Chapter One: Alice in Wonderland

“Begin at the beginning," the King said, very gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop.” 

                Gayun sipped her lukewarm coffee as she browsed through her own shop in search of something she had yet to read. Her search ended in vain as she picked up Lewis Carroll’s masterpiece Alice in Wonderland. She had already read and reread the book but it was still good for an afternoon which couldn’t seem to settle upon whether the weather would be rain or shine.

                Once she had put away the book she had been reading earlier, she sat back down in her faded green comfy chair. Almost immediately, a cat jumped up on to her lap. There were actually three felines who resided inside the shop: a black cat with white paws named Oreo, a tabby cat named Pudding, and a white cat with blue eyes named Minty. Pudding was the one who had commandeered her lap from its previous occupant Oreo.

                “Perhaps the next one will be named Dinah,” Gayun mused as she scratched underneath Pudding’s chin. The cat purred in response before she began down the cat’s back as she opened to the introduction. She always enjoyed reading the introduction; it was like watching the preview to one’s favorite movie. You knew what was going to happen once the movie began but it was fun to see what scenes were captured in the minuscule time frame that the preview allowed.

                Minty had curled up on a stack of books near the back, guarding his favorite new mouse toy. Oreo had moved to sit in the shop’s window to stare at the people passing by. Occasionally, she would mewl at someone, attempting to get them to pay attention and, perhaps, even come inside the shop to contribute to her owner’s income. She needed some higher quality cat food.

                Despite her meows, no one stopped to even look at her for almost an hour. Finally, when the cat was just about getting tired of watching humans, a man stopped in front of the window. Oreo mewed at him as the stranger leaned down to look at the cat closer. While no one had stopped before, now women began to pause in order to stare at the handsome man who seemed to be having a silent conversation with the black and white feline.

                After a minute or two, he righted himself before opening the door to the shop, causing the bell to tinkle as he stepped inside. He glanced around the cramped space and raised an eyebrow at the fine layer of dust, broken up only by tiny paw prints, which seemed to cover everything. He shut the door behind him before walking towards the desk where Gayun was buried in the book.

                She smiled softly as she went back over the chapter involving her favorite character: the Hookah Caterpillar. Under her breath, she read aloud, “‘How doth the little crocodile/Improve his shining tail,/And pour the waters of the Nile/On every golden scale!’”

                “‘How cheerfully he seems to grin,’” the stranger continued, “‘How neatly spreads his claws,/And welcomes little fishes in/With gently smiling jaws!’” Gayun, startled, glanced up from her book and stared at the man with a mix of curiosity and wonder, the same look she had when discovering a new book. It wasn’t often that she had a male customer; it was even less common to have a customer who could recite something as obscure as Carroll’s made up poem back to her.

                “H-Hello,” she greeted, pausing in her petting of Pudding much to said cat’s annoyance.

                “Hello,” he grinned, his teeth flashing in a way that reminded the girl of a little crocodile. In spite of this, she had to admit that he was extraordinarily handsome. Despite the dark circles under his eyes, everything about him was charming. Even the way he picked up one of the tattered books laying upon the counter seemed to make him more charming for some strange reason. “Is this your shop then?”

               “Yes it is,” she nodded, “I opened it almost two years ago. Uh, it should have just about every book you could want. Some of them are pretty old and fragile though.” She hadn’t been able to buy many new books. Most of the ones in her shop had been donated by family and friends or bought off the internet for cheap rates.

                “It’s fine. I like old books,” he replied. His eyes darkened though Gayun wasn’t sure if it was just a trick of the dim shop lighting or not. A sweet fragrance drifted from the man, tickling Gayun’s nose and causing Pudding to jump off of her lap.

                “That’s…good,” she mumbled before turning back to her book. She wondered if it was a new trend for men to wear perfume. If it was, she wanted to know where he bought his. It smelled lovely but it was something that she would prefer to spray around the apartment upstairs instead of on herself.

                “Good?” he asked, his brow furrowing, “Don’t you feel good?”

                “I’m relatively comfortable if that’s what you mean,” she replied, unsure of where he was going with the conversation or what he meant by feeling good. He gave her an incredulous look and the air seemed to suddenly become thick with the sweet scent from before. Did he spray more of the perfume while she wasn’t looking?

                “What the hell is wrong with you?” he asked, seemingly exasperated for some incomprehensible reason. The aroma suddenly dissipated as he took a step back from her. He looked her up and down as if he were searching for something hidden. “Don’t you feel anything?”

                “I feel like you need to back off.”

                “That’s it? That’s it?!” he exclaimed, running a hand through his hair. He began pacing back and forth, muttering to himself. Gayun was now debating about calling the police because there was obviously something wrong with him. “How is it not working? My powers always work! Always! I mean, even completely straight, pig-headed men fall for me! How is it not working on this nerdy girl who has her head stuck in the clouds all day long?!”

                “Excuse me?” Now she was getting annoyed.

                “There’s nothing wrong with being nerdy,” he grumbled as he waved off her comment, “I like nerdy. Your type is always so cute when I get them in my grasp. Blushing and fumbling everywhere-it’s great. But you… What’s wrong with you?” He stopped pacing to lean over the desk as he addressed her once again.

                “There’s nothing wrong with me. What’s wrong with you?” she accused, jabbing a finger into his chest as she got out from her chair.

                “What’s wrong with me is that I was all set to have a nice meal but you’re not cooperating,” he hissed.

                “Meal?”

                “Yeah, you. I’m an incubus; it’s kind of what we do.” The last part was said with the same predatory grin she had seen before. Now she was sure that he was a crocodile but that meant that she was one of the fishes. Gayun wasn’t particularly fond of that idea.    

                “Incubus… Sure. You’re an incubus and I’m a fairy godmother.” He growled at the comment, his beautiful face curling into a cruel snarl. Her breath caught in while Pudding jumped up on the desk and hissed at him. Oreo, on the other hand, rubbed up against his pant leg with a soft purr.

                “I am Lee Seunghyun, a demon of the highest caliber, and I will not have you mock me.” His voice rumbled like thunder, causing the lights to flicker inside the shop. Well, it would seem that his voice caused the flickering but Gayun preferred not to buy in to that notion. “Though, I guess since you’re something interesting, I could show you.”

                “S-Show me?” she stuttered, backing away from him.

                “My true form or, rather, a glimpse of it,” he replied, taking a step back as well. She watched in mild horror as his form began to shift. His eyes glowed violet as his pupils turned into slits much like the cats she owned. Those feline eyes watched in amusement as she took in the rest of his change.

                His skin turned a pale shade of gray, accentuating his lavender eyes even more. His ears became pointed, like an elf’s, as horns sprouted from his forehead to curl backwards. He smirked at her, allowing her a glimpse of teeth sharp and pointed like a shark’s.

                A scream bubbled up in that she somehow managed to swallow as her back hit the wall behind her. Pudding fled while Minty jumped on to Seunghyun’s shoulder, rubbing his face against the demon’s cheeks. With a clawed hand, he petted the cat as he asked, “Do you believe me now?”

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[A/N] an incubus is defined as a male demon who gains power from having ual with women (I'll expand on that more in later chapters)

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Thank you for your time and I hope you enjoyed this first bit :)