Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Minion, Part 3 of 3
   by Nysidra
   Paranormal Erotica
   <->
   -_ Infernal _-
   Her eyes opened to the familiar flicker of firelight.  The jelly fish
were back behind their wall.  Grinning, she reflected on her perverted
dreams.
   No way.  That didn't happen in her head.
   She got up and trudged through the house toward the kitchen.
   Her whole body reeked of sex and something sweet.  Each sore muscle
proved that she hadn't dreamt a thing.  Once in the kitchen, she looked
down at her thighs.  That slickness wasn't just her arousal.  She'd been
bleeding.
   Good thing he uses dark sheets.  Was she still bleeding when he licked
her pussy?  Maybe she had been dreaming then, interpreting her cramps as a
sharp pain.
   She shook her head.
   What was in that cup?
   The hair on her arm stood on end the more she thought back.
   While she waited for her coffee to brew she busied herself with the
attempt to tame her wild hair.  Three feet of curly hair wasn't something
she could just let roam free.
   She found some bread - half a loaf in a box - sliced and toasted it. 
She held her thighs tight while she downed the coffee and scarfed the
bread. At least she'd remembered to pack her menstrual cup.  After a shower
she'd plug up.
   "Reju?" She didn't know why she didn't spin around to confirm her
suspicion.  It was like any feeling, that sensation that someone else was
in the room, but she was sure it was him, so sure, she spoke before she
acted.
   "Hmm?" He put a hand on her belly and drew her back against his warm,
naked, and very awake body.
   There were hundreds of questions rattling around in her head, but which
one did she ask?  What was the greatest mystery at play?  "How do you
travel from place to place?"
   He tensed.  She set her mug aside and turned around.  She rested her
head on his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist.
   "That's not what you're really asking, and I'm not sure about answering
the question you really want to ask."
   She'd meet him halfway then.  "It's faster than anything.  I blacked out
the first few times, I think.  I know better than to think this is normal,
that you are normal.  You told me you were different.  It's an addictive
thrill, one of the many addictive thrills about you.  You intoxicate me ...
literally, I think.  Listen, just tell me.  I'm opening my mind and
engaging you."
   He buried his face in her hair.  "Say it again."
   "I am opening my mind and engaging you."
   He turned her head and kissed her.  There was something extra metallic
to it.  She really should have brushed first, but something about the taste
brought back a memory.
   "You don't exist," he said.  "You're a figment of my imagination."
   He's one to say.  She opened her eyes, but they were no use to her.  All
the flames had been extinguished.  She stood with him in darkness.  "Of
course I exist.  You can feel me.  You're holding me.  I feel like you
spent the past twelve hours inside me."
   "Close," he mumbled.  "I," The word hung in the air for several seconds.
"I move with a thought from place to place."
   More silence.  She waited for her mind to respond ...  any moment now.
"Like a ghost?"
   "Maybe, I guess."
   "You're a ...  a supernatural, then?"
   "Yes, I guess."
   Weeks ago she would have lost the conversation.  She would have burst
into laughter, stormed off in a rage, and turned violent out of fear.  Now
she listened, hearing more than his words.  She heard emotion, trepidation,
and hope.  She lifted her head and kissed him.  "I'm listening.  I need
more answer than that."
   "I am partially human.  Me and those like me are the result of
relationships with humans.  My mother was human." He cleared his throat and
buried his face into her neck.
   Relationships.  Oh yeah.  That thing she needed to bring up with him.
   She had lost count of the times he'd climaxed inside her.  Getting
pregnant wasn't something she had to worry about, or at least she thought
it wasn't.  "Does that mean I could get pregnant?"
   He chuckled.  "It is possible for me to impregnate you, but I won't.  I
can taste your contraception, so I respect your desire to remain without
child.  That is purely my decision, however.  Do not take it for granted
that we all respect that boundary."
   Who the fuck is we?
   'Can he hear my thoughts?'
   "I know you're wondering if I can hear your thoughts.  It's different. I
don't actually hear your words.  It's like seeing in the dark.  The
information is there to read, and not out of your own realm of
possibility."
   "You, last night, you told me you loved me."
   "Yes, I know exactly what I said to you.  I love you." He moved to pick
her up but she pressed against his chest.
   "I'm bleeding."
   "Believe me.  I know." He hoisted her onto his hip.
   "That's gross."
   "You said you would die for me."
   Fear and uncertainty collided with passion and love, which completely
took her mind off the source of moisture between her thighs.
   "Words are powerful.  Words are magic.  I can keep you to that promise."
   She pushed against him.  Fear won the battle and she was trying to
figure which direction to run in the moment her feet hit the floor.
   "Could, Lydia." He tightened his grip on her.  "Capable.  You are
capable of killing me in my sleep, but I don't fear it."
   "Yes, I also don't remind you of my capabilities."
   "I didn't just learn you were human."
   She chewed on her tongue.  He had a point.
   "Please calm down.  You're distracting enough."
   "How do you not break me?"
   "How do you handle crystal without shattering it?"
   Another perfectly stated point.
   There was something else she needed to ask, but he swung her around his
hip until she was facing him.  "You're a hell of a lot stronger than
crystal.  I want you.  Right now."
   She swallowed thickly.  She needed a bath first, or something, but... 
She swooned as she felt his erection parting her wet folds.  "Prove it. 
Take me right here.  Don't move."
   He laughed as he lowered her onto his erection, filling her and
stretching her around him.
   "What's so funny?"
   "Prove it." He moaned as he worked her hips over him.  "Fuck, I love
you. You're mine, and you're perfect, and I love you."
   ***
   Having every sense on high alert changed things.  Every moment was
intense.  Lydia wasn't sure she could live that way long term.
   Sex in the kitchen, standing, just his hands on her hips.  That was
hardly proof of anything except that her menstrual blood did not matter to
him.  Maybe that's why he laughed at her.  Maybe he was playing a joke on
her.
   She lay back on his body in the bath.  He squeezed a cloth of water on
her chest, keeping her warm and soothed.  Her hair lay thick between them,
still wild and loose.  If he didn't care, she didn't either.
   "Reju.  Turn on the light."
   Three candles lit around the bathroom.
   "Is that a human ability?"
   "Not quite.  It's a skill I have developed."
   She sat up and turned over.  She pointed to his eyes.  "Your eyes.  The
little like ...  frost pixels in your eyes that give off a glow.  Sometimes
it's so bright that I can see your eyes in the dark."
   He chuckled at her use of the word pixels and turned his gaze toward the
closest candle.  "Like that?"
   It was as if his iris drank the light in instead of just reflecting it.
Like a luminescent glitter.  "That's not human."
   "No, this is genetic."
   "Why do they do that?"
   "If I flashed a light in your eyes in the dark, when I turned it off you
wouldn't be able see for a while."
   Like that flame thrower in the club.  Exactly.  She nodded.
   "We think it works to dampen the light.  My night vision recovers much
faster than yours."
   "Your," she put a finger to his lips.  His teeth looked normal now, but
they hadn't before.  Had they?
   "Also genetic." He sucked her finger into his mouth.  He grabbed her
wrist and turned her palm.  Ever so slightly his incisors lengthened.
   Her breath ran away from her, but she counted each respiration to stem
the rising panic.  "Genetically what?"
   He let go of her wrist.  "Karja, but that means nothing to you, does
it?"
   She shook her head.
   "Mixes like myself are called wraith born," He seemed disappointed that
the phrase didn't make sense to her either.
   "What's a wraith?  It's not a good thing, is it?"
   "Good, bad.  It's what I am." He sighed.  "The term you would recognize
isn't entirely inaccurate."
   She felt as if her body was growing heavy.
   He opened his arms and she lay back down on him.  "May I extinguish the
light?"
   She nodded and all but one of the candles were snuffed.
   "I am considered powerful, but many of my abilities are things you take
for granted in everyday life.  The kinds of people you lock away in
monasteries or that run off to carnivals have certain gifts.  Others keep
their talents hidden, sought out only in times of great distress.  Karja
have lived in this world with humans long enough for highly creative and
imaginative people to create all kinds of horror stories."
   "Not entirely inaccurate stories."
   "No." His chest vibrated as he spoke.  "Trust me and only me.  Not my
entire kind.  I don't fear you because of nuclear weapons, prisons, or
guns, do I?"
   "No."
   "Good.  We've established that.  You love me, or you're at least
addicted to me enough to profess that you'd give your life for me.  You
know I'm different.  I'm not a saint.  I wouldn't ever claim that.  Please,
just," He groaned and rolled his head back along the back of the tub.
   She felt his erection shift under her belly.
   "Fear really does turn you on!"
   "Yes.  The rush of adrenaline through your body arouses me.  It's one of
the first things you learned about me." He leaned in and placed a kiss to
her forehead.  "I do not want to harm you.  Don't fear me.  Let me thrill
you, excite you, exhaust you, but don't fear me.  No matter how it affects
me, I enjoy your pleasure more."
   Her logical mind wanted to argue with him on every level.  "The blood?"
   "It's informative and delicious.  I like tasting you.  Your blood, your
essence is saturated with so much knowledge, like your saliva when I kiss
you, your sweat when I lick you.  Your life is reflected in the way you
taste, your state, your health, your future, your past."
   "That doesn't make any sense.  There's nothing in blood."
   "What's in wine?"
   "Grapes....  and stuff."
   "A wine connoisseur you are not, obviously.  What do they taste when
they taste wine?"
   "That other stuff.  You're a blood connoisseur?"
   "The information is there.  I'm not born knowing what it means, I
learned." He lifted her chin and kissed her briefly.  "I taught myself how
to figure it out, how to figure you out.  I know your potential.  I know
you can't go two days without caffeine before the headaches start.  You're
only going to bleed for another two days, and I've made sure you won't
cramp." He sighed.  "Stop me if I'm only making it worse."
   "Stop." Cold.  That's what pure dread felt like.  It was cold and heavy
and weighed in her gut like cast iron.  She pushed back from him, moved to
the other end of the tub.  This tub, the place where he'd drowned her to
teach her a lesson.  Trickster.  "What else are you?  The very well known
version, the truth."
   "Demon.  The very well-known name is demon."
   "From hell?"
   "My father's side came from the Cerendi province in Hedra.  That region
looks hellish, actually, but not all of the Netherworld regions are."
   Through her shroud of dread she was keenly aware of how unpleasant and
awkward he seemed.  "What are angels?"
   He lifted a single eyebrow to her as if to say 'are you kidding'? 
"Technically, there aren't any demons, but most of us don't mind
pretending, playing the part.  Female wraiths in particular love to shape
their energy into a pair of wings, especially blue or violet ones."
   Her brain ceased to comprehend those last few words.  Rewind.  "Wraiths
though?"
   "Because of how we can move, that we tend to prefer the darkness, the
glow in our eyes."
   She stared at the surface of the water, let her hand play through it,
creating ripples.  A bead of sweat rolled down the side of her face.  They
had been relaxing in the bath for while.  Without any jets or other
instruments, the water had remained warm.  Of course she'd known the whole
time, but this was heavier than anything she could have imagined.
