*This is intended to be the first in a series. My thanks to the lovely SimplySilver for her inspiration and assistance. Please feel free to let me know what you think. Thank you.*
My name is Vanya. This is a part of my story, but it is not the end of my story.
I am a succubus, but I was not born so. I was born human, and became a warrior, and then a bandit, and then a warlord. My band thrived in the desert, raiding and pillaging and fighting, sometimes at the behest of those who paid us, sometimes against those who wronged us, and sometimes against all comers. We were strong and they were weak and the strong take what they wish and the weak submit, for that is the way of things.
We were known. We were feared. We were admired. We were sought after. We looted and fought and won, again and again, for we were the strongest and we were the fiercest and we were the best and we knew it and loved it.
And then we were challenged. It had happened before, and we'd emerged triumphant time and time again, but this was different. This challenger was a man, alone. One man against an army, and yet he challenged us. We roared with laughter at his presumption, and then we commenced the slaughter, but it was we who were slaughtered.
The man was a sorceror, skilled and strong in his craft, and he summoned up legions of beasts and demons and horrors, and as many as we slew he brought forth more. Time and again they rose, time and again we fought, time and again we won but with each victory we lost men, some to wounds and some to death and some to panic and retreat, until we had dwindled to five. Five where we had been an army, five against numberless hordes, but we five stood and would not submit for though we were not the strongest that day we were determined to fight to the last, and we would have if we'd had the chance.
Instead we were captured. Foul magics erupted from the ground and ensnared us and we were held bound and helpless before him. Our struggles were to no avail, even the smallest of us could not slip free, even the strongest of us could not tear loose, and as we struggled he approached. Our adversary. Our conqueror. Our challenger.
He was a man and to look at him you'd think him nothing more than that, but his eyes glowed with magic and his spells and creatures had overrun my band, a band I thought invincible, a band that had challenged nobles and vexed kings. Armies had battered themselves to death against us and yet one man had prevailed.
I learned much about strength that day.
He regarded us for a moment, looking into our eyes with his sight beyond sight, and in the end he decided he liked what he saw in three of us, myself included. The other two, brave soldiers both, were thrown to his creatures and their fates were the fates of the weak. I honor their memory but they were conquered, and the conquered are the property of the conqueror.
The rest of us he brought to his lair and there he worked his will upon us and transformed us. Johann, who was a great brute of a man, became possessed by a rage demon and made mighty enough to shatter mountains, but his plans for Kristena and I were different. No possession for us, instead he used long-forgotten and longer-forbidden magics to alter our minds and bodies, to change our very nature and spirit, to implant seeds into our minds and when those seeds sprouted and took root, guided by his magics, we emerged as succubi.
He intended to keep us. To use us. To hold us in his thrall. And he did, for a time.
Under his command Kristena and I learned. We became sexual warriors, strong and fierce and proud, and our lust and our hunger fueled his ambition and served his plans.
Until it didn't.
I won't speak more of him now. Perhaps, in the future, I shall. Let it suffice to say that we left his service under terms...disagreeable to him and though he survived he did not do so unscarred. Perhaps he plots his revenge. Perhaps he shall try to carry it out. I welcome the challenge when it comes.
From there I drifted, learning more, conquering, gaining in strength, challenging and being challenged and winning. Testing my strength against others and proving myself, both in the demon realms and on other worlds, and on one of those other worlds I found Him. My adversary. The incubus. My master-to-be.
It's a very rare thing when a succubus catches sight and scent of a worthy challenger and he catches sight and scent of her. There's a mutual recognition that runs as deep as the ocean-sea and wide as the desert. Before you feel it you have your plans and thoughts and designs. After you feel it your plans and thoughts and designs stop mattering and you are in a battle for your life and mind and soul. It may be a battle that lasts for mere moments, or for entire human lifetimes. It may resolve quickly or slowly, but one way or another it becomes a part of you, and so it was with me.
I challenged another to combat over something trivial, the excuse didn't matter, the point was the battle. I wished to conquer him and I did, drained him of life and soul and took his strength for my own, and I did so publicly. I did it as an advertisement and challenge and because I enjoy displaying my strength, and others watched as we knew they would. Watched as we fought. Watched as I conquered. Watched as I feasted. I took my time and relished in it, relished in the gazes of those watching, knowing full well that I might tempt some of them to challenge me in turn.
But one set of eyes fixed on me in particular, one set seemed to drill through me.
I sensed him before I saw him, caught up in the moment as I was, and it was with some difficulty that I wrenched my gaze from my victim to my adversary, to my Master.
The challenge was in a stone amphitheater, with rising seats up the sides so a crowd could watch duels, sexual and nonsexual alike. There were wards up to keep away the mundane, the peasants and goatherds and the like, but if you know what to look for it stands out like a beacon, and it drew crowds and He was among them.
I was riding my opponent to his doom, and his doom was close, but he and the crowd were both expecting it to take longer because I enjoyed prolonging it. I'd planned to prolong it further, but that was before I locked eyes with Him. When I did so all matters concerning my unfortunate challenger left my mind. I held my gaze on Him and dropped my hips hard and abandoned all patience and pretense of waiting. My victim screamed out his doom as I tore his soul free from his body and swallowed it whole, and in his scream was a challenge and a promise, and He knew it.
I was proud. Haughty. I thought I was invincible. And in my pride, I let myself grow overconfident and I roared out my challenge there and then.