“I still do not like the way this feels.”
“Well, there isn’t anything left.”
Al’bah slowly reached out and started to caress Cain’s shirt. She leaned in, placing her cheek against his chest and bundling the cloth to her nose, inhaling deeply. She sighed, letting out her breath in a strange vocalization, and eased back, biting her lower lip and looking up at him with pleading eyes.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. Why didn’t you say so before?”
“These will do.” Al’bah sighed, hugging herself with a large smile on her face as Cain quickly put on a new outfit.
“What is this?”
Cain looked up; Al’bah was holding silky red lingerie. But before he could say anything, she started to smell the swatch of cloth. What Cain saw next froze him with alarm. Al’bah’s teeth grew into fangs and her eyes burned yellow, much like Taint’s eyes did. Her hand closed tightly on the lingerie, and even from where he was standing, Cain could tell the force behind her grip was superhuman.
“Wait!” he said, raising his hands, feeling the air around him change. The pleasant scent that he associated with Al’bah suddenly filled him with a sickly sense of dread. Al’bah started to walk toward him, bringing her hand to her mouth. She exhaled slowly, and the underwear burst into a brilliant purple flame that lasted only an instant.
Cain backed out of his bedroom and slammed the door as fast as he could. His immediate first thought was to get his gun, when it dawned on him that the door remained closed; it didn’t take long to walk across his whole apartment, let alone his room.
“Al’bah?”
Al’bah’s voice drifted from behind the door space near the floor. “Let me out, Cain.”
He placed his face on the floor to look under the door and could see less than half of Al’bah’s face pressed on the floor looking at him. The look she had on her face was blank, dead of obvious emotion. Cain could see her eye, wide and still glowing yellow. Her lips were pulled into a thin line accented with sharp fangs that didn’t quite fit her mouth.
“Cain, why did you close the door? Let me out, please.”
“Why don’t you open it for yourself!” he spat.
Al’bah blinked and tried to reach her hand under the door. “I could. But I think it would be best if you did. I never had any intention of harming you, but I am not sure if you were aware of it.”
“What is wrong with you?” he shouted. “You weren’t even going to let me explain myself!”
Al’bah’s’ brow furrowed in confusion. “Of course I was!” Cain scoffed, and Al’bah seemed hurt. “I really was! But I need to touch you, to see your eyes.” Her hand reached his fingertips and became still. “I am hurt, I feel angry, but I will not hurt you.”
Swallowing hard, Cain got up and brought his hand halfway to the door handle. What am I doing?
Feeling as ready as he would ever be, he grabbed the handle and turned it slowly. As soon as he opened the door, Al’bah pounced on him, grabbing his shirt and wrapping her legs around his. Her wings beat the air and the walls of his apartment, and for one terrifying moment, Al’bah actually succeeded in getting his feet off the floor. Just as suddenly as it started, the moment was over. Al’bah’s wings became still, and they fell softly to the floor.
Cain started to struggle but stopped as he took a moment to take in what was happening. Al’bah was straddled across his torso with her wings fully unfurled. One hand was on his forehead, while the other was on his chest. Even though Al’bah was looking at him with a calm expression, Cain felt cold under her glowing yellow eyes and gleaming white fangs. “Get off of me, Al’bah,” he said softly. Much to his surprise, Al’bah did without hesitation and stood and waited for him to stand. Her breathing was rapid, as if exhausted.
“So, what was that?” she said between breaths. “A trophy of sorts from your conquests of lust?”
“No, it was just a pair of panties my ex-girlfriend forgot here.”
Al’bah stepped closer and placed her hands to either side of his face, her eyes almost too bright for him to look at. “And does this ‘ex-girlfriend’ share a Bond with your heart?” The light in her eyes intensified, making them painful to look into.
Cain felt a moment of cold indifference settle in his heart. Cynthia wanted to marry him, wanted him to love her. And as much as she wanted him to, Cain could not bring himself to feel the same way.
