I turned the device on and went to my messages.My aunt had sent me a pic of her latest cocktail creation, and she’d called it Apocalypse Knockout No.57.I wasn’t sure whether I should find that sad or hilarious.
“I think I have an idea of what you mean.”Inkiri walked up behind me.
He hugged me, his hands coming to rest on my belly.It made heat flare inside of me, this simple gesture.I’d dreamed about being that close to someone.I’d envied this easy intimacy in others like I’d envied any bit of unselfconscious PDA.
I didn’t need to be envious anymore.I didn’t want to gush about it to the blue monster group, but the urge to share it all over social media, even if that was a quiet place these days, was strong.I would do it, even if no one ever saw my new relationship status.
Inkiri looked over my shoulder.“You have a phone.”
“Oh, yeah.It survived.Battery’s even still fine.”I showed him my aunt’s cocktail.“This is the screwdriver of the apocalypse.The newest cocktail my aunt made.See what I mean about her liking her drink?”
“Yes.But it’s pretty.So colorful.Why is there fruit in it?”
“Garnish.”I zoomed in on the maraschino cherries and apple slices.“Cocktails need garnish, you know.”
“Ah.Nokim wanted to sample alcohol, but he got distracted by all the tea and coffee.Especially the tea.According to his latest count, he’s found seventy-three different flavors.He’s been cataloging them and taking notes about the flavors and where he found them.”
I snorted.“Couldn’t ever happen to my aunt.She always knows to go for the booze first.”
“She sounds like a character.”He licked my neck.“You want to go downstairs, yes?”
“Yeah.”I had a relationship status to change, after all.
“All right.I’ll walk you down, then I’ll check to see you have all you need in a bit.”
He peeled away, and my back felt very cold without him there.
We went downstairs, not hand in hand, but with Inkiri leading me by the wrist.He made even that gesture intimate with how he ran his thumb and fingers over the sensitive inside of my wrist, and at the bottom of the stairs, he tilted my head up to kiss me again before heading to one of the downstairs rooms to prepare with Fellisse.
When I walked back into the living room area, I was still dazed, something that faded quickly when I spotted Vergis lying stretched out on the mattress pile with his arms behind his head and the curves of his horns digging into the mattress.
He glanced up at me and smirked.“You get noisy when you get cock.”
My jaw dropped, and I got, like, the worst case of cabbage-red face.“Excuse me?”
“You’re loud when you fuck, and your voice carries.Especially when you leave the bathroom window open.”
“Well, excuse you.”
I wasn’t sure whether I should go back upstairs, but I’d spotted an outlet by the mattresses earlier.I wasn’t going to let this asshole keep me from finally telling what remained of the world that I was no longer single.
I walked over there, trying to hold my head high, plugged in my phone, and sat on the floor by the foot of the mattress.Which of course made me wince.
Vergis adjusted so he could look at me.“Oh dear.Still a bit raw down there, are you?”
I cleared my throat.“You’re either jealous or a misanthrope.That has to suck.”
He sniggered.“Oh, I’m a total misanthrope.And on the subject of misanthropy, let me promise you something.”His voice made my skin crawl.
“I’m good, actually.”I tried keeping my eyes firmly on my screen, but I couldn’t.I felt him staring at me.My lizard brain urged me to run.
“Oh, but I fucking insist.”He moved so fast that the scream bubbling up in my throat never had a chance to come out before he was all up in my face.“This is nothing personal.But if you hurt Inkiri in any way—if you decide to use him or think he’s some dumb savage you can lead along like all your colonizing ancestors have done to their own kind for centuries—I will gut you.And I mean that literally.I will find you when he’s not there, and it will be so fast you’ll only know what’s happening when all your wobbly bits are tumbling out.Always remember that while you keep doing whatever it is you think you’re doing here.”
What I was doing was clenching hard so I didn’t pee myself.Luckily, Vergis didn’t wait around for confirmation that I’d understood his threat.He stormed out.Or rather, he slinked, moving soundlessly and so darn nimbly that I had no doubt whatsoever that he could do to me what he’d promised.
I sat there frozen for a few moments while Vergis closed the glass door behind himself.Clicking from my right made me turn to see Nokim standing just at the edge of where the carpets began.
“Donna used to say he is an acquired taste,” Nokim said.
