Awakening

by Warneke, A. C.

  “You should have joined us in Europe,” Kim grinned, hugging the two girls. “It was a blast; Celeste even gave up her V card.”

  Genevieve raised an expressive eyebrow at Kim’s words and then glanced at Celeste. Smiling her perfect smile, the two little indents on either side of her mouth making her look incredibly sweet, Genevieve turned to Celeste and said, “So, you finally had sex.”

  Celeste’s eyes widened in humor and embarrassment as she bit back a smile, “I guess you could say something like that. I never knew it would be so intense.”

  “Are we going to meet this man?” Rachel asked eagerly.

  Celeste shook her head, smiling so she wouldn’t cry, “No; I decided it was best if we went our separate ways after Paris. He… It just wouldn’t have worked out.”

  Rachel scowled, “What a bastard.”

  “No; he was…” Celeste’s lips curved up in a smile as she thought about Adam. “He was extraordinary. He asked me to stay but, you know, I have obligations and stuff.”

  Genevieve had a slight scowl on her face, which surprisingly did nothing to mar her features; she was still absolutely stunning. Grabbing Celeste’s hand, she pulled her away from the other two, exchanging a meaningful glance with Rachel over the top of her head. “Come, I need to ask you something.”

  “Oooookay,” Celeste replied a little hesitantly, unsure of what Genevieve wanted with such urgency as she dragged her to the bathroom.

  As soon as the door closed, Genevieve glanced around, frustrated by the number of women in there. Closing her eyes briefly, she murmured a simple, “Leave.”

  Celeste stared at her for a moment as they waited for the half dozen, or so, girls to exit the bathroom, leaving just herself and Genevieve. Gen moved to the mirror and stared at her reflection pretending to fix her hair. In the reflection, she met Celeste’s eyes, “Well, I should have noticed right away but there were too many people out there.”

  “What are you talking about?” Celeste was confused, shifting slightly as her skin prickled under Genevieve’s gaze. “Notice what?”

  “Your smell,” she said casually. Without waiting for Celeste to question or comment, she turned around and looked at the girl, crossing her arms under her generous breasts. “It’s purer; like the wrapping paper has been removed and your true self has finally been freed. It’s… delicious.”

  “You’re not making any sense,” Celeste lied, chewing on her lower lip.

  Genevieve laughed out loud at her friend’s willful ignorance. Placing a hand on Celeste’s arm, she grinned, “It’s not so bad, Celeste, honestly.”

  “What’s not so bad?” she ground out, afraid she knew the answer and really hoping she was wrong.

  “Being Other,” Genevieve said warmly, kindly. Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply, moving her head in an arc. Frowning, she inhaled once more, “I can’t place what you are, which is odd. I'm usually really good at this. It's like you're human but somehow more.”

  “Wh…what are you?” Celeste asked. Now that they were alone, she was aware of the… unexpected smell of Genevieve, something that went deeper than the surface. Throughout the past few days she had smelled similar scents on other people but didn’t realize the significance at the time. Perhaps they were angels….

  “No,” Gen said with a wicked smile, reading her friend’s rather loud thoughts. “Demon; I’m half succubus.”

  Whatever it was that Celeste expected to hear, it definitely wasn’t that. Her gasp made Genevieve laugh even harder as she explained, “My mom is a full succubus; my dad was, well, not. He was human.”

  “Ah,” Celeste nodded her head, wrapping her mind around this new information, trying to reconcile Genevieve’s angelic beauty with her demonic nature; her supposedly very sexual demonic nature, though Genevieve was adamant about remaining a virgin. “How….”

  “It’s because of what I am that I refrain from sex,” Genevieve explained. “My father, God bless his soul, died a very, very happy man on the night that I was conceived.”

  “Oh,” Celeste nodded her head again; that actually made sense. A thousand thoughts crashed through her head, mostly regarding this new ability to detect demons and wondering if it might be able to detect other Others as well. Probably; she was aware of several different scents; the one associated with Clare the most prominent; most likely human. Strange, Kim’s scent was not exactly unique but it was rare. Maybe she had some fairy blood in her, which would be awesome.

