Posted by: Admin on Tuesday, July 23, 2002 - 02:59 PM 
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Angelique
by Maggie Finson
Part 2
My screaming got results. Fast.
"Calm down, Sweetheart," a soothing, deep but feminine voice pleaded with me. I didn't, and wasn't going to do so until I had used up all the energy I had. The voice retreated with a near frantic, but half-amused call elsewhere. "Lorilei!"
Soon a pair of delicate hands that were much stronger than anything looking like they did should have been gripped my shoulders, and a familiar voice intruded upon my very satisfyingly berserk panic attack.
"Calm down, Angelique," Lorilei's voice soothed, while her hands stroked my back and outraged wings. "You're going to wake everything in Hell, and trust me, some of those are far better left sleeping."
"Uh, uh, uh..." My scattered train of thought faltered, as did my feminine cries of total, absolute anguish. I glanced at the succubus and flinched. "Get away from me! This is your fault! What have you done to me?"
"Tell me what you did to me!" Without thinking, I had reached my feet, and put my smaller hands to the very satisfying use of choking the very life out of her. Then realized she was already dead (probably) just like me, and that I'd likely never get more than an incoherent gurgle out of her with my hands locked around her slim throat and squeezing hard as I could.
Just as I was reaching that conclusion and beginning to release my grip, a wall hit me frontally. Hard. The invisible but very solid force threw me several feet, to land on my rump with a soft thud. But my shields had been up and active, I realized. A result of my raising magic to attempt the shape change.
Lorilei was warily watching me as that understanding came.
"You...you used magic on me!" I accused in a surprised voice.
"Yeah, I did, didn't I?" Lorilei actually smiled, then offered me a grin.
"But you shouldn't have been able to do that!"
"Well, I did," was her simple, oddly pleased answer as I glared at her in stupified amazement.
"I was shielded," I protested uselessly, since I was quite obviously on my bottom (which was complaining loudly at the mistreatment) and there because a force wall had been used on me.
"I know," she answered half smugly, but with a note of wonder in her voice, before going on. "Besides, how in Hell did you expect me to give you any kind of answer with your hands around my throat? That wasn't the best way to go about asking, you know."
"Sorry."
"That's okay," she smiled, while rubbing lightly at her shapely neck, "I guess. Have you calmed down enough to talk like a civilized being yet? Or should I zap you again?"
"Talk," I assured her, not wishing to feel the force of whatever else she might do to defend herself. I had been right about the innate power in her small frame, and stood gingerly while rubbing at my shapely, but abused bottom with a wince. "I'll be good."
"Oh, don't worry about it," Lorilei chuckled, while looking me over. "When I woke up this way, they tell me I just about startled Mama into Full Defense Mode."
"Who's Mama?" I questioned.
"Me," the deep voice that had awakened me first joined in, though it spoke in my mind. "I'm this whole place, honey. I'm home, succor, love, and taskmistress all rolled into one."
"Oh," I rather intelligently responded. "What's Full Defense Mode?"
"Never mind that for now, child," Mama replied. "You just pay attention to Lorilei here, and keep in mind that she's one of my favorites around here."
"Uh, I will, Mama." My response was a bit sheepish, and I felt the threat, veiled though it was. "Just chalk up my attacking her to post whatever trauma."
"That would be Post Transformation Syndrome," Mama chuckled, then was gone.
"Wow." I shook my head, then abruptly stopped myself as the motion set up waves of sensations I was still not all that prepared for. So I tried changing the subject. "You wouldn't be the Lorilei who got Girard, would you?"
"Yes, that would be me," she responded with a heavy sigh. "Which is where I absorbed all this damned magical power. But we need to talk about you, and what has happened to you right now. Anyone here in Home could tell you that story, and I'd really rather not go into it just now, if you don't mind."
"Control problems?" She winced as I asked that, so I nodded and reassured her, "Not to worry, you'll have that power sitting up and begging like a puppy pretty soon. It was a lot to absorb in one sitting; Girard was extremely powerful and very old. You can't expect to master all his old power in a few days, months, or whatever."
"Don't I know it!" she grumbled, then gave me a halfway hopeful look. "Think you might be able to help me with that?"
"Probably."
"Good." With a nod, she waved a hand and a beautiful full length mirror appeared right in front of me. "In the meantime, you may as well get used to seeing yourself as you are and will be for a very long time to come, little sister."
