by D. Levesque
Without warning, I feel pain in my temple and backside, but this time I had expected it, so I had clenched my teeth in anticipation. Once it’s gone, I am left panting. Fuck me. I hope this gets easier. How the hell did the Elveesians handle pain like this? I know that with my Werewolf form, it’s not as painful when I transform. Maybe your body gets used to it? Or your mind blocks the pain?
“Trust me, it gets easier,” Roger says, as if reading my mind.
“I thought you couldn’t remember your Master?” I ask him, gulping down a breath.
“I don’t, but I do remember some things, and I know that they were able to change instantly and without pain.”
“They? You can’t remember if it was male or female?” I ask him, trying to get as much information about the Elveesians out of him as I can.
“Hmm, that’s another thing I can’t remember. Details like gender, or even how they looked elude me. But certain things I can remember. I’m not sure why they did it that way and didn’t just do a complete mind wipe.”
“Fuck, I can’t believe they even had the ability to do that,” I tell him. “Did it hurt?”
“Not really, they just put their hand on your head, and you forget.”
“Man, that sounds like an awesome skill to have. Though, not sure I would want to be on the receiving end of it. I figure they made you forget them since they were about to ascend.”
“What?” Roger asks me in shock.
“Ascend. The Elveesian I spoke to said they tried to get rid of as much information about themselves as possible, but they didn’t do a perfect job, which is part of the reason I am around. But that’s another story for another time. Let’s get in. It’s just past 5 PM, so they should be serving supper soon.”
“Supper,” Roger says, and I can almost hear the drooling in his voice. “As in actual food?”
“Yes, but I thought you said you were good for food?” I ask him.
“Now, now, let's not be hasty. I mean, I don’t have an unlimited supply, and well, I don’t know if my food unit will ever break down,” he says. Yep, drooling.
“Oh, has it ever broken down in the millions of years you have used it? I assume it’s been millions of years?” I ask him with a smile.
“Well, no. But one can never be too careful,” he says, and now I can almost hear the begging in Roger’s voice.
Laughing at him, I say, “Don’t worry, I will get you some. Not sure how I will get it to you through your ball.”
“Just place the food out, and I can transport it from outside my walls to inside with me,” he says happily.
From out of nowhere I am blocking a punch to my face, and I am now defending myself. I bring up my arm and block another punch, but quickly lower it to block a kick that comes right after. I continue to defend myself, and the punches and kicks are coming in so fast that I can barely keep up, but I notice that I am blocking them with ease compared to yesterday’s fighting. And I am not even breathing hard, whereas she is. Suddenly, I hear Johanne yell, “Break!”
“What did you do, Brandon?” she says accusingly, panting hard.
“What makes you think I did something?” I ask her innocently, causing her to glare at me even harder.
“Brandon, you did something. You are blocking me like I am a child, whereas yesterday I almost kicked your ass. And you aren’t even breathing hard.” That’s when she sees Roger. Suddenly out of nowhere, she produces a handgun and starts to shoot at him. The bullets fly off him harmlessly with loud pings, but he doesn’t move at all.
“Brandon, there is something behind you, get behind me,” she yells, emptying the clip of her handgun and refilling it faster than she has ever done, even in training.
I hold up my hands quickly and yell, “It’s all right! It’s with me, or he is with me,” I tell her.
She looks at him suspiciously before looking at me again and saying slowly, “Brandon, what the fuck did you do?”
“Yeah. I might have. Hmm. Become an Incubus,” I tell her awkwardly.
She slowly lowers her weapon and stares at me in open-mouthed shock. “Brandon, your mom is going to kill you!” she says.
“Yeah, well, I hope not, as I was abou−,” I begin to say, but suddenly I feel a body against my back.
“Hello, Brandon,” says a sultry voice, before she bites my neck. The teeth withdraw, and I feel a tongue licking at my blood. Just as quickly as she arrived, Lina jumps off of my back and is standing next to Johanne.
