Her Incubus Master (The Children of Lilith) (9 page)

"Oh, surely you've been seeing Andras like this?" Amanda
teased.

"Yeah, but I thought I was hallucinating," Katie
replied, feeling dazed from more than the mimosas and the sex.
"Um..."

There was a question she was dying to ask, but couldn't
think of a way that didn't sound rude.

"Yes?" said Amanda, folding her wings and looking
extremely satisfied with herself.

"Are you an alien?" blurted Katie. "From a
UFO or something?"
God, the lameness!
She braced herself for her
friend's reaction.

Amanda just laughed. "No, silly," she said, thankfully
not sounding offended. "I'm a succubus. Or, if you want to be accurate, a
Child of Lilith.
Succubus
is considered politically-incorrect these
days—too many ugly associations, like witch-hunts and burnings at the stake."

"And—and Andras? Is he a succ—I mean, a Child of
Lilith, too?" Katie paused, thinking. "And is he really your
brother?"

"A man can't be a succubus." Amanda giggled.
"Males are traditionally called incubus. And yes, Andras really
is
my
twin brother. And my best friend."

Katie stared at Amanda some more, trying to wrap her head
around what she was seeing and hearing.

A vague memory surfaced, something she'd read in a horror
novel. "Hey, aren't incubuses—"

"Incubi," Amanda corrected, coolly, still looking amused.

"—incubi and succubuses...uh, succubi?"

"Succubae," corrected Amanda.

"Aren't you guys supposed to be like vampires? Sex
vampires?"

This time, Amanda didn't laugh, though her mouth twitched
and her eyes sparkled. "What do you think?" she asked, in a teasing
tone.

"I think you're kind of sex gods," Katie replied.

"Indeed." Amanda shook out her wings and
re-settled them. "Legend has it that we are descended from Lilith, the
handmaiden of the great goddess Inanna, who was later called Ishtar. Lilith supposedly
took the archangel Samael as her consort, and bore him many children who were
gifted with powerful magic. They were immortal, and could go for years without
eating, as long as they took human lovers."

"Uh, so you really are a sex vampire?" Katie
asked.

She realized that Amanda was looking much better than she
had. Her skin was now warm, and she looked awake. Energized.

The last of Katie's afterglow, along with the pleasant
sensation of tipsiness, vanished abruptly, as the implications hit her.
"Shit. Did you just
feed
on me?"

Amanda suddenly looked contrite. "Please don't be angry
with me," she said, in a soft voice. "I wouldn't have, but it was an
emergency. Truly."

"Andras is going to kill me when he finds out. Or break
up with me," Katie said, miserably. She turned her face away from the
strange, beautiful creature who was still sitting on her lap. "Oh fuck,
how could I have been so stupid?"

"I'm sorry," Amanda said. "But I honestly
don't think Andras will break up with you just because you did me a favor. A
huge
favor." She leaned forward and put her hands on Katie's shoulders.
"Katie, do you know what a rare and beautiful person you are?"

Katie shook her head in instant denial. "I'm not—"
she began.

Amanda put a finger against Katie's lips. "We're not
compatible with
everyone
, you know. I've been living on starvation
rations for a long time now, but it's hard, and having to constantly maintain
the glamour—"

"The
what?
" Katie asked. The only
glamour
that came to mind was the magazine, and she was pretty sure that's not what Amanda
was talking about.

"Glamour." At Katie's blank look, Amanda sighed.
"It's an old term for an illusion spell. It's how we pass for fully human.
Close your eyes for a moment."

Katie obeyed. When she opened her eyes again, Amanda looked
completely normal again. No wings, no cat-eyes, and she wore one of her
stylish, expensive-looking blouses, though Katie hadn't felt her move.

The air around Amanda shimmered, and then she was half-naked
once more, her wingtips brushing Katie's knees.

Amanda slid off Katie's lap and curled on the sofa next to
her. "Look, I can't guarantee that my brother won't be angry, but he
needs
you. And if he has any sense, he'll ask you to be his
philtata
before
too much longer. I'll take the blame for what happened here today. Andras will
understand, once I tell him how dire my situation was. I truly had no other
choice."

"Well, he
did
ask me to look out for you,"
Katie said, slowly.

"Exactly!" Amanda agreed, with enthusiasm.

"What's a
philtata
?"

"It means
beloved friend
in ancient Greek,"
Amanda explained. "The Children of Lilith use it to refer to their bonded
human companions."

Philtata
sounds like a pretty serious commitment
,
thought Katie. "And why do you think your brother will want
that
with me, after this?"

