As soon as Seraphine opened the door to Aubrey's room, a wave of lust hit her like a slap in the face. She stopped short at the sight of Levy, completely naked and panting heavily atop a sweat-drenched Aubrey Sinclair, her eyes rolled back in the throes of pleasure while her wrists remained chained together above her head.

Numerous scratches and bite marks littered Levy's body—marks that he didn't seem to register.

It took several seconds for him to snap out of his trance, blinking rapidly in shock as he turned to face Seraphine. A mortified blush spread across his face, red-hot, and he quickly scrambled to cover himself up by grabbing hold of the nearby blanket and pulling it up to his chest.

"It-It's not what it looks like!" he stammered, his voice shaking from embarrassment.

Seraphine stared back at him with narrowed eyes, giving him a long, hard look before glancing over at Aubrey's blissed-out expression.

She sighed in exasperation, running a hand down her face. "What did you do?"

"I didn't mean to! I swear! We just—She—The potion—" he managed to sputter out as his mouth struggled to form coherent sentences. Finally, he pointed towards a small glass vial lying beside the bed.

With another deep sigh, Seraphine stepped forward and plucked the vial off the mattress, noting a label on one side that read 'Xeno's Kiss.'

She brought it closer and examined its remaining contents through its translucent pink color. Although only half full of liquid now, a scent reminiscent of some sort of fruity candy wafted out from its stopper. She could see traces of residue still clinging to the sides as well, suggesting that whatever effect it might've held prior had certainly been powerful enough to cause quite a bit of chaos in the meantime.

Meanwhile, Aubrey moaned deliriously while writhing against the bed sheets underneath her, struggling weakly against her bindings. "Ahhhnn... More! More, please!!"

Levy crawled to where his trousers lay discarded on the floor near the footboard, quickly slipping into them to maintain some modicum of decorum despite his utter humiliation.

Seraphine set the potion aside before turning towards him with her arms folded across her chest. "Start explaining, Levy Whitlock. This is unacceptable behavior even by my lenient standards. Did she seduce you somehow?"

"Yes! And no. Look... uhm..." He rubbed at his forehead, trying to compose himself enough to explain. His face remained flushed crimson and beads of sweat rolled down from his temples. "She told me she'd prepared that damn thing in the hopes of seducing either of us for this very reason... but instead she drank too much by accident."

Seraphine blinked in confusion at those words as she glanced towards Aubrey again—the latter still moaning deliriously on the sheets beneath her, oblivious to their presence. She looked back at Levy once more.

"What exactly do you mean by 'this very reason?'"

He hesitated for a second or two, swallowing hard before responding. "U-Uh... Well... U-Um..."

Another frustrated sigh escaped Seraphine's lips. "Forget it. I can figure that out later on my own. Grab your clothes and leave this instant."

"O-of course! Right away!" Levy replied instantly. He scrambled forward and snatched up all of his belongings—including his hat and coat—while keeping himself partially covered by using one hand to hold his jacket closed over his chest. After that, he hurried towards the door and disappeared down the hallway without another word.

With a shake of her head, Seraphine turned back to look upon Aubrey who stared right back up at her with unfocused eyes. Her expression remained dazed and dreamy as she licked her lips while gazing hungrily towards Seraphine. "Ohh... Serahhn..."

Seraphine marched over to her and grabbed a fistful of Aubrey's hair, pulling her from atop the bedding and onto the hardwood floor beside it. She then dragged her out of the room entirely, Aubrey squealing in glee all the while.

After entering the washroom, she pulled a vial from her belt pouch with her free hand. Uncorking it with one thumb, Seraphine poured its contents into the bathtub nearby, causing the lukewarm water to start swirling into an icy vortex.

Then, releasing her grip on Aubrey's hair, Seraphine promptly shoved her bodily into the freezing bathwater.

Aubrey yelped loudly as she splashed about inside of it, struggling furiously against her bindings until Seraphine pressed both hands against her shoulders and forced her under.

Seraphine had intended to bring some good news from her investigation. But alas, seeing Aubrey and Levy's current state had derailed that entire intention.

Instead, Seraphine would settle on giving her a nice, freezing bath to help clear that rut-fogged mind.

***

Two days.

Two long, agonizing days of fighting against her primal desires like a beast struggling to resist the temptation of a raw steak dangling from a string in front of her nose. It was torture. Absolute torture.

Having her wrists and ankles bound helped somewhat, but not enough to prevent her body from aching for sweet release. She tried everything—tantra, meditation, breathing exercises, and even pleasuring herself with her hands—but nothing seemed to work. All it did was cause her libido to skyrocket to new heights with no relief in sight.

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It left her a hot mess. Literally. Sweat poured from every pore, drenching her clothes and making the bedsheets underneath her sodden with moisture. She couldn't concentrate on anything—not even food or drink could soothe her aching thirst.

After the second night, it began to subside. She found herself curled up into a fetal position, hugging her knees tight to her chest. The arousal still lingered beneath the surface, but now she could push through it with enough willpower and focus her attention elsewhere.

Fuck! That damn Crone should've warned me of this side-effect! Fuck!!! Wait, I think she did...

After a while, when it faded entirely away, Aubrey sat up sluggishly with a groan escaping her lips. Her stomach growled in protest at its emptiness, prompting her to scramble clumsily towards her tray and rip it apart as she devoured everything edible it contained. Once finished with that task, she collapsed back against her damp mattress, completely exhausted both mentally and physically from that ordeal.

