Magical Redemption

by Nicola E. Sheridan

“I didn’t realize you were a fashion snob as well as a mean bastard. There was nothing wrong with my leggings and dress.” She knew she sounded defensive.

  Lucian raised an eyebrow. “I’m going for a shower,” he said by way of an answer and abruptly deposited his own shopping bags on the floor. Kicking off the shoes Jinx magically conjured earlier, he peeled the gray sweater off as well.

  Her stomach did a crazy dance in her belly as Lucian stripped. His torso glistened with cooling sweat, and his abdominal muscles rippled as he moved and cast the sweater aside.

  The term “cor blimey” popped unbidden into her head. As Lucian slipped his hands to the zipper of his pants, she felt a roaring blush explode on her face.

  “You could do that in the bathroom, you know,” she said, aware her voice was a mere squeak. She averted her gaze from his long fingers as they toyed with the brass-colored zipper.

  “I could,” he agreed, his hands hesitating, “but you seem to be enjoying it.”

  “Oh.” She felt her blush deepen. “Go.”

  A gorgeous chuckle echoed around the room, and Jinx shot her head up in surprise. Lucian didn’t seem like the chuckling type. She threw another curious glance in his direction, but with a smile, he turned and entered the bathroom. The zipper of his pants rang as he walked.

  Jinx stood staring at the closed door for a few moments as the sounds of showering echoed around the room. Away from the threat of the Mafia, Lucian seemed almost relaxed, and that made her feel confused. She started pulling the clothing from his shopping trip, not knowing what to expect. The heat that had just started to dissipate from her cheeks burned with renewed vigor. She found an exquisite, fuchsia satin bra and matching French panties. Jinx fingered the satin of the bra. Scalloped around the edges was soft, black broderie anglais. It was pretty without being cheap. She glanced at the size. He chose her natural size correctly. Wow.

  Feeling tentative, she reached into the other bags and retrieved black, loose-fit silk pants and a black fitted top. How long had it been since someone had actually bought her something? She shrugged away the thought, not wanting to destroy the moment. She held her breath and opened the bag from Jimmy Choo. It revealed matching fuchsia and black high heels. Without waiting, she dropped the fluffy bathrobe and slipped into the clothes. They fit like a dream. As she stood in front of the dressing table, she scattered the cosmetics then carefully moisturized and applied the makeup in a way she hadn’t done for years. Since becoming a genie, she affected a harsh, grungy makeup style, with heavy eyes and dark lips. Lucian’s choice of cosmetics, however, wasn’t going to allow for hiding behind grungy masks. He bought colors that matched her eyes and skin, and lipsticks that made her lips look moist and kissable. When Jinx returned her gaze to the mirror, she was astounded by what she saw.

  I look nice. A beautifully-dressed woman stared incredulously back at her through the reflection. Jinx knew she didn’t look like a genie or a woman with a colored past. She looked calm and normal. She hesitated to call herself pretty as her nose was too strong for the word—striking, maybe.

  How did he know my size? How did he know what would look so good on me? Then, like dawn from dark, realization grew. He has got to be gay. No straight man could choose clothes and makeup this artfully. It wasn’t possible. The thought made something squirm uncomfortably in her gut. She didn’t want Lucian to be gay. He was drop-dead gorgeous, masterful at choosing clothing, tactless with women, and appalled by big breasts. Yes, it made sense. Lucian was gay.

  It was then that a sharp rapping sound came from the door. A spasm of shock caused Jinx to clutch her throat in surprise. The Hellcats ears pricked at the sound.

  “Who is it?” Jinx called, dismayed that her voice sounded so nervous. What if it was the gnome and the chupacabras? The Hellcat nearest her let out a low, rumbling growl. Alarmed—she was forbidden to use her magic—Jinx was suddenly unsure of what to do.

  “Lucian,” she whispered, swaying in her new high heels as she raced to the bathroom door. The sounds of showering continued. “Lucian,” she hissed a little louder into the door. Again, there was no response.

  Chewing her lip in consternation, Jinx pushed open the door to the bathroom and was surprised to find it unlocked. The heat from the shower sent a cloak of humidity clinging to her. As her eyes found him, a gasp collected in her throat. All the air was squeezed from her lungs, and the bones in her legs morphed to dust. She gripped the door frame for support.

