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Gee Leem, why does your mom let you have two Lucians?[/i]\n(Mature for mentions of genetalia, no explicit sex)\n\nIf you'd like to read more like this before it gets posted publicly, head over to [url=https://subscribestar.adult/limewah]my Subscribestar![/url]\n\n-----\n\n[url=http://www.postybirb.com]Posted using PostyBirb[/url]", "description_bbcode_parsed": "A.K.A. Gee Leem, why does your mom let you have two Lucians?
(Mature for mentions of genetalia, no explicit sex)

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Posted using PostyBirb", "writing": "Two Drinks and a Dessert\n\nOr : Gee How Come Your Mom Lets You have Two Lucians?\n\nBy Limewah\n\nGift story for VampBirb and LucianLupin\n\nLeem was pretty sure that the black-feathered parrot at the bar was a vampire. Ninety-Nine percent sure.\n\nConsidering their time in Club Lunix up till that point, it wouldn't have been that huge of a shock.\n\nThe place was more like an old fashioned gentleman's club than a modern dance club. The whole experience had felt like a weird fever dream between the statuesque, slender white jackal who fixed them with a piercing, glowing stare at the door, or the low light and the slight mist to the space that made it feel like they'd stepped into another world.\n\nIt felt like a high-class bordello, with a spicy scent to the air and music like a soft subtle breath on the back of a neck.\n\nLeem had assumed being well-dressed was the name of the game, so they'd come in a turtleneck the colour of sandstone, with slacks to match, and a little amber teardrop around their neck. Though now they felt slightly out of place with the darker, skimpier clothing that others were wearing. \n\nIn fact, a half-dozen of the patrons were walking around buck-naked. They'd checked more than their clothes at the door.\n\nObviously the other patrons didn't think it was as big of a deal as Leem did. But they were doing their damndest to keep it cool, and not to stare at the frankly gorgeous bodies of all types on display. A charcoal-furred goat girl with burning purple eyes, a paunchy belly, ample tits and a swinging, flared cock, gave them a wink, and they felt their insides fizz.\n\n...She probably wasn't their date.\n\nLeem's date hadn't lied; this really was a place for `alternative' types to let loose and relax, be they queer, goth, sleekly dressed... or even non-mortal. \n\nWhere was their date, anyway?\n\nThey could answer that question later; the more pressing question was, was that bird a vampire?!\n\n...Were they about to date a vampire?!??\n\nThe lack of reflection in the mirrored surface behind the bar was one of those tell tale signs. Plus the goblet-like glass of deep burgundy wine in one of his hands. He sat on that stool like it was a king's throne, one leg crossed over the other. He was dressed all in black, too - ebony slacks, and a dress-shirt buttoned all the way up with a collar far longer than most shirts Leem had seen.\n\nAnd then there was the cape.\n\nHe could have doffed it at the door, the way most people did in this hot, sweaty basement club. But it remained draped around him - the glossy satin fabric caressed the parrot's shoulders and slid down.\n\n``Everything to your liking?''\n\n``Nn!'' Leem practically leapt upright, instantly locking eyes with the dark-furred wolf standing over him. ``Hi, yes!''\n\n``Are you enjoying your drink? Could I get you anything else?''\n\nLeem tried not to melt into the wolf's purple eyes, that dazzling smile, and the fur that seemed to subtly between the colour of ash and twilight.\n\nThey weren't Leem's date, and the last thing the panda wanted was to catch feelings for someone else before the first date even kicked off.\n\nThe wolf had left a very definite impression from the moment Leem entered. Mr. Lupin, the enigmatic owner of the establishment seemed to make a point of greeting guests at the door, offering a firm handshake as though he was making a pact with each and every one. He was busy as a bee, too, helping to serve drinks and take orders.\n\n``Uhm, n-no, thank you.''\n\n``Good,'' he said. ``Because that means it's time for me to take a little break. May I sit?''\n\n``Uh-sure!'' the answer leapt from Leem's throat; they were a very agreeable person, and had a lot of difficulty saying no. But... it was fine, it was fine. Being flirted with might help warm them up.\n\n``Ahh, thank you.'' The wolf sat down across from Leem. ``So, I'm curious. How did you hear about this place?''\n\n``Oh, uh, my date suggested it.'' Leem said. ``He gave me an invite, and I don't know if he's here, or if he's late, or what.''\n\n``Mhm?'' the lupine tilted his head to the side, sympathetically. ``He had better not have stood you up... that won't do. Don't worry, I'll make the evening worth your while if he doesn't.''\n\n``Thank you,'' Leem said. ``All I know about him is his name's Lucian.''\n\nStrangely enough, the wolf seemed only slightly amused. Like he knew something Leem didn't. For just a second, the thought that this might be Lucian crossed their mind. But he didn't sound like the voice the panda had heard.\n\n``I?ll see if I know any Lucians who might be here... aside from myself.''\n\n``Aside from... oh!'' Leem laughed. ``Oh, that's funny...''\n\n``Hah, imagine me inviting someone for a date at my own establishment,'' Lucian chuckled. ``Not a bad idea actually...''\n\n``Hah, yeah...'' \n\nLeem was conscious of how loudly they were laughing. They were doing a poor job at hiding how low key smitten they were. What if the other Lucian was watching? Would they get jealous? Throw the whole thing off?\n\n``Do you know what he looks like? Maybe I've seen him.''\n\n``Actually, I met him on EchoDate.''\n\n``Ohhh, the `voice only' dating app, I've heard of that...'' Lucian said with a nod. ``Well, as you can see it's quite quiet in here, so if you were to prick your ears you might find him....''\n\nLucian continued to chat. Leem didn't mind listening. \n\nBut the avian at the bar didn't leave their head either.\n\nLeem looked past the grey-furred wolf's shoulder. The parrot was taking another sip of his drink, his beak parted, his black tongue tapping at the liquid.\n\nHis violet eyes were looking directly into Leem's.\n\nLeem looked away, back to Lucian.\n\n``Of course, if the music gets too loud, just let me know.''\n\n``Oh, thank you, but I've these.''\n\nLeem gestured to the small, round, seed-like buds in their ears. \n\n``Noise cancelling.''\n\n``Ah, smart...'' Lucian said. ``Though I imagine it must be overwhelming, with the bar's music and your own mixing like that-''\n\n``Oh, I'm not listening to music on this! It just plugs up some of the noise.''\n\n``Right, yes, excellent.'' The wolf smiled, and stood.\n\nAt the same moment, parrot rose from the stool and began to move towards them, his movements so languid as to seem like he was gliding towards them.\n\n``What sort of voice does he have?'' Lucian continued. ``Slow and low? Or a bit more fast and energetic like you?''\n\n``Well, hah,'' Leem began.\n\n``I beg your pardon, Lucian, but might you be talking to Leem?''\n\n...That was the voice. \n\nLeem looked up, and there was the vamped-up parrot, standing over him with a curiously stoic look.\n\nLucian also looked behind him.\n\n``Ahhh! Lucian! I had a sneaking suspicion... Come, pull up a chair!''\n\nOf course they knew each other. Did the wolf Lucian know this from the get-go?\n\nThe bird Lucian kept his eyes on Leem's as he sat down. It was as slow and graceful as the rest of his motions.\n\n``Charmed to meet you,'' the parrot said, the corners of his beak finally creasing into a slight smile. ``I thought I heard your lovely voice across the room.''