Page 14

Chapter

Twelve

MALICE

M y phone buzzed in my pocket, incessant and demanding, but I didn’t have time for distractions. I had an appointment with the one woman who would either end the world or save it. Snatching the device, I silenced the call and tossed the phone onto my neatly made bed. If it was important, they’d leave a bloody message.

A sharp rap on the door was my only notice before it swung open and Merri peeked around the corner.

“Am I interrupting?”

“Would it stop you if you were?”

“No,” she said brightly, pushing the door the rest of the way open and waltzing inside. “Part of me was hoping I’d catch you being naughty.”

I cocked one brow and looked her over. The woman just couldn’t help being the most stunning creature in every environment. She wore her long hair loose today, spilling over her shoulders in a waterfall of red, but held back from her face with a thin sparkling headband. By all accounts, her cropped white t-shirt and jeans shouldn’t have been sexy, yet they were.

Blinking rapidly, I cleared my throat and refocused on her face. “And what, pray tell, constitutes naughty for a horseman?”

“Oh, you know”—she waved a hand dismissively—“plotting the demise of the free world, rigging an election, planning the next major outbreak, or whatever it is you baddies do.”

“We let the mortals make their own messes. It’s beneath us to be involved in such petty games.”

“Suuuure, Pestilence.”

The fire in this one had me reacting before I could stop myself. “Are you sassing me, hellcat?”

A smirk made her lips twitch. “Do you want me to be?”

A resounding yes was on the tip of my tongue, but it wouldn’t do either of us any good to give in to her game that easily.

“No,” I drawled, infusing the single syllable with as much boredom as I could muster.

“That bulge in your sweats says otherwise,” she said, offering me an arch look. “Really, Mal? Gray? Are you purposely trying to distract me this time?”

I glanced down at my black henley and gray joggers. “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?”

“Nothing,” she said with more than a hint of appreciation. “That’s the problem.” And with that declaration, she flounced over and flopped onto my bed.

My eye twitched as one of the pillows tumbled off the side. “Do you mind?” I muttered, stalking around the side to retrieve it and put it back in its rightful spot, taking an extra second as I did to adjust the blanket she’d also knocked askew.

My phone lit up as it buzzed next to her hip. She glanced down and tilted her head to the side as she read the name of the caller out loud.

“Hades?”

Oh fuck. That couldn’t be good. But I couldn’t exactly accept the call with an audience. Hades didn’t simply call to shoot the breeze. There was no telling what he would say.

Merri’s eyes flicked to meet mine. “Hades, Hades?”

“Yes.”

“As in the lord of the underworld? Greek god? Immortalized in one of my favorite movies of all time, Hercules?”

“Yes,” I repeated, although I had no idea what she was on about. I rarely watched films, unless, of course, they were disease disaster movies or documentaries about my work. I smirked in memory as one of my favorite scenes popped into my mind. The candy striper and the teddy bear. Classic.

“Shut up! You are friends, like calling on the phone friends and not just acquaintances with the actual lord of the underworld?”

“I wouldn’t exactly qualify it that way.”

“But you two are friends?”

I blinked at her. “Why is that surprising? You know who we are and what we do. The jobs sort of coincide.”

“Does he actually have blue hair?”

Oh, she was adorable. “No.”

Disappointment flitted across her face as her shoulders slumped. “That is incredibly disappointing. Talk about hero to zero,” she muttered.

“I don’t see why you’re so shocked by the news. You’ve seen him before.”

It was her turn to stare in confusion. “Hades? When did I meet Hades?”

“At Blackwood.”

She laughed. “Uh, pretty sure I would have remembered that. Nice try, though. You almost had me going for a second.”

“I’m serious. He was admitted there while you were a patient. He’s the one who found and freed us.”

“Wait.” She held up her palm. “You guys were at Blackwood too?”

If being magically kidnapped and caged in a subterranean bunker counted.

“In a manner of speaking.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Why is this the first I’m hearing about it? How come we never ran into each other?”

“It’s a long and, dare I say, irrelevant story.”

She continued to stare at me. “Uh-huh.”

“Believe me or not. It doesn’t change the fact that Hades was a patient at Blackwood. Same as you.”

“He was not. There was no one named Hades in residence. I would know. One of my super-secret spy tasks was snooping through the patient files for Auntie Lilith.”

Had that sneaky bastard been at Blackwood incognito? Oh, Hades. Always hiding in some shadow or another. “I assure you he was. But that’s neither here nor there?—”

My phone rang again, Hades’s name flashing on the screen once more, and another twist of dread gripped my gut.

“Are you sure you don’t need to answer that?”

Shaking my head, I silenced the phone permanently and set it off to the side. “What I need to do is focus on you and your lack of ability to protect yourself. Last night’s eruption is warning enough that they’ll make their next attempt sooner rather than later.”

Her expression soured. “I have been doing better.”

“Better isn’t going to keep you from being caught in a Knight’s thrall, Merri.”

She squirmed, letting out a heavy sigh. “Fine. Do your worst.”

I cocked a brow. “Be careful what you wish for, hellcat. You can barely handle me at my lowest setting. You don’t ever want to see me at my worst.”

