Son of a Succubus Series Collection

by Dorie, Sarina

  “Oh no. What now?”

  He felt especially crabby to be interrupted again. When he turned to see what she’d found, he noticed the herd of unicorns through the trees. They were various shades of beige and brown, their earthy colors more natural than the wild palette of rainbows Morties envisioned unicorns would look like. The herd resembled mustangs, beautiful and untamed. Their two-foot horns were the hue of bone rather than gold or silver.

  Abigail let out a breathy sigh. She trampled through the brush toward them.

  It was obvious why they’d come. He was only surprised they hadn’t found her sooner. They gravitated to virgins like moths to a bug zapper. Abigail had been married for twenty years, but after being a tree and then being turned back to her human form, she appeared younger. She looked more like the teenager he’d once known than a grown woman in her forties.

  It seemed like so long ago that he’d worried she might think he was too old for her now that he was closer to twenty. The irony wasn’t lost on him that looks were nothing compared to the age of their minds.

  One of the unicorns hummed an eighties love ballad. He thought it might be the Eurythmics “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This).”

  Months ago, when Abigail had still been asleep, he’d found the unicorns singing over her bed, healing the wounds Baba had inflicted on her. He’d known then she had been a virgin. He’d asked for the unicorns’ help, but he’d scared them off. Probably it had been his sex magic. If he could succeed in drawing them closer, they might be able to heal her mind and restore her memories.

  Abigail cooed at the unicorns and waved. Lucifer remained at the stream, watching. As teenagers when they’d apprenticed for Baba together, they had watched unicorns from a distance. She had wanted to see them up close, but they wouldn’t come near because of him. He had known they didn’t like to approach nonvirgins, and he had hung back so that she might be able to pet one. What he hadn’t realized until much later was that his incubus magic repelled them.

  Most Witchkin and Fae thought his affinity of touch was a perversion of magic. Aside from witches like Baba, who truly understood the use of his magic and how it could also be used to draw out the affinities of others and make them stronger, most Fae and Witchkin in the Faerie Realm would have killed him for what he was. He’d still been learning to master his affinity at the time, and he hadn’t known how to completely hide what his affinity was, let alone hide his lack of chastity from a unicorn.

  He’d learned how to do both since that time.

  Lucifer didn’t want to drive them away. Abigail deserved to be able to pet them at least once in her life.

  And more importantly, he needed their magic. They might be able to cure her.

  Lucifer centered himself and shifted the pattern of his energy so that his magic tasted free of carnal desires. He diminished the red sphere of energy glowing in his core and filtered it so that only white light showed through. His magic was as clean and pure as freshly fallen snow. The light thrumming inside him changed tune, projecting peace and calm.

  Changing his resonance was easier to do with Abigail nearby to sample the essence of her chastity and to project a similar energy. He’d been practicing plant magic so much with her he could radiate the essence of spring. He imitated her innocence and wrapped that around himself.

  Then he magnified it thrice as strong.

  More unicorns emerged from the forest. There had to be close to a dozen. Some looked from him to Abigail, as if deciding who they were more curious about.

  Lucifer worked to maintain the illusion as he followed Abigail deeper into the forest. He kept his façade subdued and nonthreatening. He didn’t want to distract the unicorns from Abigail.

  Abigail squealed and ran up to the nearest unicorn, flinging her arms around his neck and burying her face in his mane. Another unicorn nudged her hand with his nose, wanting to be petted.

  “It’s the sleeping beauty from the other forest,” one of the unicorns said in a nasally Bronx accent.

  “Over here, sweetheart. He isn’t the only stallion who needs some loving.” This steed nudged another unicorn out of his way to get to Abigail.

  One snuffled at her hair. “She smells so sweet, like springtime and fruit still ripening on the vine.”

  Another bumped the others out of the way with his hips to smell her. “No, more like childhood memories and puppy love.”

  “Like rainbows and earth magic.”

  She giggled and stroked their noses. Lucifer had never seen such delight in her face. She basked in their attention. When she saw Lucifer watching her, she pointed to the unicorns and said his name.

