Venus' Burn

This project was the result of the user Someone else. having way too much goddamned free time, a gigantic erection for the Salamanders, and an unbridled love of a happy ending.

The First Part

“If it hurt more, I would black out,” Venus groused, her face rammed between two pillows.

“I’m not trying to hurt you,” I said, rubbing the crease as gently as I could. The frigid green lubricant on my fingers was supposed to be soothing her back, though it apparently wasn’t working on her temper.

“Could have fooled me,” she said, fisting the sheets with a whimper.

I should explain.

A few weeks before I found myself massaging aloe into a hole in Lord Vulkan’s daughter’s back, I had attended a party at his house. Venus, my girlfriend and quite possibly, as far as I could tell, the best-looked biped in the Imperium, had “invited” me to drive her over there and stay for the whole affair, culminating in watching an unbelievably stupid horror movie that had to be as old as the planet, with Vulkan sniggering every few minutes at the commentary track. Venus had recited nearly the whole movie under her breath; this was clearly a well-worn ritual. All in all, a stressful evening. It had turned out to be worth it, though. So, so very worth it. The next weekend, I had taken Venus home to meet my own parents, who were smart enough to be almost worshipfully respectful of her, while at the same time picking up quickly that she found that sort of behavior distantly insulting. After dinner, I drove her out to the park on the edge of the rich district where she lived, and she and a few of her cousins were congregating for a party of their own, celebrating Isis’ team’s victory in the volleyball regionals. Venus wasn’t on the team; she was a swimmer, not a volleyball player. She had the body for it, too, toned like a pro. Muscular, but not beefy. She was trim, except her ample breasts, which she had grumbled about once or twice. She said they threw off her balance and hydrodynamics, not that any man who had ever met her minded. The party held the air of triumph. I had mingled for a while, but I had been very uncomfortable surrounded by so many of the Imperium’s finest. The girls, I mean, the bodyguards I had long since grown used to from school.

Most of the royal girls had their boyfriends there too, so I was hardly alone, but I wasn’t used to it, and I had to excuse myself early.

“Aw, come on! It’s not even midnight!” Venus protested, as I walked back to where we had parked.

“We can stay a bit longer if you want,” I said, turning back, but she was already shaking her head.

“No…it’s fine. I can hitch a ride home with Freya. Do you have to, though?” she asked, looking at me sadly.

“Sorry, hon, but I just don’t fit in here. I feel like people are staring at me, waiting for me to fuck up and say something stupid,” I said, thinking of a few of the guys in particular. Looking at me as if I was going to embarrass THEM instead of just myself.

“Aw…well, all right,” she said, those bottomless red eyes dimming a bit. They really did tie into her emotions, then, just like the vids said about the Salamanders? I felt my heart seize up.

“Well, hey, I don’t want to be a buzzkill,” I started, but before I could finish, she slid her arms around mine and pulled me in, leaning her head against my shoulder for a long moment.

I wrapped my arms around her and just held her, savoring it. After far too little time, she pulled back a bit and stared at me for a second. Then…then, she leaned back in and kissed me. I thought I heard the music from the open pavilion stop for a second, but it may well have been time itself for all I could tell.

I was frozen stiff. After a moment, realizing that it wasn’t a fluke, she hadn’t just lost her footing and tripped on me, I locked my arms back around her, probably looking like a cheap toy, my arms all jerky and shaking. Her skin was hot, hot as a little flame, all over, probably another artifact of her Salamander heritage. All I could feel was her, there wasn’t any wind, gravity was a total myth, my keys in my pocket were weightless. After the best few seconds of my life thus far, she stepped back with a sly little grin. I stood there dumbstruck and flushed to the gills, waiting for my vocal cords to unlock and say something profound.

“Uh.”

Smooth. I tried again.

“Uh. Thanks. Venus.”

Yep, I was Dante Alighieri. Master of language.

She bit her lip, then ran her tongue over her lips, as if she was trying to find words too. “No problem,” she said, nearly as unsteady-sounding as I was. Before I could lurch forward for an encore, she turned on her heel and bounced off, without even a ‘good bye.’ Well, I was in no shape to complain. I turned back to my aircar, fishing my keys out of my pants, which were abruptly a few sizes too small. I dug the right ones out and clambered in. After slapping the ignition button, I leaned against the car door for a second and ran my fingers over my lips.

Have you ever tried Slide? It’ll kill you, but to listen to the dealers, it’s almost worth it. Kevin, Furia’s boytoy, tried it once; he told me it was something like a ‘full-body priapism.’ After tasting Venus, though, who needed drugs? After a few pleasant seconds of remembering, I started the drive up and went on home, grinning like a complete idiot.

I don’t remember her acting very differently afterwards, for a few days, anyway. I saw her at school like I always did, but aside from having a lot more time for me between classes, she really didn’t act like anything had changed. After three days of that, I worked up the balls to ask her why. She was surprised, I remember that. “I don’t get it. What’s the problem?” she asked over lunch, sitting in the last pair of seats at the table with me. Farah was sitting a few seats down, trying very hard to pretend that she wasn’t listening, across from the twins, who weren’t even pretending.

“Not a problem. Just curious,” I said, as if it was not even a thing.

She looked at me quizzically, as if she was looking for a hook in the words. “I could promise not to ever do it again, if you want,” she said.

I whipped my head around so fast my hair could barely keep up. “Don’t you even dare. Don’t even joke about that. Fuck.” Farah smirked behind her sandwich.

Venus smiled. Her skin was as dark as an onyx chip, and so was her hair, but her eyes were brightly glowing red orbs, no retina or cornea that I could see. I can only imagine that the fact that she was Vulkan’s daughter spared her an endless torrent of bullying when she was little, before we were in the same class. I admit I found it a bit disturbing at first, but I got over it; she was smart and funny and as cute as I could hope. Plus, it made her easy to find in a crowd.

“I was kidding. I just didn’t want you to leave the party unhappy, that’s all. Really,” she said, sincerely.

I smiled back. “Thanks. You’re the best.”

She would have blushed, if her skin were light enough to see it. I reached down and squeezed her hand, and heard Farah cough on her drink. I hid a smirk.

A few more days went by, and the weekend rolled in. I didn’t have much planned, so I was kicking around the idea of calling a few friends from school and seeing if we could arrange a get-together when my mother stuck her head in my bedroom door, holding a vox. “Hey, Jake, call for you.”

“Yeah?” I stuck out my hand for it. “Who is it?”

“It’s Venus.” I perked up and grabbed the vox.

“Hey, Venus, what’s up?” My mother discreetly closed the door.

“I was wondering if you wanted to come over for a few hours,” she said. I loved her voice. How could a voice that deep sound so feminine?

“Sure! Be right over. What do you have in mind?” I asked, grabbing my keys.

“I wanted to show you what the place looks like when it isn’t crawling with nobles and rich people,” she said. I could see her smiling through the vox.

“Sounds like a plan. See you then.” I hung up and pulled my shoes on, jogging down the corridor of our crowded little apartment.

“What did she want?” my mother asked as I rounded the corner.

“She wanted to show me what her house looks like when there’s nobody else in it,” I said, tugging my vest off the peg and zipping it on. When she didn’t say anything, I looked back at her. Her mouth was hanging open, her eyes wide.

I realized what I had said. “Uh, not like that. She wanted me to see what the mansion looked like, because, you know, last time I was there it was, you know, the party. Right?”

She looked at me like I was daemonic for a second, then slowly shook her head. “Sure. We’ll go with that.”

A mere fifteen minutes later, I dropped the car on the pad outside her house and locked it. The front door was wide open, and Taxi came sprinting out like a bullet, slamming into me across the shins. I stumbled and nearly fell, but he lunged back and crouched a few feet away, barking like mad. “Taxi, you dumb slut, get over here!” Venus called from the door, arms crossed. The dog flinched, but ignored her, jumping at me again, sniffing at me like I had rolled in barbeque sauce before I drove over. Venus sighed impatiently and walked a few steps closer. The dog flipped out and took off, running up and down the driveway like a Blue Ork on a sugar buzz.

“Forget it, he’s in one of his moods,” Venus said, sighing in irritation. “Come on in.” Leaving the dog to his laps, I followed her into the mansion. The décor was more or less the same in the main room, but she wasn’t showing me that. She led me straight to the staircase into the basement at the end of the hallway, and into the first floor below ground.

It was a fully-equipped smithy. In hindsight, I don’t know why I was surprised – her father was Lord Forgefather, for fucks’ sake – but I was. She bounced on over to a rack of mystifying tools and pointed a few out. “Those ones are mine.”

“Yours?” I asked. “Really? You use these things?” I took in the forges and other equipment with a sweep of my hands.

“Sure. Dad taught me everything I know,” she said proudly. She hefted a well-worn hammer with one hand and twirled the haft effortlessly. “I make my own jewelry, too.”

“Really? Cool,” I said, stepping closer. She put the hammer down and lifted the small gold pendant around her neck. It glittered in the harsh, artificial lights of the smithy, setting off a yellow tint in the tiny red ruby in the middle. I’d seen the pendant before, of course, but it had never been more than a momentary diversion from the wonderful pair of breasts it was usually tucked between. I love our school uniform. The pendant was a drake’s head in profile, I saw, with the ruby set in the eye. I gently took it out of her hand and looked at it, genuinely impressed by the craftsmanship. Craftswomanship, I guess.

“It’s beautiful,” I said.

“Thanks,” she said, beaming, her teeth shining against her jet-black skin. “Dad gave me the ruby as a present, last time he went back to Nocturne. I should really go visit some day.”

I smiled and let the pendant fall back against her shirt. Sadly, she had chosen a much more conservative green long sleeve tee-shirt over the delightfully décolletage-revealing white uniform I usually saw her in. “Maybe I could go with you.”

She giggled and took a step back. “Maybe you could.” Maybe I was laying it on too thick; she turned around and continued the tour. “This one’s Dad’s. I don’t even touch it,” she said, gesturing at a massive black forge, easily half again the size of the smaller one she had shown me before. “I mean, I could barely even reach it if I tried, but it’s the principle of the thing.”

“Right,” I said drily. I had three inches on her and I doubt I could have even reached past the rack to the heating element. There was something on the anvil, I noticed, something gold. “What’s that?”

“Oh, Dad’s latest toy,” Venus said disapprovingly. “He’s always leaving things half-done around here. It’s irritating as hell, he told me never to do it but he does it all the time.”

“Grandpa was the same way,” I said, remembering the state the lab had been in when my father inherited it. I’ll probably have to be the one who finishes digging all the shit out of there, someday. “Packrat, he was.”

“Oh, Dad’s not a packrat, just a collector. You should see his trophy room,” Venus said, shifting her head as if her eyes were rolling. Like I said, it’s hard to tell.

Just then, I heard a faint beeping from one of the walls. Venus jogged over and tapped a recessed blue button next to a grille. “Hello?”

“Hey, Venus, what’s up?” Farah’s voice came from the wall.

“Showing Jake around the forge,” Venus said. Farah’s voice hitched.

“What? Which one?”

“The one in my basement, obviously,” Venus said sarcastically.

“I mean which Jake?” Farah said suspiciously.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Venus started, growling. Farah giggled.

“Relax, sister, I was kidding. Eh, that’s gonna be awkward.” I squeezed my eyes shut and massaged them, sighing. I had allowed myself to completely forget that Farah’s boyfriend was named Jake too…we had never even met outside of gym class, but I had a feeling the girls were going to ride that joke into the ground reeeeally fast.

“You are an asshole, you know that?” Venus said shortly.

“Yes. Yes, I do. We still on for Thursday? Roberta booked us a floor,” Farah asked. I looked at Venus curiously, but didn’t say anything.

“Hell yeah we are! I’ll bring my Jake and they can be awkward together,” Venus said, smirking at me.

“Good idea. I’ll let you get back to your booty call,” Farah said airily.

“Oh, FUCK YOU TO HELL,” Venus snarled into the grille.

“Tee hee hee haaah ahahahaha!” Farah’s voice cut off with a *click*.

Venus stared at the grille angrily before turning on me in a huff. “Booty call. Come on,” she grumbled.

“Well, I dunno, I like her suggestion a lot,” I said, straining to sound casual. Venus cocked her head and looked at me funny.

“Are you for real? Just…ugh,” she said, stomping over to the far side of the room.

I thought I was going to die, right there. Had I offended her that badly? I nearly ran over to where she was standing, still mumbling to herself. “I’m sorry, Venus, I didn’t mean to make this weird,” I said, desperately trying to salvage the conversation.

Her shoulders lifted and slowly fell as she exhaled. She turned around, back to normal. “It’s OK, I was just pissed off.” She squeezed my shoulder and pecked me on the cheek to show she meant it. “Really, I’m not weirded out. Come on,” she said, walked deeper into the forge room, “there’s more stuff I want to show you.”

The rest of the tour was far less eventful fortunately, though I still felt a bit awkward. As much of a tech geek as I was, I was blown away by the stuff Venus had in her basement. Well, her dad’s basement. I had visited Canstrides on Mars, where Grandpa used to work, and I thought I had seen what human technology could do, but Vulkan’s discarded experiments were enough to prove me wrong (I refuse to call them what Venus did: Vulkan Droppings. I’m fairly sure that would be treason).

The first floor and roof garden I had seen, but I hadn’t explored the top three floors, so Venus gave me the grand tour. The theater where I had watched “Attack of the Unliving Grox” was deserted, but the other rooms on the second floor looked like they saw more use anyway. Vulkan’s trophy room took up half of the floor, and was decorated with the kinds of stuff I thought people never stored outside of classified vaults on Luna. Venus pointed out a corroded-looking bolter behind a stasis field on one wall. “That’s the Blue Death, right there.”

I was stunned. “The Blue Death? The gun that killed Viscount Morring?”

“Yep,” Venus said proudly. “Dad was the one who captured the assassin. He got to keep the gun after the trial.”

“…Wow.” I was at a loss for words. I felt like I was violating someone’s privacy just by being there. Venus must have noticed.

“What’s wrong?”

“I dunno. I just feel weird looking at all this. Like I’m not allowed here,” I said uncomfortably.

Venus stood back a pace and crossed her arms. “The house is protected by twelve twin-linked storm bolters in underground pop-up turrets, and six dual-launch Sapper missile/cyclic macro-stubber turrets. There’s a laser wire around the estate hooked up to four different local Enforcer precincts and an Arbitrator Courthouse. The house has two escape tunnels and a bunker rated to eight kilotons. There’s a teleporter in Dad’s office that connects to the Imperial Palace Custodes garrison.” She smiled contentedly. “If Dad wasn’t cool with you being here, you wouldn’t be. Trust me.”

