Chapter 25
Lola
I’d been sitting at Dimitri’s side for a long, silent hour. Doctors and nurses have been instructed by Ann not to come in here unless they were called in, which somehow made me feel a bit better about him being stuck here alone.
If he came back to his senses only to be surrounded by people with white coats, he would freak out. People could get seriously hurt. Especially with the state he came back in…
No one really knew what happened to him, but most of the external damages had already healed. His mind had shut down from sheer exhaustion, probably amplified by his attempt to control the madness that tended to take over when he was in danger.
But I wanted—no, needed him to wake up. To tell me what the Hell happened. Why Arc didn’t come back. I was still upset with him when they had left, but he remained my mate. The idea of Arc being trapped somewhere, hurt and in pain, made my stomach twist and churn.
My hand tightened on his limp and cold fingers as I looked at the deep, purple circles under his closed eyes.
Whatever happened, it had been too much for him.
Bad enough that it had taken him almost two weeks to free himself and come back here.
There had to be a good reason he left Arc behind.
Even if they didn’t get along, he wouldn’t have taken the risk that I’d lose a mate.
Not after he’s seen what leaving Blake did to me.
Someone knocked on the door before carefully opening it. Marcus’ head popped through the narrow opening, eyes silently asking for permission to come in.
I nodded before he pushed it farther, stepping inside and followed by Aymeric, carrying a big bag in his arms.
“I assumed you rushed here this morning and didn’t take the time to have a proper breakfast,” Aymeric said, pulling out little containers to set them on the table in the corner. “You need to eat when you’re worried, or you’ll crumble.”
I forced a small smile and stood up, walking over to him to place my hand on his shoulder.
“You know I can’t starve, right?”
Aymeric turned his head slowly. He was concerned. The dark circles under his eyes spoke volumes of the little sleep he must have gotten.
“I know, dear. It still pains me to know you’re here, alone, waiting for your mate to wake up.”
Marcus came to stand on Aymeric’s other side, his hand rubbing slow circles on his back.
“So, Rosa prepared some coffee for you, and I brought some of your favorite pastries and cakes,” the angel continued. “If we’re waiting, might as well be with full bellies.”
Marcus helped him set up the—almost—buffet and filled three plates before coming to sit on the uncomfortable chair next to me, handing me the to-go cup and the food.
“When I was young and we had to go to the hospital because someone was hurt or sick, we sat around their bed to exchange happy stories and memories about them,” Aymeric said, taking the seat on the other side of Dimitri’s bed.
“Of course, Marcus and I don’t know him very well, if not at all.
But you could tell us a good memory you have with him. ”
“That’s a strange custom,” Marcus mocked with a scoff. I slapped his arm. “Ouch—What? It is!”
“My family believed that when someone sick is surrounded by happiness and laughter, they have more chances of getting better.”
“It’s not like Dimitri is dying,” Marcus countered. “The dude’s pretty much invincible at this point.”
Aymeric let out an exhausted sigh. “It’s not just for the person who’s sick. Isn’t it better to talk about happy things rather than to wallow about the whole situation?”
“Or, we could talk about other things,” I suggested. “What’s it like living with a third vamp?”
Marcus groaned, stuffing a whole piece of cake into his mouth.
“Forget it, let’s talk about your happy whatever with your mate.”
Aymeric’s lips tugged at the corner as he brought the to-go cup to his mouth. Well, if I wasn’t so terrified about being locked in a space with my brother after all these years, I’m pretty sure I’d enjoy the awkwardness and chaos he probably brought with him into the apartment.
I knew I had to face him eventually. Just—not now.
“Okay,” I breathed out. “Not sure what to say. We’ve been gravitating around each other for so long there are lots of good and bad memories.”
“We’ve only seen you defending or saving him. I’m sure he must have done it too in the past, hasn’t he?” Aymeric asked.
I smiled. “Oh, that he did.”
On many occasions, actually. I was pretty sure he saved me more often than I did him. Or at least, his saves seemed more important. So, I started with the most life-changing one.
“1620. I’d been tied to a lousy Archdemon in London for a few years, and most of his tie group was made of Succubi and a few Incubi…which was why he created a brothel. He only had a couple of other demons that served as bouncers and memory wipers for customers who had…peculiar tastes.
“We were barely allowed to leave, and depraved customers kept coming back. After all, we could take any appearance. The Archdemon used to question the customers on their tastes before stashing them in rooms and coming to get us, instructing us on the changes we needed to make to please them.
“The things I’d witnessed and been forced to do there…I mean, I’m a Succubus, and it still makes me nauseous to this day.
