Happy Endings

by Alice Winters

  I reach over and rub my fingers over his wrists that have long since healed up. Your wrists were constantly bloody and looked very painful. I couldn’t possibly have left them on. I didn’t know you lived with them on for so many years.”

  “Miles, you are a different breed of mage. Most don’t think that demons deserve any kindness, especially back then. The demons were jealous and mystified whenever you came up in a conversation. Some wanted to use you and others wanted to figure out how to become your demon. But you’re all mine and I don’t share.”

  “Huh… that’s interesting. I thought all demons wanted to eat me.”

  Havoc leans back in his seat and taps his finger on the door. “Miles… don’t drop your barrier for Aiden,” he says thoughtfully.

  I look away from the road for a moment to glance at him. “Really? Why?” While I haven’t known Aiden as long as many, I still trust him.

  “Well… someone there is probably involved with all of this, and this could be what they’re waiting for. You drop the barrier to your mind, and who knows what’ll happen. That woman who shall not be mentioned again, in case it leads to you remembering the videos I took, was already able to get in your mind with the barrier in place.”

  “It was her music that got in there,” I say, but it still doesn’t fully explain how.

  It takes about forty-five minutes to reach Aiden’s house. I pull the car over and get out before heading inside. Two women come forward as soon as I enter. The blonde is wearing just a thong and the other has pasties on over her nipples and a plaid skirt.

  “Hello,” the blonde says with a purr. I can instantly tell that she’s a succubus, and she’s trying to charm me with her aura.

  “Hey, I’m here to see Aiden,” I say.

  “Aren’t we all?” the other asks as she sets a hand on my chest and presses her breasts against my arm.

  “Mine,” Havoc says as he lifts up a spray bottle and squirts her right in the face.

  She jerks back. “What the hell?” she asks as she looks at him startled.

  “Where did you get the spray bottle?” I ask.

  Havoc gives me a look filled with innocence. “Evan gave it to me to give to Badrick so he can spray that weed he’s obsessed with. And once I heard we were going to Aiden’s, I thought it would be perfect. I saw how they were all hanging on you the last time we were here. I’m just being precautious. Now if they want to hang onto me, they’re free to do so. Come, ladies. Come to me.” He holds his hands out as we walk into the next room. They look annoyed, especially with the spray bottle still in his hand.

  Inside the living room are around fifteen half-naked women frolicking around. They have the TV on and are watching a movie on a screen nearly as big as the wall.

  “You know… I would assume this would be your cup of tea,” I say.

  “It should be,” he says. “But I’ve become a weak man.”

  I snort and keep walking as a pretty, dark-haired woman walks up and Havoc sprays her in the face. She jerks back startled.

  “Stay away,” he says.

  “Havoc, stop,” I snap as I set a hand on his chest.

  He reaches up and takes my hand in his as he slides his fingers between mine and leads me into the room in the back where we can hear Aiden. I can’t help but enjoy the touch of his fingers and squeeze them gently.

  Aiden, Lanni, Evan, and Marco are waiting. Rehna is the only one absent, which is unusual since she’s never late. I don’t know if I’ve ever beaten her anywhere before.

  Aiden is leaning back with a woman on each knee when we walk in. He smiles at me, and the women look over at me.

  “Hmm… who are these two?” one with a bob cut says.

  “You’re with the demon now? How disgusting,” Marco says.

  “Marco! It’s been two hundred years since I’ve seen you, and it definitely hasn’t been long enough.” I make sure I feign excitement as I look at him.

  Marco is one of those men who know they’re attractive to the point where they are obsessed with themselves. I have never gone anywhere with him when he didn’t check his appearance in a mirror, in a puddle, or in the reflection of the sunglasses that were on the guy he just killed. In some instances, a person can be really ugly, but when you get to know them and realize they have a wonderful personality, you start to find them attractive. Marco is the opposite with his stupidly greased hair and perfectly manicured eyebrows. His face is blemish free, and his teeth are so white they will blind you. But his main selling points are the two beautiful white wings spread out behind him. Marco is a seraph, yet his angelic appearance doesn’t reflect at all on his personality. Evan and Lanni barely have any room on the couch because he has his wings out, and they take up most of the room.

