Chapter 2: Introduction

Isabel slowly sat down at the table, groaning as her muscles were still sore from her last adventure and longed for the thick cut peanut butter and jelly sandwich she had made. At the moment she wanted to take a huge bite out of it she heard a male voice asking, “Why do you want to fill your stomach with empty calories, my dear Isabel?”

With the sandwich still in her hands she slowly turned into the direction where the voice was coming from and as soon as she saw a very handsome man’s face in the mirror her fingers lost grip on the sticky slice of bread which slid back down onto the plate.

She was shocked to the core and the only thing she could do was stare at the man, whose face almost filled the complete mirror. His eyes were a dark grey and his lips were twitching a little bit as he tried to keep a smirk edged on his face. His smooth skin was golden brown which contrasted with his short raven black hair.

Her stomach rumbled loudly which helped her get over her paralysis with the situation; and without thinking she asked the man, “With what, do you think, should I fill my stomach instead?”

“Oh, erm, I don’t know,” he responded a little taken aback, “Anything else but a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”

She rolled her eyes but before she could respond he quickly continued, “Erm, Volos says you should eat proteins like a cheese and ham sandwich.”

She didn’t hear anything new but today she actually didn’t care and as she daringly looked at the man she opened her mouth wide to take a huge bite from the sticky lump.

The man sighed deeply and as he slowly shook his head he asked, “How do you expect to ever get rid of your acne?”

Isabel’s blood started to boil as she heard the hidden accusation and took a large gulp of her diet drink to wash the delicious sweet food down.

“It’s never been proven that acne is related to what kind of food you consume,” she spat as she remembered the many annoying discussions she had had with her mother, “And who the hell are you anyway?”

His eyes briefly glowed red before he looked down as he said, “My name is not important but you may call me Tanmo.”

Isabel had taken another bite and as she was enjoying the sweetness she recalled that Tanmo had mentioned the name Volos. Both names sounded ancient as they originated from old myths and she had a strange feeling about it as she recalled the scared woman’s face from whom she had bought the mirror.

After she had rinsed her mouth with her drink she asked, “Who is Volos?”

The man looked up and as he pointed with his finger to the snake he said, “That is Volos.”

Isabel snorted and said, “Yeah, as if snakes can speak.”

“I can converse perfectly with it,” Tanmo responded dryly, “and I advise you to watch your tongue because it definitely has a bad temper.”

Now Isabel had had something to eat, her brain was starting to function a lot better and as she stared at the snake’s head who had slowly turned towards her she said, “So you both were involved in seducing me.”

Tanmo’s face turned emotionless and as he looked at his nails he said flatly, “The first time was completely Volos’s party. It was fortunate that you pricked yourself on its fang and with that little amount of blood it was possible to then goad you into participating.”

She gasped as she recalled the little accident she had while cleaning its head and she came to the conclusion that Tanmo was withholding important information. She was too embarrassed to inquire any further about what happened earlier in the day and as she looked Tanmo straight in the eyes she said blatantly, “I was thinking of taking the mirror down to my cellar.”

His eyes became bigger and as he looked aghast he said softly, “That would be very unfortunate.”

Isabel steepled her fingers for a moment and said, “I have the feeling that you’re hiding information and that you both are desperate for something I possess. I’m willing to give you 5 minutes to convince me why I shouldn’t carry you down to the cellar.”

“That’s a rather short time span to give you a complete picture,” he replied flatly.

“You’re wasting precious time, Tanmo,” she said with a sing-song voice.

“Alright,” he said with a deep sigh, “How old do you think Tanja is?”

“Tanja?”

“Yes,” he said as he rolled his eyes, “The woman who sold us for a ridiculously low price.”

Isabel chuckled, deciding not to respond to his last remark, said, “Her makeup was a little over the top but I think she is about 23.”

“Hmm, yes her taste is erm, a little dated,” Tanmo agreed, “but still pretty good for a woman of 197 years.”

“Wow!” she exclaimed realizing this was almost too good to be true. “But why did she agree to sell the mirror?” she asked intrigued.

“I will answer that if you forgo the time limit, Isabel,” he answered as he looked at her with pleading eyes.

“No,” she said resolutely, “I still want you to convince me why I shouldn’t ban you to the cellar.”

He nodded as he said, “Fair enough. I want you to look in the mirror to check the acne on your face.”

To be able to see herself in the mirror she had to move up a chair and as soon as she saw her reflection the urge to undress was extremely strong.

“What the hell,” she grumbled as she quickly moved away, “One minute penalty for manipulating me at the spot.”

“Oh dear,” he said perturbed, as he instantly snapped with his fingers, “Please forgive me. I forgot to deactivate the spell. I assure you I’ll never activate it again and please; do have a look at your face.”

She eyed the man in the mirror, knowing they had gained quite some power after her last escapade and as she slowly moved back to the mirror she frantically thought of a backup plan in case they were trying to get control over her. She knew she still was able to withstand the temptation but it was clear that soon it would be different, if she allowed it to happen.

