Melvin Ludlow lay dead beneath a sweltering noon sun, a syrupy mixture of blood and brain fluid leaking from his shattered skull and simmering on the sizzling East Texas sidewalk.

"What happened," asked a curious bystander.

"Cops blew his head off," another replied.

"Damn shame. I wonder why?"

"Ain`t no shame, he deserved it," said another. "He killed his wife. Snuck up on her and shot her in the back of the head."

"Holy Christ," the first bystander exclaimed. "I wonder why he would do such a thing."

"Why? If you knew Melvin Ludlow you wouldn`t need to wonder. Sumbitch was meaner`n a rabid coyote. Anything could set that man off."

"Ludlow was the devil," said another fellow who knew him.

Lorraine Ludlow was a sympathetic victim if ever there was one. Quiet and unassuming, she was known as a kind, charitable woman who never had a bad word for anybody.

"Ms. Lorraine was a saint," declared one of the men at the scene. "Had to be to put up with the likes of that devil."

Lucy, the teenage daughter, was the one for whom everybody felt sorry. Quiet like her mother and pretty as a bluebonnet, the girl was found sitting silently, apparently in shock, by her dead mom`s side.

"It`s no wonder," they said. "Imagine watching your old man murder your mom and then he is taken down by the cops. A young girl with two parents suddenly become an orphan in the blink of an eye. I don`t care how mean her dad was, it`s still a tragedy for the kid."

Lucy was taken to a hospital where she was interviewed by Dr. Ivins, a competent and caring veteran of the hospital`s psychiatric staff. Dr. Ivins reported that the girl was catatonic for several hours before finally bursting into tears and opening up to the doctor.

"I`m happy my father is dead," she sobbed. "I`ve hated that bastard for as long as I can remember. Ever since I was about eight, he`d been coming to my room at night and touching me in ways and places that I knew were wrong. He threatened to kill me if I told a soul.

"I didn`t say a word for years. I knew what that fiend was capable of doing and I feared for my life. I admit, though, as the years went by I would often look forward to daddy`s visits. I knew that I was somehow enticing him and that I must be an evil little witch but, god forgive me, daddy knew how to give me pleasure."

The doctor`s heart was breaking as he listened to the poor girl`s tale of woe. He`d heard stories like this before, of course, but for some reason, he felt more sorry for this girl than for any abused child he`d encountered in the past.

"A few weeks ago," Lucy continued, "I broke down and admitted to my mom what had been happening. I think she must have confronted him a couple days later because on that day he gave her one hell of a beating. I`m sure that the reason he killed her was because she threatened to go to the police. It`s my fault that she`s dead," she cried. "It should have been me."

"My dear," said Dr. Ivins, "it is not your fault. I don`t mind saying it... your father was evil. It is beyond me how a grown man could take advantage of an innocent young lamb such as you."

Her eyes flashed, angrily. "Evil? What does that even mean," she demanded. "The thing about my father was that he was like most men; and most men are considered neither perverted nor evil, merely thoroughly and alarmingly normal."

The young lady`s cynicism broke the doctor`s heart. "What kind of world is this that can turn such a beautiful young thing so scornful," he thought.

Lucy resumed her pathetic sobbing and stared at the doctor through huge, tear-filled eyes. He stared back at the girl and, try as he might, he could not resist the lure of those beautiful, tortured eyes and her obvious plea for succor. "Oh, my," thought the good doctor, "this poor girl has gone through hell. I must comfort her, somehow. What shall I do?" The free-flowing tears and a sudden, sultry heat radiating from her genitals, drew him irresistibly toward her. Despite a lifetime of professionalism he reluctantly succumbed to an inappropriate urge to soothe her grief.

God forgive me," he proclaimed as he took her in his arms and showered her with kisses. "Oh, you poor sweet child." The girl yielded to his advances, pressing her pliant young body against his. The frenzied doctor did not notice the wicked smile that briefly flitted across her lips just as he commenced loving her. "Oh, my darling," he blurted. "Oh my poor, sweet girl. Let me soothe you; let me help you forget that demon."

Unfortunately, when he had finished comforting her, she seemed unrelieved and then she slipped back into catatonia.

She remained in that state for many days, alone in a dreary room. Hospital staff and the few visitors who found the time to stop by found her totally unresponsive and left her room with the sad feeling that the poor girl was doomed to life as a vegetable.

But they couldn`t be further from the truth. She was absolutely aware of what was going on and quite capable of responding if she had chosen to. These people bored her, though. She was on another plane, communicating, telepathically, with the one that she`d always considered to be the highest of beings.

"Lucifer," she thought, "these fools blame my poor `father,` thinking him the devil. Isn`t that a laugh?"

"It is amusing, my daughter but they just do not know. He is a devil, of course, but with quite limited awareness of his stature and little more than borderline power."

"I`ve had him under my control for ages," she bragged. "It was I who lured him to my bed. The idiot was so hesitant, absolutely unaware that he was not bound to adhere to the puritanical morals of the mortals with whom he had been chosen to mix.

"It was I, as well, who had him murder my mother. It would have injured our cause had she gone to the authorities once the dolt, Melvin, admitted that he had been sleeping with me. It was so easy," she laughed. "He was like putty in my hands."

"Don`t be too harsh on him, daughter. It is written that he would begin his existence as a corporeal being, blinded to his future by the veil of illusion, and would impregnate you with his seed. He should not be underestimated my dear; he is merely at the beginning of his apprenticeship. After several more visits to the physical world he will have gained awesome power and knowledge of his place in the universe; he will, as well, have developed the ability to effortlessly travel back and forth from our world to theirs. Ultimately, his power will be as great as your own and the power of the child that is to be produced through your union may exceed even my own."

