Dead and Horny Ch. 01

Dana scowled. "My superpowers don't include night vision, I'm afraid, and I hate having this much free time." She picked up the remote to the TV and started looking through the channels while simultaneously surfing on her phone.

"Ah, that's because you're a millennial." Lily altered her vocal cords, and the voice of an old woman came out of her mouth. "Back in my day, we only got free time for thirty minutes a year, and even then we had to climb up a hill through broken glass to get it. And let me tell you what—"

Dana threw one of her pillows at Lily, hitting the succubus square in the face.

"What do you do?" Dana asked. "I hate not sleeping. My mind is always on full alert, it's hard to relax, and I hate just sitting around, doing nothing."

"Me?" Lily's voice was back to normal now. "Well, that's hard to say. I was trapped inside a magical gem for so long, I never actually had any free time."

"What did you do in the gem?"

Lily shrugged. "The best way I can describe it was like being in a dream. You ever have a dream that's several minutes long, but you were only out for a few seconds? It was kind of like that. Just me sitting around with my thumb up my ass for years on end, occasionally popping out to do the Society's dirty work. When I was out, all those years would press together into a few moments, but I still remember the waiting. It was the worst part of the ordeal."

"Sounds awful."

"I guess so. When I was out, I would fuck around whenever I could. Get inside people's heads and live entire miniature lifetimes, and drive them a bit mad. The Society had me kill this guy once, and I lived inside his dreams for nearly forty years."

"That's a really long time."

"For you, yes. But when you've lived as long as I have, it's merely a weekend trip. It was the flipside, the bonus to being on their payroll. Get locked up for a year, try and turn a quick assassination into a decade or two inside of somebody's brain."

"Is that what happened with you and Mike?"

Lily let out a sigh. "Almost. I was planning to stretch things out, but he got me, I'll admit."

"How?" Dana turned to look at Lily. "I mean, your old master lost control of you because of it. How exactly did that work?"

Lily scrunched up her face. She didn't like to think about her old master, Amir, or how he had trapped her in that ruby. "It was a contract I had with him. He and I played a game for ownership of his soul. When he lost, I went to collect, only to discover that he had given it away to somebody else."

"And how did that make him your master?"

"Terms of the agreement. I was already his servant, the game itself was a bid for my freedom. Technically, even though he lost, I was unable to collect, which meant that my service to him could only be ended by a similar game with somebody else. Think of it like a hostile corporate takeover. He still owned the building, but the rules were in place for somebody else to swoop in and take it."

"Interesting."

"Didn't think so at the time." Lily scooted up the bed, fluffing the pillows behind her. "I got cocky. If I have a rule you should definitely follow, it's never get cocky."

"I'll keep that in mind." Dana looked back at her phone. Her hair was going gray in a few more places now, and Lily worried that she was getting hungry.

"You good?" she asked. "Like, if you need to be topped off..."

"Tomorrow." Dana didn't even look up from her phone. "I don't want to... just, tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah, sure, no problem." Lily turned her attention to the TV. Dana had stopped on an old Bruce Willis movie, so Lily watched along, her attention on the screen. When was the last time she had even watched a movie or read a book? She was super far behind on any sort of entertainment media, and most of her knowledge of the subject was from the unreliable dreams of others.

What she hadn't told Dana was that on nights she wasn't hunting, she found herself dream hopping through people's heads. She wasn't looking to cause any trouble, but it was almost like sleeping herself. She could simply ride along on someone else's brainwaves, helping to bring about the morning sun that much faster.

She closed her eyes and leaned back, letting out a sigh. It was silly, but she took a deep breath and pretended, just for a moment, that she could actually have a dream of her own. Somewhere in the distance, as if through a tunnel, she was briefly aware that Bruce Willis was about to kick some ass.

The darkness closed in on her, and Lily felt the world shift around her dramatically as it was rebuilt from the ground up into an ornate building with jade embellishments. Turning her head to look around, she saw that she now wore the body of a young woman, and she was surrounded by various guards and servants.

Lily tried to walk away, but could no longer control her body. She was viewing the scene from inside the woman's head, and a sick sense of recognition began to sink in. The thoughts in her head were no longer her own, and she realized she was caught up in the Dreamscape, only she had absolutely no control, the dream playing much like a movie would.

The princess stepped onto the cool stones of the bathhouse, her demure feet making very little noise on the marble tile beneath. The finest artisans in her father's kingdom had built this room especially for her, using materials imported in from all across China. Walking toward the edge of the bath, she cast a single look back at her escort.

A pair of older women sat on their knees, a set of buckets nearby. They were naked, but not because they were in the bathhouse. A nude servant could carry no weapons, nor could they easily steal, and both of these women had been with her family for as long as she could remember. They only replied when spoken to, choosing to remain respectfully silent in her presence.

"I wish to swim first," she told them, receiving a demure bow from both. They heard and therefore obeyed.

"What fresh Hell is this?" Lily remarked. Had another entity lured her here? "Very funny, but it's time to let me out."

