How to Kill an Incubus: A Rae Erickson Story (18 page)

“Well, that answers my question!” I snapped, glaring up at him.

“I’ll explain later. Not now.” Andrei seemed to realize that his body was pressed against mine… and that we were both breathing heavily. Slowly, his fingers rubbed circles in my wrists and the tiny hairs on my arms stood up. “You’re so soft.”

A different kind of awareness overwhelmed me. I wanted him. Here. Right now. In this freaking alleyway. If he could “read me”, he would know that.

Slowly sweeping over me, Andrei’s eyes glinted and I knew he knew.

His fingers danced along the hem of my dress before tracing a path up my thigh. My legs spread of their own volition, allowing the man before me to make his way to my wet center unhindered. Then his eyes widened.

“No underwear, Rae?” he questioned, his voice hoarse.

“Forgot.” I let out a gasp of raw need when his thumb found my engorged clit. Squeezing my eyes shut, I hissed, “Oh, God. Please!” I wanted more, needed more, and I wouldn’t be able to live if he didn’t give me more. The sense of danger that anyone strolling down the alley would catch us only heightened my need for gratification, only made my vagina weep for him.

Pushing myself up onto my toes, I brushed my lips against Andrei’s jaw, kissing my way to his mouth. Before he could draw away, I captured his lower lip with my teeth, shaking when he released a low, guttural groan.

“Want to fuck you,” he rasped, already sinking two fingers into my vulva. He pushed in to the knuckles, practically turning me inside out when he began to finger-fuck me so sweetly. “Always wet,” he murmured into my mouth, and I blindly fumbled with the fly of his pants, sighing when I could finally feel his throbbing erection against the clammy skin of my palm.

“Always hard,” I retorted, squeezing him in appreciation. 

“Fuck!” he cursed, bending slightly to lift me up effortlessly with one arm beneath my ass.

Looping my arms around his neck and twining my legs around his waist, I moaned when I felt the swollen head of his shaft at the weeping entrance of my vagina. “Please,” I whispered, tilting my hips into him, wanting him in all the way—not caring if I sounded way too needy, too desperate.

With one perfect upward thrust, Andrei drove into me to the hilt, holding me steady above him as I began to buck wildly against his body, whimpering loudly because he was so beautifully…

“Say it,” Andrei said harshly, stroking into me again, his pelvis hitting my clit. 

“Big,” I panted, throwing my head back against the wall. “You’re so big!”

He groaned, sounding like a wounded grizzly. At the back of my mind, I worried that someone would stumble into the alleyway and catch us going at it like a pair of rabbits. I bit my lip in a bid to stifle my cries but quickly gave up on that when Andrei increased the pace, punctuating each deep thrust with a grunt of pleasure.

“Harder,” I begged, digging my nails into his shoulders. “Fuck… me… harder!”

Everything else that came out my mouth after that was unintelligible, especially when I felt him hit that spot… that sweet, sweet spot that made me scream from pleasure and pain as sweat trickled down my back, sticking my cotton dress to my skin.

“Come for me, little one,” Andrei growled, his voice tinged with an accent. Reaching between us, he began to work the tight bundle of nerves he teased earlier. “Let me feel… your cunt… strangle me.”

It might have been the way he rubbed my clit with such precise vigor, or the way he commanded me to climax for him, but when my orgasm hit and I clenched myself around him, nothing else existed but his cock swelling up inside me and bringing me such intense joy. Blinded and bathed in the white-hot ecstasy, I wailed his name, tears prickling my eyes when it felt like my climax would never end. Seconds later, Andrei exploded inside me, cursing at the skies. He held me during the aftershocks before pulling out and gently setting me on the ground.

Slightly disoriented, I clutched a handful of his T-shirt for balance, trying to catch my breath.

“We should go,” drawled Andrei, looking none the worse for wear. I, on the other hand, was a sweaty, rumpled mess.

Quickly rearranging myself in a bid to look like I hadn’t just been thoroughly taken in an alley, I allowed Andrei’s hand to swallow mine as he led me down the street once more. His hand was warm around mine and, for some reason, it made me feel… cherished.

As we were walking down the alley, I was frowning at my blood-red toenails peeking out my gladiator sandals when I suddenly found myself walking smack-dab into the brick wall that was Andrei's back. He stopped in front of a door, which didn’t really look like one because it was made of brick and was practically camouflaged with the rest of the wall.

