"I don’t think the man who had you could be disappointed."
She looked up at him, her bright blue eyes wide with surprise. "Thank you. I guess it would be an exciting adventure, then."
"What would be?"
Camille crawled to her feet and pressed her body against the bars. "Exploring my untapped sexuality."
Seth had to struggle to swallow the lump in his throat. His jaw tightened as his thoughts strayed to the possibilities of such an adventure. "I’m sure it would."
"Would you like to help me?"
Her words were so direct it threw him off his guard. He got up from his chair and approached the cell. He searched her blue eyes for the rosy hint of Isra behind them. There was only Camille. His hands closed over hers. "God, would I..."
She smiled, the worry disappearing from her face. "Good." She watched him for a moment, the expression slowly transitioning to a sultry gaze. She stood up on her toes and leaned as far as she could into the bars to kiss him. He bent down and met her lips, ignoring the cool metal pressed against his cheek.
The kiss was amazing. Finally getting a chance to experience Camille, to know how she tasted and how she’d sigh against his lips, was a fantasy come true. He wanted to reach through the bars and touch her. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and press his body to hers.
"How about right now?" she whispered against his mouth.
Seth’s heart nearly stopped in his chest. This was even worse than Isra's tricks. At least then he knew Camille wasn't truly offering herself to him. This was completely different and just as dangerous. "We can’t. Not until the morning."
"Come on," she urged. "There’s only a few hours left and Isra’s given up. I’ve been given a second chance at life and I want to start making the most of it right away."
"No." Seth wouldn’t allow himself to be convinced, even with her reassuring blue eyes begging him.
"It would be exciting. We’d have to get really creative." Camille arched an elegantly curved eyebrow at him as her fingertip slid down the length of one of the bars between them. "We can let our imagination run wild."
"We can’t." Just the thought was enough to turn his entire body against him. How many unfulfilled erections could a man stand in one day?
"How about a compromise?" She pulled away from him and slid down onto her knees in front of him. Her arms reached through the bars to unbutton his pants.
The pain from his white-knuckled grip on the cell bars was the only thing keeping him grounded. "Camille..." he began, but was interrupted when her hand slipped inside his pants and grasped the length of him. He should pull away. He should tell her no. He just couldn’t make himself do it.
She tugged at his clothes, giving her just enough access to what she wanted. Seth squeezed his eyes shut and groaned aloud as he sprung free of his pants into her eager hands.
"Camille," he said again, but the words changed from a protest to a moan of pleasure as her pointed tongue encircled the head of his shaft. He had to stop this. He only had to wait a few more hours. Just a couple more and he could indulge without fear.
"It’s okay, it’s just me," she cooed before taking him into her mouth.
Seth couldn’t take much more of this. His mind raced through his years of experience as she moved up and down on him in a slow, agonizing pace. Could oral sex with a succubus kill him? Damn it, he couldn’t remember. Probably. The end result was the same. He’d always been so sure he could resist the temptation, regardless. Now, he couldn’t pull away from her greedy mouth.
He’d just have to stop, he reasoned with himself, before it went too far. He could wait just a little bit longer. Just a couple more strokes. His heart was pounding in his chest, his groin tightening. He didn’t have a few more left in him.
Seth wasn’t about to lose his soul on a technicality. Not when he was so close to winning his life back.
"No!"
With all his might, he pushed himself off from the bars and flew backward onto the stone floor. Camille watched with a mix of confusion and disappointment as he scrambled to close up his pants and regain his sense of control.
"What’s wrong, Seth?" She wiped her chin and shook her head. "It’s just me."
Seth walked over to the cell and reached through to grip Camille by a handful of hair. "No, it isn’t," he growled through clenched teeth.
Camille cried out in pain, and then started cackling with mischievous laughter. Her voice morphed back into Isra’s as her whole body shook with amusement. Seth let go, throwing her back onto the ground. She continued to laugh as she lay there.
"I hope you enjoyed that," he fumed.
