A chat with the stranger.

Caleb wanted to bombard her with questions about who she was and what she was doing here but found himself unable to thanks to the strange relaxing paralysis.

The woman seemed to sense this or perhaps even read it from his mind—Caleb was more than aware that many popular renditions of succubi had telepathy—because she replied to the thought almost directly, “The reason you feel so sluggish is because I cast a spell on you. I’ve actually cast several spells on you already, mostly for convenience. You might have noticed how much more intense your ejaculation was just now, and how much more you came than your normally would.”

Well, that was one mystery solved, perhaps the least important one from Caleb’s perspective, though.

“I’d be happy to lift the paralysis on you so we can have a little chat, but you have to promise me you won’t freak out or panic. If you do, it’ll right back to dreamland with you until you’re ready. Sound reasonable?” She propped herself up on her elbow now, allowing him to see a vast valley of cleavage between a pair of large, soft-looking breasts.

“Yes,” Caleb said, sloshing through the word in a clear struggle.

“Do you promise to remain calm, then?”

Caleb didn’t really think he had much choice, “Yes.”

The woman grinned, “Glad to hear it.” With a snap of her fingers accompanied by a strange neon red spark from her digits, the strange supernatural malaise lifted from Caleb’s body. He felt feeling return and he sat up immediately.

“Who are you? What are you? What are you doing in my apartment?” He almost lost his cool but then forcibly calmed himself. Whatever this woman might be she was clearly dangerous if she wanted to be. Like it or not, he was at her mercy at the moment.

“There really is no need to panic,” she replied, “I’m not here to do anything bad. I just gave you a blowjob after all.” She sat up as well, sitting with her legs beneath her in a kneeling position. She was completely naked, the entire canvas of her pale milky skin exposed. She had amazing and almost artistic curves to her frame and her breasts were big and gravity-defying. They were uncovered without a single care in the world, letting Caleb see her large, soft pink nipples without restriction.

When she noticed him staring, she licked her lips and lifted her arms up. At first Caleb thought she was going to cover her delicious-looking melons, instead she crossed her limbs under to push them upward and make them bounce pleasantly.

“My name, for starters, is Emberveth… my friends just call me Ember, but you’re free to call me whatever you like.”

“Uh, I’m Caleb. Caleb Black.”

“Indeed,” she cooed, “I am, as you have rightly guessed, a succubus called from the depths of Hell and bound to you in eternal service.”

There were several things about this sentence that had Caleb momentarily stumped. Firstly, she almost certainly was able to read his mind, since he definitely hadn’t made any conjecture about her being a succubus out loud. Secondly, holy shit Hell was a real place, that was terrifying. And finally, what was that about being bound to him?

As if to solidify Caleb’s theory that she could read his mind, she laughed out loud as though he had voiced his thoughts, “Yes, I can read your thoughts, Hell is real… sort of, and being bound to you basically means I am your loyal servant until the day you die.”

Caleb shook his head, clutching it with a hand, “Uh, okay then, why? How?”

“I will be honest; I don’t know how I came to be so. In order to bring and bind a demon, a ritual needs to be performed. When I arrived here in your apartment, I found no signs of a ritual, nor even any signs of supplies that might be needed for it. All I knew was I was here and bound to you. Which can only mean someone else performed the ritual and for whatever reason bound me to you instead of them.”

“Could it have been a mistake?” Caleb asked.

“I doubt it,” Ember said and then propped herself on one arm, leaning herself to the side and making her breasts wobble pleasantly. Caleb couldn’t help but stare, but she didn’t seem to mind. “Firstly, the ritual requires the blood of the one I would be bound to, and I have a hard time believing they would have accidentally acquired and used your blood for the ritual. Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, by default the ritual is supposed to summon me to the location of the binder. One would actually have to go out of their way to alter it so it would take me anywhere else. No, they knew what they were doing. I don’t know why, but they wanted to give me to you.”

Caleb blinked. Someone gave him a succubus as a gift? His twentieth birthday was a week ago, but this was one hell of a present. A weird one to boot.

“Whatever the reason,” Ember continued, and smiled so enchantingly that it actually managed to pry Caleb’s eyes away from her perfectly round orbs, “I belong to you. And that is what matters.”

“What exactly does that mean?” he asked. The phrase could be interpreted a number of different ways.

Ember responded by pointing to the corner where Caleb kept his computer gaming set up, “See your chair?”

