Succubus Lord 2

by Eric Vall

  This one was much smaller than the other two. It appeared to have the body of a human woman, but it crawled on all fours. She had reddish-brown fur matted against her naked body, and what looked like the stubby remains of a tail jutted out from just above her buttocks. Her eyes were black like the others, and white foam dripped from her snarling mouth onto the sand. The creature was crawling only about six feet away from us.

  It was time for us to make our move.

  I locked eyes with the blonde succubus, and Cupiditas nodded back. Then I gripped my dagger tighter in my hands as we began to flank the coyote-woman. Cupi snuck up from the front, and I approached from the rear. Once we were within striking distance, I took a running jump, landed on the creature’s back and plunged the dagger into its neck repeatedly.

  The Skinwalker let out an inhuman scream, but it was quickly silenced when Cupi stabbed through its brain with her bull-head dagger. Still, the split second of a cry was enough to attract the attention of its friends.

  From not far off in the distance, the other Skinwalkers returned the call of their fallen friend. The sound was a mixture of a human screaming in rage and various animal cries, and it was chilling to the bone.

  It sounded like there were a lot of them.

  Todd hurriedly motioned for us to run, and we followed the imp over to the far side of the campsite, next to the firewood.

  The two Skinwalkers I had seen from earlier both came lumbering over to their deceased friend and were quickly joined by two others. The first one could have passed for a demon with his ram-like horns and cloven feet. However, his breaths came out as gargled bleats. His face had the features of a human, but his lips protruded out like a goat’s, and his entire upper torso was covered with long brown fur.

  There was no mistaking that the final Skinwalker was a bear. It was down on all fours, sniffing the dead body of its fallen comrade with its long, black snout. The monster had regular human hands, but they were gigantic, furry, and had razor-sharp claws where each fingernail should be. When it walked, its body hobbled awkwardly back and forth.

  Each of the creatures howled in anger when they saw what we had done to their friend. Their roars echoed through the desolate desert air and were answered by far-away coyotes. Once their howls silenced, the Skinwalkers were answered by another sound off in the distance, one that was completely inhuman.

  They were calling for backup.

  My thoughts were interrupted by an elbow from Libidine. I looked over at the dark-haired succubus, and she pointed to our four marshmallow roasters from earlier. She outstretched her hand and engulfed it with a green flame. The sharp spits were surrounded by a wave of bright emerald fire as they lifted up into the air. Liby flung her hand in the direction of the Skinwalkers, and the skewers followed suit.

  The first impromptu spear struck the bear-like Skinwalker in the back thigh, and the creature let out a shrill scream. The other three stabbed into the long-legged creature and took out both of its front legs. Without any support left for its body, the Skinwalker collapsed sideways into the fire and screamed as its entire torso was engulfed by the red-hot flames.

  The remaining three Skinwalkers turned in the direction of the attack and began to charge.

  “Now would be a good time for a distraction,” I whispered to Todd.

  The imp took off to the left. “Hey, everyone, I’m Jacob Ralston! I’m a badass demon hunter who just killed all of your friends!” he cackled as he imitated my voice.

  “Follow him, Cupi.” I nodded. “He’s probably going to need your help.”

  I whistled to try to draw the Skinwalker’s attention, and then Cupi took off after Todd.

  “I’m a tall, brown-haired dude with a bunch of hot women!” Todd’s voice grew more distant as he ran. “You can’t catch me, you stupid-ass Bambi bitch!”

  Sia, Liby, and I turned and started to run in the opposite direction.

  “I’m surprised Todd was able to stay quiet for so long,” Sia huffed as we ran. “It must have been absolute torture for him.”

  “Was that… a joke?” I smiled at the redhead as we approached the river.

  Sia just turned her head, shrugged, and gave me a knowing wink.

  We came to the edge of the water, and I turned around to see that only one of the Skinwalkers had followed us.

  The bear-like monster was still hobbled by Libidine’s attack, but he was running at us at an almost impossible speed. Blood and drool trailed out of his mouth as he dashed across the dark landscape and growled ravenously.

