Shock registered on her face, as Eran slowly closed her phone. Slade noticed that look and went to her side. "What is wrong? Is Maria all right? What is going on? Eran ... Eran please talk to me!"

Eran turned to him and pleaded, "We need to go to Maria's place. Something happened to Steve. Maria is in fear for her life. She wants us there."

Slade signaled Kevin, Connie and Leona to join Eran and him, as he headed to the vehicle storage area. He got in a large black SUV and waited for everyone else. They piled in and Slade pushed the gas to the floor. He turned on the flashing lights and siren. The trip to Maria's took 10 minutes with traffic opening a path for them.

When they drove up to Maria's condominium, Maria ran down the stairs. She hugged Eran tightly and wailed loudly. Eran stopped and held her.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Eran tried to calm Maria by engaging her in a chat.

"When I picked Steve up at the hospital, he had changed. The nurses fawned over him as if he were Adonis. I felt more drawn to him as well. He needed help up the stairs and he fell asleep on the couch. He slept for two hours and I watched him." She stopped and dried her tears and blew her nose into a tissue.

"That all sounds pretty normal except for the Adonis part. What happened, when he woke up?"

"He woke up and seemed angry. He ordered me to get him a beer and insisted I sit beside him and be his barmaid. He started to maul me and treat me as if I were a sex object for his pleasure. He tore my top off, pushed and pinched me. It was not Steve doing this to me. He was brutal and hurt me physically. I got up, ran to the bedroom and locked the door. He followed me and beat on the door demanding to get in. That is when I called you. I dressed and managed to escape the house to wait for you. Can you help me?"

"We will do what we can. I think we need Leona's talents to determine what happened. Maybe she can calm him down and restore the old Steve back to you."

"Thank you, I knew you could help. Can you stay with me, while he is like this? I don't want to see him again."

"We will stay with you, until the situation is handled. You are our friend and we want you to feel better. We also have a proposal for you, but it can wait."

Maria perked up, as Eran led her to the back of the SUV. The back was open revealing a section filled with refreshments. Eran made a cup of tea for Maria and herself. They sat on some chairs, which came with the SUV. As Maria drank the tea, she calmed markedly. Eran noticed the red handprints and trailing finger marks. There were handprints on her arms where he grabbed her tightly. These were signs of anger or sadistic sexual abuse.

As Eran comforted Maria, Slade, Kevin, Leona and Connie cautiously climbed the stairs and surrounded the two entrances. Slade cautiously opened the door. He looked around and saw Steve sitting calmly on the couch watching a TV rerun. Nothing looked amiss, much less violent.

"Come in, detective Slade. Is anyone else with you? Invite them in too. Do you want a beer? They are in the fridge."

Kevin, Connie and Leona entered slowly. Slade stood near Steve, ready to pounce if he moved aggressively. Kevin searched the place and found nothing. Leona watched Steve closely. Outwardly, she detected nothing, but there was a subtle glow around his aura. It was as if he was under someone else's control. She wanted to probe deeper, but she remained cautious. This was new territory for her.

"Slade, can I talk to you a moment?"

"Sure Leona, what is up?"

"I detect something strange with Steve, but I am not sure what it is. I think we need to get either Gustaf or Andrei here to look at Steve."

"You make the call. His behavior even now is a little off. He is being congenial, but it seems strained. Below the surface there is rage bubbling. I can sense that."

Leona walked out on the porch to call Gustaf. "Gustaf, we need your help with a problem. Steve has a disturbing aura about him, which I cannot understand. I wondered if you or Andrei could examine it. We are at Maria's condominium." She gave him the address and hung up. She rejoined Slade inside.

"Gustaf and Andrei will be here shortly. He seemed very concerned about this change in behavior."

"Good, Steve still seems to be straining to be hospitable to us. I am afraid to leave him alone with Maria."

A knock resounded on the door. It was Gustaf and Andrei, but they could not enter unless they were invited. Slade invited them in and introduced them to Steve. Gustaf saw what Leona had seen, but Andrei saw much more. Not only was there an aura around Steve, but there was a rage and blackness in his heart.

Something infected Steve with evil powers that feasted on dreams and the life force of others. These powers were typical of a succubus or incubus. If the human is under the influence of love for another human, when a succubus took some of his life force, part of the transfer gave him some of the succubus's powers. That appeared to be the problem with Steve.

Gustaf, Leona and Andrei conferred in Romani. "He has taken some of the succubus powers. They are growing within his body trying to take over. His love for Maria prevents total assimilation. We need to get him to one of our clinics to rid him of this possession." Andrei said.

"Could we use these powers to find and trap the succubus?" Leona asked.

