Lily

© 2002 Thistle

David paused outside of Iolanthe's new apartment (having lost her lease on the other one after the kludde wrecked it) and raised a nervous hand to his head, smoothing down any errant blond locks. After all the time they'd spent together lately, he still acted like a nervous little virgin around her. Well, he'd stopped stuttering anyway. And he was starting to discover adjectives other than "nice." "Mind-shattering" was a good one.

He thought about last night, and how he'd gone home from an exhausting day at work to find Iolanthe sprawled along his bed in belly dancer garb. He'd gotten to lay down and have a private viewing of the succubus' wildly popular dance performed every night at Finvarra's Den. And then he received the dance that only he was privy to these days. Iolanthe was truly a wonder-sexually and otherwise. The way she would curl up next to him, head pillowed on his chest while she listened to him talk about his day, gripe about Mark, or anything else on his mind. And afterwards, it felt as if the world had been lifted from his shoulders.

Truly a wonder.

He finally raised a hand and rapped lightly on the door, trying to smooth the goofy grin from his face that he seemed to perpetually wear these days. That grin was a constant source of annoyance to Mark. His mouth was twitching with the effort when the door suddenly opened and a hopeless-looking Iolanthe stood there.

"Iolanthe?" he asked, reaching out to cup her face in one hand. "What happened?"

She chewed on her lip for a long second, then threw herself forward, clutching at his shirt. "Davy! Thank Bacchus you're here! You've got to help me get a friend of mine laid."

His eyes widened as a blush spread across his cheeks. His hand convulsively closed around the bouquet he held. "Er, I'm sorry?"

"I'm desperate here. She's going to dry up and die if she doesn't feed soon, and I'll just feel awful for years-"

"Um, well, ah...I don't know, Io....do you really think um...that, ah, that's a good idea?"

The succubus blinked, looking up at him with puzzlement etched on her pretty features. Then realization spread across her face and she giggled, punching him lightly in the chest with one small fist. "Where's your mind? Never mind, I think I have a pretty good idea. I've really got you corrupted, don't I?"

The blush darkened as he raised his free hand to rub at his cheek, as if trying to rub away the evidence of his embarrassment. "I, um...sometimes I just don't know with you, Io. You've got a pretty warped sense of humor."

She giggled again, then sobered and sighed as she wrapped her arms around him and laid her cheek against his chest. "Oh, Davy...I don't know what to do. She's going to die if she doesn't feed, but-"

"Are you talking about another succubus?" he asked, starting to hug her but fighting with the flowers. "Aw...um...why wouldn't she-"

She pulled back and grabbed his free hand, tugging him inside. "Come on in and meet Lily. You'll understand then."

"Oh, okay...um, here." He handed her the bouquet and smiled. "I know of a florist near work that works with tinting roses and thought of you."

Her face lit up at the sight of the dozen roses, tinted a delicate lavender and wrapped in several shades of violet tissue paper. She buried her nose in one bloom and inhaled, then glanced at him over a petal, golden eyes shining. "No one's ever brought me flowers. No, wait...when I was working at the club, one of my clients brought me a leather rose wrapped in barbed wire." She frowned thoughtfully. "I don't think I'll count that."

Iolanthe pulled him all the way inside the apartment then closed the door. Cradling the roses in the crook of one arm, she slipped the other through one of his and led him out of the small hallway. "Now, she's kind of skittish. I've always been glad you're nothing like your brother, but at this moment I'm positively ecstatic. I know for a fact that if she met Mark, she'd curl up into a protective little ball and we'd never see her again. An innocent succubus is an oxymoron, Davy."

"I bet," he said, trying not to smile.

She jabbed her elbow into his side, giving him a disapproving little frown that quickly melted into a giggle. "Lily? I've got to get some water for my roses. Say hi to David." Then she bounded into the kitchen, leaving him to glance around her place.

