Kiss of the Succubus Ch. 03

"I'm with your husband," the voice said. "Would you like to talk to him?"

Grace nodded; too rattled to realize the caller couldn't see her. The caller seemed to get the idea anyway and handed the phone to Ted.

"Grace?" he said, his voice still hoarse and weak. The caller took the phone back.

"He's with me, Grace," she said. "I suggest you leave your tools where they are, and come home right now. We'll be waiting."

She ended the call. Grace stared down at the sleeping vampire in front of her, and felt her arms shake.

"Damn you. Damn you if anything happens to him," she said to the corpse in front of her.

Leaving her knapsack behind, Grace took Ted's phone with her and raced out of the crypt.

* * * * *

Ted awoke again, realizing he'd once again fallen unconscious. He awoke to find his head on Liana's lap. She smiled at him.

"It won't be long now," she said.

Ted sat up, in a panic.

"You need to-" he coughed, "-go. She'll be back soon."

Liana brushed her fingers through Ted's hair.

"Oh Ted, you've forgotten? You agreed to tell Grace the truth. We're going to tell her together. As soon as she gets home."

"No!" Ted mumbled. "She can't find out! It's our-"

"Shh," Liana said. "She's here."

Ted realized to his horror Grace had just pulled into the driveway.

"You need to go. I'll tell her, I will, but you can't be here!"

"It's too late," Liana said, calmly. "She's already here. It's time."

Grace burst through the front door with her Glock drawn. Liana rose to her feet and turned to face the panicking wife.

Grace's face dropped.

"Oh my God!" she said, lowering her weapon. "Mrs. Becket!"

"Nice to see you again, Grace," Gabby said.

Grace dropped her Glock to the floor, and fell to her knees as she vomited onto the carpet. The crushing realization hit her all at once. Daniel Becket, asylum patient, had been telling the truth. He'd been telling the truth about Balko being an inhuman bloodsucker, and he'd been telling the truth about his wife returning from the dead to prey on mortal men. Grace stared up at the woman she saw standing before her, in the vain hope that her eyes had been playing tricks on her, but they hadn't. This was Gabrielle Becket, dead for six years but still walking the earth. Not only had she not aged a day since Grace had last seen her seventeen years earlier, she actually appeared younger.

Grace heaved deeply, overcome by Gabby's intimidating presence. Gabby grabbed the handgun and tucked it into the waistband of her panties. As she did, Kayla came running into the room, and gasped when she saw Gabby standing before her.

"Mommy!" Kayla screamed. "That's her! That's the lady in my closet!"

"Kayla, go to your room!" Grace shouted.

Kayla stood in stunned silence.

"Kayla, go!" Grace repeated. Gabby looked at Kayla understandingly.

"It's okay, Kayla. Go on," Gabby said.

Kayla reluctantly returned to her room. Gabby watched her as she left before turning her attention back to Grace.

"Ted has something to tell you," she said.

Grace looked at Ted, who'd gone pale white when he realized his wife and the woman he'd known as Liana were in the same room.

"I- Grace, I-" he stammered.

"Ted and I have been sleeping with each other for the past seven months. Today, I've given him an ultimatum, you or me. So what have you decided, Ted?"

Ted let out a long, pathetic whimper.

"Grace, I'm sorry!" he wailed. Grace looked up at him, and at Gabby, with disgust filling every fiber of her being.

"He picked me, Grace. He's mine," Gabby said.

"What have you done, Ted?" Grace cried.

Gabby knelt down to face the shaking woman.

"This is what you did, Grace. You were warned. And now you've lost your husband. There's nothing you can do about that. He's made his choice, so tonight I'm going to come for him, and you will never see him again. Leave Luke alone, and this will be the end of it. Otherwise, you will lose Kayla, your unborn daughter, and everything else you hold dear."

Grace pulled her crucifix from her pants pocket and showed it to the evil succubus. Gabby chuckled and took it from Grace's timid grasp, patting her on the head as she did.

"These don't work on me," Gabby said sweetly.

With that, she tossed the crucifix into the empty fireplace, where it burst into flames and disintegrated. Grace's eyes went wide with terror as the flames that engulfed the crucifix expanded, and tore a hole in the fabric of reality. A fiery portal formed in front of the fireplace, and through it, Grace could see a passageway straight into Hell.

"I will see you tonight, Ted," Gabby said, forebodingly.

With that, she walked into the fiery portal, where the flames consumed her black lingerie and Grace's gun instantly. The last thing Grace and Ted saw was Gabby's naked body disappearing into the hellfire before the portal sealed closed.

