Dragan Page 14

  As I look down at the rotund sprite, I smile as I think about how I’ll miss him. Of course, I’ll miss Dragan the most, but I mourned the passing of that relationship when it ended the moment he saw the black Succubae wings escape my back.

  After another few hours, Baron returns. He makes his camp within a dense section of the forest, maybe twenty feet away from the rest of us. Dragan’s taken a spot beneath a tree ten feet from me. Once he gets up to tend to the fire and his back is towards me, I glance down at Flumph.

  “Flumph,” I whisper in a voice so low, Dragan doesn’t hear me.

  “Yeah?” the little creature asks as he looks up at me from my lap.

  “I need you to untie my ropes,” I say.

  Of course, he looks apprehensive. “I ain’t thinkin’ that’s a good idea, Angelbus,” he says.

  “Please. The ropes are cutting into my wrists and my arms feel like they’re pulling out of their sockets,” I say persuasively as I make sure Dragan’s back is still facing me. “I won’t be able to sleep like this, and Cambion wants us all to rest for the walk tomorrow.”

  “But Cambion gonna be real pissed-like if he find out I let ya loose.”

  “He won’t find out,” I answer quickly. “I’ll have you retie me first thing in the morning, before he wakes up.”

  Flumph hesitates and I realize I’ve got him.

  Yes, I feel sorry for the little guy because Cambion will be annoyed with him once the morning comes and he realizes I’m gone and Flumph untied me. But ultimately, my leaving them will be better for everyone concerned.

  “Okay,” Flumph says as he pushes off my lap and jumps to the ground before starting around to my back where my hands are tied. “But you be sure to wake up real early.”

  “I will,” I assure him.

  Once he frees my wrists, I pull my arms forward and flex my hands, trying to get the feeling back into them. Then I lean against the tree and drop my arms behind me, so Dragan won’t notice they’re unbound.

  After another hour, Flumph is snoring in my lap and Dragan’s eyes are closed as he leans against the tree with his long legs extended out before him. Cambion’s eyes are wide open but only the whites of them show—it’s part and parcel of his meditative trance. Baron is nowhere to be seen.

  The moment for me to make my escape has come.

  I carefully shift Flumph and place him on a bed of pine needles. Then, watching Dragan, I move as stealthily as I’m able, tip-toeing away from the perimeter of our camp. It’s maybe a few more seconds and I’m bathed in the darkness of the trees. I don’t hear anything from the camp that would hint to the fact that I’ve been discovered missing.

  With a new sense of determination mixed with even more worry and fear, I start making my way through the dark forest. There’s an overall sense of foreboding and heaviness weighing me down, but I try to shake the feelings off. There’s no point in wishing things could be different—they aren’t.

  As I travel deeper into the forest, sounds distract my ears. I hear the calling of a lone owl off in the distance, and the shifting of the foliage as woodland animals scamper through it. The moon lights my way in milky rays of blue, but there’s no path to follow. Only miles and miles of endless pine trees and forest scrub.

  I notice a spring bisecting my path so I decide to follow it, hoping it will lead to a town. Once there, I’m not sure what I’ll do, but I’ll be sure to hide the fact that I’m an angel. As long as I can keep my back covered, I should be able to pass as something else. Granted, I don’t have the ears of the fae and I don’t look like I’m demon, much though I am one.

  You’ll figure it out when you get wherever you’re going, Eilish, I tell myself. The good news is that I’m no longer an addict, so at least I have that going for me. Maybe I’ll be able to find a respectable job and earn a wage, meager though it may be. Beggars can’t be choosers and I’ll be happy doing anything as long as it doesn’t involve selling my body.

  But what about the Succubus within you? I wonder. What about the fact that you’re going to need a man sexually in order to feed yourself?

  I’ll worry about that later, I answer staunchly. And finding a man for sex will be the least of my worries.

