Lost Bloodlines Ch. 05

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

LiterKnight has agreed to be an editor to this series moving forward, and I am very grateful for their assistance in helping me put out better-polished installments of this series!

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Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

The EKG machine chimed rhythmically in a sterilized white room. Only the labored breaths of the room's other occupant joined the incessant beeping, two sounds that I don't think I could ever scrape from my mind again.

I sat at the side of the lone hospital bed, holding tightly to one hand laying motionless on the stiff white covers. The tanned skin was pale and lifeless, contrasting sharply with the deep red of my own fingers as they rubbed nervously against her palm. Aqua's face was equally pale, eyes closed in her drug-induced sleep, a massive clump of bandages ringing her neck as she reclined on the pillows of the bed.

Last night had become a blur after the last of the strange 'wizards' fled from the camp. The elderly man had escaped directly from my grasp as I tried to enact my vengeance for what he had done to Aqua.

At least, I think that's what I had been trying to do. I had no memory of the seconds or minutes between when Aqua was viciously attacked mid-song and I woke up with a hand embedded in a man's stomach, dismembered body parts strewn around me. It was so different from the other times that the succubus within had acted out since first waking; rather than the corrupting influence within my own mind guiding my actions and emotions, this time it was like it entirely took over.

I remember fleeing mentally into the crimson sea from the sight of Aqua's attack. It was as if, when I retreated inwards, the doppelgänger that usually dwelled there had fully emerged and taken over. Given the things she had told me to do...the feelings that she encouraged me to revel in...that terrified me.

And by the faces of those that had witnessed my unconscious rampage, I had terrified everyone around me as well.

Under the fearful stares, I was rushed to the infirmary (that suddenly had a bed for me, unlike earlier that night, I wonder why). Doctors had cleaned the cracked and burned skin that had covered most of my body, applying ointments and creams and simply letting my natural regeneration do the rest as I was sedated for the rest of the night. As soon as I was cognizant of my surroundings again the next morning, I had demanded to see Aqua.

After much bickering, shouting, and more tears on my behalf, I had been allowed to leave the camp infirmary for the intensive care center at the CDC building itself, albeit with a sizable unit of guards watching my every move.

Something about the watching soldiers had changed, however. Where there had once been suspicion and fear, now a growing admiration and respect had been in their eyes when they escorted me to see Aqua. For the first time since arriving at the camp, I felt like they were there to protect me, rather than protect others from me.

I reached up a hand and gently stroked the side of Aqua's face, her eyes remaining closed as I ran my fingers along her flawless skin. Again, tears pricked at the side of my eyes as I looked at what that old bastard had done to the siren. I hadn't done enough, I wasn't fast enough to stop him and protect her. She was mine; it was my job to protect her!

You failed her. You were too weak. You stopped me from doing what needed to be done. You're a spineless coward, Charles Finch, and unworthy to bear the name Lilith.

"Shut up!" I screamed, clutching at my head. "Get out of my mind!" The voice only chuckled and returned to wherever it had come from. The crashing of waves filled my ears and deafened me. I gasped and fell from my seat onto the ground, a now-familiar pain filling my limbs with fire and driving me to kill, seduce, dominate.

"No," I whimpered and rocked in pain on the ground. "Please, no." I wasn't a monster. I wasn't a monster. I'm so sorry, Aqua, I wasn't enough of a monster to protect you.

"Shhhhh," a soft voice came from above me. I felt hands grab at my shaking shoulders and pull me into a hug. I latched on and pressed my head against the soft body providing some semblance of comfort as my life fell apart all over again. A hand brushed through my hair softly as the figure hummed an unrecognizable tune and let me cry into her chest.

I wiped the ugly tears from my face on the material of her clothes, opening my eyes to see that it was a white lab coat. I furrowed my brows in confusion. I had thought Victoria had finally come to visit us. I looked up.

The softly lined face of Dr. Isabel Lima looked down at me with a motherly smile. Abruptly I pushed out of her arms and scrambled back on my hands to the bed, slowly pushing myself up into a weary standing position. Lima, still kneeling on the ground, let out a disappointed frown before rising to her feet gracefully.

