It was interesting—while feeding and replenishing my strength like this felt good, it didn’t feel particularly... sexual. I’d noticed the same thing at the fetish club before chaos had broken out. Having Rans splayed out like an offering in front of me had certainly been enough to get me going, but the lust from the onlookers had felt like eating a good meal; nothing more.
Since I wasn’t sexually attracted to women, our little sensual massage routine didn’t do much to turn me on. It was nice to touch someone in a way that was enjoyable for them, and I could appreciate Sharalynn’s beauty from an aesthetic standpoint. But I wasn’t excited.
What was so different about feeding from random people who wanted me, versus feeding from Rans? I pressed my lips together, not really wanting to think about Rans right now... or at all. Damn it.
I couldn’t help it, though. Rans had driven me to near-feral levels of lust using only the taste of his sexual energy. Why did he seem to be the only person who had that effect on me? Was it a vampire thing? I supposed it was possible, since Fae energy also affected me differently—though in an unpleasant, itchy way, like insects crawling on my skin. Whereas Rans’ animus felt more like mainlining the most potent aphrodisiac imaginable.
I gritted my teeth.
Stop. Thinking. About. Rans.
Dragging my attention back to what I was doing, I urged Sharalynn onto her back so I could work on her front. The interest from the onlookers intensified as I worked my way up her calves and thighs, skirting her thatch of pubic hair in favor of massaging her stomach and ribcage. I moved to her arms, and finished by kneading her breasts a few times as a final surge of animus soaked into my body, leaving me energized and tingly.
Sharalynn had basically been eye-fucking the object of her interest for the past few minutes, and the poor guy looked like he might faint on the spot. But when she got up and walked into his arms, pressing her lips to his, something seemed to snap inside him, and he kissed back as though he wanted to devour her right in the middle of the public square.
Cheers and whooping erupted, and I whooped right along with them, clapping and laughing. When he finally let her up for air, Sharalynn glanced over her shoulder at me and shot me a saucy wink. I grinned at her and mouthed, ‘Go get him, girl.’ She grinned back and started tugging Shy Boy away, presumably to someplace private.
A couple of hopefuls approached me, separated by the table in front of us. “Sure you don’t need to feed a bit more, demonkin?” one of them asked. “Vic and me could take you back to his place and show you a good time.”
I didn’t sense any malice from either of them. I just... wasn’t interested.
“Thanks for the offer,” I told them, “but I can only really control how much energy I take if there’s a crowd to draw from. One on one, or... uh... one on two, and I’d drain you way too much without meaning to.”
That was probably a lie, now that I’d learned to filter the energy I let in. But as ego-saving excuses went, I figured there were worse ones I could have chosen. The second guy looked taken aback, and the first one raised his hands in surrender.
“Ah, gotcha,” he said. “Oh, well. We figured it was worth asking.”
He ushered his friend away with a hand on his lower back, and something about the gesture made me think they’d manage just fine on their own. Fatima approached, and her presence seemed to act as a deterrent to anyone else who might have been thinking about trying their luck.
“Was that okay, I hope?” I asked, figuring that if it hadn’t been, she would have stepped in sooner.
The elder wore an expression of thinly veiled amusement. “It was fine, dear. Though I have to say, it was certainly a creative way of feeding, for a succubus.”
“I’m very far removed from your average succubus,” I said. “Two generations removed, to be precise.”
She gave me a knowing look, but didn’t press. “Nigellus said you might wish to return to the portal leading to Earth, so you could attempt to get through. Do you plan on waiting until morning, or would you prefer to try now?”
I thought about it. “Now, I think. This is about the strongest I’m likely to be, so waiting will only hurt my chances.”
Fatima nodded. “I’ll go with you, then. Grab a couple of the torches. The moons will be up shortly, but the torches help to light the way in the meantime.
I checked in on Dad and made sure Li Wei didn’t mind staying with him a bit longer. Fatima and I headed out of the village, up the sloping trail that led to the cave—the darkness turning our surroundings into something deep and mysterious. A couple of demon guards flanked the entrance, and I was fairly sure they weren’t the same two as when I’d arrived.
“Hi,” I called out as we approached. “I’m Zorah. Nigellus said it wouldn’t be a problem if I came back here and tried to get through the gate to Earth?
Glowing red-orange eyes inspected me in the torchlight. “The cambion’s daughter? Yes, we heard about that. Come on through.”
Fatima hung back. “If you don’t mind, I’m not big on caves. I’ll wait out here for you.”
I shrugged. “No problem.”
As I ducked through the entrance, I heard her call after me in a wry voice.
“Yell if you run into anything creepy-crawly!”
My first torch was starting to splutter, but it was sufficient to help me retrace my steps to the stretch of stone wall that had tried to eat my hand on my first attempt to breach the gate. I lit the second torch and propped both of them a short
