Concordia, Nine Hundred and Forty Years Before Thaelen paused in his labor to remove his shirt and cast it to the ground. He was filthy but had almost completed caulking the hull with oakum. He squinted up at the sun. Another hour, and he would go down to the beach for a swim. He might encounter Ettel’s husband, Ferin, on the sand, and be able to discuss the next stage of the ship building with him. As a fifth-generation fisherman, Ferin had participated in many ship-builds and would, on occasion, come and assist Thaelen with his project. Thaelen would then wait until night fell to head down to the village for his evening meal. There was always someone who wandered from the house alone, to take a piss, meet a lover, or to check something that they left undone from the day. He would stalk through the houses until he found a likely human and could discretely take what he needed from them. He had his favorite regular meals - the repressed priest of the One God who preached about purity
Concordia, Nine Hundred and Forty Years Before Thaelen undressed slowly, lifting the shirt up his torso, the knap of the fabric rasping on his skin and the neckline gathering his hair as he lifted it over his head. He dropped it onto the table and stood waiting assessment. The past ten years had made him lean, and the physical exertion of building a ship had refined that leanness into muscle. “Ah, very, very nice,” Besafora rested the tip of the jade phallus against her lips and the pink tip of her tongue darted out to trace the slit carved into the stone. “Delwyn?” “Yes,” Delwyn agreed breathlessly. “He is… um…” She caught her bottom lip between her teeth and giggled. “Rather… pleasing.” Besafora chuckled with satisfaction. “The rest of it my king, if you please?” Thaelen smothered his smile as he released the ties of his trousers, and let them sag on his hips. “Are you sure?” He raised an eyebrow teasingly. “I don’t look like your green carving. I would hate to disappoint.” “I’
Havermouth, Two Weeks Before“Uh-ah,” Heath snagged Rhett by the wrist when his dark-haired mate went to get into the front passenger seat. He tugged him back and nudged him into the backseat. “You’re mine,” he leered, gripping the doorframe and caging Rhett in as he landed on his back and pushed himself up on his elbows his face lighting in surprised laughter.“F-king oath, Heath, be gentle,” Rhett snickered. “Take me to dinner first, perhaps?”“You are dinner,” Heath swung into the cab and closed the door behind him.“I’m always driving,” Cameron pouted as he put the Ute into reverse and backed out of the driveway of Aislen’s house.“Ute is best for this. Small windows, high up,” Heath replied as Rhett slid along the seat until the back of his head and shoulders were against the door. Heath crawled over him, and ran his tongue over Rhett’s bottom lip, nipping the lip ring between his teeth and giving it a slight tug. “I’ve been thinking,” he murmured against Rhett’s lips. “About how
Havermouth, Two Weeks Before“I think it’s time we take this inside. I think we have taunted your werewolf lovers enough,” Talen decided to be straightforward and to see how she responded. It might lead to an awkward conversation, or simply open up the conversation, he reasoned. She was his mate, whether she knew it or not, and he needed to keep moving the relationship towards them both being fully informed.Morgana’s mouth dropped open, but her initial shock quickly became laughter and she relaxed against him. He felt the tension within him ease and wrapped his arms around her as she turned into him and pressed her face into his chest, lowering his face into her hair and breathing in the scent of her with a wide smile lifting his cheeks.He had been right. Morgana knew about the supernatural world. She was aware of what the pups were. He chuckled under his breath. In hindsight, on more than one occasion, she had less than subtly invited him to drink from her, so she knew what he was
Havermouth, Two Weeks Before“So, these boys did not realize that you were important to them,” Talen turned his attention back to the conversation, and digging into the problems between his mates.“They didn’t know about me,” she explained. “The pack thought that I was a human. And…”“Humans are complicated,” he nodded slowly in revelation. “A bi-sexual polyandrous group with a human mate. Complicated is somewhat of an understatement,” he murmured to himself. Perhaps it was not going to be as difficult as he had thought. Such things could seem insurmountable to the young, and no obstacle to the older and wiser. With years of perspective, once they got past their injured pride and wounded hearts, they might find the road smoother than anticipated.“I didn’t understand, and they could not tell me without breaking their laws, and things between us…” She shook her head to indicate the relationships’ disintegration. “It started badly, and just became worse. The pack offered me a scholarshi
Havermouth, Two Weeks BeforeMorgana turned to kiss his cheek. “I know that he was murdered by the vampires of Zeus Forest Works,” she said with gentle understanding, absolving him of any guilt by association, and he was shocked silent. “He left a letter saying that he thought he would be, though he didn't know what they were. I have some things for you, on the kitchen table, that he put together....”There was a lot of unpack from that statement, he thought in bafflement, starting from the fact that Morgana thought that he sought to tell her that his people were responsible for her father’s death.He was certain that vampires were not responsible. Tony and Fatima would have told him, and it was not Sigrid’s style to fake an accident. It wasn’t any Concordian vampire’s style. They would have followed Patrick into a secluded location, ended his life, and put his body into an oubliette for removal. The Concordia had survived for as long as they had by having strict rules about disposing
