Suddenly A Succubus Ch. 28

“Hello? Helloooooo?” Amara called out, doing her best to call as loudly as she could. Despite the complete absence of, well, everything, the sound of her voice didn’t seem to carry very far. She was currently on the campus quad and knew from experience that the surrounding buildings normally amplified louder sounds, but no such thing happened now.

Growing nervous, she manifested her true form just in case. A strong red tail, massive red wings with black spines, and dark horns atop her head all burst into existence in a flurry of hellfire. She took a few moments to examine herself, pulling her tail and wings close to make sure everything appeared normal.

Her tail and wings felt strong and healthy, but that wasn’t a new development. Ever since the night of the ritual, when she’d broken through some kind of mental block, she’d felt more in tune with herself than ever. Her tail felt longer, more powerful, though she couldn’t objectively say if the length had actually changed; she’d never bothered to track the different facets of her transformation.

It occurred to Amara that, for possibly the first time in months, she was completely alone outside. As strange as the situation was, she also had a golden opportunity to explore the campus without hiding her true self.

She started stretching her entire body; arms, legs, tail, and wings, taking advantage of the freedom. The inside of her apartment always felt like it was crowding her, and she frequently hid her wings due to convenience. She started thinking about her transformation, trying to remember the last time she’d had this much freedom to be herself.

The first memory that came to mind was her ill-fated trip to the football stadium. Nick had taken her there just after Vee returned to campus, hoping to give her a space to fly around. What had been intended as a way to cheer her up, to let her explore a part of her transformation she always had to keep hidden, had ended poorly. No matter what she tried, no matter how fit and powerful her wings were, she couldn’t get more than a few feet off the ground without experiencing traumatic flashbacks to the night she almost killed Vee.

Now, with the entire campus to herself, she thought about trying again. The skies were clear, there wasn’t a soul to be seen, and Vee had even helped her defeat the cult. Why shouldn’t she try again?

Moving to the edge of the grass, Amara faced the quad and took a deep breath.

C’mon Amara, you can do this. Vee saved your life, and even if she’s avoiding you right now, she clearly trusts you. It’s going to be okay.

With a running start, she leapt into the air, her wings pushing her higher. Her horns, usually capable of reading wind currents, were strangely quiet given the circumstances, but there didn’t seem to be anything stopping her from climbing. She looked down at the ground, watching it start to grow more distant, when she saw something on her hands. Her chitinous gauntlets had returned, and they were covered in blood.

Is that mine? When did that happen?

Her breathing quickened, and she began to smell smoke. It filled her senses, making it hard to see, and the sky above her vanished. In its place, Amara saw a burning roof, threatening to collapse, the sounds of snapping timber surrounding her. She looked back to her hands and found them wrapped around Vee’s neck. Her friend was gasping for air, blood running down her face, and in her eyes, Amara saw nothing but terror.

”Amara… please…”

A heavy crack filled the air, and everything stopped. She lost track of how long it took for her to regain her senses, but when she did, she found herself slouched on the grass of the quad. It looked like when she’d fallen from the sky, she’d collided with the branches of a nearby tree. Once again, she remained tethered to the ground.

“DAMMIT!” she shouted. She lashed out, punching the tree she’d collided with and sending a shower of bark across the lawn. With a loud scream, she fell onto her back and stopped moving.

Above her, the sky was empty. Just like earlier today, the sun was nowhere to be seen, yet a dim twilight somehow illuminated the campus. She stayed there, lying on the quad, until her anger subsided. Without her phone, or the sun, it was hard to tell how much time had passed. Eventually, she got up and decided to continue exploring the campus.

While she couldn’t fly, she found was still able to take advantage of her wings in other ways. She was able to make large jumps, using them to gain height and distance, and staying out of the sky seemed to keep the flashbacks away.

She decided to start circling the campus, weaving through the buildings in larger and larger circles. She hoped a thorough search might yield some answers, and started by heading towards Lysander Hall, sitting just north of the quad as usual.

