Lust

Fox Spirit Series. Ying isn't as seductive as the other fox demons, but she decides to prove she too can stir up lust in mortals. The boy who takes her home, however, isn't quite what she expected.

“You’re such a failure as a fox demon,” Yanmei sighed. Huffing elegantly, she ran a slim, manicured hand through her rich, long curls. “Can you even score a date?”

Cheeks flaring red, Ying scowled, glaring up at the taller demon. “Shut up, you idiotic piece of crap! I’ll have you know, I can score any guy, any time!”

Yanmei’s lips curled upwards in a sly grin. “Oh? Why don’t we make a wager then?” She dug a hand into her handbag and procured a tiny vial. “Collect a boy’s vitality here and show it to me by tomorrow morning.” She tossed it at Ying and turned to leave, throwing a hand delicately in the air in farewell. “If you can, that is.”

Ying’s ruby red eyes burned with indignant anger as she jerked off her casual clothes. Clad in only her bra and underwear, she paused, glancing at her reflection in the mirror. She couldn’t see any reason the other vixens had to tease her like this. Her body was slim as well, admittedly with more subtle and delicate curves than the other demons’ voluptuous figures. Her hair, though short and spiky, was sleek and soft; her face, slightly more childish than elegant, was still fine-boned and undeniably pretty.

Scoffing, Ying grabbed the dress she had picked out for the evening and pulled it over her head. It was just a plain strapless black cocktail dress with a sweetheart neckline and A-line skirt. Nothing too outstanding, but with her dark hair and pale porcelain skin, it made her look mysteriously enchanting.

With a quick and experienced hand, she swiped a few smoky strokes of makeup around her eyes, dabbed a bit of red lipstick on her lips, and mussed up her hair just right.

“Well, you look rather ravishing tonight,” a voice suddenly said from the doorway.

Ying jumped, whirling around to see another inhumanely attractive fox demon standing in the doorway. He was tall and lean, built of slim muscle, with a head of fine yet spiky white hair. His lazy mismatched eyes"one turquoise blue and the other fine amber"were lit up in amusement as they raked down her figure appreciatively.

“It’s just you, Taiki,” Ying deadpanned, sighing. She turned to give herself one last look-over in the mirror. “I thought you were one of the girls.”

“Oh?” Taiki chuckled, striding in. He walked up behind Ying and set his hands on her waist, leaning forward to prop his chin on her shoulder, so close that she could feel his warm breath fan across her ear.

Had Ying been a mortal girl, she might have melted under his touch and smoldering gaze. Instead, her heart merely unwarrantedly began to beat faster, though even that was extreme considering that she was a fellow fox demon. As a fox demon, she should have been able to accept his actions unconcernedly, given that such coquettish behavior was as casual as civility was for humans.

Taiki, with his close proximity, undoubtedly heard her heart quicken. “I hear your heart racing, Ying. Do I make you nervous? Flustered?”

“Don’t get so full of yourself, Taiki,” Ying deadpanned, trying to control her pounding heart. Her hands shakily smoothed down her dress. “Foxes don’t succomb to human exhibits of lust. T-this stuff is in our nature.”

Taiki sighed, pulling away as he shook his head exasperatedly. “I keep telling you this, but foxes aren’t completely exempt from signs of attraction.”

“Whatever,” Ying growled, grabbing her small clutch.

As she turned to slip into her black heels, Taiki crossed his arms and cocked his head at her curiously, no longer playfully coy. “Why are you all dolled up today anyways? Not that I mind seeing you looking like this, but it doesn’t seem like you to go out collecting young men’s vitalities.”

At that, Yin froze, her red eyes darkening to a bloody hue. “Really.”

Taiki blinked in surprise at the sudden hostile air that formed around his friend. “What’s wrong?”

“You’re such a failure as a fox demon,” Yanmei sighed. Huffing elegantly, she ran a slim, manicured hand through her rich, long curls. “Can you even score a date?”

Yanmeni’s words ringing in her mind again, Ying closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then, she whirled around and stomped past Taiki. “It’s nothing. Forget it.”

‘Alright, just try to look coy and alluring,’ Ying thought ten minutes later, seated at the counter of a nearby club. Legs crossed demurely, swirling a cocktail in one hand, she gazed out at the dance floor with nondescript brown eyes"an illusion placed over her crimson irises. ‘Someone is bound to be attracted. Just relax and look seductive.’

“Hey,” a voice suddenly said.

‘This is it,’ Ying thought to herself triumphantly, glancing boredly to the side.

A young man stood there with his own cocktail. He was fairly handsome in human terms, with sunny blonde hair and clear blue eyes crinkled by his grin. He slid smoothly into the seat beside her. “You come here often?”

“Now and then,” Ying replied, turning fully toward him. Propping an elbow on the counter, she leaned in just enough so that he would be able to get a whiff of her natural scent. “How about you?”

“Now and then,” he echoed, leaning in as well. “I’m Seiji. And you?”

“Ying,” she purred.

