NOVEL NEXT Ch 13 – It’s important to spend time and bond with your roommates, or at least, to hang awkwardly around them.
I’d known that the library would be a long shot, though part of me had still hoped to find even the smallest clue toward reversing this curse. Instead, all I’d done was confirm my inability to use magic, at least in its more typical forms.
Part of me wanted to give in, to just accept that my goal of transforming back was hopeless. But I couldn’t. Not yet.
Gulping, I stared up at the door to the girls dorm, attempting to work up the nerve to enter. It should have been a simple matter. I merely needed to walk up the stone steps, push through the large white doors, and I’d be inside. Yet somehow, I struggled to work up the nerve.
I was not avoiding Lilis. The idea was… absurd. This was merely a reluctance to enter the women’s dorm—a perfectly natural instinct, given that I was a man at heart. My foot stepped toward the door, only to once more hesitate.
I hated the situation that the provost had forced me into. Under normal circumstances, I’d at least have my weapons and protective talismans. Now I was expected to rely on Lilis—to just walk back into the room and ask her to assist me? I grumbled at the absurdity of it.
Thus instead of entering, I squirmed awkwardly outside, the cool breeze blowing over my skin as I squeezed my cape further around me. Staring down at the ground, my thoughts once again drifted.
Using my own mana to perform the more evocative forms of magic might be off the table—for now—but there were ways around that. Runic magic was what I was most practiced with regardless, and required no mana from myself, so long as I had another source. It was also the most likely means of transforming back. Demonic summoning was itself a form of runic magic, if an ancient and corrupted form of it. The issue would be getting the needed mana crystals; then finding the necessary sigils and their runic parts. Easier said than done, of course.
As much as I hated it, I would need the assistance of others. I knew little to nothing about transformative and demonic sigils in particular. And unfortunately, the best sources of information on the latter were likely Professor Kheln and Melkar: the professor for his gathered knowledge and experience, and Melkar for his resources as the scion of the Kheln family.
Not that Melkar could be trusted as a source.
If the school had a professor to teach runic magic, they would have been ideal. General runic magic was of course even less practiced and perhaps more secretive than demonology. I’d heard that more reputable schools in the kingdom used and taught a number of protective sigils, but that seemed to be the extent of people’s wider knowledge.
My father was, of course, completely off the table.
“Hey, move out of the way, stupid demon,” someone growled from behind. A shoulder shoved me, and I stumbled to the side. A tall, muscular woman with braided red hair moved past me with an annoyed glare. My eyes caught the scar across her nose on an otherwise quite pretty face. “You’re blocking the way in. Go wait for your master somewhere else,” the woman said.
“S-sorry,” I spluttered, wincing at just how pathetic I sounded.
The redhead scowled once again before turning away and continuing onward. She had to be two heads taller than me, I realized as I stared back. One of the upperclassmen, I was certain. The lady strode forward into the building with a confidence that I was used to putting forth myself.
I shook my head. Why was I wasting time out here like this? Was I really so weak that I’d become paralyzed in the face of a building full of students?
I clenched my jaw, hopping up the steps in a single stride, and caught the door just before it swung shut. As I entered the now familiar hall, I kept my head held high. Demonic transformation or not, I still had my pride.
The halls were even fuller now, though at least this time, I wasn’t entering completely naked. As I turned the corner, the muscular, redheaded woman rounded to face me. She strode in my direction, quickly approaching, only to loom over me with another scowl.
“Are you following me?” she asked with a surprisingly calm tone.
I shook my head.
“I’m not,” I said as firmly as I could, given my unfamiliar, high-pitched voice.
Though I could see how she’d thought as much. I had, in a sense, followed her in and then turned down the same hall. Were our situations flipped, I’d have thought much the same. I had to play this carefully.
I met her hazel-colored eyes, only to realize she wasn’t entirely human. Her pupils were slitted, much like a cat’s. There were a few families with more animalistic traits like that. My father called them beasts.
“I don’t know what you’ve heard of me, demon, but I don’t in fact sleep with any girl who shows up at my door.”
What? My lips parted, but for once, I hadn’t the slightest clue what to say.
Behind me, I heard a girl whispering about a “lost puppy.” My right eye twitched.
“I’m not following you,” I insisted.
She scoffed. “I’m sure. Look, I get it. A cute thing like you probably has a lot of needs to be met.” Her eyes trailed over me and a shiver rolled up my form. “But you gotta talk to a lady before just following her to her room. I don’t know how things work for succubi over in your realm, but here, we require at least a minimum amount of communication and agreement.”
“I-I’m not… This is…” I stuttered. She didn’t know? Had she not heard the rumors?
The girls standing in the hall behind us chuckled.
“What’s your name, cute stuff?” Her eyes met mine, and I squirmed.
