Happy Endings

by Alice Winters

  “Havoc? Miles! Is he okay?”

  “He’s dying. I need a healer now.”

  “There are no healers around here. I can get him to a doctor.”

  “Is he… going to be okay?” Baron asks.

  “Come any closer, and I will rip your limbs off and skin you alive,” Havoc growls.

  “Havoc, please,” I whisper.

  “Quickly,” Yoko says, and I’m carried from the café.

  I sink down into his arms as he cups his hands over my stomach and holds me against him.

  “Stay awake… dammit, Miles. Stay awake.”

  Chapter Four

  When I wake, I’m connected to far too much equipment. I feel numb, but I can’t focus on anything. When I move, pain tears through me, making me moan. Havoc, in his raven form, is perched on the footboard of the hospital bed. He’s watching me closely but doesn’t say anything. Or maybe he does, and I can’t understand it.

  ***

  There’s a ruckus, making me open my eyes. Raven Havoc is perched on my leg while watching a man cower in the corner. He puffs out his chest and caws at him very triumphantly. I reach a hand out and barely touch his tail feathers, causing him to look over at me.

  “Don’t be mean,” I whisper as I try to grasp his tail so I can drag him back to me. I can’t get my fingers to work very well though, and his tail feathers slide through my grasp.

  He hops a little, like he’s preparing to kick some ass. “I don’t like him.”

  I keep my eyes closed until someone else comes into the room.

  “Good morning,” the doctor says as a nurse unties my gown. “I’m glad to see you doing better today.”

  The nurse touches my stomach, making me cringe. She jerks back like I have shot her, and I quickly see why. Havoc rushes to her as she scrambles away, clear terror on her face. I grab for Havoc and catch his wing so I can drag him toward me before he can do anymore damage to the hospital staff. He claws at my hand as he tries to get free so he can pluck the poor woman’s eyes out.

  “Sorry about Havoc,” I say.

  “Heh heh…” the doctor mutters, and I’m not quite sure what that means, but it didn’t sound good how he said it.

  After the quickest check-over ever and eyeing me from a distance, they leave me alone with just Havoc. I let go of him, and he ruffles his feathers before perching on my thigh.

  “Thanks for staying with me,” I say.

  He looks over at me and then looks away.

  I try to reach out to poke him, but he’s too far away. “What’s wrong?”

  “You’re not supposed to be so weak,” he grumbles.

  “Sorry, Havoc, but I’m still human. If it wasn’t for you, I’d have died.”

  “Should’ve let you die.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” I say. “You said that last time, yet I’m still alive. I’m starting to think you like me.”

  If ravens could glare, Havoc is glaring, but it doesn’t have the venom it normally holds when he’s angry at me.

  ***

  We last about twelve hours in the hospital before Havoc can’t take it anymore. You know, because it’s all about Havoc.

  He jumps off the bed and shifts into his human form. “We’re going home,” he says as he reaches over to me and yanks the IV out of my arm.

  “Fuck,” I say as I glare at him.

  “Just be happy you don’t have a catheter in because I’d be yanking that out next,” he says as he yanks the monitors off me and picks me up.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Suck it up,” he says as he carries me out of the room. I throw an illusion over us so no one stops us. If they tried, Havoc would probably make the whole situation worse, so I just let him do as he pleases. Out in the parking lot, he points to a man getting out of his car. “We’re taking that car.”

  “Yes, let’s steal a car,” I say sarcastically.

  “That was my idea, don’t take the credit for it,” he says as he walks up to the man who is shutting his door. “Give me your keys.”

  The man looks at us in pure terror and quickly hands him the keys. Havoc pops the trunk as he carries me over to it.

  “I swear to god if you are planning on putting me in the trunk, I will chop your nuts off while you sleep,” I growl.

  He walks on by the trunk and opens the back door. “I don’t know what gave you that idea.”

  He stuffs me inside like I haven’t nearly died from a stomach wound. In response, I try to kick him in the balls which misses him and jars my stomach. “Fuck…”

  “Stop whining,” he says as he gets into the driver’s seat.

