Carnal (Her Dark Desires #1)

by Lola Taylor

  Hector nodded, though his eyes lingered on me a bit longer as I turned and walked away. A moment later, I heard his office door close.

  I frowned. I guess politics and pettiness weren’t limited to students. Seemed it took on a whole new meaning at the teacher level.

  The whole while I walked, I couldn’t stop replaying what had happened in the office. Hector had said he wanted me, but was he toying with me? A new “flavor of the week,” perhaps?

  I reached up and touched my lips. I hadn’t had a moment’s hesitation this time with shape-shifting, and I had to admit I felt more powerful than before. More alive. It had to be Hector’s incubus essence flowing into me.

  Succubi and incubi didn’t have souls, per se. Our paranormal essence, the “magic” within us that made us supernatural, was drawn out and exchanged during sexual encounters. And being as experienced as Hector was, it made him super powerful. My eyes narrowed in thought. Some of that power had leaked into me when he’d kissed me. That certainly explained how I was able to shape-shift more easily. Though powerful as he was, that wasn’t why I’d been drawn to him, although some succubi became drunk on power. No, I was drawn to him because I wanted him, in whatever quantity I could get.

  By the time I reached my dorm, I was horny again. Dammit. I had a feeling my vibrator was going to be getting quite the workout these next few weeks. Good thing I packed extra batteries.

  I paused outside the door to my apartment, remembering Delilah’s warning. Anger rolled through me.

  I didn’t care who she was, or who she was in there with. This was my apartment too, and I had just as much right to be here.

  Plugging the key in the door, I twisted it and stepped inside.

  A strong smell like overcooked meat hit my nose as I shut the door behind me and walked forward. Everything was pitch black. Where was Delilah?

  Splash.

  Huh? Had the pipe burst and flooded the apartment?

  “Delilah?” I called.

  Silence.

  I walked along, the smell getting stronger, mingling with something I recognized all too easily - the smell of sex. Whoever Delilah had had over, they’d been going at it.

  I tripped over something and nearly crashed onto the floor. Catching myself on a chair, I swore and grappled for the light switch. It flicked on, illuminating the room, and I finally saw what had made the splashing sound.

  It wasn’t water.

  It was blood. Lots of it, like several buckets had been dumped in the room.

  Ice-cold fear paralyzed me for a few seconds as my eyes slowly trailed to the figure lying on the floor, and I realized what I had tripped on.

  That’s when I screamed.

  Chapter 9

  I DON’T KNOW HOW long I screamed until help came. All sound, color, and sense of time faded away as staff and guards flocked into my room and setup a perimeter outside while trying to keep curious students at bay.

  All the while, I sat trembling on the bed until a familiar voice cut through my terror-ridden haze.

  “Sally? Sally, look at me.”

  My eyes tore from Delilah’s chewed-up carcass, and I finally saw the blur hunched in front of me. “Hec-tor,” I rasped, my throat sore from screaming. I’d have laryngitis for sure. Or maybe I’d just sound like Mila Kunis or Emma Stone, in that sexy, always-hoarse kind of way.

  Look on the bright side, Sally. Your new low voice will probably be a major turn-on for clients, and hey! Delilah was a bitch!

  Hector wrapped a blanket around my shoulders and examined me. “Are you hurt?”

  I’d never seen him look pale before, and it was fascinating. I reached up and touched his cheek, the stubble there grazing my fingertips. “I’m fine,” I said. “Just scared the shit out of me.”

  “Is this her?”

  We both looked up as two business suit-clad people walked up to me. One was a man in his late thirties who was handsome in a rugged, “woodsman” kind of way. The other was a luscious ginger with plenty of curves, outfitted in a red dress that accented the red in her hair. Both eyed me with a mixture of sympathy and suspicion.

  One glance at their badges, and I knew exactly who they worked for.

  D.P.I. watchdogs. I was so going to need a beer to handle them.

  “Evening, officers,” Hector said, standing and shaking their hands. “What can we do for you?”

  He moved to stand in front of me, blocking me from their view. I smiled. Ever the knight in shining armor.

