by Kit Fortier
A series of other tumblers in his mind clicked into place with his first transmutation. His accidental shorting out of things that didn't belong to him. Lights flickering when he was near an extreme end of an emotion, be it anger, or grief, or even laughter. But now, with the Locus on him, he swore he actually felt something tingling, itching under his skin. He smelled ozone--like it was about to rain, even though there wasn't a cloud in the sky.
"Jake, I'm scared," Fox said.
Jake stood slowly, approached cautiously. "What's got you scared, baby?" He knelt down beside Fox, placing his hand over his furiously beating heart.
"This is real."
"Yes."
"Magic-it's real."
"Yes."
"And I... I can do that," Fox pointed at the firepit, now alive and burning once again.
Jake nodded. "Yes."
Fox's breaths were shallow. Jake moved himself behind Fox, holding him close, a position that he had come to love. It soothed him, feeling Jake near, his hands softly massaging him, comforting him. Eventually, his breathing evened out, though the fear was still there.
"Why did you ask me to come with you?" Fox dreaded the answer-the answer which all of Jake's explanations were pointing to.
"It's the only way I can protect you."
Jake pulled Fox even tighter when he said it. Protection. That meant something was coming, and whatever that was meant bad news for Jake.
"What's coming?"
Jake sighed. "Some mages have sent Ursoi after us. I learned from… I learned that from the fox in the woods."
Fox's eyes were comically wide. There were more animals?
He shelved the questions popping up for now. He had to focus on the questions that mattered. Fox got up slowly, dusting himself off. He went back to the solo pine, picking up his clothes and putting them on. He picked up the knife Jake created, seemingly from nothing, though now Fox knew otherwise.
"When do we leave?"
*** Jake
Jake watched Fox move in silence. Even now, he moved gracefully, quietly, much like his namesake. With his eyes, he followed Fox walk back to the pine where their true exploration of each other began. When Fox dressed himself, a pang of loss punched Jake in his stomach. He had become accustomed to seeing the man so free, so open, so emotionally and literally exposed. But it was inevitable. They had to move on eventually. The sun was high now-much of the day was spent baring the weights of the past, a fraction of the burdens of the future.
Fox's silence unnerved him. But he had to know. Even if he chose to stay, the knife Fox held could help the man fight his way past any altered beast. That is, if he knew how to defend himself.
Jake shored himself up for the possibility. He began to line up his defenses and reasons why Fox shouldn't stay when Fox asked him,
"When do we leave?"
Relief flooded Jake. "We should start today. Your truck might make things easier."
Fox's head tilted slightly. "You don't have to hike the whole thing? You could have used a vehicle?"
Jake shook his head. "There are some acts of alchemy that require a kind of physical presence cutting through. I've already done the main part of my array. Now I'm making sure everything is in place here at the Devils Tower before the next major step approaches."
Fox seemed to focus on his feet, which were bare in the grass.
"I can't tell my Dad, can I…"
The question hurt. Fox's hurt rippled through Jake. He hurt for this separation that may keep him from his father, his only family, for god knows how long.
"Maybe one day, when all this is done. When we complete the circuit, we'll have a far better chance to defend ourselves than if we do nothing. Until then, it's best he doesn't know."
Fox's mouth fell into a straight line. He looked up and met Jake's eyes, determination set on his face.
"If I can help you get these fuckers off your ass, I'll do it."
12. Dead Birds
*** Fox
Fox was resolute. He'd avoid physical contact with anyone he worked with, his father, people he knew in town. He was bound to Jake, and Jake was bound to him.
The campsite was left in the state they arrived. Nothing signified their presence outside of the possibility of scent. Fox was torn. He kicked himself for all the acts of intimacy they'd performed. Then he kicked himself for even thinking badly about it. They had already fooled around at the lodge--yesterday was beyond fooling around. Their scent would be committed to this place.
Fox watched Jake alchemically douse the fire. He shifted dirt into and onto the remains of the tinder in the circle. The fire was out, and it actually looked cold.
"What if the bears come here?" Fox asked, concerned about the land and the possibility they might tear it apart in their search.
