She saw that his dilated pupils made his eyes appear even darker than usual.
“I know this would have hurt you if you were still human. I’m mostly sure it won’t hurt now, but everything with you is an unknown factor. Did your sister say anything about…?”
“She did no’. And I think she would’ve. She’s right whiney at times.”
Lyric knew it was an odd time to start laughing, but he couldn’t help himself. “No. She’s not. Your sister is the furthest thing from whiney. Who are you fooling?”
“Maybe she just does no’ whine so much around you.”
“Maybe. Do you want to talk about Sheridan?”
She didn’t have to give that much thought. A lass fortunate enough to be in that place and moment with that demon shouldn’t be wasting it talking about her twin.
“Forget I brought it up.”
“Gladly.”
“Proceed.”
Something about that made Lyric start laughing again. “If you keep making me laugh, we’re never going to finish what we started.”
“Well, we can no’ have that. I will insist we finish what we started, but I find myself likin’ the beginnin’ and middle as well as the finish.”
Demons are not subject to the Universal Law of not being able to have cake and eat it too. Although the ability to feel physical pleasure, but not physical pain may add to the excruciating boredom reported by so many older demons.
An inability to feel pain precludes empathy because it’s impossible to relate to something completely outside a person’s experience of reality. But Lyric did have a loose understanding of distress and, for whatever it’s worth, found that he didn’t like the idea of Shivaun feeling unhappy. About anything. Ever.
When she began to sense that he was stalling off the big event, she said, “Problem?”
“I don’t like the idea of hurting you.”
“We do no’ know that ‘twill be painful, but even so. Billions of females have survived. ‘Tis like a rite of passage I suppose. Look, demon, I chose you to be the one to deliver me into carnal knowledge. Do ye want the honor or no’?”
What he said was, “I do.” What he was thinking was that, even more than the privilege of being Shivaun’s first lover, was the certainty that he didn’t want it to be somebody else.
“Just do it.” She encouraged.
He nodded. “Fast or slow?”
After nibbling her bottom lip for a couple of seconds, she said, “Fast.”
Before the word had time to travel into space and begin circling the Earth for all eternity, Lyric had pushed in and brought forth a moan from Shivaun that relieved his worries. What he heard was not an expression of pain. It was an expression of desire.
“Ahhhhhh,” she said as if all the mysteries of the universe had suddenly been made crystal clear.
Though he’d begun with a mighty thrust, he withdrew slowly enough to be the sweetest agony before commencing a slow ride of perfect communion. It became evident to both of them that they’d unwittingly embarked on a multifaceted journey of discovery, both of themselves and each other.
Lyric could say honestly that he’d never before experienced perfection. Joining with Shivaun was beyond divine. Every cell in his body was engaged. Every fiber of his essence was humming. Every perception in his reality was being enhanced with a tune up. Every thought was sharper. Every feeling more intense. Every desire more urgent. When satisfaction waxed, intensity waned, then the delectable rhythm would loop and begin again.
When they wordlessly agreed to a respite, they lay side by side holding hands and looking upward at a domed ceiling mural that could have been painted by Michelangelo. With a thought Shivaun turned the ceiling into an open-air sky view, revealing the clusters of lazy moving clouds; some white, some gray, but all gilded with silver edges where the sun’s filtered beauty highlighted their shape.
Lyric thought it might be appropriate to say something. To explain what their coupling was to him, but found himself speechless. Basically; another first. He knew he’d been changed somehow. He could feel it in his mind, in his heart, but had no context for description. A string of questions ran through his mind in pursuit of sorting out his feelings.
Had sex with the female made him softer? Or more appreciative of bougainvillea? Even more interested in her well-being?
He knew female demons were capable of altering reality in ways that few creatures could. Nothing in his memory suggested they could also alter the makeup of their lovers, knowingly or unknowingly, but information on the subject was scarce to