Succubus Tear (Triune promise) (14 page)

“You don’t have to do that, you know,” Cain said as Al’bah held out another morsel.

“Cain, I am not your equal!”
 Al’bah said with adoration. “You are above the Angels. I am unworthy of you choosing me. I—” Her words caught in her throat, and her vision blurred with tears. “Cain, you
chose
me. This, I could never repay.”

“Well, what about me feeding you as well?”

Al’bah’s jaw dropped along with the fork she held. “Tel-Yun-Yui-Ta-Mei?” Shock filled her; she would have never suspected Cain would ever offer. That he would—

“Um, what did you say?” Cain said, breaking her shock.

She lowered her eyes. “You—you s-see me worthy of s-such a gesture?” Al’bah stammered.
What will this mean? What—what have I done to be so blessed?

Cain held her cup and offered it. “
Of course. Why do you think you wouldn’t be?”

Al’bah looked between the offered cup and Cain’s face.
His offer is sincere!
Al’bah could barely believe what was happening. Cain now willingly offered himself to her! She felt the presence of his soul draw near, and it was beautiful. She closed her eyes and placed her hands around Cain’s face as she drank. She sighed and wiped her eyes and answered his question.

“Because of who I am, our Bond, and so much more.”

“You know that reminds me of something I’d like to talk about,” Cain said, gently declining another bite of food from her fork. “I think it would be best for me to focus my questions on you first, then about our Bond, then perhaps other things.”

“Truly? This is what you want? This is your will?”
 

“Yes, it is.”

Al’bah nodded. “You give your word to me so readily. I am amazed.”

“My word?”

Al’bah smiled. “Yes, you have given me your word. Thus, I shall answer your questions that concern myself, then our Bond, and then other things.” Al’bah closed her eyes and sighed deeply.
His questions are not going to be easy. He has so little faith.
“I sense you already have a question in mind.”

Cain nodded. “Yes, you told me you are a Demono, that you are not one with God. Why? What happened?”

Al’bah flinched, as if his words were a physical attack. She knew his questions would drag the harshness of her past, and yet she was still so unprepared. “Cain, though you say your questions will concern me first, your first question is far-reaching and has many spheres of influence and—” She stopped speaking as a horrible despair filled her awareness. She took several deep breaths, trying not to wail or scream. A memory flashed before all her senses; she could feel heavy manacles on her limbs and the sting of bitter tears pouring from her eyes and onto her face. An enormous weight of guilt and shame weighted upon her, and she started to fall! No! She must not fall! She must—

Al’bah shook her head as the vision fell apart, and she breathed deeply again. “I do not know. None of my kind nor the Demons know. When a creation rebels or defies God, they are separated from God. Thus, my race are Demono.”

She raised her eyes to Cain. Oh, how jealous she felt! How unworthy Cain was of his—

No! I will not give myself to pride! I am Bound to him! I love him.
Al’bah reached out and touched his face, gently running her fingers through his hair.

“Your race is separated from God. But you and your race are given a clear and absolute path to be saved from the sins of your forbearer. The way for restoration for me and my own is obscured in forgetfulness.”

Al’bah lowered her head and spoke quietly, “As for Taint, and the entirety of corruption, they are the Demons, and Angels who sided with Lucifer. I do not know the way to restoration for them, even if it could exist, nor do I care. Their sin is known—they defied God! They took arms against He that created all.”

“Really? Then why do Demons—”

Al’bah gasped and held up her hand. Was her Bond truly going to break his word? Did he not know how dangerous this was? “Cain, please,” Al’bah whispered, bringing her hands to a begging gesture. “Keep your word to me.”

“But, I mean—”

“Please, Cain. Please, I would never control your will. But you are acting contrary to your word that you gave me.”

The conversation died for several moments as Cain stared at the floor. Oh, how Al’bah longed to peer into his heart, to know what he was thinking. His heart began to race in frustration, though thankfully it seemed self-directed. She did not want her Bond to be distressed during this tender moment, and she held out another morsel for him.

“Sorry. This is just so new to me,” he said, accepting the morsel.

Al’bah shook her head. “Cain, you never need ask me for forgiveness. I would answer anything you ask me. Some things are hard for me to speak of. Many things I am unable to speak of.”

“Then why are you so bent on me keeping my word?”

Al’bah moved to settle into his lap and placed both hands over his heart, hoping her words might be received by more than just his understanding. “A being’s nature is changed by choice, not circumstance, Cain. And so, when the solemn oath of a being is broken, so are they.”

Cain nodded and leaned backward, bringing Al’bah on top of him. “My back is killing me.” He sighed as he rested upon the floor. His hands traveled under her shirt and caressed her back. “Ugh, I don’t know about sitting without chairs, but this was unexpectedly special.”

Al’bah was about to say something but stopped. Cain kept staring at her; his eyes danced across her face. His mouth parted slightly, and a whisper of a smile played upon his lips but burned brightly in his eyes. He drew his hands from her back and caressed her face and hair.

“Thank you for dinner, Al’bah. It was delicious.”

Al’bah smiled and sighed deeply, vocalizing her happiness. She could see the beginnings of violet illumination cast upon his face, and she knew her eyes were glowing as they would when her emotions became intense. Cain reached up and brought Al’bah’s lips to his and kissed her deeply. Her desire manifested as a deep, throaty purr as her tongue met his.

