Benoit carried Harry, who was still trembling in pain, to his bedroom. The vampire tried to tuck the boy into bed when Harry cried out.
“Hot. Too hot. Please…”
Benoit could see the sweat dripping down Harry’s forehead. He pulled the covers back and began undressing the boy. When Harry was nude, the man asked if this was better.
When Harry opened his eyes, fresh tears streamed down. The boy gave a slight nod.
Benoit fed him the Dreamless Sleep potion, and Harry buried himself under a thin sheet. Clearly, the boy didn’t want Benoit to see him so ill.
The potion didn’t take long to do its job, though the boy’s body continued to tremble even in sleep. The vampire sighed in defeat and sat himself in the wicker chair.
The man was beyond exhausted. Due to the Draught of Living Death, he’d slept for half the day—if you can even call that sleep. He didn’t usually sleep at night, but his eyes grew heavy. He heard the boy’s deep breathing.
He got up from his seat and sat on the boy’s bed. He smoothed down the boy’s black hair. He was only eleven. He shouldn’t have his body toyed with by evil humans and their potions. It was unfortunate the boy had to live like this.
Benoit fought sleep. He couldn’t sleep until he knew the boy was okay. Would the boy ever really be okay? The man found himself humming a lullaby while he watched the child. It was a very old song his mother used to sing to him.
♦ ♦ ♦
“Mama, why did Papa leave?” It took all of the three-year-old’s courage to ask. Benoit always tried to be as quiet as possible. He didn’t want to burden Mama and Papa. He knew he was a burden. It was his fault that Mama and Papa worried all the time. It was his fault that he wasn’t a normal child. He knew he was bad, but he didn’t want to be.
He’d once told Papa he was sorry for being bad, but the man looked worried. Benoit always made his parents worry. He’d told Benoit that he wasn’t bad at all.
But Benoit didn’t believe him. Mama and Papa didn’t have a normal life, and it was all his fault. Grandpa had told him so. Grandpa told him the truth.
A few days before Papa left, Benoit had been playing in his room with his stuffed bear. Grandpa came in, which was odd because Benoit knew Grandpa didn’t like him. Grandpa never came to see him and never spoke to him. When he visited the house, he insisted that Benoit stay in his room. At least he didn’t have to go into the secret room when Grandpa was over. Benoit hated that room, and Mama and Papa did too, but they told him it was important that visitors never see him. They can’t know he exists. Benoit didn’t really understand, but there was a lot the young vampire didn’t understand. This was just another odd thing in Benoit’s bizarre world.
Grandpa had roughly grabbed Benoit by the wrist and told him to come with him. Grandpa then turned into a bat and ordered Benoit into bat form as well. The young vampire was too scared not to do what his Grandpa told him. Then Grandpa told him to hold onto him. Benoit latched onto Grandpa’s furry belly, and Grandpa flew them out the window. Benoit still couldn’t fly, so he held on tightly as Grandpa flew through forests and past villages.
He brought him just outside a human village. Benoit was too young to hunt and had never even seen a human village. He was very curious but also very scared. Why weren’t Mama and Papa with them? Grandpa always gave him scary looks. Benoit thought Grandpa didn’t like him very much.
They both transformed out of their bat forms and crouched outside a human’s house.
Then Grandpa leaned down and told Benoit the truth. Benoit was a bad boy born with the wrong-colored hair, and Mama and Papa would be better off if he didn’t live with them anymore. If he stayed, he would only hurt Mama and Papa. Benoit didn’t understand at the time.
Grandpa told him he would live in the human village from then on.
“But Papa said never to go near humans. They’re dangerous, and I’m too young to fight them. They’ll hurt me.”
Grandpa told him that it would be okay. He just needed to knock on their door and introduce himself. The humans would take care of him.
Then Grandpa flew away and left him.
Benoit didn’t move. He was outside a human’s house but couldn’t go to the front door. He couldn’t knock. He was too scared. He waited for himself to be brave, but hours passed, and he still couldn’t move. He just sat behind a bush, crying.
He didn’t know how long he had been there, but it felt like hours. Then he saw a bat fly above him. It saw him and flew down. It shifted into his Papa. The man hugged him at once and told him to be very quiet.
“It’s very dangerous here,” he said. “We need to get home.”
Papa brought him home.
But now Papa was gone, and Benoit knew it was his fault. Mama told him that night that Papa was a very important man to the King and that Papa had to go on missions for him. It was an honor, and Papa would be back soon.
Benoit still thought it was his fault.
That’s when Mama began singing him a lullaby. It was about how Benoit was a star in Mama and Papa’s beautiful night sky. How he shined so brightly, how they loved him and would always be there for him. Their love was as endless as the universe was vast.
It was a beautiful song, and Mama had such a pretty voice. It was delicate and high, like two glasses of wine clinking lovingly together.
