by Emma Jaye
The disrespect this over-ripe, frankly revolting female showed his demon had fury rising.
“Not gonna happen. I wouldn’t go near you with a barge pole,” Finn called out, but he did back up behind the counter.
Malcolm took a step forward. “Let’s get on with this before the others get back. All we need is a spark to conceive, there are enough supernatural tourists passing through here to keep a pregnancy going.”
Ezra moved to block the other incubus. “You’ll have your work cut out. Every time he looks at her he feels like throwing up. He’s not into girls.”
“Is that a challenge?” Freya said and pushed her oversized breasts together.
Ezra gagged loudly. “Sorry, bond feedback. You really turn his stomach.” Ezra’s eyes flicked to her. “To be honest, you don’t do much for me either. Those things on your chest look like floatation devices. Maybe Silas will rent you for his swimming lessons, because that’s the only action you’re going to get.”
“Well at least my mother didn’t sell me to a vampire,” Freya spat back.
“Oh, come on, surely a pensioner like you can come up with something better than that, how old are you anyway, Freya? Over a thousand yet, because you certainly look it. I’m surprised you don’t need a wheelbarrow to carry those baggy boobs around.”
Finn snorted as Freya’s attempted seduction degenerated into a name calling session which Ezra was winning hands down. Ezra might be smiling, but Finn could feel his worry as a weight dragging at his gut.
“Did I miss something? Are we going nudist this week? Because I’m really up for that.”
Finn glanced behind him, to see a sleepy looking Gethin reaching for the bottom of his shirt.
“And which one are you, dumb or dumber?” Freya snapped.
“You didn’t say that last night. I believe I’m offended.” Gethin sniffed.
“Go shut Finn’s door,” Ezra said, keeping his focus on his fellow sex demons.
The canine shifter glanced over towards the building. “If you knew you left it open, why didn’t you shut it?” He started back towards the building. “But what do I know, I’m only the stupid shifter. Sheesh, and I thought demons didn’t take the piss as much as shifters.”
Just before Gethin left Finn’s field of vision, he saw a flash of pink hair. Ezra glanced back at him, then returned his attention to the pair of demons, but his shoulders were a little less tense.
“Time’s getting on Freya,” Malcolm warned. And the pair moved forward.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
Freya’s jaw clenched as Pixie appeared around the corner.
Something wet touched Finn’s leg as he noticed a distinct ‘wet dog’ smell. He looked down to see the shape of a large black dog shimmer and turn into a naked man crouched behind the counter.
Gethin grinned and indicated his groin. Finn blinked at his obvious erection.
“I’ve come to save the day, by cuming,” he whispered loud enough for everyone in the bar to hear if Freya and Pixie hadn’t been screeching at each other like a couple of fishwives.
“Go on, pay attention to them, we don’t want them to work out I’m here,” Gethin whispered as he began to ‘save the day’ by working on himself with remarkable enthusiasm.
Could my life ever get more surreal than this? Finn hoped he never had the opportunity to find out.
Silas blurred into the centre of the bar area and took up a fighting stance between the arguing sex demons. Gethin gripped Finn’s leg. A wave of lust energy flowed into him as the canine shifter groaned, ‘Oh fuck’.
“Well there goes that idea,” Malcolm threw up his arms and turned on his wife. “You couldn’t wait, could you?”
Gethin popped up beside him, pride radiating from him almost as much as the smell of newly release cum. “Hey, Pixie, I did it, I shut the door. I think I broke my own speed record too!” he shouted.
Finn rested his elbows on the counter and put his head in his hands.
“Finn, you alright?” Pixie called over.
But he couldn’t look up, because if he did... A hand landed on his shoulder.
Ezra looked as if he was about to bust a blood vessel he was holding in his mirth so hard.
Finn pointed at him, trying, and failing, to stop himself grinning. “Don’t, don’t you dare say it.”
“What the hell is going on here?” Avery’s voice rang out.