* * * * *

"The patrol car is out front. You'll be protected throughout the night," Joe said.

Officer Taylor and Officer Perry carried the Harkers' suitcases into the safe house, setting them on the floor outside the bedrooms for the family members to divide up.

"What about the back?" Grace asked.

"We have motion detectors and alarms installed. No one's getting in here without us knowing," Joe assured her.

Grace wanted to believe him. She'd requested safe house protection as soon as Gabby left, describing to her fellow officers her husband's affair and her stolen weapon. What Grace left out was the identity of the woman and the fact that she left the house through a demon gateway. Grace suspected she might have some difficulty staying out of Havenswood if she made such claims.

A sketch artist seated across from Grace held up his work. His drawing strongly resembled Gabby Becket. Grace described her to a T, leaving out the fact that the police already had a photograph of her on file. She couldn't risk being dismissed as a lunatic. Not when her family's lives were on the line.

"That's her," Grace said.

"We'll distribute this to all the officers at the precinct. Meanwhile I'd like to talk to Ted if he's up for it," Joe said, taking the sketch from the artist.

Grace led Joe down the hallway to one of the bedrooms, where Ted lay unconscious.

"Jesus," Joe remarked, seeing Ted's malnourished and emaciated state. "Should I come back later?"

Grace shook her head.

"He's been asleep for hours. I don't see him getting better any time soon."

Joe looked around, and walked into the room.

"Mr. Harker?" he asked. Ted did not respond.

"Ted!" Grace shouted.

Ted opened his eyes, and looked at the two detectives in front of him. Grace turned on the light switch, prompting Ted to squint and cover his eyes.

"Detective Pratt needs to ask you some questions," Grace said, sharply. "Tell him EVERYTHING you know about that woman."

Ted groaned.

"Woman?" he asked, his eyes half open. His face was soaked with sweat, and his voice was hoarse with phlegm.

"Yes! The woman you've been sleeping with who's not your wife!" Grace shouted.

Grace felt a tug on her arm.

"Mommy?" Kayla asked. "I'm hungry."

"Okay sweetie, I'll get you something."

Grace picked up her daughter and carried her to the kitchen, while Joe began questioning Ted.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. We've been so busy getting us moved in here," Grace said, setting the girl down in front of the kitchen table.

"Why do we have to be here?" Kayla asked.

Grace opened up the cabinets, and searched for something Kayla would like. There was only a small supply of canned food that had been recently purchased. Grace grabbed a can of Chef Boyardee spaghetti and peeled off the lid.

"That lady in your closet is trying to hurt Daddy," Grace said. "I think she's the reason he's been so sick."

She dumped the contents of the can into a glass bowl and placed it into a microwave.

"Does Daddy still love us?" Kayla asked. Grace paused.

"Of course he does! He's just very confused. He's so sick he doesn't know what he's doing. If we stop this lady maybe he'll get better."

She turned on the microwave, praying she was not giving false hope to her daughter- or herself.

"Daddy's not going to get better," Kayla said. "He's going to go with that lady. He said so."

Grace stared at the knife handle protruding from the nearby knife rack. Off in the distance, a train whistled.

"He said that?" Grace asked, suppressing the rage in her voice.

Kayla nodded sadly.

"He said it while he was sleeping."

* * * * *

It was nearly midnight. Ted and Kayla were sound asleep. Grace stood by the living room window, staring out at the patrol car parked in front of the house with her hand on her newly issued sidearm.

Joe was parked in front of Top Cats, while another patrol car was staking out the Harper Hills Fitness Center. After heavy questioning, Joe had managed to get Ted to reveal where he'd met "Liana" and where they most frequently met.

Joe had his bulletproof vest on, but was anxious all the same. It wasn't often that someone on the force was the victim of a home invasion and a threat against a family member, so San Amaury Homicide took the threat on the Harkers very seriously.

Officers Ken Russell and Lisa Linedecker were stationed inside the club. Russel posed as a customer, seated in the corner with a view of the entire club. Linedecker posed as a dancer. Dressed in high heels, a g-string, and a two-way transponder in her ear, Linedecker was able to communicate directly to Joe everyone she saw enter the club. So far, there was no trace of Liana.

Joe smiled; remembering when Grace had done a similar undercover assignment. A strip club owner was suspected of human trafficking, and Grace had agreed to go undercover in his club as a nude dancer. Joe had been shocked at Grace's (who was new to the force at the time) eager willingness to bare all to help catch the alleged sex slaver. Grace had delivered, found proof of what the club owners had been doing, and given Joe some stunning material for his spank bank for years to come.

