by brett hicks
Icy tendrils blasted out, expanding, covering most of the wall.
“Hurry, this will not hold for long! They’re already breaking free of the first snares!”
I motioned for her to move, and I followed close behind her. Rachelle leapt up, and out of the hole in a single motion. I leapt about three-fourths the way up the ladder, and I caught it with my hand, and I sheathed my sword.
I screamed in pain, as claws savaged my back, down the middle. Rachelle came forward and I reached out for her hand, but I was yanked back into the tunnel beneath the street. I could hear her shouting, as my world dimmed, and everything faded to black.
Twenty:
Rushing water flowed around me. My temples throbbed at the very first signs of my consciousness. I groaned, and I tried to sit up. Something cool to the touch stopped me. I skittered back on instinct.
“No… she must remain still. Nasty, nasty, bumped and bruised!”
The voice was raspy, and it sounded high-pitched, almost child-like. I looked up, and I was met with a pair of beady red eyes. A five-foot-tall ghoul was holding me down, but he wasn’t hurting me.
I felt many more around me. I looked past him, I was in a deep underground chamber, and in it were several hundred ghouls. The water flowing in pipes around me fed back into a wall. I looked around, only a few dim lamps lit the entire room. It was spacious and filled with ghouls, and a lot of random items.
I looked at a few of the ghouls playing around with action-figures like pre-teen boys. There were many more frolicking around, not very different than shifters on a full-moon. A few flapped their wings, and they zoomed around the top of the room.
“What, what is this place?”
I blurted the question, before I could think better of it.
“Brought you back, you were hurt on the head.”
I nodded, and I flinched in pain as my temples protested again.
“Why, you were trying to kill me?”
He shook his head, no, no, not kill you pretty princess. We just try to kill your friends, never you, no, no.”
His words made no sense, did he just call me a princess?!
“Why have you taken me, what do you want?”
His battish-human mixed features twisted into a very creepy looking smile.
“We bring you, so you can get better. Take you to see the master. She tells me to help the pretty princess.”
“Uhuh, and who is this master?”
His eyes held a very human, dreamy look to them. It was unsettling with his battish appearance.
“She’s pretty queen, just like you!”
I raised a brow and my tone was slightly condescending.
“I thought I was a pretty princess?”
“Oh, you are, but you will be queen too someday.”
His matter-of-fact tone was unsettling.
“What’s her name? This master of yours, what should I call her?”
His eyes flickered around, several ghouls growled at me.
“You shouldn’t speak pretty queen’s name at all, not smart.”
“Why are you all down here? Why are you killing the humans?”
He tilted his head to the side, as if he didn’t understand the question.
“You go up and eat humans in their homes. I saw it, a red-brick house a few days ago, three humans.”
He nodded in agreement with me.
“Master promised us free meals, as long as we stay in our area. It’s safe down here, no nasty sun!”
His tone was light, childlike still, innocent even. He seemed to be devoid of any malice.
He’s just a tool. A tool for some darker agenda!
“People are looking for you. The queen lied to you. Do you understand lied? She is using your feeding, to make a lot of humans angry at innocent vampires. Do you understand me?”
I sat up in a crouch, as a few more growled and walked closer.
“Should kill her. She lies about pretty queen!”
The second voice was a little deeper, but still very child-like. The one sitting beside me growled and stared at the approaching pair.
“She is pretty princess, no hurt her!”
I felt a pulse roll out across the room. Magic, something powerful pulled at everything around me. I felt it pressing against me, yet it wasn’t directed at me. I looked around, ghouls were dropping to their knees, the ones in the air fell to the floor.
“Not good, pretty queen is very mad…”
I could feel the oppressive magic smothering the room. Clacking sounded from the distance. Simpletons that they were, the ghouls hadn’t even remembered to snatch my weapons. I let my hand rest against the hilt of my katana.
‘Run Melony, run! You are not prepared to face her!’
My mother’s voice boomed inside my head. I couldn’t run though. I was surrounded my ghouls, and their oppressor was coming from the only visible exit. I swore to myself again and licked my lips in anticipation.
“Well, well, what have the vermin brought me now?”
She was tall, blonde, and her accent was French, not unlike the woman from Rachelle’s memories, however, she was younger, less powerful. That wasn’t saying much, considering the oppressive magic she was infusing into the ghouls, pressing them physically to the floor as she walked closer.
Her strut, and her sexual aura lit little room for doubt about what she was, and why they had not killed me.
Succubus… My kind started this! Of course, manipulation of emotions, magical manipulation of another creature’s body, those are powers along the lines of mine! With centuries, or more, to practice, it could easily twist vampires into ghouls!
‘Yes… a technique coerced from me. They vowed to feed Rachelle’s heart to me, if I didn’t give them the technique. An ability powerful enough to bend a supernatural army to their whims! I was naïve, and I thought I could repair the damage I had done in giving this to them, before they brought their plan to fruition!’
A lump rose in my throat at this revelation.
