The Werewolves #2
They must be twins. They're nearly identical. Both delicate and beautiful, wearing flawless over-the-top sparkly eyeshadow and lipstick, fishnet clothing, and smelling like intoxicating perfume. Their irises swirl unnaturally, skin a little too perfect. Fae.
"You work here?" I ask.
The girl nods. "Private rooms and main floor, mostly."
The man beside her flips through my homework and gripes, "I don't know why they keep giving the newbies these booklets. Half the information is—" his lips trill, and they both let out a bright, tinkling laugh. He tosses the pamphlet onto the table between us.
"It's not accurate?" I ask, feeling a little perturbed. I've already done quite a bit of organizing in my notes. If there's one thing I hate, it's incompetence.
He shrugs. "It's not that it's inaccurate. There's just no nuance. Take the gnomes, for example. It says they like to mount together, but it doesn't specify that they prefer orgies over shared partners. They all like to be together, not together with the same partner. Make sense?"
"That… seems like an important distinction."
"Right? I'm Braden, by the way. And this is Keely." He leans forward and takes my hand. His touch is cool, and I try to pull away, embarrassed. My hands are still clammy, leftover from the whirlwind of nerves I've been riding since I got here.
"I'm Lily," I say.
But Braden doesn't let go of my hand after introductions. He stares so long I'm forced to meet his eyes. They're mesmerizing. The swirl draws me in, and a shiver runs through me. It's subtle and warm. Heady. I find myself relaxing, at odds with how I felt a minute ago.
Keely slaps Braden's shoulder, and he pulls his hands from mine. "What? I'm just introducing myself," he defends.
"Quit trying to sleep with the new girl. You have plenty of other creatures you can fuck." She waves her hand in the air, indicating the rest of the building.
"So, you do have sex with the monsters, then?" I whisper, somehow scandalized, even though I knew that was exactly what I was walking into before I came here.
This should have felt real when I went online and searched for the nearest pleasure house.
When I filled out the application. When I signed the waivers.
When I came to my interview and, somehow, still got the job, even though my answers were all stuck in my throat, and I was clearly out of my depth and terrified.
I definitely should have understood the reality of my new job when I came in for orientation an hour ago and had to sign even more waivers, submit proof of birth control and an STI test. Or when I was handed my new "bible" and on page one, saw a detailed drawing of a werelizard with three cocks.
But somehow, here, in the back of the house, with these two employees, in this quiet room, casually mentioning fucking the monsters, makes it feel really real.
They both give me strange looks. "Where do you think you are, honey?" Keely asks lightly.
"Uh, yeah. No, you're right. That was dumb.
I'm just…" I let out a muted growl, and fall back against my chair.
"I don't know what the fuck I'm doing here.
My fiancé cheated on me, I quit my job in marketing, and the next thing I know, I'm a bottle of wine deep, filling out an application for a monster pleasure house, and deciding the thing I really need is to be forced out of my comfort zone.
I should have cancelled everything when I woke up the next morning, but the idea of taking it back, retreating, when that's all I ever do, it just felt like I was stuck on this track, you know?
This one-way train, and if I didn't get the fuck off and hop on a different train, I'd never know what else was out there.
I'll drown in mediocrity. God, I really am predictable," I groan, dropping my head in my hands.
I feel that crazy edge again, where I'm about to do something drastic. To jump off the cliff without a parachute and see what happens. It buzzes beneath my skin, and I feel like I'm on the verge of running away screaming, or stripping off my clothes and begging the gnomes to do their worst.
They both blink slowly, wide-eyed. Then Keely lets out a bright laugh. Braden snickers and says, "Well, Lily, it sounds like you know exactly what you're doing here."
I blush and glance down at my fidgeting hands. "I guess I was hoping it was more the serving-drinks-and-wearing-sexy-clothes kind of place."
"Yeah, it is that. But it's something else, too. Don't worry. You'll find your groove. You don't have to sleep with everybody who asks. You don't even have to sleep with anyone if you don't want to, but you're not gonna make any money that way."
