by LV Lewis
To some degree, he feels guilty for where he’s bringing the princess: his apartment, with its wards in place and a level of familiarity being in his personal territory. After the discussion of what is appropriate and what is not, an outsider would look at this decision and believe Gary is taking advantage of Amarie’s emotions. If Gary were honest with himself, and he isn’t, he’d be unable to deny such charges. Instead, he tells himself it’s the safest place for now, for tonight. At least this much, he knows is true.
Before reaching their destination, trouble begins brewing in the dark around them. Gary is keeping a close eye on the shadows and his right hand is on one of his guns at all times. Small movements are relatively regular, little shadows crisscrossing as Nighters live, fuck, and feign disinterest in the meat walking across their thresholds. There comes a moment when he realizes those movements are no longer random, instead are becoming militant and in sync. Still a mile from his apartment, Gary gives Amarie a warning look, then sweeps his head from left to right.
She picks up on his warning and nods. More movements in the shadows, more sound, too many bodies moving in tandem to be an accident or fluke. The two of them are being surrounded.
“Gary, what do we do?”
Pulling out two guns, Gary winks. “We fight. Run. Fight again when necessary.”
“I don’t know if I can do any better than . . . ”
“You have to if you plan on seeing the sun again, Princess.”
He hates being cold towards her, but there’s no room for fuzziness right now. A second attack in three nights means business. Somebody is serious about seeing the princess dead. He can only do so much by himself in this scenario. He’ll be able to blow a hole for them to run into, but if they have any smarts, they’ll close that hole up, make the circle smaller. The only thing working in he and Amarie’s favor is that they can make them work around buildings. Grabbing Amarie’s hand, he leads her into the nearest alley. Step one, complete.
Step two involves isolating one or two of their attackers at a time. This takes patience and stepping more quietly than the enemy. Amarie’s elven feet carry her with quiet swiftness. Gary must try harder, but his military training allows him to keep ahead of her. They move, first right, then left, then right again. Gary motions for a full stop, listening. Little legs are still making noise; the nearest enemies are too close, but that also means they’ve gotten near the edge of the circle. Another right around a corner only to run into a goblin. Surprised, the creature jumps and points a staff at Gary. Gary aims with his right hand and fires. The goblin falls as around him, positions are shifted to accommodate Gary giving away their position.
Five bright purple blasts of energy come straight at him. Gary falls flat, only to watch them smash into an invisible wall and dissipate. He now hears Amarie whispering something. Gary tries to understand her, then realizes she’s casting a spell. Gary smiles. If the princess can’t be offensive, then by the gods, she can do defense. Fine with me.
He motions for them to keep moving, and Amarie’s whispering stops. Gary shoots her a question, and she shakes her head side to side.
“It only works while standing still. Sorry. But, when you stop, I’ll have it right back up. I only need about two seconds to form it.”
“Okay, we can work with that. Can I fire out while it’s up?”
“Afraid not.”
“Damn. Well, get it up when we stop.”
Gary looks around, searching for anything he could use as a funnel to make these little bastards follow him rather than continuing to choke them into a corner. Catching something to his left, Gary looks with awe as Sydney, now almost twelve feet tall, brings her fists down. The resulting crash is slightly mushy, suggesting she caught at least one of the attackers. Two quick shrieks confirm a double kill, and then she’s gone, tiny and invisible in the dark. How the hell did we ever survive the war, he wonders.
Emboldened by Sydney, Gary motions for Amarie to follow him. They run across an open parking lot, dodging more purple blasts. Watching for points of origin, Gary fires incessantly at four areas in front of them. Unsure how many he hit, but considering it a win with Amarie still at his side and unhurt, Gary reloads both guns with practiced precision.
Their luck is running out. The goblins have gotten bored of the chase, and begin blasting the building he and the princess are hiding in the shadow of. The building starts caving in, forcing them to move. Gary takes three steps before a lightning bolt comes from the shallow sky and strikes him in the leg. Falling down among the rubble, Gary screams as his leg first burns, then goes numb.
