Why was he here!? Seneca’s heart was in her throat. There were five minutes until it was time for her to leave, twenty minutes before she was supposed to meet Godwin at the bench, and he was here, in the front lobby. Clarice, the lobby receptionist, called up to her to let her know Chip was waiting for her.
Thank god she didn’t actually let him in. She was going to have to buy Clarice something nice in thanks, especially if she could leave here without encountering her ex-boyfriend at all. Why was he here?
“Clarice, can you tell him I’m not here?” Seneca whispered into the phone as if Chip would be able to hear her if she was too loud.
Clarice snorted a quick laugh. “Oh, I’m sorry,” Clarice said loudly, “apparently she just stepped away from her desk, I’m not getting through to her.”
Seneca could have kissed her. There was a pause and she could faintly catch Chip’s voice in the background. She heard him ask if he could wait for her to come out and her stomach sank. He couldn’t wait for her! How was she going to leave? She did not want to talk to him. “Tell him it’s against company policy! Tell him…I’m indentured and I have to work off my debt. Tell him that I got transferred to Istanbul,” she hissed over the open connection between her and Clarice.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Gibson, but you cannot wait here. It’s against company policy,” Clarice told Chip cordially.
“Clarice, you are the best. I love you. I owe you a fancy coffee and a donut. Keep him busy, or kick him out. I’m going to escape through the parking garage. Text me if he gets away, okay? And let me know your order. You’re the best,” she said, hanging up in a hurry. She grabbed her stuff and took off, practically running to the elevator.
The elevator took way too long. Like, years too long. She danced around impatiently, feeling the need to escape, as if lingering would allow Chip to find her and detain her. Seriously, where was the elevator? She was going to have to take the steps. She pushed her way through the heavy fire door and heard the elevator doors ding as the fire door slammed shut behind her. Rolling her eyes, she took off down the steps.
Tuesday had taken forever to come. She was dying to see Godwin again, to feel his touch on her skin just to make sure he was actually real. She didn’t have any way to contact him, and hadn’t seen him since Friday night when she had broken up with Chip. Saturday was pure torture, but Sunday had passed quickly enough, distracted by her work with the dogs and Kennedy.
She thought about telling Kennedy about her new incubus partner but for some reason she didn’t. It was something she wasn’t quite ready to tell her adopted mother, though she didn’t know why.
By the time she hit the floor to the parking deck she was out of breath. She snuck through the garage like was a secret agent, moving through the parking garage towards the exit, stopping and hiding behind cars every so often to make sure she wasn’t see.
It was great fun. She peeked around the corner once she made it to the sidewalk against the streets, but there was no sign of Chip. Regardless, she turned around and went the opposite way, the long way around the block to the back side of the park. Giggling, she rushed into the park feeling slightly high from her near miss.
Godwin wasn’t there yet, or at least she didn’t see him on their bench. She snorted a laugh at the thought. Just the other day she refused to think of it as their bench, and now she was calling it that quite fondly.
Still, she didn’t sit down. She had too much nervous energy to sit still, so instead she paced the sidewalk, looking for Chip or Godwin, her heart flipping between joy and fear.
The prickling, tingling feeling on her neck announced Godwin’s presence. She shut her eyes tightly, trying to feel for him, the it was like it had been before, the feeling present yet illusive. She tried harder, but she couldn’t even get a sense of direction, just that tingling that he was nearby.
“Greetings, Seneca,” he whispered directly into her ear. She jumped as her heart tried to escape out through her throat. He chuckled warmly. He wasn’t touching her, but he was so close she could feel the heat from his body.
“You scared me!” she accused, hand over her heart.
He moved over to the bench, motioning her to follow him. “Many apologies, hansa. I found I could not help myself with you so focused.”
She pretended to be grumpy about it, moving to the bench with a pout on her face, but they both knew she was playing. He smiled warmly at her as she sat down. His eyes looked a bit more normal today, still silvery but with larger irises. She snorted at him primly as she sat down next to him, leaving a polite gap between them.
“I couldn’t feel you today. Not like the other day,” she explained, her pout growing deeper and more sincere.
He nodded. “I expected as much. It seems that your body processed my blood within three days.”
She shifted, slightly uncomfortable with what she was going to say next. “I don’t like it, Godwin.”
He stared out into the distance and she followed his line of sight but saw nothing out of sorts to catch his eye. “Do not like what, hansa?” he asked distractedly.
