Xeplegh's Happy Hallowe'en Party

Part twooo! Make sure to read part one of this story before you start this one!

-~o~-

"Sweetie? Lilly? Wake up, Lilly."

She did, with a start. Bed. She was on a bed. It wasn't her bed, but it was soft and comfortable. The room around her was unfamiliar. It was large, but sparsely decorated. Aside from the bed, there was a sofa off to her left, and in the corner there was a television next to a large stack of DVDs, and that was it. The walls were bare, the paint old and peeling. Both of the room's two windows were old and grimy, and one of them was cracked. She could just barely make out the glow of the moons through them. She was wearing her tank top and shorts, which was what she had been in underneath her cow costume.

The costume...

The party! The vampire! She clasped her hands to her neck, searching for bite marks, but she felt nothing but smooth, untouched skin.

"Shhh, shh! It's okay! Calm down, sweetie." It was Rose. She was there in the bed with her, dressed in lingerie that Lilly had never seen her wear before. There was a pushup bra, beautiful but unfamiliar, which emphasized her breasts almost as much as her witch costume had, and a pair of panties that covered...

"You're not Rose," said Lilly instantly.

She looked surprised. "How did you..."

"Rose never calls me sweetie. And you don't smell like her. And she doesn't have one of those." She gestured between Not-Rose's legs.

She blinked and looked down at her panties. "What? What does she have, then?"

"Where is she? What did you do to her!?"

"There! She's right there! I did not hurt her!" She said frantically, pointing to a sofa. Just a moment before it had been empty, but now Rose and Mari were both lying on it, still asleep, and still in their costumes. Lilly rushed over and checked their necks, one by one. There were no bite marks.

"How do I know that this is really them?"

Not-Rose tilted her head to the side. "Well... um. I did not think about that... I guess that you don't. You have to trust me."

Lilly took a deep breath. She wanted to scream. The Magnusson person that they had talked to said that they were sending an agent. If she could just distract her until they got here... "That's a little difficult to do when you're impersonating my fucking girlfriend."

"It is them! The real thems! I promise! I just wanted to... I never meant to scare you."

"So instead you decided to lie to me from the moment that I woke up?"

She cringed. "I wanted to make you feel comfortable, since you were so afraid, but... This was a bad idea... I understand that now." Lilly blinked, and all of a sudden she did not look like Rose anymore. She was still wearing the lingerie, but she now looked as she did when they had met her: pale skin, slitted eyes, pointy teeth...

"So what kind of vampire are you?" asked Lilly. "Are you one of the ones that came back with the Quake, or are you newly-made?"

She blinked. "Vampire? You think I am a vampire? Oh! Oh, goodness! No wonder you were so scared!"

"You've got the teeth for it! And if you're not, what was that shit about starving if we leave?"

"I don't want your blood. That is yucky. I, uh..." She rubbed her hands together nervously, and Lilly was starting to have doubts that it was an act. "You want me to be honest. Yes. I have not been honest, and that is bad, and I am very sorry..."

"What do you want from us? You're... You're not going to eat us, are you?"

"No! Nothing like that. I only need to have sex with you. I, uh... Is that still possible?"

Lilly gaped. "You set up an elaborate lie to get the three of us to come here, and now-"

"Well, just those two. I did not know that you would come along, but you were a welcome surprise."

"And now you want me to fuck you? Go fuck yourself! What the hell is wrong with you! If you're actually sorry, then let us leave!"

"I will! I swear, I will! But it took me a week to plan everything and find the courage to bring you here, and I cannot wait that long again. I will let you all go... But I will talk to your friends first. I see that you do not want to do anything with me. I do not blame you. But maybe those two-"

"If you need to fuck somebody just fucking... I don't know, go to a bar or something! Why the hell would you lure people here and then make a whole party... Were all of the guests fake except for us? Are we the only real people here?"

"Please," said Xeplegh, "go back to sleep."

As she said it, exhaustion once again washed over Lilly. "No! I'm not done talking to you!" She fought it, forcing herself to stay awake. "Don't just put me back to sleep, answer my question! Did you invent this whole goddamn party? What is the point?"

"Are you human?" asked Xeplegh.

"What? Yes! Of course I am!"

She tilted her head to the side. "Are you sure?"

"You're just fucking with me now, aren't you?"

