Aayla's apartment was covered in lace and silk. Everything about it screamed whore house. From the pink bedspread, to the black lace curtains.

Grabbing my hand, she led me to the bed. "You should rest, I'll get you some water."

I stopped her. "I'm fine, blacksmiths just put me on edge. What I need is some good exercise."

Aayla raised a brow. "I know your history, Zendar, I don't know if I want to be another name added to the list of what is it. . . A thousand now?"

Barking a laugh, I stayed seated on the edge of the bed. "Five hundred. A thousand? I wish." I planted a kiss on her gloved hand. "I really am fine though, thank you my dear." I looked up at her dark eyes, seeing nothing but neutrality. No one I had met was able to keep themself from being read, not in the way she did. "Tell me more about yourself, I'm intrigued."

"Really? Interested in the succubus? What are you wanting? Sex stories?" Falosa asked, obviously disgruntled by the situation in whole.

"I'm sorry that your inability to handle my memories ended up making this lovely demon pity us. This one is on you, but I can't say I mind, I mean, look at her breasts daaaaamn," I replied in our head space. Never in the whole time we had been together had we been able to share conversation like this. Something changed after Falosa almost died. I wasn't sure what, but I had felt off every since. Something in my gut told me this was a bad thing, that it would come with consequences, the question was, what did those look like?

Aayla sat down next to me, a small smile on her perfectly heart-shaped face. "You want to know about me? That's a new one. What do you want to know?"

"What do you want to do with your life? Assuming I kill Tragore and free the demons from his rule, what does the after look like? Have you thought about it?" I asked, searching her for any kind of reaction.

Her dark eyes glinted like the stars. "Actually, I was wanting to stay on earth and open an orphanage. There are so many children without a place to go and the choices that are open to them aren't good ones. I intend to help them find jobs and learn how to support themselves too, it wouldn't be like a normal one that encourages adoptions." She clasped her hands together. "I was left on my own to raise myself, and I don't want others to have to do the same."

"That's an admirable thing, but why? Why help humans?" I couldn't say I fully understood something so altruistic, something that required sacrifice after sacrifice. The idea didn't sound appealing to me in the slightest. Imagine, having a bunch of brats crawling all over, vomit to clean up, triple the cooking. . . I shuddered.

"They're just as lost as we are, but they don't have the benefit of long life's. Fifty years or less is all they get, and that's if they're lucky." Aayla looked down at her dress, picking at the lace. "Most won't live past their childhood. I want to give them a good life, even if it's a short one."

Aayla was different than any other demon I'd met. Here she was wanting to do things to better humanity instead of destroying it. Perhaps she was a little crazy to think she'd be able to do such a thing without consequence. Other demons would hear about what she was doing and seek to abolish it.

It was likely when I killed Tragore, that I would cause a civil war. The loyalists would stand against my allies. Bloodshed was inevitable. Aayla was different, I wanted to protect her from all of that. There was still a light behind her eyes, a presence of hope. That was something I had lost long ago, I couldn't remember the last time I felt anything remotely close. But, she still had it, that was a precious thing I didn't want tainted.

"What about you? Have you thought about what you're going to do after?" Aayla asked as she searched my face. She was doing the same thing to me that I had been doing to her, analyzing, trying to learn the most she could from my reaction. Pity for her it was rare for my emotions to show on my face.

I shook my head. "I know I'll have to squish rebellions, but that's about as far ahead as I've gotten. I prefer to live in the moment, not thinking too far into the next. What's the point of living if you're stuck somewhere else all the time, eh?"

"I suppose that is a valid point, but my question to that, is how can you work towards a goal or find motivation if you haven't planned your future?" She raised a brow in challenge. "What's the point in living in the moment if you have no fucken clue where you are headed?"

Swear words didn't seem right coming out of her mouth. Her voice was too gentle and soft to be capable of such foul things. The opposition made me laugh. "I find comfort in having no idea what's going to happen, it helps keep life exciting." I reached up, touching her cheek. "Like right now, you could respond in kind, and we could intertwine, or you could kick me in the balls and make me sterile. I have no idea what's going to happen, I like that."

