Succubus

Chapter 13: Where's Vine?

Chapter 13: Where's Vine?

"Vine, come out of your room already," Erlik called from the hallway.

The oldest son of Pithius and Paimon had returned from a three day trip to the mortal realm. He was feeling full after touring the dreams of a bachelorette party in Atlantic City, the Ohio State knitting club, and the Oregon chapter of Moms Against Drunk Driving. He had made it a late night tour from coast to coast.

Erlik had been banging on Vine's door for five minutes, but his younger sister still hadn't unlocked it. He felt more and more of his mother's influence as his patience wore thin.

Paimon had taught him to kick doors by the handle, because that was where they were weakest. Erlik rested one of his long legs next to the knob then reared back and planted a kick. The frame burst into splinters. The door swung inward and banged against the wall.

"What's the matter with you? Still moping over that angel?"

Erlik paused on the threshold. Vine's room was empty. Her bed and all her furniture was pushed against the far wall. A complex symbol had been drawn on the floor with chalk, and there were piles of ashes, blood, and flowers at different points. Erlik recognized a ritual seal when he saw one.

Downstairs Mags and Mara were sitting at either side of the table. Both of them took turns sipping from mugs and talking about nothing.

The aunts looked up as Erlik came down the stairs. "What was wrong with her?" Mags asked.

"She wasn't there," Erlik said.

"Oh, well maybe she's out with a friend. It's not often both her parents are out of the house."

"There were ritual marks on the floor. She's somewhere else."

Mags put her mug down. "Vine doesn't know about rituals."

"Well she found out about them somehow." Erlik's heart rate was climbing. They had to find Vine soon. Things would get unpleasant if she stayed missing.

Aunt Mara saw something interesting at the bottom of her mug. Erlik noticed her silence.

"Did she say anything to you?" Erlik asked.

"Nothing about where she was going," Mara said with a shrug.

Erlik stood over her. "Mara, my mother is going to be back in a few days. Vine needs to be here when that happens."

Both of Erlik's aunts went quiet. Outside the window, an imp leaped from one burned out branch to another. Everyone jumped at the sound.

Erlik exhaled and turned back to Mara. "What happened?"

"A few days ago she wanted to talk about being a succubus," Mara said.

"Anything more specific?"

Mara pursed her lips but finally answered. "She was interested in physically being around mortals, not just in dreams."

"You told her there's no way to do that, right?"

Mara shrugged again. She looked as though she wanted to collapse in on herself. "I might have mentioned melding," she mumbled.

"Melding? That's the riskiest way. Why would you tell her about melding?" Mags burst out.

"I didn't tell her how to do it, I just mentioned what it was. Where would she learn to do a ritual like that?"

Erlik thought about it. The answer came to him a moment later. He fast walked over to the library. The key was still in the empty wine bottle, so Vine had been smart enough to put it back. Erlik opened the metal grate and began flipping through all the books about rituals. He stopped when a single white hair fell out from between the pages. Erlik looked at the page he'd stopped on and saw that it was on the melding ritual. The only people in the house with white hair were Vine and their mother, and Paimon didn't read about rituals.

Everyone was looking at Mara. Mags looked half disappointed, half relieved that she wasn't the one Vine had talked with.

Erlik took a breath. "I'm going after her."

Mags stood up to block his way. "And then we're down two kids when your mother gets back? I don't see how this helps."

"Someone has to do something!" Erlik burst out. "Dad's touring heaven with the angels and you two need to stay here and explain what happened."

Mara went pale. "No way. The second you're gone, so am I."

Erlik sat across from Mara. "Mom loves the hunt. You'd be pouring fuel on a fire, do you really want that? With any luck I'll be back before she gets here."

"Can you even come back from melding?" Mags asked.

Erlik frowned. It wasn't the question he wanted to hear. He flipped through the rest of the chapter on melding, but there was nothing about changing the souls back. It didn't matter, the longer Vine was in the mortal realm the more danger she was in. Vine would never be able to keep her presence there a secret. Humans tended to take offense to demons living among them. Sooner or later someone would come after her.

"I don't know why she left, but chances are good that she went for a specific reason. I'll reset the ritual in her room and hopefully end up near the same place as her."

"Seems like a longshot," Mags said, always being negative.

"It said the ritual targets mortals who are deeply unhappy. Chances are good that someone else near Vine is unhappy."

Erlik slowly walked upstairs toward Vine's room. He prayed to a god that didn't like him. Everything depended on him finding another unhappy person.