Idle Hands: Finale

Passion's Price

Part Eight (and last) of The Succubus

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~~ All characters in this book are over 18. ~~

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Our story thus far...

In "Idle Hands,"Althea, first among the succubi, was torn from her body by a foolish mortal. In desperation, she sought refuge in the mind of Rachel Wainwright, a successful attorney with a troubled home life. Weakened by her ordeal, Althea knows the only way to return to her own body is to restore her power, which she receives by tapping into the sexual pleasure of others.

With this in mind she begins a slow seduction of her host, nudging Rachel towards a more sexually adventurous lifestyle. At the end of "Idle Hands" she has seduced her office intern, Jeremy Edwards, and has also attempted a reconciliation with her former husband, Joshua. Meanwhile, her children find her attitude towards them softening, as Rachel becomes resigned to the fact that Sarah wishes to attend culinary school, while Alex wants to become an actor.

The story continues in "The Devil's Playthings." In a heroic courtroom scene, Rachel makes an impassioned argument for the future of the earth in a case involving corporate pollution. In a stunning verdict, the polluters are fined an astronomical sum, one third of which will go to Rachel's law firm. She decides to use her bonus to semi-retire from her work as an attorney, instead choosing to do pro bono work as she sees fit.

At the same time, sexual urges are beginning to manifest in Rachel's home. Driven by a compulsion she can't explain, she makes a full-time job offer to her maid, Maria, with the caveat that she must dress attractively around the house. Maria, for her part, looks on the offer (with a substantial increase in salary and the prospect of a rent-free apartment above Rachel's garage) as the answer to her prayers. When Rachel's husband, Joshua, returns home, he finds his daughter, Sarah, strangely flirtatious. The only person who seems immune thus far is Alex.

During dinner one night, Rachel and Joshua agree to let the kids pursue their career goals without interference. Sarah will attend culinary school. With the help of his parents' connections, Alex will transfer from his dead-end community college into the theater department at Northwestern University.

"The Devil's Playthings" ends with Rachel and Joshua reconciling. Driven by admiration of Josh's artwork, which graphically depicts their love for each other, including the night Alex was conceived, Rachel performs oral sex on him. Later that night, they make love for the first time in months. At the moment of her orgasm, Rachel falls unconscious. When she wakes, she finds herself in a beautiful, pastoral scene, where she is greeted by a gorgeous woman who introduces herself as Althea, a succubus who has been sharing her mind.

In "Dark Reflections" we learn about Althea and her history. She is the firstborn of the succubi - a scion of Lilith, Adam's first wife, and one of the Fallen, an angel named Imriel who refused to fight for God during the War in Heaven, when angels rebelled against the Almighty. Exiled to Earth, Imriel and others like him mated with human women and men, siring the lines of the succubi and the incubi, who were charged by God to remain vigilant against the Forsaken, those demons who fought against God and were cast into Hell.

Rachel, now aware of the immortal being who shares her body, learns to live with the fact, and indeed, to revel in it. Her reconciliation with her husband is a joy to her. At the same time, she notices that Althea is having an effect on all the members of her household. Maria and Alex, recognizing the compatibility of their natures, make love for the first time in Maria's apartment. And Rachel learns that her husband and daughter are drawn to each other as well. Rather than being outraged, she considers how to bring two of her loved ones together without damaging either.

The story continued in "Bright Shadows." At a family cookout which Jeremy attends, Sarah finds herself strongly drawn to the attractive young intern. She tries to seduce him, but her aggressive advances only succeed in driving him away in confusion. Young, hurt, and frustrated, she is consoled by her parents. Driven by love rather than lust, Sarah and Joshua make love that evening, their incestuous relationship given approval by Rachel herself.

That evening Rachel makes a frightening discovery. Her body is beginning to change in order to conform to the spirit it is hosting. The first change manifests in the appearance of a tail. Rachel is horrified at first, but is consoled by Althea, who demonstrates some of the benefits of her new appendage. The following morning Rachel confesses Althea's existence to Josh. Confronted with physical proof in the form of the tail, her husband accepts the truth, but is suspicious as to whether Althea's spirit is as benign as she claims.

