Dementor (Rolling Thunder MC Birmingham Book 1)

by Candace Blevins

  “Understood,” said Mad Dog. We both took a seat.

  “Sophia wants you present,” Aaron told me. “A vampire will make sure you don’t remember a few important points. Ember won’t remember them either. We can’t allow someone to create an army of dragons out of the swan population, so the secrecy is necessary. We’ve asked for Kendra, but she’s warned us it’ll probably be Gavin. Three dragons will be made while we have him present, but not at the same time.”

  “Hold up,” said Mad Dog. “Ember’s going to be a fucking dragon? You can turn swans into dragons?”

  He said it to Aaron, but then swung around to glare at me. He clearly wasn’t happy about being blindsided by this.

  “He couldn’t tell you,” Aaron reminded him. “Not his secret, remember?”

  “The best I could do was bring you along and hope Aaron would let you in the meeting.”

  Aaron leaned back, his arms relaxed on the chair’s arms. He looked like a coiled dragon. Smelled like one, too.

  He looked to Mad Dog. “Perhaps it’s good you’re here, after all. Supernaturals who haven’t recently been around Ember will notice something off, but unless they know a dragon and recognize the scent, they’ll think she’s grown into a stronger swan. However, your people know how she smells now, and most of them have been around me.”

  Now that he mentioned it, his scent was similar to Ember’s, but much stronger. Why had I never noticed that before?

  Mad Dog leaned back as well. He could pull off the relaxed look, too. “So I should remind the club that whatever they smell falls under the tenets of someone else’s secret?”

  Aaron looked to me. “Will it be easier for you to refuse to answer questions if you can tell them your president has been briefed?”

  “It will.”

  “But I haven’t really been briefed, have I?” Mad Dog asked. “No one knows for sure what your talents are. Can you go into people’s head like a vampire? Will Ember be able to? There are rumors of you flying in human form — if true, will Ember be able to do that? How about the fire thing? All kinds of rumors of you being immune to it no matter which form you’re in.”

  “I’m thousands of years old. Ember is still in her twenties. I can do things she won’t learn for another hundred or more years.”

  “Wait,” I said. “She won’t age? She’ll have long life?” Immortals can’t be killed. Those who are long lived can be killed, but they don’t age. They live until someone kills them. Some are rumored to be more than five thousand years old.

  Aaron’s look was full of sympathy and I wanted to hate him for it, but I held my temper.

  “I’m sorry.”

  His words made my heart hurt. I’d grow old and Ember wouldn’t. Dragon shifters reportedly live until someone kills them, and they’re damned hard to kill. It could be done — the whole of them had been killed on a single night, with only three to five dragon shifters left alive, depending on who told the story.

  I stared at the arm of the sofa. The texture of the fabric. The way the material folded into the seams so you couldn’t see any stitches. At a hundred years old, I’d look like a fifty or sixty year old human, and she’d still look like a twenty-something. I’d look like an old man at one hundred and fifty, and she’d still look exactly as she did on the day she was turned. She’d have to move before people started asking questions. It felt as if my entire world turned on its head.

  Aaron’s voice came as if through a tunnel. “Mad Dog, I’d like to speak with your brother alone. If you’ll go to the left when you leave my office, you’ll easily find your way out.”

  But my brother had no intention of leaving me in this state — not moments after I’d been punched in the gut. I scented his resolve, but I needed to hear whatever Aaron had to tell me. I met Mad Dog’s gaze. “Maybe there’s some miracle way for me to stay young that he can’t tell me with you here? Go. I’m headed to Blaze when I leave here. I’ll be fine.”

  When he was gone, Aaron told me, “My wife is a powerful Queen in Faerie, and she has the favor of two even more powerful queens. If there’s a way to extend a lifespan — and I’m not verifying there is because I’d break all kinds of rules if I did — it would be one of those secrets you wouldn’t find out about until the queens in question were assured the match was going to stick across the decades and possibly centuries.”

  “Vampires marry for a set amount of time,” I noted.

