Crazy Seduction(erotica)

She nodded and closed her eyes again. Frowning, she recalled the meeting and her mind jumped to kissing him in the entranceway to Sandy’s condo. Her frown slipped into a smile. She opened her eyes and there was Henry smiling at her.

“Oh! You’re you!” she squealed excitedly. She looked to the doorway. “Michelle!” The woman beamed a smile at her. Dayshia looked to the two who had been Succubus and Incubus moments before. “Marisa! Oh, hello! You are tall, dark and dreamy! Enchanté indeed!” she purred as she looked at Nate. He grinned back at her.

Finally, she let herself look to Mahati and sighed. “You don’t look like a snake lady anymore.”

“What am I wearing?” Mahati insisted for proof.

“Dark blue suit jacket over a crisp white blouse and matching blue skirt. Black, tall boots,” Dayshia said in relief. Henry was smiling at her with a thoughtful look, and she caught it. “What?”

“It makes me wonder what else you can do with your eyes?” he said.

“Right now I’m just happy to see what I’m supposed to see. Having options is for another day,” Dayshia returned. She rushed over to hug Sandy and Tish.

Mahati gave Henry a worried frown.

He shrugged. “Isn’t that what you needed? I hope so because it’s all I’ve got.”

She sighed then addressed the group. “I need to speak to the new applicants for Hidden Race status.”

Mary looked at Henry questioningly.

“Yes, this applies to you as well. You may look human, but you have beyond-human abilities. You need protection,” he explained. He gave Mahati a worried look. “Tish would obviously be covered by my Satyr Treaty, but what about the others.”

Mahati’s frown finally eased. “Everyone, please take a seat.” They found their seats around the dining room table once more and made space for the newcomers. Mahati addressed the group. “Thanks to Michelle,” she gestured, and the woman nodded. “… your treaty covers them as well.” She looked to Michelle to take over, but she just shook her head shyly, so the lawyer continued. “The contract was created from an ancient template, and the Hidden Races Council indicated it should be edited to eliminate any sections that wouldn’t apply to Stanley at the time.” She looked around and saw she had everyone’s attention now.

“Who’s Stanley?” Mary asked.

“I’m Stanley or was before I had to change my glamor. I had to take on a new identity as my new glamor didn’t let me look like Stanley anymore,” Henry explained.

Mahati nodded and continued when she saw Mary’s slight nod. “He was one of a kind, so the section on offspring was flagged for removal. Michelle thought that was unfair as, in her words, life finds a way. She not only left the section in but kept all of the redundant and generic verbiage describing the various processes for offspring generation. There is plenty of latitude to cover the creation of a new species of post-Humans. That’s especially true since Henry was involved in the creation of each of them. Queen Mab signed the document, and a sufficient number of senior Council officials did as well, so it’s binding.” She looked to Henry. “It is my understanding you will be going to see Queen Mab to obtain glamors. Is everyone receiving one present?”

Henry shook his head. “There was one more. Roger Jensen. He disappeared the same night he was exposed to the magic. There’s been no sign of him since.”

“Knowing Roger, he’s trying to find some way to undermine society with his new powers,” Tish grumbled.

“Is he?” Mahati asked in concern.

Tish jolted as she hadn’t realized she’d spoken aloud. She had a guilty look on her face as she glanced at Dayshia and Sandy, but all three nodded reluctantly.

“I’m going to have to report that to the Security Council. There’s too much at risk,” the lawyer stated.

“Roger isn’t going to be easy to find. He’s a huge conspiracy nut, and now that he has proof, he’s going to run with it. When he’s not with us, he hangs out with other conspiracy nuts. I don’t know how they think, so I have no idea where they’d be,” Tish explained.

“Do you have a recent picture of him?” Mahati asked.NôvelDrama.Org exclusive content.

Sandy nodded. “I do. On my phone upstairs.”

At Mahati’s look, Sandy rushed off to get her phone.

“What’s going to happen to Roger when they find him?” Mary asked.

“It depends on how serious he is about exposing the truth,” Roy said grimly. “With the very survival of the Hidden Races at stake, the Council will take extreme measures to ensure secrecy is maintained. Our personal survival depends on that as well. Did Roger ever tell you how you would survive if he managed to destabilize society and bring it all crashing down?”

Dayshia and Tish shook their heads sadly.

“That’s because his mission to end it was more important to him than you were. Sorry to be blunt but that’s how he thinks,” Roy explained.

