An Island Somewhere, Present TimeLyric woke pressed tightly into Niarthen’s chest, his hair covering them both so that her bleary eyes saw the sun through a film of green. She did not have a moment of confusion, even in her sleep she had registered their location in the war camp on the island beach, and she surfaced from sleep to awareness knowing precisely where she was and what was happening.Niarthen grunted as he woke, and cleared his throat as he sat up, easing her carefully down into the sand. He sat with his elbows on his knees, looking out at the activity of the camp, and dragged a hand over his face before rising fluidly to his feet.Lyric sat up and dusted off the sand, scanning the beach to see where Niarthen had wandered off to. She needed to pee but fuck trying to get out of the armour. Perhaps that was what Niarthen was doing – finding a convenient tree. She’d just do things the Mer way, she decided, and hold it until she shifted and could go into the water. She wasn’t
Havermouth, Present TimeIt was a relief to get the blood off both of them, to feel the warm water wash away the sweat and stink of stress and fear that had been clinging to their skin, but Harry did not linger in the shower as they would have liked to do, feeling Jules begin to sway as they finished rinsing off his hair. Their mate was exhausted and shaking with shock.They lifted Jules from the shower cubicle onto the mat and wrapped a towel carefully around him before tending to themself. As they quickly rubbed themselves dry and bound their hair back into the damp towel to absorb the water, they watched Jules.Jules’ lips shook, his teeth chattering, but his focus was on scrutinizing his hand. He sucked in a wet sob of a breath as his efforts to move his fingers pained him. The expression gave Harry a glimpse of their mate’s elongated canines and pre-molars, and that little sign that the vampirism had taken gave them a feeling of pride and accomplishment. They had turned Jules. Pe
Somewhere outside of Rideten, Present Time “Are you sure?” Heath asked Aislen under his breath. “Victor was right, we can spin this two ways.” “I’m sure,” she replied, giving his thigh a squeeze. “We’ll be open about what we are, to a point. We won’t let them see us take out the Van Helsings, though. We’re going to be the friendly, personable supernaturals that everyone wants us to be.” The meeting point was a remote house about a twenty-minute drive outside of Rideten’s main town, and along a maze of small dirt tracks. The house was typical of the region, a squat single story that blended into the landscape and didn’t possess a single attractive feature to it – built for function and not appearance. The sheds that flanked it were newer, bigger, and had probably cost more to build. They parked around the rear where three other vehicles already waited, and he wondered how many families had woken up that morning to find the family car had been stolen as none of the cars matched in b
Somewhere outside of Rideten, Present Time“Right then,” Rhonda, caffeine addiction sated, sat between Addison and Patrick. “Let’s roll.”Aislen settled herself more comfortably on Rhett’s lap. She’d rehearsed what she would say in her head a dozen times since the plan to take the reporters to Havermouth had first been raised, with small refinements and alterations to the script over the past few days.“The Van Helsings are religious extremists with a racist agenda,” she announced. “That have become obsessed with the eradication or enslavement of all supernaturals. We are not a threat to humans. We have lived amongst you always. We follow human law,” mostly she corrected to herself, but they didn’t need to know about arsehole fucking rapist alpha werewolves. “We pay taxes. We own property. Our kids go to school with your kids. Always have. We’ve never been a problem – and the evidence of that is that you all still don’t completely believe that we’re real.”She smiled and shrugged help
Somewhere outside of Rideten, Present Time(Do you really intend to get naked in front of the cameras?) Heath raised an eyebrow.(Nope.) She was grinning so hard her cheeks hurt. (I was tempted to get one of you four to do it. But there’s a less naked option.) Ember had been hovering by the door, watching alert for trouble, so Aislen assumed Samuel was outside, patrolling for danger, or arranging their accommodations for the night with the werewolf soldiers.(Ah.) Heath nodded as he realized her intention.“You’re doing it again,” Addison’s eyes had tracked their looks and expressions. “That silent communication.”“We’re going to need to go outside,” Aislen told them. “Is that going to be a problem?”“An outside demonstration,” Allistaire was intrigued but skeptical. “I’m all for it.”“Guys?” Rhonda glanced at her camera and sound techs. “Let’s go then,” she rose gracefully to her feet and began to pick her way across the tangle of cords towards the door.“Howard?” Patrick looked at h
Havermouth, Present TimeTom was not good at disguising his anxiety. “Perhaps we should wait.”Sigrid arched an eyebrow. “Until we are in the midst of battle? Until there is an emergency? Until my life depends on this ability? Hmm, that seems wise my love. There is nothing like adrenaline and lack of practice to make using a new skill safe for all.”“You think you’re being sly,” he fought against the curl of his lips. “You think I don’t recognize sarcasm when it’s used against me.”“I would never presume,” she replied. “Especially as sarcasm is such a skill of yours.”“I have other skills,” his eyes heated. “That we could practice together.”“Hmm, and now you’re trying to distract me. I have watched Greg and Dan shift,” she gestured to where their two mates sat in wolf form watching their exchange. “I am certain that I can do this.”He stepped forward suddenly, catching her above her elbows and pulling her into him. His mouth ravaged hers, stealing her breath and setting her very marr
Havermouth, Present TimeMeguitte took the familiar path to the laboratory. The magic was beginning to fade, the vines withdrawing, leaving behind imprints on the walls where they had clung. She paused by the nursery and saw that someone had installed UV lights and misters. The seedlings within were growing well.Verina looked up from where she used a pestle and mortar to pulp. “Hello, Meguitte.”“Hello,” Meguitte drifted over and looked inside the bowl.“Eggshell,” Verina explained. “It is good for the soil.”“The magic is fading,” Meguitte told her.“What does that mean?” Verina looked around at her garden. “Are the children safe?”“They will be soon. The main plant will shrivel and die, but not affect those connected to it,” she hoped. It was not a spell she had cast before, and sometimes spells came with nasty surprises. “I am not sure what will become of the seedlings.”“Well… I will do my best to keep them alive,” Verina decided. “It seems a shame, otherwise. These little babies
Havermouth, Present TimeTony arrived home as Fatima escorted Sigrid and her mates into the kitchen. “Oh, just in time,” Fatima lifted her face for Tony’s kiss as he set two heavy eskies onto the kitchen bench. “Our blood supply was getting low, and we have visitors.”“Sigrid,” Tony grasped Sigrid by the shoulders and air-kissed near each cheek. “It is wonderful to see you well, and congratulations on successfully turning your mates.”“It worked both ways,” Sigrid demurred. “I turned them, and then they turned me.”“This hybridism is catching on, hmm?” Fatima began to unpack the eskies, setting the bags into neat rows on the fridge shelves. “Talen and his mates, and now you and yours.”“Interesting that it hasn’t been done before,” Tony agreed beginning to help her. “I cannot recall hearing of it before Talen turned Heath.”“It has been done before,” Sigrid replied. “Samuel.”“Ah,” Tony’s eyebrows lifted. “I forgot about Samuel.” He left several packets on the benchtop, and as the esk
“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