“Fine.” He let go and dropped her, nearly dumping Jez on her ass again as he continued forward. “Stay down, and run like hell,” he hissed over his shoulder as he ducked through the exit doors, just a second before the two bottle bombs exploded.
2
Noah shook his
head at the annoyed expression that slid across Jezebeth’s features when he’d nearly dropped her on her ass. After all, he’d risked his neck to save her back there; she could at least be appreciative. Hadn’t he told her to run?
She came back for you,
his conscience reminded him, making him scowl.
That had surprised him. From everything he’d learned about succubi in the past few weeks from the imp Lilith had sent to give him this assignment, he’d figured Jezebeth would cut and run and he’d have to track her down once he’d killed the demon.
Although since the imp who had given him the information was the same one who had just tried to help the pestilence demon kill him, Noah wasn’t sure how much of its so-called information he could trust.
He had to admit, he’d been impressed with Jezebeth’s quick thinking in making the bottle bombs. Succubi had to be smart to survive as they did, so maybe this assignment would be quick and easy.
Yeah, right.
Noah adjusted his backpack on his shoulders and winced as the shards of glass still embedded in his arm and side from the first of the bottle bombs moved inside their wounds. Once the first one had exploded he’d kept his distance and let the demon take the worst of the debris.
He mentally shoved aside the pain and glanced around. It wouldn’t be too long before the pestilence demon recovered enough to come after them, and they needed to put some distance between them and it as quickly as they could. He doubted they’d been lucky enough to destroy its earthbound form—mid-level bounty demons were supposed to be very hard to kill.
Noah edged around the building and breathed a sigh of relief when the pickup he’d stocked with supplies still sat unharmed in the parking lot. The way the last few weeks had gone, he wouldn’t have been surprised if the truck mysteriously disappeared and he had to walk the damned succubus to the final rendezvous.
He looked over his shoulder to find Jezebeth peering past him toward the parking lot. Her ridiculously large breasts nearly spilled out of her corset as she leaned forward to see around the corner. Noah resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “By the way, I’m Noah. Lilith sent me here to bring you back to her lair.” The words sounded inane, even as they spilled from his lips, but he couldn’t think of a better way to broach the subject quickly.
A furrow appeared between her dark brows, and she looked him up and down as if seeing him for the first time. “Seriously?” From her tone, her disbelief was obvious.
A spurt of irritation sizzled through him and he said through gritted teeth, “Yes, seriously.”
“Prove it,” she said before edging past him and walking quickly toward the parking lot. “And do it quickly,” she called over her shoulder. “I’ve got to get out of here.”
He caught up to her in a few quick steps and grabbed her arm, spinning her around to face him.
She winced and cried out, the sound lancing guilt through him like a sharp knife. He’d forgotten that was her injured arm, and now he felt like an ass as he dropped his hand.
She glared at him, the venom in her gaze stopping him as if she’d slapped him.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
When her glare turned to surprise, confusion swam through him. She wasn’t quite what he’d expected. True, the short, spiky hair combined with the over-generous curves made her look like a bad caricature of what he’d envisioned a succubus to be. But what did he know? She had survived for centuries before this, so men obviously liked the look.
He mentally shrugged and raised his free hand to eye level to show her the sterling silver ring the imp had given him from Lilith but had warned him not to remove until his assignment was complete. “This is the only proof I have to show you.”
At her dubious expression, doubts spilled through him.
Had the imp given him something that would tell her to kill him instead of believing him? The sterling silver ring had faded ancient Hebrew characters inscribed on it that roughly translated to the current-day equivalent of “Temptation”—fitting and ironic for a succubus. But would that really convince her he was here to help?
Jezebeth’s brow furrowed, and she reached out tentatively to touch the ring with just the tip of her index finger.
Noah had the impression she was afraid the sterling silver might burn her. He racked his brain to see if he knew anything about the effects of silver on succubi, but came up blank. He had just opened his mouth to suggest they get out of here first and save the “proof” for later when Jezebeth gasped and her lips opened in a tiny “o.”
