The Succubae Seduction Bk. 02: The Twins Ch. 12

With a gasp of pain and shock, Shelly opened her eyes.

"Oh!" Jessica gasped from inches away from her face. "You're alive! I was... I—" Fresh tears joined others already streaming down her cheeks as she hugged Shelly closer to her.

"So the bitch is unlucky enough not to die first," the Grand Meister's cold voice sounded nearby. "Your father will have the pleasure of watching you die, then. He's almost here."

Shelly looked into Jessica's eyes and saw fear reflected back at her. "How long was I out?" she asked. They were still on the landing next to a long hallway where she'd been shot. With careful fingers, she touched the spot where the bullet had struck. Her shirt was soaked in blood, but there wasn't as much pain as she thought there should be. At least she could breathe if she kept her breaths short.

"Only a couple minutes," Becky said next to her. Shelly noticed a large bruise on her left cheek and a cut along her chin still seeping blood. "I've seen people get shot there before. You couldn't have healed yourself with magic dampened like it is. How...?"

Shelly tried to sit up, but was too weak. It didn't help that Jessica was still hugging her. It took her a moment to pull away from her girlfriend enough to let her sit up. "Shemhazau says hi," shelly said to Becky. She almost chuckled at the confused look the older woman gave her, but her stomach still hurt too much. She was healed enough, but not back to one-hundred percent.

"I'm so glad you could join us, Betrayer!" the Grand Meister's voice boomed, stopping Shelly from saying anything more.

She looked up and saw a group of worn and tired people enter their hallway. She recognized her brother right away, but didn't see her father.

"Sorry to disappoint you, Mihale Maztaim, but my husband isn't here," Brooke's clear voice rang out from the group.

"That's Grand Meister to you, Betrayer's Bitch!" he snarled. Shelly could see that he was fuming to be denied his grand show. "Then he'll have to know there was nothing he could do to stop their deaths!" he turned to his men and gave one final order before walking away. "Kill them."

Shelly gripped Jessica's hand and commanded, "Wield me!" She wasn't sure if it would work, but it was her only hope. She recalled what Marchosias's sword looked like with its gray blade, and pearl set into the hilt. She felt the change come over her, and wanted to cry out in relief.

"It worked!" Shemhazau's voice rebounded in her mind, echoing her own thoughts.

"Who was that?!" Jessica almost dropped her in shock, but recovered in time to slash across the chest of one the nearest Knight.

Strength flooded into her. Any weakness that she'd felt fled as the soldier fell back, screaming and clutching at his chest.

"Oh, that felt good!" Jessica moaned. "That was almost as good as an orgasm."

Before Shelly could gather her thoughts, Jessica was on another Knight, moving faster than any normal eye could follow. With each strike, power infused her and she felt closer to her girlfriend. As each Knight fell, Jessica became stronger, faster, and hornier. Shelly lost track of how many men fell, lost in a euphoric state. The two women became one. She was aware of every sensation her wielder felt, and knew that Jessica felt every keen slice; knew that her girlfriend could feel the air slide across her skin before slicing into another soft body. Their armor was nothing compared to her keen edge. Their lust for more grew with each strike.

"Jessica, stop!" Sheldon's voice cracked through the air and Shelly came back to herself.

The tip of her dull blade was pointed at her brother's throat. His hands were held up in a gesture of surrender. She changed back into her human form, landing lightly on her feet. She still felt like she could leap a mile or run a mega marathon at top speed, but she also wanted to vomit. Her legs were covered in blood and gore. Even as she let go of Jessica's hand, they were still connected mentally for a moment. She understood why Jessica dropped to her knees, moaning and rubbing her crotch as sexual heat overtook her. It took all of her self-control not to drop down next to her and join in. She needed to get off with a desperation she'd never known before, but was able to temper it with the knowledge that now wasn't the time.

"What was that?" Shlee asked with a gleam in her eyes. "And where can I get some?"

Shelly wanted to glare at the woman, but she could feel her own fluids dripping down her legs.

"Are you okay?" Sheldon asked as he gripped her shoulder. His touch sent fire racing through her, and she jerked away before she could embarrass herself. That touch sent an unwelcome desire through her, that was almost too much to deny.

"She's discovered something new," Gloria came to her rescue, "and is trying to come to terms with it. We should see to Becky right now."

