Disclaimer: Slightly depressing themes of abandonment.
“Sam? How is this possible?” Amelia had a million questions but they were drowned out by a sharp throbbing behind her eyes. Sam stepped forward, turning off the stove, before kneeling.
“Low-grade concussion, possibly ocular,” Sam said, their own tail lashing. Amelia wasn’t sure how but Sam was at her side. Their hair cut short, their beautiful green eyes looking everywhere but at her. “Easy, demon. You need to relax your grip. You know I won’t hurt her. Easy there, demon. Your tail!”
Sam moved around Selene's tail like trying to dodge a cat toy.
“Selene, my name is Selene!”
“Selene,” Sam said softly. “I’m trying to help her." Amelia found it was so hard to focus and then felt a small pressure on her temple as she smelled burnt bacon and then the pain began to fade altogether.
“There,” Sam said and then slumped forward unmoving.
Amelia adjusted the pillow under Sam’s head, before raising the blanket to cover the enby. Their tail slipped out of the blanket, flicking up and down. “It looks like a cow’s. How cute,” Amelia murmured. Cute should have been the furthest thing from her mind, and yet she needed it right now. Cute rooted her. Made this craziness less crazy.
“We should run.” Selene’s voice seemed tinged with worry, but she was munching on the burnt bacon. “It’s still good. You want a bite?”
Amelia sat down reaching for the bacon, ignoring the fact that her door was on the ground. “We dated,” she said, the bacon semi-sweet but mostly tasteless, “for two years. It wasn’t long but it seemed longer. It didn’t work out.” There was more to story of course but she still wasn’t ready to talk about it. Selene rested a hand on her own, her nails sharp, her touch gentle. Not teasing. She didn’t pry. Adjusted her glasses, parted her hair.
“I just don’t know why they left.”
“I’m not going to out them, but I suspect we should leave, Amelia.” Her hands intertwined with hers.
Amelia pulled away, noticing a wrinkle in the succubus’s brow? “Do you know something? Please.”
“They’ve been following me,” Selene said. “For a while now. I suspect they don’t like that I’m not abiding by my sister’s standards.”
“But they’re like you.”
“Not entirely,” Selene said munching on a piece of bacon. “Like I said, I refuse to out them. That part is a private matter.”
“Even if they left me! Faded away like it didn’t matter.” Amelia laughed bitterly. “Maybe that’s why I don’t talk about my relationship because it came and went and even thinking about it is too hard.”
A loud groan came from the couch, feminine. Didn’t sound like her Sam. She bottled that up too. But she couldn’t leave Sam. Not now. It just wasn’t for answers. Sam had, whatever she had done, had healed her. Without thinking, she placed a hand on Selene’s shoulder, grabbed a crappy cup, a winking Santa with a faded blue eye that she and Sam had thrifted from Buffalo Exchange in the middle of summer, and filled it with tap water. She began heating it up while rummaging through the back to fetch a small packet of Earl Grey, Sam’s least favorite and grabbed a bottle of Andrew’s honey, pouring it into the cup, mixing it and handing it to Selene who looked at it with trepidation.
She tilted the succubus’s head back slightly and kissed her hard until that dazed look came back into her eyes. “Whuh. I thought you could use a cup. It’ll ease your throat considering you were screaming my name earlier.”
“That’s not—important right now. What if they’re connected to my sisters or worse!”
She grabbed Selene’s hand.
“I won’t let anything happen to you. You’re very precious to me. Stay here right now, and be a good girl for me, okay?” she whispered in Selene’s ear before licking her neck, nipping at her ear, blowing in her ear. “I’ll take care of everything since you’re doing so good for me.”
“You can’t use my kink against me, Amelia.” Selene whined but she sniffed at the cup. “I’m a succubus. Don’t you know we can separate kink from urgency!” Her face flushed, lips trembling.
“Urgency,” Amelia said, pretending to be uninterested as her fingers trailed across Selene’s. “But my girl works so hard everyday, never acknowledged for how much of a treasure she is. How much of a good girl she is. How much she needs a little break.”
Selene buried her face in the cup, drinking greedily, deeply before slamming the cup down and grabbing Amelia’s arm. Words might have failed her but she grasped at her like a drowning girl trying to gasp for air. “There…break…over….”
“Is that right? Then doesn’t my sexy, gorgeous girl deserve a reward. Do you remember when you had me in my mouth, down there and looking pretty? We should do that again tonight.”
Selene whimpered and buried her face in the mug, mumbling to herself.
“I think I broke your brain.” Her fingers kneaded Selene’s shoulders.
“Mmmmhmmm.”
“Cute.”
Another cough came from the couch.
Amelia pretended not to notice as she hugged the succubus tightly and brought over a cup of water to the enby she hardly recognized.
“Useless lesbians.”
Is that all you have to say to me? But she didn’t press, even if she wanted to, holding out the cup.
