The Naphil's Kiss (3 page)

Chapter 5

Mojave Desert 1978

Sarahi sat on a metal folding chair outside her travel trailer. Hunger gnawed furiously at her belly. It was insane. She should have been able to go many weeks between feedings, even six months if necessary. But now, after only six weeks, she felt as though starvation was setting in.

Or maybe her reserves were low because of her grief. She'd never had such a beautiful night as the one she had spent with Lucien, but when she woke in the morning he'd been gone, his honey-sweet love energy draped over her body like a blanket, but his powerful presence no longer beside her in the bed.

She'd grieved that desertion like she hadn't grieved in centuries, not since Alexander. Her poor darling. He'd loved her with a passion unequaled among human men, her warrior, named for the emperor, beautiful, blond and strong. But not strong enough. Tears flooded her brilliant green eyes as she remembered the day she'd realized his will wouldn't last, that he was turning. It had taken every last ounce of her resolve to take him past the point of loss of soul, all the way to destruction, but she'd done it. She'd killed him to save him.

She had thought this time would be different. Nephilim were stronger than men, and semi-divine. Lucien should have been able to withstand her needs. But he'd left her. In some ways it was harder than Alexander's death, because with Lucien she'd dared hope. But he was gone. Her hunger grew, but she felt no desire to fill it. She was nearly nauseous with the gnawing in her belly, but the thought of pursuing other food, of seeking out people coupling in dark corners and feeding on their passion, actually made it worse. She gagged at the thought.

After Lucien, no one would satisfy her again. She wondered if, in this present apathy, she would actually starve herself to death. The way she felt, it wouldn't take long, and she honestly didn't care.

She closed her eyes and willed sleep to come. The desert sun beat down on her milky skin. She couldn't burn, so what difference did the heat make? She inhaled the clean, hot scent of the desert; of exotic flowers and scrub and the endless, baking sun. And then a familiar scent wended its way through to her senses. Her eyes shot open.

A dark shape knelt above her, the sun shining on ebony skin gleaming with sweat. He'd shaved off his hair, but those burning dark eyes boring down into hers were no less intense for the weeks which had passed.

“Lucien?”

“I'm here, my love.”

“Where were you?”

“I am still one of the Nephilim. I have work to do.”

“Killing my sisters.”

He didn't try to deny it. “Yes.”

“Why didn't you kill me, Lucien, when we met? You should have.”

“I couldn't, Sarahi. You're not like the others.”

“How could you know that from such a brief conversation?”

“I knew before you opened your mouth. It's your aura, love. It's so beautiful. No one evil would have such a lovely pink aura. Evil makes it black, but yours isn't even purple. It shines like the sunset. I could never kill such a beautiful soul.”

His lips met hers. They kissed for endless moments, and at last Sarahi's appetite was satisfied. She was full to overflowing long before he lifted her simple cotton sundress over her head, lowered her to the ground, and covered her with his body.

By the time his hands went to her breasts, lifting the heavy globes to taste and pleasure her aching nipples, the only hunger she felt was her own desire for her lover. She traced her fingers over the smoothness of his shaven skull, down the back of his neck, between his powerful shoulder blades.

***

Lucien shivered as her skillful fingers tickled and aroused him. This time he wanted more. He'd spent more time than he should have over the last six weeks observing the men who were drawn to succubae, wanting to learn what they knew so he could use it on his own beloved.

He trailed his lips down the center of her body, kissing her belly, dipping lower. Sarahi moaned and parted her thighs so he could move lower yet, kissing the scarlet curls, parting them with his tongue, tasting the lush wetness of her intimate folds. He found the swollen center of her pleasure and worked it with delicate precision, bringing her to a hard, shrieking climax.

Sarahi clawed at the earth as her pleasure washed over her. Her whimpers of delight nearly shattered his will. It was time for him to be inside her again. He ran one last thorough lick over her heated flesh before working his way back up the midline of her body. He paused a moment over her belly as though listening to some unknown sound before shrugging and moving on. At last he was on top of her. She twined her legs around his hips and urged him closer.

He needed no further instruction. He knew just where she wanted him, where he wanted to be, and he entered, filling her completely. Her nails clawed his back as he thrust into her tight, clenching flesh. A second, wilder peak broke over her, and she wailed. The sound of her ecstatic cries carried on the desert wind as he pounded into her until his own climax took him.

Heart thundering, Lucien withdrew from Sarahi's body and rolled them onto their sides. He looked into the beautiful green eyes of his beloved. She sighed with satisfaction.

“Is everything all right, love?” he asked her.