As she approached the building, she immediately noticed how strange the entrance looked. The building itself seemed relatively solid, just grayed out and a little fuzzy, much like the rest of campus. The doors, however, were much less visible. Amara could see an outline of their shape, and hints at their structure, but not much else. It was like someone had opened the entrance in some editing software and turned the opacity down to fifty percent.

When she tried to pull the door open, her hand passed through the handle entirely. Chills ran through her back as this happened, it felt like her hand had passed through incredibly thick fog.

Okay, well, if I can’t open the door, can I just walk through it?

With a deep breath, Amara pushed her hand towards the door and watched as it passed through just like before. She took a step forward, swallowing nervously as she closed her eyes and walked through the door. An even heavier chill ran down her spine, and it took more force than she had expected to step through the door, but soon she found herself on the other side.

Thankfully, the interior of the building seemed to be open, but she immediately noticed something else just as strange. Surrounding Amara were dozens of strange, ethereal wisps of dull light. Some were next to tables, some were behind the counter of the nearby café, and some were moving around the area. One of these wisps even passed through her, bringing another heavy chill before it left the building entirely. Sick of that feeling, she did her best to avoid these wisps as she continued exploring Lysander Hall.

The upper floors of the building didn’t reveal anything of note, just more collections of strange wisps. The more Amara looked at them, the more she felt like they were ghosts, living out memories of students’ past. They walked in and out of classrooms, sat at desks, even visited the bathrooms.

Before leaving, Amara remembered that the basement held a magic circle. She made her way downstairs, pushing through another vaguely defined door, and revisited the first magic circle Tessa had shown her. It was strange, she knew it was supposed to be hidden by an illusory wall, but that defense was nowhere to be found here. The circle seemed to be out in the open, softly pulsing with dim light.

Amara knelt next to it, watching it for several minutes, before sighing in frustration.

I don’t know shit about these circles…

Regretting that she hadn’t tried to study Tessa’s magic more, while also knowing that she would never have the patience for it, Amara decided to leave Lysander Hall and continue her search elsewhere.

She visited a few more buildings, exploring them inside and out, hoping that something might start to make sense. No matter where she looked, however, she continued to find absolutely nothing.

One thing she noticed, however, was that the world seemed devoid of small objects; there were no leaves, no flyers, no litter, the campus was completely barren. All the buildings seemed relatively solid, the doors were always slightly opaque, and those ghostly wisps were also quite common. After what felt like hours of searching, she decided to head back home. If there was nothing here, and nothing to do, she might as well be some place familiar.

As she rounded the last corner of campus, however, she finally found something. More accurately, she found someone. A few dozen feet in front of Amara stood a girl with medium-length blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and several scars on her face. After a moment of surprise from both of them, she finally spoke up.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Vee said.

—

Tessa groaned as sunlight crept into her bedroom. She’d been trying to ignore it for the last few hours, but it was finally time to admit that she needed to get up. She slowly crawled out of bed, her tattoos beginning to glow as clothes floated out of her closet. She also grabbed her switchblade from her nightstand; completely black, beat to shit, and reliable. She’d lost her favorite knife in the fight with the cult, and this was her backup. She quickly got dressed, shoving her blade and her phone in her pockets, then unlocked her bedroom door and walked to the bathroom.

She reapplied her makeup, used a shaver to clean up the tattoos on the side of her head, and sighed in resignation. It was time to start thinking about finals.

She’d lucked out, and didn’t have any tests in the morning today. The sleep had felt amazing, especially after how busy the last few weeks had been. As the only one able to read and interact with magic circles, Tessa had run herself ragged trying to find a way to stop the cult. She’d also spent a few days training with Vee and Amara, doing her best to keep up with her two supernaturally powerful friends.

To be fair, they had done most of the fighting. There was a lot of tension between them, and Tessa had found she enjoyed watching them work out their frustration on each other. Still, she had a few painful memories of the occasions where she’d tried to join in to learn more about fighting. That bruise on her hip had taken forever to go away.

They’d successfully stopped the ritual, thankfully, and Tessa was fairly proud of her work from that night. In just a few minutes she’d managed to decipher a centuries old magic circle, and reverse engineer the damage the cult had done.

