Nikki hemmed and hawed. She had the urge to write again, but lacked direction. There was always flow of consciousness, but she disliked that method in general – it just wasn’t her style. What was it her old creative writing teacher had taught them? Oh yes – ‘When in doubt, write what you know’. Nikki reached into the mini fridge for a soda, and pulled up Google Docs. What did she know? She didn’t know Ben well enough to write about him or what he was, so she set that idea aside. Besides, what she’d been writing concerning him was wishful thinking.
She knew her family, but she’d promised herself a long time ago that she would never write them into a story if she could help it. So what did that leave? That left her Wiccan life, and her ghoul life. So how best to write about those? Thinking for a few moments before taking a sip of her soda, she thumbed through a desk drawer until she pulled out one of several usb drives, and pulled up her personal journal, decrypting and flipping through that – reading over the entries for the past two months and change, until an idea started to form in her mind of what to write.
A basic outline formed, and names chosen (though subject to change), she began to write.
The ritual was lovely. Charged and full of energy, everyone gave thanks to the Goddess for the blessings in their lives. Several guests and some children had been in attendance, and they chatted with the pretty young priestess who’d led it all. Nadia was very kind and patient with their questions, and also made sure to take the time to mingle with her coven proper. As was typical, she didn’t leave the cabin until everyone was gone and things had been cleaned up.
It was when she was locking up that something caught her attention. It was the lack of noise, as though the night were holding it’s breath and waiting. Predator… the back of her mind screamed. But that was irrational, she told herself. There was nothing out here to be afraid of. Still….there was a sensation of being watched. Shuddering slightly, she headed for her car, and drove back into the city.
The feeling of being watched persisted until she was safely in her apartment, being greeted by her cat Pennywise. Door locked and windows shut tight, Nadia finally allowed herself to relax. She took several minutes to give the white cat attention before feeding him, then sat down at her computer. She was a writer, author of a small number of Wicca books, and another was due soon. Before writing, however, she took the time to answer a handful of tweets and emails she had received.
One email in particular caught her attention. She’d been about to skip over it until she noted that it was from an individual identifying themselves as Mr. Hastur. As she read it, it quickly became apparent that he was asking for magical advice. She took the time to read it carefully, offering what sage wisdom she could out of a sense of responsibility, especially as he was inquiring as to the summoning of demons.
With that taken care of, she yawned and shut down her programs. The computer was misbehaving, running too sluggishly to accomplish much, and it had been frustrating her. Nadia yawned and stretched, resolving to run a diagnostic on her system in the morning. Calling for Pennywise, she headed to bed.
Nikki leaned back in her chair. That sounded like a sufficient summary of her first foray into weirdness. Now, how to proceed with translating her first meeting with Donovan? She tapped her fingers against her desk, plotting things out until Lovecraft jumped onto her lap with a meow, begging for pets. She ran her hand across his sleek black fur as she continued to think, and when she was ready to write again, she gently picked him up and set him down.
The following day Nadia awoke to the morning sun streaming in through her bedroom windows. She sat up and stretched before getting out of bed, shuffling into the kitchen to get some coffee started, then back to her room to dress. The clothing she selected was simple enough – a broomstick skirt and peasant blouse, with some witchy accessories (mostly jewelry – not too excessive). Brushing out her long, dark blonde tresses, she made her way to her computer. Setting the brush down before she sat, she then began diagnostic scans on the system before retreating to the kitchen for her morning cup of coffee.
Three cups and one itinerary later, she grabbed her keys and headed out, locking her door behind her. No sooner had she exited her building, than that sensation of being watched flooded back. Nadia gripped her keys tightly, poking them out between her fingers incase someone approached her. No one did, however, and she got into the car and set about on errands as planned, nothing happening…just the sensation of being watched. After a while she told herself she was just being silly, and ignored it.
Errands completed. she headed back home. The computer available now, she sat down to work on her book until evening. When she had completed her work for the day, she headed into the kitchen to make something for dinner, however found her mind too full of esoteric thoughts to muster the concentration that cooking would require, so she made the decision to head out to eat instead.
