The Generator: The Succubae Seduction (12 page)

Flabbergasted, I stare back at her. Doesn’t she think I’ve tried? I made my wrists bloody trying to break free of these chains. Luckily the sex with TanaVesta had healed me immediately. She seemed to take great pleasure in licking the blood off before ravishing me, which is the only reason I quit the futile attempts.

“I can’t, they’re too strong,” I tell her, trying to pull my arm down to show her, and then staring in shock as the chain snaps. The manacle is still around my wrist, but the chain cuts short after about two feet. I repeat the gesture with my left hand, with the same results. Brooke pulls back as I yank my legs up, breaking those chains simultaneously.

I laugh. I just sit there and stare at my hands and feet, laughing. How long have I been able to do that? Is it because of all the vigor I’ve absorbed from the Pillar of Fire? If so, what else can I do now?

Brooke is looking at me worriedly again, and I realize my laughter has turned to manic giggling. It takes me a second to get myself back under control. I stand up and stretch my muscles. I’m tempted to go after TanaVesta and kill her for what she’s done to me; I’m so drunk on my own strength, I almost think I can do it.

“Hurry, Angela is keeping a watch out there. We need to go, before anyone comes here.” Angela’s name seems to set my mind back on reality. It’s one thing to try and take on the red beast by myself, but I’d be putting two other lives in danger. I couldn’t live with myself if I got them killed.

“She’s alive?” I ask, looking for something to cover myself with. I want to run out and see her, but then I see the look in Brooke’s eyes.

“Gee, Brooke, thanks for risking your life and coming to get me,” she says wistfully under her breath, but I’m easily able to pick out the soft sounds of her voice. “I’m so grateful, that I’m more worried about a demonic succubus.”

Shame fills my heart at her words. She’d come in here to rescue me, and one of my first concerns had been Angela. I look closer at my friend and see that her long curly hair has been pulled into a fraying braid, and she looks exhausted. She’s still in her blue shimmering mail, but the bags under her eyes and the slump in her shoulders tells its own story.

“I’m sorry, Brooke. I thought she’d been killed.” Something occurs to me, and I look sharply at my childhood friend. “I thought you said you couldn’t enter TanaVesta’s territory.” Is she the real Brooke? “When I was in high school, and trying out for the swimming team, what advice did you give me?” I need to make sure this is her and not some dragon’s trick.

She stares uncomprehending at me for a moment, and I feel fear start to replace my shame, until she finally answers.

“You’re terrified of any water deeper than your knees. You tried out for the track team, and I told you to keep your eyes forward, and ignore the other runners around you.” Her tone is level, and I can tell that she now understands why I had to ask.

Without hesitation, I wrap my arms around her, hugging her tight to me, until she squeaks, and I realize I’m squeezing too hard. I really don’t know my true strength, anymore. I’m so excited, I even give her a quick peck on the lips, before realizing what I’m doing and pulling back, my face turning beet red.

Her fingers lightly touch her lips in wonder, before she shakes herself, saying, “We need to get moving. I don’t know how much time we have ‘til she returns, but we need to be as far away as possible when she does.”

Angela, still in her Amazon form, gives me a quick hug and a chaste peck on the cheek as we both squeeze past the boulder. I’ve given up on finding anything to wear and run naked next to the two women, through a maze of empty winding tunnels. I’m not willing to use any of my strength to clothe myself. I never know when I’ll need it.

Something doesn’t feel right about the path Angela is leading us down, and after taking a fourth torch lit hallway that is definitely leading down deeper into the mountain, I stop us. It’s also getting hotter the further we go.

“Don’t we need to be going out? We’re going down. I thought the entrance was at the top, or the side of TanaVesta’s chamber,” I ask the succubus, fear filling me once more. I don’t remember ever being this paranoid before, but after what I’ve experienced, I don’t think I can be too careful either.

“If we were going back to the oak to get out, then yes,” she tells me impatiently. “We’d never make it that far. There is another portal deeper down inside the mountain to get back to your realm. It’ll be quicker to get to it than all the way back to the oak.”

She makes sense, and we start running again. My only concern is: why didn’t we use the one here in the first place? We could have completely avoided those trolls.

