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Part
1
Certain
things made Chris Keel nervous and one of those things was going
into a situation where nobody was quite sure what to expect. Two
FBI agents, three Interpol officers, one SAS operative and two
Securite agents had disappeared on the same case and no agency
anywhere in the world was any closer to finding out what was going
on than before they had vanished. The case was international and
hence, finally, the job of tracking down the culprits had been
handed to CI5. People, mostly men, were disappearing all over
the world. The base of operations seemed to shift every few months
and people in another city would start to turn up dead. It was
only the death of a somewhat distinguished UK businessman that
had sparked the detailed investigation to begin with. When he
had turned up floating down the Thames the British police had
gone into action on a big scale and other suspicious deaths started
to form a pattern.
That had been six months
previously, and now the case was centred in San Francisco. Keel
and Curtis were hot on the heels of a top lead. The men and women
who had disappeared so far had been from all walks of life: students,
businessmen, drug dealers, thieves, blue collar workers, all could
be added to the list. Tracking it back, the case was over ten
years old and spanned half the globe. The only solid information
CI5 had was that it all started with sex.
"You're sure this
club is where it starts?" Chris asked his partner as they
slowly walked away from their car.
"The Flamingo
was where Myers used to go every night," Sam replied calmly,
"and Kranmer's buddies said this is the last place they saw
him. We can tie two victims here, which is more than we do anywhere
else."
"Let's get on
with it then," was Chris' reply and they headed for the door
of the somewhat seedy dive.
The door opened with
a squeak and loud rock music filled the gap. Inside was a wall
of sound and colour.
"Such taste,"
Chris commented as he surveyed the glittery, neon-strewn interior.
"But what a view,"
Sam returned as his eye fixed in the gyrating behind of one of
the pole dancers in the centre of the room.
Chris just looked at
him with one eyebrow raised.
"Do you always
disengage your brain at moments like this?" he asked sarcastically.
"Just getting
into the role, Chrissy boy," Sam replied with a grin.
Keel made a face and
they walked further into the club. They took seats and signalled
to the waitress.
"How long do we
have to be here?" Chris asked after the woman took their
order.
"Kranmer's friends
said they left him propped up by the bar when they went on to
another club at about 2 in the morning," Sam told him. "He
may have been here until 4 when the club closed."
"Just great,"
Chris commented somewhat unenthusiastically.
"Enjoy the view,
compardre," was all Sam had to say.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sam enjoyed himself
the entire evening; if there was one thing that he never had trouble
entertaining it was his libido. However, no matter how enthusiastic
he was on the surface there was still part of him that was looking
out for anything to do with the case. The club began to slow down
at about 3am and it didn't take a secret agent to realise that
there were more girls on the floor than there were customers.
A stunning red head, and a buxom blonde came over and sat at the
CI5 agents' table.
"Well aren't you
the ones with stamina," the redhead commented and picked
up Sam's drink.
She sipped it and smiled
at him.
"I'm Jamie and
this is Diana. We're going on to somewhere a little more private,
if you boys would like to come," the blonde said and let
her hand wander towards Chris'.
Sam put on his most
killer smile lent forward to the redhead.
"Do you read minds?"
he asked, almost nose to nose with her.
"When I need to,"
she replied.
The blonde obviously
wasn't getting quite enough of a reaction out of Chris because
she stood up and wandered around the table. Sam grinned as she
quite deliberately sat in his partner's lap.
"Don't mind him,"
Sam whispered to the redhead, "he just got dumped and he
needs cheering up."
"Oh, I'm sure
Diana can do that," the red head returned.
Sam found himself looking
into her large green eyes. They were so beautiful, and they sparkled
with little flecks of yellow. She lent forward to kiss him and
before he knew what he was doing he was kissing her right back.
The sensation removed all coherent thought.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sam felt really strange.
He shook his head to try and clear it, but reality just wouldn't
fall into place properly. He was standing in a medium sized room
and the only furniture was a large, wooden framed bed. He had
absolutely no idea how he came to be there, or for that matter
what had happened to Chris. The red head was wandering away from
him towards the bed and she was happily shedding clothes as she
went. Just for a second Sam managed to drag his eyes away from
her and look around the room. The walls were deep red and there
were strange designs drawn on them in black. The patterns all
seemed to force the eye upwards and they came together above the
centre of the bed.
