by JG Jerome
I snort, “What?”
“I’ve had a crush on him since I was fourteen,” she confesses. “He’s such a horndog, that I figure that if anyone would appreciate a little freshly legal pussy, it would be him.”
I bust out laughing. She eventually joins me. I tell her, “You know I’m going to have to give him grief about seducing my daughter right?” We both laugh louder.
She squeezes my hand with both of hers. “Thank you, Daddy. I needed that.”
“You bet, sweetie. Do you know anything about Bernadette’s … er … Alöise’s home world?” I ask.
“It’s named after her family, Ravissement,” she replies. “It’s arid, lots of high desert steppes and desert. Plants of all types are protected because they are so rare. A similar imp planet became inhabitable because the imps tore out all the plants - no more oxygen released into the air and they choked to death, laughing all the way. Ravissement does have a couple of large oceans that are full of plankton and kelp, so that helps mitigate the dearth of dirt plants somewhat. Farmers are considered the most esteemed profession, because feeding people food on the planet is difficult. Fishermen are the second most esteemed - same reason. The travel brokers are the third most esteemed - they manage the queues of people travelling to feeding grounds for their hunger.”
“Huh?” I respond.
“A young succubus or incubus gets their curse, their hunger for lust energies, when their bodies reach their first stage of maturity - roughly about their eighteenth birthday,” she says.
I interrupt, “So, feeding off lust just like the common lore. Incubus is a male succubus?”
“Daddy, don’t you know anything?” she sighs in an exasperated manner. Then she giggles, “It’s fun to tease you. You are correct.” She goes back into teacher mode. “Both genders get the hunger; although, I think I remember Mummy saying the males get it a little later. Regardless from that point on, they need to feed this hunger for lust or lose their sanity. They get trained to feed off ambient lust first, and eventually they learn to feed from a sexual partner. Training is important because you can overfeed and suck the life force from your partner if you’re not careful.”
I nod, “I remember Bernadette mentioning that once.”
“In order to avoid killing off their own people, which does happen with those new to the curse, they go to feeding grounds. Those are usually dimensions populated by humans or humanoids with strong sex drives. Humans and elves are the most popular because they breed like rabbits. From the succubus’ perspective, it’s considered less of a tragedy if one of them dies because they are food. After training is complete, they will also travel to gorge on buffets of lust. That’s why this place is so popular. Eight billion horny people to feed them. The travel brokers arrange schedules and hunting grounds for training and recreation. The agents are gifted, they help focus the intent of the traveler to the dimension they will hunt on to help them jump dimensions. For Earth, they actually intercept calls from sorcerers that are looking for a playmate. They pick a likely candidate based upon a few key words, et voila, the sorcerer has a ‘made to order’ succubus.”
She shrugs, “That’s about all I know, Daddy.”
“Hmpf!” I snort. “Not really helpful in finding your Mummy, but it’s interesting regardless. I think we’ll try to summon her by name. If that doesn’t work, we’ll try summoning Shryl.”
The cute little vixen that is now my daughter shrugs. “Sounds reasonable to me, Daddy. I don’t have any real idea of where to start.”
We drive in silence, Clarice holding my hand. About twenty minutes after leaving the house we are decelerating down the hill into Mayer. At the bottom of the business district, we take a left just past the little market. The pavement ends, and shortly thereafter we turn to the right. We continue past another major dirt road, but keep following the road we’re on up and down hills until a farmstead’s lights become visible.
I see several large barns, some smaller outbuildings, a large propane tank, a couple large banks of standalone solar collectors, and an unusual house.
We pull in next to Josie in front of the barn. Josie slides out and wraps me in a hug. She says joyfully, “This is out in the country!”
I agree as she lets me close the door of my CR-V.
A whip-thin man dressed in black denim and engineer boots appears out of a nearby shadow. He is Josie’s height with black hair in a widow’s peak.
He definitely gives a Bela Lugosi vibe when he speaks. “Hallo! I am the vam-pyre.”