I must have looked even more out of my depth after that little recitation, because she huffed an impatient sigh and walked out, with me tugged along in her wake. “Jake, hon, really. It’s all right,” she said.

“Right. Sorry. I must look like a complete pussy right now,” I said, shaking myself down. She muttered something I didn’t catch. “What?”

“Forget it,” she said, bouncing up the next set of stairs. “The third floor is mostly studies and offices, for me and Dad. Want to see my room?”

Well, THAT got my attention. “Sure, I’d love to.”

“I bet,” she said wryly.

Her room was on the top floor, looking out over the edge of the district and the hive wall beyond it. Her suite was the biggest one, to my surprise. “This is yours? I thought the master bedroom was usually the biggest one in houses,” I said, inadvertently reminding her that I just lived in a hive.

“Usually, but Dad spends most of his time on Nocturne or at the Palace, for months at a time usually, so Mom said I should have the big one,” she said proudly. She pushed open her bedroom door and let me in.

Her room was bigger than my apartment. The bed alone had to be sixteen feet on a side, and she had an entertainment center nearly as big as the one downstairs on one wall. A very, very nice gaming rig occupied a table in the corner under the armourcrys window, and a skylight with wrought-metal framing was centered over the bed.

You could tell Vulkan had designed the place; the dragon motif of her jewelry was everywhere. The metalworking was covered in drake icons, and the blank red eye of the Salamander was on the corner of every table.

“Did you make the furniture yourself? It looks like your necklace,” I said, walking in.

“Yep! Well, not the bed, but the tables, yeah,” she said proudly. “We bought all the stuff in the bathroom, though.” I hadn’t noticed the door on the far side of the room. I was too busy staring at the furnishings. Venus wasn’t, and walked in and indicated the skylight. “Installing that was a complete nightmare, but totally worth it.”

“What is there to look at? You’re overshadowed by hives on all four sides, aren’t you?” I asked, leaning over the bed and trying to see through it.

“Nope, it’s a viewscreen. See?” She picked up a remote and tapped a button, and the skylight buzzed with static for a second before resolving into a picture of a moon orbiting a planet.

“Awesome. How many channels does it get?” I joked.

“Har har. It’s a looped picture of Prometheus and Nocturne,” she said, as if it were obvious to someone who had never even set foot outdoors until high school. “I can look at Dad’s homeworld whenever I want.”

“Scenic,” I said, still unable to quite see it in any detail.

“Go ahead,” she said, gesturing to the middle of the gargantuan bed. I hesitated as knowledge (and implications) of what she just said filtered through my brain. She must have noticed.

“Oh fine, don’t,” she said, full of mock annoyance. My knees unlocked and I kicked off my shoes, then waddled across the mattress that was bigger than my bathroom. I stopped under the screen and tilted my head back, impressed despite myself.

“It’s beautiful. What are the red lines on the planet?” I asked.

“Lava. The planet goes through massive tectonic upheavals every fifteen years or so. Every continent moves a bit when the moon gets too close,” she said, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

“You made that? The whole screen, and the scrollwork, and everything?” I asked, pointing at the screen.

“Well, we bought the actual SCREEN, but I made everything else, yeah. Took me like eight tries,” she said grumpily, kicking her own shoes off and knee-walking over to me. “The last thing I wanted to do was look up at bad work every night.”

I barely heard her, to be honest. She was…maybe a foot away from me. On her bed. With the house to ourselves. My heartbeat was echoing in my ears so loud that I thought there was someone with a subwoofer on in the next room.

“Cool,” I managed, hoping to high hell she didn’t look below my waist. It didn’t matter much. She flopped down on her back and stared at the screen, and I managed to arrange my legs such that my rapt attention was well concealed, though in hindsight I’m sure she could tell what was up.

“I leave it on every night,” she said, smiling up at the cosmic display. “It’s nice to see, you know? To see where I came from.”

“You mean Lord Vulkan? Or…I mean, I thought you were born on Terra,” I said, crossing my legs with some effort and sitting next to her on the bedspread. “What? No. I was born on Nocturne,” she said, waving at the display.

“Oh. Well, oh, ok, I just thought you weren’t, when we were in the trophy room you said you should go visit,” I said, babbling.

She didn’t seem to mind. “I moved here when I was two. I don’t remember it. Dad goes back all the time, but it’s usually to induct a fresh batch of Initiates or marshal a campaign. I’ve never been back,” she said gloomily. “Mom was born on Terra, but she transferred to Nocturne’s Imperial Administratum office.”

I nodded, trying to keep my voice casual. “Oh, ok. Cool. Did she work for the Salamanders or something?” I asked stupidly, then slapped my hand over my mouth in instant regret.

She looked at me, eyes wide in surprise. “What is up with you?”

“Sorry, sorry…that was none of my business, Venus, my bad,” I said contritely. She snorted.

“I don’t give a fuck. It’s public record, you could go bother some Adept at the Archives about it if it mattered that much to you. No, they met years after that, after the Project started.”

“Project?” I asked, confused. “What Project? The Grand Crusade ending?”

“No, that was before even that. I mean the Progenitor Project,” she said. I shook my head, still confused.

“Yeah, you know.

“Me.”

The Second Part

Now it was my turn to stare. “W…what?”

Venus quirked an eyebrow. “Farah didn’t tell you when you two met? I’ve never told you either?”

“Told me what?” I asked, completely in the dark.

“Oh. Uh, well…Grandpa, the Emperor, decided that Dad and my uncles needed something to do when the Crusade was over. It had lasted centuries longer than even the worst-case scenarios predicted, you know, and the death toll for Eldar and Humans alike was just obscene. Grandpa figured that Dad and the other Primarchs would need something that gave them emotional attachments to the territories they conquered or they would basically stay on a war footing forever, which is never a good thing. So,” she said, propping herself up on her elbows and staring at me as I gaped at her, “he used the same archive he used to create the Astartes Legions to basically make a second batch of Primarchs. Only they weren’t generals.”

“You were family,” I said numbly. “An emotional anchor.” How the hell had I not known this? “Was it public knowledge?”

“Oh FUCK no, it would have been the biggest possible target for the enemies of the Imperium. Can you imagine what would have happened to the Imperium if the Emperor let the second batch of Primarchs get stolen like the first? It would have been a permanent stain on morale. So he let the Crusade wind down slowly, you know, adding a few more seats to the Astronomican’s Choir so the maximum range of the Navigators got bigger and there ‘just a few more’ systems to conquer until he was done with the Project, then he basically ordered Dad and my uncles to go and start a family.”

“Not literally,” she continued, scooting a few inches closer to me and dropping back down on the wide mattress. “But in spirit, at least. Not a problem for Uncle Roboute, who was already married, or Dad, since he was engaged to Mom already, but…well, those are their stories, I won’t tell them. But there you go.”

“But you said you were born on Nocturne,” I said, confused.

“I was, kind of. Decanted, maybe,” she said, shrugging as if she was discussing nothing more important than choosing the red or blue protein bars in the cafeteria at school. I stared at her, the weirdest feeling of displacement crawling through me, prickling my skin.

“So…so it’s not something that was announced, even when it was over? Nobody knows but you and your families?”

“And whoever the Twins have told, or Farah, that blabbermouth,” Venus trailed off, muttering.

“And you’re telling me?” I asked, shocked, my sense of unease crystallizing into fear.

It was Venus’ turn to stare, again. “That’s not creepy, for you, is it? That I’m, you know, vat-born?”

“Creepy? No, I don’t mind, but…fuck! I can barely keep a secret, what if I slip up or something and tell someone who doesn’t already know? Or whatever?” I said in shock, sitting up. “Are even you allowed to tell me? Is this going to get the Custodes on my-”

“Whoa whoa whoa, Jake, chill the hell out,” she said, pushing me back down and dropping her torso bodily over mine, pinning me in place. I imagine under more or less any other circumstances that would have been arousing as hell, but as it was, it barely calmed me down.

“Jake, I’m telling you because I trust you. OK?”

“That’s what I’m worried about,” I said nervously. “I can’t keep secrets at all, you know me.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I do know you,” she said, narrowing her eyes. Then, as if in a token acknowledgement of where we were and how we were physically arranged, she planted her hands on either side of my shoulders and kissed me. I slid my arms up hers, trying to…I don’t know, keep talking maybe? Then my brain switched back on and I squeezed her own shoulders, gently pulling her down, so she couldn’t return to her senses and stop.

It didn’t work. She broke contact and lifted her head up a fraction. I opened my eyes and saw that hers were still closed, with nothing but a faint red glow lighting the lids. She stuck out her tongue a bit and ran it over my lips, as if checking for something, then cracked her eyes open. All I could see of her was a tiny pair of red slits in her face; she was blocking the light from the viewscreen and the lights.

She eased her head back down and planted her lips on mine again, gentler. I wrapped my arms around her back and laced my fingers behind her neck, not pulling, just resting there. She breathed in slowly, and let it out as she craned her head back again, smiling.

“I trust you with more than my heroic origin story, all right, Jake? Believe me,” she said languidly. She broke my grip on her neck with an effortless tug. “I told you because I trust you, and I love you, and because if you think of it as a secret to share with me, and not a secret to keep to yourself, I know you’ll never tell anyone. You think my cousins never tell anybody either? Or my uncles?”

I wasn’t actually thinking about her family, to be entirely honest. Or at all. I was just lying there, my face locked in neutral mode, my brain firing on every possible circuit.

She tilted her head a bit. Her hair fell across my forehead. “You sure you’re all right?” she asked.

“Never better,” I croaked. She giggled and shifted a few inches back from me, then set her head down on my chest. I reached down and slid my hands down her arms again, and she caught my hands with her own.

We must have laid there for almost ten minutes, her inscrutable from where I was lying, and me reflecting on how awesome I was. After about that long, though, she sat back up and stretched. “So…any questions?” she asked, mimicking our chemistry teacher’s voice.

I laughed, coughed, and tried again. “Uh…not really. But, hey, Venus…come here.” I sat up too, and shifted my legs under me. I reached out and slid my arms under hers, and pulled her in for a hug. “I love you too. Really. Thanks for trusting me with this.”

“My pleasure,” she said contentedly, leaning her head on my shoulder and smiling. “So…hey, what time is it?”

I glanced over her shoulder to the tiny LCD clock on her bedside table. “Uh, 1348.”

“What? Thought it would be later. Well, I don’t want to waste-” she started to say, pulling away from me.

Waste? Oh, no. No no no no. Nothing we did in that room was ‘waste.’ I didn’t even let her finish. I clenched my hands on her back and stopped her. Before she could say another word, I took the offensive, locking my lips over her in a rushed, though if I dare say, effective echo of her own attack earlier. I twisted my shoulders a bit, and we toppled over on the huge bedspread. She made a muffled squeak of surprise, but didn’t try to pull back again. I slipped both hands around her back and pulled her body flush against mine from the stomach up, never even pausing to breathe. She did the same, and one-upped me, sliding her leg between mine and entwining them. Well, that was pretty great, too. I wouldn’t have stopped what I was doing, ever, were it not for my pesky lungs. I had to pull back, panting, after a few more seconds. She lay there, staring at me, not even breathy. “ ‘Waste my time?’” I asked, trying to keep my voice down. “Never.” She stared at me, a small smile slowly creasing her lips. “Well, if you put it that way,” she said, mirth creeping into her voice. She disentangled herself from me and rolled away. I thought we were done. We weren’t done.

She immediately shuffled back, pressing her back against me from head to toe. I slid my arms around her waist and hugged her across the stomach as she pulled her shoulder-length hair up out of my face, snuggling back against me. I could hardly try to hide my rampaging erection at this point, obviously, so I didn’t try, I just held still against her back hoped she didn’t mind. Fortunately, she didn’t. “You’re a bold one, aren’t you?” she asked, giggling. “Huh?” “I told you I never even touched Dad’s tools, but here you are, stealing one and hiding it in your jeans, and hoping I wouldn’t notice. Shame on you,” she said, mock-sternly. “Funny,” I said tightly, trying to determine if she was coming onto me or just poking fun. “I know,” she said. Poking fun then. Oh well. She reached up and grabbed a flat throw pillow from the head of the bed, and snugged it under both our heads. That accomplished, she wrapped her own hands over mine and lay still. I lay there, spooning against her, for probably ten more minutes, before I noticed her breathing was getting louder. I raised my head up over hers, and sure enough, her eyes were closed, and her breaths were drawn and even. She was fast asleep. I wasn’t sure whether to be flattered that she had felt so comfortable in my arms, or insulted that she had done it so fast.

Well, whatever. Time to find out if she snored. I lay there a bit longer, watching the moon and planet over our heads, almost motionless, until I had satisfied my curiosity, and decided she didn’t. I gently extricated my hands and legs from hers and rolled her onto her back as gently as I could without waking her up. Now, I’d like to think of myself as a fair, reasonable kinda guy. I never even think of the worst possible thing to do in any given situation, most of the time. Still, her lying there, fast asleep, was easily the most intensely arousing thing I had ever seen in my life, and it was all I could do keep my fingers from tracing the outline of her nipples on the green fabric of her shirt. That said, I retained enough sanity through the dense fog of hormones in my brain to know that that would be a cataclysmically bad idea, so instead, I allowed myself a last, lingering look, and crept off the bed. I tugged on my shoes and tiptoed out the door, closing it behind me and wondering if I would be overstaying my welcome if I stopped in the bathroom on my way out. I glanced side to side, wondering where it was on this floor-

Vulkan was standing a few feet away.

I stood there like an idiot for several seconds, in which he didn’t move a micron, except to plant his dinner-plate sized hands on his hips and look terrifying. Then again, any ten-foot-tall, onyx-skinned, glowing-eyed man looks kind of terrifying without trying, so I didn’t really notice. I wondered if he would become less scary with the passage of time, as I got to see him more often, then realized that probably wasn’t going to happen, because he was going to kill me to death right there, and my miserable soul would be marinating in the Warp before I could even have time to pose for a holo. Now…what could I say to avert that fate? I thought for a moment. “Hi.” Like I said, I’m a master of language. “Hi,” he said flatly. He drew his hands up from his hips and crossed his arms over his gold and white Imperial military dress shirt, staring down at me. I tried again. “Lord Vulkan, I’m-” “-About to explain why you’re creeping out of my daughter’s room,” he finished helpfully. “Yes. That. Well, you know, Lord, I don’t want to wake her up,” I said, a surreal sense of finality saturating my voice. “‘Wake her up?’” he echoed, raising his eyebrows, his eyes flashing terribly. “Well, yeah, sir. She’s asleep. You know, sleeping…” my voice gave out on me. I kept going. “We kind of drifted off.” “You don’t say.” He wasn’t killing me, so I had to be doing something right. “Well, yeah, she fell asleep after we were done.” Oh no no no no no. “With the tour, I mean.” “What tour?” he asked in an exaggeratedly polite tone. “She invited me over to tour the premises, my Lord,” I said, my sweat glands awakening to what was going on. I shifted a bit as I felt a trickle run down my neck. “She was showing me the viewscreen on her bedroom ceiling when she fell asleep on the bed.”

