Unorthodox Punishment

"Alright I give, what am I doing here?" Kim said as she looked at the weird array laid out on the gravel floor of the abandoned warehouse slightly off campus.

"Well that depends." Tim said rising from his crouch and walking over to her.

"Depends on what?"

"Do you believe in magic?"

"Fuck no. Are you high or something?"

"Actually, no although I probably should be in order to try this." Tim said sighing and picking up the black book from the ground at his feet. "Well then I suggest you stand back and close your eyes. I wouldn't want to change your mind."

Before Kim could say anything, Tim began chanting something under his breath and began to move his hands out from underneath the book. Miraculously Kim watched as the book remained where his hands had held it, right out in front of his body, suspended in air as his hands rose even higher. She felt the wind pick up and saw the sky begin to blacken. Thunder boomed in the distance, and before she could even find a voice to cry out Tim's hands fell onto the book.

There was a loud

CLAP

and Kim watched as the black clouds funneled downwards towards the center of whatever that drawing was on the ground. The clouds seemed to be condensing, and looking up Kim saw that the black clouds that had covered the sky seconds before were actually being sucked down onto the gravel in front of her, just like water down a funnel, leaving the blue sky behind in its wake. Within moments, the entirety of the blackness was contained on the ground and began to take shape, impossibly writhing and forming something other than inky blackness.

All of a sudden there was a flash of light, unlike anything Kim had seen, nearly blinding her. One second there was Tim standing there holding the book aloft with a black cloud swirling on the ground, the next Tim had the book cradled under one arm, and in the middle of the circle there was an impossibly beautiful woman. Only something was off...

The woman hovered inches off the ground, a crater forming beneath where her feet would have touched the ground. But that wasn't the biggest alarm set off in Kim's head. The woman had

wings

! And not only that the world behind her seemed to fracture, as though someone had taken a stained glass painting and shattered it into a million pieces. It was really too much.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?"

"She," Tim began without looking at Kim, "is a magical being known as a succubus, and I have a request for her."

"I don't do requests mortal." The woman said, suddenly cocking her head sideways with curiosity, "Unless of course you'd both like to offer your souls to me."

"No thanks, I like mine where it is." Tim said with a calm that unnerved Kim.

"That's too bad, you would have made a fine servant with such a strong spirit." The succubus said turning her gaze to Kim, "What about you dear? Fancy an eternity of bliss?"

"Uh-h-h-h-h, n-n-no...I'm, uh, I'm good."

"Such a timid little thing," The succubus said, smiling then turning her gaze back to Tim, "Well summoner I'm growing bored of this world already, I have somewhere else to be. So if you will excuse me-"

"You're not going anywhere," Tim said still calm. "I said I have a request one that I think will be beneficial to both of us."

"Listen mortal, if you wanted wishes you summoned the wrong creature. Try a djinn next time. I know a couple who are looking for work." She said then gestured to the symbols on the ground around her. "Besides you don't have any binding runes on the ground here, so I can leave whenever I wish."

The succubus flexed her wings and the world began to warp again. At least until Tim laughed and said, "You're not going anywhere Myrla."

Kim watched in awe as the distorted world beyond the succubus instantly broke down. It was as though the multicolored window into the twisted world shattered like a mirror, the pieces cracking then fading into nothingness. The succubus herself cried out and fell into a crumpled heap on the ground. Kim hurried to stand next to Tim's side and saw that he was smiling.

"Alright mortal, how the fuck did you learn my name?"

"We all have our secrets, but I didn't want to have to do this you know."

"Like hell you didn't I can see you smiling from here." The succubus named Myrla said gathering her feet beneath her and clumsily getting to a standing position. "You have any idea the last time someone made me stand on my own two feet was? I should kill you where you stand mortal."

"But Myrla, you're intrigued." Tim said still smiling.

The succubus looked at Tim for a while, then shrugged her wings and said, "Alright I give, I am intrigued."

"See I knew we'd get on better terms." Tim said, gesturing to Myrla. "Now like I said for the third time now, I'd like you to do something for me. Something that is right up your alley."

"I'm listening, but first what are your names."

"I'm K-mmmph" Kim began before Tim's had closed quickly over her mouth.

"Nice try, but no more tricks, or I'll strip even more of your power." Tim said his voice growing hard.

"Can't blame a girl for trying." Myrla said, "So what can I do for you?"