The bathhouse was large enough for dozens, and would likely be gifted to one of the other royal families upon her marriage. Someday, when her father passed away, she might reclaim the bathhouse as her own. It was one of her favorite places, though she did not travel here very often. Even now, several of the palace guards circled the bathhouse, ready to execute any man who would dare to take a peek. Her father was very protective of her purity, a trait that she often found endearing, but more often than not, she also found it exasperating.

The water was only a few feet deep, but the princess stretched out on her back, floating to the surface as one of her old nursemaids had taught her. With each deep breath, her breasts and belly broke the surface of the water, the cool breeze of the afternoon sky tickling her flesh. She had taken the ivory combs out of her hair before entering the bath and could feel the weight of the water pulling against her skull with every movement.

Being careful not to get her hair too twisted up, she allowed herself to float around the corner of the bath to where the waterfall had been built. It was here that the water was introduced to the bath itself, diverted from a nearby river, and she moved close to it, her eyes on the cascading curtain of water that fell nearly ten feet. Even as a child, she had hidden behind this curtain, surrounding herself with the calming sounds of water and shutting out the world.

Closing her eyes, she moved through the curtain, the water flowing along her scalp and onto her shoulders, then rejoining the pool beneath it. The bathhouse was just a shimmering mirage on the other side of the water now, her guards and attendants blurry statues to be contemplated from afar.

Being royalty came with plenty of demands and compromises, but the one she would never get used to was her total lack of privacy. Even when she slept, she had bodyguards standing over her. When she was young, she thought it was for her own protection, but the older she got, the more she realized that these women were also there to ensure that her honor wasn't sullied. Her father had forced the entire village to close up shop just so that no man would see her on her trip to the bath.

However, here, behind the waterfall, she felt like she was finally hidden away from the constant observation of the palace. She inhaled the scent of bath oils and flowers, caught in the mist of the falls, and let out a deep sigh. Eventually, one of her servants would come to drag her out to be properly bathed, but she would have plenty of time alone until then.

"It's nice, isn't it?"

The princess jumped, turning around to see who spoke. She was surprised to see a young man crouched down between a pair of stone right behind her, hidden beneath the falls.

"Whoa, easy, don't scream." He put his hands out in surrender. "I'm not here to hurt you or anything."

"Who are you?" she asked, covering her breasts with her arms.

"Just some poor fool who fell asleep behind a waterfall." He grinned, and she couldn't tell if he was lying. "I saw you come in with your servants. You must be the daughter of the king."

"My father would have you put to death!" she whispered, looking back over her shoulder. "You should go before the guards find you!"

"If I go, the guards will find me." He relaxed, sprawling out on the rocks. His legs were in the water, and he wore simple, yet dark clothes that helped him to blend in with the stones. "If you don't mind the company, I would be just as happy to stay here."

Lily begged her to alert the guards, to do anything but listen to this man.

"You can stay, but keep your distance, stranger." The princess smiled. "My name is—"

"Known throughout the land." The stranger smiled. He was attractive, with short hair and a little scar on his chin. "As is your beauty, if I may say so. I can honestly say I have never seen a woman as beautiful as you."

"A compliment I am familiar with." She felt guilty speaking to him, and loved every second of it. An unfamiliar thrill filled her belly, and she smiled demurely. "Tell me something I haven't heard before."

"There's a man who lives by the river. He can make coins appear out of nowhere, and if you give him some food to eat, he will teach you how to do it, too." The stranger held up both of his hands to show they were empty, then extended a hand toward the princess. "May I?"

"Please, no," Lily begged. She couldn't bear to watch, but was unable to close her eyes.

She tilted her head to the side, and his hand hovered next to her ear. The slight contact of his skin on hers sent chills through her body, and when he pulled his hand back, he held a silver coin in between his fingers.

"How did you do that?" Her eyes went wide, watching the coin roll across his knuckles.

"Magic." He pinched the coin in both hands, then pulled his hands apart. The coin was gone, replaced with a flowerbud. It was a beautiful white and pink lily with a short stem. He slowly leaned forward again and tucked it into her hair. "A gift for Her Majesty."

The princess felt the heat rising in her face, years of etiquette training sliding to the side and allowing a smile to manifest on her lips. "You think a flower to be a fitting gift for a princess?"

"Her Majesty has everything she could ever want. How am I to compete?" His smile sent waves of nausea mixed with excitement through her, and she could smell the musk of his skin, a heady scent that was making her dizzy. "I picked that flower on my way here, just up the river. It is a treasure that is fleeting, and will fade from this world as dust. But it is my hope that every time you see a lily, you think of me. A simple gift from a humble man."

He bowed his head, and opened his mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by the sound of splashing water.

The princess frowned, and turned around. Through the waterfall, she could see that one of her handmaidens had entered the bath holding a bucket and was slowly wading over toward the waterfall.

"Looks like I must take my leave," he said, a broad grin on his face.

"How?" the princess asked.

"The same way I came in." He pointed at the waterfall. "Anyone who can hold their breath long enough can get in through there."

"And how do you plan to swim against rushing water?" she asked.

He winked. "With magic." He turned to climb the rocks.

"Wait." The princess put out her hand. "Please tell me your name. That I may remember you next I gaze upon a lily."

