Succubus Tear (Triune promise)

by Andreas Wiesemann

  “There, you are well. Happiness fills me.”

  He blinked; the nausea, the vertigo, and even the ringing in his ears were gone. His vision focused on Al’bah, who had a playful expression that was comical as it was inappropriate. “What the hell was that? What is wrong with you?” he hissed.

  Her expression didn’t waver a jot. She blinked her eyes and continued to smile, bringing Cain to smile, too. “I am sorry for the antagonism, but I do not know why my observation made the overly big human so mad, or you so distressed.”

  “You don’t know? You—what?” Cain suddenly felt very grateful he decided to visit the mall just as it opened. The realization of the apparent absence of social etiquette in Al’bah made him weary of what he might face today. “Um, look. Just follow me, and please try not to talk so loudly.”

  “Of course.” Al’bah beamed, but her attention was quickly captivated by one of the more eccentric panhandlers. “Hey, look!”

  Cain learned that trying to keep Al’bah under control just fed her little outbursts, and so he quickly gave up. But even though he walked as fast as he could, he could not stop the ongoing commentary Al’bah had while trying to keep up.

  “Hey, look at that guy! Hey, wait a second! Look! Look!

  “Hey! That human over there! That one is really a male! Look! Cain? Where did you go?

  “Look! This thing is not a real plant! How strange!

  “What is that? That thing sticking out of her ear?”

  At last he made it to his favorite store, which was thankfully deserted with only one normal-looking and bored female cashier. “Okay, Al’bah, we need to find you some clothes that fit you,” he said, eyeing the store. “So do you want—dammit, where is she now?” He quickly found her in the men’s section of the store, admiring blue jeans.

  “Al’bah.”

  Al’bah didn’t even turn around or look up; she just moved slowly from one pair of pants to the next, caressing the material. “Al’bah?” Cain sighed and snapped his fingers in front of her eyes. “Hey! Al’bah!”

  “Hmmm?” she muttered, looking at him at last.

  “Al’bah, these are men’s clothes. C’mon, the women’s section is over here.”

  “Oh, I thought these clothes were awkward on me,” she said, looking down at her outfit that was obviously too large for her.

  “Al’bah! C’mon!”

  Wide-eyed, Al’bah stood at the selection available in the women’s section. Her mouth opened in awe and slowly turned into a smile.

  “Hey, Al’bah?” Cain said quickly, trying to keep her focus. He was getting to know the look she got when her attention wandered.

  “Hmmm?”

  “Do you want me pick out some clothes, or do you?”

  Cain regretted that statement. After trying on almost every article of clothing in the store, Al’bah was at last satisfied with her selections.

  At least she can fold clothes just like the store employees can, he thought to himself as the lone store employee gathered yet another batch of clothes Al’bah didn’t want. Cain tried his best to pointedly look elsewhere. He felt the full unholy condemnation of the employee’s stare as she gathered up the perfectly folded bunch and forcibly shoved the pile back on the shelves.

  He had offered to place them back, but the employee rebuffed him with the most polite smile and customer-service-eat-shit-and-die refusal he had ever experienced. So he had little to do but endure the harsh stares and wait for Al’bah to try on her “last outfit, I swear.”

  Though Al’bah had come in and out of the changing room for hours, Cain was always amazed and somewhat excited to see how well she wore clothes fitting for a woman. It was a very revealing thing to see what sort of colors and styles she preferred. All the artwork he had ever seen of Succubi depicted them as (slutty) seducers, either wearing no clothing or wearing scant, revealing garments.

  So he was surprised when Al’bah’s tastes leaned toward modest yet close-fitting clothing. Long sleeves, high collars, full-length pants, tame braziers, and boyshorts. Her color preferences gravitated to cheery colors: white, sun-yellow, and baby blue, with the occasional deep red and vivid purple. Her favorite type of garment also struck him as odd. She loved outerwear over everything else, such as jackets, coats, and hooded sweaters.

