"That," replied Alex, sinking to his knees, "was a succubus. A particularly nasty one, at that."

"Those are real?"

"You've got a smoking dead one in front of you, why are you so skeptical?"

"Well, I...it's just..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Question retracted. You're a mundane, after all- it's expected.

"I'm a bit surprised, though. See those rings on her wing tips? That means this demon had powers of at least the seventh level, if not more. That's not surprising. You'd have to be a pretty powerful succubus to net yourself such a prime location. Sororities tend to be riddled with succubi- it's an easy feast when you consider all of the frats and athletes that beg to sleep with them."

"Then what's so confusing?" asked Gunther.

"It's her tail. A succubus this powerful should have a longer and thicker tail. It's where excess magical energy is stored on a succubus's body. With a tail this scrawny, it's no wonder I was able to kill her so easily. It's almost like she was starving herself."

"Maybe she was using all of her energy for some sort of evil spell?"

"Good thought, but no. You don't need much magic power for any of a succubus's spells. Incidentally, this does explain why you fell in love with her. Some people are more sensitive to lust spells than other. But she was starving herself for a reason. I think she was running a swap shop."

"A what?"

"A swap shop!" replied Alex. "It's not like she was making a golem army- you'd be able to spot that in seconds. Oh, right, you have no idea what I'm talking about."

"How can you suddenly forget I don't know jack about magic?"

"Because I've never talked about magic to someone who didn't know what it was!" snapped Alex. "Shut up! Anyway, there are two things succubi can to when they're feeling particularly evil. For one, they can make a slave; or if they do it enough times, a golem army. The idea is that if you remove the soul, but keep it, you can control the person's body. That doesn't last long, because they have no free will, and they're easy to spot. And, once you eat the soul, the person is back to normal."

"So a swap shop is where you put a soul into someone else?" guessed Gunther.

"Well, close. If you put a soul into a body that already has a soul, nothing happens. But what happens is that, if it's not being controlled, the soulless body acts like nothing happened. In fact, you can live without a soul with no side effects up until you die. At that point, you'd cease to exist. No afterlife. After all, the body is existing with only an imprint- not the real thing. If you put a foreign soul into a shell like that, the imprint is wiped out, and the foreign soul gets complete control."

"So the soulless guy is killed?"

"Maybe. If their soul was devoured, then yes. He'd be dead. But sometimes, their soul is kept and put into the body that the foreign soul came from. There's no particular reason for this; succubi just think its funny. They're just evil like that."

"Huh," said Gunther, after an awkward silence. "It's safe to say I won't be forgetting this day for some time, huh Alex?" he said, grinning awkwardly. "You blew my mind and slayed my not-so-true love."

Alex just chuckled. "You'd think that," he said, "but you'd be wrong. This is the third time I've had to tell you about magic. You ended up with a curse the first time, and the second time was when you found an artifact of mine I left where I thought you wouldn't find it."

"Wait...you knew she was a succubus?"

"No, I just wanted to help. I'll admit this is the first time I've volunteered information. Usually you mundane just stumble blindly onto it. What can I say, Gunth? I hate to see you miserable."

"Well, thanks, man. It was a good effort. If she'd been normal, I'm sure we would've had a happy life together. I wish I could do something in return. I'll never forget this, Alex!"

"Yes, you will."

Click here for the short story entitled "Swap Shop".