Dad's attempts to figure out how to work the time loop failed utterly over the next few hours. He didn't feel the essence the way I did, his power a change made to his body while he was a host, not the result of any lingering aspect of the essence itself. Nothing he tried worked. His frustration grew with each try, to the point that he finally waved his hands and sat back, closing his eyes, and attempting to doze.

My own attempts weren't that much better. I was able to change my clothes easily enough, and I even conjured up simple items like cups and kittens, the latter now playing in a ball of fur and feet around the edges of our current garden setting. I'd turned the sky, if you could call it that, shades of purple and pink and green. I'd dressed dad and Theresa myself, having a lighthearted moment where I put a summer dress on my father and a rough I idea I had of a costume a dominatrix might wear on Theresa. She seemed to rather fancy it, actually. Dad was too frustrated by his own failures to much care.

But beyond that, I was stuck. Theresa was certain I'd barely tapped the possible things I could do. Simple conjuration was a minor ability, common and, though often useful, not really much of an arsenal in a dangerous situation. Conjuration, she told me, changed reality itself. The items were not hollow or false. They existed whether pulled, via travel, from somewhere else, or simply came to be in that moment.

But Theresa knew of many other powers. The ability to sense other beings, mortal or not. To manipulate them from a distance. She was beginning to believe this was something like what had happened to me in the beginning, with the withering man, with the woman and girl. It had been me, Theresa thought, who actually performed the task, traveling there, but there was another intentional agent involved. That's why I'd felt compelled, as if driven by something outside myself. The arousal I had felt was real. The penis I'd conjured just as much so. But someone else had the ability to push my steps, and that alone was wholly troubling.

Some non-mortals could step outside time, in a way. That much, we knew, given that Dad had somehow started, and stopped, the time loop, but Theresa said it was much more than that. Freezing time for others but not one's self. Fast-forwarding. Slowing it. Changing the way it flowed.

Non-mortals were never aware of this manipulation, our brains bent in such a way as to be ignorant of differences in such things. But those tuned in, especially those who had some minimum awareness of other realms, other powers, could feel the changes and sometimes counter them or manipulate them, as well.

There were crueler powers, as well. Ability to inflict pain or terror, to cause skin to boil, to make eyes melt in sockets. The more Theresa described the possibilities the worse I felt about possessing the ability to do such things. It wasn't conjuring, she was sure, but some sort of different projection which could enable the harm. Or, she reminded me, the pleasure. With that same tool, a being could cause someone to orgasm spontaneously, or continuously. To feel giddy and light, to know joy unlike any before. That still sounded like an awfully dangerous ability in the wrong hands.

Theresa's voice was low and almost mournful. "You can bring back the dead, Tera."

"Huh?" I said, pulling back from my latest unsuccessful attempt to simply warm my own skin right above my knee, my dress pulled up to expose my flesh for the test.

She watched me closely. I could see pain and sorrow in her eyes. I felt very sorry for her then. "You can bring back the dead. Gods have this power. A few lessors, as well. If you could but discover that power... find that ability... you could bring back those lost..."

Dad's eyes opened and he looked at the woman a moment before asking quietly, "What happened to your dad, Theresa?"

She stared at her hands, silent, lips tight and pulled into a pained frown. "He was lost many years ago..."

"How?"

"He was murdered," Theresa muttered, "and it was my fault." Her lip quivered, but she continued, "I'd just figured out how to travel. I thought it might be fun to bring him here, but... he was mortal, no powers of his own. I was told by another, someone who no longer comes to this sanctuary, that my father was not allowed. I was never told why. But I disobeyed him and tried to bring my father anyway. I didn't exactly know how. I could bring myself easily enough, but to bring another? I didn't know.

"So I asked for help. Tristan told me not to try it. That if I was caught I might have my powers ripped out of me and I might be cast out, just a mortal again. I didn't really care. I loved my father, and I wanted him to see the wonderful place I'd found. Under protest, Tristan gave me a trinket he'd gotten years earlier. A sort of port key, I suppose. A way to bring someone to the sanctuary directly. I gave it to my father, and he traveled here with me.

