The Gift She Gives Ch. 06

Vesper felt a light breeze drift over her and she yawned and stretched out her arms and legs, knowing that her wings pushed up a bit from her position on her stomach and she felt the sheets from her bed slide down to uncover her from the waist up. Burying her face in the pillow beneath her head, she kept her eyes closed for a few more moments before she finally forced herself to get up. First, she rose to her hands and knees, letting the blankets fall completely from her body, and then she sat down with her legs folded under her, her arms rising to her chest when she heard a shifting sound from the right side of her bed.

Looking over, she frowned a little when she realized that Mr. Hughes was sitting on a chair near her dresser, a pin-striped black suit, this one American made, expertly shaped over his nicely muscled form. He didn't look angry today, and he wasn't even looking at her, really, his eyes were focused on the book he held in one hand. Once he finished reading the page he was one, he dog-eared the upper edge and then set it down on his thigh, keeping one hand over it as he lifted his head to look over at her.

"I put your robe on the bed for you." He said gently and she looked to where he had moved his eyes and saw the light pink robe and pulled it over her shoulders, effectively removing his gaze from her body, she'd only worn panties to bed.

"How long have you been here?" She asked, sliding off of the bed and walking slowly towards the bathroom.

"Not long, I brought you up a breakfast tray. I stayed because I wanted to talk to you. But you do what you need to do. I'll wait." He nodded towards the bathroom and lifted his mouth in a tilted smile.

Vesper nodded, confused that he was being nice to her, and disappeared through the bathroom door. She only stayed in the room long enough to use the toilet, brush her teeth, and wipe her face with a warm, wet, wash cloth, and then she walked back out into her bedroom. Mr. Hughes was still seated, his eyes once again on the book he had been reading while she slept, but this time, he immediately looked over at her.

"I've taken the liberty of sending Deandra shopping for some more clothing for you. I was told that you did not come with a lot of items, and that many of them are not designed to allow your wings to sit properly against your back." He spoke gently, as if he was worried that his tone, if he was more firm, would anger her. He was probably right, and she didn't want to be angry.

"I have some money, I can-."

"You should save your money. One day, one day we will figure out how to allow you to leave this place, and you should have that money for when you go." He rubbed the back of his head with a hand as he spoke.

"I don't like the idea of you paying for my things." Vesper frowned as she walked over to the table with the breakfast tray on it. There were several pieces of toast, but they were somewhat cold to the touch. She frowned and picked up an orange instead.

"Zheng has insisted on doing so, Vesper. He feels responsible for you getting stuck here, despite the fact that it was Sergei, I believe, who suggested that you come here. He has asked to be responsible for your needs for the time being." Mr. Hughes said as he pulled out his cell phone and focused on punching something into it while she rolled her orange along the top of the desk beside the tray.

"They only meant to help me." She muttered as she worked on getting the peel off of the orange, knowing it was easier to do after she rolled it around, it was a trick her mother had taught her.

"I would like to apologize for how I've treated you since you came here. I do not normally treat guests in my home with disrespect, and I feel that I have done so, a great deal, with you." His quietly spoken words made her widen her eyes, and Vesper looked up at the angel surprised.

"Why the change of heart?" She whispered.

"Do you not accept my apology?"

"I do, but you were so...angry." Vesper shrugged and put a slice of orange in her mouth.

"I have been on earth for a very long time, Vesper. Not much surprises me anymore, not much can. You, my dear, were an unexpected surprise." He looked at her from her bare feet to the top of her messy white haired head and she felt heat rise within her, and her pussy reminded her that she was physically attracted to the man in the room with her, whether she wanted to be or not.

"I am not going to be your concubine." She moved back over to the bed and sat cross-legged on one corner of it.

"I will never ask that of you. Besides, we can't touch each other." He smirked gently and rose from his seat when there was a knock at her door.

