The fact that the vices and sins had seemed ever present at the whims of my Shadow had initially perturbed me. Why now did they decide their presence was ever welcome? The Cardinal Sins became part of my magical ability somewhere along the line, and I'm not saying I dislike that, I'm just saying that their purpose isn't always clear. With that in mind, it took only the briefest of moments and glances to note that Serafina and I were truly alone in my apartment save for the smug and sagacious feline that poised himself with his back towards us. Good â€" at least one entity in this building had a sense of privacy. The confines of my apartment afforded us silence from the strikingly loud judgements of the Sins and Vices. And maybe it was all just inside my head.

Once Church had come to greet Serafina and decided she was a welcome guest within his abode, the other cats began to surface. They didn't surface enough for me to call attention to them, they merely lurked in the shadows of the kitchen in order to get a glimpse of the unfamiliar woman. Church slinked off to join Monk, Temple, and Mosque in their conquest of the shadows. Without further ado, I returned my attention to the young woman who was so often the center of it in the first place.

There wasn't a lot of attachment I had to intimacy. Only briefly did my thoughts wander to the ghost of the woman who'd first held my heart in her hands. Briefly enough that I didn't take paus in the way my hands found Serafina's skin and gripped into her for only a second before they wound their way to other sites. Serena had become nothing more than a sweet memory laced with a hint of 100 proof alcohol; you like the feeling it gives you, but you don't like the taste. Instead, my thoughts wandered often to the way the dark haired witch felt pressed against me. How her lips tasted after a shot of vodka. How I relished the feeling of her hand on my chest and the presence of Lust watching us with a heavy, knowing gaze. Instead of feeling caught in a whirlwind of memories, unable to step forth into a new partnership, I could feel my heart beating in my own hands as I offered it to Serafina with less hesitation than I expected.

Had angelic presence been a power of mine instead of the personification of Sins and Vices, surely pure I and humility would have joined our menagerie. How I wanted to grace Serafina with words of adoration, to offer her words of desire. And yet, I fell silent and had to satiate a deeper desire by finding her lips pressed against my own with the after taste of the sweetest, tupelo honey. My hand rose to gently caress her cheek, though my other hand rested intently on her hip as I hoisted her up against me, urging her to wrap her legs around my waist so I could press her up against the wall and speak with actions instead of the words loitering on my tongue.
Though Finley had made it a point to make himself scarce for the evening, I didn't trust that he would keep his word. The lock on the front door melted at the whim of an instantaneous glance towards it before I returned my attention to Serafina with an intent, heavy deep blue gaze. The color of my eyes intensified often, and it was a far deeper blue than anything Serafina would have seen in my eyes, yet. Slowly, I ran my fingers up her thigh as she admitted to being unattached to her dress, allowing my eyes to roam what wasn't pressed against me. The cotton of her dress sheered as if scissors ran across it, falling away at the seams to leave her skin bare against me.

Unlike many men, physical intimacy did not induce some carnal desire unless there was more to the physical intimacy than merely skin on skin. I had fallen in love with the young witch far before I'd even contemplate telling her â€" of that I was sure â€" but it made the moments last longer and the sensations far better than I would have experienced had this been any other woman. The only aspect I would have changed was the intent, curious, and delinquent gazes of my felines perched in a prime location.

Yeah, no. That wasn't going to work.

"I don't want to ruin this, but..." I trailed off, breaking my lips from her neck between words. " My cats are watching us." Without another word or moment, I moved to carry her to my bedroom where there was a far more attractive location.

And the rest is self explanatory â€" my fingers sliding up her thighs to hook beneath her underwear, removing the last bit of material between my skin and hers as my lips busied themselves with her neck, planting a not so gentle trail of kisses and gossamer grazes of teeth up her neck and jawline.

"I can't tell you how badly I've wanted to do this."