Counterpart (Succubi & Incubi Assn.) (14 page)

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.

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?”