HEAVEN AND HELL: The Recruiter

by
Maggie Finson

I knew it was wrong to be screwing around with Lisa Hemmings, especially since she was married, and I had a wife of my own that I dearly loved, and a son and daughter I would have gone through fire for without a seconds thought or hesitation. I loved my family, but to my shame, I also had this perverse need to bed other women. A lot of other women, never mind how many, just accept a lot the way it sounds.

I’d finish one of my low rent rendezvous with first a feeling of gratified accomplishment and so sure of my manhood that I found myself a bit hard to be around. Then the guilt would sneak up on my over- inflated psyche and I’d be miserable for weeks, being extra attentive and good to Julie, my slim, willowy, patient wife of ten years, and our children. I really did love them all very deeply and would feel like a complete shit for doing what I had behind their backs.

My flitting from one paramour to another for maybe one or two nights, then saying “So long, its been real nice, but gotta go now.” ended abruptly when Ed Hemmings and his wife Lisa moved into the house next to ours. Ed was a big, bluff man with a thick shock of flame red hair and fine sense of humor; he also had an explosive temper held tightly in check out of consideration for his wife, and others that were around him. At a not so amazing 6’ 5” but a whopping 295 pounds without one ounce of real fat, Ed was one of those guys who could lift one end of a car so you could change the tire while telling off color jokes all the while. I liked him from the start.

Lisa was tall -- 5’10”-- for a woman, and sleekly voluptuous from her small feet and trim ankles all the way to her wavy mane of silky ash-blonde hair (natural, not out of a bottle) with a face that would have had the old masters lining up to use her for a model in their representations of angels. In short, physically, Lisa Hemmings was flawless, with creamy complexion, soft satiny skin, and a figure that would stop traffic anywhere she went.

She was also intelligent, witty, friendly, and generally fun to be around. Trouble from the start, for a guy with inclinations like mine. Worse, though I didn’t think so at the time, she was just as attracted to me. We were like the positive and negative poles of a magnet, drawn together without any real volition or reason other than the aching need to be together.

Now for a little about me. I was a pretty regular guy until my deeply hidden sexual urges came out. I rationalized those by telling myself that at least I wasn’t some serial rapist or murderer and nobody really got hurt in my little excursions into the Strange P. Ha! If only I’d known what I found out later to my extreme dismay... Ah, never mind, I’ll get to that later on.

Anyway, my name was Michael, an ironic choice made by my parents all things considered, but again, I’m getting ahead of myself. I worked hard, held a good job and brought in more than enough money to keep my family more than simply comfortable. I worked out -- in a gym most of the time, was a fit 165 pounds on a slim but masculine 5’11” frame, was reasonably good looking, still had all my hair at 38, went to church with the family, participated in Parent-Teacher associations, and generally puttered around the house and yard on my days off enough to keep my home looking well cared for and the yard manicured.

Getting on with things, and that is not a play on words, Lisa and I became very good friends within a surprisingly short period of time. Ed was a high-powered troubleshooter for computer systems and networks working for a company that sent him all over the world. Sometimes with very little in the way of notice. If there was enough lead-time, he would take Lisa along and the old neighborhood was a little dimmer and grayer until they returned. But most of the time, Lisa was left alone at home while hubby went off to some exotic corner of the world to add to his growing bank account.

Which, of course, left Lisa alone and lonely. Leaving me hot, horny, and in full flight, so to speak. We started out slowly, meeting for coffee or a drink somewhere far enough away from where we lived to not risk being seen by anyone who knew us. Then things escalated to motels rooms for an hour or so, then overnighters, and finally in some pretty expensive hotels for weekends, or several days through the middle of the week.

Getting even more adventurous, we began trysting in each other’s houses when our respective spouses were absent. That’s where we made our biggest mistake. Ed got in a day early from a junket to Hong Kong and wanted to surprise Lisa. Well, he sure did surprise her; and me. In the bed they were supposed to have exclusive rights to sharing. When I saw the look on his face, stricken, unbelieving, betrayed, and angry beyond description, I knew Lisa and I had I’d up big time.

Without a word, Ed turned around and walked away from the bedroom. But only for about ten seconds. He carried a fourteen-shot nine- millimeter Taurus, and very fine weapon made in Brazil, in his luggage. It took him about that long to find it, shove in a clip, and empty it into the two of us. Then he jacked the empty clip, shoved in another and emptied that into both of us just to make sure.

Goodbye Charlie, and Lisa, and Michael. So long world, it’s been nice, but you know how it is. Gotta go. Bye, bye, Sayonara, Adios, Aurevoir, and all that stuff. We were gone before we really realized there would be no more afternoon delight for us. At least it sure seemed that way at the time.

It seemed to be no time at all between hearing the pistol shots and experiencing the impact of nine-millimeter slugs -- an experience I don’t recommend -- and finding ourselves in a rather upscale waiting room for what for all intents was a very busy office.

“Where are we?” Lisa questioned , staring at our surroundings with her large blue eyes even bigger than usual.

“Don’t ask me,” I returned, still somewhat daze by the -- to me - - recent events. “Who would have thought that the dead have to deal with bureaucracy? There just isn’t any justice.”

“Dead?!!” Lisa’s eyes widened even more, and her slender, long nailed hand lashed out in ringing slap to my cheek that I had no chance to dodge. “You bastard! This is all your fault! I’d be home with Ed if you hadn’t been able to control that thing between your legs!”

“That thing between your legs contributed, you know,” I countered with something less than tact.

“Ohh, you!” Lisa crossed her arms under her still gorgeous breasts, and turned away from me. “I’m not going to put up with mudslinging from a man who cheated on his wife and kids!”

“Well...” I trailed off since it seemed a little silly to point out that she had cheated on her husband at the same time. diplomatically, I tried changing the subject. “Look , honey, there’s no point in arguing about things now. Besides, have you noticed that both of us look pretty good for all the slugs we took?”

“Uhhmm, uhhm,” Our argument was stopped before it could become more colorful by a slight, elegantly prissy little man standing behind a counter that I could have sworn hadn’t been there just a few seconds before. Actually, I was kind of relieved. Angry as Lisa was, and with her claw-like fingernails, I really wasn’t all that anxious to find out if dead people could still bleed.

“Pardon my interruption,” the little guy urbanely drawled in a faint British accent. “But don’t you think fighting is just a bit much under the circumstances?”

“And what exactly,” Lisa’s sweet voice dripped acid, literally. Tiny green droplets from her mouth hissed and smoked the moment they touched the plush red carpet at our feet. “Are our circumstances?”

Prudently widening the distance between my former lover, and myself I nodded. “Yeah, that question does come to mind. Where exactly are we, and who are you?”

“I,” the fellow offered us a watery smile, “Am Albert, chief receiving clerk here, and you two are quite obviously in the waiting room of our reception area waiting to be processed.”

“I suppose there are forms we need to fill out,” I sighed in resignation.

“Oh, I think we should be able to dispense with those boring little details,” Albert smiled, showing an unsettling cannibalistic array of gleaming, needle sharp teeth in his too wide mouth. “Since we knew you were coming, and your assignments have already been determined.”

“Assignments?” I questioned, while Lisa made a definitive point of being unimpressed with the current situation, and the two males discussing it with regal, feminine disdain.

“Oh, of course,” Albert offered that horrid smile again. “You have both been pre-assigned and your designated -- superiors, should be arriving quite soon.”

The unmistakable clicking of high heels on a tile floor immediately followed his so illuminating explanation. Followed by the appearance of the most absolutely, incredibly, unbelievably, bodaciously gorgeous female I had ever set eyes on.

Her alabaster flesh was lovingly caressed by a silky black ,sleeveless mini-dress that was filled in all the right places to its capacity. That short, tight skirt ended at least five inches above her smooth, lovely knees, and led my eye down a pair of long, sex dream material legs ending in slender ankles and impossibly dainty little feet clad in gleaming black patent leather sandals with at least a five inch heel that couldn’t have been wider than a large nail.

Hips and ass that would have made a feast themselves curve inward and upward to a high, narrow waist, that in turn rose to support sweetly rounded shoulders and the most perfectly formed melons of breasts I would have dared imagine in my wildest dreams. Slender, bare arms , slim wrists, small, long fingered hands ending in carefully manicured, blood red pointed nails standing half an inch out from the fingertips were equally enthralling.

Her long, thin column of a neck with perfectly smooth throat pulled my eyes up to her face and I thought I was going to die all over again. Her face was feminine, alluring, and strong. Sounds funny, given the heart shape it had, and the delicate, rounded chin, soft sweep of jaw, high cheekbones clothed in enough flesh to make them as soft as the rest of her appearance, and a delicate, upturned little nose that couldn’t have been purposely sculpted by any mortal artist.

All that was topped with amazingly large, almond eyes that shone with a glittering gem-like emerald while still giving the overall impression of warmth and giving. Throw in thinly arcing crescent moons of brows, wide, smooth forehead, and frame all that with a mass of lushly curling, shining, flame red hair that tumbled exuberantly over her shoulders to coyly tease at her breathtaking bottom.

An intricately fashioned, slender gold chain circled her neck with a huge emerald pendant set in an oval gold plate that nestled just above the dark, welcoming mysteries of cleavage between her so luscious breasts. Slim gold bracelets circled her wrists, tinkling with her slightest move and sounding like the most beautiful music I had ever heard.

“Ohhhhh,” I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “I have died and gone to Heaven.”

“Hardly,” her husky, smoky contralto sent chills through my whole body as she answered that with a quirk of a smile from her full, cupid’s bow mouth. “But I’m quite sure that you will discover your error very quickly, Michael.”

Albert squelched a high pitched giggle, then turned with a very contrite and serious expression to the alabaster and flame goddess. “Your Pardon, My Lady. I hadn’t quite gotten to the point of telling either of them where they are.”

“You are forgiven, Albert, dear,” she purred with a sultry smile that had my little man instantly at attention. “Their arrival was actually quite entertaining, wasn’t it?”

“Indeed it was, Lillith, my dear,” a deep resonant voice answered. One that I hadn’t heard up to then, and so filled with masculine strength and pure male essence, I cringed in humble shame for being so inadequate before I even caught sight of its owner. Swallowing, I knew from another standpoint just how insignificant Lisa had felt after Lillith, whoever she was, had appeared.

“Ah, Belial,” my goddess purred, then frowned. “Have you ever been on time for anything?”

“Once, maybe,” the owner of that voice answered in amusement. “I really don’t recall the details, but it had to have been a horrendous error on the part of my planning department.”

“I’m certain it was,” Lillith let out a rich, velvety laugh. “But you are here now. Shall we gather up our respective recruits and begin working them into our systems?”

“Of course, dear lady,” Belial responded, finally coming around the high partition so we could see him. Imagine the masculine equivalent of Lillith. Tall, dark complexioned, with a shock of thick midnight black hair down to his wide shoulders, muscles on his muscles but still remaining lithely catlike, with a ruggedly chiseled face, heavy dark brows and eyes that smoldered with pent up passion. Did I say I’d felt inadequate? Amend that to never-be-able-to-measure-up, then add a feeling of inferiority that had me feeling miniscule. Talk about demoralizing.

Lisa was as captivated by Belial as I was by Lillith. Neither one of us could spare the slightest glance to each other. Then things slowly began to penetrate my still halfway fuddled mind. Recruits? Not victims, or prisoners, but recruits. One look at Lillith and I knew beyond a doubt what she had chosen Lisa for, but couldn’t for the life of me understand what the fellow called Belial would possibly want with me. Not that I was a weakling, or ugly, but I could tell in a glance that I wouldn’t even come close to measuring up to that standard.(Okay, so I was dead; old habits and patterns stay with you for a while, and to be honest about things, I wasn’t quite used to, or even comfortable with the idea of being not only dead, but in Hell.)

As I was slowly, and not so surely, assimilating all of that while trying unsuccessfully to quell the attention my crotch was paying to Lillith, I heard her velvety voice, “Well, enough pleasantries for now. Come along dear, and let’s get you started on your initiation into your new existence.

“No, no, no, dearie,” Lillith waved Lisa back as she slowly began to move forward to join the voluptuous, inhuman beauty that redirected her towards the other being who had come to claim us. “You are his. I’m here to take you, Michael, now come along, dear, and be a good boy. We have a lot of things to do and not all that much time to get them done.”

Gulping, I glanced nervously at the very visible erection tenting out my slacks, then hesitantly moved towards the being who was going to be my new master --Mistress, I should say.

“Come on,” her voice carried a note of command, and slight, half- tolerant annoyance. She was using exactly the kind of tone I had heard my wife use when the children were dawdling. “Don’t worry about your little problem down there sweetling, It will soon be taken care of, that I promise you.”

Following like the good little boy I was supposed to be (I hoped), I heard a deep chuckle, then Belial’s unforgettable voice from behind. “Be sure to reintroduce me to your new recruit when everything is finished up to your satisfaction, Lila. I am really looking forward to seeing how this one turns out.”

“Damn, I hate it when he calls me that,” Lillith muttered hardly loud enough for me to hear and I was right beside her. A snicker from behind let me know that he had heard it, too. Raising her lilting voice, my new keeper, or whatever she was supposed to be, responded. “Why of course, Bel, darling. That is if you reciprocate in kind with your new one.”

“Done!” he happily called out while I was beginning to worry about what this everything and to her satisfaction was going to involve. Also I wondered why exactly he would be so interested in me once it was over with. “See the two of you soon!”

We approached some kind of doorway. At least I thought it was a doorway. Not being too sure of how things worked around here, I just of let myself go with the flow and tried to relax as Lillith gently took my hand then led me to the glowing, multicolored oval. The predominate colors of the thing were hot pink, deep, dusty rose, an almost virulent red, and glossy black.

“Hold on tight, sweetie,” Lillith instructed me. “You haven’t been assimilated yet, so losing me as we go through this portal could have some very unpleasant consequences for you.”

I tightened my grip, as instructed, on her delicate, soft hand and she didn’t even flinch at the pressure, simply gave me a lazy, indulgent smile. After that, I would have ridden her piggyback or any way else she told me to.

