“Yes. I think he might like me, but…I haven’t done anything about him…” “I’l make you a deal,” Lorelei offered. “Mmhh?” “I can make you beautiful, Michel e. Hot like a movie star. Confident. Sexy. Al Eddie could dream of. I only need one thing.” “Wh…what?” “You have to promise me to keep this our secret,” Lorelei said, “from everyone. From your friends, from your family… from your son. We must be a secret even from yourself.” “I promise,” Michel e whispered. “I promise.” “So if you see me or hear me, promise me you will understand you are only imagining it… no matter what you see. Unless I speak to you.” “I promise,” Michel e nodded softly, “I promise.” She al but began to sway. Michel e was soon scarcely capable of standing upright, but Lorelei kept her on her feet as if her entire body was as light as a feather. “There’s more.” “Mnh?” “Your son.” Michel e’s eyes fluttered partially open at that. Lorelei was unsurprised. Naturally the strongest point of resistance for a mother would be with regards to her only son. Michel e almost regained her senses, but Lorelei’s whispers at her ear calmed her again.
“He’s a young man,” Lorelei continued. Michel e just nodded again. “You know that, right?” “I do. I know.” “He’s a fine young man. Decent. You raised him well . Alex is a good man,” Lorelei repeated. “A good, young man…thinking about women, as al young men do. That’s good, isn’t it, Michel e? Isn’t it natural?” She shook her head softly. The topic threatened to break the trance. “What’s that…got to do…with this?” “Nothing at al ,” Lorelei said, “save that he has needs just as you do. It’s natural, Michel e. It’s natural. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Your son is interested in women. Wouldn’t you want him to be happy?” “Yes.” “If he found a woman and didn’t tel you right away, would you ask him?” “Mnh,” Michel e moaned noncommittal y. “Even if you saw clues in your home? Would you ask him, or wait for him to tel you?” “I don’t…I don’t know. I want him to be happy.” “He might not be comfortable talking about it in front of you. Would you press him on it if you thought something was going on?” “I guess I shouldn’t…” “If Alex has a lover, he might want to keep it quiet. Shouldn’t you respect his privacy?” “Yes,” Michel e nodded. “Yes. I don’t want to think about that now.” Lorelei heard the shower stop running. “Al I need is a promise from you to respect your son’s privacy. He needs his
privacy, just as you do. And his space. will you look the other way for him?” “I will …I will .” “Sssshhhh,” Lorelei said, softly bringing Michel e closer to full consciousness. “You have to start getting ready for work now.” “Yes. Okay.” “It’s getting close to time to go, Michel e,” Lorelei whispered as she slipped away, close to the door. As she closed it, she beckoned, “Wake up, Michel e. Wake up.” Michel e’s eyes fluttered open in the mirror. Lorelei saw lucidity return to Michel e just as the demon closed the door behind her. Lorelei’s efforts had taken almost the last of her mystic strength, but the investment stood to eliminate a possible barrier between succubus and prey… and at least some of what she had done was just what had been asked of her. Lorelei returned to Alex’s bed, sitting upright facing the door and taking care to brush her hair over her breasts. She folded her hands neatly in her lap and waited. Alex returned from the shower, neatly shaved and already wearing a fresh pair of jeans that did little to conceal his stubborn arousal. “Hi,” he managed awkwardly. Lorelei only nodded in response, never taking her eyes off of him. “You’re not, um. You know I don’t expect you to just sit there al day, right?” “I know,” she said. “I have woven the enchantment over your mother. We need not fear her discovering me.” “Okay,” he said. He found a black t-shirt and threw it on. “I’m only supposed to be gone about nine hours. Eight if I skip breaks and stuff.” “Do not feel you have to rush for me,” Lorelei said, demurely sitting very still . “I have been alive for centuries. I can wait through a work day, mas—Alex.”