"I..." I started, but became speechless at what that mirror showed me. The creature standing there was absolutely the most gorgeous female I had ever seen in my life. Present company and Mother Lillith excepted. "Oh, my..."
"Don't say it," Lorilei interrupted. "That name is a no-no around here, and would probably burn that pretty mouth of yours just now. At least it would until you get more used to yourself this way."
I didn't answer, mostly because I was unable to. What I was seeing was a succubus with glowing azure eyes set in a doll-like oval face and built to please. Men, anyway. Long, silvery hair very exuberantly tumbled around her slim shoulders, covered both luscious breasts (which weren't nearly so huge as I had first thought, though they were by no stretch of the imagination small, either) and down her straight slender back to happily tickle her firmly rounded (and slightly bruised) bottom.
Gem-like azure tinted high heels graced her delicate feet, but closer examination showed them not to be shoes at all, but specialized hooves with a small cleft where a big toe should be divided from the other toes. The spur I had first taken for the heel was part of that hoof.
A pair of small, curved horns sparkled with silver highlights on my forehead just below the hairline and in line with the large, almond shaped azure eyes. Leathery wings unfurled and spread for examination once I thought about it. But the leather was very supple and soft in both appearance and feel. The edges were a dark, almost black shade of azure that gradually shaded to pale silver in the center, and a pair of very wicked spurs protruded from the second joints rustling softly above the level of my head. Those would be formidable weapons at need, I noted.
As would the inch long, sharply pointed silver colored nails tipping smooth, small hands. Upon close examination of her figure, I found that nothing was really disproportionate about it, just overly voluptuous and quite obviously designed for sex while being slim enough to hint at speed and agility that could be astounding if used.
I would have been in instant lust at seeing her. Only one problem held me back from that. She was most definitely me! "Damn! I'm a wet dream incarnate."
"I said just about the same thing when I woke up the first time," Lorilei grinned.
"But it couldn't have been such a shock to you," I groused, while taking in her unstudied feminine and feline grace of posture and presence. "Having been a woman before."
"Me?!! A human woman?" Her laughter pealed out in richly musical amusement for a few moments, before she sobered and gave me a commiserating look. "Believe it or not, Angelique, I was just as determinedly male as you started out. At least I was until a cuckolded husband caught me with his wife and shot both of us to death."
"You were a guy?" I questioned incredulously, while watching her ultra feminine gestures in response to my question.
"Yep, 'fraid so, little sis," wrinkling her nose and drawing in a breath, the lovely little succubus shrugged in dismissal of a past that couldn't be returned to under any stretch of the imagination. "But all these wonderfully femme gestures and mannerisms just kind of grow on you real quick. You'll see soon enough, trust me on that one."
"So, I'm a succubus, too," I mused, while still entranced by the vision in the mirror. That was, no matter what angle I chose to look at her from, me.
"Among other things," Lorilei nodded as she agreed -- with that almost guilty provision -- with me.
"Other things?"
"Well, you see," my companion/tormenter shrugged another time before telling me the rest. "What we needed from you was something unique in Hell, and probably Heaven, too."
"I suppose that you'll get around to telling me within the next century or so, won't you?"
"Mother Lillith wanted a being with a succubus' alluring qualities," Lorilei continued, completely ignoring my little sally of bitter humor, "still able to use magic, and well versed in the spells she would need to have. Plus," drawing in breath sent a very interesting surge of sympathetic vibrations through her delectable flesh, I idly noted, while also noticing it did nothing whatsoever for my libido, "we needed a strong fighter type who could just as easily handle a sword or other weapon as cast spells."
"So," I questioned with a lift of one eyebrow and a half despairing sigh, "what am I, exactly? Please use descriptions of two syllables or less when you explain this to me, I'm still in pretty heavy shock, you know."
"About half succubus," she rushed to answer, "and half Hell Maid."
"Oh, okay." I wished I hadn't asked, but come to think of it, I was taller and broader shouldered in proportion to my body shape than she was. Flexing an arm revealed smooth, powerful, muscles sheathed in female fat. "So I'm the Amazon from Hell," I muttered in disgust.
"Not exactly," Lorilei grimaced. "The Amazon from Hell is coming to take you through some training workouts pretty soon."
As if on cue, a voice I recognized as belonging to the Hell Maid, Syl, cheerfully interrupted our conversation. "Ho, there! Lor, is our new girl awake and ready yet?"
