A Halloween Tail

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Chapter One

If I survive tonight, giving in to Julia would be the second-most reckless thing I did.

“Just say you’ll come.”

I internalised my sigh. “You know I hate Halloween.”

“Then come for the party!”

“You know what I hate more than Halloween?”

“Parties?” Julia’s laugh came through clearly, and I could perfectly picture her expression.

“Bingo, girlfriend.”

“Then come for me. Please?”

Dammit. That was playing dirty. This time I didn’t try to hide my sigh.

“That sounded like a ‘yes’, Abbs!” Julia’s excitement sounded so genuine, even across the phone line, that I could only shake my head in rueful capitulation.

“Fine. But you owe me for this.”

“Yay! And I promise you it’ll be worth it! I’ll save you a cute guy in a sexy vampire costume!”

“That’s an oxymoron.”

“Hah! Don’t be like that. See you by ten, then?”

I looked around my small flat at the preparations I’d already made. “Er… I’ll probably be a bit later than that. Something I need to… take care of first.”

“Just so long as you get here, ya hear?”

“Okay, okay. I’ll be there.” So I was a pushover. What was new?

“Awesome, babe. Loads to do! See you later then!” The line went dead.

I sighed again, tossing my phone onto the sofa. I glanced at the clock – just after nine.

Time enough.

I knelt carefully inside the pentacle I’d painstakingly painted over the cheap, thin carpet of my living room. My copy of the Daemonia Revelata was already open to the correct page, propped against a bookstand that rested on the floor nearby. I picked up the long taper I’d been using before Julia called and relit it from one of the candles that was already burning.

It took several moments to light the rest of the candles. Sixty-one in total – hundreds of pounds’ worth – a reasonable chunk of my meagre disposable income. Five at each point of the pentacle. Eight large ones in the centre, at the points of the compass, then reducing in size but increasing in number for each subsequent circle. Evenly spaced, and precariously balanced on the carpet – that had taken a while. Who knew candles were as irritating as dominos?

Nothing screamed ‘fire hazard’ like enough candles to illuminate my small flat, naked flames in three concentric circles, the light reflecting off my bare skin. The landlord would have apoplexy, not least because earlier that afternoon I’d sabotaged his smoke alarm.

I took a steadying breath, letting it slip out slowly. It was now or never. The culmination of months of effort. Years, if you counted how long I’d been searching for a copy of the book. Ever since an obscure reference briefly glimpsed… that fateful day, seven years previously, when I was an eager straight-A student rewarded with a behind-the-scenes insight into the treasures of the British Museum. Those fleeting moments spent gazing at a page from a manuscript hundreds of years old. The Daemonia Revelata.

Three years tracking down the book, four months researching in Ireland, and another eight studying Gaelic and Latin. I’d exhausted the bank of Dad, sold my car, and got a loan.

And tonight was the night that it would all come together. Soul’s night. Samhain. Lemuria. All Hallow’s Eve. Halloween. The night where the barrier to the dead and the supernatural was at its weakest. When kids got sticky, adults got drunk – and everyone agreed bobbing for apples was a bad idea.

Technically, it didn’t have to be tonight, but the book had made it clear that it would be easier. More potent.

If this was to work, I knew I’d need every edge I could get.

I ran my eyes over the page again, even though I didn’t need to. I was now so familiar with the Latin that I could read it at a glance. Oh, I wasn’t proficient enough to translate Saint Augustine’s ‘Confessions’ or enjoy Virgil’s ‘The Aeneid’ in the original text, but the Daemonia Revelata? I knew it by heart.

The first half was warnings, of course: we really don’t recommend you take this stuff lightly, because apparently, some demons are bad. Soul-sucking, malice-intending, chaos-bringing malevolent beings intent on destruction and out to really screw you over.

That was okay. I didn’t intend to go anywhere near that stuff.

Most of the rest of the book focused on banishing demons. This had been the priority for the authors – originally, Irish Druids intent on controlling the Tuatha De Danann. But as the book evolved over the centuries with Roman and Christian influences, the remit grew even as the objectives remained the same. Everyone had demons.

I’d memorised the banishment spell as a precaution, and it was… well, easy. They’d mastered it over the centuries, it seemed. It was good to have that up my sleeve, assuming it worked. I hoped I’d never need to find out. The pentacle was designed to protect me, anyway. According to the book, it should also keep the demon in the vicinity, tethering it here. I certainly didn’t want it wandering off.

As far as I could determine, Mephistopheles and Belial weren’t specific, named entities, but different shades of grey – though it might be more accurate to say different shades of black. The book didn’t care to give them names; that came later with crossover influences from religion, biblical stories, and then modern pop culture. Instead, according to the book, demonology was organised by sin: Anger, Hate, Wrath, and so on. The list of sins was very extensive. Apparently, there was a Demon of Gossip.

And this is where it got really interesting, for the techniques to defend the world against the forces of evil could also be used to summon them. Allegedly. And bind them. Allegedly.

I was about to find out just how true that was.

Don’t get me wrong: I wasn’t interested in destroying the world; I just wanted to change it a bit. Not all of it, just the bit immediately in my sphere. Like my bank balance, for example. Perhaps some minor cosmetic tweaks... like never having to shave again, ever. A little bit of anti-ageing, so I’d retain my youthful looks a while longer.

Nothing that really mattered.

The last few pages of the book talked about the powers demons had, their influence over man. Their ability to persuade, beguile and charm. Even the most minor of demons held enough sway to influence the minds of mortals. A suggestion here, an enticement there. Not enough to reduce a victim to a gibbering vegetable, but more than enough to make them… receptive.

It was all too easy to see how that could be used.

I reached out, brushing my fingertips over the page before me. The very same page that I had first seen, briefly, seven years ago in the British museum.

Et potestates colligere possunt. And the powers can be harnessed.

Powerful words on an impressionable mind.

It was a happy coincidence that my 18-year-old self had attended a school with a motto almost identical: Veritas, Virtus, et Potestates Colligere Possunt. Truth and virtue can be harnessed. Presumably, the school meant ‘through education’, but what was a little shortcut here and there?

Of course, I’d recognised the words immediately.

Harnessing powers. Demon powers. It was enough to make anyone sit up and take notice.

Since then, my research had been extensive, consuming all my spare time and resources, but my knowledge of the book was now complete.

What had been of particular interest was the import the book gave to the various sins – and the relative powers of the demons. The greater the sin, the greater the demon; obvious enough. I’d wanted something I could control easily. After all, releasing a Wrath Demon in the middle of London sounded like a step too far – even if many of the people living here had earned that karma.

No, the major sins were most definitely out. But the book carefully ordered a full list of sins by the potency of the associated demon. There were 412 sins, and I knew the list by heart. Some held no appeal, such as Pride – very middle-of-the-road, but not obviously of use. Theft – more direct than I needed – there were other ways of getting what I wanted. Idolatry – very minor, as if even the demons didn’t really care. Perjury – which hardly registered in the power levels. Or Apostasy. Apparently, abandoning one’s religion was hardly a crime as far as demons were concerned.

Even Lying was towards the bottom. 398 of 412. That made me feel a lot better about many of my life choices.

Some were amusingly low down. Sloth, for example, was almost at the bottom at 404. I was pretty sure I could control a Sloth Demon, but what would be the point? I could just picture that conversation:

“Make me wealthy, foul demon!”

“Yeah sure, whatever. No rush, right?”

But Lust. Lust was a different matter altogether. Still incredibly far down the pecking order, relatively speaking – clearly, demons considered the expression of sexual urges to be barely a sin at all. Yet I knew what the demons, it seemed, did not: the world was now controlled by Lust. Lust for things, lust for power, and, of course, lust in its purest form: sex.

With a Lust Demon in my power, the world would be open to me in ways I could only dream. Men and women would fall at my feet to give me what I wanted.

Obviously, I wouldn’t go that far.

But… it was appealing, nevertheless.

So it was that I was naked, on the night of Samhain or All Hallow’s Eve, kneeling in a pentacle and in direct contravention of the flat’s fire regulations. The nudity was applicable for the demon type I wanted, of course. Another good reason why Lust was more accessible than, say, Procrastination (409).

How did one even summon a Procrastination Demon? By getting around to it tomorrow?

Okay. Enough dissembling. Either I was doing this, or I wasn’t.

My eyes pored over the page for the thousandth time. I knew what I had to do, what I had to say. I’d memorised it months ago. It was time.

I cupped my bare breast and flicked my nipple with my thumb.

The book had been insistent on the effectiveness of alignment to the sin in question.

I tweaked, pulling slightly, trying to set aside my apprehension and the fear that this was all a fiction, that all my effort had been for nothing. That it wouldn’t work.

It definitely wouldn’t work if I couldn’t get in the mood.

My other hand stroked lightly down over my stomach and dipped between my thighs.

It was harder than I’d expected to make this sexy. My mind was in a different space. The candles helped – the gentle flames were sensuous, calming - but the pentacle was a distraction. As was the book.

Not my usual masturbatory aids.

I glanced toward the bedroom, thinking of the Hitachi Wand in my bedside table. I’d left it there on purpose, not wanting to risk the unpredictable mixture of technology and magic. Or the distraction of something that intense.

No, the intent was for feelings of lust – not helpless, toe-curling orgasms.

Yet the mere thought of my wand had edged up my arousal. I lifted my fingers to my mouth, wetting them with my tongue, and once more slipped them between my legs.

Much better.

“Per spiritus mortuorum et per vitam circa,” By the spirits of the dead and the life around me.

The candles flickered as one. Maybe a draft. It was too early to allow for hope.

“Audi me, Daemon Luxuriae.” Hear me, Demon of Lust.

I slipped a finger between the lips of my vulva, flicking teasingly over my entrance, collecting some of the moisture that had already gathered.

“Te vocco, Daemon Luxuriae.” I call you, Demon of Lust.

My arousal was growing rapidly, and a shiver ran through my body. I flicked my thumb over my nipple again, but it wasn’t enough. I needed more. I pinched, twisting slightly. Better.

“Te impero, Daemon Luxuriae.” I command you, Demon of Lust.

A jolt of pleasure pulsed through me, making my breath catch. My finger slid up over my clit, my arousal surprisingly intense. This wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.

“Te invocco; tua es.” I invoke thee; you are mine.

A wave of arousal washed through me, and I gasped involuntarily. It was almost as strong as some orgasms I’d had. My body trembled within the pentacle, my pussy flooding with moisture.

Fuck, that wasn’t me.

It was both exciting and scary. My response was way too strong from merely my own gentle ministrations. My pulse was racing, my body perspiring, and my clit… my clit was throbbing. I moaned as I ran a fingertip over it.

But it was incontrovertible proof that the book was genuine, that what I was doing was real. I felt the thrill of power run through me, combining with the intensity of my arousal. God, it felt good.

Focus, Abby, focus. It was an effort to say the words, my body squirming with need. My hips wouldn’t keep still, and my thighs were damp. And still I’d hardly touched myself.

“Tua ad me venies, ego iubeo!” You will come to me, I command it.

I cried out as the orgasm crashed through me, my body trembling with the intensity of it. It was the strongest, most overwhelming sensual experience I’d ever had, and all from barely a touch on my own body. It was too much, more than I could cope with, and it didn’t seem to be lessening. I gasped as my body clenched again, a renewed wave of pleasure coming so swiftly on the back of the first.

God, I’m… going to pass out…

A third orgasm hit, my body jerking in response. I could barely manage a moan.

Hitachi has nothing on magic…

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Chapter Two

I became aware that I was lying on the carpet. I opened my eyes. The candles were still burning, though each sat in their own pools of melted wax. How long had I been out for?

I’m lying next to the candles. I sat up swiftly, then groaned as the movement was too fast. At least I didn’t set my hair on fire.

It took a moment to remember. The spell. The visceral, sensual reaction. Multiple orgasms in rapid succession, each stronger than any I’d ever had before. I could still feel the afterglow throughout my body.

That had been one amazing experience. Thank God I hadn’t tried to summon a Gluttony Demon (329 of 412); I would’ve probably eaten my sofa.

I took a deep, steadying breath, looking around me. The book sat innocuously on its stand, still open on the page. Candlelight reflected around my living room, a pleasing orange glow that matched the one within me.

If nothing else, I’m going to have to try that spell again sometime. That was… wow. Just wow.

I rose, my legs unsteady, and glanced down.

Shit.

The pentacle was disturbed where I’d fallen across it. I bent, examining it carefully. Was it broken? There wasn’t enough light to be sure.

I glanced around my flat. Nothing else seemed any different; no hot incubus (or whatever a lust demon might call itself) sat naked on my couch. Dammit. I thought it had worked.

I glanced at the clock: 9:42. Crap, Julia’s party. I’m gonna be so late. How long had I been out for?

Quickly, I stepped to the light switch and flicked it on, the shadows instantly receding. Shower, clothes… but first…

I knelt beside the pentacle again, carefully examining where I had inadvertently disturbed it. A hairline of un-painted carpet sat smugly beneath the smudge.

Fuck. Was that the reason it hadn’t worked?

Despondently, I doused all the candles. All that work just for mind-blowing orgasms.

I supposed I could try again. Technically, it didn’t need to be Halloween… it was just supposed to be way more effective on this one night of the year. Can I wait another twelve months?

Right now, Julia was waiting. Dejected and suddenly tired, a party was the last thing I wanted to do. But I’d promised. And I was already late.

I’d showered already earlier in the day, but after that intense, magically-inspired sexual workout, another was most definitely in order. I sluiced off quickly, grabbed the hair dryer and thought about what to wear. The little black dress? No. Too formal. Jeans? Too casual.

Walking naked through the flat to my bedroom, I opened my wardrobe and glumly perused the limited options. How cold was it outside? A glance out of the window showed a moody October sky that threatened rain. Julia’s flat was only a few minutes’ walk away; it wasn’t quite worth calling an Uber. Plus, a walk could save a bit of money. Wouldn’t have been a problem if the damn spell had worked. Now I’d have to keep being frugal - my loan repayments alone accounted for large chunks of my monthly income.

I pulled out my favourite Autumn coat: a long, black affair I’d brought from Hobbs some years previously when money hadn’t been such a problem. I laid it carefully on the bed and turned again to the wardrobe.

In the end, I settled on a favourite knee-length A-line skirt. It swished when I walked, the material a pleasing quality. Beneath, a pair of comfortable lacy panties; they were attractive enough, not that anyone else would ever get the chance to admire them. I paired the skirt with a strappy top that was tight enough to make a bra unnecessary. I hated wearing bras anyway. A buttoned cardigan for warmth, my knee-high boots to finish the ensemble. I examined the final look in the mirror. Not exactly chic, but it’ll have to do.

There were many reasons I didn’t go to parties, my lack of suitable wardrobe options being just one.

A glance at the clock: 10:15. Time to get a move on.

I skipped through the flat, picking up my purse, house keys, wallet. If I walked swiftly enough, I could be at Julia’s a little after half past ten. That wasn’t too late, was it?

I rode the lift down to the foyer, stepping out with a resigned sigh. I’d much rather be sitting in bed with a book and a cup of hot chocolate. Friends were so much effort.

