by K. L. Hiers
Ted was now perched on Grell’s broad chest, and moving was definitely the last thing on his mind. He could feel the heat of Grell’s body against his own, and the gentle way Grell’s strong hands settled on his back made his face heat up.
“Is this better?” Grell asked, his usual swagger replaced by genuine concern.
“This is… uh… this is good.” Ted didn’t dare look down, because he already knew Grell was naked, and he couldn’t stand to make this situation any more awkward for himself.
Except it really wasn’t that strange. He felt safe, and there was something about the way Grell was looking at him that made him want to stay right here forever.
“I thought you wanted to move?” Grell quirked a brow.
“I’m good.” Ted cleared his throat. “Uh, so, about these missing souls?”
“What about them?”
“Oh, don’t start that stupid crap again.” Ted narrowed his eyes. “We were having such a nice fuckin’ chat, and there you go, answering questions with questions again.”
“Ask the right questions and you shall receive the answers you seek,” Grell said smugly.
“Are these souls Silenced?” Ted challenged, pleased when the smug smile dropped right off Grell’s face.
“Now how would you know that?” Grell scowled. “Don’t suppose it would be your little ghost friend who told me to suck your dick?”
Hearing those words spoken so casually made them even more obscene, and Ted gulped. He licked his lips, countering, “I don’t know, maybe. Why? You thinking about it?”
“Thinking about what?”
“You know.”
“Sucking your dick?” Grell’s smile only grew as Ted blushed, flashing his teeth. “Can’t even say it out loud, can you.”
“Maybe I just don’t want to,” Ted argued. “Maybe I would rather talk about those Silenced souls and what your crazy-ass son is really doing with my roommate.”
“Ohhh, this was a very chatty little ghost, indeed!” Grell laughed, his fingers dragging up Ted’s spine. “Mmm… I suppose if you insist that we discuss it….”
“I do,” Ted confirmed.
“Then I must tell you that I’d like to take you to dinner before we explore any carnal pleasures,” Grell said seriously.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Ted tried to roll away and cried out in pain as his muscles screamed their protests. “Ow, ow, ow, fuck!”
“Aw, my darling Theodore!” Grell cackled and pulled Ted back into his arms. “Easy now! I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist!”
“You’re such a douche!” Ted found himself even closer to Grell now, practically on top of him.
“Guilty.” Grell was beaming, stroking Ted’s back warmly.
Ted was exhausted from the simple tussle and had to lay back down. His head found Grell’s shoulder, and he flopped in surrender. “Ulgh. I give.”
“So, dinner, then?”
“Huh?”
“You’ll let me take you to dinner?” Grell asked without missing a beat. “We can continue discussing souls, monsters, gods… mmm, what else?”
“Grell.” Ted hesitated. “We don’t exactly have a whole lot of time. I don’t know….”
“Oh, and the tempting proposition of fellatio, of course.”
“Seriously?” Kunst’s voice drawled in disgust. “I try to give you some sincere advice and you’re in bed with him?”
Ted’s face caught on fire, and he wasn’t sure how to defend himself to a ghost. He chose to ignore Kunst for now, but got back on track by asking, “Why are Silenced souls so important?”
“Their steps power the bridge,” Kunst grumbled impatiently.
“They’re the source of power that keep the bridge running,” Grell replied at almost precisely the same time. “Now, is that a yes to dinner?”
“Only if you tell me why a bunch of those souls missing would be a big deal.”
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s looking a little dim out there lately. It’s not so much that the souls are missing in the sense that they’ve been taken, but missing in that none of them are coming here. Something is happening in Aeon, and Silenced people have stopped dying. Once the ones here hit their hundred-year mark, there’s none to replace them.”
“Hundred-year mark?”
“All Silenced souls—” Kunst began.
“All Silenced souls walk the bridge for a hundred years,” Grell said, his voice easily overtaking Kunst’s.
Kunst grunted in annoyance.
“Because they don’t have magic of their own, they have to earn their passage,” Grell went on to explain, not hearing Kunst’s fussing. “It takes at least a century for them to gain enough of a spark to poof on over to Zebulon. Now, dinner tonight?”