Her new apartment was bigger than the last, David noted as they stepped into the living room. High ceiling, wood flooring with several woven carpets (probably lavender or violet knowing Iolanthe) scattered about, large windows-it almost had a studio feel to it. It might have been as some of the inner walls didn't reach to the ceiling, but looked as if they'd been thrown up for privacy's sake. There were paintings on the walls from her old place that Iolanthe had described in embarrassing detail, mostly modern nudes.

What little furniture she had in the living room was centered in the middle: a rounded chaise lounge, two low-backed, overstuffed chairs, a coffee table, and a small endtable. A couple of books lay open on the table, and he knew even without the benefit of sight that they were Iolanthe's favorite reading material: the Kama Sutra and The Joy of Sex. She liked drawing mustaches on the illustrations and writing encouraging little comments in the margins. Not much had changed in the way of decorating for Iolanthe.

However, the succubus sobbing on the chaise was new.

Iolanthe stepped into the kitchen area to find a vase and water for the pretty bouquet Davy had brought her, noting the silence. Lily was probably still crying on the chaise and making the vampire nervous and uncomfortable. Damn that girl! Yes, her life was messed up, but she had a way of making everyone within a 50-foot radius just as miserable as her.

Well, Iolanthe would put a stop to that! She wasn't about to have a traumatized succubus ruining her time with Davy. She would get Lily fed even if it meant tying her up and-

The top of Davy's head would fly clear off if she tried those kind of drastic measures, though. Well, only if he found out...

She shook her head quickly, dropping the roses into a large vase and vowing to arrange them better later. Then she stepped back out into the living room and spotted David watching Lily worriedly. She just knew he was debating on whether or not to go over there and say "There, there" or something equally useless in Lily's case.

Iolanthe stared at Lily, wondering what the hell the Fates had been thinking. Or smoking, rather. Lily looked like the result of a god's sense of humor while high. She was the only succubus Iolanthe knew with that particular coloring. Most of her kind had dark, seductive coloring: reds, purples, blues or black. But Lily-Lily's huge feathered wings were as white as new fallen snow. White as an angel's wings. And her long, thigh-length hair was a pale gold. True, she still had the small twisted horns that all succubi had. It made her look like the bastard offspring of an angel and a demon.

But after that it was hard to see her as a succubus. Her generous breasts were tightly bound beneath a shapeless brown corduroy jumper that nearly reached her ankles and a long-sleeved Oxford shirt (clumsily altered in the back for her wings, of course). She had on a pair of hideous brown tights and an even uglier pair of brown boots. Her face might have been pretty had the skin not been drawn so tightly over the bones. It was sallow as well, and deep dark circles were etched beneath her golden eyes.

Iolanthe let out a deep sigh and looked at David, shrugging. "David, meet Lily."

Lily raised her head and looked at the vampire, a fine tremor beginning to shake her like a leaf in a breeze. She started to glance rapidly between David and Iolanthe, drawing conclusions obvious to even the dimmest observer. Iolanthe slapped her forehead.

"No. Lily. This is my boyfriend," heavy emphasis on the my, "David. We were supposed to go out tonight, or even better stay in."

"Oh dear," Lily said in a voice too high and innocent for a succubus. David started to get an idea of what Iolanthe had meant. "I-I can leave. I'm sorry, Miss Iolanthe, I didn't realize you had plans."

David raised an eyebrow at his girlfriend, mouthing the words, "Miss Iolanthe?"

Iolanthe glared at him. "Lily, quit calling me that. And I can't let you leave until you've eaten, or else I'll have your death on my conscience. Look...okay, fine. So you're scared of men. So your aunt traumatized you for life with a cloistered existence, many willow branch floggings, and hideous clothes. You've got to find some way of getting past all that! I've told you this. I know the Fates are bitches, but you are a succubus, and succubi live off sex!"

