Familiar Beginnings

by Alice Winters

  I have to be strong. I have to do everything I can to keep safe so we can get our happy ever after.

  He picks me up, never breaking from the kiss, and carries me over to a couch Nicco must have moved in here. “Door locked?”

  I glance at it and throw up a barrier. “Is now.”

  Havoc lowers me to the couch before crawling onto it with me. His hands run up my sides, drawing my shirt with them as he watches me closely. My body shivers against the gentle touch, aching for more as I slide my hands up his back, taking his shirt with them. I toss his shirt onto the ground as he kisses a line down my neck to my chest, his lips brushing against my skin. My hands slide into the back of his pants so I can grab his ass and pull him against me. His leg is between mine, so I push up, rubbing my cock against his thigh as he murmurs something too quietly for me to hear.

  The feeling of my erection must make him eager for more because he reaches for my pants and begins to push them down my hips. His hand runs over the top of my boxer briefs, cupping my cock and rubbing it. The feeling of his hand and the cloth sliding against me makes me groan as I unbutton his pants and slide the zipper down.

  He nuzzles my throat and then gives it a gentle kiss, his expression holding none of the teasing and toying he usually shows when we have sex. “Please be safe tomorrow. I want to hold you again and again. I want to wake up with you beside me,” he says, breath heavy against my ear.

  “You too. I need you more than anything.”

  I push his pants down his hips and reach into his underwear for his cock. I trail down the hard length before wrapping my fingers around him and drawing my hand up. He pulls my underwear off before kissing me again.

  That’s when I remember we’re missing something important. “Lube? I don’t have lube. I have a spell that might make something we could use as lube or might blow up. It’s done both. Do we take the chance?”

  His eyes narrow. “I think I have a travel pack, so let’s hold off on blowing my dick off, alright?”

  “I suppose.” My grin instantly makes him start laughing, and I’m glad there’s a moment of lightness to the situation.

  Havoc pulls my legs up so my hips are raised and squeezes my ass cheek as his other hand slides between them. He runs a wet finger over my hole, circling and rubbing before slipping inside me. I grab the small packet of lubricant from him and squeeze what I can onto my hand before reaching for his cock.

  I draw it over him, rubbing up and down as he adds a second finger inside me. We’re moving quickly but gently. It’s like we both know how much we need each other more than anything, and we need each other now, but we’re also taking the time to just touch and feel, to appreciate and love each other through strokes and soft kisses.

  “Good?” he asks.

  I nod and pull him to me. I grab onto him, holding him down as he lines his cock up with my hole. I can feel the tip brushing against me before he pushes in, going tantalizingly slow as he opens me up. I groan as his hand wraps around my cock and our lips crash against each other’s. His movements are unhurried as his hips rock inside me. I need so much of him that I don’t feel like I can get enough. Because in the back of my head there’s this tiny voice that tells me that this could be our last time together. The last time I get to feel his body as he holds me and moves inside me.

  But I know that I need to be strong, I need to focus on him here with me, holding me and touching me, whispering words of love into my ear and telling me how he’ll always protect me.

  “I love you,” I say. “So much.”

  “I love you too.” He kisses me. “More than you’ll ever know.”

  I smile at him as my hands slide down his back. I can feel the bumps from scars that tell so many stories, but I know this body so well. Even if I don’t know every story behind them, I know him more than anyone. I know what he loves and what he hates. I know all of it, and I know I’ll never get enough of it.

  He hits that sweet spot inside me that makes my body tense and grab onto him as my back arches and I moan. He rocks his hips, hitting it again. I can’t hold out much longer and his hand stroking me makes it impossible to keep the orgasm at bay. His pace quickens as I clutch onto him, cock achingly hard as my balls tighten. I moan as I come and feel myself tighten around Havoc’s cock. He holds me tighter in return and drives himself into me as cum hits his stomach.