Seeing my reaction widened her smile, but I thought I saw something almost like a mix of anticipation and pity in her lovely eyes as she led me into the portal. I didn’t even have time to do more than start the question I meant to ask. “What’s assimilated m.............”

“...ean?” I finished after feeling like my insides had been pulled through my mouth, then roughly pushed back in just before I found myself standing next to a gloriously nude Lillith in the entrance to a very well tended garden. With a start, I discovered that I was as naked as she was. Naked, not nude or undressed, as I felt very exposed and vulnerable as I was, even in the presence of a female who would have had me plotting ways to get in that very position even a day earlier.

“There are distinct clans here,” speaking as if nothing were at all unusual, she continued pulling me forward. “Until the one given first chance at you had completed your initiation, you would be fair game for any of the others should you turn up elsewhere alone. To prevent that, you will be initiated directly into The Lillium, my clan, just as soon as we get to the proper place.”

“Oh,” was about the most intelligent thing I could say, since we had emerged into a meadow-like clearing and I saw other members of my soon to be Clan gathered and waiting.

The astounding sight that greeted me was a gathering of the most astonishingly beautiful women I had ever seen. All of them were in heels, makeup, jewelry, and not much else. Upon closer inspection, I noted that all of them also wore some kind of garment that appeared to be made of very soft, supple leather that some draped over their shapely shoulders and others simply allowed to trail out behind them like furled wings. I could also have sworn that an occasional flicking behind several of then were slim, prehensile tails sporting rounded barbs at the tips. As we drew closer yet, I could see the glint of unholy hunger in each of their eyes as they attempted to drink me in, literally, it seemed as I sensed something of myself trailing out in small tendrils to about twenty or so of them. It felt chillingly like something important was being slowly drained out of me and I was growing noticeably weaker as it went on. One of them smiled at me, revealing delicate, but definite needle sharp fangs inside her lovely, sensuous mouth, and a forked tongue flicked out to quickly snare one of the tendrils being teased out of my body.

“Now stop that!” Lillith chided, to my temporary relief, as the slight pulling I had started to feel in my soul stopped. “this one is not food, or a toy.”

“Yes, Mother,” all of then responded in sweetly musical voices that sounded like a symphony while lowering their gorgeous faces in a contrite show of submission to her commands.

“Not that we have that issue settled,” Lillith glared, then softened her expression to a smile, “I would all of you to meet Michael, the newest addition to our family.”

After very careful looking around, I could find no sign of any type of male anywhere close enough to see. I was beginning to get a really bad feeling about all this, with snatches of conversations that I had heard in both the waiting room (?), from Belial, and Lillith’s talk of assimilation and initiation. Yes a really bad feeling.

“Michael has been a very naughty boy,” Lillith went on to a scattering of feminine titters and giggles that she made no move to quiet. “It seems that he cheated on his pretty and devoted wife almost since the day their honeymoon was finished, and constantly lied and cheated to get the objects of his illicit desires into bed with him. In fact, Michael was so very, very good at what he did, that I immediately claimed him as mine once his neighbor put and end to his fascinating second career.

“As you can see,” she went on as various scenes from my life were flashed in the air above us and I actually blushed at the oohs, and ahhs that came from the audience, “His talents are really something special.”

“So,” smiling as she led me forward a little more, to the exact center of a circle comprising twenty-five of the incredible beauties, “I felt it would be a terrible waste for him to suffer some of the more mundane punishments available here, and cut through enough red tape to get him permanently assigned to us.”

Murmurs of agreement spread through the small, intimate circle and twenty-five beautiful heads, adorned with delicate little horns that I found quite sexy, by the way, nodded.

“Which brings us to the fun part,” Lillith gave me a wicked, and halfway cruel grin, showing her own delicate little fangs in the process. “Which of you will be the lucky one to initiate this newest member of our clan fully into our ranks?”

“Kayla,” all but one of them chimed in, again sounding like a symphony made up of only sweetly toned woodwinds and strings. As they did this, the only one that had been silent moved gracefully forward to stand in front of me. I knew without a doubt what was going to happen to me, but was absolutely powerless to even voice a slight protest. Kayla’s nearness had revived my erection, and her scent, musky, clean, and a little spicy, filled my both my heads with a lust like I had never dreamed possible to have for anyone.

Kayla was a petite brunette, with shining, almost wild hair spilling over her pale shoulders to caress both prominent globes of her breasts, and her shapely bottom. Her skin was perfectly flawless, smooth as the alabaster it resembled but a silky softness and sheen that made it clear she wasn’t made of stone. Her high, narrow waist could have been encompassed by my hands, and with thinking that, they reached out to perform the act. Her soft, lustrous skin sent tingles of pure need through my hands that shot through my nervous system to reach every part of my body. One of my hands slid easily down her waist, to curve outward with the shape of her delightfully full hips, then stroked her bottom. The only jarring moment came when I found the base of her tail. It was fleshy and warm like the rest of her, and with a sigh of pleasure, she wrapped it around my wrist then gently guided the captured hand to her front.

One of my feet softly rubbed up and down her perfect legs, then began playing with her toes as if it had a mind and will of its own. Meanwhile her tail had released my wrist once my hand had encountered her sex and my fingers had explored the puffy little folds of labia and had started to play with her clitoris after the lips had opened to admit them. I should have recoiled from her buttery golden eyes, especially when I noticed they had snake-like vertically slit pupils, but the hint of sadness, longing, and long past suffering I saw in them captivated me completely. The rest of her face was almost childlike in its innocent appearing beauty, with high, delicate cheekbones, small impudent nose, and its heart shape. That innocence fled when you saw her mouth, though.

I’m not talking about the fangs, either. In fact, I was beginning to think those slender, needle pointed canines were kind of cute. No, I mean her mouth was a generous, soft, red cupid’s bow that fairly well screamed sensuousness when it was doing nothing but adorning her face. Just then, it was working on mine with a will, and let me tell you, being French kissed by a forked tongue that is long enough to tickle your tonsils is a real experience.

By then, I was so hot and ready that nothing short of extreme violence could have pulled me even an inch away from Kayla’s exotic, heated form. I hardly registered what was happening when her wings, yes, I said wings, unfurled and enfolded me within her embrace. I’m not even going to attempt describing how that lovemaking was. Only that it was lovemaking, because things were being passed both ways. and was more gentle exploration and seeking to please each other than the frenzied sex I had expected. Kayla had at least six orgasms, and I experienced three in rapid succession. The last one was so intense, spreading from my crotch throughout my whole body in sizzling concentric waves, that I found myself screaming in sheer ecstasy along with Kayla.

“Welcome to the ranks of The Damned, dearest sister,” Kayla whispered into my still buzzing ear, then gently, almost reluctantly, extricated herself from the tangle of limbs, wings, and tails that we had become.

Wait one second, here! I thought foggily, Sister? TAILS? With a groan that sounded satisfied, if disturbingly different, I simply dismissed that idea for the time being and gave in to the waves of exhaustion that were eager to claim me.

II

“Wake up, sleepyhead!” Lillith’s familiar, velvety voice aroused me. From sleep, not into sexual heat. “You must feed, dear one, or you will not survive the metamorphosis. Your sister, Kayla has brought you some sustenance. Now sit up and drink it in.”

Groggily, I managed to sit up with a great deal of effort, then was met head on by a pair of soft, moist lips that parted slightly as they lightly touched mine. Instinctively, I drew in a breath, and found that I was taking in more than air. It was intoxicating, a salty, but sweet substance that was more insubstantial than vapor, but filled me with a sense of well being that was hard to resist. I eagerly inhaled again, and continued to draw that wonderful nectar deeply into my being. Somehow, I knew my stomach wasn’t getting any of it, but that it was nourishment my body badly needed just the same.

“Enough, little sister,” Kayla laughed at my blatant gluttony. “You will drain me into a dry husk if you keep this up much longer.”

Licking my lips with a strangely agile tongue to get the last residue of my first nourishment since finding myself in Hell, I gave a soft, satisfied sigh then sank back into sleep once again.

“She is so strong!” Kayla’s voice entered my fuzzy brain in a dream-like fluidity.

“As I expected,” another voice, Lillith’s I think, answered, “and had hoped. Lorilei is going to be a fine addition to our forces.”

“Once she adapts,” Kayla agreed with something like trepidation in her voice.”

“Oh, well,” I mumbled sleepily to myself in that half-dream state. “I wish they’d stop talking about whoever that is and let me get some sleep. If I’m going to be their milk cow, I really need to get some rest, and maybe I should really try and avoid this Lorilei, for the time being. She might accidentally kill me for good if she’s as powerful as they are saying.”

My sleep was filled with strange sensations, and even odder dreams. I dreamed of flying, with my own wings, and it was exhilarating, giving me a sense of freedom I’d never known before. But my body was not my own, rather that of a very lithe, sensuous young woman barely out of her girlhood. That disturbed me, but not enough to break my enthrallment at the feel of actually flying. I could even feel the muscles in my chest, along my ribcage, and back working easily to maintain that flight, along with the pressure of air on my wing surfaces. the entire experience was short, but intense enough to give me an orgasm in my sleep.

In another, feeling the hunger but not really understanding what it was, I easily interrupted my flight to drift through a solid wall into a bedroom. Drawn to the figure on the bed in that room, I noted with some delight that it was a good looking, well muscled young man. The hunger flared again, almost painfully, until I reached out a slim, long nailed hand to tease his sex out into view. I wasn’t worried that he would wake up, or that anyone else would disturb me as the blood colored nails at the tips of my fingers adroitly aroused his sleeping member. Then with hands and mouth, I urged him to a full erection, amused at the picture in his dream. That was of a teenaged girl with long blonde hair, a pretty face, and the slender body of early adolescence. When he began responding with the fervor I needed, I mounted him, impaling my sweet, and ravenous vagina with his engorged penis. When he finally came, the orgasm I experienced was incredible, and accompanied by a rush of that wonderfully musky, salty male essence that was more spirit that anything else. Sated, I leaned forward, aware of my breasts brushing against his still heaving chest, to place a light kiss on his smiling mouth.

The next one had me, still in that disturbing feminine form, flying over a dark cityscape in the direction of screams of fury and pain from some like me. They weren’t exactly like me, but from the same general place, and allied with my clan. I was honor bound to help them if I was able, though knew it was unlikely they would feel the same way. A human-like figure shining so brightly I had to squint to see it resolved into a winged man swooping forward to attack me. His wings were things of beauty, so white they hurt my soul as well as my eyes. My sharpened vision could make out individual feathers and the flex of his powerful muscles propelling him inexorably closer. I also noted the flaming sword in his right hand, The sword meant to destroy me.

“Elohim!” I spat out with disgust, throwing a small spell in his path to distract him while I prepared a more powerful one. He knew what I was doing, doubling his efforts to reach me with that horrible sword. I calmly observed his progress, then grinned triumphantly as the newly readied spell engulfed his form in crimson lightnings. Not knowing whether the Hellshocks had simply wounded, or killed the angel, I raced forward to assist my brethren.

“Lorilei,” a gentle voice intruded, welcomely, into those terrible dreams. “Come on, sweet, wake up. It is time you came to know yourself.”

‘Arrgh!” I moaned loudly while trying to sit up. It felt as if every bone in my body had either been lengthened, shortened, or changed in some other manner. Along with muscle, tendons, and flesh. To say I ached would be like comparing a pinprick to being cut wide open with a sword. That simile brought back the horrid nightmare of killing the angel, and I shuddered.

“I know, I know, little one,” the voice soothed and I could see it belonged to an indistinct blur directly in front of me. “It hurts. The Transformation is always painful, even for females. For a male it must be excruciating. Try and stand now, I’ll help you.”

Soft, gentle hands held my elbow and wrist with a strength such delicate things should not possess, lending me steadiness when my legs threatened to give out on my first try. Something was very wrong with the way I was standing, but I couldn’t quite understand what was bothering me. My feet seemed to be arched in a way intended to keep me standing on my toes, and there was a thin protrusion from each heel that lent support. Providing I was careful about setting my feet down.

My hips felt all wrong, too wide by a lot more than half, and my legs seemed to be much farther apart than I was used to. Then there were the things stuck to my back. Whatever they were made a bulky counter to anything I tried that even resembled balance, and they moved at unexpected times, throwing my equilibrium off again and again. “Damn! I swore softly, and realized that my voice sounded just as strange as the rest of me felt.

Talking was different as well. My tongue seemed to have a life of its own, one determined to keep me from uttering one intelligible word, and while doing that it encountered a pair of slender, sharply tipped canines pointing towards my lower lip. Which also felt swollen, by the way.

“Relax, Lorilei,” again the voice soothed, and I finally recognized it as belonging to Kayla. But why was she calling me that name? “Let your body guide you, dear one. It knows how to move and speak. allow it to do so, instead of fighting it, and you will be fine.” The blur, now beside me, resolved into the familiar figure of Kayla wearing a concerned/amused expression on her lovely face. Strangely, her closeness failed to initiate even a little sexual excitement. I dismissed that as a carryover from my long sleep and the dreams that had filled it. Brother, I was more right than I realized at the time! But I took her advice and stopped actively trying to stand and walk.

And my body gained its formerly absent equilibrium. The objects on my back folded up and held still, something fleshy that had been tangling up in my legs raised itself to coil easily along my back then assume a gently curved attitude standing out and away from my bottom. My recalcitrant feet finally found a stable stance, and I actually was able to stand without assistance.

Standing there without a helping hand, I noticed a few other things that should have been greatly disturbing. Like the soft mounds weighting my chest down enough that I had to stand very erect with shoulders back to balance them and compensate for their swinging motions whenever I moved even slightly. Then there was the complete lack of something, three somethings actually, at my crotch. I also idly noted that thick strands of curling, wavy chestnut hair flowed with unwonted exuberance over my shoulders and chest to tease playfully at the large, soft mounds that now occupied that space; then added further insult to the proverbial injury by tickling my bottom, which felt softer and larger than it should have.

All in all, it was a very illuminating, if disorienting awakening. Turning to Kayla, I began to ask her a question, but had to stop long enough to untangle one delicate fork of my tongue from where it had wrapped itself around one of my fangs. “What have you done to me?” I did my best to ignore how much higher and melodic my voice was. Very commendably, I thought, under such trying circumstances.

