by D. R. Rosier
Rafe felt angry.
“I’ve seen your newest memories, what the man said, that you trust him. I will investigate, it wasn’t what we were told happened. We were told they broke our covenant and attacked first. I suppose them leaving us high and dry could be considered an attack, but it wasn’t presented that way.”
I frowned, “Are you sure?”
I was worried about him, if there was deliberate deception by withholding a part of the truth… I had no doubt he would throw out a challenge.
His deep gruff chuckle sounded in my head, “I will be alright, worry for my enemies.”
Said every confident alpha ever. I was hardly reassured.
I asked, “When can you visit? Or should I come see you?”
His mental voice rumbled, “I’ll come to you soon little witch, perhaps tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest.”
I wasn’t sure what to think about his term of endearment, but I did kind of like it. I wondered if I should think up a pet name for him… but nothing really occurred to me. It was a good night at the club, there was only one drunken argument, and nothing physical. Yay Monday.
I should have known better. Mondays are never good. Closing time came and went. I’d been feeding slowly all night, and was already a little twitchy to begin with from magic world. I was looking forward to getting Lily and Tony in bed. Except, they never showed up. I had thought the worst that would happen if she couldn’t love me back would be an awkward moment or two.
Or like, leaving for work early to avoid me, like earlier. Skipping our Monday night threesome was… unexpected. Worse, she didn’t even bother contacting me to tell me she wasn’t going to show up. Other races can only use communication amulets to talk, it works on intent. If she touches it and thinks of a person wearing another amulet, it creates a kind of telepathic connection. Witches however can use it for a lot more, like locating exactly where they are, in any dimension.
Lily was at Tony’s, I had no idea what they were doing, but it was a sure bet they weren’t playing cards. I was horny as hell, feeling stood up, and very angry. I felt betrayed, and my chest hurt. I suppose the adult thing to do would be look for an alternate outlet, it wasn’t like I lacked opportunities for sex.
The very thought turned my stomach, and my anger drove out my physical needs, something that has never happened before. I kind of lost it after that, she snuck off to fuck the only other person I would be with just to avoid me? The really confusing part is we’d been together last night, after Tony and my normal quickie during inventory we both joined her. So… what the… Well let’s just say I threw a tantrum, and somehow managed to resist the urge to destroy everything around me.
Think of a woman in a rage wanting to throw the dishes, then add my power and all the breakable things around me, like the clubs and the city of New York. I wasn’t thinking very clearly, but I was able to open a portal to the Hawaii islands. One of the empty ones. It was just about sundown there being in a much earlier time zone.
I’d picked here, because I’d only come once before, with family. My regular private island destination had too many memories with her there.
I sat and watched the sun go down, imagining my rage filling the sun, and it going away with the light. No wonder I’d never been in love before, it hurt too fucking much. Who knows, maybe there was a good explanation and I was freaking out over nothing.
Yeah… right. I was such a sucker. I felt him coming then, and immediately felt guilty. I guess my crazy time disturbed him and he was coming to see if I was okay. He silently changed shape and sat behind me, wrapping me in his arms. A small part of me wanted to push him away, but I didn’t, and eventually I relaxed against his chest.
He didn’t speak, not even in my mind. We didn’t have sex either, he was just there for me, for hours. There was no need to speak, we shared our feelings and through that he knew when it was time to go. After a few hours he gave me a hug and I got up and returned home. He wanted to follow, but I knew he needed to get back, take care of what we’d discussed earlier.
I fell asleep eventually, for the first time in a very long time I felt lost and alone. I knew it wasn’t true of course. I had Rafe, my friends, my business, and a loving family.
No, I just felt isolated from my best friend, the closest friend I’d ever had, and the woman I loved. I feared I’d lost her forever.
I’d been up past dawn, so woke up around three in the afternoon and took a shower. I couldn’t feel her in the building and wondered if she’d even come home last night. I don’t mean come home to me, she has the other suite on the top floor as her own space. I went through the motions. Shower, food, dressing up to the nines. It was my turn for the dance club, and it was close to eight and she wasn’t here yet.
I shook my head, not even really angry at this point, just sad. How was this going to work if she couldn’t even be in my presence? And why now and not the first two days? I walked out in a blue dress, just a little lighter than the one I wore a few days ago, but still dark blue. I greeted the customers and made it into the club. Tony was behind the bar and looked at me guiltily.
It was probably a stalkerish move, but I was close to him, and it was so easy. Just the desire to know caused my magic to slip effortlessly into his mind. He felt guilty for two reasons. She had talked him into it just being them last night, and he had gone along with it even though he knew something wasn’t quite right about it. He also felt guilty because he was supposed to page Lily as soon as I got into the club. She gave him a ridiculous pretense, but we all knew it was so she could avoid running into me.
I was also surprised by how much it hurt. I guess I was a sucker and trusted too much, until I read his mind I hadn’t realized how big a part of me expected it to be a silly misunderstanding. But no, I’d drawn all the right conclusions last night when I was in a rage. I just didn’t understand why we couldn’t just go on as before and be friends, or why I wasn’t even worth an explanation after all the years we’d been roomies and best friends.
