Incubus Among Us Box Set (Shifter Romance) Page 7

  She snorted. "No, I just said that to make you feel better. That'll be fifty bucks for the reading, and ten for the card. These fancy things ain't cheap, you know."

  Chapter 3

  I left Madam Curie's business with a lighter pocket book and a heavier heart. The locket sat in my pocket and I grasped the card in my hand as I slid into the seat of my car. Surprisingly all four tires remained, and I drove off with dark, brooding thoughts boiling in my mind. My two fates were prominent among those thoughts.

  "Death or him," I muttered to myself.

  Those were my two options. To accept death while still in the prime of my life or to accept him and become a monster. Neither option was very appealing, particularly as I didn't know the particulars of either of them. I mean, what did it mean to become a succubus? Was that a job title, or a hobby? On the other hand, which direction would I go if I did kick the bucket right then? Would I take the express elevator to hell or the escalator to heaven?

  My car wandered like my thoughts, and before I knew it I found myself in a nicer part of town where there were cheerful houses and even a large park with a walking path. It being Sunday meant the park was crowded with parents and their children as they played on the snow-covered play set and ice skated on the frozen pond. I decided then that what I wanted was life. I wanted to be around it and enjoy it.

  I parked the car in the parking lot and got out. The crisp winter air reinvigorated me and I decided to take a walk. The park was large enough that you couldn't see one end to the other, and the path wandered over a few rolling hills. Bushes broke the monotony of trees that dotted the snow-covered grass, and benches sat near the walking path. I cleared a bench of snow some distance from the happy, laughing families and plopped myself down for some hard thinking. A large, long stand of bushes shielded me from prying eyes. The locket in my pocket jabbed into my thigh, and I pulled it out along with the expensive card I'd bought from Madam Curie.

  My eyes fell on the glistening locket, and I frowned. "This thing's probably nothing but trouble," I muttered to myself.

  Two shadows fell over me and I looked up into the faces of two tall, burly men. They wore torn jackets and baggy pants, and both had ski masks that covered everything but their eyes and mouths. One of them, the bulkier and shorter of the two, shoved his hand into my face.

  "Fork over the gold," he ordered me.

  I snorted as I recalled the morning's adventure with the trinket. "Oh, if only I could," I quipped.

  "I said hand it over!" the man growled.

  I shrugged and plopped the locket into his hand. "Okay, but don't hold it too tight," I warned him.

  He clasped it in his fingers and turned to his buddy. "Let's scram!"

  The pair scrammed a full two yards down the path away from me before I heard an exclamation of surprise. The locket flew from the man's hand and plopped itself on the bench beside me. The men turned, and the smaller thief glared at me. He rushed back, snatched it from the bench, and tried to rush off while his friend waited for him five yards off. It was rinse and repeat as the locket escaped his tight fist and landed back in its place beside me.

  "What the hell's going on?" his friend asked him as the man once more turned around.

  "This bitch has got a string or something tied to it," the smaller thief replied.

  Name-calling elevated this attempted theft to a more serious situation, made all the worse when the men marched up to me. The smaller one pulled a gun with a silencer and pointed the barrel at my face. "Give me the fucking locket and cut the fucking string," he snarled.

  I held up my hands and gave him a nervous smile. "Seriously, it's not me. This locket's got a mind of its own."

  I started back when he shoved the barrel into my face. "Don't fucking mess with me!"

  His friend grabbed his arm and tried to pull him away. "Come on, bro, or we're gonna get caught."

  'Bro' shrugged off his accomplices' hand and glared at him. "This bitch made me look like a fool, and we're not blowing until she gets what's coming to her!" He returned his attention to me and grabbed my arm. The thief changed his tune to a thug as he yanked me off the bench. I twisted around and tried to snatch the bench seat, but my hand missed the metal seat. I could only catch the locket before he pulled me against him. "Now you're going to come with us and no yelling, or that'll be the last thing you say, got me?"

  "I-I'm fine here, but thanks for the offer," I replied.

