Gisse tried her best not to squirm in place. It wasn't a big date at a fancy restaurant, but more cozy was fine for her—as long as she could actually keep her focus. "How do you know Super Lupine Girl? She said you were related?"

Stanton let out a sigh. It was something he'd done well to build a convoluted alter-ego to be Super Lupine Girl. He also made a mental note to thank his mother for reinforcing it. "My cousin. She's a bit of a hothead, but you know how it is with family."

"Ugh. Yeah. I keep finding things in my head that my mom read when she was in my head. It's like I'll be thinking about something, and then bam, I feel her or smell her or—" Reining-in talk of her mother, lest she accidentally summon the succubus herself, Gisse tried to come up with a good segue into the ring. "Uh, I wanted to say thank you for, you know, not treating me like a monster."

Looking at the plain gold band that Gisse held out in the palm of her hand, Stanton's mind raced with all the reasons that taking a ring from a succubus would be a bad idea. "You really shouldn't have. Everyone deserves a chance at not being evil."

The squirming actually made Gisse laugh. "Of course it's enchanted. Soul magic, too." When Stanton's head jerked up, Gisse laughed. "I only need a tiny, weenie piece of your soul so that it binds to you. It's a ring of protection that's been made by the daughter of the greatest enchanter in all the Abyss. And she tells me she's almost as good as her dad."

Being told, unequivocally, that the ring was enchanted with soul magic, was the kind of honesty Stanton should have expected from Gisse. "Do I need protection?"

Rolling her eyes, Gisse said, "There's a dragon loose somewhere in the city, and you ask if you need protection?" Then she realized how much sarcasm she was laying on and added, "Sorry. I just— I like you, and I don't want to see you get hurt."

Turning his magical senses up, Stanton looked at Gisse first and had to resist his curiosity at looking at a creature that was entirely magical in nature. When he turned his attention to the ring, he could see it definitely was wrapped in enchantments. Layers of magic that had little tendrils trying to reach out for something, all trailing back to what looked like an empty socket. The socket, though, had teeth.

"That's quite something." Stanton closed his eyes for a moment to banish the magic-sight. "So you put a bit of my soul in there, I put it on, and it protects me? From what, exactly? I know, I know, the dragon. But how does it work? You know I'm a wizard, and I love finding out how all this works."

"I—I actually don't know. Sin said it was the most powerful defensive ward she could make for a mortal, but beyond that, magic isn't exactly my specialty. Though, my dad kinda gave me a lot of magic when he sent me here." Looking at the ring, Gisse thought about it and wondered if she would believe another demon if they told her to put a ring on and let them feed it her soul. "I'm an idiot.

"No," Gisse said, closing her hand around the ring. "I see why you wouldn't want it. I'm a demon. I'm a succubus. Literally a creature known for sucking out the souls of mortals and enslaving them. And what do I do? I ask you to let me suck out a little of your soul, bind the ring to you with that piece, and then put the ring on you. I wouldn't even trust me."

Their food arrived. It was nothing special, but they both kept silent as the waiter slid plates before them. Stanton's was a pasta dish with a creamy sauce, while Gisse's was a rare steak with a rich gravy and vegetables.

When the waiter was gone, Gisse started eating. She didn't want to talk anymore, because talking would show him and her how stupid this idea was. So long as she kept her mouth full, it would encourage Stanton to as well, and that meant no more idiot ideas would come out.

By the time he finished his food, and thought about the ring long and hard, Stanton had decided something. He put his knife and fork down and said, "Okay, I'll wear the ring. What do you need to do?"

Still savoring the fragment of the animal soul in the meat, Gisse could only stare at Stanton.

"You need a little of my soul. Will that hurt to have it extracted? Didn't you use some kind of spell last time, with that deer soul?"

"You're okay with it?" Shaking her head, Gisse stared at Stanton's smiling face. "It won't hurt if I do it right. The reason I used that grinding spell on the deer soul was to make it right for the dish and to extract as much soul as I could. This—this would only need a tiny bit."

Now, though, faced with permission and questions, Gisse had to remind herself that she had never actually removed soul from a person. Just watching her mother do it once had been enough to put her off it for life.

"Gisse?"

Realization hit, and it was impossible for her to avoid the topic. Slumping, Gisse let out an inarticulate cry of utter defeat. "I'm a succubus who can't suck."

"Uh." Stanton looked around, sparing apologetic smiles to everyone who had finally noticed that there was a demon in their midst—though most seemed to be at least somewhat disarmed by the fact she was sobbing. Reaching out and taking one of Gisse's hands, Stanton waited until she looked up at him before saying, "Hey, that you're not good at this is great. You really haven't—?"

