“I suppose that gives a second meaning to the Independent Coalition,” said Lee.
All the eyes around the table turned toward him. Aside from a tiny snort from Tess, the room didn’t seem to appreciate his joke much.
“The Melting Pack’s attacks will never be enough to take down the Order on their own,” said Mira. “They might have numbers on their side, but as far as organization, resources, and fortifications go, they’re simply no match.”
“Of course not.” Jack sighed. “That’s why I put the idea forward of us combining our forces in the first place. It seems each individual faction of our alliance has their own idea about how to approach this conflict.”
“Um.” Ryoko lifted her hand up. “I spoke with King Mora. I already explained this to Jack, but it appears he and his Sacred Sirens are unwilling to project their power outside of Hawaii and the Pacific Islands.”
“They’re playing the neutral game,” said Zoe. “No surprise there. If I had to guess, I’d say they’re starting to lose confidence in our cause. What about the others?”
“Trevor Barksdale is taking advantage of the Order’s current distracted state,” said Jack. “He’s taking firm control of the criminal underworld, but it doesn’t seem like he has any intention of fighting anyone directly. As far as Prophet goes, I’ve heard no word, and I’m not sure I would welcome his help if he offered it.”
“So, to summarize,” said Mira, “we’re still losing.”
Jack shrugged. “It’s more accurate to say we aren’t yet winning. We do have a few advantages. The Order is still distracted by their attempts to retake Primhaven and deal with the Unavowed Queen, but that’s a matter that concerns us as well.”
Again, the eyes around the table turned toward Lee. He’d stopped nibbling on the slice of pizza he’d taken and was gripping a napkin in his fingers, twisting and shredding it in lieu of a proper outlet for his frustration.
“Interesting…” said Mira. “Could we perhaps reach out to this entity? She would make a powerful ally, would she not?”
“She’s not involved in this!” snapped Lee. “Whatever power games you want to play with the Order are your business, but Eliza is my friend. She’s… not herself right now, but I came here to find help for her, not to let you use her as a weapon.”
He heard the anger in his own voice and felt a bit childish for losing his temper. Mira held up a hand with a placating gesture.
“I did not mean to offend with my question,” she said. “Perhaps some wine? We can discuss this more another time.”
“Wine would be welcome,” said Zoe.
CHAPTER 3
They set business aside as the night wore on, which Lee had no objections to. The Masterson estate’s wine cellar was functionally bottomless, and Mira, devious as usual, had added a bottle of tequila into the mix.
“Come on, Tess,” said Lee. “Let me do a body shot off you.”
“That wouldn’t even work, you dummy.”
“Come on…”
She rolled her eyes at him, her grin betraying her feigned annoyance. The gathering had drifted into the lounge, and Lee was aware of how ridiculous he must have looked as he chased Tess around one of the couches.
Zoe was sitting on Mira’s lap in one of the lounge chairs. Jack and Ryoko were kissing and talking softly in front of the fireplace. Tess let out a squeal as Lee got his arms around her waist and hoisted her over his shoulder.
“You big bully!” she cried. “Put me down this instant!”
“Or what?”
“Or… or…”
Lee flipped her down onto an empty couch and straddled her. He started kissing her neck, noticing Mira raising an eyebrow at what must have been a strange scene for someone unable to see ghosts.
“Is he alright?” she asked.
“He’s taking advantage of a drunk ghost,” said Zoe.
Mira’s mouth fell open. The next thing Lee knew, he was on the ground with a busty vampire on top of him, pinning him in much the same way he’d just been pinning Tess.
“You’re a guest in our house, Mr. Amaranth,” purred Mira. “You need to follow the rules while you’re here.”
She leaned forward, pressing her very large breasts within inches of his face. She’d changed into sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt on arriving back at the mansion, but from the way the fabric clung to her curves, she wasn’t wearing a bra underneath it.
“Is that so?” asked Lee. “I’m pretty sure rules were meant to be broken.”
