“I’m sorry this took so long... I didn’t know William was going to bring someone else, and I had pnned to finish with him after an hour or so,” Sincir tells Adrienne once he has ordered their dinner.

  “You don’t need to apologize. I had fun, and I know why you’re so interested in that pce... Word travels fast in our little circle of fanged creatures and their sves.”

  Seeing her pying with her fork with a worried look on her face, Sincir raises an eyebrow. “Is there something wrong?”

  “No... I was thinking of Gracelyn, and our meeting with Collin tonight.”

  “Why? You’re not the one in trouble, and Collin is a reasonable guy.”

  Adrienne sighs. “He is nice enough... But st time he punished Gracelyn, she became a nightmare to deal with for the next month... And I wasn’t even the reason it happened.”

  “Are you her only servant?”

  “Unfortunately... Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring the mood down again.”

  Sincir waves his hand dismissively. “This date was so you could vent about Gracelyn to begin with, remember? It must be hard not having any friends you can talk about these things with... Having had a psychopathic master myself, I understand what it is like having to put up with unreasonable asks and unfair punishments.”

  Adrienne throws him a look. “You?”

  Sincir smiles. “It was a long time ago... I wager I had it worse than you, but it’s not like this is a competition, of course; I mean you can tell me about it, if you want, and I won’t judge you for it.”

  Adrienne bites her lower lip, then sighs. “I don’t hate her... But she is a like a child sometimes! I tell her a, and she does b, just to spite me! And then, once it inevitably blows up on her face, she bmes me for it! Even when I explicitly told her to do the opposite!”

  Sincir chuckles. “Sounds rough.”

  Clenching her jaw, Adrienne gres toward her half-eaten pte of food. “That’s not even the half of it... She never accepts being on the losing end of anything! If she finds out a man is interested on me, she’ll go out of her way to seduce him! If she realizes I’m making friends other than her, she’ll order me to stop talking to them! And if I don’t listen to what she has to say...”

  “Punishment?” he guesses.

  “She likes to make sure I understand how much stronger she is... Physically, that is. I hesitate to call it rape, but it is close enough to make me uncomfortable... I mean, it is not like I have a right to refuse her.”

  “Ah...”

  Seeing her eyes beginning to become teary, Sincir politely averts his gaze. He cannot say Varzath has never abused his authority to force himself on others, so it is hard for him to condemn Gracelyn for making the same mistakes he did while a demon... After all, forcing oneself on others is fun, as long as you don’t care about how much pain you’re putting them through in the process.

  “Sorry,” Adrienne murmurs, causing Sincir to shift his gaze back to her.

  “No, you don’t have anything to apologize for. I have a couple of ideas that might help you, if you’re interested... I can tell you like her, in spite of everything. Is that right?”

  “Yes,” Adrienne says, “Like I said yesterday, she helped me when I was at my worst, and I’m still grateful... She also didn’t use to be so bad, but tely...”

  “I see,” Sincir says, grabbing her hand and squeezing it lightly as he does so, which causes her eyes to finally meets his. “Look, no retionship can survive without mutual respect, and she needs to understand that if she wants to keep you as her servant... If you continue putting up with her shitty behaviour, you’ll come to hate her soon, no matter how grateful you are for what she did for you back then.”

  Sustaining his gaze, Adrienne bites her lower lip. “I’m not too prideful to admit I could use some help; What are these ideas of yours?”

  Sincir smiles. “Well, there’s the boring way... And the horny one.”

  She snorts. “I’m almost afraid to ask...”

  “Do you believe me when I say that I don’t want to hurt either of you?”

  “...I supposed I do. But I don’t want to see what happened to me happening to her.”

  Sincir shakes his head. “The point of this is not revenge... It is to try to get her to respect you more.”

  Looking uncertain, Adrienne sighs. “I can tell you really want me to choose the horny path; Not that I’m surprised, considering your genitals.”

  “Hey... I know plenty of horny girls out there.”

  “...I don’t know, Sincir.”

