Page 45 of Cocktails & Cauldrons

“Not for a Succubus, it wasn’t. You’d have found a way to heal yourself, as you’re tryin’ to do now, yeah?”

“Clever girl,” she murmured. “But how clever, I wonder?”

Drawing on the power of the ley line and her ancestors, Odessa’s blood boiled as she called the demon inside to wake. The poison was like acid in her veins, and her scream of pain ricocheted off the walls and slate floor, creating an earsplitting echo. The sound paralyzed Loman and Moira during the time they could’ve used to kill her.

Suckers.

The infusion of magic transformed her body, leaching her dyed hair of color and turning it to the palest white. From past experience, she knew her eyes would be glowing an unholy red and the horns that emerged from her temples to curl skyward were intimidating as hell.

The second set of arms always cracked ribs as they formed, but they were by far the most useful tool a demon could possess. Long claws sprouted where her fingers should be, and her skin developed a thick metallic veneer as her cells shifted from flesh to protective scales. Wings were next as the scapula took on a new shape and pushed through the new scaly barrier.Resembling a bat’s, they were human-sized with the ability to encase her entire body twice.

Moira, face frozen in fear, wasn’t fast enough to dive for safety, but Loman, a wily fella always anticipating trouble, dove for the door just as the Succubus swiped her four-inch razor-sharp claws in his direction. Missing her target, her nails shredded a layer of the wood door, leaving a trail of inch-thick gouges. With the back of her left wing, she smacked Moira and sent her flying through the mahogany stair railing, splintering it like a toothpick.

“Did you honestly believe you could take on a Succubus and live, girl?” the demon spat. Each word was laced with venomous intent, and the sheer volume forced Moira to clamp her hands over her ears to protect her eardrums. Odessa’s enraged Succubus had been known to shatter those of her victims a time or two and cause bleeding deep in the inner ear.

“Please,” Moira sobbed. “Please, ya don’t know how he is! What he forces us to do!”

The demon laughed uproariously.

Moira whimpered and curled into a ball, back to the wall. “I can help you,” she shouted over the banshee-like echo of the Succubus’s glee.

Tilting her head, Odessa paused in going for the kill. “How?”

“Sure, and if you let me live, I can lure Uncle Loman to a location of your choosin’. You can exact your revenge, ya can.”

“Or I can hunt him down using the scent from your blood and pulverize him to dust for daring to believe he could best me,” the demon told her conversationally. “I don’t need you alive to find Loman O’Connor.”

“His son’s a Guardian with unlimited power!”

That stopped the Succubus in her tracks. A thrilling sensation similar to an orgasm shook her body as she imaginedhow easily and quickly a Guardian’s magic could restore her to her prime. “I’m listening,” she purred.

Tentatively, as if afraid of a trick, Moira lowered her arms from her face. “Ronan. He was the most powerful warlock I’ve ever seen, and that was before he became a guardian. He’s got to be stronger than anyone—sure, and with the exception of you,” she added, once again protecting her ears as the demon growled its displeasure.

“Nice save.” Holding out a spare arm, Odessa curled her claws in a continual motion. She modulated her voice to an enticing tone. “The knife, Moira Doyle. The one you stabbed me with. I’ll have it now.”

Helpless to resist the command, Moira’s face blanked and she reached beside her to withdraw the blade from its protective sheath. Then she held it out, handle first, and bowed her head in deference.

“The sheath and your clothing, too,” Odessa cooed. It wouldn’t do for Moira to have anything stained with her blood, or the crafty witch would extract it and enslave her.

Odessa refused to answer to anyone.

Standing on wooden legs, Moira undressed, her movements jerky like those of a marionette. When she was completely nude, Odessa grunted her satisfaction.

“Now be a good little Pinocchio. Climb to the top of the stairs and wait for me.”

With her sulfuric breath and the flint of her claws, the demon created a fire in the hearth to destroy the clothing and the knife case. She licked the blade clean, savoring the rich coppery taste. She wasn’t concerned with the remaining poison, not in Succubus form. The transformation had consumed her human cells and naturally destroyed the toxin in her bloodstream.

With one last look over her shoulder to where Doreen stood, a silent specter watching the entire scene unfold, Odessa shrugged. “She had to know what she was getting into, sister.”

“She didn’t. But the small part of her brain that isn’t under your spell does now.”

The Succubus grinned. “Too bad you never gave in to the darkness. You’d have made a formidable demon.”

“I saw what it did to practically everyone I ever loved. Why would I feed the evil? Why should Brenna?”

“Brenna…” Odessa frowned, then glanced up the stairs before addressing her sister again. “They’ll be after her next,” she said in a low voice.

Doreen glared at Moira.“You should kill the bitch.”

---