His play with Tess had gotten him rather excited. He reached around, letting his hands settle on Mira’s soft buttocks.
“Not that rule,” whispered Mira. “Certainly not without a cost.”
He felt her lips brush against his neck, followed shortly after by her razor-sharp fangs, coming just a hair short of pressing hard enough to draw blood. He was more aroused than he’d been in quite some time, and not thinking clearly from all the wine.
“Mira,” said Jack. “Please stop teasing him.”
“Am I teasing him, my sweet Jack, or am I teasing you?” she asked.
“I think there’s quite a bit of teasing going on here,” said Tess in an annoyed voice.
“You should be careful about who you wrestle with, Mira,” said Lee. “You never know when you’re going to meet your match.”
“Mmm… is that so?”
Lee slid his hands into Mira’s sweatpants. He heard Jack attempt to object again, but Ryoko had him in an embrace from behind and was kissing his neck with increasing passion. Lee felt a weird, nearly overpowering sense of arousal at where the situation was heading, especially as Mira began grinding her hips into his rapidly hardening cock.
“Enough!” shouted Zoe. “We are not having an orgy with my little brother.”
She grabbed Mira by the shoulder and forcefully removed her from her embrace with Lee.
“Trust me, Zoe, he isn’t all that little.” She licked her lips, letting her gaze linger on Lee’s for an instant longer. “But if you insist.”
She ran a hand over Zoe’s cheek and the two of them began kissing. It was Lee’s turn to feel a bit awkward as he watched the two couples begin making out in earnest—Jack and Ryoko, Mira and his sister.
“I think it might be best if we head up to our room,” said Tess. She ran a hand across his stomach and then over his bulge.
“I think you might be right.”
Getting there was a challenge in its own right. Lee walked behind Tess and couldn’t resist pulling her into an embrace as they started up the stairs. He ground his erection into her butt, kissing her neck, cupping her small breasts.
“You should… at least wait until we’re in bed,” she said, voice a whisper.
“What if I can’t?” he asked. “What if I have to take you right here and now?”
“Did she really get you that turned on?”
“You’re not jealous, are you?”
Tess spun around and shot an exaggerated—though not entirely pretend—glare at him.
“Seriously?” asked Lee. “Over Mira?”
“I didn’t say I was.”
“I can see the signs for myself.”
Tess scowled at him. “If you want to get lucky tonight in any sense of the word, you should stop talking.”
He took her advice and kissed her, letting his tongue dance with hers. Tess’s body was so soft and light, even in his mystic stream, and he couldn’t resist the urge to seize her by the thighs and lift her up. She gasped and wrapped her arms around his neck.
“You still have to go up the stairs,” she whispered.
“I’m not exactly lacking for energy.”
He slammed the door to the guest room he and Tess had been staying in shut, throwing her down on the bed. She giggled as she bounced across the mattress, coming to a stop with her hair splayed out across the pillow.
“I still want to do a body shot off you,” said Lee.
“Well, too bad. The tequila is downstairs,
mister.”
“Is it?” He grinned at her. “You could be hiding it somewhere.”
Tess let out a squeal as he started groping her through her thin cotton dress, first her small breasts, then her butt. He lifted up the bottom hem completely and ducked his head underneath. Tess swatted him and let out a surprised giggle.
“Lee!” she said. “I’m not wearing any—"
A gasp escaped her as Lee did a body shot of a different sort. Her hips bucked upward as he probed with his tongue, taking full advantage of her lack of panties.
“I found the tequila,” he whispered.
“Oh!” She lifted her legs up, draping them over his shoulders. “Lee…”
She let out another squeal and flung her hand down on the mattress, digging her fingers in. Lee took a possessive grip, spreading her legs wider apart, heady and drunk off the humidity and smell of her sex. Her dress was like a privacy curtain preventing her from looking down, hiding his grin from her, and hiding her likely-lewd expression from him.
