That was one reason I couldn’t sleep. The other reason happened to be sleeping in the living room. Knowing Roy was just a room away was driving my succubus up the wall. It was a shame the succubus had witnessed his bulging muscles when he’d made the fire, because now that was the only thing she could think about. Well, that and the kiss we’d shared.

  My libido was running rampant even as I tried to push the memory of Roy’s delectable body out of my mind or the taste of his lips when I’d… when the succubus had kissed him. Between my angst and her lust, I was having a hard time falling asleep, but finally managed to drift off for what felt like mere minutes, before daylight flooded the room.

  ***

  “Ah, Sleeping Beauty has awoken,” Roy said cheerfully as I tumbled into the kitchen. He was busily breaking a few eggs into a bowl and there was something already cooking on the stovetop.

  Now that I wasn’t in such a hurry to leave his house, I was able to get a better look at his accommodations, which were still decidedly small and drab. The living room, kitchen, and dining room were all adjoined in one open plan. The only other rooms in the house were his bedroom and a bathroom in the hall between the two. As I’d noted earlier, everything was some shade of brown with a bit of green thrown in here and there. I had to wonder if Roy had no sense of decor or if this was just what appealed to his sasquatch nature. Maybe his living area was meant to mimic the open forest. At least it was clean—spotless, in fact.

  “I guess this place doesn’t look exactly inviting, huh?” he asked, no doubt noting my examination of the place.

  “I think it’s very… you,” I answered on a smile.

  He smiled in return. “Poppy didn’t like it—she said it was too sparse and didn’t look lived in.”

  I laughed. “I kind of agree with her.”

  “Hmm,” he said as he paused in whisking the eggs and looked around himself. “You think I should brighten it up?”

  “Only if you want to.”

  He shrugged. “I don’t really notice stuff like that. I didn’t grow up with a lot of fancy things. You’ve seen my village, so you know sasquatches live very simple lives without much clutter.”

  I nodded as I remembered the particulars. When I’d visited his family compound, it hadn’t been for fun. Instead, I’d been fleeing Haven Hollow because Angelo had covered me in Love’s Goddess potion, which had basically tripled the allure of my already prodigious pheromones until all the men (and some women) in town had actually come after me.

  “I do like some of the more modern features of this place, though,” Roy continued.

  “I think your idea of modern and mine may be different,” I laughed as I looked around myself, shaking my head. “I don’t think I saw a television anywhere?”

  He shook his head. “I prefer to read.” He motioned to a bookshelf built into one side of the living room. It held an extensive collection of leather-bound books that looked like they belonged in some English manor house, not this little cabin.

  “At least you have a phone.”

  “Yes. That’s almost a necessity, though, isn’t it?”

  “I would say so,” I laughed, glancing down to watch him flip a few pancakes I hadn’t even realized he was cooking. That was when I remembered I hadn’t brushed my hair, my teeth or even looked in the mirror yet. I frowned down at myself, taking stock of his oversized black t-shirt which ended below my knees and my long, white socks which were bunched around my ankles.

  Now that I’d joined the land of the living, I began to take in the view before me. Or, I should say, the succubus started to take in the view before her and when she did, she wasn’t disappointed. Roy was naked, save for a pair of navy blue boxers. As he flipped over the pancakes on a cast iron griddle atop the stove, the muscles in his shoulders and upper back shifted and I had a hell of a time trying not to stare.

  Don’t gawk, Fifi!

  The only words the succubus could think in response were something along the lines of how she’d like to climb him like a California Redwood, but not wanting to entertain such thoughts, I reminded her that Roy was my good friend, Poppy’s ex and he was still hung up on her. And I tried to further lecture her that friendships last but relationships rarely do, at least for me. Much to the succubus’ regret, I wouldn’t ruin my friendship with Roy and I definitely wouldn’t ruin my friendship with Poppy over a man—even a sexy, virile, handsome one like Roy.

  Not that he was interested in me, anyway, because he wasn’t.

