Enclave

by Brandon Varnell

  “Sure thing,” Leon said, turning toward a corridor on the far side of the office. “Come on, Sif.”

  “Commander,” Sif gave Samantha a respectful nod before she followed after her partner.

  “They make such a cute couple,” Tristin said with false cheer.

  “Don’t let them hear you say that,” Samantha said. “Now come on. Follow me.” The young woman turned down one of several corridors, her black hair swaying behind her. Tristin sighed. Gathering his courage, he prepared to play the piper, as it were, and followed her.

  She led him into a small office, one that looked a lot like her old office, except the walls, floor, and ceiling were made of gray cement instead of marble and plaster. The only thing he didn’t see hanging on her wall was her sword, Zaphkiel, which Samantha set against her desk, ready to be drawn at a moment’s notice.

  Samantha sat down at the small desk, her hands clasped in front of her. She looked calm, too calm for Tristin, who felt something like a thrill of fear run down his spine. He wondered if this was going to be the last sunrise he ever saw.

  “Now then, Tristin,” Samantha began, “you are going to tell me how it is that you did not become incorporeal when that barrier was put up. I’m very interested in knowing the truth.”

  At those words, Tristin gulped.

  Yeah, he was so screwed.

  CHAPTER 8

  My body was burning. Fresh blood poured down sharp cuts, deep and painful, like the sting of a thousand bees, or the bite of a cobra. The ichor flowing down my body made my clothes cling to my skin. A wound on my scalp caused more to trail down my face, forcing me to close my right eye, lest I get some in it.

  All around me lay dozens of corpses. Most of them had been burnt beyond recognition, charred bodies that didn’t even look human. They were scattered across the sight of what could only be a war zone. Buildings lay in ruins. Cars were crushed beyond recognition. The large bridge that had once stood over the Colorado river had been destroyed, the pieces scattered in large chunks, with some sticking out of the river like stakes impaling a snake.

  I was not one to swear; swearing was a sin, but I really felt like doing so right now. The battle had been going well enough at the beginning, or so I thought. The team of Executioners that I was with had managed to trap our quarry in a net, closing in on them. Just as planned, we had attacked simultaneously. He fired a long-range barraged designed to disorient and confuse our enemy. Everything from rockets and missiles to grenades and machine gun fire had assaulted the demon all sides, creating a series of explosions so powerful that our enemy had been engulfed in a blaze large enough completely engulfed the monster.

  Unfortunately, we had underestimated our enemy. Before even a second had passed, the fire was dispersed by a burst of incredible power. The air had whipped about us fiercely, a hot gust that caused our skin to sear and small cuts to tear apart our clothes.

  It was only after the gust passed by that we were able to see our enemy, unharmed, floating in the air, their arms crossed with arrogant nonchalance.

  Abaddon The Destroyer, one of the Knights of Hell, was a being whose power far surpassed those of most supernatural monsters. This was why our plan had been to destroy him with a barrage of firepower so great it simply overwhelmed him before he could mount a proper defense. The idea had seemed sound, at least until now.

  After withstanding our barrage, allowing us to use up all of their ammo in a futile attempt at destroying him, Abaddon laughed at us, and then proceeded to decimate our forces. I had been able to survive thanks to my unique fighting style, even though it was still in development. The others had not been so lucky.

  Gasping for breath, one hand holding my side, pressing against the growing stain of dark red from where a fragment of burning hot metal had pierced through my skin, I stared up at the floating figure with horror.

  Powerful black wings flapped behind them, each flap caused the air to burst, sending more searing heat in my direction and making my skin blister. Dark red skin gleamed brightly, not possessing a single scratch. His hair, thick locks of darkness that lay clumped on his head, swayed in the breeze created by his own powers. Bright, glowing red eyes seeped with amusement as he stared down at me.

