Hellacious Hospitality Ch. 07

"You see now, how Benson's is the rare soul attuned to One's own? I would very much like to feel mine entwined with this one's once again."

"I'm sorry, but we'll have to wait for another time. The others are waiting up for me. I just needed to stop by and thank you for everything you've done." She nodded in acknowledgment, smiling. He removed his hand from the water, signaling his intent to leave.

Maintaining that easy, pleasant expression, Iara swam up, and reached a hand out to him. Seemed she still had something to say.

Remembering the parting message he had received last time, he took hold of it rather warily.

"One must impress that the knowledge shared here One entrusts to Benson Lachlan, and Benson Lachlan alone. In knowing the shape of one's soul, one is granted insight into one's destiny beyond the mortal ken. Therein lies a fine path to tread, fraught with temptation and madness should one be led astray. For another to be granted that knowledge means to abdicate guidance over one's fate."

"Then why tell me this? If that's the case, I'd have been better off not knowing. Not just for me, but you've placed Elena's fate in my hands as well. That's far too much responsibility." There had been the temptation to probe about Caeli, too. But after that revelation, it seemed a complete invasion of privacy.

"It is not lightly that One makes this decision. The aspect of water is temperamental and capricious. In one moment, a tranquil stream babbling idly, in another a raging torrent that erodes barriers. Without identity, it becomes another wave in the tempestuous roil of the endless ocean. But carrying upon it the mist, it may instead become as the sea, a gentle tide that bridges islands. One watches Benson's development with great interest. The Keeper's hopes for this are also One's own. The path ahead may yet see many tribulations, but the mist and water are resilient in the face of such trials. Take heed, however, of souls enshrined in ice. A frost reforms, in time, but mighty glaciers bear the prestige of permanence. But within that indomitable form, small cracks seed great fissures, in portent of catastrophe, as all surrounding are swept away in the great collapse."

"Is that a warning then? Do you expect more events like those of today?"

"It is merely One's hopes for this one's potential. To leave such rarity of virtue to happenstance would be to squander it. One is not able to see the outside world, so One only seeks to give the gift of One's insight, such that Benson may be prepared for future tribulations."

Another ominous message from out of Iara's bathhouse. A warning that today's perils were not likely to be his last. Yet, within Iara's vexing words, there was also encouragement. Iara had shared her confidence that he and Elena would be resilient in the face of such threats. Whether that was a challenge she wished to face, though, would have to be her decision.

He hung his head in deep appreciation. The reality was, those words spoke so strongly to the core of his being that he felt he had already known them. Hearing them voiced merely solidified his resolve. Both Caeli and Iara espoused his ability to tear down barriers and bridge hearts, and he now had the experiences to believe them.

Withdrawing her hand, she made to yawn broadly. The undine lacking lungs or even anything resembling a circulatory system, it was likely an affectation for his sake. He wasn't sure what exhaustion looked like for a being composed entirely of mana and water, but she had earned her rest this day through all her life-saving efforts. He waved goodbye to her from the edge of the pool, as she allowed herself to sink below the water's surface and fade from sight.

With Lily in hand, he returned to the adjoining room to meet up with the girls.

There, he found them having finished washing up, and wrapping towels about themselves. Well, to be precise, Elena already had herself wrapped. She seemed to be struggling to help Caeli, though, getting a face-full of wing, as she seemed unable to pull the garment tight enough around the circumference of the other woman's large bust to properly tie it closed. Having caught them in a strangely compromising situation, Caeli began to blush crimson.

Not entirely sure what was going on there, he just waved to them and opened his mouth to speak.

"We need to talk," the three of them said, in near unison.

*****

Together, the trio walked back to Caeli's room. Well, quartet, including the faerie hitching a ride on Benson's shoulder. She'd become quite the pampered princess, atop her personal palanquin.

If it were a real hotel they traversed, quite a commotion would be had. Not a stitch of clothing between them, after the wet and messy incident in Iara's quarters. He and Elena had at least managed to fasten towels about themselves, but poor Caeli seemed utterly distraught, being unable to do the same. It seemed her wings and tail had become over-sensitive, and they kept fighting her. Ultimately, she resorted to holding a towel to her front awkwardly, but the blush never left her body.