  He groans as he comes inside me, tucking his head against my neck as his orgasm rushes through him and I hold tightly onto him. He kisses me softly, first my neck, then up to my lips. Slowly he pulls out of me before lying against me in silence.

  I hold him to me as tightly as I can as we just soak up the feel of each other for what seems like hours but can only be minutes.

  “We should probably find an actual bed and get some sleep so we’re ready for tomorrow,” I say.

  He nods. “I suppose.”

  He pulls me to my feet and dresses me between kisses and gentle touches. As we walk away, I look back at the room. “It’s funny how… to you, this room was the worst place. It was your prison, it was torture. But to me… this place was the best room in the house because you were in it. And I liked you more than anything and anyone.”

  He seems to think about it for a moment before smiling at me. “It wasn’t always torture. Just mostly torture when I saw your smiling face come trotting down the stairs.”

  I grin at him. “You’re pure evil.”

  “Thank you.”

  I reach over and squeeze his hand. “Was it torture just now? Me ‘trotting down the stairs’?”

  “Not this time.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Here! Here! Here!”

  I jerk awake as one of my lesser demons comes crashing into the room. Havoc is up and ready to murder it, so I have to grab for him to remind him that the annoying little creature is just doing its job. Even if it’s annoying at its job.

  I reach out to my barrier and feel the magical presence of one who is very uninvited. “He’s here. Alert everyone.”

  Havoc’s hand on my chest stills me. “Miles, I grabbed this for you last night while you were sleeping,” he says as he holds something out to me.

  I turn on the light to properly see what it is and realize that it’s a sword. “You left?”

  “I slipped into the demon realm. I was careful, I promise. Clearly, because I’m still here,” he says.

  I stare at him in disbelief. “You know I don’t like you going places without telling me. How would I rescue you if someone abducted you?”

  “Who’s going to abduct me?” Havoc asks as he waves at himself. “I’d like to see them try so I can kick their ass.”

  Of course that’s his mindset. “The goal is to not get abducted, not to maim your abductor,” I remind him.

  He slowly nods like he’s letting it sink in. “Ah, I forgot.”

  I take the sword from him and pull it free of its sheath before looking down at the blade shimmering a light blue. It’s absolutely gorgeous. “Where did you get this?”

  “I got it for you. When I saw it, I knew you’d love it, but I was having it sharpened and prepared. The blade was made using dragon fire.”

  I stare at him in disbelief because he looks positive that all of this happened. It’s the same with the ring that I made him. He tells everyone I made it from dragon skin. “Dragons aren’t real!”

  He gives me a look of defiance. “Tell me any other metal that shimmers like that.”

  The sword does have a strange shimmer and the magic wound in it is old. I don’t even recognize it and wish I had time to familiarize myself with it, but for now, I’ll just have to hope it works as well as my last one.

  “Thank you. I absolutely love it. It feels wonderful, even if dragons aren’t real,” I say as I check out the balance of the blade.

  He pulls me in for a kiss. “Be careful.”

  “You too. I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  For a moment, we just hold
each other, but that’s all we can spare. Then he grabs his feathered cloak and shifts into a raven before flying away.

  I pull on some very light body armor that will save me from a minor stab and is also bulletproof, but still allows me to move freely.

  When I reach outside, there is nothing amiss besides the silence in the air. The others begin to join me as I go over to Badrick and run my hand down his thick coat.

  “Once you take me to him, you can retreat.” I don’t want to send the forest spirit into danger after so much has already been taken from him.

  “I’ll stand by your side,” Badrick says.

  “Thank you, but retreat if it becomes too risky.”

  With that, I climb onto his back as Havoc flies above us. Menace leaps up and I grab onto him before he can claw into either of us and pull him onto my lap. And once everyone is behind me, I begin to move forward.

  “Let’s not let him get ahead of us,” I say. “He can’t be allowed time to create his own barrier. We must stop him before he does.”

  “I’m with you,” Etienne says from atop Enzo. “We’ll head him off. The others can move after us.”

