Suddenly A Succubus

Chapter 61.6

Vee woke the next morning to the peaceful sound of Amara still snoozing in her arms. She stayed as still as she possibly could, scared that she might wake her love from the most peaceful rest they’d gotten in days, if not weeks. The thought that time was so difficult to measure in The Wilds unnerved her, but she trusted that her innate sense of time couldn’t be too far off. Besides, even if they were pressed for time, giving Amara a few extra minutes of sleep would only make the journey home easier.Shifting her hand slightly, Vee reached up to brush a lock of hair from Amara’s face. Her rich, dark hair seemed more prone to tangling now that it wasn’t powered by hellfire, and Vee wanted to make the return trip as painless as possible.

This movement caused Amara to shift, then slowly wake up. Before her eyes even opened, she pulled Vee closer and then gently kissed her hand.

“Morning, love,” Amara whispered.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” Vee whispered back.

Amara shook her head. “That’s okay. I feel pretty rested, and we can’t spend all day in bed anyways. Nick is waiting for us.”

“How are you feeling about the return trip?”

“Without my powers, you mean?”

Vee nodded. “Yeah.”

“It’s scary, yeah, but we have each other. Your powers aren’t completely gone, right? Tadhgán will be with us too, and I’m pretty sure I saw Saoirse rub some kind of healing ointment on his legs. If he’s back at full strength, he’ll be able to keep us safe too.”

“You’re not worried about him anymore?” Vee nuzzled her nose into the crook of Amara’s neck and closed her eyes.

“Not anymore, no. I was furious that he hurt Nick, sure, but it’s impossible to deny that he didn’t want this. Plus, now that we’ve met his family, I think I understand why Nick felt comfortable enough with him to show off his favorite spot on campus. Even my doubts about lycanthropy feel silly, at least while we’re in The Wilds. I mean, one of his kids chooses to live her entire life as a wolf, and that’s totally normal. If Tadhgán needs to shift forms to keep us safe, I won’t be worried in the slightest.”

They hugged each other one last time, and Vee swore she felt a hint of fear in Amara’s grasp. “We should get up. It’s a long journey back.”

With a simple nod, and one last kiss, the girls descended the ladder from the loft. It didn’t take long to grab their things—they each had nothing but a simple backpack, after all—and soon they were double checking their plans with Saoirse.

“First things first,” the faun said, “I packed your bags with a bunch of extra rations. It’s not as fancy as whatever stuff you fed Tadhgán back in your world, but it’ll keep you fed. It’s mostly a bunch of dried meats and fruits, but I put some fresh stuff on top. It’ll only keep for a day or two, at most, so make sure you eat that first. In the worst-case scenario, moons forbid, you might be able to trade it if you run into any fae folk on your way back. Tadhgán says the journey skirts the edge of the Court’s territory for a while.”

“Thankfully it wasn’t an issue,” Vee said. “Is there any chance we can avoid that last clearing? The one with the actual faerie in it?”

Amara shuddered briefly as Vee brought up their quick, but terrifying encounter. “Blegh, I hope so.”

“I might be able to skirt around it,” Tadhgán said. “I actually reached out to some friends of mine, and I’m hoping they’ll have good news once we head out.”

“Now, one last matter of business,” Saoirse said. “Something big has been flying around recently. No idea what, but it’s much bigger than a griffon by the sound of it. Ordinarily I wouldn’t be this spooked, especially since you’ve got the world’s best tracker with you, but my morning tea had an unusually bitter sting to it. Just be safe, will you?”

Tadhgán, blushing slightly at the compliment from his partner, nodded in acknowledgement. “We heard something on our way in, but it was further out. Hopefully it stays that way.”

Saoirse turned to look directly at Amara. “Lastly, there’s something important I forgot to mention regarding your abilities. Right now, I expect that you’re focused mostly on the absence, the fact that so much of you has been sealed away. However, that spell we cast isn’t all powerful. Making one choice to lock away your abilities is one thing; making that choice dozens, if not hundreds, of times is something far more potent.”

“I… don’t understand,” Amara muttered.

Taking a step forward, Saoirse grabbed Amara’s hands in hers. “Push past that feeling of powerlessness you feel, and you’ll notice that traces of your abilities linger still. If the need is dire enough, if you’re faced with a problem you feel has no human solution, you’ll be able to break through the magic and reclaim your true self. It should go without saying, however, that if this happens, the magic of the cure will be lost. Nick will forever be a lycanthrope.”

Vee watched Amara take a deep breath and close her eyes. After several moments of tense silence, she gasped slightly and her eyes popped open. “You’re right! My hellfire, it’s still there, it’s just buried under the magic.”

“If nothing else, at least we have that failsafe should the worst come to pass,” Vee said, gently rubbing Amara’s back.

Everyone present shared a quick glance, silently asking each other if there were any other matters of business to discuss. Once it became clear that no such topics existed, Vee and Amara spent several minutes profusely thanking Saoirse for welcoming them into their home. All three kids made sure to jump in as well, eagerly saying goodbye while not-so-subtly lamenting the loss of Amara’s wings.