It wasn’t until I’d stepped out onto the street that I realised my coat was still lying on the bed. Crap. But then, it wasn’t quite as cold as I’d feared. If I went back for it, I’d be later still, and Julia really wouldn’t be happy. Maybe, if I walked fast, I could keep warm. Julia always had her heating on, and perhaps she’d make me a warming cup of tea. Coz, yeah… that’s what people drink at parties.

Sighing again, I set off along the street. Just so long as it doesn’t rain later.

“Sweetheart! You made it!” You could just hear the exclamation marks. It was lucky Julia was such a good friend: her exuberance was often more than I could bear.

“Hi, Juls.”

“Come in, come in! You look freezing!”

Julia opened the door wider, showing her small flat. Halloween decorations abound in black and orange, spider webs festooned the ceiling and walls. Just inside the door was a full-size skeleton, looking about as convincing as my mother’s spray tan.

Her flat was crowded with people. And all of them were wearing a costume.

Fuck. I forgot about the costumes. But then, I didn’t have one, anyway. Why had I even agreed to come?

“Er… Juls… I don’t have a costume. Perhaps it would be best if I… y’know… went back home?”

“Rubbish! You look lovely! And you’re my best friend. Please, Abbs, stay for me?”

“Oh… very well.”

“Come and meet Dave and Christie!”

I let her drag me along.

“Phil, come and meet Abby! She’s my very best friend and lives just a short walk from here!”

“Hi,” I held out my hand without enthusiasm. I was pretty sure Julia had introduced me to half the guests, and I was damned if I could remember any names. Who did she say this guy was? Phil?

“I’ll leave you to get to know each other!” Julia smiled at me with encouragement, taking her exclamation marks with her when she left.

Cute guy in a sexy vampire costume. Save for being cute, or sexy.

I expected him to take my hand, but clearly he had other ideas. He bowed over it and brushed my knuckles with his lips, in a cringe-worthy impression of old-fashioned gallantry.

“I lurve your costume,” he said as he straightened, affecting a truly awful Count Dracula accent.

“I’m not wearing one.” Obviously.

“You ‘av come dressed as ze beautiful woman, no?”

I smiled thinly, saying nothing. Perhaps, if he’d delivered his line with any sincerity, instead of that self-smug grin…

“Ze perfect prey for a vamp-i-rrrre such as myself.” The accent was getting worse. He seemed unperturbed by my lack of response and smiled, flashing his ridiculous false teeth. I was certain he was more in love with himself than he could ever be with someone else.

“Your costume is very convincing,” I said cooly. “And I love your accent. Is it the teeth giving you that lisp? Difficult to speak, I’m sure. At least you’re trying.”

“Er… yes.” He looked taken aback, but only momentarily. “Perhaps I can get you a drink…” he raised his hand, reaching to cup my cheek. Oh, hell no. “…and afterward take you into a corner and bite ze neck?”

The last inch of my white wine splashed across his face, dribbling down into his ridiculously over-sized collar. He stepped back in reflex, “Fuck!” No accent, that time.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! Completely my fault! You startled me. I find vampires ever so scary.” I blinked at him innocently, and beside us a couple laughed nervously.

I turned and walked away, leaving him dabbing at his costume with a handkerchief. I really hoped Julia hadn’t brought me all the way over here just for that.

I glanced at the clock again: 11:24. If I made it to midnight, then surely I could make my excuses and leave? Julia couldn’t object, right?

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Chapter Three

I was sitting on Julia’s love seat in the corner of the flat, trying to avoid any further engagement. After the vampire fiasco, Julia had tried to introduce me to a few more people. I’d politely done my best. Small talk was like parties: something other people did.

Sighing, I realised I didn’t even have a drink anymore. Fetching one risked losing the seat.

“Good evening. May I sit here?”

I glanced up in surprise, my eyes widening. I hadn’t even seen her approach. She was dressed – barely – in the most fantastic of costumes: a black leather corset and thigh-high boots over fishnet stockings, complete with devil horns and… was that a tail? In each hand she held a wine glass, both full.

She was stunningly beautiful, her figure straight out of a Victoria’s Secret catalogue, and her face was near-symmetrical perfection. Her raven hair was thick and lustrous as it cascaded far down her back, tied in a French braid so tight it gave me a headache just looking at it.

“Oh, um. Of course you can sit here. I’ll… leave you both to it.” It was natural to assume she was with someone. Dressed like that, holding two glasses – and the seat was supposed to be for a couple, after all.

I made as if to rise, but rather than step back to allow me space, the girl edged closer. “I brought you a drink,” she said, slightly proffering one glass. “Won’t you stay and talk to me?”

That wasn’t what I’d expected. “Um… okay.”

I accepted the glass and sat back in the seat. She had me on edge; coming up to me out of the blue, she was clearly used to playing in a completely different league. Dressed to kill… if Agathe Christie ever wrote ‘Murder in the Bordello’. She was intimidatingly gorgeous, and she wanted to sit and talk. With me.

What could I possibly say to her?

I ran through my available small-talk lines. It didn’t take long.

The girl smiled, but rather than slip into the narrow space beside me, she chose instead to sit at my feet. She lowered gracefully, making the move seem natural and fluid, and I felt her body press in against my legs. It was as if she’d been sitting there all evening and left merely to fetch new drinks.

My breath caught in my throat. The position was surprisingly intimate, yet the girl seemed perfectly relaxed, as though sitting at a stranger’s feet wearing a devilish boudoir costume was something she did every day.

“Cheers,” she said, holding up her wine glass.

“Cheers,” I murmured, chinking my glass delicately in response. She took a sip, and I did the same, using the moment to try to catch up. A lot seemed to have happened very swiftly.

I looked away, trying to compose myself as I checked to see if anyone was staring at our cozy tableau. All seemed oblivious, engaged instead in their own worlds.

I glanced down as I felt her intertwine her hands across my knee, in time to see her prop her chin on top. She’d put her wine glass somewhere, and I hadn’t seen.

She let her head fall gracefully ever so slightly to one side and looked up at me, and the effect was touchingly endearing.

Who was this girl? Julia certainly hadn’t introduced us; this one I’d have remembered.

I could feel her body pressed full-length against my legs, the leather of her corset against the leather of my boots. While she watched me struggle to get a handle on the situation, she amused herself by drawing little circles with one fingertip on the top of my bare knee, the movement so slight she didn’t even need to remove her chin.

Silence lingered, and it was as if the girl with the horns seemed content to sit quietly, pressed against me. I, on the other hand, was feeling increasingly awkward. I should say something.

“I love your costume,” I blurted, then glanced away as my cheeks heated in embarrassment. Oh, that was real smooth.

The girl smiled slowly, evidently finding something entertaining. Me, probably. “Thank you. Truth be told, I didn’t have much choice in what I wore tonight.”

Such a graceful answer. And such a stunningly charming smile.

“Oh, me too! I… I don’t have a costume.” I didn’t know why I kept pointing that out.

“I think you look quite lovely as you are,” came the girl’s reply, and one hand disengaged from under her chin and slipped gently along my leg, her fingers playing lightly with the delicate skin of my inner thigh. My breath caught in my throat. Was this merely her way? Casual intimacy? Did it mean something… or nothing?

“Thank you,” I whispered, not sure how else to respond.

So, I wasn’t the most worldly in the area of sex. I mean, I wasn’t a virgin – there’d been a couple of men during my travels – but when you’re socially awkward and your wardrobe contains more hoodies than bikinis, most of your erotic experience came from the reading material you chose.

I hadn’t even been with a girl. Kissed one, once. At university. The way everyone does.

And now this gorgeous creature had settled at my feet, making herself quite at home. Her unruffled, gracious composure only served to emphasise my lack of the same. She may have placed herself at my feet in the more submissive position, but she was in total control.

I gripped my wine glass with both hands, trying not to tremble and spill it on her, and all the while I was incredibly conscious of her fingers idly playing with my leg, just beneath the hem of my skirt. It was as if she were challenging me to call her on it… or perhaps to spread my knees and blatantly give her more access.

I felt my stomach squirm and knew she was turning me on. I didn’t even know I was into girls – but to be fair, anyone with eyes would be into this one. She’d done nothing more than be friendly, and her touches were innocent enough to be explained away as idle play – though the way they burned across my skin felt anything but innocent.

If she hadn’t been dressed like a cross between a Boudoir Mistress and a kitten girl, I could perhaps have given her the benefit of the doubt.

But she had horns. No one who chose to wear horns could ever be completely innocent… could they?

She just sat and watched me, a small smile on her lips, as though she were perfectly aware of the confusion she’d garnered and was enjoying her effect. She was walking the line perfectly between plausible deniability and sexual intrigue, and the little minx knew it.

We couldn’t just sit here like this all evening. Well, she looked like she could… but I’d be a trembling mess in minutes. She was affecting me deeply.

Desperately, I sought something intelligent to say. “I love your horns. What a nice touch. And your tail. It’s so realistic.” Okay, so not all that intelligent. The best I could do, given the circumstances.

She seemed to bathe in the praise. “Oh, this old thing?” she asked, her hand leaving my knee to pick up her tail. It seemed to rise to meet her hand, but it could’ve been a trick of the light. “I’ve had it for years. But it suits the look, don’t you think?”

She raised the hand holding her tail, and I could see it more clearly. It looked almost feline in nature, like a panther’s. Soft, and sleek. A dense coating of fine, black hair. But unlike a cat’s tail, hers ended in a triangle, and it looked sharp and pointed.

She let it fall to rest across my skirt, and I could feel the weight of it. To my surprise the tip seemed to lash gently back and forth, exactly like the cat’s tail it resembled – save for the wicked-looking spear on the end.

How the hell was she making it do that? Some prop.

“It’s mesmerising,” I said, because it truly was. “So lifelike. Er… how… how do you… er… keep it on?”

Wow, I was all kinds of smooth tonight.

“Keep it on?” She grinned impishly. The emphasis on the preposition hung in the air, the implication clear that it wasn’t quite correct. I swallowed nervously.

“Wow, that’s… kinda hot.” I couldn’t imagine walking around with something like that inside my ass all evening. Let alone sitting. At someone’s feet, no less.

So definitely not innocent, then.

I momentarily looked away, resisting the urge to fan my face. The party seemed to be in full swing, but strangely we were being ignored. I wasn’t going to argue with that, but I was surprised she wasn’t fetching more glances. She was easily the sexiest creature in the room, even without knowing how the tail stayed… in.

Something brushed against my knee, high enough to be beneath the hem of my skirt, and I jumped, almost spilling my wine. I glanced down. She was caressing me with the point of her tail, her hand lightly holding it some few inches back from the tip.

Her gaze met mine, her expression playful. “Do you like that?”

It was far softer than I’d anticipated. She stroked my inner thigh, and a shiver ran through me.

“Yes,” I whispered.

She smiled, then leant forward and placed her lips on my knee, kissing. Her tongue flicked out as she did so, and I felt it wet and warm against my skin.

Fuck. My arousal skipped several steps as it spiked violently upwards.

She inched her tail up along my thigh and I twitched, pressing my legs together, trapping it. “People will see,” I objected. Why had I said that? What I’d meant to say was… stop. Wasn’t it?

“No they won’t,” she smiled as if amused, and her other hand squeezed my calf over the supple leather of my boot.

There were so many people in here, how could our little display not be observed? I looked up, but wherever I peeked, people were focused on each other, not even glancing our way.

Between my thighs her tail wriggled. I had no idea how she’d even done that. It wasn’t just the tip that felt soft; the whole length of it was so silky. And warm, like… skin. Like it was real. One seriously impressive costume.

It was a costume, right?

She wore a dark lipstick, almost black, with matching eyeliner and a vivid purple eyeshadow, all lightly and artistically applied. But it was her features that were striking. I looked at her again, closely, drinking in the high cheekbones, the delicate lips, her almond eyes. Such intelligent eyes. Her irises were dark, as dark as I could remember seeing. Contacts? It matched the costume, I supposed.

She’d really gone to some lengths.

Why the hell was she interested in me?

My eyes lifted to the horns on her head: two little pointed nubs, no larger than my thumb. They nestled in her hair, toward the front of her head, spaced slightly wider than her eyes. They looked hard, shiny, like obsidian reflecting the light.

I couldn’t see how she held them on. There was no obvious headgear, no ties.

Between my legs her tail lightly caressed my skin. She was very, very good with it, hardly moving her hand at all as she controlled it. It was a sensuous, pleasant, sensation. It reminded me of a massage I’d once had with a mink glove.

My arousal was increasing. It seemed natural to part my thighs, to give her more access. It wasn’t even a subconscious decision. She slid the tail gently forward. I gasped softly; one more inch and it would be brushing up against my underwear.

Reflexively, I grasped her hand, pinning it, then looked up to see her watching me, her eyes dancing with amusement and a playful smile on her lips.

“Having fun?” I asked, dryly. She was toying with me, and she knew it. She was arousing me, and she knew that too.

“Just beginning to.”

The tip of her tail edged forward again, and now I couldn’t help but squirm. I gripped her hand in mine, pulling it off her tail. “People will see!” I whispered. One glance our way and it would be obvious what we were doing.

What were we doing?

It was ironic that it would be obvious to the casual onlooker, but I didn’t have a clue. Story of my life.

She pouted but allowed me to take her hand, releasing her tail. Without her hand guiding it, I’d expected it to slip from between my legs. It didn’t.

“Why did you stop me?”

I glanced up, guilty, expecting to see people staring at us. No one appeared to have noticed. It didn’t make me feel much better.

“People will see,” I said again. Did she not understand?

“Oh. Why don’t you want anyone to see?”

“Because… because it’s embarrassing!” I was an introvert. Attention of any kind made me quail inside, and if anyone saw what she was doing between my legs… I’d just die.

I squirmed again, but this time with mortification, glancing about me. This girl – whose name I didn’t even know – was beguiling me, confusing me. It had all happened so quickly – in mere moments since she had come up to me, she’d sat herself at my feet and worked her tail between my legs as though it were the most natural thing in the world. Someone was bound to notice. And Julia was around here, somewhere. What would she think of this?

“Is that your only objection?” she asked, her hand turning in mine, her fingertips laying against the pulse on my wrist. It was distracting.

“What?” I felt I was missing something.

“Is your only objection that you don’t want people to see?”

I frowned, confused. “Yes,” I said.

“They won’t,” she said, as if the matter was settled.

Her tail squirmed forward again, pushing between my thighs. I felt the pointed tip of it slip beneath my underwear, tucking itself around one edge of the thin, lacy material. The warm, silky-soft touch of it brushed against my vulva.

I jumped at the touch, staring at her. Her tail had far too much dexterity, and her hand was in mine. Her other was still squeezing my lower leg. How the hell…?

Oh fuck. O-kay then.

“What are you?” I’d finally worked it out.

━━━━༻❁༺━━━━

Chapter Four

She smiled at me. “You already know.”

Her tail pulled the material of my panties away, then lightly brushed down across my labia. I shivered.

“Please don’t!” I begged, “I don’t want people to see!”

“I told you: they won’t. Can you see anyone looking?”

