Ryoko had driven the mansion’s black BMW down to the beach, and the four of them rode up to the estate. She immediately set about fussing over Xepher as soon as they were inside, while Lee headed up to his room to change into dry clothing.
He came down to the lounge to find Zoe and Mira lying together across one of the couches. Zoe brought her hand to her mouth when she saw him enter, and it took him a moment to realize that her reaction was over Tess, who was back sitting in the wheelchair.
“It’s gotten this bad?” said Zoe. “Tess… Oh, you poor thing!”
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” she said. “Lee is insistent on the wheelchair, but I can still move around outside of his mystic stream.”
“Eldon, you need to let her rest!” snapped Zoe. “You shouldn’t be bringing her around the world with you.”
Lee felt a bit defensive, but he couldn’t help but acknowledge her point, though he wasn’t sure if rest would do anything for Tess.
“Really, I’m fine,” said Tess. “I appreciate your concern, Zoe.”
“I’m going to look deeper into what’s happening to you,” said Zoe. “There are a few books on historical mysticism that might hold some information. I can’t make any promises, but I’ll see what I can find.”
“Thanks, sis,” said Lee.
Ryoko ushered him upstairs once Xepher had recovered sufficiently from the ocean voyage. Jack was already in his study, though Xepher was the one who sat at the desk. Both men nodded to him, and Lee shut the door.
“Do you have anything to drink in here?” asked Xepher. “Wine, or whiskey, perhaps.”
“I keep some bourbon in the bottom compartment,” said Jack, gesturing to the drawers of the desk. “Help yourself.”
Xepher smiled and pulled the bottle out. The seal had already been broken, and the old man removed the cork and took a large sip without any apparent hesitation.
“I get the sense that we might not like what you’re about to tell us,” said Lee.
Xepher chuckled. “My boy, that depends on whether or not you can appreciate the idea of the world as we know it coming to an end.”
Lee glanced at Jack, who gave him an indifferent shrug.
“Care to elaborate on that a bit?” he asked.
Xepher’s eyes remained fixed on the bottle of bourbon as he continued. “Jack, I believe you’ve acquainted yourself with one or more demons from the Other Realms.”
“I’ve had the displeasure of encountering a few, yes,” said Jack. “Mezolak, who took possession of my father’s body, and Adana, who, well… I was the one in control in regard to my dealings with her.”
“I’m aware of what became of Mezolak, but when was the last time you spoke with Adana?” asked Xepher.
“Slightly over a month ago, I’d say,” said Jack. “She was capable of representing herself to me in this realm without needing a vessel of her own. She stopped reaching out to me, however. It was rather sudden.”
“Hold on,” said Lee. “I’m not sure if I’m keeping up with this.”
“It isn’t all that complicated,” said Xepher. “The point of interest here is that since the Unavowed Queen was released from her entombment, the Other Realms have been silent.”
“Is that unusual?” asked Lee.
“There are few people in this world who would even notice,” said Xepher. “I am one of them, and not even I understand entirely what it means. It’s possible that a schism has been created between the Other Realms and our reality. It’s also possible that the Unavowed Queen has taken firm control of her native domain.”
“How does this relate to helping Eliza?” asked Lee. “The Unavowed Queen has control of her body.”
“The most straightforward way to help your friend would likely be for you to travel into the Other Realms,” said Jack. “Given what Xepher is saying, it doesn’t seem like it would be possible to take that approach, at the moment.”
“That is correct,” said Xepher. “You can consider the Other Realms to be a secondary plane of existence, where many of the supernatural powers and relationships we see in our world have their own representation. A direct connection exists there in a manner that, assuming you could track down the correct representation, would allow you to influence this world. To put it bluntly, were the situation not as it is, you could face the Unavowed Queen in her realm and save your friend’s body in this one.”
“Okay,” said Lee. “So, what do we do?”
“First, we must gain a better understanding of the current situation.” Xepher tapped a finger on the stem of the bourbon bottle. “Jack. I would like to attempt to contact Adana.”
“It’s as I said before. Whatever link there was between us no longer exists,” said Jack.
“I can use my magic to facilitate a straightforward summoning,” said Xepher. “If the link between our world and the Other Realms has merely been obfuscated, it’s possible that such a direct approach might still yield fruit.”
“You intend to use me as the focus, then?” asked Jack. “You think there’s still something left in the connection I shared with her?”
“I suspect that to be the case, yes,” said Xepher.
Lee felt Tess sidle up next to him in her ethereal form, face scrunched in concentration.
“Do you have any idea what they’re talking about?” she asked.
“Nope,” he muttered.
Jack and Xepher had begun speaking in hushed tones, passing the bottle of bourbon back and forth while they gesticulated over the desk. Lee stood there for a few minutes, feeling completely out of his depth. Time stretched on, a slow arduous torture of terms and questions that meant nothing to him until Xepher finally cleared his throat and beckoned him over.
“Lee,” he said. “Do you mind picking up some supplies from town while—”
“Yes!” said Lee. “Got it covered.”
“Most of it should be easy to find,” said Xepher. “Chalk, plain white candles, more bourbon, the usual stuff you’d expect for a demon summoning.”
