Havermouth, Present Time“We have to go,” Harry said in a low and urgent voice catching hold of Jules’ arm. “Sigrid says we have to run.”“Run,” Jules looked up at them in shock. “Run where?”“Run, run,” Harry stressed the words. “Like, to your bunker, run, Jules, my love.”“No,” Jules recoiled, his eyes sweeping the room around them. There were injured everywhere, with pack members, humans, and Mer united in their care. Whilst devastating because it was testimony to the violence taking place in the town around them, it was also heartening to see that here the differences had been set aside. It felt sacred and special. It was almost impossible to believe that what he saw with his eyes would not spread beyond the walls of the hospital and end the fighting, but if Harry were right, it meant that the reverse would happen, and the violence outside was about to intrude.“No, Harry,” he protested, tears in his eyes as he looked up at his mate, as if pleading with Harry to stop it. “What abo
Havermouth, Present TimeMeguitte placed herself between Leighton and the spell trap. She wanted his attention focused on her and away from where Mercy was hidden behind a fragile illusion and the longer that she kept it to the center of the room, the better.She had felt the shift of power when he’d used it outside the hospital and wondered what he had done. It had to have been a significant magic for her to feel the shiver of it cross her skin standing the fine hairs on end like static electricity. Good, she thought. There was a limit to how much magic any witch or warlock could use. It took effort and tired the user. The more Leighton exerted himself elsewhere, the better.And then she thought about the injured people and began to fret as to those she knew below. Sigrid and Talen had gone, she comforted herself, but she could not recall if she had seen Harry leave. And had they let the other vampires know?She stood with her heart pounding heavily in dread.“Meguitte!” The call was
Havermouth, Present TimeAislen reached out and found Tabitha Marie, and the power of her coven. She pulled on it, drawing it into herself. She let herself drift and her consciousness expand. Her mates appeared first, they were bonded to her, and so physically close to her body, their minds bright with mixed emotions of distress and joy. Talen was feeding Aislen his blood, his wrist at her throat, whilst Cameron was busy between her legs. Heath supported Gera on Aislen’s chest as the baby cried and nuzzled at Aislen’s milk-heavy breast.Phillip and Rhett were at the filthy window at the front of the warehouse and were looking out with expressions of alarm. Above them, on the roof, out of sight of the battle below, Ember tended to Samuel’s wounds, whilst keeping an eye on what happened below.Ember worried that Samuel was too injured to wield the power of the gloves, and if he did, the dark veins of poison that had already spread up his arms and across his chest far further than she li
Havermouth, Present TimeLyric watched Niarthen with a heavy weight on her heart. He had always been honest with her that it was unlikely the Mer would make peace, but she had been hopeful, and she could tell that under his apparent pessimism, he had been too – if mainly because he had not wanted to disappoint her and had understood that as someone who had come so recently from the land, she had some loyalty to it and its people.The betrayal from above and the siren Priestesses' efforts to kill Leighton had stung Niarthen’s pride and his faith in his people. The disaster that had resulted had caused an even deeper wound. However, Niarthen’s helplessness hurt her mate the most. She could see it in the way he stood, the line of his shoulders, the lift of his chin.Sapphire’s death was another blow as Niarthen had held hopes of rehabilitating her. Lyric had been relieved when Sigrid had killed her. She was almost certain that the Mer woman had been using some sort of power to entrance N
Havermouth, Present TimeAislen lips were sticky with blood. It was not unusual, she existed on a diet of it, but she could feel the stick of this blood on her cheeks and glueing her eyelashes together. She fought to open her eyes, blinking away a wash of blood that blurred her vision for a moment. “Something’s wrong,” she rasped.“What is wrong, little demon?” Talen asked, his voice thick with emotion. She was leaning against him, his legs to either side of her, and his chest cushioning her back. His arm was resting just under her breasts, holding her to him. He rubbed his cheek against hers, the rasp of his beard against her skin. “Are you in pain?”“Oh, thank the goddess you’re awake.” Heath exclaimed, heavy with relief. She saw the blur of him appear in the field of her vision. “She’s awake. Rhett - water, and a cloth…” He held out his hand. The dark form of Rhett knelt on her other side, and she heard the slosh of water as he wrung out a cloth and began to wipe her face.The wate
Havermouth, Present TimeHeath and Talen helped Aislen have a sponge bath in the kitchen, whilst Cameron, who knew his way around the stock and feed shop like the back of his hand, produced a pair of overalls and a shirt in hi-Vis yellow. As her men washed and dressed her, Aislen watched as Rhett and Phillip showed Gera off to Jules and Harry and felt her heart melt at the pride on her dark-haired mate’s face, and the way his tattooed fingers carefully cradled the baby’s head.“Are you alright?” Heath asked her as he buckled the overalls up.“Yeah,” she looked down at herself. “Feeling really stylish.” Thankfully the bleeding had stopped after another dose of her mates’ blood, as she was sans-underwear. Despite her complaint about the clothing, she was relieved to be covered.Cameron smirked. “You’re the best-looking farmer this shop has ever seen.”“And boy, did it see a lot of me,” Aislen pulled a face. “The owner is going to come in and wonder what the fuck happened here.”“They’ll