"Lap dances?" I ask hopefully.
Keely answers, "They aren't my favorite, but Braden loves to give lap dances.
I like the cages and the private rooms. We both work the main floor.
Braden likes the lower deck. But since you're new, you'll work the floor to start.
And you're right; it is more like a bar.
Honestly, most of the monsters just come here to relax and have a drink.
It's one of the few places they aren't subjected to human judgement. "
I blow out a breath, gently slapping the pamphlet on the table between us. "Any advice for a newbie?"
"My advice is to go with your gut. The thing about monsters is they're all about pheromones. The nicest ones to me, you might dislike, and vice versa."
Braden pipes in, "Exactly. They're all about scent and compatibility. Obviously, they pay us. Some of them—the werewolves, especially—tip very well."
"Why the werewolves especially?"
"They're more organized; they work as a pack, so they pool their resources, where a lot of the other monsters are loners until they meet their mates.
There's also more of them, the werewolves, I mean, but their female population is low, like ten-to-one, so they crave companionship they can't find in the real world.
And they're very sensual creatures. The wolves like to cuddle.
" Braden blushes, like he's had his fair share.
"So, do women come here, too?" I ask.
"Of all species, of course. Especially if they want the attention of another woman, since most of our employees are women.
But the female weres, we don't see often, since there aren't many.
And the straight ones have plenty of knots to choose from outside of here," he sighs. It sounds like a personal slight.
"What's a knot?"
Keely's eyes get real big, and Braden giggles.
They spend the next ten minutes using dramatic hand gestures after flipping ahead in the pamphlet.
Braden pulls out his phone to show me more pictures.
I don't know how I've never heard of this before.
I guess there's just so many monsters to keep track of, it never occurred to me to look up their genitalia.
I suppose when I applied for this job would've been a good time, but I was too busy clinging to willful ignorance.
Since the pleasure house was part-club, part-sex work, I knew humans had sex with the monsters, so I asked the twins how everything fit.
"There's always a way," Keely winks. "Don't worry, hun, you're gonna be fine. Just have fun. Honestly, if you stick to that, if you follow your instincts, this'll be the best job you've ever had. If you're curious and wanna get freaky, the lower deck is a good place to start."
"Yeah, they told me about that. They really come and just…" I gesture below the table. It's hard to imagine such a thing exists. Harder still, to imagine anyone making use of it.
The monsters can come here, have a drink, relax in good company, and get sucked off by a complete stranger beneath the table and never even have to see their face. They can orgasm mid-sip of their beer, then go right back to conversation.
I think about my old life. My office with the beige walls. My daily planner. Wednesday night sex. I still feel like I don't belong here. But something begins to unfurl inside me. The tight fist in my chest that got me through the last few weeks, releases, just a bit.
The twins have to get back to work, so I thank them and say goodbye.
I finish reading the pamphlet, and Mara returns shortly thereafter, raising an eyebrow at all my notes and tab dividers, but says nothing.
She leads me down another network of halls, to the other side of the building, into the staff rooms.
The vibe is very different here. Far less sterile. More nineteenth-century French boudoir. Draped fabrics, chaise lounges, expensive paintings of ballerinas on the wall. Though when I look closely, it seems the ballerinas are doing more than dancing…
We pass Keely and Braden and a few other employees. Keely gives me a gift she thinks will make me feel more comfortable. Everyone seems happy here. More than that, I think these people actually enjoy their jobs.
I'm given a locker where I can put my things.
I change behind a fabric screen and realize I'm overdressed compared to everyone else.
Still, I slip on my tight-knit skirt, deciding to leave the tights off, and pull on my ripped band-t-shirt.
It's a crop top with holes in it. Danny always nagged at me to throw it away.
I'm glad I didn't because there was little else in my wardrobe that I could have worn tonight.
And then I slip on the silk sparkly wings Keely gave me to look a little more monster-friendly, and it helps improve my outfit.
I'm definitely not dressed for the office.