From then on, whenever Benoit was feeling down, Mama would always sing him his special lullaby.
♦ ♦ ♦
Benoit woke abruptly. When had he fallen asleep? His head rested on the pillow just inches from Harry’s. He’d fallen asleep on a human bed? He looked over at the blinds. Still dark. Benoit sighed in relief. He must have been exhausted to have fallen asleep anywhere but a coffin.
Benoit got up and peeked out the window. The sky was just starting to lighten. Benoit didn’t want to think about what could have happened if he hadn’t woken when he did, if sunlight had entered the room through the window. He could have had severe burns, that is, if he hadn’t died. The vampire closed the blinds tight.
He looked back at the boy. Harry was still asleep, though his body was still shaking in pain, the poor child. Benoit turned into a bat and curled up on the boy’s pillow. He wasn’t tired anymore. He’d slept almost the whole night. He just watched the boy.
♦ ♦ ♦
Pain. It coursed through his veins, his skin, his bones. Searing pain. It wouldn’t stop.
Harry dreamed that he was inside a volcano, swimming in the lava like it was water, but it was painful. It got to every part of him, everywhere. Liquid pain flowed through him. It lasted forever. It never ended.
Harry tried to scream, but the lava was in his lungs, in his vocal cords.
The lava was even on his…Harry didn’t have a word for them. He had two appendages in his back, and the lava hurt them so much. And his…he had another appendage. His tailbone? It hurt, too.
His arms and legs, too. They were in the lava. They were burning up. His nails were burning somehow.
His eyes, and…
His magic? How could his magic burn? But it was. It was as if the lava slowly burned everything that made him a person. It was killing him.
Maybe it would. Dying was better than this. But then, if he died, he’d never see Benoit or Papa again. Harry loved them both so much. He wished Benoit were here. Not here in the volcano, but just here.
And then something unimaginable happened.
The pain…got worse. So. Much. Worse.
Harry awoke from the depths of the potion. The strongest of sleeping potions couldn’t force him to sleep through this. Harry screamed like he’d never screamed before. Something was coming out of his upper back, out of his lower back, too. Harry gripped the sheets and tore them easily with talons he wasn’t aware had formed on his hands.
Then, the appendages burst through his skin. Harry remembered seeing black feathers before losing consciousness.
♦ ♦ ♦
Benoit was still as a statue. He didn’t understand what had just happened. The boy…Harry…had just…
It had all happened so fast.
Harry had been asleep. In pain, but at least unconscious. Then, he heard an inhuman screech. The boy had been facing away from him when it happened and under the covers, too, but Benoit saw the covers rise. Then, a black feather flew out from the covers as the sheets settled back down to rest on more than just Harry’s slim body. There was something under the covers with him. And the feather…had a bird gotten in?
And what had that sound been? It had paralyzed the vampire for a moment. It was…Benoit shook his head to clear it. It wasn’t important. Harry. Harry was important, and something had just happened to the boy.
Benoit called his name, but there was no reply. The boy was unconscious again. The sheets covered all but the very top of the boy’s head.
Benoit looked down at the feather that had landed on the nightstand. Shiny and black like a raven’s feather. Benoit didn’t realize that it matched the boy’s hair.
The scent of blood caught Benoit’s attention next. It was a familiar scent, though he’d only smelled it once. It was the ambrosia, it was God’s nectar, it was…
Benoit transformed out of his bat form and threw the sheets off the bed in one swift movement. But once they revealed the body underneath, it seemed they took forever to hit the ground. It took Benoit forever for him to process what he was seeing.
A small form. A young body. Nude. Black wings. Long black tail with black feathers at the end. The tail was fairly skinny, like that of a mouse…or rather, a mouse the size of a human. From what he could see, as the boy’s back was to him, the boy’s arms were covered in feathers from the elbow down. They ended in long fingers and large, sharp talons. The boy’s legs and feet looked much the same. Black feathers starting at the knee and sharp black talons. And the feet looked like bird feet. There were three long toes in front and a fourth toe in back.
The boy’s wings, tail, arms, and legs were covered in blood. Sweet, delicious blood. Lilin blood. Benoit slowly brought a hand to the creature’s wing, and he got a drop of blood on his finger. He brought it up to his lips and…stopped. He wasn’t supposed to drink lilin blood. It was against the treaty.
He wiped his finger on the fallen sheet and straightened.
This was Harry. Harry Potter.
Harry Potter was lilin.
How was that possible?
Lilin were such rare, secretive creatures. They don’t just wind up as orphans in human homes. They don’t live with muggles, wizards, or vampires. They don’t use wands and go to magic schools. They certainly don’t get prophesies made about them.
How could Harry Potter, the magic human Benoit had been told to watch, be lilin? Did the boy know of this?