Each movement of his tongue conjured forth a reaction. He could sense the pleasure building within her, the tension in her muscles, the acceleration of her breathing.
“Oh, God, Lee!” She took hold of his head, running her hands through his hair.
That was when he stopped. Tess let out a frustrated moan and tried to hold him where he was with her legs, to no avail.
“Lee, you’re so mean!”
“It’s your turn to do a body shot off me.” He pulled her dress up and over her head. She wasn’t wearing a bra either, and the sight of her petite body, entirely naked aside from a pair of knee-high socks, was almost too much.
“Is there… anywhere in particular…that you’d prefer?” she asked, voice hot and breathy. She was already pulling his shorts down. His cock snapped loose and glanced off her chin, much to her feigned annoyance as it popped out into the open.
“Right here.” He cupped her cheek and pulled her face and mouth against his tool. Tess only slowly parted her lips, playing up her reluctance. She sucked for a second or two before pausing, as though only then remembering how he’d teased her before.
“If it had only been you and Mira here, would you have done something like this with her?” she asked, blushing.
“You are jealous, aren’t you!”
“No! Well, maybe of her boobs. But I’m just curious. The two of you seem to be very primed for each other, but she seems to be in an odd sort of relationship with both your sister and Jack.”
“I’d worry about her leaving bite marks if I tried something like this with her.”
Tess grinned and gave his cock a long lick. She met his gaze and pulled back her lips, letting her teeth run across sensitive skin. It wasn’t unpleasant, exactly, but felt like a threat.
“Tess…” he said.
“You know I wouldn’t. I’m not a meanie, like you.”
“I was just teas…”
He lost his train of thought as she began to suck in earnest, falling back flat onto the bed. He watched her head bob up and down, her soft brown hair framing her face, simultaneously cute and slutty. He felt the press of her hot mouth, the caress of her tongue, warm, brilliant wetness. It was almost too much, and then he was right there, on the verge.
And then she stopped, her lips pulling free from his tool with a lewd sucking sound. She flashed a wicked grin. “See? It’s not that much fun to be on the receiving end of, is it?”
“You are going to be on the receiving end of my manly fury if you don’t get back to what you were just doing.”
“Maybe that’s exactly where I want to be.”
They stared at each other for a silent, horny moment, then lunged at one another, pointlessly wrestling toward the same end goal. Tess was giggling, but the sound shifted to a faint, rolling moan as Lee found his way between her thighs and buried his cock inside of her.
It was a lustful, frantic race to a place just over the horizon. Lee’s pace possessed all the same qualities of sprinting feet, each pounding beat building up to a speed that he knew he couldn’t maintain for more than a couple of minutes, at most.
All the foreplay had gotten them both in the mood, judging from the way Tess gave her body to him. And it was a giving, a sharing, a taking, a transfer of trust and sexual submission that had happened many times before between them and was no less interesting for it.
Lee squeezed her small breasts like underripe fruit, feeling her chest move underneath them. He leaned forward, kissing her neck in time with each of his thrusts. Tess wrapped her arms around his neck, urging him on.
“Don’t stop,” she whispered. “Lee!”
He didn’t stop. He kept going, faster, harder, a mad dash led by the shaft of his manhood. She felt so good, and she was all for him.
“Tess!”
She gasped, suddenly contorting with her pleasure to such a degree that one of her shoulders cuffed him in the chin. Lee kissed her, feeling the tremble running all the way through her lips. He unloaded his seed, feeling the pleasure boom through his body like the bass of a powerful amplifier.
Tess cuddled up against him in the aftermath, resting her head on his shoulder, twining her fingers through his. It was dark, but Lee could feel the smile on his face. It faded almost as soon as he realized that it was there, along with the emotion behind it. He let out a sigh.
“What is it?” whispered Tess.
