Three days is the time limit? That just can’t be. While I was busy getting on Harmony’s case for not being truthful about herself, she was probably thinking about how long she has left to live. I couldn’t believe it when it came out of Harvey’s mouth, but Harmony didn’t dispute anything, so is it true?

“God dammit, I don’t fucking know!” I shout at the top of my lungs.

As far as I know, they both could be throwing me for a loop. I’ll go back in there, all worried, and see them laughing as they got a good joke on me. As much as I love a good joke, especially in tense situations like this, that went too far. That has to be it, right? They just took a joke way too far. Sure there may not have been time to plan it, but with Harmony’s succubus magic or whatever, and Harvey’s brains, they could come up with something on the fly.

At least, I hope so.

Suddenly, I heard the door from Ty’s room open. I looked down the hallway and spotted Harmony walking with a grimace on her face. Seeing that reminded me that I can’t let her see me looking like this. I need to smile. Think of happy things and smile as brightly as possible. She’ll see through a fake smile, so what are some happy thoughts I can come up with?

I scan through my mind and find a memory of Miranda and me doing some dumb shit in school. I managed to convince her to come with me outside and hang out with some people that I always visited. We got into some crazy shit then. 

Suddenly, another memory came to mind, one not so pleasant. Before it could do any damage, I shut it off completely and remembered how Miranda got so drunk that she started taking on two dudes at once. That was hot as hell, and also fun as fuck. 

“What are you smiling for?” Harmony asks.

My eyes were closed, so I didn’t even realize Harmony had already come into the living room. I opened my eyes, startled, and giggled to myself from the memory and the fact I was caught off guard. 

“I just remembered something interesting from my high school days.” I say.

“Like what exactly?”

I grinned like a maniac. “Ever wondered what it looks like for a girl to take on three dudes at once?”

Harmony raised her eyebrows. “I’ve seen that more times in my life than I’ve seen one on one.”

For a second, my mind blanked out when she said that, but it quickly came back to me. She’s a mother-fucking succubus. She probably saw a five on one before and didn’t blink an eye to that. However, that just makes me wonder about something.

“How does that exactly work?” I ask. “Like, do you just do it out in the street where everyone can see? Are there places for sex?”

Harmony tilted her head in thought. She took some time to answer, but after a while she looked at me and told me something interesting.

“It depends. There are cubbi that fuck in public all the time. There are very few laws regarding sex. One of them is that stores and the like should have booths for sex, since doing it in a clothing shop could get the merch dirty before it even hit racks.” Her expression turned grim. “The most important rule we had is that we couldn’t go berserk. If someone goes berserk and are caught by the law, they’re jailed, raped to bring them back to sanity, then publicly executed.”

A shiver ran down my spine. That doesn’t sound like a fun time. I mean, someone’d have to be bat shit insane to think that’s somehow at all justified. The terror that they must feel to lose their sanity, only to go through traumatic event after traumatic event, only to be killed in the end.

“What if someone’s just unlucky and no one would fuck them?” I ask. “There has to be some countermeasure to that.”

Harmony looked at me, that grim expression never leaving her face. “That doesn’t matter. To the queen, going berserk is the worst crime imaginable. Whether it be by shit luck or on purpose, it’s all the same in her eyes.” 

Now she’s talking about a queen? When she said she was a succubus, I wasn’t expecting that she lived in such a complex society. I was expecting a few demons here and there living together, like a nomadic tribe or something. But then again, nomadic tribes are known to form some sort of civilization here and there. Then, after a while, they get up and walk again. Wait, why am I thinking of nomads right now? Focus, brain!

“Anyway, I’m about to go to bed.” Harmony said. 

“Oh really? That’s good. You should get some sleep. Sleep is amazing.” I stammer over myself. Harmony looks at me with a mix of confusion and intrigue at what I was doing.

“Yeah, sleep is good, especially for me. My vagina’s already dripping wet and I feel like I’m about to die if I don’t get a cock shoved in me.” 

Harmony took her hand, and she dug it in her skirt and panties. My face flared up, and I looked around me, wondering if I should look or not. I’m not the purest person in the world, and am rather perverted myself, but this just came out of nowhere. Should I look? Is she okay with it?

“See?” She removed her hand from her panties. I looked, and my cheeks turned into cherries as soon as I saw how soaked her hand was. “It’s only going to get worse from here. Tomorrow, I’m going to have to go to work too, since Miranda’s coming back. My body’s going to drain itself from me trying to hold myself back and worrying about Ty, so when I get home, I probably won’t be able to do much.” She looked up at me. “Can I count on you to find Ty while I’m out of it?”

Her piercing gaze tore into me, and implanted emotions into me that I didn’t really expect to be there, but it was welcome nonetheless. Hope, belief, and pride were just a few emotions that entered my soul with her stare. I welcomed them all into my loving embrace, and smiled like a child being told that they could get one candy from the candy aisle, then immediately grabbing a whole hug’s worth. 

“It’s not like I’m needed at work that much.” I say, scratching my neck with a giddy smile. “I’ll help you with whatever I can.” 

Harmony sighed and smiled back. “Thanks.” Harmony said before heading back down the hallway. “One last thing. Ty’s room is off limits to sleep in. You and Harvey can sleep in the living room.” 

I saluted her as she turned her back on me and walked back to her room. Now I’m by myself again, and with very little to do. I guess I can just watch TV in the meantime. 

Picking up the remote, I turn on the TV and the news station pops up on screen. They talked about the murders again, and once more, my mind spiraled into deep thought. 