  “They do. The extremely long-lived have no fantasy of happily-ever-after, only happy-together-until-we-outgrow-each-other.” He shrugged. “Or until they get on each other’s nerves.”

  “What about you and Sophia? You’ll both live until you’re killed, right?”

  “Since Sophia’s a dragon now, yes.”

  “Are the two of you planning on forever?”

  “I’m not open to talking about my personal life.”

  I pulled in air and analyzed the scents. I got nothing beyond the fact I was sitting across from a dragon in human form. Not even a hint to his emotional or mental state. I regrouped. I needed to act, not react.

  “Hypothetically speaking, if Ember and I didn’t visibly age, we’d have to move before people noticed.”

  “Swans and dragons have the option of spending a few decades in Faerie when they get tired of pretending to be twenty-something on earth. Vampires don’t have that option.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Dementor

  The club threw a huge party for Ember and her teammates two nights before they left for Seattle. They were ranked in the mid-forties internationally, and they’d have to jump about a dozen spots to make it to the next tournament, but they’d never made it this far and the women were beyond excited.

  She was off work until she returned from the tournament, so I kept her in my personal playroom the next day, bound to various pieces of equipment. When I’d built the wooden pony, I hadn’t been certain who I’d put on it. It’s a medieval piece of equipment that can do serious damage, which isn’t usually my thing, but the idea of watching a woman ride the narrow wooden plank, leaning forward and back to try to hopelessly find relief for her poor, abused cunt... Well, the very idea of it made my dick hard. I was looking forward to watching her ride the pony long enough to truly feel it.

  Ember spent four hours on it, and she was crying twenty minutes in. She begged, she sobbed, and she rode it exactly as the historical accounts said she would.

  But she never uttered her safeword.

  It’s a damned good thing she can get off during painful sex though, or she’d have never been able to orgasm and change the next morning. Her pussy and asshole were so damned swollen I wasn’t sure I was gonna get my dick in. I didn’t even try for her ass, I just put a bunch of donuts on my dick and then bounced her on it until she came.

  She’d been so uptight about the derby tournament, and about being turned into a dragon, someone had to do something, so I took her mind off her worries. We spent a good part of the last day in our animal forms, just chilling, and then changed back in time to make ourselves a feast.

  I was preparing steaks while she cut potatoes, comfortable in my large kitchen. We worked well together.

  “Thank you.”

  “For what?” I asked.

  “Taking my mind off all the shit I was letting stress me out. The team is as good as we’re ever going to be. We’ve practiced. We know what we’re doing, and if we lose and I get turned into a dragon next week instead of next month? Then I get to fly with you on my back sooner rather than later.”

  I kissed the top of her head. “And I’m looking forward to riding a dragon.” She was wearing one of my shirts, and I lifted it and popped her pussy right over her clit. “In more ways than one.”

  “Sophia thinks we should do a binding ceremony before I’m turned.”

  “We can do the binding after dinner, consummate it tonight, and then fully consummate it in the hotel after you’re through skating.” We’d be staying a few extra days in Se
attle after the tournament — I’d booked us a few days at a BDSM themed B&B.

  “Tonight? You don’t have to think about it? You’re sure?”

  “I am. Is there a ritual designed for swans and other species? Or shall we make it up as we go along?”

  “We can start with the generic ritual and add to it, as far as I know. Sophia didn’t warn me about what not to do, so I assume whatever we decide will be fine.”

  “Let’s work through it and see what we come up with, and then maybe you get her on the line and double-check?”

  “Yeah,” she bumped me with her hip. “Good idea.”

  Ember

  I have more power than the average swan maiden, and it occurred to me this might be something I should’ve told him. It had caused a problem with one of Able’s cousins when he’d whipped me bloody. We’d had a magical... I don’t know. Like when the battery connections are hooked up wrong and sparks fly. It hurt, but he got the brunt of the damage because I was clearly more magical or powerful or whatever than him.

  “Bears don’t have royalty, right?”