  “Do you like pancakes?” he asked, his voice interrupting my inner tirade. “I forgot to ask.”

  “Sure. Who doesn’t like pancakes?” I was still having trouble tearing my gaze away from his muscular torso and that happy trail of hair wandering down across his rock-hard abs into his boxers…

  Ugh.

  “You okay, Fifi?” he asked, setting out two plates on the breakfast counter before piling each of them with a stack of blueberry pancakes, bacon and scrambled eggs.

  “Huh?”

  “Are. You. Okay?” he said more slowly.

  “Oh. Yeah, I’m fine.”

  “It seems like there’s something on your mind,” he answered as he seemed to finally realize I was having a hell of a time trying to take my eyes off him. He glanced down at himself and cleared his throat, as if only now realizing he was half naked and his body was littered with muscles that weren’t easy on an abstinent woman.

  “Oh…” He started and then cleared his throat again. “I guess I should put on a shirt. Sorry.”

  “It’s okay,” I said as I glanced down at my food. “It’s just… hard sometimes to fight against my nature and it’s been… five years since I…”

  “It’s okay,” he interrupted. “You don’t have to explain to me. I get it.”

  I nodded as he offered me a kind smile. “I tend to run hot at night and so I only sleep in my boxers… I guess I just sort of forgot to get dressed this morning.”

  “You don’t owe me any explanations, Roy. This is your house. You can dress, or not dress, however you want.” Even though my words might have made me sound like I was in control of myself and the situation, I wasn’t. Instead, I was blushing like a fool.

  “I’ll be right back,” he said, disappearing into the bedroom and returning a moment later wearing a t-shirt that read ‘Believe in Yourself’. Below the words was an image of a sasquatch. I laughed as he opened the fridge and bringing out a carton of orange juice, poured us both a glass.

  “Nice shirt,” I said.

  “Thanks. I saw it at one of the tourist shops and couldn’t resist.” I didn’t respond, so he continued. “So… What’s on your agenda for the day?”

  At the mention of my day, I deflated a little. “I’m going to try to get into the office early to call my parents.”

  “Your parents?”

  I nodded. “Mom and Dad are pretty well connected with most supernatural communities, so I’m hoping they might be able to tell me where I can find a coroner or a mortician outside of Haven Hollow who can help us with Darragh and Cranough.”

  “Sounds like a good plan. I was able to get a sample of Darragh’s remains when I was helping Taliyah with Cranough’s body last night, so when you do find someone—we’re ready on our end.”

  “Oh, good.” An uncomfortable silence descended on us and we both just looked at each other awkwardly, before facing our plates and swallowing the silence with orange juice and breakfast. “These pancakes are amazing, by the way.”

  “Glad you like them. What else do you have going for today?” he asked, finishing off his bacon. I hadn’t even touched mine.

  “We have a couple of people coming in to look at houses and I need to advertise the tomb now that I’ve lost Darragh as my potential buyer.”

  “Human clients?”

  “Some of them, for the houses anyway.”

  “And the tomb?”

  I laughed at the question because it was obvious a human wouldn’t be interested in buying a tomb—at least not for a home. “I’m going to run an ad in the Haven Hollow Gazette and hopefully I’ll drum up some interest from a revenant, a ghoul, ogre, or something similar.”

  The Haven Hollow Gazette was a newspaper that was in circulation only for supernaturals. It had been enchanted to appear blank to any humans who encountered it. Not only did those paranormals in Haven Hollow receive it, but neighboring towns did too. It was pretty much my main form of advertising.

  “I can’t remember the last time Haven Hollow was home to a revenant or a ghoul,” Roy answered as he chewed on a bite of pancake and egg.

  “I’m trying to encourage exotics to take residence here… I think it would be good for businesses in general.”

  He nodded. “I think it’s a great idea. The more of us there are in a hollow, the safer we are.”

  “Right. Hopefully, it won’t take too long to find someone interested in seeing the tomb.”

