Sam woke early the next day. She normally took a certain amount of pride in the fact that her only possessions were a handful of boxes and a place to rest her body at night. Being able to uproot and leave, with almost no concerns about what she was leaving behind was valuable. Spending time with Jev and the others, though, had made the place feel empty. She noticed their absence.
Given that she hadn't fed from Jev at all yesterday, she noticed his absence. She could eat food, which helped sustain her to a degree. She wouldn't die if she didn't feed. But she would grow weaker and weaker until she finally went into a torpor-like sleep. This would usually be followed by death since a succubus would likely drain dry whoever was foolish enough to try to revive them at that point by instinct alone.
To an extent, she was reassured. She hadn't spent excessively long with Jev, but it was enough for her to be confident that he wouldn't let her get to that point. And if, somehow, he did, their bond would override her instinct, allowing him to feed her without risking harm. She reflected on her luck. No succubus wanted to become someone else's slave. And yet, though she'd lost her control over the bond, he'd taken such a loose grasp on the reins they practically weren't there. Certain concubuses treated the bond like marriage, something that they would give to someone special that they wanted to spend their lives with. Sam had never really understood it, couldn't believe that you could have that much faith in another person. And yet, even though it was wholly inadvertent, Jev had already proven that at least some people could be trusted.
And yet, Sam was frustrated. Thinking of Jev made warm feelings bubble up from deep inside her stomach (as well as other places). She couldn't deny that she loved the man. But was that just from their short time together? Or was it because of the bond? She played it cool because she had no way to know. She saw the same in Dione, who flitted around him like a schoolgirl with a crush. Sam did not doubt that she felt the same way, despite the short time they'd been together, but at least Dione could trust that her feelings were hers.
Did it matter? Sam wasn't sure. Certainly, it would be easier to just accept that she felt the way she felt. The bond was all but a matter of fact at this point. With years of therapy, they could live as if it weren't, but Jev had accepted her and for her part, she was happy to accept him. Would it be easier to just give in to loving him? Or would he be scared away?
She looked over at her phone. There were no messages. Given that she'd run away in a hurry it perhaps wasn't surprising. The others likely assumed she was elbow-deep in research or something. Strictly speaking, she supposed they wouldn't have been wrong. She'd been looking up options but had also reached out to a lawyer friend, another succubus, for advice. They were supposed to meet in Severna for breakfast.
Belphegera had helped Sam a few times when she'd skirted too close to what counted as "illegal" and was especially well-versed in corner cases, loopholes and exceptions to the law. She didn't typically deal with wills or real estate but had agreed to at least hear Sam's idea out to see if it would have any validity. It was the first time that she'd been around another succubus since bonding, and Sam was concerned about how she might react. Belle had always been something of a straight arrow, earning her "meals" the hard way at the nightclubs in the evening and rarely coming close to anything dubious. The last time they'd spoken, she'd even had a long-term boyfriend, so Sam hoped that if anyone would be understanding, Belle would. She sighed, sitting up on the mattress and using her phone to book a cab to take her to town.
Nearly an hour and a half later, Sam's taxi pulled up to "Kaylin's Coffee," a popular breakfast place which had been a regular haunt when she and Belle had gone to school together. She wore a navy pantsuit that she hoped would give her a professional look but ensured it displayed enough of her cleavage to hopefully not immediately suggest she'd changed. The restaurant was on the ground floor of a multi-level building and its frontage was just several glass panels which slid to one side, making the delineation between the inside and outside space blurry. The restaurant was moderately busy, but she found Belle waiting there with little difficulty, the only blue face in the crowd. Belle greeted her warmly as Sam approached.
"So, what trouble have you gotten yourself into this time?"
Sam gave a sarcastic laugh, taking a seat across from her friend at the table. The wind blew through the space, carrying the smell of coffees, teas, and fresh baked goods, which only further stoked her hunger.
"Trouble got delivered this time. I'm just trying to help a, uh, friend out."
Belle chuckled dryly.
"I didn't think you had any friends other than me. This must be a new development."
A waiter came by to take their order. Belle ordered a sweetly spiced rice porridge and a herbal tisane while Sam went with green papaya and avocado smash on coconut sourdough with an iced coffee.
"Gotta have someone I can tell all the juicy details to without worrying about annoying things like ethics getting in the way."
Belle looked over disapprovingly.
"Ethics are only a problem if you live your life trying to screw everyone else over. So what's the deal? What do you need my help with?"
Sam passed the bundle of papers over to Belle and explained the situation, about Jev's farm, BigBuy, and the rest. By the time she'd given a full accounting, their orders had been served. Sam cut into the poached egg served on top of her meal, sending liquid yolk cascading down the rest of it, while Belle reviewed the papers Sam provided.
"Ok, so I guess the question is: 'what are you hoping to get out of this?'"
Sam looked at Belle, confused.
"I already told you. I want my friend to inherit the farm."
She took a bite. Belle gave a small huff of frustration.
"Yeah, but
why
. What are you getting out of it?"
Sam's first inclination was to lie. Something about having a financial stake in the farm, or maybe some personal grievance against BigBuy which was not necessarily false but also not entirely true. But Belle's insistence that Sam would only help someone if it benefited her, stung. She knew she wasn't that person anymore. She wanted Belle to see it too.
"He's just a good guy. A decent guy. He doesn't deserve the shit BigBuy is trying to dump on him."
Belle's silver eyes scrutinized Sam's face as she mixed some honey into the porridge.
"Is everything ok? With you, I mean. You're not usually this, well,
this.
No flirting with the waiter. You haven't snuck off for a quickie in the bathroom... You feeling alright?"
Sam laughed without humour.
"I suppose it is noticeable."
She pushed a few errant chunks of avocado around on her plate with her fork. Belle waited patiently, hoping her friend would answer, given time.
"The guy I'm talking about, Jev. I tried to trap him in a bond, and he caught me instead."
Belle couldn't have looked more surprised if Sam had told her she'd moved to the moon and got a job sucking off spacemen. She leaned in close over the table and whisper-yelled.
