Thanks for the continued support, everyone (esp. my Canadian Fan). This is a little short but I wanted to get a new chapter out. As always, opinions are welcome. Email me or make a public comment. Love, pphair.
Note: If you haven't read the previous chapters of this story, it's going to make little sense, so you may want to take a little time and at least skim them.
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Ana's face fell completely serious as Talera slowly pressed her pouting lips to hers. A low whimper resonated in the back of Ana's throat, her body tightening, pressing closer to the demon's. The girl's hands came up, caressing Talera's generous ass, running up the length of her curves, pausing to rush over her shoulder blades and carefully dance their way around to grace the upper edges of the sueded wings.
Talera made a low, rumbling growl in the back of her throat that would have made Sarah look for a tigress had she not known the source. The animalistic sound only made Ana moan herself and kiss her all the harder. Suddenly Ana tensed and almost broke away but for Talera gripping her tightly with one hand around her waist and the other against the back of her head.
Sarah jumped, squinting as a flash of brilliant light in the most entrancing blue sparked between the two of them, illuminating the shadows beneath Talera's towering wingspan. Ana's back arched, a cry ripping from her throat. Talera released the girl, falling to her knees on the sand, Ana dropping in front of her, hands out to brace herself, though her arms gave out as well after only a second and she fell the to the beach on her side, gasping for air. Talera reached out and touched her lightly on the forehead, making Ana writhe for a moment before she curled into a fetal position and fell still, eyes closed, breath calming immediately.
"Sleep, darlin'," Talera murmured to her, kissing her cheek softly. "This is gonna take me a minute."
Extending her claws briefly, Talera sliced off Ana's clothing. Her manner was careful but almost clinical, holding down the edge of Ana's shirt with the flat of one hand while using a talon to slice the fabric cleanly off, doing to same to the rest of her clothes. Soon Ana lay on the beach, curled naked in the fading golden light, black hair tangled in the sand.
Talera took a deep breath and, displaying the speed Sarah had only briefly glimpsed earlier, seemed to sink into the shade beneath her wings, vanishing altogether into mere wind and cloud. Grains of sands swirled beneath the whorls of a particularly dense shadow that flashed across the beach. The shadows coalesced several yards away, condensing into a dark form. With a sharp grunt she reappeared, fully human, all vestiges of darkness left behind, dropping to a low crouch, head down, panting hard.
Sarah shrank back into Kevin's chest, murmuring a soft oath of amazement. He kissed the side of her neck reassuringly, though he was taken aback himself. He had been under the impression that Taylor's ability to enter the home plane of her demon was only in her mind and to, for lack of a better term, store her more frightening characteristics. He had felt her physical presence withdraw, reduced only to shadow and air, anchored solely by the most tenuous of threads to the world around him.
They watched her as she collected herself, the effort of shifting dimensions understandably taxing.
"I don't do that very often in the light," she breathed, glancing up at them with a dark smile.
Though he hadn't even realized he'd been monitoring it up until it changed, Kevin noticed her heart which, from the moment they'd stepped onto the beach had been pumping so slowly as to be barely detectable, sped to a fast, human clip, her skin warming immediately in response. He cocked his head to the side, a canine expression of confusion passing over his features. Ana still lay on the sand on her side, breathing steady, but obviously not yet conscious.
Sarah turned to look at him, her irritation with her limited senses palpable, mouthing the word "what?" to him silently. Regarding her for a moment, he quirked his mouth the side then shrugged. She started when he brought up one hand to cover her eyes tightly, feeling her eyelashes brush his palm as she closed her eyes.
-Relax- he said into her mind, his silent words soothing.
-Aha! I knew werewolves could read minds!- was her response.
-Just Alphas.-
-You're an Alpha?-
-Another time. Will you focus on the situation at hand?-
-Uh, there's this problem of a really big hand over my eyes. I can't see...-
The thought stopped mid-stream as Kevin turned his attention back to Talera, and for the second time in less than three days, Sarah was seeing the world through someone else's eyes. Though with Kevin, it went deeper; she was in his head, seeing, smelling, hearing the scene before them in ways she'd never imagined.
Talera had, to his consternation, brought herself back down the level of a human, superficially at least. Sarah could see the flush in her cheeks, hear the racing of her powerful heart and the crunch of her feet on the sand as she came towards Ana, smell the intoxicating scent of her arousal, even across the distance. Talera was Taylor once more, a nervous young woman approaching the unconscious succubus resting on the sand, jaw clenched tightly, emerald eyes intent. Kevin's confusion rushed into Sarah's head, his explanations and postulations flooding her mind as well.
Talera shouldn't have to do this, masquerade as a mortal. Something was slightly off about the situation, and it was the demon's doing. He could sense a tinge of her emotions, which were a violent maelstrom to his enhanced senses, whipping around all of them, making Sarah's head spin. Talera was aware of their dual observation, unconcerned though protective. She was powerfully excited, belying her usual glacial calm, though Sarah wondered how much her seeming perpetual emotionlessness was only a mask for a deep ocean of feeling. She was darkly amused, curious, her senses focused to the max on the newly transformed being in front of her.
Sarah felt Kevin's sudden surge of comprehension, felt the flutter of fear in his stomach, but also the rush of fascination and arousal. Talera had created a Dark Succubus of Ana. Through her link to him, Sarah knew such beings were extremely rare and artificially created: the Spirit of the Succubus altered both by the will of a powerful succubus or incubus and by the desire of the recipient. Like Talera, Ana could pull the life out of another, not just the energy of passion. She was exponentially more powerful than a regular succubus, more open to corruption by her Dark impulses but also more likely to survive the millennia. Talera had reverted forms in order to defend them when Ana first reawakened, as she was going to suck the life energy out of the first person to lay hands on her. Sarah clenched Kevin's arm around her waist, stomach tied in knots once more.