Satisfaction Guaranteed

by Samantha M. Derr

  "I'm not looking for a single night's pleasure."

  Those words stuck, and, of course, brought with them all the wrong thoughts. My fingers pressed against his lips, his lips against my palm. Wondering if he tasted as sweet as his tea. I spread my legs, shivering as the blanket brushed against my naked skin. It was easy to pretend it was his hand, slightly cold-rough fingertips, imagined or real, stroking my thighs, my cock. Hennen looking at me with his unseeing, cloudy blue eyes as he touched me, teased me. A smile on his lips as he heard how close I was and slowed his movements. My breath hitched as I stilled my hand while my hips snapped up, seeking friction from the blanket. I wished I'd kissed him, so I didn't have to imagine what it would be like. How he would taste. Imagining warm moist lips claiming mine as I threw my blankets to the side and brought myself off. Imagining those cloudy eyes closing as he reached his climax. I bit my lip as I came—my neighbours were too nosy as it was, no need to put fuel to the fire—and wondered what Hennen would sound like during sex.

  Grabbing the nearest piece of clothing I could reach, I wiped myself clean and burrowed back beneath my blankets. As I drifted off, I imagined myself playing for Hennen...

  *~*~*

  I put a charged pebble into the bowl to my left. He loves me. I grabbed another one and focused my energy. He loves me not. But like its predecessor it lit up when I was done charging it. I put it with the rest. He loves me... I'd lost count of how many pebbles I'd been charging as I played my little game. I'd lost count of how many pebbles I'd been charging, period. I would never understand why people waited so long with recharging the bulbs that they hadn't needed all summer. We could barely keep up with the orders, and with so many orders to fill, Roni was careful not to give me more than I could handle. I still left the shop feeling absolutely drained every night. So drained I couldn't do more than eat and sleep when I got home. And think of Hennen. With a smile I put the last charged pebble into the bowl. He loved me. Liked me, at least. I put the pebbles into a box, closed the lid, and rose out of my chair.

  Roni stood behind the counter when I brought the box into the empty shop. She smiled as she grabbed it and put it away beneath the counter where two similar boxes stood. "One more box and I can send a runner to the factory." She then put a familiar velvet bag onto the counter. "Why don't you wait here for mister Kovu? You need a break anyway."

  I resisted shaking my head at her. She knew about the concert and had been walking around with an 'I told you so' air all week. "And have Ansa nag you about scaring off customers again?"

  "Ansa works for me, Marek. Not the other way around. Just take a break and let me know if other customers come in."

  I tipped my fingers against my forehead. "Yes, Boss."

  "Cheeky bugger," she muttered as she went back into the work room.

  It was weird to see Hennen walk in now. He was still the gorgeous man I'd been admiring for years, but... different. My hands were still trembling, and I swallowed reflexively, even though I was pretty sure I could greet him now. Should greet him, since he was approaching the counter. "Good morning, Mister Kovu."

  Hennen smiled as he turned to face me. "Good morning, Marek." He reached the counter and put a velvet bag on the counter, identical to the one I had in front of me. "How many burners did my order contain this time?"

  "Half of the bulbs had to be replaced, I'm afraid. I guess your nephew blew out more of them than your housekeeper expected."

  "Even the pebbles?"

  "Yes. Though most of those weren't burnt out completely, they burned out while I was recharging them." Which was one of the reasons completing his order had taken me longer than it normally did. Charging burners ate energy, and then I had to charge the new pebbles as well.

  "Well, this new batch has only been up for a week, so they should be all right."

  "I'll let you know in two weeks." What else could I say? This was weird, as if we needed to fill the silence with empty words.

  "Am I keeping you from your work?" Hennen asked.

  "No. No... Roni told me I needed a break."

  "Ah. Still busy, then?"

  "Yes. I have no idea why people don't remember to recharge their extra lights before autumn sets in. It's the same every year."

  "How long till you're recharged enough to go back to work?"

  "No work for me until after lunch, I think. I've been at it since seven already."

