Craved
Chapter 34

Damon:

Damon kept checking his watch as the plane landed in Boston. Despite having money, it took forever to get a flight. Even Adeline's succubus charm did little good on sold-out flights. "Would you stop fidgeting?" She adjusted the pillow behind her head. "I'm trying to feed off the couple joining the mile-high club in the bathroom."

"Can't you get to the pilot and ask him what's taking so long?"

She opened one eye and glared at him. "If you let me do it my way and waited for Juan, we'd already be there on a private flight with stronger alcohol than the water you've had so far." His glass was empty again. He glanced out the window. From Renee's résumé, he knew she lived in the Twin Oaks apartments, number 208. His first point of call the moment they landed. After the plane's door swung open, Damon nearly ran over a football player to get to the waiting taxis. Only Adeline's gift kept the guy from smashing his fist into Damon's face. When he and Adeline arrived at Renee's home, she didn't answer her door, and her neighbors said they hadn't seen her since she left for Turkey.

"Are you Damon?" a middle-aged woman asked, dry washing her hands.

Did she know where Renee was? "Yes?"

"I'm a friend of Sofia's." She glanced around as though to ensure no one heard them. "Renee's plane landed hours ago, and I've been waiting here to let her know I shielded her apartment from Clive, but she hasn't shown up."

"Thank you. I'm guessing she went somewhere else first." Or Clive caught her before she made it here. Damon's heart twisted from the thought and he couldn't take a deep enough breath. He had to think. Put his emotions aside or he'd be useless. Cynthia. She could've done some snooping and found out where Renee lived and nearby relatives.

He stomped outside. Where would she have gone? Damn Sofia for giving her a private jet. He might have caught Renee at the airport while she waited for a flight if she'd flown commercially. The full moon and streetlights lit the sidewalk. She would have arrived before them, so why hadn't she come home?

"Is there somewhere else she might have gone?" Adeline asked.

He scratched his chin. "With friends? Relatives?"

"Okay, we don't have time for this." She took his arm, leading him away from the apartments. "Sit." She pointed to a wooden bench beside an elm tree with a crooked trunk.

Damon obeyed. He couldn't keep his feet still as they tapped out his impatience. Never mind that he couldn't replace her; he longed to have her safe and in his arms. He was grateful Adeline came with him as she could also help him fight Clive and his men. Damon just hoped they weren't outnumbered.

"Focus." She rested back against the elm. "You've slept with her-use your gift to locate where she is."

His heart pounded. If he slipped too deeply into her mind, he could drain her and kill her. Even now, he sensed the sexual tension and release in the apartment complex behind them. If he chose to, he could drain the entire area of lust and sex. "You don't have a choice." Adeline picked at her nails. "Clive has tasted her aura; he'll be able to track her too. And he won't be a gentleman about it. He'll use others mercilessly to replace her if he can't trace her aura."

She was right, and it might be the only way to know where she was and to save her. Ever since his fiancée, he'd shoved the ability away. Too risky traveling those lines, and he'd be too tempted to slip into someone's dreams and feed off them. Renee had brought him into her dream twice, but she called the shots, not him. Would he be able to stop if he controlled the fantasy? "I might drain her and kill her like I did Belinda."

"Would you get over yourself?" Her lips thinned. “There is no way to prove you were the cause of Belinda's sudden cardiac arrest. Happens. For all you know, she could have run a marathon and died then. If that happened, you wouldn't be sitting here blaming yourself for her death. Regardless, she wouldn't want you to either."

Sweat coated his hands, and a chill ran down his spine. He knew she was right, but he'd fought so hard not to do this.

"Would you prefer for Clive to kill her and take the necklace?" Her voice softened. "He'd use it to magnify the violence feeding him and the other incubi, putting more lives at risk."

"You're right." Renee would wish for him to help any way he could. He took a deep breath. "I'll try. But pull me out if I stay for more than five minutes."

"Deal." She took out her cell phone as if to check the time.

With his heart racing, he closed his eyes, letting his spirit drift up the silver cord and into the night sky. He was faster than any plane. Boston with neon lights and car headlights twinkled below him. Around the city, women having sensual dreams or at least open to them, were like flickering pink lights, calling to him. Urging him to come to them. Dream. Sleep with them and forget the pain and longing he'd carried.

No! Damon screamed. Renee. She was all that mattered. As if this part of his ability was rusty from lack of use, it shivered and slowly opened. The pathway shivered, then reversed.