"Team check in," Joe said into his walkie.

"No sign," Russel said.

"Linedecker?" Joe asked.

"Nothing," Linedecker said.

Joe watched with weary eyes as a group of men entered the club. He hadn't seen a woman enter the club all evening. He took a sip of his coffee, when he heard the music stop over the transponder.

"What happened?" Joe asked into the walkie.

"We have a situation," Linedecker said.

Joe was immediately out of the cruiser. He and three officers hurried into the club, with their guns drawn.

The dancers screamed at the sight of the armed policemen entering the club.

"Everyone against the wall!" Joe shouted. The patrons and dancers followed his instructions, backing out of the way while Joe and his cohorts searched the club. The semi-naked dancers huddled together, covering their breasts and private parts with their hands.

Officer Linedecker emerged from the backroom.

"Detective Pratt!" she shouted. "This way!"

Joe and the officers followed Linedecker into the back room, noting with little surprise that her g-string had accumulated a number of bills during her brief undercover stint. She hurried along, unconcerned with her lack of attire, and led them up a set of stairs to a second story office. A dead man lay on the floor inside.

"Who's that?" Joe asked.

"Caleb Brighton," Linedecker said. "He's the owner."

* * * * *

Grace rubbed her eyes, weary from exhaustion, but determined to stand watch the entire night. Her plan, as best as she could construct, was to stand guard and keep her family alive until dawn. With Kayla and Ted both under police protection, she'd return to the Balko crypt in the morning and finish what she'd begun. It had to work. Her only other choice was to live in fear for the remainder of their lives.

For now, she just had to stand watch. She'd already mounted her crosses in every room of the safe house. That would at least protect them from Balko. Gabby on the other hand, was a different matter, and Grace had yet to determine her weakness.

She checked in on Kayla, who was sleeping soundly. Grace grabbed Bernie, who as usual, had made his way onto the bedroom floor. She grabbed the bear and put it back under her daughter's arm. She kissed Kayla softly on her cheek.

She checked Ted afterward, only listening to the sound of his snoring to know he was alive. The knowledge that he'd been unfaithful to her had not yet had the chance to sink in. The fear of Balko, and learning Gabby Becket still walked the earth overshadowed her other concerns. When Lukas and Gabby were both dead, or gone, if that ever happened, Grace might finally be able to confront her husband and determine what future, if any, their marriage might have.

As she shut Ted's bedroom door, he rustled, and turned over, in a half awake daze.

Ted.

He stirred. He heard someone call his voice.

"Hello?" he called out.

Ted, wake up.

"Liana?" he called.

Yes, Ted. It's me. It's time. Come to me.

Ted climbed out of bed, and immediately collapsed to the floor.

Come to me Ted, now. Before she can stop you.

Ted struggled to pull himself off the floor. He couldn't see her, or tell where her voice was coming from. Mustering all of his strength, he climbed to his feet and slowly trudged to the door.

As he did, Grace's phone rang, and she answered, not hearing Ted's bedroom door open.

"Harker," she greeted.

"We just found the owner of Top Cats," Joe said.

"What did he say?" Grace asked.

"Nothing. He's dead. No apparent cause. Not a mark on him."

Grace felt a chill rush up her spine.

"Did you find his wife?" she asked.

"Doesn't look like he's married. Either Liana was lying about being married to him, or your husband's brain is more scrambled than we thought."

"Either one is a real possibility," Grace said. She peered out the window, and spotted a silhouette of a man standing in the yard across the street, watching her. Her hand went for her gun.

"Where are you?" Grace asked.

"In the office at Top Cats. None of the dancers saw anyone suspicious all night. I showed your sketch to a few of them, and one of them said-"

Joe's words were cut short when the safe house security alarm blared loudly. Grace heard a scream from Kayla's bedroom.

"What the hell happened?" Joe asked.

"Joe, I'm going to have to call you back," Grace said, and immediately pocketed her phone. Officers Taylor and Perry immediately emerged from their cruiser, and hurried into the house. Grace ran straight to Kayla's bedroom, with her gun drawn.

"Mommy! What's happening?" Kayla cried as her mother entered her bedroom. Grace was relieved to see Kayla was in the room alone.

Grace holstered her weapon and pulled her daughter into her arms.

