Succubus Dreams Page 0,30

to the airport so I don't ever have to fucking see you again."

He rose from the couch, giving me a wounded look. "Fine, fine. But there is one other thing I wanted to talk to you about."

"There is nothing at all I want to talk to you about." I was on the verge of growling.

"Oh, I'm not so sure about that." His hand rested on the doorknob, but he showed no intention of actually leaving. "I think you'll be very interested. It's about your love life."

"No! We are not talking about this."

"Le - Georgina, I just want to help you," he whined. "I think it's terrible that you two can't fully express your love."

"We. Are. Fine. And don't lean against the door. I don't want your hair to leave an oil stain."

Niphon straightened up and ran a solicitous hand over the back of his head. "Look, I get why you don't want to sleep with him. It's admirable. You want to protect his lifespan, not wipe him out, etc., etc. But what if that wasn't an issue? What if I made it so that you could have sex without the dire side effects?"

"Right. And you'd do that out of the kindness of your heart."

"Well..." He shrugged and spread his hands wide. "There's always a price."

"It's not worth it. Not worth Seth selling his soul."

"I could sweeten the deal. Give him a longer lifespan...longer youth..."

"No. I swear to God, if you don't leave now, I'm calling Jerome." That was a bluff, seeing as Jerome was out of town.

"Like I said, just trying to help," Niphon said.

"Yeah, like you helped me?" I asked, not bothering to hide the sarcasm.

Suddenly, the mocking, teasing look vanished. Niphon's face grew hard. Angry. Scary.

"I did help you, Little Letha. You were no one. No one at all. Some poor fisherman's daughter in a shit, backwoods town. Some whore in a shit, backwoods town. You fucked up your life, and I fixed it for you. I made you who you are. Erased your problems. Saved your husband. Gave you eternal life and beauty. If anything, you owe me."

"It wasn't worth it," I said, in a voice that matched his dark expression. "It wasn't worth it."

"Wasn't it? Would you have rather watched your husband commit suicide? Would you rather have died an outcast and disgraced?"

I didn't answer. I thought about the desperate look on my husband's face when he'd found out that I'd cheated on him. Even after all these centuries, that expression still haunted me. He'd been driven to such despair that he'd been on the verge of taking his own life. In selling my soul and becoming a succubus, I'd struck a bargain with Hell that made him and everyone else I knew forget me. My husband had lived and gone on with his life, forgetting I'd ever existed. Had it been worth it?

Observing my silence, Niphon's face turned taunting once more. He opened the door. "Good-bye, Georgina. Let me know if you change your mind."

He left, and I stared at the door for a long time before finally forcing my feet to start moving. The Seth soul-selling offer held no temptation for me whatsoever. That didn't trouble me. But his other words...the reminders of my past...

I sighed. I didn't want to deal with that, not with everything else going on in my life right now. And speaking of which...with two hours left until work, I decided to bite the bullet and again try to get more information about my dreams. From Dante.

His store looked as bleak as the last time I'd visited, but this time, he actually had a customer. She was a young woman, college-aged maybe, with layered brown hair and a gray sweatshirt. Seeing her, I started to step back outside, but he waved me in.

"No, no, it's okay. You can wait here." Dante glanced at the girl. Both of them sat at the shabby, velvet-covered table. "You don't mind, do you?"

She barely spared me a glance. "No! No! Hurry, go on. I want to hear more about the man."

Dante produced a dazzling grin that seemed a bit fake to me but which I suspected was actually very effective on her. Taking a step closer, I realized he was reading her Tarot cards. Several already lay on the table. He flipped another over.

"Ah, the Hierophant." His voice held a mysterious, knowing note.

"What's that mean?" she squealed.

"You don't know? You don't know anything about these?"

She shook her head. "Nothing."

"Well, the Hierophant is a great