The closet is almost as big as the bedroom and looks like something you’d see on TV in a rich person’s house. There’s a padded bench in the middle—drawers, shelves, and racks galore—and several kinds of lighting options. Cecile goes for a brighter light setting and directs me to sit on the bench seat.
While she sorts through a rack of dresses, I fumble for something—anything—to say. I can’t think of a thing. I’ve never been good at being a girl. Cecile glances over her shoulder with a smirk, as if she knows what I’m thinking. She pulls down a green, a blue, and a pink dress from the rack and tosses them beside me. “Okay, honey, level with me,” she says as she continues to hum and haw through dress after dress. “I know you’re downplaying the looks on purpose. You do everything you can to hide from the world. Why, when you are so gorgeous with that shiny straight hair and that hourglass figure?”
She brings over a ruby red dress and snaps her fingers as if she wants me to stand.
“I just don’t like attention,” I say, rising to my feet. “I get too much of it.”
She sighs wistfully as she holds the dress up to me, then spins me around and holds it up to my back. “Is there such a thing as too much attention?”
“When you aren’t strong enough to defend yourself?” I ask, voice hard. “Yeah.”
She turns me back around, dress forgotten, and stares deep into my eyes as if trying to peel back every layer I have and figure me out all the way to my soul. I decide to save her the trouble. “There’s something…off about me. I’m cursed. I draw men to me. The stronger their attraction, the more they tend to lose their sense of reason. And they generally don’t take no for an answer. I’ve had admirers, stalkers, and abusers my entire life. I don’t know what it is, but I know I’m not imagining it.”
Cecile takes a step back and smiles softly as she looks me over again from top to bottom. She shakes her head. “No, you aren’t imagining it,” she says quietly. “I, myself, am quite taken with you. Not in a sexual way, but I find myself curious, and pleasantly drawn to you. It’s very similar to the allure we succubi and the incubi have on our prey, though we choose when to send out that allure, so to speak.”
My eyes pop wide open. “You can control it?”
“Of course, dear.” She grins and lifts the green dress. “I think this one.”
She points to a privacy screen, and I know that’s my cue to try the dress on. She explains a little about her kind as I move behind the screen and begin to undress. “We lust demons feed off of sexual energy. In order to do that, we must have control of our pheromones so that we can naturally attract our prey. The more pheromones we push into the atmosphere around us, the more anyone in the vicinity will react to us. Like you spoke of, the more natural attraction one might have to myself or others of my kind, the easier they’ll succumb to our charms. However, we do always give off a little more pheromones than any non-lust demon, so we do usually have a little of that natural allure that you speak of. I must admit, though, Nora, darling, you have almost zero reaction to it. You are the least lustful person I’ve ever met.”
I pull the dress up over my hips. It has spaghetti straps and is low cut, tight through the waist but loosening into a small flair at the hips, reaching mid thighs. It’s actually a cute dress that I might like if I didn’t know it would make everyone in the room stop and stare at me.
“It’s actually quite refreshing,” she continues. “I do believe that’s what originally piqued my interest about you.” She chuckles at the memory. “I am not often turned down by anyone once I’ve set my sights on them—male or female.”
“Well, don’t be offended. After what I’ve been through, I have a hard time with anything sexual.”
“Hmm… I suppose you have a point. I’m sorry your sexual experiences have all been so negative. It really can be a wonderful act.”
I’m sure it’s supposed to be, but I don’t think I’ll ever be ready to experience sex the way most do. I’m pretty sure I’m broken. I zip the dress up on the side and am surprised at how well it fits. The green looks great with my dark hair and fair skin tone. Cecile knows her stuff, I’ll give her that.
I walk out from behind the privacy screen slowly, feeling self-conscious since I’m never so exposed. Cecile gasps softly and smiles. “You are positively stunning.” After a moment’s perusal, though, her face falls into a concerned frown. “I see what you mean about attracting attention. You will have someone with you at this party, right? Someone who can protect you?”
I nod. “Nick Gorgeous will be with me. We’re working undercover together tonight, trying to find the missing underworlders.”
“Mmm.” Cecile has her eyes closed, and the moan she’s making is causing me to blush. “Now that man is something else.”
“Do you know what he is?” I ask.
Cecile opens her eyes and focuses her gaze on me. There’s a twinkle in her eyes that makes her look more playful than I’ve ever seen her. “He hasn’t told you what he is?”
“No. And I can’t figure out if it’s polite to ask underworlders what species they are or not, but I’m thinking it’s probably rude.”
Cecile chuckles and heads to a wall of shoes. “No heels,” I say quickly. “I can’t walk in them. Something flat. Please.”
She picks up a pair of flat, strappy green sandals and winks at me as she hands them over. “It is considered rude to ask an underworlder’s species if you can’t naturally tell. And if Gorgeous hasn’t shared that information with you, then it’s not my place to tell you. But rest assured, little darling, he is a magnificent creature, and you are safe with him.” Her face is overcome with lust again, and she adds, “He’s magnificent in every way, Nora. If you ever get the opportunity, I do hope you find the courage to give him a go. He’ll change your mind about sex. I promise.”
I choke on a laugh. “You and Nick?”
Her grin is 100 percent seductress. “Every decade or so. I don’t even feed from him. I simply take him for pleasure. His kind are irresistible to mine.”
“And to Ren?” I ask, remembering the charming incubi I met at the Agency who seemed hopelessly in love with Nick.
Cecile laughs a light, tinkling laugh. “Yes, and to Ren’s kind, too, the poor man. Gorgeous seems abnormally immune to Ren.”
“He was certainly resisting with everything he had the other night. I was more affected, and I’m almost never affected by guys.”
I choose to push away the thought of Parker that suddenly jumps into my mind.
“You were affected by Ren?” Cecile asks, pushing me back out into her room where she sits me at a vanity.
“Yeah. But I also couldn’t breathe or move. I think he had his setting on full blast trying to get Nick to feel it.”
Cecile laughs again. “I’m sure. I do love watching those two in the same room. It’s entertaining, is it not?”
“Maybe for you. For me, it was just painful. I’ve never felt lust like that before. I could literally taste it. But again, the whole not breathing thing was unpleasant.”
“Oh, sweet Nora. That you didn’t rip your clothes off and climb up Ren’s body is a testament to your resistance. You, darling, are a conundrum.”
She plugs in a curling iron and begins brushing my hair out. For a moment, I close my eyes and enjoy the feel of her pampering me. I had one or two decent foster mothers, but for the majority of my life, I’ve never had someone to dote on me like this. I am starved for affection and touch that doesn’t repulse me, and I absolutely love this.
As if she can sense me relaxing, Cecile falls quiet and works on my hair in silence. She curls it into big, long ringlets and puts enough product in it to make it really shine. My hair has never looked so gorgeous in all my life. Honestly, I didn’t know it was capable of looking so pretty.
While she starts pulling out makeup and skin products, I reflect back on our conversation. I can’t stop thinking about how she said she could control her allure. I can’t imagine that. Being able to shut it off? Or at least turn it down to low? “Do you think, maybe, I’m like you?” I ask, finally breaking the silence.