The Succubae Seduction Bk. 02: The Twins Ch. 05

You would think that escaping from Varun's demesne relatively unscathed would be a cause for celebration, and let the twins take a moment to breathe. Unfortunately, fate has other plans for them.

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Chapter 05

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Assassins

Eldon's body ached as consciousness forced itself on him. His head felt as though an ogre was using it to play a game of table tennis. He was losing. A groan escaped him as his eyes opened. He couldn't remember the last time he felt this hung-over, but he couldn't remember drinking last night either.

"Five more minutes," Gloria muttered next to him.

Eldon looked around, trying to get his bearings. They were in the Orange Bubble, the curtains drawn tight but letting in some light. Gloria lay next to him in bed, stark naked. So was he. He couldn't remember sleeping with her last night... For that matter, he couldn't remember much of anything after going through the undersea portal into Earth.

"My head hurts," Shelly groaned. Her head popped up from the floor at the foot of the bed. Eldon looked away from his sister as he realized she was also naked. The twins had seen each other naked plenty of times before, but for some reason, Eldon's cheeks burned with embarrassment.

Jessica popped up next, right beside Shelly, looking as embarrassed as Eldon felt. "What happened last night?"

"Ugh," Gloria moaned and covered her head with a pillow. "Even succubae need their beauty sleep."

"When did you make it back?" Brooke asked, poking her head out of the fountain. "I thought you stayed behind to fight Poseidon. Do you kids have any coffee in here? I feel like I've been hit by a truck."

"I could use some coffee as well," Bridgette said behind her mother and rubbed her eyes. Neither of them seemed to be bothered by the fact that they were topless. The inappropriate thought that there were thousands of people out there that would love to see the supermodel naked, and here he was wishing he could just duck his head under the covers and wish the day away.

"Poseidon was a pushover," Gloria stated with a grunt. She tossed the pillow aside and sat up. Despite her comment about needing beauty sleep, Eldon thought she looked delightful. She smiled at him and patted his cheek. "Thank you, sweety. Every girl likes to hear that first thing in the morning."

He felt his cheeks burn hotter, having forgotten that as a succubus, she could read his mind. Hopefully she wouldn't read too deep and know what her fantastic body was making him think.

"That's nice too," she told him with a wink and a smile, making his cheeks darken and his manhood harden.

"I want to know why we're all naked. I should have gotten dressed before going to sleep," Shelly muttered. She groaned as she wrapped a blanket around her and walked to one of the armoires by the bed. "And why am I so sore?"

"Swimming can take a lot out of you," Jessica offered. She must have forgotten that Shelly did very little swimming yesterday. Eldon's head hurt too much to point that out. All of him hurt to much.

He moved to the armoire that housed his clothing and dressed while trying to maintain some small shred of decency. The inside of the car was spacious, but there were a lot of people in here, and he was the only male. Part of him wished Bridgette would change. There was too much estrogen floating around.

Brooke stepped out of the fountain and Eldon noticed an odd look cross her face. "I'm pretty sore everywhere too." She gave Bridgette a glance, and then shook her head. "I really need that coffee."

"So..." Shelly said as she pulled her pants on, finishing getting dressed. She was looking at Gloria in a way that made Eldon nervous. "Aphrodite, huh?"

"That was a long time ago," she said evenly. "I'm a different person now."

"And Lilly?" Shelly pressed.

"Leave her alone," Eldon snapped, feeling his anger rise as his sister attacked his girlfriend. "She saved us yesterday, and you're treating her like she's the bad guy." He'd made the mistake of not coming to her defense once before. He wouldn't do that again.

Shelly gave him a sad look that he recognized. It was the same look she gave him when she thought he was being foolish. Well, he wasn't being stupid. She was. Every time he started liking a girl, she interfered. She'd done it with Jessica, and now she was doing it with Gloria.

Gloria's hand on his shoulder stopped his mental tirade.

"Thank you, Eldon, but I'm a big girl." There was only a slight tone of rebuke in her voice, but it hit him hard. She gave his cheek a soft kiss which mollified him a little. "I appreciate what you're trying to do, but I think your sister should ask what's really on her mind."

