Nope! Here's a snippet of MY FAIR SUCCUBI instead. This one is for all you Noah fans. (You're out there, right? Right.)

The concrete was cold and dusty against my bare feet, and I tiptoed quietly, peering at each door as I passed it. Every cell looked identical to the one I'd been held in - the window had been knocked out and replaced with bars, and each one was locked with a biometric key. I peered into one or two but I hadn't seen Noah. It concerned me a little, but I forced myself to continue down, past each door, all the way to the end of the hall. And at the last door, I peered in and saw a faint shape bent over on the side of the cot, elbows resting on his knees. His head was down in a defeated pose, and his fists were clenched.

Poor sweet Noah. My heart fluttered at the sight of him, so defeated. It was probably killing him that he wasn't able to protect me. I felt a surge of affection and swiped the badge against the reader quickly. Like clockwork, the red light flashed to green and the lock unbolted.

Noah didn't get up.

"Noah?" I whispered. "Noah, are you all right?"

No response. His hand clenched, and then unclenched slowly, so I knew he was awake. Worry shot through me, momentarily overriding my lust. "Noah?"

"Leave me," he said in a harsh voice.

What on earth was he talking about? I stared at him through the door, puzzled, then moved inside, crossing the cold floor on bare feet. The heavy door slid shut behind me, locking into place again, and I clutched the badge close. "Noah, are you all right? I'm here to get you out of here. We have to escape."

He shook his head slowly, as if trying to deny my words.

This was getting ridiculous. I moved to his side and went to touch his shoulder. "Come on, Noah."

Before I could touch it, his hand whipped out and trapped mine by the wrist. The word burned into my flesh hurt like a bitch. Before I could complain, he moved forward a fraction, and leaned in close to my hand. Sniffed it.

Exhaled sharply.

"I smell two other men on you," he said, his voice a low growl.

What in the world? I tried to jerk my hand out of his. "Noah, I didn’t sleep with anyone. You’re jumping to conclusions."

He tilted his head back and regarded me. The expression on his face was raw with need. His eyes were so deep a blue that they glowed in the dark, and the set of his jaw was firm, unyielding.

"Tell me who I smell."

A command. Oh great, we were going to play this game? I tried to jerk my hand out of his even as I answered. "Ariel and Ethan, probably."

His eyes darkened, his expression barely controlled.

"Don't be an ass, Noah." Oh lord, even him being completely batshit crazy was turning me on. I could feel my panties growing damp, felt my sex begin to heat. “Nothing happened. Listen to what I’m saying.”

"Your scent. You took two others for your need?" He slowly raised to his feet with slow, precise motions, not releasing my wrist from its death-grip in his. His eyes were blue, glowing slits of anger. "They brought me a woman and I refused her. Refused because I wished to stay loyal to you." His voice was hoarse with anger, almost unhinged. It brimmed with barely restrained force. His eyes seemed to flash purple with hunger and need. He was beyond rational thought.

"Noah, don't do this," I began in a husky voice. Do it, do it, my body was screaming. My sex was slick with need, and my breath was coming in small, excited pants. We didn’t have time to stop and feed our needs. I couldn't wait to get him alone in private, though. My libido was off the charts at the moment.

He stared at me with those insanely dark eyes, and leaned in and gently bit at the flesh of my palm, as if tasting me.

My knees went weak. "Noah--"

"Kneel.”

Good times, people. Good times.

Where is my little counter thingie? I haven't used it in a few days. Here we go:

I've increased the word count for the book a little more because I do think it's going to run longer. I'm at the point in the book where I bullet-point out each plot point/scene that is left and assign an approximate word count so I can see how much more I have to write. My conservative outline shows I still have 26k left, but that will probably run a little long. We'll see!

Tiny snippet from tonight (ignore any punctuation foobars):

As if on cue, the far end of the rubble surged. Like a massive, bronzed pillar, Ethan arose from the garbage, all hulking shoulders and messy dark hair. His shirt had torn and clung to his waist in mere strips, leaving his heaving torso bare.

Clinging to his leg like a damsel in some sort of Conan movie was my friend, Remy.

"Remy," I yelled, circling around the ruins to run back to her side. I dropped to my knees near her, relieved at the sight of her alive and in one piece. "Are you okay?"

She stared at me, uncomprehending, then stared up at Ethan in a daze. "Big."

I touched her cheek, turning her face to me. "We were so worried about you!"

She blinked, then looked up at Ethan again, and caressed his muscular leg. "So...biiiiiig." Her voice trailed off in a breathy sigh.

Erm. Now was not the time.

Might get a bit more today, but I'm at a good stopping point. Next scene should be easy-peasy to do. Here's a teeny tiny snippet from My Fair Succubi to get you through the day. It's very rough draft, so please be kind.

The set-up: Jackie & a friend (Ethan) are cleaning up someone's trashed house. Ethan is...well, he's the male equivalent of a nun. A monk, if you will. Raised behind monastery walls and all that. He's...innocent. I lovingly refer to him as my Napoleon Dynamite.

Snippet!
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"Thank you, Ethan," I said, dumping my backpack of clothing on the corner of the couch and glancing around the room. "I really appreciate it, and I'm sure Remy would too if she were here."

He said nothing, but I caught the gleam of his eyes again as he grabbed the garbage bag and began to stuff it full of shredded paper. "You are welcome, succubus."

Oh brother. Again with the 'succubus' thing. "Can you please just call me Jackie, for once and for all? Jeez."

"Calling you by your first name would imply an improper relationship," he said in a stiff voice. "And I have no wish to imply such a thing."

Well, at least he was honest about it. "Can you call me by something else? A pet name of some sort?"

