“Seneca!” Olivia whined petulantly as soon as she said hello into her phone. “Where’ve you been?!”

Seneca blushed, feeling guilty. It was Saturday night and she was still at Godwin’s apartment. He looked up from his reading, question in his eyes. She mouthed Olivia’s name and he nodded, returning to his book, one of his hands idly rubbing her feet draped over his lap.

Honestly she lost track of time in the last few days, the three of them physically inseparable until today. For the last three days, time seemed to flow like taffy as they completed their bonds, her and Josh staying with Godwin. It had been unbearable to not be nearby one another until this morning, when finally the marks on their wrists faded away and she felt a sense of security and comfort wash through her.

Josh felt it, too, and they shared a moment. Godwin sighed contentedly.

“What happened to my mark?” she asked, worried she did something wrong, messed up the bond somehow even though she felt good.

“Have no fear, all is as it should be. My mark has been accepted into your body. It can be called again at any time by running your fingers over the spot and thinking of it,” Godwin explained. “Our bond has completed, and immediate proximity is no longer required. You are both welcome to stay as you wish, but you may also go back to your own tasks if you choose,” he said with a tinge of melancholy.

“Ah, I would really like to wear my own clothes,” Josh commented. “Also, I can’t trust my friend Ian with my birds for much longer, I should go check on them,” he said glumly. “And…I have to work tonight, and I already called off once. I should probably go…”

“You act like this is the end, but it’s not, Josh,” she said, trying to sound like she believed it.

He sighed. “I know, but I feel like when I leave, the world won’t have changed even though I have. It’s a weird thought. Isolating. I, this thing, the last, how many days? Three? God, it feels like longer, but in a good way. I didn’t want this to end, but…yeah. It feels like the last day of camp when you are leaving and you have changed but the rest of the world doesn’t know it.”

Seneca smiled, kissing him on the cheek as he stood. Godwin handed him a box that had been delivered that morning. “Clothing for you, and for Seneca. I assume you can determine whose is whose.”

Josh took the box from him, looking down at it in surprise. “When did you?”

Godwin just smiled his obnoxious, sexy smile, saying nothing. Josh darted forward, kissing him on the cheek, then ran down the hallway to the bathroom, blush lighting up his ears. “You’re the best!” he called over his shoulder.

“Seneca, are you listening to me?!” Olivia demanded, pulling her from her thoughts. “Earth to Seneca…”

“Sorry, Liv,” she apologised quickly. “What were you saying?”

“I haven’t heard from you in days, other than a few random vague texts. You fell of the face of the planet, and left me with your asshole cat. He has an asshole, he likes to let me know that, and he is an asshole, he likes to let me know that, too. What happened to you?”

Seneca sighed. “I, ah…” she hedged, unsure what to tell Olivia. Godwin squeezed her foot reassuringly without looking up from his book. “I was with Godwin.”

“Yeah, uh-huh. I knew that much. So, are you shacking up with him or what?” Olivia asked scandalously.

“Shh!” Seneca hissed. “Shut up!”

“OMJesus, Seneca, are you sitting in his lap or something?” Olivia said more loudly.

Godwin looked up with a knowing smile and Seneca blushed hard. “Olivia!”

Olivia laughed and it made Seneca feel good. “Whatever. When are you coming to get your jerk cat? I hate him, and I’m pretty sure the feeling is mutual.”

“Shack hates everyone, you aren’t special. I’ll get him when I find a place, you are the best friend ever for taking care of him for me!” Seneca said quickly.

Godwin looked up at her, question in his features though he said nothing.

Olivia snorted. “You so owe me.”

“I know. That’s why I said you’re the best,” she agreed.

“So, what did you get Kennedy for Christmas?” her friend asked, changing the subject.

“Christmas?” she replied stupidly. Oh god, Christmas. So much had been going on she had totally forgot. “Oh shit, Liv. What day is today?”

“Tomorrow is Christmas. You didn’t get her anything, did you? Wait, doesn’t that mean you didn’t get me anything, either?” her best friend groused.

Guilt flared up. “I’m sorry!” she exclaimed. “I really am, I mean, so much has happened and I totally-”

“Chill, Seneca. I was just teasing. I know, I know. And, it’s not like me or Kennedy are religious or anything, it’s just a day. You can give me my present next week.”

Even though she could hear the joking in Olivia’s tone, she still felt pretty guilty. “Sorry, Liv…”

“Stop, Seneca. I figured you forgot. I know you haven’t left your new boyfriend’s house in weeks.”

Her cheeks burned. “Liv!”

“You could try to tell me you have, but I won’t believe you. I wouldn’t either, not after all that craziness. It’s okay, let him pamper you. Anyway, guess what?”

