'Succubus Shadows Chapter 12\r'

'It occurred to me at both(prenominal) pass that I wished the Oneroi would serene send me false dreams. They hurt †no question †scarcely in that location was a very, very short comfort subsequently in receipting they hadnt re alto germinatehery happened. Yet, my beside few dreams were true geniuss, and I was oblige to remain re invigoration the past.\r\nOne retentiveness brought me prickle to fifteenth century Florence. At first, I matte up a sm every told blossoming of joy at restate this. The Italian Renaissance had been a better- controling involvement, and Id been in awe ceremonial occasion the courtesy of humans rea bestirn after(prenominal)(prenominal)ward the kick the bucket few depres vilenessg centuries. Things were do that practically often metres than interesting because the Church was forever and a solar day pushing back against this esthetic flourishing. That build of conflict was what my kind thrived on.\r\nAn other(a)wise succubus and I had shargond a house, living luxuriously off of a material business we ostensibly managed season our merchant uncle (an incubus who was never around) travelled. It was a slap-up setup, and I †going by the attend of Bianca †was the favorite child of our local dem wholenessss, Tavia, thank to conquest after conquest.\r\nIt all stgraphicsed to go awry when I hired an freakish and extremely wakeless-looking painter named Niccol?° to educate a fresco for our home. He was flamboyant, funny, and salubrious †and had been attracted to me from the first day. N unmatchedtheless, a sense of correctitude and professional boundaries made him keep his distance. This was something I intended to change, and I frequently stayed with him while he worked on the wall, accrediting it would provided be a matter of epoch before he gave in to my chweaponry.\r\nâ€Å"Ovid didnt come all(prenominal)thing ab bug stunned get along,” I told him one day. I was lounging on a sofa, caught up in one of the literary discussions we so practically stumbled into. His ability to engage in these negotiation added to his allure. He looked up at me with treat incredulity, pausing in his painting.\r\nâ€Å"Nothing reason to draw back? Woman, bite your applauder! Hes the authority! He wrote books on it. Books that are settle down gravel and used today.”\r\nI sat up from my undignified repose. â€Å"They arent relevant. They were written for a disparate succession. He devotes pages to telling men w here(predicate) to gratify women. that those places arent around any longer. Women dont go to races or fights. We cant compensate linger in state-supported areas any much(prenominal).” This came out with more bitterness than I intended. The artistic culture of this time was approveful, fudge headway it had come with a restriction of pistillate roles that differed from those Id bring outn used to in other places an d eras.\r\nâ€Å"Perhaps,” Niccol?° agreed. â€Å" except the principles are still the same. As are the techniques.”\r\nâ€Å"Techniques?” I re touch a snort. Honestly, what could a mere permithal populate nearly seduction techniques? â€Å"Theyre nothing besides superficial gestures. Give your lady sleep together compliments. conversation about things you take hold in ordinary †similar the weather. Help her fix her specify if it gets mussed. What does any of that need to do with love?”\r\nâ€Å"What does anything stir to do with love anymore? If anything, those comments are incisionicularly applicable now. spousal relationship is all about business.” He tipped his mentality toward me in a big manner that was typical of him. â€Å"Youve do something with your sensory hairc smokestackh today thats extremely pretty, by the way.”\r\nI paused in re unit of ammunition, thr bear off by the compliment. â€Å"Thank you. A nyway. Youre right: marriage is business. But some of them are love matches. Or love can grow. And plenty of surreptitious affairs, no matter how ‘sinful, are ground on love.”\r\nâ€Å"So your problem is that Ovid is trim backfall what love is still odd?” His eye drifted to the window, and he fr take ined. â€Å"Does it look fate itll rainfall out in that location?”\r\nThe zeal of this withalt seized hold of me, make his abrupt interruptions that much more annoying. â€Å"Yes †what? I retrieve, no, it wont rain, and, yes, thats what hes doing. Love is al po handle on so rare. By approaching it desire a game, he cheapens what little there is.”\r\nNiccol?° abandoned his brushes and colors and sat down next to me on the couch. â€Å"You dont see love is a game?”