A Succubus Awaens

Auras are the manifestations of the soul. This is why true demons lack them. Cambians possess auras up until their transformations begin, but as they turn from God's light so too does he revoke his favor. Their aura begins to fade, and as it does, their hunger and savagery grow. Eventually, without consuming the aura of others, they perish. Perhaps because their bodies are still partly human and are not meant to be inhabited by the soulless.

Yet despite having no aura, true demons are able to enslave humans just as succubi so famously do. It is known that cambians are capable of manipulating their own auras. Contact with their twisted aura is what corrupts our own, after all. In what way do these abilities overlap? I have long endeavored to restrain a demon sufficiently powerful, and knowledgeable, to put answers to these questions. I believe now I am close to achieving such a feat.

-Sir Arthur Thompson, The Demonic Archive

Gwen spent the night in Amy's bed. For an awkward moment, she'd lingered in the hallway, unsure where she was expected to sleep now. She put the question to Amy. In that small shy voice that Gwen loved, Amy invited her in. Curled up, with Amy's arm around her, she marinated in her satisfaction. Amy's hand drifted upward, Gwen braced for some kind of erotic contact, but the hand kept going. She realized it was searching for her horns. With a huff she took hold of it and placed it there. Amy followed its curve to the dull tip. There was no sensation, but something about the sound of her fingers thumping softly along the ridges felt intimate.

"Still curious?"

"I want to see them."

"I want to show you. I'm sure one day you'll be able. You could see Remy's. Maybe there's a trick to it."

"Maybe."

"I can ask him."

Amy froze. "We should stay away from him."

"Agreed." Part of her longed to meet Remy again, and the other succubi he mentioned, but she knew Amy was right. "He gave me his number. I can just text him."

"Does he have yours?"

"No. I get it, I get it. If I text him he'll know what mine is and could track me down."

Amy resumed her stroking. "Thank you."

"I'm really happy, Amy."

A pause, then, "Me too."

"Are you sure? I know how you felt when this all started. You're not forcing yourself to do this are you?"

"No, not really. It's still a little awkward. Being romantic like this. But it does make me happy. Either way, I'm sure my feelings for you will get stronger, and it'll feel more natural. You were probably always going to get what you wanted. I just chose to embrace the inevitable."

"You say that like it's no big deal."

"Of course it's a big deal. You completely rewrote my sexual preferences, and I think my personality has changed too. I definitely act differently. Around you, anyways. But I think that would happen to anyone you regularly feed on. It may as well be me. I don't blame you."

Gwen nestled back into Amy's body.

"You still want to find a way to make me human again?"

"Yes. You promised."

"I know, I know. Just checking." She

had

promised. Amy was her moral compass, so if Amy told her it was for the best, she'd do it. Returning to the powerless frail human she'd been, though... If it was anyone but Amy asking, she'd never even consider it. What if Amy's feelings faded. What if

hers

faded? Hopefully it was a bridge they'd never have to cross.

"Good. I know you don't want to, but remember how scared you were when this all started? You'll be happy once you go back."

Somehow Gwen doubted it. After a while in silence, she started slipping towards sleep. Amy quietly reminded her, "Don't do anything to my dreams."

"Yes ma'am."

Amy gave her a weak shove. "What's it like? Going into dreams?"

"I don't really go in them. The me that you saw in the dream was like a projection I showed you. I can see them and change them from outside."

"What does it feel like?"

"It's a lot of work. At first I couldn't do much. I just talked to you, and I could see your dreams respond, but I didn't have any control over how. Now I can show you what I want, but it takes a lot of effort to do anything complicated."

"You can show me anything?"

"Well, anything I can think of. And I don't have complete control. Your mind is pretty open to suggestion, but if it decides to dream something else I can't stop it."

"The region of the brain responsible for critical thinking shuts down during sleep. So it makes sense that I'd believe whatever you showed me."

"Huh. I didn't know that."

"So if you're not in the dream, where are you?"

"I... don't really know. It's like space, almost. The dreams are like lights and I can move between them. Touching them lets me in." For some reason she found herself unable to mention the red star. It felt... private. Sacred.

"Do you ever see anyone else there?"

"No, why?"

"All succubi can dreamwalk. The archive said so. I thought maybe the others..."

Amy's voice was barely a whisper as it trailed off. She was clearly half asleep already. The archive. Did Amy mean that crackpot website they'd found? Gwen had nearly forgotten it.