While at her table at the restaurant, she decided to check her phone’s notifications, and discovered she had an email waiting from Mr. Hastur. Curiosity caused her to open it, and inside she found more intelligent discussion about the seals and sigils that would be required for summoning. her curiosity continuing to reign over her better senses, she sent word back, in detail, of how she would try and do it – what symbols, sigils and language she might use, though she heavily advised against doing it at all.
A response was incoming from Mr. Hastur almost immediately, complete with an attachment of some sigils and seals, asking if something like that might work. Nadia studied each image carefully before responding, telling him what each was best suited for, in her opinion. Now, it came to pass that Mr. Hastur gradually became more personal with her, eventually asking if he could call or meet with her.
I’m actually out at dinner right now. she typed.
Oh really? So am I. Where at, by chance? came the response.
Applebee’s. she responded, after a moment of consideration.
The one on Front St., by chance? he inquired.
Yes, why? she responded.
That’s where I’m at.
She looked up, and over at the bar a gentleman was waving. She waved back, adding a smile, and he got up, a drink in hand, and headed towards her. He was handsome, she decided. Average height and build, dressed in business casual attire so perhaps just finishing up a day at work with a drink or two. Long brown hair pulled away from his face in a loose ponytail, one strang hanging loose, attempting to frame his face. As he came closer, she could tell that his eyes were a deep shade of blue; when he spoke, his voice was alluring.
“Nadia Donati? I’m Devon Winthrop – better known as Mr. Hastur.” he smiled charmingly at her as he spoke. “May I sit?”
Nadia nodded. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Mr. Winthrop.”
“Please call me Devon, Ms. Donati.”
“Oh, feel free to call me Nadia.” she smiled, feeling a bit like a schoolgirl under this charming man’s gaze.
Introductions now out of the way, he sat down across from her, and the two of them began to talk shop. That is to say, they shared their esoteric knowledge with one another after ordering dinner. After the food arrived, he smiled at Nadia a little sheepishly.
“I feel I must confess something to you.” he said.
“Oh?”
“I haven’t been entirely honest. You see, I’ve been testing your knowledge, to see how much you knew, if you were the real deal. I’ve met with so many fakes, I had to know.”
“Well, that much makes sense. Was that all?”
“No, there’s more.” he took a breath before continuing. “You see, the demon has already been summoned.“
“You’re joking, right?” she asked, half hoping he was.
“Not at all. Now don’t worry – he can’t go anywhere. He’s bound by the protections put into place. My problem is that he isn’t bound to my will like he should be.”
“I can’t think why not, unless there’s something you haven’t shown me.”
He thought for a moment before speaking again. “Would you like to meet him?”
So many thoughts raced through Nadia’s mind that she could barely keep up. Her desire to see such a thing was outweighing her common sense. Devon could see that she was heavily contemplating, so he said one more thing that clinched the deal.
“Demons are nothing like what we’ve been led to believe, I can promise you that.”
That was enough for Nadia. Devon paid for their meal, and she followed him out to his car, getting an idea of what it looked like before following him in her own. This is crazy she kept telling herself. Still, she followed, finally pulling up to an upper middle class home of recent construction, with an immaculate lawn.
Nikki stopped writing there, taking a sip of her soda finally. That covered her first meetings with Donovan well enough, she figured. What else did she want to cover? Well, his ghouling her, perhaps. And she wanted to cover meeting Ben. Still, she wasn’t sure she wanted to write the entire evening, as that included writing in Scott – though she supposed she didn’t have to, on further thought. Hmmm….what to do, what to do? She spun in the chair a little as she drank the Pepsi in hand, and thought – though was careful to make sure Lovecraft was on the bed and not near the chair.
Finally she decided to just eliminate Scott from the writing equation. The first meeting was highly awkward anyway, and from a writer’s standpoint – didn’t seem to fit or belong to the scene. Settled on her decision, she picked up where she left off.
