CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“Are you freaking kidding me?” Those were the only words my brain could grasp.
“Nope, not in the least.” She smiled wide. “That lucky boy right there was your first. You never forget your first. I remember mine—”
“He’s practically dead!” I shouted, cutting her off.
“He’s not dead,” she insisted. “He’s just sleeping. Although, you could have killed him, if you hadn’t been interrupted by your little friend there.”
You could have killed him, the truth in her words splashed through me like icy water. My vision dropped to Delvin. His face was incredibly pale, and his frame seemed broken as the grossly colored aura cloaked him. His vibrant yellow, or even the deep red from when we were dancing, was so much nicer to look at than this.
“I could have killed him,” I repeated.
The knowledge of this truth penetrated my heart, inflicting pain directly to my soul. Succubus, the word floated through my mind in a toxic fashion.
“It’s okay. Don’t beat yourself up over it. We have to eat, sweetheart,” she said as though we were discussing the reason we kill animals for food with a small child. “If you don’t want to kill them, stop when you see their aura begin to shift into this bland gray color. That’s the best guide to keep your feeding in check. Once it turns this color, there are only seconds before you’ve depleted their entire life energy supply.”
Folding my arms across my chest to hide the fact that my entire body was trembling, I attempted to keep up with what she was saying, while at the same time thinking there was no way this was real. I had to have gotten seriously drunk, and this was a bad alcohol-induced nightmare I would wake up from any minute.
“Am I going too fast for you, my love? I remember how much this was to take in all at once.” My mother’s voice was soft, sympathetic sounding even, but I didn’t acknowledge her.
Instead, I closed my eyes, still wishing for this to be a nightmare I would wake from soon.
“You are so damn beautiful,” she said suddenly. “I’m sure you had no issues gaining a boyfriend or admirers before, but now…oh, sweetheart, you’ll never go hungry. Trust me.” There was a weird lit of pride etched into her words that sent a shiver along my spine.
What was a succubus exactly? Some freakish thing comparable to a vampire?
I squeezed my eyes shut, and brought my fingers to my temples. Never in my life had I been so confused. This was a moment I should be happy about—after all, I had come to New Orleans with the small hope that I would get to see my mother again. But now that she was standing in front of me, I just wished she’d disappear, taking all of this insane talk about being a succubus with her.
“You’re confused, but that’s okay. It’s understandable. Once you get used to the idea, and feed a few more times, this entire succubus business won’t seem so bad.”
My eyes snapped open. “Get used to the idea? As in, this is permanent? I have no say so?”
“Of course not, it’s your inheritance.”
“Great, and here I thought all of this would go away once I got this damn ring off.” I pursed my lips together as I glanced at the piece of jewelry on my finger.
The ring had been an effervescent shade of red while I’d been kissing Delvin, but now—after I had apparently sucked the life out of him—it was back to its original coloring.
My mother’s head flung back, and a tinkling laughter bellowed from her. “The ring was just a little beacon so I could find you tonight. It had nothing to do with the events that occurred. All of that would have happened to you regardless of whether you wore the ring.”
My heart palpitated as her words swept through my mind. “Even if I had found some way to get the thing off, the night would have still unfolded the same?”
“You got it, sweet girl. It’s part of who you are. It’s in your blood. There’s no way to get around it.” While there was no sense of sympathy or compassion directed toward me through her words this time, she still crossed the distance between us, and placed a hand on my shoulder. “There are just a few rules you need to be aware of, and then I’ll let you be.”
“You’ll let me be?” Was that how she viewed her absence in my life—that she was just letting me be?
For whatever reason, all the things I had wanted to say to her so badly over the years blasted through my mind, and I was filled with more anger than I ever remembered feeling before. I narrowed my eyes at her. She was staring at me with her lips pressed into a thin line, and her eyes wide with an emotion I couldn’t name. Not for lack of trying, but because it disappeared so quickly, there wasn’t enough time to categorize it.
“You’re upset with me. I get it, I do. You have every right to feel angry, but these things are important, Kenna. So hear me out.” Her face softened as she pulled in a deep breath before beginning. “You have to feed off a man—any man—every three days, if not, come the fourth day, you’ll be dead. It’s sort of like the way humans need water. Choose your aura colors wisely. Some of them have horrible side effects, and always ask the men if they would like you to kiss them again once you’ve brushed your lips across theirs once. Trust me when I say, feeding off someone undeniably willing versus not is so much more enjoyable to both taking part.”
As she spoke, I stared at her—the woman who was my mother, the woman who left me without a reason as to why when I was only five years old, the woman who was telling me my birthright was to be a succubus like her—taking in her words as best as I could.
“This is real, Kenna.” She leaned forward and kissed me on my forehead. “Happy Awakening, baby girl.”
My eyes closed the instant her lips made contact, and I was instantaneously cocooned in a warm blanket of familiarity, remembering a time when she would do that same movement daily. A fluttering noise filled my ears as a cool breeze brushed across my face, then Bree was talking again, and the sounds of Halloween in the French Quarter filled my ears once more.
Kiss of Awakening Page 15