I readjust my underwear and tug pants on as I look up at him. “Tell me.”
“Spells leave a body when the body dies. If you were to die, Geoff would have no connection to your body—”
“We’re not killing him,” Havoc growls.
“Listen, feisty. So I have a connection to the dead.” Etienne turns to me. “I kill you and then I grab your soul before you cross over the river into purgatory and plop you back into your body. Spell broken. It would, of course, break all your spells. You’d have to redo all of your barriers. You’d have to resummon your demon and any other spell you have that isn’t like… an inanimate object such as a charm or something like that.”
“What’s your guarantee of bringing me back to life?” I ask.
“No!” Havoc growls. “We’re not even considering this.”
“Ninety-five percent. I’m very confident.”
“He brought Geoff back who’d been dead for hundreds of years,” Baron says. “Wouldn’t it be fine?”
“What?” the newcomers shout. I forgot they weren’t here for that whole revelation.
Etienne waves them off. “Don’t sweat it. The difference is that Geoff was brought back as a monster. I’ll bring Miles back just the way he was. Nothing will have changed, but the spells will have broken.”
Havoc steps in front of me, shoulders tense as his eyes lock on to mine. “Absolutely not.”
“Let’s just hear him out, Havoc,” I say as I set a gentle hand on his shoulder and squeeze. “We don’t know what we’re doing, but we have to do something.”
“I’m not going to let you die to figure this out. There has to be something else.”
“Havoc,” I say as I cup his face. “We’re just hearing him out. You know I’ve spent endless years trying to break this spell. If we don’t break it, Geoff could kill me, and then what?”
His expression is hard, and I can tell he’s put up a brick wall between us. “I’m not listening to this bullshit,” he growls and turns around before walking away, black cloak fluttering around him.
I sigh but turn back to Etienne. “I want to hear all the details, and then I’ll think about it.”
“Well, we’ll kill you in some way that doesn’t harm your body. Choking would probably be quick and painless. And then I’ll slip into purgatory and grab your soul and guide you back to your body. The whole process might take five minutes. It won’t even be long enough to hurt your body.”
“Why should I trust you?” I ask.
He shrugs. “I don’t know. I seem pretty trustworthy.”
I can’t tell if he’s joking or not. There’s the prison, bringing Geoff back to life, the creature in his head… the list is long. I do like his horse though. He’s currently licking up salt from a saltshaker he’d knocked over. I’ll have to remember to wash that table again.
“I know Etienne can come off a little…” Leo examines Etienne as the younger man beams at him. Clearly, he thinks he’s going to get some compliments. “Strange. But he’s a good kid. If he says he can bring you back, then I trust that he can bring you back.”
“What do the rest of you think?” I ask.
Yoko doesn’t seem convinced, but Baron squeezes her hand. “It depends whether you think the rest of us can stop Geoff without your help,” Baron says. “If there’s a chance of losing you, I’d rather see what we can do.”
Evan shakes his head. “I have gone up against Geoff, but this was before he began to acquire power from eating the hearts of others. His strength will just continue to grow. I know we have different friends now to help us, but… realistically, your current team isn’t used to fighting. They don’t fight for their food or for protection. They’re going to have a tough time stopping him, and Miles might be our only option because Geoff just won’t die.”
I snort. “You’re such an ass.”
“I have a question,” Evan says. “Will doing this affect Miles seeing as he’s clearly lived longer than the average human?”
“Is it a spell?” Etienne asks.
“It is,” I admit.
“Can you put the spell back on yourself?”
“I could.” I don’t like giving much away about the spell I use to keep myself from aging because it would be bad in the wrong hands.
“Can you use this spell on others?” Etienne asks.
“Sadly, I can’t. Or trust me, many of my friends would still be alive. But I’ll be fine putting the spell back on myself. The only thing I’m nervous about being broken is the bonds with my demons,” I say.
“Because someone could summon them?” Sam asks.
