Simone sipped at her wine glass, trying not to twitch. Quieter. She hissed. As she gazed at her watch, Alpha and Omega, a clean rip off of some human brand she couldn’t remember the name of, especially when she was so focused on…she nearly yelped….her wine.
She heard a giggle from beneath the table cloth. Fucking bitch. She gasped and let out a moan. And tried rolling her hips. Bad idea. She let out a louder moan and clamped down on her assailant’s face, ignoring the disgusted looks surrounding her.
Whatever. They can eat a dick.
She let out an even louder moan as she looked out at the green canopy sea. I'm gonna miss the view after we're kicked out again.
One of her wives was looking extra smug, as they were led from the venue, and passed into Torpid district. Trees larger than buildings, coiled with vines that led up to various towers. The long path ahead littered with cobblestones, irritating for those in heels! Eremisa walked behind her, hands folded, white hood covering her face.
“That was a bit much don’t you think.” She growled. “All I wanted was a nice dinner.”
“Did it please you, my Lady.” So smug! Just once. Just once she wanted some peace with her lover… she waited until they were far from the Underkirlts, and descending into the slick, trying not to slip on the rainwet, and narrow steps.
“Did you like what I did with my tongue, my Lady?” she teased.
"It was lovely. Keep moving." As much as she wanted to grab hold of her lover's hand and properly scold her, she still couldn't even manage to do that! Her voice shook even as she surveyed her surroundings. Torchless lights, shallow corridors. Maybe, maybe soon, they would be fine. Still, Simone would not make eye contact, even as they stepped into the Shallows, where the district was clustered with shalestone buildings and cast in a violet light. Finally. She could breathe.
Eremisa grabbed her hand and pulled her into an alley. "Lovely? Really? Is that all you have to say?" Muscle rippled over Eremisa as she grew taller, hair lengthening, shoulders broadening, and one of her legs shining with iridium. Others might have called her a pretend succubus, or say she was lingering on the wrong moon.
Empusa, they would spat if they saw her true form. “Goddess, I wanted to do this to you all night.”
Eremisa pushed her against the wall and pressed her lips to hers’ hungrily.
“This is why we can’t have anything nice,” Simone groaned between gasps, her fingers tracing her wife’s abs as she was kissed passionately, her tongue taken into her lover's mouth. “All…I…wanted…was…a nice…dinner! Goddess, Eremisa! Yes! More of that!”
As the empusa dragged her claws across her back she shuddered. “I’m gonna make you feel really good now.”
Simone let out a sharp groan as she was flipped, her boobs pressed against the dripping adobe. Her tail thrashed back and forth as her wife teased her entrance.
“You’re so wet for me, doll, I’m going to fuck your pussy now.”
Simone wished it was true, but any hesitations were driven out of her even as her wife thrust into her.
“That’s crazy…you carry your strap…with you.”
“Always handy, my Lady.” Her wife giggled and she gasped out as she plunged forward and up. She almost screamed but a hand grasped her around her mouth. “I like how you take my cock so well. You’re so wet for me, aren’t you?”
Simone let out a cry, barely muffled, sucking on the finger that entered her mouth.
The first orgasm washed over her, her legs shaking as Eremisa fucked her from behind with total abandonment until she too joined her, pulsating inside of her. And then she began to vibrate.
“Oh, what the hells,” Simone whimpered. “Eremisa. I’m too sensitive for that!”
“My apologies, my Lady,” the empusa pulled out of her, leaving Eremisa yearning for her lover's strap. Why did she have to be so selfish. She pushed her hips back and couldn't help herself as a whimper escaped her. “Maybe I’ll save that for another time.”
Simone missed her fullness as she shook her hips.
And then clarity washed over her.
Eremisa. Cover yourself. What if…they see. But the words didn’t come.
Eremisa silenced her thoughts with a deep and passionate kiss, and even now her muscles, that Simone loved so much, receded, not fully, becoming more toned as she shifted into something smaller, and as she reached for her cloak, but Simone forgot herself for a moment, taking Eremisa’s cloak even as wind spirits began to dance amongst the leaves, dripping down into their last dive.
Dew crested amongst the cloak even as Simone handled it back from her face.
“My Lady. Even we have to get home.”
Simone pressed her lips to her lover’s forehead. “I want to see you just a little longer. Please.”
The empusa grinned. “If that’s what you’d like my Lady.”
I yearn to have what my sister has. Someday I will take you to the human realm. When the Miasma is released. Instead, she muttered. “This place isn’t right for us.”
Eremisa sighed. “The Aydian Boc name is a heavy calling, my Lady.”