I privately thought I'd never be ready for that one, but wisely held my forked tongue (which, incidentally, had developed the embarrassing habit of tangling up in my prominent canine fangs) and let out a quiet little groan in anticipation of just what that hulking, female Hellion had in mind for me.
Boy, did I ever find that out. I nearly wished I hadn't, but rapidly changed that to wishing I'd never been born so I ended up getting killed and sent to Hell.
Weapons training, oh my. Swords, axes, and brawls, oh my. Bruises, scrapes, and aches in every part of my body. At least I was given my own sword. Sort of. Maybe I was given to the sword.
"This is for you," Syl said as she solemnly handed me a sheathed sword. It nearly pulled my arms out of their sockets when I accepted it, and weighed what felt like a large, ungainly ton.
"Her name is Heaven's Bane," Syl continued, ignoring my difficulty in even holding the thing off the ground. "She was made specifically for you. Get to know her well, and she'll be your best friend."
I was privately skeptical of that. Being able to hold the damned thing up, let alone use it, anyway. Heaven's Bane seemed to be skeptical, too. Don't ask how I knew that, but I did. I knew it as clearly as if someone had whispered the fact into my shell-like ear.
"Great, thanks." I attempted to heft the long, slender weight while putting on a smile. Much to my shock, the thing rose into the air with my hand still gripping the hilt and stayed there, with me on tip-toe, or more precisely, tip-hoof, trying to hang on without resorting to using my wings.
"Get back down here!" I commanded/pleaded with it, while trying to force it -- her -- back down so I could return her to the plain leather scabbard.
I glanced toward a highly amused Syl as I was struggling mightily with the recalcitrant thing while gritting out, "If I didn't know better, I'd swear this damned thing was laughing at me."
"She is," Syl laughed, as I continued to try bringing the thing down to at least hip level, without much in the way of results. "But don't call her an it, hon. She was made especially and specifically for you, and holds enough of your own essence to be marginally intelligent as it is. You'll hurt her feelings."
"Oh, we couldn't have that," I gritted in mock horror, and the sword actually pulled me off the ground for a few seconds. "All right, all right. I believe you, HB, now would you please come down and behave yourself?"
I felt a distinct, if reluctant agreement, and Heaven's Bane literally dropped into my lap with what I could have sworn was a girlish giggle of glee.
"Wonderful," I muttered, while closely examining the gleaming surface and razor sharp edges of my own personal, and smart aleck, sword. "Now I have my own sword, only I'm going to have to talk nice to it just to do anything but look at it."
A warning twinge in my lap caused me to amend part of that last statement. "Okay, okay, HER."
Lucifer take me to the deepest slime pit of Hell if that thing didn't start purring while laying across my lap. While I was feeling a strong measure of contentment. "I give up. Hello, Heaven's Bane. Do you mind my calling you HB?"
Evidently not. The purring got stronger, and the warmth increased. Sheesh!
My training consisted of simple things at first. At least, they were supposed to be simple. I was told to stand and hold my arm straight out from my shoulder, with Heaven's Bane gripped in my hand and supposedly as straight as my arm. Not to mention convincing HB that either adding or subtracting weight from herself was cheating while I was doing it. When the first arm felt like it was about to pull out of the socket, taking my shoulder, part of my rib cage and back with it in abject surrender, I was allowed to switch arms. Until that one felt just as bad as the other.
"Damn!" I muttered to myself, while wiping sweat out of my eyes during a too short break. "I thought we didn't sweat or get aches and pains."
"This is Hell," Syl, hearing me in spite of my saying that under my breath laughed, good naturedly, "not Heaven, and don't go deluding yourself, kid; Angels sweat and cuss just as much as we do."
"That's soooo encouraging," I grunted, as the hand massaging my still numb left arm encountered a muscle with some feeling left in it. "I thought this body was supposed to be ready to go, and all that good stuff?"
"It was," Syl agreed, with a ferocious grin that boded ill for my immediate future and sense of physical well being. "But even the finest instrument needs tuning up, off and on."
"How wonderful," I sarcastically retorted, "that my weapons teacher is a barracks philosopher, in addition to a sadist."
"Time to go over the forms and positions again, Little Sister." She arose gracefully, planted hands on generous hips, and cocked her head to the side expectantly. "I expect you to get at least some of them right this time around. If you don't, it's more straight arm exercises for you."
