Chapter 1 - names

I was being an idiot. I mentally repeated that to myself like a mantra. Because I knew it was true. Yet I persisted. I continued to draw lines out of the cheap chalk I had hastily purchased. Continued glancing back at that strange page for reference. And eyed the symbols it contained with an unfettered curiosity. I was an idiot. But I wasn’t going to stop. I wasn’t sure if the worst-case scenario, was that I’d have yet another embarrassing memory to torment me before bed. Or if the worst-case scenario was that it’d actually work. But nevertheless, I was downright determined to find out. I wasn’t much of an artist but the sigil wasn’t all that complex, nothing a ruler and a bit of patience couldn’t solve. Which was unfortunate given my tendency towards impatience. Also, the fact I would occasionally wipe out one of the chalk lines by accident with my legs. There was also sorts of lurid jokes to be made about a pretty yet prudish girl crawling around on her hands and knees, but there was nobody around to make them.

Once the chalk drawing was finished, I pulled out the candles. They were the biggest monetary investment of my little bout of insanity. Sure, they were the cheapest money could buy, but a college students' money doesn’t stretch all that far. Especially not on weirdo pipe dreams powered by nostalgia. I lit them with a borrowed lighter. One situated at each point of the pentagram contained within the circle. Then turned out to lights to get the proper mood lighting going. I’ll admit for as much as my pride was taking a hit, as the lights went down and the world seemed to shrink down to just the candle lit pentagram, I couldn’t help but feel a little bit excited. Just a tiny bit mind you, not enough to overcome my embarrassment. But it was probably close enough. I took a deep breath to steady myself. There was only one piece missing before I could release myself from my boundless curiosity. Everything else was done, the mood was right. All I needed was the offering. I was interrupted by a knock on my door.

Before I could even register the knock, a woman barged in. A tall girl, with semi dark skin, and a casual outfit. Her green eyes glanced around the dark room expressively. “So, you’re summoning a demon?” Trisha asked me doing a very good job of keeping any judgement from her voice. I just stood there, driven speechless by embarrassment and withering under her gaze. I was hoping not to be one of those roommate's people post about on internet forums. “Well anyways I got takeout” she said thrusting a warm paper bag into my arms. It wasn’t forceful or playful. Just simply pragmatic. I just nodded my thanks, and the girl backed out through the door she almost knocked down. Gently closing it behind her. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to feel touched, frustrated, embarrassed or appreciative. So, I wound up feeling all of those things at once. I tossed the bag of food away and slid slowly down to the floor. Massaging my temple with my index finger.

I wasn’t quite sure where it had all gone wrong with me. My bet was somewhere in my teenage years. But I was fairly certain there was something not quite right with me from the start. Maybe it was too many hours spent on the internet. Or an even more questionable time spent, browsing all sorts of things respectable young women shouldn’t browse. When I was being generous to myself, I convinced myself it was out of some desire for the world to be more interesting than it actually was. That was why I made voodoo dolls of girls I didn't like in high school, and at one point signed my official religion as wiccan. But I had grown out of that phase. I was over it. I was going to leave it all behind when I went to college. That was plan. Yet it was hard to resist a mysterious scrap of old parchment literally tapped to the back of your shirt. Like a “kick me” sign except, full of esoteric symbols and macabre instructions. Still no matter how enticing, as far as I was concerned it was no excuse for such a tremendous backslide. As I sunk into the proverbial dumps, I became convinced that if I was going to be the girl who was more likely to bring a demon home that a boy, I’d at least have junk food to comfort me. I reached for the bag where I had discarded it. But instead felt something soft.