“It is now,” she replied, her voice slow and sinuous as she trailed her fingers over his heated flesh, “but next time you need to go away, love, please tell me. I didn't know where you were. I thought you had left me.”

“I could never leave you.”

“Then all is well.” She pressed her lips to his shoulder.

“Are you certain?”

“Why do you ask?”

He cupped her belly. “Something felt strange here.”

“Well, I have been unusually hungry.”

“Oh.” He glanced away, trying not to think about how she must have satisfied her hunger in his absence.

“But I didn't feed. I couldn't. I only wanted you.”

He looked at her, confused. “What does that mean?”

“I have no idea. I worried I might be losing control of myself, but that should take months.”

“Lie back.”

Sarahi rolled onto her back and Lucien pressed his ear to her belly. His eyes narrowed. “Love, can succubae conceive?”

“Not that I'm aware of. Only Mother is strong enough for that.”

“Mother?”

“Lilith.”

“Ah, yes. I recall. Sarahi, there is something alive inside you.”

Her delicately arched brows drew together. “What?”

“If you were human, I would say you were with child.”

“No succubus has ever conceived a child.”

“Nonetheless, I believe that you have.”

“It cannot be.”

“Feel for yourself.”

Sarahi closed her eyes and reached inward, considering. Her eyelids flew open; her jaw dropped.

“Lucien!”

“I know.” He gathered her tenderly into his arms and carried her inside the trailer.

Chapter 6

Mojave Desert, 1979

It turned out a pregnant succubus was not that different from a pregnant human. Sarahi was normally ravenously hungry, and as her belly expanded, her hunger grew exponentially. And like a human woman, only certain foods appealed to her. She was no longer able to take nourishment from any source other than the sweet love energy of her angel.

Lucien fed her lavishly, filling her greedy belly with the choicest of pleasures, spending so much time with his lady that he was disciplined more than once for not being where he was supposed to be. It was his own fault. She was so luscious he couldn't stay away.

He never told her she was draining him. The more energy he gave to the sustaining of their child, the weaker he became. How could he say a word? She would be consumed with guilt, and for naught, because the baby needed to be fed, and this was the only nourishment its mother could take.

Still, it was a relief, on that Midsummer's Eve, when Sarahi woke with a start, wracked by labor pains. Lucien summoned the Indian woman who had agreed to act as midwife, and the two of them oversaw the birth.

As the dawn pierced the horizon, Sarahi gave a long, loud wail and the midwife scooped into her arms a tiny, squalling bundle of limbs with a wisp of fuzzy dark hair.

Lucien kissed his lady, proud of her strength, while the woman cleaned and examined the baby. Then she laid him tenderly in Sarahi's arms and showed the succubus how to place her son on her breast.

Lucien looked on, pride swelling his heart. He was blessed beyond what his kind could ever have expected. Sliding his arm around her pale shoulders, he kissed the fiery hair at her temple.

A boy…that's good. At least I don't have to try to be father to a succubus. He's going to grow up to be a fine, strong Naphil.

“What should we call him, love?” he asked her.

“I think… Josiah,” she replied.

“Josiah. Excellent. I like that.”

He leaned over and kissed the baby, too.

Chapter 7

Lucien had been gone for five weeks. The work had been excruciating, long and dangerous. Several of his fellow Nephilim had not returned. But Lucien had been determined to survive. He had others relying on him now.

In truth, this was the reason his kind vowed celibacy. The responsibility of caring for a woman and a child meant he was not able to throw his life away in pursuit of his mission. But the moment he'd tasted the sweetness of Sarahi's kiss that long ago day in Rome, this conclusion had become inevitable.

He found his lady inside the trailer, sitting on the bed, propped up on pillows, their son cuddled to her breast. He was alarmed to see that as she fed the baby, tears were spilling down her cheeks. Her slender shoulders shook with quiet sobs.

“What's wrong, my love?” He slid into the bed beside her, stroking the dark skin of his son's cheek where it touched her pale flesh.

“Oh, Lucien!” She leaned against his shoulder and wept as though her heart were breaking.

He stroked the scarlet silk of her hair, waiting for the storm to pass, wondering what on earth had upset his lady so much.

“Talk to me, Sarahi. What is it?”

“It's the baby,” she wailed.

“What? Is he ill?”

“No. Worse. You can't imagine how bad.”

“Why?”

“Lucien, look at him.”

Josiah had finished nursing, and she lifted him to his father, showing Lucien the brilliant green eyes shining from the dark face.

“How nice, love. He has your eyes.”

“Demon eyes.”

