by LJ Swallow
Vee shifts onto her stomach, and I grab a pillow, pushing it under her, so that round, gorgeous backside is higher. I stroke my cock as I look down at her. Yeah, I’m impressed by the self-control I had around Vee recently, but there’s none left.
Grabbing Vee’s hips, I position myself behind her and run my length up and down her slick pussy. She groans and lifts her ass higher, the okay I need. Digging my fingers into her waist, I thrust hard and deep. She’s tight and hot and wet from my making her come and fuck I don’t know how long I’ll keep control.
I fight the desire to slap her ass and reach around, seeking Vee’s clit with my fingers and rub, watching for her reaction. I tease her, my fingers wet with her arousal and Vee breathes out a moan as I match my thrusts with a circling thumb, lost against anything but how tight and wet she is.
There’s no way this will last long, but I’m holding out until she comes again. The noises she makes that turn me the fuck on grow louder as I slam into her again and again. She cries out, and her muscles squeeze tighter around my cock, and she buries her face into the sheets, muffling her repeated swearing.
I let go of the barely held control and push into Vee hard and fast one last time, groaning through my release.
We lie together, and I curse myself for allowing the distance to slip in again. When Vee looks at me with such love, I sometimes feel I don’t deserve this. I trace my fingers along her cheeks and her neck to her chest. She’s pink-cheeked and catching her breath still.
“I told you I could persuade you to stay.”
She smiles up and pushes hair from my face. “I never doubted that.”
I kiss her, holding my mouth against hers and inhaling Vee’s scent mingled with mine.
“Also, I love you,” I say against her soft lips.
“I never doubted that either,” she whispers back.
20
VEE
Two people wait at the edge of the children’s playground. The woman sits, hands in her jacket pockets, as she watches the noisy playfulness around. The man stands beside her, straight, wary, and people give him a wide berth as they pass. They’re ordinary, dressed in casual clothes with warm winter jackets, but the woman’s blonde hair shines the way I’ve seen angels in books. The man’s dark hair and sharp features give him a harder edge, softened by his dark brown eyes behind thick lashes.
A girl runs up to the woman, speaks, and then scoots away again. I glance at Joss. “Do you think she’s another? Can angels be children?” I whisper.
“Maybe. I’m guessing these are disguised and don’t normally look human.”
“Xander, you’re being over the top asking them to meet us here,” says Heath as we continue our walk along the pathway through the large park a couple of miles from the house.
Xander picks up his pace. “This meeting happens in public. Nobody will try anything when there are kids around. Nobody wants kids hurt.”
Two small boys catch my eye, one chasing the other with a stick. They’re a group of friends, maybe ten years old, and I smile to myself when I see four are with a girl, and she’s alone. The smile disappears at memories of being the girl alone. My blunt truthfulness didn’t matter when I was a younger kid because every child is the same. Once I grew older, people informed me I had “issues.”
Then I remember the reason I don’t think about my past anymore.
I was never ten years old.
I didn’t sit on the edge watching people because I’m not a person.
“Vee?” Joss takes my hand and squeezes. “You okay?”
A warmth pulses from him towards my heart, pushing out the cold encroaching, and I brush my lips on his. “I’m fine. Are you?”
He looks at the angels and away again. “Yeah.”
"What do you think about the Erzla and Leoc?" I ask Joss. "Is it a relief or do they frighten you?"
He pulls on his bottom lip and stares ahead. "Both. What vibe do you get from them?"
"Truthfully, none. It's almost as if I closed my eyes, they may not be here. I don't think they're 100% in this world. Does that make sense?"
"Yeah. Like halfway here? It's weird."
"At least they’ve brought us a solution," I reply.
Joss looks across the park. "Hopefully. I want this over."
"We all do." I take Joss’s hand and squeeze. "And it will be soon."
“I’m getting answers to questions the other guys don’t like to ask.” He nods. “That will help.”
We hope.
Xander reaches the couple first, and I don’t hear their introductions. None are needed. The woman has a friendlier aura than the guy, who watches us with suspicion. Not a Horsemen fan, that’s obvious
“Was that your kid?” Ewan asks and jerks his head to the little girl clambering up the climbing wall.
Leoc laughs. “No. The curious child came to tell me I was pretty, then ran away.”
Leoc would easily draw people to her with the large, friendly blue eyes and soft expression. She’s the kind whose smile must infect those around with warmth.
Apart from my suspicious Horsemen.
“Good thing she didn’t see your wings,” Ewan replies. “You do have wings, right?”
She purses her pink painted lips. “Do you have horses?”
I turn my face away so nobody sees my amusement at the exchange.
Heath crosses his arms and stands, back to the playground, Ewan beside him. The guys form a semi-circle in front of the pair and silence descends.
“I still don’t feel this is the best place to discuss what we need to.” Erzla digs his hands deep into coat pockets and nods at Xander.
“I’m sure this won’t take long,” I say.
“We don’t have the book, if that’s what you’ve lured us here for,” says Ewan.
“Lured?” She chuckles. “How about ‘thanks for saving our backside from Seth’.”
“Or ‘thanks for stopping the storm,” adds Erzla.
