by P. S. Power
His hand lingered at his neck. “She bit me?”
His voice came out calm, relaxed even. He felt worried though. She'd moved so fast to bite him that he hadn't even felt it later? Hadn't noticed the move at all?
“So the licking?” He asked Keane, who had just nodded in response to his last question.
“Oh, that? Natural pain killers and coagulants in the saliva. It helps keep unneeded bleeding down. So, she sniped you huh?” The Vampire continued without waiting for the obvious answer. “That's biting a person so that they don't notice it. Really, as long as you don't go overboard with it, it's harmless. Most people don't notice a couple of ounces of blood missing, after all. I once lived for a summer in San Francisco, sixty-seven or so, last century, getting by on just that. Make out with a couple of girls a night, take a sip from each... Well, it's kinder than the mugging technique.”
Keane described that one too.
“That's when you simply run up on a person, and knock them out, usually in public or a quasi-public place. You drink, cover the wounds with a lick or two, then take their wallet or pocketbook. You can stay well fed and keep yourself in style that way, but you risk killing too many people in the initial attack. It's something that mainly new Vampires do. You learn after a while that dead bodies catch attention and so do missing people. Live feedings are always preferable for a host of reasons, especially if you make sure that your bites won't be noticed.”
Zack let go of his concern. He knew that Claire had been hungry. Still, they'd need to talk about it later. Not a huge thing though really. Since he hadn't been harmed or even scared. It was time, perhaps, for another talk to her beast about him not being food though. He needed what energy was available to get through the day. He didn't know for certain, but it seemed to him even a couple of ounces being gone per day would make everything harder after a while.
The feeling of detachment he felt lingered. It might for a while. When he'd come back the first time it took several years for things to regulate for him. His grandparents had worried constantly about his strange behavior. At least now he already knew how to hide it from everyone. How to pretend to be normal. Well, normal-ish. He doubted that too many people around here actually thought of him as being like they were.
Being Friday he headed over to the Apothecary, for martial arts or energy use lessons. Dan waited for him and had a change of clothing waiting. Apparently today's plan called for vigorous activity.
“Forgive me for being late. I had to go and... learn something. In the void. I lost track of time.” He sounded distant, even to his own ears. Dan waved this away and told him that he'd a client come in and wouldn't have been ready until a few minutes prior anyway.
He changed quickly, then headed to the small practice area in the back, a space about ten foot by ten. Dan had him stretch out, showing off his rather poor flexibility, especially compared to Dan who stretched with him, bending and twisting in half easily, as if his joints contained elastic rather than tendons. When that finished he led him through a basic form of what he called loose boxing. It looked like Tai Chi to Zack. Dan told him that it had actually existed long before Tai Chi, which later came from it.
“That doesn't mean it's better, just a bit simpler for you right now, given everything. The moves tend to be bigger and the nerve strikes more general.”
They worked on drills, push hands exercises to help with sensitivity and punching and kicking drills, followed by grabs, chokes, holds, and locks. Zack managed to do a little better on the finger locks than he'd been able to recently, and felt less shaky when they were done. Perhaps his time in the void had helped with the nerve damage somehow?
Dan clapped him on the back and let him go at nearly seven. He knew he didn't have time to change first, so he just took his clothes and went over to Patty's in the sweats Dan kept for him. He could return them later, after all.
Not wanting to be late, he greeted the three Alede on the floor quickly, a quick hug for each, though he did hug Val more closely than the others and gave her a quick kiss. He could feel the lust coming from all three of them, which didn't say as much about him, with his average looks and appeal, as it did about their natural inclinations. Kind of like with Claire, their hunger being different, but needing to be fed just as much. It still felt strange to him to hug Norris, but he let that thought go as it came up. The Incubus tried hard not to push at Zack, so he could try just as hard not to be rude to the man.
He realized that he hadn't been ignoring the information from anyone very well at all, since returning. Vaguely he remembered what it had been like the first time. Much worse than this, since now he actually had some ways to cope with the flow of information. If nothing else he could simply find a place to be alone for a while. Something his grandparents had thought unhealthy when he was young. When he'd have problems, they insisted on holding him and wouldn't leave him alone at all, not realizing that they had been part of the problem most of the time.
Managing to say a few pleasant things seemed to make them all happy enough. Which meant it didn't take him long to get into Patty's office. Once inside he looked at her and felt himself struck by the intensity of her lust. Not specifically lust for him, as with the others, this had to do with her inner nature more than him. Thankfully she reined it in quickly.
“Ah, there you are!” Her outer self said, while her inner self told him she'd followed his progress since he left his appointment with Master Dan. Listening to his footsteps. “All ready then?”
This time she knew he wasn't and this was by her design. Her plan spilled out, nearly overwhelming him with its intensity. He shut down all emotional responses and smiled up at her, trying to ignore the flood of information coming in.
“I thought we might do something a little different today. Why don't you join me on the couch here...” She turned on about a third of her seductive charm then, each word suddenly captivating, alluring, calling to him.
