Chapter Text
I touched base with Tammy, who was attending the New Years Eve party, and made sure that what I had planned and my song choice wouldn’t get me fired from my job.
“Here are the lyrics,” I said, handing my phone to her with the song pulled up, “And I’m not going to do dance raunchy. But I don’t want you panicking…”
“Everything looks good to me,” she said, and then gave my arm a gentle squeeze. “I think what you’re planning with the announcement is cute. God knows when Kyle proposed, I wanted to scream it from the rooftops. Just make sure you put in your time off for the honeymoon and wedding as soon as possible, okay?”
“I’ll put it in this week,” I said, and smiled.
The New Years Eve party was in full swing at this point. People were dancing, playing the games, and taking photos nonstop at the selfie stations. It was around nine o’clock, and my bridal party was pulling aside Ersat’s groom’s men (the entire gang had arrived at this point), letting them all know what was planned. My darling fiancé, in the meantime, had not a clue. And for this, as sh*tty as this might sound, I was willing to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission. If I said anything, I knew I was going to lose my nerve.
After all, I was making my Crowfort vocal debut, and dropping big news. But I had some confidence. I wasn’t called the Karaoke Queen in my college days for nothing, and I just had to call on my reserves of musical courage I’d had in my past. Back then, I could belt out romantic songs about a love that I never thought would exist for me. So why couldn’t I celebrate a love I did have? In real life, my partner got to have the spotlight on stage, and part of me, in my own way, wanted to have mine.
The DJ had started the karaoke section of the night around eight. An hour in, a husband had drunkenley declared his love for his wife by singing an off key version of, I Hope You Dance, Savvy started a conga line by singing I’m Coming Out (which she nailed, by the way), and Averi, Mickie, and Ember put on an energetic rendition of If You Wanna Be My Lover by the Spice Girls (and also, had nailed it). So what I was about to do surely wouldn’t be that out of pocket or attention grabbing…right?
I had expressed this to Nicole, who busted out laughing.
“Girl, you’re about to announce that the town cryptid is getting hitched,” she said. “Brace yourself.”
At last my, Becca, and Nicole’s names were called from the KJ, and we walked up. I had not told Ersat that I was even singing, and he gave my hand a squeeze before going on the Community Center stage/honestly-small-ish-raised-platform.
“Good luck with your debut, darling,” he said. “Aren’t you full of surprises tonight?”
I smiled as I stood up from my seat. “Huh, yeah, sure am.”
As I walked away, I heard Jasper turn to him and say, “Now no matter what happens, remember…you get your moment all the time on stage, and she doesn’t. So just think about that for the next four minutes.”
And very quietly, Ersat asked, “...what does that mean, my guy?”
I walked up to the stage with Nicole and Becca, each with cordless microphones. The KJ handed me one, and I put it in the mic stand and adjusted it. Becca and Nicole opted to just hold their’s a few feet behind, standing on either side of me. In front was a monitor on the ground for the words. I didn’t need them. For all the times Ersat and I sang this in my truck, cabin, or at his place--I knew the lyrics and timing by heart. Right as the intro began, I realized, it really was our song.
Gathering my courage, I blurted out into the microphone, “This is dedicated to the man I’m engaged to.”
And the energy shifted. I saw people in the crowd who had heard me glance at each other. A few of my students who were on the dance floor stopped, and started whispering among their friends. I didn’t glance at my table. I did not want to know what Ersat’s reaction was.
But f*ck keeping my image “proper”. f*ck small town rules, and this one Hawthorne tradition. After a few measures of the intro synth from Remi Wolf’s Soup, I began to sing, carrying that energy with me:
“Stay, stick around / Please don't get in your car / If a plane's on the ground / It can never really get that far…”
I took the microphone out of the stand at that point, and stepped in front of it, letting my hips and shoulders move with the music.
“I can't help but make it 'bout me / Oh, when you and I are together / Now I'm cleaning up the dirt on my feet / And I'm hoping that I'm getting better…”
Once the chorus hit, Nicole and Becca’s powerhouse vocals joined, and I felt emboldened. I started jumping side to side with the beat, and looking at the dancers on the floor…they went back to dancing along and enjoying the music. I scanned the front of the crowd, and to my surprise, people were watching and were into it.
“Until I'm / Doing business on the top of the roof / They told me to leave but I don't wanna leave without you / You're so patient with the animals too / If you give me your keys, I'll go and pick up the soup…”
I stepped off the stage during the post chorus, and Nicole and Becca followed, being my hype girls and dancing behind me.
“Oh-oh, I don't wanna live without you / Oh-oh, I don't wanna live without—”
I began walking through the tables, and people were actually standing and dancing as I passed. I understood then, what I first learned at the Back to School Barbeque and Ghoul Jam Sessions: music was the heartbeat of this town. It’s how you bared your soul, and told your story. And here I was: telling my story, and singing the truth that was in my chest.
“Lay like a dog / As I wait for your arrival / Play fetch in the yard / As a means of my survival…”
I finally walked over to our table, and there was Jasper, Mia, Ember, and Sebastain dancing away and hyping up the vibes. I looked at my partner, who was…surprisingly clear faced. Ersat was watching me, like he had never seen this side of me before.