"Oh, all right, all right." My response sounded both glum and a little petulant. I was supposed to be some special hybrid minion of Hell, and here I was being subjected to near constant physical abuse in the guise of training. Painfully getting to my feet (Hooves, actually; have you ever considered practicing swordplay and hand to hand battle techniques in high heels? Take my well tutored and experienced advice, don't.) I grimaced at my teacher. "Go ahead and hurt me again, you grinning torment specialist."
"All those hang out in The Pits," Syl equably replied, then laid into me in a blinding flurry of attacks with a long wooden rod she kept handy for such occasions, so quickly I automatically went into the proper defensive form. Just, not quite quickly enough.
"Better," Syl said, nodding judiciously while I sorted my own form from the ground I'd been pounded into with a series of soft groans and loud curses that would have horrified a longshoreman. "You didn't get knocked down for a whole three or four seconds that time."
"Oh, great. Twice as long as last time," I answered, with a wry and very pained grimace. I considered a sneak attack to get even, then discarded the idea upon thinking of how my bruises would feel if they got bruised.
"Yes, Little Sister," Syl replied, then nodded with a grin that told me she had noted my impulse, and my quelling of it. "You're getting the hang of it at last."
"Glad to hear it." With a sigh, I took the first movement's starting position, and steeled myself for another beating. "Well, let's get on with this debacle."
"Hi!" Lorilei greeted me, with a somewhat frazzled smile. I could tell she had been practicing some of the spell casting techniques I'd been showing her in my free time. "How did it go with Syl this time?"
"Am I missing any important parts?" I questioned sourly.
"Nope!" The little Succubus shook her head with a knowing grin.
"Then, I guess it went okay."
"Great." Stretching her wings to their full, glorious length, the beauty at least half responsible for me looking the way I did licked her lips and grinned at me. "Now it's time to have some dinner."
"Dinner?" Giving her a blank look, I shrugged. "I thought Mama was taking care of that for me."
"WAS, DEAR." Mama's voice filled my brain so quickly I could have sworn I heard something inside rattle. "YOU'RE BIG ENOUGH TO FEED YOURSELF NOW, SWEETHEART. BE GOOD, AND GO WITH LORILEI. SHE'LL SHOW YOU HOW TO DO IT RIGHT."
"Does that mean out of here? On Earth? Like this?" I questioned, gesturing at my sweat streaked and dirty body, disheveled hair, and bruised face. "I'm not ready for that yet."
"Yes you are," Lorilei responded, with a little giggle. "Just use our auto cleaning and healing function, and you'll be ready for a debutante ball in no time at all."
"I always seem to forget that ability," I grimaced, concentrating on being clean and at m y best in appearance. In a few seconds, I actually felt better, and smelled more like a flower garden than a sulfur pit with assorted noxious fumes thrown in for grins. I examined myself in the mirror that had obligingly appeared in front of me, and decided that what I saw was as good as it was going to get. Which was actually pretty damned good. (I know, I know. Vanity is one of the Seven Deadly Sins, but...WAKE UP out there, where am I, already? Going to Hell isn't exactly something to hold over my head as a threat any longer, is it now?)
"Okay," I said, then with a final check of my appearance I grimaced and made a face at the image in the mirror, who quite cheerfully returned the gesture. "I guess if Mama isn't going to feed me, I'd better get to know how we do it for real. Besides, I'm famished."
"That's the spirit!" Lorilei flashed me a wide smile, and gestured theatrically into the distance. "Let's go eat!"
I savored the light breeze blowing into the alley we had emerged in, and let out a long, blissful sigh. It seemed like forever since I had set foot on Earth, or The Human Realms as both Demons and Angels called it. "Ah...Oh my...what's that awful smell?"
"Pollution," Lorilei grinned, then wrinkled her own nose in distaste. "Humanity is every bit as good, no better, at ruining a nice place than we Demons and Devils ever dreamed of doing. Kind of makes you long for the old sulfur pits, doesn't it?"
"Almost," I agreed, provisionally, while recalling references I'd heard to The Pits, and the creatures who ran them for the poor souls condemned to their care(?). "But give me a little smog any day over what I've heard about some other places in Hell."
"Good choice." Lor nodded with a grin that displayed her cute little fangs. "We really have it pretty good being Succubae, and even Hell Maids are favored creatures of His Satanic Majesty, Lucifer."
"Oh, good." My response was less than enthusiastic, which drew a giggle out of my companion. "By the way, is this sex changing stuff mandatory in Hell, or is just a fluke that you, me, and Syl used to be men?"
