A YOUNG SUCCUBUS NAMED DELICIA by Michel Poulin - HTML preview

CHAPTER 27 – ANOTHER LONELY SOUL

17:56 (California Time)

Saturday, January 27, 1973

West 1st Street, ‘Little Tokyo’ District Los Angeles, California

Patricia swirled around in the narrow space between the two rows of shelves of the store while flapping open and closed the two embroidered silk Japanese hand fans, testing how easy they were to use when dancing. Watched by amused customers and by the befuddled sales lady of the oriental boutique, she did a dozen dance steps before stopping and bringing the two fans to the cashier, putting them besides the wide conical peasant hat she had already selected.

‘’I will take those two fans as well, miss.’’ she said in Japanese to the sales lady, who smiled to her, agreeably surprised to see a Caucasian woman able to speak Japanese. Patricia paid the total stated by the woman, then put her new acquisitions in her large canvas shopping bag. Happy with her new possessions, which would help her vary her performances at the PUSSYCAT CABARET, Patricia stepped out of the shop and onto the sidewalk running along the southern side of the West 1st Street. She was in the so-called ‘Little Tokyo’ District, but there was sadly not much left of the original Japanese ethnic neighborhood now. The forced removal to relocation camps of nearly all the ethnic Japanese residents of California in 1942 had spelled mostly ruin to the district, which had been left abandoned and neglected for years. Squatters and wartime migrant workers had taken over the houses of the deported Japanese-Americans, living in them but not caring for them. A rebuilding plan was supposed to start soon, or so City Hall said, but that still left Little Tokyo as a mere ghost of itself for now. The streets of the district, dark at this hour as the Sun had set half an hour ago, were also not exactly safe for young women walking alone. That however didn’t bother much Patricia, as she was much more than just your average young woman. Still, she kept her senses fully up as she walked towards the nearby Chinatown District, intent on looking there for more exotic lingerie items of interest.

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Her eyes suddenly caught on a green, phosphorescent-like sign apparently spray-painted on the brick façade of a building: it consisted of a prominent arrow pointing South, plus the words ‘TO FRIENDS’ CORNER BAR’. Patricia stopped cold when she realized that the sign was not made of normal paint. In fact, no normal human being would be able to see that sign, as it was a magical sign, visible only to those who had magical powers, like her, or knew how to manipulate or detect magic. Her heart accelerating as curiosity and excitement overcame her, Patricia went the way shown by the sign, going down a dark side street. She found a second magical sign that made her turn left at the next corner. A third sign made her turn again, this time inside a narrow, poorly lit alley. No more than twenty paces down the alley, she stopped in front of what looked like a small bar. The sign over the entrance was made of normal paint and neon lights and said ‘FRIENDS’ CORNER BAR’. Another, much smaller sign besides the entrance door said

Welcome, whoever you are, but leave your quarrels at the door The door frame itself was covered by magical symbols glowing a menacing red. ‘Defensive runes?’ thought Patricia, now more intrigued than ever. A quick look through the windows of the façade showed to Patricia a long and relatively narrow room, with a bar counter along one side and a double row of tables and chairs. There were maybe a dozen persons inside at the time.

Curiosity devouring her, Patricia pushed open the entrance door and stepped inside the bar lounge. All the customers, along with the barman and single waitress, went quiet and looked at her as she stood motionless for a few seconds by the coat racks lining the wall near the door. The crowd actually looked quite eclectic, with nearly as many women present as there were men, and with the clothes varying from good quality suits to worn jeans and T-shirts. The apparent ages also varied quite a lot, from about twenty to fifty. Using her ‘Detect Magic’ spell, Patricia was shocked to see magical auras become visible around or on parts of many of the people present in the bar. The barman, a tall, thin man with East European features, then spoke to her, giving her a friendly smile while drying a glass with a towel.

‘’Welcome to the ‘FRIENDS’ CORNER BAR’, miss. Would you like to sit at the bar or at a table?’’

‘’I will sit at the bar, mister.’’

‘’Please, just call me ‘Roman’, miss. You are with friends here.’’

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‘’And I’m Patricia.’’ she replied before suspending her shopping bag and her coat in the wall coat racks near the door, then walking to the bar and sitting on a stool. Patricia was then struck by another detail: contrary to all the bars she knew, the wall behind the bar was not lined with mirrors, instead being plastered with large posters showing a variety of nice natural vistas. Eyeing the barman, she noted his very pale complexion and his blood-shot eyes. His aura was also definitely evil. The barman, who had approached her to face her from behind the bar, grinned when he noticed that she was examining him, briefly showing the tips of two upper fangs.