“I can't help but make it 'bout me / Oh, When you and I are together / Now I'm brushing off the blood on my teeth / And I'm hoping that I'm getting better…”
Subtly, Jasper cleared the centerpiece from the table, and Tanner bolted over from his seat, readying for my next move.
“Until I'm / Doing business on the top of the roof / They told me to leave but I don't wanna leave without you / You're so patient with the animals too / If you give me your keys, I'll go and pick up the soup…”
Mia grabbed a chair, and put it in front of me. Steadying me, Jasper took my hand as I stepped on it, and then took another step on the table. Nicole and Becca stood on chairs, and continued singing with me, as I made the table my stage and sang directly at my future husband.
“Oh-oh, I don't wanna live without you / Oh-oh, I don't wanna live without—”
At this time, I heard Jasper yell above the music at Ersat, “Dude, it's all good! That is your future wife! That sh*t is beautiful! OWN IT.”
And to my utter surprise, he f*cking did. He stood on his chair, and stepped up to join me on the table, to a round of loud cheers and applause. I held the microphone between us, and Ersat sang the bridge with me, as Tanner led the rest of the party with clapping in time.
“I can never do what you wanted, baby / Now our love just wants to divide us lately / I could never do what you wanted, baby / And now our love just wants to divide us lately…Na-na, na-na, na-na, na-na, na-na…”
He took my left hand and his face was full of amusem*nt and…this deep love for me. He spun me under his arm, so my back was to his chest, and he was dancing behind me as I sang the final chorus with Becca and Nicole. .
“Doing business on the top of the roof / They told me to leave but I don't wanna leave without you / You're so patient with the animals too / If you give me the keys, I'll go and pick up the soup…”
I turned back toward him, placing my hand on his cheek.
“Oh-oh, I don't wanna live without you / Oh-oh, I don’t wanna live—”
I didn’t get the last word of the song out. Ersat leaned in, and kissed me deeply in front of other people, for the first time. I heard someone whistle, and he pulled away, as the crowd continued clapping. Becca grabbed my microphone to return it to the KJ with Nicole, and Ersat got off the table, and then dramatically, he scooped my legs out from under me, and I fell into his arms, bridal style. He kissed me again, and Mia, who had her phone out, snapped a photo.
I love that photo to this day. I love seeing his arms under my waist and knees, supporting me, and my hand on his chest, as I looked up at him. And it happened to be that my left hand was over his heart--where my engagement ring sparkled in the light.
After seeing that picture, we decided to use that as our engagement photo. We knew we couldn’t recreate that in a planned photoshoot. Us looking at each other, all softness and love …you couldn’t ask for a better candid camera moment.
“Are you mad at me?” I asked.
He shook his head as he set me down. “No, not really.” He sighed. “But, now that I know you can sing like that in public--I’m signing us up for a duet.”
We didn’t stay until midnight. Around eleven thirty, we said goodbye to our friends, and then quietly slipped out of the party.
“I want you all to myself at midnight,” he had whispered in my ear on the dance floor, and I agreed with him.
So before midnight, right as we stepped inside the Hawthorne House, he slammed the front door shut and pinned me to it, kissing me deeply and urgently. He trailed his mouth down my neck, his tongue tracing the path, and he dipped it into the sweetheart neckline of my dress.
“I have not made love to you in five days, my little lamb,” he breathed. “I have been wanting to consummate our engagement and, lo giuro su Lucifero, I will if you’ll allow me.”
“I have been craving you for days. Of course we can, my future husband,” I whispered.
He dropped on his knees. “Call me that again.”
“My future husband.”
He closed his eyes, as though savoring the words, and ran his hands up the back of my calves, then higher into the skirt of my dress. “My future wife…my love…”
He slipped his hand into my panties, and began gently tracing the folds of my entrance. My body jumped at his touch, and he let out a purr from the back of his throat.
“Not here,” I whispered. “Please, take me to our marriage bed.”
He quickly stood and taking my hand, we both bolted upstairs to his--I guessed now, our bedroom. As soon as we stepped over the threshold, he began to make quick work of my clothes and jewelry. I reached for his jacket, but he took my hands.
“No,” he breathed, kissing my palms. “Not yet.” He pushed me back on the bed, and still clothed sat beside me. Looking at me intently, he glided his hand over my chest, and I once more felt that warm, gentle fingertip sensation permeate my skin. I arched my back, as my nerves reacted to his touch, and he made his way down my stomach, that sensation lingering.
“I need to tell you something,” he said. “It’s about my being an incubus, and the pact. Can I touch you like this while I tell you?”
“Yes,” I murmured.
“My love, once we’re married…those powers of mine will go away. I will still have my magical abilities, but I will only be able to touch you and make love to you like a mortal man. However, I will no longer be under contract for--my body. All of me will be yours.”