Clearly not.
How did nobody know!?
And how had the boy appeared so human until now? And it went deeper than that. The boy’s blood hadn’t tasted lilin when he’d had to stop his anus from bleeding all those times. It tasted like a magic human. Now it would taste like…
Benoit shook his head.
Was this normal for the lilin? The prince had said lilin blood didn’t taste as good before puberty. Is it because lilin changed after puberty? Did they resemble humans before that?
But the wand…Harry could use a wand. Benoit always thought that, like vampires, lilin couldn’t use wands. But the boy could. Unless he’d been using lilin magic this whole time. Was lilin magic similar to human magic? He hadn’t thought so. What exactly was lilin magic?
Benoit knew he had research to do, but before that, he had to clean the boy…and the sheets. Blood was all over the sheets, and he knew it wasn’t a good idea for Mikael to find out that Harry was lilin. The boy would be even more enslaved than he was now. Or killed.
That’s right, Harry was an incubus, wasn’t he? Incubi, like vampires, are always killed by humans. It’s the succubi that become sex slaves. Benoit doubted that Mikael would kill his little slave, though.
Benoit gently moved Harry so that he could pick him up but stopped short when he saw his face.
Nothing could have prepared him for the face of a lilin. It was beautiful with soft, round features. He still looked like Harry, but he looked even more like Harry. It didn’t make sense, but that’s what he looked like. There wasn’t a single imperfection. Benoit had never seen anyone look so perfect.
Except for the scar. There was still a lightning-bolt-shaped scar on the boy’s forehead. But even that looked different. Like it was meant to be there, not a horrible disfigurement. It was like an ancient rune, making the boy look otherworldly. No, the boy now looked ethereal no matter what. Harry looked like an angel and a magical creature all in one. Benoit felt like he was touching a goddess.
He’d always assumed incubi would look more handsome. More masculine. Like they would be tall and have muscle and such, but Harry was still just a boy. Maybe incubi grew into their masculinly attractive features. Not to say the boy wasn’t handsome. Oh, he was, but he was just so soft too.
Harry was lilin…it did explain a few things. Harry did seem to really enjoy the taste of cum. Benoit’s cum especially. The boy was downright eager for Benoit to have sex with him. He’d even snuck into his coffin that one time and woke him up. And he asked for sex a lot.
Wait, had Harry been hunting him this whole time? The boy’s closeness, his affection…most humans steered clear of his kind, and for good reason. But Harry had always been so…was it his lilin instincts that made the boy want to come back again and again? Maybe Harry didn’t have a crush on him like Darci thought. Maybe the boy just thought his feelings were romantic when really…
Maybe, without knowing it, Harry had been hunting.
Harry didn’t know he was lilin. He didn’t know about the treaty either. He’d already technically tasted Benoit, but so had Benoit of him. Neither of them had known. But now he knew. He couldn’t drink Harry’s blood, nor could Harry ever have another taste of his cum.
They honestly shouldn’t even be interacting with each other. Their species had a tense history filled with war.
But Benoit had a job to do. He would watch the boy. His mission required it. His mission…he had to tell the King about this new development. It was beyond important.
But Benoit found himself not wanting to disclose that the boy was an incubus. His mission would change. He wasn’t sure how, but it would. He was just watching, not hunting, but maybe the lilin wouldn’t see it that way. And if his mission was ever fulfilled…yes, the lilin would see that as hunting…or betrayal. It wouldn’t be good, at least.
Maybe the King would tell him to stop watching the boy. Benoit now knew that deep down, the boy saw him as a source of food, but Benoit didn’t feel the same. Harry was…what was he? Not a pet, certainly. He wasn’t a vampire so he couldn’t be a companion. Could he still be a friend? The word felt wrong. Vampires were friends; all other creatures were not. And lilin were enemies. They had a truce, but they were still enemies.
But Harry was different.
Benoit carefully lifted the sleeping boy without looking at him too closely and brought him into the connecting bathroom. He filled the tub with warm water and gently began washing the boy’s body, being extra gentle when touching the creature’s silky feathers.
It was hard not to look at the lilin, but when he did look…when he looked at Harry’s beautiful, perfect face, it was just so hard to look away. He could stare at it for hours if he allowed himself. He did not allow himself.
A lilin’s beauty was a trap. Benoit knew that. Harry’s long lashes, his plump lips, his heart-shaped face, his everything…it was all designed to entrap his prey. Lilin were very successful hunters. Humans were attracted to them like moths to a flame. Vampires, apparently, were too.
Vampires. Vampires were good hunters, too. They had their eyes. They had their speed. But lilin didn’t need speed. They didn’t need anything. Their very presence was a gift to anyone they happened to be around. And, of course, a curse.