***
So, Jerry, what else is on the chopping block tonight? 

The news went on for quite some time. They passed by the talk about the murders and went onto something about recent celebrity drama. Apparently, a singer was caught having an affair on her husband and she tried to sue him for defamation. She lost though, cause the person she fucked was apparently also a fan of the husband, and he wanted to get on his good side. Good news about the whole situation, now the husband and the dude are getting married. All that happened in the span of a week.

Well, there is recent news about the recent murder of the-

Before I could hear the rest of it, something hit me in the back of my head hard enough that it might leave a knot. I moaned and covered my head as I looked behind me to see what had hit me. Harvey stood behind me with two blankets in one hand and his other was in karate chop formation. 

“I have your blanket, Miss Illia.” He held one of the blankets to me, and I took it from him. It was a pink blanket with ice cream cones and unicorns stitched into it.

“Thanks Harvey.”

“No problem, Miss Illia. Would you also like something to drink before you go to sleep?” 

I shook my head. “No, I’m good.” Suddenly, a thought came to mind. It’s not a random thought either. It’s something actually useful. “Have you seen any clues about Ty?” 

Harvey shook his head. “I’m sorry, Miss Illia. I have no discernable clues on his whereabouts. I would also like to apologize for shouting at you earlier. That was very unprofessional of me.”

“You don’t have to worry about that.” I giggle at the sincerity of his apology. He’s been my butler since I was born. He should know I don’t give two shits about professionalism. Like I don’t give two shits about the probably important information being shown on TV. Go away TV. 

I imagine the TV grew legs and walked away, which only made me smile even wider.

“What do you think would happen if refrigerators actually could run?” I ask, remembering that classic prank phone call line. I’ve never actually done it before since my parents forbade me from having a phone until I turned eighteen, but I’ve always wanted to try it once. 

Harvey, instead of answering this very important question, laughed at it. I wanted to feel annoyed that he didn’t take me seriously, but I couldn’t help but laugh back. 

“You are still the same Karina that I know of.” Harvey says.

“Is that supposed to be an insult?” I say without actually feeling insulted.

“No ma’am. I’m merely stating that after all these years, you can somehow manage to stay chipper in such situations.” His face grew serious all of a sudden as he sat down on the seat opposite of me. “By the way, how did you meet Miss Wright in the first place?”

I didn’t expect him to ask such a question. Given the last time I saw them, it looked like they each hated each other. So why is he asking about her? Or it could just be that he wants to know more to keep us two apart. Well, sorry to say Harvey, but I have a new dream now. That dream is to get a succubus girlfriend and the best way to do it is by stealing her from Ty. 

“Why do you want to know that?” I mumble into my blanket.

“I just don’t understand how you could have met a succubus? There’s a whole wide world out there, and you manage to meet a succubus that managed to find themselves on the mainland? Either you have incredible luck, or…”

He didn’t finish his sentence, but I could already tell what he was thinking. 

“We met around a month ago, I think. It was actually around the same time I met Ty. I fangirled over him like crazy. Hell, I still do. If it weren’t for Harmony being a succubus, I’d steal him away from her.” I looked up at the ceiling as an interesting thought came to mind. “Wait, can’t I have both? Harmony’s a succubus, so she’d be fine with polygamy. All that’s left is what Ty thinks.”

“Ma’am, back on point, please?” Harvey asks.

“Sorry. Well, I walked into Miranda’s store as we prepared to go to an auction, and I saw Ty sitting at the counter. So I fangirled a bit, then learned that Harmony was in the back. She was sick at the time too and looked like the walking dead?”

Harvey grew alert as soon as I said that. “Wait, you’re telling me she was sick at the time? That could mean she was at her breaking point.” He pondered that thought for a while. “Wait, how is Ty even still alive? Is he even human?”

“What do you mean?”

“As I said before, cubbi get extremely aggressive when they’re on their last leg. Their hormones act up, bringing their basic instincts of survival to the forefront of their mind, causing them to seek out the closest prey. On another cubbi, they can manage to scrape out and live, but on a person, they wouldn’t last past the insertion.”

I shrug my shoulders. “Well, maybe Ty’s just special then.” 

Harvey shook his head. He pondered a bit longer, but slowly grew tired over all the speculating. “I’m going to continue the search tomorrow, but I need some rest. I can’t perform at my best if I’m tired.” 

I raised my hand for one last question. This one has been on my mind ever since the events in the room. 

“Is the three-day limit real?” I ask.

Harvey nodded. “I’m afraid it is. Tomorrow will be her second day, and the day after will be the most crucial time of all. We either find Ty tomorrow, and have him have his way with her, no matter her condition, or she dies.”

“I don’t understand, though. Why can’t you just do it?”

“Because I would rather her dead. If it were up to me, then I’d take you far away, then come back here and end her myself.”

“But since I’m here, what if I stop you from killing her?” I threaten. It’s an empty threat, but if it’s enough to get him to second guess, then I should take the chance. 

The living room was silent for a long time as he contemplated his thoughts. Harvey’s head was lowered into the blanket that covered him as he thought about what to say. Once the thought came to mind, he raised his head and looked at me.

“Then she escapes, and I die.” Harvey says. “Cubbi in that state lose all sense of morality, but it’s not like they have much morality to begin with.”

With that, he dozes off, and a few minutes later snoring filled up the silence in the room, and the only thing left on my mind was one thing. 

I can’t let it come to the third day.