
It was a month after Anthony had died, and I still couldn't get his
death out of my head. To most eyes I must have looked like the picture of
a poised exorcist, my back straight and my expression stern as I rode into
town, but another exorcist would have been able to see my incessant fidgeting
with my absent hand. If I had managed to put it on the soldier demon before
it had reached my Shield, he would still be alive and I would not be riding
alone back to the citadel.

There was an inn calling itself the Laughing Sow on road into town, so
I guided Patience over towards the rail outside of it and swung off of
before throwing the reins over the rail and pushing open the door.

"Welcome to the Laughing Sow, Sir." A pretty peasant girl greeted me.
She was tall and slender, possessing only slight curves, but I found
her striking none the less. What I noticed most about her was the way
her thick curtain of red-brown hair gleamed in the fire light.

"Thank you, do you have stables for my horse?"

"Stables are 3 pence-" she cut off as her eyes fell on the iron hand
pined beneath my cloak and the weapons on my belt. "A-Actually, you
can just take your horse 'round back. I'll get my brother to help you."
There was a note of fear in her voice which had not been there before.

I fished three pennies out of my purse and handed them to her. "If Patience
is going to be eating your hay, I'll be paying for it. The same goes for
my own food and lodgings." I said. Plenty of exorcists took advantage of
the people's generosity, but I proffered not to. Mother Church always made
sure I had enough money to pay my way and I didn't want to deprive the inn
of business.

She smiled, "Thank you, sir." There was still fear in her eyes as she took
my money, though it had lessened. Her eyes darted furtively to the iron
sheathe around the stump of my left wrist. On a whim, I reached out with
my absent hand and clasped it under her hand in support as she caught the
coins. Of course, my hand passed right through hers. The only thing my absent
hand can touch is the essence of a demon or the absent hand of another
exorcist.

After I made sure that Patience was settled for the night, I went back into
the inn. A jolly man in a stained apron had emerged from the kitchen in the
time I had been away, "Will you be wanting something to drink, sir?" He asked.
If he shared any of the serving girl's trepidation at the iron hand on my
chest, he hid it well.

"Beer, and something to eat would be nice as well. What do you have on offer?"

"Lucky for you, I make the best stew this side of the Waydin! But if you are
not a stew person, we also have a potato mash."

"The stew sounds great." I said with a smile. This was shaping up to be one of
my more pleasant nights on the road to the citadel.

"Excellent. If you take a seat over there, my daughter will be over with your
food and drink shortly."

"Thank you."

I went over to the chair he had indicated and took a seat, adjusting my sword
so that it rested comfortably. There were a few other patrons in the in. A
family of five sat a few tables away talking quietly among themselves and
a cluster of local men sat by the bar. One of them, a boy who looked about
17, kept darting glances at the stump of my left hand. I smiled at him and
raised my stump in a friendly wave. He blanched and quickly turned around.
The people were glad to see an exorcist when a demon appeared, but we were
nearly as feared by many of them as the demons we hunted. I sighed.

The girl came over to me with mug of ale. "What is your name?" I asked.

"M-May." She replied quietly.

"Thank you, May." I said, "You have nothing to fear from me you know,
unless you're a demon. You're not one, are you?"

"N-no s-sir." She stammered, visibly shaking.

"Gods, I'm sorry. I was only joking, I would know if you were." I explained,
trying to keep my tone as gentle as possible.

"Oh," she replied, "I'm sorry. I've just never met an exorcist before, and
I've heard some things." She looked immediately apprehensive as she realized
she had just implied she might believe in the rumors that always swirled
around exorcists to my face.

"Well why don't you tell me some of the things you've heard, and I can tell
you if they are true or not." I said. "Do you want to sit?" I gestured to
the chair across from me.

She sat down quickly, and when she looked up to meet my eyes again, I could
see that a fierce light of curiosity had joined the fear in her eyes.
"Did you cut off your own hand?"

"No, I had help from a priest. It was very painful." I told her.

"Can you stop someone's heart with your demon hand?- I-I mean the hand that-"

"We call it an absent hand, and I can't. The most powerful exorcists can
touch the physical world with their absent hand, but I'm not one of them.
Perhaps in another 20 years I will be able to." I thought it best not to mention
that I could briefly possess someone with my hand if I ever wanted to.

"Oh." She looked down. "What do demons look like?"

