Son of a Succubus Series Collection

by Dorie, Sarina

  “Don’t lick your hand like that, pet,” Gertrude said in her sweet voice, ruffling his hair when she caught him behaving like a cat. “Humans don’t do that.”

  “Right,” he grumbled from where he sat in bed. “I suppose you’ll tell me I have to wear clothes because that’s what humans do.”

  “Only when you leave my room.” She kissed his forehead.

  He didn’t look up from the book he was trying to read. “And I shouldn’t have wild animal sex with you because humans wouldn’t do that.”

  She laughed, the sultry sound luring him from reading. “No. Actually, they do.”

  Lucifer tried to learn to be human again—for Abigail’s sake. If he could be human after being a cat for so long, surely she could return to being human after being a tree again. He could help her get through it.

  He wanted to be human again for her, but there were moments he detested his human skin and the needs of his body. When Gertrude slept at night and wouldn’t be able to object, he escaped from the small stuffiness of her room to roam the school.

  Sometimes his feline instincts surfaced, and he stalked students who were out of bed when they shouldn’t have been, imagining they were mice or birds. His senses weren’t as sharp as they were when he was a cat. The smell of fear in the air as students realized they were being followed wasn’t as strong as what he could sense as a cat, and he was losing his ability to hear their heart thrumming with anxiety, but his sight was just as keen. He knew when a student’s footsteps quickened once he or she realized someone was following.

  Lucifer supposed he must be as wicked as his name implied, because he enjoyed terrorizing naughty students who were breaking school rules. When he was feeling especially daring, he used the secret passages he’d discovered as a cat and cut students off from escaping, growling at them and sending them back toward their dorm rooms. It was always hard not to laugh at the horrorstricken expressions on their faces.

  Scaring Imani was another matter. The night he caught her sneaking out of her dorm room, Lucifer couldn’t imagine why a good student like Imani would be up out of bed, sneaking around the school at night. He didn’t like startling her, but he didn’t want her getting in trouble either.

  So instead of following her, he simply blocked her path, though he kept mostly in the shadows. “Go back to your dorm room, Imani.” His voice came out especially gruff.

  She halted in the corridor, her eyes scanning the shadows but not seeing him. “Who’s there?”

  “The bogeyman. Go back to bed.”

  She withdrew her wand, buttery light emanating from the stick of wood. Lucifer sank back into the shadows. He didn’t want her to see his face. The last thing he needed was more questions, especially those concerning his relatives. Or worse yet, for her to tell Felix about him. Imani thought far too highly of her alchemy teacher. She was too trusting of everyone.

  “Are you the new security guard?” Imani asked, stepping forward.

  A smile twitched his lips. “Indeed.” He sank back into the shadows before she could see his face. “Go to your room before I give you a detention.”

  She gasped.

  A detention must have been the magic words at an academy for at-risk youth who were witches. She turned around and returned to the dormitory.

  When he related the story to Gertrude, he expected her to laugh.

  Instead she said, “You could see Mr. Khaba about a job. He’s our new principal. I’m sure he’d hire you for security if you wished. Especially if you told him about your situation.”

  “No,” he said firmly. “I don’t want anyone to know about my situation.” It was bad enough Gertrude knew. At least she was willing to help him. Khaba was a Fae. He couldn’t be trusted. Abigail had never trusted him.

  “He won’t tell Felix if that’s what you’re worried about,” Gertrude said. “He is very discreet.”

  Lucifer opened and closed his fists, the claws that were no longer there itching like phantom pains. “No,” he said again.

  She didn’t ask him why he didn’t want to tell his brother. She wasn’t like Abigail, always trying to convince him of his brother’s good character. He supposed that was why he liked Imani; she was like Abigail, always seeing the good in people, even when there was no good to be found.

  Gertrude was a different kind of person all together. He couldn’t tell whether she didn’t trust Felix or there was something more between them that she wasn’t saying. She didn’t pry into his reasons. He didn’t pry into hers.