“What?” she asked, letting Olivia steer her away from an awkward conversation about the man whose hands were currently running up and down her legs.

“Annabel, that girl I told you I was sort of, um, you know, at the coffee shop? She knows my name!”

“Ah, don’t you wear a nametag right on your shirt?” Seneca said doubtfully.

Olivia snorted. “I saw her at the grocery store. We walked by each other once and we made eye contact, then she was behind me in line. She started the conversation! OMJesus, Seneca. She knows my name!”

“When was this?”

“Yesterday. Do you think she’ll come in today? Maybe we can actually start talking. Oh, it makes me so nervous I could throw up. I don’t want to throw up all over her, I’m guessing that would probably ruin any chance I have with her, and that chance is already smaller than the odds of the planet getting hit by an asteroid today. Or getting struck by lightning. Or me being eaten by a shark. Or being president because everyone else is dead,” she fretted.

“Well, I think you probably have better chances of talking with Annabel than any of those other things happening,” Seneca said thoughtfully. Godwin’s face was in his book, but she had a feeling he was listening more than he was reading.

“Not if I throw up on her I don’t!”

Seneca chuckled. “You won’t. Deep breath, then act natural.”

“Easy for you to say, you have a boyfriend now. Oh, what happened the other day with that ex-boyfriend of yours from college? With the ribbon from he-who-shall-not-be-named?” Olivia replied, changing the subject again.

“Josh?” Seneca asked slowly, trying to think of how to either dodge the question or explain it away.

“Yeah, Josh Crawford or something, right? I sort of remember him now, you were so mega pissed at him. I didn’t understand why it pissed you off so bad at the time, you guys had been dating for like five heartbeats or something. But you were really angry.”

“Crocker. Yeah, he cheated on me back then. We’re cool now. He’s, ah, it all got sorted out,” she hedged.

“Sorted out?” Olivia asked skeptically.

“Ah, so, Annabel at the store, eh?” Seneca suggested.

“Seneca, I get it that you don’t want to talk about him, but seriously, you need to make sure he’s not messing with your life anymore. Did you call the cops?”

She shifted uncomfortably. Godwin wasn’t even pretending to read anymore. “No.”

“NO?!” Olivia snapped. “Why not!”

“Liv, it’s not a crime to be a creep. Josh doesn’t have a restraining order, and he couldn’t get one unless Chip did something to him. Right now, he’s just being a creep.”

“He did something to you, that should be enough!”

Seneca sighed. “I agree, but Kennedy said he would have to do something first to Josh before anyone would issue a restraining order.”

“That’s so stupid. If he does anything else, Sen…” her friend threatened.

“I have Godwin and a restraining order,” she said soothingly, blushing again from talking about him when he was right there. “I’ll be fine.”

“Fine,” Olivia relented. “So…Annabel…”

Seneca snorted out a laugh. “Text me if she comes in tonight. I’ll work on my Christmas plans. Shit, that means I’m off on Monday, that’s awesome!”

“You going to Kennedy’s?”

“Sure, you wanna come over?” Seneca offered. Olivia had come over for Christmas every year when they were growing up, and they had continued the tradition into their adult years.

“Obvi, Seneca. I was wondering if you’d be there. You bringing Godwin?”

“Ah, I’ll ask him.”

“Seneca,” Olivia said, calling her out, “I know he’s right next to you. Just ask him. OMJesus.”

“Text me, Liv. I’ll see you Monday!” she dodged.

“Fine, fine, dork,” Olivia relented. “Love you, Seneca.”

“Love you too, Liv,” she replied, then hung up.

She shifted, pulling her legs from Godwin’s lap. “Christmas?” he asked. “The holiday with the round, elderly red-suited man ringing bells and taking pictures with children?”

“Ah, yeah, that one,” she agreed, biting the inside of her cheek. She had totally forgotten, hadn’t gotten anyone a gift.

“Why do you feel so guilty?” he asked her, shifting so his body faced her, pulling his knees up. He winced, then stretched out his left leg towards her.

Her fingers were running over his leg of their own accord, kneading the scarred skin beneath what she had begun to consider as his ‘loungewear’. In the last couple of days he had taken to wearing long, desert robe-like clothing with loose fitting pants beneath cinched with a drawstring. The fabric was soft and cottony, and always black. He moaned his pleasure at her touch, his eyes slipping shut for just a second.

“Ah, well, I forgot about it. I didn’t get anyone presents. I didn’t get you a present,” she fretted. “Shit, I can’t believe I forgot!”

“I need nothing, this is not a holiday that I have celebrated before,” he soothed, leaning into her attentions.

“Still, I need to…it’s too late, I refuse to shop when everywhere will be so crowded. Maybe I can just give stuff to people next week?” she thought aloud.

