The raging storm died down like a summer shower and Ignatius hardly seemed to notice Kim and the demon girl as they tried to check for glass in his hands.
I blinked and the face was gone. I let out my breath and quickly finished up the sketch from memory.
“Are you drawing?” Haxon asked, having urgently wriggled out of her father’s arms.
“Yes,” I said. “I’m drawing the demon so I can get power over him.”
“Oh…” She looked at her sisters like she was considering how well that magic worked.
“What was that?” Hiron asked. “That demon got through the wards, warlock. We can’t put our children in danger.”
“Hold still,” Kim said. “There’s glass in your palm.”
“That was the Withered Lord,” Ignatius said, still shivering as he slowly came back to himself. “He can hurt me through the wards because he has a strand of my hair, given to him long ago. You’re not in danger here, but I am.”
“Why does he want you?” Hiron was still clutching a scared child. “You may be in Sinistral, but this is a peaceful region. I don’t want high demons coming around.”
“He doesn’t want me in Sinistral because I was a good friend to someone who is in his clutches,” Ignatius said. “If I saw her, I like to think she would remember who she really is. But it’s my business. I won’t trouble you and your family. I can find a safe place in the Fixed Plane, away from demon magic…”
“Your familiar is still in danger?” Dakota asked. “Do I understand that right? Maybe she could stay here. I’ve been learning witchcraft but I grew up human so I never had a familiar, and maybe she could help me with my spells…the kids, too.”
“The children are dragons,” Xado said.
“Ohmigod, come off it,” Dakota snapped at him, like this was something they’d argued about. “They can be two things at once!”
“Well…” Kim changed into her bearded dragon form. “I would fit right in.”
One of the other girls gasped. “Mama, I want her!”
“She’s not a pet,” Dakota said.
“I don’t know if it’s safe,” Hiron said. “But if we keep the children in the castle for now, it would be the honorable thing to do…if this demon is as cruel as you say.”
“I would be deeply grateful if you give Kim a safe home for now,” Ignatius said. He looked at me. “Alec, I’ve got to go back.”
“I’m coming with you,” I said.
“Do you think you can?”
“I think so. I feel a little more like myself now, after being lost out there for a few days. It was good to see someone I know. Anyway, you could use the help and I need to get back to Charlotte and…”
“HAM without Alec is just ‘HM’,” Ignatius said. “Come on, then.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Charlotte
“O Christmas break, O Christmas break, you’re going to be so awkward…” I shoved clothes into my bag, my goofy singing barely staving off my sadness. Oh shit. I stopped with a sinking feeling. I never even bought Dad or Grandma their Christmas presents. I never thought about it. I’m a terrible daughter. “O Christmas gifts, O Christmas gifts, I need a ride to Target…”
“Are you singing a narrative of your life?” Montague asked behind me.
“Stop sneaking up on me like that!”
“I don’t sneak up on you.”
“Yes. You do. See how quiet your footsteps are?”
He was walking into the room. “It’s a vampire thing.” He crouched next to me as I was grabbing pairs of shoes from under the bed. “You’ll have me this year.”
“That won’t add to the awkwardness at all. Grandma knows we’re dating. She doesn’t know I’m not just dating you. And she never will. But it’s more than that. I’ve barely called Dad this year and—”
“Come here. Stop stressing over stuff you can’t control.” He pushed me down to the rug and kissed me. His lips held fading warmth from the thermos of hot tea he was carrying.
“Make me forget.”
“Challenge accepted…” He unfastened the button of my pants, tugged down the zipper, and stuck his fingers in the tight space there between my underwear and my most sensitive bits, as he unbuttoned my shirt.
“Mm…”
“I think we should sneak off and have sex in Firian’s cabin.”
“I don’t know what Firian will say about that.”
“He already told me we could.”
“When did you talk to Firian?”
“We were both wandering the halls the other night. I couldn’t sleep. He said you were making a lot of noise.” He lifted his brows. “Alec?”
