Cosmo made his way to his home, and quicky scanning the area before rushing into his room. He closes the door and peeks out his window.
"Six… Damn it…" Cosmo curse under his breath, reaching under his desk and pulls out a map, a personal one with marked drop points and paths. Cosmo reads the map over and over again, trying his best to commit to memory. "This should take two weeks to reach the border if the weather of the forest are optimal but…" Cosmo closes his eyes, the memory of the village, a small part of him wants to stay and continue to be spoiled, to be loved… that maybe he could work out some kind of deal, but he knows that staying here any longer, means death.
***
Succubus, a monster known for using illusions and dream manipulation. They have humanoid type figures with feline-like features with witnesses describing them like a tall hairless cats. A Succubus has the tendency to stalk a singular prey, learning their habits before luring them in to kill and eat. The type of victim can vary but they're known to hunt males, strong ones in particular.
Maybe it was when they first found him, maybe it was when he first walked, all he knew was that the feeling of bloodlust was always there, only noticing the difference when he went herb picking alone and noticed how calm he feels being away from them.
At first he tried to do some simple training, to strengthen his body for any potential fights but the bloodlust only grew stronger as he developed his muscles. The process of learning the succubus touch was a lucky chance as it was the only way he could get stronger without looking like he is getting stronger.
He thought of many ways to deal with their growing bloodlust, how would he confront them, maybe he should live in a different area of the Wild Forest, join the trading caravan, but he concluded that running away would be the best course of action, since no one else needs to get hurt. Deep in the Wild Forest, this escape plan proves to be a long and harsh journey, and he knows he had to be quick, as a lot of them often rush out to find him if he doesn't return to the village after curfew.
Whenever he went on his herb picking, he would take the time to map out routes and set up supply points. Sometimes he would purposely stay out to see who would respond the fastest, Sia and Verra were always first, and those two were the last ones he wanted to face. Although, those two are doing their best to keep their bloodlust in check.
He noticed how serious their bloodlust was getting by this constant smell around the villager, a hint of mint, a major ingredient in suppression pills. The pills are use to suppress their desires but at the cost of everything else about them, making them lethargic and depress.
Every now and then, Cosmo sees the villagers… pretending to be happy, moving with heavy feet, forcing a smile whenever they saw him, Sia and Verra returns more hurt from a hunts, making more mistakes. All of them are trying to quell that part of them while hiding it from him, but he can tell, reading people is something he's good at.
Cosmo knows they're good people, that they truly love him. He knows that Sia loves it when he compliments her for food, that Verra is still sad for making him panic when he was ten, how Minny enjoys reading with him, and when Nelly takes the chance to trade more from his haul. Every one in the village was genuine in their affection but this only made their bloodlust just as genuine, it's a part of them they can't suppress forever, at least without hurting themselves.
"Nelly comes back in two weeks from the usual trade, then they all take their suppression pills…" Comso takes a deep breath, he hates the fact they take such a thing for him. "Four days and nineteen succubuses… I have four days before the effects wear off and then I have nineteen succubuses to fight off..."
***
Sia's walking home, or at least trying. The effect of the suppression pills was stronger than last month's. Her feet feels heavy, the world around her, dull and colorless, but she makes her way home to Cosmo, her wonderful son…
Nelly returns with the usual trade, food, spices, clothes, and suppression pills. When Sia let Cosmo go on his first herb picking alone, she called for a village meeting and tried to convince them to take the pills. They complained but she was adamant that it was for the best for both the village and Cosmo, that even though he was different, they can't be too careless with their own nature. At first, the effect was minor, but as the years went by, as Cosmo began to shine more in their eyes, the stronger the pills needed to be. Even when Sia would enforce the use of the pills, there were those that simply wanted to… indulge themselves…
Sia sneaks up to a panting figure, and grabs the back of her neck, the grip strong enough to break the neck of any normal human, but this woman isn't any human. She lifts her and swings her body towards the village.
"Take… your… pill…Joi!" Sia's voice came out like venom, harsh and quick as she squeezed harder on the neck before dropping the women. "You all go and take your pills!" she announces, there was a moment of silence before the sound rushing footsteps echoes away.
Sia grips the side of her head, she wants to kill them for even looking at her Cosmo, she wants to go and hug Cosmo, she wants to hang their battered corpses on trees, she wants to feed Cosmo his favorite stew.
"No… No…" She reaches into a bag and eats another suppression pill and stands still, letting the effect take over. Only when her mind was numb, she would make her way into her home, to her Cosmo. "Need… to… make… dinner…" She gathers ingredients, chopping them into portions for Cosmo's favorite rabbit stew. "Extra… rabbit… today…" Her words almost slurring. Even under the effect of the pills, she force herself to be careful, to make his favorite without making too many mistakes.
She pours some stew into a bowl and places a piece of bread into the soup, just how Cosmo likes it. She makes her way to his room, the smell of him is intoxicating as she closes in, the thought of him thanking her for the food makes her heart flutter. Opening the door, still dreaming about him, is met with an empty room.
"Huh….?" Sia looks around, wondering if he's just hiding. "I'll… wait…" She places the bowl on his desk and sits on his bed, staring at the floor, blinking away the night.
The next moment she wakes up, Cosmo's room fills with the morning sun's light.
"C-Cosmo?" She blinks, feeling how dry her eyes are, she stands and stretches, seeing that the bowl is empty. "Hehe, must've been a good dinner then…" Sia compliments herself and cleans up. When she reaches for the bowl, she finds a note underneath. She unfolds it and reads.
'Thank you.'
"Awww, you didn't need to write a note…" Sia smiles, but something feels off as questions forms in her addled mind, why a note? Why didn't he wake me up? Where is Cosmo?
***
The sun peaks over the horizon, lighting up the world around Cosmo as he dashes through the Wild forest, ducking under branches and hopping over roots and rocks. Chasing him was a beast, one unlike the forest or Cosmo had ever seen. The beast hopped from tree to tree, laughing like a maniac before launching herself at Cosmo, but with a turn of his hip, he barely dodges her grip as she gracefully catches herself and flips herself back on her feet.
"Alishi…" She was the village's red hair seamstress. Managing the village's clothes, She usually has this air of professionalism about her and takes her trade over herb picking, even making her own clothing style for the villages, although her sense of style is rather old and formal. Yet, here she stands, clothe shredded, panting and drooling like a starved beast, her eyes filled with bloodlust, her succubus nature no longer held back by the effect of any pill.
"F-found you!" She shouts, charging at him. But Cosmo plants his feet on the ground, putting his years of training into work as he raises his hands. Swiftly dodging her grab, he uses her force against hers and throws her to the ground with a meaty impact, knocking the air out of her. Cosmo places his hand on her side and immediately applies his special technique as Alishi's body suddenly jolts, as if she's being shocked.
Using knowledge from his previous life and through a series of test and trails, he was finally able to imitate the sensation of a taser with the special touch of the succubuses, this is his most reliable and effective way of knocking them out without hurting them too much.
Yet Alishi only seems stimulated, her body seizing for a long time, her gaze on Cosmo remains unbroken for the entire time. Only when exhaustion finally took over, she squeezes his name out her month before fainting. Cosmo lets her go and steps back, only breathing once he was sure she was knocked out. He checks his hand, only to see it shaking. He was still scared that he might've killed her, but it doesn't seem to be the case, in fact, she was able to take it more than the animals of this forest. The relief of this realization lasted only for a moment when he figures that the rest of the succubi are going to be the same… and that facing Sia and Verra was going to be a much bigger problem…