“I need nothing other than your company, hansa,” Godwin told her as he scooted forward more, getting her fingers to knead where he wanted them.

She smiled, pleased with herself that she could make the incubus feel good. “I wonder what I should get Josh?” she said.

As if he could tell she was thinking about him, her phone buzzed against her leg. Is it okay if I come over? Josh inquired through text.

“Josh wants to know if he can come over now?” Seneca asked Godwin.

He cracked one eye open, looking up at her without sitting up. “I cannot understand why neither of you believe me when I say that you are welcome here at any time.”

“Because!” she said, feeling embarrassed. “This is your home, Win. We are just guests.”

“Seneca, you have far surpassed the ‘just guests’ status with me, and Josh more recently, but our bonds and intimacy needs make you both more than ‘guests’.” He sat up and pulled the phone from her hand, typing in a response to Josh with his newfound technology skills. She and Josh had spent the last few days teaching him how to use his smartphone, and he had taken to it quickly.

“What’d you say?” she asked him as he handed her back her phone.

“That he is always welcome in my home and never to ask permission again,” Godwin said shortly as he lay back down, shifting his left leg back into her lap.

“Do you want to come with me to Kennedy’s for Christmas?” she asked, feeling shy all of a sudden.

That slappable smile was on his face, and if her hands weren’t busy, she might have taken a swipe at him. “I was wondering if you were going to invite me. As Olivia had said, I was sitting right here.”

Biting the inside of her cheek, she looked away shyly. “I mean, you know, it was weird, right? I mean…”

She felt him gently soothe her with his power. “Hush, hansa. I do not know what your Christmas celebration entails, but I am eager to attend with you. I find your friend and mother most interesting humans,” he told her as he relaxed completely under her hands.

He was practically purring as she worked the knots out of his leg. “Flip over and I’ll do the the back, too,” she told him. He did so while also magically losing his clothing and shifting from his human to Daeva form.

“Mmm,” she moaned before she could stop herself at the sight of his perfect ass and sexy tail.

“What was that?” he asked innocently, looking back at her over his shoulder. He grabbed his book, placing it open before him as he propped himself up on his elbows, his wings pressed firmly against his back

“Nothing, nothing,” she said, blushing. He smiled his slappable smile at her then turned back around to his book.

“Of course not,” he agreed pleasantly. She stared at his ass, at that spot where his tail sprouted from his lower back, then at his tail, which trailed down his leg on the other side of her. As if he knew she was looking at it, it whipped up, wrapping skillfully around her wrist. He pulled her hand back to his left thigh.

She chuckled and began working the back of his leg, her eyes still locked on his perfect ass. It was completely bite-able, and she longed to leave marks, but she held herself back. His tail slid from her wrist and landed in her lap as he relaxed into her massage.

A few peaceful minutes passed, his tail flicking occasionally in her lap. “So,” he said eventually, breaking the silence, “you are looking for a new apartment?”

She bit the inside of her cheek. “Ah, yeah, I am. I mean, I was gonna start today. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to overstay my welcome here, I know you value your privacy and all.”

He sighed. His tail wrapped around her wrist again, making her realize she’d stopped massaging his leg. “You misunderstand. You are welcome here, Seneca. You have not worn out any welcome. We are bound, hichilen ageranel. It would be strange if you were not with me, if I were home.”

“Hichilen ageranel?” she asked, trying to wrap her mouth around the foreign words.

“Ah…something like a family with a collared pair? It does not sound as poetic in your language,” he apologized.

“So, are we like the SynLilin equivalent of married or something now?” she asked, her hands moving up to his supple ass cheek.

He pushed his hips up to meet her fingers. “I suppose. There is no marriage in SynLilin relationships, not in that way. We have breeding relationships, and we have ageranel. Marriage was something I did not learn of until I was a teenager, and then it was a difficult concept to wrap my head around. The nature of our very beings goes against a singular partner.”

She moved to his other cheek at the request of his pushy tail. It stayed wrapped around her wrist this time like a warm, fuzzy bracelet. She raised it to her face and kissed it and he moaned. “You collared me and you aren’t in a singular relationship,” she pointed out.

“True,” he agreed. “Be careful how you tease, hansa. I believe I am incredibly lucky to have found you and our Josh.”

She laughed. “I think, at least for me, that it’s the other way around. I’ve never felt this alive, this happy and satisfied, Win. You can still feed from others, even if we are bound, can’t you?” she said, feeling a twinge of jealousy, which she pushed away as quickly as she could.

“No, well, yes, I suppose I could, but why would I?” he asked, his tail sliding from her wrist. It slunk up her body until it draped around her neck. “Feeding from you both is more filling and satisfying than feeding residually from strangers, and I find that I do not desire any other sustenance. Perhaps that will change as our bonds become more natural, but I believe that I could feed from the two of you with no additional sources indefinitely.”