"Then, am I now impregnated by him, Lucifer?"

"I am afraid not, my daughter. It is his spirit that must come to you to complete the task."

"And when am I to return to our own world?"

"Not until your child is born so that she may begin her apprenticeship on Earth."

While Lucy was eager to return to her domain, she was curious as to how the union between Melvin and her would go. Despite all his human shortcomings and her desire to return to her true home in the spirit world, she relished the carnal pleasures that were available only to a corporeal being; and to be sure, Melvin had been a highly skillful lover with the ability to take her to such passionate heights that would leave her on the verge of delirium. Sex with a spirit, she reasoned might be even more thrilling... the ultimate erotic experience.

She called to him on her second day at the hospital and although he took his time responding to her summons, she knew that he would eventually obey; he was powerless to refuse. But his power to resist had increased greatly after his recent death. After a time, she grew impatient, yearning for his inevitable appearance, filled with the certainty that he would drive her to ecstasy. She grew restless in her anticipation of the pleasure that her phantom lover would provide, writhing in her expectation, like a bitch in heat.

Finally, the spirit came. Lucy neither saw, nor heard, its arrival. She was silently blanketed by a gentle breeze which enveloped her entire body with an impossibly pleasant warmth. Her breasts were caressed by what felt like an army of hands, lips and tongues, rendering her nipples so large, hard and sensitive that she felt they would explode. At the same time, invisible hands removed her nightie, rendering her beautifully naked. The hands stroked the inside of her thighs and she squirmed as she felt a hot wetness lubricating the place between her legs. She opened like a door and a phantom tongue went to work on her sex, so intensely arousing her that her pelvis proceeded to push paroxysmally. She moaned so loudly and pleaded for his piece so vehemently that it was a wonder the entire hospital staff did not come running to see what was happening.

At long last, he gave her what she`d been begging for. He was tremendous as he slowly entered the wet, spasming hole and she gasped from the pleasure. But then he teasingly slid out, eliciting a series of shrieks that seemed to have originated in the bowels of hell. It seemed an eternity before the devil finally provided her with the heaven for which she`d been praying.

Although the girl was carrying on as loudly as a houseful of whores at an orgy, none of the staff paid the noise any mind. They were so inured to the night sounds of the psycho ward that they probably didn`t even hear her; except for Clyde Daniels. It was Clyde`s first night as a hospital orderly and he just happened to be outside her room. The sex sounds drew him inside and the naked girl`s gyrations drove him nuts. He couldn`t see what was getting her so hot but he sure loved what he did see. "Wow," he thought. "If this is what usually goes on in the nuthouse, I surely will love my job." He remained in the room for the duration and became so aroused that he diddled himself right there.

Lucy was ravaged by her invisible lover every night for the next week and the horny orderly was right there to witness it each time, spilling his seed throughout the room. He was almost as bereft as she when the incubus` visits ceased. He was tempted to couple with the girl himself, but the thought of fornicating with the now-comatose girl did not excite him nearly as much as the show he had been witnessing for the past seven days. He settled in to his rounds for the next few weeks, barely bothering to peek into her room.

"How could this happen," the Director demanded.

"How could what happen, sir," Dr. Ivins asked.

"The Ludlow girl is pregnant."

Ivins blanched, thinking, in a panic, that it was he who had impregnated the girl. "It couldn`t have been me," he suddenly realized. "I used protection."

"We must get to the bottom of this," the Director said. "Whoever took advantage of that poor thing must be punished."

Because the murder of Lorraine Ludlow and the ensuing hospitalization of her daughter had been such a high profile story, the Director felt that it was of extreme importance to identify the rapist and bring him to justice before the media got hold of this new development. An elite team of investigators was hired. They immediately began interrogations and a thorough search for evidence. It wasn`t long before they discovered traces of sperm, which was easily identified as Clyde`s. The poor, dumb orderly was unable to explain to anybody`s satisfaction why his sperm was splattered all over the room; the investigators laughed as he tried to describe the girl`s steamy encounters with her ethereal lover and how, although he couldn`t control his libido, he never actually touched her. The orderly was arrested and charged with rape.

Lucy never again spoke to a mortal; she spent the next nine months in what the doctors described as a coma. Her empty eyes stared at the ceiling, drool ran down her chin, as she silently awaited the birth of her child. As before, she communicated only with Lucifer and other spirits of the nether world to which she belonged. As the days passed, her vibrancy waned; she seemed to be slowly fading away.

Finally, the day arrived. The monitors to which she`d been hooked began to whistle and beep like a video game gone haywire; lights flashed on and off so brightly that the room seemed engulfed by the most spectacular electrical storm in the history of the world. These were sounds and effects that had never been emitted by those machines. Alarmed, every nurse on the floor rushed to her bed where they found her with eyes spinning, teeth clenched and a guttural sound escaping through her locked jaws. Her body was being racked by ferocious contractions, occurring mere seconds apart. Her water had already broken. They rushed her into surgery and just seconds after the doctor and nurses finished scrubbing, she gave birth to the most beautiful baby girl, who loudly announced her entry into the world, screaming like the dickens.

Her task completed, life escaped from Lucy on the heels of the infant and her spirit returned to her rightful world, to reign as Princess of Darkness until the end of time. Her spawn was adopted by an unsuspecting young couple who took her home the following morning.

Lucy`s remains were carted away to the morgue as quickly as possible and the hospital staff put the memory of her behind them. The media downplayed her death, as well, marking her passing with a small story on the obituary page and a brief mention on the eleven o`clock news. The only person in East Texas who was affected by her death was Clyde Daniels. The rape charge against the hapless orderly was immediately upgraded to murder during the commission of rape and the poor boob was executed within a year.