Page 42 of Wicked Dreams

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Peering into the real world,I found her in school, sitting at her desk with her plump lips set in a deep frown as she scribbled in her notebook.

Van. Donovan. Weaver. Dreamweaver. Livvy. Olivia Ryan. 1821.

Her hand flew over the paper, the words scrawling out as if stuck on repeat.

She was remembering!1821 was the mortal year we’d fallen in love. It was the year the devil stole her away. I pulled away, needing to get to her. Squeezing my eyes closed, I envisioned her world. I concentrated on it so hard that when the dull ache of ascending started, I eagerly welcomed it. When I broke the surface, I let out a gasping cough, finding that I’d landed in a parking lot in front of an apartment building. It was as if fate knew I needed a plan. I went inside and convinced the old, nearly senile woman running the place to give me an apartment. Being a demon, I could charm my victims. It wasn’t something I ever used in hell. Now, it was coming in handy. I even got myself a car to drive.

With a deep, confidant breath, I made my way to Olivia’s school, the eagerness to get to her eating at me. When I arrived, I wheeled the new Jeep into a parking spot and climbed out. I hastily got myself together, desperate to get to her.

I’d have to enroll if I wanted to see her during the day, so I raced to the office, making a few wrong turns along the way until I found it.

“Can I help you?” a woman who couldn’t have been older than twenty-eight asked. She looked uptight as hell with her dark bun, glasses, and collar buttoned to the top.

“Yes. I need to enroll in classes. My name is Donovan Weaver.”

“OK, are your parents with you?” She peered past me to look for my parents.

“No, I’m eighteen,” I lied. No way she’d believe I was a thousand-year-old demon. “I’m doing this on my own.”

The wheels turned in her head as I waited impatiently. I turned on the charm.

She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, her dark eyes sizing me up.Great. She hadn’t been laid in a while. I could sense it—a new perk of my strength having grown tremendously since gaining all the souls.

Fuck.

“I can enroll you with your identification. Do you have any?”

I shook my head. “But maybe we could work something out.”

Her eyes went wide for a moment, that familiar nausea I’d become accustom to rising up into my throat.

“I-I don’t know—”

“What’s your name?” I asked, leaning on the counter and giving her a sexy smile. Her cheeks reddened as she stared back at me.

“Jessie.”

Was another part of the curse I couldn’t charm the younger women with my demon magic and had to use my cock? Fucking figured. I couldn’t wait to tear Lucifer’s head from his body.

“Well, Jessie, I really need to enroll here. And I daresayyoucould really use someone to pay you some attention.” I tossed her an easy wink. “So, what do you say you take a break, and we find somewhere to be alone?”

“O-OK.” She nodded, gathering papers.

“Good girl,” I praised her. I held my hand out to her as she got to her feet, her cheeks still flushed.

“W-we can use one of the empty classrooms down the hall,” she said in a shaky voice. I followed her to the hall and into an empty room. She stepped inside, and I shut the door behind us. When I turned back to her, she looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

“I-I never do this—”

“Me either.” I chuckled, my stomach churning. “But you have to start somewhere, right?”

“I-I guess.”

I was standing in front of her again. She was as nervous as I was sick. And there was something else. She was sweet. Kind. I felt it ebbing off her. She didn’t deserve to die. In the dreams, I never feltthatwith the women. Maybe because it was a subconscious thing. Jessie needed a little coaxing. So, did I, because I sure as hell didn’t want to have to have sex with her.

Leaning in, I planted a kiss on her lips. It took her a moment to react, but when she did, she kissed me back deeply. I lifted her up and set her on a table, tugging her skirt up so I could get a good view of what I was dealing with.

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