"Halfrek, please turn me back."
Halfrek snorts at the pleading Anya, "Anya, you know the rules. Probably better than I do, given all the paperwork you had to fill out."
"Oh, come on, please. Do you have any idea how mortifying it is that I can only get off when Buffy or Vhesthine are feeding me?"
Halfrek's eyes sparkle with suppressed mirth, "Then maybe you should be a better student. I know I'm learning a lot about succubi from this."
Anya stamps her foot and freezes as the bell to the shop tinkles and a group of young men walk in. A moment later Anya twitches as a decadent smell starts to reach her nose, making her start to feel warm. As she looks up, she watches as the men are looking at some of the fertility statutes, and occasionally one or other of them glance over in her direction.
A few minutes later, Anya finds herself unbuttoning the top button of her blouse in an attempt to help with how hot she's feeling. It is with some alarm that Anya realises that by doing that, the absolutely delectable smell in the store has just increased in intensity, as though she's just opened the oven with a fresh baked loaf of bread, or a perfectly done chicken, in it.
Glancing at the clock, she tries to casually pick up the phone and dial Buffy's house, but succeeds in only fumbling the handset once as she dials.
When Vhesthine answers the phone, Anya almost puts the phone down there and then, only for a rush of heat to pool down below. Cupping her hand over the mouth piece, Anya softly pants, "Vhesthine… I need help. There are some men in the store and…"
Anya can hear the change in the silence on the other end shift from hostile to understanding. After a long couple of seconds Vhesthine says, "I'll be there I a few minutes. Don't go anywhere alone with any of them until I arrive."
Anya licks her lips as one of the men struts over to the counter, "Um, I'll try."
As she hangs up, the guy looks her up and down as he undresses her with his eyes. Putting one of the green jade fertility statutes on the counter he says, "Afternoon. You wouldn't happen to have one of these in blue or purple jade would you?"
Anya glances at the door to the basement before pulling her eyes down to the stock book, "Um, let me check if," as her stomach rumbles she turns to one side and leans down to pull the book out, "if we, that is they specifically came in different colours."
Across the counter the man leans on the counter to the sound of wolf whistles from his friends.
As she's standing up, the sparkle of her engagement ring catches Anya's eye and she swallows hard as her hunger wars with her preconceptions and rising hunger. Settling on a middle ground, Anya ends up making sure that her engagement ring is prominently displayed on the book as she makes a show of looking through the book for the shipment of statues.
While she's sliding her ring finger down the itemised list of deliveries, the man on the counter smiles at her, "Hey, do you fancy getting a drink after this?"
Anya shakes her head reluctantly, "No, sorry, my boyfriend is picking me up when I close up here."
The man gently runs a single finger across the back of Anya's hand, "Come on, you could close up early and we could have a little fun with plenty of time for you to get back."
Anya shakes her head and, with a herculean effort, ignores her desire to say yes or take him downstairs, "No, thank you."
As she's starting to run out of book to look through, as well as willpower, the bell to the door rings and Anya glances up to see the short Chinese woman that is Vhesthine walk in. As Vhesthine sniffs and shakes her head, Anya mutters "Thank the goddess." More loudly she calls out, "Vhesthine, sorry about this, would you mind looking after the counter while I check the store room."
Vhesthine pauses mid-step for a moment, before she nods and confidently walks over to the counter. Once she's on the same side as Anya, she pulls the younger girl into a hug and mutters, "Of course I can, take your time and I'll see what I can do to clear the air."
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As Anya runs for the door, Vhesthine smiles at the young man at the counter, "I'm sorry for the delay sir, we weren't expecting a rush today. While Anya is checking the stock is there anything else I can help you with?"
The man just looks her up and down, "Do you have any information on fertility rituals?"
Vhesthine glances at the door briefly before looking back at the man, "Hmm, you could try The Rites of Eleusis by Aleister Crowley, specifically the Venus rite."
Grabbing a pad of paper she spells out a name in block capitals, both in full and phonetically, "In act 3, if you replace the name Hathor with this name you will get everything you could possibly have asked for."
The man glances at the name for a moment, "Do you know which book I can find the rite in?"
Vhesthine smiles, "The Rites of Eleusis by Aleister Crowley, it should be on the shelves."
One of the man's friends quickly finds the book and brings it over to the counter while flicking through it. With a glance up and down Vhesthine's body, the new man pauses at the rite, "What do we do if we don't have a Venus?"
Vhesthine waves her hand, "Oh, don't worry about that. Just leave the throne empty and your Venus will arrive. That will be $123.99."
The man gasps and looks at the back of the book, "Hey! The ticket says it's only $50, what gives?"
Vhesthine gives one of her business smiles, "The rest is for the name. Unless of course you just want to recite a play for the masses." A movement almost faster than the eye can see, has the piece of paper back in her hands.
The group of men all chat together for a moment before pulling out money together. With a smile, Vhesthine rings up the total and writes out a different name on another note, "Here you go gentlemen. Remember, if you treat your Venus right, she'll treat you right…"
With plenty of back slapping, the men all leave the shop with the book and the note.
