“Mostly modeling makeup,” Irina said. “Brenna had one for shampoo, and Rebecca had one offer to do dish soap commercials. He thought she had pretty hands.”
~~~
Chapter 2-4
The more you love, the more you can love--and the more intensely you love. Nor is there any limit on how many you can love. If a person had time enough, he could love all of the majority who are decent and just. - Robert A. Heinlein
When they arrived back at the estate, Brenna sent a spear thought, Collin, where are you?
In your room.
Our room. I’ll be up in a few minutes.
She walked into her room and began taking off her clothes while emitting bursts of pheromones, saturating the air. “Strip, Doyle, I have something for you.”
Grinning, he did as he was told, and watched as she walked nude toward him.
“I’m yours, your play toy. Do with me what you wish.” She smiled, “It’s my penance for leaving you alone. Want to play?”
Merging their minds, he fondled, licked, and played with her body, pleasured her, and had her pleasure him. As the night progressed, they changed positions several times, being careful to control his climax. By midnight, both were thoroughly frustrated, exhausted and unsatisfied.
~~~
Cindy Nelson, recuperating from her abduction and torture at the hands of a succubus-hating telepath, had been moved from DC to the estate while Brenna was in New York.
Brenna talked to Cindy about the problem, but came away without any answers. Cindy mirrored her frustration, saying that was the major reason she and Seamus didn’t live together and she spent so much time in Washington. “Brenna, it’s just too hard when you’re together all the time. You want him, he wants you, and you can’t consummate the act. You have to watch what you’re doing all the time, and you can’t just enjoy each other.”
Brenna mentioned a book Rebecca had found in the Clan library, The Succubus Gift, but Cindy didn’t read sixteenth century Gaelic. “You should ask Siobhan. She’ll be coming for Thanksgiving.”
That night, Brenna’s frustration reached a peak. She made the mistake of giving Collin too large a pheromone dose, and both of them failed to monitor his excitement level. Brenna wanted him so badly, wanted to lose herself in their lovemaking, and she did. She was in the middle of an orgasm when she reached farther into him, deeper in his mind than she had ever gone, and touched his soul. His reaction was immediate, reaching out for her, and their souls merged.
Their souls became one, resonating with the same energy. Her orgasm grew, her pleasure soaring, and she took him along with her. It was impossible for either of them to separate from the other. The world went away, and only BrennaCollin, CollinBrenna existed. In that maelstrom of wonder, pleasure and sensation, of becoming one person, he climaxed, triggering her again in the middle of the orgasm she was already riding. His energy flowed into her, the Glow starting to grow.
No! No, damn it! Not yet! Not now! The most wonderful feeling either of them had ever had, their love merging them into one person, and she was ruining it, ending it when it had so much farther to soar.
Frantically, she began trying to push his energy away, feed it back to him, anything to keep from draining him. She felt him begin to slump and fade away from her. Reaching into that place in her mind where his energy flowed into her, where the Glow originated, she tried to block it. She touched something in that place, and suddenly the energy flow changed. It still flowed into her, changed into the glowing energy that fed a succubus’ need, but then it flowed back out of her into him and he held it.
He stopped fading and strengthened, the bond between them held, their souls stayed together as one, and watching his face she saw his eyes clear and take on a quality like her Glow. Pulling his face back from her, he rose to his knees, lifting her off the bed into his arms. She wrapped her legs around him and felt him drive into her with new power. Their lips met and their souls merged completely. They stopped being two separate people, instead becoming one soul bonded in love. She knew they truly belonged together. They would always be together.
Neither knew how long that merge lasted. Lying next to each other, she opened her eyes, and a moment later he opened his.
“What did you do? My God, that was incredible, and I’m still awake.”
“I, I’m not sure. Are you okay? Do you … I mean, are you …”
“I feel better than I ever have in my life. I’m a little tired, but I’m not drained. What happened?”
“I didn’t want you to go. I, I think we merged our souls. Is that possible?”
