Rolling for Love

by Kate Messick

  “Raphael is so odd,” Nozomi comments.

  I thank her silently for backing me up even though she doesn’t know she’s doing it.

  “When we kissed, my energy just reacted to his on this primal level. We’ve had this connection since we first laid eyes on him … could it be magic?”

  “You kissed him?” I demand.

  “He kissed me,” Nozomi defends herself. “And then, yes, I couldn’t stop myself. I feel like I have known him forever. Or my body does at least.”

  “I felt a weird connection to Michael,” Trixy suddenly admits. “Not like a sexual one, like you and Raphael, but my powers called to him.”

  “What about you Ruby? Any exciting experiences to add?” I ask hopefully; maybe there is a reason for Nozomi’s reactions. There are three women in our party. These, these, these.

  “No, but I haven’t really met any of the angels,” Ruby says quietly. “I still feel very dirty with my werewolf nature. The angels make me feel it more. So I have been hiding behind someone every time we’re around them.”

  “Nozomi, go find Raphael,” Trixy orders.

  “Why Raphael?” I whine. And I hate that it comes out as a whine.

  “How about us girls go on an adventure and you two can babysit Damion?” Nozomi suggests.

  “I don’t need a babysitter,” Damion declares. “I would love to see a dhampir and an angel make out.”

  “They are not going to make out,” I say. But before I can add anything else, Nozomi covers my mouth with hers.

  “I’m in love with you, Strider Belman,” Nozomi announces after she breaks the kiss. “But the only thing I can promise you is my heart. The rest of my body is currently being used for science.”

  “Science!” Zack repeats loudly, out of character.

  “I love you too. Be safe.” I make eye contact with Trixy. “I will try not to be so insecure. But it’s hard knowing another is moving into my territory.”

  “Really, I get it,” Steven says rudely. “If Lynda needs to flirt with Joe or whomever so we can get off this mushy story arc, then she can flirt with whomever she wants. Baby steps. You can flirt in our D&D game with made-up people and let’s see how I handle that.”

  “I can’t wait. Bring on Gabriel,” Lynda demands of Joe.

  “I’ve created a monster,” Joe murmurs.

  “I’ll stay with the vamp,” Zack volunteers. “Split the party as little as possible.”

  Joe nods. “The four of you easily find the three angels in the war room that Nozomi made out with Raphael in. You see a few things oddly covered with sheets, hiding what they are. Nozomi, Raphael immediately puts his hand around your waist. Michael avoids eye contact with Trixy and Gabriel looks straight at Ruby. What do each of you do?”

  Ruby (Lynda’s character)

  I feel guilt weigh heavily on my soul. I thought I’d gotten past it in the witch’s rooms, but I guess I’d only gotten over the fear. The guilt is still with me. I force myself to stop hiding behind Trixy and move to look at Gabriel.

  His pale brown eyes look expectantly through his brown-rimmed glasses at me. “Is there a reason for your visit?” Gabriel asks sweetly.

  I feel a lump in my throat. “Is there something I can roll?” I manage to ask. “Now that I’m on the spot, I can’t remember how to flirt.” I hear my husband snicker next to me and I kick him under the table.

  “Sure, what’s your goal?” Joe asks.

  “Um … to see if there is a connection between us?”

  “Ok, you need to be more specific. Are you trying to charm him? Just be nice? Get answers?”

  “I guess I would like to be charming.” I shake my D20 and roll.

  “Add your charisma to whatever you rolled. What did you get?” Joe asks.

  After taking a deep breath, the lump in my throat clears and I manage to stammer out something charming that makes Gabriel laugh.

  “I love this druid’s sense of humor,” Gabriel says. “But come here. Why does your energy seem so dark?”

  I move to Gabriel, feeling guilt return to my stomach. He takes my hand and energy tingles where our skin touches. I look down at our hands and the faint glow they are emitting.

  “What is this?” Gabriel he asks breathlessly.

  “It’s Uriel’s prophecy,” Trixy stammers, still not looking at Michael.

