Epilogue: Queen of Hearts

Lois Lane was used to doing a deep dive on people. An amazing amount of information was available online, or with a few phonecalls—and the more you knew about people, the more you could find out. High school yearbooks. Family trees. Criminal records. Medical records. Tax records. With very little effort, one could reconstruct a life.

She had just never done it on herself.

Over the next few days, Lois reconstructed the life of "Pinkie" Lane—which was, she discovered, not much different from her own life. Except for some overtures from various Satanic groups, offers to appear in demon-themed porn and heavy metal music videos, fetish modeling—none of which she appeared to have done—Pinkie's public life largely matched her memories. Journalism degree, cub reporter, professional journalist, Superman and the Pulitzer...

There were things that weren't in the records, though. Dietary needs. Rumors. Lois had scrutinized her receipts and found that she'd bought an awful lot of live bait, living crickets and nightcrawlers; her grocery bills included lots of raw meat, especially tripe and the like, and very little in the way of bread or vegetables. Beyond that...there were only hints. Addresses where her phone had checked in. Advertisements on Craigslist personals. Quiet payments to sperm clinic technicians.

Put that together with the general sense of weakness that Lois had felt over the last couple of days, the growing hunger, the way her nostrils flared when she was around the men at the office...the reporter could put two and two together.

She just didn't know what to do about it.

A week after her night out, Lois was too weak to get out of bed. She could hear the knock at her door, but couldn't move. The hunger gripped her like a living thing, and she swore even her horns hurt.

There was a thunk as the locked door opened. The click of heels on the kitchen floor...and Lois managed to turn her head, and open her bright violet eyes...to see a familiar crimson figure, dressed in a black pinstripe business suit. Blaze smiled down at the demonic reporter. There was a cup in her hand, and a spoon from the kitchen. The demon leaned over the stricken succubus, and brought a spoonful of white goo to her lips.

Lois Lane couldn't resist. She closed her eyes as the still-warm slime slid past her unresisting lips. Her tongue seemed to come alive as it slid down into her throat, and she swallowed automatically. Almost immediately, the hunger began to ebb...but Blaze slid the utensil out of her mouth and brought another to the reporter's lips...and another...by the fourth spoonful, Lois was strong enough to sit up. By the fifth, she took the cup out of the demon's hands and scooped what was left of the salt treat into her mouth.

The reporter, dressed only in her nightshirt, panted as a pleasant heat ran through her body...a sense of wellbeing. She felt great...brimming with energy.

She turned to Blaze and licked her lips.

"Don't thank me," the scarlet succubus said, that Mona Lisa smile on her lips.

"I wasn't about to," the reporter shot back. "What did you do to me?"

"Nothing less than we agreed. You are now, and have always been, 'Pinkie' Lane. You should start remembering more of your life as the temporal changes set in. Still, it seemed likely you might not recall enough about your new dietary requirements..."

"I need human cum," Lois said bitterly. "At least once a week. Once every three days is better. At least 15 milliliters, or about a tablespoonful. A reasonably sized ejaculation."

"Quite. Something that happens to succubi after they come of age. You were very careful to hide it; none of your coworkers are aware of your extracurricular activities to get the nutrition you need," Blaze said. "You keep it nicely anonymous, not reliant on any one source. You even have an emergency stash in the freezer...not as good as fresh, but you didn't think to check there, did you?"

The demonic reporter frowned. Her pink cheeks burned red. She hadn't checked the freezer.

"Why tell me this?" Lois asked.

"Because I want you to live, Lois. And I wanted to leave my card..."

The demon reached into her cleavage and pulled out a playing card. She handed it to Lois...and the reporter was unsurprised to find that it was the Queen of Hearts, but with a pentagram drawn on it in a fine black ink, surrounded by a circle and strange symbols Lois didn't recognize.

"...if you need me, hold the card and call my name. Think of it as a...Get Some Cum Free card. I will arrive and give you the seed you need."

The reporter chewed that thought. She didn't like it...and she didn't like the idea of relying on Blaze.

"In exchange for what?" Lois said.

Blaze's smile grew a little wider. Her teeth were very white.

"Well, for starters...next time you'll have to take it directly from the source," the demon rubbed at the distinct bulge in her crotch. "After that...well, I'm sure I'll think of something. Quid pro quo."

Lois set the card down on the night table beside the bed.

Blaze stood up. "I don't suppose you'd like another dose right now—"

"No," Lois said, although her whole body said yes. "You can go now."

"Until next time, then," Blaze said.

Lois waited until she heard the kitchen door close...and then wondered how the hell she was going to live like this. Did she really want to spend her life sucking off strange men in alleys, buying sperm off of medical technicians with gambling debts, or relying on Blaze? She stuck a talon in her mouth in an **** gesture...and only then realized how natural it felt to suck her thumb. Muscle memory, well developed, had her long tongue swirl around the intruding digit, lips wrapped themselves around sharp little fangs, and her cheeks hollowed.

It just felt so right to have something in her mouth.

The demonic reporter sucked her thumb, and tried to figure out what kind of hell her life had become...and how she could get out of it.