Chapter 1: Part 5/5

Man, what a day. I got home from sixth form at 4:30pm and left the house to go to Elira’s party at 7pm. The most exhausting two and a half hours of my life. There was supposed to be a succubus inside me, not walking next to me. She kicked the shit out of me, crashed my dad’s Vespa into a tree and now we’re friends, I guess. What a ride.

The walk to Elira’s place wasn’t a long one. Lily giggled when we passed the tree she had collided with. She promised again that she could fix it with dad, or find another way if the guilt started to eat me up. She enjoyed being back in the real world, and her appreciation of its beauty was quite sweet. She stopped to admire flowers and pointed out every cat she could see. I promised to introduce her to Salem once the old bastard stopped being mad at me for kicking him out of my room.

“So we’re not seducing anyone?” she asked, after I told her we were almost there.

“No, we’re just having a fun night out. Enjoy yourself and don’t worry about the contract,” I said.

“Okay. Boring, but okay. Who am I?”

“Lily?” I asked, stupidly.

“Who am I to everyone else, idiot. You’re showing up to a party with a random girl. What’s my backstory?”

“I don’t know. Distant cousin?”

“Family route is awkward, in case anything happens.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“I’m a succubus. I might end up fingering someone you don’t want me to finger.”

I laughed. “Okay, fair point. Some sort of exchange student then? I can just say my parents applied for some homestay course or something, or maybe you’re just renting a room at our house because it’s been too big for the three of us since my brother and sister moved out.”

“I can make that work,” she said, much to my relief.

Elira has a nice place. I’m pretty sure it’s just her and her dad, but she’s pretty withdrawn at the best of times and it’s hard to say if we’re even friends. I definitely couldn’t tell you who her best friend is. I was surprised she was hosting a party at all, but you only turn 18 once. The house itself is an old build, but I couldn’t tell you from which era. It looks cold from the outside, and somehow colder once you get through the door. It wasn’t until she was greeting us at the door that my spontaneous invite of a complete stranger looked as weird as it was. Thankfully she didn’t seem offended, or particularly interested at all.

All of my closest friends had already arrived. None of them had to deal with an escaping succubus after they got back from school, apparently. I approached with my new demon and watched as they each gave her a double take, before waiting for me to make introductions. “Hello, hello, alright?” I said.

“All good. You can put your drinks in the fridge. There’s a label maker to mark your territory,” Mason said.

“Really?” I replied, instantly distracted. Mason nodded. Label maker. Now that’s cool. “Uhm, well, this is Lily. She’s staying with us for a while. She’s renting one of our spare rooms and I brought her along because she hasn’t got any mates.”

I could see her face drop in my periphery, which was very entertaining. “Nice to meet you all,” Lily said.

“This is Mason,” I said, pointing from one to the next. They all greeted her back as she smiled at them. “Grace, Poppy and Alice.”

“Ooh, Alice,” Lily said. “You’re the one he has a crush on.”

My stomach dropped. It didn’t take her long to get me back. The others were all laughing as the colour drained from my face. “I didn’t say that to her,” I said, desperately. Alice was giggling too, which I hoped was a good thing. There was just a little bit of red in her cheeks.

“Sorry, was I supposed to keep that quiet?” Lily teased. A real demon.

“It’s fine. We all know anyway,” Poppy said.

“No we don’t,” I said, but she just smiled back at me. I couldn’t look at Alice. “Okay, putting these in the fridge before they get warm.” I took Lily by the wrist and dragged her with me. “What is wrong with you, seriously?”

“Just fulfilling my part of the deal. If you don’t want to fuck her tonight, the least I can do is break the seal. No more pretending anymore. Thank me when you’re married,” Lily said, looking very proud of herself. We stopped by the fridge and the label maker distracted me again. “Of course she’s a fucking goth. I knew it. You skinny nerds all have the same type.”

“She’s not a goth,” I said. It wasn’t the first time I had to explain this to someone. “Her style is alternative. She doesn’t identify as a goth. It’s an important distinction.”

“She looks like a goth to me,” Lily argued.

“Well, you’re not from around here. Labels change. That’s why we have label makers. Goths and alt girlies are closely affiliated but not the same thing,” I said. I wrote out my name on the label maker and printed it off, before sticking it on the plastic bag that housed my beers. “Are you having any of these?”

“No. I’ll convince someone to share their spirits with me.”

“Don’t be using your powers on too many people,” I said, to which she frowned. “Can you get drunk?”

“Only on the good stuff.”

“What’s that?” I asked, before her expression told me the answer. “I should have known.”

“We can get drunk, but it takes a boatload. This body wants to get drunk, but my powers counteract it. Anyway, the girl. She’s pretty,” Lily said, nodding her head in Alice’s direction. “There’s a lot of pretty girls here. I can see why the list got so long.”

“That’s because I am a dickhead,” I said, taking one beer from the bag and leaving the rest in the fridge. Lily took the label maker and printed off one saying dickhead, before sticking it on me. “Very funny,” I said, as she giggled to herself.

We returned to the group and they spent some time getting to know Lily, who kept her answers fairly believable. She even said she was waiting on a possible move abroad for her studies, giving me a good excuse for her disappearance if she just so happened to be gone by the end of the week. I was still only getting my first glimpses of her, but she seemed like a nice enough person, and she did a good job passing for human. If she was going to be around for longer, maybe we really could have become friends.

My besties have been my besties for most of my life. Well, not Poppy. She joined later on. Alice and Mason have been there for me since nursery. Grace joined our school in Year 2.

Mason is a great guy. He’s an artist and animator who will probably end up working in the gaming industry. He may or may not be making porn to pay the bills. I saw the character models for an adult themed dating sim he was producing on his computer when he forgot to lock his screen a few months ago. A tragedy for both of us. I haven’t played it. At least he can’t say anything if he finds out that I summoned a succubus.

Grace is the sweetest person I know. She’s an artist too, but I doubt she strays into adult territory. She wants to be an art teacher after university. She’s the type of person anyone would want for a teacher. Mason yearns for her. I think it’s reciprocated but she isn’t as obvious about it.

Poppy joined our school in Year 8 after her parents took her out of private school. She was friends with another group of girls for a few years and then had a falling out with them, before attaching herself to Alice and Grace. She’s a bit posh and highly strung by expectation, and not the expectations of her parents. They would gladly nepo baby her into the family business, and even took her out of private school to try and take some pressure off her. The rest is self-inflicted. She’s a bit of a maths genius and has high expectations of herself. That tends to stress her out.

Alice is the best person I know, and she’s definitely not a goth. She’s kindhearted and caring and funny and compassionate, and she has been my forever girl for the longest time. I genuinely believe this might be reciprocated too, but she’s just as much of a scaredy cat as I am. She’s suffered through a lot of loss in her life, but none of it has been allowed to darken her soul. She really is an angel.