Later.
* * *
Lucifer was surprised he managed to store any magic at all with how addled his mind was under the influence of Gertrude’s siren affinity. He lost track of time, had no sense of propriety—not that he had much to begin with—and went without sleep and food for a full day because he was so focused on indoor recreational activities. When he woke from a catnap, he was starving.
Lucifer woke slowly. Guilt for succumbing to Gertrude’s spell so readily made him squirm away from his two lovers.
Gertrude didn’t keep any food in her studio apartment. He considered leaving, but if he did, he didn’t know whether he would exit into Paris or Womby’s. Either way, he feared he might not be able to find his way back to her door.
He lay in bed, thinking over the surreal experience of being with a siren. He supposed he should have felt gratitude for Gertrude’s willingness to have sex with him and help him cure his curse, but he didn’t want to be with her again. Her magic took away his inhibitions to the point it made him drunk. It was the kind of dirty trick an incubus would have done—something he had always tried to ensure he didn’t do to Abigail back when they’d been teenagers and he had been a human.
Eventually Gertrude stirred. She snuggled up to Lucifer. “How was that, pet? Do you think you’ll stay human this time?”
He did feel different. Every muscle in his body ached, and his belly cramped—but that might have been hunger and physical exhaustion.
His affinity felt strong at least.
Lucifer didn’t feel as if he were about to change, but he hadn’t thought the change would be temporary last time either. What if this wasn’t permanent? He would be forced to bed her again to remain human. He didn’t know Gertrude. He wasn’t certain he liked her.
He loved Abigail. She was the only one he wanted to be with. And yet, if he didn’t fuel himself this way, he would never rescue her—never mind the danger his own soul was in of turning feral.
“I don’t want you to use siren magic on me again,” he said.
She traced a finger over his jaw. “If I hadn’t, do you think you’d be human right now? Or do you think you would have changed back into a cat?”
He didn’t know. He’d remained a few hours as a human with Abigail. When he glanced at the overcast sky through the skylight between columns of books, he couldn’t tell how much time had passed since he’d transformed. It was daylight.
Gertrude sat up and stretched. “How about something to eat?” She poked Antoine. “Do you want to come with us to get breakfast?”
“Perhaps it will be dinner, no?” Antoine yawned.
If there was one thing Lucifer never refused, it was food.
* * *
Gertrude linked arms with her two lovers, one on each side of her. Lucifer was uncomfortably aware of the sideways glances they received as Gertrude laughed and flirted with Antoine while they walked down a Parisian lane. It was hard to say how many of those stares were because Gertrude was so attractive and how many were because it was obvious the three looked like lovers.
Lucifer glared at anyone he caught staring and growled at an old woman who lifted her nose at them contemptuously. They were in France. People were supposed to be open to ménage à trois. Then again, he might have drawn attention when he hacked up a hair ball onto the sidewalk. Some cat habits were hard to break. He hoped that didn’t mean he was changing back.
Antoine led them to a restaurant he liked to frequent.
There was something off-putting about Antoine that needled under Lucifer’s skin. Antoine held himself with casual confidence, but his shifty eyes continually inspected the shadows, as if expecting someone to appear. His magic left an oily residue on Lucifer’s tongue, and Lucifer couldn’t tell how much of what he sensed was jealousy and his own bias versus instincts.
“We must do the right thing and pay for our meal,” Lucifer said firmly. He could emphasize the importance of this now that he could speak.
“I always pay for my meal.” Gertrude winked at him. “With magic.”
He grimaced. “That isn’t what I mean.”
She arched an eyebrow at him. “Do you really expect a librarian at a school for at-risk youth to be able to pay full price for her vacation? I have magic at my disposal, and I’ve worked hard to gain it. Why not use it?”
“So true,” Antoine said. “Witchkin should not have to bow down to Fae laws.”
