“Have we met before?”
He waves his hand dismissively. “Hundreds of times.”
“Why?” My voice sounds strange. Is this my voice? Is this who I really am?
“Doesn’t fucking matter, you won’t remember this conversation, anyway. I have to spend my energy resetting your memory and the spell because a human was stupid enough to stumble in here.” He takes a pouch off his waist and sets it on the table before pulling several small items from it: crystals, tiny bones, and rocks.
What’s he doing?
“I knew there was a risk of one coming across you, but I figured with your unfed bloodlust, you would drain them dry. But no, you managed to bond them to you as a Complement.” He’s talking to himself with no concern about if I hear him at all.
I don’t understand everything he’s saying.
Wait - was he serious about me not remembering this?
“How many times?” I ask, my voice shaky.
“What?” He doesn’t even look up at me.
“How many times has this happened? You coming here and erasing my memories?”
“I’m not erasing them in full.” If I could see his eyes, I bet he’d be rolling them. “I’m just altering them a little before I give them back. And twelve. But really, that’s not bad considering how long you’ve been here.”
My stomach cramps, and I lower myself into the chair across from this dangerous man. “How long have I been here?” I’m afraid to know the answer, but I can’t stop myself from asking.
An unseen smile warps his voice into something from my nightmares. “Seven thousand, five hundred and twenty-two years.”
My head is spinning. I feel faint. How can anyone live that long? What did I do to deserve this?
“I suppose you won’t tell me why I’m here?” I say weakly, knowing he won’t answer.
“You made enemies, Briar. Important ones. When you found your Complements, you became too powerful. We had to prevent that from happening again.” He’s arranging the bag’s contents into a strange symbol on the table.
“My Complements?”
“The people who temper your powers and help you channel them. Every succubus has one, but for some reason, you had two. When you bonded with both of them, they anchored your power. You went from being chaotic and wild to a honed weapon.” He stands up and looks at the symbol from above. “I couldn’t have a weapon like you out there messing up my plans, could I?” He tsks and looks up at me.
Or, I think he does. I still can’t see his face.
“Killing the Complements was easy, but you could always find another. It’s not like it’s just one person. It’s an emotional bond, a choice you both make. But the fact that you can bond two Complements? I can’t let that happen.”
“So this is about power? You didn’t like that I was more powerful than you?”
He slams his hands on the table. “No one is more powerful than me! No one! But you are a liability. And so I took care of the problem.” A scarred hand sticks out of his sleeve, and he moves it in jerky motions over the symbol on the table.
“Why not just kill me?” I shout. Tears are running down my face. I lost someone. Two someones, that were important to me.
I have been in this place for millennia.
“Just because I need to remove a weapon from the fight doesn’t mean I won’t keep it in my back pocket.” He throws his head back, shaking the hood off. “Now, Briar, it’s time to forget.”
He slams his hand down on the symbol, and everything goes black.
* * *
My stomach hurts.
I open my eyes, and all I see is red.
