“Dani, grab Aveena and take her upstairs. Put a guard on the room, but otherwise make her comfortable.” The dwarf had just gotten her axe, and didn’t look happy to be on babysitting instead of executioner’s duty.
“Am I the only one who thinks this is a bad idea?” I couldn’t stop myself. Everyone stopped to look at me. “From how I heard it, Aveena is the reason Lilith is in jail, why the cops and UN came here this winter, and just a major pain in the ass in general. Why are we giving her free room and board?”
“Sancta Familia,” Dani hissed as she supervised two imps carting Aveena away on a stretcher.
“Just as we are bound by the Covenants, and honor, so is she. By making the request, she agreed to be on her best behavior. Look beyond the surface to the opportunity this provides,” Venus answered sternly. “She has a lot of information our organization can use. Plus,” the succubus’s smile grew mischievous. “You should always keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.”
“Didn’t the guy who coined that phrase get stabbed in the back by those enemies he was keeping so nice and cozy?” I fired back.
Venus just laughed at me. “I coined the phrase, Cameron. My time with Sun Tzu enlightened him, and while Machiavelli was a bore, he had his uses. I’m just glad Coppola took my notes to heart for his little movie. That’s what really got the saying out there.”
That was a bigger shock than her knocking the wicked witch out with her thumb. “Still,” I called after her retreating back, but she was done with me.
“I wouldn’t mind keeping that ass close,” the Aesir interrupted me before I could force it back down.
“Am I the only one who thinks this is going to be a little awkward when Lilith gets out? They fucking hate each other!” Everyone was too busy to answer me.
The cops and fire department were on their way. Civilians were crawling out of the woodwork; snapping pictures and streaming on Facebook Live. This was going to be on national news by the evening, and the last thing I wanted was to be caught in the background. My position with the various governmental agencies was tenuous enough.
“This is such bullshit,” I took the elevator back down to the training areas. I really needed to hit something.
Not only because it felt good, but because I knew I needed to get stronger. Even operating at over one hundred percent with my Fae gifts, I’d still been no match for Van Helsing. I needed to train; fight smarter, hit harder, move faster. I needed Eye of the Tiger playing as I chugged raw eggs and ran the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Above all else, I needed to show Lilith I could protect her when the assholes of the world tried to fuck with us. I was her First, she was my succubus, and I sure as shit wasn’t going to let anything like this prison stint happen to her ever again. That’s an oath I’d swear on my Fae power, and fuck the consequences.
“Excellent,” the Aesir grinned in the back of my mind. “Let’s get started.”
Chapter 17
Rata-tat-tat-tat. Rata-tat-tat-tat. I rocked out a drum solo on the dash to alleviate some of my anxiety as I scanned the area around the car. There was a whole lot of jack shit, but I’d learned not to let my guard down. It was easy to be alert and aware when I was in the danger zone, but it took real focus to apply what I’d learned twenty-four-seven. Even in a car out in the middle of the desert.
Over the past weeks, since the wicked witch decided to redecorate the foyer of Caesars with a collage of dead imps, Dani had been testing me to make sure I had my head in the game. It was fun for her. A way to pass the time when she wasn’t forging weapons, or getting ready for the next fight. That was another thing I’d learned; there was always a next fight. I’d always known there was a little predator buried under her cute exterior. I just never knew the extent of it until now.
I learned really quick to take her seriously; troll strength or not. If my Tijuana adventures hadn’t been enough, Dani’s victorious ball taps got me to wise up. Those sucked. They weren’t love taps, or gentle cradles; those came when she had a hankering for stroganoff. These were full on, guys-locker-room gotchas. One time, when she leapt out from behind a statue, while I was chowing down on a quesadilla, I ended up on the ground, dry heaving, and crying like a little bitch. I’d slept with one eye half open ever since.
Now, on instinct, I shot a glance across the front seat. Dani was behind the wheel, dressed in a black suit, with her custom-made Kevlar vest underneath. Twin pistols peaked out from shoulder holsters that would be tough to draw with her seatbelt on. Of course, a head-on collision was the least of our worries. No one said we were going to run into trouble on this trip, but after the last few months, we weren’t taking any chances.