“Yes, but if they don’t resonate, if they’re on different frequencies, they push back apart.”
“They didn’t push apart.”
He smiled, “No they didn’t. Brenna, the term ‘soul mate’ originated with telepaths. It’s said a person may have more than one soul mate in their life, but only death can separate you.”
She smiled, a bit shakily, “So now I have to kill you if I want to get rid of you?”
“Afraid so.”
“Oh good,” she snuggled even closer to him, nestling her head against his chest, “that would be so much more satisfying than just giving you a ring back or something.”
He laughed. “Seriously, what did you do? Will it work again? Do we have to merge our souls for it to work?”
“I don’t know. I just touched a place in my mind, the place where your energy is turned into my Glow, and it was like throwing a light switch. The energy flowed into me, through me and back into you.”
After a while, they made love again. Without the pent-up sexual frustration, it was slow, gentle, languid, and extremely satisfying. She pleasured him with her muscles, and he teased her with slow, deep strokes that gave her a sense of warmth and well-being. They merged their souls, reveling in the joy of finding someone that not just fit but completed their beings. His climax began to build and she encouraged him, their merged minds building each other’s pleasure. When he finally spilled in her, she flipped the switch as her orgasm triggered. They took each other soaring again, lost in each other, lost in their pleasure. His energy flowed into her, changed, and flowed back into him.
She fell asleep with her head resting on his shoulder, feeling his hand stroking her hair. She had never felt happier or more satisfied in her life.
~~~
Collin awoke in the morning to some very pleasurable sensations. Something warm, soft, and heavy was bouncing on his hips, and a part of him in that same region was very warm, wet and happy. Opening his eyes, he saw Brenna staring down at him.
“Do you know what I’m doing?” she asked in a very cheery voice.
“Uh, well, I could take a guess,” he replied sleepily.
“I’m having morning sex. Isn’t that wonderful?” Her cheerfulness grated on his nerves.
“Sure, I guess so.”
“Smug boy. It’s probably old hat to you, but I’ve never had morning sex, not with the same guy I had evening sex with.”
“Oh.” He suddenly realized why she was so happy.
“Collin, I was thinking, I don’t think we have to do a soul merge for it to work. I think I know how to do it anytime. But,” she leaned forward and kissed him, “if I’m wrong, you’ll still wake up in time to carve the turkey.”
She began moving faster, her muscles rippling over him, driving him deep within her.
“Well, you’re going to find out pretty quickly if you keep that up.”
Their minds merged and she felt his passion build. He spilled inside her. As his climax triggered her orgasm, she tripped the switch in her mind. Grinding down on him, body upright, she arched her back and thrust her beautiful breasts forward, a beatific look on her face. He watched in awe as she shook in the throes of her pleasure. Her internal muscles rippled over him, pleasuring him far beyond anything he’d ever known. He realized he’d never seen her in this state, her Glow building and her entire being becoming radiant. The familiar drain of
his energy started, but then it flowed back into him, changed and glowing.
When her orgasm had spent its force, she fell forward, her hands on either side of his head and her hair falling like a black shower around them.
“Do you always come that hard?” he asked.
“Only when a man comes inside me,” she panted. “It’s completely different than an orgasm you give me other ways. I might come several times before you do, but the last one is mind shattering.”
She clenched him tight, her muscles working. With a burst of pheromones, massaging him with her muscles, he felt himself growing harder again.
“You’re going to kill me,” he gasped.
The predatory smile on her face was almost frightening. “Maybe, but you’ll die happy.”
He couldn’t argue with that, and when she began to move again, he discovered he didn’t care. He made it into the office two hours late with a huge smile on his face.
~~~
Cindy had told Brenna she was spending two hours each morning with Elsie Cavanaugh, the Clan’s senior healer, and two hours each afternoon with Dorothy, Elsie’s daughter. The healers used their Gift to speed her healing. Elsie was two hundred five years old and incredibly cantankerous. Brenna had been studying with her for three months.