It only takes another five minutes or so, before our way is blocked by a flow of magma. The air above the flow shimmers from the heat of the molten rock, and I have to shield my eyes from its brightness after the dimmer tunnels.

“Great,” I mumble before turning to face the succubus. “Is there another way around?”

“No, that’s the portal right there,” she tells us, pointing above the lava.

“You want us to jump into the lava? Are you nuts?” I demand, but I can actually feel it there, now that I concentrate on it. Something. . . It almost feels as though I can feel time slipping away through the heated haze.

“Not
in.
OVER
,” she informs me. I turn back to the burning river and shake my head. I might be able to make it over with my new strength, but there’s no way either of the two women can.

I wish time didn’t feel like it was slipping away. I need to think. Blocking the feeling of flowing time, I concentrate on the magma river.

“Oh, for the love of—“ Brooke says as she takes a running leap, and vanishes when she’s over the liquid rock.

Will I ever get used to magic?

I watch as Angela takes a few steps back, then dashes forward, elegantly jumping in the air, and doing a full flip, before vanishing.

“Show off”! I yell, certain she can’t hear me. Crouching where I am, I shove hard off the ground, hearing the rock crack under the force of my push, and the world blurs around me before going black.

I realize my mistake too late as soft looking tan ground hurtles past me. I shoved so hard that I almost feel as though I’m flying, but I know gravity will take over soon enough, and painfully show me who the boss is.

As soon as I stop ascending, and can feel myself getting pulled back downwards, I try frantically flapping my arms as if I’m some cartoon character and that’ll save me. The chains still attached to my wrists jingle as I stressfully struggle to stay aloft. Somehow, after the direction my life has been going, I think it just might work. My shoulders flair with agony, and it feels like two sharp daggers are protruding from my shoulder blades. Something outside my vision grabs hold of whatever is back there, and I realize that one of the two women must be using their magic to save me. As thankful as I am, I wish it didn’t hurt so much.

No longer worried about falling, I quit uselessly flapping my arms, and begin to plummet again. Once more I move my arms, but notice something at the same time. I can actually feel whatever is sticking out of my back as if it’s a part of me.

“Nice wings,” Angela’s voice breaks my thoughts. I see her flapping her way over to me. From her back are two large gray bat-like wings. “I was afraid I wouldn’t catch you before you hit the ground. When did you learn you could do that, and whatever possessed you to jump through the portal that hard?”

“About three seconds ago. I didn’t want to get burned. And I wanted to outdo a show-off succubus,” I tell her, feeling embarrassed. It
had
been a foolish thing to do. Neither one of them had pushed that hard from the ground. The sheer joy of my extra strength and power is somewhat intoxicating, and I’m still not used to it. As degrading as it had been to be raped time and again by the red dragon, I’m not about to complain about my new strength, and I shiver in delight at what I want to do to the Pillar of Fire if I ever get my hands on her again.

I attempt to flap my way over to the succubus, and somehow end up upside-down, and headed quickly for the ground again.

Angela grabs me by my ankles, and with the size of her Amazonian arms, she is easily able to help me to the ground. “Easy now. Flying isn’t as easy as it looks,” she tells me as I regain my feet. She gives a slightly annoyed sigh, before adding, “I guess we’re walking back to the assassin. Come on, she’s this way.”

It takes me a second to figure out how to wrap my wings about me, and for the first time, I notice the uncomfortably cool air after the heat of the tunnel, the stars in the night sky, and the endless dunes of sand around us.

“Um, Angela, where are we?” This doesn’t look like anywhere in the developed world. Did we go to some parallel universe?

“The Sahara Desert somewhere southwest of Minya, Egypt.” She continues trudging through the sand, without looking back.

Well, that would explain why we didn’t use this portal to go see TanaVesta in the first place. I shudder at the thought of her name, glad to be away from the power-hungry red dragon, while at the same time, looking forward to destroying her. As powerful as she is, she’s made an enemy in me. And now I’m strong enough to be a warrior.

We meet Brooke walking towards us, and she stops in shock at the sight of my wings. I see anger enter her beautiful green eyes as she glares at Angela. “I see she’s truly turning you into an incubus after all,” she states, derision dripping from her tone.

