{"id":417,"date":"2011-08-17T11:59:47","date_gmt":"2011-08-17T16:59:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christinahenry.net\/?page_id=417"},"modified":"2011-08-17T12:35:58","modified_gmt":"2011-08-17T17:35:58","slug":"the-12-dancing-princes","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.christinahenry.net\/?page_id=417","title":{"rendered":"The 12 Dancing Princes"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story takes place a few minutes after the events of BLACK NIGHT<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

By Christina Henry<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI have another favor to ask of you,\u201d Lucifer said, his face turned up to the winter sunshine as mine had been a few moments before.<\/p>\n

I stared at him, then at the apple he\u2019d made appear in my hand. \u201cPlease tell me why I should do anything for you, especially after I barely survived your last assignment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause you know what will happen to Gabriel if you don\u2019t,\u201d Lucifer said, smiling, and it was not a nice smile.<\/p>\n

Dear old Granddad had been holding the threat of Gabriel\u2019s death over my head in order to manipulate me into doing his bidding. It was working, too \u2013 I\u2019d do anything to keep Gabriel safe. Unfortunately, Lucifer knew that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is it?\u201d I sighed.<\/p>\n

\u201cA friend has asked me to look into a series of strange occurrences that have happened here in Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have friends?\u201d<\/p>\n

Lucifer quirked an eyebrow at me. \u201cAn associate, if you prefer. In any case, this particular individual has twelve sons.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHis poor wife,\u201d I murmured. \u201cIs this associate a fallen angel?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, he is a shapeshifter. At any rate, none of his sons are married so they still live at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow old are they?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey range in age from thirteen to twenty-nine. Their father has noted that all of his sons have been leaving the house every evening after dinner and not returning until dawn.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat doesn\u2019t sound particularly unusual for a bunch of young men,\u201d I said. \u201cWhat\u2019s Daddy dearest worried about?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe does not know where the boys go, and all attempts to follow them have failed. Those who attempt to track the sons find themselves hopelessly lost down dark alleys, or fall asleep while on watch, or any other number of bizarre impediments. And these are all professional trackers. My associate is a very wealthy man and can afford to hire the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

I frowned at him. \u201cDo you actually think that I\u2019ll succeed where the others have failed?\u201d<\/p>\n

Lucifer clapped me on the shoulder. \u201cI have noticed that people tend to underestimate you, Madeline. It can be advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSpeaking of advantages\u2026what is it that you\u2019re getting out of all this?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, if you succeed this fellow will owe me a favor at a later date,\u201d Lucifer said lightly.<\/p>\n

I would not want to owe Lucifer any unnamed future favors. I felt kind of sorry for this guy.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll right, I\u2019ll get Gabriel,\u201d I said, rising to my feet.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d Lucifer said firmly. \u201cNo Gabriel. No Beezle. No entourage. You will be far less obtrusive on your own.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGabriel won\u2019t like that,\u201d I warned.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he will listen to me,\u201d Lucifer said. \u201cYou will be introduced to the shapeshifter\u2019s family as my granddaughter, nothing more. The family is expecting you for dinner this evening.\u201d<\/p>\n

He snapped his fingers and a piece of paper appeared between his fingers. He handed it to me. I read the name \u2013 Jason McNamara \u2013 and whistled when I saw the fancy Gold Coast address.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou probably have nothing appropriate to wear,\u201d Lucifer said, eyeing me critically.<\/p>\n

He snapped his fingers again. A skirted suit that probably cost more than my house replaced my regular black t-shirt and jeans. I touched my head and found that my long curls were tucked into a fancy updo. I looked down at my new outfit in horror.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope you don\u2019t expect to get this back, because it will probably be covered in blood before the end of the night,\u201d I said. \u201cThat seems to happen to me a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lucifer smiled again. \u201cI will have a word with Gabriel. Do not be late for dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few hours later I rang the doorbell at the McNamara\u2019s address. Their front door was nicer than mine. A lot nicer. And it was answered by a butler, who looked me up and down.<\/p>\n

\u201cMadeline Black?\u201d he asked dubiously.<\/p>\n

I tried not to bristle. Was the fact that I was always broke obvious even when I was wearing fancy clothes? I guess I just didn\u2019t give off that upper-class vibe.<\/p>\n

\u201cYup,\u201d I said, giving him a level stare.<\/p>\n

Just about every creature I\u2019d ever met had tried to intimidate me and it hadn\u2019t worked. Well, maybe Lucifer intimidated me a little bit, but this butler wasn\u2019t even close to Lucifer.<\/p>\n

