by Power, P. S.
She moaned and writhed for a while, then stiffened in orgasm, more easily than he'd have expected.
“It's been so long...” She whispered.
He kissed her again, then lay back on the bed, gently orienting her toward him so that she could go down on him. She started slowly, first licking him gently, circling him with her tongue. Her mouth felt warm and wet as it finally slipped over the head, she used her hand at first, along with her mouth, then went deeper, until he rested in her mouth and throat and there was no room even for her tiny hand.
When she pulled back to catch her breath, he rolled her over, onto her back.
The missionary position could be boring he knew, but he wanted to look into her eyes. They were like glittering emeralds. Slowly, careful not to go too fast, he entered her, feeling how tight and wet she was as she wrapped around him. He worked himself in, then began to thrust, with control, kissing her, and as he pulled his weight back a little to increase the speed, he told her that he loved her. She grabbed his head and pulled him back on top of her, kissing him again, urgently.
They rolled to the side and he moved behind her, entering her again. This time she felt even tighter and she panted a bit as he pushed his way inside. Zack watched her Shadow self to make sure he didn't hurt her, knowing she wouldn't complain even if he did, making him extra careful.
Seeing that she enjoyed herself, he reached in front of her and rubbed her gently with his right hand, slowly at first, just letting her know he was there, then he focused, using his Shadow to pulse a tiny sense of pleasure through his fingers into her. It was something the Alede did, but was easy enough to copy. She moaned suddenly, stiffening and tightening in orgasm around him. He increased the sense of pleasure a bit, keeping her going as he continued thrusting.
After five minutes he came, thrusting hard, as she cried out, her spasms having become stronger, gripping him inside her and throbbing until he finally softened and withdrew. She kept on for a while longer, perhaps a minute, before she rolled over, still panting, and kissed him again.
They held each other for some time, until she noticed he'd hardened. She used her hands for a while, until he had almost reached the point of no return, leaning down quickly she took him into her throat again, bobbing her head rapidly, swallowing as she did it, working him in more deeply, taking his seed when the time came.
She licked him clean before she let him wrap her in his arms.
“I love you husband. I grew up knowing that men simply used women without concern for their feelings or pleasures, but you always care... Even being as busy as you always are, you find time for us all, even though I've let the schedule lapse a bit of late, what with everything happening... I'll start it again now though. I'll make some modifications, since your bond and feeding of the Alede seems to have changed things for you more than a little.”
He listened carefully as she talked. She mentioned getting a computer again and he suggested that she get Troy to help her and purchase the best she could find. This earned him a tighter hug and a kiss, which she lingered on for a while.
Reaching down she stroked him again idly, though he found he responded normally, it didn't have that sense of urgency that it had earlier. Asking her if she wanted to go again, he moved behind her and focused a tight point of pleasure on her clitoris, as he entered her from behind, causing her to come on the first thrust, she moaned loudly, each movement matching her tightening. He hurried, knowing that she'd be sore the next day as it stood. Finally he released again, her body shuddering in pleasure, she dropped her head to the bed, behind still in the air, unable to do anything else for a time. He stroked her hips and buttock gently, telling her how loved she was.
This time when she rolled over, she smiled.
“I have a surprise for you!” She announced suddenly.
From her tone he knew it would be something she thought was great, which made him uneasy for some reason. He thought about it and realized that he couldn't think of anything that would really bother him too much though.
After all, by the laws of her people, they were married, so if she turned out to be pregnant, well, at his age he'd better be ready to be a father, even if his experience in this world had been somewhat limited. Anything else would be smaller and less important.
Her smile grew bigger.
“I took a call earlier, it was your Grandmother. She and your Grandfather are coming to visit, they'll be here tomorrow, isn't that wonderful!”
He sat back and realized that there had indeed been at least one thing that would be a bigger deal than Merri being pregnant.
He looked at her, and laughed.
Then he tried to explain what they'd have to do.
Chapter seventeen
“Well, this is an interesting situation, what do you want to do?” Claire asked him, her gaze frank and interested rather than holding the slight panic Zack felt and suppressed. Out of everyone, only Brin seemed to think that this situation with his Grandparents could be an actual problem for them.
She looked at them all, her mouth a firm line, small vertical lines forming. Her arms crossed her chest tightly as she stood to the side of the living room, wearing clothes that Claire had lent her, being similar in size now, with her recent weight loss. She looked stern and ready to fight, making Zack glad she seemed to be taking his side in this.
“These people are a risk. They can create problems for Zack, which means problems for us. All of the communities that need his services. Given his history, they can claim that he's mentally unstable and have him committed, if he doesn't seem right to them. He needs to seem sane and normal. This place, this situation, is anything but normal!” Her stance firmed, thinking things through like the politician she'd recently been.
She went on to explain that the United Communities would do a lot to protect Zack, including make his grandparents vanish if they created too much disruption for their economies.
Troy spoke next.
