Already past midnight. 

 My favorite anime song broke the silence in my bedroom.

Without asking permission, the loud sound, coming out of the phone, interrupted my sleep. 

A deserved night of sleep after a long and boring day at my office.

And it just woke me up right when I was enjoying a pleasant dream.

Usually, when that happens so late in the night, it means bad news or, with luck, only a mistaken number.

So, it not only bothered me to wake up a few hours after I went to bed, I was also anxious. 

However, no matter how late in the night, I had to answer that call.

As it will be revealed, that night was not one of those lucky wrong number nights.

My bedroom so engulfed in darkness, that the only light was a blue glow from my phone. Bright enough for me to grasp the device without having to grope around on the small table by the side of my bed.

As I rolled my arms to the table, Voluptia, my partner, didn't move at all. She was slumbering so deep that not even the loud noise coming from the phone could bother her sleep.

I could not help but feel jealous.

For a moment I thought that was really a very good advantage being a succubus. Not only could she transform her shape in any kind of sexy and desirable women she wanted to be. But also shut out completely from space and time when she needed rest.

Then, I remembered our past together. All her sacrifices to be with me and their cost for both of us... and I felt sorry for her. 

Very ashamed for thinking that way, after all she’s given up for me.

On the other hand, since I am just an ordinary human being, I am not that hard to disturb.

So, I decided to end that melodic sound, loud enough to wake me up at that time and answer the call.

Of course, I could just ignore it.

Yeah I know a lot of people would just take a look to the number, see that it was from an unknown caller and return to sleep. Acting as if nothing had happened.

Yes, that would be a very normal behavior; however, my job obliges me to answer the phone no matter how late.

A peculiar job that is hard to explain to those not believers in the occult. Those without real knowledge about good and evil and all its shades.

You could say I am a detective. 

I am a private investigator. Not the usual type that only gets rich by following cheating husbands and wives or go looking for people that are missing.

I don't deal with normal crimes.

Only the unnatural type of cases.

Things that go bumping in the night; or even during daylight.

I begun calling myself "Detective of the Supernatural". I was inspired by an Italian comic when I made that title up. And; I think the word "Supernatural" can explain what I do well enough, partly because of the famous TV show.

Only, in my case, it is not a show.

Is a daily certainty.

Those nasty things love to make our reality their playground…

And that is when I come in.

This may sound crazy, for the closed mind, but the fact is: those things not only exist, but I have dealt with a lot of them.

And, it all started when I was a teenager.

As I mentioned before, I share an apartment with my partner. It is a very luxurious penthouse in the heart of this enormous city of São Paulo. 

One of the biggest cities of the world.

We live in a very wealthy way: my clients, have money to cover all my expenses and much more.

Because I am the only one that they can depend on, when those nasty things are in action, my name became rather famous in the high society.

Did I mention that my partner is a succubus?

It is true, and like every succubus, she is a beauty to die for.

I mean it literally...

Talking about Voluptia, she was sleeping in the air, floating, several inches above the floor. Almost completely naked in her see-through pink lingerie. Yet, the dim light of the phone did not allow me to see her delicate shapes.

That is how she sleeps, she does not share the bed with me, and we can't allow that to happen.

You might think, since my partner in life is a succubus living with me, a mortal, one could think she is not dangerous after all.

That she is the good kind of demon, right?

Wrong, definitely wrong.

Unfortunately, she is dangerous. In fact, mortally dangerous. 

Voluptia has an inner part of her personality, that when dominant, have only one desire: suck out the sexual energy of any men, that includes me, and satiate her hunger.

The result about that..., well..., in the end, she will absorb all the vital force that keeps that male alive, leaving only a shell with a satisfied expression in their face.

I must make a smart remark here: that it is not a bad way to depart from existence.

 But I want to postpone that as much as I can.

We share a bond since we were younger . Because of this bond, she developed a kinder persona. A persona that also happens be in love with me.

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Some of her needs can be controlled with the help of a charm spell.

An amulet that I carry in my necklace. Given to me by her own father, that amulet provides her with an alternative source of nurture and allows me to seal the violent and insatiable sex driven creature, that we call Grotheske, bringing out the sweet and kind Voluptia.

Sounds like slavery, but, in reality, it was her desire to live this way. She despises killing people.

So, we are both well with it.

Her father.., mmm well he is not that happy...

But, that is another story.

Unfortunately, there is a consequence of wearing the amulet: we cannot touch ourselves in any romantic way, or the spell will weaken. Her second persona would control her body and I would die in a very pleasurable way. Even not being their desire to do so.

Her gluttony persona, when surfaced, does not really care about love...or so, i thought.

But she loves to provoke me all the times.

It is hard to say if it is her or Grotheske, trying to break the seal...

However, what I have to tell here and I want to register in those memories is far more important than that part of my past. I will see if I tell about that in a future time.

Let me come back to my narrative and tell about that call, and all that followed it:

I was already prepared to hear something odd when I answered, for all the reasons that I stated above. However, nothing had prepared me to listen to that voice again. It was a voice from my past, the voice of someone very loved by me. And that someone was in so much despair, that decided to call me at that odd and late time of the night, without thinking twice.

I touched the button to answer. The caller must have realized that the call was complete and I started to hear the voice of a young woman, coming out of the device:

"Hello, can I speak to Mr. Roger Soares? It is urgent.", said the unknown young woman voice.

"Hello, this is him speaking, how can I be of service?"

"Oh," she sounded a bit embarrassed at first, but right after she realized that I was the one that she was after she recovered fast and continued, "hello again mister Roger", she replied "This is sister Paula, I am calling at this late time of night because our venerable Mother Superior "Mother Ana" is in need to speak with you as soon as possible."

"Mother Ana"...