  As the months passed, Gertrude taught Lucifer how to cook simple foods in her kitchenette and how to use rudimentary domestic spells to clean. Lucifer was wary of spending too much magic. He didn’t want to be forced back into his cat form. He kept up an ample supply of physical magic to charge himself. He also tested the boundaries of his curse to see how long he could stay in the Morty Realm before he turned back into a cat.

  He was fine if he returned at nightfall most occasions, but only if he fueled his affinity to be stronger than Baba’s Celestor spell.

  On one of these occasions that he was human and stalking through the shadows through the school, he found Imani sneaking into a hallway again.

  “Where are you off to this time?” he asked from the sanctuary of darkness.

  She lifted her chin. “You can’t give me a detention. I’m going to see a teacher.”

  “After hours? Is this teacher a lecherous old man?” He really hoped she wasn’t going to see his brother. If she was, he’d be forced to reveal himself when he punched Felix in the face.

  “No!” She crossed her arms. “I’m going to see Hailey Achilles.”

  He snorted at that. “Hailey is not a teacher.”

  “Yes, she is. She’s a substitute. Just until Ms. Lawrence comes back.” Her heart lurched, and the pain was so palpable in her voice, he could sense it.

  Lucifer had always been sensitive to physical pain, but rarely did he feel emotional pain like this, even when it manifested so strongly in the body.

  “Where is Clarissa Lawrence?” he asked softly.

  “She’s in a coma. The Raven Queen did something to her. I spent time with her this summer. I read to her every day. They say people in a coma can hear you sometimes.” Tears filled her eyes.

  He wanted to step into the light of her wand and hug her, but he didn’t dare.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “And Vega Bloodmire? Where is she?”

  “She took maternity leave and decided not to come back.” She quickly swiped her tears away with the back of her hand. “Who are you really?”

  “I work for security, remember? I can give you a detention if you annoy me.”

  “If you worked for the school, you would know what happened to Ms. Lawrence and Ms. Bloodmire.”

  Outwitted by a student. Forming coherent answers and believable lies was so much harder as a human this time around than it had been thirty years ago.

  He drew in a deep breath, uncertain he could trust Imani. He wanted to trust someone. “If I tell you, will you promise not to tell anyone?”

  There was a spark in her eyes, a hint of cunning squashed a second later and replaced by concern. “Why don’t you want me to tell anyone? Are you a spy?”

  “I’m a cat. Or I was a cat. I don’t want anyone to know I’m human.”

  “Lucy!” she squealed. “Mrs. Lawrence’s cat?”

  She was a quick one.

  “Indeed. Hush. Before you wake someone.”

  She rushed forward into the darkness, her wand not even lit. She would have tripped and probably fallen down the stairs if he hadn’t grabbed her.

  She embraced him and petted his back as if he were still a cat. Awkwardly he patted her shoulder, uncertain how to respond to a teenage girl hugging him when he was a human man. Sometimes things were easier as a cat.

  When she raised her wand and lit it to see him, he closed his fist round the tip of the stick before it
could illuminate his face.

  “Don’t do that,” he said.

  “Why don’t you want me to see you?” She drew back.

  “Because I’m ugly like Quasimodo,” he lied. The moment she recognized his features, she would know he was related to her alchemy teacher, and then there would be no stopping her from telling Felix.

  She snorted. “I doubt that.”

  “I just can’t let you see what I look like. Give me your word you won’t tell people about me. Please.”

  “Fine.” She held up her pinky. “I’ll pinky swear.”

  It had been too long since he’d done any binding bargains or magical oaths, so he settled for that. He still didn’t show her his face, but he walked her to Hailey Achilles’ room in the teacher dormitories in the dark.