\n\n``Yeah, I know, I'm kinda loud,'' Leem said, slightly bashfully. \n\nHow much of this bird's body language was an act, Leem wondered?\n\nIt was certainly a bit performative; Leem got the sense the vamp-bird was putting on a little show for them, a practiced elegant posture that obscured his intentions, like a noble mingling at a fancy party. But rather than putting Leem off, it only intrigued them more...\n\nPart of them wondered if this Lucian was an actual, honest-to-goodness vampire, and they were already starting to fall under his glamour.\n\n...As hot as it was, Leem was pretty sure they'd be able to tell, and resist, if that were the case.\n\n``Well!'' the owner of the bar stood up. ``I'll leave you two to get to know each other. Don't let me be a third wheel, now. Lucian, I'll see you later, I'm sure!''\n\n``Indeed,'' the parrot said with a little nod. \n\n``By the way,'' the wolf Lucian added. ``My close friends call me Luce. You can think of me with that name if it makes things less confusing.''\n\n``I'll thank you not to flirt with my date,'' the parrot Lucian said, though there wasn't a hint of annoyance or malice in his tone.\n\nLuce simply laughed and walked away.\n\nAs the wolf sauntered towards the entrance, Leem followed with their eyes. The wolf's coal-black tail was swishing just a little bit. A slight sense of paranoia was still there, tweaking at the back of their mind. Wondering if all of that had been pre-planned, that the two Lucians were tag-teaming them...\n\n``You're drinking whiskey, I see?'' \n\nLeem looked back at Lucian - their date, that is. \n\n``Yeah, it's easier to pace myself with something strong,'' the panda said. ``I just chug back beer, and cocktails are even worse.''\n\n``What about wine? Would you like a glass? The bottle's only just been opened.''\n\n``Oh, well, gotta be careful about mixing drinks, you know how it is.''\n\n``I don't, really.'' Lucian said. One wing-tipped hand was resting on the table, the other daintily holding the thin neck of the broad wine glass. ``I don't care for other drinks. I have a very specific palate.''\n\n``Hey, it's good that you know what you like,'' Leem laughed nervously. ``So, uhm... how're you?''\n\n``Wonderful, thank you for asking,'' Lucian said. ``And I can sense that you're very uncomfortable with small talk, so allow me to drive the conversation.''\n\n``S-sounds good,'' Leem said, knowing they'd been read like an open book.\n\nThere was something intriguingly inscrutable about the bird Lucian's charisma; he was hiding his tone of voice as well as that cape hid his shoulders.\n\nSpeaking of which... it was even more fascinating up close. The fabric was strangely radiant in the dim boudoir light. It was like an unblemished, star-free sky, but there was a subtle shifting shimmer to it too.\n\n...He was really hot.\n\nLeem noticed a bit of arousal between their legs, and squeezed their thighs together a little more tightly.\n\n``This is one of my favourite places to spend an evening,'' Lucian said. ``And Lucian, he's a very good friend of mine. We have a good deal of history.''\n\nLeem was pretty good at keeping eye contact. But something was catching the lower end of their peripheral vision.\n\nThe cape was held against Lucian's shoulderblades by a golden clasp with a ruby inlaid. It, too, glittered.\n\n``That's cool,'' Leem said, trying to hide their distraction. ``I'll be honest, this is not what I was expecting, and I don't know, maybe I didn't dress right?''\n\nThey looked down at their turtleneck; there was a dark mark of moisture just next to the amber pendant. Shit... what was that? It must have been condensation from the whiskey glass that they absentmindedly wiped on the amber... \n\nLucian probably didn't see it. God, their nerves were shredding themselves apart...\n\n``Nonsense, you look very sharp.'' Lucian showed his hand a little more; both in the sense of his tone warming slightly, and the wing-hand sliding further along the table, coming closer to Leem's knuckles like an encroaching tide. ``I had a feeling you had a good fashion sense.''\n\n``That's... really nice of you to say,'' Leem laughed. ``I mean, you're... you look amazing, it's so, uh...''\n\n``It's `giving Bram Stoker getting lunch at Onika Burger', as someone once told me,'' the parrot said with a laugh. ``Whatever that means.''\n\n``That means you look really stylish,'' Leem said, afraid Lucian was going to ask for clarification.\n\n``I'll take your word for it,'' he said. \n\nLeem inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. \n\nThe conversation continued. The Vampire question was still there in Leem's mind, but it had receded to the back. By the time Lucian's feather-fingers made their first brush along Leem's hand, they were comfortable at last. \n\nThis was lovely. Lucian was lovely! He was still a little intimidating, but generous. And his feathery hand was a little chilly, but Leem was too polite to pass comment.\n\nLeem took another drink of wine. When had they switched? It didn't matter. It was delicious. \n\n``I don't normally go for dry wines,'' they said, hoping they didn't have a little pink stain on their upper muzzle. ``They taste like wax, usually.''\n\n``That's because you've been drinking the dreck,'' Lucian said. ``You need to go for the top-shelf wines.''\n\n``If I could afford that,'' Leem laughed ironically.\n\n``Well, my manor has a wine cellar, so perhaps I can let you sample some, sometime.''\n\nLeem wasn't surprised by that one.\n\n``As long as you're not going to show me an Amontillado...''\n\nLucian laughed. ``Yes! Don't worry, I won't do that. Ah, Edgar... such a careless choice of wording; that little story did such damage to Amontillado's reputation, I remember full well...''\n\n...How would he have been around for that?\n\nOh, right, the vampire thing. Now it was back in Leem's mind, they were wondering...\n\n``You're wondering how I might know that,'' Lucian said. ``You probably have already put the pieces together, haven't you?''\n\n``Uhm... maybe.'' Leem noticed how sharp the downward tip of the parrot's beak was, and felt a shiver of... what was that. Fear? Prey instincts? The way they felt when they got stared at by an attractive snow leopard?\n\n``Mhm. Well... the answer to that question is, indeed, yes.''\n\nThe ruby sparkled. Leem's eyes shot to it again.\n\n``And that... fascinates you. It excites you, doesn't it?''\n\n``Y...yes,'' Leem said. Their mouth felt dry. Their heart was pumping.\n\n``You might feel as though you're in danger. And that excites you. You must imagine that I want something very specific from you... and I will have no difficulty taking it.''\n\nLucian took hold of Leem's hand, and turned it upwards. Leem didn't resist. They just stared at the swirling ruby. Something felt odd... but pleasantly so. Familiar, too...\n\n``What do you think? Would I have difficulty drinking your sure-to-be sumptuous blood if I so choseI?''\n\nThe answer was in the glimmering ruby. Leem shook their head slowly, their eyes remaining perfectly still and fixated.\n\n``No...''\n\n``Well, don't worry, little warm thing,'' Lucian continued, giving their paw a little squeeze with his cold, long-clawed digits. ``I won't take anything without permission. I don't come in unless invited; it's only good etiquette.\n\n``So allow me to converse with you a while longer, and perhaps towards the end of the night you may decide whether to extend an invitation or not.''\n\nThat polite, persuasive tone drained all the tension and nerves from Leem's body. Lucian's finger rested in Leem's palm and tilted it upwards. As the ruby flashed, Leem's mind shuddered, and that shiver spread down the rest of their body.\n\n...they were being hypnotised. Leem knew this feeling well. They had been zonked more than enough times to know it. ...And to resist it, if they wanted to.