  “We’d like to ask Ms. Sanders a few questions,” the man, Special Agent Rhodes, said.

  “Sally is my student, and as you can see, she is quite shaken,” Hector said. “She’s been through a lot tonight.”

  Agent Rhodes’s smile tightened, but it was his partner, Agent Harris, that spoke. “We understand she’s been through a lot, and as her mentor, you only have her best interests at heart. But since this is the tenth victim in the last six months, it’s crucial we interview her as soon as possible. There’s something sinister happening to these students, and we want to be able to put a stop to it.”

  Hector stood eye to eye with Harris for a long while, probably measuring the size of each other’s dicks. “All right,” Hector said, stepping aside. He looked at me. “I’ll be nearby if you need me.”

  He shot Harris and Rhodes a warning look, then moved away.

  I answered the basic questions: where I was when the attack happened, what time I came back, when I noticed something was off, was Delilah seeing anyone tonight. I watched them furiously scribble on their notepads for a full fifteen minutes.

  “Would you have any reason to hurt Delilah?” Rhodes asked.

  “No,” I said. “She was a pain in the ass, but I wouldn’t want this to happen to her.”

  “But you don’t mind that it did,” Rhodes interjected.

  I glared at him. “I know exactly what you’re insinuating. And no, I didn’t hire anyone to kill her.”

  “I never said you did,” Rhodes said icily.

  “All right,” Hector said, jumping in. “I think that’s enough. If you have more questions, you can contact us in the morning.”

  Rhodes looked like he was about to protest, but Harris clamped a hand down on his shoulder and smiled pleasantly. “Thank you so much for your assistance. We greatly appreciate it.”

  I heard them arguing as Hector led me away. I couldn’t wait to get out of this room, away from the smell, Special Agent Asshole, and what was left of Delilah. Students began whispering loudly as he escorted me through, and I couldn’t bring myself to meet their gazes head-on. Great. As if I wasn’t already a hot topic for dirty gossip, this would propel me into legendary status.

  Hector stopped to request a few guards follow us. They formed a shield around me as he walked me to the elevator and punched in a code. “1-7-1. This will take you up to the private quarters only visiting high-ranking officials stay in. It’s pretty quiet up there - and safe.”

  Ha. Safe. Right. Who was really safe in a school in the middle of nowhere where anyone could be the serial killer?

  I got chills as we walked. It didn’t sound like anyone else lived up here at the moment, which terrified me more than I already was. I hadn’t stopped shaking, even when Hector had shown me into a room and had situated me on the bed. This apartment was twice the size of my old one, with more high-tech furnishings, including-

  “Oh, thank God,” I said, going over to the mini-bar and pouring myself a shot of whiskey. I downed it in one gulp, enjoying the burn because it briefly took my mind off what I’d witnessed earlier. Something told me that image wasn’t going away anytime soon.

  “You should get some rest,” Hector said, coming up and leaning his elbows on the bar. “I’ll post two guards outside your door at all times, and two more to escort you to your sessions and back here.”

  “Don’t leave.”

  He went still.

  Tears began leaking out of my eyes. I could feel my shell-shocked exterior startin
g to crack. “Please don’t leave me here.”

  He swallowed hard. “Okay,” he said. “I won’t.”

  After telling the guards he would be staying at my request, he found me some comfy pajamas. I showered for a long time, feeling like I had blood all over me, despite the fact it only coated the bottom of my shoes. When the bathroom was filled with steam, I finally came out. Hector helped me into bed and tucked me in, but it didn’t make me feel like a child.

  With his heat at my back once he’d settled in beside me, I felt protected.

  Safe.

  He stroked my head, playing with my hair as I stared at the wall, unable to fall asleep. “Poor Delilah,” I said. “She wasn’t winning any Roommate of the Year Awards, but she didn’t deserve that.”

  Hector took in a deep breath and sighed. “No one needs to die that way, in my book.”

  “What do you think did that?”

  “Not sure. Were, maybe. A very big, powerful were. She was a packmaster’s daughter. I’m sure her father had enemies. Children of the Moon tend to inherit them.”

