Succubus Love

Visions

Before Josey could release her held breath, the cook rang the bell to start dinner. The three made their way to the dining table in complete silence. After the meals were served, Freda asked about her cravings and how the babies were doing. Josey talked about how great their cooks dewberry cream cheese was and the names they had decided on. Sauti was excited. He adored the name Amasai. They talked about general things that brought happiness to their lives. That was one thing her parents never strayed from. Dinner time was food and happiness.  

As their meal came to an end, Josey could feel the weight of reality readjusting itself on her shoulders. “Since we have a lot to talk about, let's sit on the patio.” Sauti commanded. It was cool outside, with a warm breeze. Nothing about Nethersigh’s weather seemed real. Sauti and Freda got comfortable on their cushioned bench and prepared to continue where they left off.

“You ready?” Sauti asked Josey. She nodded for him to proceed.

“So of course my news that you were going to be with Cofer did not go over so well. BUT you are their queen so they didn’t have any choice in the matter. I am sure they gave that same news to their respective Kings. Kings that looked forward to their grandchild being the Emperor of Yanrana… The look on your face makes me believe that you know that Yanrana has never had an emperor at least not in a hundred lifetimes. So you took something from them that they would gladly kill you for if they weren’t already expecting you to ascend.”

Josey almost felt bad for changing the course of history for her motherland.

“Well that's behind us, kinda..we will come back to that though. The second vision was regarding your pregnancy. Everyone knows you are having twins and that only one will be a descendant. That in itself is unheard of. We have only given birth to other pure descendants. That vision has prompted the council from Yanrana and Sambofah to meet.”  Sauti went into his pocket and pulled out a message hologram. 

“I received this from my brother. He said that he looked forward to meeting the Queen that will give birth to their new Emperor. He says something in this message that. . . . is tearing me apart inside. I already knew they would take Amasai. I figured they would only give us his first year. I was prepared to spend as much time with him as humanly possible until then. But that’s not why my heart is filled with pain.” Before Sauti could finish speaking, Freda started crying.

“Dad, what’s wrong?”

Sauti struggled to keep his tears in, “In the message Satty said that they could feel your soul ascending and to give his condolences to the Vampire King.”

Josey quickly stood up. “What!?”

“Please sit. My third vision came this afternoon. Sueli was a sand statue on the beach. Parts of her were falling away and mixing back in with the other sand. I think the vampires also saw this vision. More than a handful came to the manor to ask about your well being.”

“But I have a human growing inside of me?!?” Josey yelled.

“I’m afraid…” Sauit stopped his thought and changed his message, “Me and your mom have been studying ancient readings. We will find a way to anchor your human soul to this world OR you can start dating again? There is time to fall in love or win the heart of another human. Maybe, just maybe, it's time to give up on Valin.”

Sauti hated saying those words. He knew they were insanely attached to Valin.

Josey stood up. She felt like she had to vomit. She staggered towards the door but the fluid was expelled prematurely. Freda and Sauti held her hair back and her body up. She understood the gravity of her father’s words. “Only they would be able to see Amasai for his first year. She would not. Yanrana was already preparing for her death after the birth of her children. In between emptying her stomach, she was gasping for air. Everyone had foreseen her death. [Cofer]

This had to also include Cofer. 

—--

After the most tiring 24 hours of them all, day after day seemed to go off without a hitch. They were making good time and there were no signs of the Cataha clan that evening. The gargoyles slept while he found himself watching the weird animals of the forest. Nothing could make him feel at ease in the slightest. He may have made the biggest mistake of his life. And there was no way to fix it without making even more complex mistakes.

Cofer put his head down. His vision of his wife deteriorating and falling apart on that beach left his heart unsteady. The despair it made him feel, made him want to give up all hope. There was only one person that could fix this. Josey. It took Valin’s death and Josey’s several near death experiences, for the most obvious of solutions to come to him. She only had to find someone to fall in love with before Valin fell completely out of love with her. She was choosing to die, whether she understood that or not.

After Valin almost died, he worked with Josey’s parents to understand the anchoring process. He had already had questions, especially since Josey was now immortal. She had to be able to  transition between lovers. The result was, “as long as the love was true”. But her father also said that it was rare for any Sambofahn to love more than one human. They either embraced every human's love or they gave one human their love. 

“So what does that mean for me?” Cofer thought to himself. Those words re-opened a door that allowed doubt to flow into his heart.  He knew that only applied to Sambofahn’s, who were not vessels for a succubus ancestor. They only had one soul. A soul that neither belonged in the dream realm or the human realm.

Cofer sighed then rolled his eyes. He was thinking about his shortcomings when it mattered the least. 

 They were over a week into one of the most grueling trips he had ever been on. His long years of sitting behind a desk were starting to show.  He wanted to be sitting somewhere drinking a spot of tea, eating dark chocolate, and reading a good book. [This s**t is for the birds.]  

Daghaud called out to Cofer. They were almost to the riff. The riff was the anomaly that made the forests of Milv, one step closer to hell. Demon’s moved freely through the riff. They were normally small and they didn’t seek a fight with mankind. Every now and then they would do something mischievous like  kidnapping entire families. 

Cofer snapped out of his thoughts and moved towards Daghaud’s voice. Their short break was coming to an end. By the time he reached him, Daghaud had fallen to his knees. He held his throat. ‘Cofer’ had been the only word he could muster as the swelling in mouth escalated. Dagaud was breathing hard. There were darts sticking out of his back. For a brief moment Cofer was completely dumbfounded. The warm breeze wisping through the evil forest pushed through his hair. He jumped backwards away from Dagaud. He couldn’t believe he was unable to detect the enemy. While his body glided through the air,  his eyes focused and shifted through the trees and the tall grassy areas. Without hesitation he swung his hand to cast out his razor sharp beams at the slightest aura of bloodlust he felt coming from the high grassy area.

He landed on a branch watching the area intensely. When the grass parted, several sets of heads parted with it. Fear struck him like boulders. Not only could he not sense them, he couldn’t see them. Before he could jump higher into the trees, a barrage of needles struck him in the back. 

His body went numb. He felt like ice cold water was rushing through his veins. He had felt this feeling before. “Devil’s Fruit…” was the last thing he could think about as he fell into the deep darkness of the forest..