\n\nBut this felt too good to pass up, too tempting of a prospect. So they watched the ruby glimmer, and listened to the parrot speak.\n\nThe conversation continued, even more one-sided than before. \n\nLucian told Leem stories. How he came to this city in the first place, some of the wonderful literature he'd inspired throughout the years, even a primer on the subtle differences of different blood types on the palate. Leem listened closely, stared into the crimson glitter and the ebony shimmer. Most of the details were lost in the hypnotised haze, but the tone of Lucian's voice was pure pleasure, and that was enough for Leem's dazed brain.\n\n``Look into my eyes, would you?''\n\nThe ruby's swirling vortex faded, and Leem floated for a moment before they shook their head and looked up. They felt themself emerging from the trance; it must have been lighter than expected...\n\nThat didn't last.\n\nLucian's violet eyes were gleaming and flickering like tea-lights. The subtle chaos of the flickering changes brought a new wave of sensation over the sleepy panda. The already barely noticeable music had faded away to nothing.\n\n``Hn?'' Leem grunted. ``S-sorry...''\n\n``No need to apologise. Good panda.''\n\nThe soft feathery finger continued to trace, as if writing a letter on Leem's pawpads. \n\nThe dark club began to melt in Leem's peripheral vision, turning a darker crimson and filling with shades of black. The red pulsed and rushed, and Leem could hear the comforting roar in their own mind, as if their ears had been closed. The darkness was perfectly still and even, a deep emptiness that Leem found themself craving more and more by the moment.\n\nBut in the centre of that swirling mass, Lucian remained perfectly clear. His body shimmering with vampiric glamour, his eyes pulling away every thought, every worry.\n\nLeem was drooling, now, more wet spots spreading on their belly. They followed Lucian's eyes as the bird shifted around the table to slide in next to them, encroaching with the silence of an eclipse. \n\nLeem's head tilted to the side to follow, another long strand of saliva sliding from their slack jaw, their eyelids fluttering lower still.\n\nAs Lucian came in close, he wrapped one bloodless arm around Leem's shoulder. The panda felt something cool and smooth drape around and over them. Slightly warmer than the parrot's cold plumage. The shimmering satin enfolded them. \n\n``Does my cape feel nice?'' Lucian asked, knowing the answer. ``Would you like it to hide us away from prying eyes? So we may drink of each other more easily?''\n\n``Yes...'' Leem mumbled. \n\n``Good panda,'' Lucian cooed, his voice almost a soft song. He lifted his arm and pulled, and Leem was subsumed into the cape.\n\nThe purple gleam of Lucian's eyes illuminated the satin cape. It caught the light, and the subtle waves of its motion made it glow like an aurora. \n\nThe reds and blacks slithered back into Leem's addled consciousness again, curling into a spiral somewhere in the depths of the midnight fabric.\n\n``Now...'' Lucian whispered, his beak clicking just at Leem's white, sensitive ear. ``May I sample a taste of you...?''\n\n``Yes...'' Leem breathed. They could have said no. Part of them could have stopped them, the way one could stop a teetering glass from falling off a table and smashing.\n\nBut it was easier to let it happen. To let the play continue.\n\nTo let their head tilt to the side, and to wordlessly invite the vampire in.\n\nLeem barely felt it. The satin, and the dancing hypnotic colours projected on it, were a perfect distraction. They didn't notice how, as Lucian's beak opened, the keratin of his beak shifted silently to create two canine, blood-letting fangs.\n\nLeem didn't even flinch as the sharp tips pierced the flesh of the side of their neck. They only felt comfort, and thankfulness, and bliss. Happy to provide sustenance to a being far greater than themself.\n\nWarmth drained down their neck, matting their fur, before something cold and nimble pressed into it. It lapped up the mess before it could stain, then pressed right into the wound to drink more directly from the source. Lucian moaned and crowed softly with satisfaction, and Leem melted and sagged like a discarded marionette.\n\nTheir melting senses seeped out of them through those punctures. The numbness from that bite spread through them, a soothing coolness, like a breeze counteracting the blaze of a midday sun. It made the panda sigh, made their eyes flutter, and made their mind become blanker, ever blanker...\n\nThe moment was over far quicker than it began. A sudden flutter brought Leem back to wakefulness in an instant. The dim lights of Club Lunix might as well have been a flashbang from how sharply it contrasted with that beautiful darkness. \n\nLeem shook their head, still zonk drunk, reaching up to rub at their neck. The flesh was smarting a little, but the blood flow seemed to have stopped.\n\n``Drink,'' Lucian said reassuringly, guiding a cold, condensation-saturated glass of water to their lips. ``And allow me to order you a dessert. I would suggest the taro sorbet.''\n\n``Unh...? Y-yeah sure,'' Leem said. They only remembered where they were by the end of that statement. Too late to go back on that.\n\n-\n\nLucian was right. The sorbet had a perfectly subtle sweetness to it, and the texture... by the time it touched the tip of their tongue it had already melted and spread its bounty through their palate.\n\nThe light purple colour of it, well... that had to have been another intentional choice. Leem couldn't stop thinking about the way Lucian's eyes had pulsed so beautifully, far more so than that enchanted ruby. \n\n...Though the owner's eyes definitely were their match. Leem had a weakness for pretty eyes.\n\nThey weren't going to say that out loud, though... especially since said owner was right next to them.\n\nThey felt a little awkward, flanked as they were by the wolf and the parrot sitting on either side of them. Lucian was closer than Luce, but both of them were very much in Leem's personal space. \n\nThey didn?t really mind, though they weren?t quite sure why. In fact, they didn?t even remember being served, or Luce joining them, for that matter. There were gaps in their memory, foggy patches that eluded Leem?s attempts to clear them. \n\nTrying to remember the moments felt kind of nice, though... the struggle was pleasant, even if it felt futile.\n\n``It's... really good,'' Leem said.\n\n``You said that already,'' Luce smirked, and Leem felt even smaller than they had already. \n\nNot necessarily in a bad way.\n\nThat prey-sense, that feeling that they were about to be pounced on, was still there. Though now, they found themself hoping they would be set upon again.\n\nBy the parrot... or maybe the wolf?\n\n``I really don't think you even needed to warm them up, Luce darling.''\n\n``I couldn't help it,'' Luce said. ``I had to see for myself.''\n\n``Wait, see what?'' Leem was trying to keep up; a part of their brain, the analyst, usually never quite switched off when they were under hypnosis. But it was still a good few steps behind.\n\nThe dark, flirtatious chuckles hit Leem from both ears, and it made their body slacken. They dropped their spoon into the glass dish.\n\n``What's going on?''\n\nLuce looked at Leem with that gorgeous, knowing smile again.\n\n``Don't worry,'' Luce said. ``You've got a little sorbet on your face.''\n\n``Oh, thanks-'' Leem said, reaching for a well-crumpled napkin on the table. As they reached, Lucian's paw interceded, taking up all of Leem's still-foggy vision.\n\nThe thumb and the middle finger pushed against each other.\n\n``Remember.''\n\nLuce's claws sparked like flint on a stone. The snap hit Leem right between the ears and they fell back into the memory, with vivid, exquisite clarity.