Succubus Hustle

The Blood Ritual

I entered back into the dressing room quietly, it was now empty and most people had left except for some musicians and some stragglers. I tried my best to avoid them all, the reason being time. I had no time to be held up by another fan or tourist tonight. I often felt we should move our base, so many years of living here deemed the town to be paranormal and by some, even haunted. Not to say that wasn't true. By mortal standards it was one-hundred percent.

I went systematically around the room after locking myself in, triggering different things. First, turn on the fan to low setting. Open the desk drawer until it gets jammed by the mechanism, pull the chord inside the air vent in the floor, and pull the compilation of Poe's poetry from the shelf. Cliche and effective. I heard a loud click in the air. One of the old wooden wall panels came loose and slid open automatically. I grabbed a gym bag left on the couch filled with the other supplies and walked downstairs.

The steps were tall and treacherous, and made of 8000 year old stone. I shoved the chalice into the bag so I could grip the rusty railing that led me downward. The walls were close and dark, completely inconvenient for things like this, but if the locks fail, it'll possibly scare away anyone snooping. After 500 years of being in charge of the Blood Ritual, I found every precaution was well deserved. Any creature, mythological or not, was mortal in one way or another. The only way to change that was through this ritual which had to take place once every ten years in which there would be a full Dæmon Moon.

Descending the stairs took about twenty minutes in itself, the stairs turned slightly in a large left curve but the general fact that each step was about twelve inches high made it seem worse. At the bottom I was faced with a long, damp feeling corridor. The ceiling positively caked in abandoned spider webs and dust.

Every time I came down it looked worse, and as much as I wanted to clean the filth, I knew anything to keep our secret was worth having. I felt a bit of pride at my skill at doing this, for once there was something nobody else could best me at. I hustled down the hall, scrunching my nose at the musty smell. Finally I saw the faint glimmer of a recently lit torch. Lux had always made it a point to help with many of the smaller ritual tasks.

She always filled a small chest with fresh candles, incense, herb sachets, and the like. I immediately pulled out some of the incense, some for the ritual and some to help the smell down there.

Before long I heard the soft patter of Lovelyn's bare feet on the stairs, right on time.

"That's it.' She said, 'The last stragglers are gone and the fellas should be along after cleanup."

"Thanks, Love. I'm thinking after this ritual we should consider dusting down here. I mean, we're demons and miscreants, but that doesn't mean we don't have allergies."

Lovelyn stifled a giggle but nodded, because it was true. She headed through a small side door and once she'd found her robe, began undressing.

I hung the dry incense in the air, and waited for Lux. I found it annoying when she left for the ritual late, but I knew she had many of the same problems that I did. She kept thinking her ideas were better than they actually were. She'd wanted to help more, but kept falling through on plans and had become depressed over it all. She knew how important it was though, it was the only thing keeping them safe and hidden from Him.

The blood of the man I killed would act as a cloaking device, as long as the ritual was done properly. No entity would know us as succubus or incubus, we would appear as mortal humans. We'd be free to live their eternal lives on their own terms, not His.

"Hey Halo,'