   "What do you want from me?"
   The eyebrow again, but this time with a high shrug.  "As I said, I want
you, all of you." He took her hand and pulled her back onto his body.  He
put his hand on her thigh, but reassuringly, not forcing her to stay.
   "I'm fucking terrified."
   "I know," he groaned.  "Believe me, I know."
   She shifted until she was able to get him inside her.  She took a deep
breath and sank onto him.
   "What did you do that for?  Not helping my self control at all."
   "I'm in love with a demon."
   "That's not very nice." He said.
   "I don't understand."
   "I'm in love with a bitch?"
   "Oh, right."
   Tears spilled from her eyes and he caught each one with his tongue,
obtaining more information about her, her terror, her panic.  "Lydia, tell
me.  I need to hear it, please.  Why do you trust me?"
   Why was he doing this her?  Why did she let him?  "I love you."
   "Do me," he growled low in his throat, "a favor."
   "Hmm?"
   "Would you," He nibbled slightly on her cheek and lowered his voice to
barely a whisper.  "Cry harder?"
   She was nearly ready to, but she knew a sure fire way to tip her over.
"What was in the cup you gave me to drink?"
   He smirked and his eyes sparked rust red.  "A fermented elixir created
from demon's blood."
   She was more than just tipped, held under the surface of sanity.  She
let her tears flow and gave up reigns to the hysteria and confusion pouring
out of her like a spring rainstorm.
   She reared back and punched him in the chest.  After the third punch she
noticed his teeth and she backhanded him.  She couldn't hurt him.  What did
it matter?  Once, twice, then back and forth until her hand stung.
   He wrapped both his hands around her and in a moment they were in the
bed, dripping wet, but still very much together.  She rode him, letting out
all of her lust and fury and fear.
   "My fiery dragoness, I love you." Reju cried out as she slammed down on
him.  "Come baby.  Feel it.  Let me feel you."
   ***
   She woke lying on his chest.  Beside him, a bottle of water sitting on a
bowl of ice.  She reached over and emptied the entire bottle into her
mouth. Goodness, would this feeling ever stop?  She couldn't believe she'd
gone so wild.
   She set the bottle aside and brushed her finger over his whelped cheeks.
She kissed each one.  Then she remembered why she'd hit him to begin with.
   "Don't work yourself up for no reason."
   "No reason?  How would you react?  I already have a terrible track
record with men.  You were on my computer, read my mail.  How is this any
better?"
   "Because you're with me.  What did your coffee taste like?"
   She rattled off all the pleasant notes and flavors that would have made
a wine connoisseur pale.  It made her blush.  He didn't have to say it. 
She wouldn't have said anything other than 'great' a few days ago.
   "Any other questions?"
   "Should we put clothes on?"
   "I'd prefer we didn't."
   "I'm going to bleed everywhere unless I do something.  I have a cup.  I
don't have to wear clothes."
   "Let's grab a shower, relax.  If you have more questions I'll answer
them.  Let me pamper you for a while.  I'll be normal.  I can do normal."
   Lydia nodded.  She didn't know what he was saying, but it sounded good.
It started with shower and ended with normal.  If she had an ounce of self
preservation she would have run for her life.  "Do you always look human?"
   He smiled and cocked his head to the side.  "I'll remember your question
and answer it later."
   "That means no, you know." She put her lips to his, closed her eyes and
allowed herself to indulge in feeling him next to her.  "Do I love you
because I love you?  Or because you've done something to me?"
   "I'd like to think it's because I've done something to you."
   She chuckled despite her efforts to remain serious.  "Um, okay, yeah. 
You know what I mean, though."
   "I haven't forced you to feel any kind of way about me."
   "Why me?  Why don't you find a dem ...  um ...  wra ...  um ...  Karja?"
   "I'm attracted to you.  I like you." Reju sighed and rolled his neck. 
"If you decide that it's too much, this can still work without you giving
up your life.  I could play normal, within means.  You honestly have
potential.  I've made that evident to you."
   They departed the bed for the bathroom.
   "Why don't you drink coffee?"
   "There are other liquids that I prefer more."
   She wandered absently behind him until she was back in the bathroom. 
"Why is everything in here black?  What is this tile made from?"
   He filled the tub before coming to stand before her, wrapping his arms
around her.  For a moment she thought he was going to pick her up, carry
her over, and slam her into the water.  Her legs stiffened, but he didn't
move.  He only held her.
   "It absorbs the heat."
   A flare caught her attention.  His eyes had become like two burgundy
coals.  He took two steps back from her and little wisps of reddish gold
light rose like tendrils of fog.  She could feel the heat, a bit like
standing in front of a fire.
   "You're more afraid of that tub than you are of me."
   "Memory anxiety." She walked in a wide circle around him and turned off
the water.  She dipped her fingers into the ice cold water.  "The pool was
ice cold."
   "That's literally where I go to cool off." He stepped into the bath and
ducked his whole body under the surface.  She sat on the edge and looked
down at him.  The water was warm, deliciously so, and after a moment steam
rose from the surface.
   He reached out and pulled her in with him.  His supple lips pressed hard
to hers as his tongue snaked between her lips.  She felt tremors in his
touch.  "I lied."
   "About?" She took a quick breath.
   "I can't be normal with you.  I can't go backwards." He kissed her
again. "I have never found a human so magnetic.  I want you."
   "I never asked you to be normal.  I'm fairly sure you've never been
'normal' with me.  I was just unquestioning."
   "Oh yeah?  Close your eyes.  Keep them closed."
   She had to say unquestioning.  Naive was more like it.  She closed her
eyes and a bright light shone through her eyelids, as if she were
sunbathing, seeing the daylight through her skin.
   His hand touched her hip under the water.  "Does that hurt?"
   "No.  It's just really, really warm." Lydia moaned the word, "fuck," as
'really warm' parted her vaginal walls.  The water ran again and the shower
turned on.  Ice cold needles of water, but she only felt them for a moment.
   She was nervous and excited.  Her breath became shallow, her heart
raced, and her nerves were on edge.
   Reju pressed his lips to hers and it was like kissing summer.  Her heart
felt like it was going to bruise her chest.  He was fervent, urging her on
with each thrust.  She could only think how special she must be to know him
in such a manner, to experience him, to fly so close to the sun.
   And yet there was a problem with that.  One hand teased her breasts, his
body, hot and hard, thrust into her.  She felt lightheaded, as if she might
pass out.  Like running too hard in the afternoon, becoming overwhelmed by
the heat.
   She broke from their kiss and angled her head back into the chilly spray
of the shower while her breasts were bathed in heat.  There was a sharp
contrast between his molten touch and the icy sting of the water.
   It wasn't enough.  She felt as if she were baking in the center of an
oven, only basted by cool water.  She trembled with fever.
   "Think about the cold, not the heat.  Winter.  Snow.  Ice."
   The shower, the ice water.  The arctic circle and frostbite.  Ice cubes.
Fresh snow.  Her consciousness struggled to tell her that cold wasn't the
issue.  She was going to faint.  She breathed and took in a lungful of
steam.
   Lava erupted inside her and she screamed.
   ***
   Darkness.  Whole and complete.  She didn't pass out.  She could feel the
bite of the shower through her haze.  She breathed steam into her lungs. 
He was holding her, but he was not warm, not like the sun's light, not like
fire.
   "Reju?"
   "You're still with me?"
   "For the moment.  There's still time for me to lose it."
   He squeezed her tight to his body.
   "Easy."
   He eased his hold and dunked the both of them under the water.  It was
only for a second; the heat passed and a chill took its place.  "Now I'm
cold and dizzy." She'd felt this before, after having sex in a shower that
was too hot, the white creeping in.
   He turned the water off.
   "My muscles hurt," she winced as she rolled her body.
   "I can make you feel better.  Just give it a moment.  It won't happen
again.  I needed you." All that arrogance and bravado of his sounded
shattered.  "Yes, I have a different form.  I look human, but my eyes are
brighter, features a little more severe.  I look every bit the predator. 
I'm sorry if I took it too far.  I'm a man.  I don't know which half to
blame, but I'm male and greedy and--"
   "You didn't kill me.  You didn't even burn me.  I'm just dizzy."
   He turned her around and she lay back against his chest.  He slipped his
hand between her legs.  She expected him to find a place raw and unwelcome
to his touch, but she was wet even under the water.  He stroked her lightly
while humming.
   She knew the song.  That album had been on repeat in her car for a
couple months.  She liked the vibration of his chest on her back.
   "I'll wash your hair." He announced as he sat her up.  He massaged
shampoo into her scalp and she melted.
   Melting.  Ha.
   "That feels great." She closed her eyes and relished the scalp massage.
   "Let me take care of you."
   "Where was your mother from?"
   "Dominican Republic.  She had red eyes, by the way.  Copper red runs in
her family."
   "Is she dead?"
   "Yes, of natural causes, about nine years ago.  My father as well.  It's
just me and my sister."
   "You have a sister?"
   "Yes, but she's not local." He turned the nozzle on and rinsed her hair.
The ends were still sitting in the tub.
   "I can stand."
   "You don't have to yet." He tilted her head back and rinsed around her
hair line.  "Most of the time Karja suppress their abilities.  It becomes
second nature to us, like whispering in a library.  And yet with your
abilities..." He sectioned her hair and applied conditioner.  "It's like
you are standing in a crowd whispering when you should talk.  I'm teaching
you to speak up by forcing you to yell."
   "When should I get nervous around you?"
   "You never have to.  You taste like sex feels.  You're brash and
contrarian and gorgeous and delicate.  You are such a contradiction."
   "Why?"
   "You use anger to defend yourself, but take that away and you're
actually pretty incredible.  When you're in lust your eyes turn green.  I
could fuck you every day for the rest of your life and never get tired of
you."
   She blushed and turned her head as he rinsed the conditioner from her
hair.  Her eyes were light brown, not a trace of green about them, but it
was neat that he thought so.  "I think you'd cauterize me, so there won't
be much more of that."
   "I didn't.  If I did, I could fix you."
   "I'm not a car."
   "Good, because I don't fix those."
   She laughed and gasped as he caught her lips and pulled her into a kiss.
Her next home was going to be a psychiatric care center.
   -_ Contract _After the shower, a massage, and all the pampering of a day
spa, Lydia felt like royalty.  They prepared dinner together.
   "Do you usually cook like this or is it just for me?"
   He set her plate down.  "Special, just for you.  How's that sauce?"
   She wrapped the pasta around her fork and put some in her mouth. 
"Deli--" She set the fork down and looked around.  Something was different
about the house.
   "Yes," he smirked.  "Someone is here."
   That's when she noticed the handsome brunette emerge from the shadows
and into the light of the kitchen.  His hair was cut short, eyes bright
blue, and dressed sharp and distinguished rather than the goth-subculture
she thought the Karja were into.  It was a dead-sexy look for him.
   "I need you to get something for me." He set a thick folder on the
counter and winked at her.  "Your thrall is one hell of a cutie.  Why
haven't you called me?"
