Blood of the Succubus

by McGeary, Duncan

  Lucinda hurried into the room, and Serena knew the instant she saw the girl’s panicked expression that Jeremy was in the same comatose state.

  “What’s happened to them?” Lucinda asked.

  “I don’t know,” Serena said. “But I know this much: it’s because of them, the Daughters of Lilith.”

  “The Daughters?” Bobbie Jo said, emphasizing the s at the end. “I still can’t get over the idea that there’s more than one of these horrible Succubitches in town.”

  Cary stirred behind them, sitting up and glaring at them. His eyes glinted in the moonlight, and he made no effort to hide his raging hard-on. Serena wanted to drape a blanket over him.

  Without giving them so much as a glance, he walked toward the door, naked.

  “Cary?” Serena said. “Where are you going?”

  He ignored her. She ran to the doorway, blocking his way.

  He slapped her across the face. “Out of my way, bitch,” he snarled.

  Serena was too stunned to do anything. She backed up and sat on the bed, dazed.

  Cary opened the door and went into the hallway just as Adam, naked and hard, was going by. Bobbie Jo rushed after him, grabbing him by the arm. “Wait just one minute, buster,” she said. Adam whirled around, swinging his fist and striking her in the chin. Bobbie Jo fell backward, cursing.

  Serena watched Cary leave as if in a dream. Adam and Jeremy, both also nude, joined him in the hallway. All three headed for the exit.

  ***

  The Daughters of Lilith waited on the sidewalk outside the Cambridge Hotel, jeering and laughing as three men emerged, fully erect. There was no one on the street to notice their nudity, and if there had been any observers, they wouldn’t have thought it strange. Such a state was the rule rather than the exception by now in Bend.

  The men fondled their erections as they approached the sisters. Agrat Bat stroked Cary’s member and started leading him away. “I see what you mean,” she said appreciatively to Eisheth. “A nice, strong life force.”

  Naamah walked over to Adam and took him by the cock, smiling.

  Eisheth followed their example and grabbed Jeremy. “Remember,” Eisheth hissed. “They’re mine. You can’t have them.”

  “Of course, little sister,” Agrat Bat said. “We’ll take them back to our place. You can have them all to yourself. Plenty of other men to go around.”

  “What about the woman?” Eisheth asked.

  “We’ll get to her soon enough,” Agrat Bat said.

  Chapter 40

  Rick felt them growing ever stronger.

  The Daughters of Lilith were going to be at their most powerful when he confronted them, but he was ready. The hate for the Succubae burned within him, never diminishing no matter how many years passed. He concentrated on the rage within, fanning it to a fiery, unquenchable ball within his chest.

  Just over the summit of Santiam Pass in the Cascades, he got a short, stark text.

  Serena: They’ve taken him.

  Rick wasn’t sure who “him” was, but he immediately texted back.

  Rick: Stay put. I’ll be there in minutes.

  He started passing cars, dangerously, barely avoiding a head-on crash more than once. He sped through the town of Sisters, dodging pedestrians, blaring his horn to get people off the road. He made it to the outskirts of Bend in record time.

  A car blew through a red light, just missing him and smashing into the side of a pickup. The driver flew through the windshield and onto the road, his pants around his knees. The woman servicing him was smashed against the dashboard and fell, unmoving, to the floor of the cab.

  Rick barely missed being hit several more times, the drivers clearly incapacitated by their lust. In another time and place, he would have suspected drugs or alcohol, but here, now, with acts of public lewdness on every corner, more even than Haight Ashbury at its height, there could be only one source. The three sisters were in full bloom, and their sexual desires had awoken a sleepy town.

  He stopped a block away from the hotel. The two Harleys that had followed him closely all the way to town pulled up behind him.

  “Wow,” Abigail said. “If I had any doubt they were here, getting off on my bike’s vibrations put an end to that.”

  Brittany laughed. “Yeah, I’m wet all over.”

  Rick frowned. He waited for their smiles to fade. “This is no laughing matter.”

