❖ 2 ❖

In a grand estate in a small pocket of Hell, Haqua sipped at her tea, alone in her bedroom. As she looked out at her garden, pristinely cared for and wonderfully vibrant in the brilliant crimson light of the morning, she could only muster up a sigh.

Another day of this, hmm?

And yet she felt nothing.

She wasn’t quite sure when this had started. She’d always been happy with the life she led, solitary as it was. Though succubi fed on lust and were social by nature, she was content simply taking what she needed and living peacefully on her own. She wasn’t totally isolated, of course. Her sister Adri’s manor was just a brief flight away, and she and her wives often came by to visit.

But at some point, her life had lost its color. The days blended together, indistinct and dull. Every morning she awoke, hoping that those feelings would one day lift, and every morning she awoke to find that nothing had changed at all.

She would get through this day, as she had every other, with a practiced smile. If anyone else even spoke to her today, she wouldn’t allow them to see how she truly felt. She had far too much pride for that.

“Dearest sister!” A light, gentle voice called from outside her bedroom door, accompanied by a startlingly loud knock. “I know it’s early, but Wakaba and I have come to visit! Would you mind allowing us in?”

Haqua forced a smile, and called back.

“But of course! Come on in, Adri.”

The door opened, and in stepped her petite, graceful younger sister, and her towering, graceless wife.

“Yo, Haku! Ya keepin’ well?” Wakaba, an oni standing tall at a gigantic nine feet (though she was always quick to point out that she was short by oni standards), waved over at Haqua with a grin.

“Indeed I am,” Haqua nodded, waving back warmly. “Not that I’m not happy to see you, but to what do I owe the pleasure? You don’t normally visit so early, Adri. I’ve only just made it out of bed,” she chuckled softly.

“Ain’t it almost noo-,”

Adri looked up at her wife and shook her head, quickly silencing the oni.

“Ahaha…my bad, by bad,” she chuckled, bashfully rubbing the back of her neck.

Despite herself, Haqua couldn’t help but frown at the sight of Wakaba’s pitying expression.

“A spur of the moment decision, truthfully,” Adri smiled as she took a seat opposite Haqua. With a snap of Haqua’s fingers, a pair of golem maids appeared out of thin air and poured her guests a cup of tea each. They bowed deeply, then vanished as quickly as they appeared.

“Mm, Adri knew I was feelin’ kinda homesick, so we took a small trip to my old stompin’ grounds a coupla days ago. We’re on our way home now, so we thought we’d stop by an’ say hi,” Wakaba grinned, producing a large gourd from her hip and pouring a few drops of sake into her tea.

“That can’t be appetizing, surely?” Haqua asked, furrowing her brow as she looked at Wakaba’s cup.

“Kyahaha! No way, Haku! There ain’t a bit of food or drink that doesn’t go better with sake!” Wakaba proudly declared, before downing her cup of tea. “Haaaah, that hits the spot!”

A golem maid soon returned to pour her another, and Wakaba’s happy cycle went around for another spin. 

There was surely no more mismatched a pair in all of Hell than Adri, the very picture of elegance and grace, and Wakaba, whose life revolved around sex, drinking, fighting, and very little else. Still, the two always seemed happy with each other, and Wakaba was always friendly to Haqua, so she hardly minded.

“None of your other wives went with you?”

Adri took a sip of her tea, smiled softly, then shook her head.

“I was alone when I met Wakaba, so I thought it might be nostalgic if we traveled alone. Wakaba seems cheerier than before, so it seems that it was a rousing success.”

“You bet it was!” Wakaba grinned, happily patting Adri’s back, “Can’t wait to see the other girls, though!”

“Indeed, I’ll be sure to show all of them a great deal of love to make up for my absence. I’ve missed them all terribly, and judging by the messages I’ve received the past few days, the feeling is mutual.”

Haqua smiled softly. Her sister had grown into a fine woman. Watching her family grow with each and every partner that Adri had pledged her life to had brought her no end of joy over the past few years.

Even if it did make her the slightest bit jealous.