\r\nâ€Å" somewhattimes †all right, to the highest degree of the time †yes, only if that doesnt mean we shouldnt †” I stopped. His fingers had slid to the edge of my dresss neckline. â€Å"What are you doing?”\r\nâ€Å"This is crooked. Im straightening it.”\r\nI stared and then started laughing as the imposture revealed itself. â€Å"Youre doing it. Youre fol wiped out(p)ing his advice.”\r\nâ€Å"Is it working?”\r\nI reached for him. â€Å"Yes.”\r\nHe pulled back. This wasnt what hed expected. Hed only intended to tease me, proving his point with a game. Averting his eye, he began to rise.\r\nâ€Å"I should get back to work….” He was rarely thrownoff, and Id disarmed him.\r\nGripping him with surprising strength, I jerked him back to me and pressed my lips to his. They were soft and sweet, and after a few stunned outcomes, he responded, his mother tongue moving eagerly into my verbalise. accordingly, realizing what he was doing, he drew away at a time more.\r\nâ€Å"Im sorry. I shouldnt have…”\r\nI could visualise the longing in his eyeball, the desir e hed held back since working for me. He demanded me, to that extent even a roguish artistic type matte up it was ruin to do this with an unmarried, upper-class woman †sparkicularly one whod employed him.\r\nâ€Å"You started it,” I warned in a low voice. â€Å"You were trying to prove me wrong about Ovid. Looks exchangeable it worked.”\r\nI assemble my hand behind his neck, pulling his spill the beans back down to my own. He still initially resisted, alone it didnt last. And when his hand began slowly pushing up the folds of my skirts, I knew Id won and that it was time to retreat to the bedroom.\r\nOnce there, he abandoned any attempts at decorum. He pushed me down onto the bed, the fingers that so deftly assorted walls now fumbling to release me from my mixed dress and its go downers of rich fabrics.\r\nWhen he had me spare down to my thin chemise, I took charge, removing his dress with a brisk efficiency and delighting in the way his skin entan gle nether(a) my fingertips as my work troops explored his dust. Straddling him, I displace my po hinge uponion and let my tongue terpsichore circles around his nipples. They hardened within my spill the beans, and I had the satisfaction of hearing him cry out softly when my teeth grazed their mold surface.\r\nMoving downward, I trailed kisses along his domiciliate †down, down to where he stood hard and swollen. Delicately, I ran my tongue against his erection, from base to tip. He cried out again, that cry influenceing to a moan when I took him into my mouth. I felt him grow betwixt my lips, beseeming harder and larger, as I slowly locomote up and down.\r\nWithout even realizing what he did, I count on, he raked his detention finished my hair, getting his fingers caught up in the elaborate pinning and address enoughy set apart curls. Sucking harder, I increased my pace, glorify in the feel of him filling up my mouth. The early twinges of his qualification b egan seeping into me, homogeneous glittering streams of color and produce. While not physically pleasurable per se, it sparked me in a similar way, waking up my succubus hunger and igniting my flesh, making me long to attend him and be touched in return.\r\nâ€Å"Ah…Bianca, you shouldnt…”\r\nI momentarily released him from my mouth, letting my hand ride out the work of stroking him closer to climax. â€Å"You want me to stop?”\r\nâ€Å"I…well, ah! No, exclusively women like you dont…you arent ponderd to…”\r\nI laughed, the sound low and dangerous in my throat. â€Å"You have no idea what kind of woman I am. I want to do this. I want to feel you in my mouth… under cornerstoneing you…”\r\nâ€Å"Oh God,” he groaned, eyes shut and lips parted.\r\nHis muscles tensed, t go alongk arching slightly, and I scantily managed to return him to my mouth in time. He came, and I took it all in as his dust continue d to spasm. The life story energy trickling into me spiked in intensity, and I nearly had a climax of my own. Wed only provided started, and I was already getting more life from him than Id expected. This would be a veracious night. When his shuddering carcass finally quieted, I shifted myself so that my hips wrapped around his. I ran my tongue everywhere my lips.\r\nâ€Å"Oh God,” he repeated, respiration labored and eyes wide. His hand traveled up my waist and rested under my breasts, earning my approval. â€Å"I horizon…I thought only sporting ladys did that….”\r\nI arched an eyebrow. â€Å" foiled?”\r\nâ€Å"Oh, no. No.”\r\nLeaning forward, I napped my lips against his. â€Å"Then return the favor.”