"Come here, lover,"
the red head purred as she threw aside her last item of clothing.
Sam was snared once
again and he did exactly what he was told. As he moved closer
to her he reached out to touch her, but she danced away.
"Aren't we eager,"
she said with a laugh and walked behind him. "First we have
to make sure the master gets what he needs."
Her hands ran down
the back of his neck and connected with the collar of his shirt.
When he had lost his jacket he wasn't sure, but he really didn't
care at all. He was barely even surprised when his companion grasped
the edge of his shirt in both hands and then casually ripped it
in half.
"Don't move,"
she whispered in his ear and walked to the head of the bed. There
she twisted the knob on one of the bedposts and a small door in
the headboard opened with a distinct click. She put her hand in
the opening and drew out something on a chain.
"This will be
the most incredible night of your life," she told him as
she came back towards him. The object in her hands was some sort
of amulet and she let it fall as she held on to the chain. "Unfortunately
it will be your last," she continued and placed the pendant
about his neck.
The moment it touched
Sam's skin it burned, and if he had thought he was aroused before
it was nothing to the passion which blazed through his body at
that moment. He closed his eyes and let it wash over him for a
few moments. Every cell was on fire and he knew exactly what he
needed. The woman's hands were on his chest, moving downward.
She was playing with him, touching his skin lightly as if teasing
him. He opened his eyes and stared at her, seeing her properly
for the first time.
The red hair, beautiful
face and stunning body were still the same, but the green eyes
had changed. They were no longer human eyes, with round irises
and creamy whites, they were completely green with orangey yellow
slits running from top to bottom. She looked up as him and smiled
to reveal long ivory fangs. Sam just stared for a long second,
but this new vision did nothing to reduce the raging need in his
body.
"Tonight I shall
taste of your body," the woman said, "and the master
will taste of your soul."
Where her hands touched
him Sam could actually feel the power in her. It pulsed through
her veins and he wanted her more than anything he had ever wanted
before. She pushed him onto the bed and he let himself fall, landing
in the soft sheets, eyes still firmly glued on her body.
"Some are repelled
when they see my true form," she purred in his ear, leaning
low over him and allowing her breasts to rub his chest, "they
fear me. But you still want me; I can feel it. Do you still like
me? Am I your secret fantasy?" She laughed at her own little
joke and Sam watched her dangerous teeth. "The amulet binds
you to me, but you wouldn't run even if I gave you the chance,
would you?"
She kissed his chest
and then nipped him with her razor sharp teeth. Her tongue flicked
over his skin, lapping up the droplet of blood she had drawn.
Sam's mind just exploded. Sensations he had never felt before
flooded his system and a very well buried instinct came bubbling
to the surface. Suddenly he was no longer a helpless pawn, his
body was not responding to the manipulations of his captor but
to his own needs alone. He grabbed the woman by the shoulders
and twisted her onto her back, coming to rest straddling her.
She pushed against him with unnatural strength snarling at him
as she did so. Yet he held her down almost with no effort. She
looked startled then; her demon eyes filling with an uncommon
fear. Sam just looked at her for a moment his eyes taking in every
detail. She was still intoxicating, but he would not let himself
be completely snared.
"I will not run,"
he said and his voice sounded strangely resonant in his ears,
"and neither will you."
His vision was tinged
with a luminous quality and he could feel the rhythms of her body.
Sam rubbed his still clothed leg along the side of her naked body
and she squirmed beneath him. The fear in her face was being replaced
by the same hunger which had been there before. Sam wasn't thinking
about consequences or where he was, or what was happening, he
only knew that he wanted the creature below him, and she seemed
to be giving in to the same instincts.
He bent down and kissed
her, tasting her lips and letting himself become lost in the sensation.
She was soft under his touch and she pushed against him, connecting
with as much skin as possible. When he broke away and pushed himself
back up there was no fear left in her expression, only need.
"We agree,"
she said, her voice husky with unadulterated lust, "I will
not run."
He let her go then,
releasing the vice like grip he had on her body. She pushed him
onto his back once more and knelt above him as if displaying her
body in all its glory.