“Oh stop…”
“I miss him,” Montague said. “And I miss seeing you with both of us. You miss that too, don’t you?”
“So much,” I groaned, which was easy to do with his fingers wigging around in my underwear, teasing me. “I really need skirts with my uniform.”
“So these other jerks get to see your legs? Nah. I don’t mind the challenge.” He yanked them off me and then he scooped me up and carried me into bed. He dropped me on my face and then stopped to stroke a hand over my backside. “I think I’d better make sure you’re still ready for Alec to come back and check on that tight ass.”
I pushed his hand away. “Maybe you should wait to open your presents until we get to the cabin…”
“You don’t want it?”
I blushed. “Oh, I do. It’s just, when Alec’s around, I get so relaxed. I feel like I could do anything. It feels like the first time.”
“My vampire mojo isn’t good enough?”
“Your vampire mojo makes me want…other things.”
“Oh?”
“It makes me want to give you…my life.”
He shut his eyes briefly, repressing a wave of desire.
“I shouldn’t even say things like that,” I said.
“No. Definitely not.” He put a hand on my shoulder and lowered himself close to me, taking a deep breath, drinking in my scent. His hand slid back down my pelvis again, finding my clit and rolling it between his fingers. “Lift your ass, girl.”
I did, as he unfastened his own pants, rubbing his length between my cheeks. He nipped at my shoulder, a little hard, not quite breaking skin. I felt my wetness gush over his hand as he stuck his fingers inside me, and I shuddered, lifting my head to cry out.
“I can only imagine how loud you get at night,” Montague whispered. “I’m not even inside you.”
My body wanted to let go, needed to let go, and it was. I was unwinding fast, feeling his fingers digging inside me and his cock still teasing at my ass. “I need you inside me.”
“Maybe we should wait to open our presents until the cabin.”
“Oh, no…no. Nooo.”
“Tell me,” he said, “that I can do what I want to you.”
I hesitated only for a moment, because what I wanted right now was to feel his teeth break my skin. Maybe it was wrong. Maybe he would hurt me. He certainly could. His control could slip. It had already slipped once, and I had to stop him, and what if, one day, I couldn’t stop him…
“Please,” I said.
He took a shuddering breath and I felt him desire the same thing. His fingers brushed my neck, sliding my hair to the side. His breath brushed my ear. He licked my bared neck and I let out an involuntary moan as his cock throbbed against me.
“How badly…I want you…to taste you while I fuck you…”
As my adrenaline spiked, Firian suddenly appeared on the desk chair, staring at us.
“Firian…” I gasped.
“Firian, you son of a bitch,” Montague groaned.
“Just chaperoning,” Firian said. “Charlotte started putting out some…signals.”
“Then you’ll just have to watch,” Montague said in a slightly strangled tone.
Firian looked hungry. He blinked and suddenly his male form appeared, sitting in the chair.
“Firian�
�”
“Illusions,” he said. “But I’d like you to think of me.”
“You can do that here now?” I felt a little heartbroken to see his face and know that if I touched him, I would probably just break the illusion. To see his eyes, his slightly sarcastic smile, his long legs…to remember how it felt to have the boy who knew me best so close…
“I’ve been working on it,” he said. “It was going to be a Christmas surprise, but maybe it’s actually cruel and I should just save it for moments like this.”
“Don’t hurt her,” Firian said.
“Oh, I’m definitely not hurting her…” Montague kept two of his fingers inside me, thumbing my clit. “And she told me I could do whatever I wanted.”
“Well, don’t listen to her,” Firian said, raising an eyebrow.
“Ungh…” I could only moan as waves of pleasure crested over me. I was so happy Firian was here, in any form at all. I didn’t care if he watched; I didn’t care if he went back to Etherium and lost his mind for wanting me and not being able to have me.
But I would do anything to get him back.