Later that day Rachel, Maria, and Alex go to the hospital in order to check in on Althea's body. They find her well-cared for, but her body is growing frail after weeks in a coma. Driven partly by Althea's aphrodisiacal presence, partly by their own desire, Maria, Alex, and Rachel make love in Althea's hospital room. They are interrupted in the act by Dr. Yasna Marafi, the physician who has been caring for Althea. They return home to find a strange man trying to break into their house. Rachel confronts him, and she and Althea discover he is a servant of a demon-spawn named Mortimer Kincaid, the unholy offspring of a male human and a female demon. What is worse, Kincaid knows of Althea's injuries. It is only a matter of time before he finds her body and kills her.

Or, even worse, finds Rachel and her family.

In "Sacred Sins," Rachel and Althea confront the consequences of their actions. Bringing everyone together, Rachel confesses to Althea's existence, and proves it by showing them her tail. With Jeremy's assistance, they concoct a plan to kidnap Rachel's body from the hospital. Later that afternoon, Jeremy and Sarah become lovers.

That evening, they drive to the hospital. But the rescue attempt goes horrifyingly awry, as Kincaid has also deduced Althea's location. In a terrifying scene, they are barely able to escape, fleeing the hospital with Althea's body while Kincaid chases them in demonic form. By the time they reach home, Josh's truck and the trailer they used to transport Althea's body are little more than shredded wreckage.

Later that night, they enact a ritual designed to return Althea to her body. Giving selflessly of their sexual power, they at first think they have failed. But just when hope is lost, Althea stirs and wakes. Over a meal she confesses her love for all of them, and expresses her hope that they will not be stupidly jealous or possessive when (not if) she takes one of their lovers as hers.

In "Forbidden Fruit," our story continues. Althea and Yasna both struggle to find their feet in a home which is not their own. Yasna, in a conversation with Josh, reveals details about her past. A child of immigrants, her successful professional life is weighed down by personal failures, including a broken marriage to a man she did not love. Uncertain about her sexuality, she has retreated from all intimacy.

Althea, on the other hand, revels in her new-found freedom. With her help, Alex and Rachel become lovers. Later that day, she and Josh begin work on a sword to be used against Kincaid. In the process, Althea imbues several objects belonging to the family with a small portion of her power, making them talismans which can be used to protect them from the demon-spawn.

In "Guilty Pleasures," we move close to our conclusion. Althea continues work on the sword. However, she is inundated by reminders of what her very nature makes inevitable. Whether by violence or by the slow decay of time, she will lose her lovers, as she has lost all others before. And, cursed to eternal barrenness by the will of God, she cannot even bear their children of her own.

The sword completed, Althea informs Rachel and Josh that she believes she knows where and when Kincaid will strike. It will be on Friday night, at the theater, where Alex is performing as Iago in a showing of Shakespeare's "Othello."

We rejoin the story on Friday afternoon...

*****

"Are you sure?" Alex asked.

Althea looked around the table, where they were all eating lunch. It was the first time the entire family had been gathered together since the evening meal on Wednesday night. Josh and Rachel had just shared with them Althea's belief that the demon-spawn Kincaid would strike at Alex during his play at the College of DuPage later that night.

"No," she admitted slowly. She rubbed her eyes, which were red and grainy with sleeplessness. She had tossed and turned in her lonely bed until nearly dawn. Unable to sleep, she had been tempted to go and seek one out of the family for the momentary distraction of sex. But everyone but Yasna had been happily paired, and she had no desire to impose upon a cheerfully rutting twosome, no matter how eagerly they may have welcomed her to their bed. And she would damn herself to the Pit itself before she forced herself on Yasna. The black-haired doctor was still wrestling with demons of her own. The time for them to be together had not yet come.

And only the Almighty herself knew if it ever would.

