Havermouth, Present TimeSamuel gazed out over the endless stretch of snow. The fine drift of flakes misted the sky, blurring the point at which land and air met. In the distance, smoke rising from amongst the white was the only hint that a village was buried there, the walls and rooves of their houses lost beneath the fresh snowfall. The humans of the region had survived far worse, so he was not concerned for them. They knew well how to huddle together during the frost filled months of winter.When the snows melted, they would emerge with a new generation well on the way.The chamber behind him echoed with many voices raised in argument. The meeting had been in progress for many hours and had lost his interest as they rehashed the same points over and over again.“The bloodlines are under attack,” Ember’s voice rang out, silencing the argument. “There is simply no debating it. Already four lines are in danger. Ishiekiel and Salamen have brought the survivors into their own caves in o
Rideten, Present TimeTalen’s arrival into the kitchen filled the room and transformed it from a feminine space into a masculine one. Aislen felt her heart warm at the sight of him. Stella was right, she thought. All was well and all was as it should be. She had been right to stop the fight and not let it escalate, just as she’d been right to heal Cameron.Talen strolled around the kitchen to stand behind her, resting the palms of his hands on her shoulders, the warmth soothing. “I am glad that you are eating, little demon,” he purred as his thumbs began to knead the tension from her shoulders. “Perhaps when you are done, I can persuade you to rest, as well?”Rest, his lips said, but sex was in his mind. Aislen met Stella’s eyes across the table and saw that the witch was smothering her giggles, her eyes dancing. Aislen bit her lip trying to keep her grin contained.Aislen caught a glimpse of Cameron and Rhett in the kitchen door, and knew that Heath wouldn’t be far away, so she finis
Havermouth, Present TimeLyric decided that the winged man was harmless and discretely withdrew from Ember’s room, pulling the door shut behind her. She was pretty sure from the way the two dragons were gripping onto each other that they weren’t going to want an audience for the next part of their reunion.She headed towards the kitchen to prepare another meal for Niarthen, and had just finished slicing vegetables into a bowl, when the outside sensor light activated, illuminating the front porch, and showing a figure that could only be Harry through the glass. They were carrying Jules in their arms like a groom carrying a bride across the threshold.She debated opening the door for them but realized that both men were wearing nothing but robes, and instead grabbed the salad bowl and ducked into a crouch behind the kitchen counter. It would be very weird and hard to explain if they caught her there, she thought ruefully, but also far less embarrassing for everyone if they passed throug
Havermouth, Present TimeThe door snicked quietly closed behind Lyric as she left, and that small sound seemed to recall Ember to the present. Samuel felt her tense and begin to pull away from him. He let her go, not wanting to force the matter. It had been a very long time for them both, and whilst to him with his memories still ragged, the reunion was a welcome one, she held a lot of anger and pain towards him.He needed time. His head ached. He was not a fool and knew that their reunion had triggered the return of his memories, as perhaps the dreams had all been triggered by her proximity. After so many years of nothingness from his past, the sudden in-pouring of information was causing a migraine as his synapses struggled to lay pathways for it all.He sat on the edge of the bed as she walked over to the counter, fidgeting restlessly with the items that were upon it. “It’s coming back,” he told her, holding his head in his hands, his fingers buried into his hair. “But it is a tang
Havermouth, Present Time** Trigger Warning – this chapter contains violence and the loss of a much-loved character **As fragments of wood and glass exploded towards them, Samuel reacted on instinct and shoved Ember down and under him. She cried out sharply in pain but he could not ask if she was injured as on the heels of the explosion, he could hear the rapid footfalls of boots, and distinctly sharp military exchanges as the room filled with soldiers. He stayed still, watching the drip of spilled whiskey over the edge of the bench and hoping it did not give them away as the house echoed with the sounds of invasion.Above, there was gunfire. Jules Edison and the vampire Harry would be up the stairs, Samuel reasoned. Harry would be capable of defending his mate, but he was concerned about the human girl, and the merman as glass shattered to the rear of the house.There was more gunshot from above, and someone yelled: “Shoot for his head!”Shit, Samuel grimaced. Vampires could survive
Havermouth, Present Time“Here,” Lyric stalled Niarthen when he went to get in between the sheets. “Your hair is drenched, and the bed will get soaked. Let me dry it off for you. Don’t mermaids have beds?” She stepped up onto the bed with the towel in her hands and he turned so that his calves were against the mattress, presenting his back and the long, wet skeins of his hair to her.“We have beds,” he said as she began to dry his hair. “But not like these. Our beds use living weed and moss to cushion us, and the water that runs from us to them nurtures them. It is a symbiotic relationship. They provide us with comfort and warmth, and we provide them with water and food.”“Food,” she repeated. “That sounds… ominous.”“We shed hair, skin cells, scale, sweat and seed… What we shed as a matter of course, feeds that upon which we lie.”“That is a little… icky,” she told him pulling a face. “Like your beds are eating you whilst you sleep.”He laughed. “Whilst I appreciate the comfort of yo
