Emancipating Emily - Chapter 5 (Part 2)

Emancipating Emily – Chapter 5 (Part 2)

Aurora lounged across a chaise that sat at an odd angle in front of a rather large fire.  It was an oddly cold night for Austin, and most of the heat was going out the door every time a client came or left.

"No clients tonight?" a man in a dark blue t-shirt asked, by way of making idle conversation.

Aurora rolled over onto her side, and propped herself with an elbow, she then set the book she'd been reading aside.

"You're new," she purred softly, as she saw the man's hand curl a bit more tightly around his drink.

"It's that obvious?" he inquired with a bit of a blush, something that felt rather odd on the forty-eight-year-old's face.

Aurora's answering smile reached far back into her eyes.

"I am a sin eater, darling.  Everyone here gets to know me eventually."

The man had heard about this place for a long time, but only in the hushed tones of half-whispered secrets.  So he'd considered himself extremely lucky when his official invite came in the mail. 

There were few (if any) spots that opened up these days, so finding yourself an official member was becoming quite the status symbol around town.

"A what?" he asked, almost barking the question at the voluptuous woman with the liquid blue eyes.

"Didn't you read the membership handbook?  Why, it's all in there, darling.  You signed the document stating you read all of your rights and responsibilities, didn't you?  You know, we take these things very seriously here, at The River?"

Aurora's eyes were piercing nails that slammed straight through to the back of his skull, instigating an immediate, if not long-lasting, headache.

But her smile was as languid as ever.

"Of course, I guess... I just didn't really understand that part..."

James Mills wasn't good at lying.  Everyone knew he was terrible at it.  Even his wife... ex-wife.

Aurora's eyes indicated she knew the man was lying, which was another major infraction of The Code of Ethics every member of The River had to agree to.

In fact, lying was a punishable offense.

But Aurora wasn't there to punish anyone.  That was someone else's responsibility.  Aurora's responsibility was their soul.

"Lies tarnish the soul, darling," she told him, as she rose from the chaise, her light silk gown clinging to her sweat-moist form.  It had grown quite hot by the fire and small beads of sweat clung to her porcelain like skin.

She was round in all the most wonderful places, and instantly James imagined his head nestling gently upon her rather generous lap.

"In the old days," she began, as she pushed in beside him on the large leather sofa closest to the door, "a man could go to church and confess all of his sins... and the priest would absolve him.  Makin him whole once again."

Aurora's voice was low, throaty, almost a growl, and quite the opposite of her rather motherly form.

She leaned in closer, until she could feel the tremble in him upon her skin.

"You mean steal everyone's ideas and secrets until they eventually become the most informed group in the world?  Hoarding secrets like dragons hoard virgins and gold?"

"Exactly," Aurora remarked brightly, as she bopped the man on top of his nose.

"And that's what you do?" James asked, one eyebrow higher than the other.

"Precisely.  In time all of our members give up all of their secrets, and their burdens, to me."

"To you?"

Aurora smiled and then she pressed her light pink lips to his darker, fuller ones.  Gently she parted his lips with her tongue, pushing, probing at the inside of his mouth in a rather exploratory kiss.  One that excited James deep, deep down in the furthest reaches of his imagination.

With a low moan she pulled away. 

Aurora sucked her lips into her mouth so she could taste what remained of him as she watched him take a slow drink of his now warm beer.

"Why?  Why would anyone agree to that?" James asked rather bluntly.

Aurora blinked at that, almost as if she had been taken off guard by the question.

Then she sized up the man who spent most of his days working as a lab technician, and feeling like a caged rat.

"As you know, darling," Aurora began, as she pulled the beer can out of the man's claw-like grip, and replaced it with a cool glass of water she'd taken from a nearby tray.

"Unlike with the Catholic Church, who hoarded all of the power gleamed from such secrets, when you're a member of The River you get a percentage of everything.  You..." she said, as she pushed his cup to his mouth, "are a part of a family here.  A family who looks after all of its members."

"So that's why you do it?" the alcoholic, James, asked, after he'd taken a large drink of water and wiped his mouth off with the back of his hand.

"Do what, darling?" Aurora asked, just as Jess came round the corner to collect her next client.

"That... sin eating," Mr. Mills growled after the woman who was now half-way up the stairs.

Aurora paused on the forth step and smiled down at the man, who was shaking just slightly.

"No, darling.  It's not.  Secrets are flesh eating animals.  They literally eat you up from the inside out.  And we don't tolerate rot here at The River.  We take care of our kind.  But it would be a waste, would it not, if all those juicy secrets went to no use?"

James smiled the smile of one who had been placated if not entirely persuaded.  Or one who was slightly buzzed.

But suddenly Aurora's eyes went white, deathly white, as she leveled a look on the man such as he'd never before in his life seen. 

And then she said, so quietly he had to strain to hear, "Don't forget, James.  You're a member now.  You signed your name to the dotted line.  And once you're a member of The River you're a member for life."

It had been the way the woman had said 'life' that caused every hair on his body to stand on end.  He dry gulped the lump in his throat and then she was gone.  And Jess was there, stroking his shoulder, telling him it was all okay, telling him everything he had come in wanting to hear.




(to be cont.)


*Don't go anywhere now, ya hear?  It's just starting to get juicy.



© Raena Exe 2023
 
 
*All characters, places, and events are completely fictional.
*All rights reserved.

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