Rideten, Present Time Samuel landed on the roof as their escort showed Aislen and Heath to the door, causing the poor werewolf to stumble backward in alarm, cursing. “Hi Samuel,” Aislen smiled at him, enjoying the fear that the dragon invoked. “Anything interesting happened whilst we were underground?” “The streets are busy,” Samuel replied. “But all who are out and about think that they are stealthy. None look to the sky, and so I have not been seen.” “Who is out and about?” Heath wondered. “Humans of the Order of Nexsis, patrolling the streets. Some move to take other households and are thwarted by the werewolves. Werewolf parties moving out of the city and into the countryside. Witches. There is a very odd energy south of here. A powerful spell involving many witches is being cast.” Aislen’s gaze sharpened. South would be Stella’s house. “Is that so?” “Yes,” he seemed pleased with himself, but did not explain, taking off again into the night. “I wonder what the witches are u
Rideten, Present Time“Daring fashion choice,” Rhett followed Aislen and Heath upstairs to the bathroom and stood in the doorway watching as Heath turned on the shower and removed the dressing gown. “What inspired this look?”“We came upon a group of Van Helsings about to take a werewolf family, and whilst we were saving them, a bunch of Victor’s men interrupted. They insisted on taking us to see Victor, and it was wear these or go naked.” Aislen bared her teeth in front of the mirror examining her longer canine and premolars. Definitely more vampire teeth than wolf, she decided. It was interesting how the hybridism combined traits. She wondered if the vampirism was dominant. “Do you think we’re all the same?”“What do you mean?” Heath stepped under the shower spray and Aislen watched in the reflection as the water darkened his hair and plastered it to his skull before running down his beautiful body. The scars on his chest didn’t detract from his beauty, but added an edge of danger t
An Island Somewhere, Present Time Niarthen had gone with Benethin and Aeylira to meet with someone leaving Lyric alone in the house. It had been a long-time since Lyric had been alone, and she quickly found herself ill at ease in the house where nothing was familiar, she didn’t understand how anything worked, and she was too afraid to touch anything because it didn’t belong to her. She went outside instead. Like most of the Mer houses, there was seating against the front of the house. The Mer lived more outdoors than in regardless of the weather, and many people came over when they saw her, talking to her in the Mer tongue. Their children reached out to touch her dark hair and the braids that Niarthen had woven into it without hesitation, handling her with familiarity and without fear, although their parents quickly cautioned them off with what Lyric thought was an apology to her. She was offered food, and the Mer watched with interest as she sampled it, laughing in delight when she
Havermouth, Present Time It was an ordinary house, much like those around it. The gardens were a little overgrown due to recent events, and everything still held a layer of dust from Connery and Harry’s exploding devices that had rendered the school to rubble, but other than that, had the little filing of bark not led them to the house, Meguitte would have walked past it unsuspectingly. The gate squealed as Connery opened it and he grimaced. “Well, if our presence wasn’t known, it is now,” he commented. Mercy and her mother disappeared, their movements as fast as vampires, the layer of dust that was still settling on the grass showing the path they took around the side of the house to the back. Meguitte led the way to the front door and rang the bell. She could hear movement within. After a moment, a woman answered. She was pale, gaunt, and a little disheveled, but she smiled as if undaunted by their presence. “Hello?” She asked with a lift of curiosity but no apparent fear. “Can
In the Ocean, Present Time It was a long swim. They were deep underwater, beyond the reach of the sun or moon, and so Lyric could not tell how long it had been that they were swimming for, just how tired she was getting despite taking frequent breaks. She was not bored, however, as the ocean around them was constantly changing and Niarthen spent the time catching food for her, pointing out dangers, or explaining signs to look for on the ocean floor or in the currents. He was a good teacher, and his love for his home was evident, as well as how thrilled and excited he was to be able to share it with her. He did not rush the journey, taking time with her to marvel at all the beauties and wonders, enjoying seeing her reactions to them. There were ruins from humans that Lyric found fascinating to explore – both shipwrecks and ancient civilizations that had long ago sunk. There were also abandoned Mer cities, distinguishable from the human ones in that the Mer cities were designed to wit
Rideten, Present TimeDaylight was not the right time to go sneaking into the Van Helsings' stronghold. The sleepy night shift was replaced by alert and attentive guards, and the footpath and street were busy with pedestrians and soldiers. Talen led his mates on a slow loop around the premises anyway, mentally marking where they would make their approach from, when it was dark again, before turning towards Stella’s house.He was relieved that Morgana was more open-minded about Stella. He wished that Sigrid was there. Sigrid knew the witch priestess better than he did. Whatever the witch was up to, he was certain that her agenda was entirely her own, and that Morgana was a tool that she was using rather than altruistically helping.Stella had been playing puppeteer in Morgana’s life for five years. He wondered just how far her plans went, and what the witch sought as an outcome. Was she like August, using the war to position herself into power and influence?Heath had relayed the conve
Rideten, Present TimePhilip stood in a doorway that Aislen guessed led to the bedrooms and bathroom. He was, disconcertingly in “Philip casual” – a pair of blue jeans and a collared shirt. His hair hadn’t been so vigorously styled back against his skull as was customary and hung in silky strands over his forehead.She couldn’t help but glance at Rhett, mentally comparing the two men. Rhett’s face had immediately curled into a sneer, his eyes hardening and his posture becoming defensive. The change made the similarities between the men even more striking as Philip mirrored the expression.“Fuck, Rhett, it’s called a hairbrush,” Philip crossed to the little kitchen and opened the fridge looking inside.“Have you ever thought about greeting him nicely?” Aislen snapped out irritably. “You know, hi son, nice to see you, how are you doing?”Philip paused, his shoulders tightening, and he straightened slowly, turning his head her way, every move designed to be subtly intimidating. “Are you
Rideten, Present Time“I can’t tell you how much I detest you using your ability on me,” Philip told Aislen stiffly as he finished buttoning his shirt ignoring Toby’s departure.Aislen heard the of thud of the bedroom door closing. She knew from Toby’s thoughts that he planned to pack his bag and leave. Ironically, like when she had left Rideten five years before, he had automatically picked the furthest city he could think of: Kabramatta. She wondered if she should offer him her apartment to stay in and ask him to water her house plants… Probably not the best idea.“Did it hurt to take your shirt off?” Aislen replied absently. “No. And it solved the problem, didn’t it?”“Hmph,” Philip sneered. “Whatever.” He took out his phone, and Rhett’s beeped a moment later. “That is the location where we are to meet Victor’s people. We should get going.”Aislen shook her head. “You go ahead and tell them we’ll be a little late. There’s some stuff we need to take care of here first.”Philip arche
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