Hayley had been surprised to be asked to the Halloween party, because her workmate wasn't exactly close to her or anything. As an out-of-work actress, Hayley was only a temp in the office anyway, although it looked like she'd have to stay there for as long as possible, because she didn't have much work coming up. Hayley wondered if Debbie was only taking pity on her because Hayley was new-ish in town and probably didn't know anyone much. As it happened, Hayley had already met a few people because Hayley was friendly and cheerful and made an effort to go out and meet people whenever she could. She was quite lucky in love, too, although she wasn't interested in "love" as such and liked to keep things casual and see where they went for the time being. But she'd done her research before moving to the city and knew where to go, so she found it quite easy to meet the sort of people she liked. She was also discreet, so no-one really noticed that it was only ever women who made it back to her flat.

Debbie'd probably only asked her to the party to help make up numbers. Or maybe because she thought Hayley shouldn't be young and single and alone on Halloween (which was also a Saturday night) when Debbie had a party at her house, which would be lively and fun and only just round the corner. And because Hayley was indeed young and single, liked a good house party, and in fact didn't have a better offer for that night, she said she'd be there.

Hayley knew she wouldn't know anyone much and she wasn't looking to meet someone particularly (although she never said never), and there was a risk she'd end up eating too much cold pizza and getting drunk and sitting in a little pile in the corner until someone sent her home. On the other hand, she knew there was also the risk she'd get drunk and try it on with Debbie or some other straight girl. Either wouldn't be good, but both would be better than sitting at home by herself getting drunk and sitting in a little pile in the corner until she sent herself to bed.

The process of getting her Halloween costume together pleased her. She hadn't been to a fancy dress party for years, and she'd forgotten how much fun the preparations could be. From the back of her wardrobe, she dug out a cute white dress with a tight bodice and loose skirt just above the knee which she hadn't worn for ages, and she found a swathe of purple lace in a local craft shop, which was easily sewn onto the dress for an unusual, slightly flouncy effect. She bought a pair of thin black hold-ups with little bats all over them from a fancy dress shop. In a charity shop near her flat she found an old woollen shawl to put round her shoulders, and a chunky purple belt, and she used a glitter pen to glam up a cheap pair of old shoes she never wore much any more. On the night itself, she had fun fluffing her long, blonde hair up into a manic disarray, and she made the most of her pale complexion with some dark eye shadow and some vivid purple lipstick to match her nails and belt.

She didn't really care that she wasn't a recognisable Halloween character, because she really wasn't taking any of it seriously. She was just happy not to be dressed normally on a night when no-one else seemed to be dressed normally either.

She bought a bottle of cider from the all-night shop around the corner on the way to Debbie's, and surprised herself at how much she was looking forward to things as she walked over to the house.

***

In fact, the party was pretty good. There were plenty of people there – Debbie shared a large Victorian terraced house with another girl and two lads, so there was lots of room and each of them had apparently asked all the people under 30 that they'd ever known. Hayley was only about an hour later than Debbie had said it would start, but there was already a good crowd.

Some inoffensively mainstream music was coming from the speakers of a docking station in the lounge, and there was a small crowd in there talking and drinking. Others were in the garden, or the kitchen, and a few were huddled on the stairs. Hayley found Debbie, who was looking sexy in a little black dress with red and black tights and black boots, and a cloak around her shoulders. She kissed Hayley on the cheek, with her violent red lips "Hi, thanks for coming."

"Pleasure. I've brought cider." Hayley waved the bottle. "You look great." Hayley sometimes wondered whether she fancied Debbie, and decided probably only slightly, but she did look good as a sexy vampire.

"Aww, thank you! So do you." Debbie replied dutifully. "Thanks for the cider. Add it to the table in there." She waved at the dining room. "There's food too. Get it now, before it all goes."

Quite a few people were milling about in the dining room, where the table had been pushed back along one wall and laid with an amazing array of finger food. There was pizza (still warm), but there were all sorts of other great things too, and Hayley was impressed: Debbie and her housemates had gone to some effort. Along another wall was another table covered with wine boxes, cans of beer and cider, bottles of soft drinks and jugs of water, some of them in cool-boxes. Hayley added her bottle of cider to one of the cool-boxes, after opening it and pouring herself a plastic mug-full.

A young man dressed like a crazy scientist came up and said, "Hi."

"Hi," said Hayley. "I'm Hayley. I work with Debbie."

