Jim rode up to his shack that night feeling shattered and glad to be home. He was slumped over his Outrider as it trotted up to the small stable attached to the side of his shack.
The Outrider knew the routine, and stopped just in front of the stable.
Jim dismounted slowly and gently stroked his horse as he led him by the reigns into the stable. "Good boy," Jim encouraged him, thankful that he'd gotten him home. Jim would have gladly gone to bed right that minute but his Outrider needed taking care of.
He led the horse to its feeding box and Jim filled it with horse feed. He then filled up the water trough and began to remove the Outrider's saddle. He hung the saddle and it's accessories onto a rack outside the Outrider's pen. He sighed as he returned to his horse and started to groom him, it was late and he wanted to sleep. Confident the horse was groomed well enough and tended to Jim stroked him and wished him goodnight.
Jim locked the stable door and turned to head into his shack. But, he stopped. He turned back and looked to the saddle bag that now hung on the wall. He stepped forward towards it and placed his hand upon it. He allowed his hand to linger there against the leather, pondering whether he should take its contents inside.
He was distracted as his Outrider neighed across from him and he looked towards him. The beast went back to his business as Jim looked at him. Jim smiled at the simple life his Outrider led and looked back at the bag.
"You're right, Outrider," he spoke to himself although he addressed his horse, "it's just a book." He reached his hand into the bag and pulled out the book Nova had recommended to him.
The book was plain and rather nondescript; if Jim had seen it on a shelf he would have ignored it entirely. It's cover was a dull brown leather and its title embossed in a worn golden effect: "The Book of Suffering'. The book was old but not ancient and it didn't look overly used. Jim imagined it had sat on the shelf for years; he wouldn't think there would be much demand for such a book on Mar Sara.
He hadn't opened the book yet. He wasn't sure he was even going to. He'd gotten the book on a whim after his investigation into Nova had not gone well.
After visiting the diner in the morning he had gone to his office and looked through the Mar Sara files for anyone matching her description. He'd contacted Joey Ray for more of her details although they both doubted their validity. He'd drew a blank on finding anything about her so he'd searched further afield. Blonde nineteen year olds were common enough but he was interested in those reported missing.
He'd spent almost two hours trying to find her when he got a hit. Surprisingly she hadn't lied about her first name. Well, mostly. November, a strange name but one that could commonly be shortened to Nova. He had almost kicked himself that he'd wasted two hours when he could have done a search for her name and the computer would have found her. He really was not his usual self lately.
Jim was not pleased to find that Joey Ray's initial concerns that Nova was on the run were compounded. She appeared to be wanted on Tarsonis in relation to the death of her fiancé. Although she was not a suspect she was wanted for questioning; the local authorities were keen to know how her fiancé, aged 22, had died of old age.
Following that news Jim had rushed to the library and found the book. He'd been sure he was going to open it straight away but something stopped him. He simply held it and checked it out, placing it in his saddle bag and forgot about it. Books wouldn't help him crack this.
He'd returned to Joey Ray's diner but Nova had finished for the day and of course the address she provided was fake. After searching town it was like Nova had completely vanished. And thus Jim had returned home and now here he was with the book that would apparently provide him with answers. He stared at the book as he turned to the entrance of his shack. He walked the few meters to the door and broke his eye contact with the book to open the door.
Once in he kicked off his dirty boots and headed to the kitchen. He placed the book down on the table and sat down in a chair in front if it. He stared at the book, trying to talk himself out of looking at it. His glass from last night was still on the table, unwashed, and he brought it towards him. He picked up the bottle of whiskey and poured about a measure out.
He took a sip of whiskey and placed the glass down slowly, never breaking eye contact with the book. He let the fingers of his left hand drift slowly towards the book and he rested the tips on the cover. His fingers gently tapped at the book, as if they were drumming away his apprehension.
He flicked over the cover with his fingers, exposing a page that had long since discolored showing an ornate drawing of a demon in black ink.
