by Myles, Jill
“There are indeed,” I agreed. I would ignore that small, heart-breaking little smile of his. It had once turned my stomach to knots, but I wouldn’t let that happen again.
When we arrived back at the front desk, the guard’s jaw dropped. He stared at David’s outdated clothing, then frowned at Noah and myself. “You’re not supposed to be sneaking in others—“
I moved forward and placed my hand over the security guard’s, putting him to sleep and easing into his mind. He was a good man, if a bit unimaginative. Three kids at home. No funny business on my end, then. I stroked his hand and focused my powers into his mind, subverting his anxious dream-thoughts and replacing them with different mental images. Of the three of us – David, myself and Noah – entering the building together, and now leaving together. His earlier thoughts of just the two of us had been mistaken.
I repeated the mantra of the dream-suggestion until his subconscious began to pick it up, and once it did, I stroked his hand to wake him up.
The man blinked awake and paused, staring into my smiling face for a moment. His eyes flicked back to Noah, then David, then myself. “Sorry about that. I must have dozed off.”
“It’s all right,” I said in a soothing voice, my hand continuing to stroke his across the counter, as if this were the most normal thing in the world. “It’s all right if we go, isn’t it?”
A sheepish look crossed his face and he nodded at us. “Of course, miss. You folks have a nice day.”
“Thank you so much,” I said in my sweetest voice. “We will.” I let his hand go and pushed on the glass front door. The bell clanged as it opened and I moved out into the bright afternoon sunlight of the parking lot.
David’s reaction was almost comical – he staggered at the sight of the concrete parking-lot. His eyes blinked rapidly at the sunlight and I watched his gaze bounce from the parked cars to the nearby highway where cars zipped past at high speed. He looked back to me, his expression concerned, though he masked it a moment later. That puzzled me. Looking to me for help? Reassurance? Noah was his brother Serim; I had simply been his mistress for one night.
“You’re very good at manipulating humans,” Noah said behind us, his voice disapproving.
I winced. Oh great. So Noah, despite his seemingly nice demeanor, was as straight-laced a Serim as I had been warned about. This wasn’t good. I needed Noah’s help. I thought quickly and gave him an apologetic look. “One does what one must to survive,” I said. “Aloysius required that I learn a great many things in his service. I’m afraid that reaching into heads and manipulating their thoughts is a bad habit of mine. I’ll be more careful in the future.”
Especially when I am around you, I noted to myself.
“Aloysius,” David said, his face breaking with agony. He turned to me, as if just now remembering. His hand grabbed my arm. “Vampire…where is he? We have to save him.”
Bad memories for both he and I. Again, that funny feeling slid through me, of uncertainty. Of the sensation that maybe David wasn’t the bad guy after all. That I’d just spent a hundred and twenty years loathing a man that didn’t deserve it.
I didn’t like that sensation. “He’s beyond saving,” I said sharply. “Look to yourself for now, David. Forget about him.”
And just because I had a mean streak, I moved forward to Noah’s car and kicked the tire. The alarm went off, wailing and beeping, the horn blaring, lights flashing.
David staggered in shock, fumbling backward.
Noah scowled.
Damn. That had felt good.
Chapter Two
It was some time before we got out of the parking lot. David had to be told what the car was and how it functioned before he’d get into it. Before we left the parking lot, we had to stop and turn the child safety locks on the back doors, since David’s initial trepidation gave way to curiosity, and he began to tinker with everything not nailed down. When he moved the window up and down with the automatic button, the smile that lit his face stirred old memories for me. I remembered liking that insatiable curiosity about him – how it made him different from the other bored, jaded gentlemen I’d known.
I ended up sitting in the back seat with David. I told myself that it was to keep him from harming himself – or us – as Noah drove, but I wasn’t so sure that I believed that myself. Just being near him again was intoxicating, and I hated myself for being so drawn to him and his boyish charm. It was the Itch, I told myself, feeling it throb through my body with need. Nothing more than the Itch.
Even so, I drank in his changing expressions like some sort of lovesick fool. When his blue eyes flicked back and forth watching the traffic, I watched him. When his face lit up with wonder as we passed an electronic billboard, I felt my heart soar as well. When we passed a homeless man on a street-corner, I could almost feel David’s sorrow. He said nothing as we drove, simply absorbing it all. Noah got off the highway when we hit downtown, where the traffic congested to a stop, and people milled on the sidewalks. I could sense his unease at the incredibly tall buildings, seen through unfamiliar eyes. His shoulders would tense as we passed a speeding bus, or as people fearlessly walked in front of the car. Part of me longed to comfort him, to put him at ease, but I clenched my hands tight in my lap.
Why couldn’t I remember that I hated David? The Itch was going to make a fool out of all my convictions, changing my anger and loathing to desire and need.
Soon, I was going to need David very badly.
We drove into the parking garage of Noah’s building and piled out of the car – well, at least Noah and I did. David couldn’t figure out how to unlock his seat-belt. After watching him struggle for a moment, I slid my hands over his lap and unclicked the buckle.
His eyes met mine, startled, and I could have sworn that they turned even bluer in that moment, signaling desire.