"That depends on what you mean by demons. Before they've possessed people
they look kind of like large gray snakes. Afterwards, they mostly just
look like the person they've possessed. People change in a number of different
ways when possessed. Most demons grow sharp teeth. In addition to the teeth,
imps grow extra joints on their fingers, soldiers grow bigger and get huge
muscles, princes start to speak with three voices and their skin turns red,
and they all look wrong, inhuman. The only exception is the succubus, who
simply become more beautiful."

She shuddered. "That sounds awful."

"With any luck, you won't ever see one." I told her.

"May! Quick lollygagging!" I heard the innkeeper bellow.

"I have to go." She said, hurrying back to the bar.

She brought out my food a few minutes later, and I ate it slowly, mostly
watching the fire as it flickered in the hearth. When I finished, she
came over and collected the dishes. She had nearly gotten back to the
bar when she let out a horrifying wail and sank to her knees, the dishes
clattering to the floor. I surged to my feet and within a few steps saw
a thick gray rope of energy shooting up from the floor and into her chest.
I extended my absent hand to grab the demon and rip it out of her, but the
thing moved fast, and it's tail had disappeared inside of her by the time
my hand arrived.

Her wail turned to a moan of pleasure as the demon took hold of her body.
As I watched, her hair grew even more beautiful and her body began to
shift beneath her homespun dress. Her hips grew wider, her waist drew in,
and as I walked around to see her from the front I could see her small
breasts growing slowly into handfuls the size of large apples. Her face,
already quite pretty, grew even more so, and her light brown eyes took on an
enchanting amber shade. The dress she wore shifted, drawing closer to her figure
and shedding its wear until it looked new. Succubus possessed an ability that
ensured that their clothing was always flattering. Her face was consumed with
rapture rapture, and her lengthening lashes fluttered as she began to paw at
herself.

Before the demon could recover from the shock of having a physical body,
I took two quick steps towards it and thrust my stump right in it's stolen
face. My absent hand shot forward into the demon's head, but I was only
able to find a little scrap of power to grasp onto. Even that slipped
through my fingers, disappearing into May's body.

The demon seemed to realize where it was again, "W-what happened?" it
asked.

"Get you, demon filth!" I commanded. I hadn't expected it to play dumb with
an exorcist standing right over it, but perhaps it realized the hopelessness
of the situation. I rammed my absent hand into its body once again, but this
time I was unable to locate even a scrap of the demon's essence.

"I-I'm not a d-demon. Please!" False tears welled up in its eyes.

"What's going on?" The innkeeper demanded, storming out of the kitchen.

"May has been possessed by a demon." I explained, "I'm trying to get it out,
but it is resistant to my attacks in a way that I've never seen before."

Everyone in the inn backed away from us, even the innkeeper, though he did
reach out a shaking hand to the creature that had stolen his daughter's body.
"May. Please."

"I'm right here, daddy." It said, confusion and hurt on its face. It was a
good actor, I had to give it that.

"Save your breath demon." I commanded. "Your lies will not fool any here."
I looked around the room. I was worried that the locals would decide
that I was making it all up, but what I saw on their faces reassured me.
They looked like they understood the gravity of the situation.

The demon began quietly sobbing.

"Help me bind her hands." I commanded the innkeeper. "I don't know why I can't
drive the demon out, but I'm traveling to the citadel. If anyone can help your
daughter, the masters there will be able to. I swear to you that I will do
everything in my power to bring May back to you." His chin quivered, but after
a moment he nodded. I could see him wiping away tears as he went out to the
stables to fetch rope.

The demon did not seem violent, but nevertheless I shoved it onto its back and
pinned it with my knee digging into its stomach. "Please, sir. It's me! I'm
still May!" It protested, pushing against my knee with less strength than I
expected from a demon. I said nothing.

The innkeeper returned with a rope. "Give me your hands May," he commanded.

"It's not your daughter. Best not to think of it that way." I told him.

He looked at me and nodded, "R-Right sir. I'm sorry, it's just, she still
looks like my daughter."

"I understand. Now, if you wouldn't mind." I gestured to the rope he was
holding.  He bound his daughter's hands well, and handed me the other end of
the rope.

"Thank you. I know this must be painful, but it really is for the best." I
told him. "Now, do you have a bed roll and a traveling cloak for her?"

He disappeared and came back a moment later with a bundle which he handed to
the demon. Once she had it I said sharply, "come on demon," and yanked the rope
leading her, stumbling, out of the inn.

