The Demon and the Succubus (10 page)

The cool relief that slid through him was short lived as he glanced past them toward Amalya’s still form. He’d never actually had to use salt water against shades, and he was glad this information hadn’t just been an old wives’ tale.

He reached through the mist to spread the wet comforter on the ground next to Amalya, crushing cotton plants under its weight. The shades scattered back as they shied away from his touch but stayed close as if a small force field surrounded him.

As he moved, they undulated with him, zeroing in on Amalya’s still form as if they sensed they were about to lose their prize.

He gently lifted her and laid her on the comforter.

His gut clenched at the clammy feel of her skin, but he reminded himself it could be him after his dip in the frigid garden tub upstairs. He shoved everything else out of his mind except getting Amalya safely back to the farmhouse.

Using the free end of the blanket, he covered Amalya and rolled her in the excess cloth to ensure none of her body was exposed to the touch of the shades.

A low, uncomfortable vibration filled the air around him, making his stomach roil and his head throb as he hefted the bulky bundle in his arms and started back toward the house. As the low rumbling hum increased, Levi realized the sound came from the shades.

The mist began to swirl around him like an angry cyclone as he hurried back over the uneven ground with the bundle containing Amalya’s limp form firmly in his arms. As the vibration in the air around him increased, the sensation that his stomach was going to turn itself inside out made Levi clench his jaw against the sudden bite of bile on the back of his tongue.

He rounded the side of the house determined to make it inside without succumbing to the side effects of the angry shades.

The mist swirled faster and faster around them turning the air opaque and sending a crippling wave of vertigo cutting straight through Levi. He stumbled and fell to one knee, swallowing hard to keep from retching. Sucking in large breaths of air in an attempt to calm the roiling inside his head and stomach, he clenched his eyes tight and frantically tried to think of a way past the shades.

“Levi! Can you hear me?”

Relief speared through him as he turned to orient on Jethro’s voice, keeping his eyes firmly shut. “I hear you. Keep yelling.”

Levi slowly stood, hefting Amalya’s limp form into a better grip before he started forward, following Jethro’s voice until his foot bumped something hard.

“Stairs,” Jethro called, and Levi smiled as excitement surged through him giving him another burst of strength. If he’d made it to the stairs, he could make it the rest of the way.

The swirling and rumbling increased until it felt like the air was a tangible force, and with every movement he pushed through solid gelatin.

He lifted one foot slowly and firmly placed it on the bottom stair before transferring his weight and pulling his foot up behind him. Never had six stairs seemed like such a daunting task before, but with the dead weight of Amalya in his arms, urgency pushed him forward.

“Incoming.”

The words had a split second to register inside his brain before a wall of icy water hit Levi, leaving him sputtering and tasting salt.

When he blinked away the water that had splashed into his eyes, Levi found Jethro standing ten feet in front of him in the doorway to the farmhouse holding a silver bucket.

Levi dashed toward the doorway.

As soon as he passed the door frame, the heavy sensation he’d fought against disappeared and left him stumbling against the sudden lack of resistance. He fell to his knees, careful not to drop Amalya as the door slammed shut behind them.

Amalya
blinked across the desk at Lucifer as the overwhelming sensation of reliving the vivid memories slowly died away leaving her exhausted.

“Welcome back.” Lucifer’s expression was intense but left Amalya unsure of his mood. He still held her hand and she tried to tug it back, but her body refused to respond to the command. His fingers were warm and strong around hers and she wondered again that she didn’t feel the biting sensation of his power in such close proximity with him.

“I’m holding my power in check. You’re already weak, and that would only debilitate you further, not to mention make this meeting much more difficult to complete.”

He let go of her hand and she left it suspended in the air for a long moment before her brain kicked in and allowed her to lower it to her lap as the implications of those memories burned through her. “So why tell me all this now? I thought we were supposed to know nothing of this.”

Lucifer’s lips quirked so slightly that if Amalya hadn’t been watching, she wouldn’t have noticed. “I will follow the rules scrupulously. Once you leave here and go back into the human realm, your memories will fade.”

“Then why tell me in the first pl—”

He cut off her question with an impatient wave. “You’re being called back. We will meet again.” He smiled. “I look forward to it.”

As if he’d suddenly let down the shield keeping his power in check, a neck-ruffling wave of energy flowed toward her, biting against her skin and making her cringe away.

A tugging sensation from deep inside her gut made her gasp as it slowly grew in intensity. At first she thought it was due to the sudden flash of Lucifer’s power, but then his words penetrated and she realized she was being pulled back to the human realm.

The urgency from within her memories came back to her with startling clarity. She cast about for some way to keep the memories that Lucifer had restored and said would soon fade when she returned to the human realm.

She closed her eyes and concentrated, chanting a mantra over and over under her breath as the tugging turned into a wrenching that threatened to pull her inside out.

Wave after wave crashed over her, battering her until she was certain she’d never survive the journey back.

Was this what birth and death felt like? If so, she was glad she’d been created rather than this chaos of pain and discomfort that held her in its grip now.

Time lost all meaning as pain turned into agony and became her entire world. She clenched her fists, the slight pinch from her nails biting into her palms almost a relief next to the other sensations tearing through her. Through it all she continued to chant, holding on to the tendrils of memories that tried to fade into the abyss.