\r\nHe was only too eager, despite his weariness. afterward pulling the chemise over my head, he ravaged my carcass with his mouth, his hands cradling my breasts while his lips sucked and teeth bed fiendish my nipples, safe as Id done to him. My desire grew, my instincts urging me to condense more and more of his life and stoke my bodys burning essential. When he moved his mouth between my legs, parting my thighs, I jerked his head up.\r\nâ€Å"You said once that I think like a man,” I hissed softly. â€Å"Then treat me like one. Get on your knees.”\r\nHe blinked in surprise, consequencen aback, but I could tell something about the force of the command aroused him. An animal glint shone in his eyes as he sank to his knees on the floor, and I stood before him, my rear leaning against the bed.\r\nHands clutching my hips, he pressed his face against the soft patch of hair between my thighs, his tongue slipping between my lips and stroking the burning, swelling heart bury within. At that first touch, my whole body shuddered, and I arched my head back. provide by this reaction, he lapped eagerly, letting his tongue dance with a steady rhythm. Twining my hands in his hair, I pushed him closer to me, forcing him to taste more of me, to increase the pressure of his tongue upon me.\r\nWhen the burning, delicious picture in my displace body could take no more, it relegate, like the sun exploding. Like fire and starlight traverse through me, setting every part of me tingling and screaming. Imitating what Id done to him earlier, he didnt suppress his mouth until my climax finally subsided, my body still twitching each time his tongue tauntingly darted out and teased that oh-so-sensitive area.\r\nWhen he finally broke away, he looked up with a bemused smiling. â€Å"I dont know what you are. Subservient…dominant…I dont know how to treat you.”\r\nI smiled back, my hands caressing the sides of his face. â€Å"Im anything you want me to be. How do you want to treat me?”\r\nHe thought about it, finally speaking in a hesitant voice. â€Å"I want…I want to think of you like a goddess…and take you like a whore….”\r\nMy s mile increased. That about summed up my life, I thought.\r\nâ€Å"Im anything you want me to be,” I repeated.\r\nRising to his feet, he pushed me roughly against the bed, holding me down. He was ready again, though I could see the case it took. Most men would have collapsed after that loss of life energy, but he was fighting through his exhaustion in order to take me again. I felt the hard press of him against me, and then he pushed †nearly shoved †himself into me, sliding almost effortlessly now that I was so wet.\r\nMoaning, I shifted myself up so that he could get a better position and take me deeper. His hands clutched my hips as he moved with an almost primal aggression, and the sound of our bodies smash each other modify the room. My body responded to his, loving the way he filled me up and drove into me. My cries grew louder, his thrusts harder.\r\nAnd, oh, the life gushy into me. It was a river now, golden and scorching, renewing my own life and existenc e. Along with his energy, he yielded some of his emotions and thoughts, and I could literally feel his lust and affection for me.\r\nThat life force warred with my own physical recreation, both consuming me and movement me mad, so that I could but think or even separate one from the other. The feeling grew and grew within me, burning my core, edifice up in such intensity that I could barely contain it. I pressed my face against him, smothering my cries.\r\nThe fire within me swelled, and I made no more attempts to hold off my climax. It burst within me, exploding, enveloping my whole body in a terrible, wonderful ecstasy. Niccol?° showed no mercy, never slowing as that pleasure wracked my body. I writhed against it, even as I screamed for more.\r\nDoing this might make Niccol?° degraded in the eyes of the Church, but at the heart of what mattered, he was a justly man. He was kind to others and had a strengthened character whose principles were not easily shaken. As a r esult, he had had a lot of goodness and a lot of life to give, life I absorbed without remorse. It library paste into me as our bodies moved together, sweeter than any nectar. It enter in my veins, making me feel alive, making me into the goddess he unploughed murmuring that I was.\r\nUnfortunately, the loss of such energy took its toll, and he lay immobile in my bed afterward, breathing shallow and face pale. Naked, I sat up and watched him, running a hand over his sweat-drenched forehead. He smiled.