Shelly glared, and Eldon heard Jessica mutter, "Rude to read minds," as though she had any room to speak.

"What was all that talk about the Firsts?" Shelly asked.

"I haven't heard of them either," Brooke piped up, though she seemed in a better mood than Shelly.

"I'm not surprised," Gloria said. "They try to keep that a secret. Very few know of them."

"They?" Jessica asked, arching one eyebrow. "So you're not one of them?"

Gloria looked at her lap and shook her head. "The Firsts were the first beings created, along with the creation of the universe. Or maybe they're part of the universe itself. They were here before time began. Chronos, the true inventor of time, gathered the Firsts together and created the Earth. They also forced out the Outsiders who thrived on chaos. They brought order to existence."

"Outsiders? You mean the things our dad fought during the Chaos War?" Eldon asked.

"Yes. They're always trying to find their way back. They're jealous of the order that was created, and want to destroy it." Gloria looked at him as though she was afraid what he might think of all of this.

"What does it mean to be a First, other than being old?" Jessica asked.

"Being old isn't so bad," Gloria responded. "It means that they're unkillable. I don't mean they're immortal in the normal sense. Vampires are immortal, but can be killed a number of ways. The Firsts can't be killed."

"But Poseidon said that TanaVesta was a First, and Dad killed her. He also said that Varun was dying from what Dad did to him," Shelly stated.

"Yes, and that worries me." Gloria sounded afraid. She hadn't sounded like that when she faced Poseidon yesterday, but she did now. "During the Chaos War, the Outsider tried to kill the Pillars of this world to make it unstable. If enough of the Firsts fall, reality would crumble and everyone would die."

"How many Firsts are there?" Eldon asked. He sat next to Gloria and gave her a smile. He wasn't sure why she was so nervous. It's not like it mattered to him how old she was. As a person who could change his appearance at will, he knew the value of who a person was rather than what they looked like. And it's not like she's one of them.

She smiled back at him and rested her head on his shoulder. "No one knows how many there are. There aren't many, though. All of the original Pillars and Chronos are all I know for sure."

"If they're so secretive, how do you know about them?" Jessica demanded. "And if they're supposedly unkillable, why keep their existence a secret?"

Gloria's eyes narrowed as she lifted her head from Eldon's shoulder. He glared at the girl he once cared for, not liking her attitude, but he remembered Gloria's admonition that she could care for herself and kept his mouth shut.

"For the same reason I can't read your mind," Gloria said. Her voice was calm, but her eyes were lightning. "Everyone wants to have their own secrets. When you're that old and hold that much power, you don't want everyone to know. If people know you're unkillable, some of them will take that as a challenge and try to kill you. Doesn't make for a peaceful existence."

"But they can be killed," Bridgette said from the fountain. Eldon had all but forgotten she was there. "Dad could do it. But, wait... I thought all of the Pillars' strength and power came from their mantles. If they're as strong as you say, then why did they need the mantles to create the Shadow World?"

Gloria was silent for a moment. Eldon knew she was trying to figure out how to answer that question. "Lysa," she said after a few moments. "Look at your sister. She's had the Mantle of Air for over twenty years, but she still can't control it perfectly. Whenever she's around, the wind blows, no matter how hard she tries to control it. Yes, the Firsts are incredibly powerful. Creating the Shadow World required both power and precision. When they made our reality, all they needed was power. When they made the Shadow World, they were splitting off a portion of reality for us to survive in. It required precision to keep from destroying Earth in the process. They hammered out the universe, but needed a scalpel to create a separate reality within their universe. For one of the Firsts, the mantle changes a nuke into an extremely sharp scalpel. It also absorbs some of their strength so that they don't stand out as much, and can blend in. That excess power is what Lysa and Angela now wield as the Pillars of Air and Fire."

"Will that power run out?" Shelly asked, alarmed. "What happens when their mantles run dry? Will the Shadow World collapse?"

Gloria shook her head again. "Not very likely. At least, not for a few hundred years. And even then, four of the six Pillars should be able to support the Shadow World. The reason it was dangerous before, was because an Outsider was there, actively trying to tear apart that world. Of course, the way the worlds are working together now means that maybe there won't be a need to have two different worlds within a century or two."