“Brin, I've met these people. They aren't monsters coming to, you know, ruin Zack's life or anything, they're just visiting with him. They're his grandparents, that's all. We just need to explain why Zack lives here instead of the old house. If we have a good story, they'll stay relaxed about things. I mean, don't tell them the truth, but, yeah...” He grinned. “We'll have Zack take a break from his real work and just work the Candle Store for a week or so. And his girlfriend, Libby, lives here with her rich Grandmother... Who's hired a bunch of her granddaughters friends to work around here in exchange for room and board? That's why we all have real jobs too, but aren't just freeloaders. We work here. I get to be the chauffeur!” He called out suddenly. “Dibs!”
Hilda looked blankly at him.
“Why can't we just tell them that he's the Human Line Walker? He had troubles, they thought, when he was young, but now he can walk the lines. They're his grandparents so it's not like they aren't allowed to know about him...” She stood shoulder to shoulder with Troy, staying close to him because she felt slightly worried that something bad might happen to Zack. In her own way, she sought reassurance, he could tell.
Troy explained that they might not have an easy time accepting things, especially since they sent Zack away for being different, not knowing that what he saw existed. Proving that they were wrong now could make them feel bad. Or worse, they may think that they were being tricked somehow.
"People can become defensive like that. Making things up to fit what they did, rather than what the facts tell them is true. I know, that seems like I'm suddenly being all wise, but I saw it on a television special, so you know it has to be true." He grinned about that, but Hilda nodded, as if it must, indeed be the case.
Libby looked at Troy with a slightly odd expression. It was almost pleased.
“Why would you pick me to be Zack's girlfriend? I mean, I don't look that much like Gran, she has the wolf look and I'm bat. It's pretty distinctive. Val could do it, or Claire. I get Merri, it will be a hard sell proving she's just s
mall, not too young... Not that I'm complaining, just trying to understand.” She locked eyes with Troy and didn't blink, he looked away, his Shadow scrambling to come up with an answer, Zack noticed.
Hilda broke in then.
“Well, it could be Claire, but she's so pale and looks like a Vampire. I mean, she's pretty, but even some Humans can pick up on things like that. You're the other one though...” She searched for the right words, reminding him that she didn't speak English as a native language. She'd gotten so good over the past months, no accent could be heard most of the time, that it became easy to forget.
“I'm Zack's friend. I'd give my life to protect him and I think he'd do the same for me. I know it. He saved my brother when an army captured him. But I'm not his love. Merri, is a dear and everyone loves her, but without the edict of her king, Zack wouldn't have ever even met her. Val, Sarah, Patty, they're close to him, and he would stand in front of death for them too, but he doesn't love them. On a deep level, they can't love him either. They're more like me than Human, in that regard.” She took a deep breath and went on, even though she knew that her words could bring pain to some.
“Kaitlyn, they are too similar. In many ways she's his child in truth. She smells like him now. If they traveled to my homeland, everyone would think Patty and Zack her parents. It's odd, but it's what is. She is his child now.”
Kaitlyn looked interested in that, since Maria had mentioned something similar a few days prior. He saw her inner self trying to process this.
The Trolleinkein woman kept talking, trying to explain what Troy had hit upon.
“Claire...I know it seems unlikely, but I think, somehow, Zack would have ended up with her, even if he hadn't turned out to be the Line Walker. They connect somehow. But, out of us all, I think Libby connects just as well. If she'd met Zack first, or if Claire couldn't manage him as a regular person in her life, I think that Libby would have been next.” Copying what she had seen Zack do so many times, she shrugged, on her it looked both powerful and fluid at the same time.
“What it comes down to is that Libby can be Zack's girlfriend and everyone would believe it, because it's true and she doesn't seem too strange. No one else here could do it. I suppose Troy could pull off being his boyfriend, but that would be hard in its own way, since neither of them likes men for sex and all...”
Everyone went silent for a while, trying to digest this. It rang of truth to Zack, who'd felt such things before, but had never stated them so clearly. The longer he knew Hilda, the more he came to understand that her insight went far beyond what people would consider normal.
She was probably a Glara. A shaman of her people. Even if she didn't know it yet.
Libby walked over to him and held his right hand, being left handed like most Bats. Claire already had his left hand in her right, they both looked at him adoringly. It made him blush. He could feel the heat on his cheeks.
Val summed the whole situation up for them. Either they lied, or they didn't. If they didn't they'd, either put stress on Zack or his Grandparents. If they did, well, it would be a lie and all future interactions with them would have to track with whatever they said.
Merri had drawn into herself, sitting in the corner of the sofa. Her inner self both withdrawn and panicked.
“It's all my fault... I...I... Didn't think that they wouldn't know, I thought they'd be proud of you, being the Line Walker and having so many fine wives and concubines, such riches. I... told them everything, Zack. I even told them how you fought the Vampire and saved us, and how you helped all those people. I didn't know not to. I...” She started crying, big wracking sobs coming out of her.
Everyone stared.
Finally Zack looked around the room, went over to Merri and sat next to her, putting an arm around her, chuckling a bit. He squeezed her shoulder, it felt even smaller than normal to him.
