Summoning

Chapter 4

Unlike every prior night, when Aaron returned to his room, he didn't feel terribly sore or exhausted. He wasn't untouched by the work done today, but it was a reasonable ache already soothed by a hot shower and a good dinner. A smile crept over his features as the demon's musk washed over him once he had closed the door.

Again in the winged arm chair, the demon watched at him appraisingly.

Kicking off his shoes, Aaron unbuttoned his cargo shorts and then removed them, too. He draped them over a wooden chair so he could re-wear them tomorrow. They were clean, only put on after his shower. Climbing onto the bed, he pulled off his socks and tossed them onto his suitcase. He expected to feel the demon close to him, but, when he looked up, he hadn't moved from the chair.

"Aren't you hungry?" he teased.

The demon smiled, more of a smirk, "You adjusted well."

"Yeah. I feel great," Aaron confirmed. "It didn't bother me at all," he mused and glanced down, rubbing his hand over where he knew the solid orb must be. Unlike yesterday, he couldn't feel it unless he pressed.

When he looked up, the demon was beside him. It still made him start, even though this was expected. "You like doing that, don't you?" he accused.

The demon smiled again. He was on his knees and now reached to curl his fingers under the hem of Aaron's T-shirt to pull it up. Aaron lifted his arms and ducked his head out and the demon discarded it toward his suitcase at the end of the bed.

"Why do you never take your clothes off?" Aaron asked. "I mean, I know they're not real, but..." he reached out and brushed the demon's muscled arm, feeling no fabric despite looking at the usual button-down, black shirt.

Glancing toward Aaron's hand, the demon seemed to consider what he said and then looked back at him. "What makes you think my arm is any more real than my shirt?" he questioned placidly.

Aaron blinked and thought of the smoke he had seen when the demon had his hand in the fire. And the reflection in the mirror when he had first brought the demon to this room. "I guess I know it's not, either. So why can I feel it and not your shirt?"

"Because, if I am solid, I must feel like something," the demon answered reasonably.

"So why..." Aaron wasn't even sure how to phrase what he was trying to ask.

The demon touched the right side of Aaron's chest, rubbing a little as his claws lightly ran over the top of his shoulder. "I understand flesh." The weight of his voice was almost chilling with the way his claws hooked over Aaron's collar bone. Like he had gained that understanding by flaying his previous victims when they no longer served him.

His claws coming free, the demon lightly rubbed the left side of Aaron's chest. The side of his thumb and claw dragged down his sternum. And then he pushed and Aaron laid back, head touching the edge of the pillow.

Regaining the thread of his questions, Aaron spoke again. "So, why the clothes at all?"

The demon smiled with amusement and resumed his caress down Aaron's chest, lightly flexing his fingers over the poorly defined pectoral muscles. "Humans equate nakedness with vulnerability. I would not wish to give the wrong impression." His eyes followed the progress of his own hand.

Aaron chuckled a little. He supposed that was a point. The demon's hand circled over his belly twice before he became more aware of the egg. Heat flowed from the demon's hand to the egg and back. Warmth suffused Aaron from the exchange. A contented sound vibrated in his throat and he felt his genitals begin to react as his body anticipated what would come next.