The Thaumaturge (Ch. 13)

I took a deep breath. "Let's, um... let's do the summoning. I trust you all."

Viv didn't say anything.

Lauren looked nervous, but when she spoke, her voice was firm. "Right. Okay. We can do it now. Tonight. We should have everything we need." She opened a book. "Viv, we need more space just like last time. Let's use the basement again. You take the chalk downstairs, and get the diagramming started with Matt. I'll join you in a minute, I just need to gather everything else to bring down."

Lauren handed Viv a piece of chalk. It was thick -- more like the kind that kids used to draw on sidewalks than a teacher would use to write on a blackboard. It felt incongruous with what we were about to do.

I followed Viv out of the room, and down a hallway.

As we walked, I quickly pulled out my phone and sent a quick text to Diana, not wanting to leave her out of the loop: Lauren and Viv are helping. Summoning a succubus.

Then we headed down the stairs. The main basement of the library was a big, expansive open space. A service elevator dominated one wall. A large door labeled MECHANICAL AND BOILER was on the other.

But mostly, the dimly lit space was in complete disarray. There weren't any books -- maybe they were treated with more respect -- but there was a big pile of old, disused furniture, along with what looked like old commercial systems equipment -- some space heaters and radiators, drying fans, that sort of thing. One corner of the room contained a jumble of janitorial supplies.

As we moved through the door into the room, I heard her let out a hiss of breath as she went down the stairs. "Matt... you're bleeding."

Ah. Right. I nodded, distracted. "Uh, yeah. It... it's just some scratches. It only stings a little, don't worry. I'll be fine."

"Bullshit. You're bleeding through your clothes, Matt. Take your shirt off." Viv hesitated. "You'll, uh, have to be naked anyway, for this."

"What?" But I slowly pulled off my shirt.

Viv didn't elaborate. She was silent for a long, long moment, but I could feel her gaze on my back, locked on what I assumed were two matching sets of deep, identical furrows, one down each side of my back.

Where Brooke had clawed me, while I'd been fucking her.

Then Viv spoke. "What the fuck. Did a fucking lion attack you? Did they break the truce?"

The barely restrained fury in her voice actually set me back a step.

"That's... not what happened," I said, lamely. "We were... sparring. It wasn't deliberate."

I stopped short of saying it happened while I was fucking a werelion. But I turned around in time to see Viv's eyes narrow, saw the dawning realization.

The recognition that these didn't really look like the result of a lion attack, so much as a lion encounter.

"Why did you..." She trailed off. There was a flash of something complicated -- jealousy? bitterness? frustration? -- and then it was gone.

"I see." She sighed.

And then, peremptorily, she said, "Turn back around."

I did, and a moment later, I felt her touch me. It was oddly cool, and soothing... and a moment later the stinging was gone.

"There. You're fixed up." Her voice was terse.

"Thanks." I said the word guardedly.

"Sure. Wouldn't want the succubus to get the idea that you're into that kind of thing, you might get flayed alive."

I laughed.

She didn't laugh, which made me worried.

"What... what's this going to be like?" I asked.

"Well. You're going to sit here." She dragged a folding chair to roughly the center of the floor, and I moved to sit in it, uncertainly. "I'm going to draw a pentagram around you. You can't leave the pentagram once I start drawing it. Lauren and I will do the incantation to summon her, but you're kind of the... well, the bait, if I'm honest. The incentive for her to show up. And you'll have to be the one to bargain with her, they don't really... engage constructively with women."

As she spoke, Viv began drawing a diagram around me. I watched her move. "The bait? Is... is she going to try to hurt me?"

Viv shook her head. "No. Summoned this way, they don't have much power... until you make a deal with them, or unless they possess someone. The diagram on the floor will contain her. She won't want to possess you -- as far as she's concerned, you're food -- and the pentagram will prevent her from getting to me or Lauren."

"So... what kind of deal should I strike?"

"Well, she'll want to make a deal where she gets to drain you dry, take your soul. You'll want to offer her anything less than that; you'll have to see what kind of terms she's setting. She should be interested in anything that, uh, gets her a taste. You're a thaumaturge. Thaumaturges are rare. She'll want a piece of you."

