It’s Friday and time for episode 30 of In The flesh, in which Michael and Magda discover the sheer audacity of Susan’s plan.

Be sure to mark Fridays on your calendar for  In The Flesh. The next episode will be Christmas day, so grab some mulled wine — maybe something a little stronger, and hold on to your hats because things are about to get wild.

In the Flesh  is very dark paranormal erotica. When Susan Innes comes to visit her friend, Annie Rivers, in Chapel House, the deconsecrated church that Annie is renovating into a home, she discovers her outgoing friend changed, reclusive, secretive, and completely enthralled by a mysterious lover, whose presence is always felt, but never seen, a lover whom she claims is god. As her holiday turns into a nightmare, Susan must come to grips with the fact that her friend’s lover is neither imaginary nor is he human, and even worse, he’s turned his wandering eye on Susan, and he won’t be denied his prize. If Susan is to fight an inhuman stalker intent on having her as his own, she’ll need a little inhuman help.

To read the story in its entirety up to this point, follow the links.

Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4 Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24, Part 25 Part 26, Part 27, Part 28, Part 29.

In The Flesh Chapter 30

Michael eased open the kitchen door of Chapel House, still miffed at Susan, who had shoved her way out of the Land Rover before he could find a parking place. The woman had no sense of self-preservation, he thought. As he shut the door behind him, he was instantly drawn by the sounds and scent of sex both, amplified by the Guardian like a homing beacon pulling Michael to Him as surely as if He had thrown a rope around his neck and tugged him down the hall toward the make-shift guestroom where Susan had slept. In spite of himself, in spite of the promise he had made not to feel anything, the sight of her naked and writhing on the mattress, the knowing exactly what was happening to her, how the Guardian was making her feel, stiffened Michael. The more ashamed he was that he could respond so inappropriately under such dire circumstances, the more aroused he became.

But there was little time for thoughts of his shame. It was as though a very large dog, wild with pleasure at the sight of him, suddenly overwhelmed him, nearly knocking him off his feet before wriggling and shifting and twisting until it had worked its way up inside him, right into the very centre of his heart. And then, just when he felt as though his chest would burst, just when breathing became impossible, and he was on the verge of panic, the feeling spread throughout his body like a wave washing up on a beach. He was taken aback by how pleasant the experience was, though he had once known that sensation well. In fact, he had once anticipated his joinings with the Guardian more than he did his next breath.

“Michael, my darling angel, welcome home! I knew in time you would back to me, and indeed, the time could not be more perfect,” came the voice inside his head. “If one of us can pleasure our lovely little scribe well, how much better can we two together please her? Oh, the thought of the three of us together so delights me, my darling! I am filled with such anticipation.”

Yes, Michael thought. Yes, it delighted him too. And it made so much sense now that he thought about it,
now that he could see the logic of it. How much better could they pleasure Susan together? His cock jerked against the fly of his jeans in anticipation. Almost before he knew what he was doing, his hands were on his zipper, and then awkwardly groping his cock with delight. The fact that his hand seldom left his cock when the Guardian was in residence had been one of the ways Michael could tell He was present when their relationship had gone tits-up and the Guardian had resorted to sneaking inside him while Michael slept. Though Michael could not imagine now how their relationship could have been anything but exquisite. Surely the fault must have all been his. Or perhaps it had all been Magda Gardener’s fault. Perhaps she had lied to him about the Guardian, planted seeds of doubt in his head about the Guardian’s love for him.

“Oh how I have missed the feel of your manhood, lovely boy, and the many fine uses we put it to together. But back then, we had not our lovely little scribe. I can hardly contain myself with thoughts of the heights of ecstasy we three shall reach together.”

Michael shared his anticipation with a pounding pulse and a weight in his balls that was almost unbearable. It was Susan they both wanted, Susan they both loved, Susan they would pleasure together, and he smiled at the thought of just how she would come, just how she would writhe and moan as they serviced her.

“I want you inside me, I want you inside me, I want you inside me,” came Susan’s breathless mantra from the mattress, and he was only too willing. Perhaps this decision was the wise one after all. Perhaps the three of them could be happy together. He found himself wondering how he ever could have doubted. Perhaps he would just tell the Guardian about Magda’s plan. Though the Guardian couldn’t defeat her, surely he could thwart her, surely he could find a way to keep them safe from her so that they could be together as the Guardian had always intended.

