The Naphil's Kiss (10 page)

Chapter 15

Lucien led his lady out of her bedroom. Much time had passed while they had been inside. He had missed breakfast altogether, and his stressed body was clamoring for food. She had taken a tremendous amount of energy from him. Not only the feeding, but the physical energy required for multiple orgasms had exhausted him, despite how wonderful it has been. Not to mention he'd just returned from a battle. Now he was starving to the point of lightheadedness. Hand-in-hand they made their way through the compound to the empty kitchen. The women and some of the men took turns cooking meals, but a variety of snacks was also available.

Lucien scanned the refrigerator and snagged an apple, crunching it noisily while Sarahi rummaged for a pan and heated it on the stove.

“How can a creature who does not need to eat know how to cook?” he teased.

“How can a creature sworn to celibacy be so good in bed?” she bantered back. He shut up.

Sarahi sautéed onion and bell pepper in the pan with some bacon, and then added a few beaten eggs. By the time he'd finished his apple and a banana, she'd completed the omelet and slid it onto a plate. Lucien devoured it. She sat beside him, toying with a cup of lukewarm coffee. While Sarahi did not require food or drink, she could ingest them if she so desired. Or so she'd told him. Once the edge of Lucien's hunger was satisfied, he returned his attention to his lady, taking her hand and admiring the long, slender fingers, the perfect half-moon nails, and the silky soft skin. He touched his lips to her palm, and then to the pulse in her wrist. He felt her heartbeat increase. She opened her hand against his cheek, stroking him.

He stood abruptly and hauled her into his arms for another toe-curling kiss. This was madness. They needed to slow down. But he couldn't.

“Sarahi!” A harsh voice behind them separated the couple.

Mr. Smith stood, arms crossed over his chest, regarding the succubus with an angry scowl. “You promised us our men would be in no danger from you. You swore you'd never seduce them. What on earth is this?”

“Mr. Smith, I…”

“Quiet,” he ordered, slashing the air with his hand. “You'll have to leave now. We can't have you here, not if you're harming our men.”

“Mr. Smith,” Lucien cut off the elder's tirade.

He stopped dead and turned, taking in the face. “Lucien? You? Did you learn nothing from your previous punishment?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I did.” Lucien said, deliberately being cryptic.

“I know you have a… weakness for women, but a succubus? Really?”

Lucien shook his head. “No, not in the way you think. Sarahi did not seduce me. She would not do that.”

“But… but…” the cleric sputtered.

“Listen, you wanted to know… I'll tell you. This is not a casual fling with a hungry succubus. We've known each other a long time. Sarahi is… Josiah's mother.”

That rendered the stuttering cleric silent. He looked from Lucien to Sarahi and back. Apparently, Lucien's lady felt nervous. She clung a little closer to him and he tightened his arm around her protectively.

“Mo… mo…mother?” Mr. Smith forced out at last. “You mean he's… “

“Half Naphil, half…me,” she said softly.

“A demon,” he gritted out. “That explains so much.” A sour look passed over the elder's face.

“He's not a demon,” Sarahi hissed. Lucien could not recall ever having heard that ugly, snake-line tone in her voice before. Apparently even a mother succubus could be dangerous when defending her offspring. “He's less demon than I am, and you let me stay here. What makes you dislike him so much?”

“There's something wrong with the boy. And before you go all cobra on me, Sarahi, remember, I've raised him since infancy. You've never seen him. You have no idea the trouble he's caused in this place, with his strange urges and his unnatural abilities.”

Her body tensed in Lucien's arms and he tightened his grip, silently warning her to remain calm.

“Listen, Mr. Smith,” he said, “I've been here the last ten years, and I have not seen him behave differently than any of the other boys. Why are you so set against him? If this is the way you've treated him, no wonder he's begged me to take him away.”

