Bitter Submission

      |Øňê|                                      |Ľūxîņā|                                                                         The sounded of pages flipping was the only sound to be heard. So... many pages. Ugh. The bane of my existence. Why can't everyone just use Google to edit? And who writes so much? I love editing up and coming authors' works but it gives headaches sometimes. Especially when some books I edit are absolutely terrible. It's one thing to have a crappy book with potential, but it's completely different to have one that's just ink on paper.  Hey, I get paid for it, so I shouldn't be complaining. Although, even if people had nothing to complain about, somehow, they would find the stupidest thing to complain about. It's just natural. Human. I tipped back in my chair and stretched, my black skirt riding up in the process. The rotating fan across my office rotated in my direction. The breeze passed through my legs and near my womanhood. I shivered. Geez, I needed to get laid soon. Before I started trying to seduce the fan. I sat up and straightened my skirt. Walking towards my door, I opened it and stared at my assistant working at the desk.    "Lux-- I mean Ms. Steele!" My assistant sighed in relief, "Please tell me you're not going on lunch right now." I lifted my head and raised a brow in confusion. "Kimi," I sighed, "you know you can call me by my first name. Why don't you want me to go to lunch?" My assistant, Kimi Jameson, scurried over to me. "Uh okay, Lux, you have two visitors. One is Mrs. Dremel again. And the other is persistent in requesting a meeting with you. He says he goes by the name Jesse Drake. I've threatened to call security multiple times to prevent him from coming into your office." I stared at the little petite blonde with a smirk. Her breasts were suffocating inside her white button-down shirt. The buttons seemed like they were about to pop off. My eyes traveled up her neck and chin, then landed on her plump bow-shaped lips. She chose a light pink gloss color today. Interesting. Kimi's brown doe eyes looked up at me from under her red square rimmed glasses. She looked docile today, as she did every day.  Kimi seemed to be awaiting my answer. I placed my hand on her shoulder and addressed her. "Tell him to come back tomorrow. Make sure all my slots are filled though. I rather not meet this unknown man. And Mrs. Dremel, bring her in. I'll make sure she won't bother you anymore." I was used to people coming in and always requesting to see me. All of them wanted their books edited and published by me. There was a waiting list, they needed to wait. It was time to teach them that. "Yes, ma'am." She walked towards her desk that was positioned outside my door. I sighed and walked back into my office. Once I situated myself, I pressed the PA system and asked for Mrs. Dremel to come in.     Maybe I should call for a special appointment, I mused, smirking to myself. Or maybe not. That made me seem desperate. Luxinia Steele, the CEO of Steele and Co. publishing, in need of a male or female prostitute. Yeah no. Not going to go there. There was a soft knock at the door and in came Mrs. Dremel. She was a short woman with bird-like features. She had to be some sort of supernatural with her features that were way too sharp. She walked towards the seat as I motioned for her to sit in the chairs in front of my desk. She sat down as if she was sitting on a perch.  "Good afternoon Mrs. Dremel, I remember when we last met I had told you that I would call you later in the upcoming weeks for an appointment. Is there any concerns with that arrangement the reason why you are here today?" Mrs. Dremel nodded. "I'm sorry to come unannounced, but this is more than just my book. A group of men came to my apartment yesterday evening asking about you. At first, I thought it was the Elder Consul about my citizen status since I transferred from the Seelie court but..."  I leaned forward, my gaze on her sad, hollow green eyes. "Did they do anything to you?" She nodded slowly. "They had a presence about them. They made me feel... turned on." I cursed under my breath. "Incubus." Mrs. Dremel let out a big breath. "But why do they want to ask me questions? Why don't they just ask you first?" "They will," I stood up, "Thank you, Mrs. Dremel, for taking the time to talk to me." I followed her out of my office. She stood up ramrod straight and stared at a tall man sitting in the waiting room. His head was down so I was unable to see what he looked like. "Him," she whispered, "I can smell him." I put on my widest smile and grabbed Mrs. Dremel's hand. "Thank you so much. I'll call you Thursday to discuss further details about your manuscript." Mrs. Dremel's face brightened up. "Really?" I nodded, pushing her towards the elevator. I turned to Kimi. "Now I'm going to lunch. If this mystery man Jesse Drake acts up again call supernatural security." She nodded, her eyes narrowing in on the man sitting there.  