\n\nLeem didn't mind listening.\n\nIt was easy to listen to Lucian's voice, and look into his pretty eyes.\n\nLucian's eyes rippled and roiled with purple and lilac. His voice hadn't dropped in pitch or changed in pace. But it took on a legato lilt, an endless smooth stream of words. If he was taking a breath at all, Leem couldn't tell. Their gaze kept moving from those swirling eyes, to that comely mouth. They could feel their head tilt forward, but their eyes kept locked on to the whorl of colour and the flashes of pink in that mouth. \n\nLucian's paw had taken hold of one of Leem's, and he was tracing a slow clockwise spiral in their upwards-facing palm. It moved in time with the slow, syrupy rings of colour. A new ring appeared in the left eye when the claw reached 12 o'clock on Leem. Another arrived in the right at 3. Left at 6. Right at 9. Left at 12... \n\nRight at 3.\n\nLeft at 6.\n\nRight at 9.\n\nLeft at 12.\n\nEach revolution seemed to stretch on for minutes on end, each ring of colour moving so slowly and decadently through the demon's gaze. Leem stared and drooled.\n\n``That's a good panda. Eyes on me, now, feeling more and more safe and welcome and comfortable the longer you gaze into me. You know you're so very safe here. This is your place. In this bar. Under its spell. Under my control. Already imagining that you'll come again, and again, and again...''\n\nLeem felt a throb between their legs, as though their shaft was trying to take the alternate meeting of that phrase. The wolf seemed to notice, and he chuckled darkly.\n\nLeem laughed along too, though they weren't quite sure why; they were not a being of thought anymore, they were a being of sense, of pleasure, of reaction. Waiting for the next thing to react to - a flash of light, a change in tone of voice, a new touch.\n\nThe claw reached 12 o'clock, and Lucian's eyes suddenly flashed with an intense burst of kaleidoscopic light. At that same moment, the paw yanked Leem forward, and their consciousness threatened to return, but something sharp pressed into their forehead, and -\n\n``Sleep.''\n\n-before Leem could realise it was the claw of Lucian's other hand, they plunged into endless darkness, ever darker than any night they'd ever experienced.\n\n``And you fall into my power, so deep, feeling better and better the more your mortal will surrenders to something much greater...''\n\nLeem's head pushed forward, but the claw kept them upright.\n\n``Hold still, please.''\n\nLuce's magic radiated into Leem's forehead through his claw. Dark, Enochian text appeared in dark eldritch ink on their forehead; only for a slight moment, before it faded into their fur and into their wide-open mind.\n\n``And I seal those thoughts away, little panda. Hold nice and still for me, just as I put the last bits in place, and... Good.''\n\nThe wolf flicked his finger up, and a little mote of darkness pushed Leem back until they were sitting upright. Their eyes were rolled into their head, still pulsing with colour even as the eyelids fluttered shut. Their mouth hung wide open, and a wet blob of drool landed onto the turtleneck, right next to the amber. They twitched in place a little, the eldritch ink of the contract sinking into their fur and into their mind.\n\nLuce sat back and surveyed his handiwork with a grin. He looked over his shoulder, and inclined his head. The vampire glided over, at least pretending to be unamused. \n\n``Must you do this every time, Lucian?'' the parrot asked.\n\n``I couldn't help myself,'' the wolf replied. ``I see a cute thing, I hypnotise them. And besides, you already conditioned them with a few audio files, didn't you?''\n\n``True, but immaterial,'' Lucian said, looking past the wolf at the still, drooling panda. ``I presume their memory of the trance.is gone for the moment?''\n\n``For ever, if you'd prefer.'' Luce looked at Leem. ``I wouldn't want to step on your talons any more than I already have.''\n\n``On the contrary...'' Lucian said, with a husky hint of arousal in his throat. ``You might have convinced me to share. We'll see how the night goes.''\n\nLeem could hear all of this. But all of it disappeared into darkness, locked into a salt-circle sigil inside their brain, not to be disturbed.\n\n``Open your eyes, panda,'' Luce said. Leem did so, their eyes opaque with purple and lilac and pink. ``Goood, mortal.\n\n``Look at my claw... and listen close. I'm going to put another spell on you. It will activate when my fingers snap, and I'll dispel it with another snap.\n\n``This will take a little while to explain. But you're happy to listen, yes?''\n\nLeem's nod was a centimetre long. They drooled some more. They croaked in agreement.\n\nLeem didn't mind listening.\n\nThe red panda felt themself falling backwards, their legs buckling inwards. But satin enrobed them, and the bird's beak preened at their neck fluff. It pierced into their neck again, a sharp stab making Leem ever deeper into trance, deeper into bliss, so deep in fact, that they felt themself approaching a familiar barrier... and smashing right through it.\n\nTheir whole body flooded with endorphins, and they let out a deep, delighted sigh like they'd just cracked their back. \n\nAll they felt, all they thought, was pure, unadulterated relief. From exhaustion, from fear... and from thought.\n\n``Aaaaagh, this feels amazing...!'' Leem said, leaning back against Lucian's body as the black tongue lapped at their weeping wound. ``Can't believe you both got me this good...! Amnesia stuff doesn't usually work on me, wow!''\n\n``Uhm...?'' Luce looked legitimately confused. \n\n``What on earth...?'' Lucian pulled away cautiously. \n\n``Oh, don't worry!'' Leem continued. The panda's voice was clear, precise, and strangely chipper, like a pre-recorded message at an amusement park ``I'm still deeply hypnotised! This happens when I go deep enough, like I'm so zen I'm basically lucid! Lucid with the Lucians~!''\n\n``Hrm.'' Luce grabbed Leem by the chubby cheeks as his eyes began to swirl again. Leem's eyes locked on and spiralled. ``No need to put up barriers, or lie... let us in, little panda.''\n\n``But I'm not!'' Leem protested happily, though their eyes swirled to match Luce's instantly. ``This is just what I'm like when I'm really deep in trance! Dunno why, but I just get super clear-minded... or a part of me does. I'm under! Leem's under!''\n\nLucian kept Leem enrobed, stroking that satin bolt along their chest and stomach. He was scrutinising the panda every bit as much as his lupine acquaintance. \n\n``Pinkie promise~!'' Leem said, almost bubbly in their tone. ``I'm... Leem's... I'm not sure if I'm Leem or not, but Leem's nice n' deep, totally dissociated! All yours~!''\n\nThe Lucians looked at each other. The panda's babbling wasn't making much sense... The baffled smile first appeared on the parrot's beak, before it spread to the wolf's muzzle.\n\n``Well, clearly this fuzzy thing's full of surprises,'' Luce growled happily.\n\n``Indeed. And the night is young...'' Lucian stared into Leem's blank, yet sparkling eyes. ``Shall we all retire to my manor? I did promise this lovely thing some samples of my wine collection...''\n\n``I bet Leem's gonna be tasting more than wine~'' Leem said, the barest hint of snark in that doll-like monotone.\n\nThe Lucians shared another look; this one more gently exasperated. \n\n``Sorry, I won't speak unless spoken to if you'd prefer!''\n\n``Good panda,'' the Lucians said in accidental unison. One last shared look, this one with the barest hint of a competitive glare.\n\nOne coveted a personal butler, the other wanted a new employee. \n\nIt would be difficult to share a once-in-a-blue-moon sub like this one.\n\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "Two Drinks and a Dessert