   The sound of his voice was like warm honey, coating her with a glaze of
girlish glee.  It was like that feeling of looking at a rock star.  He
probably had his own band, groupies, massive orgies.
   "Hi." She breathed.  She even squeaked a little.
   "Reju can be so rude." He extended his hand to her.  "I am Dmitri."
   Her mind was on autopilot.  She took his hand, cool, smooth, firm. 
"Lydia.  Pleasure to meet you."
   Reju's voice cut through the fog of her infatuation like a cold blade.
"What do you need?"
   "I made a list." Dmitri didn't let go of her hand, his thumb stroked her
wrist.  "I even emailed you, but I see why you've been busy.  Ashton said
something about you snatching some road kill.  Again," his blue eyes turned
to Reju.  "Why didn't you call?"
   "When do you need it?"
   "Before next week.  I need to evaluate a firm.  I have a meeting on
Monday.  I hear the representative is particularly friendly.  I need
facts."
   When Dmitri looked her, she couldn't look away.  Her mouth went dry and
she wet the robe she sat in.
   "Reju?" Something changed in Dmitri's demeanor.  He narrowed his eyes
and his expression cooled.  "She's not under contract.  Seriously?  How are
you supposed to control her, keep her safe?"
   "She's safe with me."
   A switch flipped and Dmitri beamed, his whole face lit up.  He sat on
the stool beside her and pulled open the belt of her robe.  She should have
felt embarrassed, outraged, but his eyes felt like hands, touching her and
setting her on fire.  And then he did touch her, her nipples hardened under
his finger.  "Hey, cutie."
   "Hey." She sighed like a teen meeting her favorite movie star.
   "That's a banging body you got."
   "Thanks."
   "With a body like that, I can make sure you live a life of power and
wealth."
   She rattled her head and looked over to Reju.  Why was he just standing
there?  What was wrong with her?  Where was her outrage?
   No.  Seriously.  What did Reju call it?  Her defense.
   Anger?  Got it.
   Lydia snatched her hand away from him.  "Fuck off."
   He grinned.  "Impressive.  I see the appeal.  Let's focus on what you
want then.  Money?  Technology?  Jewelry?" He hummed in thought.  "Less
material?  I can guarantee you fifty years of perfect health.  Tell me what
you desire.  Tell me how to make you happy."
   "Then?"
   "Then nothing, whatever.  This is a deal.  Negotiate with me." He looked
at Reju.  "You like this one, don't you?"
   "Very much, which is why I didn't call you.  She is my business, Dmitri.
She isn't a thrall.  Go ahead and get it over with before her food gets
cold."
   "I am offering you any life you want, cutie.  What do you say?  What do
you want?"
   She didn't think about it.  Her senses were on overload.  She was on the
verge of a sexual attraction overdose.  This man was like a stalking
panther, standing over her body, salivating.  She didn't have the capacity
for thought, only her instinct.  "No."
   "What?"
   "No."
   "No isn't an answer.  Everyone has desires.  What are you getting now,
except used?  Is that all you want?  To get fucked and sucked and drained?
I can give you all that too."
   She snatched her robe closed.  "I gave you the only answer you're
getting from me.  Now fuck off!" She turned back to her plate and shoveled
food into her mouth.
   "Yeah, I see the attraction." He leaned onto the counter and continued
to beam that radiant smile.  "Do you just want the magic then?  Do you want
to be like us?  Free from that body of yours?  That is the ultimate power.
Smart of you to hold out - forever valuable, sexy, alluring.  Able to turn
a head with a word, able to be any place with a thought." He leaned so
close that she could feel his breath on her ear.  He embodied temptation.
   Tricksters.
   She continued to eat, focused on something real.  Why did Reju let him
do this to her?  Who was this man?
   "Just say yes, sweetheart.  Or instead, moan it, I want to know what you
sound like just before you explode.  Hmm?"
   She put another fork of food in her mouth.  Tasted all the spices and
subtle flavors she never expected from a plate of linguini.  Tasting,
sensing, breathing.  Fear snaked up her body to her chest and swallowed the
thick lump of food.
   Why did she fight so hard?  Fight to breathe, to live?  What was the use
of living forever if she had barely been living up until now?  Which life
did she want to lead?
   "No, thank you."
   "You're too old to be naive and too young to be jaded.  Chicks like you
never say no.  I can give you the ability to make any man your slave.  Tell
me why you don't want that."
   "You have nothing I want."
   "Saucy, but complete bullshit." He looked at Reju and chewed his bottom
lip.  "Prick.  You prepared her, and she fucking listened.  Nice," he
purred.  "I like her."
   "That much is clear." Reju wore a proud smile.  "Are you done?"
   "Yeah, fuck it.  I had to try.  She looks like she tastes dangerous."
   "I do."
   Dmitri was like a salesman that got his foot in the door.  He puckered
his lips and she willingly leaned over to kiss him.  His tongue extended
deep into her mouth, giving her one hell of a kiss.
   "Take your time," Reju whispered.  He picked her up and set her in
Dmitri's lap.  "Experience every moment."
   Lydia kissed him, but focused on Reju's hands, the sensation of his
fingers on her body.  She lit up like a bonfire between their bodies.  She
pulled away from Dmitri and leaned back against Reju.
   "Fuck," Dmitri licked his lips.  He looked down at her open legs.
   Reju helped her back to her stool.  "No.  I've reached the limit of my
patience with you.  Now go."
   Dmitri nodded to her.  "If you ever want me, sugar, just call my name.
I'll come for you." Then he disappeared right in front of her.
   Lydia shook her head.  "What the fuck just happened?  What did I do? 
Why did you let him do that?!"
   "You should know that he's connected to you now, and he meant what he
said, if you call his name he'll appear any place you are.  Think very
carefully about that."
   "Like a, like summoning a demon, you mean?"
   He gave a stiff nod.  "Like calling him, except you don't need his email
or phone number.  He will answer."
   She scratched her head.  "You prefer to be summoned by email," she
muttered, remembering his odd choice of words.
   "I do."
   "Why did you, you just stood there while he was all ...  dreamy.  Aren't
you angry?"
   "Not at all.  Dmitri is my best friend.  You performed perfectly."
   "You usually call him, why?"
   "Exactly what you're thinking."
   "What happens now?"
   "Don't call him."
   "No, I mean, you put me in his lap."
   He grinned and shrugged slightly.  "You were already kissing him. 
Couldn't resist showing you off."
   Anger flared as if it had never left her.  "Excuse me?  Showing me off?
What's your problem?  You don't own me."
   "I'm aware of that.  Otherwise you'd have a contract and no one could
just walk up to you and offer you the bounties of the netherworld.  Without
me you would have been a midnight feast in the Umbra.  You wouldn't be here
to have this conversation if I didn't get you out of there.  They would
have destroyed you, drained you, hurt you."
   She shuddered as she stepped away from him, but he advanced on her.
   "I own you as much as I need to."
   "Fuck you.  No you don't!" Panic crept up her bones, but she didn't back
down from her words.  "You don't own me."
   He took another step toward her, probably to take her home.  She turned
and bolted down the hallway, tossing her robe to the floor in an effort to
slow him down.
   She was quickly running blind.  She didn't know where she was going or
the layout of his house, but she was running and had not yet smacked her
forehead to a wall.  She threw herself inside a dark room...
   ...and ran straight into him.
   She beat on his arms, twisted and stomped in an effort to get away from
him.  He wrapped around her like a living straightjacket.
   "No!  Stop!  No!" She didn't want to go home.  She didn't want to be
away from him.  She didn't want other supernatural creatures making her
increasingly seductive offers.
   "Fuck, Lydia, will you be still?  You're worse than a toddler."
   "I'm sorry!  Please, I'm sorry!" She went slack in his arms and gave up
the fight.  His strength out lasted her tantrum.  She hung her head and
waited for the inevitable.
   "Why were you screaming no?"
   "I'm not ready to leave you."
   "I know that.  I was never going to take you home unless you asked." He
kissed the top of her head.  "I do not own you, but I am protecting you. 
Okay?  Calm down."
   She huffed.
   "Why did you say no to Dmitri?"
   "Oh." She turned and hugged him.  "I remembered the bathroom thing.  You
did that to me to see how much I'd fight for my life.  You were teaching me
to be human.  I don't want to be something else.  I haven't learned how to
be myself."
   He lifted her and kissed her, squeezing her tight with his arms.
   "Can't breathe." She gasped.
   He released her and light filled the room.  "When a wraith born makes an
offer, it's our custom not to interfere.  When he learned you didn't have a
contract, that was his right."
   "Yeah, but do wraiths just pop in and out of your house when they want?"
   "No.  Dmitri and my sister are the only others who have permission to
enter."
   "Let me guess, I'm the first person you haven't called him over to be
with."
   "Yes."
   She sighed heavily.  Men.
   He brushed his finger along her cheek.
   "You should have warned me about him."
   "I wasn't thinking of him.  He won't do anything without your
permission. Your will is its own magic."
   "Why didn't my will matter when we met?"
   "A wraith's fury was not a consequence of breaking it."
   That whole sponsoring thing made a little more sense now.  Swallowing
thickly she broached the next subject.  "What's this thing about a
contract?"
   "The kind that doesn't require lawyers to enforce.  It is a magical seal
to the terms of the agreement.  That is not what is going on here.  As long
as you don't enter one, you'll be fine."
   "Fuck!  How could you put me in this position?  Do I look like a nun?"
   Reju laughed.  "I don't expect you to be a nun, not in the least."
   "Well, good, because there's nothing nun-like about me."
   "Mmm, don't I know it."
   ***
   Pitch dark.  She squirmed under a feather light touch.
   "Quit," she mumbled.  She couldn't be permanently aroused.  The
sensation was a vicious tease.  She reached out for the hand and tried to
make him touch her more.
   "You want it."
   "What?"
   "Pressure."
   "Fuck you." She picked up the ghost of silvery blue green light as
fingers whispered over her skin.
   "You want me to apply pressure.  Why else did you press my hand to your
body?"
   She rolled away and tried to get back to sleep.
   His tongue traced her neck.
   She ignored it, made an attempt.  So soft, slow.
   "I can smell your arousal."
   She rolled onto her back and stared blindly into the dark.  Her heart
thrummed with each beat.
   "I can hear your heart.  It's like blood in the water and I'm itching to
taste you.  Your cute little body wants more pressure."
   "No."
   He pressed his hand between her legs.  "Yes." A finger circled her
clitoris, just the very tip.  "You want me to press harder."
   The heat between her legs flared.
   "You like that."
   A frustrated groan escaped when he stopped.
   "Still want to deny what I can smell?  I feel you wanting me."
   A hot mouth covered her nipple, slowly circled it, slow, lazy, with the
occasional suction.  The sensation was highly irritating.  "You want more,
don't you?"
   Always with the fucking games.  She gave up.  "Yes."
   "You want me."
   "Yes," she whined, widened her thighs.
   He was just playing games and she was only playing along.  His fingers
continued to tease her, tracing soft circles where heat and moisture were
begging to be penetrated.  She wanted him!
