by Tricia Owens
She bumped shoulders with me. "Aw, you don't need to thank me. You're my best customer! My family can't afford to lose such a valuable source of income. Why do you think I'm your bodyguard?"
"Bodyguard? No way, biyatch. I'm your bodyguard."
Melanie grinned. "No, you listen, biyatch—"
"You're both bitches," said a new voice.
I froze and looked up. Liliana was draped across the open doorway of the strip club like a piece of lingerie. Her smile was a flash of lightning through a dark sky.
"I don't typically like bitches," she went on. "I prefer dealing with delicious men. But you've gone and stirred up trouble and now I have to do something about it." She narrowed her dark eyes at us. A pair of sharp fangs slid from her mouth and over her bottom lip.
Melanie squeezed my arm and gave a squeak of fright.
"Oh, quit it, Lili," I said, "you're scaring my friend."
Liliana broke into a husky laugh that gave me goose bumps. If I were a man, I probably would have been on my knees already, begging to kiss her feet. Liliana could be potent stuff.
"You're no fun, Anne." Liliana sniffed the air and cocked an eyebrow. "Come in for now. We have an audience."
I spun around, fearing the Oddsmakers' pixies, or perhaps more warlocks, but all I saw were shadows.
"Come in," Liliana insisted.
The compulsion in her voice tugged, but I didn't need much incentive to follow her inside. Like it or not, I needed help from a succubus stripper.
Chapter 5
I'd never been inside the back rooms of a strip club before, but from what I'd seen in movies about strippers, it wasn't normal for one dancer to have her own dressing room. Liliana, however, was no ordinary stripper. Doubtless she had 'influenced' the owner to treat her differently than the rest.
As Melanie and I tried not to look too awkward as we stood inside a room filled with racks of bikinis and underwear, Liliana, wearing a pale green silk yukata, arranged herself artfully in her chair before her makeup mirror.
She was stunning, with skin nearly black and equally dark hair that she'd curled into waves that spilled down her back. Her eyes were gray and it was hard not to stare at their contrasting color. She was a towering, ebony goddess of Namibia.
Except that she wasn't.
She leaned back in her chair and stretched her long, smooth legs along the vanity table. Her shoes were silver stilettos. They looked deadly.
Before any of us could speak, there was a knock on the door and it opened before Liliana could respond. I was slightly shocked until a middle-aged guy with a thick, blond mustache barged in. He was breathing heavily and was red in the face. One look at him and I knew he must be the manager of the club. He had a wad of folded bills peeking out of the pocket on his black shirt. The outermost bill was a hundred.
"What the hell are you doing back here?" he demanded, ignoring Melanie and me to glare at Liliana.
"Darling," she said, clearly unfazed by the rude entrance, "you're interrupting my time with my girls."
"You're still on shift! I want you back on the floor doing dances now, Lili!"
Melanie sucked in her breath and looked anxiously at Liliana, probably expecting her to respond by tearing the guy's face off. I knew better. Liliana was otherworldly, but she wasn't a beast. Only once had I seen her rattled and it wasn't by a measly human.
She curled her finger at the manager as if beckoning him for a lap dance. "Come here."
He didn't stand a chance. It was fascinating to watch, sort of like witnessing a mesmerized mouse staggering up to a cobra. The manager walked stiffly across the room, the growing lump in his pants leading the way, until he stopped beside Liliana's feet.
"You're making me unhappy," she purred at him. "You don’t want to make me unhappy, do you?"
"No," he gasped. "God, no. I'll do anything to make you happy. Anything. Please tell me." His knees buckled and he fell to the floor. "Liliana, let me worship you."
"Hmmm." She caressed his cheek and he shuddered. "You're a foul little man, aren't you?"
He moaned. "Yes. I am. Please..."
She sat back and lifted one foot and placed the sole of her shoe against his groin. He moaned loudly and then began to pant.
The air between them began to shimmer like the air above the asphalt during the summer. This wasn't a heat mirage, however. Liliana was sucking his sexual energy from the man, feeding from him like a sort of vampire. He moaned again as she rubbed her shoe against him. He obviously felt no pain as he swayed toward her.
