“I need to eat this jewel in the middle of this pentagram after Jessi recites the ritual? Ugh, this is boring.” Vicky groans in disgust. She holds a red jewel away from her like it is a disgusting, unsanitary item. It gave her the creeps.
“You must swallow it during the ritual. If you don’t, the demon’s soul will kill you.” Naomi stiffly replies.
“How many times are you going to say that this little rock is going to kill me? I just worry it is going to give me indigestion and be like a kidney stone. Gosh, I would look horrible in pain from a kidney stone.” Vicky rolls the demon soul along her fingers. It didn’t look like it was cut but a jeweler, it was rough but it glowed slightly. She was internally worried about what it could do but wasn’t going to let that fear show. A Crowler never shows their true face to an underling, and that is what this Naomi person was, an underling of Joseph Silvermoon.
“Maybe you should take her words more seriously. Since we are going along with them for this stupid game plan, we better listen to them about the dangers.” Jessi cautions Vicky about her attitude with this mysterious woman. She didn’t like this one bit.
The three of them were in the attic of the Crowler’s mansion, late at night. Vicky and Jessi had been preparing the place for the ritual all day, for the attic was well furnished and was like any other room in the mansion except that it was away from everyone else.They moved the furnisment around to allow them to draw a pentagram in pig’s blood and candles. They waited until the night, memorizing the ritual, and got into their pajamas when Naomi suddenly came in through a shadow. She bore the final part of this ritual from Joseph Silvermoon, the demon’s soul.
“Yeah, yeah,” Vicky waves off Jessi’s concern. It wasn’t out of affection that Jessi spoke but fear. Naomi could escape easily and Jessi would be alone up here. She would be suspect number one if Vicky died. “Listen to all her warnings, is there anything else I should be wary of?” Vicky asks the doll-like succubus.
“Keep your mind focused on the task. You will die if you don’t.” Naomi chillingly responds.
“Death always. Are you sure that you didn’t poison this thing?” Vicky waves the demon’s soul in front of Naomi, taunting. Naomi stayed still, eyes following the gem. Vicky saw that her mind wasn’t on making sure she survived but that this ritual was a success. It seemed contradictory, with failure being death, but if you only focused on the ritual, Vicky’s life didn’t mean much unless it was success.
“We should back out. There are too many chances of death with this. We can find another way to be on top again.” Jessi shudders. She didn’t like this at all. That red jewel was churning her stomach. It was like facing a team that just wanted to injure you on the court. It leaves you bitter and repulsed.
“NO!” Vicky growls. She turns around and walks into the middle of the pentagram. “There is no other way to beat that big blonde bimbo! She is a succubus that can charm people. I can’t win on my superior beauty and vast wealth if she charms and owns their souls. I need to face her as one. I will come out on top. I will trample her under my foot. I will make her eat my shit. I will make her lick my ass. I’m Vicky Crowler. I will be the bitchiest bitch if it means I reign supreme!”
Naomi gives a slight gasp. Vicky’s face was all contorted, veins bursting, and eyes popping with a burning rage. This determination was not one she normally saw on succubus. It was distorted and seething, not lustful or aroused. Her face was more demonic and evil than many demons she has seen.
“Now do what you were brought here for and read the words that he gave us!” Vicky barks at Jessi, her last subservient associate. Vicky prepares to swallow the demon soul.
“Yes.” Jessi rustles in her pocket for the paper she was given for the ritual.
Vicky focuses hard on the jewel. The ominous aura it gives off was unsettling, sickening and unnerving, but the more she looks deeper into it, a hidden detail behind it emerges. The repugnant and disgusting air it gave off originated from the core, from a desire to dominate and rule. It had been denied that authority so it began to fester hate and grow malice to all to those who brought it low and those who would try to control its fearsome power for their own use. The hatred seeped out like poison to those of good intention and a backstabbing knife to those who sought to control it. Vicky realizes that the words that Naomi said were true. If this ritual was taken half-heartedly or if she was distracted, she would die. Vicky breathes deeply and sets her mind on what brought her to this risky ritual, Sarah’s humiliation of her. Vicky could use that anger to keep her focus. For a Crowler never forgets or forgives who wronged them.