I let out a short, admittedly slightly bitter, laugh. "Her and everybody else, I guess."

I had a million questions, but things still felt awkward between me and Viv, and I didn't really want to ask her more questions.

Anything else I asked about or said was just going to demonstrate how little I knew. It would sort of prove her point that she did need to keep me on a short leash, to protect me.

So I didn't say anything else at all.

The silence stretched between us, the only sound the chalk that Viv was scratching into the ground.

"I know I made things... weird. I'm sorry about that."

I watched her, crouched over, making careful chalk markings on the ground. It was going to be a large pentagram, I could see, with various little spidery scrawls at the various vertices. It looked complicated.

"You'll still work with us once this is resolved, right? You're not like... allying yourself with the lions, are you?" The dim fluorescent lights gave her normally tan skin an odd pallor.

That, at least, was easy. "No, c'mon. Viv... you and Lauren have been great. I just... need to stand on my own two feet. I don't want the kind of protection that means I'm..."

I left on a leash unsaid.

She winced, clearly taking my meaning. "I'm sorry that's even something you had to start to say. I get it."

She was quiet another moment, but then said, coyly, "I probably give better back-scratches than they do, too. You just have to ask."

With her looking down at the chalk markings she was putting on the ground, I could only see the corner of her smile. But it was there, and in it, the shadow of her bubbly, flirty self.

"I'll keep that in mind." I cracked a smile as well.

Lauren arrived at that moment, glancing between us worriedly, but relaxing a little when she saw my smile. She had an odd pile of objects in her arms -- an old book, a knife, a bronze bowl, a few other odds and ends -- in her hands, and immediately began to inspect Viv's handiwork.

"Nice work on the diagram," she commented. "Really clean lines."

"I've been practicing," Viv said, distracted, as she focused on the work. As Lauren and I watched, she finished, standing up and inspecting her handiwork alongside Lauren.

"Okay, no touching the chalk, Matt. Whatever happens." Lauren said. She consulted a small round object -- a compass, I realized -- before setting the bowl down at a specific point just outside the diagram.

I nodded.

"Otherwise, I don't know what she'll offer, but I'd suggest you offer to let her drain as much as she can safely take from you. That'll require her to finish you, anyway, which will solve your problem."

I nodded, again. My heart was beating rapidly - both at the prospect of being free, and at the uncertainty of what was going to happen.

"Lose the rest of your clothes, Matt, you've gotta be naked for this," Lauren instructed, matter-of-factly. She had pulled the knife out and was carefully drawing it across her forearm.

Well, they'd both seen it all before, a couple of times. I started pulling my clothes off.

"Yeah, you don't look like a ready-to-serve meal with your pants on," Viv added, watching me start to strip with interest.

I threw my pants at her head. "Glad your sense of humor's back," I muttered.

She winked at me.

"And you -- ow -- you need to be hard too, Matt." Lauren said. Blood dripped from her arm into the bowl with a soft plink, and she pulled a bandage up to her arm.

"Uh..." I definitely felt on edge, strung out after a day full of sex without an orgasm. But I was currently sitting naked, on a folding chair, in a cold basement. I was, needless to say, not hard.

"I'll help him," Viv murmured.

Viv stepped, slowly and carefully, over the pentagram, her sundress swishing.

As she moved carefully to get closer to me, Lauren kept talking, speaking rapidly.

"Now look, Matt. Based on what I saw in the Mirror, your average succubus doesn't have the sheer power that Elana has, okay? That... that was something else." She shivered. "So it shouldn't be quite as... overwhelming. But the succubus is all about lust, sex. She'll definitely have an aura about her that makes it hard to think straight. That makes you want to agree to anything to fuck her. Her whole goal will be to use that so you make a bad deal with her. Don't. Remember, you've got what she wants, okay?"

I nodded. It made sense. Lauren shifted her attention back to the book she'd brought with her, flipping through some pages.

And then Viv -- with a small smile -- moved up close to me, putting her arms around my neck. "Remember our first date?" she murmured.

"When I was trying to get you to tell me what a thaumaturge was?" I gave her a sardonic look.

