The smell of bacon hooked itself into her nostrils and dragged her forcibly into wakefulness.
Something was wrong.
She patted the bed beside her. Empty and cold. There should have been a sexy, warm body snuggled up against her.
After a puzzled moment she came to the realization that her delectable guest must be the one currently conjuring up the scent of frying rashers like the magical creature she was.
Abigail had a vague recollection of her pants being hurled across the room and knocking something over. She wanted to check her messages, and her phone had been in those airborne leg prisons. She pushed herself up and swung her legs over the side of the bed.
She still felt weak and wobbly from the night before, so it took her a moment to realize that several other things were wrong.
One: she was wearing pajama bottoms and, it turned out upon inspection, clean panties. She had a slightly delirious vision of Odal picking her up one-handed and dressing her with the other, like she was a big floppy doll. She was sort of glad she hadn't been awake for that.
Two: her jeans were folded and sitting on her nightstand with her phone on top of them, plugged into her charger. She could almost believe she might have plugged her phone in with some kind of instinctive somnambulic desperation, but there was no way in Satan's black magic Hell she would have folded her pants.
Three: it was after noon.
"Shit," she said, grabbing her phone. Her stomach dropped when she saw messages from Pam and Kate.
Wincing, she opened the message from Pam first.
-Execs loved the designs!! Great job team!!
It was CC'ed to everyone, but there was a direct reply TO Pam, somehow.
-sorry boss, but I'm feeling a bit reamed out and drained from last night, don't think I'll be coming at work today
Pam had replied:
-ok feel better!! get some rest!! You earned it kiddo!!!
Abigail groaned, dragging her hand down her face. She looked at the message Pam had replied to. Had she sent that in her sleep?
She blinked as she re-read it.
'Reamed out'. 'Drained'. And not 'I won't be coming IN', but 'I won't be coming AT'.
She bit her lip. A grin tried to fight her, but she gnawed it back.
Odal, that little minx.
She gave up, and let the grin plaster itself across her face. It was going to be really hard to look Pam in the eye on Monday, but she had to admit, it was pretty damn funny.
Saving the best for last, she opened the message from Kate.
--the designs looked amazing ofc but as I suspected the execs barely glanced at them. Bit worried about you. Hope you're feeling better. When you're up to it, I'd like to meet with you to talk about something.
That was ominous. She tapped reply.
-took the day off, feeling a bit better. Can meet this afternoon? I'm not fired am I?
The reply came quickly, like she was waiting to hear from Abigail. That made her smile a bit.
-ha ha no, without you the team would fall apart. No, this is something personal.
Abigail frowned at that. Personal? She looked at the message again. The phrase 'bit worried about you' caught her eye again and she sighed. Hopefully it wasn't an intervention.
-okayyy you want to meet somewhere?
-Cupstones? 2ish?
Abigail groaned again. The thought of drinking more coffee made a little bile rise in her throat.
-sounds great, see you then
"Sounds great see you then," Abigail said, "hopefully you'll just ignore the fact that I'm a complete fucktwat and only just now remembered my car is dead and I left it at work."
"Actually," Odal said from the doorway, "I had it picked up. Just needed a new battery. It should be ready this afternoon."
"By two?"
"Probably not. But I refilled your metro card."
"You lied to me," Abigail pouted.
Odal tilted her head curiously.
"You said you're a demon, when clearly you're an angel."
"Oh boy," Odal said.
"Yeah. That was pretty bad, wasn't it."
"It was cute."
"You're cute," Abigail said. Odal smiled.
"Better," she said. "I made brunch. Though it's pretty much just regular lunch by now."
"I still feel a bit shaky from last night," Abigail said.
To her surprise, Odal actually blushed.
"I'm sorry, that's my fault. I...it's been a while. And you were so delicious. I might have fed from you a bit more than I should have."
"Well. Shame on you. I'll let it slide this time but only, and I can't stress this enough, ONLY because you gave me the best orgasm I've ever had in my life."
Odal, still blushing a little, shrugged and smiled.
"It's kind of what I do," she said.
Abigail stared at her for a moment.
"I think," she said slowly, "that I haven't quite fully appreciated the fact that you're a literal demon of sex."
"Technically, desire. Sex obviously plays into that pretty readily but I can fulfill other desires as well. For example, I'm not sure if you've noticed, but you have a seriously deep-rooted desire to have someone take care of you."