“Charlotte, this must be getting serious!” my grandmother screamed when she saw Montague. Grandma never expressed surprise at a normal volume. “I remember him from, what was it, two years ago?”
“Yeah, it is kinda serious.”
Montague smiled at me. “I adore Charlotte.”
“Now what happened to that other one? The really buff one? I liked him.”
Montague’s smile faded slightly. I snickered. “He’s still around,” I said.
“And your friend Firian?”
“He’s…also still around,” I said. “They just couldn’t come to Christmas this year.”
I tried to enjoy seeing Dad and Grandma and not to worry about problems I couldn’t fix, but all it drove home to me was how much Alec and Firian were also my family now. The holidays really aren’t the same without the people you love.
Alec would be spending his solstice in Sinistral, and I had to try not to even dream about him so I didn’t start screaming his name at night, ohmigod. I hoped he was safe.
At least I knew Firian was safe, but his holiday would be sad too.
I felt like I was just going through the motions as I baked some cookies and watched Christmas movies with Dad. I almost teared up watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, of all things, because it made me think of having a big family around. But technology made me feel sick more than it used to, and all the lights and TV and computers and phones was giving me a constant headache, like nothing could just be fun anymore.
Dad fell asleep in his armchair while Grandma had already gone to bed at Old Person O’ Clock, so I took some of the leftovers outside for Firian to eat. The sky was brilliant with stars, and my breath was frosty, and I tried to enjoy the beauty of a winter night, but it just felt lonely.
“Just put them down and go,” Firian said. “You are not going to watch me eat cold leftovers outside on Christmas Eve.”
“Aw. Okay.”
“You don’t want to watch that, do you?” He nudged me. “Charlotte. Is there anything I can do?”
I plopped to the cold ground and wrapped my arms around my legs. “I knew this would be weird. I’m trying to be the old Charlotte and I don’t know how. Earlier Dad and Grandma wanted to play a board game and I usually love that, but I just didn’t care.”
“I think we’re getting old. Holidays change. Families change. No shame in being distracted when you’ve had so many losses, and you can’t even tell your dad and grandma what’s happening.”
“I wish I could.”
“I know. You’re a very honest person.” He nudged me and I dug my hands deep in his fur. “I still like this better than the Christmases where you didn’t know I existed,” he said.
“When you put it that way…me too.”
I heard tires on pavement and then I had to fling up my hand to block out headlights. I thought the 80s luxury sedan might belong to a neighbor, but the door opened and who stepped out?
“I must be dreaming,” I breathed.
“Merry Christmas,” Alec said.
“Alec!?” I ran for him before Firian intercepted me with a growl.
He sniffed Alec. “It really is you.”
I gripped him tight, savoring his warmth as his arms folded around me. “Alec…I was so worried. They said it wasn’t safe for you in Sinistral.”
“It wasn’t. We saw the Withered Lord. Me and Ignatius.” He looked back at the car.
“Ignatius is here?” I looked at the driver’s seat.
“Joyeux Noel,” he said, waving a hand at us. “You never saw me.”
He backed up and I swear the second the car disappeared around the bend, my dad came out of the house with his big flashlight that could probably double as a club. It was cute how he was still getting tough when I could incinerate an intruder if I wanted. Less cute was the fact that I was in Alec’s arms and Grandma was behind him.
“Who’s there?” he said.
“Um…” I jumped back. “Alec’s here! Surprise!”
“There’s the fox!” Grandma said. “Right there standing next to Charlotte! I would get my camera but instead I have to wonder what is going on here when you have that nice kid Montague in there and—I’m sure it’s innocent—but…” She looked like she was not sure at all that this was innocent.
I sputtered, “It’s innocent. Grandma, come on! Alec and Montague are bffs. We’re all close.”
Grandma looked at my dad like she expected him to give me a talk. “I know what I saw,” she said in what she probably thought was a low voice. “I saw hands on a bum.”
My hands, or Alec’s hands? I couldn’t even remember.