  A woman walks up to me with a soft smile. “Can I get your—”

  Havoc sprays her right in the face, and she jerks back startled.

  “Havoc!” I snap.

  “Fine, take care of your own coat,” the woman says as she glares at Havoc.

  “Is that the water I gave you?” Evan asks as he yanks the bottle from Havoc’s hand. “I put special water in there to help that tree grow!”

  “Yes, and it’s worked mightily well for keeping these beasts away from Miles.”

  I sigh and walk over to a chair and sit down. Of course, I’m across from Marco who is glowering at me.

  “I thought you were dead,” Marco says.

  “Nope, I’ve been just fine.”

  “That’s a pity,” he says as he raises his wine glass to his mouth and takes a delicate sip. “I thought for sure that those chimeras would have torn you apart.”

  I narrow my eyes at the fiend. “And how did you know about that? I never told anyone.”

  He shrugs. “Oh… really? Huh… I have no idea.” He licks a drop of wine off the edge of his glass as he watches me.

  Havoc’s attention turns to him as his eyes narrow.

  “I never imagined you’d drop so low as to have relations with a demon,” Marco says.

  “I really hope you’re the one behind this, so I can kick your ass,” I say.

  “What’s going on between you two?” Evan asks.

  Marco leans back and picks at a white feather. “Not a thing,” he says.

  The door opens and Rehna walks in. “I apologize that I’m late,” she says as she walks in and sits down. “Let’s begin.”

  “Okay… so you basically want me to ask everyone if they were involved in taking the book?” Aiden asks.

  “Correct. Also ask if they were involved in moving the body,” I say.

  “Alright, let’s begin,” he says as he turns to Evan.

  Incubi and succubae are interesting in that they can get almost everyone to answer to them. I feel like it might be their aura that persuades everyone to give answers for any questions they ask. They can make everyone feel lust towards them and persuade them to do almost anything. It’s why Aiden becoming a boss was worrisome for the district, but Aiden isn’t like that… anymore. He is a good man with a good head on his shoulders. All these women are here because they truly care for Aiden. They walk around half naked because they are happy with their bodies and just don’t care, not because he asks them to. Hell, I’ve seen him trying to stuff sweaters on them because they “look cold.”

  Incubi and succubae automatically exude an aura of familiarity. Everyone enjoys being around them and would enjoy sex with them even more. But an incubus and succubus could also use their manipulation abilities to force people to only look at them. When it is directed at a person, it feels like a suppressing aura that causes one to only have desire toward the incubus or succubus. And when in that state, they will do anything for them. Just like giving them an answer for anything they ask.

  Evan’s expression changes as he looks at Aiden. His face softens as he smiles at Aiden like he’s just stumbled upon the love of his life. Even though the aura is aimed at Evan, everyone in the room is feeling a bit of it, and all eyes are
on Aiden.

  The aura doesn’t affect me at all with the barrier I have on my mind. Instead, I’m left fully functioning and fully aware.

  “Did you have anything to do with the removal of the book that we are looking for?” Aiden asks.

  “No, of course not. I would never want to bring that horrible man back to life,” Evan says. “He killed my wife. He killed the only woman I ever loved. I needed him dead. I was going to do it one way or the other when Miles proposed the plan to me,” Evan says.

  “Do you know who removed the body?”

  “No, I helped Miles bury it, and I pissed on that grave, but I don’t know who removed it.”

  “Alright, thank you,” Aiden says as he drops the persuasion before turning to Lanni.

  Lanni is something none of us are quite sure of. She goes by the name Lanni, but that is the name of the body she found dead many years ago. She is able to invade the bodies of the recently deceased and take on their abilities. I am unsure whether Lanni has any abilities of her own outside of the whole body-swapping thing. She (or he­) never speaks about any of it. And refuses to tell us beyond what we already know.

