Chapter 19: Chapter 19

I didn't expect Tim to be this pleased, or surprised, to hear my voice. I guess he didn't suspect me to contact him again either.
"You're alive! So, what happened?"
"It worked."
"What do you mean?"
"I made the drawings like in the book, I went through the whole ritual-"
"Wait, you actually were in contact with a... a-"
"A demon. I guess," I said, turning around and scratching my head. Warm afternoon light was flooding my kitchen as I stood in flip flops in front of the fridge, trying to decide whether the milk was still good enough to drink. "What do you call him? A baron?"
"You actually contacted a Lord of Hell?!" Tim's voice sounded both terrified and excited.
"I just said that..." I tried twisting the cap off of the plastic bottle with one hand, which proved to be more difficult than I expected.
"I didn't think it was actually... possible..." his voice was trailing off.
"So you're not as much of an expert then?"
"It's different. There's just reading about these things, and then doing them, Matt. It's dangerous."
"So anyway, I made a pact, and now I have to provide-"
"You what?! I thought you just wanted to get rid of the succubus?"
"Hey, this is only the second time in my life that I've done something like this, so don't expect much. I wasn't in a position to negotiate."
I wasn't sure if telling so much was a good idea. What if Ra'zizi could hear? Can she not understand what I'm saying when I talk about the pact? Or how does it work? In either case, I knew that the air gets unusually cold when she's around, so I could tell she shouldn't be in hearing range.
"Okay... Well, how do you feel?"
"I feel... I guess normal?" I answered after finally opening the bottle. The milk smelled a bit sour. "I don't know... I haven't actually felt normal in a while."
"I guess that's good..." Tim's voice wavered.
"You guess?"

"I mean... wait, what are the terms?"
"Oh, I have to provide him souls of women."
"Souls?! You're going to make sacrifices?! What are you thinking!?"
"It's okay, Tim, I don't have to sacrifice anyone, I just need to woo chicks," I said, trying to sound nonchalant. "Besides, I was about to die, in case you forgot."
"I know, but... Matt, you know that nobody has done what you're doing in, I don't know, maybe centuries? Maybe ever?"
"Yeah..." I sighed. "I just have to do what I have to do."
"Matt, please don't be careless about this..." Tim's voice hanged for a bit. "Don't get yourself in any deeper, okay?"
"Alright, sure..."

I wasn't sure what I expected. Should I have called it a date? Izzie greeted me in front of her apartment and we decided to have a walk around in a nearby park and go for ice cream. Innocuous enough, plus I figured I could actually check out what changed in that area of town, not having had any reasons to go there for some time.
I had a tendency to walk ahead of her too much and kept on butting in, then slowing down and butting up against her as she walked up. I flailed my arms sometimes, trying to make a natural walking swing. I suppose I can only thank the layers of antiperspirant that I wasn't sweating bullets.
But Izzie, if she noticed, made no mention of it. She would smile and look curiously around as we passed rows of canna lilies. She didn't mind me talking too long about my tabletop games, if anything she seemed intrigued.
"I think I've heard of those, but I never tried any," she smiled the most encouraging smile I've ever seen anyone give me, "I was a sporty kid so we never hanged out with the geeks back in high school. My dad really wanted me active from the get go. Rivalry with siblings, that kind of stuff."
I cast my eyes down momentarily, being reminded of my social standing. Izzie patted me on the back - more heavily than I expected, and laughed heartily.
"You should show me those some time though, they sound fun," she added.
"Yeah sure!" I blurted out. Was she actually interested? I didn't know what to do with my hands and trying to move them while I talked just made me look touched in the head, so I promptly stopped.
"I would likely suck at them though," she let her voice waver, "can you forgive a newbie?"
"That's no- of course, no worries! I'd explain everything!"
She laughed again. I would have thought she was mocking me, but for a brief moment I saw a glint in her half closed eyes when she shot me a smirking look, lips half-pursed, telling smirk on her face.
"Guess I should get you running then. I haven't had any running partner for a while..."
"Off course! I should get in shape, yes!"
She giggled. I tried being as courteous as possible, but every sentence felt like I was walking on glass. I couldn't screw this up. For some reason she felt like it was right, the way she encouraged me.