A growing heat was building inside me, and my fangs began to ache. Worse, I didn’t have a clue what to say to get out of this.
Instead of answering, I just shook my head. It wasn’t as though I had a name to give her. Too nervous to meet her eyes again, I stared at the long scar on her nose.
I wanted to run, but something kept me frozen in place. What was wrong with me? Did I… did I want this?!
Her lips curled up into a smirk. “You know, I think your shyness is actually starting to win me over.”
Oh no.
She stepped to my side, an arm sliding around my back. As she began pulling me forward down the hall, I let out the most embarrassing squeak of my life. A number of girls stared openly, and I thought I would die on the spot. My tail squeezed around my leg, like a reflection of my growing nerves. My hands gripped the fabric of my skirt.
“Name’s Phaori,” the tall and much-too-hot-for-my-own-good redhead said.
I let out a gulp. The door to Lilis’s room was coming closer, but so were the stairs down.
And the stairs were first.
Phaori slowed, and my body seemed to take it as the incentive I needed to bolt. My legs near-vaulted towards the room, as I hurriedly spluttered out a “sorrygottago,” before almost slamming the door open. The familiar forest of plants and books met me. As the door shut behind me, I let out a heavy breath and leaned back against it.
I am never leaving this room again.
Lilis stepped in front of me, arms crossed. “Where in the three realms have you been?”
I stared back, confused. “I—what?”
She sighed. “You’ve been gone for most of the day. The meeting with the provost lasted barely an hour. I know, given the arcwrit letter that showed up after.”
“I went to the library,” I replied with a scowl. “What’s it matter to you?”
“It matters because of the rather strongly worded letter I received earlier.”
With a flash of magic, the arcwrit appeared in her hand. Stepping in front of me, she shoved it into my face. My eyes scanned over the magic-imbued letters, getting a general idea of its contents. I didn’t like what I saw. Though it wasn’t unexpected, at least.
The provost had in fact tasked her with keeping a closer eye on me, as well as providing me with the books, clothes, and other such things I would need for classes.
Before I could finish, she pulled it away, releasing it. The arcwrit rolled up, and with a gentle flash of light, once more disappeared from view.
“I don’t see how this affects me at all,” I said with a pompous shrug. “You’ll just have to follow me around, I suppose.”
She glowered. “I think not.”
“Besides, I don’t know how he expects us to be constantly together. It’s not as if we’ll be in the same classes,” I argued, knowing that I needed to take control of the conversation and downplay things if I was to get what I wanted out of her. “The whole thing is ridiculous.”
“That won’t be a problem, actually,” she said, and I raised a brow. “The provost has switched your schedule to reflect mine.”
“He did what?” I growled. My tail flicked furiously behind me. That bastard!
“You can try and fight him on it if you’d like. Though I’m sure we both know it won’t do you any good. He doesn’t seem the type of man to change his mind easily.”
This was getting further and further out of hand. “Perhaps I will.”
She sighed. “We’re going to have to work together if we want to get through this. I don’t know if there’s a way for you to change back. But for the moment, you’re stuck like this and we’re stuck together. That means you can’t just keep being a stubborn contrarian about everything,” she scolded.
My eyes narrowed. This had gone on for long enough. I may not have access to my magic, but I was still rather skilled in hand-to-hand combat. It was time I properly reestablished who was in charge here.
I stepped forward, preparing to lay the impudent woman on her back. Lilis’s eyes began to narrow. Before she had time to react, I struck. My foot shifted into position and—
Something snagged my ankle, wrapping around it. In a blink, my right leg soared up toward the ceiling, dragging me into the air.
My eyes met an ‘upside-down’ Lilis as my body slowly rotated to face her.
Damn it.
“I had a feeling something like this would happen,” she said, arms once again crossed.
“P-put me down!” I spluttered out.
My eyes glanced up at the magical rope wrapped around my leg. Had she planned this? I wiggled in place, swinging slightly in an effort to pull myself loose. The upside-down room began to spin as I twirled in circles.
“You did this to yourself,” she insisted. My annoying roommate let me spin for a long moment before her hand caught my shoulder, stopping me. “Behave, would you?”
A wave of dizziness hit me, and suddenly there were two Lilis’s standing in front of me rather than one. That didn’t stop me from swinging an arm at her.
She stepped back and failed to hold in a laugh. “The panties look good on you, by the way.”
My cheeks flushed with warmth as I followed her gaze, realizing that my skirt had flipped up—or rather—down. I grabbed onto the fabric, pulling it in a poor attempt at fixing it.
“Though perhaps I should have given you something other than white,” Lilis continued. “It’s much too easy to tell how wet you are.”
“I—I am not—” I growled back, unable to say the words.
“While I’ve got you hanging here, we should establish a few rules.” My eyes narrowed, and she held up an index finger, “First: you’re not to go anywhere without me. The provost is probably right on this point, more so than I’d originally realized. If you don’t have someone watching over you, you’re going to end up in trouble.”