"Cool. Debbie's that bird in the black dress who lives here, yeah?" said the crazy scientist. "I'm Jez, I work with Mikey, he lives here too. Although tonight," Jez changed his voice, trying to sound deeper and more portentous. "Tonight, I ham Doktor Frankenschtein." He relaxed again, wisely dropping the awful Austrian accent, and grinned. "My mate's come as the monster. He's around somewhere, but I don't know where he is."

Hayley laughed. "That's a really cool idea, to come as a pair like that. If I see him, I'll send him back to you."

Dr "Jez" Frankenstein waved airily. "I'm not bothered, really." He opened a can of beer and took a swig. "He can be a pain in the arse after a couple of beers. So, Hayley, what kind of Halloween creature are you? Apart from a beautiful one, of course..."

Hayley smiled and resigned herself to being chatted up for a while. It was a fact of life, and she didn't mind particularly, especially if the boy was interesting, or witty like Jez. And she felt that just because she wasn't interested she shouldn't try to have a nice conversation with someone new. She'd actually met a couple of pretty good male friends that way.

She had a range of excuses to get out of the situation, in case she needed them, but she felt she wouldn't with Jez. They moved closer to the buffet table, and started piling food onto party plates. Hayley twisted sideways briefly, to squeeze past a girl dressed as a not-very-convincing witch, and lost a heartbeat as the most beautiful girl she had ever seen walked past the door. There was a flash of a red dress, the tumble of hair over her shoulders, then she was gone and Hayley knew she would spend the rest of the party looking out for someone in a red dress again, wandering from room to room in the hope of seeing her, craning round whoever she was talking to, to seek her out and follow her with her eyes.

Hayley sighed, and knew she wouldn't be able to relax at the party now, now she'd seen the girl in the red dress. In fact – and she wasn't quite sure why, having only caught a glimpse of the girl – but she was pretty certain she wouldn't be able to relax properly again ever. At least until she saw her again, which would probably just make things worse, but that would be better than not ever seeing her again...

Jez drifted away after a little while, and Hayley felt a bit guilty for a moment for suddenly being so distracted, but then she shrugged and topped up her cider and went in search of the red dress and its owner.

***

She saw her again, across the kitchen, but there were people standing in the way, and Hayley was sucked into conversation with one of the others from the office and someone else. Hayley felt slightly disappointed that she wasn't able to get nearer to the red dress girl, but she was able to admire her from a distance and confirm that she was just as heartbeat-skippingly beautiful as she'd seemed when Hayley had first seen her. She was more or less Hayley's perfect catch-a-sight-of-across-the-room fantasy, Hayley thought, as she stared at her perfection and felt the warm glow of desire spread slowly through her body.

At one point, the girl glanced over and Hayley felt a little flutter inside. She looked back a few seconds later, and this time definitely looked at Hayley properly, and Hayley felt herself blush. When the girl looked at Hayley a third time, she held Hayley's gaze and just for a moment they were completely oblivious to their respective conversations, and anyone else in the room. The girl smiled, and Hayley felt her insides melt.

Someone asked Hayley something, and she had to drag her attention back to the real world. When the conversation she was pretending to have broke up, she made to cross the kitchen towards the girl, but she'd gone. Feeling lost, Hayley wandered around the house, hoping to catch sight of her again.

Over the course of the next few hours, she kept up a little circuit of dining room (for food and, more importantly, cider), kitchen, living room and garden, but caught only glimpses of the striking girl in the striking dress.

They were quite close to each other in the garden at one point, but Red Dress was talking to someone else at the time and Hayley was caught in another conversation and couldn't do anything about it. They did keep glancing at each other, though.

Some time later they ended up at the buffet table at the same time, but just as Hayley was screwing up the courage to say something across the person between them, Unconvincing Witch stepped in and dragged Red Dress away.

They met on the stairs as Hayley was returning from the bathroom. Red Dress glanced up as she started to climb, and smiled slowly at Hayley. Hayley hesitated and opened her mouth to say something, but there were other people behind her and a well-placed elbow in her back kept her moving down. The girl smiled more broadly, with interest in her eyes, as they passed. Their arms and the skirts of their dresses brushed against each other and Hayley caught a waft of the girl's musky, sexy perfume as their locked gaze flicked apart, and her insides tightened in pleasure.

