Born Suspect Read online

  Born Suspect: Born Succubus Series

  Thanks to Laynie Wilkes

  @Laynielouxu

  Best proof-reader I’ve had the chance to work with! Thank you so much for helping me when I had nothing to offer you in return!

  Prologue:

  Music rolled through the air, an electrical current of pure energy. Thrashing in time to the beat, the crowd roared in excitement. All around me, there was anticipation as the sound built to a crescendo. My body was ragged, sore, and thoroughly drained. We had been at the music festival for more than twelve hours now.

  Lyra performed her set for the better part of an hour now. Finally, the show was winding down to a close. I cheered her on from the crowd, as her pink streaked raven hair swished in time to her guitar riffs. The thrumming and twanging of her melodic guitarwork rippled through the air like a tsunami.

  This is what my life is really about!

  I mused to myself, as I closed my eyes to drink in the supercharged energy of the crowd. Being what I was, a succubus, I could taste the angst. The sexual tensions running rampant in such a wild crowd. I felt myself coming alive again. This must have been my third wind, or was it my fourth?

  Such a beautiful sensation…

  My mind drifted through the desires of the men and women around me. I could put myself in their shoes. Being a succubus, you are a sort of empath, thankfully, I can control it. It can be quite taxing most of the time, but in moments like this, it is wonderous. There are many days that I long for the simplicity of my human life—or at least to be ignorant again. However, I would never trade the things I have gained, even if I could go back to sleep.

  Want. Need. Touch. Taste. Revel!

  My eyes opened as I felt a new pang of hunger shoot through my gut. Starvation, blood, need, thirst, and finally, feast!

  What the hells?!

  I looked around, and I quickly took inventory of my own body. Nope, not starving for blood. It wasn’t me I was feeling. It was someone, someone nearby. My fangs had descended in response to the urges, as if my own hunger had been jump started.

  I swore to myself and I spotted a very concerned looking Rachelle. She had gone to get us each some drinks. A margarita for me, and a Scottish draft for her. Rachelle was from a time when a good strong mead was all one craved—most of the time. She held fast to the traditions of her people. There was a part of her that never left the Highlands, not in her heart of hearts.

  My perfect Scottish princess with perfect wheat-blonde hair, came towards me now. Her whisky eyes held a river of concern. Her full lips were downturned into a slight pout.

  “Mel, what is it? I felt something shift in your emotions.”

  Yeah, she could get some impressions on my moods now that we were bonded together. A sort of supernatural mating, or marriage. A merger of two souls. Something I hadn’t fully understood the scope of when I had agreed to enact the process—not that I regretted it.

  “Rach, I felt it.”

  I looked into her eyes and I saw the depths of her concern. I could feel her surface emotions, her love and her devotion. I could feel her insanely powerful urge to safeguard me from everything. Rachelle was a master class vampire, even if she had gone rogue from her clan. She would always be one of the most revered and powerful beings in any area she inhabited. That came with an urge to “protect my princess.” It could get tiresome when she became overly cautious with me.

  “I felt hunger. Someone is starving. It was so much worse than my cravings that day we met.”

  Rachelle’s eyes registered something, like she was thinking back to that day. She nodded in her comprehension.

  “Who is it? What are they doing?”

  I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders.

  “I’m not sure, but they’re starving, and they’re here to drink—to feast.”

  Rachelle’s eyes widened, and she cursed harshly to herself. She pulled me close to her and I felt her ample chest press against me. I had to fight my lusty succubus nature. This was not the time, nor the place for my body to lose all its functionality!

  “Stay here, I’m going to approach the stage and let Lyra know to wrap things up. If there is a rogue vampire in here that is starving, then we need to get it away from these mortals, and fast!”

  I nodded in agreement. I pulled her to me, capturing her thick soft lips with my own. I couldn’t resist the urge to affirm my love for her, not when I might have to help fight off a crazed vampire!