"Aren't you going to stay the night?" The innkeeper asked.

"It's a succubus. I won't let it have a chance to influence any of your
menfolk." I explained, "We'll be riding out immediately. Make sure no one
follows us, it could have already used its fell charms."

I got Patience out of the stables and saddled him up with the help of
May's brother. The whole time the boy kept shooting glances at the demon,
which just stood dejectedly in a corner of the stall, gorgeous hair hanging
down over its face like a curtain. After Patience was ready, I grabbed the
demon by the waist, unable to prevent myself from noticing how fetchingly
narrow it was, and lifted it up onto the front of the saddle. I swung up
after it and guided Patience out of the town.

There was a chill to the air and by the time we were a few minutes out of
town, the demon was shivering slightly. At first, it held its body away
from me slightly, but it slowly began to relax back against me. Despite
myself, I found the contact between its warm back and my chest pleasant.
It's thick hair smelled of honeysuckle and pine. I knew I was immune to
its magic, but I was still a man, and it still possessed the body of a
very attractive woman.

"I didn't get to talk to the girl whose body you stole for very long,
but it was long enough to know she didn't deserve this." I told it.
I knew I shouldn't have bothered, demons never feel regret. "She was
curious and brave. I know that much. She called my absent hand a demon
hand right to my face." I chuckled. "And now she's trapped in her own
body, watching you use it like a puppet." My voice turned fierce.

"I'm not a girl. I'm 22." It said.

I didn't know what to say to that, so I said nothing, just let Patience
take us deeper into the night.

================================================================================

"Wake up." I shook the demon. I was somewhat surprised that it hadn't tried to
escape in the night. I hadn't gotten any real sleep, just drowsed, ready to
wake at a moment's notice. Its plan was probably to wait until I started to
trust it not to run and then make its move.

It moaned and stretched with its eyes closed, squirming deeper into its bedroll.
The blanket slipped down, revealing the swells of its bosom. "It's so early."
It complained.

"Get up," I growled at it.

"Can you untie me so I can get changed?" It asked.

I sighed. I hadn't liked doing this last night, but it hadn't resisted when I
rebound its hands then, so hopefully it wouldn't this morning. I knelt on top
of it, pinning its legs so that it couldn't run, "Give me your hands."

Dejectedly, it held out its hands. I brought its hands up to my mouth so I could
use my teeth in concert with my physical hand to tease apart the knot. I
couldn't help but brush the skin of its wrists with my lips as I did so, and I
heard its breath hitch at the contact. When the rope fell away it waved its
arms around, flexing its hands. A normal human would have had red welts on
their wrists, but its demonic flesh healed faster than the rope could chafe.
"Can I get dressed?" It asked.

"Yes,"

It looked at me like I was stupid, "will you get off of me?"

"No," I grabbed its dress from where I had tossed it in the dirt the previous
night.

"It's wet! And muddy!" It exclaimed in protest. I rolled my eyes and laughed.
"You think this is funny? It's all I have to wear! It's bad enough that I've
been dragged away from my home by some overgrown oaf of an exorcist, now I'm
going to spend the whole day freezing and filthy!"

"Why don't you just drop the act? Look." I pointed to the dress. The mud was
already disappearing from where her hands held it. "And if you're going to
keep pretending to be May, at least suppress your powers."

"What- What's happening?" She asked in wonder, running her hands over the dress
and watching in delight as the grime fled.

"You know exactly what's happening." I said in annoyance. Why did it keep
insisting on pretending that it wasn't a demon? I had seen it enter May's
body. I could feel its demonic power. There was no way I would believe its lies.

"Look, I know you think I'm some sort of succubus, but I'm really just May,
and I don't know what's going on! Can you please just tell me what is
happening to me?" Tears gleamed in its eyes.

"Put on your dress. You'll be warm and dry. We both know why, and I won't
waste any more time on this. We have a lot of ground to cover." I told it.

It looked at me mulishly for a moment before pulling the dress beneath the
covers and sliding into it. I was a little surprised that it hadn't taken
the opportunity to tempt me by revealing itself, but it must have decided
that would give the lie to its innocent peasant girl act. Once it was
finished it sat up. I noted that its hair looked more like a gaggle of
ladies in waiting had picked over it than that it had just spent a night on
the ground. After a moment it sighed and thrust its hands out towards me to
re-tie. It must have misjudged the distance because it bumped into my chest,
and I was suddenly aware of the fact that I wore only breaches. It allowed
its hands to linger on my pectoral muscles for a moment before drawing back
with a mumbled, "s-sorry." It was all part of its game of course, but
nevertheless the contact sent a thrill through me. It took me longer than
I care to admit to retie its hands, and I cursed my missing hand.