The young man smiled, and reached out to take her hand in his own. She couldn't help but notice the beautiful, bronze ring he wore. The metal felt warm against her skin, as if it had been sitting next to a fire.

"Your Majesty may call me Aladdin." He looked over her shoulder with a hint of panic on his face, and the princess turned to see that her servant was nearby.

Doing her best to buy Aladdin some time, she stepped through the waterfall.

"We must wash your hair, Your Majesty." The servant's eyes were cast low, not daring to meet the gaze of royalty. "We have just been informed that another suitor is to arrive late this evening, and your father wants you to have time to get ready."

The princess nodded, then turned to look at the waterfall. The fading light of day created a mirror on the water's surface, and she gazed into her own reflection. The sky became red, and the sounds of the bathhouse vanished. Shadowy hands sprouted from beneath the water and grabbed the princess by the arms, but she didn't notice them.

The princess remained perfectly still as flames burst from the shadows and consumed her flesh, turning her into a pyre of light that burnt down in seconds. When the fire died, the water was black with bone and ashes, and the only thing reflected in the mirror of the waterfall was Lily, her face a mask of horror.

Lily's eyes snapped open, and she sat up in her bed. Dana cast a bored glance her way, then turned her attention back to the TV. Dana was watching the new Baywatch movie starring the Rock on the free movie channel that the hotel provided.

"I'm... I'm going to step outside for a bit," Lily announced, trying to hide the tremor in her voice. She got out of bed and crossed the room to open the window, her footie pajamas turning into a black outfit that covered the succubus from head to toe.

"Stay out of trouble," Dana told her, her eyes on the television.

"More like don't get caught," Lily replied. Taking a quick peek around to make sure nobody was below their bedroom, Lily hurled herself into the sky, her wings manifesting and opening wide. She quickly found a current to ride and climbed higher, her skin warping like a chameleon's to camouflage her against the midnight sky.

Higher she climbed, until she was in the clouds. Cool mist collected on her skin, and she inhaled the thick vapor into her lungs, tasting the sky.

What had just happened to her?

If she hadn't known better, she would have sworn she had fallen asleep and was having a dream of her own. But how was that possible? She couldn't have dreams, and hadn't for centuries.

Even worse, it wasn't just a dream, but a memory, one of the only ones she feared to look on.

The cloud fell away from her, revealing a field of stars up above. On the rare occasion she had been allowed to hunt for extended periods of time, she had often wondered how high she could fly before the Earth could tolerate her absence no longer, and yank her back down. How many times had she done this? Wishing she could fly away to the stars without looking back, committing herself to millions of years of darkness until she found another planet with life on it, just to get away from the man who had done this to her?

The city of Fort Collins shrank beneath her, and she could see holes in the patchwork quilt of clouds beneath her that revealed farmland, sleeping neighborhoods, and, in the distance, Denver.

The higher she climbed, the harder it was to breathe. She didn't need air, but it was an instinct built into her, to make her appear human. The body of a succubus was really just a collection of cursed energy that could be transformed at will, making her the perfect hunter.

Why did she have that dream? Why did she have to be reminded of what had transpired? Her wings flapped frantically now, the thin air unable to give her enough lift.

Tilting her body downward, she allowed her wings to vanish and let the sky take her, the wind rushing over her skin. The clouds rushed up from below to embrace her, the cold mist pushing its way into her eyelids and forming faux tears that streaked along her cheeks. She pretended that each one was genuine, that grief, rage, and pain would finally be allowed to leave her body and fall like rain with her, sinking into the earth.

Once through the mountain-sized cloud, the hungry shadows below beckoned for her arrival. She rolled onto her back just before slamming into the cold, wet ground of some farmer's field, crushing some unknown plant beneath her body.

The damage was great enough that she exploded into a cloud of smoke, rapidly reforming itself so that she was lying on her back, her stunned gaze pointed at the sky. Up above, there were only a couple of patches of sky to see the stars through, and they twinkled in amusement. The last drop of sky slid down her cheek to feed the hungry roots beneath her back.

It was her own version of the Fall, the casting out of Lucifer's brethren from Heaven. They had lost their Grace in the eyes of God, and tumbled freely from the sky, only to fall into the pits of Hell below. She liked to do it when she was frustrated, to pretend that she would hit the ground and explode into oblivion, to become one with nothingness. But it always ended this way, with her on the ground and the stars still safely tucked away up above, oblivious to her disappointment.

She sympathized with the fallen angels, knowing what it was like to be a creature so full of divinity and grace, only to have it burned away in holy fire and be twisted into something new. Her own fall from grace happened millenia after that of the angels', for though she was a succubus now, she had been born a mortal woman.

There were very few things on Earth that could actually hurt her body, but the memory of the day she met the man who made her this way somehow broke her heart all over again.

I hope you all enjoyed that! I wasn't planning on releasing it so soon, so I hope it's up to your standards.

If you did like it, remember to click those stars and leave a review. I am planning to schedule HFHM and D&H releases so that you don't have to wait a month to read something new from me, make sure to check my bio for when I am planning to upload stuff to Lit (I don't control when stuff posts, but will update it every time I upload something!).

Take care of yourselves! Remember that you matter!