“Right,” he said. “Of course. Leave it to me.”
He felt a bit like he was back at Primhaven as he left the room. Tess giggled as she followed after him.
“You looked like you were about to fall asleep,” she said.
“Either that or literally die of boredom.”
“You can’t literally die of boredom, Lee.”
“Oh, shush.”
CHAPTER 23
Lee’s instincts had caught up with the time shift from arriving back from Japan. It was early evening when he set out from the mansion, driving the BMW, after borrowing the keys from Ryoko. He made it to the grocery store just before it closed and was pleasantly surprised when he managed to find the chalk and bourbon amidst the aisles.
The candles were trickier. The grocery store didn’t stock them, so he headed to the local dollar store. A bored-looking cashier pointed him toward aisle six, which had an empty listing for the plain white candles he needed.
“Are there any in the back room?” he asked the cashier.
“There is no back room.” The cashier was flipping through a magazine, totally indifferent. “Everything we have in stock is out front.”
“You’re sure you don’t have any?”
“What is it you need again?”
“Candles,” said Lee through gritted teeth. “Plain white candles.”
“Oh. We just sold the last ones we had right before you came in,” said the cashier. “The woman who just walked out the door has them.”
He hooked a thumb over his shoulder. Lee spotted a blonde woman loading her purchases into a car. He weighed the decision for only a few seconds before leaving the cashier to his magazine and hurrying out into the parking lot.
“Excuse me!” he called. “Miss!”
Her car door shut a second before Lee started shouting, and he swore under his breath as he watched her start to pull onto the street.
“I can follow her if I get inside!” sai
d Tess.
He didn’t have time to object, not that he was sure he would have. Outside of his mystic stream, Tess could still move around at a decent speed. Her legs still ended in various degrees of insubstantial blue wisp, and her loping gait looked as though it was carrying across clouds rather than concrete, but she could still move.
She dove at the car, phasing through the back door without stopping, just as it started off toward its destination. Lee jogged along until it left his field of view, only then considering what they were supposed to do once they found out where the woman lived.
Fifteen minutes later, Tess returned, doubled over from her exertions and breathing heavily. She lifted an arm and pointed around the corner and toward a small clump of suburbia in the distance.
“I… saw where she parked her car,” said Tess.
“Good work,” he said. “You think she’ll listen to me if I knock on her door and try to barter for the candles she just bought?”
She shrugged. “Do we have a better option right now?”
Lee drove the BMW to the destination Tess had indicated and parked on the street. It was getting late, which only seemed to lend a general air of weirdness and potential stalking assumptions to what he was about to do.
The woman’s house was nice, two stories with a wide yard and large porch. Lee ran through a dozen different ways to express his need for the candles without sounding like a complete nutjob, each a bit more convoluted than the last. He knocked on her door.
Nobody came to greet him, and after a minute, he knocked again. Tess had wandered off, and she was shaking her head when she arrived back.
“She’s in the bath,” said Tess. “It would seem as though she bought the candles for immediate use.”
“Damn.” Lee scowled and kicked one of the porch stairs. “Well, there’s nothing else we can do.”
“We do have one option,” said Tess. “She’s very comfortable right now, half-asleep, basically. I could attempt to possess her to make this whole affair a lot more straightforward.”
She had a mischievous smile on her face of a variety that Lee hadn’t seen her show in quite some time.
“Didn’t you say there’s a morality to possession?” he asked. “That you couldn’t use it to take advantage of people or cause harm?”
“We just need the candles,” said Tess, smiling even wider. “It’s for the sake of helping Eliza. Morally speaking, it falls well within what I’m comfortable with.”
“If you say so. What about… you know… your condition? Are you sure you’re up for this?”
“Please.” Tess reached out, grabbing one of his hands despite still being ethereal. “I want to do this, for you, but also for me. I can still be helpful, Lee.”
He couldn’t say no, not to that face, not to her. He nodded and saw her dimples come out for an instant before she spun around and effortlessly phased through the locked door.
Lee waited for several minutes, feeling more conspicuous and worried with each passing second. Finally, the door opened. A chubby blonde woman in a thick white bathrobe opened the door and grinned at him.
“Guess who?” she said.
Lee feigned confusion. “I’m sorry, I don’t believe we’ve met before? My name’s Lee Amaranth. I’m your local candle inspector, I need to do a quick wax integrity check.”
“Hilarious,” said Tess. “Come on. There’s a bunch she hasn’t lit yet in the bathroom cupboard.”
She hadn’t taken the time to dry off her borrowed body properly and left a trail of bathwater in her wake as she led him deeper into the house. The bathroom had been set up to convey a mellow mood, with a half-dozen of the plain white candles Lee needed providing the illumination, and the scent of lavender bath salt thick on the air.
“Here.” Tess slid open the cupboard and began pulling out the remainder of the candles. “Did Xepher mention how many you—”
She gasped as she tried to turn sideways and slid on a particularly slippery patch of tile. The robe flew open, exposing a body that wasn’t nearly as chubby as Lee had first assumed. Or rather, a body chubby in all of the right places.
