Lost Bloodlines Ch. 05

"I have no idea who that old guy was or how he knew my name. Well, the first part of it, 'Firstborn' is a new addition. I honestly thought he was insane when I heard his rambling yesterday, he was clearly at least partially unhinged."

Dawson raised a skeptical eyebrow but I continued unabated. "As for my loss of control yesterday, it was exactly that. I don't remember anything between when my...friend...Aqua was attacked and after the massacre was over. Sometimes something inside of me just takes over. Dr. Campbell can back me up on this, he's documented it a number of times during testing!"

"I'm sorry Lilith, but I simply don't believe you. You were able to break through the attackers' barriers, something we have never been able to accomplish before. You knew that the magical attackers were vulnerable when distracted, hence your consistent actions as a disruptive force alongside the Captain Brooks' squad. Despite a brief moment of nausea, you acted ruthlessly and without hesitation under extreme circumstances. You had no combat experience. You used to almost faint at the sight of blood, and were unable to so much as kill insects in your house. Don't ask how we know that; the point is that we do. Simply put, there is no way you are who you say you are."

Rapidly I was beginning to see a future of dissection or imprisonment in a government black site if I couldn't convince this man of my identity. "I am Charles Finch! I knew nothing about monsters or magic except in the realm of myth and fantasy until I transformed! I've struggled with this new identity since I woke up, everything is different from what I once was. You should know by now that monsters undergo psychological changes as well as physical! Please, you have to believe me."

Agent Dawson's face was still screwed up in a suspicious from when his companion snorted and stood up from the table.

"Enough of this pointless drivel," he growled, and stabbed something into Dawson's neck. The agent's face twisted in surprise and he grabbed at his neck before he toppled out of his chair and sprawled across the ground, unmoving. There was no blood, only some sort of large spine sticking out of the side of his neck. Kent sketched some sort of pattern in the air with a finger, and I heard a muffled thump come from somewhere behind the mirror on the opposite wall. He stared down at the fallen agent in disdain. "What a puffed-up buffoon."

I tried to push back out of my chair and get away from this lunatic, but my back ran into some immovable force, as if I hit the wall behind me, but I knew I had several feet to spare. I jumped up from my chair and spun around, pressing my hands against this barrier. There was nothing there, not even a simmer or mist, but the curving surface of the force refused to give way. Wait...curving?

I looked down, and sure enough, the edge of the barrier corresponded with the edge of the circular rug underneath the table. I followed its path around the table, pressing as hard as I could to no avail, eventually finding myself staring into the smirking face of Agent Kent as he stood just outside the edge of the barrier.

"What the hell did you do to me?" I demanded. Kent's smile just grew wider as I smashed the talons at the edge of my wings against the far sides of the circle.

He kneeled down in front of me and pulled up a section of the rug. Underneath was woven patterns that looked oddly familiar, and the meeting points of two straight lines, forming a triangle in which more symbols were inscribed. I squinted at the partial pattern before it came it me. A circle, traps demons, alchemical symbols and lines that could be the edge of a pentagr....

"Oh, fuck you, there is no way that magic follows Supernatural rules."

Agent Kent chuckled and flipped the section of rug back over, "They got far more wrong than they did right, but the inspiration certainly came from something real. You're standing within a Seal of Solomon. You should be very familiar with it, after all, you murdered its creator millennia ago."

As I struggled to absorb that little tidbit, Kent began to pace around me, examining me curiously. "So it's true what Argonath said. You truly have no memory of the time before your death. Extraordinary."

I grit my teeth. More wizards who knew things about me that I didn't. "So what kind of magic boy are you? I don't see any helpful color-coding like last time."

Kent puffed up at my dismissive tone. "I am Grand Mage Visrayth of the Order of Channelers." At my blank look his face twisted into a sneer. "You killed two of my brethren yesterday, perhaps you might recognize this?" He pulled a twisted piece of horn from the inside of his suit. Not this shit again.

I flinched away from where Kent/Visrayth pointed the horn and leaped back to the other side of the table. Before he could engulf me in flame, I flipped the table on its side and hid behind it, feeling the brass armor materialize in place of my clothing. Was it a good strategy? No, but I really didn't feel like getting immolated again.

