Succubus Tear (Triune promise) (8 page)

And it was beautiful.

Al’bah drank deeply. A merciful coolness flooded through her body. The water pouring down her parched throat dragged the memory of a time when water had touched her lips before. How long ago was it? Who was she then?

There were fragments of faces, voices, and emotion. But above all this was the memory of a silver goblet that held slushy ice water. Oh! How she longed for her memory before her punishments. Al’bah paused for a moment, grieving for the loss of so much, allowing the cool water to carry away her tears.

Her grief forced the memory to change, turning into one of the endless days of her torments. The damned had encased her in superheated rocks, covering all but her screaming mouth. Then they let fall a single drop of water onto her tongue. They laughed as her suffering intensified.

Al’bah shook her head.
No, I am not tormented here. I will not bring that state of being with me. There is water here, there is light here. I am…no longer thirsty.
After several long, beautiful moments, Al’bah sighed and rested her head upon the wall. Her knees lost all strength, and she slowly lowered herself to sit.

“Water,” she whispered over and over again, as her body trembled from a chaotic mixture of laughter, weeping, and sighs. One mercy after another, one miracle after another—what a glorious turn of events! She roused herself from her blissful stupor, intending
 to return to Cain, when his voice sounded at the door.

Reality Is Stranger Than You Think

“There is nothing so dangerous and so beautiful as the love from an uncorrupted Succubus.”

—Purity

Cain awoke with dull sunlight in his eyes. An all-encompassing, senseless gray-white irritation that could only come from an overcast sky
. What day is it? Ah, yes, Wednesday. I don’t have to work today, thank goodness.

He started to roll over to get his face out of the light when he remembered some of the events of the night before. His eyes shot open, and all thoughts of extra sleep were driven from his mind as he propped himself up to look around his room.

Was it a dream? Strange, could have sworn last night was more than a dream.
 Cain yawned and got up, shivering as the fiercely cold air in the apartment hit his body.
What the hell? Why am I naked?
He tried to piece a few fragmented memories and thoughts together. But another bout of shivering drove out everything but a need to be warm.

He stumbled to the thermostat and adjusted it to max and glanced over at his dirty clothes strewn everywhere.
Blech! I need to clean my room.
He kicked his dirty clothes to the corner and looked at the junk that needed to be thrown away.
Ah, I’ll get it later.

His favorite shirt caught his eye; it appeared to be completely stained by blood. “Wait a second…blood!” He looked at his right hand. His wound was gone. Nothing remained but a thin, twisted white scar. He looked up and slowly realized he could hear the shower running down the hall. He called out, apprehension building in his chest. He didn’t know how to feel on this matter. Part of him hoped he’d had just a peculiar dream. Another hoped it wasn’t a dream.

“Al’bah?” he said cautiously at the bathroom door. He heard a voice but couldn’t tell what was being said. He slowly opened the door and went in, knowing Al’bah was in there even before he opened it fully. Her scent permeated everything in the room and made the air almost substantial and decidedly enticing.

Al’bah was looking around the shower curtain. Her face was full of bliss and framed by her hair, a mass of slick blackness begging to be touched and caressed. Her skin had a gentle wet sheen every bit as tantalizing as melted caramel on an apple. “I find this experience enjoyable,” she said as she opened the curtain wide, presenting Cain with a pleasing view of her body, which was even more breathtaking in the light of day that poured through the opened window on the shower wall. “Would you join me?”
 

Cain stood there gaping at the sight before him, unsure whether or not he was still asleep. He probably would have stayed there wondering if he had gone insane, debating what he knew versus what he was seeing, if it weren’t for Al’bah.

With understanding dawning upon her face, she stepped out of the shower, and with the slightest touch, she ran her fingertips across his chest. Cain gasped, as her touch left him breathless and shivering. He felt the spot where her fingers were just a moment ago burn, freeze, and tingle all at the same time, sending goose bumps all over his body.

Al’bah breathed, making a strange noise of approval, and glanced down, toward Cain’s pelvis.

Cain stood his ground, refusing to cover his nakedness or to display any sort of voluntary signal to indicate being swayed by such provocation. His resolve was tested to the absolute limit from Al’bah’s approving blue-violet eyes dancing back and forth from his eyes to other parts of his body. By the way she smiled, biting her lower lip, the hot blush upon her cheeks. And how she was more comfortable in her nudity than he was.

The standoff was beginning to become unbearable, and at last Cain broke the silence. “Um, sure. I’ll join you.”

Satisfied, Al’bah stepped back into the shower and under the water. She held out her hands with an expectant smile. 

Cain felt more than a little irritated. He never allowed any woman to control him. And although he had no intention to let Al’bah do so either, he felt as though he lost a battle of wills with her. He turned around and opened his linen closet to get two towels and washcloths.

He shot a glance at Al’bah, trying his best to convey to her that he was still in control of himself, and set the linen on the nearby stand. He stepped into the shower, squinting against the glare of the sunlit water that almost seemed to glow. A million thoughts and questions ran though his head. And yet “Where are your wings?” was all he could think of to say. 

Al’bah stared into Cain’s eyes for a full minute before she shyly turned her head, then her body. She guided Cain’s hands to the small of her back. Two long white lines marked her skin where the base of her wings were. “Here,” she whispered, turning her head to glance at Cain, her eyes carrying an unmistakable invitation.

Cain felt his resistance crumble yet again. No, not crumble. It was more like his defenses were bypassed effortlessly by Al’bah’s vulnerable bearing. Like the way the cries of a strange infant can turn the heart of any woman who knew motherhood. He didn’t exactly trust the strange woman he met under even stranger circumstances. But he didn’t exactly feel repulsed or threatened by her either—quite the opposite, in fact.

