Mine...Yours Pt. 15

I was having a little trouble following all of this, mainly because I was having a hard time thinking of anyone else other than me "laying" with my sweetheart! Questions were coming into my mind though, such as...I didn't see or feel anything different the first time we were together! Granted we were being drenched from rain, we were both coming down from one hell of a fight and she had been healed up from coming close to death. So it's safe to say we had probably been a little distracted. Oh, the sex had been great! Primal...both of us full of need, passion and a whole lotta love. I smiled, remembering it. Lucretia riding me down to the asphalt and crying out as she came with her head back and wings spread to the sky!

Damn...now I have a physical reaction to hide in front of my neighbours!

"So...let me get this straight." I said, leaning forward with my elbows on the table. "A succubus when she reaches the age of majority, which is a fast 4 -5 human years give or take a month or so. She then has a growing energy in her that is given to her...ummm...First?"

Gwen nodded, "Most people use this wish to protect themselves. For the first time a succubus feeds, she can't control herself. It fills her up completely and any of the remaining energy she gives as a gift to her First. This usually is in the form of a wish."

I raised my eyebrows at that. I had felt Lucretia drawing on me since I kissed her broken body, when she refused to take my energy since she was afraid it would kill me! She drew enough to heal herself completely, and she had kept drawing from me even as we had sex in the construction yard. I remembered Mother when she had surprised us she had looked at her daughter and started to ask if she had eaten a whole village, and then she had stopped talking and looked at us both specutively. If my hunch was correct then...

My sweetheart still had that reservoir all built up!

"What do people normally wish for?" I asked. Gwen seemed surprised by my question. She opened up her back pack and rifled through some books and pulled one out and scanned it's contents.

"Well, according to history, which I am definitely starting to doubt it's veracity, any number of things. Gold, money, power, immortality, knowledge...the usual you would find." She flipped a couple of more pages and murmured quietly to herself.

"Some of the wishes came out badly. One man wished for immortality, and in the winter he had fallen through some ice and got trapped under the water. His family didn't find him until the spring thaw. He had been alive the whole time, drowning in freezing water and had gone insane!" Gwen shuddered and closed her book. Jemima looked a little sick and Hildy didn't look any better.

"I don't think Lucretia would try to screw me over on my wish." I said quietly. My mind was turning though, and I had another question.

"Does this reservoir grow? Or does it have a fill limit?" I asked suddenly.

Gwen opened up her book again, a little reluctantly I think, she flipped past the example she just read and paused as she read a little before slowly saying, "No, I don't think so. It says here that generally the succubus wants to divest herself of the reservoir or the wish may become to great. It would borderline on a wish granted by a godlike being!"

I gulped and now all three of my neighbors were staring at me hard. Hard to really wrap the mind around.

"Gregory...how old is Lucretia?" Hildy asked quietly. I gulped again and polished off the rest of my aryan. It helped slack my dry throat but I still croaked out.

"Older than the age of majority."

Which is of course when Lucretia and Marid popped back into the room, making me jump! They were holding hands and looking at each other.

"All is forgiven then? My Little Bird?" I heard his deep voice rumble out.

"Nothing to forgive, but if you need to hear it, I forgive you Papa!" Lucretia stood up on the tips of her claws giving a little hop and kissed Marid on the cheek. Which made my jaw drop.

Marid is 9 feet tall if he was an inch! Lucretia got 4 feet off of a toe hop! Maybe she needed to become a professional basketball player. She would trounce the players in the Women's division of the NBA! The massive djinn of storms looked over all of us, and extended his hand to Gwen who put her hand in his. He turned it over and kissed it.

"Little witch, remember to question everything. Many things we consider to be true are only true from a single perspective." He rumbled down to her. Gwen in turn trembled, though it might have been that she was vibrating from his voice.

He turned to Jemima and held his hand out to her, she raised an eyebrow and extended her hand and he kissed hers too. "Titles are empty, names are fleeting, being what you are has true power." He said gently.