  He made his way closer. One brushed up against him and nuzzled his neck, and he patted it.

  “I don’t suppose you’ve got any apples for us,” the unicorn asked.

  “I beg your pardon, but no. We didn’t expect to be graced with the presence of unicorns today.” Lucifer burned to ask them for assistance curing Abigail, but he knew asking a favor required one in return. If he could think of a way to make the unicorns believe it was their idea, they would be less likely to demand his immortal soul in return.

  Or apples that he didn’t have with him.

  One of the unicorns separated himself from the herd and stomped toward Lucifer. “What are you doing here?” the unicorn demanded.

  Lucifer had never been adept at telling one unicorn from another, but he guessed this must be the unicorn who had given him a ride to the Morty Realm. Months ago, Lucifer had been called on to fetch antibiotics for some rich noble’s syphilis.

  “Good day to you, Clyde,” Lucifer said.

  Clyde’s large brown eyes narrowed. “I told you if I ever saw you again, I’d run you through with my horn.”

  A tremor of nervousness crept through Lucifer. He hoped the unicorn was all talk and no action. When he’d last encountered Clyde, Lucifer hadn’t been able to keep up the glamour. Once it became clear he was not a virgin, they hadn’t parted under the politest of circumstances.

  Lucifer waved a hand at Abigail. “Do you really intend to impale me in front of an innocent?” To ensure the day remained free of blood and gore, Lucifer intensified his projection of purity and chastity.

  Clyde shook his head, looking like he was fighting a horsefly. “I know what you are, you elfin’ donkule monger.”

  “Whoa!” one of the unicorns said. “Watch your filthy mouth, Clyde. You are in the presence of a lady.”

  The loathing still hadn’t left Clyde’s eyes. Lucifer intensified the aura of innocence around himself. More of the unicorns crowded around him.

  “He smells like cotton candy,” one said.

  “No, he smells like garbage and pegasus breath.” Clyde inhaled deeply. He snuffled Lucifer’s chest. “By Nimue! I know I shouldn’t, but I just can’t help myself.”

  Two of the unicorns gave each other knowing looks. “I think Clyde is just trying to hog another virgin all to himself.”

  Abigail tried to lift herself onto one of the unicorns, but the steed was too tall. “Lucy.” Her eyes pleaded with Lucifer.

  Lucifer left Clyde to join her. “You want a lift up?”

  “Up,” she repeated.

  He didn’t remember her ever using that word before. That meant she was getting smarter. It might even be a sign she would return to normal someday.

  Lucifer patted the unicorn’s head. “Can she ride on your back? She weighs hardly anything. I just worry about her falling off if you walk too fast.” Or even if he didn’t walk too fast, she still might fall.

  The unicorn consented, and Lucifer gave her a boost. Her dress hitched up scandalously high for a maiden in the Faerie Realm, showing off her bloomers. He expected the unicorns to make a snide remark, but they didn’t. They were encouraging and kind to her.

  “Good girl. This is your first pony ride, isn’t it?” one asked.

  “Isn’t she precious? She has an affinity for unicorns, doesn�
�t she?”

  “Plants, actually,” Lucifer said. “Oak.”

  She wove her fingers through her unicorn’s mane, laughing in delight as the stallion slowly walked forward.

  Lucifer held a hand on Abigail’s belly and the other on her back to keep her in place. It was difficult to keep up with the unicorn while walking sideways and holding her like that. One of the other unicorns wedged himself beside her as she rode, holding his head and neck just on her other side to support her. They were gentle, treating her like a baby.

  “I’ve got her,” another unicorn said, nudging Lucifer out of the way so he could support Abigail on that side.

  Lucifer followed behind, ready to lunge forward if she slid off. She turned and waved to him. She was so enchanted by the unicorns, he couldn’t help smiling along with her. He would have given anything to gift her with such joy and wonder more often.

  “I see the princess has all her fingers and toes this time,” Clyde said, coming up behind Lucifer.

