Among Demons : Succubus Divine

Ch. 18 : Priceless Fangs

I groaned and flinched away from a bright light that pulled me from my dreams, turning away and nearly slipped off my bed, fully startling myself awake. Cursing softly as I sat up I glanced at my partially cracked curtains and felt confused, realizing that I was in my bedroom entangled in my covers. When I fully recalled the events of the night before, I smiled to myself, rubbing the last of the sleep from my eyes as I got up. A little chuckle left me while I stretched, picturing my brother carrying me to bed and most likely complaining about it the whole time too.

“That’s not what I meant, Nick.”

I froze as I neared my partially cracked door, recognizing Nyla’s hushed voice in my living room.

“I’m just saying that things could turn out differently.” She continued, sounding slightly sleepy and annoyed. “I met Detective Marcus, he’s nice and treats Dev with respect. He doesn’t even look at her like all other men do and she even acts like herself around him.” I flinched a bit, thinking back and wondering if I really was that relaxed around him. “She’s comfortable with him when she’s not second-guessing her every word and action… and I really believe that things could work out if she tries with him… she could finally be happy.”

“But at what cost, Ny?” Nick challenged, his voice hoarse like he had spent some time screaming… or maybe crying. “So she could end up building a bond with him only to have to cut things off in the end? To risk her life every second she spends time with him? Or to watch her fall for that guy, a cop who risks his life every day, just so she could lose him and drown in her pain again?” Something that sounded like silverware rang out as it hit something else and a moment of silence followed before he spoke again. “She nearly died after losing Tony… she was so sick she couldn’t even go to his funeral…” I bit my lip as I heard my brother sniffle and a burning sting returned to my eyes. “I don’t want to see her like that again, Ny.”

Another moment of silence passed, only this one was longer and I wondered if I should take the opportunity to step out and cut into the moment so they wouldn’t be left feeling that heavy dread that those words left behind.

“I know… I know how much you guys have gone through together… and I know that you don’t want Dev to go through any more awful moments like that…” I stopped as Nyla spoke up again, softer this time. “But I also know that you’re only focusing on the bad, Nick.” I could hear him groan as Nyla’s words became louder, forcing Nick to hear her while he slowly continued to groan louder and louder. “That damn Curse doesn’t have to be some inevitably sad and painful end! Yes, the man’s a cop, but that also means that he’s just as skilled at looking after his own life and the life of a partner. They could both be there for each other, have each other's backs and grow closer while they do!”

“This isn’t some damn fairytale, Nyla.” Nick tried to cut in, but she ignored him.

“It doesn’t even need to be a romantic closeness either! You know that!”

“That doesn’t matter!”

“Their bond could grow and she could finally move on from the pain and fear of the past, Nick! You know how much it's all haunted her!”

“She could still end up hurt!”

“Who knows, maybe their bond has already formed and the acknowledgement of the Match has only made things stronger!”

“Then she should quit and forget about him!”

“Devin deserves to be happy, Nick! Not locked up in a state of fear!”

“I’m not losing my sister!!”

Nick's final words were sharp and filled with so much emotion that I struggled to fight back tears again, my legs giving out from under me as I slowly sank to my knees. I hated myself for causing my brother so much pain and anxiety. I hated the fact that he still remembers how broken I had been back then. And I hated myself even more because I relied on him so much to keep myself sane. I counted on him so many times in the decades we shared together that Nick had become tormented with worry, haunted by the memories of me in my lowest points and the many near deaths I managed to survive.

I couldn’t focus on their conversation anymore once I stopped crying, needing to regain my own composure and pulling myself back up again. I slowly moved towards my mirror to make sure that I didn’t look as awful as I felt, I didn’t want to add more worry onto either one of them before finally choosing to step out.

Once they saw me they did their best to act like nothing had happened, even going so far as to say that Nyla had only just arrived. And to avoid having to talk about the massive elephant in the room, I played along, having breakfast with them and even watching a movie. It was pretty obvious to me that they were hoping to make me feel better before they had to leave my place, using any and every excuse to hug me, distract me or make me laugh. So when it was finally time for Nyla and Nick to go back to their respective homes, I smiled brightly at them, feeling more like myself and assuring them that I was alright.

I spent the rest of the day running errands and even stopping by Demon Village to donate some blood for the Vampires within my territory, and sign some paperwork approving financial support on other projects.

When I returned to work I was a bit tense, hoping that I wouldn’t end up making a fool of myself if I ran into Detective Marcus. But I thankfully only saw him in passing and managed to greet him normally without doing or saying anything stupid. I was also surprised with how friendly Daniel started being with me, even in front of other Detectives and cops that walked around the building.

He greeted me loudly when he caught sight of me entering the elevator, chatted about the day and the shock he had felt when he learned that Nyla was my best friend. He even joined me in my office for lunch while asking questions about Demons, genuinely looking and sounding interested and willing to learn.

I was curious as to why he was treating me so differently at work, and was about to ask him as the start of another week came up, but my focus soon moved on to a new case that Detective Marcus had been given. He emailed me the information just as he had with the first and asked me to join his team in the underground parking lot so we could all head to the crime scene. So I gathered my things, locked my office and headed down, joining them as they unlocked the car.

“Do we know what race the victim is?” I asked as I jumped into the backseat.

“The body snatchers think it’s a Vampire, but they’re not sure.” Daniel said, his voice and face taking on a much more serious appearance.