“What?” Xander’s mouth falls open.
“You heard.”
Wow. Attitude, much?
Heath steps to one side as two mothers with strollers attempt to pass.
“We’re blocking the area,” says Leoc. “Come. Let’s talk elsewhere.”
The guys exchange glances and Xander says, “We’re not leaving the park.”
Erzla tips his chin. “Don’t you trust us?”
“I don’t trust strangers easily. Especially currently.”
“Well, in our case I think you need to. Nobody else can help you.”
We’re a strange group, walking across the pathway towards a large metal gazebo, painted white and overlooking a fountain. I picture people relaxed and happy, sharing time and gossip on the wooden benches.
Then I look around the park, scrutinising faces. Are there monsters amongst them? Ewan spends time watching everywhere for more “evidence” from Seth, including now. If the portal opening was Seth’s next move in all this, we’re on a new alert. Seth has primed society to believe strange attacks or occurrences are more than animals or human sickos.
We reach the benches and I sit. “Did you solve the problem Seth created with the portal?”
Erzla looks to Leoc. She pushes a loose strand of hair from her eyes. “Mostly.”
Xander halts. “What do you mean ‘mostly’?”
“We’re not experts at tracking in the way you were taught. We destroyed what we could, but you’ll need to find the rest of the creatures.”
“Oh, great.” Heath sits on the bench beneath the metal roof and I sit beside Xander.
“And the others,” adds Erzla. “He’s opened other portals. You’ve already met some of them, remember? They need killing too.”
“What? How do we know what the hell is out there?” asks Heath. “We don’t have experience in anything but the supernatural around us already.”
“Learn,” replies Erzla and Leoc shoots him a look. “You’ll find them. After this is over, the Four Horsemen wil
l still have their job to do. The portals may be gone, but your skills will still be needed.”
Xander’s stress and irritation grows by the hour, and following the outburst the other night, I don’t want him exploding. Especially not now. His tense figure relaxes as I shuffle closer and link my arm through his. He takes my hand and squeezes.
Ewan remains standing and Joss keeps his distance. Our eyes meet and Joss looks away.
We need to talk about how their arrival affected Joss.
Xander points at Erzla. “There’s one thing you need to explain to me, otherwise I’m walking away from here. Why have you only just revealed yourselves? What the fuck were you doing watching us and saying nothing?”
“That’s the whole point,” says Joss is a low voice. “They’ve been watching us. Incognito.”
“Yes, waiting.” Erzla says gruffly.
“For?” asks Heath.
“The right time, and that’s now.”
Xander’s face hardens. “Cryptic answers won’t wash. We’re facing down a god more ancient than the one you work for. If you’re here to dance around with half-answers, you can fuck off.”
I cringe at Xander telling an angel to fuck off.
Leoc brushes away dirt from the gazebo bench and lowers herself onto the wood. She leans down and places her small black bag on the floor. “Ask away.”
“I only have one question,” he throws back. “Can you help us defeat Chaos?”
She fixes him with a steady gaze. “Yes. We already told you that.”
“And Vee will survive?” Joss asks.
Their scrutiny returns to me again and I look away. When people hesitate, I know the answer coming won’t be one I want. The angels look at me with a curiosity bordering on admiration, which is freaking weird considering they’re celestial beings.
“We think there is a way, yes.” Leoc says and hope grows.
“How?” asks Joss cautiously.
“First, we need to explain more about Vee. The book told you some, but the story is bigger and harder to comprehend.”
“Heath has the book,” says Ewan, beckoning for him to produce it. “Heath?”
He nods and reaches into his jacket but Leoc shakes her head at him. “We don’t need the book. We know what is contained in there.”
21
VEE
“What the fuck?” Ewan half shouts. A nearby couple glances over and Ewan turns away, as if about to leave, before spinning back to us again. He lowers his voice and hisses, “This is a fucking joke! Why send us on crazy missions to find and protect a book and stop Chaos from finding answers. You could’ve stepped in and helped earlier. Told us what we needed to know. What’s this bullshit really about?”
“Calm down,” snaps Erzla. “We were required to watch what you would do before we were allowed to step forward. Due to your… inclinations, we had to be sure you weren’t about to side with him. We had to consider our safety.”
“With Chaos?” asks Heath incredulously. “He’s been trying to fucking kill us!”
“No. With Ripley. You’ve chosen to ally yourselves with demons. You need to break that alliance. It’s dangerous for all involved.”
“We intend to as soon as we can,” Xander retorts. “Maybe if we’d had angels to side with, this would be a different situation.” He drags both hands through his hair and looks at Heath. “Can you believe this shit?”
“What inclinations?” interrupts Joss.
“You kill.” Erzla’s lowered voice guarantees the words don’t attract attention from people around, but the friction sparks again.
Ewan’s mouth tightens. “Only those who need killing. We’re protecting the world. The job someone happily gave us. You, I presume?”
Leoc taps her mouth with a slender finger. “I think your part of the story will become clear when we explain matters. For now, the urgency is dealing with Chaos.”
“Who we will also kill,” replies Xander. “Tell us how, since you already have all the fucking answers.”
