Karazelle stood in her shower, her hands braced against the wall as hot water streamed down her back. Her eyes were wide, her heart was hammering, and her tail was coiling with anticipation. Her entire body tingled, and it wasn't from mere excitement. Try as she might to catch her breath, it just wouldn't come.
"Get it together, girl..." she muttered to herself, staring hard at the water swirling around her feet.
She could barely remember the past while - half an hour maybe, she wasn't sure - just snatches of the whirlwind that happened right after she kissed Cobalt. There was always an idea in her mind of just how experienced the Incubus was, and for the most part she was proven right. His tongue trembled, his hands were uncertain, and his voice gasped sweetly with an unexpected yipping noise, especially whenever she nicked his neck with her teeth.
But sweet Hellfire, he was good.
Karazelle couldn't stop herself. That kiss she incited in a moment of madness quickly progressed into some incredibly heavy petting. At first, she had Cobalt like putty in her hands, but soon his own hands began to wander and-
Fucking Hell. Where did he learn to do any of that? Two years of little to no progress, and suddenly he had gotten to third base? Before her?! The audacity!
She leaned harder against the wall, her legs still trembling a little.
"Embarrassing..." she uttered with a paradoxical grin, leaning her forehead against the cool tile of her bathroom wall.
Was this finally it? Were they to go all the way?
She hopped into the shower partly to calm herself down and gather her bearings, but also partly because... she felt ready. If it were with Cobalt, then yes; Karazelle felt ready to go the full way. She had no idea what was bringing this on, but she had checked in with him multiple times, and he never made any indication that he wanted to stop. And neither did she, so...
Sweet hellfire, why was she acting the bashful virgin now? She was a Succubus, for crying out loud! This is supposed to be her bread and butter! Hell, she'd orchestrated dreams about this exact scenario!
And yet... After all this time, Cobalt finally came to her of his own volition. No aphrodisiac or other magical wonderdrug necessary. To think that it was now - when Karazelle had long since given up on trying to get with him - that he finally decided to take that step. What changed...?
She shut the water off and took a deep breath. Stepping out of the shower, the Succubus quickly dried herself off and wrapped a towel around her, taking a moment to adjust it so it was just a little too loose. She still had to maintain an air of experience, after all. Gazing at herself in the mirror, she gave herself a nod.
"Alright. Let's get out there and show him-"
Karazelle frowned, noticing a series of marks all along her neck and shoulders.
"... Damn. Momma's gonna flip when she sees these," she muttered, running a finger along the burgeoning hickies.
With her resolve bolstered, the Succubus adjusted herself one last time, unlocked the door and stepped out into her dorm room.
Her empty dorm room.
"... Sugar? You there?" Karazelle called, deflating upon realising that she was alone.
With one eyebrow raised, she walked over to her window and peered outside. Across the way, she noticed that Cobalt's window was shut and the curtains had been drawn once more. Frowning, she turned back to see a note sitting in the middle of her coffee table, weighed down with an empty mug. It was a scrap from one of her unused notebooks, marked with a pen taken from her desk.
I am so sorry. Please forget this happened.
Cobalt's handwriting.
"Oh sugar..." she sighed, picking the note up.
The beginnings of disappointment sparked in her chest, but she allowed it to simply wash over her. She knew deep down that it was a little too good to be true. The two of them kissing was a surprise. Cobalt going down on her was a downright shock. But taking that last step and going all the way... it was likely a little much for him. She couldn't begrudge him that.
Hey, it was fun while it lasted, right?
"Like I said," Karazelle murmured, screwing up the note, "I'll wait as long as it takes."
Stepping over to her bed, she readjusted the ruffled sheets and lay down, sighing as she stared at the ceiling.
On the bright side, those memories were going to tide her over for a good while yet. So there's that. Downside was that she'd have some difficulty chasing that high, but hey; she's nothing if not zealous in her-
Over on the Succubus' side table, her mobile began to ring.
"You gotta be kidding me. It's a weekend," she grumbled, snatching it off the desk.
She answered it without thinking.
"Hello, you've reached Karazelle Terna, how can help you?" she asked in a mocking voice.
"Don't take that tone with me, Karazelle," her mother responded, as serious as ever.
She pulled a face. Why was Viola bothering her now, of all times?
"What's up, Momma? If this is about Arnn Srenth's photography project, just know I was doing the world a favour."
"No, that's not- ugh, I don't have time for this. Meet me in my office; I need to ask you some questions."
The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. It was never good when she started asking questions. The only time Viola Terna ever seemed to take an interest in her daughter's life was when she was trying to blame her for something.