He nodded.

“You own that chair, and because you own it you can do whatever you want with it, right?”

He nodded again.

“I’m like that chair. I’m your possession, you can do whatever you want to or with me.”

“All right, but there’s a pretty glaring difference between you and that chair,” Caleb said, “You’re a living thing. You have thoughts and feelings. This is slavery, isn’t it? What do you want to be?”

Her smile did not falter, in fact she licked her lips in a sultry and inviting manner, “Your girlfriend.”

Her answer was clear, concise, direct, and it completely stunned Caleb, “What?”

“I want to be your girlfriend. And before you ask, no, it’s not a compulsion from the ritual. I am a succubus, I am a master of compulsion so I would know. I genuinely and truly wish to go out with you.”

“Why? We just met, and I’m nothing special,” Caleb replied and meant it, “I’m scrawny, I don’t take good care of myself, I’m a loser and a nerd who’s leeching off my parents’ wealth. I’m not really a catch.” He was genuinely confused about this, and the only sense he could make of it was Stockholm Syndrome, given that it seemed Ember was more or less to be his servant.

As soon as he had this thought, Ember’s grin faded, and her eyes shone darkly, as though Caleb had insulted her just by having it. But then her warm and enchanting smile was back as quickly as it had gone.

“Don’t kid yourself. I’ve been in this apartment for hours now. I’ve seen proof of your imagination and creativity in the countless Lairs & Liches and Wayfinder books on your shelf, as well as the binders and notebooks full of ideas and notes that accompany them. I’ve seen proof of your intellect and compassion in the titles of the books, of both fiction and non-fiction, on your shelf—many of which I have read myself. Not to mention the true romantic in you that many of those stories show me. Moreover, I have seen proof of your diplomacy and critical thinking in the books that you have read but do not display, keeping them in boxes in your storage closet. Their mere existence and wear and tear alone tells me you read even opinions or ideas you do not agree with, just so you can maintain balance in your views.

“Please, Caleb, do not insult me by assuming I am so shallow that I would care about such superficial things as your social standing, your physical appearance, nor even your financial status. Just looking through the place you call home I can tell you are worthy of my affection. If for no other reason than your concern for my own desires above your own, a concern far too few of you humans would consider were they to come across a succubus themselves. Your first thought after I had explained myself was to worry if me being bound to you was slavery.

“I am not asking to be your girlfriend because I want to make my servitude to you more comfortable or bearable. Being bound to a mortal is as normal to me as going to the bathroom when nature calls is to you, and you would be unlikely to consider the need to urinate a cruel fate. It is simply the way it is, and I am biologically inclined to not mind the experience of serving a master. In fact, I enjoy it, so if anything is to blame it is my own nature.”

This long tirade was gentle in spite of its occasional harshness. She did not want to insult Caleb or scare him, and that much was evident.

“But I am not even suggesting the idea of servitude, although you’re more than welcome to treat our relationship as such. I am suggesting that we date. A simple mutual loving relationship. And I don’t suggest this idea because of my nature, I do it because I genuinely like the idea of going out with someone like you.”

“You gleaned all of that from just my apartment?” Caleb asked, unbelieving.

“Well,” she looked away briefly, as though slightly ashamed, “I may have also read your diary. That gave me a pretty good idea, too.”

Caleb blinked, “My diary is on my computer, how did you get in?”

Ember lifted the arm she wasn’t leaning on, and another neon red spark erupted from the tip of her index finger, “Magic. I also took note of your porn, but we can shelf that discussion for later.” She accompanied this latter bit with a not-so-subtle wiggling of her brow.

Caleb felt slightly invaded. But remained open-minded to the situation. She didn’t seem disappointed in any case, so he figured he probably should count his blessings.

“Oh, and I met your absolutely adorable furry little friend too!” Ember practically exclaimed, leaning forward.

“Oh, my ferret? His name is Kepler,” Caleb explained.

Ember gasped, “That is such a cute name, I love it.”

Caleb laughed, feeling the mood immediately lighten, “Yeah he’s the best. Apparently, a great wingman too.”

Ember laughed and he found the sound almost as enchanting as her smile. And then Caleb consciously took note of what she’d done. With complete and totally effortless grace and seamlessness, she managed to lighten the serious mood, just like that.

“But yes, perusing your diary has given me insight into not only how much I want to date you, but also enough insight into why you might think it isn’t such a good idea.”