Lily let out a loud gasp, her cheeks coloring as her hands flew up to her cheeks in a gesture horribly girlish for a succubus. Then she burst into tears again. Iolanthe threw up her hands in defeat and grabbed hold of David, pulling him into the bedroom and shutting the door.

"What's the matter with her?" he whispered, mindful of the cubicle-like walls.

Iolanthe gave a frustrated snarl as a particularly loud wail sounded from over the top of the wall. "She's a late bloomer, that's what. She was born to human parents who thought they were having a human baby, and those thoughts got into the womb and forced a subconscious glamour on the kid. It happens a lot, y'know... faerie souls quickening in human wombs. Kids grow up thinking they're human because they've got all these people around them telling them they are and the glamour just holds until they hit adolescence. Then it usually fizzles out and drops away, giving the kid a wonderful trauma to deal with. If they're lucky, there's some sort of inhuman around to help them. If not...well, often they've still got some sort of weaker glamour that just keeps the uninitiated from seeing them like they really are...meaning anyone over 7. Little kids always see us for what they are...grown-ups haven't beat the wonder and joy of imagination out of them yet.

"But they can see what they've become. Stronger ones-like Carlie, for instance-get over it pretty quick. They survive. But then you get the extreme cases like Lily in there."

She heaved a huge sigh and dropped down on the bed, a huge wooden four-poster that was at least 4 centuries old. She and Davy had been having a lot of fun in that big old bed of late. He sat down beside her and gently wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Io?"

"Lily's parents were killed when she was very young," she said in a low voice. "Her father was an incubus playing at being human. Sometimes we get weird desires, especially as we get older. But he never let anyone know what he was, including Lily's mother. Otherwise Lily wouldn't have been born cloaked in a thick shell of glamour like she was. But they were killed in a plane crash when Lily was two, and she was sent to live with her great-aunt."

"And her aunt was not a nice woman," David guessed.

"By Bacchus's tight little ass, no! The woman was a bitter old man-hating bitch with a severe Victorian complex. She lived in a dark old house, she wore these awful old-fashioned dresses, she had that bitten lemon look around her mouth-you know the type. But she raised that girl with an iron fist, making her go to school in braids and shapeless smocks and heavy boots. I'm sure the kids pounced on that all her life. She went to school and went straight home every day. Wasn't allowed to socialize with the no-good neighborhood heathens, so she never had any friends. She spent about 90% of her life in that stifling house, listening to her aunt rant and wail about what men did to women. She made sex sound like the greatest and most painful torture in this world."

Iolanthe suddenly dropped her face into her hands, shaking her head slowly. "I-I'm not sure, but I think the old bitch might have been abusing her. We've never been able to get Lily to say, but Aerael seems to think the aunt might have been taking out some of her 'frustrations' out on her niece. She might have demonstrated her idea of what men do to a woman in bed using who knows what as a phallic prop. But she flinches when men or women touch her, else we might have been able to teach her an alternate feeding route, you know? But nothing's working."

She fell back onto the bed, folding her arms over her stomach and staring at the ceiling. Sighing, she went on. "I know what her problem is. Her aunt was still abusing her after the glamour dropped. And when that happened, Lily started picking up on the old bitch's lust. And now she equates the energy she picks up in general with that tainted energy, so she just shuts herself in and won't feed. It's like never eating meat again because you once bit into a hamburger full of maggots."

David's lip curled at the imagery. "It would be enough to turn me into a vegetarian."

"Yeah, well-we don't have the equivalency of a vegetarian diet, Davy. It's good old-fashioned 'Screw me, baby!' lust or nothing. For a succubus to have such a trauma, it's a death sentence."

She rolled over onto her stomach and laid her chin on folded arms, staring quietly out a large window at the lights of Manhattan. After a moment, Davy slid up beside her, unfolding one large, leathery wing across her feathered one. Together they sat staring out at the city's night, reflecting on the doomed creature in the next room.