Please just talk to me, Eremisa, but she knew that would be no use. “You don’t have to be so formal, or would you like a reminder that I am powerless in your arms and beneath your feet, and beneath your legs.”
The empusa grinned, and for a first time in a long time the smile was in her eyes. “Would you like to go out for another try. And maybe even get kicked out again.”
“On one condition. No sex. And you have to bring me flowers. A normal engagement don’t you think?”
The empusa chewed on her lip. “But you’re so delectable. Perhaps I can make an exception for…ugh Goddess, of course I’d love that. Flowers of course are non-negotiable for my Simone.”
There she was.
“Second, condition. I get to pick the venue.”
“Nothing classy.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
***
The trainyard was quiet. All lines ceased after the last vine relinquished its grip from the ground. No more lost spirits to shepherd. She sat above one of the vacant trains, legs trailing off the edge, sitting next to Eremisa, a cheap bottle of vodka lemonade between them, stolen from the human realm, and a tsuna flower in her hair.
They were far from the Narrows, and even further away from the Shallows fair to escape the nightlife and the sovereign solitude, fully off radar.
“I can’t believe you went down on me in the restaurant.”
“That’s what we’re talking about now? You asked for it.”
“I was joking.”
“And yet your eyes were begging for it.” Eremisa winked.
“You’re so gross.”
“I’m so right, aren’t I?”
“Mmm…maybe.”
“You look lost in thought tonight?”
“I’m always lost in thought, Eremisa. I hate that you’re never…never’s not the right word, but it’s not the same. Goddess we should go to the human realm.”
“Were you talking to old nose?”
“Eremisa! Shapemaster is the proper title.”
“Oh, who cares about proper? I bleed proper.”
“I know you do, love.” Simone tried to capture her lover’s hand in hers but Eremisa’s hand had already shifted away.
“And don’t think I haven’t noticed your hand.”
“What about it?”
“It’s…off. You injured yourself.” Eremisa took her hand in her own gently. “It’s almost as if you,” her eyes widened. “Simone! This is a full prosthetic! How did you? Why didn’t you?”
“We barely have the time to talk.”
Eremisa’s brow furrowed. “That’s not enough! I deserve to know these things. How did it happen?” her voice softened.
“I cut if off.”
“You what?”
“Don’t scream.”
“I…it’s a long story.”
“Did you make another pact with a royal family?”
Overhead drear moths flooded the sky, some drawn to the sugar. Eremisa didn’t matter the glowmoths as much. She let them salt her glass.
“I attacked my sister?”
“You what?”
“Now you sound like old nose?”
Eremisa stuck out her tongue, finally shooing the moth away from getting too much lemonade. “I thought his name was shapemaster,” she mimicked in Simone’s own voice.
Simone grimaced. “Please don’t use my voice. I need to train more.”
“Your voice is perfect, raspy, sultry, seductive.”
“I mean it.”
“I—okay, Simone. I didn’t mean it. If you ever want to practice, I’m sure I could hear all versions of you not speaking to me when I’m wrapped up. Or maybe I could make you moan in different resonances.”
“You’re a nerd.” Simone laughed.
“Now it's as if you’re just dating your sister. From what you've told me you seem to be drawn to it."
"And you're making it weird."
"Hmm. Always," and she sipped her drink silently. "So what possessed you to attack her?”
“I…she was getting too close to drawing the committees attention. I thought since they wouldn’t be able to get to her, they would come for me, and come for you. I wanted to scare her off, but I couldn’t. Not fully. I’m a bad sister, Eremisa.”
“Cant be much worse than the others.”
“You always have a way with words.”
“I’m kidding. Simone, you are far more caring than you let on. If you didn’t wear your emotions on your sleeves, I would say you were a perfect candidate for…”
“Don’t you dare.”
Eremisa sighed.
“I’m careful. I’m just saying maybe if you had a bit of a poker face you would be able to take the Aydin Boc name.”
“I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. Besides they would want their son to take it. And I don’t want it.”
“Would make a world of difference.”
Eremisa took a deep swig of her drink, and Simone curled into her. “I wouldn’t risk you for a day as an heir to that pitiful name.”
“I just think you could do good things with it. I know you would be able to do good things because you’re poker face is terrible. They’d never suspect it.”
Simone laughed into her chest. “You’re such an asshole.”
“What? Tell me I’m not right?” the empusa nipped at her neck. “And because you would have me to keep you in check.”
“Is that all?”
“Nope, I think that’s pretty much it.”
“Typical.”
“That and you have too good of a heart to be corrupted by all that power.”
Simone crinkled up her nose. “Really?”
“Somewhat. But we both know that’s bullshit.”
