by Bliss Devlin
But how could she face him after having cheated on him with his sister?
* * *
"Andras!" Katie's voice was hopeful rather than joyful, and she did not move to fling herself into his embrace. Instead, she hovered uncertainly in the doorway of her apartment.
Her hesitation became clear as soon as he saw the pale color of her aura, which should have been deep gold shading to scarlet. The taste of joyful anticipation that had filled his mouth all the way home from Shanghai instantly turned to the bitterest gall.
She had lied to him. She had not waited.
She had not waited for him.
He had thought about her all throughout that long, long flight home over the Pacific Ocean. Had fantasized about revealing himself to her in his true form. Had begun to dream that she might accept him for who he truly was, and consent to become his philtata.
Katie visibly wilted at his change in expression.
"I'm sorry," she said, her own expression changing from hopefulness to guilt. "I'm so, so sorry."
Then she surprised him by stepping back and opening her door all the way. "Please, won't you come in? I need to talk to you, and I don't want to do it as performance art for my neighbors."
He hesitated, surprised at how much her betrayal hurt. She had promised him exclusivity!
And her desire to talk to him smacked of an apology, followed by a break-up.
"...please? Sir?" she added in a low voice.
He felt a spark of hope. If she was calling him sir, then perhaps she didn't want to break up with him, after all? Would she agree to a punishment, so that they could continue their relationship?
Silently, Andras followed her into her living room. It was furnished with a remarkably ugly brown shag carpet and a motley collection of second-hand furniture in the style of fifty years past.
Katie noticed his glance around. He had never ventured beyond her front door before, coming here only to pick her up and head out to a restaurant to eat, then back to his spacious loft for sex.
"My grandma died just as I was getting ready to move in here," she said, sounding embarrassed. "So Mom and Dad packed up a U-Haul truck with her furniture and drove it out here once I signed the lease for this place. I was kind of broke back then, and I haven't really gotten around to buying new stuff yet..." She stopped, and grimaced. "I'm babbling. Sheesh. Would you like some breakfast? I have a pot of coffee going, and I have some eggs—"
"I suppose that depends," Andras said, gravely, interrupting her. "On whether you are ending our relationship."
"Me?" she squeaked. "But I thought you'd want to—"
He shook his head, afraid to yield to hope.
"No, I don't want to break up with you! I was kind of hoping to explain things, and that you'd give me another chance," Katie said.
"Okay, then," said Andras, forcing a smile. "Coffee would be nice, then, and I could help you cook."
After his extended stay in Shanghai, he was hungry, but not for eggs and coffee. And, as always, Katie looked delicious, the generous expanse of her aura brushing him with soft promise.
The apartment's kitchen was narrow and tiny. The two of them worked in awkward silence for a few minutes, Katie whisking together eggs and milk with nervous energy, and Andras slicing oranges with quick, precise strokes of his knife, relishing the brief, sizzling contacts between them.
Andras caught her studying him, her eyes narrowed and brow furrowed.
"What?" he asked.
She flushed, looking guilty again. Taking a deep breath, she said, "I know. About the Children of Lilith."
He froze, his knife embedded in the act of bisecting an orange. This was not the conversation he had expected to have with her, not so soon.
"Really? And how is that?" he asked, as neutrally as he could.
"I, uh, can see past your, um, glamour." She stumbled over the term. "If I concentrate. I've seen it, uh, kind of fade away a couple of times while we were having sex, but I didn't know what it was."
She had been able to pierce his glamour? Even Yoshiko had not been able to do that until he had told her what he was.
"Amanda told you." It wasn't a question.
"Yeah. We had brunch yesterday, and talked about a bunch of stuff. And then, um, she and I—" Katie gave a heavy sigh, and her expression of guilt returned. "Shit. That's what I need to talk to you about."
Andras finished slicing through the orange with a definitive thunk, the blade of the chef's knife embedding itself in the bamboo cutting board. "Amanda seduced you?"