"Let me taste
you," she almost begged.
Sam could feel the
urgency in her, and he could also feel the raw sexual energy it
would release. That was what he wanted, what he needed and he
would give her anything to get it. His hand snaked up behind her
neck and he pulled her down. She did not hesitate and as soon
as she was close enough her fangs pierced his skin. The moment
the contact was complete a connection formed between them. For
the first time in his life Sam saw through another's eyes. He
didn't really understand it, but he was in her mind, and without
knowing how, he knew she did not realise it. Her mind was totally
focused on him and he saw how she perceived him. It was this vision
of himself that shocked some rationality back into his mind. The
image of him in her mind was not the image he saw in the mirror
every day: it was something else. His eyes were not their normal
grey green they were black, obscuring all the whites with only
a red dot where the pupil should have been to break the darkness.
When he had smiled at her he had revealed shorter, but just as
deadly fangs as his companion's. He had sets of three on either
side of his upper jaw.
With this shock came
the recollection of his mission and his missing partner. Chris
was in danger; Sam knew it as surely as he knew his own name.
Suddenly he was not in his companion's mind anymore he was somewhere
else. It took him a second or so to realise that he was seeing
Chris, he was behind Diana's eyes. Chris was lying on a bed almost
exactly the same as the one Sam was on and he was wearing a similar
amulet. His eyes were vacant and glassy and there appeared to
be little life in his expression. His captor was straddling him
and Sam could feel that she was very hungry.
Sam dragged his mind
back into his own body and with all the strength he could muster
her threw the red head off him. She sailed through the air and
collided with the wall, sliding down it into an unmoving heap.
Sam just stared at her for a moment, completely surprised by his
own strength and then he climbed to his feet. With one hand he
took hold of the amulet and pulled it off his neck, effortlessly
snapping the chain that held it. With his other hand he reached
for the door handle.
His route was not blocked
and nobody tried to stop him as he ran into a bland looking corridor.
Working on instinct alone he headed left and he never hesitated
as he passed several doors. They all looked the same, but Sam
was not working with his eyes and when he reached the door he
was headed for he calmly kicked it in. Diana turned where she
had Chris pinned to the bed and she snarled at the interloper.
"Get away from
him," Sam demanded in a tone that would have shaken Satan
himself.
"Make me,"
was all the woman said, and Sam needed no other encouragement.
He moved across the
room in the blink of an eye and his fingers, now tipped with sharp
talons gripped the woman around the neck. She flailed at him with
similarly sharp claws but he just lifted her from the bed at arms
length. Almost casually he flicked her head sideways, snapping
her neck and threw her limp body into the corner. Chris was just
lying on the bed and his eyes were the only thing that moved when
Sam bent over him. Carefully Sam took the chain of the amulet
in both hands and broke a single link. He threw that into the
same corner as the she- demon. Chris closed his eyes and slumped
into unconsciousness, the power of the amulet being the only thing
keeping him awake. Sam didn't hesitate; he lifted his partner
onto his shoulder and headed for the nearest exit. Nothing could
have stopped him.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The alarm went off
and Phoebe sat bolt upright in bed. It took her a few seconds
to get her bearings and turn off the beeping.
"Demons,"
was the only coherent word she uttered before scrabbling out of
bed.
She only just remembered
to grab a robe as she dashed out of the door and down the stairs.
"We've got trouble,"
she announced as she entered the kitchen, already knowing the
Pru and Piper would be there before her.
"What kind of
trouble?" Piper asked calmly and placed a mug of coffee under
her sister's nose.
Phoebe took a deep
breath. "Demon trouble," she said, trying to sort out
the jumble of thoughts in her brain.
Pru stood up from where
she was reading the paper and joined her sisters by the counter.
"Premonition?"
she asked evenly.
"Sort of,"
Phoebe replied, unsure of exactly what it was, "more like
dream vision."
Now both of her sisters
looked a little worried; Phoebe had never had dreams before. However,
if she said it was a vision they weren't going to argue.
"What did you
see?" Pru asked, Piper letting her take the lead as usual.