  Once, while at work, she walked by a room and had a brief whiff of Adam even though she knew it wasn’t him; the overtones were wrong. At the time, she smiled sadly and thought nothing else of it. But now…. Before she could stop herself, she blurted out, “I slept with an Apocritum.”

  “Ah,” Genevieve murmured, a slight scowl marring her forehead. Studying Celeste, she cocked her head to the side and her frown deepened. “He bit you, didn’t he?”

  “Yes,” Celeste nodded, leaning against the sink next to Genevieve. “But he didn’t feed me afterwards.”

  “Of course he didn’t,” Genevieve said matter-of-factly, as if there was never a doubt in her mind; which there probably wasn’t. “Although I doubt it would have mattered; your scent is very… unique; but there is something else there as well.” Smelling the air once more, she smiled slightly, “There is allurement in it; very potent and compelling.” Grinning at Celeste, she added, “I'm sure he wasn't able to resist you, was he?”

  “It's more like I wasn't able to resist him,” Celeste grimaced.

  Genevieve laughed again, wrapping her arm around Celeste’s shoulders and giving her a friendly hug, “You’re charming.”

  Turning her head to the side, Celeste looked at Genevieve, still having difficulty with the fact that Gen was part demon and how was she able to keep it from everyone for so long? It was quite an impressive feet, especially considering how close the sisters in the sorority were, sharing all of their secrets. Mostly. Though admitting to being a demon, even part demon, was probably something a person generally refrained from. “What’s it like? Being a demon, I mean?”

  “It can be difficult at times,” Genevieve said thoughtfully. “At least, in my experience it can be, being that I am a half-breed. Half-breeds are always an uncertainty since no one knows which demonic traits they’re going to get or when they will get them. Luckily, or unluckily depending on what kind of demon you’re the spawn of, everything sort of happens around puberty.”

  “What traits do you have?”

  “Well, I don’t have mom’s wings,” she said with a wry smile as she began considering her gifts. “I do have her charisma and attraction but I’m not sure if I have her sexual voraciousness. I guess I won’t really know until I finally have sex and that thought terrifies me. The human part of me hates the thought of taking a life; the demon part is a little less concerned.”

  “I understand,” Celeste murmured, sympathizing with her friend’s dilemma as they shared a moment of silence absorbing this information.

  “It can be overwhelming,” Genevieve continued softly. “Like, there was this huge shake up within the supernatural world just a few years ago… I’m sure you’ve heard of it?”

  Celeste looked at Genevieve, tilting her head to the side, “I don't think so….”

  “Yes, you have,” Gen smiled, her eyes dancing with the urge to gossip. “Tell me, Celeste, what do you remember about the Blight epidemic of a few years ago, of Rebecca Lewis?”

  “It was a communicable virus that made a person very ill, though it wasn’t exactly clear how it was spread and Dr. Lewis was…. Dr. Lewis was,” Celeste began the familiar litany of the disease that affected a small percentage of the population. For some reason, the repeated line no longer held true. Instead, images of zombie-like creatures began to play in her head with Dr. Lewis fighting them. But she wasn’t called Dr. Lewis, she was simply known as, “Beck.”

  Gen smiled, “What do you remember?”

  “Beck was a fighter, a war
rior, in a television series,” Celeste closed her eyes, squeezing them tightly shut, trying to remember what was right on the tip of her brain. “They said it was fiction but it was real; it was all real.” Opening her eyes, she looked at Genevieve, “Was she the first?”

  Gen nodded her head, her lips tilted up in a warm smile. “The Center of the Universe.”

  “She died,” Celeste said with a frown.

  “No,” Gen said simply. “She gave birth to the Goddess.”

  “Where do you get this information?” Celeste asked, awe-struck. Gen knew way more than Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey! Of course, Gen’s last statement was going to keep her awake at night when she finally had a chance to actually think about it. Great, something else to occupy her mind. But like everything else, she was just going to put it on the shelf until she was able to deal with it.

  "My job," she answered with a naughty smile.

  “Where do you work?”

  “I told you once,” Genevieve answered with an enigmatic smile on her lips. “I work at the House of FAB.”

  “Fab?” Celeste forehead furrowed, “That’s a bar, right?”

