Ryan awoke in a cold sweat in the middle of the night. It had been almost a week since he had last seen Venessa and every night he was having dreams about that final moment they had together but in the dream when she turned to stone the statue would fall over and shatter causing him to awake in a panic. He felt horrible about what he had done and said to her. He missed her and he had an empty feeling in his heart since she left and he knew he was a fool for doing it but he also knew what she was and how dangerous it would have been for him to stay with her or at least that is what he thought.
He had been going to work and going through the motions through most of the days until it was time to go home. He felt lost and had no idea what to do with himself. He hated admitting to himself that he missed her, or at least what he thought she was but seeing her in her demonic form scared the life out of him to the point he thought maybe he should have reacted better.
Every evening was lonely as he had no appetite or desire to do anything. He mostly fell asleep on the couch with the TV going all night as he almost didn't want to go into his bedroom as it reminded him of that look in Venessa's eyes before she turned to stone and disappeared. The vision haunted him and made him feel so guilty it was starting to eat away at him.
He was at the coffee shop on a morning before work sitting at the table where he had met Venessa. He was alone barely touching his drink when he noticed a woman standing at the counter and for a moment the hair looked similar to hers. He wasn't sure but without thinking, he got up and ran over putting his hand on her shoulder.
"Venessa?" He said as she turned around.
"What the hell are you doing?" The woman who was obviously not her said with agitation in her voice.
"I am so sorry, I thought you were someone else, my apologies," he said turning and walking away as the woman continued to order her coffee.
He stepped outside confused as he headed for work. He was walking around the corner to the closest subway when he looked up and saw Scarlett walking towards him looking at her phone. He was hoping she wouldn't see him but seconds later he watched her stop walking and put her hand on her crotch like something was wrong.
"Oh shit!" She said as she looked up and saw Ryan standing there with a confused look on her face.
She looked around frantically and then started running away as she was still holding the front of her pants. He thought he heard a ripping sound not sure what was going on as she ran into a store across the street disappearing. As confused as he was he continued down into the subway heading to work.
The next morning he awoke feeling like he was being watched. He looked up and saw a tall woman sitting in his living room looking at him with a stern expression on her face. She was very attractive with long legs and dark hair and it suddenly hit him who this might have been but he wasn't sure.
"Who are you, how did you get in here?" He asked sitting up quickly.
"I wanted to meet the man who broke my daughter's heart," she said as he swallowed feeling very nervous all of a sudden. "So, my daughter is a statue again because you turned her down, that hasn't happened in a very long time and never to a member of my family, so what is your fucking problem?"
"I'm sorry, you are?"
"I'll ask the questions, but if you must know I am Lizeth, Vhesana is my daughter."
"Wow, she mentioned you but didn't say how..."
"Flattery will not help you here, so as I said, what's the problem?"
"How did you get in here, oh wait, you're demons."
"So a demon isn't worthy of your love?"
"I didn't even know demons existed, and I've never heard anything good about them, I thought she was going to kill me."
"She wasn't, but I might."
"Look, what do you want me to say?"
"I want to know what was wrong, why you broke her heart, and why I shouldn't rip yours out of your chest!" She said standing up from her seat.
"Fine, go ahead, send me on to hell then, I don't care anymore."
Lizeth stopped confused by his answer before she asked: "why?"
"Because, she was, amazing, special, I didn't deserve anyone like her, demon or not, I was too afraid to live with her but honestly now I don't know how to live without her."
"Interesting," she said sitting back down across from him. "Go on."
"Wait, you're her mother, she said you were married?"
"Yes I am, to a wonderful man."
"A human man?"
"Yes, why do you ask?"
"So, wait she said she was feeding off me, what does that mean?"
"Ryan, it is Ryan correct? We are demons of lust, we feed off of the arousal and the lust that oozes from humans, the sex nourishes us without any harm to our mate, the more fulfilled you are sexually the more we feed on it."
"So, you don't suck the life from men?"
"That is a succubus, my dear boy, I promise you that sex with us is quite harmless, well, unless you like a little pain, or piss us off! Just ask my husband, we're going at it every night for a few years now and the only injury he has gotten was a pulled muscle in his hip."
"Sounds like fun, I'm sorry this is all just weird for me."
"You seem like a nice guy, you just seem lost and confused, I am starting to believe you didn't actually mean to hurt her."
"I didn't, but when I saw what she was I thought she had tricked me, you know like the devil likes to do."
"The devil is a fairy tale, well at least the version in the stupid book you all read, there are demons who share that belief but most of us just want what we want, we are only said to be evil because the things we enjoy are considered sinful by those in the power of knowledge."
"I thought she was... How could I have done this, how could I be so stupid."
"I don't want her stuck in a statue for another hundred years."
"Hundred years?"
"Yes, when our lover dies we mourn for a century until it is time for us to move on, right now she is morning your rejection, she loves you, and you turned her away."
"I am such an idiot."
"That much is obvious."
"And a fool."
"Also true."
"And I, I think I love her too."
"Do you?"
"I do, as crazy as it sounds, I think I have from the moment we met, I know that's strange because I only knew her two days when she left but... what is wrong with me?" He said getting up off the couch standing there in his boxer shorts and a t-shirt. "I have to fix this!"
"Then go and get her back you idiot!"
Ryan went to grab his keys and headed for the door not caring that he wasn't dressed. When he opened it and stepped through he suddenly realized he should put some pants on first but he was very confused as he wasn't in the hallway he was expecting to be in. He turned back and saw a different door than the one to his apartment and suddenly realized he was standing in Lilith's Emporium but he wasn't sure how he got there.
"Ah, there you are," the red-headed woman from last time said as she looked at him from behind the counter. "Did we forget to get dressed this morning?" She said looking at his boxers.