‘’Do not worry, Patricia. As I said earlier, you are among friends here. You are obviously new here, right?’’

‘’Correct! I arrived from Paris last September to come study at the UCLA.’’ Patricia then lowered her voice to a near whisper and bent forward.

‘’I saw the magical markers outside. What is this place, exactly?’’ The barman appeared in turn somewhat surprised by her question.

‘’You mean that you never saw a marked refuge before? How long have you been around on this world?’’

‘’In Los Angeles, only a few months. On Earth, forty years. I never saw magic markers in Paris during my years there. What about you, Roman?’’

‘’Well, let’s say that my story goes back much further back than yours, Patricia. To answer your original question, this is meant as a place of refuge, relaxation and rest for those who want to meet their kind, discuss their special problems with other people who can understand and sympathize with them and generally feel at peace from whatever they fear.’’

‘’That’s quite a program, Roman, especially when considering the, uh, nature of many of the people in this bar. I have never seen before a group of people with such contrasting auras and alignments.’’

Roman grinned again as he replied.

‘’This is a marked refuge, Patricia. Besides being magically marked as such, it is also protected by powerful magical wards. Anyone who wants to start a dispute here with the help of magic will be in for a big shock, that I can assure you. If the wards and defensive spells are not enough, then the poor schmucks who will manage to break in will have to deal with the owner, Mister Hideyoshi. Talking of him, maybe you would want to have a chat with him, since you are new around here. He is always interested in meeting with newcomers to Los Angeles.’’

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‘’I would definitely be interested in seeing him, Roman.’’

‘’Then, I will go announce you to him, Patricia. I won’t be long.’’

While the barman left by a door apparently leading to some backroom office, Patricia discreetly looked around the bar, taking in the décor and the customers. The place was not luxurious in terms of furniture and decorating, but neither was it a dump. She would in fact compare it favorably to many bistros she had frequented in Paris. A wall menu with prices board told her that, apart from various alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, the bar also served a limited menu of meals and snacks. That limited menu was in turn a bit strange in its composition, featuring things like roast beef and steak tartar but very few items which would be considered usual American fast-food fare. There was something on the list of drinks that was called ‘Real Sangria’ and which was priced outrageously high. The bar’s waitress, a very pretty young woman originating from the Indian sub-continent, then went behind the bar to prepare an order. Watched discreetly by Patricia, the waitress took out of a small electric oven a good-sized piece of beef roast and put it on a plate, then went to take out of a refrigerator a bottle filled with a dark red liquid, filling a glass with it and then putting a straw in the glass. Patricia smirked at that: a Parisian seeing a waitress put a straw in a glass of what appeared to be red wine would have justly screamed sacrilege at that sight. The waitress put both the plate of meat and the glass of red liquid on a serving tray and went to a table where a rather dumpy woman in her forties sat opposite a big, powerful man wearing the clothes of a manual laborer. The waitress put the glass in front of the woman, then the plate of red meat in front of the man. The latter grabbed at once the meat with both hands and started devouring it with gusto, while the woman sipped her drink through her straw with apparent content. The waitress completed that rather weird portrait by going back behind the counter and, taking out of a refrigerator a small food container and opening it, popped what appeared to be a small ball of raw minced meat in her mouth, munching it with obvious delight. ‘Lycanthropes and vampires, eating and drinking together in peace: that’s what you could call unusual!’ thought Patricia, taking the measure of the place she was in. Her thoughts were interrupted by the return of Roman, who was accompanied by a small man in his thirties who appeared of Japanese descent. The newcomer saluted and briefly spoke with the customers he passed by, exchanging smiles and handshakes with them before stopping besides Patricia, who got up from her stool to face him. The man’s magical aura shone with incredible intensity, telling Patricia that

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this man was to be treated very carefully. However, his aura was also definitely one of goodness, not evil.

‘’Good evening, miss. I am the owner of this bar, John Hideyoshi. I hear that you are new in Los Angeles.’’

Patricia shook hands with him while answering, finding at the same time that Hideyoshi’s grip was very strong.

