Shannon O'Reilly was bullied and everything his older sister wasn't. When his sister Sarah gives him a chance to change things through a single wish things don't go as planned.     I Wish: Book 4 Chapter 7 Interview With A Succubus By Amethyst

I was so happy as I followed Kari and her friends upstairs. The moment we were upstairs and in a hallway leading off to a bunch of rooms Kari told Danica and Lily, “Find out what you can from them, and once I’m done with this one I’ll prepare the potion so they can join our little family.” Kari was definitely the one in charge and it made me so happy that she had chosen me. And she said we were going to join. That meant that I was going to be an Alpha Kappa Phi girl and spend more time with Kari. I couldn’t remember ever being so happy in my life. Sarah and the others were going to be so jealous. Wait, Sarah, she’d sent me… us here, but why?

“Stop fighting it, give in Kiley,” Kari instructed.

I shook my head trying to clear it, something was wrong there was this little nagging voice in my head that kept trying to tell me that, but what could possibly be wrong? I was alone with the girl I loved and she was going to let me join the sisterhood. I tried to relax and Kari smiled at me, making my heart melt. “So my dear Kiley, why don’t you tell me why three Faery who haven’t even gotten their wings yet came to join Alpha Kappa Phi?”

I suddenly felt horrible. She thought I was a Faery, what if she hated me when I told her the truth? And I needed to tell her the truth, I loved her too much to lie to her. “I’m not really a Faery, Kari,” I told her apologetically. “My name isn’t really Kiley, well I guess it sorta is since it’s my middle name, but my real name is Shannon. I have some Faery blood, enough for their glamours to work on me, but I’m really a Witch. I didn’t even know that I wanted to join Alpha Kappa Phi until I met you. We came here hoping to find out where Khinara is.”

She laughed at that, she had the most wonderful laugh I had ever heard, it was like music. “And just what do a witchling and two Fae want with Khinara?” She wore this really intense expression on her face and her eyes narrowed when she said that name. She didn’t like Khinara, but that was okay because I didn’t like her either.

“Oh, she took someone she shouldn’t have and it’s my fault so I’m going to find her and kill her,” I told her with a big smile.

She laughed that amazing laugh again and I felt so pleased that I could make her laugh like that. “You’re going to kill the most powerful Demon from Heil other than the Demon King himself?”

“Yeah, she’s scared of me because she can’t get into my head and she said something about me being possibly the most powerful being that she has ever seen.”

Kari’s eyes widened in surprise, her lips curling into that magnificent smile of hers. I felt a pressure sort of pushing into my brain but then it suddenly stopped and she was staring at me in admiration. Well, I hoped that it was admiration since I really didn’t want to scare her off or anything, I just loved her too much. “I… can’t. Something is protecting your thoughts, you’ve placed some sort of barrier there that I can’t break through. Lower it, Shannon.”

“I’d love to, but I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t put up any barriers, or if I did I have no idea how I did it,” I admitted sadly, feeling terrible that I couldn’t take them down.

‘How could you put up something that powerful and not know how? Are you just naturally that powerful? And Khinara fears you?” At my nod that amazing smile returned. “If you’re this powerful as a mere mortal, how powerful will you be when I’ve used my blood to turn you into one of my own kind? You’ll have the power to kill Khinara and maybe even the Demon King himself and you will be bound to my will.” She shivered in pleasure as she grinned at me. “You’d like that wouldn’t you Shannon, to drink of my blood and become one of us and to serve me? I’ll be the Queen of Heil and you will destroy anyone who dares oppose me.”

Drink of her blood and serve her? There was something very familiar about that and I was trying to remember what it was as she leaned in and kissed me passionately. There was something about an Incubus and another Succubus… wait Kari was a Succubus?” It was getting so hard to focus as her tongue darted around in my mouth and her hand began to caress my breast through my top. My nipples were painfully hard and I was well aware that I was soaking my panties as I reacted to that kiss. Nobody had ever kissed me like this, made me feel like this before.

As Kari pushed me down onto her bed a face flashed through my mind, long silver hair and beautiful green eyes. My heart skipped a beat. Ziralin, she was the one that I really loved. This wasn’t real, something was wrong. No, Kari loved me or we wouldn’t be here doing this and she wouldn’t want me to join her. Kari was atop me reaching to open my blouse when she pulled her hand back as if it had been burned. My breath caught in my throat, had she been hurt? “You’re wearing silver, take it off,” she instructed coldly, looking at my silver pentacle with distaste.

