Revisions
by Concolor44
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Author's Note: And now we get to see some of the Unintended Consequences of having succubi in the Tower.
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Chapter Four
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Titans' Tower, 08 September, 6:05am
Dawn's pre-light cast a pale glow through Starfire's bedchamber. She'd requested an east-facing room for that reason, given how much she enjoyed waking with the sunrise. Of course, since Nightwing moved in with her (turning his old room into an adjunct control center) she tended to wake up before sunrise. He'd be on the outside of two cups of coffee, and going through his first set of katas before dawn got anywhere close. Given Star's habit of twining herself around him as they slept, it wasn't really very simple (read: impossible) for him to get up without waking her. She didn't mind. She could get back to sleep easily enough, if she didn't feel like joining him in his exercises.
Today, though, he'd slept in. Starfire, for some reason, had been feeling unusually energetic the night previous, and they'd not actually fallen asleep until the wee hours. But now something (possibly the increasing level of light in the room? Nah, I don't believe that either) was leading her dreams in some interesting directions. She clutched her lover tighter against her body …
TT-TT-TT
Garfield Logan, on his best day, wouldn't get up before ten unless someone made him. Terra didn't care one way or another, and didn't mind leaving him to sleep in by himself. On a typical day, she'd ease out of their bed, ride a boulder down to the beach shortly after sunrise, have a short swim, come back inside for a shower, and toast herself an English muffin to tide her over until Cyborg showed up to fix a real breakfast. Then she'd channel surf, or (a good bit less commonly) read while waiting on the others.
Today, though, she had something else on her mind … specifically, an encore performance of their late-night love-making. The scent from their earlier activities hung heavy in the air. She knew he always found that to be a turn-on, and she figured if she could be careful enough to wake him up with just the right sorts of stimuli …
TT-TT-TT
Raven, being the other early riser in the group, typically meditated for thirty or forty minutes as the sun came up. However, since the fusion of her Emotions upon her ascension to the Throne of the Eighth Circle, it hadn't been necessary for her mental well-being. She went through the motions, but found herself already to be centered, grounded, and in complete control. It was a novel sensation, and the novelty hadn't yet worn off, thus her current position on the roof of the Tower (leaning on the railing and sipping a cup of chamomile-ginger tea sweetened with just a touch of honey) while enjoying the lightening blue along the eastern horizon.
Her succubi-technicians had been remarkably (supernaturally?) helpful, and repairs to the Tower were almost complete. One of the first projects they tackled was the renovation of her room. A smile quirked the corners of her lips as she thought about her little cotton-candy treat still lying slugabed under the indigo silk of her sheets. Jinx had been rather more than usually frisky, daring, even, in the things she wanted to try, and Raven was nothing if not accommodating. But even Jinx's superb metahuman physique was no match for the stamina of a Demon Lord, and the slight, pink-haired girl currently slept the sleep of exhaustion.
Having gotten a particularly deep level of enjoyment out of some of what they tried, Raven allowed her thoughts to wander. Perhaps a variation on a theme …
TT-TT-TT
Lubrique came slowly – very slowly – to semi-consciousness. At first she couldn't remember where she was. Then the high-tech gadgetry that half-filled the room came into focus, and abruptly she was wide awake.
I was … asleep? But … but demons don't sleep! What the Home?
Then it registered that she felt something smooth and warm and hard against her back, and whipped around. "Victor!"
"Good morning."
"I … you … um, we …"
"Yeah, we sure did, didn't we? You're amazing."
Succubi don't precisely blush, but she had an equivalent reaction as she looked away. "I've, ah … never had that happen before."
"What, sleeping?" he joked.
Her face was serious as she corrected him. "I wasn't asleep. I was … unconscious."
He raised the one eyebrow he had left. "And the practical difference is?"
"We don't sleep. We don't need sleep. But … but I … you were …" She ran a hand up his arm. "You aren't like any other mortal I've ever known."
"And I guess you've known a few."
"… Yeah. You get a few centuries under your wings and … well …"
"I get it. We talked about that some last night."
"That was … different."
"What, you don't usually have thirty-eight orga-"
She put a finger to his lips and frowned. "Wait. You counted?"