He laughed at my desperate actions. "Stupid whore, I have no need of the horn's use while you are within the circle. You couldn't harm a fly at the moment. Divine magic may be gone from the world, but its symbols remain potent." At his words, I felt a now-familiar stirring in the back of my mind, and heard the crashing of waves. The monster in my head was waking up again.

I rose from my crouch, partially embarrassed by my actions, but mostly angry. This was one of those painted wizards, the ones who were in charge of collaring monsters. I gathered the odd inner willpower that controlled the lustful aura within me, and then I sent it flooding out of me. I was going to enjoy seeing this pompous fool's face slacken in lust and adoration.

And yet the pink mist halted at the barrier of the circle, swirling angrily against its borders as I tried to force it past.

'Grand Mage Visrayth' was ignoring my futile efforts, rummaging around in a briefcase I had failed to notice until this point. He was muttering to himself as he picked through its contents hurriedly. "Salamander venom, no, harpy talon, no, giants' hair, definitely not. Who packed this thing? Aha!" He jumped up from his crouch, holding aloft a tawny brown feather as if it were a priceless treasure. "Griffin feather!"

"And what the hell is that for?" I asked. Visrayth spared a contemptuous glare in my direction before beginning to weave lines of glowing red in the air with the tip of the feather.

"This, my amnesiac captive, is how I'm going to smuggle you out of this den of ignorant humans and back to the Conclave. They are very desperate to get their hands on you, I imagine my reward will be steep. Now be quiet, I need to focus."

With an angered grunt, I tried to assault the barrier one last time, punching as hard as my deceptively strong muscles allowed. The barrier had no give, and I only rebounded once more. Impotent and powerless, I watched as the mage continued his odd ritual, forming some sort of glowing sigil in the air as he began to chant in time with his stokes. I needed some way to get out of here, nothing I could think of had worked. I didn't exactly know what the 'Conclave' was or what it had planned, but I assumed being to sold to them wasn't a preferable option.

Come to me.

A voice tickled the back of my mind. It was the seductive tones of monster in my head. The last time it spoke to me it sounded disgusted and angry, but the tone now was excited, giddy even.

I can help, but we must speak.

I eyed the chanting form of Visrayth once more as I mulled my options. My last interaction with the doppelgänger had been...unpleasant, to say the least, not to mention the full possession of last night. I still wasn't entirely sure what to make of this inner passenger. All I knew was that it was bloodthirsty, horny, and very much displeased with my performance thus far. I had exhausted the extent of my abilities however, to no discernible effect. If it knew of a way out, it might be my only chance.

At this point, as the chanting grew louder and the sigil began to pulse with magical energy, I figured I didn't have much else to lose. I closed my eyes and retreated inwards.

-00000-

The crimson sea spread out before me as I materialized on the pillar of gem-studded stone. The waves swirled and bubbled, almost mirroring the flowing movements of the succubus that danced above their currents. I watched, mesmerized as she spun and leaped through the crashing surf. It was like I was observing some majestic beast in its natural habitat. Her motions were possessed by some inhuman grace, and the undeniable beauty of her nude form was without peer.

Her exuberant dance took her ever closer to my pillar, until finally the waves brought her smoothly towards its edge. She stepped daintily from the surf onto the stone, the hard lines of her face smoothed by her broad smile. Whatever antipathy that seemed to have possessed her the last two times we spoke was absent, and she giggled like a schoolgirl as she grabbed my hands and pulled me into an impromptu dance upon the stone.

Caught off guard by her unexpected jubilance, I let her spin me about as she laughed.

"Did you hear him, Charles?" She exclaimed, pulling me close as we swung in circles on the pillar. "Divine magic is gone! That means we did it! We won!" Her grin was manic as she reveled in some unknown victory.

"Don't we, uh, have more pressing concerns at the moment?" I asked, slightly out of breath by the driving motions of the dance I was forced to participate in

She rolled her eyes at me, drawing me into a deep dip. "We're in your soul, silly. As long as I can maintain the connection, we have as much time as we need. The idiot out in the real world can wait. This is so much more important!" She giggled again. "The war is over. We're finally free!"

