Incubus Pupa Ch. 10

"Why do you say that?"

"I'm a Fae, remember? Fae are naturally resistant to the effects of Vitae. It's the same reason your Fae failed to bind me earlier tonight. Whatever that bond is, I don't feel anything that I haven't always felt -- at least since the sixth grade."

Holy shit. So much worry over nothing. But where did that leave us?

"So anyway, I've laid my cards on the table," I affirmed.

"Well, not entirely." She rebutted. "You haven't mentioned Sandy in any of this. I may not know everything about Incubuses. Is it Incubuses? Incubi? Whatever. But I know the stories say they have a lot of sex with multiple partners. Is it true?"

"Well, about that." I ran a hand through my hair anxiously. "Yes, we do. We need it to maintain our Fae connection."

She was already nodding. "I suspected. So, I guess that means...what? That you plan to recruit a harem of women to serve you or something." It wasn't a question.

If this were any other woman, I'd have taken a very different approach here, but it was Ella. I'd worked so hard to give her free will in this choice, and I wouldn't compromise that by holding anything back.

"Full disclosure then; yes, I have multiple partners. Yes, I am dating Sandy and we are intimate. I am also intimate with two other women."

Ok, now they were on the table.

"Jesus Christ, Adam. You've only been an Incubus for, what? Two months?"

I expected worse, I honestly did. Though I hated the idea of what it had done to her over the past several years, right then I was thanking her bond for sharing how much I cared about her good opinion for tempering her response.

Shrugging my shoulders, I sighed. "Not quite, but...yeah, something like that."

"So this means you want me to be another part of this harem?"

"Look, I know this all sounds extremely sordid, and chauvinistic... Okay, it is chauvinistic, I can admit that, but it doesn't mean that I don't care about my bonds. I cherish all of them, just as I do you."

"I don't believe this," she shook her head in frustration, "even talking about this is surreal. Can you even imagine how it feels to be me right now? I wait around for six years for you to decide you want to get serious about the relationship that I knew you wanted, and now this happens."

She fought the tears that welled up in her eyes, angrily wiping them away when her emotions wouldn't be denied.

"When you pushed me away, I gave you space. As hard as it was not being with you, having this thing in my heart, whispering to me about how wonderful life will be when you're together. Telling you that you need to love him. Ease his troubles. Tend to him.

"When it was clear you weren't coming back to me, I fought it with everything I had. I dated other guys I had no real interest in. I thought if I could build something lasting with someone else, maybe it would one day replace what I had with you. Nothing worked. You think I care about Jack at all?" She scoffed. "That night we all went to the club? You were all I could think about. I envied Sandy so much you don't even understand.

"You'd been this awkward teen for so long, and then all of a sudden you're this stud that every woman wants. But you should have been mine! The whole night, all I could think of was how it should be my hand that you held in the car, my thigh you casually caressed under the table throughout the night, my lips that you kissed when you felt the need for intimacy. I would have dumped Jack in a second for you if you'd asked me to. But Sandy ruined everything! In the blink of an eye, she came and took my Adam from me."

Okay, this was borderline obsessive, but my dear friend needed me badly, and absolutely none of this was her fault. Frankly, I carried far more blame in this than she did.

She continued. "All I've ever wanted is you, Adam. I've waited on you for much of my life, and now you realize you want me, and you're already taken." She looked defeated. Broken down.

What could I say? I didn't want it to be like this.

"Ells, you have me. I'm not taken."

She looked away. "To me, you are."

Her silent sobbing telegraphed through her the shaking of her head.

"Ella, as God as my witness," I raised my hand, "I would stand here and renounce my other bonds to have only you if you truly wanted it. But the fact is that I need sex. Is it vulgar and perverse? Maybe, but it's a fact. I need it, or I will quite literally go crazy raping women until I have enough Vitae to sustain my Fae connection. Just like your bond with me; like it or not, it is a part of my existence."

Her shaking had ceased, and she turned back with puffy red eyes.

"I don't want that for you. Even now, despite my frustration, I still want you to be happy."

"Then be mine, Ella." I said emphatically, eyes pleading, "And I'll be yours. We can always be together this way."

"But you're telling me this as if I can just set down my jealousy like a bag of bricks. It's a part of me, Adam. Even if I wanted it otherwise, I can't help that."

"Sandy has been-"

"-Please don't b-bring her up," Ella interjected, her voice catching, "She is the last thing I want to talk about right now."

"I was just going to say that she feels jealousy too. Maybe it's not as strong as what you feel, but my bond seems to help it."

But that begged the question -- if she was resistant to my power, could I even form the same bond with her that I had with the others? Clearly, we weren't fully immune to one another, as her bond with me had remained unchanged when I became an Incubus.

"Adam, I just don't know what to do." Her voice sounded so lifeless. A pit of ice weighed heavily in my stomach. "I think we should go back now."

I stood there, feeling stupid. All my powers were utterly useless to bring about the one thing I wanted more than anything right then: to bring comfort to her troubled heart.

"Okay, but can I make one more request?"

"I don't know; it depends on the request."

"I just want a hug. That's all, just a hug." I reached out my arms.

She hesitated, but her desire for comfort and my touch must have won out.

We embraced. I wrapped her up in my arms, cocooning our entwined bodies with warm, soft feathers. I used what Vitae I had -- effective or not, I would try -- to soothe her.

Closing my eyes, I laid my head on her shoulder, and she leaned hers on mine. So concerned at the moment for our emotional connection, I barely thought to appreciate the indescribable feeling of her body against mine.

We stood like that for many minutes. I can't say how many, but enough. Enough that we both came away feeling somewhat better after a very disheartening session of discovery.

As we slowly released one another, I sent my wings away with a thought, and she looked down at me with watery eyes, those vibrant green flecks muted. I thought about grabbing her hand as we walked toward the car, but decided against it. The ball was in her court now. She knew my feelings for her, but she needed time.

Ultimately, all my attempts to give her free will in deciding our fate were for naught, as her own nature had already decided it for her. In time, I knew that her bond would force her to accept the reality of my need for sex with other women, and she would be mine if I'd have her. That troubled me deeply, but it was clear the universe would not be denied in this, and I needed to let it go.

We drove to the ice cream shop and got milkshakes. Keeping the discussion well away from romance or intimacy, it was pleasant to share a simple moment with her and something we both enjoyed.

After we finished, I drove her home. We sat in the car for a moment, listening to a song that played on the radio. Its upbeat melody helped to ease away some of our troubles. When it ended, Ella unbuckled herself, opening the door. In the middle of her egress, she paused.

Leaning over, she gave me a peck on the cheek and said goodnight, and I said the same. I heard the car door close as I put a hand to my face, feeling the warmth of her kiss radiate throughout my body. As difficult as the night had been, I felt better knowing we had laid ourselves bare to one another. Whatever future was in store for us would be built with eyes wide open.