Crazy Seduction(erotica)

Henry raised an eyebrow at the man whose face showed discomfort at his companion’s loss of control. The man forced his expression back to a smile and dipped his head slightly to Henry. “Apologies for my servant’s poor manners.”

Henry tipped his head in acceptance, but his curiosity demanded he ask.

“Do we have privacy?” Henry said, and Camila nodded. He looked back to the woman. “I don’t think I’ve provoked such a response before. I’d be interested to know what happened.”

The woman glanced nervously at the older man, who nodded stiffly.

“You are a Bastet, or you’ve been marked by one!” she said.

Henry blinked in surprise. “I’m not one. What do you mean marked?”

She looked at him more closely and inhaled gently. “Her scent is upon you!” she snarled, then quickly controlled herself and went silent as she saw the older man’s annoyance.

Henry looked to Camila, whose sense of smell was so much keener than his. “Can you smell this mark?” he asked.

She smiled. “No, I detected nothing.”

“Only those of our kind are able to,” the petite female said.

“Thank you for letting me know,” Henry said to her, and she blinked in surprise at him but remained silent.

Henry turned to the man. “Obviously, this wasn’t what you called for me to discuss. Thank you for your indulgence.” Henry dipped his head toward the man again, putting a smile back on the senior’s face.

“You are not what I expected,” the man confessed. “I am Katsu Sasaki, Leader of the Japanese Spirits Combine of North America. Today, I am here on behalf of certain interests in the financial community.”

“Mr. Sasaki’s specialty is banking like Walter Zhao’s interests was law,” Camila said. This was a heads-up for Henry, who nodded to the woman as his eyes returned to Katsu.

So, the older man was a Dragon. Henry glanced at the petite woman and thought of Meixiu. Mr. Sasaki called her servant, but he might have meant slave.

He nodded to the man. “I’m Henry Gable. CIO for VRL.”

“It has come to our attention that you have created a firewall technology that defeats all currently known cyberattack methods. The financial institutions I represent are interested in obtaining this level of protection,” Sasaki said.

Henry nodded and glanced at Camila before looking back into the man’s eyes. “Ms. Villamor negotiates the contracts for this.”

“Yes, but we would also be interested in obtaining your exclusive services,” the man said with a smile. “As you can imagine, the financial rewards for working for my interests would be substantial.” The man’s expression could not have been more smug.

Now Henry understood the tiny smile on Camila’s lips.

“Thank you, but no. I’m not interested.”

Katsu’s confidence wasn’t shaken in the slightest. “Perhaps you haven’t grasped the significance of the salary I’m suggesting.”

Henry smiled. “Perhaps you haven’t grasped the scale of my disinterest in your offer. I’m not financially motivated.”

This caused Sasaki to lose a little of his bravado. He frowned. “Everyone is financially motivated when the numbers are as large as I’m suggesting-”

“Five hundred trillion dollars a year?” Henry asked with exaggerated surprise.

“What? No! Don’t be absurd!” the man snapped.

Henry’s expression quickly faded back to boredom. “Meh. Anything less is too little to move me from my family here at VRL.”

The senior executive stared at Henry in shock and frustration.

“If you are interested in licensing the firewall technology, that option is still open,” Camila suggested.

“We require control over the infrastructure of our security systems. This includes the personnel who administer it for us. They are paid very well to ensure their loyalty. We normally develop our applications in-house to ensure there is no external exposure that might lead to a breach,” the man explained stiffly.

Henry nodded. “Our other firewall subscribers also offered me excessive financial incentives if I’d come work for them, but I turned them down too. Their systems are safe and secure, and even I couldn’t breach them had I any interest in doing so. There are no back doors in my code. Perhaps the concept of controlling the brain trust who writes your applications isn’t as necessary as you think,” he offered.

“That’s not acceptable,” Mr. Sasaki insisted. He looked back at Camila. “As VRL is a private company, would you consider selling it to us?”Content bel0ngs to Nôvel(D)r/a/ma.Org.

