Succubus Tear (Triune promise) (40 page)

“Finally.” Al’bah sighed. “You two need some time for the inevitable to take place.”

“What? No! Cain, stop the car!” Stella barked.

“Forget it, we don’t have a lot of time. Al’bah, stop playing games, okay?”

Al’bah turned her face to Stella, a triumphant grin completing a textbook face of smugness.

“Al’bah! Stop gloating!”

Al’bah’s grin turned into a pout as she turned back around.

Charlie and Stella sat, and the uncomfortable silence quickly grew between them until it was a deafening, uncomfortable silence.

Stella’s silence would have continued if it were not for the frustrations from all the injustice and the surreal twists her life had taken. And the crushing reality of her fate being sealed back in the city was too much. Stella broke down and began to cry, but like always, she was tearless.

“Look, I’m sorry,” Charlie said to Stella.

“Sorry?” Stella gave a woeful laugh. “How could any of this be your fault? It’s thanks to you that I am no longer considered a murderer.”

“You give me too much credit. I only delivered a deal that was made. It was not my doing.”

“Charlie, shut up. Leave me alone, okay? I want time to think.”

“Speaking of which, did you think about my proposal?”

“About what?” Stella almost laughed out loud. “Moving with a complete stranger to England?”

To think, humiliation or dishonor were her only options! All her life, she had been on the receiving end of so much injustice. All her life she felt that she
had
to be a part of law enforcement! For her to at last reach out into the world and prevent injustice to others.

It was a wonderful thing, and she had always tried her best. Sometimes she personally saw justice won for the low. And sometimes she watched evil walk away free, sneering at her and her efforts. It was wrong but it was okay, because she could always learn from her mistakes, trying harder the next time.

It took a while, but Stella’s past became more and more distant, more bearable. She had thought of it as a healing process of sorts, a way to correct all she had endured in the past, but it was all over now. Now the “good guys” turned their backs on her. No, they
betrayed
her! Something that Stella would have never believed was ever possible when she joined the force.

That was seven years ago, the start of her career in law enforcement.

“Charlie, you’re a great guy. Really you are, but I don’t like the chances of any sort of relationship forming out of desperation.”

Charlie shrugged. “Are there any choices you can make that wouldn’t appear to have been made in desperation? Any family you could go to, any friends that would take you in, any job that you could get back in the city? How could any move you make be seen otherwise?”

“At least those choices would give me a chance to pull myself out of this mess! At least—”

“Stella. Those choices would keep you close to everything and everyone who started all this in the first place. What do you really want? Do you want to bring yourself to ruin for the sake of pride?” Charlie’s voice seemed to almost take a begging tone.

“Please, Stella, I know we just met. I know the odds are against us. But if you stay here, it is going to ruin the best part of you. Just…leave your heart open, okay?”

At least half a dozen impertinent statements came to Stella’s mind, but died in her throat. She felt herself losing a battle for her pride. She hated this sense of irrationality, this chaos. For the longest time, she had kept her feelings and her emotions under control with her intellect, her rationality.

But now those feelings were stronger, almost vengeful at being silenced for so long. Her heart would at last be heard, and it promised her intellect all her discomfort would be relieved in Charlie’s arms.

“Why?” Stella cried, so completely unprepared and unaccustomed to the attention he gave her. “Why do you want this so badly?”

“It is because he chooses to love you,” Al’bah said from the front. “And honestly, I do not know how much longer you can keep your heart from allowing his love to enter, and bring you joy.”

“What do you know of love, Al’bah!” Stella huffed and almost laughed by the absurdity of asking such a question to a Succubus, to Al’bah.

Al’bah turned her head; though she addressed Stella, she kept her eyes on Cain, who did not seem to notice.

“Love is beautiful. Let your heart know love, and you will know joy.”

“Love doesn’t happen so quickly, Al’bah!” Stella tried to shout. “There has to be understanding and trust, there has to be—”

Al’bah whipped her head to face Stella; her eyes were filled with condemnation, but her face was sad.

“No! You speak of relationships. Relationships can exist without love, Stella, and can be so
tiresome
without tenderness. Ah, but for love to exist, all love needs…is our decision…a choice to love, and to be open to love…to surrender, and submit to love. And you, Stella, you
want
it. Even after all that has happened to you. You
want
to
have it for yourself!” Al’bah turned back to the front and placed her head on Cain’s shoulder. “Cain, I am cold.”

And suddenly, Stella knew why she could only feel Al’bah’s positive emotion. She sighed, wishing Al’bah would continue to speak. It kept her from facing Charlie. It kept her from facing something that scared her more than she could bear. Stella turned back to Charlie. “Love? Just like that? You can’t be serious. You are just—I am…”

Her words and emotions tripped over themselves. The emotions that invaded and perfused her senses would be thoroughly disgusting if they weren’t so euphoric. Her heart ached to be near Charlie, but her fears fought against it.

Stella turned away from Charlie and to the window, remembering all her accomplishments in flashbacks that were as torturous as they were full of pride. But now? Stella’s accomplishments were worthless. Washed away by the blood of innocent lives. Oh! How it reminded her!