"Then they'd have a hard time getting close enough to investigate," Jake said.
"That powder I used when I transmuted your knife was a mix of silver and salt. I used the powder to draw a circle around the camp." Jake motioned Fox to follow him to the tree line. When they arrived, Jake kicked at the dirt, exposing a stretch of a silver line fixed into the soil.
"Also, over here," Jake walked over to another patch of dirt, brushing loose debris away. He uncovered an elaborate silver circle about a foot in diameter. "This is an actual transmutation circle."
Fox looked at it. He noted the four encircled shapes and the writing around the smaller circles:
SVLPHVRIS, MINIVM, ARGENTVM, SALIS
"Sulphur, minium, silver, and salt? What's minium?"
"The first form of mercury. Minium is the Latin name for cinnabar-mercury in its solid state."
Fox nodded. With his bare foot, he covered up what Jake revealed, both the little circle and the exposed part of the big one.
"The circle around the camp will keep all the altered beasts out. Larger creatures that try to push through get ejected. Little ones get incinerated."
"How far up does the barrier go?"
"It's a sphere barrier. A barrier of this size covers a fair amount of ground, so it's going to be a big one, and it will hold. Any bigger, and the effect dims. There are smaller ones, too-meant to protect doors and windows and such."
Fox's thoughts sprang back to the early part of their visit. The fox by the single pine.
"Let's go. We're gonna have to chat about that fox that came into the campsite," Fox said.
"Hamish."
Fox did a double-take.
"That's his name."
"Hamish." Fox shook his head, struggling between rational thinking and disbelief.
*** Jake
Jake ran a mental checklist as they drove back to Moorcroft. He needed to transmute a lot more silver to train Fox, as well as keeping prepared against the animals on his tail. He also needed to create another knife for himself, as well as a sheath for Fox's bowie knife. This way, Fox could keep it on his person without risking slicing himself. He had to gather his things, then meet up with Fox.
Twenty minutes later, Fox pulled up. Jake watched as Fox popped into the front office. It appeared he briefed the staff on what was about to happen. Jake watched Fox doing this while holding the door, keeping a great deal of space between them. Within moments, Fox stepped out into the light, giving Jake a slight nod.
Jake jumped out of the truck, his shirt in one hand, and shoulder bag in the other. Fox led the way up the stairs, and Jake followed-right up until the moment he ran into him, almost bumping him forward.
Fox was looking at something on the floor, and Jake saw what he was looking at.
Two black birds--the back half of two black birds--lay on the floor. Their bodies were sizzling stumps of what they had been before: Ravens.
A deep pang of panic rattled Jake. "Let's start with your room, baby."
Fox nodded. He stepped up to his door and unlocked it. Fox stepped out of the sun and into the dim light filtering through the blinds, with Jake right behind him. Jake locked the door and flipped on the lights
while Fox disappeared into his walk-in.
"Did you set up that barrier?" Fox asked. The noise of shifting boxes rustling clothes hangers accompanied the question.
"I did."
"Did you do that while I was making dinner that night?"
"Yes."
The sounds abruptly stopped. Fox stepped into the doorway, his face a mask of uncertainty.
"You've been protecting me from the moment--that's not right. You were protecting me before you knew?"
Jake gave Fox a tremulous half-smile.
"I guess I did."
He barely blinked when Jake was mauled by Fox. The younger man's hands grabbed at him and clutched him close, his fingers gripped the flesh of Jake's back. His mouth was being devoured by the younger man-as if Fox hadn't eaten for days, and Jake was the meal.
"Foxy--" Jake squeezed out before Fox took his face in his hands and took control of the situation by force. Jake kissed back but was overpowered. Fox barely let him up to breathe. His world was spinning, stars flashed behind his eyes. Fox moved from his mouth to his neck, ravaging his tender skin with licks and teeth and sucking.
Jake's breathing went heavy. He was panting to keep up, but Fox took purchase with every withdrawing move he made. Fox hadn't let up, and soon every inch of his chest was subject to his passion.
"God, Fox-the things you do to me," Jake panted as he held Fox's head. Not to guide him, but to hold on for dear, dear life. Fox was working his way down the center of Jake's chest. He struggled with unbuttoning Jake's jeans and ripping off his own clothes.
