The Mistwalker (Dark Tales Book 2)

by Regine Abel

  “How I normally work with my other models is that I choose one to three shots from a given angle which I print in a large format then delete all the pictures. The rare pictures I preserve are always with the consent of the model,” I explained, eager to reassure her. “If you’re not comfortable with the pictures, I can simply sketch instead. I want you to be…”

  Jade placed two fingers on my lips to silence me.

  “It’s okay. I’m a little paranoid about having my picture taken in skimpy outfits, but I do trust you. Plus you’ve been around long enough without any scandals from your previous models, who were far hotter than me. So…” she said with a shrug.

  “In my eyes, no one is hotter than you, my Jade.”

  A lovely shade of pink rose on her cheeks. I didn’t think she’d been fishing for a compliment but I loved watching her blush.

  “I forgot to show you the bathroom or offer you something to drink,” I said, feeling sheepish. “Have you even had breakfast?”

  “Don’t worry,” she said with an indulgent smile. “I’m well fed. However, a sip of water and a pit stop would be welcome before we get started.”

  “Right away, Milady,” I said with a flourishing curtsey.

  I showed her the bathroom located at the back of the living-room, between the two bedrooms. Leaving her to it, I went to the kitchen to get us some water.

  Jade came out a few moments later, having taken a minute to fix her hair. Little did she know I intended to mess it up very soon.

  “You can change behind the screen,” I said, pointing at it with my index finger. “On the other side, the panels are all mirrors. There’s a bench behind it as well to put your clothes on, but I can bring a clothes rack if you prefer.”

  “No, no, that’s fine,” she said, her nerves coming back with a vengeance.

  She walked hastily towards the table and grabbed the black set before disappearing behind the folding screen. I couldn’t tell if the need to hide or the fear of losing her nerve had prompted Jade into moving so quickly.

  While my mate changed, I fetched a sketchbook and a pencil, then a tall stool to sit on while drawing. My heart all but stopped beating when she stepped out from behind the screen. The sheer, black lace over her round, perky breasts left little to the imagination, yet hid enough to make you want to tear it off. The diaphanous dress barely veiled her delicious hourglass figure, or the slim triangle of the black thong. The lacy hem of the babydoll caressed her thighs with each hesitant step, the open slit in the middle giving little winks of bare skin.

  I swallowed hard and forced myself to snap out of my lustful daze.

  “You are perfect,” I said, my voice gravelly with desire.

  “Where do you want me?” Jade asked, tucking a strand of her lustrous red hair behind her ear in a self-conscious gesture.

  In my bed, writhing beneath me, and screaming my name.

  “Here, let me show you,” I said, squelching my rabid hunger and the deviant thoughts racing through my mind.

  Placing my hand on the small of her back, I gently nudged her towards the roman bed. I held her hand while she stepped up on the small bench to climb onto the bed, giving me a most wonderful view of her rear. From behind, the string thong gave the impression she had no underwear. She sat down, facing me, eyes wide, her pulse racing in her neck.

  “Lie down, love,” I said, helping her get her legs up as she complied.

  She scooted up a little so that her head rested more comfortably on the raised end of the narrow bed. I made her turn slightly on her side so her body partially faced towards me.

  “Place your right arm over your head and let your left arm rest lazily over your stomach.”

  Jade obeyed, letting me adjust the pose. My hand trailed down the length of her shapely legs before I made her part them, bending them a bit at the knee. I smiled, staring at her bare feet, the nail polish on her toes almost perfectly matching the dark red of the bed. Parting the skirt of her babydoll, I let one pane dangle over the edge of the bed and the other fall behind her back, exposing the luminescent skin of her flat belly, and her adorable navel. With the back of my hand, I caressed the exposed flesh of her stomach, which quivered beneath my touch. Jade’s breath caught in her throat as I lowered the string of her thong to the side of her hip. I took a step back to admire her pose, then approached again to make some adjustments. The final touch consisted of splaying her hair out over the headrest, artistically allowing some of it to cascade down the bed or over her shoulder and onto her chest.

