The Succubus's Plaything

Chapter 23: "Home" Alone

"Yea.. Uhm.. That's.. and you are completely sure that you're going?.." Inesa's mother looks at me suddenly unsure. Seems just as I thought.. Me being gone is bad news.. When I get back..

"Yea.. There is no way I can get out of it, especially not with my sister watching over me. My otherwise perfect track record has been absolutely destroyed these past few days." With Valorie not holding up her own confidence, my own also dwindles. "What.. Exactly will happen when I'm back?.."

"Well.." Valorie clears her throat and "reapplies her assuring aura". "I'll do my best to keep her calm when you are gone, but admittedly.. There isn't all that much I can do. When you get back you'll have to come straight here and relieve her before she get all too.. Pent up. You'll be fine.. I'll make sure you don't die." I can almost imagine beads of sweat rolling from her forehead, but she keeps up her composure enough to avoid that.

"That instills a lot of confidence." I state sarcastically with a blank look in my eyes.

She laughs nervously in reply.

"So.. Any other questions?.." Realizing that we aren't getting anywhere on the current subject, Valorie makes an attempt to switch.

"Yes.. But no?.." I am sure I had more questions, but with my mind completely distracted by my fate upon returning, I am drawing blanks.

"Got it." She smiles understanding. "Then we might as well head to bed. And regarding Inesa when you get back from you class trip, I promise it won't be too bad. Unless you have any moral issues with it, you might even enjoy it." At that she winks subtly and stands up to leave the room. "I am going to be out for a little bit, but I'll be back by the morning to help with your makeup. Just make yourself at home. Goodnight Hal."

"Goodnight.. Thanks for the chat.." She is going out at this time? I decide not to question it.

Standing up I follow Valorie to the door, where she quickly slips on a pair of shoes, and off the coat rack, she grabs a cream-colored trench coat and puts it on in one flowing motion.

When you walk in there is a rough wooden dresser directly to the right, and before leaving Valorie opens the topmost drawer and grabs both a bundle of keys, and a pack of cigarettes.

Hm. Funny, based on her smooth voice I never would have guessed.

"Would you mind locking behind me?" Valorie asks.

"Yea sure."

"Thank you! See you tomorrow."

"See you."

With one last smile Valorie opens the door, walks out, and shuts it behind her.

Like she had asked me, I quickly lock the door behind her.

Now completely alone, I feel a little lost being in someone else's house. What is even the proper thing to do now? Go to bed I suppose.

A strong urge suddenly washes over me to snoop around and explore, but I hold myself back. I'm pretty sure that I would be better off not knowing the secrets of a house belonging to a succubus. Especially if I'm sleeping in it. Instead I head straight up the stairs and into the bathroom to brush my teeth.

...

Having brushed my teeth and laying in bed I stare up at the dark ceiling unable to relax.

I sigh. Falling asleep feels hopeless, I am too overstimulated. And the fact that I know that certainly isn't helping. With another deep breath and a grunt I sit up and swing my legs out of bed.

Fine. I'll snoop a bit. Just a little bit. Just this room. I mean explore. It doesn't really count as snooping if it is just the guest bedroom right?

Ok maybe it does. But I can't sleep, and I am left with the house completely to myself, what did she even expect!? That is like an invitation!

I start by flicking on the lights, and then look around the room more carefully than I had before.

The room is pretty normal, with a standard twin sized bed placed in the far right corner with a nightstand directly to the side of the pillow end, a standing closet in the far left corner, and immediately when you walk in and to the right is a simple wooden dresser.

The room itself is pretty small, but in combination with the furniture and brown color scheme, it feels even smaller.

Since this room is directly below the roof, the ceiling is slanted. While the brown curtains blocks most of the incoming light from the small round window on the far wall, when the lights are off, stray rays from the streetlights below make you able to see.

The hardwood floor is partially covered by a simple woven rug.

I walk towards the first obvious snooping spot and am instantly disappointed. I open the top drawer and find it completely empty as well as the other three drawers.

Not even used as storage? Boring.

Since I have nothing else to do, I check the drawers for double-bottoms, which of course, they don't have. I'm a lost cause aren't I?

Next is the closet, which also turns out to be empty with the exception of a few empty hangers.

C'mon, couldn't there have been at least SOMETHING?.. Not that I want to find anything incriminating, but entertain me please.

I quickly peer under the bed to no avail and sigh unfulfilled.

Fine. Just one more room.

With unnecessarily careful steps I make my way to the door and twist open the knob. Opening the door I flinch at the slight squeak from the non-oiled hinges.

Calm down Hal. It's okay. There is no reason for your heart to beat this quick. Valorie being gone was basically an invitation right? She also told me to make myself at home. She proobably didn't mean it literally, but it's up for interpretation right?.. Right?

The next closest door is the one to Inesa's room. 

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A/N

Have fun with my "authors essay"! ;P

Hey everyone! It's been a while since my last a/n, but I thought that it's about time. 

First off, I wanna just get off my chest how excited about this journey I am. Nearly nine months ago I started writing this book, and after just a few chapters I put TSP on hold to focus on my other book "The Witch's Relay", but after seeing the numbers and engagement go up I couldn't NOT write here. 

While I do have a couple visions for how this book might go from hereon out, due to my writing style, the plot is prone to take sharp turns here and there. It is very easy as the writer to fill in chapters with mostly filler, giving you as readers a pretty long wait between "actions scenes", which I apologize for, but I do have a question to you dear readers. 

How do you guys feel about time skips? 

As you know, Hal will soon be leaving on a class trip for the greater part of a week (much to Inesa's expense) would you guys like me to focus more on the character development between Hal and his classmates, or pretty much time skip to being back? 

Ofc I will give a brief "debrief", but I'm thinking of mostly just fast forwarding to the "more" interesting bits. 

I'd love to me know!

And don't be afraid to give a vote or a follow, I see every one and they make me super happy. ;)