This was his chance to make Susan happy again. Certainly she had not been happy before when they’d left High View, and neither had he. After the interminable ride together from the vampire’s lair with her too angry to even speak to him, ripping his heart out every mile of the journey, after she had shoved open the door and pushed on ahead of him as soon as they’d arrived at Chapel House, it was balm to his soul to see her writhing for him, aching for him, as he was for her.

“How shall we take her, my angel?” the Guardian asked, still fondling his cock with Michael’s hand. “What shall we do to her? Shall we pleasure her first or punish her for leaving us, for making us suffer, for leaving us alone. She must be punished, you know.” With borrowed eyes, He glanced down at the hand on Michael’s cock, then pulled it away and wriggled his fingers as though needing to understand how they worked. “I have never had flesh with which to punish my lovers before, with which to cause harm for betrayal. How delightful this shall be. I think that before we give her what she so longs for, before we pleasure her into unconsciousness, we should punish her the same.”

And, to his horror, Michael found himself dragging his belt from its loops with spastic jerks. When it was at last free in his hand, almost before he knew what he was doing, he had lit a candle that set in a saucer on the chair which served as a makeshift nightstand. The he held the oblong buckle of the belt over the flame until the room smelled of hot metal, while on the bed, Susan only mewled and writhed gasping over and over for him to put it in her. “I have never marred human flesh,” the Guardian said inside Michael’s head. “My lovers have always been only too happy to inflict the punishments on themselves at my demand. Oh what a treat this shall be! Besides, if she wears our mark, then she won’t soon forget what happens to those who disobey us, will she Michael?”

To his utter horror, he found himself kneeling on the bed next to Susan, leaning forward to press the hot metal of the buckle into her bare breast, and even as he drew nearer, she ignored the danger as though the pain of the burn meant nothing compared to the desperation of her need as she begged him again and again to mount her. To his horror, he found that the hand not holding hot metal opened her legs just for that purpose as if the pain of one would in no way diminish the other. Even as he cried out and tried to pull away, his body did the Guardian’s bidding, just as it had always done, even as he screamed and begged for Him to stop.

“Oh God! Oh Christ! No! Please no! Please, Magda! Do it now! Please do it now, only don’t let me hurt her. Dear god, please don’t let me hurt her.”

He fought his way up from under a wool blanket, in the back of a stripped out van drenched in icy sweat
still yelling, “Magda do it now! Please, don’t let me hurt her!” at the top of his lungs before a hard hand clamped over his mouth and he found himself staring up into Reese Chambers’ sun-freckled face.

“Shut up,” the man said without preamble. He looked tired and worried.

But before Michael could ask what the hell was going on, Talia climbed into the van looking nearly as tired as Reese did. As she slid the side door shut, he noticed the steeple of Chapel House looming over the row of bungalows they were parked in front of. “Oh good, you’re both awake now,” the succubus said. “That makes my job easier. And frankly it was getting pretty tiring keeping you both dreaming. I’m good, but even I have my limits. Give her back her glasses,” she said to Reese. It was then that Michael noticed Magda sitting on the floor next to him, looking slightly worse for the wear, hands bound behind her back, eyes covered in a thick blindfold.

“What the fuck’s going on?” Michael exploded up from the floor, knocked Reese on his arse, and was surprised to find himself the victim of a well-executed leg sweep landing him practically in Magda’s lap. Before he could even blink, Reese had him in a chokehold, and he was seeing black spots on the edge of passing out.

“I suggest you calm down and listen before you make Talia angry,” Reese said, barely breathing hard. “She can be rather foul tempered when she’s tired.”

Michael tapped the floor as he’d seen wrestlers do to signify their submission, and Reese loosened his grip, but just enough so that Michael wouldn’t pass out, just enough to be sure that he would keep his word. “Where’s Susan? What the hell’s going on?”

