When she finished, a breeze immediately swept the room, lifting her hair from her shoulders. Goose bumps prickled her skin and butterflies skipped in her belly.
Everything around her wavered like she was looking through a window of water.
Ericka’s lips parted and her heart thundered as she got to her feet. A stone archway appeared and she couldn’t see the condo’s kitchen anymore. On the other side of the wavering air was an enormous room with lots of other archways.
She raised her hand. Instead of air, she touched a rubbery surface. She pushed—
And tumbled through the archway.
Ericka screamed when the sucking sensation grabbed hold of her and the condo vanished. The sensation of being engulfed in goo surrounded her before she stumbled out of it and dropped to her hands and knees on a polished marble floor.
If her heart didn’t stop beating so hard it was going to explode.
“What the hell?” she said as cool marble chilled her knees and hands.
She glanced up from the floor.
Someone was in front of her.
Ericka’s gaze slowly traveled up the blue-robed form until she met the golden eyes of a gorgeous, blonde woman. Her beauty was marred only by her hard expression.
“Rise.” The woman motioned with her hand for Ericka to stand. “I wish to see the woman who cost my son his future.”
Ericka’s cheeks burned as she got to her feet and stood eye-to-eye with the woman. “I never wanted Aedan to go to the Realm of the Dead.” She spoke so fast she stumbled over her words. “Don’t let him be taken. Please.” When she finished speaking she was clenching her hands so tightly that her nails dug into her palms.
“It is...too late.” The woman’s voice softened. “My son has been banished to the flames.”
“No.” Ericka shook her head as her mind began to reel. “No, he can’t be.” Heat flushed through her as if she was in the fire as a vivid image of him burning alive seared her mind.
Something the woman had said clicked. “You’re Aedan’s mother?”
She inclined her head. “I am Belisma, the water goddess.”
“A-a goddess?” Ericka’s brain stuttered at Belisma’s statement. But she managed to grasp one obvious thread. “If you’re a goddess, can’t you save him?”
Belisma stepped closer to Ericka and raised her hand. The goddess’s fingertips were cool as she brushed them along Ericka’s cheek.
The goddess stared thoughtfully at Ericka as she stroked her fingers through Ericka’s wild red hair.
Ericka wanted to scream and stomp her feet but instead she felt the power of the goddess’s hold and didn’t move.
Belisma let her hand fall away. “You have offered a great gift to my son. Not only half your soul, but you have also given of your love.” The goddess nodded as if to herself.
She continued. “I believe my son has earned his peace and his reward. His choice to spare you and love you is a powerful thing. In the eyes of the universe he should be free of the Realm of the Dead by right and fairness.”
Ericka swallowed, hope welling up within her, but she said nothing.
The goddess now had a faraway look in her eyes. “I will call for a Council session.” Her gaze met Ericka’s again. “They may disagree—nothing is certain. But the gods have it within our power to grant reprieve from the Realm of the Dead. You both may be saved, or both condemned.”
“Condemned?” Ericka whispered.
“If the Council does not make this exception for Aedan, you could be forced to join him in the Realm of the Dead—if you indeed choose freely to give him half of your soul.” Belisma’s expression hardened again. “Are you willing to take that risk, as he was willing to send himself to the Realm to spare you such a fate?”
Ericka hesitated and closed her eyes. Would she choose an eternity of being burned alive and never seeing her family or friends again? Would she risk all of that to save Aedan?
The right and true answer came from deep within as she opened her eyes. “I will take that risk.”
The goddess inclined her head. “Wait in Aedan’s quarters while the Council makes its determination.”
“Thank you,” Ericka said just before her stomach dropped to her toes and the room spun.
She no longer stood on the marble floor.
Her feet touched down on grass. The dizziness vanished as she caught her balance and took in the chamber she’d been sent to. Aedan’s room.
The sense of the surreal continued to accompany her as she explored the chamber. A waterfall tumbled over stones in one corner of the room, adding the clean scent of water to the smells of grass and moss covering the rock walls.
She stepped past the large bed carved from rock that had a mattress in it.
Aedan sleeps here. This is where he comes when he leaves me.
No. Where he slept before…
She couldn’t even finish the thought. Only positive thoughts from here on out. The Council would rule in their favor. She didn’t know what would happen next, but she wasn’t going to give up hope.
Ericka stopped in front of one of several pools around the room. Colorful fish glimmered in the water—some she was familiar with, like angelfish and Japanese koi. But others she didn’t remember ever seeing before. At the Rainforest Café, they had the coolest aquariums—
“I don’t believe it.” She tipped her head back to see a star-filled night sky above her. “Aedan’s burning alive right now, I’m in some strange Otherworld, and I’m thinking about fish.”
Ericka bit the inside of her cheek and glanced at the bed. Heart and soul heavy, she moved to the bed and perched on the edge of a straw-filled mattress. She stared at the wall across from her, tracing cracks in the stone with her gaze.
She’d made the right decision. No doubt about it. No matter what happened.
Right?
Chapter 6
Aedan had never known such pain existed. He could barely choke back screams from the never-ending sensation of his flesh burning away. It felt as though his flesh melted only to grow back and burn away again and again.