Havermouth, Two Weeks Before“Hmm, good,” Talen kissed the crown of her head, and took a breath to control himself. Leave it there, Talen, he cautioned himself. Change the subject, tackle the harder aspects of the relationship when she’d had time to adjust and accept, and think it through for herself. “Let us have a glass of wine to celebrate our agreement and look at whatever you have on Zeus.”“Sounds good… So, the vitamins and food aren’t to fatten me up to be your blood slave?” She added as they walked down the hallway towards the kitchen hand in hand.He smothered his laughter. “The vitamins and food were because I had a look in the refrigerator. Anyone who, after a week of living here, had a fridge that bare, wasn’t eating a balanced diet. I have other resources for sustenance,” he clarified, his eyes flicking to her face, trying to judge her thoughts. He was nervous, he thought with amusement. Over a thousand years old and sweating over what a girl thought about him like an ado
Havermouth, Two Weeks BeforeThe Triquetra had agreed that they wouldn’t crowd Aislen or force a confrontation with the vampire by parking in the driveway but would just keep an eye on her in wolf form, and so Cameron drove the Ute past Aislen’s house on a round-about journey to the graveyard. Heath twisted in his seat as they went by keeping his eyes on the house for as long as possible.The vampire’s Ute wasn’t there.Heath exchanged a look with Rhett. “It’s still early.”He wasn’t sure, he added to himself, whether he was hoping that the vampire would come, or not come. He remembered the way the big man had dragged him across the gravel by his throat as if Heath was as light as a thistle, and as dainty as… well, Aislen. His heart raced and his c-ck ached. F-k, he’d liked it in a big way, and a part of him wanted the vampire’s hands on him again.He felt his cheeks heat but Cameron parking at the graveyard gave him cover for his embarrassment, as he slid out of the car and began to
Havermouth, Present Time Heath woke into darkness. His werewolf sight could not even determine a pinprick of light. The darkness was heavy, smothering. “Talen?” He asked. His voice sounded muted, as if he were in a closed, tight space. He reached out and felt nothing however… And that was terrifying. There was no floor, no walls. He did not understand how it was that he was not falling… or perhaps he was. His breathing was rasped through lungs constricted by panic. “Shh,” a woman murmured. “Hush now, do not fear. Nothing will harm you here. Indeed,” there was amusement to her voice. “There is nothing here to harm you.” “Who are you?” He demanded, fear turning into anger. “Some Van Helsing trick?” “Hmhmhm,” she chuckled softly. “No, white wolf.” “Where is Talen?” He sat up slowly, relying on his stomach muscles as there wasn’t a floor to brace his hands against. “Where are we? Why… isn’t there a floor?” “So many questions. We are in the beginning, the aether, the place where we
Havermouth, Present TimeCameron and Rhett stood by the front window of Mr Claymont’s house with the lace curtains pushed back, looking out at the street as the crowd began to clear. A riot had broken out in response to the explosion of the school and had blocked the Van Helsings’ efforts to reach their destroyed base. The Havermouth rioters had destroyed several of the Van Helsings’ vehicles until guns had been drawn and bullets had been fired.Just as things had been on the verge of turning into a massacre, the fire had begun to spread out from the school, and Havermouth’s residents had rushed to help the homeowners save their property whilst others had dragged those injured by the Van Helsings retaliation into nearby houses.Into the chaos and mania of it all, the fleeing werewolves had just been another strangeness of the day, with people shrieking and screaming as their fur brushed against them, but otherwise taking no action against them, too occupied with the fire and gunmen, a
Havermouth, Present TimeThe f-ker!Aislen woke angry and sore. Her whole body ached, but her head and throat most of all. She was f-king going to kill that arsehole of a torturer, she thought.She was lying on her back on a bed, but not somewhere private. Around her she could hear the murmur of voices, groans and moans, the rattle of metal against metal, and crying. It stank. Layers of sweat, urine, faeces and… rotten meat.She opened her eyes and looked through a mesh of metal bars at the pressed tin tile design within the coffered ceiling high above her and the elaborate chandelier that dangled from it. Not what she’d expected having smelled the room, she thought, sitting up.It was a large long room, with a heavy velvet curtained stage set on one end and a wall of double doors at the other. In between the two ends, rows of cages had been set, each one only long enough to fit a trundle bed and twice as wide. Many of the cages were empty, like the one directly next to Aislen’s bed,
