The Succubus and her two Mates

14| Girltalk

Girl talk. Ronnie was behind the bar. She didn't feel like dancing. Not for the clients of the club. Not today.

The walk had been uneventful and sweet. Either holding one of their hands or linking arms. Not many seconds passed when they were not touching - even a glancing touch.

She recalled how she twirled in front of them and walked backwards. Her beautiful men walked hand in hand. She couldn't help but start to think of them that way, trying to correct her brain but failing miserably.

"If you don't have any of your heavy duties to attend to today, you two should go and do something together."

"What would you suggest?" Brock asked.

"The national gallery." It came to her immediately- one of her favourite places. Somewhere her grandmother had always taken her- to see the exhibitions but also the permanent pieces. It had always felt like visiting a friend - some of the pieces, her and her grandmother always made sure to stop by when they went.

She had swooned as they smiled at each other, obviously pleased with the idea of spending proper time together.

She was in trouble.

She saw Bobby come into the club and waved her over. The older woman wasn't working when Ronnie arrived, so she hadn't had the chance to speak with her about the previous night.

Bobby walked towards the bar with a smile at seeing Ronnie on her face. As she came closer, the smile dropped - her eyes falling onto the man sitting up at the bar.

Jon sat with his back to the bar, only swinging and watching Ronnie when someone came up to her. Jon sat holding the same bottle of beer Ronnie had given him when her shift started. Ronnie hadn't seen him take a sip.

Bobby frowned at him as he swiveled to watch Bobby approach and speak with Ronnie.

"Bobby, can we have a quick word?"

She nodded, motioning for Ronnie to come with her to the back office. Ronnie motioned for one of the other girls to come and watch the bar.

Jon stood.

"Stay there, Jonny. I'm just going to the back room."

He remained standing watching as she left the bar.

The sound of the club muffled as the door shut.

"Is everything okay Ronnie?" Bobby asked sharply.

"Um sort of but also not really." Ronnie laughed, but her feelings overwhelmed her and tears came to her eyes. "I was attacked last night-"

"Goddess, Ronnie. We thought you had just cut out early. I should have-"

Ronnie cut her off. "It's okay. I wasn't alone." She took a big breath. "I went out the back door last night and there was a demon there. He seemed to know who I was. I don't know if he was really there for me or if he was just taking the opportunity…" She shuddered. "Thankfully, some friends were meeting me, and they fought him off."

"What did he look like?"

Ronnie described him best she could and what had happened, abridged - just that he had seemed to think she needed help at first, but when she said there was nothing wrong, he had attacked. She didn't say that she had been trying to get away from her would be paramours. She added that he didn't look familiar.

"And this was all out the back?"

Ronnie nodded. Bobby and her took the side door of the office through to the dressing room, and out through the back door. It was still daylight out and Ronnie winced at the sudden brightness.

As she was pointing out what had happened and where, Jon came around down the alleyway. He must have sensed she had left the building. Hmmm interesting, she thought. She really wanted to know what he was, but it didn't seem polite to ask.

He didn't look mad that she had left. Just watched as Bobby stalked around the area breathing in. She pulled back from a smell, her eyes going wide. "A dragon?"

Ronnie fidgeted. She could see the trail of his blood on the bitumen. "That's, um, one of the friends I mentioned."

Bobby examined the scorch marks, touching and smelling the soot. Coming to where the demon had fallen, bringing a bit of the left over dusty substance to her nose, which she wrinkled at the scent. "Definitely demon remains. Where's the rest?"

Jon answered, "I disposed of it in the river."

Ronnie explained that Jon worked for her friends, and he was just keeping an eye on her.

"Could you tell what type of demon it was?" Bobby asked him.

Jon responded. He was taking Ronnie's behaviour with this older woman as permission to speak freely. He had been told to obey Ronnie and to be with her at all times. He gave the same information he had given to his master. "It was a lower demon."

Bobby frowned at that.

Ronnie asked. "What does that mean? Is it more likely that K-"

Bobby cut her off. "Lower demons aren't strong enough to come here themselves, so he was working with someone, but there are quite a few players at the moment. Every bastard demon is having a play with the power vacuum here at the moment."