Or : Gee How Come Your Mom Lets You have Two Lucians?

By Limewah

Gift story for VampBirb and LucianLupin

Leem was pretty sure that the black-feathered parrot at the bar was a vampire. Ninety-Nine percent sure.

Considering their time in Club Lunix up till that point, it wouldn't have been that huge of a shock.

The place was more like an old fashioned gentleman's club than a modern dance club. The whole experience had felt like a weird fever dream between the statuesque, slender white jackal who fixed them with a piercing, glowing stare at the door, or the low light and the slight mist to the space that made it feel like they'd stepped into another world.

It felt like a high-class bordello, with a spicy scent to the air and music like a soft subtle breath on the back of a neck.

Leem had assumed being well-dressed was the name of the game, so they'd come in a turtleneck the colour of sandstone, with slacks to match, and a little amber teardrop around their neck. Though now they felt slightly out of place with the darker, skimpier clothing that others were wearing.

In fact, a half-dozen of the patrons were walking around buck-naked. They'd checked more than their clothes at the door.

Obviously the other patrons didn't think it was as big of a deal as Leem did. But they were doing their damndest to keep it cool, and not to stare at the frankly gorgeous bodies of all types on display. A charcoal-furred goat girl with burning purple eyes, a paunchy belly, ample tits and a swinging, flared cock, gave them a wink, and they felt their insides fizz.

...She probably wasn't their date.

Leem's date hadn't lied; this really was a place for `alternative' types to let loose and relax, be they queer, goth, sleekly dressed... or even non-mortal.

Where was their date, anyway?

They could answer that question later; the more pressing question was, was that bird a vampire?!

...Were they about to date a vampire?!??

The lack of reflection in the mirrored surface behind the bar was one of those tell tale signs. Plus the goblet-like glass of deep burgundy wine in one of his hands. He sat on that stool like it was a king's throne, one leg crossed over the other. He was dressed all in black, too - ebony slacks, and a dress-shirt buttoned all the way up with a collar far longer than most shirts Leem had seen.

And then there was the cape.

He could have doffed it at the door, the way most people did in this hot, sweaty basement club. But it remained draped around him - the glossy satin fabric caressed the parrot's shoulders and slid down.

``Everything to your liking?''

``Nn!'' Leem practically leapt upright, instantly locking eyes with the dark-furred wolf standing over him. ``Hi, yes!''

``Are you enjoying your drink? Could I get you anything else?''

Leem tried not to melt into the wolf's purple eyes, that dazzling smile, and the fur that seemed to subtly between the colour of ash and twilight.

They weren't Leem's date, and the last thing the panda wanted was to catch feelings for someone else before the first date even kicked off.

The wolf had left a very definite impression from the moment Leem entered. Mr. Lupin, the enigmatic owner of the establishment seemed to make a point of greeting guests at the door, offering a firm handshake as though he was making a pact with each and every one. He was busy as a bee, too, helping to serve drinks and take orders.

``Uhm, n-no, thank you.''

``Good,'' he said. ``Because that means it's time for me to take a little break. May I sit?''

``Uh-sure!'' the answer leapt from Leem's throat; they were a very agreeable person, and had a lot of difficulty saying no. But... it was fine, it was fine. Being flirted with might help warm them up.

``Ahh, thank you.'' The wolf sat down across from Leem. ``So, I'm curious. How did you hear about this place?''

``Oh, uh, my date suggested it.'' Leem said. ``He gave me an invite, and I don't know if he's here, or if he's late, or what.''

``Mhm?'' the lupine tilted his head to the side, sympathetically. ``He had better not have stood you up... that won't do. Don't worry, I'll make the evening worth your while if he doesn't.''

``Thank you,'' Leem said. ``All I know about him is his name's Lucian.''

Strangely enough, the wolf seemed only slightly amused. Like he knew something Leem didn't. For just a second, the thought that this might be Lucian crossed their mind. But he didn't sound like the voice the panda had heard.

``I?ll see if I know any Lucians who might be here... aside from myself.''

``Aside from... oh!'' Leem laughed. ``Oh, that's funny...''

``Hah, imagine me inviting someone for a date at my own establishment,'' Lucian chuckled. ``Not a bad idea actually...''

``Hah, yeah...''

Leem was conscious of how loudly they were laughing. They were doing a poor job at hiding how low key smitten they were. What if the other Lucian was watching? Would they get jealous? Throw the whole thing off?

``Do you know what he looks like? Maybe I've seen him.''

``Actually, I met him on EchoDate.''

``Ohhh, the `voice only' dating app, I've heard of that...'' Lucian said with a nod. ``Well, as you can see it's quite quiet in here, so if you were to prick your ears you might find him....''

Lucian continued to chat. Leem didn't mind listening.

But the avian at the bar didn't leave their head either.

Leem looked past the grey-furred wolf's shoulder. The parrot was taking another sip of his drink, his beak parted, his black tongue tapping at the liquid.

His violet eyes were looking directly into Leem's.

Leem looked away, back to Lucian.

``Of course, if the music gets too loud, just let me know.''

``Oh, thank you, but I've these.''

Leem gestured to the small, round, seed-like buds in their ears.

``Noise cancelling.''

``Ah, smart...'' Lucian said. ``Though I imagine it must be overwhelming, with the bar's music and your own mixing like that-''

``Oh, I'm not listening to music on this! It just plugs up some of the noise.''

``Right, yes, excellent.'' The wolf smiled, and stood.

At the same moment, parrot rose from the stool and began to move towards them, his movements so languid as to seem like he was gliding towards them.

``What sort of voice does he have?'' Lucian continued. ``Slow and low? Or a bit more fast and energetic like you?''

``Well, hah,'' Leem began.

``I beg your pardon, Lucian, but might you be talking to Leem?''

...That was the voice.