"No human has ever resisted my magic. The only ones who... But no, you can't be one of us. You would know if you were, I think... You must just have some sort of natural power... Now, sleep."

The exhaustion swept over her once again, and she raged against it, but it was stronger than ever now. She tried to stand, but she found herself sitting on the couch, next to Rose. She was so warm, and it was so comfortable...

—

"Rose? Time for you to wake up."

She did, without actually opening her eyes. "Hmm? Wha?" She could feel somebody asleep on her shoulder. Somebody who was very soft and warm, and who smelled like milk. Lilly. She cuddled up to her, wrapping an arm around her instinctively.

"I'm sorry that things went like this. I only wanted to have some fun before I fed. I thought that it would be fun for you, too..."

She opened her eyes. She was on a sofa. Lilly was in her arms, asleep, and Mari was asleep next to her. And standing over her...

Everything came back to Rose at once, and at once she was awake. She screamed and kicked Xeplegh in the stomach as hard as she could. She seemed terribly surprised, and collapsed with a grunt.

"Lilly! Mari! Wake up!" Rose shook both of them. "We've got to get out of here! Come on!" They weren't dead- they were both quite clearly breathing, and Lilly even muttered a little bit in her sleep, but no matter what she did, neither of them would wake up. Would she have to carry them? She knew that she could carry Lilly, she had done it many times before, and Mari was probably lighter than her, but she couldn't carry them both at once, and she would probably only have a moment before Xeplegh recovered.

Well, actually... She was still on the floor. And she had curled up into a ball. And she was... crying? And coughing. Sputtering for breath.

"Uh..." Despite everything, Rose suddenly felt a bit guilty. She figured that a kick in the stomach wouldn't do anything to a vampire except surprise her, maybe slow her down a bit, but Xeplegh looked like she was in terrible pain. "Hey, uh-"

"I didn't-" Xeplegh coughed, and it was the wet and sputtering. The kind of cough a person did when they could only barely get air into their lungs. "I didn't want you to be scared! I have never- never been to a party in this time. I thought that if I made one, it could be fun." Her voice came through wheezing gasps.

"But after that you were going to drink our blood!"

"I am not a vampire!" she yelled, and yelling made her cough even more. "I am a succubus!"

"So you're a demon! Don't succubi, I don't know, steal souls, or something?"

"I am not a demon, I am Fae! And no, we don't!"

"But-!" Hmm... She had thought it a bit curious that the Magnusson Paranormal Database had listed succubi and incubi in the same category as sylvans and faeries. Xeplegh didn't look like she was going to get up any time soon, so Rose reached between her breasts for her phone... Ah. It wasn't there. She must have left it in the bathroom, but she wasn't about to leave Lilly and Mari alone with this creature, whatever she was, so that she could wander around and find it.

"I have been away from the world for so long, and the world has forgotten what I am," said Xeplegh. Her coughing was starting to cease, but she was still crying, and she was still on the floor. "I do not want to take your souls. I do not even have that power. I do not want to hurt you. I just wanted to make you feel good, and- and have friends, and laugh and be happy."

"But... If you wanted to be friends you could have just, you know... Talked to us, instead of sending us fake text messages to trick people into coming to your illusory party."

She curled herself up even tighter. "Yes, I know! I lied to you and that is bad and I am sorry! It's just that- every time I- I..."

"Listen," said Rose. "Why don't you wake Mari and Lilly up, and we can all talk about this? You know, if you really want to make friends with us, that's the way to do it. By being honest."

"I already woke Lilly up," said Xeplegh miserably. "She hates me."

"I mean, if everything you're telling me right now is really true, I don't think she would. But you have to earn our trust, if you want to be friends."

"She yelled at me. It made me feel bad."

"Well, yeah. It takes a lot to really get Lilly fired up, but when she's angry, she's a firecracker. And lying to all of us in order to get us in your house is something that would make her understandably very angry."

"I need to have sex with one of you. I can't wait long enough to find anyone else. And you and Lilly don't want to."

"Even if we did, we're kind of a package deal. We'll do threesomes, but for that to work we both need to be into you. So, you should wake her up, so that-"

"Go back to sleep, please," said Xeplegh.

"Wait!" said Rose, but that was all that she managed to say before sleep overtook her.

—

"Wake up, Mari."

She did, blinking. Her neck was sore, probably because she was splayed out on this sofa at an awkward angle.

