“Whoops,” I say as I wipe it into his pretty hair with my finger.
“You think you’re so funny.”
“I don’t think I’m funny, I know I am. Oh, how I wish I didn’t have to pleasure myself alone,” I say as I slide a hand between my legs and push my finger inside of myself. “Hmm… it feels so much better when I do it without you.”
I slide down his body and take his cock in one hand before lowering myself between his thighs. Then I run my tongue over the tip as I watch him, eyes locked onto his.
“I would suck you, but you said you didn’t want my mouth anywhere near you,” I say.
“Can… Can I take that back?” he asks.
“What back?” I ask as I wrap my mouth around him and swirl my tongue around the head of his cock before pulling off. “You don’t like that though, right?”
“Miles?”
“Yeah?” I ask as I look over at him.
“Come on…” he says pleadingly.
“Come on, what? What’s wrong?”
“Please let me join in.”
“You are joining in,” I say. “You’re a comfortable seat.” He is looking at me with such lust that I can’t help but grin.
He sighs. “Why are you so gorgeous?”
My eyes flicker over to his in surprise. “Submitting, are we?”
“Yes.”
“Good,” I say as I slide up onto his waist and take a hold of his cock with one hand.
I press down on it as I drop my hold on him. His cock slides deep inside of me as he reaches out and runs his hands up my legs, but he leaves me in control as I move on top of him. Pleasure ripples through my body as I notice him watching me. His eyes slide over my body as I grin down at him.
“I feel like I should ignore you more often,” he says.
“Do you?”
“Oh yes, I do,” he says as he grabs me and rolls me underneath him.
He pushes in hard, and I moan as I arch up into him. He captures my lips, kissing me hard as I grab onto him. I dig my nails into his back, drawing my fingers over his hot skin as he thrusts into me. He hits that spot inside of me that makes every touch feel like ecstasy.
He slides his hand down my stomach, grabbing my cock as he rubs me with each movement. I arch up into him as he kisses and nips my throat. But the pleasure is too much, and I feel my body reaching its limit as I moan against his touch. I feel my body tighten around him as he reaches his climax, fingers digging into me, breath heavy. He covers me with gentle kisses as he pulls out of me.
“How have I known you for this many years and not known that you can actually be sexy?” he asks.
“Because you’ve been too busy chasing women,” I say as I lie down on top of him.
“Take me to a time when you interacted with me, I want to know what you saw when I only saw a scrawny, useless child”
“You’re awfully greedy,” I say as I cup my hand over his eyes and close my own. And then I’m living it again. I’m right there, experiencing it as if for the first time.
I can’t stop thinking about the demon. I want to feel his power again. I want to combine it with my own and destroy this place.
Geoff hits me hard across the face, and I look up at him. “Fucking pay attention.”
Destroy Geoff.
“Sorry, sir,” I say as I look at the candle and light three of the eight candles on fire.
“Good,” he says. “Now the two end ones.”
I do with just a word.
“Alright, I’m going to town, I want these chapters read while I’m gone.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And practice the details of your symbols. They look like shit.”
“Yes, sir,” I say as I look down at the symbols I’d drawn. I can’t tell what is wrong with them, but I am far too afraid to ask.
As soon as he leaves, I open the book and start reading, but I get this odd nagging feeling deep in the pit of my stomach. I look back at the door and take a deep breath before turning again to the book. Geoff will be gone for at least two hours. That’s plenty of time.
Quickly, I rise to my feet and rush through the door. I check outside to make sure Geoff is actually gone and then head down the stairs into the basement. There’s an incantation on the door, but it’s easy for me to break, and suddenly I’m inside the room. The demon is sitting on the floor when I walk in. Hearing me, he looks up at me from where he’s confined to his small circle. Only enough room for him to sit, not even lie down.
“Come here, come here,” he says softly.
I’m drawn to him unlike anything I can imagine. I can’t stop moving toward him. Only when my foot is right before the spell circle, do I stop. He’s chained to the wall, telling me Geoff doesn’t completely trust the circle.
“Come here… please… come here,” he says as he reaches for me.
Drawn to him, I reach out for him and hit that barrier. Pain tears into my hands, and I jerk them back. I hear a noise behind me and quickly look over at the door as Geoff stares at me.
“I’m surprised you actually hesitated before coming down here,” Geoff says, and I realize he’s going to kill me.
The demon is laughing behind me as he sits back down.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Please, I’m so sorry,” I say.
“Are you? Then you should have listened,” he says as he grabs my arm and drags me from the room as the demon laughs.
“You were laughing so hard,” I remind him as I pull back and stretch. “I need to go check on the shop.”
“What did he do to you?” Havoc asks quietly.
I look down at him and grin. “You feel guilty?”
“Slightly,” he says, but his face tells me that he truly does feel bad about it. “Tell me what happened.”
“Hmm… He put me in a room and summoned a demon. He let the demon try to kill me but made sure it wouldn’t completely kill me. It terrorized me until I pissed myself. And after that, I’ve always had a healthy fear of demons.” Besides this one.
“It deterred you for a little bit, but you kept coming back,” he says.