“I don’t think that’s what’s happening to him,” Angela says carefully. I look to the tall woman, wondering why she isn’t getting angry with my friend. What happened between these two back in that mountain peak? “Look closer at his wings. Those aren’t the wings of an incubus. They look more akin to those of a dragon.”

I don’t remember sitting down, but there is no mistaking the feeling of sand in my naked butt crack.

Dragon wings?
How? TanaVesta didn’t have wings.

“Your queen didn’t have wings,
succubus
,” Brooke echoes my thoughts.

“TanaVesta is no longer my master or queen. I denounce her.” The look in her eyes doesn’t allow for any argument. I wonder how she must feel right now, with her entire world having been flipped. She’d called the dragon a friend, but the Pillar of Fire had arrested the succubus on false charges. “She can take the form of whatever type of dragon she pleases. The Oriental dragon is her favorite, I think because of all the chaos she caused in ancient China, before separating our worlds.” Angela looks to Brooke, and I can tell that she wants the assassin to understand. “Look closer at my wings. I only have three fingers in mine. His have five, and are the same color as his brown hair.”

Spreading my wings to get a better look at them, I end up tipping over and lying in the sand again. They’re too big for me, I realize. While on my back, I examine my new appendages, and see that Angela is correct. The skin between the fingers is thick and leathery. Each bony finger ends in a curved and wickedly sharp talon.

If I didn’t know what was happening to me before, I know even less now. I’m not becoming an incubus, but I have some of their abilities. I’m also apparently gaining the traits of dragons now. Do I absorb a person’s abilities when I have sex with them? What then does that mean with Becky and Lisa? Will I start becoming a female? I sincerely hope not! Not that I have anything against women, but I like the way I am right now. Of course, that could lead to some interesting lesbian adventures. . . . Shaking my head, I try to come back to the present.

Brooke and Angela have been talking while I was absorbed in my own thoughts, but when I hear Brooke ask, “What’s happening to him, then?” I perk back up.

“I’m not sure. TanaVesta said something about him being a Generator, which makes sense on one level, but doesn’t explain his transformations.” I can tell from her tone that Angela is just as worried about me as Brooke is.

“A Generator?” Brooke asks skeptically. “That’s impossible. They were killed off after the six pillars made our realm, and neither of his parents were a Generator.”

“Wait,” I interrupt, “you knew my parents?”

She flinches at my question, and I realize that she let slip something she hadn’t intended to. “That’s not important right now,” the redhead tries to cover her mistake. “We need to find a way out of here as soon as possible. There isn’t enough water in the air here, and I spent too long in fire’s demesne. I’ll die if I don’t get out of here soon.”

Part of me wonders if this is just a ploy to change the subject, but I remember that she owes her allegiance to the Pillar of Water, and how tired she looks. It finally dawns on me to wonder if she’s even human. Probably not, but then, what is she?

Sighing, I give Brooke a look to let her know I haven’t forgotten my question, before turning to Angela to ask, “How long will it take to get to a city?”

“Walking from here? A couple days, which will be too long for her.” She looks worriedly at my childhood friend, and again I have to wonder what transpired between the two while I was chained up. “I’m not strong enough to carry either of you while flying, but Lyden, if you can figure out how to fly, your wings are big enough. We could hit the Mediterranean before sunrise. Things will become much worse for her when the sun appears.” I don’t even want to think what the Saharan sun will be like.

I carefully stand up, being mindful of the weight of my wings, and stare dubiously at the tall Amazon. “How long did it take you to learn after becoming a succubus?” I ask her.

Her face drops in consternation, and I know I won’t like her answer. “A little over a week.” Yep, I really didn’t like that answer. “But maybe with your larger wings, it won’t take that long!” I can hear the hope in her voice, and I’m willing to try, if for no other reason than that I have to try
something
.

Several failed attempts, one hour, and a massively bruised ego later, I give up. I’m still full of vigor after all the rapings by TanaVesta, but I don’t think I’ll ever get flying down. At least, not in time to save Brooke. Looking to the curly haired woman, I can see that she’s having problems. Her lips are dry and cracked, she isn’t sweating like Angela and I am, and her breathing is haggard.