  “We’re sitting ducks here, Jacob!” Sia cried out in fear.

  “The fuck we are.” I pointed up toward the large pile of firewood next to the butane grill. “Liby, are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  “Probably not,” the dark-haired woman mused, “but I’ll follow your lead!”

  I threw out my hand in the direction of the log pile and ignited my hand with jade flames. Libidine mirrored my actions, and the entire pile lit was surrounded by green fire.

  “You’re gonna have to trust me on this,” I reassured the succubi. “Don’t move until I tell you.”

  “But Jacob--” Sia protested.

  “Just trust me!” I told her again.

  Despite his injury, the bear-monster was covering ground quickly and was nearly upon us. He grew closer and closer until he was about ten feet from where we stood at the base of the river.

  “Now!” I pulled my flaming hand toward my body and then rolled out of the way of the charging creature.

  I heard the sound of sand being tossed into the air as the Skinwalker tried to halt his momentum. Just as I turned around, I saw a flurry of emerald-covered tree logs zip by and crash into the creature. A small pile of the logs trapped his legs against the ground while the rest fell onto his back and pinned him face down in the river. Before the monster could react, I encased the wood with a purple shield to hold it in place underwater.

  The creature struggled under the logs as he fought for breath. I held the Skinwalker under the water until he finally went limp. I released my spell, and the bear-man’s body slowly floated away down the Mojave.

  Out of nowhere, I heard what sounded like a agonizeded bleating echoing through the ravine.

  The succubi and I dashed back toward the main area of camp. As we ran, I could see a flash of purple light streaking toward us. The three of us came to a halt, and Cupiditas landed in front of us with Todd in her arms.

  “What a rush!” Todd chuckled.

  The blonde nodded with a feral grin. “We got the goat-creature, but the other one proved to be much more difficult.”

  As if right on cue, the deer Skinwalker lumbered around the fire. He stamped his foot into the ground and bellowed. Even from this far away, I could smell the pungent, rotting flesh that hung off his body and antlers. The monster began to shamble in our direction as he searched the air for clues to our exact location.

  “Todd, you ready to light up?” I asked the imp.

  “Bro,” he nodded, “do you even need to ask?”

  I stuck out my hand toward the butane grill beside us, and it glowed with bright emerald as I lifted it. The grill hung suspended in the air for a moment, and then I tossed it toward the Skinwalker.

  Right as it reached the monster’s face, I launched a baseball-sized ball of red Hellfire from my left hand that smashed into the small piece of equipment. The butane tank exploded, and the monster’s skull was engulfed with a vibrant ball of red, yellow, and blue heat. The fire from the explosion only lasted a second, but once it disappeared, all that was left of the deer-creature’s head was a charred skull. The monster’s massive frame collapsed onto the ground with a dull thud.

  “Whew,” I sighed once I realized it was all over.

  “I never doubted us for a second, Jakey.” Todd snickered. “Those Skinwalker bastards had no idea what hit ‘em, especially that goat-guy that Cupi stabbed through the dick.”

  The blonde shrugged. “Statistical
ly, it’s the weakest part of the body.”

  Off in the distance, I heard another blood-curdling scream that reminded me that we weren’t safe yet.

  “We need to get going.” I pointed back at Shadow. “More of those things will be here soon.”

  “What about our camping supplies?” Libidine asked.

  “Grab what you can carry, but leave the rest,” I commanded. “We can always buy more with Quinn’s credit cards.”

  We scrambled around the camp for a few minutes and picked up what we could though we left the tent at Sia’s insistence. I was able to grab the duffel bag that used to be our imp carrier while Sia made it a point to grab the family-sized sleeping bag and the other two girls picked up the rest of our clothes. When we met back up at the car, Todd was holding the s’more supplies in his arms and wearing the singed cowboy hat.

  “What?” he asked. “These are very important for when I get the munchies, bro. Don’t let me get hangry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m hangry.”

