“I don’t think I have any sex-demon instincts,” she said.
Heck, she had never felt so much as a stir of arousal on any date. Which was why she’d never had sex. She’d kissed guys, even copped a feel now and then, but…ugh. So unexciting.
So far, she hadn’t noticed even a hint of Lilith in her genetics. Thank the gods. But Mace and Blade had said that her succubus traits might not manifest until they were triggered by a specific event, like having sex or reaching a certain age. The latter seemed unlikely, though, because puberty usually brought on those kinds of changes, and she was well past that.
“You said you can control your instincts,” Scotty mused. “But are they like, normal? Like the birds-and-bees stuff Mom talked to us about? Or does weird succubus shit happen?”
Aleka shifted her weight and took a sudden, keen interest in the spikes at the tip of the mace. “Dad’s coming.”
Scotty wheeled around to the arched entryway, only to find that Aleka had been messing with her. “Bullshit.”
“Well, he’ll be here any minute.” Aleka swung the mace in a wide arc. “We should start practicing.”
Scotty easily, almost lazily, blocked Aleka’s sideways blow with her sword, and the comforting, thrilling clang of weapons echoed through the arena. “You are the queen of avoidance.”
Aleka grinned as she sidestepped Scotty’s half-hearted return jab. “And you’re the queen of asking too many personal questions.”
That was fair. “Let’s switch to summoned weapons.”
Scotty’s sword materialized in her left hand, and its power surgedthrough her body. Man, she loved the buzz she got from holding it. Craved it, even. When she fought with the thing, the thrill she got was almost sexual. Better than anything any male had ever done for her.
Oh. Was that how her succubus DNA showed itself? By giving her a lethal sex toy?
Lame.
Aleka hefted her weapon into attack position, broadcasting her next move, as usual. No matter how much training she did, she couldn’t break that habit. Good thing she had a dull desk job. She wouldn’t last a day in Scotty’s world. Of course, Scotty wouldn’t last a day in Aleka’s, either. She’d die of boredom.
“I want to practice with a mace today,” Aleka said.
“You can manifest one.”
Which had always irked Scotty. She could only manifest a sword, and while she could charge it with the powers of nearby elements, a double-edged longsword was the only weapon she could summon. Aleka could conjure up almost anything without mechanical moving parts.
“I like the feel ofthismace.”
That…seemed unlikely. “Youneverwant to practice with summoned weapons,” Scotty pointed out.
“So?”
“So, it’s weird.”
Aleka swung the mace, and Scotty danced out of the way. Her sister really wasn’t great at fighting. “You sound like Dad. Again.”
“He wouldn’t get all over your case if you’d just do it.” Scotty went on the offensive, swinging her manifested and physical swords in a form her father called Skinning Trolls. “He probably thinks you’re being stubborn just to piss him off.”
Aleka retreated, ducking and blocking as she went. Her form wassosloppy. “If he wants me to attend these stupid fighting lessons once a month, he’ll have to deal with it.”
Seriously, what the hell was the problem? Aleka hadn’t conjured a weapon during training in over a year. She always chose something from the rack and refused to change it up, no matter how hard Scotty pressed her. Frustrated, their father had confronted her about it a few months ago, and the confrontation ended with Aleka storming home. Then, their mother had scolded their father, and no one had spoken of it since.
Scotty swung her blade, pulling back at the last second so she didn’t slice through her sister’s unprotected neck. Still, the tip nicked Aleka, leaving a thin red line spreading across the top of her collarbone.
“Ouch—”
Scotty nailed her with an identical cut on the other side. As their father liked to say, “Injure one side of the body, then strike the other while they’re guarding the first one. Symmetry. It’s artistic, and evil hates it.”
“Scotty!” Aleka slapped her hand over the second cut. “What the hell?”
“Sorry.” She shrugged. “First one was an accident.”