Finn managed to keep an almost straight face until Gethin’s brothers turned up and the still naked shifter jogged toward them to announce his heroic news.
Ezra closed the few inches remaining between them.
“Well, how does it feel to be saved by premature ejaculation?”
CHAPTER 20
After the drama of the morning, Ezra sat in the sunshine watching Finn attempt to give the twins and Silas another swimming lesson. Seeing the usually confident Silas deferring to Finn showed just how much the vampire had changed since his cellar days.
Avery plonked down on the sand next to him.
“How did it go?”
“Arioch has two new residents at the prison. Only for a couple of years though. They were desperate and having Finn so close,” he shrugged, “I guess Freya lost her sense of perspective. I don’t think they would have hurt either of you.”
They watched Finn take Silas’s hand and lead him out into deeper water. The water reached Finn’s collarbones but only Silas’s chest.
“He’s going to have to get over his aversion to women, even if it’s only succubi.”
Ezra sighed. Ever since he got his memory back and realised Finn didn’t find women the least bit sexually attractive, he’d known this conversation was coming.
“No, no he really doesn’t,” Ezra said, as he watched Silas, with Finn’s encouragement, bob down in the water till his chin touched it. Considering Silas hadn’t even put a foot in the water to try and save Ezra’s life, it was a huge step. His Finn had epic teaching skills.
Avery didn’t move, but Ezra could feel his fellow incubus deflate beside him. “That’s it then, we’re finished. You really will be the last.”
“I doubt it, what with all this new interspecies co-operation. It’ll just take more planning, that’s all. I’m living proof that it can happen. I promised him, and myself, that neither of us would have to sleep with anyone we didn’t want to again. If he never wants to go with anyone but me for the rest of his life, that’s fine with me.”
“But you’ll have to,” Avery stated the obvious.
Ezra shrugged. “He knows that. I don’t have to rub it in his face though if it upsets him.”
Avery got to his feet and brushed the sand off his backside. “You are welcome to stay here as long as you like, this place can always do with extra staff who know the score. There happens to be a permanent vacancy for bar staff, and by the looks of it, Finn would make a great swimming instructor.”
Ezra looked up at him. “Perhaps you’re not as bad as I thought, cousin.”
Avery grinned, the golden smile lit up his face. “Oh, I am, I just lie better than you do. I’m off to fill up before the next council meeting, I don’t want to be distracted when I face the new vampire delegate.”
“Anyone I know?”
“Don’t think so. I expect the Scottish clan will keep their heads down for at least a couple of centuries.”
Avery held his hand out and Ezra took it. “It’s a shame I won’t be becoming a grandparent, my kids will give me hell, but–” he glanced over at a smiling Finn, “–I know why you’re doing it. I would have done the same for Frederick.”
As they both watched, the smile disappeared from Finn’s face as he focused on a group of newly arrived tourists walking along the beach. The woman in front of the group had the same confident air as Razor. The group behind her, consisting of both men and women were clearly subservient to her. All kept their eyes downcast despite the glorious scenery.
As the pair of incubi watched, the domi
natrix waved her hand, and her five subs hastily stripped down to swimming trunks and bikinis. All six humans glowed with lust.
“Do you think she’ll share?” Ezra asked.
“Will you?” Avery nodded toward Finn. His eyes hadn’t left the dominatrix.
“Do you know her?” Ezra asked. The woman looked quite fierce. Ezra didn’t fancy tackling her if he had other options and there were plenty on the island, including Finn’s pack of shifters.
“She runs a BDSM club in Manchester. She’s here looking for an investment. I’ve got a meeting with her later this afternoon.” The blond incubus cocked his head. “I can’t see any lust from Finn. What’s he feeling?”
Ezra reached for the link between him and his vascellum. “He’s... fascinated.”
The sex demons shared a glance and Ezra stood up.
By the time the pair of incubi had made it a few steps, a wave of rage so strong it made Ezra stagger broke over him.
Avery put his arm across his shoulders, “You alright?”
