Fiendish Magic

by L. A. Sable

  “Of course,” I replied with a smile, cheerful as always. It wasn’t my fault that the world always seemed like a gigantic joke to me.

  That was just what happened when you’d lived as long as I had.

  The other two sat on either side of us, both glaring for different reasons. West had no problem with his own nakedness, few shifters did given how much they ended up running around with their asses bared to the world. But he clearly didn’t like that the rest of us were naked around Jinx. His jealousy was something that would have to be addressed eventually, but I wasn’t too worried about it for now.

  My gaze lingered on the impressive cock resting across his thigh. I’d always suspected the shifter was carrying a baby arm in his pants, but it hadn’t been confirmed until now. He caught me looking and his glare deepened, but I favored him with a wink. We could sword fight any day of the week.

  Cynth simply didn’t like the idea of magic being used on or around him. Vampires couldn’t cast spells and that ate at him like nothing else. He’d surprised me by coming around to the idea of joining forces with Jinx and I doubted he had admitted the real reason to himself. He was falling in love with her, even if she was the least likely candidate in the world for his affection.

  Just like the rest of us.

  Jinx pursed her lips, preparing to say something else about the time I was taking so I cut her off. “Everyone needs to hold hands, the spell requires physical contact to work.”

  I took her hand before she offered it to me, loving the spark of awareness that tingled along my skin where we touched. Fucking her would be like riding a pegasus through a lightning storm. A familiar scent rose to permeate the air, making my smile widen.

  It was the delicious aroma of arousal.

  She wanted us desperately, whether she wanted to admit it to herself or not.

  We all clasped hands as I looked down at the open grimoire in front of me. The spell was simple but required powerful magic to cast effectively. I had to be careful.

  “I hope everyone is ready,” I said, not really expecting a response from the peanut gallery. “Hold on to your butts.”

  Magic rose around us as I began the incantation, ancient words from a forgotten tongue coming easily to my lips. I didn’t think about what could go wrong or what my family would say if they knew I was attempting to bind myself to a witch without the ability to cast even the most basic spells. Even as the air thickened enough to choke the breath from my lungs, my focus remained entirely on finishing what I had started.

  There was nothing more dangerous in this world than a spell left half-finished.

  Each word became more difficult to speak as I struggled for air to breathe. We were attempting to change the very fabric of the universe and the universe would fight back and fight dirty. It was obvious from the expressions on the faces around me that the others hadn’t expected it to be like this. I had warned them that the spell would be difficult, but I doubt they had truly understood what I meant until now.

  Heat burned along my skin from an invisible fire My vision faded and returned to focus as words swam on the pages in front of me. I had to finish the spell, no matter how impossible it might seem. Otherwise, the consequences would be dire.

  Jinx squeezed my hand hard with her own, keeping me anchored to the physical plane as the magic threatened to sweep me away. That was all that made it possible to continue until the last of the words in the incantation had been spoken. Her touch was like a cool wind to temper the fire.

  With the last word, the fiery heat faded and air returned to my burning lungs. But that energy had not simply dissipated, instead it had morphed into something different as her fingers tickled along the skin of my palm. I could smell the liquid that saturated the space between her thighs, a heady mix of honey and musk. She quivered next to me, body taut with too much tension.

  The spell was done, but there was still magic in the air.

  Jinx shifted her body toward me at the same moment that I turned to face her, like a dance we had choreographed together. My cock ached like it was full enough to burst. Pleasure turned to pain at the need to have her then back again as I reached for her.

  Jinx didn’t resist as I pushed her onto her back, my naked body moving over hers as if it belonged there. The Fae didn’t fuck like beasts, but I felt a need more overwhelming than anything that I had experienced before this moment. I wanted to hold her down and rut into her like an animal, anything to relieve the incredible tension inside me.