"For days and weeks, it was the most amazing experience. We made love together, sometimes with others, and we became drunk in each other's arms. But that's when Kane discovered that I'd disobeyed him. He sought us out, confronted us. I pleaded with him, begged him to let us be..."

Theresa began to sob. I reached a hand out and rested it on the woman's knee, trying to comfort her.

"Kane struck him down in anger, right before my eyes. I watched the man I loved die gurgling and in terrible pain."

She grew silent.

I hated to say a word, but I had to ask, "I thought no violence could come to this place..."

"It can't," she said with a thick throat. "Kane tricked us. He managed to lead us out of the sanctuary without us knowing, to a place where we had no protection. I never realized until his violence told me were were not in our beloved gardens."

"What happened to Kane?" My dad asked quietly.

"When Tristan found out, he caught him and locked him away in a... prison, of sorts. Far away from this place."

I looked at Dad a moment, almost in tears as I listened to Theresa's grief. "And you want me to try to bring your father back to life..."

"More than anything..."

I almost told her that I didn't know how, that I was a child playing with dangerous tools. But she was sad and needed comfort, not doubts and limitations. I crawled close and knelt down, wrapping my arms around her. "I'm so sorry, Theresa..."

"Thank you..." she replied, wiping her eyes with her arm. She sniffled a time or two, then blinked to clear her eyes. "Enough sadness for today. This is too wonderful and peaceful a place for such things." She took one of my hands in her own, petting it gently. "And you've about worn yourselves out, I think. Enough trying for today. I rather fancy a meal, you?"

I felt my stomach respond with an aggressive grumble. "Starving."

Dad nodded his agreement.

- - -

"I assume everything works in the real world, Earth, I mean, the way it does here, right?" I asked the woman as we ate from a broad assortment of steaming dishes. Our setting in the garden was a round, wooden table, thick planks tightly bound, a lazy-Susan offering a slowly-spinning array roasted meats and vegetables, bubbling crocks of soup and cheese and sauces, a half-dozen different loaves of breads still steaming and warm. I'd about made myself sick, but every bite was the most delicious I'd ever known.

"Yes," Theresa replied, "but... I don't need to caution you about using your power out there to do anything other than come and go from this place, right?"

I nodded, "I know. I'm just trying to figure out the rules."

Theresa shrugged, "You need to learn that there are no rules when you have the power of a god, Tera. Gods make the rules."

"But there are still rules," I protested. "They might change, I understand, but they are real, as real as this rib," I added, gesturing in the air with the thoroughly-cleaned bone I'd just finished stripping of succulent meat. "I can't really learn to use my power if I don't know what rules are in play."

She shrugged noncommittally, as if I was missing the point, but she didn't reply.

"When I travel... I can go anywhere?"

"You can."

"Might I end up in the middle of empty space? No oxygen to breath? Just... dead?"

"Yes, but," she said, pausing, "I suspect the essence won't be too thrilled. I expect it will protect itself, and you, from such foolish results."

Dad leaned forward, licking gravy from his finger, "What would happen to an essence if its host died?"

Theresa nibbled at a husk of dark, crusty bread and said, "No one really knows."

"Never happened?"

"Not that I know. No mortal host has ever died before passing it on. Yours is the only one to be free from a god, and gods do not die. Not in the way you mean it, at least."

Dad shook his head. "I don't understand... how are there more ways than one to be dead?"

Theresa gave him a look like an overly-patient school mother might give an exceptionally-dense pupil. "Oh, Quinn. You're lack of imagination is disappointing." When he simply stared at her longer, she sighed and continued, "To a mortal, death is simply death. The absence of life. The husk, the chemical soup which held in what you think of as you, it goes away, and you go away with it. The end."

She picked up a handful of pinkish-purple grapes and ate one, swallowing before saying, "A god has no such concerns. The essence of a god is the god. There is no difference. I suppose it is the same realization you had, Tera, when you said you had to accept that it was an extension of you, not really something foreign inside you. You can't destroy an essence, or at least, it's never happened. But," she said more evenly, "there are ways to trap gods. Gods can be contained in a way which renders them powerless, helpless, forever unable to return to their powers. Out of contact. Unseen. Eternally gone. Effectively dead."

"That doesn't quite sound like the same thing..." I replied.