I walked towards the elevator, hoping to catch Tessa before she left for lunch. She needed to know that the incubi were personally looking for me. It could put us all in danger.  The doors opened on Tessa's floor. Stepping out of the elevator, my eyes scanned the area for a short redhead running around. I spotted her talking to a coworker. I approached the two slowly, trying to hear what they were talking about. "It's not going to happen like that. You know that Alex," Tessa snapped. "Look at this, a succubus giving me attitude, where's your owner? You and I both know If any more come to New York, which they will, they'll take over. Do you think that the succubi have it bad now? Just you wait, the lot of you all will be dead. And when you are all dead and you're the only one left don't say that the cambions didn't warn you!" Alex snapped, looming over Tessa. I cleared my throat, walking next to Tessa. I smiled, exposing my teeth that were slowly morphing into my succu-form. "What are we talking about?" Tessa smirked. "You know--politics, the impending doom of New York. The non-coincidental increase of Incubi and female homicides in the area." "You shouldn't be talking about that stuff in this place. You'll alarm the humans," I warned. Tessa folded her arms. "Tell that to Alex." I turned to Alex. "They know better than to attract attention to themselves, especially with the Demon Consul in place. Unless, Alex, you are implying that there is a plot to overrun them?" "The Demon Consul only cares about one thing; humans." Alex sneered, "They will never get involved. As long as the humans are alive, everything is fine right? Ignorant f*****g bitches, the both of you." I glared at him. He was lucky there were humans around. I leaned forward to him, close enough that my lips grazed his ear. Damn cambions, thinking that they were in charge of all succubi. I was grateful for my height at that moment. "If you ever call me an ignorant b***h, I'll personally make sure your life is a living hell. Do you think that Tessa and I won't hurt you? Or that the Incubus Consul will care about someone like you? I think you forgot about what happened to your brother." Alex took a step back and gave me a pained expression. "No. I didn't." "Then I suggest you walk away from us now," I said, quietly, trying not to pull in anyone's attention. Alex nodded, walking stiffly away from Tessa and me.  Tess chuckled and shoved me softly. "That was wrong and you know that." I smirked and shrugged. "Let's go eat. If I don't have any kind of sustenance in me right now, I'll take everyone down in this room with me." Tessa shook her head. "I bet you would love that." I winked at her as we walked into the elevator. -=-=- After a while of wandering around in Manhattan, we finally decided to go into a diner in which Tessa all but begged me to go in. I frowned as I walked in. "Why do I feel like we blasted into the Jetson's?"  Tessa laughed. "It looks futuristic, that's cool." I took a seat in the uncomfortable metal chair. It was misshapen, trying to look more eccentric. More uncomfortable than interesting, I thought. "What are we getting?" I asked, looking around the place for the waiters. Tessa looked around. "I'm feeling chicken-y." I raised a brow. "Chicken-y?" Tessa smiled and sat up straighter as the waiter approached us with menus. He was a tall kid with a cherub face and big wire-framed glasses--he didn't look a day over eighteen. "Why, hello there... Jake," Tessa leaned in closer to him to read his nametag. Jake's eyes widened.  "H-hello, welcome to ZoomEats, what you like to order?" He said it as if he rehearsed the line over and over again to get it right.  "Hmm, how juicy is the chicken? Is it done well?" Tessa asked, placing her hand lightly on the waiter's arm. Suddenly his back was ramrod straight and his face began to turn red.  "Uh..." he trailed off, his eyes zeroing in on Tessa. Tessa was letting out her s*x pheromones, energy that gave us the power the seduce humans and some cambion. Incubi weren't susceptible to our abilities. I glared at her. "Stop. No humans remember?"  Tessa stuck out her tongue. "Just a taste." The waiter stared at Tessa as if he was going to strip her down and take her right there. "No, you can't." I raised my head and suddenly Tessa's pheromones stopped, freeing the waiter from her hold. I felt a jolt of warmth flow through my body and it left as quick as it came. I took a deep breath, trying to act normal. The waiter snapped out of his lustful trance. He looked confused at first, but then once Tessa spoke, he relaxed slightly. Tessa looked shocked, turning from the boy to me. "Uh, I'll have a chicken and bacon wrap with everything in it."' The boy nodded with force, writing it down quickly. "And for you?" I frowned, finding food unappealing to me. A succubus didn't necessarily need food in order to sustain themselves, but this poor boy already went through the wringer with Tess. "I'll have a salad." The boy nodded. "And to drink?" I rolled my eyes, wishing he would go away quickly. "Waters. Thanks." The waiter half smiled and walked away.  