  And she must have felt it too. Her hands rose, but not to fight me off. Instead she gripped the lean muscles of my upper arms as her legs spread wide and I settled between them. I stared down into dark eyes that had dilated so completely that all I could see was the inky black of her pupil. She arched her back to press herself against me, a keening moan spilling from her lips, as I stared down at her in fascination. I was dimly aware of the fact that Cynth and West had moved in close on either side of us, but neither of them tried to interfere.

  My spine ached with the need to be inside her. I forced myself to hold above her, our bodies not quite touching, as I marveled at the sensation that was a pleasurable agony. She squirmed underneath me, sharp fingernails digging into the skin of my arms as she pressed those perfect tits against my chest. For a moment, it felt as if I had a choice between being inside of her or dying from the lack. I’d never been with anyone, man or woman, who could make me feel that I would die if I didn’t have them.

  But it was Jinx herself who finally compelled me to move.

  She let out a low moan as her hands rose to cup my face. “Please.”

  My cock, so hard that the flesh was indistinguishable from steel, rested against her slick opening. I couldn’t stop myself from teasing her as I rubbed the head of it against those pouting lips as she begged me to fuck her. I tortured myself as well while I forced us both to wait. It was only once her speech turned to incoherent ramblings that I finally took mercy on her and slowly pushed inside.

  I knew everything there was to know about magic. But as I fucked her, a sensation rose over me that wasn’t like anything that seemed possible within the rules of the natural world. I could feel her, not just physically but mentally. An awareness of her tickled at the edges of my senses. It wasn’t enough to read her mind or control her thoughts, but it was as if the boundaries between our bodies had become fuzzy and amorphous, allowing us to meld together in a way that shouldn’t be possible.

  Jinx shifted beneath me, writhing. For a moment, I thought she was trying to push me away. But then it became clear that she tried to pull me closer. I took her mouth with an urgency that we both seemed to feel. My tongue thrust inside her mouth, claiming another orifice as our bodies rocked together. She let out another moan against my lips and her hips bucked up against mine. Her hands tangled in my hair, pulling at the roots in a way that would have been painful if I had the capacity to pay attention.

  She was so wet and tight that I could die from the pleasure of being inside her and I fought off the climax that threatened to end this much too soon.

  When I pulled back to stare down at her face, her dazed eyes were wet with unshed tears, spiky eyelashes framing irises that had been overtaken by the true black of her pupil. She stared up at me like she’d never seen me before as her eyes glittered in the dim light.

  I felt more than saw the others shift closer so that they knelt on either side of her head as she lay prone on the floor. I leaned back so that my body was upright, my hips still pistoning into her slit as I fucked her. It only seemed natural for her to turn her head to the side and take West’s impressive length into her mouth as one of her hands rose to stroke Cynth as he knelt on her other side.

  Watching her pleasure them as I fucked her was almost enough to send me over the edge. It took all the willpower that I possessed not to spill into her like a fledgling who’d just got his hands on a woman for the first time.

  White shimmers of light danced along my skin as the magic gr
owing in me searched for an outlet. Her body glowed underneath me as the magic moved into her and then spread to the others until we were all alight with it.

  I couldn’t fight the threatening orgasm for much longer as pleasure curled down my spine and made my cock jump inside her. Finally looking away from her beautiful face, I stared down at the place where we were joined. Her nether lips were pink and plump as she spread wide to accommodate me. My fingers moved to play at the flesh just above where I entered her, finding her clit and rubbing it hard. I wanted her to come with me, needed her to meet my climax with her own.

  She moaned around West’s cock down her throat as I rubbed her clit, worrying it with savage strokes as I forced her closer and closer to the edge of oblivion. Part of me wished that I could stay like this inside her for an eternity, but I couldn’t last even a fraction of that time, not with how good it felt. I teased her flesh with the tips of my fingers, pressing and stroking as her movements turned frantic and she stopped paying attention to the others as the pleasure overwhelmed her senses.