Lucifer eyed a cluster of birds circling in the darkening sky. “If you can’t be bothered to do the right thing because it’s ethical, at least consider refraining from using magic so you don’t draw attention to yourself.” He nodded to the birds. “Those might be Fae spies waiting to see if you make a mistake so they can catch you.”
One of the birds let a splatter of excrement loose, the white goo splattering across the cobblestones before Lucifer. Now he was certain those foul fowls were Fae.
“We must take precautions, of course.” Antoine avoided the white mess on the street and kept walking. “But we have magic, and these Morties do not. There was a time Witchkin were worshipped as gods. Now we are outcasts. It hardly seems fair.”
Witchkin had never been revered as gods. That was the Fae. According to Baba, Witchkin had been revered—or feared—as witches.
“Exactly!” Gertrude nodded emphatically. She continued to agree with Antoine’s assertions.
Lucifer didn’t know who was a worse influence on whom.
Gertrude smiled at Lucifer. Her skin gleamed like mother-of-pearl. His apprehensions melted away. When they arrived at the restaurant, some of her siren hold on him slipped away. Seated outside, he noticed the row of birds watching them. It had grown too dark to tell whether they were ravens or crows.
Lucifer ordered beef bourguignon, an appetizer of cheese and bread, and a crème brûlée. Now that he was human, he wanted to fully taste everything he’d been missing out on for thirty years, and he felt as though he hadn’t eaten in days. The only thing that disturbed his appetite were the birds.
“Look at them watching us. They’re waiting for us to use magic.” Had Lucifer been a cat, he would have pounced on them.
“They cannot help gazing at Gertrude’s beauty.” Antoine laid a hand on hers.
She tossed her long hair over her shoulder. “Stop. You’re too much.”
Lucifer kept his voice to a low rumble, hoping the cutlery on plates around them drowned out his voice. “Did you do something at the bookstore that drew attention to yourselves? Did you use any magic?”
“Of course not.” Gertrude rolled her eyes. “You’re being paranoid.”
Lucifer wondered whether she had enchanted Antoine in the bookstore and that was why these birds were following them. Even if they weren’t from the Raven Court, they might be from another Fae court, and they could be just as vicious.
“Promise me you won’t use magic,” Lucifer said.
Gertrude reached for his arm, but Lucifer pulled back, not wanting her to influence him against his will. More than that, he didn’t want her to use her magic so openly.
“Come now, Lucy. We said we would be careful.” Antoine grinned a little too widely. “Let us not argue about this. We had such a pleasant day together.”
Lucifer didn’t trust the man’s smile. Abigail had always accused Lucifer of being quick to attack other males. Perhaps she was right, and he was prejudiced against men. Or perhaps Antoine was going to entice Gertrude into folly.
As the sky turned black, and the restaurant became lit with the amber glow of candlelight, more diners crowded the tables inside and out, almost drowning out the rustle of feathers.
Lucifer had only just finished his appetizer when his belly began to cramp. Cold sweat broke out on the back of his neck. He was going to change.
In front of all these people.
He stood, gripping the table as his knees turned to jelly. “Excuse me.” His voice came out a growl.
H
e staggered off to find a restroom. He made it just in time to lock himself inside. The air was hot and stuffy. He pushed open the tiny window high on the wall that opened to the street. The air outside wasn’t much cooler.
He vomited into the toilet before collapsing onto the grimy tiles. His bones lanced with fire, and he temporarily lost consciousness as he transformed back into a cat. The floor was hard underneath him as he woke.
He was distantly aware of voices drifting in from outside. One voice stood out in particular.
A man said, “A siren is a delicious find for the Queen of Pain and Pleasure.” It sounded like Antoine, but Lucifer wasn’t certain.
Lucifer’s head was foggy, as if he were floating in a sea of mist. He knew that royal title: the Queen of Pain and Pleasure. It was one that belonged to a Fae queen. He knew which one, but his head throbbed, and his muscles ached from the transformation. He couldn’t tell whether this was a dream or reality.
