Chapter 22.2

The next day was officially Vee’s first day of classes. She’d been absent for a few weeks, but thankfully it was easy to share only half of the real story. She had, truthfully, gotten hurt in the fire, and needed to take time to recover. Dozens of friends and casual acquaintances eagerly chatted her up, talking about Derek’s confession and asking how she was doing. Some of them tried to ignore the giant scars on her face, others couldn’t resist the urge to try and convince her how much cooler she looked.

She did her best to bury her face in her books, talking with her professors about all the work she’d missed, and most of her teachers were more than happy to give her time to make up all her assignments. The one exception was her music theory teacher, who was normally an incredibly delightful person; he seemed exceptionally rude today, and she couldn’t figure out why.

Vee managed to catch Chloé during their lunch hour and did her best to explain why things were so awkward right now; she hated the thought of Chloé getting caught in the crossfire of her fight with Amara. Vee stressed that she needed time to adjust, and hopefully things could go back to normal soon. She had no idea how truthful her own words were, sadly, as she had no idea what she wanted to happen. Her first goal had been to return to school, but that was done now. What was she supposed to do next?

She was currently ignoring the problem, sitting on her couch while organizing her homework. Her apartment had been cleaned to the best of her ability, and most of the traces of her holy crusade had been disposed of. The only thing that remained were her wards, meant to keep her safe should any demons decide to invade. She didn’t feel comfortable taking them down quite yet. Besides, they were defensive, right? They would only activate if Amara decided to attack.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. She hadn’t been expecting anyone, but with everyone on campus throwing a pity party for her at the moment, she could think of a few dozen people it might be. She was incredibly shocked, then, to find Tessa and Amara waiting on her doorstep.

“I… what do you want?” Vee snapped. She was not ready to have this conversation.

“Hey Vee, I’m… I’m glad your back!” Amara said. She seemed nervous, and Vee couldn’t help but suspect that this was more than a casual visit.

“…No thanks to you. Looking for more people to enthrall? Or do you need more hot co-eds for your next porn shoot?”

Amara winced; it was obvious how much Vee’s words had stung.

“N-no, I just—” Amara started, but Tessa cut her off.

“We need your help, Vee. There’s something bad happening on campus, and we’re trying to stop it, but we can’t do it alone.”

Vee bit her lip, her body full of tension as she tried to figure out what was happening. “Why come to me? Why should I trust either of you?”

“Hey, we could say the same about you, but we’re at least making an effort to reach out!” Tessa said. She was clearly upset, but Vee also noticed that the argument was making Amara uncomfortable.

With a heavy sigh, Vee kicked open her door and gestured the two inside. “Alright, fine, just get in here.”

Tessa walked through first, though not without a heavy glare directed at Vee. Amara, on the other hand, had started smiling as she approached the door. When her body attempted to cross the threshold, however, the Enochian wards activated. Powerful, angelic energy surged through Amara, and she winced in pain before getting thrown back into the hallway.

Before Vee could respond, Tessa had grabbed her shirt and shoved her against her front door. “Vee, what the fuck?”

“I-I’m sorry! I forgot about my wards!”

“Yeah, likely fucking story.” Tessa hissed. She let Vee go, running to Amara’s side to help her up.

“Can we just talk about this here? How bad can it be?” Vee asked.

Amara glared up at her, her face still twisted in pain as she fought to regain her breath. When she finally spoke, her words were filled with bitterness. “No, I get it. Tess, you go inside and talk with Vee. I’ll just stay out here and keep watch.”

“Ugh, fine, but you scream if something attacks, okay?” With Amara now standing, and seemingly recovered, Tessa turned to Vee and grabbed her arm. “You, me, inside. We have a lot to talk about.”

The door closed behind them, and now Vee and Tessa stood alone in the entryway. Vee started talking, still unsure what was happening. “Look, Tess, I’m sorry about the—”

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Tessa said, interrupted her. “Even setting aside everything you’ve done, now you’re attacking Amara’s photography? We both know how much that means to her! And I know, for a fact, that you don’t have a problem with sex work. We have friends that run OnlyFans accounts! I’ve been in their videos! Are you gonna try to kill me next?”

“This isn't about that! I just… I don’t know what’s happening!”

“Which is why we’re here, but apparently you’re still out for blood!” Tessa began pacing back and forth, her anger more than apparent. “That poor girl has been beating herself up for weeks, trying desperately to make up for what happened on Halloween, and you can’t even spare the time to talk with her?”

Vee stayed quiet, doing her best to process everything before responding, but it felt like her thoughts were frozen. How could she trust that Tessa was even telling the truth? Before she could think of anything, Tessa continued talking.

“Ugh, I can’t believe she forced me to come here. For the record, I don’t think we can trust you. You’re lucky Amara’s a better person than I am.”

