their night together. She had long recognized the sensual triggers within her body that ensured her loyalty to her masters. Alex unwittingly pul ed on al that, but there was more. There was an undeniable emotional quality to her reactions. He was so unlike anyone she’d ever lain with, mortal or otherwise. Some small part of her mused, tentatively, that maybe he deserved her? Could she possibly, somehow, after al this time and al her deeds, deserve to be with him? Madness. She crushed out such thoughts, turning away from him. He had the will to resist. Any previous partner would have let her ride him until he passed out. Alex had actually asked her to let him sleep enough to be rested for the next day, and clearly had intentions other than staying home with her. That self-control was astounding. Alex enjoyed letting Lorelei take the lead. He found the role of the pursued rather than pursuer thril ing, especially after such a haphazard history of dating. His desires tended toward strong women, for obvious reasons—not exclusively, but the preference was there. He had it in him to be the aggressor and the seducer once he became a little more self-confident. There was a great deal for Lorelei to play with here. But what was so ominously clear to her was that he would only be led so much. He would be happily teased and manipulated until he was genuinely bothered by something, and then it would end. Her plots would only move as long as they kept him entertained and respected his real boundaries. Alex, unlike any prey before him, could say no and mean it. Frowning, Lorelei glanced around his room. Seeing in the dark was no chal enge at al for a demon. She should have investigated the house yesterday, but fatigue from her abduction had overcome her and she’d put it off. Lorelei glanced over his bookshelf and other belongings, which indicated interests that tended toward larger-than-life adventure and matters far beyond his small world. He wouldn’t want to remain in his hometown forever. On his desk was a picture of his high school swim team, which included several girls forever burned into his desires. That was something she could use.
His shelves held an eclectic collection of music, but his discs and scattered ticket stubs revealed a preference for live rock. His wall s were adorned with posters of bands and ordinary teen interests…but ordinary teens didn’t have so many philosophy books. She found his class schedule. It was still early enough in the year that he probably didn’t have it al memorized. Only a year into his college life, he still had mostly “intro” classes: Intro to Literature. Intro to Biology. Philosophy. Human Sexuality. No wonder he’s so screwed up, she thought wryly. Intro to Photography. Her heart jumped. So insignificant a thing. Just a class at a community college. How different her world would be if Alex hadn’t, probably on a whim, taken Introduction to Photography. There was so much more to know, and so much more that he would want to know about her. He wouldn’t like it. There was so very little for a good man to like. The thought gave her a small pang of despair. Lorelei considered slipping out, but saw no great need. What she wanted was right in front of her. Merely being with him felt good, and the succubae were nothing if not hedonistic. She slipped into the bed, curling up beside him in the hopes of banishing ominous thoughts and unpleasant memories. As she drifted off to sleep, she found she had little luck. * The pounding on the door and demands for Malik to rise had ended hours ago. Screams and crashes and the sounds of slaughter replaced it, but Lorelei had paid it no mind. Her work had been too close to completion to worry about such things.
There came, as always, the final, overwhelming shudder of pleasure when her prey expired. As usual, it arrived while she rode him, slapping away his feeble, fatigued attempts to push her off before the end. Lorelei remained still for a good while, oblivious to shouts and the clanging of swords separated from her only by brick and mortar. She hated this man, indeed hated al her “lovers,” but there was always at least this. Whatever her feelings, this moment was always rewarding. Once Malik’s soul finally passed through her on its way to hell , Lorelei rose from the bed and took up a robe. Her proud wings stretched out, completely unhindered by the fabric. An onlooker might have thought either the wings or the robe were il usions, for how could one solid thing merely pass through another in such a way? Very few mortals could see such things, though. Only practitioners of magic could see, and Lorelei had not encountered any such practitioners in Antioch. She wanted to wash. That was always her first instinct when the deed was done and the pleasure had faded. Lorelei left the room without a second glance, clad only in the robe. She ignored the jewelry, the dresses, al of it. She needed none of it and wanted it even less. A Turk died at her feet as she opened the door, thrown down by a pair of Franks who descended upon him with bloodied blades. She waited patiently until they moved out of her way, then simply slipped past. Neither man paid her any notice. Lorelei threw the robe’s hood up over her head. It was easier to go unnoticed when one was genuinely inconspicuous. She calmly slipped through corridors and streets fil ed with pil age, rapine and much worse. There was a small well not far away. Just around the corner, beyond the three bearded Crusaders arguing over a dead man’s belongings. Lorelei walked calmly around them, remaining unnoticed by mortal warriors… …yet not by one of her own. They smell ed one another in nearly the same instant. Lorelei immediately resigned herself to the encounter as the blonde woman at the well looked up. She was dressed as a Frankish noble woman on a long journey, and clearly she had been. Any ordinary woman would have had no place in a city on its first night of pil age, but an ordinary woman wouldn’t have a demon’s wings and tail, either.
