“We’re going to see the boss.” With Aveena’s word given, the vamp turned her back and marched out toward the elevators. “She’s got something she needs to talk with you about.”
***
I looked down at my watch, and then back up at the group. We were in the same boardroom where I’d met Venus, Lark, and Morgan on my first visit. The screens in the room were all off. Despite us all being official members of the cabal, information was still compartmentalized, and we didn’t have a need to know.
We’d all opted to sit together along one side of the table in a show of solidarity. Our decisions made an impression, and the impression we wanted to give Venus, and anyone else who showed up, was unity. We had to provide a solidified front against our enemies in order to survive; so, we might as well show the boss we weren’t afraid of her. That was easier said than done.
Lilith sat at the head of our contingent, but I had the spot of honor to her left. Beneath the table, her hand was in mine. We’d taken to holding hands whenever we could. I know. It’s so high-school, but there was something about the connection. I felt more grounded when our skin touched, and the Aesir was a little less intrusive. After literally being fucked into silence, he respected Lilith as the undisputed ruler of the pussy.
Dani sat next to me, followed by Fern, and Mia brought up the tail end. It didn’t escape me that we’d unconsciously taken our seats in the order of seniority. Come to think of it, it was an accurate scale of our power as well. I didn’t know how Mia, Fern, and Dani would fare in a fight against one another; their power sets were different. A fight between Fern and Dani would be interesting, but Mia was probably at the bottom of the heap. She was the youngest, and her only training was a college self-defense class. She’d have to work hard to get up to cabal standards.
“We’ve got a lot of training coming up,” I told myself. “We need to learn to fight together; instinctively know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and where we fit into a battle plan. It’s just as important as our extracurricular activities.” I’d need to ask Peter about getting access to whatever scheduling software the cabal used to book training rooms.
I didn’t want to go to the anal-retentive unicorn for anything, but he was hyper-organized, and that had some merit. I didn’t want the lecture that came along with the information, but I’d suck it up for the sake of the harem.
“Here we are,” a familiar voice echoed as the door to the conference room opened.
We’d been sitting here for twenty minutes, so it was about time we got started. I turned to the newcomers and froze. Marcella stepped into the room, closely followed by the person I hated most in the world; or any world for that matter. Red hot anger poured into me so hot I thought I was finally going to be able to pull off Butter’s fire laser trick.
I wasn’t frozen in shock and rage for long. Before I knew it, I was out of my chair and marching toward Aveena. She smirked as I approached, which only pissed me off more.
“Hello, Cam. Long time no see. We had some good times though, right? Who knew you were into bondage?” she grinned.
I nearly punched her in her smug fucking face, but I’d been schooled on Sancta Familia. That was exactly when she wanted to me to do. Instead, I controlled my temper, but I still got right up in her grill.
I took a deep breath. “Do you smell that?” I asked.
The Fae’s grin faltered.
“Smells like weakness.” Now, it was my turn to grin; and hers to be pissed. “That’s right,” I egged her on. “You might have had your fun with the whips and chains back in faerieland, but you’re in my house now. I wish I could have been the one to knock you down a peg, or six; judging by the stench of failure coming off you. I don’t think you’ll be tying anyone up anytime soon. Something tells me you’ll be the one getting hog tied and dragged back to neverland if you’re not careful.”
I’d hit the sweet spot. Aveena’s weakness had always been her pride, and I’d just taken a steaming dump all over it. She was literally shaking, with her hands balled into fists, and part of me wanted her to take a swing.
“Let me take a crack at it,” the Aesir begged, and against my better judgement, I agreed.
I didn’t really let him out, I just let him be the boogeyman Aveena believed him to be. I felt my face shift from the satisfied smile of putting her down, to the half-crazed, feral grin the Aesir wore when he was about to rape and pillage.
“Boo,” my voice dropped an octave and everyone could feel the echo of power in the room.
Aveena instinctually took a step back. She’d tried to play chicken with a real monster and lost . . . bad. In front of everyone. That would hold me for a while.
“Okay, down boy,” I ordered. Surprisingly, the Aesir agreed. He marched back into his mental cage without complaint; and the aura of violence quickly dissipated from the room.
I turned around to return to my seat, and everyone was looking at me. “What?” I asked, but I couldn’t hide my shit-eating grin. Today was turning out to be a really good day.
“Good. No one has killed each other yet,” Venus strode through the back door like the boss she was.
She was also definitively pregnant. She wasn’t in Gucci’s maternity line yet, but she was getting there. I don’t know how far along she was, but I knew women tended to show earlier if they’d been pregnant before.
“What does that mean if this is her thousandth pregnancy?” The more I thought about it, the more it was a wonder her pussy wasn’t the Channel Tunnel. She made pornstars look like virgins.
