A Succubus Awakens Ch. 06

Here I will describe, to the best of my understanding, the physical traits observed in succubi. Much like Imps, their most defining feature are their horns. While their shape may vary between individuals, females tend to have larger horns with more curvature, and duller points, while males have smaller, sharper horns. This dichotomy holds true for their other bestial features as well. Females have longer talons, and thicker tails. Despite these differences, combat abilities seem to be matched between genders, and they demonstrate no discernable gender hierarchy. Further proof that they do not walk in God's light.

-Sir Arthur Thompson, The Demonic Archive

Recessed lights bathed the ceiling in a gradient from deep purple to gentle blue. Luxurious white sofas lined three of the walls in the small room. Dull, thumping vibrations were all that remained of the blaring music outside. The four of them sat around a polished black table. Gwen leaned forward, with both feet on the ground. Ready to act if needed. Across from her Mr. Fawn lounged with his arms stretched wide, resting one ankle on the other knee and watching her with a self assured smirk. He looked like a prince lounging on a throne.

Nestled into the crook of his arm was the woman she'd seen him enter with. She was older than Gwen had thought. Late thirties maybe? Hints of wrinkles had formed around the corners of her lips and the creases at the outer edges of her eyes. They only served to enhance her mature beauty. She wore her dark hair in a loose bun, with her bangs swept down her left side in careful curls. Her dark, form fitting dress showed off her curves and gave her an air of sophistication. A slit ran up the side, nearly to her hip, revealing a small tattoo on her tanned upper thigh. A perfect circle surrounding some kind of intricate glyph. Flowing lines flared outward at the circle's perimeter, mirrored on either side, intertwined to form shapes that reminded Gwen of wings. She gazed lovingly up at Mr. Fawn, resting a hand on his chest.

Finally, the man who had entered on Mr. Fawn's other arm sat upright against the back wall with his arms crossed. He watched the woman and Mr. Fawn with hard eyes. He was the oldest, with flecks of grey throughout his hair. He had a clean cut look, and wore a business suit. It was well fitted, but plain. His left hand bore an identical tattoo.

After Mr. Fawn had caught her, he'd led her, effortlessly, through the crowd to a dark stairway, tucked away in the back. A bouncer had nodded them through, and at some point the man had fallen in behind them. Upstairs, heads turned to follow them as Mr. Fawn marched her past the tables lining the balcony. Heavy black doors lined the back wall, leading to private rooms. They'd entered the last of them, to find the woman already waiting.

"So. Why is there a baby succubus attacking people in my club?"

At the word 'succubus' both of the humans in the room turned their attention to her. The man frowned. The woman just watched curiously. Mr. Fawn's glowing purple eyes held her. Gwen considered her options. Amy could be on her way. If she wanted to prevent her from walking straight into a demon's lair she needed to leave as soon as possible. Running wouldn't work. The room was small enough that Mr. Fawn could easily grab her as she made for the door, and she already knew he was stronger than her. Seduction wasn't an option either. Even if her powers did work on other demons, it would be a two-way street. The idea of being subjected to the incubus' will if she lost that contest, the way she'd done to Laura, didn't hold much appeal. Better to keep things friendly. The truth then, at least as much of it was safe.

"I was following you. I've never met another..."

"Demon?" He finished for her.

She'd been afraid the term might be offensive. It was what Amy and her had been using, but now seemed like a bad time to make assumptions.

"Right. I was hoping to learn more about what's happening to me. I...apologize for any trouble Mr. Fawn. Those men were harassing me in the street. If I had known they worked for you I wouldn't have hurt them."

The apology tasted bitter. Deference had never come naturally to her, and her transformation hadn't helped. Gwen wasn't the one who started the fight, and the men deserved everything she'd done to them and more. But right now Amy's safety was her top priority, so she'd suck it up. As she spoke she took off Amy's bloodstained coat and bundled it in her lap.

"Oh, you misunderstand. Do whatever you like with them. They're just humans, I can always get more. Just don't do it here."

Gwen nodded. Sensing that he would continue, she stayed quiet.

"As for the other thing," He stood. The woman clung to him for a moment before pouting and letting go. He bent forward and extended a slender arm toward her with an open hand. "Remy Fawn, owner of this fine establishment. Just Remy is fine."

