Incubus Awakened by Kitty Thomas

9

The front porch light was on when Anna returned, still arguing with herself for allowing the burning from the bond to drag her back.

She had a death grip on her house key when the door swung open. Luc had to start with the special effects. He couldn’t stay out of her way and let her come inside on her own. Instead of going in, she sat in one of the rocking chairs, pulled a book from her purse, and pretended to read while the door stood open and ignored.

At least her hand wasn’t burning now. Maybe she could sleep on the porch. Best of both worlds.

Fifteen minutes passed before she steeled herself enough to look up. Luc scowled at her through the window. She turned back to the book, willing her heartbeat to steady, breathing slowly in and out.

Moments later, he was looming in the doorway. If not for the barrier, he could have reached out and pulled her inside. She had to keep up a running stream of commentary in her head to reassure herself that was the case. That she was safe out here. When he finally spoke, she jumped anyway.

“Anna, get your ass in the house right now!”

She pretended to focus on her book. She’d managed to read one paragraph. About four hundred times.

“Stop bullying me,” she said between clenched teeth, her eyes still on the page.

“I am quickly losing patience,” he snarled.

“Yes, and what are you going to do about it?” She dropped the book and came to stand mere inches from the threshold. She didn’t know what it was about him that made her throw her self-preservation instincts out the window, but he pissed her the hell off. After going to see Marshal and getting some of her fire back, she wasn’t coming home to take shit from another bully. Her heart was in her throat as she watched his face darken.

“I told you I could have you brought to me.” His voice was calm.

The calm scared her more than the snarling. “Cain said he wasn’t coming back for awhile. For all we know, he’s never coming back.” She knew even as she said it, that it wasn’t true.

“Get in the house. Now.”

Anna was tempted to taunt him with a make me but his comment earlier about her being a child still stung. Not that he acted that much more mature for his age. The several hundred years age difference wasn’t all that noticeable if you asked her.

“Not until you calm down. Luc, please, you’re scaring me. I saw Marshal, and I can’t come into the house if I think you might . . . ”

“I wouldn’t.” The angry mask was gone as quickly as it had surfaced. “I don’t beat on women. That bastard had that coming.”

She bit her lip and looked away. “I know.”

His voice softened, and he moved away from the door. “Please come inside.”

She waited a few more minutes until she finally gained the nerve to step over the threshold. He wasn’t in the entryway or living room, unless he was pulling the disappearing act. But she didn’t think he was doing that either because she couldn’t feel him. Ever since the bond, she could sense his presence when he was near. It was something she’d put in a file folder of things she wasn’t thinking about.

She weaved her way through the house until she found him in the library with a book in his hand. He tensed when she walked in and sat in the chair opposite from him.

“You read?”

He snorted. “Of course I read. What else is there to do besides watch television and feed?”

She didn’t know how it happened. One moment they were both sitting awkwardly in opposite chairs, the next he’d taken her hand in his, turning her palm up to inspect it. He stared for a moment as if he couldn’t quite believe his mark was still there, then he released her and sank back into his chair in obvious relief.

“You are threatened by that priest. You know he can free me from you.”

“I just wanted to make sure I didn’t need to redo it. I was worried when you were gone so long. Cain has no conscience. The creepy blood ritual, as you call it, is the only thing protecting you from him when I’m not with you. I don’t know if that priest of yours could undo it. He shouldn’t have even been able to sense it.”

They sat in silence awhile longer, then Luc spoke again. “I have to feed.” The timbre of his voice sent goosebumps running down Anna’s arm.

A small part of her thrilled at the idea of him feeding from her, but another part still recoiled in anxiety. Her breathing was shallow when he pulled her into his lap.

“I’m not going to hurt you. Relax.” His voice was so seductive, and for a moment she thought he might be using whatever demon magic he had to lower her resistance.

Her head fell back as he ran his fingers through her hair and over her neck. It was so much easier to let him do whatever it was he was doing. She was already bonded to him. How much worse could it get?

“Luc, stop,” she said with a half-hearted sigh.

“You want it. Just let yourself feel.”

The words so similar to her dream seemed to smack her across the face. Anna scrambled out of his lap. “I can’t do this with you.”

“Why the hell not? You know I’m not going to hurt you.”