  Lucian was naked. His body was lithe and taut as it moved sinuously under the rivulets of water. His buttocks could have been carved from honey maple. Their sculpted perfection would have made Michelangelo weep.

  He spun around.

  “Whoa,” Jinx exclaimed as he turned to face her. Lucian’s body might be artistic perfection, but she wasn’t prepared for its X-rated nature. He was sporting a massive erection. “Christ.” He was probably having a gay fantasy!

  Suds and water ran pornographic paths down his body as he endured her examination with complete dispassion.

  “Yes?” he asked, raising an artful eyebrow as he ran a lazy hand up his abdomen with a soapy washcloth.

  Sweat prickled on top of Jinx’s lip, leaving an unflattering, sweaty moustache. “Ummm.” Why had she come in here, again?

  “You seem lost for words,” he said. “You’ve seen a naked man before, I’m certain, so why the stunned silence?” He paused to give each underarm a good scrub, his erection jolting with the momentum.

  Jinx struggled. “Have you no shame?” She gestured weakly at his naked body.

  “Very little,” he replied slyly. “I could redirect the question to you as you have shamelessly interrupted my shower. What do you want?”

  For yet another interminably long moment, she gulped and swallowed. She searched deep for the strength to pull her thoughts from the gutter, but her eyes were drawn irresistibly to his erection, again. Realizing she was yet again staring, she tore her gaze to rest on his face. His eyes flashed as he suddenly took a step toward her. His angular face and narrowed gaze made him look predatory.

  “Look. There’s someone at the door. That’s all I came to say.” She backed away from the bathroom door.

  Lucian flickered his eyes, and the creeping sense of predation disappeared. “Have you tried opening it? It’s generally what someone does upon hearing a knock.”

  Suddenly irked, Jinx retorted, “No. You’re in trouble with the Mafia. It could be chupacabras.”

  Lucian sighed but didn’t seem perturbed. He turned and rinsed himself before returning to face her. His erection hadn’t even wilted. Was he enjoying this? He reached out a hand. “Towel,” he ordered. Jinx automatically reached over and threw a fluffy, white bath towel in his direction. He caught it deftly. “It won’t be the chupacabras. The Pater Rex doesn’t know where we are and won’t for a few days, yet. It takes him a while to trace me, and tracing me to Kuala Lumpur, with all its incumbent magical ion-testing devices, will take time and care on his behalf. He’ll find me eventually, though. He always does.”

  Jinx didn’t know which bit of the conversation to be more alarmed about. “The Pater Rex is that gnome? The head of the Family is a gnome?”

  Lucian wrapped the towel around his waist and stalked out of the bathroom. “Yes, he is.”

  “How exactly will he find you?” she asked, relieved his body was finally modestly covered.

  Lucian stiffened and considered her for a long moment. “You have done nothing to warrant my confidence.” His tone regained its usual, cold hauteur. “Perhaps when you divulge something of your past, I may do the same.”

  There was another impatient tap on the door. They looked at each other.

  Crystalline drips of water hung at the ends of dark strands of Lucian’s hair. His brown eyes were unreadable. The Hellcats behind him stopped grooming and their ears pr
icked as he muttered something unintelligible at them. There was a knock at the door again, and a voice called, “Is anyone in?”

  With one last glance in her direction, Lucian stalked to the door and pulled it open. There, in the corridor, a cheerful but ordinary man stood, dressed in the resort uniform. He smiled broadly.

  “Sorry to disturb you, sir,” he said. “Your taxi has arrived and is waiting.” The man darted his gaze past Lucian to Jinx. He quickly averted his eyes. Jinx threw a glance at the Hellcats, but they’d disappeared. How did Lucian control them? Aren’t Hellcats by nature uncontrollable?

  “We will be down in five minutes.” Lucian’s tone was dismissive and cool. The cheerful man wilted.

  “Yes, sir. Very well.” He inclined his head and scurried back down the corridor.

  As Lucian closed the door, Jinx couldn’t help but ask, “Where are we going?”

