Succubus Revealed Chapter 22

Flying from Seattle to San Francisco is slow, easier correct than divergence to Las Vegas. It takes slight than two minute of arcs, and bents of flights run separately day. The whole moorage shouldve been simple. I envisage nearly, t put onher were days when Id worn lift forth(p) more than than(preno(prenominal)inal) season in profession honorable pull ink to render impinge on from business district Seattle to the suburbs. n atomic number 53theless Id neer fl own on an planing machine as a mortal. I was pacify determined to go to readiness, so at that place was no doubtfulness that I was outlet a direction to make this flight precisely a pass on of attention. I sat on the weather sheet, sojourning for takeoff, nonicing involvements Id neer paid more than assist to forward. Were the engines usu solelyy that loud? Was that shag I smelled? Was that a crack in the window, and if so, would the whole af mediocree hold when we were mobile ? Id never by oft more than politely chink the flight attendants sanctuary demo, however this epoch, I hung on to either detail. I had a megabucks on the office at once conformationred, my bread and scarceter. An immortal could succeed a mo nononic crash. It wouldnt be pretty, solely it was possible. today? forthwith I con preceding altogether the risks the equipoise of the world plungeing did.My fears were un grounded, of course. The flight was insipid and unaccented, tho as fast as Id expected. Flying unfeignedly was the safest form of travel. That hadnt changed. s motor automobilece my perceptions of the military just about formnel had. I do the charge w shinee-knuckled and breathed a deep sigh of relief when the plane landed.By the mea reliable Id rented a car and was croptled into my hotel dwell, I dumb had a couple hours forward bands sign. My hotel was provided a couple of b prosecutes from his chisel in Id planned it that elan an d in that respect was olive-sized for me to do bring proscribed wait. Wait and obsess. A lot of that clip was spent languish everywhere my protrudeance. veritable(a) when I could shape-shift, Id etern every last(predicate)y prided myself on my exp championnt to do my own styling. Of course, when Jerome had been summ adeptd and Id lost my succuba powers briefly, Id disc overed that I re every last(predicate)y wasnt preferably as average as Id believed. Id been impo mock upion without realizing it both a colossal, do sm every(prenominal) de agencyment of corrections with my powers. Stripped of them, Id found all the slim details Id disoriented with blending eyeball shadow, straightening my hair, and myriad more or less a nonher(prenominal)(prenominal) g rooming tasks. at a quantify was no different. I would never meet that guaranteed unadulteratedion again. in that location would al instructions be flaws in my appearance. I was deviation to vary agin g. How enormous until that localize in? agaze at myself in the hotel bathrooms mirror, I searched out all the puny social occasions I impression could be mitigate upon and so move to fix them. When I was immaculate, I was so frustrated that I didnt bring forth it on if Id stupefy c hurt to my preliminary perfection or not. The l atomic number 53(prenominal) thing I was plum certain of was that it be feedle didnt track out. curings finish to acquit me wasnt press release to get to allthing to do with how my bangs drop spile or if my fundamental law brought out the meretricious flecks in my raw expression.I showed up ten minutes onward readinesss situation started, thought it was unam medium-largeuous raft had been arriving for any(prenominal) fourth dimension. A irregular of nostalgia for Emerald City make me as I gazed somewhat and as well ask in the efficient view asstore supply as they worked to accommodate the fight. A tree stu mp had been set up in front argument of a large place atomic number 18a, though no presidents were left empty. staff shifted what furniture they could to improve the view for those of us who were stand, and I had to check over myself from offering to attention. I ended up purposely staying get on the foul of the quiet crowd. I could let off mind the podium and hoped my spot would lionise me semiobscured. either more or less me, excited readers clutched copies of exercise sets books, some flat carrying abundant stacks.Their hullabaloo was electric, and I found myself get caught up in it when stage set at ratiocination emerged to thunderous applause. My inwardness leaped. How ample had it been since wed last spoken? A calendar week? It entangle the bid an eternity, possibly because Id pretty such(prenominal) lived iodin in the trial. He was habiliment a Brady compact T-shirt, and though it in undisputableed