Page 3

Phenex

‘P henex! Are you even listening?’

I shook my errant thoughts free as I refocused on my brother’s perpetually annoyed expression. I tended to zone out whenever he sought me out lately. ‘I’m sorry, what was that?’

He huffed, his disapproval of my wandering mind a constant point of contention between us. ‘I said the academy is under lock down.’

I frowned at that. I may not have bothered leaving the academy much myself, but I knew others enjoyed their freedom from these stone walls. Carved from the volcanic rock of the Sixth Circle’s hottest volcano, it was black and oppressive to most, though I found what others considered gloomy to be rather homely and soothing on the senses. There was far too much debauchery among our people that included bright lights, heavy scents, and other assaults on the senses that I enjoyed the dark, still silence of the academy.

The library was a particular favourite of mine, which was where my oldest brother and reluctant professor had hunted me down to deliver this news.

Actually, now that I thought about it, I took back my nonchalance. It was not good news. My sanctuary of solitude would be disrupted if everyone was condemned to stay put. I’d never find a moment of peace.

But that then raised the next question I vocalised.

‘Why?’ My brother’s long-suffering exasperation was nothing new to me, but there was something about it this time that struck me as different. ‘What’s going on?’

‘Honestly, Phenex. It’s a wonder you’ve survived this long when you don’t even notice the entire academy being transported to a completely different realm,’ he snapped, but my body jerking back wasn’t in response to his tone but rather my shock at his admission.

‘We’re no longer in the Seven Circles?’ I asked, needing confirmation, and he shook his head no. ‘Then where are we?’

‘That is still to be determined, little brother. Now, head back to your room. A curfew has been enacted.’

I nodded once, hurrying to gather my books to carry with me back to my room. My brother attempted to walk with me back to my room, though I wasn’t sure why. There was no need to ensure I went, since there wasn’t anywhere else I would go. It all became clear, however, when I opened my door to find a naked succubus writhing on my bedsheets, scarlet fingers already deep inside her slick entrance. The sound they made as she plunged them in and out of herself was lewd and kind of revolting, though my repulsion stemmed from my lack of interest in this particular Daemon. The same Daemon that had saturated my sheets with her slick too many times to count, just as she was doing now.

A wet patch had formed beneath her, staining my sheets both in colour and scent.

Great. Now I would need to change them before I could sleep tonight.

I cast a slide-long glare at my brother, annoyed with these continuous, underhanded tactics.

‘Qarinah, we shall have to postpone our agreement to another time,’ my brother informed her, but even though she heard him her eyes remained on mine while her fingers continued their ministrations, the wet slap of her palm against her clit making me cringe.

‘The academy is under lockdown and a curfew has been enacted. You must return to your own room immediately,’ my brother finished, and the seductress on my bed pouted. Still, her fingers continued strumming her clit while the other hand plucked at onyx nipples until her hips were bucking and she was screaming my name through her release. She continued to hold my gaze hostage with her crimson eyes, heavy-lidded with lust and longing as she shuddered through her pleasure. She looked to me from beneath her eyelashes in what she considered a desirable expression. It didn’t work on me, just like the many times others had tried.

When she got no reaction from me other than my top lip curling at the drenched, wrinkled mess she’d made of my bedsheets, she turned to my brother, no doubt ready to throw a strop. ‘Abaddon, he’s still not responding to me,’ she whined.

My brother sighed. ‘It was worth a try. Thank you, Qarinah. Phenex will no longer be needing your services tonight, but we shall try again another day. Now, off to your room before you’re out after curfew.’

He ushered her out the door, chucking her clothing at her as she left and I didn’t miss the come-fuck-me eyes she sent his way, the trail her fingers took across his chest as she passed him, nor the extra sway in her bare hips as she sauntered down the hallway. He watched, his own eyes dark with lust until she turned the corner with clear intent shining through that told me he was going to fuck her if I didn’t (and probably already had), and then he faced me.

‘This is getting out of hand, little brother. You need a real woman, not some fantasy you’ve conjured inside your head. Humans aren’t even real,’ he chastised, but I didn’t want to hear it. We’d been over this countless times, my regret over confessing my dreams to him worsening each time.

‘Whatever, Don. I won’t apologise for having standards that involve at least some modicum of class, and I can’t help it if Succubae simply fail to pique my interest. Not everyone wants an easy lay,’ I rebuffed his derision.