***

By the time the music had changed to some more late-night sounds, and the conversations had settled into that less shrill, more subdued, perhaps more serious mode, Hayley had given up on seeing the girl to talk to. She'd also decided that she was the only one drinking cider anyway, so just swiped the bottle from the table and made her way out round the side of the house, where she could sit quietly and swig cider and enjoy her self-pity.

All the smokers were using the back garden, and it was a little bit chilly, so Hayley was alone and free to lean back against the wall and pull her knees up, and stare into space. She tugged her shawl around her shoulders against the cool air and felt a little bit of cider dribble out of the corner of her mouth as she took a drink. She realised she was getting fairly drunk, as she rubbed her mouth with her arm, but she shrugged to herself and decided it was consolation for having lost the girl in the red dress.

Not that she'd even had her to lose, in the first place. They hadn't even managed to talk! She was just a sexy stranger in a nice dress, at a party full of strangers, and it's not like there weren't other sexy women out there who she just hadn't met yet. Hayley tried to recall the girl's face and suddenly realised she couldn't really, in any detail. She just knew it had been attractive. Maybe it was the cider, maybe it was just not meant to be.

"There you are then, Hayley," she told herself. "See? You'll have forgotten all about her by tomorrow."

"Forgotten all about whom?" asked a sexy voice.

Hayley looked up at the girl in the red dress and wondered how she hadn't heard her approach. She also wondered how she'd ever been able to forget that face. Or ever think there could ever be anyone else out there who was quite so all-consumingly gorgeous. "Oh, er...nothing."

The girl shrugged and settled herself gracefully next to Hayley, stretching her legs out. Hayley was impressed at just how gracefully, given the cut and length of the girl's dress, and she took a little moment to enjoy the wash of pure lust that spread through her. When the girl rested her head back on the wall and turned it to look at Hayley calmly, Hayley realised she'd been staring quite openly. She blushed again, and the girl looked at her seriously. "Are you all right?"

Hayley nodded. "Sorry. I just..it's.." She looked at the bottle in her hand and wiped the neck quickly. "Do you want some cider?"

"No." The girl looked slightly uncomfortable for a second. "Thank you. But I don't really need a lot of food and drink."

Hayley suddenly felt a little inadequate, and greedy and unable to control her appetite. Then she shrugged and swigged more cider herself. "I like it, I'm afraid. And I like other bad things, too. Like all that food in there." She patted her stomach where her dress was maybe just a tiny bit tighter than it had been when she last wore it. "As you can tell."

The girl looked at her carefully for a while. "If you mean that you feel unattractive, I think you are very beautiful." She said it as a matter of fact. "All of you. I can tell you are a beautiful person."

Hayley was slightly taken aback. The girl had to be foreign, being that direct, as if she was stating the obvious. Or drunk, maybe? No, not drunk, she'd just said she didn't drink much. And she hadn't said Hayley wasn't getting a bit big for the dress, just that she looked good the way she was – which a girl could live with. And Hayley thought she definitely didn't get called 'a beautiful person' by sexy women nearly often enough. All in all, Hayley felt rather pleased. "Thanks. You, er...you're pretty hot yourself, you know."

To Hayley's surprise, the girl laughed. Not a faux-modest titter, but a proper laugh, as if it was genuinely amusing. "Thank you. I like that." She reached out and rested her hand on Hayley's arm for a second. She smiled at Hayley as if they'd just shared a little secret.

Almost certainly foreign, Hayley decided. Definitely a weirdo. A sexy weirdo, mind, but a weirdo nonetheless. She swigged cider again, then said, "So, anyway. I'm Hayley."

"Livia." The girl held out a hand, in a strangely formal gesture. Hayley shook it, without really thinking. The girl's flesh was soft, but cold. Hayley gave a slight shiver, which was strangely both slightly disturbing but vaguely arousing at the same time.

"Do we need to go inside, Livia? It's a bit chilly out here."

"I'm fine, thank you. Are you?"

Hayley nodded and wondered if Livia realised her hands were so cold. Although in a dress that skimpy, she wasn't surprised she was a bit cold. "Yeah. I like the fresh air. Clears my head. I just thought..."

"I don't really feel the cold." Livia shrugged. "Or the heat."

Weirdo with a capital 'W', thought Hayley, even as she ran her eyes over the girl again. Hot weirdo, hot hot hot. But still weird. Sooo hot, though. The desire stabbed at her insides.

