Dinner with a Werewolf

[IamLEAM1983]

Crystal wasn't lying in bed with the spy, much less the formerly moneyed aristocrat or even the seasoned adventurer. The man who explored her was the same Archibald Holden who had yearned for some sort of connection throughout his life, something he'd never found in Canterbury's straight-laced confines or Eton's rigorous intellectual climate. He'd briefly tasted it thanks to Iphigenia, but the blood of the Carmilla hadn't been kind to her. He'd still been a slave to the Victorian conceit of chaste and demure attraction, and the young vampire had pushed too far. Archie hadn't been ready for earnestness, and he'd paid the price for it. In a sense, his own reticence had created Sasha Grey out of the ashes of Iphigenia. He'd later realize that he'd never really loved her, but had merely been fond of her.

Between Iffie and Crystal had been a number of mission-mandated seduction rounds, loveless and fairly cruel games that ended with his yanking intelligence from the lips and hands of vulnerable Eastern Bloc officers. He'd had to mime and parrot his way through the semblance of love, but had never experienced it again. With the werewolf, it felt as though something were compelling him to chip away at a block of ice he'd built around a chunk of his heart, something raw and naked progressively poking through. No matter how much pressure per square inch his hydraulics could produce, his gestures would register to the wolf spirit as being some sort of deep-seated desire to trust her, mingled with a great deal of previously-denied vulnerability.

All the same, Archie's multifaceted self didn't allow for consistent and deliberate weakness. The Lord wasn't far behind the affection-starved immortal, poking through as he forced them to roll around so he would find himself on top of her. Trust and displayed weakness gave way to a more proud kind of passion, his own take on an inner predator shining through. Archimedes the political assassin now straddled her, lovingly framing her face and neck with his hands. Somehow, Crystal would instinctively know he'd never allowed himself to display this pride with anyone else, before.

"We seem to be at an impasse," he crooned, even as he kissed his way down her chest, down to her navel. "You are a werewolf, I am a trained killer and hunter. We both want one another. Which of us is the predator, and which of us is the prey? We have each other dead to rights, wouldn't you say?"

[TennyoCeres84]

Chuckling throatily, Crystal's gaze was now extremely focused, yet growing somewhat impatient. Holden's shows of passion had caused little lupine traits to come through. Her pupils now glowed within the dim room, while her nails and teeth currently looked less tame. "Perhaps," she answered. "Though, your question is more koan than an actual inquiry. We are both predator and prey. I sense our lovemaking will be more of a back and forth, a playful tumble in the hay, between the two of us, my dear Archibald," she rumbled softly, tracing a finger down the side of his face.

While he might have straddled her, the werewolf suddenly changed their positions with a great burst of strength. She flipped him on his back and began her own exploration. While it might have seemed her instincts were ruling her mind at the moment, her emotions tempered any aggressive gestures. While his body was a machine, each of the facets of his being were still fragile compared to her flesh and bone. Yet, she showed a complete means of trust. The dark-haired woman applied enough pressure that wouldn't damage him, yet he would know she wasn't going to hold back out of some perceived weakness.

If his spiritual essence could interact with her corporeal body, her mouth roamed over his torso, finding sweet spots that she would tease relentlessly. Crystal rubbed her hands over every inch of him in an effort to please him without ever bringing him to a point that would end the fun and enjoyment too soon.

[IamLEAM1983]

Archie was more used to being the dominant force in situations like this, the roguish seducer who'd swoop in, dazzle his mark and leave with whatever cipher, key or passphrase he needed. The Dieselpunk years had long since passed, however, and his years of cutting-edge appeal weren't much more than musty memories. Truth be told, he'd never been pleasured to such an extent before, having at best stuck to being a besotted young vampire's attentive protector. Meaningful glances across distances or surreptitious clasps of the loved one's hand under the table were more his speed, and Arthur had been the one to espouse the Romantic era's emotional outbursts. Now, however, in the age of encroaching equality and openly-declared relationships, he found he had no means to focus Crystal's ministrations. He was entirely under her spell.

