Seducing the Succubus (24 page)

The demon walked around Noah in a slow circle. “Now, why don’t you make this easy for me and tell me where the succubus is headed, and we’ll kill you quickly. We both know you’ve been caught up in something larger than you’re able to handle.” He laughed. “Imagine my surprise that Lilith assigned a writer of trite horror fiction to escort one of her prized whores as opposed to a warrior.”

Noah remembered his own surprise at the assignment, but somewhere along the way he’d stopped looking at this as some punishment for summoning Lilith, and instead as an opportunity that allowed him to meet Jezebeth.

Semiazas continued in his calm, amused voice. “I have had millennia to perfect the art of torture, and I’m more than willing to show you all my expertise, but I think it would be much easier, and quicker, on both sides if you just went ahead and gave me the information I need. So how about it, Noah. I can call you Noah, can’t I? I think once I’ve seen someone naked, it gives me the right to use their first name.”

Noah mustered all his strength to return Semiazas’s gaze. Steel-hard determination slid through him and his fingers tightened together into fists as he prepared to do the stupidest thing he’d ever done in his lifetime. “No.”

Semiazas raised dark brows. “No, I can’t call you Noah, or no, you won’t tell me the information I need?” His voice was sweet and cajoling and made Noah wish to drown the damned demon in a vat of holy water.

Noah licked his dry lips. “Both.”

Semiazas sighed dramatically. “Then I guess we’d both better get comfortable.” He gestured and the demon still inhabiting Don’s body stepped forward.

“Did he refuse?” it asked with a hopeful note in the gravelly voice.

Semiazas nodded. “Let’s see what you can do. I’d like quick and thorough results.”

“Yes, sir,” came the gravelly reply as a very sharp-looking knife with a hooked end appeared in the demon’s left hand. “This is going to be fun.”

A brief thought of memorizing what the knife looked like for a future book spilled through Noah’s mind, and he chided himself for thinking like a writer when he was about to be tortured.

Then the demon advanced on him and stabbed the knife deep into Noah’s thigh.

Crippling pain shot through him and then dulled until he was floating. Calmly bobbing in a sea of blackness that lulled and comforted him.

He had a moment to wonder where he’d been whisked away to when he gagged. Something thick and hot was being poured down his throat. It tasted almost metallic and he tried to cringe away from the flow, but found he couldn’t move.

Panic grabbed at him, and his lungs began to burn as they ached for breath. Finally, he swallowed and sucked in a quick breath before his mouth was filled again with the odd liquid. He swallowed again and then greedily sucked in a large breath of air even as his stomach roiled, threatening to bring back up everything he’d swallowed.

Waves of burning spread through his body in searing waves until he thought this would be his constant state of being.

What seemed like hours later, all the pain receded and his awareness returned in a rush. He found himself still strapped naked to Semiazas’s circular metal rack with Don the demon standing in front of him with the now blood-soaked knife he’d stabbed him in the thigh with.

“Welcome back, human. I hadn’t realized the extent of your injuries from our fight. You nearly died. You’ll have to thank Semiazas for gifting you with some of his blood and fully healing you. Now we have plenty of time to start from scratch and see if you’re willing to tell us where the succubus is headed.”

Noah cringed as he remembered swallowing the thick, metallic liquid. That was Semiazas’s blood? His stomach clenched and he tasted bile on the back of his tongue at the thought that he’d just drank blood.

Not that he could argue with the results. He was fully refreshed and healthy, but a quick glance up at the dripping knife made him wish he could’ve died. If they could heal him this fully, they could conceivably keep him here forever. If he had to endure torture for eternity, could he? Even for Jezebeth?

True terror spilled through him, and he swallowed hard.

Lilith
woke as Gabriel bolted upright in bed.

“Gabriel?”

Gabriel turned a sleepy smile on Lilith. “My apologies. I’ve been summoned. I must go, but I’ll return later?”

Lilith nodded and raised up on her elbow to meet Gabriel halfway. As their mouths came together Lilith parted her lips and welcomed Gabriel’s gently probing tongue inside. She reveled in the slow, deep kiss until Gabriel reluctantly pulled back.

“I enjoyed our time together.”

Lilith couldn’t keep the smile from curving her lips. “Me too.”

Gabriel dissolved away and Lilith sighed, running her hands over the warm spot on the bed the Archangel had just vacated.

She hadn’t spent a night only sleeping with anyone ever. In fact, the only time she’d slept through the night with someone in her bed was back with Adam and Eve, and there was always sex involved.

And the night with Uriel—well, there had been no sleeping done at all that night.

She flopped onto her back and laid her arm over her forehead as memories of Uriel tried to surface. She ruthlessly pushed them away and pulled the warm sensations of being with Gabriel around her.

Loud knocking sounded against her door, and she closed her eyes tight, wishing the awful sound away. When it came again she huffed out a breath and sat up, the sheet pooling around her waist, leaving her bare nipples to harden in the cool air. “Come in.”

“My queen, I’m sorry to disturb you so early.” Evelin slipped inside the door, closing it softly behind her. “There is a guest who refuses to leave until he sees you.”

Lilith frowned. Why would someone want an audience with her this early? Her internal body clock told her it had to be around four A.M. Whoever it was, the matter must be urgent. “Who is it?”

“My lady . . . it’s Semiazas.”

Lilith stiffened as different scenarios of what the demon wanted flitted through her mind. He couldn’t hurt her here in her lair, although she’d be damned if she let him anywhere else besides the throne room, which existed in both dimensions. Giving him access to other parts of her lair would give him the location so he could find her and pop in on her at any time. However, the throne room was sort of a halfway point between the human realm and the other side.