"The Daughters of Respite and the Paladonic Knights are still out there, preaching their hate," Brooke spoke up. "They may be weakened now, but I know firsthand how much they want us destroyed."

"There will always be those out there that hate," Gloria soothed her. "Both sides have proven that time and—"

"You still haven't said how you know so much," Jessica interrupted.

Gloria stared at her for a long moment before a grin split her lips. "And you haven't told them everything about you, either. What did Marchosias call you? The prodigal daughter? We all have some secrets. As Aphrodite, I could make you spill them all. I could make you love me and become my willing and devoted disciple, but I won't." Jessica's face went white at the threat. "I won't force someone to do something against their will."

"You're right," Shelly moved to Jessica's side and took her hand. Eldon hadn't realized how close the two had become until this moment. For a second he grew jealous. Had his sister drove a wedge between them because she wanted Jessica? He'd never thought of his sister as devious, but now he wondered.

"No," Gloria muttered next to him, quiet enough so only he could hear. "Your sister truly cares about you and wants you to be happy."

He felt guilty for a moment, both for suspecting his sister of something, and for being relieved that his girlfriend could read Shelly's mind enough to soothe him.

Gloria's arm slipped around his waist and hugged him.

"For better or worse, we're all tied up in this now," Gloria said. "We're on the same team. We need to be able to trust each other, but forcing someone to reveal their secrets won't allow that to happen."

For a moment, it looked to Eldon like Jessica was going to argue. She opened her mouth, ready to say something, closed it, opened it again, then nodded. "Fine, but don't expect me to trust you completely."

Gloria smiled, but didn't take the bait.

"Where are we?" Bridgette asked. She was confined to the fountain and couldn't look out the window.

"We're back on land," Aunt Brooke stated as she pulled a curtain aside. "Not sure where though. Wish I could remember what happened after we got in here last night. We're still moving, so the Orange Bubble must know where we need to be."

"How can a car know where we need to be?" Jessica asked.

Eldon was used to the car and its mysterious ways. It held a portion of the Pillar of Fire's soul, from before she was the Pillar. It could act on its own and often did. Gloria didn't seem surprised by the statement, though, so Eldon figured she could sense the portion of soul in the car, or the Pillar of Fire had told her about it already.

"It's more than just a portion," Gloria said to him while his sister started explaining to Jessica. "After over twenty years, it's gained its own identity. I think Angela and the car are still linked, but not as much as they once were."

Eldon nodded, accepting what she was saying. He lived in a world where magic and mystery were commonplace. Why not a car that was a living entity all on its own?

Eldon's phone gave a short ring, and he heard Shelly's buzz a second later. He moved to the nightstand where his phone rested and picked it up. He had a text message from an unknown number. His forehead crinkled as he read it.

"Does yours say the same thing?" Shelly asked him.

"What does it say?" Brooke asked and looked over Shelly's shoulder.

Eldon hit the link in his message, and waited for the video to start streaming.

"...Ambassador Snow will be addressing the United Nations on that in Washington," a female news reporter stated in the live feed. "As attacks from magical creatures increase, fears have risen about whether the Shadow World is truly as peaceful as the Pillars would have us believe." The woman stood outside of a large white building, and Eldon couldn't deny he thought she looked beautiful with her long strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes.

"I could look like her for you if you want," Gloria whispered in his ear.

Eldon immediately felt shame for his thoughts.

"Don't feel bad," Gloria told him with a peck to his cheek. "Looks aren't the most important thing to most of us succubae. Besides, I understand you're a man and your eyes will wonder. I know what you feel for me."

"And as Aphrodite?" He couldn't help but ask. "She was quite the jealous woman from what I remember being taught."

"I'm not her, anymore," Gloria said with a hurt tone.

"You're right," he told her, forcing himself to meet her eyes. "You're Gloria. One helluva kisser, and my perfect girlfriend." He gave her a quick kiss on the lips and turned his attention back to his phone and the news report.

"Many are suggesting that the United Nations should set up border patrols like we do along our borders here in the US," an older gentleman back in the studio said. "Have you heard anything on that where you are, Shlee?"