Benoit tried not to look as he bathed Harry but couldn’t help it. He looked, or rather stared, for a long time. He washed the boy’s body slowly. Slower than a human would have bathed themselves. Everything about Harry was enchanting. Harry’s pink nipples, his smooth skin, his cock. His cock was still just as small, but it now looked perfect on him. Harry’s body was perfection. A Greek statue would look like garbage, an amateur’s work, in comparison.
And that was his appearance. His scent was another story. When Benoit brought his nose as close as he allowed to the boy’s neck, he smelled the faint allure of lilin blood, but there was something else there, too. It was a light, airy smell. Like that of an expensive perfume. It was both seductive and magical. Sensual and fluttery. Lacey lingerie and a child’s giggle.
After Benoit had cleaned the blood off Harry’s perfect form, he carried the unconscious creature back to bed. He stripped the bed quickly and replaced the sheets, which were beyond saving. Only now did he realize that the boy was no longer trembling in pain. He looked very peaceful. Benoit wanted to slap himself. How could he have let himself be so enthralled by Harry’s appearance that he forgot about his health?
At least the boy wasn’t in pain.
He didn’t know when Harry would wake up, but Benoit decided he was no longer in critical condition. Now, he had to both dispose of the bloody sheets and go to the mansion’s library and grab some texts that might help him understand Harry’s transformation. The sheets were first. He buried them deep in the woods. He didn’t want to leave him for long, so Benoit used his vampiric speed to grab some books after that. He’d left Harry alone for only seven minutes.
But apparently, seven minutes wasn’t short enough. Harry awoke.
♦ ♦ ♦
Harry felt at peace for the first time in weeks. He was blissfully free of pain. Nothing hurt. He sighed into his pillow and swished his tail leisurely, feeling the silk sheet against the new, sensitive tail feathers. He experimentally opened them, stretching the feathers away from the stem of his tail. It felt good. He also wanted to stretch his wings, but he didn’t want to lose the sheet that covered his body. He’d get up and stretch in a moment.
Wait.
Wings?
Tail?
Feathers?
Harry opened his eyes like he’d suddenly been struck by lightning. He sat up in bed and lifted the sheet off him. Yes, he had a tail. It was all black. It had a bundle of feathers at the end. Harry already somehow knew how to move his body. He opened the feathers. They fanned out on the bed like a mermaid’s tail. Then he brought them closer to his tail stem. They closed up. He fanned them out again. Then, closed them up. Then fanned them out.
He looked over his shoulder. He had wings. Large black wings. He was just about to open them when he heard the door open. He looked in that direction, and the first thing he saw was a mountain of books. Books so tall he couldn’t even see Benoit’s face. He watched silently as the vampire placed the books on the small table beside the wicker chair.
Had Benoit seen him yet? It was all so strange. Harry felt like he was still sleeping. How could he have wings and a tail? Had he been cursed at school? Was it a potion? It just didn’t feel real. But Benoit was here now. The vampire would know what to do. He always did.
Harry watched Benoit stare at the books for a moment. Harry thought the vampire looked like he was contemplating something. He could only see him from the back. Benoit did not turn around. He just stood there. Then he heard Benoit sigh like he’d come to a decision. He turned and looked at Harry. And then did nothing else.
Benoit stared at him like a deer caught in a car’s headlights. He didn’t move a muscle. Harry blinked, watching him. What was he thinking? Clearly, the vampire was surprised. He hadn’t expected to find some winged monster in Harry’s bed. Maybe he should break the silence? Or should he give the vampire a minute to process?
♦ ♦ ♦
The surprises just wouldn’t stop. The boy was awake, and if Benoit had found the form of a sleeping lilin enthralling, nothing could have prepared him for Harry’s eyes.
He’d seen those eyes countless times. Beautiful green irises surrounding a black pupil. Gorgeous. Stunning.
But now…they were…
Everything.
They were everything.
They were so enchanting. They didn’t put Benoit into a trance like his own eyes could; no, this was just pure beauty.
The boy’s eyes were glowing, but not harshly like his own. Harry’s eyes were emitting a warm, gentle glow. And even though green isn’t usually associated with such warmth, somehow they managed it. More than managed it. Gazing into Harry’s eyes…it was like staring into the eyes of a lover. Benoit felt safe in those deep pools. He could swim in them and drown in their many shades of green.
There was a pain radiating from Benoit’s chest. The vampire realized he wasn’t breathing. He took a breath, then another. He watched the boy tilt his head; his eyes blinked. Those beautiful long lashes brushed his cheek for a moment before green was once more all Benoit saw.
He needed to get ahold of himself. Benoit was just about to look away, at anything else, when the most amazing sound hit his ears.
