The Generator: The Succubae Seduction (78 page)

The thought that it still smells like sex strikes me, but I shrug it off as I poke my head inside.

“You see Angela, I told you someone would come to take the mantle, and here is the thief now.”

The new voice exudes raw power, and I can feel the solid rock beneath my paws crumple as my talons dig in, pure fear filling my veins.

“You were right, my Queen,” an all too familiar voice says. I can feel my heart break at the sound of obeisance in it. “What should we do with them?”

Slowly as though I’m afraid of what I’ll see, even though I already know I’ll see her, I pull my head out and turn towards the voices. TanaVesta stands proud in her red dragon form, about three times my size. Angela, in her true Asian-black form is standing next to her, eyes locked on me.

I see recognition enter Angelica’s brown eyes as they grow large, and know that at any moment she’s going to give me away to her current master.

“Thieves must be made an example of,” TanaVesta states, and at least for now she doesn’t recognize me, “but not before we find out who he is working for.” The way her forked tongue licks her lips sends shivers down my long spine. In my fear, it doesn’t even occur to me to wonder how she can talk with a forked tongue.

“Let me out!” the elf screams in my head. “I’m no use to you in here. Let me out so that I can at least die fighting.”

Die? Somehow the word triggers a response in me, allowing me to unclench my claws. Fighting is the only option right now, not dying. I’ll never let her treat me like that again!
NEVER
!

The ground cracks as I shove off of it, jaws open wide and aimed for TanaVesta’s throat. I know I should have gone after the succubus first since she’s weaker, but I can’t bring myself to do it. Even though I know I’m leaving my flank open to her attack, I’m hoping to be quick enough, to surprise them both.

A large red blur catches me from the side as TanaVesta effortlessly bats me aside; laughing at how easily she’d defended herself.

“Pathetic,” she scoffs at me as I use my tail to regain my balance and land, sliding along the floor. My talons dig furrows in the ground as I slide to a stop. My head is ringing, and my right wing won’t move right. “I don’t suppose he’s willing to give us any information. He looks to be from the dumber kind of dragons. I hate to even think of them as the same as me.” Her tone is level as though she’s just talking about the weather. “Or is he even a true dragon? Oh well. Watch, Angela as I burn him to a crisp.”

The large red dragon inhales deeply, and I look to the opening on the far wall. To reach it, I’ll have to go through the Pillar of Fire, but to reach the entrance I came in through; I’ll have to go through Angela.
I know the decision I
should
make, but can’t. Why hasn’t she given me away yet?

Just as I’m about to leap at the red dragon, her flame breath catches me, pouring from her sharp-toothed maw with enough force to blow me backwards. As the flames and heat surround me, I scream, knowing that I’m already dead. Even though there’s no pain, I assume that my nerve endings have already been fried.

It only takes me a moment more to realize that her flame isn’t touching me. Or more accurately, the flame is all around, but the heat of it isn’t affecting me.

I don’t stop to take stock of why I’m still alive, or why I’m immune to her immense magical blaze, but instead restart my leap, heading straight for the source of her fire. Inhaling her heat as I go, I turn it back against her, breathing my own fire directly down her throat.

TanaVesta screeches in agony, falling back and staring at me in shock. I land hard on the flooring, unable to guide my decent with a bad wing, but keep my eyes on the larger dragon. Unfortunately, she’s still between the large exit and me, though the smaller one is now clear, with Angelica behind me.

The succubus!

Realizing I’m in a bad situation, I lash my tail out, hoping to come into contact with her. I hear an, “Oomph,”, and a moment later the succubus vanishes, her mass added to my own. She’s impotent to hurt me physically now.

“What
are
you?” my powerful enemy demands, and I can see fear in her eyes now. “What have you done with my bed servant?” Her voice is a little raw.

Bed servant? What the hell?
Then I remember Gaia’s words about Aldol using them for sex. Apparently TanaVesta hadn’t minded it so much.

“Lyden?” Angela’s voice sounds internally. A moment later I can hear the elf and succubus fighting, my father happily cheering them both on.

It takes only a spare thought to form my human tongue. “You once kept me locked up for your own pleasure, beast. I’ve come back for revenge.”