The camera returned to the attractive woman, who held her earpiece in while listening to the guy in the studio. "You're right Mark. I spoke with some protesters earlier today about that. They agreed with the D.O.R. and P.K. groups, saying that we need to impose greater sanctions against the creatures from the other world."

Eldon knew who the D.O.R. and P.K. groups were; the Daughters of Respite and the Paladonic Knights.

The attractive reporter was still talking. "Here is a clip from an interview with one of the protesters earlier today."

The scene changed, and now the woman was talking with a man in his mid-forties. He had short cropped gray hair and looked to be in good physical shape, despite wearing shabby clothing.

Gloria tensed next to him and he glanced her way.

"That's Michael Mulhan," she told them. "He's the Paladonic Knights' head of propaganda. If he's in front of the camera, you know the damned P.K.'s are behind the unrest."

"Magic is an unholy thing," Michael was telling the reporter. "The Bible speaks about how it is evil to use powers from the devil. Anything from that world is unnatural and should be destroyed, not treated as though they have some sort of rights in our world. This world belongs to the humans, not the monsters."

"What about those that say that God is the Pillar of Light and resides in the Shadow World?" Shlee asked.

The man sneered as he answered. "A trick of the Devil. God is not some magical being existing in that realm of sin. They call it the Shadow World for a reason, and it's not because it's always dark there. It is the world from which all mankind's nightmares reside." Michael laughed at his own joke, but Shlee didn't.

The screen flashed back to the present with Shlee standing in front of the government building.

"As you can see, the protesters are firm in their beliefs. They stated that they don't believe that Ambassador Snow should be here, talking to the United Nations, much less our own president."

"Thank you, Shlee Olsen," the male reporter back in the studio stated as the camera cut back to him. "Keep an eye on that crowd and keep us informed, but stay safe."

The camera angle changed, showing the group a familiar face, while keeping the male reporter in the frame. "In our studio we have a representative from Ambassador Snow's camp, to give us the other side of the story. Becky Snow, one of Ambassador Lyden Snow's wives, is here with us." He turned to face one of the twins' stepmoms to address her. "Mrs. Snow, what can you tell us about the meeting your husband is going into, today?"

Becky had aged well over the last twenty-two years. Her brown hair didn't show a hint of gray, though she was also in her mid-forties. There were fine lines around her mouth and eyes, but she looked like she was in her early thirties. Eldon had once heard his sister mention that Gaia kept her looking young. Eldon didn't know if it was true, but she looked good for her age.

"I can't comment on everything, Mark," Becky stated with a genuine smile. She wasn't the most attractive of his dad's wives, but had an inner beauty that made her glow anyway. "What I can say, is that my husband is meeting with the world leaders about the increased attacks in both worlds. While a few humans have been attacked in the Shadow World, there have been many more magical creatures attacked in this one. Lyden wants to find a peaceful solution for all of us to coexist."

"You heard the interview with the protesters," Mark replied as though he were reading from a script, instead of listening to Becky. "What would you say to them?"

Becky's grin grew hungry as she looked at the host. "That human history is full of people making claims that others shouldn't exist, simply because they were different. Hitler did it during World War II, trying to build up his Aryan race, while decimating the Jews. The Ku Klux Klan has tried for decades to subjugate others, for no other reason than their skin color. All of them have one thing in common: they're racists. No good has ever come from one group of people trying to put themselves above another. In fact, a lot of good has come from when humanity works together."

"But there is the key word: humanity," Mark offered an apologetic smile that Eldon could see was false. "Creatures from your world aren't human. They're something else, and most of them are dangerous to us."

Becky gave her head a sad shake. "Mark, you're making the same mistake many of them do. This is my world. I was born here in the United States. I'm one-hundred percent human. Many of them were also born in this world, but left when humanity became too violent for them to coexist with us millennia ago. And you're wrong again, when you say most of them are dangerous to us. Most of them are peaceful. Yes, some are dangerous, but then again, the same can be said about humans. Most humans are peaceful, but some of us are dangerous. Judging all because of a few makes us no better than the racists I mentioned earlier."