   "Do you want more?"
   "Yes."
   A single finger slipped inside her.  "That's not enough, is it?"
   Annoying fuck.  She angled her hips up, pressed toward his hand, her
need growing urgent.
   He put another finger inside her.  "You want it.  You need it.  You are
a slave to your lust."
   She couldn't answer.  She didn't care what nonsense he was spouting. 
Two of his fingers pressed up toward her g-spot while another rubbed her
clitoris.
   "Tell me you want me." Lips pressed to hers.
   She breathed in and her heart began to sprint.  Her arms shot out and
punched him hard in the chest.  She inhaled deeply and screamed, "Reju!"
   The room instantly flooded with light.  She bolted upright in bed.  Reju
stalked through the room.  Reddish orange tendrils of light flowed from him
in waves.  He stalked over to her and his eyes narrowed as they looked at
each other.  "Dmitri!"
   ***
   Dmitri manifested at the foot of the bed, a smirk belying his amusement.
   Shame flooded her body.  She hugged her knees to her body.
   "She's a sharp one.  I got her to hear her moan 'yes.' That tight
slippery body of hers begged me to fuck her.  Repeatedly."
   His accusation gutted her.  She sobbed and buried herself under the
covers.
   "Chill out, man.  I didn't do anything she didn't ask for.  She said she
wanted me."
   "Rich, Dmitri.  She thought it was me."
   "It's not my fault if she can't tell us apart.  She's just a cunt
begging for a cock.  Since she asked so nicely, let me give it to her.  You
know she wants us both.  She'd probably get wet for anything hard and
long." He laughed.  "She's the perfect type to play with.  Hey, have you
given--"
   A hollow thud sounded through the room followed by Dmitri's winded
laughter.  "I still have her on my hand, wet and slick.  You smell her,
don't you?  I can fuck her any time I want.  Might as well let me now."
   No!  That couldn't be true!  Lydia slid off the bed to the floor.  She
could taste bile at the back of her throat.  Saliva filled her mouth.
   Dmitri's voice again, such a gorgeous voice spouting such terrible
words. "What's wrong with you, man?  You think she loves you?  You think we
matter to them?  They are sacks of dull nerve endings and we are nothing
more than a drug.  I proved that.  It's not you; it's what you do to her
body.  What the fuck?  You taught me this shit!  When did you turn into a
fucking punk?  Don't be a fool.  Wake up and stop being so bloody selfish.
She's hot and velvet soft.  She must feel incredible wrapped around your
cock."
   She rose to her hands and knees and puked.  Hands clapped down over her
ears.  She eased away from her regurgitated meal.  She felt ashamed and
sick and sad and confused.
   That wasn't true, was it?  They left the room and plunged her into
darkness.
   She brought her hands down to crawl along the floor.
   Her head ached as she crawled; she kept moving until she reached the
wall.
   Dmitri was a liar.  How could he say such vicious things?  In bitter
misery, she crawled for the dresser.  Her bag would be there.  She'd just
go home.
   Her breath hitched and stuttered, but she pushed to her feet.  He was
bound to listen to her.  Now was a great time to test that.
   "Reju!  Take me home.  Take me home right now."
   ***
   Lydia collapsed onto the linoleum floor.  Her head spun as if she got
flung off a fair ride prematurely.
   She didn't pass out, but that would have helped.
   Her back arched as she puked once again.
   Yup.  Gross.
   She crawled and stumbled her way to the kitchen, splashed water on her
face and in her mouth.  Pouring generously, she served herself a glass of
cranberry juice and vodka.  She downed three shots of the vodka in a single
gulp and poured another glass full.
   The tears fell as she slumped against the cabinets.  She was playing a
dangerous game and no one had told her the rules, like knocking down a
wasps' nest and discovering she was allergic to the sting.
   ...or a subterranean cavern filled with demons.
   Her bitter laugh echoed off the kitchen walls.
   Rules.
   She groped for her phone and dialed a number.
   "Hello?"
   "Carmen, hey.  This is Lydia.  Got a minute?"
   "Hold on.  Twenty seconds, just let me." The sounds of conversation
faded into the background.  "Is everything okay?"
   "No." She dug the heel of her palm into her throbbing head.  "Nope."
   "I'm listening."
   "I understand if you think I'm crazy, but I need some advice about
contracts with demons."
   "All right.  I'll give you some general points, and if you have
questions, just ask."
   "Okay."
   "Sorcerers enter into agreements with entities, better known as demons.
Let's say you're having trouble obtaining results scrying.  You find an
entity that excels in that talent and come to an agreement.  You give
something to get something.  Contracts are very powerful and spiritually
binding.  They outline what each party agrees to.  No one can violate it -
not even the signers.  You know the saying - deal with the devil?"
   "Mmm hmm." Her eyes fluttered shut as she sipped more vodka.
   "This is worse.  I used a frivolous example, but a sorcerer has to be a
in a bad way to form a contract.  This is not for amateurs.  I've known you
a few years, but I never thought you were into the arts.  What happened?"
   "Tell me about demon blood."
   Carmen chuckled.  "Popular subject.  It's like fairy dust - the supposed
answer to all of life's troubles.  Demon blood is also a code name for a
liquid drug.  It's pretty extreme.  Make sure you don't confuse the two. 
One is a myth, the other is a debilitating chemical.  Oh, I get it.  You
must have met someone who claimed to sign a contract for a taste of demon's
blood?  I have heard it's something you can't buy.  I guess that would be
one way."
   "What does it do?"
   "Goodness, Lydia.  Are you drunk?"
   "Close." She leaned forward and poured herself another glass.  "Working
on it.  Way to what?"
   "A way to open your third eye, enhance supernatural talents.  The
stories say that it enhances everything in the body, to include esoteric
ability.  Drinking it - I'm talking about the drug - will put you in a
hospital - whoever told you they had the actual thing was pulling your leg.
It's a shitty short cut, like some magical feather the community makes up,
a fairy tale told by poser sorcerers and amateurs.  Might as well call it
ground unicorn horn.  Nothing replaces hard work.  Asking for demon blood
is asking to go insane and die, so whoever told you that is feeding you
lies.  What else did this person say?  I'm loving it.  Thank you so much
for calling me.  People not educated on these subjects are vulnerable to
all kinds of rumors."
   "Is there some way to tell if you're dealing with a demon or how
powerful one is?"
   "Um," Carmen paused a moment.  "No one sees demons.  They say that those
sorcerers we revere as especially powerful were probably half demons, but
that's just an exaggeration.  I'm small potatoes.  Happy being a nerd and
all that.  Demons are not real, you know.  Demonic creatures are constructs
of the mind.  We make up stories about them to replace natural human
traits."
   "How do you make a contract with ...  mind contracts, constructs?"
   "The mind is a powerful thing, but Lydia, have you seen something? 
What's going on?"
   "No.  I met a guy.  He said the person who gave him his ability was a
powerful half demon that let him drink his blood and stuff.  Rubbish right?
I mean, it all sounded," Her words trailed off.  She stared off into the
next room.  She was nearly raped by a mental construct?  Excellent.  More
paperwork for her future psychiatrist.  It wasn't the demon blood that made
her insane, but the demon that gave it to her.
   "He was full of shit.  A half demon would just as soon turn a greedy
practitioner to ash.  Those are called wraiths in the community.  They are
mean little fuckers, I mean, if you pretend they are real.  At worse, a
clan of psychopaths.  Was he using the drug?  Did he hurt you?"
   "No." Tears streamed down her cheek but she kept her voice steady.
   "I've got to go.  I'm in the middle of a meeting.  Listen, don't try
summoning.  There's a process, rules, a background of study if you want to
learn the magical arts.  I can connect you with a teacher, but this is
something people turn to out of necessity, not for fun.  You can end up
very badly burned or worse."
   Wasn't that the truth.  She belched when she meant to laugh.  "Thanks.
Bye."
   Lydia ended the call and tossed her phone across the floor.  With a
grimace of disgust she buried her head in her lap.  A sudden sob broke free
and tears soaked her thighs.
   She vaulted to the side before her brain could translate what the
problem was.
   Reju stood in her kitchen.
   "What the fuck do you want?!"
   -_ Wounded _-
   Her head pounded as she stood upright.  She'd had far too much vodka. 
She braced herself on the counter.  His face was bruised, clothes stained.
She smelled the herbal muskiness of his blood.  It helped to drown out the
acrid smell of her own sickness.
   Her words slurred.  "The fuck happened to you?"
   "It was just a fight."
   "Just?" She grimaced and stumbled slightly before righting herself. 
"Look ...  what do you want?  I can't."
   He stooped down and picked up the vodka and the glass she'd knocked
over. He put both liquids back into the fridge.  With his back to her she
saw the slash down the back of his shirt, black-red blood soaked into his
jeans.  'Just a fight' looked like it took place with an enraged wolf.
   "Dmitri kicked your ass."
   "He looks worse." A vague grin tilted the corner of his mouth.  "I'll be
fine by tomorrow."
   "Anything I can do to help?  You know," She grimaced, "when I'm sober."
   He snatched her into his bloody, bruised arms, cut skin.  Dripping with
a drug.  The world spun and she dropped her head onto his shoulder.  "Love
me.  That's all I want.  Don't stop.  Don't let him get to you or interfere
with what we have."
   "But he said--"
   "Hush."
   She traced her fingertips over his battered face.
   "Tell me the truth, Lydia.  Tell me what happened."
   The drunken version didn't evoke any anger or sadness.  Lydia felt dead
inside as she recalled the experience, the lies, the accusations.
   "I was tired, and I didn't remember that the tank was on.  The voice was
a little different, but I knew for sure when I smelled him.  I thought you
were teasing me.  I thought," She paused as the world spun a bit.  "I
thought it was a game."
   "I would not have brought you here if I knew you were going to do this
to yourself."
   "Why is he so mean?"
   Reju grinned.  "Mean?  He's much nicer than I was when I met you.  Have
you ever been so angry with someone--"
   She snorted.  "I get angry about a bunch of stuff."
   "Yes, well, he resents people who shun their abilities, glorify
ignorance.  He doesn't understand how you're different."
   "Yeah, like you.  It's not just that.  He's angry because you're acting
different."
   "True.  We can be very cruel to the naive, draining them of blood and
spirit."
   "Why are you telling me all this?"
   "So that you can understand his behavior.  He won't take what you don't
willingly give him because that's the game he plays.  Other demons do not
play by these rules, may decide a fight with me is worth it.  Humans have
laws or codes of conduct, but not everyone abides.  I'm telling you so that
you understand why I'm going to push you.  I will teach you to own your
power.  You won't be a victim, not to him or any other Karja."
   "Why don't we just make a contract?"
   "You're not my fucking job.  I fucking hate contracts.  This isn't a
business deal with a beginning and an end.  Like you said: I don't own you.
You have free will, your own mind, and I want that mind free from
obligation."
   "What's the fighting for then?  You've shared before."