Merri paled, the reminder of who and what I was more effective than I’d intended. But that was for the best. She needed to remember what was at stake here. I wasn’t doing this for shits and gigs, as they say.

“Do I need to close my eyes or something?” She stood, crossing her arms over her chest as she popped one hip. Bratty as ever.

“No. It’s not going to be helpful practice if you are prepared for an attack. They’ll come for you when you least expect it. Just like last time.”

Merri gave a small nod. “Chaos said so too.”

“Who better to listen to than the man who wrote the book on warfare?”

“Did he really?”

“May as well have,” I murmured with a shrug. Then I attacked.

She gasped—just a soft, surprised intake of air—and attempted to raise her walls, but it was too late. I was inside her mind, infiltrating the parts of her she held most secret. She couldn’t push me out if she tried at the moment, but I couldn’t wait for her to gather her strength enough to make the effort.

Her mind was a veritable open book, each memory teasing me like a preview to an upcoming movie. A flicker here, a glimpse there. Merri as a chubby toddler, running into her foster mother’s arms. Merri staring into the mirror backstage before a ballet recital, her gaze flicking to the other dancers, all willowy and lithe. Pretty waifs, certainly, but vastly different from Merri’s undeniably sensual hourglass shape. Her instructor looking her over, shaking her head while tutting and murmuring, “I told you to lose ten pounds. If you think I’ll allow you to audition for the company looking like this, think again.”

My eye twitched as rage suffused me. Better to leave that one alone.

Another memory took its place, this one seeming well-worn. Like she returned to it often. Curiosity instantly piqued, I decided that was the one I was most interested in witnessing.

“No.” Merri’s soft protest barely registered as the memory took hold around me.

Merri

This was one of my most favorite moments to revisit. The beginning of me finding out who I really was and learning how to control my hunger in a way that helped me protect those around me. But more than that, it was also when I found the people I’d start building my own little family with. Auntie Lilith, for starters, and not too long after, Andi.

As the warm comfort of the recollection wrapped around me, I let myself sink into it and the respite it provided.

“Now, pet, I know this has been difficult for you to understand, but you mustn’t be so hard on yourself. This is your nature. A succubus must feed.” Auntie Lilith stood over me where I sat on the bed.

“H-how can I? I’ll kill them.”

“I know, darling. It’s my fault for not anticipating your power being so strong.”

“Are you going to send me away?”

Lilith tutted. “I don’t want to, but if you won’t try this as a means to feed, I won’t have a choice. I cannot have you accidentally draining my patrons to the point of unconsciousness and without their consent. I have a reputation to protect, after all.”

I mutely nodded, guilt eating away at me as I recalled yesterday’s disaster. My succubus had taken things into her own hands, finding a way to feed without my knowledge. Sort of like a desert soaking up every ounce of moisture it came into contact with.

“If it’s the only way.”

Lilith rubbed my shoulders. “It is. And it’s not going to be all bad. Or any bad. You’ll see. I think if you give it a fair shake, you might even come to find that you enjoy it. There’s power in coming into your own and accepting yourself for who you are.” She booped the end of my nose. “Now, get your perky behind in that seat and get to work. Everything you need is available to you with a stroke of the keyboard.”

She left me in a cloud of her enchanting perfume.

I took a few deep breaths, working to calm my racing heart as the weight of what I was about to do sat heavily on my shoulders. Cam work. I’d never even seen a camming site in action.

Clicking on a couple of things, I noticed that I already had a profile set up. Merri-Go-Round.

I snickered. Lilith had a wicked sense of humor.

She’d been busy. Not only had she created my profile, she’d also made my first post.

It was a simple picture of me in a tank top and shorts, my ample tits as pronounced as ever. The caption read:

Hi, I’m Merri and I’m new here .

Anyone want to help me get the hang of things?

My eyes went wide as I scrolled through the first few comments.

TIs4Tony: I’d sure like to go for a ride on your merri-go-round.

EverySteve: You need a real man to break you in, baby girl.

ShyGuy25: Nice to meet you, Merri. You’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.

Already, little sips of lust worked their way through me.

“Maybe Auntie Lilith was onto something,” I muttered.

Before I had a chance to scroll further, a chime announced an incoming message.

“Pretty Penny?” I asked aloud, accepting the message request.

PrettyPenny:

Hi! I’m Andi. Consider me your personal tour guide here on TwoLips.

Merri-Go-Round:

Uh, hi. I didn’t realize I’d get a tour guide.

PrettyPenny:

Oh yeah, anyone who signs up with the premium account gets assigned a liaison. I like to think of myself as a built-in bestie. I’ll show you the ropes, get you all set up, and make sure you know how to keep yourself safe.

Merri-Go-Round:

So you’re being paid to be my friend?

PrettyPenny:

Well, when you put it that way, it sounds icky. Let’s think of it more like a buddy system. Same as you might get at any 9 to 5. We chat around the metaphorical water cooler, lunch together, gossip about the assholes we work with/for.

Merri-Go-Round:

I guess I could use someone in my corner.

