Her Soul to Take (Erotic Urban Fantasy) - Chapter 1

Anon - An Imp Does A Favor

Anon, a luxi imp, hadn’t planned on scouting for souls when he agreed to a favor for his housemate. He’d put in an honest night’s work at the brothel he called home for the past century. He was overextended and his body had cycled through more energy and fluids than it was really capable of.

Like any brothel worth its reputation, the Mansion was busy at night but mostly lifeless during the day. The sun’s warmth and light hardly pierced the quiet but luxurious gloom of the house’s top left wing corridor where Anon lay fitfully in a pained, semi-conscious state.

The housemate, an imp he didn’t particularly like and definitely didn’t trust, announced her presence at his door on a bright Friday afternoon while he was dozing. He’d come up out of a deep sleep only an hour before, and was still appalled that he kept slipping into a light slumber. He hadn’t needed real sleep in centuries and hadn’t dozed in decades.

The gula’s name was Thenia and she stood hunched outside his door as if cold or in pain while the Steward wailed, rattled and generally disturbed the peace until the luxi imp within finally woke up with a roar of irritation she could hear from her side of the door.

“That will do Steward, you may go.” Her voice was raspy and low, but the entity heard the command over the ruckus it was causing. Though invisible and mostly intangible, Thenia felt the cool glide of the Steward’s presence do an icy dance across her skin before it silently streamed down the hallway amid a clatter of rattling doors and tinkling chandeliers.

The door in front of her swung open to reveal a fair skinned young man with a creamy complexion, dark eyes and jet black hair shaved close to his scalp. His expression was fierce, and though he wasn’t particularly tall, he was stocky enough to carry out the threat promised in his face. His skin was clammy and a sour smell wafted out behind from the room.

“What the he- Thenia?”

He was upset, understandably so in the elder imp’s opinion, so she inched her way into the room with hobbled steps accentuated by a wince she couldn’t hide. She didn’t have the time to worry about downplaying every little vulnerability and she knew he would probably slam the door in her face if he had too much time to think about it.

Anon shut the door, giving Thenia a worried glance she didn’t catch before he slowly went into his bathroom, carefully hiding the dual agony of a slow ache spreading through his bones under skin on fire with over-stimulated nerves. He kept his pace calm, glad that gula’s didn’t actually have the particularly sensitive hearing their fictional vampire counterparts were known for. His heart banged through his chest, worsening when the bathroom door closed on Thenia’s tense profile.

Anon didn’t have to pee, nor did he have morning breath. Only new or abnormally solitary imps even bothered with a toilet because they didn’t have to worry about the burdens of digestion under normal circumstances. He was just scared.

He was in pain, milked so far past his capabilities the night before that he’d almost lost consciousness when the demon did. He’d dragged himself to his room, to his bed and then went to sleep, of all things. He was not used to experiencing pain without pleasure to bind it.

And yet, Thenia looked worse than he felt.

His skin felt cooked and stretched over his bloated insides. Thenia’s looked brittle and sunken. He was stuffed full of the demonic excrement his master Martha and her….friend had shoved into him the night before. Thenia looked empty and hungry. They rode him again and again, bringing forth the energy he’d taken from a mortal, cycling it through him into themselves and pouring in more of their own waste in its place. They rode him until dawn drove them to unconsciousness. He didn’t know what happened between Thenia and her master the night before.

It was the first time he’d been pushed that far and though they’d cooed and grunted and praised him for doing a good job, Thenia’s presence did not bode well. Anon looked at his small bathroom, the huge black tub and sink, the soft blood-red velvet coverings making the candlelight shift and imagined the room could just swallow him in its comforting darkness.

He opened the door instead, resolving to stay in control no matter what came out of Thenia’s mouth. Anon sat on his bed, neglecting the posturing and posing that he would have displayed for any other imp. Anon had no idea why, but Thenia was not remotely interested in him, nor using him to better her position as imps usually did, so showing off his body would be a waste of time. Let’s get this over with.

