Chapter 1
I’d always preferred my men on their knees. That was where a good man belonged—in a stance of submission and willing subservience.
A position for worship.
That was how my first night on the mortal plane started; naked, drenched in sacrificial goat’s blood, drinking a bottle of rum, and a crowd of hooded men kneeling around me with their cocks out.
The night those men summoned me from the Under Plane was a night to remember. Damn, I missed the drug fueled orgies of the 70s sometimes. I was well-fed that decade.
“Eve, are you listening to me?” Davina, my oldest friend’s voice, tugged me from my thoughts.
I lifted my gaze from the latte on the table to the succubus sitting across from me. Her black hair gleamed like fresh ink under the low café lights. The sunlight streaming in through the windows highlighted the hidden yellow tint under the false blue of her eyes.
Humans summoned her to Earth twenty years before me. Our energies brought us together in London and we’d stayed near one another ever since. When she decided to move to New York in 1995, I had to go with her. We’d been there together ever since, weaving through the city and devouring sexual energy from men willing to give it.
Drugs. Sex. Alcohol. Parties. Drugs. Sex. Alcohol. Parties. The cycle went on and on for decades, endlessly repeating the same song and dance. A dance I knew as well as my own soul, and a song I could sing in my sleep.
“Sorry I was lost in thought,” I answered, impatiently tapping my nail on the table’s edge.
“Hm, you look hungry.” Her lovely eyes flicked around the overly crowded coffee shop in the city before leaning in to whisper. “Have you fed lately?”
I sighed, leaning back in my seat. “Nothing good. The men in this city are bland, flavorless things.”
“Not true,” Davina gasped. “I had two men yesterday prostrating themselves for my attention. What treats they were, leaking and shivering for me by the end.” Her gaze turned dreamy, hungry.
“They don’t make ecstasy the way they used to,” I said. And I didn’t mean the drug. Although that was a true statement, too.
“I think you’re being picky.” Even as she spoke, my wicked darling eyed the crowd, sizing up her next prey. She caught a strand of her raven black hair, twirling it around her finger as she locked gazes with a man in a pressed suit at the coffee bar.
As the man admired Davina, the pungent, unique smell of his desire increased. The fragrance of arousal twirled through the air, overwhelming the scent of roasted coffee beans and flavored syrups. His need for my friend reminded me of bergamot and leather.
Everyone had their own personal perfume when they were aroused. Some were weak and tasteless. Some were rich and aromatic. Their levels varied, with the stronger ones working as an instant aphrodisiac for my kind.
I hadn’t had a decent meal in weeks.
A pang of need twisted in my stomach. There was a crevice opening inside of me. It was a sensation I hadn’t felt before, like I was lacking in the center of my being.
No amount of sex and feeding seemed to fill it lately. The very thing that my existence revolved around—and I was starving.
“Are you going to take that one?” I asked her.
“Hm. Not sure yet. He just spilled coffee cream on his hand and licked it off. It kind of gave me the ick.” Her face scrunched up. She shrugged and angled toward the window.
A creeping shiver rolled down my spine. The hairs rose on the back of my neck and a flush of heat rolled over my skin. A knot in my stomach that connected my primal hunger to my spirit tightened as a shadow passed over the café window.
My throat dried, a cold sweat prickled at my skin, and my nerves bristled under my skin. An intense, clawing hunger writhed within my intestines. The force of it gripped my throat, strangling me beyond reason.
“Eve?” Worry strained Davina’s sultry voice. Her fingers curled around my hand, attempting to reel me back in. But there was a force stealing my attention.
Another twist of hunger wracked my body. Each breath felt like I was sucking up blistering desert air, and the hellfire in my blood coiled like snakes.
Time slowed as that presence passed the window. I turned my head in time to catch the outline of a man dressed in black walking past the front window of the little coffee shop on the corner.
A radiant light emanated from him in wispy shades of red. It made my mouth water and my heart thump behind the cage of my ribs. That knot squeezed my stomach again and my eyes flared wide.
Goosebumps prickled at my skin like needles, and the energy of the man outside pulled me from my seat. My body moved autonomously, yanked to my feet by the aura of that man like I was a small dog at the end of a leash.
Davina’s mouth curled at one end, and a devious light twinkled in her eye. “Oh, I see.” She glanced at the window, licking her lips and watching the backside of the man vanish into the crowd. “The repressed desire on that one is palpable from here. You better go catch that mouse before he gets away, Eve darling.”
Without looking at her twice, I shoved my hand into my purse and grabbed a wad of cash. I blindly dropped it between our cups. “Thanks for the coffee, love. I’ll catch you later.”
I barely heard her reply over the pounding rush of blood in my ears and the bell ringing when I shoved open the door. Dozens of bodies crowded the busy city sidewalks and horns blared from the early afternoon traffic.
A tangled web of smells drifted through my nose. My eyes closed, rolling back into my head as I sucked in a deep breath. Sharp hatred, sour jealousy, bitter fear, and the sweet, alluring aroma of desire.
Even with my eyes closed, I could see and feel the blinding red light of the man on the street. Several people walked past, masking his unique scent, but the potency of it lingered all around me, guiding me.
His repressed urges were sweet, cloying on the tongue. Only the hint of a taste and yet it affected my body, rolling through me as if I’d taken my first hit of ecstasy all over again. The pleasure-inducing effect of his aura provoked me like a beast on the hunt.
