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He looked over at Camila. “Take my current situation. I’ve just had sex with a gorgeous Succubus. She’s… sleeping off her meal. In the human world, I just entered the CEO’s office for a meeting and now I have to leave it with her asleep on the couch. How do I explain that if someone asks? I don’t know if Felix is human or not. What would I say to him? I’m no good at lying or quickly coming up with plausible excuses.”
Sigrid gave Stanley a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry, Stanley. Normally this wouldn’t happen and you wouldn’t be put on the spot like this. Camila should have waited for a more appropriate time and place. I’m afraid she’s becoming addicted to the energy you can provide. This led to some obviously poor judgement. I understand Marisa had a little lapse of her own recently. I think it’s a Succubus thing. Due to their nature, your being a Satyr brings out the hedonist in them.” Seeing Stanley’s unhappy expression, she hastened to address his next fear. “It’s not just the energy you give them that attracts them to you. They genuinely like you. We all do. You’re pretty important to us… in many ways.”
Stanley saw Sigrid’s face heat up. Her hands were clasped together tightly in her lap.
“It’s my turn to ask you what’s wrong,” he said.
“It’s nothing.”
“No, it can’t be if it can make a Valkyrie uncomfortable,” he stated, holding her eye.
She felt a little zing pass through her when he said ‘Valkyrie’ with awe in his voice.
“I feel terribly selfish mentioning it now,” she said with a glance over at Camila.Nôvel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.
He looked at Camila as well then took in Sigrid’s blush. “Oh. OH!”
“I was wondering if you were feeling better maybe you’d like to come over to my place for dinner and a movie,” she blurted in a rush.
“And a little love making, Valkyrie style,” he thought. She looked so very cute with her pink cheeks. His admiration must have shown on his face as her blush got deeper.
“What!?!” she squeaked in her tension.
“Sorry, you just look so sweet!” he said with a smile of his own. “I’d love to come to dinner. How about tomorrow night?”
She was completely flustered when he said she looked sweet and all she could do was nod.
“Now, what do we do about leaving with Camila asleep?” he asked.
“You don’t have to worry about Felix. He’s one of us. I’m not going to tell you anything more about him as it’s personal. You should learn that most important fact. We don’t talk about our true selves as it’s a safer habit to develop,” she explained.
He nodded and stood up. “Thank you, Sigrid. As usual your grace and compassion have soothed my worried mind,” he sighed.
She grinned at him and shook her head. “Such a charmer!”
He looked at her in surprise then grinned self-consciously.
They left the office, closing the door behind them quietly. Sigrid whispered something to Felix who just smiled and nodded.
Stanley caught himself considering Felix who just returned his look curiously. Stanley blushed and smiled at the man as he left.
He made his way back to his office and studiously avoided Marisa’s knowing look as he opened his door. Three new servers were sitting there waiting for his attention. He smiled and rubbed his hands together.
It was going to be a good day! It was time to get to work.
Hours later something was trying to distract him.
“Stanley!”
He looked up and blinked towards his doorway. He’d been code spelunking in some trend analysis software for Mr. Constantin who was in charge of a team of Asset Managers. He’d heard from Marisa that Stanley had ‘mad programming skills’ so he’d come to Stanley to ask if he could look for a mistake in the code that occasionally skewed the figures for longer term investments.
Marisa was standing in the doorway with a concerned look on her face.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I’ve been calling you for a few minutes!” she pouted.
“Sorry, this code is really complex. I got lost in it,” he explained and rubbed his eyes. “What time is it?”
“It’s after 6PM! Time to call it a day.”
“Right, right. Ok, thanks!” he sighed and made a note of the line of code he was on. He’d get back to it in the morning. He looked at the three servers humming happily behind him. He ran through the shutdown routine on all three until they were quiet. He’d get them moved to the server room tomorrow as well.
He locked his office, shouldered his computer bag and smiled at Marisa as she packed up to go home herself. “It’s going to feel odd being home alone after your visit,” he said with a wistful smile.
She looked at him with concern. “Do you need me to stay over tonight?”
He shook his head and grinned self-consciously. “No, I’ll be fine. I have to get used to taking care of myself. It’s part of growing up, right?”
She smiled at him and nodded.
They took the elevator down together and he saw something was missing. “Where’s your suitcase?”
“I’m going out for drinks with Siobhan tonight. I’ll bring the suitcase home tomorrow,” she explained.
He nodded. “You and Siobhan had a little fun with me this morning.”
Marisa giggled and grinned at him as she nodded.
“There will be payback. I’m not sure how or when but I will have my revenge,” he said holding her eyes with his as he raised one eyebrow to show he meant business.
Showing how seriously she took him she giggled harder.
They met Siobhan in the lobby and Stanley pointed to his eyes and back at hers to let her know he was keeping his eyes on her. She burst into giggles too and the two ladies left arm in arm, out to enjoy their night, have a drink or two, and possibly dash some dreams.
He snorted as he watched them leave. He knew he was just kidding himself. There was no way he’d be able to get revenge on them for their teasing. Smiling to himself he headed outside and thought about what he’d do tonight.
He remembered the party this weekend and the movie he had to pick up. He recalled a shop on his way to the train where he could get that. He’d pick up a few bottles of that wine they liked too.
The night was pleasantly warm and he was feeling much better so he enjoyed the walk.
The shop had a huge selection of electronics as well as DVD’s so he wandered through the store looking at the big TV’s. One looked like the one in Sandy’s place. There were so many different models and sizes. There’d been no TV in the cottage when he grew up. There was no electricity. He certainly saw TV’s when they went into the city but he’d never really shown any interest in them. He had his books.
He stopped and just absorbed the barrage of information beaming at him from the wall and the shelves on both sides of him. He didn’t have a TV in his condo and wondered if he should get one. He had his computer and could watch videos on its screen if he wanted to but… he really wasn’t interested. He smiled as he realized he was content without one.
“Hey there! Aren’t these amazing? Are you looking to pick up a TV today?” a man said from just over his shoulder. Stanley turned to look at him and saw the name tag from the store.
“No.”
“Not today?” the man said with a grin.
“No, I’m not going to have one of these in my home,” he clarified.
The salesman immediately lost interest in the weirdo and moved on.
Stanley watched him walk away then made his way over to the movies. He had to get help to find where they kept the classics but he left the store with the DVD he was after. The wine shop was just a few doors from the entrance to the train so he tucked his purchase into his shoulder bag and continued walking. The streets were busy with other shoppers and people just enjoying a stroll.
The wine shop was fairly quiet with only two other customers who were heading to the checkout as he came in. On the way to the back where the good stuff was kept he spotted and added one of those padded carrying bags to his cart as it would keep the bottles from clinking as he walked. He didn’t want to advertise to the winos that he was ready to party.
He decided he’d get three bottles this time. It was a little extravagant but the last party he’d attended hadn’t ended so well so he wanted to make it up to them.
Stanley paid for the wine, wincing at the price, and put the bottles into the padded bag. As he stepped out of the shop he noticed a white utility van parked in front of the shop. Its side door was open.
He felt a mighty shove and dropped the padded bag as he tumbled forward into the side door of the van. Rough hands grabbed him and his bag and tossed him the rest of the way in to hit the far wall. Whoever had pushed him followed him inside and slammed the rolling side door closed. The van immediately surged away from the curb.
Stanley’s head spun from the impact on the wall. He felt something sting the side of his throat and the world shifted sideways as his spinning senses dropped him into a deep dark pit. He was out before he could even get a look at his attackers.