“Wait, she forced you here? Tessa, I know I’ve made mistakes, but she’s a demon! Can you honestly say that she’s in the right, using violence to get what she wants?”

“What?” Tessa asked. “No, not violence. She just threatened to stop sleeping with me.”

Surprise crossed Vee’s face, and she stepped closer to Tessa. “First Nick, but now you? Tessa, this is what succubi do; they use sex to enthrall people, and you start losing track of what’s right and wrong. In the end, you belong to her, body and soul. How do you know you’re being objective here?”

“Because there’s a fucking cult! They broke the planar seals on campus, and they’re summoning a demon army! That’s why Amara wants your help, Vee, because we’re trying to stop this!”

“Oh, someone’s trying to summon a demon? Why should I care? How about I go greet them with open arms! Heck, maybe I’ll start fucking them, since apparently it doesn’t matter!” Vee jabbed a finger to Tessa’s chest, her words quiet and furious. “Don’t you dare try to convince me that demons are a threat to this campus, while also being mad that I tried to stop one on Halloween.”

“She’s your friend, Vee, and you stabbed her in the back! You try to banish her to Hell, then you try to kill her, and you’re mad she defended herself?!”

“You call this self-defense?” Vee pointed to the scars on her face. “I tried to run from that fight, but she wouldn’t let me. She held me down, beat me within an inch of my life, and I’m supposed to pretend that everything’s fine?”

“She’s not asking you to pretend like nothing happened, Vee. She just wants to talk, she wants a chance to fix things.” Tessa, surprisingly, calmed down slightly. Vee suspected her two friends had talked extensively about what to say, as this level-headed behavior was quite unusual from Tessa.

“Yet, conveniently, she couldn’t do that before? When it mattered most, when I was breaking down in her arms, she lied to me.”

“Yeah? And when were you planning on telling us you were an angel?”

“I… that's different.” Vee had been caught off guard, and took a step back.

“Why? Because you're better than us?”

“N-no, that's not what I—”

“But you were thinking it, weren't you?" Tessa said, cutting her off. "I’ve met people like you before, Vee. Nothing is more important than God’s plan, and you’ll trample over everyone you don’t agree with to carry out His will. We couldn’t understand what it’s like to be as special as you.”

“Wait, you’ve met… right, because you’re a witch.”

“I am! You want to say something about that too? C’mon, I’m ready for it, lay it on me. Am I an affront to nature? A blemish on the face of humanity?”

Vee stammered, unsure what to say. Tessa was right, the church loved to paint witches as lost souls, eager to trade their humanity for power, but Vee's training had mostly focused exclusively on demons.. It was clear Tessa was speaking from experience, the words she used sounded all too familiar.

Tessa collapsed on the couch, burying her face in her hands before sighing heavily. “You want to know why I’m here? Honestly?”

Silence filled the air, and the girls briefly looked at each other before Tessa continued. “I’m here for Amara. I don’t think we can trust you, but… she’s miserable, Vee. She won’t stop beating herself up for what she did, and I think she’s too nervous to tell you everything she’s done to try and fix things. For fuck’s sake, she even got Derek to confess!”

“I… I didn’t know that.” Vee stammered.

“And you know what else? Every time I argue with her, every time she’s defending your actions, she always says you were most upset about the lying, but that wasn’t even her fault! She was ready to tell you everything but… I talked her out of it. If you want to be mad at anyone, be mad at me.”

Vee went quiet, hesitant to believe what she was being told. She had no reason to believe anything Tessa said, especially after confirming that she was sleeping with Amara. Vee walked closer, sitting across from Tessa before speaking. “Tess… I’ve studied demons my whole life. My divine purpose is to hunt them down, to protect mankind from them. Yes, they’re strong, they can burn down buildings and need to eat souls to survive, but that’s not the worst of it. Their biggest tool, the oldest trick in the book, is making themselves look sympathetic. They play the victim, convince you how misunderstood they are, and they prey on our desire to help. The only way to resist them, the strongest defense we have, is to never listen to them, never give them the chance to start spinning their lies. The instant you start to doubt, they’ve already won.”

“You realize how fascist that sounds, right?” Tessa said.

“This is bigger than that, Tess! We have thousands of examples, all throughout history, of people consorting with demons and losing everything! Now you come to my door, you ask for my help, but how can I trust you? How do I know she isn’t using you as a pawn in some bigger scheme?”

“What bigger scheme? If she wanted you dead, she would have killed you on Halloween!”

“Just… look at this from my point of view, alright? You’re telling me a cult is summoning demons, and Amara just happens to turn into a succubus right around the same time. Am I supposed to believe that’s a coincidence?”