He wondered why she was so bothered by her own nudity all of a sudden, especially after what they had just done together, but when he tried to ask, all that came out of her mouth was an embarrassed squeak, so he left the matter alone, for the time being.

Elena's vision constantly darted between the naked woman leading the way, and the smaller one planted at his shoulder. There was clearly something she wanted to say as well, but in deference to their flustered hostess, she kept it to herself. After one last lingering look at Lily, she seemed to ignore her, strangely.

Feeling uncomfortable in the silence, Elena whispered to him to make small-talk, with a wry grin. "So, 'Ben', huh? Just how good did you have to mess her up to have a fox like that getting all clingy and giving you pet names?"

He cleared his throat conspicuously, dodging the brunt of that leading question. "Jealous, Elena? I don't mind if you want to call me 'Ben' as well. Actually, I think that might be the only time I've ever witnessed her use anything remotely resembling a 'succubus' ability. It was almost like she knew my ex-girlfriend used to call me that, because she latched onto that without prompt, almost the moment we met."

"Oh, is that all it takes for you? Then there's my dumb ass, jumping straight to the 'get naked' ploy."

"Elena..."

"No, I'm not self-hating again. I'm enjoying this. You, her. You're good company that I can joke freely about myself around. Nah, she can keep her pet names. If get too used to that, they're definitely going to find out about us at work."

Caeli kept her distance, but glanced back every so often at them, smiling at the conversation taking place.

Upon reaching her room, she ran straight to the bathroom and closed the door behind her. The sound of a blow-dryer immediately started up, not quite enough to cover the sound of her distressed squealing.

"What's going on with her, anyways?" He asked Elena, since she'd been with her most recently. He sat at the foot of Caeli's bed.

Elena, by contrast, showed no signs of shame, as she whipped off her towel wrap to begin drying her own hair more thoroughly, unabashed in her own nudity. She licked her lips suggestively, when she noticed the rising tent beneath the terry cloth rectangle tied about his waist.

"No clue. She had no problems when I was playing with her wings before, but when we were drying off, she started getting all squirmy. She'll probably tell us she's ready." She shrugged, as she pulled her glasses off her face to examine them. She tutted at the damage she found there, before replacing them.

"So, while we're waiting for her, how'd you two meet, anyways? There's gotta be quite some story behind that."

"Surprisingly, no. She just took pity on a weary, drunken soul one night, the Friday before last, and things just sort of happened from there."

"You've only known her for two weeks? Wow, the way she goes on like she knows you so well, I'd have though you were together way longer."

"Shorter than that, even. That first night, I wound up running away before we had much time to really talk. Took me a whole week to come up with the courage to see her again, but when we did, things just sort of clicked, and before we knew it, we were in each others' arms."

"That actually sounds weirdly like us."

He thought back to what Iara had told him, about "bridging islands". "Yeah, apparently, all it took was pulling my head out of my ass, so you girls could see this lovable face of mine."

Elena rolled her eyes and threw her damp towel at his face. The sounds of blow-drying had ceased in the bathroom, so she wandered over to knock at the door. "You alright in there?" She called out.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine now," Caeli's voice came behind the door, lacking conviction. The door opening a crack, she changed the subject, and her voice brightened considerably. "Elena dear, I do apologize if I was too direct in my wardrobe selection for you, earlier. Why don't you have a peek in my closet, and see if you can find something to wear?"

It was Elena's turn to blush, as she remembered the scandalous cut of the robe on her body. Whether the flush on her cheeks was of embarrassment, or of inspiration could not be discerned from her expression. "Are you sure? I don't like rifling through other people's things, especially of someone I just met."

"Nonsense. I'd be a terrible host if I forced my guests to traipse around naked in an unfamiliar place. Have a look, pick out something you like."