He looked at her for a moment, fumbling to put on his shoes and entirely forgetting to wear socks. “Okay,” Alex managed. “Guess I’m headed out, then.” “Alexander?” she asked. “May I…Alex, you saved me from an awful fate last night. I would have been tormented, humiliated, and who knows what else or for how long,” Lorelei explained. “You risked your life. For al you knew, you could have been arrested, or tortured, or killed, or worse…for a pair of strangers. You were told what I am, yet you took me in without complaint or objection, but rather with compassion. I have rarely witnessed such kindness, let alone been the recipient. Al this, even when you have every reason to think I’m something… foul.” “I don’t think you’re foul.” “Please,” she shook her head. “You risked everything for me. And though you didn’t know me, I think you understood how dangerous those men were. Didn’t you?” He said nothing in response. She stood and stepped forward to him. “I cannot lie to you. I cannot bring you harm. Regardless of our bond…I sincerely wish to thank you, and reward you as best I can.” Alex was once again completely at a loss for words. “May I kiss you?” she asked. Alex hesitated, and she added, “I was made to seduce. I am well aware of my charms. I am also aware of my desire for you, which is difficult to conceal. If that makes you uncomfortable I ask your forgiveness. But, seduction aside…Alex, may I kiss you?” He al but melted. “Yes,” he nodded. For once, he had no difficulty looking only into her eyes as this supernaturally beautiful woman came up to him and slipped her hands around his neck. They both closed their eyes as they kissed, softly at first but then with increasing passion. He wanted to drown in those lips. She felt so unbelievably good, and tasted so intoxicating, and— She broke it off gently, looking down and stepping away. “I will await your return, Alex,” she said. “You’l have time to think, and then we can talk.”
Breathing heavily, wanting nothing more than to continue inhaling her scent and tasting that kiss, Alex shook and finally got control of himself. “Okay,” he said. “Okay.” He turned, stepped out, and almost got to the stairs before returning for his wallet, keys and phone. She didn’t look up when he returned. He very nearly kissed her again before his will power overcame the urge and he turned to go. At his mother’s bedroom door, he knocked. “Mom? Are you awake?” “I’m getting dressed!” “Okay, I’m leaving for work, I guess…are you late?” “Yeah, I’ve just got a late morning meeting, honey. Go to work! Don’t be late yourself!” “Gotcha. I love you, Mom!” “I love you, too!” Alex looked one last time at the succubus in his bedroom before he headed downstairs and out the door. Lorelei waited by the window to see him leave on his motorcycle. With him gone, there was no need to hide her amazement. His kiss was dazzling. She had never tasted its like. The succubus raised her fingers to her lips and found her thoughts bending in very strange directions. * Alex blew through the lobby of Keating & Rose with a simple “good morning” to the firm’s grandmotherly receptionist. He headed straight for the file room, where he sat down at his countertop “desk” against one wall amid the metal
racks of file folders and got right to work. Alex logged on to his computer and promptly grabbed the overnight files out of the in-basket nearby. He was fixed on getting his mind off of naked demons and angels and freaky rituals. It wasn’t working, but then Kat came in. His co-worker was a lithe, tanned fitness freak whom he had crushed on ever since he started at his job six months ago, but she was both older and in a committed relationship. He didn’t flirt, and they got along fine as friends. She wore a pair of jeans and a zipped-up North Face sweater along with her perpetual smile. “Morning!” she said. “Heya,” Alex said blearily. “Mornin’.” Kat looked at him curiously as she sat down at the workstation next to his. “Wow, your eyes are seriously bloodshot. Did you sleep at al last night?” “Not real y.” “Huh. Hot date?” she grinned. “Kind of, but no.” She snickered, then looked at her task list and frowned. “It’s seriously hot in here,” she said. Alex glanced absent-mindedly to watch as Kat pul ed off her sweater. He didn’t even think about it at first, but soon was treated to the sight of her tight, bare midriff as her undershirt momentarily caught on the sweater. As it was lifted away, Alex could make out the shape of her bra under her top. She smiled brightly as she dropped the sweater onto the table. “Oh. I should grab my filing,” Kat thought aloud. Alex’s office crush moved forward, leaning very close to him with her breasts brushing up against his head as she pul ed a stack of paperwork out of the second in-basket atop the filing cabinet next to him. She sat back down. He found it hard not to stare. His gaze lingered on the straps of her bra against her smooth, toned skin and the way the cups shaped and pushed up her breasts. She brushed away her brown hair to expose her colarbones and her neck, which Alex looked at for a brief, longing moment. Kat paused only to glance at him and
