Counterpart (Succubi & Incubi Assn.)

  “You're underestimating my strength, Tristan,” I said. My arms were wrapped around the punching bag. I was holding it for Tristan to hit, but he was making a big deal about it, saying he didn’t want to hurt me.

  “And you're underestimating my strength, Maya,” he replied, his arms firmly crossed over his hard chest.

  We'd known each other for nearly three months now. And oh how fast those 90 days went. After meeting at the park, we'd randomly see each other around campus. By the time a few weeks had gone past, Tristan finally grew the balls to ask me out for yogurt. It was a sweet gesture, and I couldn't say no. I did have a guilty pleasure for the frozen goodness.

  It was odd how close we had gotten. It was like being around a long lost friend. And let's not ignore that my demon liked when he was around. She would always cause some sort of fluttering within me, making me feel alive. I couldn't blame her though, he was tempting.

  But sadly, I didn't have it in me to take a single piece of his soul. It was unusual. Normally, I wouldn't give a shit, but he was different. I would love to know what he tasted like, what the edge about him was, what he felt like—no, I need to stop thinking about it.

  Stop,

  “Maya,” he leaned forward and put his face in front of mine. His lips pulled up into a grin, and I just wanted to melt right then. I knew this would happen. “You're biting down on your lip and there's a thoughtful face going on. What's up?”

  This is what happens when I zone out. I completely push the thought of how I look to the back of my mind. And it just ends with him asking questions. I needed to divert this.

  “I'm thinking of ways to convince you to punch this damn bag,” I stated simply.

  “Not going to happen,” he answered. I gave up trying. At least the want to jump him had lessened slightly.

  “Fine, move over.” I removed my arms around the bag and walked over to the bench to retrieve a pair of gloves. Tristan knew the deal. He was behind the bag now, preparing himself for my turn at punching it.

  “Try not to aim for my face this time, yeah?”

  I tightened the gloves around my wrists and brought my hands up in front of me, a smirk playing on my lips. “Try not to get in my way, yeah?”

  He chuckled and that was all the talking for now. I threw several punches at the bag, specifically aiming at the middle of the bag so my fist didn't slip again and land in his face. Yeah, it was a mistake, and hey, you can't blame me. He’s still alive. And, in all honesty, it was hilarious.

  Tristan watched me closely, murmuring things I could improve on to make my punch more effective. Usually, I would hate when someone told me what to do, but with him, it was different. He was a professional at this. So I took his advice and by the time the strain in my biceps became unbearable, I had improved greatly.

  “Take a break.” He threw a water bottle to me and I caught it with ease, taking a seat on the matted floor.

  He stretched his arms, walking towards the punching bag. My eyes decided to do something stupid then and I found myself watching his back move with his arms. He seemed to always be shirtless around me and sometimes I hated it. The other 80% of me never complained. It made my gym days that much more exciting when his abs were always in my sight.

  I felt my body start to get warm at the thought of him, and I moved my attention to the bottle of water. It felt cool as the liquid flowed down my throat, cooling my body along the way. I must’ve been really thirsty though, because by the time I moved the bottle away, it was under half-way. I screwed the cap back on and placed the drink beside me, resting my arms on my knees.

  “So, why do you come here all the time?” I asked.

  It was a question I had been meaning to ask for a while, but never had the time. I always saw him at the gym, and when I would text and ask what he was doing on a Saturday morning he would reply every time saying he was at the gym. This place was practically his second home.

  Tristan had his hands in front of him and I noticed his chest rising slightly faster. He must’ve been punching the bag while I was trying to cool down my body before it did something.

  He shrugged, watching the bag swing. “I love it here. It's free, you know? It's my exit for when reality gets boring.”

  I could understand where he was coming from. When I wanted to escape, I usually liked to look at the sky. “Reality must get boring a lot.”

  Blue eyes flicked to me, followed by a small smile as he thought. “Not recently, I can tell you that.”

  I watched a lone piece of rubbish move along the concrete with the breeze. I had managed to walk myself outside, with the nagging memory of Tristan playing in my head. I felt like a cigarette—no, I felt like I needed the cigarette—but I forgot to grab them when I stormed out.

  I leaned against the wall, watching people walk in and out of the gym. I didn't feel like being here, with my mind wanting to recall memories, but I also didn't feel like walking around the streets of L.A. I leaned my head back on the wall and sighed. I knew I wouldn’t last out here for long—I tended to get bored easily. So I walked back inside.

  Sophia's attention wasn't on who was walking inside the gym, like it should be. It was on something under her desk. Her brows were pushed down, the same frown I received before still on her face. I considered asking her what was wrong, but that was soon enough answered.

  “Forty-three year old, Geoff West was found in his office at the downtown arena. He had been missing for the past 24 hours and when officials arrived on the scene, it was announced that he died of a heart attack.”

  No. Fucking. Way. “What are you watching?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer. But maybe there were more Geoff West’s around. I highly doubted it though.

  Sophia was surprised when she saw me and her eyes looked around, probably making sure her boss wasn’t here. When she came back to me, she shook her head and pointed down at whatever was making the noise. “Geoff West was found dead. Here, come watch this.”

