Seducing the Succubus (27 page)

Awareness
slowly came back to Jezebeth, and she forced her eyes open as memories flooded back. She sat up straight, the coat Darian had given her falling down onto her lap as she glanced around. She still sat in the passenger seat of the car, but the boy was gone and the car was parked outside the Fairfield Inn Yuma.

The sleep had recharged a little of her energy, but she needed sustenance soon.

Urgency pricked at her and she fumbled for the door handle and finally managed to open the door of the car and step out into the chilly night.

A prickling along her right side made her turn, but all she could see was a darkened parking lot and the landscaped greenery that surrounded the property. She took one step forward and the prickling increased, centralizing in a large bubble inside her chest.

Uriel’s pass
.

The pass he’d given her and Noah was pulling her toward his property.

Excitement urged her forward, and she let out a cry of triumph as adrenaline surged through her and she started to run.

She dodged buildings, climbed fences, and even jaywalked through traffic, all in an effort to follow the invisible path before her.

Finally, she rounded the corner of a shopping center and noticed a silver shimmer along the back edge of the darkened parking lot.

Without thinking, she ran forward, anticipation and near relief warring inside her as she raked her gaze over the parking lot looking for any sign of Noah or Raphael.

When she was still a hundred yards away, the shimmering began to dim, and panic shot through her as she realized it was about to shift—to Greece.

“No!” Jezebeth ran as hard as she could and finally jumped and dove forward, her arm reaching out to touch the elusive shimmer.

Her body in midair, hurtling forward, the shimmer died away and disappeared completely.

Anger and denial hit her hard a split second before she impacted with the unforgiving blacktop, her air whooshing out in a painful rush.

She rolled over onto her back, ignoring the pain of her abraded skin, her bruised ribs, and anything else as searing disappointment and loss won out. Tears flowed down her cheeks unchecked, and she let the sobs come, almost resigned to dying here.

After everything she and her sisters had been through, everything Noah had endured for her, and she’d missed the portal by a second. She slammed her fists against the blacktop, railing at the unfairness of the situation.

A tsking sound made her snap open her eyes and look up. A beautiful man with long, flowing blond hair, green eyes, and a powerful presence that was both Archangel and demon stood looking down at her. “Giving up so easily. How disappointing.”

Jezebeth sat up and scrambled to her feet as she realized she stood facing Lucifer. “What do you want?” She waited to feel fear, but all she could muster was a wary curiosity. Her adrenaline had already begun to wane, leaving her hollowed out, aching, and raw inside. She simply didn’t have the emotional bandwidth to deal with the Prince of Darkness right now.

He smiled, the movement making him even more stunning, except for those cold, dead eyes. “I’m sorry I had to delay your entry into the portal. There are things to discuss. I want you and your sisters to hold up your side of the agreement, little one. Even if I’m the only one of the fallen who realizes it.”

Jezebeth stepped forward, realizing too late that she’d just advanced on the Archangel who had rebelled against God—probably not a great idea in hindsight. “What do you mean? My sisters and I never made any agreement. But you did. You locked up Semiazas, and now he’s escaped; so what are you going to do about it?” she asked carefully, not wanting to push her luck too far.

He studied her for a long moment before answering. “Ahh, so there is some spunk left in you. I’d thought by that display of self-pity I came across, you might not be worth my time.”

She swallowed hard, suddenly angry he’d witnessed her mini breakdown. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“No, I didn’t, and don’t plan to. Come along, little succubus, if you’d still like a chance to save your human and keep your side of our bargain.” He held out his hand.

Irritation surged through her and she snapped, “What bargain?”

When Lucifer only looked at her with a calm expression she huffed out a breath. “And if I don’t come with you?”

His smile was sad this time, the first genuine emotion that had shown inside those eerie green eyes. “Then your human will die, along with all the others. None of the four can fail. I’m constrained to the agreements I’ve made, just as we all are, little one.” He gave a Gallic shrug. “So, what will it be?” He held out his hand again. “The devil you know? Or the Hell you don’t?”

Confusion and panic edged up the back of Jezebeth’s throat with the sharp tang of bile and she swallowed hard and followed her gut.

Noah
found himself sprawled on all fours on sandy soil. Warm sun beat down on his back and with a huff of relief, he realized he was once again dressed. It would’ve sucked to be plopped down in the middle of nowhere bare-assed naked, but if it was that or Semiazas—he would’ve taken naked.

He glanced around quickly before pushing up to stand.

There was no sign of Semiazas, but Noah didn’t for one minute think the demon had given up and let him go. Although if Noah wasn’t mistaken, he now stood on one of the islands in Greece.

He wasn’t sure which one, but apparently Semiazas wanted Noah to do the legwork and find the portal in Greece. Yeah, like that was going to happen.

A salty breeze teased his hair and cooled his skin, and for the first time he realized that even after all the torture he’d endured at the hands of Semiazas, he felt great. Apparently, the tortures inflicted in Hell didn’t translate to the human realm.

He said a quick prayer of thanks to whoever might be listening. Noah had never been sure of the existence of God—that was until he’d accidentally summoned Lilith. Now, he figured it couldn’t hurt to remain open-minded since he’d already met demons, Archangels, succubi, and Djinn. It couldn’t be too much of a stretch to believe in God after all of that.

Noah glanced around wondering how long Semiazas would play with him before the demon decided to kill him outright. Or worse—took him back to Hell and put him through another round of very creative torture.