Once the rope was fixed, I tied the other end to my belt more deftly than I had
tied her hands and walked over to retrieve my shirt. Unlike her dress, I had
taken care to keep it in a clean and dry place, though it was still a bit damp
with dew.  I pulled it on and soon after I started working on the buttons,
the demon walked over to me. It pushed my hands gently aside and began to
button up my shirt for me, "Shouldn't you have someone with you to help
you with this stuff? I thought exorcists always had a Shield with them."

"My Shield is dead." I replied, but I didn't stop her from helping me get
dressed.

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that." She really did sound sorry. "Is that why you are
going to the citadel."

"It was. Now I have another reason." I took her chin in my hand and turned her
face up towards mine. "May, I know you're in there, and I know feeling this
thing control you is terrifying, but we will get it out." I promised. Its amber
eyes held mine for a long moment, no doubt it was wishing it could use them to
hypnotize me like it would with an ordinary human, but it did blush quite
prettily.

Finally it broke eye contact and returned to the task of buttoning up my shirt.
When it finished, it looked up at me and straighted my collar, "Well, for the
rest of the journey, I can be your Shield."

I chuckled, "The exorcist and his demon Shield!"

It huffed and turned away, crossing its arms. I turned and started
saddling Patience.  It tried to help, but I shooed it away. Buttoning
my shirt was one thing, but I wasn't about to allow it to intentionally
leave the saddle belt loose. The rope was long enough that it
was able to pack up the bedrolls while I worked. It was just finishing
up when I lead Patience back over, and I noticed that it was cleaning
them with the same ability that made its dress seem so clean.
"That's convenient. I should travel with a succubus more often." I joked.

"I don't even know what I'm doing, but I figured I might as well
use whatever weird powers I have to be comfortable." It said sullenly.
I hadn't heard of a succubus using its beautifying aura like this
before, but not many exorcists spent enough time with one to see
it in a domestic setting.

"Wait, what about breakfast?" It complained when I grabbed it by the waist and
lifted it onto Patience.

"We'll eat on the road." I swung up behind it and reached into the saddle bags
to handed it some dried fruit and meat.

"Fine." It began to gnaw on the food before sinking back against my chest,
and squirming its body close to mine. "You may be an oaf, but at least
you're warm." I reminded myself to keep my guard up. Its hypnotic powers
might not work on me, but it was thousands of years old and had likely
possessed hundreds of people. Enough of them were probably succubus that
it was a master of seduction.

================================================================================

"Can you untie me for a few minutes so I can stretch? My arms
are aching." She shook her hands for emphasis. I tried not to
notice the way the V of her arms pushed her breasts together at
the motion. Her beautifying aura had been making the dress more
and more revealing over the last few days, and it now exposed
an inch or so of cleavage.

She hadn't offered even token resistance at any point, and I was
willing to reward her good behavior a little, so I gestured for
her to hold out her hands. I had just bent to begin picking at
the knot with my teeth when she said, "Drew, someone's coming!"
I straighted and turned around to see four men walking towards
us. I didn't like the look of them one bit. Two of them held long
knives in their hands, and a third had a heavy cudgel slung across his back.

"Walk away." I commanded, lifting my cloak to reveal the iron
hand badge on my chest.

The closest one just grinned, "Oh, we will, after you pay the toll."

I drew my stump knife from its sheath and screwed it into the
iron sheath around my left wrist. "I won't tell you again. Walk away."

They exploded into action, breaking into a sprint as they rushed
towards us. I reached out with my absent hand and grabbed one
of the ones with a knife by the soul while I drew my pistol in
my right hand and leveled it at one of his companions. To my disgust,
the flint struck the steel with nothing more than a click. I shouldn't
even have drawn it. It hadn't been cleaned and reloaded since
Anthony died. I barely had time to drop the useless gun and clear
my sword before the man with the cudgel was upon me. He swung
at me and I danced back before lunging forward to run him through.
The second man with a knife rushed at me and I had to back away
rapidly, leaving my sword stuck in the first man's gut and parrying
with my stump. I planted a boot in his chest and pressed my advantage,
tripping him and grabbing his knife hand at the wrist before ramming
my own blade into his chest in three quick punches.

