Chapter 28
1409 Words
Sanaya’s P.O.V
“I knew it!” Sophia yelled in obvious glee as she held her hand out at Tanya. “Pay up girl!”
“Wait…” I narrowed my eyes at the two women. “Did you guys bet on me?”
“I guess we all did.” Martin sighed as he handed a grinning Zach a hundred dollar bill and my jaw just about hit the floor.
“Et tu Brute?” I glared accusingly at Martin who just shrugged and took a sip of his virgin mojito.
“Well, the Sire doesn’t often help his secretaries and he had been in a pretty bad mood lately, right before you arrived. And then suddenly, everything changed.” Zach told us while twirling one of his dreadlocks through his fingers. “He asked us to shift the Secretary desk to his floor and he even asked Tanya to provide you with everything you needed help with.”
“Trust me when I say this, I would’ve helped you anyways.” Tanya reassured me. “But the Sire’s behavior confused us. We had never seen him like this before and that’s when we knew for sure that you two would end up together.”
“And what if I hadn’t wanted to be a couple with Lancelin?” I asked them seriously.
Sophia shrugged. “That’s between you and the Sire.” She said casually as she took a sip of her apple juice, as she had decided to be our chauffer today so she was staying off the alcohol. “Incubi don’t force relationships, that’s our utmost law. But not too many people can resist our charm so the question never comes up. You seem immune though.”
“Acelin told me the same thing about being immune, although I have no idea what it means.” I looked at Sophia and then to Tanya. “Do you guys have any idea?”
“It means you’re lacking the instinct in your brain that says we are sexy as hell and you should jump our bones.” Zach said with a devilish smirk as Sophia and Tanya both smacked him above the head. “OW! What was that for?”
“Ignore his douchiness,” Sophia glared at him before turning to me. “Well, in a nutshell, that’s about right but I don’t know how deep the immunity goes. Are you immune to manipulation or any of our other powers? I can’t really tell.”
“I’d rather not know,” I told them. “But thanks for showing your support guys, I was nervous as hell.”
“You shouldn’t be,” Tanya said with a reassuring smile. “You are a really awesome person and we all absolutely adore you.”
“Thanks guys,” I grinned as I took a sip of my drink, feeling relieved that Lancelin’s people accept me for who I am.
******
“Bye guys!” Sophia and Zach waved as they got off at their stop, having apartments right next to each other. Tanya joined Sophia and decided to have a girl’s night because, apparently, she wasn’t drunk enough.
Even though Sophia had decided to be our chauffer today and avoided drinking more than three glasses of whisky, damn her immortality and tolerance to alcohol, Martin had taken over and decided to send me off instead. I hadn’t wanted to point out the obvious but things seemed to be a little off between Tanya and Martin.
Both of them had sat on different corners of the room, as far from each other as possible and not to mention that Martin had not once called Tanya ‘Tin Tin’ which was the name he had given to her in childhood when they had both been toddlers. According to some sources (Zach), Tanya calls him Marty when no one’s around.
“So,” I asked Martin when it was just the two of us in the car. “What happened between you and Tanya…if you don’t mind me asking?”
Martin gave a lopsided smile but otherwise kept his eyes on the road. “Figured that out, did you?”
“I’m not exactly sure what’s going on but Tanya seemed unusually quiet and you seemed to want to be anywhere but near her.” I told him what I’d observed. “If you guys are having one of your usual disagreements, maybe you could just talk and fi-”
“Tanya’s getting engaged.” Martin cut me off mid-sentence. “And it’d definitely not to me.”
“What? How-Why?” I asked, confused. “I always thought you guys were a couple or something…I’m sorry if I assumed things.”
“No, we are-were a couple.” Martin confirmed what we all knew. “But I’m human with no idea if I had inherited the life-expectancy of a mage. So Tanya’s parents don’t want to play the guessing game anymore. Honestly, I can’t even blame anyone because they were right about getting Tanya engaged to another mage. Right now I’m an uncertainty but maybe a few years later I will start to age and Tanya will notice it too. It’s better for everyone if she finds happiness with someone else before she gets even more emotionally attached to me.”
Martin’s words were like a punch to the solar plexus. A harsh wake-up call I hadn’t expected to surface this soon.
“Aren’t we the same then?” I questioned with a rueful smile. “Lancelin will stay the same while I keep on aging.”
“No,” Martin shook his head instantly. “We are not the same, at least our lovers aren’t. Even if you start to age the Sire can stop it by transferring some of his life-force to you. Most powerful Incubi who keep long time human lovers do that to their partners because a life-force transfer can work both ways.”
I tried to contain the joy I felt at learning this new piece of information but I couldn’t. “Martin, can you take me to ReefWood HQ instead?”
“Sure.” Martin took a u-turn at the next road crossing and we were back in track towards HQ.
“How does it work?” I let the curiosity get the better of me. “This life-force transfer thing?”
“You’ll have to ask the Sire for the details but I guess it’s like a transfer of energy.” Martin shrugged. “I do envy you in this. It would’ve been so much better if Tanya or I were an Incubus.”
“I’m sorry, Martin.” I told him truthfully. “I wish I could help but you know a lot more about the immortal world than I do. I really do hope though that you inherit the immortality genes from your parent so you can be together with Tanya.”
“Thanks, Sanaya.” Martin said as he parked in front of ReefWood. “I’m glad to have a friend like you. And I hope that you and Sire can stay together for centuries to come.”
Martin’s words stayed with me even as I got inside the building. A smile stretched through my face as I coded in the numbers for Lancelin’s suite. He had given me the codes the next morning before I left to go home and change my clothes so my mother didn’t get suspicious.
“Not many people have this code.” He had told me as he got ready for the day.
I had watched him button up his suit jacket and been a little disappointed that he had come out of his bathroom fully clothed in a shirt and dress pants. Acelin had left late last night and Lancelin had insisted on sleeping in the guestroom instead. For a s*x demon, he sure was showing phenomenal restraint.
I was snapped out of my thoughts as the elevator doors opened. Stepping out, I went straight to Lancelin’s door and punched in the code.
But nothing could’ve prepared me for the scene that greeted me as the doors opened.
Lancelin was standing right in the middle of the living room; his form clad in a white bathrobe against the backdrop of a night-bright New York City…and plastered to his form with her arms wrapped around him was none other than Asmara Milano.
- Writer
