Chapter Four
I spun around, swallowing a yelp. Who the fuck was in my room? I peered into the darkness. There, practically blending into the corner shadows, stood Clyde.
“Holy shit,” I said, as the demon stepped forward.
He smiled. “Sorry to startle you.”
“It…it’s okay.” I forced a smile of my own, trying to play cute succubus and not act like I was freaked out that a demon—possibly a demon murderer—had materialized in my room.
Then, it hit me.
“How can you be here?” I exclaimed. “Aren’t you under arrest?” I took a step backward.
“Oh, Jesus. You didn’t break out, did you?”
Still smiling, he shook his head. “They don’t keep me behind bars, Georgina. They—”
He paused thoughtfully. “Do you go by Georgina? Or do you prefer Gina? Or Georgie maybe?”
“Georgina,” I said. Bad enough there was already one demon in the world who called me Georgie. I’d told Jerome a hundred times not to call me that, but he never listened.
Clyde nodded, pleasant and cordial. There was no sign of the angry and frustrated demon I’d seen earlier. It was like we were already at the party, making small talk.
“Okay, Georgina. As I was saying, they don’t lock me up. I’m bound to this area, though. I’ve got about a three-mile radius around this hotel that I’m confined to. I try to leave, and believe me, they know.”
“Do they cut you off from your powers too?” I asked, by no means comfortable with this situation.
“Some, not all. If you’re worried about me blowing you up or something, don’t. Aside from the fact that I can’t, it would really hurt my case if I destroyed one of the jurors.”
Fair point.
“Okay,” I said, feeling only a little better. I still had my arms crossed in a weak attempt at protection. “Then what are you doing here?”
“Just thought it’d be nice to get to know you,” he said with a shrug. “Seeing as we’ve never met. A little chat to pass the time. I was very impressed with your performance in the courtroom today. I appreciated that you didn’t ask my underwear size or my favorite color.”
Disdain replaced the last of my fear. “You having chats with all the jurors tonight?”
I swear, that grin grew almost twice as wide and was reflected in his dark eyes. “You’re too smart to be here, Georgina. You might be the only one who actually cares about how this turns out. Well, aside from me and the other two.”
I shook my head. “If you’re here to bribe me, it won’t work.”
“No?”
“No.”
“Everyone can be bribed,” he countered. “It’s how you sold your soul in the first place. It’s just a matter of finding out what you want now. The other jurors? They have plenty of things they want, things I can deliver on once I’m free and back in power.”
“So, what? They’re all on your side?”
“Depends on what Starla and Kurt offer them. Believe me, every demon on the jury who casts a vote will do it based on a bribe. The question is, which bribe will each one take?”
“That’s…horrible.”
“We work for Hell, Georgina. You want fairness, go to the other side.”
“Luis is fair.” I spoke without thinking.
Clyde tilted his head, studying me from another angle. “If you’re thinking about running to him and telling on us, forget it. He knows what’s going on, knows he can’t stop it.”
I chewed on my lower lip. I had been thinking of going to Luis.
Clyde came closer. “So, what do you want? What’ll it take to get you to acquit me?”
“I told you, I don’t want anything—nothing badly enough to free you if you’re the one who did it.”
His face hardened, a serious look crossing his features. “That’s the point. I didn’t do it, but that doesn’t mean anything out there. They want someone to hang—literally and figuratively—and they’ll take whoever’s convenient.”
He sounded sincere again, but I wasn’t fooled. Demons were superb liars.
“Please go,” I said, hoping he hadn’t been lying about being unable to hurt me. That too had been convincing. “I’m not taking your bribe.”
“You’re a succubus,” he mused. “You don’t need money—that’s what Starla’ll probably offer you, by the way. But I’m guessing you’ve got plenty of your own—or can get it from some dying old man. Kurt…he’s smart. He might offer something good. Not sure which way he’ll go. But me…let’s see. Pleasure. That’s what you want.”
I choked on a laugh. “Pleasure? Baby, do you know how often I get laid?”
He waved his hand dismissively. “Probably more than me. But that doesn’t mean you like it.”
It was true. I didn’t always like it. Sometimes the act did it for me; sometimes not. But there was one part I always liked.
“I get my life from it,” I said honestly. “And when that happens—that rush—that transfer. That’s pleasure. That’s amazing. Better than the sex.”
“But wouldn’t it be nice to experience sex that was better than the transfer?”
I stared incredulously. “You’re trying to bribe me with sex? You’re trying to bribe a succubus with sex? ” Maybe he was the killer. He was clearly deranged enough. “That’s the most—”
Clyde reached out and touched my forehead with his fingertips. I gasped at the jolt of power that shot through me.
