Page 28

Chapter

Twenty-Six

GRIM

“ E xplain to me why, with over forty rooms in the house, you choose an abandoned cellar beneath the property,” Malice intoned from his station in the far corner.

“I thought it obvious,” I answered, matching his dry delivery with one of my own.

“Pretend it isn’t.”

“I didn’t want this conversation overheard.” I glanced at my watch for the second time in less than as many minutes and huffed in annoyance.

Sin burst through the door, breaths heaving. “I’m here! I’m on time. Look at that. A minute to spare.” He leaned dramatically against the doorframe. “Commence with the super-secret underground book club meeting.” He glanced around, realizing that he wasn’t the last to arrive. Then he chuckled and sing-songed, “Uh-oh, someone’s in trouble.”

A low grumble announced Chaos’s arrival before he darkened the doorway. “I’m not in trouble. I arrived precisely when I intended.”

“Suuuure, you did. Why is your hair all wet? Did you get into a fight with a tunnel-dwelling swamp monster because they tried to make off with you by dragging you into their underwater lair?”

“If I did, I clearly bested it.”

I sighed and shook my head. “Next time, maybe you both could try to remember that if you’re not five minutes early, you’re late.”

“Yes sir, Master Sergeant sir,” Sin said, snapping his heels together and offering me a messy salute. He was only able to hold on to his serious expression for a heartbeat before he smirked and winked. “Buuuut it’s still probably not gonna happen.” Sin leaned close and whispered conspiratorially, “My name really should’ve been Chaos if you think about it. I’m way more chaotic than he is.”

A low tremor ran beneath our feet, sending some bits of dust and rock clattering to the ground.

Sin paled at Chaos’s show of power. “Okay fine, you win. You can keep the name.”

“We don’t have much time. I’ll thank you to stop the theatrics.” I stepped forward, commanding control of the meeting before Sin started a mutiny. “We need to talk about Merri.”

“Of course we do. She’s the only thing we talk about these days,” Malice complained. “What has she reduced us to?”

My brow raised at the pricklier-than-usual comment. Last I checked, the two of them had been getting on well. Then I recalled the toy Merri had been cradling in the snow. It was pretty easy to figure out what happened from there. She’d clearly stumbled across something Malice hadn’t wanted her to see.

“Our little succubus is getting stronger by the day,” I said, gaze landing on Mal. “As you all well know.”

“And her appetite doesn’t seem to be lessening.” Sin sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I’m trying to take care of her, fellas. But I’m only one man.”

“Her pull is just as powerful as well.”

“How is that surprising?” Malice asked.

“She should have more control if she’s being fed, but I’m dreaming of her almost every night, and when I’m awake, I crave her nearness. I can’t escape her.”

My attention flicked to Chaos as he spoke, the edge to his voice betraying his torment.

Sin made a soft humming sound, his gaze distant as he contemplated Chaos’s admission. “It’s almost like her power is a beacon calling us to her.”

“Is that normal?” Chaos asked.

“For a succubus? Sure, I mean, especially one whose needs aren’t being met. But we know that Merri is feeding, so it’s strange that her power is reacting basically the opposite of the way it should.”

“It almost seems like an addiction,” Mal murmured. “Now that she’s finally gotten a taste, her body is craving more.”

“Well, that’s exceedingly unhelpful. We were supposed to be helping her manage her hunger, not causing it to grow,” Chaos muttered.

“No, we were supposed to be putting a baby inside her and saving the world.” The irritation in my tone was impossible to hide.

“She’s a tough one to crack. I tried, and she shot me down.”

Sin snorted at Chaos. “It’s a real shame. You just aren’t a closer, buddy.”

“And you are?”

“Pfft. You know I am. You watched the live. I planted my baby batter like a champ.”

Malice made a sound of disgust. “Please never refer to your cum as baby batter again.”

“Baby gravy?”

“No.”

“My special sauce?”

“I’m about to sick myself all over you.”

“I believe that’s what they refer to as irony. You know, since usually you’re the one making people toss their cookies.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose and took a long breath before returning my attention to the children in the room. “That’s enough. Sin. You’ve been unsuccessful in your attempts thus far, but your efforts haven’t gone unnoticed. As you just pointed out, Merri’s hunger seems to be increasing rather than becoming manageable. That’s not something we planned for.”

“It wouldn’t be a problem if she would just ask for our help. And by our help, I mean your help, since I’m already doing my part,” Sin said.

Chaos looked ready to send his fist through the wall, and with it, Sin. “What do you want me to do? I already told you I tried.”

“I might have a solution, actually.”

“You?” Sin snickered. “How can you help? Did you finally find a solution to the glove condom conundrum?”

“Yes.”

Sin’s mouth dropped open. “That... is not what I expected you to say.”

“Dreamwalks.”

“Come again?” Malice spluttered.

Sin turned to speak.

“Not you,” Malice said, holding up a finger like that would actually stop Sinclair.