"Now? It's the weekend, and I've got so~ much study to do," Karazelle said, glancing over at the mountain of unfinished assignment work sitting on her desk.
"Karazelle. Don't make me ask twice, alright? Just... get up here. It's important."
She rolled her eyes.
"Fine~. Just gimme a minute. Love you."
"I love you too."
Only Viola Terna could make those words sound so stilted and cold. She's never been terribly good at expressing herself, but ever since Cobalt's dad returned from the proverbial dead, she's been acting even stranger than usual.
Karazelle knew her mother well enough to recognise an unrequited schoolgirl crush when she saw one.
With a groan, the Succubus rolled off her bed and gathered up the closest approximation to clothes she could find, that being the pajamas she had worn for the previous few nights. Viola wouldn't approve of wearing such attire in public, but then again, Viola never really approved of anything. Peering back over at Cobalt's window, she opened her door and stepped out into the hall.
-----
It was unusually for Mistress Viola to leave the main school building unlocked on the weekends, a fact that struck Karazelle only as she was making her way up the stairs to the top floor. She had been in the school after hours before, of course, but being purposefully invited there - by her mother of all people - was just... strange. Still. Best to just hear her out and get it over with so she could hurry home.
Cobalt's surprising dexterity had left her a little antsy.
Halfway up the stairs, however, Karazelle met someone else coming the opposite way; a Fallen woman, dressed in a set of mismatched hand-me-downs. For a moment she paid her no heed, until the jagged shortness of her alabaster hair suddenly caught her eye. Frowning, the Succubus looked up to meet the other demon's shockingly green eyes; each as wide and glassy as a polished emerald.
"... Elya?" she breathed, completely dumbfounded.
It was bizarre, seeing her like this. Aside from her nurse's uniform, she had never seen the Fallen wearing proper clothes. And even more strange was the fact that the school had long since gotten a new nurse to replace her; some stuffy Nymph who was barely out of med school.
Elya just stared at Karazelle, opened her mouth, and rapidly shook her head. Without a single word, she turned and bolted down the stairs. Even her gait was off. It was less stiff than usual.
"... What the Hell...?"
As confusing as her behaviour was, she didn't have the patience to worry about it. Reaching the top of the stairs, she found the door to her mother's office already lying ajar. Easing it open, Karazelle stuck her head in and peered down the lengthy office.
Despite the good weather, the electric fireplace was lit, and Viola Terna was sitting on one of the couches facing the fireplace, nursing a glass of whiskey. She looked troubled, with a pained expression creasing her face. Karazelle always joked that those tight buns were giving her mother migraines, but she had never seen her look quite like... that.
"Momm-"
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"Come in, darling," Viola called, massaging the bridge of her nose.
Ooh. 'Darling'. That was never a good sign.
Slinking inside, Karazelle crept across the floor and sat down opposite her mother, who frowned and squinted at her clothes.
"Are those...?" she murmured.
"Jimjams. You got them for me last year."
"Did I...?"
There was something off about her. Her mother wasn't usually so spacey.
"So...," Karazelle mused, hoping to move the conversation along, "What's up with Elya? Met her on the way down."
"Ah. That."
Viola took a long swig from her drink.
"She was just handing in her resignation. She wishes to attend a medical university, you see, somewhere up north out of the citystate. I can barely bring myself to care one way or another. So long as she's not terrorising my school any longer," she muttered, her voice tinged with a bitter edge.
Yup. Viola was approaching her limit. Judging by the amount of liquor left in the bottle on the side table and the rosy tint to her cheeks, she had been drinking up here for quite some time.
"But that's of no consequence. I need to speak with you," she continued, pointing at her daughter.
"Well, you already are, so-"
"I need you to stay away from Cobalt Trayer."
Karazelle stared at her mother as a cold sensation rocked through her body, causing her darkening bruises to prickle all over.
"... Sorry?"
Draining the last of the whiskey, she poured herself out another measure, before filling a second glass and handing it to Karazelle. She accepted it tentatively and gently set on the floor to be forgotten about.
"You heard me."
"Yeah, I heard you. Still not hearing any explanations, though."
"Oh don't play coy, Karazelle! Do you really think I can't see what's been going on?! Giving you special attention?! Spiriting you off to Phrodival without my permission?!"
"Your permission?!" the Succubus cried, outraged by her mother's audacity, "Momma, I am a grown-ass woman! I can go where I want!"
"Not without my say-so, young lady!"
"I am twenty years old!"
"You're still-!"
"Still what?! 'Your little girl?!' Don't kid yourself! We haven't done anything together since I was like fourteen!"
Viola bared her teeth and made to snap back, only for her voice to catch in her throat. She sank back down into the couch as Karazelle caught her breath, shocked by her own brazenness.
