by Debra Dunbar
No Cleo. No fire-being since last night. Kai warm beside me under the blanket. It was peace destined to end.
Chapter 15
I climbed out of Kai’s jeep after a more physical goodbye than we’d ever had before and pranced into the resort lobby. Pranced. I felt like a fucking lighthouse beacon, or one of those flashing neon signs. Heads turned as I walked past — more heads then when I’d had the pheromones cranked up. If I had been Selma Hiyek buck naked, I wouldn’t have attracted as much attention.
And I loved it. Damn it all; no wonder Irix had been hounding me to up my game. Was this how he felt all the time? Probably more, since he had nearly two-thousand years on me. I could pick up the world and carry it around. I could pull the stars from the heavens and string them into a necklace. I could snuff that fire elemental like a birthday candle. Each moment that passed, the power Kai had given me settled and grew, filling me with a sense of invincibility. I couldn’t wait to show Irix. But, of course, he wasn’t in our room.
I paced around like a caged tiger. It was late afternoon, and I’d texted him that I was going to be out with Kai until dinner. The thought of waiting and working on my thesis for two hours drove me nearly insane. I needed to do something — something beyond wear a path through the plush carpet. So out I went.
I was smart enough to realize I couldn’t drive in my high-as-a-kite-on-sex state, so I took a taxi. It’s a wonder the guy didn’t wreck — his gaze stayed glued to me in the rearview mirror as he negotiated traffic seemingly by psychic power. Some sense crept through my insane ideas of invincibility, and I asked him to let me off in Lahaina. It was only a few miles from the resort, and I knew I was risking an encounter with Cleo, but I just didn’t give a fuck.
The little beachfront restaurant was packed with diners having a late lunch or just enjoying the view with a drink. Men in shorts sat at the bar beside guys sporting garishly bright swimming trunks. Women wore breezy cover-ups over their bathing suits. This was clearly a tourist spot, and I was hesitant as I stood in the doorway, feeling very much like a piranha in a koi pond.
I didn’t hear music screeching to a stop. No crowds of people turned to stare at me. No one came rushing over to throw my ass to the curb. What they did do was eye me from behind menus and the shelter of sunglasses, as if I were a celebrity they were trying hard not to stare at. The drunk feeling was doing more than making me an eye magnet and filling me with a sense of power; I could see the energy in the humans, the quality and quantity, the color that hinted at their emotional state. It would make hunting for sexual partners so much easier. Why hadn’t Irix told me about this? Now I finally knew what he meant when he chastised me for my starvation diet. Well, diet no more. I had two hours to kill, so I walked in.
A succubus doesn’t need a seat at the bar — even a half-succubus. I squeezed between two men, smiling apologetically at each in turn. They scooted sideways, not so far that their arms didn’t brush mine, and smiled back. Two sets of eyes roved over me as I leaned forward to summon the bartender.
“I’ll have that Maui Brewing thingie you’ve got on tap”. The local beers were amazing, but I could never remember their names. Not like I could remember the names of towns, prominent landmarks, or half the mythological figures either. Hundreds of thousands of plant names — both common and in Latin — were like second nature to me, but these Hawaiian names were hard.
The bartender slid the pint over to me, and I was once again grateful that alcohol didn’t have any long-term effects on me. If I had a few of these, I’d get tipsy, but never sloppy drunk, and never hungover in the morning.
“Well, hello there, beautiful.”
I froze at the husky, feminine voice then slowly turned. Cleo. Seriously? How the fuck had she found me? Was she stalking me all over the island?
She blinked as I faced her, backing up a few steps. Surprise flashed across her face before being replaced by the usual cocky arrogance. This bitch was driving me nuts.
“Can I at least have one day without getting into a brawl with you?” Admittedly, my voice sounded pleading rather than the forceful tone I’d been aiming for. I’d prevailed against her the last time, but I doubted I’d do so again. And even with a win on my side, I’d still gotten the crap beaten out of me.
Cleo stared at me, cocking her head to the side and taking another step back. The air of confidence cracked; under it I saw uncertainty, wariness, and... loss. This was something I could take advantage of, but instead of forging ahead with an attack, I tried for peace.