   "The fighting is because he upset you and for fun.  I'm not letting him
at you after I've done half the work.  You aren't a practitioner.  You
accept us as real.  You aren't afraid.  You smell, taste ...  this is about
what I want: you.  There is nothing supernatural about it."
   "What smell?"
   "Like if you caught the scent of roasting coffee beans, you start to
salivate.  That's how you effect me."
   She grinned, but it faltered as her hand found an open cut.  "You're
still bleeding.  You don't have to hold me."
   "Yes, I do.  When I kiss you, when I drink from you, when I feel you
orgasm - you share a part of yourself with me.  Holding you makes me feel
better." He kissed the top of her head.  "I don't want to lose you.  I'm
sorry I didn't prepare you better.  I'm sorry he hurt you."
   "I'm here now." She kissed him, drunken and sloppy, but emotionally
loaded, lustful.  "I love you, Reju.  It's fucked up, but I really do."
   "Will you kiss me better?"
   "Yes." Whatever it took, she wanted to ease his pain, close his wounds.
He needed her and she needed to be with him.  Each of them were little more
than addicts thinking of their next fix.
   ***
   Lydia woke with a chill.  She'd grown so accustomed to being near a
living volcano that she felt his absence immediately.
   She crawled to her laptop, but groaned when she remembered watching her
phone slide under the side board in the living room.  Another groan and she
crawled back into bed, covered her whole body.  She tried to get back to
sleep, but no amount of blankets warded off the chill.
   "Reju."
   Seconds passed.  He flickered a bit in the morning light before
solidifying.  Her eyes passed over his naked form, bruised and bloody and
handsome, every inch of him.
   "Sorry, bad time?"
   His expression darkened.  "What is it?"
   "I would have called, but my phone is in the other room."
   "Do you want me or your phone?"
   "You.  Why did you leave without me?  I miss you."
   He frowned and extended his hand.  "I'll have to knock you out.  I can't
do this in my condition."
   She took his hand and wrapped her arms tight around him.  Moments later
darkness clouded her perception.
   ***
   She woke again covered in sweat.  Her clothes were damp with it. 
Several bottles of water surrounded a single candle in the far corner of
the barren room.  As she crossed the floor, she noticed the changes in the
patterns on the smooth, cold stone.  The inscriptions continued to the
wall.
   She grabbed the bottle of water and looked around.  There didn't look to
be a way out.  She set the empty bottle aside and reached for the next one.
She felt like she was in a sauna, but she didn't see a heater anywhere.
   The room was shaped like a coffin, a double-wide cell with no visible
way in or out.  Reju lying in the center on his back didn't help the image.
   She set aside the now empty bottle and crawled back over to him.  He was
the heat source, like a long, soft hot rock.  The floor felt cool given how
much heat filled the room.  Lydia combed her fingers through his the soft
curls of his hair.
   "Where are we?" She whispered.
   He didn't open his eyes or appear to stir from a sleep.  "My crypt."
   Lydia's skin crawled in revulsion.  "What?"
   "It's a pet term for my recovery room.  Nothing can cross the
inscriptions unless I carry it across."
   "How are you feeling?  How will I know if you have a temperature?"
   He pulled her down onto him.  "All you're experiencing is my guard down.
The floor and walls have convection cooling.  Don't worry; I'm not slow
cooking you."
   Her grin pressed to his chest.  "Why did you have to knock me out to
bring me here?"
   "It's less of a shock to your system.  Traveling isn't my best skill."
   "What's your best skill?"
   "You were dehydrated, but you're better now."
   "I see.  Hacker."
   "Yeah."
   "Fucking peeping tom is more like it."
   "I love your outrage.  You are so precious."
   "Precious, huh?" She pinched him.
   He kissed the top of her head.  "It's just easier for me.  I enjoy
having access to knowledge." His hands traced a lazy path up and down her
back.  "Help me heal, darling."
   She grinned and sat back on him.  "Gladly." She was turned on just
hearing the words.
   Reju stretched his hands out to either side and closed his eyes.  He
moaned when she leaned over and kissed the cut on his collar bone.
   She lifted her hips and felt him hard and stiff at her thigh.  She only
had to shift her hips slightly and she felt the fat head of his dick
against her wet folds.  She held her breath as he filled her body.
   -_ Memory _-
   Lydia turned in the mirror.  The slinky silk cocktail gown and heels fit
her body as if it had been custom tailored.
   He put a pair of silver earrings on her and fastened a dark stone around
her neck.
   "I think this is the most beautiful thing I've ever worn."
   He kissed her on the cheek and moved to don his jacket.  She admired his
ass in the black trousers as he laced up his boots.  "Your observation
skills need work.  Observation not just of the present, but of things past:
memory."
   The shift from playful to instructive was just that quick.  The change
in mood didn't jar her.  Her attention shifted like gears in a sports car.
   He led her to an adjoining room and pulled a chair back from a round
black table.  A crystal chandelier glittered, reflecting the torch light
along the wall.  A covered, silver serving tray rested in the center of the
table.
   He lifted the lid and pointed to the tray.
   There wasn't any food, just some random objects: a watch, bowl, card,
lip balm, brush, fruit, and a sample bottle of clear liquor.
   He set the lid down.  "Tell me what was on the tray."
   "Random stuff, a watch, lip stuff, orange ...  liquor."
   He lifted the lid.  "What's different?"
   She stared at the items on the tray.  "The comb wasn't there before."
   "Is that all?"
   "I wasn't ready."
   He set the lid down and closed his eyes.  "Life doesn't wait for you to
be ready." He lifted the lid.  "Again."
   She stared at the objects laid out, paying extra attention to them.
   He recovered the tray.
   "Salt shaker, chocolate, ribbon, measuring tape ...  tissues, and a
lighter, scissors."
   The haunting, spacey EBM song, Sapphire by Seabound began to play from
the embedded speakers.
   'Tender breeze a hint of silence.  Raven down the night and sky.'
   They played with objects on the tray, each time increasing the items and
shortening the length of time she had to examine them.
   "Stop!" She grabbed each side of her head with a low moan.  Her head
actually hurt.
   "Tell me the name of the song that was just playing."
   She lifted her head to listen.  When had the music stopped?  "Search and
Destroy."
   "When did it stop playing?"
   Fuck!  "About a minute before I gave up."
   "The pain you feel is similar to the pain of lifting weights: expansion,
growing.  Like lifting weights, pain is a good indication of when to stop."
He offered her his hand with a smile.  "Have you ever danced the bachata?"
   She shook her head.  He pulled her tight against him and squeezed her
ass.  "Good.  I won't have to undo any bad habits." A fast tempo latin song
filled the room.  "Just let me move you.  Don't think about it." He swung
her hip right along with his.
   She giggled.  "This is weird."
   "Pay attention, darling," he purred in her ear.  "Feel the rhythm.  Feel
me."
   She was like a doll in his arms.  Once he got her hips moving, her feet
followed.  She'd never seen the bachata or heard of it, but it felt like
having sex standing up.  Her body was moved, controlled, mastered.
   "There," he announced.  "Now you have the basic steps.  Start
embellishing."
   Giggles bubbled out from her belly.  Basic steps?  She didn't know what
she was doing, but she kept at it, adding a bit of playful flair.  It was
one of the better games they had played.  "Can I take off these shoes?"
   "Go ahead."
   He removed his as well.  When she held onto him again their legs were
more closely entwined, moving as if one unit.  Lydia felt breathless and
wanton, ready to strip him down any minute.
   "The most important lesson you need is to do this all the time."
   "Do what?"
   "What is a dance?"
   "Other than horizontal fucking?"
   He laughed.  "The steps."
   "I'm just moving where you make me."
   "I stopped leading you harshly half an hour ago.  Dance is memory,
awareness, intimacy."
   "I had no idea your hips could do this."
   "You know very well my hips can do this and more."
   He led her back to the chair and she collapsed with a pant.  She poured
sweat and greedily drank down the water he offered.  She set the bottle
down, and he handed her another.
   "You need to be well hydrated."
   With a blushing smirk, she upended the second bottle.  She wasn't the
only one strongly affected by their dance.  She could see the glow in his
eyes, the way he looked her body over.
   "Key, blue pen, red button - four holes, match book, nail clippers,
three building blocks - same shape, a thimble and a straight pin." She
rattled the objects off as if she were staring at the tray, the one she'd
given up on hours ago.  With a shake of her head she cleared the vision.
   Reju didn't say a word.  No 'good job,' 'nice,' 'better late than
never.' Nothing.
   She looked at him and his expression no longer glowed with lust.  His
eyes were red, blazing red.
   He extinguished all the lights.  His warm arms heated her sweat-soaked
dress as he wrapped them around her.  Her breasts pressed to his chest and
his breath caressed her neck.  He kissed her with such primal intensity,
that she wondered whether she had done something wrong.  She dug her nails
into his back and writhed against him like a bitch in heat.  It didn't
matter.  She was a bitch and she was definitely in heat.
   His hand gripped the back of her neck and she went still.  The sounds of
their kiss filled the empty room.  His other hand clamped up under her
thigh and she wrapped it around him, practically crawled onto him.  She was
half dragged, half carried over to the wall.
   She was wrong about dancing.  Dancing wasn't like horizontal fucking. 
No, dance had a rhythm and they were a mass of primal need, thrusting,
moaning, trying to get deeper inside one another.
   ***
   Lydia wanted to go out, and the only club she knew of that catered to
his kind was The Umbra.  Reju didn't like her suggestion at first, but all
she had to say was that she wanted to go dancing and they were off.
   The club didn't seem as dark as it had been the first time.  The music
was a hard driving industrial metal mix, but she didn't have to think about
the beat or the moves.  Lydia let Reju move her body.  She smelled an array
of strange and unfamiliar scents of those around her.
   Reju leaned in as she wiggled her ass in his lap.  "Keep it up and I'm
going to embarrass you."
   She thought on that for a second.  No, she didn't want that.
   "Reju."
   He hugged her to his body.  One firm hand pressed her to the bulge
behind his zipper.  A man who looked like an albino stood in front of them.
   "A moment.  There's something I need to discuss with you, alone."
   Reju led her to the bar.  "I'm leaving you with Ashton for ten minutes.
No longer, I promise."
   "Okay." She could tell he didn't have the time to argue with her or
answer her question.  She'd save her inquiry for later.
   "Good evening, princess," Ashton poured her a vodka sour.  He gave a
slight nod to Reju just before he walked off.
   "Hi, Ashton.  How's tricks?"
   His bright eyes flickered with an amber light.  "Training hard, huh?"
   She shrugged.  "Guess so."
   "Looks good on you."
   Self-consciously, she wondered what he saw.  Without Reju's presence she
was more aware of her short skirt, plunging collar, clinging fit.  There
were other humans present, mostly female, but a couple males.  They didn't
look nearly as carefree as she felt.
   That worried her as well.
   Someone brushed her hair aside and trailed a finger down her spine. 
"Good evening, cutie pie."
   Ashton was serving others down the bar, but the moment Dmitri spoke he
was back in front of her.  "Hands off."
   "No aggression necessary.  She's like family.  I just want to speak with
her."
