Hellacious Hospitality Ch. 10

Forward from the author -

We've cleared the big introductory arc of this story now, so it's time for things to start getting a bit messier. So big word of warning: if you haven't been reading since the beginning, please go back and do so to get the full experience. I don't do recaps.

If you enjoyed the story, don't forget to leave a vote, and don't be afraid to comment! I enjoy hearing it all.

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"Aila dear, do behave yourself. That's no way to greet a guest."

"Not playtime? Ellie promised Aila super-fun playtime!" Paying no heed to instructions, she continued to bounce giddily on her new perch. The act would have been more annoying if not for her slight weight. The shape that had suddenly collided with him had been about the right height for a teenaged girl, but the mass atop his chest was short by about a third. It was only by surprise that had she managed to knock him flat on his ass. If he had been properly braced for impact, she probably would have bounced off him harmlessly.

At least, that was his impression. He only had feel to go on at the moment, because in a complete lack of modesty, this unfamiliar demi had landed on him such that her skirt had flopped over his face, blotting out his vision.

The beautiful piano harmonies ended with a frustrated smashing of all the keys on the keyboard at once.

"Hey! Bird-brain! You heard her! Settle your butt down and get off him!"

"Uwaah! Rara is so mean! No fair! Aila is good girl!"

"Good girls do as they're told! Don't make me crack you upside the head!" A whipcrack sounded in the air, echoing off the walls to punctuate the point.

"Eek!" Another flurry of feathers, and the girl hastily retreated. The sound of flapping wings carried ever upwards, followed by rattling from the great crystal chandelier above.

"Merah! Be nice to your sister!"

"Oh, come on! It's your fault she's like this after all. My music was the only thing I could do to keep her quiet. Seriously, she's been flapping around all afternoon, waiting for you to get back. I honestly think Mom would have swallowed her whole, if she could, just for the sake of her peace and quiet."

Benson sputtered, brushing off the face-full of down the rambunctious demi had so graciously gifted him with. Hardened scales rasped on the tiled floor as the snake-tailed woman lowered herself from the piano platform to meet him. Loops of thin golden chains and small charms jangled at her waist as she moved. She extended a slender, copper-skinned arm to help him up, which he initially waved off, already recovering to his feet. But casting a looming shadow over him, his gaze was drawn to a pair of steely silver eyes casting a harsh glare down at him from under a hooded cloak, that sternness bidding him to reconsider. Taking her hand, her grip was strong, and resolute.

"Uh, thanks..."

"Don't take this the wrong way. I still don't know what to think of you. But my sister is too brainless to extend you the courtesy, so I guess that falls to me..."

"Hey!~"

"Now girls, no fighting! I know things have been different around here as of late, but I hope we can all get along. Why don't I make us all some coffee, and we can have a good chat to work this all out."

"Hey, Caeli? Is it too late to reconsider our relationship? I don't know if I can handle the 'single mom' thing. Too much baggage."

*****

He rubbed at the where he could feel the bruise start to form. His snark had earned him a swift punch in the shoulder from Elena. She'd aimed to make it hurt, too. Better her than Caeli, all things considered. His succubus lover probably had the strength the shatter the bone, had she so desired. That sort of made him wonder where the limits of her temper lay. He'd never had the chance to test them, and made a mental note to never let that come to pass.

There was a strange nostalgia about the atmosphere as they awaited Caeli's return with refreshments. At least, there was for him, taking a seat in the corner of the couch while a demi girl glared uneasy daggers at him from her own perch adjacent.

Elena looked skyward, completely oblivious of the building tension. "The craftsmanship on this chandelier is insane. Don't think I've ever seen one play with the light quite like this one before," she said to no-one in particular. The look on her face suggested she was sizing it up for her place. The half-furnished state of her luxury apartment gave the impression that she had abandoned the idea of entertaining guests. But now the wheels were turning in that direction again.

He hadn't really examined it too closely before, mind occupied by other things the last he'd spent any significant amount of time in the lounge. Her prompt had him taking a harder look, though, and he quite agreed. The hanging crystal prisms hung at irregular heights at intervals seemed to both gather and scatter light in a way that suggested a kaleidoscope of infinite stars. Their own private Milky Way, visible only to them.

