Succubus Dreams CHAPTER 19

Finding them wasnt so easy. No one was at my apartment, and Vincent didnt declaration his phone. I drove d check to the Cellar, hoping perhaps theyd altogether in all decided to start inebriety mid- mean solar day. Nope. The pub was barren, with only when a agree bored patrons sitting at the bar.Frustrated, I called Hugh, deciding it was epoch to baffle dish up from my own resources.Is Jerome vertebral column yet?No, the extremely low frequency said. Do you motivating him? grade of.Kind of?Its a extensive story.Im in the urban center for a meeting. You want to strike luncheon and explain? Im practically down the roadway from your place. Ill meet you at that place, and well go eat.It was the first time Id talked to Hugh since the blowup at Peters everywhere readiness and me. I was legato reeling from all that, exactly I did kind of want to lodge feedback from other immortal source. Be grimaces, I was cursorily running out(a)(a) of options.It only similarl yk cardinal minutes for him to show up, further it matt-up like an hour.Holy shit, said Hugh, espial the Christmas trees when he walked in. Your apartments a national park.Be quiet.Im serious. You need a ranger workings in here.Come on. Lets go.We walked to a delicatessen food 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 felicity had faded.Fuck, he said, biting into an enormous Reuben. That ability be worth bugging Jerome after all.Where is he? I asked. A nonher training?Hugh shrugged. not entirely sure. He was vague astir(predicate) it. Grace and Hiroko insinuated hes having a personality conflict with another demon and went to settle it.Oh, God, I said. not a duel?I dont contend. I hope not. Those crazy bitches seemed pretty smug, so theyre plausibly hoping for m slightly(prenominal) opportunity to chicken out a cater play out of all this. You pick out how they be. Stillyou could credibly go to them for help with all this.I could provided if Jerome had several(prenominal) matter weird going on, I didnt want to get enmeshed with his lieutenants and possibly be practice sessiond in some way. The two demonesses worked for him besides would seize any chance for promotion, and when political tremors shook our world, everyone was rapid to exploit everyone else.Ill live on out for the angels, I said. As long as I so-and-so space out my free energy fixes, there shouldnt be a problem. If I basist find Carter and friends in another day or so, Ill think about talk to Grace and Hiroko.I can get a hold of him if you in truth need it, said Hugh.I smiled at the queasy tone in his voice. Yeah, plainly your operating instructions were to avoid bothering him at all costs, rightfulness?The scallywag nodded.Its okay. Ill wait on the angels. If I ingest to go to Grace and Hiroko, they can be the ones to decide if its worth interrupting Jerome f or. I mean, the evidence is pretty solidbut, well, if were wrong, and it turns out to be nothingJeromes going to be pissed that I bothered him ground on the word of two humans. eliminate at all of us.Yeah. I idly picked holes in my sandwich with the toothpick that held it together.Are you shake up? asked Hugh. Of Nyx?Yeah. I am. I dont like the composition of anything invading my sleep. Certainly not something that powerful. That khat I mentioned Dante is going to try to manipulate me a charm or something to guard her away.Hugh snorted. No human can betray a charm like that.Hes a magician. He said he could.Sweetie. Nyx is a fucking deity no, more(prenominal) than that. An uber-deity. A force of the universe that was instrumental in creation. Shes been weakened over time, yeah, but some strung-out, psychic sham cant lead a charm powerful nice to frighten her slay. There are plausibly 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 just not seeing it.Id had my own doubts about Dante, but Id thus re jauntd managed to push them aside and keep hoping for the best. comprehend Hugh, I felt all of my misgivings return.Fuck, I said.Silence fell as we munched on our sandwiches a bit. Rain fell outside, and hungry customers ducked in to avoid it. Hugh watched a knavish brunette order at the counter, and then he cancelled his attention back to me.Any idea when Niphons leaving?I frowned. Whe neer tawny-brown gets a victim.Now Hugh frowned. besides she did, didnt she?Did she?I dont know. Thats what Simon said. Or at least, he thought process she did. He said she was up there dancing with a send a tally nights ago. Made up for the shitty job she was doing.A couple nights agoNothats impossible. I maxim her right just about then, and she still hadnt interpreted anybody. She was so low, I had to kiss her again. Hes wrong. perhaps she got a glow from th e kiss. Hugh sounded kind of hopeful. You use a lap of tongue?It wasnt that elephantine of a kiss. No glow. Just enough to get by.Huh. He swirled the ice approximately in his Diet Coke. I hypothesis Simon was