Without warning, it was pushed open and a wild-haired, bespectacled redhead stood at the entrance, hands on her hips. She was so small though that her stance looked comical.

“I expected you an hour ago, Lord Andrei,” she lectured, stepping aside to let us in. “I have far more important things to do than wait around for you to grace me with your presence.”

To my surprise, Andrei let out a bark of laughter. “It’s been a while, old friend.”

“Has it?” she asked, closing the door behind us. “Was it during the Abraham Lincoln administration or the Woodrow Wilson one?”

“Different centuries, Myrna,” said Andrei.

“My point exactly,” she sniffed, pushing past us.

Okay, what is going on here?
I thought, taking a deep breath and shutting my eyes, trying to get a feel for the redhead’s aura.

She wasn’t a succubus. But then again, Andrei was and I couldn’t sense him—never had, come to think of it.

“Rae.” Myrna‘s cheerful voice made my eyes fly open. I detected a hint of a Southern accent. “Come. Sit with me.” She’d extended bony arms covered in jangling bangles, all ten of her fingers bearing gaudy rings.

Only then did I notice the room we were in. Small and intricately decorated, it had a high ceiling with one tiered chandelier hanging in the center. A myriad of Persian rugs carpeted the floor from wall to wall, even right up to the front of the fireplace. Rows and rows of shelves that held various books and weird artifacts took up most of the space on one wall and a red beaded curtain hung across a doorway on the opposite side of the room, which looked odd yet beautiful. There were no couches, only throw pillows placed in front of a rectangular coffee table.   

I reluctantly took Myrna’s hands and allowed her to lead me there.

“You a gypsy or something?” I asked, wincing at how condescending I sounded.

Myrna threw her head back and laughed, gesturing for me to sit as she did the same. “A gypsy. Seriously?”

I felt Andrei looming behind me and I glanced over my shoulder. Hovering, he had his arms crossed across his chest.

“I’m a witch, dear,” Myrna divulged, capturing my attention.

I looked at her, really looked at her. She couldn’t have been a day over forty. And although her moss green eyes told of youthful mirth, it also showed years and years of experience. Also, if she’d been around in Abraham Lincoln’s time…

“Don’t look so shocked, sweetheart,” she chided, patting my arm. “After all, you are sleeping with him.” She inclined her head in Andrei’s direction and I instantly flushed.

“Why am I here?” I said with more bite than I’d intended.

“To prepare you for some things you’re going to see.”

I turned to look at Andrei but his attention was steadfastly elsewhere.

“What things?” I asked, my voice suspicious.

Myrna gave me a smile and surprised me by taking out a battered Lenovo laptop and placing it on the table. Since it was on standby, I was able to see that her username was her full name: Myrna Lake.

Myrna Lake… Myrna Lake…

I knew that name. It wasn’t one you forgot so easily.

“Demonic Encounters,” I mumbled to myself, remembering the stupid forum I’d been haunting out of fear. I stared at Myrna, amazed that the world was incredibly small. “You’re
myrna_lake69
?”

“Sixty-seven,” she corrected. Her smile widened as she turned to me. “Welcome to House of Mystique, Miss Erickson.”

Chapter 12

“You’re a traitor,” I hissed at Myrna when Andrei was out of earshot—in other words, he was taking a phone call outside.

Myrna arched a quizzical brow. “I don’t know what you mean, darling.”

“No?” I wrinkled my nose at her, racking my brain to remember what advice she’d dispensed online. “You told that girl that she was being abused by demons. Yet here you are, practically BFFs with their king! You made it seem like you were helping!”

“Calm down, Rainelle,” she said softly, as if I were a crazy person she had to pacify. “I think you’re letting your jealousy override your common sense.”

“Jealousy?” I spluttered, my head reeling.

Myrna returned her attention to the laptop screen, opening a House of Mystique bookmark. “I know you’re wondering about the strong feelings you have for him. You’re alarmed… concerned. Every fiber of your being cries out for his body, his touch, and you don’t understand why.”

I sucked in a breath and sputtered, “Don’t you dare tell me what I’m feeling.”

Myrna stayed silent, tapping away at the keyboard.

“You don’t know me. We’ve just met. So don’t analyze me,” I went on, balling my hands into fists.