  Sincir groans. “Listen, she’ll have a chance to refuse the horny path herself... But I won’t offer it to her if you’re not interested. How about this? If until the end of our date you still don’t want it, then I won’t insist.”

  Adrienne narrows her eyes at him. “And how do you pn to convince me, exactly?”

  Sincir smiles at her. “With my irresistible charm.”

  She rolls her eyes...

  In the end, they end up talking about William over their dinner. Adrienne also ughed a good amount at the mage’s expense, thought she was more reserved than Yesenia about it. She confesses she wished to attend Dexia once upon a time, as most of Krador’s youth, but her magical talent was found out to be non-existent during the yearly scouting the magic school performs across the country for ten-year-old kids.

  “I think that’s when things started going downhill for me... Before, I’d be able to keep myself from despairing by daydreaming and believing one day things would be better, but after being told to my face I had no talent...”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay... My father was a drunk, and my mother a whore. It’s a common enough story, and me following in her footsteps was only natural... I had my first client at twelve...” Adrienne murmurs, then pauses, seeming to realize what she said as she quickly averts her eyes from his, “Shit, I didn’t mean to...”

  Adrienne takes a deep breath, frowning as she stares toward the river outside.

  A whore... No wonder she felt so affect by what happened the previous night; She must have been reminded of her past.

  “...You know, they might’ve been wrong about your magical talent.”

  Quickly wiping her tears, Adrienne pyfully gres at him. “Stop, I know they’re throughout with these things.”

  “No, really... Here, I can show you.”

  Once Sincir offers her his hand, she stares at it for a brief moment, then sighs, taking it. “If you’re pying with me...”

  “Have a little faith, would you?”

  Having said as much, Sincir guides her hand toward her half-full gss of wine, then casts a small electric spell, causing her to jump slightly, before releasing it.

  “Go on, give it a try now.”

  Adrienne stares at her open hand above the wine, frowning. “I’m not a child...”

  Sincir rolls his eyes. “Evidently.”

  She sighs. “What am I supposed to do?”

  “Just focus on moving the wine however you want to. It’ll follow your hand.”

  Adrienne’s ck of faith is evident in her expression, but she does look at the wine and frowns her brows... Then, she raises her hand, the wine floats after it as a perfect ball of liquid, and she freezes.

  Resting a cheek against his fist, Sincir smiles at her. “Go on, py with it a little... The effect will wear off soon.”

  Adrienne opens her mouth, then closes it again. Staring at the floating ball of wine in amazement, she slowly moves her hand to the right, causing it to deform slightly as it seemingly follows her commands...

  She chuckles, incredulously at first, than with true delight once the liquid continues to follow her commands, no matter how fast or suddenly she moves her hand around...

  Controlling something like wine is many times harder than water, but it is still double in small quantities... Not that she is making it any easier for him with, all of these stupid swirls and loops... Heh, not a child, she said.

  “B-be honest, you’re do one who is moving it, aren’t you?!”

  Smiling innocently, Sincir showcases her his empty palms. “Would I ever resort to such dirty tricks to win over the heart of a beautiful maiden?”

  Adrienne narrows her eyes, then moves over her hand as it to throw the wine at him... Except it loses its magical consistency just as she is about to do so, falling back over her gss and spilling much of its content around it.

  Sincir chuckles. “Ah... The effect wore off. Lucky timing, I suppose.”

  Adrienne stares at him with obvious disbelief... However, after a moment, she looks at the spilled wine, then toward her hand, and slowly smiles again. “I... That was... Thank you.”

  Sincir smiles. “Don’t mention it. Isn’t this what cousins do for each other?”

  She ughs. “Stop... People will believe I actually took my cousin on a date...”

  Leaning forward slightly, Sincir runs the back of his finger against the palm of her hand, which she was still staring at, causing her eyes to meet his.

  “...Do you feel any better now? Give me some time to recover my strength, and I’ll move an entire river for you.”

  “...What are you, exactly?” Adrienne asks in a whisper, her voice now slightly hoarse.

  Sincir clicks his tongue. “Have you learned nothing? There’s no such thing as a reward without risk, love.”

