Incubus Awakened by Kitty Thomas

5

Anna traced a finger over the scar the next morning. Whatever Luc had done had caused her hand to warp-speed through the healing process, skipping the scabbing stage altogether to leave a long, reddish line. The remaining mark seemed ominous and permanent, as if it sealed some yet-to-be-revealed fate between her and the demon in her house.

Tam walked in then, her cropped hair already gelled into little spikes that only she could make look feminine. She poured a cup of coffee, ruined it with cream and sugar, and perched on a stool beside Anna.

“I just talked to Bitsy and Mimi. They were outside when I went to get the paper. Marshal’s in the hospital, in ICU. They don’t know how he made it there alive.” Off Anna’s expression she said, “News travels fast here. You’ve been away too long. Story is wild dogs attacked him.”

Anna took a moment to process that, wondering if it was a random rumor or a lie Marshal had fed the orderlies in his last moments of consciousness. She glanced back at the scar. “Can you drive me home?”

Tam’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.”

Anna wasn’t sure it was such a good idea either, but it was what she was doing, regardless. She was feeling much braver in daylight. “I’m getting him out of my house. I’m not giving up. He’ll have to kill me first, and you don’t think he will so . . . ”

“Hey, I’m not a Magic Eight Ball.”

“Just take me home.”

Tam took one look at her and sighed.

When they pulled into Anna’s driveway, her friend made one last attempt to dissuade her. “You don’t have to prove anything. Just put the house up for sale.”

Anna shook her head, determined. “This is my house. I’ll get him out. And then I’ll throw a party. Remember to be here tomorrow at ten. We have to work on more candles if we’re gonna get something into Sally’s by the end of the week.”

“I’m coming in with you,” Tam said.

“No, you aren’t. This is my mess, and I’m cleaning it.”

“But . . . ”

“Just go. He’s had two weeks. If he hasn’t hurt me yet, he’s probably not going to. Okay?”

Tam looked uncertain but finally backed out of the driveway. Anna turned toward the house. She’d be damned if some freaky sex demon was going to screw up her Barbie Dream House.

The dream house loomed over her, dark and foreboding even in the morning sunlight. She took a deep breath and marched purposefully through the yard and up the front steps. The door banged against the interior wall as she shoved it open.

“Honey, I’m home!” Anna sang out, not expecting a response.

“In here, Sweet Pea,” a deep voice called back from the kitchen.

She gritted her teeth and followed the sound of his voice. The scene that greeted her arrival was unexpected to say the least. Luc, wearing nothing but a pair of faded blue jeans, was padding around the kitchen. Cooking.

“Have you had breakfast?” he asked, flipping an omelet like a pro. Anna was beginning to understand his whole cooking channel fixation. He seemed to fancy himself the Emeril of the demon world.

She crossed her arms over her chest and was about to respond when Malibu Barbie decided to make her presence known.

“I thought you broke up with her!” the blonde accused in a pouty whine that made Anna’s head hurt. The tart was fully alive and way too perky to have just spent the night having wild monkey sex with darkness personified.

“You didn’t kill her,” Anna said, unsure why that irritated her. Some of his evil must have seeped into her through the blood exchange.

“I didn’t think you would like it.” He turned to the blonde. “Be sure to drink your orange juice, Rachel. You need to keep your energy up.”

Rachel kissed him on the cheek and went to the table with her plate.

“What? You’re planning on going at it again after she eats?” Anna whispered.

“Of course not. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. Not for a couple of days. I might drain too much. I don’t do that anymore, remember?”

Anna latched onto the even if I wanted to part, not sure why she cared one way or the other. “So, you don’t want to . . . um sleep with her again?” Could I sound more like a desperate twit? It must be some kind of demon mojo.

He raised an eyebrow and grinned. “God, no. She’s a simpering moron. They must just be letting anyone into university now. I’m sorely disappointed in this thing you call higher learning.”

Anna turned away to hide a smile. Luc handed her a plate of food along with a small glass of juice. “You should drink your orange juice, too,” he said.

Was that innuendo? Her eyes slid over his stomach, her gaze lingering at his waistband until he cleared his throat. She snapped out of it and went to the table, trying not to think about how awkward it was sitting across from Rachel. Not that it should be awkward.

“So, if you guys are broken up, what are you doing here?” Rachel had decided not to bother with pleasantries like ‘good morning, did you sleep well?’

Anna speared the other girl with a glare. “Well, see, this is my house. Luc just doesn’t know when he’s overstayed his welcome.”

Rachel’s eyes went to the demon. “I thought you said the house belonged to you.” She seemed annoyed she wasn’t getting a nice big house with her newly-acquired sex god.

Luc smiled at Anna. “I’ve been here a bit longer than you, dear. And possession is nine tenths.”