"But—" Sheldon tried to protest, but his girlfriend pulled him away.

Shelly had to bite her tongue. A part of wanted to call him back to feel his touch again. She shuddered in disgust and desire at the thought. What was wrong with her?

A woman she hadn't seen in person in some time approached. "You look a little unsteady on your feet." Four hands gripped her to steady her. It was too much. Those four hands ignited a bonfire in her. Losing control, Shelly pressed Mandy to the wall and kissed her. She groaned in frustration that those four hands weren't roaming her body, bringing bliss to every inch they touched. It took her a moment to realize the other woman wasn't responding to her kiss, and she pulled away. Her face and body burned with embarrassment and unquenched need. "Here, have a drink of this. It's just water, but you look like you could use some." One of Mandy's four hands handed her a canteen. There was no derision or teasing in the other woman's voice, but she still felt ashamed.

Instead of drinking the water, she poured some of it over her head. It wasn't cold, but it helped cool her off a bit.

"My pheromone levels are completely turned off," a woman Shelly didn't recognize said, but she knew that voice. "This isn't my doing."

"Get away from her," Shelly screamed. "She's a spy working for the Knights!" No one moved or listened to her. "I'm serious," she screamed at them, trying to back away from the unknown woman. "She's sending them intel. We saw a video feed she's sending the Knights of everyone making plans in the Orange Bubble. Tell them, Jessica!" She turned to her girlfriend, but she was too busy with her hand down her pants and one perfect nipple rolling between her fingers as she got herself off. That tasty nipple called to her. It didn't help that she knew Jessica would welcome her touch, but there was more important matters to attend to.

"It's true," Becky said, coming to her aid. "There was a camera set up somehow to watch you, and then she spoke. Who is she?"

Shelly had to struggle not to get angry when everyone listened to Becky after ignoring her. They backed away from the woman as she gave them annoyed glares.

"I'm not a spy," she said with authority. "Not for the Paladonic Knights, anyway."

"How do you explain what we saw?" Shelly demanded. She saw Mandy standing close by, so knew the woman couldn't lie, but it didn't make sense.

"Maybe Sonia was hacked?" Shlee offered.

Hacked? She didn't know what that was supposed to mean.

"Impossible," Sonia stated in that same tone. "I'm worth more than the GDP of most third-world countries. I can't be hacked. My neural network requires triple layer authentication, and is encrypted with three of the latest algorithms. My authentication subroutines change every three seconds. Even I'm not capable of hacking my own programing, and I'm the most sophisticated piece of machinery the US Government owns. There are only two computers that can change my programming, and one of them sits in the President's Oval Office. The other one is at a location whose security clearance is higher than anyone possesses within five-hundred miles of here."

"You're not human," Becky connected the dots before Shelly could.

If she wasn't human, did that mean that Mandy's ability to force everyone to tell the complete truth didn't work on her?

"Um, Sonia?" Shlee asked as she approached the woman. "I know you have the ability to use pheromones to turn people on, but can you do anything to stop her from doing that?" She pointed to where Jessica was about to get herself off for the third or fourth time.

"I'll see what I can do." Sonia bent over Jessica. Before Shelly could protest that she still didn't trust the—what was she? A robot? Android? Shelly didn't know—woman, Shlee pulled her aside. Even this small touch sent heat flooding through her stomach, but she tamped it down with an iron will. Why had fighting with Jessica affected them that way?

"What?" Shelly demanded when they were a few paces away.

"I don't think Sonia has been hacked—" Shlee began, but Shelly stopped her.

"I know what I saw."

"I believe you, but I believe her also. Wait, let me explain," she waived away Shelly's protest, but kept her voice low. "I believe her when she says she can't be hacked, but that doesn't mean something at the other end can't be. We already knew she was sending signals back to the President, who's watching this with earnest. Something went wrong, tonight, though. The rockets weren't supposed to strike until we were making our retreat. I think someone one the other end is screwing things up."

"What makes you so sure it's not her?" Shelly had to ask.

"Mainly?" Shlee grimaced as she asked the question. "Because if I were faced with hacking an unhackable android, or infiltrating the other end, it's a no-brainer on what I'd do. It doesn't make sense any other way. Also, she's had numerous chances to betray us, but has gone to great lengths to get us safely to you."