  But then I begin to wonder what it will mean to have sex with a man again. Immediately, my thoughts return to Dragan and the memories of our lovemaking. I’m overcome with a deep sadness as I remember the expression on his face as he pushed inside me. The idea of having sex with anyone else leaves me cold. I don’t want another man. I want…

  It doesn’t matter what you want! I rail at myself. Dragan is your past, and this moment marks the start of a new life for you, Eilish.

  I notice Morrigan’s voice is conspicuously silent. I wonder what she thinks of the fact that I’ve gone off on my own. I figure she doesn’t approve, or else I would have heard from her? Of course, the more I think about it, the more I realize I haven’t heard from her much at all lately. Usually, though, I only hear from her in times of crisis when I’m physically threatened by something, so maybe this silence isn’t so odd?

  I immediately envision the man, Silvanus, who visited me. Although my memories of him are sketchy at most, and seem to grow sketchier as more time passes, I remember his distrust of Morrigan. I wonder if he has something to do with the fact that I haven’t heard from the Midnight Queen?

  I don’t have an answer for myself so I return to thoughts regarding what it means to be Succubus. I have so many questions about this part of me. Not that I ever had any real answers about the angel side of me, but of this demon side, I know even less.

  If I’m forced to have sex with another man in order to feed the Succubus, will I drain him of his life essence and kill him, similar to what a vampire can do? Will my sexual needs be the same as Baron’s bloodlust? Will I be overcome with… lust? Such that it consumes me and I can’t control myself?

  THIRTEEN

  Dragan

  Mortal Plane

  I open my eyes and glance to my left side to check on Eilish and… she’s gone.

  Immediately, I’m on my feet. Cambion is still deep in his meditative trance so I figure he has no idea she’s gone. Which is just as well. The last thing I want to do is deal with his fucking mouth.

  Flumph is sound asleep under the pine tree where Eilish had been sitting. I hope she’s merely walked away to relieve herself, but I know better. With her hands bound, it would be incredibly difficult for her to stand up without help.

  When I approach the sleeping Flumph, I notice the rope lying in the dirt beside him.

  “Fuck,” I say to myself. The bloody creature is completely useless.

  Even though it’s risky, as my Shadow Magic usually won’t lend itself to such a spell, I close my eyes and call out to the forest around me. “Commune with Nature,” I repeat as I attempt to become one with the natural world in order to gain knowledge of the surrounding territory. Eilish can’t have gone far and if I’m able to tap into the knowledge of the forest through this spell, I should be able to locate her momentarily.

  Of course, this spell would be child’s play to Cambion, as it falls under the umbrella of fae magic, but I’m not in the mood to wake him. Then I’ll have to explain why and how Eilish escaped in the first place.

  Fuck that.

  “Commune with Nature,” I repeat as I clench my eyes and beg the natural world to allow me entrance. I envision an image of Eilish and I ask for guidance on how to find her.

  Fairly soon a visual appears behind my eyelids. I can hear the sound of the spring gurgling and I see Eilish making her way through the trees in the moonlight. I open my eyes and turn to see the stream, which exists just behind me.

  Follow it and I’ll find Eilish.

  I offer a nod of thanks to the forest and, unfurling my great wings, I shoot directly up into the sky. I note the stream below me and begin following its meandering path from above the cover of the trees. From this vantage point, I should have an easy time spotting Eilish,
as long as the cover of trees is not too dense.

  ###

  Eilish

  Mortal Plane

  I don’t know how long I’ve been walking, but I’m exhausted. The way forward looks exactly the same as the path I’ve just come down. My stomach growls with hunger and I feel tears start to bleed down my face.

  I’m lost.

  I have no idea where I’m going, and I have no idea where I am. For all I know, this stream might pass through miles and miles of dense woodland. I could starve to death, becoming nothing more than a carcass for hungry predators.

  A sound causes me to stop in my tracks. My heart begins to pound, and I suddenly feel light-headed and dizzy. Taking deep breaths, I attune my ears to the landscape around me and I hear it again—the swooshing of large and powerful wings.

  Something is above me.

  I glance up but see nothing, owing to the thick cover of tree branches.