Even inside the throne room if Semiazas tried to harm her in any way, Uriel through his vow would rain down all kinds of retribution on the demon, and would bring the full force of Heaven with him. But there were a million other ways Semiazas could make things difficult or uncomfortable for Lilith and her followers, so there was no reason to totally snub his request for a meeting.

She sighed and pushed her hair back away from her face. “Tell him I’ll see him in the throne room.”

“He wishes to see you right away, my lady, and asks for an audience wherever you currently are.”

“I’ll just bet he does,” she mumbled under her breath. Lilith stood, shivering against the cold air after being so warm in bed next to Gabriel all night. She cut Evelin off with an impatient gesture. “If he seeks an audience with me in the middle of the night, he should expect to let me have time to dress. If he does not, then he’s a fool.” Showing any kind of weakness or fear in front of the demon wasn’t an option. Lilith had learned well over the centuries that it was often attitude and confidence that carried the day even over competence.

Evelin bowed her head once. “Yes, my lady. I’ll show him to the throne room. Should I offer any refreshment or sustenance to him during his wait?”

Lilith stopped in midmotion of selecting a dress from her wardrobe. The idea of giving any of her followers—even the humans—to Semiazas for his pleasure even for the duration of the time it took Lilith to ready herself sent revulsion churning through her. “No. He isn’t an invited guest. Show him to the throne room, and he’ll damned well wait until I arrive.”

Evelin bowed again and backed out the door, closing it behind her with a click.

Lilith closed her hand around a simple, elegant black dress, and paused. Even with Semiazas here, her mood was still buoyant from her time spent with Gabriel, so she skimmed her fingers over to a soft, yellow dress with a tight bodice and a long, flowing skirt instead. She smiled as she pulled on the dress, making a mental note to find some lingerie for the next time Gabriel came to visit. Lilith had never bothered with undergarments of any type since her body would stay firm and supple for the entirety of her existence, but she was in the mood to try something new and seductive with Gabriel.

She buttoned up the bodice of her dress, slid her feet into comfortable leather shoes, and brushed her long, dark hair until it flowed over her shoulders in silky waves.

Last, she stopped, feeling naked without her jewelry, she ran her fingers over the places they had sat for millennia—the ring, the necklace, the bracelet, and the earrings. She’d done the same thing every day since she sent the four imps to warn the succubi sisters about Semiazas.

“I’ll have them back soon, safe and sound,” she reminded herself, although she wasn’t sure if she referred to the jewelry, the succubi, or both.

A quick walk down the hallway took her to her personal entrance to the throne room, and she laid her hand over her stomach to try to quiet the herd of butterflies that had suddenly taken up residence. She squared her shoulders, raised her chin to a regal height, and stepped forward into the lion’s den.

Semiazas lounged on Lilith’s throne, his back leaned against one arm while his legs draped over the other, his feet kicking idly. He glanced up as she entered, his smile feral and predatory. “Lilith,” he said, not bothering to move. “How good of you to join me.”

She kept her voice calm as she approached him. “You’re in my way.”

He smirked. “Oh, is this
your
chair?” Semiazas made a showy production of sitting up. “I would’ve thought as queen of the whores, you’d have a bed or something tasteful like a gynecologist’s chair, instead.”

Lilith had long since become immune to the taunts of others, so she ignored the comment and raised one brow, accompanied by an intense gaze.

He smiled slowly and stood, gesturing with a flourish for her to sit.

As she brushed past him, he turned toward her and sniffed at her hair. He grabbed her roughly by the shoulders and pulled her close. Burying his face into the crook of her neck, he inhaled deep.

Lilith reacted instinctively, planting her left foot and raising her right knee with all the force she could gather in this close-quarters position until it connected hard with the demon’s balls.

Semiazas made a strangled sound in the back of his throat and crumpled, loosening his grip and allowing her to slip away.

“I’ve been manhandled many times since my creation, Semiazas. But to seek an audience with me first is not an act of a peaceful meeting request.” She clenched her fists, holding her panic and anger at bay until she could make it back to her quarters.

Semiazas stood with his hands on his knees, sucking in large breaths of air before he slowly straightened to face her. “I apologize. You surprised me, Lilith, and that’s not easy to do.”

She knew she should leave but curiosity made her turn back. There had to be a reason he’d come to see her, after all, and she’d rather know what it was than find out about it later when it was too late.

“Gabriel has been here.”

It wasn’t a question, so Lilith didn’t bother to answer.

Finally Semiazas took one step forward with a small wince. “Gabriel and I were once very close. I knew when I spoke to her a few days ago that she’d taken a female lover; I just didn’t realize she’d gone for the most experienced one she could find.” His smile was anything but friendly.

“Do you have a point?” Lilith forced herself not to cross her arms in a protective gesture.

Semiazas seemed ready to snap back at her, but slowly composed himself, the anger and hatred in his expression leaking away to be replaced by a mask of charming calm. The only thing that stayed to remind her of his previous expression was the cold calculation in his blue eyes.

“I wish to offer you a deal, Lilith. You have something I want, and I have something you want.”

“I can’t imagine you having anything I would want.”

“How about the ring Adam made you?”

Semiazas’s words were like a sucker punch to the gut. Everyone assumed Adam had made her the jewelry, but those pieces she treasured had actually been from Uriel. She kept her composure and raised her brows.

If he had the ring, did that mean he had Jezebeth as well? And what of her sisters? “If you have my ring, show me.”

Semiazas pursed his lips. “I don’t have it with me. The human who was wearing it wouldn’t give it up so easily.”