“Initiated you into the Clan Lillium,” was her simple, patient response.

“Oh, that means you turned me into a girl?” my voice remained remarkably calm, but I decided I could get hysterical later. Just then I really needed to know what the extent of the changes in me were, and how, if possible to reverse them.

“No,” Kayla giggled, “I just drained your male essence, so your spirit could absorb the female essence that this place is made of. And I didn’t turn you into a girl. Our home gave you a form that was compatible with the atmosphere here.”

“All right,” I nodded, shuddering as my hair tickled my sensitive nipples, which sent tiny shocks of pleasure to my brain and pleaded for more. “If I’m not a girl, although I seem to have breasts, and a nice warm, dark vagina and all that goes with it, and a body that feels like an adolescent’s wet dream from all I’ve felt without really looking, mind you, but I know how it feels in here and trust me, it’s not at all like it felt before we made love. I also have a higher, softer voice that sounds very nice from in here, and that also has a very seductive, musical lilt to it.

“So then,” I calmly finished summing things up and gave her a distracted glance. My tail had joined in the fun and was teasing my new anatomy at the crotch. That was the last straw. I tried to stay calm but I guess my new hormone balance zapped that plan, because I finished with, “IF I’M NOT A DAMNED GIRL, THEN DO YOU THINK YOU COULD TELL ME WHAT THE HELL I AM?!!!”

“Basically that,” Kayla grinned back at me, not at all put off by my outburst. “Hell disguised as Heaven to entice souls into our ranks. You’re a Succubus, like the rest of us who live here.”

“A what?” I asked again, foolishly, because I knew exactly what that was. Geesh, not only did I look like a wet dream, I was one. Literally. “Never mind, don’t answer that, I already know what a succubus does. We go out at night, sneak into some poor unsuspecting guy’s bedroom, screw the hell, or maybe I should say heaven, out of him then go on our merry way until dawn or we’re so full we can’t hold any more. That about cover the deal?”

“The basics,” Kayla agreed without a twitch. “We are of course far more flexible than that. Succubae are Hell’s spell-casters, or sorceresses, if you prefer, we are Hell’s spies and agents in the human world, and also serve as liaisons between various factions in Hell, and a few in Heaven as well. We are very much in demand as more than simple playthings, and powerful enough in our own ways that most of the denizens here don’t mess with us.

“We are also shape shifters,” she went on airily, “But are limited to female forms, and possess the ability to mentally and emotionally influence anything male that we come across, even Angels. Satisfied?”

“Uh, I guess so,” I still didn’t care for the idea of being some supernatural sexual creature that held such immense power over men. After all, I’d been a man not so long ago. biting the bullet with an internal sigh, I asked. “Do you think we could find a mirror?”

“Oh, sure, Lorilei,” with a small giggle of anticipation, she waved one her dainty hands around us. “Just think of one standing in front of you, and Mama will provide it for you.” “Mama?”

“This whole place is what we call Mama,” Kayla patiently explained. “She’s the entire garden, the gateways, the walls, and the roof. Mama provides for all our needs while we’re at home, Lorilei.”

I still had to fight from flinching when she called me that, but my companion either didn’t notice or simply chose to ignore it as she went on seriously. “But before you ask for anything, you really ought to introduce yourself formally to Mama. She can get pretty testy at times, so it’s better not to provoke her without great need.”

“Introduce myself,” nodding I drew in a ling breath, doing my best to ignore the sensations that caused in my chest, and gave Kayla a resigned look. “Okay, so how do I manage that?”

“Just close your eyes, tell her hello, and go from there,” Kayla suggested.

Closing my eyes, but feeling a little more than just silly while wondering if this was some kind of initiation prank, I softly whispered. “Hello, Mama.”

“Why hello, you pretty little thing!” A matronly voice answered. “You’re new here, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am,” my answer came out without thought, and I was still not comfortable being called either pretty or little, but carried on gamely despite that. “My name is Lorilei, I think.”

“You mean to tell me you don’t know your own name, young lady?” Mama’s voice held hints of amusement, and a lot of warmth, but I sensed a capacity for underlying coldness and malicious cruelty hidden beneath that surface. Fortunately, none of that latter was directed at me. “Of course your name is Lorilei. Such a lovely name for a lovely creature, I’m certainly glad to meet you, dear.

“Oh, damn!” the warm voice became very annoyed, and I was really glad that I had taken Kayla’s advice to be polite. “More of those God- Spawned Incubi are trying to sneak in here again! Well, I’ll just show them what it feels like to really belong here, that’s what I’ll do!”

Several male screams of fright and surprise rapidly rose in pitch until they were feminine shrieks of horror. “There, that’ll fix their wagons, now I’ll just send them home so their brothers can play with them for a while.

“There, settled their arrogant, masculine hash!” Mama sounded greatly pleased with herself. “some of them have to try this once every thousand years or so, and I have to teach them that sneaking in here to bother my girls isn’t such a good idea. Now, those three will spend a few centuries entertaining their brothers and be much wiser for the experience.

“Now, little beauty,” Mama went on, “What can I do for you today?”

“Uh, I’d like to have a mirror, please?” my request sounded more like begging, but after what this entity had just done, I wasn’t taking any chances. “If it isn’t too much trouble?”

“No trouble at all, my darling,” Mama enthused, then stopped to ask. “Hand held, or full length?”

“Uh, would it be too much trouble to ask for both?” I didn’t want to sound greedy at our first meeting, but had the idea that if I really wished to get a full body view of my new self, it would take at least that many.

“Oh, no trouble at all, sweetling,” Mamma assured me. “You’re such a polite little thing, dear, just think of anything you would like to have from now on and I’ll happily supply it, all right?

“Thank you, Mama,” trying on a warm smile, and finding it wasn’t so difficult after all, I finished, “and I really do appreciate it.”

“I’m happy to do it for you, darling,” Mama warmly replied, then added. “But don’t stay away just because you don’t have to ask me personally for things. I’d really love to have you visit once in awhile.”

“I’ll do that,” I promised, taking the hint, and feeling that I had just made a very powerful, if unsettling friend. “Bye for now, and thanks again!”

“No prob, hon,” Mama returned. “Bye, bye.”

Opening my eyes, I first saw a rather anxious Kayla watching me intently, then that there weren’t any mirrors. Yet. As I was beginning to concentrate on what I thought would work, she interrupted me with a carefully concerned tone in her voice. “How did it go?”

“Fine,” with a shrug I recounted the entire conversation, including the abortive attempt to infiltrate our precincts and the results of that. Kayla chuckled over the last, then gave me an impressed look.

“Mama must have really liked you, Lorilei,” she grinned, “She hardly ever gives the new ones that privilege, and not many of the rest of us. We usually have to ask, and she can make it really hard on some of the new girls here.”

“Well, I’m glad she liked me,” was my response, as I concentrated on conjuring up the mirrors that I had requested. Those obligingly appeared, the hand mirror, a beautiful silver framed and handled antique showed up in my hand while a matching full length, oval mirror popped into existence right in front of me. When I saw the person reflected in it, I nearly dropped the hand mirror. I know my jaw fell what felt like six inches.

“I. Can’t. Possibly. Be. That!” my voice rose and the image in my conjured mirror gaped in mingled horror and awe right back at me as one of her small, smooth, long fingered hands absently lifted a mass of hair off her shoulder to negligently toss it back over her shoulder and completely expose one of her breasts.

Despite the shock showing in her lovely face, she stood proudly, even regally in front of that mirror and appeared determined to never bow to anyone unless she chose to do so. I don’t know how that idea came across but it did, and did so with no room for misinterpretation by anyone.

She went far beyond merely beautiful. The inhuman beauty I watched so carefully was stunning, alluring in a palpable way, and wrapped herself in pure sexuality like a well-known and comfortable garment. I shuddered, not from horror, but from an intense narcissistic delight. Because that incomparable beauty was none other than myself.

My figure was voluptuous without being the least exaggerated. Full, firm breasts I judged to be around a 36C, high, narrow waist that had to be no more than twenty four inches around led down to lusciously rounded hips with plenty of padding but not overdone, and legs that seemed to stretch to forever and back, tapering down to trim ankles, and small feet clad in high... Wait a minute. Those gorgeous blue spiked heels weren’t shoes, they were my feet! Hooves, to be more accurate, and they had cute little clefts where my big toes should have met the rest. Those little hooves were a glistening royal blue, with a high lift in the arch, and supported by the narrow spur that looked like a spike heel. Not that they were grotesque, or anything, they were actually quite pretty, and added greatly to my overall appearance. I actually felt a jolt of pleasure upon seeing them.

One hand stole to my crotch and teased at the chestnut curls covering the little mound of my sex, then teased the lips of my labia open and fingered the little nub of a clitoris for a moment. It felt good, but didn’t have the sudden jolt of pure sexual heat some of the stories about male to female transformations had made it out to be. The inside of my vagina was a different matter entirely, though. It seemed that my own personal G spot was spread pretty evenly through the whole thing, and muscles that I hadn’t possessed earlier closed gently on my inserted fingers. I very quickly removed the fingers to avoid the obvious consequences of leaving them where they had been. There was way too much going on just then for me to lose myself in self generated orgasms. A small part of mind pleaded for me to go ahead, at least that would distract me from the awful changes that had been forced on me.

The rest of my mind congratulated itself on its restraint, then eagerly began ordering my eyes to take further stock of my new self. It was impressive, if I may say so, but vanity wasn’t an issue just then, shock, illicit joy, a dash of very real horror, and some other emotions I had trouble identifying happened to be the issues I was dealing with at that stage.

I continued my visual exploration of new territory. My neck was slender, long, and could only be described as elegant, with a smooth throat that led from the graceful arc of collarbones to the base of my softly sweeping jaw line. A firm, but small and rounded chin led from there to a sensuous, moist looking mouth that was both pouting and generous without being grotesquely large. My nose was a tiny, delicately sculpted masterpiece with a slight upward tilt at the end of its sweep that hinted at mischief underneath that cool facade. Tiny ,but sharply pointed royal blue horns adorned my forehead just at the hairline above each eye. I’ve heard the overused expression “Yeah, but, hey, they’re kind of cute on me!” but wasn’t really sure that was the case here. Well, it didn’t really matter what I thought of them or anything else regarding my new form. High, full cheeks, shell-like ears that had unnerving little points at their tips, that only helped the overall exotic look in my face and thin arches of chestnut brows all served only to be a setting for the eyes.

Those were large, almond shaped with a slight upward tilt at the outside corners, a startling clear, deep blue, and with the expected vertically slit pupils. Framed in long, curling lashes, those eyes were gorgeous, compelling, unnerving, and most definitely mine. They were very expressive, and held depths I didn’t care to explore just then. Maybe because they still held a fair amount of shock from my transformation, and hinted at more than a little pent in female sexuality that was something I really didn’t care to think about just then.

My complexion was a rich creamy wonder of smooth, silky skin shaded with subtle blushes and shadows that complimented the physique of the creature I had become.

My hands were small, though not tiny, with long, gracefully tapered fingers tipped with inch-long, blood red nails that I somehow knew could become weapons as well as being adornments. Those were at the ends of slender arms, leading to soft, rounded shoulders, which led to, well...

My wings. Those glorious additions to my body resembled those of a bat in shape and with their ridges of reinforcing bone and tendons that showed faintly through the soft, supple flesh that covered them. But the resemblance ended there. Granted, there were a set of wicked looking hooks at their peaks, hooks that curved outward for about seven or eight inches and gleamed like polished ebony. The flesh covering those new appendages was like supple leather that had been dyed a rich royal blue at the outer edges, gradually fading to lighter shades until the centers which adjoined my back and ribcage were a pale, ice blue.

My wings graced a slim, straight back and those enticing shoulders like an elegant cloak when folded against my back. They were remarkably flexible, able to encircle my body entirely like a lovely blue chrysalis if I desired them to do so, when spread they were probably eight feet in total width, and ran all the way down my back to join at the base of my spine. Just above the wonderfully pear shaped pair of buttocks that completed my feminine, female form. There was one more thing, though, that had been added, as mentioned earlier.

A tail. the fleshy appendage was actually covered with a light, soft fur short as a burr cut on some recently ex-skinhead’s skull. That fur was also a light creamy tan, and added an oddly appealing hint of allure to my delectable backside. It ended in a smoothly curved barb at the tip that could serve either as another manipulative organ, or when stiffened by adrenalin, a razor edged weapon. At the moment, the prehensile wonder was still playing with my pussy.

“Stop that!” I grumped, slapping it away with my hand, then wincing at the pain that shot up my back. But the too ebullient member obediently returned to its assigned position, curving impudently above my bottom with a pride that seemed independent of anything I might think.

“Is this some kind of dream?” I questioned, “or is that really me?”

“Can I cook, or can I cook?” a proud voice I recognized as Mama questioned, rather rhetorically, I thought. “Baby, you are without doubt one of the best I’ve ever done. Lillith will be very pleased with the results, I think.”

I had to sit down. Obligingly, a comfortable couch appeared right in the path of my backwards fall, and I bounced in the cushions with a softly exhaled, “Ooomph!”

“You’re gorgeous, Lorilei,” Kayla told me with something like envy in her pretty voice. “Mother Lillith and Mama really must have wanted you, to go through all this to keep you around.”

“I don’t think they went through anything compared to what I just have, or will be in the near future,” I retorted, “This is really going to take some getting used to. After all, I’m a... was anyway, a man. I don’t think I’m ready for this. How can I possibly handle being that gorgeous, inhuman creature that would have had me drooling the second I saw her? This is not going to be easy.”

“It wasn’t meant to be, honey,” another voice, Lillith’s, informed me with an amused tone. “You are suffering the torments of Hell, after all.”

“Tell me about it,” I muttered under my breath, flustered that the head of my Clan had heard all that, and actually found it amusing. “Am I going to retain my male orientation just to add spice things up?”

“With that body?” Kayla actually howled with laughter, Lillith joined her, a little more moderately, and even Mama allowed herself a rumbling chuckle over my question.