She wondered if Livia got any less weird in bed, and if not whether she'd be easy to get rid of after the fun stuff had run its course. Because she was by a long, long way the sexiest girl Hayley had ever seen, let alone been allowed to talk to. Hayley knew that she would do almost anything to spend a night with Livia, at whatever cost. Even if it meant selling her soul. She couldn't define or explain what it was about Livia – it went way beyond her obvious physical beauty – that was so urgently appealing, but she just seemed to suck Hayley in, as if something about her was reaching out and winding Hayley's very deepest desires around her cold, soft, gentle fingers and pulling them into herself, leaving Hayley just gasping helplessly in the closeness of her presence.

Livia's curious voice cut into the silence between them. "Everyone is dressed up tonight in, what do you call it? Fancy dress?"

"Yeah." Hayley leaned her head on the wall and just gave in to the urge to stare at Livia. She could still talk to her like a normal person, she just couldn't act or think like a normal person and stop looking at her. Just looking at Livia gave her little thrills, and the girl's voice sent tiny stabs of exquisite pleasure into her with each breath. She was vaguely worried that if she looked away again, like earlier, Livia would disappear and not return. And anyway, how could she possibly want to look at anything else when the most beautiful girl in the world was sitting close beside her? She just had to stare and stare. "I'm not dressed as anything really, just glammed up a bit. What about you?"

Livia looked a bit confused for a minute. "I am a succubus."

"Cool. Nice dress, by the way." Hayley dared to run the back of her hand quickly over Livia's side, and shivered pleasurably at the silkiness of the material, and the thrill of touching her. Underneath, Livia felt less warm and vital than Hayley expected, but that wasn't anything a few hot kisses couldn't rectify a bit later. Hayley bit her lip as the thought of kissing Livia's body sent waves of desire washing through her. "You look lovely. And I mean that in so many ways..." she added quietly.

Livia smiled at her. She moved slightly, leaning an inch nearer, as if she didn't mind Hayley touching her. "I think you misunderstand me. I am actually a succubus."

"Yeah, you said. Unusual choice, I'm not even sure I know what it is. But nice and easy to do, I suppose. Just a sexy dress and your natural beauty." Hayley sighed wistfully as she took a moment to enjoy Livia's sexy dress and natural beauty, then sipped cider and went on. "Debbie, who I work with, she's the one dressed like some sort of sexy vampire."

Livia tutted, but waited with a slight smile on her lips until Hayley looked at her again. Her eyes were still serious. "I am not dressed like anything. I am what I am. A succubus is a sort of daemon. Who sleeps with men in order to steal their souls and lead them into perdition."

Hayley felt her hopes and dreams deflate rapidly, and leant back quickly. "Oh. Sleeping with men. Yeah. OK, then." She took a generous swig of cider.

"What?" Livia frowned. "That is, what do you say? Just the day job. My work. Although I work mainly at night, of course."

Hayley snorted. "You're not making this sound any better, Livia. Worse, in fact."

"What would you like me to say? It is true." She looked at Hayley carefully and rested a hand on her arm again. "And why does this make you so cross?"

"I'm not cross," Hayley replied sharply. Then she took a deep breath. "You really don't know?" Hayley studied her for a while, then sighed. Maybe just now wasn't quite the time to come out and 'fess up to how much she fancied her. "OK, let's pretend for a second that you are actually a soul-eating daemon who exists to have sex..." Hayley paused for a moment to take a deep breath and concentrate on not thinking about Livia having sex. "How does it work? Are you like a vampire? Need regular fixes, as it were?"

Livia shook her head. "I do not benefit from the souls, they are destined for Hell, of course. I work my way into their consciousness slowly, lead their thoughts into temptation. Then I appear in their dreams normally, and cause involuntary emissions." She ignored Hayley's snort of amusement at the business-like turn of phrase. "If they wake up, then I am actually there as well, of course. As they give more of themselves to the act, I can take in more of their soul." Livia sighed lightly. "Kisses can be so treacherous."

"I can't believe I'm actually having this conversation."

"The word comes from Latin: sub, 'under' and cubare, 'to lie'."

"Fnnngh...um?"

"'Succubus'. It is a reference to old-fashioned ideas of intercourse. These days, I can be flexible."

"Oh, my." Hayley took another deep breath and enjoyed imagining being flexible with Livia for a bit. She let her finger run over Livia's dress, down over the hem and over the girl's leg. She watched Livia watch her, and suddenly felt a strange, giddy boldness. Any normal person, even a foreign weirdo, would know what she was doing, would know where Hayley's interest in Livia lay, would realise she was trying to come on to her. Livia had no reaction, beyond to wait for her to say something more. Hayley sighed. "You really are, aren't you? You're not making this up."