   Tense muscles coupled with a pounding heart.  "What do you want?  Say it
and fuck off."
   He removed his hand with an apologetic smile.  He leaned against the
bar, shielding her from seeing anyone but him.  He kept his voice soft, and
it infuriated her that she needed to lean closer to hear.  "I apologize for
being so intensely attracted to you.  Please, I beg your forgiveness."
   Lydia scowled as she considered him.  His eyes were sparking a brilliant
silvery blue, and just like a dumb moth she was fascinated by the coloring.
Worse, she knew exactly why they were lighting up like that.
   Did he mean it?
   She heard Aston's voice though she didn't see him.  "I'm watching you."
   Dmitri kept his eyes on Lydia.  "I know." He lowered his voice and the
sound eased through her like an autumn breeze.  "We got off on the wrong
foot."
   "You mean I got off on the wrong hand."
   Dmitri chuckled.  "Nearly.  He told you we share, didn't he?"
   "I heard." Thoughts of making a sex sandwich with the two of them
flittered through Lydia's mind.  She wanted to punch that knowing grin off
his face.  She hated being so taken in by his charm.
   "You are nothing like the others."
   "I don't like to conform."
   "Good to hear.  Conformity breeds stupidity."
   Lydia pulled away from him.  It was physically challenging moving those
few inches.
   Dmitri brushed a finger along her shoulder, but didn't try to close the
distance.
   "If I say you're forgiven, will you go away and leave me the hell
alone?"
   "Absolutely not.  Reju and I may have had a little fight, but I am his
friend.  There is no way I'm leaving you to fend for yourself smelling the
way you do."
   Did she smell?  "Excuse me?"
   Dmitri bent to purr his words in her ear.  "Every pore in your body is
screaming 'I need to be fucked' to the stars above."
   Lydia buried her face in her hands and squeezed her thighs together. 
Just his voice saying those words conjured new fantasies.
   "Tell me you want it."
   "Not from you."
   He chuckled.  "No one will harm you.  We've bonded.  I can protect you
while he's away."
   Ashton's voice again.  "She's not alone."
   "You're working.  It only takes a second for someone to snap her up."
   Lydia lifted her head.  "If he can manage this whole bar alone, I'm
pretty sure he can keep anyone from taking me away from it."
   Dimitri laughed and put his arm around her waist.  "Isn't she lovely?"
His hand rested on her thigh, the perfect spot between too close and
'what's the big deal.'
   "I don't want you around."
   "Your nipples don't agree."
   Lydia glanced to the erect points in her dress.  "I remember all that
cruel shit you said about me.  This happens," she waved her hands at her
breasts, "whether I want it to or not.  Fuck off.  My wet pussy doesn't
mean I want to fuck you."
   "If I were running my tongue up and down your slit, maybe, but not just
from standing here.  No.  It doesn't just happen.  You're getting wet
because you're thinking about me fucking you, making you scream.  You want
me, mind and body.  You want me in the back, or up front?" He winked.
   "You're a fucking bastard."
   His grin turned into a broad smile.  "Me?  That's unfair.  I didn't come
over here to piss you off, sweetheart.  I'm making sure the real bastards
in here leave you alone.  I'm your ally.  Do I want to fuck you?  Hell yes,
but I'm here to protect you."
   Lydia opened and closed her hand in his face.  "Blah, blah, blah.  Don't
give me that.  You're a fucking covert operative, pretending to be my
friend just long enough to fuck me over and brag to your friend about it.
Fuck you, Dmitri." She huffed and rolled her eyes.  Fucking him was not the
right choice of words.
   "Kiss and make up?"
   "No.  No more swapping bodily fluids with you."
   "That ship has already sailed, don't you think?  Did he spank your sassy
ass for being so eager to kiss any man you meet?"
   "No." She turned her back to him and downed her drink.  Where in the
hell was Reju?
   "He's going to be longer than ten minutes.  Some of us aren't so willing
to let a sorceress among us without a contract."
   Curiosity won out.  She turned toward him.  "What?  What does that have
to do with anything?"
   "Someone has to bind you if you're going to learn the mysteries of the
underworld, for our protection and yours."
   "Bind me?  Fuck that.  No one is going to force me to be a slave.  I
don't even care about the mysteries of any world."
   He tilted her chin up, pressed his nose close to hers.  "Use those
smarts of yours.  You know we're capable of forcing plenty."
   "Dmitri?  Do you need another reminder about touching my woman?"
   He dropped his hand and stepped back.  "Just watching over our mutual
friend.  You could at least thank me for being at the right place at the
right time."
   "Thank you.  Good bye."
   Dmitri took her hand and kissed it.  "A pleasure speaking with you." He
glanced to Reju before whispering.  "Are you sure the first wraith you've
met is the one you should be with?" He vanished into the crowd of dancers.
   -_ Visitation _"You have all these weird rules.  Do you seriously have
to enter a contract for everything?  Was your mother under contract?"
   "Yes, which is exactly why I'm not fond of the practice."
   "Why?"
   "The Umbra isn't a place humans leave alive or sane.  Most of us that go
there have all seen the bad side of humans, especially the religious ones,
followed closely by those claiming to 'believe' in us.  That's not you. 
You are precious to me just as you are.  I don't want you to be like us. 
I'm not trying to grant you any power that isn't already yours to
cultivate. I'm not out to drain you of your spirit, your blood, or hurt
you."
   "But you've done those things before?" She caught his eye.  "Did you?"
   "Yes." The word hung in the air between them.
   "Okay." Lydia cleared her throat.  "Okay, well, I'm not afraid of them
or death, clearly.  I honestly don't give a shit about these contract
things.  I don't want anything from you, not like that.  I want to be with
you."
   Reju smiled wide enough to reveal those longer-than-normal incisors. 
"This is what I adore about you, what I cherish.  Someone reported me to
the council.  Either someone trying to settle a score with me or jealous of
what I have." He dropped down onto the couch and finger combed his hair
with a sigh.  h
   Lydia sat down beside him.  Worry and concern stole away his
devil-may-care demeanor.  "Maybe it's someone who feels both ways."
   He looked at her from under his thick lashes.  "I considered that."
   Now it was her turn to worry.  This was her fault, her and her rampant
whorishness.
   "This is not your fucking fault!"
   There was no way to fight fire with fire on this one.  Rampant
whorishness to the rescue.  She slipped out of her heels and walked around
the couch, giving her best flirtatious wink along the way.
   Music filled the house and the firelight snuffed.
   Lydia didn't recognize the song, but she knew the style: brash, angry,
dark.  Tension turned her muscles to rock.  A wisp of pale red light formed
a ghost trail near the couch.
   It wasn't quite in the form of a man, or anything she could recognize. A
wraith.
   Reju's voice took on a extra layer, harsh and unnatural to her ears. 
"Want to know what happens when you break the rules?  When you violate a
fine print technicality?" He seeped aggression with each word.  "Bad
bitches get punished."
   The metallic clink of a belt, the swish through the air as it passed
through restraining loops.
   Reju was fast.  He could see her.  She didn't have a shot at running. 
He snatched her toward him before she could turn.  Her face met with the
leather cushion of the couch.  It muffled her scream as her ass and thigh
stung.  She struggled but his hands held her wrists, pressed them into her
back.  Her legs kicked out, but it wasn't enough to make him stop.
   Lydia was someplace else.  Naked, face down, the gray of stone and
metal, brown of wood and dirt all illuminated by soft light.  She grunted,
her body rocked forward on the platform.  A male thrust into her, his
massive palms squeezed her hips.  After him there was another, and another,
taking whichever hole they wanted, no regard to her comfort.
   Pain screamed in the cuts on her face as another cock took her mouth. 
Her throat stung from the bile.  Razor blades drew lines down her back. 
Mouths suckled from her open wounds.  Her body slid in the pool of blood.
Dull blows, pulled hair.  Cruel laughter, howls, and hoots.  Too much pain,
too much suffering, burning, inside and out, scorching, breaking into
pieces...
   Oblivion.
   ***
   One eye opened first, then the other.  Soft clicks of a keyboard, the
low blue light of a monitor.  Lydia rolled over.  Reju sat on floor,
resting against the back of the couch, laptop open, working away.
   Lydia reached for her ass.  She didn't feel any whelps, no burning.  She
sat up.  "That wasn't real."
   "How do you know?" He didn't stop typing or look up.
   "It was empty.  I understood what was happening with my eyes.  I saw
things happening to me, felt them in my mind, but I wasn't really there. 
It was like a really vibrant dream."
   A single, solid nod.
   "That doesn't make what you did any less cruel." She struggled to be
rational, kept telling herself it was a dream, but after the first tear
fell, the others were soon to follow.  Even nightmares had their effects.
   Reju was there to catch the tears at the base of her jaw.  He traced
them back up her cheeks.  "I want you to understand how important it is for
you to focus on your survival.  You are a fast learner.  You have a spark,
and that makes you an attractive target to break.  They will silence you,
torture you, and have their fun for days, not hours.  Death will not come
quickly nor easily."
   Lydia began to shiver, that with the tears.  She couldn't get a grip on
her terror.  He was able to show her that vision so purely because it was
something he'd done, something he was capable of.  He planned to do that
the first night he met her.
   No, this was exactly what he was doing to her.  Right now.
   Reju lifted his arm, but he didn't grab her.  As much as she feared him,
she knew what she'd find in his embrace: the one thing she needed.  Lydia
eased over and rested her head on his body.  He wrapped his arm around her
waist, adjusted his laptop, and went back to typing.
   That couldn't be comfortable.  She readjusted until she was lying in his
lap.
   "You need your rest and I need to work.  When you fall asleep, I'll move
you to my bed."
   "Don't leave me, please."
   "You know I'm only a moment away.  You only have to call my name.  Calm
down, Lydia.  You're so afraid right now that adrenaline is flooding your
body.  I don't have much self control left in me, and I do have work I need
to catch up on.  Go back to sleep."
   She could feel his lack of self control rigid along the side of her
neck. Deep, slow breaths, one at a time.  She'd be safe here, with him.
   "I love you, Lydia," he mumbled moments before sleep claimed her.
   ***
   Darkness.  Heat beside her.  Lydia relaxed and snuggled into the warmth.
Safe.
   "Sleep well?"
   Still heavy with sleep, she muttered, "uh huh."
   "Can I talk to you without you freaking out?"
   It wasn't like she was deaf.  The problem was that for a moment, Reju
and Dmitri sounded like twins.  Except for a very slight edge to Reju's and
a more suave silkiness to Dmitri's.  "What?"
   "I want to show you something.  May I?"
   The hair on hers arms stood up, shivers went down her spine.
   "Come now.  I won't hurt you.  Let me show you."
   "No, go away."
   "May I do nothing?  Just lie here with you?"
   "You are one fucking creepy dude." That wasn't an answer and she knew
it. He did feel comfortable beside her though.  She needed to buy an
electric blanket.