“Ah, I’ve brought you a gift, dearest sister,” Adri said, prompting Wakaba to reach into a bag by her side and pull out a large, fancy looking box. “Dorayaki, a specialty of Wakaba’s home town,”

“It’s real good! You’ll love it, Haku!” Wakaba nodded, offering a peppy thumbs up.

“That’s very kind of you, but it’s a rather large box, is it not?”

“Yeah, it’s meant for families, but-”

Adri looked back up at Wakaba, and she quickly fell silent once more, and hid her face behind another cup of hard tea.

“Oni portions are always rather large, think nothing of it, dearest sister,” Adri smiled.

“...Indeed. I’ll be sure to savor it,” Haqua smiled. “Thank you both, really.”

Silence fell over the room. Haqua couldn’t bring herself to speak, while Adri and Wakaba had no idea what to say.

Finally, after a few moments that felt like an ocean of time, Adri broke the silence with a small sigh.

“Is something the matter, dearest sister?” she asked, her tail drooping sadly behind her.

Haqua turned away from her sister and gazed out the window once more.

“What makes you ask?”

“If you don’t mind me sayin’ so,” Wakaba started, “the last couple times I’ve seen ya, you’ve looked kinda distant, Haku. Kinda feels like I’m talkin’ to one of yer golems sometimes, y’know?”

Haqua stayed silent.

“Indeed, dearest sister. You’ve hardly seemed as vibrant as usual. You’ve been eating well, yes?”

“I eat when I need to, yes,” Haqua said.

“And yet none of your meals contain much substance, do they?”

Haqua froze for a moment, her eyes widening at the question.

“Lust is lust. It hardly matters where I’m getting it from.”

“Haku, that’s kinda…”

“That’s not true, dearest sister,” Adri said, gently reaching across the table and resting her hand on top of Haqua’s. “Indeed, if sustenance is required, anything will do in a pinch, but when its devoid of any real feeling, it leaves us feeling unfulfilled and empty. I understand that not everyone can manage the lifestyle I’ve chosen, but forging a connection with someone who truly understands and loves you is like nothing else I’ve ever experienced. It goes beyond simple sustenance and nourishes the soul itself, dearest sister.”

“Mm,” Haqua grunted, not sure what else she could say.

“I understand that you like to live quietly. We all know how much you value being able to spend time at home, but I’m certain that if you looked, dearest sister, you would surely find someone who loves everything that you are.”

“Yes, I’m sure…” Haqua sighed. “Adri, if it’s alright with you, I’m not feeling terribly well today. I think I might lay down for the afternoon.”

“Oi, Haku, yer just hidin’ away from us. We’re tryna help, y’know?”

Adri placed a hand on Wakaba’s thigh, and gently shook her head.

“Fret not, Wakaba. My dearest sister simply needs her space. Forcing anything now would only make her feel worse.”

“Sorry, Wakaba. I’m not trying to get rid of you, I promise,” she frowned. “You’ve just…given me a lot to chew on, I suppose.”

“Dearest sister, can you promise me that you’ll consider what I’ve said?” Adri asked with a soft smile.

“Mm, I promise, Adri,” Haqua nodded, taking care to look her sister in the eye.

“You’re not alone, you know?” Adri said, finishing her tea before standing up from her seat, gesturing for Wakaba to follow her lead. “I know a great many women who would be delighted to get to know you better. If you’re ever in need, I shan’t hesitate to introduce you to them.”

“Thank you, Adri. That’s…wonderful to hear,”

Adri smiled at her response.

“Thank you, dearest sister. It’s been a pleasure to see you again,” Adri smiled and gave a small curtsy.

“Mm, don’t be a stranger, Haku. You ever need to shoot the shit, stop by our place, you got it?”

“I’ve got it,” Haqua said, waving at the both of them as they turned to leave. “Have a lovely day, both of you.”

As the two of them left the room and shut the door behind them, Haqua couldn’t stop herself from letting out a loud sigh.

“You make it seem like I’ve never even considered it, Adri…” Haqua muttered under her breath, as she stumbled over to her bed on legs that suddenly felt remarkably weak.

