Seasons Unending

Hi everyone,

Thank you so much for your positive feedback on chapter 1. As I'm sure you noticed, this is my first story, so all of your feedback, positive and negative, is welcome. This is a bit more world building for our two mains, then next chapter Angela's going to have some fun!

Angela looked around. She knew he was there, but he was hiding. She intentionally refused to use her magical senses, as this was their game. Quietly, she looked around her bedroom, doing things like silently lifting up her blankets, opening her closet...nothing. She checked under her bed, still no sign of him.

A noise from the kitchen piqued her interest. She walked to her bedroom door, standing against the corner and peeked around it to see if she could spot him. Still nothing, except the remnants of her banana and a now spilled cup of juice on the table. Her eyelids closed menacingly.

That was my breakfast...

she thought.

Fine. Two can play at that game!

She teleported from her hiding spot to the pantry and went to grab the one thing she knew he couldn't resist. Suddenly she, a magic wielding succubus of over 100 years, jumped into the air.

"Aro! Aroo! Aroooo!" came the sound of a massive dog's baying from a much smaller dog. Her heart now beating at a million miles a minute, she turned to her beloved dog, Benji. He smiled at her, his tongue sticking out and eyes bulging. He knew he had won their little game.

"Ok, ok, you earned it." She smiled as she tossed the treat down to him. He quickly grabbed it up with his mouth before skidding in place for two seconds and running off with it. She watched as he ran into the bedroom and hopped on the bed before eating his victory treat.

Benji, a puggle, was a mix of a pug father and a beagle mother. He hair was a light brown color, and his eyes were chocolate. He was about the size of a beagle, with a long, curled tail that acted as his own personal wrecking ball whenever he was excited or happy, which was certainly often. He was adorable, and he knew it. Far too many times had he suckered an extra treat from her or a random stranger or escaped punishment with a cute look.

She shook her head at him before moving to the table and cleaning up and replacing the glass of juice and realizing she was out of bananas. Laughing to herself she thought,

Well I wonder where all of those ran off to?

She sat on her couch, watching the sun slowly rise. It was going to be a beautiful day.

After Benji had finished his treat, he made it clear that he needed to go out- little wonder, that, as she typically had him out by 7 am, and here it was going on 10. She decided it would be best to cheat this time around, as he didn't look like he could endure the elevator ride down 33 floors and then outside. So, his harness on and his leash in her hands, she teleported the two of them to their favorite place- Amen Park.

Amen park was very different from many of the parks in the area. Mainly, it was a 'natural' park, with minimal influence from humans. This meant that there were many small trails that were little more than footpads, and many of them hadn't been walked in years. Benji didn't mind though and frankly, neither did she. It was one of the few places in her area that she found she could relax in, even spread her wings a bit, figuratively and literally.

The trees were in full bloom and thick with leaves, meaning that the area itself was quite cool. Once Benji had led her down a nice trail and did his business, she picked it up and put it in her dog clean up bag. From there they wandered on for a while, seemingly going from one trail to the next. Eventually, they found a small clearing at the bank of one of the many creeks, and she sat down. She looked around for a bit, and once she was sure there was no one near, she unfurled her wings and gave them a good couple of flaps. Benji gave her a small look before going back to sniffing around.

Angela took a deep breath, soaking in the fresh air and the smell of the forest, before exhaling it. She felt herself both at peace and contemplative. She was thinking about what had happened this morning, and the possible ramifications of it.

I hate doing it,

she thought. No, that wasn't quite right, after all these years.

I love doing it. I love seeing the look of absolute horror on their faces when I reveal myself to them. But I hate that it's so easy to find people deserving of it.

She watched her little guy pace around to and fro, sniffing everywhere and everything. She pulled at him gently as he was nearing the creek to indicate that he couldn't go further.

I don't understand humans,

she realized,

I don't get how humanity can have come so far and yet still so many people are so evil to one another.

"I'm a succubus and even I'm not as big a bitch as some of the humans are." She said aloud, unintentionally.

"Well, that's not exactly something I'd say too often to too many people," said a voice.

Next to her a being appeared on a bench that had not been there before. He was little more than a boy of thirteen or possibly fourteen years, wearing a green t-shirt with the words "It was just a prank, bro!" on it. He had curly brown hair and blue eyes.

She put her head down and sighed. "Hello, Puck."

Daniel woke up, feeling just as he had the day before; his body was sore, arms and legs heavy and eyes still red from the crying he had done in the middle of the night. At one point he had woken up to the sound of a car horn he mistook for an alarm, turned over and sleepily said "Babe, turn off your alarm..." before remembering that that she wasn't there.

He had cried again until he couldn't, and then fallen back asleep.

Now it was morning, and the empty bed served as a reminder of his loss.

He roused himself, took a shower, and got dressed. From there he went into the living room and noticed what a cluttered mess it had become. Flowers, cards, and other assorted well-wishing items were scattered everywhere, not to mention the dirty dishes and clothes he had left. One quick peek outside the wall-sized window shades told him the sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon.

"Ok," he said aloud to himself, "Breakfast, then cleaning..."

The kitchen was mostly bare-bones, but he had stopped by the store on the way home last night and picked up a few items. Eggs, bread, bacon, and juice were all awaiting him. He cleaned off the necessary dishes and had his breakfast, actively trying to avoid thinking about anything for too long, lest he think about her.

By the time he had finished cleaning the living room, he was working up a good sweat. He smiled as he worked, happy to have something to distract him. Every so often he would pause and look at one of the cards from various friends and her family members and reading them would make his heart ache- the mixture of love and appreciation he felt towards everyone mingled with the grief that was bubbling ever below the surface.

Finally he was done. He had even taken some extra steps- vacuuming, dusting, etc. He wanted to feel he had accomplished something, even if it was something small. Looking around at the now spotless living room, he smiled, imaging her saying "One room down, 5 to go!" At that he laughed.

He went into his office, an equally cluttered mess. In this case, he was in his element. So messy was his workplace that she had even bought him a small sign that read "Please don't straighten the mess on my desk, you'll goof up my system!" Papers were everywhere, various tech cables were strewn about, and there were multiple cups sitting on the desk itself. He took those to the kitchen and returned, turning on his PC and going into his emails. It had been more than a week since he had, and his inbox showed it. But he was looking for something specific, so he keyed in the email address "rogerr@universaltesting.com."

From there, he saw just one email, with the title "RE: Blood test results" He opened it:

Daniel,

I've got the results for your blood work. Confirming the initial testing done on-sight at the accident, your blood-alcohol levels were non-existent. I've attached the specific documentation to this email in case you want/need it.

Let me know if you have any questions or need anything else.

My condolences,

Roger

So there it was. He hadn't been drunk. So why did he feel like he had? He'd had all sorts of drinks over the years. Hell, in the 60s, he'd tried so many different things that he probably could have registered himself as a pharmacy. But he had never felt any of it- nothing had ever affected him.

So why in 1000 years was the first time he felt inebriated the same night his wife died?