‘’Correct, Mister Hideyoshi. My name is Patricia Love and I arrived from Paris last September. I must say that you own a quite interesting establishment here.’’ That made Hideyoshi smile as he showed her the door he had come from.

‘’Indeed, Miss Love! I believe that we have much to talk about together…in private. This way, please, and do call me simply ‘John’.’’

‘’Only if you call me ‘Patricia’.’’

‘’A fair request, Patricia.’’

John Hideyoshi then led Patricia through the door at the end of the bar, where she found herself in a corridor running parallel to the bar lounge, with doors visible on one side and with an emergency fire exit door at one end. The other end of the corridor led to a wooden staircase going up to the upper floor. John went to the staircase and climbed the stairs, followed by Patricia, with both ending in another long corridor with doors on both sides. The nearest door was a richly decorated one made of lacquered wood and with magical runes around its frame.

‘’My private suite.’’ explained the bar owner with a smile to Patricia while opening the door, revealing the inside of an old traditional Japanese living room. Entering the room, Patricia embraced with her eyes the magnificent collection of antique Japanese weapons and armor around the room, along with the numerous calligraphies suspended on the walls and the sculpted jade and coral art objects on display. John Hideyoshi then showed her a door to their left.

‘’My office is behind that door.’’

She followed him with good grace, entering a decidedly more Western-looking office. Hideyoshi went to sit behind a big work desk made of polished redwood and waited until Patricia had sat in the comfortable easy chair set in front of the desk to speak again.

‘’You must have hundreds of questions for me, Patricia, while I do have a few for you.’’

‘’Then, let me tell you more about me first, John: as your guest, it is only right for me to be forthcoming with you.’’

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John nodded his head, obviously pleased by her openness.

‘’That is most considerate of you, Patricia. I can already tell by your magical aura that you must be someone of substance.’’

Those words made Patricia involuntarily giggle a bit before she excused herself.

‘’Pardon my reaction, John, but I don’t think that I have much clout where I come from. In fact, I have been living in exile on the Material Plane since the age of five. My mother brought me to Paris in 1932, to abandon me there as a lonely, frightened girl in a strange world I knew next to nothing about.’’

‘’Yet, I don’t detect bitterness in your tone as you said that, Patricia. You don’t seem to have a grudge against your mother because of that.’’

‘’That’s because I don’t, John. My mother did so to save me from all those who considered me an abomination and wanted to destroy me. After all that I saw in your club, I suppose that I won’t stun you if I said that I came from the Abyss, what the normal people here commonly call ‘Hell’.’’

‘’I kind of figured that out by myself already, Patricia. From your unworldly beauty, I would have classified you as a probable Succubus, a Demon of seduction, if not for your neutral aura.’’

Patricia lowered her head at those words, remembering the desperate run for their lives of her mother, with her in her arms, as Gideon fought to buy them a few crucial seconds.

‘’That neutral aura was in fact the thing that marked me for death in the Abyss, John. My father was a fallen archangel who still had a depth of good in him, while my mother, a Succubus with a very long past, had grown wise and tolerant with the millenniums. The mixing of their blood resulted in me, a Succubus who was quickly found too kind and nice by the standards of the Abyss. Mind you, I still take pleasure in creating some mayhem through sex and seduction, but I am neither cruel nor a sadist.’’ John nodded somberly, then spoke in a soft tone.

‘’And do you know what happened to your father and mother after being abandoned in Paris, Patricia?’’

‘’Gideon, my father, most probably was overwhelmed and killed shortly after my mother escape to the Material Plane with me. As for my mother, I don’t have a clue about what happened to her after. She may have returned to the Abyss to intercede for my life and prevent other Demons from chasing after me, in which case she probably faced some kind of punishment, or even death.’’

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Tears then appeared in her eyes, real tears and not faked ones meant to mislead. John saw them and nodded again.

‘’A Demon able to cry real tears… You are indeed an oddity, Patricia…a wonderful oddity.’’

‘’What do you mean, a wonderful oddity?’’ Said Patricia, stiffening a bit in her chair. ‘’For Demons, I am a failed being only worthy of being killed, while Celestials will kill me on sight simply for being a Demon, however odd I could be. As for the Humans, if my true nature would be revealed to them, they would probably flee at once, screaming in panic.’’

John then smiled benevolently to her while bending forward and putting his forearms on his desk.

