Suddenly A Succubus
Chapter 39.2

Chill winter winds raced between the buildings of Aurelius University as Vee stepped outside. She pulled her scarf tight as the crisp air bit at her face, and she allowed herself a quick glance at Amara. She wore nothing but her chitinous exoskeleton, her demonic blood rendering her completely immune to the frigid weather. Memories of cuddling for warmth in Purgatory resurfaced, and Vee regretted that they couldn’t share that warmth again now.

She redoubled her grip on her Enochian Texts. Its magic would hopefully help her stand against the reapers, and she was optimistic about their battleground. Their last big fight, the ritual, had been in a cramped, hidden basement underneath campus, whereas now they had the entire quad at their disposal. Ideally, the extra space would enable her to keep her distance while Amara drew the reapers’ attention.

Of course, she would need to dive in eventually.

Even inside her pocket, the cold metal of Tessa’s switchblade was hard to ignore. It was heavier than its weight, and Vee’s nerves fluttered as she thought about the responsibility she held. This knife might very well be the only thing that could stop Brandon, and it was up to her to pick the time to strike.

Shaking her head, she pulled herself away from her thoughts and looked at her friends.

“How are you feeling, Amara?” she asked.

Amara clenched her fists, her chitinous gauntlets smoldering as they clicked together. “Ready to tear that fucker limb from limb.”

As they walked down the steps beside the cafeteria, Vee watched more of Amara’s exoskeleton appear. Blackened plates grew from her body with flurries of hellfire, and her feet arched as thick talons appeared.

“Just try to stay focused, alright?” Tessa said. “We all know how emotional you get when you’re like this, but you need to keep a level head and stick to the plan.”

“Please, I was way more juiced up the night of the ritual, and that plan went off without a hitch.”

“This is more personal, though. Brandon’s been a thorn in your side for months.” Vee stepped closer, grabbing Amara’s arm to get her attention. “I know you blame yourself for all this, but it’s not your fault.”

Amara stopped walking and looked back at Vee, her eyes burning with rage. “If I’d killed him that night, none of this would be happening.”

Vee stared back for a moment before releasing her grip. It was difficult seeing Amara like this, but she knew there was nothing more to say. Instead, she found herself wondering just how much of Amara’s personality was tied to her hellfire, or lack thereof.

We spent all that time together in Purgatory, but she was slowly starving. Would those conversations have been possible had she been fully sated?

Ugh, this isn’t the time.

You can figure out your friendship once Brandon is out of the picture. Besides, she hasn't had a chance to figure herself out yet; she’s been too busy fighting for her life ever since her transformation started.

The three of them stepped off the staircase and were now level with the quad. Tessa looked at the group, nodded, then walked off to find a place to hide and watch. Amara’s wings reappeared, and she began stretching as they stared at the field just a few dozen feet away. The heat felt amazing as it washed over Vee, and she took a moment to walk in front of Amara.

“Hey, whatever happens out there… I’m really happy we’re friends again. There’s no one in the world I’d rather be doing this with.” Vee reached up and gently grabbed the back of Amara’s neck, smiling as she did.

Amara returned the favor, pulling their foreheads together. “Us against the future, right?”

Vee nodded, closing her eyes as she let herself savor this last moment of peace. “Us against the future.”

With a resolute nod, they stepped away from each other. Vee opened her Enochian Texts, magically bound them to her offhand, then summoned her angelic mace. It glimmered with radiant power as she spun it around, and she took a deep breath to prepare herself. She released the breath, and with it, one last prayer. Magic rushed through her, heightening her senses and strengthening her body. She jumped side to side, adjusting to the shift in perspective, then nodded with approval. With one last look at Amara, they started towards the quad.

The cold grass crunched under Vee’s feet as she stepped onto the field. Thick blankets of fog obscured the ground, roiling and billowing away from its source; the rip between dimensions that grew larger with each passing minute. Air shimmered around it, pulsing with unnatural energy as it struggled to pass between the campus and Purgatory. Its complete lack of refinement was obvious, even to Vee. It shuddered and pulsed unnaturally as it grew, and she had a feeling Brandon was forcing it to exist through the most brutish means imaginable. There was no elegance, no complex web of runic symbols, just a lone madman desperately tearing holes in reality with power he didn’t deserve or understand.

Three reapers slowly circled the portal, occasionally twitching and shaking with discomfort. Vee hoped that, away from Purgatory, their strength would be diminished.

