The Naphil's Kiss

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Rome 78 AD

Sarahi made her slow, sinuous way down the cobbled streets of Rome, between the heavily-columned white marble buildings, heading for the temple of Venus. Hunger snarled in her belly. It had been far too long since she had eaten – months – but she'd been unable to rid herself of the image of Alexander dying in her arms, drained of his life force by her insatiable hunger. Poor man. He was so beautiful, so strong. A warrior in the bedroom and on the field of battle.

It's so unfair that I can never keep a man, only use him until I suck him dry. My nourishment is my lover's downfall. This is my only alternative, and I hate this more. p**********n. Trading one man for another until I'm sated. Disgusting. But if she went much longer without feeding, she risked losing control, and that would be worst of all. She could drain a man to his destruction in a single feeding.

Bah, being a demoness is not at all what people think. I have so little power. Oh, I can shrink down to a tiny size, and incite people to l**t, but what good are those attributes? What use? I live like an animal, mating and feeding. And for me, they are one.

As she approached the temple, she could feel the s****l energy rising, could taste it. Inside, behind the perfectly rectangular palisade of fluted columns, under the shallow peak of the roof, powerful men exchanged their hard-earned coins for a night with one of the beautiful women employed in honoring the goddess of love. They had no idea how many of those women were Succubi. It's an easy meal. No need to hunt. The prey comes right to your hand.

“Hmm.” A handsome young man eyed her. “Very pretty.”

Sarahi pinned him with a gimlet stare and pulled the cerulean shawl closer over her scarlet hair. It was the best she could do. She could not disguise her milk-pale skin or her glowing green eyes. At least she could hide the hair.

But why am I hiding? I could go with that young man right now and feed. He's agreeable. I can feel it, can feel the l**t radiating off him. She frowned. I don't want that. Lilith take it, I don't want him. I don't want anyone. I want to be left alone.

Her belly cramped with hunger and she took another look at the back of the young man as he hurried away from her. If I call him, he will come. She opened her mouth, letting the slightly bisected tip of her tongue protrude, and inhaled… tasted…

What is that aroma in the air, that celestial fragrance? Like a man, but the best kind of man. Freshly washed but wearing no perfumes to disguise his natural scent. Strong. Sweet. Delicious. What is the source? It teased her. She turned.

A man was walking down the street.

There's nothing unusual about it, really, so why can I not stop staring? Hundreds, perhaps thousands of men each day walked the path to and from the Senate, the temple, and the bathhouses. There's nothing remarkable about this man who seems to be heading in the same direction as I am.

Well, actually there is something unusual about him. He's incredibly tall. Also dark. His tightly-shorn curls gleamed blacker than the dusk. His back was to her, but through his white robe, she could see his fine, muscular physique. Her mouth watered at the sight of him. Oh, I can just see how delicious his energy would taste. I can taste the faintest morsel of it now.

Sarahi wiped her hand over the corner of her mouth and hurried after him. If he's heading to the temple now, this is my lucky day. I wouldn't mind making a meal of this one.

Sure enough, he strode directly there, but instead of entering, he lingered outside the door. He turned to face the street and Sarahi's breath caught. Has there ever been such a beautiful face? Firm jaw, eyes like polished ebony, strong broad nose, full sensual mouth. He was made to be loved. She wanted him more than ever.

As men approached the entrance, he touched them on the arm. Those full lips twisted into words she couldn't make out. No one turned his way, but everyone he touched paused. Some turned away and hurried down the street. Others steeled themselves and entered.

They can't see him. He touches them, talks to them, but they have no idea he's there.

Interesting that I can see him. She approached. He turned those burning, midnight eyes on her.

“Come no closer, Succubus,” he intoned, his voice strong and deep. She shivered at the sound of it. Her face curving into a sensuous smile, she walked towards him, deliberately crowding into his space and letting him smell her perfumed, womanly sweetness. His nostrils flared.

“How did you know what I am?” she asked, drawing her voice out long and slow.

His Adam's apple bobbed. “Of course, I know what you are, s**t. Do you know what I am?

“Oh, for Lilith's sake,” she hissed, suddenly furious. “Naphil. I should have guessed.” My delicious meal is a half-angel sworn to celibacy. Now Sarahi felt like swearing.

“You should have known, little one,” he chided.

“I've never seen a Naphil before.” Goddesses, but he's beautiful, and what is that expression… amusement?

His full lips twisted into a wry parody of a smile. “Then you are poorly trained. You'll not be going in there tonight.”

“What difference does it make?” She demanded, arms akimbo. “Those men are going in to bed a woman. They will walk out unharmed. Why deny me admittance?”

“It is my duty.” He paused, his proud expression turning considering, and gestured with a twist of his head toward the columns flanking the entrance. “Do you want to be there?”