“Well! That's settled then. I guess we go with full disclosure. Hopefully we can do it in a way that they can handle. I refuse to let them think that Merri lied to them, or isn't sane. Been there, done that, not a fun place to visit.” His look dared anyone to suggest otherwise.
Troy laughed out loud. He got up and slipped into the small space between Merri and the arm of the sofa, making both her and Zack scoot over a bit. He leaned into her, his head touching hers.
“Don't worry about it. You were trying to apply, like, sane thinking to a situation that doesn't have sane rules. We'll deal. Worse comes to worse, we have Zack or Claire put the whammy on them and send them home believing that Zack works at a candle store. No big.”
Everyone agreed with Troy, though Zack wasn't too comfortable with the whole thing. His Grandparents had always been strange to him. A hole had formed around them over time, he knew. He'd had to learn to ignore them at first, when he'd come back, not understanding the world at all anymore. As a result he knew less about them than anyone in his life right now. He even knew more about Brin, who had only been around for a few days, or at least it felt like it to him.
They were supposed to get in at noon or a bit after. Zack worked his normal morning shift, a busy day, and let Lesser Shia know that he may not be in for a few days and why.
Hathe, their administrator actually clapped him on the shoulder.
"Relatives coming to visit? That is always welcome, and often trying at the same time. We will fix the schedules in light of this. At need we shall also stand ready to help you escape, if the need comes." It was said pleasantly, the translator speaking the words with what sounded like a little laugh.
Then the translator clapped him on the shoulder before he left, an unusual move for one of the blue dressed beings, hidden behind their veils while they worked. They generally tried not to show any personality while on duty. It made him feel better though.
They showed up at two in the afternoon, pulling into the driveway in a rented car, the GPS having gotten them almost to the door it seemed. Not that it was hard. The big circular driveway made it pretty apparent as to where to go. It had a topiary in the middle of the drive, that had been shaped to look like a hippo. Suddenly that seemed almost too whimsical. Like they'd think he was... Still a child.
Zack went out to meet them and help them get their bags in. As he always did when he saw them, he shut down his awareness as much as possible, filtering out everything but what they said. The world seemed to get smaller around them somehow, tighter. He loved them, he knew. Still, he had to fight not to close down around them, trying to hide everything he saw and felt.
His Grandmother hugged him firmly.
"You look good! Have you been eating right? Getting exercise?"
His grandfather shook his hand. "Zack! Good to see you. Now, where should us old folks put our bags?"
They had several of them, and the all leather cases looked new. They also screamed at him, the pain of the cows deaths hitting him in waves. He blocked that out too.
“Oh, in here. Everyone's waiting to meet you, we just didn't want to overwhelm you all at once. Troy lives here too, you remember him, right? Well, come on in.” He said brightly.
Inside, everyone had lined up in a reception line. Because that didn't seem over the top. Not at all.
“All right, everyone, this is my Grandfather, James Hartley and my Grandmother Florence. Grandma, Grandpa, this is...Everyone.” He introduced them all one by one, ending with Troy, who got a hug from Zack's Grandmother.
When they finished with the introductions, Hilda walked over and stood next to Zack's grandmother.
“I didn't know that you were Mages. Zack's a regular Human. And, you don't smell like him at all. Was he adopted? That's the right word, correct?” She asked genially. Everyone stopped and gathered around them.
Zack opened his mouth to correct her, when his Grandfather spoke.
“Ehm...We've... never told you this son, but this seems like as good a time as any, since your friend here has hit it pretty close to exactly... Your... father was adopted when he was a boy. After what happe
ned to you as a child, we didn't think you needed to know that we weren't your biological Grandparents. You'd had enough to deal with... We didn't want you to feel alone. We, we came to tell you, actually...” He shrugged. Zack realized where he had picked up that habit.
His Grandmother broke in then.
“When I talked to Merri here the other day, lovely to meet you in person by the way, and she told us about what you had been up too, well, we figured you'd simply met someone...Special. What she told us had enough information that Humans wouldn't know though to get us to call some of our old contacts. We really haven't been a part of the community for a while, what with one thing and another... I managed to get in touch with my old friend from school, Agnes and she filled us in on the whole Line Walker thing... I have to say we were... more than a bit surprised!”
Zack stared at them, and opened up his filters enough to see something he only vaguely remembered. Around each of them, a glowing silver-white nimbus shone. Just like the one around Lisa or her father George. Very different than what came off of Merri, a brilliant gold which could blind you if you weren't careful.
Zack put up a hand to stop her.
“Agnes Miller?” He asked.
“Oh yes. She mentioned that you and your people were kind enough to let her sit with you during the troubles about a month ago. I have to admit, we kind of missed that, along with everything else. For years, nothing happens, then suddenly several huge things in a couple of months. Maybe you can get us caught up?”
Zack knew that this should seem like a lot of news, but really, they were the same people, and this information didn't change how he felt about them. He knew they'd tried their hardest for him. Their Shadows rushed to explain everything to him as he stood there. It even made sense to him that they had thought him insane, because what he described seeing existed outside of their world view. He told them of seeing things, hearing things, that they simply didn't know existed. Mages or not.