Succubus Dreams CHAPTER 19

Finding them wasnt so easy. zero(prenominal)one was at my apartment, and Vincent didnt answer his phone. I drove d bear to the Cellar, hoping maybe theyd alone decided to start drinking mid-day. noe. The taphouse was barren, with only a couple orb-weary patrons sitting at the bar.Frustrated, I c e genuinely last(predicate)ed Hugh, decision fashioning it was eon to put down do from my own resources.Is Jerome tush yet?No, the scamp say. Do you exigency him?Kind of.Kind of?Its a long story.Im in the city for a diddleing. You fate to concur lunch and inform? Im practically stilt the street from your place. Ill meet you on that drumhead, and well go eat.It was the first clock time Id talked to Hugh since the flush at Peters over band and me. I was still reeling from all that, alone I did kind of want to frig about feedback from a nonher(prenominal) immortal source. Besides, I was rapidly streak go forth of options.It only took ten minutes for him to show up , but it felt the similar an hour.Holy shit, tell Hugh, speckle the Christmas trees when he walked in. Your apartments a national park.Be quiet.Im serious. You need a ranger working in here.Come on. Lets go.We walked to a deli down the street. Once we were seated with our food, I began explaining to him wherefore I needed Jerome. By the time I finished the Nyx story, Hughs mirth had faded.Fuck, he said, biting into an enormous Reuben. That might be worth bugging Jerome after all.Where is he? I asked. A nonher training?Hugh shrugged. Not simply sure. He was vague almost it. blessing and Hiroko insinuated hes having a personality conflict with another colossus and went to settle it.Oh, God, I said. Not a duel?I dont k now. I promise not. Those crazy bitches lift upmed pretty smug, so theyre plausibly hoping for around opportunity to pull a power play out of all this. You know how they ar. Stillyou could probably go to them for help with all this.I couldbut if Jerome had nearlything weird dismissal on, I didnt want to get enmeshed with his lieutenants and maybe be used in some way. The devil demonesses worked for him but would seize any demote for promotion, and when political tremors agitate our world, everyone was quick to campaign everyone else.Ill hold out for the angels, I said. As long as I tummy space out my zero fixes, there shouldnt be a problem. If I cant pass Carter and friends in another day or so, Ill think active talk to deck and Hiroko.I can get a hold of him if you really need it, said Hugh.I smiled at the uneasy noise in his voice. Yeah, but your instructions were to repeal bothering him at all costs, good?The imp nodded.Its okay. Ill wait on the angels. If I hand to go to Grace and Hiroko, they can be the ones to decide if its worth interrupting Jerome for. I esteem, the conclusion is pretty solidbut, well, if were wrong, and it turns out to be nothingJeromes going to be pass that I bothered him based on the wor d of two humans.Pissed at all of us.Yeah. I idly picked holes in my sandwich with the toothpick that held it together. be you scared? asked Hugh. Of Nyx?Yeah. I am. I dont wish well the idea of anything trespassing(a) my sleep. Certainly not something that powerful. That guy I mentioned Dante is going to try to bedevil me a view or something to ward her away.Hugh snorted. No human can groom a charm like that.Hes a magician. He said he could.Sweetie. Nyx is a shag deity no, more than than that. An uber-deity. A twitch of the universe that was instrumental in creation. Shes been hurt over time, yeah, but some strung-out, psychic sham cant make a charm powerful enough to scare her off. at that place are probably only a handful of humans in the world who could, and to get that kind of power Hugh shook his head. I dont know. Based on what youve told me, Im honourable not seeing it.Id had my own doubts closely Dante, but Id thus far managed to en trade them aside and keep hoping for the take up. Hearing Hugh, I felt all of my misgivings return.Fuck, I said. secretiveness fell as we munched on our sandwiches a bit. Rain fell outside, and hungry customers ducked in to avoid it. Hugh watched a cute swarthy order at the counter, thusly he turned his attention back to me. whatsoever idea when Niphons leaving?I frowned. Whenever tawny gets a victim.Now Hugh frowned. barely she did, didnt she?Did she?I dont know. Thats what Simon said. Or at least, he estimate she did. He said she was up there dancing with a g misfortunate a couple nights past. Made up for the stinky job she was doing.A couple nights agoNothats impossible. I saw her right more or less then, and she still hadnt taken anybody. She was so low, I had to kiss her again. Hes wrong. possibly she got a glow from the kiss. Hugh sounded kind of hopeful. You use a lot of tongue?It wasnt that big of a kiss. No glow. Just enough to get by.Huh. He swirled the ice around in his Diet Coke. I guess Simon was wrong. evaluate hed be good at spotting that stuff.I would have thought so too. Hughthis is going to sound weird, but I think Tawny may be faking how inept she is.He looked rightfully startled. why the fuck would she do that?I dont know. I think its to help Niphon. But no(prenominal) of this makes sense. This is the second time Ive heard of her possibly getting a fix, but then Ive seen her shortly thereafter, and she was way too low to have burned through so oft so quickly.Maybe shes got your problem.I have a lot of problems.Your Nyx problem. Maybe Tawnys losing her energy too.Whoa. Interesting idea. And why not? If Nyx was preying on one succubus, why not two? And it would explain how Tawny was losing energy so quickly. Except If Nyx is taking her energy, that direction shes actually getting it to begin with. But Tawny keeps telling me she isnt having commove.Huh. A handmaid of inferno manufacture. Go figure.Yeah, but why? Niphons risking getting both of them in a shitload of trouble if Jerome or anyone else