A Succubus Awakens Ch. 02

Although relatively weak compared against other demons, succubi are, perhaps, humanity's most natural enemies. The weapons they wield, our Achilles' Heel. Unable to penetrate the mind's defenses through sheer force, they take more subtle paths to domination. Taking advantage of our hedonistic impulses, they seduce, coax, and distract until a chink forms in the armor of our minds. Thusly, are they able to invade.

Know this, noble reader. Once your mind is touched by a succubus' corruption, you are tainted. Ensuing attacks upon you become easier. Eventually, your mind will betray you, welcoming in your attacker and eagerly drinking in her poison. If you escape before it is too late, the corruption may fade with time, but prolonged exposure becomes permanent. In my years I have witnessed many brave souls reduced to whimpering slaves. Brought low by a single moment of weakness. Remain vigilant. Your will must be steadfast.

-Sir Arthur Thompson, The Demonic Archive

It was 2 AM before Gwen was able to sleep. A thrilling energy from the earlier... events, had clung to her and kept her awake. She didn't mind. It finally gave her a chance to catch up on the assignments she'd been too worried (or too horny) to do. She lost herself in the work. Finally filled out the chem lab summary she'd been toting to and from campus for a week. Wrapped up a project for Algorithms, and slogged through Calculus homework. Fuck calculus. But once finished, there was nothing left to take her mind off what she'd done to Amy. She lay in her bed and replayed the events in her head. She'd attacked her best friend with all the care of a predator chasing prey. Maybe that wasn't far off.

Once she had tasted Amy, what little of her control there was had gone out the window. Even now that sweet scent called to her from the next room. Gwen reset her hand on the wall and pictured Amy, sleeping on the other side. It wasn't really a scent though, or a taste, or a flavor. It was something else. Some quality that Amy possessed that she'd been unable to sense before now. But it was something Gwen could consume. Had consumed, she reminded herself. And whatever it was, it was delicious. Energy, she supposed. That was in line with the myths. She hoped that was it. Energy would return, but what if she'd taken something more precious? What if she'd done something permanent? Gwen would never forgive herself. Or perhaps she would.

It hadn't escaped her that after the incident she hadn't felt particularly bad about her actions. A little, sure, but it was peripheral. Something she'd noted and quickly dismissed while focused on the lingering satisfaction of feeding, and the frustration that she'd been forced to stop. The demonic side of her wasn't concerned with pesky human morality it would seem. Now though, she felt more like herself, more Gwen. Maybe if she stayed satiated her condition would be easier to manage. Gwen would be in control, rather than the sex-hungry demon within.

The undercurrent of arousal was still there, lurking beneath every thought, but it was easy to ignore. She could think clearly. She needed to find a way to feed regularly. Probably not difficult for a girl on a college campus. Tomorrow she would apologize. If Amy could forgive her everything would be okay. If not... Gwen closed her eyes and did her best not to think about it. After a while Sleep came, and with it the dream again.

Gwen floated. Surrounded by an inky darkness. Tiny swirls and ripples of distortion moved through it like water in oil. Gwen was aware, but not fully lucid. Her mind was foggy. Forming coherent thoughts took effort. The dream was familiar now. Each night she returned here. The first few times she'd barely remembered. She'd just floated drifting in and out of awareness. Now she could move. She raised a hand in front of her to examine it, the motion stirred the darkness. It resisted her movements, It was like moving through water. No, something thicker. Molasses? A bit cliche. Gwen realized she'd never actually seen molasses. She shook her head, sending out more ripples, and focused on her hand. Maintaining a train of thought here was difficult. Despite the darkness she could make out the shape of her arm, but it was blurry. It rippled like the darkness, struggling to maintain its form. Red light flickered across its outline.

Far In the distance, in the direction she thought of as up, was the ominous red light. It was always here. A menacing red sun, throwing off trails that looked like vapor and seemed to drift down as they dissipated. Dark lines crisscrossed its surface unevenly, breaking the shape up into wedges and chunks. Gwen thought they might be chains. It simultaneously called to her, and caused her to want to get as far away as possible. When she looked at it for too long, incomprehensible whispers filled her mind. She turned away. If she ignored it, the effects were barely noticeable.