“Yes. Havoc is alright. He has a ring to keep it from happening, but Iya and my others don’t have things like that. But the probability of someone summoning them at that very moment is extremely low,” I say.
Sam appears shocked and quickly looks over at Iya. “But you could get him back, right? Because you’re stronger?”
“No, he’d be in that mage’s hands until the mage gives him up or someone kills the mage.”
Sam wrings his hands as he bites his lip. “Wait! Jacob, you’re a mage. Can’t you summon Iya until Miles returns?”
Jacob’s eyes get extremely wide. “S-Summon a demon. What kind of mage do you think I am?”
“Most mages don’t play with demons,” I inform Sam.
“Yeah, but you can this time, right?” he pleads.
Jacob looks uncertain. “I don’t think I’m strong enough to control him.”
Sam’s eyes narrow. “He doesn’t need to be controlled. He’s not a wild animal. And it’s just until Miles returns.”
Jacob stares between us. “I’ve never summoned a demon in my entire life. I’m not sure I know how.”
Sam looks upset, so I set a hand on him in the hopes of easing his mind. “Sam, the likelihood is extremely low. I honestly feel like he’ll be safe or I wouldn’t even consider it.”
“But… what if he’s not? Can you make a ring for him like Havoc?”
“The ring took special materials that I don’t currently have.” And it’s a lot of trust to put in a demon who is slightly rash.
“Can someone who’s not a mage summon him? Can I do it?” Sam asks.
I eye him as I assess his magical ability. “Do you know any magic? I mean, I feel a touch of magic in you, but it’s very weak.”
“No… my mom’s a witch but I didn’t get anything.”
“If we go through with it… I suppose I’ll try,” Jacob says, but he doesn’t look pleased.
“Okay, let me think it over and talk with Havoc… Etienne, how do I reach you?” I ask.
“I’ll give you a phone number,” he says, which is great because I was terrified he planned on just moving right in like everything else weird in my life.
Once we finish up, I head upstairs with Menace at my feet. He meows repeatedly at me as I walk up the steps.
“What?” I ask.
He meows again.
“I don’t understand cat talk,” I say.
He begins yowling which is quite obnoxious in the tiny stairwell.
I reach down and pick him up. “What?”
He yowls again.
“English.”
He tries smacking my face, but I’m not an idiot, so I’m holding him far enough away that he can’t.
“You’re so angry,” I say as I set him down. He hisses at me and runs off. Now I have another one angry at me, and I’m really not sure what I did to that one.
I feel like it’s best to deal with Havoc first and make sure he’s all right. I find him in the living room pretending to read a book. He’s turning the pages unbelievably fast and with enough force I’m surprised he hasn’t ripped the pages.
“Hey.”
“Oh… it’s you,” he growls.
I walk over to the couch and sink down onto it. He leans away from me, like I might not already be aware he’s mad at me. He’s so stubborn. This is why we’ve butted heads quite a bit throughout the y
ears. When he doesn’t agree with something, he acts unreasonable instead of talking through it or trying to reason with me.
I try to get him to look at me, but he avoids my eyes. “Please talk to me.”
He tears the book right in half. Right down the spine which makes me sigh because I was enjoying that book. “What’s there to talk about?”
“For a moment, I want you to pretend you’re back tied to that wall he had you chained to when I met you. You never know when he’s going to come in and order you to do something. Now imagine being chained to that wall while I’m by your side and Geoff wants to kill me. So there you are, standing there, shackled in place as Geoff attacks me. I fight, of course I fight, but he’s stronger than me and I’m all alone. You know you could help, but you can’t because you’re shackled and under his command. But you have a choice to break free and help me. Would you?”
He grinds his teeth and refuses to answer the question.
“Havoc, please listen to me. No, I don’t want to die either, but I don’t think we have a lot of choices here. You know I wouldn’t even be considering this if there was another option. I just don’t see any. When I was lying on that ground unable to do anything, I thought he was going to kill you. It doesn’t mean I don’t think you can fight. I know you can fight, but none of us can stop him alone. We need each other.”