“Isn’t it…” she hesitated nervously, “isn’t it boring to just be with me and Josh? For you, I mean, as an incubus?”

The back part of his tail caressed her cheek and she snapped at it with her teeth instinctively, drawing a chuckle from him. “Of course not. Do you get tired of my blood? Or Josh’s?”

“No, never!” she said defensively. “I can’t drink from others, I think. I don’t want to, at least. I…oh,” she said, realizing what he was getting at. His tail teased her again, the black inverted heart trailing down the side of her face. She reached up and caught it and he stiffened in her lap. She licked the black tip, then sucked it into her mouth, both hands holding it tightly so it couldn’t escape.

“Hansa,” Godwin growled, attempting to flip over. She placed her other hand around the base of his tail and squeezed. He groaned, twisting beneath her, so she sat on his ass. “Relent, you temptress!”

She laughed around his tail in her mouth. She really liked how it felt, the length soft and velvety while the tip was solid and warm. She bit down on the black tip gently and the noise he made was absolutely worth it, so she did it again, slightly harder. “Do you like this?” she asked him innocently.

“You know I do,” he growled, bucking his hips under her. “When I get free do not be surprised when I take you hard. Everyone knows not to torment an incubus!”

“Oh, everyone? I’m not sure that’s common knowledge here…”

“Seneca,” he breathed out her name, “it is the first thing taught to small children back home.”

“I must have missed that day…” she trailed off, running her hand up and down the base of his tail. She scraped her nails over his lower back, then up the span of his tail until she reached her lips, then trailed them back down. He moved wantonly beneath her, and she knew that if he wanted to, he could knock her from her perch easily. She ran her tongue from the harder black part down, down, down until she reached his back, then gently bit down at the base where it disappeared into the top of his ass.

He moaned in pleasure, his whole body frozen stiff as she continued to nibble and suck the junction where it disappeared into him. “Oh, hansa, I will make you melt in my hands, you naughty vampire,” he half-purred, half-threatened.

She smiled, blushing from her ears to her chest. “You promise?” she breathed out, embarrassed and excited.

“Let me go and find out,” he threatened sweetly. “Or, keep teasing my tail and perhaps I’ll take you by force…”

She put the tip of his tail back into her mouth, a wide smile over her face. His tail writhed in her hands, then slipped from her grip. She whimpered at the loss of her toy, then Godwin flipped them both over, catching her mouth with his. His hands dipped beneath her skirt and a second later her panties were missing and a drafty breeze swirled between her legs.

Godwin pushed away from her, his eyes pure silver. “My turn,” he promised, then pushed her down, his head disappearing beneath her skirt. She squeaked when his mouth hit her core, his warm tongue dipping between her folds, parting her. He wrapped his hands around her thighs and pulled her into him. Keeping his lips away from her, he teased her with his breath, blowing over her folds tantalizingly. There was the barest brush of his lips against hers, then he pulled away again, blowing again on her hypersensitized mound.

“Oh, Win,” she moaned, pushing her hips closer to him wantonly. How did he have her this riled up so easily?

He looked up, her skirt falling like a veil over his face. “Hmm?” he asked her, licking his lips, a look of pure sex on his face.

She whimpered as he teased her, her hips trembling with her need. “Please,” she begged him.

“Please?” he asked as innocently as she asked him earlier. “Please what?”

“Win!” she exclaimed needily. “I want you, please!”

There was a glimmer of excitement in his eyes as he dipped his head between her legs again. He looked up, distracted, before he touched her again.

“Win?”

“Our Josh Crocker is here. Just a moment, Seneca,” he said, moving to sit up. She was disappointed, ashamed and embarrassed all at the same time. He leaned over her body as she pushed her skirt down and kissed her hard on the mouth before he stood up.

Godwin shifted back into his human form, complete with his desert loungewear, then opened the door. Josh stood there, one hand poised to knock, a confused and surprised look on his face.

“How’d you know I was here?” he asked, stepping inside at Godwin’s unspoken invitation.

“The apartment knows you. I asked it to let me know when you were approaching. If you do not know how to look for it, you would not be able to find my door.”

“Your door is magic?” Josh asked, kicking off his shoes as the door shut quietly behind him.

“Hmm, no, not exactly. My apartment is protected by a Daeva creature, skelis, who conceals and defends me here. I was fortunate enough to bring it with me when I was exiled,” he explained, returning to Seneca. He pressed himself between her legs, but she squeaked and pulled away, instantly embarrassed.

“Skelis?” Josh asked as he removed his coat and gloves. “The door is a creature?”