  Rachelle moved between the people with perfectly assured steps. Her motions were blurred to the slow paces of the mortals around us. My keen eyes could track her motion with a deftness I didn’t possess just two months ago. Being Born, I had awakened as a succubus, and part vampire—supposedly on my father’s side.

  In fact, I had taken a bite out of Rachelle’s older brother, Ellison. He is the leader of her former clan, the Jameson Clan. I don’t understand all the details, but Rachelle couldn’t side with me, and a group of shifters, and stay in her clan. It was my fault. I let myself be kidnapped, like some helpless little damsel, and Rachelle had to throw everything away to help me escape!

  I turned around, and round. No vampires, at least none that seemed to be starving. I had seen starving vamps before. Rachelle and I had encountered some rogues that were left to starve about a month ago. It had nearly turned lethal, when one of them realized I was something other than a full vampire. Basically, I was back on the menu. I had managed to subdue the vamp, lest Rachelle outright kill it. (I might be adjusting to this world, but I still try not to kill, if I can help it.)

  Scanning the area again, I could see some tweakers. Some people shaking and fidgeting on some uppers, and I could make out some staggering drunks. Nothing that screamed, “Hungry vampire.”

  “Where are you!?”

  I muttered a loud to no one.

  Closing my eyes again, I left the emotions wash over me. I felt the eb and flow of the currents. The tides of human emotions. I felt the desires, cravings, and the needs of the crowd. It was further than I liked to go into the emotions of others. Creatures of empathy can lose themselves in the desires of others. It can turn against us, unless we are tethered to our sense of self.

  I felt chills run down my back as I felt the effects of something. I felt my limbs numbing to the sensation. Suddenly, my heart-rate increased, and my body began to glisten in sweat. I opened my eyes and cut the connection.

  Was that speed?!

  Disturbing, sensing the effects of a drug you had never taken before! I might hang out with musicians, but none of us are into hard drugs, besides, all of us are supernatural of some flavor. Drugs and sups do not often mix. Our bodies reject them, so we are nearly immune to most chemicals. There are few poisons that even work on our kinds. Put simply, if we were easy to kill off, people would have done it by now!

  Something pulsed through me. It was extraordinary. A wave of gripping fear, something that invaded my being like a pulse of frigid energy. The pulse was so strong, I had to brace myself against the wall for a moment, gathering my wits about me.

  He’s made his move!

  (I’m not sure how I knew it was a he, but the succubus side of me knew it, like everyone knows how to breathe. I fought my way towards the back of the room, as if being tugged by an invisible rope. I pulled, drawing myself closer to the source of the pulsing fear. A fear I was all too familiar with. Death at the fangs of a vampire. Being mauled by an immoral master vampire was how my awakening had happened. My hybrid succubus-vampire instincts had kicked in to help me heal. Now, those instincts were luring me in to the source of the palpable fear. Being part vampire, I should have some animal side that enjoys this sensation, but my succubus was a creature of pleasure and sex. My instincts often ran towards making
out, or getting my girl off, not towards suffering and fear!

  Abruptly, the music ceased. Confused music patrons looked about, but it was the sudden shrill screams from my left side that told me where the vampire must be. I looked in the direction of the sound, there was a tall, skinny pale figure drinking deeply from the neck of a limp female. She looked younger than me, and I’m only twenty-five.

  “Stop!”

  The single word sizzled form my throat with a vibrant power that infused itself into the vampire. Magic, my magic. A gift from my mysterious master class vampire father. The vampire looked up and hissed, but I was on him. With the humans now fully perceiving the danger in their midst, they had made plenty of room for me to run at top speed now.

  I slammed into the vamp and we collided with the back wall. I barely had time to see the bleary-eyed girl looking up at me as she sank limply to the floor. Her complexion was ashen. She had lost an enormous amount of blood.

  I jabbed my fist into the vampire’s face. I felt his hot blood gush from his nose. I am strong for a newly awakened hybrid. I often forget just how strong, since I am bond to another master class. Rachelle can still handle me with ease—not that I mind most the time!