“So they’re not slaves?” Ted asked pointedly.
“No, of course not,” Grell replied, his expression betraying how hurt that question left him.
“Ah! He’s a liar!” Kunst exclaimed. “Ask him what Visseract and Gronoch have been doing! Ask him about the pits!”
“So.” Ted touched Grell’s chest, “I gotta be honest right now. The ghost I told you about?”
“No, no! Don’t you dare tell him!” Kunst hissed. “We have a real chance here to help people—”
“The one who told me not to trust you?” Ted went on, having to raise his voice to hear himself over Kunst. “Well, he’s here right now, and he’s insisting that you’re lying and wants me to ask you about Visseract and Gronoch and some fuckin’ pits.”
“Gronoch?” Grell’s eyes widened in shock and promptly narrowed.
“Who’s that?”
“God of healing and attrition, second eldest son of Salgumel and Urilith.”
“Oh,” Ted said. “Well, that doesn’t sound so bad.”
“It’s bad,” both Kunst and Grell said in unison.
“For fuck’s sake,” Ted griped, pointing in the general direction of Kunst’s voice. “You! Stop talking for a damn second!”
“The nerve!” Kunst gasped.
“Okay!” Ted took a deep breath. “Gronoch is a bad god, and Visseract is that fish guy who really wants to convict me, right?”
“Yes,” Grell replied with a snarl. “That’s the one.”
“The pits!” Kunst snapped. “Never mind all that nonsense! I know what I saw! Ask him about the pits!”
“Shut up about the damn pits!” Ted hated how crazy he looked talking to someone Grell couldn’t see. “Fuck, this is annoying.”
“Hold on a moment.” Grell snapped his fingers. A large glass orb appeared in his hand, and he held it up in the air. “Come along, ghostie. Take a little peek inside and we can all have a nice chat.”
“That’s a trap,” Kunst said with a growl.
“He says it’s a trap,” Ted echoed.
“Of course it’s a trap,” Grell drawled. “It’s a spirit box. It’ll bind his ass in here, but he’ll be able to talk.” He looked around, perhaps trying to detect Kunst’s presence. “Would you like that, little ghostie? You have so much to say about me, how about you say it to my face?”
“Oh, I’m going to regret this.” Kunst growled in frustration, but the orb suddenly lit up, filled with a milky blue light. “Now, you listen to me, Your Royal Highness! My name is Professor Emil Kunst, and I witnessed the most heinous fiends conspiring down in the pits!”
“Congratulations! I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but ‘conspiring’ is one of the top ten most popular activities in Xenon. There’s even a club. They have T-shirts.”
“What the fuck are the pits?” Ted demanded.
“Underground interdimensional channels that run beneath Xenon,” Grell replied quickly. “Some of them are in Xenon proper, some of them are far beyond it, and a few are in between.”
“Huh?”
“Spaces between worlds, darling.” Grell patted Ted’s shoulder.
“So, what would a god and fish dude be doing down there?”
“They were making arrangement
s for Silenced souls,” Kunst said, the orb flickering with his fury. “I heard them! Gronoch has found a way to create slaves using people who are Silenced, and he wants Visseract to give him more!”
“Ha!” Grell scoffed. “There’s no way to remove souls from Xenon once they’ve come here. And in case you didn’t notice, we’re running a bit short. You must have misunderstood them.”
“I know what I heard!” Kunst fumed. “And I know those planes are restricted, except to members of the royal family! You must have let them in there! Which also puts you in direct violation of your own treaty that no living god shall set foot in Xenon!”
“Anything else defamatory and exciting you want to share?” Grell asked dryly.
“You must know that whatever Gronoch is planning with those Silenced souls, you can bet that he means to awaken Salgumel and destroy the world. His brother, Tollmathan, already tried once before, and I died stopping him! I will not allow it to happen again, not while I can still fight!”
“Tragic, really. Thanks for that. Very educational. We’ll chat more soon. Bye-bye now!” Grell snapped his fingers, and the orb disappeared. “Irritating little thing, wasn’t he?”
“Hey!” Ted protested. “Don’t you think that might have been important?”
“What?”
