Only Human
In Which Kate Learns Some Truth

“Hook?” I raised both eyebrows. “Wha-? What are you doing here?”

Hook folded his upper pair of arms, and braced his lower pair on his hips. “Though they’d never leave. I came to talk to ya about what you wanted to know –y’know, about Gilgamesh? Can I come in? Thanks.” He sidled past me into the room.

I closed the door. “What? No. Hook!” I snapped.

“Aww,” Hook cooed. “You miss ‘em, don’cha?” He flopped down on the bed. “Ooh soft.” He sat up. “Anyway, I didn’t wanna talk about it out on the street.”

“We had a pleasant conversation.” I said.

“Yeah, but everyone and their ancestor heard you talking to Limdo about Gilgamesh.” Hook scooted back, and crossed his legs. He leaned his lower arms on his knees, and twiddled his upper hands a bit. “What’d he tell you about Gilgamesh?”

I leaned against the dresser, and shrugged. “Nothing really, just that he’s the reason I should stay away from Sam.”

Hook started. “You seriously call him Sam?” he arched a brow.

I made a slight nod, and even more slight shrug. “Yeah. Why?”

Hook shook his head. “Er, no – has he said something weird to you, kinda sounds like ‘Henna’?”

I thought back. “No.”

“Oh.” Hook looked thoughtful. “Er-anyway –so Limdo didn’t tell you about Gilgamesh?”

I shook my head. “Doeees he have anything to do with the ‘mailman’?”

“He is the mailman.” Hook said matter-of-factly. “Actually, that’s the sugar coated version. He’s the leader of the rock spiders, and has Samael in a contract.”

I shifted then hopped up onto the top of the dresser. “Contract?” I leaned back against the wall, and folded my arms. “What kind of contract?”

Hook pursed his lips as he replied. “It’s a – ehem – sshushell frvrs.” He muttered.

“Fine, don’t tell me.” I huffed.

“Sexual favors, and I guarantee you Gilgamesh isn’t the one doing the favors.” Hook said.

I blinked. The words remained. I blinked again. “Huh? Sam what who?”

“I don’t know the details, but Samael blurted it one time over drinks, and said Gilgamesh has him in a binding contract that says every moon, Sam has to go to the Rock Spiders’ lair, and sex Gilgamesh until the moon has waned.”

“Moon?” I asked, glancing to the window.

Hook made a vague gesture with his hand, and stammered. “Oh, uh, guess you call it a full moon. Around here, it’s just ‘the moon’ y’know since we don't really see new moons, and I only know those terms ‘cause I went to school on versa, and there’s this whole lunar thing-….” The roach babbled.

I started. “God, that’s – !” I did some mental calculations. “He’s his sex slave for half a month?”

“People here call it half a cycle, it’s fourteen days, and fifteen nights. Samael is returned to his village the morning after the moon disappears.” Hook explained.

I slouched against the wall, hear-struck. I couldn’t believe my ears. “Sam’s….what about - ? Do his people know?”

Hook chuckled morosely. “He consulted them. That’s all I know. If they know specifically,” he shrugged. “You’ll have to ask him, but he’s reluctant to say anything. Like I said, he was really drunk at the time. He doesn’t remember telling me.”

I squinted. “Does he drink often?”

Hook shook his head. “Nah. Only on his birthday.”

I smiled slightly. “Me too. Oh! Speaking of drinks, a friend of mine wants me to bring something home called a ‘SandTrap’. You know it?”

Hook laughed.

I slouched. “It’s one of those tourist-y drink things, isn’t it?”

Hook waved a hand, and shook his head as his laughing subsided. “No! That’s the stuff Samael got totally wasted on!”

I frowned. “Great.”

“No, it’s great. You can get the recipe from Sam – I mean Samael, but you can find the ingredients anywhere.”

I started. “Really? It’s not some secret Pandinus thing?”

“Haha, the recipe is, and you would’t expect the mish-mash of ingredients.” Hook scratched the back of his head. “Well, that’s enough fun for one evening. Unless…” He gave me a wicked smile as he stood.

I frowned. “Out.” I pointed to the door.

“Aww, I’m better than you think I am.” He wiggled his hips.