Jim stared at the image; its large form did nothing to strike terror in Jim's heart. To Jim this was all make-believe, left over stories from a distant but simpler time. He turned the page and was greeted with an index. His eyes skimmed over the titles, skipping huge chunks of random names as he did; Archon, Beezlebub, Diablo, Kali, Moloc. Then further down: Succubus.
He suddenly sat up and moved his body forward in interest. Succubus. Page 224. He used his fingers to move a good chunk of the book on, he opened the page and located page numbers on the bottom. Page 154. Not close enough. He turned another chunk. Page 214. Closer. He flicked further on into the book until he found page 224.
He opened the book wide; its weight and age kept the page open and he eyed the right handed page that was 224. On it was simply written 'Succubus' in large black letters.
Jim eyed the letters and took a sip of his whiskey. He wasn't sure what to expect. Obviously he knew enough about succubi to dream about one, probably picked up from some book like this he had long since forgotten reading or a movie or something.
As he turned the title page he was instantly greeted with an image of what he had dreamed. Her wings, her hair, her long ears, her horns, her claws, her clothes matched the image perfectly. He felt his jaw drop and he quickly closed it, taking a gulp of air as he did. The image matched her exactly except her face. His succubus was far more beautiful. He must have seen this book or picture before. He must have else how could it have matched her so precisely?
There were paragraphs around the picture explaining about the succubus. Be began to read the words carefully. A lot of it he knew; a beautiful demon who visited at night, fed upon souls, but then something new he did not know: 'During the day the demon wears a human face. She may hunt down her target, she may toy with him, and she may not even know she is a succubus.'
Something struck Jim suddenly. Nova. It's funny these dreams appeared when she did, it's funny she turned up at the place he frequents, it's funny how she told him about all of this. Nova. Could she be his succubus?
Jim suddenly started to laugh. She had him convinced that all of this was real. There was no way any of this could be real. Jim was not a simpleton, he believed in science not old tales of the supernatural. These were dreams, nothing more.
He closed the book, pushed it away and shook his head. He couldn't believe he had thought it was real for a minute. He drained the last of his whiskey from his glass and placed it down beside the book. He cursed himself for having fallen for the trick Joey Ray was obviously playing on him.
Jim was determined to put this behind him and headed for his bed. He knew he had to get over this succubus thing, he willed himself that tonight he would have sweet, fluffy dreams about puppy dogs and candy floss. He'd admit to Joey Ray and Nova that they'd gotten him good and they'd all laugh about it.
It wasn't long after that before he was tucking down into bed and drifting off to sleep. It wasn't long before he woke up to her again.
"Hello, my love," her voice oozed seduction as she appeared naked before him. Her panties hung from her long taloned finger and she dropped them to join her top on the floor and she smirked.
Jim was glad to see her. Screw puppy dogs. Screw candy floss. He wanted her. He threw his bed sheets off the bed, offering his own nakedness to her.
She looked down at his body and approved. She straddled him and began to stroke his face and hair with both of her hands.
He liked her being attentive like this. He placed his hands onto her hips and then slid them down to her butt cheeks, holding them firmly in his hands.
That felt good. She stared into his eyes and moved one of her hands to her breast. She held it firmly and offered her erect nipple to him.
He welcomed it and extended his tongue to lick it before he took the entire bud into his mouth.
She threw her head back and groaned; he toyed with her nipple and she liked it.
It wasn't too long before they began to make love. He was a generous lover and in return she gave him passion that no human could.
As she approached orgasm she raked her claws down his back and he winced for a moment, he was sure she had broken skin but he didn't care. She was glorify epitomized and he soon came.
The following morning Jim awoke in bed as usual, the light burning through his closed eyelids. He reluctantly opened his eyes to the light and wondered how it could be morning already. He began to push himself off the bed when he felt a sharp strining pain down his back. He winced, wondering what it was.
He went to the bathroom and looked at his back in the mirror. He noted deep red lines down his back caked in dry blood. His mind shot back to the previous night. The woman in his dreams had drawn her nails down his back. But that was a dream. Dreams couldn't do this. It was then that Jim really knew this was actually happening.