Lost Bloodlines Ch. 04

Disclaimer: All persons engaged in sexual activity or otherwise sexualized are over 18.

I never expected life as a prisoner could feel so very ordinary. It had been a week since the monsters first appeared, four days since I had woken up, and things had already fallen into something of a routine. Wake up, eat, socialize, undergo rigorous scientific experimentation and testing, eat again, socialize some more, then sleep.

Just in the last few days, life fell into this predictable rut. When I woke up as a succubus, I somehow expected my life to suddenly be filled with adventure and excitement. Maybe it was simply the overactive imagination of a once-dungeons and dragons nerd, but I was still waiting for that call to action that would give some sort of meaning to the strange turn my life had taken.

The creatures of fantastic myth and legend that surrounded me every day were just scared people, and somewhere deep down, I don't think any of us expected to have a fairytale ending. The expressions of our jailers were always just a bit too tight, their fingers a little too close to their triggers for comfort. We were all waiting for the hammer to drop.

Well, perhaps not all of us.

Victoria, who had pretty much attached herself to my side since she first found me, remained an unflagging source of optimism and hope in our otherwise bland surroundings. I think the girl's eternal enthusiasm was what really endeared her to me, other the admittedly amazing body and our shared history, brief though it was. She really helped me stay sane, and I was coming to deeply care about her.

The nightly mind-blowing sex didn't hurt either.

In our shared isolation from the rest of the world, one of the most popular topics of conversation had become what life outside the walls of the camp would be like. The monsters who met with family members were constantly hounded by their fellows for details about what was going on outside, and the ambiguity of their answers only drove the fervor.

Some said that the lockdown was still in effect and everything was quiet. Others insisted that each state was preparing to go to war over the status of the monsters within their borders. A deeply persistent rumor stated that monsters roamed the countryside in packs, attacking humans and chased by the authorities. And yet, more insisted that we would be released within the month and life would return to normal.

While I didn't want to sound paranoid, it was almost like our captors were trying to obfuscate the reality of the outside world to us. Maybe they were forcing visitors to tell a certain story? Or perhaps even outside, no one really knew what was going on. In either case, the camp had become an isolated bubble, and we all ate up every rumor and scrap of information just to stave off the monotony.

And yet, when the outside world finally did come crashing down on the internment camp, the truth was more outlandish than any of us could have dreamed.

-00000-

I stared into the deep blue pools of Victoria's eyes as she held me in her arms. Her face was slowly turning red and she was starting to breathe heavily from exertion. I laced my arms tighter around her neck.

"Victoria, I'm really not so sure about this..." I said as I stared into her eyes. Was she really going to make me?

She took a deep breath and nodded. "Just do it. Please, you've been waiting so long."

I started to shift against her muscled form, her generous breasts pressing enticingly against mine. I caught my lip between my teeth and look up at her through my lashes. "But couldn't we just wait until later...?"

Her face scrunched up in frustration, and with an affronted grunt, she dropped me out of her arms. With a shriek I fell towards the ground.

And fell.

And continued to fall.

I can't believe that bitch really dropped me.

The wind roared against my ears as I turned to face the rapidly approaching ground. My heart was thudding rapidly in my chest and I pushed down the vertigo that threatened to overwhelm me. Okay, I know how this is supposed to work in theory, right? Extend the wings, catch the wind, feel for thermals to glide back into the air.

Easier said than done.

My attempts to right myself in the air had just put me at an awkward angle, and as I unfurled my wings, they didn't catch the wind so much as cut through it, and soon I was rapidly accelerating towards the ground. I thought I heard a shout from above me, but I was a little preoccupied to pay attention.

Pull up, damnit, pull up!

Suddenly I felt a pressure on those unfamiliar flaps of skin that stretched between the bones of my wings, and I angled forward from my unintentional dive. I kept gradually shifting the angle of my wings as the pressure increased, and then I felt the minute change of warmer air. I was finally horizontal! I gave a powerful beat of my wings, turning the momentum of my freefall into a boost of speed that shot me across the air above the field.

I was flying. Holy shit, I was flying!