She let her eyes drift to the lovely young Iranian. Dressed simply in a pair of tight blue jeans and a rumpled University of Chicago sweatshirt, she looked barely half her age of thirty-six. Her long-fingered, skillful hands, a marvel of dexterity, were now occupied in pushing potato chips nervously around her plate. Althea had fantasized many times about how those same hands will feel on her skin. They would be hesitant at first. But skill and desire would take away that shyness.

She shoved the thought away regretfully. "No, I'm not sure, Alex," she said, working to keep her voice steady, not wanting to reveal how close to the breaking point she actually was. "But it's what I would do if I was trying to hurt your mother as badly as possible, and to push her over the edge into madness. Remember, Kincaid thinks, or, at least, we believe he thinks, that I am still trapped in Rachel's mind.

"His nature is to thrive on pain. For the last few days he has let us twist in the wind, wondering when and where the blow will fall." She grimaced humorlessly. "It probably gives him a great deal of pleasure to think I'm inside your mother's mind, driving her slowly insane. The prim, proper lawyer reduced to a babbling wreck, pushed to unwilling acts of sexual depravity by an invading being she cannot possibly understand or comprehend."

"Hah," Joshua, Alex's father, said. "Trust me. Even when she was a lawyer, she wasn't that prim and proper. Believe me on that one." A low chuckle circled the table.

"Be that as it may," Althea continued, "Alex's play provides him with the perfect opportunity. He's a jackal, attacking the weak and defenseless. He'll cut him down on stage, in front of the entire family, and mock your inability to do anything about it.

"So here is what I propose. That we ambush the ambusher. That we stick our neck willingly into the noose. It is the only chance I see to put an end to this once and for all.

"Right now I know next to nothing about Kincaid. Where he lives-"

"In a condo downtown, if I remember correctly," Rachel put in.

"-what his resources are," she went on, ignoring the interruption. "How many and what types of safeguards or bodyguards he might have around him. The security apparatus in his home. And so on. A man as rich as he is can buy as much protection as he wants. Which makes attacking him in his lair all the more dangerous. So the best way of dealing with him is to make him come to us.

"If I know anything about the demon-spawn, I know this; they are arrogant. If Kincaid sees an opportunity to hurt you while striking for maximum effect, he will. What better place to do it than on stage?

"Which leads me to this. Alex, are you willing to be the bait? It is a lot to ask of you. I might..." her voice quavered as she looked down at her clenched fists. Her bloodless knuckles stood out white against her golden skin. She gathered herself and went on steadily. "I might fail. I have failed before. Too many times to count. And if I do fail, if I guess wrong, you will die. There is no way you could conceivably fight off Kincaid in a one-on-one confrontation."

As the impact of her words sank in, the young man sitting across from her went pale, blood draining from his face. His hand went out blindly, seeking that of his girlfriend, Maria. Strange as it seemed, the reaction paradoxically cheered Althea. If he had agreed blithely, she would have been horrified, as it would have meant he had no real understanding of the stakes.

"You don't have to do it, darling." Rachel's voice was low as she looked at her son, who had recently become her lover. "If it's too much for you, we can find another way, I'm sure."

Alex shook his head. Not in negation, Althea believed, but in thought.

"If we don't try now, he'll come after us again, won't he?"

She nodded grimly, unable to deny the truth of his words.

"And if he does, it may be in a way we can't anticipate. That's why you came to my rehearsal the other day. You were scouting out the lay of the land."

She nodded again.

"Well." He put his shoulders back, straightening in his chair. "Better the devil you know than the devil you don't, am I right? I'll go the play with Althea, you guys can stay here, and we'll come back when it's all over."

"Like hell we will," Maria snarled. Althea's jaw dropped as the sweet-tempered Latina turned to face Alex, her eyes blazing. "If you think for one...one chingando minuto that I'm going to stay here and wait to see if you're ever going to come back, you're the stupidest jackass I've ever laid eyes on."

"Besides," Sarah added helpfully, "if Kincaid has people watching us, he might find out that Althea is back in her body and is at the play. What better time for him to attack the house than while she's gone? The best plan," she said in tones of sober reflection, "is for us to all go together."

