Succubus

*Oona’s POV*

Femme lashed her tail. “Crow more clear. Do Crow.” She looked irritated, and I could tell her pride was hurt. She jumped down from the shelf, and without thinking, I gestured to Femme to come join me where I sat. She gave me an appreciative look, and I was surprised when she came to sit in my lap. I found myself petting her carefully as I thought about what she had said, and Penemue went to see if Crow, too, had some manner of curse to be removed.

I was stunned; I didn’t even know what to say. But knowing Femme a little better than the two men, I think I had comprehended what had she said more thoroughly. It actually made sense.

Andy was part incubus, and every time he gave someone sexual pleasure, he had learned to absorb some of it. While he was very handsome, if someone hadn’t been draining him of the excess, he would either have to be celibate (which I knew he wasn't), have already known it was happening (which he hadn't) and known how to drain it off himself, or someone had been tapping it for him. Otherwise, Andy would have looked very different, having a similar issue to what he did now, in fact. I felt foolish for not having realized that something had to be going on, for Andy to still look like a relatively normal human, if bizarrely attractive. Perhaps Andy had learned to absorb energy like an incubus later in life? I knew he wouldn't know, I wondered if anyone did? If not for meeting Juliet, I wonder if Andy would ever have aged at all…

Juliet had saved Andy’s humanity, in a way. His ability to live normally, to have a career. But why not just tell him? Let him know what was going on? That his grandfather was an incubus, that she was removing energy, helping him? Speaking of which, how on Earth had she done it without him noticing? I had so many questions, questions I was in no position to ask.

I knew little about vampires. I knew there were so many kinds, and of the many species, often there were sub-types, some had Clans, some had hierarchies, some didn’t, one had a snooty Court… Some were friendly enough, some were brainless monsters. It got complicated.

Maybe some people would have thought to associate demons and vampires closely, but we had no reason to associate, generally. One thing they all had in common was being undead, they never entered the Underworld. They often killed people for blood, though I did know there was some variation on the theme of consumption: thoughts or memories, hope, non-lethal blood meals, hair, eyeballs, animals, certain tissues or body parts. My least favorite was heartbreak, though I suspected that was a sensational rumor or outright lie Kria had told me. At the time I had laughed, but now I have a different perspective. I decided that if Juliet was a heartbreaking vampire, I would kill her. I’d do it regardless of the fact that Andy loved her, that she’d saved his humanity and career. I wouldn’t let her break Andy’s heart over and over.

“Same direction,” said Femme. I looked down, and in my dark thoughts, I had been mashing poor Femme’s fur around in a circle. She was giving me a tolerant, amused look. “Oona. Trust me.” She nodded at Crow, who had Penemue leaning over inspecting his jaw, muttering to himself. “Will tell.”

“I do.” I gently rearranged Femme’s fur and cautiously started petting her again, with correct form. I was delighted when Femme began to purr, her chest thrumming against my legs. It made me feel accomplished as a feline companion.

I had just ventured into the new world of chin-scratching, and was excited to see that Femme stretched her neck out and extended her whiskers (I took this as a sign of success, as I’d seen cats do this before, and the purring continued), when I heard a similar crackling noise as previously. I looked up, just in time to see the dissipation of some purple vapor, as Crow stretched his mandible. Femme leapt from my lap and padded towards Crow.

“Thank you, Penemue, I believe that’s done the trick. Allow me to provide a little insight.

"As I believe all of you know, Juliet and Andy were already together when they picked Femme and I out from the shelter. It was a mutual decision, but only Juliet consciously recognized that we were not ordinary cats. After we arrived at our new home, the ancestral knowledge of the Kellas Cats came to us within two weeks or so, by blood memory, slowly as we grew. Juliet was initially able to convince us both not to reveal that we were not average cats to Andy or other humans. However, with time, it didn’t sit well with us that she didn’t tell Andy of his own background.”

Here I interrupted. “Can you explain more, Crow? Meaning, what kind of vampire is Juliet?”

Crow sighed. “Yes, I figured you would want to know. I will give you a minimal answer, however, as I feel it is not really my place. Juliet is very rare. She drains the excess energy off of him, and that is how she feeds, it’s what she eats. She doesn’t take it in a blood form, that’s all I really know. She tries to make sure that Andy ages at a normal rate and doesn’t get so celestially attractive that his life is in danger. She’s told me that, before meeting Andy, she had accidentally severely wounded people because she was so hungry, and that weighs on her conscience.”

Femme chimed in, nudging with her paw. “Say why call!”

Crow shot Femme an irritated look. “In a moment! As I was saying, it began to irk us that Juliet wasn’t telling Andy that he wasn’t only human. We were teenagers, mere kittens, so we wanted to, you know, be rebellious against our mother, and tell Andy about our sidhe ancestry as well, and be able to talk to him ourselves. But Juliet didn’t want any changes in the status quo, for reasons of her own. I will let her explain herself. Regardless, she made sure we wouldn’t be telling anybody about her nature, or Andy anything at all, with the cantrip Penemue just released.”

Crow sighed. “We were angry with her for a long time. Anyways... A few hours ago, Femme and I realized we should try and hint to Oona that something was afoot. Juliet can easily drain Andy of all the excess energy he has accumulated from Oona, making it safe for him to leave the house.”

I nodded. I had figured as much. “What makes contacting her more pressing now is that, I believe, Juliet could also remove the angelic energy that Oona absorbed from Andy, from Oona.” A triple chorus of ‘ohs’ went through the room. Crow motioned to Femme with his paw. “We have no idea how Juliet will feel about the situation with Oona. Vampires are… interesting, and Juliet is no exception. But both of us have discussed that at length. We agree that Juliet is devoted to Andy, and she will want to do whatever she can to make sure he is safe. If Juliet comes and takes the angelic energy from Oona, then leaves to go back on tour, in a separate location from the angelic seed, all away from Andy, it will split the signal, and make it harder to track.”

I had to interrupt. “But won’t both the angelic energy and semen be apart from Andy if I just travel elsewhere, away from Andy? Then won’t Andy be safest?”

Sebastian burst out, “Holy shit, don’t do that! Andy’s an emotional guy, he’ll sense you miss him, manifest again, and go looking for you. If he manifests as an angel, it will be a disaster! You will both be glowing beacons again if both of you exist in the forms you fornicated in! Er, the forbidden time... Meaning, please, stay right here, stay happy as a clam, and snuggle Andy night and day, my dear. As soon as we have a plan of action set, in fact, go cuddle like a happy couple.”

My mouth fell open. Play two peas in a pod? While we summon his vampire girlfriend, hand her a ticking bomb, then send her away? After what I'd forced Andy to do while she'd been gone? How would she even get here? I didn’t think vampires could travel by reflection… Besides, I was worried that Andy might stay preoccupied with thoughts of my upcoming death. How was I supposed to keep him happy? I looked to Penemue, hoping for some alternative.

Begrudgingly, the fallen angel with the tall, graceful figure admitted that, “The bastard is right,” earning himself Sebastian’s demonic middle finger and a sigh from Femme.

Well, shit. If two beings many, many millennia old have been reduced to bickering and flipping the bird at each other… I figured I was going to have to stick around and protect Andy. Great. Not that we even knew if he was actually in danger anymore. Ugh. “We need Andy’s cellphone. Who’s going to call Juliet? It can’t be me.” Social propriety aside, I honesty didn't know how to use one.

Notes