"Thanks. I guess I have indulged myself enough today, already." Taking her up on that invitation, Elena slid the door open and began sorting through varied articles of clothing and outfits hanging within. Elegant gowns, skimpy cocktail dresses, and more than a fair number of playful costumes. She held them up to her body and showed off for Benson each time, to tease a reaction from him. A few especially racy lingerie sets though had even her eyes bugging out, and she hastily shoved them back on the hanger rack, with all the guilt of a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

Eventually, she decided on a cute, simple little off-white sundress, that looked like it would fit. She liked the soft feeling of the fabric against her skin. As she slipped it over her head though, she quickly realized how much she had misjudged her selection. In holding it against herself, she hadn't accounted for just how thin the cotton material actually was, with the front and back of the dress doubled up. Wrapped fully around her, though, the lightweight fabric clung revealingly to her erect nipples, their dark pink color clearly visible through the thin floral-print weave. The spaghetti straps strung to suit Caeli's heavier bust, the neckline sat precariously low on Elena's no less impressive C-cups, the very top edges of her areolae attempting to make an appearance. The skirt length may have reached mid-high on Caeli's thighs, but on Elena's taller frame, the ruffled, scalloped hem of the dress hung only barely below her ass cheeks.

Checking herself out in the mirror, and then seeing how Benson awkwardly clamped his hands over his lap when she looked in his direction, she decided her choice in clothing was perfect.

"Thanks Caeli!" she shouted through the bathroom door. "Hey, does this place have internet? I need to see about covering our butts. Umm, figuratively... " she added, when she realized how much the dress flew up in the back as she moved, and felt the refreshing breeze on her bare, athletically-toned behind.

"There's a tablet in the top-right drawer of my dresser. I don't bother to lock it. You can use that."

Elena quickly found what she was looking for, without prying too much otherwise. She flounced over to sit beside Benson at the edge of the bed. She found it cute how he tried to play the gentleman by averting his eyes at the way her body spilled out of the flimsy dress, but that just encouraged her to lean against him, extra close.

She powered on the device, to where they were greeted by the loud, forced moaning of a busty porn star, and the sight of her getting pounded hard from behind by that filming session's generically well-endowed piece of man-meat.

Caeli immediately burst out of the bathroom in a panting huff, her cheeks streaked in rouge, a towel wrapped around her neck her only garb, as she continued to fix her hair. There was no telling whether or not this was a new blush, or if she'd yet to come down from her earlier unease. "Eeek!" she squealed. She hung her head in shame. "I-I forgot about that. You two, you surprised me in showing at my doorstep unannounced, and -- "

He couldn't help but cringe on Caeli's behalf, but Elena seemed entirely unperturbed. "Ooh, I like her. But Benson's much better looking than he is, don't you think? We should swap our favorite vids sometime!" She closed out of the video app without missing a beat, leaving the succubus with a dumbfounded expression on her face.

Benson just shrugged. "Hey, told you she has her quirks." He grinned openly, and Caeli slowly began to relax, even chuckling under her breath out how silly she felt. Then Elena joined in. Before long, all three were clutching their sides in laughter at just how ridiculous the scenario was.

Wiping tears from her eyes, Caeli gave Elena's choice of clothing an appraising once-over. "Darling, you're going to fit in here just fine. Which actually brings me to a rather more serious matter that I wanted to raise. I hope you weren't hoping to leave, dear, because I'm going to have to keep you here for a couple of days." Satisfied her hair was done up, she began to dress, finding another copy of her uniform.

"Weekend sleepover? Cool, I'm game. What's the plan? Pillow fights? Spin the bottle? Truth or dare? I never got up to mischief like that as a teenager. It'd be like making up for lost time. And it sounds a whole lot more appealing, now, in the graces of such... enchanting... company." Elena's train of thought started to wander as she got a chance to fully appreciate the succubus' figure-flattering look.

Benson could practically hear the cogs turning in her head regarding the fashion notes she was taking in her head. She was practically drooling.

Nudging her back to attention, he asked the question that Elena either hadn't grasped, or was intentionally avoiding. "The danger's not over, is it? Have you figured something out?"

"The danger, I'm afraid, is currently with Elena herself. In hosting that... thing, her awareness has become hyper-attuned to the magic world. That nature, so at odds with the magic that enables my glamours, created a forced feedback loop that violently dispelled them. Even now, with the overt threat vanquished, I'm still unable to reactivate them. If I've seemed out of sorts, it's because that loss of control is so completely alien to me. For demi to survive in the modern world takes a certain degree of discipline, and I've completely and utterly lost it, it seems."