Bursting into Cindy’s room, she found Elsie deep in a healing trance. “Cindy, guess what? Oh, sorry.”
Elsie opened her eyes and fixed her with a glare. “My, my, it’s the succubus. Finished gallivanting off to New York? Well, it’s good you’re back. I can use you. I don’t have the energy I need to do this properly, and I see you’re glowing. Sit down and let me have some of that extra energy.”
“Uh, I can help, but I don’t really have any extra right now.” She sat down, merged her mind with Elsie’s, and began helping her strengthen Cindy’s bones.
Elsie gave her a look of disgust. “Bah, you don’t. Why not?”
“That’s what I came to tell Cindy, I found a way to have sex without draining the man.”
Cindy’s eyes shot wide open and she tried to sit up. Elsie pushed her back down.
“That doesn’t do me any good. What we’re doing is very draining. If we had more energy we could help her heal faster. That’s one of the reasons succubi make the best healers. Your mother was one of the strongest healers I’ve ever seen. Go out and drain a few men and she could really make a difference on an injury like this.” She shook her head. “I’m only a half. I take a man and all it does is balance me.”
“Half of what Elsie?” Brenna asked, puzzled. Cindy went very still on the bed at Elsie’s words.
“Half a succubus, what do you think I’m talking about? Pay attention, girl. Well, nothing to be done for it this morning, but I want you in here tomorrow, ten o’clock sharp, and I want you to have a full Glow on. The more the better. Every day, you hear me? We need to get her up out of this bed, and the only way we’re going to do it is to accelerate healing those bones.”
She got up and tottered to the door.
“Elsie, what do you mean that taking a man restores your balance? What balance?” Cindy asked.
“I told you, I’m a half. My energy balances get all out of whack, since I can’t store energy the way you can. I take a man and restore the balance, but I can’t keep in balance. My dam was the same way. Had a sister, she was a succubus. You’re lucky, you two. It’s hell being a half.” With that, she shuffled out the door.
Brenna turned to Cindy, seeing a wide-eyed startlement on her face that matched her own feelings. “Rebecca,” they said in unison.
“I wonder if all the carriers have the same problem,” Brenna mused. “Collin, for instance. You don’t suppose …”
“… that’s why he can’t keep it in his pants?” Cindy finished. “Oh, my God, that would explain so much. Both my parents were carriers.”
“When we were in New York, Siobhan asked Rebecca if she was a half. I’d never heard the term before,” Brenna said.
A thought, a memory, flitted through Brenna’s mind. She sat down and chased it. When did she learn … then she had it. Genetic diseases, a course she took at the medical school.
“Cindy, Callie has it all wrong. The succubus gene isn’t a sex-linked recessive, it’s a sex-linked dominant.” Brenna said.
Cindy looked puzzled.
“Hang on a second, let me get Callie up here. She’s the expert. I’ve just had a few courses in genetics.”
Callie, unless the business is on fire, can you come up to Cindy’s room. We just learned something very startling from Elsie. Brenna sent on a spear thread.
On my way.
When she arrived, Brenna told her what Elsie had said, and Cindy told her about her parents and the conversation she’d once had with Rebecca.
“When we ran that operation where Rebecca played a succubus, I was trying to gage her lust levels, you know, trying to figure out if she could really project enough to simulate what we do with our pheromones. She told me that she has to have sex once or twice a day. Has to. Otherwise, she said her mind starts to fog and she gets so distracted she can’t think of anything else. She said all the Protectors know, and they were kind enough to help her out when she needed it.”
Cindy shook her head. “Can you imagine? A beautiful young woman like that saying men are kind enough to have sex with her when she needs it? It blew my mind. But it also made me flash to my parents. Both of them would go nuts if they were celibate for more than a day.”
“Maureen once told me her parents were that way. I’d forgotten until just now. But they’re both carriers, too,” Callie said.
“Too much information, Callie,” Brenna said, shaking her head. She didn’t even want to think of her grandparents having sex. “What I don’t understand, is why didn’t you recognize this before?”