“But there was this…particularly cruel man that kept coming. I’d say three to four times a week, always asking for the same thing. He liked his women to be not quite women yet. And the Arch was too happy to provide.”
I paused to take a sip of my coffee, my throat turning a little too dry at the memories.
“Other Succubus were weaker than I was, and struggled to keep such a small appearance for enough time for him to do his business. As repulsive and old as he was, that priest had stamina. So that task was forced on me.
“I’ll spare you the details of all the things he wanted and kept coming for. Of my fellow Succubi’s disgust and fear every time he stepped inside the building. But when he was done, no matter how many times I puked and washed myself, I still felt dirty and hollow inside.”
I turned to Marcus, whose face was stone cold.
“You know we can’t really do anything against our tied Archdemon’s orders. That, even demons can have a fucking conscience. It killed me from the inside to do that. Being a whore has always been inconvenient, but…that? It was sick. It made me sick.
“One day, that priest went too far. He asked the Archdemon to buy me. So he wouldn’t have to go there anymore, and to keep me for himself. He didn’t like the idea of other men tainting me, unaware that he was the only man asking for that particular form. That it was not my real one.
“Foolish of me to think that the Arch would refuse. That selling me would mean he’d lose one of his most precious assets. But I didn’t fully grasp the extent of that Arch’s greed.
“The priest offered a price no one should have been able to pay. And the fact that he could use me whenever he wanted would taint his black soul even more, granting the Arch enormous power when he would inevitably pass away.
“So he worked around it a little, but agreed. He would not sell me, but lease me. For the price the priest offered, he was allowed to take me away, but return me after three years. After all, three years later, I was supposed to look…older. Not to his taste anymore.”
“For fuck’s sakes…” Marcus muttered. “That’s not a happy story, that’s a fucking—”
“Will you let me finish?” I interrupted, annoyed. “It starts really bad, but I’m getting to the point.”
He snorted, stuffing another full pastry into his mouth while Aymeric stared at me, pity in his eyes.
“The sick fuck took me away then, after I was ordered by my Arch to comply and do as I was told, to only come back in three years. I was stashed into a cage, with others. Others I knew were humans and not grown up Succubi only pretending to be younger.
“So I made sure he always picked me. I didn’t know what they'd been through before I got there, and I didn’t want them to suffer any longer. I’d been there for a week when I felt Dimitri getting closer. I knew that, if I felt him, he was feeling me too. That he could sense my fear. My pain.
“It took him two hours to find the cave.
Ten minutes, waiting in the shadows until the priest came back for his daily abuse.
Three seconds to make his head burst from the inside out, leaving him a headless, bloody mess on the floor.
He got all of us out and into safety before taking me away.
Walking right past the brothel and making it crumble with everyone inside it.
“He knew it wouldn’t kill the Arch or the other members of my tie, but it was the only thing stopping him from barging in and making a carnage. And it would take time for the Arch to find another place and set up another brothel.”
“What happened after?” Aymeric asked.
“Yeah, you were tied to the Arch. Were you not forced to go back?”
I shrugged. “He did order me to come back after three years, and the man I had to ‘listen’ to was dead.”
Marcus stared at me, unblinking. “So what, you just left? Because of a loophole?”
“I’ve never been as fortunate again after that. My next Archdemons always made sure to weigh their words.”
“So the news of your escape and temporary freedom spread?” Marcus asked. “Must have been a fun three years, however short it was.”
I couldn’t hold the nostalgic smile from spreading across my face.
Dimitri and I had jumped on the Mayflower in September and escaped as soon as we set foot in America two months later.
We moved west, leaving the people we sailed with behind, until we could settle on our own farther away.
It was the first time either of us left Europe.
The first time in centuries that we lived like free, normal people.
Mingling with native americans, sharing their customs…
We had been far and lucky enough to find a tribe that took us in.
Those had been three of the best years of our life.
“It was,” I simply answered, choosing to keep this part of Dimitri and I’s past for ourselves.
Dimitri and I got married there. Blake used to say I’d been cruel to make Dimitri wait for so long…But marriage, back then, was nothing more than a business arrangement. It felt different there, when we were cut from most of the world.
“Zhizn moya,” Dimitri croaked from the bed, his eyes still closed.
I sat up, handing my cup to Marcus and rushing to grab Dimitri’s hand over the white sheet.
“Remember when we blew up that colonist camp near the tribe after they already tried to attack once?” He paused, a small grin slowly illuminating his face as one of his red eyes opened. “Good times…”