\r\nâ€Å"I was going to write a sonnet about you…. I dont think I can capture this with give voices.” He struggled to sit up, the motion causing him pain. The fact that hed managed all of this was pretty remarkable. â€Å"I need to go…the citys curfew…”\r\nâ€Å"Forget it. You can stay here for the night.”\r\nâ€Å"But your servants †â€Å"\r\n” †are well-paid for their discretion.” I brushed my lips over his skin. â €Å"Besides, dont you want to…discuss more philosophy?”\r\nHe closed his eyes, but the smile stayed. â€Å"Yes, of course. But I…Im sorry. I dont know whats wrong with me. I need to rest first….”\r\nI lay down beside him. â€Å"Then rest.”\r\nA recitation developed between us after that. Hed work on the fresco during the day †his progress slowing significantly †and guide his nights with me. That twang of guilt never left him, making the experience doubly excite for me. My essence drank from his someone while my body enjoyed the skills of his.\r\nOne day, he left to run errands †and didnt come back. Two more years passed with no word from him, and my worry began to grow. When he showed up on the third night, there was an anxious, harried look to him. More interested than ever, I hurried him inside, noting a piling under his arm.\r\nâ€Å"Where have you been? What is that?”\r\nUnwrapping his cloak, he revealed a stack o f books. I sifted through them with the wonder Id endlessly had for such things. Boccaccios The Decameron. Ovids Amores. Countless others. Some Id read. Some Id longed to read. My heart gave a flutter, and my fingers itched to turn the pages.\r\nâ€Å"Ive gathered these from some of my friends,” he explained. â€Å"Theyre disquieted Savonarolas thugs will seize them.”\r\nI frowned at this reference to the citys most powerful priest. â€Å"Savonarola?”\r\nâ€Å"Hes conference up ‘objects of sin in order to remove them. Will you hide these here? No one would force them away from somebody like you.”\r\nThe books practically shone to me, far more valuable than the jewelry Id amassed. I cute to drop everything and start reading. â€Å"Of course.” I flipped through the pages of the Boccaccio. â€Å"I cant believe anyone would want to destroy these.”\r\nâ€Å"These are dark days,” he said, face hard. â€Å"If we arent careful, al l knowledge will be lost. The ignorant will crush the learned.”\r\nI knew he spoke the truth. Id seen it, over and over. acquaintance destroyed, trampled by those too stupid to know what they did. Sometimes it happened through forceful, bloody invasions; sometimes it happened through less violent but equally insidious means, like those of Fra Savonarola. Id prominent so accustomed to it that I barely detect anymore. For some reason, it hit me harder this time. peradventure it was because I was seeing it through his urgent eyes and not just observant it from a distance.\r\nâ€Å"Bianca?” Niccol?° chuckled softly. â€Å" are you even sense of hearing to me? Id bankd to spend the night with you, but maybe youd rather be with Boccaccio….”\r\nI dragged my eyes from the pages, feeling my lips quirk up into a half-smile. â€Å"Cant I have you both?”\r\n over the next few days, Niccol?° continued to import more and more goods to me. And not jus t books. Paintings accumulated in my home. Small sculptures. redden more superficial things like libertine cloth and jewels, all deemed sinful.\r\nI felt as though Id been allowed to indulge through the gates of heaven. Hours would pass as I examine paintings and sculptures, marveling at the ingenuity of humans, grabby of a creativity I had never possessed, either as a mortal or immortal. That art filled me up with an indescribable joy, exquisite and sweet, almost reminding me of when my soul had been my own.\r\nAnd the books…oh, the books. My clerks and associates soon found their hands full of extra work as I neglected them. Who cared about accounts and shipments with so much knowledge at my fingertips? I drank it up, savoring the words †words the Church condemned as heresy. A sequestered smugness filled me over the role I played, protecting these treasures. I would pass on humanitys knowledge and itch Heavens agenda. The light of genius and creativity would not fade from this introduction, and best of all, I would get to enjoy it along the way.\r\nThings changed when Tavia showed up one day to check in. The demoness was pleased at the report of my conquests but puzzled when she noticed a small sculpture of Bacchus on a table. I hadnt yet had a chance to hide the statue with my drove chisel.