Sarahi took a risk. “No.” She looked directly into his eyes. “But you might as soon reason with the lion not to eat the antelope. He hungers, and he cannot stop himself.” She sighed.

He narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”

She regarded him, confused. “You say you are trained to know us. Surely you must know why we do what we do.”

“Yes. To gain power. To threaten Heaven.” He gestured with one broad hand.

She laughed, the sound bitter to her own ears. “No, Sir Naphil, you are misinformed. We seduce men, not to gain control of them, but to feed. The energy produced by the act of copulation is our only source of nourishment.”

The realization twisted his face. “You feed on men?” He drew back from her in disgust.

Sarahi stepped forward again, silently pleading with him to understand. “It is in my nature to do so, and yet…”

He drew up to his full, towering height, his shadow blocking out the evening sun, and raised on hand to halt her progress. “Yet?” he demanded.

She looked up at him through lowered eyelashes. “Yet I would prefer to eat bread and drink wine like everyone else. This is a cursed existence.”

He pondered. “What if you fed on only one; a husband or lover?”

Sarahi's breath caught. Why do you care, angel? Why do you ask questions? She could feel her lip trembling. “No man would survive it long. A few months at most. My last…” she trailed off and turned away.

A warm hand closed on her shoulder. Her gown was held shut by a clip, and around it, his fingers touched her bare skin. “I am sorry. I did not realize.”

She turned back to face him, her eyes swimming. “Do not judge what you don't understand, Naphil. Your kind doesn't know everything about mine.”

“Lucien.” No longer disapproving, his tender tone flowed over her like honey, warm and sweet. It captured her, and so she struggled to understand his meaning.

“What?” Sarahi blinked away the drugging lure of his unconscious sensuality.

“My name is Lucien,” he repeated.

She smiled. “How apt. Well, Lucien, I haven't fed in ages. If I don't eat soon, I'm likely to lose control, and then you'll have to slay me.” Biting her lip in a seductive gesture, she added in a pseudo-innocent voice, “Do you wish to slay me, light bearer?”

He considered her in silence for an endless moment, and then said, “No, Succubus. I do not wish to slay you.”

A true smile curved her lips, and she thrilled to see him react to it, if only by the flaring of his nostrils. “I am called Sarahi.”

Lucien lowered his chin in acknowledgment. “I will remember. I do apologize for… everything.”

“Accepted.” Hostility dispersed, the longing to possess, or at least to taste, this glorious creature threatened to overwhelm her. She swallowed. Don't be a demoness now, woman. He's a creature of the light. But desire overcame sense, urging her aching, needy body in his direction. “Please go elsewhere. Save innocent victims.” She bit her lip again, this time in true consternation. At last, she admitted, “I don't want to waste my strength trying to do the impossible.”

“Which would be what?” he demanded, demonstrating his innocence.

“Feed on you,” she informed him bluntly.

He scoffed. “You couldn't.”

Such confidence. I doubt you're as strong as you think you are, sir Naphil. She released a thin thread of enticement, and his eyes widened. When she spoke, her sultry desire oozed from her voice. “Only if I could seduce you. But if I could…” She twirled a strand of hair around her fingertip.

“Then?” The bobbing of his Adam's apple in the ebony column of his throat contradicted his challenging tone.

“Then I think you'd make the tastiest meal I've ever eaten.” She approached, pressing her body against his and sliding her arms around his neck. Pulling his head down, she kissed him. To her amazement, he didn't resist. She pulled him closer, sliding her tongue along the seam of his lips before dipping inside.

He was even more delicious than she had imagined, especially as desire began to rise within him. Her hunger eased, she became aware of a new emptiness, one she hadn't felt in what seemed like ages. I want him, but as more than just nourishment.

She ran her fingertips down his arms and guided his hands to her slender waist before reaching up to embrace him again.

In a matter of moments, her aching belly had filled to capacity. She realized with a start that she no longer needed to feed. My hunger is satisfied, and all from just a kiss.

She released his mouth, guilt warring with purring satisfaction. “Go, Lucien. Leave this place. You've made vows. I'll not be the one to tempt you into breaking them. Go.”

He stared at her in stunned disbelief for the space of several heartbeats, and then he disappeared as though he'd never been there at all.

Sarahi drew in a shaky breath and licked her lips, tasting the honey-sweet residue of his desire. How can I feed on another after that? It would be like eating ashes.

A pleasing thought occurred to the Succubus. Perhaps it's not necessary to complete a s*x act in order to feed. Perhaps I can feed on unconsummated l**t, or even on that of others. Be nearby, mop up a little of the excess energy, and spare myself the humiliation.

How ironic to bless the day I met my enemy face to face.