  * * *

  While teenage students at the school learned to control their powers of magic and increased their defensive abilities against Fae, Lucifer spent most of his time relearning how to be human. He learned to stop licking himself. Concentrating on human tasks like reading became easier. Several times he lapsed back into being a cat, but he had figured out how to return to being human by now. It simply took time and building up his affinity.

  The year crawled by painfully slow. He was aware of every moment not spent finding the answers he needed to solve the problem of Abigail’s transformation—and more importantly how to get to her without being noticed by the Raven Court. He realized he could go longer without spending time lost in carnal passions with Gertrude—though he found it increasingly more difficult to refuse her advances, even when he didn’t need to fuel himself with touch magic.

  That was the problem with rooming with a siren. Probably it didn’t help that she was sharing her room with an incubus. They couldn’t keep their hands off each other.

  From the way Gertrude gazed adoringly at him, he feared she had fallen in love with him.

  “I’m only staying until I find a way to rescue Abby,” he told her.

  “Of course,” she said. Her mouth said one thing, but the longing in her eyes said another.

  After living for so many years as a ruthless cat, he couldn’t help wondering whether he would have resorted to using her like this had his soul been more human. He loathed himself for using her this way.

  * * *

  The school year ended and another began. Lucifer still hadn’t figured out anything other than how to wear human clothes again without feeling like he was being strangled.

  Imani had graduated, along with her other friends. Hailey was the only one out of Imani’s group who remained, and that was in her capacity as a teacher. Vega Bloodmire was absent this year again, and that concerned him. Lucifer continued to frequent the halls at night, using secret passageways to hide and listen in on conversations.

  As always, Lucifer avoided his brother.

  Teachers whispered about the growing threat of the Raven Court kidnapping students when they visited the nearby Witchkin town. Ravens had been sighted circling overhead. The schoolboard had officially accepted Mr. Khaba—a Fae and a djinn—as the long-term principal. Lucifer couldn’t tell whether a powerful Fae administrator meant the school was safer from attack or more at risk.

  The air was tense with the impending promise of change, but Lucifer couldn’t tell what that change would be. When he could stand it no longer, he went to Clarissa’s art room—now Hailey Achilles’ room—and composed her a note in his best handwriting.

  Hailey,

  This is a message written by Lucifer, Mrs. Lawrence’s familiar. I am desperate for news about Clarissa Lawrence and Vega Bloodmire. Are they all right?

  Your friend,

  Lucy

  He had hoped she might leave a response for him on her cluttered desk. When no response came, he feared she may have ignored it or never found it. His next step would be to speak with her in person as he had done with Imani. He didn’t relish the idea of making himself known.

  One evening as Lucifer and Gertrude were engaged in wild animal sex—while they both were in human form—the air around them shifted. The room tasted of starlight and ozone, not the usual combination of Gertrude’s magic or his. The flavor of graveyard dirt tingled in the air.

  Lucifer was suddenly aware of the new presence in the room.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  An Uninvited Guest

  The moment Lucifer realized he and Gertrude weren’t alone, his protective instincts took over. He pushed Gertrude behind him and leapt from the bed.

  A blindingly bright light flared before him, searing his vision.

  “Well, well. Someone is all dressed up and has nowhere to go,” a sultry female voice said.

  Lucifer held up his hand, shielding his eyes. His crouch was defensive, ready to attack should this be the Raven Queen who had broken through the school wards.

  Instead, Vega Bloodmire stood before him. She was the last person he’d expected to see.

  “What are you talking about?” he growled. “I’m not dressed at all.”

  “Exactly.” A smile curled her ruby lips upward.

  She was as elegant as ever, dressed in a beaded black gown that was more fitting for a cocktail party than what a schoolteacher might wear. There was something different about her magic, but he couldn’t place his finger on what it was. Her hair was certainly longer and wilder than last time he’d seen her, a thicket of shadows that flowed down her back.

  Gertrude tucked a blanket around herself more modestly. “Vega, why can’t you just knock like other people?”