“Oh, all right,” he said, his tone deepening a bit more, somehow. “She just happened to do so without asking me first?” I was getting a bit scared on her behalf, too, at this point. “She said she asked you first, my Lord,” I said defensively. His eyebrows shot up, and he tilted his head forward in surprise at my tone, which I would have cursed at were it not for the chance he would have taken sudden profanity the wrong way. After letting me sweat for another moment, he smiled, unclenching his arms and smirking. “She did, I was just wondering if she told you.” I stood there staring for a few more seconds before my nerves caught up and I nearly fell back against the door. “You…you were fucking with me?” I asked, blessed relief getting ahead of my tongue. “Well, now, that depends. If I open that door, will I see my daughter fully dressed?” he asked, his tone darkening again. “As far as I know, my Lord,” I managed. “All right then. See you around,” he said, walking on down the hallway to his own room. I stared at him, completely beyond my normal range of emotions at that point.

The door opened behind me and I nearly jumped through my skin. Venus walked out, wiping sleep from her eyes. “Hey, Jake, did I hear Dad just now?” “Y…yeah,” I stammered, my heart still pounding like an autocannon. She looked at me, confused. “What’s wrong?” “He pretended he didn’t know I was coming over and nearly scared my soul out,” I said, leaning against the doorframe for support before my knees betrayed me. “WHAT?” she yelled, startling me again. Before I could say a word – or even attempt to stop her – she stomped down the hall after her royal father. She pried his door open and stormed in. “Hello, Venus, what’s – ow! What was that for – ow! What the hell? Knock it off!” Vulkan’s voice drifted out through his door, interspersed with what sounded like a few punches to the arm. “Dad you asshole, I told you not to scare Jake like that!” Venus yelled, sounding genuinely pissed off. “What? All I did was ask a few questions –ow!” “Questions? He’s white as a sheet! Jake, get in here!” she called through the open door. “No, no, that’s all right, I’m gonna stay out here and…not die,” I said, running my hand over my pounding heart. “DAD YOU JERK” “Ow! Okay, okay, I’m sorry. You never let me have any fun. Sorry Jake!” he said a bit louder. “No…harm done, Lord,” I managed, and slunk back into Venus’ room.

A few minutes later, she came barging back in and slammed the door. “I swear he’s more trouble than he’s worth,” she growled, her eyes flashing brighter than I had ever seen them. “I imagine I’ll look back on this and laugh,” I said, feeling the cold spiking sensation of fading adrenaline in my fingers. I sat down on the edge of my bed and stared at the carpet. Her voice paused for a moment. I looked up and saw her looking at me contemplatively. “Jake, I meant it. I love you. I made Dad promise he wouldn’t do that anymore. Really. I’m sorry.” I smiled a bit and sat back on the bed a little farther. “I know. I love you too. It’s OK.” She smiled back and sat lengthwise across my lap. “Good to hear.” She snuggled her head down on my shoulder. I slid my hands under her thighs and wiggled her up against my stomach, and she cooed happily. “Hey, Jake. Did you think about the thing on Thursday?” she asked after a calming moment. “What? The thing Farah mentioned?” I asked. “Yeah.” She tugged loose of me and walked over to the pair of desk chairs at her computer table. “I don’t know what sort of a thing it is,” I asserted. Funny how snuggling with Venus restores one’s charisma. “Roberta’s booking the ballroom at the Cordovum Hotel. Officially, it’s the date we chose to celebrate our birthdays, since we don’t get the chance to get all nineteen of us together outside school much. Unofficially…well, you know. ‘Decanting-day’ isn’t something they make cards for, I don’t think,” she mused, rubbing her chin.

She was trying to weird me out, I could tell. “I’m surprised you can be so cavalier about that,” I said. “Why?” she countered, grabbing a fresh pair of socks off a table and pulling them on. “It is what it is, I can’t change it. Why dwell?” “Well, I guess. Uh, sure, I’d love to come. When is it? And what’s the cover?” I asked, taking her queue and tying my shoes back on. “Thursday at six, dinner will be served. No cover, Roberta’s got it,” she said. I blinked in surprise. “Really?” “Roberta could buy the hotel and the hab block it’s built in,” she said, something funny in her tone. Bitterness? “Right,” I said, resolving not to step on that landmine in addition to all the other crazy shit that happened to me since I arrived. I finished tying my shoes on and stood, still feeling a bit wobbly. “So…I’m just gonna head out.” “What? Why?” Venus asked in surprise. “I, uh, thought we were leaving.” “No. You want to stay for dinner?” she asked. “I’d…sure, thank you,” I said, surprised. “Uh, just so that I don’t, you know, die…Lord Vulkan was kidding, right?” “Oh for fuck’s sake, YES!” she said, exasperated. “All right, just making sure. It was hard to tell.” “And he won’t do it again if he values his life,” Venus said angrily, standing up. “Anyway. Dinner probably won’t be until 1800, so…want to watch a movie in the theater again?” “Mmm…actually, if you don’t mind, can we just walk around the grounds a bit?” I asked. I felt like I needed to get out of the house for a while, and, in honesty, anything to get to see real outdoors. Living in a hive adjacent to a place this nice is a pain, sometimes. “And, can I use your bathroom first?”

The bathroom attached to her bedroom was larger than my bathroom and bedroom combined. I have to admit, when I was in there, the word “profligacy” wandered through my head. I tried very hard to ignore it. The tub was a full-size hot tub, which could easily have seated six or seven people. The shower next to it was a four-head, and the stall looked big enough to accommodate at least as many. There was a laundry servitor slot next to the sink, which was about the only thing in the room that wasn’t huge. The toilet and bidet themselves were behind a waist-high wall in the corner, so it actually took me a minute to even find them. When I came out, Venus had already put on her shoes and jacket. “What, did you fall in?” “Hurr hurr hurr,” I replied. “I would have been sooner, but someone decided to hide the toilet.” I sat down on the bed and pulled my jacket back on. “Oh…yeah, I should have mentioned that,” she said idly. The two of us walked back down to the ground floor and out the front door, past Taxi, who was out cold on the porch.

The grounds were well maintained, but now that Venus had mentioned it, I could see where a few of the turrets she had mentioned were hidden. Square depressions in the ankle-deep grass betrayed where the weapons lay, and we avoided them on our way around. We weren’t talkative, and what we did talk about was just bullshit, school and life. As we approached the cover of a small thicket of trees (and how they grew in the shadow of a hive wall I’ll never know), Venus slowed down and pointed out a small monument in the copse. “My Dad built that. It’s to remember the First Sons, the Terran volunteers who first enlisted in the Salamanders before he was given control. Fewer than twenty of them lived to see the Crusade end, out of over ten thousand.” I stared at the monument. “Wow. That’s depressing…” I sat down on a wrought-iron chair facing the black monolith, and Venus leaned on the edge of the seat back. The metal block stuck out of the ground like a plinth for a column that had been eroded by time, until nothing remained but the foundation. Fitting imagery for a Space Marine Legion, I supposed; the original Legion had been destroyed and replaced during the horrors of the Crusade, and reforged stronger.

Venus sank down onto my lap, staring up at the hive wall. “This is about the only place back here where I can’t see the house.” She smiled at me from a few inches away. “Can’t tell you how many times I’ve come out here to do homework. I’m way too easily distracted to do it in the house.” “I usually just stay after at school,” I said, sliding my arms around her waist and snugging her head on my shoulder. “I drive home if I need to. If I had a place like this, though, I might use it.” She nodded, just enjoying the quiet. It was hard to imagine that there were several billion people on the other side of the massive wall a few dozen feet to the north. I had to wonder if any of them didn’t know that the Primarch’s mansion was just a few hundred feet away from their self-contained universe. Then I had to stop and mentally smack myself. I fucking lived in that hive; my elementary and middle schools were in there, I was probably going to die in there. Was I so conditioned by being outside for school and hanging out with Venus that I had stopped thinking of myself as a hiver?

For that matter, when did I become so used to this sort of proximity to her? I didn’t mind – believe me – but I had barely even noticed it at first. We had just been making out on her bed; did her father’s ninja trick spook me that badly? Whatever the case, she didn’t stay there long enough for it to get awkward. After a minute of the two of us sitting there in the shadow of the hive wall, she stood up and stretched. “Hey, I just remembered. We have about four hours before dinner. Do you want to go on another tour?” “Of the house?” I asked, standing up and following her back.” “No, of the Salamander training outpost here on Terra,” she said nonchalantly. I stopped cold. “…Are you serious?” She looked back at me over her shoulder. “Yeesssss…why wouldn’t I be?” she asked, raising her eyebrows. “Venus, baby, I’m not in the military,” I said, stepping forward, trying to impart just how out of my depth I felt. “Your house is one thing, an Astartes base is another. Can even you get us in?” “Well, I’d have to ask Dad, but I think he’d say yes,” she said. “But if you think you’d be uncomfortable, we don’t have to.” “Thanks,” I said, sighing in relief. “I really appreciate it, but I’d feel awkward as hell.” Venus nodded slowly, thinking. After a moment, she slowly headed for the house, still lost in thought. After a few minutes passed in silence, and the house was looming over us, she stopped and looked at me pensively.

“Jake, can I ask you something kinda personal?” she asked. Well, that’s always a good thing to hear when you’re already feeling apprehensive. “Sure,” I said, steeling myself. “Why are you so nervous around Dad when he specifically told you at the party that he didn’t want you to be?” she asked. I felt my shoulders slump in frustration. “Venus…he’s an intimidating guy on his own. Forget the fact that he’s over a thousand years old. Forget the fact that he’s your father, which is scary enough. He’s a noble, and that means I feel like I have to watch my tongue around him even if he did say I didn’t have to. And-” Venus held up a hand to stop me. I was anxious enough to keep going, but she interrupted. “Okay. I’m sorry. I just don’t want you to feel like you need to watch your step around my family.” She leaned back on one foot and jerked her head at the building. “When I met your parents, they didn’t know how to react around me. I was sort of expecting it, but it gets old fast. My parents really like you, Jake. If you treat them like family, they’ll do the same.” I nodded, trying to picture myself fitting in with her family. It wasn’t easy. “I’ll try.” “All I can ask for,” she said.

We spent the rest of the time before dinner watching some shitty holo film about vampires, which I don’t even really remember. I did call my parents as soon as we got back in the house, letting them know that I wouldn’t be home for dinner. The meal itself was surreal in the extreme. The food was great, of course, Misja was a good cook, but the same sense of displacement I had felt at the party was still there. Venus noticed, and sent me an encouraging smile or two as the meal wore on. Vulkan himself was only there for a while, apparently whatever had called him to the Palace that day would need his attention that evening as well. The brief interrogation he gave me was memorable, though. “So, Jake,” he said, subtle as a blow to the skull. “I heard Venus offered to take you on a tour of the Salamanders base here on Terra,” he said, devouring his turkey. “You turned her down?” I paused, nervous. Venus glanced at me sidelong, but didn’t say a word. “Yeah, I felt like I would be intruding on something. I’m not a warrior,” I said, keeping her advice in mind. “Well, neither is she, but she never feels out of place there,” he said, nodding at his own wisdom. “Dad, I’ve been going there for stuff since I was two,” she put in. “True,” he said, shrugging. “I was honored, don’t get me wrong, sir, but…I mean, even the PDF doesn’t get to go to Astartes bases,” I said.

“Well, it’s your choice,” he said, nonchalantly. The butler servitor trundled up and deposited a few small pretzel rolls on a dish near the edge of the table. Misja passed it around and I grabbed one, hoping that Vulkan wouldn’t ask more questions. I decided to take the initiative. “Well, if I may, sir, what do you need to head off to the Palace for again?” “Oh, the damned Green Fangs are threatening the Segmentum Tempestus shipyards at Corlsic III again,” he grumbled. “Wouldn’t even be an Astartes problem if the Navy could figure out where the scum were breeding.” “Orks, then,” I ventured, as if I had a damn clue what I was talking about. “Don’t the shipyards have guards?” “Oh, naturally, an entire subsector fleet, but Orks are annoying like that,” Vulkan muttered. “Hell, I may have to go out there and take command.” Well, THAT got Venus’s attention. “Whoa, wait, Dad, what? You’re leaving again?” she said in surprise, sounding distinctly hurt. “Probably not, the Navy guys can clean up after themselves, but you never know,” he hedged. She just sat there looking hurt. “Dad, I really hope you found about this today,” she said. “I wouldn’t feel in the loop here if you knew earlier but didn’t tell me.” “Yeah, I did. Don’t look at me like that,” he said sternly. I thought I felt awkward before…

After dinner, Vulkan took off like a shot, heading straight for the Astral Channels Teleportorae in the Palace, to attend a meeting on the subject on Luna. Even with Misja’s (and Venus’s) objections to the contrary, I still felt like I was intruding there, though at least I didn’t feel like I was unwelcome any more. Venus walked me out to my car afterwards, when the entire area was pitch black, thanks to the hive shadows. “Hey, Jake, thanks, for coming over,” she said. “I’m glad you can feel more comfortable around Mom and Dad now.” “Yeah, and I’m sorry I locked up like that. I wasn’t trying to embarrass you in there,” I said, fishing out my keys. “Oh, you didn’t.” Her voice paused, and the red glow of her eyes dimmed to slits. “To be honest, I think the very end of the tour almost made up for the awkwardness afterward.” I could hear a mischievous smile on her lips as she said it. I thought back to those happy few minutes in her room and found myself smiling too. “I’m…inclined to agree, actually. We should do this again sometime,” I said, all braggadocio. “Hey, there’s a thought,” she said, playing along. I opened the door of my aircar and paused, about to say something even dumber, no doubt, when her arms slid around my waist. I dropped my keys on the seat behind me and returned the hug, tugging her up against me.

She pushed back, and my shoulders bumped against the frame of the car. She pulled back a hair, and I saw those endless red eyes close entirely. My heart was hammering through my ribcage, and I’m sure she could even hear it with those augmented ears. She leaned back in and kissed me, slowly sliding her hands from my waist up to my shoulders. It would have been downright rude of me not to reciprocate. I ran my own hands up her back to the base of her neck and cupped them, pressing her head against mine. She made a tiny noise of approval, not that I could hear it very well with my pulse roaring like that. I slid my tongue against her lips and she relented, sucking my tongue into her mouth. I had thought the rest of her felt hot to the touch… She broke for air, and I was probably panting too. Her eyes were still shut, only the very faintest red glow through the lids betraying their location. I felt her breath on my cheek as she leaned back in. “In fact, it’s a good thought. I suspect we should act on it,” she said, her voice rough. It took me a moment to realize she was continuing what she was saying before. “I’ll think about it,” I said. I was trying to sound thoughtful, as if NOT continuing was even an option at that point. In hindsight, I’m sure I just sounded like I was overheating. “You do that,” she whispered, planting one foot on the edge of the car’s doorframe, pressing it flush against my leg. I slid my hand down to where her leg pressed against mine, and hugged it close.

