Not What She Seems, page 1
Not What She Seems
T.R.Raven
Also By T.R.Raven
The Guardian Trilogy:
The Guardian’s Keeper, Book 1
The Guardian’s Curse, Book 2
The Guardian’s Heir, Book 3 (coming June 2013)
Copyright © 2013 by T.R. Raven
All rights reserved.
For my Sandor, with love, always
Chapter 1
That was the one. The man sitting at the end of the bar nursing a beer. Sylvia licked her lips in anticipation as she sauntered over to him, the sway of her slim hips commanding the attention of the majority of the men in the place. The one she approached was busy watching the game on the bar’s big screen television so he didn’t notice her until she slid onto the bar stool beside him. His eyes widened slightly but he turned back to his game.
She ordered a drink and reveled in his scent. Mid-grade, she confirmed. Generally a good person, but with some steps outside of the ethical or moral boundaries now and again. A step up from the low grade trash ogling her from other sections of the bar. Those men would satisfy her Hunger short term, but their low grade energy was already corrupt. It was hard to get what she needed from them. She’d rather one mid-grade energy man to the four low-grades she’d need to get the same fix. Less work for her that way.
“Ooohhh, go Sox!” she cooed over the man’s shoulder as she stared at the screen. He turned to her and smiled as if he couldn’t believe this was happening. Not only had this sexy woman chosen the seat next to him, she was in the mood to talk.
“Looks like they’ll take this game,” he commented, his eyes drawn to Sylvia’s ample cleavage while he spoke. She leaned towards him slightly so her breasts squeezed up and out of her top for greater effect while she lightly placed her hand casually on his upper arm.
“Are you a Sox fan?” she asked him coquettishly.
“Are we sittin’ in Beantown, honey?” he asked her with a broad grin.
Sylvia threw back her head and laughed prettily at his stupid joke. In the back of her mind she was already bored but this is how the game was played. She knew a few moments of work on her part would sustain her for a while, if only she could get through this part of it. Give him what he needs right now, take what she needs later.
“So what are you doing after the game?” she asked him through lowered lashes as she traced her finger down his arm.
His eyes followed her finger as it moved down his arm and his mind registered her invitation. He threw back the rest of his drink before answering her. “Anything you like, sugar.”
Sylvia beamed at him as if she couldn’t believe her good fortune. She leaned in even closer to him, intentionally brushing his arm with her breasts. “How about you take me back to your place?” she whispered in his ear. In her peripheral vision she could see his growing erection pushing against the strained denim of his jeans.
“You got it. Looks like our Red Sox have got this one; I can just check the final score tomorrow. You wanna go now?”
Sylvia nodded as she stood up from the bar and flipped her pale blond hair over her shoulder. “Lead the way.” She held out her perfectly manicured hand and he grasped it in his and led her out of the bar.
~~~
His apartment was reasonably clean but a bit cluttered.
“Sorry about the mess,” he apologized between wet kisses along her neck and rough grabs for her breasts.
Sylvia gritted her teeth but managed a weak smile. “It’s not the apartment I’m interested in,” she reassured him as she peeled his shirt off over his head. He eagerly began unbuttoning her shirt as she unsnapped his jeans.
His breath caught in his throat when Sylvia reached behind her back and let her breasts spring loose from their restraints as her bra fell to the floor. She thrust them against his bare chest as she shimmied out of her tight pants. Once they were removed she pulled his down as well, boxers and all. She guided him to his faded sofa as he stepped out his forgotten jeans.
He slid into her and groaned with ecstasy as she let out a moan of her own. As he thrust she fed, absorbing his energy while he pounded away at her. Her head tipped back and her back arched as she felt his energy ebbing out of him. He was too lost in his own sexual pleasure to feel the change.
It was over faster than Sylvia would have preferred but she had always known energy grade did not equate to lasting power in the sack. She had gotten most of what she needed and now it was time to get out of there.
“That was incredible!” he panted, his sweaty body slack on top of hers. “Another go round in a few hours?” He looked so hopeful it seemed a pity to let him down but she knew his energy wouldn’t recharge by then. Without energy to feed her he was useless to her.
“I’ve got to work in the morning,” she explained curtly as she pushed him off of her and redressed herself. She always dreaded this part, the whiney aftermath when the sex was over and the man tried to latch onto anything he could to see her again. As a general rule Sylvia fed one time only from the prey she picked herself. She didn’t ‘do’ repeats, except if her job required it.
“Can I get your number? We can grab a drink sometime or something.” There it was, the clingy finale to the feed. She could hear the desperation in his voice. She was a hot young woman and an incredible lay and he didn’t want to let her slip away.
“I don’t think so.” She grabbed her purse off the floor as she headed for the door.
“I can do better next time!” She heard him plead as she stepped into the hallway and closed the door behind her.
