Daughter to Demons by Jeffrey M. Mahr ©1999 Jeffrey M. Mahr -- all rights reserved

"Do you believe those idiots?" Frank was still annoyed even now as they were entering the dorm building again but his recriminations were down to a grumble at last. George was angry too, but he held his piece knowing that anything he said would just be additional ammunition for Frank's anger. George wanted to figure out what to do to get their friend and find out how he was after being unceremoniously kicked out of the hospital and he needed Frank to be calm enough to help him plan if they were to succeed. They had even stopped for some groceries at the all night supermarket to give Frank a little extra time to calm and now were taking the stairs rather than the elevator for the same reason.

"I'll get the door." George piled his grocery bags on top of the ones Frank held. They were piled so high Frank could barely see around the sides.

"You better after making me walk up three flights of stairs with my hands full of groceries."

"Aw come on, you know it's good exercise. You'll thank me when you make it to varsity."

"Right, and all because of your help tonight. What do you want in return, my first born child?"

"That depends. Will she grow up to be a fox?"

"Cradle robber."

"Indian giver." The last brought a smile to Frank's face at last.

"Milord." George unlocked the door to their apartment and threw it wide open while making a caricature of a deep courtly bow. Frank snorted and walked in, head held regally high, not that he had a choice if he wanted to see where he was going with all the bags. George smiled, recognizing that the old Frank was back, and then followed dragging one foot behind him as he pretended to be Igor from "Young Frankenstein."

Frank blindly struggled into the kitchen still holding all the groceries. He called back to George, "Will carrying all the bags make me Captain?"

George did not respond. He was staring slack jawed at the figure on the couch hunched over a huge ornate leather bound book and surrounded by at least a dozen other similar texts. Frank dropped the bags on the counter in the kitchenette and finally, with his view restored, saw the beautiful, erotic, raven haired woman on the couch.

As usual, George was first to react. "Hello. Who are you? What are you doing here, and will you father my children?" He swaggered over to the beat up lounge chair that was the room's only other seating and slouched down into it. Frank, actually the more assured of the two in the presence of women, joined them sitting beside the angelic vision after moving a few books to make a space.

"It's my apartment too, isn't it?" The voice was melodious and silken, both virginal and wanton at the same time. Both boys shifted a bit to hide their growing excitement.

"Excuse me," Frank finally just placed his hands over his lap, "but I'm quite sure I would have remembered a dark haired beauty like you sharing our apartment with us." He gestured to include George in the "us." George gave Frank a strange look, but said nothing.

"What are you talking about? We've been room mates for a year and a half. I helped you with calculus or you wouldn't have passed. Remember when you had the flu and wanted to call that babe Samantha Fox but couldn't stop sneezing long enough to dial the phone." She pointed to George and pouted prettily. "And you Frank. Who helped you design some of those house models your professors have so liked? Wouldn't they be just a bit annoyed if they knew you had help?"

"This is a joke right? Jack put you up to this. Where is he, in the bedroom watching?" George turned to the bedrooms and called out. "Okay Jack, the joke's over. You can come out now?"

Now it was the girl's turn to be confused. "What are you talking about? I'm Jack."

The silence was deafening, but then again, there was rarely a lot of noise, even in a college dormitory, at half past three in the morning. George snorted and stalked off to check the various bedrooms. Not finding anything, he returned to the living room to stand, hands on hips, towering over the still seated woman. "Okay, blondie. You're beautiful, and I'd love to get to know you, but neither of us are in the mood for jokes about our friend so what's the story."

"No story. I'm Jack Renfrew. Don't you recognize me?"

"Jack Renfrew was not a babe." George spoke through gritted teeth.

"George, stop it! Look at me! You know who I am! Now tell me, who am I?"

George got a strange look on his face, dazed, almost like he'd been sucker punched and was ready to pass out. He spoke with a wooden monotone, "You are Jack Renfrew. You share this apartment with Frank and me."