Sofa?

She was in a bedroom, and there was a bed in front of her. A big one, with soft, comfy-looking sheets and a carved hardwood headboard. On the other side of the bed, peeking up from behind it, there was a pair of blue, slitted eyes staring at her from underneath a head of moon-white hair.

"I am not a vampire!" cried Xeplegh from across the room. "I am a succubus! Succubuses are not demons, we are Fae! I don't want to hurt you and I am sorry that I lied to make you come here! I only need to have sex with one of you or I will starve! I won't take your soul, souls don't even work like that! Please do not hit me!"

"What?" said Mari sleepily. She looked around. Lilly and Rose were next to her. Lilly was muttering and twitching in her sleep ("Donwannagosleep... Yougosleep..."), and Rose was laying on top of her, asleep with her head resting on her bosom. It was actually pretty adorable, except...

"Vampire!" cried Mari, suddenly remembering. "You... What did you do to us?"

"I told you, I am not a vampire!" said Xeplegh from behind the bed. "I just put you to sleep so that I could talk and explain myself, but Lilly yelled at me and Rose hit me. They are mean!"

"You lured us here and-"

"Yes, and I am sorry!" cried Xeplegh. "I thought that it would be fun to have a party but it was wrong and I am bad! Look up succubuses on your... Magnusson... phone spider place thingy if you do not believe me!"

"Phone spider place..." Mari had to think about that one for a moment. "Website?"

"Yes, that!" Xeplegh seemed almost... Scared? She wasn't moving from her hiding spot behind the bed. Mari reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out her phone. Or a phone, at least. It was Rose's. The last time that she had seen her own phone, Rose had it. What was Rose's passcode? She had said once, jokingly, that it was... Yes, that was actually it. It figured, for someone as obsessed as she was.

The browser was already opened to the Magnusson Database. Ghosts. Mari went to Categories, Fae... Yes, there was the entry for succubi and incubi. She opened it.

Contrary to popular belief, succubi and incubi are not demons, and they are not especially harmful to humans. They are a type of Fae, spirits of lust and sex. They do not need to eat or drink after they reach adulthood (though they can if they want to), but in order to survive they need to cause a human being (not another magical creature) to have an orgasm at least once every two weeks, though they remain at their healthiest if they can do this once per day. Having sex with a succubus or incubus does not harm or diminish human beings in any way. It is unclear where their reputation as soul-stealing demons originated from, but it probably stemmed from the taboos on sex and sexuality that have been in place in the various societies that have existed since magic and magical creatures disappeared from the world c.a. five-thousand years ago. Like any creature of human-level or above intelligence, succubi and incubi are capable of learning to cast any type of magic, but they can innately, without any practice or learning, create a variety of illusions. Like all Fae, they are exceedingly good at this illusory magic- their illusions can include sounds, smells, and even tactile sensations so that they feel solid to the touch.

Mari looked up at Xeplegh. She was still watching her suspiciously from behind the bed.

Appearance: Succubi and incubi are humanoid in form. All of them have pupils that are vertical and slitted (like those of a cat), horns, tails, and long, pointed canine teeth, but other than those key features they vary wildly in appearance. They may or may not have wings.

"This reads like exactly what a dangerous succubus would say to make me unsuspicious and unwary."

Xeplegh moaned. "Nobody believes me even when I tell the truth! What am I to do?"

"It's hard to believe you when everything I knew about you up until now was a lie! Assuming you're not just making up this article as I read it, you're not even showing me what you actually look like."

She winced, and suddenly there was a pair of large, pale, curving, ramlike horns emerging from her forehead, and an enormous pair of leathery, batlike wings poking up from behind her. "I didn't want to scare you! I show humans what I really look like, and they run away! I make myself look like them, and I am a liar! I thought that if I made a Hallowe'en party" (she pronounced it like hallow-way-en) "I would be able to look like mostly myself, but even that has gone wrong!"

Mari furrowed her brow. She looked back at the phone. "In the texts you faked you weren't this good at spelling..."

She bristled at that. "There were no letters when I disappeared. I had to learn them myself, when I came back, and your language too. I think I did a good job! English letters are so confusing and they don't make any sense! Why can A and E make so many different sounds? Why do you spell th and ng and sh with two letters? Why is there a G and an H in so many words that don't have G or H sounds? Why is 'know' spelled with a K!?"