  “You want me to also guess...?”

  “I want what will happen once you fail,” Sincir admits, shamelessly smiling at her as he does so.

  Adrienne stares at him exasperatedly, but she does return his smile. “Fine, I’ll bite... What is the price?”

  “For your first time? A kiss.”

  “And I only get one guess?”

  “Is the idea of kissing me that unpleasant?”

  She bites her lip. “...A fairy’s curse.”

  “Oh, I can see it... It’d indeed be like them to lock somebody in a child’s body for their own amusement; Unfortunately, I’ve made sure to always stay well away from the pests in the past...”

  As Adrienne opens her mouth to answer, Sincir locks his lips against hers, causing her to groan into his mouth... However, she doesn’t resist him once he gently presses his tongue forward, running it against hers...

  By the time Sincir pulls away, they’re both panting heavily, and he is nearly on top of her as her back rests against the division intended on giving a view of the river below. The noise of running water overps with the lively tavern behind them, and Adrienne’s dark eyes gleam slightly as they meet his.

  “...Care for another guess, love?” Sincir whispers hoarsely at her.

  She swallows. “This time... What will happen if I fail...?”

  Sincir smiles. “I wonder...”

  “...A young dragon in human form.”

  He grins. “Too bad, another failure... William already tried that one, remember?”

  Adrienne grimaces. “Fuck, then it doesn’t coun-”

  This time, as Sincir kisses her, he grabs her left breast through her dress and gives it a good squeeze, causing Adrienne to moan with surprise.

  “You’ve been driving me crazy with these since you showed at my door...” he murmurs through their kiss, “So don’t bme me for being a little rough...”

  She doesn’t resist him as he continues to grope her breast, feeling it thoroughly, before eventually twisting her nipple, which causes Adrienne to gasp and arch her back slightly.

  Pulling away from her, Sincir licks his lips and smiles. Cheeks reddened, Adrienne stares at him with a slightly shocked look on her face, panting slightly and shuddering with each new pyful squeeze he gives the breast in his palm.

  “I-idiot... O-one of the barmaids might see us...!”

  “Should I stop?”

  Sincir presses her nipple in between his fingers, pulling it, and Adrienne bites her lower lip, half closing her eyes as her body trembles again.

  “W-what the fuck...? Did you cast something on me...!?”

  Stopping his hand, Sincir throws her an insulted look. “It’s called skill. Have you never experienced a proper kiss before?”

  “Fuck me, I guess I hadn’t... Do it again. On second thought, I don’t give a damn if anybody sees us.”

  Sincir smiles at her, humming thoughtfully as he does so. “But this was supposed to be a punishment for failing your guess... It’s not very fair if you’re enjoying it more than me, now is it?”

  Adrienne curses. “I got it; Some sort of demon. You have to be.”

  Sincir freezes.

  “...Wait, really?”

  He curses. “Not a word about it, you lucky bitch.”

  She smiles. “I guess now you’ll have to use something to shut me up before I start shouting, won’t you...?”

  Sincir uses his mouth.

  Damn it, he doesn’t care anymore... Pulling her dress down, he grabs her naked breasts directly while pressing himself against her and forcing her legs to open. Rather than resisting him, Adrienne rises one of her legs over their bench to give him better access, grabbing his nape and shoving her tongue deeper into his mouth as she does so...

  “Love, if don’t start pushing back, I’m going to-”

  “Do it!”

  Well, so much for taking it slow...

  Sincir feels Adrienne’s boot pressing against his back as she runs her hands through his body, almost desperately so. He briefly considers stopping things here, but a gnce over his shoulder reveals a merciful ck of prying eyes through the opening of their space, at least for now, and the fact is enough to melt his remaining resistance.

  Adrienne is already pulling down his pants at this point... Though she pauses once she finally menages to pull his now painfully-erect member free, her eyes widening slightly over the vision.

  “...Okay, I don’t think I’ll be able to keep my voice through this.”

  “I’ll cast a spell,” Sincir murmurs, his voice rough sounding, “Scream as much as you want.”