   Minutes passed.  Lydia rolled her eyes.  She was literally sleeping with
her boyfriend's best friend, listening to him breathe, taking in the smell
of him.  Dmitri was a good looking man.  She never had any doubts about
that.  Any other day she'd happily jump his bone.
   Was she going to get in trouble for this?  Was she doing something
wrong?
   "Why Reju?" Dmitri said.  "What hold does he have over you that forces
you to deny all others?"
   "He's not a manipulative asshole like you."
   "Oh?  He's never drugged you?  Hurt you?  He's never hurt you then made
everything okay?"
   She opened her mouth, but it only hung open like a fool.  Everything. 
He'd done all of them more than once.  Yes, he had a point.  Reju was a
manipulative bastard, but he was her manipulative bastard.
   Dmitri rolled her onto her back.  His warm hand settled on her hip. 
"You trust him without question and you treat me like an enemy."
   "Without question is not accurate.  You were cruel."
   "For that, I apologize.  I came here to comfort you, not anger you. 
Reju manipulated you into being with him.  He's profoundly adept at mind
games.  I thought that was something you liked, responded to.  I want you
to like me as well.  I apologize, again, for my behavior." After a breath,
he wrapped his arm tighter around her.  "What's that you say?"
   Lydia steeled her mind, clenched her jaw shut.  It was his damned voice,
listening to him talk made her feel surrounded by warm milk, flowing honey,
soft silk, a lover's massage.  Not to mention his hand sliding up and down
her thigh.
   "I want to make you feel better, Lydia, just open your legs.  Let me
finish what I started.  I don't want to kidnap you, tie you down and
torture you.  I don't want to drug you and have my way with you.  I don't
want to force you.  I want to do whatever you will allow me to do.  Nothing
in return but your pleasure.  Please?"
   Her thighs mostly fell apart when his fingers brushed over her mound. 
"You deserve to be called a demon."
   "Yes, I do," he purred as his finger slid down, not feather light, not
hesitant nor teasing.  Her hips rolled up to meet him.  "You need me, don't
you?"
   "No." She scowled.  His eyes were getting brighter and colder.  "This is
just a physical response, not an emotional one.  I am nerve endings and
flesh."
   "You're still angry about that." His fingers penetrated her and he was
damned good.  It was a perfect touch, neither too hard nor too soft.  "I
was upset.  He had this powerful woman all to himself and he wouldn't
share. You have such a hot little body, and he wouldn't let me have you."
   "He didn't want to share me like that."
   He thrusted his fingers upward.  Her eyes fluttered shut.  "You know
how?"
   "Torture, blood drinking, rough sex," Lydia whimpered, "murder.  I heard
already."
   Dmitri hummed.  "Perhaps he hasn't been as dishonest with you as I
thought.  Yes, but that's not always the case.  Sometimes we just fuck and
torture.  Sometimes just feed and fuck.  It depends.  It is comparable to a
person who keeps a pig, and why: for sport, profit, food, companionship. 
You are okay with this?"
   Did he just compare her to livestock?  "Okay is the wrong word.  Reju
loves me.  You just see me as a new toy he won't let you break."
   "I know why he adores you." Dmitri leaned down and kissed her lips. 
Pressed his closed mouth to hers.  Too brief.  "If you were mine, I
wouldn't keep you locked away like a secret.  I'd give you real power
instead of making you suffer for paltry glimpses." With each word, each
promise, his fingers sloshed in her pussy.  "I wouldn't break you."
   "I love your friend."
   "Do you really?  Maybe you just like what he does to you.  Do you like
being manipulated and mistreated?"
   "What are you talking about?"
   "You let him know everything about you.  He knows all your weaknesses
and your desires, and he plays you like a fiddle."
   "You don't?" Lydia panted, her body begged for more.  Her orgasm was
close and but thoughts of stopping kept bubbling up until one broke the
surface.  "Stop."
   His hand stopped moving, but he didn't remove his fingers.  Her vaginal
muscles clenched around them, acting counter to the words she'd spoken.
   "Truce, Lydia." He kissed her cheek.  "I want to get you off.  No
further than that.  I want nothing in return." He kissed her ear, sending
tingles down her spine.  His fingers eased out, but not all the way.  "I'm
letting my passion for you get in the way.  I'm sorry.  Permission to
continue?"
   Lydia reached down to grab his wrist.  She just needed to yank his hand
away.
   "There's no cause to deny yourself the experience of pleasure.  None at
all.  I apologize for upsetting you.  Allow me to make it up to you." He
kissed her, deep and full.  Just as suddenly he pulled away and crouched
between her legs.  "May I make it up to you?"
   Lydia pulled him between her open thighs.  With a low groan, Dimitri's
tongue laved at her slit.  She'd been so close and he looked so good.  What
did it matter?
   Dmitri attacked her as if she were cake batter.  His thick tongue
swiveled back and forth, the length of it penetrated her, speared her.
   "Don't stop." Her fingers dug into his hair, thighs fell open.  She
rolled her hips against his tongue, fucked his face.  The man knew what he
was doing.  Her body went cold then tensed.  She shuddered and groaned as
the orgasm brought her half off the bed with its intensity.
   Dmitri traced a pattern over her belly.  "Why did you let me?"
   "Because I am a bag of nerve endings and it felt good."
   He sighed.  "I deserve that."
   "Besides, this is just a dream.  No cause to deny myself pleasure. 
Right?"
   "There's no cause whether you're dreaming or awake." He kissed her nose.
"Since you're dreaming, can I fuck you?"
   "No.  Dismissed."
   ***
   Lydia woke feeling rather smug.  She stretched out over Reju's bed.  She
was in his room, exactly where he said he'd leave her.
   The real surprise came as she heard Dmitri's voice.  She followed that
voice to Reju's office.  Dumbfounded, she looked between the two men.  Was
she still asleep?
   "There aren't words to describe it," said Dmitri, "even in that state.
Please.  You've got to let me."
   "You're begging at this point."
   "I know.  Please.  Is this what you want?" Dmitri went to knees beside
Reju.  "A small taste."
   Reju lowered his lids to a hungry slit as he looked at her.  Lydia
expected irritation, anger, but not lust, not with Dmitri right there.
   Dmitri turned and acknowledged her presence.
   "Why is he here?" She crossed her hands over her chest, not that it
would help.  She was naked.
   "He's been here the whole time.  I hear you accepted his apology."
   Lydia's face itched with the intensity of her blush.  "He told you?"
   "In great detail.  I warned him that you were a vixen." Reju said all
this as he worked.
   "I take it you're not angry with him this time?"
   "Did he upset you?"
   "No."
   "I have nothing to be angry about." He pointed to an empty chair.  "Join
us."
   Dmitri hopped into the chair and opened his arms to her.
   Lydia sat in his lap and watched as Reju's fingers flew over the
keyboard, creating lines of code and switching between several programs.
   "May I?" said Dmitri.
   "That's her decision, not mine."
   Lydia didn't want to imagine that she knew what they were talking about.
   "You're not dreaming anymore." Dmitri put his hand between her thighs,
spread them.  His cock rubbed along her slick pussy.
   "Reju." Lydia whimpered and rubbed back along him.  Her resolve to do
the 'right' thing crumbled.  She didn't know where the line between right
and wrong lay.
   Reju pushed back from the desk and kneeled between their legs.  He
reached up for her hips and set her on Dmitri's cock.  Before Lydia could
gasp, Reju's tongue attacked her clitoris, sucking and licking while Dmitri
thrust inside her.
   Just beside her ear Dmitri grunted and moaned as his hips slammed into
her, hard and fast and as relentless as a machine.
   Lydia shuddered as her orgasm pulsed through her body, followed close by
Dmitri's cry.  He gasped as his climax overtook him.
   Reju pulled her up and lowered her with him to the floor and brought her
down hard on his cock.
   "You been back here?" Dmitri's voice was close, and his hand on her ass
told her what he was talking about.
   "Yeah," Reju grunted between thrusts.
   His answer seemed to double for permission.
   "What about you?" Dmitri kissed the back of her neck as he fondled her
breasts.  "May I play with you a little while longer?"
   Lydia stopped riding and put her hands to Reju's chest.  "I belong to
Reju.  Say it."
   Dmitri grinned and his glacier blue eyes glowed.  "Lydia, I acknowledge
that you are Reju's woman, even if there is not contract stating such.  I
will make no effort to make you mine, but I will make every effort to make
you scream my name."
   "I'll scream out Reju's to spite you."
   Dmitri smirked and moved behind her.  "Fuck, I like this one.  Open that
ass for me, pretty girl."
   ***
   Lydia spent most of her Sunday asleep.  She needed every ounce of rest
for work tomorrow.  The real world awaited her.
   On Monday, Nancy was all smiles as she greeted Lydia.  "He'll be here at
nine.  That's enough time for you, right?"
   "Is he going to need a tour or has he already been to the property?"
   "He's been, but if he wants a tour," Nancy waggled her brows.
   Lydia laughed.  "Don't push it.  I'll drive him out there.  Mr.  Resnik?
Wow.  This is a big fish."
   "Exactly.  How are you feeling?  Rested?"
   Lydia nodded with a grin.  She could use all her new found skills to
read this guy, figure out what it would take for him to use their firm to
do the construction management.  She flipped the pages, looking at the list
of businesses they currently ran, target clientele.  Heavy hitter indeed.
They were going to have some stiff competition getting this one on board.
"Very well rested."
   "That's my girl.  While you were out, I had Eric draft a contract.  Go
over with him, edit it as you see fit.  If we could end this week with him
on the books, then that's your whole damn year, Liddy."
   "I get it.  Now get out of here before you make me nervous." The hour
passed easily.  She had the small conference room set up with every
amenity, snacks, water, coffee, hot water for tea.  She checked the paper
work again.  "Resnik," she tested the surname out loud.
   "She's right in here.  Lydia?"
   Lydia turned.  All her preparation and rest went right out the door.
   "A pleasure to meet you, Mistress Volkova." Dmitri extended his hand to
hers.
   Going through the motions, she took his hand and nodded to Nancy.  She
closed the door leaving the two of them together.
   "Fuck," she whispered.
   "Exactly.  I should have made this appointment two weeks ago."
   "I was on vacation.  It wouldn't have mattered.  Even still, you would
have called Reju and I'd be dead by now.  I'm exactly ...  I was exactly
the kind of person you hate."
   Dmitri stepped closer to her and reached behind her for one of the sugar
cookies.  "No.  Not at all.  I don't murder business parters.  Fuck, feed?
Yes, but not murder."
   She had to spend all day, never mind that, all week, listening to his
voice?  "You're really here on business?"
   "I am just as shocked as you.  Not Reju though, I bet he knew.  I had
him evaluate three firms.  He told me to focus on this one." Dmitri licked
his lips.  "I am very focused."
   Lydia felt like the walls of her reality, the thing that used to be her
life were melting.  He knew?  How long?
   Dmitri sat down to the table, looked over the packet she had so
carefully prepared.
   She'd seen what he had to offer, the businesses ...  was she dreaming?
Was this a game?
