That Touch of Magic

by Lucy March

  He shook his head, a warning look in his eyes. “Don’t make light of this. Please.” He picked up our coffee mugs, stood up, and dumped them in the sink.

  I got up and leaned against the table, staring at his back. “I’m not making light of any of this. I’m just saying … this is what we have. We can bury our heads, or we can try something and see what happens.”

  He was quiet for a long time, then said, “You can’t go with him.”

  “I don’t want to go with him, but I need to work every angle to make sure that doesn’t happen, and I need your help to do that.” I moved forward and put my hand on his chest. “Besides, it could be fun.”

  He gave me a pained look. “Stop.”

  I trailed my hand up his chest, over his neck, sliding my fingers into his hair. “Desire’s the only thing left on the list, Leo.”

  He took my hand in his and pulled it down, holding it away from him. “You want me to fuck you until you burst into flames? That it?”

  “No,” I said, keeping my eyes on his. “I want you to make love to me because I love you.”

  Our eyes met and I could see the conflict in his, the love and the caring and the connection we always had. I moved closer, twining our fingers together.

  “I have loved you every day of my life, Leo North, and I will love you until the day I die. If that day is coming sooner than I originally thought it would, then I don’t have time to waste with this bullshit dance anymore.” I pressed my body against his, kissed his neck, and whispered in his ear. “I want you because I have always wanted you, only you.”

  “Shit!” Leo dropped my hand and shook his own out. I looked at my hand; the ropes of red smoke were starting to form.

  “Oh, God, I’m sorry,” I said.

  Leo laughed. “Well, I guess we figured out what it is that gets you fired up.”

  “Are you okay? Your hands…”

  He shook his head. “Don’t worry about it.” He put his hands on either side of my face and pulled me to him for a kiss, then looked me in the eye. “I love you.”

  Happiness mixed with fear and I started to shake. “I know.”

  “I need you to know that,” he said. “This isn’t just about sex for me. It’s you, and you are everything to me. You have to know that.”

  “I know.”

  “Good.” And then his hands were on the buttons of my jeans. “Someone has to keep his head here,” he said quietly, tucking his thumbs inside my jeans and underwear. “I’m running this show, okay?” He slid my jeans off and lifted me, bare-assed, onto the table.

  “Okay,” I said, breathless, holding my hands out and watching them as the ropes of smoke started to intensify and move faster. Leo put his leg between my knees, nudging them apart.

  “What about you?” I asked, motioning toward him. “You’re still dressed.”

  “Don’t worry about me,” he said, then took my face in his hands and kissed me, hard, his tongue demanding my mouth with power and certainty. He grabbed my ass and pressed me against him, allowing me to feel him hard under his jeans. I groaned into his mouth as the core of me melted into him.

  “Oh, God,” I said when he pulled away. My eyes fluttered open, and I could see waves of heat distorting the air around my hands.

  He touched my chin and turned me to face him. “If it becomes too much, you tell me to stop. If you start to feel weak or dizzy—”

  “Stop talking,” I said, and kissed him. I could feel my heartbeat, warm and throbbing where we touched, and then he moved down my body, laying kisses on my collarbone, on my breasts through my T-shirt, and finally—

  “Oh, my God,” I said as he shifted me under him, laying me on my back and pulling my thighs up to rest on his shoulders. I held my hands out in the air, careful to keep my eyes open, watching the heat radiating from me as his tongue gently opened me up. I swallowed and watched the ropes of smoke as they danced over my hands, starting down my arms.

  “Leo,” I said, and he looked up. The cool air from his absence made my stomach tighten with desire, and the ropes moved up my forearm, toward my elbow.

  “Control it,” he said, his breath warm on my stomach as he spoke. “Focus.”

  I met his eyes and nodded. “Okay.” I looked at my hands, wrapped my mind around the power, and the ropes of smoke pulled back toward my wrist.

  He kept his eyes on mine as he went down again, and I held the contact, watching him as he adored me with his mouth, and then I slowly pulled my eyes away, looking at my hands.