"I don't give anything for free, Zendar, you'd have to convince me to make an exception," Aayla challenged. "Why should I do anything for you?"

"If I kill Tragore, I'll be hell's new leader, imagine what being in my good graces could do for you, or if you were part of my harem, one of my queens." I traced the line of her soft jaw with my finger. "Imagine what we could accomplish together."

Grabbing my wrist, she stopped me. "I don't want to be one of many. I'm not poly, Zendar. I'm monogamous." Aayla set my hand down beside me. "Power isn't appealing to me in the slightest. You're going to have to do better than that. I know your reputation, and I know what I desire, and I don't think it's you."

"Ouch," I said, putting my hand to my chest in mock offense. "What kind of a demon turns down power?"

"The kind who doesn't want it. I don't think you're capable of being what I'm seeking." Aayla smiled, a challenge sparkling in her eyes. "Imagine, having to say goodbye to all of those you're sleeping with, for one demon. I don't think you are capable."

The unattainability made her all that more appealing. That was a high demand, being monogamous. Even when I was with Devis I still played around, and he knew that, he was okay with that. This succubus, with barely knowing me, was telling me I'd have to change if she were to give me the time of day. Was it worth it? I barely knew her.

"You ask a lot, Aayla," I stated. "You'd have to prove to me why you think you're worth that, being the one and only."

"I challenge you to the same. Think on it, and come back to me," Aayla said. "It's hard to find a demon willing to be monogamous these days, it's just not the fashion in this day and age."

"You're asking too much."

"I'm asking for what I know my needs are, is that such a crime?" Aayla asked as she traced a finger up my chest. "I'm a jealous demon, Zendar, I don't like to share."

My heart beat faster in my chest at her closeness, in a way it hadn't since Drevis. I cast it aside as knowing the only reason I wanted her was because she was unattainable. It wasn't the same feeling. Was it?

Aayla lingered in my space, the scent of jasmines wafting from her body with an expensive perfume. It was tantalizing. She was my opposite. She had dreams, goals, a want to help others. While I was selfish and only wanted whatever benefited me most. We'd never work, not in the way she wanted to, and I think she knew that. Yet, in her presence the world looked different, brighter, not so drab and full of suffering. It made me want more. Was there more to life than what I was seeing? With her, there could be, and that idea excited me.

"Are you seriously calling a sex demon an altruist? What the fuck is the world coming to?" Falosa spat as he continued to rant quieter in the back of my mind.

I ignored him, unable to move, not wanting to destroy this solitary moment of peace. Aayla's eyes searched me, awaiting an answer. I didn't know how to answer so I stayed silent. If I didn't speak, my destruction wouldn't spread to her. She was a being of light, while I dwelled in the darkness. It wouldn't work. It couldn't.

"What'll it be, Zendar?" She whispered in my ear, her voice soft like the bird songs in the morning hour.

This had to be the worst decision of my life, or well, a bad decision in a string of chaotically awful decisions. "Challenge accepted."

Aayla closed the distance, placing her lips over mine. She was gentle at first, before passion fueled her movements and she searched my mouth with her tongue.

I pulled her onto my lap, running my hand down her back to her ass. Something about this felt different. There was no numbness in my chest stomping out all passion and making it motions. The world faded around us until we were the only ones in it.

Falosa rambled in the back of my mind, but I turned him out as I traced my hand up Aayla's thigh beneath her dress. She was soft, delicate beneath my rough, scarred hands. It was as if I held the perfection of the world between my fingers and if I breathed too hard she'd turn to dust in the wind, falling into nothingness as if she had never been there to begin with.

Her hands went beneath my shirt, pulling it over my head and casting it aside. Warmth seeped from her hands onto my skin, reminding me that she was here, that she was alive. For once, I didn't want to rush to the end, I wanted to savor every moment, take it all in piece by piece.

I undid her corset, allowing her breasts to fall free and my were they glorious. Even as I tried, I could not wrap my hand around them in entirety.

Aayla let out a light moan as I found her nipples and fiddled with them in a way she seemed to like. I started gently, gradually getting more rough until I found what she desired. I leaned forward, placing one in my mouth and biting down before pulling away, not hard enough to draw blood, yet not gentle enough to be little more than a touch.