I went up the stairs into the office, sat behind the desk, and cried. The really disgusting thing is she told Tony he should go home with me tonight, and she couldn’t be there. She didn’t even give him a choice in it. It was like she was treating him as the dog a couple had to share after divorce. How fucked up was that?
“Go ahead little witch, at least you will know.”
I frowned. I knew what he meant but… Fuck it. I connected to my necklace, followed the magic to hers and dove into her mind. It was probably morally wrong as hell, but I needed to know what the hell she was thinking.
I pursed my lips, my thoughts were becoming a little too peppered with curses, I needed to watch that, I was too angry. What I found in her mind didn’t make me feel any better. The truth was crushing.
Not only did she not love me, she was terrified of me and my family. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out why that would be. I kind of understood why our power, a witch’s power, would frighten her, but we all treated her like family. But she was scared if she blew me off, because she most definitely did not love me, that I would lose my temper and…
It was ridiculous though, wasn’t it? But what I found was worse than I feared, I wasn’t even loved as a friend by her. I was convenient, a really good fuck, and necessary in the business. Her friendship was a calculated business decision. Don’t get me wrong, she enjoyed my company and had fun, I would have picked up on it long ago if that wasn’t true, but I was hardly necessary for either company or fun.
I was simply expendable.
That’s when I put it together, she trusted me not to read her mind, but she was afraid when she turned me down I would take a look around, which it turns out wasn’t an invalid fear. But the idea that I would kill her for being the cold hearted bitch she is… is ridiculous.
I gasped, except, it wouldn’t be for her.
It’s clearly something she would contemplate if I hurt her in some way. Of course, she couldn’t do that with
me, that’s why she feared my family, they’d turn her into a blood stain if she hurt me and she knew it. I thought I’d finally found love in my life, and I find this instead. Rafe admittedly was a bright spot, I knew he cared about me, but this?
Unfair to Tony or not, I really didn’t want to sleep with him again either. I’d changed too much, been hurt too much. Sleeping with him would be a reminder of what I lost, something I never even had except in my mind. I’d let him down as easy as I could, he already half expected it, seeing this as the end of his run of luck.
Ugh, enough feeling sorry for myself.
I sent Lily a message through the amulet, “Lil, I’ll let you decide if you want to be bought out, or if you want to buy me out. Don’t wait too long, because this shit isn’t going to work.”
Her answer came back faster than I expected, just a few seconds, “I’ll buy. I’ll send your lawyer the paperwork by end of day tomorrow with an offer.”
I was still hurt, but there was a strange sense of relief there too. I made my way downstairs and behind the bar and gave Tony a kiss on the cheek and looked into his eyes. He actually smiled at me, but he understood. I thought a little wistfully that he wouldn’t be bending me over the beer cases anymore, absolutely ridiculous I know, but I am a succubus after all.
I stepped into the back and opened a portal. I was singularly disgusted by the idea of going home to my mother, that was so not happening. I was well off after all, it wouldn’t take me long to find another niche in life. So I went to where I knew I’d always be both welcomed and not judged.
I stepped out of the portal into the clinic. My father jumped in surprise which made me giggle. I know, pathetic, but I hugged him tight.
“Hi dad, need any help? I find myself at loose ends.”
He frowned, “In clubbing attire?”
Ooops, so much for not being judged.
I shrugged nonchalantly, “If you need help I’ll get changed, I didn’t want to bother changing if you were good.”
Nice save, if I do say so myself.
He snorted, “You know how cheap the city is, we can always use a volunteer or two.”
I did know that, I used to help him all the time before I went into business. Running a club takes up a lot of time, never mind two of them even if they are next door to each other.
“Okay, be right back.”
I opened a portal to my apartment. I threw on a pair of baggie jeans, a loose sweater, and put up my hair in a ponytail. I looked in the mirror and shrugged. Hot geek was about as dressed down as I could get, and would have to do. The idea of flirting patients hitting on me in front of my father was… just wrong somehow, so I did my best to tone things down.
I pulled on a pair of sandals and took a portal back to the clinic. Health care had changed of course, fifty years ago when the angels and other supers were outted. The city though, being cheap, only hired a handful of angels to service a very large population. That may have worked on magic world, but when you only have a handful of people to keep millions healthy it’s very easy to run out of magic. At that point you had no choice but to leave, get some sleep and recharge before you can heal another person.
I did have a slight advantage, I had all those handy crystals full of magic that I was wearing, they worked like batteries and I could heal for much longer. Healing was also something I loved to do. It was easy, and fulfilling. I’d almost forgotten how much until I healed those fourteen people the other day. So I made my rounds, picking the high energy problem patients in the waiting room. Flu and bacteria were fast and cheap magic wise. Broken bones, dismemberment, and large wounds were the real magic drainers.
So that’s what I did. I used the crystals instead of my energy, and helped clear the waiting room. I thought about going somewhere, a strip club, or a normal one, and refilling the energy, but the idea turned my stomach. For a succubus that’s probably insanity, but it was how I felt. It wasn’t so much the energy I didn’t want, as the desire to have sex I knew it would engender.