"Free from what?" I gasped out as she pulled me up and swung me around again. "What war?" My questions went unanswered as she just smiled enigmatically and continued the dance. What was with supernatural beings and not giving me any straight answers?

Suddenly she stopped, however, maintaining her iron grip on my hands and she stared intensely into my face. "There's so much to do. I must have missed so much. Quickly, give me control and I can get us out of this place."

I looked back at her incredulously. "Are you kidding me? You possess me and butcher a group of people so violently that my own girlfriend wouldn't look me in the eye afterwards. You berate and insult me, and after all that, you think I'll just let you jerk me about like a puppet again?"

Whatever joyful mania had filled the succubus drained from her eyes as I lashed out at her. She looked down at our joined hands and jerked away from me as if my flesh was toxic to her very touch. Her face hardened and she turned away from me, beginning to stalk in a frustrated circle around me.

"Bah," she muttered. "Valkyries have seen and done far worse, your pet will get over herself. You don't understand Charles, you need me. I am your only hope of survival now that the Conclave knows of your existence. Give me control and you and your pets can be safe and sound once more."

I lunged forward and grabbed her by the arm as she prowled pensively. Her face was an affronted mask of rage at my touch, but I wasn't going to let this demon bull me over again. "First of all, she's not my pet. Secondly, if you're not going to tell me shit about what's going on, I'm definitely not going to give you any kind of control over my life. I didn't even mean to do it the first time."

The succubus sneered at me, glaring at the tense grip I held on her upper arm. "This is not a partnership," she snarled, jerking her arm fiercely from my grasp. In a second I was spread-eagled on the ground, my doppelgänger's arms, legs, and wings pinning me in place. Her face was inches away from mine, any levity lost in the raging eyes boring my own. "You're mine, human. Everything special about you comes from me, and you waste it on pitiful human concerns. There are greater things than the worries of your weak species at work here!"

While the exact nature of this creature was still unclear to me, enough of what she had said confirmed what I had already suspected was true. I took a gamble. "And yet here you are, trapped in the mind of a pitiful human begging for permission to leave." I stared defiantly back up at her. "Seems to me you should be a bit nicer to the one person that holds the key to your continued existence."

The twisted anger in her face showed that I was right on the mark. She snarled again and released me, pushing off of my body and allowing me to sit up. The succubus seemed to battle between the urge to attack me once more and fully back off, and I was lucky enough that the cautionary side appeared to be winning.

"Okay, here's the deal," I said, pulling back up into a sitting position. Our stances were mirrored, an odd reflection of crimson skin and flesh alone amid a raging landscape of water. "This is a partnership. If you want something, ask, and I'll see if I can make it happen. When I need help, you provide advice, and maybe if things are truly fucked, I'll let you take over again. These are the terms, and since I am the one really in control here, you're going to accept them. Understand?"

It took every bit of willpower to keep my voice from shaking as I delivered my ultimatum. I was never one for confrontation, and in this space, the supernatural confidence that I had come to rely on in the real world was absent.

The succubus eyed me in distaste, mulling over my words. Eventually she sighed, and I saw something approaching grudging respect in her eyes. "At least you're not completely spineless. For the time being, I will respect this deal. However, you must listen when I speak to you. It takes an inordinate amount of effort for me to cross the veil like this. I will not be ignored." The aloof grandeur of the ancient being appeared to return as she considered the deal further. "I was speaking truly before. You do need me. You will need to me survive, even if the greatest threat to our existence is now gone. I know the magic you are dealing with, and if my hunch is correct, you'll be facing much worse than them shortly. If you do not heed my words and respect my wishes, this...partnership...will be hostile once more. Now, do you understand?"

I gulped. The threat was very apparent in her words. Given the ease of her acceptance of my offer, I wondered if this sort of arrangement was truly as much in my benefit as I had thought. "I do."

