"So you're the one?... The girl who spoke inside my head, who haunts the pledge of my heart... I never thought what you said was really true..."
"But you did it anyway. The incense... beneath it the sigil with my name on it," the entity replied.
"Is your name really Daisy X?"
"Yes, but just call me Daisy."
"And who or what are you really? You're not human, right? And how did you get in touch with me?"
"The rarest feelings radiate from your aura... something... real... feelings I'm used to experiencing myself. And that started to interest me.
What am I really? In your world, you'd simply call me a succubus."
"And... how long have you been watching me?" Louis asked quietly.
"For three years now," the woman answered, looking up at him. "I hoped all along that one day you'd somehow invite me into your life. Finally, you made up your mind..."
Louis smiled.
"Hm... then we really did attract each other."
"Well, you could say that... But Louis!" she suddenly burst out angrily. "Do you know how many of your flings I've watched you have with your girls?"
"Uhh,..." the man was taken aback. "So... you really watched every moment?"
"Not every moment," she shrugged. "But you spent most of your days doing just that. Then you wondered why you never got anywhere."
After a brief silence, she spoke more softly:
"Never mind... let's drop this now. I'm just glad to finally be with you. And I know you better than you think."
"Yeah? Then tell me. What do you know about me?"
"For example, I know your dreams are slowly merging with reality, further distorted by your manic episodes and bipolar depression.
You're becoming paranoid, Louis. You even dread when someone just calls you on the phone.
And you'd rather live with your traumas than free yourself from them. You go nowhere and are neglecting your family.
What that woman caused in your life... you still live in the shadow of that pain, never knowing when it will be ripped open again, like a wound."
She paused for a moment, then gently added:
"But Louis... if you want to withdraw from this whole life, at least do it for someone who's truly worth it. You fool...
There's so much pain in your eyes that every time I look into them, my heart aches deep inside.
I want to heal all the wounds in your soul.
I really want to heal every single one...
I want to reach every corner of your heart.
I feel like I have to do it."
"You know well: you never really fit into society. Never.
And I don't even belong to it in the first place... so I get you, hahaha!"
"How can you be so human then?" Louis asked with a half-smile.
"We all come from the same source," the woman replied. "Even though we don't exist in your realm now, our roots are shared.
But even among demons, there are differences."
Her gaze suddenly grew deeper as she continued:
"And yet they paint us as so evil...
The women here are far worse than most of our demons.
The darkness lives in them too.
Just as the spark of good can live in us...
And if that spark ever ignites into flame...
Even if only one such exists among us, it's enough."
Louis' heart was beating faster and faster. He had never felt such a powerful attraction and, at the same time, such an inner trembling.
"I'm always trying to make amends for the bad," he said thoughtfully. "
To dig out from the coal mine of people's souls that precious diamond that only I can bring forth."
"Exactly!" the woman's eyes sparkled. "
As you said: you need the bad to learn from it.
Your pain...
Things that in the past could break you for months or years, defeat you."
"Even after your breakup... a huge burden fell off your heart," she added softly.
"The burden doesn't matter if it's worth it," Louis replied. "
If the essence of our relationships remains, then every hardship is bearable."
"That didn't matter to you...
If it had, we wouldn't be talking about negative energies now, but about how much good you got.
That part of you that so far has locked up your emotions, anxiety... is about to explode.
And when it breaks out, it won't radiate darkness.
But light.
Because at the end of pain, there's always light.
And you still serve the good, Louis."
Suddenly Louis paled. His head hurt, the world started spinning, and he barely caught his breath.
"I can't take this anymore..." he whispered. "My heart..."
The woman leaned closer, her gaze now cold and hard.
"Or maybe you really haven't noticed that the true evil isn't me... but the one you lived with?"
Louis closed his eyes and answered with a sigh:
"Of course I did. I knew. And I just kept torturing myself. I'm grateful you said it... but I'm afraid it's not all over yet."
"Why wouldn't it be?" the woman asked, leaning closer to him. "Leave it to me. I'll take care of him too."
"And what would you want to do with him?" Louis looked at her incredulously. "I just won't let him back, period."
The woman just smiled.
"Oh, really? Like the seven times you already said that. I know well he'll be back the next day anyway."
"Do you see the future?" the man asked suspiciously.
"I don't need to see the future for this," she replied quietly. "Knowing you is enough."
"Well... let's hope it's different this time," Louis said more to himself than to her.
---
One morning someone started throwing pebbles at the door. Louis sat up half-asleep.
"I've been standing here for a while... will you let me in?" Laura's voice came from behind the door.
The woman who had been silently watching from the window until now jumped up. Her voice trembled with hatred.
"That filthy, shameless, rotten bitch... I swear, I'll end her life. Don't let that worm back into your life! Louis... you can't do it. I'd kill her before she touches you again. I really love you!"
Louis looked at her desperately.
"What do I say to her now? What do I do in such a situation? She already walked back into my life once..."
The woman's voice darkened:
"I'll punish her. And everyone she ever spoke to. For you.
It only takes a word from you, and I'll do it.
Your desire summoned me, but your heart drew me under your control.
That's why I'll serve you forever.
I'll free you from every pain that weighs on your heart."
Louis closed his eyes. The words, although frightening, strangely comforted him.
"Alright... Do it. I trust you."
And the succubus didn't wait. She killed the woman — Laura — and everyone who had ever exchanged a single word with her.
She erased them from their minds, memories, every document, as if they had never existed.
And she did it all in the blink of an eye.
---
The next morning Louis woke up in the woman's arms...
---
A hazy light, shifting into geometric shapes, appeared before him...
"Louis... Laura...
Pay the price for your deeds."
"Who are you? What price?" Louis asked, his voice trembling.
Suddenly, his body was seized by a violent spasm, and he collapsed unconscious...
"Nooo Louis!! Louuuuis!!"
"Louuuuiss!!!"
"Louuuiss!!!" The shepherd is shouting!
"Don't wander off into your own thoughts now!"
"The next round is starting now"