To her relief Tanmo had kept his word and she felt nothing at the moment she looked at her reflection. Only then she realized her face looked a lot better; her acne was still there but most of the fiery red pimples had calmed down.

“Interesting,” she said as she moved closer to study her skin.

“I’m glad you’re approving the result,” he said with a brilliant smile edging on his face.

“I do,” Isabel replied with a disarming smile but then said flatly, “You have 2 more minutes to convince me why I should take the risk.”

“Risk?” he replied meekly, “Why do you see it as a risk?”

She sighed and said, “Oh come on Tanmo, just stop beating around the bush, will you? What’s in it for me and what do you want in exchange?”

“You don’t leave me any room for talking it up,” he sighed and as he snapped his fingers his face was replaced by a beautiful naked woman who looked straight at her.

“This is you,” Tanmo continued as his voice reverberated from the mirror, “In about 3 months if you allow us to help.”

“No way,” whispered Isabel as she hardly recognized herself. She couldn’t believe her eyes as she saw her future body had changed into a shapely and toned woman and her breasts were firm and foremost; equal in size! Another thing that struck her was the unblemished skin; not a single pimple or mole was to be seen on her beautiful complexion. But her face had changed the most; her lips were a little plumper, her nose was an example of perfection and her eyes were stunning; the eyelashes were thicker and longer and the eyebrows beautifully shaped.

She knew it was too good to be true and was convinced she had to pay duly for it. She always had dreamed of having a drop dead gorgeous body but now the opportunity was in reach she had major reservations; especially after what had happened since she had bought the mirror.

Meanwhile Tanmo had replaced the image of her beautiful future body with his face again and it struck Isabel how scared the man looked.

She actually liked the vulnerable side of Tanmo and she was curious what made them so desperate.

“Very impressive,” she said with a little tremor in her voice, “I bet there’s a price I have to pay.”

“There is,” he replied slowly as if he needed more time to formulate his next sentence, “You’ll have to work for it.”

“Work for it?” she repeated.

“Yes,” he replied with a somewhat hastily manner, “You see, there’s a lot of, erm, you, that you could actually convert into energy.”

She narrowed her eyes as she stared at the mirror and growled, “You’re telling me to start to exercise.”

He grimaced hearing the last word and replied dryly, “I don’t believe in those incredibly boring activities.”

“Oh really?” Isabel responded instantly and she wanted to ask Tanmo what he had in mind when suddenly the coin had dropped. Her face became warm as she recalled the taxing escapades she had performed.

“One of the activities you could take up is dancing,” the man in the mirror said with an innocent smile.

“I can’t dance,” she blurted out as she was still affected by the remembrance of her amazingly hot adventure this morning.

“I can teach you,” Tanmo replied calmly.

His calm and soothing voice, void of any emotion, allowed her to focus on what he just had said and doubted whether it would work. “I don’t see me dancing while holding the mirror,” she said flatly.

“Indeed,” he said with a funny smile edged on his handsome face, “We definitely should avoid the risk of breaking the mirror.”

“Now cut the crap, Tanmo,” she almost sneered as she realized the man was beating around the bush again, “It’s nice to know I can get an amazing body but I don’t believe that dancing would cut it and you still didn’t tell me what you both want from me.”

He cleared his throat and said softly, “We both are creatures from the underworld and we are of the family of succubi. You must understand that we can only survive on what an incubus craves, and what you have experienced so far has been a little preview of what we can do.”

Isabel’s mouth fell open as she understood she had heard the naked truth: realizing that if she allowed them to stay she was in for a hell of a roller coaster ride. She was heavily conflicted as her body was responding completely different from her mind about what she had just heard.

She knew that succubi had been given a bad rap from some of her studies of the macabre side of ancient mythology, but she also knew she was still being manipulated by him. She decided she needed more information before making up her mind.

“What happens if I bring you to the cellar?” she asked with a small voice.

“We would starve to death,” he said as if it was the most mundane fact, “And after that we’ll end up being Hades’s slaves whom I wouldn’t wish for my worst enemy.”

“That bad, huh?” Isabel sympathized.

Tanmo nodded.

She tapped her index finger on her lips as she was thinking about what she had learned so far and asked, “So are you actually stuck in the mirror?”

“We are bonded with the mirror,” he said, “We can’t exist without it.”

“So you are cursed,” she concluded compassionately, “You must have done something really bad.”

“Themis was not happy when we had deflowered her daughter,” he said with a sad smile, “Actually we were seduced by her as she was eager to experience the devotion of two men at the same time.”

Isabel’s breath hitched as her imagination created a scene in her head, depicting an extremely hot threesome and was quite embarrassed as she saw the knowing smile appear on Tanmo’s face.

“I must tell you; in the beginning we thought it was worth it to be punished for enjoying such fine debauchery but after we realized what kind of curse Themis had used we knew we were in deep trouble.”

“It’s a bit harsh to be stuck forever,” Isabel affirmed.

“Themis told us there was a way to break the curse,” he said and as he slowly shook his head he continued, “Unfortunately she’d never had the chance to tell us how.”