Nightwalkers

Prey

Flash shook his head. “This isn’t right.”

“Feels pretty right to me.”

Flash looked up. The darkly beautiful demon that called herself Midnight had shed herself of her clothes and was sitting on his lap on a chair in the middle of the food court, her legs straddling him to dangle to the floor.

“That’s not what I meant.” Flash looked around. The food court was invisible beyond the shadows surrounding them, as though the lights were off and a spotlight focused on them from above. He looked over Midnight’s purple skin, dark purple and pink hair, and shining blue eyes. “Why… why do you look like Twilight?”

Midnight put a finger to her chin and gave a flirtatious giggle. “Maybe I’m just what you wish Twilight would be.”

“No. You’re a demon.” Flash swallowed heavily.

“Aw, don’t be mean.” Midnight spread her arms. The massive black and purple wings withdrew from her back and fanned out into the air behind her. “Think of me more as an angel.” She leaned down and placed kisses along Flash’s bare collar, whispering as she spoke. “A dark, sexy angel that wants her little boytoy to enjoy himself…”

Flash tried to protest but a haze had taken over his mind. Midnight’s words seemed to make sense. This was just a dream, right? There was nothing wrong with dreams or fantasies. Twilight wouldn’t be offended if she knew, right?

“Right.” Flash didn’t question how Midnight responded to his thoughts. “Just sit back and enjoy the dream.” Midnight winked and slid down to her knees in front of the chair.

Flash winced and sighed. “Never thought I’d be one for demon girl porn.”

“Maybe you just like this specific one.”

“I wish it was just you, this would maybe make sense then.”

Midnight paused in the middle of undoing Flash’s belt, and frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Flash, I want to begin by making it clear that you are not in any sort of trouble, okay?” Cadance smiled and clasped her hands over her desk. Flash nodded. “I’ve just been contacted by a number of your instructors who tell me you’re frequently late to class and keep falling asleep when you do show up.” Cadance gave him a sympathetic look. “I know it can be difficult, adjusting to college life. So I thought we could have a little talk and maybe figure out what we can do to help you manage.”

“Um… yeah…” Flash scrunched his face and closed his eyes before continuing. “I’ve just been having trouble sleeping.”

“Do you stay out late?”

“Not really. I mean, on weekends, sure, but I try to be in the dorm by eleven on weekdays. Besides, none of my classes start before ten.”

“But still you sleep in?”

“Yeah. I’ve got four different alarm times on my phone, but I sleep through all of them.” Flash took a moment to yawn before continuing. “I’ve been having some… odd dreams. Maybe that’s the cause?”

Cadance tilted her head. “What sort of dreams?”

Flash blushed. “Personal dreams.”

“Ah.” Cadance thought for a moment. “I could have one of our physical therapists have a look at you, if you’re having, shall we say tactfully, ‘personal’ physical problems.”

“I’m not,” Flash said quickly. “I’m just, you know, having some odd dreams about that stuff.”

“I see.” Cadance pursed her lip. “I must say, though, that doesn’t seem like the sort of thing that would cause prolonged sleep cycles, at least not this long. We’re three weeks into the year. Has this been happening for the whole duration?”

Flash nodded. “Since my first day.”

“Perhaps there is something else at play, then. Have you tried energy drinks or energy shots to give you a bit more pep in the morning?”

“I’ve never needed them before.”

“Well, it can’t hurt to try.” Cadance nodded and spread her hands. “As I said, it can be difficult adjusting to college life. It’s a big campus with many different instructors and facilities spread across it. It’s quite different from high school. But there’s no shame in having trouble making the change. I assure you, I speak to dozens, even hundreds of students every year with similar problems. And I see many of them that choose to give up on themselves and their facility and leave. But I work hard to try and help them so they don’t feel they need to do that. I don’t want you to be one of them, and I can see by the commitments you’re trying to keep that you don’t want to be, either.”

“Thank you.”

“So, try a diet adjustment to start, perhaps energy drinks or energy shots, to give yourself a bit more pep. If this continues, we can always see about accommodating later classes. Many of your instructors post class materials online. If they know you’re having trouble they may be willing to let you miss the class and review the material online. As long as you can keep up with assignments I’m sure they won’t mind.”

“Yeah.” Flash frowned. “But, I’m studying music. Still sucks missing class time since it’s a lot easier to learn that kind of stuff in person.”

“I know. But this doesn’t have to be permanent, just for a week or two.” Cadance reached to a holder on her desk and picked up a business card to hold out. “Here’s my card, call or email me if you need to talk. It can be about classes and college, or just life in general. I’m here to help.”

“Thanks.” Flash reached out to take the card.

