The Succubus And Her Secret Antidote

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As a succubus with a crippling, pathological fear of men, I managed to go three hundred years without a single drop of life force.

It was a ridiculous way to go. Because of this bizarre phobia, any time a male creature got within breathing distance, Id spiral into a panic attack so severe I eventually just died. Starved to death.

When I reached the Underworld, I was seeing green from hunger. I marched straight up to the King of Shadows and made a desperate plea.

My demand was simple: Im starving. Feed me. I need primal energybut I absolutely, under no circumstances, want a man!

The King of Shadows considered this for a moment, then took his heavy quill and signed a decree. Consider it done, he said with a cryptic smile.

When I opened my eyes again, I wasn't in the Underworld anymore. I was standing in a cold, opulent hall. Standing directly in front of me was a man in dark, blood-red robes embroidered with serpents. He looked lethal, his eyes like chips of flint. He was a High Inquisitora man who had been unmanned to serve the crown. A eunuch.

He hooked a finger under my chin, his voice dripping with icy impatience. Why the tears? Is serving as my consort truly such a death sentence?

The girls beside me were shaking like leaves, whispering, No, My Lord! We wouldn't dare!

But me? I was nearly hysterical with joy. A Lord Inquisitor! A man who wasn't technically a man! This was the loophole of a lifetime. I was finally going to eat.

To the absolute horror of everyone in the room, I didn't recoil. Instead, I lunged forward like a drowning person catching a life raft and wrapped myself around him.

I grabbed his face, pressed my mouth against his thin, cold lips, and let out an ecstatic muffled shout: I love this! I absolutely love this!

...

Click.

A cold, iron-strong hand clamped around my throat.

One squeeze, and he could snap my neck like a dry twig. But I didn't feel a flicker of fear. In fact, I wanted to laugh.

Three centuries of "Androphobia" had made me hyperventilate if a man got within ten feet. Touching one usually meant instant cardiac arrest. But this? This was my golden ticket. My heavenly buffet.

God bless the Bureau. God bless the Lord Inquisitor!

I forced my eyes open, meeting his dark, predatory gaze.

My Lord I wheezed out, the words struggling past my constricted windpipe. The way youre choking me it feels amazing.

A collective gasp echoed through the hall. The surrounding guards looked like they were having strokes.

The pressure on my neck faltered. For the first time, a flicker of genuine shock crossed Alarics pale, aristocratic face.

Since hed taken command of the Iron Bureau, he had built a reputation on being a butcher. People didn't even dare to look him in the eye, let alone treat him like a climbing frame. He practiced a legendary, forbidden style of combatThe Solar Corewhich filled his body with a volatile, blistering heat. To a normal person, his touch would feel like being branded.

But I wasn't normal. I wasn't burning; I was feasting. I was actively draining the agonizing pressure of the energy built up inside him.

Alarics eyes flashed with a sudden, murderous intent. He threw me off him, hurling me toward one of the massive stone pillars in the hall.

I hit the pillar hard. My ribs groaned, and the world spun. I coughed up a splash of bright crimson blood. It hurt like hell, but I was vibrating with excitement. That brief moment of contact had given me enough energy to survive for three days.

I wiped the blood from my lip and stood up, swaying on my feet.

Guards, Alaric said, taking a silk handkerchief from an attendant to wipe the fingers I had touched. His voice was a low, dangerous purr. Take this delusional thing away. Skin her and stuff her with straw.

Two guards stepped forward, grabbing my shoulders.

My heart sank. My "Buffet" had a bit of a temper. This was going to be harder than I thought. But Id finally found a source of food that didn't make me vomit with fear; I wasn't letting go, even if it killed me.

Wait! I wrenched myself free and dropped to my knees. Wait! My Lord, you cant kill me. If I die, youll spend the rest of your life suffering through that bone-deep torture.

Alaric didn't even look back. He tossed the tainted handkerchief into a nearby brazier, where it vanished in a puff of flame. The guards stepped closer, their swords half-drawn.

I stared at his retreating back and screamed, Every night at midnight, your chest feels like its being filled with molten lead, doesn't it? You feel like you're going to explode from the inside out!

Alaric froze.

The temperature in the hall seemed to drop to sub-zero. The guards dropped to their knees, terrified to even breathe.

Id won the bet. Pure solar energy is a miracle for power, but if it has nowhere to go, it turns into a slow-acting poison. His aura was so thick it was practically screaming. There was no way he wasn't suffering.

Alaric turned around slowly. His crimson robes swirled in the dim light like a pool of blood. He walked back to me, his eyes searching, deep and terrifyingly intelligent.

Who sent you? He leaned down, pinching my jaw again. This time he wasn't trying to break me, but the intensity of his gaze made my skin crawl.