I reached up toward my throat, how could I have left that on? Kari could have been hurt. I couldn’t possibly hurt the one I love. Again the image of the silver-haired girl flashed through my mind. Ziralin. I could feel the pull connecting us, how could this compare to that bond? But Kari was so beautiful and she wanted me and right now my body wanted her so very badly. The image of Ziralin vanished and I found myself looking up into Kari’s eyes as I reached for my pentacle to remove it. She was so beautiful and I felt a sudden uncontrollable urge to reach up and caress her face, to make sure that this was all truly real.

I smiled up at her adoringly and reached up to cup her face in my hands. My ruffled sleeves fell from my hands and as I cupped her face, oh so lovingly, she screamed in agony. The smell of burning flesh and her screams brought me back to reality. The rings of my platinum hand flowers were causing her flesh to sizzle and the stink filled my nostrils as I gripped her head tighter. Normally I’d be against this method of questioning, but since she had just tried to turn me into her personal butt-monkey and was having her minions doing who knows what with Ziralin and Ellie I felt a little less bad about it. Besides I needed answers fast if I was going to help the others. “Where the hell is Khinara you succubitch?!”

“Aiiii!!! I don’t know! She sends her orders through her other servants!”

“Who?!” I pressed.

“I don’t know!” she screamed in agony. “Whoever her favorite servant of the week is! It could be anyone! Someone is supposed to be coming tonight at midnight to check on my recruitment drive!”

“Your drive is over and you’re not going to be here when whoever it is comes calling,” I told her. I drew in magical energy, purifying it as I did so, and then I released that holy magick from my hands, turning her head and the rest of her to ash. I got up from the bed, straightening my clothes as I tried to wipe the ashes off, and tried really hard not to think about what had almost happened. No such luck. “Eww ewww ewwww! Her slimy forked tongue was in my mouth! That taste is never going to go away!”

I shook there, crying on the bed for several minutes trying to get control of myself, and then I threw up. It was like I could still feel her hands on me, her tongue in my mouth, and worse yet how my body had responded. I felt so violated, so dirty, worse yet I felt like I had betrayed Ziralin. The taste of vomit was only a mild improvement to the taste of Kari’s tongue and I had to force myself to shake off the what-ifs and the mental breakdown that I was certain was going to come later. Ziralin and Ellie needed me.

I could feel that my girlfriend was fighting as hard as she could, but she could handle herself if I gave her the right push. I sent my determination and my love for her along our mental link. Not lust, like the Succubi used, but love. Lust is hollow, empty, and temporary there’s no real emotion there but the body’s reactions to desire. Love on the other hand is a torrent of emotions, wild and sometimes conflicting, but real. It’s missing you and worrying about you when you’re gone, contentment and happiness when you’re together. It's grief, pain, loyalty, trust, need, wonder, exhilaration, and sometimes even fury because when you truly love someone you don’t just feel things because of them, you feel things for them too. As I followed the pull of her mind I sent Ziralin all of that and that one more thing. Three little words that I focused all of my thoughts on. “I love you.”

I was almost to the door that I felt her behind when it flew off its hinges and into the wall with a succubus attached. A torrent of arrows or light followed it out, leaving Danica looking like an iridescent pincushion for the brief seconds before she turned to ash. Ziralin stumbled out of the room in her Celestial form, wiping her mouth on her arm and looking as sick to her stomach as I felt. “Thanks, Babe, I needed that.” Her eyes looked me over in concern, as she asked “Are you okay?”

“I’m saving the nervous breakdown for later,” I admitted, looking away guiltily. “Ellie needs us right now. Any idea where she is?”

“Near the end of the hall, or that’s where her scent leads. Did you get anything out of the bitch?”

I nodded grimly. “Someone connected to Khinara should be showing up at midnight, so we’ll wait to see if any Demons or a person with a Brand shows up. Hopefully, they’ll know where Khinara is, or better yet, where Lisa is. Let’s go get Ellie and then figure out our game plan. I think maybe we should call the others and see how they’re doing. They might have more info and if they didn’t get anything… it might be wise to have them back us up. I… I don’t feel so sure if we should handle this on our own right now.”

Ziralin nodded, her bright green eyes filled with understanding. She knew just how I was feeling. We followed Ziralin’s nose to the door in question and finding it locked Ziralin kicked it open. She wasted no time, as soon as the door was open and she caught sight of the succubus trying to tear off Ellie’s clothes she let her arrows fly.