Havermouth, Present TimeJules and Harry led the way into the hospital, pausing on the top level to open a door into a ward. It was busy in there with patients and people tending to them. Due to the lack of uniforms, only the injuries separated patients from carers. Aislen stood just inside the stairwell door, holding baby Gera in her arms, with the chaos unfolding before her, a little shell-shocked.A vampire that Aislen did not recognise saw Samuel and encouraged him and Ember into a room, despite the dragon’s protests. Samuel surrendered when Ember sternly ordered him to let the vampire donate some blood and help his healing.“Well,” Jules ran his hand through his hair awkwardly. “I guess we should find a midwife?”Gera decided to wake up and demand to be fed. The baby’s cries drew the attention of those near to them, and Tyler suddenly appeared through the crowd, his whole face contorted with excitement. “Oh, my fucking heart!” He declared. “You have a baby!”“I do, and a hungry o
Havermouth, Present TimeInside the room was worse than the hallway, and explained why Connery had his seat propped in the doorway – for relief from the stench. Aislen tried not to look too closely at the gore that remained around the room. Some of it had belonged to Bianca, and that was too raw a wound for her to deal with at the moment. She was just too tired from giving birth, and too ragged from losing her telepathy.Meguitte sat just inside the door, with another notepad, and a look in her eye that spoke of darkness and trauma. Aislen could smell fresh blood from Meguitte, and the scent worried her. “Are you okay?” She asked.Meguitte’s eyes flicked up to Aislen’s, her cheeks heating. “I am exhausted,” she confessed.“Okay,” Aislen didn’t think that was everything wrong with the vampiress, but she rested her hand on Meguitte’s shoulder in empathy. If Meguitte didn’t want to talk about it, Aislen wasn’t the right person to push the conversation.Within the room, was a circle drawn
“Mine,” Rhett caught Aislen by the shoulders and turned her, pulling her body flush with his so that he could seal his mouth over hers and steal away Heath’s cum from her tongue. “Hmm,” he said as he eased back and used the tip of his little finger to wipe the corner of her mouth. “Delicious.”“This is going to take some finessing,” Talen said as Rhett stepped away so that Talen could take his place. The big, blonde man very gently stroked Aislen’s hair back out of her face before his hand strayed to the Concordian collar around her neck. He straightened it. “It has been a while since we have done this.”“Done what, Daddy?” She asked him and then gasped as Rhett picked her up and deposited her on the bed, straddling Heath’s hips and facing him. Suddenly the way that he was tied made a lot of sense, the space between his legs made room for someone to kneel between them, and the sex pillow beneath his hips would position Aislen at the right height for a man behind and one in front. “Oh
Aislen’s eyes adjusted to the darkness inside the Playroom with supernatural quickness and she smothered her laughter as she saw what Talen had been up to. The bed had been looped with Christmas fairy lights, tinsel, and red bows that held candy canes in place. As they neared, Talen activated the fairly lights so that the room, and its many sordid toys, flashed and flickered in shades of red and green - as did the two men already on the bed.Cameron wore a body harness similar to her own. It was on full display as he knelt on the end of the bed, his arms tied to the bedframe above his head, and a candy cane tied with ribbon as a gag. Talen, as a nod to the season, had used a red ribbon to tie a bow around Cameron’s cock. Tinsel had been draped around his neck like a feather boa.Heath was stretched out on the bed behind him, his arms spread and bound to the headboard, and his knees bent, heels to arse, and restrained there with ribbon that circled his ankles and looped around his wais
As Heath steered the car back out of Havermouth, Aislen watched the town pass by her window. It was both familiar and foreign, with the influence of the Mer seen in the repairs to the old buildings and the ever-increasing amount of greenery spilling over the walls from roof-top gardens.The way people dressed and interacted on the streets had changed too, with more and more people adopting the toga-like styles of the Mer clothing. Aislen caught a glimpse of Anne Mason talking with a group of tall intrigued looking Mers, and she wore multiple strings of the Mer’s bead and shell necklaces and bracelets as she smiled and gestured animatedly at the street around them.“I wonder what Anne is up to,” she remarked to Heath. “She looks like she’s leading a tour of the town. That’s probably what it is,” she answered herself. “She’d be good at that role.”“Do you miss it?” Heath asked her.“The telepathy?” She knew what he meant. “Yes and no. This is sort of cool,” she used her telekinesis to l
