by Marie Mistry
I ripped open the envelope and two pieces of paper fell out. One was immaculately written, probably my mother’s. But the sloppy handwriting on the other caught my eye. Why was dad writing? He never wrote.
I read mum’s first to get the worst over with, vaguely aware of Aeron leaving as I stared at the elegant cursive.
“Lilith,
I have been writing to your headmistress for several weeks about your disgusting situation. I am convinced that should you be surrendered to the Pride caste, you would clear up and turn into a respectable demon like all of those in our line. However, she refuses my requests to place you in the Haughty Tower and insists that you are a Lust caste. I will not tolerate this absolute humiliation. Until you convince the headmistress to put you in The Haughty Tower where you belong, I do not want to hear from you. And don’t even think of coming near me with the horns I hear you’re wearing around nowadays. I raised you to be better than this.
If you cannot do either of these things, it is clear that you do not love me or respect me as a mother. If the horns and Lust tendencies don’t go away by Christmas visit, I will declare you no longer my daughter before the entire school.
Love Mum”
I stared at the letter in disbelief as it fell from my hands.
“I need a second,” I told Lulu, my voice cracking.
“Uh, sure,” she said, skipping from my room.
The door hadn’t fully closed behind her when my knees buckled, and the sobs came out. I groped for Dad’s letter desperately, hoping that he at least would say something supportive.
“Lily,
Your mother is very upset with you, which is not good. I hear you have made some friends in Lust, which is nice. Your mother says I am to say I shall disown you if you don’t do what she says, but I don’t care either way.
Love Dad”
I looked at the letter. Three sentences after over a month away from home. My mother hated me, and my father just couldn’t rouse himself to care. Sobs overtook me again.
I dropped both letters like they were on fire, and ran to the bathroom, determined to wash away the tears that neither of them deserved.
“I’m not a disgusting situation,” I told my reflection in the mirror, barely glancing at my horns. “I’m not a humiliation and I am worth caring about.” The last was a whisper.
I scrubbed and my face with freezing water, willing the icy coldness of it into me.
When I emerged, Aeron was in my room again.
“What are you doing here?” I demanded. Blood drained from my face as I saw the letters in his hands. “Give those back!”
“Your parents wrote these?” He looked at them in disgust.
“Stop it.” I reached for the letters, but he held them out of reach. “Aeron, stop.”
I was pressed up against him, straining to get to his outstretched hand.
“You irritating piece of …” I stopped reaching after the letters, momentarily distracted as I searched for the right word.
“Best behave before I burn them…” He smirked, using his power to light a small fire in one hand.
“You wouldn’t…”
His smirk grew wider. “Now what would you know about what I would and wouldn’t do?”
He extinguished the fire and applied a gentle pressure to my chest; I fell backwards onto my bed.
“Now tell me why your mother wrote this.” He wrinkled up his nose at her letter.
“Isn’t it obvious?” I asked. “Not only am I in Lust, the ‘degenerate’ caste, but I also happen to be an abomination.” I touched a horn absentmindedly and glared when the phantom touch came again. “Oh, for pity’s sake! Will. You. Stop. Doing. That!”
He raised one irritatingly perfect brow. “So, you can feel it.”
I flipped him off. “Give me the letters back.”
“No, someone has to burn this rubbish.” He crumpled up the paper.
“I want them back.”
“Fine, duel me for them.”
I glared at him. “You know I can’t.”
“Then I guess you’ll have to leave these in my hands.” He turned to leave.
“Don’t destroy them!” I yelled, following him, “Please, Aeron. Just leave them with me.”
He frowned, looked back for a split second and then closed my door between us, taking what might be the last words my parents ever wrote to me with him.
I growled, wishing to hell that I’d discovered my sub-caste already, so I could wipe the floor with his arrogant ass in a duel like he’d suggested.
I resigned myself to resuming the search for my brush, finding it on the bed, likely right next to Lulu the whole time. I didn’t blame her for not telling me, she was absent minded at best and downright empty-headed on a bad day.
Then, just as I finished fixing the mess the winter wind had made of my hair, the bell rang.
Great, just great. Listening to Vrosis’ remarks about my powerlessness was really what I needed right now.
I stomped down the stairs, making no secret of my bad mood as I took my seat in the common room, taking the large glass of wine Nelly silently handed me.
“What’s he got up his sleeve for me today?” I mused grumpily.
That was the moment when Vrosis entered, his flawless skin belying the fact that he was – by some accounts – well over three thousand years old. He stroked at his ridiculous curling moustache as he walked, and his beady dark eyes scanned the room before settling on me disconcertingly. It was then that I realised, he wasn’t alone.