“The Generator?” Her eyes grow large as she comprehends who I am, and then to my surprise, she starts laughing. “I’ve missed our time together, Generator. Tell you what, give yourself up to me, and I promise to let you live. Who knows? I may even be gentler with you this time.”

“Lyden, who is this woman?” I hear Angela grunt in my mind, but I ignore her.

“I have a counter-offer,” I state, trying to mimic the elf’s tone of derision that she’d kept using on me. “Give me Fujin’s Mantle, and I’ll return the succubus to you.”
TanaVesta’s eyes narrow as she regards me for a moment. “No.” The word is a simple one, but filled with finality. “I’ve grown fond of her over the last little while, while Aldol has forced me to use her sexually, but if I lose the mantle, it’ll mean my death.”
Her words confuse me for a moment—I didn’t know she could grow fond of anyone!—and the red dragon uses that to her advantage as she launches herself towards me. I have just enough time to move my neck out of the path of her fangs, but not out of the way of her talons. They sink into my sides painfully, easily piercing my tough scales. I scream in agony. Desperately I claw back at her, and barely note that my dual-toned claws easily part her hide as well.

New energy floods into me as my Murasame augmented talons absorb her soul. Unfortunately, she’s powerful enough, that the strength pouring into me isn’t enough to counteract the damage she’s causing, nor is it enough to drain her before she kills me. If only I could get a better angle.
I can hear the elf and succubus screaming out in shared pain as I try to redouble my efforts, but even with the adamantium in me, I can feel my strength slackening. I’ll be long dead before I take enough from the Pillar of Fire to kill her.

When I feel her teeth sink into the back of my neck, I know all is lost. I barely even notice the loud shriek that echoes off the cavernous walls of her chambers as blackness swallows my vision.

My body grows lighter as I mentally release the elf and Angela. I won’t take them down with me.
“Lyden, no!” someone screams as I feel my blood seeping out in a pool around me.

Odd, I think. Even in the realm of Fire, I’m surprised I can feel so cold.

* * * *

Water from the nearby stream burbles happily as I sit in a cloth camping chair and stare at the trees around me. The tent where I’d spent those last precious moments with Lisa sits behind me. The scene is almost the exact same, except that the sun is setting and someone has built a fire.

It seems fitting that I should see this
, I think,
before I finally pass away. It’s peaceful out here.

I wonder if Lisa will come for me? The thought sends a stab through my heart, but I remember her telling me to be strong, and I try to hold my head up higher. No one can say I hadn’t been strong after her passing. I’d done all I could and it hadn’t been enough, but I’d still tried.

A twig snaps behind me and I spin around. Blonde hair vanishes behind a tree, and I jump to my feet to chase after Lisa. I’m confused at why she’s here, but maybe it’s to take me to the afterlife.
“Lyden?” A different voice states right then and I turn to see Angelica standing on the flowing water’s edge.
“What do you want?” I demand, wondering if she’d been killed too. Despite my feelings of betrayal by her, I’m saddened that she hadn’t been able to escape TanaVesta’s wrath.
I can see that my tone hurts her, but I do my best to ignore the tear that breaks from her left eye. Probably just another ploy of hers. How could I have been so stupid as to believe she loved me? She is a demonic creature. As soon as she’d left me, she’d gone back to the Pillar of Fire. The one person who had tortured and hurt me the most, and if TanaVesta is to be believed, the succubus had gone and become her sexual plaything. Even though Aldol had played a part in that, I’ll bet the succubus enjoyed it.
“I’m so sorry I hurt you,” she tells me, but I turn away, trying to catch sight of where Lisa had run off to. Why had she run away? “Shemhazau explained what had happened,” she continues, her tone imploring me to turn and face her.
“I told you if you ever left me like that again, we’d be done,” I state firmly, refusing to turn around.

“You don’t understand,” she cries out in anguish.

Angrily I turn to face her, rage fueling my words. “I don’t understand?
I
don’t understand? I loved you more than a demonic creature like you will ever understand, and you spat on that and abandoned me. Not only that, but you went to
fuck
the one person that has caused me the most pain and grief since I met you.” Tears pour from her eyes at my venomous tirade, and I can tell she’s shivering, but I don’t relent. “So tell me,
succubus
, what exactly don’t I understand?”