Darcie rolls her eyes and tells him, “Knock it off, Warren.”
He bows deeply at the waist. “Yes, Mistress.” This time he is channeling Renfield.
Darcie says, “I’m serious, Warren. Keep it up, and I’ll tell everyone that you are really a blond.”
Gasps, “No, Mistress! Not that!” He’s grinning when he says it.
Darcie says, “I forgot to warn you, Warren can be a bit of an ass.”
Warren quips, “Not so fine as yours, Mistress.” Again with the deep, courtly bow.
Darcie warns him with a finger pointed at him. “Jack just came out of combat. You know how he gets. Do you really want to be commenting on my figure when he’s like that?”
Warren chuckles, “Duly noted, Darcie. I better get my hug in before he arrives then.”
They hug like old friends and kiss each other’s cheeks.
Darcie makes the introductions. “Everyone, this is Warren Dark. Regardless of his goofy schtick, he really is a vampire. He is also Jack’s farm manager. Josie Carroll, Clarice Pasquale, Lara Vallaye, and William James.
I tell Warren as we shake, “Please, call me ‘Will.’ By the way, I think Julian Sands was one of the creepiest vampires in film.”
Warren chuckles, “Right? Maybe I should grow out my roots.”
I smile weakly. I tell him, “Warren we have…Darcie what was the final count?”
“One hundred twenty, plus Mica and T’os,” she answers. “Twenty-three are staff for the healer. Ninety-seven are abused women that need shelter. Will’s new squire and his mentor will probably return to Prescott with us, but there are eight male elves on the healer’s staff. We should separate them from the tormented.”
I point out, “There were more. Several of the tormented women killed themselves before the healer could sedate them. Also, Mica and T’os will probably stay here tonight.”
Warren’s demeanor changes. Whereas he seemed like a caricature initially and then a jokester, now he’s all business. “The best we can do for them are the barns. I have both hay and straw available. I’ve got a bobcat with a trencher on it to dig a trench latrine - maybe two separated by gender. I have a big stock tank and a heater that I use to keep it from icing in the winter. It should get the water to at least a tepid temperature. How about we set up the equipment shed for the guys? I really don’t want to put them in the woodshop with all the tools in there.”
“Sounds good, Warren. Direct us where you need hands. I grew up on a farm, but haven’t been back since my parents died, so you’re probably better off running the machinery.”
We get busy.
The ladies roll a big stock tank into place while Warren parks a small flat-bed hay trailer at the bottom of the hay mount. We set up a hay elevator resting on the bed of the trailer. Warren shows Clarice how to control it, and I start feeding bales of straw down it. Clarice drags them out of the way on the bottom until the surface of the trailer is full. I run downstairs and show her how to grab the bales by their strings and snatch them into the air. We stack them three bales high before I send another batch down.
I lift the end of the conveyor off the trailer and set it on the ground. Warren is trenching so I start the tractor and pull it forward as Josie and Darcie join us. Darcie gets gloves and hay hooks for the ladies while I crawl back up into the loft to feed more bales onto the conveyor. Darcie shows the ladies how to use the hooks, and they start dragging the bales inside the barn with them.
Darcie calls out, “Ladies follow me, and I’ll show you where you can relieve yourselves . Gentlemen, please follow Warren.” Warren raises his hand as Lara repeats the instructions in Elvish. The elves follow along, mostly fairly meekly; although, several of the young ladies smile, wink, or blow kisses at me flirtatiously as they walk by. I pretty much ignore them.
One young lady does catch my attention. She is standing among the healers, but she is dressed differently. Since she has dark brown hair and is wearing robes more like the magicians rather than hastily assembled linens or medical uniforms, I’m assuming she’s not one of the sex slaves or medical staff. I wave Lara to me.
I hug her under my arm, and she wraps her arm around my waist as I point out the one I’m noticing. “Find out what her story is. Don’t kill her unless she attacks you, but she seems to be neither a healer nor a sex slave.”
“Yes, Lord,” Lara murmurs as she glides away.