To my complete and eternal disappointment, she stepped back after a moment. “In fact,” she said, feigning nonchalance, “are you busy tomorrow?” “No,” I said, glad it was still dark. I was long past caring if she knew I was hard, but I was so flushed I was sure I looked like some freshman who just found out where the girl’s locker room was. “Did you have something in mind?” She giggled, her eyes opening back up. “Yeah…I’ll call you around lunch if that’s OK.” “That’s great. I’m looking forward to it,” I said, confidence reasserting itself. “I can tell. See you tomorrow,” she said, and her eyes vanished as she turned back to the house. I sank down onto the seat of the aircar, nearly impaling myself on my keys, and started the engine. By the time I was home, I at least looked like nothing had happened. My Mother greeted me when I walked in, looking like an Inquisitor ready to pass judgment. “How did it go?” she asked. “Eventfully,” I said honestly.

Well, I managed to fall asleep eventually, and right on time, Venus called the following day. I was hovering over the phone like a carrion glider, of course. “Hey, baby, what’s up?” she asked, sounding pretty distracted. “Nothing. Want me to come over again?” I asked, glad I had the room to myself. “Actually…no. Something came up,” she said, sounding distinctly unhappy. “What? What’s wrong?” I asked, concerned and distinctly disappointed. So much for round two. “Well…not WRONG per se, but unexpected. Dad’s hosting a few Fire Drake officers here today for a brief service. I didn’t even check the calendar, damn it, I should have before I talked to you last night. I mean, you can still come over if you want, but…” “But yeah, Astartes standing around the house looking somber. Not my cup of tanna,” I said, grateful for her sensitivity. “Okay. Hey, the day’s not wasted, though. Did you finish the chemistry assignment yet?” she asked, referring to the graduation prep exam take-home segment. “Yeah, I did, last night after I came home. Didn’t want it hanging over today, you know,” I said. “Me too. So, I was thinking, in the absence of the homework,” she said, and I could practically HEAR her rolling her eyes, “do you want to go visit that museum that just opened instead? I’ve been looking for an excuse to go for weeks.” “Oh…sure,” I said, thinking it over. “Sounds like fun. Should I come pick you up?” “No, I’ll-” her voice cut off, with a scuffling sound and muted conversation audible over the line. “Baby, what’s up?” I asked after a second. “Sorry. Dad asked me something. I’ll pick you up, your hive is on a straight line between my house and the Palace.” “Sure, that works. See you then.”

We said our goodbyes and hung up, and I was pulling my boots on when realization struck. The Palace? What? I picked up the vox and called her back to confirm, but only got the machine. Damn. Oh well. I’d figure out what was going on soon enough. I finished getting ready and strolled out the door to the end of the hab row, where the aircar parking lots were. I scanned the indoor sky idly, wondering which car was hers. I didn’t have to guess. Within ten minutes, a fucking HUGE air limo pulled up in front of me. The gull-wing door slid open, and Venus enthusiastically waved at me from inside. “Hey, you, get in here!” she said breezily. I tried not to stare. “Venus…nice ride,” I said, dumbfounded. She had never ridden THIS to school. “Well, it’s Dad’s, but I’m borrowing it,” she said, oblivious to sarcasm. She was sitting in the back of the passenger compartment, and I clambered in, the other people in the lot staring. They probably thought I was on my way to a drug deal or something.

Well, nobody said I wasn’t going to be travelling in style. I sat down on the luxurious cushions, and looked at Venus expectantly. “So…what’s the occasion? And am I underdressed?” I asked, making a show of looking myself over. “Hah, no, you’re good. We’re going in the back,” she said disdainfully. I stared at her. “What? Why would you go in the museum by the back entrance?” “Because the front is always drowning in tourists and paparazzi, and if I’m borrowing Dad’s limo, I may as well get to use it,” she said, grinning smugly. “Who’s going to challenge him?” “Wait, you mean the Palace? Is there a museum in the Palace?” I asked. “Well, there is now,” she said. “One of the Emperor’s trophy rooms was cleaned up a bit and put on display.” “Oh…well, that should be interesting,” I said, thinking it over. “Yeah, not even I’ve been in,” she said, absently picking up the remote for the holoscreen on the back of the compartment. We drove through the skylanes until we reached the Palace, a good fifteen minute flight. I looked out the tinted windows at the building and marveled at the sheer size of it; I literally couldn’t see the end of it from the middle, even at five hundred feet. If anything, I knew that was an understatement of its size, the structure extended for nearly a kilometer under the Earth. It was a geometric nightmare, but it had a strange magnificence to it, a grandeur that far eclipsed that of a hive, even if the hive was far larger. It wasn’t hard to see Rogal Dorn’s hand in its design.

“It’s beautiful,” I said, staring at the towers flashing under us. “Isn’t it?” Venus asked. She moved over to sit next to me, staring out the window. “I never get tired of that view.” She tapped the window to indicate one flat-topped building near the very edge of our view. “That’s where we’re headed.” The aircar arced towards the tower, until we settled down on the roof of the structure. The driver opened the door, and I stepped out on the roof of the Palace of the Imperium. The view was gorgeous, all the muted yellows and golds of the building’s trim mingled with the greys and whites of the walls. There were Imperial lightning and Aquila icons emblazoned on several of the gleaming structures, but not on this rooftop. On this building, there was a lovely rooftop garden, complete with several small conversation circles and some vine-covered arbors. “I wonder who finds time to tend to these plants up here?” I asked, stretching my back with a *pop*. “Someone gets paid to do it, I’m sure,” Venus said, looking around. A quintet of PDF troopers in gold-chased formal uniforms came marching up to us, arms at standard. They came to a perfectly timed halt in front of her, snapping to a salute.

“Lady Venus, it is an honor,” their leader began. “How may I serve you?” I glanced back at Venus to see how she was taking it, and paused. Somehow, despite not physically changing at all, she was a different woman. She was standing a bit straighter, her eyes even and gauging, hands clasped at her back. Beyond that, though, she was just…different. I’m no soldier, but I knew one when I saw one. My Venus was a soldier at that moment. “Staff Sergeant,” she said, nodding to acknowledge them. “I’m here for the tour of the Emperor’s new Victory Ward.” The Sergeant bowed his head for a moment. “My deepest apologies, my Lady, but the Ward has been sealed temporarily. The Emperor wanted to examine the guest list for the first showing and found several names added he did not approve himself.” “Was one of them Jacob Seager?” she asked, indicating me. “Yes, my Lady, though Lord Vulkan added his approval to your…guest’s name personally, and the Emperor accepted it. Several other names appear to have been added without authorization, however,” the Sergeant said, as if noticing me for the first time.

“I see. We can’t go in, then,” she said. “Well, let us know when it’s opened.” “Aye, ma’am. We will. Is there anything else we can do for you until then?” the Sergeant asked. “Just allow us privacy, Sergeant,” she said, in a clear dismissal. The PDF trooper snapped off a salute. “As you wish, ma’am.” The five troops turned on their heels and marched off. I waited until they were out of earshot before I said anything. “Well, that was different.” “Yeah, I know,” she said diffidently, cricking her neck and grumbling. “I don’t mind the ceremony, though.” “You looked good. Very martial,” I teased. “I hope so, Dad insisted I be able to look like nobility if I needed to,” Venus said in mild irritation. She walked on over to the small circle of furniture and potted plants at the center of the garden as our car arced off into the air. “Thanks, though.”

After bullshitting around in the garden for a while, talking about that awesome new gaming rig I saw in Venus’ room, the guards came back and told us the Emperor had unsealed the Ward for us to visit. We were right on top of it and the other people on the guest list had to walk through a labyrinth of corridors before they could even get to it, though, so we basically had the place to ourselves, beyond the occasional guard. On the way down the stairs, Venus couldn’t resist dragging me around like a tourist, showing me everything that caught her eye. “Wow. I can’t believe Grandpa never showed me this,” Venus said, looking as wide-eyed as me from taking in all the trophies we passed. “Where did he even find half of this stuff?” I asked, staring at rack after rack of neatly labeled artifacts. I saw what I recognized as a Dark Eldar pulse rifle, stacks of Ork bitz that looked like they had been carved from their owners, and a small, liquid blob of metal that twitched occasionally as if housing an insect. “Well, he did lead the Crusades personally for hundreds of years,” Venus pointed out. She looked around the museum for a second, spotting a small herd of people walking in one level down. She walked over to the edge of the level we were on and stared down on the bottom level of the cut-away gallery, and scoffed in irritation.

“Well, the tourists are coming. We should finish up on this floor before we head down.” “Works for me,” I said, walking over to join her in staring down on the massive room. I caught sight of the man leading the tour, wearing the same finery as the roof guards. “How long do you want to stay?” “Well, we HAVE to see the whole thing!” she said excitedly. “I just don’t feel like fighting a crowd.” She looked back at the rows of stuff on our level and sighed. “It’s a miracle the Emperor even decided to open this place at all. This stuff was classified as ‘war materiel’ as recently as last year. Guess Grandpa decided to open the vaults.” “It was worth the trip, for sure,” I said, as the batch of tourists vanished under the mezzanine we were on. Venus looked around the room again. “Hey, Jake, did we pass a bathroom on the way down?” “Yeah, two levels up,” I said, jerking my thumb at the staircase. “Thanks. Be right back,” she said, and jogged off. I leaned back on the railing to wait. The room returned to silence as the tour group wound its way deeper into the level under me, as the lights gradually grew brighter. I pulled my cell vox out to check the time, but I had trouble seeing the screen – the lights were bright enough that the glare was giving me trouble.

Then it hit me. The light wasn’t coming from the track lights on the ceiling above me. They were coming from something between two rows of stands and racks of memorabilia. My curiosity piqued, I wandered over to that aisle. En route, I found myself straightening up a bit, the cramp I had developed from the wrought-iron chairs on the roof garden seemingly vanishing as I walked. Just before I turned the corner to walk down the row, I stopped dead as realization hit me like a speeding truck. An ambient glow? Healing? Oh no. Oh no no no no no no I handled it poorly the first time don’t let him be here again, not now. Well, fate hates me with a passion, as we’ve established. Despite my sudden burst of horrified hope, the Emperor of Mankind walked around the corner and nearly bumped into me. As if my day wasn’t complex enough.

Well, the first thing I did was take a very quick step back, of course. I doubted colliding with the Master of Humans was going to be a good way to get acquainted. The second thing I did was take a reverent knee and hope my vocal cords worked. “My Liege,” I said, hoping I wouldn’t be called upon to say anything else. “Rise,” he said hastily. His voice had the oddest inflection, almost Eldar-like. I didn’t have time to guess why. “Didn’t see you there. Are you part of the tour group?” I blinked at the unexpected turn of conversation. “No, my Liege,” I said, rising back to my feet. “I accompanied my…ah, Lady Venus.” “Oh, that’s where I recognized you from,” he said, nodding. “Vulkan’s party a few weeks back.” “You honor me greatly, Sire,” I said, trying desperately to remember how Venus had switched into nobility-mode on the roof and attempting to imitate it. “She invited me to the showing of this new ward.” “Indeed. What do you think of it so far?” he asked wryly. I was stunned at his informal tone. Was he assuming I was noble like Venus? Was I that good as an actor? “It’s…impressive, Sire,” I said, indicating a few pieces I had seen. “I’ve never witnessed such a collection. Are they ALL battle trophies?” “No,” he said, pointing out the shifting metal blob I had noticed. “Some are diplomatic gifts from envoys, or old prototypes from the Martian labs.” I nodded understanding. “I see. It’s fascinating.” I tried not to appear inattentive, but his presence was getting to me. Obviously, he noticed. “Something wrong?” he asked, raising his eyebrows a fraction.

“Just nerves, Sire,” I said honestly. “I wasn’t expecting to see your Highness here.” “And if you had been, you would have been less nervous, Sieur Seager?” he pointed out, smiling wanly. Was he using my name because Lord Vulkan had mentioned me, or was he in my head? I decided not to care. “Fair point, Sire,” I allowed. Before I could let myself feel any more awkward, something black and red cannoned past me into the Emperor. “Grandpa!” Venus squealed. “I got to see you!” “Hello, Venus,” he said, directing a somewhat more sincere smile at the girl now giving him a gleeful hug. “I was hoping for a chance to see you before I had to go.” “Go? Where are you going?” she asked, disappointed. “Well, I wanted to tour the place one last time before I opened it up to the public,” he said, shrugging as if an entire tower of his Palace was now blocked off from him for good. “Reminisce, you understand.” “Well, I’m glad we caught you anyway,” Venus said happily. “Oh, have you met Jake?” she asked, reaching back to me as if she had just pulled me out of her pocket. “Briefly,” I said, nearly sagging at the shoulders from relief that she was back. Before I could say another word, though, she grabbed my hand by the wrist and pulled me closer, until all I could do was awkwardly stick a hand out to shake. The Emperor took it briefly and nodded, before disentangling himself from his granddaughter and me.

“Well, it’s been a pleasure, Venus, Sieur Seager, but I should head out before the tour group gets up here,” he said. “Farewell.” Without another word, he turned off and vanished back down the aisles of the museum. “Well, we got to see him, at least,” Venus said, shrugging. “I was kind of hoping that he could give us the walkabout, show us the cool parts of the exhibit…are you all right?” I was staring at my hand like it was going start glowing. I heard her question and jerked back to reality. “I’m just fine. That’s just not something you’re ever quite ready for.” “Well, get used to it,” she said mischievously. “He makes it to at least a fifth of the family parties we have each month.” “Wait, seriously?” I asked. “How does he find the time?” “He finds it, sometimes,” she said. “Somehow. Anyway. Let’s finish the tour, huh?” The rest of the tour was actually pretty fun, I have to admit. Nothing as monumental as SHAKING THE EMPEROR’S HAND, but exploring three thousand years of trophies was humbling and fascinating in an entirely different way. We passed the tour group on its way up, and Venus made a show of ignoring the excited whispers of the tourists and nobles as they recognized her, though I could tell she was secretly delighted. I caught a few envious glares myself, too, which I must confess I rather enjoyed.