Caleb hung his head a bit. He knew exactly what she was referring to, and knew it was true.

“Your cute little crushes,” Ember said.

Caleb nodded.

“Tell me about them.”

He decided to lie back down now, resting his head back against the pillow as he spoke, a silly image of being in a therapist’s office popping into his head. He supposed that wasn’t too far off from what this was, the dubious demonic nature of his new friend notwithstanding.

He told her everything about them, everything he knew. The redheaded girl was Abigail and was a friend of his since high school. She was a bookworm and kind of a nerd, but not in as many broad strokes as Caleb. Her interests were more laser-focused on anything to do with the fantasy genre. She was the one who got Caleb into Lairs & Liches in the first place, and she was a fantastic gamemaster when she could manage not to overprepare. Between the two crushes, Caleb had met her first, but he really didn’t have much of an inkling that he liked her until he met Kelly. It was only when he thought about possibly asking Kelly out that he realized that he had feelings for his high school friend as well.

Kelly was one of Abigail’s friends that got introduced to Caleb when he first began going to college. On the broad spectrum of Caleb’s nerdy interests, Kelly largely occupied the opposite end from Abigail. He liked videogames, anime, and was a whiz kid when it came to computers. The two of them almost immediately hit it off and became immediate fast friends. Caleb quickly developed feelings for Kelly, who was male but with an extremely feminine figure. He often accentuated this figure with women’s clothing, which Caleb thought he pulled off better than most women did. However, this had always been a point of contention in Kelly’s family, his father’s side of which were devout Catholics from Puerto Rico.

Ever since Caleb realized how big of a crush he had on both of these two, he could never consider asking one of them out without thinking about the other, and this back and forth had tormented him with indecision for the better part of a year now. Thankfully it hadn’t strained their friendships, as Caleb was pretty good at keeping his feelings to himself, but he didn’t know how much longer he would be able to hold out for. And his sanity wasn’t the only factor, the longer he went without deciding, the more likely one or both of them would be swept up by someone else in their lives.

Even though Caleb knew that the demon must have known all this after reading his diary, it felt good to finally be talking about it to someone out loud. He figured that must have been why Ember asked him to talk about it in the first place.

“They sound like wonderful people, I can see why you fell for them,” Ember said.

Caleb sat up again, crossing his legs on his bed and trying to bundle the blanket up around his naked lower half but failing thanks to Ember weighing it down. His head was lowered while he spoke, unable to make eye contact, “Yeah. So, you’re really pretty, and I honestly wouldn’t mind going out with you, but it frankly wouldn’t be fair to you if I did right now. I don’t think I’d be able to keep my mind away from Abby and Kelly.” And now something much worse was happening in Caleb’s mind when he said this, the tug of war for his attention was suddenly turning into a three-way match.

An impossibly soft hand suddenly got placed over his. His head shot up to find that Ember’s smile hadn’t yet faded, “I understand what you’re going through, I saw the dream you were having, it must have been terrible. That’s why I added my own little addition.”

Caleb blinked, “What do you mean?”

“Among many many other things, a succubus like me can enter or alter the dreams of a sleeping individual. Remember when the background went that pretty shade of scarlet?”

“That was you?”

“Yep. I showed you that for a very good reason. You’re so torn up because you want both of these wonderful people in your life, but there’s an easy solution to your problem. Ever heard of polyamory?”

Caleb’s eyes widened. He felt absolutely stupid, and quickly began to blush when he realized it. he clapped a hand against his forehead. Had he seriously never considered that possibility? In the weeks and weeks he had spent tormented over this predicament, how had the idea of polyamory never occurred to him?

“As a bit of a resident expert on these matters,” Ember began, clearly reading his mind again, “I can tell you with certainty that it tends slips the minds of most people in your culture.”

It truly was the perfect solution to Caleb’s problem. But it had its own glaring issues, “I mean, I feel like I’d be lucky if even one of them was on-board for the idea, what are the odds that both of them would be?”

“Let me answer that by asking you this: you didn’t really know that you’d be okay with the idea until I brought it up, right?”

Caleb supposed that was true.

“Speaking again as the expert on these matters, I can say with confidence that you’d be surprised how many people out there are only monogamous because they think that’s what’s expected of them, or because the idea of polyamory never occurred to them, or the idea seems too far-fetched. Strip away all of those factors and far more people are comfortable with the idea than you’d expect.”