  “We’re the darkness and you three are the light,” Nozomi repeats. “Our combined energy is incredibly strong.”

  “But when we touch, no light appeared,” Raphael points out.

  “That’s because when we touched skin to skin, it was with our eyes closed and on the mouth,” Nozomi manages to say with a straight face. She holds out her hand and Raphael takes off his gloves and intertwines his fingers were hers. White and black ripple in and out of each other, swirling around their fingers, hands, and wrists.

  “Trixy won’t even look at me,” Michael pointed out.

  “Because I want to eat you,” she responds evilly.

  Michael walks over to Trixy, his eyes trusting, and places one finger on her bare shoulder. Power rips painfully brightly on the spot their skin touches.

  It takes us a while to figure out exactly what the light means and when we finally do, we’re literally blown away. It is magic, power, in its most basic form. Although none of us know how to use it.

  “If harnessed, would it be enough power to destroy a portal?” Strider asks, excited. With some coaxing, we manage to wring Damion for every bit of information he has on portals.

  “It might damage them, but destroy them, I really don’t know,” Damion admits.

  “It will be if it’s all three of us,” Strider says confidently.

  “How can you be so sure?” Ruby asks.

  “We came together to defeat our fears. I think coming together is key in our lives,” Strider proclaims confidently.

  “Meta gaming,” Joe grumbles.

  “What about the prophecy?” Strider points out. “It mentioned combining the powers of light and dark in threes.”

  The entire table looks at Joe, who remains impassive. I study his face for clues, but he gives away nothing. We’re basing our entire endgame strategy on this assumption. Ok, I don’t know if this is endgame, but it feels big.

  “Helm is on our side,” Goliath intones.

  “Do you have his cell?” Trixy shoots back sarcastically.

  Goliath bristles but doesn’t rise to the bait; his god is not going to magically come down from the heavens a second time – especially if we want him to. Gods don’t work that way.

  “I agree that combining is the key,” I add. “But my light is so dim compared to yours, I’m going to be bold and say, I think I need to be a werewolf for this to work. Balance and all.”

  “Are we all agreed it will take the power of the three pairs combined?” Trixy asks.

  Nods from everyone.

  “Then let’s find ourselves a witch who can make us a full-moon spell,” I say boldly. But I don't feel bold. We’re missing something: the key to control. The magic is easily brought forth, but we have no idea how to use it.

  Chapter Eighty

  Reality, Bela Casa Construction, Home Development

  Curiosity killed the cat …

  but satisfaction brought him back ….

  Dillon Dempsy

  “I really shouldn’t be here,” Joe states.

  Despite his words, I can hear the excitement in his voice. Our breaths comes out in little foggy poofs in the cold night air.

  “Relax, we aren’t doing anything illegal,” Sandy responds.

  “I think your definition of illegal is questionable,” he says flatly.

  Nevertheless, the three of us have flashlights, two on our phones and one from Sandy’s emergency kit in her car. We’re walking across uneven frozen mud, its peaks and valleys attempting to snag our feet with every step. Her car is parked right in front of the site, so she can’t be that worried.

  “I work here. It’s not t
respassing if you’re an employee,” she says reasonably.

  That doesn’t sound right, but I don’t know enough about the law to argue and my curiosity is pique.

  “So, what are we looking at again?” I ask.

  Sandy’s description was vague. The three of us went out for dinner and she got really excited to show us something. Easily caught up in her enthusiasm, we soon found ourselves bundled up in the chilly December night. Joe and I are both painfully law-abiding. I suddenly wonder if the amount of control Sandy seems to have wrestled over us is healthy. My memories wander, as they have often, to our adventures on my futon. I can feel the heat begin to gather in my cock. Watching Sandy with Joe had been a little intimidating, but also incredibly hot. And when I came on her with him still swollen inside of her…I had come again at the recollection of that moment.

  I remove my hat and let the cold air sting my ears to help keep my brain above my belt. I trip precariously and focus on my walking.