Faces come out of the shadows. The goblins’ win is imminent, and they still have enough sense to savor the moment. Gary counts fifteen of the beasties forming a half circle around Amarie and him. Raising his right arm, his fires his gun until it’s empty, switches arms, and fires again. When the second gun clicks empty, he starts reloading. Another bolt of lightning strikes his leg, burning it again and, quite possibly, rendering all his nerves useless down to his ankle. He screams again. Recovering enough, he gets another count that puts the closest wave at only five, but they are being replaced quickly as more goblins pour out of the darkness.
“Amarie, where’s that shield? Things are about to go really, really wrong.”
“I got it up, but let it down when you started firing. They were waiting for me to drop it. Gary, they’re willing to die to accomplish their goal.”
“Yeah. Yeah, they are.”
Gary watches as more and more goblins make their way towards the pair. Morty lied, or less likely didn’t know, that many more than fifty goblins had been taken. There were at least seventy gathering around them now.
A howl goes up less than sixty feet from the two of them. Both look over, and the vision is both grand and terrifying. A pack of wolves, twenty strong, stand at the ready. They are led by a larger specimen, obviously the alpha. He howls again, and the wolves begin sprinting towards the goblins.
Magic starts flying through the air. Yelps and shrieks fill the night, fur flies and bones crunch between teeth. More goblins come running, landing Gary’s count at almost ninety. When the wolves realize how outnumbered they are, they grow bigger, some standing on two feet. Gary has silver bullets on him, but at this point, if the werewolves decide to attack them, they are truly well and good and dead.
At some point, the alpha wolf comes up to Gary with a goblin between his teeth. He drops the poor creature in front of the Human, then growls.
“Tell him, you woeful creature.”
The goblin makes a sound that is both a growl and squeal, the hate emanating from his red eyes palpable. Blood is pouring from puncture marks along his arms and left side.
“M-m-master want you know. You no stop the Arc. You though must come. Not her though,” he glances at Amarie, “she no allowed. You one chance save her friend though. Come South, come underground. Come save Corilynn. But, PRINCESS DIES!”
The goblin lunges for Amarie, but Gary puts a bullet between its eyes before a single scale reaches her. The alpha looks on with appreciation. Amarie’s eyes remain wide for several seconds.
“I don’t know who you are, but you saved our lives tonight. Thank you. My name is Gary Locke.”
“Good to meet you, Locke. I am Musashan, and this is not a purely benevolent save. I’m afraid the elven ambassadors were right to hire us to keep an eye on you, Princess.”
“Thank you, Musashan. Your deed tonight will not soon be forgotten by the Elves, and certainly never by myself,” Amarie states dryly.
“We’ll keep them off of you, but you’re gonna have to run,” Musashan says. “We can’t kill them all, and a prolonged fight only sees more of my pups die in the street. Get out of here.”
“Go, Princess. I can’t protect you properly with my leg like this,” Gary begins.
“Stop. I’m an Elf. Surely you know that our magic surpasses all others.”
Amarie tears the bottom half of Gary’s trousers o
ff. His leg is more black and purple than pale flesh that does not see enough daylight. She puts both hands on his leg, making Gary wince in pain.
“Suck it up, soldier. You,” she looks at Musashan, “if you’re being paid to protect me, then you are protecting him as well, for I’ll not leave his side. Keep us alive until his leg is fixed.”
Musashan nods and howls for backup. Four wolves come rushing up, surrounding the two of them. It doesn’t take long for a pack of goblins to come near, and the wolves expedite their trip to the next life.
Amarie ignores this, closing her eyes and focusing on the mutilations done to Gary’s leg. In her mind’s eye, she searches the damaged skin, then goes deeper and finds the broken arteries, muscle, and bone. Elves’ magic might be considered based in nature, but the truth is, their magic studies come closer to advanced biology. She knows how everything needs to be, putting the puzzle together in her mind and letting the knowledge flow from her mind into Gary’s leg.