  Right now, she is in the body of a twenty-year-old woman with frizzy blonde hair that looks good on her. She has bright blue eyes that are hidden behind thick-framed glasses. But the last time I saw Lanni, she was in the body of a middle-aged man. While she can heal the body from life-threatening things, the body continues to age, so it is not unusual for her to switch to a healthier or younger one. Whenever she leaves the current body she’s in, the body “dies” again. We are all unsure if this would work on Lanni, but Aiden is oblivious to what she really is and tries it anyway.

  She’s instantly enamored as any human would be. She smiles broadly at Aiden and leans into him as he asks her the same questions. She has fairly similar answers to Evan’s, so Aiden moves on to Marco.

  “Yeah, I didn’t even know about the book. This is the first I heard of it,” Marco says.

  “What about the body of Geoff?”

  “I don’t even know where they buried him, I was dealing with Rehna’s wounds,” Marco says.

  Aiden nods. “Anything else you can think of?”

  “I think Miles did it,” he says.

  “Why?”

  “Because I want to blame Miles for something,” Marco admits.

  “Why?” Aiden asks.

  “Because he wouldn’t go out with me. He thinks that thing he hangs around with is better?”

  “That was like two hundred years ago,” I say. “You terrified me. And you never asked me to ‘go out with you.’ You told me I was a slave and once Geoff was dead, you were ‘by all rights’ my new owner.”

  “Well, I’m still annoyed,” Marco says stubbornly. “I’m just so gorgeous, who wouldn’t like me, you know? I mean, look at my face. Damn, I’m attractive. And my wings? Oh, they just make me even more gorgeous, you get me? Who would not want this body? But Miles’ eyes have only ever been for Havoc and alright… maybe he’s kind of hot, but come on, I have wings. And have you seen my penis—”

  “Yeah, let’s end this here,” I say.

  “Alright, that’s all,” Aiden says before looking away.

  We all know that Marco is the most narcissistic person in the world, so none of his information fazes us. And definitely doesn’t faze Marco either who continues to confidently sit there.

  “It’s huge,” Marco says, even after the allure has left him. “HUGE.”

  “No one cares,” I say.

  “Huge” he mouths as he holds his hands in front of him with a good distance between them. A completely ridiculous distance. I’ve seen him naked before. It’s definitely not that impressive.

  “It’s not the size that matters, it’s what you can do with it,” Havoc says. “And let me tell you what I’ve been doing with mine.”

  I turn my glare onto Havoc and he shuts up, but when I look back at Marco, he’s still mouthing the word “huge” with his hands spread out even farther.

  “So… Rehna, can you tell me about the book?” Aiden asks.

  “I didn’t even know about the book, but I heard about it from someone… I don’t remember who though,” she says.

  “What about the body?”

  “I’d been hurt, and I didn’t go with them to bury the body. I didn’t even know we succeeded until I woke up with a doctor leaning over me three days later,” she says.

  Aiden sighs. “Alright, thank you.”

  He turns to me as I try to figure out if I should fake the effect or let everyone know his charms won’t affect me.

  “I can’t affect Miles, so what do you want me to do?” Aiden asks.

  “Miles can drop his barrier,” Rehna says.

  “I did,” I lie.

  Aiden looks right at me, and I stare into his dark brown eyes. Even though I have the barrier in place, I can still feel something from the charm.

  “It’s not working,” Aiden says, which tells me that even if I did fake it, he’d know.

  “Miles, drop your barrier,” Marco says. “What are you trying to hide?”

  “I’m not hiding anything. My barrier is dropped. Must have something to do with the permanent barriers,” I lie.

  “This is ridiculous. Now you just look guilty,” Rehna says.

  “You can allure me,” Havoc says. “I was with Miles the entire night.”

  Aiden looks over at Havoc, and Havoc is instantly attentive. “Were you with Miles the entire night?”