“The creature has grown to consume the entire apartment by this time. It has taken me nearly my entire time here to grow it this large,” Godwin explained, frowning slightly at her. She looked away, covering her legs with her skirt as much as possible.

“The entire apartment? How long? Wait, we are inside the creature?” Josh asked, settling himself down on cushions near her. His leg brushed hers and she flinched. “Did I interrupt something?” he asked, reading the atmosphere in the room.

“Ah…” she hedged.

“You are not an interruption,” Godwin said, laying down in her lap as she sat up. “We were teasing one another.”

“I can leave, if-”

Godwin interrupted him gently. “Josh, you are always welcome here. Relax. You as well, Seneca. There is nothing to be embarrassed by.”

Despite his claims, she felt her face burning. He traced his finger over her arm and she pulled away, shame and arousal battling in her, especially with the addition of the tantalizing scent of her Wren. “Win!” she exclaimed, staring at him in her lap.

Josh sniffed the air, then inhaled a deep breath. “I can smell…that’s crazy. I can smell you both. Is this because of our bonds? You were, oh, I’m sorry, I really did interrupt.” He stood up and turned back to the door. “I’ll come back-”

Godwin grabbed his hand and pulled him back down to the cushions, practically into his lap. “Stay, Josh. Do not leave. Seneca is embarrassed, but you belong here, with your vampire, and your incubus. Do not leave us now,” he said softly, holding Josh’s hand.

“Godwin, you smell like sex,” Josh muttered. “God, you smell so good.”

“Do you want me?” Godwin asked him, tracing his fingers over Josh’s face. “I am always at your disposal.”

Josh leaned up, awkwardly kissing Godwin. The incubus pulled him into his lap and Josh chuckled, then groaned as Godwin deepened their kiss. Seneca, despite her embarrassment, found herself watching them make out on her lap raptly. Godwin met her eyes and she looked away, ashamed to be such a voyeur.

“Don’t look away,” Josh mumbled, pushing Godwin away. “I love it when I can feel your eyes on me, watching me and Godwin so hungrily.”

“Josh!” she whined.

“Seneca?” he asked her playfully, cocking his head so he could look at her. He climbed onto Godwin, straddling Godwin while he continued to lay in her lap.

“You, I mean, well, you just got home, and ah, you know, ah…” she babbled, unable to form coherent thoughts.

Godwin laughed as he ran his hands over Josh’s khaki-covered ass. “She said you just arrived home. Welcome home, Josh Crocker.” He leaned up off her lap and kissed him gently. Josh stared at her the entire time.

“I didn’t mean, I mean, oh god, it’s just, well,” she continued to babble. She wrung her hands, uncomfortable and aroused.

Josh bit Godwin’s lower lip, then moved from his lap, leaning against his body. “Come here, Seneca,” he requested. Godwin slipped a hand between Josh’s legs, coming to rest on his inner thigh.

“No, not now. I can’t. And anyway, I need to go get my stuff from my apartment. I need to move. Yes, I need to do that now,” she said, looking away from them. God, they were hot together. If they pushed her any farther she would join them, or fall to their spectacle, and she would get nothing done.

“Oh?” Godwin asked her playfully. “You are prepared to move now? Where are you moving, hansa?”

“You said, I mean, I, ah, well, I could go to Kennedy’s I guess if I’m not-”

Godwin cut her off holding his hand before him defensively. “Peace, Seneca. You are welcome here, I have already mentioned that several times. The offer stands. In fact, it would humble me if you were to come here to live. I can nurture the skelis to grow another two rooms, it would take perhaps several weeks.”

“The skelis can grow rooms?” Josh asked. “Wait, you mentioned before that it is your apartment?”

“Seneca, come here,” Godwin said, motioning her to move. She followed his direction without thought and was sitting next to him in an instant. His finger grazed her collar, sending a small thrill through her body. Good girl, he told her through the collar, instantly melting her shame to manageable levels. Pleasing Godwin, even when they weren’t playing, made her feel fulfilled in a way she couldn’t duplicate.

“The skelis is not the rooms, these rooms exist in this building. The skelis is not singular. It is much more, several hundreds of thousands of organisms that live together as one mind. It is complicated and I cannot explain further. Skelis absorb the materials of the building into their own bodies and act as the structure,” Godwin explained, his fingers tracing her collar soothingly.

“So, the walls in your apartment are this creature?” Josh asked eagerly, looking at the walls in wonder.

“Yes, they are. Now that I am thinking of it, I would like to key the skelis to you both so you are unhindered as you come and go.”

She turned to him. “It’s hard for me to believe you would give up your privacy like this, Godwin,” she said, feeling insecure again. She tried to hold onto that feeling but Godwin’s fingers on her collar made them slippery and they floated away before they took hold.

