Goetic Justice 4

Chapter 4: Sweet Dreams

Ryan had finally found something, a job interview for a good position in his field that paid well and was in range of his soon-to-be new car. He scheduled an interview by email, then slumped over his keyboard, exhausted and relieved. He had a car, he had a job interview, now he just needed to nail the face-to-face, and he might actually be able to climb out of this hole.

He checked the clock on his taskbar, it was two in the morning, he needed to get some sleep. He rubbed his itchy eyes and yawned widely, the room lit only by the pale glow of his computer monitor, and stood up from his office chair to stretch. He was kind of hungry too, he had been job searching for hours, might be a good idea to get a bowl of cereal before turning in.

He made his way to the kitchen and opened the fridge door, crouching to retrieve the milk as it cast him in its yellow light, then fetched a bowl from the sink and a box of frosted flakes from the cupboard. He flopped down into a chair at the kitchen table and poured his meal, the cereal crunching loudly in the silent apartment as he chewed, alone in the gloom.

This bachelor lifestyle didn’t suit him. He had moved here to be with Becky, and now that she was gone, the apartment was as silent and as lifeless as a grave. With nobody around to impress, he was no longer taking care of himself. He was a lousy cook, and without Becky to feed him, he was eating like shit. He had stopped exercising too, and his previously flush belly was starting to bulge over his belt line a little. He rested his face in his hand as he wolfed down the tasteless cereal, realizing that it was a little stale, but not caring enough to make himself a proper meal.

Maybe Nahash was right about his emotional turmoil, maybe he was depressed or something, and he just didn’t know it. This didn’t feel like something that well-adjusted people did, eating stale cereal on his own in the dark at two AM. His mind wandered away from thoughts of good meals and warm beds, back to what the familiar had shown him, her superhuman ability to lull him into a calm and untroubled sleep.

It had taken him by surprise, which was part of the reason that he had reacted so badly to it, and he still didn’t know how to feel about the idea that she could manipulate his emotional state and project illusions into his mind. What was a man, if not the culmination of his mental processes? The chemistry of his brain, the integrity of his thoughts, the decisions that defined him. When you subverted that, what did you make of him? Some kind of meat puppet with no free will of his own?

So many philosophical and theological questions had been raised by this whole venture that Ryan had just stopped thinking about them as Nahash had advised, it was better to just live his life and worry about the details when he had an eternity to mull them over.

Should he call her back again? The prospect of a good night’s rest was appealing, but the thought of letting someone hypnotize him made his skin crawl. Still, he was starting to trust the familiar and her demonic master. Their plan was bearing fruit already, and they had not taken advantage of any opportunities that would have allowed them to screw him over. At least not so far.

What the heck, he’d at least give it a try. If he didn’t like it, then he could always forbid Nahash from doing it again. How should he contact her though, would Orobas just know because of his decision-based future-seeing powers?

As if to answer his question, the signature cold fell over the room, all the more noticeable as it was already a cool autumn night. Nahash appeared in her usual spot near the summoning circle, emerging from the swirling vapors as he plugged his nose against the smell and waited for it to dissipate.

She walked over to him, her cloven footsteps loud and heavy on the wood floor, wide hips rolling as she approached the table. Her nakedness was no less distracting in the dark, her pale skin and white fur seemed to glow in the cold moonlight that flowed through the blinds, the deep shadows only serving to accentuate her comely figure.

“You have decided,” she announced in that husky, musical voice.

“I’ll give it a try, but if I don’t like it, will you stop?”

“I will.”

“Okay then, that’s good. So … how do we… ?”

“Come to the bedroom, if it pleases you.”

His heart skipped, he had assumed that they would sit on the couch again, but he guessed that it made sense to sleep in a bed. She seemed to sense his apprehension, and perhaps the twinge of arousal that shadowed it, her voice low and soft as she reassured him.

“Fear not, I do not seek to entrap you, only to help ease your sleep.”

He hesitated for a moment, staring into his mostly eaten bowl of cereal, and then rose to his feet with fresh determination.

“Alright, let’s do it. Follow me.”

He walked across the apartment as she followed behind him, her odd gait slow so as not to outpace him on her longer legs, and they stopped before the bedroom door. The apartment was open plan, for the most part. The only rooms that were sectioned off were the bathroom and the bedroom, for obvious reasons. Ryan opened the door with a creak and was immediately hit with a wall of cold air, cursing to himself as he realized that one of the windows had blown open. He hurried over and closed it, checking that it was secure this time, then he shut the curtains against the surprisingly bright moonlight. Great, now it was freezing in here.