She gave no explanation of her reaction before she raised her gaze to his and nodded once, her face suddenly serious. “Good enough. Let’s go.”
Before she could walk off again, he grabbed the wrist of her uninjured arm and pulled her after him farther into the parking lot toward his truck. He made a mental note to ask her about the ring as soon as they were out of immediate danger.
Jezebeth followed behind him until they were nearly to the truck, then she slowed her steps. For a long moment, he worried that the effects of her injuries were finally catching up with her. He’d seen how deeply the pestilence demon’s claws had penetrated her shoulder, so her words surprised him.
“Please tell me they aren’t with you.”
Noah frowned and glanced back at her trying to figure out what she meant. He followed her line of sight to find a large pickup parked just next to his in the now nearly deserted parking lot. Two burly good old boys were sprawled in the bed of the truck as if they’d passed out before everyone had fled the building. “No, I came alone. Why?” He glanced back at her, and she smiled, just a small, sardonic curve of her lips.
“I had to take some quick energy from them to be able to come back inside and help.” She shrugged. “Would’ve sucked if I’d just exhausted your entire escape plan.”
Noah glanced at the men, who didn’t look as if either of them would be waking any time soon. Shock and revulsion spilled through him, and he frowned down at the succubus. “You came out here and had sex with both of them?”
Jezebeth yanked her wrist from his grip and glared at him with a clearly irate expression. “If I’d had full-on sex with two men in the parking lot, don’t you think I’d be fully healed and not walking around in this hooker getup?”
Noah had no idea how the succubus/energy thing worked, but filed away that bit of information to study later.
A roar shook the building and shot a new dose of adrenaline through Noah in a sudden surge. He fished in his front pocket for the truck keys and pressed the alarm button to unlock the doors. “Run!”
The command turned out to be unnecessary as Jezebeth had stayed so close on his heels that when he opened the driver’s side door to the truck, she jumped in and slid across the bench seat to the passenger’s side.
In a quick motion, he shrugged out of the backpack, ignoring the lancing pains up and down his right side from the shards of glass, and tossed the pack to Jezebeth before he jumped in the truck and slammed the door. He started the truck and peeled out of the parking lot as he fumbled for his seat belt.
A quick glance over at Jezebeth showed him her struggle with her own seat belt, her injured arm not working quite like it should. “Hold on tight and as soon as we’re clear, I’ll help you with that.”
She glared over at him as she grabbed onto what his family referred to as the “oh shit” handle just over the passenger window. Then she kicked off her shoes, bracing her feet against the dashboard since her legs weren’t long enough to reach the floor. The movement edged her tiny excuse for a skirt up around the tops of her thighs and Noah got a quick eyeful of the smooth, clean-shaven skin that covered her mons.
His cock swelled to life, and he swallowed hard as he ripped his gaze away from Jezebeth and back onto the road.
She’s a succubus!
And she’d just fucked two strangers in the parking lot—or did something close enough to take all their energy and make them pass out. How in the hell could his body be responding to that?
Succubus glamour?
He swerved out of the parking lot and glanced up into the rearview mirror in time to see the slow-moving pestilence demon limping after them, its still-misshapen form visible in the harsh lights from the club. Noah cleared his throat, praying his voice sounded normal. “Looks like it’s injured enough to stop it from following us, at least for now.”
“Look out!”
He glanced down and instinctively swerved as a glowing bright red demon that looked like it had stepped out of a nightmare appeared in front of the truck, lighting up the dark road in front of them with an eerie red glow. The tires squealed as they found traction and the truck fishtailed, smacking the demon aside with the back quarter panel of the truck.
A loud wrenching noise of metal grinding against metal made Noah grit his teeth and wince as he stomped down on the gas pedal and they shot forward.
“Its claws are hooked into the tailgate dragging it along behind us.” Jezebeth had unbuckled her seat belt and turned in her seat. She stood on her knees and looked out the back window.