“Utterly.” Simone drank, catching the salt off one of the moths, and as it hovered upwards its glow hovered in her wife’s eyes.
“What did old nose say?”
“Mentioned Lila.”
Eremisa nodded, sitting up, draping her leg over hers.
“Yeah. The miasma.”
“Could affect Selene, and Nyssa.”
“She’s already made up her mind.”
“And something says so have you.”
“That’s when we’ll escape.” Her fingers curled into Eremisa’s.
But Eremisa wrapped her in her cloak until she could hear her heartbeat. “And give up on the hells? We have a life here.” They both laughed at that. “But seriously… Lila. I could never leave her behind.”
“Her husband will protect her. He favors her.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of. His other wives. They'll catch on.”
“And you’re not afraid of your other wives?”
Simone shivered. “Everyday. Especially when you’re near.”
“Seems like I have some competition.”
“Never,” Simone whispered. “Promise you’ll come with me.”
“Let me…think on it.” The empusa swirled a finger around her glass, causing all of the moths except for one to depart until she could no longer see her wife’s eyes.
Her body was warm even as they were locked in the complete lightless echo that only the night could witness. But Simone already knew that her answer was no. She had too much to lose.
“Then at least let me show you what’s up there?”
“I never said no, Simone.”
“I want you to meet my sister.”
“Selene? The famed disowned Aydin Boc sister. What did she do that was so terrible?”
“She was braver than I ever could be. I admire her for that. And I always will. There's more to it of course.”
"Always is." Eremisa lazily tilted her head back looking up at her. “Sounds like her big sis is looking out for her.”
“Not if I'm here.”
“Perhaps you’re too hard on yourself.” The empusa mused. “We need to reach Lila.”
That moon is too far out of reach. Her husband’s is in higher standing than my parents. We would never be able to reach Lila, she thought.
She leaned into the silence, listening to her wife’s heart beat echo against her. “We need to meet with Selene. This arm is a promise of that.”
“Now who’s the nerd?” The empusa rolled her eyes.
“I’m serious. Our luck has run out here. There’s nothing left for us in the hells.”
“Surely old nose must have some allies.”
“I pressed him on it,” she admitted. “He wouldn’t say anything.”
“Figures. Unless. I know I keep going back to Lila but she could be our leverage. Your parent’s gala Evolence. Is coming up soon. Your sister is bound to be there”
“They’d recognize me immediately.”
“You’re not disowned.”
“I…can’t…”
“I…understand.” She sounded so disappointed. But Simone could not go back there. Not after all of it. It stung in her chest. She felt so weak, so stupid. Pressure at her chest.
“Hey, hey, Simone. I’m here. I’m sorry I even brought it up.”
“No…I’ll attend the gala.”
“Not a chance. I won’t make you go at it alone. Forget I even mentioned it. I can go. Afterall I can be very convincing.” The Empusa shifted back and forth.
“Not a chance, they know everything about you, Eremisa. I’m not going to risk it.”
“You don’t get to decide that for me.”
“It’s not that I don’t think you’re capable, Eremisa. Really, I know you are. But my parents they keep track of everything. Even Selene.”
“That’s a bit much.”
“How do you think the committee knows so much?”
Again, they fell into silence, neither having an answer even as the last moth left them in total darkness.
***
When Eremisa was fully asleep, Simone pulled a blanket over her, loosening the Empusa’s hold on her. She slipped out, and crawled the vine above, nestling herself into the canopy until she was shielded from sight. Tucking in her legs, she crawled into the hollow high above, and waited.
A chill broke out as a wiry man, or what looked like a human crept in. His horns were nearly hidden. His hair a dark purple, tinged with red, somewhat cut short, still past his shoulders. Lila’s husband, her childhood friend. Vastyia Armeca. To the rest of the hells Armeca. The one relationship she had concealed from everyone, even from the one she loved most. He crept in and embraced her.
“Before you ask, Lila misses you.” His words were wiry, somewhat droll as they rasped from his lips, voice slightly lower yet held with mellow timber.
His eyes were dangerous even from here, but even from here he sat relaxed. His eyes aged, red rimmed, sallow sometimes.
“I need entry into my parent’s gala.”
“That seems like a dangerous proposal.”
“I would anticipate it,” she said, finding her words. “But I don’t want to expect me being there.”
“All this to see your sister?”
“My goal is to steal the gourmet.”
“Oh?”
“And then Lila can do what she wishes.”
“You mean to abandon the hells?”
“I’ve thought about it for a long time.”
“And Eremisa?”
“She’s on board.”
“Good, she will need to be. Now let’s hear your plan.”