Chapter 01

Six bottles of habanero hot sauce.

Six pounds of crushed chili peppers.

Six pounds of sliced jalapeño peppers.

Six tubes of wasabi paste.

Six tubs of mayonnaise.

Finally, one teaspoon of finely grounded pepper x.

“I don’t understand how that last ingredient is just one while the rest are in quantities of six”, I commented.

“Leave me alone! That last one was the hardest to find!” my counterpart, a short girl with shoulder-length curly hair wearing large swimming goggles, replied.

“I also don’t understand why they are in quantities of six.”

“I just pressed one time too many when I ordered them online! Now shut up and get the ice!”

“Yes, ma’am”, I monotonously replied. Although, I do wonder how she made the same mistake five times and didn’t notice.

I didn’t have to go far for what she asked as the cooler containing her request was already beside my feet. What she wanted wasn’t the cooler itself nor the contents, though. The cursed concoction she was currently mixing still needs to be blended together before we add the ice else it might melt earlier than we wanted to.

We needed the ice unmelted.

What she wanted was for me to scoop the contents of the ice cooler and transfer them into a one gallon bucket.

“Still, I wonder why you want to do this ice bucket challenge”, I said to make small talk. “I mean, is it even still a thing? If I recall correctly, you’d have to be called out or something to do this.”

“I’m not doing this because someone told me to”, she answered. “I’m doing this because I wanna become viral.”

“Would you even go viral for copying a trend that’s from what, a decade ago?”

“That’s why I’m mixing this stuff so we could give it a little twist!” she replied.

“But, is that even safe? That ungodly amount of peppers won’t burn your skin or anything?”

“It’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

“It might get into your eyes, too.”

“That’s why I’m wearing goggles!”

“It might get in your nose or ears, too.”

“Just trust me on this, okay?”

“If you say so”, I said as I topped off the bucket I had with ice cubes.

But, her assurances didn’t really relieve me of my worries about the stunt. Not that I didn’t trust her…

Okay, I lied. I didn’t really trust her judgment on this one as she had a tendency to not think things through, and I recognize this is one of those moments.

“Still, I think we should test it first and see if you’ll get any reaction”, I added.

“Just shut up, okay? Nothing bad is going to happen!” She stubbornly stood her ground. “This is almost ready, come over here with your bucket.”

“Oh, but first make sure my phone is still recording”, she added as an afterthought.

I looked at her phone which was attached to a tripod placed on top of the edge of a plastic picnic table.

“It’s still recording”, I said.

We had set it up beforehand since we wanted to include the processing of the thing being mixed into the ice bucket.

“Batteries?”

“Still more than half”, I replied as I made the short trip to her side at the center of the backyard. “That should be enough for a quick video.”

“We’re good to go then”, she said, looking pleased at the concoction she made.

I took a peek at the bowl she was working on and there was bubbly red goo inside it. There’s even steam coming out of it… or is it white smoke?

“Wait, you didn’t put boiling lava in it, did you?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“Huuuhhhh?” she reacted with a contorted face, not hiding that she thinks I made a stupid question. “Of course, I didn’t. Where would I even get that in the first place? It's not even sold online.”

“Then, did you add boiling water or some other liquid?”

“No”, she answered firmly. “Why do you ask?

“No reason”, I replied. Although, the more I look at it, the more it’s concerning to me, so I also said, “Are you sure you don’t want to test that first?”

“I’m sure, now come closer so I can pour this thing into your bucket.”

I silently complied with her order and stood beside her without blocking her smartphone's view with my back. All the while trying to feel which pocket I put my smartphone in in case I need to grab it and call the emergency number.

As soon as she poured the red goo into my bucket, the mixture started making some sort of sizzling sound as the steam thickened. It also seemed like the ice started to melt quickly.

We both panicked at the sight of it.

“Hurry, pour that on me before all the ice melts!” she said.

“You have to call out somebody first!” I answered instinctively. Part of the script was to call out a challenge to three of our friends.

“Just hurry! We can only afford one take!”

A quarter of the ice has already melted and I recognized there wasn’t enough time to argue.

So, I poured the bucket over her, showering her with red liquid and ice cubes.

As soon as I did, white smoke immediately covered the entire backyard as if a bomb had exploded. But, there was only a muted “poof” instead of a loud “bang”, so I wasn’t sure what caused it.

Visibility was so poor that I couldn’t even see my hand raised in front of my face, let alone the girl beside me or the late morning sun which was just shining above us.

“Lily?” I called out to her, but there was no response.

I didn’t have a chance to try again as someone tackled and pinned me to the ground.

My attacker sat on top of me as I lay on my back, trapping me with their body.

I tried sitting up so I could retaliate but they pushed me to the ground. What surprised me is that I could barely feel the entire weight of their body. I’m a college guy with a regular build, and it felt like I could easily throw the attacker off of me. But, the force to keep me on the floor seemed like the weight of a refrigerator was placed on my chest.

“Hungry”, a girl’s voice coming from above me said. “So… hungry…”

“Lily, is that you?” It was her voice I heard.

I relaxed a bit, thinking she may have just bumped into me during the confusion. But, I probably should have given more thought to what she was saying.

Next thing I knew, my mouth had been cupped by something. At first, I thought it was her hand, but I still felt both of them on my chest. It was soft, wet and tasted of cherry.

I realized Lily was kissing me.

At first, it was quick pecking. Eventually, it led to deep kisses, sliding her tongue inside of my mouth searching and intertwining with mine.

She alternated between light and deep kisses quickly and aggressively.

“Mmm, mmm”, I could hear her voice on each breath.

It didn’t feel passionate or romantic, however. As she slobbered the inside of my mouth, nibbled on my tongue, and sucked the air out of my lungs, it felt like a predator taking a taste out of me.

I tried to struggle, but each kiss (if you can call it that) drained the strength out of me. It was suffocating that I thought I was going to pass out and die.

Thankfully, she stopped.

The smoke was beginning to dissipate and I could slowly see the image of Lily on top of me.

Except, she had goat horns on her head.

Her hair turned jet black and grew long down to her waist, perhaps even longer.

Tattered black bat wings appeared behind her.

And, her eyes glowed blood red.

“Delicious”, she said, baring fangs that were not there before, as she licked her lips with her tongue which had split in the middle like a snake’s.

I blinked again to see if I wasn’t seeing things, but the smoke had mostly cleared as the sun shone over Lily in her usual self. Her blouse unbuttoned at the top and disheveled, revealing the strap of her bra on the left shoulder. Her goggles hang crookedly on her neck.

“W-w-what happened? W-w-w-w-w-what were we doing just now?” She asked as she fixed her top and her face flushed red out of embarrassment.

I could probably chalk what happened to an illusion. But, there were a couple things keeping me from disbelieving what happened during that brief moment we were engulfed in smoke.

Lily’s hair remained long even if it reverted to its original color. And, her eyes didn’t turn back as her irises were deep red.