Again, just like every other time we’d had this argument, he completely ignored my wants and desires in favour of his own.

‘We’re Daemons, little brother. Daemons from the House of Greed. We take what we want and we don’t apologise for it. It’s past time you started to do the same,’ he admonished, but his words merely ran off me like water through my fingers. What he didn’t understand was that I completely agreed with him. The difference was that what I wanted didn’t match up with what our family and our house believed I should want.

As a Djinn my power was gifted to whomever I had sex with. When I deposited my seed inside them I also left behind a piece of my own magic they could do with as they wished. For that reason I was incredibly picky about whom I gave that power to. That wasn’t to say I was completely innocent. I had experimented with both men and women up to a point (as long as my seed stayed far away from other people I was in the clear), and while both were okay, nothing really struck me as worthwhile. There was always something missing, and for the longest time I hadn’t been able to figure out what it was.

Until the dreams started.

Every night, I dreamt of a woman of myth. Short with a delicate build, hair that looked almost black until the sun highlighted its dark green hues that cascaded down in waves over small, round ears, vivid blue eyes unlike anything I had ever seen, and skin a silky cream colour that would have contrasted beautifully with the lilac tones of my own skin. I dreamed of dusty pink nipples just begging to be sucked, dainty fingers spreading her glistening, pink pussy lips just for my viewing pleasure. Sometimes, I swore I could even scent her, a delicious floral muskiness that reminded me of the earth, though there were hints of other scents in there, too that I could never quite place.

She entered my dreams every night, and I awoke each morning with my cock stiff and needy to plunge into her hot, sweet depths. She was everything I could have ever possibly wanted in a partner, if only she wasn’t a figment of my imagination. She was the only one I could ever envision gifting my power to.

I understood my family’s concern, I really did, but that didn’t change the fact that my heart was taken. I had come to terms with the fact that I would never find anyone tangible to build a life with and I didn’t hold it against my brother for attempting to help, but there was nothing to be done.

I was in love with a woman who did not exist, and I was okay with that because she existed to me . At least this way I could hoard her and keep my power all to myself. And that, right there, was where my Greed came into play.

I placed the books neatly on the bookshelf that took up the majority of my room. The rooms were rather standard when we first moved in, but we were allowed to make it our own as long as we could take it down when we vacated after graduation. I had built my bookshelves from scratch after finding the materials lying around. Many Daemons from other factions tossed out perfectly good materials simply because they did not use them, but part of my house made me a bit of a hoarder. I loved to collect things that I could turn into something better. Something useful. Something I could use to store the other things I collected, namely my books. I may have taken this particular collection from the academy’s library, but I had zero intentions of giving them back. They were mine now.

I adjusted the spines one last time and then stepped back, admiring my work and letting the scent of the books soothe me before I ended up bathed in the scent of Qarinah’s arousal. It was stale now, and a little overpowering, the stench burning my nostrils as I was forced to inhale it. I would have held my breath, but it would have been no use. A succubus’ scent was made to linger, to entice, so I would be stuck with it until I could air out my room properly. Since we had no windows and I didn’t want to risk leaving my door open for just anyone to walk in, it was going to take a week or two at least.

Damn you, Abaddon , I mentally cursed my brother. He meant well, but his meddling was doing more harm than good.

I wrinkled my nose as I stripped the sheets, deciding it was best to just burn them rather than try to wash out the stench. Qarinah was known for her spectacularly potent scent-marking abilities, and I would likely never completely remove it if I could even manage to remove any at all. Especially with the way she kept adding to it.

Fucking Abaddon. Fucking Succubae. Why couldn’t they just let me live out my imaginary love story in peace?

Once my bed was remade, I rolled myself in it to try to replace the sickly sweet scent of Qarinah’s come with my own musk, though all that succeeded in doing was merging the two so my entire room smelled like we’d been fucking. My stomach roiled in disgust.

With a heaving sigh, I resigned myself to unpleasant living conditions and chose to get some sleep for the night. There would be no Daemons in my dreams. Only a delicious little human woman that I would devour until morning came. I could do with a good orgasm or two before I was forced to deal with whatever nightmare awaited us all outside the academy walls. It should also help cover up the stench.