“Cute tail. Are you a minotaur or something.” She hated how done she sounded, so tired.
“Skogsra, actually. Usually skogsra are women, but I don’t fit that mold. We’re supposed to lure men away or something but as you can see I’m not into men.”
“Neat. Why are you here? Why are you stalking, Selene?” Why did you leave? Even that question was too precious to ask.
“Amelia, I know you must have a lot of questions, I had to make sure you were safe. I mean, dating a succubus…”
“Who I date is none of your concern.”
“We’re dating,” Selene mumbled from the kitchen. “We’re dating.”
“Enjoy your bacon, lovely.” she did not mean for it to sound as harsh, but Selene mumbled something ineligible and Amelia heard her pushing the plate from side to side.
“She is a succubus, Amelia, and you barely know her! She’s sleeping with other people, she could bring demons into your life! Her sisters—do you even know who her sisters are? What they could do? Are you sure this is what you want?”
Now she wished she had some tea for herself. “Honestly, I don’t have those answers. I really don’t. But the last few days have been incredible and—”
“It’s just sex—”
“How would you know! Besides, you don’t get to act like I suddenly matter! Okay. You just left without a word, and that mattered, Sam. If you didn’t want to date me, fell out of love, fine, yes that’s heartbreaking, no it sucks, but even as a friend you just faded out! Do you realize what that means?”
“I had to.”
"You had to? Or you wanted to." Amelia sighed. "I didn’t even care that you couldn’t share this part of your life with me. Even that would have been lovely to know, whoever you are, but the way you left. It was just like you vanished, Sam, or do you still go by that name?”
“That’s not fair, Amelia.”
“None of it is.”
They both heard a subtle crunch as Selene had somehow snuck up behind them. The skogsra flinched until Selene passed them the plate of burnt bacon.
Sam after a moment of hesitation, took a piece, eyeing it carefully, and then sighed. “I ruined your date,” Sam said. “I’m so sorry.”
“How did you know about the bacon?” Selene asked.
“I…um…I’ve seen you do the same with others you’ve liked.”
“You’ve been watching me for a while,” Selene said but she didn’t sound upset. “And you’re somewhat far from the northern forests.”
The enby sighed. “It was too cold up there—okay that’s total skit. Sort of. It was lonely, and there was only so much I could do for the land I was supposed to protect. I tried. I really did.”
But when things got tough you ran.
Selene reached out and touched the enby’s shoulder. “You did the best you could. You can’t blame yourself for trying to find your place again. Find your footing. And it can be tough when all that you’re remembered by are silly myths. But they don’t define you. They just can’t.”
“I—um…thank you for that. That means a lot. More than you know,” and the enby exhaled as if they had been letting go of something that had been on their mind for a while. “I guess I still haven’t figured it out. What I left behind,” and Amelia hated how Sam glanced at her like that.
“So do you have antlers too?” Selene asked.
“Sometimes,” and for the first time in a long time Amelia saw that subtle grin of Sam’s. Something she had missed out on. Had she caused that too? Had she caused that to go away, made her retreat.
“But not a back made of bark?”
“Not rotted either. You got it.”
Amelia did not want to be here, did not want to forgive Sam so easily. She was not ready for that. She wasn’t sure she ever would be able to, even if she did get all the answers. She shouldn’t be mad. Two years wasn’t that long. And yet Amelia always jumped in so easily. The same with Selene. And the fact that Selene had nearly done the same with others, wooed them, the same damn bacon thing, it made her pause. Maybe Selene was noncommittal. Of course she was; she was a succubus. Did she really want this? But she would be wrong not to mention the obvious.
“Thanks for saving me, for whatever you did. Healed me.”
“Well I caused it. Too much damage. Your poor door.”
Yeah, the door.
“It’ll be an easy fix,” Selene chimed in.
“Maybe,” Amelia said, her voice caught in her throat. Maybe.
“You’re not upset about them stalking you like that?” Amelia asked the succubus as she kicked her legs up on the edge of the bed. Sam had long since left the apartment, had fixed the door too. Sam had always been handy.
“Not really, sometimes snacks get attached.
Right, attached? Then it hit her.
“You never slept with them, right?”
“No, but it’s different. You’re not just a snack, Amelia. You mean a lot to me.”
Just a snack.
Could she trust Selene? That glint in her eyes spelled out her intentions, but still was it only just sex and could she tolerate sharing? It had never bothered her before. Maybe. It was something to work through. What’s your longest relationship been like? She wanted to ask, but she couldn’t find the words.
The succubus patted the bed, drawing Amelia into her arms, stroking her hair, kissing her cheek.
“Could we not have sex tonight. I don’t think I can handle it right now,” she hated that tears pressed in the corner of her eyes.
“Of course, my darling,” the succubus said, holding her tight, pulling her down, encompassing her and making her feel secure. And in the stillness of the room, and the midst of the setting sun, there was a flickering warmth that didn’t seem intent on being snuffed out just yet.