Britt awoke in a bedroom she didn't recognize.
She attempted to sit up, winced, and fell back onto the pillow. Every muscle hurt. Her abdomen felt as though it had been pummeled. Despite her physical pain, her mind had a crystalline clarity and she felt more alert than she had in a long while.
Recent events came back to her in a rush. She was in Kat and Damian's farmhouse. She'd been ill, but judging by how she felt now, that illness had passed. She recalled her episode with Kat -- her first with a woman -- and the strange threesome with Kat and Damian -- her first of that particular scenario as well. Surprisingly, she felt no shame at these firsts. She knew that they had played a part in her cure and she regarded them with a sense of liberation.
Suppressing a moan of pain, she threw the covers back and rose. A silk robe was folded neatly on a chair. She wrapped herself in it and peeked out of the bedroom. She could sense someone downstairs but she wasn't yet ready for company. Instead, she made her way to the bathroom.
She locked the door and allowed the robe to fall off her shoulders to pool at her feet. She gazed at the woman in the mirror. The first thing she noticed was a ring on her left nipple, a twin to the one that Damian had affixed to her right. She supposed Kat had given her the new one, now that they were bound. She liked the symmetry but reserved judgment on the symbolism, unsure of what it meant to be bound to a succubus (not to mention her partner as well). She examined it; like Damian's ring, this one had no beginning and no end and gleamed in the light. The piercing had completely healed and nothing indicated that it had only recently been secured.
Backing away from the mirror a couple of steps, she took stock of the whole. While she still recognized herself, there was a new vitality about her. She couldn't put a finger on it, but the eyes were clearer, more penetrating, the mouth fuller, the jaw stronger. Her body too exhibited some subtle changes. Her breasts appeared fuller, her torso leaner. The small blemishes that had marked her body had been erased. While she had never been a slouch, hers body now spoke of vitality, power, and potential.
Being intimate with demons appeared to have some advantages.
There was a soft knock on the bathroom door. "Britt, are you alright?" It was Kat.
"Fine. Just fine. I just want to take a quick shower. Then I'll come down."
"Okay."
Britt heard Kat hesitate before her footsteps retreated down the hall.
Britt lingered in the shower for a long time, savoring the warmth of the water that coursed down the curves of her body.
Kat sat at the kitchen table with her elbow on the table and jaw cupped in her hand. She gazed into the middle distance, absently stirring a cup of tea, a newspaper open before her. Britt hesitated at the entrance to the kitchen.
Here sat a woman, a succubus, with whom she'd been intimate. Even in this most domestic of environments, Kat was beautiful. Breathtakingly so. She wore her dark hair in a ponytail. She wore a red sweater that clung to her voluptuous curves. Her nipples pressed against the material and it was evident that she wore no bra. She didn't need to. Britt felt a pang. She wished she could be so effortlessly desirable.
Britt had to shake her head. Before her sat a creature built for sin, to torment and to steal virtue. But Britt knew that Kat was more than a sexual predator. Her willingness to sacrifice for Damian spoke and her tenderness with Britt of a depth of emotion beyond what one would expect from a demon. Despite the short period that she had known Kat, Britt counted her as a friend.
"Hello," said Britt.
Kat smiled weakly. "Good morning. You're looking well."
"How long did I sleep?"
"Twenty-four hours."
"I guess I was tired."
"Among other things. How are you feeling?"
"Great. Better than I have for a long time."
Kat got up and pressed a cool hand to Britt's forehead. "No fever."
"I feel fine."
These were uncharted waters. Britt's mind whirred. What was the protocol for the morning after with succubus with whom you'd just had a dalliance and whose ring now decorated your nipple? Did you bestow a good morning kiss? Did you pretend that nothing had happened?
"Do you hear Damian?" asked Kat, interrupting Britt's thoughts.
Britt closed her eyes. Nothing. Blissful silence. She shook her head.
"That's good," said Kat, still standing close.
Something inside of Britt quickened at Kat's nearness. She'd never been attracted to another woman. "Where is Damian?"
"Out. But he'll be back soon." Kat offered no explanation.
