Succubi Are Forever by Jill Myles Read Free Book Online Page A

easily and I stepped inside.
    One dim yellow light bulb hung from the ceiling here. The walls were bare, damp concrete. And there, on the only piece of furniture in the tiny room, lay Zane, stretched out on a plain wooden table, utterly still. His wrists were extended over his head and chained with cuffs, his ankles also manacled. His wings were tight beneath him, and as I stepped forward, I noticed that runes covered the manacles. Silver duct tape covered his eyes and mouth, symbols hastily scribbled on in what looked like marker.
    I gasped, the breath escaping my body. Oh, God. He was so still. I’d feel it if he was dead, wouldn’t I? “Zane?” I reached out to touch him.
    Sophie pushed my hand away, her gaze hardening.
    I looked at her in surprise. “What are you doing?”
    “I must know your intentions, first.”
    Who the hell was she to question me? I pointed at the man on the table—so unnaturally still—and lifted my chin. “That is my master. And I love him. And I’m getting him out of here before they kill him. He doesn’t deserve to be held captive like this.”
    She snorted at that. “You are a naïve fool,” she said in that thick accent. “This one is not an innocent any more than I am.” Sophie gestured at me. “But, very well. You may free him.”
    Was this a trick? A trap? I glanced at Remy, but she was staring down the corridor, watching for the others.
    I took a step toward Zane. Sophie didn’t move. I circled around him, and still she didn’t move. She simply watched me with interested eyes.
    My fingers touched his bare chest. It rose and fell underneath my fingertips, and I exhaled in relief. Thank God. I hadn’t realized until now just how frightened I was. He was unnaturally still, but he lived. “Is he all right?”
    “Does he look all right?” Sophie sounded amused.
    I didn’t know how to answer that. I glanced over at her, then back down at Zane. I tugged at the tape over his eyes, and carefully peeled it off.
    Then gasped.
    His eyes were entirely red—no whites showed. They flicked over to glance at me, the only movement in his too-still body. “What’s wrong with him?” My fingers grazed his cheek lovingly and I began to pull the tape off his mouth.
    Sophie watched me. “I imagine he is quite hungry.”
    My poor Zane. I looked at her in shock. “They’re starving him? He has to drink every day.”
    “Or else he dies. Yes, I am aware.” Her full mouth thinned a little.
    Remy shut the door to the cell behind us. “Uh, Jacks, you might want to work a little faster. I’m pretty sure the others are coming.”
    I looked over at Sophie, but she calmly watched as Remy jammed her candlestick into the door, locking the handle in place.
    I didn’t need to be told twice, and since Sophie was just going to stand there, I’d work. When Zane’s mouth was freed, he didn’t move, though his lips were chapped and raw. I leaned in to kiss them, feeling the prick of his distended fangs. My fingers tugged at one of his cuffs, and to my surprise, it bent easily. I glanced down at it, and then twisted until it snapped under my grasp. It had been brittle, cheap tin. As an immortal, Zane’s strength was enormous—it had to have been the magical wards holding him down.
    And as if on cue, the other three cuffs fell away from his remaining wrist and feet.
    Zane moved like a flash of lightning.
    He was like a blur in my vision, all black coat and red eyes. As I watched, he leapt into a crouch on top of the table, studying his surroundings. His eyes flared red as his gaze lit on me, feral with need. Wild. Inhuman.
    “Zane, baby,” I said, holding my hand out to him. “Are you—”
    Before I could finish the sentence, he barreled into me, shoving me to the stone wall. I felt every bone in my body protest as it met the wall, felt his hands grasp my long hair and pull it away from my neck.
    And then his fangs sank into my neck as he fed ravenously.
    All of that had taken the space of a