Succubus Tear (Triune promise) (35 page)

He looked to the night sky and wondered for the first time he could remember if he could be
seen.
If his cries and his sorrows were
heard,
 today, and all the days before. 

How
did I get here?
he thought to himself, amazed.

Something within him changed. And it seemed (at least for him) that when that “something” changed, it almost always changed forever. He looked to Al’bah, her eyes so open, so searching. She knew what would await her if he decided to let her go. He remembered their first meeting, the screams, and the torture. He just couldn’t ever see himself being the one to return her or anyone to such a fate.

“No, I don’t want to give you up, Al’bah. I don’t want to lose you.”

Al’bah gasped and held in her breath for several moments. “Then, why do you bemoan all that has happened to you? Why do you mourn the life you had, hate the injustice you suffered, and dread the path before you?”

“I don’t know. But I do know this: you may have been the best choice I ever made in my life.”

Al’bah shook her head; she seemed to disbelieve what she heard. “What makes you say that? Your heart nearly blames me. You see your life as ruined.”

Cain nodded and chuckled slightly at the irony. “My life
is
ruined, Al’bah,” he said, holding her close and looking to the sky. “But maybe it was the only way to escape a fate worse than death. You being here with me might have saved something more than just my life.” Cain shook his head and sighed, remembering clearly how he had said not even a full day ago how much he hated his life.

And now that life is over, why aren’t I happy? I’m free now, aren’t I?

Al’bah let out a breath she was holding. “Thank you, perhaps we can find out together what this new path has in store, you and I.”

Cain nodded, his sigh perfectly in time with Al’bah’s, noticing her beautiful scent for the first time since he had her back. “I am glad you are with me, Al’bah. I missed you,” Cain said, looking into her beautiful blue-violet eyes. “I give you my word, no matter what happens, I want you by my side.”

At these words, Al’bah’s face seemed to break with emotion. A tear that shone like a star escaped from her right eye. She gasped in surprise and cupped her hands to catch it, and after a moment, she handed it to Cain.

“Cain, my love…for you.”

“What is it?” Cain said, amazed.

“It is a Succubus tear,” Al’bah whispered.

Still in awe of what he had just witnessed, Cain couldn’t help but whisper as well. “But, you cry all the time. Your tears don’t glow like this.”

Al’bah closed Cain’s fingers around the shining speck. “Cain, tears are the outflow of spiritual overload. Human tears, my tears, are connected to the flesh. Flesh is always at odds with the spiritual side of existence and becomes overwhelmed often. But when a soul is overwhelmed, it produces a tear that is a part of all that it is.”

She looked to the sky and pointed. “My kind has a tale that is believed to have been from the time before we sinned, retold to us by an Angel during the second age. It tells of the stars in heaven being the tears of the Creator. I feel sure that it is just a tale, but it still fills me with awe every time I think about it.”

“What do I do with it?” Cain said, unfolding his fingers, looking at that small, shining stone in his hand.

Al’bah shrugged. “I do not know—this is the first tear I have ever shed. But it is yours, like I said. As am I. As is my heart. And, if I could offer it to you, my soul.”

Cain placed the tear in his pocket and embraced Al’bah, but the kiss was so different than any other he had experienced. It was deep, almost as if she had kissed his very essence.

Cain was still numb from shock from the offer Al’bah had made. It was hard to wrap his head around such a gesture. He wondered if he could, or if he would ever make a sacrifice so complete. For no other reason other than to make one happy. He wondered if that was what love was like.

Perhaps in a way he already had made a significant sacrifice for her sake. After all, his former life was over, and he refused her offer to give it back. And as strange as the circumstance, and as terrible the price, though Cain mourned his former life, he now had no regrets.

“Thank you,” Cain whispered, holding her close, trying to give her the reassurance her arms were desperate to grasp.

“Cain, do you—” Al’bah swallowed. “Do you love me?”

“Al’bah, I may not know what love is, but I care for you, I know I do.” He looked into her beautiful eyes that had just begun to illuminate with that soft violet glow. “Perhaps from the first moment I saw you.” Cain still shuddered slightly at the memory and held her all the tighter. “As long as I draw breath, I won’t let you go.”

Al’bah closed her eyes and nodded. Cain stood, still holding her in his arms, and they went to their allotted quarters.

So much unspoken was shared between the two. The uncertainty of tomorrow. The beauty of hope. The fear that came with every ounce of faith that a soul could hold, still begging for proof of what could never be proven. The ecstasy that is shared when two truly touch. When two truly kiss. The hunger of need, the fleetingness of perfection. The desperation that could only come from wanting—needing—love to be
real
…

Human and Demono…male and female…

A Closed Heart

“I am not a Demon!”

—Al’bah

Stella was alone above deck. She wanted to be alone to think. The freezing night air caught in her throat as she sighed deeply, wishing that the past few days were just one long nightmare.