A euphoric laugh burst from my chest, and I spiraled upwards along the air currents. The clumsy weight of my ever-present wings became fine-tuned aerial instruments, and I twisted and swirled in the air as the muscles along my back powered my flight upwards as if acting on memory.

I spotted a sun-lit form above me, and I put on a boost of speed, rocketing towards the figure. Reaching her in seconds, I barreled into her hovering form, her shriek of outrage music to my ears as we both began to plummet towards the ground.

Victoria beat at my arms as she fought to free herself, but her flushed face was grinning. I pushed off of her and righted myself with a few correcting flaps. She fell for a moment longer before swooping back around to come face to face with me.

We both panted and looked at one another, two pairs of wings, white and crimson, beating slowly in the air.

"You know," I said. "There was a nice way to do that."

Victoria giggled and covered her mouth with her hand. "You were being so obstinate! Four days and you refused to actually get in the sky. You've got wings babe, you needed to use them!"

"Alright, but you don't need to drop me to my death to prove it!"

She gave me a very smug look. "And yet it worked perfectly. My parents threw me in a freezing cold river to teach me how to swim, the old Viking way! Sink or swim, Lilith."

I rolled my eyes. "You're fucking with me, they did not. Waifish little Victoria would have sunk like a rock."

She had the decency to duck her head and blush. Cheeky girl. She probably got private lessons in a heated pool like every other overprivileged brat at St. Paul.

I moved myself closer to her, and brought a finger to her chin, tilting her head back up to look at me. I pressed a soft kiss to her lips and smiled.

"Though it was unorthodox, I appreciated the lesson." I spoke. I couldn't stay mad at her, she was simply too cute when she blushed like that. She gave me a grin and then dove towards the ground with a triumphant yell.

I took a moment to simply admire the view, because it was incredible. We were maybe a couple hundred feet above the sprawling internment camp and CDC facility, which spread out in orderly rows about a mile in either direction. The camp was surrounded by a thick wooded area, which gave way to suburbs beyond. In the distance, the city of Atlanta shone in the late afternoon sun, and I was seized with the sudden urge to just start flying away, and damn the consequences.

With some persuasion by Sam and some helpful allowances by Dr. Campbell, Victoria and I had managed to convince some of the Homeland Security agents at the HQ building to allow us to fly above the camp and exercise our "rapidly atrophying wing muscles." I suspected that Campbell's medical note on the matter was more bullshit than truth. He was probably just trying to bribe me to let him run more tests on my seduction abilities. Fat chance of that.

A blush briefly graced my cheeks. Well, I had done some experimenting. Victoria had been an enthusiastic volunteer, and that invisible pink mist drove her absolutely wild. That was as far as I would go, however. I let the scientists poke and prod at me, and even run tests with holy water, but I wouldn't be mind-fucking anyone else. Not ever again if I could help it.

Our freedom to fly wasn't without limits. We were told very gravely that if we flew above a certain altitude or too near the edge of the camp, we would be fired upon immediately. I had thought the gate guard was joking about the anti-aircraft platforms, but I had noticed several camouflage-patterned vehicles with suspiciously large weapon arrays on their back tracking our every move.

I was roused from my reverie by a flash of white light and a whoop from Victoria. She had donned her golden armor and had spear and shield in hand, playfully stabbing and slashing as she swooped and twirled mid-air.

She was the spitting image of the Valkyrie in the video she had showed me a week ago, and I could just imagine her above the roiling waters of the North Sea, doing righteous battle with the great sea serpent. The mysterious video had become another topic of conversation at the camp, one with even fewer answers than the status of the outside world. It certainly seemed to be real, given everything that had happened, but as far as anyone knew, it was still set well before the appearance of the first monsters. Was it an early case? The prototype of a government experiment? Were we all about to be sent into battle against a mysterious race of sea creatures to save the world?

Somehow, I doubted it. I would much rather focus on the present than wild conspiracy theories.

I caught up with Victoria as she finished her mock-training, giving her a slow clap as she bowed mid-air. Her grin was absolutely stunning.

