For the first few years, they skittered about the habitations of man, hiding until night, lurking in the shadows as men and women had intercourse and lapping up the small emotions of these poor wretches of the earth, who barely had time to eat and sleep, much less love.
Naamah became a Succubus first, finally attaining an attractive enough form to lure a man into an alley, Culling him to the bone. Agrat Bat soon followed, with Eisheth last of all. They stayed by each other’s sides in those days, for together, they magnified their allure to humans.
They moved about the world, taking what they needed and moving on before it was noticed. Still, legends began to be attached to their travels, and sometimes, when they arrived in a small town, some people seemed to instinctively sense their natures.
When that happened, the sisters quickly moved on, for while they were strong enough to take on humans in small groups, they were wary of entire populations getting wind of them.
They once made the mistake of entering a village in daylight. They had been on the road for days, without encountering a soul. They were tired and hungry.
An old woman was drawing water from the well in the village square. She glanced at them, then returned to her chores.
The Daughters of Lilith had been lulled into complacency. It had been a long time since they’d been confronted. When the old woman was done drawing her water, Agrat Bat went to the well and cranked up the bucket, but she was so thirsty she used more of her strength than she should have.
The old woman walked off without giving them a second glance. Her casual stroll had been an act, though.
A short time later, there was a far-off shout of alarm, so primal that Naamah transformed for an instant into her original form…just as many of the villagers appeared at windows and doorways, alarmed by the scream.
Upon seeing Naamah, the villagers rushed into the square en masse.
The Succubae tried to escape but were surrounded. Eisheth saw Naamah pierced by pitchforks, pinned against an alley wall. Agrat Bat strode toward the makeshift barricade, upending the carts and tossing men and women into the air. Eisheth followed, killing those who escaped the wrath of her older sister.
As they reached the woods, there was a shriek behind them. Only then did they notice that Naamah wasn’t with them. Eisheth started back, but Agrat Bat grabbed her arm.
“It is too late. They are too many.”
They waited at the edge of the woods as night fell. A glow lit up the village, and Naamah’s screams and curses reached them above the shouts of the villagers. Then there was silence, and a slow dimming of the light.
At dawn, Agrat Bat and Eisheth marched into the village, daring the humans to confront them. No one dared to stop them from retrieving Naamah’s blackened corpse from the stake.
For a few years, Agrat Bat and Eisheth traveled the countryside accompanied by a large wooden box as Naamah slowly grew flesh and bone. Eventually, she emerged, looking like a wizened child, to take vengeance on the villagers who had burned her.
After that experience, they learned to disguise themselves, to use their powers secretively. They gravitated to larger and larger settlements, the better to blend in. They began to travel separately, for their powers became too strong. Whenever they were together, those times in history became known for excess.
Humans themselves covered up the sisters’ crimes, for the truth was too terrible to conceive.
In ancient Greece, Eisheth became the first of the Hetaera, who mingled with the educated, while Naamah gravitated to the streets; Peripatetic prostitutes followed her example. Agrat Bat established the tradition of consecrated prostitutes of the temples.
When Greece declined, Agrat Bat and Eisheth moved on, but Naamah stayed long enough to see the emergence of young Alexander the Great. She Culled him at the height of his powers.
Julius Caesar and Marc Anthony also fell under the spell of a Succubus and were led to their doom. Agrat Bat had to change her appearance after that, for the tale of Cleopatra became too widely known.
They were in Nero’s Rome, with his court, and urged the young emperor to his excesses. Caligula they groomed from an early age. Agrat Bat stayed in the empire for some time, overseeing its long decline.
In India, the Kama Sutra was written in their honor, and they encouraged tantric sex as a spiritual practice. Many a devotee gave themselves to the Daughters of Lilith in the mistaken belief that he would transcend mortal bonds.
The Japanese were so taken by their presence that after the Succubae left their country, they tried to replace them with the geishas, though none ever neared the legendary status of the first of their kind.
Casanova was their disciple.