“Out, out, out!” I turned him toward the door, and pushed him. “Go out. Out now!” I opened the door, and pointed into the hall. “Out.”

“You’re killin’ me, Kate.” Hook mock-sighed, or I told myself it was mocking because I doubt the roach was actually that upset about not being able to sleep with me.

I then let the door close hard on his protests, bolted it, and walked to the bed. I flopped down onto it, and hugged the pillow. It smelled like warm, dry earth, and something spicy. I smiled, and murmured ‘Sam’ as I rolled over, and sighed as I felt myself drifting off to sleep. Weird, I thought as I started to snooze, ‘cause I took a nap earlier.

My dream started off with my apartment back home. I could feel the breeze, and hear my son Piyoh playing in his room. I smiled, thinking it was nice to be home, and started forward, but my feet wouldn’t move. I looked down to see they were shackled to a wooden apparatus. Then suddenly my arms were raised up above my head, tied tightly, painfully with dry, blood-encrusted rope. Then I heard their voices taunting me, and I wasn’t in my apartment anymore. I was in a dark cave of some kind, and they were all around me. I felt them shoving things inside me, and touching me in places I didn’t want them to touch, but I didn't cry out, didn’t scream like they wanted me to. I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction. I drew my gaze away from them, and saw the largest of them sitting on a throne constructed of wood and pelts. He held a glass in his hand filled halfway with a thick, clear-ish substance. Just before I woke up, I realized I was dreaming, and knew it wasn’t me I was dreaming about.

I woke up in a cold sweat, panting as tears dripped soundlessly from my eyes. What had I just dreamed? Was that it? Was that what Hook was talking about? Was that what Sam went through every time he went to Gilgamesh?

I got off the bed, and went to the window. I threw open the shutter, and breathed in the night air. God in heaven, I thought as I sat on the windowsill, and the nightmare washed away in the breeze, was that how Sam felt? I had felt so trapped there in that place, but I also had no will to leave – like I knew it would be over soon.

I shook my head for good measure, to make sure the nightmare was really gone.

“Are you well?”

“WAAAAAAAA-NO!” I fell off the windowsill, and into the room, thankfully. “What the-?! HAAA~! Who?” I panted, watching the window. I slowly got to my feet, and looked out.

“Kate.” He said softly.

I turned, and looked to see Samael laying against the wall, his head close to the window, his tail pointing down as if able to simply defy gravity.

“What?” I gasped, looking down at the long, deadly drop below. I felt something drip onto my hand, and lifted my hand to see a dark substance smearing as I moved my fingers together. “Sam – oh!”

He had a gash running down the line where his face met the shell on his head.

“Is that blood? What happened?” I moved back. “Get in here, it’s freezing. I have a first aid kit.” I stood aside as Samael curved his body into the windowsill, and climbed down by some feat of quick acrobatics.

“I was asleep, for what, a few hours? Why are you bleeding?! Oh my god! Your leg!” I pointed to the wound that was on his upper thigh, and hurried to the bathroom. “Stay there.” I came back with the first aid kit, and Samael was sitting on the windowsill. “Gawd, Sam, what are you, part of some weird arachnid street fighting league?” I opened a package of alcohol wipes, and applied it to his leg. He hissed through his teeth, and growled. “Are you?” I raised an eyebrow, holding the wipe on his upper thigh.

“No.” He grunted through clenched teeth. “I…was…” He seemed to hesitate to answer. “I was attacked by thieves.”

I sat back, hand still pressing the wipe to his thigh. I gave him a good, long look, and blinked slowly. “Thieves.”

Samael gave me a questioning glance. “You don’t believe me?”

I shrugged. “I…” I waved my free hand. “No, frankly. You’re huge, and you have those big pincers, and you don’t seem like the type to get mugged.” I squinted at him. “Do you even carry a wallet?”

Samael chuckled. “No, and it is not money they were after.”

“Oh yeah. Water.” I pulled back the wipe, used its clean side to mop the dark, smeared blood on his skin (on the wipe it looked burgundy or black), and set it aside. “That’s a big one. You said thieves did this to you? You might need stitches.”