Liliana was unique in that she was actually beautiful. Even without her succubus power she could have won the attention of nearly any man. I knew of other succubi and incubi who had to rely heavily on their power to coax their food to them. Watching them suck the energy from a person wouldn't have been nearly as titillating as watching her doing it now.
After about ten seconds of this, she used her foot to push him away. He whimpered, disappointed, and I felt a bit embarrassed for him. Liliana smacked her lips as though she'd just enjoyed a delicious meal.
"That's enough for now, darling. We'll do this again later. Stand up and run along now."
"Yes, Liliana. Thank you, Liliana."
The man climbed to his feet and staggered out of the room. He closed the door behind him gently, as if to apologize for his earlier brusque entrance.
Though Melanie continued to gape, Liliana was over it. She waved her hand as though clearing the air of a nasty stench.
"Anne Moody, why are you darkening my doorstep with warlocks and shape shifters?"
Her voice made me sway toward her, but again, it was something I could resist since I was the wrong gender.
"I came to ask for your help," I said, "but obviously we were attacked before I got the chance."
"I felt it through the walls. It distracted me from my work, as you've just heard."
"I'm sorry for that."
Liliana waved her finger at me. "Best watch out for that dragon of yours. It loves the spotlight."
"I know."
She studied my burned side with idle curiosity. "Magick scars will never heal if left untreated."
I shrugged, though the action hurt. "I'll be fine."
"Come here."
I really, really didn't want to, especially after the scene with the manager. But since I needed to remain on Liliana's good side, I reluctantly walked forward until I was within her reach. She extended a long-fingered hand that was tipped with silver fingernails. "Closer."
The air began to shimmer, much as it had earlier. I glanced at Melanie. Her eyes looked ready to pop out of their sockets. She was perched on the edge of her chair, ready to fling the monkey at Liliana even though she wouldn't have stood a chance against a succubus.
But whatever the manager had felt, it wasn't this. Instead of irresistible lust, I felt a cool relief spread over my injured side. When I pulled aside the burned edges of my clothing, I could see that my skin was perfectly healed.
Now that was a handy skill I wish that I possessed. In truth, I could heal myself if I gave in fully to the dragon. In that situation my human injury would be insignificant to a dragon. But too many negatives outweighed that benefit. Better to be a vulnerable human.
"Thank you, Lili."
Her smile was a slow, sensual stretch of the lips. "My pleasure."
I got the uncomfortable feeling that it really was her pleasure. Probably anything she did, from clipping her toenails to sautéing shrimp gave her some weird succubus pleasure.
I reached into the pocket of my jeans and pulled out my phone. "This is mine, but someone else handled it recently. Can you sense anything about him from this?"
Her lips curled. "I'm not a psychic."
"I'm aware of that, and I realize this is beneath you, but it's tied to the gargoyle you sensed outside. We're trying to help him."
"He's yummy," Liliana purred.
"You haven't seen him."
She licked a finger—pretty
much fellating it—and held it up as if testing for a breeze. "I don't need to. I've tasted him on the air. He's strong and he's dark. He's delectable."
Her comments irritated me, though I didn't want to think about why.
"He's going to be dead soon if I don't find him. He's having issues with a demon."
"I smelled that, too, darling."
Liliana pursed her lips and blew out a streamer of smoke. There was no cigarette in sight. I tried not to be wigged out.
Succubi were demons. A person learning that might have been afraid of Liliana. But in truth there was a whole catalog of demons, each presenting varying degrees of danger, similar to how daddy longlegs and black widows were both spiders but only one kind was a concern to you. Condemning all demons as bad was incorrect, but I understood how the uninformed could make that mistake.
A succubus, though more like a daddy longleg than a black widow in terms of threat, was still a demon who possessed demonic powers. Liliana evidently wanted to remind me of that.
I said to her, "Then you're aware that the demon possessing him is not like you are. It's—" I struggled for the appropriate word,"—barbaric."