Then suddenly without warning, Al’bah’s mouth was filled by Cain’s soul!
No! Not now! I am not ready! It is too soon!
She panicked, filled with horror and elation at the same time. She desperately tried to push his soul back, while all the while her spiritual energies hungrily fed upon his essence, refusing to be satisfied by nothing less than consuming him completely.

With every fiber of control she could summon, Al’bah at last forced Cain’s soul back into himself and shrank back, panting. She felt a strange power like never before flow though her essence; the darker parts of her nature hungered for more and tried to take over.

“Al’bah, are you okay?” Cain said, placing his hand upon her cheek.

Al’bah was about to warn him of the danger they both were in, when she stopped. She could sense that Cain’s soul was just as strong as it was before. His physical essence was slightly weaker, but for some reason she just knew her Bond would come to no lasting harm from her power. True, other Succubi consumed the souls of other creatures, leaving them for dead—or worse. But none were ever Bonded.

“I—I was just a little overwhelmed. This is new to me as well, after all.” She looked up to him; her heart was torn between wanting to tell him, risking distress, or being less than honest with her Bond.

Cain placed his hand to cup her chin and brought her face to his. He started to kiss her lips with soft then firm advances. He removed her clothing and caressed her skin with pleasing abandon. Her body trembled at the way he kept trying to get her to respond, how his tongue played upon her lips to have them part. Some unconscious part of him wanted her to taste his essence; he wanted—

She could not stand it anymore. Al’bah opened her mouth again and was rewarded with a full measure of Cain’s soul, entering her as urgently and as euphorically as his flesh. Her mind seemed to be filled with a strange ringing noise that went on and on, punctuated with sharp
pops
which carried their own vibrations.

She opened her eyes; her vision was filled with flame. The entire world appeared to burn. The sound of burning ebbed and flowed with her breath, and with Cain’s. She grabbed ahold of him tighter, still drawing from his soul by the contact their bodies shared. It was amazing; the faster she drained him, the faster he recovered. It was like an endless loop between them both, and at last Al’bah knew why: it was their Bond.

She felt the climax draw near, spurred by the power that flowed over both their souls like fire. In the madness of pleasure and burning, Al’bah caught Cain’s eyes. “Yes! Let go, give it to me!” she cried through clenched teeth, and wrapped her legs and wings tightly around him.

With a deafening roar the fire intensified and ceased, replaced by faint gasping.

Did I Miss Something?

“How old I am? I am six thousand of your years old, in my current era.”

—Al’bah

Charlie took a long pull from the pint he ordered. “Aaah, you don’t know how hard it is to get a pint of decent mead.”

The bartender gave him a grin which didn’t reach his eyes. He then turned to the attractive women at the other side and continued his hopeless flirting that might have worked ten years and fifty pounds ago.

Charlie looked over the women at the end. They were cute, but not too cute. Ah well, he would find a steady girl sooner or later around here. He drank from the pint again and dialed Cain’s number to see if he wanted to drop by. Nothing. The call went to voicemail. Odd.

Maybe I should go see him? Nah, the sourpuss would just mope about, if he isn’t passed out already.

Charlie started to chuckle at the thought of Cain trying to open a bottle of spirits, but the good humor died in a wash of concern. He knew Cain lied to him about the severity of his injury. And considering Cain hadn’t called all day, and the odd circumstance of reaching his voicemail—

Ah shit! That damn fool better not have killed himself last night!
Charlie started to get off the barstool when his obnoxious ringtone (a surefire conversation starter) sounded. He looked hopefully at the caller ID. Damn it, it was his boss.

“Erectile dysfunction clinic,” Charlie said with a chipper voice.

“What?”

“You know, if your meat is beat, pop a blue treat!”

“Right, is this Charlie?”

“Yeah, what’s up?” Charlie chortled.

“Look, the Stratton Law Firm is going to be at the site tomorrow. I need you and your buddy to be there an hour early. Don’t worry—you get to leave an hour early.”

“You got it,” Charlie said while eyeing one of the girls who had laughed at his earlier joke and was now eyeing him.

“One last thing: I can’t get ahold of Cain. This is too important to just hope he will get the voicemail. Go over to him, make sure he knows what the score is.”

Charlie felt another wash of concern. Cain wasn’t one who just let his calls go to voicemail. “What score? Cain finished the cement ahead of schedule and under budget.”

“And Walter Stratton himself took notice. He wants Cain to be there as well. By the way, Mister Stratton wants you to be at Mercy Hospital two days from now I have no idea why. It’s just a floor renovation, so be prepared to move a lot of building debris down a chute. Be there at five.”

“Gotcha.” Charlie put his phone away and turned to get off his barstool.

“Well howdy there, Mister Tsukada. Small world, isn’t it?”

Charlie stared; it was Shane Harper, the middle-aged FBI agent he and Cain had a disastrous run-in with a couple of years back, cowboy hat and a
ll. Aside from the Marlboro Man or John Wayne, Charlie never came across a more fitting person to hold the title of cowboy-Texas Ranger. He stood slightly above six feet and had strange hazel eyes. His sandy brown hair showed slightly under his old hat, and a few old scars crisscrossed his rough, tanned skin.

“
Ah-Hoyo,
Harper-san.
*
It is a small world so long as our encounter is by chance.” He thumbed his empty pint, wondering if he should get another one.