Full Moon
Zyla is an intelligent young witch who has just completed her apprenticeship with her trainer, an older witch named Reina. She lives in New York City, where witches and wizards thrive in a hidden underground community and take precaution to protect and conceal their lifestyle from humans.
Zyla has been dating a human, a man named Richard, for a year now and he doesn't know that she is a witch or of her lifestyle. Since Zyla has completed her apprenticeship, she buys an underground store and plans to open her shop. She creates her own goods and items to sell and stocks the shop before she begins working on the potions and spells. The majority of her potions and spells are completed and bottled without any error, but on a seduction spell Zyla makes a mistake and accidentally misspeaks a few words. She watches the spell go up into flames and hears a terrible screeching-like noise, but brushes it off after the sparks fade away. She finishes the rest of her prep work and leaves her shop for the day, deciding to finish tomorrow.
The next day when Zyla returns to her shop, she finds it is a mess. Items have been gone through and the shop is in shambles. Many of the goods and materials she has fashioned are destroyed, and quite a few potion bottles are broken. Zyla finds a picture of her and Richard missing from her office and a couple of her clothing items are gone, as well. Deciding the shop must have been broken into, Zyla cleans up the mess and spends the day re-doing most of her previous work. Once she restores most of the shop, she casts a protection spell to keep other intruders from breaking in, and leaves for her apartment to get ready for a Friday night date with Richard.
Once at her apartment, Zyla gets cleaned up and dresses nice for the night. It isn't long before Richard comes to pick her up, complimenting her on how great she looks. They decide to go a club for drinks before dinner. While at the club, Richard is approached by an attractive woman. The woman clearly looks Zyla in the eye as she hits on Richard as Zyla awkwardly tries to break up the conversation. As the woman walks away, Zyla notices the clothing she is wearing is remarkable familiar and realizes that it is her own dress and heels that were missing from her shop. Seething, Zyla is plotting to approach the girl as she notices Richard is in an almost trance-like state. As she continues to try to wake him up he finally answers her voice, mentioning that the girl is very mysterious and must have some sort of secret. Zyla rolls her eyes. If only he knew her own secrets, she thinks to herself.
The next day, Zyla decides to have a girl's night out with Melinda, a mutual friend of both her and Richard. While out at dinner, Melinda casually states that she saw Richard talking to an attractive woman near the newsstand earlier that afternoon. Zyla questions her about the girl's looks and realizes it is the same woman from the club. She asks what they were talking about and Melinda says she overheard her ask Richard to come to a party with her on Tuesday night, which is 3 days from now.
Unable to control her anger and jealousy, Zyla calls Richard and he answers the phone in what sounds like a trance-like state, rambling on about the woman and the party. Zyla begins to yell at him, disturbing the other patrons of the restaurant. The sound of her anger causes Richard to break out of the trance. The two have an argument over the phone. Zyla excuses herself from dinner, rushing from the restaurant. On her way to confront Richard, she realizes something seems fishy about the situation, and she decides instead to visit Reina to ask her for advice.
Zyla meets Reina at her home, and sits down with her, telling her about what has been occurring between her and Richard and the other woman. Reina questions her and asks if she has seen anything else strange or had anything else unusual or unexpected happen to her lately. Zyla answers no at first, then rethinks the question and tells Reina about the break in at the shop. She then tells her about the failed spell and speculates that maybe she angered one of the other shop owners with the commotion and has caused them to seek revenge.
Reina tells her that the situation sounds like a succubus, a demon that disguises itself as a beautiful seductive woman in order to suck the souls from men. Reina explains that succubae only feed on full moons, and that the closest full moon is this Tuesday. Everything clicks in Zyla's head as she realizes the woman's party is on Tuesday night. Reina tells her that the succubus must be hungry since it hasn't been able to feed yet, and that they are at their weakest when hungry. If the succubus is weak, she may be able to use a banishing spell to send it back from whence it came. Armed with her new knowledge, Zyla thanks Reina and leaves to prepare her plan of attack against the succubus.
By Tuesday, Zyla has prepared her spell and has her wand ready for the night. She spends the day following Richard, making sure he is okay and watching out for the woman. Sure enough, around 5 pm the woman finds and approaches Richard as he is leaving work, asking him to the party. Zyla is proud to hear him tell her no at first because his girlfriend would not appreciate it. The succubus continues to seduce Richard and he is soon within a trance-like state again. He agrees to her party and follows the succubus, who leads him to the park as it becomes darker outside.
The park is empty and closed for nighttime, but Zyla manages to sneak in after the pair she is following, and watches the succubus seduce Richard even further. She becomes jealous and angry again as the woman begins to remove her top and wonders for a moment if she isn't just trying to sleep with her boyfriend. As if on cue, the succubus shows her fangs and begins moving towards Richard. Zyla uses her wand quickly and casts a movement spell, pushing Richard back and throwing the succubus a good 10 feet. Richard is knocked out of his trance and watches in shock at the scene before him.
Zyla tells the succubus that she accidentally summoned her and that she will send her back. The succubus makes a move at her and almost swipes Zyla on the cheek before she uses another spell to throw her again. Zyla finally pulls the banishing potion from her pocket and speaks an incantation as she opens the bottle, throwing it at the woman. Before her and Richard's eyes, the woman turns into a hideous demon which screeches as it is sucked back into the ground.
In shock about what just happened, Richard asks Zyla to explain. She sighs and sits him down on the park bench underneath the stars and tells him all about the underground witch community, her training and shop, the accidental summoning of the succubus, what would have happened and how she saved him. After she finishes her story, Zyla looks away, telling Richard that she is sorry she hasn't told him sooner, and that she understands if he doesn't want to be with her. Richard holds her chin and turns her face to his and tells her that he loves her no matter what and that her secret is safe with him. He smiles and tells her that he always has enjoyed a mysterious woman anyway as Zyla also smiles. She winks at him and tells him that she will show him how a true succubus acts, flashes him a smile and leads him away to go with her for a night on the town.
Chapters
Chapter 1: Zyla has just completed her apprenticeship and starts to open a shop. She has a problem while preparing spells but thinks nothing of it.
Chapter 2: When she returns the next day, Zyla finds her shop a complete wreck. She charts it up to a thief and cleans up the mess. While at the club, she becomes annoyed by an attractive woman hitting on Richard.
Chapter 3: Zyla hears from a friend that Richard has talked to the woman again and confronts him. The pair have a fight and Zyla seeks advice from Reina.
Chapter 4: Zyla develops a plan against the succubus and prepares for the attack, and spends the majority of the day following Richard to keep him safe. She fights with the succubus and is able to banish it.
Chapter 5: Zyla tells Richard the truth and explain what happened. They reconcile and go to spend a night on the town together.
Characters
Zyla
Age: 24, a young with. Light blonde hair, blue eyes.
Richard
Age: 25, paralegal at a law firm. Dark hair, blue eyes, beard.
Succubus
Age: unknown. Appears as an attractive young woman with long black hair and light brown eyes.
Reina
Age: 70. Witch who trains Zyla and completes her apprenticeship.