by Celia Sweet
“But the shape is pretty good, isn’t it?”
Dawn glared at the older woman.
“Fine,” Teeny said, “You’re a terrible girl to make me use magic for something so simple. Terrible and stubborn.”
While Dawn continued to chastise herself for being selfish AND terrible, Teeny whispered something in a language she didn’t know. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the zucchini float up. Soft waves of light danced around the vegetable and little by little the light took the shape of a man. Not just any man. Her man.
Although the magic had built this version of Duncan out of light and shadow he looked real. The arrogant line of his jaw and the cleft in his chin, the broad shoulders and fine sheen of dark hair across his muscled pecs—Teeny hadn’t missed a single detail.
Oh god, Dawn wanted him so badly. She needed to touch and to taste him. She licked her lips and walked on her knees until she kneeled in front of the light and shadow Duncan. She looked to Teeny for a go ahead before tentatively placing her hands on his naked thighs. The hair tickled her fingertips and she moaned. He wasn’t completely solid, more like a fantasy made physical, but despite his body being more dream than reality he felt right. Better than right, he felt good.
His thickness stood up proudly. She flicked her tongue over the tip and moaned. This part of him had more substance. Probably because it’d been built around something real. Dawn looked to Teeny again, afraid she’d break the spell.
The older woman waved her on. “Go ahead. It’ll stand there quietly while you learn your lessons.”
Dawn nodded and sucked the broad tip of him into her mouth, licking him with her lips sealed around it. Teeny whacked her on the back of the head. She nearly choked.
“Are you kidding me? Nobody would enjoy that. What are you, a puppy?” Teeny took the light and shadow erection in her hand and Dawn bristled. Hell, she growled. The older woman threw her hands up. Dawn knew Teeny hadn’t actually touched Duncan but the sight of another woman’s hands on him pissed her off.
Teeny grumbled as she went back into the kitchen for another zucchini. She returned to the living room and, without another word, demonstrated why she could’ve been a professor in sex instruction
Wow, this old biddy has skills.
The zucchini almost disappeared while Teeny made the kind of noises, mewling and sighing, that Dawn knew men liked. Dawn followed her teacher and wrapped her hand around her subject’s swollen tip. She pumped gently a few times, leaning in to lick the dimpled head. Then making sure to keep him warm in her hand she ran her tongue between his balls and up before sucking the full weight into her mouth and taking him in deep.
A pat on the shoulder let her know she’d gotten it right but Dawn wanted more. This shadow man didn’t groan, or jerk his body so she’d knew she’d pleased him. He didn’t grab her hair and growl the way she imagined Duncan would. Closing her eyes she drifted off into a daydream. In her mind’s eye she held the real Duncan of the Clan Craig in her mouth. And he let her know how much he liked the lessons she’d learned.
The scent of forest and crisp mountain breezes caught the air and a heavy hand wrapped in her hair. The light and shadow man wasn’t supposed to move. He also hadn’t smelled real before. Dawn faltered, loosing the rhythm of pleasuring the sensitive flesh in her mouth. Something had changed. When he said her name in that caressing timbre that only belonged to Duncan her body flooded with liquid heat.
Teeny gasped. “This shouldn’t be happening. Not at all.” she said.
The hand in Dawn’s hair tugged her face upward. She looked into eyes alive with lust and a slight edge of surprise. Duncan stared down at her from within the light and shadow body. She released him from between her lips. He wagged a finger at her. “Woman, I have no idea how you woke me from the stone sleep, but if you’re practicing for tonight I can’t let you leave the job half done.”
He became more substantial. As she watched he grew thicker and longer. Dawn half moaned, half groaned at the thought of taking so much man into her mouth. She wasn’t sure she could handle him in her body, much less down her throat.
Duncan smiled at her from within the surrogate body. The look doubled as caring and filled with dark promise. A spasm wracked her core and she opened her mouth to beg him not to reduce her to quivering flesh and ashes. She didn’t get a word out.
Duncan walked over to the couch and grabbed two plump cushions. Striding back near to Dawn he stacked the pillows one on top of the other and beckoned. Her chest heaved. She inclined her head to stare at him, half afraid of what he planned to do to her.