"Does it not? What would you call it if you were unable to see or touch or taste or hear anything? Unable to move, for you have no body. Unable to sense the most obvious thing in the Universe. Unable to communicate. Unable to know anything about what's outside yourself. Not like a coma, Tera, not like being unconscious. Fully conscious, but lacking all inputs. What would you call that?"

"I think I'd rather be dead..."

"I expect those gods who have been so trapped would agree with you, if they could. If they knew you or anything else existed."

Dad asked, "How do you know this is true? It sounds like one of those stories that get told where all the witnesses were killed, yet, somehow, the details of what happened made it back to the rest of the world anyway. If no one came back to tell someone about what it's like, aren't you just guessing?"

I saw Theresa smile and nod, "My disappointment is resolved, Quinn. An astute and reasonable observation. Someone did come back. Just one."

"So how was it eternal then? If one came back, then, in theory, others could as well." I asked.

"Because, my dear, only once has a god willingly separated himself from his essence. Only once has any been so foolish. The fallen one fought on as a mortal until it was clear he would die. He managed to contact a possible sympathizer, an old friend, a god we call Vendilio, who might still turn an ear. He offered a compromise. Help the fallen one find his essence. Without that, he could not return to realms above the mundane.

"His potential ally was cool to the idea, but he was a philosopher, of sorts. One of the few with an interest in questions that gods seldom ask each other. So he proposed an experiment. Vendilio could return the fallen one to the higher realms, but without his essence, the fallen one would be rendered inert. Effectively dead. Nowhere and nowhen. Without senses or inputs or any hint of a connection to reality. Because Vendilio was crafty, he figured out a way to, eventually, retrieve the fallen one, when he was satisfied that the experiment was ready to sample.

"And given no other options, the fallen one agreed, and he became... undone... out of space and time and awareness until Vendilio opted to bring him back to the mundane realm and allow his former friend to describe his experience. Let's just say that there are very few things that can bring a god to tears, or the god-like version of tears, but the fallen one's descriptions caused more than a few to mourn as if their own essences had been stolen. That's how we know. The fallen one experienced it first hand."

It sounded rather frightening. Claustrophic. I imagined it being something like floating in a vacuum devoid of sight or sound, no stars twinkling, no body holding me within it. No sense of motion. No head to turn. No mouth to scream. Endless, horrifying emptiness. "No, I'm sure I'd rather be dead..."

Theresa nodded, "Just so. I suppose, in theory, a god, dead such as this, can be returned, should he be taken to the mundane realm and his essence recovered, but as I said, so far, we have only a singular event on which to form our theories. The truth is, none of us know what is eternal... and what is not..." I could tell she was thinking, again, of her father, but she didn't show the sorrow this time, adding instead, "I think I'd rather enjoy a bath. Join me?"

- - -

The natural spa was perfectly heated, taking up most of the space between the four walls of hedges, gentle slopes down to the deepest part, no more than three or four feet of depth in the center. Along the sides were flat areas, half-submerged, where it was easy to relax and stretch out. The water circulated, though I saw no vents or nozzles, slowly spinning around its container, creating ripples against our bodies where we interrupted its motion.

Like everything else I experienced in the sanctuary, it was the most wonderful sensation I'd known.

Dad held me against him, both of us leaned back, his hands idly touching my breasts where the puffy tips were just below the surface. I could feel his hardness in my back, but for the moment, we both ignored such things and enjoyed the relaxation in the steamy water.

I felt warmth spreading through my body, starting low near my stomach. It wasn't just the warm water. It was like I'd felt in the bath. I almost glowed from its presence, consumed by it. It swirled inside me and filled the tips of my fingers and toes, washing slowly through my face and making me feel light and lovely.

My eyes opened to see Theresa's mouth open slightly, her gaze on me, sensual and longing. She was sitting up, nearby, the water cover only to her abdomen, her bared breasts wet and slippery, nipples hard and pointing delightfully up and away from her body. I watched her a moment, then asked, "What?"

The woman smiled at me, slowly turning her head left and right, "You are just so lovely."

I felt lovely. Really lovely. Not just sexy, but full of warm confidence. Like I was as happy and self-assured as I could possibly be. I couldn't really account for it, though I suspect being in my father's arms in such a romantic place, especially after the many bizarre experiences of our past few days, had a lot to do with it.