  He pulled me down the path and his friend followed behind us. "That wasn't an offer, now get walking."

  "Really, I'm fine, you don't need to do this," I pleaded.

  The thug stopped and shoved the gun into my face. "Shut up, or I'll shut you up for good, got me?"

  To say this situation was uncomfortable would be like saying the Pyramids of Egypt were nice models. I gulped and instinctively clasped the locket tightly in my hand. My brain clinked and clanged for some idea, some way of getting out of this mess, but all I could come up with was wishing somebody would come by and see my trouble, and get me out of here.

  I got my wish when a figure stepped from the shadows of the bushes to my left and behind the bench. It was David in his casual attire and a crooked smile on his lips. For the first time since we met I was glad to see him. The thug looked past me and his eyes widened when they fell on David. "Where the hell did you come from?" he snapped.

  "The shadows of your dreams and nightmares," David answered.

  "Yeah, well, get back or I'll give you a nightmare," the thug warned him.

  "I think not." David stepped closer to us and the thug pointed the barrel of the gun at him.

  "Stop moving or I'll shoot!" the thug growled. David ignored him, and the thug fired off a couple of shots.

  "No!" I yelled.

  The bullets hit David, I was sure of it, but there were no marks on his skin or even a wrinkle on his clothes. David paused and the smile slipped from his lips. "You shouldn't have done that, Leroy."

  The thug started back. "H-how the hell do you know my name?"

  David eyes narrowed as he turned his head to Leroy's partner. "I also know who you are, John."

  The friend now known as John stumbled back. His feet hit a pile of snow and he fell backward onto the ground. "W-who the hell are you?" he stuttered.

  "No one you know, and everyone you've ever met," David replied. His opened wide his eyes and I noticed the dazzling blue color changed to red.

  The two thugs looked directly into his face and their own eyes widened. They opened their mouths and let loose piercing, terrified screams. Leroy dropped the gun and released me before he, too, stumbled back off the path and into the snow. "W-what the hell is this? What the hell's going on?" he shrieked.

  John pressed his hands over his ears and scrunched his eyes shut. "Get out of my head! Get out!"

  Leroy took off down the path and John scrambled up and followed his friend. Their shrieks faded into the distance, and the only reminders of their presence was the dropped gun and butt imprint in the snow. My eyes flickered between where they'd gone and the creature who'd made them run off.

  "What the hell did you do to them?" I questioned him.

  He smiled and shrugged. "I merely showed them their worst nightmares come alive," he explained.

  "You can do that?" I wondered.

  "That, and many things," he admitted. He strode up to me and I noticed his red eyes were blue again. "Our kind can reward lovers with dreams and the wicked with nightmares."

  I stepped away from him to make some space between us. Just the feel of his bewitching eyes on me excited my body, and I had to tamper a rush of heat. "So you did what? Gave them hallucinations?"

  He nodded. "Yes. I saw into the depths of their dreams and nightmares, and dispensed them how I willed."

  "So you're telling me you gave them day-mares?" I guessed.

  He chuckled. "Something like that."

  I giggled nervously in return and stepped further away from him. "Oh, just that. He-he.
Well, it was-um, 'nice' seeing you again, but I have some gun barrel marks to get off my nose and some-" One moment he was two yards from me and the next he stood so close that our chests almost touched.

  "We have certain matters to discuss."

  Chapter 4

  I raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

  "Like your future. Do you now believe that what I told you is true? That you are changing into a succubus, into my kind?" he asked me.

  I scowled at him. "I'm not your kind!" I argued.

  When you don't need them they shall come, and a pair pf people happen to pass by us on the path. I sheepishly smiled at the couple, and grabbed the incubus' arm. I dragged him away from the path and led us through the snow-covered grass to a clump of lonely trees. I dropped my hold on him and spun around to face him with my sternest expression. "I don't know where you're getting the idea I want to believe you're telling the truth, but-"

  "My appearance," he spoke up.

  I blinked at him. "What about it?"

  "If you did not at least believe a little in me than I would not have felt your plea so strongly," he explained.

