Trafficking in Pleasure

Andy had been on pins and needles ever since Kyriliah had told him to expect dinner guests. Despite the fact that Epitome was Kyriliah's favorite now, he wasn't trusted to work in servitude and it remained Andy's job to attend to Kyriliah's needs outside the bedroom (and even though it had only been two days thus far, he missed the affection he used to receive in recognition of his hard work). This meant he had no hope of escaping a run in with Sir Pentecost, as much as he had hoped to. Kyriliah wouldn't trust anyone else to serve them. Why did his good deeds always come back to bite him in the butt?

None of that mattered, anyways. He had a lot to do before the guests arrived. He had to make sure the right foods were made and that they were just right and that the tables were set properly with the right china set and that the chandelier in the dining hall was sparkling just like real diamonds were supposed to. Dinner guests were such a pain to have over! At least with the gala it was a large enough room that everyone had to help clean—the dining room was large enough, but not so large that he could get more than two maids to help him with it.

Two hours before the men were supposed to arrive, everything was finally in order and Andy was able to get himself dressed up well. If he was going to embarrass himself and ruin all chances that he may or may not have to be taken away by a dashing gentleman, at the least he could do so while feeling that he looked the best he could with two gaping holes in his mouth.

Andy was staring in the mirror at the short braids hanging over his shoulders, trying to decide what to do with his hair, when the guests were announced.

A whole two hours early?!

He could have fainted.

Blond hair curled and pulled up high in a ponytail at the back of her head, Genevieve met Andy outside the bathroom, tutting at him as she fixed the ribbon he wore in lieu of a tie. “Breathe,” she purred to him, smiling warmly. She was the first person Andy had befriended in the mansion and although he was too busy to spend much time with her, the two still had a special bond. “The maids say you have everything in order. They're early, but the person most irritated by that is the master and if you're frustrated, too, nothing will work out.”

“Yeah,” Andy mumbled, clutching his friend's hands when she had fixed his ribbon. Tears swam in his eyes, clouding his vision for a moment. He was almost fifteen, there were boys out there working ten times as hard as him in worse states than he was in, he should be able to handle this. It sure beat living on the streets and the guilty conscience he had carried from stealing for a living. He just felt so stressed sometimes. “It'll be okay. I at least got the before dinner snacks done early, so those are ready.”

“There you go,” she said comfortingly, straightening him up and licking her hand to smooth down fly away strands of hair on the top of his head. “Perfect. Now go. And smile!”

“But my teeth--”

“Those who mind don't matter and all that rot, Andy,” Genevieve snapped, swatting the back of his thigh to get him going.


Jayden Pentecost could tell there was something off about Andy the moment the boy walked in to the room. Well, not the moment, exactly, but the moment he laid eyes on him. The boy wasn't walking as confidently and some of the sparkle in his eye was lacking. It was disturbing.

His companions did not notice, of course. Favelli hardly took notice of his ward carrying the tray of finger sandwiches in and Wonka barely spared him a glance; Wonka did not care for the normal children nor the children who looked like they had walked out of one of his strange candy-making contraptions. Only he seemed to take notice of Andy and when he tried to give him a smile it seemed only to make things worse, Andy ducking his head and darting out of the room much quicker than he had entered. Very disturbing indeed.

“Has anything been going on about here lately, Favelli?” Jayden interjected in to the conversation, interrupting whatever Wonka and the demon had been going on about.

Kyriliah easily switched his attention to Jayden, blinking at him in a very unconcerned manner. “Like what, pray tell?”

“Oh, I don't know,” Jayden said, improvising quickly. “The children I have seen all just seem a bit off is all. As if someone had died.”

“Jayden, what are you asking?” Wonka elbowed his friend, laughing airily. Jayden was such a strange one sometimes! “I'm sorry, Kyriliah, I don't know what he is going on about.”

“It's fine,” Kyriliah said amicably. “I appreciate his concern. To tell the truth, Pentecost, there was a scuffle between Andy and another incubus the other day. Unfortunately, Andy did not make it out unscathed. I suppose you with your fine observational skills,” and Jayden did not miss the sarcasm here, “that what you have noticed is the ill effect of his harm on the mansion's inhabitants. As you can imagine, he is dearly beloved by all of us.”

“I see.” Jayden wanted to gag at Kyriliah's spiel. Dearly beloved? Andy seemed more like Cinderella than someone who was cherished so much. He did believe the bit about Andy and another incubus fighting, though. The incubi and succubi race were notorious for their bad tempers. “And what harm did befall him? He does not seem to be wearing any bandages.”

A small smile played across Kyriliah's face and he quickly wiped it away. Wonka attributed it to Kyriliah's fascination with human emotions—that he was merely amused by how concerned Jayden seemed for some strange child. On the other hand, Jayden felt a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach when he caught the smile. “I'm sure he wouldn't mind showing you himself. Andy!”