  “No. Why do you ask?”

  “I’ve only had magical reactions with members of a royal family. Sometimes it’s bad.”

  He lifted his brows. “Able?”

  “No. He was strong enough to hold my power down. His cousins...” I shrugged. “Pretty sure I was stronger than a few of them, but it only showed up when blood was involved.”

  “We’ll be fine. Our energy has combined more times than I can count when we’ve orgasmed together. My power likes yours, and I’m pretty sure yours likes mine.”

  I smiled. “Yeah, mine is a little addicted to yours, I think.”

  “Prick our fingers and dot each other’s heart?” he asked.

  Muscles I hadn’t realized were tense, relaxed. My shoulders settled. I breathed easier. “Yes. Perfect.”

  “What were you worried about?”

  “I think I was making it more complicated than it has to be. Whips and stuff. Swans and owls can both go a little overboard in how they draw blood.”

  “If we were doing a ceremony where you gave yourself to me, sure, but we’re going into this as equals. You submit sexually, but you have your free will and you can stop me with a word. You’re mine, but I don’t own you. I’m yours, but you don’t own me. I love you and you love me. I vote we keep it simple — couple of drops of blood over our hearts and we exchange energy. I don’t need any promises from you, but I’m open to adding some if you need something from me.”

  Part of me wanted a promise of monogamy, but I wasn’t ready to ask him to make that oath in blood.

  “How’s this for wording? I love you. Body, mind, and soul, no matter the form.”

  Tears came to my eyes and I couldn’t answer around the huge lump in my throat. I managed a larger-than-polite swig of wine before I told him, “That’s perfect. Simple, but it says it all.”

  “Where would you like to do it?”

  I smiled. “That’s easy. The little tree-cave.”

  Someone had planted a circle of twelve evergreens, and the center had a small space to sit so you were completely enclosed. I’d found it as a swan by going under the branches. As a human, I had to crawl and Dementor had to practically slither, but it was completely worth it once we were inside. I bathed in the energy of the trees.

  Dementor

  Sophia approved of our plans, but I still felt as if I should take precautions. You never know exactly what will happen when you play with blood magic, and since Ember’s energy apparently sometimes went wonky due to her royal status, I figured I should be prepared, but how?

  I put two bottles of water in a small cloth bag. I added a big container of orange juice, four candy bars, four protein bars, and a travel-sized container of scent-free baby wipes. I wore shorts with no shoes. Ember wore shorts and a tee with some funky sandals I’d never seen before, but I’ve learned not to ask if shoes are new. If they aren’t, it’s like I haven’t been paying attention. If they are, it’s like I’m judging her for buying new shoes. Best not to ask.

  Alabama can get damned hot in August, and we were doing this midday. Solar noon was at twelve fifty, and we went out fifteen minutes before so we’d be sure we were set up and in process. Just before we left, I put a picnic blanket in the bag — waterproof on one side and soft fleece on the other.

  Ember crawled under the branches, and I put the bag under them once she was through. She pulled it in, and I went to the ground and rolled. It was only evergreen needles and dry dirt. No biggie.

  We spread the blanket, and Ember slid her sandals off before stepping onto it. We sat facing each other. Her scent told me she needed a few moments, so I gave them to her. I didn’t pick up on any uncertainty, it was more like she needed to anchor herself to the trees. The bear was at home in this energy as soon as we entered, but the swan needed a few minutes. Finally she pulled her shirt and sports bra off and folded them on the edge of the blanket. Now we were both in shorts with no shirt.

  I turned my right hand into a bearpaw. “You first or me first?”

  “Same time. Poke my finger and then yours, and we’ll touch each other’s chests together.”

  I gave her a half smile. “I, too, like to live dangerously.”

  She shrugged. “If it’s gonna blow up, we may as well do it right. Don’t want to get halfway through and have to stop.”

  I morphed my paw back to a hand, took my phone from my pocket, and put it on top of her shirt. Sometimes magic fries electronics. “Seven minutes until solar noon.”