For a time, the young Marquis de Sade traveled at their side, and they even dared to show him their true form. Naamah took a liking to him and let him live.
They were in the Belle Epoch, at the Moulin Rouge, and when the Victorian era arrived, they easily adjusted to the repressed but still rampant sexual atmosphere. When the era of motion pictures arrived, they went to Hollywood. Irving Thalberg begged Eisheth to star in one of his pictures. She Culled him instead.
The Roaring Twenties were but a prelude to the Swinging Sixties.
It was only as the sisters neared the new millennia that they began to be noticed. Most often, their crimes were blamed on serial killers or others. But they stayed apart, mostly, each finding her own way of staying hidden.
Until now.
Chapter 25
After they ordered dinner, but before it arrived, Serena cleared her throat. The others turned to her expectantly.
“Kristen is here,” she began.
“Kristen?” Bobbie Jo objected. “I thought her name was Suzanne. Or was it Ginger?”
“He name is Cathy,” Lucinda interjected, sounding quite certain.
“I don’t actually know her real name,” Serena said. “It could be any of the Succubae.”
“There are more of them?” Adam said, his eyes huge.
“At least three,” Serena said. “There are many different myths about them. Or maybe there are different kinds of Succubae. I’m not completely sure.”
“How do you know all this?” Lucinda asked.
“I have a….a source. Someone named Rick. I’ve never met him, only talked to him online, but he seems to know everything.”
“Online?” Bobbie Jo said skeptically. “How do you know you can trust him?”
“Everything he has ever told me has checked out. He wants to find Kristen as much as I do, maybe more,” Serena replied. “According to him, there are three Succubae, who are called the Daughters of Lilith. Their names are Agrat Bat, Eisheth, and Naamah.”
There was a long silence after that bombshell.
Finally Cary spoke up. “Well, let’s deal with the Succubus we got.”
Serena nodded. “I believe it is Eisheth.”
“How do we find her?” Jeremy asked.
“This is new territory for me, too,” Serena said. “Rick is a little secretive. Now I’m dipping into my own research on the myths and legends. Have you ever seen picture of a Succubus, a monstrous-looking woman, crouched on the chest of a sleeping man? That is the image most of humanity knows them as—a dream, a nightmare, a figment of our imagination. But all of us have felt something similar: the feeling that we can’t move, that someone is in the room with us. Nowadays, we’re as likely to think it’s an alien as a Succubus. Sleep experts even have a name for it: hypnagogia.”
“I thought sleep paralysis was normal,” Cary said. “It keeps us from moving around while we are dreaming. You know, so we don’t fall out of bed and break our necks.”
“Yeah, that kind of thing happens to all of us,” Serena said. “Sometimes there is something physical causing it. Sometimes the nightmare is real.”
“How does it help for the Succubus to scare us?” Jeremy asked. “Isn’t she after our sexual energy?”
“She’s after more than that,” Serena said.
“She uses sex to make the victim emotionally vulnerable, to open his heart to her. Once the Succubus gets that far, she can suck up that inner spirit and make it her own. The best kind of energy of all comes at the moment of death, if that death occurs at the moment of orgasm.”
“What a way to go,” Adam said. Bobbie Jo giggled with him, and Serena frowned, waiting for them to compose themselves.
“That’s how she gets away with it,” Serena said. “But to answer your question: she’s after our life force, or rather, your life force, because you’re a man. My son…” Her voice broke, and she looked down so they couldn’t see her eyes. “In the process, sometimes she unintentionally frightens the victim. Even when they’re sure it’s real, people…” Again her voice broke as she remembered her son’s pleading, “People don’t believe them. But that’s all accidental, a byproduct of what she’s really after.”
“So she needs sexual energy,” Jeremy said. “Too bad there isn’t any of that going around.”
“Sex? What’s that?” Bobbie Jo added sarcastically.