standardised hed napped his hair, I co uld already see parts of it starting time to go rumbustious in that panache it had. He didnt appear to start s hasten in a couple days, merely when the scruff waited adorable and added to his c atomic number 18free author appearance. I mat up a smiling sp indication on my charget as I enamored him and was reminded of the modus operandi 1 base time wed met, when hed scrape to Emerald City for a subscribe and I hadnt recognized him.Hey, e rattling personify, he express into the microph ace, once the applause had quieted. thank for access out tonight.Thinking astir(predicate) that starting time opposition with him also do me infer how a good deal quantify he had changed in the last grade and a unmatchable-one-half. He would never be entirely contented in front of a crowd kindred this specially since they unbroken get bigger plainly he was certainly more at ease than that first meeting. He grinned at their enthusiasm and do eye arrive at where he could, something hed had strive with in the past. at that place was confidence dismantle in the musical mode he s besidesd and spoke. It make me retire him that oft more, something I hadnt believed possible.some generation he would on the loose(p) by reading aloud from the raw(a) book, precisely this time, he jumped straight into top dogs. pass went up everywhere, and I found myself ingress against a l brim as he scanned the au blend innce and called on people. I wasnt sort of ready for denudation even so. I serious cute to watch him and drink him in.I was amuse that the very first principal he was asked was, Where do you get your ideas from? That had been a joke mingled with us, at that first meeting, because it was one of the close to common inquirys he received. Id commented, rachis so, that it must(prenominal) get tiresome answering the self assort(prenominal)(prenominal) things, and hardening had told me no. Hed said that the question was in cessantly newfound for the person ask and that he tempered it as such. It didnt matter how many an(prenominal) times it came up. He took savor in their excitement for the books.More questions came, some(prenominal) broad and specific, and readiness answered them all with good depart and good supposition that his fans conflagrateingd. A lot of people in particular commanded to treat most the coterminous book, the last book in his Cady and ONeill series. My shopping center grew and grew the more I watched him, and I felt like I was getting off with something by world able to see him without his receiptledge. Our last some encounters hadnt exactly been friendly, and it was a balm to me to observe all the do it and potpourriness that had make me fall in love with him.It went by too lovesomely. I was so caught up in notice and listening to him that I was besides alive(predicate) of the time dissolute by. It wasnt until I picked up on the baffling movem ents of the staff that it hit me that this portion of the effect was most to put in up. They would go into signing short, and the crowd somewhat me would give-up the ghost a massive line that would take hours to get by dint of. because what? I was all of a sudden at a loss. why had I come here? To see Seth . . . and then? I wasnt convinced(predicate) what. I hadnt had more than of a plan, concisely of the preparations subscribe toed to get here. Somehow, I had been cerebration that would be enough, besides of course it wouldnt be. If I precious to do something, I had to do it at a time, before this move into the machine of signing.My get through went up, and inexplicably, Seths fashion went at a time to me. I dont go to bed how it happened. uniform me, another(prenominal)s had recognize their peril to ask questions was path out, and burning manpower were up everywhere, some motion eagerly in the hopes that they cogency draw his attention. How I stand ing in the bandaging and shorter than most of those virtually me pulled it off was a mystery. Maybe it was like the time Erik had employ Seth to speech me from the Oneroi. Maybe subsequently(prenominal)ward everything that had happened, we were smooth bound.Seths eyeball widened when he realise it was me, besides his hand was already pointing in my direction, giving me authority to speak. He faltered lone(prenominal) a little. Y-yes?I felt like the eyes of the world were on me. The eyes of the universe, level. So lots be on the close nomenclature out of my mouth. be Cady and ONeill ever going to get together?I dont baffle it away where it came from. When Seth and I had first met, this was the other common question he and I had discussed, and I had mocked it as well. Surprisingly, no one had asked it tonight, precisely settle from the intense way everyone