Havermouth, Present TimeSigrid hung up and crossed to the glass doors. The air was fresh with greenery as she stepped out of the hospital into the courtyard. Delwyn led a meditation group amongst the plant life, cross-legged, eyes closed, and oblivious to the drama unfolding inside. As Sigrid crossed to stand at the rear of them, Delwyn’s eyes opened.“And awake,” she said soothingly. “Take your time to ground yourself in the present.” She rose fluidly to her own feet and wove between those still seated, in order to meet Sigrid. “Sigrid,” she inclined her head in greeting. “Do you seek me?”Sigrid turned and strolled a little way from those slowly rising from their mediation, knowing that Delwyn would follow her. “I did not know you were still here.”“I come, I go,” Delwyn replied. “Today I am here. Perhaps there is a reason for that, from the look upon your face?”“The Mer are invading the land,” Sigrid told her. “All the lands. I wondered… Did the Goddess speak to you of such a thi
Trayrock, Present TimeAislen floated on her back, gazing up at a sky that twinkled with stars. None of the formations were familiar, but that did not concern her. She suspected she was seeing the sky from a totally different point of view. She was, after all, floating in aether. It was body warm, and silky against her skin, without being wet.Being suspended in it in such a way was incredibly soothing. She reasoned that was because she had entered the aether in a relaxed state, her body comfortably exhausted from a busy day and night followed by sex, and snuggled safely in bed between Talen and Rhett, with Heath and Cameron on the edges.She could float there until morning, she thought dreamily stroking her hands through its silky strands, blissfully content. But the question did remain: why had she entered the aether at all?Reluctantly, she sat up - if sitting were an accurate description as there was no surface in the aether against which to sit. And yet she did not sink. The aet
Trayrock, Present TimeAislen fell through the aether and jerked awake, her legs kicking and her hands gripping onto the nearest man, causing them all to start, Cameron’s snoring broken off into an exclamation of alarm.“What the actual fuck?” Rhett had been the recipient of both the grip and the spasming kicks and blinked at her through the fall of his hair. Her fingernails clawed into his tattoos, drawing blood, the scent of it in the air, and wet beneath her fingertips.“Little Demon,” Talen’s hand rested on her shoulder, the palm warm. He smoothed from shoulder to elbow and back again. “You are safe. We are all safe.”She knew that he was right. They were in the surprisingly cosy makeshift bed, in a room heated by five sleeping bodies, and until her attack on Rhett, they had all been deeply in a much-needed sleep.“Sorry, Rhett,” she was embarrassed, releasing her hold on him. “I scratched you.”“It’s just a scratch,” he dismissed it. “My shins and balls are more upset. Were you p
Trayrock, Present TimeThe bar was filled with the scent of bacon and eggs, and busy with all the reporters and their crews having brunch. Aislen’s stomach growled as she slid into the booth across from her mother. The Triquetra took the booth behind her, and Talen sat beside her.“You should eat,” Tiffany pushed a piece of paper across the table towards her with a simple menu written on it. “I can hear your stomach grumbling away.”“I don’t eat,” Aislen moved the menu out of the way. “I drink. And I will drink when I get the chance to sink my fangs into someone who looks tasty.”“Aislen Carter,” Tiffany scolded as her eyes flicked around them at the other diners. “Must you?”“Tell me what’s happening with the town?” Aislen prompted wanting to get it over and done with as soon as possible so that she and her mates could get out of the bar and on with their day. “What brought you here this morning?”“Oh my,” Tiffany leaned forward over the table eagerly. “So, the tea is that last night
Trayrock, Present TimeIn the car park at the hospital, the two vehicles parked side by side and wound down the windows between them.Talen leaned his elbow on the open window. “So, how do you wish to play this, little demon?” He asked, looking at Aislen.There were two aspects to consider, Aislen thought. They wanted to give the reporters only good things to see from their side, and bad from the Van Helsings, so she didn’t want to expose them to any unprovoked violence by supernaturals. However, some violence would be needed in order to get into the hospital in the first place.“Nadia and Roger, with Cameron, Heath, Rhett, and Philip Salem are going to approach from the inside entrance to the hospital and see if they can get past the guards there through subterfuge,” Aislen decided. (Or violence) she thought to Heath very clearly, sliding him a look from the corner of her eye, and saw him nod slightly in acknowledgment.“Ember and Samuel will be above,” she squinted up at the sky. Sh
Trayrock, Present TimeThey moved forward with caution until the car park and the entrance to the main hospital building came into view. The Van Helsing presence was heavy, with four guards on the door, as well as pairs patrolling along the edges of the car park. Aislen could see another six at key points overlooking the road in.It made sense, she thought to herself. If the werewolf army or a civilian militia attacked in force, they would come from the road. They had obviously heard enough about what happened in Havermouth to be wary of that sort of full-frontal attack.The vehicles that entered from the road were stopped by a boom-gate into the car park which the Van Helsings used as a checkpoint. A second checkpoint was established at the mouth of the emergency services entrance, where ambulances once would have been taken in order to deposit their patients into the ED.Penn and Jacinta’s cameras took it all in.“I guess,” Aislen kept her voice low. “The first question that comes t
Narrigil, Present TimeThey had been waiting so long that Lyric’s legs had begun to get pins and needles. The Mer around her were so still and attentive that she had not felt that she could squirm or fidget in order to relieve it. She recalled reading about soldiers on ceremonial guard duty doing small muscle flexes and wriggling their toes in order to maintain circulation, and wondered if the Mer used such tricks.When the order came, it was out of the blue. A single word was spoken, heard in her helmet. She didn’t need translation – it was obvious. “Go.”Her group of Mer surged towards the wall. Some moved so quickly that Lyric was treated to a view of blood spraying as they carved up the guards on duty – the card players taken by such surprise that they had not even dropped their hands to the ground, and the cards drifted from lifeless fingers.The guards above were slow to respond, uncertain as to what they were seeing – a liquid-like ripple across the ground, until that splatter
Trayrock, Present TimeThe double doors into the hallway of the main hospital were closed and guarded by two stern-looking guards who were already having a bad day. A crowd of locals were facing off against them, their faces angry and their words getting heated.“Hang back a moment,” Heath murmured to them before drifting over to where a volunteer tea and coffee station was set up, the elderly volunteers with their striped aprons hanging on every word spoken at the entrance. “Coffee?” He asked the lady holding the pot, taking out a paper cup.“Of course, dear,” she poured without looking at him, her attention locked on the argument at the door. “Would you like cream and sugar with that?”“No thanks,” Heath couldn’t drink it anyway, but he mimed doing so, watching the doorway.“Our staff have been on duty for weeks without respite in there,” a man jabbed his finger towards the door. “That is illegal and inhumane. They are running short of medication, scrubs, and linens, basic supplies,
“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