  My vampire charge struggled against my grip. It must have looked odd to the onlookers. I was a slim-slender twenty-something millennial. I had a six-one man pressed firmly against the wall with my left forearm. My right hand still free to respond to anything he might try. Yep, nothing strange about that!

  “Why did you come here? Why would you feed in such a way?! Behavior like this is forbidden! We have laws! You cannot go around biting humans at will!”

  “Enough!”

  I turned in time to see a very pissed off leopard shifter strolling towards me. Her hot aura cut through the crowd. They parted before her, as if on some baser instinct. Most of the locals knew that Lyra and her band were pack leaders, but they had never truly felt it before now.

  “Jaden let’s drag this feral out back and give it, its sentence! No one brings violence into my territory!”

  I didn’t want anyone to die, but the bastard had nearly killed a girl. From the look in Lyra’s eyes, I knew that there was no way of escaping this outcome.

  This is my new world. This is what it takes for us to survive among humans! They must see us deliver swift retribution for law breakers! Lest they bring war upon all the houses, clans, and packs!

  Telling myself all of this did not make me feel any better about this! I knew Lyra was fair, but I hated how bloody our world could get at times. Even if my own hands had blood on them, I still didn’t like what we had to do sometimes!

  Reluctantly, I released him and pushed him towards Mark and Jaden. They nodded to me. Jaden’s eyes were lit with a deep sense of comprehension and empathy for me. She could read me so well. She could tell that the deaths bothered me. Maybe that was the lingering human in me?

  Rachelle came to a stop beside me and she stroked her firm, but small hand down my back.

  “You did what you had to do Melony. Trust me, you do not want to see what happens when humans turn against you. I survived such times. The Inquisition was particularly brutal! Never think for a moment that modern times have changed humans in any way. At their core, they are still fearful beings. They strike against anything that they don’t understand. Never forget this!”

  I closed my eyes and leaned into her.

  Food for thought…

  One:

  Pleading eyes looked upon me through the depth of despair. Hunger, unsated, and desires left unfulfilled. Agony twisted the wraith of a man’s body, it was once a beautiful vampire, now made more ashen, grey skinned. The creature contorted and hunched over like it’s back was bowed. Claws began to sprout from its hands. It shrieked a wail of pure unadulterated pain—torture.

  I snapped up and Rachelle popped up beside me. She looked all around the room, as if to suss out danger. Nothing awaited me in the shadows, not a man, nor a beast. I shook my head, as if trying to jar the image from my mind.

  “Shit, sorry hon.”

  My voice came out slightly shaky. I was still pumped full of the emotions and the images of the man turning into a bat-like creature in my mind. Something more disconcerting about this dream, than any I had ever had. Rachelle felt it, felt the pulse of undiluted worry.

  “Babe, what did you see?”

  The way she asked it, was like she already believed I had seen something! That never boded well, since my girlfriend was a seven-hundred-year-old vampire. Quickly, I shook my head.

  “Just a nightmare, nothing to worry about.”

  Rachelle looked at me through her whisky eyes of concern. She could tell I was lying, but she seemed to decide not to press me.

  “Fine, but if you ever need to talk about it, I’m here.”

  My gut twisted in a pang of self-loathing. Rachelle loved me, so why was I intent to keep a dream from her? The obvious answer was, that I was loathed to be her damsel in distress, yet again!

  Ok, sure, I was only about a week awakened, when a master vampire had taken me hostage. It makes sense that I couldn’t fight them all off, but part of me still hated myself for being captured! I didn’t want to become like the princess in the tower. The stupid theme to some of the oldest of video games, and the oldest of stories.

  “Since we’re up, how about we get some breakfast in you?”

  Rachelle’s hot hands caressed my body. One touching my stomach and sliding to my pantie line, the other ran up to my cheek. My core became hot and wet, as if awakening to a single inviting touch of her hands.