  "My plea? That's really what brought you here?" I asked him.

  He bowed his head. "Yes. Our connection through my love and the locket means I feel your strongest emotions, and can come to you if the need arises."

  His mention of the locket reminded me of the accursed thing. I scowled and yanked the possessed thing from my pocket. "What the hell is wrong with this thing, anyway? It almost got me killed today, so you can keep it," I snapped at him. I shoved it against his chest, or tried to. The locket paused a half inch from his clothes and try as I might I couldn't push it any farther. I growled and pulled it away. "See? The damn thing won't go away."

  "The locket is my gift to you, and no other. You cannot toss it away nor return it to me unless I wish to accept it," he informed me.

  "So I'm stuck with the locket that acts like it wants to become one with me?" I questioned him.

  "Yes."

  "Um, no."

  "It cannot be undone without my wishing it, and I do not wish it. Not after the trouble today," David argued.

  "But the trouble today is because of the damn thing!" I waved the beautiful golden item in his face. "See? Very pretty and attractive for thieves!"

  "You must keep it better hidden," he scolded me.

  I growled and shoved the locket into my pocket. "You know, if you're really trying to get me to love you then you're doing a really bad job of it."

  He raised an eyebrow. "Am I? Have I not rescued you this day from bandits? Have I not offered you my guidance in this new life which I have given you?"

  I snorted at the tone of his voice. He sounded prissy. "Did I prick your pride?" I teased him.

  David stiffened and frowned. "Even an incubus has his pride," he argued.

  "Uh-huh, and a girl needs her space, and you're locket isn't giving it to me," I shot back.

  "You will adjust," he replied.

  I threw my hands up. "Have you ever really interacted with any humans before outside of dreams? Because I'm getting the idea that you're a little too pushy," I growled.

  His eyes narrowed and he pursed his lips. "I have many times."

  "Any girls?" I added.

  His face turned red and he coughed into his hands. "On a few occasions. Most of my nemesis have been of the male variety."

  I raised an eyebrow. "Nemesis?"

  "Yes, those of another persuasion who believe the world needs to be rid of sensual desire," he replied.

  My memories hearkened back to the church and the familiar black car in the parking lot. "Those people wouldn't happen to wear black robes with white collars, would they?"

  He nodded. "Often, as you yourself witnessed at the church."

  I cringed. "So that means you're what? Some sort of unnatural, ungodly creature?"

  He smiled and chuckled. "I prefer to see we Dream Presences as an opposite side to the same coin as those priests. We give people a moment of enjoyment while the priesthood reminds them that one can't live in sin all their lives."

  I glared at him. "Uh-huh, so now because you fell in love with me I'm Enemy Number One on the Catholic Church hit-list?"

  "Not the entirety of the Catholic Church, or any of the other denominations and religions, but there are those who would rid the world of us if they could," he agreed.

  I threw up my hands and turned away from him. "Great! Just great! I just had to wish for a more exciting life and what do I get? Kicked in the teeth by karma and exiled from absolution!"

  "There are more benefits than disadvantages," he argued.

  I glanced over my shoulder and raised an eyebrow at him. "Like what?"

  His sly smile slipped onto his lips. "But surely you do not believe what I say about your becoming a succubus," he reminded me.

  I rolled my eyes and turned to face him. "All right, let's just pretend for a moment that I might possibly, in some parallel universe, believe that I am turning into a succubus. What would be the benefits if I actually took the plunge and became one?"

  His blue eyes took on a distinct hint of red in their inner depths and he lowered his smooth voice to a husky whisper. "As you witnessed today, there is the ability to sway humans to your wishes by glimpsing their dreams and nightmares."

  "So I can give people day-mares? That doesn't sound like that much fun except if I meet my mortal, or immortal, enemy," I pointed out.