"We even tried taking her down to Finvarra's Den," Iolanthe finally said, glancing at her lover out the corner of her eye. "We thought, well...perhaps she can feed off secondhand lust. Something that isn't directed at her specifically. She wouldn't even try, Davy. The high sexual atmosphere of the place had her scared to death. She just sat there shaking and finally burst into hysterical tears."

She heaved a large sigh, thumping the bed with one fist. "Lily refuses to accept what she is because she feels she is a composition of everything her aunt taught her to fear and hate. Technically, that's true. But her aunt taught her the wrong things. And we can't make her believe that."

"Maybe she should see a psychiatrist or something," David said, reaching out to touch her hand. "It sounds like she needs professional help working through these problems."

"This would take years of therapy, and she doesn't have years. She barely has a week. You saw her, Davy. She's starving to death out there, all because some bitch didn't want her beautiful young niece to have the happiness she never did."

Iolanthe pushed herself up onto her elbows and looked down at David thoughtfully through heavy-lidded eyes. He looked back a trifle warily, knowing some of the odd moods the succubus got.

"I had a thought," she said finally. "Too much lust is so selfish and cruel...it's why we're considered dark fae, because we live on such stuff. But a lust like yours, while passionate, is based on a sweet, caring love. If only we could find someone to feel about her how you feel about me...a sweet energy that tastes nothing like the bitter, tainted lust of predators."

"So you need to find her some sweet little virgin and hope for love at first sight?"

"Something like that." She grinned at him. "Shame I've already ruined you."

He leaned forward and claimed her mouth in a brief, heated kiss that left her moaning when he pulled back. "Lily doesn't seem like my type. She's a little too..."

"Wounded dove?"

"Something like that. So where are you going to find another virgin?"

Iolanthe groaned and dropped her head. "I have no idea." She got up off the bed and leaned down, pressing a soft kiss on his lips and pulling back. "Umm... could you stay here for a moment? I'll be right back."

She darted out of the bedroom and closed the door behind her, then dashed to the chaise lounge where Lily was just starting to pull herself together and grabbed the angelic succubus' shoulders.

"Lily, I want you to do something," she murmured in as low a voice as she could manage. "I want you to just be receptive, okay?"

Lily's eyes widened in horror as she began drawing conclusions again. "Miss Iolanthe, I can't-I can't-"

Iolanthe shushed her with a finger to her lips. "I know you don't like the idea of sex. Your aunt has you so scared of it, and I don't blame you for being sick at the very idea of it. And I've had some really bad ideas lately trying to get you to eat. I wasn't very sympathetic to your emotional state, and I apologize for that. I messed up."

"Miss Iolanthe-"

"But I just want you to open up here, okay? No one's going to touch you, you don't have to see any lewd, disgusting acts...hell, you don't even have to listen, if you don't want. But there are several variances on lust, sweetie, and I want you to try another type. Something sweeter. So why don't you just lay down and relax, cry a little more if you want, but just open up and taste it. If you don't like it, just close right back up like you've always done. Okay?"

Lily's face twisted at the thought of it. "You mean you're going to be in there doing-you're going to-"

"I'm gonna go make love with my boyfriend. I want you to sample the kind of lust a person feels when in love. I know it seems impossible to think anyone could be capable of tender feelings, not after Aunt Portia, but-just sit here and try not to keep your metaphorical mouth shut."

"I-"

"Lily, don't argue. Just do it. If you can't just sit there and feel a bit of energy, then I agree with every other lust fae in this city: you're hopeless."

Lily's wings drooped further at the chastising, and she folded her hands tightly in her lap, staring at them as if the answers to the universe lay within their grasp. "All right, Miss Iolanthe. I'll sit here. But-how can you stand to let a man do that horrible thing to you? And how can you call it love?"