As nervous as Vee was about tackling The Wilds once again, now without the aid of Amara’s powers, she still managed to find joy in the hugs she gave to Saoirse and the kids. They were wonderful children, and a wide smile crossed her face as she saw just how much they loved Amara.

With nothing else to do, they departed.

Much like Amara had predicted, Tadhgán appeared to be in much better spirits. The injuries on his legs had completely healed, and on several occasions he made vocal contact with other wolves, or possibly shifters, in the nearby woods. They seemed to communicate through their howls, which made Vee wonder just how detailed of a message they could perceive through noises that, to her, sounded almost completely identical.

Thankfully, the first leg of the trip was as peaceful as she remembered. The trails were wide, light was plentiful, and the forest itself was the least alien of everything she’d seen since arriving. To the best of Vee’s knowledge, Tadhgán was indeed trying to lead them a different way, and she had high hopes that they might be able to avoid the faerie they’d seen on their way here.

She hadn’t experienced the same bone-deep sense of dread that Amara had, but seeing the fear on her love’s face had been all the proof she needed. Something about that creature was terrifying on a scale hard to comprehend, and avoiding it would be for the best.

“How long do you think we’ve been gone?” Amara asked after several hours of hiking. “It’s hard to tell time when the light levels never change.”

“I can’t imagine the opposite, honestly,” Tadhgán said. “I was only in your world for a short time, and the entire sky changed to hundreds of different colors in the blink of an eye. Sure, it was beautiful, but it was also terribly confusing. Based on my conversations with everyone shortly after I, um… turned against my will, I’d say we’re making pretty good time. So long as we don’t encounter any more setbacks, I anticipate we’ll be able to cure Nicholas long before he’s at risk of turning.”

Amara, still holding Vee’s hand, turned to smile at her as they continued walking. In time, the light levels began to shift ever so slightly, darkening just a touch as the canopy above grew thicker. While it was difficult to tell time, Vee counted three different sets of howls that seemed to guide Tadhgán’s path. Each time he received feedback from another shifter, he slightly altered their route, and Vee began lamenting the fact that she wouldn’t be able to thank the other people helping to guide them home. While in the middle of daydreaming about what kind of lives these shifters might live on any given day, a fourth set of howls rang out, only this time, things were different.

Vee’s first reaction was that the howling sounded a little different, but as she turned to ask Tadhgán if this were true, she found him frozen in terror. His eyes were wide, his breathing erratic, and he looked to Amara and Vee with panic in his voice. “We need to move. NOW!”

Breaking out into a sprint, Amara and Vee had no time to question him. They ran as fast as they could, following closely behind him as they darted between the trees. Vee stayed behind Amara, determined to keep an eye on her recently depowered love. As they ran, she even tried to connect with her angelic powers, hoping that even the tiniest sliver of Enochian strength might help her prepare for whatever it was that had Tadhgán spooked.

She wasn’t confused for very long. An ear-piercing roar shattered the sky above them, one that sounded identical to the noise they’d first heard on their initial journey. The ground shook once, twice, three times in unnatural rhythm, as if reacting to the beating of immensely powerful wings. The trees shook as if they were just as scared as Vee, and it wasn’t long before she heard them cracking underneath the weight of an impossibly heavy creature descending from the sky. Thick, heavy storm clouds appeared underneath her feet, and before she could imagine where they might be coming from, a large tree barely a dozen feet in front of Tadhgán exploded.

At first Vee thought it had been struck by lightning. The force sent her flying, knocking her into another nearby tree and briefly forcing the wind from her lungs. Her first instinct was to look for Amara, and thankfully, they had landed just beside each other. After confirming that Amara was unharmed, Vee looked back up at the source of the carnage.

She’d been half right. The tree had indeed been struck by lightning, but she’d failed to guess what the lightning was attached to.

There hadn’t initially been a clearing in front of them, but the sheer, overwhelming force of the arrival of this beast had created one. Dozens of trees had been knocked to the ground, snapped like twigs beneath the devastating might of large, clawed hands. Smoke and storm clouds raced in a tight circle, obscuring all possible escape routes, forcing Vee to stare up at the golden-white scales that stretched dozens of feet into the sky. Even when the creature beat its thick, rippling wings, the storm clouds pouring from its jagged maw refused to yield. A deep breath preceded a heavy, quaking growl that once again shook the ground around them, the noise accompanied by the crackle of lightning and thunder that seemed to originate deep in the belly of this monstrosity. This lightning illuminated the long, scaled neck, eventually breaking free from an impossible wide row of teeth. The creature looked down at them with crackling golden eyes, its lengthy horns shimmering with atmospheric energy that seemed poised to harness all the power of the skies, and it loosed one final, powerful roar that shook Vee down to her bones.

This was a dragon.