  I locked eyes with her as my hand carefully slipped under the shoulder string, sliding it down her shoulder to bare her left breast enough to show a nipple. Her stunning green eyes darkened and her pupils dilated as my hand covered her breast. I fondled it gently before thumbing its little bud until it hardened. Lifting my hand, I repressed a smile at her disappointed look and arranged her hair around her nipple, making it stand out further.

  Leaning over Jade, a hand on each side of her head, I brushed my lips against hers. “Don’t move,” I said before kissing her again, deeply.

  My cock throbbed with desire, and I fisted the cushion, savoring her for a few seconds longer before breaking the kiss.

  “Think naughty thoughts,” I said against her lips, then kissed her again. “Focus on your wildest fantasy, your kinkiest wet dream. I want to see the face of a woman consumed with passion. By the time I start sketching, I want you soaking wet. Don’t be self-conscious. Moan if you need to, but show me your fire.”

  I kissed her one last time then straightened up to admire my woman’s beauty. As I turned to leave, she whispered my name.

  “Kazan… Who is he? Who is my demon?” Jade asked, her voice sultry with arousal.

  I hesitated for a second. Forcing a neutral expression on my face, I said, “I believe you already know, Jade. I believe you’re already thinking about him, and the decadent things you love him doing to you.”

  A troubled expression crossed her beautiful features while a slight blush spread over her face and chest. I wondered how long before she acknowledged her growing suspicions.

  “Let him have his way with you,” I whispered before bending down and nipping her exposed nipple, hard enough to draw a hiss of pleasure-pain from her.

  I straightened up, turned around, and walked out of the cameras’ frames without giving her a chance to respond. Using the remote linked with all three cameras on the tripods, I took a few shots, then approached her with a fourth handheld camera to take a few top down shots and a few more at odd angles. Grabbing my sketchbook, I settled on the stool and burned through a dozen pages of sketches, stopping occasionally to modify her pose, allow Jade to change her outfit, take more pictures, and sketch some more.

  Jade did moan a few times, the heady scent of her arousal making me dizzy at times. Had I been in my ethereal form, it would have driven me insane. Thankfully, the human vessel’s stunted sense of smell only perceived a fraction of it, dimming its potency and, therefore, its power over me.

  Time flew by. A little over three hours had lapsed since we started. Jade had not complained but in the last hour, she’d increasingly broadcast feelings of sleepiness and hunger. I called a lunch break which she greatly appreciated. I had offered her breaks previously which she had declined, not wanting to ruin the pose.

  “Let’s order in,” I proposed while helping her off the bed. The image of a platter of dumplings which flashed through my mind came from her. “What do you want to eat?” I asked. “There’s a very nice Chinese place nearby that delivers. They could be here in less than twenty minutes.”

  Jade beamed at me. “I was just thinking about some dumplings!”

  “Great minds think alike,” I said, not feeling deceitful in the least. It was my duty to please my woman by whatever means necessary. “Come,” I said, wrapping my arm around her shoulders. “Let’s go check out the menu.”

  She instinctively wrapped her arm around my waist but somewhat resisted when I led
her towards the door to the kitchen.

  “Shouldn’t I change first?” she asked, looking down at her barely veiled body.

  “I’d rather you didn’t. The view is far too lovely,” I said, shamelessly. “Don’t worry, the delivery guy won’t see you.”

  She huffed and shook her head at me, disbelieving. “That’s not really fair. Where’s my eye candy?”

  I burst out laughing, not having expected that comeback.

  “Fair enough,” I said, releasing her shoulders. Grabbing the hem of my white shirt, I lifted it up and over my head before balling it in my fist. Chest and feet bare, my charcoal cargo shorts and underwear constituted my only remaining garments. “Better?” I asked.

  Jade’s jaw dropped, and she stared at me, wide-eyed. Her gaze roamed over my muscular chest, lingering on my eight-pack. She licked her lips nervously then nodded her head.

  “Yes,” she said with a thin voice.

  “Good! Now, let’s get you fed,” I said, tucking her under my arm again.

