Succubus in the City (38 page)

He shook his head. “No, she’s a friend. Really. I think she was just speculating, but it got me crazy.”

I winced. “You told her where we were? You know that we were going because we had been attacked, because Sybil had a premonition that there would be another attack this weekend. And you told someone where we were? Do you realize you could have been the one who set Branford on us? You don’t know who this friend could be working for, do you?”

“No.” Vincent was adamant. “I didn’t tell her where you were at all. She just said—”

And then we exchanged a look that said we both understood. “Oh my goodness,” he said softly. “I’ll rip her apart.”

“No, you won’t.” I shook my head. “You will not say a word. We have to know who she is working for, how she got that information if you didn’t tell her. You are sure you didn’t let it slip, maybe casually?”

“I’ll think it over more carefully, but I really honestly don’t think I said anything at all,” Vincent said, studying his fingernails. “But Lily, can I ask you something about Sybil?”

I nodded assent.

“Do you really think she cares?” he asked softly. “She’s one of Satan’s Chosen, and I’m a brand-new demon still studying to pass my third level. I don’t even have a specialty yet. I don’t have anything to offer her.”

“You’re ambitious,” I said. “You have plenty to offer her. And you do have a future in the Hierarchy, that’s clear. So you may be a new demon, but you’re on the way up. And Sybil should have a boyfriend who cares for her and is willing to take care of her. She’s been through some hard times and I want her to be happy.”

“I want her to be happy, too,” he agreed. Then he hesitated and seemed to pull himself together. “Thank you, Lily. I couldn’t deal with the idea that Sybil didn’t love me.”

“Were you jealous?” I asked carefully.

He thought about it for a moment, which was reasonable. Jealousy is a reasonable sin and could be an excellent specialty for him, but I didn’t think that would be so good for Sybil. “I should have been. But mostly I was just crushed because I thought her going with someone else in Aruba meant that she didn’t care for me. That I was just some newbie demon boy toy for her, that I didn’t matter.”

Looks like jealousy wasn’t about to be his forte after all. “You matter. Trust me, you do matter to her,” I said.

“Thank you, Lily.” He crushed me in a hug, and for a moment I glimpsed the very young, scared mortal he had been. Then he left.

Alone at last, so wonderfully alone. I made up a large bowl of rice and orange beef for myself and put it into the microwave. The egg rolls were cold, but I didn’t want them to lose their crisp skins so I ate them at room temperature and dripping with duck sauce.

Brunch. Saturday, not Sunday, so it wasn’t quite the same and the menu was a little different. I didn’t care. Having my quiet recuperative evening at home wrecked by a nasty cat-demon did not put me in a great mood. Reheating my Crispy Orange Beef in the microwave eliminated a lot of the crispy. I resented that. I resented a lot of things just then.

For once I was not the last one to arrive. Desi, Eros, and I stood on the pavement, looking at the funeral monuments across the street in the stonecutter’s lot. Sybil was late. Sybil was almost never late. I was almost always the last one to arrive, and if it wasn’t me it was Desi. Eros’s collection of antique Rolex watches was not simply an affectation; for all the fifteen hundred years I’d known her she had not been late once. Not ever that I could remember. Even in the days before watches she was always there before we arrived.

Sometimes I felt really sorry for her and thought we must all try her patience. Eros was born a demigoddess and was preternaturally prompt. If I were she I would take a little more time and not be so anal about it, but I’m me and I’m almost always the last to arrive anywhere.

“I hope nothing bad is keeping Sybil,” Desi said. She wore a long wool coat that was just the right weight for jumping in and out of taxis, but not quite warm enough for a prolonged sojourn on the street. She had her arms wrapped around herself and had jumped up and down a few times on her toes, though her high-heeled boots didn’t give her a whole lot of play. Finally the cab pulled up and Sybil climbed out. She was glowing, almost giggling, as she ran for the door.

We followed like a clutch of baby ducks up to the hostess stand, and we were seated immediately. And, well, sometimes we get benefits for being immortals. The hostesses and waitstaff don’t know we’re not human, but they sense something different about us. And they defer.