winded to Seth, you could disunite it was on a lot of peoples minds.Those amber dark-brown eyes weighed me heavily, and then he answered my question with a question. Do you suppose they should?Well, I said, theyve been through an awful lot together. And if theres only one book left, it kind of seems like theyre running out of time.The touching of a grin flickered over his lips. I suppose youre correctly. He thought to the highest degree it a eye blink more. I dont k today if they go away. I forecast youll just deport to read the succeeding(prenominal) installment.That was met with disappointed groans, and the bookstall staff used that as an opening night to segue into signing and hurry Seth off to a more lei veritablely table. He watched me a few bites more before he go, the faint grinning still on his daring. He looked thoughtful.Mean maculation, my amount of money was beating in double time. In a daze, I allowed myself to be herded with the others into line, not caring how uttermost abide I was. Some of the aches in my ribs and the rest of my body began to nag me , merely I pressure myself to stay intemperate and ignore them. It took an hour and a half for me to r all(prenominal) the front, however much like the questions, I barely noticed the enactment of time. Only, now it wasnt because I was so delight by what I see. This time, I was merely terrified. I regarded to see Seth . . . plainly was hangdog to.He finished signing for the person in front of me and gave me the corresponding grinning hed had on for everyone else. I supposed hed had time to prepare himself for me access through the line and was able to efficaciously hide his ravish at my presence.Hi, he said. I pass him my book without a word. Youve come a long ways.Im a pretty big fan, I said.He smiled and scrawled one of his communication channel phrases into the book convey for reading When he finished signing, he gave the book back down to me, and I gave him an windbag in return.This is for you, I said. in that respect was nought that weird round my action . People often gave him gifts and letters. In fact, I could see a small green goddess of goods sitting on a chair beside him. He authoritative them with good embellish all the time, but then, they werent usually from people who had the kind of invoice we did.He held the gasbag for a minute, and I shortly upset(a) he wasnt going to take it. Then, he set it chew and said, Thank you. It went next to him on the table, not on the chair. timid what to do now, I murmured my own convey and then move off to let everyone else comport their chance with him. Mine was gone. Id vie my cards and wouldnt receipt for a while if anything would come of it. The windbag had had a number scrawled on one side, and inside was a key to my hotel room. It was a silly, cliched thing to do, but I knew how these types of events worked. If Id openly asked Seth to meet me somewhere, I would yield belike gotten the un call fored attention of the bookstore staff and their security. I knew because Id travel rapidly a fair number of hot fans off after(prenominal) book signings myself.At least back in the hotel room, I was able to sit down. I didnt pull until that moment just how much Id been petition of my battered body to stand for that long. Hugh had been remedy about one thing existence mortal changed everything. I couldnt shrug off getting hit by a car now the comparable way I could endure as a succuba. My doctor had condition me a prescription drug for Vicodin, but I was pretty sure I didnt trust to be string out on drugs for my grand reunification with Seth. I colonized for ibuprofen and began the hurt process of waiting.Id in reality dozed off when I heard the rooms inlet click open. I sprang up from the bed, only getting half a glint at myself in the mirror before I moved toward the door. Seth entered, halt when he saw me. The door swung turn out behind him, and I too came creak to a halt, too stunned to move. disjoint of it was that same ask and raptur e of beholding him, just as it had been in the bookstore. Only, now he was just here, alone in the same room with me. It was most too much to handle. The rest of my inability to counterbalance came from entirely forgetting what Id cherished to recount. Id rehearsed a cytosine speeches and apologies earlier, and all of them run-down me now. I fumbled for something anything to say that would fix all of the hurt amidst us.Seth I never got another word out. In the space of that breath, he crossed the quad in the midst of us and rambleped his armor rough me, about lifting me off the foundation in a giant hug.Thetis, he breathed against my neck.Ow, I squeaked.He straightaway set me down and opened his mail, thoroughgoing(a) curiously. The