She sat on the fainting couch and petted the seat next to her slowly, to indicate where he should sit. He knew that her plan involved disorienting him, to see how well he recalled things under pressure. A normal technique used in the training young Alede get, past a certain age. Of course a young Incubus almost always wanted sex, so being direct with them had become habit to Patty. She hoped that Zack wouldn't mind, it was clear. She really did need to check and make certain he'd incorporated the skills he'd learned before moving on. Her inner self communicated all of this and a lot more to him quickly.
Zack began by taking her hand gently and holding it in his own as her Shadow self had hoped, but not expected him to do. He looked into her eyes and murmured “You're so beautiful.” While his other hand gently stroked her hair, just at the hairline, gently, barely making contact, as if brushing a stray out of the way so he could see her eyes clearly.
He let his hand linger, running slowly down her face, then lower, over the lapel of her blouse, finishing the movement by pulling his hand away gracefully, as she'd shown him how to do early on.
After about a minute of this, he tilted his head and slowly moved toward her. She intended to pull away gently, making him work for it, but he moved first, pulling back just a little as if suddenly shy, causing her to hesitate and wet her lips, wondering if he'd... He quickly moved in and started kissing her.
Softly, each kiss a caress, lingering just for a moment then moving on. Holding her face gently he began to stroke her hair with his other hand. When she'd relaxed enough, he began to kiss her harder. Only a little though, and run his tongue over her lower lip gently, almost hiding the movement. She inhaled, lust rising in her.
He continued, stroking her gently, hair first, then back of the neck, since the front of the neck requires trust in your partner and he didn't know if he'd earned that kind of trust in her mind yet. He cupped her breasts gently then kissed her harder again, to increase the excitement and engage her in the moment.
Perfect! Her inner self said, licking her lips at him sensually
.
Moving carefully, because while improved a bit from his time in the void, his fingers were still clumsier than they used to be, he unbuttoned her blouse. Seeing that she wore a full bodice underneath he dipped a finger inside top of the left cup and slowly, softly ran his finger from left to right.
Now this, she knew, would throw him off. The pattern in the book didn't describe such obstacles. He had some choices to make, her Shadow told him. He could either try to take it off of her, a fool's errand, given how complex this particular item was, or he could simply move ahead.
He locked eyes with her, kissed her again, oh so softly, making her chase his mouth with hers as he ran a hand from her chest to her inner thigh. He stroked his hand down to the top of the stocking on her left leg, then drug his fingers, the flats of them, down her leg to the knee, reversing instantly running the backs of his fingers to the edge of her skirt. He did this three times, taking a slightly different route each time.
Moving in front of her, he knelt on the ground and repeated the whole process with the other leg, slowly moving her legs apart.
Her Shadow told him that she'd intended to stop him about now, if he got this far, but wanted to see how far he'd go, and how well he did it. So far he was getting an A though, she assured him.
Reaching between her legs with both hands he gently ran the backs of his fingernails over her panties, which were made of a dark gray, silky material of some kind. He repeated this a few times, gently ending each movement so that his fingers were underneath the top edge.
Looking up, into her eyes, holding her gaze, he gently pulled them down, guiding her to lift her hips so gently that even she almost missed the movement.
Her inner self applauded. She spread her legs in invitation, not really thinking about the situation, her natural lust held back by an act of will alone.
Using his fingers, hands and mouth, he tried to follow the instructions he remembered from the book. It helped a lot that she called out instructions on the Shadow level when he started to go astray even slightly.
He tried to keep stroking her inner thigh while he worked, suddenly running his fingernails gently down them when her breathing rate began to increase. This should, the book told him, increase heart rate, which would serve to increase the likelihood of orgasm. Not that he really worried about that. According to Val all Alede could do that with very little stimuli, pretty much at will. That she hadn't yet probably had to do with her need to observe his skills, rather than anything else. Plus, he realized then, that she was teaching him what young Alede learn.
Their goal with sex always had to be about gaining energy, so they wanted the other person to have as much pleasure for as long as possible. It seemed to him that Humans kind of rushed to the goal, even the women, rather than focusing on the trip as the Succubus taught him to do here.
He tried several of the techniques suggested in the book, ones that Patty had tested him on the model with. He stuck with it until she started to orgasm, and following instructions, kept going until she stopped, about a minute and a half later.
“That... was far better than I expected! I think we can move on to the next section now. So, the next five chapters in the book...” He stared at her, smiling, in a way that he hoped looked, if not alluring, not totally stupid.
Moving upward he kissed her on the lips, she licked his softly tasting herself on him, then he slid beside her and held her for a minute, kissing her and gently stroking her hair. The book had mentioned that this helped some women after oral sex, because they needed to be reassured that they hadn't done anything wrong. Even women that enjoyed sex said they felt better if they were held for a few minutes after. There had been a side bar that had quotes from women about that, he recalled. He could also try saying nice things, but since they hadn't gotten to that section yet, he held his tongue. Better to say nothing than to botch it now, he figured.
Her Shadow self agreed with him on that point.