"Oohhhh...shit. Yeah. Totally see it now. Sorry."
"I wasn't lying when I said I enjoy it. I like being helpful."
"Wait, so, are you feeding on me when you do stuff like that?"
"No. I need to be in direct contact to feed. Sex is the easiest way to do that, because your desires are...close to the surface."
"Look, if what happened last night is what needs to happen for you to feed, consider me an all you can eat buffet."
Odal grimaced.
"What? Is that bad?"
"You'd think coming to death would be a nice way to go, right? It's really not. You'll get to the point that you hate it long before you actually die, and then it's just torture. It's not pretty."
"Wait, you've seen that happen?"
"Yes, and before it even gets into your head, no, I wasn't the one that did it. I could never do that to someone."
"Shit, that's dark. I wouldn't...no, I really can't see you doing something like that. You're way too sweet and kind and nice."
"Go on," Odal smirked.
"Uh, and pretty and cute and a great cook and a spectacular lay?"
"That will do for now. Come and eat."
"Fuck, I love it when you say that."
Bacon pancakes. Odal had made bacon pancakes.
Abigail had never considered the combination before, though in retrospect it seemed an obvious pairing. There was fresh orange juice, which Abigail briefly wondered if Odal had squozen herself. And a stack of bacon slices, enveloped in warm pancake batter, and drizzled with maple syrup.
She decided to ask.
"Squozen isn't a word," Odal said, "but yes."
"Okay, so," Abigail sort of said around a mouthful of crispy bacon, pillowy pancake, and luscious maple syrup, "I'm supposed to go meet with my team leader in about an hour and a half. It's supposed to be for something personal, but I dunno what."
"Maybe she's going to ask you out!" Odal suggested cheerfully.
"Nuh uh. She's been seeing this guy, Matt or Mark or something, for like five years. She's straight. Wait, uh, what would happen if someone did ask me out?"
"Hmm," Odal said, tapping her teeth with a fingernail, a gesture Abigail felt should be annoying, but was sort of cute when she did it, "knowing you, you'll probably panic, overthink it way too much, then out of sheer chaotic terror say something wildly inappropriate and then run away."
"Have you been SPYING on me?" Abigail demanded, aghast.
Odal giggled.
"I hate that you know me that well. Stupid demon mind reading thingy. But seriously. Would that affect, you know...us?"
"If that was your only desire, it might. But remember, I stay until you dismiss me."
"Do you...would you want me to dismiss you?"
"I enjoy being with you. I enjoy your company. I will be...sad, when you decide my services are no longer needed."
"Really? Or is that one of my deep unreadable desires?"
"No. That's me. I like you. I can't really say that for most of my masters. That reminds me, would you like me to address you more formally? I could call you 'Mistress', if you like."
"Huahh...that would be pretty sexy. But maybe we can save that for the bedroom? I like hearing you say my name."
"Oh, good, can I call you Abby?"
"Aaaand the demon is back. Hey, do you want to come with me?"
"Mm, not this time. Your friend might not appreciate an eavesdropper if it's something personal."
"Okay. Uh...what are you gonna do while I'm gone? Will you be bored?"
"I'm going to go lie in your bathtub, pour maple syrup all over my naked body, and finger myself stupid until you get back."
Abigail stared at her.
Odal stared back.
"Are you really," Abigail said.
Dimples and a smile.
"You'll just have to wait and find out when you get home, won't you?"
"Fuck, you're horrible. I wish I didn't love it so much," Abigail grumbled.
"You'd better get dressed, or you'll miss the bus."
Abigail shuffled obediently off to her bedroom. Odal had laid some clothes out, because of course she had, and Abigail looked them over as she shimmied out of her pajama pants.
Yet another pair of clean panties. Abigail frowned. She'd been wearing the pair she had on for less than twelve hours, and assuming the demon was the one who had put them on her somehow, she would have known that.
She pulled off the panties she was wearing and sniffed them.
"They don't smell THAT bad," she muttered...but she put the clean ones on anyway.
Low-rise black jeans she'd only worn once because they were too nice to wear for her daily life, i.e. sitting on the couch playing video games and wiping potato chip grease on them, and a white camisole top she'd forgotten about buying online when she once thought about actually going out to like...a club, or something. Had she been drunk that night?
Still she had to admit once she was dressed that the contrast worked nice with her hair.
