Suddenly A Succubus

Much like all the other buildings on campus, Whitmore’s basement hardly saw any use. Although it had been built with two classrooms, they hadn’t been updated in decades, and all classes currently running used more recently built rooms above ground. Thankfully, this gave Vee and her friends the perfect space to devote to AV Club meetings.

In addition to the classrooms, there was a small study area near the staircase, complete with couches, armchairs, and small tables. Although they had yet to host their first official meeting, several students had taken to hanging out in this space so that they could mingle with other people in the know about magic.

As Vee walked out of the staircase, she found Imani rummaging through her backpack, likely putting away notes regarding her talk with Ruby. Imani was a new transfer to Aurelius University and happened to belong to the same coven as Tessa. After a tense confrontation with the prior Headmistress of the coven, Imani had agreed to act as the witch’s eyes and ears at Aurelius University. That position had previously been held by Tessa, but because Tessa had repeatedly lied to cover up her findings, she was currently on probation in their eyes.

Imani was a delight to be around; happy, patient, and always eager to lend an ear. In particular, part of her training involved helping to comfort people that find themselves exposed to the world of magic for the first time. Outside of that, her main focus was studying to become a Scribe: the official name for witches that apply the tattoos used to channel magic from various planes of existence. She had incredibly dark skin, voluminous black hair, and always wore large, expressive white eyeliner, which Vee was always a little jealous of. Her own eyeliner tended to be more understated, and sometimes she wished she had the time to devote to fancier makeup looks.

“Imani, hey!” Vee said excitedly, leaning in for a hug.

“Vee, what’s up girl!” Imani asked, pulling Vee close just as enthusiastically.

“Ran into Ruby just now, chatted for a bit about Amara. She seems more confused than anything else.”

“She’s a good cookie,” Imani said, zipping up her bag before starting towards a nearby classroom. “I’ve seen people take all this much worse, so I’m not worried about it. Having a support network is huge, and for better or for worse, the AV Club has got a lot of members.”

“What’s the plan for today?” Vee asked.

“I’m trying to prepare for future incursions, as usual.” Walking into the classroom, Imani gestured at Tessa. “We’re pretty sure Aurelius is overlapping with The Wilds right now, so we need to be ready.”

As they entered, Vee caught the last few seconds of glowing light coming from the side of Tessa’s head. As a proper witch, she had a collection of tattoos that let her channel telekinetic energy, though she’d chosen to place all her tattoos on the side of her head, which she routinely kept clean shaven. Otherwise, she had short, raven-black hair and heavy black eyeliner. Thick, partially shredded black clothes hung from her thin body, and with the last remnants of her magic, she finished putting a stack of old textbooks in a cabinet.

On the other side of the room, Amara had her true form out, and was bouncing back and forth as she helped Tessa clean up. With about a week left until the first meeting, they were hoping to restore the classroom as much as possible to make everyone feel welcome.

“I could help more with the portal if I didn’t have to clean this stupid classroom,” Tessa griped. “Why can’t we have them do it? Call it a team building exercise or something.”

“We all contribute, Tessa,” Imani said patiently. “They’re already on edge from everything that happened over break, and we need to convince them that we’re truly invested in keeping them safe. The community needs to start with us.”

“You say that like this shit happens all the time,” Amara said. “Is stuff like this common?”

“On this scale? Absolutely not. Normally we only see a small handful of people exposed at a time, so this is somewhat unprecedented, at least in my time with the coven.” Imani set her things down at a table near the front of class. “Thankfully, we’ve got a whole team of girls ready and willing to help, right?”

“Vee, what about you? I haven’t seen you doing any heavy lifting,” Tessa said, her voice still betraying her mild frustration.

“For your information, I’ve been placing wards at the edges of the classroom to help keep us secure.” Vee walked over to Amara, who had just finished moving a table, and happily greeted her with a kiss. “That way students will have a somewhat central location to flee to in case something weird happens.”

“Ugh, stupid angel with your stupid demon girlfriend and the stupid planar incursion bullshit…” Tessa grumbled to no one in particular.

“Tess, are you okay?” Vee asked. “You seemed grouchier than normal.”

“That’s my fault,” Amara said, hopping onto a nearby table to take a seat. She pulled Vee close, hugging her tight before she said, “I told her about our arrangement today.”