  “We found an old basement,” Sandy informs us. “We got the layers cleared off the top, but specialists have to come remove what’s left down there and they don’t come until Friday. I want to see what it is!”

  “Why is there a basement in the middle of a field,” I ask, perplexed.

  “I don’t know,” she mumbles. “Does it matter?”

  “I guess not.” I turn to make sure Joe is still with us. He’s oddly silent but easily keeps pace, walking on the frozen mud like its flat ground. I turn back to Sandy wrapped in her layers, stomping in heavy boots as she leads us further into the dark site.

  We lapse into silence. I can taste Sandy’s excitement and I do my best to push away my worries. Joe is still quiet. Our flashlights find the edge of a very deep hole and she stops and points.

  “There are ramps on either side; we just need to skirt this hole. And just remember: no pictures.”

  “Why no pictures?” I ask, curious.

  “Because this isn’t legal,” Joe finally says.

  “There’s the ramp,” she says excitedly and speeds up and stumbles. I dart forward to catch her and end up stumbling as well. Joe’s strong hand grips my arm and I share a look with Sandy, also being steadied by Joe. Joe shakes his head and grumbles.

  Much smoother than the mud around it, the ramp is still textured, giving our shoes good traction. Sandy explains that with the amount of trucks that need to go up and down it, they actually roll it flat with a giant roller.

  We’re at the bottom in no time. As I cast my glace around, my eyes widen in surprise. The shells of ancient server racks, cables and desks dot half the room. The other half had clearly been covered in dirt, but was recently dug out.

  “This is amazing.” I wander forward, forgetting my nervousness. My fingers slide over the frozen surface of old orange, red, and green push buttons on panels. Sandy comes up next to me and starts pressing them. One of them falls through the other side of the panel; dirt and rotten metal shower down with it.

  “This is part of a CDC-6600.”

  Joe’s voice is a little off to my left and I abandon Sandy to her button pressing and move over to him.

  “What’s that?” she asks us a few minutes later.

  I have started running my hands over the tall frozen metal cases. Joe is prying up part of processor from the ground. “It was the world’s fastest supercomputer in the early sixties,” I respond absently. I can’t stop myself as my gaze drops to the ground and wanders over bits of metal and clunky technology. “It was technically ten computers working together to do a fraction of what your phone can do today.”

  “Cool,” she says.

  But she has no idea how cool this is. It suddenly occurs to me that in the sixties, individuals didn’t really have the money for this type of thing.

  “Sandy, you said you couldn’t get out of your contract because of government stuff,” I confirm.

  “It’s just a basement, chill,” she says too quickly. “What’s this?”

  Joe and I can’t help ourselves as Sandy distracts my question by pointing at a mangled telegraph machine. Little things start to fall into place. I feel acidic nervousness fill my stomach as I look around. This is a military site. The stars shine brightly above us, but just like our campaign, the moon is far from full. I wouldn’t be able to see anything without my flashlight app. I turn the beam to Joe as he speaks.

  “We really shouldn’t be here,” he says in answer to Sandy’s question.

  She crouches and picks up the mangled machine. Part of the tapping mechanism still works, and she begins to play with it. “Wow, this is a telegraph machine!” She toggles the tapping device and it echoes in the basement. “What do you think this place was used for? It was three levels, but the second one completely collapsed.”

  “How do you know it was three levels?” I ask. My eyes are drawn to the cracked husk of a monitor, the cords cut, frayed and sticking from the back like a mad scientist’s disheveled hair. “Look at this,” I point, unable to stop myself. Even through my unease, this is fascinating.

  Joe and Sandy stroll over to look and she laughs, seeing the same mad scientist.

  “I’m glad breaking your contract and national security is so funny,” a voice declares gruffly from across the space.

  I feel my heart hammer in my chest as Sandy jumps next to me. The three of us move our flashlights in the direction of the voice.

  “Amorino, you scared the shit out of me,” she barks. “What are you doing here?”