The week after the ritual had been interesting, to say the least. Ever since that night, after Amara had fed on three guys at once, her sex drive had skyrocketed. Tessa was barely able to keep the demon’s hands off her, and for the first time in her life, had found herself on the other end of an insatiable libido. To be fair, she did love sex, and sex with Amara was the stuff of legends. Sometimes, though, when she was alone, she would see the faces of the men Amara had fucked that night.

Pale, sick, gasping for air. Terrified of Amara, begging for their lives as Amara pinned them to the wall. While Tessa would never admit this aloud, her conversation with Vee from a few weeks back had started creeping into her thoughts.

“In the end, you belong to her, body and soul.”

She hated the thought of Vee being right. She hated everything Vee stood for. She hated the Church, she hated how they hoarded absurd amounts of power only to watch men suffer around them.

At first, the thought of fucking a demon sounded like a dream come true. Tessa had been collecting monster porn for years; terrible creatures doing awful, delightful things to eager young women. She even had a few exotic dildos shaped like monstrous appendages, and they saw a lot of action. Sure, she’d been scared when she realized Amara was a demon, but the fear had faded once she realized Amara was still herself.

She’d started fantasizing about Amara’s tail almost instantly after setting her free; it was thick, powerful, and completely prehensile. Amara had incredible control over it and had been able to give Tessa the most powerful orgasms of her life.

Now, however, it was impossible to deny that Amara was changing, and she didn’t even seem to realize it.

In the kitchen, Tessa was sad to see that her partners were both in classes already. She’d been spending so much time with Amara recently that she hadn’t gotten as much quality time as she wanted with Sydney or Riley. She made a note to try and do something with them soon, then began raiding the pantry for something easy to make.

Her search for food was interrupted, however, when her phone went off.

Nick: How soon can you get to Amara’s?

Tessa: i can head there now maybe liek 15?

Nick: Bring your beanie.

Shit.

Tessa usually only broke out her beanie when she needed to hide that she was doing magic. Whatever Nick wanted, this meant it couldn’t be good. She grabbed a toaster pastry, shoved it in her mouth, and ran out the front door to try to get to Amara’s as soon as possible.

Campus was fairly slow today. Everyone was either studying for finals, or taking them, and that meant fewer people lingering outside. Thankfully, this meant getting to Amara’s was a fairly quick affair.

When she arrived, she found Nick pacing outside Amara’s apartment. “Thanks for making it so quickly. Can you get us inside?” he asked.

“Yeah, of course. She never gave you a key?” Tessa said, pulling her beanie tight around her head, just in case.

“It never seemed necessary until her transformation started, and after… well, we’ve been pretty busy. I guess we never thought about it.”

“Why are we breaking in, anyways?”

“She’s not responding to texts or calls, I haven’t seen her all day, and she’s not answering the door.”

Engaging her magic, Tessa’s tattoos started glowing, and she reached for the lock with her telekinesis. Lockpicking was one of the first things she’d taught herself, it was just a matter of messing with the tumblers, using the magic to feel how they moved. Soon enough, the door popped open, and they walked inside.

“Amara? You home?” Nick asked.

The first thing Tessa noticed was that everything seemed fine. Amara’s apartment was in the exact shape it had been yesterday. There were no signs of a struggle, everything was as clean as Amara liked it, and there weren’t any indications that Amara had left any unfinished meals or projects. With no sign of Amara in the living room, Nick walked to her bedroom while Tessa yawned and finished her breakfast. As she walked closer, she heard Nick’s voice grow tense.

“Shit. Shit!”

“What is it now?” Tessa asked.

“She’s not here, but all of her stuff is. Phone, wallet, keys, everything. She would never leave home without her phone!”

Entering the room, Tessa saw Nick frantically turning the place over. He was digging under blankets, through her closet, looking for any sign of what might have happened. Tessa couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen him like this, if ever.

“Alright, well, she’s got to be somewhere. People don’t just vanish without a trace,” Tessa said.

“Are you sure? Didn’t you say that the campus is exposed to all the other planes now that the Gate is down? Who’s to say this isn’t weird magic bullshit?” Nick was breathing faster now, his words almost slurring together.

