Suddenly A Succubus
Chapter 32.1

Learning that Amara and Vee were stuck in Purgatory was both good news and bad news. Knowing where they were was helpful information, and it enabled Tessa to start throwing together a rescue plan. Unfortunately, of all the places to be stranded, Purgatory was one of the worst.

Tessa had spent quite a bit of time explaining this to Nick yesterday. Purgatory wasn’t just a place for ghosts and restless souls, it was a place of pure entropy. While most other planes were dangerous, many were made so only by the creatures that inhabited them. Purgatory, on the other hand, was inherently hostile to living creatures, regardless of other external threats. While there was no way to know how Purgatory would affect Amara and Vee’s supernatural bodies, there was no doubt this rescue mission had a timer attached to it.

At the moment, Tessa was sitting on her bed with a pile of notes scattered around her. Nick was on the floor, nervously shaking his leg, and occasionally asking questions or pitching ideas of his own. Tessa, for the most part, had been ignoring him.

“Can you at least tell me what our options are? I hate just sitting around doing nothing,” Nick complained.

“Isn’t that what you’ve always done? Let Amara do all the hard stuff while you just, I dunno, get a bunch of free sex?” Tessa said, not bothering to look up from her notes.

“I’ve always found ways to help! I was able to research Mr. Wellington, I threw together a schedule for everyone in the cult, stuff like that. Plus, early on, I was doing everything in my power to keep Amara from freaking out about her transformation.”

“And I’m glad you did! But, right now, the only way forward is to figure out a way to get them back. Now that we know they’re in Purgatory, the best shot we have is to reconfigure the Lysander Circle. It was originally crafted to keep Purgatory out, but the cult weakened it. Since the circle is already intimately tied to the plane, I should be able to rework its magic to create a bridge, but like I’ve said before, this is old and powerful magic. I need time to figure it out.”

“If the school is a giant soft spot, doesn’t that mean Purgatory is already overlapping with us?” Nick asked.

“I mean, yes, but it’s not that simple. If we weren’t on a soft spot, building a bridge would be impossible for me; I simply don’t have the skills. Thankfully, we have the soft spot, and we have an existing circle that’s already been calibrated for Purgatory. I also revisited the Ritual Circle earlier today; in a strange twist of fate, it’s proving quite useful right now. I was able to study how they repurposed the existing circle to make a portal, and I think I can do the same with the Lysander Circle.”

“But do you need, I don’t know, reagents? Materials?”

“Nick, when have you ever seen me use something like that? I’m not just smooshing together some eye of newt and asking very nicely to see Amara again. That’s not really how magic works unless your power comes from a Fae, or something similar. Most of the time, magic is just math, but it’s the boring kind of math where there’s more letters than numbers.”

Nick, who had previously been leaning against the wall, pivoted and laid down on the floor instead. “Ugh, okay, fine.”

Tessa shuffled more of her notes around, jotted down a few ideas, then sighed. It felt like she was hitting a mental block, there were obstacles in her way that just didn’t make sense. The notes from the Ritual Portal were helpful, but it was hard to know which runes were for Hell, and which ones were for building the bridge. When they’d been going up against the cult, this would be the point where she would mount Amara’s tail to take a break and shake things loose, and she could already feel a familiar tingle between her legs as she recalled how good Amara felt inside her.

Maybe it’s time for another attempt. At the end of the day, he’s still a guy, right? I’ve just got to figure out what he wants.

Setting down her pencil, Tessa slid to the floor until she was next to Nick. “Actually, you know what? There is something I could use your help with. I have trouble thinking when I’m distracted, and I’ve got an itch that won’t shut up.” As she talked, she pushed her hands on Nick’s chest, then straddled him. She pushed her ass against his crotch, briefly grinding against him in hopes of exciting him.

When she’d started speaking, Nick seemed genuinely interested in helping out, but as he figured out what she meant, he changed his tune. “I, um… look, Tess, I appreciate the offer, but I really don’t think—”

“Oh, come on,” Tessa groaned, “don’t give me that shit! You were fucking Amara like, every day for months, no matter what crazy shit she got up to. Why is that different?”

“She’s a succubus, Tess! If she’s not having sex, her body shuts down, it’s literally a matter of life and death for her!”

Tessa crawled off Nick, huffing as she finally vented her frustration. “I don’t believe that, Nick. At that party, when Amara threw herself at you, no one knew she was a succubus! You didn’t hesitate to take her to pound town then, so what’s the difference? Are you secretly in love with her? Do you not like chicks with short hair?”

Sitting up, Nick shifted further away from Tessa. “It’s nothing like that; Amara and I are just friends, and I want it to stay that way. And you’re very attractive, Tess, I promise.”

“Then what is it?” Tessa sat down on the floor, leaning up against her bed before looking at Nick again.

Nick sighed. “Look, I don’t like talking about it, but I don’t really feel arousal unless there’s a connection. With Amara, we’d been best friends for years, so we already had that bond.”