It was feral. It was fiery. Fox would not relent, and Jake gave in, his heart beating only for Fox and the pleasure he was giving.
Soon the two were naked. Fox shot up, his mouth latching onto Jake's like polar opposite magnets connecting. He nudged Jake backwards until he fell backwards, limbs akimbo. He was now exposed to Fox's forward assault.
Jake watched Fox, who stood between his feet hanging off the bed. Fox was panting, sweating. The animal gleam in his eyes made Jake's dick frustratingly hard while shoving panic into his heart. Fox's lips were spread apart slightly as he gazed back at Jake.
Without warning, Fox quickly crawled up Jake's body, licking and nipping as he went, until he landed at Jake's neck. Jake almost begged off before Fox's mouth bit down on the tender flesh where his neck met his collarbone. He was ravenous, sucking and teething and worrying a zone which made Jake's eyes roll back. Fox committed to that spot and that spot alone. After Jake endured long, toe-curling moments, Fox came up for air, a glazed look on his eyes.
"Baby," Jake took Fox's face in his hands, the both of them panting. "What do you want?" A slight tremble of fear quavered in his voice. Fox kept his eyes on Jake as he turned his head quickly, catching one of Jake's hands. He licked Jake's index and middle finger, slathering them until they were dripping with spit. He pulled his legs up, straddling Jake.
"Finger me," Fox said. The authority in his voice practically made Jake's rock-hard dick spit up. Jake obeyed, running his hand around the curve of Fox's ass and found the entrance blind. He watched Fox press back on the index finger wriggling at the rim. Fox grabbed Jake's face and kissed him senseless, breathless, and wanting.
Jake was up to the knuckle when Fox commanded, "More." He nodded and pressed in his middle finger as well. Fox made a trail of hungry kisses from Jake's mouth to the other side of his neck. He tasted Jake's tensile skin, wringing more pleasure from yet another sensitive spot.
Jake knew he was being taken. Fox was making his claim and marking him. Jake thought for the briefest of moments that Fox might actually be a werewolf. He was caught in the storm, subject to the whim of the waves and the wind.
Fox shot up, leaning over to the edge of his bed, and ripping open a drawer in the night stand. He pulled it out of its hinges and rifled through the disembodied drawer. When he found what he wanted, he threw the offending drawer over his shoulder without a care.
Fox revealed a bottle of lube. "Give me your hand." Jake complied, still reeling from the third mark on his neck. Fox ripped the lid off and squirted a generous amount of lube onto Jake's fingers. He shoved the bottle under a pillow and took Jake's slicked hand in his own. Jake closed his fingers around Fox's, and for a brief moment, Jake knew calm.
They were both slick with sweat. The smell of Fox's skin invaded Jake's brain. It was a hodgepodge. It was raw sun and perspiration. It was their comingled release from the day and night before. It was that maddening scent of the moment before rain fell. Jake wanted to bottle it, to keep it forever.
The flare of lust came back to Fox's eyes.
"Get me ready."
Jake immediately reacted, as if his arm was not his own. His over-slicked fingers spread lube over and through across Fox's crack. Any tightness that Jake had to get through submitted to the slippery fluid. Simultaneously, slick fingers wrapped around his own dick. Fox was prepping him for what was definitely going to come.
Fox grabbed Jake by the wrists, pinning them above Jake's head. "Don't move."
Jake nodded. Under Fox's gaze, the man was completely exposed. The younger man looked around his room. He jumped off the bed and ran into the walk-in. The sound of equipment thrown around rang loud and sharp through the air. Fox appeared again, a length of rope in his hands.
Jake's dick couldn't get any harder if he tried. Without a word, Fox crawled up his captive again. He bit and nipped at Jake's exposed sides. His ribs. The sides of his chest. Even his armpits couldn't escape the insistent, probing tongue Fox employed.
Fox locked eyes with Jake--the feral flame glistening in Fox's blown out eyes. He never broke his gaze with Jake as he tied Jake's hands in an elaborate knot. Jake wriggled his hands a bit. He tested the binding when Fox inflicted pleasurable pain on both of his nipples, one in his mouth, the other between his fingers. Jake hissed and his dick spat up a pearl of clear fluid.
