Succubus Misfortunes

Chapter 2

2.

The street is nice, I mused to myself, while calmly approaching the set of blocks I was seeing. After a thorough search of a couple of days worth, I came up with some alluring options of houses I would be interested in. They all stood in the middle of town because for some indisputable reason I wasn’t fond of the suburbs and their ways of life. It just seemed too homogeneous for me. And after some time of existence you would start craving innovation as well.

I had been visiting the apartments I selected since yesterday and still wasn’t completely sold on any. This was the last one on my list. I stopped at the entrance of the building and noted that it wasn’t very big. In fact, it was a set of individual apartments, compacted and close to each other. It wasn’t very modern, the façade was old and the stony walls had seen better days, yet somehow it oozed a comfortable, familiar vibe that I’d prefer to any ultra-conceptual condo I might find.  

I glanced down at my watch, I was early by fifteen minutes, but I had been lying around the hotel’s suite for far too long. I knew the landlord would only appear at five p.m. sharp so I set about examining the perimeters. The neighborhood wasn’t overly populated which was just fine with me. I wasn’t keen on sharing my lifestyle with a lot of prying eyes.

I noted with satisfaction that by the end of the street, just before the corner, stood a small café that looked rather cozy and appealing. I was somehow addicted to caffeine so that seemed like the perfect set-out.

After a while of analyzing the details I heard a car approach. Glancing back I noticed it was a truck and it stopped just before the building. The man parked the vehicle carefully and stepped out of it hastily. It wasn’t five p.m. just yet, but it was close enough.

The guy stiffened when he saw me on the sidewalk lazily leaned against a wall, curiously observing him. If he was caught on surprise because he sensed that I was some supernatural being I couldn’t know, but it shocked the hell out of me too, finding out that my possible landlord wasn’t merely human either.

I was just better at masking my emotions than him.

The man came to me, cautiously stepping forward, as if making sure I wouldn’t bolt or anything. I straightened up but otherwise stood put, allowing his confidence to grow by itself. I took the chance to watch his appearance. He wasn’t bad-looking. Quite on the contraire, he was somewhat cute in a manly way – or at least as cute as a grown man can be – and though he wasn’t much taller than me, his physique was clearly well-built. There was a day’s worth stubble on his face and his hair was a mess of darkish strands.

Finally he stood next to me. “Hi there,” He drawled, rubbing his palms on his warned jeans. “I’m Jack Clade.”

Jack extended me his hand and I didn’t miss a beat, shaking it firmly. “Aurelia Drusilla.”

“So, you’re here to see the house?”

“Yes. I’m new in town but I’ll be staying for while, figured I might get a place of my own in the meantime. Are you from around?” Producing a conversational ambience wasn’t hard for me. In fact my succubus nature implied just that, so I was glad to see that the wrinkles of concern around Jack’s eyes were slowly giving away to smiley ones.

“No, I’m from a small town nearby. I have a business there so it didn’t make any sense to live elsewhere.”

“Seems reasonable,” I agreed with a dazzlingly smile. “And what do you do for a living?”

His hand flew to the back of his head, scratching it absently. “I own a diner – Clade’s. I know that’s not a very original name but, um, it made sense at the moment.”