Leem looked up, and there was the vamped-up parrot, standing over him with a curiously stoic look.

Lucian also looked behind him.

``Ahhh! Lucian! I had a sneaking suspicion... Come, pull up a chair!''

Of course they knew each other. Did the wolf Lucian know this from the get-go?

The bird Lucian kept his eyes on Leem's as he sat down. It was as slow and graceful as the rest of his motions.

``Charmed to meet you,'' the parrot said, the corners of his beak finally creasing into a slight smile. ``I thought I heard your lovely voice across the room.''

``Yeah, I know, I'm kinda loud,'' Leem said, slightly bashfully.

How much of this bird's body language was an act, Leem wondered?

It was certainly a bit performative; Leem got the sense the vamp-bird was putting on a little show for them, a practiced elegant posture that obscured his intentions, like a noble mingling at a fancy party. But rather than putting Leem off, it only intrigued them more...

Part of them wondered if this Lucian was an actual, honest-to-goodness vampire, and they were already starting to fall under his glamour.

...As hot as it was, Leem was pretty sure they'd be able to tell, and resist, if that were the case.

``Well!'' the owner of the bar stood up. ``I'll leave you two to get to know each other. Don't let me be a third wheel, now. Lucian, I'll see you later, I'm sure!''

``Indeed,'' the parrot said with a little nod.

``By the way,'' the wolf Lucian added. ``My close friends call me Luce. You can think of me with that name if it makes things less confusing.''

``I'll thank you not to flirt with my date,'' the parrot Lucian said, though there wasn't a hint of annoyance or malice in his tone.

Luce simply laughed and walked away.

As the wolf sauntered towards the entrance, Leem followed with their eyes. The wolf's coal-black tail was swishing just a little bit. A slight sense of paranoia was still there, tweaking at the back of their mind. Wondering if all of that had been pre-planned, that the two Lucians were tag-teaming them...

``You're drinking whiskey, I see?''

Leem looked back at Lucian - their date, that is.

``Yeah, it's easier to pace myself with something strong,'' the panda said. ``I just chug back beer, and cocktails are even worse.''

``What about wine? Would you like a glass? The bottle's only just been opened.''

``Oh, well, gotta be careful about mixing drinks, you know how it is.''

``I don't, really.'' Lucian said. One wing-tipped hand was resting on the table, the other daintily holding the thin neck of the broad wine glass. ``I don't care for other drinks. I have a very specific palate.''

``Hey, it's good that you know what you like,'' Leem laughed nervously. ``So, uhm... how're you?''

``Wonderful, thank you for asking,'' Lucian said. ``And I can sense that you're very uncomfortable with small talk, so allow me to drive the conversation.''

``S-sounds good,'' Leem said, knowing they'd been read like an open book.

There was something intriguingly inscrutable about the bird Lucian's charisma; he was hiding his tone of voice as well as that cape hid his shoulders.

Speaking of which... it was even more fascinating up close. The fabric was strangely radiant in the dim boudoir light. It was like an unblemished, star-free sky, but there was a subtle shifting shimmer to it too.

...He was really hot.

Leem noticed a bit of arousal between their legs, and squeezed their thighs together a little more tightly.

``This is one of my favourite places to spend an evening,'' Lucian said. ``And Lucian, he's a very good friend of mine. We have a good deal of history.''

Leem was pretty good at keeping eye contact. But something was catching the lower end of their peripheral vision.

The cape was held against Lucian's shoulderblades by a golden clasp with a ruby inlaid. It, too, glittered.

``That's cool,'' Leem said, trying to hide their distraction. ``I'll be honest, this is not what I was expecting, and I don't know, maybe I didn't dress right?''

They looked down at their turtleneck; there was a dark mark of moisture just next to the amber pendant. Shit... what was that? It must have been condensation from the whiskey glass that they absentmindedly wiped on the amber...

Lucian probably didn't see it. God, their nerves were shredding themselves apart...

``Nonsense, you look very sharp.'' Lucian showed his hand a little more; both in the sense of his tone warming slightly, and the wing-hand sliding further along the table, coming closer to Leem's knuckles like an encroaching tide. ``I had a feeling you had a good fashion sense.''

``That's... really nice of you to say,'' Leem laughed. ``I mean, you're... you look amazing, it's so, uh...''

``It's `giving Bram Stoker getting lunch at Onika Burger', as someone once told me,'' the parrot said with a laugh. ``Whatever that means.''

``That means you look really stylish,'' Leem said, afraid Lucian was going to ask for clarification.

``I'll take your word for it,'' he said.

Leem inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

The conversation continued. The Vampire question was still there in Leem's mind, but it had receded to the back. By the time Lucian's feather-fingers made their first brush along Leem's hand, they were comfortable at last.

This was lovely. Lucian was lovely! He was still a little intimidating, but generous. And his feathery hand was a little chilly, but Leem was too polite to pass comment.

Leem took another drink of wine. When had they switched? It didn't matter. It was delicious.

``I don't normally go for dry wines,'' they said, hoping they didn't have a little pink stain on their upper muzzle. ``They taste like wax, usually.''

``That's because you've been drinking the dreck,'' Lucian said. ``You need to go for the top-shelf wines.''

``If I could afford that,'' Leem laughed ironically.

``Well, my manor has a wine cellar, so perhaps I can let you sample some, sometime.''

Leem wasn't surprised by that one.

``As long as you're not going to show me an Amontillado...''

Lucian laughed. ``Yes! Don't worry, I won't do that. Ah, Edgar... such a careless choice of wording; that little story did such damage to Amontillado's reputation, I remember full well...''

...How would he have been around for that?

Oh, right, the vampire thing. Now it was back in Leem's mind, they were wondering...

``You're wondering how I might know that,'' Lucian said. ``You probably have already put the pieces together, haven't you?''

``Uhm... maybe.'' Leem noticed how sharp the downward tip of the parrot's beak was, and felt a shiver of... what was that. Fear? Prey instincts? The way they felt when they got stared at by an attractive snow leopard?

``Mhm. Well... the answer to that question is, indeed, yes.''

The ruby sparkled. Leem's eyes shot to it again.

``And that... fascinates you. It excites you, doesn't it?''

``Y...yes,'' Leem said. Their mouth felt dry. Their heart was pumping.

``You might feel as though you're in danger. And that excites you. You must imagine that I want something very specific from you... and I will have no difficulty taking it.''

Lucian took hold of Leem's hand, and turned it upwards. Leem didn't resist. They just stared at the swirling ruby. Something felt odd... but pleasantly so. Familiar, too...

``What do you think? Would I have difficulty drinking your sure-to-be sumptuous blood if I so choseI?''

The answer was in the glimmering ruby. Leem shook their head slowly, their eyes remaining perfectly still and fixated.

``No...''

``Well, don't worry, little warm thing,'' Lucian continued, giving their paw a little squeeze with his cold, long-clawed digits. ``I won't take anything without permission. I don't come in unless invited; it's only good etiquette.