  “Got it,” I say, and we start to move out.

  “The Penetrators, attack!” Iya shouts, and I really hope those aren’t the last words I hear from his mouth.

  We rush forward, Badrick and Enzo jumping into a run that puts us ahead of the others besides those who were gifted with the power of four legs, like Baron. Still, I order him to hang back and protect the others. We don’t know what Geoff has beside him to aid him, so we’ll have to be cautious.

  As we break into an open field, I see that Geoff is not in the first line of enemies. While he could be wearing Lanni’s skin, he can’t hide from me this time because I can feel his magic and know what I’m looking for. It’s apparent he’s planning something just past this row of enemies.

  Havoc shifts above one, a necromancer from the looks of it, and drags him straight to the ground as Baron rushes forward for the next. The two of them create a path that Etienne and I slip through, leaving them to the rest.

  The ground begins to shake as the earth moves beneath Badrick and Enzo’s feet, but Badrick leaps forward, missing the sliding earth that’s probably controlled by a druid of some kind. Etienne’s horse also seems equally unaffected. I suppose that’s what happens when you’re already dead and can randomly crawl out of the earth.

  And that’s when I see Geoff, standing in a fucking circle with a smile on his stupid fucking face. He’s returned to his body, telling me that he’s taken some of Lanni’s power to be able to jump to a new body, and that makes me worried. If I kill this body, will he just take another?

  I move toward him as he holds his hands out and the ground begins to shake. This time, it isn’t the earth, but what lies beneath it.

  The dead rise from beneath the earth, his previous victims now under his control. The moment they break free of their resting places, they rush us.

  Badrick slows as he bats them to the ground.

  “I’ve got these,” Etienne says as he drops from his horse and kicks his shoes off. Once his bare feet touch the ground, I feel magic swell from him.

  Badrick barrels into more, but the dead seem to be flooding into the area, ready to destroy us. He’s barely making progress as they create a barrier to keep him from passing. And just as he lunges forward, something large slams into him, seemingly from nowhere. He’s thrown to his side as I fall from his back and look for what has attacked him. He cries out, but there doesn’t seem to be anything there even though I can feel a swell of magic. I reach out with my own magic, allowing the tendrils of it to race along the ground until I realize that whatever they are, they’re covered by illusions.

  Badrick bats one off as he struggles to his feet, and I use my magic to pull the illusions from them, revealing a pack of weres. I use wind magic to push them off Badrick since it won’t hurt him and it’d take a whole lot more force to send a creature his size flying. It allows him to get to his feet as Baron rushes up in his wolf form and takes one down the moment they move toward us.

  Badrick rushes to tear them down as I lift my hand to help.

  I feel a swell of magic behind me and turn just as Baron slams into me, throwing me back. He stumbles and that’s when I see an arrow coated in magic buried in his chest.

  I lift my hand, throwing fire in the direction of the illusioned archer. A scream tells me I’ve hit them, even if I can’t see them.

  “Are you okay?” I ask Baron as he sinks to his butt.

  He shifts, whether on purpose or not, I can’t tell, and groans as he grabs for the arrow. “Fuck… at least maybe Havoc will forgive me for stabbing you now,” he says.

  I still his hand to keep him from just yanking the arrow out and causing more damage. “Hey, he already forgave you. Just… sit still for a moment,” I say as I touch the arrow to pull away the magic wrapped around it. “Just… Badrick, can you get him back, please?” I ask as Badrick moves away from his beaten enemies.

  “Of course.”

  “I’m fine, I’ll just…” Baron takes a deep breath. “I’m fine!”

  “Shit. I’m sorry,” I say as I throw up a barrier around him. I wish I could do it to everyone, but if I split my magic that much, there’s no telling how much I’d have left when it finally comes down to facing Geoff. But Badrick rushes over, so I help Baron to his feet as blood runs down his bare chest. “You make it back to Yoko or Leo, you hear me?”

