Among Demons : Succubus Divine

Ch. 17 : Cursed

I kicked off my heels once I parked and quickly made my way to my place, catching a glimpse of my brother's truck parked in the visitors lot not too far away. I climbed the stairs and slipped into my unlocked apartment, locking it behind me as the sound of footsteps drew closer.

“Dev.”

I turned just as Nick engulfed me in a hug, holding me tightly as a whimpered sob choked out of me. My fingers clung to his t-shirt and I suddenly felt cold in my short dress, my clutch and keys falling to the floor at my feet as we continued to stand there.

When we pulled away he stepped aside and let me pass, moving to the living room while I headed to my room to change. I sniffled and as I slipped out of my dress, flinching when I caught sight of my blotching pink face in my mirror as I pulled on some sweatpants and a tank. Some fuzzy purple socks were pulled on before I stepped out and joined my brother on my couch. And once I sat beside him, after locking eyes with the one and only Human I have ever trusted with my life, I broke down.

Tears streamed down my face as I began to tell him what had happened and Nick, being the understanding and kind big brother that he is, held me as I spoke, never once interrupting me until I was done.

I could feel his body tense as I told him about my discovery and I knew without looking into his eyes that a twinge of fear was darkening his hazel green orbs.

All because of my Match.

For Demons, a Match is the closest thing to a ‘Soulmate’ that Humans often romanticize in movies and books. But the two things are vastly different in many ways, yet similar in others. For example, a Match is a genetic reaction to another person, not just some predestined sign of romance. And for Demons, multiple Matches can exist and be found all at once, though it is pretty rare nowadays.

The reason for the biological reaction is simply a way to alert the Demon that the Human or Demon before them was a perfect genetic Match that would ensure pureblooded Demon offspring. This was something most other Demons cherished since mixing with other Demon races as well as Humans has weakened many bloodlines, resulting in Demons giving birth to nothing but Humans. Which, in turn, contributes to the dwindling number of Demons all around.

But finding a Match doesn't mean that that person and you are destined for a fairytale romance. In fact, many types of strong bonds and relationships come from finding a Match with someone, not just intimate ones.

Some pairs become lifelong friends that would die for the other without hesitation. Others helped find their Match’s biggest love and become as close as family to each other. While others have been known to survive a drastic, overwhelming and sometimes deadly moment in their lives thanks to said Match.

In fact, Nyla and many other Demon friends have often wondered whether Nick was another Match of mine, since we have been unbreakably close for so long. But Neither Nick nor I want to test that out, since a certain level of intimacy is needed to confirm it. And I would rather make-out with a sloppy overweight forty-year-old virgin than get that close to my brother. And Nick quickly shuts down that type of talk whenever it comes up, his face turning green at the thought of touching his little sister in that way.

But that’s not the only reason why we would never test that out, even if intimate closeness wasn’t required.

And that’s because I’m Cursed.

It happened when I was a kid, during one of the few times that I was forced to live in my aunt's house.

I had been ripped out of my bed in the middle of the night by my aunt and her son who both laughed as I struggled to fight against them as they dragged me into the backyard. A young man was standing there and when I came closer I realized that he was a Sorcerer. He looked ragged and smelled like sour trash and liquor when we stopped in front of him and his leering gaze made fear spike up even higher in my already panicked mind.

My aunt told him to begin and commented on how he had better do as he was paid to do unless he wanted to be harmed. I remember feeling confused as he nodded, burped and then slammed a hand on top of my head, gripping my hair tightly.

Lights of all shades of red began to dance around us as he started to chant in a foreign tongue. The air felt heavy and an instinctual need to run kicked in, making me thrash and dig my bare feet into the grass to try and break free. But my aunt and cousin held on tightly and I was too young to fend them off, especially since I hadn’t hit puberty yet, so my powers hadn’t awoken either. A sudden pain made me freeze after a while and I was finally let go, dropping onto the cold grass as I gasped and struggled to breath for a moment.

The lights faded and the air returned to normal as the man stared at me before I scrambled to my feet and ran back to my room. The pain was gone quickly and I kept myself hidden in my room until Nick came by during lunch. We had tried to figure out what they had done to me but our limited research yielded nothing since we didn’t know any other Sorcerers. So it wasn’t until a few days later, when I was being moved into a new foster house, that my aunt told me what she had done.

She had hired a traveling, homeless Sorcerer to place a Curse on me so that everytime I found a Match… it would end in death.

She did this after learning that my parents had been a Match and discovering what it meant to Demons to find one. So, in an effort to kill me or make me suffer, she looked for the lowest type of Sorcerer that had no problems using dark magic on a kid. And as I moved out that day she laughed when she explained that my life as well as the life of my Match would be on the line every time I find them. And that I would need to choose between saving myself or saving them in order to make the Curse go dormant.

I was terrified at the time and cried to my brother about it, getting so upset that I became sick and bed ridden for two weeks. But as time passed and nothing happened, I began to doubt it, soon forgetting about it all together.

But then I met Anthony.

I was a freshman in highschool when I came across a senior who was alone in the music room, passively toying with the piano keys. He was cute and friendly, introducing himself and making me laugh as he began to give me theme music while I moved about the room. It was easy to grow close to him since he was a Vampire and a few weeks later he kissed me and we realized what we were to each other.