Oh…Daddy…Grandmomma

The memory and visions came back, but the horror was gone. They mixed in a bittersweet contrast, her life with family and the betrayals that ended it. The life she had when she was alone, and the betrayals that ended that too.

It was true, there was nothing for her here. And as bad as it was for her now, she knew Charlie was right. If she stayed, it would mean being within arm’s reach of the author of all this injustice, all this misery.

Just once more,
she told herself.
Just once more…I can’t believe I am doing this…why now? Why like this?

She looked to Charlie, his head low and his eyes closed, waiting. Her vision blurred for the first time in ten years, ever since her mother had killed her father. Ever since she swore through her tears that she would never, never love again.

Never
!

Never
?

And in the end, Stella’s heart was open. Love was allowed in once more.

And it was beautiful…

New Beginnings

“Al’bah, thank you.”

—Stella Fullson

It was three in the morning; Charlie and Cain were now up in the front of the car while the girls slept in the back seat, their heads leaning in to each other. Stella slept huddled into a semi-fetal position, while Al’bah was more relaxed and spoke often in her dreams.

“
Freed star…hyun-vo-shen…
”

Charlie eyed Cain every so often as he
 drove. Sometimes he massaged the sore spot on his face, and sometimes he was deep in thought or drifting in and out of sleep. Charlie glanced at the rearview mirror and viewed the two girls sleeping in the back.

He just couldn’t get over how much Stella looked like Holly; it was as if God Himself put her in front of him and said, “Here, Charlie, you may now redeem yourself.” Not that it would have ever been like that. There were significant differences between the two. From her body language to the way she spoke, everything about Stella was different than Holly. Perhaps it was for the best.

“
Hmmm, yu-yun…chocolate ice cream…shard…
”

Charlie sighed and now glanced at Al’bah. She and Stella did not like each other much, but then again every girlfriend that Cain and Charlie had never liked the other much. Perhaps it was because how different he was to Cain. Perhaps it was a lack of insight both of them had, or some sort of insult they presented to women they were unaware of.

“
Pretty…
”

Now it was Cain who turned his head to look at the two girls. Charlie noticed a soft smile on his face as his eyes lingered on Al’bah.
Ah, Cain.
Charlie had never seen Cain so attached to a girl before. It was like he was a new person! Maybe he was. As much as Charlie hated to admit it to himself, he almost felt glad that Cain was in this big of a jam. Not only was he running from everything he had known, he was now responsible to someone other than himself. That might be a good thing in the long run, perhaps the best thing that ever happened to him.

“Does she do that all the time?” Charlie asked as Al’bah went off on another soft, incomprehensible dialogue.

“All night long,” Cain said with a slight chuckle.

“She sure smells pretty,” Charlie said awkwardly.

Al’bah’s scent reminded him of Holly. And her scent was always like that of coconut and lime. Not the cheap chemical crap you would get out of a bottle at some stupid bath shop. No, he was reminded of his high-school graduation vacation to Hawaii. The loud crack, the open coconut fresh as the sea breeze which carried the faint yet sharp essence of lime peel.

Cain grunted. “It’s so intoxicating. But I don’t think Stella likes it much.”

“Heh, yeah. I was just thinking about that. You know, Stella and Al’bah might not like each other. But now that I think about it, every girlfriend I had never liked your girlfriend, and vice versa.”

“It might be us.” Cain shrugged.

“Yup, I was thinking that too, but boy, lemme tell ya! Al’bah is one jealous chick.” 

It was true! Oh man, Charlie had never seen anyone more jealous than Al’bah. Hell, she was even jealous when he took Cain’s attention away from her. Cain had dealt with jealous girls before, but he never stayed with them long, always saying that jealousy spoke of a deficient mind. Except for Al’bah that description did not fit so cut and dried. It had the feeling of something more, almost like a fierce protectiveness instead of a pigheaded sense of possession.

Charlie also found Al’bah to be a very curious individual. She seemed to have a certain ignorance on common knowledge, like ringtones or email. Strangely enough, neither Cain nor Stella seemed to notice it as much. Charlie supposed there was a shared secret between the three, and he planned on finding out once he and Stella parted ways with them. And yet, her strange sense of ignorance was powerfully overshadowed by her intuition. She had a mystical quality about her, and the way she could speak of his innermost feelings, and desire, reminded him of old Japanese stories his grandmother used to tell him of Mu-onna and Yuki-onna.
*

How did she know about Holly?
How did she know about me? There is something about her eyes and the way they seem to pierce right to the core of one’s being
.

Indeed, the way Al’bah dissected his relationship to Cain was amazing. Though he and Cain had suspected as much before, it never was as blatant or as
real
as Al’bah placed it. The only thing her analysis lacked was the firsthand knowledge he and Cain shared. And with her being so accurate with the knowledge she had, he knew her deductions would only be more concrete if she knew more.

Was I holding Cain back? Or was he holding me back? I wonder.

It was enough to make one wonder just how blind people can be. Or rather, how blind they could choose to be. The ice seemed to thaw a bit as Cain and Charlie chatted their way west. They made their last stop just before Richmond at a Waffle House for breakfast; it was still dark, but the sun was set to rise any minute now.