Jemima yanked her hand back, and almost glared at him. He smiled wider in response. Marid continued to Hildy, she tentatively held out her hand. The djinn's back was to me so I didn't hear what he said, but Hildy must have because her eyes teared up and she began to nod rapidly. She gave a tremulous smile and gave one final nod before he kissed her hand.

I realized it was my turn now. Marid faced me, and instinctively I stood taller...which made me feel very silly because even if I stood on the table, actually I would be taller than him then!

I seriously did consider standing on it, I felt really tiny.

"I owe you..." Marid said softly, "More than I can tell you. What you have done for my Little Bird is more than I could have done. Power I have, that can oppose the will of the heavens should I wish to do so. Yet I was limited by promises made."

His voice trailed off. His eyes moving to Lucretia, I looked as well and noticed she wasn't even blinking. Neither was Hildy or Gwen! Did he...?

"Yes, I stopped Time to speak. Just as I did with my daughter moments ago. Except we will come back and no one will think we have said anything to each other."

I spoke then, I was feeling uncomfortable with all of this praise. "Marid, sir. You don't need to thank me. I need to thank you." He titled his head in curiosity, which reminded me so much of how Lucretia did it that I chuckled a little bit.

"Marid, you helped me more than you can know. You don't know what I was like before...uh...before this. You helped raise the woman, wait...no...female that I love. She has, there aren't words to say that...Damn it! I don't know how to say it except that I feel so good right now!" I gulped and took a glance at his face to see his head tip back and let out a belly laugh that hurt my ears.

"Ohhhh! I like you very much Gregory Bastion Brooks!" Marid said with a large grin. He put both hands on my shoulders and kissed me on each cheek before embracing me.

Not, not a hug, a hug and an embrace are two very different things. A hug is a hug and an embrace is a hug like...how do I explain this? Its like, A hug to an embrace is like a Ford Festiva to a Ford Mustang. They are both cars but one is a lot more of a car than the other!

I gurgled and almost called up my power so I could breathe. When he set me down he took a step back and said, "Call for me if you have questions. Not many have been in your position before. Call to me if you have need. Farewell!"

Then he scared the crap out of me by disappearing again! I absolutely hate that!

He had left the plates and food behind and we kept eating. The cleaning up and storing the leftovers. I wanted to ask more questions about this supposed "Wish" I would be receiving, but got the feeling I should wait on it. Kind of reminded me when I went to William's place to ask him about being a mage and afterwards Lucretia got kinda huffy with me. She had lots of experience since she had been raised with magic. I had never thought to ask her about it!

This seemed like one of those times that I should just wait and talk with her. We finished stacking the plates in the dishwasher after a quick rinse. I had been watching Jemima a little, there seemed to be something on her mind. Hildy had been giving me sad puppy dog eyes and had been telling us the aftermath of Lucretia's visit with my Dad. How now she was running and overseeing the Pack. How they had one of the wolves send out a Tow Truck to get my little white pickup from the side of the road.

"We had a replacement brought over, I don't know if you saw it Greg..." Hildy went on to tell me. "That blue F-150? I know it's older and used, but it has low miles and is in pretty good shape! I thought it would be a good replacement for the time being."

She shrugged before continuing, "Or you can keep it, scrap the other vehicle if you want...I don't know. As for your job, one of our wolves volunteered. He used to be with my father's private detail. He quit and asked me if he could do your job while you were recovering."

I was surprised by that, last I check I had only been down for...how many days? Well, it happened one evening, then on to the next one when Dad helped out...so... Not too bad, only a couple nights.

"Is he anyone I know?" I asked. Hildy nodded. "Westcott, or Tyson. You met him once or twice before." She hesitated and looked down, her cheeks coloring.

"He was the one that survived the attack on you." She said quietly. I felt a little uncomfortable, for numerous reasons. Other than the fact I had killed people. That in itself was hard to really cope with, but then it was a case of self defense. Now, I have Hildy in front of me and they were her people, from her Pack...

"How do you feel about it?" I asked her back.

Feel...about what?" She replied.

I just looked at her and she huffed out a breath of air.