Her chest was flushed by the time I moved to the next one, her breathing ragged. "You could go harder," she whispered breathlessly. "I don't like to be handled with care."

I complied with her request, tasting the metallic tang of blood as my teeth broke through her skin. She hummed, enjoying every moment as she pressed against my manhood. I moved to her shoulder, biting down in a place I knew was a tender trigger point. She melted into my body, her breasts pressing against my chest. Her heart beat rapidly in her chest, her pulse pounding.

Running my nails down her back, I dug them into her skin, tearing at the surface. "What do you want?" I asked, kissing along her décolletage.

"I want you to hurt me, I want you to make me bleed," Aayla whispered breathlessly. "Just keep it where others can't see. A lady's gotta keep up appearances, after all." (2028)

"Tell me where, Aayla," I said as I continued to tease her with kisses just out of reach of anything sensitive.

Her hot breath fanned on my neck. "My thighs, carve your name."

I took out my knife. That was a dangerous place to carve. If you hit too deep, you could cut an artery and kill someone. Aayla knew that, she wanted to dance with death. The idea of bringing her to the brink excited me.

Keeping her in my lap, I moved her dress, tracing her leg with my hands first, making sure to do this safely. I didn't want to kill her, I simply wanted to give her the pain she desired, to satisfy her masochist desires. "How deep?"

Some only liked it when I traced the surface, others wanted to feel the indented difference in their skin. Despite the evils I'd done, I never crossed a partners boundaries, I respected what they wanted and did as they asked. Even when I was numb, I asked.

"Deep enough that I can feel the texture and remind myself of our night together," Aayla requested, her body tensing when I put the blade to her skin. There was anticipation of her eyes, but behind that anticipation was a lustful desire for what happened next.

I pressed the tip into her skin, watching it disappear beneath the surface. She jolted, but stilled herself after the initial cut. I watched her breathing, waiting for her to tell me to move forward, or to tell me to stop. Aayla nodded, her eyes watching my hand.

Going to the side, I made a Z. Black blood seeped from her leg, dripping down the side and onto my lap. I moved to do the E and she arched her back, closing her eyes to bask in the pain. The N made her press into my further. "Are you okay to keep going?" We were only half-way through, everyone had a different tolerance, it was important to check in.

"Yes, I'm fine," Aayla said breathlessly.

When I made the D her lip started to tremble, she bit it to still herself. The A passed in seconds. Tears started to fall down her face as I carved the R, the biggest letter out of the bunch. But then it was done. I set down the knife and let her fall into my arms.

We stayed there for a moment, not doing anything further, simply enjoying each others embrace. Aayla pulled back and wiped at her eyes. "Thank you. It's been awhile since I've done something like that. Now, if you don't mind, can we fuck now?"

I could sense her impatience in the way she squirmed. I let out a laugh. "Yes, we can fuck now."

Grabbing her, I turned her onto her back on the bed. She giggled, wrapping her arms around my neck. "You're stronger than you look."

"Size isn't everything."

"As a succubus I beg to differ."

I dropped my trousers and parted her legs. Leaning forward, I kissed her, not doing anything more as our tongues danced together, only further raising the want for each other. I didn't want this to be over.

Aayla wrapped her legs around me, pulling me closer. She knew what she wanted, I liked that. I teased, allowing just the tip to enter her and nothing more.

She groaned. "Zendar, come on."

I grabbed her thighs, thrusting slow, and gradually increasing in speed and intensity.

Aayla moaned, closing her eyes. She reached up, digging her nails into my arms and scratching along the surface.

Every part of my body grew heated, pulled into this moment, until it was all I could think about, all I could feel. We trembled together, reaching our climax at the same time.

I fell forward, putting my arms on either side of her and planting a kiss on her forehead.

Aayla wrapped her arms around my neck. "I give you an eight out of ten. Points deducted for teasing me."

"I mean, I'll take an eight out of ten, knowing how many people you've been with that's not a bad score at all," I stated as I leaned down and planted another gentle kiss on her lips. "I can go again in a few minutes, cause I intend to get that ten out of ten."

Woooo that was steamy,
How many times do you think they're going to go before Falosa comes back?