“Yes, but Kristen can’t maintain her illusion when she’s weak,” Serena explained. “So she will have to suck up thoughts and desires from others, which is a thin gruel compared to what she really wants. She’ll be looking for places where she can piggyback on others’ lust.
“Outside the houses of newlyweds?” Adam offered.
“How about motels?” Bobbie Jo asked. “I know some places where that kind of shit is going on day and night.”
“Strip clubs,” Jeremy said.
“Lingerie stores,” Lucinda said.
“Porn shops,” Cary said.
Serena was nodding. “All of the above. That’s the problem. There is almost too much choice in this day and age. We can’t know where she’ll go.”
“She’s ancient, right?” Cary said. “Maybe she doesn’t know anything about porn shops or strip clubs.”
“Such things have always existed,” Serena said.
“Yeah, but not in the open,” Cary said. “I think she’ll go someplace more familiar. Someplace that’s been around for thousands of years.”
“You knew her as Suzanne,” Serena pointed out. “What do you think?”
“A whorehouse,” Bobbie Jo interrupted.
“Are there any in Bend?” Lucinda asked, eyes big.
“I know of a motel that might as well be one,” Bobbie Jo shrugged. She looked away, blushing a little. “The clerk isn’t supposed to, but he takes money by the hour. The Plaza Motel, on the south side. Only thing wrong with it is that the cops are called there all the time.”
“She’ll remain hidden,” Serena said. “Good! There’s a good chance she’ll gravitate there. If we’re all agreed, that’s where we’ll start, since we have to start somewhere.”
It seemed like a long shot to Cary. “Why don’t we spread out? Try different places?”
“No,” Serena said flatly. “It will take all of us to bring her down. We’ll stick to one spot, and if there is sex, eventually she’ll come around, I assure you. But none of you should confront her until the rest of us have joined you. Understand?”
“Uh,” Bobbie Jo said, “I don’t want to be a killjoy, but if you don’t mind me asking, what’s in it for us? I mean, I saw that bitch twice, and you wouldn’t believe what she did to our camp. She’s dangerous. I don’t know how you managed to get away from her last night. And frankly, I don’t see how it’s any of our business. I already gave her the what for, both times.”
“Bobbie Jo,” Adam began.
“Shut up, Adam,” she snapped.
“The thousand-dollar reward is yours,” Serena said. “Whether you help us or not, you’ve earned it. But if you help us, when this is all over, you’ll have a friend in me, and I might be a good friend to have.”
Bobbie Jo still looked doubtful.
Serena looked around the restaurant. None of the other diners were within earshot. “I don’t know if Kristen can be killed,” she said in a low voice. “But I believe she can be so damaged that it will be a very long time before she can be a threat again. And if we can capture her somehow, we might be able to imprison her somewhere where she can’t ever get out.”
The others looked uneasy.
Lucinda spoke up. “I don’t know. Killing seems…I mean, it’s all so unbelievable. I was worrying about my cheerleader routines a couple days ago, and now this…” She glanced at Jeremy. “Maybe…if you’d just give us the reward. We’ll help, you know, if we can. But I can’t kill someone.”
Bobbie Jo rolled her eyes. “Bitch deserves it. You know what? I’ve changed my mind. I’m in, money or no money.”
“Me too,” Jeremy said. “I’ll help you track her down, at least.”
Serena felt herself relaxing. She was amazed that mere teenagers were taking it so well—but then, they’d grown up on a diet of fantasy and tales of the supernatural, and they were probably more accepting than adults would have been.
“We’ll take turns keeping watch outside the Plaza,” Serena said. “It’s as good a place to start as any. One couple per night for the stakeout, with the others ready to respond at their call.”
“If you don’t mind, I’d liked it if Jeremy and I could wait until the weekend,” Lucinda said.
“We’ll do it tonight,” Bobbie Jo said. “Right, Adam?”
He nodded and sat up straight. Serena doubted he ever contradicted his girlfriend.
“And we’ll take Thursday night,” Serena said. “If that’s all right with you, Cary?”