I got up looking for the forth man and saw him just as he leveled a pistol of
his own at me. His weapon did not misfire and I felt a horrendous pain as his
ball ripped through my gut. I stumbled towards him, waving my stump knife
drunkenly. He calmly drew another pistol and leveled it at me, but before
he could fire, the demon rammed into him from the side, knocking him over
and sending the gun flying from his hands. They tussled, but the outcome
was inevitable with her hands bound. I tried to reach them to help, but
my wound overcame me and I fell to the ground. My vision began to blur
as I watched the bandit thrust the demon to the ground and begin choking
the life out of it. If he succeeded the demon would live on, but May would
die.

Before I completely lost consciousness, I remembered the man I was possessing,
and made him rush over and stab his companion repeatedly in the back. I made
him slit his own throat and then blacked out.


When I came to, I was bundled in my bedroll and bandaged with one of my spare
shirts. My whole body hurt, but the pain was mostly centered in my gut. I
felt cold and thirsty. I tried to raise my head, but stars exploded in front
of my eyes and I had to sink back, defeated.

"You're awake." The demon said, coming over to my side and looking down
with concern. "How do you feel?"

"Like hell." I rasped. "I'm dying."

"Don't say that. I'm sure you'll get better. We'll just wait here a few days
for you to get some strength back and then we'll ride to the nearest town.
They'll have a doctor who can help you." It said, laying one hand on my
forehead.

"No. I won't get better. Gutshot."

"No, you can't die!" It protested.

"Nothing to be done." I looked at it. Was it actually crying? "You really are
May." I realized.

"Of course I am! That's what I've been trying to tell you this whole time!" She
exclaimed. "I just wish you didn't have to get shot to realize it."

I smiled, "At least you're still alive and in possession of your body. I didn't
fail in my promise to your father after all. Take Patience." When I coughed
I could taste blood. "Go home."

"No! I'm not giving up! Isn't there some magic that can help." She said.

"Only the witches could work that kind of magic, and they are thousands of
miles away. Besides, I wouldn't take a witch's help, even now."

"What about me? I-I'm some sort of demon right. At least I can do that weird
thing with my clothes." She said, "Though I still don't know how to control it.
Maybe you could teach me how."

"I'm not a demon. I don't know how to cast demon magic." I told her.

"Is there at least something I can try?" She asked. I thought for a moment.
I might have started to drift off because she shook me, "Hey! Tell me something
I can do!"

"I don't know if this will work," I cautioned, "But some of the more powerful
succubus will empower their followers. It gives them a reserve they can draw
on to get a burst of strength or speed. It might boost my body's ability to
heal."

"What do I do?"

If I hadn't lost so much blood I would have blushed, "You, ahh, I think you
need to kiss me."

She flushed, "What kind of power is that? If you weren't dying I would say this
is all a ploy to get in my knickers!"

"I'm sorry. As far as I know, that's how it works. You are a, um, sex demon
now. Or rather you have the body of one."

Her face turned and even brighter shade of red, but she slowly leaned forward,
her hair surrounding us in a curtain of honeysuckle and pine scent. Her soft
pink lips met mine and slowly began to move against me as she let out a low
moan of pleasure. I felt myself began to weaken and realized she was draining
me of energy. I stopped kissing and pushed weakly at her, making distressed
noises.

She pulled back and looked at me with concern "What is it? Did it work?"

"No." I rasped, "you were draining me of energy."

"W-what? No. I didn't mean to."

"It's alright. Your body is meant to harvest energy from men, going the other
way is unnatural for you. You have to do the opposite of what you just did
though."

"Ok, I'll try to do that." She said, starting to lean forward once again.

"Wait." I said. "Just do it for a second, then ask me how it felt. If you drain
me much more I could die or black out."

"Ok," she leaned forward and once again met my lips with her own. Again, I felt
my energy slip away, but before I could complain she sat back, "was that
better?"

"No, still draining. Try imagining your own energy flowing up from your core
and out through your lips."

She closed her eyes and held her hands a few inches above her belly. Brow
furrowed in concentration, she slowly began to move them up towards her throat.
She repeated the motion a few times before opening her eyes, "Ok, I think
I'm ready to try again." She leaned forward and pressed her warm lips into
mine for a third time. This time, rather than feel my energy get drained away,
I felt a warm wave spread through my body from my lips. It chased my pain away
as it came, but when it reached my belly it was drained away almost
immediately. Though May's energy dulled the pain, I could feel my guts
shifting. After a moment, I felt a heavy ball slide down my side between
the bandage and my skin.

