Page 70 of The Incubus Curse

“So… you’re not mine?” I couldn’t help but brighten my smile a bit, only infuriating him. That much was evident as awave of anger washed over me. And I knew that it wasn’t me who was feeling it.

“Again, no. But that doesn’t change the predicament that we’re in.” He shook his head, rubbing together his two hands. “You are fortunate enough to be tied to me because now, if you die, I die. So you can vanquish any fears of me killing you.”

“But what if you die?” I quipped.

He smiled widely. “Planning on killing me, are we?” I didn’t answer, but that only made him smile more. “I think I might actually like to see you try, but I’ve never seen what happens when the roles are reversed to answer your question. The only thing I know for certain is that if you die, I die. After all, that’s exactly how your mother died.” I couldn’t help but gasp, interrupting him slightly. “I charmed your father to burn his house down with him inside it, and I watched as your mother shriveled up as if a fire had started from within her, even though she was safely in my grasp when it happened.”

“So you weren’t trying to kill my mother?”

“Oh, I didn’t care much if she lived, but she wasn’t the one I intended on killing that day. I didn’t realize she was bonded untilaftershe died. Her mate died, and so did she.”

I swallowed deeply, realizing that my fate was now possibly tied to someone else. Or rather, two possible someones. If I was Azrael’s mate, then someone else was mine. Which meant if this stranger died, so would I. And even though Azrael wasn’t certain about his death causing me to die, I wasn’t about to kill him and wait to find out if I drop as well.

“How did you know I was your mate?” I quipped, curious how to find mine.

He laughed. “Trust me, it will hit you like a brick. The realization that no matter how disgusted you are by them, youcan’t deny how irrevocably drawn to them you are.”

My heart skipped because, at that moment, I knew that Dustin had to be alive. This is what explained it all. Why I was so obsessed with Dustin despite everything he had put me through, despite hating everything about him.

I knew there was a reason why I was so drawn to him, and now I knew it was because he was my mate. As to how that affected us, I wasn’t entirely sure. Was that how he was able to sense when I wanted him? How he felt what I felt?

Azrael was examining me coarsely, so I quickly spoke before he realized my revelation. “You’re disgusted by me?” I remarked on his mention of it.

“You know, when I realized you were half-human and the spawn of the human that stole Raminia from me, there was a second that I thought I might kill you. Just for looking like her. Just for being a part of him. And then I realized that if I killed you, I would die. And that nagging feeling of being drawn to you just kind of crept up on me.”

I didn’t know what to say, but thankfully, he spoke before it got awkward.

“If you know something about my fate tonight, you might as well tell me, seeing as how it might affect you too.” He asked, but it felt more like a test. Like he already knew that someone had told me the plan. Someone like Daemon, but I wasn’t going to say anything. I shook my head no, though my eyes couldn’t look him in the face.

“Suite yourself. Though you will come to see things my way sooner or later.” He began to walk out the door and into the never-ending hallway. His charmed vampire henchmen nudging me forward as if to get me to follow him.

I was reluctant at first until one of them gripped my armwith his hands and tried dragging me. At that point, I realized it made no sense to stay back. I would only be pulled forward anyway. Might as well do it on my own terms.

So I slugged my bare feet forward, following Azrael down to the club entrance.

But this time, it felt different. Not just because I was walking side by side with a man who terrified me but also because everything seemed aloof.

There were no dangling Sirens hanging from the ceiling. No music blasting deafeningly loud, but a faint whisper of sounds that filled my ear like harps had tickled my eardrums. Or perhaps fairies were dancing on my shoulder and singing, though I didn’t know if fairies actually existed.

Sometimes, it felt hard to decipher what was real and what was fantasy. After all, a week ago, I would never have believed in vampires or succubus. Surely not of sirens and deathwalkers. So, the idea of fairies couldn’t have been an outlandish one. Right?

There were vampires posted at all exits; their eyes hazed over as if all under a charm. And the VIP tables had magically disappeared from the club. All that was left was an open space filled with glowing green and pale eyes that watched every step I took. It looked like a sea of highlighters or neon lights as they blazed toward me. Desire washed over all of them, their insatiable pulls dragging me down as I walked.

“Thank you for joining me, everyone,” Azrael said to the crowd openly, his hand reaching for mine, but I pulled back. I could feel his anger funneling through me, but his face looked unchallenged as if he didn’t care that I rejected him in front of a crowd. “And thank you for coming on such short notice. But I think I speak for everyone when I say that things should bevery different in the States with the Elder’s dead.” He waved at everyone as if he thought himself royalty.

The crowd made grunts and growls, some hissing quite literally at us as we made our way to the center of the room.

I felt the need to cover the slits down my dress with my hands, cupping my legs as if I was a soldier properly standing upright with my hands firmly plastered to my sides. Though I wasn’t sure why I felt so naked, I did look more modest than some of the women circling us.

I couldn’t see much, nor did I attempt to look at many of the women in the crowd, but from what I could see, they were hardly dressed.

Some wore thinly laced tops with their breasts plummeting out, some wore nothing but a square over their nipples while their dress plumed downward to cascade over their waist, and others wore dresses so frail that they were practically see-through.

Azrael continued to degrade the crowd, breaking me from my thoughts. “There are what, maybe a hundred of you left? And to think, before you decided to hunt all of us ancients down, we could have helped. We could have repopulated your kind to flourish. Instead of tearing down what little of us were left.”

One of the succubi from the crowd jested a fist toward Azrael. “You are not like us.”

Another one in the crowd angrily yelled back. “He’s the first of us! What are you talking about?”

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