Tessa moved closer, grabbing Nick’s shoulders. “Hey, deep breath. Whatever’s going on here, we’ll figure it out. Plus, Amara’s a fucking beast. Whatever is going on, I promise that if someone is trying to fuck with her, they’re going to regret it.” Tessa’s tattoos flared again, and she started examining the room. Rather than engaging her telekinesis, she was now trying to read the magical leylines that converged over Aurelius University.

“Okay, it’s fine, we’re gonna figure this out,” Nick said, trying to convince himself. “Seeing anything?”

“It’s hard to say. Ever since the Gate fell apart, the magic around campus has changed dramatically. There’s a lot more of it, and it doesn’t move as predictably as it used to. Like I mentioned before, we’re exposed to energies from all sorts of planes, but that doesn’t mean we feel everything equally. Just like with the tides, planar energies have ebbs and flows to them. One day, we might see more energy from the Wilds, but another we might see more from the Depths.”

“So… you don’t know.”

“Hey, I didn’t say that. Magic doesn’t work on instant gratification, it takes time, research, and practice. Remember, it took me weeks to start to understand all the magic circles on campus, and those were manmade. The planar tides of the universe might need a bit longer, alright? Cool your tits.”

Nick continued pacing around the room, digging through Amara’s things to look for hints about her disappearance. It only took a few minutes for Tessa to speak up again.

“Alright, look. Magically, I’m not seeing anything that stands out, but like I said, a lot of this is new for me. If we’re assuming this is weird magic nonsense, which it might not be, I would have to start by charting everything I’m seeing. I left my magic notebook at home, though. Care to walk me back to my place?”

With a heavy sigh, Nick nodded. “Alright, fine. I’m sorry I’m so high strung, I just… Amara’s never done something like this before.” He pocketed Amara’s phone and keys before leaving the apartment with Tessa, locking the door behind them. They started walking across campus again, making their way back to Tessa’s.

“It’s been one day, Nick. Did you check the roof? Maybe she’s just stretching her wings,” Tessa said.

“No, she only does that at night. Plus, again, she doesn’t have her phone. If that’s not proof something is wrong, then I don’t know what is.” Nick was looking at Amara’s phone, furrowing his brow, and it looked like he was trying to remember Amara’s lock screen password. The phone itself looked like shit, and Tessa was shocked it still worked. When Amara had first discovered her fire powers, she’d called Nick in a panic, and the case had been severely warped in the heat. Somehow, the phone had survived, and there had simply been too much happening for Amara to get a replacement case.

Roughly halfway through their journey, shortly after crossing the quad, the two were approached by another student. She had very dark skin, thick curly hair, and a light jacket on to fight off the stiff autumn breeze. Tessa recognized her instantly, smiling and moving in for a hug. “Naomi! What’s up girl? How are finals going?”

“Hey Tess, I’m good! How about yourself?” Naomi said, hugging Tessa tight before stepping away.

“Eh, the usual. Finals week, eager to get this all over with. You finished with your tests for the day?”

“I am, actually. I’m hoping to take the afternoon to work on a school project of mine, so it’s pretty lucky I ran into you! Well, and your friend, of course. Nick, right? How are you?” Naomi held out her hand, clearly looking for a handshake. Nick quickly stuffed Amara’s phone in his pocket, then smiled and returned the introduction.

“Yeah, Nick. Nice to meet you, Naomi. You’re a friend of Tessa’s?” Nick asked.

With a sly smirk, Naomi looked back at Tessa. “We’ve… encountered each other a few times. Very memorable encounters, I’d say.”

Tessa laughed to herself before continuing. “You said you needed our help with something? We’re in a bit of a rush, but I’ll help if I can.”

“Right, of course, I’ll be quick. I’m actually putting together a project about cult mentality, and I wanted to pick your brains real quick. Can I record this?” Naomi said, pulling out her phone. After a brief, confused pause, Tessa nodded. “I’m trying to look into why people would join such an organization, what that process looks like, all that. I understand you were in Mr. Luxnor’s class; did you ever notice anything?”