"We don't know. We do know that the two of them, succubus and new host, are closely linked. Maybe we can use that link to bait a trap for her. It may be worth a try."

"Meanwhile, we need to treat him with strong drugs to suppress the evil within." Gustaf closed the conversation and went to Slade.

"We need to work with Steve tonight, but he will need care at one of our facilities. He has been infected by a succubus in some sort of power transfer." Gustaf told Slade the story.

"I can't make that decision. Steve has to go of his own free will. That may be hard to accomplish, but you are welcome to try and no vampire tricks either." Slade explained.

"Steve, you need some treatment from us to help recover your missing time memories. We can do some here tonight, but you really need to be at one of our facilities. Will you come with us?" Gustaf asked politely.

Steve knew this would happen. He was ready. "No, I don't want anything from you. You have done enough. Leave me alone. Get out of my house!" He yelled at Gustaf, as he jumped up and got into the vampire's face.

Gustaf turned, gestured to Slade and Andrei to follow. He went out and down the stairs to join Maria and Eran. Slade and Andrei joined them shortly.

"Maria, do you feel comfortable staying here alone with Steve? He has something inside him from his time with the succubus and we need to get it out. He refuses treatment and we can't force him to come with us. You may need some help with him. It should be someone you both know and trust." Gustaf gently asked.

"Thanks for your help. I think I can get Gwen to come here and stay with us. You know what she is and that may help. She and Steve know each other and we trust her."

Eran took out her cell phone and entered a text to Gwen, "Can you come to Maria's place? Steve has some problems and she needs help with him. Bring extra clothes. This will be a few days stay."

Almost immediately a response appeared, "I will be there in fifteen minutes. Tell me what is going on when I get there please."

"Gwen is on her way. We will have to fill her in on what happened and what she is needed for, here."

Gwen arrived, settled her stuff in the guest room and joined everyone near the kitchen. Steve fell asleep on the couch. When Gwen came into the room, the air was redolent with the fragrance of lemon and peppermint tea. The counter had five teacups waiting for the pungent liquid. Gustaf and Andrei left, leaving Slade and Kevin with the five women. After a quick cup of tea, the rest of the group departed.

******************

Carlo sat with Molly on the couch, after Sebastian left. He was scared for himself and frightened for the barmaid Sebastian took. Carlo knew what an incubus would do with a willing conquest. Unlike Molly, Sebastian took his women, drained them of their life force and left them dead. Despite Molly explaining Sebastian's desires, Carlo felt the barmaid would not survive. About an hour after Sebastian left, he returned with an infatuated barmaid in tow. Carlo was surprised and happy.

The barmaid sat next to Carlo beaming, fawning at Sebastian. Molly and Sebastian chatted quietly away from the two on the couch. The barmaid rested her head on Carlo and quickly fell asleep. With some of her life force drained, she tired quickly. Carlo slid down the couch to let the barmaid lay in his lap. Molly and Sebastian finished their chat, kissed and Sebastian left.

Molly came and stood in front of Carlo. "Take care of her. She will be fine when she wakes. You are to watch her carefully."

"I will. When she wakes, I will get her fed and cleaned up."

"As for Sean, I do not want you using him anymore. If you do, Sebastian can return in a matter of hours. Do you understand?"

Carlo nodded, but his mind thought, I would be with Sean again. She can't stop me. Sebastian was big but I can handle him. She will not win.

Satisfied she made her point, Molly returned to the bar. There was not much of a crowd. She looked about and noticed a few strangers. They circulated among the crowd asking questions. They looked like cops, but dressed and smelled like construction workers. Molly took one of them aside and asked him a few questions.

"Who are you? Why are you scaring my customers? Are you cops?"

"We are members of the construction union. We are informing the brothers, that this is a non-union establishment and they should boycott you. When you become a union shop, they will return."

"Who do I have to see to resolve this?"

"Talk to the head of the United Service Workers Union. He will gladly take care of you."

"Get out of here now. Your work is done."

"Yes, ma'am." He signaled his friends and they left as quickly as they came.

Molly grabbed a pint and sat at her table. She needed a virile man right then. She saw a young man who looked strong and ready to party. She walked up to him and invited him to join her. Within minutes, they left the bar and went to Molly's living quarters. He and Molly shared a pitcher of beer and started to get aroused. They were soon naked and in Molly's bed. Molly kissed the man and drew some of his life force. As the kissing continued, they engaged in making love. Molly drained more of his life force and he died in the end.

Molly got out of bed sated from her tryst. Carlo was back at the door, when she returned to the bar. She signaled him and he came over. "I have a chore for you and two other fey. There is a drained body in my apartment. I want you to dispose of it for me. Stay away from the university this time."