Lillith appeared out of nowhere, right in front of me, wiping tears of mirth from her eyes and shaking her head in continued, fond amusement. “Ah, Lorilei, having you around is going to be entertaining if nothing else, and you ought to apologize to Mama, she went to a great deal of effort to give you that luscious body, complete with its fully female sex drive and orientation.”

“Oh, sorry Mama,” I grimaced, realizing that being close to the lovely Kayla had done no more than comfort me, instead of prodding an overactive libido into a frenzy of action.

“I hadn’t really thought things through, I guess.”

“That’s all right, Sugar,” Mama soothed. “With the hormone balance I gave your new shape, I’m surprised that you’re able to think straight yet. Trust me, you’re all girl, through and through. We left your memories intact, as a condition of your punishment, but only for comparison. I think you’ll find the new ways open to you for sexual satisfaction and feeding will greatly please you once you’ve gotten used to them.”

“Okay,” I sighed in resignation, not fully realizing how lucky I’d gotten off. “What do I do next?”

“Why you get used to your new body,” Lillith told me matter-of- factly. “Meet your sisters, and begin learning what your new role in existence is going to be. Believe me, that should be more than enough to keep you occupied for some time.”

With what had been done to me so far, on what seemed to be my first day in Hell, I really wasn’t all that anxious to explore much of anything. Unless it was the bottom side of my sheets when I woke up to shake off this insane nightmare. Somehow, I didn’t think that was going to happen any time soon, but it didn’t hurt to hope a little, did it?

“You were supposed to abandon all that when you passed the front gates,” Lillith responded to my thoughts as if I’d spoken them aloud. “Oh, that’s right, you didn’t come in the front gates, did you? We were allowed to sneak you and that delightful young woman right into central receiving without all the dreary shuffling off the mortal coil and all that. You’ll have to make a point of going to see them some time, you and some of the others could make a party of it.”

“Sure!” Kayla chimed in cheerfully. “A bunch of us could go, take the special tour then just kind of mingle with all the newcomers for a while and prospect.”

“I think maybe another time, if that’s all right,” swallowing something immaterial that still seemed similar to bile in my throat, I suddenly began feeling a little weak.

Lillith noticed, giving me a long look, then frowned. “The metamorphosis takes a lot of energy, daughter, and you appear to be in need of more. I think it would be a very good idea for you to feed again, and not stop until you are able to hold no more.”

III

Given what I had become, the idea of feeding turned my stomach, or whatever I had where my stomach had once resided. Especially when I recalled a flash of the dream about me in some strange man’s room and what had gone on in there. If that was how I was expected to find nourishment, I kind of thought I’d rather starve.

Unfortunately for my increasingly fragile and fading male sensibilities, I hadn’t accounted for what my body wanted. It was made for sex, sex, and then some more sex, before it would allow the still shell shocked mind riding inside it any leeway at all beyond being a passenger that could either sit back and enjoy the ride, or go to.... Aw, never mind, I was already there, wasn’t I?

But, thankfully, it looked as if I was going to be able to put off that dubious pleasure for at least a little while. Now it was time to meet my sisters, not all of them in the sense of every succubus in existence, just the few that had turned out to be my extended family group.

“Girls!” Kayla called out as we reached the pillow strewn area where I had been transformed, the others who had circled me then were still there, and straggled over to us either singly or in small groups. “I think it’s time to introduce our new sister to her other sisters.

“First, this is Lorilei, and since I started her transformation, it’s up to me to make sure all the introductions are made before we take the little dear out for her first feeding,” Kayla grinned at me with an encouraging little nod that also held an edge of command. “So, let’s begin with Lorilei herself. Go ahead dear, the things you will have to say here will never be repeated. Except for these mandatory first introductions, what and who we were is private information that is considered impolite to ask questions about.”

“I can understand that,” with a sigh, I began with my original name, sex and gender, though the assembled group already knew of the previous two. I then went on with details of my former personal life, some the mundane kind that you’d tell anyone at a first meeting. After that, I began getting into the stuff that had gotten me shot and sent to this place. I finished with a quiet, “So, my own punishment is to retain all the memories of who and what I was, especially how much I loved having sex as a male, but to be fully female in my needs, desires, and orientations. I am still having trouble believing all of what’s happened and am still more than a little uncomfortable with the form I’ve been given, but I suppose I’ll eventually get used to it.”

“My, but you were a very naughty boy, weren’t you, Lorilei?” A sex dream incarnate -- nuts, I guess all of us qualified for that description -- lazily sauntered to stand directly in front of me wearing a half-sardonic grin. She was taller than I now was, though with nothing but these others to compare with, I had no idea of how short, tall, or anything I was, except of course, female and a succubus. Herr dominant color was a deep red that shaded into black and her large eyes were a startling shade of gem-like sapphire blue that contrasted wonderfully with her shining black hair. “My name is Delilah, and like you, I was once human, but a female. I was a very wicked woman, and earned my punishment here because I had seduced and used my charms to enslave a great warrior who the One-on-High held a special interest in. HE was furious, but the results once I’d died weren’t so bad. Now I get spend eternity behaving in the manner of my choice and adoring every chance I have to use my abilities. “Welcome to our Family Group, dear one,” she finished, giving me a hug and smile, adding a not so sisterly kiss as an almost afterthought. “You are more than beautiful, even by our standards, and I think you will do well among us.”

“Delilah is correct,” another of my new sisters halted before me with a quizzical tilt to her head. “I am Serena, and give you welcome among us, your loving sisters.

Serena was a redhead, with flame red hair and equally striking green eyes that seemed to smolder with whatever she had in mind at the time. Her dominant color was a bright, almost eye searing emerald and we stood eye to eye. “I was a male, also, named Stanley. Stanley loved acting the part of a woman, sexually and in other situations. I am here because of that, and because poor, unhappy Stanley could no longer stand the thought of continuing life as a male, so ended his. During his short lifetime, SRS was unheard of altogether, so the self inflicted hanging seemed to be the only solution.

“Take my advice,” with an impish grin, Serena crinkled her delicate nose cutely in a parody of distaste. “If you ever get caught doing something so wrong in a human guise and can’t get out of the situation until it runs its course, don’t let them hang you. It hurts, and is far slower than anyone believes.”

As she hugged and gave me the obligatory kiss, she also whispered. “If you need any help adjusting, or just want to talk, come to me and I’ll try to help.”

Those two, and Kayla, were the ones who were to have the biggest impact and influence on my new existence. Delilah was flamboyant to the extreme with anything she was involved in, and really lots of fun to be around. By the way, I found out later that she was that Delilah -- you know the one who had Samson wrapped around her pretty little finger -- but she told me it was okay to tell you that, otherwise I’d have just let you figure it out on your own.

Serena was thoughtful, and truly enjoyed being the way she was. Which was constantly proven by her subtle sense of humor, and some of the almost outlandish pranks she loved to pull. But when that gal got something into her mind, she wouldn’t let go of things until it had happened. She was determined to be my friend, so I gave in early on and helped that along.

Just to move things along, I’ll give short descriptions of the others, not that I’m intending to slight anyone, I’m sure their backgrounds and histories will turn up sooner or later in the telling of this story, or another one.

Mikki; petite, bouncy, bubbly blonde who giggled a lot. Her predominant color was a soft pink, and she came across as the stereotypical air-headed little blonde bimbo so many guys love to fantasize about.

Suzette; Demure (at least as demure as one of us could get.) sweet natured, and quite submissive. Her colors were soft earthy oranges with lovely strawberry blonde hair and soft blue eyes.

Melody; she had a lovely soprano singing voice, pale blonde hair with just enough gold in it to avoid being platinum, and was again a little taller than I was. Her colors ranged from pale blues into the lower ranges of violet.

Su Mei; Asian and with the delicacy and grace associated with the best of those beauties. Dark hair that complemented her almost golden complexion framed an innocent looking face that was surely a true source of temptation to both mortal and supernatural males. I know I’d have happily sold my soul if it hadn’t already been in hock for just one night with her. At least I would have when I was a human male. Now all I felt when looking at her was a twinge of jealousy. Su Mei’s colors were a creamy white that contrasted very well with her hair and soft brown eyes that could, literally, pull a man’s soul into them.

Alexis; a truly stunning black beauty who was anything but petite. She towered over me and the others by at least half a head, and gave the appearance of being cool and mostly aloof. Long dark hair carefully braided into a weave full of colorful beads clicked as she moved with a fluidity that was astonishing. Yellow was her color, and it was ravishing, let me tell you.

Anyway, these introductions went on as I’ve told you about, but in nowhere near the sedate, orderly manner I presented the first ones in. I was the center of a large crowd of beautiful, seductive female flesh, and all my new sisters spent more than a little time caressing, touching, and kissing me. And one another. Girl to girl orgies, weren’t all that uncommon in the place that was my new home, and I sure learned some new tricks during some of these. Despite my newly imposed sexual orientation, or maybe because of it, I had a lot of fun. But the sex was just play, I got nothing but orgasms and giggles out of it.

Which brings us to the next item on my preplanned agenda; feeding.

“Come along, Lorilei,” a flushed Kayla took me by he hand with a smirk plastered all over her face. “time to go out and get you some real nourishment, honey.”

“Real nourishment?” giving her an uncertain look, I asked a truly idiotic and unnecessary question. Just the first of many, I glumly thought once it had gotten past my mouth. “You don’t mean getting it on with a man, do you?”

“Of course, silly,” Kayla chuckled at my obvious distaste with the idea. “There isn’t any other way to get fed around here, we’re all girls. So it should be obvious that we have to go out and find some unsuspecting male to get what we need from.”

“Uh, couldn’t Mama give me something to tide me over for a while?” I pleaded.

“I’VE GIVEN YOU ALL THAT I AM ABLE TO, LITTLE ONE,” Mama’s deep rumbling, and feminine voice informed me, then chided. “NOW GO ON, GET THAT LUSH, DELECTABLE LITTLE TUSH I WORKED SO HARD TO GIVE YOU OUT INTO THE WORLD AND GET YOURSELF FED. ENOUGH FOOLISHNESS, NOW. YOU ARE WHAT YOU ARE AND NEED ENERGY.”

“Okay, Mama,” with a resigned sigh, I allowed Kayla to lead me to the gate that let us into the mortal realms.

We materialized in a dark, cluttered alley that stank of rot and mildew. “Phew! Why did we show up in this place?”

‘‘Yeah, it smells pretty bad, doesn’t it?” Kayla shrugged. “This was just the most convenient spot to get you started is all. That and the Rules insist that we can never, under any circumstances, materialize in the mortal realms in any place that smells or looks halfway nice. Guess it’s meant to remind us of our place in the so- called scheme of things. Sucks, doesn’t it?”

“It does seem to be a little extreme,” I agreed, then lost my train of thought as the most wonderful aroma I had ever smelled overpowered the surrounding stench. “Oh, my, that smells simply wonderful!”

“It should,” Kayla sniffed appreciatively as we clicked our way out of the alley and onto a brightly lit street. At least it was bright to my new vision, and was certainly more cheery than the alley we had popped into at first. Finished savoring the scent that was beginning to drive me crazy and actually had me salivating, Kayla grinned at me. “That is the scent, the alluring aroma, of our dinners.”

“You mean men?” I questioned, licking my lips in spite of my still innate abhorrence of having sex with a male.

“That’s right, sweetie,” my companion giggled. “Oooh, I just love a smorgasbord!

“But first, I need to tell you a few quick facts of our existences,” she cautioned, then began ticking off points on her dainty fingers while telling me. “First, if it has a dick and balls, it’s yours to control. Second, females out here are unaffected by our powers of seduction, but can be circumvented with magic. You’ll learn more magic as you go, but have some that is inherent in your new form without being tied into your sexual image. That kind will come to instinctively, so don’t worry about it. The other kind you have to learn, and that takes power and patience.

“Third, I’ll be watching your lovely behind for a time, until you get complete control of your sensing abilities and learn the dangers of being out here.”

“Dangers?

“Yes, dangers,” Kayla, now appearing to be a human version of herself nodded. “Angels, mortal sorcerers, not so mortal human sorcerers, and some others of demon-kind. We’re quite attractive to all of those types, who with the exception of angels, will do their best to imprison, or impose their wills on us through magic. It isn’t hard to avoid most of those things, but you need to be alert to the possibility that one or more of those things could reach out and grab you.”

“Okay,” I replied a little nervously. “What would an Angel try doing to me?”

“Well, if it wasn’t honoring the truce we have right now, and it is a shaky, armed one,” Kayla responded. “It would try and kill you.”

“Great. Wonderful. I thought we were supposed to be immortal.” I grumbled.

“Mostly we are,” my tutor nodded. “Unless another immortal or a very powerful human gets thrown into the mix. then just about anything could happen, but at least one of the participants usually ends up very, very, dead. Dead for real, with no hope of ever coming back as anything. Just blasted into non-existence.”

“Oh,” my voice had gotten small and quiet with that thought.

“It’ll be fine, honey,” Kayla assured me. “That was just the standard speech given to all newbies once they get into the mortal realms for the first time. I chose this spot because it’s very safe right now.

“So let’s go get some yum-yums!” Her enthusiasm was contagious, and I readily agreed to get on with on with the distasteful task ahead.

IV

As we casually walked down the street, which would have seemed quite shadowy and poorly lit by the sporadic spacing of still functional street lights, I happened to glance into a storefront window. What I saw reflected back was a picture of two very lovely, properly dressed human females strolling along a somewhat dingy street that led to a much brighter area just ahead. That area was also where all those wonderful aromas were coming from.

I was wearing a pale green sleeveless sheath made of clingy silk that hugged the contours of my body. The bodice was scooped, to show of a respectable, and alluring amount of cleavage, and the snug skirt ended about four inches above my knees, giving a pleasant view of long, gorgeously smooth legs encased in sheer, suntan stockings. My shoes, gold colored sandals with a four inch stiletto heel, and sexy little ankle strap showed off my legs to best advantage, while assuring an upright posture with hips back and chest thrust enticingly forward. My chestnut mane of hair was loose and curly, I was tastefully made up and wore a simple gold chain around my slim neck, and understated bracelets of the same precious metal.