For years, Haqua had told herself that she didn’t need to find anyone special. If they could give her what she needed, that was fine. Beyond that, she wanted nothing but to spend her days in peace, indulging in the simple pleasures of a homebody.

But she’d watched Adri so intently over the years. She’d seen how much brighter her smile had grown with every woman she married. How each of them, so very different from her, and even one another, still felt like a perfect fit for Adri.

And before she knew it, her meals had begun to taste remarkably bland.

As she buried herself under the covers, a stray thought entered Haqua’s mind before she fell asleep.

I’d take anyone at this point. If they could save me from this malaise, there isn’t a soul I would refuse.

It was nothing more than random chance. Summoners scarcely had specific targets in mind when they called for a demon, and even if they did, it was easy enough to shrug off spells like that. If one was ever actually summoned, it was almost certainly entirely by the choice of the affected demon.

But a certain, dreadfully tired office worker’s attempt at one such spell just so happened to hit Haqua, and it just so happened to land when she was at her most vulnerable.

As Haqua peacefully slept, a strange, ethereal light engulfed her body. Seeing no resistance, it continued to shine ever brighter.

And when it cleared, Haqua had vanished without a trace.

❖ ❖ ❖

It worked?! That stupid spell actually worked?! I found it when I was drunk, dammit. This was supposed to be something I did on a horny whim and then laughed about later. Not something that’d actually, really, bring a demon into my apartment.

Wait wait wait, there’s no way she’s actually a succubus, right? It’s kinda dark, so I bet the wings and horns and stuff are just…uhh, cosplay! Right, she’s cosplaying! That’s gotta be it! She broke in when the lights went out, lay down on the floor, and took a nap in the living room, all in the space of a couple of seconds.

…

“Like hell!” I shouted, before quickly clamping a hand over my mouth. It was too late, though. I could hear the mystery woman starting to stir.

Shit! I didn’t want to wake her up!

“Nnn… Loud…”

"Ah! M-my bad! I'll keep it down!" I quickly apologized in an even louder voice.

"Don't bother," she yawned, picking herself up and rubbing her eyes. "You've already woken me up."

Crap, she's not pissed, is she?! How the hell am I gonna recover from getting off on the wrong foot with a demon?!

O-or a demon cosplayer! Still not ruling that out!

"R-right! In that case, could I turn on the lights? It umm, it might be nice if we can see each other, y'know?"

"Mm, a fine idea," she nodded, holding one of her hands up and snapping her fingers.

I stood there a moment, blankly staring at her figure in the moonlight. Slowly, she opened her eyes and blinked a few times, clearly confused.

She snapped her fingers again, and still nothing happened.

"Uhh, right! The lights here use a switch!" I told her, hoping I'd picked up on whatever was confusing her. "So you just come over here, flick this up, and-"

As the lights flickered to life, and I turned to face her, something became immediately apparent.

Oh crap, she really is a succubus!

She had to be. Even as she sat there in a daze, there was just no other way to explain how she looked. And no, it couldn't have been an elaborate cosplay. I was grasping at straws when I came up with that theory, and it died the moment I truly saw her.

But beyond all that, beyond anything that marked her as something inhuman, my head was filled with one very, very simple thought:

She's so sexy…

With another yawn, the succubus slowly picked herself up to her feet as her wings lazily flapped off her fatigue, while her tail jutted straight out before gently drooping.

Fuck. She's so, so, so sexy.

Work sucks, but look, I'll be the first to admit that once you get past how tired everyone clearly is all the time, my office is filled with beautiful women.

From my adorable little hamster of a Kouhai Mio, to the many gorgeous secretaries that Iori had with her practically all the time, swarming her like maids. It really was insane just how many beauties I shared an office with. Hell, even Iori is just stunning. She's awful, but still.

This succubus, though, was absolutely in a league of her own. Maybe I have more of a thing for wings and tails than I thought I did, but even without all that, she'd be perfect. Ethereally beautiful, really. The kind of woman who absolutely lived up to her reputation as a demon of lust.