Al’bah sighed again, vocalizing her approval and desire, pressing her body against his, stealing breath and thought, completely unfazed by his show of sternness earlier. “I can conceal my wings in my body. They are too cumbersome here.” She playfully bit his shoulder and caressed his elbows.

“Al’bah! Al’bah, stop!” Cain was quickly losing control from Al’bah’s caress.
 She stopped, staring at Cain with raised eyebrows, slightly parted lips, and a hot blush to her cheeks, an expression that radiated innocence. He had almost forgotten why he had stopped her in the first place and stood still for a moment panting, his breath misting in the air along with Al’bah’s slight gasps.

“I think I want to hear the answers you promised me last night.” Cain noticed Al’bah about to speak and quickly added, “Not here. I need a moment, okay?”
 

Al’bah traced her finger on Cain’s chest, but it was bereft of the energy he felt earlier. “Well, it is a long explanation.”
 

“That’s fine,” he said, slightly panting, still trying to recover fully from her caress. “But I want to talk, okay? Not, uh—well, you know what I mean.”
 

Al’bah seemed disappointed but nodded. “Of course, I will wait for you.” She promptly left the shower, looking over her shoulder and grinning. She plucked the towel from the stand and started to dry herself using slow, sensual movements.
 

“Al’bah!”
 

She sighed and left the bathroom, glancing over her shoulder, still grinning. “Very well.”
 

Cain shook his head, glad to have resisted a supreme urge to call her back. He quickly grabbed the water valve to turn it to cold, only to realize the water was cold all along. “Losing my mind,” he muttered, at last feeling the cold water, which was just as well, and he started to clean himself.

After a few moments, he closed the frosted window mounted near the top of the wall and started to turn the water to hot when he stretched his arm.
Hey, my shoulder. Both my shoulders!
Indeed, the usual soreness in his shoulders and elbows was gone. Cain stretched his arms out and reached behind his back.
I haven’t been able to do this in years!
he thought happily as he tested the limits of his range of motion.
Maybe there’s something to taking cold showers after all.

The Authority of Existence

“I could make you so happy, Cain. But you don’t care. I knew long ago what you were, but I never wanted to believe it.”

—Cynthia Ronalds

Cain quickly finished his shower, shivering and yet still feeling a strange burning sensation in his shoulders and elbows. He dressed quickly, marveling at how the cold water seemed to ease his aching joints. Once dressed, he found Al’bah in the living room. Her towel was discarded on the floor, and she stood in the sunlight that was pouring through the window that (thankfully) didn’t face the front of the apartment. Her wings and arms were outstretched, her eyes were closed, and a soft smile lit her face.

“Al’bah? Al’bah?” Cain stepped close. “Hey, Al’bah,” he said, shaking her shoulder, rousing her out of her trance.

“Hmmm?” Al’bah turned to face Cain as her wings folded and wrapped around her body.

 ”I think I am going to have to get you some clothes,” Cain said, leading her to the couch, sitting her down and facing her.

“You do?” Al’bah smiled coyly and unfurled her wings. She traced her fingers along the lines of her body.

Trying his best to ignore the display Al’bah was producing, Cain quickly asked, “Now could you be more specific about ‘much to say in that respect’ about being a Succubus, a Demon, and, uh, evil?”

Al’bah’s smile vanished, and her eyes dropped to the cushions between them. She took a deep breath. “Cain, I must begin by asking you a question.” She looked up into his eyes. “Do you have faith for the unknown, and the unseen? Faith in a Creator, faith in the divine purpose of everything?”

“God isn't real, and everything has a rational explanation,” Cain said with a small scoff.

Al’bah seemed confused. “Do you leave the possibility of being wrong? The possibility of being a fool by denying God?”

Cain felt his anger rise as it always had when others questioned his world view. For him, God was a fairy tale the masses believed in so they wouldn’t fear death. Religion was a coping mechanism weak people used so they wouldn’t have to face the world on its own harsh terms. And when a tree falls in the woods, it
does
make a sound! The bigger the tree, the bigger the sound, regardless of who was there to hear it or not!

He opened his mouth, ready with his perfectly honed arguments of logic and reason.
Al’bah cocked her head to the side. She seemed to be able to sense his feelings and his intent. She stood, grabbing his right arm in a vicelike grip, and unfurled her wings that now spanned the entire living room with a beautiful flourish. Her grip grew stronger as she positioned Cain’s arm in front of him, bringing his healed hand in front of his face.

The sensual energy she always had was gone, replaced by an absolute air of authority. “Look upon me, my most precious Bond! Do you dare to deny
my
existence? Do you dare to deny
my
works upon
you
?”

Cain’s anger collapsed in frustration and confusion. He dropped his brown eyes from Al’bah’s blue-violet eyes to look at the healed wound on his hand. “I can’t deny that there are things about this world that I don’t understand.” He raised his eyes to look at Al’bah again. “I guess this includes you as well.”

Al’bah nodded and let go of his arm. She wrapped her wings around her body and sat down again. “Then I will start from there, but I must warn you, Cain. My answers and explanations will not satisfy your curiosity. My words will not satisfy your questions.”

“Why not?”

Al’bah shook her head. “Because you doubt that which is in front of you.” Upon seeing Cain about to interrupt, she quickly added, “Not me, mind you. You doubt the most simplistic explanations to life, because they do not glorify you, or mankind.”