Gwen turned in a circle, surveying her surroundings. As she did, lights danced on the periphery of her vision. That was new. Gwen concentrated, pushing her awareness out. Cutting through the ink. A million glowing pinpricks of light bloomed around her. They came in every shade imaginable. Some were bright, others dim. Some beamed uninterrupted, others flickered like candles. No two were the same. A few were large enough, or close enough perhaps, for Gwen to see that they were orbs. Others seemed so far that she could never reach them.

A large blue orb caught her eye and she came to an abrupt halt. A dim beam of light trailed from it towards her. The light drifted lazily like a string blown about by the wind. What was it? She swam towards the orb. Forcing her way through the darkness. It was difficult to judge distance here, but the orb couldn't have been more than a dozen feet away. Still, by the time she reached it she was exhausted. As Gwen got close she began to feel odd sensations radiating off it. They were fleeting, and faded before she could process them. The simple act of moving had drained her and her vision swung in and out of focus. She felt the waking world pulling her back. She resisted. Instead she placed a hand on the orb.

The sensations came into focus. They were emotions. Anger. Fear. Sadness. Concern. The surface of the orb was warm. It had some give, tensing as she pressed, and reforming when she let up. Her body ached. She brought her other hand around, hugging the orb. She savored the warmth, and let her body drift with the flow of the darkness.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

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For the first time since they moved in together, Gwen was up before Amy. After a night of tossing and turning she'd awoken to find that the horns had torn several holes in her pillow, and left her with a crick in her neck. The rush of energy from the night before was nowhere to be found, and the hum of arousal was growing again. Still, it wasn't enough to be a problem. By her best guess it would be 3 or 4 more days before it reached the levels of the previous day. After taking her measurements (the horns were a quarter inch longer), she'd prepared coffee, more for Amy's sake than her own, but was surprised to find it had some flavor to it. Still a bit dull, but it tasted like coffee. Now she sat on the sofa, absently tapping her foot and waiting for Amy to wake up. Why did it have to be Friday?

At the start of the semester she'd made the somewhat questionable decision to cram as many classes as possible into her Monday, Wednesday, Friday block. She'd figured if she bit the bullet for three days, it would leave her with four free-ish days each week. In the end she still had two classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but she enjoyed both of them. The plan mostly worked, but it made days like today hell. A slog of back to back classes for hours, followed by club activities. It was already eight, and she needed to be on campus in thirty minutes for calc. She considered waking Amy herself, but worried it would come across as too aggressive. She needed to be meek. Unthreatening. To make it clear she was in control.

Gwen was about to give up and try again after class when Amy shambled into the room and froze at the sight of her. Gwen was leaning forward, about to stand. She relaxed and sank back onto the sofa. Amy was a mess. Her usually immaculate hair was a frizzy tangle. There were faint bags under her eyes, and she hadn't bothered with makeup. Her glasses sat slightly crooked. She was still beautiful. Gwen realized they were playing out the scene from the previous morning, roles reversed.

"I made coffee."

Amy shrank a bit, and she tensed as she walked past Gwen to the kitchen. Gwen put an arm behind the sofa and twisted to watch her. She wore a white blouse, and pleated brown pants, tight at the waist but loose enough through the leg that they looked like a skirt at first glance. Gwen watched it sway, brushing up against her and revealing the contours of her hips and legs for a precious moment with each step. Mind out of the gutter Gwen.

"Listen, about last night..."

Gwen trailed off unsure what to say. Amy didn't respond. She filled a thermos with coffee, and withdrew a neatly packed container from the fridge. She gathered her purse, her backpack, and snatched her keys from the rack next to the door. All in silence. The tension in the room was so thick it felt difficult to move. Gwen was reminded of the dream. Amy began unlocking the door.

"Amy, wait! I'm sorry."

Amy paused. Gwen continued.

"I lost control. I hope you know that I would never hurt you."

"You already did."

Ouch. That hurt, but Amy was right. Desperation crept into Gwen's voice as a night's worth of planning spewed out in a confused plea.

