Courts and Cabals by G.S. D'Moore (best e reader for academics txt) 📕

a once in a generation phenomenon. There was even a kid’s cartoon show about elemental mages; although, all the karate bits weren’t true.

Because this was the real world, and because, in my experience, most magic users tended to have a giant stick up their ass; the elemental mages had given themselves douchey names depending on their specialty. Brad was a Caeli, which was Latin for an air mage. There were also Aqua, Ignis, Terra, and Anima; for water, fire, earth, and soul users. All of them had their pros and cons, and like in the tv show, some specialties were stronger or weaker against others.

The four basic elements were pretty straightforward. As Brad had shown, he could control bursts of air; everything from full-on tornados to finely-manipulated tendrils. Something cool Caeli could do was create shields out of air. The strongest could stop tank rounds by hardening the air between them and the incoming ordinance. Brad wasn’t that strong, but he claimed he could stop bullets. That was still pretty cool.

For me, it was the Anima who really freaked me out. They dealt with soul magic, which translated into English meant things like telepathy and being empaths. The other elemental mages would drown you, throw you, crush you, or set you on fire. Anima mages could fuck with your mind and read your deepest, darkest desires. Thankfully, Anima mages were rarer than the rest, and I only knew of two at St. Vincent’s. They mostly kept to themselves, and people preferred it that way.

“Hey, honey,” Brad sauntered over to them and plopped himself down in my personal space.

It was a running gag between us. Brad thought I was hot, and he constantly hit on me. It was a nice boost to my ego, but I didn’t swing that way. We both knew it, but it was fun for him, and he had a forlorn hope that one day I might give him the opportunity in the name of experimentation.

“I heard you grabbed Sally’s ass and Sam beat the shit out of you,” Brad began as he looked me over. “What did you do to piss off the big teddy bear?”

“Fucking high school,” I growled. It hadn’t even been five minutes and everyone was DMing everyone about this shit. “I need a smoke.”

“Bleachers?” I asked, and my two buddies nodded. Jerome even rubbed his hands together in delight.

We turned to leave with the rest of the crowd, but a disturbance up ahead stopped us. A bubble of empty space was moving forward, and pushing everyone back. That only meant one thing.

“Lilith,” Jerome and I breathed together as we were pushed to the side of the hallway.

The creature at the center of the bubble emerged in all her glory. She was a Victoria Secret supermodel, Sport’s Illustrated swimsuit cover girl, Pornhub pornstar of the century all rolled into one. Anyone within five feet of her was attracted by pure animal magnetism. Girls flushed and had to fan themselves. Guys suddenly found their pants constricting in all the wrong places. It didn’t matter what your sexual orientation was; I popped a half-chub right along with Jerome and Brad as she walked past. That was the effect a succubus had on everything.

“God, I would love for her to bob on my knob,” I groaned, and then immediately snapped my mouth shut when I noticed I’d said it out loud.

“Smooth, honey. Real smooth,” Brad chuckled as Lilith sashayed away with her school-mandated skirt just low enough to not show ass, but just high enough to let guys know what they were missing.

A normal girl would have at least turned around and glared at a guy for proclaiming he wanted her to suck his dick, but not Lilith. She acted like I didn’t even exist, which I didn’t to the likes of her. She was a supernatural powerhouse; a creature of the high-level infernal cabals. She was immortal in the sense she would live forever; as long as she fed and wasn’t killed. Killing her kind was a lot harder than it looked. Preternatural strength, speed, and magical talent came along with the package that fueled the spank bank of every guy in school.

If you’re guessing what ‘feeding’ means for a succubus, you’re spot on. Lilith and her kind feed on erotic energy, the libido of anything with a sex drive, the Muladhara Chakra, or whatever else your culture called it. All the dirty thoughts being thrown her way in the hallway, my own included, were probably a refreshing shot of coffee to her energy levels. But thoughts only went so far. Action was where she got the juicy stuff.

Basically, any myth of a sexual creature preying on humans was a succubus tale at its core, and there were good reasons people called her species whores in myths and legends since caveman times. It could be a simple kiss or an orgy that consumed an entire town. Those sexual actions filled her with the life force she needed to survive. As a young succubus, her battery wasn’t huge, and the school was able to manage her unique dietary requirements; but as she got older and more powerful, she’d need to feed more to remain at full power. Or, she’d need a superior quality to her meals. Supernatural creatures were better for her diet. They were the organic, grass-fed beef, while a human was the equivalent of a fatty, Burger King Big Mac.

My chances of scoring with the likes of Lilith were less than nothing. Not only because I was human, but because I was poor. I was an orphan. My mom died when I was eight, and I never met my dad. The fucking lowlife disappeared before I even reached the zygote stage. My mom said it was a one-night stand and she’d never been able to find the dirtbag.

I ended up spending a year in the foster