Page 9 of Lessons with the Mothman

"The ones where the client doesn't necessarily know what they want, or they're ashamed of what they want, or they're wrong about what they want," I said.

Her brow furrowed. "How do you know they're wrong?"

"The succubi and incubi run arousal diagnostics on incoming clients. Being aroused by something doesn't necessarily indicate it's what youwantto experience, but it will catch a lie."

"Why would someone lie in that case?"

"Why do people usually lie?"

The bar was bustling tonight, and Lulu was busy running to and fro around me, serving the rest of my customers. Conversation was humming thickly in the air, the music low, enough to be heard but not force everyone to shout. The sun was still out, although tucked behind the city, and it gave the street outside a golden cast to match the low watt bulbs filling the long bar. The light made Victoria's hair into long licks of flame, loosely tamed at the nape of her neck, and her bow lips were still damp from her lick.

"To keep a secret, or…because they want something else to be true," she said, taking another slow sip of her drink.

I nodded and shrugged. "I assume the same."

Her gaze refocused on me, shades of blue and gray ringed with dusk. "Does that mean you see my study as a problem to solve?"

No, but I might see you as one, I thought. "I assume your research is approaching a problem, seeking a solution. That's what interests me. For instance, why areyou, a human, researching monster sexuality?"

She stiffened, stare drifting away once more, shields up. It ought to have deterred my interest in her. "There are studies regarding what people consider sexual satisfaction and how often they achieve it. Kind of a basic information study for my program, but I found…I found variations of the study where theresults were vastly different. The rates of satisfaction spiked well outside what might be considered any margin of error."

"What was the difference?"

She wet her lips and looked around the bar. "Whether or not the population studied was confined to human or all species."

I released a laugh. "Ahh, I see."

"I was able to grab the data of two of the studies. As soon as I added a filter between humans and all other species, the human data matched all other studies."

"You want to know why monsters are so much more sexually satisfied," I said.

"There's really so little research done, and I know there are so many species that it might not be universal. I'm just looking for possible patterns, or at least places where experiences differ outside of the human standard," she said, her speech growing quick and determined, as if she were trying to speak the full thought before someone could interrupt her. "I've already put together a question based data model, and it's being shared across the country. It provides a wider pool of subjects, but it's a very limited mode of retrieving information."

I kept quiet, watching this still and vivid woman grow animated and determined, as if she were in the middle of an argument. She'd been talked over, dissuaded in the past. By professors, perhaps, or those close to her?

"I prefer an interview model, but there are questions I'm still learning to ask, and I don't have the thesis ofwhythere's such a difference yet. With humans, it's often the difference between considering sexual satisfaction an orgasm versus an intimate and pleasurable connection. The less emphasis put on an orgasm, the better time we seem to be having. But so far, with monsters, the two seem a closer match. I can't tell if that means monsters are achieving orgasm more easily, orfinding emotional intimacy more achievable," she finished, brow furrowing and holding my stare.

"The former," I said.

She blinked, sitting back, and it was as if she'd thought she was carrying the conversation with herself, like she hadn't expected me to be listening. "Really?"

I nodded. "This is based on environmental observation rather than data, so take it with a grain of salt, but I haven't seen any special inclination to other species falling in love more easily than humans."

"That's not…quite the same thing, but I'll take your point," she murmured, an elbow landing on the bar to prop her chin in her hand, gaze distant and thoughtful. She looked disappointed. "Is it a biological difference then?"

"While the biological differences are plentiful, I suspect not," I said. I had a few guesses as to the source of the difference, but it wasn'tmyresearch project, and I wanted to watch this woman work through the problem on her own.

Her lips pursed. "Well…then I still have questions that need answers. Where do you suggest we begin?"

CHAPTER 4

Victoria

"I'm not sayingdemisexuality doesn't exist, Margo. I'm asking you to make thesupportedargument with evidence that's more than anecdotal. This is what we're here for."

I stared down at my notes as Phillip clapped his hands together. At my side, Lyle muttered the word "prick" under his breath, the harsh word still silky in his voice.

"Sam, Kate, you're up next week. Have your points emailed to the class by Friday. Everyone, come ready with your questions. I cantellwhen you come up with them on the fly," Professor Stanton called over the sounds of us shuffling our laptops and notebooks and phones into bags. I kept my head down as I turned for the door.

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