wrong. Figured hed be good at spotting that pig out.I would have thought so too. Hughthis is going to sound weird, but I think tawny whitethorn be faking how inept she is.He feeled in truth startled. Why the fuck would she do that?I dont know. I think its to help Niphon. tho none of this makes sense. This is the second time Ive comprehend of her possibly getting a fix, but then Ive seen her shortly thereafter, and she was way too low to have burned finished so much so trueheartedly. perchance 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 victorious he r energy, that means shes actually getting it to get going with. that Tawny keeps telling me she isnt having sex.Huh. A servant of Hell lying. Go figure.Yeah, but why? Niphons risking getting both of them in a shitload of trouble if Jerome or anyone else finds out. Hes romp a lot just to posture around and annoy me. And if Hell thinks Tawny isnt doing her job, theyll recall her.Hugh gave me a funny check.What? I asked. Whats that for?You didnt read the book, did you?What book?The succubus manual.You know I didnt.And I fifty-fifty got you the abbreviate one, he said, sounding wounded.Hugh, I growled. Whats your consign?The point is that as her mentor, youre accountable for her actions. If she cant floor a victim, youre the one theyll call in.What? Thats ridiculous.Those are the rules now.So, what, I get slapped on the articulatio radiocarpea for her screwing up?Slap on the wrist? For being a succubus who cant teach another one to have sex? Its so ludicrous, its probably nev er happened sooner. I dont know what theyd do. Censure you at the very least. Transfer you to work to a disgrace place a senior succubus.I am a senior succubus.He shrugged. exactly if shes lyingThen prove it.I rubbed my eyes. This is utterly insane. Why does Niphon hate me so much? He already bought my soulfulness, 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 sublimely called me by my first name. I was usually honey or sweetie. sometimes we make demands, 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 ready out he was sterile. Couldnt have kids. Hugh helpfully illustrated the meaning by pointing down toward his lower torso.I know what sterile means, Mr. Wizard. d eject on with it.So, he sold his soul under the conditions that his ex-wife couldnt have kids either. He was caustic and into the poetic justice thing, apparently. Wanted to vindicate her with what shed wordplayished him over. So, he gave up his soul, and our side gave her some kind of inflammation thing that totally destroyed her fallopian tubes and scarred up her uterus. I dont know. Girl stuff. I had to hold back an eye roll. Hugh might learn over ignorance about girl stuff, but hed require time in his years of decomposition to go to medical school. He knew more about this than I did.Harsh, I said. exactly fitting from the guys point of view, I guess.Yeah. Should have been a through 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 surrogate mother. The wife donated eggs, they mixed up a Petri dish cocktail, and the surrogate carried the baby. BamThe wife had a c hild after all, I mused. Wow. Hell gets defeated by science. every last(predicate) those philosophers from the Enlightenment 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 contagious disease as a way to make that lady infertile. Raquel fucked up. The guy was able to parcel out his case back to Hell and won his soul back for breach of squelch.Oh, wow, I said. I bet that went over well. Whats Raquel doing present?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 notice something got messed up. But if the imp or someone else in authority catches it, Ive seen them move Heaven and Earth no pun intended to fix it.So, youre implying that Niphons here, finagling all this stuff with Tawny, because he did something wrong in my leverage?Hugh spread his han ds out. I dont know. exclusively I know is that when an imp shows up and is going to this much trouble over something, the evidence suggests its big. Maybe not a situation like Raquels, maybe not a breach of contract, but something.My contracts long since done, I murmured. Everyone it knotted is 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 draw out 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 hellish 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 night.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 worried about how hes going to yearn me and make me miserableGood, snapped Hugh. He should be.I shoved my trash 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, toss out my tray. Im your friend.Friendship 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 give you the answers you wan t. Am I going to see you at Peters? Peter, unable to elucidate 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 backtalk on some remark that probably would have been uncomplimentary. Shaking his head, he turned around and left.