"You certainly did." She crawled back onto her knees and grinned, wickedly. Her eyes were still blue. Apparently she'd used some kind of illusion to convince him it was really Camille's willing mouth on him. "I almost had you, too."
Seth shook his head. She was right. Despite the risk, he'd fallen into the trap. He had very nearly let himself be killed for a damn blowjob. It was a great one, and after the night he'd had, he might've died happy. But his death wasn't the only consequence. Aside from Camille continuing to be possessed, the creation of a potentially immortal cambion couldn't be ignored.
He was an idiot. He couldn’t trust himself anymore.
Seth made a quick dash to a drawer and retrieved a set of moldable wax earplugs. He stuffed them in, blocking out any sound she could make. He didn't care which of the temptresses in that cell was speaking to him. For the next few hours, he was going to sit in silence and read a book without looking at her or hearing a single word she had to say.
"Almost doesn’t count," he spat and flopped down into his recliner for the last time.
5:19 A.M.
"Seth!" Isra screamed for the hundredth time.
He was certain she should be hoarse by now. Even with his earplugs he could hear her screeching his name. He didn’t care. He wasn’t about to move from his chair for any reason.
Over the last few hours, she’d run the gambit of emotions. She had cried, screamed, begged, bribed...nothing had worked. Nothing was going to work. He had mere minutes to go. Without looking at his watch, he could tell the time was running short. Her pleas were slowly increasing in desperation. Now they were downright frantic.
"Six minutes," he taunted from the security of his chair.
"Please, Seth," she begged.
He could hear the tears in her voice. She should be crying. Isra was moments away from a return ticket to Hell and whatever fate her failure had cost her. It couldn’t be a pleasant experience, he was certain.
He read the last few pages of the chapter he was on and closed the book. "Make that two minutes." He got up from his chair and came around to the cell, well out of her reach.
Isra was lying in a broken heap on the floor of the cell. Her cheeks were red and tear stained from her hours of begging. "Are you happy, now?" she screamed at him.
Seth shrugged. "I’m just doing my job," he said.
Isra scrambled up onto her feet and threw herself at the cell bars. Her arms clawed at him through the cage, scratching at the air with futility. Objects started flying off the shelves and launching toward him. He dodged the projectiles, missing a knife from the kitchen counter by bare inches only to have his book slam into his shoulder.
Isra let out an ear-piercing shriek that reverberated off the walls of the room. It was the sound of failure.
Even with his earplugs, the sound was like an ice pick driven deep into his brain. He put his hands over his ears and turned back to the clock. Ten seconds to go. Seth watched her furious expression crumble as she watched the last few moments tick away.
"See you soon," she said. Her whole body stiffed as she clenched the bars. She screamed out in agony as her body levitated nearly a foot off the floor and writhed. The soul splitting of the two women was a horrible, violent experience. In a moment, she went limp and collapsed to the ground.
Seth wanted to run to her side and comfort her,
but he couldn’t take that risk. He crouched beside the cage and watched. "Camille?" he whispered. He didn’t dare speak any louder. She would have a righteous headache for several hours. They said the aftermath of a possession was the worst hangover you could ever imagine. He already had some prescription strength painkillers waiting for her.
Camille laid still for a few agonizing minutes before she groaned and rolled onto her back. She brought her hand to her forehead and whimpered slightly. Her chest rose and fell with a few deep breaths before she opened her eyes and turned to look at Seth. "Am I me again?"
"One hundred percent," he assured.
She pushed herself up and looked around through squinted eyes. "I haven’t felt like this since college," she complained and rubbed her forehead again.
"Here." Seth held out a soda and a couple pills. "The caffeine will help, too."
"Great." Camille swallowed the pills and sighed. "So when do I get out of here?"
Seth eyed his watch. "The courier is coming back with the key at six, so you’ve got a little while still to go. Are you okay in there? Can I get you a pillow or a blanket or something?"
"No." She shook her head and winced in regret. "I’ve been on the floor long enough that my butt’s pretty numb now."
"Okay." Seth eased back into his folding chair. Where should he start? "I’m sorry you got involved in all this. They used you to get to me."
