Sharpest Edge: Mercenaries and Magic

by Alessa Thorn

  “Fuck, Silas,” she gasped, hands gripping his hair harder until she was almost riding his mouth. She was about to come when he suddenly pulled back. Iz didn’t have time to complain.

  He grabbed her by her hips and pulled her down on his dick, making her cry out. Silas smiled down at her, fingers brushing over her panting mouth. Iz sucked on them, grinding her hips up.

  “You’re so impatient for my dick tonight,” he chuckled.

  “So it’s no different from any other night,” she replied, reaching for him. Silas grabbed her by the wrists, pinning them above her with one hand, and thrust deep into her.

  “Oh, God,” Iz gasped, unable to do much else as he held her down and fucked her so hard and deep, she didn’t know if she could take it. He always made her feel so complete and safe and so damn alive.

  Silas kissed her, riding her harder until she was weeping his name. Her orgasm was a blaze of heat and release inside of her, and with a cry, she was coming so quickly, she thought she was going to black out.

  “I love you,” Iz whispered, over and over.

  Silas released her hands, and she gripped onto his back and hips, marking him up as she pulled him tighter to her. She wedged her foot underneath her, fucking upwards harder to meet him until his own release was filling her and sending her body over the edge again.

  Silas kissed her until their hearts went back to a normal pace. His weight on top of her and inside of her felt so good she didn’t want to let him go.

  “I love you so much, Bella,” he said against her lips.

  Izabella wrapped her arms tighter around him and gave him a cheeky smile. “Enough to cook me something to eat?”

  Silas chuckled and ran his nose against hers. “I would, but Kon made me promise to bring you around tonight. He and Athena wanted to cook everyone dinner before they questioned Gadal.”

  “Dinner and torture? Sounds like an average night in this crew,” Iz replied.

  Silas’s green eyes filled with concern. “If you don’t want to be anywhere near Gadal because of what happened, I’d understand.”

  Iz shook her head. “No. This is a family matter, and I’m not going to hide from the man who tried to set me on fire. I want answers, and I kind of want to watch Athena kick his ass for everything he did to us.”

  “Oh, love, she’s not going to be the only one after her pound of flesh,” Silas replied, face full of vengeance.

  Iz kissed him hard. “Then let’s go get our answers.”

  Later that evening, Silas and Izabella walked into the warehouse, hand in hand. Dante and Leo were already there, arguing about whether sending the Colleoni plane back to Italy had been a good idea or not.

  “I still think we should’ve spray-painted ‘Rodrigo has a micro penis’ on the side and set it on fire,” Dante said stubbornly, making Leo laugh.

  “Trust me, they are going to be pissed off enough that we took it at all. I left a letter telling them to back off, or I’ll burn their empire to the ground. Maybe they will listen,” Leo replied. He hugged Izabella and kissed her cheeks. “I’m happy you’re back with us. These people are even crazier without you, Silver Lady.”

  “I missed you too, Leo.”

  “Out of the way, skinny,” Athena demanded, pushing Leo aside and gripping Izabella so tight, Silas was worried she was going to crack a rib. “Never get kidnapped again, or I’ll kick your ass so hard.”

  “I promise. I hear you took Gadal down with a head butt,” Izabella said, kissing the small bruise on Athena’s forehead.

  “Two head butts. He was asking for it, trying to use his bullshit mind tricks on me.”

  “And they didn’t work at all?”

  Athena shook her head. “Felt a bit of a tingle but not much.”

  “Liddell said her ability to withstand magic was high. Some days, I wish it wasn’t the case so I could get her to behave,” Kon said from behind them.

  Athena narrowed her eyes. “You would dare try and cast magic on me?”

  “I thought you said he uses his penis magic on you all the time to get what he wants,” Dante piped in.

  “Do you see what I had to suffer without you?” Silas asked Izabella with a pained sigh.

  “That’s what happens when you hang about with a bunch of children, old boy,” Julian said, coming in with two bottles of ridiculously expensive red wine. “Here you go, Izabella. I thought you might like something decent to drink and not the swill Cub has in here. After almost getting burned alive, you deserve a decent drop.”