  David stepped closer to me. I backed up, but my back hit the trunk of a thick tree. He set a hand on one side of my face and leaned down so we stared into each other's eyes. My breath quickened and a warmth swept through my body. I fidgeted beneath his sultry, lust-filled gaze. "You do not know the full power that bodily desires command." He leaned down and his warm lips brushed against the chilled skin of my cheeks. I shuddered and bit my lower lip. "It can light the world on fire and extinguish entire civilizations."

  I pressed my hands against his chest and looked into his eyes. "But there's one thing you forgot," I told him.

  "What is that, my love?" he whispered.

  I frowned and shoved him away. He stumbled back with his eyes wide and his mouth agape. "Your magic doesn't really work on me anymore, remember? Besides, if I wanted to control somebody it'd be for money, not because I'm some sort of lust freak."

  David pressed his lips together and straightened his clothes. "As a succubus you will have no need of something as shallow as money," he told me.

  "Yeah, and about that whole changing-into-a-demon-thing, you said nobody could stop the process, but it could be slowed down, right?" I questioned him.

  The corners of his lips turned down in a frown. "Yes, through your refusal to accept my love," he grudgingly admitted.

  I rubbed my chin and squinted my eyes. "So if I absolutely refused your love-"

  "Then you would still only slow down the change. Fate has decreed that you will be a succubus, and nothing on this earth can change that," he replied.

  My hands dropped to my sides and my shoulders drooped. "Seriously?"

  "Very seriously," he assured me.

  "But I've got a life, sort of, and a job, unfortunately, and I really, definitely don't want to be a-" I waved my hand at him, "-thing."

  He raised an eyebrow. "I am an incubus, not a 'thing,' and to be one of my kind is a rare privilege."

  I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him. "Making people have wet dreams is a privilege?"

  "There is an art to seducing people in their dreams. I've shown you only a small part of what I can do," he revealed.

  A mischievous smile slipped onto my lips. "So you're saying you were holding back on me?"

  He blinked at me. "That isn't what I meant to say."

  "Yeah, sure, just keep telling yourself that," I teased him. I strode around him like a predator around its trapped, quivering prey. It felt good to be on the winning side as he followed me with his perplexed eyes. "But maybe you can't really do al
l that much to humans. Oh, sure, you scared those guys with your tricks, but maybe you can't really do anything against a strong-willed human like me," I challenged him.

  His own sly smile slipped onto his lips and my confidence faltered. "You wish to challenge me, and I accept."

  Uh-oh.

  Chapter 5

  I stopped my pacing and backed away from him. "Listen, I'm not here for some sort of contest. I'm just trying to tell you to leave me the hell alone and give me my life back, okay?"

  David shook his head and slowly moved toward me. He was like a snake slithering towards his prey, and suddenly I was the one being hunted. "I'm afraid it isn't okay. You see, even in this new world you're entering there is a hierarchy of sorts among the incubus and succubus." I followed him with my eyes as he paced around me. "There are those who reign supreme as the best of us, and there are others who are novices or have less of the gift. I happen to be one who stands at the top of the group, and they are very competitive."

  "Sounds like you need a vacation," I quipped. "How about you start now? I hear Bermuda's nice this-"

  David slipped behind me and I lost him fro a second. He reappeared, or his arms did, as they wrapped themselves around me, trapping my arms to my sides. The incubus pressed his chest against my back and his warmth soaked into me. I bit my lip and tried not to shudder at the feel of him against me. He leaned down and his breath brushed against the quivering skin of my neck.

  "In my long years no one has excited me like you do," he whispered. Each word sent warm tingles down my spine. One of his hands roamed upward to cup my breast hidden beneath my layers of clothes. "You hold such power over me that I find myself at a disadvantage among the plains of mortals, but here-" A blinding light swept over the small tree grove, and when I could see again I the snow-covered area was gone. We still stood beneath the canopy of trees, but now they held the leaves of late spring. Beneath our feet was a carpet of emerald-green grass. Daffodils and tulips created a ring between the tree trunks, and a small, warm breeze blew by. The sun shone brightly overhead, and my heavy clothes were suddenly too warm. "Here is where I hold sway. Your dreams and fantasies are my domain."