Two inch gold hoops in my earlobes swayed gently, tugging most erotically at my ears in time to the swaying, sexy walk I had. The snug bustier, taut garters fastened to equally taut stockings, and soft, slick feeling panties all contributed to make me feel wonderfully seductive and near real arousal with every little move I made. I loved it.

Kayla was a little shorter than me, but just as gorgeous in her shimmering silk dress that was a duplicate of the one I was wearing except it was a bright red. We looked like a couple of hot, sexy young ladies out to find some strange. Which, when you get down to cases, we were.

A small shiver went through me as we walked do casually, so normally, down a street in a city so much like the one I had inhabited during my former life. I’d never thought to walk such streets again, and even if I had considered the possibility, doing so in my present form was about the farthest thing from my mind. It was both creepy and exhilarating, being back in the human realm that had originally been my home.

“Okay?” Kayla questioned, seeing my mixed reactions to being where we were and what we were there to do.

“As okay as I’m going to be for awhile,” sighing, I let my vastly improved senses roam over the surrounding area. Sights, sounds, smells, even feelings were so much richer than I had ever known before. Uppermost in my mind, which was actively aiding and abetting my new body in the quest, was finding nourishment that would not only be suitable, but fun.

Fun?!! I shook my head slightly, trying to fathom just what was coming over me. What was I becoming, only scant hours (to me) after my transformation? Would anything of the old me be left once I had fed, and became accustomed to such feedings? Would I even care if it didn’t?

“Don’t worry, little sister,” Kayla grinned at me, amused by my quandary. “Part of the conditions for Mother being allowed to take you as her own without filtering you through the rest of Hell, was that your human memories would always remain intact and clear. You will never lose that part of yourself, but in the long run, it probably won’t matter that much to you. At least in the matters of who and what you are, or regarding what you must do to survive comfortably.”

“Don’t I know it,” I muttered under my breath. I had caught a strong, musky-salty-sweet scent that was undoubtedly male, and very appealing to me. So appealing that his presence stood out over all the others I noted. My mouth began watering a little while my nipples tingled and crotch became damp.

“Find one you like?” she questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh, yeah,” I breathed, more than a little embarrassed that my crotch was getting wetter, and my nipples were sending signals to the rest of my body to get ready for action. “The attraction is so strong, I can barely keep myself from hunting him out of that crowd and jumping his bones right out in the open.”

“Then that’s the one you were meant to come for tonight,” Kayla actually looked a little smug while telling me that. More Amusement danced within her eyes as she watched for my reactions to that comment.

“The one I was meant to come for?” I questioned uneasily. “What the hell does that mean? In plain English and in words of two syllables or less, please, since I’ve evidently been led down a figurative path with flowers on each side of it.”

“New Succubae have some very specific needs regarding nourishment in their formative period,” Kayla chuckled. “And are pretty well automatically shunted to places where they can find what they need.”

“Oh,” was about all I could manage for a reply, because that need was beginning to pull at me like a line being reeled in by an over- eager fisherman. “Well, gotta go, now, Kayla. See you in a while?”

“Sure, honey,” laughing at my sudden intensity, though I knew she was laughing with me rather than at me (mostly) my companion followed along with great interest showing in her eyes. “I won’t be far away, and it’ll be easy enough for you to find me, or the other way around. If you have any problems, call me and I’ll be there before you can finish hollering.”

“Right,” I absently returned, focusing on the center of my new, overpowering interest. “See you later.”

Her “Have fun!” faded abruptly as I did something I didn’t know I was capable of. One second I was walking towards some vague destination, the next I found myself standing inside what could only be a ladies room. An ornate, and very expensively decorated one, at that.

I would have taken more time to admire my feminine surroundings, but the source of my intense craving was very close. Close enough for me to actually taste his spirit, and get more than a hint of the soul under that. Rearranging my dress, and checking out my appearance in one of the gleaming mirrors lining one wall, I decided with a tiny smile, that I was pure dynamite, packaged and ready to go off in some lucky guy’s face. Or crotch, or whatever. I just knew that I was a knockout, and ready to go.

There were several human women doing the same thing, primping and smiling small secret smiles to themselves. Briefly, I wondered if that kind of thing was simply female behavior no matter what particular type of female you were. I know that it sure seemed like the most natural thing in the world for me to do. Interestingly, none of them even batted an eyelash in surprise at my sudden appearance among them. One even shared a smile with me as we both finished up about the same time.

I won’t say that her spirit, her soul, whatever, was closed to me, but I can say that what was in there held not the least bit of interest so far as I was concerned. I liked her dress, thought her hair and makeup were well done, and that she looked pretty hot in her heels. Other than that, there was nothing except the sure knowledge that whatever powers of seduction I had would be useless against her.

Not that I was greatly bothered by that. Oh no, a gal I would have broken my neck to get close to only a short while ago, and now all I was interested in was her clothes, jewelry, etc. Oh, well, life goes on, and a girl has to eat, I thought while exiting the ladies room in search of my next meal. Okay, my first real meal as a succubus, but let’s not quibble here. I was hungry, and some hunk in the posh club I emerged in was exactly what I was hungry for. At that stage, I couldn’t have stopped myself if I’d wanted to.

Not that I did.

He was sitting at the bar, and was alone. I couldn’t understand why once I got a really good look at him. Oh, was he ever a beautiful man. Sitting as he was made it a little hard to tell, but I thought he would probably be around six feet tall when standing. I could sense the lithe, powerful muscles in his upper body flexing slightly as he slowly moved a bottle of beer to his lips to take a careful sip.

His butt was gorgeous, tight and firm, trim with good health and obvious exercise. But what was on the other side of those casual tan slacks was where my main interest was currently centered. The bulge in his crotch was so enticing I nearly lost my breath ogling it. His square jawed face held a rugged rawness that hinted at much time spent outdoors, and his neatly arranged shock of blonde hair also showed bleaching that was a natural result of exposure to sunlight.

And the flavors I was getting from his nearness were pure ecstasy for me as I pulled them in with senses that went far beyond the poor five or six humans acknowledged. from the moment I first saw him, I knew that he was mine. Either for the night or the rest of his life and maybe beyond even that. All I had to do was reach out and fasten his libido on me.

So I did. How to describe the act, though, is another thing all together. the closest I can come is to say it was like I threw a gossamer net his direction, with tiny psychic hooks all over it. The net settled over him and the hooks dug in. All that was left to do was for him to reel me in.

Which he did quite rapidly, much to my pleasure. Shaking himself slightly, he turned to face me for a moment and I knew I had him. The spark of excitement in his being at seeing what he took for a very sexy and gorgeous woman rapidly fanned into the flames of pure sexual desire. Mostly, thanks to my actively fanning them with a slow, seductive smile, and arching my back just a little to give a better view of my breasts. Grinning widely, he greeted me like an old friend, or lover, standing and gesturing for me to join him.

I couldn’t help but be aware of many other male eyes drinking me in, and giggled a little at the sights some of their minds sent back to me. Guys really do undress pretty girls in their heads, I’d already known that, but being on the receiving end of the act was a real kick. Especially with some of the things the poor darlings imagined doing to me. In gratitude for their interest, I sent out enough energy to heighten their own lusts and continued towards my man. With another giggle, (That characteristic kind of annoyed me, but I just couldn’t help myself, the situation seemed so damn funny to me.) I knew that their ladies were in for a real treat later on.

“Hello,” his greeting sent little surges of electricity through my body, and I began teasing at the fringes of his aura with my own. His resisted the invasion, but didn’t have a chance in that fight. Mainly because he was actively, if unconsciously, willing himself to open up to me. His rich, lower range tenor was very pleasing with all its overtones and undertones combining like a symphony to my hearing. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around here, have I?”

“No,” with a slight lift of my eyebrows, a tilt of my head, and a small, secret smile, I gracefully seated myself on the bar stool next to his, careful to let my skirt ride up just enough to give him a good, close look at the smooth, creamy flesh of one thigh as I demurely crossed my legs. “I’m new here.”

“I knew I’d remember someone as gorgeous as you,” smiling, he waved to the bartender. “Sammy, get the lady whatever she wants.”

“Glen Feddigh, neat,” I told Sammy with a smile for him, too.

“You’re a lady of taste,” he approved, also approving of my appearance and the fact that I was sitting next to him. “My name’s Stephen, by the way. Stephen Gates.”

“Happy to meet you, Stephen Gates,” still smiling, I let my gaze wander briefly to his crotch, which now had a gratifying bulge, then returned it to his steel blue eyes. “I’m Lorilei.”

“Lorilei,” he breathed, almost in a rapture as he drew in the smell of my perfume and the natural musk my body exuded. Aren’t pheromones wonderful things? He was eating out of my hand, and didn’t even realize it while he hoped he was able to get this incredible chic into bed later on. “Beautiful name for a beautiful lady.”

Okay, his approach could have been a little more original, but I was the one coming on to him, after all. If he’d been doing the seducing, I’m sure his line would have been much more entertaining. I just rewarded him with a smile, accepting the thick, cut glass tumbler containing about a half inch of the amber whiskey I had requested. “A double?”

“That Scotch is made for slow enjoyment,” Stephen answered, not at all embarrassed by my observation. “I’m sure that a lady with enough good taste to order it would also have the good taste not to treat it like some rotgut and toss it down in one gulp.”

“You’re right,” I sighed after taking a small, reverent sip of the single malt scotch. Its smoky fire teased my tongue and rose to tickle my sensitive nose delightfully. Feeling it work past my lips then into my throat was pure bliss, and Stephen could tell I was savoring it with true pleasure. “It would be a real sin to waste this in a single most un-lady-like gulp. Thanks.”

I kind of liked this guy. He and I might have gotten along quite well when I was a human male, but I knew we were going to get along far better than that now. Without consciously considering what I did, a small tendril of my own spirit reached out and attached itself to his. What I’d done almost ruined some of my mystique with a real belly laugh. I’d literally marked him as mine, like a number of the lower animals did with their territory. Stephen Gates would carry my mark within his own aura until I removed it or he died. And I had no intention of removing it anytime soon.

Don’t ask how I knew to do all these things. I couldn’t have told you then, and I still couldn’t. Things like that just seem to be an innate ability of my kind and we just do them without thinking about it at all. Kind of like breathing.

During the time I was entrancing Steve, the part of my mind that was still male was protesting and screaming in anguish. But all my waning male self was able to do at the time was helplessly watch as Lorilei skillfully manipulated her prey. Oh, the rest of me was hugely enjoying the sexual byplay and the raging denials emanating from my old male self.

“Would you like to move away from the bar?” Steve questioned when the music, very loud classic rock, died down enough for him to be heard.

“Sure,” smiling even more seductively, I allowed him to lead me to a table in a back corner of the establishment. He was a real gentleman, holding my chair, then gently pushing it up to the table before seating himself. I almost felt guilty about what I was doing and about to do. Almost.

The need to feed was becoming something that threatened to have me stripping his clothes off right there in the bar, but the mild appetizers I was getting off his aura were keeping that in check, though just barely. We enjoyed a few more drinks, some conversation, and a lot of accidental touching. Actually, I slid one dainty foot out of its high heel and began to industriously tease his lower leg. My toes were astonishingly dexterous, moving up inside his pants leg, working his sock down, then tickling and pulling at the hair on his calf.

Then I moved forward, arching my back to better show off my breasts and the dark cleft between them while coyly waiting for him to respond. he did, with gratifying quickness. Soon, his mouth descended to brush mine. That brush sent glorious tingles all the way down to my toes, but things got better. Our mouths locked together and our tongues started playing tag. First into mouth, then into his, both tongues were quite busy flicking each other and tickling the roofs of each others mouths. We finally parted with an audible sucking pop and I leaned back slowly wearing an appreciative smile.

“Wow!” Steve drew in a long breath then eyed me with desire burning brightly in his eyes. My hand sneaking over to massage his crotch didn’t help sooth his condition at all. With a small gasp of pleasure he finally got it together enough to ask. “would you be willing to get out of here?”

“I thought you’d never ask!” with a grin I gave his crotch one more affectionate squeeze with the pleasant result of seeing him stiffen all over and gasp again. “Could we go to your place tonight? Mine is kind of crowded right now and wouldn’t be a good place to go.”

That was nothing but the truth. If I had been able to transport Steve to my new home, he wouldn’t have survived ten minutes. Every one of the Succubae there would have been after him, tearing his poor soul to shreds. Or Mama would have taken a hand and the resulting being would have been no good to any of us as a source of nourishment.

“Sure, Sweet cheeks,” was his immediate response. I’d gotten him so fired up he was more anxious to get it on than I was. Walking out beside Steve, I was mildly amused to see several young women actively working on their men’s cocks with their mouths from under their respective tables. Oh yes, my enhancement of the male libidos in there had really started something. I waltzed out on the arm of my man with barely contained giggles after witnessing my effect on a lot of the club patrons.

“What’s so funny?” Steve asked with a smile of his own.

“Oh, nothing really important,” I hedged with another barely suppressed giggle. “Just a girl thing, you know how that works, don’t you?”

“Barely,” was his response, but my good mood was infectious, (Gee, I wonder why?) and he began to chuckle himself.

Once we were inside his car, I began doing my level best to distract him. First, I squirmed a lot, so he could get a lot of really good looks at my breasts and under my tiny skirt. Then I started to rub his leg with one hand while the other teased one of my nipples through the blouse and bra I was wearing. It started working, he was getting hot and bothered enough to begin having a little difficulty with his driving.

I had planned to start giving him a blow job right there in the front seat while he was driving, but we had evidently arrived at his home. Or at least had gotten as far as he was willing to drive until I gave up my teasing.

“We’re here,” he announced breathlessly, then gingerly removed his leg from under my still teasing hand while opening the drivers side door and stepping out. Taking a deep breath, he walked around to my side and opened the door for me, then offered a hand to assist my own exit.

“Are you going to let me get you inside, or do you plan on raping me right out here on the front lawn?” Steve questioned wryly.

“Weeellll....” I swung my bottom around to give him a better view, then tilted my head while giving him a coquettish little smile. “I suppose we could do it right here, but don’t you think it might be a little more fun if we go inside?”