Her hands were balled in her lap and she forced them to relax. “I don’t like not feeling you. I mean, I could still feel you like before I met you but…I couldn’t…I don’t like it.” She looked down at her feet.
She felt his gaze on her and closed her eyes, still hoping to feel him further, but as she already expected, she did not. Pouting, she looked over at him.
“Your pout is adorable,” he said with a gentle smile. He shook his head slightly, getting more serious. “Do you know what you ask of me, Seneca?”
She shook her head. “Not really. But…I liked feeling you, Godwin. I thought…I thought we were partners?” she looked at him from under her eyelashes, afraid to see what expression he was wearing. He looked apprehensive.
He bit his bottom lip in thought and she noticed his beautiful teeth looked sharp. “If you still desire it, we will be partners. I must explain a few things to you, first, and then you can decide.”
He looked over at her, waiting for a response from her. She nodded her head once and he bit his lip harder. “I do, Godwin. I’ve never felt this much about anything. I feel alive in a good way for the first time in my life,” she blurted out without thinking.
He smiled weakly at her. “Oh, Seneca, you have no idea. Your innocence is refreshing.”
“You make it seem like you are so much older, so much more experienced than me,” she complained.
“Older, perhaps not so much, but experienced, I am. At least in the game we are preparing to play together,” he explained distractedly again.
“How old are you?”
“Hmm? Oh, I am not sure years are the same here as they were for me at home. I just observed my thirty fourth rotation two months past,” he answered absent mindedly, focusing hard on the distance. He was only a few years older than her. He seemed so much older.
“Were you meeting Chester Gibson today?” he asked, changing the subject.
“What!?” she barked out defensively. “No! He came here on his own, looking for me. I had to sneak out the parking garage to avoid him!”
Godwin chuckled again. “Seems he is unable to forget you,” he remarked softly. “He is nearby. I can feel the strength of his emotions even from a distance. He is quite…unhappy, and if he meets you…nothing good will come of a confrontation. I can feel his blackness poisoning the air.”
“I didn’t, Godwin. I haven’t talked to him! I swear it,” she defended. Her stomach twisted. Why was he here? What was wrong with him? They hadn’t even been together that long, not long enough to become a stalker. She should have broken up with him a long time ago. Now…she just hoped he didn’t mess things up too much.
“I know, hansa, I know. He is…he is not to be deterred at the moment. Perhaps we should go elsewhere. He is close by.” Godwin stared off into the distance, concentrating. She assume he was feeling for Chip’s emotions. He stood up slowly, leaning heavily on a cane she hadn’t notice before.
“Your leg…” she trailed off. She hadn’t meant to say it, she assumed he would be bothered by it more so than just his hand, and he wasn’t exactly overly talkative about those wounds. “I’m sorry,” she rushed quickly behind her words.
He shook his head distractedly. “No worries, my leg is a tad bit sore today. It is less troublesome when I am feeding well, but today I find it aching. We must leave now, unless you wish to confront your very impassioned ex-lover,” he said, putting out a hand to help her up.
She took his hand, and when they touched it sent shockwaves of pleasure tingling through her body. The butterflies were already fluttering around in her torso, making her feel nervous, and now Chip was stalking her, doubling her apprehension. Godwin pulled her back the way she came, away from the path back to her job. He moved fast for having an injured leg.
“My leg, it was another injury from the same time, the same one as the scars on my hand,” he explained as they walked, her hand still encased in his. “The Daeva who gave these to me…we were friends and lovers when our legions were allied with one another. And then…well, things change quickly in the Daeva realm. Things have gotten very…well, there are new forces at play. Regardless of Daeva politics, let us just say that Duchess Lilin no longer aligns herself with the Duchess Bathin, Legion of Medicine.”
They turned a corner, heading back in the direction of Godwin’s apartment. She wanted to ask him if that was where he was taking her, but she didn’t want to interrupt his story. He hurried her on, but she could tell his leg hurt him. They walked for several blocks but he did not speak again.
“So,” she began hesitantly, “you were intimate with the enemy?”
“No, well, yes, in a way. I naively thought we could continue our previous arrangements despite the changes in our Legion alliances,” he said, turning another corner. They were not headed towards his apartment, she noticed with disappointment. He slowed down after that and they walked at a more leisurely pace, though he did not release her hand. “It was my mistake. My partner was not…well, his loyalties did not lie with me.”
“Your partner was a man?” she asked scandalously.