After we were done, she just dropped me back off at home, after a reminder about the party on Thursday. On Wednesday night, she called me to confirm. “Hey, Jake, are you still on for tomorrow night?” “Naturally. Should I pick you up?” “Nope, I’ll come get you. 1700 good?” “Perfect, see you then.” Well, she didn’t. No pick-up, no call, not even a net message. Needless to say, I got curious (and distantly hurt). So I did what I thought was the best thing to do under the circumstances: I called her at home. To my surprise, Misja answered. “Hi, Jake.” “Lady Vulk…Misja. Is Venus there? She was supposed to pick me up an hour ago,” I said. “Oh, she’s HERE,” Misja said angrily. “She’s in no shape to go anywhere, but she’s HERE.” I gripped the vox a little tighter at the sting in her voice. “Uh…is she all right?” “No. No, she’s not all right,” Misja snapped, then composed herself. “She’ll live, but she’s injured herself. She’s a tough girl, but she’s not fireproof.”

“FIRE-proof?” I demanded, shooting up in my seat. “What happened?” “Maybe she could-” Misja started to say. The line cut off for a moment, then her voice came back. “Or she could just tell you herself.” “Jake, baby, I’m sorry I didn’t come get you,” Venus’ voice cut in, tight from strain. “Hey, forget that, what happened?” I asked urgently. “Can you come over here? I need you here right now,” she said, her voice shaking a bit. “Of course, of course, clear me for the defenses and I’ll be right over,” I said, already reaching for my keys. I don’t even think I stopped to say more than a few words to Mom when I left, I just headed over as fast as I could without getting pulled over. I dropped the car onto their driveway and headed for the door, nearly tripping over Taxi, indolently sprawled across the threshold. I walked in to find Vulkan sitting at the bar, tapping his fingers impatiently. Misja was standing on the other side, apparently arguing with him. “She obviously thought she could handle it,” Misja insisted. “I think she really is sorry.” “Oh, I bet,” Vulkan grimaced. When he spotted me, he waved me over.

The Part Where They Fuck

“Lord Vulkan?” I asked hurriedly. “She’s in her room, questioning her own judgment, if she has any sense,” he growled, while Misja looked on admonishingly. “What happened? She sounded pretty hurt when she talked to me,” I said. “Did she show you the second level basement?” Vulkan asked heavily. “Second…? No, she just showed me the smithy,” I said truthfully. “Yeah. OK. Well. I’ll let her do the talking,” Vulkan said, jerking his head at the stairwell. I didn’t even stop to bow. I nodded my thanks, walked up the stairs to her room, and knocked. “Ugh.” I took that for a ‘come in.’ As soon as I walked in and shut the door, the huge holo on the far wall muted. Venus was lying stomach down in the middle of the massive bed, wearing a pair of running shorts and a sports bra. She had her head propped up on her hands on a pillow, staring at the holo glumly. “Hey, baby, glad you could make it,” she said stirring a bit and managing a faint grin. “Any time. What happened?” I asked, sitting down on the edge of the bed. “Well…I got dumb,” she said miserably. “The party’s tonight, right? I wanted to show off a bit.” I looked at her bare back, and spotted a stripe of deep gray scars against her onyx skin, running from about halfway across her right flank across her back, turning just before her spine. The scar curved down below the base of her spine and stopped abruptly. “Show off what? Scar tissue?” I asked incredulously.

“Well…yes,” she said. She planted her face on her hands and sighed. “It’s a Salamander tradition. Every Space Marine Legion has some form of honor tradition, some kind of mark that represents personal service or valor. The Ultramarines use service studs, the Iron Hands use bionics, the Space Wolves use tattoos, Salamanders use branding.” “Branding,” I echoed. I looked back at the skin of her back with fresh eyes. The line across her back was perfectly straight and even, well-cauterized. “Yeah. A true Salamander is completely immune to heat damage short of a melta. I guess I’m not,” she said quietly. “Not what? Immune to heat? Or a Salamander?” I asked in alarm. “Take your pick,” she said in the same tone as before. “Hey, come on, don’t think like that,” I said, trying to shore her up. “You’re a Primarch’s daughter, you’re more than a normal Space Marine could be.” “Except, it seems, when it comes to heat resistance,” she quipped. Okay, she wasn’t depressed, just sad. I leaned over her shoulders and kissed the nape of her neck. She sighed faintly. “I’m sorry you got hurt, hon.” “Thanks.” She sighed again, apparently bracing for something. “I didn’t show you the second basement. It’s a branding shrine. I didn’t want the priests from the Salamanders base here on Terra to have to bother, so I just did it myself.”

“And that-” “Turned out poorly, yeah,” she finished for me. I just sat there, not knowing what to say. After a sec, she turned off the silent holo and buried her face in the pillow. “What the hell. Why did I do it?” “Uh…you said you wanted to show off,” I said weakly. “Yeah. Yeah. Fuck.” She ground her hands into her eyes and groaned. “Well, I heard Petra was getting a new tattoo, and I guess I wanted to one-up her.” “Since when do you care what she thinks about how you look?” I asked, sitting cross-legged next to her on the bed and tossing my shoes over by the door. “I don’t know. Dad already read me the riot act,” she said. She didn’t sound resentful, though, just sad. “Like I needed him to tell me that this was dumb as hell.” “Well…I’m glad you’re not angry. With him, or yourself,” I said. “Yeah…” she stared off into space for another minute. “Hey, can you grab me that cup?” she pointed at a small glass of water on her nightstand, next to a pair of generic pill bottles. “And get me one each of those?” “Sure.” I passed her the cup and the bottles, and she popped a tablet from each before washing them down. “Painkillers?” “One of them,” she said, handing them back. I glanced at the labels, but I didn’t know what the terminology meant. After a second, she sighed and sat up, still facing away from me. “Better.” She sat on her heels and leaned the non-scorched part of her back against my right side.

I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, trying not to touch the burned part. She leaned into me and slid her eyes shut, grabbing my free hand and planting it on the one encircling her shoulders. “Thanks for coming over, Jake. I really needed to talk to someone who wasn’t going to yell at me,” she said distantly. I leaned my head against hers and just held her. “That’s what I’m here for.” I felt the faint heat from her eyes return as they opened again. She turned her head a bit and smiled. “Look at you.” “Huh?” “You’re redder than my eyes, Jake.” “Can you blame me?” I muttered. She signed dramatically. “I…SUPPOSE not,” she said, all melodrama. She craned her head back at me and kissed me, slow and gentle. “Though I also needed your help with something,” she said playfully a moment later. “What?” She grabbed a little green bottle off the headboard and passed it to me. “Can you get this on the burn? It hurts like hell.” “Oh, sure,” I said. It was a tube of aloe. She turned and lay down flat on the bed as I opened it up, and sat down next to her again. I poured a bit out on my hands and started working it in. She hissed in a breath and glared daggers ta me over her shoulder. “Ffffffuuuck, that HURTS,” she said tightly. “Sorry, sorry.” “Yeah, I know, just…not so hard, OK, it stings like crazy,” she managed. I slowed down a bit, and her shoulders unclenched a fraction. “Man, that hurts.” “Can’t be that bad,” I joked. “If it hurt more, I would black out,” Venus groused, her face rammed between two pillows. “I’m not trying to hurt you,” I said, rubbing the crease as gently as I could. The frigid green lubricant on my fingers was supposed to be soothing her back, though it apparently wasn’t working on her temper. “Could have fooled me,” she said, fisting the sheets with a whimper.

After a few torturous more minutes, I finished up and washed off. I came back to find her in the same pose, staring at the blank wall behind her headboard. I sat back down and grabbed her hand. “Feel a bit better?” “A little. Can you just rub my back a bit? I’m still really tense.” “Sure.” I eased my hands over her back and started in. She kept talking. “I guess I shouldn’t try showing off like that anymore. You would have liked it, though,” she said, grinning against the pillow. “Yeah? What were you going for?” I asked. “I was going to do a flame pattern. Would have ended…here,” she said, tapping her back below the bra strap. She unhooked it and tugged it off, tossing it in the hamper by the door. “Yeah, I would have liked that a lot,” I said with a grin. I slid my hands across the freshly-vacated stripe of her skin, letting her natural warmth soak into my fingers. Venus let out a contented sigh as I worked the clenched muscles of her back. “Mmm…that’s much better. Keep going. Down a bit, it doesn’t hurt the scar.” I slid my hands down her back, digging my fingers in. “Does that hurt?” “Mmm…hell no. More.” She grabbed another pillow and shoved it under her waist, elevating her butt nicely.

“Performance Art, starring Lady Venus’ Ass,” I quipped. “Should go and stick you in the museum.” I gave her a squeeze and she yelped, slapping my hand away. “Hey! Quit that shit, now,” she said, glaring bright red at me over her shoulder. I put on the tone of an exasperated doctor. “Now now, you’re bedridden and I’m administering a treatment. Protest all you want, I know what’s best for you.” “Sure you do,” she said, trying to hide a grin. She failed, and ran her tongue over her lips. “Well, if you have to, get to it.” “Subtle.” I scooted down a few inches and dug my hands into her thighs, easing the tension out. “Thank goodness you’re a swimmer, Venus. You have the nicest legs I’ve ever seen.” “Well, I’m not one to brag,” she said, all nonchalance. The effect was undermined somewhat by the sudden rise in her voice at the end of the statement as I slid a hand up her inner thigh, tracing the edge of her quad. “Brag? No, you’re nicer than that. You know when to just sit back and let art flow over you,” I deadpanned, working my thumb into a muscle knot on her calf. “Art, nothing,” she said, clenching her teeth as I worked the knot out. “Ngh, that’s nice. Do the other one.” “As ordered.” I put action to words, standing up halfway to straddle her legs, then running my thumbs up the sides of her calves. “That…feels so good,” she said lazily, crossing her arms under her chest and looking back at me. “You could make a career out of this, no kidding.” “Well if that whole ‘science’ thing doesn’t pan out, this’ll be my backup,” I nodded.

“Sign me up,” she giggled. Her eyes dimmed and slid shut as I worked my hands up north, pressing my palms flat against her quads until my fingertips slid under the cuffs of her shorts. “Hey, where’re you headed, there?” “Nowhere special,” I said dismissively. She gaped at me indignantly. “ ‘Nowhere special?’ You are a JERK,” she grumped, then rolled halfway onto her non-burned side. “Get up here.” I froze for a sec, but unlocked my knees and waddled up to where she was lying. She grabbed my belt and tugged me down alongside her, snuggling herself up alongside me. “’Nowhere special.’ We’ll see.” “Well, I’m open to being proved wrong,” I said, probably grinning like an idiot. “I’m magnanimous like that.” She slid her arm around my waist and pulled me flush, pressing her breasts flat against my chest and lacing her legs between mine. I slid both arms around her, slipping my fingers along the back of her head, breathing her in and holding her. She made a little sound of approval against my lips and navigated my hands back down to her breasts, depositing them there. I swallowed, hard. Hard enough for her to tell. She pulled back a bit and smiled at me under half-closed eyes. “Well, my front side needs attention too…it’s just so hard to lie down on my back like this. You don’t mind?” Well, two could play at that game. “Well, I suppose not.” I half-shrugged. “We’ll find out.” Of course I was nervous as hell, even though I really shouldn’t have been – it was VENUS for fucks’ sake, if I could trust any girl on Terra it was her – but who wouldn’t have been?

Well, bless her soul, she could tell how nervous I was, and she was trying to help. That’s why I love her to death, she would never have taken hesitation and bluffing against her. Or me. Venus shifted a bit, pushed me onto my back, and followed me over, lying flat on my chest, legs lying outside mine. She was looking a bit breathless herself at this point, and she stared down at me, the fire rekindling in her eyes a little. “Try this,” she whispered, rising up a bit. I slid my hands up her muscular stomach, cupping her breasts and massaging. Her eyes slid back shut and she arched her back, then flinched as her burn twisted. I started to pull my hands back, but she grabbed my wrists and pushed them right back. “Keep going…” “You OK?” I asked, my voice a bit dry. I was sweating by then, from her heat, and my own nerves. “Never better. It was just my back. Just keep going. Use your thumbs a bit…yeah, there,” she breathed, just enjoying it as I rubbed my thumbs over her taut little nipples. “Ngh…that’s it. That feels good…” She leaned back forward, sliding her hands down my arms to my shoulders, and started very slowly rocking her crotch across mine. “Whoa, don’t do that,” I managed. “I’ll have to change.” “I care, like, so much,” she said heavily, her voice getting a little deeper. She opened her eyes and stared down at me hungrily. They were ABLAZE. “Pick up the pace a bit.” “Well, since you asked,” I smirked. I put my hands back to work, and somehow we fell into it. She pushed down on me a little harder, and my hands just found the pace, massaging and teasing her until we were moving in sync.

Just watching that, seeing my love’s body react like that, react to me and what I was doing, was gratifying in a way I couldn’t have even predicted. And, I’m proud to report, she was having a grand old time herself. “…This is really…intense,” she said faintly, breathing hard. She looked like she had just come back from a workout, exercise shorts and all. A bead of sweat trickled down the contours of her abs, working its way down to her waist. “Yeah…God, you’re so fucking hot,” I said, drinking in the sight of her grinding on me, tits all nice and perky from my touch. The light from her eyes raced up my chest to my face, then up the headboard as she closed them. The sight of her rock-solid stomach sliding over me like that was hypnotic. I wanted to reach up and touch her more, slide my hands and my tongue over every inch of her statuesque body, taste and take and hold and devour, every fucking inch. My hands tightened involuntarily on her breasts, and her own hands gripped my arms tighter as a hissed breath escaped her mouth.

“Mmm…” She rocked her shoulders back a little and pressed herself against my hands, licking her lips. “I needed this…I needed you to do this to me… oh…oh, fuck,” she said suddenly. I saw those lovely swimmer’s abs tighten up a bit. I smirked up at her again, flush with sudden confidence. “Well, that’s a good sign,” I said, running a hand down to rest over her stomach, and felt her tighten again. “You think you could come from this?” “Oh, hell yeah,” she moaned faintly. I grinned and sat up, suddenly tugging her flush against me again. “All right then, go for it.” She gasped at the sudden change of balance, but didn’t try to move. I slid an arm around her neck and pulled her in, kissed her with all the strength I had, weeks of my own tension disappearing. “Let me see if I can hurry it along,” I growled against her mouth. Venus melted against me, sliding her tongue into my mouth as I opened it, and groaning…loud. I ran my other hand down to where she was still slowly rubbing herself against me and cupped my hand, rubbing my fingers against the hot, wet stripe down the bottom of her shorts.

