Chapter 9: The Final Betrayal

When Calyndi awoke the next morning, she was once again lying in the middle of the graveyard, the sun pounding at her eyes and her body weak from loss of blood, her sex still quivering from the many climaxes that she'd felt. But this time there was no flutter in her chest at the thought. Devin had been cruel, forcing her at first to pleasure him with her mouth while offering her nothing in return. Then, as if to further prove his power over her, he had taken her from behind, commanding her to climax as soon as she felt the urge – never allowing her to build towards some larger ecstasy – not allowing her any sense of control. By the time he pulled her to his chest, her head lolling backwards against his shoulder to drink of her blood she was too tired to even fully enjoy the sensation of his teeth sending her over the edge.

Calyndi let her arm fall across her face, blocking out the searing light of day, and doing so reminded her of the previous morning when Linki had helped her leave the graveyard. Linki. The irony was that, rather than feeling betrayed, Calyndi felt a strange sort of pride in Linki's actions. For too long her friend had assumed a human guise, integrating herself into the lives and emotions of the mortal inhabitants of the city. For too long, Calyndi had underestimated her, assuming that this love of humans meant that Linki was taking on their inherent weakness; losing that edge that made life as a succubus so rewarding.

But Calyndi had been horribly, tragically wrong. Linki had, in fact, proven herself quite worthy of the succubus title, even outmaneuvering Calyndi in her desire to satisfy her lust. The only part of it that truly hurt Calyndi was the notion that Linki would settle for their only having sex one time, unless she and Devin had some kind of arrangement to loan Calyndi out from time to time.

But that seemed unlikely. Linki, after all, was a vampire now, and vampires were notoriously territorial with others of their kind. In fact, Calyndi was somewhat surprised that Devin would even agree to bring another vampire into the world unless he could control her. To be willing to create a new rival just to acquire Calyndi as a slave spoke to how much the ancient vampire wanted her, and in that, Calyndi felt an odd and revolting pride.

But what she didn't feel, at least not yet, was complacence. Judging by the sun, it was not yet midday, which meant she had a good seven hours before Devin could awaken and assert his control over her once more. That gave her seven hours to figure out how to free herself.

She tried to stand, but the weakness in her knees from the passion of the previous night mixed with the loss of blood the past two nights left her weak and it took her almost a full minute before she could rise from the grass. That made her first order of business clear – before she even thought about trying to break Devin's spell she first needed to feed. Just the thought of it awakened the hunger within her, and she focused all of her remaining strength into prowling out of the graveyard while struggling to focus on maintaining a human form.

She found an abandoned alley just half a block from the graveyard's gates and quickly coaxed a young and unsuspecting man to join her there. He was attractive enough, and in different circumstances would have enjoyed the slow and erotic buildup of passions that made the eventual meal so delightfully sweet. But this time, she simply needed to feed, and to feed quickly.

Once he had come to the alley she wasted no time – pushing him to the pavement and undoing his pants. He started to struggle, taken aback by this beautiful woman's sudden aggressiveness, but the moment she placed her mouth upon his member the perfection of sensation she provided slowed him down. Calyndi gave up any pretense of hiding what she was, letting her wings spread out behind her and her hair take on its natural green color. In the light of day, she left little doubt as to her otherworldly origin, and even through the haze of his arousal the young man reared up, pulling away from the sight before him.

Calyndi couldn't let him escape, but was too hungry to bother with a full-fledged trance. She pushed with her mind just enough to freeze him in his tracks – the fear would make the meal more substantial anyway. With her prey subdued, she resumed her pleasuring of his manhood – employing her lips and tongue in all the ways she knew would drive him wild. She never enjoyed pleasing a man in that way, yet here she was doing it twice in only a few hours. She was desperate to regain her strength as soon as possible, and this would be the fastest way to sustenance.

Sure enough, the young man, despite the intensity of his growing fear, responded quickly to her touch, and it wasn't long before he was on the brink of climax. Just before she pushed him over the ledge she raised her wings in a long and dark arch above them both and took on the most menacing pose she could manage, spiking his fear at the same moment that, with a final swirl of her tongue, she brought his pleasure to a similar peak. As she tasted him bursting inside of her mouth, she fed, the sourness of intense but unripe pleasure mixing with the bitterness of fear to create a nauseating blend of flavors, but she consumed them nonetheless, draining the young man dry and satisfying her hunger.

When it was over she took to the sky, leaving the young man to sort out what had just happened and what to make of it all. The sun was still beating down on her, hurting her eyes and skin as she made her way to the one place she could think to go: Linki's house.

When she arrived in the cave, though, it was empty. Calyndi wasn't entirely sure how a vampire established her base, so she had hoped Linki would be here, but nothing had been disturbed since the previous day.

Calyndi couldn't help but think back to that day – to the longing look Linki had given her as she nursed Calyndi so tenderly and lovingly. Could her friend really have betrayed her just for one night of sex? The more Calyndi thought about it the less believable it seemed – though a succubus craved physical pleasure, as a species they were nothing if not calculating, and surely Linki must have realized that Calyndi's soul was worth more than just one night. Calyndi couldn't figure out why her friend would settle for only a single encounter. Not even her desire to be a vampire could explain that.

Shaking her head, Calyndi tried to get her mind back on the real task at hand: escaping Devin's control. Linki had a few tomes of lore in a stack against one wall, and Calyndi was surprised to find that they weren't covered in dust. On top was a volume about vampires and the mechanisms of their control. Linki had clearly done her research before getting involved in this web of deceit. Calyndi read eagerly, hoping desperately to find some means of escape.

