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False Comforts AU Pre-slash/Slash (Mature Audiences)
False Comforts  posted 11/9/2005. Mature Audiences. Horror. (35,437 words)
Welcome to Memphis posted 11/12/2005. Mature Audiences. Incest. Horror. (6,688 words)
Caution: Falling Rocks  posted 11/23/2005.  Mature Audiences. Incest. Horror. (28,149 words)
Altars of Stone and Wind posted 12/04/2005. Mature Audiences. Incest. Horror. (8,692 words)
Sisters of Mercy posted 12/24/2006 NC17 Incest (8,034 words)
Interludes from the other side (False Comforts AU)
For the Love of Mother-Not posted 12/05/2005. Mature Audiences. Horror. (1,398 words)
Whisper to a Scream posted 12/06/2005. Mature Audiences. Horror. (1,605 words)


Author's notes & further warnings:

This story covers a lot of ground and brushes up against societal taboos more than once. Warnings for violence, rape, non-consensul sex, and emotional and physical manipulation. This story is meant for Mature Audiences only.

I've taken great license with the myths of Lilith and her grandchildren (sometimes called the Lilim). Lilith was, in some accounts, the first and far more headstrong first wife of the Biblical Adam. She was created as Adam was, from the earth, as opposed to Eve, who was created from Adam's rib. I'm not going to comment on the possible revisionist history of early old testament authors. In some traditions because of her refusal to do what the angels of God told her, Lilith was cursed by the death of a thousand of her children a day. In some myths (which are also possibly revisionist) it's the daughters of Lilith and Adam that married and gave children to Cain, the outcast, murdering son of Adam and Eve. In some accounts, the Succubi and Incubi of legend are her children.

In most references I could find, Succubi and Incubi are manifestations of the same creature -- i.e. the demon itself has no specific gender, it's just generally remarked that the demons who visit women are incubi and the ones that visit men are succubi. Their purpose is the same...to seduce and/or have sex with mortals, usually while they sleep. They are the original gender-swapping-at-will demons. Some version of Lilith and her children and grandchildren appear in the cultures of most civilizations. The scope of powers they possess really depends on which culture you're looking at but nearly all are creatures of great sexual appetities, who may or may not visit permanent harm on their victims. Tradition has it that Succubi (who are known to visit men) are of fewer numbers than Incubi (who are known to tease and seduce and rape women). Succubi and Incubi are considered demons, which in general lore means their purposes for existence are often tied to how they exist.

One interesting footnote I read among many is that in rare chance of offspring being born between Succubi/Incubi and thier mortal lovers, the offspring often commit suicide. They are unstable from the start, torn between two vastly different planes of existance. That note and the episode Skin, obviously contributed  a great deal to the mythology used in this particular story. The shapeshifters are not spirits or manifestations of spirits as many of the creatures encountered in the show -- they have a physical presence and are not bound to a particular place. They can move about, blend in, and go unnoticed for the most part unless one of them does something to bring attention to itself.

It wasn't that much of a stretch to make them psychic -- the episode did it first, but I thought it interesing that Dean was unaware of the link. There's some hint that Sam is at least mildly psychic, if only in his dreams, that the ability is nascent and untrained, played heavily into this.

But pretty much the rest of it? I totally made up.

MdR November 2005