Lydia locked up her office and stopped in the lab to return the scroll to its case. She couldn't resist taking the ring out of its secret compartment and looking at it again. It was such a beautiful work of art it was a shame that it had been hidden away all these years. She turned it over and over in her gloved fingers. Who had worn it? Had it been a gift of love? A wedding ring? The symbol of some office or title? It was definitely feminine, though the serpent was usually a masculine symbol.If anyone had seen what she did next, Lydia's career would have been over as soon as it had begun. But she just couldn't resist. She slipped the gloves off her hands and touched the ancient gold carvings on the ring with her bare fingertips. She knew better, knew she could be damaging a valuable historical artifact but it was as if she were compelled, unable to resist. It was almost as if there was a voice in her head urging her to try it on.She studied the inside looking for an inscription. Not
"The card is the key."What the hell was that supposed to mean?Lydia had been able to think about little else all day.Once again she was working late in her office. No big surprise. The campus library was still pretty active, even at six o'clock on a Monday evening. Plenty of people took summer classes or used the summer to work on research projects."All I see is red."She'd gone home and done a reading for herself but all she'd been able to see was the Hierophant. Yeah, like it took the cards to tell her Galen was a major complicating factor in her life right now. The weird thing was she'd gotten what looked like three conflicting outcomes. And she didn't know which was scarier - Death, the lonely sorrowful Queen of Swords, or the visibly pregnant Empress. That one made her shudder and reminded her to make a doctor's appointment. She'd come to the conclusion that her own internal turmoil was messing with her reading and that she wouldn't get a straight answer from the cards un
He groaned, using one hand to fondle her clit while the other positioned his cock at the entrance to her channel. She could hear the wet squelch as he rubbed the head against her mons. "It will but not without some work. We'll save that for another day. Right now I just want to get inside that snug little pussy I've been missing all week." He shoved deep, holding himself still inside her as if savoring the moment."Works for me." She ground her pelvis against him taking him as deep as she could. It was starting to be an effort to murmur to keep her voice down but that only added to the excitement. "Fuck me hard and fast, Galen.""That's not going to be a problem, sweetheart." He pulled back then thrust in so hard her elbows were forced a couple inches up the desk. His finger strummed on her clit, driving her higher and higher while his hips pistoned against her ass. His other hand slid up inside her sweater and clamped onto a breast. He rolled her nipple between his thumb and forefin
Lydia could have sworn Galen flushed at her gentle teasing. "Sorry. I guess my brain just wasn't changing gears fast enough. I'd blame jet lag but I think it has more to do with you. For some reason when I'm around you all the blood drains out of my brain into my pants.""What a lovely thing to say." Oddly enough, coming from Galen, it was a uniquely touching compliment. He was so smart, so tuned into the intellectual side of his nature that being able to rattle that was a powerful feeling indeed."Pizza it is then," he said, running a hand through his hair. "Is pepperoni okay?"She smiled at him. He really was adorable. "That would be fine. I'll make a salad to go with it."Apparently that was acceptable, since he changed the subject and started eyeing the scattered photocopies on her desk. "So the catalog is all done? You've got everything accounted for?"She shook her head, slid the copy of the scroll across the blotter. "There are a few I can't figure out - like this one. What
"You're sure you're into this?" Galen wound the silk scarves she'd handed him through his fingers. The thought of tying Lydia to her wrought iron headboard had been running through his mind since the first night. Having her hand him the scarves while she stood by the bed in the tiniest nightgown he'd ever seen made him hard enough to pound nails with his cock. "You're not doing it just for me?"Her laugh was deep, throaty and entirely feminine. "That's what I bought those scarves for. I bought them a long time ago but they've never been used. The person I'd thought might be interested turned out not to be. And to my own surprise, it turned out I didn't care. I'd just met you, you see and from then on it's only been me and my trusty vibrator. And though the battery-operated boyfriend does have its advantages, it's absolutely no good at all at tying a girl up."Galen licked lips that had gone suddenly dry. "When you used your vibrator, were you picturing me?"She reached down and cupp
They never did get around to the scarves Monday night but they had on Tuesday. Lydia's pussy tingled at the memory of Galen using restraints on her and then licking and sucking her to orgasm after orgasm until she'd been little more than a limp rag. Then he'd untied her and flipped her over on the bed, taking her pussy from behind while he stuffed his thumb up her anus. She'd come all over again while he'd pounded her, finally calling out her name as he'd detonated inside of her. At least this time they'd remembered the condoms. She'd picked up an extra box and had taken to stashing a supply in her purse - as well as her desk, her kitchen drawer and everywhere else she could think of.She sat at her desk Friday afternoon trying to concentrate. She was tired and still being frustrated by the scroll. She'd taken dozens of photos of the scroll, the ring and the case and now she was hunched over them with a magnifying glass looking for further clues. The more she studied the thing the mor