“I wish you had,” Mr. Smith said coldly. “He should never have existed. I felt that when I thought he was your son by a human woman. Now that I know he's a demon…”

“He is
not
a demon,” Sarahi repeated, more forcefully. “He is the incubus. And you should be careful how you treat him. If he hates you, he will side against you. He'll go to
her.
Even now she calls for him.”

Mr. Smith's eyes bugged out. “Incubus? But… that's just a legend!”

Sarahi turned in Lucien's arms, fully facing the furious elder. “If that's so, then why has Mother been trying to create one for millennia? She's not stupid. She knows the prophecies as well as you do… at least the ones she has access to. You have volumes here she's never seen. The incubus exists. He lives right now. Where is he? Where is my son?”

Mr. Smith gulped. “He's been sent with several other junior clerics to investigate a succubus in Billings.”

Sarahi blinked.

“Now listen, ma'am, I think we need to talk.”

“Yes, I agree,” Sarahi said coldly. “I sent my son away so he would be safe. If I hear he's been abused in some way…”

“He has never been harmed, I swear,” Mr. Smith replied.

Sarahi nodded. “Very well then,” she said, though Lucien could tell from the tension in her arms she wasn't fully convinced. “We
do
need to talk.”

“We certainly do,” the elder agreed. “In fact, let's gather the council, the other Nephilim, and the clerical generals. I think this is information everyone needs.”

“I agree,” Sarahi said. “That will give me a few minutes to gather my materials.”

Half an hour later, the conference room was filled to capacity. The massive table seated two dozen, and the seven elders sat in a row on one side, with Mr. Smith at the corner, the seat of power. Opposite them were the generals of the Nephilim; Lucien, Jonas, and five others Sarahi did not know by name, though she'd seen them at one time or another. The rest of the seats were taken by the heads of the Order of Clerics; stoic men of whom Sarahi knew none. Younger clerics, teachers and elders-in-training crowded around the table, standing upright or leaning against the wall. Sarahi had been given a spot beside Mr. Smith, across from Lucien. Just as the meeting began, a silent figure dressed in white slipped into the room and found a spot in the corner.

All eyes turned toward Sarahi. She suddenly regretted volunteering to lead this discussion. After three millennia of hiding, she didn't like being thrust into the spotlight. And it really was a spotlight, the overhead bulb glaring down on her, leaving nowhere to hide. She gulped and met Lucien's eyes. He nodded, offering silent support.

“I wanted to start by thanking everyone who has made me feel so welcome here. It can't have been easy, having a succubus in your midst.” Gasps erupted all around the room and Sarahi suppressed a grin. Now she really had their attention. “The reason I'm here is that I've been marked for death by my mother. I don't know if you are aware, but all succubae are the daughters of Lilith, in a literal sense. There is so much information I need to share with you. I'm not used to public speaking, so I hope you'll forgive me if I… ramble, and don't present my thoughts in the most organized way…”

“The demoness is your mother?” a heavyset elder demanded. “The succubae are your sisters? Why did we not hear this before? And why are you turning against them? Have you no loyalty to your family?”

She turned to the man, meeting his eyes squarely, and he flinched.

“You should be glad I have chosen your side,” she told him coldly. “I choose to believe that DNA does not determine destiny. I have made a choice. Don't make me regret it.” She let her nails grow from delicate shell colored half-moons to become three inch, razor-sharp talons.

He nodded once, cowed into silence.

“Now, does anyone else want to waste time on silly questions, or can we move forward?”

No one spoke.

She opened the book in front of her, an ancient text bound in musty-smelling leather. “All right. The information I wanted to present to you involves the incubus.”

Several people snorted, and one man near the door turned abruptly and walked out.

“It's a fact, not a legend,” Sarahi announced. “He already lives.”

That drew their attention back to her.

“What proof do you have?” Mr. Smith demanded. “You saying it doesn't make it so.”

