I wake up to the sound of birds chirping, a cool and pleasant breeze coming in through the window. The comforters are so cozy, I could just lay here forever. But something seems off, I can't quite place my finger on it. Oh that's right, I don't leave the window open, it lets too many bugs in. I look up at the window and notice there is a screen over it. Ah perfect, dad finally got around to installing those screens he kept talking about, only took him a year and a half. So now I can lay here forever. But I still feel like I'm missing something, it's important but I can't quite place it. It's on the tip of my tongue. Right, I gotta check on Anna! Last time I saw her she was bleeding from her leg. Uuuugh but I don't wanna get up! It's too cozy, I'm sure she's fine. If something bad happened Charles would have called me. But I really should check, I'd be a bad friend if I didn't. But the bed is cozy…. I should at least text her. I reach over to fumble my phone from my nightstand and the moment I lay my hand on it the world just vanishes.
I'm left floating in a pure white space, nothing as far as the eye can see, seemingly endless but limited somehow. I blink, and suddenly the world is back. I'm standing in the dining area at home. There's no one else around but me, but the clock reads seven, when we normally have dinner as a family. Strangely, I don't remember coming down stairs. Now that I think about it, actually I don't remember coming home at all. This is weird, especially since on the table in front of me is a buffay of all my favorite dishes, piled high and seemingly fresh out of the kitchen. Looking closely I find a note on a single dish and silverware set hidden among the heaps of dishes.
"Lucy, had to take the twins and Tommy out to an appointment. Dinner is on the table, eat all you want, we will be getting our own while we are out. -Mom”
Wow, they actually gave enough of a shit to not shove leftovers at me for once. And these dishes are all either my favorites or just really good food. I see bacon omelets, ham lasagna, pepperoni triple cheese pizza! And those are just the best stuff, there's more here than I can fathom. No way in hell I’ll be able to eat all this, but for some reason, I know I can. And I want to, it's all so good. But maybe I shouldn't, just because you can doesn't mean you should and all that jazz. Maybe I should share it. Anna was pretty bad off last I saw her, and hospital food is ass. Not only that I'll definitely gain weight eating all this. As much as I'm tempted to just sit down and start stuffing my face and never stop, I think I'll call Charles over so he can take some of this over to Anna, and keep some for himself. I reach into my pocket to pull out my phone, only for the world to once again vanish, leaving me floating in a white void.
OK, there is definitely some fucky shit going on. Those scans, settings, whatever the hell they are, are messing with my head. But will there be another one? Will I be able to tell something is off? My question is answered almost immediately as I blink the space once again changes. It's again a familiar place, not home, or school, or a friend's house, but one I can't ever forget nonetheless. This was the place I lost my virginity to that asshole Danny. A room in a quaint little hotel on the outskirts of town, the Bedhead Hotel. It's the only time we ever had sex, he got into my pants and dumped the day after. This was almost a year ago to the day, and it still hurts to think about. If Anna, Charles, and James hadn't been there for me, I might never have pulled out of that slump.
"Damn Lucy, you lookin good tonight." A familiar voice calls out from behind me. Standing next to the door was Danny himself, wearing nothing but shorts, showing off his well built body from years of sports. At the same time, a feeling of heat and sexual desire spreads through me, and my eyes drop down to his pants. He certainly wasn't that big when he fucked me. His thing barely made it out of his underwear while erect, this illusion is packing much more heat. While I am tempted to see just what it can do with something that big, I'm more pissed off at the fact it fucking looks like Danny. I storm up to mock Danny, who seems to have zero care about the stormy attitude on my face and the thunder in my step.
"So, want to play like that eh? I dig it." It says while trying to give a sexy eyebrow wiggle. In response I simply knee it in the crotch, causing the illusion of the asshole to shatter into pieces followed shortly after by the environment itself. This time the space between what ever those are is different. It's black all around, with a hint of malice seemingly imbued into the void itself. The little hair I do have on my body immediately stands on end as I feel what can only be described as a presence of wrongness behind me.
"Gah, pain in the ass little bitch!" A voice not unlike my own, but more demonic sounding, hisses before suddenly the black is replaced by white and all the feelings of wrong and malevolence disappear into thin air. What the fuck was that? Why did I sound like a demon!? Wait, that wasn't even me talking! This is so fucked, I need to get out of here!
As if one cue the world shifted again, the white void vanishing in the blink of an eye only to be replaced with the scene of the family room at home. The large flat-screen TV mounted on the mantle blaring some crappy soap opera, wires running down to the cabinet below it containing the gaming console and DVD player with few disks nearby. I'm standing behind the couch, while mom and dad are sitting on it, having a conversation.
"Sara and Jenny managed to get all B's this semester, I'm so proud of them." My mom says.
"Those are our girls, so hard working. What do you think we should do to celebrate?" My dad asks.
"Well they like the crescent moon arcade right? Maybe we should throw a party there for them." Mom says.
