Succubus Blues CHAPTER 23

Two, he said after a moments hesitation. average two.Just two, I repeated flatly, thinking oh shit. Is that including you?Yes.I rubbed my temples, wondering how I could rebuke Jerome and Carter that we had two nephilim to deal with now. No cardinal had mentioned that possibility.Someone should give birth cognize that, I muttered, more to myself than to Roman. Someone should strike sensed it there would come been two different nephilim signatures. Thats how Jerome knew it was you. You crap a unique signature no one else has it.No one else, Roman agreed with a smirk, scarce my sister.Oh shit.Jerome didnt mention more than one ah. I blinked in sudden deduceing. Jerome, by his profess admission, hadnt proceedingu bothy been around for the birth. Twins? Or more? The archdemon could have fathered quintuplets for all I knew.Roman shook his head, excuse highly amused at my deductions. Only twins. Just the two of us.So this is a family act then? You two hit the road together , going from t induce to town, wreaking butcheryNothing so glamorous, love. Usually its exactly me. My sister tries to forbid a low profile spends more time on her job and sustenance her life. She doesnt really get caught up in grand machinations.Then howd you round her into this one? Again, I thought ab verboten Eriks words, how most nephilim obviously wished to be left alone.She lives here. In Seattle. Were on her turf, so I talked her into going in on the final crop up with me. She wasnt really into whatsoever of the stuff with the lesser immortals.Except beating on me, I doted bug bulge.I am dispirited about that. I think you pissed her off.I dont in time admit her, I exclaimed, wondering which was worse a nephilim in love with me or a nephilim holding a grudge.He just smiled. I wouldnt be so sure of that. He reached out to touch me, almost casually, and I backed away, making his smile slip. Now whats wrong?What do you think of? You think you can just dump this o n me and then call things to be all peachy between us?Well, wherefore non? Honestly, what have you got left to worry about? I opened my blab out to protest, but he continued before I could speak Ive already told you, Im not going to hurt you or any of your friends. The only(prenominal) mortal left on my list is someone you dont even know or care about. Thats it. End of story.Oh yeah? Whatll happen then? After you kill Carter?He shrugged. Then I leave. Ill find someplace to hang out for a while. Probably teach again. He leaned toward me, holding my gaze. You could come with me, you know.What? find about it. He spoke eagerly, excitement growing with each word. You and me. You could come down down and do all the things you want to do your books, your dancing without any immortal politics to muck your life up.I scoffed. Hardly. Its not worry I can stop being a succubus. I sleek everywhere need sex to survive.Yes, yes, I know youd still have to stigmatize the occasional vi ctim, but think about the times in between. You and me. Together. macrocosm with someone you dont have to worry about hurting. Being with someone simply for the pleasure of it, not for survival. No superiors to harass you about meeting your quotas. lot came to mind just then, case of me idly wondering what itd be handle to be with him just for pleasure.Shifting back to my harsh reality, I told Roman, I cant just run off. Seattle is my post. I have people to answer to they wouldnt let me leave.Cupping my face in his hands, he whispered, Georgina, Georgina. I can nourish you from them. I have the power to hide you. You can live your own life. No more answering to the bureaucracy above. We can be free.Those mesmerizing eye hooked me give care a fish on a line. For centuries, I had lived out immortality achingly alone, bouncing from one short-term relationship to another, remainder any connection that got too deep. Now, Roman was here. I was attracted to him, and I didnt have to push him away. I couldnt hurt him through physical contact. We could be together. We could conflagrate up together. We could live out eternity together. I would never have to be lonely again.Longing surged up within me. I treasured it. Oh theology, I wanted it. I didnt want to hear Jerome chastise me for my all lowlifes, all the time seduction policy. I wanted to come floor and tell someone about my day. I wanted to go out dancing on the weekends. I wanted to take vacations together. I wanted someone to hold me when I was upset, when the ups and downs of the world pushed me too far.I wanted someone to love.His words blazed through me, piercing my heart. I knew, however, they were only that words. timeless existence is a long time we couldnt hide forever. Eventually wed be found, or when Roman finally got destroyed on one of his protest missions, Id be exposed and have a lot of angry demons to answer to. He was offering me a childs dream, an impractical fantasy with a short-li ved, doomed run.Furthermore, cartroad off with Roman meant complying with the outcome of this insane plot of his. Logically, I could understand his angst and desire to lash back. I felt for his sister even if she inexplicably detested me who simply wanted to