"It's all right, sweetie, everything will be fine!" She sat down onto Kayla's bed and squeezed her tightly.

"Harker! Your husband is missing!" Officer Taylor said. He stopped in the doorway of Kayla's temporary bedroom, out of breath.

Grace released her grasp on her daughter.

"Perry, stay with Kayla! Taylor, help me find Ted!"

"Mommy! Don't go!"

Grace turned back to Kayla.

"I won't be gone long, sweetie. I just have to find Daddy."

Kayla shot one longing look at her mother. Grace rushed out the back door, searching the back yard and seeing no sign of Ted. Officer Taylor was right behind her.

"We should check the neighbors' yards," Taylor said. "You take left I'll take right!"

Grace and Officer Taylor ran off in opposite directions. Grace ran from house to house, combing the neighborhood and not seeing a trace of her husband.

"Ted!" Grace screamed. Only the quiet nighttime sounds of chirping crickets and hooting owls responded. She let out a frustrated scream, trying to put the thoughts of what Gabby Becket might be doing to her husband out of her mind.

She spotted Ted stumbling into the woods. He was wearing only his boxer shorts, and Grace could see his frail, bony figure shivering in the night air.

"Ted!" Grace repeated, and was in fast pursuit. Ted didn't seem to hear her and disappeared into the dark cluster of trees. Grace followed, and clutched her belly as it began to ache. Catching her breath, she hurried into the woods.

Only darkness greeted her. She trudged through, holding her arms out in front of her, blindly avoiding the cluster of trees. The sounds of crushed pinecones cried out from beneath her shoes. Twisted, gnarled branches snagged her shirt as she stumbled through the forest.

"Ted, where are you?" she shouted hopelessly. She listened. An owl hooted.

And then only silence.

She caught a glimmer of light ahead, and quickly made her way in its direction. A street lamp on the other side marked the edge of the woods. Grace hurried towards it, praying it might help her spot her husband. She'd nearly gotten to the edge when she saw a man standing in the opening between two trees, silently staring off into the night sky.

"Ted!" she screamed.

The man turned around to face her, and her heart stopped cold.

"Hello, Grace," Lukas said. He was still wearing the suit he was buried in, and appeared to have just awoken from death itself.

Grace froze. Not letting her fear show, she raised her left hand.

"You'd best get out of my way, Balko. Unless you want a taste of this again!"

Grace's silver wedding ring shimmered in the dim light of the street lamp. She swung her hand in a karate chop motion, fully prepared to grab Balko's arm, press the metal against his skin and send him into a world of agony. Balko looked at the shining ring and smiled.

"You won't be needing that soon, Grace," Balko said. "I understand you may not be married much longer."

"My marriage will survive longer than you ever will," Grace retorted.

Lukas titled his head.

"Then you'd better get to him now."

He exploded into a puff of black smoke, and a bat emerged from the cloud. It flew towards her, barely missing her head before fluttering off into the dark.

Undeterred, Grace hurried out of the woods and searched the horizon for her husband. She could see an abandoned factory to her right, a cluster of apartment buildings to her left, and a bridge in the middle leading to the next town, but not a soul in sight.

She did not want to go back into the woods. It would be too difficult to search there, and she suspected Ted would have emerged from it by now anyway. She elected to run towards the bridge, in the hopes that Ted had done the same.

It wasn't until she was nearly halfway across that she could see that the bridge ran over a set of train tracks that spanned as far as the eye could see in both directions. The street lamps lining the bridge gave her a decent view of the area below.

Peeking down over the bridge's edge, she spotted Ted. He was stumbling along the train tracks, mumbling to himself as he did.

"Ted!" she screamed.

Ted didn't seem to hear her. She peered down into his face and saw his eyes were glossed over. He stared off into the distance, oblivious to Grace or anything else around him.

Ted, come to me.

"Liana?" Ted called out, picking up the pace of his clumsy stumbling. "I'm here!"

Come to me, Ted. I want to give you a kiss. Isn't that what you wanted?

"Yes! I want you! Where are you baby, I'm coming!"

Grace watched in horror as Ted stumbled along the tracks, calling out to his unseen mistress. As he disappeared underneath the bridge, Grace ran to the opposite side just in time to see him emerge.

And then she spotted her.

Off in the near distance, Gabby Becket walked along the tracks as well, directly towards Ted. She strode confidently between the rails, without a stitch of clothing on, with her arms outstretched welcoming him. Ted stared at the nude beauty before him, and he hurried towards her as fast as his debilitated body would allow.