Of course they want to throw the twins a party for all B's on a report card! Meanwhile I get told to try harder if I don't get all A's. Unfair is an understatement, I have to work my ass off for even the smallest amount of recognition, meanwhile the twins just get it for existing it seems. No matter how hard I try I'm always second place, third if you count each twin separately and fourth if you add Tommy to the equation. It's such bullshit! Even now they can't even bother to notice my presence behind them, I'm just a ghost that lives in the ….. wait a second I am a ghost, well maybe it's more accurate to say I'm the only real thing here.
Whatever is manipulating these illusions is definitely also messing with my mental state. I've accepted a long time ago that I won't get much attention and acknowledgement from my parents, so why would I get so worked up from a conversation like that. The answer is I normally won't, not unless something was pushing me to. The other situations were similar in a way. They were all trying to drive me towards something, but each one was different. They weren't trying to drive me towards the same thing either, just towards something. So what does it all mean?
While my parents keep talking, seeming to loop between praising my sister's average achievements and trying to find an overboard reward for them, I keep up my thinking. So the first one was me really not wanting to get out of bed, the second was too much food for my own good, the third was Danny and my first time, and this is my mom and dad praising the twins. But none of those are connected, at least I can't see the connections. Maybe I need to think about this in a different way, the third one was clearly trying to get me to fuck Danny, so what were the rest of them trying to make me do? First was trying to keep me in bed, second was trying to make me eat the food. This one with my parents, what does it want? Me to get angry at them, at my sisters? I don't care about what my sisters get from my parents, but this illusion made me care for a bit until I broke out of it. I've learned to stop being jealous of them a long time ago…. What if that's it, or close to it?
Just like that, the prices snapped into place in my thoughts, my own voice but demonic, the attempts to get me to do things. Demons are often coincided with sins, while it's not exact it's usually pretty close. I'm dealing with a demon, and these illusions are an attempt to get me to sin. First was sloth, second was gluttony, third was lust, this is envy, that leaves wrath, pride, and greed. But one thing still doesn't make sense, why did the lust illusion shatter instead of changing to the white space like the others? The others I rejected the chance to sin, but with lust I did so violently. But I highly doubt smashing plates would have had the same result. Maybe because I rejected the illusion in its entirety? I decided to call Charles and check on Anna but otherwise not get up on the first one. The second one I opted to eat the food as well, just sharing it. The third one I straight up attacked Danny instead of fucking him. I wonder, if I help my parents instead of arguing with them or walking away, what will happen? Time to find out.
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"Hey." I say somewhat loudly to interrupt their conversation. Which works as the both spin around to look at me somewhat startled.
"Sorry to interrupt, but I remember Sara and Jenny raving about a Rally Riot band concert that's happening next week. Tickets might be hard to get this late but I think it'd be a good time for them if you can nab some." I quickly say before either of them can start talking again. Both my mom and dad's shock disappears as they smile. But as my mom opens her mouth to respond to me everything freezes in place and cracks start to form all around me, before the illusion is shattered. The black space with radiant malice is revealed once more, but this time it's noticeably weaker than before.
"God damn it stop doing that!" The demonic imitation of my voice screeches from behind me before the black void is replaced by the white one. I don't know exactly what is going on, but I don't plan on letting a demon get its way. That usually is never a good thing.
Suddenly the environment changes again, this time turning into a version of my room from ten years ago, and my height has noticeably decreased. Standing in front of me are the twins, holding the remains of my favorite stuffed doll I'd had since birth. I remember this day, I had told them time and time again not to touch that doll. It was very important to me and its age meant it was already getting ready to fall apart. So when I found the doll in three pieces with the twins desperately trying to make it look like it was fine on the shelf I absolutely lost it. Apparently I shrieked so loud they heard it down the street, courtesy of the opening window. I then proceeded to beat both of my sisters mercilessly while screaming at them until my mom managed to rush up stairs and pull me off. Not my proudest moment, and not a fond memory either. My parents decided that part of my punishment would be no attempts at salvaging the doll, so it was thrown away like trash. I think that was the day I stopped believing they loved me.
"'sniffle' We're sorry Lucy, we didn't mean to break her!" Jenny says while poffering the remains of the doll to me, tears streaming down her face.
"We just wanted to play with her, because she was so pretty. 'sniffle'" Sara adds.
It takes every bit of my self control not to sock them in their faces right then as the feelings of rage instantly flare up and try to boil over. It wants me to hurt them, to be angry but I shouldn't. Especially since I'm not seven anymore. I carefully breath in, then out, trying to calm myself as the twins keep crying. Finally I manage to get myself cooled off enough to talk to them, the edges of my vision no longer red with fury.
"I thought I told you not to touch it. This is why."
"We're sorry!" They exclaim in unison.
"I'm sure you are. When someone tells you not to do something, it's for a reason. Come on, let's see if mom can fix it." I say while giving them a smile and ushering the twins towards the door. The moment we reach the threshold hold they freeze and cracks start to form all around. Suddenly the illusion is shattered, and the black void and its malevolence return, again weaker than last time.
"Grrrrrrrrrrrah! Stop it! Stop fighting you pain in the ass little bitch!" The demonic mimic of my voice screeches from behind me. I turn around just in time to catch a glimpse of the demon, and what I see has my heart skip a beat. Just before I'm thrown back into the white space, I see what is clearly a seccubus version of me stamping her foot and looking extremely pissed off.
