‘The ritual is complete!’

She grinned with a joyous face at me. While I sat there, looking at her happy and slightly dazed face. Staring at me with those hypnotic eyes, she sunk her fangs into my skin of the neck. I felt a sudden tingle within my body. The pain was ravishing my lungs and muscles, draining me out of my energy. Such was the power of a succubus. An unknown creature unknown to man, seemingly coming out of their hideouts during the night, preying on innocent souls, stealing a part of their life force. I had learned that from the books that Michelle offered me when I first arrived in this place. That was when I became familiar with this place.

That was when I hadn’t known that I would turn out to be in a situation like this…

‘Say something you moron!’ she gripped my collars, strangling me against the edges. I, on the other hand was unable to move away from her brute clutches. It was so strange when she seemed like a defenceless girl a moment ago. Now, I was witnessing the monster before me threatening my life upon me.

‘If you have nothing to say then--’

‘I won’t,’ I firmed myself with her, gently pressing my fingers against her tender arms. I did feel the urge to let her not feel vulnerable. But, somehow, I wasn’t able to look at her face directly. It wasn’t a sudden hitch, nor a wish… I just didn’t know what to do after that.

The bed creaked as she slid off, dragging the sheets along, covering her bodice. Patting her feet away from the moonlight, she disappeared behind the door into the darkness. I lifted my hand to try to talk to her again, but she had already left. I sighed in a discomforted state, almost not knowing that it was a breath of my own. My hand landed on the soft sheets of cotton on the bed, my head bowed down, I clenched my fists in frustration. I didn’t want to be meddled in this type of fuss!

As the sun rose, the warmth on my skin had already rose to a sweat drop on my skin. Summer. Sure was hot during the day. But during the night, it seemed unbelievably soother. Pulling myself up, scratching my head, I walked towards the door like a drunkard, stumbling to my sides. The small and compact hallway gave a dark and claustrophobic feeling as I advanced my feet towards what looked like the dining table in the kitchen. Feeling my clothes by m fingers, they seemed rugged.

‘Oh, you’re awake? Good morning!’ it was the old man who courted me to his house. ‘I hope you had a sound sleep?’ he raised on eyebrow, glancing at me across the table. Just then a girl entered the room from the sun-warmed doorstep. I felt a wave of hot air blow against me as I once again realised that it was summer.

‘Good morning,’ she tilted her head, her light hair flowed along the warm wind. She looked sublime, more than beautiful. I bowed casually, saying nothing and slipped into my seat. The next moments that followed lied in silence as it mingled with the sound of spoons clanking on the plates. I ate carefully, trying not to spill the spaghetti. That was an awkward moment for a while…

The sound of cicadas began to ring, with the smooth flow of the warm wind that graced my skin by the moments.

‘Uh,’ I began, ‘I’m going to stroll out for a bit…’ I couldn’t finish the sentence as I was too mesmerized by last night’s bad nightmare. I needed to clear my head for a bit. Maybe I was frustrated, maybe too tired to accept what happened with me. I strode out, lifting the dust as my feet stomped the ground. It flew away with the wind. Looking into the distance, I could only see the stretching valleys, paddy fields shining under the sunlight. As I walked along the side-grass path, carts passed by followed by the sounds of the horse’s hooves. There wasn’t much shade to go into. Trees around the parts were scarce. The sun was hot over my head, warming me up and I worked up a sweat. A little huffing in the heavy air propelled me to look for a tree desperately. The fencing fortunately did not end. I could rest.

Leaning upon the beams, I sighed under a tree I found as though with sheer luck. Winds carried a heavy smell of oak and birch. It was a quiet village. It came to my mind that I wanted this lifestyle more than ever. The shade felt like a lifesaver. The humidity felt too hot on my shirts.

The winds changed its pace and a chill went up my spine, causing me to flinch sideways.

‘The weather sure is hot today!’ an unknown voice rejoiced beside me. ‘Good morning again. Sleep well?’ it was her again, leaning on the fence, pulling up her long skirts to align with the beams. She wore the same dress from the doorway back at the house, just a hat atop her head this time. As much as I wanted to gaze over her sublime self, I was terrified. Was this the girl from last night? I couldn’t even tell the difference. She was just not like the creature I saw the night before.

The wind picked up again, carrying along her smell of Wisteria and Alyssum. It was hypnotizing, but charming at the same time. I didn’t speak anything, too surprised to even say anything.

‘You don’t have to worry about last night. He already knows,’ she leaned slightly towards me, looking at me with her striking jewel eyes. Such innocent looks, I felt that she wasn’t to blame for that… but I had seen the monster inside her.

‘Who knows…?’ I croaked out.

‘Oh, you are such a piece of work!’ she giggled as she tapped my forehead with her index finger. Like a playful child, she hopped off the fence beam, hands at the back and leaned towards me again, ‘I do hope we get along.’

I didn’t say anything. She blinked me an eye before turning on her heels, he long skirt lifting up in the wind as she tried to fold it in place. The hat protected her from the sun’s warmth. Her skin contrasted the heat, almost like the lake besides the quarters I used to live in during a December morning. She looked gorgeous…

I felt the wind cool down as it hit my sweaty arms and neck. I sighed an exhausted breath.

Very strange… I thought as her figure blended away with the glimmering sunlight. I shielded my eyes, trying to find her figure, but I failed. She was gone, so sudden. I pulled myself outwards, back towards the dirt road from the lush green again. The sunlight made me dizzy as I put my hands in my pocket and kicked a stone in the path as I strolled down. The dust was choking and I started to long for the night world I once entered. I coughed.