"You noticed that, huh?" Lorilei chuckled, then waved off my retort before it could get a good running start. "Not really, but some of us have been hand picked by Lillith to replace losses."
"Losses?" I was interested, and a bit nervous at the mention of losing creatures like us.
"When the war was hot," Lorilei sighed, as she began a lecture that she'd probably heard and used many times already, "Succubae were Hell's messengers, magic users, and diplomats. Hell Maids not only patrolled the borders of Hell, they were Lucifer's own elite cadre of battle lieutenants, who personally led some other elite troops from Hell in the battles with Heaven.
"As such, both Succubae and Hell Maids tended to be targets for every Angel or any of their allies who ran across us. Both cadres suffered horrible losses in the fighting before both sides ran out of troops," she told me. "Syl lucked out, and actually killed a Hell Maid in hand to hand combat, so Lucifer grabbed his soul before any of Heaven's spawn could, had him transformed to replace the Hell Maid he'd killed, then gave Lillith pretty free rein to pick any new souls she could find that would suit her own clan's needs.
"Which takes care of explaining me." Taking a breath, she went on slowly, "You were a special case; Lucifer himself gave Lillith permission to create you."
"I suppose I should be honored, then." I didn't feel that way. In fact, I got a very distinct feeling of uneasiness as the idea bounced merrily around inside my transformed head. "But why me?"
"You," Lorilei replied, then shrugged while sniffing the air coming in through the mouth of the alley, "could already use magic, had a large store of your own that could be maintained even once you were transformed, and had the temperament to be a fine Hell Maid."
"Okay." Turning to try and catch what she was sniffing at so appreciatively, I caught a sweetish, salty tang in the breeze that caused my stomach, or the equivalent of that which I now possessed to grumble with hunger pangs. "I'm a fighter type who can also use magic...what is that, uh...wonderful aroma?"
"Ambrosia," my companion sighed happily, then tilted her head and winked at me. "For us, anyway. What you're smelling is the scent of Human males blundering about and just waiting for beings like us to have a snack off their masculine energy."
"I think I'm in the mood for more than a snack." My retort seemed a little too eager to my intellect, but my sexual nature found it a bit reticent. I was starved. Almost literally. I knew instinctively that I badly needed to replenish my energy to replace what I had been losing in my training exercises with Syl. "I think a full fledged buffet is more to my liking."
"It's out there," she said, waving toward the dim light spilling into our alley with a note of invitation in her voice. "Why don't we go feed ourselves, dear?"
I didn't require any more urging. With a nod that still seemed far too eager, considering some of my sensibilities as a Human, I motioned for my smaller companion to lead the way, while licking my full lips in anticipation of quelling the gnawing hunger I felt.
I won't dwell on the details of that first feeding. I was sloppy, mostly because I was famished for the kind of energy upon which Succubae thrived. All I will say is that I latched onto my first victim with such a single minded intent that I hadn't realized what was happening to the poor guy until Lorilei found us and interrupted me with a not so light tap to the shoulder.
"Huh?" I responded, with a great deal more intelligence than I thought myself capable of at that moment. "I'm not done yet, Lor."
"I think you are, sweetie," she giggled, and pointed to where my first real meal as a Succubus was twitching in his induced sleep. Or rather, her induced sleep. "You've siphoned off all that one's masculinity and maleness. Shame, shame."
"Uh oh." I felt a pang of regret while looking down at the beautiful young woman who had been a very virile and physically powerful man not an hour earlier. "Did I do that?"
"Yep," Lorilei nodded with a sigh. "You drained every bit of the food you wanted, but that didn't leave anything for him...er, her. In the future, pay attention, and stop when you feel the man's juices start to wane in your victim. Otherwise, they'll all end up as pretty ladies when you've finished with them."
"Oh," I replied with a nod. I thought about something and glanced towards my companion. "Could I put some of it back? You know, make her back into a him?"
"Nope," Lorilei said, as she shrugged while examining the newly created woman softly snoring at our feet. "You've absorbed it all, and your body is using it already. No going back for this one, but she'll get used to it. We did."
"Speak for yourself," I grunted, then took one last look at my first victim, and shook my head with a wry grimace. "I may never get used to it, but anyway, welcome to the club, honey. Hope you enjoy girl stuff."
"Don't worry," Lorilei soothed, "she'll be all girl, and won't be able to fathom how she was able to stand being a male for as long as she was. After the initial shock wears off, anyway."
"Next time, I'll be more careful."