"W...What are you doing here, Lima?" I stammered out.

"I came in to see to your wounded lover, Lilith." She smoothly responded, her lightly accented voice laced with honey. "I couldn't resist comforting my Mistress when I found her in pain." Lima glided around the other side of the bed and began to check several of the machines and tubes hooked up to Aqua's sleeping form.

My eyes remained locked onto the doctor. Lima had undergone an extreme transformation since our first encounter at the lab five days prior. She had reappeared on my second visit the next day, the once prudishly-dressed and unadorned doctor completely changed after I had used my newfound abilities to seduce her. Her black hair had been styled in an alluring cut, and her face enhanced with subtle makeup. Even her blouse under her lab coat had been daringly revealing, the excessive size of her breasts prominently featured with a low-cut neckline.

Since that second visit, Lima had tried repeatedly to touch, grope, and otherwise fondle me whenever I was forced to return for scientific testing, her fellow doctors watching in disgust all the while. For some unknown reason, Dr. Campbell had allowed it, despite my protests, and I had come to fear the lascivious smile on the mature scientist's face whenever she saw me. Her whispered offers of increasingly imaginative sex acts were extremely difficult to ignore as my powers and body had been tested by the other doctors.

I would normally be flattered. Dr. Lima was a beautiful woman even before she began to put energy into her appearance, and I still felt some supernatural tie to the woman I had once enthralled. However, the lingering guilt I felt over the unintentional orgy I had caused with the scientists remained more powerful, not to mention that I seemed to have entirely rewritten the woman's sexuality in the process, turning Lima from a life-long asexual into an insatiable vixen. I had tried to avoid the determined doctor whenever possible, and now I was trapped in a room with her.

I remained frozen as Dr. Lima ran through a mental checklist, adjusting certain dials and writing down small notes as she examined Aqua. I saw her peeking small glances at me from beneath her lashes, however.

"Don't worry, Mistress," she softly said, now adjusting Aqua's pillows. "You have nothing to fear from me." She wet her lips and looked directly into my eyes, her smile turning lustful. "I may be your insatiable fuck-pet who spends every lonely night imagining the day when her Mistress finally fucks her needy body..." Her eyes had become clouded and her voice almost desperate in its tone. I gulped.

But then her back straightened and the lust vanished from her face. "...but I am still a doctor, and I would never disrespect the care of a patient for such selfish urges." I was impressed by the speed of Dr. Lima's transformation back into a professional, and sat heavily back into my chair as I watched her finish her examination of Aqua.

"Is she going to be okay?" I asked in a small voice.

Dr. Lima looked at me with sympathy from where she was running her hands probingly along Aqua's bandages. Her vaguely Hispanic features twisted into that same motherly smile from earlier. "We don't know for sure. Monstrous biology is still so new to us. The fact that she was still alive when we reached her is miraculous by itself."

She checked her notes briefly, speaking in a clinical tone. "Her larynx was entirely destroyed, along with several muscles and organs that we have no name for alongside it. Her jugular was partially severed, along with several of her thyrohyoid muscles. To put it in layman's terms, she should have died within minutes of the attack."

"As it is, she lost a lot of blood, and we have no idea if she will regain use of her voice or whatever other abilities were lost when her unusual larynx was destroyed. We're honestly not even sure if she will ever wake up."

I slumped back in my seat. Poor Aqua. I should have never woken her up. If I had just stayed in bed, none of this would have happened. But then Alana and dozens of other monsters would have been kidnapped by those wizards. Captain Brooks would likely be dead, and maybe even more soldiers. Who knows how many other monsters they might had enslaved if I hadn't helped stop them.

My thoughts darkened again. Stopped almost all of them. I felt myself beginning to obsess over that green wizard again, horrible thoughts of fire and mutilation beginning to run around and around in my head, and I felt myself giving in to them. Maybe I should become a monster. I could hunt him down, find every magical fuck that thought they could attack me, attack us, like that.

"Lilith." A voice broke my reverie. Dr. Lima was leaning over me, her warm brown eyes inches away from mine. "You did the right thing. I'm told you saved a lot of lives last night, I'm terribly sorry that someone you care about was caught up in the fight. I promise, we'll do everything we can to bring her back to you."

