Part One: A Strange Visit
****
Angela startled awake as a sudden explosion of sound and light filled the room. She twisted around in her bed, tangling herself in her sheets. She blinked frantically in an attempt to make out who or what was in the room with her.
"Justin McClare," came a deeply ominous, though somehow feminine voice, "I am here for your soul. Please cooperate and..."
There was a pause. Angela's eyes adjusted enough to make out a figure next to her bed. She tried desperately to devise a way of escaping, or perhaps subduing the intruder. Nothing came to mind.
"Hang on," said the figure. The glow faded. The rush of sound ceased entirely. "You're not Justin McClare, are you?"
Angela gaped in stunned disbelief. A woman holding a clipboard peered back at her. She wore an impossibly tight business suit with a skirt and cleavage combo that tapdanced on the line between modest and slutty.
'Woman' was perhaps a generous descriptor. Certainly she was female, but there were several things not quite right. The horns, for instance, which were small enough to almost pass notice, but were distinctly inhuman. The reddish tinge to her skin which couldn't have been caused by any kind of sunburn Angela had ever witnessed. The eyes that blazed with controlled fire, or indeed the teeth that glinted terrifyingly when they appeared between full, blood-red lips.
"Wha..." Angela tried.
"You're not even a boy," the woman complained, her gaze flicking back and forth from her clipboard to Angela. "This isn't right."
"Who the hell are you?" Angela finally managed.
The woman smiled brightly. Angela rather wished she hadn't. The twin rows of teeth in her mouth wouldn't have looked out of place on the most fearsome of sharks. "So sorry. Where are my manners. I'm Lilith, and I'd like to say I'll be your demon today, except I'm not really here for you."
Angela's speech faculties left her again. "Wha... bah... who?"
"Now it's pretty evident you aren't the Justin guy I've been sent for. You look nothing alike. You're far prettier than the picture I got, and are much more... feminine, just generally."
Angela followed Lilith's gaze downward and squeaked in surprise and embarrassment as she realized her chest was totally uncovered. She'd been sleeping naked, and when she'd thrown her covers around she'd left herself severely exposed. She hastily yanked her blanket up over her tits to protect them from being stared at any longer.
"Don't look at me like that," she said in a pathetic whine.
Lilith cocked her head. "Like what? I can assure you, you have nothing to be ashamed of. Your breasts are quite lovely for a human. I mean, mine are better." She cupped one of her boobs with her free hand. "But that's only to be expected. The perks of being a succubus, you know."
"I... you..." Angela flailed mentally for a moment, then seized upon a line of action. "Out!" She pointed at the doorway. "Get the fuck out!"
"Well now, really. There's no need for-"
"Out out out!"
Lilith folded her hands across her clipboard and waited for Angela's outburst to settle down. Angela, for her part, found it difficult to maintain righteous indignation in the face of such a total lack of response.
"Are you done?" Lilith asked after a moment of silence.
Angela curled up into a tighter, more compact self-embrace. She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her blanket protectively around herself. "Yes," she mumbled sulkily.
"Good. Now then. Can you tell me where to find Justin?"
"How could I? I don't know who the hell you're talking about?"
"Really?" Lilith arched a single perfect eyebrow. "You wouldn't be trying to protect him, would you?"
"No! I seriously don't know who you're talking about."
"Even though this is listed as his address?"
"Well... maybe he used to live here? I've only been here a few months."
"Hmmm..."
"That's all I know. Now can you please leave? You're freaking me out."
Lilith shrugged and dropped her clipboard. There was no sound of it hitting the floor. "I can assure you I don't mean to freak you out."
"Yeah, well... you do. I mean, how did you even get in here? I swear I locked the front door last night."
"Oh that's just precious." Lilith hissed in amusement. "I mentioned being a demon, did I not?"
"Yeah, but-"
"What makes you think I need doors?"
"I... have no idea. Just... please go?"
Lilith stood up a little straighter. For the first time, Angela noted a thin, whippy tail swishing back and forth behind her.
"You're really scared, huh?" Lilith said.
"Of course I am!"
"That's not necessary."
"It absolutely is. A strange lady... no, a demon lady... goddamn, just like, in my room. And I'm still not totally convinced about who or what you are, or what you're doing here." Angela jabbed a finger. "But I'm pretty damn convinced you could bite my head off without even thinking about it."
Lilith remained impassive. "It's the teeth, right? People do take issue with them."
"And the sudden unexpected violation of my space," Angela repeated. "Don't forget that."