“I came to see what was going on with those gunshots and saw you, Brandon. But you're not Brandon!” she says accusingly and suspiciously. “You taste different. Who are you?”
Sighing, I am about to tell her that I am Brandon, but then who walks over to us, but my mother, Trent, and Silvana.
“What is going on here, Brandon,” my mother says, in a disapproving voice. “You scared the staff. Explain yourself!”
“That’s not Brandon,” Lina says, pointing a finger at me.
My mother looks at me and then back at Lina and says sharply, “Explain.”
“He tastes different from the first time I bit him,” she says in anger.
Suddenly, Trent has a gun out and is pointing it at me, and my mother is staring at me dangerously. Then I hear chanting.
“Mat je la trua meio jalabri ka.”
Around me, a blue circle flares to life. I know the only reason I can see it is because I can do magic as well. Silvana had just cast a Circle of Protection around me. And while the name implies protection, it’s a two-edged sword. It’s meant to keep me inside until she releases it.
“Who are you?” my mother says in a very dangerous voice I have never heard her use before. “What have you done to Brandon?” Shit, is my mom angry because she thinks something happened to me? Damn I can almost feel her eyes piercing me.
“It’s me, mom,” I tell her with a sigh. “I might have, hmm, already turned into an Incubus, which is probably why to Lina, I taste different. I am closer now to being an”- I was about to say Elveesian, but I’m not supposed to give that information away. “I am becoming closer to, I guess, those progenitor things,” I finish lamely.
“You did what?” my mother says calmly. Oh shit, yeah, she is angry as fuck.
“It’s not that I meant to!” I tell her quickly. “It just sort of happened. I was meditating,” which is kind of true, I think to myself, “and I was thinking of ways to bring it out for later on, and well. It kind of happened.”
“I can vouch for that,” Roger blurts out.
My mother looks at Roger like it’s nothing at all to see a black metal ball floating in the air.
“And you are?” my mother says, just as calmly as she had spoken to me.
“Hmm, I'm. Hmm, Roger?” he says timidly. Shit, she got to you too, didn’t she buddy? I get it. I grew up with her.
“Well Roger, what are you?” she asks him.
Careful here, Roger, I think in my head. “I am something that Brandon conjured up, as he is now an Incubus.” Thank God he remembered the story we decided to go with.
My mother doesn’t say anything. She simply stares at Roger floating in the air for a good minute, while no one else moves or says a word, before she turns to me again. “Silvana, cast the Circle around this Roger thing and around him once more,” she says, pointing at me.
“Mat je la trua meio jalabri ka.”
“Mat je la trua meio jalabri ka.”
Instantly, there is a blue circle around Roger and a larger circle around me. Roger tries to get out but bounces back as if hitting an invisible wall. He tries once more,with the same results. Suddenly I hear his voice in my right ear.
“Don’t worry, I can get out, but I want it to look dramatic,” he says with a grin in his voice.
Jesus, really Roger, I think to myself. I am about to roll my eyes, but I catch myself before I do. My mother is still looking at me. She steps closer, but Trent puts a hand on her shoulder. She stares at him, and he removes his hand quick
ly.
“Sorry, Madam,” he says, embarrassed.
She turns back to me and takes two steps closer. “So you say that you succeeded in transforming into an Incubus?” she says.
“Yes, I did,” I tell her, nodding.
“You don’t look different.”
“That’s because it’s like a Werewolf form. I can change it at will,” I tell her quietly. Everyone is listening intently to what I am saying.
“I am almost afraid to ask you to transform. Lina, you said he tasted different. How?” my mother asks her, not taking her eyes away from me.
“He tasted, I don’t know how to say it. More powerful, more ancient. Not ancient, like an old man. But powerful ancient. Like the difference between an old building, and an old temple. Also, the vitality in just a few drops of his blood will feed me for months,” she says.
My mother turns to her sharply at that last comment. “Months? Not weeks?” she asks her in astonishment.