I stripped out of my shirt and pants, tossing them into the pile in the corner of the room that I used to collect my dirty laundry, then climbed under the clean sheets. They were still a little damp from their previous wash, but I would take a little dampness from water over Qarinah any day. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. I couldn’t get comfortable with her scent clogging up my nose, so I reached over onto the little bedside shelf carved from the same black volcanic rock the rest of the academy was made from, the little lip jutting out from the wall in a platform only just wide enough to rest a few essential items on while I slept. I grabbed the book from the top of the pile, opened it, and placed it over my face. The slightly musty scent of the old pages worked their magic to give me something better to fill my nostrils which allowed me to finally relax.

My eyes closed, my breaths evened out, and my cock went rigid as I anticipated reuniting with the woman of my dreams.

∞∞∞

I awoke with my hips pistoning against my mattress. I had somehow turned in my sleep so I was face down against my pillow, my cock grinding into my bed as I desperately sought more friction against the sensitive protrusion.

Images of dark green hair wrapped around my fist, milky white skin and beautifully glistening pinkness bombarded me and I groaned. The sound was low, deep, and frustrated since my woman was no longer with me. In my dreams I could touch her, taste her, bring her as much pleasure as she brought me, but then I would wake up and she would slip through my fingers like the slippery sands of Siren’s Beach.

But the memory of her still lingered. Her sweet little gasps, her wide-eyed innocence that just begged to be corrupted. Her adorable little pink tongue poking out to moisten plump, reddened lips, bruised from my kisses, lips I wanted wrapped around my cock as she sucked. A tongue I wanted to taste my essence as I spilled down her throat.

My breaths came in pants as my balls tingled, my thighs quivering with my fast approaching release.

‘ Fuuuuuck,’ I moaned as spurt after spurt tore from my sacks and shot from my tip.

I collapsed down, breathing heavily as I tried to catch my breath. My releases were always insanely powerful after a night spent with my imaginary Human lover, and I didn’t care that I was now splayed out on top of the wet patch. I had learned a long time ago not to wear even a stitch of clothing to bed for it would just end up covered in my sweat and my seed. It saved on laundry, but I was going to need to change my sheets again before tonight.

That could wait, though. My scent was beginning to overpower Qarinah’s, which was a blessing in disguise. Maybe I could sleep another night on sullied sheets if it got rid of any remnant of her.

A knock at the door interrupted my thoughts, and I hurriedly scrambled to wipe myself down and make myself presentable for when I answered the door.

‘Just a minute!’ I called, racing to stretch my shirt over my head and pull up my pants.

I ran my fingers through my mussed hair in a feeble attempt to smooth it out, but I kept stabbing my horns so I eventually gave up, checked I was at least presentable enough for polite company in the mirror, then shrugged when I saw my state of disarray. To be fair, I had just woken up. What could they really say?

As satisfied as I was ever going to be, I opened the door to Abaddon’s smiling face. A smile that did not reach his eyes and sent alarm darting through my veins, tensing my muscles as my body prepared for a threat.

‘What is it?’ I asked, choosing to forego pleasantries.

‘Classes have been cancelled for the day. An assembly has been called. All students and faculty must meet in the Atrium in an hour,’ he said, then patted me on the shoulder and moved onto the next room.

I stopped him before he could knock. ‘Why are you going room to room?’

His lips pursed in a grim expression. ‘Each floor has been assigned a supervisor. This is my assigned floor. You’ll learn more about that at the assembly.’

I nodded once to indicate my understanding, then closed the door to finish getting myself ready. I couldn’t decide what it was that I was feeling, exactly; if it was a remnant of my orgasm or fear for the unknown, but my stomach swooped with anticipation. Whatever was happening, I could feel it in every atom of my being that our world was about to be turned upside down.

I thought back to the woman that awaited me in my dreams and wondered, no… hoped that the impossible would come true and the coming events would somehow bring her into existence. I chose in that moment to believe. In her, in us, and in a future where we were more than just a few stolen moments inside my head.

Was I being delusional? It was highly likely, but I didn’t care. I had been plagued by what I longed for being just out of reach for so long now that I couldn’t help but latch onto the possibility of my dreams coming true.

I didn’t know why my thoughts took such a turn. It was dangerous to hope for a make-believe future, but I simply couldn’t help myself. My intuition was screaming at me that this was it. This was my chance to find her, to make my dreams a reality.

I could feel it.