“So he takes after you in some ways. He's a boy. Therefore he's a Naphil.”

“No, love. He's not.”

“There's no such thing as a male succubus.”

She sobbed. “If only that were true. Haven't you heard the legend of the incubus?”

“Bah. Old wives' tales. There's never been such a creature.”

“Lucien, he takes my energy with the milk. I can feel it. He is an incubus. This is terrible.”

Lucien's mind was reeling. “Is that really such a bad thing? Legend says the incubus will have incredible powers. With us to teach him right from wrong, he'll be an agent for good.”

Sarahi shook her head. “Do you remember the day we met?” She struggled visibly to control herself as she spoke.

“Of course.”

“I told you our kind fed because we had no choice?”

He looked at her but said nothing.

She closed her eyes. “It's true, but not the whole truth. We feed, and in the feeding, our men are weakened. Eventually this weakening damages their souls and destroys their will. They become enslaved.”

“Is this the fate you had in store for me? To be your captive angel?”

“No!” she cried. “Never that! I love you, Lucien. I believed you would be strong enough, and I would not be able to harm you in that way.” She grasped his arm, willing him to believe. “Besides, those men are not enslaved to the succubus. They belong to our mother. To Lilith. They are brought to her, and become her property.”

“To what end? Are they her army?”

Sarahi laughed, a little hysterically. “How like a warrior. No, love… well yes, they fight if necessary, but no. They are drones.”

His dark eyebrows came together in consternation.

“Like bees, Lucien. She's the queen. Their job is…”

“To breed.”

“Yes. She is the only one of us with pure demon blood. Our half-demon heritage is not strong enough to take a man's seed. Only she can breed with them. That is how the succubae are created.”

“So she really is your mother?”

“Yes. But the succubae are not truly her goal.”

“Then what, Sarahi? What does she want? What are we fighting against?”

“She has been trying for centuries to have a son.”

He looked at her in silence while the implications sank in. “She's trying to create an incubus?” he asked at last.

“Yes. If it is her son, she will have control. She can finally have her revenge.” The despair she was feeling showed on her face.

“Love, your mother is a powerful demoness, nearly a goddess. Against whom does she seek revenge?”

“Against all the children of Adam, and the One who loves them. She has nurtured her hatred and humiliation for millennia. She believes with the power of the incubus under her control, she can enslave all the children of Adam, thereby inflicting the ultimate suffering on…”

“The Creator.”

“Yes.” She looked into his eyes, stricken.

“But, Sarahi, this is not her son. He's ours.”

“Do you honestly think that will stop her? If she finds out he exists, she will claim him. And it's only a matter of time. Just last week, one of my sisters came by to visit and asked why I was cradling a baby.”

Lucien stared at his lady, horrified.

“I told her I was trying to seduce his father. She thought it was a great joke, but that story won't hold forever.
She
will eventually find out and take him from me. She'll turn him. Oh, Lucien, you should have killed me when you had the chance.”

He gathered her into his arms, the baby cradled between their bodies. She hid her face against his shoulder. “No, my love. I could never kill you. I love you.”

“And I love you, Lucien. That is why I need your help.”

“Anything, my love.”

“You have to take the baby. Hide him. Hide him where even I cannot find him. Find a place where he will be safe.” He could feel her burning tears rolling down his shoulder.

“Take Josiah? Love, how will you stand it?”

“You have to. I don't want him going to her. It's best this way.” Her voice broke. She drew an unsteady breath and continued. “And you have to go away from me too. I can't have you near me. If we created one incubus together, we could create another. I can't bear it.”

“I won't leave you, Sarahi.”

“You must. You have to raise our son. Teach him what is right. Teach him to be good, to be light, so he won't be swayed by
her
temptation.”

He looked down into her glimmering green eyes. She was right. This must be done. He lowered his lips to hers in the most heart-wrenching of kisses.

“I will for now, my love. But we will be together again someday, I swear it. I love you, Sarahi.”

“And I love you, Lucien.”

She clutched the baby close to her breast, then lowered him a bit, looking down at his little face as love and despair warred in her expression. She touched her lips to his forehead. “I love you, my little one.” Her voice broke. Tears splashed on the baby's nose and she kissed him again and again.

At last, she hesitantly extended Josiah. “Take him while I can still let him go!” she wailed.

Lucien gathered their son into his arms and stood, turning as though to leave. Then he glanced back.

“Swear me a vow, my love.”

“Anything.”

“Don't starve. Live. Wait for me.”

She nodded. He was gone. The sound of Sarahi's heartbroken sobs rang out across the nighttime silence of the desert.