Succubus Dreams Page 0,38

form. Her energy was so low that she was losing her shape-shifting power.

"Whoa," I said. I'd never seen a succubus that bad. I'd been that low once, but it had been after engaging in a major battle of shape-shifting.

Tears started welling up in her eyes again. "What's going to happen? What if I run out and - " On and on she went.

I sighed. There is a moment in every girl's life when she must choose between the lesser of evils. When you're a succubus, those moments come quite often. And right now, I had to choose. I could risk Niphon never leaving town or I could kiss Tawny.

Lesser of evils.

Standing on my tiptoes, I pressed my lips to hers and cut off her babbling. Her lips tasted like bubble gum, probably from the lip gloss. It wasn't a big kiss or anything - barely any tongue - but it was enough. A surge of power poured out of me and into her. Breaking the kiss, I stepped away and looked at her. Her form had stabilized. Meanwhile, I was now down even more in my own energy, but nowhere near the low she'd just experienced.

Her blue eyes widened to an impossible size. "How...what was that?"

"A kiss," I said dryly. "Something you've apparently got to learn about too." Seeing her still-stunned look, I shook my head. "We're vessels for power and life, Tawny. Usually, it passes into our bodies, but sometimes it can be transferred out to other creatures. Succubi and incubi can share it with each other. What I just gave you should keep you going a little longer."

"I don't know," said Cody suddenly. "I think you should give her some more, just to be safe."

Tawny touched her lips, like she could still feel my kiss. "Wow." Her form shifted, and the mascara mess vanished. Her normal, eerily perfect face reappeared.

I sat down on the arm of the couch, near Peter. "Okay. Now let's figure out how in the world this is even possible. What happened to Nick the auctioneer? You guys seemed pretty close last night."

"Well," she mumbled, staring down at her feet. "That kind of fell apart."

"How could it fall apart? He was drooling all over you!"

"Yeah, but he had to stay and close up there, so we couldn't go out last night. I left without him. Today, I called to set up a date, and he said he didn't want to. That he was cool just giving the money to charity and not to bother with anything else."

"He said that?" I asked incredulously. I eyed her suspiciously. "What did you say to him beforehand?"

"What do you mean?"

"Did you just call and ask him out right away?"

"Well, no...we made small talk. Not that it did much good. He seemed kind of bored by the end."

Surprise, surprise. Tawny didn't strike me as the world's greatest conversationalist. I could only imagine what she must have babbled about to scare him off.

"Okay," I said, disappointed. Nick had seemed like a sure thing. "Maybe you shouldn't, like, talk to them. What about the strip club job? Did you follow up on that?"

She jerked her head up and looked like she might cry again. "I tried! They said I wasn't qualified."

Even the guys couldn't stay out of this now.

"How can you not qualify for a job as a stripper?" asked Cody.

"Yeah, don't you just have to take off your clothes?" asked Hugh.

"They said I couldn't dance," she explained.

We all stared.

"Okay..." I wondered if maybe I should have read the mentor's handbook after all. "Let's see it."

"See what?"

"You. Dancing."

Tawny looked around the room in terror. "Here?" she squeaked. "In front of all of you?"

"If you can't take your clothes off in front of your friends," said Peter, "who can you take them off in front of?" I elbowed him.

"I can't," she whispered.

"Tawny," I barked. My voice held the authority of a drill sergeant. She jumped. "I am not making out with you until the end of time. You want to do this, then you've got to work for it. Now, take off your clothes."

"Oh," said Hugh. "I've waited ten years to hear you say that to another woman."

I found my stereo remote and turned it on. "Tainted Love" started playing.

"I can't strip to the eighties!"

"Tawny!"

With a terrified look in my direction, she moved to the center of the living room. At first, she just kind of stood there, and then, slowly, she tried to step in time to the music. I say tried