His slate blue eyes narrowed with impatience. “Don’t make me wait for you, my jewel,” he ground out. “This body doesn’t have the strength to drag you to me, and I’ll make you pay for that frustration later.”
Dawn hesitated. Unsure. Before today Duncan’s dominance had been a game, a concept she enjoyed musing on but didn’t have to worry about. Today she’d have to face the reality of letting the man rule her. Submitting wasn’t in her nature. Dawn Granger kicked ass and didn’t bother with the names. She did not obey... But she wanted to. For once in her life she didn’t want to be the head detective in charge. Or the lady in control. Letting Duncan take the lead would be a relief. She could be soft and womanly and protected with him in a way her world never allowed her to be.
Her whimper caught her by surprise, but she got down on all fours and crawled toward him with purpose. Satisfaction shone in Duncan’s face as he directed her to lie back on the cushions until her head hung nearly upside down over the edge nearest to his body.
He slid his hand down the column of her throat and over the mound of one breast to tease her nipple. Although the whisper soft glide of his skin across hers gave Dawn goose bumps, neither of them felt the sensation as strongly as they wanted to. Dawn groaned her disappointment while Duncan cursed. He turned to Teeny and growled. “Is my dick the only thing you made halfway real?”
Teeny folded her arms and stuck out her tongue. “You’ll have to use the tools you have. It’ll be real enough later tonight.”
Duncan cursed again, returning his attention to Dawn. Her body trembled in anticipation she couldn’t control. He ran the backs of knuckles over her chin, down the skin of her neck, and back up again. Desire quivered across her breasts and encircled her tingled clitoris.
“Lean back into it. Relax your throat and jaw.”
Butterflies fluttered in her belly with wings set on fire.
“Say you understand me, Dawn.”
Her voice sounded weak and hesitant in her ears. “I, I understand you, Duncan.”
“Good because once I start I’m not stopping until I come. Or get as close as this body can get.”
Dawn moistened her lips. Fear and anticipation made her alert and jumpy.
“Do it again,” he said, “But do it slowly.”
Her tongue flicked out over her lips and he yanked her hair from above.
“What did I say?”
She nodded and licked her lips slowly, as sensually as she could manage. That wicked smile filled his gaze again. One corner of his mouth dimpled. The expression sizzled with unleashed sensuality. She let out a soft ahhh sound. Duncan wasted no time in slipping himself into the moue of her lips.
This time she mmm’d at the delicious slide of his flesh against her tongue and clenched her muscles around the sex toy inside her. The double penetration made her eyes roll back into her head. Duncan slid halfway in and nearly at her tonsils. He withdrew and pushed slowly forward again, going deeper. She tasted the saltiness of him and felt the texture of every vein and curve as he moved in her mouth. Her lips made a soft plop as he withdrew almost completely and delved back in, going further still. When she got used to his girth he began to roll his body forward. She fought not to gag, grabbing his ass as his pace increased.
Duncan stopped and gave her a quick little thrust as warning. “Grab my ass all you want but if you’re thinking of using it to control me
then you better rethink it fast.”
She whimpered again. His words set off a throb nearing pain in each of her pleasure centers. A fresh wave of liquid heat flooded her panties and she craved more.
Dawn relaxed her jaw muscles. Tilting her head further back she opened more of her throat to him. He began the slow roll of his hips again and it felt amazing having him dominate her mouth. His hands found her breasts and teased them through the fabric of her shirt. Even with the sensation at half power, her lower body jerked off the floor in response.
“Easy,” Duncan said, “I can’t do all the things I want to.” He continued to pump in and out of her sucking warmth. “Play with your clitoris for me, my jewel. Let me see you.”
She slipped her hands beneath her waistband, then into her panties, and encircled her clit with hungry fingers. Her hum of pleasure vibrated in her throat and Duncan threw his head back with a moan of his own. Dawn played with herself, rocking her body so the dildo seemed to move in rhythm to the hot flesh thrusting into her mouth. The sensations kept building and building. The heat, friction, love, and her utter submission sent frisson after frisson of ecstasy through her until she came on a white-hot wave of pure bliss.
