Page 66 of The Wickedness of Man

“I will take care of you later,” said the doctor, pulling away gently, but keeping her palm on Katie’s face. “For now… weren’t you going to finish cleaning the café…?”

“Oh!” Katie snapped back to attention as if nothing weird had occurred. “Yes. I’ll check if the laundry’s ready while I’m down there.”

“Do you need help cleaning?” I asked, more out of habit than the desire to actually go and clean. My body felt sluggish as it was.

“Nah, it was kinda slow today because of the rain, so I was able to get a good bit done already,” said Katie. “You just uh…” She turned and eyeballed Caleb’s chiseled body on the sofa and then to me again, a strange pang of irritation entering her gaze. “I’ll be back in a jiff.”

Katie’s desire was still palpable, but she finally managed to make it out the door.

“I wasn’t kidding—go cuddle,” said Carmilla, smile dropping as soon as Katie was gone. “You’re both releasing pheromones that are going to drive your friend to near homicidal levels of horniness if you don’t go over there and keep yourselves calm and under control. I’ve been expending a significant amount of energy just charming her to think this is all… normal, but as you can see, she’s a human feeling the influence of three sex demons—two of which are cambions—in her living space.”

I turned and looked at Caleb, and with a last glare at Carmilla, clambered back over him onto the sofa. Without a moment’s hesitation, Caleb wrapped his arms around me, and the feeling was so good I was almost annoyed. I relaxed against him, my own near-homicidal levels of rage at the doctor falling away as I melted into his hold.

“Why did you bring us here?” I asked, keeping my voice soft, fighting every urge within me to relax into sleep, cradled against Caleb’s warm, muscular chest, the pulse of his heart thudding against mine… “If you put Katie in any danger, I’ll never forgive you.”

“I know,” said Carmilla, striding in and sitting on the coffee table in front of me, “but while she’s gone and he’s resting, you and I need to chat.”

“Oh, youthink?” I demanded, unwilling to back down fromallof my rage just yet.

“Look, I know this must all be confusing and painful, and I truly understand?—”

“How could you possibly understand?” I spat, feeling my fury giving way to elongated teeth and horns sprouting from my forehead. “You have no idea what you’ve put me through.”

“Yes, I do know,” said Carmilla solemnly, “because I went through something similar… only I didn’t have a ‘Caleb’—I had a true monster who forced his… corruption… on me.”

I was quiet for a long time before I said, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed?—”

“It’s fine.” Carmilla waved the words away, then looked distantly at the corner for a moment before she began speaking once more. “Demonic puberty, remember? Mood swings are going to be part of it. You’re not the first cambion to get pissed off at me, and probably won’t be the last. As far as things go, though, we really do need to have a little talk. The reason I asked you how many times you’d slept with Caleb wasn’t because I’m just some lecherous old whore, okay?”

I snorted at that, unable to keep the smile from creeping up my face. “Okay, so what then? What’s so important about it?” I snuggled closer, waiting for her to continue.

“As I’m sure you’re more or less aware of by now, succubi and incubi require sexual energy gathered from other beings. It can be as simple as a touch or a kiss, or, for a more… fulfilling experience… sex, in all of its delightful forms. All demons have the ability to exude our power around ourselves in something called an ‘aura.’ You may have felt this when you entered my office.”

I balked at the memory. The extreme thickness; the heaviness in the air—it had made my knees shake. It made me dizzy, lightheaded—too hot. “That was all…you?”

Carmilla nodded. “When succubi get powerful enough—usually as we get older, but sometimes from the sources we feed from—we can selectively create pockets of space that exist solely within our dominion. The office I had was one such place—the other was my house. It requires an enormous amount of energy to maintain these aural dominions, but it allows us to influence humans—and even other demons—without touching them while they are within reach of our auras. As a result, I have to feed constantly in order to maintain my energy levels and continuallyexude that power, which is why being a sex therapist comes in handy.”

My face flushed at that. “You… charging people money to have sex with them? Wouldn’t that be considered…?”

“Prostitution? Certainly,” Carmilla agreed with a nod, “if I were doing it on the street, without a PhD, and I actuallywashaving sex with people. However, don’t get me wrong—I’ve resorted to prostitution before in my younger days, and I’m not ashamed of it, either. Now, as I said, despite my demonic side, I am a legitimately licensed therapist. Most of the feeding I do is through touch, or perhaps the occasional couples’ guided sex therapy session, which can get kind of heated, if you know what I mean.” She smiled, then waved her words away once more. “It’s all above board. I genuinelydohelp people with intimacy issues and relationships—it’s kind of how my nature and expertise go hand in hand. Regardless, because maintaining an aura takes a lot of energy, most younger succubi and incubi are only able to influence perhaps one, maybe two people at any given time, and usually only in short durations. That is not the case with cambions.”

I felt strangely relieved by that. I didn’t want to be able to control other people. I knew how badlybeingcontrolled had been, and it wasn’t an attribute I was interested in partaking of.

“Cambions… Caleb and I… we won’t be able to do that?”

“Quite the opposite, actually,” said Carmilla, and my heart sank. “The more powerful you both become, the more your auras will grow in strength and size. Cambions exude auras as naturally as breathing. You won’t be able tostopcharming and influencing those around you. People won’t even realize they’re under your influence. You don’t choose to do it; it just happens, as with your friend back there.”

“But that… that’s…” I paused, considering. “How am I supposed to ever know who to trust, or who I’m justmanipulatinginto liking me? I’ll always be wondering if they’re just… being affected by me… I don’t want that!”

“You’ll learn who is good for you—and more importantly, who isn’t,” said Carmilla stoically. “People will reveal their true selves in that state; they can’t help it. But… then there’s the matter of you and Caleb. Since you’re both awakening into your demonic powers, your auras are strengthening and calling to each other.”

“Oh my god,” I said, shoving back from Caleb, even though it was as painful to me as trying to rip off my own limb. “You mean right now?”

“Yes. Magda… I… I have a theory about why the Church may have targeted you, but if I’m right, then there’s something you should know.”

I went completely still, waiting for her to speak again. I could scarcely breathe.

“If my theory is accurate, then you may be a rare type of cambion… a creature that I haven’t seen the likes of in a very long time. And if that’s really the case, then… I need to warn you. Do you recall those consequences I’d mentioned to you two earlier?”

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