Page 32 of The Female

My nose crinkles as I head inside to grab him. I hold my breath as I drag him by his shoes through the back door and into the hole I’ve created. He fits perfectly, and with a triumphant smile, I begin to cover him with dirt.

“The afterlife your kind believes in doesn’t exist, but I’ll honor the human tradition for Charlie and speak a few words to your corpse,” I say to the man’s bloated, unrecognizable face.

“Who you were is unknown to me, but from the images around the house and the love your daughter holds for you, I assume you were a good man. I don’t know what happened to your wife, but I promise I’ll take good care of your daughter. She’ll see a life that is full and lacks nothing.”

My vision funnels as I continue to shovel him in. I should’ve taken more from Aziel. A small part of me debates reaching for him again, but I refuse. If I need to spend the night here and sneak into some random human’s dream, then so be it.

I blink and shake my head before continuing with my words to Charlie’s father.

“I and two other demons have purchased Charlie. We have no interest in harming her, and she won’t be forced to bear us any children,” I promise, even though I know he can’t hear me.

I look around, trying to think of something else to say. Each shovel of dirt I drop on the corpse helps to cover his scent, and my mind clears as the smell of pain weakens. It pours from him, and I’m willing to bet it took him a while to succumb to his injuries and die.

Unconscious men don’t feel pain, and I can tell he was in a lot of it.

“I will lie and tell her your death was quick,” I continue.

After a few more minutes of shoveling, Charlie’s father has vanished underneath the dirt and I’m patting down the loose bits on top. It looks good, if I do say so myself.

I drop the shovel and drag myself back into Charlie’s bedroom. My shoulder smacks painfully against the doorway as I barrel inside, but I hardly notice as I grab the suitcases and force myself to teleport home.

The transition is excruciating, feeling more like I’m walking through lava than the usual warm heat. I’m burning from the inside as I reach my bedroom, but I manage to make it back in one piece.

I bet I’m looking more like a nightmare than an incubus right about now.

Dropping the bags to the ground, I take a few steps toward my bed and collapse face-first onto the mattress. My lungs feel like they’re on fire each time I inhale, the organs expanding painfully until I’m pretty sure I’m about to die.

This is the worst I’ve felt in over a hundred years, and if I weren’t such a goddamn gentleman, I’d be balls-deep in my female right now. I contemplate traveling to one of the demon brothels for a quick fuck, but I don’t have the strength to make it there.

I’ll be stuck between dimensions until either Silas or Aziel takes pity and fishes me out.

Again.

Blinking slowly, I let my eyes fall shut before letting my mind expand and search the house for a body to feed from. The shadows don’t offer enough to fill me, but they’ll give just enough that I can travel to the nearest brothel in one piece.

I hate going to them, especially when Silas and Aziel are nearby and can feed me just fine, but I’m hesitant to make them angry when Charlie’s still so new here. I don’t want them retaliating by harming her.

It takes every bit of willpower I have to slide past Charlie’s bedroom. I can practically taste her sweet, sleeping mind. It would be so easy to slip inside and feed on her. She was so receptive to my touch earlier, desperate to please me and the others.

I bet I could pull just enough from her to have me back on my feet. I’d still be hungry, but I’d be functioning.

Silas’s mind calls to me as I seep through the hallways, his body strong and ripe for the taking. There’s a danger that comes with slipping into a fate’s mind, though, and the last thing I want is to get trapped in the fated world. You can only access it through a fate, and they would tear me apart the first chance they got.

My lips purse as I move toward Aziel. It’s clear by the softness of his mind that he’s sleeping, and the temptation is too much to resist. He’s gotten better at telling when it’s me controlling his dreams, but I’m still able to do it. The bond between us makes it easy, unintentionally forcing his body to welcome my intrusions.

I inch closer to him. He would taste so good. He always does.

Making up my mind, I travel into his bedroom and slip into his consciousness. There’s almost no resistance.

I watch from the shadows as Aziel dreams about his father, but I look away as I’m exposed to something I know he wouldn’t want me to see. Flinching at the noise, I manipulate his mind and move him into his office.

It takes Aziel a moment to adjust to the change of scenery, confusion flashing through his eyes as his mind creates a storyline around the shift. With a dulled sigh, he straightens up and begins to sort through the papers on his desk, his gaze filtering over the pages as he gets to work.

I resist the urge to laugh. Aziel has never been one for creativity, and I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised he’s chosen to do paperwork even in his dream state.

He should be glad I’m here to spice it up.

I turn toward the door just as Charlie comes rushing through it. I’m unhappy with how long it takes me to conjure her, and I hope my slower reactions don’t ruin this.

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