“Sorry, looks like the wind blew it open,” he grumbled as he crossed his arms and shivered. Even the hardwood was cold enough that he could feel it through his socks. “Lemme go bump up the thermostat, and we can give it a few minutes.”

“It’s fine,” she replied, surveying the bedroom with her amber eyes. They seemed to glow in the low light almost like those of a cat, or perhaps she was producing that glow herself. Ryan’s face reddened. He was a little embarrassed by the state of the room. There was dirty laundry piled on the floor, the bed hadn’t been made, and the sheets and pillows were strewn all over the place. Becky had been the clean one, she had done the laundry and made the beds while he was at work, it just wasn’t part of his routine.

“Aren’t you cold?” Ryan asked her.

“Cold is ideal, and if it pleases you, I would like to open the curtains. The moon is full tonight, and its light soothes me.”

“Suit yourself,” he said with a shrug, pulling them open and letting the moonlight flood in. Who knew, maybe the moon gave her power, creatures of the night and all that. She walked over to the bed, but Ryan held out a hand to stop her, hurriedly trying to straighten the blankets.

“Hang on, I gotta make the bed, it’s a rat’s nest.”

“If that is how you prefer to sleep, then leave it.”

“Well … I like my bed a little messy, but Becky-, I mean my ex-girlfriend always wanted everything clean and straightened out.”

“This all reminds you of her,” Nahash said, and Ryan paused to look up at her. “You lived here together for a long time, she has left her mark on this place. You cannot turn your head in this house without those memories surfacing.”

“Yeah, I guess so, but it’s not like I can move. I mean, maybe I could have, but I didn’t ask for that in the contract. Gotta say, my first summoning was kind of poorly thought out, I could have asked for a lot more than I did.”

“This is your home, Ryan, you should not have to leave. Old memories will linger, they refuse to be forgotten, but the best way to overcome a painful memory is to replace it with a happy one. You see this as the center of your relationship with her, you made love together here, you slept in each other’s arms. That will always be its significance unless you move on and make new memories, give this bed a new significance.”

“How do I do that?”

“I sense that you want to replace your lost love, but that can never be. You cannot regain what was lost, but you can find something new. If you should search for another partner, then you must stop clinging to what was and open yourself to what will be, new people and new experiences.”

“That’s easy to say, not so easy to put into practice,” he grumbled as he sat down on the edge of the bed.

“We can start right now. What is more significant, which memory will stand out in your mind? Sharing this bed with your scorned lover, or sharing it with a demon?”

“I guess that’s true,” he replied, his mood lightening somewhat. “Alright then, let’s make this the demon bed.”

He unbuckled his belt and slid his pants off, tugging off his socks and quickly sliding beneath the sheets to escape the frigid air. He watched Nahash from under the heavy blanket as she examined the bed, perhaps it was different to what she was used to, and then she followed suit. She lifted the blanket with her clawed hand and then sat on the mattress, Ryan expecting it to sag under her weight, but again it did not. She swung one of her long, goat-like legs up onto the bed, and then the second. Before long, she was shuffling into place beside him. She had been so graceful on her feet, but she was unaccustomed to the piles of sheets, wriggling clumsily in an effort to get comfortable. Seeing her in such a mundane situation eased his tension, made her feel somehow more human and relatable.

The bed was a twin, and yet there was scarcely enough room for both of them. Her wide hips and thick thighs were pressing against his bare legs, and her exaggerated bosom was tenting the blanket, exposing him to the cold air. He tugged a little more of the blanket over to his side and shifted a little as he sealed the gap, the contrast of her smooth skin and downy wool creating a strange sensation.

Again he was surprised by how warm she was, their combined body heat was already warming the bed, and he felt her hook an arm around his shoulders as she pulled him close to her.

There was that smell again, like wet grass the morning after a rainstorm. His brain had already associated her scent with the overwhelming feeling of calm and relaxation, he was starting to become drowsy, and she hadn’t even worked her magic yet.

He didn’t have anywhere to put his hands, her body was so voluptuous, and he didn’t know how she would respond should he touch her thigh or her breast. Just what the hell kind of relationship did they have here, anyway? She was apparently a woman, he was a man, she was nude and sharing a bed with him. Was sexual contact permitted? Did demons have sex? Did he even want that from her, goat-headed she-demon that she was? It was all so confusing.

“Relax,” she whispered, her warm breath blowing his hair. “Do not think, lie still and stop fretting.” Her voice was so husky, a deep contralto that resonated in his bones with an oddly synthesized quality that reminded him of a vocal track from a 1980s synth-pop song.

