Lexi smiled and approached me. “Well done.”
I nodded, and hoped she was referring to my recovery. If she was referring to what I was doing as she entered… well. “That talent will come in handy.”
She sat on the bed with me and offered me the meal tray. The tray was home to a hearty serving of pancakes, glistening with maple syrup, and toast. “Let me see how you’ve managed to mend yourself.”
I yanked the fabric of my top away from her fingers that slithered over to peek at my belly. “Trust me, I’m good.” I was feeling a bit awkward from her hand that was always wanting to touch me, like she was carving some girl-on-girl action. “What the hell was that earlier?”
“The dream?”
“Yeah.”
“You needed guidance; I gave it to you the only way I could think of, by a dream. Elemental attunement isn’t something you can do physically.”
“Things got a bit… dicey at the end of that dream.”
“I’m a succubus what did you expect? I can induce people to dream, but they will always be sexual in nature. It’s just the way we are.”
I was by no means an expert at all this supernatural stuff. I had to take her word for it and accept it as the truth for the time being. Her eyes locked onto my body grimacing. “This is your first time using that ability, on a critical wound at that,” She once again tried to tug and lift up my top. “First timers tend to heal the exterior but forget about the inside.”
“If I missed something then we’ll find out soon enough. I’ll just heal again.” I shoved a piece of toast into my mouth.
“The healing trance takes at least one night to complete and a day to recharge.” She aimed her finger to the rising sun. “If you missed something, there’s nothing you can do about it until the sun sets.”
I armed myself with a knife and fork and dug into the savory pancakes, while she looked at me, all dreamy and weird. Then something critical came to my thoughts. “I swear if this shit is poisoned…”
“I saved you twice. Why would I do such a thing?”
“Demonic torture maybe? Make me suffer, then save me, and then we do it all the fuck over.” I pushed a heaped forkful of the multi-layer pancake into my mouth. Poisoned or not, that shit was good.
“You may be my prisoner, but I have no intentions of putting you through torture.”
“Ha! I’m a prisoner now, eh?” I glanced at the nice bedroom I had been imprisoned in since my arrival. “You got some high standards for what a jail cell should look and feel.”
She looked away from me. “In time you may be able to learn abilities that will allow you to replenish your blood levels. But for now, this and resisting will have to suffice.”
I said nothing more. Lexi’s response showed that she wasn’t listening to me. And honestly, I hadn’t had anything to eat since the breakfast Ryan made me which was probably a day or two ago.
Lexi chuckled as she stood up to leave. She stopped as I blurted out. “What’s so funny?”
“The irony of our situation, think back to what happened months ago, Reika. You got shot and lost a lot of blood. We ended up meeting because of that. And here we are again, repeating it, minus the blood transfusion.”
She left me alone to muse over her words. Blood transfusion. It got me thinking about the packs of blood I found along with my name on that clipboard, and the goon at Brianna’s house that injected himself with something that contaminated his soul. And the fact that myself, Lexi, the man that became Lucifer’s second host, and quite possibly the security guard, all received transfusions at one point. There’s something in that blood supply that was turning people to the demonic side, the question was what?
I ended up sleeping on it for the time being. Didn’t have much of a choice, I might have been healed but my energy and blood levels were still low; food and bed rest were the key. When I woke twelve hours later, nightfall had arrived, my energy had been partly restored, and I was determined to do something other than nap.
I stood, then took slow steps at first. It was a while since I stood up and walked around, and I had to remember how to do it. I glanced at my katana which rested on its side in the corner of the room. I armed myself with it after rummaging through the drawers and clothes of the bedroom, I needed more to wear than a long shirt…
Lexi wasn’t one to keep regular clothing around. She had lots of goth-girl stuff. The high-end expensive stuff at that, corsets, fishnet attire, not a single pair of pants in sight. Are you fucking kidding me… I guess that’s why she was made a host candidate for demonic possession, she had the clothing for it. I ended up settling for a black-velvet dress that came with one of those lace chokers attached to the back.
Out into the living room I went where Lexi and I exchanged glances as I strode past her lethargically. She sat in the kitchen, on one of those high barstools next to the countertop, eating dinner by the looks. It smelt decent. Lexi wasn’t that bad of a cook… or was it the demon that took over her body that was the cook?
My hands wrapped around my katana tighter the closer I got to the front door. Let’s face the facts, I had shit to do, and while the rescue was welcomed, being her prisoner wasn’t. And for a prison, she was doing a lousy job of playing the role of a prison guard, I wasn’t far from the door, and she still sat there eating her dinner. There was no sense of urgency, no worry that her prisoner was about to walk out the front door.
If she was planning to stop me, now would have been the time to do so.
“Up on our feet I see,” she said then patted her lips clean with a towel. “I’m delighted to see you recover this fast.”
“Safe to assume I didn’t miss anything when I used the healing talent.” Lexi nodded and returned to her dinner. The handle and lock to the door was within arm’s reach, this escape was too easy, there must have been something I was missing. “So, I’m still a POW?” I shouted to her.