"Thank you for what you did," said Britt. "And for the ring." The memory Kat's scent and feeling of her skin came back to her in a flood. She threw caution to the wind and tentatively pressed her lips to Kat's.
"We're bound now," Kat responded, wrapping a hand behind Britt's head and returning the embrace with breathtaking urgency.
Confusion and desire battled within Britt. She clutched the sweater at Kat's back, knotting it in her hands. What have I started? she thought.
Kat then quickly disengaged. A bewilderment that mirrored Britt's own etched her face. She returned to her chair. "I should be thanking you. Without your sacrifice, Damian would be dead."
Her sacrifice. Britt remembered now: she would never have children. She waited for the regret to come, but it didn't.
"How are you doing?" asked Britt.
Kat shrugged. "I don't know."
It was obvious that yesterday had cost Kat dearly, but Britt was afraid to ask how much.
At that moment, Damian bustled into the kitchen, bags of groceries in his arms. Seeing Britt, he stopped dead in his tracks.
Britt stood, similarly frozen, her eyes on Damian. That he had recovered too was clear. He was no longer that washed-out phantasm of the morning before.
He set down his bags and approached. Britt breathed in his scent and submerged herself in the aura of his masculinity. He looked strong and vital; lean, handsome, and indescribably desirable.
This isn't good, she told herself, this Pavlovian lust response to these demons.
He placed a finger under her chin and lifted her face. His piercing blue eyes searched hers. "You're well," he said finally, his deep voice stroking mysterious strings deep within her.
Britt nodded. She wanted him to kiss her and leaned closer. I've got to stop this, she told herself.
Kat came to the rescue. "You could use some breakfast," she said.
While Damian busied himself at the stove, Kat set out a plate, cutlery, and filled a glass with orange juice.
"Just me? What about you?"
Kat and Damian exchanged glances. "We've already eaten," said Kat.
Britt cursed herself for her stupidity. They were demons, after all. They took their sustenance in the beds of the vulnerable. They'd probably been up all night. The realization momentarily dampened Britt's desire for them and enabled her to regard them anew. She knew that she couldn't begrudge them their nature, but at that moment it was difficult to separate the intimacy they had recently shared with the reality of nightly visitations with strangers.
"So what now?" asked Britt as she pushed her plate away.
Damian settled in at the table opposite Britt. "Kat and I have discussed it and we want you to move in with us."
Britt was floored. Move in? She glanced from Damian to Kat. The tightness of Kat's smile suggested that she was less enthused with the proposed arrangement than Damian.
Britt thought about it for a moment. "No," she replied.
Damian was obviously shocked. Kat leaned back in her chair and directed a brief nod to Britt.
"No. I have a degree to finish. Thanks to you, I'm way behind."
Damian sputtered. "Degree? We have everything you could possibly want here."
"Except for a degree. What would I do with myself all day? I appreciate your offer, but I'm going back, Damian, whether you like it or not."
Kat said, "He's not used to taking no for an answer."
Damian looked crestfallen and Britt's heart went out to him. "That's not to say you can't visit," she added.
Damian perked up.
"But I don't want you sneaking in like you have been. You come to the door like a gentleman. Ring the doorbell. And another thing: don't count on your demonic wiles to get your way. I'm onto you. If you're going to get anything from me, you're going to have to earn it."
Britt laid her hands flat on the table and leaned toward Damian. "You might be a little out of practice, but I'm one girl you'll have to court."
* * *
The first half of the drive back to Britt's apartment passed in silence. Britt couldn't erase the image of Kat, alone, waving to them as Damian's Porsche sped away from her.
Damian was obviously bewildered and hurt that Britt hadn't acceded to his request. Perhaps it was the ease with which he enjoyed his conquests over women. Perhaps he had never before been denied.
Britt probably would surrender to him eventually, but something within her resisted the temptation to make it easy. More than anything, she needed time. Notwithstanding the fact that he was an incubus, they had lifted the lid on a box that contained any number of complications. Britt had unwittingly become a point in a triangle that, however manipulated, contained one or more sharp and uncomfortable angles. Achieving some sort of equilibrium would take time.
"So how long have you and Kat been together?" asked Britt when the silence grew oppressive.
Damian shifted in his seat and glanced at her. "A long time."