Before long, sounds that were too carnal and too earnest to fit in the mouth of his calcified fop of a spy escaped him, as if he didn't know if he should plead for her to stop or beg her to push on. Unable to sense in which direction release waited, all he could do was let her guide his limbs, manhood emerging from a discreetly designed spring-loaded port. Beyond apologies as he was, however, his gestures grew a tad forceful. As much as he wanted to keep playing, he hadn't ever felt what was now aching across his entire body. Hydraulics pushed, the strongest of his gears and localized mechanisms added what torque they could, and his own desire soon pushed him out of passivity. He pushed both with and against her, almost to the point of sitting up. By now, the normally fixed oils of his irises were swirling in chestnut and verdigris tones, Crystal's sharp senses allowing her to see the painted-on veins in the whites of his eyes flush and bloom, his pupils dilate. The ornamental detail which was his nose somehow flared its nostrils, life briefly taking hold of the metal fixture and twisting it, breathing extraordinary motion into it.

His lips found her ear. For just a moment, the tinny vibrations were gone. He'd always sounded as though his voice were coming through a gramophone recording, sometimes with background clicks and pops included. For this precise instant, however, his voice was clear - coming from someplace other than his mechanical voice box; someplace rooted in his ethereal anatomy.

"I love you."

His soul was now cresting over the limits of his mechanical shell, almost completely occluding it in certain areas. Archie Holden had been a man in the twilight of his middle years at the time of his death, the remnants of his more spry and flexible youth clinging to him where the dining halls and boating Saturdays hadn't covered it in a fine layer of fat. All the details Crystal had never seen before were briefly hers to glimpse: the crow's-feet in the corner of burnished eyes, the way youth obstinately clung to his arms and legs while age had degraded his abdominals; all his blade and bullet scars or the way his slightly sunken eyes still carried the memory of his nightmarish bout of Indian sickness, or how his balding pate wasn't just an aesthetic choice related to his armature. A ring of ghostly chestnut hair had superimposed itself around and over his snap-on hairdo, possibly a consequence of a lifetime spent wearing helmets in the field and hats in ballrooms and streets. Tonics had been more of a thing than honest shampoos and conditioners, so his hairline had paid the price.

Perhaps stoked by this burst of pure life, he managed to tumble back on top of her. "I shall hunt you to the ends of the earth, Crystal Lowell, because I love you," he crooned in her ear. "Every day of your life, I shall find your scent in the air and trade my rifle for my hands and lips. I would trap you in kindness, ensnare you in loving care. I would toss aside my accoutrements for you and feel the forest whisper past us in our simplest attire. I would show you the jungles of the Kerala, the savannahs of Africa - all the places your wolf spirit has never touched and all those my heart has charted."

His hot breath was in her ear. "I have slain man-eaters and animals gone mad with age and pain. I have saved crops and villages, freed younger mouths to be fed in burdened water buffalo herds. I've watched elephant matriarchs pay respects to their dearly deceased and punished poachers for breaking their delicate hearts. Even now, I feel your wolf under your skin. I can speak its language, Crystal. Not in words or sounds, but in actions.

As much of a machine as I may be, I live. I am alive, and I would spend the rest of your days in your company."

He kissed her deeply. "Centuries, spent in denial of all hope, resigned to vague attachments and concerns of propriety... Two hundred years, and here you are."

Another kiss. "Where were you?"

It didn't make any sense on the literal spectrum, but it did carry a clear message across. Archie felt as though he'd been waiting for someone all his life.

[TennyoCeres84]

Pleased that the Clank had taken charge and directed her, Crystal had met his movements with her own while still letting him feel these new sensations. She clung to him while the hydraulics pushed and cogs spun. Her inner wolf willingly submitted to the automaton during the instinctual and bliss-laden rollercoaster, letting out sighs and whines. She, too, fell under his own spell, taken by his untapped energies and newfound feelings.