“You wish to leave?”
“I appreciate the rescue, the healing, food, and a nice bed to rest on but…”
“But?” Did I have to spell it out? I don’t want to be kept in a place against my will. “If you don’t want to be here, go for the front door,” she shouted back from the kitchen. “Leave the katana, however.”
“Yeah right,” I mumbled to myself and went for the door.
A force of energy pushed me backward, like way the fuck back into the living room. I crashed to the floor looking up to the ceiling. There was a powerful barrier around the door, and I didn’t see it until I hit it. The pain that arched across my body put me out seconds later while I gazed up at Lexi who stood above me, shaking her head.
Guess I really was a prisoner.
Chapter Twenty-Three
I awoke for the third time that day…
I groaned, rubbing the side of my head, not because of pain, that had long faded. It was more because I was growing tired of waking up and seeing walls, ceiling, and furniture that were unfamiliar. It was also a reminder that the stuff that was familiar to me, like my apartment and my normal life, was gone and reduced to memories in my twisted brain.
Lexi had dragged my unresponsive body onto the nearby couch in the living room. She sat at an adjacent sofa watching over me as I sat upright. My talents were still recovering, I could use them, but could I use them effectively enough to kill her and fight for my escape? I had my doubts if it was worth the risk.
“Why am I here?” I was done beating around the bush, I wanted an answer.
“Hmm?” She cocked her head to the side and made a half-smile.
“You went through a lot of effort to fight with me before, now you want me alive under house arrest. Why?”
“Tell me, what are prisons in this country commonly referred too? Correction centers?”
“Something like that, yeah.”
“The idea being that inmates go there to get rehabilitated so that they can be rebuilt and remodeled. The experience is supposed to transform them from an inconvenience to society
into a productive member when released.”
“Sorry I didn’t catch the reason why I’m fucking here.” Seriously, what does that have to do with me?
“You’re here in my prison for your own good, Reika. I’m here to correct and protect you.” Her fishnet-gloved hand pointed to the entrance to the balcony. She snapped her fingers and tiny flames slithered away from them. A barrier with a yellow glowing pentagram appeared over the balcony door, it was the same type that knocked me out when I tried to leave. “My seal around this suite will prevent Lucifer from tracking us while I take corrective action against you.”
“I’m a big girl, I can look after myself.”
“Lucifer and his followers are everywhere, hunting for you, and will not stop until their objective is complete.”
“I figured that out when the first asshole came after me, then the second, and others after.”
“Then you know it’s dangerous for you to be outside of the seal.”
“I killed them all, and I’ll kill them again if they try. They’ll get the picture eventually. I’m a hard target.”
“They already have and switched tactics.”
“Could have fooled me.”
Lexi crossed her arms. “Tell me, where are your friends right now?”
Jim and Emily, she just had to go there didn’t she? Sad thing was, Lexi was right, those two were gone and Ryan was at risk of joining them had I not ditched him. Lucifer was having a tough time getting to me, so he targeted people I cared for, people who could have given me support. “Why am I so important to them? I didn’t ask to be this way and I sure as fuck don’t like it anymore.”
Lexi stood up from her seat, beckoning me to follow her lead. “Join me outside.”
I looked at the glowing pentagram on the barrier. “What about the seal?”
She stopped in front of the barrier and rested the palms of her hands upon it. It burst into flames and then vanished. She faced me again with that charming half-smile, curling her index finger in a come-hither motion.
Stepping onto the balcony was an attention-grabbing experience, especially with the night skies and the full moon casting its white light down upon our expensive goth dresses. The railings were decorated with various plants, making it appear as though the railing was made of a garden. Gleaming patio furniture was scattered in the right places to kick back and relax. At one point this large patio balcony doubtless played host to the many parties Lexi held before she was possessed.
Lights beamed out from the windows of every high-rise structure in the city, adding to the marvel. It was weird. I’d lived in this city most of my life yet watching it from this distance… it was something else. The traffic below, the people going about their evening, the autumn covered trees of Central Park. None of them had any idea that a succubus and human with demonic magic stood above them watching side by side.
I pushed away from the railing, ready to get down to business. “And I’m here because?”
She kept her eyes on the brightly lit marvel before us. “You were born here in the city, correct?”
A short gust of wind blew across her free-hanging hair; it ended up tickling my cheeks. “Yeah, parents and grandparents moved here from Japan, probably regretted it as I did nothing but get into trouble as I grew up. But that’s life, if you hang out with the wrong people and pick up their goals.”
“Then you walked away from those people.”
“When I was lying in that hospital bed, a thought crossed my mind. How do I want to be remembered when I die?”
“You changed your mind about their goals; you didn’t want to be a part of what they wanted to do.”
“Yep.”
She leaned against the side of the plant-covered railing facing me. “I was in a similar position in my world, the Umbral. Demons lost the means to return to Earth for centuries. We forged a plot to invade using mass possession as our primary weapon. This city was selected to be the testing ground, and if successful they’ll use it to establish a stronghold. And then… spread out across the country and onto the rest of the world.”