  He looks pale as he nods, and I know it’s not good when he willingly lets me push him onto Badrick’s back.

  “Badrick, please be careful,” I say.

  Badrick nods before rushing back toward the house where the others are still fighting. I turn, unable to see Geoff but knowing that I need to keep pushing forward.

  “Miles!” Marco shouts as he swoops down and grabs me off the ground. He holds on to me tightly as he pulls me up into the air.

  “Be careful, there are illusioned people everywhere,” I warn him. “We just have to get close so I can see him.”

  “I’ll try,” he says as we move over armies of undead that I’m relying on Etienne to control.

  A burst of wind magic slams into Marco, tossing us back. His wings falter as he begins to fall and I search for what caused the wind to swell, but with the illusions hiding Geoff’s army, I’m blind to our attackers.

  Marco slams into a tree and his hold on me loosens as I’m dropped. I grab onto a tree limb which slows my fall so when I smack the ground, it doesn’t hurt too badly. I roll up onto my feet as Marco drops down beside me.

  “I’m sorry,” he says.

  “Are you okay?” I ask Marco.

  “Yes, but I think my wing’s broken. I can’t pull myself up.”

  “Can you get yourself back?” I ask as I notice undead moving toward me.

  I pull my sword free as I light it on fire and slice through the enemy. The sword is oddly receptive to the fire, like it was made for it, so I use it against the undead. They have no brain, their bodies controlled completely by Geoff’s necromancy. But there are so many and I’m in the thick of it.

  “I can help. I’ll be fine!”

  “Marco, I don’t need you to get stuck here without flight,” I say as I hold up my hand to protect us, preparing to use magic, even though I want to save all of my magic for Geoff.

  But before I do, the magic in the dead begins to shift and change. I see a white mist flying toward the bodies coming from behind me. I turn and feel a surge in Etienne’s magic as the dead stop moving. They don’t crumble or crawl back into the earth; instead they turn, like they’ve found a new enemy.

  Are their souls returning to them from the river because of Etienne’s magic?

  “What the fuck are you, Etienne?” I ask, even though I know he can’t hear me.

  But if the dead aren’t going to kill me, then I’m now free to move forward and face our invisible enemies.

  I didn’t n
eed to worry because the dead wrap around me like a barrier that the arrows and bullets don’t pierce through. They’re here to destroy the man who took their lives and they know that I’m the person who can do it.

  “Marco, here’s your chance to back off. Please head back—I don’t want you to die because of this.”

  He hesitates before nodding, knowing that without his wings, he wouldn’t be able to pull himself back as he’s used to. Quickly, I move forward, rushing with the undead as I turn to the one who’s my enemy.

  Geoff.

  He’s smiling at me but the cold expression sends chills racing down my body. I know it’s a reaction from my childhood fears, but it still makes me hesitate. “Ah, Miles. I see you’ve come. You’re so fucking stubborn. Why won’t you just die? Why do you insist on living?” he asks. “I finally thought I killed you, yet here you are again.”

  “I think because you’re just so damn bad at your job you can’t figure out how to kill me,” I say.

  He chuckles, like any of this could be mistaken as being funny. “Join me, Miles.”

  I raise an eyebrow as Menace brushes against my leg. Join him? After all that, he wants me to… join him?

  Geoff’s eyes drop. “So it’s taken a liking to you.”

  “Menace?”

  He looks horrified. It must be because of my superior naming skills. “You named… you named him Menace? Of course you did. Do you… you don’t!” He starts laughing. This new inside joke is giving him a boatload to laugh over. “You don’t even realize what that is, do you?”

  I look down at the evil little monster. “A cat?”

  He starts laughing harder. “A cat! How cute! It’s tsumchi.”

  I stare at him. He stares at me.

  Menace meows.

  “You don’t know what it is, do you?” he asks, then the laughing returns and I want to kill him even more than before.