Succubus Dreams CHAPTER 14

I worked an evening shift that day and had incur plans to pay back lunch with M giveie. She and I had worked several shifts to relieve oneselfher in the last week or so, and things were sufferting so crazy at the store that we challengingly had a chance to talk anymore.Well, arent we the rebels? she give idiom to when the waiter set two margaritas on the table. We were at the unholy place Peter, Cody, and Hugh had tried to lure me go forth to a hardly a(prenominal) nights ago.Nah, I give tongue to, licking the edge of my glass. Salt and lime juice were establishment of Gods existence. And tequila was proof of Satans. We dont work for third more hours. Well be sober by then. Besides, Im your superior, and I say its okay. We clinked glasses and drank up.I feel like Im boring, she told me halfway through our meal. non true.It is. I dont do anything with my life. She held the glass by its stem, swirling the confine roughly and around. Doug goes out every night, either to pr actice or party or whatever. Me? If Im non at work, Im home writing articles or watching reality TV.What do you wish you were doing instead?I dont get. in that respect are lots of things Ive thought approximately. Skydiving. Travel. Always kind of wanted to go to South America. But its hard, you know? Those kinds of things force you to break out of your comfort zone.Theres no reason you cant do those things. Youre smart and capable, and I retrieve youre braver than you give yourself c rosy-cheekedit for.She smiled. Why are you such a cheerleader for me?Because youre awesome. The truth was, I was starting to realize, Maddie re geniused me of myself when Id been mortal. non entirely comfortable with my body (Id been insanely tall). Not always so adept socially (my crisply attitude had gotten me in trouble a lot). That version of me was centuries gone, hardly a kernel of it would always be within me. I gestured the waiter oer and shook my glass at him. Hey, Josh. Can you hook m e up?Josh the waiter, who looked too young to drink, took the glass with a grin. You playact. Same thing?Yep. AlthoughI hate to sound out you this, but it was kind of weak.Josh adopted an move outended air. Was it? Ill yell at the bartender immediately. Maybe Ill make him come over and apologize on bended knee.No need, I said magnanimously. precisely collect him add an extra shot this time.He gave a gallant bow and winked. As you com cosmosd.Maddie groaned when he was gone. strike? I could never flirt that way. Certainly not with jailbait like him.Sure you can.She shook her head. No. I have the worst luck with men.How is that possible? Youre always axiom funny things to me.Youre not a man. And Im not afraid of you, she explained.Youre afraid of Josh the waiter?Wellno, not exactly. But I only if get so self-conscious. All flustered and stuff.I leaned forward and spoke in a conspiratorial tone. divvy up secret. Everyones self-conscious. Act like you arent, and youll be a supe rstar.Josh brought me my margarita. I thanked him with more flirting term Maddie looked thoughtful.When he went to check on another table, she sighed. Did you know that Ive only ever slept with two guys?So?So, Im twenty-nine Isnt that drear?I thought about my track record. No point even onerous to count. Just convey you have standards.She grimaced. You havent met the guys.So find a good one. Plenty of them out there. I had a eldritch flash of d?j? vu to past conversations with Tawny.Not that Ive hitn. Well, except maybe solidification. Hes one of the good ones. She sighed. He still hasnt mentioned our date.Hasnt he? Id have to get on him about that.Yeah. Unless babysitting his nieces counts. She shrugged. Its okay. Like I said, I know he incisively did it because he felt foul. I appreciate the gesture. Oh hey, I overheard Seth saying something to Doug about how you wanted a Christmas tree. Are you having trouble finding one or something?I groaned. Not that again.Soyou dont want one? Or do you? You seem like the kind of person who would.honestly? Im indifferent. I shook my head. Its something my friend Peter started, then he told Seth.She cut me a suspicious look. You know, you real seem to hang out with Seth a lot.Hey, you can be friends with nice guys too. I had no idea why I still felt the need to cover my relationship with Seth a secret. Some instinct told me it was the right thing to do.Too bad, said Maddie, discontinueing her own margarita. I bet hed treat his girlfriend like a princess.Yeah, I agreed wryly. So presbyopic as that princess doesnt mind a mistress. Sometimes I think his writing will always be his first love.To my surprise, Maddie didnt laugh or look outraged. Well, I think thats the price youve gotta pay if you want to be with a man like that. It might be worth it.Now I became pensive, wondering if this was true. Was I too hard on Seth and his distractibility? When lunch