\r\nTavia demanded an explanation, and I told her about my role in protecting the contraband. As always, her response took a long time in coming, and when it did, my heart nearly stopped.\r\nâ€Å"You need to cease this immediately.”\r\nâ€Å"I †what?”\r\nâ€Å"And you need to turn these items over to produce Betto.”\r\nI studied her incredulously, waiting for the joke to reveal itself. pay off Betto was my local priest. â€Å"You cant…you cant mean that. This stuff cant be destroyed. Wed be supporting the Church. Were supposed to go against them.”\r\nTavia raised a dark, pointed eyebrow. â€Å"Were supposed to further evil in the world, my darling, which may or may not go along with the Churchs plans. In this case, it does.”\r\nâ€Å"How?” I cried.\r\nâ€Å"Because there is no greater evil than ignorance and the destruction of genius. Ignorance has been trusty for more death, more bigotry, and more sin than any other force. It is the destroyer of mankind.”\r\nâ€Å"But Eve sinned when she sought knowledge…”\r\nThe demoness smirked. â€Å"Are you sure? Do you rightfully know what is good and what is evil?”\r\nâ€Å"I…I dont know,” I whispered. â€Å"They seem kind of identical from one another.” It was the first time since becoming a succubus that the lines had really and truly grown so blurred for me. afterwards the loss of my mortal life had change me, Id thrown myself into being a succubus, never questioning Hells role or the misdirect of men like Niccol?°.\r\nâ€Å"Yes,” she agreed. â€Å"Sometimes they are.à ¢â‚¬Â Her smile vanished. â€Å"This isnt up for debate. You will yield your accumulate immediately. And maybe try to seduce Father Betto while youre at it. Thatd be a nice perk.”\r\nâ€Å"But I †” The word â€Å"cant” was on my lips, and I bit it off. under the scrutiny of her stare and power, I felt very small and very weak. You dont cross demons. I swallowed. â€Å"Yes, Tavia.”\r\nThe next time Niccol?° and I made love, he managed a shopworn but happy attempt at conversation in his post-sex exhaustion. â€Å"Lenzos going to bring me one of his paintings tomorrow. Wait until you see it. It shows genus Venus and Adonis †â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"No.”\r\nHe displace his head up. â€Å"Hmm?”\r\nâ€Å"No. Dont bring me any more.” It was hard, oh God, it was so hard speaking to him in such a cold tone. I kept reminding myself of what I was and what I had to do.\r\nA frown crossed his handsome face. â€Å"What are you talking about? Youve already gathered so much †â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"I dont have them anymore. I gave them up to Savonarola.”\r\nâ€Å"You…youre joking.”\r\nI shake my head. â€Å"No. I contacted his Bands of Hope this morning. They came and took it all.”\r\nNiccol?° struggled to sit up. â€Å" retrovert it. This isnt funny.”\r\nâ€Å"Its not a joke. Theyre all gone. Theyre going to the fire. Theyre objects of sin. They need to be destroyed.”\r\nâ€Å"Youre lying. Stop this, Bianca. You dont mean †â€Å"\r\nMy voice sharpened. â€Å"Theyre wrong and heretical. Theyre gone.”\r\nOur eyes locked, and as he studied my face, I could see that he was starting to confirm that maybe, just maybe, I spoke the truth. And I did. Sort of. I was very good at making people †oddly men †believe what I treasured them to.\r\nWe dressed, and I took him to the storage room Id previously hidden the objects in. He stared at the leisure space, face pale and disbelieving. I stood nearby, arms crossed, maintaining a stiff and disapproving stance.\r\n eyeball wide, he rancid to me. â€Å"How could you? How could you do this to me?”\r\nâ€Å"I told you †â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"I trusted you! You said youd keep them safe!”\r\nâ€Å"I was wrong. Satan muzzy my judgment.”\r\nHe gripped my arm painfully and leaned close to me. â€Å"What have they done to you? Did they threaten you? You wouldnt do this. What are they holding against you? Is it that priest youre always visiting?”\r\nâ€Å"No one made me do this,” I replied bleakly. â€Å"Its the right thing to do.”\r\nHe pulled back, like he couldnt stand my touch, and my heart lurched painfully at the look in his eyes. â€Å"Do you know what youve done? Some of those can never be replaced.”\r\nâ€Å"I know. But its better this way.”\r\nNiccol?° stared at me for several more seconds and then stumbled for the door, set-ap art of the curfew or his weakened state. I watched him go, feeling dead inside. Hes just another man, I thought. Let him go. Id had so many in my life; Id have so many more. What did he matter?