"There were these
vampires," Phoebe started, "well sort of. They were
some sort of hooky mix of vampire and succubus I think. They were
seducing these two guys, only one of the guys wasn't a guy he
was some sort of demon. Only ..." she paused, "he ..."
she tried to quantify what she had seen. "I don't think he
was a bad demon. He killed both of the other demons and rescued
his friend."
"If this guy demon
isn't a bad demon and he killed the other two demons, what's the
trouble?" Piper asked in a most practical manner.
Phoebe screwed up her
face and tried to think. There was something she was missing,
something that was the root of her anxiety.
"There was something
else," she said slowly, "something worse than the vampire
thingies." Phoebe paused again. "The master," she
finished in a half awed tone.
"His name is Benias,"
all three sisters jumped a mile when the voice interrupted their
reverie.
"Leo, don't do
that," Piper admonished as they all turned round to find
the whitelighter standing in their hallway. Almost immediately,
however, she walked over to him and threw her arms around him.
"Sorry,"
he apologised and returned the gesture.
"And Benias would
be?" Pru asked pointedly.
"He used to be
a warlock," Leo provided helpfully, "but about two hundred
years ago he called on powers darker than even his own and become
something worse."
"Ooh, a challenge,"
Phoebe commented, picking up a piece of toast and sitting down.
She was much happier now that she had someone to back her up.
"He has the power
to turn witches into his evil slaves," Leo continued. "He
steals their souls and turns them into a sort of a vampire. They
in turn seduce men for blood and sex and he feeds on the souls
of the men and the sexual energy the couples produce. The longer
he lives the more energy he needs and the more people he kills."
"Nice," was
Phoebe's only word on the subject.
"Since you have
so much information, I assume the answer to this one isn't in
the Book of Shadows." Pru wasn't wasting any time.
Leo shook his head.
"You can't defeat
him, not yet, maybe never," he said honestly, "he would
just make you his slaves. I'm supposed to make sure you stay safe
and out of his way until he's gone from San Francisco."
"But he can be
killed?" Piper didn't like puzzles without solutions.
Leo looked down at
his wife and patted her on the arm in reassurance.
"It's possible
that in a few years you might be able to kill him with the Power
of Three," he told them, "but your powers aren't strong
enough yet."
Phoebe didn't look
satisfied with that answer.
"If we can't do
anything about him, why am I having visions? I know last time
you told us we couldn't handle it you were right, but I wasn't
having visions about that," she asked a little confused.
Leo shrugged; he didn't
have the answer to that one.
"And there's no
other way to defeat him?" Pru wanted to make sure she had
all the cards.
"Well there is
one," the whitelighter explained, "but it's not exactly
practical."
He paused and all three
sisters indicated he should go on.
"When Benias used
a complicated ritual to turn himself into what he is now, he also
captured and absorbed the power of an incubus. Incubi are territorial
and vicious among their own kind, they're vulnerable to one another.
To counter this Benias also absorbed a little humanity. Humans
are the only creatures immune to an incubus' power. To be vulnerable,
humans have to give themselves up willingly. This makes Benias
immune to most human magic because of his demon part, and immune
to incubi power because of his human part, but he would not be
able to stand against a human-incubus hybrid."
There was silence for
a moment.
"Well I told you
it was impractical," Leo said, uncertain of their reaction.
"Something I don't
understand," Phoebe said evenly. "How come the incubus
thing makes him immune to us? We've fought a succubus and surely
an incubus is just a male version of that."
"You've met a
mortal succubus," Leo explained quickly, "a witch who
make a pact with the darkness. A male witch would become an incubus
in the same way, but that's not what Benias absorbed. The name
basically describes what they do, in that they kill during sex.
There are pure demon succubi and incubi as well. They're much
more rare, a lot more powerful and are for all intents and purposes,
immortal. Luckily they are only interested in sex and they don't
go out of their way to battle the light. They kill their victims
by draining the life force rather than the physical destruction
caused by their mortal counterparts."
The three sisters looked
at each other and Piper shrugged. They were used to catching up
with information later rather than sooner.
"What does a demon
incubus look like, exactly?" Phoebe asked slowly.
Leo frowned, but answered
the question anyway. "In their natural form they look almost
human accept for the talons and fangs they use against their own
kind, and they have no soul so their eyes are completely black."