Somehow she screamed as Duncan bucked into her body. He shuddered in the grips of his own orgasm. As Dawn cried from the release, the light and shadow body dissipated leaving her begging for more.
When Dawn exited the bathroom thirty minutes later, Teeny held up the memorykeeper. Similar to the timekeeper, Duncan had filled the sapphire vial with Mr. McKinnon’s blood. Dawn blanched at the thought of what Duncan had done to fill the vial since the blood needed to come from the head. Teeny gazed at the sapphire for a moment before closing her fist around it.
"This is just what we needed," she said, now examining the ruby vial, a.k.a. Mr. Atreyu’s heart’s blood. "Bet you’re wondering why it had to be these two old bad boys, aren’t you?"
Dawn assumed a the-thought-had-crossed-my-mind expression.
"Well," the older woman continued, "One’s a very old mage from before the curse. Mr. McKinnon here.” She paused to shake the sapphire vial. "He came from a union of two parents who loved each other in a crazy ass way." Teeny shook her head; her lips curling as though love required a large can of Lysol to deal with. "And we needed memories of a beautiful love."
"I understand," Dawn said. "We also needed an even older witch who lived through multiple eras and therefore holds sway over time. Right?"
Guilt stormed Dawn’s mind for a second time, but she quickly bottled it. If she faced her doubts now, it might shatter her resolve. Besides, she’d already committed a crime. So had Duncan. Bemoaning it wouldn’t change things or absolve them. Once again, she made herself believe she had done the right thing. Spending time with Duncan superseded everything else.
Teeny threw the timekeeper in the air, clapped her hands in glee, caught it in one hand and snatched the memorykeeper to keep it from rolling off her lap. "You got it. You’re all right, good girl Dawn, and I’m happy to say you’re a little freaky too. Who knew you could give head like a pro?"
Dawn blushed and changed the subject. "What about the timing of All Hallows Eve?" she said.
Teeny’s eyes held an accessing glint. "I think you know."
Dawn mulled it over, her chin working with the effort. "All the magical folk in the city anticipate Halloween night. It’s like we hold our collective breaths in the twilight between the day and All Hallows Eve, even those of us who are awaking from or turning to stone."
Obviously, she’d further impressed Teeny because the older woman clucked her tongue twice. "Right you are, and now we seek to take hold of that moment, when the magical inhabitants of our city shimmer with unleashed magic. We’ll harness the power and expand it for you and your man’s enjoyment."
Both women grew quiet. Dawn tacked another mental sticky note to her internal to-do list. Later, she would take the time to ponder what she’d learned and whether the knowledge could help her and Duncan in the future.
Teeny sighed. "Well, let’s do this so you can get yourself all fixed up for your sweetie."
Lifting the two keepers heavenward, Teeny began to sing:
"What has been joined by fate,
by fate, let not time tear asunder."
Light coalesced around the two vials and spiraled down Teeny’s arms in a pair of blue and red double helixes. The older woman nearly danced with power while sitting still. Her eyes glowed with pale, purple fire as she brought her hands together. The head and heart keepers collided in a boom of light and sound.
Dawn turned away to protect her eyes and waited until the blinding brightness dissipated. When she swung back around, Teeny squatted in front of her. The crystalline ball in her extended hand glowed softly lavender.
"In the last blink before you go to stone, give this sparkler your blood," Teeny said. Dawn accepted the ball and studied it, marveling at how such a thing had been created. It seemed unreal how a semi-precious globe of amethyst, could hold her dreams within its sphere. She clutched the crystal—the most precious thing she’d ever possessed—to her chest.
"I already told that hunk of hot buttered sexy, Duncan, to do the same the moment he awakens, indeed I did."
"How long do we have?"
“Can’t say for sure, isn’t it?" Teeny frowned. "I’d call it more than two hours, less than four."
Sudden despair punched Dawn in the gut. So little time.
"You’re about to hold your dreams in your hands and you’re moaning about time?" Teeny’s bout of indignation earned Dawn a smack upside the head.