"Huh, so that's your source?"

She waited for Amy's response, but all she got was silence.

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Amy's orb was waiting for her when she finally slept. Brilliant cerulean blue. Lighter than when she'd first encountered it. After keeping her awake with her questions, Amy had fallen asleep first. Distantly, Gwen was aware of the slow breaths tickling the back of her neck. Now that she'd grown accustomed to the dreams, she retained some level of awareness of the physical world. At least while she wasn't, what had Amy called it, dreamwalking.

Whispers. She looked up at the red giant looming over everything, wrapped in a web of black chains. As always, it called softly to her. As always, she ignored its temptations. Lately it seemed like it was growing louder. She kept checking to make sure it hadn't moved closer. It never had. Her attunement to its calling was just getting stronger as her awakening progressed.

She lay her hands on the surface of Amy's dream and was met with a whirlwind of emotions. Worry and sadness were there, but so were happiness, contentment, and relief. The latter were much stronger. Good enough. It was a little sad to think she'd probably never dream the way humans did again. The way Amy did. Although now that she knew how defenseless they were, it was for the best. Reluctantly, she let go and turned away. She took off and soared through the darkness. It was easy now that she had the hang of it. Not like physical movement though. She just, kind of, projected herself through space. She followed a second tether, weaker than the one that led back to Amy, until she arrived at an emerald green orb half the size of Amy's.

Laura's dream oscillated between anger and fear. Gwen took hold of it and peered within. The dream was choppy and shifting, as they always were, but enough had materialized that she could make out an enormous canopy bed, and a thick round rug that couldn't decide if it was black or red. Her room perhaps? Laura stood on the far wall looking into a large mirror, a counter lined with sinks jutted from the wall just below. Gwen chuckled as she watched herself enter the room. It hadn't been her doing.

No, Laura had conjured this Gwen all on her own. It was a snarling monstrous caricature. The eyes were too big, and the nose too long and pointed. Her tongue darted from her mouth like a snake's, and although Gwen's real tongue was far longer than a human's, it unfortunately wasn't several feet in length like the imagined creature below. Ironic that Laura imagined her as an inhuman monster. If only she knew. Dream Gwen advanced. Laura turned and the room began to shift, from her bedroom to bathroom, back and forth as her anger and fear battled. Anger won out and the features of the bathroom faded. Laura called out and dream Gwen halted. Laura must feel more comfortable in her own room. Not a nightmare then, but an imagined victory over her would be attacker. Gwen smiled to herself. That just wouldn't do.

She sent a pulse of her aura into the dream and flexed it. She felt the now familiar strain of holding together a little pocket of reality. Laura's room vanished, replaced by a perfect replication of the bathroom. Laura seemed confused. Gwen hummed to herself as she worked. Dream Gwen transformed in a whirl of mist, emerging as the beautiful, terrifying creature Gwen truly was. Complete with horns and claws. Laura wouldn't question them in the dream. A spark of inspiration struck her and she added a tail just like Remy's. Laura's anger waivered. Gwen took the opportunity to add lust to the mix of emotions.

"It wasn't all bad. You enjoyed it, didn't you?" She whispered into Laura's mind.

Dream Gwen closed the distance in an instant. Gwen could do away with the trivialities of physical space in the dream. After all, the part of Laura's mind that would question any of this was asleep. She gave Amy silent thanks for that bit of information. Laura staggered back to the counter just as she had in real life. Gwen shushed Laura's fearful mind. She wasn't just here to toy with Laura. There was work to do.

Dream Gwen cupped Laura's cheek. Gently, "Did you miss me?"

Gwen began to direct her puppets, forcing Laura to relive that night, but she cast it all in a ruby haze of arousal. Dream Gwen was tender, even loving. Laura's memories of that night would be compromised, infused with doubt by a traitorous dream. A rapturous, sapphic dream that she couldn't escape. Night after night she'd revisit it. Wondering each morning what was wrong with her, to fantasize over the encounter. Wondering if she'd enjoyed it after all? Delighted laughter slipped from Gwen's lips. Above her, that red sun, wrapped in dark chains, whispered. And in the waking world she slept comfortably in the arms of her lover.