‘’For me you are a wonderful oddity, Patricia. You must have seen the rather unusual collection of persons I have as both employees and customers. I have made my life goal here to help those who are the fruit of Humans and of Outsiders like you, or have been touched in a major way by magical events. I give them shelter when they need it, along with a place where they can talk and reconcile their differences and, hopefully, tone down their evil side or even turn it to good. For those with special needs for their survival, like blood for vampires, I do my best to provide those needs in a way that will not make any innocent suffer as a result. The blood that is served at my bar comes from completely legal blood collections in a clinic I sponsor, with the blood donors being volunteers who are paid for their donations. When a period of full Moon happens to pass, I then provide secure shelters were the lycanthropes who know me can go to in order to pass through that most painful and traumatic period without risking to hurt others around them.’’

‘’Some would call you a saint for that, John.’’ said Patricia with a faint smile. John also smiled at that but shook his head.

‘’Very few would call me a saint if they saw me in my original shape, Patricia. Like you, I am able to shift my shape to human form, in order to live among the Humans. I am also a very old being from an even older line. I may not be an immortal, like you, but I have already lived many centuries and still have many centuries left in me.’’

‘’Could you tell me more about you, John? You truly fascinate me.’’ Her words made John grin with amusement.

‘’You? Fascinated by me? From a Succubus with powers of seduction and persuasion, that is quite a compliment. I will tell you more about me…one fine day, but

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not yet. What I will tell you is that you will always be welcome here and can count of my protection if you ever need it.’’

‘’John, I must warn you that some of my potential enemies are very powerful indeed.’’

‘’If they ever come for you here, then they may find out that I am a rather tough nut to crack, Patricia. Now, to return to the time you were abandoned in Paris as a little girl by your mother in 1932, how did you manage to survive and prosper then?’’

‘’It was all out of the goodness of a simple Human, a woman who owned a cabaret and brothel. When she found me in a dark street, alone and crying, I was still in my demonic shape, complete with wings and horns. Despite of that, she went over her initial revulsion and took pity on me. She brought me to her place, hid me there for the first few months while teaching me how to blend in with Humans and also educated me. I took a new identity as her adopted daughter and became one of her dancers and performers at her cabaret once I became a teenager. Then, the German Army invaded France in 1940, taking Paris as well, and I found myself with my adoptive mother under German occupation. By the way, her name was Marie Laurent. Marie, while continuing to manage her cabaret and entertaining German officers there, was also the head of a Résistance cell and passed on to the British secrets German officers unknowingly gave while sleeping with her girls…including with me. Unfortunately, she was killed during the liberation of Paris by a Frenchman who was collaborating with the Germans. I killed that bastard afterwards and am not ashamed to say that I enjoyed killing him. I then used my powers of shape shifting and took the place of Marie, managing her cabaret until officially retiring this year and disappearing, in order to come here and start a new life for a few more decades under a new identity. Presently, I study photography at the UCLA while working part-time as a stripper at a cabaret in Santa Monica. Well, that is basically what I am, John.’’

The bar owner was silent for a moment while contemplating her, then spoke in his calm voice.

‘’That is quite a story, Patricia, a story both tragic and touching. Your Marie Laurent must have been a wonderful woman, despite her professional occupation. So, from what you told me, I can gather that you had to mostly develop your powers and skills by yourself, starting at a tender age indeed. That denotes a very high potential for powerful magic. I am myself a user of powerful magic and it would be a true shame for me to see such a potential being left underdeveloped. I however do know someone who

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would be a perfect teacher of magic and a mentor for you. You already have innate powers and spells thanks to your nature, but there is a lot that you could learn still from a proper teacher.’’

‘’What about you? Couldn’t I learn magic from you?’’

‘’Your question flatters me, Patricia, but I am already quite busy overseeing and protecting this bar and its customers and employees. I also run anonymously quite a few more enterprises in and around Los Angeles and in Japan. I may be a very powerful being but I still can be in only one place at a time. However, the one I have in mind for you will be able to devote the proper time to help you improve your magic. Let’s go down and meet him: he is presently in the bar lounge.’’

As they were going together down the stairs to the bar, Patricia couldn’t help ask a question to Hideyoshi.

‘’John, you said that you still had many centuries left in you. Could I ask you precisely how much life expectancy you have?’’

‘’And why are you asking that, my dear?’’

She stopped for a moment in the staircase and lowered her eyes, clearly troubled by something.