"Do that," Lorilei replied, nodding with a frown. "This one was my fault, really, I should have stuck with you a little more than I did."
"You had to eat, too," I pointed out.
"True," she replied, then brightened up. "Well, let's get home for now. I think both of us are sated for this trip."
"I guess we are, I know I am." With one last parting look at the still sleeping girl I'd left of what had been a man, I shook my head one more time, and entered the portal Lorilei opened up.
Once back, I started going over some of the ins and outs of using magic that doesn't come innately to someone. "Now, tell me how you manage to conjure up a portal whenever you want one, no matter where you are."
Lorilei gave me a momentarily puzzled look, then her expression cleared. "I just take the magic that's hanging around doing nothing at the time, and tune it to what I want."
"So you already have the skill for the fine manipulations needed for any spell you might want or need to use," I pointed out with a grin. "Because you do it every time you use that portal magic."
"Hey, that's right!" She nodded with more enthusiasm for the magical abilities taken from my former teacher than I'd seen her show since I'd first met her. "I just never thought about things that way. I mean, all I ever did was to grab whatever was at hand -- so to speak -- and, WHAM! there it was, but only when I was in a hurry or trouble."
"Which tells me, and should tell you," I finished in satisfaction, "that you need to stop trying so hard to control something you already have control of when things are quiet. Just approach the magic with the casual aplomb you use when there's something going on that requires its use."
"You're telling me to stop worrying about things and just do it, right?" She gave me a close look, then nodded in sudden understanding. If a real light bulb had gone off over her head like it does in cartoons when someone gets an idea, it would have blinded everyone on the nether side of The Human Realms with enough leakage to brighten up the nights there for a while.
"You got it, sis," I agreed with a smile. I still loved teaching magic to a truly gifted student, and Lorilei was and is one of the most gifted and potentially powerful practitioners of the art that I have ever run across.
"Ummm, mind if I point something out?" the succubus, glowing with a faint faery light that came from a spell she had never managed to master before, questioned.
"Very nice job on the Faery Glow," I approved, then nodded, wondering what kind of gem she was going to unload on me that time. "Go ahead."
"You might take your own advice when you're training with Syl," I was informed matter-of-factly. "Syl says you have all the raw talent anyone would need, and could grasp the skills she's teaching you in a matter of days if you'd just relax and let things flow."
"Hmmm..." Running my tongue inside of one cheek, I thought that one over, then kicked myself mentally. I'd been drumming the same thing into Lor's poor head for days, and it had never once occurred to me that exactly the same lesson might just apply to my own situation. "Right you are, my friend. Think I'll go give it a try."
"Good idea," my student/teacher grinned. Evidently, my own light bulb was of high enough wattage to considerably brighten the surroundings, too. I was almost surprised that our mental circuits hadn't gone into overload from all that output of 'the pure light of understanding'.
So, with that new (okay, not so new, but really new and Hell shaking for yours truly) idea firmly in mind, I sought out my other teacher, and tormenter, Syl. Once I found her and started to tell her what I had discovered, she unexpectedly decked me one more time.
"Ohhhh," my groan was muffled by the turf my face was buried in. My arms were numb from assorted blows, both delivered by Syl and given by yours truly. A surreptitious look at my left arm showed the cumbersome shield still firmly strapped to it, while my tingling right hand still held the hilt of Heaven's Bane in a convulsive grip that I thought might never release. Of course, HB was hanging on as tightly as I was. There is something to be said, I suppose, about a sword with a mind of its own and the determination to stay close to her erstwhile mistress. Not that any of that kept the blasted thing from laughing in my mind and teasing about my becoming a vegetarian whenever I was working out with Syl.
"Bery vunny, HB," I muttered through a mouthful of lawn and the soil that had held it a few minutes earlier.
"What was that?" Syl, short for Sylvanna, questioned as I began spitting out shreds of grass and chunks of the ground while cautiously getting to my scabbed and bruised knees.
"I said," with a pause to spit another stalk of grass that had seen my tongue tangle in my fangs and thought it looked like fun out of my mouth, "Ouch! Dammit, did you absolutely have to hit me so bloody hard? Again? When I wasn't even looking?"
"Yes," Syl grinned in mischief, then seated herself on a nearby bench. "If it helps, you just about dodged my last little love tap."
"Huh!" came my intelligent rejoinder to her barracks humor. "If that was a love tap, your lovers must be made of stone and be rooted firmly in the ground. I thought my brains were going to spill out of my ears there for a minute or so, and the final verdict isn't in yet. They still might."