Vesper watched as he opened the door, and a man was standing on the outside of it, a plate in his hands with a silver cover on it. Mr. Hughes nodded at him before taking the plate and sending him back on his way. As he closed the door and walked with the plate over to her tray of food, Vesper got up from her chair and walked over to the book he had been reading. picking it up, she looked at the spine to read the title and realized that it was in another language, something very similar to Russian. Opening it to the page he had been on, she gently unfolded the dog-eared bit and frowning, she looked at the dresser nearby and saw a basket of flowers with a bow wrapped around the decorative whicker. Pulling on the ribbon, she felt it loosen and then fall away from the basket and then she placed the long light green ribbon between the pages that he had been reading.

Closing the book and setting it back down where he had left it, she looked over to find Mr. Hughes watching her with a mildly curious look in his eyes. He was standing near her bathroom door. Without commenting on what she had done, he nodded towards the new plate on the tray.

"I had some warm toast brought up to you." He told her and Vesper felt her eyes widen with a bit of surprise.

Walking over to the tray, she ate the last bit of orange that she'd been slowly working through and removed the silver dome to find that he had, in fact, done just that. She couldn't keep the content smile off of her face as she buttered the triangles and then took the whole plate with her back to her bed. Sitting the way she'd been before, she watched as the angel made his way back to the seat he had been on, and he sat back down, picking up the book and resting it in his lap, both hands over it before he looked back at her.

"I will have one of my kitchen staff meet with you to go over your likes and dislikes. We prepare a variety of different meals for the residents and guest of this building, so it actually makes it easier for our chefs to have an idea what you would enjoy eating." He told her.

Vesper bit her lower lip and nodded, she wasn't sure how she felt being catered to, but if it made someone else's job easier...

"I do like my toast just a little bit on the burnt side." She said softly, then took another bite of the toasted bread, closing her eyes as she let her tastebuds focus on the crisp food, the warm, melted butter.

"If that is the look you make every time you eat toast, then I may well have to invest in wheat futures, Vesper." His soft chuckle made her look over at him and she felt herself blush a little.

"I was born in 1918, Mr. Hughes. I was a young teenager during the Depression. My mother was a single woman who was barely able to keep a roof over our heads, let alone buy food. A piece of toast was a luxury. It required not only bread, which back at that time was vastly less processed than it is now, though I can tell that this bread was made fresh," She nodded over at him, "but it also required electricity or flame, and butter. All of which were sometimes rather difficult to come by."

Mr. Hughes nodded, his eyes had clouded over a little as she'd spoken about her life, and she felt a warmth slowly fill her body, if he had acted like this when they'd first met, maybe she wouldn't want to scream in his face so much, if she could get close to his face, which she couldn't.

"Was it always just you and your mother? She never dated? No other children?" He asked.

"No, it was just the two of us. I know she had family in England when I was young, but they never saw her. It wasn't really the thing to have a child without a husband back then, you know. People weren't as understanding." Vesper finished off her first piece.

"What area of England did you live?"

"London, East End. We lived on Oxford St., down a bit from-."

"The London Hospital."

"My mother was a nurse." Vesper nodded.

"It must have been a difficult life." He told her and she smiled gently.

"We eventually moved to the States before the second war. It was a little easier after that. There was always a need for a good nurse, and there were plenty of places for us to move to. You speak with an English accent yourself, you know. Sometimes you sound like you spent time in Liverpool, but then, when you're mad, I could swear you're from South Wales."

"You're very good at spotting your accents, Vesper."

"I've met a lot of soldiers, Mr. Hughes. Talking about their homes made them feel better."

"Did you heal them all?"

Vesper shook her head, "No, no, it would have been too dangerous. The rest of the time, I would read to them or sing or tell them about what was going on outside of the hospital through the windows."

"You were close with your mother?" He asked quietly and she looked at him with one eyebrow arched.

"I was...I suppose. She did the best she could. I don't think I made her have an easy life. It was difficult, living with a child who had to be hidden away, kept from the world. She did the best she could." Maybe, Vesper thought, if she repeated that enough, she would actually start to believe it herself.

"She should have gotten you a pet." His sentence seemed almost as if he'd spoken to himself and Vesper found herself smiling.

"Why would you say that?"

"You would have had a companion, someone you could touch without fearing that you'd be found out." He shrugged his shoulders and rose, holding the book in one hand and tapping it gently on his thigh.