‘’Because I may well be living on this Material Plane for eternity, unless someone kills me one day. The idea of living for millenniums while seeing all those I get to know die one after the other scares me, John. I am not like your typical selfish Demon, who cares for no one but himself or herself and could spend eternity simply pursuing power. If someone could be there with me for more than a few decades, a someone I could call a friend, it would help a lot to make my existence meaningful. In truth, I am afraid of becoming lonely, and I don’t mean in a sexual way.’’

John stared at her for a moment, then patted gently her shoulder to reassure her.

‘’Patricia, like I said, I will be around for many more centuries. I will be happy to be your friend during those centuries.’’

‘’Thank you, John. That is most appreciated.’’

‘’All in a day’s work, Patricia.’’ replied Hideyoshi, resuming his trip down the stairs. They were soon back in the bar lounge and walked to a table occupied by two men, both of whom were dressed in good quality suits. Hideyoshi smiled down to one of the men, a handsome man in his early thirties with fine hands.

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‘’Could I ask you to let us speak in private for a moment with Harry, Rick? It shouldn’t be too long.’’

‘’Sure! No problem, John.’’ Said the man before getting up and, taking his drink with him, going to sit at another table where a young woman sat alone. The man Patricia and John now faced looked a lot like a British aristocrat, minus the haughty attitude, and wore a number of rings on his fingers, a couple of them being quite intricate in design. The magic aura of the man was strong, while two of his rings and his watch shone like lighthouses with magical power. The man looked up with interest at Patricia as John presented her to him.

‘’Harry, may I present you Patricia Love, a new friend of the bar. Patricia, this is Harold McMasters, magician supreme and most honorable man.’’

‘’Pleased to know you, Miss Love.’’ said the man, who looked to be in his mid forties. He was certainly handsome in his own right and his aura was one of goodness. Patricia shook his hand and sat, imitated by John, who continued to speak in a low voice to McMasters.

‘’Harry, I know that you are already a fairly busy man, but I think that Patricia here is in serious need of a good teacher of magic, in order to fully develop her potential. That could make in turn the difference between life and death for her one day, if you see what I mean.’’

McMasters stared quietly into Patricia’s eyes for long seconds, while she felt his mental attempts at examining her. He finally smiled to her and nodded his head.

‘’I certainly can understand your predicament, Patricia: A Demon with a neutral aura must be something that could irk many Demons from the Abyss. You are a Succubus, I believe?’’

‘’Correct, Mister McMasters. I…’’

The magician put up one hand at once.

‘’My friends call me Harry, Patricia.’’

‘’Sorry, Harry! Well, you certainly read me like an open book, I must say.’’

‘’For me, auras have a lot to tell me. Yours is an extremely powerful natural magic aura, Patricia, much more powerful than what I have seen around other Succubus I met in the past.’’

‘’Really?’’ said Patricia, flabbergasted. After all, she couldn’t see her own aura, even in a mirror, so had always assumed that it was a normal one…for a Succubus. Harold nodded again, his expression now somber.

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‘’Really! Your demonic bloodline must be a very ancient and powerful one. May I ask about it?’’

Patricia hesitated a bit before answering: she had been so young still when she had been taken out of the Abyss by her mother, too young to then realize how important her mother had been.

‘’My mother’s name was Lilith.’’

This time, even John looked stunned by her answer. He however let McMasters react verbally.

‘’The legendary Lilith, the first Succubus of all and, according to old Hebrew legends, the real first wife of Adam? And you are her daughter? My God!’’

‘’Well, Lilith did have innumerable children along the millenniums and I am only one among many.’’ said Patricia in an apologetic tone. McMasters made a weak smile at that.

‘’Still! No wonder that many in Hell would want you dead, Patricia, even if just to get back at Lilith. She has made many enemies in the Abyss, jealous enemies. Uh, what about your father, Patricia?’’

‘’His name was Gideon: he was a fallen angel who had fallen in love with Lilith. He was killed while protecting my escape, when Lilith brought me to Earth for my own protection and then abandoned me in Paris.’’

Harold gave her another somber look.

‘’The Gideon I know about was an archangel, not a simple angel, and he did fall from the Celestial Plane, thanks to Lilith’s influence, or so says the legends I read about him. So, we have here the daughter of the Great Lilith and of Archangel Gideon: no wonder your magical aura is so strong, Patricia.’’

He then looked at John, his expression grave.