Gary watches in amazement as Amarie’s hands begin to glow green, blue, and then back to green. Muscle starts to move under his skin, coming together in painful waves. Bone re-fuses, and arteries lace around and reconnect to the tissue. Blood starts flowing correctly again, and he sees the black skin fall away, replaced by what can only be new skin. Determined not to break Amarie’s concentration, he suffers the pain in silence, until his nerves wake up again, nearly all at once.
“Aaagh!”
Amarie opens her eyes, smiling. Her job is done. Musashan looks both impressed and annoyed. Gary gets to his knees, testing his leg’s ability to handle weight. Other than the sharp tickle of nerves, it’s like he never got hurt.
“Now get out of here. I’ve lost enough pups tonight,” Musashan demands.
Gary nods, grabs Amarie, and they start running. Behind them, they hear a growl and heavy padded feet following them. Musashan is keeping good on his word. Gary rededicates himself to keeping his own, running stiffly towards his apartment. Running towards safety for her, and possibly his own damnation.
*****
Inside his apartment, Gary slams the door, locks it, and heaves out a sigh. Amarie, too, is panting from the long run, leaning against the wall with her back to him. The air between them is filled with emotion. Gary’s ears ring from all the gunshots, screams, and strain the night provided.
The princess seems stiff as well. He can see her quivering from the stress, using the wall to hold herself up. Gary watches her legs, the muscles jumping as she shifts from one foot to another. His gaze moves up to the curve of her behind, admiring how each cheek moves over the other with each shift.
Slipping his shorts off, he moves up behind her and puts thick arms around her middle, making sure his groin is directly in line with her curvature. Too late for an apology, he slips one hand under her shirt and cups her left breast. Her sweat smells sweet, and he leans in with his mouth, biting the back of her neck softly, tasting the salt of her dark hair. Her gasp is all the permission he needs.
Using his body to press her flat against the wall, he moves his hands to hers, forcing them up above her head. He can tell that, even if she wanted to, she would be unable to bring them back down on her own. Caught up in her natural perfume, he barely registers the feel of her butt as he swells up against her body.
Amarie turns her head enough to look up into his face. The question must be in his eyes. She simply nods, then turns back towards the wall, waiting to see, feel, what part of her he wants next. Gary moves his mouth from the back of her neck to the tender area between her shoulder and ear. Licking slowly, carefully, he feels her whole body shiver. Using only the tip of his tongue, he licks up from the base of her neck to her earlobe. Another shiver. Biting lightly on the rounded flesh, his body pressing more urgently against hers, Gary hears a whispering cry of pleasure escape her mouth.
Releasing her hands and lifting off her body just a bit, he raises up the white shirt covering her skin. He makes sure to enjoy the sight of her nipples releasing the fabric at the last moment, then presses her back against the wall. Amarie grunts at the roughness, but does not complain. Instead, she pushes her backside harder against him, reminding him of his hard-on. It hurts, swollen as it is. He doesn’t let her body up off the wall as he peels her white pants, soaked from sweat, down over her behind. No way. Bare skin touches bare skin, and he swells even more. God, I can’t keep this up much longer, he thinks.
Amarie reaches around and grips his thighs with both hands, lightly grinding her cheeks against his swell. Gary grunts this time, closing his eyes as pleasure washes over him, as her hands, slightly cool, warm against his body. Suddenly, he no longer feels her body against him, and he opens his eyes to find her kneeling in front of him. She’s cradling him in both hands, sliding one up and down the shaft in slow strokes. With no warning, her mouth covers his cap, and he engorges again, and now it is painful. Her mouth is wet and warm, and takes him in with ease. She uses her tongue along his shaft and he can’t help but quiver, so close and yet so far away. She comes back up and places his whole cap back in that warm moist spot. One hand has crept to his sac, fondling gently while a single finger probes its base.
“Tell me what you’re going to do to me, Gary.”
His mind is temporarily gone, the idea of subtlety foreign to him. “I’m going to fuck you.”
“Then do it. Show me how you’re going to fuck me, how you’re going to own my body. Shh. I want you to own it, for a little while.”
