One unfolded her wings and beat them up and down, up and down, laboriously rising in the air. The surrounding fires lowered and then rose higher, fanned by her wings.
I turned to Dora to ask her if she saw what I was seeing, but Dora was gone. I was alone among the strange creatures.
Which were very much real. I was here, looking at them with my own eyes. And my eyes had never deceived me.
Hugging my arms, I peered into the moaning crowd. I felt lost and desperately wished for Dora to explain this to me.
I peered into the crowds in search of her lithe shape, but no luck.
There were, however, plenty of other shapes to watch.
The bulky figure of a beast caught my eye. At least twice my height, he towered over others, his huge, curved horns jutting black and sharp into the night sky. Two women and a man danced around him, their bodies rubbing against his massive thighs, their hands reaching for his hands, up his stomach, down to his groin.
The creature threw back his head, revealing an unhuman, bull-like face, and bellowed so loud I could feel it from the tips of my ears down to my toes.
“That’s a minotaur,” a warm, delicious voice said right by my ear.
I jumped and turned so fast I lost my balance. Two big, warm hands landed on my waist and arm, steadying me.
“Uh… thanks…” I said.
And stared.
I looked up into a man’s face. His sharp jaw covered by a brown beard, short with a curling tip. His full lips curved in an amused, self-confident smile. Above his aquiline nose, his eyes glittered, dark with mischief.
His hair fell past his ears, wavy, insouciant, attractive.
He was shirtless. I blushed when I caught myself staring at his nipple. The dark areola was perfectly round and surrounded by soft, curly hair. Panicking speechless, I looked up to his face. His smile had morphed into a full-on grin. White teeth, too sharp, flashed in the flickering light.
His hands were on me. The one lingering at my waist rubbed circles against my bare skin right under the edge of my top.
“Uh… Hi?” I said.
Great going, Jane, a spiteful voice resounded in my mind.Ask the gorgeous man hi. And while you’re at it, drool a bit more, it’s such a sex magnet.
“Hi,” he said, eyes holding me in an hypnotic trap that made it impossible to look away. As if he had put a spell on me. And he might have, I reminded myself. This place was magical.
That thought sobered me.
I stepped back from our intimate, entirely too delicious embrace. He didn’t make to follow, but didn’t leave, either. One eyebrow cocked, his eyes slid languidly up and down my body. He gave me a dark, twinkling look, and I knew he liked what he saw.
“You’re a virgin,” he pronounced.
At his totally inappropriate comment, I choked on my saliva. During my subsequent coughing fit, the stranger came close again and gave a few blows between my shoulder blades. I raised my hand for him to stop, and he did, but his hand remained on my back, its weight warm and comforting.
Once I could finally breathe again, I straightened and turned to him, which put my face inches from his throat. I took a moment to appreciate his prominent Adam’s apple and stepped back.
“That is terribly untrue,” I said, pointing my finger. My voice sounded weak from all the coughing. “And also rude.”
He grinned wider, completely unabashed, and I did not melt, not even just a tiny bit.
“I meant a Revel virgin,” he clarified. “It’s your first time here, isn’t it? And you need a guide.”
“I came with a friend,” I said and looked around, but Dora was nowhere in sight. “But I can’t see her, so… um. Guess you’re right. And to be honest, I’m struggling to process it all. I mean, I just saw a woman FLY. With her WINGS. And that… that guy practically having sex with three people over there… No, not three, there are five now. Damn. You said that was a minotaur?”
His grin widened, and he took my elbow in a firm grip. The pads of his fingers pressed into my flesh with just enough authority to make me feel every sizzling point of contact.
“They are astoundingly virile and always seek new thrills. Come, now. If it’s your first time, we must do it properly,” he said with a wink. “I’ll give you the tour.”