Sandy returned and shared the image with Mahati. She also gave her his address.

“Thank you,” the lawyer said as she quickly wrote a message to the Council’s Security Division, attached the image and sent it off.

“Am I going to have to move out of my condo?” Sandy blurted to the lawyer.

Mahati blinked at her. “Where do you live?”

“I’m in unit 401 of the building Henry lives in,” she replied.

“Oh, yes. I’m sorry. That building is one of a group in the five boroughs which has iron-clad rules, backed by the Hidden Races Security Division. Only Humans are allowed on even numbered floors. Due to your special circumstances, I’m sure we can get your name to the top of the waiting list for another unit on an odd numbered floor. No guarantees on how soon it would be though.”

“But I inherited the condo from my grandmother!”

“Who was Human, as you were when you inherited it. You are not Human now. We cannot break this rule. I’m sorry.” Mahati insisted.

Sandy looked sad, and Henry’s heart hurt once more for what he’d done to her. “I’m so sorry.”

She looked at him then walked over and hugged him. Kesini wrapped herself around both of them, and they shared a smile as her affection was clearly felt by both.

“You can stay with me until an apartment becomes available,” Henry offered, and Sandy’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Do our apartment buildings have the same rule?” Tish asked.

Mahati looked to her. “There aren’t many in the city that feature this segregation. Most choose to live amongst Humans in non-segregated buildings. I understand VRL’s decision to arrange for Henry to move into the apartment he did as his circumstances and theirs made this the best option. Give me the addresses of your buildings, and I’ll check to see if they have segregation. Odds are, they don’t. In that case, I’ll arrange to have your apartment’s registered and prepared before you return to them. A team from the Hidden Races Security Division will visit to ensure your windows are treated to hide your true selves from the outside world as well as confirm there are no hidden surveillance devices inside the unit. Any doors from the outside will be adjusted to display an indicator that someone has entered your unit such as building maintenance and inspection. When you see this indicator, you must immediately contact the team to do another sweep. It’s a minor inconvenience, costs nothing to you personally, and is mandatory. Failure to do this puts us all at risk and will be treated as a threat to us all. You don’t want that.” Seeing their nervousness, she glanced to Sigrid who took over.

“It seems a little daunting but understand one thing; it’s for your protection as well. Anyone putting you at risk is going to be dealt with to ensure your safety.”

“Like Roger,” Dayshia said softly.

Sandy perked up nervously. “What do you mean by dealt with?”

Sigrid turned to look at her. “If Roger is insistent on exposing the fact of our existence as part of his anarchist agenda, then equally extreme measures will likely be taken to ensure that doesn’t happen. I’m sorry, but it’s that critical.”

The room went quiet as people thought about that.

Nate was aware that the mood in the room was becoming gloomy, so he tried to redirect it. “I just moved out of my friend Jo’s place, and I’m crashing in my buddy Joey’s workout room until I can find a new place to live. Any suggestions?” He bounced his eyebrows with a grin and got a few chuckles.

“Finding an affordable place in New York is a battle in itself. Good luck with your hunt!” Sigrid said with a smile.

Mary caught Mahati’s attention. “I own my own small one bedroom home. Am I going to need to do all that magic shit to my home too?” Roy snorted in amusement at her tone and got a smile from her.

The lawyer gave Mary a careful look. “You have no visual manifestation of your non-Human nature?”

Mary looked to Henry who shook his head. “No, I guess I don’t.”

“Then no. However, if you entertain other Hidden Races in your home, you’d need to inform them that your home has no protection. It is wiser to have the windows treated and the address registered. Again, it costs nothing and protects us all,” Mahati said with a raised eyebrow.

Henry saw Mary was satisfied with that answer and was appearing much more comfortable with the group. He watched Roy move closer to speak with her as Nate moved to talk to Marisa. He sat back and watched Sandy, Tish, and Dayshia talking with Mahati, Meixiu, and Michelle, who was actually joining in on the conversation.

Recalling his earlier conversation with Camila, he glanced a Marisa and saw she was smiling happily at Nate and laughing at his jokes. That man was clearly smitten, and Henry allowed himself a moment to let that sink in. He couldn’t hold it against Nate for being attracted to Marisa, especially when the feeling seemed to be mutual. He was going to step back and let that develop into whatever it might become. He owed Marisa that much at least.