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Gossamer strands of black hair were draped all across her when she awoke. They tickled as she rolled onto her back. Beside her, Amy slept with her mouth open and Gwen had to stifle laughter. Since she'd first begun to feed she was usually the first one up. It had become her routine to make Amy coffee. Just a small way of showing her appreciation. Now that they shared a bed, she had an opportunity to repay Amy's kindness more directly. Stealthily, Gwen slid under the covers, and worked the button on Amy's pajama bottoms. Amy stirred as she slid them down, revealing those delicious thighs.

"Hmm... wha-" Her words were cut off by a yip as Gwen began. Amy bent one knee and tried to push herself up to a sitting position, but Gwen took handfuls of her soft flesh and held her in place. "Gwen? It's too early- mmmmm."

Her protests grew weaker, and less convincing. Her body told Gwen everything she needed to know. Eventually Amy was writhing and moaning, arching her back and running her hands through Gwen's hair.

Showered and dressed, Amy finally took her seat at the counter. Gwen handed her a steaming mug, and she yawned as she took it in both hands.

"Want me to cook you breakfast?"

"You were already bad at cooking

before

you stopped being able to taste human food."

"Point taken."

She took a seat next to Amy, propped her head on one arm and watched her. Amy opened one eye, mid sip, and looked down at her. When she set her mug down she said, "Don't stare like that. You already had your breakfast." Realizing her accidental double entendre, she blushed.

"And It was delicious."

That weekend was bliss. The atmosphere in the apartment was electric. Hungry glances, casual contact, and impulsive kisses punctuated the days. At night they held each other as they talked, and in the morning she began each day with a carnal offering of gratitude. Both of them were high on the rush of a new relationship. It wasn't all fun and games though. Amy pointed out that her grades had been slipping, and made her catch up on homework. While it wasn't her first choice of weekend activity, she did the work gladly. Usually she used it as an excuse to ask for a reward. Amy obliged.

Gwen was her guide as she learned the art of pleasure. Like everything she did, she was determined to do it well, and soaked in Gwen's advice and suggestions with a deadly seriousness that contrasted their lewd activities so acutely that it often threatened to send Gwen into riotous laughter. By Sunday Amy had become surprisingly proficient at oral sex. The first time, she'd clumsily lapped until her jaw ached, and she needed to stop. Gwen could use the threads to direct her, as she had with Laura, but Amy requested that she didn't. She wanted to learn it herself.

While Amy sat resting and massaging her jaw, she said, "I wonder if you taste so good because you're a succubus. I don't have a point of comparison, but I doubt this is what humans taste like."

The declaration caught Gwen off guard. She looked up from her phone and broke into a smile as she suggested, "Why don't you taste yourself and compare?"

"No way. Disgusting." Amy blushed at the suggestion.

Gwen played on her curiosity, "You'll never know if you don't try, and I don't see any other humans around here. Besides, it's not like it'll hurt you. And you taste pretty good yourself. For the record."

Watching Amy give in, timidly reach down, and bring two glazed fingers to her mouth lit a fire within Gwen. Amy's eyes met hers. Gwen tossed her phone aside and they became a tangle of limbs. Moaning filled the apartment, along with the scents of sweat, sex, and lust. Much better than cinnamon.

Monday came too soon. The last thing Gwen wanted was to leave Amy's side after being attached at the hip (and every else), for the past two days. Oh well, it was unavoidable. At least Mondays weren't as bad as Friday. There was no chem lab, or Aqua Eco meeting. Plus, she had a date to look forward to that evening. Laura was a problem that needed to be dealt with.

Amy thought she was the only one Gwen fed on, and she wanted to keep it that way. On the one hand, she really did hate lying to Amy. On the other, she knew that Amy alone couldn't satisfy her hunger. Not without reducing Amy to a husk. Even if Gwen didn't need Laura to feed, she'd already done so once, and her hold over Laura wasn't strong enough to keep her quiet forever. Eventually she'd try to get even, and that might reveal her treachery to Amy. Laura's fate was already sealed.

Out of respect for Amy's wishes though, she'd decided not to break Laura. Not the way she wanted. But she still needed the girl solidly under control. Dreamwalking was just the first step. By the time she was done Laura would wholeheartedly believe that their arrangement was what she wanted. Then Gwen wouldn't have to worry. Amy could remain blissfully unaware of the true price of her safety, and they could live together as a normal couple.