“Look at that fox!” she exclaimed, easily distracted at least. “She’s still here!”
“That’s a male fox,” I said. “He’s very tame, because, uh, we’ve been feeding him.”
“How did Alec get here? I don’t see your car, Alec. And we don’t even have any food left. I don’t even know where the macaroni and cheese pan went. If I’m being honest, there is something about this Christmas that just seems wrong. Charlotte, are you in trouble at school? I really hope…I hope you aren’t P-R-E-G-N-A-N-T.”
“Why are you spelling? Everyone here can spell!” Dad was starting to sound really upset. “I need to tell you something.”
“Dad!” I gestured wildly. “She’s eighty years old!”
“I am never too old to be told anything!” Grandma snapped back.
“I can’t keep lying to her! I already felt bad about lying when it was Emily and now it’s you! You’re her flesh and blood too, you know!”
Montague was walking up behind us. “I could break the news.”
“Why would you?” I asked.
“My magic helps to soften things,” he said, taking my grandmother’s hand. “Madam, can I tell you a story about when my family came to Florida to escape persecution in Spain?”
“When was this?” Grandma asked, calming down. Somehow this seemed to work. Montague was getting that little accent he got when he was trying to use Latin romantic stereotypes to his advantage, and Alec shook his head as Dad went with them into the house.
“We actually get a moment alone, I guess,” I said. “I’m not dreaming?”
“No. I was trying to get back to you, but I needed to calm down to become human again and get back to the Fixed Plane, and I couldn’t do it at first. Ignatius and I found each other in Sinistral and we came upon a safe place there, some Sinistral dragons who were mostly decent people. His familiar is there. Mine…passed away.”
“Oh…no! Because you became a full incubus?”
“Yes.” He got a look of guilt that turned into pain, taking off his glasses to wipe his eyes. I took them from him.
“Shh,” I said. “Let me kiss those tears away. I’m just so glad you’re okay.”
“Sinistral isn’t a good place,” he said. “Etheri
um really is better, no matter how strict the council is. We’ve got to get to Wyrd. Ignatius is staying with Professor Adams and McGuinness right now. I hope I didn’t ruin your Christmas. I just thought…I’d be the best present you could get.”
“Oh, is that what you thought?” Firian asked.
“Besides both of us, of course. C’mere, man.” Alec crouched and gave Firian his preferred ear scratch.
“Damnit, Charlotte, he’s doing it again,” Firian said.
“But I’m not responsible for anything Montague tells your grandmother,” Alec said.
“Oh god.”
What happened in the house? I would never know for sure. I never wanted to know. But somehow my grandma came out of it knowing everything, including the fact that the tame fox was also Firian and that I was theoretically in a relationship with him, once he got de-cursed, as well as with Alec and Montague.
She also knew I was a witch, but that wasn’t half as embarrassing.
“You’ve done so well for yourself, Charlotte, and I’m proud of you. I know your mother would be too. Three handsome boys and a talented witch! I sure hope I live to see the grandkids.”
“What did you do to her?” I hissed at Montague once they went back to bed and we were alone again. “You compelled my grandma!”
“Trust me,” he said. “It was better this way. Do you really want to go through all the stages of confusion, disbelief, pain and horror? Like you said—she’s too old for that. Now she’s just excited to see the grandkids.”
“Okay. I guess you did good.”
“Do I get my Christmas gift yet?”
“Mm…maybe. I got you both the same thing.”
“You didn’t even know I was coming,” Alec said. “How did you know to get me a gift?”
“The gift was you coming.” I snorted. “And Firian’s gift is letting us use his cabin.”
“It’s unlocked,” Firian said. “If you need me I’ll be outside chewing on an old barbecue rib.”
“What if we try something else?” Alec said. “We could just go to sleep together. I can arrange for a meeting in another realm.”
“A dream isn’t the same,” Montague said.
A Witch Among Warlocks: The Complete Series Box Set Page 71