  “All right, old man,” Brittany said. “Just trying to take the edge off.”

  “Keep that edge,” he said. “You’ll need it.”

  “What do you want us to do?” Abigail said, all business.

  Rick had been mulling that over for the last fifty miles. “I need you to keep them from killing me the moment I walk in the door. I want them to try to seduce me.”

  Brittany turned her head a little quizzically. “You ready for that?”

  He didn’t hesitate. “I’m ready. I’ve been ready for decades. You do not know how much I hate them.”

  “So we keep them from physically slaughtering you, what else?” Brittany said.

  “Nothing. I am the one who has to finish it. I must drink the Blood, and I must resist their temptation, and I must squeeze the life from them. There is nothing you can do to help me once that begins.”

  “Don’t they weaken if they are rejected?” Abigail asked. When Rick nodded, she turned to her sister and nodded. “Then we can help.”

  “What do you mean?…Oh.”

  Both women were grinning at him. “Didn’t the black leather and the Harleys give you a clue?” Abigail said teasingly. “We’re such stereotypes.”

  “I thought…I thought you were sisters!”

  They both laughed, as if delighted with the idea.

  “Mr. Harrison is Abigail’s dad,” Brittany said. “I’m the neglected neighbor kid who always lived at their house. He’s a bit like a dad to me, but…” She shrugged.

  Rick shook his head ruefully. “I am a man of the last century, obviously. But this changes things. I don’t want you anywhere near them.”

  Their grins dropped away.

  “What?” Abigail said.

  “You have no idea how powerful their attraction is,” Rick said. “No man or woman who is sexually attracted to them has ever resisted them for long. I’ve been preparing myself for this from the time I was a very young man, which was longer ago than you think, even if you think I’m an ‘old man.’”

  Abigail was having none of it. “Yeah, well, how are you going to stop us?”

  Rick got back in the van and poked his head out the window. “Just stay away. Believe me, you aren’t ready.”

  He drove away, and the Harleys didn’t follow.

  He pulled up in front of the hotel alone.

  ***

  “Who the hell does he think he is?” Brittany said, glaring at the van as Rick drove off.

  “No…I think he might be right,” Abigail said.

  Brittany began to turn, an objection on her lips, but Abigail had come up behind her and was reaching around her waist, pulling her into her embrace and nuzzling her neck.

  “That’s the one disadvantage of bikes,” Abigail said when they finally broke apart, still holding hands. “No backseat.”

  “What do we do?” Brittany said, her mind still on Rick. “We can’t let him do it alone.”

  “But we might do more harm than good. What if they…if they turn us? What if we can’t resist them? God knows, I’m ready to do it here in the street.”

  “We should follow him, at least,” Brittany insisted.

  Abigail nodded, then reluctantly let go of her lover’s hand. “We’ll see. But follow my lead, OK lover?”

  Harley-Davidsons roared, the sound of their engines filling the empty street. The women cruised off, side by side. Abigail was concentrating on looking for Rick’s distinctive van when she realized that Brittany had stopped. She circled back.

  “What is it?” she yelled over the engines.

  �
�Look!” Brittany was pointing down a side street. Parked in front of a large Victorian house were the three black SUVs that the Guardians had driven, their doors wide open. Brittany started down the street, but Abigail speeded up and blocked her.

  “What are you doing?” Brittany demanded when she turned off her bike.

  “Rick isn’t there yet,” Abigail said. “We can’t do anything without him. He’s right: as backward as it seems, only a man can kill them.”

  “But maybe your Daddy’s already captured them,” Brittany said.

  Abigail didn’t answer. She’d had a terrible feeling the moment she’d seen the vehicles looking abandoned that the mission had probably ended in disaster. It was an awful feeling, but there wasn’t anything they could do now to help. Either the Guardians had failed or they had succeeded, but blundering in now wouldn’t help matters. What made the sinking feeling worse was that she was hornier than ever.