``So allow me to converse with you a while longer, and perhaps towards the end of the night you may decide whether to extend an invitation or not.''

That polite, persuasive tone drained all the tension and nerves from Leem's body. Lucian's finger rested in Leem's palm and tilted it upwards. As the ruby flashed, Leem's mind shuddered, and that shiver spread down the rest of their body.

...they were being hypnotised. Leem knew this feeling well. They had been zonked more than enough times to know it. ...And to resist it, if they wanted to.

But this felt too good to pass up, too tempting of a prospect. So they watched the ruby glimmer, and listened to the parrot speak.

The conversation continued, even more one-sided than before.

Lucian told Leem stories. How he came to this city in the first place, some of the wonderful literature he'd inspired throughout the years, even a primer on the subtle differences of different blood types on the palate. Leem listened closely, stared into the crimson glitter and the ebony shimmer. Most of the details were lost in the hypnotised haze, but the tone of Lucian's voice was pure pleasure, and that was enough for Leem's dazed brain.

``Look into my eyes, would you?''

The ruby's swirling vortex faded, and Leem floated for a moment before they shook their head and looked up. They felt themself emerging from the trance; it must have been lighter than expected...

That didn't last.

Lucian's violet eyes were gleaming and flickering like tea-lights. The subtle chaos of the flickering changes brought a new wave of sensation over the sleepy panda. The already barely noticeable music had faded away to nothing.

``Hn?'' Leem grunted. ``S-sorry...''

``No need to apologise. Good panda.''

The soft feathery finger continued to trace, as if writing a letter on Leem's pawpads.

The dark club began to melt in Leem's peripheral vision, turning a darker crimson and filling with shades of black. The red pulsed and rushed, and Leem could hear the comforting roar in their own mind, as if their ears had been closed. The darkness was perfectly still and even, a deep emptiness that Leem found themself craving more and more by the moment.

But in the centre of that swirling mass, Lucian remained perfectly clear. His body shimmering with vampiric glamour, his eyes pulling away every thought, every worry.

Leem was drooling, now, more wet spots spreading on their belly. They followed Lucian's eyes as the bird shifted around the table to slide in next to them, encroaching with the silence of an eclipse.

Leem's head tilted to the side to follow, another long strand of saliva sliding from their slack jaw, their eyelids fluttering lower still.

As Lucian came in close, he wrapped one bloodless arm around Leem's shoulder. The panda felt something cool and smooth drape around and over them. Slightly warmer than the parrot's cold plumage. The shimmering satin enfolded them.

``Does my cape feel nice?'' Lucian asked, knowing the answer. ``Would you like it to hide us away from prying eyes? So we may drink of each other more easily?''

``Yes...'' Leem mumbled.

``Good panda,'' Lucian cooed, his voice almost a soft song. He lifted his arm and pulled, and Leem was subsumed into the cape.

The purple gleam of Lucian's eyes illuminated the satin cape. It caught the light, and the subtle waves of its motion made it glow like an aurora.

The reds and blacks slithered back into Leem's addled consciousness again, curling into a spiral somewhere in the depths of the midnight fabric.

``Now...'' Lucian whispered, his beak clicking just at Leem's white, sensitive ear. ``May I sample a taste of you...?''

``Yes...'' Leem breathed. They could have said no. Part of them could have stopped them, the way one could stop a teetering glass from falling off a table and smashing.

But it was easier to let it happen. To let the play continue.

To let their head tilt to the side, and to wordlessly invite the vampire in.

Leem barely felt it. The satin, and the dancing hypnotic colours projected on it, were a perfect distraction. They didn't notice how, as Lucian's beak opened, the keratin of his beak shifted silently to create two canine, blood-letting fangs.

Leem didn't even flinch as the sharp tips pierced the flesh of the side of their neck. They only felt comfort, and thankfulness, and bliss. Happy to provide sustenance to a being far greater than themself.

Warmth drained down their neck, matting their fur, before something cold and nimble pressed into it. It lapped up the mess before it could stain, then pressed right into the wound to drink more directly from the source. Lucian moaned and crowed softly with satisfaction, and Leem melted and sagged like a discarded marionette.

Their melting senses seeped out of them through those punctures. The numbness from that bite spread through them, a soothing coolness, like a breeze counteracting the blaze of a midday sun. It made the panda sigh, made their eyes flutter, and made their mind become blanker, ever blanker...

The moment was over far quicker than it began. A sudden flutter brought Leem back to wakefulness in an instant. The dim lights of Club Lunix might as well have been a flashbang from how sharply it contrasted  with that beautiful darkness.

Leem shook their head, still zonk drunk, reaching up to rub at their neck. The flesh was smarting a little, but the blood flow seemed to have stopped.

``Drink,'' Lucian said reassuringly, guiding a cold, condensation-saturated glass of water to their lips. ``And allow me to order you a dessert. I would suggest the taro sorbet.''

``Unh...? Y-yeah sure,'' Leem said. They only remembered where they were by the end of that statement. Too late to go back on that.

-

Lucian was right. The sorbet had a perfectly subtle sweetness to it, and the texture... by the time it touched the tip of their tongue it had already melted and spread its bounty through their palate.

The light purple colour of it, well... that had to have been another intentional choice. Leem couldn't stop thinking about the way Lucian's eyes had pulsed so beautifully, far more so than that enchanted ruby.

...Though the owner's eyes definitely were their match. Leem had a weakness for pretty eyes.

They weren't going to say that out loud, though... especially since said owner was right next to them.

They felt a little awkward, flanked as they were by the wolf and the parrot sitting on either side of them. Lucian was closer than Luce, but both of them were very much in Leem's personal space.

They didn?t really mind, though they weren?t quite sure why. In fact, they didn?t even remember being served, or Luce joining them, for that matter. There were gaps in their memory, foggy patches that eluded Leem?s attempts to clear them.

Trying to remember the moments felt kind of nice, though... the struggle was pleasant, even if it felt futile.

``It's... really good,'' Leem said.

``You said that already,'' Luce smirked, and Leem felt even smaller than they had already.

Not necessarily in a bad way.

That prey-sense, that feeling that they were about to be pounced on, was still there. Though now, they found themself hoping they would be set upon again.

By the parrot... or maybe the wolf?

``I really don't think you even needed to warm them up, Luce darling.''

``I couldn't help it,'' Luce said. ``I had to see for myself.''

``Wait, see what?'' Leem was trying to keep up; a part of their brain, the analyst, usually never quite switched off when they were under hypnosis. But it was still a good few steps behind.

The dark, flirtatious chuckles hit Leem from both ears, and it made their body slacken. They dropped their spoon into the glass dish.

``What's going on?''

Luce looked at Leem with that gorgeous, knowing smile again.

``Don't worry,'' Luce said. ``You've got a little sorbet on your face.''

``Oh, thanks-'' Leem said, reaching for a well-crumpled napkin on the table. As they reached, Lucian's paw interceded, taking up all of Leem's still-foggy vision.

The thumb and the middle finger pushed against each other.

``Remember.''