Nadia took brief notice of her surroundings as she entered, vaguely wondering if anyone else lived there, though she doubted it. The home was tastefully furnished – not too much flourish, not too little taste. She guessed he might have hired someone to decorate for him. They bypassed much of the house and headed for a door that led, presumably, to the basement. She wasn’t wrong in her guess. Heading down the stairs, it became apparent that this was a space designed for magical workings.
Sigils, runes and other symbols decorated the walls, floor and ceiling, covering everywhere, as far as she could tell.
“Well, here he is.” Devon stated, letting her get a look.
Inlaid in the floor was a complicated circle made of metal, and in the middle, looking rather pissed off, was a man. As he was sitting on the cold stone, it was hard to determine how tall he was, but she thought he’d be taller than Devon, though not by much. From what she could see he was well defined, with blue eyes and short, spiky black hair. He was also naked, and glaring at Devon.
“Shouldn’t he at least have some clothes?” Nadia inquired.
“I wasn’t sure if giving him anything would break the circle or not.” Devon replied.
“It shouldn’t. He’s sufficiently trapped, and as long as the lines themselves aren’t broken it should be fine.”
Devon nodded and retreated upstairs, leaving Nadia alone with the demon.
“Thank god he’s gone. Thanks, by the way.” the demon replied.
“I just asked him to get you some clothes.”
“Yeah, and I appreciate it. I’ve been freezing my ass off down here for a week!” he said, standing as the basement door opened again and Devon came down, carrying a change of clothes. Nadia looked away, hoping she wasn’t red-faced. Devon tossed the demon clothes, and he dressed, while she waited what she hoped was an appropriate enough amount of time for him to do such.
“Well, what do you think?” Devon asked.
“At the moment I’m not sure what to think.” Nadia replied. “You said demons were different than what we’d been led to believe? How so?”
Devon looked thoughtful. As for the demon, he threw insults at Devon, which clearly annoyed him. “Come on, let’s talk upstairs – away from someone so…uncouth.”
Nadia nodded and followed him upstairs, giving one last look at the demon – whom, she realized, she had no idea what to call. Devon closed the basement door behind them, and led her into the living room, where they sat on the sofa and chatted. Just how demons were different (beyond not looking the same or even being blatantly evil) wasn’t particularly discussed, and Nadia hardly noticed. She did, however, bring up something that had been on her mind, and in her compassionate heart.
“Have you thought about releasing him?” she asked.
“Why would I do that?” Devon answered, slightly startled by the idea of releasing the demon.
“Well for one, it might make him more compliant to your will. Isn’t that what you want?”
“Well, yes, but…”
“But what? If you’re concerned about what havoc he might wreak, we can always try and ask for a demonstration of power to see what he’s capable of. And if he does cause problems out there, well, you summoned him once, you can do it again, right?”
“You make a fair point.” he finally responded, after some deliberation.
“Okay then.” Nadia replied back triumphantly.
The two of them headed back downstairs, and the demon wasted no time in insulting Devon, much as he had before.
“This is going to be problematic.” Devon said, rubbing his temples.
“Let me try.” Nadia said. She was hopeful that the demon would at least listen to her. He had every right to be pissed off at Devon, but maybe he’d give her half a chance to speak.
“Excuse me?” she said, interrupting the childish banter.
“What?” the demon replied snarkily.
“What may we call you? It would be nice to call you something other than ‘the demon’, don’t you think?” she said, smiling a little.
The demon was quiet for a while, studying her before responding. “Garrett will do fine.”
“Alright, Garrett. Devon and I were talking, and – “
He snorted. “Yea, that windbag has enough hot air for that, that’s for sure.”
“Please don’t interrupt, ok? I’m trying to give you some good news, ok?”
“Yeah, sure, whatever.”
“Okay then. Now, Devon and I were talking, and we’re thinking of letting you out.”
Garrett perked up at that. “Why do I sense a ‘but’ there?”
Nadia continued. “But we’re concerned over what kind of havoc you might cause if we do. So we were wondering if you would be willing to give us a demonstration of your power, so that we know what to expect.”