Dammit, we just met and I'm already down bad.

“This isn’t my bed…” she grumbled, her voice coming out as a low, sultry hum while she scanned the living room. “Nor is it my home…”

"R-right, yeah. It's my living room, actually, ahaha…" I chuckled bashfully. "Sorry that it looks like this right now, I swear it's normally a lot nicer."

She looked around for a moment longer, finally noticing the candles and the summoning circle that surrounded her.

Her eyes then came to rest on me.

“You summoned me?”

Huh?

I expected her to sound annoyed, or outright furious, really. I thought I'd be punished for the mere arrogance of even thinking I could get away with this. Maybe that was the self-deprecating incantation getting to me, but it'd been on the back of my mind since first began to stir.

Instead though, she asked it so casually, without so much as a hint of anger. If anything, she sounded amused by it all.

And yet her bright, golden eyes still pierced through me, compelling me to answer.

“I did! I can...umm, un-summon you, if it’s a bother!”

“Can you?” she smirked.

“...No…” I squeaked.

“Haaah…” the succubus yawned, picking herself up off the floor and plopping herself straight down on the couch. “Lucky me, summoned by a woman who barely even seems to want me around.”

“Oh, I want you here! I mean, if you want to be here, that is, and-”

“Let’s assume I do. You were composed enough to summon me, clearly, so there’s no need to bury yourself in doubt now.”

She was cool, confident, and impossibly beautiful. I wasn’t sure I could resist her even if I wanted to.

“R-Right. Well, I’m Rina Saeki...though, I suppose you already heard the incantation during the summoning ritual, huh?”

“Vaguely. I was asleep at the time. I only recall a particularly desperate voice interrupting the most wonderful dream.”

“Sorry about that! I didn’t know you’d-”

“Stop apologizing. I won’t have my summoner treating my arrival like a mistake.”

I just nodded, biting back the incredibly strong urge to apologize once again.

“Well, it’s um...nice to meet you?”

“Mhmm. To you as well,” she smiled, though it looked strangely detached. Hell, she looked like I do at work. “Did you have some grand plan behind summoning me? Some desire that only a succubus could satisfy?”

I wanted to tell her that it was embarrassing, that there was no way I could say it out loud. But, I knew she’d yell at me for it, and she’d be right to. I went through all this effort. The least I could do was stand my ground.

I cleared my throat, put my hands on my hips, and smiled. A surefire power stance, ready to get me through any and all humiliation.

“I’m very lonely and very thirsty! Please spend the night with me!”

The succubus, who’d been checking her nails with great scrutiny, suddenly turned to face me, one eyebrow raised.

“...That’s it? You want to have sex with a demon?”

Gaaah, it is embarrassing!

But I stood firm and kept wearing my increasingly shaky smile.

“Yes! I don’t know much about succubi, but I’m pretty sure it’d be good for you too, right? At least, I'd want it to be! If we're both having a good time, it'll be even better, right? So I'll work hard to satisfy you, too! Maybe I'm overthinking this, but it’s been so long, and I’m kinda at my breaking point with how lonely the past few years have been, so I’d love it if you went all out with me! Really just fucked my brains out, ma’am!”

Whatever surprise the succubus had seemed to fade, her wide-eyed expression giving way to a teasing smile that, honestly, felt kinda warm to me.

I wonder how many times she’s been summoned like this? I bet anyone who did it before me was just as upfront.

“What was your name again? I’ll listen this time.”

“Huh?”

“You were so shaky earlier. Everything was so buried beneath all those apologies that I wasn’t sure it was worth paying attention to you. I see now that I may have judged you a little too quickly. So, now that you have my attention, why not use the opportunity to tell me more about yourself? It should give me a better idea of where we stand,” she smirked, her eyes trained firmly on my own.

I get it. You’re testing me, huh?

I made sure to speak firmly.

“Rina Saeki. 31-years-old. I work as an accounting supervisor at a company that clearly doesn’t care about me beyond my ability to bring in money, but they’ve bled me so dry over the years that I have no life outside of my job anymore. No relationships or friendships to speak of, just an apartment full of things I wish I had more time to enjoy.

