Blood Bargain

Nine: In Which Alice Confesses

Hours later, he couldn't get the taste of Ellie's lips off his tongue, and it was driving him insane.

It was stupid of him to kiss her. Beyond stupid, it was dangerous. He was already having a terrible time keeping his emotional impulses in check, and it wouldn't help having the memory of her soft mouth on his every time he looked at her.

He couldn't help but wonder how many other parts of her were just as soft, and how those parts might feel pressed against him. One minute his mind was on a murder investigation, and the next he was thinking how she might feel if he pulled her onto his lap instead of letting her sit in the other hard wooden chair...

Kaz fought not to groan in frustration, running a hand through his loose white hair. He felt like a teenager battling both his urges and incubi magic for the first time.

Lust was easy to brush off. He was used to that. It didn't take much for him to walk away from someone attractive in favor of a less volatile food source. Humans and half humans and even plenty of Others became emotionally entangled in things so easily, and Kaz wasn't looking for energy to feed on that contained even a whiff of emotional involvement. He'd rather settle for subsisting off physical food and ambient, leftover sexual energy in clubs or bars than worry about someone chasing him down the next day.

This was... harder to ignore, though. Ellie was harder to ignore.

"I wouldn't call that a productive day, but at least we got to talk to a few people," she grumbled as they walked inside, plopping down in the armchair to unlace her boots.

"I would," Kaz countered, running his hand through his hair.

"Eh?" She paused, briefly looking up from her shoes. "You enjoyed hearing about marriage politics and furniture making?"

"I have a much better idea of the personalities living around here, and not only that, but how they view you," Kaz said thoughtfully. "Besides, you know I can sense emotions well due to my nature as an incubus. There are some... interesting people living here."

"What did you sense?"

"As far as people we passed? A decent amount of shock and lust for the most part, with some greed sprinkled in there," he said distastefully. "Not that any of those are unusual."

"I'm sorry," Ellie said softly.

Kaz blinked, jolting a little. "For... what?"

"It's just... I know I get frustrated with people who make snap decisions about me before they know me or based on rumors," she said. "Not that I'm not guilty of it, too. I did that to you at first. But..."

"But?"

"I think I'd get real sick of people real, real fast if all they ever wanted to do was use me."

Kaz stepped closer, putting his fingers under her chin so she would look up at him, meeting his eyes. If she'd let him read her emotions, he would gladly take full advantage of the opportunity. After all, it was the easy way out for him. All he needed was a small excuse, something just solid enough to help him lock away these strange surges of... something... he felt around her.

It was as easy as breathing to undo the lock on his abilities and let his senses flow through Ellie. If he wanted to, Kaz could sense the emotions of anyone within half a mile, but the larger the radius, the harder it became to identify which emotions came from which person. When he focused on someone specific, his senses became sharper. Clearer. Ellie's heartbeat pulsed loudly in his ears as his senses attuned to hers, and he breathed in slowly, letting his eyes close while he concentrated.

He was... moderately shocked to feel a kind of gentle warmth coming from her. As his hand moved to trace down her arm, trailing along gently until his fingertips found her calloused palms, he expected to feel a swell of arousal or embarrassment. They were there, somewhere, buried underneath stronger waves of feelings. He could taste the familiar flavors on his tongue, but only if he tried very hard to look for them. They weren't primary motivators, but an unconscious body response. The primary emotions crashing over him in waves were something else entirely.