The demons had chained him to jagged volcanic rock. The iron manacles seared his flesh, making the heat even more intense where there was contact. He ground his teeth as boiling lava splashed his legs and blasts of flame singed his chest and face. Sweat immediately dried in the beyond terrifying heat.
Screams, shrieks, and sobs echoed from every direction. His gut twisted at the thought that he was responsible for so many of the people who now spent an eternity here. Mafia bosses and gang leaders, murderers, psychopaths, rapists, thieves—those he didn’t regret as much as he did the innocents.
Had he ever been given a choice to do anything but take souls? No. He was what he was created to be, an Incubus who served the gods. Choice had never entered his mind.
He had never given a second thought to what happened to the souls once he retrieved them—until Ericka.
Her name echoed in his mind and he tried to focus on her instead of the blistering pain. The fall of her red hair against her pillow, the intense blue of her eyes, the perfect feel of her thighs around his hips.
But more than that was all he had witnessed when he studied her before he began visiting her each night. Her love for her family, her dedication, her tenacity, her kindness, her joy.
Aedan couldn’t help fighting against his searing bonds, even though it did no good. Even the air he breathed burned his lungs as he kept his thoughts on Ericka.
He had never understood why he had been sent to her until now. It had been a test. A test he had failed.
Two demons appeared in front of Aedan. They unshackled him, grabbed him under his arms, and dragged him through great pools of lava. He couldn’t help a shout from the excruciating pain.
Surprise shot through him as the demons took him to the entrance to the Realm of the Dead and tossed him out of the flames and into the cool tunnel. His head struck rock and his mind spun, but relief from no longe
r being in the Realm was immediate. The memory of the pain still caused him to feel like his skin was burning, but it was slowly fading.
“What—?” His words slurred as the demons grasped him under his arms again and forced him to his feet before prodding him to walk. “What—what is going on?”
No one ever left the Realm of the Dead.
The demons ignored Aedan and caught him when his legs gave out. They pulled him through the passageway and into the Hall of the Lost that now seemed chilly. He could barely focus as they dragged him along the cool marble floor.
His vision wavered and time lost meaning. Then the demons arrived at his chamber. More shock prickled his skin when the demons pushed open the door and shoved him into his quarters.
Aedan landed on his knees on the thick grass and rested his forehead in his palms. Trying to catch his breath as the demons slammed the door, he breathed in the sweet scent of grass and water and…vanilla?
“Aedan!”
He jerked his head up.
Ericka.
His mind could not process what he was seeing—Ericka rushing across the chamber to him. A hallucination, he thought until she reached him, dropped to her knees and flung her arms around him.
He almost toppled from the force of her throwing herself against him and he winced from remnants of pain. He recovered fast enough to hold her tightly to him.
“Oh, God.” Tears trickled down her cheeks and slid onto his chest. “Or gods or goddesses. Whoever brought you to me.”
Ericka’s words jarred him to his senses and he grabbed her by her upper arms. “What are you doing here?” he growled as he stared at her beautiful face. “Have they taken you? What have they done?”
“I’m okay.” She caressed his cheek as her blue eyes met his. “I came for you.”
“No.” He gripped her arms so tight she winced and he immediately relaxed his hold. “You will return. Where you will be safe.”
“I—I have something to tell you.” Ericka cleared her throat then words spilled from her lips. “I’ve told your gods and goddesses that I’m giving you half of my soul. And all my love.”
“Half of your soul?” Aedan’s whole body tensed. He could not have heard right. “Are you daft?”
“I realized you mean too much to me to let you go. And I couldn’t let you be sent to that awful place.” She hurried before he could say anything else. “Your Council...Belisma went to them to determine what will happen to both of us.”
“No. I will not allow you to suffer in any way.” He shook his head. “You will go home.”
Belisma appeared like the crest of a wave.
She spun into Aedan’s quarters with the grace and power of the rapids of a river.
Aedan refused to release Ericka to bow to the goddess.
“Rise, Aedan of the Incubae.” Belisma’s voice was surprisingly soft.
He eased to his feet, holding Ericka tight to him.
“The Council made its decision on your fate and Ericka’s,” Belisma said, no expression revealing whatever emotions she might have.
“Because a mortal has offered half of her soul to you, and because you have earned her unconditional love, you are spared the fate of the Realm of the Dead.” She smiled and added, “You will return to Ericka’s world and you will live as a mortal. You may walk in the daylight, take a wife, and reproduce.”
“He can come back with me?” Ericka’s voice was one of both disbelief and excitement.
“It is so.” Belisma’s gaze returned to meet Aedan’s. “You will be given whatever papers and human things you need to live in the mortal world. You will age and you will die and you will forget your life as an Incubus.
“Or,” Belisma continued, “you may go to Annwn and continue to live as an immortal. The choice is yours.”
Aedan had difficulty finding the right words as he looked at the beautiful woman still cradled against him. “If she will have me, I would choose to live a mortal’s life with Ericka.”
“What do you mean, if I will have you?” Ericka turned and threw her arms around his neck. “I love you, Aedan. I’ll have you any way I can get you.”