I know that when Lina used to feed on someone's blood, it was their vitality she would feed on. It would slowly return to a victim, but after most feedings she would be good for maybe two or three weeks, she said, based on the age of the person she fed on. But she is saying that with me and that little bit of blood she took, she was good for months? That’s nuts!
“You are sure?” my mother asks her, now sounding uncertain.
“Yup, I am sure,” she says, looking at me and licking her lips sensually.
My mother turns back to me and says, “I want you to show us. But Brandon, if you try anything, I have marksmen with their sights on you hidden in the area. You understand what that means?”
“Yeah, don’t try to seduce my mother, or I will get a shot in the head,” I tell her with a laugh.
“As long as we are on the same page,” she says, not smiling or laughing herself. Oh shit, she wasn’t kidding!
“Got it,” I tell her, nodding. “Shit, this is going to hurt again,” I say out loud to no one in particular.
Sitting down with the blue circle surrounding me, I close my eyes and pull the power from my pool, bringing out the Incubus in me. As before, I feel pain in my lower back where the tail emerges, and in my temples. By the time I am done with the transformation, I am panting hard. Again. Fuck, I hope this gets better and easier with time.
Shaking my head, I open my eyes and stand up. Looking around, I see everyone staring at me in astonishment, and, looking at Lina, in hunger. Figures she would be attracted to this form, I think with a chuckle.
“So, this is my Incubus form,” I tell my mom, looking down at her.
“Well, yes. I can see that,” my mother says, blushing. Shit, just being around her is affecting her? I look at Johanne and Silvana, and they are both looking at me now with hunger in their eyes as well. Looking at Trent, he is simply staring at me in open-mouthed wonder. Deciding it might not be a good idea to stay in this form with my mom around, I sit back down and transform back into my normal human shape. Once the pain has subsided, I open my eyes and stand up again.
“Sorry about that,” I tell my mother, coughing to hide my embarrassment.
“No,” she starts and coughs as well. “No, I asked you to bring it out.”
“Now, do you believe me I am still Brandon?” I ask her.
“Yes. Silvana, you can cancel the spell around Brandon, only. Please,” she says to Silvana. Suddenly the circle around me is gone.
“You aren’t going to take it off Roger?” I ask my mother.
“I have no idea what he is. Care to elaborate?” she asks me.
“Hmm, as an Incubus, I am able to call him up. He is like a sidekick. He has a mind of his own. Hmm, he is a ball that floats?” I tell her, lamely.
“So if you called him up, you can cancel him away and call him back again?” she says with an arched eyebrow.
“Don’t worry, just tell me to go away and I will disappear to them, and also the same when you want me. Just call my name, got it?” Roger says in my right ear.
Nodding at his suggestion, but in a way to my mother too, I say, “Yes, I can do that.”
“Roger,” I say, looking over at him. “Leave us,” I tell him commandingly.
Suddenly everyone around me gasps in wonder. I guess the augment that he gave me makes it so I can still see him, but there is a haze around him making him invisible to everyone else. My mother looks at Silvana and nods. The circle that was around Roger disappears. My mother walks over to where Roger is floating and waves her hand. I expect her hand to smack into him, but her hand goes right through him.
“Don’t worry. I am in a different phase of existence. She can’t touch me,” Roger says in my ear.
My mother walks back to me. “Now call up this so-called Roger of yours,” she says.
“Roger, come back to me,” I say in a commanding voice again.
“You called, Master?” he says, appearing next to me.
“I did. Thank you for coming,” I tell him. My mother looks at me suspiciously. Shit, is she catching on?
“So he can’t do anything?” she asks.
“Oh, he can do stuff,” I tell her slowly.
“Tell her I can smash a tree,” he blurts in my ear.
“Like he can smash a tree. Roger, go smash that tree there?” I say to him, my words almost coming out as a question, pointing to a tree that’s about ten feet in front of us.
“Yes, Master,” he says. Suddenly the black metal ball streaks towards the tree, and there is a loud explosion as the tree literally disintegrates where he hits it He punched right through the damn thing, and it must have been a foot or two thick!