  I tried not to let on how frightened I was, but I’m not sure I was successful. I could feel my legs shaking and my body shutting down from shock. I couldn’t believe how easily we had been beaten. We never stood a chance, from the very beginning. Abaddon had taken everything we could throw at him and dished it back one-hundred-fold. He had torn through our ranks like we were a bunch of stuffed teddy bears. My comrades broken bodies lay around me, twisted and charred lumps of flesh, a testament to this monster’s power.

  There was no one else around besides me.

  I was the only one left.

  “Poor, misguided humans.” Abaddon’s voice was deep, cracking like distant thunder. It reverberated inside of me, shaking me to my core. “Did you really think you could defeat me?”

  His words struck a chord with me. We never should have fought this battle. It had been a hopeless crusade from the very beginning. Now everyone besides me was dead, and I would be joining them soon enough.

  ‘Giving up already?’ a voice called from inside of me. ‘How pathetic.’

  “W-what?” I looked around as the voice resonated around me, but I could find no one there. No one except for myself and Abaddon. “Who is there?”

  ‘Do you want power, boy? The power to defeat the one who frightens you? The power to avenge your fallen comrades? I can help, you know? I can give you that power.’

  “Y-you can?” I didn’t know who this voice was, but at that moment, I wasn’t really sure I cared. This voice was offering me power. But could it really grant me the power to defeat Abaddon? How could a voice give me anything? It was just a voice.

  ‘Of course,’ the voice assured me. ‘I can give you more power than you ever dreamed of. So how about it? Would you like me to give you the power to avenge your comrades?’

  I thought about his question, and my situation. My comrades were dead, and I would be, too, unless I did something. I couldn’t afford to die here. Not yet. Not now. Not when I had so much that I needed to live for.

  And so, I made a choice.

  “Ye-yes. Give me power.”

  ‘Good. Then take my power and make Abaddon pay for what he’s done to your comrades. But, before you receive it, know this: All power comes with a price.”

  I didn’t have time to question the voice’s words. From that moment on, the world around me changed, and the battle between Abaddon and myself commenced. My body overflowed with power. All the wounds on my body healed, sealing up with a loud hiss. My limbs strengthened. It felt like they were made of orichalcum.

  With this power, I was able to match Abaddon blow for blow, and then, slowly, I began to push him back. Abaddon howled at me in rage, but I gritted my teeth and continued to fight using every ounce of strength in my body. I would not let this monster win!

  While I fought against Abaddon, dark, braying laughter that sent chills down my spine echoed inside of me, reveling in the carnage and death around me.

  ***

  The next morning, after he and Lilith took a shower together, the pair made their way to the cafeteria/restaurant for breakfast.

  Almost as soon as they arrived, Lilith found herself surrounding by several dozen blushing and curious succubus. Christian was pushed away from Lilith by the overly rambunctious women. He tried to keep with her, but it proved impossible to wade through the massive gathering of bodies. They couldn’t even get a word in edgewise, as the group of succubi had not only crowded around Lilith, but they were asking her questions he didn’t think they had any right to ask.

  “Hey, hey, did you know how loud you and your mate were last night?”

  “You guys were really loud.”

  “Did you two have sex? You did, right? Right?!”

  “What was it like?”

&nbs
p; “Did you enjoy it?”

  “What kind of question is that, Catie? Of course, she liked it. Did you not hear her screaming?”

  “I wonder, is sex always that loud?”

  It seemed that all women, even Succubus women, shared a need to gossip and ask invasive questions. Christian remembered reading something about this once. That said, he’d chalked it up to fantasy. He’d never assumed something that happened in his light novels could happen in real life.

  Ch-Christian!” Lilith cried out, her face flushed bright red as she waved her arms in the air. “H-help me!”

  “Uh... Sorry, but I think you’re going to have to deal with this one on your own.” Christian felt bad for Lilith. He really did. But this was beyond his ability to deal with.

  Ask him to slay a monster? Sure, he’d do that any day, and he’d do it with style.

