Chapter 41 - For Me

  As it turned out, Uril’s apartment is about the same distance away as the hostel, but in the opposite direction. With the goat leading Alex literally by the hand, it catches the attention of a few pedestrians still lingering on the street. Doubtless they assumed Alex to be a client for the incubus. It’s an idea that isn’t lost on Alex, the thought causing his face to burn all the more. Despite the embarrassment, Alex lets Uril drag him along through the darkened city.

  Since arriving in Hell, Alex had been completely focused on just surviving long enough to get this far. He hadn’t spared a single thought for attraction or intimacy, not to mention sex. And now he’s being pulled along by Uril, who strongly implied being a prostitute. It’s a bit startling for Alex to realize that he doesn’t know what or who he’s attracted to. Even with no memory of his mortal life, intuitive knowledge about some things are still part of him. He still knows his general moral stances, he knows things about various foods, he knows things about electricity and modern city life. But when he thinks about the matters stirred up by the flirtatious goat-demon, Alex just draws a blank.

  Alex thinks back to others he had interacted with. Mora’s boisterous welcome into her home had left him embarrassed and a touch flustered, but it wasn’t like this. He did find her attractive though. Colin hadn’t elicited any reaction like this at all. Corvus is just too alien to Alex. When he’d seen Gravitas, Alex had felt an uncanny attraction to her, even at a distance. She was undeniably beautiful and quite appealing, but some part of Alex knows that the attraction to her had been somehow artificial. Varn from the pawn-shop had been handsome, but not attractive to Alex. The Hostess from the restaurant, Alex didn’t find anything remarkable about her. Uril’raya on the other hand, slightly effeminate, small, flirtatious, bold, and self-confident, Alex finds himself attracted to the goat.

  Lost in his internal reflection, Alex doesn’t realize that his unfocused gaze had drifted. When he takes notice, he finds himself staring at Uril’s back, or more specifically the tail poking through a loop in his kilt’s waistband. Alex snaps his eyes back up to focus on the street ahead, but not before Corvus notices where he’d been looking.

  The crow rides atop Hara’s back, and Corvus can’t resist the chance to get a bit of amusement out of the bumbling human’s ineptitude when confronted by a creature of sensuality. “Oh my, Alex. After fleeing from hellhounds, getting singed by flame, and wearing your soul threadbare, I would have imagined you would be able to handle this easily.” He teases, narrowing his focus so that only Alex is able to hear his words. “As it turns out, a modicum of arousal is truly your weakness.” His jibe finds its mark as Alex’s blush returns in full-force, redding his face and down his neck.

  Not trusting his own voice, Alex weathers the teasing in silence. He keeps his focus on trying not to trip as Uril leads the way. But try as he might, Alex’s eyes begin to wander again. Luckily no further teases are aimed his way.

  “Almost there.” Uril announces, turning back to look over his shoulder. For a brief moment, the shorter goat is able to catch where Alex had been looking. But rather than torment him further, Uril just gives a gentle smile.

  The incubus leads them up to the front of an apartment building. Only then does Uril let go of Alex’s hand to fish a key out from a pocket of his vest. The goat fits the key to the lock and opens the door for everyone. Alex finds himself only slowly lowering his hand from where it had been held. Following Uril inside, they take a stairwell up a few floors. The units appear spaced four to a floor, and Uril’s is in the back corner of the third. Rather than use a key to open his apartment, the goat places his hand on the door, touching an emblem etched into the wood. It pops open with a click, clearly a mechanism tied to some form of Animus magic.

  Uril turns to the group and gives a dramatic bow. “Welcome to my palace.” He says, affecting a haughty and posh attitude as he motions them inside. Stepping through the door, Alex has to admit that calling it a palace isn’t too far off the mark. Despite being an apartment, the inside is well decorated. Curtains and cloth drapes of rich reds and purples cover the walls of the common-room, with plush cushions and low tables arranged in a way that Alex’s mind associates it with being ‘harem-chic’. And given the nature of what he’s seen from Uril, it fits. The aesthetic emphasizes indulgence and temptation. Every surface is covered in velvet or silk, with the only exception being the counter-top that separates the kitchen area from the common-room.

  Stepping in after them, Uril shuts the door and unties a drape that falls to cover the doorway. “Make yourselves comfortable, please.” He says, motioning to the cushions. “Oh, and you don’t need to worry about privacy,” he says with a nod towards Corvus, “The curtains dampen almost all sound. We could sing at the tops of our lungs and the neighbors would hardly hear a peep.”

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  Taking Uril at his word, Corvus dispels his guise. With his natural form restored, Corvus glances around the room, his black eyes taking in the space. “Clever work, Uril’raya. Embedding the sound-dampening enchantments into the curtains, rather than affixing them to the walls as most people would.” He comments with a bit of genuine appreciation lacing his tone.