Phoebe looked at her
sisters excitedly.
"The guy in my
vision," she said quickly. "That's what it was all about.
He's got to be the one. He was normal and then he looked just
like Leo described, well almost."
Leo was looking sceptical,
and so was Pru.
"But if incubi
kill women during sex," it was Piper who voiced her confusion,
"how do you get a hybrid?"
"Incubi are all
male," Leo went back to explaining, "but every now and
then they feel the need to reproduce. In most species, even supernatural
ones, there is a female counter part, but the female version of
an incubus is a succubus and they always breed females. So the
only alternative is a human host. In most cases the woman will
carry the baby to term and the boy child will kill her as he is
born, becoming a full incubus. In a few rare cases, however, the
mother's love is pure enough to save the child from becoming fully
demonised. These children can grow up to lead perfectly normal
lives. Most of them never know what they almost were and the only
sign would be an elevated sex drive which is not particularly
uncommon in the human male anyway."
"You've got that
right," Pru commented dryly.
"So what about
it?" asked Phoebe with her usual enthusiasm "If we can
find my vision guy, do we go after Benias?"
Everyone looked at
everyone else; Phoebe was the only one who appeared anything but
nervous about the whole idea.
"Look guys,"
she tried again, "I'm having visions about this. My power
is telling us we have a chance now. We may never get another shot
at removing this evil from the earth. What happens if no one's
ever strong enough to beat him?"
Her powers of persuasion
began to have an effect; finally Pru cracked.
"Okay," she
declared in full take-charge mode, "Piper, you find out what
the Book of Shadows has to say about immortal Incubi. I want to
know everything there is to know before we do anything. Phoebe,
go take a surf on the internet, find out anything you can about
vampires, Benias and everything else that pops into your head.
Leo, can you find out exactly how a hybrid is supposed to be able
to kill this demon and if said hybrid is dangerous to us?"
Leo nodded.
"Good," Pru
stated firmly, "and right now I have to go to a job. I'll
be back by lunchtime to help."
The decision was made.
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Sam opened his eyes
and found himself looking at the back of a paperback book. He
shifted his gaze slightly and discovered that Backup was reading
it and she was sitting in a somewhat uncomfortable looking chair.
A quick glance around and Sam realised he was in a hospital. He
moved and found that most of his body didn't like the idea at
all.
"Ow, what hit
me?" he asked, and was dismayed to find he had no clue as
to why he was lying in the sterile white room.
"Welcome back,"
Tina greeted and put her book aside. "I was beginning to
think you were going to sleep all day."
"Where am I?"
Sam decided to use the direct approach.
"St Bernadette's
Hospital," Backup told him calmly. "How are you feeling?"
"Like I've been
hit by a bus," Sam replied and gave up trying to move too
far.
"What do you remember
about last night?" was Tina's next question.
Sam relaxed back onto
his pillows and tried to recall the previous evening.
"Chris and I were
in the club. Nothing happened until most people had gone. It must
have been nearly closing time when these two women propositioned
us. They came over to our table, sat down, and ..." he paused
and tried to come up with what happened next. There was nothing
but a blank. "That's it," he finally concluded, "I
don't remember anything after that." Sam was suddenly overcome
by an intense sense of danger and it centred squarely on Chris.
"Chris," he said urgently, "is Chris okay?"
Tina put her hand on
his shoulder and gave him a small smile.
"He's fine,"
she assured him, "in fact he's better than you. He woke up
over an hour ago. You staggered into the ER last night carrying
him, blurted out Malone's contact number and then collapsed. The
doctors couldn't find anything wrong with either of you except
a few scratches."
Sam was relieved, but
incredibly confused at the same time.
"We think you
must have been drugged somehow," Backup explained calmly.
"We lost contact with you at about the time you must have
met these women. By the time we got to the club you were gone.
The next we heard was when the hospital rang Malone. You were
missing for three hours and Chris can't remember anything of that
period either."
Sam made a face as
he realised that the operation was almost a complete failure.
"I suppose Malone
is on the war path," he commented quietly.
"Well he's doing
his usual man in charge routine," Tina told him, "but
actually I think he's just glad that you came back alive. He's
more annoyed at himself for allowing you to disappear.
End of Part
1
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