‘’Such magical potential begs to be developed in full, John. I will be honored to be her teacher, that is if she accepts me as her mentor, of course.’’

‘’I am eager to study magic under you, Harry.’’ said at once Patricia, who only now fully realized what she represented. Her response made McMasters slap his hand on the table.

‘’Then, it’s settled! How much of your time can you give me, Patricia?’’

‘’Well, I study by day at the UCLA, while I work part-time at a cabaret in Santa Monica in the evenings during the week. That leaves at least part of my weekends free to come see you.’’

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That made the magician grimace.

‘’Well, I was hoping for more time than that, but you do have to educate yourself and make a living, I guess. How about if you gave me your Sundays?’’

‘’That I can. In fact, I could go with you tonight if you wish, so that I could start learning from you right away tomorrow morning.’’

Harold had a malicious smile on hearing that.

‘’Hum, a daughter of Lilith, proposing me to accompany me home for the night… You must understand that our relation will and must be a professional one only, Patricia.’’

‘’I understand and accept that, Harry. This is a very serious matter indeed for me, as it may help me survive my enemies.’’

Looking pleased, John Hideyoshi got up from his chair and shook hands with Patricia, then with Harold.

‘’Well, I am happy to see that this business is settled. I wish you the best of luck in your magical training, Patricia. You will always be welcome here in my bar whenever you show up.’’

‘’Thank you, John. You were most kind.’’

‘’It was a true pleasure to be able to help you, Patricia.’’

John then walked away, watched by both Patricia and Harold.

‘’What a nice person!’’ said Patricia, meaning it. ‘’The Material Plane could use more persons like him.’’

‘’You are damn right about that, Patricia. Well, let’s go to my home right away: there is so much I want to teach you.’’

After paying his bar bill, McMasters led Patricia out to his car parked along a side street, a Ford station-wagon, and sat behind the wheel, starting the engine and rolling out of its parking spot as soon as Patricia had closed her door. He soon took the Hollywood Freeway towards the Northwest, prompting a question from Patricia.

‘’So, Harry, where do you live?’’

‘’In West Hollywood. I have a small mansion and private lot there that gives me all the privacy I need.’’

‘’And…are you married? I am asking in case I have to give an explanation to why I am with you.’’

The magician grinned at that and shook his head.

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‘’Good thinking, Patricia, but no, I am not married: women generally find me too weird.’’

‘’And you are not worried that I could try to seduce you, with me alone with you in your house?’’ she asked in jest. His answer to that was a most serious one.

‘’No! Not if you are really serious about studying magic under me, Patricia.’’

‘’Uh, okay! Message received.’’

They were silent for the rest of the way until McMasters turned into the private driveway of a walled property. Stopping briefly at the gate, he asked Patricia to get out to unlock and open the forged iron bar gate, passing her the key to the big lock. He rolled a few meters forward once the gate was opened, then waited for Patricia to close and lock back the gate and jump back in the car before rolling a further eighty meters or so before parking in front of the main entrance of a European-style, two-story brick mansion. Patricia eyed with appreciation the building, which was not very big but was nonetheless a nice-looking one.

‘’Not bad at all, Harry. You seem to have comfortable means.’’

‘’I manage.’’ said in a non committal tone McMasters. ‘’Please follow me.’’

The inside of the mansion proved to be downright posh, but also showed a distinct taste for old styles and decoration, the way one would expect from the mansion of a British country aristocrat. Harold then surprised Patricia by leading her to the basement level, using a fairly narrow concrete staircase which ended in a short concrete-walled corridor. There were two doors giving on that corridor: a large, wooden door with a simple door handle that couldn’t be locked and a steel one that would be more expected in a bank vault than in a private house. The magician made an apologetic smile to Patricia as he turned the wheel mechanism of the steel door.

‘’The previous owner of this mansion, who had it built to his specifications in the 1950s, was a bit paranoid about the possibilities of a nuclear war and added this nuclear bomb shelter to the house design. While there are no locks on the outer side of this door, once someone is inside, he or she can then pull in place locking bolts which would make opening it from outside nearly impossible. That shelter proved perfect for installing my secret magic lab.’’

‘’I see that you added some protection to it yourself, Harry.’’ said Patricia, pointing at the numerous magical runes around the frame of the door, runes which could

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be seen only by magical users. Harold shrugged as he pulled open with some effort the thick steel door.