Lust shot through me, making my panties wet and my thighs clench in response. No, I told myself, backing out of the car and stumbling away a few feet. This was wrong. I didn’t want David.
David was my master. The enemy, just like Aloysius. I’d see that more clearly once the Itch was sated.
“It’s very odd to be strapped into the coach,” David said behind me as he exited the car. “I gather we were moving very fast indeed.”
“Very fast,” I said dryly, warming to a topic that I could discuss without my hormones lighting up. “Technology is a marvel now-days. I don’t miss the horses and chamber-pots of the past. I think you’ll learn to like it, too.”
He rubbed his sideburns thoughtfully, but said nothing as we followed Noah into the apartment building, and then into the elevator. David was silent as the elevator lifted, carrying us up multiple floors to Noah’s apartment. His fingers splayed as it gave a gentle bump as it reached the top floor, and I wondered if he’d felt the need to brace himself against the walls.
Poor David. This was a lot to absorb. It might have been kinder to leave him in his sleep for a bit longer, or break him in easier, let him gradually adjust to the wonders of modern technology. I didn’t have time for that, though. The fact of the matter was that I needed him in a rather selfish way, and I intended on using him.
How Aloysius would have laughed at my calculating, selfish thoughts. I feared I had become far more like him in the past 120 years.
That was a depressing thought.
Noah tossed his keys down on the foyer table as we entered the apartment. “Do you have some place to stay, Olivia? Someplace secure that Aloysius will not find you? Otherwise, I recommend that you stay here with myself and David. My building is quite secure, and my apartment is warded against vampires. You’ll be safe here tonight.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but David pushed ahead of me, stepping in front protectively. “I forbid it.”
My mouth snapped shut in surprise. Noah turned and quirked an eyebrow at David.
“Her reputation will be shredded if she stays overnight with a man that is not her patron. I will not allow you
to take advantage of her in such a way.”
Reputation? Patron? He was assuming society’s morals were still the same as they were back in 1889.
Oh lord. “David,” I began.
But Noah gave David a brief nod. “I understand your concern, David, however, she must be protected from Aloysius, and we are not able to do so through the night. Olivia must reside somewhere until daybreak, and it is best to do so where we can be close nearby.”
“It’s okay, David,” I said, touching his shoulder. “My reputation will be fine.”
David glanced back at me, and I was startled to see such a fierce expression of protectiveness on his face. Possessive. Territorial.
He wanted to protect…me? That stirred an entire wealth of unwanted emotions, not the least of which was a scorching blast of lust. I forced those thoughts away. “If it will make you feel better, I will remain in the same room with you the entire night.”
“You will sleep as well?”
“No, succubi don’t sleep. Remember?” I reminded him. “But I can watch TV or something.”
He relaxed a little, glanced back at Noah, and then at the sunset filtering in through the mini-blinds over the windows. “I do not know what a ‘teevee’ is, but if you promise to stay by my side through the night, I consent.”
His high-handedness irritated me but I just gave him a thumbs up. “That’s what we’ll do, then.”
David rubbed his face. “Might I wash up before then? I find that I feel unclean.”
Funny. I felt the same way.
* * *
It took a few minutes for me to show David how the shower worked. He grasped it fairly easily, and I left before he could undress. There was a bit of a yelp a few minutes in, and when he emerged with the towel wrapped around his waist, his skin was reddened along his chest as if burned. But he only gave me a rueful look and then yawned, reminding me that the Serim would have to go to sleep very soon.
The Serim – the fallen angels – were cursed to sleep every night at dark, and that was the time that vampires were awake and active. Neither race could circumvent the death-like sleep that overtook them with every cycle of the day. Only succubi were immune for some reason, but I suspected it had something to do with the fact that we needed to be available for both Serim and vampire master.
“Here,” I said, holding up a pair of boxer shorts and flannel pajama pants given to us by Noah. “Sleep in these.”
He took them from me and looked around the room, as if searching for something.
“There’s no dressing screen,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. “Those are a thing of the past. You’ll just have to get naked in front of me.”
He gave me a long, scorching look that made my toes curl, despite the uncomfortable fishnet stockings. His gaze went to my legs and my short skirt, then the pajamas he held. “This is a very forward time, is it not?”
“It is,” I agreed, feeling like the conversation had somehow gotten out of my control. Again. “But I was kidding. I guess the joke falls flat when you don’t get it.” When his hot gaze rested on my face once more, I threw my hands up. “You know what? I’ll just turn around.” I hated that flustered note in my voice. Scowling at myself, I turned my back to him as he dressed, offering him a bit of privacy.
“This new world is quite strange,” he said after a minute, and I peeked over my shoulder. He was dressed, fiddling with the strings that tied the waistband of the pants. “The clothes, the people–”
Speaking of clothes. “I need a favor from you,” I said.
David paused and looked back up at me. His gaze was on my face, but there was no denying the blue in his eyes, or the husky note of his voice. “What do you need?”
And I reacted to it. “Can you command me to take my clothes off?”
As soon as I said it, I felt a flush of desire surge through my body. I’d meant for him to help me out of my predicament with the French maid outfit, but with the Itch sliding over me, it took on an entirely different meaning.