"No. Why would I?"

Hayley could only shrug. She was fascinated, spellbound by the implications. She left her hand resting on Livia's leg, moving her finger back and forth over the material of the dress lightly. "OK. So, go on then. Tell me about yourself."

Livia's face lit up, and she told Hayley much more than she was expecting, or necessarily wanted to know. She was about 2500 years old, apparently, and the job title had changed a lot in that time although the basic job description was more or less the same. Around 1800 years ago, the succubi and their male counterparts, the incubi, had been subcontracted predominantly to the Christian Devil, where they still were, although no-one knew how long that contract was going to last in the current spiritual climate. As a freelance, however, Livia knew she would always be able to find something somewhere, because virtually everyone was hung up on sex, one way or another. These days, the job did involve a lot more regulation: health and safety meant only certain positions were allowed, equality regulations meant having to be a lot more informed. On the other hand, nowdays the quality of the job was much higher – much more tailored to the individual victim. They had to do a lot more research on the individual, a lot more groundwork, before going in on the actual mission. In her spare time, Livia liked nothing more than to spend time reading and going round museums and galleries. She was also learning to knit, although she wasn't very good yet.

Hayley guessed that if Livia had lived through so much history, she must get a kick from seeing what later centuries made of it. She was a little bit conflicted on what to think about daemons who were learning to knit. Her name was Latin apparently, like the current job title. "It's a nice name," Hayley said, truthfully, feeling like she was having to tread very carefully. "How come you're at this Halloween party?"

Livia smiled. Her face was more full of colour than before, Hayley noticed, and where Hayley's hand was still resting against Livia's hip, she felt a lot warmer through her dress. Their shoulders were touching too, and Hayley thought Livia felt more 'alive', for want of a better word. Livia's eyes were bright. "My friend who brought me here, she is a witch. We wanted to see how these things worked."

Hayley laughed and tried not to be distracted by the fathomless beauty of Livia's eyes. "You mean you're here with an actual witch?"

"Yes. You saw her earlier, just as we were about to speak at the food table."

Hayley thought back, having to content herself with leaving just half her mind dwelling on the seductive softness of Livia's mouth. "No! Seriously? But she's the least witch-like witch I've ever seen. That's the worst Halloween costume ever, not counting mine. She doesn't even look scary."

Livia smiled, and for a moment openly noticed – and seemed to welcome – Hayley's gaze on her. She gathered her hair back to expose her neck and shoulders. "Nevertheless, she is a witch, quite a powerful one. She has no need to look scary." Livia shifted slightly, so that she was sitting nearer Hayley. "Why are you interested in all this? No-one has thought to ask me about myself before now."

Hayley tore her eyes away from Livia's bare throat and tried to stop thinking about kissing the straps of the dress off her shoulders. She took Livia's hand gently. "Do you mind talking about yourself?" The daemon's fingers were warmer than before, and still sexily soft. Hayley imagined feeling Livia's hands on her, and remembered she had idly thought about selling her soul for the chance to sleep with her. She thought she probably still would. At the back of her mind, Hayley wondered if it seemed like Livia was coming more alive because someone was taking an interest in her, for once. Talking to her like a person. How ironic, she thought, when I am so captivated by her beauty. "In your line of work, do you...have you ever had a relationship? A special friend?"

Livia laughed. "Of course not. I'd kill them, I think."

"Mmm. Awkward."

"I must admit, I have never really tried so I do not know if it would work." She glanced at Hayley quickly, and moved their hands so they rested on her leg. She gently slid her fingers between Hayley's. "It is lovely to share something of myself with someone else. No-one has ever taken an interest before."

Hayley cleared her throat carefully. "Have you ever had to...er...I mean, what about women? Do you do women? Professionally, I mean."

Livia looked down for a moment. "Sometimes." There was a pause. When she went on, her voice was quieter. "I do take on women if I have to, but I do not like to do it too much."

Hayley sighed and gently moved slightly away from Livia. Of course. She wasn't surprised, but she was finding it hard to breathe properly though the disappointment. She moved to take her hand back.