Renee! He focused his will until he spotted her aura in a river of stars, hers shone brighter than all the others. Through now her aura wasn't the pinkish red he knew the first time he'd seen it, but dark like all the light around her was swallowed in a black hole in her mind and soul. Clive! Someone's aura turning black meant terror. If anyone would make Renee's change, it would be his cousin.

Damon snapped back into his body. He knew where to replace her now. The pain of leaving her behind leaving him gasping and his chest seize. "We have to go. Now."

"Where?" Adeline pushed away from the bent elm and glanced around as if the enemy would burst through the concrete walls of the apartment complex at any moment.

"Clive has Renee already. She's struggling to hold on." From what he gleaned from the brief encounter of her mind against his soul, she was at her parent's house in the suburbs.

Back in the taxicab, they held on as the vehicle sped through the streets, running every red light as safely as they could thanks to Adeline using her gift to get the cab driver racing through the city. Damon would make it up to the man and give him an enormous tip.

"Here. Stop!" Damon yelled when they reached the correct street. The glow of Renee's aura beckoned him like a strobe light. "Thank you." He tossed a wad of cash through the taxi driver's window, then leapt out and sprinted to the residence's door. Just as he was about to pound on the door, Adeline stepped in front of him.

Her brow rose. "Going in with guns blazing?"

"We don't have any guns," he snarled. Renee! Was she okay? He had to know.

"Exactly. Clive might expect you to kick in the door, but he doesn't know I'm with you and I'm thinking clearer than you are at the moment. We scope out the house, see if there's another way in. A quieter way."

Break in and stop Clive, not slip in, and surprise him. "Whatever, but we must hurry." This close to Renee, fear for what Clive was doing to her stabbed through him.

"Come this way." Adeline marched around him toward the backyard, ducking when she passed a window. After she peeked through its corner, she gave him the thumbs up. "I think there's a bedroom or study on the other side of the kitchen. I see a door, so it might be a way for us to sneak in."

Before he could smash the window, Adeline took out a Swiss army knife from her back pocket. Or one adapted to her needs since it had more gadgets than any he'd ever seen. She took out a thin-looking blade, then wedged it under the screen to pry it from the window. Without a word, he took the screen from her and set it against the brick of the house and out of their way.

Then she used the blade to slip between the window seal at the lock. Carefully, she wiggled the blade to unlock one side. She peered over the edge of the window and let out a sigh. When she got the other lock undone, she eased the window up. "I'll give you a boost." He cupped his hands.

She set a foot into the center, and he lifted her and she crawled inside. The window was narrow, but big enough for him to squeeze through without making too much noise. Adeline held the curtains to one side, while he climbed through the window and rolled onto his feet beside a twin bed.

She snorted. "Clive and the others stink like rancid meat."

"I was too busy fighting them to smell them,” he whispered. Then again, she was a succubus with slightly better senses than the males.

"Yes, but now you have me to even the odds."

The door to the bedroom was open, and murmurs floated toward them. He crept forward then peeked around the corner into the kitchen in time to see Cynthia slap a woman who was tied to a kitchen chair. "Cynthia." He poured all of his charm and sex appeal into purring her name. "I've missed you."

Looking at him as if confused, she stepped back. Her hand fell to her side, but her mouth opened. To scream a warning to the others?

Not waiting to replace out, he held out his hand. "Come with me." His golden aura surged forward, caressing hers. Tantalizing her. "We can be together, like before." His concentration slipped as his stomach knotted. Let her believe the lie. She took a step forward. If he worked hard and fast, he could send enough energy into her to knock her out for the night. Give him a chance to wipe her memories this time. From the kitchen entrance, Adeline came up behind Cynthia. No! A woman in a succubus' presence would feel hostile and jealous. Adeline grabbed a rolling pin out of the kitchen sink. Damon reached out to yank Cynthia to him when Adeline smacked her in the back of the head with the pin. "Why did you do that?" he hissed. "I was going to wipe her mind."

"No time." Adeline untied the seated woman.

Her hair hung in disarray around her heart-shaped face, but he recognized her dark doe-like eyes. Renee's mother. "Are you the police?" She held a hand to her swelling cheek.

"I'm a friend of Renee's. Sneak out the back door, run to a neighbor's, and call the police."

The woman nodded but kept glancing behind her. "Hurry. That nasty man took Renee into the bedroom." She pointed to a door on the other side of the kitchen.

The house tilted. Damon didn't hear what Adeline said next, he was too caught in the raging fire burning through his chest.