She smirked and leaned forward, pressing her lips to mine. Taken aback, I didn't reciprocate her soft kiss, and when she pulled back her eyes were glittering and a smile teased her lips. "I seal all of my deals with a kiss." She stood up and stretched, baring her luscious form fully to the sunlight in this artificial plane. She looked down at me appraisingly. "Now, on to the immediate issue. You'll need to seduce the idiot out there fumbling his way through a teleportation ritual."

"Seduce?" I sputtered. "But the...lust...aura...thing, doesn't work, I already tried that." I looked down. The barely concealed excess of my body's curves glared accusingly up at me. "And I don't really know how to do the whole 'seduction' thing without it."

The succubus rolled her eyes. "Yes, I know all about your sexual hang-ups and insecurities, we'll deal with that in time. Luckily, we won't have to rely on your meager skills at this moment, you have another option available to you." She knelt down, and with an extended claw, pried one of the turquoise gems out of the surface of the stone pillar. She held it up to the sun and let the light refract down upon me in aqua-blue rays. "Your last conquest, belated though it was, gave you a gift. Place your will behind your words, and speak to him. A piece of the siren's song lives within you now, best learn how to use it."

A piece lives within me now? I remembered my encounter with Aqua, and my first night with Victoria, during both of which I blacked out afterwards. I suspected they were somehow supernaturally connected, and distinctly recalled the feeling of something passing from them to me just before I faded from consciousness. My eyes winded. Holy shit, did I steal their souls?

"No, you didn't steal their souls. By the pit, you're basically an infant." She sneered. "Just a small part of their soul. Nothing that will cause any real issues." Her eyes lost focus for a moment and she stared off into the distance. "At least not for them," she muttered sadly. The red-hued beauty shook herself and returned her gaze to me with a familiar intensity. "Now, get back out there and get us out of this mess, I grow weary."

I nodded once, hesitantly. There was so much here that I didn't understand and I still had so many questions, but for now, one would suffice.

"Before I go," I started. Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "I need to know one thing. Who are you, really?"

A wide, predatory smile spread across the woman's face as she looked back at me. She leaned forward and patted my cheek condescendingly. "You're a smart boy, Charles. You already know exactly who and what I am."

Lilith Firstborn, the mother of demons and terror of mankind, winked at me just before I disappeared from the mental space and returned to the real world.

-00000-

The interrogation room reappeared around me, the agent-turned-mage resuming his chant just where he left off when I entered my own head. Or rather, my own soul, apparently. Souls exist, and mine wanted to drown me for some reason when I first met it. Maybe it was the ancient creature of misery and destruction that had taken up residence there. I mentally shuddered. I had already guessed it, but to have it confirmed by the woman herself was a different matter. I was literally possessed by a demon.

A stray thought briefly drifted through my head. Maybe I can get Father Maxwell to retry his exorcism. The surge of tired disdain from somewhere within told me that Lilith was not amused and very much impatient.

Alrighty then. I rolled my neck and refocused on the chanting wizard in front of me. The air was beginning to feel different, charged somehow with energy, and I knew that she was right, I needed to get a move on if I wanted to avoid yet another unwanted imprisonment. I concentrated, and tried to will my words to be powerful like Lilith had told me.

"Hey, you should, uh, stop doing that." Visrayth merely gave an annoyed snort and continued his arcane machinations. Damnit, this was the testing room all over again.

I breathed in, and tried to locate that mental muscle that allowed me to expand and contract the field of lust at will. The circle around me once again filled with pink mist, still confined to the edge of the rug. Holding on to that odd feeling of release, I tried to put it behind my words as I spoke again.

"Stop," I commanded, and the mage's hands immediately froze in the air and he stared at me in confusion. There we go. I immediately felt the difference in my voice, noting some unearthly tone behind my normal husky cadence. I held onto the feeling and continued, draping myself suggestively over the side of the overturned table. "You don't really want to leave, do you? You already have me trapped here, all to yourself."

I smiled as the wizard visibly gulped and stared down at the breasts straining against my tan uniform. I pressed my arms together and hunched my shoulders, further exaggerating the generous cleavage on display. To be honest, at this point I was just copying the most outrageously pornographic imagery I could think of, but by the straining in the fabric of the agent's pants, it seemed to be working.