and fear. “Get that hell-spawn away from me. I’ll tell you anything, just don’t let her….”
Luga stepped away and grinned at the two stunned FBI men. “There you are. You humans are so afraid of being eaten. Of course, you can’t use her confession in court. Call me back if there are any more problems with her.”
Kathryn Branch was already babbling out a long list of the people she had contacted in her espionage ring. As she left, Luga stopped and patted her comfortingly on the head. The tape continued to run, showing Branch continuing to pour out all the information she had on her spying activities. Then, it ended.
“Your honor, the prosecution submit that the tape clearly shows the defendant was neither drugged nor coerced. In fact, except for the brief, comforting, pat on the head as she left, there was no physical contact at all between the law enforcement authorities and the defendant.”
The Judge frowned and privately wished this case had gone before somebody else. Judge Simpkins perhaps, Candlass had never liked him. This case had the potential to be a career-ender.
“Your Honor, the key part of the defense case is not shown by this tape. Succubae are well-known to have pheremones that make those around them sympathetic to them and they also have the daemonic ability to entangle people’s minds and make them see and experience things that are not real. We contend that Miss Sharmanaska’s presence in the interrogation room was equivalent to drugging my client and that she implanted the visions in her mind that led to her collapse. She may not have been physically coerced, but the threat of mutilation was very real Miss Sharmanaska herself confirms it when she said, and I quote, ‘You humans are so afraid of being eaten.’ And she herself said ‘Of course, you can’t use her confession in court.’ I submit that my client’s confession should be thrown out on these grounds. And, of course, any information derived from it should also be cast out as the fruit of the poison tree.”
“Your Honor, Miss Sharmanaska is not a lawyer, her opinions are those of a lay…. lay,” The prosecuting attorney hesitated then settled for the conventional, “person.”
“I think Miss Sharmanska should answer for herself on this. Clerk of the Court, swear her in.”
Lugasharmanaska took the stand and the Clerk approached her, a little nervously. “Repeat after me, I affirm that the evidence I shall give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so he…” From sheer force of habit, the Clerk had almost ended the oath with the traditional ‘so help me God.’
Luga smiled at him and helpfully added “So help me, me?”
The Federal attorney took up the questioning. “Your name is Luga Sharmanaska?”
“It is now. My original name was Lugasharmanaska, one word. All daemonic names are one word. But when I became an American citizen, it was split into two.”
“Please explain to the court about these pheremones?”
“I do not know much, only what I have been told. All succubae know that we make those around us friendly and agreeable. We always thought it was magic, we called it miasma, and never questioned how it happened. Then humans came and asked questions. How and why. They found that our bodies emit pheremones that change the emotions of those around us. So, they say, do humans, although their pheremones are not as effective as ours.”
“I see, so your pheremones are just a developed version of something all humans have. Can they make people do things against their will.”
Luga hesitated. “No, if somebody really doesn’t want to do something, the pheremones won’t make them. For that we must use trickery.”
“And, for five hours, the defendant refused to speak although she must have known doing so would please you. Did that surprise you?”
“Not really. I said, if somebody is determined not to do something, my miasma won’t make them. But, the government asked me to help protect itself from the defendant and who am I to refuse aid to the country that gave me refuge?”
“Your honor, please let the record state that Miss Sharmanaska has been of great assistance in the war effort, often at considerable personal risk and has suffered severely during her efforts. Her loyalty is not subject to doubt.” We don’t doubt that she has no loyalty at all to anybody but herself. The Federal attorney was very careful not to give a hint of the thought. “You said trickery Miss Sharmanaska. How?”
“Before humans started to wear your silver hats, we could create images in your mind. I could make myself look like a wife so a faithful husband would lay with me not knowing who or what I was. The Incubi, our male equivalents could make themselves look like a faithful wife’s husband for the same reason. Or I could project an image of empty space so that people would not see me at all.”
“And you could project this image to multiple persons at one.”
“Only if they were not wearing silver hats, yes. We used to do it all the time.”
“What if they are wearing silver hats?”
“Then unless I was very close and concentrated on a single mind, I cannot entangle that mind. Even under ideal situations, penetrating a silver cap is exhausting.”
Judge Candlass tapped his gavel. “I want to see this. Miss Sharmanaska, can you change your appearance please?”
“If you take your hat off. Who would you like me to look like.”
The judge remembered his favorite poster from the 1980s. “Farrah Fawcett.”
The Court recorder called the famous poster up on his computer and showed Luga the picture. She nodded and the judge took off his tinfoil cap. Even doing so made him feel uneasy and his head felt naked without its protection. It was no wonder that going around without a tinfoil cap was a sign of madness. Then he looked at the witness stand and saw Farrah Fawcett standing there in the trademark red swimsuit. He gasped, put on his cap and, once more, he saw the succubus in her real form.
“Miss Sharmanaska, you must be the most dangerous person I have ever seen in this courtroom.”
“Thank you, your Honor.” Lugasharmanaska sounded pleased.
“Miss Sharmanaska, do you have any legal training?” The Federal Attorney returned to the case,
“No, only the studies of the Constitution required for me to become a Citizen.”
“So your comment about not being able to use the information gained in court was your own, unqualified opinion?”
“In a way, although I thought the information we gained would be secret and not revealed to anybody. That is what I meant.
“Ah, I see.” Well done Luga. That throws a spanner in the defense. “No further questions.”
The Defense attorney rose to his feet. “Miss Sharmanaska, do you eat human meat?”
“Not now, no.”
“Have you ever?”
“Objection your Honor. Relevence?”
“Goes to credibility of the alleged threat.”
“Overruled. Witness will answer.”
“Once, yes. But that was before I joined humans.”
“Did you project an image of you eating my client’s breasts.”
“Not her breasts, no.” Luga smiled to herself. She’d noted how lawyers played with words.
“Oh.” The attorney was confused. “So what did you project an image of?”
“I haven’t said that I did.”
“Well did you?”
“Yes.”
“What of.”
“Eating one breast. Singular. Not both of them.” A ripple of laughter ran around the courtroom. That made Luga feel a lot easier in her mind, her pheremones were having their usual effect.
“Your Honor, there we have it. A hideous, coercive threat of permanent mutilation.”
“Not permanent. It would grow back.”
“Not on Earth it won’t.”
“Oh. I forgot that.” Luga had honestly forgotten that bodies didn’t regenerate on Earth.
“Irrelevent. Your Honor, I maintain that the statements we have heard today are enough to support the claim that my client’s constitutional rights were trampled underfoot, that she was drugged and terrified into making her