“He just told you that the walls were made of some superorganism and you’re worried about sharing a bathroom?” Josh asked incredulously.

“It’s important. And, I guess I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around the skelis part,” she snapped back, instantly angry.

“I, well, sure, but,” Josh defended.

She instantly felt bad. “Sorry, Josh, I didn’t mean to snap. This is all happening so fast, everything is changing so quickly. I mean, I forgot it was Christmas! I can’t seem to keep up.”

“No, I’m sorry, too, Seneca. But, I mean, this apartment thing is properly blowing my mind. I didn’t even know demons were a thing, a real thing, two months ago, you know?”

She bit her cheek. “I guess the privacy thing is something I can control. I can’t control much else. So I don’t want to ruin what we have by overstepping boundaries or privacy,” she explained, feeling down.

“We are bound, hansa. As I said before, if I were home, it would be strange for my ageranel, my malisardi and our masacenshin, to be separated by homesteads. Often, pairings similar to ours would live in the same house, or in a cluster of homes on the same grounds. Privacy is important, which is why, if and when you do come to live with me, you will each have a room that is completely yours.”

He stood up, pulling them both with him. She was immediately reminded that she had no underwear on, and the blush that had finally disappeared flushed her skin again. Josh sniffed the air again, turning towards her. “Why can I smell everything so strongly?” he wondered aloud, making her blush even harder.

She pulled her hand from Godwin’s, then rushed over to where her panties had landed earlier, putting them on quickly. “You didn’t need to do that,” Josh pouted. “I didn’t say it smelled bad.”

“Shut up!” she snapped with embarrassment. “Win, weren’t you doing something?”

Godwin chuckled, then nodded towards the door. “The place to start cultivating a skelis is always just at the entryway.” There was cloth draped between the door and the wall that she had never noticed before. It was simple, a deep earthen color with green and tan patterns on it that reminded her leaves in the bottom of a clear, cool stream. He lifted the corner of the drape and beneath it the wall was alive. Smooth pinkish-grey flesh spread out on the wall like a spiderweb, disappearing into the corners of the wall, the ceiling, the floor and the doorframe. It didn’t move, but just looking at is she could tell it was alive. She found she could feel it.

“That’s alive?” Josh said, awed. She leaned in, trying to get a clearer look. It was dim and she couldn’t see it well enough to understand it. Part of her mind said she should feel grossed out by it, but she wasn’t. It was beautiful, delicate and intricate, a mix of a snowflake and a spiderweb.

“This is the main body of my skelis,” Godwin replied softly. He reached a finger out and traced a line from the doorframe to the center of the web. She noticed the center was thicker, round and slightly raised. A ripple followed Godwin’s touch and the web shimmered outward from where he caressed, silvery waves undulating through the organism.

Godwin kept his finger on the center of the web and she felt him begin to push emotions gently into it. “I feel that,” she said, barely a whisper. “What are you doing?”

“I am feeding it. It eats emotion, as many things from my Legion do. I will be feeding it quite a bit in the next several weeks if we are to absorb the apartment beside this one for you both.” He closed his eyes, leaning against the wall adjacent to the webbing. “Just a moment and I will introduce you both. It takes…” he trailed off, strained.

“Are you okay?” she asked, grabbing his free hand.

He looked up at her, smiling weakly. “Just a moment. I am giving direction and sustenance.” He squeezed her hand comfortingly. “I will be just a…” he trailed off, his eyes turning pure silver and staring off into the distance.

Josh looked at her as Godwin slumped against the wall, his finger still pressing against the center of the skelis. “Do you think he’s okay?” he asked, worry creeping into his voice.

“Yeah, he seems okay, I guess he’s just talking to it? It doesn’t feel like something is wrong, but I don’t really know anything more than you about all of his Daeva stuff.”

Josh nodded, leaning against the wall next to Godwin. “The primal part of my brain wants to be creeped out by this demon creature, but I’m not. I think it’s weirdly beautiful, right?”

“I was just thinking that!” she said with a smile.

“So, what were you and Godwin doing when I got here?” he asked coyly with a wicked grin.

She blushed furiously. “Josh!” she whined.

He smiled at her, then winked. “I’m teasing you. Do you feel different lately? I mean, with me, since we bonded? You know, as your Wren?”

“Hmm? I hadn’t really thought about it, I guess. I don’t know how I feel about it, honestly. I still feel bad I bound you. You didn’t-”

He cut her off. “Seneca, shut up. You don’t get to speak for me, you know? How many times have I told you I want this, I want to be with you both? Do you think I want out now? Please stop torturing yourself like you made me do something I didn’t want.”