“No.”
Al’bah let go of his face, and her eyes, face, and teeth returned to normal. Her wings retracted into her body with a whispering swish, allowing her shirt to fall back into place. Cain stood in the hallway looking at Al’bah for several moments and felt his anger rise to the surface. “What the hell was that for?” he shouted at Al’bah, taking a few steps toward her. “Do you have any idea what was going through my head?”
Al’bah’s reaction was nothing short of a surprise. She tried to back up but tripped over her feet and fell hard on her bottom. “Ouch!” she yelped and held her arms up, crying out, “Cain, please! I did not mean to! I swear!”
Cain just couldn’t believe Al’bah’s contradictory behavior. One moment she looked ready to tear his head off, and now she was on her knees, grabbing onto his torso and crying into his shirt. “You give me one reason why I shouldn’t kick your ass out of my place. Law’s punishment be damned!” he said in a voice calmer than he expected.
“Cain, please!” Al’bah cried, rubbing her eyes. “I did not harm you! I startled you. I destroyed a piece of cloth that was from someone you have no feelings for. But I did not harm you!”
His anger subsided in confusion. She was right…but…the hell? He sighed, still tasting what he thought of as the “other side” of Al’bah’s scent, even as it was replaced by her more pleasing one. “You’re right,” he said, taking Al’bah’s hand to help her up, still marveling at his newly healed flesh. “I guess I forgot with you looking like that…what just happened, anyway?”
Al’bah rubbed her arms and looked at the floor near her left foot. “Cain, I was angry. I was jealous. Emotions can manifest in spiritual creatures, even more so when the emotions are negative. I experienced that moment you shared with her, and the feelings she had for you.” She sighed deeply. “I could not help it; I was jealous.”
“How could you even get all that from a piece of cloth?”
Al’bah raised an eyebrow, and half her mouth turned into a grin. “I am a Succubus. I can feel and smell the imprint of spiritual energy upon things. I can even consume spiritual energy if there is a need.”
“Spiritual energy? Does that mean you can see the past in people’s stuff?”
Al’bah shook her head. “Spiritual energy upon objects does not reveal what you call the past like a scholar but emotion, identity, and states of being like a poet. In essence, the fundamental identity of an individual! Why, even your clothes, bed, and shower—” Al’bah suddenly looked startled, like a person who just let a really important secret slip.
“My what? What about my clothes, bed, and shower?” Cain said as he stepped closer.
“I, um.” Al’bah’s face turned pink. “Well, through your clothing, I know these lands are not of your birthplace. I know you share much of your identity with another whom you have suffered with.” She shifted nervously and continued. “Though you have shared your bed and flesh with others, your signature, your energy, is one of unquenched loneliness, a desperation…a despair overpowering everything else.”
Cain noticed she didn’t mention the shower and gestured with his hand. “There’s something you’re not telling me. What is it?”
Al’bah slowly picked up Cain’s bloodstained shirt from the night before. “Cain,” she whispered, “were you really going to take your own life?”
A flash of ice ran though his body. Al’bah was now looking up at him with a peculiar expression. Her eyes were sad and yet carried the feel of accusation. “I wish I could answer that question, Al’bah,” Cain said in a whisper of his own. “
I could say ‘yes,’ ‘no,’ and even ‘I don’t know,’ and feel as though I wasn’t being truthful.”
Al’bah’s eyes softened as she nodded. “You express with words what I felt from this moment,” she said as she let go of the shirt. “A state of being. A sad one, but it is you.”
“So, uh, is that all you know?”
Al’bah tried to suppress a wide smile by looking away.
He didn’t like this at all. “Al’bah, what else do you know?” Cain said, feeling his impatience rise as Al’bah hid her smile behind her hand. Her body trembled obviously from laughter that was just under the surface. She picked up a shirt he hadn’t worn in a long time.