“Stop, stop him, he’s going to kill her,” he managed to get out as he stumbled toward Finn.
In the blink of an eye, Silas had Finn firmly in his grasp, arms wrapped around him, but the vascellum still glared at the human female. Gethin and Glyn, Ezra still couldn’t tell them apart, were almost snarling at the group of humans.
The three male members of the group were standing between their mistress and the threat, gesticulating as one of the women, a young redhead, cried against the dominatrix’s shoulder.
Ezra went straight to Finn, and he both saw and felt Finn’s anxiety reduce as he neared him. Without saying anything, Silas released Finn into Ezra’s arms.
“Hey, what happened? Not like you to go Hulk on anyone.”
Finn shook his head. “I, I don’t know. I just saw her and thought of you and when she started getting closer to you I just...” Those wide green eyes looked up at him in confusion and fear. “I wanted to hurt her.” He frowned, “No that’s not quite it. I wanted her away from you, no matter what it took.”
They looked over as Avery spoke. “So sorry, Ms Risler. Young Finn has had a tough time recently, he’s a little highly strung.”
“Highly strung? He nearly attacked my mistress,” the oldest man exclaimed. His salt and pepper hair marked him as being in the same age range as Razor, but his blonde mistress seemed in her thirties.
“And I’m sorry about that. His partner’s here now and he’s calm again.”
“Calm? He’s doing a piss poor job if his sub–”
“Eric, that’s enough.” Ms Risler snapped. “The incident is finished, and I will be speaking to you about speaking out of turn later. You are not in charge here.”
She turned her saccharin smile on Avery and Ezra felt Finn growl.
“You are Avery, owner of this beautiful island?”
Ezra whispered out the side of his mouth to Silas. “She is human, right?”
Silas shrugged. “As far as I can tell. Might be the offspring of a halfling, rare but I have heard of them. I’d have to have a taste to be sure.”
“No, she’s human alright,” Finn spat with such venom that even the twins, who were now eyeing up the humans in a completely different way, turned to look at him.
After a few more words, the woman and her entourage made their way back up the beach, all three of the men shooting Finn the evil eye. The further away they got, the more Finn relaxed.
Avery walked over to them, wearing a thoughtful expression. “Finn, have you ever felt like that about anyone on sight before?”
Glyn chuckled. “Well I’ve heard of love at first sight and fated mates, but hate at first sight?”
Finn frowned. “My ex’s girlfriend rubbed me up the wrong way.”
Ezra squeezed his shoulder. “Kinda understandable. She was carrying his secret baby and you did walk in on their engagement party.”
“Anyone else?”
“There was this one guy on an exchange program from a school in France when I was about fourteen. Smarmy bastard.” Finn’s face twisted at the memory. “I got a detention just for bumping into him.”
“Did everyone else like him?”
Finn blinked. “Yeah, yeah they did. Everyone apart from my little group of friends followed him around like sheep. Sickening.”
“I need to make a call,” Avery said and began walking away.
“Don’t leave him,” Ezra told Silas and jogged after his relative.
“Wait up,” he called out.
Avery’s shoulders lifted and fell as he sighed. He didn’t turn around, but he did wait.
“What’s up, and don’t try to bullshit me,” Ezra said.
“Might be nothing yet, I need to talk to someone with more experience.”
Ezra took a step back in mock horror. “You mean you’re not the wisest man on the planet?”
Avery tried for a scowl but a smile tickled his lips. “Oh, shut up. My mother still knows twice as much as I do about vascelli, I might have had the last one before Finn, but she had six over her lifetime. Actually, this might be better by video.”
The white-haired succubus who appeared on the screen was still attractive in a refined, elegant way. He couldn’t imagine anyone more opposite to his own mother and still be the same gender and species. Jealousy for Avery flared yet again.
“Is that you, Ezra?” she peered at the screen, and Ezra instantly felt lacking.
“Erm, yes ma’am, nice to meet you.”
