The following story is of my own creation. Please do not reproduce or distribute without my permission.
Chameleon
by Angie McKaig
"Tell me about her." said the man in the shadows.
"I don’t know if I should."
"You came here at great risk to yourself. Obviously you have something to say. Tell me."
Anxious breath spilled from pale lips as the story began. "She had what you’d call a dangerous beauty, I guess. Her skin was the colour of honey and just as sweet. Her eyes were black velvet, so deep you could jump in and never touch bottom. Long black hair that hung like a shadow to her waist. And a smile that could tempt a man straight to hell." Jack smiled bitterly as he lit a cigarette. "But what a way to go.
"She could change in the blink of an eye, become anything you wanted. Anything that turned you on. Her body was sleek and curved in all the right places. And talented! Lordy, those lips of hers nearly drove me out of my mind. She could make it last forever. Near the end, she went so wild that she damn near killed me. Drooling. Growling." Memories made him shudder. "Her nails were razor sharp, hot. They ripped at my back. She bit my shoulder so deep I bled. I didn’t even notice, I was so far gone. So hot. I came so hard, it felt like dying. Coming back from that was like coming back from the dead. When I could lift my head I looked down at her. She was grinning. There was blood all over her teeth, smeared across her lips. She just kept smiling at me. Then - oh shit, I can’t. It sounds like I was on drugs, or worse."
"Tell me." said the man in the shadows.
"You won’t believe me. I don’t even believe me."
"Finish the story."
Jack shook his head. " She was grinning at me and not moving and then - oh God - her eyes started changing. I can’t even describe it. They got smaller, turned almost a yellow colour. I could see the fires burning within them. A horrible laugh escaped from her lips and then - she - there was this awful, terrible slithering beneath me and she was gone. I started screaming when I realized a bat - a bat for chrissakes - was circling my head. I threw my hands up because I mean it looked like it was going to go straight for my eyes. I screamed again and it fluttered out the window."
"You believe she turned into a bat?" The man in the shadows. Calmly.
"Either that or I dreamed the whole bloody thing. But then, how do you explain this?" Jack pulled his shirt away to expose his mangled right shoulder. Deep teeth marks surrounded a circle of red, puffy flesh. Some of the teeth marks where blood had pooled were nearly black. "And this?" he added, turning to painfully expose his raw back. The angry red welts were raised and dotted with blood. Pus wept from one of the deeper scratches.
The man in shadows simply raised his eyebrows. After pulling his shirt back down, Jack spoke again. "You wanted to know."
The man nodded. He stared over the whisky glass into the darkened corners of the room. Jack watched him expectantly.
"Well?" Jack probed, impatient. "What do you think?"
The man continued to sit in silence. Seconds ticked into minutes and Jack felt strands of fear pull at him. He sat, tense, ready to take flight. His nerves were screaming. The man before him was nearly as frightening as the woman in his bed last night. Jack hadn’t wanted to come to him. There just hadn’t been any other choices. Not after last night. Not after the pain.
"All right." The gravelly voice had the effect of a gunshot on Jack, and he jumped.
"Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Very sure." Jack replied. And he was.
"Then there are some things you have to realize first." The man in the shadows spoke with quiet authority. "What we are about to enter into is a very dangerous realm. No longer are we speaking of realities; now, the supernatural is involved and therefore many unknown factors come into play here.
"Last night, as you have likely surmised, you were not with one of your own, so to speak. In fact, you were with what is generally referred to as a succubus, a sexual vampire in female form. She derives as much nourishment from painful sexual encounters as a ‘normal’ vampire would derive from blood. Unfortunately for you, a succubus follows many of the same guidelines as a vampire. Once you have invited her into your home, she will continue to come and go as she pleases. She must be stopped."
Jack stared at the man. From the shadows, his eyes had begun to glow with an eerie, persuasive light. Jack could not look away.
"Do you understand all this?" the man asked.
Jack nodded. Fear and hope warred in his stomach.
"Then this is what you must do." The man in the shadows began to outline the best course of action.
Jack shivered.
Jack put his hands behind his head, willing himself to relax. His heart was beating much too quickly. Night had fallen several hours ago, and gut instinct told Jack that the time would be soon. Nervous sweat poured down his face in rivulets, partly from fear and partly from the heat of the sultry summer night. It made his torso slick and wet. He lay there like bait, a sensuous trap, enticing and somehow ominous.
A cooling breeze came through the window and lifted the gauzy curtains. Slices of moonlight cut through the blinds and made strips across his chest.
Suddenly the air shifted, so subtly it was barely noticeable. But it was there, all the same. Jack tensed.
And he waited.
"Jaaack…. Jaaack…"
The words came to him in a taunting whisper. He arched from the bed, feeling angelic hands on him, surrounding him. The voice that floated above, however, was far from angelic.
"I’m ready. I’m waiting." One of the soft hands took his and guided it to the devil’s core. Fire enveloped his body and it tightened in a rush. Temptation flowed like honey in his veins. Anticipation surged through him. Vainly he tried to keep his mind on the man’s orders. As he felt her lips, his entire body jerked. He closed his eyes and moaned softly. The plan was forgotten.
"God." He rasped, and reached for her. Everything was lost in the rush downward to hell and fire and passion. Heat racked his body. Intense pleasure mingled with pain in a delicious wave and Jack clenched his teeth against crying out.
As he reached the edge, a fear stole over him. A very real fear. A fear so strong that to began to gather in his throat and threatened to choke him. It wasn’t anything she said, or anything she did, it was an instinctive, almost primal fear. It grasped him until he was trembling, not only from passion but from terror as well. He was nearing the edge, and he strained for it until the cords stood out on his neck and he was grunting with the effort.
He looked through half slitted eyes to see the girl watching him intently, her eyes wide open, her hair wild, her teeth glinting whitely in a shaft of moonlight.
Ice struck his heart.
A consummation. As his body arched in climax, the girl lowered her head and sank her teeth into his neck. He bled and she drank, until his body was limp and still on the sheets, and she was flushed and warm from his life’s blood. She licked her lips in a travesty of passion, savoring the unique taste of him, and turned toward the figure that had been standing in the window the entire time.
"My Master." the woman breathed. "How did I do?"
Fanglike teeth glowed, luminescent, as the man in the shadows smiled.
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