"Gwen." Better not to share her surname. Hesitantly, she placed her hand in his. He held it softly and gave it a shake.

"And now you've met another demon." He let her go and rejoined the woman, who gave a contented sigh and took hold of his arm. "This is Emily Hawkins. And this," He gestured at the man, "is her husband Kyle. My thralls."

The man gave Gwen a simple nod. These two were married? Since she'd arrived Gwen hadn't seen Emily so much as look in his direction. Mr. Fawn... Remy, had completely stolen her away, and he kept her husband around to watch? The cruelty of it shocked her. Gwen wondered if Laura had a boyfriend. No, now wasn't the time to be fantasizing. What was it he had called them?

"You said they were your..."

"Thralls." He blinked, waiting for some response. She shrugged. "Surely you've thralled someone by now. I'd put you at...a week since your awakening? Two?"

"Two. How can you tell?"

"The process usually takes around a month. Claws usually mark the halfway point. Eyes come next, and the tail is the last." He raised his in demonstration, then curled it around Emily's leg. "It varies from demon to demon, but you're about half way. You definitely should have taken your first thrall by now."

"I don't know what that means." Frustration crept into her voice. "I didn't get a manual with the horns."

He chuckled. Emily smiled beside him, probably channeling his amusement.

"You'll be fine. It all comes quite naturally. No one was there to guide me, and I turned out alright."

"So what is a thrall?"

"They're like servants. No," He considered, "more than that. They're a part of you. They live to serve, and follow every command with unquestioning loyalty. It's hard to describe, but you'll understand once you feel it."

"How do you do it?"

"You've at least fed on someone by now, yes?"

Tongues dancing. A deep, lingering kiss. Gwen nodded.

"Good, that's something at least. While you consume their aura, you infuse them with yours. It's like a drug. They can't stay away. The more you give them, the more they want. Until, eventually, they give themselves to you. Complete control."

It sounded worryingly like her evolving relationship with Amy. Her mind returned to that night. Pinned to the sofa. Breathless as Amy fulfilled her blossoming fantasies. Before Amy had broken free, Gwen had felt as if she was standing at a precipice. On the verge of doing something irreversible. Something terrible. Something wonderful. Remembering that feeling, her heart, and her body, ached for it again. To cross that threshold.

"Does it always happen? Can I stop it?"

"Of course. Once a human is thralled, they're bound to you. But the choice to bind them once they've offered themselves is yours to make. Those bindings take energy to maintain. Some demons can take quite a few, but for succubi like us, usually two or three is the limit."

Good, she wasn't doing anything irreversible simply by feeding. As long as she never crossed that point of no return, Amy was safe. The promise she'd made, loomed in her mind.

"It seems cruel. To take their free will." She said the words, but her heart wasn't in them.

"You sound like a human. It's the natural order of things. They're prey to us. Besides, it's not such a bad fate. You're happy, right Emily?"

As he spoke, he looked down at her. Emily placed a hand on his cheek and raised herself up into a tender kiss. As she pulled away she glanced sideways at Gwen, smiled, and answered, "I would never go back."

"And what about him?" She tilted her head toward Kyle. When Emily and Remy turned their heads to face the man, she slipped her hand into the folds of the coat, into one of the deep pockets, and gripped her phone.

"I know my place." Kyle answered gruffly.

"He knows his place." Remy mocked. "Besides, it's not so bad for him. As long as it's not Emily, he gets to fuck whoever he wants." He leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially, "Sometimes even me. Right, daddy?" The last words were directed at Kyle, who gave a noncommittal grunt.

Gwen felt her face flush as she pictured Kyle taking out his anger on the lithe, boyish incubus. Her adrenaline had long faded and her focus was slipping away again. Why hadn't she fed on Amy when she had the chance?

Even in the dim lighting Remy must have noticed because he laughed at her and taunted, "Aww I made her blush!" He tilted his head back and gazed down his nose at her. "Still so human."

He turned away, and she raised the coat up slightly to get a glimpse of her phone screen. Before Remy could catch her she lowered it, hiding the light, and started tapping roughly where she remembered the messenger app being. Amy would be the most recent conversation, so somewhere near the top, then at the bottom to open the keyboard. Fuck, the next part would be hard. Flip phones used to make blind texting so much easier. The phone vibrated in her grip. Shit.

