What followed that memory trip was not pleasant at all:

As I was revisiting how I met Voluptia and Ambrosius, I could feel that something was out of the place.

There was a strong presence in there, with me. I had the feeling of being observed.

It was a sensation that someone, or something, was watching, as my past unfolded in front of my eyes.

Yet, I was not able to see or hear anything out of the ordinary.

Then, at the exact moment that I arrived at the bus stop, which marked the end of the first contact with Vol, the events started to advance, very fast.

Like someone had pressed the fast-forward button in my head.

I was now, months ahead in time. I saw myself in an alley, where I could see Grotheske crouching over her last victim, I was angered and surprised.

But that was all, before I could interact with her, everything froze and rewound.

I saw myself back to the bus stop, waiting to go home again.

But this time, a jolt of electricity stroke at me.

It was a weird and intense feeling, that every cell in my body seemed to react to that shock.

The bus stop shook violently. It was vibrating so fast, that it became just a blur. Then it shattered in millions of shards and flew directly to me.

In fear, I protected my face with my left arm.

The explosion of shards continued to engulf me. The entire world was crumbling apart like everything was made of glass. It cracked and exploded, without making a sound. And the fragments rained all over the place.

However, to my surprise, those pieces didn't have any substance: they passed through me, like they didn't even exist.

I tried to run, but my feet didn't move. When I looked down I saw that the ground was not there anymore.

Just like a cartoon character, realizing that he was walking in the air, I began to fell in a dark void.

I shouted for help, but no voice came out of my mouth. Extended my hands, in a vain effort to stop my fall; but, there was nothing to grab.

Then I hit something, and I got so scared that I opened my eyes and jumped in the chair.

That was when I realized that I had fallen asleep in the in the room of the hospital.

My heart was beating so strong in my chest, that I could hear the sound of the heartbeats.

"A fucking Nightmare", I told myself.

The last thing that I could remember was getting ready to listen to Grotheske.

My head was dizzy; as I had been under the effect of a very powerful hallucinogenic.

I rubbed my forehead and my eyelids, getting to my senses. I was slowly recovering from that dream state. My vision started to adjust to the brightness of the room. The light hurt my eyes at first, and I blinked, by instinct. The deformed shapes, around my body, began to reveal they're true forms. I started to see the colors, the contours, and finally the details of the room.

The first thing that I saw was the small green window, right in front of me; whose light hurt my eyes before.

Voluptia was there too, a little bit to the left, still in bed; sitting and half covered by the castle made of pudding pots. Wearing the very same long shirt, that belonged to the hospital.

But as soon as I looked at her I froze in my chair.

She was stunning:

 There was a fire inside her purple eyes that I had never seen before. The white shirt, that she was wearing, was open. Allowing a perfect view of her voluminous breasts. The large portion of skin was peeking out of her bra. Those rounded and perfect tits that seemed to point at me. They looked so delicate, yet, so firm; that they gave the impression that they would jump out of the lingerie, at any moment.

She noticed that I got awake and saw me examining her body, with lust in my face.

I could see, by the grin on her lips, that she was enjoying the situation.

She talked to me, but again it was not Voluptia's voice that I could hear:

"Welcome to the land of the living, detective.", she smirked, "What a shame, "cupcake". Sleeping in the middle of a job", here, the word, "cupcake", sounded odd, being said by her. Cupcake, or other any kind of sweet, that Voluptia experienced and liked, was her special way to show affection towards me.

But with that other voice, it sounded more defiant, than affectionate.

I tried to get out of the chair, but my legs were numb and I almost fell on the floor.

She pointed her forefinger up and moved it side by side:

"No, no, not good. What a lazy detective we have here. What would your clients say?"

I was still feeling confused, I allowed my body to fall back to the chair, and replied:

"What did you do to me Grotheske? How long have I been here, like this?"

"Moi?",she pointed at her own chest and pouted, like she had been offended, "How ungrateful to the heroine that just saved your bacon! I should let that mind invader suck all your memories dry and leave you rotting in this chair, you..., you rude."

I looked at her, understanding the gravity of what she just told me, she didn't want to look back at me:

She moved her body to the side of the bed, making the fabric move and expose more of her skin. When she moved the articulated table, out of her way, she almost destroyed the castle of pots that Voluptia built.

"I know what you are thinking. How could you think something so bad about poor old me? And, of course, the little crybaby would never allow me to invade your mind, "cupcake". But this time, lover, It was YOUR Grotheske, who came to rescue you."

She crossed her legs, making sure that a very big portion of her tights could be seen. I examined those rounded legs and the contour of her hips. When I looked at her long and well-sculpted legs it made me almost feel the heat and softness of her skin.

"What do you mean by that?", I was not sure if I would like the answer.

"Well, sweet cheeks, while you were all hurt because of your precious brat, you had an intimate visitor.", she giggled and caressed her own legs.

If what she said was true I owed her for taking me out of an induced trance. And, yes, she was right, to accuse her, like I did, had been rude.

So, because of what happened with Vol. , someone could take advantage of my state and invade my thoughts. Trapping me in my own memories.

But, with what purpose? And, more important, for how long had I been out of reality?

I looked at my watch.

To my surprise, their hands had just moved up a few minutes since the last time, that I checked.

Besides the impression that I experienced all those past moments of my life again; almost no time had passed.

That made very angry: "Who dared to pull those memories out of me?"

The answer was obvious: one of the magic dwellers that was hidden in the school. However, I had no clue about which one of them.

Well, I had to add telepathy to the profile of those magicians. That would, in fact, help me narrow the search list. Telepathy has some limitations and the invader had made a very big mistake by playing with my mind.