“Only if you aren’t into risk taking,” came his clearly relieved answer. The poor darling actually thought I might start undressing right out on his front lawn. I thought such a prank might be fun, but decided it wouldn’t be really good idea on my first night out as what I had become.

“Not tonight, lover,” I giggled again. Man! I really hated my tendency to do that, and still do. “Tonight, I’m into you getting into me without getting arrested for indecent exposure. Feel better now?”

“Oh, yeah,” his relief was a palpable feeling I was able to drink in with great amusement.

“Then aren’t you going to invite me in?” I questioned sweetly. “Before I change my mind about playing in the grass, I mean?”

“Come on in, babe,” unlocking the front door on one side of a very fancy duplex, he stood aside and held the door open for me.

“Why thank you, sir,” my reply was both teasing and very real. One of the things that tend to be a real drag about being like I’ve become is that if your prey is not dreaming, you can’t get into his home without an invitation. No invitation, no nookie. No nookie, no feeding. No feeding and Lorilei goes home a very hungry lady. Not to mention being very pissed off into the deal.

We left a trail of discarded clothing starting at the front door with my shoes and dress, that led to Steve’s Bedroom. Between those two points, the rest of our clothing ended up on the carpet until the trail went cold just outside of his bedroom door. Neither one of us had anything left on to leave behind at that stage.

In the spirit of wild abandon I had fostered, I found myself being carried into the bedroom over Steve’s strong shoulder with only a minimum of kicking, screaming, and other miscellaneous protests. That could have been because I was energetically engaged in pulling at his chest hair and outlining his mouth with my free hand.

After some very heavy breathing and lots of tongue-work on each other’s mouths, I began to work my face down his chest, then his stomach -- with a lingering stop at the navel --, with my tongue. As I neared my ultimate goal, by then standing almost straight up from his crotch, something very disheartening crossed my mind.

Never in my life had I so much as contemplated having sex with another man. The things I was now doing were the kind of stuff my lovers had always done to me, and I was using the knowledge of how great it felt to get this guy really hot and raring to go. Only in this situation, I was the woman working to arouse a man, and the only way I might ever have a cock in all eternity was to go about it in just the manner I was working now. To have some male put his inside me.

Part of me, the old part, the male and masculine part, wanted to vomit over what I was doing as I let one of my hands begin to fondle Steve’s gratifyingly large and engorged tool and my independently versatile tongue started teasing at the small opening in the large, purplish head. Soon enough, too soon for the still male parts of my mind, my lips wrapped themselves around the head of his cock and I worked them down towards his scrotum and the twin jewels hidden within it. My throat flexed, expanding enough to contain all of the male member and I got with the program; slowly pulling my head back then forward again and again.

My old male prejudices about giving another man a blow job went the way of the Dodo Bird as my body’s needs once again asserted themselves. The plain fact was, that now I was female, and not only a sexy, beautiful female, but a succubus. If I was going to survive in this form it would be by performing as my new shape demanded. Steve’s cock stiffened even more, and he began thrusting harder until he exploded in my mouth.

Greedily swallowing his seed, slurping the salty, warm, sticky cum down nearly as fast as it spurted out of him, I began to feel a slight lessening of the deep hunger I had been unconsciously denying since I had awakened as Lorilei. A heady, almost intoxicating essence flowed steadily into me, filtered and funneled through that still hard cock in my mouth and I milked him for everything I could get.

His maleness was feeding me! His masculinity, and arousal as a male were what my body craved, and I worked so industriously to bring to a raging peak. As of yet, all I’d siphoned off was the overflow, but my still ravenous spirit was eager to dig in and consume more directly from the source. His own soul.

It didn’t take long to reawaken his cock, which had slumped in spent contentment after my oral ministrations, into yet another almost iron hard erection. Sliding my whole body forward, I straddled his hips and got up on my knees so my juicy sex was positioned tight above his erection. With a sigh of anticipation, I slowly lowered myself onto him, teasing the head of his cock with my wet, puffy labial lips before pressing down enough to work that swollen head past them.

Settling slowly downward, I soon had his fully erect cock deeply inside of me, and had enough coherency to marvel at how different, and great, the feeling was. An emptiness within myself that I hadn’t even been aware of vanished with the fullness of holding a male deeply within my own body. Intensely pleasurable tingles escalated into almost mind numbing shocks spreading all over my body in waves of pure ecstasy.

His hands reached up to massage my breasts, and that action served to heighten my own pleasure and arousal as the tingling shocks racking my body were now coming from three distinct areas instead of one. Arching my back, I began riding up and down on him more rapidly, slowing only when he was getting close to orgasm, then speeding up to tease him close to the brink again. Finally, I could milk his spirit no longer and he stiffened, exploding with his orgasm in powerful spurts of his hot, nourishing seed. I screamed out my pleasure, and drew in more of his spiritual essence as he shot more cum into my ravenous sex.

Steve shuddered as he went limp, sighed happily as he looked up at me, and grinned. “Lady, I swear you’re an artist. You’ve drained me dry and I still want more but just don’t have it in me. Pun intended. Another go with you before I get some rest just might kill me.”

“That’s okay, lover,” leaning forward to give him a kiss, I stroked his cheek affectionately while thinking You don’t know how close to right you are. “You get some sleep, I’ve got to go now, anyway.”

“Already?” his question sounded almost plaintive. “Will I see you again?”

“You can count on it, sweetheart,” I responded, giving him another light kiss, on the mouth again and savored his taste. “But I really do have to get going now. I came with a friend and she’ll be looking for me. See you later.”

He was contentedly sleeping by the time I got off the bed and started to clean myself up.

That process was lots easier than what I’d seen mortal women have to go through. Instead of going to the toilet and allowing the excess sperm to drain out then washing off my sex, my body simply absorbed all of it. Sperm, my own juices, and sweat. I was sweet and fresh as I’d started out within seconds, and my clothes obligingly appeared on my body, neat and looking as if I’d just gotten them out of drawers and my closet minutes earlier. A quick look in his bathroom mirror showed me a chestnut haired beauty with not one of her long, luxurious hairs out of place and immaculately made up.

‘Hey!” grinning at the sated looking woman in the mirror, I shrugged, enjoying the ripples of sensation through my chest that caused and watching the results in the reflection. “At least that’s one part of all this that’s just fine. No worrying about cleaning up and getting myself looking presentable for public consumption.”

That last line pulled a giggle out of me. Public Consumption indeed! My fast fading male shame at what I had just done even had to admit that sex with a guy had been better than just great. It had been wonderful! I was no longer fighting that gnawing hunger, felt rested and filled with energy. Bouncy would have been a good word to describe how I felt just then. Stopping on my way out to fondly watch my first male lover, and bending to give him another tender kiss, I left with the thought that maybe, just maybe, being the way I was wouldn’t be so terrible after all.

V

The sex was one of the many bennies of being what I had become, and I appeared on the street outside Steve’s place feeling quite pleased with myself. I had just wished myself out there, and poof! there I was. I was, however, quite soon, going to experience a few of the hazards of my new existence, though at the time I had no idea of the fact.

Oh, sure, I’d listened while the other girls, Lillith, and even Mama had warned me of dire things like human sorcerers, Angels, and even others of Demon kind. But the wonderfully filled, complete feeling I had on leaving Steve’s, and the ease with which I had sated my own hunger as well as his had left me more than a little cocky and feeling ready for anything creation wanted to throw at me.

Needless to say, I was acting like a complete idiot. That in itself would have been okay most of the time, except for the glaring detail that I was experiencing my first time in the Human Realms as a Succubus. And lacked the steadying guidance of an older, more experienced sister. Because Kayla was nowhere to be found.

At first I wasn’t too worried, thinking she had found herself something really juicy and would find me once she was finished. Returning to the neighborhood of the club where I’d picked up Steve, I idly wandered the streets trying to get some sense of where my friend might be. No luck.

A few late night partiers, and several less savory males perused me charms and thought of making advances, or in one case, just pulling me into a darkened alley and raping me. Most of those gave up when I showed little interest (had I not been full things might have turned out differently with those) but the would be rapist was making a real nuisance of himself.

The guy was big, about six feet five inches and two hundred pounds of indecision as he tried to psyche himself into readiness and waiting vainly for me to begin showing signs of nervousness or even fear. Skulking in the shadows, creeping forward and closer each time he thought I wasn’t looking in his direction, and being as stealthy as he could appeared to be laughably pathetic behavior to me.

If I had been a mortal, human woman, I would have been afraid. Had I been my old male self, I would probably have been, too. But I wasn’t either one of those things, and though his clumsy (to me) stalking was a bit amusing, I was also getting a little annoyed while waiting for him to finally make his move.

“Hey!” I called into the pool of shadows he was currently using for cover. Planting hands on my hips and tilting my head while lifting my head in a stance of purely feminine annoyance, I glared at him. “Will you please get your shit together and jump me, or give up and go home?”

I guess my terribly un-victim-like behavior must have ruined the whole thing for him. Or maybe I allowed a little of my Inner Light (appropriately hellish) shine out of my green eyes as I glared at him. “Well?”

The guy, who was big enough to make about three of me (I’d found that in this human shape I was about five foot three and weighed a whopping one hundred and twenty pounds at most) flinched under my glare, drew in a ragged breath while gathering the shreds of his male bravado. “Not in the mood tonight, honey. I was just checking you out for later.” his voice was a bass rumble, meant to be frightening, but I found it almost funny. Of course, he had no real idea of what he was dealing with in me, other than I was a really weird chick with one helluvan attitude on.

“So next time be ready to perform as advertised,” I snapped back, not at all intimidated by his posturing. “Or just stay clear of me.”

That did it. I hadn’t really realized just how worried about Kayla I had been, with consequent escalations in emotions as she continued being absent after specifically telling me she would be waiting when I was finished. Any way, with a growl of insulted male pride, he rushed me with full intentions of really hurting this smart assed bitch while he got his jollies.

Surprise! He gave me something to vent my fears and frustrations on. So I did. The look on his face, going from enraged lust to confusion, to sudden comprehending terror as I intercepted his charge with one dainty hand, gripped his throat with enough force to choke off his breath and literally hauled him by the throat into the alley he had intended to carry me into was quite interesting.

“Are you going to rape me or not?” I mocked while showing him my true form and wrapping him in my wings, pulling him closer with a cold cruel laugh. “Or shall I just drain you dry without the foreplay?”

He screamed. A high pitched, hopeless sound that drove my sudden fury even higher in pitch. “So you want a little rough sex? Let me show you how it’s done, sweetie.”

One of my hands gripped his balls and started to squeeze while my other one grabbed his chin to force his head up so I could look directly into his terror stricken eyes. “If you’re going to do something, do it right.”

“See you in Hell, honey pie,” I hissed, clamping my fangs to the inside of his mouth and sucking like a vacuum cleaner. In seconds, I had ripped away his maleness and masculinity, then quite clearly in my mind perceived a silvery cord straining tautly from his navel to a misty shape frantically attempting to return to the body it had been pulled from.

“Oh, no you don’t,” laughing wickedly, I severed the cord with one sharp fingernail and caught the fluttering thing in the other hand. It fought, and squirmed, but remained firmly in my grip. “Take one last look, sweetheart,”

I held the struggling, wailing thing over its now dying body for a moment, then sent it away. To a holding tank -- sort of -- back in Mama’s realm. The frightened soul would now be mine to do with as I pleased, but after my initial rage and instinctive responses began to fade, I felt more than a little sick over what I’d done.

It was clear that I could be sweetly, eagerly accommodating to a man, and a great deal of fun to be with. Steve had shown me that. On the other side of that, though, I could literally become Hell-come-to- breakfast if provoked.

In the state of mind I was in just then, I couldn’t quite decide which one I felt was worse. Only days ago in my perceptions of time, I had been a completely heterosexual male and one who would never have considered harming someone unless my own life was in danger; let alone descending into the type of killing rage I had just experienced.

Calming, I considered that the diametrically opposed facets of my dual nature in this body shouldn’t come as a surprise. With sour humor, I understood why a lot of Angels, Demons, and lesser creatures of The Night were so hesitant to screw with a Succubus. Because I knew in some way that couldn’t be anything but pure instinct, that it would have taken something very powerful to have stopped me from what I had just done without my consent.

“Lady, you got one nasty temper on you, you know that?” A light, and nervous voice interrupted my musings and self castigation. I whirled to see a smallish man with pointed ears and fangs exposed by his lopsided, shaky grin.

“Who the Hell are you?” I questioned, ready to rip his heart out and feed it to him, but restraining myself with an effort. Truthfully, the unsettling capacity for raging destruction I had just discovered in myself had me very much on edge and more than ready for another fight just to get rid of the overflow of emotions. “And what in the untold numbers of Names Of Hell are you?

“And what do you want with me?” I snarled.

“Whoa, there, lady.” spreading his arms, unusually long arms ending in knobby, clawed hands with fingers appearing twice as long as they should be, the creature began placating me. “I ain’t here to make trouble with you. No, no, no, old Dimon don’t mess with wet-cat-mad Succubae, nosiree, he doesn’t.”

“Then what do you want, Dimon? my voice settled into a raspy croon, and I suddenly knew what this creature was. “And why would an Imp bother to seek someone like me out?”

“I was commanded to deliver a message to a new Succubus who was out in the world,” Dimon swallowed, evidently not at all pleased with the mission, or with the necessity of confronting me in my present mood.

“A message?” Puzzled, I stepped closer to him. With a little start of fear, the Imp jumped back from my advance. I ignored that, and gave him an exasperated wave. “Don’t worry, I feel the compulsion on you, small brother, and won’t fault you for what you are compelled to do.”

That was the literal truth. I could sense the rigid binding on the creature that would not let go until he had finished with the duty he had been charged with. Along with a lot of other things that had happened that night, I simply accepted the ability and put the curiosity I felt aside for later examination. “So give me your message and get on with whatever it is you’re supposed to do.”

Huge, uneven eyes widened a little as his lumpy, misshapen face broke into a relieved grin. Then he bowed in respect to me before rising to stare with something like perplexed awe. I had no time for that, and was becoming impatient again. He noticed, and gave another short bow before producing a shred of diaphanous green silk.