“Well, start reciting.” Vicky clenches the red jewel in her fist, showing her angry determination to become a demon for revenge.
Jessi knew that it was best not to question Vicky in a moment like this. She read the words but had no heart in what she said.
“Oh, remnants of a demon. I seek to-”
“Stop!” Vicky commands her to stop. She holds up her hand and furrows her brow. “There is no power in those words. Try again.”
Jessi gulps. Jessi didn’t know what she meant. All of this was absurd, scary, and out of her league.
“Oh, remnants of a demon. I seek to gain your power. Your feeble state leaves you-”
“Stop!” Vicky repeats her command. “Still no power. Are you even trying?” Vicky accuses her.
“I’m reading what it says. Don’t blame me if this isn’t working.” Jessi slaps the paper, frustrated at Vicky’s lack of instruction. She had been good at interrupting Vicky’s missing details before with how long she was forced into this servitude, but this, she couldn’t understand. “I’m no expert in voodoo shit.”
“Demonic.” Vicky corrects her. “And you better be. We don’t want to mess this shit up.”
“Why not ask her?” Jessi gestures to Naomi. “She should know.”
“She’s Silvermoon’s lackey. I would rather use my own.” Vicky brushes off Naomi. Naomi stood there absolutely still, not bothered by Vicky’s words. “So get on with it. We can only do this at night.”
Jessi mumbles as she goes to read it again. She disliked being one of Vicky’s lackeys but she had no choice.
“Oh, remnants of a demon. I seek to gain your power. Your feeble state leaves you open to my prying hands. Your body is gone and cannot-”
“Jessica.”
Sweat starts to form on Jessi’s brow. Vicky never used her full name except when she was angry. Jessi looks up to see Vicky’s bloodshot eyes staring at her. Jessi was not living up to her expectations.
“Do you remember Dani? The one in college?” Vicky coldly brings up one of Jessi’s old basketball teammates, one who graduated two years ago and got a scholarship. “How is she doing? Is she still struggling with drugs? What would happen if a drug report came up?”
That was one of the tools that Vicky used to keep Jessi in her grasp. A former teammate that got in trouble with drugs and juicing. Jessi begged Vicky to have her cover up the drug report. Vicky agreed and used her money to cover it up, by switching out reports. Vicky still had the original report. Jessi’s old teammate wasn’t doing any of those things anymore but that report would end the teammate’s career if it got out. Jessi’s basketball team is her heart and soul. She wouldn’t let anything happen to them. Vicky had helped her, more so bought away, with any problems that could hurt her team from their own mistakes, which was more like Vicky buying the problems so she could keep for blackmail later. This is how Vicky made Jessi her most loyal lackey, she held the darkest secrets of Jessi's team. Jessi wasn’t loyal over friendship for Vicky, it was her friendship to her team that kept her with Vicky.
“Mhm.” Jessi nods fearfully.
“Good, now try again.” Vicky's tone was very threatening.
Naomi tilts her head. “This woman is more demonic than I thought.” Naomi thinks.
Jessi wipes the sweat from her brow and breathes deeply. She had been halfheartedly into this ritual. She didn’t get it all and it creeped her out. With her friend on the line, she gains the willpower to make sure that the ritual was a success and what Vicky wants was to become a reality.
“Oh, remnants of a demon. I seek to gain your power. Your feeble state leaves you open to my prying hands. Your body is gone and cannot be returned. Your power remains. So don’t waste it and give it to me, so it will be mine! Resist and you will perish for good!”
Jessi could feel the difference in her voice. There was a mysterious power to it. What was it that she just spoke? Is this magic?
Vicky smiles as she feels that the words that Jessi spoke had power. The ritual could proceed and she will become what she needed to become. She raises the red jewel high into the air. The aura becomes stronger and a visible light radiates from it.
“For we shall become one, your power will be mine, and mine alone!” Vicky declares her part of the ritual with power in her words.
Vicky pulls the demon soul down from its height and directly into her mouth. It was hard and unpleasant in her mouth but she quickly swallows it. She felt it go down her throat and stop around her chest level. She puts her hand on her breasts as she feels a similar thing to the demon soul inside her take shape and move to meet the demon soul. It was her soul solidifying into physical existence like the demon soul.