“It’s so stupid!” Tessa groaned. “Who’s ever heard of a monogamous succubus? That shouldn’t be possible! It should be a fucking crime! I should be legally allowed to lock you in public stockades and chain up your stupid tail and then ride it into the ground because it’s so fucking hot and AAAHH!!”

Vee softly chuckled as she leaned into Amara, both of them watching Tessa as she worked through her frustration. “C’mon, Tess, it’s not like you’re never going to fuck her again.”

“Can you be sure about that? Sure, she’s fair game if it’s an emergency or if you’re out of town, but how often is that going to happen?” Tessa’s magic flared one last time, and the cabinet in front of her slammed shut before she walked over to join Imani at her table. “Ugh, we need to change the subject. Have you made any progress on the stupid portal diagrams yet?”

Imani shook her head. “I’ve mostly been combing over your notes regarding the bridge you built to Purgatory and trying to alter them. I actually had a question about that: there’s a few runes that, while I understand, I’m not sure why you placed them where you did…”

As the two witches dived into their strange runic language, Vee turned to look at Amara. “Sorry she’s venting all her frustration at you.”

Amara shrugged. “Eh, she’ll get over it. You know how she is. How were classes, love?”

“Same old stuff, just the way I like it. I might have a little bit of a sore throat, which is a first for me, but otherwise everything went great. What about you?”

“Mr. Brooks seems enthused by my marketing project, which is nice. I can tell he’s a little nervous about the subject matter, though. I’m probably the first student he’s ever taught that’s been so open about selling suggestive pictures online. To his credit, despite how attracted to me he is, he does a really good job hiding it. If I weren’t a succubus, I’d probably never know.”

Vee snuggled up into Amara’s arms with a content sigh. “Hopefully he stays one of the good ones. If he crosses a line, he’ll literally have Heaven and Hell to answer to.”

“Awwww is someone my little angel of vengeance?” Amara said, deliberately using an overly-cutesy tone of voice. They both giggled, then she continued. “I’m not sure who I’d be more afraid of, honestly. An angry succubus, or her furious girlfriend…”

In the corner of her eye, Vee caught Tessa rolling her eyes at the happy couple, and they stuck their tongues out at each other in jest. Despite all her bluster, Vee trusted that Tessa wasn’t genuinely upset about their arrangement. She was more mature than she let on, but was also terrible at expressing her emotions. If she harbored any actual malice, she’d likely just bury it down until Nick forced her to say something.

Over the course of the next hour or so, all the girls hopped between homework, cleaning, and goofing off. Chloé eventually joined them as well, profusely apologizing for her late class as usual. Between the five of them, they were able to finish the final touches on the classroom, and they felt ready for the upcoming inaugural AV Club meeting.

As the sun started approaching the horizon, however, the group decided it was time to split up. They spent far too long on friendly goodbyes before veering off towards their respective homes, with almost everyone going in separate directions other than Vee and Amara.

Vee happily took Amara’s hand as they walked, even attempting to rest her head on her shoulder, though as the taller of the two that proved difficult. Thankfully, Amara quickly compensated by giving herself taller heels, which earned her another giddy kiss from Vee. They debated what they wanted for dinner as they slowly closed in on Amara’s apartment, but about a block before arriving, Amara stopped briefly.

“Hey, do you need to grab anything from your place?” Amara asked.

“Not really. I’ve got clothes, homework, toiletries… No, I’m good,” Vee replied with a smile.

“Vee. Love. Dearest.” Amara gave Vee a flat look. “You haven’t stepped foot inside your apartment for nearly a week now. You know I love having you around, but you can’t just abandon the place.”

“Ugh, do I have to?” Vee asked with a heavy sigh. When Amara responded with nothing but a judgmental look, Vee caved and leaned away from Amara. “Okay, fine, you win. I’ll check out my apartment real quick and then jump over to your place so we can do dinner.”

“Great! See you soon, love!” Amara pulled Vee in for one last kiss before walking away, leaving Vee alone to confront her apartment.

Vee bristled as she approached her front door. Its frame seemed unusually bulky, its architecture deceptively hostile for how unassuming it seemed to be. She held her keys with slightly too much fervor, and stared at the doorknob with unusual intensity as she hesitated.

C’mon, Vee. Just a quick in and out, and you can tell Amara it’s done. It’s your apartment, isn’t it?

