Succubus Dreams Page 0,88

different ways. Kind of a fail-safe, really. In taking energy from you and human victims, she was able to double her stash. It made it easier to hide from us. When her power dipped, I think she was actually...hiding in you."

"Ew." I suddenly felt violated. "How is that possible? Is she...is she there now?" I glanced down at my lower body, as though I might actually see something.

He peered at me. "No, I don't think so. She's probably got enough energy to run loose for a while. As for how she does it...well, life and energy move in and out of you, and at some level, she's both of those things. You're a conduit for those forces."

"I wish people would stop calling me that. It makes me feel like a machine."

"Hardly. The merging she does with you is how you occasionally get a sense for what she's been doing. Some of the details of her mischief leak into you, though she goes to great pains to hide it - and herself."

"How?"

"The dreams," said Vincent. "She's distracting you with them. Happy, consuming dreams that you're starting to obsess on. Your subconscious is so enmeshed in them at night that you don't notice her leaching the energy while you sleep."

I leaned back in my chair, dumbfounded. I'd dealt with a lot of weird shit in my life - an exceptional amount of it occurring in the last few months, actually - but this was shooting to the top of the list. My skin crawled, and I had the surreal sense that my body was no longer my own.

I was also kind of bothered by the fact that my dreams had been red herrings, meant to throw me off the path of what was going on. They were so sweet...so powerful. I treasured them, yet it seemed they were nothing but lies. Illusions created by a monster to hide her parasitic control of me. That knowledge cheapened the beauty of what I'd seen. I loved the little girl. I wanted to believe in her. I wanted her to be real.

"Well," said Joel brusquely, narrowed eyes fixed on me. "We've got to use the succubus to lure Nyx out." He gestured to me. "Go. Go out and seduce some poor soul, so Nyx'll come back."

I flinched. Yasmine glared at him. "Can't you see she's upset? Show some compassion."

"Denizens of evil deserve none," he muttered.

Across the room, Whitney stood by the door. She'd spoken little, so her voice startled me. "All creatures deserve compassion." I looked up and met her eyes. They were dark and bottomless, filled with power and emotion. I had the sensation of falling into that blackness, much like I experienced with Carter sometimes. I decided I didn't like hanging out with angels. They did a lot of soul searching - and usually it involved mine.

More awkward silence fell. "Okay, okay," I said. "We don't all have to spill our feelings and hold hands here. Tell me what you need me to do."

"You're going to be bait, Georgina," said Carter.

"I'm always bait," I grumbled. "Why is that? Why do these things keep happening to me?" Not too long ago, I'd had to play bait for a date-raping demigod. I hadn't been any happier then than I was now.

I expected a joke, but Carter's response was serious. "Because you're one of those unique individuals whom powers in the universe tend to gather around."

That was worse than being a conduit. I didn't want any of those things. I didn't want to be a target. I wanted my quiet life back where I worked in a bookstore and had a blissful, perfect relationship with my boyfriend. Okay, I'd never had such a relationship yet, but a girl can dream.

Dream.

Bad choice of words.

"Unfortunately," said Yasmine delicately, "Joel is right to a certain extent. We do need you to, um, replenish your energy in order to lure Nyx out." Joel grimaced.

I sighed. "I know this is important...I don't want her to hurt anyone else, but well, does it have to be tonight? Can we do it tomorrow? I just...I just don't feel up to it." Not after Seth. Not after any of this. I was so, so mentally exhausted. Sex sounded nauseating, energy or no.

Joel clenched his fists. "Don't feel up to it? This is no time for whims! Lives are at stake - "

"Joel," said Carter. It was one word, but it was hard and powerful. I'd never heard lax, sarcastic Carter speak in that sort