Then there was a squeak. I glanced up. My hand was on her chest. Her in this case being a woman. Or so I inferred based on the fact it was a breast I was touching. It was really quite soft, not to mention somewhat impressive. But I didn’t necessarily have time to appreciate it. I was too busy mentally asking very important questions. Namely about how she had gotten into my room. Why she was completely nude. Why her skin was pastel pink, and what exactly was with the curved horns protruding from the sides of her head, right above her ears. Her eyes were glowing. That was another relevant fact. They were neon pink. I yelled. She yelled as well. Our screams of destress mingled. I pulled away, at least stopping myself from sexually harassing her further and lunged for the light switch. My rational mind wanted to believe she was an intruder. But the irrational, and extremely excited part of my mind had a powerful compunction that I had in fact, invited her in. The lights came on and destroyed the ambiance, baring the full extent, of our very odd situation to the both of us.

In clear lighting there really was no denying her. She was a girl through and through, just a little shorter than me. With soft yet slightly overabundant curves. Like a girl with a naturally sexy figure, but who had started snacking. It wasn’t all that uncommon a body type on a college campus. Her hips were wide and looked almost delectably soft, her thighs a few inches of squishy fat away from chaffing. I couldn’t fully appreciate her rear, seeing as she was sitting on it but I figured it was probably rather generous as well. She was hot, albeit not in the traditional, swim suit model way. Though it was clear she was bashful about it. Her pink cheeks, slightly red as she looked at me from the floor. The more she stared the more I realized there was an innocence to her as well. Her cheeks were rounded, almost cherubic, her eyes were big and wide, though they were demonic. And her hair was big, pure white and curly, almost like a cloud. She was cute as well. Though I couldn’t help but find it strange I was more transfixed on those facts, then...well the fact she was an actual demon. Or at least looked the part.

“Look...” she started to say her eyes tilting up towards my face before sliding back towards the floor. “I know I’m a succubus, but you’ve got to give a girl some warning first” she said glancing down at her chest. I blinked a few times, having only in that moment remembered what had transpired. “Sorry” I apologized, though it might’ve been ever so slightly unintelligible with how my voice was shaking. “No, I’m sorry, we’re meant to introduce ourselves immediately, but you looked like you were kind of having a moment....or something” she apologized back. It was a rather cordial conversation. I opened my mouth to respond. She cut me off with a small burp. Followed by her cheeks lighting up again. Her body jiggled ever so slightly at the motion. Which in turn dragged my gaze lower. Towards her midriff.

Like the rest of her it had a slight, inviting layer of fat on it, but unlike the rest of her it protruded outwards, tight and round. “So... how’d you get here, since I didn't use an offering or whatever?” I questioned her. An embarrassing theory coming to mind. “But...but you did make an offering it was actually quite delicious” she said a hint of confusion in her voice. I tilted my head to try and see around her. Sure enough, there was no takeout bag to be found. She followed by gaze and shot me a puzzled glance. “Well I’m glad you liked it” I said trying not to stare at her bloated tummy.

At this point I was being kept sane by sheer force of social anxiety and adrenaline. Magic was real. Or at least demons were. One was sitting in my room. Looking somewhere between adorable and sexy. Looking up at me with eyes that glowed. The deeper we got into the situation the more it was starting to hit me. My knees started to shake and I found myself sitting on the floor again. My head now leveled with hers. “Want to trade secrets?” she asked me after a few moments of silence. “Sure” I said not really able to fully deal with what was going on. “My secret is that this is actually my first time. Being summoned that is...I don’t really know how any of its meant to work, demons don’t talk much, especially to low ranking ones like myself” she explained fidgeting with one of her horns. I blinked a bit surprised at that. Her eyes were on me again. Puppy dog eyes. We had made a deal after all. “My secret is that I summoned you basically by accident, I didn't know any of this was real till five seconds ago” I explained. Wallowing in our mutual lack of dignity.

Then her stomach growled. It was an odd sort of noise, like a cat purring. Made even stranger by the fact I was fairly sure it was full of cheap takeout. Though there was something admittedly reassuring in that sound and her adorable squeak in response to it. “Well I’m not sure, how I can find out how this is going to work, but I can grab you some food” I told her slowly getting to my feet. The succubus nodded then blinked as if remembering something important. “I’m Vitae” she said casually. Without any of the melodrama a demon giving their name was supposed to have. “I’m Beth” I said with much the same casual inflection.