"Uh, historical reasons for most of those. Most of the words with weird spellings used to be pronounced they way that they look a long time ago. But, um... Hey, listen, if you're not going to hurt us, why don't you come out from behind that bed?"

"Are you going to hit me? Rose hit me. It hurt."

"I won't if you don't, you know... Attack me."

She glared at Mari suspiciously, but crawled up onto the bed and sat there, legs crossed. These legs, as it turned out, ended in feet, not hooves, and she had a tail. It was long and thin and tapered to a soft point, like that of a mouse. It wrapped itself around her waist as she sat.

Mari couldn't help but stare, not because she was strange-looking (though she definitely was), but because... She was hot. At some point she had removed the dress she'd been wearing, and now she was in nothing but a pair of lacy red panties and a matching plunge bra which lifted and emphasized her large breasts. Her stomach was flat and toned... and there was a large bruise on it.

"Rose did that?"

She nodded.

"Eesh. Looks like she got you good. But, I mean..."

"I deserved it. I know." Xeplegh seemed to shrink in on herself. Her wings wrapped around her body, enveloping her like a cloak.

"I mean... I don't know about that. We may have overreacted a bit."

She perked up a bit, looking up at Mari with her icy blue eyes.

"I think it really freaked all of us out when we went back into the living room and there was nothing there, you know? And then all of a sudden everything came back?"

"I was worried because Lilly was sick, and it made me lose the magic. But she wasn't really sick, was she?"

"You were actually worried about her?"

She glowered. "Why does this surprise you? I wanted you all to have fun. I keep saying this but none of you believe me."

"Xeplegh... Why did you do all of this? Why go through the trouble of faking text messages to us, and making an entire party out of illusions? If you need to have sex couldn't you just go to a bar or a nightclub or something?"

"I have been to these places. They are loud and scary. There is always music, and lights, and cars and lights and streets and people." She clutched her head. "So many things in this time are scary. Even the small towns are filled with noise and huge buildings made of metal and glass... It is too much."

"So you holed up in a house on the outside of town. This... This house is abandoned and empty, isn't it?"

Xeplegh shrugged. "The bed and the sofa were here when I found it. That is why I chose it, instead of the others on this street. I took the sheets from the supermarket. I don't have money, but..."

"It's easy for you to steal things, right?"

She nodded, looking somewhat ashamed. "I only go there when I need to. There are too many people..."

"So, you don't like bars or being around the city, so you lured us here... We're not the first, are we?"

"I bring people here sometimes. They have sex with me, but then I fall asleep after... When I sleep, the illusions fall away. They see me as I am, and they see the house as it is. It scares them, and they run. Or they yell at me, or they think that I want to hurt them and nobody ever believes me when I say that I do not!"

Mari's marking, for the past few minutes, had been fading from reddish-purple (fear, panic), to a deep, earthy brown (guilt). It was more brown than purple now. "I believe you." She wasn't completely sure that was the truth... but the more that Xeplegh spoke the less she seemed like a monster, despite the wings and horns and tail. She just seemed... Sad. And lonely.

She did perk up at that though. "Really?"

"I mean, from where I'm sitting it seems like you're more afraid of me than I am of you."

"Rose kicks very hard. You might kick very hard too."

"Not really. Rose does Taekwondo in her free time. I mostly just laze around and eat too much sugar."

"I do not know what Taekwondo is."

"It... It just means she practices kicking a lot."

"Is it a type of karate?"

"Sort of. How do you know what karate is?"

She gestured with her horned head towards the television in the corner. It was sitting on the floor, without a stand, and there were dozens of DVDs stacked neatly next to it.

"That's real?" asked Mari. "You watch movies?"

She nodded. "I like them. Many things in this time are scary, but movies are good. They can be scary too, but their scariness is all in the little rectangle, and I can make them stop if I become too afraid. And I learn lots of things from them. That was how I..."She trailed off, looking suddenly embarrassed.

"That was how you what?"

"The, uh... The movie store. Near the place with lots of trees and benches."

"Planet Film?" It was a little indie movie store out by Renaud Park, run by an aging hippie couple who'd had their names legally changed to Sunstar and Moonflower back in the 60s. They were weird but nice, and Mari, Rose, and Lilly went there often to buy old, used DVDs to watch.