  I hear the flapping again. Whatever it is, it sounds big. Panic floods me and I start running, jumping over roots and rocks that act as obstacles in my path. My heart is like a jackhammer in my ears and my blood is pumping so hard, I feel like I could pass out.

  The sound only grows louder until I imagine that whatever it is, it’s right above me.

  Distracted, I trip over a tree root and land on the ground hard, skinning my knees and elbows. I’m barely cognizant of the stinging pain, though, because fear is now beating a wild path through my body. A split second later, I’m back on my feet.

  I hear the sound again, this time from directly behind me. I turn around but see nothing except the seemingly limitless and empty forest. The only other thing I can hear is the constant hooting of an owl nearby. I face forward again and run headlong into… something.

  Large hands grip my wrists as the right side of my face bashes into a large and broad chest. When I look up, I find Dragan glaring down at me.

  I’m relieved.

  He’s furious.

  “What the fuck are you thinking?” he demands. He doesn’t drop his hold around my wrists but continues to clutch them, as though he’s afraid I’ll take off if he releases me.

  It takes me a second to catch my breath. When I finally do, I’m overwhelmed and can’t seem to think straight. All the adrenaline pouring through me suddenly feels like it needs a way out and I find myself angry. “Let me go,” I snap and pull my arms up, trying to fight him. His hands are like iron manacles.

  “Are you trying to get yourself killed?” he presses, still glaring at me, still every ounce as furious as he was when he caught me.

  “No!” I yell back, so loudly the owl leaves his perch from the tree above. I glance up at Dragan again and swallow hard. I haven’t ever seen him this… enraged. Well, maybe that’s not true. Cambion has certainly pissed Dragan off more times than I can count.

  “Then what the fuck are you doing?”

  “I’m leaving!” I throw the words at him as I continue struggling to free myself, but he just holds me there like my fighting means absolutely nothing to him. Which, I’m sure, it does. “And it’s my choice!”

  “You have no choice,” he informs me, his jaw tight, his eyes narrowed. “You’re our prisoner until we say otherwise.”

  “I’m not your prisoner,” I growl, surprised by my own anger. But then my reaction begins to make sense. I’ve been way too patient for way too long. I’ve let these… these assholes boss me around and tell me what to do. I’ve allowed them to speak down to me. Well, no longer. Now, I’m going to stand up for myself, regardless of whatever the hell I am. Succubus or not, I deserve my freedom and I deserve the right to make my own choices. I’ve done nothing to harm anyone.

  “You’re coming back with me,” Dragan commands, dropping my arms. He starts walking the other direction, but I staunchly hold my ground and shake my head.

  “I’m not going back there,” I tell him. And I mean it. The idea of facing Cambion again makes me shrink inside.

  “You’ll die out here.” Dragan turns to face me and crosses his huge arms against his equally huge chest. He’s the absolute epitome of power and strength, and with his furrowed brow and the frown on his face, he’s also incredibly intimidating.

  “We aren’t in the Shadow Realm,” I start, panting, as I search for a plausible argument. “We’re in the Mortal Plane, which means I’ve got the best chance of surviving on my own.” My voice is breaking, though I’m determined to hold my ground.

  “Until Variant or Anona finds you, and then you’ll be living on borrowed time,” Dragan point out as he takes the few steps that separate us. He towers over me and his wings suddenly sprout out from his back, arching around my body as if to capture me within them. He’s never done this before, and it makes me nervous. He makes me nervous.

  “What does it matter to you, anyway?” I glare up at him, my voice as shaky as my hands. I’m terrified, but I’m not sure why. Dragan won’t hurt me and yet, I’m scared of him all the same. “You don’t trust me and Cambion hates me and Baron...”

  “I don’t want you dead,” he interrupts, the words cold, his expression cold.

  I feel my heart drop. He doesn’t care about me. He doesn’t still have feelings for me. He just doesn’t want my death on his conscience. “If I’m a demon, like you seem to believe I am, shouldn’t that be enough to defend myself?” I demand, throwing my hands on my hips and backing away slightly as I try to produce any courage I still possess.