When May pulled back, she looked haggard. The color had drained from her lips,
and her hand shook when she raised it to press against my forehead. Her amber
eyes held an animal hunger that I had not seen before. She started to lean
down for another kiss, but stopped herself halfway. "I-I should go." She
suddenly got up and walked over to begin saddling Patience.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"I-I don't know. Away. Away from you." She said, climbing onto Patience's
back and riding away. When she reached the road, she gave me one long
hungry look, and I got the sense that there was a terrible battle going
on within her.


After she left, I drowsed, sleeping fitfully for a few hours at a time
as the day faded into night. My gut still hurt, but I no longer felt like
I was dying. I couldn't really examine myself to see how much I had healed,
but I felt better at least.

When I slept, I drempt of May. My dreams centered around the moment of our
first meeting, when I entered her family's inn and saw her smiling at me,
hair aglow in the firelight. Unlike the way it had been in reality, in my
dreams she was already a succubus, her slim body possessing supple curves
and her amber eyes glowing with desire. I drempt that she took my hand and
lead me up the spiral stairs. In the way of dreams, time seemed to skip,
and then she was astride me, pale breasts bare in the moonlight streaming
in through the window of the guest room we were in. A succubus' kiss could
break down the natural resistance of an exorcist. I reached up and cupped
her breast with my absent hand, knowing I should withdraw from the dream,
but unable to bring myself to do it. Her amber eyes grew larger and larger
until I feared they would swallow me up and I cried out, pushing hard against
her with my absent hand. The dream came apart in tatters like a handful of
streamers in the wind. I woke and realized I was painfully erect. A good
sign, I reflected. It meant I had blood to spare.

================================================================================

In the morning, I still could not muster the strength to move, and I began
to think that I would die after all, from starvation and exposure if not
from my wound. Just as I despaired though, I saw May riding Patience back along
the road. She looked as vibrant and beautiful as ever, and I got a sinking
feeling as she dismounted.

"Drew. I've done something terrible." She said after she dismounted, shame thick
in her voice.

"Tell me."

She came over and knelt next to me, heedless of what the dirt would do to her
skirts. Apparently she had gotten used to her beautifying aura already. "I
don't know why I did it. I didn't feel like myself." She began. After a
pause she continued, haltingly telling the story.


May rode away, leaving Drew helpless by the side of the road, but certain that
she would drain him dry if she remained by his side. She had never felt anything
like this before. A deep hunger ran through her, and her body cried out for her
to rush back to his side and press her lips to his. She knew she could not allow
herself to give in to her urges. She rode on without any real plan, only the
desire to get away from Drew. She felt terribly weak, too weak to plan or think.
She knew she was hardly more than an animal, so great was her hunger. Every
moment she had to fight the desire to turn and ride back to Drew.

When she rounded a bend and saw a young man driving a cart stacked
with hay towards her, she could feel her eyes dilate and her breath
grow ragged with desire. Without ever really deciding to, she
dismounted and adjusted the bodice of her dress lower.  The farmer
stopped his cart when she approached him, eyes drawn to her pale
cleavage as if it possessed a gravitational force. May licked
her lips, "will you help me up?" she asked.

Mutely, the man extended a hand, eyes glued to May's body. He
didn't wonder why a woman with a horse would want a ride on a
cart going the opposite direction. May climbed up next to him
and didn't even pause to sit next to him, just threw her leg over
his and straddled him. A moment later she was kissing him, moaning
in pleasure as his soul was sucked into her. Strength flowed back
into her limbs as he withered away, skin wrinkling and hair growing
white with unnatural age. By the time she stopped, he was a withered
husk, dry, brittle and lifeless. She basked in the pleasure of
her gluttony for a moment before realizing what she had done.
In horror, she pushed herself away from the farmer's body and
jumped down from the cart. She climbed back on Patience and wheeled
around, heading back towards Drew.


I couldn't help but look at May with disgust. For a moment I had
forgotten what she was.  She may have the mind of a woman, but
she still had the body of a demon, with all the appetites that
implied. She saw the look in my eyes and burst into tears, "I'm
a monster!" she wailed.