“Susan’s with the Guardian,” Magda said, taking her glasses from Talia. She waited while the succubus slipped the knot on the blindfold, then she popped them on. “It appears we’ve been sabotaged,” she nodded to Talia and shrugged. “Everything you’ve experienced up until now has only been a dream. Our resident succubus has been a busy little bee.”

“Jesus! Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” Michael had to use all of his restraint to keep from throttling the succubus, though he figured if anything, she’d be more dangerous to tackle than even Reese was.

“We’ve given her a say in the matter,” Talia said. “And if you two would have trusted her enough to do the same, you might have remembered, she’s a fucking Scribe.”

“She’s untrained,” Magda added.

“Untrained my arse. What the hell do you think she’s been doing all these years, writing stories, getting paid for a craft she was born to. All she needed was to understand what was required of her, and you two were too full of yourselves to give her that chance. If anyone could come up with an alternative to your train wreck of a plan, it would be her.”

“And your solution is to turn her over to the Guardian alone?” Michael shoved his way to his feet again. He had to get to her. He had to go to Susan. Maybe it wasn’t too late.

This time it was Magda’s hand on his arm that stayed him from opening the van door and heading straight for Chapel House. “She’s not alone.”

He froze.

“Alonso’s with her,” Talia said.

“Alonso?” He felt the burn of jealousy low in his belly. “Why?”

“Because the Guardian won’t be expecting someone who’s not … living,” Reese said. “He won’t detect Alonso’s presence unless Alonso wants to be detected.”

“And by the time Alonso reveals himself,” Talia said, “it’ll be too late.”

“And Alonso should be announcing his presence any time now,” Reese glanced down at his watch, then back up at Talia expectantly.

“That means we’ll be needing your help.” Talia nodded to Magda and Michael.

“Then perhaps you should tell us exactly what your plan is so we’ll know what to do.” Magda lifted her still bound arms slightly and winced. “I’m a captive audience.”

“I swear, if any harm comes to Susan because of what you lot have pulled, I’ll snap both you necks and stake the vampire.”

Talia offered him a bland shrug. “You’re welcome to try.” Then she cut through Magda’s bonds with an efficient upward slice of her Vitronox.

“No harm is coming to anyone,” Reese said. “The plan’s a good one.” But Michael could see that Reese had his doubts too.

“Tell us, then.”

While the succubus shared the plan, Reese filled Styrofoam cups with tea from a flask and Michael listened in horror as the plan unfolded unaware that he had crushed the cup in his fist until Reese knelt in front of him and sopped up the spilled tea with an old towel.

“I can’t believe the goddamned vampire would drag her into something so insane. Magda, we can’t let her do this. It’s not too late. I know the Guardian will still be expecting me. We can still make this work. We’re not letting her do this. We’re not letting a vampire call the shots.”

“It was her plan,” Reese said between clenched teeth.

“Oh right, like I’m going to believe that she –”

“What?” Talia cut in. “That your little pet could actually think for herself. Did it ever occur to you that
she turned to Alonso, to us, because you two shut her out, because you two wouldn’t talk to her or listen to her?”

“Lest we forget that it was your fucking big mouth that got her into this mess in the first place. I trusted you. I fucking trusted you!”

“But you didn’t fucking trust her, did you?”

“Shut up, both of you! All of you.” This time it was Magda who spoke barely above a whisper, and the van
was suddenly silent. She waited until all eyes were on her, and then she turned her attention to Talia. “Now, what do you need us to do?”

“Magda you can’t mean that,” Michaels said. “Dear god, you can’t really mean that.”

“The succubus is right, Michael. We should have trusted Susan. It’s a good plan. Solid.” She gave a lopsided shrug and shoved her glasses up tight against the bridge of her nose with an index finger. “It makes more sense than sacrificing you.” Before he could argue, she raised a hand, her gaze locked on him, and he felt the chill of it down his spine. “Michael, she’ll need you more than ever once this is over, but if you can’t see that, if you can’t see this plan through, then we’ll just leave you in the damn van.” She nodded to the zip ties that had bound her. “You may be strong, but you’re not that strong.”

Just then Talia’s phone buzzed an incoming text. She peeked at it and stuffed the device back in her jacket pocket. “He’s going in. We’ve got five minutes. Are you two in or out?”