"Would you like her to join us?" Dad whispered in my ear before nibbling on my lobe gently.

I moaned, "Yes..."

Theresa moved slowly through the water, gliding, barely forming ripples as she came closer. Dad stretched out a hand, and the woman took it, slowly drawing it down over her wet breasts. My father caressed her there, and Theresa brought her lips to mine.

We kissed softly, Theresa soon moving to my father and kissing him. I enjoyed the gentle passion between them, caressing the woman's breasts and thighs while I stroked my father's cock behind me. He took my hips in his hands and pulled me back and over him, his penis easily finding my entrance, bringing me down softly into his lap, his erection fully inside my body. I groaned in sweet pleasure.

Theresa's fingers were between my legs, my father and I so slowly mating, steamy water gently sloshing around us. I stroked her pussy, the smooth flesh there so silky from the spa. I circled her clit and felt it rise against me. Gently, I stroked it to hardness and it grew larger. Larger. Soon, I could wrap two fingers around it, then three. Theresa kissed me and said, "Would you like two inside you?"

"What?" I whispered.

"You have two lovely holes, Tera... Or have you not yet taken one back there?"

I groaned in anticipation, Dad's penis swelling and jerking inside me as we heard her words. "Never..."

Dad whispered in my ear, "Oh, Tera... do you want to try?"

I nodded, breathless, full of desire, "Yes..."

He continued to slowly thrust inside of me as he folded my body forward, spreading my buttocks with his hands. I felt his finger tickle my butthole carefully. It felt so silky in the water, slippery. When he pushed against me, my anus opened for him enough to slide the tip inside. I sucked in my breath. Dad kissed my neck as he slowly ran his finger in small circles in my butt, gently dilating my tightest hole while his cock throbbed inside my vagina.

Over long moments, I took his penetration, burning so nicely back there. It was like experiencing my first orgasm. New and unexpectedly wonderful. I felt stretched but not sore, his motions so kind and loving. Before I knew it, Dad shifted me back, and I felt pressure against me there unlike that of his finger.

I was shocked at how easily my father's penis slid inside my ass. It stretched me, so much so that I thought at first I might rip open. I held my breath, gritting my teeth. Theresa's fingers were on my pussy, softly stroking my flesh. I still gripped her clit. Or, rather, her now-penis. It had grown large, like it was when she'd fucked me, and I used my fist to carefully move up and down its length below the water.

I heard Dad moaning behind me. He was all the way in. I felt simply wonderful. "Oh... Dad..."

"Does that feel okay?" he said softly.

"Better than okay. It feels amazing... Ohhhhh... Ohhh..."

I started to rise and fall on him, Dad letting me guide our rhythm. For long moments, I forgot all about Theresa and her cock in my hand, letting the sensation of being penetrated in my ass consume me.

Dad seemed to remember her first. "Would you like another inside you now, Tera?"

I nodded my desire, unable to voice much more than low moans and soft grunts as my anus stretched and slipped up and down my father's penis.

Theresa slid over me, her face near mine. My hands went to her breasts, caressing them, and then I felt myself open in another place as the woman slipped her hard cock into my vagina.

I felt so full I almost cried from the pleasure of it. Theresa held herself still, her penis throbbing in my vagina while Dad's did the same in my ass. Slowly, I rose and fell, letting my body pull itself up from their cocks, then settling down again, stretching, sliding, being penetrated by my lovers like never before. "Ohhhhh..."

My moans were loud in my ears. I barely heard Dad's groans or Theresa's lovely, soft cries of pleasure. I felt them both beginning to move, as if the sensations of being inside my body were too much to take passively. I let them move, too, Dad thrusting up more firmly through my butthole, Theresa pushing down to sink deep into my vagina.

Everything centered on the pleasure between my legs. I didn't need a finger or tongue on my clit. My hard nub throbbed, sometimes contacting Theresa's flesh. It was more than enough to build a fire in my body, and I slowly orgasmed over long moments, unwilling to let go my full release until I felt two hard cocks twitching inside me.

