I watched Vicki carefully as the class gathered their things and prepared to leave. She had, admittedly, been on her best behavior today, so good in fact that I had even sent the guards away and kept her out for more testing than I had planned. But that was really no surprise. She had cooperated because she had very little chance of escape, and she was getting something out of the whole performance. Now that she knew it was time to go back to her cell, that could change. Vicki turned to me and rested a hand lightly on my arm. I resisted the urge to pull it back.
“Nervous?” she asked.
“About what?” I shrugged with practiced nonchalance.
She laughed,
“I think today went rather well, don’t you?”
“It certainly could have gone worse,” I acknowledged.
I had identified a few Partials, far fewer than there should have been, but better than nothing. I had my suspicions that, if we looked into it, we would find on that the Domini had been carefully picking them off for years. There were so few of us left. I shook my head, nothing that could be done about that, now. I had also managed to identify almost a dozen students who absolutely should not be in the field, under any circumstances. They were far too susceptible to Vicki’s provocations; in an uncontrolled environment, they would be eaten alive. Literally. So, it had, in fact, been an informative day. But she didn’t need to know the details.
“I take it we are finished, then?”
“For today.”
“Well, then there is no more need for secrecy, is there? You aren’t going to tell them who I am, how we met?”
“Wasn’t planning on it.”
“That’s sweet, you don’t want me to have to take the heat?”
“Hah, that’s a good one,” I chuckled.
“Oh?”
“Don’t play dumb. I know what you want. And I think you got plenty out of this, without me giving you that satisfaction.”
“Come on, you have to tell them sometime, right?”
“Not with you around, I don’t.”
“Don’t be like that. I was helpful, wasn’t I? And you are going to need more help, eventually. This won’t cost you, or them, anything. And it may inspire me to be more accommodating, at a later date.”
I made a show of considering it. Really, I had already planned to let her have this one, because it was the best lesson they were going to get, to see how she reacted, responded, fed off of them. But, if she thought it was her idea, and I didn’t want that, she was more likely to be open and honest in her reactions. And if it I could use it to get a favor out of her later, even better.
“I suppose I could be flexible here, if you are willing to offer your cooperation in return.”
“Of course,” she grinned, pleased with her victory.
“Alright,” I turned, searching the crowd. “Hey, Luke! Gather all of the groups together, we have one last lesson to do, before you all leave.”
The curious murmuring of the assembled students died down as I raised hands. They were all tired and ready to go back to their rooms, but clearly curious about why I had held them back.
“Alright, good work today, everyone. I appreciate your… enthusiasm. Hopefully, today’s exercise made you realize why we are spending so much time on the fundamentals?”
There was nodding and grumbling throughout the crowd.
“I don’t know,” one student spoke up. “I think this was a set-up from the beginning. You said your friend was an amateur, no training in fighting, but look at her. She fought more than any of us, obviously, and she looks better rested than when she arrived. How is that even possible?”
More than a few people cast irritated glances at Vicki, who had fought many of them to exhaustion. The succubus basked in the anger and suspicion that ran through the crowd.
“Good eye,” I nodded at the student, trying to remember her name. “How do you think it happened?”
“I think you brought in a pro, to humiliate us, convince us to train harder,” she scowled.
Naomi, that was her name.
“Close,” I smiled, unperturbed by her anger.
This was always intended to make them angry. If they learned the lesson, that was what mattered.
“So, what is it, then?” another voice joined from the back.
The chatter of the crowd rose enough that I was having trouble hearing over them. I waited until the din died down before I continued.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“Perhaps it will make more sense once I introduce your training partner,” I gestured to Vicki.
“You already did that at the beginning, remember?” a new voice jumped in. “You said Sam was a friend of yours, here to help with train us in how to properly overpower and restrain a civilian with no combat training.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. Well, not everyone could be a star pupil, I supposed.
“I know that is what I said, Ron, but I believe the point your classmates were making, is that I lied.”
Ron glanced back at Naomi for help, she nodded.
“Oh. Did you?”
“Of course I did. For one thing, ‘friend’ is not quite the right word.”
Vicki placed a hand to her chest,
“After everything we have been through together. I thought we had something special.”
I rolled my eyes,
“Uh huh. Either way, let’s do the reintroductions, shall we?” I gestured towards the succubus. “I’d like you all to meet Vicki Carter.”
Until that moment, I hadn’t been certain that they would recognize the name, but based on the response, it seemed that most knew the story, and those that didn’t were being quickly filled in by their peers. That was convenient, it would save me having to explain. Vicki leaned closer so that I could hear her over the chaos,
“I believe my reputation precedes me,” she smirked.
I waited patiently for the fervor to die down. Finally, it seemed that the group had nominated Naomi as their unofficial spokesperson and the other voices quieted as she stepped forward.