Her lips curved in a smile.” Call me Eleanor, dear, and you have the look of mischief about you, just right for a feisty young incubus. I bet you just have to crook your little finger and they come running.”
His heart swelled at the praise as she carried on. “So glad to hear you’ve got your memory back, such a horrible business.” She shuddered. “How is your vascellum, young Finn, doing?”
“Sorry to interrupt, but it’s Finn we’re calling about,” Avery said.
Concern replaced her smile. “Is there something wrong, apart from the fact he has an aversion to succubi?”
Ezra stared at Avery. “You tell her everything?”
The blond incubus frowned. “About the only known vascellum to the world’s authority on his kind? You bet I do. Mother has been studying vascelli history and biology all her life.”
“So, have there ever been other ones who have such a strong gender bias?”
She nodded. “Certainly. Although It’s not common, and as far as I know it's only been males not wanting to service other males. However, as they will still go with succubi, the conception issue isn’t a problem. Of course you know that female vascelli can’t feed succubi.”
“Of course,” Ezra lied.
“He may get over it, with time, some gentle persuasion and judicious use of a blindfold. If that’s all–” she reached toward the screen.
“A moment, mother. Have you ever heard of a vascellum having a strong ‘hate on sight’ reaction to a stranger?”
Her lips pursed. “Is this common behaviour for him?”
“No way. He’s too friendly and trusting for his own good.”
“And he singled this person out?”
“Yes. Even though she was surrounded by five other humans, he went straight for her.”
“Ezra, were you nearby?” she asked.
“Yes, I was watching him giving swimming lessons in the sea. The group of six humans were walking down the beach.”
“Between you and Finn?” she asked sharply.
Ezra frowned. “Well they would have been if he hadn’t come charging out the water like a homicidal maniac,” he paused, remembering, “he really wanted to kill her; he didn’t even feel that strongly about Fabian.”
Avery’s eyes widened. “You said his name.”
“Old news, just like him. We’re talking about Finn now.”
“Quite right. Avery, stop distracting him.” Ezra resisted the urge to stick out his tongue at his fellow incubus who had j
ust been scolded like a five-year-old.
Eleanor tapped a perfectly manicured fingernail against her lips. “It’s been a long time since it happened, but most vascelli will see an unbonded vascellum as a threat to their position. The advice for a demon wanting to bond two vascelli is quite specific about keeping the two apart until both bonds are established. Neither I, nor your father had a vascellum by the time you found dear Frederick, so the problem never arose.”
Avery swallowed audibly, and Ezra’s gut swirled. “Are you saying Finn can detect unbonded vascelli by sight?” her son asked.
Eleanor smiled, and Ezra could see her inner beauty shining through. He’d finally met a succubus he considered attractive.
“I don’t know how they do it, whether it’s an aura like we see lust, or a pheromone thing. But he’ll be able to detect all vascelli, sweetheart, he just won’t be pathologically jealous of a bonded one. Back in the day, we fed our vascelli with normal addicted humans, we didn’t let them mix with the general population. When a bonded vascellum took a sudden dislike to a child born to an addicted human, we knew we had a potential new vascellum to home. The only time it doesn’t happen are if the vascelli are closely related, but they still recognise them. Now are you going to approach the lucky lady yourself, or–”
The speed with which Avery said, “No, not me, by Satan’s balls, not me,” had Ezra chuckling.
Eleanor no longer looked amused. “And why not? You’re still a fine figure of a demon. Plenty of life in you yet.”
“Maybe one of your grandchildren would be more suitable? She’s erm, a little... dominant for my tastes.”
Avery’s mother frowned. “I may be old, son, but I’m still a succubus. If she’s a dominatrix, say so.”
“She’s a dominatrix, mother,” Avery mumbled.
“Speak up, boy, I can’t hear you.” The wink Eleanor gave Ezra as her son rolled his eyes and dutifully repeated the phrase made his face ache trying to keep the laughter in. The fact that even the leader of the Supernatural Council deferred to his mother somehow restored Ezra’s faith in the world.