She moaned again, snaking both hands around my waist and pulling. She wasn’t just rocking her hips now, she was sliding her entire front up and down, getting herself off on me as her nipples rubbed against my shirt. After a few seconds, she suddenly broke the kiss and pressed her head against my shoulder, her limbs tightening around me, hard. I ran my tongue under her ear, letting her body do its magic. After a few seconds, she relaxed until she nearly fell off me, and pulled back, looking at me in a daze. “Well…that felt great,” she managed, before dissolving into giggles. She shakily climbed off me, and flopped back down on her stomach. I dropped down next to her and propped my head up. “How ya feelin’?” I asked casually. She giggled again. She was a picture, right then, my Venus, laughing like a little kid, practically glowing, head to toe. Well, apart from her eyes, which actually were. “I’m pretty okay, right now, actually,” she said, snuggling back up against me. “Yourself?” “Well, I’ve got a raging erection, and the front of my pants are a little wet, but other than that, I’m just fine,” I said. I looked her up and down, and slid my arm under hers, pulling her forehead up against my chest. She exhaled, sounding relieved. “Hey, how’s your back? I didn’t hurt it?” “No, it’s fine, the pill kicked in.” She propped her head up on her elbow and gazed right back at me, those beautiful, endless red eyes a few inches away from mine. “Hey…thanks. You have no idea how bad I needed that. God, I was shaking like a little girl.” I leaned up an inch or two and kissed her on the forehead. “Well, I’m glad.” I didn’t really have much else to say; the last thing I wanted to do now was go too fast. Like I said, she was perceptive that way, though, and she was way ahead of me.

“Take it off. The shirt, it’s in the way,” she said, grabbing the hem and lifting. I obliged, pulling the tee shirt off and tossing it off the bed. “Much better,” she said happily. I kept going, pulling my belt out and tugging the rest of my clothes off. She watched, with that same hungry look in her eyes. Her gaze wandered down to my dick and lingered. She reached out to touch it, and ran her fingers along it, curling and stroking. “Aahhhh…baby, don’t do that, I’m right at the edge,” I said, catching her wrist. She shook me off and kept going, squeezing a bit when her hand reached the head. Well, that was IT. Her little grinding session had pushed me way the hell up before, and that sent me right over the cliff. My eyes rolled shut and I leaned forward, locking my hands on her arm for balance. A wave of raw, animal pleasure splashed through me, better than any orgasm I’d ever felt before. I could feel my fingers and toes curling reflexively, and I groaned, completely out of control for an instant. I felt the rush, and I opened my eyes to see my cum leaking down her arm in a stream, pooling on her side before trickling down over her breasts. If you ever say there’s anything hotter than that, you’re lying. I let go of her arm and rocked back on my heels, almost falling over as my joints turned to water. She grinned at me without moving, a narrow, lustful grin that nearly got me hard again by itself. After a second, she reached up and grabbed a tissue out of the box on the headboard and dried herself off, before I accidentally ruined the bedspread.

She sat up and gingerly settled back on her own heels, mirroring me. “From the look you had on your face, I’d say you liked that,” she said softly, the red flame in her eyes dancing. I tilted my head forward as the fatigue hit. “You can’t imagine it, baby. That…was amazing. I’ve never come like that. Ever.” She reached forward and slid her hands under my chin, pulling my head back up to meet her eyes. She sat there, smiling faintly, before inching forward on her knees until her legs interlaced with mine. She slid forward, trapping my dick between us, and pulled me into a kiss. After a moment, she broke it and lay back down on her stomach with a contented sigh. I made to lie back down next to her, but she stopped me. “Where are you going?” she asked, her eyes half-closed. “Nowhere,” I said, running my hand down her back, careful not to touch her scar. “Good. You’re not done.” “Yeah? You got something more in mind for me?” I asked. I leaned over her and pushed her hair to one side, then ran the tip of my tongue across the nape of her neck. “Mmm…that tickles…” I grinned to myself and followed the line I had drawn with my finger, eliciting a shiver. “Yeah…I have an idea.” She reached down past me and shucked the running shorts and the panties beneath them. I leaned back slowly. “I like your idea. Very much. But, ah, you wouldn’t happen to have-” “Protection?” she finished. “Yeah. The other pill. I’ve been on it for weeks. No more playing around.” She smiled at me in the darkness. “Help yourself. Fuck me crazy.”

I sat back and admired the view. The room was dark without the holo going, but the light was still on, dimly, and the faint outline of her night-black skin was intoxicating, beautiful. I ran my eyes over her whole body and saw what I had seen every night for days, the sight of me mounting her, filling her up with my dick, thrusting like an animal, whispering her name in her ear as her hands raced up and down my arms, begging for more…then I looked down and noted a problem. I turned to face her and smirked. “Well…give me a minute, and I’d be happy to…” I sank back down next to her. “You wore me out pretty quick…I’m gonna need a second to recharge.” “Yeah? Well, no sense in idle hands,” she said, crawling over me and dropping flush on top. She braced her legs on either side of mine, crossing her arms over my collarbone and staring at me from a few inches away. She grinned wanly. “So...I need to know. How did you see tonight turning out?” “Honestly?” I thought for a second. “I thought…I’d probably just be here long enough to see if you were okay, then go home.” “Well, I’m glad you didn’t.” “Me too,” I said, hooking my arms under hers and pulling her up to eye level. She stared down at me and bit her lip as she felt me hardening against her. “I’ve been looking forward to this for a very, very long time,” I said, smiling up at her. “I’d be a little offended if you hadn’t,” she whispered seductively. “Ready for round two?”

I pecked her on the lips and shook her lose. “Completely. What do you want to do?” “Here, I think this’ll hurt the least…” Venus slid off me and lay down on a dry patch of bedspread. I waddled over and crouched. “Worried about your back?” “A little…here, toss me that.” I grabbed the indicated pillow and slid it under her waist, lifting her ass back up. “Better. I already came like a speeding truck before, so go as fast as you want.” “Mmm, but wouldn’t it be something if I could do it again?” I asked playfully, rubbing a fingertip across her slit. She shivered. “Well, I’d be…nnnnghmm…grateful…” she said, glancing over her shoulder at me and grinning. She wasn’t nervous at all? I was. “You OK, baby?” “Just a bit nervous. Don’t want to hurt you.” “Believe me, you won’t. Tore it in training years ago.” Well, I had meant her back, but that was good to know, I supposed. “Uh…ok. Well…here…” I slid my fingers back along the soft little fold of skin between her legs, and she sighed into the pillow. “How does that feel?” “Faster. Push a bit.” I did so, and she sighed again. “Yesssss,” she whispered, drawing it out. She was soft as velvet, and so warm she almost felt feverish.

“You’re hot as a flame down here,” I said, sliding my fingers back and forth a little quicker. “More than usual, even.” She was getting wetter, too, and I could feel the muscles in her legs next to me tensing up. “Oh…” she moaned into the bedspread, gasping past the waves of pleasure. The pleasure I was giving her. God, that was heady. “Jake, push forward a bit…yeah, right there,” she breathed. I slid my fingers farther towards her front, until they bumped up against her clit. She nearly jumped up from the bed when I hit it. “Oh, oh fuck, not so hard there, that almost hurt.” “Sorry.” I slid my other hand beneath her and ran it across the tiny ridge, and she moaned aloud. “Better?” “Much. Oh, keep doing that, baby, please…” She grabbed the bedspread and buried her face in it to muffle a moan. I kept at it, gently stroking her clit and sliding my fingers across her entrance, and the moans got louder. “Hey, Venus, love, I’m ready. You have any lube?” “I am so far ahead of you,” she said, her voice ragged and heavy. “Seriously, go ahead. You’re fucking soaking me here.” I felt a jolt run from my fingertips to my dick at the sound. I wanted her so fucking bad…

I clambered across her legs and clamped my hands over her hips, but she squirmed. “No, baby, hey, that hurts. Move your hand, okay?” “All right,” I managed, my heart pounding. “Uh…this better?” I planted my hands on either side of her chest and leaned forward, the length of my dick pressed up against her ass. “Yeah, that’s nice…go ahead, put it in.” “Sounds like a plan,” I murmured, running my eyes up and down her muscular back. My eyes settled on the back of her neck, and I pushed her hair out of the way, revealing the narrow strip of skin again. I leaned forward as much as I could and kissed it. She reached back and grabbed my hand, and I could just see her smiling against the bed. “I love you, Jake.” “I love you too, Venus.” I lined myself up with her and ran the head across her pussy lips, not pressing hard enough to slide in, but more than enough for her to feel it. She arched her back a little and groaned against the bed, and her hand clamped down on mine.

“Ngghhh…oh, baby, that feels great…here,” she said, reaching back and adjusting me slightly. I pushed against the spot she picked, and I felt her part a little. “Oh…harder, but slow, OK?” I kissed her neck again. “Sure…” I pushed deeper, sliding down into her. She was drenched, not resisting at all, but she still felt tight, so fucking tight…I felt like I was going to break her. She suddenly clamped both hands on the bedspread next to her head and clenched them into fists. “Oh fffffuck oh FUCK, that’s good…oh that’s goooooood,” she ground out. I felt my hips catch on her butt. I was in as deep as I could be. “Does it hurt?” I asked. She shook her head. “Not at all, but hang on, OK? Give me a second.” I felt her twitch against me a little as her body adjusted to my invasion, and then she shivered again. “Go ahead…” I rocked my hips back from hers and pushed back in, finding a comfortable pace. She was getting into it herself, gently pushing up or squeezing in time with me. She forced her hands to unclench on the bed, and clasped them over mine. I leaned back down to her. “How can anything so soft feel so tight?” I whispered hoarsely, trying not to make too much noise. “Couldn’t say, but keep going,” she whispered back, leaning over until she could see my face. She met my eyes with hers and held them, bathing my face in their heat and light. “This feels so good…you can speed up a little, though.”

I picked up the pace, slapping my nuts on her crotch with every thrust. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could bear it, but I wasn’t going to embarrass myself by quitting early. “You like that?” I grunted, feeling the urge to come pulling at me but holding it in check. “I love it, Jake…keep going, OK? I really think I could get off on this again.” She clamped both hands on my arms and held on tight, making small mewling noises of pleasure. I could feel her breathing faster and louder, and she felt wet enough to melt. I confess there was some part of my machismo that was pleased to no end to see her enjoying this so much. “Fuck…baby, you’re soft as velvet inside,” I groaned, straightening up and slapping my hands on her legs, pulling her against me with every thrust. Her voice trembled a bit as she looked back at me over her shoulder. “Mmm…hey, careful, don’t hit my back,” she managed. “I’ll be careful.” I angled myself a bit to accommodate her better. “You like that, too?” “Fffuuuck…” she groaned, twisting back to look at me as far as her back would let her. “This feels so fucking good…but don’t hold back for me. Come for me, let me feel it,” she said, lowering her voice and glaring at me hungrily. That nearly did it right there, but I held on. I slowed down a bit and slid my hand under where my dick was still vanishing into her. “Nah. Wouldn’t be right if you didn’t get to come with me.” I ran my fingers over her clit again, and pressed it like a switch. She sagged downward, nearly losing her balance, and gasping in sudden sensation.

“Fuck, ooohhh fuck, Jake, I’m really sensitive, go easy,” she said, her voice tight and rough. Her head sagged back down to the pillow, and she nearly screamed as I vigorously rubbed the hard little nub on her skin. Suddenly I felt her contract, much harder, and her legs went rigid. She somehow managed to get even hotter, too, and I felt a little sucking sensation at the head of my dick. Who was I to refuse? I let go, slamming into her again and again, raw animal instinct forcing me in faster. Another raw orgasm pounded into me; I locked my hands around her legs, pushing in as deep as I could, surrendering to overwhelming instinct. I felt myself come against the tight resistance of her pussy, and an intense feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment washed over me. I screwed my eyes shut and rode the wave, until the bliss faded and I came crashing back down to reality. I slumped against her backside, too tired to even prop myself up, only an act of will keeping me off her burned back. After a moment of awed dizziness on both our parts, her heaving chest slowed and her breath went quiet. I dropped down beside her, pulling free of her trembling snatch with a wet sliding sound. I buried my face in her shoulder, raining little kisses onto it until she looked over at me, a look of contented disbelief etched on her face under sweat and stray hairs. She gradually pushed herself up to sit cross-legged against the headboard, leaning on her left side and gazing down on me. I could see a milky white strand of my seed leaking back out of her and couldn’t keep a smirk off my face. “How you feeling, love?” I asked, wearily scooting up to sit next to her. “Happy. Really happy,” she said, snuggling up to me. “Little sore, but totally worth it. You?”

“I’m fine.” I leaned over and kissed the top of her head, and she burrowed into my side, wrapping both arms around mine and rubbing affectionately up against me. “You’re wonderful. You were so hot…my little Venus. My little fire.” I rested my chin on her head and sighed, completely okay with life. “You were great.” She smiled against my cheek. “Thanks. You were pretty amazing, yourself.” She kissed my cheek, sliding her hand over to mine and splaying our hands over her womb. “That felt…soothing. Does that make sense? Like I needed to feel it.” I didn’t answer, just squeezed her hand and leaned against her, eyes shut. After a minute, she let go of me and wobbled off the bed. “I need a shower before I turn in, I’m disgusting,” she said, reaching for a terrycloth robe on a peg next to the bed. “All right. Think I’ll join you,” I said, climbing off and heading for the bathroom. I opened the door and turned back. She was standing with the robe in one hand, staring at me. “Unless you mind?” I leaned on the doorframe and grinned. She just stared at me for a moment, a smile creeping across her face. She dropped the robe back on the peg and slowly walked up to me, running a hand across my waist as she moved past. “Not at all.”

I walked into the bathroom and looked around, settling on the hot tub. “Never been in one of these,” I said, walking over to it and staring at the unmarked controls. “Let me.” Venus flicked a few switches, and the tub filled with bubbling, steamy water. “Uh…this’ll be hard, though. The water could hurt my back…” “Then let me,” I said, easing into the tub. “You?” “Why not?” I countered, smiling. “You never had a sponge bath before?” “No…but I see the attraction,” she said coyly, perching on the edge of the tub and dangling her legs in the water. I kneeled against the sloping edge of the tub and ran a bar of soap across her legs, lathering her up. “Have YOU ever done this before?” “No, but honestly, I’m quite eager to try,” I said, raising one arm and running the sponge under and over it. She let her shoulders dip a bit and her eyes turned down. She looked like she was thinking pretty hard. “Jake…I want to thank you. Really. You have no idea how badly I wanted this to happen tonight,” she said suddenly, grabbing another sponge and running it over her other side. “All right…so why thank me?” I asked, teasing her a little. “This isn’t the first time this-” she gestured to her back “has happened. I was about to get one a few years ago when Dad caught wind of it and grounded me for a month. I half-expected you to yell at me too.” “I wouldn’t do that,” I said, smiling up at her from between her legs. I slid the sponge over her still-puffy labia; her eyes slid shut, and she ran her hands over my shoulders. “No. You wouldn’t.” She dropped her own sponge in the water and laced her fingers through my hair, running them through the curls.