She sighs. “Please calm down, Xander. That fact hasn’t changed: Vee will kill Chaos using the power she has.”
“And will survive?” urges Heath. “We read in the book that Vee is a key and we’re here guardians. That the power she took from us will destroy her, once it’s unleashed to kill Chaos and close the portals. Is this true? Or can we stop her dying? All of us, together.”
“There’s something in the text you haven’t interpreted correctly. Vee’s power is from Order," Erzla tells him.
"Order? Doesn't that refer to Ripley?" Ewan straightens. “Are you saying part of Vee power is demonic? Again, I call bullshit.”
He laughs with a mixture of amusement and scorn. "No. Not at all. That demon is very self-important. Really, Ripley and his Order are minor players in all this."
“What do you mean then?” asks Xander.
"The Order in the book is something else. Chaos and Order are the two powers who created the universe. They're opposites but made of the same primordial energy. "
“They?”
"Gods from before we existed and more powerful than ours, but absent from the world. We knew of them from our beginning, of course, but their existence was a secret kept at a high level in our kingdom. Imagine how those lower down the hierarchy would react if they discovered their leader wasn’t the strongest in his universe? That he could be wiped out by other more powerful forces?” Erzla crosses his arms and a shadow crosses his face.
“Millennia passed quietly, and then Chaos appeared,” puts in Leoc. “Chaos attacked the world and Order was with him.”
“Helping him?”
“No, around him, but not self-aware the way Chaos is. Order always felt more like a presence than an entity. We knew Order was with Chaos when he invaded our world because Order and Chaos are partially the same. Yin and yang, if you prefer that term. We had to deal with the situation before Chaos figured this out. Many of our kind died stopping him. He rained down diseases and devastation that wiped out populations in the world, claiming he was bringing order to his messed-up creation. He never realised where the power his sick idea of order came from. We knew if Chaos became aware of and joined with Order, he’d be stronger and we’d lose.”
“We decided we needed to take Order out of the picture,” says Erzla.
“He moved on from the destruction we managed to stop and to playing games. He created portals to his other worlds instead. We struggled and managed to close the portals with our magic.” Leoc glances at Erzla. “He caused more problems than he realises.”
Erzal gives her a small shake of his head. A silent “no”. “Then we regrouped and put all our effort into ensuring Chaos didn’t become aware of and take power from Order.”
Xander interrupts. “And you defeated Order? This other energy… god?”
“Not defeated. There was no physical form to catch. Order was pure energy surrounding Chaos, so we needed to capture that. The process killed more of us as we tried to contain such huge power, but we took hold.”
“Now Order is gone and Chaos is alone, will he be easier to defeat this time?” asks Heath,
“Yes. With Order.”
Ewan rubs his face. “Are you saying you didn’t kill Order? That he exists still?”
“There isn’t one entity we could call Order now, or there wasn’t.” Erzla nods at me. “Now Order’s power is controlled she’s ready to neutralise her opposite.”
She.
My chest tightens as if the angel wound a rope tightly around my lungs and pulled. The darkness in my eyes the day in the museum bathroom. The connection to Seth that made me want to keep him close weeks ago. The new, darker magic.
I’ve considered the next words time and time again recently, Ewan once said them to me and our eyes meet briefly before I address Leoc. "Are you talking about me?"
Leoc nods.
“I’m Order?” A silent look between the two. “No. I’m Truth. A Horseman. I would know if I was something mo
re.” The world retreats again, the small voice that exists inside me whispering “you always did”.
“But you do know.” Leoc places a hand on my leg and I stare down in shock. “You’ve seen the power you have over the Horsemen.”
My head pounds, each word like an icepick behind my eyes.
I focus on my hands, at where Xander’s body touches mine, and the realisation trembles through with denial. I look wildly at the others and the horrible sensation I’m floating outside my body returns. I grip onto Xander’s hand and breathe in the cool winter air. Focus on the chattering around. I’m real. This exists.
“You created me?” I ask them. “You’re the ones who made me... this?”
“Not us specifically, but higher-ranked angels captured Order’s power and created a body to keep Order contained.”
“That’s not true,” I repeat. “No. I have Truth’s powers. And theirs. The book said I was a key.”
“You are. The key to destroying Chaos. Your interpretation was too literal.”
“She’s only existed ten years,” retorts Xander.
“Her life cycles. Order’s power can’t be contained for long so we move her from body to body and hide her back in the world, somewhere else. We gave her the name Truth. Order, the hidden truth Seth knew nothing about.” Erzla smirks. “Clever, right?”
My mouth fills with bile and perspiration slicks my forehead. If this continues, I’m going to vomit on somebody’s feet.
“Then who are the Horsemen?” asks Joss. “Are we her guardians or not?”
Erzla and Leoc look at each other, a silent conversation. Are they telepathic? Communicating what to tell Joss?
“Not,” says Leoc. “Another misinterpretation. You are guardians of the portals and of the Order you contain. That’s what you were created for.”
Xander interrupts. “But we searched for Vee as Truth. She has our powers.”
“Yes. But you’re not her protectors,” puts in Erzla. “That isn’t your role here.”