What she found, though, only filled her with a hopeless, chilling despair. She read the passage over and over, hoping she had missed something in each previous take, but there was no escaping the words on the page: once a vampire placed a hold on a victim's mind that hold would never break unless the vampire was destroyed. Still more chilling was the final stage of the conversion: drinking the blood of a vampire on the third night would enslave her to Devin's soul forever. She would be in his thrall for as long as his power remained and, if he were ever to be destroyed, she would perish with him.

Calyndi read that passage once more, tears blurring the words on the page. Still, she was determined not to give up. The sun was lowering in the sky, but she still had time before Devin would call her to him and rob her of her will forever. The tome had said that no victim would have the will to destroy the enslaver, but how often had that victim been a succubus? Perhaps Calyndi could be the first.

Wiping away the last of her tears she took to the air once more, sweeping through the city in the direction of the cemetery. Before she reached it, she came across a group of construction workers breaking up a pot-hole filled street, and she landed in their midst. One by one, she stared into their eyes, compelling them to follow her. Shifting her form to look more human, she led them through the streets, earning confused looks from pedestrians who saw a beautiful young woman at the head of a band of burly men, all marching forward with a look of purpose upon their faces.

She led them straight to the cemetery. With the sun still bathing the graves in its light there were no cackles from Devin's minions to taunt or distract her, and she made it to his crypt without incident. The massive stone structure was sealed during the day, and it would be impossible for Calyndi to open it even with her considerable supernatural strength. Instead, she turned to her new minions and set them to work breaking through the walls of the crypt as quickly as they could.

The sun was getting low in the sky by the time they broke the walls, but there was time enough for Calyndi to lead her pack down the steps and into the inner caves of Devin's resting place. Through the bedroom she found a passage that led to Devin's coffin chamber, and once there she raised the lid to reveal his naked, sleeping form. At her bidding, one of the men who had carried a shovel with him broke the tool in half, handing the splintered handle to her. She raised it above Devin's chest, ready to strike.

But he looked so peaceful in his coffin, relaxed and beautiful, and even as she fought to compel her hands to take his life, images of their nights together flooded her mind. The passion and the release were unlike anything she'd felt before, and she began to question if an eternity of such nights would be a bad thing. If nothing else, she wondered if it was worth having his blood on her hands.

She lowered the wooden handle and led the men back up the stairs. Half way up, though, she felt a pulse in her own mind – her willpower raging against the vampire's control. It was insidious the way he tricked her mind – never providing a frontal assault that she could steel herself against – always making it feel as if her compulsions came from within. Yes, she realized, it was his control preventing her from striking him down once and for all. She stopped her ascent and returned to Devin's chamber.

Maybe she was unable to kill the vampire, but the men with her were under no such compulsion. She knew it would be impossible to force them to kill him – surely his control over her would interfere before she could do that. But there were other ways to control men – and no succubus knew that better than Calyndi. She pulled her hair free of her neck, revealing the two deep punctures where Devin's teeth had marred her perfect porcelain skin. Then, she sank down on the steps, making herself as meek and helpless as she could, being sure to maintain her human form while she fluttered her eyes as if in weakness. Then, before Devin's control could do anything to change her actions, she let her control over the men fade.

Each of them blinked a few times, confusion settling over them. Then, one by one, they took in their surroundings, realized where they were, and began muttering fearfully – fear slowly settling over them as their minds became their own once again. But before they had time to flee up the steps they each took in the radiant vision of the helpless woman lying before them – a beautiful, helpless woman – vampire's marks upon her neck, lying alone in a crypt. The men shoved their fears to the back of their minds and prepared to take action. Breaking the long handle into a few smaller pieces, each of the men armed himself with a wooden stake before stalking into the crypt.

Calyndi continued to lay on the steps, maintaining her façade of helplessness. But as the footsteps of the men receded from her hearing, the full implications of what they planned to do fell upon her. For all of her need to escape his control, it didn't feel right to do it this way. Devin was a fellow immortal, and deserved the dignified death that such a title implied. To let him fall to these mortals, so easily manipulated, would be a strike not only to his honor, but to the honor of all of their kind. Standing from the stairs and spreading her wings, she prepared to save Devin from the fate she nearly, foolishly subjected him too.

Before she could move, though, the impulse vanished. Devin had done it again – controlling her without her even realizing it. But in a flash she had been freed. With a glance at the top of the stairs, she knew why. The rays of sunlight that fell through the hole in the wall had changed – gone were the amber beams of the late afternoon, and in their place were the pale strands of twilight. Devin was awake.

Screams emanated from down the hall, and the thud of bodies crashing against stone met Calyndi's ears. She bolted up the stairs, the futility of escaping not strong enough to prevent her from trying. But as she stepped through the hole that the men had put in the wall, she was met by a hoard of beautiful vampiresses, their naked breasts bared, their teeth at the ready. Calyndi tried to take to the air, but they were upon her too quickly, pinning her to the ground until they could take control of her arms and legs. With the grind of stone upon stone, the proper doors of the crypt opened, affording enough space for the vampiresses to carry Calyndi into the crypt – holding her above their heads like an offering.

When they reached the bedroom, Devin was already waiting.

"That was a very admirable try, my dear. And those men were strong. Had the sun not gone down, I'm not sure that you would have been able to stop them in time. I applaud your efforts. But you do know, of course, that I also must punish you for them."

The vampiresses placed Calyndi on the bed and she made no move to try to escape. What she had done was rather dastardly, and had cost those men their lives. She did deserve to be punished, and she would accept her fate without question. With a flutter of her mind, she removed all of her own clothing – opening herself to whatever Devin wished.

The other women in the room wrapped rope around her ankles and wrists, trapping her in the shape of an X on the bed.