As if on cue, their hostess made her return, toting an entire tray worth of sweets and deserts, plus four cups of her signature cappuccino. "I'm glad you like it. Pity I can't share with you the number for the craftsman. As the caretaker of this space, it's my most treasured possession. After all my lovely wards, that is, obviously. The previous caretaker forged it especially for me. Always a dreamer looking to the night sky, that was a worldly comfort lost to me in this artificial space. 'Celestial Garden' he called it, a never-ending field of luminous flowers in the night sky. A bit pretentious. I may be a romantic, but the art of poetry somewhat escapes me. But the ever-changing constellations it projects did indeed give me some sense of wonderment and comfort."

Elena nodded thoughtfully, but was distracted again, beginning a childish game of peek-a-boo with the bird girl rustling overhead, perched atop the glass, He wondered if that was even safe, but Caeli merely gave him a dismissive wave. Unconvincing, in his mind. Contrasting their care-free attitude, the chiming of heavy glass shards that hung over his head like the Sword of Damocles only added to his current feelings of discord.

Or maybe that was entirely due to the low, sibilant hissing at his back that the others seemed to be ignoring.

For all her steely bluster, however, the snake woman was quick to lose it once snacks arrived, diving for a mug of hot coffee the moment the serving tray was placed on the table. Her rigid posture melted away the instant she brought the steaming brew to her lips, a visible ripple of pleasure surging down her spine, all the way down to the tip of her massive fifteen-ish foot tail. Catching his curious gaze, she tried to reassert her dominance by casting her slit pupils back in his direction.

Having lost her hold over the situation, though, she quickly averted her eyes, coolly snatching a cookie off the platter in an effort to appear nonchalant. She held it aloft, and the bird girl divebombed out of the air to snatch it from her clutches, making a perch of the backrest behind, and began munching away happily.

Elena took a seat at the opposite end of his couch, and Caeli joined her, snuggling in affectionately. Those two have certainly gotten close.

The piercing gaze returned, this time aimed in the girls' direction. The snake woman sighed overtly, finally starting to speak again. "What has this place come to that I have to be the responsible one around here? Do you really hate Mom that much that you're willing to go this far to spite her? I get that you have your needs, and if that's all this was, I'd be able to get over your liaisons. But to go as far as to let them run wild in our home? I've had it up to here, trying to keep her in check. I've never seen her so charged. She's been singing the word 'Ellie' all day, and I don't know why."

"Mom? Sister? Someone care to catch me up, here?" It was hardly Benson's style to insert himself into other people's conversations, but he didn't much like being talked around either. "And Elena, what did you do?" He cast an accusatory glance in her direction.

"Huh, me? I just made a new friend while you two were away, is all. Isn't that right, Aila? Friends?"

"Yay, friends!" She piped up, spitting out a mouthful of crumbs as she did so.

"Obviously, Aila and Merah aren't blood related, but we've come to know the both of them as sisters because they were hatched together, and raised together. And since she provided the nesting grounds, they've come to refer to Xochitl as their 'mother'. Believe it or not, Aila's actually the eldest of the two, by a few days." Caeli explained. For some reason, that last statement was accompanied by a quick wink that he didn't understand. Or maybe he just imagined it, as even Merah, with eyes glued to her caretaker, didn't seem to react.

Benson sputtered into his coffee as his brain caught up to the revelation about their relative ages, which forced him to reappraise his new acquaintances.

The sounds of her cackling laughter echoed in his head, easily amused as Merah irritably brushed the shower of sugary crumbles from her shoulder. A bright, sharp trill that commanded attention. Even in her simplistic speech patterns, he had noticed a lyrical, sing-song quality to Aila's voice. Therein lay a faint accent, somewhere in between French and Scandinavian, that he couldn't help but think sounded really sexy, even through her immature personality.

That her immediate action upon seeing him was to push him to the ground caused him no small degree of consternation. It hadn't escaped notice that she wasn't wearing anything beneath her flimsy white skirt - actually more of a wrap or sarong, hitched up at one side and held together with a rudimentary but ornamental hook or clasp - perched as she was now with knees up to her chest. Seemingly unawares to how her forwardness might be perceived, she'd been this close to grinding her naked privates into his face.