"I have." Gisse wrapped her fingers around Stanton's tight and squeezed. "And it means a lot to hear that, but I have done it before, it's something I haven't exactly had a lot of practice with." She wanted to scream and demand he tell her why he was smiling so much, and why it made him look even more handsome than usual. "I want to protect you, and this is the best way I know how. My friend, Sin— Err. Her name's Syntha Mistress of Desirous Thighs— Why is that making you smile more?"

"Because you're making me rethink absolutely everything I know about demons. Do you want the rundown of what most books say about talking to demons?" When Gisse shook her head, Stanton squeezed her hand a little. "It says not to bother. Well, I'll keep bothering. Maybe I should write a new book, Why I Bother?"

It was too much. Gisse snorted a laugh and got a case of the giggles.

"What? I think it is important. Everyone can be a person if they try. Even Mec— I mean, even the dragon could be a person if, just once, she'd asked for help rather than attacked m—Super Lupine Girl…" It was a good save, but Stanton had to wonder about what he'd said.

"Would you really help her?"

It was the question he was asking himself. He could have answered reflexively, but he spent some time thinking about it. "If she was ready to make amends and stop attacking people, I'd offer to help. Probably my cousin, too."

The idea that he would make up with his friend, not that he knew the dragon was his friend, made Gisse's heart flutter. Looking into Stanton's big, expressive eyes, she made a promise to herself to protect his gentle, sweet heart to the ends of time itself. "Wait, your cousin? Super Lupi—"

"Louise."

"Louise? It—it's a little surprising that someone that tough has a normal name." Gisse's curiosity was piqued by the thought that the fighter that always seemed to be in the right place at the right time, was a normal person with a normal name and normal… stuff. "She's a proper hero, isn't she?"

The topic had shifted again, not that Stanton minded, but he wished he didn't have to lie to his friends about being Super Lupine Girl. "Yeah. She tries to be. It's not easy, though. There's a lot of stupid politics going on from our families, and on top of that she keeps complaining that the authorities here kept refusing to believe there was a dragon."

It was obvious to Gisse why they would try that. "They're scared. Dragons aren't nice."

"Yeah, but all the more reason to do something about it right now." Stanton remembered he was still holding Gisse's hand, and smiled down at the red fingers gripping him back.

"Like they should if, say, there were a demon loose in the city?" Focusing on their hands too, Gisse sighed. "Maybe I should leave and make everyone's lives easier." The gentle fingers of Stanton's hand tightened. She looked up to see a hard set to Stanton's face.

"No. I don't believe beings are inherently bad. Look at Cleverclaws and yourself. Neither of you are evil, despite what the religious types would try to insist. That pig, though, should not be here, and if the dragon won't stop beating up on people, it shouldn't either."

"My mom wants me to enslave you. Even Sin told me I should." Gisse slipped her hand from Stanton's and held up both and pressed her index fingers and thumbs together to make a loop in the air. She only let a little magic flow, but it was instinctive and completely unique to her kind—and she hated that.

When Gisse drew her fingers away from the mana working, Stanton could see the intricate threads of abyssal magic float in the air for a moment before, without something to contain, it evaporated. He hadn't seen that particular magic himself before, but he'd read about it. "Soul binding."

"The unique magic of the succubus. If I did that while my hands were around your neck, you wouldn't have a say in what happened for the rest of your life—and after it. You would be bound to me by the core of your existence, and there would be no way to undo that. You would be mine. My mother would do it in a heartbeat, even if ultimately she'd want it to be me that has you. She has tried in the past. She offered me mortals as pets." Gisse blew the last few wisps of the magic away and shuddered. "That's why I live with my dad. He's just as much a demon, but there's an honesty about the way he kills anyone that gets in his way. He doesn't play with his food."

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It made sense to Stanton, but the look of surprise on Gisse's face, after she spoke about her father, urged him to ask, "You like your dad?"

"Yeah." The answer was a revelation for Gisse. She blinked a few times and then smiled. "He's kinda old-fashioned, but I guess he's old so that's normal. I was sort-of a bitch to him for a while. That's why he shoved me through the summoning portal here. Is it wrong that I would be happy if I went home to him?"

"No. My dad was always a bit distant when I was growing up. He's an arch-wizard and staff to the Emperor, after all. I didn't see him much, but when I did, he always felt a little—not there. Then things changed when I showed magic aptitude. The Emperor gave him leave to train me and we spent from dawn until far after dusk each day studying. Mom said we were spending too much time together, but she was busy with the military—until my werewolf powers awakened too.