"Good. Now grab a seat and chill out." She looked at Frank who was watching George march over to the chair he had vacated and sit woodenly. "Now how about you? Do you know who I am?" This time she was beseeching rather than demanding.

"You look like the most beautiful black haired babe I've ever seen," she started to cloud over and Frank continued rapidly, "but you know things that rightfully only Jack should know. Before that damn hospital kicked us out the doctor treating you said you were changing and the shape I saw sure seemed female, so I guess you are Jack."

"Oh thank god. I was beginning to believe I was crazy," she lunged out of her seat and hugged Frank, who immediately got the strangest look on his face, both totally satisfied yet confused. Jack let go and returned to her seat.

"Oh shit. Sorry Frank. I guess you might want to go clean up a bit."

"What happened? How did you know? What's going on here?" Frank was confused and scared.

"Clean up while I try to bring George back to the land of the living. I think I can explain, but it's pretty fantastic and I need help from the both of you to confirm it."

"Mind if we have some coffee, it's been a long day?"

"Sure Frank. May I have a cup too?

"How do you want it?"

"Like I always have it Frank, with lots of cream and four sugars." Frank said nothing but prepared the coffee as requested.

"Still checking me out Frank?" Frank said nothing but blushed as he brought over the coffee and sat at the counter of the kitchenette with the others.

"Okay." George was back to his usual domineering self. "May we have an explanation now?"

"Right." Jackie took a sip of her coffee and sighed. "This is going to be hard to believe."

"Harder than explaining how my dark brown haired male room mate turned into a gorgeous blonde bombshell?" George snorted.

"That's twice you've said that."

"Said what Frank?"

"Said she was a blonde, when she's clearly got black hair."

George looked at Frank like he'd grown an extra head until Jack interrupted. "If you'll just listen gentlemen, Madam Olga will explain all."

Still looking confusedly at each other, the two men subsided and waited. "Thank you. Like I said, this is pretty fantastic, and I still don't have all the pieces together, so bear with me." She glanced at the others who nodded silently.

"Have either of you ever heard of a succubus?"

"Female demon of some kind?"

"Two points for George. For another two points can you tell me what a succubus does?"

"Something to do with sex?"

"Close but no points. Can you take it Frank?" Frank just sat dumbly staring at her.

"Buzz. Time's up no points for you Frank." She sighed. "Geez guys, for all the time I spend helping you guys with your homework, you'd think you'd have picked up at least a little bit of what I was studying.

"A succubus is a female demon, a member of the Lilim, the result of assorted couplings between the first female, Lilith, and the Djinns. According to Sumerian legends, the Lilim were considered the first vampires."

"You're a vampire?" Frank self-consciously crossed himself while George visibly shrank away from her.

"No," she sighed, "although I suppose succubuses and vampires are cut from a similar cloth. Where the vampire feeds off the blood of human beings, the succubus feeds off their sexual energy."

"So why are you drinking that coffee, or do you still need regular food?" George was trying to keep it light, but it fell flat.

"Actually, if you'd seen what I've eaten in the last day you wouldn't believe it, but to answer your question, I'm not sure but I don't think so."

"So you now live off sex? That's a bit hard to imagine."

"Harder than imagining that I can look like a blonde to you and a brunette to Frank?"

"Okay. I'll agree that something weird is happening here, but there seem to be three questions that need to be answered here. First, how did this happen? Second, what other weird surprises do you have for us? Third, can you prove any of this?"

"Add a fourth question." Frank had been listening pensively. "How do we get you back to normal?"

"Oh thank you. I knew I could count on you guys. I could just hug you."

"Uh, are you doing something?" The two men squirmed uncomfortably.

"Oops. Sorry." Jackie concentrated for a moment and both Frank and George looked relieved.

"How about you finish explaining?"

"Sure, at least what I can explain." She took a deep breathe and sighed deeply before continuing. "As to how, I think it had something to do with that stripper we saw at Calaca E. Ever since that night, at least until I died, she's been in my dreams. What? What's the matter?" Both George and Frank looked shocked.