smile. He knew she should have been bothered. He was leering. But she didn’t seem the slightest bit disturbed. “I wish I had worn shorts today,” Kat mused aloud. “Maybe I should run home and put on a pair at lunch?” Alex had often fantasized about al the different ways he could hit on her. He thought about being charming, being tender, being sweet. He had thought about flowers or coming up with just the right thing to say. Now, though, al he could think about was pulling her out of the chair, pushing her up against the wall and tearing her clothes off, and he was nearer to that than he had ever been to any more realistic flirtation. He was unreasonably sure she would be very happy with it, too. With an effort of will , Alex tore his eyes off her and back to his work. His day continued on just that way, only steadily worse with curious behavior and innuendo from the women in his office. Keating & Rose wasn’t a big firm; there were perhaps thirty employees in al , but a number of them were rather attractive women. It had actually become something of a topic regarding hiring practices, with the firm’s office manager and the senior partner in charge of hiring attorneys both being encouraged to hire more men…not that Alex had ever complained. Al day long, Alex could swear that the women in the office were looking at him differently. He saw more leg and cleavage that day than he could ever remember. He was stared at constantly. Six times, he was summoned into the office of one attorney or another to help sort through paperwork and other tasks that he was never asked to perform before. Every incident ended with a woman standing enticingly close to him. Stephanie, the copy room clerk, turned it up the most. She was closest to Alex in age and very pretty, but never interested in him. Alex was a bit of a geek while Stephanie was a hip club bunny; they got along at work, but she clearly never felt any spark with him. Every time he came across her that day, though, he felt her staring at him with come-hither eyes. The petite Latina found one reason after another to touch or bump into him. Twice, she had reason to bend over in front of Alex so that he could see the top of her thin panties as her slacks slipped down. He was asked if he’d been working out. He was asked if he was wearing new cologne. Al the ladies in the office found a moment to lean in close and sniff, some of them several times. He was complimented repeatedly on his
appearance, on a day when he’d worn old jeans and a t-shirt in anticipation of doing a heavy-duty dusting job on the file racks. It was a day of winks, smiles and suggestive jokes. Alex continually caught himself behaving strangely, too. He couldn’t believe no one cal ed him out on it, because he kept realizing he was staring at every curve and every exposed bit of flesh. Alex had a heightened awareness of how each woman’s clothes fit on her, and he continually pondered what each one might have on underneath based on the way the outer fabric hung. The constant preoccupation with attraction and sex banished his fatigue entirely. Three times, he went into the restroom in hopes of finding some relief from his unending arousal. It was hopeless each time. Alex was undeniably turned on and obsessing about sex. He continually felt like he was about to explode, but in the end he couldn’t resolve it on his own. It was a pleasant sort of madness, but worrisome just the same. Alex pushed through his day wondering if he was really going insane. * “Lorelei?” Alex cal ed out as he opened the front door. His hands trembled at the thought of facing her again. It was al he could do to get through the day and then ride his motorcycle home safely. several times, he almost wiped out because he was leering at one attractive woman or another driving beside him or walking on the sidewalk. “Yes? I’m right here,” she answered. Alex found her in the living room, sitting by the glass door to the townhome’s small back porch. She had apparently appropriated a simple blue sundress from his mother’s closet. Alex didn’t even question whether that was strange or how it fit her so well . There was a book from his shelf in her hands. She sat up in the plush chair as he came over to her. “Lorelei, did you—am I—am I going insane?” he asked.
She cocked her head to one side curiously. “I’m sorry?” “I can’t stop thinking about sex. I’m leering at every woman I see like a slobbering pervert.” He held his voice as steady as he could, as well as his temper. Even now, exasperated as he was, he didn’t want his relationship with Lorelei—whatever it was—to grow hostile. “And I think they’re al flirting with me, but I’m so crazy right now I don’t know if they are or if I’m imagining it!” Slowly, she nodded, and reached up to take his hands. “I wasn’t sure if things like that would happen or not, but yes. It’s probably me. I kissed you this morning with lust for you on my lips,” she said, “and it’s likely that these other women can sense it. They smell that lust and begin to feel it themselves.” “Oh my God, are you serious? So I’m driving them nuts, too?” “No, no,” Lorelei laughed dismissively. “Nothing so dramatic. They simply reflect your desires, as I do.” “So I’m a complete pervert, then? This is al me?” “No, Alex. Please, stop and think,” she said, reaching up to take his hands. “Look at me. Your desire for me is plain. You’ve been fighting it al night and day now. You don’t have to hide it. I see it, I feel it, and I enjoy it. I know what I am, Alex. I know that I am extraordinarily attractive. It is not arrogance, just understanding. I was made to be so. Yet just the same, I find your desire flattering and very wellcome. I don’t understand why you will not take me, but you don’t have to hide anything from me. “Demon though I may be, I am your loyal servant now. I am on your side, Alex. You can trust me.” After a long moment, Alex asked, “What’s happening to me?” “We are bound, as has been said,” Lorelei explained gently. “The bond is different from anything I have ever experienced, but you are both my master and, it would seem, my prey. I cannot harm you, of course,” she added quickly, “but understand that I was made to seduce and fornicate. I will not drag you down as I have any other prey,