He'd grown to expect some level of sexual attention from the demi girls, but Aila's unrestrained wildness was something new to adjust to. Just as exotically beautiful as he'd come to expect, and uniquely eye-catching. He'd not seen anything like her yet, with such distinctly inhuman aspects to her anatomy. His gaze was drawn first to her petite torso, if only as a point of familiarity. Her top was similarly scant as her skirt, a mere triangle of fabric hung from her neck and pulled taught over small but shapely breasts. Both articles of clothing were white, decorated with a simple trim of repeating blue triangular patterns. Her sleek, pale belly rippled and tensed with her raucous laughter.

While her body was more or less human, there was no way the rest of her could be mistaken as such. Smooth thighs gave way to tufted plumage just above the knee, slender shins ending in scaly skin and massive grasping toes complete with wicked talons. He was thankful that even in her excitement, she had had the wherewithal to avoid raking him with those dangerous looking sickles.

In place of arms, she possessed massive feathered wings, a span likely eight feet wide or perhaps even greater at full extension. At the end of the secondary joints, where wrists would be, she had only two opposable digits extending from each limb, similarly large and talon-tipped as her toes. The way she clumsily clutched at her sweet treats, her simple and scant form of dress made sense. It was probably the most she could manage on her own given her lack of manual dexterity.

More feathery plumage fanned out from her head in lieu of hair. Silvery-white, fading to a brilliant teal/turquoise color at the tips.

*****

Benson blinked, and he was fully aware of his surroundings again. That lapse was vaguely troubling, but in a hazy, understated way that another sip of cappuccino washed away easily. For all that Aila irresistibly occupied his mind in that moment, she couldn't care less about him. She was lost in her own little world. Fresh cookie in-hand, wide, innocent orange eyes fixated on her sweet morsel, crumbs messily dotting her lips and cheeks.

Her youthful energy ultimately reminded him too much of the drama he had narrowly avoided at home.

How was Luna doing, anyways? They hadn't exactly agreed to keep in contact or anything. But would she have worried for his unannounced absence?

A deep chug of coffee. Savor the flavor, Focus on the burning heat scalding my esophagus. He couldn't have himself associating her with the openly sexual antics of this new life of his.

Letting his mind dissociate, it naturally wandered back to the subject of Aila, that sing-song voice of hers still glowing at the edges of his forethoughts somewhere.

Thankfully, at least one person was in his corner this evening, a life buoy that stopped him from getting too lost at sea. Even if she probably didn't see it that way.

Setting her coffee cup down, the snake-woman named Merah returned to casting defiant glares, angrily slit pupils flicking warily between all three of them. That harsh, unyielding attitude tethered him back to reality, which he was quite appreciative of. He had to draw some limits, and everything was being thrown at him so fast.

She was a difficult one to read. Her sinuous, coral-colored coils wound spirals about themselves, slithering in an irritable fashion. She didn't give him much to read outside that body language, her face shadowed under a great big hooded shawl that shrouded most of her upper torso, which remained unnervingly still by contrast. She sat tall on her haunches, looming over them, that exquisitely embroidered headwear of hers giving her the impression of a rearing cobra ready to strike.

Her presence was intimidating. Even disregarding her serpentine anatomy, her human half wouldn't have been out of place on a woman of at least six feet tall. Coupled with that icy glare of hers, her aura froze his nerves dead solid. There was something captivating, terrifying, and hypnotic about those eyes. When turned in his direction, he couldn't bring himself to look away.

His mere existence had done something to set her off, and he didn't wish to invite any further ire. Unexpectedly, however, her baleful gaze instead settled in Caeli's direction.

Just as she looked poised to strike, she suddenly deflated, sinking back into the armchair instead. Reaching over her head, she idly began scritching at the short tufted feathers around Aila's ankle, the act seemingly settling her mood. Her avian sister cooed happily between delicate nibbles of sugary biscuit, otherwise lost in her own little world at the moment. She let out a deep, melodramatic sigh.

