Chapter 8: Chapter 8

Waking up, my muscles felt like I ran five kilometers, and my head was so heavy I could barely raise it to glance at my phone's alarm ringing. It took an almost olympian-level feat of strength to reach for the snooze button. My legs must have had lead weights attached to them that morning.

While getting dressed, I thanked myself for the first time for having a low-skill job. I couldn't imagine doing anything besides stacking store shelves with the kind of brain fog I had. It took until lunch before I genuinely felt awake. Sitting in a nearby cafeteria, I remembered that through all of what happened I still haven't seen the video. I scuttled towards a corner and turned the volume off, then pressed play.

It was a truly bizarre video clip, it reminded me of those fake ghost videos people used to post online so often. The succubus wasn't actually visible. I saw myself, on my knees, speaking into the darkness, then getting up, stumbling and jumping around before something invisible seemed to push me around. The longer I looked at my body being tugged here and there, as if by some invisible ropes, the more uneasy I felt. I got goosebumps when the succubus got me writhing on the floor and, just as she was about to have her way with me-

"Hey, Matt!"

The sound of Steve's voice snapped me out of it. He was my coworker, we've known each other for just over five months.

"Oh, hey," I quickly hid my phone back in my pocket. "What's up?"

"Break time's over, boss is gonna be angry," he replied.

"Oh, right, sorry," I realized I lost track of time. "Thanks for fetching me."

Returning home felt like walking through thick fog, like someone bashed me over the head and I just regained my consciousness. Was I getting cold feet over a change in my life? Have I genuinely screwed up? I can only remember the succubus popping up in my imagination over and over again as I tried to ponder whether I was in danger. She said she would be with me, right? I shouldn't be complaining, at any rate, not in my situation.

Pondering, I passed a bakery then a pharmacy that I would usually walk by on my way back. Feeling  confused from all the doubts in my mind, I stopped at the street corner and had a strange sense something else was familiar. Looking to my right, I noticed someone leaning against a railing of a shopping mall, toying with his phone. He looked too familiar. Then, I realized.

"Tim?" I asked, approaching him.
"... Matt?" the man responded after a moment of staring at me.

We both exchanged smiles. Tim was about the only genuine friend I had back in high school. Back then we both had bad skin, and both were made fun of for it to an incredible degree. It didn't help we were both into Dungeons and Dragons. But times change and now Tim had no signs of acne. The lanky, brown-eyed, brown-haired guy with a slightly narrow nose and small eyes looked like a very typical salesman, together with a suitcase. His hair was combed neatly to the side. We decided to go grab a bite at a local fast food place instead of awkwardly talking on the street corner.

"So how's life?" Tim's question would be a good conversation-starter after all the time we've spent apart had I had an interesting response.
"Ah, you know, trying to scrape by, started working retail," I replied half-heartedly.
"Retail's not bad, I used to do that for a year, it's stable if you can find the right place," he said in between biting down on his cheeseburger.
"What about you then?"
"Me?" he asked and smiled, "well, I'm happy you asked, actually."

Tim set aside his meal and pulled up his suitcase.

"You ever hear about alternative investments?"
"Uh, I... Don't know..."
"You know, some people play around with things like cryptocurrencies or binary options, that stuff," he began with an upbeat voice.
"Uh huh."
"But most of that is just scams," he made a go-away gesture with his hand as if disparaging people who buy into those, "they're just out for your money. But!" he opened the suitcase and started pulling out notebooks, books and fliers. "What if I told you I found something that actually works...?"

I wasn't prepared for the long spiel that followed. Tim must have rehearsed his sales pitch so many times. If only he noticed my eyes half-closing, if only he knew I was too tired to pay attention to any of it. Trying to remain courteous while listening about how he was back from a conference for the participants in this absolutely-not-a-scam while shuffling through brochures and booklets, I noticed one of the books he had pulled out was slightly off. It looked more like one of those books with runic-style writing on the covers people would use during tabletop game sessions. But it didn't look like it had any fantasy characters.

"You still play Dungeons and Dragons?" I asked, looking over at it.
"Ah, no, it's..." he started, but curiosity and a desire to change subject made me reach for it before he could react.
"Wait, Matt!"
"... It's some sort of spell book?" I asked when I got a closer look. Opening it on a random page, I saw a diagram similar to what I had to draw on my wall.
"Matt!"
"You're into occult?" I asked in earnest.
"Uh... No... This is... this is just research," he replied in his regular non-sales voice.
"Research?"
"I'm writing something," he responded.
"I thought you were making money from-"
"It's a separate thing, okay? I'm writing a research thesis."

He seemed genuinely frustrated now.