He tried to do as she asked, letting his face sink into that feathery ruff around her neck and chest, softer than any pillow that he could imagine. His thoughts were troubled, however, his heart beating faster as he peered down into her cleavage. The heavy sheets barely served to cover her.

“Nahash,” he muttered, unable to contain himself any longer. “I gotta know … what is this, exactly? What should I-”

He felt her palm cradle his cheek, pressing his face into the nape of her neck, her skin smooth and warm. Her other hand found his and guided it around her waist, easing him into a hug and letting his fingers sink into her doughy flesh. His face reddened, feeling the pliant fat of her midriff beneath his digits, the subtle paunch of her belly and hips begging him to probe deeper. He would scarcely have been able to wrap both arms around her such was her girth, she was downright Rubenesque, her weight distributed to all of the right places. It didn’t help that she had a good foot or more on him, and her proportions were massive, not at all lanky as would befit a human of her height. It had been distracting to look at, but to have her hourglass hips and her heavy breasts pressing up against him was maddening. He resisted his urges, and they lay wrapped in each other’s arms, the slow beating of her massive heart and her rhythmic breathing somehow hypnotic.

“Touch me as you would a partner,” she said softly, and his breath caught in his throat. “I sense that you need this comfort, but try to sleep.”

They could spoon then, that’s what she was saying. Touching was alright, but the goal here was to help him rest. Admittedly it was almost a struggle to stay conscious as he lay beneath the sheets with her, she was like a living body pillow that could hug back, warm and soft in all the right ways. He rubbed his cheek against the downy wool, it was deep enough that he could almost bury his face in it completely, and he squeezed himself closer to her. She responded in kind, her hold on him tightening, and he shivered as he felt her run her fingers through his hair. She stroked him like a cat, something that Becky had never done, and he melted into her inviting body as her claws tickled his scalp.

“That’s … nice,” he mumbled, his voice muffled by the forest of fur. Her other arm was looped around his shoulders, her hand supporting his lower back as she pressed him close, the frigid air outside the sanctuary of the bed now all but forgotten.

Skin on skin contact, the warmth of another person, the sounds and sensations of a body lying next to his. He hadn’t realized how much he had missed this, how much he had needed it. He had locked himself away in his apartment for weeks, and he had been starving himself of a nutrient that he hadn’t even known that his body required.

He balked as he realized that she hadn’t even put the magickal moves on him yet, this was all natural, something that any other human could have provided. Well, a human of unrealistic proportions wearing a fur coat, perhaps.

Damn, the stroking was intoxicating, why the hell was his scalp so sensitive?

“So is this just … what you do?” Ryan asked her, mumbling and barely awake.

“Mortals have long sought the company of my kind, the Seirim possess qualities and abilities that soothe and excite your people. Why that is I cannot say.”

Ryan had some guesses, but he held his tongue. He wanted this to last forever, and he realized that he didn’t miss Becky, not really. He missed what she did for him. At least for the time being, this Seirim as she referred to herself, could do a hell of a lot more.

“In ages long past, we wandered the ancient deserts and forests of the world. Mortals would leave offerings and sacrifices to us. We were spirits of the wild, embodiments of nature’s mystery and its forbidden passions. The music and revelry of the Seirim would ring out across the plains, our bonfires visible for miles around, and for a time we were the gods of simple folk. As mortals turned to greater deities and forgot the lesser spirits of the wilderness, we lost our power, and we faded from memory.”

“Not to be rude, but … I can’t really imagine you dancing around a bonfire, Nahash. You’re so restrained and to the point.”

Although he had to admit, seeing her dance would be quite something. That massive, feminine body gyrating and prancing beneath a pale moon, or illuminated by the flickering glow of a fire. He could scarcely picture it, how would a creature of her size and gait dance?

“I am bound to my master,” she said, sounding somewhat wistful. “I am but a lesser spirit, without worshipers our power wanes and we must enter into the service of a greater entity or risk fading into nothing.”

“So worshipers really are like a battery for you guys, huh?”

“Belief and faith, these are our food and our water, we only exist as long as someone worships us. Orobas took me and a few of my brethren into his legions, he grants us a share of his energy, and in exchange we serve him. The rest of us are scattered between different demons. I carry out the instructions of my master, no more and no less, my days of revelry are long past.”

“That’s sad,” Ryan mumbled, “is this at least a kind of vacation for you?”