No one sent me, I said, meeting his eyes. Im just a poor, starving soul who happens to be the only cure for what ails you.

Alaric stared at me for a long time. Just when I thought he was going to snap and finish the job, he laughed. It was a cold, dry sound, like dead leaves skittering over a grave.

Fine, he said, straightening up. Ill give you a chance to prove your worth.

Take her to the Citadel.

I was thrown into a cell. It was clean enoughno torture devices, just a hard wooden cot.

Alaric didn't interrogate me immediately. He left me there to rot for three days. No food. No water.

The hunger of a succubus isn't like a human stomach ache; its a soul-tearing agony. It feels like your very essence is being shredded from the inside. By the third day, I was curled in a fetal position, my prison clothes soaked in cold sweat. The tiny bit of energy Id sucked out of him earlier was a drop of water in an ocean of three hundred years of starvation.

Just as I felt my consciousness slipping, the heavy iron door creaked open.

A tall, elegant figure stepped in. Alaric had changed into dark, casual robes. He was idly thumbing a string of sandalwood beads, looking like a monk at prayerif you ignored the several mangled corpses being dragged out of the hallway behind him.

I heard you were starving, he said, walking to the bed. He nudged my leg with the toe of his boot.

I didn't even have the strength to look up. Driven by pure instinct, I lunged forward and hugged his boot.

My Lord please hungry

Even through the leather of his boot, I could smell the radiant, blistering heat of his energy. I let out a soft, involuntary moan of relief.

Alaric stiffened. He looked down at me, his expression unreadable. He didn't kick me away. Instead, he let me press my face against his leg.

What kind of monster are you, exactly? he asked, his voice sounding oddly raspy.

Im your antidote, I whispered, looking up at him with puppy-dog eyes. And Im still hungry.

Alaric suddenly crouched down, grabbing a handful of my hair to force my head back.

Antidote? He let out a harsh laugh. You look like a soul-sucking demon to me.

He let go and stood up. Guards!

Two Inquisitors entered immediately.

Take her to the interrogation room.

Panic flared in my chest. What now? Id barely had a snack, and he was already turning on me?

They dragged me into a room where a man was strapped to a chair, covered in blood. Judging by his clothes, he was some disgraced official. Alaric walked over, pulled a glowing red branding iron from a brazier, and pressed it into the man's chest.

The smell of burnt flesh filled the room. The man screamed like a stuck pig.

Alaric didn't blink. He turned to me. You said you were hungry? Go on. Feed on him.

My pupils shrunk. The man was a bloody mess, but he was a man. A real, biological male. The overwhelming scent of male aggression and blood hit me like a physical blow. My stomach did a somersault.

My phobia roared to life. My breath hitched into a spasm. My heart rate spiked into the red zone. The room started to spin.

No I backed away, my voice trembling. I cant I wont

Alaric narrowed his eyes. What? Too dirty for your refined palate? He sneered. I have plenty of men in the Citadel. We can keep going until you find one you like.

He signaled with his hand, and a dozen hulking guards surrounded me.

The concentrated "maleness" of the room was too much. My legs gave out. I collapsed onto the floor, making a wet, choking sound in my throat. I couldn't breathe. The terror was physiological, bypassing my brain and going straight to my nerves.

Driven by a desperate need for safety, I crawled toward the only person who felt "safe"the man who wasn't a man.

Under the shocked stares of the guards, I scrambled to Alaric and gripped his leg like a lifeline.

Save me I buried my face in the hem of his robe, tears streaming down my face. I dont want them I only want you

Alaric looked down at me. He saw my face, white as a sheet. He saw the way my entire body was vibrating with terror.

And then, he smiled. It was a wicked, dark smile, full of a twisted kind of satisfaction.

I see, he whispered. He leaned down, his thumb roughly brushing a tear from my cheek. Youre terrified of men.

He leaned closer, his warm breath fanning across my ear. Then why aren't you afraid of me?

That was a lethal question. I couldn't exactly tell him, Because youre a eunuch and you dont have the parts that trigger my trauma. If I said that, Id be dead before I could blink.

My brain kicked into overdrive, searching for a lie hed believe.

Because because youre beautiful, I stammered, trying to make my eyes look as sincere as possible. The others are all so ugly. They hurt my eyes.

The smile vanished. Alarics face turned to stone.

You think Im a fool? He stood up abruptly, shaking me off. Since you wont tell the truth, perhaps the Black Cells will help you find your voice.

He turned to leave.

The Black Cells? That was the deepest pit of the Citadel. It was filled with the most violent, depraved criminals in the empire. I wouldn't last ten minutes before my heart gave out from sheer terror.

My Lord! I scrambled after him, grabbing his hem again. Ill tell you! Ill tell the truth!

Alaric stopped, looking down at me from his towering height. Speak.