Tessa hesitated for a moment, unaware that people were still looking into the cult. She’d hoped that, with the media blitz ending, everything would be swept under the rug, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

“Not really, no,” Tessa finally said. “He seemed pretty normal. Occasionally late to class, but otherwise a nice guy.”

Naomi nodded, jotting a couple notes down on her phone. “Mmmhm. And what about Brandon Nowak? Any interactions with him?”

“Yeah, that fucker was stalking me for a while.” Tessa scowled as she remembered that idiot’s face.

“Wait, he stalked you and Amara at the same time?” Naomi asked, her eyes wide with curiosity. Tessa wasn’t entirely sure how she knew about Amara, and was starting to grow suspicious.

“Um, no. He was obsessed with me for a bit, then I scared him off, and he latched onto Amara. The guy’s a freak.”

“Wow, you managed to shake a stalker? How’d you do that?”

“I pinned him to a wall and held a knife to his throat,” Tessa said. She wasn’t lying, of course, just conveniently leaving out everything that happened after.

“Ouch, well I’m glad that worked out for you. Shame you had to push back that hard,” Naomi said, gently squeezing Tessa’s arm. “Now, speaking of your friend Amara, did she know Mr. Luxnor at all? Even just a passing conversation with him?”

Shit, Amara and I never talked about that part.

Trying to hide her panic, Tessa did her best to make up a convincing lie. “I think she… visited him once on my behalf. I have a bad habit of skipping class, so she swung by his office during open hours and grabbed some homework I missed.”

Naomi made a strange face, then typed a few more notes on her phone. “When did you first learn about the cult?”

After a quick look back at Nick, Tessa spoke up again. “Last week, same as everyone else.”

“That makes sense. It really came out of nowhere, didn’t it? Anyways, that’s everything I needed. I really appreciate all your help!” Naomi moved in for another hug before tucking her phone back in her pocket. “Oh, and Nick? You might want to get a new phone case. That fire damage probably isn’t good for the phone.”

“You mean this?” Nick said, pulling out Amara’s phone. “It’s not mine, it’s Amara’s. She’s… sick, and I offered to get it taken care of for her.”

“Oh no! I just saw her yesterday, and she seemed great. It’s not contagious, is it? Should I be worried?” Naomi asked, concern on her face.

“No, it’s nothing like that, it’s just… well, it’s personal.” Nick looked at Tessa briefly, clearly a little unnerved.

“Well give her my love, okay? No one deserves to be sick during finals week, I can’t imagine trying to make all those tests up… Anyways, you two have a good day, alright?” With a wave and a bounce in her step, Naomi walked away from Nick and Tessa.

Once she was suitably out of earshot, the two of them started walking again, and Tessa spoke up. “That was weird, right?”

“I mean, maybe? I was worried when she started asking about the cult, but she could easily be asking everyone across campus the same things. Plus, it’s not like it’s a secret that you were in Mr. Luxnor’s class. This could easily be nothing. You seemed to be pretty friendly with her, maybe you can use that to your advantage if she keeps pushing?”

“I mean, we’re casual friends, but mostly because we’ve hooked up a few times. Girl really knows how to use her tongue.” Tessa lost her train of thought, remembering the last time she’d slept with Naomi. When she caught herself daydreaming, she shook her head and continued talking. “Anyways, it’s not like we’re besties. If she wants to be a problem, I doubt I could do anything.”

After a few more seconds of silence, and another heavy sigh, Tessa spoke up again. “You know, I hate to say this… but I think Vee and Amara were right. I wanted them to just ignore everything, let nature take its course, but now it seems like having a cover story really was the better call.

“Should we talk with those three again?” Nick asked. “See if Naomi has talked to them?”

“But what if she figures out that we visited them? That’s super suspicious!” Tessa groaned, kicking the ground as she walked. “This is exactly why I hate conspiracies. It’s so hard to keep everyone on the same page.”

Tessa continued grumbling for the rest of the walk. When they finally made it home, she grabbed her magic journal, and started piecing together a plan of attack with Nick.

