That night, I don't sleep well.

I felt so alone after making her come.

I wanted to be closer to her, and laying there by myself — without her in my bed — just... magnified every inch of distance between the two of us.

When did that happen? When did this become more than sex?

I don't know if she feels the same way. She can't.

Oh god, she can't.

This is about just sex to her.

We've never been on a date. Date nights are for her husband. Because she's married.

To a man.

And she has a respectable life.

One she's not gonna throw away for you.

Way to fuck up, Kam.

Not like I can leave her, though. I'm not doing that. I just have to be better than I am.

And providence must be shining on me because Officer Lindsey knocks on my door. "I need your help," she says. I resist the urge to say "fuck off" and slam the door in her face on principle.

I listen to her.

"Desdemona," Officer Lindsey says, and I politely inhale a breath through my nose and out through my mouth.

They gave us "rage control techniques" to help us "better blend into society". I control my rage at her saying the name of that bitch.

"What about her? I'm done wi—"

"She's getting out."

It's been the better part of a decade. I don't need to think about the woman who brainwashed me into her thrall and used me as a weapon. I don't want to imagine a world in which she's free.

"How?" My voice isn't strong. I'm back a decade ago, hooked on her lies and her control. Weak. Helpless.

It was always like that with her, even when it started. I didn't want to be summoned here. I was happy. Content.

I had a partner before I got here.

But I couldn't go back, and the world wanted to kill me. Desdemona didn't get me with magical mind control powers.

She offered me safety and love.

By the time I did end up under her thrall, properly brainwashed, it was as much about not having any place to go as it was about giving up.

I'd done so much wrong that nobody could ever forgive me. I was damned, so why not be damnable? Why not bloody the noses of the humans who made me this way?

"She's up for parole," Lindsey says with a mirthless laugh. "Model inmate. Rehabilitated for the better."

"So you just came here as a courtesy?"

"No. I came here because I thought you might want to attend. To speak against her."

"I already spoke at the trial, isn't that—"

"I know about Tiana."

I shrug. "What about her?"

Rule number one: cops lie.

"That you're doing something to her," Lindsey says.

Rule number two: all the time.

I continue to breathe normally.

Which means rule three: shut the fuck up. Glad I didn't invite her in.

Vampires and cops.

Not that vamps are real.

After a long beat of silence where I just stare, Officer Lindsey rummages in her pocket. The movement's sudden... like she's hoping I'll react poorly, and she'll have pretext to cuff me.

Bullets don't take gals like me down, otherwise I'm guessing the tone of this visit would've been... altered.

She fishes out a card and hands it to me. "In case you want more details on how you can be an upstanding, uh... 'person'."

I take it in my hand and resist the urge to rip it in two right there. Officer Lindsey's a bitch and a cop, but she's right about Desdemona.

I don't want her in this world.

I look it up online. They do that kind've thing with parole hearings.

I'm not gonna go through her, though.

K: Desdemona's getting out.
T: WHAT?
K: Parole.
T: oh my god.
K: Yeah. Lindsey stopped by.
T: She did?
K: I think she thinks something is going on between us.
T: Something is! 🤭
T: Last night was... I've never felt that good.

I stare at the text messages. This is what I am to her. I'm here to fuck her in all the ways her husband can't. Not for anything else.

I'm not her soulmate. I'm not her girlfriend. We fuck, and that's it.

That means no advice.

K: Come over tonight.

When she knocks on my door, I barely take a look at the lingerie she has under her trenchcoat. She's not making any pretenses. We're not re-living old memories tonight.

Tonight she's mine to do with as I please.

I take her hard against the wall before I bring her inside me.

This is all I have.

This is what I'm good for, so I make the most of it.

When I cum, I don't let my Decay anywhere near her. It stains my sheets dark violet, and I see the way that Tiana stares at it. She wants it inside her.

If it didn't hurt so much, I'd let her.

But this is just sex.

Nothing else.

Not for her.