The tension in his face slides away and he finally turns to face me. He catches my eyes, and I see so much sadness there that I want to comfort him and tell him it’ll be all right, but I don’t want to lie to Havoc. I just don’t know what anything will be like when it comes to that monster.
“How do you know it’ll work? How can you trust him? You could die now. Wouldn’t it be better to just try and stop Geoff? I can’t lose you, Miles,” he says, sounding desperate.
“Etienne seems very confident.”
“You don’t know him. He could be working for Geoff. He brought the asshole back to life, for fuck’s sake!” he says, voice rising. It’s clear he’s upset, but I feel like I’ve been backed into a corner with only one way out.
I reach out and hold my hand between us. He hesitates for a long moment before taking it in his own. “Okay. We’ll wait. We’ll leave it as an option but until then, we’ll just keep moving forward.”
He nods but doesn’t look any happier.
“What?” I ask.
“Am I making the wrong choice? Am I putting you into more danger?”
“We don’t have to make the decision right this minute. We can think about it and decide what would be best for us.”
He nods, but I’m still not sure he’s convinced. I can’t tell if he wants to go through with it or wants nothing more than to not go through with it. He probably wants what I want—for Geoff to go away and to never have to deal with him ever again.
I want something to distract him and make him feel better, and I realize I have the perfect thing. I just haven’t shown him yet.
“Can you go downstairs and make me a coffee?”
“Right now?”
“Yeah.”
“Sure.”
“Thank you,” I say.
As soon as he’s gone, I head into the bedroom. I push some stuff back, open the kit and lay down the plastic. Once that’s in place, I start unfolding the next part when the door opens and Havoc looks in, clearly confused.
“Are you going to murder me?” he asks.
“What?” I look down at the plastic covering the floor and start laughing. “Yep. I didn’t want to get my carpet full of icky Havoc bits. Of course I’m not murdering you.”
Then I shake out the canvas and his eyes light up.
“Oh, heavens above. Is this one of those sex paint kit things Yoko was talking about?”
“It is.”
“You’re going to let me fuck you into a canvas?”
“Is it better than bringing you in to murder you?”
He assesses it for a moment, like he’s trying to think about it. “Probably, right?”
I grin at him. “Well, let’s find out,” I say as I press into him and give him one quick kiss.
“The only thing that could make this better is chocolate syrup.”
I pull back and stare at him. “I’m not having sex with syrup again. I let you talk me into that one time and Badrick was trying to lick me for days.”
“Fine,” he says.
I pull my shirt off and toss it on the bed before sliding my hands up Havoc’s bare stomach, taking his shirt with me. He lifts his arms, revealing his muscled chest and abdomen. There are scars on it that tell many stories from the years that haven’t been kind to him. But thankfully I’ve kept newer ones from tainting his body.
I lean in and kiss his throat as his hands draw a line down my sides to my waist. He unbuttons my pants and pushes them down my hips. I kick them off as his finger slips under the waistband of my underwear and slides them down.
“Is this paint safe to go anywhere?”
I shrug. “We’ll find out. If someone stabbing me through the body doesn’t kill me, I doubt some paint will.”
“True! And if it does, we won’t have to discuss killing you anymore!”
I snort and shake my head, but it makes him smile. He leaves me long enough to grab the lubricant and pulls me in close now that we’re both completely naked.
“I’ll keep some fingers free of paint for now, just in case,” he says.
“As you wish,” I say as I grab his hips and pull him onto the canvas. Then I pick up a bottle of silver paint and let a line of it run over his shoulder. The bead of paint runs down his shoulder and over his chest. I catch it and smear it across his nipple.
“Wait! I want some paint!”
“Get your own paint,” I say with a grin.
