"Oh, you mean the feminazi who went before you?"
I frowned. "No, I mean the giant blonde in silver that he bid on."
"Oh, yeah," Liam agreed. "She was crazy. Attractive, but crazy."
"You actually thought she was pretty?"
"Sure. Not as pretty as you, of course," he hastily added, mistaking my meaning. "But the auctioneer apparently thought otherwise. He couldn't keep his hands off of her."
"Oh, come on. He barely touched her."
"Well, not during the auction, of course. I mean afterward."
"What?"
I was interrupted when the waiter came by. I had to wait for Liam to order wine before he could finish the story.
"After the auction. I was there helping wrap things up. Deanna's a friend of my ex-wife's. When we all finished, Nick and that blonde were all over each other and left together."
"That...that isn't possible."
Tawny had said they'd left separately. There was no way she and Nick could have been hot and heavy the night of the auction. The following night had been when she showed up for the dance lesson. Even if she was lying about things falling apart with Nick - and really, why would she? - she'd obviously had no recent energy fix. Massive shape-shifting, on the scale of nonhuman shapes, could burn through energy that quickly, but a new succubus wouldn't have that skill yet. None of this made sense. Liam, obviously, didn't catch my confusion.
"Why's it so hard to believe?" he asked.
I shook my head. "It's...never mind. I hope they had a great time. Now...what kind of wine did you order? I missed it."
Not wanting to ruin dinner, I put the Tawny conundrum into a holding bin in my mind and did my best to give Liam his seventeen-hundred-dollars worth. When dinner ended, we walked back toward his car, enjoying a leisurely pace. The weather, though damp, had warmed to about fifty. Seattle's fickle winters did that sometimes, only to freeze up a day or so later. When Liam slipped his hand into mine, I let him, but it presented me with a dilemma.
He was no one I really planned on seeing again. As a courtesy to Seth and an attempt at a normal life, I avoided casual affairs in this body. All of those reasons meant I shouldn't let the night escalate into anything more than a friendly handshake good-bye. But suddenly, I was feeling the loss of my energy. It had felt so good to have Simon's - yet it had been stripped from me before I could even do anything with it. It'd be so nice to have that feeling back, to go home with Liam and get what I needed.
When we reached his car, he kept holding my hand and turned me so that I faced him. "What now?" he asked.
"I don't know." I was still torn on what to do. "I'm open to suggestion."
Liam smiled, a cute smile that showed in his blue eyes too. "Well, how about this?" He leaned down and kissed me, much as Dante had nearly done.
Oh, Liam. Liam was a good man. A good, good man. Seth caliber. The moment our lips touched, I felt the sweetness of his life energy trickling into me. My desire woke up, and I pressed myself to him. I might not like to use this body, but these were unusual circumstances. I made my decision. I'd sleep with him and part ways. He was a nice guy, not a psycho stalker. He might be disappointed, but he wouldn't give me grief for wanting to be friends in the morning.
He kissed me harder, pushing me against the side of the car. All that energy from just one kiss. The sex was going to be great.
Yes, yes. More. Get more. Feed me.
I jerked away from Liam.
He looked down at me, legitimately concerned. "What's the matter?"
It had been a whisper in my head. Faint but real. It had been paired with a longing, a deep longing for Liam's energy that rivaled my own need - but it hadn't been mine. It had belonged to someone - or something - else. Suddenly, it all came back to me. The conversations with Dante and Erik. Some creature preying on me and stealing my energy. True, it was what I did to men...but, well, I couldn't help how I felt. And just then, I felt nauseous at the thought of some parasitic creature coming to me tonight because I was full of energy. It made my skin crawl. Bad enough this thing was using me. It was also using me to use Liam.
I looked back at him; he was so cute and so nice. I shook my head. I couldn't do this. I needed the energy, but I was going to put if off as long as possible. I wouldn't give this thing what it wanted.
"Liam..." I said slowly. "I should tell you something. I, um, just recently got out of a long relationship, and I went to the auction because I thought I could, you know..."
He sighed, not appearing angry so much as regretful. "You aren't ready."
I shook my head. "I'm really sorry. I wanted to help at the auction, and I thought I could move on."
He squeezed the hand he was still holding and released it. "Well...I'm sad, but I understand. And I like you...if we went out, I'd like to work on something serious. That can't happen until you're ready, and I'd never want to force you."
Oh, God. Nice, nice guy.
"I'm so, so sorry," I said. I meant it. I so wanted his energy.
"Nothing to be sorry about," he told me, smiling. "Come on, I'll take you home."
He returned me to Queen Anne, and I kissed him on the cheek before leaving the car. He told me to call him when I was ready to date again, and I told him I would.
Once he was gone, I didn't go inside. Instead, I called Dante.
"It's your favorite succubus," I said when he answered.
I heard him yawn. "Debatable. What do you want? It's late."
"I need to talk to you. Something weird happened."
"I'm in bed, succubus. Unless you plan on joining me, I'd rather not receive visitors right now."
"Please, Dante. It's important."
He sighed. "Fine, come on over."
"I don't know where you live."
"Of course you do. You've been here a gazillion times."
"You live in your store?"
"Why would I want to pay rent for two different places?"
I drove down to the shop. The sign read CLOSED, but there was a faint light inside. Dante opened the door when I knocked. He wore jeans and a plain T-shirt, nothing unusual, but the disheveled hair suggested he had indeed been in bed.
"Sorry," I told him. "Maybe I should have waited."
"Too late for regrets. Come on in."
He led me through the storefront, back to the small door I usually saw closed. On the other side was a large room that appeared to be a combination living space, office, supply closet, and...workshop.
"Erik was right," I said, walking over to a high set of shelves. They were filled with jars and bottles of herbs and unidentifiable liquids. "You are a magician." I considered. "Or at least you're pretending to be."
"No faith in me. Probably smart." He pointed to a bean bag chair and a plaid ottoman. "Take your pick if you don't want the bed."
I chose the ottoman. "Well, it's not that I don't trust you...but everything else you do is a scam. Of course, Erik has to hate you for something legitimate, and he wouldn't have sent me to you in the first place if you didn't have some kind of skill."
"Interesting logic. Maybe he hates me for my charming personality." He rubbed his eyes and yawned again. With the motion of his arm, I noticed faint punctures in the middle of his arm that I'd never seen with long sleeves.
"Maybe he hates you for your vices."
Dante looked at where I was staring. He shrugged, unconcerned. "Nah, Lancaster has better things to worry about than a casual hit now and then."
"From my experience, there's no such thing as a casual hit."
"What, are you here to do an intervention now, succubus?"
"No," I admitted. I had neither time nor interest to reform Dante. "But I heard a voice tonight."
"I heard a voice too. It called and woke me up."
"Dante!"
Angrily, I explained the situation. A hint of his sarcastic smile remained, but otherwise, he actually seemed concerned.
"Huh. Interesting. It actually raised its ugly head."
"What do you think that means?"
"Not a clue until we know what it is. The only thing I can guess is that it was desperate for some reason. Until now, it's done a pretty good job at hiding itself - aside from your energy loss, obviously." He brightened a little. "I don't suppose it's here now, urging you to jump me?"