“Lascivia… You survived,” Nex said.
The pink-haired girl was darting around Nex like an annoying fly. Nex, in turn, was doing her best to avoid eye contact.
“I go by Sylvia now. And why do you sound disappointed?” Sylvia asked, zipping around to get Nex to look at her, without success.
“Because I am.”
“So mean. But look at you, all grown up now,” Sylvia said, patting Nex’s shoulders.
Nex was slightly taken aback by the assessment. “Really?”
“No.” Sylvia chuckled. “And why are you dressed like that? Is that a kink thing? Is one of them into it?” she asked, pointing toward Laura and Liliene with her chin.
It brought no small amount of frustration to Liliene that she couldn’t deny it.
“Why are you here?” Nex asked, tired of the few seconds of interaction already.
“Why? Can’t I say ‘hi’ to my cute granddaughter?”
“Eh? You’re Nex’s…” Liliene trailed off, unable to reconcile the youthful energy of Sylvia with Nex’s quiet personality. And… Grand. Mother wasn’t enough, it had to be grand. “How old are you?”
Sylvia didn’t answer. Her head tilted to an almost unnatural angle as she studied Liliene.
She came close, too close, and sniffed Liliene. Only now did Liliene notice the horns on Sylvia’s head, and the thin tail whose flat, spade-shaped tip brushed the ground.
“Oh?”
She sniffed her again. Liliene tensed and recoiled, her eyes pleading with Nex for help. Sylvia’s Cheshire grin widened.
“Hm, hm?” She finally pulled back. “Is that baby Liliene I see? The last time I saw you, you were, like, this small.”
She used two fingers to illustrate her point. Liliene was sure she had never been that small.
“And you’ve become so pretty. I’m so happy!” She wrapped her arms around Liliene’s neck in a hug far too personal.
“You knew me?”
“Of course I did. I even carried you a few times. I still remember how you constantly pulled on my hair. It hurt, you know?”
“I’m sorry…” Not that Liliene remembered it. “But… Why aren’t they attacking you?” Liliene whispered, looking back at the men behind them in the distance, then back at Sylvia’s unnatural features.
“Don’t worry. Humans can’t see it. Unless I want them to.”
Sylvia’s attention turned to Laura next. “Do you see anything, dear?”
Laura tensed and shook her head mechanically, as if in a trance. She took a step behind Liliene.
“Dear, you look so fragile.” She glanced toward Liliene. “That's your type?”
Driven by an instinct she couldn’t understand, Liliene stepped between Sylvia and Laura.
“My, so territorial. You’re the spitting image of your mother, you know? No wonder my cute Nex got her panties in a twist—”
Nex gritted her teeth, and her eyes narrowed. She gripped the hilt of her sword, drew, and struck, finally making eye contact with the pink-haired nuisance. Baited. She had been baited. The wide, pink eyes seemed to glow. Nex only had time to see her smirk before her blade cut nothing but air. The girl was already a few paces away.
Nex groaned, holding her head with one hand, her face creased in pain.
Fuck. She got into my head.
“Short-tempered as ever, I see.” Sylvia twirled a lock of her long hair between her fingers. She clicked her tongue a few times as if tasting the gathered memories. Her hands raised in mock surrender. “Did I hit too close to home?”
From Liliene’s point of view, Nex had drawn her sword, waited, then struck. Maybe she didn’t really want to hurt her? She had never seen Nex hesitate before. And what did she mean by ‘panties in a twist’?
“Don’t make eye contact,” Nex hissed.
As for Liliene, it was a command as smart as asking her not to think about Laura’s neck.
Liliene frowned, then looked Sylvia directly in the eyes. They were certainly pretty. Pink was such a peculiar eye color. Plus, hers seemed sort of shiny.
Sylvia held Liliene’s gaze and shrugged. “Eh. Never worked on Theresa either.” This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
“Well, I’m busy. You should come for tea. I could tell you lots of stories about your cute maid.” Her tone grew lower, conspiratorial. “How she drilled until sundown every day. How she followed Theresa like a lost puppy.”
Liliene looked between Sylvia and Nex. The latter was gripping her sword, probably a word away from trying to cut Sylvia again. But she couldn’t deny that she was curious to learn more about young Nex.
Laura, who was starting to feel weirdly excluded, politely stepped up, holding the side of her skirt.
“Nice to meet you, I’m—”
“Hush, pet.”
And hush she did, whether she wanted to or not.
Liliene noticed something was wrong when Laura froze, her whole body shaking weakly.
“Laura?” Nothing. “Laura!” Liliene rushed and held onto her girlfriend’s body to support her. “What did you do?” she asked, shooting Sylvia a murderous glare.
“Oh. You like that one? Sorry.”
Laura’s body sagged as if suddenly remembering it had weight.
“But really, come for tea. I’ll be delighted to spend time with family. You can even bring… her.” She gestured vaguely at Laura. “The inn downtown, right? I’ll send you an invitation.”
Sylvia pinched the sides of her white dress and gave them the most refined curtsy Liliene had ever had the displeasure of witnessing. She turned and walked away, leaving the trio staring after her.
There was only silence as they watched the girl retreat, no one daring to talk until she disappeared behind the vegetation.
“Who… was that?” Laura asked, still catching her breath.
“Lascivia. My grandmother,” Nex answered plainly.
“Your real grandmother?” Liliene asked, still trying to find any manner of resemblance between the two.
“Yes.”