At that moment, all thought left him. The word echoed in his head. It reverberated. Every neuron in his brain felt like it had just been struck by electricity. Benoit had no thoughts. All was blank. He couldn’t even understand what was said. Had it been a word? It was definitely some kind of sound. If Benoit thought his mother’s voice sounded like two wine glasses clinking together when she sang, this was like those glasses shattering into millions of glittery specks fluttering gently down on him. Bliss. It was bliss.
♦ ♦ ♦
Harry stared at Benoit. He’d never seen the man look like this. It was rare to see him smile, and Benoit was smiling in the strangest of ways. His grin was of pure joy. It stretched from ear to ear. He’s never seen the man so relaxed. So happy.
Something must be wrong.
“Benoit? Are you okay?” Harry saw Benoit’s eyes glaze over. He looked kind of like he was in a trance. Was he? From what? Was there another vampire in the room? Harry looked over his shoulder, but they were alone. Then he remembered Benoit telling him that vampires can’t be entranced. That their eyes can’t affect each other. So what was wrong with him? Surely he wasn’t actually this happy, was he? Why would he be? Harry’d just had the worst night of his life, and Benoit had watched him suffer, stayed with him all night. But now it looked like the man didn’t care about any of that. He looked…
As Harry tried to figure out what Benoit looked like, the vampire’s eyes started returning to normal. They were slowly losing their glazed look.
♦ ♦ ♦
It was wearing off. Benoit could feel it. He looked away from Harry’s eyes. The songbird sound was almost completely gone. The glittery glass…there were only a few specks left.
He could think again.
And now that he could think—what was that? What had happened to him? He’d been gazing into Harry’s pretty eyes, and then there was lightning. Had the boy cast a spell? He didn’t see a wand. All Harry’d done was…had he even done anything?
It happened again. Lightning struck. The beautiful sounds. The glass. The glitter. Beautiful. So amazingly beautiful.
And now that Benoit heard so many of the lovely sounds all at once, in a stream, he realized they were words. He couldn’t decipher what the words meant. His brain was sludge. And he was perfectly content. He heard the words echoing like a pretty song. Benoit. Such a beautiful trickling of sounds. Go see the mediwizards. Lovely. Help you. Fantastic.
The sounds made him feel so good. They were echoing and bouncing around inside his brain. And now Benoit felt like he should take Harry somewhere. The mediwizards. What a wonderful thought. He scooped the boy up in his arms and slowly left the room. He walked slower than he ever had in his life. Thinking was hard. Moving was hard. But listening was bliss, and he very much wanted to go see the mediwizards. They should be able to help him. He didn’t know what he needed help with, though. Everything was perfect.
He looked straight ahead and walked down the corridor. Harry’s weight was pleasant in his arms. His mind was beginning to become clearer the longer he walked. The sounds were slowly leaving his mind. The glitter, almost completely gone.
Benoit stopped.
He cupped a hand around the boy’s mouth as fast as he could without hurting him. He muffled a nearly inaudible shout of surprise.
The sounds…they belonged to the boy. To the lilin in his arms. To Harry. Lilin must be capable of creating some kind of siren-like sound when they speak. And that sound was hypnotizing. It was dangerous.
This was dangerous.
He’d already walked halfway down the corridor. Benoit turned around and ran as fast as he could back to Harry’s room. Once inside, he locked the door.
Benoit took a deep breath. His hand was still covering the lilin’s mouth.
Under no circumstances could Harry be seen right now. If anyone found out the boy was lilin…Benoit didn’t even want to know what would happen to him. And there was the sun to think about. There hadn’t been any windows in that particular hallway, but if there had, then what? Would Benoit have been released by his trance due to being burned alive, or would he die in bliss, none the wiser?
Benoit resolved not to be upset with the boy. Harry had no idea what he was doing. What he was capable of doing. Lilin were dangerous. Benoit knew that, but his knowledge of lilin was extremely lacking. He had no idea they had such powers. He never believed he’d come into contact with one. He never tried to learn about them.
It was common knowledge that lilin were dangerous. Very dangerous. Vampires should stay far away from them. They would drain you of energy if they got close. These were the words vampire parents told their vampire children when they were tucking their young ones into bed. This was all Benoit knew about the beautiful, deadly creatures.
“Don’t speak,” Benoit said. “You need to promise me that if I take my hand away from your mouth, you will not speak. Not a single sound can leave your lips. Not until I say you can. Do you understand? Don’t speak. Only nod your head.”
♦ ♦ ♦
At Benoit’s words, he understood. It was Harry himself that had caused Benoit to act so strangely. Did his words hold some sort of power?
Harry nodded.
Benoit seemed nervous as he moved his hand away from Harry’s mouth as if he didn’t fully believe that Harry wouldn’t speak. The boy kept his lips shut tight.
Benoit looked a bit more relaxed.
“Harry, do you know what a lilin is?”
Harry opened his mouth but then quickly closed it. He shook his head.