He wasn't sure whether he was enraged or relieved.
Katie flushed and her gaze dropped to the worn linoleum tiles of the kitchen floor. "I was kind of drunk. And she said it was an emergency. And—and she looked really awful, like she was terminally ill, or something."
"And after?" Andras asked gently. Under other circumstances, he would have wanted to throttle his twin sister for trying to sabotage his fledgling relationship, but Katie's report alarmed him.
"Better. Almost back to normal," Katie said. She bit her lip, not meeting his gaze. "Look, I'm really, really sorry. I never thought I'd be into girls, but I guess champagne for breakfast brings out the slut in me..." She laughed nervously.
"And did my dear sister reveal to you that she's a succubus?" Andras ground out. Damn Amanda! Did she use her powers to force Katie into her bed? "She could, if she put her mind to it, 'bring out the slut' in anyone, even the Pope."
Katie flinched at his tone, and he made an effort to gentle his voice. "I'm not angry at you," he said. "Just worried that Amanda may not have given you a real choice in the matter."
"Oh," Katie said, meeting his eyes at last. "You can do that? Make people want to have sex with you?"
He could see her starting to re-evaluate all of their dates, and cursed silently. "We can, under some circumstances."
Her face fell, and he added hastily, "But it breaks all our laws, and it's against all codes of decent behavior. Consent and trust are sacred to the Children of Lilith. If you were at all attracted to her, Amanda may have nudged you in a small way to act on your desire." He stopped, and gave her what she really wanted. "Katie, I swear to you, everything we've done, we've done with your full consent. I have never used my powers to try to influence you."
"O-okay," she said, and her relief was palpable.
He reached around her, and rescued the eggs, which were in danger of scorching in the pan. "Will you tell me what happened, as we eat?"
While Andras fed the halved oranges into a large, noisy juicer, Katie made toast and set the table. Then they sat down across from each other at Katie's small table, their knees touching.
Her gaze fixed on her plate, where she was pushing around the dry lumps of the overcooked eggs, Katie began to tell him about her brunch with Amanda the previous day...and what had followed.
She spoke haltingly when she got to the details of Amanda's seduction, her body language bleeding with discomfort and guilt.
Andras listened to his lover's recitation without comment, but he began to worry. Katie's obvious discomfort in the aftermath suggested that Amanda might have done more than merely nudge Katie in the direction of an existing inclination.
What in the name of all the Olympian gods had his sister been thinking? On the heels of his indignation came a more worrisome thought: just how poorly was she faring, to have done something like this at all?
"...so, is it really true? You're really a...really a Child of Lilith?" Katie asked, and her question penetrated his troubled contemplation of Amanda's motives.
Time to face the music, he thought. And see if Katie really was meant to be his philtata, or if she would reject him, like so many others, and retreat into convincing herself that she had suffered some temporary mental lapse.
Andras stood, pushing back his chair, and with an effort of will, dismissed the glamour.
Because of his wings, he usually went shirtless, but wore trousers. Today, he wore a comfortable pair
of jeans, the fabric faded and softened by repeated launderings.
Bared to his true skin, he waited, controlling his desire to explain—or fidget—under her wide-eyed stare. Katie's gray eyes examined him from head to foot, her gaze returning time and again to his wings.
"Wow," she said, finally, and Andras felt dizzy with sudden relief. "You look really different, but still kind of the same.
He smiled at her gratefully. "Thank you. And I'm glad you didn't run away screaming."
She tilted her head, and frowned. "People do that? Why? You're not really scary-looking. Just different." She returned his smile, a spark of her old mischief returning. "And, um, still kind of hot."
"I'm glad you think so," he said, gravely. People do that? Why? That question had been so very Katie.
"So, about the, uh, glamour," she began.
Abandoning the remnants of her breakfast, she put down her fork and leaned forward. Her expression shone with eager curiosity.
He inclined his head, trying not to grin like a fool. She's not frightened! She's not repulsed!
"Can you change how you look, or do you have to stick with just one glamour?"