I wasn’t decked out in armor, but I was tougher than her. I’d proved that in the sparring chambers beneath Caesars. Don’t get me wrong, Dani was still a hell of a fighter, and if I wasn’t on my A game, she’d kick my ass. I didn’t spend much time in what I was calling human mode anymore. I was almost always relying on my Fae gifts. Even when I slept, the white fire in my gut crackled reassuringly.
The Tikals had formally declared a vendetta against me. Apparently, killing one of their head honchos was a good way to get on their shit list. Who knew? Now, whenever I left Caesars, I had a security detail, and that was if I was allowed to leave at all. The lawyers had worked things out with the UN, but I still got the “don’t leave town” talk. Of course, I didn’t bother to notify them about this little daycation.
I had all the backup I needed. The AA12 hidden underneath the passenger seat would give any UN agent an epileptic fit. That, plus Dani, plus an Aesir in reserve if shit really hit the fan, and I was confident I’d come out ahead.
The Aesir rumbled happily at me thinking he was the biggest kid on the block. He’d been looking forward to this day for a long time.
“Easy there, hoss,” Dani reached over and grabbed my hand. “If you mess up this leather, you’re paying me back the security deposit.”
“Yeah, okay, sure,” I pulled my hands back; wringing them in my lap, before finally gripping my knees to give them something to do.
“Honestly, you’ve got nothing to worry about,” she stated. “She’s gonna be on you like a junkie right out of rehab. I’m worried about me,” her face paled a shade.
Now it was my turn to be reassuring. “Don’t worry, I’ll talk to her.”
“Ha!” Dani barked, and kept her eyes on the road.
It was a single, two-lane highway surrounded by nothing but desert flooded with light. It was a one-eighty from how I’d arrived back in this world all those weeks ago. I’d been tossed into darkness battered and broken. Literally. My spine had been severed, I was crippled, and I couldn’t even summon the strength to crawl out of the way of an oncoming car. It was a miracle I was alive.
Now, I was in a stretch limo, with a dwarf chauffeur, riding to pick up the most important woman in the world. Expectations were high. For both of us. No pressure.
I was anxious because I’d been a little fuckboy since I last saw Lilith. There had been Night . . . sorry . . . Mia. My little, kind of-goth sidepiece had dropped out of school and her sorority to stay with me. That was commitment, but I wasn’t sure Lilith would approve. Technically, I’d fucked the Caeli mage before she formally joined the cabal, so Lilith shouldn’t be too pissed. Still, I’d engaged in some pretty vigorous sex with the mage while my succubus was in prison. I wasn’t sure how she’d feel about that.
Then there was Ariana and Ivanna. We hadn’t technically fucked in the parking lot, but I’d come as close as possible without hitting a home run; and even that was up for interpretation. They were both in the cabal, so that might be an issue, but the Aesir didn’t care about the rules.
Then there was the three way with Dani, Ariana, and Fern. There was no skating around that one on a technicality. We’d gone balls to the walls. Literally, I think some of my spunk would have to be chiseled off Thomas’s corporate wallpaper with a crowbar. Ariana was
in another country, so she was reasonably safe. Fern and I had a master-servant blood bond; so, I could just blame that. Then there was Dani. She was neither linked to me by Fae magic, nor safe in another country. She’d have to face the music.
The last time someone in the cabal had fucked me without Lilith’s okay, she’d snapped their spine like a twig, and walked out like nothing was the matter. I was reasonably sure Dani would be fine. She and Lilith were tight. Plus, the dwarf didn’t have much of a choice. If she didn’t give it up willingly, the Aesir in me was going to take it. The thought of that sent a shiver up my spine, but it was true. I hated to say it, but consent was not part of the Aesir vocabulary. He took what he wanted, when he wanted; which was why I kept him locked away.
Likewise, Dani was sure Lilith would be fine with me screwing everything with a hole since she went away. Between the two arguments, I felt mine was better, so we’d spent most of the trip trying to convince each other we’d be fine. In my opinion, neither of us was having much luck.