“I’d say the testing phase is long over. They can possess people and jump to other bodies instantly from what I’ve seen.” My mind and gut suddenly sank into a pit of terror. “Shit… so you’re telling me they could be building that stronghold right now?”
I faced the skyline again, this time wondering what might become of it and the city in the aftermath of a demonic invasion. The death and destruction… this city has been through a lot of fucked-up things over the years, it needed a break.
“Perhaps,” Lexi said quietly. “They do however have one weakness; they can’t simply take any body they want. The soul needs to be contaminated with—”
“Demonic blood.”
“That’s one way, yes, there are others but that’s the easiest and direct method.”
Bingo. The mook at Brianna’s house had a syringe full of demonic blood. He contaminated his soul intentionally so that a demon would possess him and in turn take the fight to me. Now that’s what I call devoted to the cause. “A human with demon essence in their body becomes a candidate for possession… I found a shitload of blood at Schubert’s house.”
“It was all extracted from Umbral demons.”
“Why wasn’t it kept cold?”
“Come now, Reika, do you really think the blood in our veins follows the same rules as human blood?”
Fair point, it was probably that extra detail that made it easier for Schubert to store it until he was ready to experiment with it. “Schubert secretly works for the blood donor clinic and the hospital…” I winced as I put the two together. “Holy fuck, so he’s been slowly tainting the blood supplies of New York.”
“Completely undetected at that, your medical technology and knowledge cannot tell if human blood had been mixed with demon blood,” Lexi explained. “Your screening procedures looks for irregularities and viruses, it doesn’t account for the magical properties that exist within demonic blood.”
I moved away from the railing, pacing in circles on the balcony as my brain crunched the information and drew conclusions. “So, Schubert gave your host Lexi a transfusion knowing it was going to contaminate her soul. Then you took over her body.” I stopped mid-sentence as I peered up and down my hands that have repeatedly blazed with fire since my discharge. “Why didn’t I get possessed then?”
“Think back to what Schubert said during the ritual.”
I grimaced. “I was a mistake.”
“I asked him to perform a new technique on you, being a succubus does have its advantages when it comes to men.” She grinned. “The new technique he performed happened during your surgery; it contaminated your soul but prevented the demon from controlling your body.”
My hands smashed against the railing once her words left her mouth, my rage-filled glare fixed on her while she looked at me with a sorrowful look on her face. “Fuck’s sake, are you serious?!”
“I’m sorry, Reika, but it is the truth. You were too important to me. I couldn’t allow you to leave while possessed by a demon that was part of Lucifer’s faction.”
“You made me a fucking tool in your war to enslave Earth.”
“No—”
“Bullshit, these demons want to control this world, right?”
“Yes.”
“And you came here with them to do that, didn’t you?”
“Do you really think after all that has happened that I serve Lucifer and his faction?”
“I don’t know what to think any more. You made me what I am, you had my katana stolen, and you and he were a team.”
Her arms folded as her tone of voice changed. “Things changed, Reika. Yes, I had that demon cat steal your katana, because I wasn’t sure if you were going to ally with me or not.”
“What does my katana have to do with all this?” A question I’ve been meaning to ask for a while. It was time for her to spill the beans.
“Don’t you feel it?
Don’t you look at it once you’re done with it in combat?”
She was right, that blade never burnt or melted in the heat I put it through with my talents. In some strange way that blade became an extension of my arm when I held it. There was something mystical about it. “All right, it’s not an ordinary blade. How did you know I had it?”
Lexi gave me a twisted and evil glare. “We have our ways.”
“And that’s why you chose me… because I had it.” They say talking things over helps calm one down. Not me. This conversation only helped piss me off the longer it went on. I wasn’t just some unlucky girl but was targeted because I owned that damn blade. I wonder if the cop that shot me targeted me intentionally too.
I returned to the railing and shifted my gaze up to the sky. “Why are you here?” I asked, and mentally braced myself for the answer, an answer I probably wasn’t going to like.
“In the Umbral, we succubus and incubi are used as pleasure slaves to the demons around us. We’re sold off to demon lords, who in turn use us as their personal pleasure dolls or force us to please their minions. The way they see it, we should appreciate what they do as it’s a means of keeping us fed.”
“Brutal, but that’s not my problem.”
“Oh, but it is.”
“The fuck it is.”
“When I first arrived in this host, it was at the request of my master, Lucifer, to assist him with his plan to invade and claim Earth as his domain. As a slave, I obeyed and then… experienced freedom for the first time and happiness.” She paused to admire her hands, hands that belonged to the real Lexi, not the demon that controlled her body. “My host lived such a wonderful life, people adored her, rewarded her for her ability to sing songs.”
“It’s a helluva drug.” I continued to keep my face away from her, I wasn’t going to fall for the whole sappy hard luck story trick.
“I knew if I was going to be free one day, I’d have to have help and delay Lucifer’s plans as much as possible. You weren’t possessed, and so wouldn’t hand deliver the katana to him.”
Kiss of the Demon Girl Page 16