Hellacious Hospitality Ch. 04

Foreword from the author -

*For those that just want to skip the pre-amble and get to the goods, please note that this is a serialized story. If you've not read the previous chapters, please start from the beginning. I didn't think to make mention of that in previous chapters, and you could conceivable have pieced things together as you went, this chapter and the story from hereon out will assume you've been keeping up, and you'll be sorely confused. If you've been an avid follower from the beginning, then carry on.

Sweet monkey Jesus! (Yeah, I dunno, it's a fun[ny] phrase) I've been really encouraged by all your feedback and comments so far. I wasn't sure how well my writing style was going to go over. Detailed and meticulous, I'm sure I've lost folk looking to jump straight into the naughty stuff. But my writing's not for them. I've been trying to do my best to dangle that anticipatory carrot, to show that I haven't lost sight of the sexy end-goal.

As of this writing, Chapter 3 remains at a perfect 5* score, with 60 votes and over two weeks live. That reception's just mind-blowing to me, and I really feel validated in my efforts. So thanks, and keep those votes and comments coming!

Before we jump into the story, there's two things I want to get out of the way.

First up, I have an announcement to make in the comments, following. Please check in at the end for exciting news.

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Secondly, I owe a great deal of thanks to our WriterAnnabelle/Ms. Annabelle Hawthorne. Not only did her prolific works give me hours of entertainment to help get past the worst of COVID times, but her wildly imaginative storytelling really got my creative spirit flowing, after years and years of merely dreaming up abortive story outlines/ideas. Her tales challenged me as a creative, and none of this would have happened without her works to inspire me. I thought it a bit risky in butting into her wheelhouse for my debut story, but I really hope I've been able to set myself apart from her.

With all that nitty-gritty out of the way, it's time to start the show. Just a word of warning that there's no "action" until the very end of this quite long chapter, but I really hope the intrigue carries you all the way through to the end. I've tried to make it nice and explosive, though, in reward for your patience.

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It was a strange feeling, to suddenly find a new purpose in life, and then to be told not to pursue it.

But that was currently Benson Lachlann's life. After all that had happened in his world in not even twenty-four hours of time, the emptiness he currently felt was so bizarre. Could "destiny" really just be put on hold? As simple as that?

In just that short span of time, he had let himself become so thoroughly entrenched in the secluded world of the demi that he hadn't really taken stock of what that knowledge would mean to his own life going forward. It was probably for the best that he had been granted some time to figure some of that out. As much as it pained him to put aside the fulfilling sense of wonderment that he'd had the privilege to experience, Caeli was right to have put her foot down on the matter, and create some distance. She was always right.

*****

Equal parts riveting and heart-wrenching, Benson was thoroughly invested in the demoness' story, and the vulnerable emotionality that it brought out in her. So much so that when she figuratively pulled the rug out from under him with her mood-killing request, his mind reeled, as if actually concussed.

"...Huh?" was the only sound his dumbstruck mind could utter in the moment. Confusion lined his face.

In contrast, her brow furrowed with worry, but she still bore a gentle smile on her face. "Don't give me that look, or it'll make this more difficult for me, too."

He regained his composure, at least to the capacity required to form coherent sentences. "Weren't you saying that you needed my help? How can you ask that, yet then tell me to go away?"

"I didn't mean for good. But I can see it in your eyes. You were ready to leap into action, sight unseen, for the sake of a girl you've literally just met. I'm flattered, I truly am, but I can't have you being that reckless. No, because you'll just have me be reckless right alongside you. While there's a part of me that wants to throw caution to the wind, my responsibilities belong with the other girls here, above all else, and I can't endanger that. To be completely honest, that you're here right now is already something of a gamble. But so far, one that's paid off."

He raised a finger to object, but that was purely reflexive. Finding no valid argument, he quickly lowered it in defeat. He sighed. "Okay. You win. But please, just let me into that head of yours a little. I need to know why. I mean, last time I left this place, I completely forgot all about you. If it weren't for what seemed like divine intervention, I never would have made my way back here. Isn't there a risk of that happening again?"

