Theius’s claws gouge into the soft bread as he carefully brings it up to his lips. “Thank you, child.” He slowly savors the first bite.
I fold my elbows on the counter and lean forward, watching him closely. “Do you know much about witches, Theius?”
He pauses, making a hissing sound. “Nasty creatures. Don’t go messing with that lot, Dami,” Theius warns, before gathering another bite to eat.
“What makes them bad?” I round the island and take the stool next him, settling in to get comfortable.
“How they get the power. Witches aren’t born with any magic. They have to take it from other beings, creatures like me and the one you call Uncle.”
“How do they do that?” I nearly whisper. I don’t think I want to know the answer.
“Rituals, murder, dark magic, very dark magic.” Theius sets the piece of bread he was about to eat down and gazes at me. “Why are you asking about witches, Damiana?”
“I think I met one—at the bar where I go to feed,” I answer, and scoop a large dollop of peanut butter onto his plate, leaving him with the spoon. “His aura was covered in this dark tar, and he felt wrong.”
“Sounds like a witch. Be thankful it was just the one.” Theius nods his head and uses his claw to scoop up half of the peanut butter I put on his plate.
“It wasn’t just one. There were a few of them—and a Berserker.”
Theius coughs and splutters at my announcement. I pat his furry back and reach for a napkin. He dabs his face, cleaning himself up before he blinks at me. “A Berserker, you say?” His voice is high-pitched.
“That’s what he told me he was. Is he like a witch? He didn’t feel like one.” I recall how alluring he was instead. How attracted I was to him, how I couldn’t really read him. Maybe that’s his witch magic.
“No, no. Not a witch.” Theius places his hand on the table and scoots back until his legs are dangling just above the floor.
“What are you doing? You’ve barely eaten.” I look at his plate, he didn’t even finish off half a loaf yet.
“I need to be going, child.” He doesn’t look at me when he tells me this, and I feel the faintest bite of a sin wafting over to me from his lie.
I suck in a breath. My friends never lie to me. They might not tell me everything, but they never lie.
Theius meets my eyes, and I don’t bother masking the hurt I feel. His large, black owl eyes look down to the floor. “Goodbye, Damiana.” Something about the way he utters the words feels final.
“Wait,” I call in my desperation. Even though I’m upset he just lied to me, I still don’t want him to go.
Theius, looks over his shoulder once before he scurries back toward the living room. I know I’d never catch him, even if I tried, so I let him go.
“Lesson learned: don’t talk about witches and Berserkers to Theius.” I look around the empty kitchen and sigh. There has to be someone willing to talk to me about it. Aeson is most likely my best bet. I’ve never seen her shy away from a topic. Now, I just need to wait until she shows up. It’s too bad she doesn’t have a cell phone.
“Cell phone.” I snap my fingers and run up to my bedroom where I usually leave my phone. No one ever calls me. I use it mostly to play games.
But I did give my number out last night to a certain hottie named Calix. I was so freaked out by the witch that I never even thought to look at my phone when I got home.
I’m panting by the time I make it into my room. “Fuck, I need to exercise,” I mumble, and reach for my phone. The moment I pick it up, I see it has a shadowed box that says, “Missed Call” with a number listed.
I hop up and down for a few seconds, before I tell myself to breathe and take a chill pill. I don’t want to come off too eager, nor do I want him mistaking my need for a good fuck for more than that. I examine my fingernails.
If he’s good, maybe I could use him more than once. He definitely got me all hot and bothered. And that was just from talking and looking at him—well, mostly looking at him. There’s something to be said for instant attraction. I flip the phone over again. It’s unlocked now, and I can see the number two near the little green phone icon.
A smile splits my face—he called me twice. I knew he wanted me just as badly. I touch the number listed in red and put the phone up to my ear. While it begins ringing, I turn to face the mirror. I pluck at my shirt, then the clock on the wall grabs my attention. I yank the phone away from my ear and hit the end button before smashing it against my forehead a few times. It’s four o’clock in the morning: too late for the night owls and too early for the early birds.
I look back at the history to see that he called me around eight pm and then again at eleven pm. I toss the phone on the bed. I was probably still sleeping at eight, and downstairs at eleven.
“Damn it. Well, that was a bust.”
I bite my lip and wander over to my dresser. Snagging open the top drawer, I peer in to see all of my more adventurous toys. Buzz, my go-to favorite, is in my nightstand, but I’m thinking I need more than just a quick wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am.
Just opening the drawer, and I’m already getting excited. I stand back and strip out of my shirt and yoga pants. My nipples are already hard, so I grab the little, pink, rubber nipple cups and pinch the tip until the suction grabs hold of my nipple and tugs pleasantly.