We hadn’t even looked at the menu when Sybil started chattering. “Vincent called this morning and apologized,” she announced. “And then he came over—with flowers and hot mocha lattes—and apologized again.”

“I don’t know if that’s enough,” Eros said as she folded her menu. “He should be on his knees. In the street. In the snow.”

Desi shook her head. “You’re the goddess, Eros. The rest of us get flowers and mocha lattes. I think Vincent made a decent effort. Besides, there isn’t any snow in the street now.”

The waiter showed up with our Bellinis and we ordered quickly.

Sybil just glowed, though that might be partly due to caffeine. “Vincent and I are back together again and it’s great. It’s great.” She looked at each of us, her face full of hopeful innocence. “None of you have been married,” she said carefully, trying to make her point without hurting us. “You’re sex demons and everyone desires you and you’ve all had a million lovers. But sex demons don’t have long-term relationships in general. And that’s about all I’ve had, really. At heart, I’m still a good girl who doesn’t have sex on the first date, or even the third, really.”

“Have you had sex with Vincent?” Eros asked, with only curiosity in her tone.

Sybil blushed and shook her head.

“But what about those guys in Aruba?” Eros continued.

Sybil went from pink to red and looked at the table.

“It’s different on vacation in a place like Aruba,” Desi told her. “I was raised to be a good girl, too, and I know how Sybil felt. Far away from home for just a few days you can try on a new persona, play at being someone else. I think Sybil was playing at being us. But it didn’t mean anything, which is why she was able to do it. That once. Isn’t that it, Syb?”

Mutely Sybil nodded without removing her eyes from her silverware.

“Then you’re saying that in some dating situations, it’s okay to lie,” I said, thinking of my own situation.

Desi shrugged. “The truth is, sometimes it’s necessary. Because they don’t understand.”

Sybil nodded in agreement. “It doesn’t matter that Vincent is a demon, he still thinks like a mortal. And in every marriage I’ve had I’ve known there were things it was just better not to say. If I had, it would have destroyed the relationship, and really, no one would have benefited. I believe in honesty in general, but sometimes people can take it too far. Honesty is fine for most situations, but my experience is that sometimes telling is far worse than not.”

“What about my situation?” I asked. “What about me and Nathan? Because I’ve been thinking about it over and over and part of me really wants to tell him everything. I want to tell him that I’m a succubus and that I’m Babylonian, and correct his weird grammar and accent on occasion. Part of me thinks he ought to be thrilled by this and part of me thinks it’s a very bad idea.”

“It’s a very bad idea,” my friends pronounced in chorus.

“This is exactly the kind of thing I mean,” Sybil said. “There are two separate sets of facts that you want to tell Nathan. One is about being a succubus. That’s not a good idea because he probably doesn’t believe in us in the first place. So he could easily think you’re a nutcase. How would you prove it to him? How would you get him to believe that there is an Underworld, let alone that we walk the Earth? He’s a secular well-educated American man. He isn’t going to believe that some woman he’s dating is really an immortal servant of Hell. That’s just for starters.

“Then there’s the particular kind of service. He might be confident, but he’s going to feel insecure when he thinks of all the men you’ve had sex with. And he really won’t like you continuing,” Sybil went on, and it sounded like she was just warming up.

“The Babylonian part is entirely separate. It would have to come if he accepts that you’re a succubus, and that’s already massively problematic. But just for argument, say he can deal.” She paused for a breath but the rest of us were rapt. We were the sex demons, but she knew so much more about mortal men than I had ever dreamed.

“So he can deal with the fact that he’s dating an immortal demon who has sex with men and then kills them. Which, if you look at it pretty blatantly, is going to be hard for him to take. But say he does. Now you’re going to tell him that you know more about his special area of study than he does? He’s spent all these years learning Akkadian and you’re going to correct his grammar and pronunciation? There is nothing on Earth he would hate more. And he’ll know that you could read his notes and that his security system isn’t all that safe. Which will make him upset about what he’s revealed that he never meant to reveal because he never thought you could read it. Even if you give in to a weak impulse and tell him you’re a succubus, no matter what, you should never tell him that you know more about Babylon than he does.”

She stopped for a sip of her Bellini and we all took the opportunity to take a little alcohol.