‘That’s why you abandoned me. To keep me safe, and to keep them from finding out about our connection.’
‘Yes. I was naïve to believe that you were ever safe. You are my daughter after all. You will be the only being to carry the records. You are the druidic codex and so much more my daughter! You must escape this! You must feed deeply into your power, let your instincts guide you! You are far superior to this one, but she has many years of practice on you!’
“And, who exactly would you be?”
She raised a brow at me at the incredulity of the question. Apparently, she was a big deal, or so her expression told me.
“Too young to know who your betters are? Born, clearly some filthy human’s child. That does not explain why they have brought you here, instead of draining you like they should have.”
She cut a hard gaze to the ghouls around me. The one beside me withered under her gaze. It pressed closer to the floor, some invisible force was pushing it into the cement.
“Stop that, now!”
My voice was steelier than I felt. My gut was frozen, and my nerves were fractured. I was just a grad-student before all of this! Part of me wished I still could be. I looked at the ghoul being pushed into the floor, and I let lose a breath.
“I told you to STOP!”
My voice thundered through the tunnel, I felt magic roil around me, freeing the ghoul. I pushed outward, instinctively knowing that it was countering her hold on the others. Her eyes widened in disbelief.
“Run, run from her, she is not your queen. Go! The pretty princess commands this! And, stop snacking on the humans!”
I added the last bit, as the ghouls began to rush out the door in a frantic start. Her eyes were calculating, her dark-blue tempest raged with magic so powerful, so deadly, I knew that it was a ten-to-one chance I might survive this.
“Only one other knew that spell, besides my mother.”
Her eyes widened a bit, and her lips curved into a cruel smile.
“You are her daughter…”
She purred it out, as if she was the cat that had just eaten the canary. My body shivered at the deep waves of desire rolling through the air. Her perceived value on my life—or my knowledge—crashed into me. Like the ghouls, she saw not a human, but another possession. Something to do with as she please, something to further her lusts.
My hand tightened on my katana hilt.
“I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to kill you now, or die trying.”
I blurted that last bit, ruining the effect. I would have kicked myself, if she hadn’t shot forward with a roar of anger. Succubi do not take well or kindly to threats. I know that from my own instincts, I just dampen the visceral nature of my reactions to my emotions. If I responded like her, Sam would have been dead!
I barely managed to draw my blade before she had closed the distance. She held two short swords, about eleven-inches long. They were of some straight bladed style I didn’t recognize.
Our blades met with a crashing sound. The clang of metal-on-metal made my ears ring. I braced my second hand on my blade, as she pressed against my blade, trying to overpower me. Her raw strength nearly winning out in the struggle. I swore in tangent to myself.
“This is where you die, daughter of Lilith!”
My spine froze over at the name she used for my mother.
Twenty-One:
Lunge, thrust, slash, parry, repeat.
Danced around me with the lightning grace of a French dancer, except she was using a modified style of ancient fencing techniques with her short blades. It was all I could do, just to stay one step ahead of her lightning thrusts and slashes.
She was a dancer, and a deadly one. Her magic swirled around, and her energy burst into red torrents of power. I rolled past the blasts, having seen it before, except mine were clumsier, more rudimentary.
‘You don’t have to beat her, just contain her until I arrive!’
My mother rushed into my head, her voice edged in a frantic tone. I was less than a minute into this bout, and already I felt the claws of death digging into my gut. I knew there was no way I could win! This woman before me had centuries of martial-arts practice. I was but a new -born before her practice.
She slashed, and she fired of several more volleys of red energy. One connected with my chest, I coughed in pain, and I shot back into the wall. My head rang, and my back burned in pain. I coughed, and I felt the rush of cold death towards me. I lashed out wildly, clipping her left forearm in passing.
She screamed in a savage thundering noise. I was pushed back into the wall, before I could raise my defense.
“Pitiful, there is no doubt about who you are, but you should have stayed under whatever rock you crawled out of. You are far too young to challenge me.”
She tsked at me, and she pranced forward. I staggered forward, and I raised my blade again.
How the hell do I hold her here?! I cannot contain this!
“You will die, but know this, I will find your mother, and all who have given you shelter. Your whole faction will finally burn! With it, the final sputtering flames of the druid will be snuffed out. Finally, our time will have arrived, our era!”
‘Stop trying to out think her! Just do what you do best, feel! My daughter does not rely on technique, or even on power! You have both! What you need, is heart! Fight with heart! She will kill you, and she will throw your Rachelle to her brothers, who will ravage her for all eternity! Is that the future you wish for your beloved?! For the last living druid?!’
I bellowed out a savage cry. I dropped my sword, and I rushed into the other girl like a linebacker to a running-back! One of her blades jammed into my right shoulder, and her other clattered a few feet away. I smashed my fist into her perfect lips, satisfied with the due splits that showed up in their wake. I pounded, and I pounded. I growled like an animal.