Pursing her mouth and shaking her head, Callie said, “The genes have been lost in this country. Think about it. All the succubi in Clan O’Donnell were born in Ireland. We obviously have some carriers here, but no succubi have been born in the U.S. O’Byrne and O’Neill have at least a dozen each, and there are a lot outside the Clans in Ireland and Britain. The genes are also rare in Europe, where the Inquisition was strongest.”
Callie took a deep breath and looked away, her eyes unfocused. “I should call your grandmother O’Byrne. We’re probably reinventing the wheel.”
“Callie, when I took a genetic diseases class, they made a clear distinction between recessives and dominants,” Brenna said. “For a recessive-caused condition, you have to have both genes for the condition to manifest, right?” Callie nodded. “But some conditions are caused by dominants. And if you get both sides of a dominant pair, the condition is much more severe.”
She saw the light come on for Callie. “What you’re saying is the succubus gene is a dominant. The people with one gene manifest the Gifts associated with the gene complex. But if you have two copies of the gene, the manifestation is far more severe, in other words, you get a succubus.”
“Exactly. Elsie said that her energies get unbalanced, and since she can’t store the energy like we can, having sex only corrects the imbalance, but she can’t keep it in balance. Our ability to manipulate energies, shifting them where we will, keeps us from getting out of balance in the first place. It explains why Rebecca and Collin become increasingly agitated and distracted the longer they spend between sexual activity.”
Brenna thought for a moment, then said, “That would also explain why we have much stronger energy Gifts. My ability to drain and project energy is much stronger than Rebecca’s and I know hers is stronger than Dorothy’s.
“Okay, I buy it as a working hypothesis, but what good, other than as an interesting fact, does it do for us?”
Cindy answered, “It might do a lot for the people who have the condition, psychologically, if nothing else. Callie, I don’t think you realize how much of an impact it makes on these people. They can’t control their behavior, behavior that’s considered
sinful, outrageous, even disgusting by society at large. They hide, they’re ashamed, they think they have some kind of moral failing.
“In our society, succubi are treated mostly with respect. But the poor women who only have half the Gift are treated with derision and disgust. Siobhan and I might joke about being genetic sluts, but we know how much we gain from our condition. Poor Rebecca really is a genetic slut, and she gets nothing out of it except shame. She feels she has to hide what she does.”
Callie stood, “I wonder how many we have? I need to check my database.”
“Hold it,” Cindy commanded. “I’m sympathetic to Rebecca, but Brenna came in saying something that is life-altering for me. What was that about sex without the Drain? Controlling that’s the ultimate dream of every succubus. If I could do that, I’d be able to have a real relationship with Seamus.” The look in her eyes was that of a hungry tiger.
Callie sat back down.
“Well, Collin and I had sex last night,” Brenna’s eyes took on a far-away, dreamy look, “and we merged our souls, it was so beautiful.”
Callie jerked as if she’d been slapped, staring at Brenna.
“That’s nice. Get to the good part,” Cindy said.
“Then we had sex again, and a third time. This morning we did it three times again.”
“When you say sex …?”
“Sex. He came inside me, the energy drain started, and then his energies flowed back to him.”
“You drained him, and then fed him back his energy? I’ve tried that, it doesn’t work.”
“No, not like that. You know the place where their energy goes and is transformed into the Glow? There’s a switch there you can flip. The energy flows through you and then back into him. I’m not pushing it, it’s automatic, and he’s able to hold it.”
“Show me.”
Brenna opened her mind and attempted to show Cindy the switch, but it wasn’t there. “Cindy, I’m not making this up. Ask Collin. He even glows a bit. He says the energy coming back into him is changed.”
Cindy was quiet for a couple of minutes, obviously listening to something mentally. “Well, he’s telling me the same story you are, so either this is the cruelest joke you could dream up, or you stumbled onto, well, something.” She sneered, “Or you’re both delusional, something I’m not going to entirely discount.” The sneer faded into a sad expression.
The Telepathic Clans Omnibus Page 31