  "Since I have no prior engagement, would you care to join me for lunch?"

  I stared from Hennen to the interior door and back. "Err... sure," I said, crossing my fingers for Roni to be all right with it. "I'll have to ask, though."

  "Go ahead." He put another velvet bag on the counter. "Here's the new order."

  "I'll give that to Roni to pencil in." I took the bag and slipped through the door, leaning against the other side while I tried to catch my breath. Another date. A lunch date. I looked down at my clothing. Oh, please, don't let it be in another posh venue.

  "You all right, Marek?"

  I was so busy fretting, I hadn't even noticed they were all staring at me. "Err... sure. This is Mister Kovu's new order. And... err... can I speak to you?"

  Roni narrowed her eyes and dragged me into the tiny office she only used to do her administration. "What is it?"

  "He asked me out to lunch," I burst out. "Just now. Asked me."

  "I hope you said yes."

  I nodded. "It's all right, right?"

  She smiled and shook her head. "Only you would think it wouldn't be. Go, grab your cloak and enjoy lunch."

  How I managed to avoid a run in with Ansa I didn't know, but it was good not to be followed out with a parting shot from her. Hennen stood waiting, lightly leaning on his cane, and immediately turned his head my way when I closed the door.

  "Ready?" he asked.

  Wrapping my cloak around me, I swallowed and took another breath. My hands were shaking again, and I felt silly for still having the same reaction, even though he'd made me so at ease last time. "Yes."

  "Good." He held out his free arm. "Then let's have lunch."

  Lunch turned out to be a small cafe less than a block from the light shop. Far less elegant than the tea house, yet very busy. We managed to get a small table in an undesirable corner, but Hennen quipped that he didn't much care for a view. The waiter stared at me as if to ask if Hennen was crazy, making me blush and fumble while I ordered my strong tea and their soup, their daily special. But when the waiter kept his eyes on me even as Hennen placed his order, that was when it dawned on me. Hennen really didn't care what the waiter thought of him—what anyone thought of him—while there hadn't been a single moment in my life where I'd stopped caring what others thought of me.

  I leaned back when the waiter finally left us alone. How freeing it was to witness Hennen act so carefree, even joke about his own blindness. Intimidating as well, because I didn't think I'd ever be able to be so free about my own defect. Not with all those around who made me feel like an outcast already. I'd rather not draw any sort of attention to myself at all.

  "You're not going quiet on me again, are you?" Hennen asked as he put a hand on my knee.

  Taking a deep breath, I shook my head and slapped my palm against my forehead. Hennen needed words. "No."

  "Liar. I could hear you thinking from over here. How shocked did the waiter look?"

  "He looked like he wanted me to tell him you were crazy."

  Hennen smiled and squeezed my knee. "Thank you for not obliging him."

  "Well, you're not." I was sure my ears were burning by now.

  "No, I'm not. But neither are you."

  And because the waiter had only focused on Hennen, he'd barely paid attention to me.

  "Why do you think so little of yourself?"

  I sat with my mouth open, staring at Hennen. "I don't..." I started, but that wasn't true, was it?

  "You do." Hennen pulled his hand back and dragged his chair closer to mine. He leaned in and lowered his voice. "You were un
comfortable at the tearoom, fidgeting the whole time we were there. You talk as if you're rehearsing every word you utter, like you're afraid of saying something wrong."

  Hennen was right. I put my hand over his and sighed. Hennen turned his hand and threaded his fingers through mine.

  "Did it ever occur to you that your posture, your attitude, your behaviour, is what clues people in there might be something off about you?"

  I shook my head. That couldn't be true, could it? But what Hennen said made sense, even if it wasn't something I wanted to hear, least of all on a date. I had let people get to me. Had let them treat me as if I were less than they were. But... I was less. I was a cursed ninth, a drifter with barely any usable energy to speak of. It was only logical they treated me as such, wasn't it?

  Hennen brought my hand to his lips and kissed it. "I apologise. I didn't want to make you feel even more uncomfortable."

