The Red Wing Mansion

Chapter Thirteen

1 month later

Surprisingly, it's not so bad being a maidservant in an estate. I've found where I belong. Isela and Pearly enjoyed my company so I helped them both a lot, while braiding their hair I would tell them stories of what the future 'might' be like – just to entertain them.

Claudius in the meantime, was being a typical man of the times, drowning his sorrows on gambling and spending time hunting with Gregory and Walker. It was good for him to recalibrate himself, without Aelia in the picture. I kept my distance from him generally, and he kept his distance from me.

Strangely enough, I did feel welcome here, even by him. I knew he still appreciated my company, but if anything, he was just embarrassed about how it all turned out.

I had secret succubus powers, and I don't think either of us were really sure how that happened.

Now, I guess I was about to find out.

Claudius has finally called upon me. He was ready to talk about it.

It's late at night, and Claudius is inside one of the female drawing rooms, closed off for the night, and a good place to hide away.

My Lord is reclining on a feminine couch, puffing on a cigar and looking very relaxed for the first time in a long time. He is dressed in a loose white shirt and brown britches.

I am far more confident now with my position, and I walk over to sit on an adjacent chair, a single seat, hands placed between my knees.

"You wanted to see me?" I ask.

"I adore you," Claudius admits calmly, and for the first time it rings true. No manipulation. Just facts. He breathes out smoke, and puts down his cigar, while staring at the ceiling, "...you deserve to know what happened. To return to my time, I had to take a life. The price was heavy. You were sleeping. I set the room on fire..." I almost interrupt, but I bite my tongue as he pauses, breathing in deeply before he admits further, "...as the smoke started to choke you as you slept, I walked over and kissed you goodbye."

"That is so fucking creepy," I can't hold it in, "I am glad I don't have memory of that."

"It wasn't just a life I had to kill," Claudius finally looks me in the eye, "It had to be a woman I loved."

"...but I thought Aelia..." I murmur, confused.

"I didn't think you would forgive me for murdering you, no chance, so I assumed we would never work. Aelia was the second option. She had no memory of dying. She had no memory of me being an incubus while she was an owl. I do have a theory, Alix. I think Aelia dies many times. She takes men to the underworld, and they come back eventually, with her and a second woman. She repeats the process with others. Over and over. Creating demons."

"But what is the purpose of that?"

"She makes a male incubi, and the male makes a female succubus. Those people, they worked out how to breed our kind. Incubi and Succubi," Claudius sits up now, "You're immortal like me. You and I. We're demons now. I chose you, and you got roped in."

I watch him motion to something I did not notice before.

A book, on the table between us. It had seemed unimportant, but now I read the title. The Afterlife.

"In this book," he explains, "It suggests that Incubi find their mate in death. Once I killed you – we travelled back through time, and formed our enteral bond in time travelling. You and I are demon, husband and wife. What an interesting lapse in judgement," Claudius dares to laugh at himself, "I wanted immortality, but in return for such power you need two lives. You and mine. Bound together. We're alive and immortal... together."