  Lucifer glanced over his shoulder. “I told you before, I wasn’t the one who did that to her. It was Baba Nata.”

  Clyde blew air through his lips. “But you let her do it.”

  “I didn’t know.” At least that time, he didn’t. Lucifer was glad to be turned away from Clyde so that the unicorn wouldn’t read the guilt in his face. “I’m not going to let Baba do that to Abby anymore. I’ll be able to protect her better now that she’s awake.”

  “Sure you will. And my name is Michael Jackson.”

  One of the unicorns must have overheard the exchange because he started humming “Billie Jean.” It only took a couple of seconds for more of them to join in. Abigail hummed along with them. Lucifer wondered how unicorns from the Faerie Realm had been exposed to eighties music and developed accents from the Bronx.

  But he had more important matters to focus on.

  He tried to steer the conversation toward an arena that would make the unicorns inclined to help her. “Abby’s awake now, but she isn’t herself. It’s dangerous with her this way. She doesn’t understand the world. Someone might take advantage of that.” Lucifer didn’t have apples to offer the unicorns, but he could make them think about losing something they liked, namely, an untouched maiden.

  “Uh-huh. So how is it she’s still a virgin?” Clyde asked.

  “What do you mean?” Lucifer turned to take in Clyde’s expressive horse face. “Why wouldn’t she be? I’ve been protecting her.”

  Clyde frowned—or as much as a unicorn could frown. “A beautiful girl like that. . . . A filthy incubus like you. It stands to reason it’s going to happen sooner or later.”

  They sounded just like Kelsie. “Just because my affinity uses sex magic doesn’t mean I’m a sexual deviant.”

  Clyde snorted. “Right.”

  The unicorns had stopped singing. They circled around him, their large eyes and pointy horns less friendly than they had been moments before. Lucifer realized his hold on his virgin façade had slipped.

  “I wouldn’t take advantage of her,” he said firmly. He fought the Red affinity inside him, attempting to decrease it.

  The unicorns that had ridden on each side of Abigail to ensure she didn’t fall off abandoned her to aim their horns at Lucifer. She wobbled precariously.

  “You can’t leave her like that. She’s going to fall.” Lucifer tried to step forward, but they blocked his way.

  “She’s a big girl. She’ll be fine,” a unicorn with a dappled gray hide said.

  Lucifer tracked her movements with his eyes. She held on to the unicorn as he circled around Lucifer with greater speed.

  One of the unicorns sniffed at the air. “You smell like pegasus excrement.”

  “See, I told you,” said Clyde.

  “I love Abby. I wouldn’t do anything to hurt her.” Not intentionally. His heart weighed heavy in his chest. Except he had hurt her. She was like this because of him.

  And he had taken advantage of her when he’d kissed her at sunrise, though he hadn’t meant to. Probably he would keep putting her innocence at risk because he was a filthy incubus just like they said.

  “Your heart feels like shattered rainbows and trampled dreams.” Clyde squinted at him. “I guess she didn’t wake up the way you expected.”

  Lucifer tried to swallow the lump in his throat. “I thought if I put her soul back in her body, we could be together like we were supposed to be—before we were both cursed. I intended to marry her.”

  “So he botched the job. Figures,” a unicorn muttered.

  The snide remark needled under Lucifer’s skin. He bit his tongue against a venomous reply. Spite wasn’t going to help Abby. “It hurts to see her like this. She needs help being restored to her former self.”

  He waited for the unicorns to take the bait, to offer to help her. She was a virgin after all, and they were known for performing good deeds on behalf of the good and chaste.

  “If you touch her with your horn do you think it might restore her?” Lucifer asked.

  One of the unicorns turned his behind toward Lucifer, blocking two others from view as they muttered low under their breaths. Lucifer had the distinct feeling he was being snubbed. One of them glanced over his shoulder, expressive eyes narrowed with contempt.

  “Unicorns specialize in physical ailments. This little beauty is perfectly intact.” Clyde looked Abigail up and down in admiration as she rode past him.

  Lucifer had a suspicion the virgin-monger meant more than she was simply unscratched and possessing all her toes. She was only intact to them because she still had a hymen. They could be so prejudiced that way.