Amarie slips out from between Gary and the wall, walking seductively toward his couch. Gary stares after her for a moment, blown away that such a woman would use such words. When she bends over the back of the sofa, he stalks over to her, allowing her to show him her inner world before getting on his own knees. He’s too turned on to be gentle as she was. Opening his mouth wide, he places it over her mound completely and begins sucking. Caught by surprise, both by his actions and the fact that he’s still prolonging what she made clear she wants, Amarie gasps over and over again as Gary’s tongue swirls around, clipping her clit then digging inside of her with a fervor she’s never experienced before.
Gary’s hands spread her cheeks further apart, making it easy to reach all Amarie’s pink areas with his tongue. Amarie starts crying out and a stream of liquid is washing through his mouth and beard. Standing, Gary uses two fingers to rub either side of her clit until she’s screaming ecstasy and her juices are pouring out of her.
Amarie doesn’t waste any time, turning around and getting behind Gary. Reaching around, she begins jerking him off with one hand and rubbing his sac with the other. It doesn’t take long before he’s grunting, nearing his own release. But he doesn’t want such a hollow form of pleasure. He needs to be inside her. Now.
Unable to wait any longer, Gary turns, picks Amarie up and carries her to his bed. Throwing her down, he lays down on top. Amarie guides him in, though hard as he still is, she probably didn’t need to. Lined up, Gary shoves himself all the way in, and both gasp as the other’s warmth engulfs them.
“Show me how you’re going to fuck me, Gary,” Amarie whispers.
Gary punishes her with every ounce of anger, love, sweetness, greed, and lust he has. No position is ignored. No kiss left unanswered. No pain left unfelt or pleasure unsated. When Amarie takes over, she returns everything in kind. Two people, two creatures, find love in the sweat, bodily fluids, and complete openness of their first sexual encounter. When both are completely spent, they ignore the covers, wanting only to continue but too exhausted, and use each other for whatever warmth might be needed. They sleep in bliss, and even when morning comes they remain entangled, a monster drenched in the proof and knowledge that everything it did was right.
Awake
Amarie wakes up to the sizzle and smell of bacon. A glass of orange juice sits on the bedside next to her, emblazoned with an orange “U” like everything else in this place. She doesn’t want to think about her disenchantment with the Complex right now. Her body ho
lds nothing but pleasure, and her mind many other worries to consider. Namely, her feelings for Gary which were expressed in full last night. She needs to know whether her new lover intends to hold on to her heart, or if he was merely reacting to physical stimuli. She also must decide if her own heart wants to pursue this further. While her answer now is yes, that is based on emotion only, not on thought and introspective considerations.
Gary’s footsteps alert her to his coming, and she tries to hide her face in the scant pillows and blanket around her. He carries a large plate in both hands, piled up with eggs, bacon, and even fruits and nuts. He smiles at Amarie’s attempt to hide embarrassment.
“Uh uh. Let me see those high cheekbones turn red.”
In the happiest possible way, this embarrasses Amarie more, and she digs her face deeper into her pillow, but a traitorous laugh reveals her true state of mind. She doesn’t regret a second of what they did last night. Sydney laughs in some remote corner of the room as she reads Amarie’s thoughts. Once again, the only awkward thing is whether this relationship will be long-term, or if it’s a relationship at all. If her life weren’t in actual danger, she would save it for another day, and let the good feelings keep hold of her a while longer.
“Gary?”
“Yes?”
By the mihres, does he have to be cute all the time with that sweet, knowing smile?
“Is this . . . are we just a fling, or is this something else?”
Gary stands, honestly dumbfounded by the question. Amarie’s heart skips, for she knows the answer before he even speaks. Shaking off the freeze of surprise, he walks over, sets the plate down on the bed, and sits across from her. His eyes wander up and down her face, searching for a trick, or some kind of code to answer a puzzle correctly. Finding nothing, he instead leans over and kisses her, a long, deeply passionate kiss. When he tries to pull away, Amarie puts her hand in his beard and pulls him back, not wanting this moment to go away. When she lets him go, he stays where he is rather than pulling away again.