She hoped he wouldn’t hurt her. A part of her believed he wouldn’t. He’d gone to a lot of trouble so far to keep her alive. But there were no guarantees. She might not be a religious person, but that didn’t mean years of childhood indoctrination hadn’t made their mark. Demon equaled bad. She was fairly certain even nonspiritual people could agree on that point.

“It’s not just that,” she hedged.

“Then what is it?”

“I don’t do casual sex, okay? I can’t sleep with someone I don’t love. I’m not wired that way. I know you probably think that’s foolish and naïve and old-fashioned, that I’m some kind of prude . . . ”

He laughed, interrupting her speech. “I don’t think you’re a prude.”

The soft way he was looking at her almost had her running back into his arms, but the consequences of a little pleasure with him were too serious.

“I can’t get involved with you because I wouldn’t be able to share you. You have to feed every day, but you couldn’t feed from me every day. That equals sharing, and I can’t do that.”

He sighed. “As much as I can appreciate your feelings on this matter, my ability to behave in a somewhat civilized manner hinges on my getting fed regularly. If I don’t feed I could lose control later. I don’t want to do that. Cain means it. He won’t come back until I’ve fed.”

“He wants you to use the mind powers on me,” she said, realization dawning.

“Yes. It would appear I’ve been in the presence of humans too long. According to him, I’m too empathetic now. He wants me to be the demon he knew before all this.”

“Why me?”

“Because you’re different. I can’t just seduce you the way I can others without the mind tricks. You’re stubborn and not exactly what one would call a slut. He knows you wouldn’t give in before I lost control and enthralled you. And by that time I wouldn’t be able to stop.”

She felt trapped and resentful for the trapping. One way or the other it seemed some demon would have her. She thought about staying in her father’s big empty house for awhile, but she was afraid Cain would find her and that the bond might not be strong enough to stop him. Besides, the scar would scream at her and never let her sleep if she and Luc weren’t under the same roof.

“Luc, I can’t let you . . . ”

His eyes were pleading. “Please don’t do this, Anna. I really don’t want to hurt you. Just give in.”

The next words left her mouth before she could stop them. “I’ll bring your meals until Cain comes back.”

Now she knew how to shut Luc up. Just say something completely ridiculous. He didn’t speak for a full minute, making her offer sound more insane and just plain sinister the longer it sat there without a response.

“I’m sorry, what? I must not have heard you right.”

“I said I’ll bring you women.” That really did sound bad when she said it out loud . . . yet again.

“Why?” He hadn’t moved from the chair since Anna had jumped off his lap.

She paced. Now that she’d said it––twice––it sounded even worse. “Well, what are my options here? You’ve tied me to you. I could try to get it undone, but then I’m bait for Cain and his groupies of doom. I could just stay away from you, but we both know Cain will return, and he’ll bring me right back because you’re feeling all possessive. Especially if you’re starved by then. Even if I wanted to, I can’t sleep with you because I told you I can’t share. It would hurt too much.”

“You could just burn the house down.”

Anna gave him a withering look. “And then you’re free to feed anyway. At least this way I know you aren’t killing them.”

He threw his arms in the air. “Go ahead and justify it. I’ve never seen someone so selfish. You’re willing to give women to me to fuck so you don’t have to burn your precious house to the ground, and you’re going to have to anyway.”

“This is temporary. Cain will be back, and I’ll find another way to get you out of here.”

He laughed. “You’re every demon’s dream, little girl. I don’t even have to be evil to get you to bring me innocent young souls.”

Luc didn’t try to stop her when she left. Why would he? She was bringing him take-out.

He should disgust her. She was disturbed by exactly how much he didn’t. He couldn’t help what he was. It was herself she was disgusted with. She should just leave him and not come back, get Father Jeffries to remove the mark, and get the hell out of dodge as far from Golatha Falls as possible.

But she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She couldn’t stand the idea of Luc starving, wasting away in that house waiting on Cain to come back and feed him again. What if he never came back?

Despite the circumstances, Anna couldn’t just start delivering college co-eds, drunk and slutty or not. She changed her direction and headed for the interstate.

It was after midnight when she finally returned from Atlanta with a car crammed with five prostitutes. It was a decision she could live with. One she could justify. She didn’t want to think too hard about the fact that she’d just created a harem for the man whose bed she wanted to be in.

They had sex for money and probably never got any pleasure from it. If she knew anything about the moans she’d heard in the house, she knew Luc never left a woman unsatisfied. Plus they had a place to live that didn’t involve some smarmy pimp that would only beat them and take their money.