“You’d know all about possession, wouldn’t you?” Anna shot back. She tried not to be affected by his warm smile. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Nothing,” he said. “You really are remarkable. I’ve never met a woman faced with what you were faced with last night who could be so together the next day.” He seemed embarrassed suddenly and turned away to load the dishwasher.

“Excuse me!” Rachel said. “It looks to me like you two are still very much together. I don’t have to take this.” She pushed herself up from the table and flounced toward the door.

Luc grabbed her faster than Anna could track. He placed one hand on either side of her face and stared deeply into her eyes. Anna thought for one sick moment he was going to kiss the blonde, who, judging from her look of breathless abandon, thought the same thing.

“Sleep,” he said.

“But I’m not sleepy . . . ” Rachel slumped unconscious to the floor.

He turned to Anna. “You’ve got thirty minutes before she wakes. I suggest you get her into the car and far away from here before then. She’ll be disoriented and have the barest recollection of me. Anything she remembers, she’ll believe to be a dream.”

“What? Are you kidding me? Clean up your own mess. I’m not your minion or your pimp.” She almost backtracked and apologized when she saw the hurt look on his face.

“Fine. Leave her. We’ll have a house guest. I can start building a harem. Rachel can be my number-one harem girl.”

Anna glared at his retreating back and pulled the blonde up by her arms. Jesus. People weren’t kidding when they talked about dead weight.

She flung Rachel into the car, slammed the passenger door, and went to retrieve her keys. Half an hour later found her driving aimlessly on the outskirts of town.

Rachel stirred beside her. “It must have been some party, huh? I’m sorry, you look familiar, but I can’t place you.”

“Anna.”

“Right. Anna. So, um, thanks for driving me home. Where did we end up, anyhow?”

“Some cabin out by the lake,” Anna lied.

Rachel scrunched her nose. “I don’t remember.” The visor of the passenger side flipped down to reveal a small mirror. She pulled a tube of lip gloss from her pocket and swiped the wand over her lower lip.

“Yes, well, you were drunk,” Anna said, not hiding her disgust.

“Did I do something to piss you off?”

“No, I’m sorry.” She didn’t know why she was being so hostile. If anything, Rachel had been a victim. One Anna had aided the demon in attaining, she reminded herself. She had no right to be so mean.

Rachel rolled down the window and looked out at the passing blur of trees. She seemed all right. There were no marks on her, and she was happily oblivious. She’d been fully in control of her senses during breakfast and had seemed possessive of the man she’d spent the night with. Then again, what sane woman wouldn’t be possessive of a man that looked like Luc?

Demon. Not man. Remember that if you want to continue breathing.

Anna pulled the car into the parking lot of the college administration building. Rachel looked like she might complain about not being delivered to her dorm, but thought better of it. She got out a little awkwardly and bumped the door with her hip before leaning back down to look in the window.

“Um, thanks for the ride, I guess.”

“Don’t mention it.” She pressed the power lock button.

“Hey. How come I’m not hungover?”

Anna peeled out of the lot.

* * *

Luc had cleanedthe kitchen counter three times. He should have washed the dishes by hand to give himself something to do, but they were all happily whirring away in the dishwasher.

He finally dropped the washcloth into the sink and went to flop in front of the television. He’d worried Anna wouldn’t come back or that she’d run into Cain and the ritual wouldn’t be strong enough.

Cain was the head incubus, after all. Maybe it was hubris to think blood magic would work against him.

Luc’s relief at seeing her in the kitchen that morning, alive and well and in one piece, had made him want to enthrall her. Just a little. Just enough to break down the wall she seemed to have put up to keep him out.

He could see it behind her eyes, the need and attraction. But she was wound so tightly. He knew he was just the demon to unwind her.

Why am I so obsessed with this woman? What’s so special about her? There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to why he was so drawn and felt the need to protect her. He might have been imprisoned for half a century, but he had a steady stream of beautiful women brought to him nightly. Cain had fantastic taste when it came to that.

And yet, with Rachel last night, it had been just that––feeding. The past two weeks it had always been Anna in his mind. He needed to screw her to get her out of his head. It was just a case of wanting what he couldn’t have, right?

Luc tensed at the sound of the car door slamming, then muted the television and turned on the closed-captioning. He set his features into a look of nonchalance.

“How’d it go?” he asked when she breezed through the front door.

“What do you mean, how’d it go? I took your dinner back to her dorm.” Anna tossed her keys into the candy dish on the end table. “We need to get something straight. I’m not your partner in crime. We are not the Bonnie and Clyde of the underworld, and this isn’t going to be a regular zany caper because I’m getting you out of this house.”

He took his eyes from the television to give her his full attention. It required all his willpower to focus on the issue at hand and not think about enthralling her to get her bent over the coffee table. “Yes . . . We need to discuss that. Last night I meant to tell you, but things got a little out of control.”

“Tell me what?”

“We figured out how to get me out of the house a few weeks ago. But you won’t like it.”