“Unless there’s something else you’d like to bring up, you’re free to go now.”

Flash thought for a moment. “What about my dorm position?”

Cadance turned to her computer and clicked around a bit. “You’re a dorm assistant?” Flash nodded. “Well, that’s very responsible and kind of you. I’ll ask the dorm representatives if you’ve been slacking in your duties around the building. If so then…” Cadance hesitated. “We may need to look at getting someone else.” Flash’s face fell. “But,” Cadance said quickly, “I’ll tell them to be lenient for now. I can tell you take this seriously and if our little talk helps, then I can’t think of a reason to remove you just yet.”

“Okay.” Flash stood up and pulled his backpack onto his shoulder. “Thanks.”

“Any time.” Cadance smiled at him. “My door is always open if you need anything.”

Flash just nodded and turned to leave the office. He walked out of the administrative section of the college into the main halls and looked up at the clock. Got a half an hour before I meet Twilight for lunch. The thought of spending time with his girlfriend lifted his spirits in spite of his other troubles. He headed for the food court to stake out a table.

Three weeks into college and the demon dreams hadn’t stopped. They had only become more frequent. Rare was the night when his sleeping mind wasn’t full of visions of sexy demon girls having their way with him. The Midnight dreams he could at least link to Twilight and maybe some repressed desire to see her that way, as a voluptuous and seductive creature of darkness.

The Hellfire dreams were less easy to explain. He had realized their source a couple days ago when Sunset Shimmer had invited him to hang out between classes. Flash thought for a moment that perhaps the Hellfire dreams were inspired by her. Even if Flash wasn’t about to cheat on Twilight, Sunset was beautiful. But he had decided that wasn’t possible, he had had the first Hellfire dream the night before orientation, and he had never met Sunset before then.

Maybe I caught a glimpse of her around campus and forgot about her, and now she’s popping up in my dreams? Flash shook his head. No, that doesn’t sound right.

“This stupid dream level keeps kicking my ass!”

Flash turned his head. Three boys were sitting at a table in a study area. One of them, a boy with glasses and messy brown hair, growled and glared at his laptop. One of his friends with light brown skin and pale blue hair smirked. “Yup, those succubi are bitches, Poindexter. Watch out for the health drain.”

“I can kill them just fine, it’s the layout that gets me.” Poindexter grumbled. “Then the stupid succubi just overwhelm me until I’m out of healing.”

Succubi? Flash recognized the word, vaguely. He hadn’t been much for gaming but the word was familiar. “Excuse me.” Flash approached the table, prompting the three to look up at him. “What are you playing?”

Poindexter turned his laptop to show him the menu screen. “Demon Reign III: The Dark World. Eight-bit has already finished it.”

The boy with the blue hair nodded. “Everyone hates the dream levels. Its got a hate thread on the official forums.”

“You mentioned succubi?” Flash asked.

Poindexter turned his laptop back to him and resumed playing. “Yeah. This crazy cultist dude drugs you and tries to perform some ritual on you. You fight back through a dream level where you gotta escape a maze, but there’s these succubi chasing you.” Flash came around the table as he spoke for a better view. Rows of stone walls surrounded a man in a black coat wielding a handgun. As Poindexter explained, a shapely humanoid demon with black bat wings and claws swooped down off a wall and pounced on him. Poindexter cursed and mashed a key to roll around and throw her off.

“Thanks.” Flash turned and kept going towards the food court. He remembered where he had heard the word before.

Succubus.

Situated on a two-person booth in the food court, Flash pulled his laptop out of his bag and opened it up. He connected to the college wi-fi and clicked on the search bar. He typed and hit enter.

His screen filled with website entries about demons and women. He clicked on the first one and was taken to a website about demonology. Flash leaned closer to read.

“The succubus is an ancient demon dating back to religious traditions. According to most legends, the succubus is a female demon, or at least a demon that chooses to appear female, that preys on men through dreams. Appearing to them in the waking world or the dream world as a beautiful woman, the succubus endears herself to her prey in order to seduce him into sex. The goal in this varies, but is usually done with intent that repeated intercourse will steal the man’s soul, or in some tellings to allow the succubus to drain the life force from him for sustenance. Those who adhere more to the religious tradition say the succubus does this to drive married men to adultery and thus condemn them to Hell. The succubus has a male counterpart, the incubus, that preys on women in the same manner and to the same goals.”

Flash sat back, his eyes wide. “It can’t be.” He read over the passage again. This is just old legends and myths and stuff. But, as he read, the connections made themselves in his mind. He’d been sleeping much more often than usual or is normal. Even when awake he had no energy and was prone to napping, and had a larger appetite. The dreams had been getting more vivid, and seemingly longer. He had carried on full conversations with the two as though they could understand him and respond.