The front door opened as soon as her hand touched the knob. Luc looked disheveled and sexier than he had a right to. The second he saw her, the anger drained from his face.

“My God, Anna, I thought something had happened to you, or that you changed your mind and weren’t coming back. You didn’t do it, did you? I knew you couldn’t.”

She could see the way he fought the lust, and what her failure to bring him dinner meant.

“No, I did. I just couldn’t keep bringing you different people. It just felt wrong, so . . . I um . . . ” She mumbled the last part.

“You what?”

“I sort of got you a harem of prostitutes.”

She could tell he was trying not to grin at her.

“They know,” she said.

His features darkened. “They know what exactly?”

“They know what you are. One of them is part Romani. She sensed something was off. I wanted them to know what they were getting themselves into. They had the right to know and make a choice about it.”

He sighed. “Bring them in.”

“Stop scowling. You’ll freak them out.”

Anna motioned out to the car for the girls. When they were all inside, she got the introductions out of the way. “This is Renee, Olivia, Karen, Susan, and Maria.”

The first four were bottle blonds with miniskirts and makeup too dark for their complexions. Maria stood out from the rest. She was dark-complected with long raven hair.

The brunette extended a hand to Luc. She was the only one of the group not intimidated by him. “Ironic,” she said, her lips twisting in a cruel grin.

“What is?” he asked with some trepidation.

“A whore fucking whores.” She didn’t cringe from him when he growled. She only laughed, a light tinkling sound in the stillness of the room.

“Okaaay,” Anna said, moving to stand between Luc and Maria. “I’m going to show you girls your rooms, then I’m going to bed.”

“We each get our own rooms? In this house?” Renee squealed.

Anna smiled. She hated this plan, but it had its good sides. She got the girls settled in their rooms, then retreated to her own, Scarlett and Rhett sticking close to her heels. The cats seemed as uncomfortable with her house guests as she was.

She swiped at the tear tracking down her cheek. It was important to remember what Luc was, that he couldn’t change, and she could never really have him. It was best not to start with him.

Beatrice’s behavior was understandable. It had been wrong and stupid and suicidal, but Anna understood. It was hard to dislike Luc. She couldn’t imagine how hard it was once a physical relationship started.

She took a hot bath and put earplugs in before climbing into bed.

.. . Death. Destruction. Mayhem. Anna found herself somewhere in the distant past on a cobblestone street lit by torches. The smell of sex was thick on the air.

She could see it as if she were him. She looked out from his eyes, could feel his thoughts, his emotions as he fucked and killed. He hunted for rapists and killers, attacking them, spilling their guts on the street with sharp claws. The grateful victim fell into the arms of her savior, not knowing the angel who’d just rescued her was the angel of death.

He didn’t have to kill them. He did it because it was easier, and he had no conscience to make him stop. He reveled in it, making them want him, pleasing them, then taking their lives for their foolishness.

Anna tensed when she heard Cain approaching, still aware of the part of her that was Anna and not Luc, and desperately hoping he didn’t somehow know she was there.

“You never get tired of this do you, Lucien? It’s refreshing. You inspire me.” Cain held a struggling brunette in his arms.

Luc dropped the beauty he’d just drained to the ground and turned to the other demon. “Why do you do that? You know you can’t feed that way.” To feed they had to have their victim’s pleasure.

It made sense in a twisted sort of way. If they fed from sexual energy, it couldn’t be their own. Where would it come from if the woman wasn’t aroused? If she didn’t climax?

Cain shrugged. “I’ll enthrall her later, when I get tired of this. You know, fear is its own kind of food. You should broaden your horizons. We are demons after all.”

Luc shook his head. “I think I prefer my way. It’s sweeter when they come to me willingly. I’m going to call it a night. You have fun.” He leaned in and kissed the girl on the mouth, smiling at the flush that tinted her cheeks. Then he turned and walked away.

The scene changed. Anna stood in her own back garden, still in the past, but not quite so distant. Cain perched on the edge of a fountain. “I don’t understand why you didn’t kill her.”

“I just didn’t want to think about her being gone forever. I wanted to have her again.” Luc fought with the odd new feelings swirling through him. Why hadn’t he wanted to kill her? What’s wrong with me?

“Be careful with that,” Cain said. “There’s nothing good there.”