Livia caught it and held it. "You have a saying about business and pleasure." Her deep eyes were searching Hayley's face, and Hayley blinked at the intensity of her gaze. If she used that gaze at work, no wonder people surrendered their lives to her. Livia sighed. "It is not good in this job, to take too much pleasure in it, to like the person too much. It can prolong the job, and if it becomes prolonged, I can become vulnerable, tempted. Sometimes even to find ways of saving the person."

Hayley paused, and turned her hand in Livia's. She cleared her throat. "You mean, if..er, women...um..."

"I feel pleasure with women. Which is not a good idea in my job."

Hayley thought for a while. Her heart was thumping. She wondered if there might be a way through. "What if you're not on a job? If you're on your own time?"

"I do not know what would happen." A look of distress flitted across her face. "I would not want to harm anyone unnecessarily. I have never dared try."

Hayley couldn't help laughing. "For a soul-eating daemon, that's very considerate of you, Livia." She shifted closer and enjoyed the feel of their bodies touching. She enjoyed the way Livia didn't move away, as well. "Um, seriously, though. You've been tempted?" Livia nodded. "By a woman?" Livia nodded again. Hayley took a deep breath and tried not to sound too excited. "Have you, um, been tempted recently?" Another nod. "Perhaps even...tonight?" A final nod, and for a long moment the two girls held each other's gaze. Hayley coughed modestly. "Tell me, then. How does it work? The whole soul-eating part?"

Livia shrugged and wriggled slightly so that her body was pressed more firmly against Hayley. "It is as they abandon themselves, in the vulnerability of passion. It can be kisses, it can be as they reach a peak....any time they freely expose their souls to me."

"So," Hayley went on carefully, "if your partner gave as good as she got, that might make a difference?" She leant in close to Livia and put her lips near her ear. Livia's heavy perfume filled her head and she closed her eyes as their cheeks brushed. She had to stop herself giving in to the intense pleasure completely. She said quietly, directly into Livia's ear, "If the girl didn't just take it lying down, as it were...?"

Livia remained very still for a moment. Hayley could feel her body, now exuding heat like the most willing of human lovers, tremble slightly against her. She moved her head and grazed Livia's neck with her lips and nose, enjoying the way Livia's breath caught in her throat. The daemon's voice was husky when she spoke. "Your words have more than one meaning."

"Hmm-mmm. I'd give you everything you could give me, I promise." Hayley kissed Livia's neck and moved her hand from her hip, sliding it over her navel. Livia arched her body into Hayley's touch and reached up and buried her hand in Hayley's hair. Hayley ran her mouth down Livia's neck and over her collarbone and started to kiss the strap of the dress off her shoulder. "And I definitely don't just like taking it lying down."

Livia let her head fall back as Hayley kissed her throat, and moved her body so that it pressed up against her. "Hayley?" Her voice was husky. "I do not know what will happen if we...if we..." She sighed as Hayley moved her hand up her side and brushed it over her breast.

Hayley's whole body was throbbing with arousal. She didn't think she could stop now, even had she wanted to. "I think we should take the risk and find out, Livia."

Livia nodded. After a lingering kiss to her shoulder, Hayley moved away and pushed herself to her feet shakily. She held a hand out to Livia and pulled her up too. They almost kissed, but Livia turned her head away at the last minute. "That could be dangerous, " she whispered. "I'm sorry." She pressed herself against Hayley for a moment, and stroked the girl's cheek with her fingers. "I will just say goodbye to my friend."

***

Back at the flat, Hayley fumbled for her keys as they stood close in the doorway. It was a basement flat, so the doorway was hidden round the side, below the level of the garden, and couldn't be seen from anywhere. Livia ran a hand over Hayley's arm gently as she watched her. "Do you like to seduce or be seduced?" she asked quietly.

Hayley shrugged. "I suppose I make the first move most of the time, yeah." She fumbled the key into the lock.

Livia pressed closer and slid herself into the gap between Hayley's spare arm and her body. Hayley automatically squeezed her hip, and Livia put her mouth close to Hayley's ear, her soft, hot lips brushing the human girl's cheek. "That's good," she said softly. "It's new for me to be seduced like this. To let it happen to me."

Hayley let the door swing open a little, but turned to hold Livia fully in her arms. She pushed her back gently, until her back was almost up against the wall and pulled the daemon's body against herself, enjoying the way they fitted together. Livia gasped with pleasure and Hayley ran her lips over her cheek softly. "And that's good, is it?"