So here they were on their first official date. Hopefully by leaving town Galen had removed the problem of running into people who knew them, but he knew she still saw the evening as a declaration of intent. He did too, he guessed, though he was nowhere near ready to put it into words yet. He was still frantically trying to convince himself that he wasn't falling in love with Lydia Curry."This place is great," she enthused, settling into her chair and beaming at Galen as he seated himself across the snowy linen tablecloth. "The décor is gorgeous and the smell is heavenly." Rather than open her menu she tilted her head. "What do you recommend?""Haven't you been here before?"She rolled her eyes. "Only once, a couple of years ago. It's a bit out of the average grad student's budget. The tika masala was wonderful but I'd like to try something different this time. I know very little about Indian cuisine and I'm always in favor of new experiences.""Miss Curry isn't an expert on cu
The Mortons finally left their table and Galen sighed his relief. Lydia rolled her eyes."There's one of those in every department, isn't there?" she asked Galen, taking a long draught of her wine. "I thought she'd never stop talking.""I don't think she ever does," Galen admitted. "But you handled her remarkably well."Lydia shrugged. "I just told her the truth. I got the impression you didn't want her to know this was a date, so I may have stretched the collaboration issue a bit. But not much. We had mentioned the possibility."The chuckle escaped him before he could stop it. Her quick thinking and easy poise were as dazzling as her looks. "So we had. And thank you. The woman is the biggest gossip in the department, so if she'd thought this was some kind of tryst, she'd have blabbed it all over campus by morning.""And we wouldn't want that."Ouch. He could tell that comment hadn't sat quite right but he had no idea how to fix whatever damage he'd just done. So he opted for dis
Back at her apartment a little later Galen found Anissa in the bedroom while Jason carried a load of boxes out to the truck. She held up her Tarot deck, the Hierophant card on top. "Now do you believe the cards can tell us things?"He tipped his head and grinned. "I don't know. Didn't you say that one is the teacher and it's supposed to represent me?"She nodded. "Why, what's wrong with that?"He took the cards from her hands and set them carefully aside, then pulled her close for a kiss. "Because you're the one who taught me," he murmured. "You've taught me the most important lessons of all. How to laugh. How to love. How to live."She picked up her cards again, avoiding eye contact. "That works both ways. But my love, there's something I need to tell you. I wanted to wait until the scroll was gone. Plucking up my nerve, I guess.""Sweetheart, we cast a spell that vanquished an evil demon. We met a Djinni who is an interior designer. I think my belief threshold has been raised to
Two days later, a small group of individuals gathered in Galen's back yard. Lydia had spent most of the previous day in bed, recovering from the soreness and fatigue but today she felt fine and everyone wanted to get this last chore over with.Jason used a hand trowel to stir the mixture of water and cement in the plastic bucket one last time."We're sure we shouldn't just destroy the ring?" Galen asked Ben Montoya, who had returned in time to help."We went over all that on the phone yesterday," Ben reminded them. "Breaking the ring could set the demon free. And nobody wants that.""Right." Galen and Lydia spoke as one. Jason laughed and shook his head at Ben. "They do that all the time.""So we're ready?" Galen asked the others.Jason nodded. "We've added the additional instructions inside the scroll case. And I jammed the mechanism where the ring is to make it that much more difficult for anyone to ever find it.""And we sealed the whole thing in a thick layer of wax," Lydi
"Anything you want." Galen stripped out of his shirt, trousers, and boxers in record time, then kicked his shoes and socks into the hallway. Then he grabbed a condom from a drawer and rolled it on before he finally stepped into the tub and settled across from Lydia, his long muscular legs resting against her own. She wasn't ready yet to tell him it was too late for precautions."You're still too far away." She shifted onto her knees then crawled over him to straddle his lap. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his lips, long and hard. "Mmm. Much better, don't you think?""Infinitely better." He gripped her waist between his hands and pulled her against his chest. His lips came down and claimed hers for another deep, drugging kiss.She opened for him, eagerly sucking his tongue into the hot recesses of her mouth. His erection prodded her ass and she wiggled against it, teasing them both. Then she moaned into his mouth when he gathered a few shampoo bubbles his hands