“Just to confirm, this is Vicki Carter, the succubus being held in custody after she murdered several men, correct?”
“That’s the one,” I nodded.
Vicki preened.
“You had us sparring with a serial killer this whole time?”
I nodded, waiting for her to get to something more substantial than indignation.
“That is crazy. Why would you do something so dangerous, so reckless? Without even telling us?”
Apparently, I was in for a long wait on that one.
“First off, if I had told you, the training would have lost a lot of value. The point was to see how you reacted when you didn’t know. It was very instructive. And yes, it was dangerous, but not unreasonably so. I mean, what did you think you were here for, anyway?”
Naomi and her compatriots didn’t have a ready answer to that one.
“Look,” I continued. “You signed up to fight an enemy you don’t understand, that can hurt you in ways you can’t conceive of. I don’t know why; I don’t make your choices for you. The best I can do is try to help you survive them, and you are not making it easy for me. This is what you all signed up for. Actually, scratch that, this was significantly easier and safer than what you signed up for. I didn’t even give her a lighter.”
“I don’t understand. Why?” Naomi seemed a bit less certain in her anger, now. It was a start.
“You all needed a taste of what this was really like. And I needed to see how you responded. You saw how she got stronger, more energized, from fighting you, while you got weaker? That is how it works. They feed off of your energy, and the more energy you pour into them, the stronger they get.”
“I thought we were Immune to that?” Ron broke in.
“It’s not that simple. This is what I have been trying, unsuccessfully, to explain to you all this whole time. You are immune to many of the methods an ubarae will use to enthrall a target, to forcibly hold their focus and attention. They are capable of inducing love, even obsession in others. They cannot do that to you. But, if you give them your focus and attention willingly, they can still feed off of you, and the more intense your emotional connection to them, even if those emotions are negative, the greater the effect. They can’t force it, the way they can with others, but you need to learn to control your emotions, or else that doesn’t matter. Take for example, right this moment. How many of you are staring at Vicki right now, thinking how much you hate her, how much she disgusts you for what she has done?”
“Of course we are! She is a monster!” Naomi snarled, defensively.
“Sure, probably. But that is exactly the problem. That anger, that disgust, that fury, all directed at her. Look at her face. She loves it. Needs it. Feeds off it. That is, in fact, the entire reason she agreed to do this. She wanted exactly what you are giving her, right now. She can probably ride this high for weeks.”
“Longer,” Vicki grinned. “The young are so… passionate.”
She licked her lips demonstrably, and it had the desired effect. I watched the ripples of anger and revulsion move through the group. The succubus’ eyes shimmered opalescent for a moment. I elbowed her in the ribs.
“Too far.”
“Spoil sport.”
“You see, this is exactly what she wants from you. Her and others like her are experts at manipulation. The fact that she cannot seduce you does not mean you are safe. Do you understand, now? You need to learn to feign interest or disinterest, to keep your feelings and thoughts contained, even from experts. You need to be able to close yourself off and put no more thought or mental energy into her than you would into exterminating a cockroach or an ant. In short, you have to be able to avoid getting emotionally invested, one way or the other. The more energy you put into hating them, the more you feed your target, and the stronger they become.”
“Is that even possible?” one student asked.
“Of course it is. I do it all the time.”
“You do?” Vicki interjected. “Are you saying you are lying to me, now? That this Zen attitude is all a front?”
“I am saying that you wouldn’t know if it was,” I replied, before turning back to the others. “The rest of you can learn, too, if you put in the effort. And you are going to have to, because the alternative is a lot like going swimming in shark infested waters, covered in open wounds.”
“So, what do we do?”
“Well, first I will teach you some basic techniques, then we will practice for a while, then Vicki here is going to come back and help test all of you, to see how you are progressing.”
“If I choose to come back, that is,” Vicki interrupted.
“You’ll be back.”
“Don’t be so sure…”
“Nah. I am bored of that game now, Vic. You’ll be back because you can’t refuse,” I turned back to the students. “You see, this is a good example of why I keep saying you need to know your enemy. Vicki here is an addict of sorts. Which, ironically, means that as much as she is an expert in manipulating others, she is actually very easy to manipulate, herself, as long as you remember that, no matter what she says, she will do anything for another fix. Even just the possibility of one. Won’t you?”
Vicki’s smile had faded somewhat, and there was a flicker of animosity as she returned my gaze.
“I have no idea what you mean.”
“Of course not,” I shook my head. “But you will be back again when I call you, just the same. Like a good dog.”
Her lip curled briefly in disgust, and for just a moment, I thought she was going to hit me. But the arrival of her escorts disrupted things. I handed Vicki over without another word and the guards led her back out into the hall. The venomous look on her face as she left would cheer me up for quite a while, I imagined.
“Alright, you are all exhausted, so we won’t keep going over this now. But think about what I said, and we will talk about it more tomorrow. Class dismissed.”