  Genevieve laughed at her friend’s naivety. “F.A.B. is Flesh and Bones; it’s a… well, a place that sells pleasure and my demon mother is the owner and proprietress.”

  Celeste’s eyes grew round in her face before a bubble of laughter spilled out of her mouth. “And I suppose you are a dominatrix.”

  “Mistress Artemis at your service,” she grinned, bowing her head and flourishing her hands out to the side. “My Mother thinks it’s amusing having my persona be the virgin goddess; she thinks that it is very appropriate considering the circumstances.”

  Celeste’s laughter deepened at the discovery. “How does that even work?”

  A wicked grin tilted Gen’s lips as she sent out a wave of pheromones. “Watch and learn.”

  A moment later, a male fell through the doors. Celeste was able to see that Rachel and Kim were still standing just outside the door in a seemingly normal conversation, but no one dared enter the bathroom. Celeste realized that somehow, Gen arranged for this one male to get in. The man, a brunette in his mid-twenties, had a goofy grin on his face as he stared at Genevieve. Celeste glanced back at Gen and saw that the half-demon just stood there, her eyes half-closed as she stared back at the victim with her full lips slightly parted. Damn, if she didn’t look like a horny angel.

  Celeste finally understood that song!

  Genevieve motioned towards the man. “Watch Mr. Jackson, Cel.”

  Celeste’s attention returned to the brunette, Mr. Jackson, as his expression contorted into passion, his breathing became heavier and his cheeks flushed. With a nervous giggle, Celeste watched as the man tugged at his pants, letting them drop to his ankles as he grabbed his erection. Her eyes flew to his face, unwilling to watch him do that. Instead, she saw the tortured expression he made as his body jerked in exhilarating pleasure. Finally, his entire body stiffened as he grunted and a satisfied smile spread across his lips.

  Impressed, Celeste returned her attention back to Genevieve, “Wow.”

  “This one was easy,” Gen smiled, returning her attention back to Celeste and forgetting about Mr. Jackson. “He’s human – very simple to control, much easier than demons, at least.”

  “Ah,” Celeste nodded her head; that made sense as well. “How did you get him in here?”

  “Demon magic,” she answered nonchalantly, casually examining her long, slender fingers.

  “Cool,” Celeste murmured, watching the guy with detached fascination as he continued to stand there, oblivious of the two girls discussing magic. “It’s like Cupid’s bow, isn’t it?”

  “Perhaps Cupid was a demon, eh?” Genevieve burst out with laughter at the thought. “No, it was just a controlled dab of succubus pheromones.”

  “Cool,” Celeste repeated. “Have you ever given someone a full measure of them?”

  “There’s been no need,” Genevieve shrugged. “Because it is something they want, most of my clients just need a little shove; sometimes a little whip or smack. They don’t require me to use my gifts.”

  Celeste nodded. “Then why have them?”

  “To get anything I want,” Gen grinned serenely. Shaking her head, she shrugged, “It’s just part of being what I am, I guess; to lure men to their deaths; much like the sirens of myth, though they aren’t really myths and are actually quite… sweet. And yes, many humans have been known to… lose themselves in pleasure and die. Like my father.”

  “But what a way to die,” the forgotten man sighed, the dreamy expression finally wearing off as he became aware of his surroundings and his state of undress. The suddenly mortified man staggered awkwardly over to the sink to wash his hands. Glancing nervously at the two beautiful women standing there, he fumbled with his pants, pulling them up and refastening them self-consciously. Clearing his throat, he spoke in a slightly strangled voice, “Pardon me.”

  “It’s all right,” Genevieve smiled benevolently. “Enjoy the rest of the evening, sir.”

  Celeste nearly choked on her laughter as the man stumbled back out of the bathroom. “You’re so evil, Gen.”

  “I can be,” she smiled, taking Celeste’s teasing literally. “It’s one of the bonuses of being part demon. But you have to admit, the guy was satisfied.”

  “I didn’t mean it that way,” Celeste protested, her eyes wide in her face.

  “It’s okay; I know what you meant,” Genevieve smiled, looping her arm through Celeste’s to lead her back out of the bathroom so it could be used once more. “We’ll discuss this more later, since there are probably several girls doing the potty dance.”