  “We’ll wait for Rick,” she said. There was a “For Sale” sign in the yard of a neighboring house, and Abigail pulled her Harley into the driveway. She got off and went to the side door where she couldn’t be seen—not that anyone looked in shape to stop them—and broke one of the glass panes in the door. She reached in and unlocked it.

  Brittany was standing beside her by then. Abigail took her hand.

  “I have an idea of how we can spend our time while we’re waiting,” Abigail said.

  “God, yes,” Brittany replied.

  ***

  Rick parked near the entrance of the Cambridge Hotel, leaving the rear of the van halfway in the street. He wasn’t worried about a ticket. The police were either too busy to pay attention to his parking job, or (more likely) were fornicating with each other. The hippie van’s eagle and peace sign were barely discernable, but the old vehicle was still a solid piece of machinery. He ran his hand along the faded image as he walked by. He was quite fond of the van, though he could have easily afforded something better. Besides, it held all the gear he needed.

  The lobby was empty, though judging by the loud grunting, someone was going at it hard in the office. Rick went behind the counter. The computer displayed the registration page, and he saw that Serena Carlton had booked the top floor. He took the stairs.

  The doors of all the rooms were wide open, and the first three he passed were empty. He found three women in the third. He took another look—they’re barely more than girls, he thought. They looked to be in their late teens, or early twenties at most, and the woman he sought was at least thirty-eight years old.

  “Pardon me, but I’m looking for Serena Carlton,” he said.

  Two of the young women turned to the third, who appeared no older than they were. She was holding a wet towel to her face, and as she turned, ice cubes fell out of the folds.

  “Serena?” It was obvious that she’d partaken of the Blood. Am I too late?

  Serena didn’t even look up when Rick said her name. She appeared to be in a daze. He knelt in front of her and took her hands. She jumped at the touch and gave him a panicked look.

  “It’s Rick,” he said softly.

  She focused on him, and he realized her stupor was not from the sexual miasma, but from grief. She reached out with trembling arms and hugged him.

  “Thank God you’re here,” she said.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  “They took Cary,” she said dully. Then she looked at the other two women. “They took all of them,” she clarified.

  Rick examined the three young women with growing excitement. Can it be? Three women in love with the three current victims of the Succubae?

  “You can get them back,” he said. “I can show you how.”

  None of them responded at first. The shorter, plumper woman looked away in disgust. A recent bruise around her eye was purpling. “Who wants them?” she said bitterly. “If Adam dares to come back, he’s getting a knee to his pecker.”

  Serena had pulled an icepack away from her face, revealing a darkening bruise.

  The third woman stepped forward with her hand out. “I’m Lucinda. That’s Bobbie Jo, and that’s Serena. Who you already know, I guess.”

  “I’m most happy to meet you all,” Rick said.

  “Is that a German accent?” Lucinda asked.

  “I…yes. I thought I was hiding it well.”

  “Not bad,” Lucinda said. “But you sound like my German teacher.” She looked him up and down. “How come you aren’t affected by those bitches?”

  “I was injured in the war,” Rick said, not specifying which war. “I was made…impotent.”

  “Lucky you,” Bobbie Jo said. “Men are dicks.”

  “I see that I must explain something to you,” Rick said as all three young women nodded in agreement that men were indeed dicks. “What you saw in your men was not them. They are being controlled. If they were violent toward you, it was not of their own free will.”

  “Isn’t that just the kind of thing you always say?” Bobbie Jo scoffed. “‘It isn’t me, honey: you know I’m not like that. I promise it’ll never happen again, baby.’”

  “In this case, it is true,” Rick said. “Let me ask you: have the men you fell in love with done anything like this before?”

  “There’s always a first time,” Bobbie Jo said grimly.

  Serena rose and faced her friends. She looked calm and focused. “He’s right,” she said. “That wasn’t them. It was the Succubae. And if we don’t do something fast, they’ll die.”

  Rick had to tamp down his excitement. Here was young love, and not only that, but the first blush of young love, the most passionate kind. There was a chance his plan might succeed. If not, he’d go down trying. But there was zero chance he’d ever be given an opportunity like this again, no matter how long he lived.

