Desmond never really was a nightclub person. They were always too crowded, too loud, and too expensive. But that’s where Desmond found himself tonight. However, he wasn’t there for the refreshments, the music, or truly the social scene, though that was admittedly a portion of his being there. No, he was there because there was an itch that needed scratching, a craving that needed to be fulfilled, and one that he didn’t usually like to take care of. At this nightclub, known (and in part infamous) for its privacy and discretion, he could take care of that need with subtlety.

Still, he felt crowded as he made his way to the bar with ears quickly growing sore from the excessive bass, not looking forward to burning through the cash he’d saved up just for this endeavor. It seemed like he could rarely get someone alone without a few drinks in them first. As he looked around, wondering who he should work his wiles on, a figure stood out. She was a fairly tall woman, taller than a lot of the men around her. Somewhere between six and seven feet he wagered. He wasn’t completely sure with spotted cats, but he was pretty sure she was a Jaguar from the spot pattern. Long and lithe, her body seemed made to dance.

That was the strange thing though. While she had the body for it, there seemed to be something strangely…off about it. It was loose and fluid, and yet somehow oddly forced in his eyes, like someone trying to be in perfect step of a video performing a dance they were unfamiliar with. He didn’t realize he was staring, trying to put a finger on just what made her movements so odd to him, until he noticed that her eyes were looked with his even as she continued to dance.

Keeping from flinching at being caught staring, he let his gaze wander again, like she had just caught his attention for a moment. Next time he noticed her, she was halfway across the floor, heading his way. He kept his gaze wandering though, acting like he was oblivious to her intentions, which were now obvious. Things often went more smoothly, in his mind, when the other felt themselves in control. And something about the way she walked told him that she was used to being in control.

Once she reached him, she didn’t bother to say anything at first, and his eyes stopped on hers when he brought his gaze around again. There was little ignoring her at this point. There was an odd silence between them then, as it seemed neither wanted the opening line. Desmond guessed that she expected him to start apologizing for being caught looking, but he wasn’t self conscious in the slightest.

“Like what you see?” she asked coyly, seating herself in the stool next to him. “You were looking long enough.”

“You stand out in a crowd,” he replied, which was the truth. It wasn’t just her height that set her apart; even her outfit was enough to draw eyes. Just this side of being to code, it was as revealing as she could get away with, and really accentuated her spots on all parts of her body. In fact, a touchier bouncer may have kept her at the door, though he had a feeling she had her ways of changing his mind.

The smile she flashed him to that answer seemed like an acting job, even if a good one. “Hmmm…I suppose that’s true. Still, seemed you wanted a closer look.”

“I’m getting one right now, aren’t I?”

To that, she purred, and Desmond wondered if that’s one way she laughed. “You are. Are you interested in an even…closer look?” she leaned in with the last two words, none too subtlety accentuating her breasts to his vision as she did so. They were modest compared to many he’d seen, but she did know how to work them, and it helped drive home the real question behind her query.

Still, while this seemed to be just the cue he was looking for, he understood about things seeming too good to be true. “Depends,” he said, trying to still sound interested. “What’ll it cost me?”

“Oh, I’m not that type of girl,” she said easily, even if said type of girl would surely say the same thing. “You aren’t here for the dancing or music, given you came straight here after coming in. You don’t come here just for the food and drink. So what does that leave for the reason to be here?”

Desmond was starting to like this young woman. There seemed to be some brains to go along with her looks for sure, even if she was a touch more forward and sultry than he’d prefer. Still, she had a point, given she’d genuinely hit the nail on the head. One nail, anyway. She knew what she wanted, she guessed with some accuracy what he wanted, and she went and made her move before he could. Would save him a lot of time and get him out of the music anyway.

That did not mean he had to let his guard down, even if he felt there was nothing she cold pull on him that he couldn’t handle. So he answered her with what he felt was his best charming grin, that “caught in the cookie jar and not ashamed of it” look and simply said, “Lead the way.”

It didn’t take her much to get the bartender’s attention, and with how quick money was exchanged and they were on their way, Desmond had a hunch she was a regular here. Maybe the fact that he wasn’t a regular had drawn her eye, though it hadn’t seemed the local crowd was avoiding her on the floor. She didn’t drag him along, but seemed to always keep a pace a smidge quicker than his when he tried to match hers. It seemed only moment between meeting at the bar to being in one of the private rooms off to the side, and he was hardly done making sure that the room would offer enough privacy before he noticed her beginning to shed her clothes, looking inquisitively back at him to see if he wasn’t comfortable.

In response, he took of his own shirt, and even though he had had some practice stripping, even if he hadn’t really ever had need to put his speed to the test, she was nude before him before he’d even gotten the second leg out of his pants, without seeming to make haste. That at least confirmed that she was a regular at this endeavor. Desmond kept his composure, feeling in control, letting her lead the way, letting her feel in control. It had been a long time since he’d been with an assertive woman, and never with one genuinely bigger than he was. Seemingly before he knew it he had his back against the wall, without force, with his wrists firmly in the grip of her hands, pressing her body against his. As she went in for that first kiss, he locked eyes with her to-

He froze in shock. For him, a Kitsune, the eyes were the window to the soul, a window he could freely open. But as he looked into the eyes of this Jaguar woman of whom he hadn’t even gotten a name, he did not see a soul. There was…something in there; fragments, wisps of something almost tangible and yet beyond him to grasp. It wasn’t truly a void, but it was eerily close, and that strangeness left him at a loss.