  We padded into the kitchen, and I retrieved the menu from one of the drawers before handing it over to her. I pulled out one of the cushioned wooden chairs from around the table and gestured for her to take a seat.

  “Pick what you want, and we’ll order enough for two. I’m fine with anything so follow your heart’s desires. I’ll be right back with the cameras.”

  “Okay,” she said before flipping through the menu, her hunger steadily growing.

  By the time I returned, she already had an impressive list chosen. A quick call later, our food was ordered. After laying down the four cameras on the coffee table in the living room, I lured Jade to the couch and sat her on my lap. She gave a token protest before settling on me. The urge to drag her to my bedroom came back with a fury, but I reined it in.

  “Grab one of the cameras, love,” I said while turning on the giant screen.

  When she handed it over to me, I projected the images onto my Smart TV via the Wi-Fi connection before passing it back to her to scroll through the photos I’d taken. Arms wrapped around her midsection, I nuzzled her nape and absentmindedly caressed her stomach with my thumbs through the parted panes of her babydoll.

  Too soon for me, but at long last for her, the delivery man arrived. I laid down the food on the coffee table and fetched us plates. Jade dove in, moaning in delight as she sampled bits of the various dishes.

  I envied her enthusiasm.

  While my human vessel required sustenance, I struggled with mortal food. In the Mist Plane, I’d always enjoyed any food Jade had wanted, but here, things were different. The human taste buds left no room to imagination or the slightest wiggle room. You either liked it or hated it.

  My woman had a sweet tooth.

  All the things she loved contained excessive sugar. That Sangria last night contained at least two pounds of sugar, the ribs twice as much, and ditto with the chicken wings. The butter on the popcorn, ugh… Might as well have chugged down a bottle of oil. And this Chinese food… On top of the oiliness of all the deep fried foods, they also happened to be soaking in overly sweet sauces of some kind. The dumplings—without the far too salty soy sauce—the beef and broccoli with steamed rice, and the sautéed vegetables saved me.

  At least, art-wise, we were on the same page.

  While I didn’t allow her to look at my sketches, far too revealing as to who her ‘demon’ was, we quickly agreed on three pictures as our favorites, discarding the others. By the time we returned to work, something had shifted between us. I doubted Jade realized it, but her subconscious was putting two and two together and making its peace with it.

  Soon, my Jade. Soon.

  CHAPTER 5

  Jade

  After the painful breakup with Patrick three years ago, if anyone had told me I’d get back on the dating scene by getting involved with the fabulous Kazan Dale—who also, likely, happened to be occasionally possessed by the Mistwalker who was obsessed with me—I would have had them committed. Over the past couple of weeks since our first meeting, my boyfriend had dropped a number of hints, some not so subtle, that implied he was aware of the Mistwalker’s presence.

  I didn’t understand how my ‘monster’ could cross into our world without the Mist and suspected it required a lot of energy. That would explain why he only rarely manifested himself physically, except for that one undeniable time when he did so to defend us from the thugs on my first date with Kazan. But most incidents had only been the tingling sensation and occasionally the painful throb. Fortunately, I couldn’t remember the latter occurring more than a couple of times. At first, I’d thought it to be a jealous fit from the Mistwalker to separate me from Kazan, but now, I believed he’d been leeching energy from me to keep himself anchored in our world.

  Kazan had swept me off my feet. He was everything I’d ever dreamt of. So perfect… Too perfect. You’d think someone had taken my list of the ideal man and checked every box while putting him together. And yet, something felt off. Obviously, having some otherworldly being taking control of him was messed up enough, but his acceptance of it disturbed me. Being too much of a coward, I hadn’t confronted him about it yet, but we needed to address the elephant in the room.

  Part of me hoped my paranoia had me seeing things that weren’t there and another wanted it to be true. To my shame, the idea of having a monster as a life mate had me beyond excited. When Kazan had shown me his collection the first time, I’d been grateful for the chance to go to the bathroom before wearing the sexy outfit he’d prepared for me because I’d been soaking wet. Every single painting had reflected one of my deepest fantasies. Part of me wanted to be the beauty to Kazan’s beast, but only if HE was the beast. I didn’t want a third party entity to take possession of his body and snuff out Kazan, not only because I was falling hard and fast for him, but also because no human being deserved such a fate.