The woman fell forward against him. Tess made a frustrated noise… from behind the woman, where she now stood. Possession over. Lee gaped at the mostly naked woman pressed against him, watching as her eyes regained focus and confusion took over her expression.
“Oh no…” said the woman.
“Oh no,” echoed Lee.
He was so at a loss for what to do that when the woman kissed him, he just went along with it. Her lips tasted of wine, and her body was still hot and dripping wet from the bath.
“Look, you have to leave,” whispered the woman. “I was drinking when I brought you back here. I must have been! Even if my husband isn’t going to be home tonight, I can’t do this. Not again!”
Despite the woman’s logical, though wholly inaccurate take on the situation, she kissed him again, grinding her nude form against Lee, one leg partially wrapping around his. Tess burst out laughing. Lee found the situation far less funny.
“You’re right,” said Lee. “This is all a big misunderstanding.”
“I’m so bad,” whispered the woman. “So bad, for leading you on.”
Her hand caressed his crotch, and Lee realized he’d gotten hard at some point during their engagement. The woman’s eyes took on a guilty but devious gleam as she felt his bulge.
“You came all the way here,” said the woman. “Only to leave frustrated.”
She let her robe drop from her shoulders and then fell to her knees along with it. Lee made a feeble attempt at trying to stand her back up. The sight of her on the ground, face at crotch level, with a perfect downward view of the cleavage of her naked breasts, was… awfully distracting.
“Really,” he said, clearing his throat. “I should probably—”
“Just relax.” The woman unzipped his jeans and slowly pulled them down. “Blowjobs aren’t really cheating. This is fine.”
“This is… more than fine,” muttered Lee, as her hand took hold of his cock. Like the rest of her body, it was still a little warm from the bath, perfectly clean and softened from her various skin moisturizers. He groaned, feeling her start to stroke.
“This is so lewd,” whispered Tess.
“Are you watching?” asked Lee.
“What?” said the woman.
“Uh, nothing,” he said. “I was just…”
Lee had to reach out and grab the cupboard as he felt the woman’s lips engulf the tip of his shaft. The candles had apparently done their job and put her in a truly sensual mood. She bobbed her head back and forth, lips and tongue combining to bestow pleasure that was, in Tess’s words, so lewd.
“This is really hot,” whispered Tess. “It’s one thing to watch Eliza, or Susie, or even Harper fool around with you, but you don’t even know this woman.”
Lee felt his face heat up a little as he felt the woman sink her lips further along the length of his cock.
“What happens if you stay here on Lestaron Island for another few days and, say, accidentally run into her at the grocery store?” asked Tess.
The woman was making urgent little cooing noises. She pulled her lips all the way back, letting Lee’s cock briefly rub against her face.
“You’d have to make a move on her again, right?” asked Tess. “It seems like in the movies, when this sort of thing happens, it’s all about sex and seduction. You’d have to grab her hand, and lead her off somewhere private, and—”
“Tess,” he whispered.
“Jane,” said the woman. “My name is Jane.”
Lee nodded dumbly and flexed his hips forward, sinking his cock back into Jane’s mouth. He cupped her face with one hand, then two, and then felt a bit greedy as he continued gently thrusting into her soft lips and hot mouth.
It didn’t take long, especially with Tess’s dirty scenario still in the forefront of his mind. Jane pulled back just as he unloaded, and she seemed to revel in l
etting his seed smear across her face. Lee was glad that—at least in her mind—blowjobs weren’t cheating since she seemed to be going out of her way to finish him off in the dirtiest manner possible.
“Mmm,” moaned Jane. “I suppose I’ll have to finish my bath now.”
“Good idea,” he said, taking a step back. “Another good idea would be for me to take these candles with me. So your husband doesn’t suspect anything.”
“Oh! That’s right…” The woman hurried to put out a few of the ones she’d already lit and began pushing them into his hands. “Really, though. I need to stop drinking. I barely even remember bringing you back here.”
Lee let out a guilty cough and tried to ignore the mischievous smile that had returned to Tess’s face.
CHAPTER 24
“Well!” said Tess. “You certainly got everything you came for in the end, didn’t you?”
“Shut it,” muttered Lee. He pulled the BMW onto the street and started off toward the mansion. “It was your idea.”
“I was considering possessing her again when she started, well, you know, but I wasn’t sure it would be right,” said Tess. “I wouldn’t have been able to draw the line where she did, and if we’d spent time rolling around in the sheets, that would have made the issue of consent a tad murky.”
“You don’t have to possess someone’s body to roll around in the sheets with me, Tess,” said Lee.
“No, but it would be super kinky if I did,” said Tess. “They’d have to agree to it ahead of time, of course.”
“Theresa Holloway,” said Lee, in mock surprise. “Have you discovered that you have a possession fetish?”
“What? No!” She made a face. “And don’t call it that. It makes it sound gross and weird instead of sexy.”
Lee burst out laughing as he parked outside the mansion and opened his door. “By definition, it’s a fetish. I’m not judging you though. I always knew you had a bit of a wild side.”
“Lee Amaranth!”
Despite her still being ethereal, Lee could almost see the flush coming to her cheeks.
He made his way up the mansion’s front steps through the dark, opened the front door, and froze.
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