Among Demons : Succubus Divine

Ch. 30 : Unwanted Sister-In-Law

*Holly Carnia*

I couldn’t understand it.

I couldn’t begin to make sense of any of it.

And I was powerless in anything involving that… woman.

My sweet husband Nick was always such a caring person, even in High School. It was one of the many reasons why I had fallen for him when we first met. Everyone knew who he was and he treated anyone he interacted with with nothing but kindness. He never cared about the things that other guys in our school bragged about. And he made it a point to step in when someone needed help of any kind, even for teachers. He worked hard in his studies and his part-time job too and was smart about his money. His intelligence was widely known as well and he even managed to earn a full ride scholarship after graduation, going so far as to even graduate early from university too. He worked out and took care of himself and me throughout our entire relationship and that all strengthened my love for him.

But when it came to Devin, all that intelligence went out the window for Nick. His kindness is wasted and their so-called ‘sibling bond’ only looked like something slimy to me.

My whole world was flipped on its side when I first learned the truth and I had tried to open my husband's eyes to the danger of keeping some… thing like her around us. I tried and tried for days to talk some sense into him and even cried my eyes out just begging him to see things from my perspective. But no matter what I said, no matter how many times I warned him that things wouldn’t be safe for us, he stood his ground. He insisted that she was a precious part of his life, calling her his little sister and claiming that without her around he wouldn’t know what to do with himself.

It all was too much to handle so I gave in and pretended to slowly accept her.

He acted the part of an older brother whenever she came, but I hated any form of contact they had in front of me. Even casually walking past each other held some hidden meaning in my eyes and I couldn’t relax with her in my house. Their many shared stories, their inside jokes, the way they so comfortably leaned and hugged and moved around each other. It all bothered me. It never seemed like they were JUST friends or siblings even though they never really got that close. It was still wrong to me.

Nick would sometimes notice this and try, once again, to convince me that Devin was a good person. That they had gone through many near-death situations together and that he couldn’t just coldly kick her out of his life. He would bring up their struggles in the orphanage they grew up in and all the fights that they fought together through the years too. It was clear that he was hoping that I would grow comfortable around that damned Demon slut. But how could I, when I couldn’t trust that she wasn’t doing something to my husband?

How could I know for sure that she wasn’t doing things to my Nick with those twisted powers of hers?

How was it even normal that a Human and a Demon were as close as ‘siblings’ without having something going on beneath it all?

And why would I ever trust that thing when she was constantly dragging my Nick around, meeting all kinds of dangerous Demons and calling him at all hours of the day and night?

Even special days that should've been just for Nick and I were hijacked by that thing he calls a sister. He is even forced to work around his and my schedule to plan romantic moments instead of being free to do them on the actual days we would like to celebrate!

The most perfect example of this was what happened the weekend before Valentine's day.

It was our day off and Nick was out running errands while I cleaned up the house after breakfast. He returned around lunch time and asked me to dress up a little fancy so we could go out to eat. I obliged and enjoyed a sweet moment in the shower with my loving husband before we dressed and climbed into his truck. I was curious as to where he was planning to take me but my shock only made me smile when he pulled into the parking lot of a very popular seafood restaurant. My surprise only climbed higher when I realized that he had made a reservation for us weeks in advance to make sure we would have a table. He even bribed our server with holding a large bouquet of red, white and pink roses for me, which were my favorite.

After eating he ordered my favorite dessert and suggested we take a calming walk at the beach which only made me smile even more. Nick hardly ever wanted to go near the beach thanks to that woman so I was happy that he was offering to walk through the sand with me, since he knew I loved the ocean.

I held my heels as we walked and talked and held hands, pausing for a moment so Nick could drap his coat over my smaller one so I wouldn’t get cold. And when we turned and slowly made our way back to the parking lot, we paused again and I smiled and kissed my sweet husband when he presented me with a beautiful gold charm bracelet that had a lovely ‘H’ dangling from it, studded with little emeralds, my birthstone.

It was all such a wonderful, romantic and sweet day for us that ended with my Nicks arms tightly locked around me in bed.

But it was all planned and done on the wrong day.

We had never celebrated Valentine’s day on the actual day because it was also that woman's birthday. Nick always planned out a romantic night for me before or after the actual day of love. Yet she was always dragged into my home or to a restaurant on the actual day to celebrate that she was brought into this world. My Nick would buy decorations, gifts and even invite all manner of those creatures into our home so they could all spend time with her. And there had even been a few other special days when Nick would drop what he was doing and leave my side, quickly spouting something about that woman needing his help before rushing out.