  The phone rang, startling me from my somber thoughts. Picking it up from the patio table, I rose to my feet and went back inside as I answered. Laura had poked her friends with more questions from me, and I didn’t want indiscreet ears to eavesdrop on that rather sensitive conversation.

  “Hey Sis!” I said, heading for the living-room and letting myself drop into my lazy-boy.

  “Hey Jade,” Laura said with her usual bubbly enthusiasm. “How are you? And more importantly, how is drop-dead-sexy-and-mysterious doing?”

  I laughed at her silliness. “Kazan is doing great. We’re going shopping later today. He wants a few new clothes for himself and a lot more babydolls, garter belts and other sexy outfits for me.”

  I didn’t mention chains, collars and shackles for one specific scene.

  “More?!” she exclaimed, disbelieving. “Didn’t he already get you a full wardrobe of them?”

  My face heated. “Yeah, but they kind of went through a bit of a rough time. He had to tear them up so that I looked like I’d been attacked by something wild.”

  “Man, I can’t wait to see those paintings,” Laura said in awe.

  “That makes two of us. He won’t let me see anything until it’s the right time,” I said, pouting.

  “Artists, you’re all the same,” she said mockingly. “Serves you right to get a taste of your own medicine.”

  I harrumphed in annoyance. It’s true that I didn’t like showing people my work in progress, but I’d been getting better. No choice in my line of work. Despite being the Lead Artist on my game, if the Creative Director or Art Director demanded to see what I’d been working on, they wouldn’t tolerate me displaying any kind of diva reluctance.

  “So? Give me the goods,” she said in a conspiratorial tone. “Is he as beastly as his paintings?”

  I gasped and rolled my eyes at Laura’s typical inappropriate prying. Granted, she had zero problem volunteering far too many details about the sexual prowess of whichever jock she was currently involved with, but I’d never been the type to kiss and tell. That didn’t stop her from trying.

  “First o
ff, it’s none of your business, and second, there’s nothing to tell,” I said in a clipped tone.

  “Nothing to tell? As in your selfish ass won’t share or you guys still haven’t done it?”

  My hesitation while trying to give a noncommittal answer gave me away.

  “Oh my God, you still haven’t!” she exclaimed. “What the hell? Why?”

  “We’ve only been dating two weeks!” I said defensively.

  “Two weeks is more than enough time, not to mention you’ve spent the majority of that time sprawled mostly naked in lascivious poses with him happily groping you and copping a feel left, right, and center,” she countered in her trademark ‘don’t give me that BS’ tone. “What’s the problem? Do I need to prescribe him some blue pills?”

  I snorted at that ridiculous question. Kazan and I had been doing some seriously heavy petting over the past two weeks. More than once during our painting sessions, his cock had strained so much against his pants, I’d half expected the zipper to tear open. The way he looked at me like a starving man, I didn’t quite understand why he hadn’t ravaged me like he clearly wanted to.

  “First off, you can’t write prescriptions yet. And second, believe me, that man doesn’t need any kind of help in that department. His equipment has no problem whatsoever to stand at the ready,” I said, unable to resist defending my man’s virility.

  “So what’s the hang up? You’re overdue to dust the cobwebs you’ve got down there. How long has it been? Three years?”

  I shook my head at the phone, speechless. “Jees, Laura. Can you be any more crude? This isn’t about scratching some itch. I really like this guy, I mean REALLY like him, and the Mistwalker business is ruining it for me.” Sudden tears pricked my eyes as I got choked up on the last words. “I don’t want him to hurt Kazan, and I need to know which of the two will be lying in bed with me. Whenever Kazan and I get close, the Mistwalker lurks nearby and sometimes I can even feel him touching me, not physically, but on a psychic level, if that makes any sense. And it shames me because I actually like it. But that’s cheating, isn’t it? I can’t make him go away. Each passing day, his presence feels stronger. I fear he’s taking over Kazan.”