From the reading table, Halfrek smirks, "That was positively evil."
Vhesthine shakes her head, "Not at all. Evil would have been ensnaring them all and taking them down into the basement to be devoured by myself and Anya. This is giving them enough rope to hang themselves with. Now, before I go and speak with Anya, I'm going to give you a single warning. With the state that Anya's in, I'm going to have to involve Buffy in her role as the Slayer."
As Vhesthine is opening the door, Halfrek says, "I only granted a wish."
Vhesthine arches an eyebrow, "And what was the wish?"
Halfrek shrugs, "'I just wish Anya knew what it was like to be a succubus.' I didn't even have to screw with it, as it wrote itself."
Vhesthine sighs, "Just, keep an eye on the store while I look after Anya."
As Vhesthine slips through the door, Halfrek sighs and slumps around to the staff side of the counter.
As she reaches the bottom of the stairs, the sound of crying reaches Vhesthine's ears. With a sigh she allows her human form to fade away. Eventually she finds Anya sitting on a crate with a box of tissues next to her.
For several seconds Vhesthine watches the young succubus and how much she's struggling with what just happened. For a moment she pictures Dawn or Elaena facing the same group of men in a few short years time.
"Have you come to gloat?" Anya's upset voice jolts Vhesthine out of her thoughts.
Vhesthine shakes her head as she sits on the crate on the other side of the tissue box and wraps a wing around Anya, "Not at all. I was just picturing Dawn and Elaena in your position. It's not your fault you know. What happened upstairs that is. I could smell the trail of lust when I was walking to the shop. I think they came from the arcade."
Anya shakes her head, "I'm turning into a sex starved nymphomaniac."
Vhesthine sighs, "Anya, you seem to be doing your best to push me away from you while I'm trying to help. I know there's a lot of self loathing in there, but you're not a nymphomanic, or sex starved. What you are is a young succubus who doesn't even know the basics of how to feed, let alone hunt or survive. You're also not even a person that I would have ever pegged as a prospective, as you're innocent in all the wrong ways."
Anya asks with some heat in her voice, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I know you've picked Dawn up from school before, so some homework for you. What do you think of the girls that wear short skirts and tube tops? Also what do you think of prostitutes? Once you've answered that, you'll need to start thinking about why you think like that. Give it to me on two sides of letter paper. After that I'll have Suzy talk to you. Thinking about it, maybe you should give Suzy a job here as she'd have been able to deal with those men before you used most of the essence I fed you earlier."
Anya looks at Vhesthine speechlessly, so Vhesthine pulls her into a close contact hug, "Anya, they are our prey and your body already knows that. The fact I could still smell the trail of lust outside tells me that they were already looking for someone young and pretty. If you were an experienced succubus then the five of them would have been no trouble to handle, but you can't even feel your own essence yet, let alone control it. If you'd been alone in the shop, or you'd gone downstairs alone, it's likely that one of them would have followed you. You'd have fed and killed them, and then the other four would have killed you. Quite possibly after raping you, and yes we can be raped, as rape isn't about sex, it's about power. In that respect you did exactly the right thing in not giving in to your instincts."
Anya shakes her head in disbelief, "What? You're praising me for not being a slut?"
Vhesthine sighs, "I wish you wouldn't use that word for us, as we're certainly not sluts. Is a lion a slut for going after antelope? No, neither are we for going after men and the occasional woman. If you were a prospective, then I'd be grooming you in how to present yourself, some of the minor spells that succubus use, and also tainting you with the magic of our realm in the hells. Once you were far enough along, I'd start feeding you essence the way I'm feeding Dawn and you'd eventually get to the point where you can feed yourself. As part of that you'd start to get younger, though that only really applies to the older humans, as we naturally live for almost 1,000 years. Eventually, the taint from my hell would be great enough that you'd change into a succubus or die. By that point you would already know the awkward basics."
Anya weakly leans into Vhesthine's side, "Why are you telling me this?"
"Because you need to know if you're going to understand what it's like to be a succubus. That's what the wording of the wish was, and you're never going to understand with the way we were going about things. That, and Buffy has been a bad influence on me."
"Bad influence how?"
Bluntly Vhesthine says, "You're still alive, same as Elaena is still alive despite being beyond what even a full tribe would have been able to easily save. We are nearly the weakest of all the sentient demons that exist. Some of the animalistic demons like the Shark demon that was after Spike, are weaker over all, but physically they're still stronger than we are. The only advantage we have is in our magic, and that's something most succubi on our home plane never have the chance to learn. If I hadn't found my life partner in Buffy, then I'd have killed both of you out of hand because you're a liability. Either because you'd draw in hunters, or worse, because you'd attract incubus."
Anya shakes her head, "Aren't incubus just male succubus?"
