shivering as I blocked the sensation. My control wasn’t as good as usual. Better not to meet with a young man at the cusp of his sexual peak under the circumstances. “But don’t schedule Luis today. I’ve got work to do.”

  “Luis won’t like me bringing the goat back.”

  I felt a wave of cold tighten my belly. Goosebumps trailed along my arms and legs. The equivalent of a human’s stomach growling. I stared at the baby goat with longing.

  “Bee?” Janet’s tone was hard.

  “Yes?” I forced myself to meet her eyes. She’d seen my expression. Disapproval in the tightness of her lips. I couldn’t keep fasting. Then I had an idea. “Never mind. Tell him I want something older. Bigger. Have him bring it himself. Today.”

  “Will he do that?” asked Janet, still unsettled.

  She stared at the goat tugging at Juana’s leash. It had stopped bleating. Dazed by even that little momentary draining of its life-force. Janet glanced at me suspiciously. Thankfully she didn’t know just how long I’d been going without.

  “I think a bigger payday will motivate him. Won’t it?” I put a hand on the girl’s shoulder. Even starved, her essence was safe from my touch. I wasn’t sure I could drain a woman if I tried. Although, there had been a few cases of succubi left locked up too long draining everything living in range.

  Juana nodded.

  I smiled. That would kill two birds with one stone. “Then have him bring it today. Tell him we’ll pay double.”

  The girl stared at me. Finally nodding before she scooped up the baby goat. She rushed through the hallway and out the door. Juana seemed like a good girl. And I hated bullies.

  The Rodríguezes were almost friends. As close as I came outside of professional contacts. With a few exceptions. And I’d avoided Luis most of the nine years I’d known them. For obvious reasons. Young pubescent boys reacted strongly to me. Nothing I did stopped it.

  He was older now. Time to remake his acquaintance. And find out just what sort of man he’d become. Find out why he would ever think it was okay to bully anyone. Much less a girl several years younger than him. And make it stop.

  Chapter Four

  I’d finished reading the files on Vincent Gibraltar and sat there. Reclined in my chair. Thinking. Feet propped on the desk. Worried.

  There was far too little information on the vampire coven in the documents. Or even generally about vampires. They called themselves ‘the Atlantic Street Revenants.’ Monied from the looks of things. Not as rich as Gibraltar. No one was that rich. But they owned several apartment buildings along Atlantic Avenue. Decent income for their eternal lives. Of course, they occupied the largest one.

  The coven’s members were registered with the Federal authorities as required by law. Some of them. The numbers didn’t match up. But they’d managed to stay off the government’s radar somehow. Most of the filings had been done under a California Limited Liability Corporation. Meant to last as long as the coven did. Not tied to any particular individual or subgroup of members.

  I called loudly through the opening between our offices. “Janet, phone Henry Gibraltar’s people. Tell them I need to speak to Joseph at first dark.”

  “First dark?” I heard her noisily push her chair back. The sound of her heels on the wood floor. She appeared at the doorway with that look, again. The one she’d been giving me all day.

  I never referred to meetings by position of the sun. “Yes, Janet. He’s a vampire.”

  “But not the villain in the story?” She clutched at her chest without realizing it.

  I fought a smile. “He might be. For that matter, so might the cousin, Blake Mansfield. You know the drill. Right now everyone’s a suspect.”

  “Even Henry Gibraltar, the client?”

  I started to nod. Then thought about it. “No. Probably not him.”

  “Only probably?”

  “I can’t be a hundred percent sure of anything yet.” I frowned at her. “Please call and make the appointment.”

  “Will he be coming here?” She tugged at her waist to straighten her dress. Professionally cool. Her version of disapproval when she didn’t know what to ask for in order to fix a problem.

  “I think that’s best. Don’t you?”

  I still wasn’t wearing my sunglasses. She held my gaze the way a man couldn’t. “You’ll be alone.”

  “Also for the best. I don’t want you in his crosshairs. In case he turns out to be part of the problem.”

  “The wooden ammo’s not in yet.” She was trying to talk me out of it.

  I shrugged, unconcerned. “They said by dark.”

  “What if they don’t make it by dark?”

  I stared at her unpleasantly. “I’m not helpless, Janet. And Andre will be patrolling.”

  “But you’re not immortal. A vampire can hurt you. Part of your DNA comes from a human.”

  “I don’t think he’ll risk anything. It took a lot for his kind to become mainstream. The courts frown on violent offenders. Reflects badly on the entire group. You know about the meeting. It’ll be in your computer. Too many loose ends. Joseph isn’t that stupid.”

  “So you’ll be dead if you’re wrong. But vampire rights will suffer. Great.” She stomped off and I let her.

  I’d made a point of avoiding association with other preternaturals over the years. Vampires. Lycanthropes. The most common kinds of non-humans. Unfortunately, that also meant I didn’t know much about them. Now I was dealing with both types.

  Janet was right. It was dangerous to be wrong. Thankfully, I knew people who could make sure I wasn’t. If they’d answer the phone for me.

  Chapter Five

  It was almost closing time when I heard bleating again. I glanced at the clock. Luis Rodriguez had cut it close. Twenty minutes late without a courtesy call. Another mark against him.

  “Send Luis in,” I called through the open doorway.

  “What else would I do?” shoute
d Janet snidely.

  I couldn’t think of a clever comeback, so I left it alone. She’d won that round. “I don’t know, Janet. I don’t know.”

  I loved the woman. We had a true friendship that allowed for a little rough banter. We could even get mad at each other. But it never lasted. Most importantly, she always told me the truth. Helped me feel human. Even when everyone else reminded that me I wasn’t.

  I heard his voice. Felt Luis through the walls. Vibrant masculine energy. Strong and trembling with adrenaline. Fear.

  My stomach grew cool. Power broke out of my flesh, danced along my arms. Something mystical that I couldn’t explain. I’d never seen it described in a textbook from the point of view of a succubus. What human scientists wrote about it was like a blind person describing colors.

  The sensation of power gathered in my fingertips and face. It made my neck and palms itch with need. Luis’s energy was ripe with delicious, untapped testosterone. It called to me. Broke through my shields in a surge of desperation.

  I clenched my fists, digging my nails into my palm in panic. Forced the power back inside me. Blood rose in my cheeks. My flesh flush and sweaty. Not from the hunger. It was embarrassment at losing control. I was grateful that no one had seen.

  “Just go in,” I heard Janet repeat to the young man.

  The goat’s front-half appeared first. It’s shaggy grey head stretched toward my workspace. Its tongue extended in an effort to ensnare papers at the edge of my desk. The beast was as large as a Labrador. But emaciated. Ribs and hip bone showing through mottled skin. Luis reluctantly followed the goat into my office.

  “Luis.” There was a pleasant expression on my face. My tone stern. Reproachful.

  He jerked the goat back by the rope around its neck. “Miss Bianca.”

  I didn’t tell him to drop the ‘Miss,’ as I had with Juana. I was trying to remind him to respect women. Including his sister. Especially his sister.

  “Thank you for coming.” I stared at the goat. “Please keep the animal from my desk.”