Richelle Mead - Succubus Revealed

Breaking up with Seth last year had torn my heart apart. I had wanted to die. Being reunited with him had felt like being born anew. I’d loved life, even my damned one. Now I was starting to feel that terrible, aching desperation again. It wasn’t possible that someone could go through so many extreme ups and downs in so short a time span. Welcome to being in love , I thought.

I felt Roman sit down by my feet. A moment later, both cats joined us. I uncovered my eyes and found his sea green ones staring down at me. “He wasn’t exactly tactful, but I have to admit he had a point. Why wouldn’t Seth just move with you?”

“Under normal circumstances . . .” I had to pause in order to not start laughing. Our circumstances were never normal. “Under normal circumstances, he would. But like I was saying, with Andrea, I don’t even think he can. And honestly, I wouldn’t want him to.” I didn’t realize that was true until I spoke the words. If Seth dropped everything to run off with me, he would be hurting both himself and his family for my sake. I could never allow that. My heart sank. “I can’t believe this. How could this have come about so quickly? I was so happy.”

Roman scratched Aubrey’s head and leaned back. “That’s an excellent question. This was all kind of sudden. Is that how it normally is?”

“Well, I mean, we never get much warning of transfers. Sometimes you know a re-org is coming. Sometimes you get one after requesting a transfer. Usually, though, someone has a meeting, plans your fate, and you find out about it later. The only weird thing here was Jerome apparently having less notice than me.”

Roman had been staring at the ceiling and then snapped his head back to look at me. I flinched under the intensity of his gaze. “Explain that again. What happened and what was unusual.”

I started to tell him I’d just explained it but instead swallowed off any sharp retort, knowing he wasn’t the true source of my irritation. “Normally, your archdemon meets with you to tell you the details, and then the letter with the transfer date follows. This happened so fast that I got the letter before Jerome had a chance to talk to me.”

“Hell doesn’t do things without a reason.” He reconsidered. “Well, impromptu bowling competitions aside. But they like their bureaucracy, their paperwork, and all their details in order. Even if they quickly decided to do a transfer, they’d still follow all their inane procedures. For the letter to have jumped ahead of Jerome getting his instructions, things must have been seriously expedited. The question: why? Why such a rush to get you out of Seattle?”

I couldn’t help a smile. “You’re looking for a conspiracy here. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I think this sucks. It’s terrible. But I don’t think there’s anything more to it than what Jerome said about me skimping at my job. Which . . . well, which is my fault.”

“Yes, but Hell deals with bad employees all the time. They go through reams of procedure to figure out the best way to deal with those people. Pop might be right that Hell can’t tolerate mediocre workers, but it’s not to the extent that they have to deal with it right that second . What’s so special about you that someone would suddenly decide to initiate a hasty transfer?”

I appreciated that Roman was trying to help me, but I didn’t want to get caught up in what could easily become an obsessive quest for him. Nephilim had serious grudges with Heaven and Hell and were always looking for ways to challenge and thwart them. Roman himself had once gone on a killing spree of higher immortals. There was something in his nature that wanted there to be more than bad luck here, but I just wasn’t sure I believed there was.

Carter’s words echoed in my head, no matter how much I tried to shrug them off: If there’s a reason, it’s because you’ve been doing something Hell doesn’t want you to do.

“You should talk to Carter,” I muttered. “He’s certain there’s a reason too.” Seeing Roman’s expectant look, I halfheartedly tried to humor him. “I don’t know what it could be. Maybe because I got captured by Oneroi? Maybe they’re worried I’m unstable or something. Or that this isn’t a safe place for me.”

Roman nodded along with my words. “That does make you special. However, if I was worried about an employee losing it, I’d want to keep them in a place where I knew they felt stable. I’m sure Hell knows you’re happy here, and if anything, they might think that experience bound you to Jerome more closely. They’d want to encourage that loyalty.”

“Hell doesn’t need to encourage loyalty,” I told him. “All they care about is that I signed my soul over to them. That’s bigger than loyalty.”

A startled look crossed his face. “That is all they care about. Georgina, when did this happen? Exactly when did this happen?”

“Er, the letter?”

There was a fanatic look in his eyes. No question. He was getting obsessed. “Yes.”

“This morning. It showed up at Seth’s. I sensed the courier and woke up to it.”

“You were at Seth’s. What were you doing at the time? What were you doing just before then?” He’d stopped petting Aubrey, and she slithered toward me in a huff, seeking a more attentive audience. “Walk me backward from that point.”

“Well, like I said, I was sleeping. Before that . . .” I winced, remembering getting into bed with Ian. “I met Seth’s mom and younger brother. Before that, I was at Peter’s fondue party. Before that, I was at the mall—”

“Peter’s. Tell me about Peter’s. Did anything weird happen to you there?”

I cut him a look. “It was a fondue party at a vampire’s. Everything about that is weird.”

“I’m trying to help you!” There was a strained, agitated quality to his voice as he leaned toward me. “Just hold off on the jokes, okay? Think . What happened—to you specifically? What did you talk about? What did they say to you?”

I was growing increasingly uncomfortable at his intensity. “They were teasing me about my job,” I said.

“Jerome too?”

“Of course. He said me being an elf was an embarrassment and that I should do something else.” A shocking thought hit me. “Roman . . . you don’t think Jerome requested the transfer, did you? Could he really be that upset with me? That embarrassed?”

“I don’t know,” admitted Roman. He absentmindedly ran a hand through his curling dark hair. “It’s possible. Some of the weirdness might be explained away if Jerome was trying to hide that he initiated all this. But then, it’s not like any of your other friends are exactly normal. If something was going to embarrass Jerome enough to get rid of an employee, I kind of feel like there would have been a lot of other opportunities before you. Anything else come up?”

“I asked them about—” I hesitated. The topic was still sensitive for me. It was hard to mention to Roman, and I could hardly believe I’d had the guts to bring it up to the gang that night. Roman caught my uncertainty and pounced. “What? What else? What did you ask them about?”

I waited a few more moments and then decided to tell him. It couldn’t hurt, and besides, for all I knew, Roman had mentioned my name to Seth.

“About a month ago, when we were in bed, Seth called me Letha when he was half-asleep. When I asked him how he knew that name, he couldn’t remember. He couldn’t even remember calling me that. So, I asked the group that night if any of them had told my name to Seth.”

“And?”

“And they all said no. Cody didn’t even know my name. I got berated for being melodramatic again, and the general consensus was that Seth had just overheard it from me or someone else and forgotten.”