Vhesthine shakes her head and spits, "Incubus," before carrying on, "are a parasitic species of demon. They feed more or less the same way we do, however where we live in families and communes, they capture a single succubus and forcibly starve and drain them until they are weak enough that they can't resist being impregnated. Suffice to say that the child ends up killing the succubus. The important part is how they find a succubus, and that is by constantly letting out low levels of lust like a pheromone to us. An untrained, or weak, succubus will automatically respond to that by releasing some of our essence. We do this to make it easier to entice prey and make it easier to feed. That's what you were doing upstairs. I've had to start both Dawn and Elaena on the exercises they need in order to learn how to control their own reflexive use of essence, as we know of at least one incubus that knows we exist. You may have heard of Rack."
Anya frowns, "Isn't that the black magic dealer that Willow went to?"
Vhesthine nods, "Though it's more like she was taken to him, rather than going willingly knowing what he was." Carefully picking up a tissue, she wipes Anya's eyes, "Are you feeling better now?"
Anya gives a series of small nods, "I think so."
Vhesthine gives Anya a kiss on her forehead, "Then, if you'll accept me, I'll be your matriarch while you're a succubus. A matriarch is the head of a group of families, and a group of those is called a commune. If you accept me as your matriarch then I'll be responsible for teaching you the ins and outs of our commune and the skills you need to survive."
Anya shakes her head, "I can't do this. All I wanted to do was pull that guy down here and… I don't even know what I wanted to do to him."
"That's what I'd be here for, to teach you and explain what you're feeling. Pretty much what I've been doing already, but less grudgingly and more proactively. Essentially, you'd become part of my extended family if you accept."
Anya barks a laugh, "God, what a choice. Eventually go insane and become everything I hated, before being killed. Or embrace it, and what? I don't know if I ever told you, but I was once the vengeance demon of scorned women. Now look at me."
Vhesthine shakes her head, "Even more reason to learn how to be a succubus. We're living in the mortal world, not in my home plane. Here we can afford to be choosy about who we hunt, and once you've learnt to control your own essence, and not let it spread out unconsciously, you'll be able to pick your prey and avoid people that are in relationships. Which reminds me, before we go upstairs I can give you a little essence now, but not enough for a full feeding, or even to replace what you lost."
Anya hangs her head as her body flushes with heat at the idea of being fed. "Goddess, this is worse than becoming human was."
Vhesthine pulls Anya in tighter, "Anya, were you ever human before?"
Anya nods, "I was human before I cursed my oaf of a husband."
"Then that's why. You're no longer at all human. You're close enough for humans to adapt fairly easily. But our needs and instincts aren't human needs and instincts."
Anya blows her nose one last time, "I'm going to have to accept you as my matriarch aren't I."
Vhesthine shrugs, "You don't have to, but it would make our lives much easier."
Anya sags, "I accept then."
Vhesthine smiles and tips Anya's head up so that she can feed her some essence. Once she's finished, she smiles, "Then the first thing you should do is phone Xander and tell him you're going to be late home. If you're starting to unconsciously let out your essence around humans, then he's going to be in danger with how hungry you are."
Anya looks askance at Vhesthine, "What?"
"Anya, I can feel how hungry you are. If you kissed him then there's a chance you could just drain him of essence right there. If he's strong enough to resist you, then there's a risk that you'll kill yourself trying to make him give it up. On the other hand, you can come to the office tonight and help Dawn and Elaena with stuff before we drop them at home after work. Then we'll go and meet up with Buffy on the northern leg of her patrol. At which point she'll let a vamp drain her, and I can start teaching you how to hunt." Vhesthine raises a finger, "No sex needed at this point, I'll make sure they're ready for you to feed. Sex isn't needed in order to feed, as I believe I've mentioned before. Just that they are in a moment of euphoric release. Sex is just the most reliable method of achieving that for human men. Come on, I need to get the kids from school and you need to take over from Halfrek. Oh, and I'm going to tell Buffy the wording of the wish and who granted it."
Anya shakes her head, "No, don't. Halfrek's a friend, and she… there are rules."
"Anya, that doesn't matter. Halfrek was given a pamphlet at Buffy's birthday party, but she hasn't come to us to let us know what she did, and that has led directly to the harm you've been suffering since then."
Bitterly, Anya says, "How would knowing that have changed anything?"
Gently, Vhesthine explains, "To start with, I'd have reacted with less hostility when you both came to me for help. I'd have also started out with explaining how mortals can become succubi, along with more history on our culture and why we do some of the things we do."
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Tara wakes up from a dream of her other self with a scream. Beside her Willow pushes herself into a sitting position and looks around for any threats.
A moment later Buffy and Vhesthine have both pushed through the door as Tara starts to calm down.
Willow is the first one to ask, "Tara, what happened?"
Tara puts her hand to her chest, "I just met Buffy, and she was young. Like Elaena's age young."
Willow shakes her head, "You mean you were dreaming of Buffy?"
Buffy chuckles, "No, she means she met me. The younger me that fell into the void portal. Have I ever mentioned that Eternalism sucks?"