by Cassie Ryan
“Which means that I have an offer to make and then you’ll have a decision before you.”
He was instantly on guard. He knew full well, even if it was only from hearsay, that nothing in the supernatural world came free and that behind every deal were a million nuances of meaning. “What’s your offer?” he asked slowly.
She laughed. “So suspicious.” She tipped her head to one side and studied him. “But then I suppose Amalya has told you much about our world in your time together.” She blatantly looked him up and down as if evaluating a piece of livestock for auction. When her heated gaze reached his swollen cock, her lips curved into a knowing smile and she licked her bottom lip. “Although I don’t think you’ve ever enjoyed her favors or provided her energy, other than through the most innocent means.” Her gaze snapped to his and he ground his teeth at the playful spark he saw there. “Am I correct?”
Her insinuation that he’d never slept with Amalya wasn’t lost on him. She was baiting him and he wasn’t sure why. “What’s the offer?” he asked again pointedly.
“Before I offer, I want to make sure you understand that Amalya will never be yours.”
Even though Jethro already knew that, hearing it from Lilith caused a sharp pain inside his gut. “I thought you had an offer,” he pressed, gritting his teeth against showing any reaction to her pointed jab.
“So I do.” She shrugged as if it made no difference to her either way. “Here’s how things stand, human. Your life-energy has been taken by the shades back on earth. Because of your help to me and mine, your body with the soul intact has been pulled here to this in-between place.” She gestured around her at the utopian landscape. “However, you cannot stay here, and your other choices are limited.”
“Limited how?”
“You could go on to Heaven. Because of your self-sacrifice for both Levi and Amalya, you have definitely earned a place. You could still choose to go to Hell as many have done over the centuries because they feared what they would find in Heaven or secretly thought they weren’t worthy. In either of those cases, your body would be returned to the earthly plane where you died and your soul would continue on to the destination of your choice.” Her inflection clearly told him there was another choice.
“Or?”
“Or you can do something for me.” Her dark eyes shone with amusement and he wondered how many millions of men, or women for that matter, had looked into these same eyes and made a deal that would keep them out of Heaven or Hell for just a little longer.
“What would you need from me? I’m only a human, remember?”
She grinned and ran one long finger down his chest, leaving behind a rush of dark shivers in their wake. “I recently became aware that the protector I sent for one of Amalya’s sisters has been killed. I need someone to take his place.”
“And do essentially what Levi did?”
She nodded and held up what appeared to be a sterling silver earring that held the same design as the amulet Levi wore. “Something like that.”
He didn’t have Amalya’s gift of telling truth from lies, but he knew immediately that Lilith hadn’t told him the entire truth. “Why don’t you spell out exactly what it’s like so I can get an idea of what I would be agreeing to?”
Lilith nodded once as if approving his cautious manner. She pursed her lips as if choosing her words carefully. “Let’s just say Reba is something of a handful, even among succubi.”
Jethro raised one eyebrow, waiting for her to continue.
“If she doesn’t feel you are her equal, she’ll refuse to come with you.” She shrugged. “She’s stubborn and outspoken and won’t respect you for one second if you ask instead of take.”
Jethro grinned, a sense of challenge churning through him. Amalya would never be his, he’d accepted that. But he was being offered another chance to make a life for himself, or so it sounded. And if his heart wasn’t involved like it had been with Amalya, dealing with a headstrong succubus wouldn’t be all that difficult. “And if I successfully retrieve her and return her to you?”
The smug smile that curved her lips sent irritation churning through him. “Then your life will be spared and you can continue to live out whatever mortal days you have left.”
“No.”
A look of surprise flashed across Lilith’s features. “No?”
“If I bring her back to you, I want an extended lifetime and immunity from the effects of both succubi and incubi.”
A furrow appeared between Lilith’s brows and she raised her chin in an imperious gesture that Jethro was sure she used often. “What makes you think I can provide you with such things?”
“Amalya mentioned you sometimes adopt humans into your fold. I don’t want to be adopted, but I’d like the perks of such an arrangement in exchange for this service.”
“You are already receiving your mortal life in exchange for the service. Why would I grant you something more?”
Jethro smiled. Lilith hadn’t outright refused, which only strengthened his hunch. “Because you’re out of options on who to send after this little hellion, or you wouldn’t be asking me—a dead man.”
She narrowed her eyes, her dark gaze snapping with displeasure as she studied him. “I could find someone else. I only offered this opportunity to you because of your kindness toward Amalya.”
Jethro shrugged. “All right then. Please wish Amalya well for me when you see her.” He turned away and headed toward the Victorian mansion. He’d only gone a few steps when he heard her huff of frustration behind him.
“On one condition.”
He stopped the smile that threatened to curve his lips as triumph spiraled through him. His back still to Lilith, he stopped but didn’t turn to face her.
“No one can know the details of our agreement.”
Confusion made him turn. “Why?”
“Why isn’t a concern of yours. Do we have an agreement?”
Jethro closed the distance between them and held out his hand. “When do I begin?”
As Lilith shook his hand, power shot through him as if he’d stuck a fork inside an electric socket.
