by Sarah Carter
Damien looks at Claire. “You didn’t tell me that.”
She grimaces and shrugs. “You didn’t ask me to arm wrestle.”
“Like how strong?” Damien asks.
“Depending how angry I am, I have literally kicked my motorcycle across the garage,” Claire mutters.
“I told her if she did that again, I wouldn’t replace it,” her grandfather scolds.
Claire giggles. “I only did it once.”
“How many other things have I replaced because you broke them?” he retorts.
“Whatever, grandpa,” Claire groans, rolling her eyes.
“So, you’re really strong upper body-wise?” Damien offers.
Biting her lip, Claire says, “No, not really. I can kick a hole in a wall, too. I’m just very disciplined. It all depends on how pissed off I am. I’ve broken a lot of training equipment.”
“Seriously?” Damien squeaks in awe.
“Mmhmmm.”
“Show me,” Damien says eagerly.
Confused, Claire replies, “How?”
Pointing to the metal table, Damien says, “Do something to this.”
“To influence metal, I have to be really mad,” Claire states.
He leans in by her. “When you walked away with Alex, I was so mad that I went and made out with that chick that hit on me.”
Totally pissed, Claire grips the table and bends the top up.
“Claire!” her grandfather yells.
Quickly, she stops and looks down. “Holy cow,” Damien exhales.
“Sorry,” Claire mumbles, not moving her gaze. “I just didn’t expect to hear that. I can’t really blame you.”
“I was lying!” Damien exclaims. “Holy cow—sorry, baby. I was totally lying.”
“What?” Claire gasps looking at him.
Damien points to the table. “That’s incredible.”
“You were lying?” Claire whispers.
He nods. “Yeah. I waited and then followed you to the hotel later. I didn’t do anything. I swear.”
“Have you ever hurt anyone with your strength?” Mr. Paulson asks.
“No,” Claire replies. “I can really control it. To use the strength, I have to literally think about it, otherwise nothing happens.”
“I wonder how strong you’d be when you had extra energy in you?” Dr. Galliger mutters under his breath. “If this is true, we have so many experiments we need to run.”
Claire vigorously shakes her head. “I don’t want to be a guinea pig.”
“We have to figure out how you work,” Mr. Paulson says. “If a succubus hasn’t existed in 500 years, we need to find out as much as we can. 500 years ago we were still technologically advanced. We must have some records somewhere.”
“I can look into that,” Damien retorts. “I’ll have to tell the council about this.”
“No.” Claire shakes her head again. “What if I get into trouble?”
A soft look passes over Damien’s face. “Claire, how would you be in trouble?”
“What if they want to lock me up?” Claire cries.
“Would you like us to talk to them now, with witnesses?” Damien asks.
Claire looks to her grandfather, and he smiles. “Master Blakely is a very kind man. You don’t need to worry about him.”
“This makes me nervous,” Claire murmurs, shifting in her seat.
“It’ll be alright, I promise. Nothing will happen to you,” Damien says softly.
Claire looks at him and then nods. Damien brings her hand up and kisses it. He walks over to the computer panel on the wall. A screen pops up and he starts to put a bunch of codes into it. Finally, he sticks his hands into his pockets. There is a binging sound and then a voice comes over the room.
“Yes, son?” A picture of a black hair man, who resembles Damien, appears on the wall. The guy sits up a little more. “Did I forget a meeting of some sort?”
“No,” Damien replies, shaking his head. “There’s something you need to know about.”
Mr. Blakely looks at everyone. “Kaleb Hardrick? Have you come out of retirement?”
“No,” her grandfather answers. “I’m here for my granddaughter.”
It’s then that Mr. Blakely’s eyes fall on Claire. Her cheeks heat up and looks away.
“Hello, young lady,” he says, but Claire doesn’t look up at him. “Damien?”
“Father, this is Claire Livingston,” Damien states. “Claire, this is my father, Drake Blakely.”
She finally looks up at Damien’s father. “Hello, Master Blakely.”