  Focus. The waves of heat intensified at my palms, and the air around my lower arms began to look normal again.

  He slid one finger inside me and I groaned and closed my eyes. Oh, God, yes. I writhed under his touch, pushing myself against his tongue, and he withdrew.

  “Stacy,” he said, his voice quiet but tense, and I opened my eyes again. The ropes of smoke were moving down my wrists again.

  “I can’t,” I said, arching my back to slide closer to him. “I need you … I can’t…”

  “You can,” he said, and slid one finger back inside. “Focus.”

  He moved his finger lightly, curling it toward my stomach, and a bolt of heat shot through me, making me quiver.

  “I want you,” I said, breathless. “I want all of you.”

  “You’ll have me,” he said, letting the breath from his words dance over my wetness. “Control it.”

  I let out a breath and looked at my hands. Focus. Control. He slid a second finger inside at the same time as he moved his tongue and a flame shot out from my left palm, just the palm. Leo raised his head, but I said, “Keep going,” and he did, moving faster with the rhythm of my hips. I held out my right hand and he used his teeth and I hollered and shot flame out of my right palm, dissipating into the air. The ropes were gone; this was just me, my power, under my control.

  Mine.

  Leo looked up at me. “Good girl. How are you feeling?”

  “Like I’m going to kill you if you don’t take off your pants,” I said.

  He grinned at me. “I thought I told you I was in charge here.” He moved his fingers inside me, making me tighten around his fingers as I fell farther, closer …

  “Oh, fuck,” I said, and released a breath on the verge of climax, holding back, controlling. “I need you. Now.”

  I heard the rip of a condom wrapper, and when I looked up, his pants were off.

  “About damn time.” I let my head fall back, waiting, but there was nothing but cold air on me, and I lifted my head to see him stroking himself, watching me.

  “How long is that going to take?”

  “I’m ready,” he said, his face flushed. “But I need something from you first.”

  “What?”

  He put his hand on the flat of my stomach, and I could feel the hardness of him moving against me, not entering, just poised, making me insane with the need of him. He reached for my face, and with one finger gently angled my head to look at my right hand.

  “You’re not ugly,” he said, and entered me, just a little. “Say the words.”

  “Leo,” I said in breathless complaint as he teased me.

  “Say it,” he said, his voice firm, “and mean it…”

  “I’m not…,” I began, but the voice in my head said, Yes, you are.

  “Mean it,” Leo said, pushing a little farther into me, but still not near enough.

  “I … I can’t … I’m … oh, God, this is cruel.”

  He leaned his body over mine, still holding back, making me insane with need for him. He put his cheek against mine, angling both of our faces toward the flame coming from my hand, and then he turned his head and nibbled at my collarbone. I arched against him, dying for him, but he pulled back.

  “I know you better than anyone in this world,” he said. “I’ve loved you, all of you, every day of my life. I’m inside you. I have looked at you more than anyone on this earth and I know. Trust me. You are not ugly.”

  I looked at him, and ou
r eyes met, and I saw all the love, the need, the honesty in him. He was telling the truth. All I had to do was trust him more than I trusted anyone else, even myself.

  It was easy.

  “I’m not ugly,” I whispered, and within a second Leo pushed fully inside me and I screamed with the pleasure of it as the flame in my open hand burst out. I angled it away from Leo, sending the flame into the air, where it dissipated harmlessly.

  He pushed in again, a sound of pleasure coming deep from his throat, and I clenched around him.

  “Oh, please,” I whispered, and he kissed me on my cheek, then turned his head to watch the flame with me as he slowly, so slowly, moved within me.

  “Control it,” he whispered, and began to move faster.

  I took in a deep breath, and closed my right hand, finger by finger, into a fist, pulling the heat in, making it mine. The fire curled into my hand and disappeared as my hand closed.

  “What are you?” he asked, kissing my neck and pushing himself into me.