  Ask him to deal with a horde of women who also happened to be succubus as they gossiped about his sex life? Yeah. Not happening.

  “Wh-what!? You can’t leave me here! Christian? Christian!”

  “I’ll grab you some breakfast and save you a seat.” Christian waved at Lilith as she was engulfed by “The Horde” and began making his way over to the buffet table. He grabbed a tray and two plates, then began loading up their food. For Lilith, he chose light foods, a small scoop of scrambled eggs, a slice of toast, some fruit, and some orange juice. His own meal was decidedly larger, a heaping helping of eggs, three pancakes, and several sausage links, along with a large glass of milk.

  Christian’s stomach gurgled, alerting him to how hungry he was. Having sex with a ravenous succubus really did a number on one’s appetite.

  He made his way over to one of the tables, the one occupied by Andrew, who was already scarfing down the mountain on his plate with the voracious appetite of a wolf. Or a werewolf.

  “Andrew,” Christian greeted as he sat down, placing his tray on the table and setting both his and Lilith’s plates out.

  The man paused mid-scarf. He looked at the younger man, then swallowed his food.

  “Christian,” he grunted, sounding displeased. “Do you know how loud you and Lilith were last night?”

  “Uh... is that a trick question? Because I’m pretty sure I realize that Lilith and I were a little, erm, ah, noisy, last night.”

  “A little?” Andrew rolled his eyes. “Kid, someone playing their music loud enough that I can hear it through the walls when my room is right next to theirs is a little. You and Lilith were so loud that I could hear you six rooms down.”

  Christian’s face became hot with embarrassment. Had they really been that loud? Truly? He wasn’t sure whether to feel humiliated that people now knew more about his and Lilith’s sex life than he ever wanted them to, or proud because he’d made Lilith scream loud enough to be heard six rooms down. Maybe a little both, though he did his best not to let Andrew know what he was feeling. He tried to at least maintain a composed expression.

  “Alright, fine. So, Lilith and I got overexcited. You can’t blame me.”

  Andrew took one look at him, then one at Lilith, before going back to him.

  “No,” he admitted, shaking his head, his shaggy hair swaying with the motion. “No, I can’t. And I don’t care what you and she get up to in private, but you should at least be a little more considerate of the people sleeping in the rooms around you.”

  “Right. I’ll remember that.”

  And he would. Christian had no intention of letting anyone else know any more about his private life with Lilith. He didn’t know if he would be able to live it down if other people knew about the sort of things they got up to, last night’s sexcapades aside.

  Christian waited for Lilith to eventually free herself from the horde of women, who were broken up by Clarissa when she stepped into the cafeteria by telling the girls they only had a few minutes before going to their assigned stations, and that they should use the time wisely by eating instead of pestering a girl about her sex life. She also told Lilith that she should be more mindful of where she was in the future when deciding to copulate with her mate, leaving a blushing blonde succubus to sit down at Christian’s and Andrew’s table.

  “Here,” Christian said, sliding the plate with the smaller food portions over to her. Lilith just huffed, grabbed her fork, and began eating in silence. Christian sighed. “You’re mad at me.”

  “What gave you that idea?” Lilith asked.

  “Maybe the fact that you’re stabbing the scrambled eggs like you’re trying to kill them.”

  “Hmph! If I’m mad at you, then you only have yourself to blame.”

  “Look, I’m sorry about leaving you with those women, but there really wasn’t much I could do.”

  “You could have pulled me out of there. You could have told them to back off and give me some space.” Lilith looked at him from the corner of her eye, then back at her plate. “But you didn’t do either of those. No, instead you left me there. Do you know how embarrassing it was to be asked all those personal questions?”

  “Pretty embarrassing, I’d imagine.”

  “Beyond embarrassing,” Lilith countered, “And the next time you leave me high and dry like that, you’re sleeping on the couch.”

  “But we don’t have a couch.”

  “Then you’re sleeping on the floor.”

