INVIDENTIA

SEENA

“So,” Seena said. She glared at Yolanda as she stumbled out of Simon's room a few hours after lunch. “You're a succubus.”

Yolanda turned bright red. “Th-that's none of your concern...”

“Uh-huh. How many people were involved?”

She blinked. “What?”

Seena met her gaze levelly. She turned away.

After a second she blushed even more deeply, if that were possible, as she realized exactly what Seena meant. “OH! Just, uh, the two of us.”

Seena had her daygoggles off. The corridor was dark enough that while it was still uncomfortably bright for her, her nightvision was useful.

Yolanda didn't look like a succubus, that was for certain. She looked like a demure flower without any experience in men or related areas. But Seena's sources didn't lie. She was still a Mal, after all, and they knew how to do a good background check. She just hadn't seen the need to mention it to anyone until her stupid brother kissed her.

“Miss McDowell, I don't know what pheromones or whatever you've got...”

Yolanda's eyes snapped up and met her own. “That's not fair, Seena. Don't throw the rest of us in with Malcanthet. Most of us believe very strongly in not using methods like that. Velvet hell, the kind of things we've had to go through because of her...”

Seena raised an eyebrow. “I notice you didn't get insulted when I accused you of polyamory.”

She fidgeted with one of the buttons of the over-sized shirt she was wearing. With a bit of a start, Seena realized it was one of Simon's. Maybe she wasn't sneaking out on him after all.

“It's just...” She shuffled her feet. “You see, we believe that everyone needs love, and love can conquer all, and—”

“I don't need the sales pitch,” Seena interrupted. “I get the picture. I'm willing to assume you have my brother's best interests at heart.”

She smiled weakly. “Thank you.”

“Of course, I'm not the only one you have to worry about. Jelena is angry at you for muscling into her territory.”

Yolanda frowned. “Wait, I thought she was a lesbian.”

Seena shrugged. “Well, I'm pretty sure she's joking. They had a thing forever ago, so sometimes she still brings it up. But Pam really was interested in him. Once she finds out about this she's gonna be pissed.”

Yolanda brushed her golden hair back from her horns. “Velvet... she might actually kill me.”

“It's probably not that bad. Pam's caustic, but there's kindness hidden below that.” Seena paused. “Deep below.” She bit her lip. “Okay, so I haven't actually seen it, but I'm sure it's there.”

Yolanda didn't seem exactly encouraged. “I don't think this is the kind of situation that will bring it out.”

“Yeah... just let me talk to her first, okay?” Honestly, she shouldn't have told Yolanda about Pam's crush. Seena was still surprised Pam had even told her.

Yolanda smiled a little. “No worries there, I promise.” She coughed. “Ah... can I get past you? I need to go to the bathroom.”

“Of course.” Seena stepped aside, and she rushed past quickly to the women's restroom at the other end of the hall.

Now that she was reasonably certain Yolanda wasn't going to try and slit her brother's throat in his sleep, she had to attend to the other half of the problem. She slipped her daygoggles back on, took a deep breath, and knocked on the door three times.

“Yolanda?” Simon called. “That you? The door's open.”

“It's Seena,” she said gruffly. She didn't open the door.

Wisely, judging by the sounds she could hear. He seemed to be rushing around the room, putting on his clothes. After a few minutes, he called weakly. “Come in.”

It wasn't as bad as she had expected. The windows were open, and other than his bed being rumpled, the room was mostly the same as ever. A bit of junk strewn around, but it was the dorm room of three college boys. The only thing out of place was the small pile next to Simon's bed. Probably Yolanda's clothes.

“Seena,” Simon said from where he sat primly on his bed. “What a wonderful surprise. What's up?”

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She didn't bother with small talk. “She's a succubus, Simon.”

He met her gaze evenly. “She did mention that, yes.”

“People are still sore about Malcanthet.”

His eyes didn't waver. “She's not Malcanthet, now is she?”

She frowned. “Dammit, you know what I mean. Why do you think she was hiding it? Word gets out that you're dating a luster, you're gonna be fending off assassins left and right.”

“I've survived assassins before.”

Seena snorted and leaned against the door frame. “That did not count. She thought you were someone else, and was expecting to fight a vampire.”