  “I was twenty seconds from calling the police until I recognized your car,” he growls, a very powerful flashlight in his hands. He shines in on each of us. “You’re trespassing. Who’s with you?”

  “My driver and butler,” Sandy says sarcastically.

  Amorino starts moving toward us as she speaks.

  “We aren’t hurting anything. I just wanted to see the basement before they cleared it out on Monday.”

  His hand shoots out and grabs her upper arm, pulling her from between Joe and me. “I told you no, Sandy. You’re putting yourself and my company at risk. What were you thinking, bringing people down here?”

  “They aren’t people, they’re my friends,” she snaps. “And I didn’t think it would be a good idea to go alone.”

  “It wasn’t a good idea at all,” he says forcefully. He shakes her and I take a step forward.

  But not before Joe’s arm swings out and connects with the man’s shoulder – not hard, but hard enough that he lets go of Sandy and takes a step back with a grunt. She moves back into our protective space, but not touching either of us.

  “Keep your damn hands to yourself,” she tells Amorino angrily.

  The need to rush to her and make sure she is ok fills me, but I take my lead from Joe. I stay quietly where I’m. I can’t see facial expressions in the low lighting, but I can see Amorino’s body is tense. The movement of his hand flexing catches the light of our combined flashlights. The air is suddenly thick and still. Sandy breaks it, wrapping her arms around herself.

  “What are you doing here on a Saturday night?” she asks him.

  “I have cameras and motion-sensors installed on the site, given what we’re digging up and the vandals on Halloween.”

  “That’s smart. You came by yourself?”

  “With the intention of calling the cops after assessing the situation. I still might,” he warns.

  “You wouldn’t.” Sandy doesn’t sound so sure.

  “I will,” he says coldly. “I have you and your friends trespassing on private property. A military site on top of that! And I have proof that you broke your contract. You can kiss your new job goodbye, and Joe’s clearance if my research has taught me anything. I’m pretty sure Dillon wouldn't do so hot with a felony on his record either.”

  “Amorino, don’t!” All the fight leaves Sandy’s voice with the two words and she steps forward protectively. “We didn’t do anything and I didn’t tell them anything. You just told them more about this hole then I had.”<
br />
  “I’ll make you a deal.” His tone changes. “You have second thoughts about what I want from you … ditch your new baggage … and I will think about not turning all of this into the authorities.”

  The sudden change in tone from angry to triumphant catches me off guard. I let my light shine directly in his face. His grin stretches from one ear to the other and he licks his bottom lip. He lifts a hand to get the light out of his eyes and I lower it. This was a trap; if he was really that angry, he would still be fuming. He never intended to call the police.

  “Take my offer and I will destroy the tape.” Amorino steps forward.

  I stay still, taking Joe’s lead. Amorino is within reaching distance of Sandy and he moves a hand up to run it along her face.

  “I will not press charges against Joe here for assault and Dillon can keep his perfectly spotless criminal background nice and squeaky clean.”

  “Really? Blackmail?” she asks bitterly and bats his hand away.

  I cheer inside as Joe moves forward and slides his arm around her waist, bringing her into his space. Amorino steps back with a leer.

  “Really.” He draws out the word and looks at her like Joe doesn’t exist.

  “May I think about it?” she asks, looking miserable.

  “There is nothing to think about,” Joe growls. “Whatever you want, it’s a no. Sandy, we will figure it out.”

  Amorino laughs and it isn’t a friendly sound. “I will see you at the company party on Saturday? Yes?”

  “I wasn’t going to go,” she murmurs.

  “Well, you’re going now,” he tells her. “And you can either make good on my offer or I will turn everything over to the police and they can figure it out.”

  “It won’t fix your issues with Aurora,” Sandy says as Amorino turns his back and starts to walk off.

  “It will fix everything,” Amorino tells her. “Might as well stay and enjoy yourselves. I got what I wanted.”

  Chapter Eighty-One

  Reality, Sandy’s Studio Apartment