I swallowed hard. Its its your aura. Its special. I looked up at him, projecting pure vulnerability. I have a condition. A curse. I need solar energy to survive. I need you, and My Lord you need me.

I lowered my voice. The other night, after I touched you the pain didn't come at midnight, did it?

Alaric stared at me for an eternity. Finally, he let out a sharp huff.

Ill let you live. For now.

He moved me into the side wing of his private quarters, barely twenty paces from his bedroom.

On the first night, I stood outside his study door with a blanket wrapped around me. My Lord, I whispered through the crack. The side wing is haunted. Im scared.

Alaric didn't even look up from his scrolls. Go back to bed.

I didn't go back. I curled up against the doorframe, wrapped in my blanket, and fell asleep basking in the solar heat radiating from the room.

There was a long silence from inside. Finally, he ordered the servants to put a small cot in the corner of his bedroom.

The next morning, he almost tripped over me. He looked down at me for a long time, then ordered a small daybed to be placed in his study as well.

By the third day, while he was reviewing execution orders, I was lounging on the daybed, watching him. Eventually, I migrated to the floor by his feet, resting my head on his knee and quietly sipping on his overflowing energy.

His brush hovered over the paper. Are you a dog?

Woof.

He didn't say anything, but he didn't push me away. After a moment, his hand came up and rested on my head, his fingers idly brushing through my hair.

I looked up and beamed at him. Youre so good to me, My Lord.

His ears turned a faint shade of pink, and he looked away. Youre noisy.

I giggled internally. My long-term meal ticket was officially secured.

Life became a comfortable routine of being constantly full. The servants in the manor started to like me, mostly because Alarics legendary temper had cooled significantly since I arrived. The only person who hated me was Morgan, the female captain of his guard. Every time she saw me, her eyes looked like they were dripping venom.

Then, Alaric had to leave the city on official business. He was gone for five days.

I was starving. Not for foodreal food was plentybut for him. I hugged his pillow, inhaling deeply. The scent was fading. The energy was gone.

Finally, the day of the Summer Festival arrived.

Miss, Morgan said, entering my room with an uncharacteristically polite bow. The Lord Inquisitor sent word. Hes waiting for you at the Clear Wave alley in the south of the city. He wants to spend the festival with you.

I practically bounced off the bed. Really?

He said to dress appropriately, Morgan added. He has a gift for you.

Alaric? The man who was as cold as a frostbitten iron gate? Taking me out for a romantic festival date? It sounded too good to be true, but then again, maybe he was feeling the "hunger" for his antidote as much as I was.

I spent an hour getting ready. The girl in the mirror looked radianteyes bright, skin glowing. Satisfied, I headed to the rendezvous.

I pushed open the door to the private room. No Alaric.

I frowned. He was late?

Then, the door clicked shut behind me.

You finally arrived.

It wasn't Alarics voice.

Panic hit me like a physical wave. My stomach churned, and my legs went weak. I backed away, stumbling onto the bed.

Who are you? my voice shook.

My name is Silas, the man said, stepping into the light. Dont you remember? You saw me at the market and fell for me instantly. You asked me to meet you here tonight

Thats a lie! I tried to run, but the phobia had me pinned. I couldn't move.

Silas approached me, one slow step at a time.

Dont come closer! I shrieked, curling into a ball on the bed, shaking violently.

At that moment, the door was kicked open with a deafening crash.

Alaric stood there, his face a mask of pure, murderous rage. Morgan was right behind him, her expression a mix of mock horror and triumph.

See, My Lord? Morgan cried. I told you! The moment youre gone, shes meeting her secret lover!

The scene looked damning: spilled wine, a half-closed bed curtain, a well-dressed man, and me, dressed up and trembling on the bed.

My Lord, let me explain, Silas suddenly blurted out, dropping to his knees. This girl invited me here. She said she was lonely in your house and begged me to take her away. I didn't want to, but she threatened me!

Youre lying! I screamed.

Silas pulled a letter from his sleeve. This is the note she sent me. Her own handwriting.

I suddenly remembered a letter Id seen on my vanity. I reached into my sleeve.

Empty. The letter Morgan had "delivered" from Alaric was gone.

It was a setup.

Alaric took the letter. His expression went from ice to something far more dangerous.

My Lord, I said, forced myself to sit up. I didn't write that. I

Before I could finish, his hand was around my throat, lifting me off the bed. His voice was terrifyingly calm.

It seems youve been having quite a lot of fun while I was away, Nora.

No its not what you think I gasped. Between the phobia of the man in the corner and Alarics grip, I was losing consciousness.

Did you betray me too? he whispered, his grip tightening. I heard a faint creak in my neck. The world started to go black.

In a last, desperate effort, I reached into my bodice and shoved something into his hand.