To his other side, there came a small squeak. Caeli had a hand to her mouth, politely silencing a light giggle. "My my, Merah. Since when did you become so mature?"

"As if you know the meaning of the word. Pretending to be some sort of matron, only to turn into some starry-eyed girl the moment you found yourself a man again. Somebody had to step up around here. We all know that Mom's not the right person for the job, not that you've given her that leeway."

"It... it's not like that! What I do isn't just for the sake of satiating my desires! I'm trying to secure a better future for us all!"

"Lie to yourself all you'd like, but I can see it. We can all see it, how you've changed over these last few weeks. You won us all over with your heartfelt pleas, that by rallying behind you, we'd have a more promising future. But what did you do? The first chance you've had to prove that vision of yours, you've fallen to pieces. I've never seen you locked away in that room of yours as much as you've been recently. And now, gallivanting around in the human world, like you have no cares? What happened to that commitment of yours? You promised us the world, all you've done is hide from us instead." Her arms crossed firmly over her chest, defensively.

Caeli looked taken aback, yet unwilling or unable to mount a defense for herself. Pleading eyes glanced his way, and behind her in Elena's direction, as if hoping for a rescue. That lack of ability seemed so unlike her, making him wonder what nerve was struck. What was this all about, anyways? Hadn't she been working with her wards to ease them to his and Elena's visitations? Iara and the faeries were certainly on board. Had little ground been made otherwise?

"Look, I don't know what you think is going on here, but she's working her ass off for you, you ungrateful - " He stood instinctively, ready to strike the snake woman for her insolence. Something about her harsh criticisms riled him up like nothing else. Caeli reached out and clutched at his sleeve, guiding him back into his seat. The moment passed quickly, but the hatred he had for himself lasted much longer. He shouldn't have reacted that way. As much as she had welcomed him into her life, he still knew very little of the rest of her storied history. In her hundreds of years of existence, he was barely a blip on that timeline.

Those actions certainly hadn't won him any favors with Merah. He'd thought he'd had an in with her, in how he actually agreed that things were starting to progress much too rapidly for his comfort, but his quick temper dashed those hopes. There came an irascible hiss from beneath that shadowed hood, louder and sharper than before.

"Ben, please, she's right. I've been truly neglectful in my duties. Things have moved in ways far beyond my imagination and control, and I've handled it poorly. But that's me, isn't it? I talk the big talk, but when the chips are down, all I've ever been is a failure," she said, through a forced, pained smile. She squeezed his hand, partially for comfort, and partially to prevent him from any further rash actions.

"Rara! No fighting! No making Auntie Lessie sad!" Even the easily-distracted Aila couldn't ignore the rapidly rising tempers in the room. The fanned plumage atop her head stood on end, and she puffed out her cheeks irritably.

"Alright, alright..." Merah relented, stroking her sister's head in a semi-futile attempt to comb back those wild, angry pinions.

Elena performed something similar for Caeli, loosening the collar of that blazer jacket in order to massage her bare shoulders, seeing the way she was tense and trembling.

"Ultimately, I have no say in your decisions, do I?" Merah asked, visibly struggling to hold herself to a softer, more even tone.

"Don't say that! Please, I vowed to always hear out your concerns!"

"Just not this one," she sniped, partially under her breath, but not really, before sighing again."Knowing full well what you are, I guess it's unreasonable not to expect you to consort with humans. But why now, after all this time? And with all you've seen, all you've been through, how can you of all people be so trusting?"

Caeli had her hand at her throat, idly running a finger over the silvered cross embedded in her choker. "I wonder..."

"Oh yeah. This is probably a terrible time to bring it up, but that cross was certainly a bold and interesting touch for your costume today. Clever way of keeping the guys off-balance. Strutting around like sex on legs, they wouldn't be able to keep their hands off you. But the religious angle sends mixed messages. That can be a tricky subject to get past, without making things awkward. Guys find that intimidating, and would rather back off than step on that land mine." The timing really was complete shit, but it was the only opportunity that presented itself to potentially reset the tension in the room.

Why is Elena giving me that cringe-y sort-of smile?