Balance Point

by Katherine Rhodes

  Apparently, the psychic energy I was pulling off Marin was starting to seep into me—the feeling of trouble was more a premonition than a gut feeling. Gut feelings I could ignore and had, to my own detriment. This bore into my brain, and wouldn't stop.

  “Elde, I would really rather go out for a nice dinner.”

  “No, no. You'll love this place. It's cool, literally. You can see your breath, and there are glasses made of ice. It's really amazing. You'll love it.”

  “I'd love a steak dinner at Uni-Gireon more.”

  “Have some fun, Auralym. For God's sake. You're too young to be a stuffy old lady.”

  He turned back to his preening for the evening, and I used one of my Human co-worker's favorite gestures: I flipped up my middle finger.

  And why was this guy taking longer than me to get ready? I was ending this after this date. John or Marin or both could pick up the slack. Probably happily with the way the two of them were always in trying to meet me for another night.

  I sat there, staring at the back of Elde's head, and realized I'd rather have been naked with either or both of them than going to this bullshit club.

  Finally, he was ready, and we headed out. The feeling that I should not be there grew and grew, settling as a stomach ache that threatened to double me over. Whatever this was that was bothering me, really didn't want me at this club. I sat down on the bench as Eldeban marched on without me. It took him nearly a full block to realize I wasn't next to him.

  “What the hell, Aura?”

  “I don't feel good. My stomach is cramping.”

  He huffed. “Come on. This is ridiculous. It's just a night club.”

  “Clearly, I am sick.”

  He grabbed my arm and yanked me off the bench, dragging me toward the club. There was a flash of blinding red fear in my head, and I tried to pull away. “No! No, Elde! Let me go!”

  He yanked me against him. “You just couldn't make this easy.” There was the cold press of a weapon in my lower gut. “Just nice and quiet in the club, no one knows, no one misses you. We're due there in half an hour. You're going to listen to me, or I'm going to scramble your cunt so bad with this segif you'll never be able to climax again.”

  Oh, gods. What was this? I nodded in self preservation, and he pulled the gun away. With a death grip on my arm, he led me down the walkways towards the club.

  The only thought I had in my head was: he was going to make me take laced Prod'un and kill me.

  I was wrong. So very wrong.

  There were two seats at the bar. Considering how crowded the place was, it was too convenient to be anything but arranged. Eldeban shoved me into the chair and motioned the bartender over.

  “Two drinks. Let them know we don't need a distraction if they don't want the show.”

  The bartender shook his head. “They want the show.” His eerie, yellow cat eyes looked me up and down, with a glance I wouldn't call friendly. “Shame she's going offworld. Would like a piece of that.”

  “Next week. If you can come up with money.”

  “I work at a bar with this bullshit side gig just to eat. You think I have cash for that.” He snorted and walked away.

  Offworld? What the hell was going on? But Eldeban must have seen the question on my face and leaned over.

  “Enjoy that drink, Auralym. It's the last taste of freedom for you. I will not answer any of your questions, and since you already know this isn't a run of the mill night out, you aren't going to say a thing. My threat stands. I'll destroy your biology enough that you'll never be satisfied again.

  I nodded and grabbed the drink. I needed to get a message to John or Marin. I didn't know or care which. I took in the music thumming around me and sipped slowly. How was I going to let either of them know what was going on, what was about to happen when I wasn't even sure what was going on.

  Someone walked between us and put something on the counter. He looked at me and smirked, and left just as fast he had shown up.

  The bartender grabbed it and nodded at Eldeban. He indicated someone across the room, and they were there an instant later.

  “Got it man?”

  A Human. A frail, fragile Human who would barely be able to handle Prod'un, never mind the heavy, laced crap he'd just had delivered. The bartender nodded and motioned for something.

  The something was a wad of Human colony cash. The victim nodded as he pushed the roll to the bartender, then smiled when the packet was revealed.