Iolanthe sighed and ran a hand over Lily's golden locks, forcing down a surge of anger as the girl flinched at the touch. "Lily, someday I hope you'll learn what it's like to enjoy being touched. You might never be a true succubus, but we'll find some way getting you to live. Someday you'll learn about the differences between rape and sex, and that they are two separate things. And for your sake, I hope it's soon. Now just lay down and try to relax while I go and make Davy's night."

Lily curled up on the chaise lounge, wrapping one wing around herself and burying her cheek in the soft round ivory pillow. She looked like a broken child curled there. Iolanthe pouted her lips thoughtfully, then wandered over to the bookcase and picked up a floppy, purple chenille teddy bear. She then went back to the chaise and handed it to Lily, grinning.

"Here. Cuddling with Snookie always makes me feel better."

Lily hesitantly took the bear, then smiled shyly and enfolded the stuffed animal in her arms. "Thank you, Miss Iolanthe."

Iolanthe smiled and went back into the bedroom, closing the door and leaning against it as she hungrily drank in the sight of the wary vampire still lying on her bed.

"Io," Davy said, eyeing her suspiciously as she started to tug down the knit tube top she wore. Her breasts sprung free and gave a couple of groin-tightening bounces. She pulled it over her hips, down her long legs, and finally kicked it free. Then her hands went to the snap of the hotpants, and soon the scant denim was flying into the corner of the room to join the crumpled top. "Um...what are you doing?"

She looked at him and giggled. "Come on, Davy. If you don' t know after the times we've been having lately..."

"I know what you're doing, but isn't-what about-oh man." He watched her sashay across the room in nothing but a violet lace G-string and swallowed heavily. "That's not fair."

She crawled up onto the bed and curled against him, running a finger along his cheek. Her playful demeanor suddenly turned serious. "Forget about Lily." She turned pleading eyes to him. "Please, just love me?"

"Iolanthe-"

"I really need you tonight, David." She pressed her mouth to his, her tongue flicking between his lips as her small hands roamed over his chest, plucking at his shirt. This time the garment actually retained its buttons as she carefully unfastened them, then pulled him onto his knees to get the shirt off completely.

In all of her life, Iolanthe had never bedded anyone with any other intention but bedding them and feeding. But affection had never been offered, and never truly given except as a game. And then David had come along, awakening a desire for closeness that many of her kind considered disturbing and offensive. Tonight the urge for the vampire's tenderness was stronger, and it surprised her to find that it wasn't because of Lily's desperate need. It was for her own. The angelic succubus' pathetic past had made her consider her own existence to this point.

She had been born into court life at first, her mother at the time of her birth indulging herself under King Oberon's patronage. Her first lover had been the Puck, whose interest in the succubus barely of age had had been casual and brief. And from court she'd gone to the wicked charms of Jenolar and the dark, dangerous lusts of humans desperate for her painful approval. Sex had been a game as it was to all incubi/succubi. She had heard of making love and thought it only another type of game to play with a partner.

Just like Lily, it had never occurred to her that this odd little emotion could have any sort of truth behind it.

And then she'd met David at a party, and, intrigued by his untouched state had made more than a bit of a fool of herself. But a male virgin not interested in losing that stigma of a status? Fascinating! It aroused her curiosity for once and made her want to (gasp!) talk. And in talking she found herself connecting with another being on a level other than sexual. She found herself genuinely liking him and wanting to see more of him-and not sexually, either! Well, that was there, but for the first time in her short life, sex wasn't her foremost reason.

But when they'd gotten around to sex, it had been wild and frantic. It had been, well, sex. Tonight, however, she wanted something a little more. Something slower, tender-loving.

And she didn't have a clue as to how to go about it.
Where was a romance novel when you needed one?

"Io, are you feeling all right?" David asked gently as she fought with his pants. She glanced up at him from under long lashes, smiling shyly.

"I don't know...I just want it slow and gentle for once." She finally got the stubborn pants unbuttoned and worked them down his hips. He suddenly found himself flat on his back again as she yanked them off and threw them in the corner. "Sorry, those things were ticking me off."