“Hi,” he replies softly. “You look scared. You don’t need to be scared of me. I don’t bite. I promise.”
“I’m afraid of what you’re going to do with me,” Claire mumbles.
Mr. Blakely arches his eyebrow. “Why would I do anything to you?”
“Because…I’m a succubus,” Claire replies.
There is a dumbfounded look on Mr. Blakely’s face. “Say that again?”
“Father, we have reason to believe that Claire is a succubus,” Damien states.
A heavy silence sits in the air. “Okay…why do you think that?”
Damien takes a deep breath and explains everything to his father. Claire can’t even look at the screen, she’s so nervous. Finally, Damien says, “And so here we are.”
“You took down that many of our guards?” Mr. Blakely laughs.
“She’s a very skilled fighter. Mr. Hardrick has been training Claire her entire life. She’s incredible.”
“None of that matters,” Claire says. “I’m dangerous.”
Mr. Blakely asks, “Did you drain Alex on purpose?”
“Of course not!” Claire exclaims.
“Then you’re fine and we wouldn’t throw you in jail. We need to figure out what’s going on with you, though.”
Claire nods. “I don’t want to hurt anyone.”
“We need to run some tests,” Dr. Galliger interjects.
“Like what?” Claire squeaks.
Dr. Rollin replies, “We need to have you drain someone while we’re monitoring them.”
“We need to check your genetics,” Mr. Paulson adds. “To see if there’s anything different about you.”
“You should be able to learn to control your abilities,” her grandfather states. “The previous succubus was able to do it.”
“I’ll work with her on that,” Damien declares. “I don’t want her to think she’s a freak.”
Rolling her eyes, Claire says, “Well, I am.”
“Claire,” Damien growls.
“Damien,” she retorts.
He narrows his eyes but smirks at the same time.
“So, are we tethering me to a hundred electrodes or what?”
There is a sudden knock on the door.
“Should I answer it?” Mr. Paulson asks.
“Yes, that’s fine,” Mr. Blakely answers.
Mr. Paulson stands up and goes to the door. A teenage girl is standing there with a plate of food.
“Master Damien ordered some lunch,” the girl states.
“Oh, yes,” Damien retorts, walking over to her. “Thank you very much.”
He takes the plate and smiles, and the girl gives him a bashful smirk back.
Damien shuts the door and brings the plate over to Claire. “Please eat.”
“In front of everyone?” Claire whispers.
“You need to eat.”
Her grandfather touches her arm. “Please eat, baby girl.”
“Yes,” Mr. Paulson says. “We don’t need you to get sick.”
Claire’s stomach growls, and she picks up her fork. “I am hungry.”
“Very good,” Mr. Paulson retorts. “I want to do some tests on you. We’ll need some blood samples. I hope you aren’t scared of needles.”
Claire grimaces. “I hate needles.”
Damien takes the seat next to her and grabs her hand. “I’ll be there with you. I’ll keep you preoccupied.”
“Okay,” Claire murmurs. With her stomach growling some more, Claire takes a bite of food. She actually moans. “Oh, this is good. I’m so hungry.”
“That’s a great sign,” Dr. Galliger says. “So, have you ever had any other indications that you were different?”
She shakes her head as she swallows. “Honestly, I thought I was just dysfunctional. The Neturu have a lot of strength already. I thought I just had a little more than everyone else. All my friends and boyfriends were human. So, I would’ve never had any personal contact with Neturu before, well, other than sparring, but obviously there’s no energy transferring in that.”
“What do you know of this, Kaleb?” Mr. Blakely asks.
“The last succubus existed 500 years ago. She found out early in life. Ventria learned to control it over time. It took some practice, though. She was married and had children. So, Claire, you can live a normal life once you get control of your ability.”
Claire pushes her food around. “I’m afraid to touch people. I don’t want to lose control.”
“We can closely monitor you,” Mr. Paulson states. “We can probably warn you before you completely drain someone. We also don’t want you to overload yourself again.”