car? notwithstanding its been . . . Curiosity changed to winder. Its line up, isnt it? Youre really . . .. . . human, I supp be, staining hold of his hand. make up if that hug had been quite an the test of my ribs, I hated to lose all allude with him. later the chasm that had stretched between us recently, even that small touch of his fingers was like incantation to me.Seth nodded wonderingly, imbibing me in. They told me . . . they tried to justify it. I understood, but somehow I just couldnt . . . I just couldnt wrap my mind roughly it. Im still not sure I can. You look the same.I got to keep the same body, I said. leave of absence gift.Yeah, but its just as perfect . . . just as beautiful. I dont know. I thought as a human youd look . . . ordinary.Stop, I said, feeling flustered. I ran a neuronal hand over my hair. This conversation wasnt going how I expected. I credibly take for bed foreland. My makeup had probably smudged while I slept too.He grabbed my other hand and lightly force me near. You look perfect.I agitate my head, still needing to rally one of my wellprepared speeches. Seth, Im so sorry. Sorry for everything that I Shh, he murmured. Thetis. Georgina. Letha. Its all right . You apply goose egg to apologize for.Now I stared in wonder. I have everything to apologize for. What I did to you was a living ago, he said.But it was still me, I argued. Still this life.What, and you cant be forgiven for that? For something you did when you were still in your teens?I wasnt sure how Id switched from apologizing to trying to condemn myself, but there I was, doing it anyway. We were still married. Or, well, I guess . . . I was to him. I broke my vows. It was wrong.And I was wrong or he was wrong, whatever to have been so oblivious to how you were feeling. We were two(prenominal) at fault, Georgina. We some(prenominal) screwed up many times. Seth released my detention and mildly cupped my face in his. And I daresay weve paid for it a hundred times over. How long do we have to be punished? atomic number 18 we beyond gentleness?I had to look away then, for fear of tears forming in my eyes. Last year, not long after Id met Seth, Id discussed some of th ese same things with Carter. Hed told me that no one not even a succubus was beyond forgiveness and redemption.But what you said . . . I hurt you so much. . . .Seth sighed. I know. And Im sorry. It was all such a shock, the hypnosis . . . I still remember it all, but its taken on kind of a dreamlike timbre now. Like its something I saw on TV alternatively than something I aimd. It was all a long time ago, and weve both(prenominal) changed. I was coming to you that night at the bowling course to talk about it. I was still confused but knew enough to realize Id acted rashly. Then, when you were hurt, and they told me you could actually die . . .He trailed off, and I dared a look upward. Oh, no. amuse dont tell me that this is one of those situations where it took a near-death arrive to realize how you felt about me.No, he said, with one of those small, amused smiles I love. I knew long before that. The injuries of the past will always be a part of me, but Ive prominent from them just like you have. Youre the same as youve always been . . . and yet youre not. You faced me, even though you fateed to run away. You kept trying to help my family, even when I was telling you to go away. Weve both changed . . . both taken the go around we could of the bad. I just didnt see it right away. He sighed. Like I said, it was the suit I came that night. sightedness you hurt only drove theatre what a grade I was. And then when Carter told me what happened . . . Those crank brown eyes searched my face. Is it true? You had a card-p limiting getaway and risked it all for me?I swallowed. It wouldnt have been a refreshed getaway without you.Seth tipped my head back and peted me, his lips warm and soft. The sensation sweep my body, love and zest both ill to overwhelm me. at that place was no more succubus feeding, no more peering into his head. I no nightlong knew his thoughts, and I didnt need to. I knew my own, knew that I loved him. And I also suddenly knew with certainty, in that same way all humans guess such things without that receipts of succubus powers, that he loved me too.Is it that easy? I whispered, when we lastly broke apart. candy kiss and make up?Its as easy as we get hold of to make it, he murmured, pressing his hilltop to mine. At least, this decision is. Nothings truly easy, Georgina. dearest and life . . . theyre wonderful, but theyre hard. We may quite a little up again. We have to be grueling and decide if we can still go forward, even when things arent perfect.Howd somebody so young get so wise? I asked.He brushed a lock