Pain sheared through him as his breath was sucked out and he fell to his knees. Convulsions wracked his body and he wondered if Lilith had betrayed him or if this was the normal route to conversion. A laugh tried to escape at this very calm thought trickling through his brain while his body went haywire, but since his lungs still screamed for breath, it never emerged.
Lilith stepped forward, her touch gentle against his left ear a split second before a sharp pain lanced through his lobe. As blackness closed in around him, Lilith’s quiet answer reached him.
“You begin now.”
“Lilith.” Levi bowed deeply as Lilith entered the quarters he’d been assigned to within her lair.
Lilith smiled and held out her hand.
He took it and easily fell back into his Regency-era habits of feigned seduction and flattery. After all, intrigue and politics in the haute ton weren’t that different from the cutthroat inner workings of the supernatural power hierarchy. Granted, the supernaturals were a bit more deadly.
He raised Lilith’s hand, lightly brushing his lips over the backs of her fingers while maintaining eye contact.
When she smiled and her dark eyes sparkled with pleasure, he knew he’d played the scene correctly.
“Already up and around, I see. You’re an extremely fast healer.”
He nodded once in acknowledgment. “Yes, my lady. One of the perks of not being entirely human.”
She quirked one eyebrow and he immediately realized she knew. “I knew your father, you know.”
Levi remained silent, not sure which “father” she referred to. He covered his discomfort by motioning her to a nearby chair and sitting in the one just opposite her.
Her smoky laugh echoed around the room as she settled herself, kicking off her shoes and tucking her feet under her. The dichotomy between the seasoned and desirable seductress and th
e action of sitting like a little girl disconcerted Levi. The action made Lilith appear more approachable . . . and human, although he knew better.
“Your father petitioned me for an audience once.”
Levi stiffened in his chair. The only one of his two fathers who would need to petition to see Lilith was the Duke of Ashford.
Her lips curved. “Since I see you’re smart enough not to ask and end up owing me something for the answer, I’ll tell you anyway. After all, the information from our original agreement is useless to you now.”
Levi burned to know how she was so well informed, but for the very reason she stated above, he was reluctant to ask. Instead he nodded, which still acknowledged she’d spoken but remained ambiguous and would keep him from getting himself into any type of implied agreement with Lilith, which was always a danger.
She sighed and leaned her elbow on the arm of the chair before resting her chin in her palm. “Smart, careful, attractive, and only remotely human. It’s no wonder.”
“No wonder?” he asked breaking his own rule of just a moment ago.
Lilith waved away his question. “We’ll get to that soon, but don’t ruin your good record of restraint just for that. Why don’t I give you leave to ask anything without price for the next ten minutes? You’re too good at the game playing to make it much fun to trap you.” She glanced up at him from under her lashes, enjoyment at drawing out his curiosity sparkling in her eyes.
“Any questions for ten minutes without price of any type?” he asked trying to ensure this wasn’t just a more elaborately laid trap.
She nodded. “I do not guarantee to answer, only that no price will be extracted for your asking.”
“Or for your answer if you choose to provide me with such information of your own free will?”
She laughed, a carefree sound he doubted she allowed herself often. “You are good. Very, very good.”
“And?”
She smiled. “And no price will be extracted for you asking or for any answers that I provide of my own free will.”
“May I ask one last stipulation?” He deliberately asked it as a question since they’d already agreed there would be no charge for him asking or her answering.
“One,” she agreed.
“That only truthful answers are provided during that ten minutes?”
“Agreed.”
He was tempted to put more detail around her answer, but he was already skirting the boundaries of pushing his luck as it was. “Then, my lovely Lilith, I thank you for any information you are generous enough to provide to me.”
She laughed again and leaned forward as if she was a confidante imparting a juicy secret.
“Your father wanted a son who would carry on his legacy for longer than a single lifetime. He petitioned my help to bring that about.”
Levi frowned. This definitely wasn’t anything that he’d expected. He’d been convinced Ashford hadn’t known anything about the supernatural world. Instead of sharing his surprise, he said, “I had no idea something like that was within your power. No disrespect intended.”
“None taken. That is well beyond my power. And yet I’m very good at instigating and setting events in motion.” She smiled. “In order to survive and thrive as long as I have, I’ve had to learn to gain the things I need with all the gifts at my disposal.”
“What help were you able to give him?”
“Caldriel had always longed to live among the humans, to make a place for herself within them. I procured entry into polite society for her and made sure she was thrown together often with Ashford. Nature took its course from there.”
“Nature?”
“Believe it or not, they fell in love. Just old-fashioned nature at work.”
“And what about Raphael’s involvement?”
“That, I admit, had nothing to do with me. I didn’t know of it until recently when Raphael himself told me.”
A flash of intuition hit and he narrowed his eyes at the stunning succubus across from him. “Raphael asked you to share this information with me, didn’t he? To tell me what really happened.”
She only smiled in response.
He couldn’t help but laugh at her audacity. “You would’ve let me barter payment for something you’d already agreed to do for him for free?”