“Why?” I choked out, fighting the blurry image of Anthony’s bloody body from taking over my mind. “Their eyes stay the same after death and their fangs are always visible too.”

“...That’s the problem…” Detective Marcus said, his gray eyes looking back at me through the rearview mirror. “He has no fangs…”

My blood ran cold at his words and I swallowed hard as my mind began to race.

A Vampire's fangs are their most treasured body part because it is their one and only tool for survival since 90% of their diet is blood. Their fangs are also important after death since the surviving family members hold on to the fangs as a token and use them in all sorts of ways to remember their loved one.

But the value of a Vampire's fangs increases within the Demon world if you have knowledge of black magic or if you’re trying to poison an entire bloodline. Potion recipes for high grade healing mixtures can also require fangs but those are only ever requested or made by the family members of the deceased as a way to honor them. So I would need to check the victim's body carefully, because if any other part of the Vampire was taken, along with the fangs, that would mean that someone was planning something extremely dangerous.

And I could be forced to hunt down another of my kind to stop them.

I climbed out of the car as soon as we stopped, seeing the taped off section of a hiking trail that was connected to a park a few yards away. A small group of spectators were being herded by some cops and the Coroner's van was pulled in as close to the tape as possible since it looked like the body was down a hill through a narrow dirt trail. So I followed the Detectives down the path, ignoring the heavy stares of the watching Humans and mentally preparing myself to see the body.

Failing to shove away my memories of Anthony, I stiffened once my eyes locked on the man laying on the dirt.

I stumbled a bit as my eyes tricked me into seeing Tony’s dark blond hair smeared with blood instead of the soft brown that I knew was the victims. I had to blink hard to push away that tormenting memory and focus on the Vampire before me. But when I looked over at the others I stiffened again, catching Detective Marcus watching me before he turned away to speak to one of the cops. I shook myself once more and moved closer to the poor man on the ground, kneeling once I regained control over my own mind and emotions.

I took in his battered and torn appearance as I slipped on some gloves, taking note of some dry blood that was partially concealed by his dirt covered shirt. His fingers were a bright and angry looking pink color, with a few nails missing or broken, as if he were clawing at something desperately. He was barefoot as well and the bottoms of his feet were painfully raw and bloody, covered in cross-crossing knife wounds that spread out over his exposed legs and chest. His face was badly bruised too, with a thick scar dangerously close to his right eye and cutting through his ear. I gently took his head in my hands, silently apologizing to this man before I slowly pried open his mouth, my body freezing once again as I looked inside.

To any Human or uneducated Demon, this man would look normal since there were no gaps holding the place of a missing tooth. But if one knows where to look, just above the average canine teeth that most all Humans have, one would find the torn gums that are left behind from the fangs of a Vampire.

“He’s a Vampire…” I confirmed quietly, glancing over to find Danny watching me carefully as I continued looking at the man.

I looked closer and noticed that his nails weren’t just damaged from clawing at something. In fact, a fair few of the missing ones looked to have been carefully removed from his hands. And when I looked closer at his chest and barefeet I found some bloody outlines of a near perfect circle pressed up against the wounds. Almost as if a crappy jar or container of some sort had been placed there… most likely to collect blood.

“Shit.” I hissed, moving quickly to his head again and looking at his hair, finding a couple patches where his locks had been cut extremely close to his scalp.

“s**t, s**t, shit.” I got up and went over to the evidence bags that were being gathered and stacked next to a tree.

I looked through the clear bags, searching for the man's wallet before pulling it out and looking inside.

“What is it?” Detective Marcus asked, appearing close behind me and making me jump a little.

“I need to know his Birth and Physical age.” I answered, pausing when I felt the atmosphere around me change.

Looking up, I nearly laughed when I found every Human frozen in place with identical looks of confusion and curiosity. And the situation only became more comical when a few of the cops all turned to look at the body simultaneously.

“Ok, so, everyone knows that Vampires are kind of immortal in the sense that they age differently than us, right?” I started, smiling when a few people nodded in response. “Well, what most don’t know is that Vampires are actually able to control the aging of their bodies once they reach Maturity.”

“Right!” Danny cut in, smiling to himself as he spoke. “I remember you telling me how some Demons gain power when they reach a certain age or have some big physical change happen.”

I nodded, feeling strangely proud that he had actually paid attention to me.

“Exactly. And Vampires grow out their fangs when they reach Maturity.” I frowned a little as I looked at the man as he was being loaded into a body bag. “So, if, for example, I was a Vampire and I reached Maturity at the age of nineteen, I could then freeze my body so that it stays like that for as long as I want.” I chuckled a little as a few Humans eyes widened a bit, their minds beginning to spin as they, no doubt, wondered about the possibilities. “This means that Vampires have two ages they keep track of; their Birth age and their Physical age.” I looked back down at the man's wallet and nodded to myself, taking note of the age he used on his license. “Their Birth age is exactly as it sounds, tracking every year that passes from the moment they’re born. And their Physical age is the age they chose to freeze their bodies, which is typically the one they use for important documents.” I said, waving the license in my gloved hand.

“This man had stopped aging at 26, but I also need to know his Birth age.” Muttering the last part to myself, I racked my brain for the few methods I knew that would reveal a Vampires Physical age, silently hoping that we would find a relative that would be able to shed some light for us.