Except it’s not, really. It’s their apartment.

With a heavy sigh, though a deceptively quiet one that would hopefully not damage her voice any further, Vee finally caved to Amara’s invisible voice and pushed her key into the lock. She turned the handle slowly, dreading every click, and soon the front door opened.

Walking inside, the cold sterility of her old life sat waiting. Her favorite decorations had been moved to Amara’s place, as had other various personal effects like phone chargers and blankets. There were still small collections of non-perishable goods in the pantry and refrigerator, though they existed mostly as emergency rations should she be locked out of Amara’s place for any reason. Lastly, atop the faux-marble counter that separated the kitchen from the living room, she saw a small stack of mail. Most of it was trash, flyers and advertisements from local restaurants, but buried beneath the stack of paper sat a single envelope.

It was an envelope she’d opened dozens of times before, and it came in every two weeks with frustrating regularity. Should anyone ask, it was technically scholarship money from her church, but that was simply a cover story. It wasn’t actually from a church, it was from The Church, the global organization that oversaw the lifestyles and placement of all of Heaven’s angels. This letter was her stipend, a small sum of money to allow her to live a comfortable life in service of the Lord.

They have no idea what it is they’re funding. I use their money to buy dinner for a demon, to treat her to fancy soaps and ice cream while we go for long walks in the park.

What would they say if they found out? Would they let me explain that Amara is different? That Evelyn’s different? That the Church’s view on demons is based on old, misguided information that likely hasn’t been relevant in centuries?

They’re going to find out eventually.

Right?

Vee sat at her counter and stared at the pile of mail for close to ten minutes before she finally mustered the strength to tear into the latest envelope.

It’ll be more suspicious if you never cash it, Vee. Just get it over with.

A few minutes later, after logging into her bank’s app and depositing the money remotely, Vee threw the rest of her mail in the trash. She practically ran out the front door, locking the apartment behind her. Ideally, her conflicted thoughts would stay locked in the apartment as well.

She was thankful Amara lived so close. In no time at all, she was back in her girlfriend’s apartment, the one place she felt truly at home. It was warm, busy, filled with love, and at the moment it smelled strongly of onion as Amara prepped dinner. Vee kicked her shoes off, walked about behind Amara, and gave her a massive hug around her waist before kissing her on the cheek.

“I’m back! Miss me?” Vee teased.

“I died a thousand deaths and wasted away to nothing due to the despair I felt in your absence, love,” Amara said with a sly smile. The entire time she talked, her bladed tail continued chopping away at the onion on the cutting board.

“Okay, well, when you say it all sarcastically it sounds like you didn’t miss me!”

Amara turned around, much quicker than Vee expected, then picked her up before spinning around the apartment. Vee giggled as she held on tight, the smell of warm cinnamon and patchouli filling her senses as she smiled.

“Of course I missed you, silly,” Amara whispered into Vee’s ear. “I always miss you.”

After the twirling stopped, and Vee found her footing again, they looked deep into each other’s eyes and passionately kissed. Amara sank into Vee’s arms for a moment, and they stole as much time as they could before a timer started beeping in the kitchen.

“I think the oven’s ready, dear,” Vee said.

“Ugh, fine, I guess I’ll start cooking my amazing girlfriend a hot meal,” Amara said, holding back laughter.

As Amara returned to her culinary tasks, Vee opened up her backpack and began working on some of her easier homework assignments. There was little she loved more than watching Amara cook, and today was no exception. Not only was she a fantastic chef, but she always seemed so happy when she worked with food. Her tail, which she had a habit of wagging back and forth whenever in a good mood, never stopped moving the whole time she worked on meals for herself and their friends.

Dinner was ready to go roughly half an hour later, and Vee treasured the first bite she took. Amara had once again knocked dinner out of the park, and Vee leaned against her as she ate, silently thanking her for the wonderful meal.

Their moment of peace, however, didn’t last long. Both their phones buzzed, and checking it revealed a single message that had been sent to the AV Club group chat.

Kylie: Code Yellow, Cafeteria

Vee jumped to her feet and ran to the doorway, throwing on her shoes as quickly as she could. As she opened the door, Amara ran after her, her clothes changing from a playful chef’s apron to comfortable running clothes as she locked the apartment behind them.