Nelly hissed under her breath. “The Tester.” She grimaced as a horse-faced woman with a cane was led into the room. Her eyes were closed, and she moved the stick from side to side in sweeping motions, it took me a second to realise that she was blind.
The whole group looked at me in sympathy. Lulu clutched my hand like her life depended on it, and I realised how many bad memories this must dredge up for her. As my gaze travelled the room, I noticed that everyone’s eyes were either on me or her. Even Aeron, standing in his usual place leaning against the wall next to our table, was pale.
Abruptly, she halted in place, swivelling with unerring accuracy to face me.
“That is a presence I have not felt in an age.” She curved her lips in what might have been a smile, but it looked like a grimace. “Best make sure.”
With an accuracy that made me question the truth of her blindness, she picked her way through the room in a beeline towards me.
I held my breath, hoping somehow, she would pass me by. But she stopped right in front of me and pulled off one elbow-length glove before holding her palm out expectantly.
“Your hand,” she commanded.
I looked at Lulu, then at Nelly. They both looked down to avoid my gaze. With aching fear locking me down, I slowly placed my hand in hers.
Like a snake snatching its prey, she clamped her grip down on my hand like a vice, pulling me close as she pressed her other palm to my forehead.
It felt like a hot poker was rooting around in my brain and I moaned helplessly in pain. When it intensified suddenly, I let out a small whimper.
No. I was not letting her torture me like this.
With a strength I didn’t think myself capable of I pushed back at her with my mind.
The old woman screeched; dropping my hand like it was made of hot coals.
“Seed-stealer!” she yelled at me, venom dripping from her voice. “You dare challenge me?” The palm on my head pushed downwards with force and I fell out of the chair with a pained cry.
“Enough!” Vrosis was suddenly pulling the woman off me. “What is your conclusion, Tester?”
My vision was blurry, but even I could sense that Vrosis was angry.
The Tester huffed indignantly. “Succubus.” She stated it like it was a disease.
A collective gasp went around the room, but I was in too much pain to notice. Dimly I felt Lulu by my side, cradling my burning head in her lap.
After that every
thing got a little blurry. I recall Vrosis showing the Tester out, but it wasn’t until someone shoved a glass of water down my throat that things really started to clear up. Nelly and Lulu were next to me on the floor, while Vrosis was encouraging me to sit up.
“Well that explains some things,” he muttered, as I staggered back into my chair. “By the Strange God, we’ve not had a Succubus in years.”
My stomach revolted, but I gagged back the rising bile.
Nelly looked outraged. “Elder, you have to do something about that Tester. This was totally uncalled for. Lilith had no warning, no time to prepare.”
Vrosis nodded sadly. “She does seem to have a bit of a grudge against our caste,” he agreed. “At least she got the job done.”
My eyes were streaming as I stared at him in anguish. “Got the job done…” I echoed dully. “My showing was less painful.” I slumped in the chair.
“Lulu, would you be kind enough to escort Miss Carazor up to her room and keep an eye on her?” Vrosis asked. “I shall excuse you both from this lesson.”
Before I could stand, Aeron spoke. “Aren’t you at least going to explain to her what she is first? Or did she go through that for nothing?” He seemed angrier than I’d ever heard him, but I didn’t have the energy to look at him.
Vrosis coughed. “Of course, yes. Sorry. Lilith is a Succubus demon. In essence, she draws power from a partner’s sexual release. Hence the reason she hasn’t displayed any power, likely because she has never experienced full intercourse.”
I groaned, half in pain, half in embarrassment. Because that was just what I really needed right now; an elder announcing my virginity to the whole tower.
“So, seed-stealer…” Ryon trailed off, putting the insult together with my caste.
“Is a barbaric and offensive term, never to be spoken again in this tower.” Vrosis frowned at him. “The Tester was out of line, I shall report her to the other elders. Please, Lilith, go upstairs and rest, I am sorry for how hard that was on you.”
I nodded and let Lulu sling my arm around her shoulders, lifting me from the seat with an ease that said she was relying a little on her power for help.
We made it to the bottom of the stairs and I clutched the bannister to help me climb so I wouldn’t weigh Lulu down too much.
“I can manage,” I feebly protested.
Lulu snorted.
We got to my landing, though progress was so slow it took us at least fifteen minutes. Lulu left me clinging to the bannister while she unlocked the room, then pulled me inside and sat me on the bed.
I didn’t even have the strength to sit up, so the moment she left to pull the curtains, I flopped backwards.
“Oops,” I muttered. “I see now why you don’t like that Tester bitch. Much longer and I think I might have been a vegetable.”
Lulu stared. “It wasn’t that bad for me,” she said, lighting the bedside gas lamp with a flick of her power. “You were fighting her, weren’t you?”