“Well, it is very funny,” she said as she brought the shirt to her face and inhaled deeply. “But when you were wearing this shirt, you—”
“You know what, I don’t think I want to know any more,” Cain said quickly as he walked up to the medium-sized safe he kept in his apartment. He quickly dialed in the combination and opened the door. “What?” he said, looking over his shoulder, as Al’bah had gasped.
“What is that?” Al’bah said, pointing.
“This? This is money.”
“Oh,” Al’bah replied quietly. “I have never seen money before, but I do know what it is.”
There was something strange about Al’bah’s expression, but Cain shrugged and quickly got together a money clip and a little extra in his wallet. “Yeah, I expect that I’m gonna need a lot.”
“Why?”
He looked at Al’bah for a few moments, trying to remind himself of her ignorance of…well, of almost every aspect of living as he knew it. “Are you kidding me? I don’t think any thrift store will have anything that will suit you. And brand-new women’s clothes are not cheap!” Cain closed the safe and spun the dial.
“Clothes, for me?”
“Of course. C’mon, let’s go,” he said as he turned to the door.
“Happy!” Al’bah cheered and jumped onto Cain’s back.
The hell? Cain thought as he steadied himself with Al’bah piggybacked on him. He didn’t even realize his hands had already maneuvered to grab hold of her legs to keep her on with less effort. He glanced at the mirror just before he left and was absolutely bewildered by the large grin on his face.
Chapter 11
Wheels Within Wheels
“Defeat me? You’ve been working for me from the beginning.”
—Walter Stratton
Walter Stratton stared at a ruined roast beef sandwich, bloodstained bills, and a large, dried stain of blood that must have been a sizable puddle upon the white granite floor of his previous law firm.
“What kind of sick prank is this?” he muttered out loud, bending over to gather the debris.
“Walter! Ne touchez pas que les ordures!” *
Walter looked over his shoulder to Jeannette. Her blue eyes were wide, full of alarm, and her usual butter-cream skin was flushed pink, framed beautifully by her golden hair. He sighed deeply and straightened. “Fine, I’ll get some gloves later.”
“Honestly, Walter, you don’t know where zat came from. It makes me queasy just to think about touching it.”
“We came here for a reason, let’s attend to it,” Walter said, ignoring Jeannette’s concern and striding deeper into the building.
At last he reached the chamber where he kept the greatest treasures humanity ever constructed: the obsidian mirror, the book of Seth, and the tower. He hated every inch of this room and every centimeter of each construction. But something within the room called out to his dreams; he had to know what it was.
Walter turned to the obsidian mirror, a carved monolith of volcanic glass standing nine feet tall. The reflective piece was an alloy of several precious metals that no longer existed, and it offered no reflection. The frame of the obsidian mirror was inlaid with roots of gopher wood that had been paled and polished, and it almost seemed to glow.
“I can barely remember the last time you intruded upon my dreams, Taint,” Walter said, now noticing the faint outline of the Fallen Angel and its burning yellow eyes. “What business do you have with me?”
***
Walter Stratton watched Cain approach his car with the Succubus. She stopped, and from the tone of her voice Walter could tell she was afraid by the thought of getting into the car. It was only after a few moments of gentle coaxing that she did sit down. Her expression became startled again as Cain started the car and pulled out onto the road.
Strange. I wonder if this Succubus is truly ignorant, or perhaps projecting a persona to more completely seduce him.
He left his covert position and climbed the stairs up to Cain’s door. He took out his cascade key and inserted it into the deadbolt and doorknob, and let himself in. Cain’s apartment was small, barely larger than four hundred square feet. He glanced at the safe in the corner of his living room.
“Ah, exactly what I need,” he muttered, reaching within his blazer pocket. He pulled out a few crisp one-hundred dollar notes and wedged them in the bottom seam of the vault’s door. He stared for a few moments at the setup. No doubt Cain would assume the bills just fell out of place and would accept their presence without a second thought.