"You mean when I titfucked you and you came in like ten seconds, even though you were trying to get me to tell you what a thaumaturge was?" She was speaking quietly -- quietly enough that Lauren couldn't hear her.

I felt my cock stir at the memory. Her voice was flirty, teasing, but not cruel, and the words didn't sting as much as they might have -- it reminded me of how things had been with Viv a day or two ago.

Twenty four hours that felt like an interminable amount of time.

"Well, I didn't know I was talking to a witch who was just out to drain me for power," I shot back, sarcastically.

"Was that it? Or was it, y'know..." she pushed her tits against me, and I felt my cock react further. God. She did have an incredible pair of tits. I could feel the round curves of them through the thin material of her dress.

"Maybe a combination," I acknowledged, with a grin.

She laughed, and then said, "Okay, he's ready." I could hear the smug satisfaction in her voice as she pulled away, stepping carefully back over the circle.

Lauren muttered a long series of droning, chanted words. Honestly, it sounded like a prayer from church; Latin, maybe, if Latin had gone a little sideways and grotesque, with harder consonants and vowels that all seemed several syllables long.

And then I realized -- with a shock -- that something was slowly taking shape, directly in front of me.

The effect was like suddenly entering a very dark room, my vision was slowly adjusting to the dim light. At first it was just the impression of curved shapes when I wasn't looking directly towards it. Then, a face atop them.

Then, slowly, as Lauren chanted, the details became clearer.

Two small horns, peeking out of a mane of jet-black hair that ran all the way down her back to her hips.

Two eyes -- the irises a beautiful-but-terrifying ruby red, gaze locked on me. Her facial features had classic, aristocratic beauty -- the visage of some highborn princess. High cheekbones, full lips, perfect nose.

Skin that was flawlessly even and smooth... but the color of shadows, of ash, or charcoal -- a kind of dark grey. Lips a slightly darker shade.

And she was naked. Her full breasts were larger than her slim frame really ought to be able to accommodate, with dusky nipples atop each. The curve of a round ass swelled out from a tiny waist.

And behind her -- wings, batlike, that were currently folded neatly on either side of that mane of hair, peeked above her shoulders.

A tail that was currently swishing about, like a cat's.

She... looked like a demon. But an incredibly hot, gorgeous demon. Everything about her invited, demanded to be kissed, touched, sucked, or fucked.

The woman's gaze shifted across Viv and Lauren. I saw amusement quirk her lips. "Well hello, ladies. Nice to see you both again. Though there were more of you last time, as I recall..."

"Fuck," Viv said, under her breath.

"Y-you're the same one who..." Lauren stammered the words out, trailing off into a mute, horrified silence.

"At any rate, who did you bring me this time..." And the woman's gaze met mine, and she let out a sharp, pleased intake of breath. "Oh, my. Introductions are in order."

I stared right back at her, entranced.

The look on her face as her eyes met mine communicated exactly and precisely one thing: she wanted me to take her, to ravish her right here on the floor of the basement.

"Hi there, delicious. I'm Callistryllaxia." Her voice was... decadent, like chocolate or silk. It promised indulgence. Pleasure.

It was impossible not to imagine what she'd sound like in the throes of passion. If she got to deliver on the promise that her eyes were making.

Lauren was right; her presence didn't give me that same hypnotic sense of drowning as Elana's eyes did.

But it still sent my thoughts down a singular, very particular path.

I was in trouble.

"H-hi, Callistryllaxia," I stammered my way through her name. I couldn't decide where to look: her tits, her legs, the way her mouth looked, her hair flowing down her back to the swell of her ass, the smooth round shape of her butt...

"Oh, honey, you can just call me Calli. What's your name?" Her voice was flirtatious, suggestive.

The invitation to call her Calli was delivered as if she were inviting me up to her apartment after a first date, to fuck me senseless.

And somehow, she swirled her tongue around the word honey lewdly, like she was giving it a blowjob.

You could just tell that she gave great blowjobs. Those full lips. A look in her hungry, red eyes that just said she'd do anything to get you off. Wanted to do anything you wanted. Anything you needed. Wanted you to cum.

Would swallow.

