“Is there any chance I can sleep over tomorrow night?” Eliana asked.
I held the phone to my ear while muting the T.V., the current device to fend off boredom.
“Sure. Why? What’s up?”
“Humans are going to start coming into town for the Fall Festival first thing in the morning. I’d rather not be anywhere near that mess until the last minute. Plus, if I stay over, we can drive together. We need to show up around three.”
“Ah. Yeah, it’s fine if you come over. I’m running low on food, though. Would you mind taking me to the grocery store for some food after you get here?”
“No problem. Talk to you after sessions tomorrow.”
I set the phone next to me and blindly stared at the TV. Nothing about the festival appealed to me. I knew myself well enough to know I’d end up getting into trouble somehow. Yet, the restless boredom that kept crawling under my skin had me almost looking forward to it, trouble and all.
“Obviously, I have issues,” I said before turning up the TV volume.
After I finished watching the current show, I shut everything off and went to bed. Just as I started to drift off, I heard something. It sounded like it came from above rather than below. I waited for it to come again, but the house remained quiet, and I eventually drifted off to sleep.
In the morning, I dusted the spare room, removed webs from the corners in the upstairs hallway, and washed the steps. Everyone thought having their own place was glamorous because no adult told them what to do. They didn’t stop to think that meant there would be no adult taking care of the crap jobs like cleaning, laundry, yard work, and paying bills. The reality was…adulting sucked.
When I had the upstairs clean enough for Eliana to stay over, I started in on the downstairs. The kitchen didn’t take much time because I kept up with it daily. Nothing had really been deep-cleaned in the living room, though. I pulled the couch into the entry along with the two chairs, the old oil lamp, and side tables. With the room mostly clear, I wiped the baseboards and mopped the wood floors. For the first time, the house took on a completely fresh scent. Rolling with it, I opened the windows.
Doing all that work helped cure a little of the restlessness and brought back Mom’s words about exercise. I needed some kind of daily activity. A routine that would help keep me from going crazy. The money Mom had left could easily buy a treadmill, but I hesitated to use any of it for more than the basics. I had no idea if there were house payments I’d need to make or what other bills might come with this place. Which was also why purchasing a car seemed like a bad idea. Not only would it be a chunk of money, it would also take me to places where there were people. Hitching rides with Eliana seemed smarter, for now.
Finishing the task at hand, I moved the furniture back into the room and went to read lecture notes for the current week’s sessions.
The restlessness was back by the time Eliana pulled into the driveway, and I had my coat on before she reached the door.
“Ready?” she asked when I met her.
“Yep. I’m going crazy here and have come to the realization that, as much as I seem to hate people, I need them, too.”
She smiled as she walked back to the car with me.
“It’s almost the same for me. As much as I fear what I want to do to people, I need them, too.”
“And, what do you want to do with people.”
Her blush answered me.
“Oh, you sassy girl,” I teased. “I can’t wait until you take the plunge and actually make out with someone.”
Her flushed face immediately paled.
“Hey, kidding. It will be fine. You’ll see.”
She nodded, and we both got in. She didn’t make any move to start the car, though.
“I’m sorry,” I said, feeling guilty that she still looked pale.
“It’s not that.” She exhaled heavily. “It’s this weekend. If I want any chance of leaving this place ever, I need to show some progress. I need to kiss a human.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. I’m so scared. What if I can’t stop at a kiss? What if I jump them and take everything?”
“You won’t. I won’t let you. I’ll tackle hug you to the ground like you did for me.”
She turned her big brown eyes on me.
“Do you swear?”
“I promise. And in return for interrupting any possibility of a booty call, I’m hoping you’ll do the same for me. Not the booty call part. There’s no chance of that. The fighting. Someone’s going to piss me off big time, and I don’t want to go to jail for kicking some grandma’s ass.”
Eliana snorted a laugh and started the car.
“I swear to keep you from kicking granny booty.”
We waited until the last possible minute to leave for the festival. Even the weather seemed to know it wasn’t a day for fun. The overcast sky and cool damp air hinted at storms before nightfall. None of it would stop the festival from taking place, though.
Eliana took her time on the country roads, unlike the day before when we went to town for groceries. I knew she was still terrified of what she needed to do today.
“What happens if we don’t go?” I asked.
“We’d fail our human relations sessions. You’re in Principles of Human Integration, right? I think they put you there because you’ve lived outside of Uttira for seventeen years. I had to start with the beginner course, and I’m still there. Trust me when I say you don’t want to hear the same lectures for more than one semester.”
“Got it. Not showing up is an automatic fail.”
“And for me, not kissing a human is an automatic fail.” Nervous energy rolled off her with those words.
“Don’t think about it,” I said. “We have all afternoon. When we get there, let’s just check out the booths and not worry about the humans. Okay?”
“Okay.”
The town was crawling with people. We had to park seven blocks from the actual downtown area.
Eliana looked pale again.
“It’ll be okay,” I said. “We’ll stick together.”
She nodded shakily, and we got out and started walking. The wind toyed with my hair, using the ponytail like a whip.