“New topic,” I did what I did best, and ignored the problem. “Is it me, or is Venus getting fat?”
“Gods, Cam, you jump right out of the fire and into the frying pan,” she shook her head, but I saw the small smile tug at her lips.
I think every woman in existence was excited that the literal sex goddess walking amongst them had put on a few pounds.
“I’m just throwing it out there,” I stated, defensively.
“What’s the saying; you don’t talk about sex, politics, or religion with family. If a girl asks you if she looks fat in a pair of pants, you automatically say no; and you never ask about a woman’s age or weight,” Dani hit the blinker and headed for the off ramp.
I felt my heart jump into my throat. “So, that’s a no?”
“No, she’s definitely put on a couple lbs.,” Dani replied. “But that’s kind of what happens when you’re prego.”
“She’s pregnant!” I yelled. “Wow, I wasn’t even sure if . . . how . . . when . . .”
“Well, Cam, when a man loves a woman,” Dani took her hands off the wheel, extended her index finger on one, made a circle with the other, and started ramming the finger through the circle.
“Haha, you’re hilarious,” I replied dryly. “I’m just saying, I don’t know who would ever want to have a child with her. I mean . . . I don’t even think there is a number for how many dick’s she’s taken.”
“Yeah, when someone asks her to ballpark it, she could literally say a ballpark.” We both laughed at that.
The limo coasted to a stop at a red light, and we both looked at the sign in front of us.
“Ten miles. You ready, big guy,” Dani looked over at me.
“I don’t have much of a choice,” I replied. “But I’m not telling her about Aveena.”
“Me neither,” Dani shot back.
We both stared each other down. “No need to ruin a good time. Lark can tell her when we get back. Agreed?”
“Agreed.”
She hit the accelerator, and it felt like a second later we were pulling into the parking lot of the Victorville Federal Correctional Complex. The group of buildings were the only thing breaking the desert motif of this hot hellhole. I could literally see waves of heat breaking against the buildings like waves on a beach. I couldn’t imagine being here for three months. I was having trouble being cooped up in my room, and going stir-crazy, after three days.
Dani didn’t bother to find a parking spot. She just pulled up in front of the sidewalk that led up to a pair of guard towers, a gate, and a chain-link fence with razor wire on top. I doubt any of it would stop a supernatural from breaking out, so I looked closer.
I’d had a couple of lessons with Morgan about the human side of magic. Although I couldn’t actually cast any spells, or manipulate any elements, I could confidently tell when magic was in play. Those were the senses I turned on the gate.
“Yowzah,” the fence radiated hostile magic like a bonfire. I don’t know what would happen if someone unauthorized touched it. “Nothing good.”
“So, do we just hang out here?” I asked.
“Hell if I know. This is the first person I’ve sprung from a joint the legit way,” Dani shrugged.
“Wait, you . . . I don’t want to know,” I stopped myself. Sometimes ignorance was bliss.
I squinted against the sun’s glare and waited. Lilith was supposed to be released at noon, and it was five till. Since the government never did anything on time, I didn’t expect to see her just yet.
“Be cool. You’re cool. A real cool cat,” I did some breathing exercises to stay calm.
“What the hell are you, a fifties jazz vocalist?” the Aesir fired back, but I could feel his/my excitement.
It was getting harder to tell what was me, what was him, and what was us. If that gives you a headache; welcome to my life. Lark said we would start to blend into one sooner or later, and that was already happening. It helped that my life had been less violent lately. Unfortunately, it was no less sex filled. Dani and I had already broken the cardinal rule, so there was no sense crying over spilled milk. Instead, we dove in head first, and Fern joined in from time to time. Much to Night . . . damn it . . . Mia’s chagrin, I didn’t include her. She didn’t have Dani’s history with Lilith, and not a chance in hell of putting a broken spine back together. She’d have to settle for banging herself until we figured everything out. We needed the boss to do that.