Would swallow you whole.

If I wasn't hard already, I would be hard now, just from hearing her talk, watching her mouth move. As it was, I could feel precum bead, and then drip off the tip of my cock and onto the floor.

I could feel the hairs on my arms, on the back of my neck, standing up. I was lightheaded. I had to remind myself to breathe.

Jesus.

Lust and arousal washed over me. The force of the succubus's aura was literally breathtaking.

She'd asked a question, I remembered.

"Uh... I'm Matt."

"Well hiya, Matt." She wrapped her lips around the name, suggestively, like she had with honey. Like she was pleasuring my name with her mouth. Pleasuring me with her mouth.

My mind filled with visions of what that would look like. What it would feel like. How good she'd be at it. How satisfying it would be.

I saw her perfect lips curve into a small, knowing smile. "You look like you need something, Matt. Like you need something badly. Am I right?"

I just nodded.

She looked pleased. "So let's talk, then, handsome. Mind if I sit down? It was a long trip up here."

I nodded again, more uncertainly, this time. I didn't know where she'd sit, the chair I was in was the only-

She sat on my lap.

It was somehow delicate and suggestive all at once. She wasn't as petite as Brooke or even Lauren, but she was lighter than I would've expected as she perched herself atop one of my thighs. The skin of her ass was warm, smooth, and soft against my leg.

And she was wet. Wet enough that I could feel her slickness on my skin, hot between her thighs.

She crossed her legs. They were angled so that she wasn't touching my cock, but she glanced down at it, and then back up, those ruby-red eyes meeting mine.

"Nice," she purred, approvingly.

I moaned in response.

There was this... throatiness in the way she said it. The knowledgeable, experienced, easy approval of a woman who'd seen it all, and knew nice when she saw it. She'd know exactly what to do with me. For me.

I'm embarrassed to say that -- if Elana hadn't made it impossible -- I'm pretty sure that I would've cum, just from that single word.

She watched me react, pleased... but then she frowned.

"Aw, honey. Somebody has put your pleasure in a cage. That's no way to live. Is that what you need help with?" Her silky voice was earnest.

I nodded, grateful that the questions she was asking were so easy to respond to, because I was at a loss for words.

"Good. I can help. I'll make sure you can let all your pleasure out, every last drop of it. Open the floodgates wide, and..."

Callistryllaxia trailed off, frowning again.

"Matt..." I heard Lauren say, warningly.

But I was already shaking my head no.

It sounded like a promise to fuck me so thoroughly I'd die happy. And I had no doubt she could deliver.

I had just enough mental wherewithal left to see why that might be a bad thing to agree to.

"No? Why not?" She was prettily confused, a damsel in distress. I had to help.

At some point, my mouth had gone quite dry, and it was harder to talk than I thought. "I want to live."

If anything, she looked even more pleased, now. "I see. Well, the price on that kind of self-restraint from me is high, Matt. What can you offer?"

"I'm... I'm a thaumaturge..." I mumbled the words, hopefully.

"Oh, I know that, honey. You smell exquisite. Strong." She glanced over at the witches. "Much stronger than the last thaumaturge they brought me."

That was enough to jolt me to my core, even to shake off some of the effects of her presence.

What?

Lauren made a sharp little dismayed sound.

"What... what does she mean?" I glanced, uncertainly, at Lauren and Viv. They both looked helpless. A little in shock, maybe.

But Viv eventually stammered out, "I-it... it's not like that. It's like we said. We made a mistake, Matt. I'll... explain it later."

Callistryllaxia looked positively delighted by this exchange. "He doesn't know? How scandalous. Keeping secrets is so... sexy." She wriggled against my thigh, as if the very thought was arousing her and she needed more stimulation.

"But to be fair, Matt, it's not like they're the only ones keeping secrets, are they? I mean, they're not the only witches you've been fucking, are they?"

She leaned close and inhaled deeply, as if she was scenting me, and then said, matter-of-factly, and loud enough for Viv and Lauren to hear, "There's another. I can smell her on your skin. And that's not even the only... partner you've had recently. My goodness, you slut."

The word slut came out of her mouth like a compliment of the highest order.