Carlo grabbed two fey and went into Molly's apartment. The dead man lay on Molly's bed. The two fey with Carlo rolled the body up in a blanket from the bed. They carried him out to the back of the building into the waiting SUV. They drove over to a small park on the edge of the city. Carlo carried the wrapped body, unwrapped it and put it up against a tree. It looked like the first body they left. They drove away slowly fearing they would attract attention if they sped away.

******************

When the group returned to VJS headquarters, they sat around discussing what happened to Steve. It seemed he spent some time in the clutches of a succubus. During one of the sessions, the succubus transferred some of her powers to Steve. As near as anyone knew, Steve fought the powers, but the powers were strong. As long as Steve stayed quiet or sedated, the powers lay dormant. If he got agitated, they rose up and took him over. It was up to Gwen and Maria to do that.

Eran opened her laptop to see what financial things popped up. Not much appeared on the screen. What was there showed that Molly paid cash for everything she bought. Based on Molly's arrival in the country, it was a red flag. She had very little money at first. To get the money needed to buy the pub, she had to borrow it somewhere. If she did not get it from a bank, loan sharks came onto the scene. These financial things stumped Eran.

Eran picked up her cell phone and called Maria. She forgot to ask for Maria's help with the financial searches earlier. The phone rang and just before it went to voicemail, someone answered. The voice was not familiar, but an interesting combination of male and Irish brogue. Eran thought, that was odd, but continued the call. "May I speak with Maria, please?"

"You could but she is tied up at the moment."

"How about speaking to Gwen?"

"She is tied up too."

"Steve is that you? I need to talk to Maria. Please put her on the phone."

"She won't be talking to anyone for a while, deary. I will be with her and Gwen and speak for them."

Eran hesitated, but continued the call signaling Slade to join her, "OK, but I have work for her here for which she will be paid well."

Eran hung up the phone and turned to Slade. "That was Steve. He was awake and spoke in an Irish brogue. He has subdued Gwen and Maria. We need to get to them immediately and subdue Steve before he does more harm."

"We need to get the VJS SWAT team and surround the place to grab Steve and get him treatment. Kevin can set that up and notify Gustaf of our intent to get Steve and bring him in."

Kevin set up the raid and got everyone into the SUV for the drive to Maria's place. A SWAT team and ambulance left with them. They drove silently to Maria's place. When they arrived, they saw all the lights on in the place. Loud music blared out the open windows. No voices came from within.

The team burst through the door and patio door. Steve was not there. They searched the home and found Maria and Gwen unconscious in one of the beds. There were signs of aggravated sexual activity on both women. The EMT's looked over the two women and found signs of sexual activity, but no serious injuries. They were out and not easily revived. The medical team put the women in the ambulance and took them to a VJS medical facility. Steve disappeared into the night.

The SWAT team locked up the condominium and left to return to VJS headquarters. As the convoy left, Steve emerged from hiding and went to the front door. He tried to enter but they changed the locks and padlocked the front door. They locked the back door and covered it with netting to prevent illegal entry. They locked Steve out and he was angry.

At the VJS medical facility, the doctors and nurses worked to make the women comfortable and fed them fluids to restore the imbalances in their systems. In a few hours, the women woke up frightened and scared. They were glad to see Eran and Kevin waiting for them. Maria cried and Gwen was angry.

Eran and Kevin wanted to hear their stories, but advised them to get rest. Getting the stories was not as important as getting the women calmed and back to full health. Eran and Kevin stayed for an hour until the women went to sleep.

When they returned to VJS headquarters, they sat with Slade and some of the VJS SWAT members. They talked about a manhunt for Steve, but decided he would be lost without a car or a place to stay. Eran put out a BOLO for Steve. He was out in the cold and he would have to surface at some point. He needed to feed on a woman to sustain his life force. He needed a place to stay. Both of those things were limited and if he did harm a woman, they would know.

Eran continued to gather data about Molly's financial dealings. There was a lot there about ownership and deeds to the various properties. Some of it looked familiar, but Eran captured it for Maria to use. After an hour of gathering data from New York and local real estate transactions, Eran closed her laptop. Slade looked at her and wondered how she kept going. He was exhausted and needed some sleep.

The daylight came over the hills to the east, Connie and Leona went to their sleep coffins an hour earlier. Kevin and Eran went to their new room and Slade went into the room where Leona rested. It was a busy night and a lot of new evidence accumulated on the case.

Meanwhile Steve prowled the streets of the city. During his gang days, he knew where to get sleep and find a woman who would give him what he needed. He found a place, got a meal and fed on another woman. The unfortunate thing that happened was he left a dead woman behind. He had no control over his new powers. He was now a murderer.