"... I'm sorry. I understand I haven't always been there when you needed me, and-"
"Oh, are we really having this conversation now, Momma?! After all the times I've tried to bring it up in the past?!"
"Darling, I-"
"Don't 'darling' me!"
Pinching the bridge of her nose, Viola took a sharp breath.
"I'm just trying to protect you, alright? Do you remember Tanya and Suzy Allyta?"
There was nobody in Class 3-F who didn't. They were the only other Succubi in the class aside from Karazelle; twin sisters, identical in appearance and opposites in personality. They left Brimstone after the scandal, and went down as legends in their own right for what they did. Even Suzy Atkins from the year below occasionally got mistaken for one of the twins, despite being a completely different race.
"Momma, if you're in any way implying that Cobalt is like Mr. Whitaker..." Karazelle breathed, her voice low and threatening.
"Whitaker followed much the same steps. The special focusing. The little trips. The talks after class. And look what happened to him; a man I trusted implicitly," Viola retorted, the fire returning to her eyes.
"Whitaker was a fucking creep, Momma! Anyone will tell you; he was after them from the start!"
"Watch your language, young lady!"
"No! Cobalt isn't anything like him! And you know it!"
"How can you be so sure?!"
"Because he has turned me down time and time again, and even still he's been nothing but a friend to me!"
She stared at her daughter, completely aghast.
"Did... Did he-?!" she guttered, clutching her proverbial pearls.
Karazelle rolled her eyes.
"No, Momma. I came onto him. Tonnes of times. And he didn't bite. Not once. So... yeah," she admitted, clutching her fists as her cheeks alighted.
Not with shame, surprisingly, but rather adrenaline. Viola didn't respond. She just swirled her whiskey and stared into the liquor, a pensive frown painted upon her face.
"I don't get it. Why do you hate him so much?" Karazelle asked in a softer tone, noting the troubled look in Viola's eyes.
"I don't hate him. It's just... complicated. You just need to trust me, darling; I can't have you being near him," she said, sounding distant.
"That's the thing. I can't trust you. Because I feel like I know him better than you. My own mother!"
The firelight glinted in Viola's eyes, highlighting the dark look on her face.
"... You don't know him, darling. Not really," the Headmistress uttered, her voice low and dour.
Hearing that... it sparked a wrathful fire in Karazelle's heart that shocked even her.
"He was willing to die for me, Momma! He fought tooth and nail not just for me, but everyone else too! He put a gun in his mouth, for crying out loud! For us! For me!" she yelled, standing out of her seat.
"Loyalty always ran thick through Trayer blood..." Viola muttered, sipping her drink.
"How the Hell do you think I couldn't know him better than anyone?!"
She clenched her fists.
"He's a wonderful man, Momma! More than anyone I've ever met! He's too fucking good for me, and he's sure as shit a Hell of a lot better than you!"
Surprisingly, Viola didn't stir at her daughter's pointed words. She just kept staring into the fire. Rhythmically tapping her finger against the glass.
"... Tell me. What do you see when you look into his eyes?"
Her question took her off-guard. Sitting back down, Karazelle shot a suspicious glare at Viola.
"I dunno. They're nice. Amber-y. What's your point?"
"When Jezebel first brought that boy to this school, he had a certain fire in his eyes. Unlike anything I had ever seen. He was strong and loyal, as you say he is now... but he was different, too. A live wire. A hellion. The absolute spit of his father."
"You're still not making your point."
"Do you know about Durnall? Harriet? Either of those sound familiar?"
Karazelle slowly shook her head, prompting her mother to sigh.
"In his first year of his tertiary education, Durnall Klarke was found strapped to the goalposts and beaten half to death with an aluminum bat, surrounded by his friends in much the same state. A year later, Harriet Mathers committed suicide off the roof of the Science Building. Both were known to regularly harass and torment Cobalt."
The dark news struck Karazelle right in the chest, but she maintained her composure.
"... And you think he somehow did all that?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I don't think. I know."
Another sip of whiskey. Another dark look.
"You had the pleasure of meeting Cherry Lattess, I heard. I suppose you noticed the burn on her face?"
"Momma-"
"Cobalt's doing. He lured her into the Sports Building, irreparably burned her face, and set the entire structure ablaze."
With one final swig from her glass, she set it aside and reached for the bottle, a bitter smile forming across her face.
"Of course, there's no sense in asking him to recount it," Viola added, gripping the bottle neck until her knuckles went white.
That... didn't sound like Cobalt. Not at all.
"What are you saying?" Karazelle asked, leaning forward.
Viola's smile faded.