There was a devilish twinkle in the succubus's eye, and now it was Viv's turn to look at me in confusion and mistrust.

I considered getting up, escaping the pentagram to talk all of this out with Lauren and Viv. But I didn't know whether that would free Callistryllaxia in some way that would cause trouble.

And even if it did, I still wanted out from under Elana's control.

Lauren looked miserable and furious. "Just... just make a deal with him already, Callistryllaxia; stop playing around. Otherwise, you'll... you'll regret this."

"Oooh, how threatening. I'm terrified." I could hear the bland sarcasm in her voice, but the succubus clung to me, as if she was deathly afraid.

Oh, god. I reveled in the feeling of more of her skin on mine, her breasts pressing into me.

Lauren shook her head, frustration visible on her face.

Callistryllaxia giggled, a sexy, provocative sound, delivered right into my ear; it set the hairs on my neck standing up again, ran through my engorged cock like a jolt of electricity.

I tried to hold on to the confusion, the betrayal I was feeling at not having heard of this other thaumaturge before now, to use that to ground me. I felt like I had some idea what the demon wanted. "I'll... I'll let you drain me three times, Callistr-"

"I told you, honey. Just call me Calli. And three isn't nearly enough. Your arousal and libido are all twisted up. I can't be undoing something like this without a fair deal. Who even did this to you? It certainly wasn't one of them." She gestured dismissively at the witches, but she was looking me over.

I didn't answer.

She gave me an appraising, toothy little smile. "Mm. Well, whoever -- or whatever -- it was, I can sort you out. And you'll live. And you'll even enjoy it. But it'll be far more than three feedings to fix you, Matt. Make a better offer."

"How--how many, Callistr... uh, Calli?" Every time her lips moved, her body shifted, her skin touched mine, she made a sound, anything, I could feel rational thought vanishing, overcome by the desire to pin her down and ravish her. I was grateful for the nickname; Calli was a lot easier to say than the full demonic name.

I needed this negotiation to end quickly, or I was going to lose control of myself.

"I will do it for thirteen." She said the number with an odd, formal reverence. "No more, and no less. Thirteen feedings. And each one, I get to drain you to near empty."

That seemed like a lot of drainings. "A-and I'll survive them all?"

"It'll mean the sessions have to be spread out over... oh, months, probably. Weeks, at the very least. We'll see how quickly you recover. But yes, you'll survive them all. I'll make sure of that." Her tone was solemn.

And then she leaned in close, to whisper seductively in my ear, "And so you know, these little witches won't even have to be involved. Once we seal our bargain, I'll visit you in your dreams. Where I'll get you all to myself."

Her tongue flicked out, delicate, precise. It was warm, soft, and wet as she ran it along my ear, and it conjured all sorts of images about what she'd be able to do in my dreams. I let out another helpless moan.

With the last of my willpower, I glanced, uncertainly, desperately, at Lauren and Viv. I was hoping one of them would confirm my judgment: that this seemed like a good enough deal to take.

Viv just looked at me, expression unreadable.

Lauren looked resigned. She nodded.

"Deal," I said.

Eyes glowing -- with magic or just satisfaction at a bargain struck, I couldn't tell you -- Callistryllaxia responded with a delighted, sexy smile. "Oh, good. I was hoping you'd agree. Now, we've gotta seal this kind of deal with a kiss, handsome."

She stood up, moving to stand between my thighs. She leaned in, as if to kiss me on the lips... but paused, teasingly, an inch from her mouth meeting mine, and then slowly sank to her knees, keeping eye contact with me all the while.

Until, eventually, her face was level with my cock. "Of course, it doesn't have to be a kiss on the lips," she whispered.

Oh, fuck. My pulse was pounding my ears. The only thing keeping me from cumming all over her right now was that... I couldn't.

Because she wasn't Elana.

She gave me a wry smile, as if she could see what I was thinking. "Now, this is going to be intense, once you finally climax. It's a lot to undo, all at once. The unstoppable force meeting an immovable object, as it were. So try to hang on to your sanity. You'll be more fun to play with the other twelve times if you're not a drooling mess."