  “Who wants to settle for the ordinary way of doing things when one possesses magic? Especially not when one’s former student mentions a cat with excellent penmanship inquired after the health of yours truly.” She leaned in closer to Lucifer, her gaze unfocused, as though she was seeing more than his naked body. “Ah, I see your curse is broken permanently this time. Good for you.” Her smile was as cunning as a cat’s. “You’ll be more useful that way.”

  Lucifer stared at her in disbelief. He wanted to believe it was true and his curse was truly broken this time, but he hardly dared to hope.

  “How do you know?” he asked.

  “Any Merlin-class Celestor worth her weight in starlight could tell you that.” She smirked at Gertrude. “Don’t tell me you weren’t aware of it. I know you’re more than adequate at detecting curses.”

  Annoyance coupled with hurt flashed through him. Gertrude wouldn’t meet his gaze.

  “You knew? And you didn’t tell me?” he demanded.

  Gertrude’s cheeks flushed.

  Vega laughed. “Why would she do that and lose her latest boy toy like she did with her last one?”

  “Close your mouth,” Gertrude said through clenched teeth.

  After all this time that he’d feared she might think he was using her, it was the other way around.

  Vega strode toward the door. “I have a proposition for you. I’ll meet you in your office in five minutes. Don’t make me wait.”

  She walked to the door, her heels hammering into the floor like nails in a coffin.

  Lucifer didn’t know whom he loathed more at the moment, Gertrude or Vega. He called after her. “Nothing you could say would entice me into any kind of proposition you have in mind.”

  Vega halted, glancing back over her shoulder. “I think this one will. It involves your precious Abigail.”

  Lucifer’s spine stiffened at the mention of her name.

  A soft cackle rose from Vega’s throat, reminding Lucifer of Baba Nata. “I have your attention now, do I?” Vega kept on walking.

  Gertrude flopped back onto the bed. “I would swear she was planning this and knew exactly when to interrupt us.”

  He doubted Vega had timed her entrance. There was a high probability that anytime Vega would have stopped by that wasn’t school hours, Lucifer would have been in Gertrude’s bed. Five minutes later, Lucifer was dressed and in Gertrude’s office do
wn the hall, where Vega was waiting for them.

  Vega had seated herself in the only chair in the office. Lucifer made it in before Gertrude, only bothering with his pants. He leaned against the cold stone wall, trying to look aloof and uninterested. The stone was uncomfortably cold against his back.

  “Well, what’s this proposition?” Lucifer asked.

  He had no doubt she took after her grandmother and would want him to agree to some kind of bargain that was as good as enslavement.

  “Recently my household was attacked by Fae. By the Raven Court to be exact.” She drummed her fingernails against the desk. “No doubt they came for Clarissa, but they didn’t manage to harm her. Not worse than she already is anyway. Though they did injure and kill others.”

  Lucifer tried to detect the meaning in her words. “Clarissa is still in a coma?”

  “No, she woke from that ages ago.” She waved him off.

  Relief flooded through him.

  Vega went on. “But she has some side effects from the incident with the Raven Queen, and I don’t know all the details. Nor would I share them with you if I did know.” She skewered him with an eyebrow.

  Gertrude rushed into the office from the short hallway that led from her private quarters. “What’s this bargain you mentioned?” She was out of breath, and her added presence made the small room feel even more cramped.

  Vega’s expression remained grim. “The Raven Court kidnapped Imani.”

  “No! Not Imani!” Lucifer clutched at his chest, feeling as if his heart were being crushed under the weight of the news. She had always been so kind to him. First it was Abigail and Clarissa, now the Raven Court had stolen Imani from him. Fury burned in him.

  “Those monsters murdered a child in my house. They killed our servants.” Malice flashed in Vega’s eyes. “Furthermore, I discovered they previously stole Felix and Clarissa’s baby. Apparently, he and Clarissa had a child, and he didn’t tell anyone because she was stolen by the Raven Queen.”