She shook her head. "I'm not worried about that. I've already taken precautions to prevent that from happening. In fact, I think you still would have made your way back here, eventually, even if it hadn't been a matter of your 'stolen' key."

Benson's eyebrow raised, his interest piqued. "Oh?"

"It's as I've already said. The presence of mana has an innately attractive effect. Normally, it's subtle. For non-magical, rational beings such as humans, it's such that you probably can't even feel it against the din of your own emotions. But once you've felt its touch, it has its way of making its way back to you. You felt it, didn't you, the invisible force that drove you to seek us out once again?"

He remembered the sudden flash of inspiration that had gradually consumed him over the week, driving him to seek out the hotel once again, even against the hazy fog of his shrouded memories. He nodded.

"As a part of this place, the key that you had in your possession essentially served you as a dowsing rod, honing those rough feelings into something more distinct. But if even if you hadn't had that, you had on your person something else that would have served the same purpose, although it may have taken more time to manifest."

"Huh? I don't remember taking anything else from here."

"Oh, but you did. Because I gave it to you. Check your wallet, Ben."

Puzzled, Benson did as Caeli instructed. He thumbed through its contents quickly, but nothing seemed amiss.

He threw a questioning look at the succubus, but she just continued to watch him with an expectant look on her face, so he repeated the process, but more methodically. Then came the spark, similar to ones he saw when he was with Iara, that danced at the tip of his finger for just a brief moment before evaporating into the air. That's when he saw it, a silvered edge stuck to the back of one of his other cards. Peeling it free, it turned out to be the "business card" that she had given him upon his first visit, something he only barely recognized, due to his inebriated state that night.

Actually looking at it now, he still wasn't quite sure what he was looking at. By appearances, it would have seemed an ordinary card. Good quality card stock, firm and heavy, with some sort of silvery weave to the fibers. But also completely blank, front and back. By that alone, it was something he would have looked at once, to examine its unique texture, and then just thrown in the trash for being otherwise useless. But actually holding it between his fingertips, it seemed to resonate with some unseen power, warming his hand, feeling like it belonged there. He could feel the weight of its importance. Experimenting, he tried to fling it away, snapping his wrist like a practiced card thrower, but it seemed to gravitate to the palm of his hand and wouldn't let go.

"What is this?"

"Consider it your personal invitation, and access card."

"Why would you give me something like that? And then? We'd barely even met."

She merely blushed, with eyes down-turned, and began to wriggle in her seat.

"...What is it that you're not telling me?"

"I wasn't trying to hide it from you, honest. It's just that you surprised me a bit. Yesterday. I gave you the perfect opportunity to have this question answered, but then you took things in a different direction than I had foreseen. And before I knew it, I'd let myself become swept up in it all." Her personal emotions peeked through her more practiced speech.

"When I imposed the three question limit on you, I thought I knew for sure what you'd ask me. This isn't the first time I've introduced myself to a human. Enough so, even, that these things can be quite predictable. Upon finding themselves in a strange and foreign place, the follow-up question to ask is more typically something along the lines of 'how did I get here?' or 'why am I here?'. That's just basic survival instinct. But you, you're different."

"How so?"

"Promise me, before I answer, that you'll listen to me very carefully. Don't object, don't react, just listen." Her voice was clear, and stern.

There was a certain situational irony there, being verbally dressed down in such a manner by an actually undressed woman, but nevertheless, Benson steeled himself, to show that he was being properly appreciative of the situation. Caeli had never given him a reason to doubt her, so if she felt it necessary to take this tact with him, there must be something incredibly serious that she wanted to convey.

"Please, do not treat my words as a judgment or condemnation of your character. After all, keep in mind that all I say is because that character is what I'm so in awe of."

"What is this, a psych eval all of a sudden?" She shot him a vicious glare. "Sorry, shutting up."