Suddenly, I wasn’t standing in the hotel room anymore. I was in another room, a room from antiquity, on a bed covered in plump pillows and silk sheets. The silk slid against my back, and Clyde’s body slid against the bare skin on my front.
Our limbs were entwined, his mouth on mine in a kiss that was all fire. He was fire. His skin was literally hot—so, so hot. It was a demon thing. I seriously thought it would scorch mine, but my skin stayed whole and unmarred. He moved against me, bringing his mouth down and trailing more of those burning kisses down my neck. His lips found my breasts, taking turns with each nipple. He sucked hard on them, his teeth biting in a way that danced a very thin line between pleasure and pain. For now, it just barely kept to the pleasure side.
But his mouth and the fire of his skin weren’t what drove me wild. They weren’t what made me moan and arch my body up to his, pushing as much of myself forward as I could.
It was his hands.
Because everywhere they touched, they poured life into me—that beautiful, blissful silver life energy I stole each time I slept with a human. It was the glittering energy that filled the soul, the power that usually coursed into me at the end of sex and sustained my immortality.
But now, that energy was coming from the palms of his hands as he ran them over my body. He moved slowly too, dragging out that ecstatic agony. It was almost like he was massaging oil into my skin. That life covered me, saturated me, and soaked in. It was more than I’d ever gotten from a human—even the purest, noblest soul. Ten times more. Maybe a hundred. Who could tell? My body became one enormous erogenous zone. Really, there’s no way to describe that energy to anyone who hasn’t directly experienced it. It’s, well, life. The universe. The touch of God.
One of those glorious hands danced down between my thighs. His fingers slid along my flesh, slipping through my wetness. His skin still burned against mine, and coupled with that continued flow of life, I almost couldn’t handle it. I writhed under his touch, whimpering as his hands teased and taunted, promising much but not yet delivering.
I knew this wasn’t really happening, but I also knew he wouldn’t show it to me if it wasn’t a possibility. This was his bribe.
“How…” I gasped out. “How…can you do this? How can a demon have this much life…? Energy and souls…that’s only for humans and angels to deal in.”
He removed his hand so that it and his other one rested on my hips. Shifting onto his knees, he pushed into me. The pleasure and pain line blurred for me again, and it wasn’t just because of his size and hardness—both of which were considerable. Nor was it the fierceness with which he thrust away—which was also considerable. It was that fire again, the heat that coursed through a demon’s skin. It was like a flame spreading up and into me.
It hurt, yet I exulted in it. And as that fire continued to sear me, his hands stroked my breasts and upper body with that glittering energy. It was pure delirium, cool and crisp in a way that compensated for the heat of his body. We were fire and ice.
“How can a demon have this much life?” he asked, echoing my question. He continued moving forcefully into me, each powerful stroke pushing me closer and closer to being suffocated by all that lovely life. The rapid pace appeared to take no toll on him. His dark face watched me thoughtfully, and if I squinted just right, I could barely discern horns on his head and flames in his eyes. They shimmered in and out, like a mirage. “You don’t know? Haven’t figured it out?”
Some part of my brain said if I thought hard enough, I could figure it out. But I didn’t really want to think too much just then. “No…no…”
The words came out as a moan, and I felt only a little embarrassed at my loss of control. Wasn’t I supposed to be the sex professional here? Fuck it, I decided. There was so much life energy in me now that I doubted any more could even make a difference. I was drowning in it, high on it. And I could tell by his motions that he was going to come soon. A demon exploding inside of you is like fire too, and while it hurts horribly, it’s also insanely pleasurable at the same time—so much so that it almost always triggers an orgasm in return.
I was going to come, and it was going to be good. My body was practically ready on its own, but I wanted to wait for him to finish it.
“You’re forgetting something,” he said softly. His strokes were long and controlled. Very purposeful. He was close, and I had no clue what he was talking about anymore. Fire and ice. That was all I knew.
“Forgetting…what…?”
He leaned over me, putting his face right next to mine, and I cried out as the shift in position allowed him to take me at a different, deeper angle. Fire and ice.
“The reason demons can have this much life…”
I was almost there. So close, so close. His voice was low. It was velvet on my skin.
“…is because…”
I was on the edge, ready to fall over. Fire and ice.
“…we used to be angels too.”
Fire and—
He pulled out and sat back on his heels. Suddenly, all that pleasure, all that bliss…it was gone. Bam! I was empty and aching. It was like being thrown into cold water. All ice now, and not even the good kind. No more fire. I jerked upright.
“What the fuck are you—”
I blinked and looked around. No silk-covered bed. No Clyde, even. I stood alone in the hotel room, still in front of my mirror. The dress was white again.
“Remember this,” a voice whispered through the air. “We can finish it…”