I didn’t know how cold the nights were on the ocean,
Stella thought as she gazed into the dark night sky that was awash with stars. She rubbed her arms against the cold, glad she had one of the jackets Cain had bought for Al’bah.

I must be losing my touch. Why didn’t I take my bag from my car?
Still, the jacket Cain bought for Al’bah was warmer than any of hers.

Still looking at the stars, Stella was blissfully reminded against her will about what Charlie said about her name.

“And Stella, which means ‘star.’ It is a beautiful thought, a beautiful name—it suits you.”

Stella grinned against her will.
Oh, stop it,
she told herself.
It’s not like I’m ever going to see him again.

Stella turned her thoughts to how Cain went from a big-time drug dealer, to unwilling participant in a sting. Then to a killing spree maniac that included herself. Oh, and there was Al’bah.

She still tried to rationalize everything as her being crazy, or Al’bah being delusional. But the bruise on her abdomen that still hurt like hell reassured her that she had not lost her senses. And Al’bah’s explanations to her felt very open. The way she declared Taint to be a liar was done with a voice full of disgust, as if she hated the idea of deception.

Stella shook her head, stifling an internal cringe on how much Al’bah reminded her of her own past. She almost felt compelled to tell her, but decided against it. Stella sighed; it wouldn’t do to let Al’bah know her family disowned her for being a “Christian freak.”

Oh! What she wouldn’t give for her remaining family to meet Al’bah! Stella wondered what effect she would have on them. To be called fools to their faces from a Succubus! A Succubus with no allegiance to the devil! But more than the satisfaction it would give, Stella didn’t want Al’bah to know the event that drove her away in the first place. She inhaled deeply and could smell Al’bah’s scent upon the jacket, reminding her of the sweetest of vanillas.

She let go of her breath as a faint whimper. The smell of vanilla was so familiar, and it caused an ache so terrible in her heart, she thought she might weep. It was hard to be anywhere near her or Cain with that scent all over him. Cain, everything about him (angry or not), changed whenever he was near Al’bah.
 Hell, he even appeared younger. Stella looked up to the stars again.

Must be love…or something very close to it…

“May I join yeh?”

Stella looked over her shoulder. “It’s your ship, Vincent.”

“Aye, that it is. Do you want company, Stella? Ye look rather lonely.”

Stella looked into the man’s eyes. “I’m always alone. But sure, why not?”

Vincent smiled and held up a mug. “Hot chocolate?”

Stella accepted it. “Blech! It’s so thick!”

“Aye, that there is hot chocolate, not hot cocoa. There’s a difference. What you got there is melted chocolate, milk, and crème.”

“Oh.” Stella sipped again. “It’s delicious, actually.”

They stared at the horizon for several moments, sipping on the hot chocolate.

“Vincent, would you have helped us even if there wasn’t money in it?”

Vincent sighed deeply. “No. It’s a hard world, and the truths we must face are just as hard. But, I wouldn’t have turned you in either. And you, lass, seeing as we are asking each other hard questions, why are you always alone?”

“Love is weakness. For every love story, there is a heart. And every heart breaks, or is betrayed.”
 

Vincent stared while Stella stared back, daring him to refute her statement, “Ye sound like me’self long ago,” he said at last.

“Don’t tell me that this is a phase, that I’ll find love someday. People in love are fools and deserve everything they get.”

“I wasn’t going tae dare suggest such an absurdity.”

Stella blew a misted sigh of relief. “Good, at least you’re sensible.”

“Aye, and yeh a fool.”

Stella shrugged. “I…perhaps I am, Vincent. I am as much of a fool as man who passes judgment to strangers.”

“Think yeh are so difficult to figure out, lass? Think an old sea-rat like me’self hasn’t seen pain? Moiyne, moy family, and those desperate lives on the docks in countries more desperate than the ones of my home, or yuars?”

Vincent shrugged and downed the last of his mug of chocolate. “And for every life spent alone, there is a story of hurt. And every story of hurt ends in regret, or reconciliation of love’s beauty,” he said, his voice more calm, his accent less noticeable.

Stella sipped on her chocolate, trying her best not to listen. People were always the same, no matter where you went; whenever they saw a person—no, a
woman
—who was strong, they wanted to find the weakness and
fix
her. Why didn’t men receive the same treatment? What about Cain? Why wasn’t this Irish bastard trying to play psychoanalysis to him?

“The lad still fights his Demons, lass. You embraced them.”

Damn it, I coulda sworn I didn’t speak out loud!

Vincent shook his head. “Yeh didn’t speak out loud. You wear your heart upon your collar, lass.”

“Don’t you mean ‘sleeve’?”

“Whatever. The point is, don’t spend your life alone. It is by far the greater pain. I know.”

Stella looked up. “Then you’re weak. You let your emotions and loneliness get the better of you.”

“Perhaps, lass. Or maybe as the stars shine against the dark, so will every piece of your broken heart against your betrayal and pain.”