  Andrew watched the two banter back and forth before letting loose with a hearty laugh. Christian and Lilith stopped arguing to look at the big man, who calmed down a second later to say, “Did you know that you two act like an old married couple?”

  Christian and Lilith shared a look.

  “Do we really?” asked Christian, embarrassed and pleased at the same time. Lilith appeared much the same. She was blushing, but there was a beaming smile on her face.

  “Yes. You do.”

  “Good to know… I guess.”

  Breakfast continued, and Clarissa soon joined the trio at their table. She sat down next to Andrew, putting a bowl of fruit in front of her. With her back straight and her bearing proper, the olive-skinned female looked like a reigning monarch. If her chair wasn’t small and made of plastic, he might have mistaken her for one. She really did have a regal bearing.

  As she began to eat, taking single slices of fruit and sliding them into her mouth, Clarissa started to make light conversation. “Christian, I have already spoken to Lilith about this, but I felt I should also speak to you as well.”

  Christian looked up from his food. “What is it?”

  “While I am pleased to know that you are taking your duties as Lilith’s mate seriously, I really don’t want to hear you two when you’re copulating. So, from now on, please try to keep your volume down when you are having sex.”

  Christian wondered how many times his face could get red in a day, because he was pretty sure he’d just broken a record of some kind.

  “Maybe you should just think about sound proofing your rooms or something,” Christian said, mainly because he had nothing else with which he could defend himself.

  “They are sound proofed,” was Clarissa’s dry response.

  Christian needed a moment to register those words.

  “O-oh...”

  “Yes, ‘oh,’” Clarissa’s tone took on the same quality as a desert. She smiled when both Christian and Lilith had the decency to look embarrassed and ashamed. “Still,” she added, “I believe we can take this as a good sign. You are clearly an extraordinary lover.”

  “I-I wouldn’t know about that,” Christian mumbled. Would it be unmanly of him if he admitted that he wanted to sink into the floor? “I mean, I haven’t, ah, been with anyone other than Lilith, so...”

  “Yes, well, that matters little when dealing with a succubus,” Clarissa informed the young man. “You are her mate, which means that each time you two have sex, you get better simply by virtue of the connection you share. I’m sure you’ve felt it by now,” she added upon seeing Christian and Lilith staring at her. “That connection is a side effect
that happens during the energy transfer. When you two are connected, you, Christian, are not just giving Lilith energy to help sustain her life, but also bonding with her on a level that is far deeper than anything anyone who is not mated to a succubus will ever experience. It almost feels like you’re sharing the same soul, right? Like your minds, hearts, and bodies are connected as one?”

  “Yes,” Lilith said, leaning toward Clarissa, her eyes sparkling with fascination. “Have you experienced the connection before, Clarissa?”

  “Of course. You don’t get to be my age by not having several mates in your lifetime.”

  “And just how old are you?” asked Andrew, only to yelp as Clarissa’s heeled foot dug into his toe.

  “That is not something you should be asking a lady, Andrew. I expected you to know better.”

  “Sorry, I was just curious. You made it sound like you were, well, a lot older than you look.”

  “And it is still not something to ask a woman.”

  “Alright, alright. I’m sorry. I won’t ask again.”

  “Good.”

  Christian leaned over, his lips caressing Lilith’s ear as he whispered, “Now who’s acting like an old married couple?”

  Lilith giggled.

  “Did you say something, Christian?” asked Clarissa.

  “No, ma’am.”

  “Hmm...” Christian squirmed under the woman’s scrutinizing gaze. It was difficult to maintain eye contact with her. She thankfully decided not to pursue the issue any further and instead looked at Lilith. “Lilith, today we will not be studying your succubus powers.”

  “What?” Lilith stared at the woman with slightly wide eyes. “Why not?”

  “Because you are not the only succubus who is in need of my teachings, and due to the nature of the training, I can only instruct you one-on-one. I must divide my time between yourself and a few of the young girls who were brought here recently.”

  “Oh... I see...”