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"Can I have my book back?"
"... Do you... Know anything about succubuses?" I asked while handing the book over and saw Tim's expression change. It's as if I had all of his attention now.
"Succubuses...?"
"Yeah... I think I might have summoned one, " I said an laughed. But Tim wasn't laughing. He seemed suddenly very uneasy about sitting down to talk to me.
"Y-You... did?"
"Ah, I... I honestly don't know what's happening, Tim. I found this... weird recipe online, and I wanted to try it out for shits and giggles and..." I paused and shrugged.
"You managed to actually... summon a demonic entity?" Tim's voice did not sound at all like he was about to start mocking me. All sense of jovialty was gone. In fact, I can't remember the last time I saw him looking this serious.
"Ah, I guess... It was all a mess you see, I had to buy all this crap, draw circles, light candles..." I chuckled a bit recounting what I had to go through. "Of course, I ended up stepping over it, and-"
"You broke the circle?" Tim's question was very sharply posed, like he was offended.
"Um... Yeah, I stepped on it and my foot smeared the border and then... Yeah, it wasn't a circle," I replied, trying to figure out why he was suddenly looking deadly serious. There was a very uncomfortable silence as Tim stared at me, like I was scaring him.
"I... I managed to film the summoning on video..." I broke the silence and started pulling out my phone. "Here, I'll show you how it we-"
"Can you give me your phone number?" he asked very fast.
"Um, yeah, sure..." I wavered for a moment, "But don't you wanna see the summoning? I thought you are into the occu-"
"I need to go," his reply was very curt again. "Now. Please, can you give me your phone?"
"OK, just don't sign me up for any of your money ma-"
"I won't. Please, Matt," he had a look of mixed concern and fear on his face. I obliged him and gave him my phone number, and Tim picked up all his stuff and left in what couldn't have been more than thirty seconds.
"I'll call you later, see you Matt," he said on his way out without looking back.
"Yeah, was nice meeting you..." I replied and wondered what could have spooked him out that much.

I watched him walk away in a hurry, then took the liberty of finishing his meal together with my own. Slurping the last part of my drink, I could suddenly feel as if someone was sitting next to me.

"That your friend? What a bore," the familiar, sweet but sarcastic voice spoke right into my right ear. I got startled yet again, but managed to keep my cool. I was getting used to this, I thought.
"Yeah, we knew each other way back," I replied, trying to keep my voice down so that other patrons wouldn't hear me.
"Well, whatever... Let's not waste any more time on him today, shall we?" the succubus said playfully.
"Today, it's going to be just you and me once you're back home."
"Ah... You really gave me a workout the other day, I'm not sure if I can... ugh!"

A woman waiting in queue turned around when she heard me groan. I felt a burning sensation in my chest where the succubus scratched me.

"Of course you can, darling..." she whispered. "I know you want to, too..."

I chuckled, not knowing how to react to this treatment.

"I don't know, I need some rest, I'm not able to do as much as you th..."

I felt her touch on me, sliding along my leg and up to my crotch. The sensation felt amazing, even through the clothes.

"That's better... You deny too much," she whispered and giggled. "You need to hurry and get back home to me..."

I felt my mind was getting clouded as well.

"Come to me... Come to me..." she repeated, sounding more indecent every time.

She moaned a tiny bit right into my ear. My mind snapped back.

"Okay, okay," I half-whispered. I was sure the man walking past me heard me talk to myself. Feeling embarrassed, I lowered my voice more. "I'm on my way..."
"Good... I'm waiting..." she announced with a hint that she doesn't like waiting in her voice.

The day looked far from over, as I hurried back home. My legs, lethargic as they were in the morning and tired after a day's worth of work standing around, were now marching on their own, carrying me to the demon's embrace. I felt goosebumps. I was hooked.

I didn't make anything of the conversation I had with Tim, it all sounded like nonsense. At, least, I let it fade from my memory over the following days as another unimportant chat over nothing. But in reality, even on the day we spoke, I was in way over my head.

There was only one way to undo this.

I was, again, on the floor of my bedroom, my knees killing me, no sure what got me into this situation. I made sure I couldn't see or hear the succubus anywhere. All windows and doors closed shut, the circle of chalk on the floor, and me in the center. Cold sweat was covering my back. In front of me, yet again, a Bible, and a lit candle before it. I had to steady myself for a moment before reaching above it, just above the flame. I took a razor into my shaking left hand and made a slow slice across my palm. I didn't feel much pain, instead, a warm sensation as blood flowed down and dripped off my hand, onto the candle, partially spilling on the pages as well. The candle went out. I felt a presence, a new one. My body froze, eyes open. I was used to this process, but I wasn't ready for what was about to come.

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