—

“Vee! Thank fuck!” Amara said, running closer to Vee. Once she’d closed the distance, she saw that Vee was wearing a pair of flannel pajama pants and a tight, spaghetti-strap crop top. Amara had seen Vee in similar outfits before, usually at sleepovers, and she wondered if Vee had also been transported her in her sleep. The small top made it crystal clear that Vee was in fantastic shape, but Amara was too focused on their confusing situation to care. “Do you know what’s going on?”

Once Amara closed the gap between them, Vee sighed in frustration. “Why is it that every time something weird happens, you’re right in the middle of it?” she asked.

“I’m sorry, are you blaming this on me? Why am I always your scapegoat?”

Vee started walking, and Amara kept pace beside her as they continued talking. “No, that’s not… look, I’m sorry, okay? I’m not blaming you; I’m just confused and tired. I’ve been exploring this place all day, trying to find out what’s happening, and I’m beat.”

“Uh huh, sure,” Amara said, rolling her eyes. “You probably just haven’t figured out how to pin this on me. Give it time, I’m sure you can put something together.” The girls locked eyes, and Amara saw a strange look on Vee’s face. It was almost a look of surprise, but the moment passed so quickly, Amara couldn’t figure out exactly what it meant.

They walked in silence for a bit before Vee spoke up again. “What about you? Did you find anything?”

“Not really. I visited the magic circle under Lysander and it was glowing a bit, but I didn’t check the other circles. I’m not sure if the glowing means anything, that was always Tessa’s job. Although, the illusory wall that’s supposed to keep it hidden was gone, which was odd.”

“How many circles are there?” Vee asked. “I never saw any other than the big one in their headquarters.”

“Oh, there’s a bunch, and they’re all hidden in different ways. Lysander, Brandt, the Science Building, the Cafeteria… that’s what I can remember off the top of my head. There might be more for all I know.”

“Probably something we should look into at some point,” Vee said, covering her mouth while she yawned. “Oh, by the way, does your apartment look like the rest of campus? Gray, lifeless, empty?”

“Yup. Why?”

“Shit. I was afraid of that.” Vee paused, seemingly wrestling with herself over whether or not to continue speaking. “Amara… do you remember those wards I set up around my apartment?”

“Oh, you mean the wards you tricked me into walking into? That electrified me and threw me across the hallway? When all I wanted to do was ask for your help?” Amara scowled; her words laced with bitterness. Vee winced slightly, then nodded and continued talking.

“I… deserve that. Look, you caught me off guard back then, it was my first day back, and—”

“Yeah yeah, it’s not your fault, it’s mine for showing up, I know the drill.”

“That’s not what I was going to say!” Vee said, her voice raising slightly. “I didn’t mean for the wards to attack you, I promise. I’m sorry that happened, and… last week, I made some modifications to them. It should be safe now.”

“Wait, hold on,” Amara said, her pace slowing. Her tone grew more playful as she continued talking. “Is this what I think it is? Are you inviting me back to your place?”

“I mean… yeah, I guess,” Vee said sheepishly. “Look, your apartment is like the rest of campus, that means you don’t have food and water. The wards I set up around my apartment counteract the energies of this place, so I have all the supplies we’ll need to stay alive while we look for a way back. Our best chance at getting home is to work together.”

“Well, if it’s a matter of life of death, I suppose I could crash with you for a few days. You sure I won’t stink up the place with all my hellfire and brimstone?”

Vee sighed in defeat. “You’ve been spending too much with Tessa, she’s rubbing off on you.”

“We’re actually both rubbing each other. Quite frequently, might I add.” Amara giggled to herself as Vee groaned, and soon after they arrived at Vee’s apartment. It was immediately apparent that Vee was telling the truth; her door was solid, colorful, and sharp, nothing like the rest of the doors on campus. Vee unlocked the entrance and walked inside, gesturing for Amara to follow.

Amara hesitated. Memories of being flung across the hallway returned, and she was nervous about suffering a similar fate today. With a deep breath, she moved the tip of her tail closer, letting it cross the threshold. She braced herself for disaster, but several seconds passed without any Enochian flares. With a sigh of relief, Amara stepped into the apartment.