"I told you," Fox said, "Don't. Move."
Jake could have come right there. But Fox was not done with him.
Fox began grinding against Jake. It was maddening pleasure. Fox's lube slicked hand disappeared, guiding Jake's dick to its home for however long Fox wanted it. Fox writhed against it, taking it in agonizingly slow. Jake sensed both a familiar and an unfamiliar one. Fox was constricting Jake's dick, but not with his hands. Those were in front. They twisted and pulled and worried his nipples. They scratched deep through his soft, thick chest hair. Fox was squeezing his entrance on the slow ride down, and he watched Jake squirm and pant and beg him to get him off.
"No, baby," Fox said. As lost in the sensations as he was, Fox using that term of endearment on Jake threatened to crack his heart in two.
Minutes passed. Fox applied more lube. And eventually, the madness inducing slow ride came to an end. Jake was babbling Fox's name. He was certain the front office clerk below was hearing everything going on in Fox's apartment.
Fox began to ride Jake in earnest. It wasn't tender. He practically slammed himself against Jake's groin. Jake was breathless, dripping. The room was stifling. Fox grabbed onto Jake's hands and sped up his relentless assault on Jake's hardness.
That all-too familiar flush began pouring upwards into Jake's face. Fox's gaze became a glare. He knew it was coming. Jake couldn't stop what was coming. This whole time, Fox was pushing Jake's cart down the tracks. He plowed forward until gravity took over. It sped him towards the precipice of completion with exponential force.
Jake groaned long and loud until he screamed, his vision blocked by an intense burst of light. His body gave up the fight and succumbed to Fox's relentless hammering. Wave after wave of release burst forth, and Jake's scream had subsided to a long groan.
A moment later, Fox brought himself to climax. He hadn't touched himself at all when he made an explosive mess that hit Jake in the face, in the neck, and across his chest. The sounds that Jake coaxed from Fox were rougher, demanding. But still, they hammered the bells that kept Jake coming back for more. The ligh
ts flickered the whole time Fox came. Jake had but to wonder if that was Fox's doing, too.
Fox got off of Jake's length. He kept the lubed hand on Jake's bound ones. He used his other hand to massage his essence into the forest of Jake's salt-and-pepper chest.
"This is mine."
"Yes," Jake said, his voice filled with exhausted reverence.
Fox continued rubbing his release from Jake's chest down his thick treasure trail. He smeared it onto and all around Jake's dick, still hard and slick with his own release.
"This is mine," Fox said, gripping Jake's dick not too gently.
"Yes," Jake said, with a hiss--the pull on his hardness a blend of pain and pleasure.
"But above all," Fox said, coming back to Jake's heated chest, moving over his heart. "This is mine."
"Yes," Jake whispered, like a prayer.
Fox looked down on Jake's face.
"Close your eyes, baby."
Jake obeyed. Fox's mouth pressed against the skin over his brow, his tongue lapping at the skin. He realized Fox's release had reached him there when Fox claimed his mouth gently, lovingly. He tasted Fox's come and kissed Fox back, desperate and greedy to take every drop of that taste for himself. Fox took Jake chin in a gentle touch. He wasn't claiming him. Rather, he held him still as he swept his tongue over Jake's tongue, his lips, his chin, his jaw, then back to his mouth. This kiss was worship. Fox held him like he was precious, fragile. Then Fox pulled away, releasing his head back, easing him onto the pillow he was resting on.
"Look at me."
Jake's eyes flew open. He was breathing in the sweat and musk of the air deeply, his breaths returning to normal. He met the brilliant green gaze of the man on top of him.
"You need me." It wasn't a question. Jake's gaze followed Fox as the man undid his binding.
Jake hesitated momentarily. It nodded furiously. "I do," his voice was quiet, but adamant. "I do."
"I want you to know this. Never forget." Fox tossed the rope over his shoulder.
Jake nodded slowly, as if to encourage Fox to continue.
"I love you, Jake Barton."