  “I swear to you,” he said, “you can get them back.”

  This time, the women appeared to be listening.

  “I have a single question,” he said.

  He waited until they all nodded.

  “The question is this: Do your men love you as much as you love them?”

  Lucinda was nodding emphatically before he even stopped speaking.

  “Up until today, I thought so,” Bobbie Jo said slowly.

  Only Serena hesitated. Then she shook her head at the look of dismay on Rick’s face. “It isn’t that he doesn’t love me; it’s that I haven’t let myself love him. But I do.”

  Rick listened for a false note, for any sign of doubt, but these three women were certain of their love and secure in the fact that that love was returned. “Good,” Rick said. “Then we have a chance. Sit down, the three of you, and let me explain things.”

  “Well, don’t take too long about it. Our guys could croak while you’re shootin’ your mouth off,” Bobbie Jo interjected, her arms crossed formidably. “They’ll screw them to death, right?”

  “In a word, yes,” Rick said. “But they won’t be in a hurry. They’ll want to build the desire to a fever pitch. Only then will they take them.”

  “What do we do, Rick?” Serena asked.

  He started to tell them the history of the Succubae, but Serena interrupted him. “They already know this. I’ve told them everything you told me.”

  “Sorry,” he said. “Well, here’s something that I didn’t know until a few days ago; or rather, I knew, but didn’t think they had any chance to succeed. There are other people after the Succubae, but they want to capture them, not kill them. This would be a terrible mistake. These shadow Guardians may already be here.”

  “We heard gunfire not long ago,” Lucinda said. “Like there was a war going on.”

  Rick nodded. “Then the shadow Guardians are probably already dead. I don’t think it’s possible to capture the Daughters of Lilith. It has only happened once, long ago, and only then by trickery. My ancestors tried many times to put the genie back in the bottle, so to speak, but never came close. I think they always made a fundamental mistake.

  “They
were of the belief that only men could defeat the Daughters of Lilith. But I think they had it all wrong. Men were never going to control or defeat the Succubae without the help of women. We’re too weak, too prone to temptation. Men are made, in other words, of the very flesh the Succubae were created to subjugate.

  “But we—men—have been blind to this fact. In our culture, we have always held the political power, the social power. In our arrogance, it never occurred to us that the answer was right beside us.

  “If she is given the Blood of the Succubus, a woman is just as strong as a man, but immune to the Succubae’s sexual allure…well, most of them are,” he grimaced. “These modern times are so complicated.”

  “Right, because there were no lesbians in the ancient world,” Lucinda said drily.

  Rick just looked at her, at a loss for words.

  “You’re saying that we should fight them?” Serena asked, rising. She didn’t appear to be dismayed by this thought; in fact, she seemed eager.

  “Not physically,” Rick said quickly. “The only way a Succubus can be destroyed is by a man. A fully virile man who resists her temptation. If such a man can withstand them, approach them, and kill them with his bare hands, the Succubae will be destroyed forever.”

  “Then why the hell haven’t you assholes done it?” Bobbie Jo demanded.

  “Many have tried. Innumerable times. No one has had the strength, the willpower to resist them.”

  “You seem to be doing pretty well,” Lucinda observed.

  Rick hesitated. It would probably be too dramatic to drop his pants and show them. He was surprised to discover that he still felt embarrassed, like the fifteen-year-old boy who had defied his father. “I’m not just impotent. I’ve been…neutered,” he said. Neutered a thousand times.

  “How?” Serena asked.

  “We do it to ourselves. We call it the Cutting.”

  Bobbie Jo’s mouth dropped open. “Wow. Normally I’d say that takes balls.”

  No one laughed.

  “What exactly do you want us to do?” Serena asked.

  Rick didn’t answer for a moment. He waited until they were all looking at him. Then said, “This is key. Nothing weakens them like the rejection of their prey. If your men can be lured away, the Succubae will be vulnerable. Then I can destroy them.”