He snorted at her. “SynLilin are not as concerned as most with male or female. Some demons are neither, and some have both sexes.”
“But…a man? How does that even…” she trailed off. She had an inkling of how men could be together, but she had never actually thought it through.
He turned back to her, smiling wickedly. “Oh, little hansa, the things I have to teach you. I never thought I would be a good teacher, yet here I am, eager and anticipatory with my first pupil. And, to clarify, he was male, but not a man. A canid, actually.”
“What’s a canid?” she asked, having a hard time wrapping her head around the whole conversation.
He chuckled. “A species of Daeva, like incubus, though canids have more…canine features. Stavis resembled some of the larger dogs you have here, like the ones for police? Only much larger, and yet more humanoid.”
“Humanoid? Like part dog, part man?” she asked, completely out of her league. He slowed down, stopping in front of a coffee shop.
“Would you care to go in here? We can discuss this, and our arrangement, over some tea, perhaps? And not all demons have humanoid forms, like myself, or even partially humanoid forms, like Stavis. Some are not human in appearance whatsoever.”
“Yeah, here is fine,” she muttered, feeling overwhelmed, trying to imagine what a canid might look like.
He pulled her into the shop, one finger over his lush lips signaling she stay quiet. She nodded to him as the bell over the door tinkled behind them. A young man with a black and red faux hawk nodded at them from behind the counter. He wore a snug white t-shirt that showed off his toned biceps and pecs.
Godwin sat her down in a chair by a gas fireplace that was burning despite the heat outside, then went and ordered them beverages. He came back with two mugs of steaming tea, placing a peach colored mug into her hands.
“I obtained tea,” he said with a smile.
She nodded. “I see that,” she said, looking over at the barista. He was staring at Godwin half dazed, his face relaxed with pleasure. “Did you do something to that boy?”
He smiled, the one that made her want to slap it, then kiss it off his lips. “I was only myself,” he answered slyly.
“What does that mean?” she asked him, sipping on her tea. It smelled of jasmine and rose hips and tasted perfect. She closed her eyes, breathing in the aroma.
“Perhaps I charmed him a bit so that we might enjoy our beverages gratis…” Godwin confessed.
“Godwin!” she exclaimed.
He just smiled that smile at her, sipping from a pale green mug. She caught a citrus scent from his, perhaps bergamot?
She shook her head and considered paying for their tea, but one look at the barista and she knew he would not be accepting their money. The poor boy was enthralled with Godwin. She could understand. He was captivating and charming, exoticly handsome. His tanned skin insinuated he had just walked off of one of the Hawaiian islands. She could almost smell the sun and the sea on him.
“So, what happened with Stavis?” she returned to their earlier conversation.
He frowned and she regretted the pain she caused him by bringing it back up. “No, hansa, do not worry for me. This pain is in the past, and perhaps it is good to speak of it. I have told no one, have had no one to tell, and perhaps the retelling will allow me to forgive and forget my betrayal. I cannot blame Stavis, I truly cannot. Our very natures define who we are, and our Legion determines who we can be. When our Duchesses were no longer in alignment, well, our friendship was no longer valid.”
“Just like that?” she interrupted, immediately angry at a man, no, a canid, she had never met. “Who cares who your duchess likes or doesn’t like? What’s that have to do with you?”
He smiled weakly over the rim of his cup. “Daeva politics are what control all aspects of our lives. The Daeva realm is one where might and will control all. It is one of constant war. Stavis saw me as an enemy when our duchesses parted ways and I was a fool to think otherwise. He attacked me,” Godwin explained, pulling the cuff of his sleeve up and exposing the four slash scars on his hand. “He gave me these, and more, injuries down my torso and my leg. A scarred incubus is of no use to my duchess, and I was cast out.”
“Just like that?” She was so angry with the injustice of it. The whole thing seemed so…wrong. “So, your lover and friend just one day decided to attack you because your ruler wasn’t friends with his anymore? Didn’t he like you? Why was he with you?”
“Oh, I believe that he did like me, or I would be dead. Like most canids, Stanis was powerful, quick and deadly, and poisonous, too. All medicines are poison in different applications, you know. These scars…they were a warning. Why he crippled me, I cannot say. Some days, some days I think it would have been better if he had killed me instead,” he said softly, his eyes cast on his tea, the pain in his voice breaking her heart.
“That is crap. He poisoned you?” she snarled quietly.