In the center of it all, silhouette scattered and stuttering, was Brandon.

A wave of infernal heat pulsed from Amara, and she crouched down to start sprinting across the field. She moved faster with each step, her tail darting back and forth to keep her steady, and fire began to swirl around her feet. The flames shrank, condensing on a single point before exploding with incredible force, catapulting Amara towards Brandon.

Moments before impact, a ghastly form inside Brandon turned to look at her, and he raised an arm. His translucent, skeletal hand shimmered, and a reaper darted forward to intercept Amara’s attack. A loud crack appeared on the creature’s arm as it roared in pain, and another reaper leapt at Amara with a similar cry of its own. Its tail lashed out, but with another burst of hellfire, Amara spun and caught it. She kicked the second reaper down to the ground, returned its aggressive scream with one of her own, and continued her assault.

Vee was terrified for Amara, but she had a feeling her demonic friend didn’t share the sentiment; having now seen Amara in multiple fights of this scale, it was obvious she reveled in the thrill of combat. Hellfire surrounded her as she began darting and weaving around the three reapers, sticking to the plan and keeping them distracted. Vee lost track of what happened next; Amara moved with such ferocity that it was hard to follow her movements exactly.

On the far side of the quad, a soft choir of otherworldly music floated from Vee’s lips as she prepared more magic. As the first prayer finished, a burst of light appeared on the grass in front of her, its shape resembling her own. She repeated this several more times, creating multiple copies of herself in different spots across the field before turning to a different page.

She read aloud a familiar passage, summoning a barrage of Enochian arrows, and launched them at Brandon. They soared through the air with an angelic hum, but at the last second, Brandon forced a reaper to intercept the attack. Her arrows collided with the tattered wings of the beast before vanishing entirely.

Hardly surprised, she readied another volley as she repositioned herself. This time, instead of drawing energy completely from the book, she weaved in traces of her own magic to alter the spell. As the arrows formed, their sharp points doubled in size, hopefully now thick enough to damage the reapers. The second barrage launched, aiming at Brandon again, and he repeated his previous command. This time, however, the reaper screeched in displeasure as the arrows impacted one of its front legs, sinking several inches in before disappearing.

Now injured, this reaper broke off from the group to charge Vee. Its massive body shook the ground as it approached, and she hoped her radiant doubles were bright enough to distract it. She kept low to the ground and ran to the side of the quad, muttering a prayer to summon another volley of arrows.

When the reaper arrived, it closed its massive jaw around one of Vee’s stationary copies, which immediately vanished in a burst of light. The distraction was all she needed, and she launched her next attack, focusing on its already damaged front leg. The reaper turned as they whistled through the air, but it wasn’t quick enough to dodge the attack completely. Instead, its wings swept across its body, knocking some of the arrows off course while absorbing the momentum of others. With a screech, the monster immediately changed direction to charge at Vee.

It barreled through more of her radiant copies, dispelling them as well, and Vee knew she needed to keep her distance. She darted behind a nearby tree, then sprinted to another as she tried to lose the reaper in the tree line. It moved quicker than she expected, however, and pivoted quickly before lunging at her. Its shoulder clipped the base of a tree, but its outstretched arm still managed to swipe at Vee.

She gasped in pain as a claw slashed into her hip, sending her tumbling to the ground. She swore to herself as she noticed the reaper’s tail moving in for another attack, which she dodged at the last second by rolling out of the way.

She continued jumping and weaving through trees as she listened to her pursuer free itself from the tree it had collided with. With enough distance between them, she prepared another spell from her book. This one took more concentration, but she knew it would be worth the risk. Her heart pounded in her chest as she ran, and just as the reaper closed the distance and reached out for her, she jumped as high as she could.

Instead of landing back on the grass, she landed several feet above it on a thin, radiant circle of Enochian runes. The reaper’s claw tore a gash in the ground underneath her, where she would have landed otherwise, but she kept her focus on the spell. She planted her other foot and shoved hard, leaping into the air before summoning another runic circle. As she landed safely, the first circle disappeared, and the reaper turned to look up at her.

She continued running higher, strafing over the tops of the trees as Enochian circles continuously appeared and disappeared underneath her feet. Another volley of arrows appeared, firing down at the reaper, but it dodged them by ducking behind a tree. Vee prepared her next attack as she waited for the beast to reappear, but she had trouble reading its movements.