"I-I know. But I think I can control it now. I won't ever ever touch you again." The words triggered a pang of sadness, but she meant them. Anything to save her friendship. "I can find someone else. I won't hurt them either, but I need to find someone. And when I do I'll be more careful. I can...feed more often and keep this under control. We can research together. Solve the problem. Please. You're my best friend. I love you... I need you."

Gwen's heart beat like a drum as she waited for an answer. She gripped the fabric of her jeans. She realized she was holding her breath and let it go. Amy sighed and relaxed her posture.

"We'll talk tonight."

That sounded ominous.

"Sure... Um, can I get a ride?"

Amy ignored her, threw open the door and she was gone. That could have gone better. Gwen checked the time.

"Shit!"

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The bus was late and she crept into Technical Writing 15 minutes after class had started. Professor Pérez noticed, and made sure that the rest of the class did too. Today he was demonstrating how to write memos, a supremely useless skill in Gwen's estimation, and he went so far as to use her as the subject of the example memo. Regarding Ms. Weston's Tardiness.

After that was Calculus (fuck calculus), then Chemistry and Chem lab, where she was did all the work while her lab partner Chris explained to her the difference between various styles of beer. Gwen didn't mind doing the work, she had long ago learned not to rely on anyone else when doing group work, and normally she didn't even mind Chris. He was an idiot, but he was harmless, and occasionally entertaining. Now she found herself grinding her teeth, imagining all the ways she could shut him up. When the TA dismissed them she practically sprinted out the door.

Then, after a quick lunch where she forced herself to eat, Linear Algebra. Uneventful, but by this point she had spent so much of the day worrying that she'd developed a persistent headache, and the muscles in her jaw and shoulders were cramping. She stepped out of the mathematics building into the brisk fall afternoon, and collapsed onto a nearby bench, spreading her arms along the back and tossing her head backward. She stared at the sky, and felt the wind tugging at her dangling hair. Leaves rustled as the wind threatened to pluck them free.

All day she'd been rehearsing a speech. A second, more coherent attempt to explain her plan. To convince Amy not to kick her out. She needed to make Amy understand what it felt like when she lost control. Make it clear that it hadn't been her that night. Not really. She closed her eyes and concentrated. No. Ultimately Gwen was responsible for her own actions. She shouldn't make excuses. Amy wouldn't buy them anyways. A different approach then. She needed to put herself in Amy's shoes.

Okay, she thought to herself, I'm a beautiful genius, perfect in every way, worshiped or envied by everyone, and my horny trash monster of a best friend just tried to seduce me and mind control me into fingering her. What do I want to hear? Her brows knit together. It definitely seemed pretty bad.

Amy was smart. Smarter than her. She felt truly terrible. Gwen just had to trust that Amy would see that if she explained. Sometimes winging it was the best course forward. Gwen brought a hand to her temple, she had a habit of rubbing them when thinking through a hard problem. Instead she met with the hard surface of a horn. She absently traced a finger up and down along its surface. It rose and fell as it passed over each ridge. A mocking voice cut through her thoughts.

"What are you doing?"

Gwen opened her eyes to see a smokey eyed redhead smirking down at her. Freckles were scattered across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose, and her hair was pulled into a ponytail framed by intricate braids. She wore a tight black sleeveless sweater, and a short matching skirt. They both looked expensive. So did her diamond earrings. Laura Fitzroy. Great.

"Just my usual pre meeting prep. Mentally preparing myself to deal with you. That sort of thing."

"Har har. Well you're going to be late. I wish you'd take your responsibilities more seriously."

"Look who's talking. We're both in the same spot, Laura. If I'm late, so are you."

"I'm running behind because I'm the treasurer of the student newspaper and a meeting ran over. You're sleeping on a bench like a hobo."

"You've got me there. You go ahead and I'll catch up."

"Let's just walk together."

"I'd rather die."

Laura rolled her eyes and marched off. Gwen waited a couple of minutes before following. It was petty. She'd see Laura again in a few minutes anyways. They were both members of Aquatic Ecology, or Aqua Eco for short. It was a student organization dedicated to preserving ocean life and repairing damaged ecosystems. Amy had joined the Astronomy Society, and although Gwen also loved space, she wanted to differentiate herself from Amy. To not be in her shadow for once. She'd always loved sea creatures, hence Aqua Eco. Other than Laura, it was great.