We’d barely reached the edge of the festival when Adira found us.
“Good afternoon, Megan and Eliana. I wish you luck. Eliana, the kiss isn’t as important as much as the way you control your feeding. Do you understand? You must feed the way every succubus is meant to feed. No more denying yourself.”
Adira’s gaze turned to me.
“Today is about control for you, too, Megan. Remember what we discussed in my office. Examine your anger before you give in to it. Ask yourself why, and see if you can discover a reasonable justification for your reaction.”
“And if I can’t?”
“We’ll try again. I need to find Fenris now. Excuse me.” With that, she walked away.
I turned to Eliana, the snarky comment dying before it reached my lips. Not a trace of color remained in her ashen face, and tears welled in her eyes.
Grabbing her hand, I tugged her behind the nearest vendor booth.
“Breathe, El. You got this. Don’t let what Adira said get in your head.”
“How? She wants me to feed. I’ve never even kissed someone without feeding, and she wants me to do it with feeding?”
Color returned, but not the right kind. Her skin took on a greenish hue.
I grabbed her arms before her knees gave out.
“Look at me, El. Look. You know what you are. You know what to watch for. I know, too. I won’t let you do anything bad. Okay? Do you trust me?”
She nodded weakly.
“Then pucker up buttercup.”
Before she could guess what I intended, I pressed my lips to hers. She immediately stiffened but didn’t jerk away. Since I’d only ever had the one boyfriend, and not for very long, my little pool of experience didn’t give me much to go on. I relaxed my hold on her arms and lifted one hand to gently cup her cheek. She exhaled softly against me and tilted her head. I felt the moment she started to feed. The ever so subtle stirring of lust in my belly caught me off guard.
“I’ve died and gone to heaven,” a familiar voice said. Fenris. The sound of his voice acted like a bucket of ice water, breaking the spell of her kiss and the lust snaking its way through my blood.
“Shut up,” Oanen said.
“How can you not think that’s hot? I’m not even sure I can walk right now without breaking something,” Fenris said.
I gently pulled back and looked at Eliana. Based on the expression on her scarlet face, she looked ready to bolt. But not sick or ready to hurl. Mostly just embarrassed.
“Are you mad at me?” I asked.
Eliana shook her head.
“Do you feel like jumping me and taking the rest?”
“Please say yes,” Fenris said under his breath.
I shot him a look, but he only held his hands up pleadingly. Beside him, Oanen watched me, the intensity of his gaze a contradiction to his impassive expression.
“No, I’m okay,” Eliana said, almost sounding impressed.
Focusing on her, and not our unwanted audience, I grinned at her.
“Then go try that with a human.”
“Boo,” Fenris pouted.
“Adira was looking for you. Why don’t you go find her instead of tormenting us?” I asked, arching a brow.
“Tormenting? No way. I’m encouraging. I think it’s great that Eliana’s embracing what she is.”
I glanced at Eliana. She didn’t look like she believed him; she looked like she wanted to fall into a hole. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her close, letting her hide against my shoulder.
“Adira sent us to keep an eye on you,” Oanen said.
“She’ll be fine,” I said. “I’ll keep an eye on her.”
“Not Eliana. You.”
“Me?” I looked at both of them over Eliana’s head.
Fenris nodded.
“Why me?”
“Aubrey,” Fenris said.
“You like to fight,” Oanen said at the same time.
“She’ll be fine,” Eliana said, pulling away from me. “We’re going to stick together. I’ll make sure Megan doesn’t fight.”
Oanen shook his head and glanced at our joined hands.
“That’s not going to help you do what you need to do, Eliana. You need to focus on yourself.”
An adult poked his head behind the booth. His forehead went from smooth skin to a third, scowling eye in a blink.
“You guys need to find somewhere else to talk. Get going.”
Too stunned to protest, I followed Eliana’s insistent tug until we found ourselves on the main thoroughfare, weaving our way through the clusters of people. With her hand wrapped around mine, I barely felt the brief flares of anger. Being free of it meant that my other senses actually had a chance to work.
“Do you smell that?” I said, tugging her in a different direction.
“Pumpkin pie?” she asked.
“Is that what that is? It smells so good.” I found the vendor booth where the ladies were taking slices of hot pie and putting them into to-go cups topped with a generous amount of whipped cream.
“Oh, I need some of that,” I said.
Eliana’s chuckle died almost as quickly as it started. When I looked to see why, I found her staring hungrily at a guy around our age. The sheer look of torture on his face as he walked behind his parents begged for rescue. However, in a single glance, I knew he wouldn’t be a good candidate for Eliana’s first feeding.
I tugged her to my side and whispered in her ear.
“Not him. He’d fall hopelessly in love with you and follow you everywhere. You need a player. Someone who’ll kiss you and walk away.”
She took a slow breath and tore her gaze from him with effort.
“Let’s get some pie and walk around. We’ll find you someone.”
“Here,” Oanen said from beside me. I looked down at the pie-filled cups he held out.
“Thank you.” I didn’t hesitate to snatch mine and take a huge bite. The cup warmed my cool hand, and the pie tasted even better than it smelled. I groaned.
