by Stuart Slade
Five hours later, she had, with great effort, managed to continue her refusal to speak. Maintaining silence had taken every bit of strength she had but it had been worth it to see the frustration on the faces of the two FBI men. The daemon just stared at her, emotionless, unblinking, evil.
“We’re not going to get much out of her.” Sith eventually sighed, “we can carry on tomorrow.”
Luga stared at the girl. “I’m hungry.”
“So am I. There’s some nice restaurants in town.”
“No, I’m hungry now. They look nice.” Luga pointed at Kathryn Branch’s breasts.
“Luga, you can’t!” Sith was horrified.
“You can’t stop me. I’m stronger and faster than you and it takes a lot of bullets to kill us. And I’m hungry now.” Luga reached out and ripped open Branch’s blouse, then grabbed one of her breasts. She pulled it, stretching it out and opened her mouth exposing her fangs just a few inches from her supposed snack.
“Get her away from me!” Branch panicked, screaming the words, mixed out with weeping and fear. “Get that hell-spawn away from me. I’ll tell you anything, just don’t let her … . .”
Luga stepped away and grinned at the two stunned FBI men. “There you are. You humans are so afraid of being eaten. Of course, you can’t use her confession in court. Call me back if there are any more problems with her.”
Kathryn Branch was already babbling out a long list of the people she had contacted in her espionage ring. As she left, Luga stopped and patted her on the head. “Kathryn, fangs for the mammaries.”
Chapter Thirty
Eastern District Federal Court, Raleigh, North Carolina
“Your honor, this is the most outrageous infringement – no, your Honor, infringement is too mild a word – the most outrageous flouting of my client’s constitutional rights that it has even been my misfortune to encounter. Miss Branch was denied legal representation… . . “
“Objection! Your honor, the defendant made no request for legal representation, in fact she made no statement at all until her final breakdown.”
“Sustained. Strike the reference to the defendant being denied legal representation.”
“My client was also drugged and threatened with sexual assault and mutilation at the hands of a cannibalistic… . .”
“Objection! Miss Sharmanaska is not a human being therefore the accusation of cannibalism is contrary to fact. In any case, as the videotape records of the interrogation clearly show, the defendant was never threatened or hurt in any way. Nor was she deliberately drugged. At this point, we believe it would clarify matters greatly if the court was to watch these videotapes. We believe they clearly refute the statements made by the defense.
Judge Candlass looked at the courtroom, the federal attorney prosecuting the case, the FBI agents who had made the interrogation and the succubus who had assisted them. His eyes were drawn to Lugasharmanaska, noting the yellow eyes with slit pupils set in darkly-shadowed sockets, the dead white skin of the face and hands, changing to the shiny black of the rest of her body, the red horns emerging from the pinkish hair. She was, he thought, quite charming. Then he shook himself. “Very well, we will watch the videotape. How long is it?”
“Five hours and five minutes your Honor.” The judge winced.
“Your Honor, the defense is prepared to stipulate that my client said nothing for the first five hours. The essential part of the tape is the last five minutes. We would be agreeable to showing just the first ten minutes of the tape to prove my client made no incriminating statements and the last ten to show the court the despicable assault upon her constitutional rights.”
“That sounds reasonable.” The judge spoke with relief. “Clerk of the Court, please show the tape in the manner described.”
Up on the television screen, the grainy image showed Kathryn Branch refusing to answer the questions put to her. The two FBI agents couldn’t even get her to confirm her name or any other personal details. She just sat their, ignoring their increasingly-irritable questioning. Throughout the whole procedure, Lugasharmanska just sat there, emotionless and unblinking, her yellow eyes fixed on Branch. Eventually the Agent-in-Charge turned to his assistant.
“We’re not going to get much out of her.” Sith eventually sighed, “we can carry on tomorrow.”
Luga stared at the girl. “I’m hungry.”
“So am I. There’s some nice restaurants in town.”
“No, I’m hungry now. They look nice.” Luga pointed at Kathryn Branch’s breasts.
“Luga, you can’t!” Sith was horrified.
Lugasharmanska turned slightly and the videocamera picked up her winking at Sith. Then she turned back to Banch and stared at her again. Branch went white, her eyes widening in fear, then she suddenly collapsed across the table, sobbing in fear. “Get her away from me!” Branch panicked, screaming the words, mixed out with weeping and fear. “Get that hell-spawn away from me. I’ll tell you anything, just don’t let her … . .”
Luga stepped away and grinned at the two stunned FBI men. “There you are. You humans are so afraid of being eaten. Of course, you can’t use her confession in court. Call me back if there are any more problems with her.”
Kathryn Branch was already babbling out a long list of the people she had contacted in her espionage ring. As she left, Luga stopped and patted her comfortingly on the head. The tape continued to run, showing Branch continuing to pour out all the information she had on her spying activities. Then, it ended.
“Your honor, the prosecution submit that the tape clearly shows the defendant was neither drugged nor coerced. In fact, except for the brief, comforting, pat on the head as she left, there was no physical contact at all between the law enforcement authorities and the defendant.”