  All right, in addition to being alive, I had another thing to be thankful for - that I wasn’t born or made into a were.

  We didn’t speak after that. I was glad he didn’t ask me if I was okay, because I honestly wasn’t. I didn’t think I was going to be okay for a while. All my problems with Elias and getting fired from Vixens sounded like a cakewalk compared to this.

  Hector rested his head against mine. “You’re safe now,” he murmured into my hair. “No one can hurt you. I won’t leave you.”

  I smiled, feeling the first pull of sleep. “That’s nice.”

  “Sally…”

  My eyes had started fluttering shut, and exhaustion dragged me under an ocean of darkness. Only in the morning did I realize it wasn’t Hector who had said my name.

  SCREAMING THROUGHOUT THE NIGHT is not the best way to try to get sleep. In fact, I didn’t sleep at all. And poor Hector certainly didn’t. I elbowed him in the face with my thrashing more times than I could count, but he stayed anyhow.

  Around dawn, he ordered a sedative for me, which I fought at first. “This will help you rest,” he said, sounding ragged. “I’ll cancel our field observation tonight-”

  “No,” I said at once. “No, don’t cancel it.”

  He raised a brow. “Are you sure?”

  I nodded. “I need to get away from this place for a while, somewhere off campus.”

  He studied my face, then nodded.

  I don’t know what he gave me, but I was out like a light until he roused me later to get ready. While my emotions still felt raw, my mind was at least clearer. Donning something “sexy” at his insistence, we took one of the facility’s cars and headed out into the city.

  The drive was quiet and a bit cool. I hadn’t worn a bra again. Hell, I might not ever wear one again, I was so comfortable. Monique had a sense for comfort and style. The glittery, black leather dress was short with long sleeves. I’d worn big earrings, curling my hair and brushing it over one shoulder, and fuck-me red heels.

  Hector had elevated himself from delectable to divine. Wearing nothing but dark jeans, a black leather jacket, which he wore open to reveal his bare chest, and a fedora, he was hotter than sin.

  And he smelled so damn good too, like cinnamon.

  “Do you believe in love at first sight?” I asked out of the blue.

  He looked at me, startled. “I think it exists. Why?”

  I shook my head. “I dunno. Last night’s brush with death got me thinking about how vulnerable we all are, I guess. Love is a very human, natural emotion.”

  “But we aren’t natural.”

  “We were both human at one point, though. So why is it such a crime to fall in love?”

  His grip tightened on the steering wheel. “Because they don’t want our emotions interfering with our jobs. We need to have sex to survive. It’s how it’s always been for our kind. Succubi and incubi relationships rarely pan out because of the cheating aspect. One party or both always feels slighted, and rightly so. It’s just better if we keep things strictly professional.”

  I balled up my dress with my fists. “Is that why you kissed me the other night? To teach me another lesson?”

  His gaze met mine, the depth of emotion swimming in his eyes making my breath pause. “No,” he said at last. “I kissed you because I wanted to.” His eyes turned back to the road, and his business demeanor dropped into place. “We’re here.”

  “Here” was a quaint house in a typical suburban neighborhood, probably upper middle class judging by the neat lawns and average cars in the driveway. One house had a lot more cars than the others, and a pair of red balloons was strung to the mailbox.

  Hector parked along the side of the road, and we both got out. “What are we doing here, again?” I asked.

  “One of two monthly observations to make sure our newly released succubus is doing well. After they complete the program, the mentoring succubus or incubus completes two observations a month to make sure they’re slipping back into society all right.”

  Music drifted out of the front door, heavy metal from what I could tell. Parties were a great way for one of our kind to get a quick fix, since at least one couple ended up hooking up by the end of the night.

  Hector rang the doorbell, and a bald man in his fifties answered the door. He was wearing what appeared to be a toga, complete with a gold crown.

  “Hector!” he said, shaking the incubus’s hand as we stepped inside. “Welcome. You here for Cassandra?”