I glanced up again. No one was even aware we were here. Here was a beautiful girl, half naked in a leather corset, sitting at my feet while she played with me. The whole room should’ve been watching her, and yet I hadn’t seen a single peek come our way.

She lowered her lips to my knee and kissed me again. It was a strangely gentle thing; the sensation of her soft lips pressing to my kneecap. She must’ve known it wasn’t an erogenous zone, and yet she did it almost lovingly.

From a Lust Demon I’d expected pure carnality, not this sophisticated seduction.

I was suddenly curious. “Can you… can you feel anything with your tail?”

Somehow she turned the end of her tail, running the tip of the point along the cleft of my lips. If she hadn’t demonstrated such perfect control, I’d have been worried to have something so… sharp… in such an intimate place. But though it had looked sharp, it had never felt sharp.

She looked up at me, smiling against my knee, not lifting her face. It was cute. “I feel everything.”

Uh huh. Did she know how aroused she’d made me?

“Everything?” My voice sounded high.

She licked my skin again, even as she teased me with her tail. “Everything.” There was no room for doubt in her tone.

I shivered.

She tugged at my panties as though they were in the way. I supposed they were. I felt her pull the material away from my pussy; it pulled across my hips and wedged between my bottom cheeks. It wasn’t particularly comfortable, yet it was another reminder of the intimacy of what she was doing.

“This clothing you wear… is it of any importance?”

“Huh?” She had me so distracted, and I hadn’t really followed the question.

“I’ll take that as a ‘no’.”

There was a faint snip sound and abruptly the pull on my hips relaxed. The gusset came loose, as though it had been… cut.

I stared down at her, my eyes wide. “How did you do that?”

“How do you think?”

So much for not being sharp.

Her tail flicked softly across my labia again, but the trust had gone.

“Stop,” I said, reaching between my knees and grasping her tail there. I pulled firmly, but she didn’t fight me. It was easy to move it, and then she curled it back on itself and rubbed it gently against my knee.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, and there was confusion in her eyes. It was the first expression I’d seen from her that showed any doubt. Until that moment, she’d exuded confidence and control.

“I… I’m sorry. I’m just not comfortable having something so… sharp… near my…” I trailed off, blushing. Why did I have to explain myself? It was like she had a blade on the end of her tail, and who would be happy with… such a thing… in such an intimate place?

I was still trying to get my head around the fact that it was her tail.

She pouted. It was the only word for it. Her bottom lip came out in a very definite sulk, her eyebrows knitted together, and her eyes were downcast. It would’ve been comical if it hadn’t been so pathetic.

I hadn’t meant to upset her. I’d responded instinctively.

“You… you don’t like my tail?” There was a quiver in her voice. A noticeable tremor.

Ah crap. I’d upset the Lust Demon. Could this evening get any weirder?

For the moment, I only had to deal with puppy-dog eyes. But now that I’d upset her, how quickly would that change? ‘Emotionally stable’ wasn’t a notion one commonly associated with a demon.

I felt a thrill of fear run through me. Was she… safe? Could I risk pissing her off?

“No… no, not at all! Your tail is amazing!” and it was easy to inject enthusiasm into my voice. She really did have the most incredible appendage. The feel of it, the dexterity of it, the fact that one moment it could tease so gently, and the next cut through material like a… well, like a very, very sharp knife. A very, very sharp knife that had been in extremely close proximity to things I didn’t want anywhere near a very, very sharp knife.

The pout was still incredibly prominent. I hadn’t expected her to be so vulnerable.

“Then… why did you pull it away? I was enjoying that.” She was enjoying that?

“Because… er…” How was I supposed to tell a demon with the (possible) emotional quotient of a hand grenade that I was scared she was going to hurt me, without her exploding and, well, hurting me?

She sat at my feet, looking up at me for all the world like I’d cancelled her birthday party. I couldn’t bear the look any longer.

“I’m sorry, okay? You made me nervous, cutting through my underwear. I’m just… not used to having something that sharp so close to my… bits.”

She chewed on her lip and her brow furrowed in a thoughtful look that was, frankly, extremely cute. But then, she was so out-of-this-world gorgeous, that pretty much anything she did was cute.

“I don’t understand. You summoned me. Why would you be scared of me?”

Now it was my turn for the furrowed brow.

“You mean to say… you won’t hurt me?”

“I can’t hurt you. You bound me to you.”

I guess I had at that.

And now I was having all sorts of doubts about consent and slavery and exploitation.

I hadn’t expected her to be so… human.

Yet that was quite the trap to fall in. Hadn’t the worst crimes in the history of humanity occurred because of man’s ability to dehumanise man? And now I’d done exactly that.

I’d bound her to me.

Crap.

“I’m really sorry…” I’m really sorry name. Name usually goes there. I didn’t even know her name. This was all wrong, and it was all my fault.

I took a deep breath.

“Listen, I’ve made a bunch of mistakes. Can we start over?”

She just nodded, looking up at me with those wide, mournful eyes.

“Okay. So… how about you tell me your name?”

She closed her eyes and opened them again, for all the world as if she’d blinked slowly. “Lilialaiaelilith.”

“Lil… Er. Okay. Can I call you ‘Lily’?”

She nodded.

“Nice to meet you, Lily. I’m Abby, by the way.”

She nodded again.

Wow, how quickly our dynamic had changed. Just five minutes before she was oozing sex and confidence, seducing me like a pro, and now… now she was a vulnerable girl, hugging my knee. She was supposed to be terrifyingly competent, ancient in her magic, malevolent, manipulative, wise in her centuries of experience. Something to bind and control, respect and fear.

Instead she seemed all too… real.

I wasn’t quite sure what to do with her.

No, that wasn’t true. I knew exactly what I should do with her. I sighed.

“Listen, Lily, I… I made a mistake. I should never have summoned you. I didn’t mean to… to bind you to me.”

The pout came back so fast I only had a fleeting moment to realise it had ever gone. “You… you don’t want me?”

Oh, for fuck’s sake. Now she wanted to be a bound slave? I couldn’t keep up.

But then, I supposed she’d never said she hadn’t wanted it. I’d presumed. I’d overlain my own values onto her, without consideration for what she might want. All because I wanted to give due consideration for her wants. I’d told her I didn’t want to bind her to me, all because I wanted to treat her with respect – and now it seemed she wanted to be bound to me.

There was definitely a headache coming on.

I ploughed on. Perhaps honesty could see us through.

I fixated on the barely touched wine glass still held in my hands, in preference for seeing more hurt in her eyes. “I’ve never done this before. I didn’t know the rules. I… I set out to summon you – well, not you, precisely, but a demon. And I didn’t think it through. I didn’t expect you to be so… so… lovely. And now… now you’re bound to me, and… and I feel like… I’ve robbed you of your freedom.”

She slid one hand along the inside of my knee, well under the hem of my skirt, her fingers lightly caressing. “You think I’m lovely?”

I lifted my gaze. The pout had gone, and now she looked at me with utter adoration.

I shook my head in frustration. “You’re only responding like this because I bound you.”

Dammit. None of it was real.

Who knew that summoning a Lust Demon would have me complaining it didn’t feel real? Yeah. Maybe should’ve seen that coming.

She smiled, those beautiful lips slowly curling up at the corners. God, she was sexy.

“Do you know how often Lust Demons get summoned?” she asked.

I shook my head. I hardly knew anything.

“Well… a lot less now than it used to be, I suppose. I can’t deny it’s been a lot quieter these past couple of centuries. But… it used to happen a lot. I’ve been summoned… oh, dozens of times.”

I nodded, listening. I’d only blinked when she’d casually referred to the passing of centuries as a quiet moment of rest and relaxation. I supposed there was only so much surreal I could take in one evening before it just began to wash over me.

Her fingers curled against my thigh, and I realised at some point I had spread my knees for her. It had been subconscious; I hadn’t even realised.

I made no attempt to move, fearing it might upset the delicate balance we’d established. Instead, I chewed my lip and tried not to squirm. Her tail lay across my skirt, the tip swaying gracefully back and forth as she talked.

“Every time I’ve been summoned it’s been the same. I’ve only ever been a sex toy for my master; used and discarded.” It wasn’t until she lifted her eyes to mine that I realised she’d been talking to my skirt. Her expression was earnest, her eyes expressive. “I’d never been summoned by a girl before.”

I cringed within. I dare not tell her I hadn’t actually been trying for a girl-Lust-Demon. In that regard, I still hadn’t worked out what had happened.

It would never even have occurred to me to summon a girl. And yet… looking at Lily now… I was glad I had. Even though it was an accident.

I guess I’d expected to be able to use the demon for what I wanted and be done with them.

But I’d never expected Lily.

So much of my life had been focused on this moment. I’d finally achieved it, only now to realise how wrong it was.

“I’m sorry I summoned you, Lily.” And girl or not, it was true. I had no idea it was going to be like this, that I’d feel this way.

I felt miserable.

“I’m not.”

She said it with such adamancy that I felt a flare of hope. But then I realised: she was bound to me.

“You’re only saying that because you have to.”

I would take her back to my flat and work out how to reverse this damn spell.

She smiled at me. “You summoned me, Abby. But I’m still me; I can express myself as I wish. Oh, if you command me, I have to obey… but if I say, ‘I’m not’…” her fingers slipped higher on my leg, brushing teasingly against the juncture of my thigh, “…then I mean ‘I’m not’.”

My breath caught in my throat.

“You’re driving me wild,” I whispered to her.

“Good.” She grinned, mischievously.

“You’re making it difficult to think!”

“Sorry-not-sorry,” and her grin widened. But she did withdraw her hand. Not much, but a bit.

I shook my head. “I can’t believe you say things like ‘sorry-not-sorry’. I would expect you to say things like ‘Muchly doth I regret’, instead.”

She laughed. “I like to think I’m reasonably up to date, despite my advanced years.”

She had the appearance of a woman in her early twenties. She probably counted her centuries in twenties.

“How old are you?” I asked, suddenly curious.

She shrugged. “I’ve no idea. Old enough to remember Hadrian. I believe he built a wall somewhere north of here.”

I blinked. My history was fuzzy, but wasn’t that in the time of the Roman Empire?

She looked great for her age, I had to give her that.

I shook myself. “So, where do we go from here? I had half a mind to take you back to my flat and figure out how to undo this mess.”

She smiled. “I’d love to go back to your flat. This party has about run its course, don’t you think?”

━━━━༻❁༺━━━━

Chapter Five

I glanced around us. The party seemed as lively now as it had a half hour ago, and I knew Julia would still consider it early.

I met her eyes. “I’ll get you back home, I promise. I’m really very sorry, Lily.”

She placed a kiss on my knee. “I don’t want to go home. I have other reasons for wanting you alone.”

A shiver ran through me.

She smiled, feeling it. She placed small licks along the inside of my leg, and though her position meant she couldn’t reach far, the implication was perfectly clear.

“Can we leave now Abby?”

I glanced at the time. Unbelievably, it was still ten minutes short of midnight. Had we really been together for such a brief time?

“I think Julia would want me to stay longer.”

“Let me speak to her.”

This I wanted to see. Julia’s exclamations versus Lily’s seduction. “Okay.”

Her eyes lit up as though I’d told her tomorrow was Christmas.

She rocked back on her ass and slipped her feet beneath her, rising to stand. Even that simple move she made seem graceful and fluid. She was so much fun to watch.

She held her hand out to me and when I took it she pulled me to my feet. “Which one is Julia?”

“The one that tries to stop us leaving.”

Her grin was irresistible. And she didn’t let go of my hand.

I led her through the crowded flat toward the front door. She clung to my hand with both of hers, walking behind me, yet somehow managing to avoid treading on my ankles. More than once we needed to side-step people who didn’t seem to notice I was there. It was eerie. Pretty cool, though. There’d been times in my life when I would’ve killed for such a trick… and many other times when I’d already felt invisible.

“Can they see me?” I asked Lily, turning my head to murmur back at her.

“Sure they can. I’ve just encouraged them to… focus elsewhere.”

“Oh.”

Our route took us past a window, and outside the rain had finally arrived. “Crap,” I said, looking glumly at the weather.

Maybe an Uber home would be a good idea. Worth the cost.

“Don’t worry, I have something to keep you warm.”

I glanced at her, gratefully. “While your innuendos will always be welcome, unless you can keep the rain off, we’re going to get very wet. Wait… can you keep the rain off?”

She laughed, a delightfully playful sound. “Not on you, no. But I brought your coat.”

I blinked at her in surprise. “You… brought my coat?”

“Yes. It was on your bed.”

“You… were in my flat?”

She smiled at me. “Of course I was, silly. You summoned me there.”

“Oh,” I said, my voice small. Of course.

Wait. Not ‘of course’ at all.

“But… but you weren’t there!”

“I was there. You weren’t there when I arrived.”

“Oh.” I seemed to be saying that a lot. “But… how did you know I was here?”

She squeezed my hand. “I’m bound to you, Abby. I’ll always know where you are.”

“O — Right.”

We stepped around a very large pumpkin perched on a small table and dodged someone in a batman costume.

“Abbs! You’re not leaving are you?”

Julia was like a little ball of sunshine, bouncing along and dazzling. I could never quite remember why we were friends, only that, somehow, we were.

“It’s getting late, honey. It’s after midnight.” Close enough, anyway.

“It’s Halloween! Surely you can…”

I felt Lily’s presence grow. She hadn’t particularly moved; I wasn’t even aware of her standing taller, or lifting her chin, or some such thing. One moment she was clutching my hand, standing behind me, and the next moment she was… There.

“Oh!” Julia seemed taken aback. I couldn’t really blame her. “You… you’ve made a friend.”

“Yes, er… Juls, this is Lily. Lily – my friend, Julia.”

It felt weird doing the introductions at Julia’s own party, especially as she’d spent the first half of the evening introducing me.

Julia’s eyes flicked from Lily to me and back to Lily. I couldn’t blame her for that, either.

“Gosh, you’re stunning!” Or that. Poor Julia, ambushed by the vision that was Lily; unaware one moment, blinded by her beauty the next. And Julia wasn’t even – as far as I knew – particularly into girls. Lily would change anyone’s mind. “I love your costume! That body paint is unbelievable!”

I blinked, glancing back at Lily. What body paint? Granted, her skin was a gorgeous olive colour, but that was its natural tone. Her makeup was light, and artistically applied – but one wouldn’t call that ‘body paint’. Clearly, Julia was seeing something different.

“It was a lovely party,” Lily said, her voice almost a purr. “We’ve both had such a nice time. But it is getting late, isn’t it?”

Wow. Like, wow. Such simple words, yet coming from her they positively dripped innuendo. It was as if she’d just told Julia we’d spent the evening fucking in the corner of her living room and now needed to head home to finish what we’d started.

I felt a blush rise in my cheeks. It all felt a bit too close to the truth.

“Oh my,” Julia managed, looking between us again, her eyes wide. “I quite understand. And here I am, nattering away.” She stepped to the side, physically making a path for us. “Abbs you’ll... er… call me tomorrow?”

Rarely had I heard her so reticent, but I knew exactly why she wanted me to call her. Anyone who’d met Lily would want to hear all the details.

“Sure I will.” Not.

The skeleton by the door was wearing my coat like a cape. I glanced at Lily, raising an eyebrow.