She also had her interests. She had been standing near a bucket sitting on the edge of the well , and from it she drew a gold necklace and a dagger. The blood hadn’t entirely come off either trinket yet. “Lydia,” said Lorelei flatly, acknowledging the other succubus with a curt nod. The blonde’s face split into a predatory grin that touched her eyes and even her horns. “Lorelei,” she sang out. “What a pleasant surprise!” “Isn’t it,” Lorelei deadpanned. “You look radiant under that ragged blanket,” Lydia said. “Burlap suits you.” The succubus leaned in just a touch and inhaled deeply. “And you smell of a fresh triumph.” “You smell of several,” Lorelei shrugged. The statement carried no admiration. “Yes, well . I have found a good deal of low-hanging fruit with the Crusaders. The Pope has provided me with a veritable orchard.” Her grin turned sly. “A few more decades of this and perhaps my name will be spoken in the same breath as yours.” “Belial favors quality over quantity,” Lorelei replied indifferently. She watched Lydia coldly and warily. “I imagine it is a different game for the most favored of Baal.” “It is,” Lydia grinned. “Baal doesn’t have me out among the mortals endlessly trying to make up for lost ground.” She paused before saying, “He still misses you, you know.” Lorelei didn’t bother to hide the sneer. “You say that as if it should mean something to me.” “Doesn’t it?” Lydia asked. “Baal remains ascendant. Belial remains dimmed. Your name has not lost its luster, though. If I were to bring you back into the fold, we would both be rewarded. He would enjoy spending time with you again.”
“I wonder if you understand what the word ‘reward’ means,” Lorelei said. The cheerful smile faded. “Don’t be cross. There’s no need to be unpleasant. We have so much in common.” “Yes,” Lorelei nodded. “We both wish to use the well .” Lydia glanced down at her bucket, then back at Lorelei. She stepped back and gestured for the other succubus to help herself. Lorelei stepped forward. She paused to look into the bucket, finding the water reddened with blood. At the bottom lay a gold ring. It was simple, undecorated and thin. It had the look of a common man’s wedding band. “Why do you seek baubles and trophies?” Lorelei asked. “Because it amuses me. I like my trophies. Don’t you keep any? I would think one as celebrated as you might take more joy in her work.” “It means little to me,” Lorelei murmured. She glanced over at Lydia, looking her up and down. “There is still blood on your sleeve, and your hand,” she said in a cool, disdainful voice. “I will leave you to the well . You have more need to wash than I.” She turned to leave without another word. Lorelei felt the angry, hateful eyes of the other succubus looking on, but it meant little. There was, ultimately, very little here that meant much at al . * Lorelei was definitely the best thing to wake up to. Ever. It was the first coherent thought Alex had that morning. The wellcoming, affectionate kiss that concentrated upon rousing him from slumber was absolutely convincing.
His next thought came out in an appreciative groan. “I’m starting to believe you really do like doing this.” Alex tilted his head just enough to look down at his gorgeous wake-up cal , who simply winked at him and continued. She lay along his legs, favoring him with plenty of bare skin upon skin. “My life is awesome.” Lorelei paused long enough to say, “Wait for it,” then went back to her work. “…tel in’ ya, the women in my life are absolutely no fun anymore,” whined the morning DJ from Alex’s clock radio. “Al my ex wants is alimony and al my wife wants out of me is to listen to her bitch and moan about her feelings and her social life, and—” Alex laughed a bit. If this guy only knew, he thought, knowing Lorelei had set up exactly this moment. “Jackass,” he muttered. The feeling of Lorelei giggling softly added a nice dimension to the sensations her mouth provided. Alex groaned again. His left hand reached down to stroke her hair. His right fumbled for the power cord of the clock radio until he had it unplugged. “Bet he’d have a happier marriage if he wasn’t such a whiner,” Alex mumbled. “Quite clearly,” Lorelei broke off to say. “Why do you listen to him, then?” “He wasn’t always there. I keep forgetting to change the station. God, I hate guys like him. And I really don’t want to think about anything else right now but you and what you’re doing.” “Yes, master,” she whispered. The longer she went on, the more it seemed she, too, derived physical pleasure from the act. In his blissful haze, Alex remembered something about sharing pleasures, but by then his body was tensing with excitement and anticipation. Lorelei seemed to shake with satisfaction just as much as he did. Eventually the moment passed. Lorelei slipped away from his groin to crawl into a warm, mutually grateful embrace. “Good morning,” she murmured, kissing him lightly.