“You’re so greedy,” he says as he pulls away to find his own. Then he grabs my ass and pulls me to him before dropping to his knees and guiding me down with him. He pulls me onto his lap and pushes my chest back as I wrap an arm around his neck to hold on. He drips the golden paint over my throat and down my chest, avoiding the wound that’s nearly healed. Then he slides his fingers through it, pulling it across my pale skin. He grabs the lubricant with his other hand and slides lubricated fingers down my ass. His slick finger runs over my hole before pushing inside me. I press into him, my cock brushing against his as I pour paint into the palm of my hand. Then I dip a finger into it and begin drawing symbols over his body that make up spells. Of course, alone, they’re ineffective. But they still have meaning.
Love, bound, eternal, life.
As Havoc stretches me, his free hand draws more paint down my shoulder, splashing some onto the canvas. My cock aches as I shiver beneath his touch, the cold paint warming as his fingers trail over me.
“I now understand why people enjoy art. I usually only like the art pieces with penises or boobs!” he says.
I snort as I run paint up his neck and cup his cheek. “This one has penises too.”
“That is true!”
He reaches down and puts two dots of paint on my dick and when he adds a curved strip, I realize what he’s doing. “Now it’s a happy penis!”
“It was a happy penis before. Now it’s a confused penis.”
Havoc snickers. “We gotta do something about these nipples next.”
He pokes one, covering it in gold. Then he swipes some paint off his body and makes the other silver.
“Beautiful!”
“Is it?” I ask as I use the paint on him and abruptly stop my symbols of affection and draw a huge penis on his stomach.
“Oh man. You love my penis so much you wish I had two!”
“Not what I was thinking.”
“Huh… I thought we were always on the same wavelength.”
“Really? Sometimes I wonder where you even come up with your ideas,” I tease before leaning forward and kissing him. He pulls his fingers out of me and turns me around so I’m on my hands and knees. He pushes me down until my chest is
pressed against the canvas and my hands and arms are flat.
He grabs my ass in wet hands, trailing the paint down my thighs then up my back. Then he presses his wet cock against me and instead of pushing in, he pulls me back to him. I groan as I feel his thick cock open me up. He rests just inside me as his fingers move over my back, painting it with color. I push back onto him, filling myself up.
“Move,” I beg.
“Not yet,” he says as he leans into me and kisses my back as his hands slide up my stomach to my chest. I push into him, hoping it’ll get him to move, but he’s too busy touching every part of me with his fingers and his lips. I groan, half frustrated, half consumed by him.
“I can’t get enough of you,” he says, and I look back at him, catching his inhuman eyes as his hand, coated in silver and gold paint, slides into my hair to tip my head back.
“I’ve given you everything I have.”
“And I still can’t get enough,” he says as he kisses and licks my throat. He slowly rocks his hips and I dig my fingers into the canvas before remembering that I should be careful with it.
“I want to touch you,” I say.
He pulls out and flips me onto my back before pushing back inside me. I moan as I wrap my legs around him and pull him into me. With hands coated in silver, I grab his ass and squeeze before moving my hands up his back and grabbing his head to pull him down for a kiss as he moves inside me.
I hook his leg and push him up, and he willingly rolls onto his back as I slide down his cock and ride him while he looks up at me. It’s like we can’t get enough of each other and the paint coating our bodies is proof. As I’m getting close, he rolls me onto my back again and thrusts hard inside me as all thoughts of paint become forgotten. Instead, I writhe beneath him as he drives me closer to the edge. I groan as I grab onto him and his hand quickens on my cock. Cum hits his stomach as I hear him moan. He thrusts inside me, pace quickening. He groans as he tucks his head and I feel the warmth of his cum as he releases inside me.
“So… was the paint supposed to be on the canvas or just coated over your entire body? Because you are covered,” Havoc says as he pulls out of me.
I grin as I gently smack a bit of paint on his cheek. “Is it beautiful?” I ask as I roll off.
Familiar Beginnings Page 9