The sound of that name sent me straight to the past. To a time before my adoption by a rich family. A time when I lived in a foster home with other children with no known parents, or relatives. A Catholic institution ruled by a college of nuns, here in São Paulo.

The oldest sister there was called Ana. She and several other sisters lived in the orphanage and took care of the kids at that time. To me and those kids they were our foster mothers. She was very kind and severe when needed to be. But, she loved all her children with a very deep dedication to every one of us.

Still, that made very little sense: why an old nun, that must probably be around her seventies, at that time, wanted to talk with an ex-foster kid, almost ten years after we last spoke? And why so late in the night?

"Mother Ana"? Please, do you mean sister Ana of the Saint George home for foster kids?"

"Yes, she said you would recognize her by that title. Well mister Roger, that sister Ana is now our Mother Superior here, and she wishes to speak with you, right now."

"But why so late?"

"I m afraid I can't reveal much by the phone, and probably not even she. We have a case for you. All I can say is that a hideous thing happened in our School, and we are so desperate that we could not afford to wait till the morning to call. Your number was given to us by a very respectable senior that you helped two years ago. "Dr. Rochard"  I believe you must remember the details of the case in question. He said that if you could not help us, no one else would be able to do it ".

In fact, I did remember Dr. Rochard and his case. It was one of my first cases, as a licensed detective. Solving it, the way I did, served to give me enough privilege to be known as the problem solver, that I became nowadays. Yes, the case was still very alive in my memory. Like it happened just a day before: a bunch of medics were being targeted, by a vengeful Baital: an Arabian kind of vampire.

The media got right that it was a case of vengeance. However, there were a lot more about that case. Only I and a few others, like Dr. Rochard, one of the few survivors, knew the truth about the Baital.

The voice sounded again, interrupting my thoughts about that old case'.

"We are in such a hurry to explain more, I m very terrified; so is the Mother Superior. She will talk to you about what is happening here, I must add: this is not a social call at all, mister Roger."

"Well put her in," those words made me more curious, also very worried about the old nun that I still cared a lot; even being so distant to me because of all the traps of time.

Still, one thing would never change and I said it to sister Paula right away:

"I am always ready to help one of my mothers in the orphanage, especially sister Ana, no matter what it is, tell her that she has my total support."

"She knows it, I will put her in the phone now, just a second, please".

Moments later I heard a low and tired voice coming from my cell phone:

"Roger, my beautiful kid, is that really you? Please speak loud, because my hearing is not like it used to be."

"Yes mother, it is me, how are you?" I said as I raised my voice a bit, still dazzled by hearing her old voice after so long" I m sorry that we lost contact for so long, a lot of things happ..."

"There is no time for that now, my son", she said in a worried voice cutting me in the middle of my sentence, "I need you to come here and as fast as you can. As sister Paula must have said, time is of the essence, we have a terrible thing happening here, and I was told that it is the kind of thing that only you can deal with, and to my surprise, God choose one of my own kids to help me in this time of probation. So, please, my son, for the love of the Lord, drop everything that you are doing right now and come here as fast as you can."

 The way she spoke made me worry more:

"Mother, are you well? I can feel..."

She cutted me again:

"Son, we need your services, and we don't know anyone else to ask for help, in these times of need. My son, the Devil is working here, in this sacred place, very close to the house of God", she was very desperate and I sensed that she was almost crying, that made me feel a grip inside my heart, and she continued, "sister Paula is sending you the location to your phone, I am afraid I don't understand very much about those things. We are not in the old orphanage, anymore. Hurry please, we will take care of any expenses that you might have, and I will explain everything to you in detail when you arrive here. However, my son, this is a very grave and shameful situation, so I might ask and I need you to promise me full professional discretion about everything that happens here, we still did not contact any authorities. Not only from the clergy; but from the police. Yet, we will need to do so soon. Still, I don't know how to proceed, that is why I need you here as fast as you can."

I assured her that I would never reveal anything about what was happening and that I would go there right away. She seemed more relieved: I could feel that she had absolute trust in me.

Because she sounded very desperate, and I cared very much about my old mother, I got worried sick. With my mind trying to understand what was happening. What could be so urgent to make an old woman like her, forget about the time and call me, not only as an ex-foster kid, but as an investigator of the supernatural. And in such a hurry? 

According to what she said, that was the Devil's work. Well, in my line of work there are many kinds of Devils that could be the reason. And many of them really hideous and violent.

 That made me feel a mix of anger and preoccupation. 

I taught to myself that "if any of those things were menacing someone so important to me, not only would I investigate and deal with it, fast, but if I found out that she was somehow hurt, I would make the culprits wish that they never messed with her."

Sister Paula's voice broke my thoughts:

"I am sending you the coordinates, we expect to see you soon, sorry again about the time of the night. The truth is that we are really not thinking right because of this. God bless you, mister Roger, and grant you a safe trip", said sister Paula, before she hung the phone up.

I gave a look to the location and realized, almost immediately, why she was so secretive about what was happening. I also realized that this case was in fact located in a farther away place that I thought. 

One that was, private, well guarded and difficult to access.

I used my mental link to reach out Voluptia in her subconscious state.

"Dear, I need you to exit your rest state. We need to go to the airport right away. We are being expected," I told her while I looked at the two noncommercial plane tickets that were now appearing in the visor of my phone. 

 That was a proof that they knew about her.

I wondered what else Mr. Rochard had taught about my partner, and continued sending my telepathic message:

"We have a brand-new case, and I have the feeling that this one won't be an easy one to deal with..."

-----

And so begins or story, this will be only one of many cases in this series. If you liked hit the like button, join me in this supernatural adventure. Subscribe and support the author. See you in our next exciting episode.

Reproduction without the consentiment of the author is forbiden. Names situations and events are used in ficticious way. This is a work of fiction.