He nodded. “These wounds, they would have healed without too much scarring. I do not have the healing capabilities that a general of Legion would have. I can heal similar to how a vampire can heal away scars and damage, though I use emotions and sex instead of blood.”
“So, your scars,” she remarked softly, pain in her heart, “he made these intentionally?” She leaned forward and ran a finger over the scars on the back of his hand. He shivered but did not pull away. She took that as permission and traced them with her finger. “These are from his poison?”
He nodded, slowly pulling his hand back. Seneca stood up, moving from the sofa chair she had originally sunk into over to the loveseat opposite, where Godwin was sitting. Hesitating only for a second, she sat down next to him, too close to him she realized as she was in mid descent. Her leg pressed against his and he looked over at her, surprise on his islander-like features.
“Godwin,” she said seriously, looking deeply into his silver eyes. “I know we just met, but I feel this connection with you. I can’t explain it. I am sorry for these,” she said, reaching out and stroking his scars again, eliciting another shiver from him, “and I can’t do anything to change those. But…here, I want to be…god I must sound so stupid…I want to be your partner, Godwin. I want to do this, whatever this is, with you.”
He smiled gently, putting his teacup down. He grabbed hers, too and placed it on the table in front of them. “Seneca, I deeply appreciate your sentiments. I truly do. I will play this game, we will be partners for as long as you wish it, and when you are done, you may end it amicably.” He took her hands into his and squeezed them, sending her butterflies like sparks through her veins.
“Godwin…” she trailed off, unsure what to say.
“Let me explain the game to you, so you know what you are getting into before you commit officially. You already know the rules, I provide you with direction and you obey. You have a safeword you may use whenever you are asked to do something you do not wish to perform. I will never force you, though I will ask you to step outside of your comfort zone, as I did with Chester when you performed-”
“Mmm!” she said over him, blocking him from finishing that sentence. “Lalala! Shh Godwin!”
He smiled warmly, squeezing her hands. “Your innocence is really delicious, Seneca. We shall meet on occasion and we will find potential encounters for you to feed. I will provide you direction to help you feed more…efficiently. Then, if you wish, you may feed me the excess of your emotions. When you are done with our partnership, or our game, you may say so and it will be done. Is this acceptable?”
She bit her bottom lip hesitantly. “You’ll ask me to do things like what I did with Chip again?” she asked softly.
There was a wicked twinkle in his eye. “The fellatio?” he asked a little more loudly than they had been speaking.
She cringed, shushing him loudly. “Godwin! You’re evil!”
He smiled that slappable, kissable smile and if he wasn’t holding her hand, she probably would have touched his lips. “I am a demon,” he chuckled. “And I am sure that you will call me that more than on this occasion as I ask for you to do that and more. I wish to push your limits, to open you up to your full potential.”
“I don’t understand what you mean by full potential,” she said, pulling her hands from his and turning away to hide her embarrassment.
“Oh, I know you do not, little hansa. I look forward to investigating it together with you. After your escapade with Chester, when you consumed both his blood and seman-”
She whipped her head around, shushing him again, and he laughed at her.
“When you had both, how was your hunger?” he continued on.
She looked away, thinking about it. She hadn’t really paid attention at the time, but she had felt completely sated in a way she had never experienced before. “I felt really good. Like, amazingly good. But wasn’t that because of me feeding you?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Seneca,” he said, her name falling from his lips like a caress, “sprawled out in my home, you reminded me of a nathalis, large Daeva predator similar to your tigers, usually so dangerous, fully content and sated. That was before you fed me,” he reminded her.
“But!” she tried to argue, but he shook his head, a smile on his face as if he knew she would object.
“No, no, do not deny it. You were beautiful and sexy, so powerful in your element.”
She bit her lip again, turning away. She found her cup and brought it to her lips, drinking deeply until it was gone.
“Tell me you did not feel good,” he challenged her. “Tell me the truth, Seneca.”
“I did feel really good,” she admitted in a whisper.
He leaned against her, the frame of his body lining hers and her heart sped up while her core clenched. “I am pleased that I could help find your satisfaction.”
He continued to lean against her and they sat there together in silence for a few minutes. She held her empty teacup in hand, afraid to move, to break the moment. “I like how I feel when I am with you,” she admitted softly.
He leaned forward, placing his now empty cup on the table. “Me, too,” he agreed. “Would you accompany me before we find you suitable sustenance?”
Dreadfully Erotic 