  “We are going to find somewhere safe to perform magic, and then we will return back here for the night. Tomorrow, we’ll look at heading to the Free Zone.”

  “Why not just go there, now? Wouldn’t that be safer?”

  “My reasons are my own. I don’t have to explain them to you.” There was a glacial shift in his attitude.

  “Fine.” Jinx turned and walked back to the bed. “You’d better hurry up. Five minutes isn’t long.”

  Lucian said nothing. Jinx heard him opening bags and dressing himself quickly. As she walked to the bed, she saw her broken necklace puddle in the bed cover. She scooped it up and slipped it into her pocket–just in case.

  “Come,” Lucian said. Jinx twirled around.

  He was dressed in soft, black pants and white shirt and wore the same shoes she conjured for him. He ran a hand through his hair and brushed it loosely back.

  Her innards squirmed as she caught his heavy gaze. She got the impression he knew exactly what she was thinking about. The thought made her uncomfortable. He was so damned sexy. It would be a shame for womankind if he were of the homosexual persuasion.

  “Are you gay?” she suddenly asked.

  Lucian froze. “Gay?”

  “Ummm, yeah.” Jinx coughed, trying to expunge the sinking feeling she trodded in something nasty and walked all over white carpet.

  “Why on Earth would you say that?” he snapped. His expression was now unmistakably annoyed and bordering on outraged.

  “Well, you bought me these gorgeous clothes. What straight man would know to buy MAC makeup? You have an aversion to large breasts and think they’re vulgar. You’re incredibly defensive. Are you still in the closet?” She petered off and fell silent. She chewed her lip and took a hesitant glance toward him. He contorted his mouth as he struggled to come up with some explanation.

  “I cannot believe you’d seriously think that,” he thundered. “I am not gay, and I am not in the closet!” Growling and muttering something under his breath, Lucian captured her hand and pulled her toward the door.

  “Then, what exactly are you?” she retorted as he scooped up his sports bag.

  Lucian stiffened for a miniscule moment, and the outrage died. “Unfortunately, you’ll find out what I am soon enough,” he said very softly. Jinx got the impression she soon would.

  They fell into silence. Lucian released her hand as they entered the lobby. Unsurprisingly, the cab had long since left, and Lucian’s simmering outrage and anger reared its head once again. As the concierge got a blistering dressing-down for his “negligence”, Jinx waited for another cab. She supposed on the outside, they looked like an ordinary couple, though judging from the curious glances of the reception staff, they were wondering where the buxom blonde had gone.

  It was early evening when they slipped into a sweaty-smelling cab. The thought of how little she slept made Jinx feel incredibly weary, again. She stole a sneaky glance at Lucian as he sat down in the front seat of the cab whilst she crawled into the back. He looked slightly perturbed, though slickly handsome all the same. She furrowed her brow. Until this moment, she hadn’t really noticed his vaguely predatory air. The cab driver had, however. He behaved oddly, carefully avoiding looking Lucian in the eye. The old man raised a hand and scratched his head under the little white cap he wore. Lucian didn’t notice the old man’s unease and barked a destination. Jinx saw surprise flicker in the rheumy, brown eyes reflected in the rearview mirror, but the cab driver grunted his agreement.

  The cab then pulled off into suffocating traffic. A gnarled, old hand fiddled with the cab meter, and Jinx watched it jump from five ringgits to twenty ringgits. The old bugger is going to rip us off!

  “Lucian,” she said, irked by the cab driver’s nerve.

  “Leave it,” Lucian replied, and Jinx could do nothing but obey. They sat in the cab for an annoyingly long time, listening to the cab driver’s choice of Arabic music. It reminded Jinx painfully of home. She hadn’t listened to the tuneful wail of this music for more than fourteen years. For the second time that day, the memories burned behind her eyes, though she struggled ardently to ignore them. It wasn’t working. The soulful melodies coaxed the images and feelings from the dark recesses of her mind. She saw the angry, hurt face of her father and felt his shame burn hot and furious in her gut. Jinx squeezed her eyes shut. Her family left Beirut for Perth in 1983 when she was only a small girl. Her father had done everything to ensure the safety of his family—everything. A devout, magical Maronite Christian, he never once let them down, but she had. She shamed them and broken the pact. She didn’t blame her father for what he’d done. He’d saved her life the only way he could, even after she messed up everyone else’s.