“Yes, I got smarter.” I stand and pick my clothes up.
“Did the markings from his ink disappear once he died?” he asks curiously.
I drop the illusion I always keep on myself. By now, it is so familiar I tend to forget that it is even there. But when it drops, the black lines run around my wrists and up my arms to my chest.
“Would they still work if he’s alive?”
“One way to find out,” I say.
“Hmm… That’s something I don’t want to find out.”
I pull my clothes on, and he gets up and follows me into the bathroom where I clean up before heading down the stairs. Just as I reach the door, he grabs me and tips my head back so he can kiss me softly on the lips.
“I’m sorry for laughing,” he says.
“What time?”
He gives me a gentle smile, but there are other emotions hidden beneath it. “Just one of the times. I like you so much, I’ll let you pick.”
I grin and press my lips gently against his, relishing in the soft touch before pulling back. “I’m supposed to be working.”
When we walk into the café, Yoko stares at me with her eyebrows raised. “What?” I ask.
“What… happened to you?” she asks.
“Uh… not much?” I ask before realizing that I haven’t put the illusion back on.
“You and Havoc now into adult finger painting?”
I laugh, and Havoc sets a hand against my chest when I start to walk away. “Hold on, hold on. What is this… adult finger painting and how have I never heard of it?” Havoc asks, intrigued.
“It’s where you have sex while finger painting each other,” Yoko says.
“What a splendid idea,” he says as he stares at me.
“No,” I say.
His eyes get wide, showing his excitement at the idea. “Then we could hang our artwork all over this café
.”
“No.”
“This shall be fun.”
I adamantly shake my head. “No.”
Havoc is not deterred. “Who knew you had a smart mind in that pretty little head of yours,” Havoc says as he pats Yoko’s black hair like she’s a dog.
Yoko dodges the touch. “I’m not sure if I should be flattered or offended.”
“Just ignore him, and you don’t have to decide,” I say.
She turns back to me. “So… do you wear an illusion all the time? Like right now, you’re definitely not twenty-six, yet you look it.”
“This is how I looked when I was twenty-six.”
“Wait… how did you look when you were in your eighties?”
“Never got there,” I say. “Stopped aging at twenty-six.”
“How?” Baron asks as he pokes his head out of the kitchen. His superior hearing allows him optimal access to listening in on all conversations.
“Now that’s a secret.”
“That even I don’t know,” Havoc says.
Yoko pushes my shirt up and looks at the markings Geoff left on me. “I’ve never seen anything like these.”
“Yeah, I don’t really understand them myself,” I admit.
Havoc slides between us. “You’re getting too touchy.”
Yoko looks over at him, raises an eyebrow, and then grins. “Am I?” She slides both hands under my shirt and pinches my nipples.
Havoc doesn’t think it’s funny, but Baron laughs as Yoko slides her hands down to my butt and squeezes it. Havoc pushes between us and breaks us apart.
Yoko willingly steps back, but she’s grinning now. “So, what’s this going on between you two? Did the lady killer finally get tamed?”
“Of course not,” he mumbles before quickly looking at me like he’s worried he’s hurt my feelings. “I’m not…”
“Don’t hurt yourself,” I tease.
He opens his mouth like he wants to say something but bites his lip. Yoko’s already forgotten about him, more interested in something Baron is doing. “I’m not like… looking around… or anything. Heaven and hell, you guys are just being evil today.”
I can’t help but grin at him and feel a little good inside that the question made him so flustered.
“You guys want to play a board game?” Baron suggests.
The café is pretty dead, and on dead nights, we usually do something to entertain ourselves. So Yoko pulls out the board game Life. She lays it out as Baron checks on the remaining customers. I take a seat as Havoc stares at the board.
“That’s right, you’ve probably never played this with us, have you?” Yoko asks.
“Probably not, he’s always whoring around,” I say.
So I quickly explain the concept to him, being as vague as possible so he loses.
“Basically I need to dominate all of you,” Havoc says.
“You can try,” Yoko decides.
“Don’t underestimate my domination powers.” He spins the dial. “Get married,” Havoc says in disgust. “As if I’d ever get married.”
“You need a spouse,” Yoko says as she pushes the little people toward him.
“A single spouse? Ha! As if I would do that,” he says as he gathers up a handful and begins filling his entire car with women. When he runs out of room, he just lays them on top.
“There. I am… married,” he says like the word is disgusting.
“Wait, you forgot Miles,” Yoko says as she picks up a little blue guy and lays it on top of the pile of women.
“Eh… I forgot.”
“I feel so loved,” I say as I spin the dial, but I do notice that by the end of the game, his “Miles piece” is the only one still in the car with him.
Chapter Seven
There’s a hard hammering on the apartment door, and Havoc rushes from the bed, sword drawn, ready to cut down whoever is knocking.
“Settle,” I mumble as I push the blankets back. “A killer wouldn’t knock first.”
“Killer or not, they disturbed my sleep,” he growls.
I grab my sweats and pull them on as I reach out with my magic to see who it is. It’s Baron and he feels panicked, so I rush through the hallway and pull the door open.
“What happened?” I ask.