“It’s a big island. Big enough for both of us. Can’t we coexist without constantly coming to blows?”
“Maybe.” As if her expression hadn’t been odd to begin with, she nodded slowly. It was as if she were hinting to me, prodding me to resolve this. My elf-half jumped at the chance at reconciliation, no matter how short-lived it might be.
“Can I buy you a drink?”
She smiled, and I suddenly realized why so many men fell at her feet. The power she emanated was palpable, but it was her smile that made me want to kneel down and worship her. She promised adoration, devotion, and an eternity of affection in that smile.
“I will accept your offer, sister. And I apologize for not recognizing you at first. You look very different from when we last saw each other so long ago.”
Umm, whatever. She’d thought I was faking my elf half at first, and now she was confusing me for some other succubus. Demons were so fucking weird. And Lord only knew what the significance was of what I’d just done. I’d have to ask Irix later if my buying her a drink equated service for a decade, or my firstborn son, or a quickie in the back alley. Whatever. It was too late to worry over, so I flagged down the bartender and ordered my third-favorite Hawaiian drink — pineapple juice, mango, and vodka.
“Lovely.” Her cherry lips were seductively wrapped around the straw as she took another sip. With a wave of her hand, the two men I’d been eyeing vacated their seats and stood like adoring statues beside us.
“Please.” She gestured to one stool then swept onto the other as I sat. “Now that we are finally at a truce, what brings you to Maui? And when are you leaving?”
So much for apologies and our sisterhood. I ignored the less-than-subtle dismissive tone and eyed her. “Are you a local?”
Cleo had always looked like a Hollywood version of the queen, as opposed to a true Egyptian, but now that I got a closer look at her, I could see the south Asian influence, not the Japanese or Korean background I’d seen in many of the natives this past week. No, Cleo almost seemed as if she had some Tahitian or Samoan blood in her veins. Or in whoever veins she was copying at the moment. Sex demons chose their human form with great care, but it was never their true form.
“Yes. I am Hawaii.”
And she clearly didn’t speak English very well, in spite of her excellent accent. “Well, I’m here on vacation with my boyfriend. I’ll be leaving in a few days, so hopefully we can extend our truce until I fly away, never to return.”
Her teeth were amazingly white as she smiled. “I am willing to consider the possibility of a truce, as long as you vow never to return to the islands without my invitation.”
Invitation. Riiiight. Eventually she was going to fuck up and some angel was going to dust her ass or chase her back to Hel. She could pee in the sandbox all she wanted, but, eventually, a bigger dog was going to knock her out. I gave her two months max — long before I ever planned a return trip to the island.
I eyed her over my beer and asked the important question on my mind. “You gonna stop cock blocking me?”
The confusion on her face was comical.
“I mean, will you stop interfering in my pursuit of sexual intercourse with residents of the island?” The men next to us perked up considerably, scooting closer to my stool.
Cleo scowled. “These men are mine. You want all the best ones. I won’t let you take them and leave me with the dregs.”
“That’s what you’ve been doing t
o me. Come on. There are tons of quality guys on this island. Throw a sister more than a bare bone.”
Instead of protesting, or yanking more of my hair out of my scalp, she recoiled at the word ‘sister’, giving me a wary look. “I would definitely give my sister more than a bare bone. Tell you what, let’s ditch this disgusting watering hole and head to the Four Seasons.”
Holy shit. Four Seasons was where the money-is-no-object people stayed. Not that money equated with the best quality of sexual energy, but it was certainly better hunting grounds than trolling the island street corners.
“How about we reward these two patient men who have been our adoring slaves since we took their seats, and then we’ll head to the land of the rich and famous?”
Cleo swiveled on her seat and eyed the men behind us — the men who had silly grins and hopeful looks on their faces. “Agreed. But I get the married one. I like the married ones.”
Damn. I hadn’t even caught that. I glared at the now red-faced man, looking pointedly at his lack of ring. Cleo might be a bitch of the first rank, but I could learn a lot from a succubus like her. “Deal.”
