"I want her," he said. His words were met with incredulous laughter.
"Out of the question."
His heart filled with the ache and longing of an eternity of damned souls, and he felt a fire of rage begin to burn beneath his traditionally stoic exterior.
"Brother...I must have her," he said again. The laughter subsided, but the expression of incredulity remained.
"You liken her to an obsession." He growled.
"That is because she is my obsession. I cannot...I will not exist without her beside me," he said. The humor faded from his brother's eyes, and he became thoughtful.
"And you desire no others?"
"No, never. I recall no others, and I will have no others. She is desire," he replied.
"Does she return your affections?"
His eyes lowered and he shook his head.
"I have not yet made my presence known. However...if I may have her...I swear upon all of my power that no harm will ever come to her. I will earn her love," he replied seriously.
"And you are aware of the innate dangers in taking a mortal lover?"
He paused. While it was true that the mortals were created in the image of the gods, their forms were fragile and breakable. They were smaller and weaker, vulnerable to injury, sickness, and death. They were dying the moment they were born.
"I will be gentle with her. Always," he answered.
The humor returned to his brother's eyes.
"I've watched her mother, and she will never let you court her daughter..."
Calista gently dropped her basket of flowers and sat down on the grass, smiling delightedly. She bathed in the sun, reveling in its warmth and the secret pleasure it brought. Her mother had expressly forbidden her from spending too much time outdoors, warning her of the way the harsh light would pale her hair and darken her skin. Calista had always been an obedient girl, but sunshine was something her mother could not prevent her from enjoying. It was as if she had been born to worship it.
She removed her sandals and pressed her dainty feet in the cool stream, wiggling her toes in the water. She splashed playfully, letting the moist droplets soak the warm skin of her legs.
She looked across the stream and noticed a woman and a man, who appeared to be around her age of twenty, chasing each other across the meadow. She squinted to see them more clearly, and gasped when the man embraced the woman roughly, to the woman's apparent delight, and kissed her.
Calista brought her fingertips to her lips, wondering how it would feel to be kissed.
The man pulled the woman to the ground, and playfully wrestled with her until he was on top of her. Calista's innocent eyes widened as the man began to kiss the woman with more earnest, moving his head this way and that. Her eyes widened in shock when his hands began to travel all over her body, squeezing her large breasts, her waist, her bottom, and underneath her dress. Calista wondered why he was squeezing her so hard, why he seemed to want to touch the woman in the oddest places.
Calista blushed and looked away when the man began to disrobe, but a strange imp within her made her bring her eyes back to the lovers' scene. She watched in wonder as the man brought the woman's legs high around his waist, and he reached in between their bodies, and thrust his hips against hers.
Calista squinted and leaned forward, trying to see what he was doing. He was bucking his hips furiously against the woman's, but Calista did not understand why.
She continued to spy on the lovers, and fanned herself when she realized watching them was making her feel feverish, especially on the inside. But despite the heat, she couldn't bring herself to look away. She was fully entranced in watching their activity.
The woman pushed against the man, tumbling him onto his back, and she mounted him, straddling his hips with her strong thighs. Calista gasped when the woman began to bounce up and down on his lap, her head thrown back in what appeared to be pleasure.
Calista was about to feel faint from fever, but a sudden cool breeze subdued the harsh heat. Cold air gently flowed through her hair and across her face, and Calista let out a long sigh of relief. The sweat that fell from her temples cooled to icy droplets, and goosebumps appeared on her skin in reaction to the sudden chill. She continued to watch the lovers, wondering what it would be like if she could be the woman on top of the man.
Calista lowered her eyes to her own body, surprised that the breeze was having such an effect on her tender, heated flesh. She felt it intimately touch her stomach and her legs, cooling her feverish skin, and she sat still in anticipation, wondering if it would quell the heat that remained between her legs.
The breeze rose higher, blowing away her dress and touching her inner thighs. She was shockingly aware of the warmth between her legs, and even more shocked that the wind could make her so sensitive.
Calista stood on shaky legs then, frightened by the sensations in her body. She gathered her basket of flowers, and ran home, trying her best to ignore the feelings the sight of the lovers evoked.
Daemon waited for his heart's passion to return to their usual space, at their usual time. He had begun to think of it as "their time", even though the young woman was unaware of his presence. Her mortal eyes could not see him on the mortal realm, unless he willed it so. And he was not ready to reveal himself just yet.
He cherished these private moments they had together, even if he was merely an outsider looking in on the world he craved. He knew he didn't fit in her world, was wrong for her in every possible way, but he desired her nonetheless.
His cold soul filled with warm elation as she emerged, a bright ray of light penetrating his darkness. He watched her with bated breath as she gracefully sat down on a clean sweep of grass, his nephew's sunny rays shining down on her golden skin, almost as if in worship of her.