He laughed as she pressed herself against him, her breasts rubbing against his bare chest. She rubbed her lips along the line of his jaw, then brushed her mouth against his lightly-once, twice-before he rolled her over and claimed her mouth in a sweet, deep kiss, groaning as her hands rubbed along his sides and back in caressing little circles. They swept upwards to rub around the base of his wings gently, and she smiled as he broke away with a shuddering gasp.

"Iolanthe," he said softly, brushing his hands over her forehead, his thumbs rubbing around the base of her tiny, twisted horns. "I don't think I've ever seen you so serious while seducing me. You've always been so playful."

She decided not to answer since there wasn't an actual question, and ran her hands between them, fingers plucking nimbly over his flat nipples as she raised her mouth to his once more, tongue slipping between his lips in a teasing play. David responded in kind to her questing tongue as he swept one hand over her chest, then drew it back upwards, gently stroking her breast until the nipple peaked against his palm.

He laid a kiss against her chin, then slowly worked his way downwards, worshipping her with every touch and flick of his tongue against her pale flesh. He paid homage to the glorious peaks until she whimpered and clutched at him, hands wrapping in his blond locks. He smiled against the mound of her breast, then moved further down, nipping at her small belly. His mouth moved on, passing the juncture of her thighs to nibble on the smooth, muscled flesh of her inner leg. He paused to strip away the G-string, then rolled her over onto her stomach and flicked his tongue over the sensitive skin at the back of her knee.

Iolanthe gasped, grabbing hold of the pillow at the head of the bed and instinctively pulling away from the ticklish wet touch. He just grinned and pushed himself upwards, nipping at her rounded buttocks and licking up the length of her back. As he settled himself atop her, hands rubbing against the base of her wings, he nuzzled the hair away from her neck and placed light kisses there, murmuring, "God, I love you."

She managed to turn onto her back beneath his, her wings curling up around the two of them from the pressure she was placing on them. "Oh, Davy...I love you, too. My mother would kill me to hear me say it, as would almost every other incubus and succubus in the city, but gods, I love you."

She smoothed a hand down his chest until her palm slid against the silky, hard length of him, smiling shyly as his breath hissed between his teeth. She loved the way he looked when aroused. His face lost much of its boyish cuteness, settling into stronger lines that said, "I. Am. Male." But his touch didn't match the possessive expression-it was gentler, sweeter.

On a whim, she tasted the energy of his desire and had to fight to keep from gorging herself on the delectable taste of it. It really was such a different taste from the lusts of those after only their own gratification. If Lily were wasting it, she would kick that girl's ass from one end of New York to the other.

She felt him ease a hand between her thighs, cupping the wet heat of her arousal briefly before slipping one finger deep within her, eliciting a pleased little moan. He found the small nub hidden between her folds and rubbed his thumb over it in maddening little circles while stroking her. She squirmed at his attentions and began stroking him in return, hoping to speed along the indisputable conclusion to these precious touches.

He gritted his teeth, holding himself in check. "Io, if you keep doing that, I won't be able to-"

"What's your point?" she gasped, gently closing her hands around him. "Davy, I'm going out of my head here! It's not nice to tease the horny succubus who will take it out on you later if you're not careful."

David chuckled lightly, slipping another finger inside of her and flexing them. Her head pressed back against the pillow, her breath coming in short little pants as she glared at him through lowered lids. He bent his head and nipped one budded nipple sharply, grinning.
"Promise?" he asked silkily.

"Da-a-vy!"

He moved his hand reluctantly and positioned himself between her legs, rubbing himself against her until she clutched his hips and raised hers, trying to hurry him. "Who taught you to tease like this?"

"A certain-ah!-pastel succubus who will remain nameless," he groaned as she wrapped her long legs around his hips, surging upwards. "Gods, Io...all right!"