“Do you already know for sure that Abigail and Kelly are okay with it?”

Ember shook her head, “I do not. In fact, the only things I know about them are tied directly to what you think of them, which obviously can be biased. I’d probably be able to figure it out pretty quick if I met them at least once, though.”

Caleb nodded, “Okay, so what you’re suggesting here is that I try and work out a polyamorous relationship with them?”

“That’s right,” Ember nodded.

“And you’re willing to help me with that?”

“If,” Ember began, leaning forward and delicately dragging her fingertips along the shaft of Caleb’s cock, making it twitch, “I get to be the first in the mix.” She looked deep into his eyes, the supernatural scarlet color gleaming with what looked like anticipation. She actually looked excited; Caleb realized. She wasn’t bullshitting him, she genuinely wanted to go out with him.

Caleb had a lot to consider, and he was silent as he thought. This was a surprisingly tough decision. If by chance neither Abigail nor Kelly were interested in polyamory, agreeing to be in a relationship with Ember may close the door on them forever. He could still have one or the other in that case without Ember.

“Let us not forget one very important fact,” Ember said in response to Caleb’s immediate thoughts, “whatever you choose to do with me, I am bound to you, and I do need to be fed. A monogamous relationship with anyone would be made significantly more awkward with me around no matter what.”

“What exactly do you eat?”

“Lust directed at me, but bodily fluids given to me lustfully are more filling.”

“Do you have to be fed by me?” Caleb asked.

“Now that I am bound to you, yes. Granted, there are platonic methods of feeding me, such as allowing me to manipulate your dreams and feeding off the lust within, but I would still need to stay with you through the rest of your life. Eventually, whatever monogamous partner you have will begin to wonder why I am constantly in tow. I know it’s not fair and that you didn’t really ask for this, but unfortunately that’s the way it has to be. The bond we share can only be severed by .”

That was a good point, and she did seem very apologetic about it. But really, now that Caleb thought about it, if either Abigail or Kelly were monogamous he was just right back to square one again. The debate in his mind would rage on with or without Ember. If he decided to accept the succubus as his girlfriend, at the very least he would have a girlfriend.

He had to think about this proposal in hyperbole one way or another. Best case scenario he would have both of his crushes and a literal sex demon in a relationship. Worst case scenario he didn’t have his crushes, but he wouldn’t be single, and at the very least that would mean he’d have an easier time moving on. Caleb suddenly felt really awkward about having such detached thoughts about a person who could literally read them. He hoped they weren’t making Ember out to be a silver medal.

“Don’t worry, thought-reading is a double-edged sword for those who might be easily offended by the honest thoughts of others. I’m not,” Ember replies. “You literally just met me; I’d have to be pretty full of myself to think I would be on the same level as friends you’ve known for years. I’m a lust demon, not a pride demon. Actually, this is exciting, it’s like a romance novel playing out right in front of me.” She clasped both hands together and sighed, blushing slightly.

“You’re a bit of a romantic, huh?” Caleb asked.

“Surprised, given what I am?” Ember grinned. “One might think all succubi to simply be lusty sex-obsessed sluts… and they’d be right. But the important thing is that fact doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy romance. In fact, I find that feeding on lust that has been supplemented with love can be the most filling and delicious,” she licked her lips again, perhaps for emphasis. “The point is, I don’t just want to be any lusty sex-obsessed slut, I want to be a lusty sex-obsessed slut in love.” She giggled.

Caleb found that little tidbit to actually be kind of cute. The idea of a romance-obsessed succubus was kind of adorable to him. Despite actually not being a human, this fact about Ember humanized her in a way that nothing else had up until this point. And now he felt like he could come to a decision.

“You know what, let’s go for it. I’ll be your boyfriend.”

Ember’s sultry eyes actually widened a bit and she squealed happily, bouncing in place a little making her bare breasts wobble delightfully, “Yay! And I will happily be your girlfriend.” She leaned forward and pressed her lips against Caleb’s. The kiss was delicate and sweet at first, but quickly devolved into unabashed horniness as the succubus wormed her tongue into the scrawny man’s mouth and began to lean more and more into it.

Then Caleb’s stomach growled.

They both paused for a moment and then Ember pulled away, giggling uncontrollably. Caleb scratched the back of his head bashfully.

“Sounds like it’s your turn to get yourself fed,” Ember said, “Too bad you’ve got to do it the boring way,” she teased and poked his belly playfully.