The Judge frowned and privately wished this case had gone before somebody else. Judge Simpkins perhaps, Candlass had never liked him. This case had the potential to be a career-ender.
“Your Honor, the key part of the defense case is not shown by this tape. Succubae are well-known to have pheremones that make those around them sympathetic to them and they also have the daemonic ability to entangle people’s minds and make them see and experience things that are not real. We contend that Miss Sharmanaska’s presence in the interrogation room was equivalent to drugging my client and that she implanted the visions in her mind that led to her collapse. She may not have been physically coerced, but the threat of mutilation was very real Miss Sharmanaska herself confirms it when she said, and I quote, ‘You humans are so afraid of being eaten.’ And she herself said ‘Of course, you can’t use her confession in court.’ I submit that my client’s confession should be thrown out on these grounds. And, of course, any information derived from it should also be cast out as the fruit of the poison tree.”
“Your Honor, Miss Sharmanaska is not a lawyer, her opinions are those of a lay… . . lay,” The prosecuting attorney hesitated then settled for the conventional, “person.”
“I think Miss Sharmanska should answer for herself on this. Clerk of the Court, swear her in.”
Lugasharmanaska took the stand and the Clerk approached her, a little nervously. “Repeat after me, I affirm that the evidence I shall give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so he… .” From sheer force of habit, the Clerk had almost ended the oath with the traditional ‘so help me God.’
Luga smiled at him and helpfully added “So help me, me?”
The Federal attorney took up the questioning. “Your name is Luga Sharmanaska?”
“It is now. My original name was Lugasharmanaska, one word. All daemonic names are one word. But when I became an American citizen, it was split into two.”
“Please explain to the court about these pheremones?”
“I do not know much, only what I have been told. All succubae know that we make those around us friendly and agreeable. We always thought it was magic, we called it miasma, and never questioned how it happened. Then hu
mans came and asked questions. How and why. They found that our bodies emit pheremones that change the emotions of those around us. So, they say, do humans, although their pheremones are not as effective as ours.”
“I see, so your pheremones are just a developed version of something all humans have. Can they make people do things against their will.”
Luga hesitated. “No, if somebody really doesn’t want to do something, the pheremones won’t make them. For that we must use trickery.”
“And, for five hours, the defendant refused to speak although she must have known doing so would please you. Did that surprise you?”
“Not really. I said, if somebody is determined not to do something, my miasma won’t make them. But, the government asked me to help protect itself from the defendant and who am I to refuse aid to the country that gave me refuge?”
“Your honor, please let the record state that Miss Sharmanaska has been of great assistance in the war effort, often at considerable personal risk and has suffered severely during her efforts. Her loyalty is not subject to doubt.”We don’t doubt that she has no loyalty at all to anybody but herself. The Federal attorney was very careful not to give a hint of the thought. “You said trickery Miss Sharmanaska. How?”
“Before humans started to wear your silver hats, we could create images in your mind. I could make myself look like a wife so a faithful husband would lay with me not knowing who or what I was. The Incubi, our male equivalents could make themselves look like a faithful wife’s husband for the same reason. Or I could project an image of empty space so that people would not see me at all.”
“And you could project this image to multiple persons at one.”
“Only if they were not wearing silver hats, yes. We used to do it all the time.”
“What if they are wearing silver hats?”
“Then unless I was very close and concentrated on a single mind, I cannot entangle that mind. Even under ideal situations, penetrating a silver cap is exhausting.”
Judge Candlass tapped his gavel. “I want to see this. Miss Sharmanaska, can you change your appearance please?”
“If you take your hat off. Who would you like me to look like.”
The judge remembered his favorite poster from the 1980s. “Farrah Fawcett.”
The Court recorder called the famous poster up on his computer and showed Luga the picture. She nodded and the judge took off his tinfoil cap. Even doing so made him feel uneasy and his head felt naked without its protection. It was no wonder that going around without a tinfoil cap was a sign of madness. Then he looked at the witness stand and saw Farrah Fawcett standing there in the trademark red swimsuit. He gasped, put on his cap and, once more, he saw the succubus in her real form.
“Miss Sharmanaska, you must be the most dangerous person I have ever seen in this courtroom.”
“Thank you, your Honor.” Lugasharmanaska sounded pleased.
“Miss Sharmanaska, do you have any legal training?” The Federal Attorney returned to the case,
“No, only the studies of the Constitution required for me to become a Citizen.”
“So your comment about not being able to use the information gained in court was your own, unqualified opinion?”
“In a way, although I thought the information we gained would be secret and not revealed to anybody. That is what I meant.
“Ah, I see.” Well done Luga. That throws a spanner in the defense. “No further questions.”
The Defense attorney rose to his feet. “Miss Sharmanaska, do you eat human meat?”
“Not now, no.”
“Have you ever?”
“Objection your Honor. Relevence?”
“Goes to credibility of the alleged threat.”