“You're right. And I'm prepared to offer it. I'm in a rather unique position, having spent my life with access to the library of prophesies owned by the succubae. I've read them all. I never guessed the ones you had would be so… different. Combining them, I think I finally understand what they mean.” She swallowed, glancing down at the book and then back up at the people around her, meeting their eyes. She locked gazes with The Assassin and received a wink. She smiled grimly.

“What it means, friends, is that war is coming.”

“I hate to break it to you, Toots,” one of the cleric generals drawled sarcastically, “but we've been at war for millennia.”

“I know that,” Sarahi snapped. “I'm not talking about these little skirmishes and sneak attacks we've been engaging in since time immemorial. I'm talking about outright war. She will come, and she will kill us all.”

“And just why would that happen?” the Naphil seated next to Lucien asked. “What reason could she possibly have to come against us now?”

“It's because of the incubus,” Sarahi said. “To the succubae, to Lilith, it's not a legend or a myth. It's a fact. She's been trying for years to create one.”

“Why?” Several difference voices posed the query simultaneously.

“Yes, that is the question,” Sarahi agreed. “And that's where having access to both sets of prophecies has answered a lot of questions for me. Your records explain what an incubus is. Lilith's explain what one does.”

“Enough with the foreplay, succubus,” another of the generals said. “Get to the point.”

“The point is, the incubus is an inexhaustible source of power. He will not take energy from intercourse with others. He will create it.”

“That's impossible,” Mr. Smith said. “Energy cannot be created.”

“Perhaps not as such,” Sarahi admitted, “but it can be generated. Think of a static charge. When two objects rub against each other, it can create a spark, even if neither object is electrical in nature. That same kind of process goes on inside the incubus.”

She glanced around again. They were finally listening. Good.

“I believe I also know why. Our texts speak of the incubus's power. He will be able to provide unlimited energy to his partner, or he can use it to enhance lust, or even kill. He's a living weapon.”

“I can understand why Lilith would want one,” Lucien said. The sound of his deep voice made a little shiver roll up her spine.

“Yes. But what she did not understand was how to go about getting one. She assumed her demon blood, mixed with human, would suffice, if only a son could be conceived. But that's not the case. Human nature, tainted as it is with original sin, mixes easily with the demon. No conflict. No energy. It requires untainted DNA to create the friction which will result in the energy production.”

“So, an angel, then?”

Sarahi looked for the source of the voice. It was a woman standing near the door.

“In a sense, yes. However, Lilith could rape an angel and not conceive. Their natures are too disparate. You might as well mate a tiger with a fish. Nothing would happen. The mingling requires a catalyst. Lilith herself can never produce an incubus, because the catalyst, human DNA, is not present in her. She is fully demon.”

She waited, hoping someone else would make the inevitable leap.

“So then,” Mr. Smith said, “human DNA is the catalyst?”

“I believe so,” Sarahi replied. “Because it is, as the Bible says, `God-breathed,' human can join with angel, as the existence of the Nephilim proves. But because of sin…”

“Human DNA can also merge with demon, producing succubae.”

She nodded.

“So then,” drawled one of the clerics, a young man with bright blue eyes and a lusty gaze which raked insolently over Sarahi's torso, “spit it out. How do you make an incubus?”

“Isn't it obvious, Peter?” Lucien asked the boy. “If the mingling of demonic and angelic blood can only happen in the presence of human DNA, then the way to produce an incubus is…”

“To breed a Naphil to a succubus?” The blue eyes widened. “Good thing Nephilim are chaste!”

Lucien's dark skin turned even darker. “Not entirely,” he said in a tight, strangled-sounding voice. All eyes turned from Sarahi to him.

“Lucien?” Jonas said, his voice tight as though begging him not to go any further with this line of thought.

“You know I have a son. You all know this. It is not a secret.”

“But Lucien… his mother is human,” Jonas protested. “Tell me she's human.”

“No,” Sarahi answered. “Only half.”

The implications sank in slowly. Eyes and expressions spoke of rejection, fear and revulsion.