“Nathan is really better than most,” Desi said. “At least he asks Lily about what she knows and is interested in. He does want conversation, not just an audience.”

I was horrified. What they were describing was the kind of men I delivered, the ones who could only talk about themselves and their work and never asked me anything about myself. Ever. Nathan wasn’t like that at all. Which was what Desi said, but I was feeling very protective.

“Obviously he’s far better than most,” Eros observed dryly. “If he weren’t, Lily, you would have delivered him and this conversation would be pointless.”

The waiter arrived with our food, and we ate. I thought about what they had said as I chewed and paid attention to my lunch. “So, you think I shouldn’t tell him anything?” I asked after I swallowed the last bite I could manage without a rest. “I should just let him think that I’m the mortal woman that shows up on my ID?”

“That’s exactly what I think,” Sybil said. “I’ve been married fourteen times as a demon, and not one of my husbands ever knew. It wasn’t useful for them and would have only upset them.”

I said little but thought about the concept. It had never occurred to me to simply pretend to Nathan to be the person I was set up to appear to the world. All of
Trend
’s articles on relationships stressed honesty and communication, and I pointed that out to the girls.

“That’s in an ideal world.” Desi jumped into the conversation. “In real life, all that honesty and communication kills relationships. Guys hate relationship talks. Communication means that you discuss what to do for the evening, where to eat, and stuff like that. But don’t talk about your feelings or you’ll scare him off.”

“I just hope I scared off that Branford character,” I mused. “I was so drunk I don’t remember most of what I said, but he threatened us. He said he didn’t understand and he wasn’t sure of his information, but he said that he wasn’t done with us yet.”

“But didn’t Azoked say that the group was in disarray?” Desi interrupted my train of thought.

“Not for long, I’m sure,” I corrected her. “There is a leadership dispute because it appears that Branford was wrong about me. They doubt his information and he might even be wondering about how reliable his contact is. But they’re not done by a long shot and I expect they’ll come back worse than ever.

“I hope he goes after a certain catty librarian,” I muttered. “I wouldn’t mind seeing her pursued by the Knight Defenders. Maybe they’d give her something to complain about besides not having a six-month supply of her favorite cookies.”

Eros pushed her empty plate away from her place. She had managed to devour a huge bacon and onion tart and a pile of home fries that had been almost as tall as the Chrysler Building.

“I asked Beliel if he’d help us, and while Security is really for internal affairs, he said he might be willing to. If we’re still having problems,” she said.

I looked each of the others in the eyes, shoulders squared as if I were playing Patton in a fashion shoot. “We’re Satan’s Chosen. It’s our job, whether or not we’re in danger. And truthfully, I expect the demon will still try to eliminate us. Because we are loyal and capable and now it’s personal, since he hasn’t managed to eliminate us so far.”

“And the Enforcers are goons,” Desi added, just in case we’d forgotten. “Insanely powerful goons. They can demolish a good-sized town with some motivation, but they’re not all that bright.”

“That’s true,” I agreed, my mind, for once, not entirely focused on Nathan. “But maybe now we have some time to do a little searching on our own.” I thought briefly about Marten. He had saved us, but I wondered if he could help even more in finding out who in Hell was feeding information. Perhaps I could make his favor just a touch more expensive than it had been.

“We should still enjoy the fact that no one should be able to find us here, especially not on a Saturday,” Desi suggested. “I plan to celebrate with some dessert. Anyone with me?”

chapter
THIRTY

I had a date with Nathan that night. It was good that I’d talked to the girls, though it was hard advice to accept. Don’t tell Nathan the most important things about me. Keep silent. Keep mum. Isn’t that what women had always done? Weren’t we supposed to be breaking the mold, behaving as if we believed that we should actually interact with men instead of manipulate them?

I obsessed about whether to tell or not as I went about my usual Saturday afternoon errands. I bought flowers and a few groceries at the corner market, picked up the dry cleaning, paid a few bills, and got my nails done. After running around in the cold I treated myself to a long hot bath with an eye mask. By the time I got out and dried, and massaged four different kinds of moisturizer into various parts of my anatomy, it was past five and I needed to think about what to wear for the evening.