Like I said, I’m very lonely, very thirsty, and very ready for whatever comes next.”

She paused for a moment, as if processing everything, and then smiled warmly.

“I’m sure you are. Poor girl...they’ve done their best to break you down to nothing, haven’t they?”

“Did a fine job of it, too.”

Immediately, she began to cackle.

“Ahahahaha! Rina, was it? I think you have a great deal more resolve than you realize. I imagine meeting a demon would be an earth-shattering event to most humans. You know, summonings are dreadfully rare, but to my understanding, most humans who summon succubi barely even grasp what they’re calling forth. Yet here you are, speaking to me with all the frankness of an old friend. You even took the time to assure me that I would enjoy our time together. It's quite the welcome, in truth.”

“Well, I’m pretty starved for actual conversation these days, too. This is pretty refreshing, honestly.”

“Haqua.”

She leaned back on the couch, which had the definitely deliberate effect of emphasizing her incredible chest. I couldn’t tell you how much I wanted to lose myself between those boobs…

“Hmm?”

I swallowed my desire as best I could, though I knew she could see it clearly.

“My name. Consider it an honor that you get to hear it.”

Fuck...just crush me already…

She’s so, so sexy. It isn’t fair how incredible she is. All she did was tell me her name, and I’m just about ready to declare my undying love to her. I recognize how pathetic this all seems, but Haqua is killing me and there’s nothing I can do about that.

“Most summoners don’t?”

“As I said, they’re rare occurrences, and easy enough to shrug off at that. You just got very lucky. Indeed, you’re so fortunate that you’re the very first human who’s been graced by my presence. Even so, I can tell you that I’d have no intention of sharing my name with the person I thought you were when you first started speaking! Now that I have a clearer picture of things, however…”

Her smile widened. I felt like I was about to melt.

“Well, you seem interesting, so I suppose I can’t help but want to indulge you a little. But I’m curious… You said you wanted me to go ‘all out,’ was it?”

“Mhmm!” 

“So enthusiastic~! Do you even know what that would mean, though? Asking a succubus, whose very existence is predicated on lust, to go as far as they can with you? That’s quite a bold request, you know?”

“I think so? You’ll go so far that I can barely even move for a few days, right? Just fuck me so hard that I’m drained beyond belief?”

“Ahahaha~! Mmm, something like that...”

“I want that. Very badly,” I said, smiling happily.

“And if it kills you?”

“Then I’d be going out with a bang.”

“Ahahahaha~! Is that so? Well, I’ll take care not to do that, so you can rest easy. Still, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t fun to have such an…open-minded summoner.”

I grinned and nodded.

"I'm pretty well aware of the fact that I'm never going to get a chance like this ever again. You know, there’s a super cute girl who likes me at work, and we could probably make things work between, but my job’s broken my spirit to the point where I just don't know if I could even start something like that. I'm convinced she'll see the kind of woman I am outside of the office and come to hate me immediately. Honestly, I feel like there isn't anyone on earth I could convince to love me for who I actually am, so my love life's basically dead, the way I see it. But things are different with you, Haqua. You're seeing me like this from the get-go, you've never even seen the facade I put on around everyone else."

Haqua looked surprised, but I kept on going.

"So I don't feel like I have to hold anything back with you, and…if you're OK with that, I want you to feel the same with me. Don't hold back, let all your feelings loose. I'll accept them all with open arms, Haqua."

For a moment she just stared at me. She opened her mouth, but said nothing, like her words failed her.

So she shut her eyes and took a deep breath, before flashing me a broad, confident grin.

"I like you, Rina~"

I smiled warmly at her.

“I like you too, Haqua."

I was being honest with her. We’d just met, but, gosh, it felt good having an open conversation again. I hadn't let my guard down like this in years. Even if I felt like a dirty-minded teenager with how hot-and-bothered she made me.

No, even the dirtiest teen has more self-respect than I do right now…

"Well then, let's make this an evening to remember, shall we?"

I grinned. I couldn't wait for whatever came next.