"I always wanted to be big and strong," she said, dismissing her armor and weapon. "And now I feel like I could bench press a bear. Outfly a fighter-jet! Save damsels in distress from the evil dragon's lair!"

I chuckled and dove in to poke at a muscled arm. "Don't let Draco hear you say that, or you might end up as his dinner tonight. I think he's rather fond of his damsels." She pushed me away with a smirk.

"I know everyone is freaking out down there, but up above it all, I just feel so...free." Her eyes were shining as she looked at me. "Promise me that we'll do this every day, Lilith."

"I promise." If nothing else, the exertion of flying was keeping my mind off of the tedium and claustrophobia of the camp awaiting us below. And besides, as much as I was growing to enjoy the comradery of my new monstrous friends, some time with just me and Victoria was very welcome.

The single blare of the camp klaxon signaled that dinner was being served and our allotted flight time was at an end. I jerked my head back in the direction of our barrack with a raised eyebrow and Victoria nodded. Together we shifted and began to glide back down to the camp, taking as much time in the cool air as possible before returning earthbound.

As we passed some unfamiliar sections of the camp on our way back, I caught something in the corner of my eye. A lone figure on the ground, shading their eyes as they tracked our descent. There was something about them that was familiar, and something drove me to angle in their direction.

"Hey wait up!" Victoria called from behind me as I shot towards the ground.

When I neared the figure, I suddenly realized I never learned how to land, but luckily it seemed that my body took over before I started panicking. My wings flared out to break against the wind and beat hard, slowing my descent and eventually setting me down on the ground. I had to take a few steps in a run to bleed off the last of my momentum, which set me mere feet away from this unfamiliar figure as I finally got my balance back.

I looked up and immediately realized what had drawn me to him. Staring back at me in a mixture of shock and amazement was a demon.

He had the same brilliant red skin, dark hair, and curling horns, though I noted that his were rather smaller than mine. Large wings poked out from his shoulders, and a small spaded tail twitched nervously against his leg. While I still hadn't really found myself attracted to men outside of the supernatural mania that had seized me once or twice so far, I could admit that the guy was smoking hot. If I was the living female embodiment of sex (penis aside), this was my male counterpart.

"Uh, hi," I managed to finally blurt out. "My name is Lilith." I stuck out a hand awkwardly.

The incubus, as that is what I realized he was almost immediately, looked down at me in bemusement before shaking my hand.

"Damien." He replied. I raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I picked out the most demon-y name I could think of. Much as I imagine you did." Okay, he's got me there.

"I didn't know there were any more monsters like me here," I said. "I figured I would have seen you around by now."

His face darkened slightly. "I only just arrived this morning, the bastards threw me in here without any..."

He was cut off by a tremendous thud behind us. I turned and saw Victoria rising from a small crater she had made in the ground with her landing. Her expression was stormy.

"Lilith," she said menacingly. "Who is this?"

I laughed. She really did get jealous too easily. "Victoria, this is Damien, he just got here. Damien, this is Victoria, my very clingy girlfriend." She just growled and tried to look intimidating as she came to stand next to me. It might have worked if the exuberant teen was any good at actually looking intimidating.

To his credit, Damien smoothly ignored Victoria's posturing. "Nice to meet you. As I was saying, I got grabbed yesterday and shipped here. The feds poured some sort of acid on me to incapacitate me or otherwise I'd have gotten away again." He pulled back the sleeve of his shirt and I winced as I saw a very familiar pattern of blackened skin on his shoulder and upper arm.

Fucking Campbell, the government was already giving their soldiers holy water. For the betterment of science my ass.

"Wait, so you've been free this whole time?" Victoria asked. Damien solemnly nodded as he rolled his sleeve back down. "What the hell is going on out there? The people they let visit us keep telling us different things."

The incubus grimaced before looking around. He waved us towards a nearby table away from the streaming path of monsters headed towards dinner.

"Look," he said as he sat down. "I don't know if I'm supposed to keep my mouth shut about this, but right now I don't really care." He eyed me appraisingly. "You're the only other demon I've met so far, if that's part of the question. And I've definitely never seen anything like you." He nodded in Victoria's direction.