Nick and Tony became close after that and I met his older sister who was nearing the end of her residency at the hospital. The years passed blissfully and our relationship grew along with it. I even remember a time when Nick and I joked about the Curse backfiring on my aunt with Nick and some other friends.

Looking back on it now though, I wish that I had broken things off with him. I wish that I had taken it more seriously and stepped away from Tony right from the start. Or that I had tried to hunt down that Sorcerer in order to make him undo the Curse.

Because he would be alive now if I had done any of those things.

I learned during the summer before my junior year that the Curse was real when Tony and I had traveled down to California for a week to meet some distant relatives of his. We were just twenty minutes away from the house of his cousins when our tire popped, forcing us onto the side of the road. Tony had been trying to fix it while I called Nick when a group of Hunters appeared out of nowhere. They attacked us and forced us to run the rest of the way to his family's house, hoping that they would be able to help us. But the Hunters cut us off and Tony, in an attempt to protect me, died before my eyes.

The sight of his bloody, cut up body laying at my feet as the Hunters drew closer haunted my dreams for months. And the faint glowing swirls of red light that surrounded his body made my skin crawl and a pit open up in my stomach. Lights of every shade of red that made the air around me heavy and thick, forcing me to gasp as Tony’s family rushed in and fought off the Hunters. Streaks of magic that shoved the truth into my face as I dropped to my knees, hearing my aunt's words from years ago echo in my mind.

Nick became much more protective over me after he too realized the truth, even going so far as to apologize to me for not looking out for me better. He even went out and tracked down the Sorcerer after Tony’s funeral, but it was too late. The Sorcerer had been dead for a while, which meant that the Curse was now stuck to me, since no other Sorcerer can undo any type of black magic without the help of the original caster. This meant that the only other way to undo the Curse is by force. Meaning that I would need to find a Match and somehow manage to protect myself as well as them for long enough that the Curse withers and breaks on its own. But that would also mean that I would be risking my life and the life of my Match for who knows how long.

Nick refused to risk my safety and I couldn’t accept risking my Match like that either, so we both agreed to just leave it be and work around it.

I could still feed my Demonic hunger without a problem and if I wanted to, I could start a family with anyone too, though my being a Succubus has its own struggles. So living with the Curse hadn’t been a problem for me at all.

But now, with a Match having been confirmed in the very Detective that I had been struggling to stay away from… the Curse was now active.

“You need to quit.” Nick started, holding me tighter as my tears finally dried up.

“You know I can’t.” I answered, forcing myself out of his arms.

“Devin-”

“No, Nick.” I cut in, turning to look at him and finding nothing but worry and fear in his eyes. “You know I need to hold this job for at least a year if I want to build my own police force.” I wiped my tears away, sighing as I recalled the agreement that I had come to with the other Patrons and Matrons.

It was a few months ago that a Council meeting was called and many of us had agreed to take on new jobs to learn how things worked in the Human world. This was in order to build our own Demon versions so that we could have things privately owned and run by Demons. We already had many Demons that have learned things like Human medicine, how Humans teach and many other things. Yet we were still forced to work alongside Humans and had to swallow insults and mistreatment. So, to create our own police force, hospitals and many other things, a few Patrons and Matrons agreed to take on jobs to see the inner workings of such Human run places so we could create our own for our people and help Demons even more.

I chose to focus on police work and how Detectives work to find the culprits behind murders. I took up a few online classes and toured the police academy once to see for myself just what it was that Humans needed to do to become a cop. Of course, it would have been easier to assign someone else to take the courses, tour the academy and work among Humans in a precinct. But I preferred to do it myself so I gained that first hand knowledge necessary to protect my people from any type of corruption that could occur.

So leaving my job now wasn’t an option, even if it risked my life.

“I’ll be careful.” I told my brother, taking his hand in mine and giving it a little squeeze. “And I’ll make sure that the Detective is safe too.”

“No.” He answered sharply, narrowing his eyes. “Don’t focus on him, Dev. You need to keep yourself safe and keep your distance from him.”

“I can’t avoid him.” I chuckled out, shaking my head and ignoring how hollow my voice sounded. “I’m going to be forced to work with him at some point. And I can’t just sacrifice the man for my own safety either.”

“Yes you can.” He added desperately, the panic in his gaze growing darker as he looked at me. “A bond hasn’t formed yet, right? You barely know anything about him, so there shouldn’t be any problem in ignoring him and focusing on your own safety until the Curse passes.” He bowed his head in shame as he realized what he just said, his hands gripping mine as he slowly looked back up. “I’m sorry…”

Seeing my brother like this hurt me and I launched myself at him for a hug a second later, holding him tightly as he squeezed me back.

“I don’t want to lose my sister.” He muttered weakly, making another biter bile rise up in my throat.

“You won’t.” I told him, trying my hardest to sound confident and reassuring. “I’m right here and I’m ok, don’t worry.”

We stayed that way for a long while before finally breaking apart, leaning against each other in the heavy silence that seemed to swallow our words. I hated that Nick knew about the Curse at all, since he wouldn’t be filled with this worry and panic if I had just kept it to myself. But having him here by my side like he always was, helped ease the dread that weighed me down, and I soon relaxed enough to fall asleep.