Page 13 of How to Seduce a Slender

Melody was not in the place to be horny. Not now. Not ever. Not with him.

Smith was the first person to show her decent, human kindness.Of course, she would immediately…well it wasn’t like Melody had other prospects. It wasn’t like she was rolling in propositions to take her back to their place. Despite being pansexual, she was rather trash-sexual. She was terrible at catching signals or knowing when people were flirting with her. The only people she even remotely caught the signs of were terrible for her, and after one bad date and threesome with selfish lovers, she’d had her fill of bad sex. Melody would rather be celibate. Her hand was just enough company.

But then he had to go and be a fucking vibrator.She felt him directly against her clit like he’d put himself there. As if he’d pressed his hands directly at her nerve center and pressedgo. Her engines purred.Please, go on, take the load off.

The last thing, however, she wanted to do was pleasure herself inhisbed.

“Yeah,” she huffed, snuggling down deeper into the bed. “Like I wouldn’t catch that.”

As if she wouldn’t realize the second she peeked in the closet that this wasactuallySmith’s room. All his clothes were in there. Agatha had to dig to find her a dress. Melody wasn’t all too sure it hadn’t been a magic summoning to bring the dress out of the wardrobe.

“I’m not the brightest marker in the box, but I’m notdumb,” she hissed, kicking her feet, and tossing herself onto the other side.

The thing was, he didn’t treat her like she was foolish. He didn’t make her feel silly or less than, not once. It was…quite the opposite, really. Melody was used to just being the bimbo waitress. Bubbly, fun, chatty, but she was always boiled down to the sum of her parts.

But when she talked to Smith, she felt like she could talk for hours. And he would listen to every word. If she had babbled that whole afternoon, he would have let her.

It’s why he was always her favorite.That and he tippedverywell.

“Which isexactlywhy I’m not,” she huffed into the pillows.

“Not what?”

“Dragon-Lich-and-the-fuckin’-holy-sun-god!” she shrieked, flying out of the duvet and onto her feet. Claws out, hair wild around her, she faced the shadow that spoke. Red eyes flickered in the dark before a wraith appeared out of the pitch. She pointed an accusatory claw at the undead creature. “Are you Havershum? You better be Havershum!”

He giggled wickedly, nodding his boney head before nodding to the bed. “Sorry, Smith asked me to pop in and see if you were sleeping yet. Agatha’s a little tied up with fabric and…well…no one else but Smith is quiet.”

Melody wheezed, clutching at her heart.This house is going to kill me.Smith had given her a run-down of the household, denying her actually meeting themuntil she was better.

“Um, well, I’m restless.” She clambered back down onto the bed. Havershum floated next to her before settling against the duvet. He was a boney figure, partly ghostly flesh, crimson eyes that glowed in the dark, a shabby shroud that floated around him. Melody resisted reaching out to touch him just to see if he was solid.

“Restless because something’s keeping you up or because sleep is escaping you? I can chase it down if you need. Did you see where it went?”

Melody snorted, shaking her head. “I appreciate that, but no thanks. It’s me. I’ve got all these voices rattling up in my noggin and they’re just not going away.”

Havershum illuminated her like a stop light at midnight. She stared into a face that softened, nearly human, for a moment before it transformed back to its undead version. “You know, Lady Rosemont deals with that a lot. She never goes to bed without Lord Rosemont. But he’s in the lab right now. Big project coming up. So, if you wanted company, she’s in the library.”

Melody swallowed the lump attempting to choke her. “You think she’d mind? I mean, I guess I haven’t introduced myself and I feel weird if she’s trying to get some alone time.”

“Lady Rosemont? Pfft, no. She’s been wanting to meet you all day, practically molting over it, been cooking all day, and asking Agatha to sneak a peek in Smith’s office. But Smith blocked all of us out of there.”

“Really?” Melody furrowed her brows.

“He’s really protective of you, practically caused a lightning storm inside the house when Kevin ran into you in the office. Smith’s chatty, but not an open book. He keeps a lot of himself close to the chest. I couldn’t even tell you why. I’ve known him for more than five hundred years and I don’t know why he’s like that. But, Lady Rosemont? Er—Dahlia, that’s her name, she’ll probably insist you call her that. She’s given up trying to make the rest of us say it. But Dahlia, she’s fun. You’ll like her. Wanna meet her?”

Melody couldn’t help but nod vigorously. Her head spun with all the information he’d slapped her with. She took his firm but more bone than flesh arm and rose to her feet. He pointed at slippers with a knife then left her side for a moment to procure a sleeping robe. It was thick and fuzzy, deep crimson as she wrapped it around herself. Havershum escorted her from the room. He’d taken up her candle, hoisting it high to guide them through the dark.

Managing the stairs took time, but the wraith didn’t seem to mind. He was sweet as he checked on her with worried glances every few steps. As much as Melody hated anyone to fret on her…she had to be realistic. Until she was better, the slow and steady pace was her best bet. She’d caught Sleeping Beauty Disease once, ages ago when she was a child. It took her months to recover fully, and she hoped to never suffer like that again.Then bam, life saidfuck you.

However, Havershum kept her steady and wove her into a new part of the manor. Smith insisted on her eating in bed. He didn’t want to use up all her energy getting to the table. However, all that did was restrict her knowledge of the manor or the residents there.

She met Kevin and Agatha. Smith had told her of Havershum, Austin, Greggory, and Moonpie. Carl tried to greet her at the stairs again, but when she hesitated to pet him, he pouted and shuffled off.Poor baby.Melody vowed to be prepared next time. Especially after Smith explained his enchanted collar.

Then massive wooden doors opened before her, and she was greeted with the exact definition of a haunted library.

“Havershum? What are you doing…oh!”

Melody lifted her gaze from her shuffling slippers to a woman casting an endless shadow across the library. A massive fireplace backlit her like a painting and it was marvelous for her platinum hair. Dahlia Rosemont was in a black, classic dressing robe, hair up in a messy bun atop her head, and ducky slippers.Please like me, please like me, please like me.

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