  Clyde tilted his head to the side. “What do you intend now that she doesn’t have a soul? Are you still going to marry her?”

  “Abby does have a soul. She just needs time for it to adjust and get used to her body.” Lucifer tried to strengthen his glamour, but his heartbeat had increased. He wiped his sweaty palms on his trousers. He was having difficulty concentrating. “She’ll be better soon. Any day now she’s going to be better.” He looked to Clyde hopefully. “All she needs is a magical cure. You can heal her, right?”

  One of the unicorns snorted. Lucifer suspected he needed to offer the unicorns something in return. “If you come back with us, we can give you carrots from the garden.”

  He could face Baba’s wrath over offering them their produce later.

  The unicorns rolled their eyes and stomped their feet. They didn’t look pleased.

  He considered what he’d used to persuade unicorns in the past. “Or apples. We have a barrel full at the cottage.” Half a barrel anyway.

  They still didn’t take the bait.

  “Or more virgins at the cottage who can brush your hair and lavish you with attention.” Lucifer didn’t actually know if Kelsie was a virgin, but she was young. And she said she wasn’t interested in men, so if she’d had amorous relations with women, it was possible the unicorns wouldn’t consider her deflowered.

  “More virgins . . . like you? Nice try.” One of the unicorns stomped close to Lucifer’s foot.

  He edged back, uncertain whether the stallion had missed on purpose or accidentally.

  “Tell me what I need to offer you to help.” Lucifer felt like he was making a bargain with devils.

  Another unicorn turned his back on Lucifer. “There’s nothing you can offer us that will make us help you.”

  Clyde frowned. His brown eyes spoke volumes of sorrow. “There’s nothing you can offer that we can accept.”

  “Because I’m not a virgin?” Perhaps if Abigail gave them the apples.

  “Because we can’t cure her. Nothing is physically wrong with her.” Clyde blew air through his lips. “Haven’t you wondered why she isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer? You messed up big time. You didn’t anchor her soul to her body. There’s nothing inside her.”

  Despair tore through Lucifer before he pushed it away. Clyde had to
be saying that simply to be cruel.

  Lucifer looked to her. Abigail was no longer laughing. She was sliding sideways on the unicorn she rode, clinging to the mane, and no one was there to catch her.

  Lucifer tried to go to her, but the unicorns blocked his way. “She’s going to fall. She needs me.”

  “She doesn’t need you.” Clyde’s eyes narrowed. “You need her.”

  Lucifer shoved at Clyde who was blocking his way. “Abby, hold on. I’ll be right there.”

  She pulled herself back onto the unicorn’s back with strength he hadn’t known she possessed. She waved at him, her delight at her achievement evident.

  “You animated a body with only a sliver of soul,” Clyde said. “What did you do with the rest of it?”

  That was a good question.

  The world collapsed in on Lucifer, shredding away all hope. The truth of what he’d done was far worse than he’d ever suspected. How could he possibly fix Abigail now?

  CHAPTER TEN

  Soul Mate

  Lucifer thundered into the cottage. The only thing that had kept him from directly running home was Abigail. After he’d helped her down from the unicorns, he’d first urged her to hasten her pace, then carried her piggyback when she walked too slow for his liking. His mind kept returning to the unicorn’s words.

  What did you do with the rest of it?

  If Abigail only had a sliver of soul, where was the rest of her soul? Was it still in the bottle Baba had retrieved after Lucifer had discarded it?

  Lucifer had known he’d put her soul into her body incorrectly. He hadn’t needed Baba to tell him that much; he could see it himself. What she had failed to make clear was how thoroughly he’d botched the restoration.

  When he reached the cottage, he was out of breath. He hastily dropped the burden from his back, less gently than he should have in his rush to speak to Baba. Abigail rolled onto the cushion of plants in the garden, laughing as though this were a game.

  He hastened into the cottage. Kelsie and Baba leaned over a book at the table, the two of them muttering a spell. Abigail followed him inside.