Serpent's Touch: A Reverse Harem Urban Fantasy (The Last Serpent Book 1) Read online

  A resounding yes encircled me, and hearing the word made my chest vibrate.

  “Lilith,” the Keeper continued, “you have chosen to come to this place to learn the secrets of our kind, to find yourself, and learn your place in the world. With this ritual circle in place, we’re going to weaken the barrier between your conscious self and your supernatural side, but you’re going to have to dig for it.”

  “Dig?”

  “That’s right. You need to close your eyes and look inside yourself.”

  Cautiously, I gave the men another final glance before shutting my eyes. Even with my eyes closed, the purple glow now bathing me remained, stark against the blackness. I took a deep breath, followed by another, and another, allowing myself to try and calm down. Whatever this was, whatever I was about to do, I probably had a better shot at pulling it off if I weren’t as nervous as a girl about to jump off a plane without a parachute.

  “Okay,” I said. “How do I look inside myself?”

  “Quiet your mind,” Raphael said. “Allow my energy to serve as a conduit for you to reach the part of you that is still hiding.”

  Quiet my mind. Easier said than done; I was the one standing in the circle with all the swirling lights around her. My mind was racing, shooting ahead of me like a bullet from a gun. I screwed my face up and tried to drown the world out, focusing only on the hum and twinkle the lights were giving off. A faint waft of cinnamon touched my senses, and I found myself wanting to open my eyes, to find the source of the smell, but I didn’t.

  Quiet your mind, I thought, quiet.

  The humming sound began to rise the more I listened to it, or maybe it only seemed to rise because I was listening to it and quieting my mind as I had been asked. A cool chill brushed up against my spine, causing me to momentarily lose my concentration, but I bounced back quickly and concentrated again on the hum, on the sound the lights were giving off.

  And then something happened.

  I started to hear a voice in the far depths of my mind. I knew I wasn’t thinking the voice up myself. I had never whispered my thoughts before, and that was what this sounded like. But the whisper, like the hum, was starting to rise until it no longer sounded like a whisper, but rather someone shouting from the other end of a tunnel.

  A huge pressure collapsed against my chest, as if the person in my mind had rushed and thrown themselves on top of me. In an instant, I caught a flash of something in my thoughts—a face; it was the dark, twisted face of a creature straight out of a nightmare, with black eyes, hair as dark as night, and nails that seemed to shine with their own, deadly light.

  “I’m not ready!” she screamed as she fell upon me, her voice shrill and sharp. The sound was so loud, so intense, it went reeling out of my own quiet mind space and sent me sprawling to the floor as if I had been hit in the chest.

  “Lilith!” Raphael said, “are you alright?”

  I struggled to get up, but my arms and legs were jelly, and my chest was tight. Breathing became difficult, and the room started to spin. “I… I think so.”

  “Listen to me, Lilith. I can protect your mind against another attack, but you have to go back in, find your inner self, and bring it out. You cannot step out of the ritual circle until you have. If you step outside, you will forever remain human, but the hunters will still want your life. You must do this.”

  It was only now, turning to look at him as he finished speaking, that I realized he wasn’t moving his lips. In fact, I couldn’t hear anything besides that droning hum outside of the circle. Raphael was talking to me telepathically. The others were watching, but their eyes were glazed over and white, as if they were in trances. A light inside of each of their chests, bright enough to punch through even the dark suits they wore, pulsed softly.

  I shut my eyes again and dove back into my own mind, only it was different now. The room around me had melted away, all sound dulled to only a slight, ambient drone. I had returned to this dark place of quiet, this castle of solace, and I was waiting again. What I was waiting for I didn’t know. Would the thing come back? And how was I supposed to get it to come out?

  These thoughts occupied my mind too much to silence them. I had no idea what I was doing. None. So, I did the only thing I could think of to draw someone out of hiding. I imagined myself looking into the dark around me, taking a breath, and saying, “Come out, come out, wherever you are.”

  The darkness around me swallowed my echo, then returned it seconds later, distorted and almost ghostlike. I tried calling out again, reaching deeper with my mind, willing my voice to go further into the dark, when someone grabbed my hair and yanked me back. The pain was intense and hot. I stumbled and staggered, but didn’t fall. Then a shadow spun around me, stopping only a few feet away.

  I watched it slowly take a human shape until what I was looking at was… me. Only, it was a different version of me with skin the violet of a darkening, summer sky, eyes of black holes from which no light could escape, and a tight body with long, thin limbs. Her features were sharp—much sharper than mine. The skin around her feet and hands blackened to dark obsidian, her fingers ending in wicked, gleaming claws.

  She was completely naked.

  Despite the terror standing before me, I found myself almost entirely mesmerized by her intense, radiant beauty. It took every ounce of willpower I had left, and maybe a push from Raphael, whom I could feel in the back of my mind, to break the spell and allow myself to shake the effect off long enough to form a conscious thought.

  Draw her out.

  “Who are you?” I asked.

  Her black hair seemed to flow as though underwater, but she didn’t speak.

  “Tell me your name,” I demanded, more forcefully this time.

  “I am not ready,” she said, her voice soft, low, and graceful; like the growl of an angel.