“You’ve never had pie?” Oanen asked.
“Not that I remember. Mom cooked, but she didn’t bake,” I answered absently, doing my best to ignore our babysitters.
The crowd flowed around us as I took my second bite. Although there seemed to be a good number of families strolling around, I still spotted plenty of people our age wandering on their own. Eliana would have no problem finding someone with all these people. But, would she be able to feed with our shadows around.
The sudden urge to hit something sent my cup of pumpkin pie slipping from my fingers. Oanen deftly caught it, but I barely noticed. My gaze shifted to the man passing beside us, the source of my anger.
As I clenched my fists, Adira’s words came back to me. What about him made me angry?
It took every ounce of control that I didn’t think I had to study him instead of fly at him. Older. Physically fit. Neatly dressed. Alone. There wasn’t anything that stood out as wrong. He walked far enough away that the anger faded. Instead of letting him leave and taking the non-encounter as a win, I started to follow him.
He made his way to the center square, where people lounged on the benches, and took a seat. Then he people-watched. That was it. I leaned on a pole not far away and scrutinized him.
“Are you okay?” Eliana asked softly beside me.
“No. I want to make that man over there bleed, and asking myself why, like Adira said to do, isn’t helping anything. There’s no logical reason that I can see. He’s just a guy sitting there watching—”
His gaze met mine. He gave me a slight smile, stood, then headed our way.
“Hi, girls. This is something, isn’t it?”
I wanted to hurt him so badly my hands shook. Eliana’s hand slipped under my shirt, and her fingers touched the skin of my back.
“Is this your first time here?” Eliana asked.
“It is. You two from around here?”
“We are,” I said, feeling more in control. “Don’t let this fool you. Uttira is boring as hell.”
His grin widened. “There’s nothing for two, pretty girls like yourselves to do around here for fun? That’s no good.” He took his wallet out and gave Eliana a card. It had a number on it. That was it.
“If you’re ever bored enough and want to have some fun while earning some serious money, give that number a call.”
He moved like he was going to go back to his previous spot. Something told me not to let him walk away.
“I don’t think we want to wait. Let’s have some fun now,” I said, thinking quickly. “My friend and I were taking bets on you.”
“Oh?” He looked amused and completely interested in hearing what I had to say.
“We thought you were the kind of man willing to give a girl a kiss in public.”
“Megan,” Eliana whispered. That single word held so much worry. Her fingers twitched on my skin as I continued.
“Obviously, I thought yes. She thinks no. I know of a quiet spot.”
“A quiet spot would be perfect.”
“Then follow us. At a distance.” I grabbed Eliana’s supporting hand and started walking.
“What are you doing?” she whispered harshly. “I can’t kiss him. That’s so gross.”
“Can you feed without kissing?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe. I’ve never done this before. But the sexual energy coming off of him is so disgusting. Please don’t make me do this.”
“You don’t have to. I just figured you could get a hit off someone who didn’t really matter before I kicked his ass.”
“Why are you kicking his ass?”
“Mostly because I feel like it and partly because he’s a pervy old guy.”
“He didn’t do anything wrong, though. Just talked to us.”
“And gave us a card with a number and a promise of good work. Come on, Eliana. Nice people don’t do that.”
We ducked behind one of the closed shops. Cars lined the back alley but remained empty of people except us.
“What happened to Fenris and Oanen,” I asked, for the first time realizing they weren’t with us.
“They’re close. Watching but staying out of it unless it looks like you need them.”
The man walked around the corner.
“Well, girls. What did you have in mind?”
My rage knocked me blind for a moment. I breathed through my nose and fisted my hands.
“What’s wrong, Megan? You look upset.” He still sounded so calm. “I hope you’re not going to try to change your mind now. Guys don’t like girls who go back on their word.”
Someone stepped in front of me, blocking my view.
“She’s mad because I get to go first.”
Before I could push Eliana aside, she moved close to him and brought her hand to his cheek.
“What’s your name?” she asked. Her voice didn’t sound like Eliana anymore, and that broke through the haze of anger.
His gaze heated as he stared down at her.
“Jesse. What’s yours?”
“Doesn’t matter.” She trailed her fingers over his skin. He groaned and closed his eyes. “What matters is what you want to do to me, Jesse. Tell me.”
He proceeded to tell her in great detail how he would use her body then sell her to the highest bidder. Gently used young women were in high demand. He couldn’t promise gentle though because he ached for her.
“That’s okay. I’ll help with that ache.” She pulled him down to her mouth. Instead of kissing him, she inhaled. From my standpoint, it looked like a backward attempt at mouth to mouth without the contact, until I saw her eyes.
They’d turned black again. The guy she’d held didn’t seem to notice, though. His eyes were rolled back in his head.
“Eliana? I think you might need to stop,” I said. “Not that I really care, but he doesn’t look so good, and I don’t want you to be upset by that.”
She immediately pulled away with an “eep!” Like a puppet without its puppeteer, Jesse fell to the ground with a thud.