  She swallows. “Fuck, that was my st excuse.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Oh, don’t be.”

  Having said as much, Adrienne leans forward and takes his cock into her mouth, driving it about halfway down her throat.

  Caught by surprise, Sincir moans.

  “...And for the record, you’re not the only one with skills,” she says with a hoarse chuckle once she pulls away and pyfully licks his tip, “Front or back?”

  Sincir smiles. “Front... Am I an asshole for wanting to see that proud expression of yours melting?”

  Adrienne shudders. “Every girls’ favorite type of asshole, I guess, so long as you can deliver.”

  His smile disappearing, Sincir narrows his eyes at her.

  “...Shit, I didn’t mean it as a-”

  Too te. His wind sound-proof spell having been cast, Sincir pulls Adrienne’s panties aside as he raises her leg and presses her back against the parapet behind her. She returns his kiss, moaning as he pushes his member’s head against her burning sex, which offers almost no resistance to being spread open by it.

  She is surprisingly tight, but Sincir still buries himself all the way with a slow thrust, then with a much faster one, causing Adrienne to scream and arch her back...

  Her expression is far from showcasing pain, however, and Sincir smiles as he covers her mouth with his once more, never stopping his thrusts...

  In one word, he fucks her, hard and fast and mercilessly. He doesn’t stop through her sudden orgasm, or when she locks her legs around him, crying and moaning in equal measures; Instead, grabbing her chin, he watches her expression melt once he finds her hidden weak spot, only lowering the speed of his thrusts to pce a soft kiss against her trembling lips, which, ironically enough, seems to bring her over the edge again.

  “R-r-rest...” Adrienne tries to murmur, her voice pleading as her eyes begin to roll to the back of her head, and she clenches her nails against his back, most definitely scratching it.

  Ignoring the pain, Sincir chuckles, gently running his thumb against her lips as he does so.

  “Is this good?” he asks her, lowering his thrusts to a turtle’s pace.

  Adrienne moans, obediently sucking on his finger once he pces it into the warmth of her mouth, and meeting his gaze as she does so. Each of his slow thrust causes her to shudder as she moves her hips to match him...

  “Should I pull out...?”

  “I-if you want t-to...!”

  Sincir chuckles. “Love, your legs are making it a bit difficult to-”

  “N-never mind, just cum inside...! I want i-it!”

  Her legs locking around him even harder, Adrienne all but takes over by grinding herself against him, and as Sincir feels her walls squeezing around his member in virtue of her third orgasm, he is finally brought over the edge himself, moaning with relief as it happens.

  “Fuck... What are you doing to me...”

  Panting heavily, Adrienne looks at him and grimaces. “That’s... My line... I think I... Tore a hole in your shirt...”

  Sincir snorts. “I think you tore a hole on my back; I can feel the blood running over it.”

  Her eyes widening, she pales slightly. “G-Gods, did I rea-”

  Adrienne freezes, her eyes moving past him and toward the entrance of their small enclosed area.

  Following her gaze, Sincir smiles toward the barmaid standing there with a bottle of wine in her hand and a carefully bnk look on her face.

  By the looks of it, she has been watching them for a while.

  “...You wouldn’t happen to have a shirt lying around, would you? I can pay.”

  She blinks, stares at them for another moment, then turns and walks away.

  Adrienne facepalms. “She is so about to call security...”

  Sincir ughs. “C’mon, let’s get dressed before they get here...”

  A couple of spells and apologies ter,Sincir ughs out loud as they leave the tavern behind. They weren’t kicked out, but it was close... Surprisingly enough, the barmaid did bring him a shirt she found somewhere, though she was blushing profusely as she delivered it to him over the severe reprimands of her boss for them.

  Adrienne has her arm tied to his, her face still red as she holds her boots in her free hand and tries to pretend her legs aren’t wobbling.

  Seeing he has no intention of stopping his ughter in spite of the gres she continues to throw him, she sighs. “Kicked out of two famous taverns in two nights... I don’t think I’ll find another job as a barmaid so soon.”

  “S-sorry, those were both my f-fault...”