"The deal was that you wouldn't take his-" Viv, incredulous, from outside the circle.

"I said to hang onto his sanity, not his soul," Callistryllaxia said, glancing derisively at her. She looked annoyed at the interruption. "I won't drain him to death, but the mortal mind wasn't built to endure experiences like this. He needs to focus to make sure there's enough of himself left afterwards. But Matt's a big boy, he can handle it."

She turned her attention back to me. "Isn't that right, Matt?" She purred. "You're such a... big... boy."

The last two words were muffled. Because she pressed her face up against my cock.

She wasn't sucking it. Not yet.

She was worshipping it.

There was no other way to describe the series of kisses, caresses, and murmured appreciation my cock received over the next few minutes. Her hands and her mouth covered every inch of my length before she moved onto my balls. Teasing, feathery touches; gentle little sucks; long, slow fondling massages; flowing, languid licks. She did it all, everywhere.

"C-Calli..." I groaned the nickname out, helpless to resist the onslaught of pleasure. The sensations were all-consuming, and my mind felt like a puddle.

I heard a small sound from one of the two witches - Lauren, I thought - that made me vaguely aware they were watching, a mix of worry and arousal on both of their faces.

Eventually, the succubus pulled away slightly, smirking up at me. "Mmm, you're so responsive. It's wonderful. I bet you've normally got a bit of a stamina problem, don't you, Matt? Most thaumaturges do, to one degree or another. Maybe because you're so strong, it's worse for you?"

I didn't respond beyond reddening in embarrassment. She giggled, again. "Oh, dear. It must be bad, huh. Are you sure that you want me to fix this?"

"Y-yeah..." Even as I said the word, I realized that I could feel an odd... pressure building up in me.

There was the sensation - now familiar from my encounters with Viv, from watching the Mirror with Lauren, and from earlier this evening with Brooke - that I wouldn't be able to achieve release. Couldn't get off. Not without Elana.

But against that familiar block, the need for the succubus was building up in me. I could feel it growing, moment after moment. Piling up.

Again, she seemed to know what I was thinking. "Everyone loses control for me eventually, honey." She said the words with an unshakeable confidence, like she was talking about an immutable law of physics. "And I'm just getting started."

She licked her lips, lasciviously, and lowered her mouth onto my cock.

I'll be honest with you, it felt less like a blowjob and more like she was riding me with her mouth and throat. It was incredible. She massaged me with her tongue. The way her plush lips traveled up and down my length was exactly wanton as I'd imagined.

The sight of those ruby-red eyes -- locked on mine as she bobbed up and down my length -- was unnerving, but not unnerving enough to take away from the experience.

In the back of my mind, I also had an odd sensation of pressure, now. Related to the climax I could feel building, but independent of it. It was the sensation of... a dam, buckling under an immense weight of water. A balloon, filled to the point where any more air would make it pop. The banks of a river, about to overflow.

Every moment brought whatever Elana had done to me closer to being washed away by what Calli was doing.

Then she pulled away. "My goodness, it took some powerful magic to do this, didn't it?" she gasped out. She wiped her mouth. Her eyes were watering, I realized. I wondered if that was all just for effect - she was a sex demon, after all - or if she actually had trouble with my length. If it was for effect, I had to admit, the effect was appealing.

I nodded, uncertainly.

That dam was awfully close to the breaking point now. I could feel the release closer than ever.

It gave me a sense of panic - not because I didn't want it. I did. I felt almost embarrassingly grateful to the succubus.

But now I saw what she meant about holding onto my sanity. It felt like a supernova was about to go off in my mind.

As I had that thought, Callistryllaxia stood up. "Then we'll just move on to the main event. Try to anchor yourself to something in your thoughts," she whispered, a cryptic smile on her lips. "A memory, someone who matters, maybe; something like that."

In a sudden movement, her wings unfolded. Black and batlike, they flared out around and above her, larger than I would've expected, casting a shadow over me. Lauren gasped.

The succubus moved over to straddle my lap, and then sank down, impaling me inside her.

"O-oh god-" I could hear the uncontrolled panic, the urgent arousal, in my own voice at the sensation.

