was wearing the guise of a beautiful mortal man with short blond hair and a trim build. He was wearing the shape of a man plucked from the very fantasies of the woman who was between his legs, her lead lowered to him, eagerly worshipping his body with every ounce of passion she owned.
Vlad should not have been surprised, but now he was a little impressed. Not at the act, but at who Mordecai had as a partner. He recognized the girl. Bella, the vampire huntress. “I believe I told Zadok to deal with them.”
“Hello, Master.” Mordecai picked his head up from the back of the lounge briefly to greet him with a lazy smile. He was basking in the affection. “The Illusionist and I came to an arrangement. I hope you’re not angry.”
“I should have expected this would come to pass after you danced with her.” Vlad sighed. “No. I am not angry. Nor am I terribly surprised. Did she fall to you easily?”
“I would say so. She is such a perfect little thing.” He groaned and reached down to stroke her hair. The woman was intent on swallowing him whole. “Will you look at that? Oh, Bella…yes, please, a little more.” He groaned again and tilted his head back, shuddering as the woman succeeded in her goal. “Oh, yes, Bella—like that!”
Impressed, and perhaps a little jealous. Vlad shook his head, walking to stand by a window and look down at the dark city below. “I am surprised she did not give you trouble. She seemed a willful one.”
“Willful, yes. But she yearned to be free. She wanted what I could give her. Anything but the chains she wore to those two idiots she called friends. One look at me, and she fell into my arms. She struggled so briefly. Now I can barely contain her. I think lust is her true nature. She has so much of it to give.”
“I am surprised you have not drained her.” Incubi and succubae were much like vampires in that they could choose whether or not to harm their victims. It seemed that he had not touched the girl. Usually, when he found one of the demons feeding on their prey, the mortal would be mindless and empty-eyed as though they had taken opium. “I would have expected you to kill her.”
This girl, who lavished his body, was neither numb nor limp in his arms. She was clearly in his thrall, as was to be expected, but she was acting very much of her own volition. The girl had not looked up at Vlad, despite the foreign voice in the room. She was so focused on the demon beneath her that she did not even know there was anyone else in the room. Such was the way of an incubus’ magic. They kept their victims enamored only to them and what they wished to see. Bella would know nothing of the world around her that Mordecai did not wish her to.
“I think I will keep her with your permission, sire.”
Vlad shrugged. “Keep her for as long as you wish. It seems she has much fire for her to give you.”
“No. I mean I wish to keep her permanently.”
That drew his attention back to the incubus. He turned and looked at the demon with a raised eyebrow. “You wish to take her as your bride?”
Mordecai was smiling dreamily down at the girl. He did not answer for a moment, instead moaning and tossing his head back. He grabbed the girl’s head in his hands and pressed himself into her to the hilt. His body twitched and spasmed as he spent himself into her eagerness.
Vlad rolled his eyes and waited.
Demons.
When the moment subsided, the girl crawled up the length of Mordecai’s naked body and collapsed into his arms, snuggling into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, cradling her. “Sleep, beautiful Bella. You need your rest.”
She was already unconscious.
As the girl went under, his form changed. He shed the mortal shape and took the one Vlad was far more accustomed to seeing—his true one. Mordecai stretched like a sated cat. His pale blue-gray skin was not the most significant change. That credit was given to the black horns that curled away from his temples and the tail that now swished beside him.
At least he had donned clothing. Little more than a loincloth that draped over his waist, but it was better than nothing. Vlad was hardly a prude. He enjoyed lust more