“In a way, I suppose that it is. Taking form and walking the Earth again reminds me of the old times, the moonlight on my skin, the warmth of a man…”

That got his attention, and she must have sensed the change in his emotional state. She had just let slip a lot more than she had intended, perhaps beyond the scope of her task here, and she quickly changed the subject.

“Are you ready to sleep yet? I can use my power to calm your mind,” she whispered, halting her rhythmic stroking for a moment. “You need only ask.”

“You’re doing a pretty good job without it,” he chuckled, pushing his face into the nape of her neck and breathing in her earthy scent. “Can we just … stay like this a while longer?”

“As you wish.”

She resumed her stroking, and he felt an involuntary tremor pass through him. It felt so good that it made his limbs turn to mush. His eyelids were growing heavy, and a yawn forced his jaw wide open, Ryan breathing in the scent of her delicate fur as its strands tickled his skin. He allowed himself the liberty of draping his arm over Nahash’s soft belly, shuffling closer to her.

She wrapped the blankets more tightly around them like a cocoon, lying on her side, those mammoth breasts pressing together under their own considerable weight. She drew his face into her bust, her hand still on the back of his head, her chin resting in his hair as her burnished skin rubbed against his reddening cheeks.

“So … you can sing?” he asked, and he heard her massive heart quicken. Did the prospect excite her, perhaps?

“Not for millennia, but yes, I can.”

“Will you sing for me?”

“Why?”

“I’d like to hear it, and it would help me get to sleep.”

“I can lull you into a deep and untroubled sleep at your request,” she replied, “singing is not necessary for that.”

“Well, I’d like to hear it.”

She seemed hesitant, afraid of doing more than her role required perhaps. Would taking such liberties with her charge anger Orobas in some way? Then again, he must have foreseen everything. That was his job, after all, he wouldn’t have sent her if this wasn’t what he had intended to happen.

“I suppose it would be acceptable, if you wish it. What manner of song would you like to hear?”

“I don’t know,” he said, “something calming.”

He waited, unsure of whether or not she would actually begin to sing, but before long he heard a low and musical tone rising in her throat. It would have been inaudible had her lips not been but an inch from his ear, an ancient hymn in a language that might not have been heard by mortals in thousands of years, a melodic chant with a timbre and rhythm that betrayed its immense age. It was like nothing he had heard before, and he listened in silence, captivated by the somehow mournful singing.

He could almost see it in his mind’s eye, the silhouettes of Seirim dancing beneath the cold stars, framed against a burning fire that rose high into the night air. He could hear the twang of ancient string instruments and the beating of drums as the pace and intensity of the melody quickened, unable to discern if it was his imagination or if she was projecting these images and emotions into his mind.

It was beautiful and strange, at once distinctly alien, yet distinctly familiar. It was as if the music awoke some ancient memory in him, a long-buried fragment of his ancestral past. Had his own forebears joined these spirits in their frenzied dance?

The haunting, placating song hastened still, climbing towards a crescendo. The figures that he saw in his mind danced faster and faster as they waved their arms and stamped their cloven feet on the dusty ground. There was a climax of dissonance, the instruments that he half heard and half imagined going silent, the rhythmic chant slowly fading into nothing.

He opened his eyes as if waking from a trance, and he felt like a great deal of time had passed. How long had she been singing, and how long had he lay here and listened to her?

“That was … lovely. Thank you.”

“I am glad to sing again,” she muttered, “no mortal has heard my voice in five thousand years.”

“What ‘was’ that? I’ve never heard anything like it before.”

“A Sumerian song. I doubt that there are any records of it that survive, that’s about as far back as your historical records go.”

“I saw … images in my head, Seirim dancing around a giant fire. Were you doing that?”

“In part,” she replied, “but music itself is a kind of magick. It can influence emotion and mood much in the same way that I can.”

“Yeah, I suppose that’s true enough.”

“Will you sleep now?”

He nodded, relaxing into her fluffy ruff.

“You can use your powers on me now.”

“Are you sure?” Nahash asked, surprised by his change in attitude.

“Yeah, go for it.”

Maybe it was because he understood her a little better, or because she had earned some of his trust, but as the waves of relaxing euphoria washed over, him he realized that he no longer feared her.

xxxxx

When Ryan awoke, Nahash was gone. He sat up in bed and yawned as he stretched his arms above his head. He was a little disappointed that he hadn’t woken up in her arms, but she was a demon, after all. Being here at all must consume some kind of resource or energy required for her to manifest a physical body. He rubbed his eyes, swinging his legs out from under the sheets and hopping out of bed, swearing that he had never felt so rested in his life.