  Fool. Poor fool, and I couldn't say a thing.

  He grabbed it and excitedly moved back to his table. Eldeban tossed his chin at the bartender. “Keep an eye on the goods. I have to make contact.”

  Left on the stool alone, I stared at the bartender. He wiped the counter down watching the patrons, his sudden laissez-faire attitude gone. He spoke, his lips not moving more than a flutter.

  “Listen carefully, succubus. Drink that whole drink. I laced it with a biological tracer. I have been trying to stop this slavery ring since the fucking Complex opened. I'm finally at a point where they trust me to watch you. Help me stop this. I will do everything in my power to get you back safe.”

  Holy shit. This guy was Climantra. I didn't want to give him away, so instead of nodding or anything so obvious, I picked up the drink and took a hard swallow, resolving to drink the whole thing before I was dragged away.

  “Nicely done. Thank you.” He pretended to finally notice the woman four seats over who had been waving him down for a full minute.

  I had to trust that this guy was the real deal.

  Slavery.

  The word bounced around my brain for a moment and then settled in. I didn't want that. I didn't want to be a slave. I had walked away from that, a willing contract with an out. And now they were going to take me and make me a slave.

  I started shaking on the stool as Eldeban finally reappeared. He walked up and pulled me close.

  “Scared, girlie? I'm sure you'll like this, my little sex demon. Someone specifically requested a succubus for their personal use. I'm sure you'll get plenty of fucking to keep you going. After all, it's just a fuck, right? No need to get upset about someone getting their jollies off you and giving back that energy.”

  “How are you an incubus and think that?” I couldn't believe he had just said it.

  “Please. You succubii are weak. You can't go more than what? Six hours without a fuck before you start to lose your focus? Before the Need, as you call it, becomes so powerful you can't see straight?”

  “You know nothing about succubi, you asshole. Seventy-two hours. And if you try to touch us forcefully after that, we'll kill you. How is that weak?”

  “Because that's ridiculous.”

  I snorted, trying to calm my shaking. “You are exactly the kind of demon my mother warned me about. The one that would lock a succubus up as a slave and rape her every day to save her.”

  “Rape? No, no, silly little girl. Your Need demands to be fed.”

  “You justify rape with biology that can be satisfied other ways.” I looked him up and down, my anger keeping me so calm I could step away from him. “You are a repulsive fuck.”

  Grabbing my arm, he yanked me back. “You didn't think that when you were sucking my dick.”

  “I regret ever touching you.”

  There was no chance for me to go on. The Human who had taken the Prod'un flipped the table with a full bodied jerk and fell to the ground convulsing a moment later. The entire room turned to see what was going on when two people who were medics came charging out of the crowd. Two more men were next to me and had my arm cuffed to them in the next instant.

  There was no way I could get away from them like that. I wasn't a powerful demon or even a slightly powerful Meta. I was merely the victim of my heritage, and my weakness was clear at this moment.

  I depended on sex, and they knew it. I had to give in quickly when it was withheld. What better blueprint for a sex slave?

  The men moved me out of the nightcl
ub, one on either side. No one saw me, or them, or had any reason to question what was going on. It looked like I was just getting out of there with the people I had come with. Maybe not wanting to be a part of the mess that was the night club now.

  Once we were clear, Eldeban grabbed my hand and slipped a bracelet on my arm. I wanted to ask what it was, but he pinched my ear and pulled me in close. “I already explained how this works. You don't get to ask questions, and you don't speak. None of this is any of your business. I will tell you when it's your business, and when I do, you'd better remember that your part in this business is your very life. So if you want to keep that, you'll listen to me and the rules.”

  I snapped my jaw shut, but stared at him hard. I wished I did have power. I would have cut off the blood flow to his brain and killed him right there.

