So Bethany Malmain Sterling was one formidable woman even at her present advanced age, though she refused to divulge the actual number. She’d also, in her youth, been one very hot babe, with cool blond hair and dangerous blue eyes. I wish I’d known her then. But I’m damned lucky to know her now.
“A demon,” I repeated. “This is new? The city has plenty of them, starting on Wall Street.”
“This isn’t a joke, David,” she said with mild reproof. “The—entity—is no metaphor, but a malicious non-corporeal being. A demon that feeds on human energy. Have all the victims been male?” When I nodded, she said, “So it’s a succubus.”
“A succubus,” I repeated. “Ooooo-kay. At least that would explain why the men were smiling.”
She judged the tea had steeped long enough and poured the steaming liquid into the mugs. Then, knowing me, she added a dollop of rare and expensive Highland single malt to my tea. “There are worse ways to die, but I imagine that most of the creature’s victims would prefer to live.”
I took a long, appreciative swig of tea and whiskey. “Is there any way to get rid of this demon, or will it keep feeding indefinitely?”
“I don’t know. I was about to do a search on magematrix.net when you thundered in here.”
“Good idea.” I took my mug and the plate of scones and followed her to her desk.
She opened her laptop and used her fingerprint ID to enter magematrix.net. The site is a very, very private database and social network for Guardians, who are spread all over the world these days. I don’t think there is a better source of information on magic and impossible events anywhere—though I’m not sure. Any equivalent stash of knowledge would be just as secret.
Lady Beth typed “succubus” into the search engine, then scrolled through the results. “Not a very large entry,” she murmured. “Some of this data goes back centuries.”
I peered over her shoulder to read. The oldest entries had been translated into modern English, with links to the original text if someone wanted to consult that. “So these demons steal human life force through dream sex until they become powerful enough to acquire physical bodies.”
She clicked through to a section of original text. “This seventeenth century report claims that sex demons are escapees from hell. They long to acquire human bodies because that makes the pleasure of their wickedness so much more powerful.”
“How do we get rid of this one?”
“A sufficiently powerful mage might be able to dismiss a sex demon from the body it’s taken over, but there are no details.” Bethany started clicking links at the bottom of the page to see if they led anywhere interesting.
“So maybe we could do an exorcism, if we knew how. This is beginning to sound like a low rent horror film.”
“Truth is stranger than fiction,” she murmured. “The earliest account says that when the demon is dismissed from the body it inhabits, it’s sucked down to hell forever.”
“No way of checking that part, of course.”
Lady Beth leaned back in her computer chair and eyed the computer thoughtfully. “Our ancestors were happy to assume demons came from hell, but today we want different explanations. These beings are quite rare. Are they space aliens? From another dimension that lies along side this one? Or have we been watching too much Star Trek?”
“Probably,” I said pragmatically. “A parallel dimension is just as much jargon as saying these critters are from hell. Let’s bag this one before we worry about tagging it.”
Her silver brows arched. “Time to scout out the demon?”
“The sooner the better,” I agreed.
Bethany nodded and swiveled her chair to face me so we could hold hands. We always did this for particularly difficult cases. As I touched her thin, slightly arthritic fingers in mine, I felt energy spark between us. It’s been amazing to work with Lady Beth. Certain Guardian talents follow gender, and most hunters are male. But Bethany could hunt with the best of us.
I closed my eyes and visualized a map of the city. The mental image was like an aerial photo, enhanced by my own experience of many of those streets. When I had visited the scenes of the suspicious deaths, I’d picked up traces of disturbing energy, and with Bethany’s help, that came sharply into focus. “There’s a nasty, twisted red energy spike not far away. Can you feel it?”
“That’s our demon,” Lady Beth said, all cool, focused hunter. “And she’s become very powerful. Let me see if I can learn more.…”
I felt my partner’s energy stretch out as delicately as a budding flower—and faster than thought, her probe was seized like a swimmer chomped by a killer crocodile. Lady Beth tried to yank free, but the scarlet energy roared hungrily along the trail and stabbed into us like a lightning bolt. Bethany screamed and I blacked out, every cell in my body shocked as if I was being electrocuted.
I regained awareness to find that we’d both been blasted to the floor. Bethany lay beside me, her face paper white and blood splashed around her. “Lady Beth!”
As I scrambled up, I saw the blood was pouring from a vicious slash in her left arm. I grabbed a tea towel and turned it into an impromptu tourniquet. At the same time, I gave a furious mental shout, “Charlie!”
My younger brother Charlie is my best friend except for Lady Beth. He’s also the most powerful Guardian healer in New York, and he works as an ER resident in a hospital only a few blocks away.
My mind touched his and I felt his fatigue. He was just leaving work after a twenty-four hour shift, and more than ready to get home to his apartment and his gorgeous Guardian fiancée. But he came alert when we connected. Sensing his question, I shot back, ”Lady Beth, her place, she’s hurt bad!”
It wasn’t really telepathy, and not really words, but we knew each other so well that he understood the gist of it. “On my way!” echoed in my mind.