Vee’s trance was broken by the sudden flash of movement to her left. A creature much larger than her, though tiny compared to the dragon, had leapt towards its neck with a vengeance. Shaking her head, Vee quickly pieced together that this beast was Tadhgán, and that he stood no chance against such a fearsome animal.

Her own fury rose in response to this threat, and she reached deep into her soul in hopes of finding the strength she needed to survive. She leapt forward, glimmering, iridescent light dancing around her, and watched as Tadhgán masterfully avoided several swipes from the dragon’s massive claws. This wasn’t a fight they could win, she knew that much, and instead she tried to watch its movements and look for openings they might exploit to try and escape.

Inaction proved impossible, however. The dragon moved impossibly quick, turning at ridiculous speeds as it attempted to knock Tadhgán down with a swipe of its tail. With a defiant scream, Vee reached forward and summoned an Enochian barrier between Tadhgán and the dragon’s attack, hoping to shield the blow.

The barrier shattered on impact, though what feeble resistance Vee had put forth managed to slow down the tail and slightly alter its trajectory. Instead of pinning Tadhgán to the ground, which had seemingly been the dragon’s intent, Tadhgán was instead sent flying by the immense shockwave created by the force of the impact. Vee watched him closely, hoping to track where he fell, but she lost sight of him immediately.

Not because he’d vanished behind a tree or a thick column of magical storm clouds, but because he’d been knocked through a barrier that marked another creature’s domain.

With Tadhgán no longer in the fight, the dragon turned its attention to Vee and Amara. It closed the distance with only two large steps, at which point it opened its massive jaw and prepared to launch a burst of lightning at them both. Vee leapt forward, throwing everything she had into one final barrier in hopes of protecting them both. If she could buy enough time, they might be able to escape into this other domain.

When the dragon released its attack, it sounded as if the sky itself had been rent asunder and shattered into a thousand pieces. Lightning leapt forth from its jaws, arcing from behind its teeth and burning the air itself as it raced towards Amara.

Vee’s barrier sprang into existence just as she threw herself over Amara. It caught the lightning, and through her connection with her magic, Vee’s entire body shivered as if she’d been struck directly by the lightning. Again her barrier shattered, but just like last time, it managed to dull the impact of the attack. The massive explosion of energy, however, now had nothing to stop it, and sent both Vee and Amara flying.

Desperation filled her heart as Vee tried to keep eyes on Amara, but the chaos of the attack made that impossible. She turned head over heels once, twice, perhaps more as she flew through the air, and soon she felt the familiar tingle of a natural barrier between domains. Up became down, left became right, and the last remnants of what little power she had remaining tried desperately to cling to her. She saw flashes of light that didn’t make sense, glimmers of energy she didn’t recognize, and just when she swore she was about to black out entirely, she landed with a heavy thud.

Disoriented, Vee forced her hands into the ground beneath her to try and steady herself. Shrill, heavy pounding reverberated in her head, and her attempts to look around only served to further confuse her.

She caught glimpses of her new surroundings, scattered pieces of information that hinted she’d been blown into a new part of The Wilds, but she had no idea where. Although her vision was still blurry, she thought she saw hints of tall fruit trees. Powerful flashes of light reflected off strangely faceted pieces of glass, and just as Vee thought she was starting to regain her balance, something appeared directly in front of her face.

It was the sun itself. No, it wasn’t that, but it might as well have been. A large piece of metal so illustrious, so magnificent, and so enchanted with iridescence that looking at it made Vee feel even smaller than she had in the presence of the dragon. It held incredible amounts of energy, magic that felt both eerily familiar and terrifyingly foreign, and in this item’s presence she found her thoughts returning to her. The world righted itself, her thoughts stopped spinning, and she found the strength to begin looking upwards.

The metal continued, its magic glimmering and blazing like a solar flare before ending at a sleek, dazzling white piece of steel that formed the handle of an impressively large greatsword. Its handle, nearly as bright and as radiant as the blade itself, fit comfortably in a singular hand that, somehow, was able to hold this entire piece without any aid.

The blade rose slightly, touching the bottom of Vee’s chin and forcing her to look even higher. When she saw who held the blade, tears filled her eyes and she gasped, weeping with joy. She’d never met this person before, nor had she any idea who they were, but simply being in their presence overpowered every other emotion that Vee had carried with her as she’d fallen into this clearing.

The entity in front of her was a tall, powerful woman with vivacious, fiercely red hair that billowed in an invisible breeze. Her eyes were the color of supernovas, and somehow brimmed with just as much energy as they looked down to match Vee’s gaze. Her skin, just as fair as Vee imagined the light of Heaven must be, practically sparkled in the light dancing off the blade. All across her face, as if emulating the stars themselves, were a series of freckles that somehow drew Vee’s gaze even closer.

Looking up at this person, Vee gasped for breath as she struggled to make sense of the prior events and her current situation. The stranger wore a look of fierce determination, and redoubled her one-handed grip on her effervescent greatsword before she finally spoke with a voice that seemed born from Creation itself.

“Who are you, and how did you find this place?”