“I’ve never required one,” Jessie said.
“Well, a one-way succubus is one which can only be either male or female. As you may know, the majority of succubi can appear as voluptuous women when in bed with men, and as virile men when they are in bed with women. They transfer sperm from one human lover to another in an alternating and quite unholy manner. Occasionally, however, because myth requires it, you find a succubus that cannot change forms, that can be only one sex. Gayla is such a one; she can only be a woman.”
“Has this some special importance, so far as we’re concerned?” Jessie asked the demon.
“Yes,” Kanastorous said. “When you called me, you said you wanted some supernatural creature with access to the maseni embassy compound, that you wanted an informer who could obtain certain restricted information —not a sort restricted by law but by bureaucratic perogative.”
“That’s right,” Jessie said.
“Well, Gayla is under contract to Willard Aimes, a human attache to the maseni embassy in Los Angeles. She sleeps with him most every night. And because she is a one-way succubus, she is just perverse enough to double-cross him. You see, one-way succubi are, for some reason, perhaps because they feel inferior or inadequate, far more perverse than their two-way brothers. Or sisters. Or whatever.”
Just as Kanastorous finished, a stunningly beautiful child-woman, in her mid-teens, stepped up and said, “Hi, Zeke!” She patted the demon on his scaly head and slid into the booth beside him, directly across from Brutus and Jessie. She was perhaps five-two without heels, and a hundred pounds. Her hair was red and plaited in two pigtails that hung to the middle of her back. Her face was childish, cherubic and sensuous all at once: full lips but braces on her teeth, round cheeks, enormous blue eyes and thick lashes but no make-up, a sprinkle of freckles on flawless, creamy skin…. She wore a pair of tight yellow shorts with her name embroidered on each back pocket, and a thin, white tee-shirt against which her budding breasts pressed insistently. Her nipples were sharp little, teasing points that moved as the flesh beneath them bounced and jiggled.
“Arf, arf!” Brutus said, grinning.
Gayla giggled and said, “You’re cute.”
“Arf, arf,” Brutus said, again.
Kanastorous introduced everybody, finished his drink in one gulp, dropped the plastic glass, excused himself, cursed his missing thumbs, and ordered a new round for everyone—a malted milkshake for Gayla.
The wolfwoman brought the order, but no one paid much attention this time.
“Are you two going to take out a contract on me?” Gayla asked, smiling so all her braces showed.
“We might,” Brutus said.
“And we might not,” Jessie said. “Chiefly, we’re interested in information.”
Gayla lifted her milkshake and took a long, cold drink. When she put the glass down, she had a white ring around her mouth, which was the most obscene thing Jessie had ever looked at. “Information, you said?” She seemed oblivious of the milky circle.
“You’re contracted to a man named Aimes,” the detective said. “He works at the L.A. maseni embassy.”
“Willard!” she said, giggling. “Oh, Willard is a naughty boy.”
The detective sipped his drink.
“Arf, arf,” Brutus said, grinning.
Gayla giggled again.
“Does Willard talk to you much, about his work?” Jessie asked.
“Oh, my, yes,” Gayla said. “He puts his woolly head right here every night, and pours out all his troubles to his big sister Gayla.” She patted her small, round breasts.
“Good, good,” Jessie said. “Now, do you recall if he’s mentioned a maseni named Tesserax any time within the last couple weeks?”
“Tesserax?” she asked, puckering her lips.
“Tesserax,” Jessie said.
“The name’s not familiar.”
“They both work at the embassy—Aimes and the maseni,” Jessie said. “Lately, there’s been some trouble with this Tesserax. Are you sure Willard never mentioned him?”
She put a finger to her lips, in thought, discovered the ring of milk, wiped it off with the finger and licked her hand clean. “I’m sure he hasn’t said anything about a maseni named Tesserax,” she said at last.
“Do you think you could keep an ear open, in case he does?” Jessie asked. “In fact, could you prod him about this Tesserax, subtly of course, and then report back to me on his reaction?”