She shifted uncomfortably. “I just-”

“No, nope, nope, nope. Just stop, Seneca.” He stepped forward, reaching his hand out and cupping her cheek. She turned her head away from him, feeling guilty. “Please,” he said, turning her back to him. He kissed her gently. Godwin squeezed her hand comfortingly, reminding her that she was still holding his hand. She turned to look at him but he was still lost to whatever he was doing with the skelis.

“Okay,” she relented. He smiled at her, then kissed her once more, chaste and innocent, before pulling away.

“So, I was asking about the Wren thing because I feel pretty awesome. I can smell and taste things better, which is both good and bad. I’m not sure, but I think I feel a little stronger and faster, but like I said, I can’t really tell if that’s true or in my head. And…I think I can feel you, Seneca,” he said, turning his head so that he only looked at her from the corner of her eye.

His embarrassment was attractive. “Me too,” she agreed. “I can feel you, like if you are close or far away, nothing definitive, but like a general direction and distance. I thought it was just in my head.”

“Does it bother you?” he asked her shyly, unable to look at her. “I know you are-”

“No, I like it. These bonds we have, Josh, they feel like something I’ve been missing out on. I’ve never felt like this. The only family I have is Kennedy and Olivia, and now it feels like I’ve got you and Godwin, too. I guess it’s stupid but-”

He cut her off again. “Stop, Seneca. It’s not stupid. It’s mad proper. It’s proper awesome. Just accept it, accept something nice in your life, and feel like you deserve to be here.”

She blushed again as he brushed hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear. They both stood there in silence for a moment, her emotions a mix of good and bad, but mostly good.

Godwin sucked in a deep breath, startling both of them as he stirred. “The skelis will begin expanding. The apartment beside this one is vacant currently, so everything will work. Josh, come here and press your finger into the center, very gently.”

Josh pulled away from her, then moved to press his finger to the center of the organism. He hesitated slightly before pressing his finger into the creature. He gasped as his finger touched it, pulling it away quickly.

“Ow! It stung me!” he exclaimed, looking at his finger. A single drop of blood welled up on the tip, teasing her senses. She had to restrain herself from grabbing his finger and licking the blood.

“My apologies, it requires blood to know you. Josh Crocker, place your hand flat against the center of the skelis now. It will take no more blood, but it will feel strange. Hold your hand there until the feeling subsides, do not pull away or it will sting you.”

Josh hesitated, looking skeptically at the incubus. “Seriously?” Godwin nodded to the creature, and when Josh still hesitated the incubus pushed his hand so that it covered the center of the creature. Josh shivered as Godwin held his hand against the skelis. He stopped trying to pull his hand from the creature a moment later, his eyes clouding over like Godwin’s had.

“What’s it doing to him?” she asked, feeling uncomfortable.

“Shh,” he hushed her. “Worry not. All is well. The skelis is communicating with him, that is all. You will be next.”

“Ah…do I have to?” she asked hesitantly.

“It is not as frightening as you both make it. You will understand once you do it. And yes, if you desire to move here, you will have to make yourself familiar with skelis,” Godwin explained gently.

A few silent moments passed before Josh sucked in a deep breath. Blinking his eyes, he rubbed them as if he had just woken up. He smiled at her knowingly, tipping his head to her as he stepped away from the skelis. “You’re turn,” he said, winking one eye playfully.

She frowned, feeling like he was teasing her.

“You are next, hansa,” Godwin said softly, pushing her forward with his hand to her back. She let him push her, completely unsure about touching the skelis. She turned back to him nervously, pleading with her eyes to not do this right now. Josh watching her made her feel insecure, the feeling that he was teasing her wringing her stomach.

“I, ah, can’t I do this later?” she asked, eyeing the pink-grey spiderweb of flesh warily.

“It’s not so bad, Seneca,” Josh assured her, which, instead of soothing her, served to make her even more embarrassed and nervous.

Godwin stroked her collar, brushing it slightly, but it sent a shiver through her regardless. He didn’t say anything into her mind, only sent reassurance. It calmed her despite herself and she begrudgingly thrust her hand out, brushing her finger over the center of the webbing. The creature’s sting felt like getting her finger snagged on a blackberry bush, a quick pinch then a little throb, but it wasn’t unexpected. Godwin nudged her again, his hand still on the small of her back. She took a deep breath to steady herself, then pressed her hand ever so gently against the center of the creature.

At first nothing happened, and her anger spiked as she felt like the butt of a joke. As soon as her anger flared, it was sucked away from her, like how Godwin fed from her, but different. The creature’s instant pull pissed her off further, but her anger slipped from her into it. Trying to grasp it, to feel her anger, only made it that much more difficult to hold.

