Tails of Actual Succubi

December 5th, fourth full day at Aluminum Pigeon Penitentiary…

As Merry exited the canteen, she briefly looked around to see if anybody else was willing to step up to help the girl, but nobody did. In fact, none of the other prisoners even looked up from their food. Much like Merry, everyone else had unanimously decided that this wasn’t their problem either. Merry sighed, staring back to the crying girl, whose skirt was now being held up high as the two bullies pointed and laughed at her.

“Fine,” Merry said, as she turned around and started to walk towards the ongoing contretemps. “If no-one else is going to help her, then I guess I have no choice…?”

As Merry got closer to the kerfuffle, she realized that she had seen this woman before – December 3rd, she was the glasses-wearing, black-haired girl that Merry had bumped into after freeing herself from Colleen’s makeshift bondage. From Merry’s (admittedly brief) interaction with her, the other girl had seemed nice enough, making it seem odd that someone would want to pick on her.

“I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised,” Merry muttered to herself. “This is a prison after all. The people inside this place aren’t exactly model citizens…”

Just then, Merry stopped in place. She was about 5 feet away from the quarrel, when a realization suddenly entered her mind. How on Earth am I supposed to stop those guys from harassing her‽ she thought. Sure, I could easily kill them with my tail, but I’m not a murderer! Is there any other way that I could possibly take down two burly men by myself‽

Chapter 8: Tails of Actual Succubi

As she began pondering her plan of action, another figure starting approaching the scene – A tall, muscular prisoner with bright blond hair. He briefly scanned the surrounding area, before fixing his eyes on Merry and shooting her a death-stare.

“I’ll handle this,” he spoke in a gruff whisper. “Now get out of here…”

Merry had no idea who this man was, where he had come from or what his intentions were, but what other choice did she have? Someone of his build could probably take down two bullies by himself, or at least had a better chance of doing so than Merry theoretically would have. As she once again began walking away from the canteen, Merry heard an unzipping sound behind her. Looking over her shoulder, Merry saw the blond man removing his Aluminum Pigeon uniform pants.

Nope, not even gonna question it, Merry thought, shaking her head as she slowly absconded from the room. Just then she heard another sound.

THUD! THUD!

Merry froze in place. She couldn’t tell what, but something made her feel uneasy. After hearing two distinct ‘thud’ sounds, the commotion between the two bullies and the bespectacled girl –the laughing and jeering, the girl’s pitiful pleas– had all completely stopped.

“Thanks for the help, CJ,” the black-haired girl whispered to her savior, now holding her wooden horse again.

“No problem,” the blond-haired man who was apparently named CJ replied, lowering his voice. “…Do you think anybody saw it?”

“No-one was looking,” the girl seemed to assure him. “Now hurry up and pull your pants back up!”

Merry once again heard the noise of a zipper. She discreetly turned her head around to see the two bullies lying on the canteen floor, a red liquid oozing from their lifeless bodies. Her mind flashed back to the events of one particular morning, images of Colleen’s corpse bombarding her mind. As the man pulled his trousers up, Merry had spotted something long, black and thin inserted into one of the pant legs. There was no doubt in Merry’s mind – That man had to be a fellow succubus. Suddenly, CJ looked over at her, his and Merry’s eyes locking.

“Hey, what are you looking at? Didn’t I tell you to get outta here‽”

Merry nodded nervously before hastily exiting the canteen.

***

Merry had returned to her cell. Before bolting out through the canteen door, she had made sure to make a mental note of the number displayed above the left pec of CJ’s prison shirt – 180. Every prisoner had a number written on their shirt, corresponding to their cell number. Merry wasn’t really sure what –if anything– she gained from knowing the man’s cell number, but it might come in handy should she ever require someone to help her escape from a tricky situation.

“Another succubus?” Anesidora asked, sitting cross-legged on Colleen’s vacant bed. “Are you sure you weren’t just imagining things, Merry?”

“He killed two people with his tail, I’m sure of it!”

Anesidora sighed, sprawling her body out across the length of the bed. “…So, Troy is already here?”

“Troy?” Merry asked.

“You see, Merry, the reason why I gave you that tail,” the catgirl began, “was because I need your help to defeat him.”

Merry raised an eyebrow. “But why me specifically?”

“You were the first person to free me from my prison. In exchange, I am forever indebted to you.”

“That Christmas present was addressed to me though. Wouldn’t that imply that you had always intended for me to be the one to open it? What makes me so special?”

“Merry, Merry, Merry,” Anesidora tutted. “I had addressed that present to thousands of people before you, and I was prepared to address it to thousands after you. You humans will always try to find proof in the universe that you are special –some kind of ‘chosen one’– but the truth is, you’re a nobody. A nobody who just-so-happened to find a somebody trapped inside a paranormal prison.”

“Oh,” Merry replied bluntly. She hadn’t really thought about it like that, yet she still somehow felt dejected by Anesidora’s remark. There was nothing special about her. Witnessing a murder, being wrongfully imprisoned, having a chance encounter with a 6-foot-tall catlike demon clad in leather, Merry was nothing more than a perfectly average girl who was a victim of circumstance.

“Anyway,” Anesidora annunciated. “Like myself, Troy is a succubus. Not including humans like you who have been gifted with succubus powers, Troy and I are the last remaining succubi in existence. If another human in this penitentiary has gained succubus powers, then that proves my assumption correct – Troy has come to the human world.”

“Is that… a bad thing?” Merry questioned.

“Merry, Merry, Merry,” the catgirl huffed, standing up abruptly. “Unalike myself, Troy is a malicious demon. He cares not for the people of this world, and will turn as many people into succubi as he so desires. Once he has turned a substantial amount of people into succubi to repopulate our race, he’ll get his new brethren to slaughter any remaining humans who choose to oppose him. That is why I wanted to be free from my prison and recruit the aid of a human aide.”

“But if you’ve got succubus powers, why do you need my help?”

“Merry,” Anesidora stated, placing her large paws on the other girl’s shoulders. “If Troy saw a giant 6-foot-tall catgirl coming towards him, he’d immediately run for the hills. But a human like you? You’re the perfect assassin – Plain, pathetic and incredibly inconspicuous.”

“You want me to kill Troy?” the prisoner frowned. “I… can’t do that. I don’t want to kill anyone else, not again.”

Anesidora facepalmed, throwing herself back onto the bed. “Listen, Merry, the fate of humanity rests in your painfully average hands. And besides, if you do this for me…” Anesidora smirked, leering at Merry. “If you do this for me, I’ll remove your succubus tail and restore your humanity.”

Merry’s eyes lit up. Anesidora would turn her back into a human if she managed to kill the demon Troy? All of her fears of standing out would be gone and she could go back to living a normal life, sans the fact that she was imprisoned in Aluminum Pigeon.

“If I get rid of this evil succubus, you’ll turn me back into a human girl?” Merry inquired.

“You have my word,” Anesidora beamed.

“Alright then,” Merry smiled, puffing out her chest. “Tomorrow morning, I’m gonna pay CJ a visit…”