“A lilin is…it’s a magical creature. A lilin…” The man stopped, shook his head, and tried again. “Do you know what an incubus is? A succubus?”
Harry knew those words but not much else. Incubi and succubi were demons from hell. That’s all he knew. Uncle Vernon liked to watch the Football matches on the telly, and he liked to call the cheerleaders succubi for some reason. Harry shook his head.
“They are…” Benoit seemed at a loss for words. “I’m going to do some research. In the meantime, put on some clothes. You’ll be less distracting. Also, try not to look at me too much.” The vampire looked away from him and over at the pile of books. “I’m sorry this is happening. I’m going to figure out what to do.”
Harry looked away. He didn’t understand what he meant. Harry was distracting? How? Then Harry remembered the feathers. Yeah, he supposed that would be distracting. He walked over to his dresser and was about to open it when the wooden handle broke in his…claws? Talons? Harry stared at his extremely sharp nails. They curved downwards like the deadly talons of a hawk. His talons had easily broken the handle with him barely realizing.
Harry looked down at his feet and almost fainted. It wasn’t enough that the skin on his hands and feet were a lot darker than he remembered them being, and his arms and legs were covered in black feathers, but his feet…They were deformed. He only had three toes on each foot…if you didn’t count the toe growing out of his ankle.
A toe. Growing out of the back of his foot. How would he wear shoes? Wait, wouldn’t his new talons just rip up his shoes anyway? What was he going to do?
Harry took a deep breath and felt the skin covering his hands. It didn’t feel like skin. It was kind of scaly. Harry looked closer. Black scales like that of a reptile covered his hands and feet. The feathers grew out of his wrists and ankles and stopped at his elbows and knees.
Harry gently opened a different drawer of his dresser, careful not to let his talons touch the wood. He couldn’t help scratching it up, but at least he didn’t tear the handle off. He grabbed a pair of panties, but his talons went right through the fabric. Not even a second in his hands, and they had already been destroyed.
Harry looked back at Benoit. The vampire was sitting with his back to him and reading through a book very quickly. Harry wished he could read that fast. It would make studying a lot less cumbersome.
He looked back at his panties. He stuffed them back in his drawer and tried to grab another pair. This one was black leather. A lot stronger than cotton. Harry gently put one foot through, then the other. So far so good. He slid them up his feathered legs and over his bum. Then he met an obstacle. His tail. Harry lifted his tail up into the air. The feathers at the end opened outward, but his panties couldn’t go up any further. Harry debated ripping a hole in them for his tail but decided against it. He left the leather fabric to rest as high up as he could.
He brought his tail back down. The action not only pushed his panties further down his hip but also…
♦ ♦ ♦
Benoit jerked at the sound of a loud crash. He looked over just in time to see the boy fall. He caught him before he hit the ground. Harry was currently holding his head in his hands. His eyes were tightly closed. So was his mouth. Benoit was relieved that the lilin hadn’t screamed. He didn’t know what kind of magical sound that would have been, but he knew he would have been too dazed to catch the boy if he’d heard it.
Benoit put the boy on his feet, hands still clutching his head. Clearly the boy had hit his head on the ceiling, but how? Benoit noticed that the boy’s panties were around his knees. Was he unable to put on clothes? He wanted to ask for details but didn’t want Harry to speak.
“Do you need medical assistance? Nod your head if you do.”
Harry shook his head instead.
Benoit was relieved. “Can you show me how you hit your head?”
Harry looked at himself in confusion. He slowly raised his tail and lowered it again quickly. The feathers displaced so much air that the boy shot upward. His hands were spread out in front of him so he wouldn’t hit his head. Benoit caught him as he fell.
The vampire was shocked. So much speed in the air and without even using his wings. His tail had propelled him like a rocket.
Well, that was one mystery solved. Benoit had been wondering how lilin had been so capable of holding their own in the wars against the vampires with the knowledge that vampires were so much faster than most creatures.
So much faster on land, anyway. But lilin were fast in the air. They were meant for flying. Vampires could fly in bat form, but they weren’t fast flyers. They couldn’t fly faster than any normal bat.
“Try not to open your tail feathers when you aren’t flying,” he advised as he put the boy on his feet again.
Harry nodded. The boy looked embarrassed.
Now that that was out of the way…”Do you need me to help you dress?”
Harry nodded again. Cheeks turning pink. It was a lovely sight. A blushing lilin. Benoit forced himself to look away.
Benoit dressed the boy in a long, pastel blue nightgown. No panties underneath. No socks, either. The only problem was the boy’s wings. Benoit had to cut two slits in the sleepwear so Harry’s wings could fit through.
Then he went back to reading. His research was fascinating. The books were all written by magic humans, so Benoit doubted that much of them were accurate, but they helped.
