Succubus Dreams Page 0,66

jerked my head up. "But you love him."

"Sometimes loving someone means you have to do what's ultimately good. What you need instead of what you want."

"I suppose. But ending it seems so extreme. There must be a way to...I don't know, have it all."

The door opened, and Vincent walked in. He didn't look surprised to see either of us, but then, he would have sensed our auras. His eyes met Yasmine's, and it was like lightning crackling through the room. Both of them lit up, shining in a way that I doubted my succubus glamour could even begin to compete with.

He expressed surprise over my Yuletide Forest but jumped in to help us, appearing just as excited as Yasmine over the activity. The two of them never touched, but I noticed the same thing that I had at breakfast: an intimacy in the way they interacted with each other. They didn't need to touch. Their relationship was obvious, and I wondered how it was possible none of the other angels had ever noticed this. Maybe it was like what Yasmine had mentioned about angels and hubris. Maybe angels always assumed they were perfect and were too blind to see flaws in each other, whereas someone like me - who exploited weakness - knew what to look for.

We finished Peter's tree, and then I found my ornaments from last year - the ones that hadn't been destroyed in the fire - and used them on the bookstore's tree. When my woodland paradise was finally complete, Yasmine and Vincent made their farewells and left. I still had no idea what their divine mission in Seattle was, but I assumed it had universal consequences. I felt a little weird that it had been put on hold to decorate my home.

As I cleaned up the boxes, I kept thinking about what Yasmine had said about needing versus wanting. In some ways, that was what Seth and I did. We wanted to have sex. We needed to avoid it.

I also found myself recalling Andrew again, that annoyingly good priest who'd caused me so many headaches. I hadn't thought much about his story since last week, but as my body mindlessly completed chores, the images began replaying in my mind.

Despite my best efforts, he'd remained a bastion of purity and willpower. While frustrating, it nonetheless continued to make the game fun. And although I didn't appreciate it as much back then as I did now, I sort of took pleasure in just hanging around him. He was good company, and he came to mean more to me than just a sexual conquest. It was obvious he cared about me too.

It would figure that things went bad between us on a beautiful, sunny day. I remembered it distinctly. I had wandered over to the church he ministered out of and sat with him in the vegetable garden. I stayed clear of the dirt, conscious of the yellow silk dress my bishop had just had made for me. Andrew, less concerned, worked on his knees, unhesitatingly digging in - literally - and cultivating the church's small crop.

"Don't you have other people who could do this for you?"

Squinting up at me in the bright light, he smiled. "Nothing compares to the satisfaction of doing something yourself."

"If you say so."

He returned to his work, and I continued to sit quietly, watching him and the lazy vista of that golden afternoon. Not far away, the sounds of daily hustle and bustle carried over. I liked this town - it was a nice break from the large, busy cities I'd spent most of my succubus time in. Eventually, though, I knew I'd grow restless and move onto some place with a little more excitement.

I turned back to Andrew. "Thomas Brewer just got back from Cadwell. He says they're all getting sick there."

Andrew nodded. "People are getting sick everywhere. There have been outbreaks in a lot of the western towns."

"Are you worried?"

He shrugged. "What comes will come. None of us can change God's will."

I grimaced. I'd heard about this illness, what later generations would call the Black Death. The rapid onset. The blackened skin. The swollen lumps. Even if it couldn't technically hurt me, I didn't want to see it spread here.

"I don't think God can be as merciful as you say in mass if He's inflicting something like that on his people."

"It's a test, Cecily. God is always testing us. It makes us stronger."

"Or dead."

He didn't respond.

"What will you do if it