She shot magic from her fingers, and I was knocked back. She rushed for her second blade, and I recovered in time to kick it further from her grasp. She pulled the other out of my shoulder and I grunted in pain. She thrusted for my chest, but I grabbed her hand. I struggled with her strength, and my injury.
Off in the distance I heard gunfire and roars, feral battle cries of an apex cat. I heard shouts, and screeching sounds. The ghouls! They were dying!
“You did this!”
I snarled at the disgusting blonde. She sneered in a feral grin through her busted lips.
“They served their purpose for now! We can always make more.”
Her voice was cold, devoid of humanity.
“You are not the same as me! You’re a damn monster!”
Her blue eyes flashed with magic, but I surged, catching her magic this time, ready for her volley. I pushed out with my magic, no thought, just raw white energy. As our hands tussled and fought for control of the blade, our energy’s twined around and around, colliding, fighting for dominance.
I didn’t think, I reared back my head, and I smashed my forehead into her nose, and I pushed forward with all my might. I let loose a battle cry, and I pushed. I felt hot on my hands, and I felt energy all around me. Then, I felt her. Her life laid bare before me. I pulled, sealing my lips to hers as I had with the vampire two-months-ago.
I sucked, drinking in her life-essence, her power.
‘Melony, stop, we need her alive!’
I felt like a wall slammed back into place, even if a little hesitant, I forced myself to stop draining her. Even though her essence tasted so tantalizing, I willed my body to listen to me! I dropped her to the floor, and I pulled the blade from my gut. The wound would have healed while I was draining her, but I hadn’t had the presence of mind to remove the blade—or to even register its presence in my body.
I staggered to her, holding my hand to my gut. She grinned up at me through a bloody mouth, pleased with the damage she had inflicted.
“You’re weak, just like your mother. That’s why she always loses!”
“Shut up and go to sleep!”
I kicked her temple, and she crumpled into a ball blonde bimbo. I sank back against the wall. I felt something grabbing me. I looked over, and I saw a pair of ghouls helping me sit down.
“Master needs feed! Master needs feed!”
“I get scary sword-lady to come this way!”
“That smart idea?”
“Donno, either that, or I play with big kitty cat again. Me no like kitty. She mean, bad, bad kitty!”
That was the last thing I heard as the world went dark for the second time today.
***
“Get that damn thing away from her!”
“Help master, help master with cloth! Mean kitty, help master!”
“Stop calling me that!”
I heard Lyra’s growling voice as I felt my world coming back into focus. I looked up, and I was staring into the beady red eyes of the same ghoul from before. His twisted features made a smile, if not a creepy one!
“Mean sword-lady, master’s awake!”
“See, you leave me at home for one day, and you all come back with interesting new names, and a pet!”
I heard Jaden’s faux-sulk.
“For the last time, I am not letting her keep that damn thing!”
“Tell that to her, look, it thinks she’s his momma, or something equally disturbing!”
Jaden teased Lyra lightly.
“Mel! You’re awake!”
I looked up, into the honey and light brown of my love. She rushed to me, and she kissed my lips fiercely. I kissed her back weakly.
“Hey, what happened? Where is that blonde bitch?”
“Pretty queen is with master’s mom!”
The ghoul answered from over Rachelle’s shoulder. I flickered my gaze to it, and I arched a brow in question.
“How did you find me?”
Rachelle caressed my cheek with her palm, and I closed my eyes against the gentle affection of her touch. She was like a brook of cool water, soothing, and refreshing.
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“My mom? Where is she?”
I popped up, and Rachelle tried to slow me down.
“Easy there, tiger! She’s not going anywhere! She’s here to stay. She’s been poking around the Succubus Houses for a few decades now. She has been trying to gleam some more information on what they have planned, and how to get to Ophelia, that is the one that you beat-up’s mother. Her name is Sabrina Delacroix, by the way. Her mother is the head of the very snake that Kimiko has been fighting against!”
“Delacroix, their house is based in New York. Everyone knows of them! They are like the runway models of the succubus world!”
I said in exclamation. Lyra and Rachelle nodded in confirmation.
“Yeah, well they have their claws in a lot of cookie jars.”
The ghoul nodded in agreement, as if he was following everything they were saying.
“What’s happening? The humans?”
Ellison walked into view, his biggest winning smile in place.
“They are satiated for the time being. We have kept quiet about the succubus involvement, and about our prisoner, but they will soon figure out that we are onto them. It’s still a PR nightmare, but we managed to spin with the best of them. Your detective Sam helped a lot with that. He went on national television and spoke of the details of our joint-investigation.”
I looked up at him, realizing something new.
“What happened to the other ghouls?”
Ellison looked away for a moment, I could tell what that meant.
“They were innocent. They were being manipulated by that Succubus.”
My eyes misted up and Rachelle stroked her hand through my hair.
“It was hard enough getting these two past the parameter that the humans set up. It was a damn killing field once they got those S.W.A.T. guys down there.”
That was Rachelle, she sounded annoyed at having saved the two of them.
“They saved me, twice. They helped me when the others were going to kill me.”