Lilin could disguise themselves as human. Benoit had already known that. But how did they disguise themselves? The books mentioned that lilin appeared differently to different people, but that was contradicted by another book that said lilin could change their features at will. An earlier publication stated that lilin being bird-like was a myth, and the creatures had no more wings than a common desert camel. Clearly, that author had been wrong. But then that confirms that lilin can change their appearance, so their wings and tails are…what? Unseen? Gone? Is it like a glamour or do the lilin remove them somehow?
And how would a lilin go about changing their appearance? Did their parents have to teach them, or was it instinctual? Benoit hoped it was the latter.
“Harry, I want you to…” Benoit stopped speaking when he looked over at the boy. Harry was looking in a hand mirror, shocked at his appearance. But what caught Benoit’s eye was the boy’s tail, or rather, the scene it provided. Harry’s tail was in the air, feathers closed up. It forced the fabric of his night gown to lift, revealing the boy’s perfectly round bum.
Benoit looked away and cleared his throat.
Harry turned and looked at him.
“Harry, I want you to want your tail to…go away. Try making it disappear. You have the power to look like you don’t have a tail or wings. Just try it. Want it.”
He watched the boy concentrate, but minutes passed, and nothing happened. His tail was still there.
“Harry, I can’t let anyone see you like this.” He needed to get across to the boy that he was in danger. That he had to hide his lilin features. “It would be very bad. Lilin are…they…please try harder.” He couldn’t tell him how the world treated lilin. Not yet. He didn’t want the boy to be sad. He’d been through so much already.
♦ ♦ ♦
Harry knew that Benoit must see him as a monster. And, of course, others would too. He looked so different. Wings. A tail. Glowing eyes. Talons. Feathers. Benoit had said the words incubus and succubus…is that what Harry was? A demon?
Harry was a monster. He couldn’t even speak without hurting people…without hurting Benoit. His sharp talons destroyed everything he touched. He’d already managed to put scratches on the handle of the mirror even though he’d been careful. His tail had given him a bump on the head. And he couldn’t even wear clothes properly.
Benoit couldn’t possibly like him now. Nobody could.
Harry wished more than anything that his wings and tail would not—could not—be seen. Not by anyone. He hadn’t had any success simply wishing them away, but not seen. That’s what did it.
Harry felt his magic. It was different from what it had been before. It fluttered in his core alongside the magic Harry had always known. This new magic was simpler, easier to use, and he didn’t need a wand.
Harry’s wings and tail did not vanish into thin air. They were not removed from his body. They didn’t become invisible. These appendages came back into him. His wings returned inside his back, and his tail did the same. He could still feel them in his core. In his magic. But they no longer existed on the outside. It didn’t hurt to bring them back in. And now that Harry realized how to do it. It was easy. He brought them back out again. Then back in. He kept them in.
Harry wondered if he could do the same with his feathers and talons. At that thought, the feathers went back inside him, and so did the talons. The nails on his fingers looked normal…but his feet were still wrong.
His feet. He still had three toes in front and one in back. He no longer had talons on his toes, but his toenails were black. His bird-like feet had remained mostly the same. What could he do?
“The books say the most definitive proof of a lilin is their feet,” Benoit said. “They have bird-like feet closely resembling that of an eagle or a buzzard. Three toes in front and one in back. Sharp talons are used for perching on tree branches and grasping their prey. Though the books say that lilin no longer use their toes and talons, they remain a relic of past evolutions of the lilin species when lilin resembled birds of prey far more than they do currently. Ancient lilin, they are called.” Benoit looked more closely at Harry’s feet. “The books say that lilin cannot change this part of themselves like they can their feathers, but they can hide them to a point.
“Harry, you should be able to somehow disguise them so that they look human. They’ll remain as they are, but the books mention some sort of disguising magic that lilin have. Lilin can change their appearance at will. Even that of their facial features by appearing differently to other creatures. Magic humans can do this, too, with potions and charms. But you shouldn’t need a potion.”
So, there was a way for Harry’s feet to at least look normal? The boy concentrated. He concentrated on what his weird bird feet had looked like before. Five toes and short, clear nails. Human feet. It was just a disguise, like wearing a mask. Now that he was no longer trying to transform himself and was simply trying to don a mask, this seemed easy too. Harry looked down at his feet. They looked…human? Did they?
It was strange. Harry saw two human feet when he looked at them quickly, but when he stared, he saw his bird feet again. Harry wanted to ask Benoit for more advice but closed his mouth. He wasn’t supposed to talk.
“Good work,” Benoit said. Harry looked up at him in surprise. He’d really meant it. Harry looked down at his feet again. They looked human—wait. No, they didn’t. They kept changing back to bird feet after just a few seconds of him looking at them. But Benoit didn’t mention that. “It must come naturally. Something that doesn’t need to be taught,” he said. Then the man slowly touched the back of Harry’s foot. “The toe in back is still there. I can feel it, but I can’t see it. Very good.”
