Chase burst through the front door of his apartment, slamming it shut behind him. He didn't bother with the lights; the dim glow from the city filtering through the windows was enough. He practically collapsed onto the long sofa, his tie still knotted, his shirt collar still pulled awkwardly high over the fresh bite wounds on his neck. He was dizzy, nauseous, and the persistent, heavy ache of spiritual drain was compounded by the intense, confusing rush of Seraphina's vampiric toxins.
He had survived the Alpha's Friday test only to fall prey to a subordinate predator on a Saturday. Lilith's fury would be biblical if she ever saw the dual puncture marks.
He lay there for perhaps two minutes, savoring the silence before it was, inevitably, broken.
"You look like wet trash," Rixsa stated, appearing beside the couch like a disgruntled shadow. She was wearing an oversized hoodie and sweatpants—likely pulled from the guest room closet—and holding a bag of chips. "Did you crash your new computer?"
"Worse," Chase mumbled, not moving. "I just survived a vampire's unscheduled feeding session. I barely have enough Essence left to power my eyelids."
Rixsa's demeanor instantly snapped from lazy indifference to urgent concern. She dropped the chips, the noise echoing sharply in the quiet room. She crouched beside the couch, her demonic eyes flashing.
"Are you serious? You got drained? By who?" She immediately noticed the evidence.
"Woah. That's fresh. Did she use toxins? You smell like bad life choices and cheap perfume."
"Seraphina. The vampire on the Lore team," Chase rasped. "She used the blood method, and her venom… made things complicated. I need rest, and I need a spiritual infusion, now, or I'll be useless until Tuesday."
Rixsa didn't argue. She knew Chase's current state was genuinely dangerous; a depleted Awakened human was little more than a spiritual empty lot, easily susceptible to possession or even physical dissolution.
"The bath. Now," Rixsa commanded, hauling him up by his arm with surprising strength. "We need to stabilize you immediately. I'll give you back some of what I took yesterday, and then some. It's the fastest way."
Chase was too weak to argue the ethics of reversing the Essence flow. He allowed Rixsa to lead him into the bathroom, where the large tub was quickly filled.
He sank into the hot water with a groan, the heat soothing the aching emptiness in his core. Rixsa slipped in across from him.
"I need to be closer," Rixsa declared, moving closer until she was almost pressed against his legs.
"Do whatever you need to do, Rixsa," Chase muttered, resting his head back, his energy already fading rapidly. He was past caring about propriety; survival was the only metric that mattered.
The warmth of Rixsa's small body against his legs was immediately grounding. He could feel the gentle, reciprocal flow of her demon Essence—a chaotic energy that was oddly stabilizing—seeping back into his exhausted spiritual shell. The process was fast, restorative, and immediately pushed him past the point of consciousness.
One moment, he was feeling the heat of the water; the next, he was out cold, drifting into a deep, heavy slumber induced by spiritual starvation.
Rixsa realized he was unconscious almost instantly. The steady rhythm of his breathing was the only sound besides the gentle slosh of the water.
A wide, malicious smile then formed on her face. Perfect, her perverted mind immediately decided.
She told herself it was purely for her smut research. She had to document the musculature of the unconscious male human form, especially when it was spiritually infused. It was for her artistic integrity, after all.
Rixsa shifted, moving out of the water and then climbing fully into the tub, positioning herself to straddle Chase's hips.
She leaned over his body, her white hair dripping water onto his chest, and began her "research." Her small hands moved slowly, deliberately exploring the hard lines of his torso, tracing the scars of his ancient past that were now perfectly smooth on his new skin.
"Need to document the density," she whispered, her eyes wide with a combination of artistic fervor and blatant lust.
As her exploration moved lower, her touch became less "scientific" and more focused on simple pleasure. The lingering toxins in Chase's system, combined with her focused, tactile attention, caused an immediate, unmistakable erection.
Rixsa froze, her eyes widening in genuine panic. Chase was fully unconscious, yet his body was responding to her touch.
"Oh, chaos," Rixsa muttered, realizing her mistake. This wasn't research; this was a disaster.
She was now sitting on a fully erect human warrior, in the private bath of an apartment where she was only tolerated under strict rules of non-interference. If he woke up now, she wasn't just getting kicked out; she was dead.
"I need to fix this without waking him up."
Rixsa quickly adjusted her position, lifting herself slightly and then lowering again, careful not to cause any sharp movements or friction that might wake him from his deep, depleted state. She settled the newly awakened part of him snugly between her thighs.
Staring at his erection between her thighs, she wondered why it was so big. She knew that the goddess gave him a 'perfect body,' but this was ridiculous. No human needed something that big, even by general human standards.
Using the warm water and the slow, consistent friction of her legs, she brought him to a silent, unconscious climax.
It was frantic, quiet work, powered by pure adrenaline and the desperate fear of eviction. She concentrated fiercely, her own demonic pleasure secondary to the urgent need to neutralize the evidence of her transgression.
When the relief was achieved, Rixsa quickly slid off his body, her heart hammering against her ribs. She sank back into the water, panting slightly. She had saved his life, replenished his Essence, and indulged her perversions, all while preventing a disastrous awakening.
Just for research, she told herself again, though the flush on her face betrayed the lie. She was definitely going to draw that one later.
She settled in to stabilize his Essence for another half hour, ensuring that Chase remained deeply asleep, unaware of the chaotic relief she had just engineered in his lavish marble tub.