“Your kit doesn’t have sutchers?” Samael sounded surprised.

I shook my head quickly. “No, and even if they did, I can’t-!”

“Does this hotel provide sewing kits?” He interrupted me before I could into all the reason why I wasn’t able to stitch him up.

I paused, and thought for a moment. “Uhh, I don’t know.” So I set off to find one, and lo and behold the lady behind the counter had one, and strangely she offered me a medical sucher kit, advising that the needle should be sterilized. I gave her a sideways eyebrow raise as I walked away.

“Apparently stitching up people happens a lot.” I tossed the sewing kit on the bed then handed Sam the sucher kit. “She had this. Curved needle and all, but don’t-…” I started to the bathroom as Samael ripped open the package containing the pre-threaded curved needle. “-use it until I can sterilize it.”

Samael grunted. “I’ll be fine. She was saying that in case you needed stitching.” The needle pierced his flesh, and I shuddered, and turned away. I heard him chuckle.

“Oh what?” I folded my arms, and eyed the electric coffee pot on the dresser. “You want some coffee?” I asked.

“Yes please.” He said.

I set the pot up to brew, dragged the big chair over near the windowsill, and sat cross-legged in it while the coffee percolated. I found the way Sam carefully stitched his leg surprisingly hypnotic. Of course, I whimpered ever time he threaded the needle through his dark flesh.

“Your insides are pink.” I said.

Sam snorted. “Yes.”

I couldn't drag my eyes away from Sam sewing his leg.

I felt him glancing at me calmly, and even saw him smile out the corner of my eye. “What did you expect the color of my insides to be?”

I shrugged, still morbidly mesmerized by the needle. “I dunno. Green?”

Sam laughed. It was the most beautiful laugh I had ever heard come out of a male before. Op’s laugh was pretty good, but this laugh seemed so out-of-place on Sam, and the baritone reverberation in his throat and chest made me smile.

“You’re delightful, He’na.” Samael chortled. He leaned over, and bit off the thread with ease then tied the loose ends off.

I frowned slightly. “What did you call me?”

The coffee pot beeped before he answered, and I stood up.

“I don't know,” Sam tossed the needle and thread into the small garbage can by the table. “Did I say something out of turn?”

“Out of turn?” I snorted at him as I poured the coffee. I walked over, and handed him a cup then curled up in the chair across from where he sat on the windowsill. “Oh, you can close that if you like.”

“Thank you.” Sam accepted the cup of coffee then sat sideways in the windowsill, his form filling it as he sighed. “No, I’ll keep it open. The breeze is warm tonight.”

I felt goosebumps prick up on my flesh. “Oh? Call that warm, huh? Well, I guess it’s not freezing.” I shrugged, and sipped the coffee in my hands. The coffee was thick like the kind Honey Dew and Able drank, and I’d gotten used to it. It was definitely cheap coffee, and a bit watery, but still coffee.

Sam turned his head briefly to me, and asked. “Have you seen Pompeii’s twin suns at night?”

“Sun at night?” I asked.

“Yes.” Sam shifted so I could see around him. “There,” he pointed to two bright, full moons.

“The moon?” I asked.

“No, they aren’t moons. Those two suns are just far enough away to cast a similar light, though. It’s Pompeii’s main sun, the biggest, that gives us light and warmth during the day.” Sam explained somewhat nostalgically. I couldn’t help looking at his face staring calmly up at the two night suns, and noticed the cut on his brow.

“Your brow.” I said, setting the cup of coffee on the table as I retrieved the first aid kit.

“I’m alright, He’na,” He paused then said. “I’ve had worse.”

I took out another alcohol wipe, and set my mouth in my ‘mom look’. “You’re not alright, you’re bleeding, so here, at least clean it up. Or I will; I don’t want to see you hurt.”

Sam started. He stared at me with his stunned expression that slowly melted into warm gratitude. He leaned forward, and let me wipe the blood from his brow.

“There. Good as new.” I picked up the wipe I’d left on the carpet, and tossed both away.

“What would I do without you?” Sam asked.

I turned, looked at him and his smug expression, and propped my hands on my hips. “Was that – dare I say – sarcasm, Sam?”