Camille nodded and chuckled softly. "I got that. I don’t know why I thought you were a bartender or something all this time. Must’ve been the hours you kept."
"Well, you understand why I have to keep my work a secret from others, don’t you?"
"Of course. There would be panic in the streets if people found out what was really happening right under their noses. I mean, my sexy neighbor is immortal. That’s just unbelievable. Like something from the movies. Say," she paused, "you aren’t going to erase my brain or anything like that, are you?"
"No," he assured. "We don’t do stuff like that. We believe the experience you've had is enough to keep you quiet. Out of gratitude if nothing else."
"Okay." Camille took another sip of her soda. "I don’t think anyone would believe me, anyway." She looked down at her can, her brow furrowed with concern. "How do you live like this, Seth? Night after night battling God-knows-what, unable to confide in anyone? It sounds absolutely terrible."
"It gets easier as the years go by." Decades. Centuries. If Michael did restore his mortality, he wouldn’t have to cope with it any longer. He wanted desperately for Michael to release him. He didn’t long for death, but he had grown weary of his life. If he could spend the next fifty years growing old with someone like Camille, he would die happy when the time finally came.
"I guess the idea of marriage and children must seem like a far off fantasy. Do you even date?"
Date was not the right word. Hook up, perhaps. Nothing that would last long enough for them to notice he didn't get sick, or hurt, or age. "Not really. I just admire beauty from afar." He smiled and watched a flush rise to Camille’s cheeks. "Of course, I’ve never considered dating someone already familiar with my work. Say, a formerly possessed neighbor, for example."
Camille rose to her feet and walked to the cell bars. She watched Seth for a moment before a smile spread across her face. "Are you asking me out?"
"I think I am. If you’ll say yes."
"I guess after you’ve writhed around naked on the floor in front of a man, the least you can do is let him take you to dinner."
Seth nodded. "I think that’s only appropriate." He stood and moved to the cell, gripped the bars, and rested his forehead against them. "I’ve wanted to ask you out every time I’ve seen you for the past few months. I just didn’t want to get you involved in all this."
Camille placed her hands over his and looked up into his eyes. "Too late." She rose up onto her toes and leaned in to kiss him.
Unlike their earlier encounter, her kiss was soft and inviting, her lips trembling ever so slightly against him. He reached into the cell to cup her face with his hands. Seth pulled her as close to him as he could without forcing her against the rough bars of her cage.
Camille reciprocated, moving her body against him, the soft curves of her breasts pressing against his chest. He deepened the kiss, tasting the sweetness he’d craved for so long. Their hands moved frantically between the narrow openings of the cell, touching, exploring, their desires left unfulfilled.
"I want you so badly," he groaned as their lips finally parted. He pounded his head against a bar with aggravation then let it rest there, throbbing. Even the pain couldn’t dull his desire for her.
"I know," Camille breathed against his cheek. "But you’re in luck —— it’s just past six. Go get the key," she urged, her chest rising and falling with exertion.
Seth moved as fast as he could, disappearing through the doors to the elevator. He dashed across the lot to the gate. Jeff was waiting for him there, the envelope in his hand. Seth snatched the package and waved as he jogged back to the building. "Thanks, Jeff!"
He couldn’t get back fast enough.
6:25 A.M.
"Thank God," Camille exclaimed as he burst through the door. She couldn’t wait to get out of this cell and get her hands on the man that had saved her. She’d watched Seth for weeks, hoping she would run into him in the hallways of their building, but he’d never asked her out. Her mother had raised her to wait for a man to come to her, so she had tried to be patient. Now that she was so close to getting what she wanted, she couldn’t bear the separation anymore. "I don’t think I can wait much longer for you."
Seth stopped in the doorway, taking in the sight of her and ripping open the package. The intensity of his hazel gaze on her body was like a caress. The key slid into his hand, he tossed the packaging away and crossed the room in three large strides. His hands were shaking with nervous anticipation, but this time, it didn’t keep the key from slipping into the lock. The door swung open. "You don’t have to," he said.
