Title: The Sahar House
Genre: Fantasy
Writing Prompt/Inspiration: Revisiting the world of my first Story a Day story. I seriously need to create an outline to keep the ideas for this story straight; if only I weren’t so bad with making outlines. Anyway, the world is the same, but the players are different. Takes places way before the events of Celestial Gold. A sahar house is a special type of brothel and the Lena are the pleasure Aingael that inhabit it.

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Isaac knocked on the door of the sahar house, grinning at his twin brother Onan, as he waited for the door to open. Onan grinned back. The door opened, and a tall, elegant woman with long moon-ivory hair answered. Her eyes were as blue as the afternoon sky, and her nails were as golden as the sun itself. Both Isaac and Onan were agog by her beauty. Neither of them had ever seen an Aingael before, let alone a Lena Aingael.

Demons simply didn’t mingle with Aingaels.

“Good evening, young masters,” the woman said in a soft, warm voice. She nodded her head once to each of them and opened the door further. “I am Freja, mistress of this sahar house. Do come in.”

They boys introduced themselves and followed Freja into a parlor. As they followed, they looked at one another as they noticed the white feathers of her wings peering from beneath her hair. It was almost impossible to see them, but they had been looking for evidence of wings. She smiled at them as she took a seat, gesturing for them to do the same. The twin brothers happily obliged.

“What is your desire?” Freja asked.

Onan and Isaac exchanged a glance. Isaac beamed and turned back to Freja, “We want to bed a Lena.”

Onan shot his brother a shocked look. Though what Isaac said was truth, Onan could not believe his brother could be so blunt to the mistress of the sahar. Isaac looked back at Onan, whispering, “What? It’s a sahar house. It’s what they do.”

Freja laughed, and the boys turned back to her. For a brief moment, Isaac wondered if Freja was an available Lena.  “Indeed, young masters, it is what we do. Do not be discouraged by your brother’s words. It is your first time, I suspect, am I right?”

Onan nodded, “Yes, mistress.”

Freja’s clear blue eyes sparkled. “You are not the first Asmodai to come seeking the pleasures of the Lena Aingael, nor will you be the last.”

“How did you…” Isaac wondered aloud before Freja interrupted.

“Asmodai incubi are the only demons that will visit Arella. You are the only ones with a desire strong enough to visit enemy lands to seek the pleasures of Lena Aingael,” Freja answered, a small smirk tugging the corners of her pink lips. “So tell me, young masters, what it is you desire.”

It was Isaac who spoke first, without hesitation, “A Lena who will satisfy my every desire without hesitation.”

Again Freja laughed, the light dancing in her sky blue eyes, “My young Asmodai, this is a sahar house and we are Lena Aingael. Satisfying desires without hesitation is what we were made to do.”

Onan licked his lips and spoke, before his overly-excited twin could say anything else, “I desire someone timid, but fierce. I want passion, but I want to be in control. I want a Lena who will surrender herself unto me.”

Freja gave Onan an odd, but knowing look. “How dark are the desires of your heart, young Asmodai?”

“Oh,” Onan said, feeling a bit foolish, “I don’t want to hurt her. I just want…” Onan trailed off suddenly unsure of what it is he wanted from a Lena.

Isaac snickered at his brother and turned his deep green eyes to Freja, “I want a Lena who is playful and light. I want to have fun.”

“Of course, I have many Lena in mind for you to choose from. Would you care to meet them?”

“Yes!” Isaac exclaimed so happily, that Onan thought his brother would burst in his past from just the thought of meeting the Lena that Freja had in mind for him. Onan wished his desires could be as simple as his brother’s desires were.

“If you would permit,” Freja’s soft, whispering voice began. She placed a delicate, pale hand on Onan’s knee and he felt himself frozen beneath her touch.  “I could choose a Lena for you, and I do not think she will disappoint the conflicting desires you have.”

Onan nodded, “Yes, I think that would be best.”

Freja nodded and stood. Isaac and Onan stood as well, and followed Lena down a long corridor. Though the brothers kept their eyes open for more Lena Aingael, they did not see any. Freja opened a door and popped her head in, whispering something inaudible. She turned toward the brothers, smiling at Isaac’s still grinning face.

“Beyond this door are four Lena I think you will find very pleasing, Isaac. You may choose who you wish and she will escort you to your room for the night.”

Isaac was nearly electric with excitement as he bounded into the room without as much as a second thought to his brother. Onan smiled after his brother and turned his gaze to Freja. Freja smiled mysteriously and continued down the corridor. Onan counted the doors as they passed them. At the seventh door, Freja stopped.

“To you, Onan, I say this, and caution you to pay heed: you may choose any Lena within these walls, and I daresay you will find your lust filled and satisfied many times over. Beyond this door is but one Aingael and she is here only for tonight, and she too will satisfy you, but should you choose her, you must be willing to pay the price.”

Onan looked to the wooden door and back to Freja, “What is the price?”

Freja’s knowing eyes glittered darkly and she gestured to the door, “The price is hers to ask, but to know it, you must choose her.” Freja placed a hand on Onan’s shoulder, “Do not overthink desire, Onan. You are an Asmodai incubus who finds himself in a sahar house filled with Lena Aingael. Rejoice, for, whatever your choice, this will be a night you will never forget. “

Onan licked his lips. Freja was both right and wrong. If Onan did not meet the Aingael beyond the wooden door, he would forever wonder about her. “I’ll pay the price, whatever it is,” Onan said.

To his surprise, Freja stooped and kissed his brow. “Very well, Onan. You may enter.”

Freja walked away then, leaving Onan in the corridor alone. Slowly, he turned the handle on the door and stepped inside, closing the door behind him.

There, in the center of the room was the most beautiful woman, Aingael or otherwise, Onan had ever laid eyes on.

“Hello,” she said her voice like water running over rocks, “I am Naava.”