I could see that she liked that. She held out her hand.
"Barbaric demons make life more difficult for sophisticated ones like me," she said as she closed her fingers over my phone. Her gaze held mine. I sincerely hoped she was sensing something from the phone and not engaging me in a staring contest. "Hmm, he's a magick user. Delicious as well."
I probably shouldn't have been surprised to learn that Christian was magickal, but I was. I hadn't sensed anything from him.
"What is he?"
When Liliana grinned, her fangs were fully extended. "He's a water fey."
I nearly choked on my tongue as I immediately pictured red-haired Ariel from the Little Mermaid.
"Why would a water fey live in the desert?" Melanie asked while I pulled my tongue out of my throat. "That makes no sense at all!"
"One would imagine he lives in a home with a very nice backyard pool," Liliana replied.
"That doesn't explain why he would move out here in the first place," I said, dogged. "His kind will always yearn for naturally formed bodies of water."
"Mmm, maybe you should ask him. But I'd be careful if I were you: he carries the taint of brimstone."
I exchanged a look with Melanie, who had slapped both hands against her cheeks. You only ever smelled brimstone when you were in Hell or when you were dealing with demons. Vegas could feel as hot as Hell sometimes, but my money was on the demons.
"So Christian is the one who locked the demon in the gargoyle statue with Vale."
Now I really didn't like red-heads. However, I still couldn't figure out one thing.
"Say he dumped the statue with me in the hopes that some tourist would buy it. It would be an easy way to get it far away from him. But if that was his plan, why give me his number?" I pointed at the phone Liliana still held. "Why give me the chance to trace everything back to him?"
She opened her hand and studied the background of my phone. It featured a photo of me and Melanie with raccoon eyes while the rest of our faces was covered with the white dirt of the playa at Burning Man.
"Cute," she said. When she smiled, I got a little wobbly in the knees. "I have no idea, Anne." She handed me back the phone.
I slumped. There went my hope for a last-minute, come-from-behind epiphany. "Okay, well, thanks for trying."
"You're a friend, and I hate to see you leave here unhappy." Liliana unwound herself and stood. With her heels she was well over six feet tall. She was striking and intimidating and I couldn't wait to get out of there, friends or no. "Come along, my bitches."
I laughed before I could stop myself. It was a good release of tension and Melanie seemed to appreciate it, too. She mouthed 'Wow!' at me as we followed Liliana out of her dressing room and down a hallway to the back entrance of the club. Muffled music followed us out. I made a mental note to catch Liliana performing one day. Hers must literally be the most entrancing show in the city.
Out in the alley again, I looked for signs that our earlier skirmish had caught the attention of the authorities, but all seemed quiet. Liliana remained framed within the doorway, her eyes on the shadows farther down the alley.
"I once attended Burning Man," she told me, surprising me. Her smile was fond and slightly wistful. It was the most human expression I'd ever seen her wear. "I met a human there who was obsessed with fire. For four days, he kept a pyre of wood burning and danced around it. I danced around his fire, too. We danced together."
You fell in love with him, I thought, amazed. I'd thought succubi were impervious to the emotion, subsisting only on desire and lust.
Liliana shook her head and the dreamy expression faded from her face, replaced with a look of cunning.
"This is only temporary," she warned me. She stared out at the shadows. "You'll need to find a permanent solution soon, or else he'll revert. But just for this little while...I think you will appreciate this." She extended her hand and curled her finger in a come hither motion. "Come along, darling. Don't be shy."
I hastily scanned the shadows, afraid of another ambush. A second attention-grabbing battle with the baddies wasn't ideal, so I called Lucky to me only in his weakest form.
However, nothing moved out in the alley that I could see.
"Mmm, but you're a strong one, aren't you?" Liliana sounded delighted. Her voice changed, growing softer, huskier. She was seducing someone, and I was damn glad it wasn't me because I would have tossed aside all shame and done whatever she'd asked of me. "Stop resisting me, darling. I don't want to take a bite of you. Not just yet. I need you to come out for Anne's sake."