‘’You can’t be too cautious in the magical business: you can literally meet about anything. If someone ever tries to force open that door by using magic, then that someone will have a nasty surprise.’’

‘’What about beings who can teleport?’’

That earned Patricia a sharp look from the magician.

‘’You can teleport? How far?’’

‘’I could teleport to the surface of the Moon if I wanted to, and I always arrive precisely where I want to go, as long as I have an idea of where it is and what the place looks like. I can also become invisible and insubstantial and then move through solid objects.’’

McMasters nodded slowly his head, visibly impressed.

‘’Those are high level magical powers indeed, Patricia. Did you always possess them?’’

‘’Yes, from birth, but it took me time to learn by myself how to use those powers, along with my other powers.’’

‘’Only high-level Demons and Celestials hold those two powers. This certainly supports your claim to be the daughter of Lilith.’’

‘’It is more than a claim, Harry: it’s the truth!’’ replied Patricia, becoming a bit testy. The magician nodded his head soberly.

‘’Please excuse me if I sounded like I doubted your story, Patricia. Well, here you are in my little secret domain.’’

Entering with Harold in the shelter, Patricia found herself in a room measuring about twelve by ten meters. The walls, ceiling and floor were made of concrete and a number of thick concrete pillars were spaced at regular intervals. Overall, the place gave an impression of near indestructibility. What attracted Patricia’s attention, however, was the equipment filling the room, which made it look like a mad scientist’s laboratory. Stainless steel tables and counters supported a number of strange instruments, while shelves and cabinets contained all kinds of containers, big and small. One wall was actually lined with wooden shelves full of books, with a comfortable-looking sofa and a small table supporting a lamp set in one corner near the bookshelves. Harold McMasters gestured with both arms with obvious pride.

‘’My little private domain. This is where you will study magic, Patricia.’’

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‘’Not bad, not bad at all.’’

‘’This shelter also comes with its own power generator, air filtration system and water filtration system. You should have seen the amount of canned food and water containers I had to haul out after buying this mansion, so that I could equip my lab.’’

‘’If the previous owner was so paranoid, how come he sold this mansion then?’’

‘’He broke his neck when he fell down the main staircase one night. His mansion was then repossessed by the bank, as he had a number of large debts.’’

‘’He was prepared to survive a nuclear war but couldn’t negotiate a flight of stairs? Wow!’’

‘’Wow indeed!’’ said Harold, who then looked soberly at Patricia. ‘’Now that we are here and ready to start your training, I will need to know what you know about magic and what are the powers you control.’’

‘’Theoretically-wise, I don’t know much about magic, except concerning its possibilities, limitations and sources. The powers I have were always innate to me and I learned how to use them through trial and error during my young years.’’

‘’And what are those innate powers, apart from teleporting and becoming insubstantial?’’

‘’First, my strength, speed and sensory perception are all at much higher levels than those of a normal Human. I could probably win easily medals at an Olympic competition. I can also see in the dark, out to about twenty meters. I can detect the thoughts of persons or beings around me within a short distance and can converse telepathically with persons up to about thirty meters away. I can mentally enter the dreams of a sleeping person and then read and manipulate them to plant suggestions in their minds. As a Succubus, I have the power to drain part or all of the life energy of a person by kissing him or having sex with him. I can also suck someone’s soul out and eat it, or send it on its way to the Abyss.’’

Harold, even though he knew about the powers of a Succubus, couldn’t help shiver on hearing her last sentence.

‘’Well, I certainly am happy to be your friend and not your enemy, Patricia. What else can you do?’’

‘’Well, I have the Gift of Tongues, meaning that I can understand and speak any language spoken to me. Due to my education and experience in Paris, I can also read and write in French, English, German, Italian and Latin, on top of being fluent in Infernal, Celestial and Draconic. Another power I always had is the power to change shape at

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will, as long as it is a humanoid form. What you see of me right now is only one of the three shapes I routinely use around Los Angeles. As a demon, I can manipulate fire, throw fireballs or project sheets of flames up to five meters away. I can fly with the help of my wings when in Succubus form and I know for a fact that I am immune to diseases and electricity and that my body is very resistant to damage. Finally, I can use magic and cast spells as well, but I must say that this is probably my weakest point right now.’’ Her last remark made Harold smile and pat gently her left shoulder.

‘’And I will be happy to work on that with you, Patricia.’’