The came together, Dad grunting in my ear, Theresa breathing hard on my neck. They filled me in long, powerful spurts, my father emptying his seed into my bowels, Theresa's cock pulsing jets of scalding semen into my pussy. I let go completely, flushed with pleasure, crying out for anyone to hear how wonderful I felt. "Oh... God... Oh... Yesssssssss... Yesssssss... Ohhhhhhhhhh... Uhhhnnnnn... Uhnnnnnnnn... Uhnnnnnnn... Mmmmmm-mmmm-mmmm... Ohhhhhh..."

We coupled together long after, both penises remaining hard enough to stay inside me. I didn't want to move one inch. Even as I felt my Dad's cock finally soften and slip free I tried to hold it in my ass, clenching my sphinter around his length and grasping it until it eventually softened and withdrew. Theresa's followed soon after.

We kissed and cuddled, enjoying our mating as lovers. I cared not one bit that my pussy and ass felt a little sore, surely leaking cream from both holes into the water. It had been magical, in many ways, my first anal sex. Well, I realized, the first anal sex which involved my ass, anyway.

- - -

"Do we just go home, or stay here?" Dad asked Theresa as we sat beside a fireplace somehow built into one of the hedge walls of a new chamber, the flames flickering and giving a lovely warmth to the setting. We sipped wine, my first taste of alcohol. Dad figured that after everything I'd been through, everything in front of me, it was silly to not offer me my own glass.

Theresa answered me with a question, "Do you wish to stay here?"

Dad looked at me. I replied, "I don't know... Isn't it safer here?"

"Yes," Theresa said with a small frown, "and no."

"Explain," Dad said.

"Yes, it is safer, in the sense that no one can harm you here, and no one can trace you to here. But also risky. Not everyone who visits this place, and there are a great many, will wish you well and leave you in peace. Tricksters. Deceivers. Those who see a chance to trade up their lot and get special treatment from those above them. They may not harm you here, but I doubt that I have to explain to you that the gods have a fairly limited definition of harm. You can be lied to. Manipulated. Perhaps even given something to track you elsewhere."

I thought about the bracelet on my wrist and looked there, the swirling turquoise unchanged as always.

"Perhaps," Theresa said as if answering my question about it, "but perhaps not. I suspect if it was a tracking device, we'd know that already. But such things do exist. You can't trust that some power-seeking demigod wandering through, happening upon you, won't charm you and send you on your way with the very thing that can bring him right to your home. So," she finished explaining, "there are great risks here, too."

"What do you think, Tera," Dad asked me.

I really didn't have a good answer. As idyllic and wonderful as the sanctuary was, I was somewhat longing for some familiar surroundings. "Home. For now. I know how to come here, and I think I can bring you with me, now."

Theresa looked a little disappointed, but then hid it well with a pleasant smile, "Of course. I should really be about things, myself. I've delayed too long."

"A question," I said, thinking about the coming and going from the sanctuary. "Time. Does it move here like it does on Earth? It seems like sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't."

"A tricky question," Theresa replied. "It depends."

"On what?"

"On many things, not least of all is the manner in which you left, I expect. For me, when I visit Earth, or some other mundane place, time is normal. An hour passes there, it is the same here. And vice-versa. Not that time is exactly a fundamental part of the sanctuary, but we might as well treat it as such. For me, and most of us, there is no difference in the movement of time.

"But for you, I expect, you may be doing things before or during your travel which change the behavior. Sort of... locking the mundane in time until you return. I really can't say."

"All the mundane? Earth and... other places?" Dad asked.

"I think so, yes. I cannot imagine one can so easily stop time on your world without also stopping everywhere else under the same constraints."

I nodded, not exactly enlightened, and I now had something new to worry about. "Guess I'll just have to test."

"But nothing else," Theresa warned me, "remember what we said about your powers out there."

"I remember. Only here."

Theresa stood and knelt down in front of me, petting my arm softly. "But if you absolutely have to," she said in a near-hiss, "protect yourself!"

"If I knew how..."

"Don't think about how, remember?" She told me. "Feel it. If someone comes for you, you can return here in a snap. But there are those who will not let you flee so easily. You'll have protect yourself at all costs."

I nodded. "I'll do my best."