"You died? Then the call from the hospital was real?"

"I don't know about any call, but let me finish and I'll explain. That night when we got home and went to bed I dreamed that stripper came floating into my room and we had fantastic sex."

"Yeah, I remember we all dreamed about her that night."

"Well, I don't think it was a dream. She came back to me every night for more than two weeks. I think she was a succubus. I think she was sucking my sexuality, my masculinity from me, a bit at a time until I died."

"Why you? Why don't we hear about this all the time? And, once again, what do you mean you died?"

"Why me, I don't know? I never thought of myself as being excessively sexually endowed that I would be a magnet for some sexual vampire. As to why you don't hear about such things, again, I don't know. Maybe there aren't a lot of succubuses around so it doesn't happen often."

"Or maybe it was the treatment the hospital was providing." It was George. "I checked out your medical chart. They were using a non-traditional and somewhat controversial treatment, pumping you full of male sexual hormones. For something like a succubus, that would probably be like fattening a pig for the kill or waving a red flag in front of a bull."

"I guess that makes sense." Jack wasn't convinced. "It would explain why she kept coming back long after any mature male sexuality had been drained from my body. I suppose I should be happy that I died like a man, orgasming to the end. Maybe for most people they stop after the initial depletion and it seems like little more than an especially vivid 'wet dream.'"

"Anyway, sometime last night I apparently died. I remember being in a sort of dream state most of the last week. I couldn't rouse myself enough to talk or let anyone else know, but I was aware of what was going on around me. Last night she came for me again. She did me again and then there were people rushing about all around me. The funny thing was they never saw her as she floated there over my head smiling evilly down at me.

"They took me to the emergency room where they gave me a couple of injections and shocked me several times. Then they pronounced me dead and I still couldn't move but felt this terrible hunger. The emergency room doctor and the nurse working with him were having sex on the floor of the ER before I could blink.

"Once that started I began to feel better. Still starving but able to move at last, I got up and followed the signs to the cafeteria. They were so caught up exploring each other they never even saw me leave.

"In the cafeteria I just walked up to the line took some food and sat down. The cashier asked me for money, but I was starving and told him to cool it, that I would pay him later and he ignored me from then on. A group of people gathered, watching me eat, and eat, and eat. I ate more than I would normally eat in a month and was still hungry. The food wasn't satisfying me, but there seemed to be a trickle of energy coming from the crowd and that finally filled me enough to stop eating."

"Then what?" Frank gently prompted.

"Then I went back to my room to get some clothes, until then I'd been wearing nothing but a standard issue hospital gown."

"You went traipsing around a hospital in a hospital gown looking like you do?" Always practical George interjected. "It's amazing you weren't raped."

"I'll get back to you about appearances. Suffice to say, I think each of us has a different image of what I look like." The other two looked puzzled. Jackie looked at their expressions and sighed.

"Fine. We'll do that first. Frank could you hand out some paper and pens. I'd like each of you to write down what you see when you look at me. You know, the obvious: gender, hair color, clothing, physical attributes."

"Good. Now George, would you please read each description?"

George cleared his throat. "I'll read mine first. Female, about 20 years of age, blonde, well built, about five foot six inches tall, fantastic blue eyes, wearing a pale blue tank top and cut off jeans."

Jack watched Frank listen incredulously. "You better read Frank's next."

"Okay." He shuffled papers. "Frank wrote, 'Female, about twenty years of age, black hair, well built, about five foot ten inches tall, green eyes..." He faded off in confusion.

"That's what I expected. Please finish reading George."

George hesitated, but then continued. "Wearing a red lycra mini dress." He looked at Frank like he was crazy.

"He's not crazy George. Now read mine please."

George nodded and shuffled papers again. "Male, about twenty years of age, light brown hair, slight pot belly, about six foot one inches tall, brown eyes, wearing a tee shirt and jeans. Jack this just isn't possible." George waved the papers in the air.