He’s completely naked, chest heaving, with two naked women behind him who seem to be in as bad of sorts as him. Speaking about naked, Havoc is naked as well, still holding his sword as he stares down at them with narrowed eyes.
“My pack… was attacked,” Baron says between gasps.
I look at him in alarm. “What? Someone came after you?”
He looks upset as he rubs at his face and I notice that he’s filthy. “We were in Everett Woods… some kind of… beast just… attacked us. It was… acting like it was sick, wavering and stumbling, but it was too powerful. I barely got everyone out alive. Thankfully it didn’t follow us, or we might not have made it. It was really weird, because the woods… it appeared dead. All the trees had lost their leaves, there were no other animals…”
“What?” I ask. That is worrying. “Come in, take a break, I’ll get my stuff. Everyone from your pack is back?”
“Yes, Lunar took the wounded to the hospital. The three of us were the only ones mostly unharmed,” Baron says.
Hana, a smaller wolf who I’ve spoken to a few times says, “I… I think it was the forest spirit.”
That makes me stop and look back at her. That would make sense though, wouldn’t it? That would be the reason everything in the woods would be dead. Either the woods has died and affected him or something affected him, and it was doing something to the woods.
“Okay,” I say. “Grab something to drink. Let me get my stuff.” I go into my room and pull on my clothes. Havoc dresses himself as well, as he watches me.
“What do you plan to do?” he asks.
“I’m not sure yet. I guess to start we need to figure out what’s happened to him.”
“Will you kill him?”
“Only if I have to,” I say as I button my pants. There aren’t many forest spirits left and it would be horrible to have to kill one.
Havoc sets a hand on my shoulder and gives me a gentle squeeze. “If his land is dead, he’s going to die.”
“I know,” I say as I button my jacket. “But I hate nothing more than seeing another spirit die. Too many have died already.”
I fasten my sword to my side and pull on my necklace of charms before heading out to the others. “Are you guys staying here or coming with me?” I ask.
“I’ll go,” Baron says.
“I’ll go as well,” Hana says.
“Yeah,” Yuna says.
“Alright, thanks,” I say as I walk up to Yuna.
I tip her head back as I pull out a small compact filled with ink. She watches me closely as I dip my finger in it and draw a symbol onto her forehead. Then I draw another on her chest and run the line down to her belly button. Then one on each hand and foot.
“This is a barrier and when it breaks, you will feel a snap. If that happens, you will become vulnerable again. That means I want you to retreat,” I say.
“Understood,” Yuna says as I move on to Hana, and then Baron.
“Do you guys want clothes?” I ask. “Havoc, go get them clothes while I finish up.”
Havoc retreats into the bedroom and returns with my clothes since I’m sure he doesn’t want to get his dirty. The girls grab them, but Baron shrugs before giving in and putting some sweats on. We head downstairs to my car and get into it.
As I drive, I call a druid I know. If the forest is suffering, he would be the only one who could help it with his connection to the earth.
“Hello?” a groggy voice asks. He is the boss of a nearby district and is always eager to help. I could tell him a weed in my front yard is dying, and he would rush over to assist it.
“Evan, I need your assistance. I’ve heard that Everett Woods is dying. I’m going to see what’s happening, but w
hen I’m finished, I may need you to help it,” I say as I slow at a red light.
“Dying? The entire woods?” he asks. I can tell his shock by the inflection in his voice.
“Yes.”
“Okay… I’ll be there.”
***
When we arrive, I can already feel that something is amiss. We’re still half a mile from the woods, and the night is dark around us. Everett Woods was once a forest, but since then, it has been whittled and cut away by the growing civilization, so it is now nothing more than a forgotten patch of trees. But the forest spirit who’d once protected the area, is still confined to the small woods, struggling to keep what is left alive and safe from industrialization.
“Are you sure this is a good idea? Shouldn’t we get Rehna to help?” Hana asks nervously.
“Miles can handle anything better than Rehna,” Baron says, but Hana and Yuna look doubtful.
Baron pulls his pants off before shifting into a werewolf. His shift is quick and fluent, since he does it so often, but to someone witnessing the shift for the first time, it is a disturbing transformation. It definitely isn’t as quick as Havoc shifting to a raven. Once in their other form, werewolves look similar to wolves, other than having a larger frame. In this form, Baron’s back comes up to my mid-stomach. His hair is coarse and his fangs are noticeable, even when his mouth is closed. His nails are sharp enough that a swing of his paw could disembowel someone.
The others follow his lead, thankfully after taking their borrowed clothes off so they don’t rip them. Werewolves can’t shift their clothes with them, so when they shift back, they are always naked. I suppose they could shift with the clothes on, but they’d look quite ridiculous. Havoc, on the other hand, can shift with his clothes and sword and be completely dressed when he shifts back. Don’t ask me how. It’s magic.
I don’t have to wait long before a truck pulls up next to my car, and a man gets out. He looks to be in his forties, although I don’t really know how old Evan is. He has dark blond hair that curls around his ears. Right now, it looks like an absolute mess as it sticks up in the back. He is wearing black plastic-framed glasses which contrast sharply with the light color of his hair and beard.
Happy Endings Page 9