The cicadas and crickets had already silenced themselves into the bushes. I couldn’t hear them.

I rolled my feet back and returned to the lodging house. I entered through the main door, made out of plain birch, heavy on the joints.

‘Ah, there you are! Come on, help me out there on the farm, will ya?’ he shook his hand towards me, gesturing outside through the kitchen door to the hilly harvests.

‘I was supposed to leave today. And I possibly can’t cause you any more trouble…’ I trailed off, not sure what the old man would say.

‘Oh, was it? I see… well I cannot stop you from leaving,’ he faced downwards, putting his straw hat on the table. ‘Come sit down here. I wanted to have a talk with you… and you said you were already leaving so I want to discuss something with you. Do you mind?’ he looked at me with worried and a tired smile. Dad… how long has it been? I was reminded of father. He used to have the same look on his face when he returned home from work. How he’d put down his jacket and ask for coffee and work late till night. The old man resembled him a lot when I glanced at him closely.

‘You know, when I first met her, she was a little girl,’ he began, stroking his beard. I dragged a wooden chair out and sat facing at him. ‘All hopeless, starved, no clothes… I decided to take the poor thing in. As a foster father, or so what I think she thinks of me, I took care of her the best as I could. I gave her everything, knowing the monster she was inside. Do you think I was right to do so?’ he looked at me with a tired look again. I couldn’t help but answer.

‘Yes, I think you were right,’ I palmed my knees, looking out the window by the table. I could see children running atop the farming hills, squealing with each other as they disappeared along the shining green edges. I saw people returning to their houses, holding shovels and tools along on their shoulders.

‘You think so…? Gheh… I don’t even remember who I was before taking her in.’ he laughed at the thought.

‘So, you know that, uh… she’s a--’

‘A succubus… I knew it all too well from the beginning, son,’ he sighed, looking downwards on the wooden floor boards. ‘Just couldn’t let her go because of the guilt… of murdering someone not even important to you.’ he ended, not speaking a word and gazed out the window, wiping his eyes. They turned red. He huffed and sniffed, yet smiling. ‘Good Lord, she has grown up so much…’ he sniffed, rubbing his nose.

Even so, through the rough face… I could feel a silent weep from him. Just a little.

‘Promise me… promise me you’ll at least look after her.’ he got up from his chair and knelt down on the floor with a thud. ‘I beg of you, please…’ he silenced off.

‘I will.’ that was all that I said.

After that, he got up and walked out the kitchen door, not speaking a word. I sat there on the hardwood chair, bewildered. Outside, not even a single leaf blew out of its twig, though the wind was strikingly fast. Probably the northern winds.

There wasn’t any sound anymore, not anyone’s but a feeble sound of someone calling out to me.

‘Hey…’ someone called out to me, this time a little more clear in her conscience.

‘Ah!… Yes?’ I turned around, only to look at the vague figure blinded by the sunlight behind and the shadows inwards. It was her.

‘Care to escort me around?’ she asked, gently forwarding her hand towards me. Her slim hand seemed to reflect back some of the sun’s heat. I felt a cool air in the direction of the wind towards me from her.

‘Sure…’ I trailed off, unsure what so say to her. Then suddenly, ‘Where did you disappear off to?’ I asked in a more controlled voice this time.

‘Phasing,’ saying that, slightly giggling under her voice, she pulled my arm with a jerk and took me outside. It was difficult to match my stride with hers. While I struggled, she walked fluently with her strides.

We walked up a hill beside the farming steps. We strode up as the downward wind slapped against my chest and abdomen. It was as if a warm welcome. The heat did not bother me anymore. A tree awaited atop the hill, blowing against the wind, spreading it’s shade as she took me under. She then let go of my hand, walked a few steps forward, and landed on the smooth grass, folding her legs. I was left standing, mesmerized by her charisma.

‘Not going to sit?’ she turned her face halfway towards me. I could make out her fine lining of the lips, her eyelashes, her smooth hair, resting on her cheek bones. ‘Ah, I was right. You have nothing to say…’ she turned her face forward towards the great panorama of green lushes.

What she said was true. I did have nothing to say at that moment. I just wanted to listen to her voice silently, feeling the wind and the smell of wisteria and alyssum. I felt the wind, as if I could feel her breaths in the wind. In that moment, the thought once again crossed my mind - wasn’t this supposed to be the Underworld? I silently walked towards the bark of the tree, and slid down against it. I put my hands on my knees as I glanced over her graceful figure, even in the shades. We didn’t talk for a while, just gazing down the plain fields stretching over miles, people working in their fields, children squealing while playing near the servant’s quarters. The fluttering sound of the leaves and twigs was all that I heard as the moments passed.

‘I was the last one left…’ she suddenly began in a calm and low voice. And I could feel pain in her voice while speaking. She continued, ‘Although we did nothing wrong, we were still slaughtered… every last one of us.’

‘...what do you mean?’ I forced out the words out of my throat.

‘I mean,’ her tone suddenly dropped as she stood up and turned towards me. In a flash, I could feel something sharp cut my right ear and she was suddenly before me, staring at me with those striking eyes. I turned my eyes to discover her claws dug deep into the bark, missing my ear by the edge.

‘I meant, that even though we lived peacefully, what wrong did we do that compelled you humans to come slaughter us?’ her tone did not change. She was dead on serious. Now, the only thing I could do…

…was to hope that things went smoothly.