Hungry as he was after three weeks away from her, making do with survival rations of visiting men and women as they slept, it was probably a bad idea to expend so much energy now.
But he did it anyway, making himself blond, with wide shoulders, a square, golden-stubbled jaw, and blue eyes.
"You may call me Sven," he intoned solemnly, and was gratified when she giggled.
"Oh that's awesome!" Katie said, with genuine admiration.
Thus encouraged, Andras shifted through his standard set of disguises. The last was a female guise—golden-haired and beautiful, but much too tall for most of the past centuries.
It had been very useful on those occasions when he'd been hunted by people looking for a dark-haired man.
Katie oohed and aaahed appreciatively at each shift in hair color, skin color, and facial features. When Andras returned to his real self, she asked. "Which one is your favorite?"
"This one." He resumed the glamour he had been wearing during his sojourn in this city. "It's the closest human equivalent of my true form."
"Yeah," agreed Katie, squinting a little as she studied him. He guessed that she was trying to pierce his glamour, and wondered if she was succeeding. "It does look more like you—the real you, I mean—than, um, Sven. Though Sven is pretty hot."
He resumed his seat across from her. "Is there anything else you'd like to ask me?"
"Lots," she said instantly. Then her expression grew serious. "Andras, how old are you?"
He blew out a breath. "Promise you won't freak out?"
Katie rolled her eyes. "I didn't freak out at the wings and the shape-shifting, did I?"
"Good point," he was forced to agree. "All right. I'm really old. When Amanda and I were born, Rome was still a republic. We were adults by the time Julius Caesar was assassinated."
"That's—" Katie hesitated. "Julius Caesar? As in, 'beware the Ides of March?'" He raised a wry eyebrow and she said, indignantly, "What? I saw that Rome series!" "
He laughed. "That's one of the few films that comes anywhere close to depicting what the city was really like, back then."
"You're a lot older that I would have guessed." She chewed on her lip for a few moments. "I guess I can live with that. If you're okay with me being so young."
"You know, I don't necessarily feel any older now than I did back then. I just have more experiences to draw on, and more cultural contexts." He smiled at her, and she smiled back. "Did Amanda mention our older sister, Korinna?"
Katie nodded.
"Well, she is several hundred years older than us—the Children of Lilith aren't very fertile, and the fact that our parents had three children, even spaced far apart, is considered quite remarkable."
"Wait—your parents? Katie looked boggled. "They're still alive? I mean, Amanda mentioned that they've visited but—"
"Yes, very much alive," Andras said. "Though they try to stay out of the limelight. My mother is—was human, and though she is now immortal, she can't create a glamour. It's always made changing identities troublesome, and now, in an age of global electronic record-keeping, it's especially challenging."
"Oh." Katie went back to chewing her lip again, clearly digesting the mass of revelations that their breakfast had brought.
He sipped his coffee slowly, giving her time to think. Finally, when he could stand it no longer, he said, "Now that you know the truth, what do you want to do?"
Her guilt-ridden expression returned. "I—I'd like to keep dating you," she said. "If you can forgive me for cheating on you. God, I feel so horrible about that!"
Andras hoped that her regrets over what had happened wouldn't linger to poison the relationship. He studied her haunted eyes and her aura, whose brightness looked curdled with her internal conflict.
What Katie needed, he decided, was catharsis.
"You remember the deal we made?" he asked. "That if you broke your promise to me, you had a choice: end the relationship or accept my punishment."
Katie swallowed visibly, and nodded.
"I want to continue dating you as well, Katie," said Andras. "Your sexual energy is irresistible to me. And you are kind and beautiful and have a lively mind. So, will you accept my punishment?"
She nodded.
Andras rose and walked around the table. "Stand up," he commanded.
Katie obeyed. She stood, looking apprehensive.
Slowly, he reached out and cradled her face in his hands. Then he did what he had wanted to do since she opened the door: he kissed her. Thoroughly.