It was a while that we sat there in Lily the Succubus’ bedroom with me holding Ellie while she threw up and through the tears that followed. It wasn’t just Ellie crying, we were all shaken and it was Ziralin who had the presence of mind to check in with the others. Both Jennifer’s and Annie’s phones had gone straight to voicemail though. It wasn’t overly concerning though, after all, they could be in the middle of a fight or on the move. As much as I really wanted my sister at the moment though it looked like we were going to have to handle it ourselves. It was almost midnight anyway so I wasn’t sure if they would have the time to get there before Khinara’s lackey showed up.

It was ten minutes to midnight when we finally collected ourselves enough to replace the glamours that Ziralin and Ellie had dropped during their “intoxication” and straighten up their clothes. That was what we were calling it, I don’t think any of us really wanted to call it what it truly was. I was trying to keep looking confident and unshaken but it was all an act and worse yet I didn’t even know why I was doing it. My emotions were an open book to Ziralin, even those I tried to keep from showing on the outside and it wasn’t like I was going to be able to hide the breakdown that I knew would come later when Ellie and I were alone in our shared bedroom.

Maybe I was doing it because if I could make them believe it, then maybe I could make myself believe it too. I wasn’t really feeling it as we went downstairs and tried to look like we were enjoying ourselves. Selina caught sight of us making our way down the stairs and ambled over. “Hey girls, how’d the interviews go? Are you in? It looked like they really liked you three when you headed upstairs.”

“Oh…. Uhhh… hey Selina. Yeah, they really seemed to want us. They said they’d discuss it amongst themselves and let us know before we leave. They might be up there a while, but it’s looking pretty good.” I tried to smile, but my heart just wasn’t in the perky blonde act anymore. I was having a hard enough time just keeping it together.

“You okay Kiley?” Selina asked in what seemed like genuine concern. “You were so excited before going upstairs with Kari.”

“I’m good,” I said flashing a model smile and trying very hard to look as good as I claimed that I felt. “I’m just, y’know, like, totes nervous now. I think it’s all just catching up with me now.”

“Relax Kiley, they have to at least make it look like they’re considering the other girls too. But I’m pretty sure you girls are a shoo-in. If those three took that kind of interest in you, I’m sure that you’ll be Pledges by tomorrow.” She giggled and gave me a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder. “You girls should sit down and chill for a bit, have a drink, and loosen up.”

In my current state, I was half tempted to give in and take that offered drink, maybe more than one, and I was pretty sure that Ellie and Ziralin were feeling the same. I could sense it in my Familiar’s thoughts and it was written all over Ellie’s face. “Thanks but I can’t, I’m driving and it’s going to be hard enough with all that snow,” Ziralin said after a tense moment.

“Yeah, and I don’t drink. It totes messes up my blood sugar.” I sighed as I gave the made-up excuse. I was tempted but tonight’s bullshit was going to hard enough to deal with without Sarah, Annie, and Talisha killing Ellie and me for under-aged drinking.

Selina gave a sad pouty look. “That sucks, feel free to help yourself to any sodas in the fridge then and get to know some of your future sisters. You said you’re here on volleyball scholarships right? We don’t have anyone else in the sorority on the volleyball team, but if you want to talk sports Bonnie and April over there are on the basketball team.”

The three of us went to grab a soda from the fridge, making sure they were properly sealed, and then went to go talk sports with the pair Selina had indicated, just so she’d feel like she was being a good big sister and helping us fit in. It also served to pass the time and distract us a little. Bonnie and April were trying to convince us to give basketball a try when the doorbell rang.

“I wonder who that is, they’re a bit late if they’re here to Rush,” Bonnie said with a frown.

“Could just be one of the girls ordered some pizzas, you know how these Informationals can get,” April replied with a laugh.

I had a very strong feeling that it was neither pizza nor a new applicant for the sorority. I could feel the Demon Brand from where I was sitting and the Demon who had given the Brand was powerful. It had to be Khinara’s messenger. I gave a slight nod to Ellie and Ziralin and we all stood up,. “Excuse us, we need to go use the ladies, we’ll be back in a few,” Ziralin said as an excuse.

We didn’t really wait for a response as we headed to the door trying to look for the bearer of Khinara’s Brand. When I did see her I stopped short in stunned silence. Ellie and Ziralin, who had been following slammed right into my back. “What’s up Kylie? Ellie asked, keeping the presence of mind to use my alias.

I could barely get the words to leave my mouth. “It’s Lisa.”