“You’re teasing me,” I said as he pulled me through the door, giving me no choice but to discover what lay beyond. He glanced back and winked, and I immediately wondered if teasing hadn’t just tipped over into flirting.
But the moment he led me into his office, every other thought fled my mind entirely. The space stole my breath, looking as though it had been torn straight from the pages of some dark, gothic fairytale. Floor-to-ceiling shelves lined the walls, packed tightly with books of every size and age. Their spines were worn,cracked, and gilded, giving the room the unmistakable presence of a private library rather than an office. The air itself felt heavy with knowledge, old and powerful, as if secrets had soaked into the very stone.
Behind his desk, a vast bay window curved outward, formed from narrow glass panels that wrapped around the wall like a watchful eye. Beyond it, darkness pressed in close, the night offering no view of the world beyond, only my own reflection. The desk itself was impossible to ignore. A massive wooden piece carved into the form of an eagle frozen mid-flight. Its wings swept forward toward the room, feathers rendered in painstaking detail, while its head dipped low at the center. The front of the desk was etched with intricate layers of plumage. Yet the farther the carving extended toward the edges, the more the design twisted, the elegant feathers giving way to something far less natural. The webbed skin stretched between curved, razor-tipped ribbing, transforming the noble bird into something unmistakably demonic.
Behind it sat a high-backed Chesterfield chair, upholstered in the same dark, luxurious red leather I had seen throughout his club, positioned like a throne in its own right. The scale of the desk alone made it clear this was not a place for discussion or negotiation, but for command.
He removed his cloak with effortless precision, unclasping it at one shoulder before flicking his arm in a single smooth motion. The fabric spun away from him as though obeying an unspoken command before landing in a controlled heap against a red leather sofa. The soft thud echoed faintly in the vast space. Now, as for the armored shoulder plate, this he unclasped from straps I hadn’t seen before, hidden under the cloak. The sound of it hitting the stone table he had laid it on made me jump.
Only then did I truly register just how large the room was, easily bigger than my entire apartment, its size broken intosections. One side formed a comfortable living area, furnished for leisure and indulgence, while the other was clearly reserved for work. A space where decisions were made, plans were formed, and consequences were handed down.
Standing there, surrounded by power carved in stone, leather, and paper, I understood with unsettling clarity that nothing in this room existed for comfort alone. Everything here served a purpose, and every purpose answered to him. Of course, I must have come under the second category, as he walked towards his large carved desk and leaned back against it in a casual manner.
Then he folded his large arms across the expanse of his chest, making me stand frozen at the sight. Goddess, this man was all intimidating height and immense muscle.
“There is no need to fear me, little human,” he told me, making me swallow hard before pointing out facts.
“No? Not even after I snuck in here?”
“It is true that there are a limited number of mortals who know of my kind, but it is not entirely unheard of,” he pointed out, making me relax my shoulders a little before telling him,
“I didn’t know what to do, and then your name came up and I…”
“My name came up?” he interrupted, as this part seemed important.
“Yes, I mean… You are Wyedari Oblivion, aren’t you? Oh Goddess, did I sneak into the wrong club?!” I exclaimed, covering my mouth with my hands at the horror of getting this terribly wrong. But then there was that lip twitch again, as he was clearly enjoying my moment of panic.
“Be at ease, Inanna, I am who you think I am,” he replied, making me sigh in relief.
“Thank the Goddess, you nearly gave me a panic attack… My heart already nearly stopped thanks to that big brute downstairschasing me,” I told him, and suddenly he reacted, quickly losing that relaxed ease of his, and now standing straight, asking me in a seriously stern tone,
“Who chased you?”
“Well, I don’t know,” I replied with a confused frown.
“Tell me, what happened?” he asked, as clearly, my answer hadn’t been enough for him.
“I was downstairs and this demon, a big guy with horns, stopped and sniffed at me, I don’t know… maybe I smell like a human or something.”
“You do indeed, now what else?” he pushed, but I couldn’t help but give in to temptation when I turned my head to the side a little and took a tiny sniff. However, he must have hit his limit on waiting, as a few purposeful strides later, he was directly in front of me. Then, once I felt trapped enough by him, he took my chin in a firm hold and tipped my head right back so that I was looking up at him.
“Quit being cute, my little Inanna, and tell me…What happened next?”
I swear, if he hadn’t had hold of my chin, my mouth would have dropped open and hung there in shock. Now he thought I was cute! Seriously,who was this man?
“I… he… he started chasing me, and I ran up the steps to the door and, well, you know the rest,” I told him quickly.
“Did he hurt you?” he asked firmly.
“No,” I replied, but this didn’t seem good enough for him.
“Did he touch you?”he asked me next, only this time in a far darker tone, and that was when I realized something, making me say,
“It was you… with that guy who grabbed me, the one who was going to slap me… you… you did that to him!?” I said, pulling from his hold on my face and taking a fearful step back.
“No one has permission to harm you…to touch you,”he stated, and this last part came out almost like a hissed afterthought of his.A venomous one, at that, making me frown as it was clear I didn’t understand what was going on here.
“I… I came here for your help,” I told him in a small voice.