The guy held my look for a moment, then stepped aside so I could enter. Apparently I\u2019d been deemed clean enough to cross the threshold.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. and Mrs. McNamara are awaiting you in the parlor,\u201d he said stiffly.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d thought parlors had gone out about the same time as corsets and waistcoats, but what did I know?<\/p>\n

The butler led me through a marbled foyer and down a maze of hallways. I peeked in some of the open doorways and saw a lot of ostentatious rooms, each one fancier than the last.<\/p>\n

We stopped in front of a door made of some dark and polished wood. He opened the door and announced me. I went in, trying not to feel nervous. I\u2019d faced down big bad monsters galore. Surely I could handle a couple of rich folks.<\/p>\n

The room was small and cozy, with a cracking fire and lots of cushy chairs. Mr. and Mrs. McNamara sat side by side on a loveseat, their hands clasped together.<\/p>\n

He was big, brawny and his dark hair was liberally streaked with silver. She was very petite, red-haired and green-eyed, but when she looked at me I could tell her spine was made of steel.<\/p>\n

They both had worry lines around their eyes, and that made me realize that whatever the class differences between us they were still parents, and they were obviously concerned about their children. It made me like them better, and I felt a little twinge of shame for my own prejudices.<\/p>\n

We all waited in silence until the butler left the room. Then McNamara spoke.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are Lucifer\u2019s granddaughter? He told you of our\u2026difficulties?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d I said. \u201cI\u2019m not sure how I can help, but I will try.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just want to know where they\u2019re going,\u201d his wife said. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to intervene once they arrive. But if we know their location, what they\u2019ve been doing every night\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026then we can help them,\u201d McNamara finished.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy do you suspect there is something wrong?\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you see the boys, you\u2019ll understand,\u201d his wife said.<\/p>\n

And at dinner, I did see. All of the boys were loving, attentive to their parents and each other, full of high spirits \u2013 just as you would want your sons to be. But each and every one was pale as chalk, and there were dark circles rimming their eyes.<\/p>\n

As the meal was cleared away, I politely took my leave of the family. Neither McNamara nor his wife betrayed by word or gesture the hope that they had expressed to me earlier \u2013 that I would find out where the boys were going, that I would succeed where so many others had failed.<\/p>\n

I went outside to watch and wait. I pushed out my wings, and blinked out of sight. When my wings are out ordinary humans can\u2019t see me. This is so that I can conduct souls to the Door without people finding out what happens after death. Sometimes supernatural creatures can see me when I\u2019m in this state, and sometimes they can\u2019t. I was hoping that the McNamara\u2019s sons would be the latter. It would make it a lot easier to track them if they didn\u2019t know I was there.<\/p>\n

About an hour after dinner all twelve boys filed out the front door. As they stepped on to the sidewalk in front of the house a large black limousine suddenly appeared before them. I blinked in surprise, but the McNamara boys seemed nonplussed. They all climbed in the back of the limo without a word.<\/p>\n

I took flight as the car drove down the street. I stayed a careful distance away just in case the driver of the limo could see or sense me, even though the boys had not. Whatever could make a car appear out of thin air had some serious magical abilities, and I was sure that they were on the alert for any kind of tail.<\/p>\n

The car moved surely through the early evening Chicago traffic and hopped on to Lake Shore Drive, heading north. I stayed as close as I could, and if I were any further away I would have missed it.<\/p>\n

A portal opened up on Lake Shore Drive just before the pedestrian bridge south of Fullerton. None of the other drivers seemed to notice it, which meant that it was under a cloak. I sped up, zipping inside just as the limo\u2019s taillights disappeared and the portal began to close.<\/p>\n

It belatedly occurred to me that I hated portals.<\/p>\n

My eyeballs felt like they were being squeezed out of my head, my ears rang, and it was difficult to breathe. A few seconds later, I crashed face-first onto the dirt track of a country road. I looked up, wiped the dust from my eyes, and saw the limo speeding away from me.<\/p>\n

I pushed to my feet and took flight again, but there was no desperate need to stay close now. There was only one road, and it led to only one place. In the distance I could see a large pavilion lit by tiny twinkling lights in the center of a grassy field. There was nothing else for miles except for the dark night and the buzz of cicadas.<\/p>\n

As I approached I could see that the roof was made of some iridescent material that shone in the moonlight. The twinkling lights were thousands of fireflies captured in jars and set at intervals on torch poles.<\/p>\n

The limo drew to a stop in front of the pavilion. The McNamara boys filed from the car as robotically as they had filed in. I approached as closely as I dared, landing about fifteen feet away in the grass.<\/p>\n

There were twelve women standing in the pavilion, each more beautiful than the last. They smiled their welcome at the boys, and opened their arms. The McNamara sons went willingly into their embrace, and the couples began to dance.<\/p>\n

