Incubus For A Night
Aric Lanewood
Bookapy User License
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please go to Bookapy.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Carter had spoken highly of this retailer's tech, calling it futuristic to the point of magic, but the website didn’t look like it was made by cutting edge computer scientists to Lucas. During their most recent monthly lunch, Carter had raved about these headbands being able to fully transform the wearer. Lucas was skeptical, but curious as he scrolled through a multitude of animal ears. Fluffy and furry things didn’t appeal to him, so he decided to look at what categories were on offer. He would have settled on something safe and generic like fox or dog ears, but he found something more his style, an infernal section.
Skimming the pictures, he clicked on a pair almost at random. He inspected the listing closely. They seemed like high detail molded plastic, higher quality than Halloween costumes, though not special effects level. The reviews sang their praise, but also didn’t mention life altering transformations. He sighed and decided to take a chance on the burnt orange color anyway. He entered his info and hoped that whatever finally came in the mail was worth the premium price tag.
Three and a half weeks later a plain brown box with a discreet generic return address arrived on Lucas’s doorstep. He hoped his coworker wasn’t pulling an elaborate prank on him. He did however take some solace in the fact that it felt securely packed. Opening the package, he found the goat horns to be very true to their description and photos, down to the exact gradient going from a burnt orange hue at the horns’ bases up to a smoky grey at their tips. The headband felt sturdy and they seemed securely attached, he noted as he turned them over in his hands, inspecting the molded details for imperfections that he did not find.
Satisfied with their construction, he went to the bathroom mirror to try them on. Despite the afternoon daylight coming through the small window to his left and the open door to his right, he still turned on the fluorescent light above the sink to ensure there were no shadows masking his view. He wasn’t sure he believed that this could be as drastic as Carter had suggested, so he wanted to have the best lighting possible just in case the effects were more subtle. He initially placed them on his head without looking at the mirror, trying to gauge how easy they were to put on or how much they would need to be adjusted. He jumped when he focused his eyes on his reflection.
His whole body looked so different. Where his eyes had been a deep brown before, now they were a vibrant shade of orange. So vibrant that they seemed to glow against his now dusty grey skin. His skin had lost almost all of its inconsistencies as well. Gone were his dark circles, and the mole on the side of his neck. The uneven coloration of his arms had even seemed to be smoothed away. His hair had changed from sandy brown to a rich mahogany. It took him longer, staring into the mirror, to figure out that his ears had elongated ever so slightly and ended in points now. He had been so preoccupied with the changes to his face and skin he had missed the biggest element of his transformation.
When he turned and took a step, he saw it, a huge muscular tail sticking out over the top of his pants. It was massive, over four feet long and as big around at the base as his thighs. He looked at it in the mirror intensely and willed it to wiggle, then jumped again when it did. He played with the act of moving it, fine tuning its dexterity for what must have been hours. Just when he felt that he had mostly mastered it, he heard the deadbolt on the front door click. Realizing that his boyfriend was home from work, Lucas quickly snapped the bathroom door closed and flipped the lock.
“Sorry I’m late.” Adrian called from the foyer where he kept his shoes. “Work just kind of got away from me.”
That was the price of dating an artist. Lucas thought to himself. Then he looked out the window at the sky and realized that it was indeed late. The sun must have set a while ago.
“It looks like time got away from you, too.” Adrian said jovially. “Did you have anything in mind for dinner tonight?”
In his preoccupation with the headband Lucas had entirely forgotten that he was going to cook dinner that night. “Um, not really now.” He called from the bathroom, laughing a little bit at himself.
“Are you okay?” Adrian asked from just outside the door.
Lucas thought fast, not wanting to explain what he had spent hours doing today. “Yeah, I’m fine, I’ll be out in a minute. We could reheat leftovers or order in.” He offered.
“I’m really not that hungry, I might have spoiled my appetite with a brain snack too late in the day.” Adrian said, a little ashamed.
“Don’t worry about it, I’m not really feeling like dinner either.” Lucas could hear Adrian walk away from the door and he once again focused on the almost magical accessory on his head. He knew that Carter wasn’t stuck as a cat and he couldn’t imagine Levi going around like that as a nurse, so there had to be a simple way to undo this. What if I just, Lucas thought as he popped the headband up off his head. He blinked forcibly but he was his normal self in the mirror, holding the horns above him. Huh, that easy?