  “Okay, okay,” I conceded with a chuckle as I opened the tailgate so we could toss our supplies in.

  The five of us climbed into Shadow, and I thought about the smell of the Skinwalker’s rotting flesh as it wafted through my nostrils, as well as the grotesque, gory figures we’d just seen out at the campsite.

  That was all I needed to conjure up my disgust and the emerald flames along with it.

  The entire vehicle was engulfed in my spell, and when I opened my eyes, we were back on the empty patch of land beside the highway.

  And I felt as tired as fuck. Teleporting the entire Jeep this far was almost too much for me on top of all the other hellfire conjuring I had done during the fight, and I felt my vision swim as my body shivered.

  “Your powers are much stronger than before.” Cupi sounded impressed as she turned her eyes to Sia. “What exactly did you do to him, sister?”

  “That’s for me to know, and you to find out,” the redhead giggled.

  I didn’t bother telling the women that I wasn’t feeling that good. Instead, I turned the key in my hand, and the jet-black Jeep roared to life. I kicked Shadow into gear, and we started off down the highway once more.

  “How did those things know where to find us?” I asked my friends half a minute later when my heartbeat had returned to somewhat normal, and I didn’t feel like I was about to faint.

  “Skinwalkers have a sixth sense when it comes to magical abilities.” Sia explained. “Having all five of us in a single area must have been making them go crazy, I didn’t think that their territory extended this far, but your increase in power after we made love must have drawn them to our location..”

  “Yeah.” The imp confirmed. “They were magicians themselves at one point, and now they keep themselves alive by siphoning the life force out of anyone who has powerful magical energy. We should-- HOLY FUCK!”

  Todd jumped back across the interior of the Jeep in terror, wrapped his arms and legs around my right arm like a koala, and pointed out the passenger-side window of the vehicle.

  I nearly swerved off the road when I saw it. Another Skinwalker.

  I could only see the top part of the monster, and it looked just as gnarly as the rest of the creatures we had killed. Its face had sunken black eyes that rested at the base of a long, flesh-colored beak. Where there would normally be hair, a cluster of bloody spines stuck out of the creature’s skull like a mohawk.

  I slammed down my foot on the accelerator, but the Skinwalker was keeping pace.

  The monster started to slam its body against the side of the vehicle, and it was all I could do to keep us from swerving off the road.

  “We’re being chased by the fucking Road Runner from hell, man!” Todd screamed in terror as I barely regained control of the Jeep.

  “I have an idea,” I said through gritted teeth, and then the creature caused us to swerve again.

  As I fought for control with one hand, I rolled down my window, stuck out my free hand, and summoned a ball of red Hellfire.

  “That’s not going to work on a Skinwalker, Jacob!” Sia called from the back seat.

  “No, but it’ll work on the road,” I yelled as I unleashed the spell as far in front of us as I could. Far up the road, I saw a spray of asphalt as my blast landed, and my stomach lurched. I was definitely pushing the limits of my power, and my body really didn’t like it.

  I turned the wheel of the Jeep, and Shadow lurched over so that we were now driving on the wrong side of the road.

  The creature followed as it continued to run side-by-side with our vehicle, just like I’d planned.

  A few seconds later, the creature let out a squeal of pain and disappeared from the passenger-side window. I slowed the car to a stop and looked back in the rear-view mirror to admire my work.

  The creature laid in the middle of the highway as it writhed in pain. A bone was jutting out of its right leg from where it had tripped in my pothole from Hell.

  Tripping when you’re running as fast as a car turned out to be as much of a bitch as I thought it would be.

  The Skinwalker tried to drag itself off to the side using its ridiculously tiny arms.

  “I’ve got this,” Liby said as she raised her hand toward the chunks of asphalt that were now laying on the ground.

  Using her telekinetic powers, the dark-haired succubus picked up one of the jagged chunks of cement and gravel and moved it over above the Skinwalker’s head. She closed her fist and slammed down her hand repeatedly, and the asphalt did the same. By the time Liby released her spell, all I could see in the mirror was a mashed up, bloody pulp where the creature’s head used to be.