“It was weird finally being able to shift,” Claire sighs. “I wonder if I can go to shima now?”
“We can test that, too.”
Damien crosses his arms. “Well, you and I will start to push and pull energy and we’ll see where that gets us.”
“You’ll do no such thing,” Mr. Blakely snaps. “We can’t risk you, Damien.”
He turns around. “Dad, I don’t want her doing that with just anyone.”
“Damien, no. Why would you do that anyway?” Mr. Blakely retorts.
“Because…we’re dating each other. I would prefer her not kissing other guys. Not sure if I could handle that.”
Mr. Blakely raises his eyebrow. “I didn’t realize you were dating anyone.”
“We just decided to start,” Damien replies. “We’re keeping it…on the down-low for now. Alex can’t know. We don’t want to cause problems.”
“For right now, that’s probably a good idea,” his father murmurs. “But I still don’t want you to be the guinea pig.”
Glaring, Damien crosses his arms. “Exactly how are we going to do this then?”
“We’ll have people volunteer,” Dr. Galliger declares. “There’s no need for actual kissing. All they need to do is touch each other.”
“How would you like someone to do that with mom?” Damien growls at his father.
“Damien,” Claire sighs. “It’s fine. It’s not like it’s going to mean anything. There will be nothing inappropriate, and you can probably be there for it all.”
“I want to start this testing right away,” Mr. Paulson states. “The sooner, the better.”
Claire nods her head. “I agree. I’m scared and want to figure out what’s going on.”
“I may come there myself,” Mr. Blakely says. “This is important.”
“We’ll get more security then,” Dr. Galliger says.
“Or better security,” Claire laughs.
Obviously trying to hide the humor in his voice, her grandfather says, “Claire.”
“What? It’s true.”
“Well, maybe Kaleb can show them a thing or two to help,” Mr. Blakely interjects.
With a grin, Claire says, “Or I can.”
“From the sound of it, you probably could,” Mr. Blakely chuckles. “If this is true, and you’re a succubus, we may try to make it worth your while to join the guard.”
“Really? Why?” Claire chirps with a hopeful tone.
“You could be a great asset. Think about it: no one would know what you are. You’d almost be a secret weapon,” Mr. Blakely states.
“Freaking awesome!” Claire exclaims. “I’ve always wanted to join the guard.”
Damien puts his hands up. “One step at a time. I’m not sure how I feel using you as a secret weapon.”
“The guard is my dream,” Claire retorts. “Don’t rain on my parade. Anyway, I could always guard you.”
He taps his chin. “Good point.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” her grandfather says. “Let’s start with some tests.”
“I’m going to finish eating and then we can get started,” Claire replies, putting more food in her mouth.
“Well, first, Mr. Lennox is demanding to talk to you,” Dr. Galliger states. “He was putting up quite an argument.”
Snorting, Damien replies, “Let him argue.”
“Damien Blakely,” Claire scolds. “Don’t be a jerk.”
With a smile, Damien says, “He wants to be your boyfriend. I don’t want that to happen. So I’ll be snarky if I want to.”
“Damien,” his father says. “You can’t win a girls heart by making an ass of yourself.”
“Yeah, Damien,” Claire giggles. “I like your dad.”
“Fine. Go talk to Alex,” Damien snips. “I’ll have a conversation with him too. Tell him what’s going on.”
Claire puts her fork down. “Don’t you dare.”
“Son, stop it.” Mr. Blakely sighs. “You’re acting like a child.”
“I really like Claire, father, and I will make comments if I want to,” Damien retorts, with a huge smile on his face.
Mr. Blakely closes his eyes and grabs the bridge of his nose. Claire laughs and covers her mouth. Damien wiggles his eyebrows at her. She rolls her eyes in reply.
“We’ll need to put some more electrodes on you,” Mr. Paulson declares. “There will be some on your head.”
“Wonderful,” Claire groans.
“It’ll be hot,” Damien replies. “Don’t worry.”
Claire smirks. “As long as you think so.”