The entire apartment was full of life, with vibrant colors and clear signs of Vee’s daily routine. A bowl of cereal sat on the breakfast counter, and several dirty dishes were piled in the sink. Even the air felt healthier, and it made Amara realize just how heavy the rest of campus had felt.

Other than a strange tingling sensation, there were no indications that Vee’s wards were planning on attacking her.

“Well I’ll be damned, you were telling the truth,” Amara said. In the time it had taken her to summon to strength to enter the apartment, Vee had moved to a linen closet and pulled out two heavy fleece blankets. She wrapped one around herself and held the other one out for Amara.

“Here, this should help with the cold.”

“Cold?” Amara asked, tilting her head in confusion.

After a brief pause, Vee spoke again. “Right, succubus. I’m never going to get used to this…” She put the blanket back in the closet, then moved to the living room and sat down on the couch. Amara joined her, though sat on the far end of the couch just in case.

“So, what’s the plan?” Amara asked.

“I don’t know, Amara. I was wandering campus all day, trying to look for hints of… I don’t know, anything. Other people, portals back home, something like that. Spending all that time outside drained me; I’m cold, I’m tired, and I need to rest. Maybe tomorrow we can start another search?”

“Sounds good to me." Amara said. “Still, I’m nowhere near as tired as you. What about food? You hungry?”

Vee nodded quickly, pulling her blanket even tighter. “We should probably eat the stuff in the fridge first. If food can go bad here, that’ll be the first to go.”

Amara jumped up, moving to the kitchen and happily digging through the fridge to look for ingredients. It took several minutes to decide on a meal, and she started prepping everything while Vee continued shivering on the couch. As comfortable as Amara was, her inner fire keeping her warm while she happily prepped her lunch, she could tell there was a palpable tension between the two of them.

“So… Vee,” Amara said, pausing to let the angel look over at her. “What’s that short for?”

“You mean my name?” Vee asked.

“Yeah! Like, Victoria, Vanessa, something like that?” As they talked, Amara used her tail to cut up ingredients.

“C’mon, I told you when we first met, it’s not short for anything.”

“Okay, but back then I wanted to make a good impression, so I dropped it. But, seriously, there’s no way your parents just named you Vee.”

“Well, they did, so you can drop it.” Vee turned away, pulling her hands to her mouth to try and warm them up. “Apparently you’re not worried about making a good impression anymore...”

“Back then we were friends,” Amara hissed.

The conversation stopped, the only noise in the apartment the sound of Amara finishing lunch. She’d put together two sandwiches using a combination of deli meat, cheese, and a pepper she found in the fridge. She held a sandwich in each hand, slowly toasting them to crisp the bread and melt the cheese, and her tail grabbed two drinks from the fridge. When she finished, she split the food between two plates, along with a collection of chips she found in a cabinet, and walked over to the couch.

“Here,” Amara said plainly. She sat down on the other side of the couch, happily digging into her food as she watched Vee start to eat as well.

The angel bit into the sandwich, the toasted bread crunching under her teeth, and Amara swore she saw a hint of appreciation in her eyes. “Wait, is the stove working? How did you do this?”

Without saying anything, Amara held up her hand, letting some embers dance across her palm. “I haven’t used a stove in weeks. I also didn’t know which knives were clean, so I used my tail. Is that a problem?”

Vee hesitated, her eyes lingering on Amara’s bladed tail. “N-no, it’s… it’s very good, thank you.”

She’s being weirdly nice for someone who’s been avoiding me all week.

Other than the sound of toasted sandwiches and crunching chips, the apartment stayed silent. Amara couldn’t think of anything else to say, and she was still trying to figure Vee out. She was being nice, apologizing, and had even welcomed Amara into her home after altering the Enochian wards. Those certainly weren’t the actions of someone who didn’t want to be friends.

After both girls had finished up their food, Vee finally spoke up. “So, maybe tomorrow we should check out the other circles? I’m not sure where they are, but you seem to.”

“Sounds like a plan. The faster we can escape this, gray, lifeless void, the better,” Amara groaned, leaning back on the couch. “Where do you think we are? The Dreamscape? A part of Hell?”

Vee looked at Amara, surprise on her face. “Amara, this is Purgatory.”