A woman’s voice with a crisp British accent spoke so quietly Lucifer almost missed what she said with the cars rumbling by in the street beyond. “Our queen will commend you for this find, another teacher from Womby’s School for Wayward Witches. Mayhap we can use this one to lure Felix Thatch back home.”
“Perhaps our queen will free me from her service for such a deed, no?” The man chuckled.
Lucifer was more certain this was Antoine as he continued to listen. He lifted his head from the floor, his ears twitching. He didn’t know whom he spoke with. It wasn’t Gertrude.
He sniffed at the air. The odor of cigarette smoke, the fragrance of perfume, and the aroma of food almost hid the dark-bright taste of magic in the air. It was bittersweet and wrong on Lucifer’s tongue. He tasted blood and death.
“Once in our queen’s service, always in her service,” the woman said. “It isn’t a bargain you can shrug off so easily. Bringing the Raven Queen a siren is hardly going to warm Her Majesty’s heart.”
Gertrude was a siren. She worked at Womby’s. Lucifer’s brain finally caught up with their words. They were talking about abducting Gertrude. They intended to catch her, probably for using magic. And they would take her to the Raven Queen. Lucifer had never trusted his brother, especially not after hearing about the rumors all those years ago when he’d been in her employment. But if the Raven Queen meant to use Gertrude to lure Felix, that meant he wasn’t in her employment anymore.
Lucifer had been right in not trusting Antoine.
CHAPTER NINE
Raven Bait
Lucifer’s heart slammed into his rib cage, and his head pounded. Or at least Lucifer thought it was his head. Then he realized it was someone’s insistent fist on the door.
“Lucy, are you in there? Are you all right?” Gertrude asked.
All things being considered, he was fortunate he’d lasted as a human for more than a few hours. He yowled to let Gertrude know he was there.
Lucifer smelled the aroma of starlight and an ocean breeze. The door creaked open. Gertrude peeked in.
Lucifer covered his eyes with his paws. She’d just used magic again? At least she was inside a building with electricity, so it wasn’t likely she would be able to do much. No Fae would be caught dead inside a Morty building. Their Witchkin spies were another matter.
Like Antoine. He had to warn her.
Lucifer’s limbs were shaky after his transformation, but he forced himself to hop up onto the sink. He fell in and scrambled onto the side beside the basin.
“Do you want me to give you a bath?” Gertrude’s brows drew together.
He positioned himself toward the window and leapt up to the ledge. He waved a paw toward the window.
“You want to go?” she asked.
He shook his head and touched his paw to his ear. There were many voices outside. He listened for Antoine’s.
His voice was unmistakable. “She’ll be out in a minute. She simply went to check on her lover.”
“He has been gone too long,” the woman said. “He must suspect.”
Antoine sounded unconcerned. “No, he was ill. He has trouble shifting. It might take her a moment to retrieve him.”
Gertrude didn’t react as though she’d heard. Lucifer pointed with his nose and back to her. If only she were like Abigail and knew how to read his body language. Between the bustle of traffic and the other conversations, he didn’t know whether her human ears were sensitive enough to make out their words.
The woman outside tapped her foot in a rapid staccato. “I grow tired of waiting.”
“Patience,” Antoine said. “You are always in such a hurry.”
Lucifer frantically batted at his ear closest to the window, then pointed to Gertrude. If only he could speak.
Gertrude’s brows drew together, and she stepped closer to the window.
Antoine went on. “Gertrude must be working some kind of healing magic. If we wait longer, there will be more magic on her skin, no? It will be more evidence to demonstrate she has used magic in the Morty Realm.”
Lucifer watched Gertrude’s face for a reaction. Her cheeks drained of color. Good. She finally understood the danger she was in.
“The only reason I don’t go into that restaurant myself is that I don’t want to drain my magic,” the woman outside said. “Not that I don’t have an abundance from draining Witchkin like you, but I would prefer to preserve my strength for something worthy of my time.”
Antoine chuckled. “I think you might be saving your strength for later tonight. With me.”