She’s remains silent under my glare for a moment, before she takes a shuddering breath and answers. “I still love you.” I scoff, but she continues. “I didn’t go to TanaVesta to hurt you, Lyden. After you killed my, or rather, your father, I didn’t know what to do. I knew you wouldn’t take me back, and I’m terribly sorry for the pain I caused you. But I still wanted to help you.”

“So you went to work for my enemy?” I yell out in disbelief.

“I went to
spy
on our enemy,” she counters me. I don’t miss the fact that she calls TanaVesta
our
enemy.

“And what, sleeping with her was all part of the plan?” I try to load all the derision and scorn I can into that statement, and I’m still surprised when her hand flies out and slaps me across the face.

“I’m a succubus,” she reminds me, “but I had no choice in the matter.” I raise one eyebrow in disbelief while rubbing my sore cheek. For being dead, that slap had hurt. “I found out that ever since Aldol had controlled Becky while the two of you screwed, it’s been obsessed with sex. Apparently it had never experienced anything like it before. The thing would control one of us, and force us into having sex. It was never my choice, Lyden. You have to believe me. I never betrayed you!”
I turn my back on her again, but this time because I don’t want her to see that I’m starting to doubt my own arguments. Everything she’s saying could make sense. How useful would it have been to have a spy on the inside?
“I thought you could resist Aldol’s control,” I state, remembering how she’d been able to hold back from attacking me while we’d rescued Brooke. I’d thought it had been because she’d loved me at the time.

And maybe it still was.

“I can resist harming you,” her voice reaches me softly, and I can hear her footsteps crunching the ground behind me. I can’t bear to turn and face her yet. “I guess I just wasn’t emotionally invested enough to resist doing things with TanaVesta.”

Despite myself, I chuckle slightly at that. I’ll bet she didn’t struggle too hard. Like she’d reminded me, she
is
a succubus, after all.

Her dark-skinned hand rests lightly on my shoulder, but all I can do is bow my head.

“I tried so hard,” the words seem to pour from me, without any conscious effort of my own. “I wanted to protect everyone, but I failed. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you as well.”

“Lyden,” Angela’s voice has an odd edge to it. “You’re not dead, at least, not yet. You saved us, though I don’t know what’ll happen now that two pillars are dead.”

Confused, I finally turn to face her fully. Despite all my misgiving and fears, I know her words are true.

“But how?” I ask, gripping her slender but strong shoulders in my hands.

“A blue dragon came in from nowhere, and wrapped her tail around TanaVesta’s neck. She was able to strangle the Pillar of Fire and pull her off of you. Apparently you weakened her enough, that the other dragon was able to finish her off. I don’t know how you were able to get a dragon to follow you, but you never cease to amaze me.” She places her hand on my cheek, gazing lovingly up at me.

The touch feels so wonderful, and the look in her eyes so inviting, that I know I have to pull away, or be lost to her again.

Stepping back, I say, “Angela, I can’t. Not again. When you left, it tore me apart. I lost something inside, and it hurt terribly. I can’t risk that again.”
“What if I promise it won’t happen again?” she asks me, and I can almost hear the desperation in her voice. Or is that just me hoping to hear it?
“Like last time?” I ask, hating myself for saying the words, but also knowing that they must be said.

“I understand,” her voice is soft and barely reaches my ears. “Shemhazau explained to me what happened to you since I left. I know the pain I caused can’t be easily forgiven.”

Something doesn’t seem right with that statement. This is the second time she’s mentioned talking to my father.

“When did you have time to talk to my father?” I ask. “You weren’t in me long enough, and I pushed you out as I was dying, or passing out, I guess.”
“After you passed out, and I convinced that elf—I didn’t know any of them were left in the world—that I wasn’t a threat and perhaps the only one that might save you, I came here. He stopped me before I could approach you right away. He was very disappointed in me.” I can see that those words cost her, and remember that she’d seen him like a father. “He explained everything that's happened. He didn’t know how you’d react to me, but I had to try.”

I remain silent for a while, thinking everything over. She had kept secrets from me, but looking back now, I realize most of them hadn’t been hers to reveal. She’d abandoned me when I needed her, but what I didn’t think about at the time was how badly she’d been hurting. She hadn’t betrayed me by going to TanaVesta, but had hoped to help me in some way.