I gently rubbed the sponge over her again, enjoying the close-up. She was as fastidious about her hygiene here as anywhere else, I learned. She had trimmed her hair into a neatly-cropped arrow, ending at the faint pink line of her pussy. I ran my fingers through it, grinning to myself. “You’re as beautiful down here as you are everywhere else.” “Thanks,” she said softly. “I’m glad I trimmed up before the race the other day.” I resumed my ministration with the sponge as she talked, an odd sense of hesitation creeping into me at her next words. “I was hoping you’d like it, too.” “Me? Were you planning this?” I asked as I soaped up her breasts, taking the time to ensure I got full, thorough coverage. “Well, not the massive injury, no, but I was hoping I could…you know, we could sleep together after the party,” she said, sounding a bit guilty. “I didn’t want to pressure you, but…well. I’m not sorry I missed it, though. It would have been fun, but I can’t argue with the alternative.” I was a little surprised by her openness. I guess I understood that this was a major paradigm shift, though. “Okay. Thanks, Venus.” I rinsed her off, leaving her with goosebumps all up and down her front side. I wanted to kiss them all away… “Venus…” I sat back in the tub, thinking about how to ask this. “Can I ask you something personal? Like, really personal?” She planted her hands on her knees and leaned forward a bit, curious. “What is it?” “Why did you decide to trust me like this?” I asked, hoping a shift for the melodramatic wouldn’t be misinterpreted as doubt or disinterest. “What? Sex?” she asked, smiling that gorgeous smile. I felt the cloud of doubt that had settled in my stomach since we started talking lift right away.

“Well…yeah. That, and telling me about the Progenitor Project, and…you know. Us,” I said, crossing my legs on the bottom of the tub, letting the water rise up to my neck. She looked confused at that. “What do you mean? I trust you because you’re you. You’re Jake Seager. Are you asking why you?” “I guess so. Which, in hindsight, is a dumb question,” I said, shrugging. “Never mind.” “You say so.” She leaned back again and idly crossed her arms. “Are you done?” “What? Oh.” I picked the sponge back up and went back to work. “Anyway. Turn around for me, huh?” Venus turned around on the lip of the tub. “Thanks. Let me know if it stings, all right?” I started to run the sponge over her back, trying not to irritate the scar. She flinched visibly as the water hit the sensitive skin, then forced herself to relax. “Yeah, it stings a bit, but not that bad,” she said, gripping the edge of the tub. “I think the shower would work better, though.” “All right.” I stepped out of the tub and opened the door of the shower, looking in perplexity at the myriad knobs and buttons. They couldn’t actually use all those, could they? “Here.” She reached past me and twisted a few knobs, and a fine drizzle of scalding-hot water poured from all four nozzles. I jumped back from the sudden, boiling heat, and she hastily turned the temperature down. “Sorry, sorry.”

I eased back into the water, finding it much more pleasant. I closed the stall door behind us and started in on the soap, luxuriating in the sensation. Her shower stall was bigger than my bed, and I meant to make the most of it. Speaking of which… I turned to look at Venus, busily lathering up some shampoo. The steamy water was coursing down over her muscular frame, glinting under the bright overhead lights. I watched the tight lines of her shoulder muscles flex and lift as she worked the shampoo into her hair, and followed the soap bubbles as they worked their way down her curves. She noticed where my eyes were lingering and played into it, running her hands down her breasts to her stomach, arching her back a tiny bit and pouting those sculpted hips a little. When she was sure she had my rapt attention, she ran her fingertip up from her stomach under her chin and into her mouth, sucking it seductively. I started crossing the gap between us, preceded by my rapidly hardening dick. She kept up the act, nonchalantly stepping away and half-turning as if nothing was amiss. My hands shot out to anchor her in place and grabbed her by the waist, turning her back to me.

“Now that I have your attention,” I growled, pressing my thumbs against her waist until she leaned forward a little, “let’s see if we can’t make this even better.” I pushed my hips forward until my dick was rubbing on the cleft of her ass. I reached down and aligned my cock with her again, and she guided me back in with both hands. I sighed in mock relief. “Finally. I thought we’d never fuck again.” She giggled and braced her hands on the tile wall of the stall, leaning forward until she was nearly pressed up against it. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to take a shower again without thinking about you,” she managed, sounding quite content with that idea. I tilted forward to shield her wound from the falling water, settling into slow, steady rhythm as I did. “Tell me if you get too sore, all right?” I said, giving her ass a playful smack. “Don’t even worry about,” she said breathily. “This feels great. It’s different…” her voice trailed off for a few seconds. “It’s better,” she finished. “Oh…this is my new favorite thing…” She moved one leg forward a little, and the other back. I started up again, and she whimpered. “Oooh…that’s intense.” “This feels so right,” I said, stifling an ecstatic groan. “So fucking natural…” You may have noticed by now that I’m something of a hopeless romantic. Fortunately, it’s a trait Venus shares. She pushed off the wall with one hand, leaving the other splayed over the tile. She grabbed my hand and clasped it over her heart with a low, intense moan. “Hold me, okay?” she said softly, her voice uneven from exertion or pleasure. I was glad to.

I leaned forward, sandwiching her hand with mine. I rested my chin on her shoulder for a moment and whispered. “I’m right here.” She nodded, straightening up as much as she could without dislodging me. “I know. You’re always here when I need you.” She held still for me for a minute or two longer, then let go of my hand. Curious, I pulled out, the hot water feeling cooler than she had by comparison. She turned to face me, slapping me with her hair. “Want to try something?” she asked, running her hands over my shoulders enticingly. “Sure. What do you have in mind?” I asked. “Sit down, cross-legged,” she commanded. I did what she asked, sitting down right in front of her. She placed one foot on my leg, planting her pussy a few centimeters from my face. I didn’t wait for instruction. I grabbed the underside of her leg to hold her steady, and gently teased her lips apart with my tongue. She tensed up at the feeling, running both hands through my hair again. “Is this what you had in mind?” I asked wryly, slipping a finger into her vagina and rubbing. “For about a week, non-stop,” she returned, her voice thick. “…so fucking GOOD…here, tilt…there,” she said, helping me out a bit with one hand. I angled my probing finger up to her waist and pushed in, and her whole body stiffened. “Good boy,” she said, the red light above my head dying. “Right there…that’s the spot.” “So, what happens after this in your daydream?” I prompted, sliding in a second finger. “Haven’t…got that…far, yet…” she said distantly. I grinned. “I have a thought.” I leaned forward and nuzzled her tiny patch of fuzz. “I suspect you’ll enjoy it.” I felt her tighten against my fingers as I licked my tongue over her clit.

“Ffffffff – baby don’t DO that or I’ll have to stop,” she groaned, leaning forward to wrap both arms around my head. She hugged me against her pelvis, shivering. I planted a kiss against her clit and she almost jumped. I smirked against her skin. “If you haven’t thought of what to do next, allow me. Switch off the water and sit in my lap.” She hastily turned the knobs on the wall. The sound died away to a trickle, leaving only the fan and our breathing to fill the silence. She gingerly eased herself down onto my legs, crossing her own behind my back. I stuck both hands under her descending bottom, gently guiding her down onto my dick. She slid slowly down, until she settled in against me. I clamped both hands over her butt in a vice grip. “There…can’t get much more intimate than this,” I said with half a grin. She nodded slowly, rolling her head. “Jake…I’m really, really close…I need to FEEL it,” she said, leaning back in. I was struck by how much this felt like we were back in the bed, just fooling around, only better. She tightened her legs around my back and flexed them, rising up my shaft, then relaxed, slipping back down. I lifted with her, and she rose and fell again. I leaned forward and caught her nipple with my tongue, sliding it over the taut little nub. She slapped her hand over her mouth to stifle the noise as she groaned, which I appreciated, since she was right in my ear. Venus pushed her chest forward and I took the invitation, suckling on her tit. Her free hand braced on my shoulder, tucking me up flush with her as she rose and fell.

Even she had her limits, though. After only about a minute of that, she suddenly stopped moving, and a familiar tightening feeling raced through her pussy. I tugged her down as far as she could go, and I held her there. “I want to see it,” I said quietly, gazing into her wide, shaking eyes. “I want to watch you come, you hear me? Come for me, Venus.” The hand she still had over her mouth shook a bit as her orgasm started, and her eyes widened even more, locked on mine. I felt her tremble as the shockwave hit and she muffled a scream. Her nipples hardened against my chest as she came, and her eyes vibrated a little, still locked on mine. I could see the skin around them relax a little as it passed. When her aftershocks stopped, I pulled her hand free and kissed her, working the lingering tension out of her mouth. She leaned against me for support as the wave of bliss faded, sapping the strength from her legs. “Wow…I didn’t even feel it coming,” she said in sleepy surprise, pulling back and regarding me from a foot away. I kept going, taking over the inertia, burying myself in her over and over, until I came too, and I stifled a moan in her shoulder. The tide of pleasure receded, slowly, and I shakily unclenched my hands from her ass. I leaned back against the shower stall, utterly spent. Venus reached up and turned the water back on, washing away the sweat of our exertions. I closed my eyes for a moment and let the water pour down over me. Venus half-stood, half-rolled off of me, holding a washcloth bar for support as she rose to her feet. She stood and stared down at me, blinking water out of her eyes. “Well…that was worth it,” she said happily, grinning white teeth in black skin. She reached down and grabbed my hands, helping me up.

I slid my hands under her arms and hugged her loosely, absently nuzzling her ear. She pulled back with a dreamy grin, ambling off to the vanity in the corner. I dried myself off and walked out, collapsing on the bed. When she was done in the bathroom, we switched places, and I returned to find her already curled up under the covers on the far side of the mattress, fiddling with something on the nightstand. I switched the lights of the room off, until the only source of illumination was her. I saw the red spots of light flick over in my direction before vanishing briefly as I climbed into the bed, and the ceiling holo reappeared, showing the Nocturne system spinning overhead. The red lights reappeared. “If you don’t mind?” “No,” I said, wearily maneuvering over to her. She was lying on her side, facing towards me, her eyes dimmed with exhaustion. “How are you feeling?” “Tired. Really tired,” she responded, stretching her legs with a *pop*. “You?” “I could black out for a week,” I joked, lying next to her with a sigh. She snuggled up to me again, resting her head on my shoulder. “So…what does it feel like?” “Huh?” “Sex. For you. Women. What’s it like?” I asked, glancing down at her. “Oh. Well…do you ever become incredibly, unbelievably aware of your tongue?” she asked. “No…” I said, not seeing where she was going. “Right. You’re not aware of your mouth until something’s in it. Same deal. It’s just a really comfortable feeling of being filled. That’s…it, really. You?” I thought for a moment, and decided to continue the mouth metaphor. “Imagine…every nerve ending in your vagina moving to the tip of your finger, then stick it in your mouth and suck it. That, basically.”

“Okay…I think you get the better deal,” she said after a moment’s reflection. “I dunno, I felt you come back there. I think you get off better. No pun intended.” She giggled softly. “Lucky me.” She reached down to grab the covers and pulled them up to her chin. “So…did you tell your parents you’d be staying over?” “No,” I replied, thinking back. “Oh well. If I haven’t come home by this late, they probably figure I’m staying the night.” “This late? It’s only 2000 hours,” she said. “Really?” I had thought it was much later than that, actually, though I was in no state to judge. “Well, I don’t feel like going home.” A terrifying thought suddenly jumped into my head as I followed that train of logic. “Oh…oh fuck, is your father going to murder me? I mean, I came over to see how you were, not-” “Relax, I think he’s okay,” Venus said wryly. “Actually, he thought we were fucking already. At the party when you two met, remember how he was grilling you?” “Yeah…” I thought back to the way he had acted, but I didn’t remember him being unreasonable. “I didn’t think he was that bad. Just concerned.” “Well, he’ll be all right. Just try to avoid him tomorrow morning, huh?” she said wryly. “Yeah.” I slid my hand down her back, trying keep the covers off her injury. “I could go home and avoid the problem.” “Don’t even try,” she said flatly. “You’re staying here tonight. End of discussion.” I snorted at the tone in her voice. “Works for me. Good night, Venus.” “Good night, Jake.”

We drifted off pretty quick, and I don’t remember dreaming. I was so tired from waiting all day for her to call me, then feeling the terror when Misja told me Venus had hurt herself, then all the tension, building up to…well, the best night ever. The next morning, I woke up to the sound of Venus’ keyboard clicking, and a mild headache. I cracked my eyes open and saw Venus, still butt-naked, sitting in her computer chair, idly typing away. The screen above us was dark, and the lights were still off, but I could see her in the light from the screen and the running lights on her case mod. I sat up, belatedly wondering where the lock in the room was. She must have heard me, because the clicking stopped. “Morning, baby.” “Good morning,” I mumbled, still trying to figure out what time it was. The lights suddenly came on all at once, nearly blinding me. “Gah, that’s bright. What time is it?” I asked, blocking out the offending light with my arm. “It’s about 0630,” Venus said. She walked over from the switch next to the computer desk and stood by the edge of the bed, arms crossed. “You slept like a baby. I was wondering if I’d have to wake you up myself if we wanted to leave in time.” “In time for what?” I asked, letting my eyes adjust. “School,” she said. I stared at her blankly. “It’s Friday morning. We have to go to school.” “Oh…oh fuck, I didn’t even think of that,” I said, scrambling for the edge of the huge bed. She planted her hand in the middle of my chest and held me back.

“Whoa, whoa, easy, class doesn’t start until eight and your car’s still here, we’ve got plenty of time.” She leaned over me, smiling. “I don’t know about you, but I need another shower. Funny, the last one didn’t really seem to work. We must have gotten distracted somehow.” I couldn’t help but grin at the memories creeping back into my head as the sleep-fog receded. “Can’t imagine such a thing,” I said, taking stock of her. She looked no worse for wear, and the bright lights let me take in all the details the darkness had obscured the previous night. She looked like a dream, right then, and I felt myself harden up as the memories mixed with the very real sight of her, right there in front of me. She sensed where my thoughts were straying and narrowed her eyes. “Got something on your mind?” she asked innocently. “Yeah, you,” I said, running my hands up her arms to her shoulders. She shook her head and backed off. “Sorry, hon, I’d love to go again, but I woke up sore as hell.” I mentally kicked myself. I hadn’t even thought of her back. “Oh, I’m sorry,” I said contritely. “Can I help? Is it your back?” “No, and partially,” she said somewhat sheepishly. She grabbed her robe off the peg and pulled it on, heading off to the bathroom. “Be right back.” “Wait, where are my clothes?” I asked. They were nowhere to be seen, even though I was sure I had tossed them in the corner last night. “Laundry servitor got them, they’ll be done in a few minutes,” she called through the door. A laundry servitor? Those existed? I had sure never seen one.