I scooted forward. "What the f**k is wrong with you?" Tessa narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean? He would've been fine." I shook my head. "That's a risk we can't take. I know how we all feel about the Demon Consul, but it's when we get sloppy that they come. We can't afford that," I said, getting ready to tell her about the Incubi searching for me, "Next time you need to stop it earlier. It's too much of a risk." "Fine, but I wasn't the one that stopped it. It was you." I laughed, shaking my head. "No, I didn't." Ridiculous. "Lux! You did. I didn't pull in my s*x energy, you absorbed it!" The waiter came back with our orders faster than I had ever seen. I'm sure he was excited to please his new love. He smiled as he placed the plate in front of her. "Enjoy." Tessa grabbed her wrap and took a large bite. "It's delicious," She mumbled in between bites. I looked at my salad and watched her enjoy her wrap. I wanted to see why she was so enamored with it.  "I want a piece," I whined, my eyes glued to her sandwich. "No one told you to order a salad," Tessa laughed and fed me a piece of bacon instead of chicken. She knew me so well. I always preferred bacon over chicken. Tessa chomped down on the chicken sandwich. She raised her head and stared at me. "What are we going to do about what Alex said?" Tessa asked.      "There's nothing we can do. What makes you think the incubi will listen to us?" I replied. "Which leads onto something else. The incubi are looking for me." "What?" Tessa leaned forward, looking around. "Why? Is it the whole Dom situation again? That was so long ago and you told them everything! Or did they find out you finally got your powers?" "I know. We're fine. Everything is okay. They don't know about that, trust me. We'll talk to Jamie. You two need to tone it down now. No PDA. We don't need to give them a reason to draw their attention from me," I explained. "I don't want them taking you," Tessa's eyes met with mine, concern and worry in them. I folded my hands. "Don't worry. Everything will be fine. They won't take me. And if they do take me, it'll probably be for the skill test. As long as I'm claimed with Jamie I'll be fine." All teenage succubi would take a test to see how powerful they were. Based on their powers, they would pair off the right succubus to the right incubus.  Tessa took a deep breath, deflating her posture in the process. It took a lot for us to relax like that. "You know the Incubatti Consul hates you, Lux," Tessa chuckled. I smiled, glad that I was able to make her feel better. "So? Call Jamie. He can help us. I'll turn their attention from us, see if I can distract them with cambion activity," Jamie Le Iona was an incubus, but he was one of the good ones. Which was rare. It was hard to find allies within the incubi fold, but Jamie was an old friend of mine and he helped me more times than I could count. I trusted him. I munched on my salad, thinking about what Alex had mentioned. It wasn't like him to speak freely about things like that. If humans were dying all of a sudden due to incubi population increase, our elders--the Demon Consul--would not be happy. And when the elders weren't satisfied, no one was. They wouldn't hesitate to obliterate a whole supernatural race if it protected the humans. Hell, I shouldn't even be concerned. In everyone's eyes, I'm a half-assed succubus. My powers didn't come in during puberty like everyone else's instead, they came in recently, but the incubi didn't know that and it would stay that way. They thought I was powerless, hence why they let Jamie claim Tessa and me.  Little do they know, I operate as a full-fledged succubus. They think I'm not able to shift into my succu-form, which is our original form, the way Hell intended. We take on our human form in the human world, due to the rules the Demon Consul has in place.  "Lux? Did you hear what I said?" Tessa poked my cheek. I raised my head. "What?" "We're leaving now, Jamie just texted saying that the Incubatti council wants to speak with us." Tessa stood up and threw out her wrapper. Her eyes were wide with fear. I followed her. "Why would that council actually request my presence?" I mused, wondering why they would call me to them. The incubi chased, not requested.  "I don't know." This didn't bode well.