Chapter 2 - The Party

Miguel showed up just on time for Juan's party. His friend greeted him very cordially, and of course She appeared at his side, smiled slightly and hugged him as well. The scent of her hair and skin drove Miguel to despair, so he quickly moved away from her, but gently, without looking at the girl's face. He didn't want to cause himself more pain. Then everyone went further into the apartament, Maria also disappeared somewhere in the crowd, and Juan occasionally offered Miguel a drink or a snack. The music was very good, but that didn't make him want to dance. Finally, Juan went to the dance floor in search of his beloved. An hour and a half of the party passed when Miguel's friend stood in the center, asking for everyone's attention, holding the blissful Maria's hand.

- I'd like to announce our engagement. Of course, each of you, dear friends, may already feel invited to the wedding.- Juan announced, looking first at the gathered people, then at his fiance. Maria showed everyone her finger with a lovely silver ring on it, which was certainly expensive, but Juan could afford it, especially after inheriting his father's computer company.

When Miguel realized what those news meant, something like a poisoned dagger pierced his heart and he almost choked on the drink. At one point, his and Maria's eyes met suddenly. It was then that all the joy he had just seen in her eyes and smile vanished completely. Maria felt remorse again, felt sorry for him because she was aware that was hurting him. Miguel could not stand it. All he wanted now was her happiness, and wasn't going to spoil it with his unnecessary presence and suffering written all over his face. Since Maria really loved Juan, he had no intention of destroying her happiness. Miguel loved this girl too much to do something like that, so he finished his drink and left the party at around 8pm.

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Nadir had managed to feed off the energy of two men within two hours - an athletic bully who had so much of it that if she took all of his energy and life with it, would have enough for a week. However, Nadir could not do this if she did not want to attract the attention of not only humans, leaving a corpse trail behind her, but also "messengers of Heaven", otherwise known as angels, who easily detected the activity of demons on Earth, if they were not careful enough. The other man was a nearly forty-year-old military man, but still full of vigor. Nadir was haunting them while they've been half asleep, so would probably think it was a beautiful dream.

Nadir was a succubus, a demon made of Lilith's vanity, so that incubus, her first perfect children, would have someone who gets sperm for them, so they could impregnate women with the seed of evil, making children who were more susceptible to the demonic possession, and thanks to that could wreak havoc much more easily by blending in quite well into the human race. Yes, that was also Nadir's job - collecting male sperm for incubus.

Now, filled with life-giving energy, she walked down the street, invisible to people. Nadir was able to dissolve into thin air when she didn't want all the men's eyes on her. Suddenly, a car flashed past Nadir, which was full of suffering, sadness and complete despair. It worked on her as a bait. No demon could resist the feeling of such misfortune. Nadir ran in a demonic speed, thanks to which she quickly caught up with the car. It stopped in front of a small tenement house, the owner of the car got out and slowly "crawled" to the front door. He was a tall, broad-shouldered man with a little bit of facial hair, black hair, a gray jacket, trousers, and a white shirt. The despair radiating from this man drew Nadir to him like a bee to honey. When he went inside, she followed him, walking like a ghost through the already closed door, then followed him silently to the apartment, which was on the second floor of this tenement house.

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Miguel was coming home in a foul mood, only wanted to cry and was sure of one thing - he wouldn't show up at their wedding for sure, it would probably kill him. Although maybe it was a good idea? In this way, all his sufferings would end. Perhaps, after death, he would finally find peace and not feel this immense emptiness and dull pain in his heart at the slightest thought of Maria? It was an extremely tempting prospect. Miguel had thought about taking his own life more than once or twice, but he was never able to summon the courage. He felt that it would be best if someone attacked him in the street and shot or stabbed with a knife. Miguel even wandered around the most dangerous neighborhoods on purpose a few times, but evidently providence continued to protect him and he met no criminal on his way.

It was half past nine when Miguel arrived at his tenement house. He walked slowly into the building and up the stairs to the second floor, lazily turned the key in the lock, and was finally at home. Then Miguel took off his jacket and tossed it casually on the couch, unbuttoned his shirt halfway, and took off shoes. He then drank plenty of water to rinse his throat of any remaining alcohol, then went to the bathroom, taking off the rest of his clothes on the way and leaving them where they fell. Maybe he would clean it up later, besides his house was already a mess anyway, so a few more clothes on the floor made no big difference. Miguel, of course, had days when he got down to a decent tidying up, but only when he didn't have enough work to keep his mind occupied, mostly on weekends. Generally, most of the things he did mainly not to think about Maria.

After the shower, Miguel, looking at himself in the mirror, noticed how pathetic he looked - emaciated face, skin very pale for his dark complexion, dark circles under his eyes, all red from crying. Miguel immediately dropped his head down, unable to bear the sight. Not only had he lost his beloved, but was ashamed that he had fallen so low. Dressed in an old T-shirt and shorts, Miguel left the bathroom as quickly as possible to avoid seeing his face contorted with pain. First he picked up his dirty clothes from the floor and put them in one pile, then stood in the center of the room and did not know what to do with himself. Miguel felt hopeless and the emptiness in his heart deepened more and more. Finally, tired of suffering, he collapsed onto the bed, which creaked loudly under his weight. The alcohol he drank at Juan's party worked better than the many sleeping pills he was taking more often lately. Soon Miguel slowly drifted away.

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Nadir enjoyed his suffering with pleasure. From his mind, she read that this man's name was Miguel, and he was suffering because of the woman who had dumped him for his best friend. He had a lot of life energy in him, and had it not been for this energy, this man probably wouldn't have endured such excess pain and might have taken his own life long ago. The amount of life energy she felt immediately stimulated Nadir's appetite. When this man took off the jacket and unbuttoned his shirt, revealing a muscular torso, a real succubus woke up in her. The mixture of lust, hunger for energy, and pleasure derived from his suffering made Nadir unable to think rationally.

When he came back from the bathroom and lied down on the bed, she crept noiselessly, completely giving up on invisibility. Nadir wanted him to see her now, to want her, to feel his warm breath and touch against her skin. Nadir licked her upper lip as she approached the bed, feeling the life energy emanating from the man's aura more and more.