  When she finally came, pleasure twisted her features into something that was even more impossibly beautiful than she’d been before. I could watch her come a thousand times and never tire of the sight.

  Power surged through me, raising the tiny hairs along my arms like the crackle of electricity. I felt strong enough to move mountains or tear them down to tumble into the sea. And I knew as I followed her over the edge that the spell had worked. I rolled to my side, collapsing on the floor in a near faint as the reality of what we had done settled over me.

  We were bound.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Jinx

  If I’d thought we were done after Bastian came inside me, I was sorely mistaken. It wasn’t as if I necessarily had a problem with the idea of group sex, but I never assumed that I’d get the opportunity to be at the center of this particular man sandwich.

  Bastian had barely finished orgasming before impatient hands pulled me out from underneath him. The afterglow of my own climax left my body loose and my mind muddled so it took several moments for me to realize that I was being lifted into the air between the two other men.

  West’s hands on my hips held me aloft, and it felt only natural to wrap my legs around his waist. He was so much larger than me that sex in this position resembled climbing him like a tree. I was still wet from Bastian, the mix of our spendings coating my thighs, but West didn’t seem to care as his oversized cock pushed against my opening.

  His gaze searched mine. “You okay?”

  As I stared into his eyes, I realized that I was aware of him in a way that shouldn’t have been possible. I saw the orange blaze of a wolf’s eyes staring back at me, but then in the next moment it shifted to the steely gaze of a hawk. And then my awareness changed, and I saw something more mythical and magical reflected in his gaze.

  Then I blinked, and it was only West staring down at me.

  My arms rose to wrap around his neck as desire that should have been slacked surged up in me. “I’m wonderful.”

  And I was, more than I’d ever been before.

  His fingers pushed an errant hank of hair behind my ear, the movement so tender that it inexplicably made me want to cry. I saw into him, understood the possessiveness and jealousy was born of a need to protect something he cherished. I felt the longing in him as if the emotion were my very own.

  Cynth pressed against my back, his breath whispering along my skin as he spoke into my ear. “I want to fuck your ass while I drink from you.”

  The words sent a spasm of dark pleasure through me. At any other time, the thought of it would have turned me off. But I wanted him to debase me, because I knew how very much he wanted it too. I could feel it. I didn’t have the capacity to resist, even if I’d wanted to. But the desire that spiked through me at his words made that a moot point. The two of them with their hands on me at the same time was like a fantasy that had been ripped from my dreams and made into very stark reality.

  “Better you than him.” My voice came out as a groan as Cynth’s lips tickled along the sensitive skin of my neck. “West is too big for me to let him anywhere near there.”

  West choked on a laugh. “I guess I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  I couldn’t see Cynth’s face, but I knew the vampire rolled his eyes. He gathered some of the copious wetness at my slit and then teased my rear entrance with his wet fingers. “You do realize there is such a thing as too much, right?”

  West shrugged as his hands moved to my thighs so he could press me tighter against him. “I’m not hearing any complaints.”

  I opened my mouth to provide some sort of prim rejoinder but Cynth’s teeth pierced my skin at the same moment that West’s cock slid pushed into me. I should have been more than prepared after Bastian, but the piercing pressure took my breath away, particularly combined with the initial pain of Cynth’s bite.

  Then he slowly entered me from behind, watchful for my response as he claimed my ass. There was pain at first at the stretch that quickly morphed into pleasure as I relaxed enough to accept him. But the moment that he sensed that relaxation in me, Cynth quickened his movements and drilled into me. He wouldn’t do real damage, but there was a bit of a sadist in him.

  With both of them filling me completely, the painful pleasure morphed into sensation that I didn’t have words to describe. If it were possible to die from pleasure, then I just might. I wanted to move, but West hands under my thighs and Cynth’s arm wrapped around my waist kept me anchored between them, unable to be anything more than a willing vessel for their pleasure.