  “Thanks, Jules,” Izabella said, wrapping him in a hug.

  “You’re welcome, love.” Julian waggled his eyebrows at Silas over the top of her head just to piss him off. “I’m glad you’re in one piece. I don’t think I could’ve cleaned up the mess Silas would’ve made if anything had happened to you.”

  Julian’s eyes flicked to Leo and went wide. “And why the fuck is Leonardo Colleoni on your couch, Cub?”

  “How do you know who he is?” Dante asked before Leo could open his mouth.

  Julian lifted a brow. “It pays to know who to avoid in our world. This is the Leo you all keep talking about?”

  “I go by Leo Riva these days,” the hacker said calmly.

  Julian only laughed harder. “Fucking hell. Just when I think you assholes can’t get into deeper shit. Better watch yourself with this one, Dante. He’s out of your league.”

  “Yours too, old man,” Dante replied, a glint in his eyes that Silas had never seen before.

  “Even I know better than to stick my dick in a tiger’s trap,” Julian said.

  Silas held out a hand. “Give me that wine, and I’ll take care of it,” he said, wanting to get away from the dick measuring that was about to take place.

  Silas took the bottle into the kitchen and searched for a corkscrew. Whatever Kon had been cooking smelled good enough to get his stomach rumbling.

  “Top drawer,” Athena said, coming in behind him.

  “Thanks, Cubbie. How’s the prisoner?” Silas asked, pulling out the corkscrew.

  Athena took down some glasses. “Kon and I have had him chilling downstairs since we got back. I wanted to tenderize him a little, but Kon convinced me to wait until we could all ask him questions.”

  “Bella said that Gadal claimed Kon’s family was Aurora.” Silas pulled out the cork and poured out some of the wine.

  “He’s already suspected they were involved in some way. He just couldn’t figure out how.” Athena rubbed at her arms. “Hearing Gadal’s voice again fucks with me a bit.”

  “No one would blame you for wanting to sit this one out, Athena,” Silas said softly.

  “Fuck that. I want to make the little bitch squeal like a pig after what he did to my mom.”

  “Stop calling me Mom, pendeja,” Iz said, joining them in the kitchen.

  “Silas likes it. Just look at his face. He’s gone all gooey.”

  Silas’s neck went even hotter. “Shut up, Cub.”

  Athena only laughed like the demon she was. Izabella took her glass of wine from Silas with a kiss on his cheek. “Don’t let her get to you.”

  “What do you think, ladies, food or torture first?” Kon asked.

  “Food,” Izabella and Athena said at the same time, and Silas smiled at them, his heart so full he didn’t know how he would contain it.

  31

  An hour later, all seven of them went down into the old aqueducts under the warehouse. After Kon and Athena had used them to escape Liddell’s ambush, Kon had invested the time and money into finding the tunnels underneath the warehouse that ran off into the Bosphorus.

  It was a brilliant way to not only have an escape route but to create a cell designed to hold magic users.

  The cell walls were covered in symbols that somehow prevented Gadal from using his magic. He had been cuffed to a chair bolted to the floor, and his face was still caked with dry blood.

  “Is that a sex ball gag?” Dante asked, smirking at the red ball stuffe
d into Gadal’s mouth and tied with leather straps.

  “I had a spare one in the trunk of my car when I picked Kon and Athena up,” Julian replied with a shrug. “Waste not, want not.”

  “Let’s get on with it,” Kon said, loosening the gag before tipping half a bottle of water over Gadal’s head. He came to spluttering and cursing.

  “Wake up, asshole,” Athena snapped, smacking him in the face.

  “You are making a big mistake,” Gadal snarled, spitting water and blood at them.

  Julian clicked his tongue. “Why do they always say that? Clearly, we know exactly what we are doing.”

  “We should be allies, daugh— ” Gadal froze as Athena pressed the tip of a dagger to his lip.

  “Call me that again, and I’ll cut your eyelids off. I was never your daughter. I was your fucking experiment to kick around,” she hissed softly.