Bobby had had a lot of dealings with demons. Unsurprisingly, the low lives of the human underworld lined up very nicely with demons of the Netherrealm who had settled here. They were fine business partners. Not usually great people, but she had known a few decent ones. Some god awful ones too.

Ronnie frowned. She didn't understand and said as much to Bobby.

Bobby just waved her off. "Nothing for you to worry about." She had a glance around the alley. "I'll get some extra wards put up." She grabbed Ronnie by the shoulders. "Maybe this was too soon."

Tears pricked Ronnie's eyes, and she whispered, "He promised to leave me alone. That’s what he said to you, yeah?"

"I'm sure it was just an act of opportunity," Bobby assured her. "Not a great sign that anyone would think it was okay to come here. I don't think this is the best place for you right now. There's a lot of activity at the moment. Take a few more weeks, then we can re-look at you coming back. I've got a friend, it's in a pack, but they would let you lay low there for a few month-"

"What? Are you firing me? Months?" A tear slipped out without Ronnie meaning to let it. She had thought she was getting a restart- a well deserved reboot of her life.

Bobby looked like her heart was being crushed. "s**t Ronnie. No. Maybe. Just- stay away for a little while longer, okay? Come back inside." She sheppard her back into the club, holding the door so that Jon could come with them.

Back in the office. Bobby looked at Ronnie closely. She had known the woman for years. Seen her grow up. She'd never seen her so conflicted. She felt it was beyond the conversation of Ronnie not working here.

"What else is going on Ronnie?"

She took a moment to answer. "I met these guys. One of them is the dragon you scented," she started to explain. "They think I'm their mate." Ronnie stopped and looked at Jon. He hadn't moved, not a twitch of expression, and he still felt like a void. She didn't want him here for this conversation. "Can you go back out the front? I won't go anywhere else, I promise."

Jon paused. She wondered if he was weighing up what her promise meant. It must have been enough as he left as requested.

Bobby's shock at Ronnie's revelation was overridden as the man left the room.

"Do you know what he is?" Bobby asked her. Ronnie just shook her head. "He's an Archdaemon. Enthralled. Only someone very powerful could do that."

Ronnie was surprised. She could usually sense when someone was a demon. "Enthralled? Like a slave?" Bobby noted the spike of concern in her voice.

"Sort of. It's more like an enemy promising fealty when they have been honorably defeated," she explained. Trust Ronnie to care about a demon being enslaved. She had a bleeding heart. "You were saying…"

"Right. So I met these guys, shifters, and they think I'm their mate." Ronnie splayed her hands. She rushed on, "Obviously, I know that's not possible… you always said…"

"Hmmmm." It dawned on Bobby that this was why Ronnie brought up mates the prior day. "I'm not an expert Ronnie. You're a quarter Fae- that might be enough…" she shrugged. "I've not felt the matebond myself." She reminded the other woman. "How do you feel?

Ronnie hesitated. "I really like them. But I don't know if I feel feel it or if it's just normal attraction, early love-," she cleared her throat. "They are not trying to deceive me. They feel very strongly about me." She was silently pleading for Bobby to tell her what to do. "It's all very intense. They want me to go home with them."

"They are from the Dragon Kingdom?" Ronnie nodded. She felt like it wasn't appropriate to tell her who Brock was.

Bobby sighed. "You'd be safest there from demons, but it could still be high risk for you. Dragons live in a very traditional way. Not the most open minded of people…" she scrutinized Ronnie.

"It's very fast. Seems too quick to run off with them…"

Bobby raised an eyebrow. "Yes, well, mates don't usually take courting slow." Ronnie blushed a little at that and it was not lost on Bobby. Ronnie was not someone who blushed often. "You said there are two of them?"

Ronnie nodded.

"Well, the Goddess should know what she's doing," Bobby offered. "I never thought a single person would ever be enough for you."

Ronnie thought deeply. She was quiet for so long that Bobby opened her mouth to speak, but Ronnie beat her to it.

"Should I tell them what I am?"

Bobby could hear the fear in her voice. She sighed. "You will need to make that call."

~*~