"Not at the time. But my system records everything that happens around me." He grinned. "The, ah, playback has been intriguing. You're very limber. But, yeah, you finally did nod off."
"I was full … and exhausted. And succubi aren't supposed to get exhausted. How did you do that?"
"I did have to change batteries twice, if you'll recall."
She gave him an impish grin (really, would any other kind be possible?), sort of slid up on top of him, and said, "You need some kind of breakfast, right?"
"Yeah." He returned her grin. "Eventually."
"I like that answer."
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11:20am
The last two of the remaining succubi staggered into the basement and flopped onto the floor beside the door, not even so much as acknowledging their companions. All of them had idiotic grins showing waaay too many teeth, and most of them were having trouble controlling their limbs. After a few minutes punctuated by the odd silly chuckle or deeply-contented sigh, one of them slurred, "Zori … y'were right … s'bes' thing ever."
There was a muted chorus of, "Damn straight." "Fuckin'-A." "So sweet." "Got that right." "Don' ever wanna leave."
A gravelly monotone stated, "I hope you trouble-makers are proud of yourselves."
They all jumped to their feet with various levels of gasp and squeal, whirling to face their Dread Lady (and only two of them fell over).
Raven, arms crossed and decked out in her Queenly regalia, stared them down with a four-eyed glare. "You've been busy little bees, haven't you?"
They averted their eyes, then by ones and twos went to their knees. One of them sniffed and wiped at her nose as subtly as she could.
"Well?"
"… We didn't hurt anybody," whispered a pink succubus.
"Yeah," agreed Zori, "it was great. We didn't have to steal any souls or nothin'!"
"And there's no love in the Circle," added a short one covered in tiny green scales. "Not the real kind. I'd never even smelled it before! And here … I mean, even now, we can feel … it's just all over …" She drew a deep breath. "I know you think we ought to feel … sorry … or something. But I don't. I'm not sorry." She raised her chin. "You can end me now if you want to. After learning what love tastes like? I think I'd prefer that over going back Home."
"I'm not pissed at you for feeding! I'm mad because you kept the other Titans up most of the night. Now they're all completely spent! Well, most of them. What are they supposed to do if there's an emergency? They have a duty to protect the city, but Terra will be walking bow-legged for two days, Nightwing's so sore he can't put his uniform on, and I don't think anyone could pry Gar out of bed with a crowbar."
One of the demons frowned and said, "Hey, where's Lubrique?"
Raven snorted. "With Cyborg."
They blinked at her. "Um … 'with'?"
"Yes, exactly what you're thinking. You might say they hit it off. But he's a special case. As long as he has a power supply, he won't get tired for weeks. Actually, he wore her out."
Zori gaped at her. "No fuckin' way!"
"An interesting choice of words. And yes, he did. He's got his room shielded any number of ways, so maybe you can't pick up on it right now, but they're, um, occupied at present."
"That lucky bitch!"
"Yeah, how come she gets a boyfriend and we …"
"Bup-bup-bup! None of that. What you don't need to be up to right now is killing any more lovers."
"But we wouldn't! Please, Dread Lady, listen! We've figured it out. See, Trigon insisted that we'd only be let back into the Eighth Circle if we brought a soul along. He never gave us much time, and he said he'd cut our magic off completely if we stayed too long or didn't bring back a soul."
"Cutting your magic off? Wouldn't that, ah …"
"Yeah, it'd kill us. So we'd use our, um, powers. Stir up some lust. Get the guy off somewhere private so we could feed off it, bump him off, and give Trigon his soul. But that's SO last month!" She pointed upwards. "This is … incredible! So much better! And it's free, and we don't have to kill anybody, and I've never felt this fantastic before in my life, and … and it feels …" She gave a quick (guilty?) glance around at the other demons. "It feels … good. It makes me feel good. It's new and different and awesome and …"
"Whoa, there, Lassivy. Getting yourself worked up."
"Too late for that! Please, Dread Lady, please, please, please can we stay?"
Raven tapped a finger against her lower lip while considering the request. She fought off a smile. "You know … you've given me an idea."
"Really?"
"Let me do some … research. I think we may just have solved some of our problems."
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End Note: Hey, Vic finally got lucky! Good for him. He doesn't get enough love.
And what does Raven have on her devious little mind now?
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