“Are you here to bestow one of our flock with the gift of matehood?” the high priest asked in a trembling voice, pale eyes glimmering with hopeful tears, like he couldn’t think of anything better.
Fuuuuck.
Chapter Three
Greid
“I…” Clearing my throat, I forced myself to stay still and not fidget like a nervous kid. I cast about wildly for some other reason I would’ve come here. This had been such an enormous mistake. “I… I just wanted to see the inner workings of The Order. I was… curious.”
The hopeful gleam in the old man’s gaze dimmed, and all the silent humans behind him sagged in apparent devastation. I eyed them all with mild horror. So they really lived their lives up here, separated from the rest of the world, on the off chance that one day they might get fucked by a demiurgus?
You wouldn’t want it, I tried to project to them all. Trust me. You really wouldn’t actually want that.
“Oh.” The high priest seemed to recover, tucking his wrinkly hands into his sleeves. “Of course. It would be my honour to show you our commune. Perhaps you would… you would still like to be introduced to some of our flock? You never know, one of them might catch your eye. Spark the mating instinct.”
I highly fucking doubted that, not if they all looked like the humans in front of me. They were all so… dull. Identical beige clothes. Identical looks of adoration on their faces as they gazed at me. I suppressed a shudder.
Also, mating instinct? What fucking mating instinct? Like I was a wild animal who was going to sniff out a particular scent and get uncontrollably randy from it?
Was that what they all thought? That I would lock eyes with a particular human, burst out of this skin to reveal my true form, and snatch them up to steal them away, grunting ‘Mine, mine, mine’?
I almost laughed.
“I’m not here for that,” I rasped, clasping my hands together behind my back. My claws dug into my palms. “I just wanted to look around.”
“Of course.” The high priest turned to the man next to him and murmured something. A few of the humans slipped out of the room as he turned back to face me with a beaming smile. “Would you care for a refreshment? We have the wine your kind prefers.”
I quirked a brow at that, glancing over at a gleaming black sideboard and noticing, for the first time, the tall, curved black bottle that no doubt held wine made from the nightberries that grew deep underground, where my kind had originated.
A drink probably would make me feel better, but I highly doubted the stuff they had here would taste any good. How did they even get it?
“No, I’m fine. Uh, thanks.” I stood up taller and waited in silence. My dual hearts pounded an irregular beat in my chest. I was a fucking moron for coming here, and now I was stuck unless I wanted to look like a complete fucking moron. So I would endure a quick tour, grunt a goodbye, and flee back to the dark comfort of my home for a decade or so to forget the humiliation of this entire thing. I was already done with talking, and this humanoid form was starting to make me feel itchy, like a skin I wanted to shed.
“Firstly, I would be honoured to show you the accommodation we have prepared for visits from the Greaters.” The high priest swept his arm toward a second set of black doors to my right. “In case you wish to extend your stay.”
I followed him in silence, my steps stilted as I stared at the wispy white hair on the back of his head. Was he going to stop with the whole “honoured” thing? I wondered if he’d be so honoured by my mere presence if I told him that just last night, I’d smoked an ungodly amount of shade herb before passing out face-first in the bowl of potato chips I’d been hunched over and shovelling into my mouth. I could still feel the grease and salt on my skin.
“A sitting room, for your relaxation,” the high priest told me in hushed tones as two younger men heaved open the doors, revealing another dark room with a lit fireplace. More stone and velvet-topped sofas were arranged in the centre of the space. There was a TV. I eyed it, wondering what channels they got here. I was particularly fond of late-night infomercials that sold weird shit, like blenders that could crush phones and fleece blankets that you could wear as giant, hooded onesies.
I had one of those. It was really fucking comfortable.
“A dining room,” the high priest continued as we entered the next room, which had a long black marble table dominating the centre. “Large enough for many. In case you choose to take several mates.”
“I’m not taking any,” I said quickly.
“Mm, of course, my Greater.” The old man’s voice was still deferential, but it took on a sly tone. I scowled at the back of his head, feeling fidgety, like I was too exposed. Maybe it was strange for a demiurgus to come here to just look around.
But I’d sooner disembowel myself with my own claws than admit to the loneliness that had driven me here.
“A bedroom.” The high priest was already shuffling into the next room, so I dragged my feet after him. “I hope it is to your liking, my Greater.”
I grunted, giving it a cursory glance. The bed was too high off the ground—a big four-poster with black satin sheets—but it wasn’t like I was going to be sleeping in here. I was already itching to leave, thinking wistfully of my dark, cluttered bedroom and cosy nest and big baggie of shade herb just waiting to be smoked. God, I was going to get so high after this, if only to forget the humiliation of this entire catastrophe.
“Now, our humble compound is quite large, but I would be honoured to give you a full tour.”
“No,” I blurted in horror. “I’ve seen enough.”
“Oh, my Greater, I must insist you see the courtyard first,” the old man gushed, nodding at the two men who swiftly crossed the room to heave open another set of doors. “It is the heart of our compound, where we go to worship each day.”
I side-eyed him. So they actually, actively worshipped my kind then? This whole place was so fucking creepy.
“Why do you worship demiurgus?” I couldn’t help but ask as we made our way into a wide, black-stoned hallway. It was far too spacious—unnecessarily so. At least there weren’t any windows.
“Because we…” The high priest paused. “Because we do.”
I almost snorted. “That’s not an answer.”
It seemed like he was struggling to think of an actual response, which made this whole place even weirder. Definitely brainwashed.
“Because you have given humankind so much,” he eventually said. “And you are… Your forms, both of them, are beyond imagining. Your strength and speed and longevity… You are higher beings. You’re better.”
What in the actual fuck? I eyed him in alarm. What had we given humans? I supposed when my ancestors had first emerged from below to live on the surface long ago, they’d brought with them remedies and medicines that had since wiped out some human diseases. And I knew humans enjoyed some of our food and wine, delighted in our creations, gathered in droves in galleries and museums to gaze at our artwork and sculptures.