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This is a deleted scene from WILD HUNGER, and is based on one of the very early ChiVamps scenes written around 2007 when I initially imagined Elisa’s book.<\/p>\n
DISCLAIMER: \u00a0Contains WILD HUNGER spoilers. And because\u00a0it’s a deleted scene, it probably contains editing and continuity errors, and general thematic weirdness. Deleted scenes are not cannon! \ud83d\ude00<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n THE SUCCUBUS – Part I<\/strong><\/p>\n I stowed my clothes in Lulu\u2019s closet, picked jeans, boots, and a green top for my visit to the Pack. To say goodbye to Connor, and what we might have become.<\/p>\n I borrowed her car, drove to the NAC building. The garage door was open, and Thelma wasn\u2019t inside, so I rolled by, and hoped I hadn\u2019t missed him yet.<\/p>\n The Keene\u2019s house wasn\u2019t far from the bar, but the look was completely different from the Pack\u2019s new office.<\/p>\n The office was sleek, the Keene home a three-story mix of architectural styles. Gabe and Tanya had bought the house before Connor was born, and had spent years renovating to accommodate the large Keene family. Gabe, Tanya, and Connor lived there, along with some of their extended family.<\/p>\n There was a tower on the front above the kitty-corner covered porch, and gingerbread hanging from every corner. The trim was painted in sets of colors\u2014turquoise and maroon, ivory and dark green\u2014that made the house seem authentically aged.<\/p>\n I stopped the car a few blocks away, walked down the tree-lined sidewalk to the house. There was no fence around the Keene house, no fancy gardens.\u00a0 But there were three oak trees in the strip of land between the sidewalk and street, and hydrangeas bursting with blue flowers in front of the small porch.\u00a0 The house glowed with light, buzzed with magic.<\/p>\n The first floor windows were lit, and I crept along to the picture window in the library.<\/p>\n The room was packed with shifters, all men.\u00a0Old, young, tall, short, all carrying the beefy physique of men of high rank, probably wolves or big cats.\u00a0 They faced Gabriel, who leaned back against his desk, arms folded over his chest, legs crossed at the ankles.\u00a0 He was speaking to them, eyes scanning the room as he talked.<\/p>\n Connor wasn\u2019t there. His room was in the tower. The room was dark. We weren\u2019t long past dusk, and he might have been sleeping, resting up for the trip to come.<\/p>\n I could have rung the doorbell like I\u2019d done a dozen times before, but I didn\u2019t want to see Gabriel, didn\u2019t want to pass his inspection\u2014or anyone else\u2019s\u2014to get into the house. I wasn\u2019t in the mood for shifter drama today. I was here to say goodbye.<\/p>\n I noted the shifter standing at the side of the house, his gun in a shoulder holster, keeping an eye on things.<\/p>\n Challenge accepted.<\/p>\n I waited until a car passed, used the distraction to slip behind him through the damp grass along the side of the house. I crept along to the house\u2019s back corner, where Connor\u2019s bedroom was located, and surveyed the ancient gutter that edged the corner.<\/p>\n I\u2019d seen him climb it. Back then, I hadn\u2019t been brave enough to try. But that wasn\u2019t a problem now.<\/p>\n The ascent was slow, one gutter clamp at a time.\u00a0 But the clamps held, and no one raised the alarm as a vampire scaled their house. Which made me feel a little better.<\/p>\n When I reached the third floor, I reached out to the narrow ledge that ran the length of the building, popped onto it, and edged toward Connor\u2019s window.<\/p>\n The curtains were open, the window open a few inches. I peeked through the gap. The room was shadowed in darkness. Maybe he wasn\u2019t in there. But since I\u2019d already come this far, I eased it open and slipped a leg inside to straddle the windowsill.<\/p>\n He lay on the bed, spread eagle and naked but for dark boxer briefs, that mane of dark hair making a crown around his head.<\/p>\n A blonde in a short dress was crouched between his legs, her lips against his abdomen.<\/p>\n # # #<\/p>\n I stared, mortified and furious, and was torn between scuttling back out the window and letting her<\/em>loose, and damn the consequences.<\/p>\n But then Connor turned his head to look at me.\u00a0 His pupils were enormous, his expression dazed.\u00a0 That was off.<\/p>\n He blinked once, tossed his hand in the air.\u00a0\u201cCome in, Lis.\u201d\u00a0 Then he smiled drowsily. \u201cAnd say goodbye.\u201d<\/p>\n The blond didn\u2019t look up, just kept kissing his stomach\u2014No, not kissing, I realized. Not even actually touching. Her lips were pursed, and what looked like smoke filled the gap between her mouth and his skin. And I could sense the magic, thin and sharp, that hid beneath the buzz of power from the shifters downstairs.<\/p>\n She was stealing his magic.<\/p>\n She was a damn succubus.