The bus I usually take didn't arrive for almost half an hour, so I decided to go by foot. On my way back, Ra'zizi kept on chattering excitedly.

"You do know how to choose your women, Matt," she congratulated while circling around me, "I never thought you'd find one like... this!"

I did my best to not mind her. Stepping off a crosswalk, I felt my phone vibrate. It was Tim, calling yet again. I felt guilty for dragging him into this, but I didn't know how to deal with him, nor how to stop him from getting more involved, so I have decided just to stop answering. But I didn't have the guts to block him. After all, the only reason I got this far was thanks to Tim. I let the phone ring out. It only took a moment for a text message to arrive.

"Please at least let me know you're alive and haven't done anything terrible."

"I am alive. You don't need to worry," I responded.

It wasn't more than a couple minutes when my phone started vibrating again. I angrily ripped it out of my pocket and was just about to tell Tim off when I saw the caller ID and picked up.

"Mom?"

"Oh, there you are Matty, so good to hear you!" she said. "You haven't been calling recently, so I thought I might call."

"Yeah, sorry, I was busy with stuff, changing lines of work and... stuff," I said.

"Oh, that's good, I'm sure the next thing you find will be better," she cheered me on.

"Yeah, I sure hope it is..." I said, unconsciously letting my tone hang for a moment.

Mom turned out to be fine, but she liked to take every opportunity to flood me with questions. I managed to omit the truth about almost everything that happened, or put it in a better light. Condition? Found new strength. Physically? Lost a lot of weight. Mentally? I'm seeing a therapist and so far it's going great, just had a really productive session.

"Tell me, have you found yourself a nice girl...?" she asked and giggled, "Oh, I'm so sorry, sweety, I'm a bit nosy, that's all."

"I..." I paused for a moment and stood still in the middle of the sidewalk. The memory rushed in. "I have..."

"Ohh, how is it going with you two?"

"N-not good," I muttered and felt my voice start straining, "I- I think I might have... made a mistake..."

"Matty, what's wrong? Your voice is a bit strange."

"I'm sorry," I took a pause to catch a deep breath, "I'm just a bit overwhelmed."

"Oh, I'm sure you'll do fine. You always do!"

"Y-yeah," I said and stared into the distance for a moment. "Listen, mom, I gotta go, I'll talk to you some other time."

"Okay, sweetie, take care and have a nice day!" she said and blew a kiss before disconnecting.

I had to stand still for a moment to regain my composure. Almost all the sounds around me felt like they were disappearing, until suddenly I felt a shove from the back and almost fell down. I heard Ra'zizi giggle again, and instinctively turned around.

"Fucking bi-" I started, but stopped in the middle of a sentence. A tanned man, torso the size of a cupboard, wearing an expensive looking suit was standing right behind me, his slightly bent right arm holding out a paper cup with coffee, part of which landed on his shirt and suit, and a briefcase in his left hand. He kept on looking at himself than back at me.

"I-I'm sorry," I stuttered.

"God, damn it!" the man's baritone voice reminded me that I indeed still had my last remnants of fearfulness in me.

My mind was racing, trying to find something to say to not risk a beating, when suddenly the man added, "talk to you later, I spilled coffee all over myself."

He reached towards his ear, making me realize he was speaking to someone on the phone through a bluetooth headset.

"Sorry about that, was in the middle of a call," he began.

"Oh, no, no need to, I'm sorry for stopping," I apologized back.

Having quickly excused myself, I stormed off, reminding myself to never get lost in thoughts like that again.

 

The next time that sinking feeling in the stomach hit me was in that room. There she was, laying in her hospital bed, just like I remembered. It took me a whole day to get mentally prepared to visit Izzie again, which for the succubus meant another night of draining me of my energy.

"Izzie," I said an put my hand on hers while sitting besides her bed. "It's me again. Matt."

No matter how much I tried, I couldn't stop the tears. I wished she'd even just twitch a finger, but aside from breathing she was completely immobile.

"I'm so sorry..." I said, taking and raising her hand, "I swear I'll fix this, I swear-"

A loud beeping sound filled the room. I looked around in panic and saw an orange light above Izzie's bed flashing. My stomach was turning and head felt light as I looked over at her other hand, the one near the nurse call button. Then I saw Ra'zizi standing next to the bed, finger still lingering on that button. I must have glared angrier than ever back at her, for a moment I felt a slight pain in my eyebrows, but she only responded with a cocky smirk, showing teeth and tilting her head while shooting me a coy look. I let go of Izzie's hand and clutched the railing around her bed so hard I thought it would bend. I rose up, pushing the chair away and felt I was about to jump the demoness. Just then came the sound of rapidly-approaching footsteps.