“Okay!” She said laughing and pushing him away after a while, “You get an A! Really, while we could work on your cunnilingus techniques a little more, and we need to cover other scenarios and patterns, I think you have a real skill for this. Keep this up and I'll have to keep you on for advanced instruction.” Standing, she recovered her underwear and re-situated her clothing. Her makeup looked perfect, but then he realized she probably didn't have any on. She just naturally looked like that.
Even living with Val and Sarah, he'd never seen either of them spend more time in front of a mirror than it took to do their hair. He'd have to ask sometime.
On the way out, he kissed her again because she wanted him to, and promised to read the chapters that night.
Outside Val stood grinning, next to Norris, who looked a bit more intrigued than anything.
“I can't wait for my turn!” Val said. “I know for a fact that she intended originally to stop you after the bustier. Most people would have crashed there, trying to take it off. How did you know to skip it?”
He smiled and shrugged, this time on purpose.
“Now though... Will I be good enough for Merri tonight do you think?”
Norris looked at him and shook his head in amazement for some reason.
“After that you...Yes, I think if you bring all of that into play, she'll be pleasantly surprised and most satisfied with your work.”
It turned out that she was.
Chapter thirty-three
The next morning at the shop erupted suddenly. First he heard yelling coming from the front of the store, a man's voice, then a loud crash. Running to the front, he saw a man holding a gun on Lisa, who stood about twelve feet away, her hands up, trying to back up toward the cashier's counter.
Not hesitating Zack brought his right hand up and using his will and all the focus he could muster, sent a black beam, as tight and black as he could make it, even if only he out of the six people in the room could see it, and extended, causing the weapon to rush back, away from the man so fast that his body jerked around from the impact, sending him crashing through the front window about eight feet behind where the gunman had started from.
Claire, who'd appeared almost instantly next to the man in the walkway, had a hold on the man's arm, gripping it hard to keep him from bleeding too much from the stump where his hand had been. Zack saw all this when he recovered from what he'd just done enough to go toward where the man had fallen. He shook, exhaustion hitting him in an instant.
When he reached the man, after checking Lisa, to make sure she hadn't been hurt, he noticed how hard Claire had to work to not lick the blood that oozed out in front of her. The man didn't look like a hit man. He looked like an accountant or an office worker, one that hadn't shaved in a week. Maybe not looking like a professional killer is what makes a good one though, Zack thought. Not that this guy had proven himself to be any good at it.
He couldn't get anything from the man, except that he experienced agony coming from his arm.
“Claire, lick the wound. The pain killers and coagulants may help him. Plus, you know, waste not want not.” Zack spoke loudly, so that if there were problems from this later people would know he suggested it for a good reason, and she hadn't lost control. He sounded cold about it. Probably due to his anger and fear.
About that time a dozen people surrounded them. Not gawking, but actually looking around in case there were more attackers. If this had been put together by the same person or group as the last one, then odds were they were in for a lot more, after the failed attempt at Lesser Shia.
Nothing happened though.
Claire licked the stump daintily, her tongue wet with a clear liquid each time she extended it. As his pain diminished she licked in longer strokes, until the bleeding stopped all together.
Laying his arm on his chest she looked at everyone else, sweeping the room with her gaze. “Don't jar his arm, or the bleeding will start again.”
While all this had happened, a man Zack recognized as being from the Knife and Swor
d shop, walked up to them, carrying a drawn sword by his side, the gray haired fellow knelt by the attacker and emptied his pockets. Zack, seeing his Shadow close up, couldn't recognize what he was, but he could hear his intent clearly enough. Find out if the man had I.D.
“Daryl James Wilson, this license to drive autos says.” The voice was surprisingly smooth, from the gray haired and rough looking man, whose Shadow stood nearly as large as Hilda's, even though it couldn't be anything he'd ever seen. Something somehow both furry and dragonish it seemed to Zack.
“Well, Daryl, perhaps you could share with us why you went into our humble shopping plaza's candle store and caused such a ruckus to happen?” The grizzled man spoke softly, his voice carrying somehow so that everyone in the crowd could hear him.
Zack focused on the man, and only on the man, as he lay on the floor, letting the rest of the world drop away, trying to see what he said below the haze of pain and fear. After a few moments he locked in on the man's inner self clearly enough to make out what his Shadow self told them, even under with the haze of pain.
“He came to make us take him to his son, Jeremy. He's nine. The Mage council gave custody to the mother, because she's a Mage. She cheated on him though, and isn't a good mother. He doesn't think she does drugs, but he's willing to say she does, if that would get him custody. He heard from his wife's sister, who likes him better than her sister, about us here. He thought I could go and steal his son and get them away. He didn't have a plan as to where they would go, how they'd live when they got there or anything though. Inside he figured he'd die. He didn't really think it would work...”
Zack took a few steps back, turned to the crowd and let them know that if anyone still wanted to travel today they'd continue in five minutes.
“Claire, can we use your shop's node? I'm afraid I'm going to be cleaning this mess up for a while. Our poor window...”
Claire looked at him oddly for a few moments, then told him that would be fine.