Then: the sound of a halting footstep.
The moment I heard the hesitance in it I knew whose it was. "Vale," I breathed.
The shadows took on a shape. Then he separated from them, entering the light of a streetlamp. He appeared exactly as he had when I'd viewed him through the magick mirror, although I hadn't anticipated how tall he would be.
And that he would still be wearing clothes.
Trying to figure out why he hadn't shifted into a naked state like Lev always did when he transformed from wolf to man would destroy my brain. Or maybe just the image of Vale naked would. Regardless, there were too many magicks involved for me to make sense of them.
"Yummy," Liliana cooed.
I didn't like her perving on him. Vale wasn't mine but she was a succubus. I wouldn't have wanted to see any friend of mine unfairly influenced by her. Still, her power was what had pulled him out of his gargoyle form, so I couldn't exactly throw a fit.
"Come along, darling." Liliana hummed approval as Vale, head slightly down, moved closer. "As I said, Anne, this is only temporary. I have the power to call out the man from within the gargoyle, but he's still bound to the form. His nature will want to revert to that, especially with the curse on him."
"Will he turn to stone when the sun comes up?" Melanie asked worriedly.
"He's a gargoyle. It's what he does. I can do nothing for you after that."
Watching Vale closely, I asked, "And the demon?"
"Oh, it's still there." I detected a touch of distaste in Liliana's voice. "He's possessed by it, which is why I'm able to do this. He doesn't have the strength to fight both me and the demon at the same time. He's just powerful enough to keep the demon suppressed. But the clock is ticking, darling. Not even a deliciously strong gargoyle like this one can keep this up for much longer."
We had until sunrise, so maybe ten hours. As Vale's face came into view and I saw how hard he tried to resist Liliana only to fail because he was weakened from his struggle against the demon, I vowed to banish the demon inside him if it was the last thing I did. This was breaking Vale's pride. I wanted it to stop.
He came to a stop before us. His hands curled and uncurled by his sides, expressing his inner battle against the demon.
"I've pulled you ou
t," Liliana purred at him. "Are you alright to stand on your own two feet now?"
"Yes," he gritted out. He sounded better than he had in my head, his voice warmer and deeper. He took a deep breath. His scowl cleared. "Thank you."
"Oh, it's my pleasure...though not my complete pleasure."
Vale eyed her warily, which pleased me. Most guys would be groveling at her feet for a chance to polish her shoes with their tongues, much like the club manager had.
"You're not putting your hands on him, Lili," I said, which earned me Vale's guarded approval.
She shrugged, unrepentant. "I have an addiction. What am I to do?"
Melanie snorted and then laughed.
"Are you okay to walk to our car?" I asked Vale.
Though our discussion while he'd been trapped in his gargoyle form had been G-rated, I felt self-conscious now, like I was meeting a stranger with whom I'd been talking dirty to over the phone.
He narrowed his eyes at me. "I'm not a child."
I guessed he'd reached his limit of being pushed around.
I held up both hands. "It was just a question." I turned to Liliana. "Thank you for your help, Lili."
"I owe you, Anne. This won't pay off my debt, but it's a start, hmm?"
I nodded, ignoring Melanie, who was giving me a questioning look. My history with Liliana was a story for a day that didn't involve cursed gargoyles and demon possessions.
Liliana's grin was blinding. "Ta-ta, darlings. I hope you get your pesky demon sorted. You two make a luscious couple."
Cheeks hot, I began walking in the direction of Melanie's car. She hurried to fall into step with me.
"I'll tell you later," I said, warding off her curiosity.
"You'd better!" She glanced back at Vale. "He seems a little ungrateful, don't you think?"
"I guess I can't blame him. What have we done for him, really? He's out of his gargoyle form but so what? He's still possessed."
"But Orlaton may be able to help him."
"Hopefully." I was learning not to expect too much anymore.
I looked back over my shoulder to see if Vale was still following. The shadows seemed to love him, curling around his body like tailored garments. An effect of being a gargoyle? Or of being possessed by a demon?