“Holy fuck!” I say, my mother’s voice echoing my outburst.
4
We all stare at the tree in shock before turning to stare at Roger in shock. He slowly floats back to hover next to me and I quickly wipe the expression off my face before my mom sees it, so that I don’t look guilty of something. Like, oh, I don’t know, not knowing what Roger is capable of?
“So, he is a ballistic missile,” Johanne says incredulously.
“Correct,” Roger says to her. “Though, that was pretty extreme. I can also knock someone unconscious, or I can break down doors. I can spy on people, as they cannot see or hear me, but I can let Brandon, I mean, Master, know what I see and hear.”
“And this is something all Incubi have?” my mother asks him, unsure.
“Oh yes, we are all the rage,” he says. Shit, careful, don’t piss my mother off, I think to him. “I mean,” he says quickly, “We are a tool at their disposal.”
“And only an Incubus can summon you?” she asks him pointedly.
“Yes, and as there is only one Incubus on this planet, actually in this galaxy right now, your son would be the only one capable.”
“How come the stories I have heard about Incubi never mentioned them having a metal ball at their disposal?” my mother asks him skeptically.
“Because the last time I was around was well over 100,000 years ago,” he tells her. “I was around when the last Incubus summoned me,” he says. Damn, Roger is a good bullshitter. “It does not surprise me that the details surrounding them are obscure and dated.”
My mother looks at him without saying anything. Come on, mom, just buy into it, please!
“You might be right. Well, I assume you are here to protect Brandon?” she asks him.
“Yes I am, but he is still more powerful than me,” he says. Bullshit, you almost caved my head in Roger, I think to myself. You are the one who can kill me. I am one hundred percent sure about that.
“Well, that changes our plans considerably,” my mother says musingly.
“How so?” I ask her.
She turns to me and simply eyes me for a couple of seconds before she answers. “I had not planned to go after our first target until a week’s time had passed. But this might make it easier since they will have less time to gain strength. And that Incubus thing might come in handy,” she says.
&nb
sp; “Oh, how come?”
“Your target is a female,” she says.
“What?” I ask her in surprise.
“Don’t worry. You won’t be bringing her back. She is to be killed. She has the essence of the Void in her,” she says with disgust.
“How do you know she has the Void in her?”
She turns over to Silvana. “You have taught him how to see auras?” she asks her.
“Yes, I have,” she tells my mother, nodding.
“That is how. We had someone who could get close to her and they saw the black aura around her,” she says, turning back to me.
Sighing, she turns towards camp. “Follow me, Brandon, and I guess your ball.”
“Roger,” Roger says.
“And Roger,” she says, looking at him askew. “I need to plan now. Trent, please get on the phone and cancel the extra ‘protection’ we had for Brandon. Also, get the daggers from my car.”
“Yes, right away,” Trent says, taking a cell phone out of his pocket and running up ahead with the phone to his ear.
“Daggers? You got them done already in three weeks?” I ask her, surprised.
“Yes, except the engraving of them. I assume Silvana had you practice what you need to engrave on them?” she says, turning back to me.
“Yes, I got to practice on clay tablets until I had them right, but without pushing any magic into them. But I still have no clue what they are supposed to do.”
Once we get to the cabins, we enter the one with our rooms in them. My mother goes right to the table where her assistants are standing. One of them pulls a pile of paper out of her bag and drops it on the table.
“This is the intel we have so far. Your target is someone by the name of Melissa Newborn. She is─.”
“Wait, THE Melissa Newborn? The singer? Like the Emmy award-winning singer?” I ask her, incredulous.
My mother doesn’t answer me but rifles through the papers until she finds a photo and shows it to me. On it is a young-looking woman, about 30 years old. Long blond hair. Yep, fuck me, it’s Melissa Newborn!
“That’s my target?” I say again in disbelief.
“Yes, is that a problem?” she asks me.