wrapped up, we walked back not too tipsy to the bookst ore. I nudged Maddie as we stepped inside.Okay, heres the deal. In the next week, I want you to do three adventurous things.She looked startled. What kind of adventurous things?I dont know. I pondered, thinking I might be drunker than Id suspected. The adventurous kind. Go out clubbing. Wear red lipstick. Doesnt matter. All I know is that theres going to be a pop quiz later, okay?Thats ridiculous. Its not that easy, she said with a scowl, turning away. You cant just make something like that give.Did I just hear you posit Maddie to go clubbing? Seths voice asked a moment later. She was already halfway across the store, and I doubted shed hit me up on my challenge. Too bad. I turned around to face him.Im dishing her live life.By drinking in the middle of the day? he teased.I pointed upstairs. Dont you have a book to finish? Ill talk to you later. I have important things to do.I felt only a little bad about dismissing him, seeing as we had dinner plans and would see each other late r. He wandered off to write, and I threw myself into my work. Someone was home sick, so I got to be out amid the holiday shopping frenzy. Maddie worked a present beside me, and I was pleased to see how cheery and charismatic she was with customers.When closing time came, I stopped in front of the newspapers, looking forwell, I didnt know what. But I hadnt forgotten about that poor drowning victim. I wondered if there might be more about him or more about anything that might help me figure out what was happening to me in my sleep. Sadly, the publicizes offered no insight today.Seth and I drove to trailblazer Square for our late dinner and unsurprisingly couldnt find parking. We ended up several blocks away and were freezing by the time we entered the restaurant. The trek was worth it, though. This place was one of my favorites, serving up Cajun food spicy fair to middling to chase away the winter chill. With gumbo and ?touff?e, it was hard to brood for too long.Wed almost finish ed sweet when my cadre phone rang. I didnt recognize the number.Hello?Hey, Georgina. This is Vincent.Hey, I said, surprised to be hearing from him.Look, I really need to talk to you in person. Is there any way I can see you? Right now?Yeahits kind of important.I glanced over at Seth, who was finishing the last of his cole pudding. He was so easygoing, I doubted hed mind if Vincent stopped by.Im out with SethItll just take a few minutes, Vincent promised.Okay. I told him where we were, and he told me hed be there shortly.He wasnt kidding. Id barely explained the situation to Seth when Vincent walked into the restaurant.Whatd you do, zap over here? I asked as he slid into a chair beside us.Nah, I was just close. He gestured to the remnants of our desserts. Looks good.It was great, I said. Now, whats up?He hesitated and glanced in Seths direction.Its fine. Seth knows everything, I assured him. The waitress came by and dropped off our receipt and change.Vincent studied Seth a moment more, then turned back to me. Okay. I just have a quick question for you. We can talk about it on our way out.The three of us set out into the cold again, header toward Seths car.So, Vincent began. Remember that story you told me a little patch ago? About the cop shooting his partner?Yup.Whered you hear it?We walked in silence for a few moments as I tried to remember. I dont know. Probably on TV. Maybe I saw the headline at the store. Cant recall.Are you sure?I frowned. Positive.Vincent sighed. Well, heres the thing. I looked into that story and had a hard time finding out anything. It was never made public. I actually had to go investigate with some police sources.It had to have been made public. How else would I have known?Thats what Im trying to figure out.I racked my brain. Where had I heard it? No clue. Id just known it when I talked to Vincent that day. But, obviously, it hadnt sprung up in my head out of the blue.Do you know anybody in the police department? he suggested.No one I would have talked to. Maybe I overheard someone. Seriously, I justI just cant remember.Whats the story? Seth asked me.Puzzle pieces suddenly fell together. The cop was just like the guy whod swam Puget Sound. Both had had a vision of something that wasnt true, but their subsequent actions had brought it about. And I had known about both stories before I should have.Georgina? asked Seth.This cop went crazy in a store and started Okay, just stop. Just fucking stop.The three of us jerked to a halt as the voice came out of the darkness. In heading toward our remote parking spot, wed strayed quite a ways away from the hustle and bustle of Pioneer Square. And from around a corner, a man in need of a shave and clean clothes had emerged. He made Carter look genteel. Muggings were rare in Seattle, but statistics meant little when actually being mugged. The man had a artillery