Maria gave her a grateful nod, and Althea bit her lip. The two strong-willed young women had not started out on the best of terms, but they were firm friends and allies now. A low murmur went around the table as each person expressed their desire to go to the play. Rachel, Althea noticed, sat quietly, but her face was grim as death. Althea didn't think she would be able to keep her away from the theater with a team of wild horses.

"Anyway, nothing at all may happen," put in Jeremy. "Which would mean we'd all wasted our chance to see Alex in his first play. We can't blow the opportunity to embarrass him in front of everyone, can we?"

Alex turned a low, fulminating look on his sister's lover. "Thanks, man. I'd forgotten all about that."

"Yasna?" The look Althea turned to the young woman was almost pleading in its intensity. "You don't have to go."

"Yes. I do. Have you forgotten what I am, Althea?" Her eyes were warm in her dark face. "I'm a doctor. It's my duty to be there in case anyone gets hurt. Or do you intend to try to explain things to some strange physician in the emergency room?"

Althea conceded the point grudgingly. "Fine. But you all stay together, do you hear me?" Her voice was low and fierce. "I won't have you picked off one or two at a time. And bring your weapons," she finished, referring to the objects she had recently imbued with a portion of her own power. They couldn't truly harm Kincaid, but at least they would make him think twice before attacking them. "If the worst comes to pass, they might serve to save one or two of you while the rest sacrifice themselves in order to allow you to escape."

A grim silence fell over the room. "I saw the sword you and Daddy made," Sarah said, changing the subject. "It looks really nice. Have you given it a name?"

She shook her head, concentrating on her grilled cheese sandwich.

"What?" Sarah's voice was loud with mock outrage. "Come on, Althea. You have to give your sword a name. All the really cool swords have them. Like Narsil."

"Anduril," put in Josh.

"Excalibur," countered Jeremy.

"Dyrnwyn," said Maria.

"You're all such nerds," laughed Rachel. As they looked at her expectantly, she offered, "Sting."

"Minneyar," Alex drawled. "Come on," he said as Jeremy snorted derisively. "Tad Williams is awesome."

"Yeah," Jeremy agreed. "if you like books so big they could break your foot if you drop them."

"Hrunting," contributed Yasna. "Beowulf's sword," she clarified, her cheeks dimpling in a smile as they turned to her questioningly.

"Ooh, literary." Sarah's eyes twinkled.

"I took a course in Old English Literature when I was in school.

"So come on, Althea. Name your sword."

"Or suffer the consequences," Rachel teased.

Althea appreciated what they were trying to do. How like humans. They're offering themselves up as bait, forced to walk into the lion's den against an enemy they can't possibly defeat, and they're trying to cheer me up!

"'Love,'" she said at last. "The name of my sword is 'Love.'"

Silence fell over the table. "Well," Josh put in at last. "It's all we need."

"You are such a flower-child, Daddy." Sarah's voice was gently mocking, but also full of affection. "If love is all we need, why do we need a sword? We'd just be able to kill the demon-spawn by throwing puppies at him so he could be licked to death.

"But we can't. Sometimes we need more than love. We need a killer." Her eyes were sympathetic as she looked at Althea. "No matter how much that killer hates what she has to do."

Althea nodded, feeling her throat grow tight. "Anyway, it'll all be over tonight, one way or another."

*****

Tonight, Kincaid gloated, watching the sun slowly sink in the western sky. Tonight, it will finally be over.

The days had seemed to drag. Caught up with the possibility of slaying the never-to-be-sufficiently-damned Rachel Wainwright, her insufferable family, and the succubus who was occupying her mind, he had let his legal practice lapse, until the voice mail in his office was choked with messages from politely irate clients. Clients who needed his services, but were afraid to offend him. Instead, his mind had dwelt lingeringly on how to draw out their torment. Would he kill Alex, Rachel's son, quickly, drowning the stage in a welter of bloody gore? Or should he gut him slowly, until both his and his mother's mind broke under the agony of torture? Who then would he kill next? The husband, no better than a gigolo? The vapid, lazy daughter?