"What am I supposed to say? That I am okay with you killing three of my Pack? That I don't hold it against you or...or Lucretia?" She asked with a sharp hint to her tone. She glanced aside at me, then back to examining the sink. We were still standing in the kitchen, Jemima and Gwen and Lucretia were all talking together. Though if I were to guess the "conversation" they were having was a cover to be able to listen to us talk.

Pretty sure I was right since my succubus's ear twitched at hearing her name.

"Honestly I didn't think that you had it in you to fight like that Greg. I mean, we hear you and her going at it in the backyard sometimes. But I never think that you can actually fight and win against someone like...what I mean is..."

"You never thought I could fight against a group or pack of werewolves like that and win?" I suggested. She just nodded.

"I have always been one of the strongest, never really thought about strength. I have met mages, and wizards before. You can't help that when you live here and are the daughter of the Alpha!" Then she fixed me with an amber eyed stare.

"I told you once how I felt, how if things might have been different. How I feel now is...I am angry." She said quietly. There was a good amount of heat in her words though.

"I am angry that we met the way we did. I am angry my father set you up. I am angry that you chose to not be mine! I am angry that my life has now become vastly more complicated and all of these responsibilities are on my shoulders! I am so ANGRY that I had Pack members die! I am absolutely FURIOUS with myself that I can't take vengeance because, because..." She sighed again, heavily.

"Because you were acting in self defense, my people, my family were wrong in what they did. I am at war with my nature because one side wants to kill you for killing so many of my kind, yet I know it was self defense."

"Still doesn't make it easy though?" I ventured. She shook her head.

"I know I apologized earlier Greg, I want to again. Yet, I just want you to know you won't be bothered by anyone in the Pack."

I think about that. I still have some unresolved issues with Judge Michael Roberts. A part of me wants to go and pull all his teeth and claws out with rusty pliers! The other part of me just wants this over with. I want to bring it up, but how would that really help anything? Nothing Hildy can do. She knows her Dad did wrong by me. I got a new truck, I mean a newer truck out of it. I would probably scrap the other one. I am physically fit now, my body healed up good as new. I have a house that's bought and paid for, might need a little more fixing up from that lord Balmont asshole but still, a good home.

I also have Lucretia! My fierce Succubae who loves me back. Even now I can feel it. Where I could once feel only tidbits and pieces of her feelings they can now be touched easily. Like turning on a radio or flicking on a light switch. I can just reach out and feel the currents, the ebb and flow of her emotions.

Each times she glances at me while talking with her two friends I feel a quickening, like her hearts beating faster. It makes me smile! I catch a little of what Lucretia is talking to Jemima about.

"Jemima?"

"Yes Lucky?"

"Were you named after pancakes?"

"Excuse me...what? Pancakes! What are you...? Oh."

"I just saw your name on a box with a lady who looks like you and it was for making pancakes." Lucretia said matter -of-factly.

Jemima chuckled. "No, I am not named after that. You could say they are named after me though!"

Lucretia looked confused, so Jemima explained.

"It's pretty simple. I was a slave over here when America was still pretty young. Slavery was legal in the USA back then. You know slavery?"

Lucretia nodded. Jemima nodded back and continued, "Well back in those times Africa was really very tribal. I was captured by a tribe we were at war with and sold to some Dutch traders who brought me to America. I was sold, and my master and his wife called me an indentured servant. Its kinda like a slave except I get set free after a time. A lot of folks in America didn't like slavery but they needed workers so we would have to work off our paid for price. Some it didn't take long, others it took a longer time. ME, it was about 5 years."

Jemima sat back and Gwen kindly handed her a glass of blood which made Jemima smile at her with affection.

"After that I stayed working with the mistress. She and the master were land owners, and very kind. Hard, but kind. They would work out in the fields with us, and most of the negroes, that's what we were called at the time, were free men and women. They had earned their freedom, and decided to stay on and work as employees. I decided too as well"

She took a sip of her drink and grinned. "Besides, mistress used to be a school teacher so we were all learning English letters and numbers! I would work in the fields and in the house, played with the white children. It was a good life. Much better than the war and violence in Africa. I even had a name, it sounded good in my ears too. Jemima, given to me by a strong woman who ran her household well. I used to bake with her in the kitchen, she told me I was the daughter she never had."