"I'm afraid it is. I seem to be able to do several things. I made a list, based on my experiences so far and what I could glean from my text books." He pulled a folded paper out of one of his textbooks and read. "One: I feed off sexual energy. Two: I can control other people's minds to make them do what I want. Three: I can appear as any female shape to others. Four: I can disappear or become invisible if you prefer. Five: I can float through walls and I guess you could say I can fly since I can control the speed and direction of my flight. Six: I'm impervious to just about any type of mundanely caused pain or injury and I think I can live forever, although there's some reference to several angels sent to destroy demons. Their names are Sanvi, Sansanvi, and Semangelaf. Seven: Love, real love is painful as it's the antithesis of what a succubus is about and I suspect other forms of magic could be painful and might be able to override my will or kill me. Eight: I'm supposed to have some type of control over animals, especially snakes. Nine: I may have some type of control over fire, although I'm not sure what. All I could find about that was that some descriptions of Lilith, the mother of all demons, describe her as being a woman from the navel up and fire from the navel down. I wonder if that isn't just an allusion to the fire in the loins some poets use to describe sexuality.

"If there's anything else, I haven't been able to do it or find it in my research." Jackie folded the paper and stuffed it back into the book. He waited for the others to speak.

Finally, George took the bull by the horns. "This has got to be some kind of elaborate joke. Magic doesn't really exist. Succubuses don't really exist. You can't really be Jack Renfrew." He turned to Frank beseechingly. "Tell her Frank. Tell her this is a crock."

Jackie sat quietly waiting. When Frank did not confirm his opinion, George finally sputtered to a halt. "What do I need to do to convince you?"

"Prove yourself." George blustered. "Do any one of the things you say you can do."

Jackie thought while George stewed and Frank waited patiently. "I'm already appearing to each of you as a different person and that hasn't convinced you?" George shook his head no.

"Well, I guess I could float in the air or disappear, but you'd probably say it was another trick. Same if I were to let you drive a knife into me to show I can't be hurt. I don't know about the fire or animals yet so I'd rather not try something in that area. How about I give you an orgasm where you sit?"

"I'm so close now if you bent over and showed me a bit more cleavage I'd be there. That won't wash."

"If I were a girl I'd probably be flattered." Jackie smiled sardonically. "That means I need to bring out the big guns."

Again she thought for a moment. "How about I make someone fall in lust with you? Frank maybe?"

"Not on your life. I'm already wondering if he's not in on this prank."

Frank looked relieved. "Thanks pal. I like you, but I'd prefer it not to be in that way."

"Well, I hate to bring some other unsuspecting victim into this, but I don't see a choice. How about this? You name the person, any person, and I'll have them here and having sex with you as soon as they can get here."

"Anyone?"

"Anyone." Jackie thought better of her blanket statement. "That is anyone human, who's not some kind of magic user. I don't know of any at this time, but if I can exist, I've got to believe they can too."

"No problem. I'll even make it easy for you. She's right here in this dorm. Can you read my mind and tell me who I'm talking about?"

"I can't read your mind although I could probably make you tell me and then forget you told me, which would seem like almost the same thing." Jackie watched George cringe. He may not want to believe, but he was getting there.

"But I can guess. You're probably thinking about Julie Danson. You've lusted after her since you first met a year and a half ago and it's been killing you that she's probably a lesbian." George nodded.

"You're sure I can't convince you some other way?"

"Not that I can think of."

Jackie sighed. "I guess that's it then? If she walks up to the door to this apartment, knocks on it, and when you open it she jumps your bones, you'll believe?"

"Not only will I believe, I'll be very relaxed."

Another, even bigger sigh. "Very well. Give me a few minutes. She is still living downstairs, right?" George nodded. "If she's home, you've got a deal," she faded out.

Less than five minutes later she was back. "Answer the door George." She sounded resigned and regretful.

"Why?" But George walked over to the door. There were several tentative knocks before he got there. When he opened it Julie was standing there in her babydolls. Her eyes were feverishly scanning the room and when she saw George she smiled and lunged at him.