Remy rounded on her in a flash. She barely had time to begin standing before the heel of his boot made contact with her shoulder, and slammed her back down into her seat. She struggled, but she was pinned. A dull pain radiated from her shoulder. Distantly, she recalled doing the same thing to Laura.

"No phones in class, Gwen. Hand it over."

Gwen snapped both hands up to grab his calf, then used all the force she could muster to stand and push his leg upward. He lost balance, and threw his arms back, catching himself up on the table. Freed, she snatched up the phone and bolted. Behind her she heard the table skid along the floor, followed by a grunt, then her head was yanked backward. Remy had her by the hair. He lifted her up until her feet left the floor. The pull against her scalp was uncomfortable, but not painful.

Remy turned her to face him. The table had skidded back against the far wall, it must have struck Kyle in the knees. That explained the grunt. Remy was frowning, and had his free hand resting on his hip. As he opened his mouth to speak, she raked a clawed hand across his face. Felt the flesh part in bloody furrows as they tore into him.

"Fucking Christ!"

Instead of dropping her though, he whipped her around by the hair and threw her bodily into the back wall. Something behind the padded fabric snapped, and the breath was knocked from her. Kyle only just managed to step aside before she fell to the sofa in a heap. The world was sideways. Blood dripped down Remy's beautiful face. Gwen gulped down air. He lept on her. All pretense of civility was gone. They were a tangle of limbs and horns. The phone lay forgotten.

Claws tore at her, ripping her long skirt to shreds. Warm blood trickled down her thighs. She headbutted him, and he reeled back for a moment then returned the favor. Stars filled the blue-purple ceiling above her like some beautiful nebula. Remy snarled down at her. His face inches from hers. One of his knees rested on the table pressed against the sofa. With a hand she gave the table a shove, his legs spread apart and she brought a knee up.

Remy groaned as he tumbled to the floor. The sound filled her with satisfaction.

She cackled as she rolled off the sofa to pin him to the floor from behind. One hand held his neck, with the other she took hold of his tail. Somehow she knew it was a weak spot. He bucked upward, nearly throwing her. In response, she pulled at his tail, eliciting a hiss that rose to a shout. Wood cracked, and he twisted, bringing about a broken leg of the table and slamming it into her head. Luckily, it broke across one of her horns instead of her head, but the force of it still put her off balance enough for Remy to throw her aside. Her claws scratched lines into the vinyl flooring as she scrambled to stand. Too late. He straddled her the same way she'd done moments before. Gwen didn't have a tail, but she felt her head jerked upward as he took hold of both of her horns.

Amidst the fury, and adrenaline, the touch sent a pulse of excitement through her. Her growl turned into a moan. Remy's hand left her left horn and gripped her neck. She arched her back and felt him pressing into her. He leaned forward and whispered into her ear.

"You really need to feed."

He released her and stood. Embarrassment filled her as the words brought her back to reality. Sometime during their fight, she'd gone completely feral. Gwen rolled over onto her back. Remy was brushing dust and splinters off his suit. Blood stains covered the right half. Neither human was in the room. They must have fled at some point. The phone. Gwen looked around frantically. It was also gone.

Above her Remy offered her his hand. She took it and he helped her stand. His suit was ruined, one of the buttons had come off, and his shirt had come untucked and hung loose on one side. He wiped his face with a sleeve, smearing blood along his cheek. Gwen looked down, she wasn't much better. Her skirt was in tatters, and a web of tiny red rivers criss-crossed her left leg. The white halter she wore had a tear down the middle, revealing a large swath of pale skin. Remy spoke first.

"Truce?"

"Truce."

She brushed a mess of hair from her eyes. Strangely, after their scuffle she felt more comfortable around the incubus. The anger was still there, but she was filled with a rush of endorphins as well. The fight had been primal, passionate, maybe even... fun. Gwen watched Remy tucking in his shirt. Even in his disheveled state he was handsome. Gwen felt a little rise in her stomach. Different, somehow, from the feeling of wanting a human. The door opened. Emily stood holding Gwen's phone in one hand, and resting the other on Amy's shoulder.

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I'm inside, tell the bouncer you're with me and he'll let you in.