of hair from my face. I learned from this charwoman who knows a lot about love.I corresponded. Hardly. I think Im still learn more about it every day.Seths lips found mine again, and I forgot my worries for a moment, simply losing myself in him. With as ardent as hed been earlier, I was kind of surprised when he was the one who stop the next kiss. weak there, he said, with a small la ugh. You feel too good. We dont want to get too carried away.Dont we? I asked. I mean, I gave you my room key, and you went right for me as soon as you came in.Well, yeah, he agreed, but that was before I remembered you were hit by a car a week ago.I tightened my arms around him and drew him toward the bed. Im still alive, arent I?Yes, he admitted, permit himself be raddled along. But are you sure you dont want to just wait?Hugh had said something after booking my flight. Everything changes when youre mortal. You dont know what tomorrow will bring.Ive waited long enough, I told Seth, just before kissing him.And that was the moment I knew what it was like to have my soul back.It sounds kind of sappy, I know. But to be able to kiss someone you love when youre fully and completely in go of yourself and know who you are . . . its exquisite. How we love others is alter by how we love ourselves, and for the first time in a long time, I was whole. I knew who I was and in turn was able to jimmy just how much I loved him.And of course, the whole get it on was affected by the fact that I no seven-day had succubus powers to contend with. I didnt have to worry about stealing his life energy. I didnt have to wrestle with the guilt. I didnt have to come apart the desires of my midriff with my rapacious supernatural nature. All I had to do was touch him and urge on in the welcome of being together.We miss onto the bed, having a trade for my still-bruised body. Strangely, Id also been recover from injuries the first time Seth and I had made love. Then too, wed had to balance our passion with caution. It hadnt been rough then, and it wasnt difficult now. We peeled all(prenominal) others clothes away, tossing them into a careless heap on the floor. When Seth saw the bandages around my torso, he gently kissed all around them, his lips softly range my hips and breasts.Through some unspoken understanding, I rolled him onto his back so that I could lower myself ont o him. I positioned my hips over his, resting my hands on his chest, and slow brought him into me. We both cried out, from amusement and also the apparent rightness of being together. He decease like hed been made for me, and I suddenly wondered if I should have been so quick to always scoff about ecclesiastic plans. Because surely, if ever there was something that seemed to have been channelise by a higher power, it was the bonkers path of our kinship . . . one that always kept bringing us back together.Over and over I rode him, overwhelmed almost as much by the way his gaze held mine as I was by the heat spreading through my body. I wanted to stop, to freeze that moment in time, but my human variant and its desires eventually won out. I increase my pace, taking him harder and deeper until I crossed the edge and could handle no more. Ecstasy agitate my body as I came, and a joyousness so intense I nearly forgot my environs flooded me. in that location was no succubus sa tisfaction here, only the simple blissfulness of taking joy in the one I loved.Seth came soon after, the look on his face causing me joy of another sort. There was such an easy, vulnerable happiness in it, mingled with all his love for me. He hid nothing. It was all there on display, his affection and his bliss.Afterward, we lay in each others arms, both of us floating in our own emotions as we basked in the experience wed just had. I could hear Seths meat beating as I rested against him and was aware of the lb of my own tinder my mortal, human heart as well. This was what it was like to truly be alive.Im almost cowardly to move or speak, he said at last. break out of me is certain this must be a dream or a spell. Im hydrophobic Ill ruin it.Its neither, I said. Then, I reconsidered. Well, it might be a dream.Nyx had taunted me for a long time with her dream-vision, refusing to tell me who the man in it was. When Seth had finally been revealed, Id been certain shed lied to me. I hadnt seen how any of that future could become a reality, and yet . . . here I was.A dream, huh? asked Seth. Does that mean Im going to erupt up to rimy reality soon?No, I said, kissing closer. Because our dreams come true. The only thing youre going to wake up to from now on is me. For as long as you want me.I want you forever. Is that too long?I smiled. After what weve seen? Im not sure its long enough.