“Remember last time how we all admitted to having intense dreams about Merri? Those weren’t normal dreams. She was dreamwalking. Visiting us each on the dream plane and feeding.”

“It did feel incredibly realistic,” Chaos said, mostly to himself.

“That’s because it was.”

“I don’t think I’m following,” Malice admitted.

“Succubi and incubi originally fed only in dreams. It was outlawed centuries ago for a number of reasons, most of them political. But the salient point for our purposes is that the dream plane is where succubi are most powerful.”

“Incubi were said to leave a female partner pregnant after repeated dream encounters. I’ve never done it, but I’ve heard the legends.” Sin’s brows were furrowed as he continued. “I’m not a true incubus, though, and I honestly thought those were simply stories made up to excuse infidelity.”

“Do you think it could work in reverse? Where a succubus could get pregnant via a dreamwalk?” Chaos asked.

I nodded. “I’m certain of it. It’s one of the reasons for the ban. The Council didn’t want them to overpopulate the rest of the demon masses. They were growing too powerful.”

“Then why the fuck didn’t you tell us about this weeks ago?”

Chaos was right, of course, but I truly hadn’t considered this a possibility because, frankly, I hadn’t remembered it was one. “I’ve amassed a great deal of knowledge in my long existence, and I’ve forgotten more than most creatures could ever aspire to know. Forgive me if one piece of lore slipped my mind.”

“Arguably the most important piece of lore for our current task.” Malice’s words were snide, and it took everything I had not to hit him.

“Merri still has to initiate the dreamwalks, so it’s not exactly like it was a viable option until we knew she was capable of such a thing.” I glared at him. “Besides, the skill has become so unused she would have no idea how to do it. Lilith certainly wouldn’t dare teach her. And it’s not exactly like one of us would have been able to explain it to her.”

“So if Merri realized that this was the safest and most satisfying way for her to feed, then why did she stop?” Chaos asked.

The room fell silent as we all searched for an answer.

“I think, maybe, for the same reason that none of us helped her feed until she gave us permission.”

“You think this is about consent?” Malice asked.

I shrugged. “We know how important it is to her.”

“Do you think she’s even aware she’s dreamwalking?” Chaos asked the question I was certain they’d all been thinking.

“Yes.”

Sin huffed. “And how do you know, Grimsby?”

“She told me herself.” They all stared at me as though I’d been holding out on them. “Don’t look at me like that. Why the hell do you think I called this bloody meeting?”

Malice had his fingers pressed to his temples and was currently massaging the area. “Okay, fine. So the suggestion here is what, exactly? We give her the green light to feed on us in our dreams, and we cross our fingers and hope that one of you three gets her pregnant?”

“It seems like the best option.”

“Why would she be willing to do it in our dreams but not in the real world?” Sin asked.

“Because there are no ill effects on us.”

“What do you mean?” Chaos asked.

“Think about it. All four of us dreamt of her, and even though she fed deeply, none of us were rendered unconscious or otherwise harmed. The magic of the dreamwalk must protect us in a way that we can otherwise only experience by sharing the drain.” I shrugged again, definitely outside the realm of my expertise. Logically, though, it tracked. So far as I could glean anyway.

“It would remove the largest obstacle if that was the case,” Malice agreed.

“Hang on a sec. You said three of us. The last time I checked, Chaos and I were the only ones on baby daddy duty. Since when did Daddy Death get added in as a sperm donor?” Sin asked, his brows almost to his perfect hairline.

Malice cut a glance at me. “You already admitted your dream about her was sexual. Did you not touch her?”

“I did. She sucked me off until I saw stars.”

“And she didn’t drop dead?” Sin blurted.

“Obviously not. Are you thick?”

He smirked. “Only where it counts.”

“She’s not going to dreamwalk with us again. Not now that she knows it’s happening. She made that clear.”

Chaos narrowed his gaze at me. “Why?”

“We’ll have to make sure she knows we are willing. Convince her it’s the best way for her to feed.”

Malice looked a little green, but I didn’t have time to pander to his issues. The world was falling apart around us, and Lucifer came closer to getting his way with every passing day. If I could take part in our task while also giving in and making Merri mine while doing so, I would. The thought of touching her again, of being able to spend time mapping out her body and cataloging all the ways in which I could make it sing for me was fast becoming my new obsession. It would be all I could do not to beg her to choose me to dreamwalk with next. And perhaps always.

“So what now? Do we need to put our hands together and do a Three Musketeers kind of thing? Or maybe we should do a fertility dance or something to close out this meeting.”

Chaos was already pulling the door open, fed up with Sinclair’s bullshit. Christian was waiting on the other side, skin pale, hands clenched so tight the bones of his knuckles were nearly showing.

Before I could ask how he’d known where we were, another one of my brothers beat me.

“What is it, Christian?” Malice barked, impatience bleeding from every word. “Can’t you see we are in the middle of something?”

“Monsieur, forgive me, but... the sky,” he sputtered.

“Yes?”

“It is on fire.”