Marissa and Carla run up and wrap me up in hugs and anoint me with kisses.
“How are you two beauties?” I ask between kisses.
“Mmmmmm, much better now,” Marissa says.
Carla releases my lips, “I’m feeling needy, Mr. James.” She grabs a handful of my ass while Marissa slides her hand inside the neck of my Henley waffle shirt.
“How about we take the linens and make beds for these ladies, so we can go home?” I ask.
“May I interrupt?” Jack asks as he walks up.
“Sure,” I stop flirting, and my ladies each kiss a cheek. They peel away to drag linens into the barn.
Marissa calls out, “Clarice! Give us a hand, honey.”
I give Jack my attention. “What’s on your mind, Jack?
Jack frowns and looks around to see who is close. Apparently he feels safe enough. “Ten crates, two plastic bins, and two chests. Raul needs to off-load and get back.”
“Warren mentioned a wood shop,” I offer.
His frown doesn’t change. “That could take care of it overnight, maybe for a couple of days. I don’t want to keep those crates here for long. Can you get a drive-in storage unit? Big enough to hold a pickup?”
“Sure,” I agree. “What are you thinking?”
“Well,” he looks around again. “Warren’s got an old pickup. We load all the crates in the bed, cover them with a tarp and park it in the storage unit.”
I shrug. “Okay. That’s a couple layers of obfuscation. How many of those rifles do you want? Five?”
Jack looks at me like I’m stoned, but he thinks about it for a moment. “Just three for now. We need to learn more about them and test fire them. What do they fire for ammo?”
“I dunno,” I confess. “They use magnetic rail propulsion rather than gas propulsion, so I’m assuming some kind of iron or steel ammunition.” I shrug. “We’ll have to ask T’os.”
“Ask T’os what, Lord?” I turn to see Mica standing there.
“What munition do the magnetic rifles shoot, Mica?” I ask.
Mica stands at attention. “Lord, the new magnetic rifles shoot any iron or steel projectile between 4.98mm and 5.01mm in diameter. T’os was teaching me how to fabricate the projectiles.”
The elder elf approaches and bows. “Lord, Squire Mica stated everything correctly.”
Jack asks, “Spherical or oblong?”
T’os looks at Mica with a cocked eyebrow. Mica responds, “Either, sir. Oblongs can be up to three times the diameter of the projectile, but any longer than that starts to impact the acceleration.”
Jack asks, “You gave a range of diameters, what is optimal for both accuracy and muzzle velocity?”
Mica says, “Sir! The optimal size projectile for accuracy, muzzle velocity, and kinetic energy of the projectile delivered on the target is 5.00mm by 12.50mm.”
Jack looks at him for a second. “Squire Mica, what type of jacket rounds can you fire through this weapon?”
Mica isn’t sure what to say. Jack expands on his question. “Can you fire a hollow core projectile? How about a steel jacketed lead projectile? How about a depleted uranium or titanium sabot round?”
Mica looks at T’os. T’os pats Mica on the shoulder before he answers. “The first two are feasible, but we generally do solid metal projectiles. Uranium is an element that is only theoretical on our world, so we’re not familiar with it. Jacketed lead would work fine. Titanium is very rare on our world, too. I am also not familiar with the term ‘sabot.’ What is that?”
Jack explains, “Think of a sabot as a collar that holds a smaller, needle-like projectile. It allows the needle projectile to reach higher muzzle velocity and maintain it better as the needle leaves the collar behind. By using a heavy metal needle, you end up getting a faster, heavy round delivering high kinetic energy. Honestly for a 5mm projectile, it’s probably not an issue. I was just curious.”
Mica asks, “T’os, how do those projectiles compare?”
T’os shakes his head, “I don’t know. We would have to experiment.” He looks at me. “One magazine can hold two hundred fifty of the 5.00mm * 12.50mm rounds. It does take a while to load the magazines, but there are four magazines per rifle at the bottom of each crate.”