"That fire in his eyes... I just thought it was youthful vigour. I was wrong. Deep down, Cobalt Trayer wanted for nothing more than pure, unadulterated carnage. And he got his wish that night. He nearly killed not only Cherry Lattess, but Elya Yalfre as well. It took a whole team of emergency servicemen to pin him down, and in his fury, only his mother could convince him not to rip everyone apart. Even then, she had to sedate him in order to render even being near him safe."
Karazelle stared, looking for any hint of exaggeration on her mother's face. But all she could see was horror brought on by naked truth.
"Why... Why didn't ever mention this...?"
Viola's smile returned with a manic vengeance, teeth gleaming in the light.
"Because he doesn't remember, darling. Because of me, he doesn't remember a damn thing that happened...!"
She suddenly rose to her feet and lobbed the whiskey bottle at the wall, shattering it into pieces. The shards scattered everywhere, forcing Karazelle to scream and cover her face as the stench of alcohol filled the room. Viola just stood there, laughing despite the tears running down her face.
"I doused it, Karazelle! I doused that fire with my own two hands! I- I didn't even mean to! Neither of us did!"
"Momma!"
"I did it to protect him! To protect everyone!"
"Momma, just calm down!" the young Succubus called, rushing to her mother's side.
She grabbed her arm, to keep her steady, more so than anything else. Viola just slowly pivoted and grabbed her shoulders, her drunken eyes wide and bleary. Loose strands of hair were sticking out from her bun, and her breath was practically caustic.
"The early warning signs of Incupsychosis... They hit long before twenty-one, but they hit Cobalt worst of all. Jezzy and I had a plan. A procedure written about in Fesserite tomes, never actually performed. A last resort. We had the materials, the theory, even the location. Doctor Elliott agreed to host us, should the worst come to pass," she rambled.
"You're not making any sense!"
Viola's grip intensified.
"We delved into his mind, Karazelle. Deep into the subconscious. And we... we changed things. All the violence, the anger, the hunger... we suppressed it as best we could. Any memories that resulted from it, we locked away, safe and sound. Bu the time were done, his entire mind was shackled under psychomantic chains. Every trace of Incupsychosis... gone."
Tears were spilling down her face.
"But we made a terrible, terrible mistake. We scrubbed so hard that we... we killed the person he was. Stone dead. When our work was done and he awoke, Cobalt was... d- different. He was quiet and complacent. More polite than anyone I'd ever known. He raised no fusses, asked no questions, not even about where he was, or why he never got to sit his final exams."
Viola's smile widened into a pathetic grin.
"Sitting in that hospital bed, I looked into his eyes and I saw nothing. Nothing! Jezebel and I, we... we killed that boy's spirit. And what was left in his husk was just... nothing," she breathed, her voice scarcely more audible than a raspy whisper.
She collapsed forward into Karazelle's arms, nearly buckling both of them. Unable to speak, she just patted her back as a choked cackle escaped Viola's lips; a strangled noise somewhere between a laugh and a sob.
"His favourite colour was vermillion, you know. He... He said he liked it's bold vibrancy and warm tones. After what we did, I asked him what his favourite colour was, and do you know what he said?" she asked, pulling back to look into her eyes.
Karazelle slowly shook her head, allowing Viola to laugh just a little more.
"He said he didn't know. That he couldn't decide."
They lingered there for a moment, stood in the very centre of the office. Suddenly, Viola pushed her back and staggered over to her desk, her face red and wet with tears.
"I can't take it anymore, darling. I can't look at him, not after what we did. We took that strong-willed young man and turned him into a complacent sheep of a boy. And he doesn't know. He doesn't even know, and yet...!"
The Succubus collapsed into her chair, her eyes pointed blankly at the ceiling.
"... Something's sparking in his eyes. And it scares me. What he'll do if those locks in his head every crack open."
"Momma... he's... he's not..." Karazelle breathed, barely able to get the words out.
But her mother just shook her head.
"He's unstable, Karazelle. He always has been, but now, he... I just..."
The Headmistress took a deep breath.
"The Cobalt Trayer you know... he's not a real person. Not any more. And I can't stand the thought of him doing something to hurt you," she said, reclaiming her dignity as she wiped her face clean.
"He wouldn't," the Succubus responded, though she found her voice shaking.
"... You don't know that, darling. No-one does. And that's why he's dangerous."
Karazelle stared at her feet, her mind swamped with an overload of new information. Viola was still speaking to her when she turned on her heel and slowly marched to the door. Her mother's voice raised, but as she called her name, she bolted out and down the stairs, feeling her eyes well with tears despite the blank look on her face.
Cobalt... everything about him, everything she loved...
Was it all really just...?