“Sure,” Cary said. “Maybe we can book a room at the Plaza.” He wasn’t looking at Serena, but she blushed slightly.
“Oh, no. You don’t want to do that,” Bobbie Jo shuddered. “Not unless you want to catch crabs and get eaten by bedbugs.”
“She’ll be lurking in the shadows,” Serena said. “But she’ll be wary, so you need to be both cautious and quiet.”
“No shit, Sherlock,” Bobbie Jo said. “I can freakin’ do that.”
The rest of them laughed, and Bobbie Jo joined in.
“Look, we’re all exhausted,” Serena said. “Why don’t we sleep on it, and discuss it further in the morning? In fact, I think we should stay together, if possible, until this is over. I’ve booked this entire floor. The hotel was going to kick me out otherwise, what with the horde of people I brought through here. Bobbie Jo and Adam, a room will be waiting for you when you come back in the morning. It won’t cost me any more than I’ve already spent. Come on up to my room.”
Bobbie Jo and Adam looked at each other as if they’d won the lottery. Jeremy and Lucinda glanced at each other as if waiting for each other’s approval. Then both nodded nervously at the same time.
Cary restrained a smile. Young love, and, unless he was mistaken, the first time. He wished he’d had a luxury room his first time.
Serena called the hotel desk. “Would you please send up the keys to the adjoining rooms?” she asked. A clerk arrived at their door a few minutes later, and Serena tipped him generously. She handed out the keycards to the others.
Finally, Cary and Serena were alone.
“Well, that went well,” he said.
“Amazingly well.” She gave him a rare smile. “This is the closest I’ve ever come to catching her.”
“What are you really going to do when you find her?” he asked.
Serena was silent for a long moment before she met his eyes. “I’m going to kill her,” she answered at last. “Or at least diminish her to where she is but a wisp of memory, a passing thought, a fleeting temptation.” She looked him full in the face. “If you have a problem with that, I’ll continue on my own.”
“Can’t we lock her in an ivory castle or something?” he asked. “She’s beautiful, you know? Most of the time. Can she really help what she is?”
“No!” Serena looked furious. “Did everything I told you pass through your two ears without sticking?” She took a deep breath. “People tried imprisoning the S
uccubae, in caves deep under the earth, guarded by armies of men…and still they escaped.”
Then all the anger drained out of her. She was pale, her eyes red. “Look, I understand your concern. You’re young and swayed by beauty.”
“It isn’t that,” Cary began.
Serena broke in firmly. “We’ll talk about this in the morning, OK?”
He nodded, his face tense.
“There’s still one room left,” Serena said, handing him the keycard. Her hand brushed against Cary’s as she did, and he reached out and held onto her arm for a moment. She sighed and faced him. He kissed her gently on the lips, and when she didn’t recoil, he kissed her more deeply. His arms went around her waist and he pulled her against him. She didn’t resist at first…
….then she pushed him away, gently but insistently.
“You’re too young for me,” she said. She said it with a light tone, as if it was of no consequence.
“It’s only a few years difference,” Cary said. “I feel like we...like we think the same way about things.”
“You are a horny young man.” Serena’s voice still had a forced lightness to it, as if it was all a big joke.
“Is that what you think?” Cary fought the exasperation coursing through him. Age was meaningless, couldn’t she see that? He was afraid he was going to say something he would always regret.
Despite pushing him away, Serena was still standing tantalizingly close. He leaned his head toward hers and took a deep breath. “Tell me you don’t feel it,” he challenged softly.
“Are you kidding?” she murmured. She looked up, and her breath wafted against his cheek. He closed his eyes. He wanted her so much.
“Then why…?”
“I’ve been searching for this monster for years, Cary. I’m not going to stop now.”
“You don’t have to stop.”
“Cary, it’s not going to happen,” Serena said firmly, and finally moved away. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
Cary hesitated. For a moment, he thought about taking her in his arms and trying again to kiss her. He thought she might respond.
Or she might never talk to him again.
Blood of the Succubus Page 19