I didn’t voice that aloud. Like Dani and I had talked about, you don’t comment on a woman’s weight; especially a pregnant goddess whose hormone swings might have led to the sack of Rome by the Visigoths. If you couldn’t talk about weight, you sure as shit couldn’t talk about the number of people who’d pushed their way out of her vagina.
“We’re perfectly capable of getting along, mother,” Lilith stated as Aveena took the seat opposite her.
Next to me, Lilith had the next best case to be righteously pissed with the Fae, but she didn’t seem to be holding much of a grudge. That alone nominated her for sainthood in my book. Aveena was the reason Lilith had spent months in the pokey. I think everyone on our side of the table wanted to give Aveena a taste of her own medicine. It was the Fae’s turn to get jumped in the shower.
Lilith must have felt my plan to casually assault our mutual enemy, because she tightly grabbed my hand when I took my seat and pulled it into her lap. It helped. It always helped.
“I didn’t call you all together because I’m an asshole,” Venus eased into the chair at the head of the table. “I called you all for a matter that is going to consume all of your attention in the coming months, maybe even years.”
That was enough of a bombshell to take my eyes off Aveena. “Years?” I gulped
Venus gave me a look most commonly reserved for teachers addressing the class dunce. “Yes, Cameron. Years. You need to stop thinking of time as an obstacle. You know what you are now. Your people have been around for billions of years. Time is a simple unit of measure for people like us.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I answered. In all the time I’d had to think about my Aesir half, it never occurred to me that I was probably immortal now.
I looked to my left. Dani would be around for a few hundred years, but she’d grow old and die. Fern would still be kicking, but if I got another five decades with Mia that would be a win. This was going to bring a whole bunch of new problems into my life, but also new opportunities. On the bright side, Lilith would be right by my side through it all. Judging by how things had been going recently, she’d probably outlive me.
“This is the reason you’re all here,” Venus continued as I sorted out my internal dilemma. She reached behind her and Nicole handed over three envelopes. I hadn’t even seen the CEO’s assistant standing there. She was human, but seemed to have her own special powers of invisibility.
Venus handed one enve
lope to me, one to Lilith, and the third to Aveena. I took mine, and felt a jolt of power when it touched my skin. The envelope was gold. I’m not talking colored gold, or even painted; it was legit twenty-four carat gold. I even bit it to be sure. Even weirder, it was lighter than forged metal should be. It only weighed as much as a traditional envelope, and it even bent and crinkled like paper. Magic. Definitely magic. But magic that still cost a few grand in raw materials.
“Who would spend this kind of cash? Why not just use FedEx like everyone else?” I wondered, but I already knew the answer. Someone was making a power play.
These were meant to shock and awe the recipients. I turned mine over, and got some extra wow factor. My name was stamped in silver filigree with crushed rubies making a symbol on the front. I didn’t know what the symbol was, but judging by the sprinkling, it was a few gemstones worth of rubies to make it.
I didn’t know anyone who just threw away precious stones like that. I looked to Lilith for any sign she knew what was happening. Lilith’s envelope had crushed emeralds in what was clearly the mark of the cabal: the inverted pyramid, stylized V, and All Seeing Eye.
Unlike ours, Aveena’s didn’t have anything. No crushed gemstones, or special symbols. She was trying to hide it, but it clearly upset her.
“These came for you,” Venus continued once we’d all inspected our envelopes. “A Confluence has been called.”
Aveena and Lilith snapped their heads to stare at the queen succubus, but I just scratched mine. “Confluence?”
“A gathering. A meeting under the Covenants,” Dani supplied. The dwarf was looking at the envelops like they were very expensive explosives.
“All those invited are required to attend, or send a representative,” Venus nodded to the dwarf. “You three have been invited, and will attend on behalf of the cabal.”
“So, the UN called a conference,” I shrugged. “We’ll have to stay at an airport Radisson for a few nights, and eat powdered eggs at a continental breakfast, but what’s the big deal?”
Aside from taxpayer money being spent on these ridiculous invitations, it didn’t seem like this should be tossing the next year of my life up in the air.
“The UN isn’t hosting,” Lilith stated. “Although, I’m sure they will be in attendance according to their own treaties.”
“This is Maeve,” Aveena dropped her envelope on the table like it was poisonous and ready to bite. “The Fae have called the Confluence.”
“Oh.” Now I understood why everyone looked like they were going to shit a chicken. “Crap.”
“I expect you all to conduct yourself with the cabal in mind. All attendees have been granted Hospitality, but stay on guard. The Fae are known for their trickery. Right, Aveena.”
The frost giant didn’t respond. She just continued to look at the envelope like it was going to grow legs and attack.
“We have already reached out to the UN, and will meet with their delegation for planning purposes, but we do not represent them. The other signatories will also be present: Tikals, Fengs, any of the dragon lords, or old gods that still remain.”
“Talk about name dropping,” the Aesir wasn’t taking this seriously. If anything, he was ready for the party.