Rideten, Present TimeIn Stella’s kitchen, someone was cooking something that had filled the room with steam so that Aislen’s eyes stung, and her hair stuck to her face with damp. She could feel it turn to frizz and cursed the witches silently for turning it into a bad hair day.She could hear male voices from within the steam. Not her men, but other men, and whilst there were warlocks in the coven, those sheltering in Stella’s house were dominantly female, and therefore the number of male voices was unusual.She worked her way through the steam towards the table and stilled when she saw that the gathering was all dressed in black hooded robes, and pressed thick, shoulder to shoulder, so that she could not see the table for their masculinity.“It will be Rhett’s,” Phillip Salem spoke and Aislen made him out from amongst the hooded figures, his face just showing, the angle and the dark fabric mimicking hair making him look so much like Rhett that she was uneasy. “I need it to be Rhett’
Rideten, Present TimeRhett woke as Cameron slid a cup of tea and biscuits onto the bedside nearest where Aislen lay. The bed was otherwise empty. Talen, Heath and Cameron must have snuck out whilst he and Aislen slept, he realised.“Where’s mine?” He asked as Cameron started to withdraw.“Shh,” Cameron whispered. “She needs her sleep. Stella says it’s common to need more sleep during pregnancy, like the body’s storing it up for sleepless nights when the baby is born.”“I miss coffee,” Rhett forced himself to slide out of the bed. His clothes were on the other side of the bed, and he patted Cameron’s denim clad arse as he padded by. “No morning sex?”“I could do morning sex,” Cameron’s face lit up. “But we can’t in here,” his expression fell again. “Or we’ll wake her.”“I could gag you with my cock?” Rhett gripped himself.“Shh,” Cameron put his finger to his lips.“Fuck,” Rhett resigned himself to no morning sex and began to get dressed, watching as Cameron fussed with the teacup, tu
Rideten, Present Time Aislen was jolted awake when Talen shot out of the bed to the door. She was nicely nuzzled into Heath and Talen had been a warm spot against her back, his sudden moving causing a draught that was quickly filled when Cameron rolled over and snuggled up. She could hear Talen’s voice through the open door, and the reply of other voices on the other side. Cameron’s hand cupped her breast and his cock nudged against her arse. He rocked his hips suggestively, still mostly asleep. Heath tensed. “Fuck.” “- leave in fifteen,” a woman spoke crisply and in a tone that said there would be no compromise. “Victor’s orders.” “No,” Aislen pressed her face into Heath’s ribs. “Nonononono.” “It’s retaliation,” he decided. “For last night.” “It’s mean,” she grumbled. “Cruel.” “No sex?” Cameron sat up. “That’s not fair.” “You had sex last night. Good sex too, from the holes you left in the covers,” Heath pointed out. “It was good sex,” Cameron was smug. He nudged Rhett. “Hey
Havermouth, Present Time Embroidering living human flesh was somewhat harder than Meguitte had anticipated, but the challenge was very absorbing. Midway through the first flower, she realized that she wanted the knots required every stitch to cluster at the center, so she snipped and undid what she had started, much to Bianca’s distress. Meguitte was tempted to stem the witch’s complaints by explaining that it was becoming obvious that the stitches were not causing enough pain to override the wards, and her choices had become doing greater, potentially maiming, harm, or being patient and hoping that a lot of small agony would eventually become enough. The second attempt turned out better, and by the time she had completed the third flower and created a stem to connect the three, she was quite proud of her efforts. The blood kept getting in the way of her design, however, and she paused a moment to suck her fingertips. “I do believe I understand Mercy’s aversion to magical blood,” s
Rideten, Present Time The water was all but cold, but Talen had bathed in worse – recently, in fact, during the troubles in Havermouth. He scrubbed himself with a washcloth, rubbing away the sticky blood. A rhythmic thudding started against the wall behind him, causing him to pause and grin. It sounded like Cameron was putting some force into it, he thought amused and absently reached down to cup his cock, already hard at the thought. He turned off the water, deciding to join them. As he briskly dried himself, his phone began to ring from where he had set it on the vanity. Fatima’s number flashed onto the screen. He raised his eyebrows and answered it. “Fatima.” “Talen,” she was breathless and her voice tense. “They did it. They actually did it. Jules is alive.” Talen almost dropped the phone in surprise. “He is?” “Yes. He’s not quite… He’s very disorientated, but Harry’s looking after him. But he’s alive.” Talen braced his palm against the cold stone of the vanity, relief floodi