  “You were mine, though. I created you. The others assisted with their magic, but I was the one that figured it all out. You are my creation, and you were perfect.” Gadal’s eyes flicked to Kon, and his mouth twisted in disgust. “You were only meant to be a basic backup plan that was never needed.” Silas felt a shiver go down his spine, and Izabella took his hand.

  “Explain,” Kon said between his teeth.

  “Give me some water, and I will,” Gadal demanded. Athena held a bottle to his lips and let him take two mouthfuls before pulling it away.

  “Now talk,” she hissed. “Tell me about the four pricks who decided that doing magical experiments on me was a good idea. Who are my biological parents?”

  Gadal made a choking sound, and Silas realized he was laughing. “You have no parents. You were created in a laboratory, using alchemy and magic and science all in one glorious experiment. No human body carried you. You were never birthed.”

  “You lie. That’s not possible,” Athena whispered.

  “You’re living, breathing proof that it is. You are the most perfect homunculus ever created because of me!” Gadal shouted. Athena reared back from him and into Kon. He put his arm around her waist, steadying her. “Russia proved how perfect you really are. You slaughtered without question, without mercy. You were wrath and rage. A truly glorious monster.”

  “Don’t let him get into your head, Cub,” Silas growled.

  “I’m not even trying. The Fates are real after all, and you two children of the Aurora are fucking proof of it,” Gadal ranted.

  Silas and Kon shared a look. Like most people who think they are the smartest in the room, Gadal was happy to gloat and give them what they needed just to prove how clever he was.

  “I was never a child of the Aurora,” Kon stated flatly.

  “Dear boy, you don’t even know what you are,” Gadal scoffed, eyes filled with demented glee. “Serapis and Dee thought we needed a backup plan if the homunculus didn’t work. We wanted a child created by power, a perfect warrior that could wield magic and blades. A new species of human. They chose two of our members that were magic wielders, and they created you during one of our rituals.”

  “That sounds like bullshit to me. Magic would hurt a fetus too much,” Kon said, though he didn’t sound confident about it.

  “Every stage of her pregnancy, magic was fed into you. I tried to tell them that your parents wouldn’t go through with it and give you up, but no one would listen to me. In the eighth month of her pregnancy, your mother and father escaped from the facility holding them. Liddell was in charge of finding them and getting you back, and he fucked it up just like he fucked up everything. When we saw the footage of you two murdering him, we knew that our children had finally found one another and were working together.”

  “My cards,” Izabella whispered and looked at Kon. “The two children in the alembic. It was trying to tell us this all along.”

  Dante cleared his throat. “I don’t know, guys. This guy sounds fucking crazy to me. As far as I’m concerned, you two hooked up because you both loved to fuck and murder, not because you’re some magical children. My dude, I’ve known Athena a long time, and she can’t even cook a meal without burning it. There is nothing special about her.”

  “Thanks, Hill,” Athena replied, flipping him off affectionately.

  “I say we kill him and be done with it,” Izabella said, her hand gripping Silas’s hand too tight.

  “Not until he answers some questions for me.” Altun’s voice echoed in the tunnel around them.

  “Where the fuck did you come from? How does she keep doing that?” Dante said, clasping his heart.

  “It’s not my fault Konstantius never invites me to his parties, so I must continue to crash them. Now, get out of my way,” Altun demanded, and they cleared a path for her. Gadal’s eyes blew wide, and he actually looked afraid for the first time since they captured him.

  “You’re meant to be dead! You’re dead!” he shouted, pulling at his restraints.

  “You look damn good for a dead woman,” Julian said, shooting her a wink. Altun gave him the slightest smile before turning back to Gadal.

  “Get away from me!”

  “Where is she, Odo?” Altun asked, looking down at him like he was a piece of shit on her shoe.

  “I’ll never tell you. She’ll kill me.”

  Altun laughed softly. “Everyone in this room wants to kill you. You might as well give me what I want, and in return, I’ll ask Athena nicely to make your death quick.”

  “I can’t…” Gadal’s head dropped to his chest and the air charged with magic. “Because I’m already here.”

  Gadal lifted his head, his eyes now shining with a supernatural golden light. A strange, feminine laugh rattled out of his mouth. “You got old.”