"I think I would have liked a cat." She looked out the window for a moment before licking her lower lip and looking back at him.

"Yet another thing we will have to disagree about." He grinned widely at her, showing teeth, and the way it made him even more handsome made her shift uncomfortably on the bed, he'd never smiled that way before and it caused her lower body to start sending off fireworks of need, wet, erotic need all through her.

"You like dogs?" She asked, praying he couldn't smell her the way the werewolves had been able to.

"Dogs, yes, very much." He nodded at her.

"It wouldn't be so bad for you to have a companion yourself, Mr. Hughes." She pushed gently and watched him look over at her, his chest rose gently as he breathed, his eyes studying her face as his hand still lightly tapped the book against what she figured would be a strong, muscled thigh.

"I have plenty of companions." Mr. Hughes said darkly as he walked over towards the door.

"You said you were here to talk to me. Was it about my mother?" She asked, her eyes on his as he turned to face her.

"No, and I apologize if my doing so felt like prying. I am curious about you, Vesper. I will not hide that," He shook his head, "I came here this morning to let you know that I would like to give you a tour of Vorhees today. Since you will be living here for the foreseeable future, it would me good for you to get to know the people that work here, both human and nonhuman."

Vesper nodded, excited at the prospect, "Yes, that would be lovely, thank you, Mr. Hughes."

"I'll wait in the hall so that you can get dressed." He nodded at her and opened her door.

She watched him leave, and a part of her wished that he'd stayed and watched her undress. That part of her confused her, he had been so incredibly cruel since she'd come here, how could she possibly be so turned on by him? He had told her that she was made in order to be some sort of sex slave to angels. Vesper shivered as the idea of having sex with Mr. Hughes filled her. She blamed that stupid dream that she'd had of him, before then, she hadn't constantly looked at him with thoughts of seduction.

Sighing, she climbed off of her bed and pulled her robe off of her body and then walked over to the dresser to see what she had to wear. Vesper didn't want to keep him waiting long, surely if he had to stand out there for too long, his mood would sour and he'd be back to letting her know just how much he didn't want her here.

~*~*~*~

"It is very nice to see you again, Vesper. I am glad you'll be with us here for a while, though I do hate that it's against your will." Shi smiled at her a while later as she walked beside Vesper down one large hallway of the house. Both Mr. Hughes and Faeron were walking somewhat behind them.

"I suppose there are worse places to be stuck in the world." Vesper sighed, she'd enjoyed the tour so far. Shi and her husband had been in the conservatory watering plants when they'd finally made it to the first floor, and Vesper had enjoyed seeing the couple again. They seemed very close, almost always moving to touch one another and while Faeron spoke to his wife quite frequently, she barely seemed to ever say a word to him, yet he know exactly what was on her mind.

"Quite a few of the first floor rooms are used by our guests. The dining rooms you have seen, the sitting room, and the library beyond it are all for them. There are a few other rooms downstairs that are used for more...intimate activities." Mr. Hughes interrupted them and nodded at a few doorways that they walked by.

"You bring all of these humans here, how is it that they don't leave and tell the world about you?" Vesper asked quietly.

"Many of our clients are repeat customers, most of them, in fact. If they were to talk about the spa to other humans, they would not be allowed to return. For the most part, everyone has followed the rules." Mr. Hughes told her as they took a turn in the hallway.

"For the most part?" She pressed, looking back at him.

"We've had to loosen the memories of a guest a time or two. They are made aware that that is a risk when they first arrive here, though, Vesper. But we must do what we have to in order to protect ourselves."

"So why a sex spa? Why chance getting found out?"

Mr. Hughes smiled softly as he stepped forward and put his hand around a large knob to a huge doorway.

"Nonhumans are quite lusty, Vesper. We like to fuck, and this is the safest way we can get our needs met." His explanation was simple, and Vesper knew it, but figured it was the best that she was going to get for now.

She watched as he pulled open the heavy door and felt her eyes widen instinctively at the enormous room that they walked into. It was a wide open area with concrete floors and thick, large pillows scattered around. There was an area near the back where the floor appeared to fall away and she stood beside the door looking around her in shock.