  He loaded his mouth with another bite and then covered his chewing with his enormous hand as he continued, “Just remember, we can’t let any information about what happened get out.”

  I nodded. I remembered Taliyah’s warning.

  “I need to get going,” I told him after another few seconds of silence.

  “I guess we both do,” he replied, standing up and walking around the counter as he took both our plates. I noticed he’d cleaned his, and I’d only nibbled at mine. Usually, I had a healthy appetite.

  “Thanks again for everything, Roy,” I said as I started for the front door. I had to go home so I could shower and get ready for work and the morning was already passing me by.

  “Fifi?” he called out as I gripped the doorknob. I turned back to face him and found him frowning at me. “You going to leave like that?” he asked as he pointed at me with his index finger, waving it slowly up and down.

  I glanced down, realizing I was still wearing his t-shirt and no shoes. “Oh,” I said and laughed. “Right.”

  I moved past him and walked into the bedroom to put on my own clothes from the night before, grumbling under my breath at my own stupidity. Roy must have thought I was losing my mind—talk about embarrassing. Lacking a brush, I ran my fingers through my hair and headed back out again, at least looking somewhat more presentable.

  “Okay. Now, I’m leaving.”

  “Okay,” he said, laughing. “Good luck with all the things on your list today.”

  I had a feeling I was going to need it.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Once arriving home, I skipped showering because I was running late and changed clothes in record time, all the while hoping Angelo wouldn’t walk through the front door. I’d remained lucky so far this morning as there was no sign of him. No doubt he’d found some poor woman to spend the night with and was probably feeding on her this very moment.

  Once settled into my office, I picked up the phone and called my mother, Desdemona. Dread filled me the moment the phone started ringing. It was never a good conversation with my mother, but this one was necessary, all the same. We needed to find someone who could run an autopsy on Cranough and run some tests on Darragh—or what was left of him.

  My mother was also a succubus, but she and I were nothing alike. Whereas I was a hopeless romantic, I didn’t believe my mother possessed a romantic bone in her body. No, she viewed men as means to ends. The only reason she’d married my father was owing to the fact that her father had deemed it a good match. Arranged marriages weren’t uncommon in the older order of supernaturals. Anyway, my mother had once lived among the elite members of New York society, feeding off them and making them amenable to whatever needs she had, and she still possessed that snooty sense of entitlement. People had lost their homes, marriages and fortunes at her whims, though my mother never felt an ounce of guilt—no, she’d reveled in her own power. She still did.

  “Seraphina, how nice of you to phone,” she answered in that all-too-familiar, upper echelon, fake voice of hers. “It’s been so long, I half forgot I even had a daughter.”

  “I’m sorry,” I answered, hating the guilt trip I always suffered from her. Bea had told me more than once that I could choose to sever ties with my family, but I’d never been able to bring myself to do just that. Instead, I did my best to get along with them, even if doing so was a tall order. “I’ve just been… very busy.”

  “As are all of us, darling, as are all of us.” She took a deep breath. “Your father and I just returned from the Caribbean. It was positively invigorating! I’ve never felt so alive. The people there are so generous and kind. Lovely people, really.” I shuddered to think what she’d done to such lovely people.

  “I’m glad you enjoyed yourself, Mom,” I replied, playing my role of polite listener until I could get a chance to talk about something more important. Conversations with my mother were always a process—first the guilt trip, then the long explanation of all the wild adventures she’d been having and then the reason why I was calling.

  “I met an actual prince, Seraphina,” she continued. There was nothing my mother enjoyed more than talking about herself and her exploits. “He was quite handsome and very wealthy. And he was completely smitten with me.”

  “Of course he was.” All thanks to her succubus powers of seduction.

  “I think the necklace he gave me might have hailed from the royal family’s private collection. I’m quite certain I’ve seen it before in photos of the Queen, at any rate. How utterly fantastic is that, Seraphina?”

  “Pretty fantastic.”