She smiled and shook her head. “We’re not entertaining offers for acquisition. VRL’s investment services are offered to our clients as an alternative to those offered by the banks. Being acquired by the same financial institutions these clients are avoiding would breach their trust in us. That’s something we cannot do.”

Henry noticed the petite woman was becoming agitated once more. He turned his face to her. “Are you okay?” he asked as he touched his temple.

“You are being disrespectful! You should not refuse his offer!” the woman growled.

Henry glanced at Mr. Sasaki to see if he’d scold his servant for speaking out of line, but it seemed the man wanted to see if bullying worked.

Sighing, Henry turned to face her. “What is your name?”

The question caught the woman off guard, and her eyes flicked to her master and back to Henry.

“Roku.”

“Okay, Roku. That’s a nice name, by the way-” Henry began.

“It means six,” she responded bluntly.

“Ah, well, it has a nice sound,” Henry said as he looked into her eyes. He didn’t know what she was, but if she was the Dragon’s security detail, she had to be dangerous. He’d play this cautiously.

“I’m not trying to be rude, but when I gave your boss my final answer, his ignoring it was rude to me,” Henry explained.

“Refusing his offer would be bad for you,” Roku promised.

Henry frowned and glanced at the evaluative expression on Sasaki’s face. He’d seen a similar expression on Walter’s face, like he was watching the outcome of two beetles battling. Time to remind the Dragon that beetles can sting too.

“If you’re going to threaten me, I’ll have to ask you both to leave,” Henry said firmly with a scowl.

Almost faster than he could track, Roku leapt at him. She hit his personal shield and bounced off. Henry caught the stunned woman inside a new forcefield, leaving her suspended midair.

As he did this, he stepped close to Mr. Sasaki, placed his hand over the man’s rings, and gripped tight, looking deep into his startled eyes. He could feel the potential of the old magic stored in the gemstones.

One of Baba’s spells slid front and center in his mind, and he saw it would drain the energy from the gems. Before he activated it, he realized one of these might be supporting the Dragon’s health. He didn’t want to kill the arrogant, rude man.

“Let’s take this down a notch before you get hurt. Trust me, nothing you’ve got stored away in these gems is getting through my protection, and the backlash won’t be pretty. Also, I know how to ride out a Dragon glamor change, so that would be unwise as well,” Henry said calmly.

The man was frozen with indecision. His eyes looked to his stunned bodyguard floating in an invisible bubble back to Henry’s calm and very close presence. Then he looked to Camila, who just smiled at him.

Finally, he looked back at Henry. “What are you?”

“I’m Baba Yaga’s adopted son, and she taught me everything she knew. I’ve just learned to use her magic… my way.” He frowned. “By the way, are any of these rings related to keeping you physically healthy?”

Sasaki nodded nervously.

Henry smiled. “Then it’s a good thing I didn’t use the spell to drain their energy.”

The man nodded again.

Henry released his hand and stood back to look at him. “This didn’t need to become a confrontation. I said no. The proper response would have been to accept Camila’s original offer to license the software. It’s still open.”

A loud enraged yowl and hiss erupted behind them. Roku had switched to her natural feline form and was trying to claw her way free from the forcefield. Her large eyes were wild with fury, and her fur was standing on end as she ineffectively clawed at the impervious energy shield.

“A Nekomata?” Camila exclaimed in surprise.

Mr. Sasaki frowned in disappointment. “Yes, and now it’s ruined.”

Henry looked at Camila. “What’s a Nekomata?”

“They’re Japanese spirits with cat-like forms, but they can transform into Human shapes. They’re notoriously difficult to deal with as they’re sociopaths by nature. How you managed to have one serve you is beyond me.”

The senior exec waved a hand as the matter was meaningless to him, and he wasn’t about to discuss it.

“I must leave, but now I no longer have any personal protection,” he grumbled uncomfortably.

“Take Roku,” Henry suggested, but the man just scowled at him.

“I just finished telling you she is ruined. Her rage will continue until she is exhausted and passes out. When she awakes, her rage will fire anew. Controlling it was not something easily taught. She is dead to me. Do with her as you will.”