It's Halloween, and I've been thinking about the idea of an incubus that reproduces through fear.
This doesn't mean that they don't reproduce through sex. After all, what more perfectly intimate source of fear is there than a man - or so you think - on top of you, forcing his bare cock inside of you, laughing at you that he's going to knock you up?
But in humans, that fear is... optional. Your rapist's sperm will fertilize your egg just as easily as your lover's; if he chooses to taunt you with that, it's just for his pleasure. But for the incubus, it's essential. It couldn't rape you while you slept, not to reproduce; the begging and the tears and the silent little prayer that you don't get pregnant are what lets it take root in you.
And where an ordinary fetus is just linked to your bloodstream, feeding as your heart pumps blood through your body - the incubus's seed is linked to your mind. Feeding on the fear of what that "man" did to you. Still and silent when you aren't thinking of it, but growing a little larger every time you feel a twinge of nausea and tremble at the thought that it might be morning sickness, or nervously palm your belly to see if it's beginning to curve.
And there are so many fears to feed on. At the beginning, the fear of being pregnant: of your rapist's seed staying inside you, working to claim you. Then the fear of it beginning to show - the questions, the repercussions, and the shame. Then, as your belly continues to swell, the fear of how much larger it could grow - larger than any human child, of course - and the terrible pain of birth.
The offspring are all male. Of course. They have no need to breed more carriers - not when there are so many to be their terrified prey.