I searched Lima's face for some angle, if this was just some ploy to get me into bed with her, but her face was sincere. I nodded and smiled weakly. "Thank you." Lima's face brightened and she pressed her lips against my own. Before I could push her away, she pulled back, a triumphant smile on her face. I scowled at her and she laughed.

"I'm sorry Mistress, I couldn't resist. You're very beautiful when you smile." I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. Fucking horny scientists. I turned my eyes back to Aqua as she began to saunter out of the room.

"Oh, I forgot to mention. There are some people here to see you," she called, before opening the door and slipping outside. I turned back to the door with a confused frown before my shoulders began to itch. A smile lit up my face as a shudder of instinctual fear ran down my back.

The door burst open, and Sam pushed inside. His face was thunderous as he marched forwards, muttering something about "slutty doctors" before his eyes landed on Aqua's reclined form and my hunched body next to her. "Oh, sweetheart," he sighed, and then I rushed forward and wrapped him in a hug.

I had learned to suppress whatever primordial fear consumed me whenever I was near Sam, but it was still there as I felt prickles of anxiety along my back as he wrapped his large arms around me. I needed a friend right now more than I cared about the urges of a millennium-dead succubus.

"I'm so sorry, Lily," he muttered as he patted my back. "Victoria told me what happened between you three before everything went down."

My eyes flashed up to his. "Did she come with you?" He smiled.

"Hi," a small voice called from behind him, and Sam stepped out of my arms and revealed the monsters behind him. They were all there, Cyri, Draco, Victoria, and Alana, rapidly filling the small room with their bodies around the door. Victoria was nearest, her hands wringing together and hunched over slightly, refusing to meet my eyes. I stepped forwards towards her and I saw her flinch back, Alana behind her doing the same. I frowned, hurt at their reluctance.

A large hand came to rest on my shoulder and Sam joined me. "They're just a little nervous, Lily. They said things got rather...bloody, at the end there." I winced in immediate understanding. Victoria and Alana had both been there when I lost control. I remembered the terror in their eyes as they looked at my burnt form, surrounded by gore and holding aloft a dying man with one hand.

I slowly reached out a crimson hand towards Victoria, trying to ignore her stubborn refusal to look directly at me. I finally touched the side of her arm and she jerked violently, her fearful eyes finally meeting mine.

I was thrust back to my reunion with Faith, the fear and hatred in her eyes as she screamed at me in a hallway not far from here. I saw the same fear in Victoria's eyes, and panic gripped my heart.

No, this wasn't going to happen again.

"It wasn't me, Victoria. I don't know what you saw yesterday, but that wasn't me, I blacked out, lost control and...something took over." I looked her in the eyes and willed her to believe me. "I would never hurt you, babe, I promise. I could never. I...I love you."

Her eyes widened and a gasp fell from her lips. She grabbed my hand between her own and pressed it against her chest. "You love me?" She squeaked. Victoria's blue eyes had lost the fear that had consumed them, but now something equally as powerful, if not more so, had replaced it.

I smiled, relieved. "Of course I love you, you goofy angel. You've always been there for me, and I realized yesterday just how much you meant to me." I was suddenly crushed by the full strength of a Valkyrie as Victoria began to cry and press me desperately into her body.

"I love you too, Lilith!" She gasped out. "I'm sorry that I was scared, it was just so horrible yesterday! Aqua was bleeding everywhere and there were so many dead bodies and then you just started tearing people apart and I called out for you and when you looked back at me it was like there was someone else there, you didn't recognize me at all and I was so worried about you and Aqua, and I'm sorry!"

I just let the beautiful angel ramble as I settled the worry in my chest. She wasn't Faith. She really did care about me. She didn't hate what I had become.

"It's okay, babe." I said, and pulled back. "I understand." Her tear-streaked face was so relieved and giddy with happiness that I couldn't help but let out a little giggle at her expression. My happiness dimmed a bit as I angled her towards the hospital bed. "Go on, I'm sure you wanted to see Aqua just as much. She's still sleeping." Victoria nodded and walked to the side of the bed, leaving me with the rest of the group looking decidedly awkward after that emotional scene.