“Any questions? Good,” Venus didn’t give us a chance to ask any before she got up, turned on her heel, and left the room in shocked silence.
“Lilith, what does this mean?” I asked.
“It means the Fae Queen is going to kill us all in the most creative ways imaginable,” Aveena answered first. “And there is nothing we can do about it.”
“But, Hospitality?” I replied.
Aveena just scoffed, shook her head, and exited through the other door.
Lilith didn’t say anything. She just watched the Fae go. Our group sat there for several minutes in tense silence as the boss worked things out.
“We need to train harder than we’ve ever trained before,” she said after the silence. “We need to get stronger; together, and as a unit,” she cracked the envelope and pulled out an invitation that looked like it had been chiseled off a pearl the size of a boulder.
“We’re expected in a month, so there’s no time to waste.”
She ordered Dani to get the private gyms ready for our arrival, and book them for the foreseeable future. If anyone had a problem with that, they could take it up with Venus. As far as anyone was concerned, we were the most important mission on the docket.
Next, Lilith ordered Fern to write down anything and everything she could think of concerning the Fae queen, Fae court politics, and ways around Hospitality. She ordered Mia to help the pixie dig through the archives when she wasn’t training. I don’t know if the mage was going or not, but since the Faerie Realm tended to drive mortals crazy, my vote was no. Even Dani coming was a stretch. If I had a choice, it would only be Lilith, Fern, and I that would take the chance. And Aveena. We needed someone to toss on a magical grenade if some random Fae threw one our way.
Everyone hurried off to get to work, and that just left the two of us. “What do you need me to do?” I asked.
“Two things. First, train with me. We need to master your Aesir half, and as far as I can tell, I’m the only one he truly respects.”
I got a grunt of agreement from the depths of my mind. The Aesir, by his nature, didn’t play well with others; but he could work with Lilith. He respected strength.
“Gotcha,” I nodded. “What else?”
“You need to strengthen the bond,” she replied.
“Right here?” despite the apocalyptic prediction from Aveena, I only needed the go ahead and I was ready to do the horizontal tango.
“Not me,” Lilith smiled, as she stroked the side of my face. “We need to spread our net. Your seed will help fetch us more power when the time comes. I know half the female imps stationed here already want you, so with my blessing, they’ll be lining up outside your door. After that, we’ll get you out on the town. You’re charming, rich, and powerful. Humans and supernaturals will be lining up to be with you.”
I couldn’t believe I was hearing this. I actually pinched myself to make sure this wasn’t a dream. It wasn’t. This was just life at the center of a succubus’s harem. I had to give the supernatural hotties credit. They’d worked out a good system. Now, I was going to reap the benefits.
“Time works differently in the faerie realm,” she continued. “I wouldn’t put it past the Fae to try some type of time dilation subterfuge. After all, what better way to kill off a human than have old age do it for them. Then, they could rightly claim to never have touched them. Hospitality is still intact, but the mortal is very much dead. If we get trapped, and I reach maturity, I want to be able to pull the maximum amount of power as possible.”
“So, just to be clear, you want me to spend most of the next month banging random women to increase your powerbase?” I clarified.
“You will continue to train with Lark and Morgan,” she added. “You need to maximize the effectiveness of your human and Fae abilities. Next to me, you will probably be the most powerful weapon attending from our realm. The old gods and dragon lords will send representatives. They don’t want anything to do with the Fae.”
The Aesir in me purred pleasantly at the recognition, and also the fact I was going to be getting constantly laid for the next thirty days.
“I hope you’re rested up, Cam,” her smile had the same hint of wickedness as back in the limo. “I don’t think you’ll be getting much sleep.”
I didn’t know whether to be worried or turned on. All I knew was I was going to a Convergence with the person I trusted most of all, and my worst enemy. People who’d shot and experimented on me would be tagging along, and the host of the whole shindig, a capital G god, probably wanted me killed to eliminate the threat to her realm. Even with all my newfound power, there was jack shit I could do to stop her.
“Just another Tuesday with the cabal,” I joked, and got ready to put in the work.
&nb
sp; Lilith was right, there were going to be a lot of sleepless nights.
About the Author
This is his third published novel under this pen name in the Courts and Cabals Universe, and G.S. looks forward to making many more, but this wraps up the first arc of the series. He doesn’t like to talk about himself a lot, so he’ll leave it at that.
You can friend G.S. on Facebook at G.S. D’Moore where he’ll update you on any of his new writings. He doesn’t like Twitter, Instagram, or any of that other crap. That might hurt his marketing, but it’ll help keep him sane. If you like the genre, then check out this Facebook Group for other good reads.
If you liked the book, please take the time to rate it and write a short, positive review. I’d like to hear what you think. As an independent author, each review means a lot.
Thanks for reading!
Other G.S. D’Moore Books
Courts and Cabals
Courts and Cabals 2
Courts and Cabals 3 Page 36