  But his surprise was mixed with a strange apprehension. Al’bah was racking up quite a tally. The last time he checked, her numerous selections (about nine outfits, now working on number ten) were nearing his one-thousand-dollar limit. He started to think idly about getting a store card to offset some of the cost, as they offered a discount along with an interest rate.

  One thousand dollars. He sighed internally. How many hours does that equate to, breaking my back in the hot sun or blistering cold? God, how the hell do these stores get the shitty justification to charge so much for clothes? He sighed, about to get up to inquire about the card, when Al’bah’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

  “So, what do you think?” Al’bah said as she stepped out from the changing room for (what he hoped) the last time.

  Her hair was pulled back with a brilliant white ribbon, contrasting her obsidian hair like the moon shining so fearlessly in the night sky. The shirt she picked out was a close-fitting purple tee that brought out the color of her eyes. Her pants were unremarkable stonewashed hipster jeans. Finishing off her look was an outrageous crimson sweater with a white faux-fur trim on the hood and sleeves, and matching boots.

  “You look beautiful,” he said, amazed.

  Al’bah smiled wide and spun around. “I would like to wear this outfit out of the store.”

  “Right,” he said, returning back to reality and the entirety of Al’bah’s selections. “Let’s get this paid for and head back home.”

  “Cain, wait.”

  Cain clenched his teeth together. What did she want now? He couldn’t afford another outfit, and she—

  “You are so wonderful to me, my precious Bond,” Al’bah breathed, taking hold of Cain’s arm and hugging it to her body.

  “You give up a great deal to provide for my well-being,” she said, now taking hold of his other arm.

  “Let my entire worth, and joy, declare my gratefulness to you. I thank you for your caring for me, of me, to me,” she whispered, now embracing his torso and kissing him.

  “Uh, you’re welcome, Al’bah,” Cain breathed, feeling a bit out of breath. He never thought he could so easily let go of his frustrations to the hit his savings was about to endure. But Al’bah’s way of thanking him cut straight through his bitterness, making him feel so needed and perhaps happy.

  He picked up clothes and made his way to the register. By this time, the store employee was at the end of her patience, expressing her frustrations by using excessive force on the cash register and the numerous bags, stuffing the clothes in with equal excessive force. Though Al’bah seemed oblivious to her ugly looks, Cain wasn’t. It was all he could do to not slink away to murder his liver at a tavern.

  “Right, that comes to nine hundred and sixty-two dollars,” the cashier said through her teeth.

  Cain never had a bank account, nor did he ever have a need for a credit card. He fished out his money clip and handed it to the cashier before he could change his mind.

  “Here,” she said, thrusting him his change. “Thirty-eight dollars and your receipt.” She also handed back the money clip and said with a different tone to her voice, “What kinda guy walks around with a thousand dollars in his pocket?”

  Cain opened his mouth to give an answer when Al’bah snapped her head toward the cashier and screamed, her eyes full of murderous intent.

  “He is mine!”

  Cain gathered the bags and left the store as quickly as he could, deciding to leave the thirty-eight dollars behind before the cashier could recover and wondering what the hell he had gotten himself into.

  Playful, grateful, and jealous to boot! he thought to himself, wondering what other strange quirks he would observ
e today.

  As they passed the food court, the smells from the various foods captivated Cain’s attention and appetite. He looked over the selections and decided he was too hungry to care about Al’bah’s strange behavior anymore. He wanted to have a roast beef sandwich, he wanted to let go of all these bags for a moment, and he wanted to get off his aching feet.

  “Al’bah?” Cain looked over at her admiring a shoe she picked out. “You hungry?”

  “Huh?” Al’bah looked up. “Oh! Well, um…yes, but perhaps I can cook for you when we get back?”

  “You can cook? Why on Earth would you ever have a need to cook?”

  Al’bah glanced uncomfortably at the mob seated at the tables, eating food from the various providers. “Cain, I may not have cooked before, but this does not mean I do not know how. Cooking and food is life. Physical creatures may need to learn such things, but spiritual creatures are created with such knowledge. Besides, this place makes me so uncomfortable—it is a sickly perversion of communion. There is no harmony here, just chaos.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” he grumbled. “I had to pull you away from your grand observations before, but now you want to leave? You weren’t so uncomfortable earlier, and besides, I don’t have much food at home anyway.”