finds out. Hes gambling a lot tho to stick around and annoy me. And if Hell thinks Tawny isnt doing her job, theyll repay her.Hugh gave me a funny look.What? I asked. Whats that for?You didnt glance over the book, did you?What book?The succubus manual.You know I didnt.And I even got you the abridged one, he said, sounding wounded.Hugh, I growled. Whats your point?The point is that as her mentor, youre accountable for her actions. If she cant bag a victim, youre the one theyll call in.What? Thats ridiculous.Those are the rules now.So, what, I get slapped on the radiocarpal joint for her jazz up?Slap on the wrist? For being a succubus who cant take another one to have sex? Its so ludicrous, its probably never happened before. I dont know what theyd do. Censure you at the very least. Transfer you to work chthonic a senior succubus.I am a senior succubus.He shrugged.But if shes lyingThen prove it.I rubbed my eyes. This is dead insane. wherefore does Niphon hate me so much? He already bought my intellect, for Gods sake. What more is there?I expected some smartass remark. Instead, I received silence. I looked at Hugh. What? What is it now? He pointedly glanced away. HughI dont know, Georgina. Hugh seldom called me by my first name. I was usually honey or sweetie. Sometimes we make deals, and they seem airtight, but something goes wrong.What do you mean?I worked with another imp when I lived in Dallas. Raquel. She brokered this one deal with a guy who was pissed off when his wife left him because he found out he was sterile. Couldnt have kids. Hugh helpfully illustrated the center by pointing down toward his lower torso.I know what sterile means, Mr. Wizard. soak up on with it.So, he sold his soul under the conditions that his ex-wife couldnt have kids either. He was bitter and into the poetical justice thing, apparently. Wanted to punish her with what shed punished him over. So, he gave up his soul, and our side gave her some kind of inflammation thing that on the whole destroyed her fallopian tubes and scarred up her uterus. I dont know. Girl stuff. I had to hold back an eye roll. Hugh might feign ignorance just about girl stuff, but hed found time in his years of corruption to go to medical school. He k new-fashioned more about this than I did.Harsh, I said. But suitable from the guys point of view, I guess.Yeah. Should have been a done deal, but something went wrong. Or, well, right. Her ovaries still worked she was making eggs, even if she couldnt carry a baby. She and her new husband found a adoptive mother. The wife donated eggs, they mixed up a Petri dish cocktail, and the surrogate carried the baby. BamThe wife had a child after all, I mused. Wow. Hell gets defeated by science. All those philosophers from the attainment were right.Hugh scoffed at my joke. It was stupid. Someone by which I mean, Raquel should have thought of that when they picked the infection as a way to make that noblewoman infertile. Raquel fucked up. The guy was able to take his courtship back to Hell and won his soul back for breach of contract.Oh, wow, I said. I bet that went over well. Whats Raquel doing nowadays?He grimaced. I think were all happier not knowing.I agreed. But whats this have to do with me? Thats kind of a rare case.Eh, it happens more than youd think. Most of the time, the seller doesnt even rule something got messed up. But if the imp or soul else in authority catches it, Ive seen them move nirvana and Earth no pun mean to fix it.So, youre implying that Niphons here, finagling all this stuff with Tawny, because he did something wrong in my purchase?Hugh imbue his hands out. I dont know. All I know is that when an imp shows up and is going to this much trouble over something, the inference suggests its big. Maybe not a stead like Raquels, maybe not a breach of contract, but something.My contracts long since done, I murmured. Everyone it involved i s dead now. If there was a problem, I would have had to bring it up back then.Like I said, I dont know. Maybe Im jumping to conclusions.Could you look? Could you get a hold of the contract?No. Hughs answer came almost before I finished speaking. Absolutely not.But if theres some wording I didnt know about You think I can just go walk into Hells records and pull a contract Im not involved with? he exclaimed. Fuck. If I got caught, itd make what happened to Raquel look like a promotion.But No, he said again, voice like stone. No debate. I love you, sweetie. You know I do. Youre like my sister, and Id do almost anything for you, but not this. Im sorry. I glared. He glared back. Look, you want my advice? Get rid of Niphon. And Tawny, if you can. Expose them if they really are pulling something here, and Jerome will take it from there.Jeromes not even around Damn it. Why cant you help me with this? You were so quick to help with my love life when you were talking to Seth the other nigh t.Hugh narrowed his eyes. It was probably the best thing Ive ever done for you.Are you insane? Hes walking around talking about that now all distressed about how hes going to hurt me and make me miserableGood, snapped Hugh. He should be.I shoved my tear apart onto my tray and stood up. See you later. Thanks forwell, nothing.Hugh followed me over to the garbage bins. Youre behaving irrationally. On all of this.Id never treat you the way youre treating me, I said, dumping my tray. Im your friend. familiarity has nothing to do with this.It has everything to do with thisHe stacked his tray on the others and looked at his watch. Look, I have to go. Im sorry I cant ordinate you the answers you want. Am I going to see you at Peters? Peter, unable to pass up party-giving opportunities, was hosting a Christmas dinner, weird as that seemed.No. Im going to be with Seth. Unless he breaks up with me because of your great advice.Hugh bit his lip on some remark that probably would have been u ncomplimentary. Shaking his head, he turned around and left.