I saw the determination in her eyes, but it was a thin mask over something more desperate. I was Theresa's last hope. The one being who she thought might bring back her father. I had no idea how to do that, nor if it was even possible. I hoped she would not find disappointment in me in the end.

"I love you two," Theresa told us as we stood and embraced her. "Both of you. I will miss you until we next meet. Be careful!"

She was gone in an instant, and Dad and I were back in our living room with nothing more than a the hint of a thought.

- - -

Time, as it turned out, had operated rather normally from my estimates. A day or so had passed since we'd left, I thought, and a quick check of my cell showed that to be close enough.

"So what now?" I asked Dad. We'd not slept in the sanctuary, and though I felt tired, I didn't feel quite so exhausted. Maybe that was the way the place worked. Why need sleep there when everything was so peaceful and comforting.

"Let's get out a while. I feel the need to stretch my legs."

"Should we worry... you know... about being found?"

Dad shrugged, "We can't be shut-ins, Tera. If they can find us randomly out in public, they can surely find us where we live."

I nodded, "True. Alright. Yeah, let's go somewhere."

"Hungry?"

"Not really."

"Yeah," he agreed, "that feast was rather something. The lake, then."

"The lake."

- - -

The ride there included Dad's hand on my thigh, a lovely sensation I'd not felt outside our home since our first night together. He slowly drew his hand up and down, sliding the short dress I wore along my flesh. "Can't believe you let me fuck your butt, Tera..." Dad grinned, "that was so amazing..."

I giggled, "Yeah... I rather enjoyed that, too... and with Theresa inside me... you two do know how to make love to a girl..."

"Doubt it will be the last time... Quite some trick, huh? Changing your genitals like that."

"Couldn't make myself do it when I practiced earlier. Dunno why it was so seemless when I was compelled, but impossible in the sanctuary." I laughed, "Sorry to disappoint you, Dad."

He laughed with me. "Not really my thing, but, honestly, Tera... if it's attached to you... Hell... I'm open to most anything."

I watched him with my eyes narrowed and small smile on my face, "I'll remember that..."

- - -

I don't think I was the one pulling me to watch my father and his experiences during the time loop. If it was me, I wasn't aware of doing it.

This scene showed the gym pool I'd swum in many times. Dad and I were in the water, his arms around me, my back against him. We were talking quietly, the words not meeting my ear. We were close, very close together. I got the sense that Dad's penis was against my butt, but the other me only looked vaguely aware of it. That Tera eventually swam off slowly.

Skip. The other Tera walked towards where Dad was lounging in a hot tub. His eyes watched my every step. I felt rather pleased to see him noticing me in nothing but a tight swimsuit. As I saw myself step into the water, I noticed a woman and young girl, possibly pubescent, were also in the hot tub.

Skip. Dad and I sat on our couch. I appeared to be sleeping, only a nightshirt on my body, resting against my father's shoulder. Dad was obviously masturbating and trying not to wake me. I watched as he ejaculated inside his robe, and then the other me stirred and woke.

Skip. Skip. The hot tub again. This time, only dad and the young girl were there. It took a moment to realize that Dad had his toes pressed in between the girl's legs, and he was stroking his cock under the water. The girl seemed to orgasm, her feet in my father's lap, and Dad climaxed, as well.

Skip. Skip. Back in the pool, Dad behind me again in the water. A woman, the same one from the hot tub, had stopped, looking upset. Words were exchanged. The woman shrugged, then the young girl followed her away from the pool.

Skip. A conversation between me and Dad on our couch. We both looked a little flushed and serious, but Dad also looked soft and gentle. I smiled at that.

- - -

"Tera! Oh, thank goodness!" Dad's voice roused me from deep. He was upset. I could hear it before I saw it clearly on his face.

"What?"

We were stopped, pulled off somewhere. We'd been driving down the road the last I recalled. Before the visions, that is.

"I thought something was wrong!" he said, still excited, his hands on my arms as if to ensure he kept physical contact with me.

"Why??"

"You were unresponsive," he explained, "barely breathing. You got really pale!"

I shook my head. "More memories. Or... something. I saw scenes of you, again."

He let out a breath and settled back from where he'd been leaning over me in the car. "Ah... which?"

