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Persephone frowned, jerking her head back slightly. “What do you mean?”
“Well, it turned out, she didn’t appreciate my attempts to charm. She, uh, told me to get lost, in fact. Quite emphatically.”
Her eyebrows raised as she squinted, saying, “She told you what? Is there something wrong with this girl?”
I shrugged. “That’s the thing, aunty. I think there’s everything right with her.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve never met anyone like her. Getting to know her—after I’d mis-stepped that night—she’s amazing. Generous. Caring. And someone who can resist my powers, refuse even my strongest attempts. She can challenge me, accept me for who I am, unconditionally. I mean, vamp girls don’t respond to my abilities either, of course, but that’s not the same.”
Female vamps jumped into bed with me from time to time, but it was my athletic body, sizeable cock and coven leader status they wanted. I’d come to hate that just as much as all the other girls who craved me for my unnatural abilities.
“You’re saying she won’t fall under your spell? An ordinary human? Surely not.”
“I’m serious. I hope to introduce you to her, so you can see for yourself.”
“Yes, I hope so. I’d love that. Though I’m still skeptical about all this resistance talk. After all, when it comes to the ladies”—she peered into her drink with a wry expression, clearing her throat gently— “youarean elemental, Xander.”
I raised an eyebrow, sensing I was being led. Okay, I’d bite. “I’ve not a bit of elemental ancestry, aunty…”
Face deadpan, she sat forward. “Oh? Are you sure? I thought you were a…neck-romancer?”
I groaned, but couldn’t help laughing too, shaking my head. “When are you going to stop telling such awful jokes?”
She laughed too. “I’ll stop telling them when you stop laughing.”
We drank more, watching the sun disappear and the skyline gradually come alive in lights. Her disbelief about Cecilia resisting my supernatural charms was understandable. I was still coming around to the idea myself. Heaped on top of that was the disconcerting prospect that had been touched upon in Cecilia’s apartment this morning.
The real possibility that she might well, somehow, be unwittingly able to strengthen paranormals’ powers. The bear inside Aaron, the wolf inside Jax, and who knew what she might do to the Fae’s abilities too. It hung heavily on my mind. I could never throw away my feelings for dear Cecilia, my precious little orchid. Never, in a thousand years.
But my powers’ current level was burdensome enough. A tiresome compulsion to entice and seduce. And for both sexes, but especially women, for them to respond, even when I didn’t want them to, craving my attention. What if being close to her, either exclusively or shared with the others, would end up with my powers growing fiercer, even to the point where I no longer had any control?
“And it gets even more complicated, I think.”
“How so?”
Clunking my can down, I sat forward, meeting my aunt’s eyes. “This is going to sound crazy, but please hear me out, okay?”
She placed her drink down and rested her chin in her hand, focused. “Very well. Go on.”
“I don’t think she’s just a regular human. I’ve seen and heard with my own eyes, what looked like her…amplifying, strengthening, the beasts of two shifters. One of which I know for sure is no pushover, no weak-minded fool to be toyed with. I’m pretty sure the other shifter hosts a powerful beast too.”
I paused, letting her take the information in. She was nodding slowly, mulling it. “I see. And you feel that too much close contact with this girl might have similar effects on you?”
“Exactly. And I—”
“Well then, what’s the problem? It sounds like the closer you get to her, the stronger your powers of seduction will be. And, in turn, she’ll like you even more, no?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think my abilities will ever work on her. They haven’t until now, not even channeling every ounce of them.”
Persephone looked confused. She shrugged, reaching back for her drink, taking a lingering sip, and then placing it back down. “I’m sorry, dear boy, but I fail to see the problem. And in any case, I’m still not convinced this isn’t all some misunderstanding, or just your lust blocking out your logic. I’ve never heard of any human, in all myconsiderabletime on this planet, being able to do the type of thing you’re describing.”
In fairness to my aunt’s skepticism, Osric, the Fae pretty boy, had apparently been doing extensive research on the subject, searching old Fae texts in the library, making inquiries with his royal contacts back in England, and so far, had come up with nothing. It seemed there was no record of this ability-strengthening phenomenon existing in anyone, much less a human.
“But what if she really is different? What if I get too close to her, and then girls are all over me, even more? Cecilia could never put up with that, and I’d lose her for sure.” Just the thought of it made me grimace. “And right now, that’s my greatest fear.”
Smiling kindly, she reached forward, clasping my hand in hers. It was extra cool, from holding her drink. “My darling boy, my greatest fear is tooth decay. But it doesn’t stop me from using them.”