"You're quick to hide behind a veil of aloofness, reacting foremost with sarcasm and witticisms. Case in point." She said, with a knowing smirk on her lips. Okay, so she wasn't mad. That was good. "You've said that people's impression of you is egoistic: cold, and stand-offish, self-superior. But that's not what I get at all. The coaxing it took me to get you tell me even just a bit about yourself instead strikes me as a man of very little ego. No, you're something else. Almost the exact opposite, in fact."

"Instead, I think what possesses you is extreme empathy. You regard yourself with very little esteem. You navigate life not by how you feel, but by how the people around you make you feel. And that's why the social circle you navigate disgusts you so. It's not that you see yourself above them, it's that you see the wasted potential in their existence, and you wallow in that disappointment. But amidst that backdrop, there's still something there for you, isn't there? A glimmer of hope that holds you to that place of work, perhaps? And then, last night. Once you learned the truth of this place, you barely seemed to care about what that meant for you. Instead, you immediately turned your attentions to me, gauging my feelings on our meeting. But do you know what it really was, that shone the greatest light on your mindset?"

He was already starting to feel numb. He was ready to refute everything she had just said. But he had promised not to, and in the end, only managed to shake his head "no".

"It's how you made love to me. No, not just me, but Iara as well." With redness on her cheeks, she smiled a gentle, disarming smile. The dangerous kind of smile that ended arguments before they even began. "Even faced with your own overwhelming pleasure, you still had the wherewithal to assure that our needs were tended to as well. Even the most vigorous of men have never been able to keep pace with me, at the end of it. Bless them, they've tried, but all come up short of my appetites."

"You're a man of firsts, Ben. You're the first to truly sate my hunger. But even as I flaunt my own prowess, I'm nothing against Iara in that regard. You did the impossible, and brought her to climax, even holding out against her indomitable skill to do so. That's a feat that no mortal has ever achieved, in the entirety of her over two-thousand year life-span. She's a giver, not a taker. She's only ever felt that kind of pleasure with me before, and that's because I cheat." To demonstrate, she cupped her hand and conjured a ball of mana that filled it, far larger than any of the brief sparks he'd witnessed, all while waggling her eyebrows suggestively, before letting it puff into the air.

It was all he could do, to sit silently agape. At the time, he didn't think he was doing anything special. Just returning a favor as best as possible. It had simply always been that way. Even in breaking up with his college girlfriend, she had made it adamantly clear that it wasn't about the sex. But maybe that was exactly what Caeli was talking about. Iara had flattered him, by calling him a "generous lover". Against another human, that shouldn't have been unreasonable praise. But against those two supernatural beauties, with bodies created expressly to bestow pleasure? Was that somehow actually superhuman?

Caeli watched with bemusement, as his gaze repeatedly darted her direction, before turning away. It would take some time for those realities to truly set in.

"Alright, I think that's enough on that specific topic, before it all goes to your head. Either head." She giggled freely, relaxing.

"Hey, that's not fair!"

"I'm competitive, remember? I've got to take every dirty chance I get to re-establish my sexual dominance. I have the feeling I'm going to need those head-starts. I have a reputation to rebuild, after you so thoroughly, wonderfully, pleasurably, demolished it." Even as she grumbled, the look she held was smoldering. Her body shuddered, as she positively purred the last words.

He leaned his forehead into his palm, sighing. There was no winning against her, when she got like this. Willful and just a bit stubborn, but he actually liked that of her. He couldn't stand wishy-washy people. So hard to judge where he stood with them. With every last ounce of his mortal restraint, he willed his cock to settle down against the aural assault of her sensual voice. "Alright, let's say I believe you. And that's a big 'if'. What now?"

"Well, first, I can give you the proper answer now to the question you didn't ask. You're here, Ben, because I invited you here."

"What? I just wandered in here by sheer coincidence, didn't I?"

"You showing up in our alley was felicity. But you being allowed through our doors was my conscious decision. Remember, this haven was created with the intent to keep the demi within safe. It wouldn't do for strangers to be able to waltz right in, uninvited."

No matter what words she spoke, she always seemed to know how to hold him in rapt attention. But something was different this time. An ugly feeling grew in the pit of his stomach. The context of his miraculous meeting with the conniving woman before him had been turned on its head. He urged her to continue, but regarded her with a far more wary eye than he had been.