Harry loved the praise even though he didn’t think he deserved it. Did his foot actually look normal to the vampire? Harry wished he could ask.
“Now try your voice,” Benoit said. “Try changing your vocal cords or maybe disguising them? Do what feels right. Make it so you aren’t putting people in a trance every time you speak.”
Harry did what Benoit asked. For some reason, Harry already knew that disguising his voice wasn’t the answer. He had to change his vocal cords like Benoit had first said. He wanted to speak without hurting anyone. He wanted to bring his lilin vocal chords back inside his core, like he’d done with his tail and wings. Harry felt the change. He knew it had worked. He smiled up at Benoit. The vampire looked nervous. He knew Harry was about to see if he’d done it correctly. Harry already knew that he had.
♦ ♦ ♦
“Benoit, I did it!”
Relief flooded the vampire’s veins. He had done it. The beautiful bird song and glitter were gone entirely from Harry’s voice. It sounded like it had always sounded. But the voice of a lilin…Benoit was almost sad that he didn’t hear it. It was an experience to say the least. An experience that he both loved and feared. And he really didn’t have time for it. He had to get back to studying.
It was fascinating. Lilin were fascinating. The more he learned, the more he wanted to learn more. The books contradicted themselves, but that was alright. It was part of the puzzle. Benoit hadn’t been this engrossed in something since he decided to fly to a wizard school and steal a wand when he was just a boy. This felt an awfully lot like that. It was an adventure.
That didn’t take away from the pain Benoit felt for Harry for having to go through all this. It was a shame the boy was lilin. His life would be even more dangerous now.
Benoit went back to his books. Most of them spent more time explaining the uses lilin had when creating potions than about the creatures themselves. It was revolting. Lilin feathers were used in the most potent love and lust potions. They were also used in skincare potions. Their talons in sharpening and strengthening potions among other similar potions. Their blood was used in powerful beauty potions, love potions, disguising potions, and others.
Benoit even read a passage that said hundreds of years ago, magic humans would carve out the hearts of lilin and gift them to their partners on the night of their wedding. It was said that if a couple ate from the heart of a lilin, they would remain in love until their death. This was never proven. In those days, magic humans underwent a mating ritual on the day of their wedding, which could not be broken. When this ritual was eventually abolished, lilin were already categorized as rare creatures, and finding one and eating its heart was seen as not only a harrowing quest to achieve but also very disgusting. This legend still lives on, however, in another form. It is why humans give each other heart-shaped cards and gifts on Valentine’s Day.
Benoit couldn’t help being both disturbed and fascinated by the books. But there was one book he refused to read all the way through. It was a journal and guidebook by a magic human who had written down exactly how to buy and sell succubi at market. Back when lilin weren’t as rare as they are now. It detailed how much they were worth, which was a lot even back then, how to restrain them for travel, and how to cage them when they were back at the man’s estate.
He advised having a large enclosure for the creatures, one with tall trees where the creatures could fly around and nest. He advised against clipping a succubus’s feathers or cutting its talons, as most creature collectors prefer to watch their pets fly about and live as they do in the wild.
Benoit stopped reading when the author wrote that this need to preserve did not extend to the creature’s vocal cords, and it was against the law to keep a succubus with its vocal cords intact. It was also illegal to own a succubus without a specially made collar and to beware of vendors selling bootleg succubi collars.
Benoit didn’t know what the collar did, as he’d just stopped reading, but he could guess. He looked over at Harry. The boy was looking at himself in a mirror and changing his appearance at will. He watched as the boy’s black hair changed to brown, then to blond, then to red. He imagined Harry collared and in a cage. It was heartbreaking. Benoit resolved to never think of it again. That would never happen to him, anyway. Benoit would never allow it.
His mission. Harry wouldn’t survive. Benoit knew that. But he also wouldn’t suffer. Not if Benoit could prevent it.
His mission.
Benoit had to tell the King. It was the first thing he should have done. Harry’s bath could have waited. The books could have waited. He was procrastinating. He didn’t want anyone to know of the lilin. But he couldn’t keep it a secret. He didn’t want to be accused of treason twice in his lifetime.
The vampire stood and informed Harry that he needed to leave, but he’d be back shortly. He instructed him not to open the door for anyone. Use his magic if he had too. Which was something Benoit almost regretted saying the moment the words were past his lips. But he wanted Harry safe no matter what.
Benoit turned into a bat and flew out the window. He flew in the direction of the King’s palace. It was daytime, but Benoit knew the King would meet with him. Benoit never went to see the King unless he was invited. Unless Benoit was forced to be there. The King would know Benoit had something of great importance to say.
Finnian Siog 