"Katie, we're not like regular humans," Amanda
said, earnestly. "We don't generally feel sexual jealousy. And to truly
flourish, we need close relationships with those special few humans who are
compatible with our needs. Andras has been looking for a long time—his last
lover broke his heart when she finally died after a relationship lasting
decades—and I thought that you and he might suit each other."

"I—this is a lot to take in!" Katie said. "I
mean, a part of me is wondering whether you put something in the orange
juice."

"I understand that you'll need some time to absorb
this," Amanda said, in a soothing tone. "But please don't—" She
frowned. "Please give my brother a fair chance. He's really grown to care
for you, and you're good for him."

She leaned over, and kissed Katie on the lips. It was a
gentle kiss this time.

"And thank you for today. You are beautiful, and you're
kinder and sexier than Andras deserves."

* * *

Katie spent the rest of the afternoon reliving the morning's
revelations, went to bed early, and slept badly.

She dreaded having to look at her phone the next morning,
and having to answer Andras' question,
Are you keeping your promise to me?

To her pleasure—and guilty apprehension--when morning
finally came, his text said only:
Done at last! Boarding UA858...see you at
breakfast tomorrow. Can't wait!

He was coming home, at last.

But how could she face him after having cheated on him with
his sister?

* * *

"Andras!" Katie's voice was hopeful rather than
joyful, and she did not move to fling herself into his embrace. Instead, she
hovered uncertainly in the doorway of her apartment.

Her hesitation became clear as soon as he saw the pale color
of her aura, which should have been deep gold shading to scarlet. The taste of
joyful anticipation that had filled his mouth all the way home from Shanghai
instantly turned to the bitterest gall.

She had lied to him. She had not waited.

She had not waited for
him
.

He had thought about her all throughout that long, long
flight home over the Pacific Ocean. Had fantasized about revealing himself to
her in his true form. Had begun to dream that she might accept him for who he
truly was, and consent to become his
philtata
.

Katie visibly wilted at his change in expression.

"I'm sorry," she said, her own expression changing
from hopefulness to guilt. "I'm so,
so
sorry."

Then she surprised him by stepping back and opening her door
all the way. "Please, won't you come in? I need to talk to you, and I
don't want to do it as performance art for my neighbors."

He hesitated, surprised at how much her betrayal hurt. She
had
promised
him exclusivity!

And her desire to talk to him smacked of an apology,
followed by a break-up.

"...please? Sir?" she added in a low voice. 

He felt a spark of hope. If she was calling him
sir
,
then perhaps she didn't want to break up with him, after all? Would she agree
to a punishment, so that they could continue their relationship?

Silently, Andras followed her into her living room. It was
furnished with a remarkably ugly brown shag carpet and a motley collection of
second-hand furniture in the style of fifty years past.

Katie noticed his glance around. He had never ventured
beyond her front door before, coming here only to pick her up and head out to a
restaurant to eat, then back to his spacious loft for sex.

"My grandma died just as I was getting ready to move in
here," she said, sounding embarrassed. "So Mom and Dad packed up a
U-Haul truck with her furniture and drove it out here once I signed the lease
for this place. I was kind of broke back then, and I haven't really gotten
around to buying new stuff yet..." She stopped, and grimaced. "I'm
babbling. Sheesh. Would you like some breakfast? I have a pot of coffee going,
and I have some eggs—"

"I suppose that depends," Andras said, gravely,
interrupting her. "On whether you are ending our relationship."

"Me?" she squeaked. "But I thought
you'd
want to—"

He shook his head, afraid to yield to hope.

"No, I don't want to break up with you! I was kind of
hoping to explain things, and that you'd give me another chance," Katie
said.

"Okay, then," said Andras, forcing a smile. "Coffee
would be nice, then, and I could help you cook."

After his extended stay in Shanghai, he was hungry, but not
for eggs and coffee. And, as always, Katie looked delicious, the generous
expanse of her aura brushing him with soft promise.

The apartment's kitchen was narrow and tiny. The two of them
worked in awkward silence for a few minutes, Katie whisking together eggs and
milk with nervous energy, and Andras slicing oranges with quick, precise
strokes of his knife, relishing the brief, sizzling contacts between them.

Andras caught her studying him, her eyes narrowed and brow
furrowed.

"What?" he asked.

She flushed, looking guilty again. Taking a deep breath, she
said, "I know. About the Children of Lilith."

He froze, his knife embedded in the act of bisecting an
orange. This was
not
the conversation he had expected to have with her,
not so soon.

"Really? And how is that?" he asked, as neutrally
as he could.

"I, uh, can see past your, um, glamour." She
stumbled over the term. "If I concentrate. I've seen it, uh, kind of fade
away a couple of times while we were having sex, but I didn't know what it
was."

She had been able to pierce his glamour? Even Yoshiko had
not been able to do that until he had told her what he was.

