Chapter 12

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑻𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆

°. ⋆༺♱༻⋆. °

The next day started very well.

We woke up early because we had school and I got ready in Jennifer’s house. She let me borrow her clothes and her makeup. It was so much fun.

We went to school together. Before we walked in, she gave me a passionate kiss, right there, in front of the entire school. We spent the rest of the day walking around together, holding hands.

I had never been so open about my homosexuality before. It just was not something that I could easily do back in California. I had kept that part of me buried and it was so refreshing to finally bring it out, with the most beautiful girlfriend.

I must admit, even with Jennifer’s admissions about the whole demon stuff, I was not really bothered. I was too deep in my happiness to let anything get in my way. Embarrassingly so, I must confess that it actually allured me. The whole evil, mysterious vibe was kinda hot. And it definitely was out of the ordinary, which was something that characterized Jennifer and our relationship a lot.

And I liked that. I liked that we were unique, different, and shamelessly open about it. Jennifer had helped me open up about my most suppressed desires. She had given me the key to unlock the most buried parts of myself. I appreciated that a lot. In a way, I felt that I had done the same for her.

Which is why I almost forgot about her being a succubus.

I mean, I didn’t exactly forget. That’s the wrong word. It simply did not impact me the way it should have. It did not feel like something that affected me directly. Like I said, it felt sexy, exciting. What girl hasn’t been wronged by a man, anyways? I believe we all have some pent-up anger, often directed towards men. So, in a sense, I found Jennifer’s tendencies very… impressive.

Don’t get me wrong. I did not condone murder, not even then. I lectured Jennifer all the time. I kept an eye on her. And I genuinely believed that she would keep her promise not to hurt anyone.

(I was wrong. But we will get into that in a little bit.)

It’s just that, for a while, I just wanted to enjoy our relationship. I did not blame Jennifer for what had happened to her. Perhaps, I told myself, I would be the same if I was a succubus. After all, she was just doing what she needed to in order to sustain herself.

I would like to believe, even now, that in no way did I enable her. I was not trying to encourage her. I was just… not necessarily preventing her.

But you must believe me when I say that I sincerely had faith in her keeping her promise to me. I did not think that she would go out of her way to knowingly harm someone.

Like I previously said, I was terribly wrong.

°. ⋆༺♱༻⋆. °

It all started a week after we had begun dating.

We had plans with Jennifer to see that waterfall that swallowed everything that everyone in Devil’s Kettle was always making a fuss about.

I was thrilled. A mysterious, spooky date with my even more mysterious and spooky girlfriend? Count me in.

Like usual, I had arrived early. I was patiently waiting for Jennifer to come.

Minutes passed. Ten, twenty, thirty…

Out of boredom, I tossed the wrapper from the Twix that I had absentmindedly been chewing on in the waterfall, just to see if it was legit.

I watched with awe as the waterfall swallowed the wrapper whole.

It disappeared. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

Just to double-check, I moved closer to the waterfall and leaned closer, inspecting it.

Truly, there was nothing there, not even a remnant of the wrapper.

It had completely vanished.

I was awe-struck, just gazing at the depths of the waterfall. The way the water swayed and twirled and moved and glistened…

I was leaning too close without noticing it. I took a step closer and lost my balance.

With a shriek, I fell forwards.

Just as I had started to think that this was the end of me, pathetic, naive Lilith Cove falling into the waterfall and magically disappearing into its deepest ends, I felt a familiar arm grab me and hoist me up.

Jennifer.

°. ⋆༺♱༻⋆. °

“Oh, great, look who finally decided to show up. To what do I owe the honour?” I murmured sarcastically, refusing to look at her.

Jennifer did not respond. Not even with a huff.

It unnerved me.

Tentatively, I lifted my gaze.

Immediately, I let out another shriek.

The sight of Jennifer made my blood run cold. She was drenched in blood. It stained both her top and her skirt. It was smeared all over her mouth.

But the most frightening sight of all was her smile.

Jennifer was grinning from ear to ear. Her smirk had a demonic edge to it. Her teeth were soaked in blood. Her eyes were wide and yellow, like they had been all those times when she was acting aggressive.

“Jennifer…” I whispered, “what did you do?”

Again, my girlfriend did not respond. She simply continued to stare at me.

I felt a little intimidated. What if this version of Jennifer, the demon that had possessed her, didn’t recognise me?

Then I would probably be succubus chow.

I tried a more soothing approach. I put my hand on Jennifer’s shoulder and sat down on a rock, prompting her to sit next to me.

Surprisingly, she did.

I exhaled, collecting myself. “Jennifer,” I tried again, “are you alright? Do you want to tell me what happened?” At least with this approach I was not putting the blame on Jennifer (even though the blood was clearly her own doing) but rather treating her as a girl who had been harmed by whatever situation she’d been in.

I leaned in and planted a kiss on her nose. I should have probably not done that, but it caused Jennifer to react. She flinched and her eyebrows shot up as she whimpered faintly.

“There she is,” I muttered encouragingly. Gosh, if there was a guide on how to approach a succubus, someone definitely had to get me one. I was not so sure about this sweet-talking method.

However, it seemed to work. Jennifer blinked, her evil grin slowly fading, replaced by a frown of confoundment, as though she did not understand how she had gotten here.

“It is me, Lilith, your girlfriend,” I said softly, “and you’re going to be fine, Jennifer. Look,” I pointed at the waterfall. Its noises had softened, taking on a more relaxing tone that I prayed would calm Jennifrer, “this is the waterfall that you wanted me to see, remember? We’re on a date right now. Isn’t it wonderful?”

To my surprise, Jennifer actually nodded.

“Here,” I whispered, wiping her blood-stained mouth with the back of my hand. “Your face is a mess,” I chuckled.

It might have been my mind playing tricks on me, but I could have sworn that Jennifer dimly smiled at that. Hey, at least she did not bite me.

“Now, do you think you can tell me what happened?” I asked more softly.

Jennifer opened her mouth and I sat up straighter, hopeful that she would finally talk.

Instead, she gagged and retched. I jumped up in alarm, holding her hair up. She vomited some disgusting, black stuff all over the ground.

“Jennifer!” I exclaimed in shock, “are you okay?! What the fuck?!”

Jennifer spat and hissed. She stood up, cracking her knuckles and wiping her mouth.

She slowly turned to face me. I was worried that all the progress I had just made was for nothing and that she would be angry and scary all over again.

Instead… She smiled. But this time, even with her bloody teeth, it was not at all a threatening grimace. It reminded me of my girlfriend. The girl that I knew.

“I will tell you all about it, Lils,” her tone was eerily calm.

So we took our place on the rocks and watched the waterfall while she told me all about what had happened.