Chapter Six
“Having sex with me is going to kill you?” I back away from him and slam into the front door. “I could have killed you last night if we’d had sex?”
He laughs and shakes his head. “No, Perrian. It’s not like that.” He reaches out his hand, and I take it. He begins to draw little circles with his thumb on my knuckles as he guides me to the couch. “Come, let’s sit down and I’ll tell you the rest of what I know.”
The simple touch of his hand on mine brings the memory of last night blazing to life. His lips on me, his tongue and teeth drawing the orgasm from my body. If I weren’t scared out of my mind right now I just might drop to my knees and beg him to take me right here on the chair. The wall. The floor. Instead, I follow behind him, timidly, and sit down on the couch. Red and brown silk pillows litter the large, brown, C-shaped couch. I’m almost afraid to touch him. “Seriously, I’m going to need therapy after this. Please. Explain.”
He takes off his jacket and pulls off his turtleneck revealing a black tee-shirt that hugs his contours perfectly. His nipples are small peaks and his six-pack bulges from beneath the thin fabric. Wait a minute, that’s an eight-pack! I didn’t even know they existed outside of romance novels. My breath hitches and I fight myself to keep from touching him. An image of Haines sweating, writhing against my begging body pops into my head, and I clamp my teeth down on my bottom lip to keep from moaning. He was only teasing last night. Goddess help me if we ever manage to actually have sex and he unleashes hundreds of years of his sexual experience on me.
“Cool off, cowgirl,” he says jokingly. “We need to feed you properly or I think you will explode.”
I shake my head. “Umm, I’m not having sex with you. I am not a killer. And I’m not an adulteress either, damn-it, which means I’ll never have sex!” Woe to me!
“You won’t kill me,” he says with a chortle. “It’s a gradual taking of power. My lineage is the reason Samael hasn’t convinced me yet. My bloodline makes me so powerful he can’t kill me. He can’t kill you either. We’re too strong. Our will to refuse him is too great. But that’s what I’m getting out of our marriage.”
I pull my legs under me and rest my arms on a red pillow. “I don’t get it. Everything was starting to make sense and then you monkey-wrenched it.”
It’s never going to happen, is it? I am never having sex. It’s impossible! I’ll die a virgin. An angry, evil, multi-cat owning virgin who screams at Christmas carolers and kids who dress up for Halloween.
Maybe I’ll join a nunnery. I’ll be the mean nun who hits the hand of naughty children with a ruler, and I’ll name the ruler Truth. Truth will be my only friend and…damn, he’s still talking.
“Each time we have sex, I will allow you to pull power from me. It’s voluntary. If I don’t want to give it, I don’t give it. But I want to.”
“Why?”
“To make you strong. Our bloodlines were foretold, and neither one of us alone has the power to kill Samael. He’s an angel. But together we’re invincible. One of us, once strong enough, can lock him out of this plane of existence for good.”
“Haines, seriously. I still don’t follow. Why do you have to die? Why do you want to?”
His face becomes somber. “Because killing him is more important than me living. If I give you all of my power, let you feed and take it from me, I will become human.”
“Ohh.” Light bulb. “So I won’t actually kill you. You get to—”
“Die a human death.”
We sit in silence for a few moments while I process everything. And this is a lot to take in. Haines is a full-blooded demon. He can live forever. And because I’m a half-breed I’ll eventually die of old age. In a few hundred years. Does he hate Samael so much that he would risk eternity? Is eternity worth it?
Too many questions. My mother is so going to get an earful when I talk to her.
“Umm…Haines?”
“Yes, Perrian?”
I clear my throat and begin to clean lint off my pants. “The first time we ahh…do the grown-up, can you not give me your life force? I’m already nervous about it and I don’t want that hanging over me.”
“I can agree to that. But please understand, I still need to hear you beg,” he says with a smirk.
“Well I guess that settles it, I’ll be virgin for a lot longer than I thought.”
****
“Hey, Dad,” I say, cradling the phone close to my ear. Haines has gone out to run some errands and I’m checking out every room in the house. Even though downstairs has a nice setup the rest of the house is bare and very basic. The bedrooms are white spaces with beds as the only interruptions. The bathrooms are white and plain. The hallways are long and empty. Ryan’s husband needs to come decorate this place. The only room that looks lived in is Haines’ bedroom. The walls are a shade of creamy beige that makes everything else in the room stand out. My toes sink into the plush white carpet and his larger than life cherry oak bed seems to erupt from the wall. Warm brown and blue hues cover every inch of the room. His phone sits on a beautiful brown bedside table that has a white porcelain circle in the middle.
“Hey, babe. Everything all right?”
I chose not to share everything I’ve learned today. My father has already had his fill of the ‘other stuff’ for at least a week. “Nope, but I’m good.”
“Barb,” my dad calls. “Perry is on the phone.”
I hear soft talking in the background, and then my mother picks up. “Hi, Perrian. I’m a little busy right now, but—”
“I won’t hold you long. Just wanted to tell you that my dearest husband has spilled his guts about why, and I am including you in this, we are so powerful.”
“That son of a whore!”
“Hey! No talking about my mother-in-law that way. If I ever get to meet her then I’ll let you know if she’s actually a bad person.”
“Why in Lilith’s name would he… I’m going to shred him a new one.”
“Oh, yeah. And Mother.”
“That rat bastard…”
“Mother, please. I’ve saved the best for last.”
“I told him I would let you know…”
“Mom, please. Can you—”
“How did you get it out of him? When I see him again—”
She’s not going to let me talk here. “Samael says, ‘What-up’, Mother!”
Silence.
“And he called me Lady Bug. You know, as in the name dad used to call me until I was twelve years old. Freaky.”
My mother is breathing hard, and I can hear the trembling in her breaths. “No. Oh, God, no.”