  I walked around and stood behind her, examining her neat desk and the small television sitting in the corner.

  “They said he died of a heart attack,” she murmured, pushing a strand of platinum hair behind her ear.

  We brought our attention back to the news anchor and listened for what else she had to say. She was standing outside the arena, medical staff and officers scattered behind her. It was like watching a repeat of the alley incident.

  “Geoff West was a resident admired by hundreds, most looking up to him because he gave opportunities that changed lives for many young people. He will be dearly missed and there will be a service for him,” she said before the news switched to something that happened around the east coast.

  I was left with my mouth agape.

  “That’s so weird,” Sophia muttered, turning the TV off.

  She said it was weird, I said this was a fucking nightmare.

  I didn't kill him. I couldn't have. Then again, that's what I said about the other guy and look what happened there.

  Two men.

  I've killed two men.

  And as if the demons heard me, they decided to send Melinda in.

  “What's weird?” She placed her water bottle on the counter, waiting for us to answer.

  “Geoff West died of a heart attack. They found his body in his office.” Sophia was the one to answer, while I moved back around the counter, my mind running more laps than I would in a year.

  “What? No way. I didn't know he had heart problems,” Melinda pointed out, which only made me cringe. She was so going to figure it out if Sophia didn't play the cards to my advantage.

  “That's the thing though, he doesn't have heart problems. He never did. He was one of the healthiest men I had seen.” I begged to differ. “That's what I find so weird. He was perfectly fine last week. I guess you have to expect the unexpected, huh?” Sophia went back to cleaning her desk, which I found to be highly unnecessary since it was already squeaky clean.

  “Yes…” I risked a
glance over to Melinda, and I found her staring back at me with that 'Oh, Maya, what did you do this time?' look. “Expect the unexpected...”

  She knew. That advantage I thought Sophia would give me vanished into thin air, along with my sanity. Lucky for me though, Melinda wouldn't snap in front of Sophia, so I had a slight advantage over this.

  “Well…” I let out a deep breath, clicking my tongue a few times. I avoided Melinda’s gaze and slowly started taking steps away from the counter. “I’m going to have a smoke.”

  I managed to get away with no sweat, but no matter where I went, Melinda’s stare followed like a laser burning into a wall.

  I was so going to get it when we got back to the dorm.

  Ten – Detective Melinda

  If there was one thing about Melinda that I had grown to love, it was that she could surprise me unexpectedly.

  When I turned 19, I'd expected to spend the day in the luxury of my bed, drinking tequila straight from the bottle. But here came Melinda, charging into my dorm room with over 50 people that I didn't even know.

  Long story short: It was a good night.

  There was also New Years Eve, when she took me to New York to take our demons out on a frenzy. Yet another great night, filled with thrills and a lot of options to choose from.

  Then there was right now. We were back at the dorm, the sun was just on its journey of setting, and I was waiting for the Melinda-Mania to come out and kick me in the ass. That's not what happened though. Something even weirder happened.

  “Hello?” Daniel's voice sounded from the phone on the coffee table.

  “Daniel,” Melinda started, “we have a problem.”

  “What's going on? Please don't tell me it's Maya.”

  Please don't tell me it's Maya, I mimicked in my head. It's always Maya.

  “Actually no.” She looked up to me, her face full of pure seriousness. “There's another succubus in town, and I'm sure of it.”

  I don't know if she could see the surprise written all over my face, but this came as a shock. Not because there was another succubus, but because I was right the whole time.

  “See!” I exclaimed, “I don't do shit to these people. I'm fucking innocent, okay. I knew I was sane!” Okay, I may have gone a bit overboard, but I was relieved.

  “How do you know it's a succubus?” Daniel asked.

  “Well if you think about. Two men have died from heart attacks. Both those men were with Maya just before they died. If they were to die, Maya would have had to drain every piece of energy that they had. But she didn't. I think you and I both know Maya wouldn't kill someone, unless she had to. The only other way they could have died is if another succubus came and finished the job.”

  It went silent for a moment and I was starting to see Melinda in a new light. “Someone went all detective on this.”

  “Someone has to look out for your ass. Besides, I sensed her.” She shrugged, like it was nothing, when indeed this was big.

  “And you want to tell me this now?” Talk about dropping bombs.

  “I wasn't positive, okay. Then I heard about Geoff, and it made sense.”

  “Wait.” How did she sense them and not me? I was with her all the time. “When was this?”

  “At the gym today. It was the slightest scent but it was enough for me to define that a succubus had been there. It wasn't big at the time, but it is now.”

  So there was a crazy ass bitch, following me, and killing my subjects. Does she even know what she's doing? “Why the fuck would she come in and kill off my leftovers?” Leftovers wasn’t exactly the right word but if you thought about it, that’s what they were.

  “I can answer that.” I had totally forgotten that Daniel was on the phone. “There could be two reasons. Either she's a fan of you, Maya. Or she's a newbie not knowing what to do, so she'll use the subjects that you use. It would be easier and it would be faster. But the consequences are as you know, death.”

  I slumped back against the couch and covered my eyes. I was getting sick of everything. “Can I just go back two weeks when everything was a-okay?” I murmured, knowing full well I wasn’t just talking about this succubus drama.