  Seeing Alex looking curious about the statement, Corvus explains it. “Most homes employ some level of privacy security. The common practice is to enchant the walls. As the saying goes, ‘Locks exist to keep the honest people honest.’ If someone has a desire to spy on the occupants, having physical access to the exterior of the wall could allow someone to interfere with the privacy enchantments. By using the curtains, someone would have to breach the wall first, and then defeat the enchantment on the curtains.” He says with a chuckle. “And that would be much easier to notice.”

  Alex marvels at the explanation, looking closer at the silken drapes that cover every inch of the room’s walls. “That’s a lot of enchanting work.” He muses, trying to gauge how many yards of material would need that treatment for a single room like this.

  “Yeah, it’s a lot. Thankfully I didn’t have to do it myself.” Uril says, stepping past Alex and giving the human a hip-bump in the process. “Business is usually pretty good, so I can afford to pay someone else to deal with those details.” He says, waggling his brow at Alex. He walks to the opposite side of the room and pulls aside a drape to step into the next room.

  Hara trots over to one of the largest of the cushions and hops onto it without a second thought. She circles a few times, then flops down with a contented sound. “So soft.” She projects, curling up to get comfortable. Alex follows her example and settles onto one next to her, leaning back against another propped against the wall. Indeed the cushions are wonderfully soft, and Alex finds himself relaxing into their cushy embrace. Corvus picks one that looks a bit less plush, kneeling on it and adopting a meditative pose.

  A couple minutes later, Uril steps back into the common room. The vest and kilt are gone, leaving the incubus bare-chested and with only what appears to be a loin-cloth protecting any modesty he might have. He strokes a comb through his red hair, feigning ignorance of the stare Alex focuses on him. Virtually unclothed, it gives Alex a chance to see the full tattoo that runs all over Uril’raya’s chest and abdomen. The crimson-red linework trace an intricate pattern of swirls and curves across the goat’s effeminate frame, outlining a stylized heart spread across his chest with the lower point ending just above his navel. With the goat’s nearly black and velvety short fur, the pattern seems to fade in and out as he moves.

  Alex catches himself staring again. Instead of forcing his gaze away though, this time he just lets himself look. His eyes rove over the design of the tattoo, and the shape of Uril’s figure. Alex has to admit to himself that he is attracted to the incubus. And for once, he grins a bit instead of blushing. That is, until Uril makes eye-contact and winks at him.

  Uril saunters over and sets his comb down on one of the low tables before lowering himself onto the cushions next to Alex and reclines to prop himself up on an elbow. “I see someone’s starting to get over their nerves a bit.” He teases lightly, letting a bit of his sultry tone leak into the words.

  “Yeah, maybe a bit.” Alex admits, shrugging sheepishly. “Thanks for inviting us here. You really didn’t have to.” He says, then fishes in his pocket for his coin-pouch. “Here, let me at least pay you what we’d have spent at the hostel for the night.” He says intending to offer the coin to Uril.

  Before he can get the pouch open, Uril reaches over and closes his hand over Alex’s. “Nope, you’re not paying me. Not unless you wanna pay ‘for me’.” He says, his normally playful demeanor turning serious for a moment. “If you want that, I’ll take your coin and we’ll enjoy ourselves. Otherwise, just relax.” He says, then slips back to lounge on the cushions again.

  Then Alex surprises himself with the next words that pass his lips. “I’m not sure I know what I want.” He says softly, frowning a bit at himself. The moment of honest vulnerability seems to catch Uril’s interest as he looks Alex over.

  When Alex doesn’t say more, Uril sits up again and leans forwards with his arms resting on his lap. “You don’t know? You don’t know what you like, what you want?” He asks. All traces of teasing or taunting gone from his voice entirely.

  Alex just shrugs and shakes his head. “Not really. Right up until you started flirting with me, I hadn’t even thought about it. I’ve been too busy just trying to survive and make it here.” He says, then winces, realizing that’s only part of the answer. “Actually, I don’t think it would be much different, even if I’d had the time to consider it. It’s like my attraction is a compass-needle that doesn’t know which way is north.” He admits, turning his gaze down to the cushion and the carpeted floor.

  Letting the beat hang for a moment, Uril looks pensively at Alex. Then he reaches over slowly and puts his hand on Alex’s arm. “Don’t let it bother you. Some people know what they enjoy from the start, others need to discover it.” He smiles softly and then winks. “You’d be surprised how many of my clients pay for sessions just to experiment and see what appeals to them.”

  Alex chuckles, then lifts his own hand. He hesitates for a moment, second-guessing himself before gently placing his hand over Uril’s. “Thanks, I think I needed to hear that.” It doesn’t solve the confusing jumble of thoughts surrounding the goat in his head, but hearing that reactions like his were normal does help settle Alex’s nerves. “I’m not sure why, or what it means for me, but something about you is an appeal. I think.” He says, looking up from where his hand touches Uril’raya’s to meet the goat’s red eyes. What he finds there isn’t the lascivious intensity he was expecting. The genuine warmth in Uril's expression encourages him. “And I want to know what it is.”

  Uttering that phrase, Alex feels a quivering inside that might not be wholly related to the butterflies dancing in his stomach.