“I can look out for myself,” I hissed back at the Lilis that I hoped was the real one.
She looked distinctly unimpressed. “From what I’ve read today, most, if not all succubi are unable to cast magic. And given your current predicament, that appears to hold true. You shouldn’t be having any trouble getting out of that spell otherwise. Plus, even if you could still cast, there are too many students who might target you now. Whether you want to admit it or not, you need my help.”
She really has books on succubi? No, no, that wasn’t what was important right now. A growl slipped from my throat and Lilis stared me down. Something about her piercing gaze made me fidget. As much as I wanted to argue the point, I knew she was at least somewhat right. For the moment, I was terribly vulnerable. And not just because I was hanging from the ceiling.
“Second,” she continued, another finger raised, “If you’re in need of something, I expect you to tell me. I’ve not exactly taken care of a demon before, so I’ve little knowledge on what that might entail. We’ll have to work out a source of blood for you.” At my scowl, she said, “You can’t just drink mine. I’m not an endless blood vat.”
“Fine,” I grumbled. Once again, she had a point. I
did need a reliable source of blood. “We’ll have to speak with the academy healer.” I wasn’t getting help from Melkar, that was for certain.Lilis nodded. “I suspect I will have to add more rules, but those two are what I’ve thought of thus far.”
“Will you let me down now?!” I gestured wildly with one hand while the other continued to awkwardly hold my skirt.
She gave me a flat stare. “I shall. Though if you lunge at me again, you’ll find yourself hanging in the air once more. And next time, I’ll let you stay there a while.”
I glared back. Lilis rolled her eyes. Then, finally, she stepped forward. With a gesture, the spell broke, and I fell. My eyes widened, arms flailing, until something caught me.
I blinked, looking up to find myself in Lilis’s arms.
Continuing my glare, I released a huff. “So, that’s it then? I’m supposed to just accept all this? Accept you ordering me around like some tamed demon?”
Her hard eyes softened. “Gellin—”
“Don’t call me that,” I hissed. “And put me down!”
She sighed, but thankfully helped me to my feet. “What should I call you then?” she asked in a gentle tone.
I stared, thrown off by the unexpected response.
“If you’re going to pretend to just be a normal demon, you’re going to need a name,” she clarified.
“Why would I…” I began, but the answer was already clear. It was likely the safer option.
The fewer people that knew who I truly was, the easier things would probably be for me. I’d already attempted as much with Melkar just a few hours ago. Rumors had already spread, but it was clear that people had wildly different ideas on what the truth was. It would be smart to take advantage of that—if I could find a way to deal with Melkar as well. Simply distracting him wouldn’t be enough. I needed to intimidate him into silence.
“I don’t know anything about demon names,” I muttered. Somehow my tail found its way into my hands.
“I believe a lot of demons take on false names,” Lilis suggested.
“You sure seem to know a lot about demons.” My eyes narrowed into another glare.
“I told you: I’ve been reading. I brought a couple of books on the subject along, in case I ran into issues with any diabolists here,” she said, gesturing vaguely at one of her bookshelves. As I eyed it, trying in a vain attempt to spot which she could be referring to, Lilis continued, “How about Celia?”
“Hmm?”
“For a name,” she clarified.
I met her gaze, and bit my lip. “No,” I replied, shaking my head.
She hummed. “Flaire?”
I scowled. “No way.”
Then she gave me a look. “Does it really matter what the name is? It’s not like you plan to keep it.”
“Of course it matters!”
For some infuriating reason, her lips curled into a smirk. “Well, why don’t you pick something then?”
My hands squeezed around my tail. This was silly. I should just pick something, right? A few seconds went by before I finally whispered out one that seemed vaguely acceptable. “Ruby.”
Lilis didn’t respond, and at first I thought she hadn’t heard me. “Like the… color?” she asked, and I realized she was staring at the skin along my arms.
I blushed. “L-like the gem! What does it matter?” I quickly spluttered out.
“You just insisted it did.”
The brown-haired girl let out a sigh, before mumbling something under her breath. I was about to step away when she took a step forward and wrapped her arms around me. My body froze. One of her hands brushed the back of my head. As I took in a slight breath, her smell reminded me of our earlier activities. My knees suddenly felt weak.
“That’s a good girl. You did a good job, Ruby.”
A sputtering sound escaped me, quickly turning into a full cough. I pulled out of her grip, taking several steps back. As my face lit aflame, a strange, unfamiliar feeling began to melt my insides.
“What are you doing?!” I managed to squeak out.
“Oh, was that too much maybe?” she said before mumbling under her breath, “I know it said succubi need a lot of positive reinforcement.”
My right eye twitched. Just what nonsense had she been reading?