"What's going on?" I heard a high-pitched female voice.

Turning around, I saw a plump nurse I recognized from my earlier visit. She rapidly made her way to the bed and started checking on Izzie.

"... What the..." she muttered while I stood still, "Did she press it?" she asked and looked at me. "Did you see her press it? ... Wait..."

She narrowed her eyes and stared right at my face for a moment.

"Wait, you are not supposed to be here, I think?" she half-stated, half-asked as I slowly started backing away.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure the family said you're not allowed?" she continued before shouting. "Jane! Jane, is he allowed here?"

I heard more footsteps, but before they arrived, I turned around and briskly walked out of the room, then turned to even more quickly trot down the corridor in another direction.

"Hey, sir!" I heard behind me, but I was already familiar enough with the floor plan to know that I could go around and to the exit, missing the other nurse.

I avoided the elevator, paranoid I'd run into yet one more. The walk I took down the stairs turned into a dash once I saw someone in a police uniform on the third floor's main corridor.

It took me a good bit of sprinting before I was far away enough from the hospital to remember how mad I was at Ra'zizi. I had to catch my breath, resting my hands on my knees, bent over and taking in the evening air.

"You fucking bitch!" I yelled out, remnants of tears springing from my eyes. "Why do you always do this?! You always try to fuck me up!"

Ra'zizi stood before me, nonchalantly spreading her wings and playing with her hair.

"My, oh my, you are so quick to shift moods," she said and leaned in with a smile, whispering "I like that!"

"Fuck you!" I shrieked at her, exasperated. "To hell with you!"

I heard some commotion around me and saw a light turn on in a nearby residential building, but I didn't care.

"Yes, Matt, fuck me!" Ra'zizi pleaded. "Why don't you fuck me right here, right now?"

She put her hand on my chest and started her routine of sliding it down to my crotch. I fought with all my mental resolve the intoxicating feeling, the demonic tendrils wrapping around my brain.

"Throw me down on the ground, push me against the wall!" she continued, getting closer and closer to my face. "Hit me, pull my hair like you want to! Yes! Give it to me, you brute!"

I felt her hand start caressing my cock and knew it was the last chance I had to snap out of it.

"Get the fuck away from me!" I threw my hands forward and pushed her away.

The succubus disappeared in the blink of an eye, and I saw two rugged-looking men, staring at me. The one in the back had a long beard and was supporting the one in the front, gaunt-looking and with a beanie bag on his hand, who I just pushed.

"Woaaah, man, what the h-" he said, struggling to get back upright, "I'm just trying to help you man, you're freaking out!"

I looked around and saw a few more women and men come up to me. They were of various ages and skin colors, but they all had that same look on their faces: concern. A woman with a small purse pulled out a phone and started placing a call.

"He's tweakin', man, I'm tellin' ya!" the long-bearded man said, then looked at me. "Hey, bro, chill, calm down, we don't want no trouble!"

"What's going on?" someone around us said.

"Damn... Nearly knocked me over," the beanie guy said and cleared his throat roughly before turning to me and continuing. "Look man, you seem to be in a rough spot... I get it. Do you remember what your name is? Where you're staying?"

"What's your name? Sir, what's your name?" I heard a concerned female voice behind me.

"I'm... I..." I muttered, desperately searching for words. I looked around left and right, anxiously, and saw the small crowd that was beginning to surround me, closing in.

"Yes, um, there's a man... Springs road... Yes, he started yelling, and I was afraid he might not be well and um," hearing another female voice, I turned around and saw the woman with the phone making a call. "He pushed a man... No he's fine, but... Yeah..."

"It's okay, bro, just chill," the long-bearded man said and started carefully reaching with an open hand towards me while keeping his distance. "It's gonna be fine, just chi-"

I didn't want to wait any longer. I side-stepped the man and dashed in a small opening between two other onlookers before sprinting down the road. I heard a few people yell behind me. I wasn't going to get arrested.

I don't remember how long I ran, but I only stopped once my legs felt too weak. Wheezing, I leaned against a facade of a tall steel-and-glass building. My eyesight was blurry, and I felt pain all throughout my body, like I haven't felt since spraining both of my legs back in PE class in high school. The ringing in my ears slowly gave way to the sound of ringing church bells. With some effort, I looked around and saw that I was standing opposite the same church I visited before to ask for help. I wasn't religious, but I felt lost. At that moment, there seemed to be no other path for me. I stepped in, and Ra'zizi stayed right at the entrance.