Epilogue #2
The Vyastil continues toward me, his tail wrapped around his shoulder as if to keep it out of the way of the humans moving around him. He looks regal, like someone of importance, and I can’t turn away, can’t move. I just watch as he glides through the crowd.
My stomach tightens as he grows closer, and I feel something very much like lust move through me as his eyes catch mine.
My breath hitches in my chest, then my lungs fill with air.
His steps falter for a moment, and then he comes to a complete stop a foot from my table. The Vyastil behind him do the same, but my gaze is focused only on him.
That lust that was curling up my spine moves down to my groin and twists around my cock. I feel it jerk between my legs, and I bite back a soft moan lest he hear it.
He doesn’t move. He doesn’t open his mouth to try to communicate with me. He just watches as I stand here, his eyes taking in every inch of me.
People move around him, but he stays still, the breeze from the fans whipping his linen tunic around his legs.
And then he takes a step toward me, closing the distance between himself and my table, his eyes holding mine.
I let out a shaky breath as he presses his clawed hands to the white linen next to the pile of cookies I have left.
I manage to lift a shaky hand and fingerspell, ‘Hi.’
I don’t know if this Vyastil knows ASL, but I do know that they pick up language pretty quick. At least Cielo does, and Quilliyn has become conversational with me in ASL over the last few months.
The monster inclines his head, a lock of sea-green hair falling over his forehead before he pushes it away with impatient fingers.
I feel something odd then, like a slight pressure nudging at my brain. It’s almost like a flash of light when the doorbell rings, but I push it away, unable to focus on more than one thing at a time. Right now, I want my gaze totally focused on the Vyastil in front of me.
‘What’s your name?’ I ask, hating that my fingers get slightly tangled up on each other from nerves.
The Vyastil inclines his head once more, and then his hands move, assured and prompt. ‘Eissa. You?’
Shit, he really can sign. He even gets the facial expressions right. Fuck. Me.
My heart is thundering in my chest as I respond. ‘Luca.’ I give the name sign my parents gave me growing up, a movement up my face to signify my freckles.
His eyes graze those for a long moment, almost as if mapping them, and then he lifts them to meet my gaze once more.
I wet my lips, and his gaze dips down to my mouth before darting back up to my eyes. He holds me there, something crackling between us.
‘How did you learn ASL?’
‘I took lessons,’ he explains with his still-very-formal signs. ‘Vyastil are quick learners. I have mastered most languages humans use.’
I swallow and nod. Of course he has. Fuck, what do I say now? It’s not like interacting with another Deaf person. This guy is from a different dimension altogether, and something about him makes me feel incredibly small and wildly inadequate.
He doesn’t say anything else, and I can’t think of anything, so after a beat, his eyes begin to take in what I have on the table. His delicate claws touch the cookie packages, and then they hover over the sex toys.
I feel something odd in the air. Something charged.
Like several heartbeats all at once. The sensation is overwhelming, and I don’t know what to do about it, so I panic and ask, ‘You interested in sex?’ Fucking hell.
Way to go, dude. ‘I mean…’ I wave my hand across the table and end up knocking over a few dildos as I go.
Eissa’s lips curl up, and I see a hint of fang.
‘I mean sex toys. I know the Vyastil,’ I use the most common sign for them, ‘aren’t big into anything but…’ My fingers still, then I think fuck it. He’s at a Deaf expo for some reason. He gets full blunt. ‘…blow jobs and cum. But my brother has a shop, so he could probably make you something.’
His lips stretch into something like a smile, and he lets the moment settle between us for a beat before he answers. ‘I am not here for sex toys.’
I bob my head and frantically struggle to find something else to say to keep him here a little longer. For some reason, I am desperate to keep him from walking away.
‘You want condoms? Free lube?’
More fang appears, and he inclines his head. ‘Our Vyastil cocks produce our own lube, and I doubt your condoms would fit what I have.’
My mouth waters at the thought, and my hole clenches around nothing. God, how big are they? ‘I see. Cookie?’ I gesture to the dick cookies, and he stares at them.
‘What flavor?’
‘Vanilla and orange.’
He bites his lip, then his long fingers curl around the package, and he picks one up. I watch with some fascination as he unwraps it, takes a sniff, then bites the head clean off.
My own dick twitches. It should freak me out, but watching his full lips and throat move as he chews and swallows is…a lot. In a hot, heavy kind of horny way.
His forked tongue darts out to clear up crumbs from the corner.