He took a breath and continued. "Things are bad out there. I was out at a cabin with my girlfriend, Lily, when I turned. She was...appreciative of the change and willing to hide me when we saw that they were rounding up monsters on TV. We had to run a few times over the past week when the authorities came looking, and we ran into some other monsters hiding in the woods. We tried to stick together, but they eventually caught the lot of us."

"Hey, don't worry," I said. "You'll probably get to see Lily soon; they've been letting family in to visit. It's not been so bad in here."

Damien rolled his eyes. "I don't care how cushy this place is, I'm breaking the hell out of here as soon as possible. It's not going to be safe here much longer."

"Why do you say that?" Victoria asked.

"Because the Militia is growing fast, and from what Lily heard in town on her last supply run, these camps have been getting hit across the country." He must have seen the confusion on both of our faces because he immediately clarified.

"The Militia is a large group of humans that have taken to hunting down monsters and killing them wherever they can find them. They've been very actively protesting the government's collection and protection of the "demons" in our midst." He frowned severely. "They've grown pretty big here in the south and out west, from what Lily could gather, and they have significant political support."

"The news that thousands of monsters have rioted in several of these camps and escaped into the wilds certainly helped the Militia's cause. There've been news stories of monster attacks running non-stop. When a few camps were attacked a couple days ago and a bunch of the incarcerated monsters were abducted, it was pretty clear that the Militia took preemptive action. The national guard and the Militia are at each other's throats, and a lot of the states' governors were starting to take sides one way or the other."

Victoria and I looked at each other as the weight of Damien's words sunk in. The worst of the rumors were true. "What about the rest of the world?" I asked.

Damien shrugged. "No clue. Only thing the news seems to talk about is the US. Anything could be happening out there."

Given the severity of Faith's reaction to my own transformation and the fanaticism of her father, I could very easily see how the Militia could have formed after the monsters started appearing. I still had my own reservations about what the government and the CDC were trying to do by rounding us all up, but suddenly I was glad that they were the ones that got to me first rather than a bunch of religious zealots with pitchforks.

"I'm pretty sure we're safe in here," Victoria said, her face looking worried. "The army has tanks and soldiers and stuff, there's no way a bunch of pissed off rednecks could break in."

I could see that Damien was growing frustrated. "Don't you get it? What happens when Governor Landis decides that the Militia might have a point? How do you think those other camps were hit? There had to have been someone on the inside. We can't trust any of these people!"

Victoria was beginning to look increasingly scared, and I shot Damien a warning look as I rubbed a hand along her back. Warrior-angel aside, she was still basically a teenager. "We can take care of ourselves," I said to the incubus, "These new bodies are tough enough to withstand whatever they can throw at us if we really need to escape in a hurry."

Damien opened his mouth as if to argue, but the camp klaxon sounded twice and cut off whatever he was about to say. An announcement rang out from several speakers placed near the barracks.

"All denizens of Camp Alpha are to report to the central dining area immediately. This is not an emergency. Repeat, all denizens of Camp Alpha are to report to the central dining area immediately."

This was new. They hadn't gathered everyone up like this before.

"Come on," I said to Damien and Victoria. "Might as well see what all the fuss is about." We all got up from the bench and headed in the direction of the central clearing, but as soon as Victoria passed me, I turned and stopped Damien with a hand to his chest.

"You're going to want to keep that information to yourself," I whispered to him as he looked down at me with a furrowed brow. "Things are pretty tense in here and if all the monsters find out there's a mob out there waiting to kill them, they might freak out. Our jailers like to kill monsters that act out." Damien's face settled on a frown, but he nodded.

"We can talk later about your escape plan, we've got a few friends here that might have some ideas about that." That seemed to mollify him, and I turned to catch up with a confused Victoria.

We made our way to our usual spot in the central clearing, finding the rest of the group sans Draco already seated and waiting for us. The big lizard was probably asleep somewhere, hope he got the memo. I introduced the incubus to the waiting monsters and settled down.