Lilith shrugged. "I'm sorry you feel that way. I haven't done anything remotely threatening to you."
"You're a threat unto yourself."
Another fierce smile. "Aw, thanks."
"That wasn't a compliment."
"Maybe it wasn't meant as one. I'm allowed to appreciate the sentiment if I want."
Angela hugged her legs tighter. Her grip had been getting loose. She wasn't doing very well at out-arguing her intruder, and she sure as hell couldn't physically overpower her. She felt helpless in the face of an unexpected and kind of scary situation.
"Could you please go," she said in a small, hopeless tone.
Lilith studied her for a few seconds, then seemed to reach a decision. "How about I go make coffee?"
"Um..."
"Yes, you need a chance to wake up."
"I'm pretty woke up."
Lilith ignored Angela. She turned and slipped silently out of the room. Her ass swayed in such a way that the eye couldn't help being drawn to it as she walked. Her tail poked out through her clothes to swish to its own rhythm.
The light faded with Lilith's exit. The room was pitched back into pre-dawn dimness.
Angela closed her eyes painfully tight and waited. For several seconds she had hope that she could make it all go away. Then faint sounds from her kitchen reached her, and she knew it wouldn't be so simple.
"Fucking hell," she muttered.
She considered staying right where she was. The safety of her bed was at best an illusion, but it was a comforting illusion.
Angela stepped onto the floor, probing delicately with her bare toes in case there were unseen pitfalls. The floor remained a simple floor. She squared her shoulders and pulled her blanket snug around her. She had to deal with the problem. No one else was going to do it for her.
Her blanket dragged softly as she padded out of her bedroom. The faint, intermittent noises grew louder as she approached the kitchen.
Lilith was humming cheerfully to herself. Her tail gave a particularly firm swish as she pushed the button on Angela's coffee maker to start it running.
"You're really making coffee?" Angela said aloud.
"I said I was, didn't I?"
"You did. But don't you have, like, other things to do? Demon things?"
"Like what? Rending poor defenseless humans limb from limb? Feasting on their entrails?" The shine in Lilith's eyes and the glint of her teeth took on an even more sinister appearance for a moment.
Angela took an involuntary step backward. "Um..."
"It's all baseless stereotyping, you know."
Lilith hopped up easily to perch on an empty bit of counter. Her legs dangled like a bored child's. The sudden shifts between appearing deadly and benign were difficult to process.
"Are they?"
"Well... not baseless, exactly. Exaggerated, let's say." Lilith rolled her eyes. "Point is, I'm not going to eat you. You can stop backing away all trembling and nervous."
A cat, Angela decided. A big jungle cat. She could look cute and cuddly, and like you could just curl up and take a nap with her. But you knew that if she wanted to, she could swat you with one massive paw and tear your throat out. Wouldn't even hardly notice the effort.
"I could call the police," she said with more bravery than she felt.
"You could. You'd need your phone for that, though."
Lilith held up a hand. Angela's phone dangled tenuously from between two elegant fingers.
"You stole my phone?"
"No. Just wanted to borrow it. I need the password though."
"But... why?"
"So I can look up buddy there. Justin. See if I can find him on facebook or something."
Angela shifted her grip to hold her blanket closed with one hand. She ran her other hand through her hair, then shook her head. "So you just want to look something up?"
"Yep."
"Why not use my computer then?"
Lilith's feet stopped swinging. She tilted her head, then grinned slowly. Her lips, thankfully, stayed closed this time. "That's a way better idea. Thanks."
Like the cat Angela imagined her to be, she bounced from the counter and landed silently several feet closer. How she could move like that in the heels she wore, Angela couldn't begin to fathom.
"Can I have my phone back then?" Angela asked.
Lilith paused. She was so close Angela imagined she could feel the heat from her eyes. "Sure thing."
A small toss, a lucky one-handed catch, and Angela had her phone back. She really could call the police now. That was her best option, right? What else could she do? Call a priest maybe?
Angela watched Lilith strut away in search of the battered laptop that she'd had since college. She couldn't help staring. She'd never seen a skirt hug an ass the way Lilith's did. And the way she moved her hips...
Well, she claimed to be a succubus after all. Unfair stereotypes or no, seduction was supposed to be what they did. In that outfit she wouldn't have to try very hard.
The coffee maker beeped. Angela walked a last few wooden steps to it and tried to poor herself a cup with her trembling hand. She spilled some, but was overall fairly successful.