She pursed her lips, clearly enjoying the banter between them. “I have my reasons. But I also knew it would most likely come to nothing. Those biddies who ruled society back in your day were amateurs, but you’ve long outlived them all and have had to hone your skills. Although I admit, I do enjoy having a worthy opponent. It’s been a long time.”
Levi shook his head. He tried to muster anger toward Lilith for her manipulations, but he understood the need to survive, and her information so far had shed new light on who he thought he was. He’d always believed Caldriel had targeted his father specifically, had used the man just to establish herself in the human realm.
He’d never allowed himself to see it before, but in hindsight that wouldn’t have been much different than the marriage mart that was common practice in those days. But finding out they’d met at social functions and had fallen in love threw an entirely new light on things.
His mother was still a manipulative bitch, and a demon, but maybe he hadn’t given her as much credit as she deserved.
That was a sobering thought considering the only contact he’d had with her over the past few hundred years was summoning her recently and demanding help or answers.
God, he really was the arrogant ass Amalya had pegged him for. Thoughts of her made him realize that Lilith’s sudden information about his past had sidetracked him. He’d meant to find out when he could see Amalya as soon as Lilith came to see him. “How is Amalya?”
“I go to see her next. From what her sister Jezebeth has told me, she’s still asleep. Nearly dying three times in so many days has taken its toll.”
He wanted to see her, to sit by her side until her lovely eyes fluttered open and her welcoming smile curved across her lips. But she hadn’t seen her sister in seven hundred years. He wasn’t sure Jezebeth would welcome his intrusion, and he wasn’t sure he had the official right to even ask for a visit . . . yet.
All the information he’d just learned from Lilith made it imperative for him to visit his mother and Ashford House. He had to come to terms with his old life before he could start anew.
“What are your plans now that you’ve met the terms of our agreement?”
“It looks like I need to find myself.” And put things right in several cases, he added silently. He started to ask what terms would be needed for him to continue in Amalya’s life but stopped as he checked his wristwatch. His ten minutes were up, and that question, and the associated bargaining he would tackle when he returned.
18
“Amalya?”
Jezebeth’s voice broke through the heavy sleep that held Amalya and as excitement slid through her, she forced open her eyes.
Her sister’s lovely chocolate brown eyes were the first things she saw. “Jezebeth?”
When her sister pulled her up into a bone-crushing hug, Amalya laughed into the silky mass of her sister’s hair and hugged her back. “I thought I’d never see you again. Any of you.”
With a final squeeze, Jez pulled back, leaving Amalya sitting up. Jez gripped Amalya’s upper arms as if afraid Amalya would disappear if she let go. “I had begun to think I’d be the only one who made it back.” Tears glistened in Jez’s eyes and she swallowed hard.
Amalya took a long moment to study her sister. Physically, she looked the same. Long chestnut brown hair that flowed down to her ass, lovely features, and a dimple that winked in her left cheek when she smiled. Concern traced her expression, but there was something else, a contentment about her sister that Amalya had never sensed before. She remembered hearing that the horror writer, Noah Halston, had accompanied Jez back to Lilith’s lair. Perhaps feelings had grown between the two of them?
For
her sister’s sake, she hoped so.
“Any word on Reba or Galina?”
Jez’s lips hardened into a line. “The escort Lilith sent for Reba was found dead, but from everything we can find out, it doesn’t sound like he ever made contact with Reba.”
Worry churned inside Amalya’s belly, and she shoved it away. “If any of the four of us are likely to survive on our own, it would be Reba. What about Galina?”
“No word at all. It’s like she fell off the entire supernatural radar about five hundred years ago.”
“Is she . . .” Amalya couldn’t bring herself to say the word “dead.”
Jezebeth moved her grip to Amalya’s hands and shook her head. “No. She’s alive.”
“But how do we know if she hasn’t been heard from—”
“Lilith has heard from one of the Archangels that even though no one can locate her, Galina is still alive. Somewhere.”
The worry inside Amalya’s gut lessened slightly at the news. After all, if anyone would know, the Archangels would, although why they would confide the information to Lilith, she didn’t know.
She glanced around, finally realizing she was back inside her old quarters inside Lilith’s lair. It had been seven hundred years since she’d last left this room, and she was surprised to find it unchanged. Compared to her sumptuous room at Sinner’s Redemption this was larger but definitely a step down. Amalya missed all the women she’d worked with over the years, and even a few of her regular customers, but looking at her surroundings, she wouldn’t choose to go back. She belonged here with her sisters and with Lilith. An insider at long last rather than an outsider looking in longingly and pretending she didn’t want to belong.
There was only one thing missing. Or one person, actually.
“Where’s Levi?” She bolted out of bed, ignoring the cool air that hit her naked skin as she stumbled onto the smooth stone floor covered intermittently with throw rugs. A wave of light-headedness made her sway and she closed her eyes against the nausea that roiled inside her stomach.
“Amalya!” Jez caught her as she nearly fell and gently guided Amalya back to sit on the edge of the bed. “Take it easy, you nearly died. Three times in the span of a few days. It’s going to take some time to recover.”