"Yes." Forceful, wet sobs wracked her, and I felt regret at the
harshness of my tone. I took her chin in my hand, "You are also
a good woman, May."

"How can I be good when I just did *that*?" She spat the last word.

"You were not yourself. Healing me made you weak with hunger,
too weak to fight your demonic urges. I should have known this
would happen." If it was anyone's fault it was mine. I
was supposed to be the expert on demons.

She looked up at me, tears still gleaming in her amber eyes. "I'm
still a monster." She whispered.

"Only sometimes." I smiled, "Mostly, you're a good woman caught
up by the dark. I don't know why, but I believe in you May. You
just have to resist your urges until we get to the citadel. They'll
know how to cure you." I spoke with confidence, though I was not
sure how true my words were.

"Ok. Thank you, Drew." She sniffed and wiped her tears away with
the sleeve of her dress.

"We should go." I said, levering myself up and sucking my teeth
at the flair of pain.

"You're still hurt. We can take another few days to heal." She
protested, pushing me back down.

"When they find that farmer, they'll come looking for the demon
that did it to him.  They'll send for another Knight of the Hand,
and I doubt another exorcist will care to ask questions. I'll
be expelled from the order and executed for treason and you'll
be burnt at the stake when they can't exorcise you." I told her.
"Now, help me up."

It took a while, but with May's help I was able to get up and
get dressed. In a reversal of our usual routine, she lifted me
onto Patience, gripping me by the legs and bringing her demon strength
to bear. I realized that it had been a bit silly of me to lift
her onto the horse before. Perhaps it had just been an excuse
to place my hand on her waist. May started guiding Patience along
the road the way we had been going, but I stopped her, "we should
go back and circle round. Best not to gamble that we'll pass the
cart before it is found." I couldn't believe that I was helping a
succubus evade capture from her kill.

My wound sent relentless spikes of pain through my side as Patience
walked. I was unused to May riding behind me, but was grateful for
it, since without her strong arms wrapped around my side, I doubt
I would have been able to stay upright. The soft swell of her bosom
pressing into my back provided a welcome distraction from the pain
as well. I must have seemed in a bad way, since May insisted that
we stop after only a few hours. We had gotten far enough from the
town that we could afford to rest. She lead Patience deep into
the forest before helping me down.

I sat like a lump leaned up against a tree while May set up camp and
fed me some cold rations from the saddle bags. "Is there any way I
can get enough power to heal you without killing someone?"

"Most Succubus drain men directly, but it's not the only way they
can do it," I told her. "When a man looks on a Succubus with desire,
she can draw on that desire to drain some of his energy. Once she's
started draining him, she can come to him in his dreams, haunting him
and draining him dry over weeks or months. You might try something like
that, only you only take a little. Men can recover fully after being
drained if the Succubus doesn't take too much."

"So, next town we reach, I have to make a man look on me with desire?
How will I do that?"

I chuckled.

"What?" she demanded impetuously.

"That shouldn't be a problem."

She reddened, "You mean- umm." She fell silent for a long moment, her
face growing a deeper shade of crimson by the moment, but then she
said, "so does that mean you, ummm, look on me with desire?"

"I'm missing a hand, not both eyes,"

Apparently this turn of conversation was too much for her, since she
chose this moment to look over at Patience and declare, "Oh, I forgot
to rub down Patience! Poor boy!" I kept watching her as she took care
of my old gelding, allowing myself to really appreciate the sight of
her red-brown hair and pleasant curves for the first time. She kept
shooting glances over at me and giving me quick little smiles before
she remembered her task and turned back to Patience.

We ate cold rations again that night, not wanting the attention smoke
might bring. May doted on me like a mother hen, doing everything around
camp and protesting every time I tried to help out. She probably would
have fed me if I hadn't made a fuss. She even tucked me in when we turned
in for the night, and I found myself dwelling on the way her thick hair
had dangled down around one side of her face as she did so long after
she had retreated to her own bedroll.

==============================================================================

The morning after we rose early and hurriedly saddled Patience. It remained
unspoken, but I think we were both anxious to leave behind the desiccated
farmer. My wound felt a little better, but the pain soon began to flair up
once more as soon as Patience's gentle walking motion began to send motion
through my gut.

// They go to the citadel, Drew tells the other exorcists about the
// situation, they say May needs to be killed, Drew and May fight
// their way out, they flee and start hunting demons together.