It reemerged briefly underneath the next tree over, and she thought it was about to leap up at her, so she fired. Instead, the reaper swerved to the other side of the tree before jumping, its wings outstretched as it loosed another horrid screech. Her sensitive hearing made its ghastly wails exponentially more painful, and the discomfort made her lose concentration on her next attack. The reaper’s wings thrust down with incredible force, catapulting it into the sky as it tried to close the distance.

Its head collided with her runic platform which, while it blunted the attack somewhat, also shattered on impact. Vee hadn’t been able to jump away in time and lost her balance immediately. She fell several feet before summoning another platform, landing on her back with an agonizing gasp.

The reaper had landed atop the nearest tree, and its attempts to recover gave Vee enough time to crawl to her feet. With another thrust of its wings, the reaper sprang at her, but she planted her hands and shoved hard to dodge it. She briefly landed on another platform before turning away from the reaper and sprinting hard. With her opponent now completely airborne, she switched her focus entirely to evading it. She ran as fast as she could, the sounds of Amara’s battle filling her ears as she raced through the sky over the quad. The reaper was quicker than she expected, and she was shocked at how quickly it could change course in midair. Every few seconds she would manage to fire off a single bolt of energy, but it soon became clear that her smaller attacks weren’t fazing the beast.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Amara still holding her own against the two other reapers. Both creatures had visible cracks and scorch marks on them, but Amara was also sporting new injuries of her own. Worst of all, Brandon was still ignoring the fight entirely. The portal continued to grow, and Vee saw traces of energy connecting him to the reapers; whatever they were doing, it wasn’t enough to break his hold on them. She briefly feared what might happen if he turned his attention completely towards the fight, but her thoughts were derailed as the reaper in pursuit swiped at her.

Rather than ducking under this attack, she dispelled her current platform and dropped several feet onto a new one. From there, she started leaping towards Amara, wondering just how intelligent these beasts were. She jumped higher, running as fast as she could, as the third reaper closed on her. Looking behind her, she waited until the reaper was about to attack, then summoned another platform at a harsh angle in front of it. The beast collided with the magic, predictably shattering it, and Vee swung her mace at the creature. Her mace struck the creature’s damaged leg, cracking it further but failing to destroy it entirely. Thankfully, attacking this reaper was only part of her plan.

She let herself fall, foregoing the creation of more platforms, and shifted her attention to the battle beneath her. Amara was still engaged with the two other reapers, and blood was pooling around her chitinous plates as it flowed from her ever-growing collection of injuries. Vee read a prayer aloud from her book, summoning another volley of arrows, and released them seconds before she arrived herself.

Her magic rained from above, catching the reapers off guard while thankfully avoiding Amara. The arrows were entirely a distraction, and while the creatures flinched from the attack, Vee brandished her mace. She smashed it into a reaper’s neck, smirking as she heard a heavy crack and a deafening shriek. Spinning quickly, she landed gracefully in front of Amara, then turned and shouted, “Now’s your chance, I’ll cover you!”

Amara nodded, her eyes blazing, and leapt at the damaged reaper. Vee summoned another blast of light, giving Amara time to isolate her target, then turned her own focus to the two other reapers.

Okay, Amara seemed evenly matched against two of them, so if I buy her enough time, she can finish that one off. This is going to suck, but I only need to last a few minutes. Stay defensive, don’t take risks, just keep them busy.

The ground shook as the reaper that had been chasing her through the air landed, almost crushing her in the process. She jumped away at the last second, skidding on the soft grass before dodging a tail swipe from the other reaper. Fear gripped her, along with memories of how difficult it had been to survive against just one of these beasts, but she knew she had to keep Amara safe. She jumped over a massive claw that dug into the ground, then threw her mace at the same reaper’s body. Impacting the massive rib cage, the weapon shattered in a burst of light, and Vee immediately began the incantation to replace her weapon with a more reliable defensive option. Another runic circle appeared, this one floating by her hand, and she continued praying as she rolled away from the other reaper.

Another burst of magic, another circle, and her makeshift shield grew even thicker. She blocked an incoming claw, the impact nearly overwhelming her magic, and she slid backwards several feet when the other beast capitalized on her momentary distraction. Its tail lashed across the field, digging into her thigh as she groaned in pain.

Stay quiet, Vee, don’t distract Amara.

