“Why shouldn’t I?” she purred, walking slowly forward. “I know your one true weakness.” She glanced beyond his shoulder.
Every instinct went on alert when he spun around. There, standing a few feet away, clad in a nearly incandescent, white shimmering robe, stood Cosette. Her dark hair flowed down her back, but it was those eyes, glowing with the power of that white, unholy light that caused his heart to stop. “Cosette?” He could barely utter her name. She was so still and . . . lifeless, fully under the controlling spell of the one who had cursed him so long ago.
After twenty years, it had all come full circle.
“What shall you do, Your Grace?” Lilin circled him. She reached out and trailed a blood red nail down his chest. “Shall you release the beast upon me, attempt to tear me to shreds?” She leaned closer to whisper in his ear. “Or will you yield to me?”
Davien felt the swirling restlessness of the beast inside of him, yearning to break free. The strength it took to hold the creature back tore through his muscles until they ached from the strain. It wouldn’t do to lose control now. Not when they were so close . . . “What do you want?”
Her lips curled into a cruel smile. “I’ve always craved you, Blackburn, even that night in Rome, but you were much too young for my needs. If we had mated, I would have destroyed you. But now–“ She inhaled, causing her eyes to shine brighter. “I can smell your potency. You will give me a son.”
“Why should you want another child? You didn’t take care of the one you had.”
She snorted. “Cosette was only a test, to see what a half-breed could do. With the energy of the beast within you, we will make a child that will withstand time. He will be unstoppable.”
“That’s quite an enticing offer,” he sneered. “But I fear I must decline it.”
She licked her lips, as if the more he resisted, the more she enjoyed the challenge. “I see I shall have to try harder to change your mind.” She allowed her dress to fall away, pressing her naked body against him. “Does not the sight of this form entice you?”
He didn’t even look down to see what she offered, merely turned his focus firmly on Cosette.
“You have such vitality, such vigor,” she sighed. “Perhaps you merely need a different sort of motivation.”
Davien watched as Cosette’s face took on the appearance of Lilin—while the siren’s face before him morphed into Cosette’s features. “Do you not want me now?” she asked in Cosette’s voice. She leaned forward, her mouth only a breath away from his. She reached down and ran her hand along the length in his trousers. “Kiss me, and remember what it’s like to take this body.”
Davien clenched his fists. He found his manhood responding to her advances, even though he did everything possible to keep from it.
“Yes,” she breathed, against his neck. “Relinquish yourself to me. I will give you pleasure like you’ve never known before. All you have to do is succumb, say the word and I will fall to my knees before you and worship your cock. I am but a humble servant, yours for the taking . . .”
Davien ground his jaw so hard that he thought it might crack at any moment. But when she flicked her tongue out to lick his lower lip, he found that even the beast was starting to weaken.
“Touch me, and I will deny you nothing.” She pressed her bare breasts against his chest, rubbed her core against him. “All it shall take is a flick of your wrist and you will be inside of me where you belong, where you have always belonged . . .”
Davien brought his shaking hands up between them. She tilted her head back, thinking that he was going to finally accept her enticement. But instead of flicking those pert, pink nipples, he grabbed her shoulders and pushed her away from him with a force that should have sent her flying across the room. Instead, she glided in the air like a ghost upon a light breeze.
“Leave me,” he growled. “I know what you are, and nothing you do shall persuade me to lay with a succubus like you.”
She returned to her original form, her red dress back in place. Again, her eyes flashed, but this time, he thought he saw a hint of annoyance. “You grow tiresome, human. But I will get what I want from you. You cannot resist me forever.”
He stared at her, unblinking—until she glanced toward the top of the stairs, where a shadow came into view. Davien reluctantly followed her glance as his ears caught the malicious click of a pistol being primed.
“I warned you that you would come to regret betraying me, Blackburn.” Sir Francis Dashwood grinned cunningly. “Now, just do as the lady says and no one will get hurt.” He turned the gun on Cosette. “After all, it would be a shame to kill my own daughter.”
~ ~ ~
Cosette was watching everything play out before her as if she was on the opposite side of a clear wall that she had no hope of breaking down. She could feel the emotion, the shock, the sheer pain of what was unfolding, but like a sick, twisted stage performance, she couldn’t stop it from happening.
She raged and begged inside of her body, but there was no outward change, no voice to be heard. She paced inside of her subconscious like a caged animal, but still, she could find no way out. She was in an impenetrable fortress.
“It appears I have no other alternative.”
Cosette heard the defeat in Davien’s voice and cried out, but her pleas fell on deaf ears. She felt the tears dripping down her face as Lilin walked over and took his arm and led him up the stairs.Please, don’t do this. Fight, Davien. Keep fighting against her. Don’t give in. Don’t give up . . .
When they reached the top of the stairs, she saw them pause before Dashwood. “Would you care to observe the ritual?” Lilin coerced, causing the other man to grin lasciviously.
“Indeed.” He gestured to Cosette. “But what about her?”
Lilin didn’t even look at Cosette as her lips curved into a satisfied grin. “She’s not going anywhere.”