  “Your remorse is touching,” she murmurs drily, “Though I might be more inclined to believe it if you weren’t ughing hard enough to shed tears over my misfortune.”

  Sincir takes a deep breath, swallowing his ughter for long enough to clear his throat and smile at her.

  “Sorry... I hadn’t been kicked out of a tavern in a while, but it used to be a common enough occurrence, back in the day... Don’t worry, I have matured since then, and today was an exception.”

  Adrienne rolls her eyes. “Clearly.”

  “Do your feet hurt?” he asks, “I probably can’t carry you the whole way, but a couple of blocks shouldn’t be a problem.”

  “No, this is my punishment for allowing my pussy to make decisions instead of my brain...”

  Sincir snorts. “Well, my cock makes about half of my decisions, and it hasn’t led me stray yet.”

  Adrienne groans.

  Throwing her a sidelong gnce, he smiles. “C’mon, you can’t tell me you didn’t enjoy it...”

  “That’s the problem; I hate myself for not regretting it. I should be feeling something other than this stupid bliss...”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Adrienne snorts. “Okay, fine, that was a lot better than I expected.”

  Sincir throws her an exasperated look. “You do know I remember how many times you came, right?”

  Adrienne averts her gaze toward the river running by them, its dark waters illuminated by the moonlight.

  “...Thank you,” she murmurs after a moment, “For the magic... And for the night. It was something I’ll never forget.”

  “Well, I won’t forget it anytime soon, either... Those were some pretty painful scratches.”

  Adrienne misses a step.

  “I’m joking,” Sincir crifies, smiling once she gres at him, “You were a delightful date, yourself.”

  She sighs. “Okay, I’ll ask... What type of demon, and why?”

  “Ah... I thought you might’ve forgotten it for a moment. Do you know what an incubus is?”

  She stares at him.

  “...What?”

  “Nothing... I just can’t believe it was so obvious this whole time. Collin will lose his Soul once he finds out... If vampires still have theirs, that is.”

  “He’ll be fine... Keep it to yourself for now, okay? I don’t know how far the information will spread through your circle of fanged friends, and demons aren’t exactly the most liked creatures. I’ll stop hiding it eventually... But the st thing I need right now is some wannabe hero from the church or the guild staining my floor with their blood.”

  Adrienne rolls her eyes. “What about Gracelyn? I can try to keep it from her, but...”

  “Oh, tell her I’ve always wanted to know if a vampire would survive without all of their limbs, and that I’d thank her for the opportunity to find out if she ever reveals one of my secrets without my permission.”

  “...Does that apply only to Gracelyn?”

  Sincir smiles at her. “I try really hard to stay on the good-boy side of things these days, love... But if you were to betray me without a good reason, I might not be able to stop myself from fucking you until your brain fries, and my cock is the only thing left in there... Tell me if you ever feel like not walking for a couple of weeks, okay? I’ll invite some friends to watch.”

  Adrienne shudders, averting her eyes from him as she does so. “I’ll... Keep it in mind.”

  Sincir sighs. “See what you did? I don’t want you to be afraid of me, though I can’t deny my less pleasant side might come out, if you push hard enough... I’d at least listen to your side of the story, if something does happen, so rex.”

  After a while of walking in silence, Adrienne stares toward the river. “Do you promise?” she murmurs under her breath.

  Throwing her a confused look, Sincir cocks his head. “What?”

  “...Do you promise you’d at least listen to my side of the story first?”

  He blinks. “Of course I mean it... Look, even at my worst, I wouldn’t enact revenge without making sure I had the right target first, and nowadays, I... I don’t even know what it’d take for me to go that far, anymore.”

  Frowning, Sincir averts his gaze from her. He is always telling Eleanor about how pointless revenge is, but it is undeniable he was in no small part driven by it for most of his life... If at all possible, he’d like to never go there again.

  “...Don’t tell Gracelyn that st part. I have a reputation to maintain.”

  Adrienne smiles. “Something tells me you’d do it, if you had to.”

  Sincir sighs. “Well, I don’t have to enjoy it, do I?”