At this, she turned to look at me, her green eyes narrowed. “Have you ever wondered what people who’ve been visited by incubi feel?” She tucked a tuft of wiry brilliant copper hair behind a jewelry studded ear. “There’s not much difference between stolen moments in dreamland and real life-sucking sex. But you, Miss Erickson? You don’t really have to worry about that sort of blissful death. You don’t have to worry about your life slipping away as you reach orgasm after mind-blowing orgasm, do you?”

I shivered, and it wasn’t even cold. “Tell me why.”

“Tell you what, Rainelle Erickson?”

“You know what,” I said through clenched teeth, feeling like I’m five seconds away from smacking the copper out of her hair.

It was more than the hunter’s blood flowing in my veins, I was sure of it.

“You felt it the instant you saw him, didn’t you?” Myrna drawled, her eyes fixed on the laptop once again. “That pull, that attraction, those had nothing to do with what he is and everything to do with who.” She pointed at the screen. “There. This screams you.”

I peered at what she was pointing at, a House of Mystique catalogue of some sort. “The ring?”  Made up of three thin strips of silver and a glittering ruby in the center, the ring was cheap-looking and did not scream “me”. I was a Tiffany’s and Cartier girl through and through.

“Yes, this is the one,” Myrna proclaimed as she clapped her hands. And like an agile cat, she gracefully rose to her feet and stalked away.

I stared at the ring in confusion. This whole day was confusing me but I suddenly wanted to know the answers to questions I had been too scared to ask before, let alone think. Myrna Lake might be as crazy as a bat but she was the one person who seemed to know what was what.

“Here.”

It took me a few seconds to realize that she’d returned to her seat beside me, her hand was outstretched and in her palm was a ring.

“Why?” I asked.

“You’ll need it. Go on, take it,” she urged, and I eventually did, albeit warily.

The minute I did, a searing heat tore through my skin and I dropped the stupid thing. I sent a furious glare Myrna’s way as I exclaimed, “What the hell? That damn thing just burned me!”

“Yes,” she murmured nonchalantly, picking it up and holding it out to me again. “Definitely yours.”

“You okay, Rae?” Andrei’s voice came from the doorway.

I didn’t dare look at him.

“You felt that, Anghelescu?” asked Myrna. “Of course, he did,” she added, addressing me this time. “Put it on now, darling. It’s for your protection, a link to Andrei that…”

“I don’t want to be linked to him. I don’t want any of this.”

“He is the only one who can protect you from people, and creatures, who would want to hurt you. The ring is your bond. Not a true bond,” she clarified when she caught my anxious expression. “Simply one that heightens his senses where you’re concerned.”

“But he can read my mind now. It was so weird, how he was able to know.” Glancing over my shoulder, I confirmed what I somehow already knew: Andrei was gone.

Myrna shook her head. “He can’t really read your mind. He just senses your aura, and your emotions along with it. It’s a bit like how you sense a demon’s presence around you.” Gently taking my left hand, she slipped the ring onto my index finger. It fit like a glove and, against my tanned skin, it actually looked quite beautiful.

Flexing my fingers, I admired the way the ruby sparkled with what little light it caught from the one window in the room. I was instantly attached to it, which was irrational.

“Now, come. We must choose an outfit for you. The lord’s lover shouldn’t appear in jeans and a wife beater.” She let out a tinkling laugh. “And you look like you own several wife beaters.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” I said softly, unable to keep the tiny note of dread in my voice. It was because, all of a sudden I felt that it was important to know the biggest thing that had been bothering me since the night I found out what Andrei Anghelescu was.

As astute as Myrna was, she looked like she was about to ask me what I meant before changing her mind and exhaling heavily. “Give me your hands.”

Without hesitation, I did exactly that, allowing her hands to wrap around mine.

Then she fixed her eyes on mine. “The life your mother chose didn't entail a price that just involved her. A demon doesn’t do simple favors like that. Offering her only child, a daughter, to Lord Andrei—that was part of her bargain. You were his before you knew him.”

Her eyelids fluttered closed. “In addition to that, some say that when the world was young and gods roamed the earth, they felt pity for the mortals subjected to demons. And so they gave the demons
paries
, the untouchables, to defile. Basically,
paries
were men and women impervious to a demon’s life-sucking enchantment.” Those green eyes of hers that were a shade lighter than my own flew open. “You’re an untouchable. But then, perhaps I just fed you a pile of bullshit.”