Luce's claws sparked like flint on a stone. The snap hit Leem right between the ears and they fell back into the memory, with vivid, exquisite clarity.

Leem didn't mind listening.

It was easy to listen to Lucian's voice, and look into his pretty eyes.

Lucian's eyes rippled and roiled with purple and lilac. His voice hadn't dropped in pitch or changed in pace. But it took on a legato lilt, an endless smooth stream of words. If he was taking a breath at all, Leem couldn't tell. Their gaze kept moving from those swirling eyes, to that comely mouth. They could feel their head tilt forward, but their eyes kept locked on to the whorl of colour and the flashes of pink in that mouth.

Lucian's paw had taken hold of one of Leem's, and he was tracing a slow clockwise spiral in their upwards-facing palm. It moved in time with the slow, syrupy rings of colour. A new ring appeared in the left eye when the claw reached 12 o'clock on Leem. Another arrived in the right at 3. Left at 6. Right at 9. Left at 12...

Right at 3.

Left at 6.

Right at 9.

Left at 12.

Each revolution seemed to stretch on for minutes on end, each ring of colour moving so slowly and decadently through the demon's gaze. Leem stared and drooled.

``That's a good panda. Eyes on me, now, feeling more and more safe and welcome and comfortable the longer you gaze into me. You know you're so very safe here. This is your place. In this bar. Under its spell. Under my control. Already imagining that you'll come again, and again, and again...''

Leem felt a throb between their legs, as though their shaft was trying to take the alternate meeting of that phrase. The wolf seemed to notice, and he chuckled darkly.

Leem laughed along too, though they weren't quite sure why; they were not a being of thought anymore, they were a being of sense, of pleasure, of reaction. Waiting for the next thing to react to - a flash of light, a change in tone of voice, a new touch.

The claw reached 12 o'clock, and Lucian's eyes suddenly flashed with an intense burst of kaleidoscopic light. At that same moment, the paw yanked Leem forward, and their consciousness threatened to return, but something sharp pressed into their forehead, and -

``Sleep.''

-before Leem could realise it was the claw of Lucian's other hand, they plunged into endless darkness, ever darker than any night they'd ever experienced.

``And you fall into my power, so deep, feeling better and better the more your mortal will surrenders to something much greater...''

Leem's head pushed forward, but the claw kept them upright.

``Hold still, please.''

Luce's magic radiated into Leem's forehead through his claw. Dark, Enochian text appeared in dark eldritch ink on their forehead; only for a slight moment, before it faded into their fur and into their wide-open mind.

``And I seal those thoughts away, little panda. Hold nice and still for me, just as I put the last bits in place, and... Good.''

The wolf flicked his finger up, and a little mote of darkness pushed Leem back until they were sitting upright. Their eyes were rolled into their head, still pulsing with colour even as the eyelids fluttered shut. Their mouth hung wide open, and a wet blob of drool landed onto the turtleneck, right next to the amber. They twitched in place a little, the eldritch ink of the contract sinking into their fur and into their mind.

Luce sat back and surveyed his handiwork with a grin. He looked over his shoulder, and inclined his head. The vampire glided over, at least pretending to be unamused.

``Must you do this every time, Lucian?'' the parrot asked.

``I couldn't help myself,'' the wolf replied. ``I see a cute thing, I hypnotise them. And besides, you already conditioned them with a few audio files, didn't you?''

``True, but immaterial,'' Lucian said, looking past the wolf at the still, drooling panda. ``I presume their memory of the trance.is gone for the moment?''

``For ever, if you'd prefer.'' Luce looked at Leem. ``I wouldn't want to step on your talons any more than I already have.''

``On the contrary...'' Lucian said, with a husky hint of arousal in his throat. ``You might have convinced me to share. We'll see how the night goes.''

Leem could hear all of this. But all of it disappeared into darkness, locked into a salt-circle sigil inside their brain, not to be disturbed.

``Open your eyes, panda,'' Luce said. Leem did so, their eyes opaque with purple and lilac and pink. ``Goood, mortal.

``Look at my claw... and listen close. I'm going to put another spell on you. It will activate when my fingers snap, and I'll dispel it with another snap.

``This will take a little while to explain. But you're happy to listen, yes?''

Leem's nod was a centimetre long. They drooled some more. They croaked in agreement.

Leem didn't mind listening.

The red panda felt themself falling backwards, their legs buckling inwards. But satin enrobed them, and the bird's beak preened at their neck fluff. It pierced into their neck again, a sharp stab making Leem ever deeper into trance, deeper into bliss, so deep in fact, that they felt themself approaching a familiar barrier... and smashing right through it.

Their whole body flooded with endorphins, and they let out a deep, delighted sigh like they'd just cracked their back.

All they felt, all they thought, was pure, unadulterated relief. From exhaustion, from fear... and from thought.

``Aaaaagh, this feels amazing...!'' Leem said, leaning back against Lucian's body as the black tongue lapped at their weeping wound. ``Can't believe you both got me this good...! Amnesia stuff doesn't usually work on me, wow!''

``Uhm...?'' Luce looked legitimately confused.

``What on earth...?'' Lucian pulled away cautiously.

``Oh, don't worry!'' Leem continued. The panda's voice was clear, precise, and strangely chipper, like a pre-recorded message at an amusement park ``I'm still deeply hypnotised! This happens when I go deep enough, like I'm so zen I'm basically lucid! Lucid with the Lucians~!''

``Hrm.'' Luce grabbed Leem by the chubby cheeks as his eyes began to swirl again. Leem's eyes locked on and spiralled. ``No need to put up barriers, or lie... let us in, little panda.''

``But I'm not!'' Leem protested happily, though their eyes swirled to match Luce's instantly. ``This is just what I'm like when I'm really deep in trance! Dunno why, but I just get super clear-minded... or a part of me does. I'm under! Leem's under!''

Lucian kept Leem enrobed, stroking that satin bolt along their chest and stomach. He was scrutinising the panda every bit as much as his lupine acquaintance.

``Pinkie promise~!'' Leem said, almost bubbly in their tone. ``I'm... Leem's... I'm not sure if I'm Leem or not, but Leem's nice n' deep, totally dissociated! All yours~!''

The Lucians looked at each other. The panda's babbling wasn't making much sense... The baffled smile first appeared on the parrot's beak, before it spread to the wolf's muzzle.

``Well, clearly this fuzzy thing's full of surprises,'' Luce growled happily.

``Indeed. And the night is young...'' Lucian stared into Leem's blank, yet sparkling eyes. ``Shall we all retire to my manor? I did promise this lovely thing some samples of my wine collection...''

``I bet Leem's gonna be tasting more than wine~'' Leem said, the barest hint of snark in that doll-like monotone.

The Lucians shared another look; this one more gently exasperated.

``Sorry, I won't speak unless spoken to if you'd prefer!''

``Good panda,'' the Lucians said in accidental unison. One last shared look, this one with the barest hint of a competitive glare.

One coveted a personal butler, the other wanted a new employee.

It would be difficult to share a once-in-a-blue-moon sub like this one.

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