Snuggled up against her in bed, covered in our sweat, I wanted to ask Cindy about the ghostly visions of Aubrette I had seen twice now. The tall redhead had appeared the night before, and then again a few minutes prior, both times while my bound Sin Demon and I were engaged in hot and heavy sex. Somehow, the words wouldn't quite put themselves in order in my mouth, though. I knew, consciously, that my lover was not a human woman. She had even been the one to first broach the topic of bringing the High Sidhe into my sex life. Still, decades of human socialization had the words dying out unspoken in my throat.
Cindy managed to speak before I could, her words quiet and lazy in our post-sex torpor. "Mmm, Master, you liked spanking me. You have not done that before, but I think you should do it more. It flavors the Lust you give me with just a hint of Wrath and Pride that is delicious."
I froze for a moment as I realized that I hadn't even asked prior to spanking the diminutive woman during sex, but then relaxed as her words sunk in. Of course she would find pleasure in the act - I had enjoyed it in the moment, and she literally fed on my enjoying myself with her. Still, that was probably the kind of thing I should bring up with any future partners I would have. A powerful infernal creature like Cindy was one thing, but a mortal woman might not appreciate having her ass reddened without being consulted first. I rolled to the side slightly and peeked down, checking out the slender form snuggling against me.
The Sin Demon's pert ass was unchanged. No handprints marred her skin, it remained unblemished, and while it was covered in our combined sweat, the fact that my blows hadn't so much as temporarily marked my demon irked me on a level I was going to need to examine later.
She hadn't complained, though, and had in fact encouraged me to do that again, so I shuffled closer, half-covering her with my body as I finally responded. "I didn't know I was going to enjoy that until now." Of course I had heard about people who like spankings in bed, but something about seeing Cindy face down with her ass in the air had made me suddenly understand the appeal. I chalked this up to my inhibitions being loosened over the last few months of Sin, and resolved to make sure I talked about that kind of thing
before
putting it into practice, counting myself lucky that what was almost certainly a blunder on my part had still led to a
very
happy ending.
I lazily pulled the covers up over us, spooning in against the petite woman in front of me, and closing my eyes for just a few moments.
I woke up when my phone played a jaunty and very jarring tune, with a message flashing up on screen to inform me that I had just enough time for a quick shower if I was going to make my first appointment of the afternoon. Fortunately, I had gotten into the habit of giving myself a little extra time on my alarms after the first couple weeks of Cindy's presence. I had been forced to make a call between being unprofessional because I was late, or being unprofessional because I smelled like sex. I had chosen the former, but then had to take steps to adapt and prevent it from happening again.
Quickly wrapping a towel around myself, I rushed to the bathroom to rinse off. I passed Aubrette in the living room, where she was seated on the couch watching some kind of video on my laptop. Stepping into the water of the shower while it was still cool jolted me out of the last of my drowsiness, and I was able to rinse, dry, and dress in time to make it to my first appointment.
I left Cindy behind - this was an Augury, not one of my new 'advanced' services, so her services weren't required. Instead, I commanded her to spend the time with Aubrette teaching her whatever Cindy thought she needed for her new life, then headed out the door. I passed Sara as she walked between buildings - our apartment complex technically comprised a cluster of three separate structures - waving at her and smiling. She returned the wave, but I was in enough of a rush that I kept heading for my car instead of stopping to talk to her. The last couple months I had been able to make my rent on time, so while I had run into my landlady a few times, we hadn't needed to talk much. I felt... oddly sad about that. The fact that I was making enough money to not risk eviction was nice, but Sara was a good person and pleasant company, and not having the excuse to talk to her or provide her my services as an Augur was an unexpected absence in my life.
My first appointment was a quick one - a small business owner wanted to know if it was worth opening a second location, and I barely had to read through the documentation she had prepared before my gift flashed a tranquil blue. I still took the time to glance through the notes she had prepared - by now, I was actually starting to get a feel for small business finance even outside of my gift - but nothing I read changed the outcome. This was an easy win for her, and probably long overdue.
My second one both took longer, and was far sadder. A married couple that couldn't have been older than their mid-fifties wanted to know if it was worth pursuing an alternative medical treatment for a condition one had developed recently. I have never been a medical expert, but my gift can provide feedback even on topics outside of my comprehension with enough preparation. Unfortunately, reading through the information his doctor had provided, nothing I found in my gift offered even a glimmer of hope for success. I reminded them that I wasn't infallible, and that they should continue to talk through and explore whatever options the medical professionals had to offer, but no matter how I looked I couldn't discern even a hint that the treatment would be a success.
When I left, the two men were holding each other, one weeping while the other did his best to console him. My mood was somber as I headed back to my car, and only the fact that they would almost certainly have spent vastly more money on the treatment than my consultation allowed me to feel even a little good about that outcome. I knew that my time and attention were worth compensation, but it didn't exactly feel good to look at a man with hope in his eyes and deliver nothing but bad news, then expect him to pay me for it.
Someone had asked me once why I didn't ask for payment in advance, as so many fortune tellers did. I informed him that anyone who purports to see the future, but isn't confident that you'll pay when it's time, isn't worth your money.
I picked up dinner for three on the way home. Cindy was happy with basically anything I brought which let her indulge in Gluttony, and Aubrette lacked the context to know what kinds of modern food she would like, so I brought home three orders of cheap fast-food burgers, fries, and shakes. Navigating the door with my hands full of both food and a cheap cardboard tray for the shakes was tricky, so I barely glanced around the apartment when I got inside. The two women were seated side by side on the couch, laptop in front of them, again watching some kind of video.
I stepped inside and hip-checked the door closed, then moved to unload the food on the tiny kitchen counter. Then I blinked as my brain caught up to me. Was that porn they were watching?