~~~
Out on the street again she checked her phone. No calls from work. A slight frown appeared on her smooth brow. No matter, they would call. She didn’t need to feed for a while as the mid-grade’s energy had filled her up for the time being, but her rent was coming due soon. Working for Boston’s premiere escort service, ‘Enchanted Evenings’, didn’t do much to take care of her Hunger, but it sure did stuff her wallet. Men who called on escorts for sex were some of the poorest-grade energies around, tainted by the questionable lifestyles they led. The money that came her way for her services fed her material needs in life, so the trade-off was worth it to her even if it did little to assuage the Hunger within.
Back at her apartment in the Leather District, Sylvia considered tomorrow’s hunting grounds. While the Financial District was by rights her territory, she found it had little sustenance to offer her. The men that frequented the area were mostly bankers and lawyers, their energies diminished by the unethical choices too many of them made in their lines of work. When she was in the right mood she would prowl there to see if she could find a young D.A. to feed from. They were often full of lofty inspirations and dreams of making the world a more righteous place so their energies were purer and of higher grade. Life had not sucked all the good out of them yet. Defense attorneys were the worst and generally not worth her time to drain unless she was in dire need. Their time spent defending so many horrible people removed whatever good energy they had once possessed.
Chinatown was right next door and convenient for her, but it was also hit or miss. Many of the bars there were full of men leading less than honest lives, rendering them no better than the clients she fed from through the escort service. It was not impossible to find a mid or upper-grade man there, but pickings were slim. As she had just found that night’s mid-grade feed at a bar in Chinatown, she decided to skip it for her next hunt. She had little hope of lightening striking twice so soon.
Downtown Crossing it would be for the next night then. It was generally a mish-mosh of the energy grades and with patience she could hunt a good feed. She had seen an Innocent there once, before losing him in the crowd. Since then she had watched for him, or another like him, everywhere she went. Innocents were the purest of energy grades as they were morally good, ethically strong, and virgins. They were also, unfortunately, resistant to the charms of her kind. Sylvia salivated at the mere thought of a virginal man, Innocent or not. Virgins of any grade were harder and harder to come by as the years passed since few men saved themselves for marriage or even love anymore. Men below a certain age might be virgins but the younger they were, the less likely their energy had matured enough to feed on them. Sylvia needed a full grown man to satisfy her Hunger, not a boy on his way to manhood. Regardless of their energy grade, having their virginity intact made any man a veritable feast for a creature like her. Succubi relished stealing the physical sexual innocence of their prey along with their life energy, when they could find a suitable virgin.
Her daydreams about the rare and pure Innocents were cut short by the ring of her cell phone. By the tune it played she knew it was work.
“Hello?”
“Sylvia, darling, someone who adores you is in town tonight and asked for a date with you specifically. I do hope you can fit that in?”
“Of course.” Sylvia tamped down the sigh of disappointment that threatened to escape her lips. While she did indeed need to make some money, she really didn’t feel like dealing with another man at the moment, especially not one from the service. Time to put on the proverbial ‘game face’. “When does he wish to see me?”
“As soon as you’re ready. He’s just over at a hotel in the Quincy Market area. He’s waiting for you in the bar.” The female voice on the other end of the phone lost its friendly overtones and became bossy. “Best not keep him waiting.” She quickly gave Sylvia the name client and the hotel she could find him.
“I’m leaving in ten,” she
Sylvia surveyed her spacious walk-in closet as she looked for something to wear. Her apartment, once an old factory, had been refurbished into huge luxury units in one of the premier buildings in the area. Every aspect of it was top-of-the-line and her closet was no exception. It could have been a room all its own as it was larger than some of the studio apartments in the city. She sat on her expensive chaise lounge within the closet as she considered her dress options.
The bar she was headed to was upscale-casual so she needed to dress for the scene. Most of the clientele of the escort service didn’t want anyone to know their ‘date’ was really an escort. She understood it was important to look the part of a ‘regular’ date when there was a public appearance involved. She settled on a pair of trousers with an embroidered bustier under a matching jacket. After retouching her makeup she twisted her hair into a quick chignon and examined her look. Sexy without slutty- spot on. A pair of stilettoes completed the look and out the door she went.
A quick cab ride took her to her destination and she paused outside the hotel entrance to check herself in her compact mirror one last time. She knew from her prior experience with this client that the date wouldn’t be too unbearable. He was a decent looking guy in his mid-forties who enjoyed spending ‘quality’ time with his escorts before they got down to the sex part of the date. He would buy her a few drinks, she would pretend to be interested in what he had to say, then he’d take her upstairs for some quick vanilla sex before parting ways. He was a decent tipper, if she recalled correctly. Aside from his habit of soliciting prostitutes he was a decent guy, and single too. Sylvia looked forward to feeding off of him, a dessert of sorts to compliment the mid-grade she had drained earlier that evening. He wasn’t upper grade energy, but he was better than many of the men who requested her services through Enchanted Escorts.
