Synopsis: This is the ninth chapter of an ongoing story. While I recommend reading from the beginning, here is a brief synopsis for those who want to jump right in or need a reminder where we left off: Saliah is a nearly all powerful demoness who feeds off moral corruption, and who had the majority of her powers unwillingly locked away inside an urn. Jack came across the urn by chance and instantly became Saliah's focus. She feeds off him with the ultimate goal of having him free her from the urn's grip. But after centuries alone, Saliah has begun to enjoy Jack's company and decided to be honest with him about what she was and see if they could trust one another. Jack's agreed and told Saliah about a friend of his Emily, and her girlfriend Amy, as he would like a friend a confidant. Emily and Amy will be joining Jack and Saliah for dinner.
Chapter 12 - The Dinner Party
"Wow..." Amy said stepping through the threshold to Jack's mansion. Emily was wide eyed beside her. There was an irony to how little changed over time. Centuries ago, Emily would still have been relying on her youth and natural beauty instead of ornamentation. The simple satin dress she wore was of the modern age but even in Emily's ancestral Korea, fitted, simple, clothes had always been in style. Amy, in contrast, marked herself as a counterculture rebel. Saliah had seen the type worshiping imagined gods, with imagined ceremonies, who's only real effect would be the frustration of the people around her. Which was to say, she was a 'punk rock California girl'. Amy had blonde hair in an asymmetric cut and wore a black denim skirt and a punk band t-shirt.
"It's good to finally meet you," Jack said to Amy, stepping forward and shaking her hand.
"Which bank did you rob?" Emily asked, finally finding words. Saliah shifted her weight, that was all it took, and every eye clicked over to her - as they should. She could hear Jack's heart thundering away in his chest, his anxiety smelled divine. He really was taking a leap of faith introducing her to Emily. Many men in the past had taken similar leaps for her, all had found themselves dashed upon rocks for having done so.
Could this be one of Jack's ideal women? Beautiful? Without question. Unobtainable? Emily's girlfriend made that clear. But coveted? She watched his relationship with Emily play out in her memories. Jack seemed to truly like her, but was the feeling romantic? She could only see Emily's rememberings and those were colored by the girl's opinions, priorities, and attention.
Emily's thoughts in the opposite direction were rather insulting to her Jack. Emily didn't believe he had found a beauty like Saliah.
Saliah's outfit was tasteful, understated, Jack's taste for office-slutty having informed her choice of a tight jacket with low cut blouse followed by a pencil skirt. She was, so far as Emily was concerned, obviously out of Jack's league. A flicker of molten rage glowed in Saliah's chest, but she was supposed to at least give the woman a chance.
Amy on the other hand was captivated. Saliah couldn't blame her. So few, regardless of how happily monogamous they were, could resist Saliah's pull. But Amy had the look of trouble about her. How easy it would be for her to give Jack everything he truly wanted. How hard it would be to keep her word.
"No banks. He simply had the good fortune to meet, and impress, me," Saliah said and offered Emily her hand. "Saliah."
Emily shook the hand offered, and Amy moved in a second later to do the same, "and you're an insanely wealthy supermodel who has a taste for history nerds who work at reference libraries?" Amy asked.
Even if she couldn't have read Amy's mind, the verbal maneuver was so obvious. A compliment for Saliah with a jab at her partner, all meant so light-heartedly. Kings, Sheiks, and Emperors had marched caravans of gold, spices, and art to lay at her feet in less obvious attempts at flirtation.
She bared her teeth in a smile that Jack might one day come to recognize, "I'm a demoness," she said and stepped forward, touching the side of Amy's face softly with the back of her hand, three of her nails just barely grazing against Amy's jaw line. "He's taken a big step, trusting me to meet the two of you, and the condition was I not use my powers on you. I'm supposed to be a considerate hostess. But if you dare insult Jack in my presence again, I'll be sipping your life blood instead of the lovely merlot I've prepared."
"The fuck," Amy pulled a step back. Emily moved over to her side, both backing towards door they had entered through. A door that burst into flames before the women managed a third backwards step towards it. Both screamed and jumped away from the fire, and the flames vanished. Amy and Emily froze in place, neither forward or back seemed safe and they held each other, looking at Saliah with wild eyes.
She smiled again, this time nothing but warmth in the curl of her lips. "I've told hundreds of people what I truly am, and it is seldom an easy conversation. Please, you're both our guests, free to leave whenever you like. That nothing more than the theatrics necessary to prove to you that I am, truly, a demoness."
They both began to tremble, the usual response to confronting reality.
"Jack... why?" Emily asked.
"My dear," Saliah answered for him, poor Jack would have no idea how to navigate this conversation. "You are Jack's friend, and he wanted to take you into his confidence. You're both our guests tonight, and we very much intend for you to fully enjoy the experience. Neither I, nor Jack, has any desire to harm you in any way."
"As long as we don't make you angry," Amy said.
Saliah laughed. "Controlling my anger has never been a skill I cultivated. But, if you try not to slight Jack, I'll practice my patience. Fair?"
"The things..." Jack said, and Saliah snapped a finger, "yes... Let's start the night on a better footing, shall we?
From the end of the marble hall that was the mansion's entranceway, three women entered. Two pushed a steel frame the size of a door. Industrial roller wheels made a hiss as they traveled over the marble floor. The steel frame was covered with plate metal on one side, but as they began to rotate it, the opposite side came into view. On that side was a sheet of glass showing the contents of the frame, a section of brick wall cut from the side of a building. It must have weighed a ton, the frame's wheels made it possible to move, slowly. A spray painted girl, holding a red balloon was stenciled onto the wall.
"Amy," Saliah said. "I understand you're a fan of Banksy, so I got you an original."
Amy's mouth opened and she detached herself from Emily's grip, taking a step closer to the art, leaning in to inspect it. She'd seen a Persian peasant do the same with a mountain of gold. No matter how terrified, no matter how dangerous, wealth always had a draw on some hearts.
The last servant carried a silver tray with three envelopes. She approached Emily. "And Emily, Jack tells me you're a fashionista, and had noticed my handiwork with his suit. Versace, Gucci, and Prada, I've taken the liberty of arranging a dress for you from each of them. I'm eager to see what you think of their haute couture services in comparison to each other." Emily's hand trembled as she picked up the three envelopes, each with an embossed appointment card.
"What's the catch?" Amy asked. "You don't just give people a fortune. What's the catch?"
Saliah turned her head to Jack, "you see dear? Once people know you're a demoness you can't even be nice to them without them thinking you're after their souls." And she turned back to the women. "No catch. No strings. No evil twists. Emily is important to Jack, Jack is important to me. I knew tonight would be, uneasy at first, and these are meant to, set the evening off on the right foot."
"Wow..." Amy said, her eyes pivoting from the envelopes in Emily's hands, to the Banksy, to the reception room, to Jack, to Saliah, and then through the entire cycle again.
"This is one of the better reactions I've gotten," Saliah said to the shocked silence of the room. "Please, think of tonight as if you were in an alien land and simply accept that it will be an experience unlike any you've ever had, or will ever have again."
Natasha, and Kerri, walked into the room. Both women held silver trays at waist height, two wine glasses with a ruby liquid on each tray. They both wore four inch heels, matching back microskirts that barely extended below the curve of their hips, and black, tight, jacket tops that almost matched Saliah's but for the fact that without blouse or bra they could have stepped out of a strip club.