“Overruled. Witness will answer.”
“Once, yes. But that was before I joined humans.”
“Did you project an image of you eating my client’s breasts.”
“Not her breasts, no.” Luga smiled to herself. She’d noted how lawyers played with words.
“Oh.” The attorney was confused. “So what did you project an image of?”
“I haven’t said that I did.”
“Well did you?”
“Yes.”
“What of.”
“Eating one breast. Singular. Not both of them.” A ripple of laughter ran around the courtroom. That made Luga feel a lot easier in her mind, her pheremones were having their usual effect.
“Your Honor, there we have it. A hideous, coercive threat of permanent mutilation.”
“Not permanent. It would grow back.”
“Not on Earth it won’t.”
“Oh. I forgot that.” Luga had honestly forgotten that bodies didn’t regenerate on Earth.
“Irrelevent. Your Honor, I maintain that the statements we have heard today are enough to support the claim that my client’s constitutional rights were trampled underfoot, that she was drugged and terrified into making her confession. In fact, I would go as far to say she was tortured mentally until she confessed. She was threatened with dreadful physical harm by a creature she had been brought up to regard as the epitome of evil. I mean no disrespect to Miss Sharmanaska, her record of valued service to the human cause is well known and her television program is loved by millions. She was doing what she believed was helping her adopted country as best she could. We should respect that. But she is a daemon and what she did was wrong. As such, her confession and all that stems from it should be ruled inadmissible and stricken from the record.”
“Prosecution?”
“Your Honor. We have already disproved the charge that the defendant was denied her legal rights. The accusation that she was drugged also falls since the defense has admitted she spent five hours under interrogation without the pheremones having any effect on her. In fact, the interrogation was on the point of being ended as a failure, showing that the alleged drugging did not take place. As to the threat, the courts have always been prepared to accept that the law enforcement community has a degree of latitude in such things. It is commplace, for example, to tell an alleged murdered that if he does not confess, the prosecution will seek the death penalty. The horrors of going to an American prison are also described in an attempt to produce a confession. Who amongst us has not heard going to prison being described as ‘starting a new career as a bad man’s girlfriend?’ How often do we see the deal being offered ‘five to ten if you confess, 25 to life if you do not?” Such threats and intimidation may not be a happy part of the law enforcement system but they are an accepted one that does not invalidate a confession. All that happened here was that the same such threats were made in a slightly more vivid and persuasive form that usual. There was no real danger of the defendant suffering physical harm. The law enforcement officers would not have permitted it and I feel sure that Miss Sharmanaska, with her pride in her American Citizenship would not have carried out her threat. And, I must point out that the information gained as a result of this interrogation will greatly benefit every citizen of the world. Remember, Uriel is still out there. We still face unknown dangers from Heaven. Can we afford to tolerate traitors in our midst. Your Honor, I implore you not to rule this information inadmissible.”
Judge Candlass looked across the court, making up his mind. “This is a hard case and breaks new ground. The society we face today is unimaginable two years ago. Creatures we once thought were mythical have proved to be all to real and they have powers that our laws do not even begin to cover. Until new laws are written, and writing law is not the role of the Judiciary, we must do the best we can by applying existing law to these new circumstances. Working on that principle, it is this Court’s ruling that … … .”
Chapter Thirty One
Eastern District Federal Court, Raleigh, North Carolina
Judge Candlass looked across the court, making up his mind. “This is a hard case and breaks new ground. The society we face today is unimaginable two years ago. Creatures we once thought were mythical hav
e proved to be all to real and they have powers that our laws do not even begin to cover. Until new laws are written, and writing law is not the role of the Judiciary, we must do the best we can by applying existing law to these new circumstances.
“Working on that principle, it is this Court’s ruling that the statement from Miss Branch was obtained in violation of her rights under the Fourth Amendment. This states that ‘the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.’ She was rendered insecure in her own person by the invasion of her mind and it was this invasion that led to her confession. In addition her rights under the Fifth Amendment were also violated. This states that ‘no person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.’ Miss Branch was clearly compelled to be a witness against herself. For these reasons, this evidentiary hearing finds in favor of the Defense. The statements made by Miss Branch are inadmissible and may not be presented at her trial.”
The judge paused for a second and took a breath. “This court takes no pleasure in making such a ruling. On a personal note, the idea that Miss Branch should seek the protection of the society she has so comprehensively betrayed is abhorrent. This brings us to a very important point. Recently, there has been much talk of judges needing to have ‘empathy’ or ‘understanding the situation of the accused’. This case shows us very clearly the deadly danger of that delusion. Miss Branch, if this court had empathy for you or understanding for your position, you would be taken from this court and hanged by the neck until you are dead, dead dead. But it is not the role of the law to have empathy for those who appear before it. It is the role of the law to be cold, stoic and isolate. It is the duty of the law to treat every person who appears before it with dispassionate objectivity be they poor and humble or the highest of the high. For that reason, and that reason alone, the court has found in your favor on this matter.