  “Jinx?” Lucian was close to her ear. She jerked her eyes open. The cab had stopped, and Lucian was leaning through the door, looking at her hard.

  Jinx gulped. She didn’t want to see the annoyance in his feral, hard eyes–it somehow made her hurt more. “Yep, I’m coming,” she muttered. Blocking out the florid ornamentation of the music, she slipped out of the cab.

  When she stood straight in the street, she looked around. The place was throbbing with people. Brightly veiled women scurried from place to place, laden with shopping bags.

  “Where are we?” she asked, ignoring the quiet expectation in Lucian’s posture.

  “I am going to insist you stop being so…distracted. I cannot afford my genie to be distracted.”

  My genie. How I hate that term.

  Jinx glared back at him. “What? I am not distracted.”

  “I beg to differ. I allowed you your little meltdown in the shower, and now I expect your 100% concentration.”

  She struggled to find a suitable answer. “I’m sorry, master, but even you cannot stop how I feel.”

  Jinx saw Lucian grit his teeth. “My name is Lucian, and I believe I can.”

  She put her hands on her hips and opened her mouth to retort, but Lucian spoke over her, apparently having heard enough. “You asked where we were. We are in the textile area of Kuala Lumpur. There’s a stall here we need to visit.”

  He turned abruptly and headed in the direction of a tarpaulin-canopied market palace. It was swelteringly hot under there. The small, mamak stalls groaned with fried delicacies, fruit, curries, rice dishes, and roti plates. Her stomach grumbled.

  “Hungry?” Lucian asked, throwing a studiously casual glance at her.

  “A bit.” She followed him, careful not to splash her shoes in the rancid puddles of water peppering the broken, cracked pavement. Within an instant, Lucian spoke to a small lady behind one of the stalls and ordered a fried something-or-other. He handed it to her in a soft, white napkin.

  “Here,” he said, nudging her slack hand. “Eat up.”

  Jinx frowned but accepted the proffered thing. “Why are you suddenly being so nice?” she asked as she took a bite. It was some sort of curry-puff and utterly delicious.

 
“I am not being nice.” He looked revolted by the suggestion.

  Jinx smirked and waggled the curry puff at him. “If you say so.”

  Lucian sighed irritably at her. He caught her wrist and stopped her from waggling the curry puff. His touch was electric and burning, but he didn’t seem to notice. “I am merely taking care of your needs so that you are able to tend to mine. It’s called mutualism, symbiotic mutualism–not being nice.” He dropped her hand. Jinx stared at him.

  Lucian returned her stare with an expression she couldn’t distinguish. Without another word, he stalked deeper into the market.

  Jinx shook her head. “Wait,” she called and dashed after him, which was difficult given the height of her heels. Within a moment and with screaming toes, she caught him. She tugged his shirt, forcing him to turn around and confront her. “I took high school biology. I know symbiotic mutualism can only occur with two creatures of different types.” She sucked in a deep breath. “I’m magical but essentially human. So, what does that make you?”

  Ignoring the noises around her, Jinx waited expectantly for his answer. Lucian looked down at her with an unreadable expression. “If you weren’t so distracted, you’d remember. I’ve told you; you’ll find out soon enough.”

  “Ugh,” she groaned as Lucian turned from her yet again and continued his walk through the canopied marketplace. She followed with impotent frustration burning down her neck and shoulders. The market smelled intense. Aside from the aroma of cooking, there were wafts of rotten fruit, sweat, and occasionally something suspiciously like an eggy fart. The smells were almost as vibrant as the colors and people who worked there. Smiling, calling, or disapproving, Jinx was under the distinct impression they both were being carefully watched.

  She walked a step or two behind Lucian, covertly admiring his strong, broad back. Jinx was filled with curiosity. “How did you know about this place?” she asked. She finished her curry puff and looked around hopelessly for a garbage bin for her napkin. Without comment, Lucian turned and took the napkin then slipped it into his trouser pocket. The action was so familiar and comforting that Jinx felt an involuntary ache respond in her body. She clenched her jaw tight and refused to look at him as he answered.