“Wait, you’re Demi?” Tessa asked.

“Yeah, pretty much. And, despite all the time we’ve spent together, I feel like I don’t know anything about you. Do you have family? Why are you going to college? How do you feel about your magic? Why are you a witch? Every time I ask, you dodge my questions.”

Tessa paused, surprised by Nick’s confession. She’d always assumed he had hooked up with Amara because he was just another horny guy, secretly desperate to fuck his best friend. With this new information, everything suddenly made sense.

“You seriously don’t have feelings for her? I thought demi people needed romantic entanglement before they wanted to do anything.”

“I can’t speak for everyone, but I’m more than happy to be friends with benefits. I know everything about Amara, I know her hopes and dreams, I know what she’s afraid of, I know her feelings about her family. I love her to death, but as a friend, and that’s still enough to feel a sexual attraction.”

Silence filled the room, as Tessa had no idea what else to say. Sex was many things to her, but never a way to connect with someone emotionally. Sex was a way to blow off steam, a way to convince lovestruck idiots to do her homework. It was a Swiss army knife that she’d used hundreds of times to take control of her life in a hundred different ways. Now, faced with Nick’s unique approach to sex, Tessa had no choice but to dwell on an uncomfortable truth; sex was a way to prevent people from getting too close.

She hated thinking about it, even though she’d always known it was true. In the past, people had tried to get close to her, and she had learned that a quick fuck often enabled her to skip conversations about her past or her feelings. Men were particularly vulnerable to this; their desire to learn about your future aspirations often vanished when your tits came out.

So, what now? I either accept that Nick and I are never going to hook up, or I give him what he wants. Of course, the biggest reason to keep people away doesn’t apply here; he already knows about the world of magic, and he’s already balls deep in it.

“My parents were witches,” Tessa said quietly.

Nick looked up, surprise on his face, but stayed quiet. Did he want her to continue talking? The silence bothered her, especially after sharing something she’d never told anyone before.

“They were in a coven, and they had the same job as every other witch; keep magic a secret,” she continued.

“Is magic really that big a deal?” Nick asked.

“Power corrupts, Nick, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. But that can happen in a million different ways.”

Nick’s voice was quiet, matching Tessa’s. He seemed to be picking his words carefully, and he talked as if walking on eggshells. “Amara once told me that you think magic is a curse. Is that true?”

Tessa sighed. “It feels like one. When someone finds out about magic and winds up dead, it’s tragic, but not surprising. I mean, look at Amara; she finds out she’s a demon, and within two months, multiple people have tried to enslave her, Vee almost killed her, and she had to fight off a demonic cult. It’s a miracle she’s not dead.”

“So, what do you do? As a witch, I mean. How do you keep magic a secret?”

“We do all sorts of stuff. Sometimes it sounds heroic, like fighting off werewolves or vampires to keep humans from finding out about them. Frequently it’s boring stuff, like making sure libraries or occult shops don’t stumble into real magic.”

“What about you?”

“Well, I didn’t come here for an education, for one thing. I was assigned to Aurelius University by my Coven. I have a feeling they did it so I could keep an eye on the soft spot and the Gate, but they never actually told me anything. They, uh… they don’t like me very much.”

There was another pause, and Tessa looked up at Nick. She’d seen him make this face before, and she had a feeling he was cycling through countless different questions to find the one he felt needed to be asked.

“So where are your parents? Are they assigned anywhere?”

Fuck. Why does he ask the worst possible questions?

“My parents are dead,” Tessa whispered. “They were killed when I was little, right in front of my eyes. That’s what I mean when I say this world is a curse; you don’t get a happy ending once you learn magic is real. It’s only a matter of time before some unknowable tragedy wipes you off the face of the planet.”

Tessa shut her eyes, squeezing them as hard as she could as she tried to fight off the horrible memories of that night. More than anything, she desperately wanted Nick to stop asking questions.

To her surprise, Nick stood up and walked closer. He kneeled next to her, putting an arm around her shoulder and gently hugging her. “I’m sorry to hear that. For what it’s worth, you’ve got me and Amara on your side. And maybe Vee, someday. You’re not alone in this anymore, Tess.”

As much as she tried to fight it, Tessa felt herself tearing up. “Look, I should get back to work. Can you, I dunno, go get us some burgers or something?”

Nick pulled away, keeping a hand on her shoulder as he tried to look into her eyes. “Absolutely. The usual?”

Tessa nodded. At this point, she just wanted Nick to leave, and figured he would only do so if he had a chance to feel helpful. She awkwardly sat on the floor as she watched him leave, but didn’t bother returning to her work once she was alone. A cloud of unpleasantness surrounded her, reminders of why it felt better to avoid these types of conversations. Knowing Nick, he was going to keep being nice, politely trying to learn more about her while offering emotional support, and she struggled to think of any reasons why she shouldn’t oblige him.