"Then why did you pull me out of earshot?" She wanted to believe her family and friends hadn't been in the midst of a traitor, but she didn't know or owe the woman anything either.

"So that whoever is on that other end transmitting her visual feed back to this base won't know we're onto him."

Shelly cursed herself for not having thought of that as well. It was difficult to think with her hormones still rampaging.

"Are you okay?" Shlee asked, concern thick in her voice. "You're looking a little flushed."

"No," Shelly admitted, though she didn't want to. With Mandy around, she couldn't stop the words from pouring out of her. "I'm so horny right now, even my brother is looking good and that's just wrong!"

"I understand why you kissed Mandy like that, then." Shlee nodded to the four-armed walking polygraph. "And why Jessica was moaning so much."

"Shit!" Shelly cursed as she glanced to where Sonia was helping Jessica to her feet. Jessica was a bit disheveled, but her episode seemed to be past. "I'm going to have to tell her about that kiss. She's going to be pissed."

"I'm not so sure of that," Shlee sniffed the air. "She's pretty shaken up by what she was doing, and will probably understand."

"I didn't know you could read minds," Shelly commented as they walked back to the rest of the group.

"I can't, but I can smell all of your emotions." Shlee grinned at her, and Shelly couldn't call it anything but wolfish. "Sometimes it comes in handy. Everyone is pretty tense right now, but they're all happy you're alive as well. Even if that was the oddest rescue I've ever seen. I didn't know Jessica could move that fast. I wonder how her body held up to the friction against the air of moving so fast. Even if her body withstood it, how did her clothes? Did she have some sort of shield around her, allowing her to ignore the laws of physics?"

Shelly walked away from the werewolf before she got a headache. She remembered that Shlee could be a bit of a geek sometimes. Of course, that only added to her credibility about her theory on Sonia.

"Where did Mihale go?" She asked as she examined the corpses still littering the floor. She noticed that Jessica refused to look at her. Had she noticed the kiss despite being otherwise occupied, or was her girlfriend ashamed of what had happened? She remembered how jealous Jessica could be, and didn't look forward to having that conversation later. There were bigger problems to deal with at that moment.

"He ran off that way," Sonia pointed down the hallway. "Your father wants to know where you got that sword shape from?"

Cold dread shivered down her spine at that question. It was almost enough to dampen the fire still burning in her loins. That was another conversation she wasn't looking forward to. How was her dad going to react when he found out that he hadn't killed his father, but abandoned him after killing the Outsider?

"We need to get to him." Shelly decided to ignore the question for now. "If we can take out their Grand Meister here and now, it'll weaken the Knights."

"We can't kill him, though," Becky piped in. Shelly wanted to argue, but Brooke backed up the other woman.

"After Lyden killed the last Grand Meister, it made him into a martyr. The Knights were weakened, but those that remained rallied and grew stronger. We need to take him alive and make him answer for his crimes."

"Fine. Whatever." Shelly knew she was being petulant, but her emotions were still riding that rollercoaster. "We need to hurry. He could be anywhere by now."

Sonia stepped forward and Shelly backed up a step. Shlee may be right about her, but Shelly still didn't trust the woman... or robot, or whatever she was. Shelly didn't expect the response she got, though. Sonia closed her eyes and plugged her ears.

"I overheard your conversation with Shlee, though I blanked out that audio before it was transmitted back to Washington. If her theory is correct, then I don't want anything too sensitive being sent back. Unfortunately, that means your father is also left in the dark for right now. Anyway, I have hacked into their internal network. Grand Meister Mihale Maztaim is headed for the roof of their training center. There is a helipad up there. I suspect he thinks he is getting away, but I have already rerouted his request and sent them to another building. Even so, there is a powerful windstorm building up there. I don't know if a helicopter will be able to land if it gets any worse." When Sonia finished speaking, she opened her eyes and unplugged her ears.

Shelly stared at her for a moment more, still afraid this was a trap. It was her brother that made the decision.

"What are we waiting for?" he demanded as he pointed his gun down the indicated hallway. Shelly wondered at the golden glow around him, and also wondered why he hadn't changed forms. He rarely fought in his normal body. "Let's go kick some more ass!"

He charged down the hallway, almost everyone else in tow.

