Page 40 of The Succubi's Choice

Knocking doesn’t getthem anywhere, so Katya huffs out a breath before pulling out her lockpicks. “They’re going to be so angry at me,” she whispers, as if saying it aloud removes some of the culpability in her actions. “We used to get beers twice a week and now I have to pick their fucking locks.”

Someone moves in an upper window in the house, drawing Miri’s eyes, a bare flicker of the heavy curtains.

She rests a hand on Katya’s, staying the lockpicks, and she knocks instead, a quick one-two pattern that feels as instinctive as breathing, and there’s a muffled thump inside, before the door swings open —

To reveal a tall, handsomely silver-hair man, with brilliant blue eyes and broad shoulders and…

A thrill immediately goes down Miri’s back.

A succubi.

Another fucking succubi, all the way out here, one significantly older than her and in significantly better shape. The sort of shape one gets by not following rules and not caring about regulations.

He tilts his head at her, similarly struck into silence.

It’s not like Miri’s been allowed to meet very many other succubi, even with her work, and most of the ones she’s met ended up dead after the demigods’ scorch. She’s certainly never met this one, and certainly never met one this aged.

His eyes flicker down her body, a quick one-two, a quick checking of status and shape, and Miri knows, she knows she doesn’t look her best.

In the eyes of someone who has lived much longer than her, her recent starvation is probably abundantly obvious, and his face creases with something resembling pity.

“Little sister,” he says, his voice deep and soothing. “Not who I expected to be with a human lockpicker.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Katya straighten. “Is Thaler here? He knows me,” she says, in perfectly clipped tones. “I’m Katya, I work for the Organization.” Her hand is in her pocket, and the small beep of the recording device is muffled.

The other succubi doesn’t break eye contact with Miri, as if Katya isn’t even worth his attention. “We have no humans here.”

“Well, we got a report that you do,” Miri says, breathless, pushing past her own shock to reach for her binder. “We need to do a check.”

“Why are you helping them, little one?” He asks, his voice unbearably kind, raising all sorts of alarms in Miri’s head. “You don’t need to.”

She exchanges a raised eyebrow with Katya, before looking back. “I’m merely doing a job. Is Thaler here?”

He nods, before draping an arm across Miri’s shoulder in an eerie mirror of Thomas’s motions the night before. “They aren’t taking care of you, are they?” The weight of his arm is heavy, like the blankets one sleeps under as a child. And feel like a child she does, like an errant kid coming home and only approached by caring parents. “You are too skinny by a half.”

Katya’s eyes are wide, but the look she gives Miri is one that’s impossibly reassuring and familiar. A grounding force, one Miri’s known for ages. “She takes care of herself,” Katya says, brisk. “I have paperwork, I need to speak to Thaler —"

Lazily, the succubi flicks his fingers at her, a golden spark jumping, and Katya falls silent, her eyes reflecting the gold right back. “Go wait in the car, it won’t be long,” he says, laconic, as if it’s no big deal.

And Katya turns back towards the door.

“Wait,” Miri catches Katya by the arm, wrenching her shoulder.

Katya tugs at her arm in a motion Miri knows is painful for her right now, but Miri doesn’t let go.

“Katya, stop,” Miri says, willing up whatever charm she has and pitting it against the man’s. “Stay here.” She throws a look at the man, ducking out from underneath his arm. “Stop that, stop that now, she’s an official and she’s my friend.”

Her charm does nothing against the older succubi’s, and Katya wrenches the arm free, her face still calm, and walks out the door.

It’s a rare day when Miri can maintain her charm for longer than physical contact, and this man just made Katya walk away to not even be in eyesight.

“They must really starve you if that’s all you can do,” he says, still way too casual. “She’ll be fine.”

Heart hammering, Miri takes a large step away from him, even though he can’t charm her.

His face doesn’t lose the look of pity. “What did you need Thaler for?” He asks, kind, as if prompting a child.

Through the door, she hears the car door slam shut and the window open, and it takes a lot of willpower to not follow her right out.

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