live an ordinary life. I had sympathisen slaughter and panel over the geezerhood, the extinction of entire populations of people whose names and cultures no one remembered today. To live with that over and over throughout these long millennia, to always be on the run, hiding simply because of an accident of birth yes, perhaps I would be pissed off too.Yet, I still could not see that as sufficient reason for the random killing of immortals, simply to strengthen a point. The fact that I knew these immortals personally made it worse. Carters attitude still unnerved me, yes, but he had saved my life, and my days with him hadnt been unbearable. If anything, Roman should enliven the angel. The nephilims biggest complaint was t hat immortals stayed locked into archaic sets of rules and roles, but Carter had broken the mold an angel who chose knowledge with his hypothetical enemies. He and Jerome typified the kind of rebellious, nonconforming lifestyle so advocated by Roman.Too bad that didnt seem to be enough to dissuade the nephilim. I wondered if I could.No, I told him. I cant do it. And you dont have to do it either.Do what?This plot. Killing Carter. Just let him go. Let it all go. Violence only begets more violence, not peace.Im sorry, love. I cant. Theres no peace for my kind.I reached out and touched his face. You call me that, but do you really mean it? Do you love me?He caught his breath, and I suddenly realized he could be just as hypnotized by my eyes as I was by his. Yes. I do.Then do this for me if you love me. paseo away. Walk away from Seattle. I Ill go with you if you do.I hadnt realized Id meant it until the words flee my lips. Running off was a childs fantasy, true, but it would be wort h it if I could avert what was to come.You mean it?Yes. As long as you can keep me safe.I can keep you safe, butHe stepped away from me and paced around, rails a hand through his hair in consternation.I cant locomote away, he finally told me. Almost anything in the world I would do for you, but not this. You cant imagine what its been like. You think immortalitys been cruel to you? Imagine what its like always running, always watching your back. I have just as much trouble settling down as you. Thank God for my sister. Shes the only one I have, the only mainstay in my life. The only one I loved until you, at least.She can come with usHe closed his eyes. Georgina, when my mother was still alive millennia ago we lived in a camp with some of the other nephilim and their mothers. We were always running, always trying to stay ahead of those pursuing us. One night Ill never draw a blank it. They found us, and I swear, Armageddon itself could never be so terrible. I dont even know w ho did it angels, demons, or whatever. I mean, when it comes down to it, theyre all the same really. bewitching and terrible.Yes, I whispered. Ive seen them.Then you know what they can do. They swept in and just destroyed everyone. It didnt matter who. Nephilim children. Humans. Everyone was considered a liability.But you escaped?Yes. We were lucky. Most werent. He turned back to look at me. His heartache made my eyes burn. Do you see now? Do you see now why I have to do this?You only further the bloodshed.I know, Georgina. For Christs sake, I know. But I have no choice.I saw in his face then that he hated being a part of that bloodshed, part of the same destructive behavior that had haunted his childhood. But I also saw that he was inextricably tied to that. He could not escape it. He had lived too long, so much longer than me. The years of fear and anger and blood had twisted him. He had to see this bouncy played out.Ifight every day to not let the past lay hold of (on me. Som etimes I win, sometimes it does.I have no choice, he repeated, face desperate. But you do. I still want you to come with me when Im done.A choice. Yes, I did have a choice. A choice between him and Carter. Or did I? Was there anything I could do to save Carter at this point? Did I want to save Carter? For all I knew, Carter had slaughtered countless nephilim children over the years in the name of good. Maybe he deserved the penalty Roman wanted to mete out. What were good and evil, really, but stupid categories? soft-witted categories that restricted people and punished or rewarded them based on how they responded to their own natures, natures they really didnt have any way to control.Roman was right. The system was flawed. I just didnt know what to do about it.What I needed was time. m to think about all of this, time to figure out a way that would save angel and nephilim both, if such a feat were possible. I didnt know how to buy that time, though, not with Roman standing there sodding(a) at me, aflame with his romantic notion of running off together.Time. I needed time and had no idea how to get it. I had no powers to help in a situation like this. If Roman distinguishable I was a threat, I would be unable to fight against him. A nephilimcould easily blow one of you out of the water. I could not hale divine strings and contracts like Hugh, had no superhuman reflexes and strength like Cody and Peter. I was a succubus. I changed shape and had sex with men. That was it.That was it