He had slept through the whole night, his mind completely blank of dreams or nightmares, he felt completely refreshed and totally energized. It was like he had been woken from some futuristic rejuvenation booth from a sci-fi movie. It was kind of frustrating to consider that such rest was always available to him, but his own schedule and hangups kept it out of reach. If he were to wake up feeling like this every morning, he could conquer the damned world.

After making his way to the kitchen, he decided that he’d make eggs and bacon today rather than subsisting on stale cereal. Breakfast was the most important meal of the day, so they said.

He got to work with the frying pan, morning sunlight streaming in between the blinds that covered his windows, and before long he was sitting down to a meal of fried eggs on toast and some crispy bacon. He took a bite of a strip, pleased with his handiwork. To think that a good night’s sleep could influence his mood and outlook so dramatically…

He heard his cellphone ring, and he rose from his seat, interrupting his breakfast to search for the device. He found it beside his computer and swiped to answer the call, holding it up to his ear.

“Hello? Who is it?”

“Hello,” a man’s voice on the other end said, “is this Ryan Cutter?”

“It is, what can I do for you?”

“I’m pleased to inform you that you’ve won the West Shore Plaza raffle and that you’re now the proud owner of a factory-fresh Honda Accord, sponsored by Bedlam Auto Dealership.”

Finally, the car was on its way. Ryan did his best to feign surprise.

“Wow! I didn’t think that anyone really won these things! That’s great news.”

“It’s waiting for you in the parking lot of the plaza. You can come pick it up right away, then it’s just a matter of signing a few more forms, and you can drive it away today!”

“I’ll be down some time around midday,” he replied, “thanks again!”

He hung up and returned to his breakfast, breaking one of his fried eggs open with his fork and watching the yolk ooze forth to soak his toast. Sunny side up, an apt metaphor for the way that he was feeling. If things continued along this path, then he’d be able to turn his life around for sure.

xxxxx

Ryan pulled his new car into the apartment complex parking lot, he had his own space, but he had never needed to use it before. He set the handbrake, then stepped out to admire his ride. A car like this might have been worth thirty or forty thousand dollars new, it had a five-year warranty and a full tank of gas, it was something that he would never have been able to afford without saving for years. Orobas had done a stellar job, and now he could travel, the range in which he could commute for work had just expanded by miles.

He locked the car with a beep from the remote on his key chain and made his way back to his apartment, that new car smell lingering in his clothing. When he arrived he was greeted by the smell of sulfur, Nahash must be waiting for him. As he opened the door and stepped inside, he saw that he had been right, she was waiting for him on the couch with her long legs crossed.

“I trust that the vehicle is satisfactory?”

“Oh yeah, my compliments to your boss, he really delivered.”

“Your mood is positive, hopeful,” she said as she scrutinized him with her amber eyes. “Your sleep was adequate?”

“That’s an understatement,” he laughed, shrugging off his jacket and draping it over a coat rack by the door. “I don’t think I’ve slept that soundly since I was an infant, I woke up feeling like a new man. I tell you, if you could bottle whatever it is that you do and sell it as a medicine, you’d be a millionaire overnight.”

“The next step is the job interview, you have arranged this?”

“Yes, I’ll be driving there in two days. I have a face-to-face with the head of their IT department scheduled.” He hesitated for a moment as he leaned on the kitchen counter and started to prepare a fresh pot of coffee. “I’ve been meaning to ask about that, can Orobas see into the future and let me know if I’ll land the position or not? Are you guys going to help me out in some way?”

“Magick can be subtle, Ryan. If I had informed you about exactly what would happen when you went to the mall, you might have done something to change the future, or you might have behaved differently in a way that caused you to unknowingly sabotage yourself. You lack prescience, and so you live only in the moment, as if a fog obscures your vision. Live in the moment, Ryan, and let Orobas lead you. He has given you no cause to doubt him.”

“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right, I’ll just trust that it will work out.”

He set the machine going, and then walked over to join Nahash on the couch, the giant demon shuffling aside to give him space.

“It’s kind of nice having you waiting for me when I get back home,” he said. “Reminds me of … well, I miss that. Maybe I should get a dog or something, I don’t know if my landlord allows pets.”

“I am merely here to ensure that you perform the tasks that are required of you,” she replied as if it was a matter of fact.

“Uh-huh. Well, I was thinking about what you were saying last night as I drove back, about the Seirim and the dancing and all that junk.”

“Yes?”