Thirty minutes later we were sauntering out arm in arm, both glowing from sexual energy and the excellent champagne Cleo had managed to score and haul into the storeroom where we rocked two men’s worlds. I never knew boning a guy with another couple fucking right next to me could be so hot. We left that storeroom a mess — shelves knocked over, champagne spilled everywhere, two exhausted men sprawled naked on the floor.
“Love never felt this good,” I sang, uncharacteristically off-key. Damn, how much champagne had I drunk? I should have been more careful. Clearly the sex high I was on didn’t mix well with alcohol, because I was pissed beyond rational thought. “’Cause you dance... and something, something, baby, baby.” The lyrics were completely escaping me. Not that I was sure exactly what song I was singing.
“I’m not walking all the way to the Four Seasons,” Cleo complained. She sounded a lot more sober than I did, but her lurching walk betrayed her.
“I took a taxi here.” The thought made me giggle. Maybe we could hitchhike. I was willing to bet that if either one of us flashed a passing car, we’d get a ride. Actually, we’d probably cause a fatal accident.
“I’m not taking a nasty taxi.” Cleo made a dismissive motion with her hand and nearly punched me in the face. “Why do they always smell like garlic? Why, oh why? I long for the days of a chaise carried on the muscular shoulders of young men, surrounded by fragrant flowers and the scent of sex.”
I snorted, realizing too late that such an unladylike noise would be far beneath my new mentor, my new best friend, my sister. Yes, I loved Cleo like a sister. How had I not realized that before? “Chaise. Like that’s gonna happen. Can you hotwire a car? Irix can hotwire a car. He steals them all the time, only he says it’s borrowing.” I snorted again. I was drunk, really, really drunk. I couldn’t help it. “If it ain’t nailed down, he takes it. Hotwire us a car, and let’s go fuck some rich guys.”
Yeah. The tiny part of my brain that wasn’t drunk let me know I’d need to sober up fast, because no pheromones were going to get me laid when I was this sloppy drunk.
“Who is Irix?” Cleo made kissy-lips and wiggled her eyebrows — and almost fell over a crack in the sidewalk.
“My man. My main squeeze.” I sighed. “He’s the hottest guy I’ve ever met in my whole life, my long life of, like, forever. I love him. I want to just spend the rest of eternity locked in a bedroom with him.”
“Really?” Cleo bounced off a tree trunk and paused to curse at it. It withered under her recriminations. “Gorgeous. Awesome sex. Hot-wires cars. Does he give you tributes? Presents worthy of your divinity?”
I healed the tree once she’d staggered a few more steps down the street. Yeah, I should have been conserving my energy for future encounters with the fire elemental, but I couldn’t let this poor palm take the brunt of her drunken wrath.
I wasn’t a flowers and chocolate girl, but Irix had always taken care of me. “He shares his energy, paid for our vacation. He’s kind of bossy sometimes, telling me what I should and shouldn’t do, but I know he’s looking out for my best interrrr... int-er-ests. Yeah, my best interests.”
“I like the older, confident ones,” Cleo announced, linking her arm in mine. “Conquest isn’t as sweet when the men knuckle under too easily.”
I laughed at the thought of Irix knuckling under to anyone. Yeah, he’d shown me glimpses of vulnerability, told me he loved me, but I knew if I turned bitch on him, he’d kick my ass.
“What the fuck are we doing walking to Four Seasons? Let’s just blip there. You know, snap our fingers and blingy-blingy?”
The suggestion sobered me up. Well, slightly. “I can’t do that. The whole teleportation thingie? Nope. I don’t even think Irix can do it. You’re, like, an angel if you can.”
It didn’t even cross my mind that she’d suggest it. Really? Teleportation? The only demon I knew who could do that was Sam, and she was Satan and an Angel of Chaos. If Cleo could do it, what the fuck was her level? Or was she just bullshitting me or probing to discover my level?
“Fine. Whatever.” Cleo stepped in front of a moving Honda and slammed it to a stop. I watched the driver face-plant into the steering wheel and bounce back against the seat. Then Cleo strode to the driver’s side and yanked him out. “Hike it, motherfucker.”
She tossed the man to the side of the road and slid into the driver’s seat. “Not exactly a chaise on the shoulders of attractive muscular men, but it will do.”