Cameron had baby-napped Gera for a day on the farm with her grandparents Harry and Jules, and so Heath and Aislen were travelling light to Havermouth.“Feels weird,” Heath said what Aislen was thinking. “Not hearing her in the back seat, and not having to lug around the baby bag in case she poops or pukes. I think we should have another.”“What?” Aislen’s jaw dropped. That last comment had come out of nowhere.“Another baby,” he smirked enjoying her reaction. “Gera’s six months old now, and I think we’re ready to add to our family.”“I’m not precisely preventing it,” she pointed out. “I’m not on any contraception, and I’m constantly leaking enough second-hand cum that I could probably repopulate the entire planet with a turkey baster.”“I know,” his smirk became a grin. “I’m just saying, if you were pregnant, it would be a good thing, wouldn’t it?”“Hang on now,” she narrowed her eyes at him. There was something to his teasing. “What are you getting at precisely?”“I’m just saying, yo
Aislen woke to Gera crying. She blinked as her eyes adjusted to the dark within Cameron’s room. It was night, but she couldn’t tell how far into it from the moonlight that drifted in through the part in Cameron’s curtains. Cameron was well out, snoring into the pillow, and she eased out from under his arm carefully so as not to wake him.Cameron had been working crazy hours, pretty much seven days a week, since the war trying to bring the two farms back to where they were before the storm, and to incorporate all the changes required for farming to be done by Mer environmental standards, which dictated everything from the way the sheep and cattle were treated for parasites through to run off from fields into the river.She stole the robe that hung of the back of his door as she tiptoed out of the room, easing the door closed behind her. Gera’s outrage had softened to gentle complaint which she traced to the kitchen. Heath, in a pair of striped PJ pants, was heating a bottle of blood, w
Rhett and Gera had attracted a horde of admirers in Rhett’s tattoo parlor and Aislen and Heath stood on the sidewalk watching him show off their daughter to his customers through the window, until someone pointed them out to them, and Rhett looked up, still grinning, his eyes bright with joy, and his cheeks heated as he realized he’d been busted.“Just look at him,” Heath scoffed his tone warm with amusement. “Bet he’s lying about doing the night duty all by himself again.”“He does get up a fair bit,” Aislen smiled up at him.“Yeah, but he complains about it like it’s the end of the world, and he doesn’t tell them that,” Heath nodded with his head towards the group saying goodbye to the baby. “I do most of the nights.”“And Cameron the early mornings,” Aislen reminded him.“He’s usually getting up then anyway,” Heath pointed out. “He’s half-rooster, up at dawn to wake us all up.”Aislen smothered her giggles.“What are you laughing at?” Rhett asked as he joined them. “Good timing, by
It was a very unusual Christmas Tree, but that was hardly surprising as it was a very different Havermouth. The new Havermouth Council was made up equally of all members of the community, and the tree represented the unification of these communities. Therefore, the tree had been carefully transplanted into the park, and was draped with bioluminescent strings of seaweed, crowned with a full moon, and hung with antique hand-carved toys and delicate ornaments made of gold and silver wire and what Aislen believed to be real gems, donated from the safes and other treasure vaults of the several hundred vampires that now called Havermouth home.In the old Havermouth, these gem-crusted ornaments would have disappeared within a day, however in the new Havermouth theft was not a problem. The police force included vampires and werewolves, and it had only taken a couple of demonstrations of their tracking abilities for thieves to learn to mend their ways.Aislen clapped along with the crowd as Ty
Havermouth, Present TimeThe journey to the river house was slow. Thanks to Sigrid’s roadblocks and the damage from the Mer. They also encountered many groups of people just standing on the road, talking in confusion. No one could quite understand what had happened, and no one was entirely confident that it was the end.Gera, true to form, had woken wanting to be fed, and so Aislen held the baby in her arms and watched out through the windows as they passed along the river road towards the bridge. “We’re a long way from done,” she said softly.“Yes,” Talen agreed. “But still, I feel as if we are far closer to peace, and I find myself optimistic and excited about the future before us.”“Me too,” Cameron agreed. “But that’s also how it feels when Aislen does her thing in your brain, so it could be that too.”“We haven’t really talked about that,” Heath added. “About what happened, Aislen?”“It’s hard to explain,” she said looking down at Gera and tracing the curve of the baby’s cheek wit
Havermouth, Present TimeDown the hallway enough for the stink of the torture room and the crunch and slurp of Mercy’s meal to be less nauseating, they formed a huddle, with Sigrid, Greg, Niarthen and Lyric in the centre, discussing what they had seen, and what the Mer would do next.Aislen leaned her cheek against Heath’s shoulder, exhausted. She wanted nothing more than to shower for a really long time, put on something that wasn’t coarse and itchy, and sleep. Heath put his arm around her absently, his attention on the discussion. She wanted to tell him that the world needed to take care of itself for a while, she had done her best for it, and it was time for her to sleep.“I can’t believe that she ate him,” Dan was seriously grossed out, Aislen could tell, although he kept his voice to a whisper.“I know,” Tom replied from the corner of his mouth, his eyes on Sigrid and Greg as they spoke with Niarthen. “Did you see the look on his face? He was just as surprised as we were.”“Will