She returned the kiss enthusiastically, sliding her hands up around his neck, clinging to him. Her breasts were pressed firmly against his chest, and he felt her arousal kindle and infuse her aura, brightening its color from electrum to gold. It felt like sunlight against his skin, warming him.
"You're cold," she murmured, when he finally drew back. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes sparkling.
"I'm hungry," he told her, and let his glamour dissolve. He felt renewed delight and relief when she did not flinch at the sight of his true form.
He gripped her hand, and led her into the living room. There, he released her and stepped back. He crossed his arms and assumed his sternest expression.
"Strip," he ordered. "It's time to begin your punishment."
She licked her lips nervously. "Is this, um, going to be the 'happy fun times' kind of punishment or, um, the other kind?"
Andras smiled at her, his hunger fully awakened by the kiss. "Well, it's going to be fun for me. Strip."
* * *
Katie shivered as she stood before her intimidating...boyfriend? No. That was way too wimpy a word for someone like Andras. Someone she had promised to submit to.
My incubus master.
Andras stood in the middle of her living room as he waited for her to obey, his muscled arms crossed over his broad, gray-skinned chest, staring at her with green eyes cold as ice. And those beautiful, impossible gray-feathered wings swept out behind his shoulders, making him look like an angel. A very dangerous, very sexy angel.
She felt frozen, like a deer in the headlights. She wanted to obey him, wanted to prove how sorry she was for what had happened but she couldn't move.
"If you don't begin removing your clothes right now," Andras said, softly, which made his words much scarier. "I will remove them for you."
Katie gulped, and tried to make her hands move to the front buttons of her cute spring dress. Her eyes met his, and she couldn't look away.
"Too slow," he said, in that same soft, scary voice.
Before she could blink, Andras was standing right in front of her. He took the neckline of her dress in his hands, and pulled violently. The fabric tore with a thin high sound, like shriek, and he pulled the ragged halves over her shoulders and down her arms with an impatient jerk. The mangled fabric fell softly a
round her ankles, leaving her clad in her underwear.
Her bra followed—it wasn't one of her super-expensive Coup de Foudre ones, thank God. His knuckles brushed against her breasts when he hooked his fingers beneath the cups and ripped her bra apart.
With a jolt, Katie realized that this caveman treatment was turning her on.
Because she had thought this might be her break-up meeting with Andras, she hadn't bothered with sexy panties this morning, putting on her everyday bikini bottoms. His fingers pushed against the skin of her tummy and hips as he slid them under the elastic waistband and ripped the soft cotton with ease.
Completely nude now, she stood like a statue as he walked slowly around her, inspecting her. Her heart was beating hard with nerves and excitement, and the place between her legs throbbed with a hot ache. The feeling only intensified as she felt one of his wingtips brush against her arm.
Oh God, what is he planning? And should I really be this turned on by the idea of being punished?
She jumped a little when he took her elbow and led her over to her dumpy old couch. There, he put his cool hand between her shoulders and pushed her down, until she was bent over the padded arm, her forearms resting on the seat cushions.
"Do you know why you're being punished?" Andras asked, resting his hand lightly on the small of her back.
"Because I slept with your sister?" Katie asked.
The memory of what she'd done sent a jab of renewed guilt through her stomach, making her feel a little sick. Had she really been that desperate for sex? Or had Amanda used some sort of Jedi mind control trick on her?
She hoped not. She liked Amanda. Amanda was her friend. And she had seemed so exhausted, and so ill...
"No," said Andras. His hand slid down to the curve of her buttock, and squeezed. "You are being punished because you gave away an orgasm, Katie. Something that belonged to me. You broke your word."
She felt his foot slide between hers, and tap her ankles. "Spread your legs," he ordered.
Feeling extremely exposed, Katie tried to obey.
"No, further," Andras said, and forced her legs apart.
Katie felt her arousal go up another notch. Bent over and spread wide open like this, he could probably see how turned-on she was. Did he intend to fuck her?