She kissed him hard and hungry and he returned the kiss just as passionately. So much so that his thoughts spun and he heard only the pounding of their hearts.
Aedan jerked his eyes open and his head up and realized his feet no longer touched grass but smooth tile. It took a moment for him to realize they were in Ericka’s home. He almost laughed when he saw glass tanks now lining one wall—tanks filled with water and his collections of fish.
When he looked at Ericka, she was grinning and his smile widened.
“Your eyes are brown now, not gold.” Ericka stroked his cheek. “They’re beautiful.”
Aedan had nearly forgotten Belisma. He turned to see if she had accompanied them, but she hadn’t. Even the ever-present veil was gone.
For a moment he felt lightheaded and stumbled forward.
Ericka caught him by his shoulders, her expression concerned. “What’s wrong?”
He looked at her and this time he did laugh. “I think I’m feeling...human.”
“Wow,” she murmured. “My own demon lover.”
Aedan settled his hands on her hips. “Your human lover, you mean.”
Her expression grew serious. “I love you.”
Aedan took her face in his hands and kissed her hard. He separated his mouth from hers and whispered against her lips, “I love you, Ericka Roberts. For all of our years. I love you.”
Succubus Seduction
(Formerly published in the “Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance” anthology)
by Cheyenne McCray
Chapter 1
Lilin opened and closed her diaphanous wings, causing the air to stir and sparks to glitter in the dark as she studied tonight’s prey. Archer Dane.
She took a step closer, the wood floor cool beneath her bare feet. The human seemed to fill the room with his presence—even in sleep. She had the maddening desire to brush his black hair from his forehead, to see his blue eyes open and look up at her as their gazes connected. He would roll her beneath his powerful body and give her one of his rare smiles before he slid inside her.
A delicate shiver ran through her, causing her wings to tremble.
As a Succubus, Lilin usually had her choice of any man. They were easy creatures. See a naked woman and immediately a man hardened in greeting.
She would ride her lover of the night…take his seed…and his soul.
But this Archer Dane affected her in some strange, almost unfathomable way. After centuries of taking men to replenish herself, she had been feeling less and less pleasure. Most men proved to be little sport.
She needed something more.
The goddess Rusalka insisted Lilin bring her Archer’s soul. Odd. Normally, Lilin kept a male’s soul to nourish her until she claimed her next prey, but Rusalka was intent on having this male’s soul for her own.
For days she’d observed him. Even now, as she watched him sleep, she licked her lower lip. She gripped the corner bedpost as her wings created a draft, teasing his hair as he slept. In all her centuries of existence, no man had thrilled her so.
Stop thinking of this mere mortal as if he is more than an assignment. I will give his soul to Rusalka and move on to my next prey.
After making her wings disappear, with unusual excitement in her belly, she stepped toward Archer.
Archer’s skin prickled and his muscles bunched as he tensed. He was being watched. He kept his breathing slow but slitted his eyes enough to see.
He almost opened his eyes as surprise arrowed through him.
A beautiful, petite naked woman stood at the foot of his bed.
With wings. She fucking had wings.
A breeze brushed his face every time she opened and closed those wings. The woman licked her bottom lip and looked at him like he was a treat. Her wings drew back and vanished.
What the—
A
rcher squeezed his eyes shut.
Dream. No other explanation.
He opened his eyes fully.
Nope. Still there.
It had been so long since he’d been with a woman that now he was imagining a ready and willing female in his bedroom.
The dream woman stopped. Blinked. Then smiled. “Hello, Archer.”
Her voice was so clear, as if she really was there speaking to him. He frowned as he pushed himself up, swung his legs over the side of the bed and got to his feet. He towered over the small woman.
Her gaze widened. “Why did you get up?”
Too real. Everything about this felt real.
“Who are you?” He slept in the nude, and he and his damned erection faced her.
“I’m Lilin.” Her silver eyes glittered in the moonlight. She tried to touch him, but he caught her wrist.
Long silvery-blonde hair flowed around her shoulders as she moved close enough that her body heat burned into him, her bare breasts brushing his chest. Her scent was like a rain-washed spring night.
The lower half of him was asking, “What are you waiting for?” But at the same time he was grinding his teeth.
He hardened his grip. “I don’t know what you want, lady,” he growled, “but you’d better get your little ass out.”
She gave a seductive smile. “I want you.”
Even though his body was shouting otherwise, he said, “I don’t do strange women. And I sure don’t know you.”
Her lips curved into a wicked smile. “You will, Archer Dane.”
She vanished.
She fucking vanished.
He stared at the spot where his dream woman had been standing and let his now empty hands drop away.
* * * * *
Lilin frowned as she sat on the bank of the River of Life. The water glittered in the moonlight and made soft splashing sounds against the shore.
Her silky hair slid over her shoulders as she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around her knees, holding them close to her chest. The human had rejected her. Rejected her!
She had wanted a challenge and apparently Archer was it. She would make good on her promise and the male would come to know her. Then she would bed him and drain him of his soul.
Demons and Lovers Page 5