  "It's..." How to say this? I sighed. I squeezed his hand. "I'm just... thinking."

  Before Hennen could reply, the waiter returned with our orders, and we had to draw apart. Serving us didn't take long; it seemed as if the waiter couldn't wait to be out of our way.

  As soon as he was gone, Hennen leaned in again. "He doesn't like me, does he?"

  I laughed. "I don't think so." And that somehow broke the ice. We didn't talk much while we ate, but it was easier to answer his questions and ask questions of my own. Didn't mean I wasn't distracted by what he'd said. He had given me a lot to think about.

  *~*~*

  A lot to think about. I was good at that, thinking.

  After lunch, and a kiss to my palm that made me long for more, I spent the rest of the day, and the next, mulling about what Hennen had said as I charged pebbles until I ran out of energy.

  If Roni hadn't reminded me of my appointment, I'd have forgotten it. And it couldn't have come at a worse time, with me low on energy and filled with questions I doubted he could answer for me. I knocked on the door, and opened it at the quiet "Enter".

  Mister Wolvet didn't even look up from the papers balanced on his knees as he greeted me. His blond curls obscured his face from me, and I suppressed the urge to sigh. What was I doing here? My meetings with Mister Wolvet hadn't brought me anything useful in ages. Why did I expect it to do so now?

  "Mistress Volker's quarterly report shows no change in your job performance, Marek. How is the work for you?" Mister Wolvet asked, still looking at the papers.

  "Easy." Too easy, but all I'd ever gotten him to say to that was that I was one of the lucky ones. I had a job. Instead I added, "Busy. The cold is reminding people to have all their lights recharged before frost sets in. Businesses as well as households."

  Mister Wolvet nodded and put a little check on one of his papers. "How are your energy levels?"

  "Up and down. I have to take longer breaks and I'm often close to tapping into my reserves at the end of the day."

  Another nod, another check. "Any financial trouble?"

  "All my bills are paid."

  And another nod and check, but still not even a single glance at me. "Good." He put his pen down and moved the folders to the table next to his chair, and then, finally, he lifted his head. Not to look at me, no, his gaze stopped somewhere at my shoes. "So. How are you, Marek?"

  "I'm fine." It was out before I could stop it, and it wasn't even close to what I'd wanted to say. I cleared my throat at the same time mister Wolvet said, "Good."

  He grabbed the pen again and put another check mark on the paper. It made me want to scream. Hennen would have called me on my bullshit. I'd barely known the man weeks—not counting the years I'd been drooling over him—but he'd put his hand over mine and asked what was bothering me. But Mister Wolvet couldn't wait to check all the boxes and send me on my way again. "If that's all?" I asked, motioning to the door. I was wasting my time here.

  Mister Wolvet squinted at said door. "We still have—"

  "What?" I looked at the clock. "Twenty minutes to fill with empty words when we both know you're not interested in anything I say? Twenty minutes for me to wonder if you're ever going to actually look at me?"

  He looked up at me at that, eyes wide in shock, if only for a moment before irritation took its place and he turned his gaze away again. "I don't care for your tone of voice, Marek."

  "I don't care much for yours either." I wanted to say more, but decided to spare my breath. Instead I bade him good day, turned on my heels, and walked out of his office.

  His assistant glanced up from her work and smiled at me. "Must be going well if you're out this quickly. When is he expecting you back?"

  If only her boss shared her kindness. I had no smile left in me. I just shook my head and took the stairs two rungs at a time. I wasn't going to get my answers here.

  I had no idea if Hennen was working today, but the police station was closer than his home was, by the time my head had cooled down enough for me to figure out where I was. Less than two blocks from the station. Might as well try there before heading to his house. I didn't want to go home yet. And Hennen... Hennen would listen.

  The cop at the door let me in at the mention of Hennen, and pointed me to the right direction. "Hurry up," the cop added. "He's been waiting for a while."