Convinced she looked flawless as always, Sylvia put away her compact, entered the hotel, and headed straight for the bar. The bar was rather empty because it was a week night and she found her client right away. She bristled when she saw another woman flirting with him. As a succubus she was not prone to jealousy, since men were only vessels that gave her the energy she needed to satiate her Hunger, but she couldn’t have this other woman shutting down her business for the evening. The boss would be most displeased if she lost the transaction with this client. More troubling to her than the prospect of upsetting her boss was the identity of the woman throwing herself at her prospective client. While she looked like an average good-looking young lady, Sylvia could tell she was not. She was a succubus too.
Chapter 2
Sylvia was well aware that she wasn’t the only succubus in town. Boston was full of succubi, and their partners, the incubi. Lilith, the original succubus from which every other was created, had put into place a system to keep the peace among them. Each succubus was assigned a hunting territory, and the other succubi were welcome to pass through it, but they were not allowed to hunt outside of their own territories. The only exception to the rule was for the escorts. Succubi who were hired by a client were allowed to drain them on that occasion when in someone else’s territory. The system kept everyone fed and content, and kept the escort company doing brisk business. No one dared risk Lilith’s ire by ignoring her rules.
This succubus was new in town, she was sure of it. She was also stealing away her client. Her eyes narrowed as she watched the new succubus giggling at something the client said while placing her palm against his chest. Sylvia knew that move well; she was going in to seal the deal and get this man to bed so she could feed from him. Time to intervene and reclaim what was hers.
Both the client and the new succubus looked up from their banter when they heard Sylvia’s stilettos clicking across the polished floor towards them. The client gave her a panicked look before he tried to weasel his way out of the situation.
“Hi, Sylvia, this is Elora,” he introduced her. “Elora, this is Sylvia, someone I work with.” Clearly he planned on ditching his date with Sylvia to hook up with this attractive young lady who had made it clear he wouldn’t have to pay to sleep with her.
“Hello, Elora, so nice to meet you.” Her tone was friendly and warm but inside she was seething as she sized up her competition. Elora was dark haired and petite with a fuller figure than her own statuesque, willowy frame. Her plumpness was in all the right places to draw a man’s attention. There was something playful in her eyes, promises of a long night of unrestrained play in the bedroom. Despite the jagged scar above her right eye, Sylvia could begrudgingly see why men fell for the new succubus’ charms.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you as well,” Elora responded with an equally warm smile. Sylvia knew that despite her friendliness, she was sizing her up too. This wasn’t just two women competing for the same man’s attention, this was two succubi looking to stake their claim on a feed. Both women instinctively knew what the other was without being told. Succubi and incubi could sense each other; it was part of what they were.
“I know we had plans for tonight,” the client began apologetically, “but could I just see you at work tomorrow? I just met Elora and we’re having a great time, I’d love to get to know her better.” His eyes begged Sylvia not to expose his lies and it was all Sylvia could do to keep from snickering. What a fool, thinking he could pull one over on either her or Elora. Did he really think Elora would believe Sylvia was a co-worker, or that he just wanted to ‘get to know her better’ as he claimed? The man didn’t have a clue who he was dealing with.
“I was really looking forward to hanging out with you tonight, so why don’t we all spend some time together?” Sylvia suggested brightly, as if she too was interested in getting to know Elora. She relished the slight tick of tension that passed across her client’s face when he realized she wasn’t going to go away as easily as he had hoped. Who did he think he was, dismissing her for a free lay? She would never let him have her services again, Lilith’s anger be damned. And who did the succubus think she was? Sylvia didn’t know who she was or where she came from, but she knew for a fact that the hotel they were in was within another succubus’ territory.
“That’d be great,” Elora purred. She gave Sylvia a ‘game on’ look over the man’s shoulder.
“So, who wants a drink?” the client asked the ladies awkwardly. It was clear he felt he was in over his head with this. He had hired an escort, met a foxy girl who seemed like she’d give it up for free, and now he couldn’t ditch the escort. It was not turning out as he had planned.
“I’d love a gin and tonic,” Sylvia replied sweetly.
“I’ll have another of the same,” Elora motioned to her empty glass already on the counter.
Sylvia smiled as the client ordered up another round of drinks. She could tell his plan was rapidly changing. He was going to try to turn this snafu into a stroke of luck for himself. Visions of a threesome were dancing in his head now and he wanted to make that dream a reality. He probably figured if he liquored them both up enough he could have a wilder evening than he had originally hoped for with just one of them. Fat chance, Sylvia thought to herself. There would be no threesome with her, she didn’t work that way, but she was happy to let him hope for one and looked forward to bursting his bubble later.
Just as her drink arrived Sylvia’s cell phone rang with a call from the escort service. “Will you excuse me please?” She excused herself from the bar and walked into the hotel lobby to answer it.
“You will not believe what’s going on here,” she began without even greeting Lilith.
“I already know, in fact that’s why I’m calling,” her boss cut her off, “He text the service a little while ago, cancelling you for the evening, saying he had met someone else. Of course we’re charging him for the evening anyway, but you can go now.”
“Do you know who the ‘someone else’ is?” Sylvia asked irritably.
