He snapped his fingers, my eyes drifted to him. It seemed like he was training me, the box being the reward for learning my commands. “We can go slow, but” the weight of that but was almost crushing, “I don’t necessarily need penetration to, well, get off.” He folded his hands in his lap, too composed for the stream of stuttering that came out of his mouth. “I-I-I-If you n-need me to, um…we-we can w-wo-w-work something out.”

“I, um,” I glanced down, “I assumed I was going to be on the, um, receiving end. U-Unless y-you want to be, th-that’s fine, too.”

“No!” Malachai said with a little too much force. “No, I mean…I don’t need to…” His face and his ears were bright red. I made a little motion with my fingers to help him out. “Yeah, that.” He moved his glasses atop his head to rub at his eyes. “I’m not…I prefer to be the, um, active partner.” He set his glasses back on his nose. “And you need to ask my permission to come.” I was starting to regret my inability to think before I spoke, having asked him why without figuring it out myself. “Control, in part,” he said, truly composing himself. “And, August, I want to torture you. Don’t forget that.” He put his hand on the box. “I’ll show you what’s in the box, but there’s no going back after. If you still want to satisfy that shred of curiosity…Once I show you what’s inside, you will be mine, body, blood, flesh, and soul.”

I swallowed. I should’ve given it longer thought, to fully let it all sink in and cement in me. Instead, he opened the box and placed it on the floor. It was filled with things I’d only ever seen in adult videos. I barely had time to process everything inside when he picked it back up and took a smaller box out. It was a bracelet he slid onto my left wrist. It was made of a black, stretchy fabric, with a metal ball that dug into my skin. He told me to put it on whenever he asked, that it would help me discern between our sex and our everyday. It was another layer to remind me that whatever it was we did could be stopped at any moment. That if it ever got to be too much, the bracelet could always be removed.

“Are you a virgin?” He asked suddenly. I nodded, feeling that shame start back up again. “It’s okay,” he said. “Have…Have you ever fingered yourself?” I shook my head; it always looked like it felt good in those AVs I watched, but I had never mustered enough courage to try it myself. I was already the worst thing my family could think of it wouldn’t have helped my case if I was caught masturbating with my fingers inside me. “Do you want me to show you?” His voice seemed to be in my ear, the warm scent of honeysuckle filled the air. “You’ll need to work your way up to,” he pulled out a black vibrator, “something of this size.” I gulped at the size. It looked big, but I knew better. I had seen the contents of the box, I saw bigger. “Or maybe,” I pulled my eyes away from it, “we should turn your body into one big erogenous zone first?”

My mouth felt dry, all thought on buying a plane ticket and sending that email trickling out of me at the thought of what either of those options entailed. I thought I could hear my heart, it only getting louder the longer he looked at me, waiting for my answer. “C-Can’t we do both?”

He leaned forward ever so slightly. “That depends. Can you be a good boy and follow my orders?” I told him I could, or that I’d at the very least try my hardest.

I felt a little uncomfortable having Malachai stare at my naked body on his bed. Moreso at me being the only one completely undressed. I flinched when he touched my thigh, too caught up on what imperfection of mine he might be assessing. He moved my fingers as if they were extensions of his own, cementing in me the movements I needed to remember. It hurt the moment he slipped my finger in me; he told me to breathe, to relax, that the pain would go away if I could continue on. Once I got used to the feeling of my finger, it did start to feel better, even more when I found “the spot,” as he put it.

My fingers grazed his groin as they moved in and out. He moved his hips with them, it was almost like he fucking me. His fangs grazed my nipple, he flattened his tongue against it before taking it lightly between his teeth. And then he stuck his fangs around it, biting down and sending a pulsing shock through my body. A pulsing shock that told me I really, really wanted to finish, but also didn’t want his fangs to come out. He took them out anyway to my dismay. I almost came when he said in a rough whisper against my ear that I could come whenever it was I wanted. He bit and kissed all over my body, but refused to feed from me, even while I slowly bled from sets of puncture wounds. It was when he licked the large scar on my neck, then sunk his teeth in and sucked was when I came. He clamped down harder, his hands moving to unbutton and unzip his jeans. I barely felt him finish on my stomach before the room went black from his insatiable hunger.

Malachai’s hand was tucked under my shirt, a shirt I didn’t remember putting back on. I sat up in his bed, feeling a little woozy as I did. He was peacefully asleep, and I had been cleaned and clothes. The email I needed to send came flooding back to me, and I tried to quietly slip out to find my phone and my laptop. I stumbled in the dark, feeling around for my pile of clothes, or anything that resembled a cellphone. Having found it, I crawled out of the bedroom as I sent my draft email.

I pulled my laptop out of my bag, sending a text to Naddy as I set it on my lap on the couch. It was the middle of the night, but I needed to know if she could drive me to the airport in a day or two. A last minute flight to Japan wasn’t going to do my wallet any favors, however it was my only way of getting real answers on this oni business.

I was just about to pay when I felt a presence behind me, heard it ask, “Where’re you going?”

“Home,” I said.

Malachai leaned over my shoulder, studying my laptop screen. “Which is where? And for how long?”

I looked at him, only now realizing my mask and hat had been removed. “Japan.” I cleared my throat. “For a…For a few weeks, a month at most.”

He let out a little noise, “Is…Is it alright if I come with?” He asked, quickly adding, “He knows where I live, August, and if…if he shows up again, I don’t know if…if I can keep myself from attacking him…”

I sighed, going back to add another seat. “Pack something to hike in.”