“Where was I supposed to put it?” she asked innocently.

Innocent was one thing I was pretty sure she was not, but she certainly managed to give a good rendition. All part of her charm.

She relieved the skeleton of my coat – he didn’t seem to mind – and held it out for me to slip on.

I eyed Lily, thinking of the weather outside. At least I had a cardigan; all she had was a leather corset.

“You’re going to freeze outside. You wear it. I’ll be fine.”

“I’m a demon. A creature of fire. Trust me, Abby, I can keep myself warm.” She lifted the coat and gave me an encouraging nod.

I laughed softly and acquiesced. “When you put it like that…”

It took but a moment to slip my arms into the coat, and she settled it about my shoulders. Then I felt her hands run down my back, over the soft material, and on lower still, until she cupped my ass.

“It’s a lovely coat,” she whispered, her lips against my ear. Her breath tickled my skin. “Can we leave now?”

Hell, yes. It was definitely time to go.

We left the flat and called the lift. She took my hand in both of hers again, pushing herself against my back, her presence comforting.

I couldn’t believe she was a demon. She acted more like a playful puppy.

The doors opened and together we stepped in, and I thumbed the button for the foyer.

Barely had the doors closed when she pushed me against the wall, her mouth on mine, kissing me hungrily, catching me by surprise.

Okay, so half the time like a puppy, and half the time like a demonic dominatrix.

I whimpered as she kissed me and she echoed the sound, our tongues entwining as her hands slipped inside my coat. Her tail curled around, snaking about my thigh, squeezing gently. I felt her fingers slip beneath my cardigan, finding bare skin at my waist, lightly caressing along my flank and around over my stomach. Her touch sent shivers through me, and I trembled against her. Fuck, she knew how to turn me on. Was it always like this with a woman? Had I been doing it wrong, all these years, wasting my time with men? Or was it just because it was Lily?

The lift shuddered to a halt, announcing its success with a smug ping. The doors opened and Lily stepped back, a small smile playing across her lips.

She led us outside, and this time I held her hand in both of mine, following along behind her. The reversal of roles was intoxicating.

It was raining hard. I had to stop and close my coat, pulling the collar up around my neck. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

“Do I look like I’m wet?”

I blinked, staring at her. She didn’t have a drop of rain on her, but instead there was a halo of steam rising from her body. Was she boiling the water before it struck her? If she was that hot, wouldn’t she burn me?

She reached for my hand and I almost recoiled, but she felt the same as she had before. Warm, yes, but no more than usual. Soft. Comforting.

She leant in, her expression playful. “I have a confession to make: I am wet. Let’s go home?”

I nodded, not trusting my voice. She was wet, and not from the rain. That made two of us, but I was getting wetter. From the rain, I mean. Fuck, even my own thoughts were confusing me.

Home. I was taking my Lust Demon home.

Together, we walked down the street, our hands conjoined as they always seemed to be. It was like we needed the contact. I wondered if that was an effect of the summoning, or merely what we wanted. I realised how little I knew.

“Lily?”

“Mmm?”

“What can you tell me about… well, how this all works?”

She glanced across at me as we walked. “You’re not like the other summoners I’ve met, Abby. They were all power-hungry, self-obsessed mercenary types just looking to bind a demon to line their own pockets and slate their depraved hungers.”

“Oh, ha-ha. Yeah. I’m not like that.” Shit, that was exactly what I was. Can’t a girl change? “I’m sorry I summoned you, Lily. I’ll… work out a way to set you free.” So I’d be in debt for a few more… years. At least I’d be able to look in the mirror without cringing.

She squeezed my hand. “Why did you summon me?”

Ah. I should’ve anticipated that. Quick, lie. Convincingly. “I… um… found a book, and, um… Well, the truth is, I actually was expecting a male Lust Demon.” Smooth, Abby, real smooth. Way to make her feel wanted. I didn’t know why I’d said that. I hadn’t intended to tell her; it had just slipped out.

“Tua, tuus. To-may-to, to-mah-to,” she laughed softly, a bitter tone to it.

It took me a moment, then I realised she was referring to the Latin I’d used. Tua ad me venies, ego iubeo! Oh, of course! In Latin, ‘you’ was masculine or feminine. What an idiot I was. Months studying the book, to miss such an obvious thing.

But of course the originators of that spell would want a girl demon. The implications were… unpleasant. And not least because I saw my own decisions reflected in them.

I stopped in the street, turning toward her. She stopped too, her beautiful eyes reflecting the hurt I’d just caused. It was just us, the rain, and, from somewhere, a strong smell of rotting cabbage.

“Lily… listen. I… I’m being honest with you. I summoned you by accident, and it was a dumb thing to do. I didn’t realise you’d be… anything like this. I promise you I’ll find a way to reverse this.” How? I know that damn book off by heart, and there’s nothing in there to unbind a demon. Would it work if I simply banished her, or would she still be bound to me? One problem at a time. There had to be an answer somewhere.

She was just staring at me, looking vulnerable and unwanted. We were back to puppies, only this one seemed lost.

I lifted our linked hands, holding them between our chests. “I know I didn’t mean to summon you, but… I’m so glad I did. You’re amazing, Lily, and… and I’ve loved every moment I’ve spent with you.”

I hadn’t really thought through what I wanted to say. My delivery had been stilted and nervous. But her expression changed, and she gazed at me with the same look of adoration she’d shown when I’d called her ‘lovely’.

“Oh, Abby! I’ve never –”

“Well, looky, looky here!”

I turned in surprise as two men approached from behind some wheelie bins. They sported dirty clothes and ragged beards, and quickly stepped either side of us, blocking our way down the street. I pulled Lily in behind me, turning to face them, and now we had our backs to the wall.

“Ahh crap, I forgot to glamour,” I heard Lily mutter.

━━━━༻❁༺━━━━

Chapter Six

“I’m all over the stripper look,” one man said, leering as he reached out toward Lily. I pushed us back further, the bins on one side, the wall hemming us in, the men blocking our escape. The smell was worse too, though I wasn’t sure if it was from the men or the bins.

“Come on, girlies. We just want to play,” the other man moved alongside his friend, further narrowing the gap out. He grinned at us, black teeth and gaps. “You can be the sluts we know you want to be. We’re not going to judge, are we, Lenny?”

The man laughed, reaching out again toward Lily. I batted his hand away, and he laughed again.

“We’re just on our way home. We don’t want any trouble.” I’d tried to inject some confidence into my tone, but it came out almost as a whimper.

Both men stepped closer, and now they were in touching range.

“You can scream if you like, ain’t no one around to hear you in this rain,” he grasped the front of my coat, pulling at the buttons. “They never come anyway, do they?”

“Abby…” Lily hissed my name, urgency in her voice. I knew she was afraid. This was all my fault.

“Please don’t,” I said, shrinking back. There was nowhere further to go; I was pushing against Lily. I tried to keep her behind me as the man pulled at my coat again. A button pinged off and his dirty hand slid inside, pawing at me.

“Abby!” Lily’s tone was demanding now, but what did she want me to do? What could we do?

I tried to push him away, but he was simply too strong. He laughed at my efforts and his hand came up over my breast, squeezing painfully.

“Get off me!” I cried, pushing ineffectually at his hand.

Beside me the other man reached for Lily, sliding his arm around her waist, and pulling her into him. I felt her drawn from me, and still there was nothing I could do.

“Abby, now would be a good time…”

She didn’t sound scared, she sounded worried. ‘Now would be a good time’? What did that mean?

And then it struck me. “Lily! Defend us!” I saw her eyes flash red in my peripheral vision, and I hastily added a condition. “Don’t kill them!”

The men had laughed at my initial command, but their smiles faltered at my qualification. They both glanced at me, and it was all the distraction Lily needed.

Her tail whipped around, the tip of it slicing through the arm of the man holding her, a cut that traversed his bicep even through his thick, dirty coat, and blood splashed across his chest. Her tail flicked again, back and forth, and each swish was a slash across a limb, a neck, or a cheek. Her control was absolute. No target was missed, no cut was too deep. The casual lethality of her tail was obvious, and I knew she could have killed them in a fraction of the time had she so chosen. Had I not stopped her.

Some mere seconds had passed since my belated command, and then the men were falling swiftly back, bleeding from numerous wounds, their jackets in tatters. I ran my eyes over them swiftly; none seemed too serious, but the shock of Lily’s rapid attack had all the impact we needed. We had the opening to escape, and I took Lily’s hand and pulled her after me. We ran past the bins and onto the street, tearing down the pavement in the rain, leaving the men behind. They’d made no attempt to follow.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” I gasped, as we slowed to a walk. “I didn’t know you needed my permission.”

She stopped, turning toward me, misty wisps all about her from where she was impeding the rain. “It doesn’t matter, Abby. You realised in time, didn’t you?” Then her hands were inside my coat, rearranging my cardigan and shirt after that horrible man had laid his hands on me. I shied away from the memory of his hands, focusing instead on Lily’s gentle touch. Rain ran down my collar, but her touch was warming, and I felt myself slowly relax as she smoothed down my clothes. She pulled the coat about me when she was done, re-fastening it with the two remaining buttons, and one hanging loose.

Dammit, he’d ripped one of the buttons off. I knew I didn’t have a spare. I loved this coat. Bastard.

“Let me try something,” I said, taking Lily’s hands in mine. It took but a moment to figure out what I wanted to say. “I command you to defend us, and yourself, whenever you wish, to the force you deem appropriate.”

She smiled at me.

“Will that work?” I asked, seeking her approval.

“That’ll work just fine,” she said.

“I don’t think you should kill people though,” I added, voicing my concern. “But I don’t want to stop you… if you think it’s necessary.”

She raised my hand to her mouth and kissed it. “I appreciate your thoughtfulness, and I won’t kill unless I see no other option. You have my word.”

I smiled with relief. “I hope there’ll never be a need again. But better to be prepared, right?”

“Absolutely. We’re almost back home. Let’s get inside, okay?”

“Sure.” I nodded.

We continued on our way, holding hands. The rain seemed to be growing stronger. My coat was soaked, but I hardly noticed: it was fascinating to be walking beside this beautiful Lust Demon with the halo of steam around her.

I needed to know more about her, but moreover I needed to know how to keep her safe. Us safe. My ignorance was as much a threat as the men had been. More, perhaps, for Lily had dealt with them swiftly enough – in the end. If I hadn’t been so ignorant, they’d never have been a threat.

“Before our rude interruption, I was asking you to tell me about how the summoning thing works. Perhaps you should start with what I need to know that I don’t already.”

“Well… it’s pretty simple, actually. You summoned me, I’m bound to you, I have to follow your commands.” I had to focus on her words; even listening to her speak was a wonderful distraction. She had such a mesmerizing voice. “I can’t harm you – that’s a major thing. My powers don’t work on you – beguilement, illusion, and such.”

“Oh… is that why Julia said you were wearing body paint? I’d wondered.”

She smiled at me. “Yes. Others see me differently than you do. They don’t see my horns, for example, or my tail.” She sounded a bit despondent about that. I think she was very fond of her tail.

“That’s what you meant when you said you ‘forgot to glamour’, when those horrible men found us.”

She grimaced. “The heating charm I do doesn’t play nicely with the glamour. It’s easier to be wet and glamoured, or dry and myself. I can use both, but I must concentrate a lot more, and I… got distracted.”

By my hurtful comments, she meant. I really had to do better. I squeezed her hand and sought to change the subject. “You were telling me what you can and can’t do?”

“Yes. Well, as you just discovered, I can’t act without your explicit instructions. Oh, I can do basic things, of course. Open doors. Pick stuff up. Borrow coats…” she glanced across and grinned at me. “But I can’t, for example, rob a bank or start my own taxi company.” Despite the levity of her words, I heard the bitterness that underlay them.

I was silent as I considered this, and we walked some more down the street.

She seemed surprisingly accepting of her lot in life, but I hated that she didn’t have free will – at least in the context of being unable to act for herself. But what if I removed that restriction, what I let her act as she desired, and she became a destructive force of chaos, killing at random or beguiling people in dangerous ways?

So maybe I was naïve, but I just didn’t think she would.

Yet she said her powers didn’t work on me, but what if that was a lie? What if, even now, she was beguiling me to grant her freedom? I glanced across at her. Was it irresponsible to trust her? She was a demon, wasn’t she?

Yet she wasn’t anything like what I’d expected.

Fuck it. At some point you just have to trust your instincts. I didn’t think she was lying. She was gorgeous, stunning, and not just in looks. From what little I’d seen of her she was capable of amazing empathy; I’d seen her vulnerable, she’d unselfishly shared herself with me, and ultimately she was simply nice.

Who would’ve thought a demon would be nice?

Bad press, I figured. Exclusively written by resentful old men. That said it all, didn’t it?

Perhaps she was accepting of her lot in life because she’d never had another choice. It was tough to miss what you’d never had… but Lily struck me as highly intelligent, and clearly capable of articulating herself. Then there’d been that tone of bitterness, even though she’d hid it well.

No, accepting or not, she deserved to have her freedom, to be able to make her own decisions. The way she’d been treated for so long wasn’t right. She deserved so much more. I would give her that freedom.

But what if she decided she wanted to leave me?

The thought of her preferring to be without me was suddenly terrifying, and for a moment I felt I couldn’t breathe. But if, all along, she didn’t actually want to be with me, then… then I had to let her go. I wasn’t going to make her do things she didn’t want to.

I am totally shit at this demon-summoning control thing. But nothing had prepared me for the vibrant life that was Lily, and the responsibility I now had for her.

As for the killing, chaotic reigns of evilness or suddenly deciding to wear crocs… these things I would simply have to address ‘if and when’.

I stopped again. I’d made up my mind. “Can’t I just… tell you to act as you want?”

She didn’t look at me. “I suppose you could,” her tone sullen, her expression withdrawn. In a moment of insight I realised she didn’t think I’d do it. I was dangling something she knew she’d never have.

It made my heart ache for her, and I was even more determined. “And it would last, if I phrased it like I did with the defence thing?”

“It would, if you worded it carefully.” Carefully neutral. She slowly raised her gaze, and I could see the seed of hope in her eyes.

“Um… anything I should know, before I put my foot in it again?”

She stared at me for a long moment before she answered. “Are you serious about this?”

“Deadly.” I said, squeezing her hand. But despite my reassurance, she still looked uncertain, still looked disbelieving. Tentatively, she squeezed back.

She’d lived a life of being controlled, and the prospect of freedom was too far out of reach for her to accept. The only way to prove to her I meant it was to do it.

“So… anything I need to know?”

“Nothing that I can think of,” she said, her voice still cautious. “Whatever you say, I still would have to follow your commands. I still wouldn’t be able to hurt you. We’d still have the Trace.”

“I would never command you to do something you didn’t want to.” God, I hoped that was true.

She chewed her lip for a moment. “I don’t think you would either.”

It was amazing she could be so trusting. I knew I wouldn’t be if I’d lived the life she had.

“What’s the Trace?” I asked. She’d just mentioned it, but it hadn’t been in the book. It seemed important; I heard the capital letter when she said it.