“We can put glitter on them,” Damien retorts, “Make them sparkly.”
“Everything’s better when it sparkles,” Claire giggles.
“Mmhmmm.”
Claire’s grandfather moans. “Teenagers.”
“I agree Kaleb. I remember being there once,” Mr. Blakely laughs. “It was a long time ago though.”
“Adults,” Damien retorts sarcastically. “Huge stick-in- the-muds with no sense of humor.”
“Can we please get back on track,” Dr. Rollins interjects sternly. “We need to monitor Miss Livingston.”
“Miss Livingston needs to finish eating,” Claire replies, taking another bite.
Mr. Blakely chuckles. “I think I’ll come there for this. Let me talk to the rest of the council and see if any of them would like to come, too.”
“Ooooo, a party,” Claire draws out. “Fun for everyone.”
Laughing, Mr. Blakely says, “She’s funny.”
“Claire is awesome,” Damien states with a grin.
Mr. Blakely nods. “I’ll pack and leave tonight. I would’ve preferred you let me know what was going on right away, son. I thought you were at the rendezvous.”
Damien sighs. “I’ve been emancipated for years. I don’t have to tell you everything.”
“When it’s something like this, yes you do.”
Damien groans, rolling his eyes. “I figured I could handle this on my own. I’m supposed to replace you one day.”
A soft laugh comes from Mr. Blakely. “Yes, but not yet, so you do still answer to me.”
“I’m sorry, then,” Damien says. “I’ll keep you up to date from now on.”
“I’ll be there soon, so that won’t be necessary,” Mr. Blakely replies. “Why don’t you let Miss Livingston finish eating and then you can get started when she’s ready.”
Damien nods. “Alright.”
“Please make sure you talk to the security there. I think saying that they failed is an understatement.”
“In their defense, I haven’t found anyone that can take me,” Claire states. “Honestly.”
Raising an eyebrow, Mr. Blakely replies, “Really?”
Her grandfather j
umps in. “She could go up against your best guard members.”
A smirk crosses Mr. Blakely’s face. “I will be bringing my personal guard. Then we can see how big of an asset to the guard she’ll be.”
“Umm, that may be a little extreme,” Damien interjects. “She hasn’t actually been trained by the guard yet.”
“I was the guard,” Claire’s grandfather retorts. “She did just take down almost an entire team. She could be an assassin if she wanted to be. I trained her like I’ve trained the guard for thirty years.”
Mr. Blakely laughs. “I want to see what she’s capable of.”
“The honest truth?” Claire says. “I can kill a Neturu in 90 different ways. I know all 102 energy points. The only fighter who can keep up with me is Alex, and if you ask Damien, I took him down in under five minutes. And Alex…is a guard member.”
“Ah, yes. Alex Lennox,” Mr. Blakely says. “I’ve heard about him. That’s why we sent him to the rendezvous.”
“He’s my fighting partner,” Claire replies.
Damien groans. “This is going to end up messy.”
“This is who I am. I’m a fighter. It’s what I do. The guard has been a dream for me since I was kid. If there’s a chance of me joining it, I’ll show what I can do.”
“I like her,” Mr. Blakely declares. “Well, Miss Livingston, you’ll get your wish. I’ll bring my personal guard members. If you can do what you say, maybe I’ll take you on as my protection. But first, we need to figure out what’s going on with you.”
“Excellent,” Claire exclaims. “I’ll finish this right now.” She takes a piece of chicken and pops it into her mouth.
“Well, let me get down to what I need to do,” Mr. Blakely says. “I’ll let you get started. I should be there in the morning.”
“We can have breakfast,” Claire chirps.
“We can,” Mr. Blakely replies. “Alright, I’m going to go. I’ll talk to you all in the morning.”
“Bye,” everyone in the room returns. Mr. Blakely nods and disappears from the screen.
Damien turns around. “See? My father isn’t scary.”
“No, he seems really nice,” Claire responds.
“You’re just looking forward to taking on his guards,” her grandfather murmurs, as he laughs.