  “Who gets to own jewels that once belonged to a queen?”

  “You, apparently.” I did my best to hide my disgust. It did no good to get her dander up if I wanted her to cooperate. So, I let her prattle on for a good five minutes more before I finally had to stop her—simply because I couldn’t take any more. Not to mention, my employees would be coming in soon and I needed to get information from Mom without being overheard by anyone in the office.

  “Mom, listen,” I said as soon as she paused to take a breath. “I need to ask you for a favor and then I have to get going because my employees will be here any minute.”

  “Of course. What do you need?”

  I was fairly sure Mom wouldn’t know any coroners, but she might know a doctor or two, and that would be a good place to start. “I need you to recommend a doctor outside of Haven Hollow who can deal with… paranormal creatures.”

  “That is quite a vague request, Seraphina.” She took a deep, irritated breath. “And why don’t you just see Dr. Greenscloth? As you’re well aware, he treats all the paranormal in town.”

  “Right,” I answered, and then hesitated. “But, this… is sort of hush-hush, which is why I’m looking for a doctor outside of Haven Hollow.”

  “Hush-hush?” she asked, and I could tell she was exasperated with my lack of detail. “You know you don’t have to keep secrets from me. What do you need a doctor for and why does it have to be hush-hush?” Then she paused. “Are you pregnant? You haven’t been knocked-up by one of those dreadful yeti beasts, have you?”

  I felt my mouth drop open. “No! Jeez, I’m not pregnant, Mom.”

  “Oh,” she answered, and sounded strangely crestfallen. “That’s too bad.”

  Hmm, maybe this was a better angle to take, after all, I thought to myself. Especially since I don’t have another reason for asking for a doctor outside town limits.

  “Of course, it’s good you aren’t pregnant with a hairy abomination,” Mom continued, “but I couldn’t help but get excited thinking I may finally have my first grandchild.” Ugh, this again. “You’re running out of time, you know.”

  I rolled my eyes. Mom desperately wanted a grandchild to continue our family name. She didn’t care if I was married or not, but she did care whether her grandchild was a pure-blooded incubus or succubus. Of course, as I got older and my fertility was on its way to becoming a thing of the past (I probably still had another couple of years left), Mom was getting closer to accepting any child I had, just as long as I had one. And Angelo was hopeless—as a quintessential womanizing bachelor, Mom knew she couldn’t rely on him to settle down and start a family. So that only left me.

  The sad truth was that she might never get a grandchild at all—I mean, I couldn’t even find a partner I wanted to have sex with! With each decade that passed, my chances of getting pregnant decreased. It was a part of the curse of being a succubus. My brother would remain fertile until the day he died. He could father a child on his death bed, while I’d lose my chance long before I hit what we considered ‘old age’.

  Regardless, this whole pregnancy angle might be the best way to get what I wanted from her. “I mean,” I started, pausing for dramatic effect. “At least… I don’t think I’m pregnant, but if I am… you know how gossip spreads in a small town.”

  “You don’t think you’re pregnant? Then that means there’s a chance you are?”

  “Well, I did miss my period, so I guess it’s possible, but I… doubt it. I mean, I don’t have any symptoms yet.”

  She laughed at that, just like I’d known she would. “Seraphina, you wouldn’t have symptoms this early on, but missing your monthly bleeding is quite a big sign.”

  “Good point. Anyway,” I continued with a faux sigh. “I’d really just like to get checked out. I mean… if I am pregnant, it would be good to… know… but, again, I’m trying to be private about this… matter.”

  “Of course, of course.” She paused. “Oh, this is such delightful news!”

  I took a deep breath and felt slightly guilty about this outright lie. If only she knew the truth—that I hadn’t had sex in five years… It was almost comical. “Can you please just give me the names of some good doctors outside Haven Hollow?”

  I figured even if the doctors she referred couldn’t help with the autopsy, one of them might at least be able to refer me to someone who could. It was worth a shot anyway, even if I had to lie to her to get the information.