  “Beautiful,” I said, and laughed. I could feel the power in my hand, but I had it locked down, locked within, ready to burst free only when I told it to.

  He took one finger and angled my chin until my eyes locked on his. “True, but not the answer I was looking for.” He withdrew, almost to the point of leaving me, and I whined.

  “No, finish me,” I begged, and he moved my chin until I was looking at my left hand.

  “Tell me you’re not vicious,” he whispered, moving back into me so slowly, too slowly. I arched my back against him and he reached between us, where we connected, and moved his fingers against me as he pushed inside.

  “Tell me,” he said.

  “I’m not vicious,” I breathed, looking at my left hand. Leo pushed into me, working up the rhythm again, and I watched as flame began to shoot from my hand. I concentrated on the power, commanded it to be mine, as I slowly closed my left hand into a fist. I held the wave off, slowly closing my left hand, pulling the power into me, making it mine.

  I dropped my head back against the table and laughed. “Ha! I did it!”

  He cupped his hand under my head and lifted me until I looked at him. Between us, he pressed his other hand against me as he pushed the full length of himself inside and I gasped, allowing myself to feel it all, to hold nothing back.

  “Now,” I whispered. “Finish me.”

  He went still. “Tell me what you are.”

  “Frustrated,” I said, and laughed a little as I writhed beneath him.

  He smiled and used both hands to shift my hips beneath him, pushing into me. I cried out, and he leaned down, putting his lips next to my ear.

  “You’re powerful,” he whispered. “Say it.”

  “I’m powerful,” I said, feeling the words rush into me even as his rhythm picked up, as though each thrust sent the message home, into my core, where it could never be touched by anything anyone said to me, ever again.

  “Say it again,” he said, his voice breathless as he moved inside me.

  “I’m powerful,” I said.

  “And mine,” he said through clenched teeth as he pushed harder and faster. “God, Stacy, please. Say you’re mine.”

  “I’m yours,” I said. “I have always been yours.”

  “Mine,” he said, moving faster, pushing harder, reaching places within me I hadn’t known were there.

  “Yes!” I screamed as colored light exploded behind my eyelids. My orgasm hit in waves and he held me tight and released himself into me, the slow bursts from him keeping my climax afloat in the air longer, making me cry out again and again until I fell back on the table, grateful for the cold linoleum against my steaming skin. He fell over me, using his elbows to hold himself up even as his head dropped between my breasts. I opened my hands; there was no red smoke, no distorted air. The heat was gone, controlled, and I wrapped my arms around him, holding him to me.

  “I am yours,” I said. “Always and forever.”

  In what seemed like a split second, I was in darkness, and Leo was calling my name, with some urgency, but from far away. I felt the pull of him as I looked back and forth, unable to find him, unable to tell where I was, and then in a sudden whoosh I was back in my body, lying in my bed, with Leo hovering over me, frantic.

  “Stacy! Stacy!”

  I opened my eyes and took a moment to focus on him. Then I reached up with my arm and tried to touch his face, but my arm felt like rubber.

  “I’m here,” I croaked, my throat suddenly dry. “I’m here.”

  “What do I do? Do I just mix water in it? You didn’t tell me. I don’t know what to do.”

  I blinked a few times, then managed to focus on the purple vial in his hand. I clumsily pushed it away. “I’m okay.”

  “You’re not,” he said. “What do I do?”

  “Water,” I said. “No vial. Just water.”

  He gave me a look, as though he was preparing to argue, and then got up and poured me some water. A moment later, he was at my side, holding me up while I drank it. I finished it and lay back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling as he put the glass away. He sat down on the edge of the bed, and I reached out, able to control my fingers again, and touched his back. It was tense, hard as rock. I sat up and put my arms around his neck.

  “I’m okay,” I said. “A little exhausted and dehydrated. It’s been a hell of a day, and I shot fire into a room that was already hot while every bit of moisture I had was directed at a very specific place. Plus, I don’t think I’ve had anything to eat or drink today but coffee.” I thought for a moment. “Yeah. That’s it. Pretty stupid.”