  She put her phone by mine. “Should we wait?”

  “Yes, I think so. Maybe get started two minutes before?”

  She leaned to the side and ran her hands over a low tree branch. “I feel as if we should thank the trees for providing shelter.”

  “And Velvet for planting them in a circle. They were small trees when she did it, and they’ve grown into this.”

  We talked a few minutes, and I finally shifted my hand back into a paw so I could poke holes in the tips of both our pointer fingers. Normally, one draws blood from the side where there aren’t so many nerve endings, but since we were doing each other at the same time, I figured we may as well have the energy streaming from our fingertips be part of this. In for a penny, in for a pound.

  I held my finger an inch from her chest, and pulled it back to keep from making contact yet when she leaned forward to touch mine. We were both about an inch from touching before she asked, “Ready?”

  I nodded, and she counted down from three.

  We touched each other at the same time, and I stopped breathing. My focus pulled away from my body, so I was watching both of us and the trees all around us. Don’t ask me how it’s possible, because it isn’t, yet it happened. We were sitting above the roots of all twelve trees, all woven together as a unit under the ground. The lush, healthy green trees became part of our energy transfer.

  Ember’s energy didn’t slam into me, but it still overwhelmed my senses. If her magic had been even a tiny percent different frequency than mine, it would’ve short circuited me and possibly fried my brains — and the rest of my body. However, as I’d predicted, our energies mixed and swirled all around us and through us. It was way more than I could handle, and yet, somehow, I did.

  Ember

  D had been right. We didn’t short circuit.

  I can’t always access all my own magic at will. I’ve never figured out the key, but it’s always been there when I really needed it. Like a reflex. I’d hoped only a little of it would surface today, but it emanated from every cell in my body. I felt it calling on the trees around us, and I sensed their joyful answer.

  My pulse beat faster and louder, my body grew even warmer in the August heat. There was so much energy in my body, there wasn’t room to breathe. I sucked air in, forcing it, and the energy moved to make room for it. Breathing wasn’t difficult anymore.

  D held his arms out, palms up and open. I grasp
ed his forearms, and he grasped my arms just above my elbows.

  “Out the right, in the left,” I told him.

  Perfect.

  It took me a moment to realize I’d heard his voice in my head.

  Can you hear me?

  “Yes.” He sounded shocked.

  Think your thoughts towards me.

  Can you hear me? His mental voice was as deep as his physical one, but he sounded unsure.

  I can. Do you feel the trees?

  Yes. Above, below, and around us. They’re part of this.

  They are.

  I didn’t know swans and bears could telepath.

  I chuckled out loud but answered in my head. That makes two of us. It might only work during the blood ritual, or it might belong to us.

  The energy is swirling clockwise around the trees and counterclockwise through our bodies.

  Which wasn’t terribly unusual, but bears probably don’t play with energy as much as birds. I breathed in and sensed the other patterns. I couldn’t explain them all in words, so I thought the overall pictures at him.

  Wow.

  Yeah. Can you lift me into your lap without breaking contact? It’s okay if your hands aren’t touching me, so long as mine stay on you.

  He slid his hands up my arms, moving slow so I could adjust my grip as necessary. He grasped me around my rib cage, lifted me, and I spread my legs so they’d go around him as he settled me in his lap. I wrapped my arms around his neck, rested my head on his chest, and aimed my thoughts at him again.

  Imagine the energy forming an egg shape around and under and over us. We don’t have to direct it anymore.

  It didn’t feel like we were there terribly long, but it was nearly five when we finally returned to the house. We were both starving, and I’ve never been so happy to have someone hand me a plate of food.

  Several of the members on loan from other chapters were sharing a house. It’d been owned by one of the members who’d died in the war, and now the club owned it. Orange Crush had been home when we started, and he’d felt the energy exchange. He’d called Mad Dog, who’d come home to investigate, which is why everyone not scheduled to be at work was waiting for us with a ton of food when we finally showed up.