For a long time after Jason and Ben's friends left, Galen and Lydia simply lay on the bed and held each other while they cried. Both of them, to Lydia's amazement. Galen engulfed her in his arms and buried his face in her hair. When her sobs finally abated, she looked up at him to see a river of tears pouring down his face."I thought I'd lost you," he murmured, kissing the tear tracks on her cheeks. "I've never been so scared in my life.""Me either." She tried to chuckle but it came out as a sniffle instead. "You are my hero, you know. You suspended your disbelief. You never gave up. I love you so much, Galen.""I love you too, Lydia." Then his lips came down on hers and there was no more time for words. There was just a frantic need to reassure one another that they were both alive and still together. His hands slid under her open blouse to glide along the skin of her waist and up to cup the sides of her breasts as their mouths fused and tongues dueled."Ouch!"She broke the se
Anissa arranged them all in a circle with Lydia at the twelve o'clock position. Galen was on Lydia's right, Jason on her left. Next to him was Lori, a short, bubbly woman with medium brown hair, and then her husband Eric, who could have been Galen's younger brother. They were about the same height and blond, but the younger man was slimmer and wore glasses. Then Wesley took David's hand, while the shorter, frizzy haired man, held hands with Wes and his Djinni wife. Galen and Jason sat on the mattress on either side of Lydia and each grasped one of her hands, which were still chained to the bed above her head."Ready?" Jason asked."You good, sweeting?" Galen asked Lydia."Hurry." She nodded and tightened her grip on Galen's hand."One last thing." The kiss was long slow and sweet. He tried to infuse it with all the love he had in his heart. "Fight for us.""I will."Jason coughed and kept his eyes focused on the photocopy he held."If this doesn't work, we're not giving up," Gal
"The drawing around the first letter of the scroll..." Lori began."Illumination," both Galen and Lydia chimed in."Will you two stop that?" Jason shook his head. "Go ahead, Ms. Gordon."Call me Lori. And yes, the rest of us are just humans. Now listen. The drawing shows a woman sort of superimposed on a snake, or maybe the other way around. She has one red jewel on her forehead - sort of Asian for a medieval European art, don't you think? She has another on her chest - like over her heart - and another on her stomach. What do you want to bet that's an instruction manual?""Sort of like chakras," David said. "The three bonds. Mind, heart and body. The magic has to go in through those points.""Of course!" Galen punched a fist in the air, while Lydia cried, "Yes!" Then they kissed again"Would you two get a room?" Jason rolled his eyes.Galen actually managed a chuckle as he pulled away from Lydia's lips. "So we lay these on the appropriate spots. Then what?""Then we read the s
Instantly everyone in the room began murmuring. "Show me the scroll, the newer one," Lydia gasped."Sure, no problem." Galen told her. "Jason, hand me one of the copies. Don't want to get the original within kicking distance in case we miscalculate."Lydia and Galen translated together. His Middle English was good but she corrected a couple of his French pronunciations. Jason shook his head. "You two have got to be the biggest geeks ever. This is a match made in heaven." It was almost a direct match to what Anissa had read aloud. "That has to be it, Galen said. He looked down at Lydia. "Who should say the spell? You?""Probably Anissa," Lori said. "Since she's actually magic. The rest of us just have a trace.""Or none at all." Wesley shrugged. "Now that Dave has powers, I'm the only mundane in the group."Tuning them out, Jason picked up the scroll tube and started inspecting the carvings and gems on the ends. Galen watched him. He knew that look. His son was onto something.A
"Hey, there, demon bitch. I need to talk to Lydia for a minute." He glared down into the crimson eyes. "Fine. We'll do this the hard way again. I have to say, you've ruined me of enjoying handcuffs for life. When I get around to it I'm going to be really pissed off about that."He straddled her body again and removed the gag to force a kiss on her lips. It nearly killed him to do this to Lydia but under the circumstances he was pretty sure she'd forgive him. When he felt her lips soften under his, he looked into her brown eyes."I love you. We have an idea. Will you marry me Lydia?""What? Because of this? No!" She turned her face into the pillow away from him.Galen took her face between her hands and turned it to his. "No. Not because of this. Because I love you. Because I'm terrified of the idea of spending the rest of my life without you.""I love you, Galen. Of course I'll marry you. But can you ask me again when I'm not chained to the bed?"He kissed her. "It's a deal. As l
Lydia writhed on the bed, trying to hold off the demon. Galen knew she was fighting as hard as she could. "Alcineath is getting stronger. But love is a powerful magic. You're pissing her off because she expected it to be all over by now. She's going to kill you if she can, Galen. You first, then Jason." Her voice was weak and thready, her breathing shallow."She isn't going to get the chance."Before he could say anything else the eyes changed again and she gave a vile, oily laugh. "Tied to a bed, hmm? We could have some fun with this. You, me and the boy. This body has two holes, no waiting. I bet the girl would love being fucked by two strong men at once. Unchain me and I'll show you both more pleasure than you've ever dreamed of.""I never thought I'd use this word but eeeewww." Jason walked in with the laptop in his hand. "A threesome with my father is so-oo not on my list of things to do before I die. Jeez, Dad, put the gag back on, why don't you?" He dropped to sit cross legge