  He got up and refilled my glass of water, then held it out to me and watched as I drank it. When I handed it back to him, I smiled.

  “I feel a lot better now,” I said, and it was true. “I really think it was just dehydration.”

  He nodded, not looking convinced, and took the empty glass. He got up, set it on the counter, and stood there, leaning his hands against the counter as he hung his head.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  “No,” he said simply. “But I will be.”

  “Come here.” I patted the bed next to me. He came to me, angling my body facing away from him so we could spoon together. He wrapped me tight in his arms and kissed my cheek.

  “I will always love you,” he said. “I need you to know that.”

  I pulled his hand up to my lips and kissed it.

  “I know,” I said, and then snuggled against his strong body, gave in to the warmth of his touch, and fell into a deep, satisfied sleep.

  Chapter 14

  I woke up just before dawn, my eyes flying open suddenly as whatever I’d been dreaming about poked me into consciousness. Leo had rolled over, his back to me, and I carefully crawled out of bed, slid into my jeans, snaked my phone out of my bag, and went outside. I leaned against the hood of the Bug, scanned through my contact list until I found the number I was looking for, and dialed. It rang twice before he answered.

  “What is it?” His voice was clear and fully conscious, as if I hadn’t woken him up.

  “Hey, Cain. It’s Stacy.”

  “Yeah, I know. Liv okay?” The southern sandpaper in his voice was just as I remembered it, and I smiled. I’d kind of missed the guy.

  “She’s fine. It’s me who’s in trouble.”

  He chuckled. “Why am I not surprised?”

  “Because you’ve met me. Hey, what do you know about Anwei Xing?”

  There was a long pause. “Tell me you’re not messing with Anwei Xing.”

  “What I’ve stepped in is way worse than Anwei Xing,” I said. “Can you tell me what happens if you take it for an extended period of time?”

  “Huh.” He was thoughtful for a moment. “Well, depends on how you mix it. Brewed straight up, like a tea, it’ll dull your emotions for a while. There’s some other things you can do—distillation, fermentation, hell I heard of one guy who even shot it up in a needle. Mess with it at that l
evel, and you can target some specific feelings, but you’ve got to be a damn master to pull that off. Not many people can do that.”

  “This guy can. He made me a potion that cut off my emotions surrounding one specific person.”

  “Huh,” he said.

  “Yeah.” I nibbled my lip and tried to figure out how best to phrase the thought that had woken me up. “The thing is, that’s a rare herb. People don’t just have that sitting around in their stores unless they’re actively using it, right?”

  “Depends on the person,” Cain said,

  “Do you think someone that good might be able to shut off his own conscience? Maybe accidentally? Like, maybe, if he was upset about something else, and it just spread to block out his entire moral center?”

  He was quiet for a moment. “That’s a lot of maybes there.”

  “Yeah, I know, but … let’s just say I’m grasping at straws. Because I am. Would he have to keep taking it to keep up the effects?”

  “Depends. Anwei Xing is pretty powerful. If you brew with the leaves, it’s a temporary effect. Use the root and you can do something lasts longer, but it’s dangerous.”

  “But possible?”

  “Easter, anything’s possible. Doesn’t mean that’s what’s happening. It’s possible your guy here is just an asshole.”

  “Well, he’s that, too, but let’s just play with this idea for a moment. Is there something that might counter the effects of Anwei Xing? Even if it’s permanent?”

  “What? You wanna give him his conscience back?”

  When I’d woken up, the idea had seemed like genius, but saying it out loud to Cain made it sound kind of stupid and amateurish. Whatever; anything was better than leaving Leo to go off and be Desmond’s lab rat. I was desperate. “Yeah. Might there be a way to do that?”

  “Off the top of my head…” He let out a long sigh. “Maybe, if he’s using just the leaves. If he distilled something with the root … damn, Easter. Hell if I know.”

  “Well, I’m up to my ass in alligators here. Any chance you could check into it for me?”