Noah glanced over his shoulder just as the bumpy red hand of the demon curled over the tailgate, its long black talons digging deep into the metal of the truck bed. “Damn.” He glanced over at Jezebeth. “Do you know how to drive?”
She rolled her eyes and turned around in her seat. “Give me a minute.”
Irritation at her calm tone snapped through him. “I’m not sure we have a minute,” he told her as another demon hand appeared over the edge of the tailgate, the claws digging in and pulling more of the demon into sight.
Jezebeth’s form shimmered and although she still looked the same, she was suddenly much taller, allowing her feet to reach the floorboards.
He stared for a long moment, swatches of light strobing over her as they drove past light posts.
Noah frowned and resisted the urge to rub his eyes to ensure he wasn’t hallucinating. “The imp never mentioned succubi could change forms.”
“They normally can’t.” She turned to look at him, and he could just make out the dark circles of fatigue under her eyes and the lines of strain etched across her pale face.
Concern and guilt twined inside his gut. She’d said she needed the energy from the men to come back inside the bar and help him. She’d obviously used most of that energy up to help him and then change into a form where she could reach the gas pedal and brake. And he’d been a judgmental ass.
Way to go, Noah.
He’d known she was a succubus when he started on this mission, so he shouldn’t be surprised when she acted like one. If she didn’t, she’d die, or whatever the equivalent was for a succubus.
“Do you want me to drive, or not?” she snapped, making him realize he’d fallen silent.
Noah glanced into the rearview mirror to see the demon hooking one leg over the tailgate and pulled himself back to the present. “Yes. Slide over close to me.”
As if she’d done the maneuver a million times, Jezebeth took the steering wheel in her left hand and slid one long leg over Noah’s. She braced her left foot on the floor mat near the driver’s door. When she pulled her weight up with her left arm, she winced but made no other protests.
Noah slid to the right on the bench seat and waited until Jezebeth nudged his right foot off the gas pedal, keeping an even pressure as he slid out from under her. Her short spiky hair brushed across his face and he inhaled a lungful of a combination of pomegranate, honey, smoke, and sweat from the club. Then she was driving, and he found himself free to move in the passenger seat.
“Hold on!” she said just as he reached for his backpack on the floorboards.
Noah braced one hand on the dashboard and one against the door as the truck swerved hard to the right and the sound of something large thunked as it rolled around in the bed of the truck.
Noah winced as he thought of all the supplies he’d strapped down back there. But having them destroyed this way was better than becoming a late night snack for a demon and letting Jezebeth get captured.
He started to turn his head to see where the demon was when Jezebeth yanked the steering wheel hard to the left, wrenching his neck and making him grab tight to anything he could to avoid being shaken around the cab like dice in a cup.
The loud thumping from the bed was now accompanied by an angry-sounding roar.
Noah braced his feet as Jezebeth swerved again. He grabbed his backpack, fumbling inside for some type of weapon to use against the demon.
His hand closed around two balloons filled with kosher salt and he yanked them out as he tried to figure out how to hit the demon without endangering Jezebeth. After all, she was a demon too; would the rabbi-blessed salt harm her as well?
A large crack filled Noah’s ears, quickly followed by the sound of a thousand marbles being dropped onto concrete as the back windshield shattered, raining him and Jezebeth with tiny rounded cubes of glass. Noah instinctively shielded his face as the truck swerved erratically again.
He wasn’t sure if he should be frustrated or impressed with Jezebeth’s creativity in trying to dislodge the demon since it might kill him as well if she wasn’t careful.
He twisted on the seat and lunged forward to put himself between Jezebeth and the demon. He stopped short as he found himself face-to-face with the snarling, lava-colored nightmare. The stench of sulfur surrounded him as the demon’s heated breath seared against his skin, the glistening fangs looking larger than life this close-up.
A sardonic smile twisted the demon’s scaly lips as it opened its mouth wider, probably in preparation to take a large bite out of Noah.