Sam’s smile grew wider. “Perhaps.”

I shook my head at him. “Not teaching those girls that, are you?”

Sam shrugged as he sipped his coffee.

I picked up my coffee cup, and walked back to the chair, curling my feet under me. I decided it wasn’t a bad breeze softly wafting occasionally through the room. I tried not to look at him, though my eyes kept wandering past him sitting on the windowsill. I couldn’t help but wonder – would it be Kelli all over again? If I gave Sam an inch, would he take the whole nine yards? My gaze met his as I looked up, wondering this.

His eyes beckoned mine over the rim of the mug to his lips. As he lowered the mug, he gently placed a finger to his lower lip. “Just there. You have something.”

I raised my hand, and touched my lip. “Here?” I pursed my lips, but didn’t feel anything.

Sam stood up from the windowsill. He rivaled Able’s height, but it was the pincers on his back that almost touched the ceiling, not his head. I hadn’t really taken in the sheer size of him before what with my being so distracted by his children. Now, he seemed ginormous - bigger than ginormous – not to get carried away. He leaned down, and with his thumb, gently wiped the drop away (which was closer to my chin).

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “You-you have five fingers.” I said.

Sam nodded. “Yes.” He murmured, his thumb gently rubbing over my lower lip.

“That’s a first. Insects, or arachnids, I guess, they have three, maybe four, including their thumb.” I babbled senselessly, trying to distract him, and myself from what his eyes promised he wanted from me.

“What’s interesting, though,” Sam whispered. “There is a small fresh-water ocean on Pompeii.”

“Oh really?” I felt my legs starting to tremble. “Ocean, that’s interesting. Do you get your water there? I bet it’s a walk, y’know, I’d like to see it sometime.” I pulled my chin from his grasp.

“Yes.” Sam crouched down, putting him at about eye level with me sitting in the chair. “There is a tribe of crustaceans, our aquatic brothers, who live there. They are the Eurypterid, and they have no hands at all; not like mine,” he tilted his head down, set his coffee cup on the floor, and lifted my hand in both of his. “Or yours.” He murmured, and lifted my hand up. “I’m sure they would have you.” His smile was slight, and warm, and promised things I wasn’t sure I wanted him to fulfill.

My face grew hot as he pressed his lips gently to the back of my hand then lifted his head, and smiled at me.

I swallowed hard. He didn’t seem like the type to go against me if I said no, so why was I hesitating? Why didn’t I just push him away, and explain later?

He shifted closer to the chair, and with one hand, he gently tilted my chin up. “They don’t have lips either, which makes them very…hard,” His eyes glinted. “…to kiss.” He whispered against my mouth just before placing a gentle kiss to my lips.

It was such a wonderful way for him to kiss me; it almost brought tears to my eyes. He moved his hand from my chin to my cheek, and then to the side of my head. He leaned closer, lips parting slightly. The feeling of his tongue sliding between my lips made feelings rise in me that I hadn’t felt in over a year.

With a deep growl, he lifted me from the chair, and carried me to the bed. He lay me down gently, lips and tongues still entwined, my arms around his neck as he leaned over me, his hips, and thighs pressing against me warmly.

“He’na.” Sam groaned moving one hand to my left thigh, he grasped it almost completely in one hand, and massaged it gently.

I pushed my hands gently against his chest, and he sat up slightly. “Sam, I…I don’t know if I can.”

The hurt that flashed across Samael’s face made my heart sink down to my stomach. “It’s not you, Sam.” I sat up, and pressed light kisses to his lips and right cheek. “You’re so sweet, I…I don’t know what I’m thinking half the time I’m around you.”

Samael smiled.

I shook my head. “But I can’t do this. I can’t have sex with you, I’m…I’m not ready.”

Samael gently pulled me up until I was sitting on the edge of the bed, and he knelt in front of me. He took one hand, and kissed the back of it. I dare any woman to not melt at such a kind gesture.

“By your leave, Kate.” Samael said to the top of my hand then left much in the same way as he came in. He didn’t look back, and after he was gone, I felt my heart sink from my stomach down to my feet. I got the distinct feeling he wasn’t coming back.

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