He wrapped one arm around her, the other bracing him against the bed as he slowly pushed into her, his body rigid with the effort not to just thrust wildly. Slow, slow...he wanted to make his slow and good. Not that fast and good wasn't just as, um, nice. Damn, there was that word again.

He worked his way fully inside of her and looked down at the sweet girl's face, loving the flush across her cheeks-evidence of her pleasure. It gave him such a thrill to cause that cute little rush of blood...he couldn't truly see it, but his vampire nature told him it was there. Sensing that flush and knowing he was the cause...it pleased him on a very masculine level. But it also pleased him to know he was pleasing her.

He started moving within her with slowly, the maddening strokes mirrored as he lowered his mouth to hers and began a plundering primal rhythm with his tongue. She whimpered against him and wrapped her arms around his neck, moving with him, meeting him thrust for thrust as something tightened inside of her. The skin across her cheeks and breasts tingled with her growing climax, her breath coming in whimpering little pants as the feeling tightened...tightened...

She threw back her head and cried out as it exploded within her, leaving hyperspeed trails across the backs of her eyelids. Her thighs squeezed around his hips with the force of her climax, drawing him deeper inside of her as she clamped around him. He groaned at the rhythmic pressure around him and arched against her, coming with a loud, euphoric shout.

They stayed like that for a long moment, her legs around his hips and him still deep within her, both panting from their efforts. Finally, she let go of his shoulder with one hand and stroked his hair back away from his forehead, then licked the salty, well-earned sweat from her palm.

"Boy, you got the hang of this really quickly," she finally said, letting her legs fall akimbo onto the bed. It was the only compliment her poor blown mind could come up with.

David grinned and settled down next to her, pillowing his head against her breasts. "I had a very thorough teacher."

"Really? I just figured they put the Kama Sutra on audio tape." She squealed and giggled as he slapped her belly lightly. "All right, all right...I'm just kinda giddy right now."

"Uh-huh," he murmured sleepily. They fell quiet for a long moment, then David said, "Um, Io?"

"Hmm?"

"Your mother doesn't approve of me?"

She made a rude little noise and yawned. "Mom's a skank."

"Iolanthe!"

"She is! Self-admitted! It's a term of pride among most of our kind. We weren't born for monogamy and settling down is a freakish dishonor. The hardcore incubi/succubi actually consider it a madness, really." She yawned again, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and curling a wing over him. "Screw them. They don't know what they're missing."

"Mmm."

She watched his face settle into the lines of the unconscious and sighed happily, reveling in the rosy glow of contentment as she watched her lover sleep. So this was what being loved was like. The others were the mad ones to pass up this feeling. Iolanthe wrapped her other arm around his head, cradling him to her breast as she drifted off, a sweet, blissful little smile on her lips.
Mad, indeed.

*** *** *** ***

Iolanthe slowly woke from a sound sleep. David was still asleep lying on his stomach with one bat wing stretched over her back. Damn, he was cute when out like a light. That perpetually worried look on his face smoothed out when he was sleeping, making him look just like a little kid.

Oh great. And that didn't make her feel like a pervert. She raised up on one elbow and peered blearily at the blue glowing numbers on the nightstand clock: 3:00 in the morning. What had woken her up?

Then she remembered leaving Lily on the chaise lounge. Groaning, she regretfully slid out from under Davy's wingéd embrace and padded quietly out of the bedroom.

The white-winged girl was still curled up where Iolanthe had left her, hugging Snookie to her bound-down chest and wearing a quiet little smile. Iolanthe turned on the stand lamp beside the lounge, studying the succubus' face. Even in that weak light, she could see that the dark circles had lessened and Lily's face wasn't quite as gaunt as it had been hours earlier.

Iolanthe smiled and went back to the bedroom, returning a few moments later with a lavender chenille throw that she laid over the sleeping girl. Then she went back to bed and snuggled under David's wing again, sighing happily as she drifted back off to sleep herself.

It was a start.