His grin widened. “Well, Ying, what do you say we get out of here and find a place to chat?”

“I’d say lead the way,” she replied smoothly, inwardly crowing with delight that she had succeeded in trapping a victim. Seiji stood up, offering his arm to her. She smiled and set a hand delicately in the crook of his arm, allowing him to lead her out of the club.

“Lovely night, isn’t it?” Seiji asked after a few minutes of silent walking.

Ying nodded, curling herself into his side and resting her head on his shoulder. “It is. Where are we going?”

“Back to my place,” he replied with a grin. “It’s that building over there.” He nodded his chin in the direction of a nearby apartment building. “I’m on the third floor.”

“Do you bring girls home often?” Ying asked coyly.

He returned with a sly grin of his own as he led her up the apartment steps into the lobby. “None as beautiful as you.”

Ying giggled. “My, my, such sweet words.”

With a soft ding, the elevator doors slid open, and the couple stepped inside. Punching the button for the third floor, Seiji leaned back against the elevator wall, hooking one arm tighter around Ying’s small waist. She leaned back into him, pressing herself against his warm form as they ascended in silence. In just a few seconds, their short elevator trip was over, and the doors slid open again.

“Come on, I’m over here,” Seiji whispered into Ying’s ear, his breath fanning over the shell of her ear. He led her to an apartment nearby and pulled a set of keys from his pocket, fumbling one-handedly to pick one out. Once he had, he shoved it into the lock and twisted, throwing the door open. “After you.”

Swaying her hips seductively, Ying stepped into the darkness of Seiji’s unlit apartment, her sharp ears hearing him step in behind her. The door shut, leaving them in darkness.

“Bedroom’s that way,” Seiji murmured against the back of Ying’s neck, his hands steering her hips slightly to the left.

No sooner had they arrived in the room had Seiji suddenly kicked the door shut and slammed Ying’s slight body against it. Immediately, his mouth was upon hers, his hands running languidly along her body.

‘So far so good,’ Ying thought excitedly, nipping at the mortal boy’s bottom lip as they waged battle with their tongues. She raked her fingers down his back, pulling him closer against her as she let out a sensuous moan. ‘All I’ve got to do now is have sex with him, then once he’s out cold, I can steal some of his vitality.’ She had never actually done the act of taking a man’s vitality before, but she knew that it would appear as a small glowing white pearl"one for each orgasm she coaxed out of him. Once the vitality pearls emerged, she would have to either consume them on the spot or store them in a vial, otherwise they would fade and the life and energy held within would seep back into their original owner.

Deciding to heat things up further, she slid her hands around his sides to crawl up his chest, delicate fingers plucking at the top buttons of his shirt. Just as she had gotten the first few buttons undone, she felt one of his hands leave her hip. She didn’t give it much thought"after all, his lips were still mashing against hers"until she felt it.

With a piercing bite like lightning, something sharp and hot hit her side.

With a screech, Ying slammed the palm of both hands against Seiji’s chest, sending the mortal boy flying across the room to hit the wall on the opposite side of the room. While he cried out and fell over, trying to catch his breath after getting the wind knocked out of him, Ying fell to her knees, blinking away fuzzy dots of white clouding her vision.

The pain in her side, excruciatingly sharp and hot at first, had deepened into a constant burn like salt ground into a fresh cut. Biting her lip so hard that her teeth split the delicate flesh, she glanced down at her side, already knowing yet still doubting what was there.

A small dagger, slim and flat, was buried up to its ornate silver hilt in her side. A single large character was painted on the flat surface of the hilt, and that sight alone chilled Ying to the bone. The pain, the structure of the dagger, the painted character"it was an exorcism knife.

Though it hurt like hell, Ying knew that the stab wasn’t fatal for a demon.

Gritting her teeth, she grasped the hilt of the dagger and jerked, pulling the dagger out with a hiss of pain. Then, throwing the anti-demon weapon to the side with disgust, she glared across the room at Seiji, who had finally gotten himself upright.

“That was pretty deceitful of you, exorcist,” Ying hissed.

Seiji smirked, pulling another exorcism dagger out from under the nightstand he was kneeling next to. “I’d heard you guys were seductive, but damn, no one ever told me how good you foxes really were. It’s almost a shame we never got to the fun stuff.”

“You’re lucky you’re the first human boy I’ve ever seduced,” Ying snarled back, baring her teeth as she allowed her demonic features to emerge on her human face. “That shot you got in was pure luck. Forget vitality pearls; I think I’ll just eat your heart and liver instead.”

With that, she lunged.

Author's Note

If people could give me feedback on basically everything, that would be great. I'm fairly confident in grammar, spelling, and sentence structure, so things to focus on would be like character, idea, plot, etc. Thanks in advance!

Reviews

[David Jae]

I wasn't expecting this to be good, but I was pleasantly surprised. Ying is an interesting character and the premise is simple, but strong. I like the twist as the end, although I think the final line is unnecessary.

Ganbare