  I swallowed and licked my lips. “I know,” I said, “but you have to come with me.”

  “I don’t have to do anything.”

  “Yes, you do. You live inside of me, and you take orders from me. You’re coming out. Right now.”

  “And if I don’t?”

  “That isn’t an option.”

  I almost couldn’t believe the conversation I was having with this tall, toned, incredibly beautiful creature, nor could I believe it was taking place entirely within myself. But then, I had come to some kind of retreat for supernaturals in the middle of nowhere, so I was about ready to believe anything was possible now. And if anything was possible, then it meant I could do what I needed to do here and bring this thing out, whatever that meant.

  “I want to sleep,” she said. “I’m not ready to come out. Why did you come looking for me?”

  “Because we’re in danger… and if you don’t come out with me right now, we’re going to die.”

  The creature’s face twisted into a snarl. She arched her lithe body and made as if to strike out, swiping at the air with those wicked, black talons. I managed to pull away from them, but only barely, and I was glad, too. They looked like they could cut diamond; what could they have done to my face?

  “Stupid girl,” she hissed. “I couldn’t leave even if I wanted to. I don’t have the energy to leave. I’m stuck here, and so are you.”

  “What is it you need?”

  “You aren’t enough to sustain me. I need something more.”

  I narrowed my eyes, balled my hands into fists. “Like what?”

  “People,” she said, “I need people.”

  I took a breath. “There are people with me,” I said. “You can have them.”

  “Liar.”

  “No… you can have all of them, each and every one. If you come with me, we’ll both have them. Together.”

  “You aren’t ready for me,” she said, and she went for my face again.

  “No,” I said, “but you’re coming with me, anyway, because I’m in charge here.”

  “And just how are you going to do that?”

  I pressed my lips into a
thin line and charged, catching her by surprise and throwing her to the ground. I screamed and shook, trying to wake myself up, as if from a dream, but nothing was happening. Worse, just when I thought I had her, something started to shift out from underneath her. Shadows? No, it was a limb of some kind, like a claw rising out from behind her shoulder—both shoulders. Wings! Leathery bat wings wriggled out from underneath her, and the shape of them, the strength they had, was enough to shift the weight balance in her favor.

  “You’re coming out with me, and we’re going to do this together,” I yelled, and suddenly a wink of white light manifested in front of me, a light so intense it blinded me for a time. Dante? I shielded my eyes on instinct and felt the body beneath me float away. My stomach twisted and lurched as I, too, began to disappear, joining the darkness and becoming one with it. Falling, falling, falling away into nothingness.

  A succubus, I heard in my mind, but it wasn’t my voice doing the talking. It was Raphael’s, and he was terrified. She’s a succubus.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Whole

  When I opened my eyes, I almost felt like I was floating atop a turbulent ocean. The ground beneath my feet was uneven, the walls swayed, and my body didn’t know whether to go right or left. The room was no longer filled with a purple glow. In fact, it seemed a little darker than I remembered, and there was a vague, exotic scent in the air—one I could detect, but not quite identify, like a whiff of expensive perfume on the neck of a billionaire that’d been left by his mistress.

  Definitely not the cinnamon I had smelled earlier.

  I couldn’t tell if the circle the men had formed around me had actually widened, or if it only seemed like they had all stepped back a few paces. Being disoriented, I had no way of knowing, but my gut told me it was the former. I blinked hard and tried to steady myself, but my legs turned to jelly, and I started to fall. I turned my body to the right on instinct, putting my wounded arm out to stop my fall. I instantly realized what a mistake I had made and anticipated the pain to come, but Aiden dashed forward and caught me before I could hit the floor.

  The others simply watched with what appeared to be fear on their faces. I didn’t understand. Why had they stepped back? Why weren’t they helping?

  Aiden held me up by my good hand and wrapped his other around my waist, giving me a second to level myself and to allow the room to stop spinning. For a fleeting second while my hand was in his, I thought I felt something like a current, or a pulse. I thought it was his heart beating hard from the burst of effort he had put into coming to my side to help me.

  But it wasn’t his heart; part of me knew that.

  “Are you alright?” Aiden asked once I was on my feet.

  “Yeah,” I said, holding the back of my head. I winced at the pain there. “Did I fall down?”

  “You did. Can you walk?”

  I nodded and let myself slip from his grasp. The others still stood in stunned silence. I was starting to feel like I was in a dream where I’d forgotten to put clothes on. I checked, and when I saw I was still wearing clothes, started to feel insecure about what had just happened. Raphael had said something in my mind, he’d called me a…

  “Succubus,” I said, turning to look at him. “You said I was a succubus?”

  Raphael swallowed. I could see his Adam’s apple working. “I did,” he said.

  “Does it mean what I think it means?”

  “What do you think it means?” Dante asked.

  I turned my head again, and my head started to float from the sudden movement. “I don’t know,” I said. “You’re the guys with all the answers; what does it matter what I think? I want to know the truth here. What just happened to me?”

  “Do you feel any different?” the Keeper asked.

  “No. A little, I guess. But all I feel right now is pain—pain in my arm and in the back of my head. I don’t feel like a succubus.”