Seraphine walked into the room during her rest. "I see you're finally coherent now."

"...yes," Aubrey answered in a voice hoarse with disuse, staring down at her bare feet. "Thanks for uhm... helping to put a stop to all of that..."

"Mm."

Silence stretched between them awkwardly as neither party spoke a word.

Finally, Seraphine cleared her throat and sat on the edge of the bed, keeping a respectable distance away from Aubrey. Her expression remained hard and stony as ever. "I've done some digging around while you were occupied with your rut, Miss Sinclair. For the most part, I've validated most of your story, and so far you haven't told me a single lie... as far as I can tell at least..."

"...that's good to hear... So, what happens now? I've got a clean bill of health?"

"For now."

Aubrey let out another heavy sigh before giving Seraphine a slight nod in acknowledgment. "Fair enough... so what now? Am I free to go?"

"I'll have Levy release your bindings, but no... you won't be leaving yet. Not until we know for certain that you won't pose a danger to the people of Mordenstradt... or anywhere else."

As much as Aubrey wanted to protest or argue against those terms—she understood their rationality all too well. She couldn't deny that, if their roles were reversed and Seraphine was an unknown Unhallowed entity, she would also treat her with suspicion and keep watchful over her movements.

It grated her nerves though, especially coming on the backfoot of her rut. She didn't like it when things didn't go according to plan, whether she could influence or control events directly or not.

So, instead of raising an objection against Seraphine's orders, Aubrey simply nodded again. "That works."

"Good. I do have some good news for you too, if it counts for anything," Seraphine offered, crossing one leg over another with practiced poise. "I think I found the location of a facility belonging to the Luminous Consortium."

This made Aubrey look up sharply from her feet. "Really?"

Finally! A break in my damn fortunes!

Seraphine gave a curt nod before standing back up again, moving across the room towards the door. "I'll get Levy to remove your bindings, but I expect you to stay put her today. I plan on going to that facility tomorrow, and you'll be coming with us, Miss Sinclair," she stated sternly, pausing just beside it with one hand on the handle, gazing straight into Aubrey's crimson eyes. "Oh, and please bathe first and foremost, yes? It might help clear the remaining pheromones off your body."

"Yessss," Aubrey hissed through clenched teeth in a long-suffering groan.

A short while later, Levy entered her room with his gaze fixed firmly downward, refusing to meet her gaze as he approached to undo the bindings around her ankles and wrists.

Aubrey watched him, a faint smirk curling at the edges of her lips as she noted how uncomfortable the poor guy clearly felt by what they had done only a couple of days before, despite how good it must've felt at the time. She also noticed how bashful he seemed whenever he accidentally glanced up towards her face, quickly averting his gaze back down again.

"Was that your first time?" Aubrey asked innocently.

Levy flinched at the question, his hands stilling for a moment as he paused to glance her way. "...no... of course not! I've... had s-some experiences, once or twice before."

He spoke quietly, almost as though he regretted every syllable spoken out loud, and continued working on removing the paper talismans wrapped around her wrists without saying anything further.

"Yeah?" Aubrey teased. "How'd they go?"

Levy finished taking the last of her bonds off and began backing away towards the door. "A gentleman doesn't discuss such private matters, Miss Sinclair."

Aubrey snickered at him, flexing her freed arms and rolling her shoulders. She stood up onto bare feet as well, cracking her sore back. "Alright, alright~"

Once again, she caught his quick peek towards her chest. She smirked mischievously and crossed her arms beneath her bosom, pushing her chest upward ever so slightly and exposing more cleavage in the process. "See something ya like, cutiepie?~"

"No! That's not... I wasn't... Agh, I need to go now! Take care!" Levy stammered, practically running out the door.

Aubrey cackled madly after him, stretching her arms and legs before taking a seat on the edge of her bed, reveling in her newfound freedom for the time being. She remained there another moment longer before rising from the bed to make her way toward the washroom, undressing along the way.

She didn't bother to shut the door behind herself as she walked over and slid herself into the bathtub, sinking deep within its cool waters until only her head remained visible above its surface. The cold helped soothe her hot flesh. Her eyelids fluttered closed, letting out a long breath that blew ripples across its previously calm surface.

Aubrey allowed herself to soak for about ten minutes, savoring the quiet solitude provided by having no one else nearby.

Her gamble had paid off—for the most part at least. How long would it have taken her to uncover another lead? Weeks? Months, perhaps, without access to Seraphine's resources? Or, if her bad luck decided to rear its ugly head once more, would it even have surfaced at all?

Aubrey didn't know, and frankly, she didn't care to think of that possibility anymore. Right now, all she cared about was taking advantage of this opportunity while she could.

This would get the good guys off her back while having them do most of the work for her. She just needed to show that she would play along, which meant behaving like a model citizen and doing as Seraphine asked of her.

It wasn't an ideal situation by far... but it could certainly be worse. Much, much worse.

At last, she pulled herself up onto the rim of the basin, sitting atop its edge before stretching her arms languidly above her head as though loosening tight muscles.

Tomorrow, we leave and hopefully get some goddamn answers... finally!

With one final sigh, she leaned forward and began scrubbing the remaining traces of pheromones from her body with vigor.