He reached out with his abilities, sensing the spiritual focus he placed upon the bills. Was the focus faint enough to escape the notice of the Succubus? It was unlikely she would sense the peculiarities of the money. But if she did, she was likely to destroy them out of caution and jealous spite. Although money always held a spiritual signature due to man’s worship of it, his trace on the bills was purposeful, and Succubi were jealous to a fault.
Walter looked about the room. No, he would not risk it. He paced about, determined to double his chances. He did not get this far to be stopped by the whims of a Succubus. He looked around at the items in the apartment. There had to be something else Cain would always keep close at hand. His gaze fell upon a Smith & Wesson handgun on the bookshelf.
Yes, that will do nicely! He hefted the weapon and passed his thumb and forefinger over the trigger.
No! Damn you, Cain! a shrill voice screamed in his mind, punctuated by a distant sound of a gunshot.
Walter placed his hand to his chest, where a large bloodstain was spreading across his shirt. He gave a quick look around; he was on the South End Harbor, and Cain was holding the now-smoking gun at him. There were three others: that Asian friend of his, holding back a struggling blonde woman, and the Succubus, who was screaming in fear.
The fool! He has no idea! Walter shook his head, forcing the vision to break apart, and emptied the revolver. Let these instruments of death be cursed! Let them never find flesh or blood. He reloaded the revolver and placed it back onto the bookshelf.
“Now, what else?” Walter said, glancing about the apartment.
Apparently Cain wasn’t the type to hold onto objects of sentiment. Everything in the entire apartment seemed to follow an overlying theme of practicality. He would need something else. But for the moment, the money and his weapon would have to suffice.
He quickly took in the apartment one last time visually, making sure he left no obvious trace of his presence, and relocked the door with his cascade key.
“All is well, no?”
Walter closed the door of the waiting SUV and nodded to Jeannette, who drove off. “As well as it can be. I had no idea my plans would be moving along so far ahead of schedule.”
“This is a good thing, no?”
Walter shrugged. “Perhaps…Jeannette, I want to make a stop by the South End Harbor.” Walter got out his phone and quickly dialed in a number.
“Mister Jones, the gentleman involved in the altercation yesterday, is he working today?”
“No, sir, Mister Stratton. He is off today, but he and his friend will be back tomorrow.”
“Good. I want you to transfer him to the jobsite you have going on at Mercy Hospital, the day after tomorrow, for one day. Do not tell him of this new development until after five.”
“Um, sir? That job doesn’t require welding.”
“I am well aware of this, Mister Jones. Please do as I asked.” Walter quickly ended the call and thought hard.
“Walter, are you well? I do not think I ever heard your voice sound worried before.”
Walter sighed and looked over at Jeannette, who was still driving and sparing a glance over to him every so often.
“Quite well, Jeannette. I am not accustomed to good fortune. I am used to events following a plan, and a plan following a pattern.”
Jeannette smiled and clicked her tongue. “Even the best plans go awry, no?”
Walter shrugged. “Only for those who do not account for every angle.”
“And you do?”
Walter picked up his phone and dialed another number. “Always, from the very beginning.”
Chapter 12
The First of Many Days
“What is a toilet?”
–Al’bah
At first, Cain thought Al’bah’s playfulness was cute. But he never knew just how far her little trait could go, and how much attention it could draw. What started out as nothing more than a clothing run, had turned into the most awkward day of his life. As they walked through the mall parking lot, Al’bah started the day’s insanity by grabbing onto his jacket and pointing at one of the local police officers.
“I did not know humans could be sooooooo BIG!”
Cain’s shock was so complete at Al’bah’s blatant observation, he neglected to watch where he was going and smacked his head into a parking lot pole.
“And I didn’t know some humans could be soooooo DUMB!” the cop shot back.
Cain felt Al’bah grab ahold of him, and she ushered him quickly away from the scene. The mindless nausea from his new head trauma seemed to last forever, punctuated by a harsh ringing noise scrambling all coherent thought.
Succubus Tear (Triune promise) Page 7