"Ahem," Alana coughed nervously into a fist. The older monster's face was still pinched together in anxiety, and her cobra's hood was entirely extended in some mockery of a threat display. "I, ah, wanted to... extend my thanks for your timely rescue," she stammered out, her rarified accent cracking with her words. She swayed reluctantly above her serpent body that trailed outside the room, clearly sincere in her words but still holding on to the terror of last night.

With a grunt, Cyrilla shoved the hesitant woman forwards, and she landed face first into my chest with an affronted shriek. I wrapped my hands around her back and held her tightly even as she froze at my touch. "I'm just glad you're alright, Alana." I whispered to her. "I know it must have been horrible, and my...episode didn't help anything, but if it kept you from being taken away, I'm glad it happened."

The Nagini remained still for a moment before hugging me back with a desperate strength, her arms wrapping around my waist before lifting me into the air as she straightened her back. I scrambled for purchase on her shoulders and avoided slamming my horns into the ceiling as her head remained buried between my breasts and her arms locked tight around me.

"Thank you," I heard her mutter against me, and then she lowered me to the ground. The coal-black skin of the former diplomat was lightened with a reddish blush of embarrassment as she brushed herself off. She offered an embarrassed smile before slithering further into the room and joining Victoria and Sam at Aqua's bedside.

I looked towards the two monsters still standing at the entrance. "Do I get a hug and an emotional reunion from you two as well?"

Draco looked back impassively before heading to the bedside. I heard a deep, sibilant hiss as he walked past me. "Glad you're ssssafe." For the recalcitrant lizard, that was practically a declaration of love.

Cyri's hulking form finally moved forward, and she draped an arm around my shoulders and turned me towards the rest of our friends. "I'm with the rest of them," she rumbled. "Heard you kicked ass from some gossiping soldiers this morning." I shrugged and offered no reply as we joined the rest of the group. Maybe I did kick ass, but at what cost?

Everyone paid Aqua their respects, either in silence or with encouragement of a swift recovery. Aqua never responded, remaining pale and motionless on the bed, but I liked to think that she heard us.

Victoria took my place in the bedside chair and the rest of the group settled around the walls of the room as we silently took in our fallen companion. We had only known each other for a matter of days, but we had all come to rely on one another in the prison camp. Those bonds of friendship had grown strong swiftly.

After and indeterminable length of silence, Sam finally spoke up. "So, Lily" he casually said. I briefly smiled at his repetitive use of the nickname. "Victoria and Alana told us what they saw, and we've heard bits of gossip from some soldiers, but...what the hell happened last night?"

I sighed, and under the curious eyes of my fellow monsters I filled them in on everything that had happened since I was woken up abruptly last night. No one interrupted, but I saw Cyri's eyebrows raise when I got to the wizards' entrance and Sam shot a questioning look at Alana when I reluctantly shared the aftermath of my unconscious rampage. I tried to be as factual as possible, but recounting it now...it felt like a dream more than a memory. If not for Aqua and the bandages still lining the healing parts of my skin I might have successfully convinced myself it wasn't real. I wished it wasn't.

Alana was the one to finally interject is I stuttered my way through the story.

"You keep mentioning this voice in your head instructing you to commit vile deeds...is this a, uh, new development?" It was clear by her tone that she didn't want to outright call me crazy, but the implication was certainly there.

"Yeah, the voice is new." I replied tiredly. "At first it was just feelings or images that were so powerful or foreign that they couldn't have come from my own mind. Then it became an actual voice." I looked over to Victoria. "Yesterday you mentioned that sometimes it felt like your body wanted you to do something. That it wanted you to hurt others. It was just like that."

The Valkyrie looked a little uncertain as she stared back at me. "I do get those feelings sometimes, but it's nothing like you described. Like a fleeting thought in the back of my head that just feels out of place, but I can separate it pretty easy."

Sam nodded. "The call of the void."

"What?" I stared in confusion at the angel.

"The call of the void is a psychological term referring to the feeling humans can get when near steep falls. The sudden and fleeting urge to just...throw yourself off the ledge." He shrugged. "Sounds like the same deal. I haven't felt anything like y'all are describing honestly."