Chapter 1: The Succubus and the Vampire
When you're a demon, searching for your next meal is a common thing. Hell, it doesn't really matter if you are a demon all beings search for something to quell their hunger. Small creatures don't need much to become filled but the bigger the organism the bigger the appetite. This is true for demons too. However, the only nutrients we require are those that come from another being. It all depends on the type of demon you are, of course. Vampires feed on blood, fairies feed on bargains, witches feed off any number of things and so forth. It is not really any different than humans who feed off animals and the earth or animals who feed off each other. Of course, vampires would never be able to have a steady diet of meat and vegetables because they'd shrivel up and die. They need blood. Human, demon, animal, it doesn't matter as long as it keeps their cold hearts beating. That is the price of immortality for vampires. They don't have a say on what keeps them alive or not. We are demons so we do not question our immortality. We hunt and we replenish, and our hunger is repressed.
Humans don't know about us. There are a select few who do but the rest are either too self-centered or too afraid. It benefits us better that they don't acknowledge our existence.
I, myself had just had breakfast minutes ago. My meals mostly consist of a bed and a body. The bed isn't always necessary nor is it used often. All lust demons feed off the lust of other beings. That is our curse and price for immortality. I arrive at my loft, kicking off my heels and as I start stripping off my dress from the night before— yes, the human man had kept me up all night and morning (he was a strong man, that one)— I notice a flash of movement in the corner of my eye. Fangs appeared in my mouth and my nails lengthened to talons. Other features threaten to break through the surface, but I subdue myself. Across the room I catch my reflection and see the red eyes gazing back.
I move quickly about the room, towards where I had seen the movement in the kitchen moments ago. Standing there looking as though he owns the place is a man I recognize all too well.
"Hello, succubus." He tilts his head towards me, greeting me with that wicked smile and cold gaze. His black hair is cut along the shoulders, shorter than it had been the last time I had seen him and loose from where he once kept it tied back. Somehow the style suited him and made him look older than his body allows him to. But everything about him is cruel and unsettling.
"Vampire." I snarl. I don't hide my fangs or talons as I level a red glare at him.
"Had a long dinner, did we?"
I snarl again.
"It's been a while, old friend. I thought I'd stop by and see how you were faring."
"It hasn't been long enough, Silas. What is it that brings your royal highness here amongst the peasants?" His words are too matter-of-factly for this encounter to be casual. Even if they were, I would never believe he thought I was important enough to bother himself with. Vampires already thought themselves huffy and important. Silas was on a different level of self-centered assholeness.
"Well since we're on the topic, I've been wanting to discuss some things with you. And since you don't like to make friends, I've been looking for you for quite some time." He pulls out a chair of the small two seat dining table and sits down. I cross my arms ignoring his invitation to sit in my own home. "There's been a string of events in recent years that have been concerning me. Bodies of demons turning up dead, the folk have gone into hiding and there's been an unusual amount of quiet in the community."
The way he calls us a 'community' always rubs me the wrong way. Like we were all some family.
"If you'd like me to rub you some other way dear, all you have to do is ask." He smirks.
Damn you. "If you're looking for answers I'm likely not the best person to ask and I'm certainly not someone who knows about this shit. People turn up dead all the time and maybe not everyone likes talking to you."
"Demons don't turn up dead often. In fact, it is a rare occasion when one does. Some of us may not be able to reproduce like others but we shouldn't be a dying population."
I curl my fingers at the unexpected jab.
He continues as if trying to see the entire puzzle piece by piece, "Most demons are also dependent creatures. They despise confinement and isolation and love to talk."
That one was mostly true. While I didn't have any friends, I also very rarely spent the night alone. I was always in the company of humans. Not just because I had to feed on them but also because I don't like being alone.
I glare at him as he keeps talking. Always loving to hear himself talk. "It also doesn't make sense the way they are found dead."
"What do you mean?" I say, interested.
"As though the life was sucked out of them. Their energy, the very essence of who they are. Taken from their soul."
"Like a succubus?"
He nods. "Or incubus."
Goosebumps trail my arms causing my hairs to rise. "I don't understand. That shouldn't be possible. No demon should have the power to do that. Not without the other's consent or manipulation."
"Tell me more." I'm wary for a minute, hesitant to speak any more than I want to. But this, this is strange indeed.
"When we drain humans, we have the choice to drain them dry or take as much as we dare without letting them die. But we can kill them if we take their 'life essence' as you called it. Humans are usually willing to give everything because they're usually too lost in their pleasure that they just want more. But with demons, they're always aware when a succubus takes that essence. If they aren't willing, then they won't hand out a scrap of that essence and a succubus can't take it. Unless..." I hesitate.
"Unless?" He prompts.
"There's a limited few who have a very strong power of seduction that even demons can't see past or block."
"Who?"
My throat bobs. "Lilith and... myself."
"No one else?"
"Lilith should be the only one able to and she swore to me I was the only one who she taught it to. The only one who was strong enough to do it."
He doubtfully nods. "Are you suspicious of me, Silas? Is that why you're here?"
He chuckles, a harsh sound that doesn't belong in the light. "No, I don't even think any of your kind is causing such trouble in fact."