He straightened and looked at me with a perfectly grave expression. "Like...Fluffy?"

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I'll be back in a few weeks when edits are turned in. In the meantime, I offer a (very small) snippet from book 1, GENTLEMEN PREFER SUCCUBI:

(Jackie and Zane are in the New City Museum of Art, looking for clues)

“Are you going to be in there long?” From outside of the claustrophobic storage closet, Zane’s voice echoed in the quiet hall. “Or shall I wander off?”

Oh hell no. I didn’t want him wandering off at all. I had to think fast. “Wait,” I called out, cracking the door and sticking my head out to look at him. “Do you know what Nitocris’s cartouche looks like?”

The vampire gave me a blank look. “I beg your pardon?”

“The cartouche?”

An offended look crossed his face. “How dare you ask me about such a thing? She is my queen, not some common slut-”

I blinked hard, and resisted the urge to giggle at the piss and vinegar look on his normally blasé face. “Whoa there, stud. I meant her name. Spelled out in Egyptian hieroglyphs.”

He flicked his cigarette butt on the floor, no doubt to tick me off. “No, I wouldn’t know.”

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See you on the other side of edits!

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Noah took his sweet time getting to the cathedral, I must admit. I’d been checking my watch every thirty seconds since the clock had struck seven, and still no sign of Noah or his friend. When seven-thirty crawled around, I got up from the pew I’d been hogging and decided that he had been yanking my chain. He wasn’t coming. This was just another joke in the long line of misfortunes that had been my life recently.

Of course, just as I stood up, Noah walked through the double doors, sending my hormones through the roof. At the sight of his broad shoulders, my insides quivered and I felt a flush sweep over my body and centralize between my thighs.

Not two seconds later, I noticed following close behind him was what appeared to be a supermodel, and distaste flared as well. How dare that jerk make me wait because he was on a date? Self-consciously, I smoothed my hair and hoped my Notre Dame sweatshirt didn’t have any stains on it.

Noah looked as delicious as ever. Dressed in a cool grey jacket, his wavy dark-blonde hair was pushed off his face in tousled bed-head fashion, and he wore dark grey slacks as well. His shirt was a dark garnet color, which I wouldn’t think would go well with a business suit, but he made it work. No tie, again, and his collar gaped slightly, revealing a smooth, tanned chest.

“Hi,” I managed to choke out, trying to control myself at the sight of him. The urge to dive onto him and kiss him madly was a tough one to resist. “Thank god you’re here.”

The supermodel behind him took off her sunglasses and revealed pale blue eyes. “Wow, she’s got it bad, Noah. Check out her eyes.”

“I see them.” His grey ones stared into my own. “Are you all right, Jackie?”

“I don’t think so,” I said, unable to keep the whine out of my voice as I sized up the competition. The girl behind Noah was utterly gorgeous, a tall, exotic supermodel type. She must have been Indian, or Arabian, or something along those bloodlines. Her hair was a smooth black curtain rippling down her shoulders, and she was built like a Barbie doll. Her light-colored eyes made her look striking, and her skin was the most delicious shade of caramel I had ever seen. A short, tight mini-dress revealed impossibly long legs and a svelte figure that had likely never seen a Slim-Fast shake in its life. I was pretty sure I’d seen her before somewhere. Like on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

I hated her on sight.

“Why’d you bring her?” The petulant words slipped out of my mouth before I could stop myself.

Supermodel took one look at me and began to laugh. She nudged Noah forward. “Did you not explain anything? Good lord, man. Her panties must be soaked at this point, and here you show up with a date.”

I blinked at the woman’s crude words. “I beg your pardon?”

Noah put his hands on my shoulders, and my entire body began to tingle. God, he smelled good. I grew dazed at the thick, masculine scent of him—he smelled like leather and cinnamon. I leaned closer to him, admiring the hard angle of his jaw. If I moved in close enough, I could tuck my head under it and be enveloped in his arms. Held against that broad, delicious chest.

“Are you okay, Jackie?”

He repeated his question a third time and I managed to nod at him. “Something’s wrong with me, Noah.” I reached for him, dying to touch him, and then pulled my hands back at the last moment. Maybe I was being too forward.

Noah sat down on the pew, and I sat down next to him, so close that I was practically in his lap and stared into his eyes.

“Do you believe me now?” he asked.

“About?” I said, distracted by the nearness of him.

“You’ve been turned into a succubus.” His hands clasped my own.

“Right...” My skin began to itch, and I wanted to rip the jacket off his shoulders. I was having a hard time concentrating. If he moved his finger just slightly, he’d rub against my palms. My thighs quivered just at the thought alone. “What exactly do those do again?”

“It’s a long story,” Noah’s friend explained. I’d almost forgotten she was there, like a buzzing fly. “I doubt it’ll sink in until we take care of your current Itch, though.”

“My itch?” I echoed her words, wondering how she’d managed to put her finger on the exact word for what I was feeling. I was itching, all right. My whole body was pulsing, and the feeling was centralized right in my pelvis. Noah’s close proximity didn’t help things much either. I shifted a little closer to him, my thigh brushing up against his.

“The first time’s always the worst,” she said, her voice cheerful.
I barely heard her. My entire being was focused on that knee so close to mine. Noah had very large thighs, I noticed.

Noah must have sensed what I was telegraphing. He picked me up off the bench and slid me into his lap, and my nerves thrilled at the contact. My mind swam from the sudden rush of blood, senses fogged, all nerve-endings focused entirely on the small of my back where his hands rested.

“I guess we’d better find some place to take care of this.” His voice sounded from far away, heard through the roaring of blood in my ears.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my breasts against him.

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