  The car roars to life, and he starts driving it as I try to remember if he even knows how to drive. I decide that I don’t care enough and close my eyes. Not until he turns off the car, do I open them again. Slowly, I reach for the door and push it open before swinging my legs out so I can drop down onto my feet. I have to hold onto the door to steady myself as he comes around and grabs my arm roughly, like it’ll help to drag me in. I just let him, but I only make it to the stairs before he gets fed up with how slow I’m going and picks me up. He carries me upstairs and sets me on my bed before staring at me.

  “Weak,” he grumbles.

  “You’re a sweetheart,” I say. “If I’m so weak and you hate me for it, why didn’t you let me die?”

  There’s another moment where emotions unlike anything Havoc ever wears touch his face, and then he instantly covers them up with anger. I find it strange and want to say something, but I know it’ll make him angrier. Is he upset that I nearly died? That’s very unlike him and couldn’t possibly be the case.

  He scowls at me and leaves the room. So lovely now that I don’t even have a nurse to assist me if I need anything. Can’t imagine I’ll get some water either. Instead, I push away thoughts of Havoc and decide to try to sleep away the pain

  ***

  When I wake up, I’m thirsty. I don’t have to look far for Havoc since he’s perched on my footboard, staring at me, which I can’t imagine is very entertaining. But it’s how I know that Havoc secretly cares for me.

  “Would you please get me some water?”

  He shifts and stares down at me. “Do I look like a slave?”

  “Yes, but that’s fine, I’ll get it myself,” I say as I push the covers back and sit up. I must sit up too fast because the pain touches me, and I grimace. I sit here for a while, trying to decide how badly I want water. After a few minutes, I decide that I don’t want it bad enough and lie back down.

  I doze for a bit but when I wake up, the first thing I notice is the glass of water. I eagerly reach for it as Havoc watches me.

  “Is Yoko here?” I ask, believing that to be the only reasonable excuse for a glass of water.

  “Human, I have decided that I will… care for you until you are better only because it sickens me to have my master in such a weakened and pathetic state,” Havoc declares from where he sits in a chair. I don’t know why it makes me so happy that he cares. He usually pretends that humans are nothing but a nuisance, so it’s nice seeing that our years together have chipped away at the wall he puts up before everyone else. “What do you want to eat?”

  What’s easy that he can make without bitching too badly? “Lunch meat sandwich. First drawer in the fridge.”

  He gets up and leaves, and I stare at the ceiling while I wait. It’s not long before he returns with a sandwich. It’s not on a plate and looks pretty maimed as he holds it out to me. I take it and notice the unreasonable finger marks in it, but at least it’s something edible.

  “Thank you,” I say as I take a bite before realizing he left the plastic on the cheese. He grins at me as I take it off and expose the single slice of meat balled up in the middle, but I just close the sandwich back up and eat it. “Delicious, thank you.”

  “I was going to rub my balls on it, but then I thought you might enjoy that,” he says.

  “Yes, because every gay man loves balls rubbed all ov
er their sandwich,” I say sarcastically.

  “I thought so,” he says as if confirming his hypothesis. Of all the demons in the world, why did I choose this one? And why do I have to like him?

  There’s a knock on the door. “It’s me,” Yoko calls.

  “Come in,” I say, and she pushes the door open.

  “Hey, Miles, how are you doing?” she asks with Baron behind her, and I realize I have just done a horribly stupid thing.

  Havoc is on him so quickly Baron doesn’t have time to react. Havoc grabs the larger man by the neck and lifts him two feet off the ground and slams his head into the wall.

  “Havoc, stop!” I say, but I’m still so weak, I can’t control him. I can see Baron’s body tense as he starts to shift and I know that if he shifts, he’ll just escalate everything far too quickly. “Don’t shift!” But if Baron doesn’t do anything soon, Havoc will hurt him.

  I throw the covers back and rush to my feet. Quickly, I move across the room and grab for Havoc, knowing my skin on his will help me stop him since my magic will be stronger.