David stared at me, eyes smoldering as he brushed the wet locks of dark hair off his forehead. His gaze dropped to my outfit, then back to my face. “I fear that I misunderstand you.”
No, you didn’t, I wanted to say. “I’m a succubus, remember?” I gestured to myself. “We have to answer to our masters in everything, and Aloysius is forcing me to wear this ridiculous outfit. I can’t contradict him.” I moved forward, watching a few stray drops of water trail down his shoulder. I couldn’t resist touching him, feeling those warm muscles – now warm underneath my fingertips – and brushing the droplets away. “But you can make me undress. If you command me, I can get out of these clothes.”
His gaze seemed fixed on my hand as I trailed it over his muscles. I kept expecting him to reach over and pull me away, but he did not. His jaw flexed once. “How shall I…how shall I word it for you?”
Was it sad that I felt a hint of disappointment in his careful statement? Didn’t he want to take advantage of me? Aloysius had used every advantage and made me regret any verbal opening left to him. “You could just tell me to select any clothing I want.”
David’s eyes met mine, and I was startled by their blueness, the beauty of his features, so clear and noble. “Olivia, you are to wear whatever you choose.”
I waited a moment, hoping for the twinge that would tell me that the command had taken effect. Still nothing. Too softly worded? “David, try again. You have to be more forceful.”
“My apologies.” The heat in his eyes flared even higher. “I am not used to this. To having a succubus at my command.”
“You’ll have to get used to it,” I breathed, stepping closer. My sex throbbed in time with my pulse, my voice going breathy. The need was fast upon me. “If you command it, I can refuse you…nothing. Command me again, David.”
His jaw flexed and my mind focused on that small motion, on the strength of his jaw. I wanted to lick it, run my tongue along his skin, taste the salt of him.
David’s blue eyes met mine. “Take off your clothes.”
The sensation rushed over me, nearly orgasmic in its relief. The need to undress surged, and my hands worked at the laces of the bodice quickly, stripping out of the layers. First the tiny bodice and apron, then the skirt dropped to the ground. Next, the hated, hated fishnet and the platform shoes, until I stood before David naked. God, it felt so good. My hands ran over my skin with delight. “Thank you so much. I’d been in that thing for days–”
My words broke off when I realized he wasn’t even looking in my direction. Ever the gentleman. Disgruntled, I picked up his discarded robe and wrapped it around my body. “You can command me to wear something new when you wake up,” I said. “I’d kind of like to remain undressed for a while. It feels good against my skin.”
“Of course.” His voice was all solicitous politeness. “I have one more request. Stay in this room with me while I sleep.”
The nudge of the command pressed on my mind, and I glanced back at him as he sat on the edge of the bed. His eyelids were heavy in the way of an immortal about to go into day-sleep. Or night-sleep, I amended. There was no noise from the living room, so I assumed Noah had headed off to his as well.
I felt a twinge of unhappiness as he lay stretched out on one side of the large, king sized bed. He’d just woken up and now he was returning back to sleep? I knew he had no choice, but it still bothered me.
It seemed to bother him as well. As I hesitated near the side of the bed, he reached out and took my hand in his, eyes heavy with weariness. “Stay at my side until I awaken. Do not leave me again tonight.”
“I can’t,” I said softly. “I have no choice.”
His hand continued to clasp mine, warm. My mind immediately went to sexual thoughts, but I pushed them away. The Itch would have to wait until he awoke once more.
“I’m sorry,” David said in a soft, sleepy voice.
“For what?” I was puzzled by the confession, and my hand tightened on
his as it looked like he was falling asleep. “David, for what?”
He struggled to stay awake long enough to answer me. “For…not…being…able to…protect…you. From him. Sorry…”
With that, his head fell to the side and he became unnaturally still – the sleep had taken over him.
But his words had rocked me to my core.
I held his hand for a few minutes longer, then released it and moved to the other side of the bed. The Itch made my skin crawl with need, but I wouldn’t get any relief for hours. I tried to content myself with lying in the bed, but I moved over next to David and wrapped my arms around him. I was supposed to hate him, not feel comforted by his presence. Not appreciate the light scent of him in my nostrils.
Not have my world turned upside down by his polite manners and gentle, conscientious regard for me.
I was supposed to hate him.
* * *
Lying next to David all night was torture. I’d taken the robe off and relaxed, naked, pressed against his bare chest, need circulating and pulsing through me. The clock on the bedside showed far too many hours until sunrise, so I amused myself with brushing the now-dry blonde curls off his forehead. He stirred against my touch and mumbled something, and that surprised me. For Serim – or a vampire, for that matter – to show any sort of reaction in their hibernation sleep must have meant that he was dreaming. More than that, what he was dreaming was heavily affecting him.
And succubi were creatures of dreams. I couldn’t resist a peek into his subconscious, so I slid my hand across his skin and delved into his mind, curious what I would find there.
* * *
Memories flashed through David’s mind, fleeting and chaotic, swirling in a mix of thoughts that I couldn’t distinguish, until it suddenly focused and everything became crystal clear. David’s thoughts were entirely of…me.