"At the pool. The hot tub. You and a girl in the hot tub. And... you and me in the pool and at home... Something happened with us then, right?"

Dad nodded, "Almost. Sort of. We both... knew... that I was hard in the water... We talked about it a time or two, I seem to recall."

"And what did I say about it?"

I saw him trying to recall, "It was the first time you told me you... wanted to be with me..."

I smiled. "I really did want that, Dad."

"I know."

"But you didn't make love to me then, right?"

"No. No, the first time we made love was the last night of the loop, the time you remember. There were some... other... moments... I expect you'll see those eventually... But we didn't fully make love until your first time that night."

"Must of been hard," I said.

"My cock? Very."

I laughed. "No, silly. Not making love to me for so long... I don't think I could have made it months without jumping your bones..."

Dad looked a little solemn. "I didn't want to hurt you, and... I swung wildly in the loop, Tera. Up high, down low. Horrified at some of the things I'd done. Horrified that I might touch you and you would hate me. Even for just one, erasable night. I worried that, if I we made love, and then you reset, things would be even worse. Like... I'd take for granted that I could have you any time. I never wanted it to feel like making love with you was just another option."

"I like that..." I told him. It completely erased any jealousy I'd still maintained regarding Abby. He didn't love her the way he loved me. Not that he abused her or treated her ill, but he wanted his passion for me to be right, to be clean, in a sense. It made me tingle with love for my father.

"And when it finally was right... after I'd spent that crazy night with you. The statues. Curt. The lottery. It just felt right, Tera. It was the happiest I'd ever been, the most loved I've ever felt, and the night just had to end with making love with you. I'm so glad that night never ended."

"Me too."

We kissed like lovers a few seconds before Dad broke away, looking around us. "Shit," he spat, "we have to be more careful in public."

He was right, of course. Getting caught was not going to end well for either of us.

"We're here," he said after calming down. "Feel like walking with me?"

"Always."

- - -

Skip. A new scene. This one a lovely young woman I'd seen before, the pale short-haired girl I'd seen in a cafeteria. They, too, were at the lake, making love slowly. Dad was so gentle with her. He really was a caring lover. Even with the prostitute, he'd showed no sign that he was anything other than careful. Even rutting hard, as he was now doing with the pale teen.

- - -

We were sitting on the sand. I'd changed into my green one-piece and Dad wore his swim trunks and no shirt. The sun was dipping low, a few clouds passing by. Apparently, Dad hadn't noticed that I'd been drawn into a vision, so I told him, "I just saw you and a pale, older teen. Just up that way, I think."

"Ah," he replied, "Juliet."

"Who was she?"

"The daughter of the woman Becky. They're the ones living in a homeless shelter. They're two I want to help."

I nodded. "She seemed nice, what little I saw of her. You seemed to enjoy making love with her."

Dad looked at me, half-concerned, half-guilty.

I added, "I loved watching you, Dad. The both of you. It was really lovely. And... it turns me on."

He seemed to ignore my obvious hint that I was interested in making love with him right then, being seen be damned. Instead, he sombered quickly and said, "They weren't all like that, Tera. Sometimes... sometimes I was a little... rough..."

"Rough?"

"Yeah."

I slid my hand down to meet his. "How so?"

"I don't completely recall, Tera... I was angry and frustrated and out of my mind in a dozen ways. I didn't rape anyone, not that. But it wasn't always... gentle. Or clean..."

"Okay..." I wasn't sure how to respond.

"Just wanted you to understand... I'm not proud of those moments..."

I held Dad's hand and stroked his fingers after he grew silent. I still wanted to mate with him, to join with him and make him feel how much I loved him, but he was quietly telling me that he just needed me to hold his hand, and stroke his fingers, and through that small act of kindness, I was saying the exact same thing.

Tera, Female, 15

	- Narrator, host of the essence, daughter of Quinn

	- 5'7, pale-beige skin, 135lbs, shoulder-length bright copper-orange-red hair

Quinn, Male, 41

	- Former host, father of Tera

	- 6'0, beige skin, 190lbs, wavy blonde-brown hair a few inches long

Theresa, Female, mid-40s

	- Former mortal

	- 5'10, beige skin, 155lbs, shoulder-length wavy golden-red hair