Havermouth, One Week BeforeTony had the police officer tied by his wrists and dangling over an open oubliette in the barn when Talen arrived, and looked up from a toolbox which was set on the pushed back stone lid. “Alex, this is Talen. Talen, meet Alexander Grennith.”“F-k you,” the werewolf was in the policeman’s eyes, but with his weight on his shoulders, and his wrists tied, he could not shift without risking tearing his arms from the joint, an injury that would be both intensely painful and potentially life-alteringly disabling.“No thank you,” Talen replied as he rolled up his sleeves. “Did you have any trouble?” He asked Tony.“No,” Tony was amused. “I took Sigrid with me, and she distracted him at the front door whilst I took him from behind. He did not know what happened. We bundled him into his own car, and I wore his jacket and hat. Anyone who saw me would have thought he was going on a date. I dropped Sigrid at the Ute and she drove it home for me.”“I didn’t know that Si
Havermouth, Two Weeks BeforeCameron creeping out of the bed and around the room getting dressed woke Heath. He was pressed tightly to Talen’s back, half drowning in the vampire’s blonde hair, with his arm over Talen’s waist and he was disinclined to move from the position. Used to Cameron’s early mornings, once he’d registered what the movement was about, he closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep only for Aislen to mutter a complaint as Rhett wriggled out from under her.“I have a client coming at nine,” Rhett explained his movement. “I have to go set up.”“Too early,” Aislen grumbled.“I know, but they work afternoons, and it will take a good three hours,” Rhett yawned widely as he slid out of the bed.Talen shifted in order to pull Aislen back against him, snuggling her into the spoon of his body. “Sleep some more, Morgana,” he murmured. “You need to rest in order to heal.”Rhett cursed as he stumbled and Cameron smothered his laughter. “Careful. F-k man, you’re not a good m
Havermouth, Two Weeks Before“I could do with a cigarette too,” Aislen announced. “And a glass of wine.”“It’s not even midday,” Heath protested immediately.Aislen’s eyeroll said it all. “I wasn’t asking for permission. I’ve had a pretty shitty couple of days, and I want to f-king have a cigarette and a glass of wine on the porch of my house and so that’s precisely what I am going to do,” she began to get dressed. “If you’re all going to be bitches you can leave.”Heath spotted her underwear tangled at the foot of the bed and retrieved them, untangling them as he handed them to her. “I’ll go open a bottle.” He stepped out into the hallway and closed the door before leaning against the wall and heaving out a sigh.Rhett and Cameron now knew about the miscarriage, but he felt as if the Triquetra had narrowly avoided disaster with the discussion that had followed, and the adrenaline spike had left him shaky with his heart racing against his ribs. The conversation had also shaken free a
Havermouth, Two Weeks BeforeRhett laughed. F-k this was going to be fun, he thought lifting up onto his elbows in order to improve his view.“Oh.” Aislen had realized that the double-sided dildo was for her.Talen’s shoulder shook with his silent laughter as he helped her into the harness and eased her end of the dildo into her.“F-k that’s hot,” Rhett groaned as Talen tightened the harness around her waist. There was something so naughty about Aislen with a c-k, and the leather straps compressing her soft skin, the contrast of white to black and soft to hard… “F-k,” he groaned, and Heath compliantly gripped his c-ck, stroking from base to tip so that he sighed out his pleasure.“Very nice,” Talen approved leaning back to inspect his workmanship. “Who would you like to f-k, little demon?”“Choices, choices,” Aislen’s response was pure devilry.“Me,” Rhett gasped out rolling up to sitting. “I want to try that.”“Why not?” Aislen was amused by his eagerness and by her new accessory, re
Havermouth, Two Weeks BeforeRhett used the trolley to herd Tabitha and her cameraman away from Cameron and Aislen so that they could make their escape, his vindicative ramming of the reporter’s heels fuelled by the nasty volley of questions she had just thrown at Aislen.“This is assault, Rhett Salem!” Tabitha snarled at him.“Oh, f-k off Tabitha,” he replied. “For a f-king desperate ambulance chasing vulture you are pretty righteous. F-king chasing down a woman who was just shot, and shouting out her personal business… You are slime. The worst type of slime. Just own it and shut the f-k up.”He abandoned the trolley inside the doors of the hospital and trotted across the carpark to where Heath was picking up shards of broken vase and ignoring Tabitha’s attempts to engage him into an interview. Heath surprised Tabitha by passing her the broken pieces. “Throw these away for me, please, like a good girl,” he told her.“Ah, shit, Heath, don’t call her a good girl,” Rhett laughed as he h
Havermouth, Two Weeks BeforeCameron almost stopped dead. From the corner of his eye, he saw Rhett fumble a vase of flowers that he was loading into his car, the vase shattering with a loud crash as it hit the ground and distracting the reporter and her cameraman.Miscarriage? What miscarriage? And… if Aislen couldn’t have a child… what did that mean for their Triquetra?“I don’t hit women,” Heath growled down at Tabitha. “But you are testing my resolve. Get the f-k away from us, and stay away.”Cameron pulled himself together and crossed the last distance to the Ute, easing Aislen into the passenger seat, and closing the door before turning back to help his Triquetra drive off the reporter and her cameraman. Rhett drove the now empty trolley directly at Tabitha and the cameraman, forcing them backwards, and used it to herd them towards the hospital and away from the Ute.“What the f-k?” Cameron asked Heath in shock. “What the f-k was that?”“Take her to her house, Cam, I’ll meet you