Vanessa hadn't ever expected the Sphinx to be so handsome. A cord tied half of his dreadlocks up and let the other half dangle and frame his angular face. Based on looks alone, he could've been maybe forty at most. Of course, he was actually older than dirt and a famous helper of the Conservator's Alliance. So, if anyone knew the identity of the leader of the Knights of the Dawn, it was him.

Using tidbits of gossip and trial and error, Vanessa found the perfect willing vessel to tempt the Sphinx. By taking Vanessa home, it proved that the vessel was just his type. Or that Vanessa truly had mastered flirting. Either way, Vanessa was fine with it. To be completely honest, the Sphinx was just her type too. Powerful, tall, and just shy of condescension. Even thinking about it made her fingers tingle.

Humans were carnal creatures. The Sphinx might not be human but he was close enough.

Everyone craved intimacy. Touch. Caresses. Deep kisses. Soft sighs.

Even the Sphinx.

—

Months into her new, self-assigned mission to discover the Knights leader's identity, and by some stroke of stupidity, Vanessa found herself knocking on the door of her old blue suburban nightmare. The paint scratches had been fixed on the side of the house from when she had climbed down many, many years ago and two unfamiliar cars sat in the driveway. A Volkswagen Jetta and a red Toyota Corolla.

Her mom had always sworn she would never drive a red car and always called them ugly. It must be Vanessa's dad's new car, then.

Vanessa's search for the Knights' leader had stagnated, and so far the Sphinx had turned out to be a dead end. Those were the facts, and Vanessa ignored the feelings of worthlessness and loneliness the failures fostered in her. She ignored the reason she found herself on her childhood porch, now.

A young man answered the door. He couldn't have been more than 30 and had a pink blur of toddler clinging to his leg. He tilted his head. "How can I help you?"

Vanessa felt so fucking stupid.

—

She drove to the local library after and waited in line to use the shiny new beige computer box. Her municipality was pretty well-off. It didn't surprise her they had already snagged the brand-new 2006 model.

After a quick internet search, she found an obituary listing John and Fanny Santoro. They had died in a car crash and were survived by no other family.

Vanessa left the library and town, shifting into high gear and speeding 10, 30, 50, 70 miles over the speed limit. She screamed and tore up the steering wheel cover and broke her pretty acrylics as she dragged them down her face.

When Vanessa stumbled into her apartment that night and passed fleetingly by the bathroom mirror on her way to puke up her guts in the toilet, she didn't recognize the scratched up, puffy face that stared back at her. The blood-shot eyes, the red lip, the flushed skin. Her mother had always hated red.

The obituary had been right. The Vanessa Santoro that her parents had known was dead. Truly, they had been survived by no one.

—

Vanessa wrapped a robe around her vessel and left the Sphinx asleep under the duvet. Every time it was a new house. This one had creaky stairs that Vanessa deftly dodged. Her vessel didn't have the finesse she did, but it was good enough.

She combed through the pantry, the kitchen drawers, the couch cushions, the potted plants, the laundry room, the guest bedroom, and the basement before she bit her lip hard enough to draw blood and cut her losses.

Vanessa almost crawled back under the covers, but a glimpse of white pulled her eyes to the bedside table. Mindful of the Sphinx's sleeping form, she pulled the drawer out to reveal a stack of papers.

One would think the Sphinx—powerful, mysterious magical force—would pick a better hiding place. But all Vanessa had learned during their ill-fated affair was that he was just like any other man.

He would hug and kiss her and tell her such sweet things but in the end he only did that for her pleasure. He didn't actually mean any of it.

Big red letters stamped "Classified" across the top sheet and she thumbed past it. Immediately, the Society of the Evening Star logo popped out, emblazoned on every page. Familiar names and their assignments detailed every page.

Did the Sphinx gain a leak of the Society's documents?

Vanessa knew for a fact that the Sphinx aided the light side. He consulted on matters pertinent to the Knights and conservators. But, this?

Unsettling theories bubbled in Vanessa's exhausted mind. She pushed the drawer back in and woke up the Sphinx. He blearily blinked open. At this hour, he looked just like any human.

"I have to go," she whispered.

He grabbed her hand. "Stay."

She shook her head. He had already told her the next date, time, and location and it was enshrined into her mind. Tonight's tryst was over.

But sometimes, she didn't want to leave. The Sphinx loved being with her. Or, at least, the vessel she inhabited for these nights. And considering that their relationship was primarily physical, Vanessa herself didn't have much of a hand in the proceedings.

But, she liked being wanted. It felt nice. He was the only one in her life who held her. She had stopped her random one-nights with strangers ever since she had started this mission. It had been far too easy for her to infiltrate the Sphinx in that way, and she couldn't have it happen to her. But that meant loving touches became quite scarce.

Once she quit the Sphinx's home, she returned to the vessel's house, climbed under her covers, and severed her control.

Vanessa awoke to her own empty bed and stayed awake with her spinning thoughts. She would've loved to write them down, but some things were far too blasphemous to commit to paper.