  He winces as though I’ve hit him. “You don’t seem to know the first thing about what being a demon means, and you’ve proven you can’t take care of yourself.” He spits the words back at me and takes another step closer, until maybe a few inches of air separate us. His wings close in on me from behind, bathing me in the darkness of the cave of his body. My heart is pounding.

  “I can take care of myself,” I say in a weak voice.

  “I’m sick of arguing. Either you come back without a fight or I force you. It’s up to you.”

  “I’m not going back, and you can’t force me. I’m a free person and I have a right to make my own choices.”

  “Your choices are going to get you killed.”

  “What do you fucking care?” I insist, surprised by the vitriol in my voice and my choice of language. I take a step away from him and push his wings apart as I duck beneath them. Dragan appears surprised, at least momentarily.

  “I don’t want you to die out here,” he says again, this time in a softer tone.

  “And I can’t stomach the idea of seeing Cambion again. He hates me.”

  “Cambion’s an asshole and he hates everyone,” argues Dragan. “He hates me more than he hates you.”

  “I doubt that very much. Look, it’s obvious I’m just a burden to all of you, and I don’t want to feel that way anymore, so I’m going to try being on my own.”

  I hold my chin up in stubborn defiance, but Dragan continues to glare at me, his angry expression even more pronounced. “You’re coming back with me, whether you like it or not.”

  I don’t say anything in response and the two of us just stand there, fuming at each other. A twig breaks from his left side and he turns to face it at the same time that I start running in the opposite direction.

  I don’t know what I’m thinking, because Dragan is easily faster and stronger than I am. Maybe that’s why I’m not surprised when I hear his pounding footsteps behind me and, moments later, feel his arms circle my waist. He stops me short and pulls me up against the length of him. I feel his breath on my neck as he holds me in place.

  “I’m sick of playing fucking games,” he growls into my ear, between gritted teeth.

  “Then let me go,” I say, but my voice comes out as barely even a whisper. I can hardly breathe, let alone talk. I’m winded and my head feels like it’s miles from my feet.

  “Enough of this!” he rails and releases his hands from around my waist before spinning me around so I’m forced to face him. It’s at that exact moment that I pull my arm
back and slap him as hard as I can right, across the face.

  I’m as shocked as he is, and I gape in amazement as a scowl spreads across his lips. His cheek is already taking on a bright red hue where I’ve hit him. I squeak out a protest as he curls his hand around my neck and thrusts me against the rough bark of a tree. I knock my head against it, but the pain doesn’t register. All I can focus on is the expression in Dragan’s eyes. He’s angry, yes, but there’s something more.

  “Dra… Dragan,” I whisper as my own eyes grow wide with fear. I don’t know what he’s going to do. I’ve just smacked him with everything I have… Granted, it’s not as though I’ve hurt him, but his cheek grows redder the longer I look at it.

  I’ve never done anything even remotely violent and I have to wonder if he’ll think this is my Succubus side coming out?

  He continues to pin me against the tree, staring at me.

  “I… I’m sorry,” I whisper.

  His eyes shift to my lips. I swallow hard.

  And then, before I can understand what’s happening, he brings his face so close to mine, our noses are nearly touching.

  “Don’t you ever… fucking hit me again,” he orders.

  “I… don’t know why… I did,” I tell him. He doesn’t pull back. Instead, his eyes return to my mouth and rest there, on my lips. “Please…” I whisper.

  “Please what?” he demands, lifting his gaze to glare at me.

  “You’re… you’re scaring me.”

  He chuckles then and it’s an acid sound. “I’m scaring you?” he says as he pulls away, keeping me pinned to the tree with his hand around my throat. “I’m scaring the fucking demon Succubus?”

  “Y… yes,” I admit, because I’m not sure what else to say.

  Then he’s in my face again. “If you think this little innocent act of yours—”

  “It’s not an act,” I interject as I reach out and try to loosen his fingers from around my throat. He only tightens his hold and I find it hard to breathe. “Please…”