  “There were not as many people here earlier, and they were not engaged in this…this…oh! Cain, can we go, please?”

  Cain stared at Al’bah, who had since dismissed her shoe. She looked uncomfortable, almost panicked, desperate to leave at all costs. His attention then turned to the mob seated at the center of the food court. There they were, the usual slop and the usual slobs, all sitting and eating. But once he looked and really observed the scene before him, he felt repulsed by it as well. There was no specific reason, but the place felt wrong to him. “Fine, okay. Let’s go.” He sighed.

  Right, now I need to get groceries! What a day this turned out to be, Cain thought as he pulled out of the parking lot and started to think about where he could pick up some food. Well, there is Walmart. It’s not too far off and—

  “Big, big, biiiiiiig human,” Al’bah chortled, pointing at the cop who glared at them both.

  NO! No way, I am NOT taking her to Walmart!

  He noticed a small market and pulled in, hoping they had what Al’bah had in mind to cook. “Okay, let’s try to make this quick,” Cain muttered as they walked in.

  “Aaah! I know that smell!” Al’bah exclaimed as soon as she entered the doors.

  Thankfully, the grocery run was as short as the clothing run was long. “Roast beef, potato, flour, egg, salt and spice, milk and honey, and various green of the Earth,” Al’bah said happily as she set the basket down at the checkout.

  “Well look at you! Aren’t you the most beautiful young lady,” the checkout cashier said, an elderly woman that was perhaps in Webster’s as the picture definition of “grandmother.” “You don’t see too many your age that are willing to cook for the one you love.”

  “He is mine,” Al’bah said quietly, with an uncertain look on her face.

  “Well now, of course he is!” The lady beamed. “You take care of him now, you hear?”

  Cain smirked, seeing Al’bah feel just a small amount of the immense awkwardness that plagued him all day.

  Afterward, while driving home, Cain shot a glance at Al’bah looking out at the window on her side, her knees drawn up to her chin, humming slightly. He turned his attention back to the road and all the money he spent on clothes. He sighed, trying to forget all the annoying quirks he had to endure about Al’bah, when he felt her shift toward him.

  “Cain, I thank you again for all those clothes,” Al’bah said while caressing his body. “And I am sorry. I know I caused you undue stresses. I quite forget myself when I am surrounded by something new, and I did not mean to bring excessive attention to us, to you.”

  Cain scoffed. “The way you were acting, one would think that it was your first time shopping! That it was your first time around people! That it was—I, um…”

  Al’bah giggled; it was an infectious laughter that made it hard to stay upset with her. “Well it was! I have been through a lot of firsts today and yesterday. My first time being in flesh form, driving in a car, shopping, wearing clothes, and seeing so many humans.” Al’bah sighed and pressed her hand against the glass window. “To be quite honest, even when I did not have a form unto flesh, I never could imagine what it would be like to have two arms, two legs, hands, and fingers. To imagine what it would be like to be almost human.”

  “What? When I first saw you, you did have two arms and two legs. You looked as you do now!”

  Al’bah giggled again. “Cain, what you saw was my spiritual form, in a way your mind could comprehend it. The same went for my tormentors, Law and even Taint.” She sighed deeply. “In truth, I have never known a human until I met you, nor even seen one in person.” She leaned over and started to caress Cain’s torso; her hands slowly started to drift downward, almost in response to Cain’s desire. “I must say, though, the Creator’s favor is definitely seen in the creation that is known as human.”

  “Al’bah, not now, I’m driving,” Cain said, trying to switch lanes.

  “Then drive,” she whispered. “I have need for your touch, Cain. Your stresses, your chaotic emotions. These I will take, and give you my affection in return.”

  “Al’bah, we might crash. We could get hurt.”