So I cheated. I popped over to magic world, a few miles from the village. It took me seconds to channel the abundantly available magic and fill my empty crystals, top off my enchantments, and pop back to the clinic. I didn’t even bother closing the gate until after I was back, just left it open for the few seconds I was there.
I knew I’d get over my unnatural aversion, but give a girl a break. It was my first heartbreak, I needed a few days. Hmmm, a few days. That gave me an idea. I checked the waiting room, told my father I’d be right back, and opened a portal to the same island as last night. I sat down and crossed my legs, and then I embraced my magic and time slowed.
I was in a timeless moment. Not to cast a spell, but to meditate and cast out my inner demons. I focused on my loss some of the time, let my mind simply wander, and even took a shot at unraveling the DNA from magic world. It didn’t take me long to narrow down what parts enabled their magic, but I couldn’t figure out the exact way it worked.
I admitted to myself my younger sister was much smarter, at least for the sciency stuff and how the universe works. When I was done I went back and did it again, loss, wander, try to figure out something or work on a new spell. Then again, and again. I continued it in fact until thinking of Lily didn’t feel like I was being stabbed in the heart or felt it pushing me into a rage. Sure, it was still sad, but it was clearly time to move on.
After all, it had been months since our split, subjectively anyway. Probably two hours of real time.
I opened a portal back to the clinic and there was a small crowd again. Not nearly as bad as earlier, but growing. I picked a little girl first. She was blue in the face and looked to be having trouble breathing. When I scanned her there was a hole in her heart, a genetic defect. Something that only a witch could heal, so she was mine to deal with.
I embraced my magic as we walked back and brushed her arm, targeting her DNA and fixing it. It was something I’d done before so I knew what sequence to repair. Yes it was done on the sly. Most people were grateful for it, eventually, but honestly witches made most people nervous, and most people weren’t very excited about allowing one to play with their DNA much less their children’s. I learned that lesson a long time ago.
Once that was done it was easy, I let go of my witch magic and when we got to the back I simply healed her, my angelic healing read the new template and applied it, no more birth defect.
I sent them on their way and took the next one. When it slowed down again I did a cheat refill, not because of any desire to avoid the normal way, simply because at six am it was hard to find that sort of thing. I went home and collapsed in bed.
I woke up to a phone call, it was my lawyer. When he read me the offer I was a little surprised. It was actually short full value for my half of the business, but it was definitely close enough. I guessed she was just eager enough to see me leave rather than quibble over the price. I told him I agreed, then I showered and got dressed in a yellow sun dress. It came down to my knees, and showed a tasteful amount of cleavage. A pair of strap sandals and I was ready to go out the door.
It was time to find a new apartment. The question was where. And what about work? Well, I didn’t really need to work. I had wanted to after college, but even with just my trust I had enough to be independently wealthy through careful investments. Now with my very own dragon hoard? It was a done deal.
It was the challenge of it of course, I wanted to prove I could make a successful business of my own, now… that wasn’t so important in my life. I knew I could succeed, already proven myself. I decided instead to do something I loved. Which was healing, and maybe charity work of some kind? I wasn’t sure, but I thought it was a good idea. I was set enough to be able to help others, so why not.
After that the where was easy, I took a portal to the upscale side of Chicago. I wasn’t going to move back in with family, but I wanted to be closer to my family. It was kind of a silly thing really, considering almost all of them could portal to me
anywhere in the multi-verse in a second. Why it felt better in my mind to be close geographically was beyond me, but it did.
I spent most of the afternoon hunting for a place, but it turned out all I had to do was talk to Amber. There was a condo for sale in my sister’s building and I jumped on it. I knew I was moving fast, but by the time the sun went down I’d signed the paperwork for the club, bought a condo, and used a portal along with gravity manipulation to move my stuff.
I still hadn’t heard back from my family, either they didn’t want to do anything directly with dragons or they were still working out the plans. Either way, I was in the dark for now.
So what now? Time to go on a hunt, something I hadn’t done as a succubus in a long time. I had Rafe, and I suppose I could have just cheated by going to magic world to refill my magic, but that wasn’t a real life. I was a succubus, hunting was natural. Sure, I wanted a stable healthy polyamory relationship instead, but this was better than retreating from life by a long, long, way… Plus, realistically the only way I’d get what I want is by getting out there to find it.
Chapter 13
I slipped on a pair of three inch heels. Old habits die hard. I was in a curve hugging red dress and had my hair up. Ruby earrings with my new necklace. Sure, I was going out to feed. I could have gone to a strip club, or some other x-rated venue, but a club seemed like the best bet. After all, I had no one to come home to anymore, a club seemed the best place to find both.
I smiled, a genuine smile. The thought of being alone just gave me a twinge, it was most definitely her loss. I lived on the fourth floor, so I took the elevator down. It was quiet in the building, I hadn’t run into any neighbors yet. There was a club just a few blocks away. It was a little strange as I walked in, a small regret, but then I didn’t have any responsibilities here except to have a good time.
I was a little relieved as I ran my magic through the place, no other succubae were present. One of the bouncers was a male demon, but that didn’t really matter. Some of us could be… territorial.