  Eldeban tripped and slammed in to the wall, grabbing the back of his neck, clearly in pain. He snapped around to gape at me, shocked. His fingers dug into my upper arm, sending a horrible, sharp pain through my nerves. “I don't know what the hell you just did, but you don't ever do that again. You're a succubus, and you are the weaker demon sex. Remember that. Remember that.”

  That bewildered me. What had I just done?

  Marindor. My psychic. I had been sleeping with him for nearly six months. All that energy I pulled off him, all the energy he poured into me… Could I have gotten some of his powers?

  Could I contact him? Or John. John had power too, and I had pulled from him as well.

  As the two men dragged me along with them, I unfocused my mind and tried to find things, abilities, instincts, that I had never noticed there before, that might be new, or different somehow.

  They were there. Small, untrained, undisciplined. But there. I pulled them up, studying them as I did. They were a little bit of John, a little bit of Marin, and they blended well with each other.

  Well enough I decided to give contacting them a try.

  I didn't really know what I was doing, but since I was about to be sold out to the highest bidder for my vagina, I didn't want to wait. I couldn't.

  With a brute force, I punched out with the powers, yelling for both John and Marin.

  The man on my right gasped and punched me in the head.

  I blacked out.

  Chapter Seven

  John

  I saw Marin standing in the doorway looking for me.

  Something was up. Not only was he radiating fear, he had literally never come looking for me where I worked. I waved him over, and he practically ran.

  “Have you talked to Auralym today?”

  I shook my head. “No. We're supposed to meet up tomorrow. I was going to broach The Subject.” The Subject being the three of working this out between us. It had been eight weeks since we'd realized we were all sleeping together separately and it was just time to deal with it. I was afraid he was going to reneg on our agreement.

  “No, I'm not here about that. She's fearful. I mean maybe because I'm a confluence I'm more aware of this, but I sense her. I guess because she's been taking my energy, she's also been taking my powers a little. I've noticed I've been sensing her distantly for weeks. But it changed about half an hour ago to fear.”

  Well, hell. I hadn't noticed her lurking there in my mind, but once Marin said it, she was as clear as day and terrified.

  “What is going on?”

  “I don't know.” Marin shook his head. “She was nervous all day, and then she got sick. The sick instantly turned into fear and now she's just terrified.”

  “You want to go after her.” His intent in my mind was clear. This was insane. I could feel everything that was going on his mind. I had never had this happen before--but then again, I had never exclusively fed off just two people for so long. And certainly, not two I had been sleeping with.

  “Yes. There's something not right.”

  “I agree.” Looking around I spotted P’ili in the back corner bussing a table. I grabbed my keys and my jacket from behind the counter and headed over to him. “P’ili--”

  “Go.” He held up his hand. “You have never asked me for a favor, or been late. Just go. I'm fine locking up.”

  With a grateful nod, I headed out the door just behind Marin. We didn't make it down the block before the red blast ripped through our heads and send us staggering against the walls.—John! Marin!

  Marin was staring at me through the haze of pain. “She's gone.” His eyes were devastated.

  “She's not gone, she's unconscious.”

  “What is going on?” Marin rubbed his temples furiously.

  “You're the one with links to Intra, call them. Find out what's going on in here. If she's unconscious, she's either lying somewhere unnoticed, or there's something going—and if she was so scared before I suspect there's something going on.” I pulled up short. “Oh, shit. Marin. The drugs. The Prod'un.”

  “You don't think that she took it?”

  “Hell no, but I'll bet she's stuck in the middle of something.”

  Jerking himself away from the wall, he ran to the commpad and slammed his hand on it. “This is Marindor Fesil'bri, put me through to the Climintra infodesk.” The commpad flashed, and the picture of a male appeared there. “Sir, this is Vol—”

  “I know who you are, Fesil'bri. I was about to contact you. You are needed in the Alpine zone. There was another overdose, and we have a contact who finally broke this wide open.”

  He stared at me. “You have a name on the overdose.”

  “Gilbart Usdan, Human.”

