"Wow, have you stayed up all night?" Izzie greeted me with humor at her door.

We met as promised— it was a lovely late afternoon, and she was punctual as always. But, with the protection from Ra'zizi's magic gone, I felt half-dead. Turns out the brief spell of immunity left me unprepared to deal with her attacks. Now, I was almost back to being emptied of my life energy again. I knew I had to prove myself to Ald-ghareth soon—but I tried not to think about it too much before tonight. I think I was afraid of thinking what would happen if I failed—or perhaps if I succeeded.

We took a quick stroll before going back to her place—she insisted. The entrance to the apartment looked ideantical to mine, albeit much neater and with a cute image of a small white flower in a frame hanging on the wall. A smell of slightly burnt toast reached me when I stepped in. Izzie realized I smelled it and blushed.

"Oh no, it's still here, isn't it?" she chuckled awkwardly. "I'm no good at cooking so... Can we get takeaway?"

I agreed and, after a short wait, we were all set for the evening. Izzie made a choice of some thriller I never heard of—she seemed to be very much into the genre and told me with excitement about the director's previous movies. I noticed she had a row of DVD cases lined up in a small nook under the TV stand.

Her couch was very comfortable, and we slowly sank into it, sitting shoulder to shoulder while watching and finishing up our meals. I could barely focus on the movie, thoughts about her rushing one past another through my mind, our arms touching almost the whole time. For a brief moment, I forgot about all my other troubles. I also almost forgot about Ra'zizi, who was sitting on my other side.

Izzie cleared her throat. "Are you... serious about this...?" she asked, somewhat absent-mindedly, in a middle of a long scene near the end of the movie.

"About...?"

"About us... Are you looking for something serious?"

I felt my heart pound faster.

"Yes...!" I said with excitement and turned to face her, but then turned my head down when I felt something on my leg. It was Izzie's hand, she was running her palm along my thigh. I looked back up at her—she had a glimmer in her eyes that I had never seen before, her lips parted slightly, face looking expectant.

"I ever tell you how... I appreciate that you were honest and didn't try to rush?" she said, staring into my eyes.

"Ah, yes, you did," I replied.

"I really," I felt her hand move closer to my crotch as she continued, "really appreciate that, Matt."

My heart kept on speeding up—she was so pretty, and so nice to me. I wanted this. I promised myself I would not use any tricks—and yet, I already felt my resolve melting.

"You don't mind this, do you?" she asked with a hushed, seductive tone she never used before.

"N-no, not at all," I answered, still attempting to keep my calm.

"Then why don't you touch me too?" she pulled back for a moment and smirked. "Come on, Matt."

She tried placing my hand on her thigh, but I did my best to barely touch. Still, a few strokes seemed enough for her to lean in and start kissing my mouth. I believe I held on for about four seconds without reacting before I started reciprocating the kiss. The sensation was incredible—every touch made me want more, and I knew that if we went too far, I wouldn't be able to stop. I put my hand on her shoulder and broke the kiss for a moment.

"Let's not get too rushed though, right?" I said, voice trembling.

"Huh?" she asked.

"This is very, very nice, Izzie. But I don't want you to feel like we have to go all the way..."

"What are you saying, silly?" she said and kissed me again. "Relax, you're so tense, just kiss me."

"Izzie..." I began, but paused for a moment.

"I had a rough week," she said. "I need... this..."

An optimist would call this a strike of passion—I felt like I couldn't see or hear anything. I know we shuffled around on the couch. I think I said something, or maybe it was the dialogue? I know I could hear some soundtrack of the movie ending. And I felt the warmth of her body, soft lips gliding over mine, eyes almost closed. It was a blur of bliss.

When I came to, I found myself lying down on the couch, and Izzie was already straddling me, with her knees on the sides of my legs. Her usually playful eyes had a hunger in them.

When she reached into my pants and her delicate hand touched my cock, I grabbed her wrist.

"Hey," I said with a smile.

"Hey," she replied. "It's okay, I heard what you said."

"What I..."

As she cut me off with another kiss, I heard the succubus cackle. It's then it dawned on me—Ra'zizi must have spoken through me.

Izzie clearly was too excited to reason with. Blushing heavily, she took off her light sweater. Wearing only a bra for a top, she bit her lip as she began grinding on me.

"Hey, Izzie," I began, but she put her finger on my lips.

"I'm sorry, Matt, I know it's happening fast but..." she sighed, "I haven't felt good in a long time... I need it... Do you mind?"

"What? No, I mean..."

"Should I stop?" she feigned an innocent expression. "I know I'm being greedy... I'll stop if you want me to..."

"I mean..." I looked at her for a moment. The pangs of guilt were too much. "I don't think we should rush into se..."

Just like when she made me slap Suzanne, Ra'zizi grasped my hands and before I could close them, they were cusping Izzie's breasts from below. The succubus kneeled right besides her, looking at me with a mischievous grin while holding and tugging my hands around a few times in caressing circles.

Izzie chuckled anxiously and leaned in a bit.

"Ah! I mean... You say that and then you... toy with me..." she seemed to cool down a bit and for a moment she placed her hands on the couch backrest. I expected her to get off me, but just as her weight started shifting, Izzie glanced down at me with that same hungry glint in her eyes, and dropped her pelvis back onto me. "I'm sorry Matt! God, I'm so sorry, but I'm so horny!" She began grinding on me even faster.

"Please, Matt, forgive me! Can we do it? I wanna feel good for once..." she put her hands on the sides of my head.

"Izzie," I said as I took her hand, "we shouldn't rush..."

I lost my voice when she kissed me passionately. Ra'zizi momentarily let go of my hands, and I stopped the fondling.

"Ahhh, I knowww!" Izzie, whined and pulled my hands back onto her breast. "But I... I need this... Matt, pleaasee!"

Ra'zizi was laughing out loud, and started maneuvering my limbs again. "You're such a lovely puppet!"

I know I should have done something, and if I were more intelligent I would have come up with a better plan. If I were smarter, I would never have gone through that ritual to begin with. But I wasn't. Izzie was too good, and now I felt I was losing control too. If Ra'zizi struck me down now, I thought, I would at least die content.