"Amanda told you." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah. We had brunch yesterday, and talked about a bunch
of stuff. And then, um, she and I—" Katie gave a heavy sigh, and her
expression of guilt returned. "Shit. That's what I need to talk to you
about."

Andras finished slicing through the orange with a definitive
thunk, the blade of the chef's knife embedding itself in the bamboo cutting
board. "
Amanda
seduced you?"

He wasn't sure whether he was enraged or relieved.

Katie flushed and her gaze dropped to the worn linoleum
tiles of the kitchen floor. "I was kind of drunk. And she said it was an
emergency. And—and she looked really awful, like she was terminally ill, or
something."

"And after?" Andras asked gently. Under other
circumstances, he would have wanted to throttle his twin sister for trying to
sabotage his fledgling relationship, but Katie's report alarmed him.

"Better. Almost back to normal," Katie said. She
bit her lip, not meeting his gaze. "Look, I'm really,
really
sorry.
I never thought I'd be into girls, but I guess champagne for breakfast brings out
the slut in me..." She laughed nervously.

"And did my dear sister reveal to you that she's a
succubus?" Andras ground out.
Damn Amanda! Did she use her powers to force
Katie into her bed?
"She could, if she put her mind to it, 'bring out
the slut' in anyone, even the Pope."

Katie flinched at his tone, and he made an effort to gentle
his voice. "I'm not angry at
you
," he said. "Just worried
that Amanda may not have given you a real choice in the matter."

"Oh," Katie said, meeting his eyes at last. "You
can do that?
Make
people want to have sex with you?"

He could see her starting to re-evaluate all of their dates,
and cursed silently. "We can, under some circumstances."

Her face fell, and he added hastily, "But it breaks all
our laws, and it's against all codes of decent behavior. Consent and trust are
sacred to the Children of Lilith. If you were at all attracted to her, Amanda may
have
nudged
you in a small way to act on your desire." He stopped,
and gave her what she really wanted. "Katie, I swear to you, everything
we've done, we've done with your full consent. I have never used my powers to
try to influence you."

"O-okay," she said, and her relief was palpable.

He reached around her, and rescued the eggs, which were in
danger of scorching in the pan. "Will you tell me what happened, as we
eat?"

While Andras fed the halved oranges into a large, noisy
juicer, Katie made toast and set the table. Then they sat down across from each
other at Katie's small table, their knees touching.

Her gaze fixed on her plate, where she was pushing around
the dry lumps of the overcooked eggs, Katie began to tell him about her brunch
with Amanda the previous day...and what had followed.

She spoke haltingly when she got to the details of Amanda's
seduction, her body language bleeding with discomfort and guilt.

Andras listened to his lover's recitation without comment, but
he began to worry. Katie's obvious discomfort in the aftermath suggested that Amanda
might have done more than merely
nudge
Katie in the direction of an
existing inclination.

What in the name of all the Olympian gods had his sister
been thinking? On the heels of his indignation came a more worrisome thought: just
how poorly was she faring, to have done something like this at all?

"...so, is it really true? You're really a...really a
Child of Lilith?" Katie asked, and her question penetrated his troubled
contemplation of Amanda's motives.

Time to face the music,
he thought. And see if Katie
really was meant to be his
philtata
, or if she would reject him, like so
many others, and retreat into convincing herself that she had suffered some
temporary mental lapse.

Andras stood, pushing back his chair, and with an effort of
will, dismissed the glamour.

Because of his wings, he usually went shirtless, but wore
trousers. Today, he wore a comfortable pair of jeans, the fabric faded and softened
by repeated launderings.

Bared to his true skin, he waited, controlling his desire to
explain—or fidget—under her wide-eyed stare. Katie's gray eyes examined him
from head to foot, her gaze returning time and again to his wings.

"Wow," she said, finally, and Andras felt dizzy
with sudden relief. "You look really different, but still kind of the
same.

He smiled at her gratefully. "Thank you. And I'm glad
you didn't run away screaming."

She tilted her head, and frowned. "People
do
that
?
Why? You're not really scary-looking. Just different." She returned his
smile, a spark of her old mischief returning. "And, um, still kind of
hot."

"I'm glad you think so," he said, gravely.
People
do that?
Why?
That question had been so very Katie.

"So, about the, uh, glamour," she began.

Abandoning the remnants of her breakfast, she put down her
fork and leaned forward. Her expression shone with eager curiosity.

He inclined his head, trying not to grin like a fool.
She's
not frightened! She's not repulsed!

"Can you change how you look, or do you have to stick
with just one glamour?"

Hungry as he was after three weeks away from her, making do
with survival rations of visiting men and women as they slept, it was probably
a bad idea to expend so much energy now.