Laura's father was a very successful plastic surgeon and her mother a rising politician. She'd grown up with the best of everything, and always expected to have her way. She usually got it too. After all, Laura was God's gift to mankind. The frustrating thing was that she really was talented. It would be so much easier to hate her and move on if she was just another entitled heiress, but Laura was like the dark world version of Amy. Top of her class, overachiever, member of just about every club there was. But in Amy, Laura had met her match. Gwen smiled as she crunched through the leaves to the science building.

Amy and Laura were both pre-med, and shared several classes. Amy came out on top in all of them. The only reason Laura paid any attention to Gwen was because she saw herself as Amy's rival, and often pestered Gwen for details about her roommate, or attempted to use her to deliver some apparently devastating news or ply her for information. It was all in her head though. Amy didn't have rivals.

Gwen took the elevator to the third floor, and stepped into the club room just as Laura was finishing roll call. The subject of the meeting today was a charity ball at the aquarium at the end of the semester. They'd been planning all month. The ball had been Laura's idea of course. Her parents pulled some strings and roped in enough big shots that the donations would be worth it. Suffer through a stuffy dance to save some whales. Gwen could live with that, but she refused to like it. She sat quietly, eager to leave. When the meeting finally ended she raced for the door, only to be intercepted by Laura herself.

"Hey, what's up with Amy?"

Gwen tried to ignore her and kept walking, but Laura followed her down the hall.

"She looks terrible today. Stress finally getting to her?"

"She just has a cold."

"She's never had a cold before."

"First time for everything."

"There was a test today in Organic Chem. I don't think she did very well. Seems like the queen is slipping."

Laura wore a smug expression. If Amy really did fail a test today, it was Gwen's fault. The thought worsened her already foul mood.

"I guess college isn't as easy as public high school." She lingered on the word 'public'. "Maybe she can't hack it in the big leagues"

Laura really needed to shut up. Gwen's irritation was quickly building to an uncharacteristic rage. With it, a familiar sensation. She sensed Laura the same way she's sensed Amy before. Whatever her new sixth sense was, her anger seemed to have awakened it. They stepped into the elevator.

"Let your girlfriend know I'm here to help if she needs anything." Laura flashed a fake smile dripping with condescension.

Without thinking, Gwen lunged and pinned her to the wall by a shoulder with more force than she thought possible. Laura's eyes went wide. She tried to push Gwen away, but Gwen held her there easily with a single arm. Though they were about the same size, Laura was a lifelong dancer and her petite frame belied a lean athleticism. Gwen had seen her perform handstands, splits, and even a backflip once. Laura was stronger than her. Or she had been.

Laura abandoned her attempts and waited. Gwen could feel her. The same way she'd felt Amy the night before. Her scent was different. Less sweet, but with a pleasant bitterness. Like red wine. Gwen studied the girl cowering before her. Laura wasn't Amy, but she had a haughty beauty of her own. So proud. So arrogant. What would it be like to break her? Gwen let her arousal swell. She felt her lips pull back into a smile.

This was an opportunity. She needed a way to feed, after all. Even better, it would get Laura off of Amy's back. Two birds with one stone. Gwen instinctively reached out to take hold of Laura the way she had last night, but when her consciousness met Laura's she couldn't find purchase. It was like scrabbling at a wall of smooth steel. Her brows knit in confusion.

"I'd strongly recommend letting go. Unless you want to be sued into oblivion." Laura's voice was a low growl. She'd regained her confidence.

The elevator had almost reached the ground floor. Gwen let her go.

"Don't bother Amy," she forced out in an ineffectual attempt to punctuate the moment.

The doors opened and Laura strutted off with an affected composure. Gwen stared after her. An anticlimactic end. The outburst was surprising. Gwen could be a bit hot-headed, sure, but she'd always preferred words to violence. She'd certainly never been in a fight before. What bothered her more though, was that Laura had warded her off so easily. As far as Gwen could tell Laura was completely unaware she'd won their mental battle. Her anger was replaced by a sense of failure. She felt weak. Defeated. Gwen did her best to put the encounter out of her mind, though. There were other things to worry about.