I leaned back on the bed as the sound of the showerhead filtered through the closing door. I’m not sure why it took me so long, but the way she had said that last bit about the servitor had kicked off a whole, bizarre train of thought. I was officially with a Primarch’s daughter. What the FUCK? What was I even going to do now? I was never afraid of commitment, but we were both seniors. When I graduated, there was no bloody way I could ever afford to get a degree, and I didn’t have the balls to join the military. Would we stay together? Would I even get to see her? I could join the Canstrides Seminary like my grandfather did, but then I’d just be a functionary coasting on nepotism, nobody that mattered. And what if she was wrong? What if Vulkan turned out to be as rip-shittingly overprotective of his daughter as Lord Curze and Lord Angron had been to their kids? ‘Kelly’ and ‘Furia’ were practically synonyms for ‘daddy issues’ around school. It didn’t seem likely that that would happen, but…I barely knew the guy. And…fuck! What if Venus hadn’t been on the pill long enough? What if I got her pregnant?! That would have just been the end of all things, right there, the end of my life, one way or another. And hers, publically. What was I thinking? What would her cousins think? What would the other royal girls have thought of this? I barely even cared what most of them thought of me, but Hana, Freya, and Farah were my friends. Would that change now? And- “Are you OK?” I snapped out of my anguish-fuelled introspection to see Venus standing next to the bed, looking curious. She had pulled some underwear on and was carrying my own clothes in one hand, folded and pressed.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine,” I said, sitting up and making for the bathroom. She blocked me with one hand across the frame, staring at me coolly. “What’s wrong?” she asked accusingly. I hesitated, backing off until I sat back down on the bed. “Just scared, I guess,” I confessed, feeling a hard little knot of tension settle in my stomach. “Scared?” she asked, genuinely surprised. “Scared of what? Dad?” “Well, a little, but just…the future, you know? What the hell do I do now?” I asked. In hindsight, I’m sure I sounded selfish to her. Like I said, though, she’s a patient girl. “What do you mean?” she asked softly, sitting down next to me again. I briefly wondered how many times this bed would see use as a confessional. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound like that,” I said honestly. “I just scared myself thinking about what happens next. Where do we go after we graduate? You already got accepted at Kouthry. I couldn’t afford to go to Kouthry even on a scholarship, the housing is so expensive. And what if I got you pregnant tonight? God, I’d die of horror. Assuming I didn’t get arrested first. And what about Farah and Hana? And the rest of your cousins? Some of us are friends. Is this-” I gestured at the two of us “-going to fuck that up?” Venus sat there nodding, letting me vent. When I was done, she pursed her lips and thought. I sat back and slumped a bit, drained and embarrassed. I grabbed my towel off the peg next to the bed and covered myself up, suddenly a little more conscious of my nudity.

Venus took it all in with those inscrutable red eyes, then slowly spoke. “Okay. I guess I understand why you’re nervous.” She smiled suddenly, flashing me a knowing grin. “Let me let you in on a little secret, Jake. I only sleep a few hours a night. It’s a Progenitor thing, all of us are like that. Around 0400, Farah texted me and asked if I was OK. I didn’t tell her what we got up to specifically, but when I said we had to stay home, she practically cheered me on. She’s rooting for us, Jake. Believe me, the two of us being together is not going to fuck up your friendships with my cousins.” I nodded, feeling a little relived, though something she said had started another, more unsettling thought. Before I could voice it, though, she kept going. “About school…well, I don’t know about you, but if we did both get accepted to Kouthry, I would be happy to just room with you…but it sounds to me like you’re more worried about paying for tuition?” “Well…yeah. I couldn’t get a scholarship this late in the year, I don’t think,” I said. “And I haven’t been accepted.” “Well, Dad would draw the line at covering tuition for you, I know. I’m sure we could find a way. Student loans, maybe. We’ll figure it out.” She stood up, leaving her robe and my clothes on the bedspread, silhouetting herself against the bright lights. The conservative red bra and panties she had chosen set her eyes off nicely, I thought to myself, enjoying the momentary distraction. I shook myself, mentally. There was a bigger concern, here. “If you say so. There’s one other thing, though,” I said, steeling myself. This was going to be the hardest question of all.

“What?” she asked, pausing with her hand halfway into her dresser. “You said that you were created using the same techniques the Emperor used to create your father,” I said. “Does that mean you’re immortal, like he is?” I didn’t need to ask the obvious question: even if we did work it all out, would I grow old and die without her? Her hand fell back to her side, and her head drooped. I could see the compact muscles of her back tense as she thought it over. She turned back to face me, biting her lip. “Well…yes. Once I hit about twenty-eight, I’ll stop aging forever.” I nodded slowly, trying to comprehend it. Somehow, that felt as drastic as her breaking up with me. Someday, I was going to leave her alone. “When were you going to tell me?” I asked. It wasn’t an accusation. I really wanted to know. “Well…I don’t know. To be honest, I completely forgot to mention it until you reminded me. It just isn’t an issue to someone raised by a Space Marine,” she said. From the look on her face, she was seriously unnerved by the thought; at least as much as I was. Before I even thought about what I was doing, I had stood up, dropping the towel on the bed. I walked the distance over to the dresser and embraced her, pulling her tight. She returned it, burying her face in my bare shoulder. “Holy shit, how did I never think of that?” she said hoarsely, muffled against my skin. “What the hell is wrong with me?” “Yeah, I’m supposed to be the short-sighted one,” I said angrily.

She laughed, a brief, bitter gasp of amusement. She pulled back, rubbing her eyes. “You’re not short-sighted.” “Well, I suppose I didn’t have a run-in with a branding iron last night,” I mused. Her jaw dropped in surprise and pique, and she slapped me across the shoulder. “You are an ASSHOLE,” she said indignantly. I shrugged modestly. “Well, I don’t know about that, but I am sorry for killing the mood,” I said. She sighed her agreement, looking down at the floor. Before I let her get any more downcast, I gently cupped her head in my hands, tilting her up to look at me from a few inches away. She gazed back up at me, and suddenly her eyes weren’t so completely unfathomable anymore. Uncertainty, contentment, lust, unease, belonging, fear, and curiosity swirled around in them, coexisting and fighting, dictating her future. I could see her clearly, for the first time; and despite her daemonic appearance and utterly alien lifestyle, she was as familiar to me as my own reflection. I closed the gap between us again, and lowered my head down to hers, kissing her softly. She fisted both hands against my chest, then slowly relaxed them, sliding them around my neck. I felt her rise up on the tips of her toes, bringing her up to eye level, and she inched away, a faint smile dancing across her lips, eyes shut. “Well…you’ll make it up to me,” she said quietly, and with total, complete confidence. I smiled against her lips, and she squeezed her arms briefly, sighing comfortably, her breath mixing with mine. “Somehow.”

I tilted my head back and looked at her from a few inches away. She smiled up at me, biting her lip, mischief dancing in her eyes. God, I love her. “Count on it,” I said assuredly, and the anguish was gone. I stepped back, grabbing the towel off the bed and heading for the bathroom. I paused at the door and looked over my shoulder, and she was still standing at the dresser, her shirt clutched in one hand, staring at me. “All right, love?” “All right.” She shook her head and smiled at something she was thinking of. “All right. Go take your shower. I’ll make us some breakfast.” After getting cleaned up and dressed, I wandered down to the kitchen, as quietly as I could contrive. In hindsight, I had decided, Vulkan wasn’t as scary as I had thought he was, but I was in no mood to take risks on my victory lap. Venus was puttering away at the cooktop, cracking eggs into a bowl and stirring them as the toaster hummed. “So, how long of a drive is it from here to school?” I asked, looking at the clock on one of the stoves. Its little red LCD read 0720. “Short. Very short. Fifteen minutes?” she guessed, pulling out some plates. “Enough time for some food.” “Where are your parents?” I asked, glancing out the window. Only my aircar was out there; then again, they did have a garage. “Dad’s at the Palace for a thing. Mom’s around somewhere,” Venus said distractedly, sliding some condiments across the marble tabletop.

“Have you talked to her about us?” I asked worriedly. “Nope. And I won’t, not unless she asks. To be honest, Jake, I think she’s probably rooting for us too,” she laughed. I sat down at the table and stared at my hands, smiling. “Your parents are pretty okay.” “Yeah, they are. What do you think YOUR parents will do?” she asked. “Nothing, even if I told them. I think they both just want me to be happy with whatever I chose, here. Although if Mom knew, come to think of it, she’d probably have a stroke at the thought of me getting a Primarch’s daughter pregnant,” I said, chuckling at the thought. “Well, Cycridine has a 99.89% effectiveness rate, so tell her not to have a stroke,” Venus giggled. “We should probably be a bit safer next time anyway, though.”

I made a face. She noticed my reluctance and sighed in mock irritation. “Deal with it. A tiny margin of failure is still way too big.”

“Fine,” I grumped. “Volume will just have to replace quality.”

“Oh ho, we’ll see about that,” she said smugly. “Practice makes perfect.” THAT put a grin on my face. Before I could say anything, though, I heard someone walking down the stairs. I nearly bolted for the door, but Venus caught my eye and shook her head. I sank back into the chair. I guess this was bound to happen sooner or later.

Misja appeared at the bottom of the stairs. When she saw me, she paused for a moment, but kept on coming. “Morning, Venus. Hi, Jake,” she said, apparently suppressing whatever she actually WANTED to say.

“Good morning, Lady Vulkan,” I replied politely. Last thing I needed was to piss her off. Fortunately, she didn’t seem TOO angry.

“How’s your back, honey?” she asked Venus. Venus idly rubbed her hip near the burn.

“Not bad, but it still hurts a little. The painkillers worked pretty well.”

“Good. Good.” She looked over at me as if trying to marshal her thoughts. After a moment, she just shook her head. “Jake.”

“Yes?” I asked apprehensively.

“Do I even need to explain what’s going to happen if you hurt her?” Misja asked, skewering me with her gaze.

“No, Lady Vulkan. It will never come to that,” I said, straightening up on the stool.

“Good.” She sighed shortly. “Have fun at school, you two.” She turned off and walked out the door into the garage without another word.

I sat and stared at the closing door in surprise. Venus chuckled. “See? Painless. She actually likes you, Jake.”

I turned back to face her, smiling despite myself. One obstacle down. “She does, eh?”

“Of course. You’re smart, and you don’t just care about money. Mom was always scared I’d give myself to someone who was just mining for gold,” Venus said, shaking her head and laughing at the silliness of that idea. “Like I’d ever be that dumb.” I shot her a pointed glance at the burn under her shirt, and she turned away quickly. “Anyway. Sustenance. Eat.”

After breakfast, we both made our way out to my car, since Venus was in no shape to drive full of painkillers. When we got there, I was half-expecting everybody to treat us differently, but of course they didn’t. Why would they? As far as anybody but maybe Farah knew, nothing had changed. Assuming the Twins never found out, nothing would. The day ground by, and I managed to bury myself in the classwork. Professor Arhiman’s lecture on Warp Tides was a study in What The Fuck, but anything Warp-related was. I just hoped Miranda didn’t wreck the curve to hell like she usually did. At lunch, I deliberately avoided my usual table, with Venus and Farah. I would have enjoyed their company, I’m sure, but I knew better than to tempt fate: the Twins were sitting right between them, and there was no way I could maintain the charade for more than a minute under their scrutiny. I lucked out. A few of the guys from Cogitator Design were at the end of one of the larger tables. I sat down with them, digging into my Goo Of The Day. Too late, I looked up to find, of all people, Angela, Lord Sanguinius’s daughter, staring straight at me with the most unnerving grin. Well, she WAS a psyker. Damn it. I should have known. Oh well. I tried to avoid making eye contact with her, chatting with the other guys, until one of them, and fucked if I can remember which one, said something stupid.

“Jake, man, you’re clicking.”

“The fuck?” I asked, confused. He waved his calculator at me as if it were a radiometer.

“You’re clicking hot, man, radioactive. You’re emitting ‘laid rays.’”

I stared at him, agape. “ ‘Laid rays?’ Are you from space? What in the hell are you talking about?”

“He’s right, man,” the first one’s crony spoke up. “You’re fucking glowing.”

“You’re full of shit.” I turned my eyes down, trying to finish as soon as possible and take off for the bathroom or something, anything, to escape. “Really? We could ask Venus,” the first guy sniggered.

My eyes shot up. My fist clenched around my knife in a heartbeat. “Ask her what?” I demanded, my voice tightening in anger.

“You’d get nowhere,” Angela suddenly said. We all looked at her in surprise. “ ‘A gentleman never asks and a lady never tells,’” she quoted. She looked at me, tilting her head. I could have killed her. I could have fucking killed her. Why not just have screamed at the top of her lungs that we had something to hide?

She grinned at me faintly. “Unless you do have something to say?” she prompted. Every eye at the table pivoted to me. I froze, unsure of what to even say. Whose side was she on, here?

Relax, Jake. Tell a half-truth. These idiots can’t tell the difference. The thought suddenly jumped into my head, in Angela’s deific voice. I didn’t look at her, but I could feel her gentle, encouraging persuasion in my mind.

“While we’re on the subject, asshole, I don’t remember inviting your opinion,” I said angrily, directing a glare at the first guy, letting my voice rise a little near the end. I pointed my hand, knife still clenched, straight at him. He put one hand up in contrition.

“Sorry, man, cool the fuck down. I was just saying, is all,” he said, but it was all bluff. He was done. I shot my ‘rescuer’ a glare, too, before I tore back into my Goo.

Sorry, I spoke without thinking, she said in my head. To be honest, I was angrier that she had DARED to speak in my thoughts without permission than I was that she opened her damn mouth. I thought that to her, and she shrugged her winged back. I’m really sorry. I just didn’t want you two to get in trouble. I won’t do it again. I sighed and let it drop. She bowed her head for a moment, and I felt her gratitude in my mind before her presence vanished. The buzzer finally rang, and I was first out the door. Worst fucking lunch ever. Well, as you might expect, I was in a rush to get THAT out of my head. Fortunately for me, the rest of the school day went by more or less uneventfully. After school, I drove Venus home and I couldn’t resist mentioning what had happened at lunch.

“She used Projection on you?” Venus asked in surprise. “I’m…wow. I didn’t think she would do that.”

“Yeah. I’m not sure how mad to be.” I fumed as the autopilot propelled us closer, drifting through the hive’s skylanes. “What do you think?”

“I think you’re right to be angry at her, but she probably feels terrible about it already,” Venus said, drumming her fingers on the door. “I think you should just forget about it. She’ll be able to tell if you resent her for it, you know.”