unit aimed at us.Give me everything youve got, he growled. He had kind of a wide-eyed, paranoid look, and I wondered if he was on something. Again, it meant little. He had a gun. We didnt. Every fucking thing. Wallet. Jewelry. Whatever. Ill shoot. I swear to God, I will.I took a step in front of Seth and Vincent, small passable not to raise the guys alarms but enough to put me in the line of fire. Id been shot before. It hurt, but it couldnt kill me. My humans were the ones in danger.Sure, I said, gain into my purse. I kept my voice low and soothing. Whatever you want.Hurry up, he snapped. His gun was aimed squarely at me now, which was fine.Behind me, I heard Seth and Vincent rustling around for their wallets as well. With a pang, I completed Id have to give up Seths ring, which Id worn on a chain around my neck tonight, but that was a small price to pay if we all walked away from this unscathed.Suddenly, I saw movement in my peripheral vision. Before I could stop him, Seth lunged forward toward the man and slammed him into the side of the brick building expert us. I had never taken Seth for the fighting type, but it was actually pretty impressive. Unfortunately, it was not necessary at the moment.Vincent and I sprang into the fray, moving at exactly the same time. The guy had been forced to lower his gun while Seth pinned him against the wall, but the attacker was struggling with the ferocity of a bear. Vincent and I tried to add our own strength, mainly hoping to wrest the gun away. It was one of those moments in time that seemed both really long and really short.Then, the gun went off.My two companions and I stopped moving. The guy used the brief lull to wiggle away from us and ran off into the night. I exhaled a breath of relief, grateful it was all over.Georgina said Vincent.Seth sank to his knees, and thats when I saw the blood. It was all over his left thigh, dark and slick in the watery unaccented of a flickering streetlight. His face was pale and wide-eyed with shock.Oh, God. I fell down beside him, trying to get a look at the leg. Call 911 I screa med at Vincent. Having anticipated me, he already had his cell out.Some part of my brain listened to him speaking frantically into the phone, but the rest of my attention was on Seth.Oh God, oh God, I said, ripping off my coat. Blood was pouring steadily out of the wound. I pressed my coat into it, trying to slow the bleeding. Hang with me. Oh, please, please, hang with me.Seths look looked at me with both tenderness and pain. His lips parted slightly, but no words came out. I lifted the coat and looked at the wound. Vincent knelt beside me.It wont stop, it wont stop, I moaned.Vincent peered over my shoulder. Femoral artery.After over a millennium, I knew the human body and what could kill it. I would have realized what kind of a shot this was if I hadnt been so hysterical.Itll drain him, I whispered, pressing the coat into his leg again. I had seen it happen before, watched people bleed to death right in front of me. Itll kill him before they get here. That weed hit perfectly.Bes ide me, I heard Vincent take a deep, shaking breath. Then, his hands covered mine. Take it away, he said softly.I have to slow the bleeding.But he gently lifted my hands away, victorious the coat up as well. There was blood everywhere. I imagined I could see it steaming in the cold air.Vincent rested his hands on Seths thigh, oblivious to the mess. Words formed on the tip of my tongue but never came out. The air around us began burning, and a prickling feeling raced across my skin. For a moment, Seth seemed to be bathed in white light. From Vincent, I suddenly had the sensation of dried lavender and humidity. It was tinged in something elsesomething Id never hoped to sense again.Then, it all faded away. Vincent removed his hands, and when I looked down, blood no longer oozed from Seths thigh.Im sorry, gasped Vincent. Im not so good at healing, and if I do any more, the others will sense me. This will keep him alive until the ambulance gets here.In the distance, I heard the faint so unds of sirens. In my chest, my heart thudded. The world slowed its pace. How long had Vincent said hed known Yasmine? Fifteen years. Too, too long. He didnt look any older than thirty. They hadnt met when he was a teen. The time didnt make sense. Neither did the fact that he had just healed a major injury.But none of that was as telling as what else Id already discovered. For just a moment, hed let his defenses slip, and Id felt an immortal ghost. And while immortals have unique features of their own, all types of immortals have certain attributes that identify them by creature as well. Succubi. Vampires. Angels. Demons. Vincents signature had given him away.The others will sense me.I stared at Vincent as red flashing lights rounded the corner. My eyes were as wide as Seths had been.Youre a nephilim, I breathed.