“We’re linked, through the Trace. So I can always find you, and… if you know how, you can always find me.”

“Wow. So… that’s how you knew where I was tonight?”

She nodded. “Yep. And… your pentacle was a bit… er… crappy. I could walk right out of your flat without a problem.”

I grimaced, remembering where I’d broken the circle when I’d fallen. “It was my first time, okay? Next time I summon a hot Lust Demon, I’ll do it better.”

“You did it pretty good first time.” She smiled at me, but it lacked her usual vibrancy. I’d been discussing her freedom, then allowed myself to be distracted with the Trace. She clearly thought that was the end of it, and I could tell she was trying not to dwell on her disappointment.

Her resilience was amazing. From her perspective, I’d dangled her freedom, dropped it again, and yet she’d still offered me a smile. If I’d had any remaining doubts, they were eliminated in that moment. I wanted to do this. Needed to do this. Lily deserved to be her own person. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I reached for her other hand, holding them together in mine. “Okay. Let me try… something like…” I thought for a moment. Something simple would be best, so it was clear and loophole-free. “Lily, from this point forward, I command you to act as your heart desires.” I considered what I’d said. It seemed straightforward. It should work, shouldn’t it?

For a long moment she stared at me in disbelief, then burst into tears.

Crap. How did I fuck it up? I frowned, thinking back over the words I’d chosen. I couldn’t see anything wrong.

“I’m so sorry, Lily. Tell me what I did wrong, and –”

“You… you gave me free will!” she sobbed, clinging to my hands.

Oh. Well, I guess I did it right then. I held my breath for the moment she realised she could just walk away. My pulse began to pound in my ears. Please don’t leave, please don’t leave.

“Is… is that okay?” I asked, cautiously. “Now you can rob banks and start your own taxi–"

She flung herself at me, knocking me back a step, and her mouth found mine. Her kisses tasted salty with her tears, and her hands were pulling apart my coat. I was pretty sure that loose button pinged off but, hell, that hardly mattered right then, and frankly it would be easier to replace all of them at once. It was tough to care about coat buttons when her hands were pulling at my clothes, working beneath my top to get to bare skin. The rain took rapid advantage of the opening Lily had given it, and in seconds I was soaked, but she was so warm that I hardly cared.

She made the rain feel quite nice.

“Yes,” she whispered between kisses, “it’s very okay.” She pushed her tongue into my mouth, hungrily seeking mine, and I opened to her with a whimper. Her hands slid up my back, beneath my clothes, and the feel of her touch on my bare skin was electrifying.

She broke the kiss and breathed, “I would never have dreamed…” she nuzzled against my neck, pushing my head to the side, lips and tongue trailing down to my collar bone, “…that anyone…” her kisses were frantic, her hands pulling me in tightly, our bodies pressing together, and I melted against her. “…would ever…” one hand slid around, cupping my breast as her thumb brushed across my nipple. I gasped, my back arching. “…grant me such a gift…”

She pulled back slightly to better see my face. “Please can we go home? I so badly want to fuck you right now.”

━━━━༻❁༺━━━━

Chapter Seven

I shivered against her as I heard her words, and it wasn’t from the cold. She’d warmed me inside and out; whatever she was, she was still a Lust Demon.

And as she gently pushed her palm against my breast, I realised I was quite okay with that.

I nodded, not trusting my voice, and together we made our way to my flat. I clung to her hand the whole way.

By the time we arrived I was drenched and shivering. Lily’s hand was warm, but without her touch on my body, I had quickly grown cold.

She pulled me swiftly to the lift, and as soon as the doors were closing she kissed me again, her hands once more inside my coat, beneath my clothes.

“You’re freezing,” she said. Her lips turned up at the corners, her smile playful as she didn’t even try to be subtle. “We will have to get you out of these wet things.”

Fuck. But I didn’t care what she did with me, so long as she stayed. Besides, it was hardly as if I was against the idea. I squeezed my thighs together.

The lift had never seemed this slow before, but Lily used the time well, and I was whimpering my arousal when we eventually juddered to a halt.

My keys were in my pocket, but it took a while to open my door. It would’ve gone faster if we’d been able to stop kissing each other.

I finally got the door open, and we fell through, giggling together like schoolgirls, breathless with our kissing and the anticipation of what was to follow. I retained enough presence of mind to pull the key from the lock, mainly because I didn’t want any intruders for the next… well… day or two.

We’d need at least that long.

Lily pushed the coat from my shoulders, and I let it drop to the floor. It was heavy with rainwater and squelched underfoot. She grasped the hem of my cardigan and began to pull, and I raised my arms to help. Sure, it had buttons, but this was so much simpler.

It seemed we were both in a rush.

She hooked my strappy top along the way and pulled both off me, baring my torso.

I’d expected her to pull the wet clothes fully off, but she had other ideas. She stopped when they were over my head, entangling my face and arms, and while I was momentarily helpless, she took full advantage. I gasped as her warm mouth covered one breast, her tongue flicking over my nipple.

It was so strange to consider I had never been with a woman before, and now I could think of nothing else.

I arched my back, offering myself to her mouth, and it was only the thought of having my hands on her that gave me the motivation to pull the clothes off my arms and drop them to the side.

“You’re cold,” she murmured against me. “I don’t want you catching a chill. Why don’t we get you in a hot shower?”

“Will you come too?”

“Of course.”

Well, when you put it like that…

“Okay,” I breathed, and I was still happy to give her anything she asked.

She pulled back, looking at me. “You didn’t mean to summon me, did you?”

“No.” I’d told her I didn’t. I’d told her I’d been aiming for something a little more… masculine.

I quailed inside. Was she offended?

“Have you been with a woman before?”

Ah. That was why she’d raised it.

“No,” I said again, suddenly nervous. Did that make me less desirable to her? But she’d asked gently. I hoped it would be ok. Still… I’d given her free will – or, at least, I hoped I had – and as much as I could, given that she was still bound to me. And she was still here. So, that counted for something, right? “Have you been with a woman before?”

She smiled. “It’s fair to say I’ve been with everything before. But yes… many women. My previous masters have often enjoyed sharing me with others; women included.”

Her whole existence had been one of compulsion and command. No wonder she had cried when I’d freed her.

I’d never make her do anything she didn’t want.

“Lily… I command you to never do anything you don’t wish to do.”

She shuddered against me. “Aww, crap.” But she was smiling.

I blinked. ‘Aww crap’? “Why ‘aww crap’?”

“Well, now I have to persuade myself that I really want to do stuff like cleaning, otherwise it’ll never get done. And I really hate cleaning.”

I giggled. “We can get a cleaner.” Wow, did I just say that? I’d known the girl for an hour or two, and we were making domestic arrangements?

But it wasn’t like she’d be leaving any time soon. She was bound to me.

She reached for the waist of my skirt, but I took her hands in mine, stopping her. She looked up at me, her brow mildly furrowed, her head cocked slightly to the side. Trusting. Inquiring. Patiently waiting. So fucking gorgeous.

“Before we do this, I have to know something. Do you… do you want me to send you back? There’s a banishing spell… in the book. Would it undo the binding?”

For a moment she went perfectly still, like a statue carved from the silence of time, and I held my breath.

It had been mere seconds, though it had felt far longer, but eventually she spoke.

“You… gave me free will.”

“Yes,” I said, chewing my lip nervously. Please.

“And I don’t have to do anything I don’t wish to do.”

“That’s right.” I could feel my heart beating in my chest.

“Do you wish me to stay?”

“Yes, please.” Hell, yes. “But only if you want to.”

“Hmm,” she sounded thoughtful. “Go back to hell, or…” her hands moved once more, her fingers pushing inside the waist of my skirt, slowly working it down over my hips. “…stay here in heaven.”

My breath caught.

My skirt fell to the floor, to pool around my feet.

She trailed her fingertips across my abdomen, her eyes running like a caress across my skin.

“It’s a tough choice,” she said, whimsically, “but I think I’ll stay.”

And I was in her arms, my breasts pushing against the hardness of her leather corset, my mouth seeking hers. Her hands came around me, pulling me against her, and I was whimpering as I kissed her.

Her lips were so soft, her tongue so delicious. I moaned into her mouth as her fingers played down my spine.

She broke the kiss at last. “You’re still cold, Abby. And I’m desperate to wash this crap off my tail.”

Yeah… that was a good point. Somehow I’d forgotten about that.

“I’ll wash your tail, if you’ll let me.” And the rest of you.

“I’ve never had anyone wash me before. It sounds wonderful.”

I stepped carefully out of my skirt (it was one of my favs) and bent to unzip my boots. She watched me toe them off, her eyes on my nakedness, and such a simple act carried so much intimacy when I did it before her. My panties were still around my waist and hung loose where she’d cut through them, but I left them on. I wasn’t quite brave enough to remove them while she watched, even if the cover they now provided was minimal.

I took her hand and led her through the flat to the bathroom.

We passed the living room where the candles were still arrayed, but now there was a blackened scorch mark on the carpet. It was hard to miss once we’d passed the sofa.

I stopped in surprise. “What the hell…?”

“Oh, that was me. Sorry.” She seemed bashful.

I giggled. “I think my damage deposit is kinda screwed. But don’t worry – the carpet deserved to be put out of its misery.”

“Damage deposits are trivial,” she said. “All I need is three seconds with your landlord and you’ll be rent-free for as long as you wish.”

Hmm, that was a thought. “Do you think we could get a nicer flat?”

She smiled. “We can get whatever we want.”

The very reason I’d summoned a demon in the first place.

It was a lot easier justifying my moral ambiguities when I had Lily to keep happy.

A deluxe flat, rent free – with a maid to do the cleaning. Yeah, okay, sign me up.

“That sounds great. But what I want right now is you in a shower.”

Pulling on her hand, I continued past toward the bathroom. She followed willingly.

I was so grateful my bathroom was clean and tidy. As was the rest of my flat – the state of my living room aside. I didn’t mind cleaning – though I wasn’t going to say no to a maid – but right then I just wanted no distractions while I concentrated on Lily.

Getting her out of that corset was going to be difficult enough. I didn’t even know where to start.

I turned on the shower, letting the temperature rise, then turned to her.

The corset was stiff under my fingers, no obvious fastenings at the front, and there’d been none at the back either. “How do I get you out of this thing?”

“Like this,” she said, and shimmered slightly.

The corset disappeared, the boots and fishnet stockings too, and she was perfectly nude before me. The boots had had quite the heel, and her instant vanishing trick left her on her toes. She lowered to her heels; a simple move that she performed with all the grace and control of a dancer.

“…Fuck…” I said, my eyes widening as I took in the vision before me.

She smiled at my unsophisticated flattery. Yet perhaps she thought it more authentic for its involuntary nature. I hoped so anyway.

Her neck and shoulders were elegant, flowing delightfully into the curve of her breasts, which were nothing short of magnificent with a perfect roundness and so firm that they seemed to hover, her nipples hard and almost pointing upward. Beneath, her stomach was smooth and flat, the tiniest impression of musculature, yet still wonderfully feminine, rounding ever so slightly as it flowed down into her mons. The triangle between her legs was as smooth as I’d ever seen, no trace of any hair, not even so much as a hint of a tan line, just pure perfection.

It made me feel self-conscious about the carefully trimmed bikini line I preferred to maintain. I hoped she wouldn’t object.

“You can’t go in the shower like that,” she said, lowering to one knee before me, slipping her fingers into the waistband of my ruined panties. As she pulled them down, she placed a kiss on my stomach. Her lips were so soft, and I felt her tongue press against my skin as she kissed me.

I felt my underwear fall to land on my bare feet, and then she was rising, her body so close to me that her breasts brushed against mine as she stood.

“That shower looks like it’ll be a snug fit with both of us,” she smiled.

It certainly wasn’t very big, but then neither was my flat.

“Sorry,” I murmured, wanting more than anything to give this girl the best I could.

“Don’t be. Tomorrow, we’ll go house-hunting. Somewhere with a nice big shower… and a nice big bed.”

She took my hand and stepped into the shower cubicle, under the water, pulling me in with her.

The water streamed down over her, slicking her skin, and running in rivulets between her breasts and down over her stomach. I couldn’t take my eyes off her.

She pulled me into her, our bodies pressing together, and she giggled as she closed the door behind me.

“Hardly room to move,” she murmured, and kissed me. Her hands slid down my back and cupped my ass, holding me tight as her tongue slipped into my mouth. I whimpered at the feel of her, the taste of her.

How had I gotten so lucky? Oh, that was right… I’d summoned her. She was bound to me. In that moment, my morals were sorely tested: she was mine to do with as I wished. But she was here of her own accord, wasn’t she? I’d given her free will. I’d given her every opportunity to leave. She’d never hesitated.

Still, she was here now, and she was mine. I couldn’t resist experimenting a little.

“Turn around,” I whispered to her. “Place your hands on the tiles.”

She obeyed immediately, as I knew she must. I hadn’t asked; I’d deliberately used an imperative. But there’d been no reproach, no reluctance, and as the water streamed down her back, she wiggled her ass at me.

Her ass was perfection too: firm, smooth, perfect curves, and just the right size. Above, the base of her tail jutted from her spine, swishing lightly between us.

I placed my hand on the base of it, and she shivered.

I leant in, pressing my breasts to her back, until my lips were against her ear. “I thought you said this was in you,” I said, tugging gently at her tail.

She looked at me over her shoulder, a furrow of surprise on her brow. “No, I didn’t.”

It was my turn to be surprised. I could’ve sworn she’d said…

“…how do you… er… keep it on?” I’d asked.

“Keep it on?” She’d grinned impishly.

…but no, it had been my dirty mind filling in the blanks. I’d assumed something completely different – though, in my defence, I hadn’t realised the tail was real at that point.

And now I risked offending her again. Fuck, Abby, you’re such an idiot sometimes.

“I’m sorry, I made a mistake. I misunderstood you.”

“You don’t like my tail?” she asked, her voice forlorn, her tail curving down between her legs to wrap around her own ankle. She was hiding it… as much as she was able, anyway.

I wasn’t going to let her think that. All of her was gorgeous, from the points of her horns to the tip of her spiky, lethal tail, and there was no way I was going to let my stupid mouth make her feel otherwise.

Which gave me an idea.

“I love your tail,” I whispered against her ear, then I deliberately rubbed my breasts down her back as I slid slowly down to the floor of the cramped shower. There was just enough room to kneel behind her, and that was all I wanted.

I laid a kiss on the top of her tail – the base of her spine – and she shivered beneath my lips. That was the second time she’d trembled when touched there, and I wondered if it was sensitive. I promised myself I would learn all her sensitive spots.

I trailed my tongue across the base of her tail, and she moaned quietly, her ass pushing back ever so slightly. It made me smile.

Her tail was soft, wet fur beneath my tongue, but so silky, so smooth, and so firm it was more like licking velvet than fur – if the velvet had been wrapped tightly around a warm, living, squirming thing. I ran my hand lightly down it as I kissed and licked her and gently eased it from where it was cowering around her ankle.

She let me pull it free, and it swished slightly in my hand. I’d never felt anything so amazing.

“I love your tail,” I murmured again, stroking it with both hands. “Will you still let me wash it?”