Syl drew in a breath, then let it whistle through perfect teeth, providing of course, one was willing to put up with having a mouthful of sharp, pointed things instead of civilized teeth, while muttering something about damned pleasure loving succubae under her breath. "That was a love tap, compared to what some Angel might deliver to you, without you seeing that one coming either, I might add."
"I know." With a grin of my own, I laid a thundering slap to the side of her head with the flat of Heaven's Bane. Then watched in satisfaction as my tormentor/teacher did a tumbling flip as she went ass over tea kettle to land in a half stunned heap some feet behind the bench. "Consider us even, Syl."
Working her jaw back into place, Syl paused long enough to give me a gimlet stare that usually meant trouble for her half reluctant student. But that suddenly changed to a satisfied grin as she slowly got to her feet. "Almost even, sheling," she chuckled before beating the daylights out of me.
An indeterminate time later, I reluctantly came to, while wondering if the damned Hell Maid I had for a weapons tutor had managed not to break at least one bone in my aching body. I also noticed that I was soaking wet, and the water had been cold.
"Now, aren't you two a sight?" Lorilei's amused voice penetrated my still fuzzy consciousness. "Have another fight, did we?"
"Don't know about you, Lor," Syl's voice came from right beside me, at ground level. "But we sure did. Bloody Gates of Hell, did we EVER!"
I vaguely recalled hitting back for a change. Along with biting, clawing, and actually trying to use the edge of my sword on Syl. Not to mention doing my level best to run her through with my built in spike heels.
"Is she ready for action, then?" Lorilei inquired in a deceptively calm voice, while seating herself gingerly on the remains of the stone bench Syl had occupied before I'd walloped her and started our latest brawl.
"Oh, aye, that she is, little one." Syl sat up, evidently a painful procedure for her, too. I knew I was still gritting my teeth every time I attempted to do more than simply sit close to upright. "Held her own against me in a real brawl, she did. And the little snot started it!" Syl's voice held both admiration and humor as she said that. "With a sword in her pretty hand, I'd rather stand right in front of her just yet, but she's got the basics down pat. Along with the wiles of a sneaky little succubus to help her along. Those wings are just about an unfair advantage. If I hadn't netted her, she would have staggered away from the graduation test while I was out cold."
"Graduation?" I straightened even more, and immediately regretted the idea, as bolts of pain shot from the base of my spine to the tips of my wings.
"That's right, Angelique," said another voice. Its owner, an imposing Hell Maid in full regalia, sauntered into my line of sight and offered me a hand up. I saw another giving Syl the same assist. "Duly witnessed and approved by a squad of your peers, I might mention.
"Welcome, Sister!" the as of yet unidentified Hell Maid thundered out, and was answered by a chorus of similar voices. "Proud to have you with us, even if you're a bit on the scrawny side."
That last had been delivered in a whisper I hadn't been meant to hear, but I diplomatically ignored it. Mostly because it was true. Next to a full Hell Maid, I appeared at best to be half grown, even if I did tower head and shoulders above the Succubae who also claimed me as a sister. "Thanks...er, I think introductions must have been made while my bell was still ringing."
"While...? Oh, indeed, little sister!" the Hell Maid chuckled, and gave me a companionable pat on the shoulder that just about sent me sprawling on my face all over again. "Forgive me, I just haven't seen such an entertaining graduation exercise in millennia! Ruatha Head Splitter, but my friends just call me Rue."
"Glad to meet you, Rue," I answered shakily, while carefully holding to my still uncertain balance. "I hope we can be friends."
"Me too, wingling! Me too," Rue chuckled, as she gave my form an appreciative and critical look at the same time. "Those wings and the ability to use them make you a very formidable opponent for anyone. Once you come into your full skills, I would very much rather call you friend than enemy."
Another hand reached to grip my arm in a friendly manner. It belonged to the other Hell Maid, a beauty as all of them -- us -- were, and in full fighting regalia, as well. The other hand still supported Syl as she grinned and gave my arm a squeeze. "Brekke, here, little one. Happy to have you with us."
I nodded agreeably, while noting that Syl appeared at least as battered as I felt. That one flashed me an encouraging grin, and nodded in silent agreement as the other dozen armed and armored figures who had been hovering on the periphery converged to greet, congratulate, and rattle my bones with solid thumps to parts of my already tender anatomy.