  “No thanks to you,” Altun said, her whole body shaking.

  “What the fuck is going on?” Silas whispered to Izabella.

  “I have no fucking idea. It shouldn’t be possible with these wards around us,” she replied, eyes as wide as saucers.

  “Where are you, Dee? Just tell me, and we can end this like big girls,” Altun asked, stepping towards Gadal.

  “Why must you insist on hiding behind weak men? You know we will torture it out of him. Odo here was never one for pain.”

  “Come closer, and I’ll tell you,” Dee’s voice sing songed through Gadal’s mouth.

  Altun stepped closer and bent down so they were eye to eye. “When are you going to grow up and stop playing your fucking tricks?”

  “When are you going to stop falling for them?” Dee whispered as Gadal’s head began to glow. Julian grabbed Altun, pulling her back as light exploded and the walls shook. Silas turned his back to protect Izabella just as Gadal’s body plastered the walls and showered down over them.

  “W-what the fuck just happened?” Dante stammered. He had stepped in front of Leo and was dripping with gore.

  “Dee happened,” Altun said from underneath Julian. He rolled off her, the back of his jacket still smoking from the magical bomb that went off in Gadal’s head. Silas reached a hand down to help her up.

  “Can someone please tell me what the fuck is going on?” Athena demanded. “What has just happened to Gadal’s head? How the fuck did someone possess him? And how the fuck do you fit into all of this?”

  Altun stared them all down like she was ready to fight every one of them before she finally sighed. “Dee was…is…my sister, and that little stunt she pulled, possessing Gadal and making him explode, is like a parlor trick to her.”

  “Well…fuck,” Silas muttered.

  “And now you know why I’ve been telling you for months to drop this shit and walk away,” Altun snapped, rounding on Kon. “There is no escaping her for any of you. She has seen all of your faces.” She pulled out a silver case and tried to light one of her thin cigars, but her hands were shaking too much. Julian took the lighter from her and sparked it, holding it for her.

  “Thank you,” she said begrudgingly.

  “For the light or saving your life?” he said, giving her a smile be
cause he couldn’t help himself.

  “Don’t push your luck, Burbank,” she replied. “Kon, I’ll set you up with some wards to keep her out tonight, and you can help everyone else tomorrow.”

  “I have a better idea. Why don’t we all pack our bags and go to some fucking island somewhere?” Dante suggested.

  “Now, you’re talking,” Silas said. “I’ve always liked Fiji. Fuck the Aurora and exploding heads.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Athena replied, her voice soft. “We won’t outrun them. Not now they know about Kon and me.”

  “You bought that shit he said about your being an experiment? That’s fucking bullshit, Athena!”

  “Is it?” Athena’s eyes bored into him. “I know when someone is lying, and he wasn’t. I’m a…a thing.”

  Silas took her bloody face in her hands. “You aren’t a fucking thing. You are my daughter. That’s all that matters, do you hear me?”

  Tears fell down her cheeks. “Yeah, I hear you. Don’t yell at me.”

  “Don’t make me then.” Silas let her go, and Kon pulled her back into his side.

  “So what do we do now?” Leo asked quietly.

  Kon and Altun shared a long look. “Now, we finally work together to get Dee before we’re all fucked. Deal?”

  “Fine, but don’t blame me if it all goes to shit,” Altun said. She clapped her hands, making them all jump. “Come along then, dears. I think we all need a drink now that we are one big, happy family.” She headed for the stairs, heels tapping loudly on the stone.

  Julian let out a low whistle. “I don’t know if it’s the near-death experience talking, but I kind of want to do anything she says.”

  “I always knew you had a death wish,” Dante snorted.

  Julian gave Leo’s back a pointed look as the three of them followed Altun. “So do you, Hill. You just don’t know it yet.”

  “I know it. I just don’t care.”

  “Are you sure I can’t talk you into that beach in Fiji?” Silas asked Izabella, watching them go. She stood up on tiptoes and kissed him.

  “And miss out on the randomly exploding heads and terrifying magical women who want to kill us? Doesn’t sound like fun at all,” Izabella replied. She looked over at Athena. “Besides, I think our daughter is going to need us.”