“Yes, please,” she whispered, and I barely heard her above the noise of the water.

━━━━༻❁༺━━━━

Chapter Eight

My shampoo and conditioner were on the floor in the corner of the shower, happily in reach, and I squirted a little into my palm and ran it the full length of her tail. It was sensuous beyond measure, and judging from how it twitched and squirmed between my fingers, it was for her too.

I examined the tip carefully as my hands approached it. The end lacked the sharp edge I’d seen her use when she’d defended us from those two horrible men. It looked soft, more like a blunt, round arrowhead than the crescent-moon blade I was sure I’d seen during the brief fight.

It showed no traces of the men’s blood, I was glad to see, yet I made sure to wash it carefully. She’d expressed her desperate need to be clean of them, and I was only too glad to oblige.

I glanced up. “Does it feel clean? Did I do a good enough job?”

It was only then that I saw she was shivering beneath the warm water.

“Yesss…” she breathed, her voice full of lust and arousal.

Hmm. It seemed someone liked having their tail played with.

I stood slowly, bringing her tail with me, lifting it up, letting it drape across my arm and lie against my breasts. As I did so I dropped my hand beneath, close to the sensitive base of it, and lightly brushed the underside with my fingertips.

“Ohhh,” she moaned.

I grinned, knowing she couldn’t see. Gotcha, I thought. God, I loved turning on my Lust Demon.

“Do you like that?” I asked innocently, let my fingertips trail down the crack of her ass, then back up to caress beneath her tail again.

“Fuck yes,” she breathed, pushing her ass back towards me.

“You feel everything, eh?” I gave her back her words from earlier in Julia’s flat.

“You know I do,” she breathed, pushing her ass against my hand.

“Good,” I said, and licked around the tip of her tail.

She shuddered hard, her body writhing before me, her tail twitching in my hand.

It was so much fun to learn about the unexpected erogenous zones of Lust Demons.

I took the tip of her tail into my mouth, trailing it with my tongue, and gently closed my lips around her like I was… well… all my prior experience had been with men. One uses what one knows.

She gasped loudly, her hips twitching and her back arching. “Oh fuck, Abby…”

I explored the sensations of her tail-tip with my tongue, discovering small ridges beneath the short, soft fur, feeling the wiry hardness that lay beneath. She shivered again, and I could feel the tremors run down the length of her tail and twitch against my tongue.

I let it slip from my mouth. “Still wonder if I like your tail?” I gave it another long lick.

“Oh, Abby! May I move from the wall?”

Hmm. It seemed my command had kept her there. I hadn’t intended that. I felt a slight twinge of guilt… but then she hadn’t been objecting.

“Of course you can.”

She turned swiftly but took me in her arms with such care and gentleness. “Thank you, Abby. That was wonderful,” she gazed at me, her eyes full of that look of adoration I’d come to love seeing. “Never has anyone done something like that.”

I knew I’d never get used to the exciting feel of her nakedness against me.

She brushed her lips across mine. “Let’s finish up in here and get out, okay?”

“Sure,” I said, my stomach squirming in anticipation.

She grinned at me. “Your turn. Under the spray, if you please.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

It was fun to switch places, largely because it was impossible to do without rubbing against each other. We might’ve indulged in more rubbing than was strictly necessary.

She poured some of my shower gel into her hands and I spent the next few minutes luxuriating in her touch. She washed me far more thoroughly than I had her, and by the time she’d finished my legs were unsteady and my breathing was ragged.

She smiled at me, giving my ass a final pat. “Now you’re clean in all the places I want to lick.”

Damn. She wanted to lick me everywhere. I supposed I’d just have to endure.

She stepped backwards out of the shower cubicle with a grace I’d never have managed, drawing me out with my hand in hers. It seemed hardly a moment went by without a touch between us, and I was quite content with that. I didn’t know if it was a consequence of our binding or merely mutual attraction, but since the moment she’d sat at my feet and propped her chin on my knee at Julia’s party, we’d always had some physical contact between us.

She pulled a towel from my radiator and rubbed me down, pausing now and then to kiss me, lick a nipple or squeeze my ass. Her touches were a delicious torment, but I wanted more.

“Let me dry you,” I said, pulling the towel from her at last. “I’m done with this bathroom now. I want you in the bedroom.”

Lily’s skin began to steam and a second later she was dry.

“That’s a neat trick,” I said enviously. Even after the towel I was still damp… in some places more than others.

She winked at me. “One of the few perks of being a demon.” She took my hand and led me to the bedroom. Her tail slid around my waist, caressing me, and helping her pull me along. I loved her tail. I also loved watching her ass.

“Why does your tail sometimes look different?” I asked her as we entered the bedroom.

She turned to me, slipping the tail from around my waist and making the tip float up between us. Our breasts were almost touching, and her tail brushed lightly against both of us as it rose. It sent another shiver through me.

“I guess it’s the same as opening or closing your hand,” she said, and the tip of her tail became a spear-like triangle – the one I’d seen when I’d first met her – and I watched with amazement as the shape continued to crystallise until the edge looked razor-sharp. She morphed it again, into the curved blade she used during our contretemps with the two men. It seemed to fold within itself and became the rounded end I’d seen in the shower, then merged once more and the end seemed to disappear entirely, becoming almost uniform with the width of the rest of the tail, only a very slight thickness marking the tip. The latter made the whole thing look more like a panther’s tail: black, slinky, short-haired, and lithe. And also more like something I could lick. I licked it.

She mmm’d. “I love it when you do that.”

“I know,” I said, smiling demurely. “And I can’t help it. Your tail is amazing, and I love how it can change shape like that. So cool.” I felt something tickle my lip and pulled free a tiny, loose black hair. “…and so furry.” I flicked away the offending item.

“Oh, I can do this too…”

Her tail shimmered, and where before there had been a black panther’s tail, now there was a smooth, hairless tail only a little darker than her own skin colour. It was a burnished bronze, growing darker still further along its length, and the tip was perfectly rounded.

“Hmm, it was beautiful before, but I like this too, because I can…” I opened my mouth and took her into me, sucking and licking on it as I watched her face.

“Fuck, Abby…” she sighed, closing her eyes, her body leaning into mine. “I love it when you do that.”

“I like doing it to you,” I murmured, licking it again. It felt like satin beneath my tongue, and it tasted more of her than it had before. “I want to take my time exploring all of you.”

“I’m yours to explore,” and she reached up with one hand, cupping my cheek in her palm. I pressed against her, closing my eyes, feeling a wave of tenderness both within myself and from her too.

I wanted her on the bed, but I was nervous too. How does one make love to a woman so gorgeous? I’d never made love to a woman, let alone one like Lily. I wanted her on the bed, to lie with and touch and taste, but would I be able to please her? I had to at least try. I couldn’t let my own reticence waste this moment. I wanted her on the bed, but also I didn’t want to force her. I chose my words carefully.

“Please will you lie down for me?”

She smiled as if she knew all my thoughts but turned to the bed and crawled onto it. She moved gracefully, and I was once more reminded of a cat, even as her now-smooth tail swished about her. She was graceful and elegant, smooth, and sensual, her body deliciously naked. As she crawled, she opened herself to me, raising her ass slightly, lifting her tail. It was obvious how aroused she was, how wet she was. She looked back over her shoulder with that sexy little smile, and I was sure she just wanted to check I was watching the show.

And oh fuck but I was watching the show.

I’d never wanted anyone more in my life.

“You can tell me what to do too, you know,” she said, arching her back and subtly waving her ass at me. It would’ve been more subtle if I hadn’t been staring at it, and I hungrily followed every tiny move she made. “I like it when you tell me what to do.”

She turned to her back, lying down in the middle of my bed, her legs slightly spread. She pushed her head back into the pillows and arched her back, lifting it from the sheets, her perfect breasts rising as if in offering, her arms falling wide to her sides.

“Is this how you want me?”

“Yesss…” I breathed, gazing down at her. She was too much to resist. What nervousness I’d had was dispelled before such a vision, and I eagerly crawled on the bed between her legs.

She spread them wider for me, lifting her knees slightly, her smooth, inviting pussy open to me, glistening with her arousal, and begging to be tasted.

I couldn’t resist any longer. I had to know how it would feel, how it would taste.

I lowered my mouth, taking a moment to breathe in her fresh, spicy scent, then slowly licked the full length of her from her opening up to her clit.

She had a fresh, clean taste that was almost sweet on my tongue. If this was what lust tasted like I wanted to bury my face in it and roll in her essence. I licked again, moaning my pleasure, and her gasps in response were the best sound of all.

She hooked a leg around my back, her soft thigh gently encouraging me closer, and it was all the affirmation I needed to know she liked what I was doing. I pushed my tongue inside her, her smooth folds opening willingly, and licked slowly up toward her clit once more. It was a little nub of rigid pleasure beneath my tongue, and I delighted in her moans as I licked all around and back and forth, discovering as I went what triggered the best sounds.

It was a game of which I knew I wouldn’t tire, a game I hoped to play many times.

I wanted to touch her too, and it was easy to slide a finger inside her as I licked more, her hips bucking beneath my mouth as she pulled my head in tighter with her warm thigh. Her cries rose in pitch, her wetness coating my mouth, my nose and cheeks, and there was nothing I wanted more than to make this beautiful creature come beneath my mouth.

Yet it seemed she had other ideas, for she reached down to me with both hands, drawing me up her body. I tried not to pout as she pulled me away, but the feel of her warm, silky-smooth skin beneath me was a new sensation to enjoy, and then her mouth was on me, kissing me, tasting herself on my tongue.

“I want to lick you too,” she said breathlessly, and, rolling me to my back with a casual strength that made me gasp, she swung around until her head was over my pussy, holding her body raised over mine. Her thighs were spread widely, and her sex was tantalisingly presented once more.

I shivered beneath her in anticipation of what was to come, and it was only seconds before I could once more push my tongue inside her and taste her again. I moaned into her as I felt her mouth on my vulva, licking down and through my lips, parting me with her fingers and seeking out my clit with her tongue.

All the while her tail swayed in the air above us, a mesmerising dance that perhaps – I hoped – showed her pleasure.

I slid my hands up her thighs, cupping her tight, firm ass, taking delight in the feel of her even as I licked her more, and she moaned and angled her hips until her clit was over my mouth. That suited me perfectly, and I sucked it in between my lips, dancing my tongue across it. She moaned against me, her face pushed between my thighs, then I felt her tongue on my clit, and it became a duel to see who could make the other come first.

I lost myself in the sensations of her, the heady heights of the orgasm that she drew from me, the rush of arousal from her when I finally brought her to her peak. Even then she wasn’t satiated, sliding one arm around my leg, pulling it up to open me more to her, and her tongue dove again inside me.

It seemed to reach so much further than mine, and that didn’t seem fair. The pleasure she gave me was so great, so I focused all my efforts on her clit in return. Again we reached our peaks, lost in the taste of one another and the sounds of our cries and whimpers.

At last she moved, rolling off me and turning until our heads were once again aligned on the bed, and I thought that perhaps she was content and wished to simply snuggle. Yet I had misjudged the strength of her desire for me, for instead she crawled over me until her knees were either side of my head and her vulva was but a whisper from my mouth.

“May I try something, Abby?” she asked softly, teasing me as she did so by brushing her pussy across my lips.

I looked up at her as she gazed down at me and nodded willingly. As far as I was concerned she could do as she wished with me.

She reached down and parted her labia, offering her pink insides to my tongue, and I quickly moved to comply with her unspoken instruction. But it seemed she had something else in mind, for I jumped as I felt a soft touch between my legs, unexpected but not unwelcome, and knew she’d once more deployed her tail.

“Yes…” I breathed against her, and she slid her hands into my hair, holding my head for her pleasure as she rubbed her vulva across my lips and tongue, and while she did, her tail explored me.

I was helpless beneath her, a slave to her desires, yet nothing in this world would’ve made me wish to move. I spread my legs wider, angling my hips, and her tail slid across my folds, rubbing up against my clit.

It became too difficult to concentrate on licking her, such was the intensity of the feelings between my thighs, and I could only moan as she teased me, until I was begging for more.

“Please, Lily… please…”

It seemed she had been waiting for such permission, for the tip of her tail slid through my wetness to my entrance, and then she was slowly pushing inside me.

I arched my back in ecstasy, a deep moan of satisfaction as I felt her enter me, and I heard her purr her pleasure above me as I responded to her touch.

“Feel everything…” I breathed, encouraging her, and felt her push deeper within me in response.

She moaned as she fucked me with her tail, as if it was as good for her as it was for me, but it felt so divine, filled me so completely, that I was sure I had the better end of the bargain. Her tail slipped from me before pushing in again, then she ran a ripple of a shudder through it, and such was the intensity of the sensation that my back arched involuntarily, and I almost came right then.

“Ohhh, fuck!” I gasped, and I felt her shiver with the pleasure of my reaction.

“I love being inside you,” she whispered, and did the shuddering thing again.

My pussy clenched around her as my orgasm hit, and it was so powerful, so deep, that it seemed to last forever, and I swam in the ecstasy of it, unable to do more than whimper beneath her.

Afterwards we snuggled in my bed, facing each other, our legs intertwined, and our bodies pushed close.

Though we had no sheet over us I never felt cold, for the slightest touch of her could warm me throughout. It was a neat trick. Lust Demons were certainly my new favourite thing.

“Thank you for coming to me,” I whispered to her, and she just smiled. Her tail snaked around, nestling against my ass, wrapping up and over my hip, and in such a way I drifted off to sleep, feeling contentment like I had never known before.

━━━━༻❁༺━━━━

Chapter Nine

She was gone from the bed when I woke up.

"Lily?"

Perhaps she was making breakfast, but I couldn’t hear her. I stretched slowly, then rose, padding naked out into the living room.

“Lily?”

The flat was empty. There were no sounds of her. I checked the bathroom, the door swinging open at my touch.

Where was she? I had a sudden sense of foreboding... but surely I was worrying over nothing.

The Trace. I hadn't used it yet. I wondered if I could.

I concentrated hard, thinking of her. Thinking of our binding. I felt a tug from below my navel... a direction. Insistent.

It took but a moment to pull on clothes: jeans, boots, a jumper. I dressed swiftly, picking up my damp coat on the way out. I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. It was growing stronger.

Her absence was a pain in my chest. It was the longest we'd gone without touching. We'd touched all night as we’d slept, I knew we had. How long had she been gone? Where was she now? Foregoing the lift, I took the stairs two at a time, racing out of the building. The Trace was pulling me to my left, down the street.

I ran.

It was only a hundred yards or so. A scorch mark, burnt against the tarmac in the middle of the road. Nothing else.

"No..." I fell to my knees on the pavement, staring at it. What could it mean?

"Lily..." I whispered, concentrating on the Trace. It pulled me toward the scorch mark, but there was nothing there, and the insistent sensation began to fade.

In the end I went to Julia’s. I didn’t have anyone else.

I told her everything. She didn’t believe me at first, and I’d known she wouldn’t, so I’d brought the book with me.

“You… you summoned a demon?” Her voice was barely a whisper. It seemed even Julia could be shocked. I hadn’t even heard her defining exclamation mark.