  “I was. I never once let him out of my sight. He told me to ask for help for Rehna, but I couldn’t leave him. I knew he was just sending me away because he thought Geoff was going to kill him and didn’t want me to die as well.”

  “Miles helped bury the body?”

  “Yes. And I know he would never dig it up. I am connected to Miles; I would know if he’s lying. He didn’t dig up the body. Miles was a slave to Geoff for years. Geoff kept him and his magic bound and beat and tortured him. He slowly started driving him crazy. There is no way Miles would bring him back. He gave up everything to kill Geoff. And was ready to give up his life that day. He had some spell planned to fall back on if it looked like we were losing. It would have consumed so much magic that it would have killed him, but it would have also killed Geoff. He was prepared to use it. Why would a man prepared to give everything up bring the man back? You can try to say that he could’ve done something when I wasn’t around, which I suppose he could have, but these past few weeks, I haven’t left him. He isn’t involved.”

  “Did he ever do anything with the book? Move it? Tell anyone about it?”

  “After he used the book to bring Valerie back, Miles tried burning the book. Geoff took to carrying it around because inside it were unspeakable acts he became obsessed with. He was carrying it the day he died as well. It’s why everyone came to know about the book. But the spells were nearly impossible to perfect, and Geoff couldn’t perfect them. The only reason he was able to do the spell to bring Valerie back was because he had access to Miles’ magic. Geoff never would have completed it without Miles. Geoff was keeping Miles’ magic hostage and was only feeding him bits so he could use the rest of his magic for his own spells. Miles had more magic than Geoff that day when we fought him, but he’d spent so long unable to use his magic that he didn’t understand it.”

  For a moment, I feel weighed down by the information as I try to sort it out. “What? Geoff was… siphoning my magic?”

  “Yes, with the markings he placed on your body,” Havoc says.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I didn’t want you upset. Because…” I can tell Havoc is fighting his words, but the allure is too much. “Can we stop?”

  “Because why?” I ask, needing to know.

  Havoc grits his teeth. “Because… I knew… at that age… if you… fuck… if you knew that your magic… was the cause for all his acts… you wouldn’t have been… able to handle it. If Geoff had never found you, he w
ouldn’t have had… the power to… destroy… fuck, make it stop.”

  Havoc grabs Aiden by the throat and lifts him up into the air as he stands. Aiden quickly drops the allure, and Havoc pulls back.

  “It’s my fault…” I realize. “All of those people who died? All the destruction? It was my fault? My magic did it?”

  “You didn’t have a choice,” Rehna says softly. “He controlled you.”

  “Yes, but if I knew, I would have… done something! I would have…” What would I have done? Could I have done something?

  “What would you have done? Kill yourself?” Havoc asks. “If you had, he’d have found someone else to use. You stopped him. You were strong enough to put an end to him.”

  All of it slams into me, and I feel like I can’t breathe. What have I done? “Fuck… are we finished? I want to go home.”

  “Yeah… I think we are,” Rehna says as she looks at me with an expression of pity.

  I stand up and quickly head for the door as Havoc rushes after me.

  “Miles, stop,” he says as he grabs my arm and spins me around. “I’m sorry for not telling you.”

  I look down at his hand gently wrapped around my wrist. “I’m glad you didn’t,” I admit. “I’m not sure I could have handled it.”

  “You didn’t have a choice,” he promises as he wraps his arms around me. “He had control of your magic. What would you have done?”

  I shake my head, wanting to get free of his comfort or pity or whatever it is. I feel like I don’t deserve kind words. “Something. I would have done something.”

  “You did. You killed him. Everyone in there knows that if it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have even tried to mess with Geoff.”

  I pull away and he lets me. “I just want to go home. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”

  “Why? So you could beat yourself up about it?” he asks.

  “I don’t know,” I admit. “Just… something.”

  He shakes his head. I know he wants to prove me wrong, but I won’t let him.

  “You can drive,” I say as I thrust the keys at him.