“So. How can I help the Mansion’s most elder imp today?”

Thenia scowled and rolled her eyes at Anon, surprising him with the casual dismissal of her status.

“I need your help.”

Anon’s mouth gaped a moment before he caught himself and tried - too late - to put a neutral expression on his face.

“Why should I help you?” He was curious about what he could possibly help her with, but Anon was not an enemy nor a crony of Thenia’s. She’d helped or hurt every imp that stayed at the mansion for any length time over the century he’d been there, except him. He sat on the edge of his bed, staring at her, not even pretending to be relaxed. She made him uneasy and all he wanted was for her to leave so he could doze again.

Crap.

He’d fully expected to shut down until later that night when he could expel the massive muck within him into a talisman for a mortal he’d been carefully seducing for almost six months. Doing anything else that required more of him than laying in his bed and staying as still as possible was laughable.

“I need you to go to Jayla’s in Monarch Square and purchase a bag of Indigo Heights coffee for me, 5lbs at least.”

Anon let out a hoarse cackle that made Thenia jump when it it erupted from his chest. He didn’t have time to regret the flare of pain from the sudden movement before the elder imp stood and flopped right back down in a quick, desperate fail that had a sobering effect.

“I do apologize Lady, but I don’t think I can help you as I cannot even access the Navitas right now. Martha and that ira demon did quite a number on me last night. Wrath is even worse than gluttony.”

Thenia pursed her lips and looked at him carefully, before quietly and simply stating, “I know.”

Anon considered her response and, despite the fire he felt every time his flesh rubbed, he jumped up in disbelief when his confusion cleared.

“What! You’re asking me to drive! To the Eastside, with all those cobblestone streets? Like a meatsack mortal? For some coffee? You’re not serious.”

Thenia hadn’t moved once she failed to stand up and Anon only noticed the slight shake of her tiny frame because she had to work to draw a breath.

“Yes, I am. If you were ridden as hard as you say last night, you shouldn’t even be able to walk.” She paused, taking a moment to breathe before continuing. “A trip across town won’t kill you. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for myself.”

Anon barely heard the whispered words amidst the rustle of Thenia’s robe sliding off of her shoulders. She didn’t bother to explain the disturbing web of darkened veins against the pale dryness of her skin. Anon understand instantly why the gula could not get the coffee herself.

Just as Reth had been rode, so had she. Cataluxi was hard to bear, but Catagula was worse. Her master needed to consume blood and Thenia had the bad luck to be of a gula bloodline - a supernatural, decidedly non-human being with a natural affinity for channeling massive energy through the act of consuming. Gluttony and luxury begotten of suffering was the spice of life for Mr. Monroe and he raised hell as only a demon of such things could when he did not wake up to his favorite brew. Anon could see a set of bites, one on Thenia’s wrist and one barely visible on the underside of her other arm. They were black, cauterized looking pits in her flesh surrounded by purpling bruises.

“Who was it? That Mr. Monroe shared you with?” Thenia had been with him for a long time.

He listened to the rasp of her voice between her chapped lips as she recounted a night that was very different and yet very similar to his own. Thenia was almost drained of her own blood before she was forced to gorge on her master and his….friend.

“It doesn’t matter. He’s the one that has my essence. And I have his.”

And there it is. The thing that would drive someone of Thenia’s power and status to ask a lesser imp for help. She was no longer getting all of her essence back during the tithes.

Anon acknowledged the weight of such a secret. Thenia’s body would continue but her essential self would be consumed. It would be Mr. Monroe peeking out if her eyes and his will directing the course of all her ventures. It might bode well, he’d had the patience and control to keep from consuming Thenia for centuries.

She nodded and spoke aloud what he didn’t need to ask.

“Going out into the sun would probably kill me right now. At least until the energy cycles out. If it cycles out.”

“Hmm.”

Read the rest of the chapter on my Subtack, After Glow Hour Erotica, and subscribe for more.