I nodded, holding the book close to my chest.

Lily had only been here one night, yet my heart felt torn asunder. ‘Torn asunder’… I think I’d read that once; a ridiculously dramatic phrase, or so I had previously thought.

Where was she? Why hadn’t she come back? I checked the Trace again, as I had repeatedly, and each time it pulled towards a sense of nothingness.

“Oh, my sweet.” Julia came to me and enfolded me in her arms, the book pressed between us, holding me as I sobbed, and tears flowed down my cheeks. I was always such a mess when I cried that I never allowed myself to cry. Julia had certainly never seen me cry. She held me, and I cried.

Julia held me for the longest time, stroking my hair. I’d never known her to be so quiet for so long. It added an unexpected gravity to the situation.

She spoke at last. “Can’t you… can’t you summon her again?”

I blinked up at her.

We’d used a left-over can of white bathroom paint to draw the pentacle on Julia’s carpet. She’d assured me it would come out, with a bit of scrubbing. She’d already had the candles. She had an unbelievable number of candles.

I propped the book up against a chair leg, even though I didn’t need it. I chewed my lip, wondering how I should tell her. Why had I agreed to do this here? I really hadn’t thought this through.

“Um… so Lily is a Lust Demon.”

“Yes, you mentioned.”

“Right. So… um… when I summon her, I need to be feeling… um… lust. That’s… that’s just how the spell works.”

“Oh, yes, I suppose that makes sense.”

She was on sitting on her sofa, watching me, but I couldn’t see her expression because I was too embarrassed to look up.

“So… um…”

“So you need to get naked and horny?”

I glanced up then, her abrupt frankness surprising me. Her eyes were glittering, a small smile on her face. “Er… yeah. That’s… that’s kinda the play.”

“Okay. So… er… do you mind if I watch, or… do you want your privacy?” Her tone was delicate, tentative.

I blinked in surprise. That was a bit out of left field… wasn’t it? Was she just curious, or was there something more? I looked at her closely. Her body language was awkward, uncomfortable – which was rare enough for Julia. Her hands were clasped so tight I could see the whites of her knuckles.

For the first time, I saw our friendship with different eyes. Maybe this was why she tried so hard to be my friend, and all this time I’d been blind to it. Hell, I’d had no idea she was even into girls. I’d been certain she wasn’t. Perhaps my exposure to Lily had made me more aware.

Was this why she always wanted me to come over? Why she favoured my company over those I’d always thought would suit her better? She’d put up with my moods, encouraged me, laughed with me. We’d curled up together watching movies. She’d always had an ear for my trials and tribulations, supporting me, frequently putting my needs before her own. I’d just thought she was a good friend – and she was. But had I really been so naïve? I reflected that she liked to touch me too… she had always been quite handsy. I’d never been offended by that, never minded, never thought it was anything other than her nature.

Not until now, anyway.

“Do you want to watch?” I asked, curious.

“Um… yes… if that’s okay. If… if it wouldn’t be weird.”

Wow. There it was: confirmation. And perhaps it would be a little weird, but her expression was so earnest, so hopeful, that I didn’t want to refuse her. I could see the lust in her eyes.

I had the strongest feeling that Lily wouldn’t mind.

In answer, I walked carefully around the pentacle and the candles we’d painstakingly arrayed and lit, and came to stand beside the sofa, beside where she was sitting. She watched me with wide eyes, her lips slightly parted.

I toed off my boots, grasped the hem of my jumper and pulled it over my head. I’d left in such a rush I hadn’t bothered with socks or underwear. Julia’s eyes fell to my breasts, and I heard her intake of breath. I liked it.

My fingers fell to the buttons of my jeans, pulling them open as I watched Julia. There was no doubt anymore how she saw me, it was written all over her face. I wondered how I’d missed it, and for so long.

I enjoyed the way she looked at me. At least, with Julia watching, I’d have no problem getting in the mood to begin the ritual.

I wondered if this would even work. Even if we were successful, would it even be Lily, or would we just get a different Lust Demon? If we were successful. It wasn’t Halloween any longer. Did that matter? Could I still do it?

An idea occurred to me, and my fingers hesitated on the buttons of my jeans. Could I pull it off? Would Julia be willing?

Deliberately, I turned to present my naked back, my eyes falling to the preparations we’d made. I smiled, thinking of Lily watching what I was about to do. I knew she’d like it. It made my heart ache for her, even as I felt my arousal grow.

Julia was sitting directly behind me, and I knew where her eyes were. I flicked open the buttons of my jeans and pushed them slowly down over my hips, bending slightly as I did so, keeping my legs straight. The top of my ass came bare, the jeans sliding down inch by inch. I was teasing her, and blatantly. How much had changed since only yesterday. I would never have done this before I met Lily.

The jeans slipped another inch, and it must by now be obvious to Julia that I wore nothing beneath. She hadn’t made a sound.

I looked over my shoulder at her, much as Lily had done when she’d crawled onto my bed. Julia’s eyes were on my ass, enrapt, just like mine had been on Lily’s.

“Would you like to help me?” I asked, quietly.

She jumped, her eyes coming up to mine guiltily. “What?”

I wiggled my ass subtly, just as Lily had done before me. “I was wondering if you’d like to help.”

“Um…” Her eyes dropped to my bottom once more, and she pulled them back to my face with an effort. “Of course, sure. With… with what?”

“With the ritual.”

She frowned for a moment, then her eyes widened. “With the ritual?”

She was so cute. How had I missed it, all this time?

“Yes. I need lust. My lust… your lust… do you think you could bring some… lust?”

For a moment I thought she was about to agree, then her expression fell. “Um… I don’t want to get in the way of you and Lily.”

Fuck. I am still such an idiot. Think, Abby, think!

“Lily is a Lust Demon, Juls. She would absolutely love for you and me to share some lust. And we’ve been friends for years. If we wanted to share... some lust… again, once Lily is back, I know she’d be totally okay with that too. She might even join in, if you wanted her to.”

I held my breath. Such times test friendships. Had I read her right? Or… given how crap I was at reading people… had I got it right just this once? Please let this work, and please let Julia not be hurt.

She stared at me for a long moment then nodded, jerkily, her eyes falling back to my ass. Phew.

“What do you need me to do?” she asked, her voice timid. I’d never heard her so quiet before. I wondered how much of what I’d seen of her was a mask… or even, perhaps, her attempt to get me to notice her… in that way. How long had she been trying for? How long had I been oblivious?

I deliberately turned away, pushing my hips back slightly toward her. “Could you please start by helping me with my jeans?” It seemed the tension had been growing for some time; it felt like you could cut the atmosphere with a knife. Perhaps some gentle encouragement was needed; a more explicit permission. “And… anything else you’d like to do that might stir up some lust in here.”

Her fingers slipped into the waistband of my jeans, brushing against my ass. “Anything?” she asked, a tremble in her voice.

“Anything,” I confirmed. My voice was strong; I felt in control of the situation. Lily was clearly one hell of a teacher.

I wanted her back. Please, let me be able to make this work.

Julia tugged my jeans lower, pulling them over my ass. I felt her warm breath against my skin, then I felt her lips on the small of my back. I closed my eyes, a soft sigh escaping. She seemed to find this encouraging, for her kisses continued, moving lower, even as she tugged my jeans down my legs.

I was naked (almost) in my friend’s flat, bending before her as she trailed her lips over my bottom. Wow, how my life had changed.

Her hands were on my ass cheeks, squeezing, kneading; my jeans, for the moment, forgotten. She spread my bottom apart, her breath warm on me again, and then I felt her tongue lick along the top of my ass.

I gasped at the sensation, my hips twitching. Fuck, that feels good. I had no idea Julia would be so… forward. But then again, I had said ‘anything’.

My heart went out to her. She’d clearly been desiring me for the longest time, and I’d been totally unaware. And now… now I was naked and aroused, offering myself to her.

I would need to be really damn careful how I treated her after this. I really didn’t –

My thought process was interrupted by her tongue, delving between my cheeks, pushing in.

“Oh fuck… fuck, Juls!”

She licked again, her tongue warm and wet and probing, and my legs buckled with the sensations.

Why had I not done this with Lily? I would correct that oversight, just as soon as I could.

I felt one hand leave my ass, the other still holding me open as her tongue explored me, and then her fingers came up between my legs, brushing against my pussy. I was already so wet. The thought of sharing this with her had aroused me, the impromptu strip tease had helped, and her tongue in my ass had been electric. But her fingers probed gently even as she licked more, and the combined sensations were almost too much to bear. Every touch elicited a sound from me, and soon I was so turned on it was difficult to stand.

“Stop, Juls, stop… God… if you keep going my legs are going to collapse!”

She relented, pulling back, and I heard her small, satisfied laugh. So far so good. But I promised I wasn’t going to forget her after this. She needed more, she deserved more. And I was quite willing to give it to her.

It took a moment to catch my breath, then I straightened and stripped off my jeans, throwing them onto the sofa. I turned to her, cupping her face in my hands, bending to kiss her deeply. I’d never kissed her before, barring a goodbye buss on a cheek. She opened to me willingly, her tongue meeting mine, and I heard her whimper as we kissed. God, the girl had it bad. And for me. I never knew. If nothing else, I owed Lily for opening my eyes to this.

I broke the kiss, straightening, standing naked before her. Her eyes ran over my body, a hungry expression on her face.

“I think it would be better if you were naked too,” I suggested, and I knew she’d be only too glad of the excuse.

━━━━༻❁༺━━━━

Chapter Ten

She rose, and I stepped back giving her space, watching as she stripped off her jumper and jeans, revealing a pretty matching set of powder-blue lacy underwear, but soon they too joined the pile of clothes on the sofa.

It was my turn to run my eyes over her, and I very much liked what I saw. Her breasts were smaller than Lily’s, her nipples a gorgeous dusky pink. Her figure was slim, her hips almost straight, but she had the tightest little ass that I couldn’t wait to play with. Like me, she’d kept a tiny patch of fur above her mons, her lips waxed beneath.

I dropped to my knees before her, looking up at her for a moment, seeking permission, but she only gazed at me in wonder and that seemed permission enough. I brushed my lips across her stomach, kissing and licking in the way that Lily had shown me, then sat back on my heels, pulling her into my mouth with my hands on her ass.

She moaned as my tongue found her pussy, her hands fisting in my hair, her back arching as she pushed her hips forward, seeking more, and so it was that I tasted a woman for the second time in my life, and in as many days. She was so different to Lily, her essence carrying a slight tang, lacking Lily’s sweetness, different but no less delicious. And this was Julia, who I’d known for years, and who had evidently loved me – or, at least, lusted after me – for so long. I wondered, then, if it was merely lust or if she’d somehow come to love me too, and at some point I’d have to ask her. But this wasn’t that moment, and instead I focused on exploring her with my tongue.

In the end it was she who pushed me back, gently, both hands still entwined in my hair. “Is that lust enough for the ritual?” she asked, gazing down at me with an expression of such tenderness that the question of love was already answered.

It was typical of her that she was still putting my needs ahead of her own, even as I knelt, nude, before her.

“No,” I answered, grinning up as I flicked my tongue over her pussy once more. “But the rest we can do once I start the spell.”

She nodded her understanding and helped me rise, and together we stepped into the pentacle. We’d drawn it large, for I had no wish for a repeat of the incident in my flat, when I’d passed out and almost set my hair on fire. Yet now the space felt far smaller with both of us standing within.

“How do you want to do this?” she asked, clearly letting me lead.

It was a good question.

“Um… I need to focus on the spell. At least a bit. But also, I need to be… um… touching myself… to… you know…” Wow, you can put on a strip tease and lick her body, but you can’t talk about it? Still real smooth, Abby, still real smooth.

She smiled at my awkwardness. “Does it have to be you touching yourself?”

Another good question.

“Er… no, I guess it doesn’t.”

“Well then. Why don’t I lie down, and you could… maybe…” her cheeks tinged red, and it made her look so adorable, “…sit astride my… um…”

It was refreshing to learn I wasn’t the only one who sometimes struggled to verbalise. I knew that if Lily was here it would be all, “I want to lick you, sit on my face,” and that was just fine by me too, but Julia’s nervous tension was endearing.

“That would work,” I agreed, smiling, and her face lit up with delight. Eagerly, she lay down across the centre of the pentacle, careful to be within the circle we’d drawn. It was fun to watch her move, lying looking up at me, her nervousness quickly giving way to anticipation.

Carefully I stepped over her, lowering to my knees either side of her head. “You sure about this?” I asked her.

She simply slid her hands around my thighs and pulled me down to her waiting tongue.

I gasped and squirmed as I felt her lick me, but she teased me only briefly before asking a question, her voice muffled between my legs. “Should I go slow to start? So you can concentrate?”

“Yes, perfect,” I said, surprised and pleased that she’d so quickly realised what was needed.

She placed a kiss against the lips of my vulva, as if to say ‘ready’.

I took a breath.

“Per spiritus mortuorum et per vitam circa,” By the spirits of the dead and the life around me.

Presumably the spirits were still here, somewhere, even though it was no longer Halloween. I guess we’d find out, soon enough.

The candles flickered.

Julia’s tongue stroked lightly up between my lips, and I was reminded of being in her place beneath Lily.

“Audi me, Daemon Luxuriae.” Please, let it be Lily who hears.

Julia gently pushed her tongue inside me, holding my thighs tight as I wriggled in response, my breath catching. It took a moment for me to find my voice.

“Te vocco, Daemon Luxuriae.” I concentrated on the sensation of my binding to Lily, hoping that would help.

As before when I’d performed the ritual, my arousal spiked suddenly, and Julia must’ve felt it too because she moaned against me. I found I was gasping, my body a-fire, and then her lips and tongue were on my clit, and it was an effort to concentrate.

“Te impero, Daemon Luxuriae.” Come on Lily, come on.

Another wave of arousal washed over both of us, and it was some time before I could think clearly again. My hand was in Julia’s hair, my hips grinding against her face, and I was gasping. I rose slightly on my knees, worried she couldn’t breathe, but her hands gripped tightly in response, pulling me against her once more.

“Te invocco; tua es.” Tua. Definitely Tua. I made sure I spoke the line as clearly as I could, though Julia’s tongue flicking across my clit made it challenging.

I shuddered as my body tensed, my orgasm building swiftly, racing up through me. I had to get out the next line.

“Tua ad me venies, ego iubeo!” Come on, goddammit, Lily. Please. Please. I need you back.

We both cried out together as wave after wave of bliss crashed over us, and if it hadn’t been for Julia gripping my thighs, I knew I would’ve fallen into the candles. I shuddered hard as I came, grinding down against her mouth, barely aware that I was squeezing my breasts, pulling on my nipples. Beneath me, Julia lapped greedily at my pussy, and I immediately came a second time, flooding her mouth with my wetness.

I could hear her moans between my thighs, her body trembling as she succumbed to her own orgasm, and I hadn’t even touched her.

I cried out as a third orgasm rolled over me, and it was almost too much to bear. Again I wavered, and again only Julia’s hands on me kept me from falling. I so badly wanted to fall to the floor, to curl up and let go.

“Well, well. Watching you two together has really made the trip worthwhile.”