  Al’bah looked up and smiled mysteriously. “I trust you, Cain.”

  ***

  Once back in the apartment, Al’bah immediately set to preparing a meal. It was uncanny how quickly and efficiently she worked. She seasoned the roast beef while the vegetables were soaked in water. She made bread dough while the beef cooked, adding them within a perfect time frame to finish baking when the roast did.

  Cain was cleaning and oiling his leather boots when a delicious smell caught his attention. There, the braised roast beef and several steaming loaves of bread sat upon the counter, with Al’bah wafting the scent toward him with her wings, her face full of playful mischief.

  “Is it time to eat?”

  Al’bah giggled again. “Not yet. I just wanted to tease you a little.”

  Cain’s stomach roared in protest. “That is not funny,” he grumbled as he returned back to his boots, his concentration diminished severely now.

  It didn’t take long before the entire apartment smelled delicious, lending a genuine sense of what home might feel like. It was an odd sensation that Cain noticed as he returned from the bathroom closet to get some more oil.

  No, it’s not just the smell of good food.

  Indeed, there was something different about his apartment. Even though nothing changed in the way of décor or repair, Cain felt a sense of calm and happiness radiate everywhere.

  Al’bah looked up from the steaming vegetables and smiled.

  “Losing my mind,” Cain muttered, not realizing he was staring. He tried to return to his boots, but he found himself looking at Al’bah every time his concentration wavered.

  Cain slowly noticed that Al’bah was whispering in a strange language. He looked up from his leather boots and watched her for a moment. She was working with ingredients that appeared to be a mixture for another batch of bread dough. The way Al’bah spoke as she handled the ingredients was interesting. It was almost like prayer.

  “What is that you are saying?”

  “Sha-yu-yah? Oh, I was preparing the dough for tomorrow’s bread.”

  “I know what you are doing, I asked what you were saying,” Cain said as he finished oiling his leather boots. “You were talking strangely. Is it your native language?”

  Al’bah wiped her hands on a cloth. With a large smile, she half danced around the kitchen counter to sit next to Cain on the couch. “My native language? Yes. My speech is one with my actions. I give reverence to what I do, and that is making the bread.”

  “So, you are speaking what you are doing?”

 
“Yes! But it is so much more than that. Shall I try to speak the reverence in your tongue?”

  Cain let out a relieved breath. “Yes. You have no idea how unsatisfying it can be to listen to a language that you don’t know.”

  Al’bah laughed and kissed Cain deeply. She stood up, returning to the dough mixture. “I shall start from the beginning.” She held up her hands above the flour bag as she had done in the beginning. “I give reverence to the ground that was broken to accept the seed. To the seed that was broken to spring forth new life, and to the plant that bore the wheat.”

  Al’bah reached into the bag and retrieved some flour. “I give reverence to the wheat that was broken into dust.” She mixed the flour in a bowl and held out an egg. “I give reverence to the egg that is broken to Bind my efforts and the water that blends parts that are many, to become one. I give reverence to the salt of the Earth.” Al’bah kneaded the dough with strong motions and added a packet of ready-rise yeast to the mixture. “And life, that ultimately returns to dust.”

  Cain nodded. “Thanks for sharing that with me,” he said, trying not to smile.

  She smiled at him with a knowing look and opened the oven. Al’bah sighed, taking the small loaves out of the oven that baked faster than a single loaf could. “Bread, so essential to a meal. Every meal.” She whispered to the fragrant loaves with her eyes closed.

  “Why baked bread?” Cain asked. “I have sliced bread, you know.”

  Al’bah opened her eyes and looked at the package that Cain mentioned. She took one of the slices from it and tested its heft and scent, and at last, she touched her tongue to it. “Foul!” Al’bah cried as she tossed the slice to Cain. “That, whatever that is, is not bread. I can smell and I can taste mold, rot, unnatural substances, and all manner of filth all over it. I sure hope you have not been eating that.”

  ”Um, not really,” Cain said while he threw away the loaf which looked perfectly good. Even the expiration date was still a week away.