I chuckle, “Our standard infantry weapon takes a while to load, but we’ve learned to package them in strips that let you push ten it at a time. We’ll have to figure out the manufacturing and packaging bit if we decide not to destroy them.”
I address the two elves. “You two will stay here tonight. I’ll come pick you both up tomorrow when I get back from Chicago. We have bunks set up for you with the other men.”
I hear a gunshot, and then Clarice runs up, “Daddy! Come now! Quickly!” She runs back toward the barn. I follow closely on her heels as she leads me back to the bathing tub area. I barely take note of all the naked elven women because I see Marissa is lying on the ground moaning.
10
A breakdown in relations
Carla is holding her pistol on Leonore. “Heal Marissa now, or I’ll kill you all.” Lara is straddling the back of the young elf who I asked her to investigate. Lara’s long dirk is resting in the small pocket behind the other elf’s right ear.
I kneel next to Marissa and roll her onto her back to find a still smoking hole all the way through her abdomen. She’s still alive and moaning. I hold her hand, and she squeezes it strongly in return. I open my second sight and see a growing ring of entropy around the circumference of the wound, and her aura is fading fairly quickly.
I take a moment to think about how I heal a zombie when I raise it. I messed up with Ilara’en by not healing her immediately - I hesitated too long. Once they’re dead, I just pour healing energy into the zombies without any direction. Somehow they heal regardless. Maybe their DNA provides the roadmap for the actual healing.
I try that with my beloved Marissa. I pull the entropy out of her and flood her with growth.
“Who did this?” I ask.
Lara growls, “This little cunt did. She’s Leonore’s daughter, and an apprentice to the Court Magician.”
“Okay,” I acknowledge. “Her life energy can help Marissia heal,” I say as I start to take energy from Leonore’s daughter.
Leonore begs me, “Please don’t kill my daughter, Lord.”
“I didn’t say I would kill her, Leonore. However, your daughter seems to think that actions have no consequences. If she was an apprentice to the Court Magician, she’s old enough to know better. She is going to be a little weak for a while until she recovers her strength. Maybe next time she will reconsider that before she burns a hole through someone that is trying to find her shelter.”
Lara says, “I asked Leonore who she was, and she wouldn’t answer me. Marissa was standing next to her, so I asked her to detain this one a
nd lead her over to talk to you. The little bitch took it upon herself to fry your wife.”
Carla says, “I gut shot her, but the damage was already done.”
I stop pulling energy from the prone woman. “I’m sorry, Leonore. I didn’t know she was injured.”
Marissa’s grip on my hand slowly releases as the wound closes. I kiss her. She says, “Help me up please, William.” I do.
Marissa walks over to the supine elf and lifts her head by her scalp. Lara gets up off her as Marissa says, “If I can’t have children as a result of this injury, I will torture you for months before you die. Are we clear?” The elf nods minutely.
I caress Marissa’s shoulder to reassure her as she squats in front of the elven girl. I tell Marissa, “The wound was through the left side of your abdomen above the abdominal wall. We’ll get you checked out, but I’m pretty sure that if you were good before, you’re good now.”
She looks up at me with moist eyes. “What if I’m not?”
“Will you still love me?” I ask her.
“Until I die,” she says seriously.
I smile, “Then you will stay with me forever, my love.” I look to Carla. “Ms. Jackson, I think we can postpone killing them until they do something heinous.”
Carla says, “Mr. James, I think I should just shoot her tits off for lying to us.”
“I know, honey. Let’s take the high road this time,” I tell her as soothingly as I can.
Carla looks at me and winks surreptitiously before she brats. “Fi-ine!” She holsters her pistol and slides in for a side hug and a quick kiss.
Marissa stands and holds an arm out to me. “Please help her, Will. We can kill her later if it’s warranted.”
I kiss Marissa and kneel beside the elven girl. “I’m going to roll you over. Are you ready?” She nods as Leonore kneels beside her.
I ask her, “What is your name?”
She grimaces, but she doesn’t try to say anything.
Leonore starts to speak, but I hold up my hand. “Squire Mica,” I call out.