“Gah!” Vicky falls to her knees, panting endlessly, as the demon soul attacks her own soul. The candles flicker in response. Her soul pushes back as Vicky concentrates on her anger and will to overcome the demon soul. This was to be a vicious, tedious battle inside her for domination or destruction.
That is indeed what Jessi saw too. As the demon soul and Vicky’s soul battle on the inside, Jessi watches as Vicky writhes on the pentagram for about 10 minutes. Jessi knew from horror movies not to touch a person’s body in this situation but also to not be there. She tries to flee but the door is locked. Vicky told her staff to not bother her at all tonight while she was up here. Naomi then used her shadows to seize the key, making sure that Jessi couldn’t unlock it. Jessi tries to slam against the door but it is no use. She is forced to watch the former school queen go through whatever hellish ordeal the ritual is doing to her inside her body.
Within Vicky, after the prolonged 10 minute fight, the demon soul finally talks to Vicky.
“Hmm, your will is strong. You don't give up easily in trying to gain my power.” The demon says.
“Heh, you found me stubborn when you are the one stubborn. I need you to defeat the bitchy demon who humiliated me. I need to become what she is if I have any hopes of destroying her.” Vicky growls.
“Oh, you faced a demon and decided to become one to defeat it. Interesting proposition. I don’t like it. I want to rule demons and only those who have opposed me deserve to die. Find an exorcist for your emotional tantrum.”
“I agree with the part that those who oppose me should die. This demon opposed me and decided to humiliate me. I must destroy her and be restored to my rightful place.” Vicky recalls more and more of Sarah and the humiliation she gave her. “A priest won’t do, I need you and your power.”
“Still not my problem since she is probably a demon I wouldn’t know. The demons that oppose me are my problem and are from long ago. Only they and their desire to take away what is mine would make me consider. I want to come back and rule. I need a body for that. Your body would be useful if you submit to me.” The demon soul looks at Vicky’s hungrily. “I feel traces of my blood in you. It would make it possible for me to return. Everyone else died fighting me or didn’t have a worthy body. Yours could possibly work.” The demon soul licks its lips.
“No!” Vicky screams. She pays no attention to what the demon said about her. She was focusing on claiming the demon’s power for herself, not reverse. “You will yield to me. I don’t care about your grudges with those in your past or your current goals. I need your power to make them suffer.” Vicky remembers more of the key moments that shamefully humiliated her during the contests, especially the water volleyball, where she unceremoniously bounced off Sarah’s breasts.
“I don’t care about your childish squabbles. Your pettiness is commendable but you lack the grandeur. This demon is nothing but-” The demon soul pauses. It sees the image of the demoness in question from Vicky’s memory. It sees who exactly she lost to. “There’s no way.” It whispers.
“What?” Vicky is surprised by the sudden attitude shift in the demon soul. It seemed to be wavering a little bit with that mental image Vicky had.
“It can’t be. Her blood was sealed by Criella because she disagreed with her about bringing the coven into hell to rule. She said that they should live simple lives here on earth, don’t go down to hell. That bitch ruffled Criella’s tail and infuriated me. Succubus are meant to rule, not coexist. In the end, I got banished for my goals and she got to live with the rest of the succubus and have kids with her ideals.” The demon soul growls and seethes with anger as Vicky sees a memory of a platinum blonde woman amongst succubus, discussing with them.
“Do you have a grudge against this woman?” Vicky asks the demon soul.
“I do and our goals couldn’t be farther apart amongst succubi. I changed my mind. I will concede as long as you defeat that scummy bitch’s descendant. But, you have to seek higher goals afterwards. Do you have a book that would have been carried down by your ancestors?” The demon soul becomes more agreeable. Vicky finds that much more pleasant but is still wary of a trap. She didn’t have the demon’s powers yet.
“My grandmother left me one. That’s how I know about succubus.”