“I was wondering why you’re forbidden from acting the way that you used to, dancing around fires and singing for people, that kind of thing?”

She considered for a moment, scratching her furry chin with her claw-like nails.

“It is not that I am forbidden, but that it is not within the scope of my mission here. I obey my master, I do no more and no less than he asks of me, for that is my contract with him. Were someone to summon Orobas and request the revelry of the Seirim, we would of course oblige, though that isn’t likely. Few alive would possess the knowledge to ask such a thing, and fewer still would have the desire to summon us. We were spirits of the wilderness, embodiments of the mysteries of nature, the unknowns of the unexplored wilds. Mortals no longer fear the forests, they no longer wonder what lurks beyond the mountains and what secrets the deserts hold. Men have traversed every inch of this planet and mapped it down to every blade of grass.”

“You make it sound like you’re useless, like you’ve lost all purpose,” Ryan said as she looked down at him with her horizontal pupils. “But that’s not the case. Sure the demographic that used to worship you no longer exists, but that doesn’t make your skills any less impressive.”

“Why would somebody go to the trouble of summoning a demon, taking out a contract with him, and using it to summon Seirim?” Nahash asked, waving her hands dismissively. “If one should desire carnality and revelry, there are far more suitable options, ways to acquire women and pleasures beyond anything that we can provide.”

“Was that … part of what you used to do then? Carnality?” Ryan asked, his cheeks beginning to flush.

“Yes, we embodied not only the mysteries of nature, but also its hidden passions and secret desires. We were the shadow that lurked in men’s psyche, lust and reckless abandon made manifest. We lured mortals with our song and dance, tempted them with wine, offered them the pleasures that they so often denied themselves. Some gave themselves to us in ritual, some let the wild overcome them and joined us in our dance, others we took for ourselves when the frenzy overcame us.”

“Sounds a little, uh … belligerent.”

“Nature is red in tooth and claw, men harbor dark desires that they will scarcely admit even to themselves, and the forest can swallow a person no different from the jaws of a beast. As I have tried to explain to you Ryan, good and evil are relative, we each must perform the roles that are given to us.”

They had wild, crazy sex with mortals then, that’s what she was telling him. His mind raced at the prospect. If she could put him to sleep with her magic, then what else was she capable of? What form did the revelry and carnality that she described take? The more comfortable he became around her, the less her animal features stood out to him, they had even started to blend with her more familiar figure in ways that he found quite alluring.

It had been weeks since he had been with a woman, after enjoying a fairly consistent sex life with Becky for the last three years it was like torture. If he asked … would she be forced to oblige? No, he couldn’t think that way. She was a person with her own desires and goals, he couldn’t coerce her into doing something like that, it would be wrong. She had been so kind to him so far, and he sensed that it was as much her natural inclination as it was an order from Orobas. He didn’t want to sully their burgeoning friendship.

He realized that she was probably reading his emotional state like a book, and quickly changed the topic of conversation.

“So if you somehow regained worshipers, what would happen? Would that make you … come back to life or something?”

“I am a spirit, I was never alive,” she clarified. “Though it is true that the Seirim required only the worship and belief of a handful of nomadic tribes to sustain us, as we are not powerful gods, the chances of enough people giving us their faith in the modern era are next to nothing. In such a case, we could manifest in the forests and hills again, no longer bound by summoning circles and the whims of our masters.”

She seemed to falter, as if she had inadvertently said something wrong.

“Not to say that we do not owe everything to the demons that bind us and share with us their vital essence, without which we would have faded from existence entirely. Myth and faith are dying in this world, more and more you mortals value the material sciences, you reject the supernatural and the religious as fanciful and quaint. Your new god is technology, and why should it not be? It performs its wonders daily, plain for all to see, and demands no sacrifice or offerings in exchange. But we starve, Ryan. Even the greater demons and the almighty gods feel their power waning as of late.”

Her elongated face was oddly expressive, her ovine eyes flashing with sorrow and regret, giving him the impression that her whole world might be on the cusp of petering out into nothing. Entire nations had been built on religions and myths in the past, but now the world was increasingly moving towards rationalism. Besides a few massive religions such as Hinduism or Catholicism, there wasn’t much prayer and faith to go around. People no longer whispered about forest spirits, superstition was reserved for unlucky numbers and black cats, and demon worship was confined to a few solitary internet forums as far as he knew.

An idea was beginning to form, however, a plan. Perhaps there was something that he could do for her in return.

“I must leave now,” Nahash said as she rose to her feet abruptly, “I will return tonight to help you sleep.”