I was suddenly aware that this was enough. More than enough. It didn't matter that it wasn't with Elana. Nothing else mattered; there was only the pleasure, indescribable and overwhelming.

"How's that feel, honey?" But I could hear in her voice - in the confident, charged tone - that she already knew the answer.

Callistryllaxia felt perfect.

She rode me; smooth strokes of her hips up and down my length. I could feel the wet heat of her wrapped around me, milking me. The conclusion was inevitable.

Her wings curled around the two of us like some kind of dark cocoon. Blocking out the fluorescent lights of the basement. Blocking out Viv, Lauren, Elana, everything else. Everything except what was happening to me, right now.

"Give it to me," she purred. Her irises were two circles of red in the darkness. "I want it. I need it. You need it."

The sensation of her bobbing up on my cock was too much to bear. Too much to resist. She was made to get me off, to let her feed.

And it did.

In the space of a moment, the dam inside my mind caved in and broke.

I gasped. Sparks of light danced in my vision. The pleasure was overwhelming. A torrent of pleasure swept over me, threatening to wash away everything - me included - as I came.

Suddenly, her remark about anchoring myself made sense. I tried to hold on to anything - any sensation, a face, anyone, anything - to ground me, anything that might be solid ground amidst the tidal wave of relief at finally getting off.

But everything I could think of was flimsy, dim, insubstantial. None of it mattered. It all slipped through my fingers, so to speak, washed away by the bliss of release as I felt my cock convulse, spraying up into the succubus over and over, the pleasure peaking and peaking again, higher and higher...

There was one thing that stuck - an oddly mundane, incongruous memory. It stood out a little more than the rest, and I clutched at it frantically, even as I could feel my mind eroding as the climax washed over me, threatening to drown me under its weight.

And then I blacked out.

--

"Matt? C'mon, Matt..."

I came back to consciousness slowly, confused. It was Viv's voice. She sounded far away, but she was riding me. Smoothly, sensually. No urgency, just a steady rhythm, bouncing atop me.

Reflexively, I reached up, squeezing Viv's breasts with my hands. God, they were so fucking full and round, they felt...

Her tits felt different, I realized.

"Mmm," another voice crooned in my ear. "Back with us. And you've got nice hands."

And then my brain got the rest of my senses back online, and I realized it was still the succubus riding me. She'd folded her wings again.

Viv and Lauren were still watching from outside the circle. I could see horror shift to relief on their faces as my eyes focused on them, and they could see that I was still alive and presumably sane.

Lauren, for her part, burst into tears. Relieved tears, it seemed like, at least.

But then the physical sensations demanded my full attention.

"That must've been intense," Callistryllaxia said, pursing her lips in concern as she rode me.

"Y-yeah," I said, trying to reorient myself. This was intense. Even as I kept caressing her tits, my eyes tracked the smooth curves of her form, the way her body moved atop mine sensually.

"But it seems like everything's working like it should, hmm?" Calli noted, amused. "Hands, eyes, and..." she trailed off, but I felt her pussy give a teasing little clench around me.

I groaned, and my cock twitched, in response. I could feel myself getting close again.

"Good," she said. "And now you're free from whoever did that to you."

"R-right..." God, each little roll of her hips, driving my cock up into her, sent a wave of pleasure through me. The feel of her around my shaft - tight, wet, and smooth - was exquisite.

"You're back in control. Well. Sort of." I could see the teasing smirk on her face, and she leaned in to whisper in my ear, "But no men are really in control when I'm around."

I was breathing hard. I didn't feel in control, that was for sure. The idea that she could steal a man's soul this way was suddenly extremely believable.

"Especially not thaumaturges. That first taste I got of you was magnificent. But I want more," she moaned the word into my ear, and I moaned in response.

I was going to cum again. I didn't even feel embarrassed about it, if I'm honest with you. Everything about her was perfectly calibrated to get me off.

"And you're going to give me more. You can't help it. Now that your orgasms are unbound, it's going to happen... so... fast..." She was punctuating each word by driving herself down on my cock hard enough and fast enough that her ass was slapping on my thighs.

And then she stopped talking. She pulled back, her face inches from mine, those red eyes looking directly into mine, like she knew what was about to happen.