The creature filled her mind as it stole her emotion, slowly clouding her vision. The room faded but the apartment filled her vision. The whole apartment. She could see it, the creature and the apartment, as one. It showed her its structure and she understood it so intimately that she was embarrassed and impressed at the same time. It spoke to her in thousands of voices at once, yet she wasn’t confused. It, for it wasn’t a they, despite how many voices it had, was complicated and complex, yet simple and elegant.

She flowed through the apartment, through the skelis, relearning the layout of Godwin’s home through the organism. In a way without words it told her that this was not just Godwin’s home, that this was her home, that she was part of this organism, part of something greater than herself. The room spun and then she was outside of it, looking into a room it had just began to consume, only a small spot on the wall where she looked into it. Her room, the creature told her without words.Tears fell from her eyes, humbled that skelis accepted her.

Thank you, she thought, trying to convey the weight of her emotion. The skelis consumed her emotions greedily, then fell away from her consciousness. Blinking her eyes a few times had her own vision returning. Her hand slipped away from the wall and she stood there for a moment, unable to look away from the spiderweb. She found she could still feel it, like a hum in the air, and wondered if she had always been able to feel it. It filled her with a sense of belonging, the same feeling she had had the first time she stepped foot into Godwin’s apartment.

“You may both feed the skelis whenever you wish, it will help it to consume your new rooms more quickly,” Godwin said, pulling her back from her reverie.

“Win, that was…” she trailed off, unsure of how to explain it.

“Right?” Josh agreed from his seat in the cushions. He was doing something on his phone. Josh had only been phased out for a minute, but he seemed to have been waiting longer for her.

“How long did that take?” she asked, feeling slightly disoriented.

“A few minutes,” Godwin told her.

“Why was it longer?” she asked, confused, wondering if she had done it wrong.

“You fed it more. Your anger. It enjoys strong emotions, volatile emotions, so it fostered them in you, then consumed them. Our Josh, it seems, is less easy to anger.” Godwin smiled, tucking a stray hair behind her ear.

Josh shrugged. They moved over to him and sat down in the cushions, Josh and Godwin on either side of her. Both men were touching her, but subtly, Josh’s knee against hers, Godwin’s shoulder brushing her hip as he laid out on the floor, head on a cushion. He stretched his legs out along the floor next to the cluttered coffee table.

“We can borrow a van from my buddy Ian on Monday, if that works for you,” Josh said, looking up from his phone. “He and I are both off for the holiday. You too?”

“A van?” she asked.

“Yeah, you know, to help you move. You don’t have a car, right?” he said, scratching his head. “I didn’t mean to assume, I figured you’d want to move as soon-”

“Sorry, Josh. Yea, that would be great. I mean, I don’t want to impose or anything…” she trailed off, feeling guilty.

“Why do you feel guilt?” Godwin asked her, his eyes closed contentedly.

“Ah…well, I mean, you both are going out of your way for me, you really don’t have to, I mean, it’s my problem, so I should deal with it, you know?”

Josh snorted. “Yeah, well, you didn’t ask. I offered. I’ll feel better when you aren’t there anymore, Seneca. That neighborhood’s a hole!”

“Hey,” she pouted, annoyed and offended. “It’s not that bad.”

“Yeah, it totally is,” Josh said, pushing her with his knee. “It’s proper ghetto. You have bars on your windows on a second floor apartment…”

“Well…I mean, it’s cheap and-”

“Wait, Seneca,” Josh interrupted her. “Stop. I didn’t mean to offend you. I’m just saying, being here with Godwin, it’s better than there. Your apartment wasn’t bad, but the neighborhood isn’t great, and his place is closer to your work, and to my apartment. You yourself said you wanted to move. I was just, shit, I mean,” he said with frustration, running his hands through his short dark brown hair. It stood up in spikes behind his fingers.

“It’s not that bad,” she continued, defending her apartment. She knew it wasn’t in a great neighborhood, but when Josh said it like that, it made her self conscious, like he was judging her by her neighborhood.

He scowled. “Why do you have to take everything so personally? I’m not helping you move to make you feel bad or to have you owe me anything. I’m doing it because I want to, because I want to do something nice for you. Because I like you, and because you’re a nice person who deserves it. Stop trying to make it seem like I’m doing it so I can hold it against you later. Why can’t you just accept something nice every now and again?”

Stupid, traitorous tears stung her eyes and she felt bad for making Josh upset. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, standing up abruptly. “I’m sorry,” she said again, not looking at anyone. She didn’t know what else to say, so she fled the room, embarrassed and ashamed.

She could hear Josh sigh heavily as she shut the bathroom door, sliding down to the floor before the tears began to fall.

The Game Chapter 26: The Next Day

The Game Chapter 28: No Time Like the Present