The Calling

Chapter 2: Chastity - Castitas

His eyes were like big emeralds, calmly staring at me for a while, the elf as motionless as a statue, no expression on his face. It was unnerving.

Maybe he wasn't watching me, just lost in thought or something. I was probably imagining things, the wine making me paranoid. I needed to drink more quickly, and then I would be okay.

"You have lovely skin," the elf abruptly told me, the voice so quiet and evenly toned, it revealed no gender. "You don't mind me saying that, do you?"

I had thought he was an elven man; his shoulders seemed broad, even though his build was slender. Now, I wasn't sure if he was a feminine man, or a slightly masculine woman. "No," I said, not minding the compliment at all. The pale, graceful hands were relaxed upon the bar with nothing in them. "Would you like a drink?"

His features were so delicate, each long, upswept ear sporting a small, silver hoop. Behind his ears, the silky black hair reminded me of a beautiful Korean girl I dated back in high school.

"Thank you, but no," he gently declined, the collar of his deep blue robe unfortunately hiding his throat, so I couldn't see if there was the tell-tale Adam's apple. Around his neck, he wore a strange, golden pendant; a wheel with a key inside the spokes. Now, I wasn't sure it was a Halloween costume. He didn't seem to be celebrating anything.

"Sitting in a bar without drinking?" I teased, trying to provoke a reaction so I could figure out his orientation. This wasn't a gay bar. People came here to drink, damn it. If he was cruising, he was going to get his butt kicked eventually. Especially being such a pretty man; some idiot might think he was pulling a trick.

"I am the Disciple of Kraetheos."

Well, I wasn't expecting that answer. "Oh? A disciple of Kraetheos? Really?"

"No, you've misheard me, my friend," he insisted, his voice maintaining that quiet, even tone, expressing emotion without excessive animation. "I am the Disciple of Kraetheos."

Oh, crap, a religious nut. That explained the necklace. "Oh, ... I see ..."

"I'm not insane," he immediately said, probably used to people giving him funny looks if he walked around claiming to be the Disciple of Kraetheos. "My name is Tavister."

"Tavister?"

He inclined his head in a single nod. "Others call me Tavi."

I woke with my face in a pillow, the slightly musky odor not necessarily unpleasant, just different. Lifting up my head, I found no one beside me, though I would have sworn on a stack of Bibles that Tavi had been lying there for most of the night.  Did he sleep?

I dropped my face back down into the fluffy pillow, needing to use the bathroom, but not wanting to rise from the bed.  Actually, I was a bit self-conscious of something else rising; my dreams had been vividly intense and insanely sensual in nature. Had I been remembering my ex-girlfriend? The sex hadn't been that wild in real life.

Carefully, I shifted onto my side, hugging the pillow and yawning, wondering where Tavi was. Still, I did not rouse, as was my usual Saturday morning ritual.  Fuck it, it was the weekend; I'd only had a forty-hour workweek, and Tavi's bed was more comfortable than mine. After months of working fifty to sixty hours every week, I wanted to sleep in for once. If only my full bladder would let me do that! I must have completely crashed last night without getting rid of the wine I'd consumed. "Great," I groaned.

"Good morning," Tavi's quiet voice startled me.

I rolled slightly to peek at him with one eye, squinting through a sunlit room to see him curled up in a comfortable-looking chair reading a book, still wearing that frustrating robe. "Hi," I greeted. "Sorry to konk out on you like I did."