Falling for the Shifter

6

“Are you gonna sit up and tell me what’s going on? Or do you want to sulk a little more? It doesn’t matter to me, but this is your holiday. How much do you want to spend moping?”

Ruby sighed as she sat up. “I was very much enjoying feeling terrible for myself.”

“I know, sweetie. It feels good for a bit, but the only cure is to get up and keep at it. Another cure is talking. Tell me what happened.”

Ruby almost wanted to lie for one hot second, but the look in her aunt’s eyes made her tell the truth.

“I wanna know how to stop.” She waited for Portia to explode with fury. She didn’t. “Stop being a succubus,” Ruby clarified. “I wanna retire. Leave. Stop. You get it?”

“I do, but I don’t think you’re gonna like the remedy for what ails you.”

Ruby winced. Of course, she had figured it wouldn’t be so easy as walking into Hell, demanding an audience with Lucifer to hand in her very last soul. “How bad is it?”

Portia’s smile was small and sad.

Fuck. Of course, it would be bad! They were s*x demons. That was top sin material! A soul gathered by a succubus was worth a whole lot. Way more than a sloth demon could pull in. Succubi were basically rockstars in Hell. Leaving that wouldn’t be easy. It would be fighting her very nature and her instincts, but Ruby was sure her instincts were broken. With that in mind, it wasn’t like she had something to lose.

She wanted to put a rest to it all and live a simple life. No soul collecting, no never-ending and impossible-to-win competition with Roja.

“Well,” Portia began, “the only way to retire isn’t exactly easy. You need to have a child.”

Ruby blinked a few times to process the words. “What the f**k?” she cried. “The only way I can stop doing the succubus thing is by having a daughter who will take my place?”

Portia nodded.

“Holy s**t. Of all the messed-up things to do!”

“My sweetie, you remember we’re demons, right?”

The shock was still ringing in her ears. “Sure, we’re demons, but this is some next-level manipulation.”

“Welcome to Hell, kiddo. The number of creatures who actually want to be here, doing what they are meant to do is …” She paused. “Slim. That’s why this resort is such a good idea. It gives folks a break before they have to get back to the grind of soul collecting.”

Ruby scrubbed her scalp with her knuckles. “This is why you never had kids,” she said, looking up into her aunt’s eyes. “You wanted to stop, but you knew that you would need to raise a kid into this. That’s why you never had kids,” she repeated, jumping up to her knees on the bed. “I’m right, aren’t I?”

Portia gave her a small smile, but she didn’t confirm. “Well, now you know what you would have to do. Are you still going to walk away? Or are you going to try to make the best of it?”

Ruby let herself back onto the bed. “Honestly? I have no idea. Maybe if I met a nice guy, had a couple of kids …”

“They would have to train just like you did. You would be asked to retire if you married and had children.”

“But that’s trapping us.”

Ruby laughed. “Again, my sweetie. I’ve gotta ask you. You know what we are, right? Hell creatures.”

“I hate humans,” Ruby grumbled.

“You and me both,” Portia nodded, her features turning grave for the first time in days.

“They really don’t know how lucky they are to have all these choices. To have the freedom they do. And what do they do? They squander their souls away for s*x and money.”

“Don’t forget fame,” Portia added. “That one is more and more popular. The vanity demons are racking in the souls lately.”

“Fame for their soul? Silly idiots, the whole lot of them.” Ruby could only roll her eyes.

Portia shrugged. “But they would think you’re lucky to almost be immortal. You have low-grade magic too. That would be appealing to humans. Way more than a soul. They’ve completely forgotten the importance of it.”

“Powers and immortality for choice? For freedom? No, thanks. I’d rather have a choice. I’d rather be free to make my own decisions.”

“Well, you can make your own choices within the parameters of our lives, like this holiday, for example. Make it whatever you want to be. If you want to spend the week being something else, someone else, do it. That’s what holidays are for, sweetie.”

“And now I know why you’re always traveling.”

Her aunt laughed. “I’m spilling all my secrets, apparently. Now, enough of that. Put on the green dress. We’ve got places to be.”

This time, Ruby didn’t complain. If she was going to be a succubus until the end of time … this week, she could take a break and be someone else. She had some thinking to do, and unless she did what Portia said, she wouldn’t actually get a moment’s peace.

She slid on a little black dress, refusing to don the emerald-jeweled one Portia still held. The black garment was way more her. The flowy material barely clung to her skin, but if there were even the most subtle breeze, the dress would move around her, and that was pretty damn sexy too.

Damn. It’s harder to turn off the succubus instincts than I thought …