At last. Camille stepped out of the cell and summoned a look of wicked determination. Being possessed by a succubus was not an experience she wanted to repeat, but she’d learned a few things by sharing a consciousness with a being focused solely on pleasure. Isra knew exactly what Seth wanted. Some of the thoughts had shocked her. Others had intrigued her. But mainly it was an air of confidence that was important. Knowing Seth wanted her more than anything was empowering. Now was the perfect time to put that knowledge to good use.
Her gaze fixed on him, her fingers moving along her blouse buttons and exposing her skin inch by inch. She let her blouse slide off her shoulders and fall to the floor. The red and pink lace bra followed. When Isra had shed her clothes, Seth had averted his eyes. This time, Seth allowed his gaze to settle on the full, round globes of her breasts and the hard pink nipples that seemed to be reaching for him. They ached for him to touch them, but he held his ground, his hands curled into tight fists. He had an amazing amount of self-control. At the moment, she wished he would just cut loose.
When Camille unzipped her skirt and eased it over her hips, the key slipped from Seth’s fingers and dropped to the concrete floor with a loud clank. She could see the tension in his body, the battle raging in his eyes. He’d spent twenty-four hours trying to avoid the very pleasures Camille was offering. He’d trained his brain to resist her. Now she would have to seduce him.
With a sly curl to her full, sensuous mouth, Camille sauntered over to him. She ignored the part of her brain that worried about her being so exposed. He obviously liked what he saw. Seth swallowed hard, unable to tear his eyes away from her firm thighs and the cropped, golden curls of her sex.
"You’re gorgeous," he said.
Camille fought the blush of embarrassment. She planted her hands on her hips and cocked an eyebrow at him. "Do you like what you see?"
"Absolutely. I very nearly gave up my soul for that body."
If that didn’t boost a woman’s ego, nothing wo
uld do the trick. "Then touch me," she demanded.
When Seth hesitated again, Camille reached out for his hands. She placed one on each of her breasts. He groaned low in his throat as his rough palms grazed over her silky skin and pebbled nipples. The pleasure of his touch washed over her. She tipped her head back and let her eyes close to savor the sensation.
From there, Seth’s hesitation vanished as quickly as her clothing. His mouth met hers with a punishing kiss. Most of the kisses she’d experienced in her lifetime were soft, sensual experiences, but there was nothing but raw heat between them now. His tongue glided along hers. Her teeth nipped hard at his bottom lip. She wanted to devour him.
She let her hands roam over the hard muscles of his chest, pausing at the collar of his t-shirt. She wanted it gone. Now. With all her might, she gripped the fabric and it pulled away from him with a loud ripping noise. The shirt came apart in her hands. Seth slipped out of the torn remnants while Camille made quick work of his fly.
Before he could prepare himself, Camille thrust her hand down the front of his jeans and palmed a handful of his hard length. Her fingertips stroked from the tip to the base. He was larger and harder than any other man she’d ever touched. She couldn’t wait to know what it felt like to have him inside her.
Seth gritted his teeth to maintain control, but she could see it slowly unraveling. "Ahh, stop," he groaned.
There was no chance of that. Camille looked him dead in the eye and stroked him harder. When her fingertips dipped low and grazed his sensitive balls, Seth jerked away. With a growl, he bent over and scooped Camille over his shoulder.
The room turned upside down in an instant. She let out a surprised shriek, and then a giggle, smacking him hard on the ass just before he dumped her onto the bed in the far corner of the room. She bounced, trying to land gracefully, but there was no way to do it.
Seth didn’t seem to mind. But he didn’t rush to her, either. He slowly licked his lips, sliding his belt out of his jeans. To tease him, Camille casually let her legs fall open, exposing her wet, pink flesh to him. Her hand ran up the inside of her thigh, and then brushed across her most sensitive skin. Her fingers stroked up and down, a finger dipping inside. It was a bold move, one she’d never done before, but she felt so sensual with him watching her like that. Her movements were so boldly wanton, Seth pulled his gaze away from her display to look in her eyes. It took a moment for her to realize he was checking to make sure they were still blue.
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