  “Evil,” Celeste grinned as they walked through the doors, seeing several women bouncing slightly, their legs crossed.

  Kim looped her arm through Celeste’s as soon as they came to a stop and dragged her over to the dance floor. Leaning in, she yelled above the other noise, “What took you guys so long?”

  “There was a line,” Celeste lied effortlessly, the first time she had ever really lied to her best friend. Oh God, panic whipped through her; she was part demon – it’s the only thing that made sense. She was part demon and she just lied to her best friend. Laughing nervously to cover up her own betrayal, she took the lead and pulled Kim onto the dance floor, “Who else is meeting us here tonight?”

  “Mary and Clare,” Kim said grudgingly. “I couldn’t invite Mary without asking Clare; you know how they are practically joined at the hip. And as much as I dislike Clare, I feel sorry for Mary….”

  “You don’t have to explain yourself, Kim,” Celeste laughed, her body already moving to the heavy beat. “I completely understand. We spent two months in Europe with them.”

  “I know,” Kim sighed. “But every single time I issue an invite, I have to remind myself why I do such stupid things. I really need to get my head examined.”

  “I think it’s sweet that you have such a soft spot for Mary,” Genevieve said over the music, joining the girls as they danced. “The poor girl is lost in Clare’s shadow.”

  “Thank you,” Kim grinned at Genevieve. Looking over the crowd, she grimaced. “Now, remind me again of why I do it?”

  Both Celeste and Genevieve turned and saw Mary and Clare standing at the bar, both looking sexy in black mini-dresses with scooped backs. Clare was flirting shamelessly with the black-eyed bartender, her red lips giving him a perfect pucker. Kim leaned over and asked Celeste, “Do you think she’ll get a free drink?”

  “Sure,” Celeste nodded. “She’s gorgeous.”

  “I don’t think she will,” Rachel chimed in. “Though he might take her out back and take what she’s so obviously offering.”

  “It has to be hard,” Celeste murmured, watching the exchange take place at the bar wondering if the man truly was a Calix and if Clare was going to be his snack. Since Calix bites were fairly harmless, it wasn’t too much of a concern, though by the look of things, Clare was
going to be disappointed that it was only a bite.

  Then Clare turned her head and met her eyes so Celeste raised her hand and gave a little wave in greeting. Turning her head back to face her three friends, Celeste continued, “I think she was prom queen in high school and then she got to college and there were just so many more people. It had to have been a difficult adjustment.”

  “I think she’s just a bitch,” Rachel muttered, her brown eyes flashing.

  “I think she wanted to get her M.R.S. and ended up with a degree instead,” Genevieve chuckled. “Now she is just trying to figure out her next move.”

  “She probably hoped to find something in Europe,” Rachel sneered.

  Watching the two girls make their way through the club having struck out with the probably not human bartender, Celeste nodded her head in agreement, “That does make sense.”

  “What makes sense?” Kim asked. “Why she went insane after you returned from your rendezvous? She was so livid when you walked through the door at the hostel.”

  "Yeah," Celeste murmured. Yet, had Clare met Adam first, Clare wouldn’t be Clare anymore, but a Calix. Or possibly even a Thraell, assuming Adam forgot to feed her as well. Clenching her jaw at the thought of Adam doing the things he did to her to anyone else was a difficult image to deal with. In the more rational part of her brain, Celeste knew that Adam had to have had many, many women throughout the years and done many, many things to them.

  Closing her eyes to block out the sordid images, she refused to think about it, about Adam, another moment longer. She focused on the music, the heavy beat. Bobbing her head to the rhythm, she let herself get swept up in the music, not caring that she couldn't dance. There would be time to figure it all out later.

  *****

  “Do you notice anything… odd?” Genevieve asked Rachel as they stood at the edge of the gallery overlooking the dance floor below. Their attention was on Celeste and the rather unique group of beings congregating towards her.

  “They seem to be watching her,” Rachel murmured with a frown. Silently, she counted eleven Calices, seven male and four female, focused on Celeste with an intensity usually reserved for an Apocritum. “What is that all about?”