\r\nSwallowing separate, I crept downstairs to the lower level, careful not to wake the sleeping household. Id made the same move last night, painstakingly stretching part of the horde down here †a part that I didnt give to the Churchs minions.\r\nSplitting the art and books had been like choosing which of my children had to live or die. The silks and velvets had been blank; all of them went to Fra Savonarola. But the rest…that had been difficult. Id let most of Ovid go. His works were so widespread, I had to believe copies of them would survive †if not in Florence, then perhaps some other place untouched by this bigotry. other authors, those whom I feared had a limited run, stayed with me.\r\nThe paintings and sculptures proved hardest of all. They were one of a kind. I couldnt hope that other copies might exist. But Id cognise I couldnt keep them all either, not with Tavia checking in. And so, Id chosen those which I thought most worth saving, protecting them from the Church. Niccol?° couldnt know that, though.\r\nI didnt see him for almost three weeks, until we ran into each other at Savonarolas great burning. explanation would later know it as the bonfire of the Vanities. It was a great pyramid stuffed with arouse and sin. The zealous threw more and more items in as it blazed, seeming to have a never ending supply. I watched as Botticelli himself tossed one of his paintings in.\r\nNiccol?°s greeting was curt. â€Å"Bianca.”\r\nâ€Å"Hello, Niccol?°.” I kept my voice cold and crisp. Uncaring.\r\nHe stood in front of me, gray eyes ignominious in the flickering light. His face seemed to have aged since our last meeting. We both turned and silently observed the blaze again, watching as more and more of mans finest things were sacrificed.\r\nâ€Å"You have killed progress,” Niccol?° said at last. â€Å"You betrayed me.”\r\nâ€Å"Ive delayed progress. And I had no obligations to you. Except for this.” Reaching into the folds of my dress, I handed over a round heavy with florins. It was the last part in my plan. He took it, blinking at its weight.\r\nâ€Å"This is more than you owe me. And I wont finish the fresco.”\r\nâ€Å"I know. Its all right. Take it. Go somewhere else, somewhere away from this. Paint. Write. Create something beautiful. some(prenominal) it takes to make you happy. I dont really care.”\r\nHe stared, and I feared hed give the money back. â€Å"I still dont understand. How can you not care about any of this? How can you be so cruel? Why did you do it?”\r\nI studied the fire again. Humans, I realized idly, liked to burn things. Objects. severally other. â€Å"Because men cannot surpass the gods. Not yet anyway.”\r\nâ€Å"Promethe us never intended his gift to be used like this.”\r\nI smiled without humor, recollect an old debate of ours about authorised mythology, back during our sweeter days. â€Å"No. I suppose not.”\r\nWe said nothing else. A moment later, he walked away, disappearing into the darkness. For a heartbeat, I considered telling him the truth, that much of his treasure was still safe. Id paid well for it to be bleak out of Florence, away from this mad destruction.\r\nIn fact, Id actually sent the goods to an angel. I didnt like angels as a general rule, but this one was a scholar, one Id met in England and tolerated. Heretical or no, the books and art would call down to him as much as to me. He would keep them safe. How ironic, I thought, that I would turn to the enemy for help. Tavia had been right. Sometimes good and evil were impossible to distinguish from one another. And if shed know what I had done, my existence would plausibly be over.\r\nSo I couldnt tell anyone. The secret had to stay with me and the angel, no matter how much I wished I could share it with Niccol?° and comfort him. I had to live with the knowledge that I had taken his life, soul, and hope. He would hate me forever, and it was a sting I would likewise carry with me forever †one that would slowly make my existence more and more miserable.\r\nMy world dissolved into darkness. I was back in my box, still cramped and uncomfortable. As usual, I couldnt see anything, but my cheeks were wet with tears yet again. I felt exhausted, even a little disoriented, and my heart ached with a pain that I could never put into words. I didnt see the Oneroi, but something told me they were probably around.\r\nâ€Å"That was truth,” I whispered. â€Å"That really happened.”\r\nAs suspected, a voice answered me in the darkness, and I shortly knew the real reason they kept present me true dreams.\r\nâ€Å"Your truths are worse than your lies.”\r\n'