So here I am now, standing in my own kitchen, in my own home, with my hands moving automatically as I finished adding the last of the candles to a tray of cupcakes of different colors. My living room was filled with black, purple and green streamers and balloons while music I didn’t like was playing through our T.V. Junk food I hated was scattered all over my kitchen counters and bottles of all kinds of liquor stood next to some empty bags, half empty thanks to the many guests that arrived.

I walked into the living room as the large group was laughing and paused, struggling to regain my composure as that woman leaned against my Nick while she laughed. The three large men that had brought her here were loud as they talked and the damned Fairy woman that always glared back at me was on the floor in front of my husband and the star of the day. Another four Demons that I didn’t recognize, one of which looked to still be in High School, were taking over my other couch and the space next to the Fairy on the floor.

So many of them had been brought into my home and I didn’t know what to do to make myself feel safe.

I set the tray down and stepped back as they all crowded around that woman, smiling and singing that annoying birthday song. My heart clenched when she nudged my Nick’s shoulder before blowing out the candles, suddenly grabbing a cupcake and smashing it in his face. My eyes narrowed at the mess she had made and my heart twisted painfully when my Nick grabbed another pastry and tried to get her back, missing and smearing icing on her chin, neck and shoulder. Some others threatened to do the same to her with the others while she laughed and apologized, helping my Nick clean up a bit. But he just flicked her forehead, still laughing, and hugged her, smearing icing and cake bits into her hair and clothes while the Fairy thing shouted.

The rest of the night was spent with them drinking and eating their fill while I retreated to my room upstairs to get ready for work. I work as a Dispatcher and normally only worked the morning shift, but I needed an excuse to get away from my home today because I knew that none of these things, especially that woman, were leaving until the sun rose.

I kissed my Nick good-bye as he walked into our room to shower and change quickly, enjoying this little peace with him before one of the Demon men began shouting for him.

I hated feeling so helpless and unable to protect the man I love from such obvious danger. But I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what else I needed to say to help my husband see clearly that his life and mine would continue to be in danger if he kept that woman and her company so close to us. And after so many failed conversations where Nick would end up leaving our home for hours after failing to see things my way, I was afraid to bring it up again and have us break out into another argument.

I wanted us to be in a safe place so we could start building our family more. I wanted him to understand that things could only get better if he cut his losses and focused on the needs of OUR family. He must know that I didn’t feel safe enough to bring a child into this world when I would risk his ‘sister’ interacting with our baby too much with how often she breaks into our life.

She needed to leave us alone, or move away to someplace where only her kind were welcome. Why hasn’t anyone even thought about gathering the Demons still trapped in OUR world and keeping them from affecting the lives of innocent Humans? Why were they allowed to even marry our people when they have plenty of their own? It just didn’t make sense to me at all and only increased my worry after seeing my Nick come home late, sometimes covered in blood or mildly injured. I knew that thing was behind it all and it only made me hate her even more.

“Devin’s been in my life since I was a kid.” Nick would tell me.

But to me, the amount of time you know a person doesn’t mean that they deserve to be kept in your life.

“She’s helped me learn all kinds of things about Demons, which is why I understand them more than I do some other Humans.”

That’s not right! My husband shouldn’t be burdened with that knowledge when his own kind are still struggling with the chaos left behind by those very Demons.

“I’ve made all kinds of happy memories with the Demons I’ve met, and many friendships with incredible Demons that are strong enough to be called family.”

Demons can’t be family! They are cruel, dark and evilly gifted things that shouldn’t have been allowed to enter into our world.

“Thanks to Devin, I feel like I’ve grown into a better person because of the life we shared and the things we learned together.”

She did nothing! She’s a Demon that feeds off the most crude human interactions, how could you have learned or changed in any way because of her?

“Please understand Holly, Devin doesn’t trust many people, and too many have tried to hurt her for no reason. I can’t just leave her.”

Yes you can! Who cares if others try to hurt her?! Maybe she deserved it?! She’s a damned Succubus!

“She’s my little sister, Holly.”

She’s nothing to you! She’s nothing to US!

“She’s important to me, and to many, many others.”

No, no, nonono! She’s nothing! She’s a thief, a manipulator, a self-centered monster with the power to take away my happiness from me and destroy everything we worked hard for.

I was growing more and more consumed with half-baked plans that I tried to build on so I could kick that damned woman out of our lives. But nothing I planned out seemed good enough. I even thought of ways to open up my Nick's eyes so he could see just how terrible things could turn out because of her, but I didn't know enough about her to use for such a plan.

I was stuck suffering and unable to find a way to save the man I loved…

Until I met someone that understood and sympathized with me. A fellow woman that helped ease my worries and even offered to help me out in exchange for some minor information.