When the sensations finally receded, she immediately wished for the wrenching to return. The sudden absence of agony was such a shock to her system, she wasn’t sure she would survive it.

Shivers wracked her body, and she felt as if her core had been turned into ice. Every body part felt numb and achy, as if it might no longer be attached and functioning.

Distantly she became aware that arms held her and cold, naked skin pressed against hers. The unknown presence rocked her slowly as hands chafed her arms and legs, which slowly brought some semblance of warmth back to the surface, and along with it prickles of pain and awareness.

Slow chanting filled her ears, but she couldn’t make out the words and wished they would stop. They were an annoying buzz that only added to the cacophony of sensations assaulting her overtaxed system. But somehow she knew they couldn’t stop, and she resigned herself to the monotonous noise.

“Amalya?” Levi’s voice sounded softly next to her right ear making her realize Jethro must be the second body she felt on her left. His voice held a thread of concern as well as relief and she sent a quick prayer of thanks that both men seemed to be safe.

She nodded in answer to his question, rocking harder in their grip, unable to answer as the chanting slowly crystallized inside her mind.

Four succubi must stop horsemen to save all
.

Four succubi must stop horsemen to save all
.

Four succubi must stop horsemen to save all
.

As soon as those eight words seeped inside her consciousness, she realized it was her own voice she heard all around her.

She stiffened as a hard stab of premonition pierced deep.

Something tickled at the edge of her consciousness but stubbornly remained just out of her reach. She sucked in a large breath and willed herself to stop speaking.

After several more repetitions, the words died away and the sudden quiet in the room was nearly deafening inside Amalya’s pounding head. Her tongue was dry and tired as if she’d been saying those words over and over for quite some time.

She tried to remember what happened or even how she’d ended up here between Levi and Jethro feeling as if she’d been trampled by a herd of angry elephants, but a thick haze of lethargy lay over her mind edging her toward sleep. “So tired,” she pushed out through chapped lips before she closed her eyes and gave herself up to the darkness.

Amalya woke to
find herself warm but very weak. She was draped against a hard male chest, an exotic musky scent filling her senses, while hot water lapped gently against her lower back.

Levi.

She was in a bathtub straddled across Levi.

If she had any energy at all she would’ve stiffened and pulled away purely on principle. She still hadn’t forgiven either man for lying to her, regardless that they’d obviously saved her from the shades.

“Amalya?”

She tried to raise her head, to hold on to some semblance of her pride, but her skin and even her hair ached—a definite sign that she needed energy. Now. And from the very hard cock that lay trapped against her stomach, he could definitely provide it.

Instinctively, as if sensing sustenance nearby, slick moisture formed between her labia as her clit hardened, pressing against the hard male body she straddled. Her nipples budded into tight peaks where they were pressed against him and her pussy throbbed in anticipation and need.

She sucked in a breath as she gathered the strength to speak. “Need you. Inside me.”

Levi gently raised her head until their gazes met, the green flecks in his dark hazel eyes mesmerizing her. His dark hair had fallen down onto his brow and she was glad she could barely move because the urge to touch the lush softness and brush it back off his forehead was strong.

The energy aura that surrounded him was still a pulsing mist of white but weaker than she’d seen it last. He still hadn’t fully recovered from his own bout with the shades, not to mention whatever he’d done while she’d been unconscious.

And even worse—she was relieved to see him.

“Are you sure?” Concern laced his voice and impatience and irritation snapped through her.

She wanted to scream at him, and although the urge pricked at her, she bit it back, not willing to waste her energy.

Now
he chose to ask her opinion when she could barely move? When she’d been quite healthy back at Sinner’s Redemption, he’d thought nothing of tricking her into sex. But now that she needed it, he’d turned chivalrous?

Men!

He bit back a grim smile and then nodded as if he’d heard her unspoken thoughts. He leaned forward to kiss her.

Amalya jerked away from him, nearly falling backward into the water.

Kissing was an intimate act, and after cheapening everything a bath had previously meant to her, she wasn’t ready to give him that much, even if it would help restore some of her energy. “Inside. Only.”

A small muscle ticked in Levi’s jaw as first shock and then anger flowed across his handsome features. He met her gaze and then nodded in a quick, curt motion.

He settled her against him again so her cheek lay flat against his chest. Something hard and metal pressed between them and she realized it was the medallion he’d received from Lilith. Most likely that’s what kept her from taking too much energy from him—although it would serve him right at this point if she drained him dry.

She tried to feel bad over the vindictive thought but couldn’t quite bring herself to. Betrayal still burned just under her anger, which made it unlikely to heal quickly, even with his current bout of chivalrous, though misplaced, intentions.

One large hand cupped her ass and lifted her until she felt the head of his cock nudge between her thighs. She tried to wriggle, impatient to have him inside her, but her body refused to respond and instead she had to wait as Levi slowly lowered her onto his thick shaft.

He held her firmly, giving her body plenty of time to adjust to him.

She sighed as she stretched to accept him, the slow, torturous sensation of his cock sliding inside her like small electric shocks inside her system. His energy thrummed against her skin, beckoning to her as her own slick moisture coated him until he filled her and they sat pelvis to pelvis. The head of his cock pressed firmly against her cervix, sending tiny bursts of arousal through her with each breath.

She found the energy to shift her hips, taking him even deeper and making them both gasp.