<\/p>\n I hadn\u2019t seen one before, but understood the general idea. The kiss drugs the victim, leaving the incubus free to steal their psychic energy.\u00a0 They were the psychic version of vampires, generally taking enough energy to feed and incapacitate their victims.<\/p>\n I put my other foot in the window, slid to the floor, and walked slowly toward them.<\/p>\n The blonde still hadn\u2019t looked up at me, but the cloud of stolen magic seemed to grow thicker as she feasted. I wasn\u2019t entirely sure why she opted for the abdomen; maybe the chakra made her job easier.<\/p>\n When I was within a foot of the bed, she looked up and curled her lip. Her eyes were sky blue, her pupils pinpricks, and the skirt of her slinky dress hitched up nearly to her waist.<\/p>\n \u201cGet out,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo you can get back to it? No thank you. I\u2019m guessing he didn\u2019t sign up for this little lunch.\u201d<\/p>\n She growled, lowered her head again to his abdomen again.<\/p>\n But before she keep drinking, I unsheathed my katana, slid the blade against her neck.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll give you two guesses what happens if you so much as think about stealing anymore of his magic.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m busy, bitch.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI won\u2019t argue with \u2018bitch\u2019,\u201d I said, \u201cconsidering where my sword is. But you\u2019re done being busy.\u00a0 Now, be a good girl and climb off the prince.\u00a0 Otherwise, I\u2019m going to have to sound the alarms, and there are a lot of shifters down there who wouldn\u2019t be thrilled to find you here.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s\u2014Lis?\u201d\u00a0 Connor lifted his head, squinting as he tried to concentrate, and looked at me, the sword and the woman draped across his legs.\u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2014what the fuck?\u201d\u00a0 His words were slurred, drowsy.<\/p>\n The woman grunted angrily. Then there was a brief prickle of magic, and she shot upward toward the bedroom\u2019s fifteen foot ceiling.\u00a0 She could fly<\/em>.<\/p>\n Fortunately, I could jump. I tossed the katana on the bed and pushed up, grabbed her ankle\u2014then turned my head away when she started kicking and squealing.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re not getting away,\u201d I grunted, jumping up to grab her other foot. She lost whatever mojo she\u2019d needed to beat gravity, and we hit the floor together in a tangle of arms and legs.<\/p>\n She kicked, her knee making contact with my already-bruised cheekbone. Pain sung through my face.<\/p>\n “Damn it,” I said, and anger matched the irritation that had already flamed after finding her draped across Connor.\u00a0Leaving or not, that wasn’t a sight I ever needed to see.<\/p>\n I grabbed her arm, twisted.\u00a0 Her wail was high-pitched and angry, and piqued her curiosity. In response, she stretched beneath my skin, begging for the opportunity to fight.<\/p>\n “Not gonna happen,” I murmured, and used my leverage to flip the woman over, clasp her arms. But I didn’t have anything to bind her with. I looked up and around, spotted the bowtie from Connor’s tux hanging on the closet doorknob.<\/p>\n “Lis?”<\/p>\n “In a sec,” I said, stretching to reach it.\u00a0My fingers grazed the edge, but before I could make a final push to grab it, she took advantage of the shift. She bucked, turned her head and sunk her teeth into my arm.<\/p>\n “I bite!” I said. “I don’t get bitten.” I knocked her in the temple with my free elbow. She cried and unclenched her jaw, and I pulled my arm free and gathered her hands again, twisting her wrist to keep her from hopping up.<\/p>\n I grabbed the bowtie, nipped it around her wrists and tied it tight.<\/p>\n “Ow! That freaking hurts.”<\/p>\n “Tell it to someone who cares.”\u00a0 I leaned over to twist the knob on the closet door.\u00a0This was an old house and the space was small–one shelf above a hanging bar. Connor’s clothes were neatly hung, a row of boots and dress shoes beneath. And there’d be no way out except through the door. And I didn’t intend to let that happen.<\/p>\n I climbed to my feet again, stomping on her foot when she tried to kick me, and then hauled her bodily into the closet.<\/p>\n “Fuck you!” she said. “You aren’t going to stick me in the damn closet!”<\/p>\n I slammed the door closed, then leaned back against it.\u00a0 “That’s what you get for biting me.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Need more? Click here to read Part II.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is a deleted scene from WILD HUNGER, and is based on one of the very early ChiVamps scenes written around 2007 when I initially imagined Elisa’s book. DISCLAIMER: \u00a0Contains WILD HUNGER spoilers. And because\u00a0it’s a deleted scene, it probably contains editing and continuity errors, and general thematic weirdness. 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