I nodded. “It worked for a little bit,” I groaned, as Lulu pulled off my shoes and turned me so my legs were on the bed. “She already knew what I was as soon as she came in the door, you heard her!”
Lulu nodded, still pale as she helped me take off my jacket and covered me in the fleece blanket that lay on the bottom of the bed.
“At least you know what you need to do to gather power.” She smiled weakly.
I groaned. “Yes, sleep with someone. No can do.”
Lulu blinked in confusion, “Ryon or Triston would happily…” She frowned as I made gagging noises.
“No way,” I told her emphatically.
“Krossian then?” She named Bane as a last resort probably because earlier that week he’d been through his showing and turned out to be Greed. I’d learned in my time here that while sleeping with other castes was allowed, it wasn’t encouraged. “Or what about one of the newbies.”
“Two virgins fumbling around… just what I wanted for my first time,” I muttered deliriously, and then sighed. “It doesn’t really matter because I don’t really want to have power anyway. Once you have it, you get addicted to getting more of it, and then your personality fades away till all you are is your caste. I’ve seen it happen to my parents.”
Lulu’s mouth opened and closed slowly, like words were coming out. But I couldn’t hear them. I was in a strange bubble of exhaustion and my head felt funny, so with no fight left in me, I let sleep claim me.
Chapter 9
When I woke, the whole group was in my room. The girls were sitting around me on the mattress discussing things in low voices, while the boys were happily snooping around my possessions.
“Her eyes are open,” Babette commented. “Looks like our sleeping Succubus has come back to the land of the living.”
Everyone turned to stare.
“Good morning?” I asked, feeling slightly dizzy but otherwise fine.
“It’s afternoon,” Nelly corrected me. “You’ve been out cold for two days.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“Do you feel better?” Lulu asked, searching my face. “Your colour is back.”
“Just a bit dizzy.” I accepted a glass of juice from Babette. “What happened while I was out?”
Nelly groaned. “You’ve been the talk of the college,” she informed me. “Apparently someone from Envy overheard Vrosis telling Maddox about your condition. All they really know is that you had your testing and the Tester was so hard on you that she hurt you. Lust has kept your sub-caste secret, under Vrosis’ orders, even though everyone has been pestering us to tell them.”
I closed my eyes in disbelief. “Why do they care? Why does it even matter if they know?”
Ryon was the one to break the awkward silence. “People don’t like Succubae,” he told me sadly. “You draw power from men’s pleasure, but there’s an instant during sex where it’s possible for you to draw so much power that you kill a person.”
Nelly nodded. “Historically, Incubi – that’s the male version of your sub-caste – and Succubae have been used as assassins by powerful demons. All it takes is one kiss and bam, your rival is out of the picture.”
“Which means you have to be careful who you trust,” Triston said, gravely. “Lust caste won’t tell because we know you and you’re one of us. Vrosis hasn’t let on to the other teachers, much to their agitation. But there are others who would seek to use you.”
“And probably more that would want to kill you just in case,” Babette added, helpfully.
“What about the other Succubae?” I asked curiously.
“Vrosis said there haven’t been any for years,” Babette recalled. “He didn’t say more than that, but once you were upstairs he told the entire class to keep their mouths shut.”
“We sent Aeron to the library for more information…” Nelly muttered. “He was hanging around brooding, so it seemed the best idea to get rid of him at the time.”
I groaned, so my arch-enemy was out searching for information for me. Probably so he could hold it out of reach like he had that letter, for the sole purpose of irritating me to death.
“Now that you’re awake, we need to talk about this not screwing business,” Lulu informed me bluntly.
I blushed. “I don’t want to discuss it.”
She frowned. “I was you a year ago, Lilith. I know how it feels to not want to give up what seems like a momentous occasion to someone you don’t really know. But waiting around for someone will just get you killed.”
Ryon stepped in. “We are your caste, Lilith,” he told me sincerely. “Triston and I would both help you. We’re Lust, and you have to see that losing your virginity will not affect your love with the man you’ll spend the rest of your life with. We’re demons, not delusional teenage humans. But we respect you and like you. There would be no expectations, no judgement and no drama if you wanted to change lovers.”
Nelly nodded. “You need this Lilith; you need to be powerful enough to defend yourself.”
“You wouldn’t even need to go all the way,” Lulu told me hopefully. “A blowjob would work just as well.”
I was being ganged up on, but I knew they all thought they were doing what was best for me. I began to see it from their perspective. Right now, I was a vulnerable, powerless girl, in a powerful sub-caste with no one to protect me from those who would want to use me. If word of my sub-caste got outside of school, demons in political castes like Greed, Wrath, Envy and Pride would all seek to use me for their own agendas.