The voice came from behind me, and I jumped, feeling Julia jerk in surprise too. I all-but fell off her, one hand coming precariously close to the line of the pentacle’s circle. Julia sat up swiftly, awkwardly crabbing backwards away from the voice, pushing back with her legs, and pressing up against me in her panic.

“Stop!” I cried. “Don’t break the circle!”

She stilled, drawing her knees up against her chest, her body shivering against mine.

I turned slowly, my heart pounding.

Before me stood a demon, and he was no Lust Demon. He was also very definitely male, for he was nude, and his arousal was obvious. He stood easily over seven foot tall, his physique powerful and muscular. Where Lily had smooth, soft skin, he had scales and overlaying criss-cross scars. Two enormous wings sprouted from his back, and horns reached high from his head, adding to his imposing presence.

This was definitely no Lust Demon. Plus, I’d very specifically focused on the female articles, and he was not… female.

I hadn’t summoned him. He’d come by himself. Fuck. I was so far out of my depth.

I wondered if he was still bound by the tether of the pentacle. If he wasn’t… I didn’t want to consider the ‘if he wasn’t’.

Beside me Julia was trembling, covering herself with her arms and cowering against me.

“Oh, don’t cover up on my account,” the demon said with a leer, one hand dropping to stroke himself. “Besides, I’ve been here a while. I’ve already seen it all.”

I had been fighting against a growing sense of blinding panic, but his obscene gesture and crude comments dispelled it almost instantly. I suddenly saw him for what he was: just another dick pic, with the same psyche behind it.

I knew how to deal with that. I’d had loads of practice.

Besides, the circle was working. If it hadn’t been, we’d already be dead. Or worse.

“Where is Lily?” I asked him, my voice strong, my fear at bay. I had no idea how I’d managed that, but I was running with it while I could. I slid an arm around Julia and pulled her closer, her body shivering against me, and her fear gave me further strength. I needed to be strong for both of us.

“Busy,” he said, nonchalantly flicking a finger toward the Daemonia Revelata and incinerating it.

Like, whatever. I’d memorised it months ago.

“She is bound to me; you cannot keep her from me.” I was winging it, but it sounded good to me. Hell, how often do you get to play poker with a demon?

He sneered. “You bound her to you on Halloween, Summoner. You are a fledgling at that. Your power is in its infancy. Lily – as you call her,” he sneered again, “is a weakling. A mere Lust Demon. My toy. I don’t share my toys.”

The thought of Lily as his toy sent a tremor through me, and slowly I rose, anger giving me strength. Julia clung to my leg, and I let one hand fall to her head, comforting her. This demon was all bluster and show, and I knew we were safe. I knew it, simply because were we not, we were well and truly fucked. Until that happened, I had to assume our protections were holding.

“She is bound to me,” I said again, not even bothering to cover myself as I stood before him. Dick-pic men got infuriated by a refusal to acknowledge them, and I was betting he could get similarly riled up. Perhaps he would make a mistake and give me something I could use. I knew I could banish him if I needed to; the spell was seared in my memory.

I could see his irritation as the upstart naked human, a fraction of his size, showed no fear before him.

“You know nothing of what you speak,” he scoffed. “You cannot bind her to you without knowing… just from a Summoning.”

I was thinking hard. From what I knew from the Daemonia Revelata, the only way he could’ve come here was by using the Trace – what the book, I had come to realise, called a ‘connection’ – and that meant he did indeed have Lily in his control.

I’d caught the ‘without knowing’ comment. What other clues could he give me if I pissed him off some more?

“She wanted to stay with me,” I said, deliberately trailing my fingers down between my breasts. He watched my hand, unable to help himself. Oh yes, I knew this psyche well enough. Who knew online dating experience would prove so useful? “One night with me, and she wanted to leave you. I wonder why.”

He growled at me, his wings flexing. “You think to taunt me, human?”

“Can dish it out but not take it, eh?” Heh, I think I even sent that line to a guy a few weeks back.

He growled again. “Do you not know what I am? Cower, you fool.”

Wow. ‘Cower you fool’? Was that the best he had? How come Lily was so up with the times, and he was all Lord of the Rings?

I let my derision show. My recklessness was astounding me, and while I was sure that any moment my legs would give way in fear, I had a nothing-to-lose attitude, and I was riding it as hard as I could.

“Let me guess. Er… Pettiness Demon?” That came in at 394 on the list of the 412 sins in the Daemonia Revelata. Lust was 342. I’d just implied Lily was more powerful.

He roared his rage. “I am Malice! I am Spite! Cower!” Okay then. A Malice Demon came in at 116. That shit was almost top tier. I wondered how I was still alive. Yet… I was.

But the primary purpose of the Daemonia Revelata was to banish. It was a surprisingly simple spell, and I already had the pentacle drawn. Demons didn’t belong on Earth, and that fact worked against them. All that was needed was a… push.

“Per lucem et vitam,” By light and life.

He roared again. “You will never get her back!”

I gritted my teeth. “Te eicio.” I cast you out.

Swirls of black smoke manifested around his legs, and he roared once more, convulsing, his enormous wings unfurling and striking Julia’s furniture. It was the kind of roar that didn’t encourage the neighbours to come and complain about the noise.

“Descende et numquam revertaris!” Descend and never return.

“Arrghh!” he screamed at me, his whole body turning to black smoke. “She will suffer pain for eternity until she curses your name!”

And then he was gone, leaving behind only a scorch mark on Julia’s carpet and a strong smell of rotten eggs.

My legs collapsed, and I dropped to the floor beside Julia.

She held me while I sobbed, and I clung to her as she trembled.

━━━━༻❁༺━━━━

Chapter Eleven

“I think I might have an idea…” Julia said, tentatively.

She’d been on her computer for hours, googling, reading. The Malice Demon had shaken her, but she’d turned that energy into motivation.

She’d blown me away with her single-minded purpose and willingness to embrace getting Lily back. It seemed neither one of us could bear Lily and an eternity of pain in the same thought.

We’d been at it all day and well into the night, talking about it, researching. Coming back to the same point, again and again.

“You cannot bind her to you without knowing…”

Without knowing what?

Talk about a vague hint.

For a while after I’d banished Dick-pic Demon, we’d cowered together in the middle of the pentacle, watching the candles burn. It had helped a lot that we’d both been naked – skin-to-skin was a great oxytocin generator. We’d desperately needed the stress reduction.

It had been Julia that had got us up.

She’d pushed herself to her feet, held her hand out to me, and said, “Let’s figure out how to get your girl back.” And I loved her for it.

We’d hit the books. Julia on her desktop, me on her laptop. Researching, reading, discussing ideas.

God bless the British Library. 170 million records, available online. Journals, archived websites, Hebrew, Arabic and Latin manuscripts… I’d practically lived in it when I’d been researching the Daemonia Revelata, and if an answer was anywhere, I knew we could find it there.

Julia had kept the coffee coming, and each time she’d brought a fresh cup it had come with a kiss. We hadn’t bothered to get dressed; just chucked on robes. We were both naked beneath, and our touches were frequent and reassuring. It seemed appropriate to search for a way to help Lily while in a steady state of background lust. And, well, after the presence of an almost-top-tier and fucking scary demon turning up uninvited in Julia’s flat, we needed each other.

It hadn’t been all work and no play. She’d sat on my lap as we went over the Kitab al-Bulhan, translating it from the Arabic with extensive use of Google. Her robe had gaped open, she didn’t seem all that interested in closing it, and it had been distracting. I’d let my hands wander inside, and one thing had led to another. In the end, she’d had to move to her own chair, or we’d never have made any progress, but we’d needed the comfort as much as we’d needed the break.

For the past hour I’d been lying on her sofa, hugging a cushion to my chest, mentally going over page after page of the Daemonia Revelata, looking for anything I might’ve missed. She was still in the online British Library, using my access, intently focused.

“I think I might have an idea…”

I sat up. Her tone was tentative, but there was a glimmer of hope within.

“What have you got, girlfriend?”

She looked over. “Have you heard of the Ghayat al-Hakim? The ‘Picatrix’?”

“No?”

“It’s an eleventh-century grimoire that delves into astrology and occult practices. But it has a section here on the summoning and control of spirits and supernatural entities.”

I stood up quickly, walking around to look at her screen, one hand resting on her shoulder as I leant over her.

She showed me the notes she’d made, the translations she’d painstakingly pulled out. “This isn’t directly helpful because it’s more focused on celestial spirits. Bindings for protection and stuff.”

She laid her hand over mine, squeezing gently. “This could be a long shot, Abbs, and I don’t even know if you have the answer, but… look here…” her finger pointed down the page, and I read swiftly. “It says that the only way to fully bind a spirit…”

“…Is to know their name,” I breathed.

“Right.” She flicked to another page of her notes, “I came across an extract from the Liber Juratus Honorii, a book associated with necromancy and demonology.”

I nodded; that one I’d heard of, but there were no complete copies, as far as I knew.

“It also mentions the power of knowing a spirit’s name.” She was cross-referencing with pages of paper she’d scribbled on, scattered across her desk. “Here. See? Only thing is… demons won’t share their name. It’s like their kryptonite. But if we…”

She kept talking, but I’d stopped listening. I was deep in a memory, concentrating hard.

“Listen, I’ve made a bunch of mistakes. Can we start over?”

She just nodded, looking up at me with those wide, mournful eyes.

“Okay. So… how about you tell me your name?”

I’d effectively told her to tell it to me. It had been a command, however unintentional.

I recalled the slow blink, the fleetingly blank expression, as if she’d been in a trance.

Or compelled to do something she hadn’t wanted to do.

“You cannot bind her to you without knowing…”

…Her name? The answer to that statement could be anything, but I felt Julia had stumbled across something important.

It felt right.

Only one thing… what the fuck was Lily’s name?

Lilialith. No. Not enough sounds. I concentrated, hearing again the musical rhythm to it, counting syllables as I replayed her beautiful sing-song voice in my memory.

Lily-a-lay-ay-lil-leth. Liliailith. No, not quite. Liliahlaeililith. Was that it? It sounded close. Lilialaiaelilith. Yes! That was it. It had to be. Please, let it be right.

I turned to Julia, my heart racing. “Lilialaiaelilith!” At some point she’d fallen silent, watching me, and now hope flared in her eyes.

“Wow, that’s… that’s an awesome name. Are… are you sure? We don’t want to summon the wrong demon.”

I bit my lip, thinking it over. “I’m, like… ninety-nine percent sure. And we know the circle works. Plus, if something else comes through, I’ll banish it before it gets a chance to so much as comment on your décor.”

Together we glanced across the room to where the Malice Demon had left a six-foot diameter scorch mark. His wings had smashed across Julia’s cabinet, scraped down her wall, and ripped through a painting she’d been fond of. We hadn’t realised the damage until after he’d left. Tidying it up hadn’t been a priority.

“Yeah,” she said dryly, “that is likely to be the first thing they comment on.”

I eyed the pentacle and the candles that still surrounded it. Julia watched me.

“Do you know how to do this?” she asked.

“Not really,” I admitted. “I could… maybe modify the original spell. Put her name in instead.” Lilialaiaelilith. I’m coming for you, Lily. Hang on.

“Juls… do you have anything else on bindings? I’m just thinking… if we can get her back, we don’t want that Dick-pic Demon taking her again. Is there anything else we can add to… maybe… strengthen this somehow?”

She smirked. “‘Dick-pic Demon’?”

I shrugged.

We worked through her notes, cross-referencing with other texts we could find, but after another couple of hours we’d made little progress.

I was getting twitchy. I had the strongest feeling that the Malice Demon was already making good on his threat, taking out his anger at my insults on Lily. I wanted her out of there, like now.

“Let’s go with what we’ve got, Juls. If this doesn’t work, we can try something else. But we have a plan at least.” I leant back from the laptop, easing out the stiffness in my neck.

“I do have one other idea…” Julia said, and there was a note of reluctance in her voice. I glanced over at her.

“Spill it, girlfriend. This isn’t the time to be holding back unless you want a spanking.”

She grinned at me. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve wanted you to say things like that to me?”

I grew serious, leaning in toward her, cupping her cheek with my hand. “I’m so sorry I was such an obtuse dullard for so long. All that time we wasted…”

Her hand came up to press against mine, holding it to her cheek, but she shook her head. “You can’t think like that. If we’d got together before now, you’d never have met Lily. Maybe your… sexual awakening would’ve been quite different. Maybe it would never have worked between us. Maybe we’d have lost our friendship, too.”

I nodded, knowing she was right. “No regrets, eh?”

“No regrets.”

“But… you’re more than just a friend to me now. After what we’ve been through together…”

She turned her face, placing a kiss on my palm. “Thank you, Abby.”

I shook my head. “If there're thanks, it’s from me to you, Juls. I could never have done this without you. Now… gimme your idea before we both start crying on each other’s shoulders.”

She took a deep breath. “Okay. But… it’s just an idea, all right? You totally don’t have to do this.”

“Hit me with it.”

“What if… what if we did the spell together? Bound her together? If she was bound to both of us, if we both use her name, wouldn’t that make it that much harder to pull her back?”

I frowned, considering her words, thinking through what that would mean. All that would mean.

Julia fell silent, watching my face.

It would mean the three of us together – but I realised I wanted that, anyway.

It would mean that Julia would have control over Lily – but there was no one I trusted more to share my philosophy on that. I knew Juls would want Lily to have her freedom.

Would Lily mind? I couldn’t be sure, but if it meant she could stay here, with us, safe, it seemed like a risk worth taking.

I realised I’d assumed, all along, that Lily wanted to come back. What if she didn’t?

But that was foolish. Easy to address. We’d simply give her the choice, and if she didn’t want to stay with us… I’d banish her myself.

My Trace tugged, and I knew that would never be necessary. Lily was mine, goddammit, and it was time to make that clear to Hell.

“I love the idea,” I said softly, meeting Julia’s gaze. “Let’s bring our girl home.”

━━━━༻❁༺━━━━

Chapter Twelve

We re-lit the candles, which always seemed to take the longest damn time. We’d already spent what seemed like ages prepping Julia for the ritual, and now I was getting impatient. I needed to invest in a small flamethrower.

I checked over the pentacle carefully, touching it up with more of the paint. We didn’t want any accidents.

As one, Julia and I shed our robes, stepping into the pentacle naked.

“Are you ready?” I asked her.

She nodded, and we slipped to our knees, facing each other.

“You sure you’re happy with all the pronunciation?” I asked her. It had taken a lot longer to give her a crash-course in Latin than it had to light the candles, but it was too important to have any mistakes.

“Yes. I’m confident. I can do this.”

I took her hands in mine. “Much though I loved your tongue on me last time, you’re going to need it for more important things.”

“Maybe… we could scissor?” She blushed, lowering her eyes.

I released a hand and placed a fingertip under her chin, lifting her face to mine. “I have no idea what that means but trust me when I say I want to find out. I want to do scissor with you, and with Lily, and learn all I can about this.”

She giggled softly. “It’s not ‘do’ scissor. It’s… oh, never mind.” Her hand slipped around the back of my neck, pulling me forward. “Come here.”

Her lips

The Baron

Lily Jenkins

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