“Are you okay, Laura?” Liliene turned her attention back to her girlfriend. “Can you stand?”
“Yes. I’m fine, Lili.” While Laura could stand, leaning against her girlfriend wasn’t the worst experience, so she did just that. “Thank you… for protecting me.”
She meant it, of course. Yet part of her heart drowned in guilt and shame at needing constant protection. If only she were strong enough to defend herself, at least. If not for Lili and Nex, she’d be just like Marc by now, carrying bags for an experienced group.
“I barely did anything.” Liliene shook her head. “What did she do?”
“Lascivia is a powerful mental caster. Her words are rarely polite suggestions.”
“Is she…” Liliene trailed. She hardly acted like an ally. But she was Nex’s family; she couldn’t be an enemy, right? “Is she on our side?”
“Lascivia has only one ally, Lili. Amusement. She’d work against herself if she were certain the end result would be entertaining.”
In a weird, abstract way, Liliene could almost relate. Almost.
“Let’s go. We should hurry if we want to reach Rocamadour before they close the gate.”
Liliene had a torrent of questions she still needed to ask Nex, but most would have to wait, for she had no idea how to wrap her head around them. Sylvia must have been joking, or just poking at Nex’s dignity. She turned to look at her big sister’s profile as they walked. Nothing on Nex’s face betrayed anything.
“Nex?”
“My lady?” Nex answered, keeping her gaze straight ahead.
Look at me, Nex. Smile at me like usual. Why are you…
But Nex only walked a little faster and never looked at her.
***
Back at their inn, Nex didn’t waste a second. As soon as Laura and Liliene were inside the room, she turned back.
“I may be gone for longer than usual. There’s something I need to check.”
The end result didn’t change anyway. The goal just shifted from giving the two girls some privacy to gathering information about Sylvia. Demons living nearby would leave traces. Clues. She’d uncover them. With some luck, Nex would even kill her tonight, before she could do more damage.
Liliene jumped on Nex before she could leave, hugging her tightly. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
“Be careful, alright?”
She had never stopped Nex or worried about her before. Her faith was absolute. It still was, only muddied by a small phrase Sylvia had uttered, echoing over and over in Liliene’s mind. Nex’s panties. No. Not exactly that. In a twist because of Liliene. Why?
“I think… can we talk? When you come back? Wake me up if you have to.”
“I… Alright.”
“Promise?”
“Yes, Princess, I promise.”
Nex left without meeting Laura’s gaze.
Liliene turned and gave Laura an embarrassed smile.
“You know it’s not like that, right? Nex doesn’t really…” She gestured vaguely, unable to voice the exact words.
Laura had slipped out of her dress as soon as she got inside the room. Too suffocating. She sat on the bed, her hair loosened, wearing a simple linen chemise.
“Lili… That’s not even the problem.”
It wasn’t a problem?
“She knows us. We could… we could be exposed any day now.”
Liliene joined her lover on the bed and wrapped an arm around Laura’s waist. Admittedly, she wasn’t a great judge of character, but Sylvia didn’t look the type to just turn them in. Where would be the fun in that?
“I don’t think she will.”
Something about Liliene’s confidence eased part of Laura’s anxiety. She leaned closer to Liliene until she was nestled comfortably against her.
“Are you hungry?”
Liliene had lost a lot of blood. And truthfully, she would have devoured Laura on the spot after the second fight. Sylvia’s encounter had ruined her mood, though.
“No… It’s okay.”
Laura pulled back and put both of her palms flat against Liliene’s cheeks. It made Liliene look sort of like a fish.
“You lost so much blood. You’re paler than usual, I can tell,” Laura said, resting her forehead against Liliene’s shoulder again. With a weak, timid voice, she added, “Besides. I want to forget having met her. If only for a few minutes.”
Laura gathered her hair to expose the side of her neck and tilted her head.
“Please, Lili.”
Liliene only had so much willpower. She wrapped her arms around Laura first, to pull her body as close as possible against her. She didn’t bite immediately. There was something intoxicating about Laura’s scent after a day of moving. She licked. She kissed. She lifted her chin higher to bury her face in her lover’s neck.
“Mm. Don’t… don’t tease me.”
A smug smile bloomed on Liliene’s face. She trailed kisses back to her destination and sank her fangs into Laura’s flesh.
Less sugary than usual, thicker. Was it what stress tasted like? Could she even taste that? The answer didn’t really matter, but the thought process did. She quickly learned that keeping herself busy with stupid thoughts was a good enough way of maintaining control.
Her instincts grew sharper with every feed. She had those urges to do things, and today was no different.
But the train of thought got interrupted. For a moment, her mouth was too full, a droplet escaping from the corner of her mouth, trailing down toward Laura’s collarbone. She paused and followed its trail back upward with her tongue.
Liliene wanted more. To own Laura. To push something inside her. Her blood. She wanted Laura to carry a part of her. A mark.
“Laura…” Liliene breathed.
She pulled back, fighting the instinct inside her, for she had no idea about its consequences. She voiced it anyway.
“I want to do more than just… drink.”
Laura chewed on her lower lip, devastatingly cute, and blushed. She let herself fall back, her loose hair fanning around the mattress. Her eyes darted around for a moment before settling timidly on Liliene. She nodded and loosened the laces at the front of her chemise.
“I also want to do more…”
For a brief moment, Liliene thought there was some sort of miscommunication going on. She quickly decided that she wasn’t in any hurry to correct it.