“Gods trying to end the world! Doesn’t that sound kinda like a big deal to you?”
“Meh,” Grell scoffed, waving his hand. “One crisis at a time. We have a new suspect in Mire’s murder to focus on.”
“We do?”
“Humble Visseract just jumped to the top of the list,” Grell replied. “Ghostie was right in that only members of the royal family can enter the pits.” He held up a finger. “Except I recently granted Mire a special key so he could investigate some of the ancient crypts there.”
“So if you didn’t let them in, and I’m assuming your crazy son didn’t since he’s been busy annoying me as a cat….”
“That only leaves two possibilities.” Grell sighed, reaching up to massage his brow as if trying to fend off a headache. “Either Mire was in league with them, or, more likely, he was a victim of their scheming.”
“What’s the matter?” Ted frowned. “Isn’t this good? This means I’m totally freakin’ innocent!”
“It also means I have to decide whether or not to declare war on Zebulon.”
“War?” Ted’s stomach lurched.
“No living god is permitted to set foot in Xenon,” Grell said with a wry smile. “It’s part of the treaty that Great Azaethoth signed that gave us this world as our own. There’s nothing actually stopping the gods from coming here, but to do so is considered an act of war.”
“War, as in, fighting a bunch of gods?” Ted tried to sit up and grumbled as his muscles cramped. The pain took his breath away, but he kept struggling. “No, come on! Fuck! You can’t be serious!”
“I’m very serious,” Grell said, watching with a scowl as Ted squirmed. “Will you stop that? It hurts to look at you when you do that.”
“The pits,” Ted said urgently, crying out as he managed to pull himself up, only to fall flat on his back. “Ah, shit!”
“I told you to stop!” Grell growled, rolling over to pin Ted against the bed.
“Listen to me!” Ted barked, completely helpless beneath Grell’s firm hold. “There has to be another way!”
“That’s my problem, not yours,” Grell grunted.
“The pits, you said some of them aren’t actually in Xenon!” Ted panted. “Right?”
“Yes,” Grell replied carefully, as if wary of a trap.
“So technically, you don’t know if that Gronoch guy actually came to Xenon!” Ted went on with an earnest smile. “No need to start a war over that, right?”
“Why, Theodore,” Grell purred in delight, “you’re a lovely little genius. I could kiss you.”
“Yeah?” Ted zeroed in on Grell’s lips and swallowed thickly. At that moment, he didn’t even care that Grell kept screwing up his name. The thought of correcting him was the very last thing on his mind.
There was no way to escape that Grell was very much naked and very much on top of him, and Ted’s body was responding accordingly. He felt vulnerable and weak, but Grell also made him feel so safe.
He felt… wanted.
Ted hadn’t known such desire in so long, and the air between them was instantly electrified. Grell’s eyes were moving over his body as if seeing Ted for the first time, and he was leaning in, only stopping when he was a breath away from Ted’s lips.
“Yeah,” Grell echoed, his nose lightly bumping Ted’s. “I could kiss you… if you wanted me to, of course.”
“Well, only if you really want me to want you to,” Ted replied, inhaling shakily. “I mean, did you brush your teeth after eating all those fish dudes?”
“Flossed too.” Grell’s mouth hovered over his, neither retreating nor advancing, and the torment made Ted’s insides clench.
They had been here before, so close to kissing and yet worlds away, and Ted didn’t know if this was a wise decision. Considering he’d almost died and had just talked Grell out of starting a war, perhaps a kiss was another unnecessary risk.
“Hmm,” Grell hummed, licking his lips so Ted could feel the briefest swipe of his tongue. “I suppose I only want you to want me to want you to do it if you truly want to—”
Oh, fuck it.
Biting back the brief flash of pain, Ted surged upward to connect their lips in a passionate kiss.
Chapter 6.
GRELL’S RESPONDING kiss was fierce. He pushed Ted down into the plush pillows, owning every inch of his mouth with a long swipe of his rough tongue. Grell’s tongue was barbed like a cat’s, slick and scratchy, and it was hotter than Ted could have ever dreamed of. He would be replaying this moment in his mind for years to come.
