Temptation, Part 2

Jesse pried his eyes open as the sun came in the window at entirely the wrong angle for sunrise. It was also entirely the wrong window. And the wrong bed.

Oh, right.

He floundered around for his boxers, but they were nowhere to be found. Memories returned as he looked around the luxurious hotel room. Plenty of space for them to go missing. Along with the rest of his clothes, presumably. He settled for wrapping a sheet around his waist, stood up, and began his desperate foraging for coffee.

So. That happened. He still seemed to have all his parts, his life force seemed intact, and as best he could tell he was still sane. The succubus must have been holding back. Just like she'd said she would. Weird. What was the world coming to that you could trust a random succubus not to murder you?

Of course, she was gone now. That was the way of such creatures. She said she'd just been passing through. Hadn't even wanted to give her name.

“Meridia,” came a voice from the front entrance. Shortly after came the aroma of rich coffee and fresh donuts. They said you should never fall in love with a succubus. Jesse came pretty close right about then.

“Telepathy?” Jesse asked. He was trying to look casual while nearly jogging to grab the coffee from the tray in her hand. “I thought you were holding back.”

“There's only so much I can do dear,” Meridia said. This morning she wasn't wearing slinky, just jeans and a faded T-shirt that could well have been from the original Woodstock. Of course, she made it look good. “Not and have any fun at all, that is. It's just temporary. Subtle and short-distance. Nothing to worry about.”

Jesse couldn't say he liked the idea of a succubus being able to poke around the head of a trained magus. But that's what the training was about, right? Mental discipline. Think of music, or baseball scores, or Middle Eastern conflict or something.

“I'm not interested in your secrets, love,” Meridia said. She sat down at the kitchen bar, crossed one leg over the other, and somehow managed to bite into a donut in an entirely inappropriate way. “But could you at least think of something less boring?”