"You do spend a lot of time exercising," I said.
"Do I now?"
"Well, almost every time I see you, you're wearing your gym clothes. I figure you must be obsessed with running."
"Or maybe I'm just trying to run from something..."
She smiled slightly, letting her voice hang, then examined my face and laughed. I could have sworn she was being serious.
"Oh, here we are!" I exclaimed once we reached an ice cream stand I remembered.
While we were being served, I nervously cast sideways glances at her light dress, fitting her body almost as tightly as her exercise clothes. The fabric moved softly in the wind, wrapping around her well-toned thighs. She was looking at the rows of flavours.
"Hmm... Vanilla's alright, but... Too plain? Can I get ummm... What's this? Cookie crumble?" she proceeded wondering about the flavors.
"Go on, get a grab," I heard in my ear a familiar, lascivious voice. "Right now..."
I tried pretending I was swatting a fly away to wave my hand at Ra'zizi.
"Put your hand on her ass, do it," she taunted me. "Like you did to me..."
I winced. Suddenly, I felt Ra'zizi grab and pull my hand, going straight for Izzie's backside.
"No, no!" I whispered in panic. Trying to make a fist, I felt her demonic power painfully straighten my fingers out into a cup. I didn't want to do this. I mean, I did, but not now, it would ruin everything.
Izzie turned to me, furrowing her eyebrows. Right before she could notice it, I felt my hand being released. I awkardly jerked it backwards and hit the stand with my knuckles.
"I can't deci- hey, what's wrong? What? Do I have something on my clothes?"
I realized it looked like I was ogling her. She cast her eyes down, checking for a non-existant stain.
"N-no, no! Sorry, I was just lost in thought!"
"She caught you looking...!" Ra'zizi giggled.
"I... Uh, I really think you should try pistacchio and, um, banana!"
"Alright!"
"She knows you want to, I can tell," the voice of the succubus grew louder and more annoying, "go for a feel next time she turns! Or else she'll think you're not that interested!"
"Would you-...!" I started telling her off and immediately stopped myself. The ice cream vendor, an old man with a heavy sun tan, looked at me quizzically, holding a cone with a few dollops on it. Izzie turned to look at me as well, but I couldn't garner the courage to see her facial expression. "Um, would you mind serving mine in those long, flat waffles, please? I-"
"Just a moment, sir, I'm serving your girlfriend now," the vendor replied with a raspy voice.

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I gulped my saliva down and tried to stop my face from turning beet red. But Izzie just giggled and didn't say anything besides thanking the vendor.
Ra'zizi's quiet giggle and snorts tested my ability to keep a poker face. I just had to keep my mind straight. Just then, as Izzie nodded towards me and started walking, I felt the same sensation as I did when I passed Suzanne's office. The idea to follow her, and then an urge to touch her.

On our way back, I tried my best to keep the delicate balance between eating my portion in a way that didn't make me look like a slob who eats too much, and paying attention to Izzie without making it obvious I was looking at her licking the ice cream. I couldn't tell if I succeeded in either, but at least I could explain not talking for a moment.
"... This feels nice," she said, breaking the silence first.
"Ah, yes, it does!"
"Do you know what I'm talking about?" she turned to me.
"I... I mean, it's great to be going out with you!"
She giggled once more and tried wiping some cream from her mouth.
"You're too funny sometimes!" she took a few more steps and continued. "It's nice to go like this, without running, with someone I know."
"You don't have other people to walk with you know?"
"I do, but they're mostly busy when I'm free."
"Ah, that's right, you work evenings?"
"Sometimes. Do I look like a careless free spirit?"
"Well..." I began, but couldn't find a way to say "yes" without sounding rude. Izzie snorted.
"I have a lot of stuff to do, Matt. I have part time jobs, I sometimes run to them and change there. And then I sometimes have to also help my parents because..." she stopped for a moment and shook her head. "No, nevermind. Anyways, I get to run when others are at work."
I felt I shouldn't pry more. My breath trembled as I tried exhaling. We walked a couple hundred meters more in silence.
"Uh, this is my favorite part of the park," I replied, lost for conversation topics.
"I know!" Izzie seemed to cheer up, "And, you know, I'm kind of tired of men coming on too strongly from the get go... This... Feels more at ease..."