My introduction to my peers was nearly harder on me than the "graduation" fight had been, but I didn't really mind all that much, seeing as how most of my body was numb, anyway.
"Okay, Lor," I said, turning to my sister succubus with a tilt of my head to emphasize the fact that I was getting ready to ask an important question. "Just what did you mean by asking if I was ready for action?"
"Ever hear of Shen-Dai?" she questioned in return, with a very deliberately neutral tone of voice.
"Yes," I responded slowly, then grabbed the little sexpot before she was able to dodge out of my reach. "You aren't, by any chance, trying to tell me that I'm going to be involved in going after a Rogue Angel, are you?"
"Uh, not that I'm happy about it, but now that you ask, yes." Lorilei gave me a troubled look, then sighed in resignation. "Don't worry, you aren't going to be in the forefront of that confrontation. I am. As bait, no less. Not only has this one gone rogue in a big way," she continued in a rush, probably so I would put her down on her dainty little hooves, "he has designs on the Human Realms."
"Neither Heaven or Hell would tolerate that," I replied, setting her down carefully, mindful of the power she really possessed in spite of her diminutive form. I gave her my best 'I'm waiting for the punch line' expression.
"Neither one would be able to stop him if Armageddon was called, now would they?" she frowned, and winced at a word that was considered obscene in both realms. "And this damned Rogue, Shen-Dai, is planning to start just that. He's even had his agents foment incidents that could ignite The Final Battle between Heaven and Hell. Fortunately, neither side believes the other would allow such a stupid stunt to be pulled by any of their minions, so The Powers in both realms started to investigate. They found Shen-Dai and his merry band of disaffected Angels, Demons, and Humans, but haven't been able to penetrate the bastard's defenses without unsettling the whole of The Human Realms doing it. Unless one of us can get inside and act as a key," the petite beauty shuddered before going on, "and the boneheads have decided in their infinite wisdom, that I'm just the key they need."
"But Shen-Dai holds you personally responsible for the destruction of one of his more important Human underlings." I shook my head in wonder that stupidity wasn't confined to Humans alone. "Girard was an integral piece in his plans, and the Rogue isn't likely to be very forgiving toward you for killing that one."
"But I have power," she spat out, as if reciting something she had heard from elsewhere, "and beauty. Two things this Shen-Dai covets and admires in others. The bosses tell me that I'd be the perfect bait; that the motherless son will either try to destroy me on the spot, or force me into some sort of union with himself that will benefit from my abilities and raw power."
"Not a pleasant prospect either way, is it?" My question drew another wince from my friend, and I added another question to at least divert her from one of her infamous tantrums. "So, how do I fit in all this?"
"You," Lorilei managed to get out between tightly clenched teeth, "and Syl, along with selected members of my growing family, are going in with me. Since I have to show a convincingly disillusioned anger at both Heaven and Hell for 'using' me the way they already have, I'm supposed to be in total disgrace, and hunted by Hell for disloyalty and a whole list of other offenses. Which means that I'm going to be chased, harried, and otherwise flushed out of any cover I might find by minions from both sides in a cooperative effort to keep me from joining with the Rogue out of spite, and desperation just to survive."
"Plausible." I thoughtfully nodded my head, then shrugged. "So your loyal family members are going to follow you into exile and outlawry, right?"
"That about covers it," Lor answered, with a grimace.
"Okay," I agreed cheerfully. "Sounds like fun. I'll come along."
"Fun?" Muttering under her breath about stone brained Hell Maids, and idiots in charge of Heaven and Hell despite efforts by both Realm's leaders to delegate things to level heads instead of bloody dreamers, Lor glared at me for a moment, then gave in to near hysterical giggles. "Leave it to you and Syl to define the most outrageous, dangerous path we could possibly take in a very dangerous existence, and call it Fun!"
"Well," defensively, my response sounded a bit lame, even to myself, "it might be. Besides, Hell Maids are supposed to be eager to stand in harm's way, aren't we?"
"Whatever," my mentor/student grumbled between hiccups resulting from her giggle fit. "But I most certainly am NOT all that eager to put myself in the direct line of fire here. But I haven't been given any choice in the matter," she finished with a fatalistic sigh. "Damn, I've only been a succubus for about eight months subjective, and I might just end up finding out what happens when a good, or bad, little demoness bites the big one."
You know, I couldn't argue with that point at all. In fact, I was kind of thinking along the same lines myself.
Note: Read Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 |
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