  “It probably won’t feel like anything,” Dante said. “Not until…” he trailed off.

  “Until what?”

  Silence answered my question.

  “I don’t get this,” I said. “You brought me here to bring out my supernatural side, you’ve had a lot to say about it until now, and now that it’s here you guys are all pretty quiet.”

  “I’m sorry,” Dante said. “We don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable. We just…”

  “Just what?” I asked.

  “A succubus hasn’t been seen in over a hundred years,” the Keeper said. “We thought succubi had gone extinct.”

  “I don’t expect you to understand our surprise,” Dante said. “You are the first woman to have come into her supernatural powers for some time, and we didn’t expect you to turn out to be a succubus.”

  “There’s only one thing I want to understand right now,” I said. “Is what I am a good or a bad thing?”

  “It’s a good thing,” Aiden said. “I don’t give a shit what the rest of these guys think. You are what you are, and that’s all there is to it.”

  “Easy for the demon to say,” Liam said.

  “Demon?” I asked, head spinning around again.

  “Watch it,” Aiden warned, ignoring my question.

  “There’s no need for that,” Dante called out. “We all just need to calm down and figure this out.”

  “What is there to figure out?” I asked. “I’m a succubus, apparently. So, what, are you all afraid that I’m going to kill you? Because that’s what I can do, right? Kill people with sex?”

  “There’s more to it than that,” Vik put in. “A succubus isn’t a sex crazed maniac who leaves a trail of bodies wherever she goes.”

  “That’s funny, because you’re all looking at me like I’m a sex crazed maniac.”

  “That’s not what we’re saying,” The Keeper said. “Yes, the succubus has the ability to kill someone through sex if the intention is there, but mostly she’ll drain their energy to replenish her own. She’s also strong and fast, and she can change her appearance and physical features. At least, that’s if the stories are to be believed.”

  “So, you don’t actually know?”

  “Like we said, no one living has ever seen a succubus before with the possible exception being vampires. I’m sure there are some vampires old enough to confirm the stories.”

  “Too bad asking them is out of the question,” Raphael put in.

  Dante finally approached, but he stopped a few feet short of where I was standing. “Lilith,” he said, “I know you’re probably tired, but I need you to try and use some of your powers. I need to know the ritual worked.”

  “I don’t know if I can.”

  “Try, then. It’s important.”

  “Dante, if she can’t do it, then don’t push her,” Aiden said.

  “I’m not asking her to bring down the moon, just prove to us that the ritual took effect.”

  “And if it didn’t?”

  “Then she’ll be vulnerable to other supernaturals forever.”

  Aiden looked at me, his jaw tight, eyes burning with the intensity of the words he had chosen not to say. To me or to Dante, I wasn’t sure, but he was holding back. The others were also holding back, but somehow, they felt a little more disconnected from whatever it was passing between Dante and Aiden. They were no less concerned for my safety and wellbeing; they, too, wanted to know what had changed inside of me—I could tell just by looking at them. But they weren’t getting close.

  “I can’t deal with this right now,” I said. “I don’t even know how to begin doing what you’re asking me to do.”

  “Lilith, we have to know,” Dante said.

  “And you will, just as soon as I do. Something’s different. I can feel it. But I’m not going to be able to do anything until I’ve had a chance to calm down, so I’m going outside to get some air. That, right now, is the best I can give you.”

  Dante seemed to breathe deep, causing his chest to heave. He exhaled through his nose, then nodded quickly. “Fine,�
� he said. “Go outside and get some air, then come back. We’ll try then.”

  I gave the room a good long glance before going anywhere, trying to get one final read of their faces before leaving. All I got was concern and fear. Were they really afraid of me? Did they think I was going to kill them? They’d been nothing but good to me since I got here. Why would I want to kill them? It didn’t make any sense.

  With that thought in my mind, I turned on my heel and marched out of the library, through the conservatory, and into the courtyard. Once there, I let myself sit down on a bench and stared up at the moon. A cricket chirped the night away somewhere. Above me, three crows soared across the bright, full moon.

  A sigh escaped my lips. I hadn’t noticed until now, but my hands were both trembling. I stared at them, as if they weren’t my own hands but black hands tipped with sharp, deadly nails. Something had happened to me. I didn’t know what, but something had changed. From behind me, I heard someone walking through the open conservatory door. Aiden stepped up beside me.

  He sat down, pulled a carton of cigarettes out of his suit jacket and lit one, taking a single, long drag before exhaling the puff of smoke. Little blue tresses rose up from the burning, yellow tip. The light reflected in his deep, dark eyes. He pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and let it sit between his fingers before finally looking at me.

  He edged the cigarettes toward me. “Want one?”

  “Sure,” I said, plucking one out and placing it on my lips. I pulled my hands away so he couldn’t see them tremble as he went to light it. When it was lit, I took a drag and allowed myself to relax. I didn’t often smoke, but I used to, and I remembered what a calming effect it had on my nerves.

  “Nice night,” he said.

  “Yeah,” I said, turning my eyes away from him again. I couldn’t look at him too long. I kept hearing what Liam had said earlier.

  Demon. How could I have not known that about him? I knew about everybody else.