“Read it after we are done since I won’t have much time. Your blood was too weak before but you should be able to once you are a succubus. It will help you with destroying that demon and you will see what my goals are. I believe you will find my aspiration much to your liking” The demon’s voice wanes as it submits to Vicky’s soul, fusing to hers. Vicky’s soul remains the dominant one but is altered by absorbing it. Before becoming one with Vicky’s soul, the demon soul says one last thing. “Drip some of your blood onto the hand of the book. You will find out about your heritage and the throne my bloodline deserves.” The two souls finally fuse.
Naomi feels the shift in Vicky. The ritual was a success. This would be the only time she has ever known that a human has successfully merged with a demon soul. This was breaking new ground and Uncle Joe would be happy with finding a possible way of restoring succubus kind using the remains of their souls. Naomi waits to see how the transformation goes, expecting her to become an imp. She was surprised once again when a surge of power radiates from Vicky’s body, eclipsing her own power. Vicky's transformation wasn’t so simple. Naomi takes a step back as she feels threatened by Vicky.
“Who is Vicky? or what was that demon soul? Or was it both of them?” Naomi fearfully thinks.
Jessi feels the power surge as well. It causes the hairs on the back of her neck to stand up and shivers down her spine. She stops pounding on the door to look around to see what is going on, only to be pushed back slightly against the door by a shockwave generated by Vicky. The candles were blown out by the shockwave and the clunking of chairs resounded from it knocking them over. There was no light in the attic except the moonlight from the window high up to dimly light the room. Until the blood of the pentagram starts to glow and cast a shadow of Vicky’s transformation on the ceiling. Jessi stares at the ceiling as the shadow becomes bigger as Vicky becomes bigger. Bumps pop out of the top of Vicky’s shadow and lengthen into horns. They grow longer, backwards, and outwards. They look very much like goat horns from when she went to a petting zoo. Other appendages started to grow out of her. Two shoot out of the lower back. They were like bony arms, before long bony fingers, sharp like needles, came out of the tips of the appendages, spreading out wide. These were wings but they didn’t seem to have any flaps in between the skeleton structure.
Soon, the glow faded and only the dim moonlight through the draped windows fell upon the attic. The only sounds were the heavy breathing of everyone there. Everything was still.
Then, by magic, the magic circle starts to glow again, the candles reignite, and the window blows open by a gust a wind to allow a stronger moonlight to illuminate the dreary attic. Vicky's transformation was no longer hidden in the shadows.
"AAIIIEE!" Jessi shrieks as what she saw would only be in a nightmare, until now. She was in a literal horror movie.
Vicky had grown to be 6’11” tall. Her other human attributes had grown too. Her ass was tighter and her breasts had swelled to H-cups. Vicky always had a slim body, but thick where it counted. She had more of a muscular tone now. Her ears were more pointed and coming out of her blonde hair. Her demonic features could be distinguished even more. Her horns were really like the black goat horns Jessi imagined them to be. What she didn’t see was a small tiara of smaller horns going between the two large horns. The wings were like black boney arms coming right above her ass. There was no flesh or skin between them and the long fingers moved around independently. Jessi saw a black tail that she didn’t see before in the shadow. It was long, and hefty with a serpent-like movement. At the tip of this tail, a round black ball with spikes.
“So much power!” Vicky chuckles evilly as she looks down at her transformation, having made her pajamas seemingly smaller and tighter on her. She twitches her bony wings, sways her thick tail, and her hands squeezes her enlarged breasts. As she cusps them, Jessi sees that Vicky’s nails have lengthened with a sharp point and are red. These match her eyes that have switched over to red too, making her evil laugh even more sinister. “This is what that blonde bitch had going for her. No wonder I lost. She has so much going for her. Now it is mine!”
Naomi was dumbstruck by what she saw. She couldn’t speak even though she had a message to deliver to Vicky from her father if the ritual was a success. Naomi knew what class of succubus Vicky had become. It was the Puppeteer class. The wings, tail, horns, and power emitting from her, all pointing to that rare class. The rival class of the Caster, which excels at range magic casting, while the Puppeteer was the close quarters master. Both hadn’t been seen in a long time but there were now two of them. What dark foreboding, or glorious foreboding, was this?
“Vicky, is that you?” Jessi trembles. She had no idea if Vicky became a demon or if she was possessed.