The demon master had barely breathed the last syllable of his name before the young incubus appeared, standing at attention at his master's side. “Yes, Sir?” he asked, keeping himself turned away from Jayden when he spoke. Andy felt terrible for turning a cold shoulder on the man, but he couldn't bring himself to face him. He thought he might cry if he had to face him.

Putting a hand on Andy's shoulder, Kyriliah gently turned the boy to face his dream come true and worst nightmare.

“Andy, I don't believe you properly greeted our guests earlier. If you do so now, I'm sure they'll forgive your rudeness.”

Andy blushed brightly and Jayden wondered what sort of sick game the demon was playing at.

“Y-yes sir,” Andy mumbled, head ducked low. Kyriliah guided his head up with a finger under his chin, clawed tip warningly pressed in so the boy wouldn't bow his head again. “I-I'm sorry for my rudeness earlier, sirs. It is a pleasure to see you again.” With a deep breathe, he looked just past Jayden and Wonka, smiling weakly.

Wonka and Jayden both gaped when Andy smiled. The former recovered himself easily and brushed it off, but the latter took a moment and did not bother to hide his staring. Andy had lost his fangs in the fight with the other incubus? Was this sort of thing a common occurrence in the Favelli Estate? It made him sick to think that the darling boy could be suffering such things commonly.

“Please leave, Andy,” he said once he was able to drop his gaze to the floor and Andy left quickly again once Kyriliah had given him the okay. “Favelli, his fangs? Really?”

“I wasn't here at the time. I punished the other incubus, of course. His fangs will grow back eventually.”

“It's a good thing he's not for sale,” Wonka laughed, trying to make light of the situation. “He'd be damaged goods now. You'd have to sale him at half the price and even then, who would want him?”

“True,” Kyriliah agreed, brightening now. Wonka was a strange human; he wasn't quite evil, he just didn't seem to follow the same moral and ethical compass that most humans did. “If he weren't quite so useful, I'd worry about that. I mean, without his fangs, I can't very well get any venom out of him, so he's not bringing in any money now.”

“I want to buy him.”

Kyriliah and Wonka continued their banter until Jayden slammed a fist down on the table the untouched tray of finger sandwiches was set upon, upsetting them and one of the treats flopping daintily to the floor. “Listen to me. I said, I want to buy Andy.”

Wonka was gaping for the second time in the last ten minutes and it took him a considerably longer time to regain himself this time. Jayden was rarely so aggressive—and he had never really seemed the type to be interested in a slave. He barely treated his maids as servants, even. Wonka was sure that when Jayden had shown interest in Andy at the gala it had simply been too much wine gone to his head. Apparently not.

“He is not for sale,” Kyriliah said stiffly, not particularly surprised. He had guessed at the gala that Pentecost would be a troublemaker to some extent. He had a way of telling these things about humans.

“I'll pay whatever you want,” Jayden answered, looking Kyriliah straight in the eye, refusing to back down. “Money is not an object to me any more than it is to you. If he is so useless to you now, you may as well get your money's worth out of him.”

“What do you want a thing like that for, Jayden?” Wonka asked suddenly, looking at his friend in confusion. “It doesn't make a lick of sense. I mean, he's damaged, even. If you're going to pay top dollar for Kyriliah's goods, you ought to have the best.”

“He is not damaged!” Jayden said a tad defensively, but he hadn't the sense to be embarrassed for it. “He is perfectly fine as he is and I won't sit aside and listen to the two of you continue to make fun of him for something I'm sure he is already plenty embarrassed by.” Standing abruptly, Jayden stepped past the sandwich on the floor and in to the hall, telling a maid waiting by the entrance to the parlor to fetch his coat and hat.

“Wherever are you going?” Wonka demanded.

“I am returning home, Wonka. I will tell your coach to return to wait for you after he has taken me home. You become completely unlike yourself in this man's company.”

Kyriliah smiled leaning back in his armchair. This was quite good fun to him. “I am sorry if I insulted your delicate sensibilities, Sir Pentecost. Please, sir, we'll have tea and I'll bring in other children that might be of interest to you.”

“No.” Jayden accepted his coat from the maid and tugged it on, flipping his hat on. “I will be back, but not with Wonka. We will make a deal then.”

“Of course.”

“I'll see you at the usual time on Wednesday?” Wonka asked, distressed.

“Always, Wonka.”

“Until then.”

Jayden left briskly, not noticing the magenta eyes watching him from around the corner of the hall as he stalked out. What a despicable man that Kyriliah was! He supposed that was what came of a soul being from the bowels of Hell. He was going to be a difficult man to deal with, but Jayden would have Andy at any rate.

And he just happened to be acquainted with the only man who had ever slighted Kyriliah Favelli.