Livia nodded and put her arms round Hayley's neck. She let her head fall back, exposing her throat, and purred softly as Hayley moved her mouth down to kiss her neck. One of Hayley's hands moved up Livia's side to brush the curve of her breast slightly, then moved into Livia's hair. Livia sighed and rubbed her body against the girl. "Yes, it is very good. I think it may make a difference."

Hayley started to kiss the dress strap off Livia's shoulder again, and Livia briefly dropped her arms from Hayley's neck to allow the strap to fall down her forearm. Hayley then kissed the other one off too. Then she moved her mouth up and grazed it lightly over Livia's parted lips as Livia leant back on the wall and took hold of Hayley's hand to guide it onto her breast. "I want to kiss you," Hayley whispered urgently.

"It may be dangerous." Livia didn't move her mouth from under Hayley's, as she pressed the girl's fingers onto her breast. "You could kiss me elsewhere."

Hayley couldn't believe how perfectly Livia fitted into to the cup of her fingers. She closed her eyes for a second and imagined taking the daemon into her mouth, rolling her around her tongue, tasting every part of her. She stroked Livia's breast. "Like there?"

"Mmm-hmm. And in other places." Livia gently took Hayley's hand and moved it down her body, over her hip and onto her leg, then turned it and pushed it up the inside of her thigh, crumpling the hem of the dress, until Hayley could feel the intense heat of Livia's arousal.

Hayley sighed with desire. "Oh, Livia..." She drew her fingers across the daemon lingeringly, then took her hand away and held her hip. She stared at Livia's face, her sensuous, beautiful mouth. "I really want to kiss your lips, though, too. I'm sorry."

For a moment, Livia looked like she might argue, but eventually she just gave a little shrug and tilted her chin so their lips met. Both closed their eyes and they kissed gently, until Hayley couldn't stop herself from encouraging Livia's mouth open and tentatively introducing her tongue. With a short sigh, the daemon let Hayley do what she wanted, and Hayley liked the way she shuddered with excitement in her arms.

After a while, Livia gently stopped the kiss. "That was fine," she whispered. "I think you might be safe." She leant in and brushed Hayley's ear with her mouth. "In fact, I want to give myself to you."

Hayley felt the desire twist sharply inside her and she kissed Livia's beautiful bare shoulders as she briefly imagined sliding the dress off the rest of her and devouring the daemon's naked body. "You'd best come in, then."

***

They stumbled through into the hall, and Hayley shoved the door shut and locked it clumsily. Their shoes were left by the front door as they kissed deeply, Hayley trapping Livia up against the wall of the small, square hallway. Livia pressed herself up against Hayley and felt around for the girl's hand again, sliding it over her body like she had on the doorstep. She gasped in pleasure as Hayley stroked her leg momentarily then brushed the hem of her dress aside and slid her hand under the material.

Afterwards, on the way across the hall, Hayley undid Livia's dress during a hungry kiss. Livia sighed and trembled, and Hayley slid the dress off her body, before both girls clumsily fumbled Hayley's own dress open and stripped it off. Their underwear was left in a trail across the bedroom floor, but actually Hayley was still wearing her hold-ups as she took a still gaspingly eager Livia again – this time, lying down.

In a brief lull, as Hayley was relishing the taste of the daemon's pleasure in her mouth, Livia leaned over and kissed her quickly, then moved her mouth down her human lover's body, lingering everywhere she should, but passing over Hayley's navel quickly and moving onto her legs. Hayley groaned in disappointment until she realised Livia was going to kiss her hold-ups off, and the brush of the daemon's lips and fingers all over her legs was one of the most sensually erotic things she'd ever experienced. When Livia dropped the hold-ups on the bedroom floor and lay back down to kiss her way up the insides of Hayley's splayed thighs, Hayley could understand why people surrendered their souls to her. She herself was willing to do anything to prolong the pleasure, especially as Livia's head got deeper between her thighs and her hot breath and soft hair tickled Hayley's sensitive skin.

***

When Livia had finished, Hayley felt spent and weak with the searingly intense pleasure. No-one had ever made love to her like that before. She lay still. Livia moved up to lie against her and called her name softly. When Hayley didn't respond, Livia gently moved on top of her and sought out her mouth. Hayley could barely move, but Livia forced her to kiss her, a deep, long kiss.

Hayley felt her limbs tingle, and opened her eyes with a little start. "Uh...Livia? That was..."