Chris found her leaning into the driver's side window of the prius trying to convince Amy to give her a goodbye kiss. Amy wasn't comfortable with their relationship being public knowledge yet. Gwen yearned for it, they would easily be the hottest couple on campus. She craved the jealous stares, and the attention they would demand everywhere they went.

"Sup Gwen. Amy." He gave Amy a nod. Pretending to be casual like he wasn't desperate for her attention like the rest of the male student body.

"Hi Chris."

Amy raised an eyebrow at her and she pushed herself off the car with a huff. Goddammit Chris.

Amy called to her as she began to drive, "I'll see you after class?"

"Uh yeah, I'll be a little late though. I have something to do."

The car stopped. "What is it?"

"Does it matter?"

"Gwen you know..." She glanced at Chris, still within earshot pretending to be reading something on his phone. "Nothing reckless right?"

"Nothing like that. Laura needs me to do some extra work for her stupid ball, that's all." She might as well start laying the groundwork. She'd need an excuse to spend more time with Laura anyways.

"Oh. Okay, well, I'll see you when you get back."

Gwen waved as she drove away.

"Stuck with mega bitch huh?" He meant Laura.

"Yeah. She's not so bad once you learn how to deal with her, though."

"If you say so."

Classes were a breeze. Having actually done her homework, she was finally caught up, and she was pretty sure she nailed a surprise quiz that the professor sprung on them in Calculus. She also found it easier to pay attention. Having gone to the city, she now recognized that everyone's emotions were clouding together the same way in class, but on a much smaller scale. Maybe that's what had distracted her before. Or maybe she was just content now. She had Amy at home, her girlfriend (It still felt unreal that she could call Amy that), and Laura to satisfy her darker urges. Once she made the rules of their interactions clear, and Laura fell in line, her life would be perfect. Not quite human, but not quite demon. One foot in each world, an elegant solution. Who needed slaves, or a bunch of other succubi?

Around three, she was done. On Friday, she'd told Laura to give her the address of her apartment and wait for her there. Laura pointed out that she had class, but Gwen had told her to skip it. Would she? One way to find out. The apartment was a twenty minute walk from the bus stop. Like Amy, Laura had a car. Gwen spent the time going over her plan. She'd need a fair bit of self control to carry it out. Something she was in short supply of these days. She would increase her hold over Laura. Bind her with more threads. Enough to know Laura won't betray her, but not enough to thrall her. Then she would see Laura a few times a week under the guise of club activities, and take energy from her the same way she did with Amy. Rather than leave her a broken wreck, Gwen would take care to do minimal damage to the girl's psyche. Amy would be proud of her kindness.

The apartments were new. Twice as tall as the surrounding buildings, complete with a doorman. Laura had told him to expect her. Strips of soft light lined the 7th floor hallway at even intervals, giving it an almost golden glow, and decorative plants dotted the walls. Real ones too. Those would definitely get stolen in her and Amy's complex. Gold lettering on a heavy wooden door read 714. The chime played a lengthy tune on the other side whe she pressed it. Okay Gwen. Get in, play nice, get out. The door cracked. A freckled face glared at her. Show time.

Gwen mimicked the reassuring smile she wore in Laura's dreams. "Did you miss me?"

Laura took a step back, and Gwen felt a pang of fear and recognition through their lingering, dim connection. Without Laura holding it, the door began to swing itself closed. Gwen caught it and pushed into the apartment, shutting it softly behind her, then turning the lock. Laura had recovered by the time Gwen turned to survey the apartment. It was fancy, no surprise there. Floor to ceiling windows lined an entire wall of the large open living space. White curtains were spread wide, bathing the room in natural light. Dark polished granite counters, recessed lighting, an enormous sectional sofa. A fireplace?! Gwen tapped a booted foot on the floor, and

real

hardwood?

"This place must cost a fortune."

Laura seemed to be bracing for something, but Gwen just stood patiently at the threshold, taking Laura in. Ever the heiress, her outfit seemed picked straight from the cover of a fashion magazine. A light brown cardigan, high waisted skin tight white jeans, and a pair of heels Gwen had never seen before. How often did Laura buy new clothing? A dark winter jacket hung from a nearby coat rack. It matched the outfit perfectly. Laura's auburn hair added a splash of color to the ensemble. Half of it was pulled into a bun, the rest hung loose, carefully curled inward at the tips. Eyeliner flared off in subtle cat tails, and her lips were a shade darker than usual. At least she wasn't wearing those stupid diamond earrings.