   The cookies had come from the tin in the break room.  She made the
coffee herself, ground the beans this morning.  She used the beans she kept
in her desk drawer.  This couldn't be a dream.  "Is this real?"
   "You're shocked, as am I.  Yes, I have work to do today.  I have a goal
to accomplish.  This doesn't have to be unpleasant, does it?"
   Unpleasant was not the issue.
   Dmitri hummed.  "Boiler plate contract, room for edits?"
   "A contract with the company."
   "Of which you are a part," his finger traced the paper.  "Come here."
   Lydia walked over and he pulled her into his lap.  "Your eyes are
wrong."
   "Contacts." Dmitri sniffed along the side of her neck.  "Your perfume is
lovely, subtle.  How do you propose to keep my development on track?"
   It wasn't that he was touching her.  It's that he wasn't.  No insistent
grabbiness of his hands, no attempt to kiss her.  He cradled her in his
lap, his hand around her waist as if this were the way he always did
business.
   Oddly enough, Lydia felt at ease.  She slipped into business mode, told
him their process.  He flipped the page of the presentation and she carried
on, one page after another until she'd made her case.
   "I cherish my businesses like they were my children, Lydia.  Breaking
ground, construction, setting up my children to thrive in the world.  I
don't let just anyone do that for me, but I've grown weary of overseeing
the work myself."
   "There's no shame in hiring a caretaker."
   Dmitri chuckled.  "I haven't stopped thinking about you, the way you
give yourself over to pleasure.  I stroked my cock this morning thinking
about how it would be if you gave yourself to me that way, thinking about
how I'd get you there."
   His voice, for one.  That mellifluent sound pouring into her ears and
whispering over her skin.  He gave new meaning to the phrase, 'smooth
talker.' "You pretended to sound like Reju on purpose."
   "I did." Dmitri switched to Russian.  "I want to lay you out on this
table, spread your thighs and drink from you.  I only did that in your
dreams.  I need the reality of my tongue probing your pussy, sucking that
hard bud into my mouth."
   It didn't matter if he thought she understood Russian or not.  He didn't
switch to hide his words, the timber of his voice would have told her what
he was saying.  The effect of his words were stronger, seemed to create the
vision in her head.  Lydia clenched her thighs and her fists.
   Dmitri stopped talking.
   Lydia literally shook, her breath the loudest sound in the room.  She
unclenched her fists and stood.  He didn't stop her.
   Hypnotism, or something.
   Two steps, then the orgasm, a gentle wave of pleasure, soft fleeting.
   If Reju had skills, then Dmitri could have his own, different ones. 
"We..." One breath at a time.  "Will focus on work until lunch."
   Dmitri pointed to the chair.  "Agreed."
   No words.  In truth, Lydia was relieved.  Work.  "I'd like to detail the
projects I've personally handled, give you a more in depth look at my
experience."
   Dmitri leaned forward and set his head into his palm.  She couldn't see
his eyes behind those blue contacts.  Small favors.  That didn't keep him
from being handsome.
   She'd already been with this man.  He made a great sex sandwich.  He'd
been gentle, whispering in her ear, caressing her.  Dmitri forced her to
work hard to concentrate on Reju.
   Lydia filled the silence with her presentation.  She pulled out the
contract and pointed out the places she expected to change, to modify to
satisfy his timelines.
   A knock at the door.
   "Yes?"
   Nancy stepped in with a polite smile.  "Would you like me to call a
car?"
   "I have my own car outside." Dmitri answered.  He looked to Lydia.  "If
you don't mind, I'd like to get the timelines worked out before lunch."
   Lydia smiled at Nancy.  "We're doing great here."
   "I'll be out.  Text me if you need anything." She closed the door behind
her.
   "You must be the good cop." Lydia muttered as she made notes on the
timeline.  "In the games you and Reju play.  He roughs them up and you
swoop in to save them, offer them a way to avoid his cruelty."
   "We switch."
   "You?  Bad?"
   "Quite."
   No offers to prove it.  No examples of his cruelty.  Lydia knew her
share of rogues, and the type in no hurry to prove his bravado typically
had the most reason for it.
   She sighed heavily and cleared the table in front of him.
   Dmitri eased away back to give her room.
   She stepped out of her heels and dropped her panties, then perched on
the edge of the table.
   He eased forward, his hands brushed up and down her thighs, looking at
her, not between her legs while he did it.  Not for a moment did he lean
down to take what he wanted, not even after she lay on her back, spread
open.  He only touched her, only coming as close as her outer labia.
   Everything in her wanted to hurl a whirlwind of curses in his direction.
He teased her on purpose.  He wanted her to ask for it.  Bastard probably
got off on that.
   Fuck him.  "Where do you want to go to lunch?"
   "I have a place in Cedar Lake." When he talked his breath cooled the
arousal pooling between her lips.
   "Cedar Lake is a three hour drive from here."
   "And yet we can be there in seconds."
   Lydia sat up and got off the table.  She would not beg.  She put on her
panties and shoes.  "Let's get lunch.  We can work on the timeline while we
eat."
   ***
   The timeline.  That's what she needed to think about, not the fact that
she had presented herself as a buffet, and he blatantly ignored her, teased
her.  Why did she bother splaying herself open for him in the first place?
   She worked through lunch in a fury.  The food was superb, the lighting,
appropriate.  They ate in a small room with soft lighting, a single, silent
server.  Each bite was a celebration of the dish.  The company was divine
to look at, the kind of heart throb that could sell anything.
   The commission from closing this deal wouldn't quite make her year, but
she could go a whole six months without doing anything and get along
swimmingly.
   Fury.  Anger.  The things that sharpened her, also dulled her to
everything else going on, because she couldn't control it, couldn't change
it.
   Frustration.  Lydia pushed her draft of the timeline to Dmitri and
traced circles around her cannoli with the knife.  Four more days of this
insufferable bastard?  How was she going to do this?
   "If I had taken the treat you offered, whether you asked or not,
especially if you asked, then I would not have stopped.  Do I want to drink
from you?  Yes.  Is that all?  Absolutely not."
   "You can't have me.  I am with--"
   "I know where you are.  Think about where you could be."
   "What's your goal?"
   "Get you under contract as the project lead.  Have you in my bed on a
regular basis.  Make you scream my name.  Adore drinking from your fountain
of energy, make you rich.  Make you mine."
   Lydia shook her head and pushed the dessert away from her.  "I am not
yours."
   "Not in place of him."
   "You think I need two assholes in my life?  Really?"
   "Yes.  I think the second one is going to help your life a lot more than
the first."
   "So my heart races when I look at you, my cunt gets wet.  I'm a base
human.  I don't need to sell myself to get laid."
   "I know how you feel about me, and it matters greatly." He stood and
lifted a finger to stall her protest.  "Gentleness, consideration, calm,
and yes, the advancement of your career.  I admit I was cruel, but am I
worse?  Is my offer truly so repulsive?"
   "The contract.  You're going to use it against me."
   "I'm not going to resort to that.  I am serious about my business, and
am serious about making you rich.  A man can drown you, drug you, and
torture you ...  and yet you hold my words so thoroughly against me.  Only
my words?  What about my actions?  Do they matter?"
   Lydia clamped her hands down over her ears.  "Fuck, Dmitri.  I get your
fucking point, okay?  Is that one of your talents, that thing you do with
your fucking voice?"
   He pulled her hands away.  "Yes.  Would you like to learn how?"
   "I'd like you to stop."
   Dmitri sat back in his chair and folded his arms over his chest.  "The
offer stands."
   "Why the fuck does it matter?  Why do you have to go poaching your
friend's spoils?"
   "Think Nancy would go for it?  Would she piss herself?  Scream?  Tell
the nearest reporter?  Do you know a woman who wouldn't try to kill me in
my sleep?  Or use me and call me a monster?  One woman, anyone you know. 
Fuck it, I'll save my offer for her.  Tell her to call me."
   Fine.  Lydia sped through the list of names, and just as quickly hit the
bottom of her list.  "I ...  am not that person."
   "Who have you told about Reju?"
   "No one."
   "I rest my case."
   Lydia drummed her fingers on the table.  "You into guys at all?"
   Dmitri smirked.  "Might be.  Who is it?"
   She rolled her eyes.  "I was kidding.  You have to be pretty desperate
to want a woman just because ...  because she'd accept you for who you
are." She sighed heavily.  "I would love to run your project, see your baby
taken care of.  I only need to be paid for that, not made rich.  I belong
to myself, and I will stay that way."
   "Are we still negotiating on the bed, then?"
   "Strictly case by case basis.  The two of you ...  that was fun." She
smirked and worried her bottom lip.  She looked up when he didn't say
anything.
   His forearms were folded on the table, his head resting on top, looking
at her.  He sucked his lips into his mouth.
   That's right.  She didn't want to hear that voice.  Lydia smiled.  She
didn't have to.  The question was all over his face.  What was the case
right now?
   "Where is this bed of yours?"
   She finished the sentence on the aforementioned bed.  Navy blue sheets,
mussed pillows.  A half open closet displayed a row of shoes, blazers.  The
desk by the window was covered in papers, books, maps.
   Windows?  Open, huge.  The sun was about to set.
   "We don't all live like monks."
   "The light doesn't bother you?" She kicked out of her heels and tossed
her purse down beside them.  The room was messy, but clean.  It didn't have
the look of a place he brought people often.
   "I cover them if I need to block out light or sound." He went over to
his mirror and popped out his contacts, set them in solution on the
dresser.
   "Is Reju going to be upset?"
   "If I hurt you?" He unbuttoned his shirt and tossed it over the back of
a chair.  "He'll kill me."
   "Hurt me how?"
   He chuckled.  "Oh, no, you're not going to get me in trouble.  If you
want pain, we'll save it for another day."
   She'd already slept with him once.  Why was she so nervous?  Never
alone. Never ...  so sober.
   Dmitri sat his bed, naked, erect.  He leaned on the foot post.
   She rose to her knees and took off the dress, got out of her bra and
panties, took off her earrings and necklace.  "I want to do this, and I
want," she swallowed and looked into his eye.  Damn, no hiding it.  In the
light, they were like backlit sapphires.  "To hear your voice."
   "Because you're nervous?"
   "Yeah."
   "Maybe another day."
   "What?  Why?"
   "Today you're getting plain Dmitri." He crawled on top of her and kissed
her.  "Nothing special." His tongue probed her mouth and his hand palmed
her breast.  "No blood, no coercion, no hypnosis.  Two bodies following
their base, lustful, animalistic desire.  Flesh and nerve endings.  You
won't feel so nervous when I'm inside you.  You can fuck my demonic side
another day.  What do you say, cutie?"
   Lydia grabbed his cock and placed it inside her.
   <->
   Epilogue: Yes, this is the end.  Not happily ever after, not a
harmonious triangle of love.  Lydia went from a closed off, brash, blip on
the map to a wholly present, alive, different woman - an accidental
sorceress, trafficking with powerful demons (in a manner of speaking).  I'm
good stopping here.  Story told, in the way I imagined it could be.
Written: May 2012
   Contact: nysidra at hot mail dot com
  
Minion_03