The only way Noah had survived those long hours of pain was by treating it like research and filing away his reactions for future books—sick and twisted, but it had worked. He refused to betray Jezebeth. Even if the deadline passed and Uriel’s property suddenly appeared somewhere in Greece, Jezebeth would still be safe back in Yuma, Arizona, on the other side of the world.

The best lies had large grains of truth in them.

Noah thought about running, but where to? It was obvious he couldn’t outrun the demon, and he was sure Semiazas was tracking him somehow. He had no intention of looking for the portal, but maybe he could find some kosher salt, holy water, or something else that would help. Semiazas was obviously a high-level demon, so most of those would only be a minor nuisance to him, but something was better than nothing at this point.

Noah started down a steep, winding road as he scanned the lush view for any possible escape or defense against Semiazas. He wanted to keep the demon away from Jezebeth, but that didn’t mean Noah was resigned to die yet. He had plenty of life left to live and he wasn’t going to let one vindictive demon take it from him.

A huddled form materialized in front of him, and Noah’s steps faltered as icy fear and foreboding sliced through him.

The huddled form slowly straightened, and his worst fears were confirmed.

Jezebeth.

Her clothes were dirty and there were dark circles under her eyes, but she seemed to be all right.

He knew the second she saw him—relief filled her expression, and she pushed to her feet to run toward him.

Despite his earlier thoughts, Noah grinned and ran toward her, picking her up and swinging her around as he enjoyed the sensation of having her safe in his arms again. When he sat her on her feet, she ran her hands over him, searching his face with her hazel gaze. “Are you all right? How did you get free?”

The reference to Semiazas sent ice skittering through Noah’s veins, and he took Jezebeth by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. “Jezebeth, you have to get as far away from me as you can. He let me go, but I’m sure he’s tracking me. As long as we’re together, you’re in danger.” He frowned as he realized she should be in Arizona. “Wait. How did you get here?”

She sighed. “Lucifer.”

“Damn, and I thought Semiazas was the biggest thing we had to worry about. What happened?”

Jezebeth stood on her tiptoes and brushed a kiss across his lips before she pulled back and smiled up at him. “Let’s get moving and we can fill each other in on the way. I have no idea where the portal is, but now that we’re both here, we may as well make a good run for it.”

Unable to resist holding her and reassuring himself she was safe, Noah squeezed her into a tight hug, resting his chin on top of her head as he breathed in her pomegranate and honey scent. “I’m so glad you’re all right, but you need to run, Jez. Staying with me puts you at risk.”

She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek against his chest. “There’s no way I’m leaving you again, so you can either get your ass in gear and help me find the portal, or we’ll stand here and wait for Semiazas to find us. Your choice.”

Noah tightened his grip on her, his protective instincts warring with respect for Jezebeth’s stubborn courage. He blew out a breath in defeat and opened his eyes. A beat-up pickup sat farther down the steep hill by the side of the road. There wasn’t anyone in sight nearby. “Fine. Let’s go. I think I just found us some transportation.”

Jezebeth followed his line of sight and smiled. “You work fast—”

Noah cut off her words with a kiss, enjoying the way she melted against him, and even the slight tingling sensation that told him his energy was siphoning into her. When he finally slowed the kiss and pulled back, the dark circles were gone from under her eyes, and she smiled at him sending warmth curling inside his gut.

He cleared his throat, not sure he could speak through the swirling emotions filling his chest. “Let’s go.”

A few minutes later they sat in the cab of the truck and Noah did something he hadn’t done since he was a teenager—hot-wired a vehicle.

The ignition chugged to life and he slammed his hand down on the steering wheel in celebration. “Yessss!”

“Done this before, I take it?” Jez clicked her seat belt into place and grinned over at him.

“It’s been a while, but I guess once you have the touch, it’s easy to get it back.” Noah put the truck in gear and pulled out onto the road. “I have absolutely no clue where we’re going, but we’ll find it quicker by looking than sitting still.” He navigated down the steep hill, riding the brake as gravel skidded under the front tires.

“Noah, how did you get away from Semiazas?”

He scowled, but kept his eyes on the road. “He let me go, which is why I wanted you to get far away from me. He’s got to be tracking me. I’m sure he’s going to pop back in on me at any moment.”

She nodded absently. “Lucifer let me go as well. He made me miss the Yuma portal by a mere half a second and he brought me here.” She shook her head. “I’m still not sure why. There’s something going on . . . something I feel like I should know, but I just can’t seem to remember.” She rubbed her forehead with her fingers and scowled. “But I still think we should stay together. At least that way we aren’t left wondering what happened to each other.”

Jezebeth’s words mirrored his own thoughts and he opened his mouth to tell her. But as they navigated one of the many bends in the road, Noah saw an ancient-looking church at the bottom of the hill with a fountain in front complete with a waist-high basin.

Holy water. Blessed by the priests so the masses could anoint themselves with it on their way to and from services.

He straightened as hope curled inside his stomach. Finally, maybe they had something to defend themselves with.

About halfway down the hill to the church Noah noticed a slight shimmer that overlapped the church, larger than the building, but shaped differently. He frowned as he tried to get his eyes to make sense of what he was seeing.

Without warning the truck bucked beneath them and the entire world began to spin.

As the world
slowly righted itself, Jezebeth shook her head, trying to find her equilibrium. It took her a long moment to piece together that she hung upside down in the truck cab, held in place by the seat belt.

She tried to turn her head to look for Noah but stopped when sharp pain lanced through her and a warm gush of blood told her she had something lodged in her neck. After a few deep breaths to chase back the black dots that tried to infringe on her vision, she raised her hand to gingerly explore her injury.