A quick glance towards Amara showed that the distraction was working; the reaper facing her down was in terrible shape, hopefully on its last legs.

Vee turned back towards her battle, doing everything she could to keep the other reapers busy. Every parry, every dodge put her between her two reapers and the one fighting Amara, but her strength was fading fast; without her Enochian Texts, she would have fallen already. The overwhelming force of these creatures forced her to pray without end, the book’s magic constantly reinforcing her shield. Yet, for every two strikes she successfully blocked, they found an opportunity to return the favor.

Sometimes there were simply too many attacks to block, and she had to choose where to direct her focus. At other times, one reaper would try to skirt around Vee and advance on Amara, which forced Vee to overextend and distract the creature again. Her only true advantage was that one of her opponents was the same reaper she’d been fighting earlier, and its weakened leg caused it to move slower on its left side.She stayed close to its bad leg as often as she could, but she was also slowing down herself.

Pain wracked her body, and while her angelic magic helped dull its effects, she was having trouble holding her focus. A web of deep cuts and gashes slowly formed across her body, the blood drying unnaturally quick as the heat from Amara’s rage washed over her. Her movements grew sluggish, losing their angelic elegance as her exhaustion compounded, but she knew she couldn’t give in. Amara had her back, and together they could handle anything.

A horrifying scream erupted behind Vee. The reaper fighting Amara was crying out, its discordant voices rattling Vee’s ears as she tried to fend off her attackers. Its noise was soon overpowered by a deep, triumphant roar coming from Amara, and seconds later, the beast’s cries vanished entirely.

Vee assumed Amara had finished off the creature, and was proven correct when the disembodied skull of a reaper flew over her head and impacted one of the creatures in front of her. Another burst of heat washed over Vee, and soon Amara was standing in front of her, holding back the two reapers that had been on the verge of killing her. Vee fell to one knee as Amara spread her wings to protect her.

“Fuck… thanks for the save, Hellspawn,” Vee muttered, smirking. Blood filled her mouth, and she spat on the ground as she winced in pain.

“It’s not over yet, you know what needs to happen!” Amara leapt forward, hellfire spewing from her fists as she tackled one reaper while kicking the other. She spun around in midair, landing on one of their necks, and continued her assault.

Vee took the advice and ran backwards, drawing energy from her Enochian Texts and using it to heal her wounds. There wasn’t enough time to bounce back to full strength, however. Even though Amara had successfully killed another reaper, her strength was obviously fading as well. Amara wasn’t a trained fighter, and she was clearly choosing unrivaled aggression in lieu of something more defensive. Her movements now were comparatively sluggish, and every moment Vee spent healing herself felt like a risk.

By the time Vee felt ready to return to the battle, Amara was in even worse shape. Her body was bruised and bloodied, and it took all of Vee’s strength to avert her eyes to instead focus on her magic. Another volley of arrows appeared around her, and she launched them as she ran to a new vantage point.

Her and Amara were now on opposite sides of the reapers, which were forced to separate as they tried to dodge the incoming barrage. In the seconds of time that she’d bought, Vee called out to her friend.

“Amara!”

The two girls locked eyes, and Vee wordlessly looked at Brandon, communicating her plan. Amara nodded, dug in her talons, and prepared to strike. She quickly threw bursts of hellfire at both reapers, which Vee followed with her own volley of magic, and the reapers were again forced to move out of the way. This time, Amara turned her attention towards Brandon, leaping at him with hellish fury.

“Brandon! It’s over!” she screamed, her fists on fire as she closed the distance.

Vee dispelled her runic shields, focusing entirely on the magic empowering her body as she reached for Tessa’s switchblade. Gripping it tight, she sprinted towards Brandon, hoping that Amara’s distraction had worked. The air grew thick as she approached the portal, and she watched Brandon turn to face Amara. He raised his skeletal hand and a series of ghastly chains appeared, completely halting Amara’s movement and freezing her in midair. At that exact moment, Vee leapt at the mad cultist, knife ready, aiming the blade at his ribs.

A flickering, disembodied face turned to look at her, and Brandon raised his other arm, paralyzing Vee and stopping the knife just inches away from him.

“Enough!” he shouted. A haunting chorus of undead voices echoed his sentiment, and with a flick of his wrist, he knocked the knife from Vee’s hands. With a pained scream, he threw them both to the ground, then turned to face them directly.

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