‘You like?’ I ask, and his eyes meet mine. I see that tongue dart out, licking up a crumb.
‘I don’t like most human food,’ he tells me as he sets the rest of the cookie down on the table. ‘But that was good.’
My heart’s racing. ‘What flavor would you enjoy?’
His lips spread in a smile that’s both hot and playful. ‘I don’t know. Maybe cum.’
The way those fingers sign that makes my cock perk up slightly, and I shift so he can’t see it.
‘But I will keep this and eat the rest later,’ he adds.
‘Glad you like,’ I reply, my hands shaking slightly.
‘I wouldn’t mind sampling your flavor though,’ he signs, and it takes me a second to make sure I’m interpreting that in my brain correctly.
My mouth sputters, and I find myself opening and closing my lips like a fish. Eissa’s eyes twinkle, and then he swallows, straightening his shoulders and glancing off into the distance.
‘I must go, but thank you. I am sure you will find many customers. Your product is…interesting.’
I don’t want many customers, I want him. Mostly to patronize my dick. Or my ass with his self-lubricating cock. But I don’t get a chance to say that because he starts walking off and I’m left to just stand there, watching him go.
Fuck. I lost my chance. The first Vyastil that I have ever been interested in, and I’m watching him walk away.
I curse at myself as something twinges in the back of my mind, but once more I brush it off, trying to focus.
The taco truck is quickly forgotten when a few more customers approach. Most of them are from the West Coast—one is interested in Dante’s prototypes, and one is interested in the cookies. I give them all the commercial information we have, and then set up a meeting for the sex toy guy tomorrow.
‘I’m opening a shop in San Francisco,’ he tells me as he gathers my card. ‘I really like what I’ve seen here. I would love to offer a large section of adaptive products.’
I start to smile, but then my gaze catches on bright blue hair across the room. It’s not Eissa, but it is one of the Vyastil that was with him earlier.
‘Yes, shoot me a text tomorrow, and we can discuss the contracts,’ I tell the guy hurriedly.
He glances behind him and looks at the Vyastil, then back at me. ‘You do business with them?’
I bristle at the expression on his face. ‘I will do business with anyone who has the money.’
His expression changes, and he nods. Business respects business, I guess. I’m not sure I want us to get into bed with a bigot, but I also know that Dante doesn’t have the largest market for his stuff, so I can’t turn this down.
‘See you tomorrow,’ I tell him. He takes the dismissal for what it is and wanders off, making room as the unfamiliar monster approaches.
The Vyastil doesn’t look at me as he steps up to the table. He keeps his eyes down turned. It’s kind of rude to do this in Deaf culture, but as soon as he hands me a piece of paper and I take it, all of that is forgotten.
It is a hotel name and room number written neatly on that piece of paper.
Eissa, I think as I crane my neck over to where he disappeared, but he’s gone.
And when I turn back to ask the Vyastil about it, he’s walking off as well.
I definitely shouldn’t go to meet with this guy.
It’s bad news and far too complicated. He seems like he’s of a high station, and I’m just a Deaf dude who sells sex toys with no real aspirations, but as soon as the day ends and I’m done cleaning up my station, I find myself walking in that direction.
It seems I’m going, despite my better judgment.
My hand lands roughly on the hotel door, unsure if I knocked hard enough.
But a moment later, it opens, and I see Eissa there.
He’s no longer wearing the tunic, just a piece of fabric around his waist, the rest of him bare.
His tail is no longer wrapped around his shoulder, but is curled around his thigh.
And his hair. It’s down, out of those braids and falling in waves across his shoulders and chest. I want to run my hands through it, but I don’t know what I have permission to do. I don’t even know why I’m here.
He nods to me and takes a step back, letting me enter the room. It’s fancy, much nicer than where I’m staying, but I do not have a chance to really look at everything because Eissa steps beside me, and I feel his tail slide across my back.
My breath hitches, and I peer over at him, and our eyes lock.
I feel something electric pulse between us, need and lust slithering up my spine as he steps in front of me.
‘So, what did you want to see me for?’ I ask stupidly.
His lips curl slightly, showing those fangs, and I see the flutter of his long, pierced ears.
‘I thought it was clear,’ he replies, his eyes sliding down my chest to my groin. My cock perks up.
Hell, who am I kidding? It’s been hard since I got off the elevator. I want this. I want him to wrap that tongue around me and get me off. And then maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll get to ride that big dick too.
Self-lubricating.
Hell yes.