“Oh, do you have to go? Okay then, I’ll see you later.”

“I sense that you are disappointed,” she replied as she turned to look down at him. “My master must expend energy to send me here, and there is a cost incurred by manifesting in the physical world for long periods of time. To use your terminology, my battery becomes drained, and I must return to the source in order to replenish it.”

“I understand, but answer me this before you go. How much belief would it take to make you independent, and would Orobas release you from his service if that became the case?”

She cocked her head at him, probably wondering what was going through his mind.

“The tribesmen numbered in the hundreds, it did not take much more than that to sustain us, and I doubt that my master would be inconvenienced by the loss of a handful of Seirim. Why do you ask?”

“Just curious is all.”

She gave him another sideways glance, then vanished.

xxxxx

The sun was low in the sky, the clouds painted deep shades of pink and orange as Ryan peered through the blinds. He wanted to go to bed early tonight. Resting was just an excuse at this point, he found himself watching the clock, counting down the minutes until he could share a bed with Nahash again.

Maybe it was the way she made him feel with her plush body and her ability to relax him, or maybe he was just lonely and enjoyed her company, he couldn’t put his finger on exactly why it was that he so anticipated the sunset now.

As he watched the streets below, the lamps turned on, their orange glow illuminating the sidewalks and the facades of the city’s buildings as what few pedestrians remained went about their routine. It was another chilly autumn night, and the pavement was littered with colorful leaves. They would have to huddle close together beneath the heavy blankets for warmth, just the way he wanted it. All he had to do was decide to go to bed, and Orobas would send her, his powers of prescience sensing that Ryan required her services.

He waited a few minutes longer, watching as the last solitary rays of sunlight dipped beneath the horizon, and then he resolved to get into bed. As if on cue, the smell of sulfur filled the air, and once again Nahash took form inside the bounds of the chalk summoning circle that still remained on the floor beneath the couch. She could not stray far from it, or her connection to whatever astral realm or alternate dimension that she hailed from would wither and die, dissipating her physical body along with it. Fortunately, the apartment was small and pokey enough that she had the run of it, he wasn’t quite sure what her range was under normal circumstances.

The shifting mass of shadows took shape amidst the billowing fumes, and Nahash stood tall, blinking her eyes at him as her twisted horns brushed the ceiling.

“I have returned.”

“Welcome back,” he announced, doing his best to look like he hadn’t been waiting around for the last couple of hours.

“Shall we proceed?”

“Oh, sure,” he said as he led her over to the bedroom.

Before long they were wrapped up in the sheets, heavy blankets weighing them down as Ryan awkwardly shuffled into her embrace. She curled her long arms around him and pulled him tight against her body, her warmth and softness welcoming him once again. He felt giddy, his excitement probably counterproductive as he gleefully pushed his face into her feathery wool, feeling its delicate texture on is cheeks and smelling its familiar scent. Her gentle hands found their usual places, her clawed fingers delving into his hair to stroke his scalp and the other resting on his back to press him close.

Her heartbeat, the steady rise and fall of her copious bust, the smoothness of her skin as it pressed against his. It was like heaven, drowsiness already overcoming him as their bodies warmed the bed.

“I am glad to make you happy Ryan, but you must keep in mind that I cannot remain with you forever. Once the contract is completed I must return to my master’s side, I must wean you off these comforts before my departure becomes too jarring.”

“I know…” Ryan replied, exhaling into her fluffy ruff. “I don’t want to replace one problem with another. I’ll have to get back on the horse eventually, start dating again. But this really helps.”

“I … enjoy it also,” she replied, her voice low and breathy. He felt a chill run down his spine, he didn’t hear her express her own feelings or opinions very often, and he was surprised to hear her reciprocate. At least that was the way that it sounded. “I can read your emotions, remember? I know what this means to you, and that is why it cannot continue forever. Such attachment between a mortal and a spirit is fated to end tragically.”

His face burned, what exactly did she sense in him? His own emotions were not always clear-cut, did she know something that he didn’t? He shuddered as she ran her claws through his hair, his body tensing at her touch and then relaxing as he melted into her voluptuous body. He ran his hand from her flared hips to the small of her back, his fingers resting in the dimple of her spine as he struggled to get his arm around her, it was like trying to hug an oil barrel. Her chin rested on his head, her mammoth breasts unavoidable as they pressed against his shirt, he could feel her yielding flesh through the thin fabric as she shifted to get comfortable and they bumped into him.

