Captive: Hopeless

Chapter 74 - Succubus

"Stop," Kay commanded the room filled with people with all the power of her succubus without allowing it to show itself. Her hands fisted, and her body trembled with the effort of containing its anger and disdain, but she remained firmly in control.

Even Hercules, whose body language broadcast that he was about to betray himself in a violent and very inadvisable way, froze, unable to move.

She turned toward the woman who had chosen to incite this incident.

"Madam, please return to your table, and continue with your dinner. In the future, when you believe you have the right to your opinion and how you express it, you will keep it to yourself. Go now before I change my mind."

To her surprise, the lady turned on her heel, ready to obey.

"Make way for her," Kay said, and those standing between the tables parted before her like the red sea. She sat down and started eating her dinner as if nothing had happened.

"The rest of you, return to your tables and continue with your dinner; there is nothing here for you to see and nothing going on that concerns you. Mind your own business, now and in the future." Every last person in the restaurant obeyed like robots. Even Hercules, Claudia, and Marcus.

A reporter caught her attention. "All of you reporter types, please respect our privacy. This isn't worth reporting; go find someone else to harass." Seven men and women got up from their tables and walked out.

"They haven't paid their bills," a waiter realized.

"Put it on our tab," Kay said and walked over to Claudia, who tried valiantly to fight the power of her succubus.

"Let's get you some clean clothes," Kay said, allowing her succubus to simmer down until it was barely there. Claudia shook her head, coming free of its influence.

"I am so sorry," the manager said, appearing at their side.

"The lady needs clean, dry clothes," Kay said with a tinge of succubus, and he nodded, off to do her bidding. She couldn't lie to herself; it felt good to have people do what she asked without question, but it wasn't right, and also ate at her conscience.

"Don't make a habit of that, but thank you," Claudia said as they reached the bathroom. "You are quite a force of nature."

She took off her ruined dress and used a hand full of paper towels to wash the stink of wine from her skin. Moments later, as she dried herself, a waitress appeared with a dress in a box.

"The manager bought this for his wife as an anniversary gift, but he said he'd be honored if Miss Lupine wore it," she said, placing it on the bench. "We will have this cleaned, although I fear it is ruined," she said, picking up the discarded dress.

"Keep it, and we will replace this," Kay said, lifting a beautiful dress from the expensive box.

"It might be a little tight around the cleavage," she said, handing it to Claudia, who shimmied into the skintight dress.

"Not my style, but it is beautiful. The lady will be very disappointed."

"Ready to face the crowd again?" she asked, and Claudia nodded.

"With my succubus in shining armor to protect us from the mob, let's go enjoy dinner."

"Hercules almost lost it. Do you think it will be wise?"

"Yes, you handled that, and now that it has happened, I feel ready to face anything."

They left the bathroom, and when they reached the tables, Kay motioned for the waiters to move them together to create one table.