It was Kayla’s, a piece of her gown, and I knew my concern for her had been real as the imp hesitantly began his message. “My master told me you would know this scrap of cloth for what it was.”

“I do,” my answer was quiet, dangerously so in Dimon’s opinion, as he backed farther away with hands defensively extended in front of him. “I’m only the messenger, remember. I had nothing to do with this other than get caught stupidly in a sorcerer’s trap.”

“I know that, Little Brother,” my voice settled, and I regretted frightening the poor little guy, then prompted. “The message?

“The human slime who is pulling my strings has the owner of that,” he rushed into it with a jerky gesture to the scrap of silk resting on the pavement between us. “And bids me tell you that he will free her in exchange for your True Name.”

My True Name. If you’re not a total idiot, you’d have realized by now that Lorilei is my use name, something to give out casually in dealings with others. Many ancient cultures, and still existing primitive ones, held the possession of another’s True Name to be a key to having power over them and carefully guarded their own against such a thing happening to them.

Silly superstition, isn’t it? But it isn’t either silly or a superstition. Not in my case, or any other immortal’s. A True Name is not something to lightly pull out and examine, or to give to someone else. I won’t, for obvious reasons, give mine here either. For one thing, it’s long, complex, filled with double meanings, and is in a language human mouths just aren’t made to pronounce without a lot of throat tearing effort. For another, my True Name is me, the embodiment of who and what I am, was, and could potentially become.

A True Name held so many branches and potentials, that giving it up to anyone gives that being the power to mold you into whatever they wish, within the set physical constraints of my present form. Since I’m a shape changer, among other things, that would leave a lot of room for someone with imagination and in possession of it, to work or play with.

So, as you should understand, my True Name was not something to just hand over to anyone. And I had no intention of doing that. Not to some human sorcerer who would use it, and me, in ways I would have absolutely no control over.

“My True Name?” I quietly responded, feeling sick at heart, and holding that heated liquid rage back with difficulty. “For my companion’s freedom? To exchange her captivity for my slavery?”

“That about covers it, Lady,” Dimon gulped, causing a large and lumpy Adams apple to jump in his scrawny throat. “I’m sorry, and truly beg your forgiveness over this, but as you noted, I’m bound to deliver the message and return with an answer.

“For what it’s worth,” he added with a grimace. “I hope you find a way to rip the bastard’s soul out while you feed him his own heart.”

“And how would I do that?” my bitterness startled me, as did the beginnings of tears in my eyes.

“Think about it for a few moments, Lady,” My misshapen companion urged quietly. “I’m sure you will be able to think of something suitable.”

“I will,” then another thought hit home as I detected a faint cry of pain from the torn silk in front of me. “Is he making her suffer?”

“I’m afraid so, Lady,” lowering his head to avoid my eyes, Dimon nodded with a shudder. “Forgive me if I won’t go into the details.”

“All is forgiven, Dimon,” I assured him, forming the beginnings of an idea that seemed suicidal foolish, “provided you’re willing to help me out a little.”

“Gladly, Lady,” he responded with a deep bow, then gave me a woefully concerned look. “But I should warn you that I may be of very little assistance in this particular matter given the binding I’m currently under.”

“How long has this one held the keys to your being?” I questioned gently, knowing without understanding how, that Dimon was as much a victim of this unnamed sorcerer as Kayla was.

“A very long time, Lady,” he admitted sheepishly. “Too long, actually, but the scum is careful in addition to being powerful. You should be aware of that, and duly cautious. He will attack the moment you show any presence at all in his vicinity.

“Even if I was able to actively aid you, which I fear is not possible no matter how much I’d like to,” He went on, “If you fail, all three of us involved would suffer greatly in this one’s clutches.”

“I don’t intend to fail,” was my slow, considering answer. “And yes, I do have a plan that might just work, with your help, brave Dimon.”

“Brave?” he snorted. “Imps aren’t brave, Lady. We’re sneaky little bastards that would much rather run away than fight a moderately angry rabbit head on. And we’ve already been over the help thing, so don’t make me explain it all over again, please?”

“Don’t worry,” the image of Dimon running pall mell away from a seriously annoyed rabbit caused me to smile in spite of the situation. “All you’ll need to do is exactly what your master has commanded.”

“Huh?” his answer was nearly as intelligent as he had started thinking I was. Not very.

“Just deliver my answer,” Grinning evilly, I untangled most of the spells cast on the silken strip from Kayla’s dress, rendered them harmless with counters that just emerged from within myself, then reached down to pick the scrap of tattered cloth off the pavement.

Dimon flinched visibly when I did that, then gave me an incredulous look that was almost comical. His jaw dropped to rest on his chest while his rheumy yellow eyes actually bulged outward in their sockets.

As I pulled the now harmless magics into myself, augmenting my own supply, he -- just about exactly as this sounds -- pulled himself back together. With a sigh, a shrug, and another lopsided grin, he regarded me with even more respect. “I’ve never seen a new one do something like that, or even heard of such a thing. How did you do that?”

“I read a lot of Fantasy and stuff like that when I was human,” I laughed. “So thought I’d better check this before I touched it. As to how I disarmed it, don’t ask me. You’re the one here with all the experience.”

“Sorry,” he waved at the once trapped silk. “I couldn’t......”

“Help it, I know,” still quietly laughing, mostly for a release of tension and very real fear, I immediately thought of running home for help. Then discarded the idea as too time consuming. Besides, this business had become something highly personal to me in ways that went well beyond Kayla’s being held captive.

I was finding myself genuinely liking the little fellow in spite of his unwilling role in things and almost felt sorry for what I was going to do. Almost.

Fading to mist (now that’s an experience, let me tell you) I chuckled once again as my essence poured into the silk as originally intended by the sorcerer. With appropriate rearrangements of course. Controlling my own fear with a great deal of effort, I found myself chuckling again, and able to feel Dimon’s response to that. Worry, lots of it. For himself, mostly, but after all, he was only an Imp. Poor things were designed to be flunkies and couldn’t help being the way they were. I gathered my nerve and sent out the message, So, what are you waiting for? Let’s go!

VI

When Dimon returned to the sorcerer’s lair I observed the surroundings with great interest, and some disappointment. I’d almost expected to see some medieval sort of chamber. One made of irregularly cut stone blocks that were damp with moisture and containing rough hewn tables filled with a clutter of vials, books, and scrolls. Instead, I viewed a plush, modern den/computer room paneled in warm, polished wood, and containing a large, modern desk with a top of the line PC sitting on it, numerous shelves holding various bric-a- brac, a large bookshelf stuffed with volumes on all kinds of subjects, all lit by subdued track lights. The Sorcerer himself was really unremarkable in appearance.

No mighty Gandalf here, or anything remotely looking like the commonly held popular images of wizards and sorcerers. The man was of middling height, slender with the beginnings of a little pot gut, had thin, sandy brown hair and a rather unimpressive face. Until you got a good close look at his eyes.

Those were dark and almost depthless, like staring into the glass eyes of a doll, or more aptly those of a shark. They gleamed with predatory interest and lust, while barely restrained power swirled within their strangely flat appearing depths. Dimon cringed, almost wilted, actually under that man’s gaze, and I could tell right away that he was probably a whole lot more evil than all but the worst denizens of Hell.

“Give me the silk,” his voice was even, a low range tenor that fit the body well. But it held jarring over and undertones that filled anything he might say with hidden meanings and secrets. I realized right away that I’d probably blown it big time by even extending myself as little as I had done. And that I’d have to move very fast when he, if he did, fell for the trap I’d set within the one he had fashioned.

“Come my little darling,” he crooned to the silk as if someone or something was alive and aware in it. Something was, and stirred in distress and anger when he addressed it. “Now, to draw you out and reunite you with your sister, my little Prize.”

I could tell right away that the greedy bastard had no intentions of releasing either Kayla or me, and that he was darkly amused at my naivety for allowing myself to be caught so easily. “Oh, I do enjoy capturing these new ones and bending them to my will.”

Taking a deep mental breath while thinking I was in way over my head as he began his spell on the silk and it’s hapless occupant, I quietly slipped out of the vessel I had used to arrive in. No matter how modern and suburban the room appeared, it held protections worthy of an epic Fantasy tale. Working against time that I was almost sure I didn’t have, and with skills I had no clue about the origins of, I started to gently unravel the sorcerer’s protective spells and draw their energy into myself.

“What the..?!!” His voice deepened in surprise as his workings began to draw out the entity trapped within the strip of silk. As I hurried myself, a bit dangerously, but time was running out for me, and Kayla, he glared in bemusement at the soul of one emasculated and very terrified rapist.

“You’re not a Succubus!” he accused the cringing thing.

“No, but I am,” I sweetly replied while setting one of my tingling hands on his shoulder and placing the other firmly under his chin.

If you think making an accidental electrical connection, with all the attendant sparks and smoke is staggering, you should have seen what happened when my hazardously overfilled self let go of my captured magic and poured it through his body and soul.

What a mess! Arching violet bands of energy crossed from one end of the room to the other, then kept rebounding and colliding with more of the same. The sorcerer couldn’t speak, or move, other than twitching and moaning like a man in the grip of far too much electrical current to survive. Bric-a-brac shattered, shelving collapsed into smoldering heaps of scrap wood, the computer melted while its monitor imploded from the energy swirling around and through it, and the sorcerer’s body began to smoke.

Then he started to burn and I found myself hanging on to a desperate, torch shaped like a man. Flames burst through his eyes, nostrils, mouth, and ears, not to mention his cock and anus. At least he was unable to scream aloud since his throat and vocal chords had long ago been crisped.

The room was a shambles and seemed a lot fuller than it had been a few minutes earlier. Voices cheered me on, adding suggestions as to what I should do with his soul once I was finished, their owners radiating a joyful surge of release and sense of freedom.

Incredibly, he began to regenerate, with the magical flames engulfing and consuming him flickering and threatening to go out. My own strength was fading, and I knew that without some kind of help I was going to end up losing this fight no matter how things looked.

When a familiar and reassuring presence joined me, adding her strength to mine. Kayla was free. “Take this from me, little sister,”

Others echoed her insistence, and I felt my strength not only return, but increase. Willing the power flowing through the sorcerer’s body and soul from my hands to increase, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it did. I poured magic, raw, wild stuff, through my captive until I held nothing more than a husk of ash over a brittle framework of charred bone.

And he was still fighting.

Desperately, appalled at his hellish vitality (pun intended), I began sifting through the threads of his remaining being to find a way of finishing the struggle before even my augmented power was exhausted. Hunting and digging through a virtual hurricane of raw magic isn’t something I can recommend for a fun evening, but I eventually found and isolated what I was looking for.

The cord holding his soul to his body was tarnished almost black, which was one reason I’d had trouble finding it. Another was that the cord’s attachment to the body was different than the one other I had any experience with. It was also tough with the spiritual equivalent of scar tissue and I some how understood than it had been severed and reattached to many bodies in the past.

So, I grabbed hold of the fluttering, tattered, dark thing that was my adversary’s soul, gritted my teeth, and cut the cord.

The roaring magic, that I hadn’t even noticed went silent, as did the room, except for the occasional clatter and tinkling of something else falling to the ripped up carpet. The soul in my grasp struggled, but I drew in parts of its essence and it quieted, defeated and resigned to whatever might happen next. Not taking chances, I very carefully opened a channel to Home and sent it shooting down into my holding area, which I also beefed up with some of the energy I was still brimming with.

The rapist, or what I had left of him, stood staring at me in something like awe. I waved him away for the moment, sending him back to where I’d called him from to participate in my deception. With promises of reward once I got things a little more settled.

Then I turned to see Kayla standing there wearing a very odd smile. “Hi, I thought you were supposed to be waiting for me when I finished feeding.”

“I got kinda sidetracked,” she shrugged, then rushed forward to give me a tight hug. “Do you have any idea of what you just did?”

“I think I just fought and killed a sorcerer,” I answered carefully, then added. “Not to mention getting you out of an unpleasant fix.”

“You sure did all that,” she whispered into my ear. “And a whole lot more.”

We are yours, Lady,” a chorus of voices interrupted whatever I was about to say back and I turned to see what all that was about. And gasped.

Succubi, Demons of other sorts, one Hellhound, several beings I thought had to be Angels, and numerous human souls congregated in a room that shouldn’t have been able to hole that kind of numbers. Every one of them was regarding me with something akin to fear, and awe.

“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked, nervous at seeing so many beings, some very powerful, gathered in one place and obviously staring at me.

“When you absorbed the sorcerer and his knowledge,” Kayla puffed out her cheeks then blew out a quick stream of air before going on. “You picked up all our True Names.

“I what?” my skepticism was clear in both my voice and expression. Another look at the still gathered beings made me think about it, then I suddenly was able to put an individual name to each one of them. Which meant that I held power over them, the power to compel them into any act that wasn’t completely foreign to their natures. And some of them, no make that quite a few of them were not happy about it. “Uh, oh, what have I gone and done now?”

“You have,” another, deep, resonant voice spoke quietly from behind me. “Created quite a mess here, young one, which under the circumstances is now yours to clean up.”

“Will you people stop sneaking up on....” I whirled around to find myself nose to navel with one of the biggest guys I ever recall seeing, then finished a little weakly. “me.”

Backing up, I began to see more than just an immense stomach ridged with muscle. He was a pure golden brown, and I swear that he glowed with inner power. His legs seemed like tree trunks to me, and though the equipment between his legs was likewise sized, I could generate no real interest other than noting its hugeness and inanely being glad it wasn’t being used on yours truly.

Lean hips led up to the (comparatively) slim waist and flat stomach I’d already become acquainted with. My gaze traveled upward to see a heavily muscled chest, shoulders and arms to match, a long strong neck ,a mass of golden hair flowing down his back and peeking over his shoulders, and a face like an angel. Angel. Yes, that would explain the huge, furled wings, and the Ice Blue eyes blazing with power, intellect, and of all things, amusement.

“And I suppose you think this is funny?” I questioned, then thought better of it ten seconds after I’d opened my big mouth and so adroitly placed on of my delicate feet into it. All I needed to do after that was start chewing.

