Idle Hands Ch. 04

She popped a last onion ring in her mouth, chewing thoughtfully. "I would love to have them with me when we confront Kincaid. But my home will be certainly watched. I have grown careless over the past few decades. For someone with his resources, it will be no trouble at all to discover where I live. To go there would be to invite an attack on myself, and also on this house in my absence. No. I stay here."

She drummed her fingers on the table. "Which means I must take thought and see if I can somehow craft replacements. Joshua, I know you are an artist. Will you allow me to use your workshop? And purchase such materials as I might need?"

He nodded. "Of course."

"Thank you." Her answering smile was gracious. She wiped her lips with a paper napkin, for all the world as if she were eating dinner in a five-star restaurant, rather than take-out food at midnight.

"And now we come to a bigger question. Or, if not bigger, one I am sure everyone here has thought about since I woke in this body.

"Who is the succubus going to sleep with?"

She smiled at them, the expression hungry and tender at the same time. "The answer, of course, is all of you."

Sarah cleared her throat pointedly.

"All of you who wish it," Althea amended serenely. "But, since there are six of you and only one of me, there is something of an imbalance. However, I do not think any of you are at a loss for lovers right now, thanks to my efforts. Except for Yasna here, of course."

"You are the only one I desire," Yasna said quietly.

"Be that as it may," Althea continued, ignoring the interruption. "It is not my place to dictate to Rachel and Joshua how their household should be run. I am a guest. And it has been many years since I tried to navigate this kind of tangle, with all the possibilities for emotional traps. The last time I lived with more than one lover was in the eighteenth century, when I was the mistress of a French Comte and Comtesse." Her eyes grew hazy with reminiscence. "Oh, they were a lovely pair. And so inventive.

"I am a sexual being," she said, rising from her seat. "It is who and what I am. I make no apologies and no excuses. You could no more stop me from trying to go to bed with you than you could make water run uphill."

Sarah interrupted. "But why...why do you want to go to bed with us?" she stammered. "I mean, look at your body. It's incredible. Ridiculous. I feel silly just being in the same room as you. Don't you want someone...more attractive?"

Althea's return look was loving. "Oh, Sarah. My gorgeous child. It is not the beauty of the body alone that draws me. Although that never hurts. It is the purity of the soul. And you all have that in abundance. Why would I not want to spend time in the arms of those who risked so much to rescue me?

"I make you this promise. All of you. If you do not desire me, I will not try to force you. That is anathema to the very tale of how I came to be.

"And I ask this of you in return. If I should take your lover, or husband, or wife to my bed," her glorious eyes caught them all in turn, "you do not resent me. Or him. Or her. I do not think any of you are the sort who are stupidly possessive or jealous. The last few weeks must have taught you that love shared is love doubled, and having more than one partner can be a joy to all involved, not a source of pain.

"Are we agreed?"

Joshua cleared his throat. "I can't speak for everyone," he said. He shook his head. "Three days ago I pulled into this house hoping to reconcile with my former wife. In that time I have gained a fiancee," Rachel smiled back at him fondly, "a lover," a look at Sarah, "and new friends," a glance taking in Maria, Jeremy, Yasna, and Althea herself.

"I can't tell you we will be able to put aside decades of habit in the blink of an eye. But speaking for myself, I can tell you that we'll try."

"Thank you, Josh," she said softly. She looked at Sarah, who was watching her with an expression of guarded terror. "Don't worry, sweetheart," she said. "I'm not going to take your lovers away from you. Away from any of you," she continued, casting her eyes around the table. "I know what you fear," she said softly. "A gorgeous woman shows up, beautiful and powerful. Will your loved ones abandon you? Will she crook her finger and lure them away?" She shook her head. "You have risked so much for me already. And I will ask for more. But you are not mine. Say, instead, that I am yours. I owe my life to you. My very existence." She reached out to grip Rachel's hand as her eyes pooled with tears. "I love you all," she choked out. "So much. Thank you."

The mood was broken by the ringing of Rachel's cell phone. She pulled it out of her pocket and went cold when the name appeared on her screen. She raised horrified eyes to Althea.

~How the fuck does that worm have your number?~ she demanded.

Rachel grimaced disgustedly. It's only natural for opposing attorneys to know how to reach each other, in case something unexpected comes up that might affect the trial, she said. It's not like I knew he was the son of a demon when I gave him my contact information. How do you want to handle this?

Althea gave her the mental equivalent of a saw-toothed grin. ~How about like this?~ she suggested, letting a suggestion flow into her mind

Rachel nodded slowly, then pulled her thoughts away. "All of you, keep quiet," she said, then pressed a button.

"Hello?" she said, making her voice quaver fearfully.

"You bitch," Kincaid said conversationally, sounding as if he were talking through a mouthful of broken glass. "When I find you and your family you're going to wish you'd never been born. Do you have any idea how much that suit cost me? You, and your worthless husband, and your two whelps, and whoever else you have hiding over there with you. You are all going to die.

"And that goes double for that...that disease you have in your skull. Tell me, Rachel. Do you actually know what you are carrying around? The bastard spawn of a mating which God himself forbade, and which so sickened him he cursed it to barrenness. A mistake which never should have been allowed to live."

"I don't want it!" she cried. "I don't know how she got here and I don't care! I just want her out of my head! She's making me have these...these urges," she said, letting her tone grow thick with loathing. "Not just for men. But for women. And...and other things.

"Just leave me alone! All of you! She's driving me insane! She forced me to steal her body from the hospital. But now she tells me I have to do these...things...and I don't want to!

"No, I won't shut up!" she screamed, as if she were talking to a voice which only she could hear. "Just go away," she sobbed, her voice breaking. "All of you. Go away and leave me alone."

She disconnected the call and turned off the phone.

Alex clapped softly, Maria and Jeremy joining him. "Bravo," he said, not a trace of mockery in his face. "If I wanted to convince Kincaid your mind was about to snap, I don't think I could have done a better job."

Althea nodded, a grim smile on her face. "He'll assume you're lying, because a creature like him always assumes everyone is lying. But lying which way? Was the rescue a plan meant to accomplish what we have done here tonight? Have we succeeded? Or perhaps we failed, and you are simply trying to bluff him by pretending I still exist. Or maybe you are being driven slowly insane by my spirit within you, and the entire family is headless and flailing.

"Form now on, doubt will gnaw at him."

"What will he do?" Jeremy asked.

"He will attack," Althea said. "A creature such as he, weaned on hate, cannot help itself. He has no choice in the matter. He knows I exist. Therefore, he must destroy me.

"He may be clever or cunning or clumsy or cruel. But eventually, he will come for us."

"And when he does, we will be ready." Rachel said.

Althea nodded. "Yes." She let her glance fall on Yasna. "I am so tired I am about to fall down. Will you help me to bed? And if you are willing, I would like to talk to you alone for a few minutes."

Yasna's face shone happily. "Of course."

Althea nodded at the rest of the room. "I will see you in the morning. Dream sweetly."

As the rest of them murmured their good-nights, Althea and Yasna left the room.

*****

This is the end of "Sacred Sins." However, Althea and Rachel's tale is far from over. Find out how Althea becomes part of the family in "Forbidden Fruit," soon to be released wherever erotica is sold.