  “If only.” I heard Melinda stand and pick her phone off the table. “We'll talk to you later, Daniel.”

  “Wait,” he said quickly, “I was wondering if you guys had experienced anything... strange lately.”

  Was he kidding me? “Yeah, two men died. I have a succubus following me. Oh, and Tristan friendship broke-up with me. Other than that, it's just a normal day for the L.A. succubi.” Sarcasm dripped off my tongue like a venomous snake and I regretted it. “Sorry, sorry.”

  “It’s okay. But no, that's not what I meant,” he said, “I mean people wise. Have you guys been feeling like you're being followed?”

  “No,” I said. Melinda was a different story, though, if I remember correctly. “Melinda has.”

  Melinda took a while to catch onto what I was talking about. “Oh right. Yeah, but you know, I didn't think it was weird. I actually found it quite flattering really.”

  “What happened?” Daniel asked.

  “Well, Stuart and I were out shopping the other day, and there was this guy watching us. But he was gone almost instantly.”

  A long silence followed. “I had the same thing. Except it wasn't a male. You haven't had this experience, Maya?”

  “Nope.”

  “It could just be paranoia, Daniel. I'm not worried about it, and hell, maybe the girl wanted in your pants. It wouldn't be the first time.”

  “She has a point, Daniel.” I agreed, only because Daniel was the sane one out of the three of us and I didn’t need him losing it over this random person. “She was probably nervous but loved what she saw.”

  More silence continued and I knew he was over-exaggerating my comment. “True. I do make the girls crazy and nervous all at the same time.”

  I rolled my eyes and leaned forward, placing my lips where the mic was. “Daniel, sweetie, no one likes a self-obsessed freak.”

  “That's fresh coming from you.”

  I should be offended, I really should.

  But I wasn't. “Touché.”

  ****

  Neither of us had the motivation to cook dinner tonight so we did the alternative and went to a Chinese restaurant. It wasn't a fancy restaurant, only because I can't stand being around people that talk like they’re royalty, drink expensive wine, and just... do all those things I wish I could do. And my demon had a fascination for rich people, so I wasn't going to start being a gold digger because of her fetishes.

  “Oh, look, it's Noah. Hey. Noah!” Melinda called out.

  I turned around in my seat to spot a familiar mess of black hair. He grinned when he saw us and walked over.

  I was actually nervous if he would act normal or not, being what happened between Tristan and I. Would people even know? Even though it just happened last night? Besides, even if everyone knew, Noah and I bonded over who would get the last beer bottle in my fridge. I think that is way more important, even though I won.

  “Well, isn't it two of my favorite girls around town.” His brown eyes brightened as he leaned down and hugged both of us. “What's the gossip?” He took a seat to my right and leaned back, waiting for the latest news.

  One of the things about Noah was that he hated being a part of the gossip. He loved hearing about something that happened to someone else though. I guess everyone's like that. Noah just happened to rely on Melinda and I, the two people who were practically always the gossip of campus. And it's always something stupid like 'Oh, Maya took this guy to her room last night' or 'Melinda totally fucked that guy from the club, what a slut'.

  Being called a slut became easier to handle. It was pretty much the modern version of what we were. The twenty-first century whores. If only people understood why, then I bet they would jump on the boat. I could name about fifty people who would kill to have an excuse to be a slut. And I'm sure there were about two bi
llion more people out there.

  But it’s not something to be proud of. I don’t walk around, gloating about who and when I slept with someone, because I wasn’t proud of it. I did it because I needed to. The only people that I spoke to were Melinda and Daniel, but that was because we felt something different during sex. Instead of the lust and heat that humans felt, we felt the lust, yet we could feel our demons getting satisfaction.

  And, a happy demon means a happy holder.

  “Not much,” Melinda said blankly, “just the normal.” Other than the entire succubus shit, it was the truth. Unless you counted the Tristan drama, but we weren't going to bring him up.

  “Did you guys hear about Tristan?”

  Well, apparently he was going to come up anyway.

  “So much for avoiding that,” I muttered. Our food arrived at exactly the right time and I didn't hesitate in giving it all my attention.

  “Am I missing something?” Noah asked, confused.

  Melinda waved her hand in the air. “Nothing, but yeah, we did hear about him. Pretty messed up, huh?”

  “Yeah, and then he goes and spends money on her, like the trip to Hawaii that they went on today.”

  Goodbye, appetite, thanks for popping in.

  “What trip to Hawaii?” Melinda asked.

  “Not sure what it's about but they left today. I thought you two would be the first to know, considering you guys are close, Maya.”

  Were, I refrained from correcting. We were close, until he went and ruined it all. “Not a single word,” I murmured, moving my noodles around the plate with my chopsticks.

  I was so confused by Tristan that it was turning into a mind fuck. First he gets distant with me, then he's telling me that there's nothing between us—not even a friendship. He then terminated his gym membership and now he's taking the blonde to Hawaii. What's next, a new house?

  “How did you find out then?” Melinda always knew how to avert the attention from me at the right time.

  “Through Facebook. You guys aren't on there right?”