The woman marveled at the features she had never seen before. During the lovemaking, she traced over the crow's feet and hair, the aging abdomen and the other marks his flesh-and-blood life had left on his soul. She gazed into his eyes and watched the dance of colors within his eyes. On a more humorous note, she was glad she was a werewolf, imagining a regular woman could not receive such pleasure so readily as she could.

The peak brought with it a flood of reassuring happiness and unparalleled bonding. Her mind swam with unrestrained sensations she couldn't place. Once she came down, she listened to his declarations of his love and promises of commitment. The shapeshifter could not be more content at having found such a suitable mate. She inwardly thanked whatever spirits who might have had a hand in sending Archie to her.

While she didn't spout any grand oaths of undying romace, she kissed him on the forehead and simply said, "I love you as well. And I am now here by your side."

[IamLEAM1983]

Silence settled in, Archie's soul slowly sinking back inside his armature. His eyes lost in hers, he gripped one of her hands.

"Thank you," he whispered. "I've never felt so alive in all of my years - even those before my death."

He sighed. "So that is what love feels like," he observed, chuckling softly. "Damn you, Eton College, for blinding me! I thought love was paternalistic fondness, a gentleman's basic duties towards women of quality..."

He shook his head. "The sensations you made me experience, Crystal... By George, I have no word for them!"

[TennyoCeres84]

Crystal chuckled and stroked his hand. "Repressed emotions and genteel manners are not in a werewolf's vocabulary when it comes to instinct. Thank you for letting me feel things I haven't felt before either. I've found a fierce and loving spirit for a partner," she answered.

[IamLEAM1983]

He gripped her hand with both his own and then kissed her fingers. "So have I. This old machinery should become noticeably lighter now..."

Holden smiled. "I doubt I will have the needed fortitude to fully display my love for you in front of the young ones - I've lifetimes of concerns towards propriety to vanquish. I will spend my days surreptitiously offering you my heart, only to tear it from my chest and shove it in your arms at the cover of darkness. I might seem distant, but please, never mistake my lack of response for a loss of interest. Now and forever, you are bound to rule the idle moments of my mind; but you shall have to develop an understanding of when and how I am bound to feel the most at ease. Our shared position as public figures also makes my being earnest about us a difficult proposition for the time being."

He fell silent for a moment. "Shamus is bound to notice something rather quickly; he knows me better than anyone else... As for the others, there shall come a time. There is no need for us to disturb our current working order, much less to shock Andrea."

Something made him rethink his words. "Well - I doubt Andrea would be surprised, but I can't quite say the same for her girlfriend."

[TennyoCeres84]

The deputy chief smiled. "No, I also doubt Andrea will be surprised; in fact, she's likely seen it coming since she heard you called on me. And I won't be surprised by any remarks Shamus will make either. Those two share everything, so I imagine it won't be long before she knows, Archie. Though, I know you will never lose interest in me, despite the outer mannerisms," Crystal stated.

[IamLEAM1983]

"I never could," he confirmed, shrugging slightly. "Love and fascination are difficult forces to overcome."

He fell silent again, amusing himself by brushing his mustache against the side of her face. After a while, he met eyes with her and sighed.

"We ought to get up," he said, groaning as if he dreaded this. "There is a bathroom through this door," he said, pointing, "but I haven't ever used it. The plumbing is solid and I've had clean furnishings placed on the sink's counter. I would join you for a shower, but I've been advised against exposing myself to water. Rust, obviously. I'll have to retire to the observatory for my daily oiling routine..."

He grimaced lightly. "It isn't as though you would be likely to accept smearing your hair in oil for my sake... We won't ever share the same standards of hygiene," he said, sighing as if this were a small tragedy.

[TennyoCeres84]

The theriomorph smirked. "Yes, what a terrible shame. I hear oil is wonderfully moisturizing for the follicles," she chuckled, pushing herself up. Crystal sighed reluctantly, not wanting to get up either. "Well, don't forget that won't be the last time we'll be intimate with each other, Archie. I'll be able to give you another taste of those experiences." she said with a wink. She rose from the bed, letting the lord see her nude form one last time before she went into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.