  I raised my brows. Some humans knew about us, but the D.P.I. usually had vampires or witches glamour them to make them forget about paranormals. Others were on some sup’s payroll, as I assumed this guy was. Hector wouldn’t be so nonchalant with him otherwise.

  “Good to see you, James. Yes, I just need to check in with her, and then my friend and I will be on our way.”

  James scoped me out from head to toe. “Well, hello there,” he purred, taking my hand and lifting it to his lips. “And you might be?”

  “Off limits,” Hector said in a low voice, stepping between us.

  James gulped and hastily backed away. “Uh, right this, um, way, sir.”

  Hector took my hand, and I followed him through the house. There were about twenty people here, all middle-aged and wearing Greek-inspired fashion.

  And all engaging in some sort of open sexual intercourse, some with multiple partners.

  I’d never been to an orgy. Monique frequented them, saying they were “a great way to meet new friends.”

  I raised my brows when I saw a naked woman sprawled on her back across the dining room table. Two men were sucking on her tits, while a woman ate her out and another swallowed her screams, their tongues tangling in a dance that was mesmerizing to watch.

  We walked up the stairs and into the master bedroom. Cassandra’s paranormal signature buzzed on my radar at once. Upon seeing the threesome on the bed, my jaw dropped.

  Cassandra, for one thing, was gorgeous, and of Latino descent it looked like. She rode a guy like one of those bull machines, her voluptuous breasts bouncing up and down with her rhythm. Another man kneeled in front of her, his toga lifted up while she moved her mouth along his swollen shaft. He griped her head as she sucked and pulled, moaning and grunting like the guy she rode.

  Color me impressed - the girl was screwing two guys at once. I couldn’t imagine the energy charge she’d get from that. It would be enough to last a whole month.

  “Wait here,” Hector said, stepping into the room and closing the door.

  I crossed my arms, feeling bare as patrons skirted past.

  I tapped my foot, checking my watch. Ten minutes had passed. How much longer was this going to take?

  “Hey.”

  I looked up, seeing a well-toned guy about my age. He was handsome, looking like a young Caesar. Or maybe an Adonis. But the cold look in his eyes left me chilled.

  I nodded, hopin
g my lack of a spoken greeting would make him go away.

  If anything, it pissed him off. He grabbed my arm and jerked me toward him. “Hey, bitch. When someone speaks to you, you say something back.”

  I yanked my arm free. “First of all, I’m not your bitch. Secondly, I don’t have to speak to you if I don’t want to. It’s a free fucking country. So piss off.”

  My head hit the wall so hard I saw stars. Scrambling to get my senses about me, I fought to press the heavy weight off my back but had no luck. Adonis’s breath came hot on my cheek. “I’m going to fuck you six ways to Sunday, and you’re gonna scream my name when you come.”

  His hand started hiking up my dress, getting a palmful of my bare ass.

  I squirmed, fighting to break free. Maybe I could kick him.

  The door flew open then. I couldn’t see what happened, but there was a blur, followed by a pop as someone pummeled their fist into Adonis’s face. He released me, sprawling backward and crashing into a hallway table.

  Hector pulled me to him. “Are you all right?” he breathed.

  “I’m fine,” I said, adrenaline making me shaky. “He just caught me off guard.”

  Hector growled, stalking toward Adonis. The guy looked dazed as Hector grabbed a fistful of his toga and picked him clear up off the floor. His feet dangled in the air.

  “Get out. Now,” Hector growled.

  He threw Adonis down. The man cast one last terrified look at Hector, than scrambled down the stairs, tripping and falling over his toga as he flew out the door.

  I let out a breath, and Hector took my hand.

  James came around the corner, crying out at the broken table. “That was my great-grandmother, Francis’s! What happened?”

  “Sorry, James,” Hector said. “I’ll send you some money to replace it. Thanks again. Cassandra’s doing fine.”

  He hurriedly led me back downstairs and out the door. He didn’t stop his lightning-quick pace until we were in the car and speeding away.

  “Thanks,” I said breathlessly.

  He grunted in response.

  I studied his rigid back and tense jaw. “Hey, are you okay?” I said.