" I need you to follow someone around and suck the pleasure away from her sex life."

At this Myrla's head cocked again, "My, my that is a request to my liking. But I wonder what has she done to slight you so?"

"That is none of your concern."

"Oh but it is. You see I can fulfill my end of the bargain much more efficiently if I know why. Otherwise I'll have to blindly pull pleasure, which requires a large amount of energy from my being. And seeing as you have bound me here with only a limited supply I wouldn't want to draw on more energy than I am gaining from her voyeuristic activities."

"Very well. She's an ex-girlfriend of mine that needs to learn the difference between love and lust. She doesn't understand what it means to truly love someone, she only knows how to use them and throw them away again. I want you to take the pleasure out of her shotgun love affairs until she finds someone her soul truly cares for. Then you are to report back to me and I will conclude our agreement."

"Ooooo this is intriguing. You're trying to do her a favor by leveling a punishment that should ultimately lead her in the right direction. You are something else mortal." With that she took a step forward and reached out her hand. "Very well mortal I accept the terms of your contract, and will fulfill it to the best of my abilities."

"Glad you finally came around." Tim said walking forward as he began to glow with an orange light. The two figures touched hands, and as Tim pulled his hand back a black mark like a tattoo was etched into his skin.

"Very well mortal I will be off, with that touch I have gained all the information I require to follow this mortal of yours. If you need me call my name and I will endeavor to come to you if I am able." And in a flash the succubus vanished.

***

Kim was silent most of the way back to the dormitories following a couple steps behind Tim. About a couple hundred yards from the buildings, Kim finally spoke up, "So are you, like, some sort of wizard?"

"No, I'm no Harry Potter if that's what you're asking?"

"No I didn't...I just, uh...well I guess I don't really understand what is going on?"

"That's because you don't believe in magic." Tim said shrugging his shoulders in front of her. Then turning around and flashing her a smile, "But if you did I would try to explain it to you."

"How could I not believe in magic, you just summoned that...that thing!"

"Succubus Kim, a succubus."

"Whatever," She said waving her hands around, "you brought something into this world that shouldn't exist."

"See Kim, that's why I can't explain it to you."

"Why?"

"Because you only believe because you've seen. You still don't want to grasp what's really going on here because you don't want your little world to be torn apart with things that you don't understand."

Kim reached out and grabbed Tim by the shoulder and spun him around. The smile on his face now irked her, and she was going to get her answers. "Look, the only reason I'm here is because you asked me to be. And I still have no idea why. So tell me what the fuck is going on!"

"Alright, alright, I'll tell you." Tim said still smiling. "I'm what you would call a summoner. I can't do magic in the traditional sense, but I can summon beings to do it for me."

"Like a succubus?"

"Among other things."

"So you summon them and then what?"

"Well you create a binding contract with them to do the job you intended. If the terms are acceptable then they will agree for the most part, but usually they will try to get the better end of the deal by finding a loop hole or some way out of their end of the bargain while you are obligated to fulfill yours."

"And so that deal you made with Myrla..."

"Was to essentially curse Beth, yes."

"And what did Myrla get out of the deal?"

"Succubus feed on the raw emotions of others. The stronger the emotions, the more power they can gain from them. The reason they're often associated with sex is because well there are some very strong emotions at play during sex," Tim said winking, "as I'm sure you're well aware."

Kim felt herself blush slightly, and tried to hide it by continuing, "So she gets to feed completely on Bethany's emotions during sex until she finds someone she truly loves?"

"Yes, but that isn't all of the deal." Tim said holding up his hand. "This is a magic seal draining almost all of my magic power to sustain her in this world. I won't be able to summon anything else until the succubus completes her task."

"So what else can you summon?" Kim said after a couple minutes of thought.

"Oh a variety of things, but most of them are very dangerous especially if you don't know their names. Knowing their names binds them and takes away a majority of their power, otherwise they can simply turn on you and devour your soul."

"So that's why you stopped me from giving Myrla my name."

"Exactly," Tim said. Then he looked at the sky and sighed turning again towards the dormitory. "Regardless, the succubus will do her job, and Bethany will learn her lesson. That's why I brought you here so that you could see that something was being done to remedy what Bethany has done to you." He turned to her about twenty paces away now, "So please don't take matters into your own hands. Let me handle this."

***