“Yes, as a matter of fact” the giant grinned down at me for a more human sized fellow without the wings and golden glow then replaced a moment. “I do find it funny, Lady. But I must also admit to some curiosity. How in the name of Heaven did you manage this? Heaven and Hell have both been after this guy for at least a thousand years, and you just waltz in and take him down. Would you mind explaining that?

“I just kind of got swept up into it,” I admitted without even trying to lie myself into a more heroic stance. “Once I was going, it all just seemed like the right thing to do at the time.”

“In other words,” he chuckled while passing his still compelling gaze over the wreckage of the sorcerer’s den, workshop, lab, whatever it was, and all the beings silently observing the exchange. “You just got lucky.”

“I’d call that a pretty accurate summation,” I nodded in agreement, then rubbed my still smoking hands against a shredded, half burnt curtain that had somehow landed in front of me. Embarrassingly, it caught fire and I had to toss it to the side so as not to interrupt this strange, and frightening conversation.

“Lord Ariel,” Dimon fawningly approached to quiver at my side. “My Lady lessens her own deeds. She sensed the trap Girard had set for her, disarmed it, then placed a previously captured soul into it after wrapping enough of her own essence around the poor thing to seem as if it was her.

“Then she,” Dimon visibly shuddered as he told this part, “Entered me for a disguise and bid me return the sprung trap to my former master.”

“I see,” Ariel, if that was truly what this being called himself nodded. “Well thought out and executed, my Lady. Your plan’s effectiveness is quite clearly shown here. And the doing of it lit up the sky for anyone with the magical ability to see it for hundreds of miles. Now would you mind telling me exactly what it was you did here to cause such a Heaven, Earth, and Hell shaking cataclysm inside this small house?”

“Well,” shrugging, I thought I was in deep enough anyway, so couldn’t get much deeper, right? Oh, never mind, I was still pretty muddled and the power I’d absorbed was making me light headed. It almost felt like I was drunk. Hmm, drunk with power? Anyway... “I sneaked out of poor Dimon while Girard? was prying my decoy out of the strip of silk he’d used for the trap. He didn’t notice me being in the room, so I started checking out his passive defenses and active protections.

“I found a few loose threads of magic and started unraveling things,” I went on with a sheepish grin. “That’s when it all started getting a little out of hand, if you know what I mean.”

“Yes, I understand that,” Ariel chuckled, a deep rumbling that sounded a lot like a chiming earthquake wrapped in fire. Not a real good description is it? Well I defy you to meet an Angel for the first time and stay coherent enough to talk to him/her/it, let alone be able to describe things in any clear detail.

“Then he discovered the decoy, and I just got desperate and grabbed him so he couldn’t do anything else.” Holding out my still smoking hands, I shrugged. “I guess I was absorbing all that power and it just kind of made a connection from one hand to the other, going through him in the process. The rest is pretty obvious. I hung on for dear life until he finally gave up the ghost.”

“Which you promptly appropriated for Hell’s use,” Ariel gave me an admiring look. “You were far more than lucky, little one. You had unusual power of your own before this encounter, and now have enough to be more than a little daunting to face.”

“Me?” I questioned with a weak grin. There was no way I was going to admit that I had no idea of how to make use of all that power he insisted I had, but I didn’t feel at all comfortable trying to threaten him with it, either. “Your name is Ariel, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” he nodded with a grin. “At least that’s what I’ve called myself for the past few millennia.”

“Then You’re that Ariel, messenger of You Know Who, and near Archangel?”

“That would be me,” he affirmed with another grin. I was beginning to find his attitude almost infuriating. “And who might you be, my surprisingly powerful, and lovely, Lady?”

“Lorilei,” I offered, then scowled at him. “Why is it that just about every male in creation, including Angels it seems, feel like they have to flatter the poor dumb girl so they can get something out of her? Couldn’t one of you, just once, come right out and ask?”

Dimon gasped, and scuttled as far away from me as he could while remaining in the room without running into the gathering in the corner. Kayla drew in a breath, then let out a short, sharp laugh. Ariel’s smile widened and his glorious eyes filled with mirth again.

“All right, You’ve scored one on me there, Lady Lorilei,” with an expansive gesture he conceded the point. “You are really going to be a troublesome handful in times to come. Normally I would do my best to kill you now, before you had a chance to mature into something even more dangerous than you are already.”

Me and my big mouth. Both feet were in it so deeply by then I wondered how I was even able to talk. “Look, I really don’t feel like fighting just now. I don’t suppose we could schedule something for later? “

No problem, Lady,” Ariel agreed with a chuckle. “After seeing the chaos you’ve turned loose by casual accident here, I don’t think I’m quite ready to fight either. Especially since you’ve actually done Heaven a very great favor here.

“Which does bring me to the reason for sneaking up behind you.” shifting his gaze to the milling throng of released spirits in the room, he thoughtfully turned back to me after a few seconds. “I’ve actually come her to claim our own.”

“Oh, go ahead and take them,” I offered, wondering what in the world a neophyte Succubus would have done with a bunch of surly Angels, anyway.

“I would,” he sighed, then shook his head. “Except there seems to be one small stumbling block to that.”

“Oh?”

“You,” Ariel nodded at me, then pointed his chin towards the mass of shadowy forms we were discussing. “When you killed Girard, you absorbed all his magic, and knowledge. And all his bindings on those he enslaved. To just ‘take’ them, as you offered, I would have to kill you.

“I see,” swallowing, and cursing my luck, which seemed mostly bad at that stage, I looked up into his eyes and bluntly asked. “So what do I have to do to let you take your kinfolk home?”

“Simply tell them they are free to go, that you release their bindings, Lady,” he responded with something in his eyes that was trying to appear innocent but was very crafty. Or so it thought.

“Not to be insulting, but uh, you aren’t all that big on subtlety and deception, are you?” I offered a smile to lessen the sting of my observation, then continued. “There’s something here you aren’t telling me, isn’t there?”

“You’ll still hold their True Names, boss,” Dimon had sidled up to crouch beside me again, and was quietly, for him, coaching me in spite of the Angel’s quick glare. “So if you let them go, you’ll still have the power to call them, and they’ll owe you big time for turning them loose, so they’ll have to honor that call when you make it.”

“Is that so?” I watched Ariel’s expression go sour as twelve day old milk in a hot room and nodded. “I see that it is.

“Oh, well, that’s good to know,” I turned to the shadowy group, extended one hand in their direction, and intoned (yeah, I know that sounds corny as Hell, but I’m afraid that’s how it came out. I just couldn’t help it.) “You are all free to go. I release the bindings that hold you to me.”

All the Angels but Ariel vanished immediately without so much as a word of thanks. So much for gratitude, I guess. The Demons hung around, and the human souls just kind of floated in place while Ariel gave me a formal bow, then gently took my (still smoking, damn it) right hand and pressed his lips against it.

“My thanks, Lady Lorilei,” releasing my hand, which now was experiencing orgasmic tingles in addition to smoking, he backed away politely before resuming his previous form. “As galling as it may be, Heaven does owe you a great many favors for tonight’s work. I will see that they are honored when you call them in.

“Farewell, for now,” he started going away. Not flying, or walking, or much of anything. He just got smaller and smaller until he was less than a mote of dust dancing in the air. “I’m sure we will be meeting again.”

“Wow, boss, you did it!” Dimon gleefully jumped up and down as he congratulated me.

“Why are you calling me boss?” I questioned a little irritably.

“Because I’m still bound to serve you, M’Lady,” he grinned. “I might have been give my freedom, but I can’t see anywhere else I’d rather be than serving you, so I’m still yours.”

“I don’t suppose I could convince you to change your mind?” I almost pleaded. I mean, I was less than a week old, subjectively and as far as being a denizen of Hell was concerned. I really didn’t think I was up to having servants, or followers, or whatever they chose to call themselves.

“Not a chance,” Dimon gave me his ugly, crooked grin, “I’ve got the feeling that hanging around with you is going to be very interesting.”

“Thanks, lackey,” I acknowledged sarcastically. He either didn’t notice, or chose to ignore it and I gave up.

A large number of Demonic Kind approached me one at a time, swearing their dubious fealty and promising to honor their own debts to me whenever I chose to call on them.

One of them, a huge Hellhound that easily stood six feet tall at the shoulder, nudged me with his hot, knobby nose, then contentedly settled into a curled up ball beside me. “I am Helgi, and have accepted you as my alpha female. I am now of your pack, Lady, and will stay by your side through everything that might come.

“Besides,” he growled with a disconcerting doggy grin. “I agree with the runt. It’s going to be real interesting hanging around with you. Sure beats the darkest pit, or guarding the gates.”

“What about all of you?” I addressed the gathering Succubi, twelve in all. Are you going to stay with me, too?”

“We are of your family, now, Little Mother,” the eldest, and strongest of them announced. “It would be very wrong for us to abandon you after you have saved us from such -- distressing -- bondage.”

“Okay, okay,” I waved them away, “Go home and wait for me. We’ll sort this all out when I get back.”

“I’m not so sure I trust that ‘distressing’ part of their bondage, boss,” Dimon whispered once they had left.

“Don’t worry about it,” I winked ad grinned. “Hell, I’d have had fun with some of the things that sorcerer sent those girls to do, too.”

A susurrus of whispered sound impinged on my laughter, and I glanced up. To see a very large number of disembodied souls drifting closer with every breath I took. Giving Kayla a long suffering look, which got me an amused grin in response, then at the Imp, and Helgi the Hellhound, I sighed in resignation before speaking to them.

“Not you, too. Didn’t I release you?”

We have nowhere to go Mistress,” one moaned plaintively. “We are too tainted by the black one’s touch to gain admittance to Heaven and have not been wicked enough to be taken to Hell. If you do not take us, we will be condemned to become wandering spirits for eternity, never knowing rest....”

“All right, already!” I gave in at the moaning and whining coming from the crowd of souls. I could have sworn some of them were high fiving some others at my capitulation, but was too overwhelmed to care. “Go to the holding area, and I’ll get to you all later.”

Then things were quiet. Oh, blessed, sweet quiet. Except for Helgi’s snuffling snores, and Dimons gleeful capering, and pieces of the house falling around us. Well, you get the idea. Sometimes peace and quiet is a relative thing.

“Now what?” I questioned Kayla.

“It’s been a long night, Little sister, and my Mistress,” she grinned as I groaned. “I say, let’s go home.”

“Good idea,” I agreed, then raised my voice. “Okay guys, we’re going now.”

“Well, young Lady,” Lillith gave me a severe frown. “It seems that you had quite a night. Maybe you’d care to explain?”

“Uh, well, Mother,” I hedged, feeling like a three year old caught hanging by her knees from the monkey bars in the schoolyard with a crowd of little boys cheering her on. “I don’t suppose you’d believe it was all an accident?”

“No,” Lillith pursed her full lips. “I don’t think I can accept that for an answer. Let me number the incidents that you precipitated through the night.,”

“First, you successfully snare a pure, loving soul, and make him yours. Without bringing him home once you have.”

“I can explain...”

“Don’t interrupt me again, Lorilei,” she cautioned and I snapped my mouth shut so fast I nearly bit my lower lip off.

“Then, you devoured a rapist, and sent that pathetic remnant of a soul home. But you didn’t leave it here. Instead, without consulting or requesting assistance, you pulled it back, shaped it into a decoy, suborned a very ancient and shifty Imp, and attacked a very powerful sorcerer in his own lair.

“Once you were there,” she ticked off another finger to make her point, you killed him, but raised such an inter-dimensional ruckus that every immortal within thirty light years noticed the maelstrom you created. But at least you sent a very black and evil soul to his just punishment here, once you see fit to release him for it, that is. Though since you absorbed his power and knowledge, he won’t be worth all that much in trade any longer.

After that, you had a lengthy conversation with a very powerful Angel, and actually released a small horde of his kind when he asked nicely, am I right so far?”

“You did, however, retain your right by conquest to call any of them whenever there is need, then accepted the service of the Imp I mentioned earlier, and one Hellhound -- both males and in very great danger here. Mama had to go to rather extreme measures to preserve them, you know.”

I thought I detected a faint hint of amusement as she counted that last one. But no way was I going to bring the fact up just then. I was in enough trouble as it was.

“Plus,” she added while I thought she had to run out of fingers pretty soon, “You now have members of just about every clan in Hell beholden to you personally, and sworn to grant you favors in return.”

“And last,” Lillith glared at me. “You sent about forty homeless souls to a holding area meant to contain maybe ten or twelve. Mama had to do some fancy footwork to give the poor things room to move around just a little.”

“So,” she finished, crossing her arms across her breasts and spreading her wings. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“Uh, I saved Kayla from a long bondage to the sorcerer?” I questioned almost lamely.

“Lorilei, my beloved, new, impetuous daughter,” Lillith shook her head in something like amazement. “Do you realize that in one night, You’ve managed to spread more chaos, collect more souls, claimed future rights on more owed favors from some powerful beings-- including some on the other side, and created more of a stir than most experienced Demons can manage in a century?”

“I’ve got to admit that I really hadn’t thought about it too much,” I grimaced. “Things just kind of started moving, and carried me along with them.”

“So they did,” Lillith grinned. “By the way, did you know that you charmed the pants off Ariel? Quite a hunk, isn’t he? Even if he is an Angel.

“Does this mean that I’m not in trouble?” I questioned hopefully.

“Some,” Lillith admitted with another grin. “Letting all those Angels loose really pissed off some people down here, but I think that will pay off in the long run. Everything else pretty well balances that act out.

“Now go collect your followers, your new family, and get some rest,” she ordered. “You certainly deserve it.”

We found the Hellhound first. Helgi was contorting himself into a near donut shape trying to look at his crotch, growling and whimpering as he did. It dawned on me what was wrong, and I had to laugh. The Hellhound snapped his head up with bared fangs, and glared at me.

“It’ll be okay, Helga,” I promised. “you’ll get used to it pretty soon.”

An outraged scream reached the three of us as we neared the area set aside for my new family. A very pretty little creature with a voluptuous body, face of an angel, and long wavy blonde hair ran up to us with the plaintive complaint. “Hey boss! Would you just look at what they’ve done to me?!”

“Better get used to it if you plan on hanging around with me, Dimona,” I responded with a real laugh.

End