Livia kissed her again. "Shhh." She stroked Hayley's hair lovingly. "I felt you give me your soul then. So I have given it back to you, in that kiss."

"Uh, thanks."

Livia smiled, and hugged Hayley. "It is good to know I can do that. It means that there is nothing to stop us."

Hayley grinned. "That sounds good." She moved a hand over the curve of Livia's body and pushed a leg between her thighs. Livia shifted slightly and they kissed again, a new throb of lust passing between them. They started to move against each other sensuously as their hands instinctively moved down each other's bodies, over midriffs, between each other's legs, fingers stroking and probing.

***

They spent the weekend lazily: sleeping, making love, talking as they lay naked in bed together and constantly losing the thread of their conversations as they made love again. On Sunday afternoon Livia borrowed a pyjama top and they cuddled semi-naked under a blanket on the sofa while they snacked on toast and ice cream and fruit. Then they pretended to watch TV while really letting their hands stray and explore under the blanket, and ended up having sex on the living room floor several times before going back to bed.

***

By early on Monday morning, Hayley was exhausted but happy and decided she could barely move from her bed. She looked around for her mobile in the dark, but remembered it was on the side in the kitchen. With a groan, she moved herself out from under Livia carefully and went to retrieve it.

Back in her room, Livia welcomed her back into the bed and looked way too good in her dishevelled early-morning sexiness for Hayley to ignore. Livia started to touch her gently while she kissed Hayley's breasts, but Hayley knew she needed things to be the other way round this time. She gently stopped Livia and turned the daemon over so that she could slide her mouth all over her sinfully beautiful body. She parted Livia's legs and moved herself between them to kiss her way up her thighs. Livia reached back and gripped the headboard with one hand, burying the other in Hayley's hair with a groan of pleasure, as Hayley's lips and tongue reached their destination.

***

A little later, Hayley was just in time to ring in sick to work. She was lying on her back, savouring the taste of Livia in her mouth, and her immortal lover was purring gently beside her, playing with her hair and trailing her fingers over Hayley's body. Hayley was sensitive and aroused and Livia was rolling a finger over her firm nipple teasingly.

Hayley was glad for the huskiness in her voice, and figured her boss wouldn't know it was lust not illness.

"Hi, yeah. It's Hayley...yeah, really?" She cleared her throat. "I don't feel right either, to be honest...I know...still in bed, yeah...like all hot and bothered, and really sensitive..." She bit her lip as Livia tugged gently on her nipple, causing her voice to wobble a bit. "Um, dunno...yeah, no." Hayley looked down Livia's body where it was stretched out against her in the afterglow of the oral sex, and licked the taste of her on her lips. "Something I ate maybe..." Livia grinned at her silently and wagged a finger naughtily, before moving her hand down from Hayley's bare breast. She put her mouth to Hayley's breast instead, taking the nipple deep into her mouth, making Hayley gasp. "Uh, yeah...really taken it out of me...in bed practically all weekend, yeah..." Hayley felt the throbs of pleasure as Livia's fingers slid over her skin, down her navel, and she raised her slightly parted legs as Livia worked her hand gently but firmly between her thighs. "Uhh, oh...sorry...got to go, I think it's starting again...ohhh..."

She cut the call and hoped her boss couldn't tell the difference between nausea and sexual arousal on the phone. As she abandoned her body to Livia's fingers again, she let the phone slide from her hand and drop on the floor.

***

A few days later, Livia had to go away on a job, and Hayley went back to work. When Livia returned, she'd moved in within a week, and only left again to go on her business.

Everyone said Hayley looked healthier than ever, after her brief illness. In herself, she'd never felt more alive, and wondered if she was somehow feeding off Livia, in the same way Livia fed off her. In fact, they worked out eventually that when Livia took Hayley's soul by mistake during sex that first night and gave it back to her, Hayley had also gained immortal possession of her own soul – so Livia could finally have a lover who also would never age, and stay around for as long as her.

Hayley found a new interest in museums and galleries, and took up knitting to keep Livia company.

With this new-found freedom together (especially after Hayley's temping work dried up and Livia was struck off for breaking the rules by sleeping with a human for pleasure), they decided to set up their own company touring storytelling and theatre sessions on history, and with Livia's hands-on experience of the actual history and Hayley's theatrical skills, they did quite well for themselves. As they got better at handicrafts, they were even eventually able to make their own costumes.

All in all, they lived happily (mostly) ever after (quite literally).