“Save your breath, Casanova. Lycanthropes aren’t my type.”
Gertrude’s eyes widened with fear. She opened her arms, and Lucifer leapt into her embrace.
Gertrude rushed out the back of the restaurant, through the kitchen, not stopping when the cook yelled at her. She exited out an alley, practically running to the apartment. Lucifer watched the ravens circle overhead, almost swallowed up by the blackness of the night sky. Their ominous shapes stood out against the stars.
Soon they would be alerting their other spies that Gertrude had escaped and where she had gone. She was out of breath when she reached the door where she had hidden her flat. She dropped Lucifer to the ground. Her hands shook so violently she dropped her key to get in.
Footsteps thundered on the steps down the hall.
They were coming.
Gertrude drew her wand from her sleeve and aimed it at the door.
No! Lucifer wanted to shout at her not to use magic. They would catch her. The door flung open. She shoved Lucifer inside with her foot, followed by the key, and slammed the door closed behind her.
She chanted as she punched her wand in an arc around the door. Blue light glowed from the other side. The air around them wavered, and the light filtering in from the skylight shifted from starlight to sunlight.
Lucifer had a feeling they weren’t in Kansas anymore—or more accurately—Paris.
Gertrude didn’t leave the school for any more vacations that summer.
* * *
Lucifer remained as a cat through the summer. He worked at fueling his affinity. He found secret exits in the walls glamoured to look like the rest of the stone that were the perfect size for a cat or a sprite to fit through. Several times he encountered brownies, helper sprites who lived in the Unseen Realm. His cat instincts insisted he give chase and pounce on one of them. The human side of him told him that would be wrong.
Gertrude spent the majority of her time repairing books and reading. She turned into a cat during the full moon and mated with Lucifer. He tried to return to being human, but he hadn’t stored up enough magic, and he wasn’t able to break his curse.
It was an enjoyable diversion, nonetheless.
By the time teachers returned to school at the end of summer, he’d stored up enough kinetic energy—if that was what it was—chasing mice, the friction of being petted, and leftover energy from animals rutting in the forest, that he was overflowing with m
agic ready to be spent. During the first week that teachers were back for inservice, Gertrude invited another teacher back to her bed, and Lucifer transformed into a man again in the bathroom.
This time he hid in her shower, waiting for the man to leave. He didn’t want to be roped into another threesome.
The moment Gertrude opened the bathroom door to take a shower, Lucifer said, “I want to go to Abby’s house in the Morty Realm.”
Gertrude looked at him quizzically.
“Once I find her, she’ll want her clothes and things.” He needed her things. He wanted one of her old sweaters to smell her fragrance, a photo of her from the wall, anything to help him remember her when he turned into a cat and his brain forgot who he was and why it was important to be a man.
Gertrude bit her lip, her expression apprehensive. “Of course we can go.”
Her hesitation troubled him, but he couldn’t place his finger on what it was that worried her. Was it jealousy?
“I want a photo of her,” he said.
She stared up at him with wide eyes. “A photo and a lock of hair might help us locate her.” Gertrude sounded doubtful. “It might even help us communicate with her.”
Lucifer already knew where Abigail was; he didn’t need hair or a photo for a spell to assist him with that. But he did want to speak with her or help her in any way he could.
“Indeed. We will go and retrieve her things.” It was the closest he could come to being in her presence.
“I imagine it might be . . . cathartic for you.” She looked him up and down. “But perhaps we should get you something to wear first.”
His belly grumbled. “And food.”
She ran a hand over his muscular chest. “And build up your affinity.”
All roads with Gertrude seemed to lead to sex. Though Lucifer found her attractive, he would have rather refrained from carnal passions if he could have avoided it. He felt too much like he was cheating on Abigail when he didn’t.
Yet he couldn’t avoid it if he wanted to keep his affinity fueled. He hardened his heart against falling in love with Gertrude, but he feared it was inevitable.
Son of a Succubus Series Collection Page 13