“Whatever you do, Rae, do not let go of me,” Andrei intoned, pulling me even closer into the all-encompassing heat of his embrace. “You got that?”

I nodded imperceptibly, aware of his chin resting on the top of my head, aware of every inch of his body that was pressed against mine. “Yeah, sure. Whatever.”

“If everything goes according to plan, we’ll end up in your apartment,” he said, in what he probably thought was a soothing voice that ended up sounding nerve-jangling instead. “If it doesn’t, parts of your luscious body will be scattered throughout Paris.”

“You really know how to show a girl a good time,” I mumbled into his shirt, momentarily thrown by the laughter vibrating on his chest.

“After all, not every girl can say they’ve experienced the wonders of teleportation,” he bluntly stated.

Not every girl can say she was offered up as a kid to a demon lord like a freaking sacrifice by her own mother.  

“Hey.” Andrei’s voice was achingly soft. Before I could blink, he was tilting my head up with one hand. I hated it when he seemed so… normal. “Did Myrna make you uncomfortable?”

I blinked back the tears that were threatening to pour out.
Not here, please! Not now, with Myrna in the next room. Not with Andrei.
“No. I just… Let’s get this over with, Lord Andrei.”

His brow furrowed. “You’re lying to me.”

I jolted my head back. “Just take me home.” 

He didn’t object, cupping my head to his chest with one hand. “Don’t move. And close your eyes.”

I shut them, squeezing them so tight that they started to tingle. Gripping the taut material stretched across Andrei’s back, I concentrated on my breathing. As terrified as I was, a part of me just couldn’t wrap my head around this whole day and wanted more. More revelations, more excitement, just… more.

But that was when I felt it—that more.

Bubbles of something fizzled inside me and every part of my body itched. It felt like my skin had been turned inside out and someone was feverishly stirring my insides à la Gordon Ramsay. The urge to move, to scratch became something I physically had to fight until… nothing.

“Open your eyes, Rae,” Andrei commanded, his voice husky.

I did… and saw that we were in my bedroom.

Culebra, Puerto Rico, was an incinerator even at nighttime and the huge bonfire that had been lit didn’t help any. It took all of my willpower not to tear off the sheer violet Grecian dress Myrna picked out for me to wear on this “wondrous” occasion. It was probably thousands of years old. But after soaking myself in a lavender scented bath, I couldn’t smell the moth balls that, I was positive, had kept this dress intact.

Standing beside Andrei for what felt like decades, I was distinctly conscious of how little I knew about anything. From the ancient tongue he spoke so glibly to the way the other witnesses bowed before him, I realized that I was completely out of my element here… and that I was surrounded by demons. It didn’t matter that they treated me like Andrei’s queen or something—
mea domina
, I heard them say
—
or that they seemed to be quite harmless in his presence. My Spidey senses, where their kind was concerned, were tingling in overdrive and I had to fight back wave after wave of nausea the longer I remained in their presence.

Still, what little I understood of the ceremony seemed rather tame and actually pretty cute. All I basically had to do was stand on a gorgeous beach beside a gorgeous shirtless man as a glorified escort… until Roan, the incubus, and his female, a cute Puerto Rican minx called Nina, started stripping.

Judging from the poker faces of the other five witnesses surrounding the bonded couple, I was the only person taken aback by this—probably because, aside from Nina, I was the only actual person there.

“They consummate their bond before us,” Andrei growled in a stage whisper, obviously sensing my discomfort. “Tonight, he will put a baby in her.”

“A baby?” I blurted out, not too quietly. A few pairs of eyes swiveled in my direction. Lowering my voice considerably, I told Andrei, “That’s disgusting. Is that necessary?”

He gave me a fleeting look. “It is… because once she sells her soul and makes the transition, she will no longer be able to conceive.”

I nearly choked on my tongue. Nina was a stunning, strawberry blonde twenty-five-year-old with her entire life ahead of her. Was she honestly going to throw it all away for one rugged, sexy Irish demon?

That appears to be the case
, I thought, unreasonably mad at the redhead.

I could accept the enchanted rings the couple had exchanged. I could accept the heavy making out. I could even accept the mutual bloodletting. But a baby? Hell, no! It would be an abomination and Nina should’ve known that.

Now completely naked, Nina knelt before an equally nude Roan. Submitting to him. Giving herself to him.