"Ow. Are you serious?" Dawn scowled, rubbing the knot that would soon form.
"Remember what I told you. Milk the man dry. If you ever hope to have more time you’ve got to do that."
Teeny watched the young witch walk down the street. With Dawn gone the older woman snapped her fingers. She disappeared and reappeared behind her desk in the back office of her dry cleaners. Lifting the phone from its cradle, she punched a number on speed dial.
"Atreyu?"
A pause.
"We’re set and ready steady. Please inform Mr. McKinnon that I’ll be sending his sapphire back directly. He prefers FedEx, isn’t it?"
She scratched at her forehead and decided to remove her wig. Her baldhead shone beneath soft, bluish overhead lights when the scratchy thing came off.
"Overnight it is." A pause. "What was that?"
Teeny pumped a bit of lotion into her palm from the bottle on her desk and rubbed it into her itchy scalp.
"Yes indeedy, you were right. A bad reputation comes in handy when you’re wanting a pair of justice loving detectives to steal your blood without feeling bad about it."
Pulling a FedEx box from a nearby shelf, she grabbed Mr. McKinnon’s sapphire and dropped it in.
"No, I didn’t tell them they might break both curses tonight. You want to give them performance anxiety?"
Disarmed by the charming Mr. Atreyu, she clutched his ruby close to her heart.
"Of course, I know how important tonight is. But don’t you think they’ll do better if they think they’re only having a bit of fun? I’ve seen them in action and, believe me, they’re exceptional at…fun."
Chapter Four
The wait nearly killed her. Dawn couldn’t risk being late. Not tonight.
After leaving Teeny, she’d rushed home, bathed, and flat-ironed her hair into glossy sheets of chestnut parted down the middle. It’d taken two outfit changes to get her looking good. She hoped she looked good because she’d actually changed clothes six times. All right, seven but the importance of the night allowed for a girly indulgence. Or eight.
She’d settled on a printed wrap dress in shades of lavender, violet and periwinkle to bring out the honey in her skin. Duncan’s gift of a strand of chunky, pearlescent gray beads adorned her neck. Make-up wasn’t necessary. Her man didn’t like it. So, only a coat of apricot lip gloss topped off the look.
; Now she sat cross-legged on the roof at the foot of Duncan’s statue. Waiting in the same spot she’d been in since getting dressed hours ago. She rolled the crystalline ball between her palms and whispered her hopes and desires into it. If she’d done things right the magic would prove true. If not…
Her chest tightened as though it would collapse upon itself when the sun set. She lifted her dirk off the rooftop beside her and laid the sphere in her lap. Slicing her palm proved easier than she’d thought. Purpose gave her strength and afterward she dropped the dirk, retrieved the ball, and pressed it into the fresh cut. The magic in the amethyst pulsed with a living heartbeat.
"Bring my man to me." She breathed life into the incantation. The intent, not the words, mattered most.
Once she’d finished she couldn’t move. She might as well have been stone. She had closed her eyes when she chanted the spell and no matter how much she willed them to open, her eyelids refused.
Whether time froze or moved forward, she couldn’t say. She’d gone numb. Even the weight of the crystal in her hands had disappeared, and silence clogged her ears.
Nothing.
Then sensation rushed her senses like she’d come into the world for the first time. Every sound, scent, and feeling heightened to their most sensitive. Her veins pulsed in symphonic resonance. She felt truly alive in a way she hadn't before, but she didn’t have the nerve to open her eyes.
The knuckles of a single finger brushed along her cheek. She stopped breathing. Please let him be real. A tear slipped from between her closed lids. Dawn had no idea whether she remained frozen in a marble-like state or if she simply couldn’t to move.
A manly exhale washed over her and she opened her eyes by increments, too afraid she’d deluded herself.
Her man crouched before her, his arms resting on his knees, hands overlapping at the wrist to hang between his legs. He smiled with a glint of white teeth. The amethyst crystal glowed faintly as it floated overhead, and magical lights flickered across the sky in sets of bursting aurora borealis. Dawn cried full out. They’d stretched the moment between Halloween day and All Hallows Eve and claimed it for their own. The magic worked!