He didn’t answer right away, but he couldn’t run away from her questions. “I felt content. Like I wanted to stay like this forever. Not just in bed with you, but in a place like this. In a rhythm of life like this, where we can just live and not worry, and not have to…”
Tess squeezed his hand. “You don’t have to feel guilty. I know how much you want to help Eliza. And I know how what happened with Harper still weighs on you.”
“I can’t just forget about them.”
“You don’t have to.” She shifted, sliding her arm under her chin so they were seeing eye to eye in the dimly lit room. “I think you can still make things right with them. I’ll be by your side to help.”
He felt the smile return, and this time, let it linger.
CHAPTER 4
A knock sounded at the door before Lee and Tess could continue talking or continue with the other myriad activities couples enjoy in bed. He tripped as he pulled his boxers on and stumbled his way to the door, scowling as he opened it.
“It smells like sex in here,” said Zoe.
“Maybe you should take the hint and leave, then,” he said.
His sister was barefoot with a plain nightshift on, and she made a show of looking past Lee toward Tess and the bed, wrinkling her nose.
“I’m curious,” said Zoe. “Do you just sleep in the mess afterward? Your stuff wouldn’t go into her, so it’s not like she could go to the bathroom to clean herself up like a normal—”
“Zoe! We are not talking about this.”
“I suppose you could use a condom, but that seems a bit like a wet blanket since it’s not as though she can get pregnant or transmit diseases.”
Even though the hallway was obscured by shadows, Lee could sense the sort of smile Zoe had on her face. She was his sister, of course, which also meant he was her brother and had played this game a few times before.
“Hey, how was your orgy?” he asked. “I’m curious; was it you and Mira, or you and Jack? Or Jack and Mira? Is there like a pecking order for how you guys hook up?”
“Point taken.”
“Good. What do you want? It’s late.”
“Can I come in?” Zoe looked past him again. “I don’t mind if Tess overhears.”
Lee nodded and gestured for her to enter the room. He pulled out the chair from the small desk along the side of the room for her to sit in, not interested in a random wet spot on the bed reigniting her line of teasing.
“What’s this about?” he asked.
“I need your help. It’s about what Mira and I were investigating over the past few d
ays.”
Lee folded his arms. “Do you need my help, or does the Dealmaker?”
“Enough with that bullshit. Yes, I’m a member of the House of Shadows, but this is a mission I chose to undertake. I’m acting independently here. With that said, there would be money in it, enough to at least pay your old fee as a freelance mystic.”
“I’m listening.”
Zoe seemed to relax a little, flipping a finger through the side of her short bangs. “One of our goals has always been to reach out to young people with the Potential, to try to help them understand what’s happening and what their options are.”
“To try to recruit them, you mean.”
“No, that’s actually not what I fucking mean,” snapped Zoe. “Believe it or not, Eldon, a lot of what the House of Shadows does isn’t for our own gain. I suppose you could argue that teaching someone how to evade the Order of Chaldea, if they so choose, still works in our favor, but that’s beside the point.”
“Whatever. So, you found someone with the Potential. Why do you want my help?”
“She’s been tricky to reach out to,” said Zoe. “She’s in high school, a senior. Always with friends or family, almost never alone outside her house. We thought maybe if we snuck someone into her school to pose as a new student…”
She made a rolling gesture with her hand as though the rest of her plan would unfold by force of nature.
“Why don’t you do it?” he asked.
“Do I look like a high-school student to you?” asked Zoe. “I mean, personally, I think I do, but Mira was a little skeptical. Which, as hurtful as that was to hear, I was forced to concede the point. She doesn’t look young enough either. Neither do Jack or Ryoko. We have a few followers who fit the age range, but they’re on other assignments.”
“Why not just wait for them to get back?”
“Eldon, the Order has grown far more aggressive over the past few weeks. We’ve heard rumors of them straight-up disappearing people. They aren’t playing as gently as they used to, and you remember how nerve-wracking it already was when I first left for Primhaven.”
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