Ah. Now I understood. I also understood that there was no time to waste going back to the McNamara household with the location and information. I had to get these boys free of the spell they were under before their lives were drained by the succubae that danced with them.<\/p>\n

A succubus takes a little bit of human essence at a time, drawing out the death because it brings them pleasure. But the succubus knows how to bring pleasure to the human they are killing, too, so that the man will go willingly into their arms, night after night.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t have my sword (it didn\u2019t go with Lucifer\u2019s fancy outfit) so I\u2019d have to use magic. I\u2019m not well-versed in the subtler forms of magic, so I figured I\u2019d just do what I do best.<\/p>\n

Smash, crash, burn it all to the ground.<\/p>\n

I flew out of the grass and landed on the edge of the pavilion. As one, all of the succubi released the boys and turned, hissing, in my direction.<\/p>\n

Suddenly they were not so pretty. Their teeth grew long and fanged, their hands flexed with sharp-tipped claws, and their eyes blazed.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t wait for the crazy ladies to scratch my eyes out. I launched nightfire at them as quickly as I could. I hit the first two charging succubi with nightfire in the dead center of their chest, and they both burst into blue flames, screaming long hideous wails into the night.<\/p>\n

The McNamara sons stood where the succubi had left them. Their eyes were blank and glazed, save for two of the older boys. A long stream of silver mist flowed from each burning succubus to the boys, returning their essence to them. They looked like sleepers waking from a long dream. So if I killed all the demons then the boys would be restored.<\/p>\n

Nightfire bounced harmlessly off the next two, which made me realize that if I didn\u2019t hit them perfectly on target my spell wouldn\u2019t affect them.<\/p>\n

I threw nightfire faster, hoping that a pray-and-spray approach might help. And it did. I took down four more succubae before they managed to reach me. That meant half the demons were down.<\/p>\n

The seventh one got me.<\/p>\n

She leapt on to me, screaming like a harpy, and raked her claws across my face, narrowly missing my left eye. Hot blood poured down my cheek as I fell on to my back with the succubus above me. I put my hand on her chest and blasted her point-blank with nightfire.<\/p>\n

The close range meant the spell turned her to ash in an instant. Which was good, because two of her sisters were right behind her. I held my hands out and waited for them to charge me so I could take care of them the same way I\u2019d taken care of their sibling. Only three left.<\/p>\n

I heard the growl of several big cats, and saw that the newly lucid McNamara boys had shapeshifted into cougars. They\u2019d cornered the remaining succubae. The demons had restored their beautiful glamour and were pleading with the boys to spare their lives, promising them nights of pleasure.<\/p>\n

The cougars leapt, and I turned away. There are some things you just don\u2019t need to see. I looked out over the open field of grass, and smelled dark earth and coppery blood, and waited.<\/p>\n

After a while the screaming and the sounds of rending flesh stopped. Someone tapped my shoulder. The oldest McNamara son, Jared, stood there, naked and streaked with red.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you,\u201d he said simply.<\/p>\n

I nodded. \u201cLet\u2019s go home. Your parents are waiting for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next day I felt unusually restless again. I was starting to figure out what this meant. I picked up a plastic bag by the front door and went downstairs to the front porch. Lucifer stood there, his wings hidden beneath his coat, a light snow falling on his golden head.<\/p>\n

I held up the bag. \u201cOne expensive outfit, covered in blood and ash, as promised.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lucifer laughed. Then he sobered and put his hand under my chin. He turned my face to the right. I knew what he was looking at. Gabriel had healed me, but for some reason a tiny scar from the succubus\u2019 claw had remained. It was about an inch long and barely visible just under my eye. Angelic healing overpowers just about any damage, and it was extremely unusual for a mark to remain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no idea the spell that held them was so powerful,\u201d Lucifer murmured. \u201cI did not realize the risk I sent you into.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t believe it would have made a difference to you,\u201d I said. \u201cYou\u2019ve sent me to worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you keep surviving, Madeline,\u201d Lucifer said, coming out of his reverie. He winked, and I did not like the look on his face at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, about your next assignment\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a9 2011 Christina Henry. \u00a0All rights reserved.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This story takes place a few minutes after the events of BLACK NIGHT. By Christina Henry \u201cI have another favor to ask of you,\u201d Lucifer said, his face turned up to the winter sunshine as mine had been a few … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":403,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-417","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christinahenry.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christinahenry.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christinahenry.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christinahenry.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christinahenry.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=417"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.christinahenry.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":451,"href":"https:\/\/www.christinahenry.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/417\/revisions\/451"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christinahenry.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christinahenry.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}