“What’s in it for me?”
“Excuse me?”
“Are you deaf? I asked what was in it for me. Why should I go to all the effort of giving you a demonstration of my ability when I don’t even have a guarantee of being let out?”
Nadia was quiet. She hadn’t expected the demon to ask for anything. She thought he’d just be grateful at the chance to get out of the circle.
“Well, what do you want?” Devon asked, breaking the silence.
Garrett simply pointed a finger at Nadia. “Her.”
“Absolutely not!” came Devon’s response.
“Then no deal.” Garrett responded in kind. The two of them devolved into arguing shortly thereafter. Nadia hardly paid attention to what they were saying. Me? she pondered. He wants me? Why me? were the thoughts spinning through her head. Before she had fully thought things out though, she’d found she had spoken on instinct.
“Okay.” she said quietly. Neither man heard her over their arguing. She spoke louder. “Okay!” she repeated. Both of them looked at her, not getting it. “I’ll do it.”
“Are you sure?” Devon asked.
She nodded. “But please….privacy?” she asked. Devon nodded and made his way upstairs, pausing to give her arm a squeeze of reassurance. With him gone she looked at Garrett, who had moved to the far side of the circle and was watching her.
Nadia first undid the laces on her boots, pulling those off before taking several steadying breaths before tugging the hem of her shirt down, and then up over her head to reveal a peacock green bra with black lace trim. She hugged herself a moment before moving her hands downward, unzipping her skirt and pushing that down to reveal panties that matched her bra.
She watched Garrett as she reached behind her to unfasten her bra. He was very difficult to read – she couldn’t be sure what he was thinking based on his expression alone. Her breasts now free, she tugged her panties down in one swift motion. Now fully nude, she hugged herself again and walked into the circle – unsure of what to expect exactly, hoping for the best, but expecting the worst.
Nadia was by no means a virgin, but it had been a while, and he presented an imposing figure. Where she was petite, he was athletic (and hung, she noted) – she worried that things might hurt – that he might be rough.
She needn’t have worried overmuch.
Garrett approached her slowly, running one hand across her cheek and down to her shoulder, whilst using his other hand to run his fingers through her silky hair. After a moment, he placed both hands on her shoulder, and leaned down to kiss her, tenderly, on the lips. He lingered there, enjoying the taste of her, but guided her downward to lie on the ground, where he could better trail kisses across her body, paying special attention to her erect nipples.
He kept working his way down her body, and when he reached her navel, he gently pried her legs apart, and moved lower, using a free hand to spread her lips and give one long lick. Nadia shuddered, a moan escaping her. She couldn’t help it, it felt so good, and it had been so long…
Garrett grinned, though she couldn’t see it, and started paying special attention to her clit, flicking his tongue across it or sucking on it, teasing it just enough to drive her to orgasm. He was pleased by her reaction.
Continuing on, Garrett would gradually add more steps to his teasing of her, causing her intense waves of pleasure. Somewhere along the way, he’d shrugged out of the clothes he’d been given and kneeled, naked and erect, before her. With a calculated motion, he slipped himself inside of her, and began to thrust.
Nadia wasn’t sure entirely how he was doing it – if it was some demon ability or what – but what she was experiencing – the waves upon waves of pleasure – was the best sex she had ever had in her life.
Nikki stopped there, unsure of how to continue. For some reason, it was difficult translating sex with Ben into words. She feared that this was the best she could do. Still though, not a bad effort for a practice piece of writing, all around. Now just whether or not to taunt her readers with the piece. She was of three minds about this: On the one hand, her readers would probably love it and beg for more. On the other hand, people she knew might read it and read right between the thinly veiled lines, and that would be embarrassing.
For now, however, she was content in recalling the surprising pleasure of that first encounter with Ben. Leaning back with a happy sigh she reached to caress herself and then stopped, getting up to shoo Lovecraft out of the room so he could access his litterbox, food and water, and locked her door. Now was one of those times she was grateful for the lock.