  Rachelle hitched her breath. She was a vampire, so she could smell the thickness of desire now encasing me. She could also feel some of my own emotions through our bond. Her lips crushed down on mine in a starved desire. I pulled my beautiful vampiress onto my and I moaned against her hungry touch. I clutched her tightly as she nimbly stroked me through my panties and I rested my head against her small shoulder.

  ***

  We made love until Rachelle and I both were breathless form our entangled orgasms. She rested her head on my bare chest, and I played with her long platinum hair. It should be something I am used to now, but her hair seems even more beautiful to me, every passing day. It’s like I awaken to this angel and see her as a wholly new and even more amazing creature, than I did the very night before. It goes beyond just love, beyond a bond. It speaks of the soul.

  “Bully for me, arousing a succubus, lesson learned.”

  She softly murmured into my breast. The feel of her lips moving against my skin tickled a bit. I couldn’t help but to giggle at her.

  (She brings out my inner girl, what can I say?)

  “We need to get showered and dressed. I think Lyra wanted to see us about something.”

  Rachelle sucked down a deep breath and she lifted from her pillow—AKA, my breast.

  “Fine, let’s go see what my favorite kitty cat has to say.”

  She snarked, but I knew that Rachelle didn’t hold any of the more common species grudges most vampires seemed to. Not that shifters, or succubi were any better. And, don’t get me started on the fae! I had occasion to meet just two now, and both had been complete snobs!

  “You behave yourself. We’re lucky that Lyra’s pack is so relaxed about accepting two outsiders into their ranks. You know better than I, how this typically goes down.”

  I chided my much older girlfriend. Rachelle didn’t look the least bit abashed either. She was silly when she wanted to be. It was a side of her I hadn’t seen, until we spent more time together. All her years hadn’t stamped out her sense of humor. She could still appreciate a good joke, and apparel make light of our situation.

  While the pack did harbor us, there were others we seemed to be growing far too interested in our existences. Whoever the woman who saved me was, she seemed to be like a buggy to this world. Every person I had tried to ask about her shut up tight and looked away. It was as if I was asking for directions to the gates o
f hell!

  While I had been held and tortured by a fallen vampire master, A woman who looked much like me came to visit. A woman whom then rendered said master vampire nearly dead and helped decimate his ranks in my slightly daring escape. This woman had also spoken directly into my mind, real telepathy!

  Now, I couldn’t get anyone to say a word about her. Even Rachelle wouldn’t speak of it. She pleaded with me to let it drop. Her eyes told me of unfathomable evil, and despair. Whoever she was, whatever her story, she scared an ancient master vampire.

  What still didn’t make any sense to me, was how she had been welcomed in like an ally. Maybe she had been? Or, maybe the master who had held me just couldn’t turn down an opportunity to meet her?

  Two months was a very long time to wonder why type of person she was. Two months was sufficient time for me to muster up the courage to do what I had never planned to do. Now, I was going to have to go home, and face my mother. She held answers to questions I never knew I needed. She could shed some light on this woman. All I knew of her was a name, Kimiko of Kyoto. Apparently, that was more than anyone was willing to share with me. It seemed to be spoken with the same fear and trembling, as Voldemort was in the Harry Potter Series.

  Except this was my life, not a bloody movie! I needed to know who she was, and why she abandoned me. Why a succubus so powerful, that the entire world trembles in her wake, would leave her only daughter with a mildly abusive and negligent human!

  Rachelle had looked at me slightly different since that night. She and Lyra were the only ones I admitted my obvious suspicions to. Kimiko had flagrantly admitted I was her daughter. I wouldn’t speak of it to anyone else who had not been in ear-shot. The vampires who had been witness were either too scared, or too dead to rat on me.

  From Rachelle and Lyra’s reactions, I would have thought that she had admitted to me being the architect of every mass murder on the planet throughout time.

  To say that all of this was disturbing, would be grossly understating matters!