"Ah... Yes, I didn't wanna come... on too... strongly, because I- well, we've talked a bit already, but you always..."
"Hm?"
"I mean, you look very... uh," I reminded myself not to say "pure", "very like you don't just jump into whatever first thing that comes along."
She laughed louder than I've heard her laugh before. It was such an energizing sound, like all her training was there for the lungs to let out the bellowing laughter. I felt a fresh stream of sweat rolling down my back.
"Oh, wow..." she tried looking at me through almost-closed eyes, "you're really... really terrible at talking sometimes, you know that?"
"Yeah, I guess I don't get... much... practice..." I could feel my heart sinking with every word.
"But it's cute," she said and my head jerked back to look at her. "It's kind of endearing."

Her fluttering dress would sometimes touch their leaves and create a soft rustling sound as we walked on, the silence only broken for me by the constant nagging from my succubus. Izzie stopped, turned towards me, then turned her head down a bit and looked slightly sideways at me.
"Do it now, coward! She wants you to make out!" Ra'zizi kept going. "Screw her brain out, I want to see it!"
"What are you thinking?" Izzie asked.
"I just, uh..."
I stopped for a moment and gathered all my courage before raising my hand and moving it towards her shoulder. It hovered for a split second, and Izzie looked at me with slight surprise before I touched her arm. Her skin was so soft, even though I could tell the tone of her muscles.She didn't recoil. I didn't know what had gotten into me.
"Hm?"
"I wanted to tell you I really liked this... walk... and I swear I'll get better with words," I wavered.
"It's no problem, sorry for putting you on the spot," she smiled. "I liked it too."
"And I was wondering if you wanna meet up more? I mean, more often?"
"No, just start getting on her now!" Ra'zizi literally yelled while hovering over me and I tried not to wince.
"Ah, of course!" Izzie smiled. "How about on Sunday then? I have to run errands tomorrow. And I didn't wanna sound clingy... Oh gosh, I'm not good with words..." she looked at me sideways again and smirked before bursting out in laughter.
"S-sure! Let's do it!"
"Let's go somewhere nice then!"
She kept on looking at me with anticipation.

"Like, uh...", I tried thinking, desperately. "There's this Italian... restaurant, and we can go to this mall to window shop and... and..."
"You window shop?"
"I can start!"
She snorted.
"Okay... And then?" she asked and tilted her head.
"Let's..." I felt the same strange feeling I remembered from before. "Let's go to your place?"
My voice didn't sound like me. I didn't know why it was lower. "Watch something? See what happens?"
It didn't feel like I was coming up with these words, rather something inside me was making me say it. Hearing them made me startled. Surprisingly, she tilted her head the other way, smiled, then laughed. I felt put back in my place.
"Alright, mister not-too-fast!"
"Wait, you're okay with that?" I definitely felt I said that.
"Hmm... Maybe!"
I stood there for a moment, not knowing how to react anymore.
"By the way, are you checking my muscle tension or something?"
I just then realized my hand was still on her shoulder and immediately retracted, making her giggle again.
"Let's go!" she said cheerfully and started walking ahead of me. She took the last few bites of her ice cream and started jogging. "Catch me if you can!"
She laughed playfully as I fumbled, trying to finish my dessert while starting a run to catch up with her.
"Hopeless... Absolutely hopeless..." I heard Ra'zizi scorn me.
But I didn't care. Izzie was happy, and that was good enough for me. For the first time in God knows how long, I felt like there was something I wanted, something I could care about. She let me catch up with her from time to time, but I was still pitifully out of shape. She eventually gave up the play race and we walked back.
"So, see you later then?"
We were standing in front of her door. What do I do now? What should I say?
"Yeah, uh, it was nice," I couldn't muster anything else.
"It was," she smiled and, before I knew it, leaned in and gave me a fast smooch on the cheek. "Have a good evening, Matt!"
"Yea... you too..."
I walked back to my place, confused, but pleased. She's such a nice girl... She's...
Mine.
That didn't feel like my own thought.

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