No, a twelve-year-old Honda Accord didn’t equate to a parade procession with four Fabio hotties at the helm, but I’d take it. I slid into the passenger seat, shaking my head to try to clear it of at least the alcohol. The world still buzzed around me in a swirl of confusion as Cleo weaved her way down the streets.
Cleo was a terrible driver. I held my breath as we touched the guardrail then swayed back toward the oncoming traffic on my side of the car. The good news was, the adrenaline-fueled car ride was doing a lot toward sobering me up. “Jesus, Cleo. Watch where the fuck you’re going. Do you even have a driver’s license?”
“No. Why would I need for humans to give me permission to operate their conveyances?”
I guess she had a point. A terrifying thirty minutes later we stood in front of the Sheraton, looking out at the dark shadow of an island.
“Where are the boats?” Cleo demanded.
The illustrious Four Seasons that Cleo had wanted to visit was on Lanai, a privately owned island right off Maui. A ferry ran there, but I had no idea where to catch it, or when it ran. I guess Cleo, living up to the name I’d given her, expected one to show up on shore just for little old us.
“There are some boats.” I pointed to three large catamarans and a speedboat, bobbing at anchor about sixty feet out. “Irix would just swim out and steal one if he wanted to go to Lanai.”
She nodded. “I like this Irix man. Resourceful. Determined. Why is he with you?”
Bitch. Although I was getting the feeling it wasn’t personal. Cleo was a total narcissist, the worst egomaniac I’d ever seen. In her eyes, everyone else was a lowly, useless peon.
I decided to ignore her dig. “So, get to swimming, sister. Go steal a boat if you want to go so badly.”
Cleo eyed the water as it rolled gently in on the glistening sand. “You swim out and get it for me. I hate the water. You know that.”
I rolled my eyes, remembering her reluctance to get her cute shoes wet. Of all the places for an aquaphobic succubus to pick to live, this one chose an island. “No way. I’m not going to the Four Seasons looking like a drowned rat.”
“I command you.”
Oh, for fuck sake. This was going too far. “Besides the fact that I’m not your bitch and am not swimming out there to steal you a boat, I can’t get it to shore. It’s too shallow here. You’d still need to wade out to get in.”
“Then get me
a canoe and take me there.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and gave her my best ‘not-happening’ look. “Let’s forget about the Four Seasons and just go to the Hyatt. They’ve got those cute penguins in the lobby.”
Cleo stomped her foot on the ground. “I want to go to the Four Seasons!” she screamed. “Take me to the Four Seasons!”
My drinking buddy had turned into a toddler. Suddenly Cleo was no fun. “Why don’t you stand here and scream curses at the ocean while I go to the Hyatt and see if there’s any action?”
I turned to go, and her hand closed on my arm. Great. More bruises. The ground rumbled, and I shook my head. “You better dial it down a notch, sister. Keep up with the temper tantrum and we’re going to have an angel show up and take your head off.”
She released me, staring with strange intensity. “Angel?”
“Yeah, you know, big androgynous dudes with wings? The things that would kill you if they got wind that you were prowling around the island.”
“But it’s my island.” Her voice rose in pitch again but wavered with indecision. “Mine. It’s mine.”
She was fucking nuts is what she was. And I was getting scared — more scared than I’d ever been when she’d been beating me up. There was something in the orange glow of her eyes that let me know she was more than a tad unstable, and with the appropriate trigger, her explosion of temper wouldn’t be restrained by fear of any angel.
“Tell you what. Let me check the ferry schedule for the Four Seasons, and we’ll hit it up tomorrow. It’s kind of late, and Irix is expecting me back anyway.”
It was eerie how quickly she settled down. Smoothing her hair back with a graceful hand, she smiled. “Yes, of course. Go on back to your Irix, and I will see you soon.”
I turned, holding back from running down the beach as fast as I could to get away from her. Once I felt I was a safe distance and out of view, I let loose, racing with all of my elf speed to our resort. Breathing hard, I walked through the lobby and made a detour as I saw Irix at the poolside bar, chatting up one of the waiters.