  “Havoc, please stop!” I say, and Havoc, in his anger, swings his arm around, pushing me off him. I stumble back, tripping over my own legs before hitting the ground on my butt.

  Havoc stops moving and looks back at me as Yoko rushes to my side. Before she can reach me, he moves between us and pushes her away. “Get out! Get out!” he yells. “I’ll kill both of you if you don’t leave.”

  Yoko looks at me and I nod, so she grabs for Baron and rushes out. Before she completely leaves, she turns back to me. “Um… I brought you some soup and stuff… I’ll leave it on the counter.”

  “Thanks, and I’m sorry,” I say as I watch her shut the door.

  Havoc is just standing there staring at the closed door, expression unreadable. He’s hiding his emotions from me again, as he’s known to do. Sometimes, I just wish more than anything that I could tell what he’s thinking. He’s never been dealt a good hand. Demons rarely are. He’s been abused by masters, treated like a pet or a slave. But he’s been mine for so many years, I thought that he’d eventually open up to me. I want him to open up to me.

  “Come here,” I say, and he flinches. “Havoc, come here.”

  He slowly turns around and looks at me as I sit up.

  “Come here.”

  Tentatively, he walks over to me.

  “Sit down.”

  He kneels down in front of me and looks me right in the eyes, and for a moment, I see a glimpse of guilt in them. And for once, he’s not immediately covering it up with anger.

  “Havoc… thank you for protecting me. I would be dead right now if it wasn’t for you. And I thank you for being with me for all these years. You have been the only person who has ever been there for me since I was young. I honestly care about you more than anyone else, but sometimes you let your anger take over your mind and don’t think reasonably. I need you to. I have already explained to you that Baron had been possessed.”

  He looks away from me. “He pissed me off.”

  I look at the head-sized hole in the wall. “Clearly. Can we try having you ask me before you do something reckless?”

  “Fine. I’ll consider it.”

  “Thank you.”

  Having been abused for years by previous masters, it took him a long time to trust me. And being a master who has never hurt him, he’s opened up to me more than he’s ever opened up to anyone. But I think it also makes him more possessive over me and act more rash when things like this happen. Maybe it’s a fear of losing me and getting a different master or maybe it shows how much he really cares about me.

  ***

  “I fixed the hole in the wall,” Havoc says when I open my eyes.

  I look at the wall and see that his “fix” was him taping a piece of computer paper over it. “Lovely.”

  “I also made you soup,” Havoc says.

  “You did?” I ask, surprised. “Thanks.”

  He holds out a bowl of chicken noodle soup that Yoko must have brought. Hesitantly, I take the bowl from him and dip the spoon into it. I take a sip of it and try not to gag. He must have forgotten that you’re supposed to mix water with it.

  He grunts something and then leaves, so I grab my water glass and pour it into the soup. It tastes pretty normal after that, though the added water made it cold. So I use magic to touch fire to the bottom of the bowl and reheat it. I finish eating and slowly get to my feet and start walking toward the bathroom.

  The door slams open, nearly hitting me, and I stare at the new hole in the wall from the door handle. “Where are you going?” Havoc asks.

  “I need a bath. I have dried blood all over me and feel disgusting,” I say.

  “I’ll help you.”

  I sigh. I can only imagine how that would go. “I’m fine.”

  “You are weak and can die easily,” he says.

  “Not too easily. I did just survive a sword being stabbed into my abdomen,” I remind him as I slowly walk into the bathroom and shut the door in his face. I turn the water on as he pushes the door open and lets himself in. “I’m fine.”

  “You can’t even bend down. How are you getting your socks off? You can’t tell me you don’t want me to see you naked. You love being naked with men.”

  “Says the person who sleeps with any woman who looks your way,” I say.

  “Do you know how long it has been since I’ve seen a woman naked?” he asks, clearly mortified about the answer.

  “Four days.”

  “Four FUCKING DAYS,” he says.

  “There’s something called ‘porn,’” I say.

  “Ha! Me? Havoc? Have to resort to watching porn? Don’t make me laugh!”