  I could no longer tell where they ended, and I began. Without words or any form of communication, they moved together in a way that was perfectly choreographed. One slapped my ass hard enough to leave a mark while the other drove deep inside me. I’d never been filled this completely before, never been the focus of this much attention. They fucked me until I began to zone out, as if I’d moved to another plane of awareness outside of reality. The tingling spurts of pleasure became a roar of sensation that overwhelmed everything else.

  Eventually, their movements grew frantic. Even though I had just orgasmed with Bastian, I felt myself nearing the edge of that same precipice, about to fall into oblivion. The pain had fled completely in the face of overwhelming pleasure. With each pull of Cynth’s mouth at my skin, I felt an answering spasm of pleasure deep in my belly. West’s hands roamed my body, stroking my waist and then shifting up to tease my nipples.

  When orgasm finally came, it was strong enough to knock me into another world. My vision faded as I floated in and out of consciousness. Distantly, I heard their groans as both of them also found release. I sensed them down to my very soul, a sensation that I knew wouldn’t go away even once our bodies separated.

  I’d been reborn into something new, something that belonged to them. Just as much as they belonged to me.

  Bells chimed from high in the parapets of the castle, the sound reverberating through my bones. We had officially run out of time.

  End-of-Winter had begun.

  Bastian and Cynth flanked me in the receiving line that had been set up in the entrance hall of the castle. West was outside, the shifters had been assigned to duties there. Guests had already begun to arrive, members of the Blooded and other dignitaries mostly, and I barely acknowledged them as they moved past. It was a blur of faces that hardly mattered me. My nervous gaze searched for the one face that didn’t seem to want to be found. So far, Valentine was notably absent.

  The necklace was around my neck, its weight enough to make me feel like it pulled me toward the ground even though I knew that was only my imagination. I didn’t want to wear it, but the whole purpose of this was to make Valentine believe that I regretted my decision to run from him. Refusing his gift didn’t fit with the story we were trying to tell.

  Each time the door opened, my heart skipped a beat. I dreaded seeing him, but the waiting for it was killing me. Cynth and Bas
tian were doing a good job of appearing outwardly relaxed, but I know they felt the tension as much as I did.

  Eventually, Valentine would come.

  But my confidence had waned by the time I wandered through an anteroom, my gaze searching the faces in the crowd. Small groups gathered with wine glasses in their hands, milling in the hallways, too many of them to count. It was pointless to search like this, but I was too full of nervous energy to remain still. I would know if Valentine were here, I told myself, we had enough of a connection left for that.

  Cynth and Bastian had encouraged me not to worry as we separated. It would have drawn too much notice if we’d stayed huddled together for the entire evening. The official dinner would begin soon, and I’d have to playact that all was well with whoever was seated with me, despite my inner turmoil.

  I sensed Darius behind me before I spun to watch him approach. He stopped so close to me that the hem of my dress brushed his legs. The smile that stretched across his face was predatory. I couldn’t reveal that I knew he was planning to let me die, even as I resisted the urge to punch him in the face.

  “Save your threats,” I told him as he opened his mouth to speak. “I can’t do anything if Valentine doesn’t show up.”

  “He’ll be here.” His voice slid down my spine like a trail of ice. “I merely wanted to offer you blessings for End-of-Winter. You’ll probably need them.”

  I gave him a tight smile, thinking that he couldn’t even be nice to his sacrificial lamb. “Thanks for the vote of confidence. You really know how to rally the troops.”

  “If your life isn’t enough incentive, then nothing will be.” Darius’s gaze travelled over me as his mouth made a small moue of distaste. “I assume you remember the plan.”

  “Find Valentine, get close to him and keep him focused on me. Do my best to get him into a vulnerable position. You’ll attack when he seems most distracted.” I recited the litany that sounded a lot less like a plan than a death sentence. I wanted to scream at Darius that I knew he planned to let me die, but had enough control to keep my mouth shut. “It all sounds so easy. I’m sure taking him down will be a piece of cake.”