Succubus Blues

 "Then what?" asked Hugh.

 "He's in bad shape. It'll take him a long time to recover. When he does, he knows he doesn't have the backup to return here again."

 "He could still take on me," I noted, shivering as I remembered Roman's wrath toward me at the end. It was hard to believe we'd been wrapped in each other's arms, caught in the throes of passion, less than twenty-four hours ago.

 "He could take you on," agreed Carter. "But he can't take me on. Or Jerome. He certainly can't take both of us on. That was what decided it, in the end. They didn't expect that. Us teamed together. It'll give him pause to just come bursting back here, even if you alone pose no threat."

 I didn't find that reassuring in the least. I thought of Roman, passionate and rebellious, always eager to make a point against the system. That personality type lent itself well to revenge. I had tricked him, made love to him, and then betrayed him, resulting in the a

 He might pause, as Carter had suggested, but not for long. Of that, I was certain.

 "He'll be back," I whispered, more to myself. "Someday he'll be back."

 Carter gave me a steady look. "Then we will deal with him then."

 My front door opened, and Jerome entered. He looked neat and prim, hardly like he'd just been in an apocalyptic battle with his own offspring.

 "Housekeeping all done?" asked Carter.

 "Yes." The demon's eyes darted over to Seth. "He's alive?"

 "Yes."

 Angel and demon locked eyes then, and a tense moment of palpable silence hung between them.

 "How fortuitously unexpected," Jerome murmured at last. "I could have sworn he was dead. Well. Miracles happen every day. I suppose we'll have to wipe him now."

 I stood up. "What are you talking about?"

 "Nice to have you back with us again, Georgie. You look lovely, by the way."

 I glared at him, angry at his joke, knowing it was Seth's energy giving me the succubus glamour now. "What do you mean you have to 'wipe' him?"

 "What do you think? We can't let him walk away after everything he's seen. I'll diminish a little of his affection for you while I'm at it; he's a liability to you."

 "What? No. You can't do that."

 Jerome sighed, putting on the look of one who suffered long and hard. "Georgina, do you have any idea what he was just exposed to? He has to be wiped. We can't let him know about us."

 "How much of me will you take from him?" Pieces of Seth's memories—my memories, now—glittered in my head like jewels.

 "Enough so that he forgets he has any more than a passing knowledge of you. You've been even more negligent with your job than usual these last few weeks." I hardly thought that was Seth's fault; Roman had helped too. "Both of you will function much better if he finds some mortal woman to obsess on instead."

 Don't you want to stand out in some way? Carter's taunting question from what seemed like an eternity ago whispered in my head. "You don't have to do this. You don't have to take me out with the rest."

 "If I'm already in there, I might as well clear you too. There's no way he can just go on as usual after being exposed to denizens of the divine realms. Even you have to agree with that."

 "Some mortals know about us," I argued. "Like Erik. Erik knows, and he keeps it to himself."

 In fact, I realized suddenly, Erik had kept Helena's secret to himself as well. He had figured it out after working with her over the years but had never revealed the full truth, only doling out small clues for me.

 "Erik is a special case. He has a gift. An ordinary mortal like this one couldn't handle it." Jerome walked over to my couch, looking at Seth dispassionately. "It's better this way."

 "No. Please," I cried, ru

 The archdemon turned to me, dark eyes cold and shocked that I would dare grab hold of him like that. I knew then, cringing under that gaze, that something in our fond, indulgent relationship had changed forever—something small, but important nonetheless. I didn't know what had done it. Maybe it had been Seth. Maybe it had been Roman. Maybe it had been something else altogether. All I knew was that it had happened.

 "Please," I begged, ignoring how desperate I must sound. "Please don't. Don't take me from him... out of his head like that. I'll do anything you want. Anything." I brushed a hand over my eyes, attempting to look calm and in control, knowing I was failing.

 One eyebrow shifted ever so slightly on Jerome's face, the only hint that I had piqued his interest. The term "deal with the devil" had not arisen lightly; few demons could resist a bargain.

 "What could you possibly offer me? The sex thing only worked on my son, so don't even think about trying it now."

 "Yes," I agreed, voice growing stronger as I plunged forward. "It worked on him. It works on all sorts of men. I'm good, Jerome. Better than you know. Why do you think I'm the only succubus in this city? It's because I'm one of the best. Before I hit this funk... this, I don't know, whatever mood I've been in for a while now, I could have any man I wanted. And not just simply for their strength and life force. I could manipulate them. Make them do anything I asked, talk them into acts of sin they never would have dreamed of before meeting me. And they would do it. They'd do it, and they'd like doing it."

 "Go on."

 I took a deep breath. "You're tired of the 'all lowlifes, all the time,' right? Me being negligent? Well, I can change that. I can raise your stock higher than you've ever dreamed. I've done it before. All you have to do is let Seth go. Let him keep his memories intact. All of them."

 Jerome studied me a moment, mind working. "All the 'stock' in the world won't do me any good if he runs around blathering about what he's seen."

 "Then we'll see if he can handle it first. When he recovers and wakes up, we'll talk to him. If he doesn't look like he'll be able to cope with it all... well, then you can erase his memories."

 "Who will make the call if he can cope or not?"

 I hesitated, not wanting that decision in the demon's hands. "Carter will. Carter can tell if someone's telling the truth." I looked at the angel. "You'll know if it's okay, right? Okay for him to know... about us?"

 Carter gave me an odd look, one I could not interpret. "Yes," he finally admitted.

 "What about your end?" asked Jerome. "Will you hold it up—even if Carter decides he's unsafe?"

 That was harsh. I had a feeling Jerome wouldn't negotiate on this one, but I was willing to risk it, so confident did I feel about Seth's capacity to process immortal activity. I opened my mouth, about to agree, when I caught Hugh shaking his head at me out of the corner of my eye. Frowning, he tapped his watch, mouthing something I couldn't understand at first.

 Then, it clicked. Time. I had listened to the imp talk about his job enough to know the rules of negotiation: never make an open-ended deal with a demon. "If Seth keeps his memories, I'll walk the succubus straight and narrow for a century. If they have to be erased anyway, then I'll still do it for... a third of that."

 "Half," countered Jerome. "We aren't mortal. Even a century is nothing on the face of eternity."

 "Half," I agreed dully, "but no more than survival dictates. I'm not going to do this every day, if that's what you're thinking. I'll only get fixes as I need them, but they'll be strong ones. Very strong—loaded with sin. With men of good caliber, that'll be... oh, every four to six weeks."

 "I want better than that. Extra credit. Every couple of weeks, whether you need it or not."

 I closed my eyes, unable to fight anymore. "Every couple of weeks."