With a strangled grunt, staring into her eyes, I started cumming again.

--

I didn't black out that time.

Or the time after that.

Or the time after that.

But I did start to get exhausted. And then drowsy, sleepy. And then, finally - barely conscious as I spasmed, my cock jetting into Callistryllaxia a fifth and final time - she paused, her movements slowing.

She sighed, regretfully, looking down at me; I was starting to slump over a little in the folding chair. "It's always hard to stop myself. I want more, and more, and more... but I think this is enough."

She glanced over at the witches. "You two are the most interesting ladies I've met in a long time. Well, second- and third-most interesting, anyway. Call me up any time you think I can help."

Her form began to blur at the edges, to dissolve. At first I thought it was the exhaustion, but no - the effect grew more and more pronounced, her body fading, blurring into the shadows like smoke or mist.

The last of her to go was her face, those red eyes, her dark lips - which formed into a wicked, teasing smile. "Rest up. I'll see you again soon, thaumaturge. One down, twelve to go."

She winked, as her face dissolved. Then the words were gone too, and the basement of the library descended into silence.

"Why'd we have to get the same succubus again," Viv muttered. I could practically hear her teeth grinding.

Lauren was the first to move. She waited a moment, then stepped across the circle, approaching me. "You okay? You look... drained."

I felt drained. I was a tired, sweaty, naked mess. But I was also free. I gave her an exhausted but elated smile. "Y-yeah. It... it worked. Thanks."

I looked over at Viv. "Thank you both. I-I know that was risky for all of us... I get the impression I didn't know just how risky."

Tired as I was, I hadn't forgotten the revelation from earlier.

I wasn't the first Thaumaturge the coven had met. And it sounded like things with the last one hadn't ended well for him.

Viv nodded, but didn't look as excited as I did. "Yeah. We've... we've gotta talk about what the succubus said. I feel bad; I-I didn't want to scare you, and it's not only our story to tell, but we haven't told you everything, y'know, about-"

I stood up, and the wave of exhaustion that washed over me almost made me pass out. "Viv. I know. We need to talk. But I'm so tired I can barely stand. Can it wait until tomorrow? I-I want to hear you out. Want you to hear me out, for that matter."

Viv nodded. "Okay." Her voice was small, tired. A little sad, ashamed. "Let's... let's find a time tomorrow to talk."

"Yeah," Lauren agreed, soberly. "Viv and I will clean up here, Matt. Go home. Get some rest."

I did.

I couldn't tell you how I got back to my place; I was tired enough that I don't even remember it.

There was one more thing that happened that night, though.

As I came up out of the basement of the library, my phone pinged, and I glanced down. I had a series of text messages from Diana; a response after I'd told her what we were doing. It was sent half an hour ago; reception in the basement must be bad. I pulled it up.

Diana: FUCK NO. NOT SAFE

Diana: DO NOT DO IT

Diana: WHERE ARE YOU? THE LIBRARY?

Diana: CALL ME BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING

Diana: I'M SERIOUS MATT CALL ME

Diana: I CANNOT BELIEVE THEY WOULD EVEN SUGGEST IT

I didn't have the bandwidth to process that, not in full. At least the last one was only a couple of minutes ago.

I at least had the wherewithal to text her to tell her I was okay, it had gone okay, and that I would talk to her soon, before I stumbled home to pass out.

--

The series is now sitting at something like 70k words - basically a book in its own right! - so I thought I'd take a couple paragraphs to say a few things.

First of all, thanks to everybody who's read this much of what I've written. I wouldn't have kept it going without so much feedback and engagement from readers. When I started writing this nine months ago, it was far and away the most experimental thing I'd ever tried and I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but it's been a blast, in part because of you all.

Second, I wanted to note that I'm grateful for the feedback, both positive and negative, which I do think is helping me improve the story. Thanks to those of you who have left ratings, written comments, or otherwise reached out.

Also, just to lay any concerns to rest, while I do view this as "completing" an arc, the series will continue to get posted relatively unabated at roughly the same pace. (The next three chapters are already written!)

I wouldn't be writing without your interest and support. Thanks again for reading.