"This is the area of the mansion that we have set aside for the Lotus family." Mr. Hughes said, looking over at the small woman with her orchid colored eyes, feeling that same rush of heat that she always made course through his veins.

"Wei is the one that works here, not Zheng?" Vesper looked at the owner of the spa and saw his eyes light a little with curiosity.

"Yes, Wei is an employee, though, lately, he has been only having a few appointments a month. His children keep him very busy. Shu works here sometimes, as well, but I don't expect to see her until she...calms down." He frowned, the female dragon had disappeared.

"This is quite a large area, they must turn into their dragon form while here." Vesper said off-handedly as she looked around the expansive room.

"Yes, they tend to." He nodded.

"We should show you the basement, where the vampires live, though they're all asleep right now. You can meet Brunhild tonight if you wish. We just hired a man, named Maloy, to replace Alexandru. He seems to be working out nicely." Faeron put in when it didn't seem like either Vesper or Mr. Hughes were going to say more.

"Alexandru is Domino's-? The one who-?" Vesper looked at Mr. Hughes, she'd heard a few whispered comments about the two.

"Domino is my friend, a woman who was recently turned to a vampire. Alexandru is her lover, he was taken by his sire to Belarus." Mr. Hughes told her simply, the whole story would have taken a great deal longer to explain, and he wanted to show her the rest of the spa before some of the other employees arrived to meet her.

They made their way down the staircase to the basement, And Mr. Hughes and Faeron showed her the different rooms contained below stairs. Eventually, they made their way back up and Mr. Hughes led the way out to the back patio. Vesper had been walking beside Shi as the woman's husband had been walking in front of her, so she didn't see the group of men who had been waiting for their arrival in the backyard. When Faeron stepped to the side and shook hands with one of the men, Vesper looked up and gasped. She had never seen anything like the six men before her. They weren't really men, she told herself as she looked at them from bottom to top.

They had large hooves for feet, and their legs were covered in hair that was somewhat short along their lower hips and thighs, then grew longer starting at the tops of their calves. They seemed to be covered in thick, hard muscle, and Vesper could easily appreciate their naked buttocks and rock solid large chests. Her eyes skimmed over their heavy, uncovered shafts, none of them were aroused, but it was obvious to her that they never wore clothing to hide their male parts, parts that were substantial even in their flaccid state. Their chests were that of men, but larger, stronger looking, and the hair on their heads covered a portion of their upper back, as well.

The men were all handsome, their faces a little larger than a regular human male, bearded, with long, curving horns growing from behind ears that were not quite human in appearance. And they were all so startlingly different in shade. The one she was nearest to had black fur, but the others ranged from white, to brown, to tan, to gray, to red furred. And they were all looking at her with avid interest. Vesper pressed her lips together in a nervous smile, she hadn't really let herself think that there could be more types of nonhumans, and she certainly never would have believed anyone who told her that there were beings that were half man, half ram, but here they were, standing right before her. A few of them, she saw, were not quite so flaccid anymore.

"Vesper, these men are satyrs. They live in the mountains north of here." Mr. Hughes stepped towards Cynric and shook the beast's large hand.

"Hello." Vesper wasn't quite sure how one went about introducing herself to a group of mythical beings, so 'hello' seemed inadequate, but it was the first thing that popped into her mind as the large predominantly gray beast left Mr. Hughes' side and walked towards her, arm extended.

"My name is Cynric. These are the males of my flock." The hand that he held out came within a foot of her and Vesper shivered, worried that she would feel some sort of tingling sensation, but there was none from the man. He, thankfully, did not need healed.

She wrapped her much smaller hand in his and felt him tighten his grip, but not painfully so.

"It's nice to meet you, Cynric." She nodded up, a polite smile on her face as Cynric waved the other satyrs over to her.

"This is Ailen." She was introduced to a brown furred satyr. The he waved over a white one, who was half aroused as he stood before her, "This is Birch. Please don't be offended by our reaction to you. It's one of appreciation, we have no expectations of sex with you."