"I love the way he takes charge," Shlee grinned and chased after.

"Umm," Jessica muttered, but still wouldn't look at Shelly.

"We'd better catch up to my brash brother," Shelly said. On an impulse, she reached out and grabbed her girlfriend's hand, trying to tug her along.

"Don't touch me," Jessica screamed and yanked her hand away.

Shelly stared at her in shock. Before she had a chance to respond, Jessica took off running after the others.

She knew... Jessica knew about the kiss and was pissed off at her. Shelly didn't blame her, but her heart ached to be treated that way. She hadn't meant to kiss the other woman. She didn't have any feelings for Mandy. She'd lost control after... after... what had caused that overwhelming lust?

She realized she was standing alone in the middle of the Paladonic Knight's territory. With a quick swipe across her tear-blurred vision, she took off running after the others.

* * * *

It was a long run, but Shelly was surprised to find she wasn't out of breath when she finally caught up after a climb of four flights of stairs. She no longer felt the burning lust, either, thankfully. Jessica, Sheldon, Gloria, and Sonia were the only other ones not winded. Even Shlee and Brooke, two undeniably fit and healthy women, were a bit winded. But even they looked better than Mihale Maztaim.

The older man looked like a mountain as he glared at them, but hauling the weight of his frame plus his armor up all those stairs was an impressive feat. No matter what kind of physical shape you were in, no normal human could exert themselves to that degree and not show it. Even with his flowing white cape billowing in the wind behind him like some superman, he was still only human.

They stood on top of a roof with a large white circle with a painted 'H' in the center. Smoke from numerous fires billowed around them as the Paladonic Knight's base burned from the rocket attack. She expected to hear screaming from wounded, but she heard none of it. She realized that the Knights had known the attack was coming. If they still had a man on the inside of the government, why would he allow the attack to happen? Or had he instigated it early? Shlee had said that it wasn't supposed to occur until they retreated.

Her thoughts were pulled to the massive man before them as he cursed.

"You fools! Your stupid president is finished after this! Attacking a human base without provocation. On US soil no less? Her political career is over!" Mihale laughed, but there was a maniacal edge to it as he glanced at the sky. He was still waiting for his ride.

"You kidnapped three people," Sonia intoned. Her voice easily carried over the wind that picked up, blowing even more smoke across the rooftop. "After your attacks on President Louise, your group has been branded as a terrorist organization. As we speak, Congress is drafting up a declaration of war. It's you that's finished."

"We took three invaders to our world!" Mihale turned his head and spat to the side. He glanced again at the sky, and Shelly suspected he was growing nervous. He didn't realize yet that his ride wasn't coming. "We are working to save our world. I refuse to follow any government that would bow to the evil in the Shadow World."

"I'm a human, you asshole! I was born and raised on Earth." Becky yelled at him. The wind was really beginning to pick up. Shelly had to tuck her filthy hair behind her ear to keep it from blowing into her face.

"You're a creature loving slut!" Mihale cried back. "You laid with the Betrayer. You no longer have a right to mix amongst true humanity."

"I think he's a little bit crazy," Shlee muttered loud enough to be heard over the rising wind, but not by the man frantically searching the skies.

He gripped something on the side of his armor, and everyone tensed. He brought it to his mouth, started yelling into it, and Shelly realized it was a communications device.

"Where the hell is that chopper?"

"They're not coming for you," Shelly barely heard Sonia speaking over the wind. It was getting really fierce out here. She had to start leaning into it to keep from getting blown over. Was Lysa out here somehow? She didn't think it was possible for the Pillars to visit Earth, but she knew it was possible for them to affect things here. "I've directed them to abandon you. You would be honored with how much they respected your decision to leave you behind. Perhaps not with the speed at which they did so, but they followed your orders without question."

"What are you talking about?" Mihale asked as his face lost all color. He didn't seem to be struggling with the wind, despite his large size and fluttering cape, his weight must keep him grounded.

Sonia opened her mouth to respond, but it was Mihale's baritone voice that flowed from her. "Echo-two-four, this is Grand Meister Maztaim. I will stay and fight. You get out of here." Sonia chuckled, her voice returning to normal. "A moment later, they called Mayday. This base is surrounded, Grand Meister. No one is getting out of here. You've lost!"