“Good morning to you. Did you get any sleep?” “A little. I need far less than you. It’s more of an indulgence than a need.” “I feel like I slept.” He was now wide-awake as his eyes fluttered open. “I feel like I slept al night. After having sex al night. Like I had two nights there. Wow, when did I go to sleep?” “I brought you to sleep at a bit past four, I believe.” “Two hours?” “It was al you needed. As I explained last night, my prey undergoes certain changes. I would happily have kept you awake longer. I’m trying to control myself, master,” Lorelei conceded dryly. Alex laughed, then glanced at the now blank clock radio. “Well , now I don’t know what time it is. Time to get up and get going, at any rate. Um, you…?” “I would fol ow you and bathe you if you like, but it sounds as if you would prefer not to be too distracted this morning.” “No. I mean are you going to be okay with staying today? Or not, real y—I mean, I’m not tel ing you not to go anywhere. I would just like it if you were here when I come home.” He opened his mouth to speak again after a moment, but Lorelei promptly closed it for him. “If you stammer out an apology for making such a simple request of me, you’l be back to waking up to that insipid disc jockey every morning.” Instinctively, Alex searched for words to apologize for making so many apologies. Then, with Lorelei’s hand still over his mouth, he realized she saw that coming, too, and began to laugh. She smiled back at him and let him up. “Go,” she said with a shooing motion. “Shower. You smell like you’ve been having sex al night.” “That’s crazy talk,” Alex chuckled as he grabbed some clean clothes. “Ask anyone. I don’t know what to do with girls.
I’m still a pure, innocent virgin.” “You’l make a good sacrifice for some terrible demon princess, then.” At the door, Alex blinked. He turned back to her. “Are you really a prin—” “No!” she chuckled. “Go get cleaned up!” He was showered, shaved and ready to go within fifteen minutes. Alex felt more energized than he had in a long time. Lorelei wasn’t in the bedroom when he came in to get dressed, but he paid that no mind. He simply threw on a shirt and some cargo pants, then headed downstairs to grab something to eat. Outside his bedroom he was stopped in his tracks. Michel e’s door was ajar, which in itself wouldn’t have been interesting, but his mother was directly in view. She had her back turned toward the door as she played with her hair… in a black and white skirt suit that did a lot to tastefully show off her figure. He wasn’t quite mesmerized like he seemed to be by every other attractive woman. That was a relief, given the way she was dressed. He was surprised at how good she looked, though. They had been at a pool party not too long ago, and while his mother had never been fat, she still had a little sag here and there. Now, she looked fit and trim, arguably ready for modeling. Michel e stood in her room, looking around for things she needed. He could already hear al his friends tel ing him with renewed joy how hot his mom was as he headed down the stairs. Rummaging through the refrigerator, Alex wondered if there was something to explain her glow. Maybe she’d just been working out more than he thought? Maybe she met someone at the office and didn’t want to say anything yet? Cereal implements in hand, Alex settled down at the dining room table. It wasn’t a big dining room, providing just enough space for a decent table right outside the kitchen. The thought occurred to him as he began to eat that the table was just big enough to throw a woman on it and have his way with her. He chuckled, thinking it was silly that he was still thinking about sex after the night he’d just had, but then maybe that’s how things would be from now on. It didn’t seem so bad.
As if to cued by the thought, Lorelei rounded the far corner of the kitchen and came walking through it toward him. She wore one of his dress shirts, unbuttoned, and not much of anything else. The whole “girl in man’s shirt the morning after” thing had always seemed like a contrivance for photo spreads and movies to him before, but now he was a believer. Lorelei sauntered in as he watched her, then planted an affectionate kiss at the back of his neck. Her hands slipped around his chest. “I like the way you look at me.” “I like looking at you.” “Alex, are you talking to someone down there?” his mother cal ed down. Her footsteps down the stairs made plenty of noise. Alex looked up to Lorelei in concern. A naughty smile overcame her. Before Alex could say anything, Lorelei ducked under and backward to move under the cloth-covered table. She moved like some sort of ninja. Just as Lorelei disappeared, Michel e came into the kitchen. “Hey, sleepyhead,” his mother smiled. Alex blinked; he wasn’t used to seeing her in anything that flattering. It wasn’t unprofessional, but it was striking just the same. She was, for al her business casual fashion, uncomfortably sexy. “…Mom?” Alex stammered. This, he figured, had to be the most awkward moment of his life. Enticing hands slid up his legs. His eyes went wide with shock. Alex fought to keep his thighs together. His jeans tightened around his waist as his body reacted to Lorelei’s touch. Now it was the most horribly awkward moment of his life. “Yes? Hm?” “Ah. Is that, um, a new outfit?” He had to stop Lorelei. He couldn’t possibly move away from the table now, though,