“Fine. Discount that. More importantly, if anyone sends an assassin against her, they'll go through the Mals, right? And you can talk them out of the contract.”

Seena opened her mouth to retort... then stopped. It was actually a pretty good point.

He grinned, knowing he had her. “In fact, maybe you should just talk to them first, make sure there are no misunderstandings...”

Seena walked over and sat next to him with a sigh. “Simon, you can't just—”

“Can't what?” His face was hard again. “We're not hurting anyone, you know that. I remember you giving me a very long lecture on that subject last time I tried to interfere in one of your relationships.”

Seena groaned and flopped backwards onto the bed. “Do not bring that up again, please...”

“I wasn't going to,” he said quickly. A little too quickly. Normally he liked rubbing her nose in stuff like that. Why would he...

Bah. She was overthinking it. He probably just didn't want to get on her bad side.

There was a dainty knock on the door. Yolanda, unquestionably. Simon frowned down at me. “Are we going to be okay? If you really don't want me to date her, I'll break it off right now.”

“No.” Seena straightened into a sitting position. “By the Black Gates, no. I'm worried about you, but it's not your fault or hers. You two shouldn't be punished for it.”

He grinned. “Good. 'Cuz I wasn't gonna break up with her anyway.”

She cursed and grabbed for him. “You little weasel, I'm gonna—”

He jumped out of her grasp, still grinning from ear to ear, and rushed over to the door before she had a chance to do anything else. As expected, when he yanked it open, Yolanda was standing there.

She looked a little bewildered at their antics. “Ah... is this a bad time?”

“Not at all,” Simon said, a little breathlessly. He stood aside. “Come on in.”

She brushed past him a little too quickly. “I'll... just get my clothes. I'm sure you two need to talk...”

“We're done talking,” Seena said. “It's your turn now.”

Yolanda blinked. “What?”

“You barely ever talk around everyone else. I feel like I don't know anything about you. Tell me something.” She struggled to think of a question. “Like... what's your favorite class this semester?”

Yolanda sat down on the bed next to Seena a little reluctantly. “Ah... Applied Firearms, I'd say. I'm taking it every Friday. I'm doing really well, actually.”

“Is that one of the classes your uncle asked you to take?” Simon asked.

She shook her head vehemently. “No, I wanted to take it. I love guns. My dad had a gun shop when I was a kid.” She smiled a little sadly. “He always said I'd inherit it one day.”

Seena knew an orphan's story when she heard one. “How did he die?”

To her surprise, Yolanda rolled her eyes. “Mom blew up the workshop while they were inside.” She shook her head. “It was attached to the warehouse. Most of our product—and my inheritance—went up in smoke, but at least only two people died.”

Although she wasn't at the angst and tears portion of the story yet, Simon and Seena both knew from experience that these always ended up there sooner or later. He quite wisely stepped in to steer the conversation back on track. “You never mentioned if there was anyone in the Applied Firearms class you were getting friendly with.”

She brightened. “Oh, yeah! There's a baseline from outside the city, Adam. He's fifth in the class, even though he never fired a gun before he got to Domina.”

“What about you?”

She cocked her head. “What about me?”

Seena smiled a little. “I mean, what place are you?”

“Oh! Third. Second is Merrevian of the Hereafter Notes, and first is an angel named Hoshea.”

Simon winced. “Ugh. They're probably fun to be around.”

His girlfriend—Nine Hells, Seena would have to get used to that—rolled her eyes. “Oh, it's not that bad. I mean, they're a little preachy about everything, but they're getting better, really. There's actually a vampire in our class, and they haven't tried to kill each other even once.”

Simon sat down on the bed between them, forcing them to scoot apart to make room. “Wait, what time is your class?”

“Ten hundred hours. The drake has to wear daygoggles.”

His face scrunched up. “Huh. I would have thought he'd just get a night class.”

She shrugged. “I dunno. I think he wanted to learn how to shoot even when he was at a disadvantage.”

Seena had to lean over to see her past Simon. “How is he?”

She grinned. “Bad. Seriously bad. I'm not sure he can even see three feet in front of his face.”

They all laughed, and talked about school and so on for a while longer. When Seena left the two lovebirds alone a few hours later, she was beginning to accept that she might not be as bad an influence as she had thought.

Yolanda had earned a chance, but only one. she wouldn't let anything bad happen to her brother.