“Of course it is still me. Why wouldn’t it be? Did you doubt that I couldn’t do it?” Vicky bends over, putting a hand on her hips and one pointing at Jessi. “What did I say about doubting if I am capable?” Vicky’s finger and fingernail seems to stretch as she threateningly reminds Jessi of who she is.
“I didn’t doubt you. I was worried if they tried to trick you and purposely made the ritual wrong.” Jessi knows how to fake out Vicky so she wouldn’t get angry at her. Make it look like someone else had bad intentions for her and Jessi was watching out for her.
“The ritual could have been tainted by them. Good job on checking in on that.” Vicky’s anger fades from Jessi. Jessi sighs a relief that she wasn’t torn apart by her, she could really physically do it now with how scary and powerful she is currently. Jessi knew that this really was Vicky, not a possession. “It seems that your boss was good on his word. I possess the powers of a demon like we agreed upon. Is there anything else he requires?” Vicky turns to Naomi.
Naomi collects herself upon being called upon. “Yes, my Master requests a private meeting as soon as possible to discuss how to proceed from your rebirth. Would it be possible for you to head over to his manor tonight?” Naomi asks.
“I can’t tonight. I have made it odd for my household staff already by excluding them from the attic. If I were to leave tonight, they would presume drugs. My family is not particular with me using drugs but selling is okay. A Crowler can sell something problematic, but don’t use something problematic. Does tomorrow afternoon work?” Vicky refuses Naomi’s request. She will make this meeting go on her time.
“Tomorrow afternoon and evening is not possible. My Master would be preoccupied at that moment. Does tomorrow morning work?” Naomi counteroffers.
“Maybe. I would have to see in the morning if I can. I have school and that is a short notice. If not tomorrow morning, the day after that in the morning would work.” Vicky won’t allow Mr. Silvermoon to control her schedule.
“That should work. I will inform my Master of the proposed schedule. There will be more communication shortly.” Naomi sinks into the shadows. She didn’t want to be here longer than she needed to be. Her duty was to her Father, her Master. She needed to be near him. Also, Naomi didn’t want to be around Vicky. She gave her the creeps and her class was disturbing. She had heard the tales of the Banished One being a Puppeteer class.
“Vicky, your parents haven’t-” Jessi starts talking once Naomi disappears into the shadows. Vicky tilts her head slightly to her with a grimacing stare. Jessi shuts up.
“Alright, you can talk.” Vicky says after a few minutes of silence. “I was making sure that bitch was gone. I don’t want you to blow the cover of my story.” Vicky turns around and starts heading to a desk that contains her grandmother’s book.
“Why did you lie to her about the drugs? Your family doesn’t care if you do drugs.” Jessi asks, confused. She follows behind her to the desk.
“A Crowler makes sure the other person bends to their will and time, not the other way around. I’m making sure that the meeting isn’t good for him but runs according to my schedule. Plus, I don’t fully trust him.” Vicky picks up her grandmother’s old book. The book was black and appeared old. The cover was like leather but when one touched it, they found out that it wasn’t leather from a cow. It was from some other living creature. In the middle was a hand, a sharp, pointy wizened hand with a red jewel in the middle of the palm. Another observer might have thought it was a lich’s hand on the front. She opens it up. The text she couldn’t read before had become legible. She could read it.
“So you are trying to take advantage of him?” Jessi knew how Vicky was operating when it came to these sorts of matters. She would rather be in charge.
“Yep, I’m going to get him to work for me, not the other way around.” Vicky takes one of her nails and pricks her finger. A drop of blood appears. The demon told her to put some of her blood onto the hand on the cover. When the droplet formed, Vicky felt a strange connection to the drop. It was still part of her yet it was outside of her body. Vicky sees if she can control it. The drop of blood moves along the tip of her finger in whatever way she chooses. Vicky can control her blood. She didn’t know what that meant but she will soon. She drops the blood on the red jewel. The jewel responds and starts to glow slightly.
“Shit!” Jessi takes a step back from the haunted tome.
Vicky feels along the rim of the jewel with the blood. There are holes for her blood. She has her blood flow into the holes. There are passageways in the cover to the spine. From the spine, there are paths to some of the pages. She lets her blood go to the first page. She turns to the first page. There are new letters appearing in red, hiding underneath the other words in black.