Noon came and went. So did fifteen after, and thirty after. We were approaching one o’clock, and I was starting to get pissed. I checked my email to confirm today was the right day, we were in the right place, and I hadn’t received a last-minute fuck-you from the DOJ. Everything was good. So why the hold up?
Likewise, Dani was getting jittery. We were way outside the safety of Caesars. A cabal team would need over an hour to come to our rescue if shit went down, and I had no problem believing that the Tikals would pull something in a federal prison parking lot. Their attitude toward American law enforcement was a “better dead” approach.
I put the Aesir on standby, just in case things got interesting, but five minutes later my situational awareness went to shit. My whole universe seemed to lurch as gravity shifted. Down was no longer up. Left and right were just constructs of my imagination. The world didn’t revolve around the sun anymore. It was focused on the woman who stepped out of the door a few hundred feet away, and brought up her hand to shade her face against the glare.
She looked at the limo and smiled. The sun might as well be a kid’s nightlight compared to the way that simple gesture hit me. Dani and I promised to stay in the car. It was an extra layer of protection if someone took a shot at us, and AC. We couldn’t forget about the wonders of air conditioning.
When Lilith stepped into the light, I was halfway out the door, and Dani didn’t try and stop me. A speaker near the gate gave a blast and the barrier, and all the hostile magic, started to roll away. Lilith didn’t move. Her eyes stayed locked on mine until the gate was completely retracted. It was tough to say, but I swear there was an emerald haze to her gaze.
What we had here was a Sound of Music moment, or anything out of a John Hughes’ flick. The pretty girl, and the dopy guy’s, eyes would meet across a space; and we were supposed to run to each other in slow motion. Unfortunately, all those movies were made before supernaturals came out of the closet.
They also never took into account a horny succubus. Thankfully, I anticipated it, or I would have been knocked on my ass. Lilith went from zero to sixty in the blink of an eye, and didn’t slow down. She was wearing a conservative get-up, probably to help with a jury, and she practically shredded the sides of the dress. My eyes caught a glimpse of naked, tanned flesh flexing as she ran; and that was enough to get me well past half mast.
She crossed most of the space between us on foot, but jumped the last two dozen feet. She flew through the air like a spider monkey, and I braced for impact. My troll strength swelled in my gut,
along with my dick, and the Aesir cheered me on as I caught her. Unfortunately for the concrete, it wasn’t enough. My heels dug into the sidewalk, creating two shallow furrows as the impact pushed me back.
Not that I was paying attention. Lilith’s hands had grasped onto either side of my face, and pressed her lips against mine . . . hard. Her tongue snaked between my lips and caressed my tongue like a long-lost lover. My hands found her ass, and squeezed possessively. She wrapped her legs around me like a python. There was nothing that could tear us apart.
The limo finally stopped my backward slide with a loud thunk. Or, it might have been my dick springing to attention and hitting Lilith’s leg.
“Seriously!” Dani’s voice was muffled by the metal, but neither of us paid her any attention.
My head swam as I inhaled my succubus. She smelled like apple pie, Monday night football, Netflix and chill, with a dash of crazy. She smelled like everything I’d been missing my entire life, and I couldn’t imagine how I’d ever let Agent Dud take me in the first place. I was a world-class idiot for ever letting this woman out of my sight. I vowed never to let that happen again. Ever.
“Lilith, I . . .” I started as we both came up for air.
“Just shut up and kiss me,” she stopped me by shoving her tongue back down my throat, and grinding her hips against me.
With my troll strength operating at one hundred percent, my dick might actually split my pants any second. The last thing I needed was an indecent exposure charge on federal property, so I took one hand off her ass and rummaged behind me for the handle.
She groaned at the loss of touch, but it was only for a second. I pulled the door open, and practically fell backwards into the spacious rear. Unfortunately, limo doors weren’t built for two people to fall through, and Lilith’s face hit the frame with a loud crack that definitely spoke to structural damage.
“Gods you two, get a room,” Dani was clearly frustrated.
“Why? We have a limo. It’s a room on wheels,” Lilith finally broke the embrace, rubbed her forehead and moved to close the door behind us.
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