A few days ago, he’d been caught in the soul-sucking grind of a depressing job, quite literally haunted by ghosts, and left longing for any lowly scrap of affection. Now he was kissing a handsome king in a glowing castle floating out amongst the stars.
Sure, he was still fighting asinine murder charges and the king could turn into a giant cat monster, but it was still an improvement.
Ted moaned, reaching up to grab Grell’s shoulders. He loved the rough texture of Grell’s tongue sliding against his own. He couldn’t get over the softness of his lips or how strong his hands were as they explored the broad lines of his body.
Ted wanted to wrap himself all around Grell, and ow, ow, ow!
Right.
Still full of nasty fish-people venom.
“Fuck!” Ted growled, his muscles seizing up in pain and forcing him to break the kiss. “Ugh, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Grell said softly, smiling with such a warmth that he seemed decades younger. He gently nuzzled Ted’s cheek, placing a tender kiss there as he said, “Mm, just relax… and try not to move.”
“Wh-what are you doing?” Ted asked nervously.
“Taking care of you,” Grell replied, his golden eyes shining brightly as he glanced down over Ted’s thick chest. His hand slid over the thin fabric of his tunic, finding his nipple and petting it slowly.
Ted groaned, shivering and twitching, his cock growing hard with absolutely nowhere to hide. He couldn’t relax, feeling the urge to move and take over, to take control. “Grell, shouldn’t I….”
“Theodore,” Grell said firmly, tilting his head back down for a sweet kiss. “If you want me to stop, then tell me now. Otherwise, lay back, relax, and let me rock your little mortal world, hmm?”
“O-okay,” Ted said, his hands unclenching by his sides. “I can do that. Totally.”
“The constant expectation to take control has left you feeling inadequate when you’re put in this position, hmm?” Grell gently dragged a single finger down Ted’s chest to his hip, the tunic magically fading away. “You want someone else to take over, and yet it’s been so long that you don’t know how….”
/> “Fuck,” Ted whispered, watching his chest tremble as Grell started to kiss his way down to his stomach. His cock flexed, and he whimpered, secretly thrilled that he couldn’t move. It made it easier to give in and let Grell do what he wanted, and Ted whispered, “Yes.”
“It’s all right,” Grell promised, lavishing the crest of Ted’s hipbone with wet smooches. “I’ve got you. I’ll take care of everything.”
“What, uh, what are you doing?” Ted asked, excited and curious.
“All this talk about sucking dick has given me the most lovely idea,” Grell teased slyly. He ran his hands over Ted’s muscular thighs, getting settled between them as he licked his lips. “I think I may in fact—” He dropped his voice to a sultry whisper. “—suck your dick.”
Ted could not look away from Grell’s tongue. Flicking it out like that over his lower lip wasn’t so unusual, but Ted had never noticed before just how long it was. It had several inches on a normal human’s, and it looked even bigger.
Grell noticed Ted staring and stuck out his tongue with a lecherous wink. Yup. Definitely long, thick, and absolutely made for sinful things.
“Oh fuck,” Ted gasped without meaning to.
“Oh yes.” Grell eyed Ted’s cock and bowed his head. He nuzzled against his hard shaft, breathing him in with a luxurious sigh. “Mm, I just know you’re going to taste fantastic.”
“Fuck, that’s hot,” Ted panted. “Just….” He couldn’t even finish the thought, faltering for a conclusion that didn’t sound lame.
Just what? Be gentle? Be patient? Don’t be surprised if it’s over in seconds?
“Don’t worry, darling. I’ll still respect you in the morning,” Grell teased, opening his mouth wide and sinking down on Ted’s cock with a loud groan.
The sudden wet heat made Ted moan, and he had to remind himself that he couldn’t move much without it hurting. He watched in awe as Grell took every inch of him without hesitation, squeaking, “Holy crap! That’s, that’s so good!”
Grell sucked him slowly, stroking with his tongue from base to tip inside his mouth. The rough texture of the barbs was weird, but not at all uncomfortable. It was an incredible feeling, and Ted feared he wouldn’t be able to last very long. He took a few deep breaths, focused on enjoying himself but trying not to bust too fast.