  I sigh. “You’re in here, so help me,” I say as I unbutton my shirt. He pulls it off and tosses it then whips my pants down as I look at him, startled.

  “Just in case you were curious how quickly I could get a woman’s pants off,” he says.

  “Um… thanks. I’m so glad to now have that knowledge to forget,” I say as he takes my socks off. All that’s left is my underwear, and while Havoc has seen me naked, I’d rather remove my own underwear.

  Before I get a say in the matter, he yanks them down and blatantly looks at my groin.

  “Huh.”

  “What?” I ask.

  He shrugs. “Nothing!”

  “No, I want to know what the ‘huh’ was about.”

  “I just thought you’d have a raging hardon being in the same room as me,” he says.

  “So you think for the last however many years, whenever you’re in the room I have a stiffy?”

  He nods. “Sounds about right, honestly.”

  I sigh and step into the bathtub before sitting. “You can leave now.”

  “Fine, fine. If you fall, it’s not my fault.”

  He leaves, so I’m left getting into the shower in peace. I really don’t think I could handle letting Havoc wash any part of me. That’s all the fuel he’d need to make my life hell.

  I’m still tired, but I want the dressing to soak so it’s easier to remove. I’ve been trying to leave it off for longer periods of time, but I still hate removing it.

  I pull the shower curtain open and jerk back, startled. “Holy shit!” I cry as I look at Havoc leaning against the sink. “I thought you left!”

  “I did. It’s not my fault your much inferior ears couldn’t hear me stomping my way into the room. Did you jerk off while thinking off me in there? Is that what took so long?”

  “No, I actually just tried not to die,” I say as I grab a towel and wrap it around my waist before stepping out and sitting on the edge of the tub. I’m getting water everywhere, but I just need to sit down since I feel light-headed.

  Havoc walks over to me and kneels in front of me before pushing my arms back. “Are you taking this off?”

  “Yeah,” I say as I grab an edge of the dressing and pull it free. Havoc reaches out and runs a finger down my chest toward it and I s
till myself.

  My mind is gone from the wound and fixated on that gentle touch. His hand slides down my wet skin, making heat rise in me and my cock begin to harden.

  Nope! NO! No way am I going to let him keep doing this. If I got hard while he touched me—and I already know I’m going to—he would never let me live it down. I can’t just sit here while he… tantalizes me and expect my body not to react.

  “Thank you! I’m done! All good!” I say as I stand up and push him away.

  This man is going to be the death of me.

  ***

  I sit in the café and watch the customers as Yoko and Baron rush around. Havoc glares at Baron every time he looks our way, but so far he hasn’t confronted him again or tried to punch his head through a wall. Instead, he stands by my side and glowers at anyone who looks at me with anything other than a smile. But a beautiful witch has just walked in, and Havoc’s attention has been averted. Someone could come up right now and stab me fifteen times, and he probably wouldn’t even notice.

  “I hope I’m never attacked when there’s a beautiful girl around,” I say.

  He nods. “Me too. The real issue would be if it was the beautiful girl attacking you.” Even while talking, he never looks away from her. I mean, she is beautiful and he hasn’t screwed her yet, so she has two things going for her. Well… three things. She’s also a woman.

  I sigh and rub at my face.

  She walks over to us and smiles at me. “I was told you sell illusion charms?” she asks.

  “I do. What do you want them for?” I ask curiously. I don’t know her and don’t want my charm helping her steal something or screwing someone over.

  “My familiar.”

  “You want them to appear invisible?” I ask curiously. Some witches create charms for their familiars so that they can fit in without people knowing they are a witch. A lot of times, familiars wear them while a witch goes to work so they can go with them without being noticed.

  “No… I don’t mind people seeing her. She’s just a bit… distracting,” she says as she snaps her fingers. The cat-like creature trots up to her from where she’d been sniffing another familiar but with the scales and fangs, she looks like something out of a child’s nightmare. “Everyone’s scared of her, and I keep telling them she’s super sweet, but they don’t believe me.” It stretches and shows off its wicked set of teeth. It even creeps me out and I’ve seen some shit.