  I frowned as I took the stairs up to where the cop had said Hennen worked. Waiting for me? Why? Had Hennen sent for me at the light shop? I heard Hennen before I entered the room. He was mumbling things to someone I couldn't see, even as I walked in. I waited until he finished talking before drawing his attention.

  Hennen froze as I called out his name and turned my way. "Marek? What are you doing here?"

  Not expecting me then. "I came to talk, and then the cop downstairs said you were expecting me..." I trailed off.

  Hennen sighed. "I wasn't, but, now that you're here I could use a hand or two."

  "What with?"

  Another sigh. "Examining this body. Think you can do that?"

  I approached him. A naked body lay on the table. Part of the chest was cut open and there were slimy things laying on a table next to the head. I swallowed. And then the smell hit me. I gagged and swallowed and put my hand over my nose. "Sure," I said through my hand. Couldn't get worse than this, right?

  "You're a life saver. There is a dressing room through the blue door. Get in and let the chamber do its work."

  It looked more like a shower cabin. I got in and closed the door. Something started whirring and next thing I knew, some sort of spray hit me. And then another one. When the door opened, I asked Hennen what it was.

  "Cleansing cabin. Beats having to perform the spells ourselves. There are suits and gloves next to the door. Put them on, please."

  I put on one of the thin gauze-like protective suits that hung on the hooks, came to stand next to him. "So, this is your job?"

  His unseeing eyes glanced my way. "I thought you knew."

  "Only that you worked with the police. Roni told me that once."

  "I'm a coroner."

  I frowned. But he was blind? "How—" I shook my head. How could I be so rude? "I'm sorry."

  "I wasn't born blind, Marek. And I've been doing this for a long, long time."

  "I didn't mean..."

  "I know. Don't worry about it." He closed his eyes and breathed deeply in and out. "Let's get to work."

  Despite the stench and the cut-open body, I was excited about seeing Hennen at work. "I'm ready."

  "Good. There's a cart with instruments on them next to the foot of the table. Grab it, please."

  I grabbed it and pulled it next to me. "What do you want me to do?"

  "Basically? Steer my hands and hand me anything I ask you to. That's all. I won't require you to cut into the body." Hennen took one final deep breath, flexed his palms and stepped closer to the body. "You're not squeamish about blood, are you?"

  "No." Not after Mouran showed me what magic poisoning could do to people.

  "Good. Let's begin." He blew out a breath. "Activate recorde
r. Resuming examination of case number VX5487 dash 12. Assisting me is Marek Moss."

  The moment he started talking, a strange looking machine in the corner of the room started making noise. A long roll of paper hung under it and turned as it ran through the machine. Weird.

  Hennen moved his hands across the body where it hadn't been cut yet, slowly but surely, calling out his findings, which I assumed that strange machine put onto the paper. He used words that sounded like a foreign language, and by the time he finished talking, I still had no idea what had happened to the body.

  "Marek. Hammer, please."

  There was only one item that looked even close to a hammer, albeit a small one. Hennen rubbed his thumb across the handle when I handed it to him and nodded. Holding the instrument, he ran his hands across the body again. Some of the words he called out sounded familiar, as if he was repeating himself, and maybe he was. Every now and then, he tapped the body with the hammer and called out numbers.

  Finally, he handed the instrument back to me, telling me to dump it into a tray, not on the table itself. He resumed scanning. Every once in a while he would ask me to hand him an instrument from the table that he'd use to prod the body with or merely hold above it. A number of times I thought he'd start cutting into it, but he never did. Maybe he'd taken everything he needed out of the body already. I didn't know. A couple of times, he asked me to tell him exactly what the body looked like. Colouration, smudges. I stammered my way through most of it, but Hennen only nodded as I did and scanned and prodded the body with his instruments. Never his bare hands.

  I didn't dare ask him about it until he was finished and the machine in the corner had stopped its noise.

  "Touching the body could contaminate my energy. Even though the body was cleansed, I can't take any risk. So, no touching."

  That sounded sensible enough. And again I remembered Mouran and magic poisoning.