And of all people in the world or even the underworld,  she was the one that freed me from my own thoughts. I felt ashamed. So, I apologized to her for the first time in my life: she was not the reason for my fury, she was just the nearest target.

"I'm sorry ok. Yes, I think I need to thank you. However, I am sure that it was her that asked you to rescue me.

She grinned victoriously:

"See, that was not that hard, was it? I think this will be the start of a very productive partnership"

Like I said before, I am a control freak: for me, the universe is like a giant clock. I prefer when every cog is working right and I am the one that spins the cords. And now I was losing control of everything, even my mind had been invaded. That dive inside my past felt like an invasion of privacy: a mind rape.

She clapped her hands:

"Very smart, "cupcake". Mmm, the word rape bring me a lot of nice memories...", she licked her lower lips.

She looked straight at my eyes, her purple eyes staring me, with lust, I felt like she could devour me with them.

She knew that I was staring back at her and she loved it. She opened a wide smile.

"Do you like what you see, don't you?" she moved her forefinger to her lips rubbing the pink skin, slowly. Then she bit the tip of the finger and licked it without taking her eyes off me.

Very sexy and very provocative...

That girl had an intense fire coming out of her purple eyes. A very deep, charming and seductive gaze that was almost impossible to avoid.

I had never seen her like that before, it was a look that mixed innocence and desire, at the same time.

My body shivered, but I shook my head. I had to control myself. That she-devil knew exactly what kind of buttons to push.

Yet, it was strange to hear that voice coming out of my partner's mouth. Grotheske was the one talking; but it was Voluptia's mouth that moved.

I lowered my head, telling myself that she was only playing with me. Then I thought about the face of all her victims, and that broke the spell.

"Can you please, at least stop reading my mind without permission?", I said.

"Ouch! Why do you need to be you such a spoilsport?", she said frustrated.

Then, she stopped for a moment and added:

"We could have so much fun. I could be your princess. No, that would be that brat. Your queen. Of course, a queen! Your queen, so you should bow to me now and show some respect."

I knew what kind of fun, she was referring to. And I, definitely, had no interest in it. Also I sensed some tension in her voice, when she talked about Vol.

"Brat"...

If that was the way she felt about her other half; how could they expect a truce, between the three of us, to work?"

She left out a sigh"

"Sweetheart, from now on you will have to deal with both of us. We have grown now, you see. We do not have time to play hide and seek, anymore. Do you think you can handle both of us, "cupcake"?"

She moved her head up making her red hair dance and blinked her left eye, cupping her breasts and offering them to me.

I couldn't find a single word to say, but she seemed to have an entire speech ready:

"Oh, and don't bother using that amulet. You see, baby. She left me in charge for a while. I am not taking over our body. So you don't need to worry, cute boy. I'll be a good girl. But, I can be a bad one if you want", she was playful and blinked her left eye again.

I replied:

"Let's be honest with each other for once? How did you convince her to allow you to stay? I thought you hated each other."

She fixed her eyes in some invisible point behind me:

"I don't HATE her. I don't hate you too. In fact, I find you delicious. Why you two have always to treat me like garbage?"

"The amulet was her idea, not mine, it was her decision. You know that your creation was just a mistake."

"I am. Alive. Deal with it. She is the fake. I am her true self. You see, detective, you could have a lot more fun with me, than with her."

I looked straight to her and I replied:

"Yes, I know what kind of fun you provide.", I said with sarcasm," Can't you see that this is not how she wants to live. That she gave all that up so that she would never harm anyone? Then, out of nowhere, you appear and make her do all the things that she was always afraid that she could do. That is not your body, it is hers. You are just a mind parasite trying to take control of your host."

She shook her head in disbelief:

"See, that is where you are wrong. This is our body! Of course, I prefer doing some improvements when I am the one driving it, but it is ours; not hers!"

She got out of the bed and slowly moved towards my armchair. Her feline steps were almost hypnotic. Her hips jiggled revealing her tights at every step she gave.

She was gesturing eagerly, while she talked:

" You think that the amulet created me, but you could not be more wrong. I ALWAYS existed. She is ME! And I am HER! Two sides of the SAME coin. I am the one that made she endure when she got sad with her sisters because they kept making fun of her. I gave her strength, when she got afraid. I am the true succubus. I enjoy being myself."

Since she was getting too close, for my sake, I moved my right my hand to the necklace and held the amulet in my palm.

"Yes, do that baby. Lock me up again, and go against her own will, this time."

She didn't seem like a threat. In fact, she seemed much more frustrated, than dangerous.

"You want to stay, and she wants you to stay. I really don't understand why. I don't trust you; not after what you did. But I will accept you with some conditions: first, I deal the cards, which mean: I call you. Second: no seduction, no games, and not a single victim. Rest assured that I didn't forgive all the things that you did, nor will. And I am sure, neither did she. But it that is what she wants I will do this, for her."

"You are right, I may be a monster. However, so is she. And that is the truth that you keep denying to yourself. We are the same. The only difference is that I know what I am and I am very happy with it. And I am the strong one. But I accept your terms. For now....In the end, you both will see the world the way I see."

I was about to complain...however, we got interrupted by the doctor that got back in a hurry. He opened the door and erupted inside the room, without ceremony. He was pale and very agitated. His face covered by a mask of pure terror.

"I hope you two had arrived at some sort of agreement. Things just got a lot worse.", he said.

We both looked at him at the same time, and he continued vomiting the words, without stop:

"It happened again, Roger! But, this time, we are dealing with a real murder."