"I know I'm lucky. I was born noble, my family loves me and supports me, and my future seems to be cemented in stone. A part of me, Gisse, yearns to have been born lower. There's a disconnect that happens when I'm with commoners for too long. They sense when I've run out of all the knowledge I have of them and they can see me for what I am. I wish I didn't have that, and that's why I spend so much time trying to put myself among them and learning.

"All of that is why I don't want to discount anyone from being respected, even the dragon. If I don't allow myself to listen and experience everything, I'm no better than the noble everyone expects me to be." Stanton had been letting his mind flow directly to his mouth. By the end of it, he was reeling from how much he'd said.

It was a lot for Gisse to take in. Since she'd arrived on the mortal plane, she had to admit that there seemed to be a division between the people, and Stanton had just summed it all up perfectly. "The nobles think they're better than everyone, and the commoners resent it. That's what the dragon is all about." She wanted to tell Stanton that the dragon was his friend, but she also recognized that when Cassandra was all dragoned up, she wasn't exactly anyone's friend.

"Yeah. It's like Cassandra gets on her worst day, but that's the best it can be. Err, so Louise tells me. She keeps me updated and I try to pay attention to her. She doesn't really get out much, and sometimes the best I can manage is to get her to choke down some food and get my maid to run her a bath. I don't think she's ever noticed she's a girl." The memory from the fight on the train still rankled a little with Stanton, but he could see they both had points with that, and wanted that particular hiccup to be old history.

In all his life, Stanton had never had a conversation be so cathartic as the one he was having with Gisse. She was akin to a neutral party. He could be open, without risking his standing with her primarily because they had no history before he'd become Super Lupine Girl. "So, how are we going to do whatever this ring needs?"

The question blindsided Gisse for a moment. She had to return her thoughts to the original problem and try to process it. "For now, let's not worry about it. Knowing Sin, there's probably more to the thing anyway. Keep it if you want, it won't do anything until it's been fed a piece of soul anyway."

Stanton examined the ring a little more, trying to forget the image of the yawning mouth on it. "Your friend, Sin, sounds like a great enchanter."

"She is, though she thinks about guys way too much. You're glad you didn't have her get summoned instead. She'd have this city in pieces within a week." The thought of it made Gisse wince. "But if you could figure out a way to stop her getting loose, it could be a fun weekend."

Remembering his fair share of "fun weekends'' when he'd started noticing girls, Stanton was worried that Gisse's statement meant exactly what he thought it meant. Typically, at least according to his books, spending time engaged with a succubus in that manner, was not something mortals could survive with their autonomy inviolate. "There have been magic users smarter and with more power than me that have thought they could keep a succubus from corrupting them. Your friend sounds fun, but are you sure she wouldn't do her best to put a leash on me in all the ways you won't?"

Gisse blushed and, if it wasn't for the unique way Stanton worded it, she would have withdrawn from the conversation or steered the topic elsewhere. Instead, she nodded. "Sin would, but it wouldn't be personal. She didn't get that title without a good reason."

And that's when something hit Stanton, in a thankfully non-physical manner. "You might have mentioned it, but what is your title?"

Slumping a little, Gisse said, "Daughter of desire."

"Huh. That actually fits well, you know." At the incredulous look he got, Stanton elaborated further. "It's not saying what you are, but that your mother is…"

"Queen of desire."

"Right. Do these titles stick around forever, or can you change it?"

"Demons have their name, which for me is Gisse, then our titles. Each title adds to what a person trying to control or summon us needs to know. To summon, you could use as little as a name and a single title. To control a demon, you need all their titles." It wasn't precisely a secret, and even if it wasn't common knowledge, Gisse trusted Stanton. "So you can't exactly go looking up a demon's titles in a book, since it would be out of date. We also keep our very first title a secret and something only our parents know. When a demon reaches their thousandth birthday, they're considered old enough to start taking their own titles, and the first is usually secret, too."

Thinking about it, on what it meant to have parents be your only source of names, Stanton could definitely see where the obvious problem was there. "I bet that's a lot of stress, since your parents could use that against you."

"Some do. Sin's dad tried to sell her to a demon lord." Gisse slumped into her chair as the memory came back.

"What happened?"

"She waited until he finalized the deal, revealed that she'd gotten a new title from her mom, then told the buyer that they'd have to take it up with her dad because she wasn't staying bought." The memory was a good one. Gisse had hugged Sin and congratulated her for turning the tables. "So she turned it around, protected herself, and made sure he'd leave her alone."