“What kind of attachment do you mean?” Ryan asked a little sheepishly. “We humans don’t always know what we want, you know. Emotions can be obtuse.”

“You desire me, Ryan, as a man desires a woman. It would bring me great pleasure to indulge you, would it not interfere with my task.”

He felt her warm breath in his hair, and she nuzzled, rubbing her nose against it and drawing him closer. He felt an overwhelming urge to turn his face up and kiss her, but he resisted it, catching his impulse in the nick of time. His heart hammered in his chest, and he satisfied himself with rubbing his cheek in her silky fur instead. What the hell was he thinking? Was it just because he had been starved of affection for so long? Sexual frustration? Some kind of demonic pheromone that was seeping into his brain like an insidious toxin?

“W-Why would it interfere? I mean we could just … we’re already in bed together. What am I even saying? This is…”

He pulled away a little, her tight hold on him loosening as she released him from her grasp, and he looked up at her face. Those amber eyes glowed in the dark, reflecting what little light penetrated the curtains from outside. It would have been frightening had he not already become acquainted with her. He was accustomed to her slightly elongated face, the blending of human and animal features that had seemed so jarring at first glance, now there was an undeniable femininity and allure to her that tugged at some forgotten facet of his psyche. Her head was framed by that mane of wool or fur or whatever the hell it was, her goat-like ears and her gnarled horns protruding from it, the latter of which had left deep furrows in the wooden headboard and had punctured the stack of pillows in places.

“You must find someone of your own kind to be with, for I cannot remain here, and if I allow you to become enamored with me, then the contract will not be fulfilled. You will not be happy when we are separated.”

“I don’t care about that right now,” he blurted. “You told me to live in the moment, right? That’s what I’m doing, living in this moment. Who cares about what happens later?”

“You will care,” she replied, her tone soothing as she pulled him close again and began to stroke his hair. “You will be hurt again, it is not productive. Besides, the ways of the Seirim are wild and bestial, to have me unbridled might not suit you in the way you imagine.”

“Do you really have so little free will under the command of Orobas?” Ryan asked, pushing his face into the nape of her neck as she held him.

“It is of no consequence. What you wish for cannot be, and it was not part of your contract with my master. Sate yourself with these comforts, not all interactions between men and women need be carnal in nature.”

It wasn’t an answer that he wanted to accept, but he couldn’t change things, he was just a mortal after all. He ran his fingers over her glass-smooth skin, delving them into her velvet fur wherever he found it, feeling her soft body yield beneath his digits. He tried to dispel the lust that had been rising in him, burying his face in her ruff as if to escape it, and her gentle stroking resumed as if she could sense his turmoil and wanted to distract him from it.

“Shall I use my powers to calm you? You need only ask, Ryan.”

“Yeah, go ahead. Sorry about this, by the way. I didn’t mean to make things awkward.”

“You have nothing to apologize for,” she said as she took his face in her hands and planted a kiss on his forehead. “Your emotions are no mystery to me. No matter how well mannered you are and how deeply you bury them, I sense them just the same. If anything, I have transgressed by probing your mind without your permission. Alas, it is as natural to me as any other sense, I cannot stop it any more than I can shut off my sense of taste or touch.”

“No, I like it,” Ryan replied. “Makes things easier. I was never good at communicating how I feel.”

“Mortals repress so many of their emotions,” she muttered, “it can be frustrating to so clearly sense a desire that is then ardently denied. Part of what the Seirim used to do was expose these hidden emotions, as dark or dirty as they might be, bring them to light and then indulge them until those needs were satisfied.”

“And … do I have any hidden emotions that I should be aware of?”

He felt a wave of pleasant fatigue wash over him, as if he had exerted himself to the limit, a satisfied ache permeating his muscles. He couldn’t move, he didn’t want to move, he just wanted to relax and let his tired body melt into Nahash’s welcoming embrace. She stroked his hair, pressing his face into her soft fur, his eyelids heavy as he breathed in her wonderful scent. It was like falling asleep on a cloud, he couldn’t keep his eyes open. His complete loss of control might have been alarming had he not been overcome by an incredible calm. Trying to stay awake was like crawling out of a swimming pool full of molasses, like trying to fight an anesthetic, and he chuckled weakly as he felt his demonic bed-mate wrap her arms around him and drag him closer.

Those yellow eyes flashed in the darkness, her head framed by twisted horns, her clawed fingers roaming across his skin. Maybe it was just his tired imagination, but as his vision went dark, he could have sworn that he heard her whispering a melody into his ear.

THE END OF CHAPTER FOUR