It wasn’t until she started to pull away from the kiss that he broke from his near paralysis, as he felt a peculiar physical sensation in his mouth. He realized he’d felt his tongue on his, but as she pulled away, he still felt that tongue, and the feeling of it was spreading, loosing roughness and being replaced by an oddly cool smoothness. It was on his lips and tickling his throat before his wits returned, but all he could get out was heavy breathing when he wanted to yell.

And she was still smiling.

The smothering coolness was now traveling down his wrists, down his legs from where hers touched his, and even emanating across his pecs from her tits. As it crawled up his face, he realized that she was beginning to coat him, and when he tried to struggle, he found her grip inescapable despite the apparent lack of pressure exerted on him. He was, he was forced to admit, completely at her mercy, his power and means of control useless against this being that was rapidly showing herself to be anything but what she appeared.

Despite their privacy, she wasted little time, neither taunting nor toying with him. She simply pressed herself against him, her body quickly flowing over him. And then, to his dismay, into him. Most if his body was covered, notably excluding his face, when she began to work her way down his throat, up his rear, into his privates, and even through his skin he was sure. The fact that he found himself not gagging, and still able to breathe as she worked her way into his stomach and throat despite his body’s protest, a positive sign. If she was keeping him alive, he might be able to find a way out of his yet.

Finally, with nothing left to cover, she pressed her face into his with another mock kiss and simply kept moving forward, enveloping his head and working his way into his ears. His envelopment, much like her grip, was unmoving firm without a hint of discomfort. For a while, he could feel her working through his body, eventually losing feeling.

Desmond didn’t realize he’d lost consciousness until he opened his eyes once me. He was looking at Valerie again, sitting in the same private room of the nightclub, and she was smiling at him. If it weren’t for the fact that he could intrinsically feel that his body was different, he might have been tempted to tell himself that she’d given him some kind of hallucinogenic at some point, though he couldn’t say when she could have managed that feat.

Almost instinctively, with their eyes locked, he opened the windows again and got another shock. There was something there this time, but it was his own soul he was staring into through her eyes. But there was still that wisp there too. It was like…like he was filling a partially filled hole, but didn’t quite fit properly.

“What do you see?” she asked, with an inquisitiveness that seemed the first genuine line she had spoken to him.

“You…you’re an incomplete being, aren’t you?” he found himself saying, speaking his hunch out loud as the thought came to his mind. That’s what it was. She wasn’t soulless, but there was only a hint of a soul, like there should be more.

“That…is my understanding, yes.” Desmond could not mistake the sadness in her tone, a sadness that did not reach her face, and he wondered if she even realized she was expressing.

“And I’m filling that void,” he continued.

“For a time. I cannot hold you forever, and I do not desire to.”

“You feel more alive with…with someone’s soul inside you, don’t you?”

This time, she did not speak, only nodded. In the back of his mind, Desmond knew he should be terrified. This being had just assimilated him. He wasn’t sure how, but he knew he was still a part of her despite appearing to be separate and across from her. And he was sure was not simply in what passed for her mind. That, at least, he knew he’d be able to sense.

“You’re not used to someone like me, are you?” Desmond asked, knowing no one could possibly have been able to see her the way he could.

“You are different, yes. Very different. You possess four tails, but I did not see them at first and I do not believe you hide them as I do. And there is something else, a strange feeling I have not felt before that seems intrinsic to you.”

“Magic,” he found himself answering. “Well, I know you’re not a demon, or you’d’ve known what I was in a heartbeat. So, if I may be so bold, what are you?”

“I am not sure. The one who brought me into this world does not understand either, though he has said that I was the unexpected result of what he was trying to do.”

Desmond very much wanted to meet this other person, but as he could not penetrate her mind to find the answer, and she seemed disinclined to say, it seemed that would remain a mystery for now.

“So, what do you get out of this?” he decided to ask instead.

“I feel more…alive? Real? I am not sure, but I feel better when around emotion. There is much out on the dance floor,” as she waved her hand in the general direction, “but it is scattered and vague. The closer I am to someone, the easier it is to draw. And easiest when there is a direct connection.” Suddenly, Desmond felt his toe tap without any thought of his to do so. “I did mean what I implied about getting a closer look, in the way you interpreted.”

“So you, I suppose, feed off of pleasure?” he wanted to clarify.

“Or fear,” she said with an impish grin, “if they do not wish to cooperate. Pleasure and terror are such strong emotions that help make me feel…almost complete, for a time.”

“Well, I’m willing to cooperate, if that means my eventually freedom. Even if you’d let me go either way, as you imply, I think I’d rather enjoy this evening. And I’d like to know more about you. I can’t make any promises, but I’d like to try helping you, if I can.”

Her smile was charming, and this one was no sham, he knew. Whatever emotion she was now capable of expressing, her happiness at his offer was genuine. “I would love that, but first, I think I would like to continue with what I’ve already started. We’ll be undisturbed for quite some time, and I can make… ‘real’…just about anything you can think of in here. Any ideas?”

Desmond was no stranger to what she was offering, and was capable of doing such himself in a much different way from hers. So though the night wasn’t progressing as he’d planned or anticipated, he believed it may yet turn out profitably.

”Oh, I have a few…”