Amy knew it might be a trap. That Gwen may not have written the text, but what else was she going to do? Abandon her? A regal looking woman had greeted her at the door. Emily, she said, and led Amy upstairs. Dread grew with each step. Was Gwen okay? Was she even alive? Her heart hammered in her chest. Nearly as loud as the music beating against her skull. They stopped in front of a heavy black door. One in a row of similar doors lining the back wall on the balcony that overlooked the rest of the club. At some point a man had joined them. He stood behind her and to her left, preventing escape. Emily pushed the door open. Amy gasped, and tried to take a step back, but Emily's firm hand on her shoulder held her in place.

Gwen stood taking heaving breaths, ragged and bloody. Next to her, a tall man ran a hand through his disheveled hair. It was blue and purple, no, that was just the lighting. He looked nearly as bad as Gwen. Angry red lines marred his cheek, still bleeding. The room around the two of them was in shambles. A table leaned against the floor, One leg cracked and buckled, and another missing. Paneling on the back wall was bent, and a spider web of cracks in the wall's surface peeked out from behind. Her own coat lay crumpled on the floor, stained in blood.

"Gwen!"

Amy shouted and took a step before the man fixed his gaze on her. No. Not a man. This was a demon. She froze as all the warnings Xavier and Jim had given her, and all the claims on the archive raced through her mind. All at once the air around him seemed to warp and ripple, Like heat rolling off asphalt. His whole form shifted slightly. Everything seemed more angular. Streamlined. Parts in his hair that seemed almost like cowlicks before, made way for two sharp, ebony horns that rose upward and curved slightly back. His hands were tipped with sharp talons. A black tail twitched upward behind him. And those eyes. They were a captivating shade between purple and pink, and they glowed. Cold fear gripped her. Her body felt paralyzed.

"Don't. Touch. Her." Gwen stepped closer and growled up at the demon. How could she move closer?!

He raised his hands, palms out and shrugged. "I wasn't going to. Relax. Besides, I'm not stupid enough to fight you again. I learned my lesson." His voice had a subtle, disarming drawl.

Gwen turned her back on him and rushed forward, throwing her arms up around her and practically hanging off her neck. Reflexively, she placed her hands on Gwen's waist. Gwen's brow knotted and her eyes grew wet.

"I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have come here, it was stupid. I just wasn't thinking and I knew you wanted more answers, and I thought we might lose the chance."

Amy studied Gwen's face. For just a moment, she forgot about everything else. "No, It's my fault. I shouldn't have left you alone. I didn't see your texts."

A sarcastic voice cut through the moment. "Can we take this sickening display somewhere else?"

Reality crashed back. The demon was walking toward them. How had she let her guard down with a demon so close. Gwen must have felt her body tense because she said, "It's okay. I won't let him hurt you."

"We need to leave now, Gwen."

The demon rolled his eyes. "So dramatic. You can leave whenever you want. I was just eager to meet the new succubus in town. There are so few of us, I couldn't resist a little teasing. And it's bad form to take someone else's prey. Your human is safe here."

"There are others?" Gwen turned to face him, leaving one arm around her shoulder. He had just called her prey, and Gwen hadn't corrected him.

"You're the fourth, at least that I know of. Most demons keep to themselves, but the three of us have a good thing going so far. You're welcome to join."

"Gwen, I don't think this is a good idea."

"Shhh."

The casual dismissal stung. Maybe Gwen meant to be comforting?

"I'll have another room prepared." He motioned, and Emily and the man from earlier nodded and began down the line of doors, "We can talk there. The others should be coming tonight, if you want to stick around and meet your fellow succubi."

The idea of being in a room with three demons, four counting Gwen, who all had the ability to reduce humans to slaves didn't sit well with her. Not after everything she'd learned today. The demon began walking and Gwen followed. Amy pattered along behind her.

"Gwen, no." She whispered. "You admitted you've been acting rash lately. Well I'm your voice of reason, telling you not to wait around until we're outnumbered."

Gwen looked up at her with, was that... annoyance?

"You said yourself, I'm the only first hand source of information you had on demons. Well here are three more. And you just want to walk away?"

In a way, Gwen was right. Amy could feel her curiosity burning underneath the terror. Part of her ached for the opportunity to interview more demons, but it paled in comparison to the primal fear running through her. A human fear that Gwen clearly didn't feel.

"Gwen. I'm begging you."

"No, Amy. You're being-"

"Pasiphae."