"Well, if she needs to get away further, let me know, okay? She might be a bit more demon-like than you, but I'd still be okay with helping." Even as he said it, Stanton felt weird for inviting a demon into his world. Well, a second demon. Gisse barely even fit the description, but yet she behaved far less friendly when with his alter-ego.

It made Gisse smile. "You're just like your cousin."

"What?"

"You can't help yourself. You need to protect people." It was a shocking revelation to Gisse. A question started to race in circles in her head: Do I like nice people? It took her a moment to cement herself on the only correct course—she liked Stanton. "Though your cousin isn't as cute as you."

"She'd be mortified if you said that to her. She's great, and all, but she likes the frilly dresses a little too much for my tastes." It was enough for Stanton to smile at the idea of it. "If you ever need help, or a friend needs help, ask her."

"I'm not sure if you've noticed, but most mortals don't exactly offer to help a demon when they show weakness. They more sort of scream and run away." When she looked at him, though, Stanton was smiling. "What?"

"I talked to my cousin about you. She agreed that unless you get involved in a fight, she's leaving you alone. Like I said, you can trust her if you need help." Glancing around, Stanton nodded to the staff who started rushing to bring them desserts.

Gisse had seen the various desserts of this plane. She was well aware the current fad was for chilled creams. The cold of the things often left her feeling far worse than the taste of them buoyed her up. So, when a slice of steamed fruit pudding, covered in hot custard came out, she let out a little squeal of excitement and flicked her wings in glee.

But, for a moment, Gisse looked up at Stanton and her chest felt tight—he looked at her with the kind of delight only a besotted and enslaved mortal usually saved for a succubus. She wanted him. She wanted to do all the naughty things she could think of. She wanted to stay up late talking. She wanted to sit by a big fireplace and let his arms pull her against his chest to keep her warm. She wanted— She wanted— She wanted to kiss him.

"Gisse?"

Stanton's lips moved, but Gisse didn't hear what he said. All she could do was stare at his face.

"Gisse? If you don't eat it quickly, it'll get cold."

Shaking her head, Gisse managed to snap out of the mystical spell that Stanton had absolutely not cast on her. Plucking up her fork, she started to eat the hot dessert. Not that it was as hot as the inferno of the Abyss, but for Gisse the thought that Stanton had obviously put into the food choice was enough to make up the difference.

When they finished their desserts, Stanton stood and rushed around the table to help Gisse from her chair. "Where are you staying in the city? I'll walk you home."

Shrinking in on herself a little, even with Stanton so close, Gisse answered, "They didn't even arrange a proper place to live. I have a room in the dungeon they've built under the city."

"Tomorrow we'll find somewhere proper for you to live, but for tonight you have me at a disadvantage. It wouldn't do for me to walk you to a sewer." Leading the way to the door, Stanton nodded to the head waiter as they passed her. Stepping out into the street, he sighed.

The sound stung Gisse to hear. "What's the matter?"

"I was going to walk you home and steal a kiss before I left."

"Oh." Gisse wasn't sure how, given the chilly (to her) temperature, but she blushed. "You can kiss me if you like."

"That's the problem. Now you know, I can't steal it. Will you meet me in the food court tomorrow morning?" Stanton asked.

Gisse sighed at that and tilted her head down a little. "I—" She was interrupted by Stanton's lips on her own. A shiver ran through her and, with a tearing sound, her wings ripped free from the confines of her hoodie, spread wide, then closed around Stanton's back. She pinned herself to him, wrapped all the power her father had bestowed upon her around both of them and froze the world so their little moment could last longer.

The rush of demonic magic, Stanton knew, should have stung in a way that warned him of evil intent, but there was none of that. It was hot beyond belief, thermally, but it wasn't aimed at him at all. He wasn't a priest, but the magic felt without malice or evil intent. While all those roiling thoughts coursed through his head, the rest of him was focused entirely on making the kiss a good one.

All the power and energy Gisse had couldn't stop time forever, though. Reluctantly, she released the world and let time return to its course—but the kiss lingered still. She made happy, surprised little sounds as his arms held her pinned against his chest. When it ended, and she had to admit that despite being immortal, even though she needed to do something other than kiss Stanton for the rest of eternity, she felt a little confused about something.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" Stanton asked. When he saw a look of confusion on her face, he added, "To find a house."

"Y-Yeah. Okay. I—" A deep breath later and Gisse nodded. "I'll find you then." Something was eating away at the back of Gisse's mind as she walked away. It wasn't until she reached a nearby sewer entrance that it occurred to her and she giggled. "He must work out—his chest is so tight."

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