  “I guess the coyote just needed Hellfire powers,” Todd joked. “Now that’s an episode I would watch! Meep, meep, motherfucker.”

  “I’m not sure if that catchphrase really works.” I chuckled as I glanced at Sia. Then I kicked Shadow back into gear, slammed down the gas pedal, and the tires of the vehicle squealed as we shot off into the desert night.

  Chapter 11

  After our little scuffle with the Skinwalkers, we continued down the highway for another hour or so before we finally pulled in at a rinky-dink motel out in the middle of the desert. It was far from the luxury resort we had stayed at in Vegas, but we were all far too exhausted to care.

  Most importantly, it was far away from the creatures’ territory.

  I don’t even remember how we got from point A to point B. All I remember is pulling in, paying for a room with Quinn’s credit cards, and then crashing as soon as we hit the bed.

  I awoke the next morning to the familiar sound of the X-Files theme as it blared from the television. I sat up and saw that all three of the girls and Todd were huddled on the second bed, watching the screen with great interest.

  “Sleeping beauty’s awake,” Todd laughed when he saw me stir. “Finally! My stomach was starting to eat itself.”

  “I’m assuming you guys all want breakfast?” I chuckled as I rubbed my eyes. I hadn’t told my friends about how much teleporting Shadow had fucked me up, but the rest had helped, and I felt almost one-hundred percent back to normal.

  “Yes!” all four exclaimed in unison.

  “And we’re in luck.” Todd grinned. “This place has a breakfast buffet.”

  “A breakfast… buffet?” Cupi’s eyes grew large as she took in the imp’s words.

  “You mean, like that place we ate in the Excalibur, where you could have as much food as you want?” Libidine was drooling. “But it’s all breakfast food?”

  “Yep.” Todd smirked as I tossed on a shirt and looked at me. “But it’s only until eleven. That means we’ve got, what? An hour?”

  Cupi stood up excitedly. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

  “You don’t have to tell me twice, dudette.” Todd giggled as he turned invisible. “Now that Jacob’s up, we’re good to go.”

  I unlocked the deadbolt from the door, and I had barely got it open when all four of my friends
scrambled past me in a hurry.

  The hot desert sun beat down on my skin as I walked out onto the main balcony of the motel. I paused, placed my hand over my eyes, and looked out to the distance. We had arrived at this place in the wee hours of the morning, but now I could see just how out in the middle of nowhere we really were.

  Far off on the landscape was a small range of mountains that cut across the light sand like a natural wall between civilization and the wilderness. Other than that, there was nothing but cacti, Joshua Trees, prickly pears, and aloe vera plants as far as the eye could see. Even the highway that we had arrived on was completely barren.

  The state of the hotel only added to our isolation.

  As I started toward the dining area, I couldn’t help but notice how much this place needed a new paint job. The sickly yellow covering was chipping off the adobe walls in splotches, revealing the colorless gray underneath. Meanwhile, the tacky, bright-red roof of the motel was noticeably sagging, and I could see that some sort of insects had made their nest in it just above room 205. Even the floors groaned with pain beneath my feet as I made my way toward the staircase.

  If this motel was an animal, I’d want to take it out back and put it out of its misery.

  It was bizarre because the inside or our room looked well enough. Of course it wasn’t a five-star resort, but it had well-kept beds and the wallpaper on the walls, though outdated, looked pristine. Even the carpet and the bathroom floors looked like they had little more than the wear from standard use. Not to mention, there was not a bug in sight.

  I just hoped that the breakfast buffet was more like the room and less like the exterior.

  The dining area of the motel was its own separate building off to the right side of the main structure, just beside the pool. As I entered through the sliding glass door, I was met with a mixture of sweet and savory aromas that made my stomach growl with anticipation.

  Cupi, Sia, and Liby were all standing by the buffet with their plates, but they looked to be frozen in awe at the sight in front of them.