In that moment it all clicks, and I'm finally able to remember what happened to me, and why I'm here. I got stabbed, I'm probably dying, if not already dead. I remember Charles talking about succubus before, how they look, how they act, and how they reproduce. The reproduction isn't actually through birth, instead they charge a special corruption spell and stab a victim with their tail. The victim then slowly transforms into a succubus over anywhere from several hours to several days. The signature sign of their spell is purple lighting crackling along the tail. I've never seen it before, but that description sounds a lot like what hit me before I passed out.
Fuck, I don't want to be a demon! But that's what this is isn't it? Me fighting the demon, so what happens if I win? Will I just go back to normal? Will I still remain in control with only my body being changed? It probably doesn't matter, I've never heard of anyone surviving being turned into a demon. Meaning either they just get shot anyways, governments cover it up and hide it, or it just doesn't happen. I don't like any of those prospects.
Suddenly the environment changes once more, this time suddenly shifting again to resemble the family room once more. Except instead of being occupied it's empty, and on the coffee table is Sara and Jenny’s opened piggy banks, with all their contents haphazardly strewn across the table. The urge to take some and stuff it into my pockets rears itself, but I quash it just as quickly as it appeared. The demon is losing power, or I'm getting more resistant to its tricks as time goes on. Either way this one is a no brainer. It was at that thought that a one year Tommy walks into the room. I use the term walk loosely, as he is basically stumbling forward perpetually. His eyes lock onto the shiny coins on the table and he makes a beeline for them.
I run over and intercept the piggy bank robber wannabe while yelling out to twins. "Sara, Jenny, come clean up your piggy banks!"
It only takes a few seconds for a reply to come from upstairs. "We're busy! We'll do it later!" I just roll my eyes, the demon is pretty good at imitating other people's personalities, I'll give it that.
"If you don't come clean up, Tommy is going to grab at anything shiny he can get his hands on!" It took them a second to process what I said, but then they came blasting down the stairs full speed and burst into the room. At that moment cracks formed around them and then the illusion shattered.
The black reined all around, its malevolence radiating from seemingly every point in space at once, but it was weak. It was so weak it doesn't even concern me any more.
"Why!? Why do you keep resisting!?" Demonic me hiss from behind. I turn around to find her floating in space just like me. Except she's naked, and clearly has no qualms about flaunting her assets as she stares down at me from above, arms crossed under her breasts as if to emphasize them. I don't know why she's bothering, I'm not gay, nor am I dumb enough to fuck a demon.
"Because this is my body. Get the fuck out!" I snap back at her.
"Idiot! This is soul space, not a body! And it's mine! I'm the better you anyway." She hisses while gesturing to herself. I just give her another look up and down and roll my eyes.
"I don't think not being able to keep your tits in your shirt qualifies as better. Also put some pants on, this isn't a nudist exhibition." I quip back. The demon just stares at me in shock for a moment before snapping out of it and stopping her foot. A wave radiates out from her, changing the environment to show an older me on a stage receiving an award of some kind.
"Why am I even having this conversation with you? Don't answer that, it's rhetorical. Look, we can do this the hard way where one of us walks away bloodied and scarred for life, or we can both get what we want." She says with a disarming, charming smile while the scene ripples and changes once again. This time it shows me, but clearly much more powerful, fighting a battle side by side with some of the biggest name defenders on earth, including Grey Spade and Blade Flower . Except I am clearly the leader, and most powerful among them, as I blast away powerful demons by the dozens with a simple twitch of my fingers.
"You get to have any and everything you've ever dreamed of, power, recognition, talent, wealth. All will be within your grasp, in exchange, you will be my vessel, and simply need to give me a few souls every so often to keep the power flowing."
I stare at the demon, surprised it's not trying any more tricks and outright trying to kill me. Then again, maybe it can't? No, I can't make that assumption, not enough evidence and running on that theory is a good way to die. Her power is waning, that's the only reason I'm provoking her, but that still doesn't mean she can't kill me, it might just be more convenient for her to win by way of those weird sin illusions, or a deal.
"I got a better one for you, why don't you just kill me? It's gotta be easier right? Just run me through with a pitchfork and call me done. Unless you actually can't, so now you're scrambling like a human politician to cover your ass and make a deal to get out of it." I say, making sure to put emphasis on the word human while striking at her. As I suspected, she instantly takes the bait and gets enraged, launching into an angry rant.
"Human! You dare compare me to your lowly Pathetic kind! If your essence wasn't such a tasty treat we would have quashed your kind long ago! And me, I could devour you in an instant! But corrupting your sorry excuse for a being and merging somehow provides much better results! I loathe the thought of being one with you, but I will not be….."
She cuts off her own rant as she realizes she fucked up. What was a mix of anger and disgust before turns into unadulterated furry and she screeches so loud I cover my ears. Suddenly the sound of glass breaking rings out, and I watch the dark space around us shatter to reveal pure white.