Rideten, Present Time Aislen grinned. “Is that right, Mr Wolf?” She purred stalking him over to the bed. “If I get it, I get to do whatever I like with it?” Cameron’s lips curled in a smirk. “No. But I will do something you like with it.” “Promises, promises,” she lunged for him, and he sidestepped so that she landed face-down on the mattress, before pinning her there with his body, his hands slowly drawing her hands up and holding them down to either side of her head whilst he nuzzled under the tangled sprawl of her wet curls to nibble along her shoulder and neck as her giggles gave way to soft moans as she closed her eyes and surrendered to his seduction. He nudged her legs apart and her knees onto the edge of the mattress, lifting her hips from the mattress so that he could rub his cock against her cunt in a slow, hot tease whilst his teeth pricked little bloodspots along her neck, his tongue soothing away the little sting each time as it captured the droplets. She could feel t
Havermouth, Present Time Tears streamed down Harry‘s face as they rose to their feet. They ran their hands over the lush hide of the weredragon. It was precisely the colour of Jules’ hair. Harry draped their body over the dragon’s chest, pressing their ear to the hide, celebrating the steady beat and rise and fall of the ribs. Alive. Gloriously alive. And they could feel the tie of their mate bond twining them together. With their eyes closed, Jules was a glow within the darkness. “Oh Jules, Jules, Jules…” They wept the words, stroking and luxuriating in the living creature that surrounded them with its bulk. It did not matter in the slightest that this Jules was not as Jules had been before… Harry’s most fervent wish had been granted and they had their mate back. “I knew it,” they whispered pressing kisses into the fur as they moved along the length of the dragon towards its head. “I knew that you were not gone.” They stroked over the dragon’s snout and pressed a kiss between his n
Havermouth, Present TimeHarry did not know how long they had been tending to Jules in the small cold room. Time had lost any meaning as the room had no natural light. They fed when Fatima brought them blood, or one of the ancients descended the stairs in order to donate. And then they would patiently drip blood into Jules’ slack mouth, watching for a sign that he had swallowed, before unbandaging the ruin of Jules’ hand, examining the wound for signs of healing before coating it again with blood and carefully, tenderly re-wrapping it.Jules was not dead. They were certain of it. Although he did not breathe, did not swallow, and his heart did not beat, Harry was certain that they sensed a spark of life within him, that they would know if the body that they held was nothing but flesh.They had, after all, handled many dead bodies in their long, long life.And the hand wound... It looked better. They could not precisely say how it was so - it was still a mess of bone and meat, and the b
Rideten, Present Time“Oh gawd, so good,” Aislen moaned as she squeezed in between Rhett and Cameron. “I so need to get this blood off my skin. It’s beginning to itch. Tsk, look at you two,” she added taking the washcloth from Rhett’s hand and tugging him down so that she could scrub the blood from his face. “You even have some in your ears. How do you get blood in your ears?”“Beats me,” Rhett’s hands gripped her hips, and his thumbs stroked her skin suggestively. “I have some blood lower down,” he smoldered. “Cameron was just offering to lick it off for me when you came in and gave us a better idea.”“Oh?” Aislen knew precisely what they had in their dirty, dirty minds - basically the same plan with slight variations between the two men. But she wasn’t going to make it easy on them. “Come here,” she scrubbed at Cameron’s face with the cloth. “Good enough,” she decided and handed it to him. “Do me whilst I rinse my hair out.”“Do you, or do you?” Cameron teased as he and Rhett shifte
Rideten, Present TimeSamuel’s wing sails caught the air with a whoomp. The guard heard it, looking up in astonishment a moment before Samuel seized him. In the old days, Samuel thought ruefully as he carried the struggling man up into the air again, he would have just let the man go and let gravity take care of the rest. However stealth was required in the current situation and now that he had the man, he wasn’t entirely sure what to do with him, other than sate his thirst.It had to be something that wouldn’t be noticed immediately, Samuel concluded as he sank his teeth into the struggling guard’s neck. Whatever he did with him needed to have a visual impact, as the Emissary had been clear that part of the reason for the attack was psychological - to show the enemy that they weren’t even safe in their own headquarters.He saw a flash from the corner of his eye as Ember spread her wings, slowing her descent as she targeted another guard - but only slowing enough to prevent her from i
Rideten, Present Time“And here I thought you’d achieved the most outrageously jaw-dropping appearance the last time you walked into my bunker Mr Gale,” Victor observed dryly as he closed the meeting room door behind them. “Look at you,” he added gesturing at the three of them.Heath slid a look at each of his mates. Talen raised his eyebrows. Of them all, their vampire hybrid mate had escaped the massacre with only a few blood splatters in his beard. Seeing Heath’s look, he raised his hands to show that they were as bloody as Heath’s own, which made Heath feel better. He scratched at his jaw feeling blood flake away under his nail.“This is what war looks like,” Aislen replied snidely. “Something you might find unfamiliar from a bunker, Victor, but true nonetheless.”Victor shook his head as he crossed to a cupboard and pulled out a decanter. “Whiskey?” He offered them.“I will,” Talen said.“Not us,” Heath declined regretfully. Whiskey would have gone down well after the night in th