"I heard it that night, Benson, your primal scream. Deep from your heart, your soul."

"You heard that?"

"Not only did I hear it, I felt it too. It shook something deep within me, calling to me. For the first time in quite some time, I hungered. I'm sure Iara must have told you something of it, the 'totality of one's essence'? Even without being aware of it, mana continues flow around and through your being. That is the mark of the living. It is that mana that succubae seek nourishment from. What this haven provides typically precludes that requirement for me, but your soul sang out so brightly to me in that moment, it was as a drop of blood in shark-infested waters."

"So, you were hunting me? Then what you told me yesterday, about not consuming human souls, that was a lie." He couldn't hide the growing intensity in his voice.

"Please don't mistake me. I'm aware of how that must sound, as an outsider, but I spoke the truth. A minor omission for expediency, at worst. What we crave is merely the mana you inherently surround yourself with but have no use for. Your unique "aura", you may have heard it called -- the unique flavor imparted to your natural mana by the character of your soul -- is merely the seasoning to a hungry succubus, The sex is a side bonus, an act that makes the process so much easier and enjoyable. The French, ever so insightful into the ways of lovemaking, even have a phrase for it: 'la petite mort'. That brief sensation of clarity following an orgasm, curiously likened to death, is when the energies flow most freely, and are most readily devoured." Thinking she had done well to clear her name, a look of worry began to spread across her features, when the intensity of his glare did not subside. "Have.. have I offended you?"

"I'm not sure what to think anymore. I do know that I'm starting to feel a bit used. That's why you gave me this card outright, isn't it? You just assumed I'd become ensnared by your charms, ready to come crawling back to you at your beck and call, to satiate your own needs?"

"W-what!? No. I-I..." Caeli stammered. Now it was her turn on the back foot. "...I merely thought to plant that seed of curiosity early, when your guard was down. I didn't want to risk you running away on me and... oh, that sounds bad, doesn't it?"

Benson wasn't quite sure why he had decided to back her into this corner. Perhaps because the topic of her demonic nature had started to crop up again, he somehow felt the need to ensure his own safety in the matter, if she was still perhaps planning some form of betrayal. Trip her up, get her to divulge some secret by mistake. But the way she cowered proved to him that she still had a good, if perhaps misguided, heart.

He held out his hand, signaling to stop, while pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to go that far. I just..." He suddenly realized how quickly he'd been able to play off of Caeli's emotional vulnerabilities, twisting them frighteningly in his favor. Perhaps she was right about his empathic tendencies. "...Shit. You're right. I think I need to leave. You've left me with a lot to chew on, and I'm afraid I'm going to take my frustrations out on you in the meantime. You don't deserve that."

There was an uneasy look in her eyes, as she regarded him carefully. "Thank you, but I should apologize as well. You're right, I got ahead of myself. I've never dealt with a human quite like you before. I know that's no excuse for my behavior, but I really, truly, am sorry."

Caeli got up from her seat, rounded the table to stand before him, and bowed formally, bent over fully at the waist. In her current state of undress, though, that resulted in her scant towel garment and generous teardrop-shaped breasts falling away from her chest and swaying pendulously. Benson crossed his arms in front of his face, shielding his vision. He knew she meant well, but this was hardly an appropriate moment to become aroused again. She glanced up, spotting his reaction, and giggled brightly.

"Oh, I guess I really should get dressed, shouldn't I? Please, let's continue in the lobby, and I'll see you off."

"Thanks Caeli," he said, eyes still averted. He left the room ahead of her, to give her some privacy.

*****

Benson leaned on the counter at Caeli's reception desk, patiently awaiting her return. Upon entering the increasingly familiar space, he couldn't help but whistle in appreciation, seeing how quickly the disaster zone of a lounge had been cleaned up. Even the furnishings that had been outright damaged in their wild escapades seemed no worse for wear. He briefly wondered how that was possible, before reminding himself that magic was an unarguably real thing to him, now.