Luc nodded, but he still felt compelled to ask. It was only trivia after all. He wouldn’t actually do it. “But we can . . . if they say yes. I could have her forever if she was willing. Right?”

Cain laughed and shook his head. “You should stay out of the libraries. That was a long time ago. Our kind doesn’t take mates anymore. If I didn’t know better I’d think you didn’t just want someone’s soul; you want someone to love. It’s a bad idea. The way the world is now? Face it, no one gives a demon anything willingly.”

Cain looked off into the distance for a minute before turning back to Luc. “I take it you aren’t coming with me to Europe?”

Luc shook his head. “I want to see what happens.”

“I never thought I’d see the day you’d want to be domesticated.”

Luc growled. He knew he shouldn’t have tried to have a heart-to-heart with Cain about anything. He should have just kept his mouth shut. “I’m not saying I want to settle down. I just want to see what it would be like to be in the same woman’s bed on a semi-regular basis. I want to know if there’s something else besides this.”

Anna felt herself ripped from the scene, and suddenly things were very familiar. She wasn’t Luc anymore, because Luc was with her. His warm breath was on her neck as his hands roamed sensuously over her body.

“Anna . . . ” he whispered in her ear.

She writhed beneath him. “Please, Luc . . . ”

“What? Tell me what you need. Just say yes. I promise you won’t regret it.”

Her mind screamed, Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! a mantra in her head, even as her body arched toward his. Suddenly his lips were brushing against hers. She’d never been kissed like this. Possessive and sweet as honey at once. His tongue swept into her mouth and she could feel herself losing her tenuous grip on control.

“That’s it. Let me in,” he murmured against her mouth.

Her fingers twisted in the sheets as his head went down between her legs. His tongue flicked out to tease her, then he looked up. She was falling into his hypnotic, feral gaze. His eyes glowed bright green, and she snapped out of whatever possession had taken hold of her.

She focused harder on waking up. When it didn’t work, she kicked him off her. He sailed across the room like he weighed nothing. She hadn’t expected that. But then, why not? In dreams anything was possible. When she tried to wake herself again, she succeeded . . .

Anna was panting,wearing the t-shirt and pajama pants she’d gone to bed in. He hadn’t undressed her. Well, there was that. Small consolation.

“Luc?” she said. The room was shrouded in inky darkness, and she considered the wisdom of sleeping with the lights on in the future.

“Yes?” His voice came from the direction of the chair.

“Can you see me in the dark?”

“I can.”

“Well, turn the light on, jackass.” The lamp flicked on. “I hate you.”

He winked at her. “Oh come now, Anna, you can’t blame an incubus for trying.” He looked quite smug and pleased with himself. “You’ll break. It’s only a matter of time.”

“I said not to touch me. What? Five prostitutes aren’t enough for you? Maybe I should have gone for an even half dozen. Stay the hell away from me!”

He flinched but recovered quickly. “I don’t want to.”

“Why not?”

He stood and moved closer to her. “You know it could be so good. You have to feel this thing between us. Those other girls, they’re just food. It doesn’t mean anything. You’re the one I want.”

She rolled her eyes and chucked a pillow at him. “Yes, the male argument from time immemorial. They don’t mean anything. It’s just sex. Bullshit. I told you I cannot and will not share.”

“There is a way . . . ”

“No!” If he thought she’d fall for the if you’ll just give me your soul line, he was crazy.

“Fine!” He snarled and turned toward the door.

“Stay out of my dreams. I know what you are now.”

He spun toward her, his voice becoming dangerously low. “What do you mean, you know what I am now?”

“I saw it. I watched you lie to women, tell them what they wanted to hear. I saw you lead them to your bed and kill them. I saw it. You’re no better than Cain.”

Anna didn’t tell him she’d also seen him later, saw the change that had started. She was too angry. She understood why he’d try to show her the second part of the dream, to weaken her resolve against him. But she couldn’t begin to guess why he’d shown her the first part. She knew he’d killed, but to see it was something quite different. Her sympathy for the demon in her bedroom was coming to an end.

“What do you mean you saw it?”

“In my dream, the one you were in. I was inside your skin. I saw everything.”

She didn’t think a demon could faint, but Luc might be the first. He looked awfully pale. “I was only in your dream when I was trying to seduce you just now.”

Anna wanted to call him a liar, but his face revealed genuine shock and . . . shame? She felt the tingling start in her hand. The bond was infecting her dreams now.