“This book belongs to Nifsara Corvidclaw and her descendents. For the preservation to retake what is our blood right after the exile by Criella, we will crawl in the shadows. Ready to arise and pull the strings to place us on the throne of hell.”
Vicky reads the new words. She didn’t know it at the moment, but she was going to discover that night that she had some serious connections to a figure ingrained in succubus history.
(Back at Silvermoon Manor)
Uncle Joe stands in the middle of a room he doesn’t often go into. It was a waiting room with all the furniture covered in white sheets. He stared up at a painting above a fireplace of a meadow with white robe soldiers on one side and a succubus on the other. He had inspected the base of the fireplace and around the painting but found nothing odd about it. It seemed like a normal painting.
“Was the ritual a success?” Uncle Joe asks.
Naomi rises out of the shadows.
“It was a success. The girl is now a succubus.” Naomi bows to her knees to Uncle Joe.
“That is good. It seems that it is possible to make humans succubus without a queen. It was impossible before with people dying while using that demon soul. I cannot conclude how it works yet. Is it the ritual or the fact that she had succubus blood in her heritage before? I would like to do more experiments but I don’t have the demon souls for it.” Uncle Joe’s gaze departs from the painting to Naomi. “Is she an imp? Or does she already have a class?”
“She has a class.” Naomi says like a soldier quietly making her report. “The class she has is the Puppeteer.”
“She got a rare class.” Uncle Joe cocks his body to the side in surprise. “I wasn’t expecting that. That means she has a good chance of being a queen succubus.” Uncle Joe looks up and chuckles. “Fortunate has favored this generation of succubi. They didn’t get just one queen, they got the potential for three.” He then glances back at the painting. “Things might have turned out differently then.” His voice sounds sad and hopeful.
“But she is a Puppeteer, don’t you worry that it could lead to the same fate as before?” Naomi raises her concern.
“I know you fear that her being a Puppeteer would mean she will be like the Banished One, many succubus would. We cannot presume that but we can take precautions. Under my guidance, I can lead Ms. Crowler and the rest of the queens into a more stable coven, one that can have a united front against the Mayflowers. I can assure their survival under my watch.” Uncle Joe rubs his wrist in gleeful zeal. His eyes fill with wild hope. “So that the earthbound succubus can complete their original goals.”
Naomi watches him become more energetic as everything was falling in place for his long held goals and dreams. Naomi was glad to be a part of helping him achieve but she couldn’t help but have an uneasy feeling. Was the dream worth it?
“Is Ms. Crowler joining us later tonight?” Uncle Joe asks her. “I would like to start with putting things in motion.”
“No, it didn’t coincide with a plausible excuse to hide her transformation. She will contact us when it becomes possible for her to come over. So far the time is the following morning.” Naomi repeats.
“Pity, I wanted it sooner. Oh well.” Uncle Joe turns towards the door. He proceeds to walk towards it before stopping at the doorway. “I cannot find anything odd about that painting. The boy must have seen some sort of light reflection or something from the sun.”
“What about the music?”
“Birds chirping probably. The window was open. It was nothing.” Uncle Joe makes that conclusion after hearing Naomi’s report about Dwayne and this room. He worried but doesn’t anymore. “I need to raid the kitchen for milk and cookies. I need a plausible excuse for myself for your cousin as to why I was up late.”
“Betsy does worry about your health and your influence on the girls. What should my excuse be?” Naomi stands up, stiff and robotically.
“Since the maids are gone with the fledglings, you decided as my daughter to do some of the cleaning and patrols. She knows of your loyalty to me. She will accept that story.” Uncle Joe opens the door and pauses. He turns back to look at her. “Which I very much appreciate. I have much joy knowing I have an obedient and loyal child.”
“Thank you, Father. It honors me very much to hear that.” Naomi bows. She has joy abounding within from his praise. “I will continue to make you proud of me.”
“I will expect that.” Uncle Joe departs. He walks the hallway with a grin as it seems all the pieces are coming together for his goal. A goal that he had discovered about the earthbound succubi’s creation from Criella. He was happy to be a part of that grand scheme and carry it over to the present day.