All characters in this story are 18 years of age or older at the time of the events described.
Please check the story tags if there are erotic genres you find distasteful and prefer to avoid. I like to cover a lot of ground, sometimes.
This short-short story is the first of many in a series called, "The Children of Eros," which focuses on the experiences of several mythic beings who survive through the ages by harvesting the emotional energy of human sexual release.
*****
Silenus paused at the brick corner of the campus cafeteria building where a large shrub blocked the line of sight from the security camera on the roof of the building across the street. He could easily smell the plant and animal flesh being charred and boiled and baked inside the kitchen for the consumption of the college students. Silenus was famished, but could stomach no such human food.
In his youth -- 5,000 years ago -- wandering the forests of ancient Greece, sustenance had come willingly, often eagerly, to Silenus. Maidens were always warned that, if they wandered too far into the woods, they would be taken by satyrs -- the wild, half-men of the forest. And yet, somehow, careless maidens -- and many older women -- strayed too far on a fairly regular basis.
Today's maidens, however, did not visit the woods alone in such great numbers, Silenus reflected, as he watched a panel van round a corner a block away and proceed toward him.
To his enhanced vision, there was a bright patch following alongside the van, where he could be unseen by the camera, or by any human observer. As the van passed the similar bright spot in which he stood, he slid smoothly into the lee of the van and trotted along beside it until it passed a low wall that concealed a waste dumpster.
Without pause, he darted behind the metal dumpster, jumped another wall, and trotted swiftly along a windowless brick wall to the corner, his hooves making no sound, even on the concrete sidewalk. He paused again, looking out over a broad, grassy hillside. Walkways crisscrossed the hill, and atop it stood another campus building. In the middle of the lawn was a tiny copse of trees.
There was a camera on the roof above him. Somehow, even on a clear, dry day, a moist leaf blown by the wind struck the lens of the camera and stuck there. Silently thanking his mother, Gaia, Silenus sped across the grass and into the invisibility of the small patch of trees and underbrush, his hooves leaving no mark at all in the grass.
Silenus lurked in the meager excuse for a forest, waiting, starving. Classes were in session, so there was little foot traffic along the two pathways that crossed a short distance from his shelter. Several young men passed, of no interest to the satyr. A dark-haired beauty walked by, and he scented her carefully, but she was sated, and needed none of his blessings.
He waited, patient as only an ancient thing can be, despite his gnawing hunger.
Abby
Abby hurried along the sidewalk toward the science building, carrying her books. She was late to class... again. Because she overslept... again. What was
wrong
with her? She'd been up half the night, thinking about Gordon, about how he'd ended it, about
why
he'd ended it.
She caught her toe on the sidewalk and stumbled. Her books spilled from her arms onto the ground. Shit! She knelt to gather them up. She was
not
a dud in bed. She
wasn't
frigid, Abby thought, willing her eyes not to tear up.
Silenus
Silenus scented the young woman kneeling on the sidewalk. He scented her distress, her frustration, her need. Here was one who could accept what he had to offer. Swiftly, he sought among the brush of his infinitesimal forest, finding, quite improbably, exactly the leaves and herbs and vines he required.