I needed to find him, to taste him. I wanted to feed on his pleasure and gorge myself on it. My nose, gnawing hunger, and succubus senses tugged me along after him.
The crowd halted at a bustling intersection. All the world was a blur as my sight narrowed on the wide shoulders of a man in black. His short, light brown hair caught the sunlight, rustling in the gentle autumn breeze.
That delicious, mouthwatering light made me lick my lips. I released a breath, stepping closer and formulating my plan of attack.
I hadn’t been so ravenous, so hungry, so lured by a meal in ages. Life had become a blinding blur of empty encounters, and the man before me was a light in the dark. A feast in the face of a starving creature.
The pent-up sensuality of that man—that beacon—simmered and steamed like a volcano. Not quite dormant and not quite active. Sleeping, restrained, being held back by an intense force of will. The eroticism of his guarded yearning made my insides dip and swirl.
Chattering humans crammed themselves on the sidewalk, waiting under the beeping walk sign. I released a breath and a touch of my hellfire energy seeped out into the air. The horde parted like curtains, unsettled and moved by my energy without realizing it.
One figure stood unfazed, staring ahead and waiting patiently for the light to change in his favor. My heart skipped when he turned his head, revealing his attractive side profile. Strong nose, a smile that reached his eyes, and the barest tint of red highlighting the dark scruff along his strong jaw.
Winds of fate pushed me forward. Any plan I might have made to swoop in and seduce the helpless male fell from my hands as I tripped. Suddenly, I was stumbling forward, crashing into his arm because his magnetism yanked me off my feet.
A deep grunt escaped him as my body bumped his arm and a leather-bound book leapt from his hand. It landed on the sidewalk face down with a slap.
Time and space stood to a halt. The space between our bodies zapped and crackled with commingled energies clashing together. And his scent punched me in the nose—I almost started drooling.
There was a sweet spice to his aroma. A mixture of cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and sugar floating above the male fragrance clinging to his skin. When I blinked, I saw a bakery behind my closed eyes, and he was the soft, warm apple spice cinnamon roll sitting freshly baked on the counter.
And I was going to take a bite out of him.
“I’m so sorry about that!” I swept down and plucked the book off the sidewalk.
“That’s alright. Accidents happen.” His voice was gruff and so deep it moved through me, catching on a cord in my belly and making it go taut.
Before looking up, I flinched at the title glaring at me from my hand.
Holy Bible.
The book didn’t sting or burn my skin—that was a ridiculous theory made up by the superstitious. It made me uncomfortable all the same. I released it back into the man’s hands as if the book was tainted.
“Are you okay?” he asked, cracking through my distraction.
My head whipped up, and I sucked in a lungful of his appetizing aroma. The thin strip of my thong was already soaked, pressed tight to my throbbing pussy. I swallowed down the urge to push him over and ride him right there in the middle of the street for all of New York to witness.
“Oh, yes, I’m—” I choked on my words, eyes latched onto the block of white at the base of his throat. The holy collar of a man of the cloth—a man devoted to the Christian god.
A fucking Catholic priest.
“I’m alright, Father,” I demurred, batting my lashes and pouring all my charm into a seductive smile. Despite the collar around his neck, I reached out with my power, coiling tendrils of lust and desire in the air.
Not that I needed to push far. The red aura wavering around his frame reacted as the priest assessed me. Arousal glinted in stimulating forest green eyes as they roamed over the red and black skintight dress on my curves. He sucked in an almost inaudible breath in the second before tearing his gaze from my breasts.
The burning inside me worsened. Flames licked at my insides and the power of my longing spread over the immediate area. But that green stare lifted, pointing to the heavens above.
He was resisting.
How the fuck was he resisting me?
“Father?” I said.
The priest cleared his throat, holding the sacred book against his toned, wide chest. His suit strained against the shapely muscles hiding beneath the fabric. I wanted to sink my teeth into his clothes and shred them from his body.
“Father Dean from Immaculate Conception around the block.” His throat bobbed, and a muscle feathered in his jaw.
Then the light changed and the flock on the sidewalk stepped out into the street.
“I’m sorry I have to rush off. But are you alright?” Without thinking, he reached for my arm that bumped into him. A jolt shot through my arm where his fingers grazed my skin in the whisper of a touch.
A moan rose in the back of my throat and a storm curled in the pit of my belly.
“I’m perfectly fine, Father. Thank you.”
Satisfied with my response, he tore himself out of my clutches and faced the street. I watched from the sidewalk as the priest crossed the road, flowing into the foot traffic. The red energy around him had become charged after our interaction, buzzing with a fresh crimson shade.
“Father Dean,” rolled off my tongue in a purr as I watched him walk away. My body was pulsing and the knot of hunger in my stomach had become a persistent ache that echoed between my thighs.
I hadn’t smelled anything as delicious as that forbidden treat in far too long. He was the answer to a prayer I hadn’t spoken aloud, and I hungered to feed on the years of pent-up desire in his body.
Whatever he was, whoever he was, he was the prize at the end of a challenge, and one I was determined to win. That priest was going to be mine come Hell or highwater, and I’d already traversed enough of my share of Hell.
I knew his name and where to find him. Now that I had his sensual essence imprinted in my senses, I could lock onto it and track him down. When the sun vanished and cast the world into darkness, I would pay Father Dean a visit in his dreams and set the first piece in an exciting new game.