I smiled, and sat up. “Copia, that’s wonderful,” I said, kissing him. “I had resigned myself to this always being a part of you, and what you must do, so…”
“You don’t mind the…perks, I guess, going away?”
I gently stroked his hair back. “Love of mine, I am not marrying your ability to make me come without touching me. I am marrying you, the man I love. And we have been together plenty of times without magic. It doesn’t matter.”
He smiled, and kissed me softly. To my surprise, a few tears slipped down his cheeks. “To be free from that side of things--it’s a mixed bag of emotions, il mia agnellina. This has been a part of me for so long, but also, it’s such a relief..”
“Then, we don’t even have to use your abilities tonight, or ever again, starting now if you’d like. Hold me, my love. Just as we are, nothing more, nothing less.”
But then he lifted his palm up, and I felt invisible hands pull me back on the bed by my shoulders. “I want to, cara mia. If you’ll allow me. I want to honor that part of me a few more times.”
I nodded. “Okay. I trust you.”
He began hovering his left hand above me again, letting it float all over my body, warming me with that sensation once more. “Let me indulge in your fantasies, my beautiful bride. Imagine I’m inside you…”
And suddenly, he held up his right hand, and his index and middle finger curved upward. I felt an invisible force enter me, a feeling that had the pressure and size of his fingers, and I let out a gasp. I watched as he moved them up and down, and I felt that force inside me move too.
“You’ll be fully mine soon,” he said. “I will claim you in a way that no other can. When we go to Italy, I will take you to the home of my church, and I will f*ck you on that altar like I promised I would. I want to hear you scream in that sanctuary. Satan would never have heard prettier music. I once heard that if you worship something or someone long enough, they become a god. Maybe, I can make you one.”
My toes curled at the thought, and he moved forward, fisting my hair at the base of my skull, and pulling. I let out a quiet cry, the pain sending delightful chills down my body.
“That drives you crazy, doesn’t it, la mia sposa? No one else can do these things to you. You’re mine now, il mia compagna di notte.”
“And after the thirteenth, I will always be yours,” I whispered, looking up at him.
There had to be something about the way I was looking at him, and what I had said, that stoked the fires in him even more. He wrapped his arms around my waist, and pulled me up to him, kissing me hungrily, his tongue sliding between my lips. He finally allowed me to undress him, and soon his clothes joined mine on the floor.
“I love you,” he whispered, as he lowered me back on the mattress. “My, sweet, sweet Semira. It will be your name alone, I cry into the night from now on. It is your love that frees me.”
Everything was quick after that. He had waited for me for nearly a week, and I ached for him as well. Many times, there was slow entry and careful movements. Tonight, his hips snapped into mine, and I cried out as he slid himself into the hilt. He looked down in concern, hearing me, but I wrapped my legs around his waist, encouraging his roughness.
We moved desperately against each other, and after so long without him, I was a hair pull trigger. He knew how to angle himself inside me, making sure to touch those sensitive places. His movements became uneven, as he tried to keep from arriving first, and I put a hand on his hip.
“You can come,” I whispered. “It’s okay.”
“I will be damned if I climax before my bride to be, lo giuro sul maledetto Lucifero.”
“Then--possess me.”
He stilled. “Scusi?”
“Possess me. I know it’s intimate for you. I know it syncs us.”
“Don’t tempt me, my bride. The incubus in me isn’t gone yet…and what happened last time…”
“If you want to, I’m not afraid.”
He buried his head in the crook of my neck, and for the first time, I heard him whisper in Latin, something that sounded like a prayer. “Satanas, noli nocere. Corpus eius has partes mei tractare non potest. Sed negare non possum. Naturam meam negare non possum…”
He put a hand on his chest, summoning the glowing orb once more, and he looked at me, searching my face for any sign of protest. When he found none, he grasped the orb, and as he kissed me, I felt the searing heat of it, as it entered into my body.
I threw my head back, and cried out, as this time, that other dimension of feeling hit me like a freight train. He was all heat, and wanting, and yearning. And, like an orchestra swelling, I could feel the deep love he had for me. It seeped into my nerves, into my bones. It caught in my lungs, and burst in my chest, like fire, like the elemental magic type he had mastered so well.
“Copia,” I gasped, circling my arms around him, and I felt sparks fly in my core as I said his name.
“You’re trembling,” he said. “Our connection…this is deeper than it’s ever been. I can feel everything, Semira. I--” And I heard his voice crack. “You love me so deeply. I knew you loved me, amore. But I never thought anyone could love me like this.”
“Copia, I didn’t know you felt this way for me.”
He was silent for a moment, and then he whispered in my ear, “If you didn’t know…then I will work everyday, for the rest of my life, toward making sure you know. They will tell stories of us, in my church. The Songs of Solomon will be nothing compared to the ways I will love you, for the remainder of my existence.”
“No, you don’t understand,” I said. “I never thought I would get a chance to be loved like this. I didn’t know if it was possible.”
“Semira, hold onto me. Let me show you, in all the ways possible, how I love you…”
And I tightened my arms around him, and with his hips moving against mine, and his hands that had the ability to do so much magic, he spent the next hour showing me.
