Trayrock, A few days after the storm“It is a tomb,” the merman announced as they entered the bunker.It wasn’t too far from the truth, Lyric admitted to herself. And her fear that it would, indeed, become a tomb was one of the reasons that she would be leaving with him in the morning. The main reason, she told herself, firmly. It was the main reason.“It is safe,” she told him. “Hidden, protected, and has everything that a person needs to survive for some time.”“You knew,” he frowned at her. “To have a place like this, you knew to prepare for whatever disaster has happened to the water.”“My father believed that something was going to happen, and he made the bunker because of that,” she told him.“This… religious group,” he nodded slowly. “Continuing the old wars.”“The old wars?” She put water to boil on the stovetop. “I’m not much of a cook,” she told him. “And I’m not sure what you eat.”He sat on one of the bar stools on the other side of the table. “This food does not look fami
Trayrock, A few days after the stormLyric kept herself busy in the greenhouse and vegetable garden, preparing it to be left unattended, harvesting what she could. Some things, like root vegetables, would last for months in the bunker and be fine to eat. Other things, like tomatoes, it was better to just take them with her and eat them on the journey.She wondered what Niarthen would make of tomato.As night fell, it was unavoidable not to go back. She knew that she was a coward, but there was a siren’s call to Niarthen that was both exciting and alarming. She wasn’t entirely sure what to do about how attractive she found him. She didn’t think having sex was a good solution to the problem. Arthur had always said that sex complicated things.She’d never had this sort of reaction to someone before. Perhaps it was because he had spent so much time naked, but from the moment she had pulled him from the water, she’d been obsessing over him. “Get it out of your head,” she scolded herself st
Trayrock, A few days after the stormNiarthen stepped her into the narrow passage between the bunk beds and locker, before turning, folding his big body down into the bottom bunk, and drawing her down with him so that her back was against him, and his arm was beneath her cheek. It was a tight fit, and the bunk was not long enough for him, but his bent knees parted hers, and he smoothed his hand down her sternum, over her stomach, before lifting her topmost leg over his.His cheek rested on hers, and his hair tumbled over them both. He pressed little butterflies of kisses against her skin in between almost panted breaths as his hand stroked up to cup her breast, taking the weight of it as his thumb explored her nipple.She arched against him, pressing her breast into his hold, her hand reaching back to grip his hip, pulling his body tighter to hers, feeling his cock against her arse and rubbing against it wantonly. He stroked his hand down over her rib cage, over her stomach, and prove
Trayrock, A few days after the stormLyric parked the black 4WD before the entrance to the bunker and hopped out to find Niarthen ready with one of the crates. “You should rest,” she told him as she opened the rear of the 4WD for him. “You are still not recovered from the water illness.”“I am well enough,” he assured her calmly stroking his hand over the curve of her skull and leaning down to rub his cheek against hers. “The worst is behind me.”She closed her eyes leaning into the caress. “Don’t be an idiot and overdo it.”He laughed under his breath and turned to return to the bunker for the next crate. It was quicker done with his help, Lyric admitted to herself as they loaded the 4WD with everything that she anticipated they would need for the journey from food that would not last in the bunker through to bedding for the nights…The nights… She caught her bottom lip between her teeth and slid Niarthen a glance under her eyelashes as he pulled on a t-shirt of Arthur’s that she had
Trayrock, A few days after the stormThe car exploded with fine white powder as the airbags activated, pressing Lyric back into the chair.“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” as the powder sifted down, Lyric’s eyes fixed onto the slow slide of blood across the windscreen. There was a tooth stuck to a gob of flesh making its way down to the wipers. She managed to turn her head to look at Niarthen. “Are you okay?”He crushed the already deflating airbag. “I am fine, but you are bleeding,” he said as he reached out and touched her forehead. She flinched, reaching up to touch it herself, her fingers coming away sticky. She could feel the throb of pain as the shock passed.There was a smear of blood on the airbag. “I must have hit my head on the window just before the airbags went off,” she said as Niarthen freed her from it. She reached out for the door handle. “It’s not that bad. Airbags can break bones and even blind you.”“These cars of yours,” he said through his teeth as he opened his
Trayrock, A few days after the stormThe farmhouses were beginning to press in on the road, which was a sign that they were nearing Havermouth. The closer to a town or city, the nearer the houses were built to each other and the road. The further out, the houses moved back from the road, up long driveways that could stretch for kilometers.Lyric pulled off down a dirt road.“We’re going to have to abandon the car,” she decided. “We’ll park it somewhere, walk until we find another, steal it, and then come back here to transfer our supplies over. We are nearing Havermouth, but the town center is on the other side of the river. The dam is on this one. So, we’ll drive up to the dam, and check it out, before risking the town.”“You think that the religious people are here too,” he stated.“I think something is going on and until I know that they’re not here, I’m going to assume that they… Ah, over there. That should do it,” she headed towards a dilapidated hay shed and reversed in. “You co
“Shit,” Lyric muttered under her breath as she turned to face the farmer. She was off her game, she thought, so focused on the inside of the kitchen and her task that she had not heard the tractor engine stop.She glanced automatically towards the field and saw the glint of sunlight reflecting in the windscreen off the tractor’s cab. The farmer’s rotation had turned him to face the house at just the right time to see her dash across to it. There was no way she could play off her loitering as anything other than what it was.She did not look towards the Ute, and instead met the farmer’s eyes and scooped back her jacket slowly so that he could see the guns. He sucked in a breath through his nose, his eyes widening, and going to the kitchen door.“Look,” he said softly. “We don’t want any trouble. Just… go back to where you came from.”“We will be taking your Ute,” she told him firmly. “I am just after the keys.”He glanced over his shoulder at the Ute, just as Niarthen stepped out. Lyri
Lyric turned on the headlights as the sun slipped below the horizon. She had to decide whether to drive through the night or to find somewhere to stop and try to get some sleep. She had a swag in the back. It would be a tight fit with Niarthen, but they would be able to get some sleep.She did not feel entirely comfortable with the idea of sleeping within a crowded canvas structure with things like the person they had run over roaming the highway. Were there more out there? What was he anyway? Niarthen had spoken about him as a creature and as a type of weapon.What was going on? She wondered. How was the Order of Nexsis involved? The situation was far beyond what Arthur had ever speculated might happen. At no time had he spoken of mermaids, werewolves, and vampires… Or people who should have been dead and yet didn’t fucking die.This was far beyond anything she had been prepared for.“My mother died when I was young and I was raised by Arthur,” she said slowly, picking up on a conver
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