"Then why are you here?" I don't hide my distaste for him. He is the lowest of his kind. He despises succubi and our lustful hunger. The fact that he is here civilly conversing with me as though we are old friends is such an appalling circumstance to me. As though he's never called me hateful names. As though he were any better than me.
"As I said, I wanted to catch up with you and pick your brain on a few matters. You're a very smart girl, Reyna and I do hope we can discuss with each other more often, for old times' sake."
He stands and walks towards my front door.
"That won't be likely." I keep my distance as I follow behind him, making sure he leaves.
"There is one more thing I wanted to discuss with you."
Here we go. The actual reason he came here.
"I wanted to invite you to join a sort of council I'm forming. In light of recent events I should think it would be wise to discuss these dealings around us to keep each other safe."
I truly did not know how bad things must be then.
"Why me? You truly do not like me, Silas. I can't possibly know why you've come to speak to me today or why you would want me to join this demon council of yours."
"I know we've had our differences, dear Reyna, but I would like to think we can put them aside during these trying times."
I couldn't believe it; his whole demeanor has changed since I last saw him. Was this truly the same Silas from before?
The old Silas would have scoffed at me, called me a whore, a slut, a cock-sucking bitch or something demeaning.
"How bad is it?" I find myself asking. Because I truly do not know. I don't chat with other demons. Silas was the first I'd seen in years. I don't interact with the others because I disliked being attached.
"Reyna, you are likely one of the few succubi left. Maybe even the only one."
"What?" I couldn't believe it. There had to be a few hundred of us at least. But to be the last?
"And Lilith?" Lilith was the first if not one of them. She possessed great power. She had to be the most powerful demon on this earth. There are only a handful as old as her. She's alive, surely.
"I've not heard from her in decades."
I must truly live in a hole. Lilith couldn't be dead. She couldn't be. She had promised. Promised that the day she died we would all know. People across lands, across seas, would feel her death.But if she wasn't dead, where was she? Was she the one causing the extinction of our kin?
"I will go." I resign myself.
My feud with Silas was nothing compared to this. The extinction of my species. I wasn't particularly close to any of them. Hell, I wasn't even that close to Lilith. Succubi and incubi aren't a close-knit species as the vampires and werewolves and faerie folk. We were like the witches who wished to live solitary existences away from each other. We are territorial creatures who piss each other off. It was all a messy tangle of bad blood that ran deep. In fact, every demon had a bone to pick with someone.
"How lovely." He said, pulling me back to reality. "The meeting will be in two days' time in Astruwen."
My mouth hangs open. "That's a five days' journey, asshole."
"I'm sure you will figure out a way to arrive on time." His cruel smile tells me otherwise.
This was punishment for not being able to find me sooner— no there was more to come, surely."Who will be there?" I ask, casually.
He grins, knowing full well what I want to know. "Representatives from every order will be in attendance."
That's when it hit me. It must have taken months, years to set something like this up. To gather an individual from every order in one location. To get them to agree, to set aside their differences for each other and peacefully commune. And if he was telling the truth... "Wait," I said, "will the Seraphim also be there?"
He nods grimly, the thought of being in a room with those pretentious pricks irritates us both. "Hunters and witches will also attend."
Truly everyone would be there.
"Wait!" I catch him as he turns to leave. "Will Cleopatra be there?"
He looks at me. Really looks at me as though he hadn't before. He opens his mouth then closes it shut as though he can't decide which lie to tell me. He seems to settle on one. "I don't know." With that he vanishes through thin air.
Truth. It was the truth. You never knew when it came to Cleo, no one ever knew. She doesn't make promises because she can't keep them. Wouldn't. She went where she wanted and did what she wanted.
I am the wind, mea reina, she had once said, the one that soothes as well as betrays. The one that can appear sweet and wonderful but over time will wear away something as mighty as a mountain. I cannot be contained. I am free.
I would never hold her back. I would have been a strong support to her. But she didn't wish for me to stand next to her, or anywhere near her for that matter. Occasionally, she'd seek me out and we'd spend every waking minute together and in each other's arms.
It was love, what I felt for her. I knew, hoped, that she felt the same. Even after all these centuries I was still unsure.
What was it she was seeing? Cleo was old. Very old. So old that there was certainly no corner of this earth she hasn't yet seen, traversed. Twice.
I sigh. It's pointless to throw myself down this rabbit hole.
I weigh the options before me. Astruwen is a good five days journey from where I currently reside in a small town south of the continent. A horse was out of the question. We wouldn't make it in time.
Fine. I would have to rely on my own abilities to transport myself.
I stride into my bathroom and take a quick shower and change into a new warmer set of clothes. I grab a small pack and tie it around my hips and stuff gold coins and a bit of dried berries to sate my hunger through the journey.
I was lucky that my meal this morning and last night had been plentiful. That the human man had loads of energy to give.
Maybe I'd visit him again one day.
I fasten the red amulet I had flung onto my bed earlier around my neck and set to leave.
This was going to be interesting. Immortals have such a deep history that this meeting is sure to be anything but peaceful. I'd even wager good money that within an hour— no, within fifteen minutes someone would pick a fight.
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