Tessa glared at Vee, hatred in her eyes. “She didn’t even know about the cult, or the magic circles they’re disrupting, until I told her about them. Plus, she can’t be the mastermind, because Derek’s dad is. All his wealth, all his power? He made a deal with something, and now he’s fulfilling his end of the bargain.”

“Have you seen this? With your own eyes?”

“Well… no," Tessa muttered. "Amara interrogated Mr. Luxnor, and she was the one that infiltrated the cult meeting yesterday.”

“So you have no proof! How can you expect me to go along with this?”

With a huff, Tessa stood up and started towards the door. “This is stupid. I knew you weren’t going to help us, I shouldn’t have bothered.”

“Wait!” Vee reached out, grabbing Tessa’s arm. “Just…. give me something, anything. Why should I believe she’s different?”

Tessa paused, eventually pulling her hand back from Vee. “You’ve been friends with her since college started. Do you think that whole year was a lie? That everything you did together meant nothing? She didn’t even know she was a succubus until we took her to that party. If you want proof… go talk to Nick. He was there when this all started.”

A few seconds passed, and Vee was unsure what to say. She thought back to her first year of college, to all the time she spent with Amara. They’d spent countless nights talking about school, crushes, and hundreds of other pointless things. She’d always valued her friendship with Amara, it had felt so genuine, but Vee had also been hiding her identity. How could she be mad at Amara when she’d hidden her angelic heritage from everyone?

Vee walked to the door, slowly opening it for Tessa. When she looked into the hallway, she didn’t see Amara, but a quick glance revealed she was waiting at the end of the hallway. When she saw Vee, she quickly jogged back.

“Vee! Are you going to help us?” Amara asked nervously.

With a heavy sigh, Vee answered. “I’ll help, on one condition.”

“Yes! Anything!” Amara said quickly.

“Just before we fought, I had a large book with me. It’s filled with Enochian texts, and it’s an incredibly powerful angelic artifact. If what Tessa told me is true, we’re going to need every advantage we can get, which means I need that book. It would have been in the house when it burned down, and I haven’t had the time to look for it yet. You give that back, and I’ll help you stop this cult.”

Tessa pushed past Vee, rolling her eyes in contempt. “Right, the book that lets you banish Amara. How fucking convenient.”

“Tessa!” Amara slapped Tessa’s arm, glaring at her in disapproval before turning back to Vee. “Vee, I was the first person to clean up the remains of the Palace, and I never saw that book.”

“So, what, someone fucking stole it?”

“I-I don't know.” Amara muttered. “I'll help you try to find it, but we need to act fast; Mr. Wellington said his big moment is next Sunday.”

“Great, there’s a time limit.” Vee pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to think of where to start. “Alright, tell you what. I have a spell that will help me locate the book, but it has limited range. As soon as I get a ping, I’ll reach out.”

Amara literally jumped with joy, and seemed ready to hug Vee, but she hesitated. She instead pivoted to Tessa, squeezing her tight as she spoke. “That’s great!”

“For now, just… I don’t know. I need space.” Vee said. As she watched Tessa and Amara turn to leave, she added, “Oh, and… I-It's nice you’re raising money for the Palace. The photos are… very professional.”

Vee stepped back inside, closing the door behind her. She could hear the other girls slowly walking away, and she couldn’t help but overhear what they were saying.

“She’s going to help, Tess! Thank you so much!” Amara said.

“Yeah, she also zapped you across the hallway. Were you listening in on our conversation?”

“I heard a couple bits when you were yelling, but I waited down the hall to try and avoid eavesdropping. My hearing is crazy good, remember?”

Their voices grew quieter and quieter, eventually fading altogether. Vee rested her head on the door, almost wishing they would come back. Though, even if they did, would she just snap at them again? Her anger seemed like some uncontrollable viper, lashing out against her will, and she didn’t know how to control it.

Tessa’s words resurfaced, bouncing around in her head. Vee had, truthfully, never known that she was a witch. Amara had hinted at it just before their fight, and Vee had only pieced it together days later in the hospital. On one hand, it was hardly surprising; Tessa had always kept strange company, and even stranger habits. On the other, it was yet another secret her friends had kept from her. Why had Tessa told Amara, but not her?

Even thinking it, just for a moment, made her feel sick. Amara had been so excited that she’d agreed to help! As weird as it was to admit, Tessa had a point; she’s been best friends with Amara ever since college started, was she really willing to throw that away?

Vee closed her eyes, and tears formed in her eyes. “What am I supposed to do?”

No one answered, not that she’d expected anyone to. When she was a child, she used to think she might be able to have conversations with her Patron, if she could only grow strong enough. After years of trying, she eventually accepted that she was just as alone as any mortal. She stayed there, leaning against the door, for another few minutes before she made up her mind. Wiping the tears from her face, she grabbed her keys from the counter, and left.