"Magic? Demi? Somebody care to catch me up here?"

Caeli opened her mouth to speak, but Benson held up a hand to halt her. He took point this time, eager to prove to the demoness just how committed he was to her cause by relaying most of the things he had been taught, about the demi, and the haven they occupied, treating the opportunity almost like a pop quiz.

Sometime in the middle of the talk, there came a knock at the door. Lily flew over to open it, revealing another faerie on the other side. Cute and plump in stature, in hues of yellow and orange. She hefted a neat bundle of Benson's cleaned (yet again) clothes. Upon noticing the two humans watching attentively from their seats at the bed, she dropped her cargo in surprise. Lily chittered at her for a bit, and she soon left. But the awestruck expression never left her face.

He dressed as he continued his stories, and Elena listened keenly, the grin on her face growing steadily wider. By the end of it, she beamed radiantly.

"All those times as a young girl, wishing I could be whisked away to some fantasy land, and now I'm actually living it? So what's the big deal, you can't hide your wings or those cool horns anymore? I stopped being scared once I felt what your tail could do." She gave a suggestive smirk that caused Caeli to avert her eyes momentarily. That reaction actually caught Benson by surprise.

"I'm afraid it's not that simple. If my glamours are affected, it stands to reason that your very presence currently disrupts all such magics. In here, at least you are amidst the company of friends. I can make no such guarantees of the world beyond these walls. Already, you've both witnessed such a threat. If you poke at that hornet's next, there will be more such dangers to contend with."

"So what, am I stuck here the rest of my life?"

"No, I don't believe so. I believe by occupying your mind, that creature forcibly awakened your senses to the hidden side of the world. But as with all senses, prolonged exposure should train your mind to filter that out, and you should return to normal."

"That's good, I guess. So what the hell was that thing, anyways? If I go about disturbing more magical creatures, does it mean I'll just get possessed like that again?"

"I'm sorry, I wish I knew. I've never encountered anything like that before."

"Uh, Caeli, I think Lily might have something to say about that... " Everyone's attention turned to the little white lady who clearly hoped to be forgotten in this moment. She pouted at Benson, but dutifully flew to Caeli's side, and began whispering in her ear. Caeli listened carefully, eyes widening the longer the faerie talked.

"Well, you've certainly gone and gotten yourself into trouble, haven't you? Apologize to these two, right now!"

Flying back over to them, Lily bowed graciously. Benson just gave her a now customary pat on the head, but Elena's reaction was to stare at the little creature intently, after seemingly avoiding it for some time.

"I've seen you before, haven't I?" Lily nodded in reply, sheepishly.

"Indeed, it sounds like this little one has caused quite the bit of trouble for you two," Caeli smirked, apparently ready to recant whatever sordid affairs Lily had been up to. "So Ben, it happens that after I sent you on your way the last time, this mischievous lady snuck out and tried to bring you back."

"You're kidding me. Why?"

"Th-that's not important right now. What you might be interested in is what she did afterward."

"Alright, go on."

"Well, remember when I told you of the aphrodisiac properties of pixie dust?"

"Oh my god, I thought I recognized you! Benson, she was there!"

"Where?"

"Remember when you, umm, 'caught' me on Monday night? Well, before all that, I stepped out of my office for a quick stretch, and I saw this funny little glowing light out of the corner of my eye, hovering around your desk.. I just thought I was seeing things. And then that's when I found my scarf there, that, well, y'know..."

"Lily, did you dose Elena with your dust?" Lily struggled to make eye contact.

"Don't blame her too much, Ben. She was completely unprepared for the outside world, beyond this Haven. She didn't account for just how tired and hungry she'd get, looking for you. She sensed that Elena had what she needed, so she... helped things along."

"Benson, what's that supposed to mean?"

"It means this little troublemaker got you all worked-up just so she could have a snack. Yep, the fairy tale creatures of your dreams are a bunch of horny sex-fiends." Caeli shot him a piercing death glare, but didn't deny it.