PrettyPenny:

Can’t we all? Now, tell me everything there is to know about you. I was serious about the built-in bestie thing.

It tracked. The way Auntie Lilith doted on me said the succubus would have absolutely set me up with the best, most supportive account level offered by TwoLips. She wanted to ensure I was successful. One, because if I wasn’t, I might kill her clients on accident, and two, because I could tell she really wanted to take care of me. Andi was a welcome ally in a very small pool of positivity.

Just as I prepared myself to answer her question, a prickling at the back of my neck made me pause. I felt like I was being watched.

Turning my head, I glanced over my shoulder.

No one there. My room was exactly as Lilith had left it.

Frowning, I turned back to the screen, my unease only growing.

Something was off. This wasn’t how the memory was supposed to go. This hadn’t been what happened.

PrettyPenny:

So, have you ever done cam work before?

Merri-Go-Round:

No, this is all new to me.

PrettyPenny:

From the look of you, you’re going to be very popular. Take some time to peruse the other profiles on here. With your membership, you will have access to everything everyone posts. It’s a perk. Learn from them and figure out what you like and don’t like, then go from there.

PrettyPenny:

Though, if you want some unsolicited advice, I suggest you stick to the naughty/innocent thing. You have the face for it, and it drives them wild. You’ll have to beat off clients with a stick. Don’t pigeonhole yourself, though. Branch out every now and then, it’s important to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. That way when your regulars aren’t available, you still have income.

She had no idea money wasn’t even on my mind. The only currency I dealt in was lust.

That uneasy creeping along my spine started up again, causing me to sit up straighter and glance around. Who the fuck was here?

That was when I caught him. Malice. He was there, like a ghost in the corner of my vision. I could feel his specific energy, oddly comforting even though it shouldn’t be.

“No!” I shouted, shoving at him with my mind. He didn’t get to have this memory or any other without my permission. No one did.

“Get out of my head!”

Malice

The sense of being flung back into myself was jarring, to say the least. Merri may be new at creating mental barriers, but she packed one hell of a psychic punch when she found her footing.

“Bloody hell, Merri. Where’d you get that kind of strength?” I wheezed as I tried to steady myself with a hand on one of the four posts of the bed.

She frowned, leveling her gaze on me. “That was rude.”

I scoffed. “I’m sorry, do you expect the Knights to be polite?”

“No, but... last time you just did silly little parlor tricks and took control of my body. Why did you have to invade my privacy and go snooping around in my mind?”

“Typical,” I muttered.

“Excuse me? What do you mean by that?”

“Your generation is so entitled. Do you really think an enemy is going to avoid doing something simply because you don’t prefer it? No, Merri. No, they’re not. They fight dirty. They will come at your weakest point and continue to batter it until you crumble because that’s how battles are won. That’s how they get what they want. There is no honor at the end of the world.”

She was pouting and it was absolutely adorable, but I wasn’t about to tell her so. Even if she’d have been receptive to it, now was hardly the time for such things. I had a point to make, and she an important lesson to learn.

“I know you’re right, and you’re only trying to help, but...” She rubbed at her chest as she trailed off. “I don’t have to like it.”

“You don’t. You just have to learn how to protect yourself so that next time I can’t get further than you want me to go.”

“What if I don’t want you inside my mind at all?”

“That would be the ideal. I want you strong enough to keep even me out of your head if I’m not welcome.”

She blinked and then looked at me, a small furrow between her brows. “How did I know it was you? Was it just because my subconscious remembered we were in the middle of our session?”

“Perhaps. Though it’s more likely it was because I’ve been in your mind before.”

“What do you mean?”

“Each being has a unique psychic fingerprint. Once you’ve experienced it, you’ll recognize it again. Sort of like spotting a familiar face in a crowd.”

Understanding flashed across Merri’s face. She knew exactly what I was referring to, and it wasn’t just because my explanation was brilliant. I’d bet every Bitcoin I owned that it was from some other personal experience. Like I’d just given her the answer to a question she hadn’t realized she’d had.

“My head hurts,” she murmured, shutting down before my eyes. “Are we done here?”

Even if she was lying, I’d let her go. What she’d done, shoving me out of her memories, was more challenging than she knew.

“Yes. Go and rest. We will pick this up at our next session. Unless...”

She looked at me, her skin a little duller than before, eyes pained, hair less glossy. Merri needed to feed.

“Unless what?”

There was no ignoring the anticipation that flared to life as I offered, “Do you need me to feed you?”

She paled further, quickly shaking her head. “No. Thank you, though. I have a camming session soon. I’m all set.”

Before I could protest, she was out the door and pulling it shut behind her. Camming wasn’t enough. We’d already addressed that issue. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something had spooked our sweet Merri, and she was pulling away from all of us again.

I supposed I’d simply have to pay her a visit while she was working then. We’d all agreed to take care of her, and if that meant being one of her clients, so be it.

Snagging my phone, I began navigating to the app but stopped short when I saw the notification.

One new voicemail.

As soon as I clicked on it, my heart sank.

A familiar voice filled the room as the message played.

“Malice, it’s Hades . . .”