“And, um, me and Haines haven’t consummated our union yet. So, I’m not a full-on succubus, but that psycho just wanted to let me know he was around.”
“Honey, I’m so sorry.”
“Mom, seriously. I don’t want your ‘I’m sorry.’ You should have shared this crap with me a long time ago.”
“Please, don’t be upset. I was trying to protect you.”
I scoff. What the hell kind of protection is she offering? Ignorance is not always bliss. It’s fun, but it doesn’t last. “You didn’t really do a good job. To keep that from me? And to not let me know that I would be taking Haines’ immortality was just wrong. Can you even imagine how I feel right now?”
“Baby, I was—”
“I feel like you’ve betrayed me. Like I was being set up so I wouldn’t even know I was turning him human and leaving him to die. Which is apparently what he wants.”
“Perrian, you have to understand—”
“Mom, can I please finish?”
She stops talking but the silence is pregnant with her remorseful, ragged breaths. She’s nervous.
“Mom, I’m not mad at you. I don’t know how I feel. My first time hearing all this should have come from you.”
“Perry, I was trying to protect you.”
“That is so not a good reason. And I take back what I said, I am kinda upset with you. You hurt my feelings.”
She sighs and I hear her cover the phone. She’s whispering.
“Mom, please. Don’t share this crap with dad. He’ll have a freaking coronary.”
She clears her throat. “Your dad is the one who suggested I not tell you everything.”
“Aww! Et tu, Daddy!”
“Your dad and I wanted to ease you into this, honey.”
Shit has seriously hit the fan. The fan is covered in shit! The only person in my life who I can trust is Haines. The thought makes my brain want to implode.
“Ease me, Mom?” They really need to rethink the whole ‘protect Perry by lying to her’ thing. “Easing me into this would have been like, ‘Oh, Perrian. You’re a succubus but you’re more powerful than the rest of them.’ Year two—‘Perry, you are a descendent of Lilith.’ Year three—‘Hey Per, you’re going to marry this douche bag and gradually take his immortality because a freaking angel is trying to annihilate our kind!’ That’s how you could have eased me into it, Mom and Dad!”
I’m going to start cursing in five-point-four seconds, damn-it! “Mom, I have to go,” I say, staring at the beige ceiling. “I’ll call you later.”
My ears burn hot and a sour churning in my stomach gives way to a hollow feeling in my chest. My parents have lied to me and realizing that makes me want to cry and scream and hit.
She begins to protest and I slam the receiver down. The porcelain cracks and the brown wood splinters as the phone falls to the floor. Holy shitake mushrooms! Correction, I just slammed the phone through the base and through bedside table. That’s never happened before. Note to self—getting angry makes you strong as an ape! The bond between Haines and me seems to be strengthening me even without the sex.
No, Haines! He and I were just starting to get along, a little, and this table looks really expensive. I can’t let him see this!
Light bulb!
****
Chewing on my thumb, I’m crouching in the family room window behind a beige recliner waiting for Ryan’s sweetie, Trent, to get home. He’s an interior decorator and I need to find out where that stupid little table came from. I pray to Lilith that Trent can point me in the right direction to get a replacement. My legs are a bit stiff, and the inside of my right cheek is sore from chewing on it. So is my thumb. I’ve been hunkered down here for almost an hour praying that Haines won’t get home before I can get my mitts on… Ohh, here he comes!
Before Trent can put his car in park I’ve already bounded out of the house, down the street and am standing in front of their house. I must look like a real idiot with my huge grin, strumming my fingers on Roman’s mailbox.
“Hi, umm, Trent?”
“Hello?” he says tentatively, closing the gray car door and slowly walking toward me.
“I’m Perry. We waved to each other this morning? Ryan and I started talking, and he told me you were an interior designer.” I still have that stupid grin plastered on my face.
Looks like I’m freaking him out. “Yes,” he says, cautiously approaching me. “I am. Is everything all right? You’re the woman who just married the hottie down the street?”
“Yup, that’s me! Anyway, I have a little problem. Haines, my husband, had a really nice table—” Sulfur. I step a little closer and sniff him. “And you’re a God damned demon!”
He shushes me. “Could you be any louder?” he says, slashing his hand in front of my face.
“Sorry.” I must sound insane. “I’m a succubus. Cambion. You?”
“Chaos demon. Cambion.”
He kind of smells like burning fruit. “Sorry dude. I just didn’t know. You’re not hurting my friend, are you?” I step closer to him and ball my hands into fists.
“Of course not! I would never hurt Ryan. Did you?” He looks pissed but doesn’t come any closer.
“No! I like him.”
Trent’s once brown eyes begin to change to a deep green and the irises look amphibious. Ahh, yes. He thinks I’m trying to seduce his husband.
“Settle down, Trent. Yes, I’m a succubus and no I didn’t put the whammy on your husband.”
I completely understand his concern. Succubae and incubi have a bad reputation in the demon community. Seduction is the key to almost anything. Amp up the power of seduction by being a demon of seduction and people, demons too, get a little uneasy.
His tongue is thinning and becoming pointed. “If you ever…”
“Calm down, cowboy.” I take another step toward him. “I’m not going to hurt him. And just so you know, apparently, I’m from the Line of Lilith, and I don’t know how to control myself quite yet and I’d hate to have to kick your ass out here.”
His anger seems to abate once I tell him I’m from the Line. File under Mental Shelf ‘Cool’—throwing around my weight as being a descendent of Lilith is awesome!
“In fact, Trent, that’s why I’m here.”
“Because you’re from the Line?”
“No! Because I broke a table in the house and Haines is going to kill me. It’s pretty and porcelain and looks expensive.”
Immediately, his demon traits disappear. “You need help decorating? I can do that.”
I guess that should have been the first thing I said.