  The tension drained out of Marin, but only to a degree. Turning back to the comm, Marin seemed to turn on his inner Climintra. “What do you need me to do?”

  “Get the people away from there. Out of the area, safely. We have people in the area cleaning up. We have someone who has a trace on what's really going on, but we don't need the slavers to know that we're on to them yet. So we have to act normal.”

  My entire body went cold. “Slavers.”

  “Slavers.” The face on the comm tried to look around the edge of the screen. “Who is that with you, Fesil'bri? Why aren't you on a safe connection?”

  “This is a safe connection,” he snapped. “Smith is my boyfriend. The person you're chasing… that would be a woman named Auralym?”

  “It is, actually. How did you know?”

  “Long story. Is your man on her?”

  The man in the comm shook his head. “No. He gave her a biological tracer to drink so we could follow her later. She drank the whole thing as soon as she knew what it was. She's cooperating. But the bio trace will take an hour to start working.”

  “You didn't tell her that, did you?”

  “There was only so much our man could say.”

  “Fuck.” I couldn't stop the word slipping out, but it was accurate. “So this all started at the Aline club?”

  “Yes. Fesil'bri, don't go after her. You are volunteer force, not full Intra. You can't—”

  “You all couldn’t figure out there was a slaver ring, so I think that what I can and can't do is irrelevant. I'm going to the club. But if Smith or I catch the scent of the woman, we're going to go after her.”

  “Catch scent? Who is Smith?”

  “Meta, vampire.”

  There was silence from the comm. “If you catch the scent of her, you have permission to go after her. You can call for back up if you need. But I suspect that you won't with a vampire. If you do go after her, I expect a full report.”

  “Are you deputizing me?”

  “I'm authorizing you. Don't get ahead of yourself.”

  “Thank you, sir.” Marin yanked his hand off the comm and took a step toward me. “We have to find her. You think you can smell her?”

  “I know I can.” There was never a doubt about that; I had enough of her blood in me I would smell her anywhere. “Let's get down there and see if we can find out what biological they used. That will also help us. Do you have any idea where these slavers are?”

/>   “Down in the tunnels. They've shut all the other main entrances until move-out day so it would have to be there. There's an ingress down there, as well as the access to the fresh smokers for the water supply.”

  “How big are those tunnels?”

  “They were bigger than most people had been led to believe when we moved in. I'm sure that the underground has enlarged them more.” The look on his face was a combination of guilt and anger. “I had no idea there was slaver ring down there.”

  I put a hand on his shoulder. “You can't know everything. We have a chance to go save her and get her back before they sell her to the highest bidder. Let's do that. And then we're going to have a long discussion about our three futures.” I nodded at the zipper transport. “Where are we headed?”

  “Alpine. That's the place to start.”

  * * *

  Marindor

  I couldn’t believe that she was the victim of these slavers, but at the same time, it made sense. They dealt in flesh, and she was based in fleshly needs. My urge to protect her was overwhelming. I had fallen completely in love with her. There was no escaping that. I didn't want to give up John either, so now I was completely in over my head.

  Alpine was a mess. There were people everywhere, and they were entirely too close to the body on the floor. I had to clear them out so the medics and the Intra could do their job.

  I knew exactly my worth to the Climintra; I was great at crowd control. I opened up my powers and let the suggestion that the crowd around the body should move out. They were in the way, and it was time to go home. They would all report to the Climintra tomorrow that they had been there. I planted the suggestions deep and let it worm in.

  Within a minute, the crowd started to reverse to their tables, and gather their stuff together to leave. Bags and outerwear, tabs swiped in for payment. Standing by the door, I used my powers to orchestrate the exodus, moving the people near the door quicker than the ones in the back. I almost felt like I needed a conductor's baton to show the art of it. John, somewhere along the line, had started lending me some of his influence and the whole thing flowed together. Within twenty minutes, most of the people were gone, and the Intra and medics were doing their thing with the overdose.