Jemima stopped a moment and wiped a finger along her eye. We all were now paying attention and she sat up a little straighter and coughed once.

"Guess you all should hear this too..." She took another sip of her drink and continued. "The Civil War happened, I was in my thirties at the time. The North side of America was more industrialized and had more people than the Southern States. The South was getting upset it couldn't have more of a voice in the legislation. Which is when the negroes got the 3/5ths vote. Where a black vote was worth 3/5ths of a white vote, unless they were freemen. Well, things still didn't balance out and the South was wanting to secede and form it's own country. The North didn't like it so they pushed hard to abolish slavery and used that as an excuse to start a war to keep the country together."

Jemima shook her head, "Now, this is all through my eyes and only my opinion, but it seems like it was democracy that made this whole Civil War start. The amount of votes a place has dictates how strong of a voice it has. Great on a small scale, like a state or city...bad for a nation. A Republic with representatives is better. What do I know though? I am a vampire now, it doesn't matter where I am concerned!" She shook her head.

"Now me? A freed negroe woman living on a farm? I didn't think much about the war. I just remember all 5 sons of the master and mistress going off to war. I never saw any of them again. I remember Union soldiers from Sherman's company, from his march cutting through the Southern territory. I remember those soldiers obeying orders, but disobeying them at the same time. They were ordered to light our house on fire by stacking hay bales next to our door and nailing it shut then throw torches on the hay bales. I heard their commander tell them to do that before riding on."

Jemima's eyes had a far away look in them as she must have been remembering that time. Gwen's hand was on her friends shoulder, gently squeezing it. Hildy was sitting across from her, Lucretia was standing next to me, in human form. Her soft fingers holding onto mine, her head tilted curiously as she listened to Jemima telling her story.

"I saw the young boy in blue looking in at me, I was going to scream when I saw him bring a finger to his lips. His leader kept riding away, and that young soldier put his torch out and set it on the hay bale! I saw him give me a wink while telling me that he was one who followed all of his orders to the letter! We didn't burn that night, nor the next. We kept on living our lives. Then I met Suzanne and I moved on."

Jemima blinked, and then seemed to break out of her reverie. She looked around at us and then gave a half shrug towards Lucretia.

"I was named Jemima long before some pancake mix came around! Some other black women tell me I have a slave name, or that my name is racist! I tell them to shut up, they don't know what they were talking about! MY own country sold me into slavery, THIS country freed me! It gave me an education and gave me more opportunities than I had over there!"

Jemima was starting to actually tear up, blood dripping a little from the corner of her eyes. "My mistress, treated me better than my own...she... I could read because of her, I could do my numbers in a time when most whites could not! So could the rest of us! We all came back for her funeral, to honor her as she went back into the earth. She gave me the name she would have given to her own daughter, Jemima! She treated me like family. I know the South gets a bad name because of all that happened...but people are people! You don't throw everything away because you can! There were good people there too!"

I looked over at Lucretia who looked up at me with sad eyes, and I smiled at her. She looked back at Jemima who was being comforted by Gwen, and Hildy had a hand on her knee gently squeezing it.

"This happened a long time ago yes?" Lucretia asked me. I nodded. "Then why does it still make her feel the way it does?"

"What happened with you and Balmont was a long time ago too right?" She nodded. "Well, you still feel pain over it too? You aren't human and you deal with it and move on. Jemima is a vampire, they have long memories I would assume, but are still human in a way. They have a lot of the same feelings. She probably doesn't think about it much and you asking your question set her off."

Lucretia gave me a questioning look at that and I tried to come up with some other words, "Ummm...it triggered her? No? Okay...ah! The question you asked made her think about the past and it caused her to open up an old wound to answer the question. Does that help?"

Lucretia appeared thoughtful before answering. "It helps me understand. I don't know if it helps Jemima though. I don't understand why..." She stopped talking and then looked at me sharply.

"So by facing her past Anger, she is able to move past it?" She asked. I nodded my head. "So this is a good thing?"