Twilight and Sunset both approached me the day of and day after the dreams… Flash scrolled down where old sketches and paintings of succubi and incubi were on the page. Maybe Sunset saw me and targeted me before we met? Then she starts acting like my friend. And Twilight… He clenched his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. This is impossible. This is stupid. My girlfriend is not trying to kill me through sex dreams.

“Heya.” Flash raised his head to see Sunset Shimmer slide into the booth opposite him, setting her bag on the seat. “What’s up?”

“Oh. Um…” Flash clicked one of his bookmarks to get away from the demonology website. Had Sunset seen what he was looking at? “Just… waiting for Twilight. We’re having lunch.”

“Your girlfriend, right?” Sunset looked. “Hope she didn’t stand you up. If she did, I could stay. I need a bite myself.”

Flash nodded. In some traditions the succubus tries to seduce the male into adultery… Sunset hadn’t pushed too hard for anything more than friendship, but she had made her interests in Flash clear. Flash hadn’t dwelled on it too much, but now that he had read up on the legends the idea that Sunset might be trying to steal him from Twilight had taken on a horrifying new potential.

“I’m sure she’ll be here,” he said evenly. Sunset shrugged and pulled out her phone. Flash bit his lip and looked back at his laptop screen, trying to think of something he could do to keep his mind off of Sunset without fully ignoring her.

“So you two are going steady?” Sunset asked suddenly.

“Yeah.”

“Is it serious?”

Flash felt a chill. “Why?”

Sunset raised her eyes. “Just kinda jealous she got to you first.”

“Sorry.”

“So am I.” Sunset smiled. “Hey, ‘friends’ is cool. But if it doesn’t work out…” She let a wink end the sentence for her.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Flash began to sweat. Absurd as it was the idea of the succubus wouldn’t leave his mind. Need an out… He looked around the cafeteria, trying to think of an excuse to leave. He saw one kneeling at a vending machine and stood up to wave his hand. “Twilight!”

Twilight turned her head and stood with a bottle of juice in her hand. As she approached, Sunset turned her head where Flash had looked. She stood up and her eyes widened. Flash turned his focus from Twilight to her. “Sunset?”

“That’s Twilight?” she whispered.

“Yeah.” Before Flash could say anything else, Twilight had reached the table.

“You’re early!” She leaned up to kiss his cheek. “And who—” Twilight turned and stopped when she made eye contact with Sunset, her cheerful expression vanishing in an instant.

Shit. Succubus rumors aside, he realized Twilight had just found him in conversation with another girl. “Twilight, this is Sunset. The friend I’ve mentioned?” Flash’s explanation was ignored. The two girls stood still, staring at each other in surprise. Flash looked between them. The hairs on his arms tingled. “Girls?” Flash saw Twilight’s hands clenched. “Do you two… know each other?”

After the prolonged, uncomfortable silence, Sunset slowly smiled. “I don’t believe we do, no. Twilight, was it?” She held out a hand.

Twilight smiled back and took the offered hand to shake it. “Nice to meet you, Sunset.”

“Likewise.”

Twilight let go of Sunset’s hand. “Flash, you should have introduced us sooner.”

“Yes, much sooner,” Sunset echoed.

Flash looked over his girlfriend. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Twilight didn’t look away from Sunset as she spoke. “I just wish you had told us you’d be inviting a friend.”

“He didn’t. I just saw him and dropped by.” Sunset reached down to grab the strap of her bag, eyes still on Twilight. “I should get going now, actually. Bye, Flash. Twilight.” The two finally broke eye contact as Sunset turned and walked away at a brisk pace.

Twilight set her mouth in a line. “She’s… interesting.”

“There’s nothing between us.” Flash said quickly. “She really is just a friend.” Twilight turned her head. “Like, she’s made it obvious she wants more than that, but I don’t.” He smiled and slipped his hand into hers. “I like the girl I have now.”

Twilight smiled back. “I know.” She kissed him again. “Let’s get something to eat. I’m famished.”

The springs of Flash’s bed squeaked and groaned like a car’s suspension as Hellfire straddled him, black and red wings spread into the air behind her. His arms pinned by bands of red magic, Flash lay on his bed fully exposed, unable to do anything but watch the succubus ride him. And listen to her curse out another.

“She thinks you’re hers. But I saw you first,” Hellfire hissed. She ducked down and kissed Flash deeply, running her tongue along his lips. “You’re mine, little boy. I’ll deal with her after. But she won’t have you. You belong to me. And soon, I’ll make sure she can never take you from me.”

“S-Soon?” Flash croaked.

Hellfire slowly licked her lips. “You’ll see. Just a little longer.”