by Richard Amos
“I still need to know what happens,” I said, nodding at the laptop.
“Yeah, me too. Hate it when the hooks get stuck in.”
I snuggled deeper into the duvet, him doing the same.
“At least we’re here in the warm,” he added. “Let’s just enjoy this night. Who knows what shit’s coming our way tomorrow.”
I wiggled closer to him. Our hands broke free, and he put his arm around me. I nestled against him.
“Why is she sleeping with him?” he said. “I don’t get it. She tried to eat him!”
“They say opposites … oh, wait, now she’s eating him.”
“Gross.”
“But he’s … enjoying it.”
Cue some dodgy CGI and lots of blood.
It took a moment for my mind to process the scene. “Wow.”
“Yep.”
“I think I need to bleach my eyeballs.”
“So do … what? He’s back!”
The male character who had just been eaten alive by the female alien, while also enjoying an orgasm, was now standing in the doorway.
“This is complete bollocks!” I proclaimed. The movie had gone downhill fast.
“But … what … huh?”
I grabbed some more popcorn. “My brain hurts.”
Dean’s episode in the bathroom flashed across my mind once more. I squashed it but not completely.
The man on the screen stepped to the left, revealing a twin.
Dean laughed, the rumble passing from his chest through to me.
Did it happen, that weird moment?
Stop …
It did …
Just stop …
I closed my eyes, breathing in his scent. An ache was building inside me. It was more overthinking, more bullshit, but it wanted to be heard and felt. It was fear—fear of losing all of this joy. I was good at losing joy, a bloody expert at it. If I lost this … I couldn’t … I couldn’t …
STOP!
I shoved popcorn into my mouth as the men became quintuplets.
Despite the ache and my brain’s refusal to be completely quiet, I was determined to do what Dean said—enjoy the night. He’d made it wonderful, and I was just gonna be here in his bed.
That is beautiful to hear, dear boy.
Oh. My. God. It was the goddess and she was … present. What the hell?
Do not fear, dear boy. I do not meddle in your private affairs. I am simply observing your ownership of this lovely moment.
Blimey!
I grabbed more popcorn and stuffed it in my mouth.
There went my cheeks again—blooming away.
Chapter Six
I woke up to the sound of knocking on Dean’s door.
His arms were wrapped around me. He sighed into my ear, his hot breath tickling me.
“Coming,” he whispered and untangled himself from me.
I rolled over as he slid off the bed, watching his half-naked form stride over to the door.
“Hi,” Nay greeted him as he answered the knocking.
“What’s up?”
“Jake with you?”
“Er …”
“He’s with you. Good for you guys. Purple’s awake.”
That was the cold water in my face to get me leaping out of bed. “She is?”
Dean opened the door wide.
“Morning,” Nay said. She offered me a cheeky grin.
I was also half-naked. “Erm, hi. She’s awake?”
“We’re heading out in ten minutes. Karla’s orders.”
“What about the spells you were gonna cast on the beast bloke?”
“Not ready. Taking longer to prepare than we thought. Maybe tonight. Karla said she’ll work on them while we head over to the facility.”
“Right. Let me just grab some clothes.”
Nay moved out of my way as I hurried out of the room to my quarters next door.
I grabbed a red jumper, some black jeans and clean underwear, lobbed them on the bed and did the quickest spruce up ever in the bathroom.
Five minutes later, I was ready and standing in the hallway with my two guardians. Dean winked at me.
I couldn’t suppress the responding smile.
“I’m so fucking happy right now,” Nay announced as she observed. “Come on, guys.”
We followed.
Dean wrapped an arm around my waist as we walked, kissing me on the forehead. “Thought I’d give you that as we didn’t have a proper good morning one.”
Taking the stairs, we broke apart. “You’re so full of—”
“Not shit,” he protested.
“I wasn’t gonna say that.”
“Oh.”
“Surprises—you’re so full of surprises.”
“Better than shit.”
I couldn’t help it, I had to take a pause on the step and pull him into a kiss. “Good morning, Dean.”
So, Purple wakes up and my bubble of fuzzies still doesn’t go pop, or even lose any of its shimmer? Blimey! Talk about being in this stuff deep. Was it appropriate to be acting like this when on the cusp of something serious? I mean, heading to the dreaded facility to try and get info out of Purple—was this right to feel this way? Where was my serious head at?
Who gives a fuck?
I do!
Ah, ride the wave, dick head!
My inner voice was right. Why did it always sound higher-pitched than my normal voice, like it’d sucked in a few molecules of helium?
An image of me dressed as a demonic clown flashed before me.
I carried on down the stairs.
Nay was waiting at the bottom. “You two are so adorable, you know that?”
I didn’t blush! Miracle!
“I’m with Jake on the being surprised bit,” she added. “Who knew a man with so much smolder could be so sweet?”
Dean chuckled lightly. “Is my reputation dead now, then?”
I did blush then because I remembered what Greg had said about Nay having heard us shagging—namely me being extremely audible in the moment.
As if reading my mind, she giggled. “Come on, we have work to do.”
There was no long briefing from Karla, only that Nay had the truth potion made by them both, as well as some contributions from Dean and Randy.
We were in Greg’s Audi, making our way farther east down the coast road with the sea to the right and a dense forest to the left. I’d never come this way in all my time in the city. My stomach was doing somersaults.
The same wolves that had covered for us when we’d helped out at Ashwood were doing the same again while we paid this little visit to Purple.
Dean held my hand in his as we sat together in the back seat. “It’ll be okay, Jake. We’re all here.”
“Yeah,” Greg agreed. “Nothing will happen to ya, mate. Facility is super-secure.”
That didn’t ease my anxiety, but it helped. Some of the nastiest beasts ever were locked away in that place—seriously evil residents.
“Thanks,” I replied.
Dean squeezed my hand.
“So,” Greg said, “you two. Who would have thought it, eh?”
I looked to Dean. He smiled warmly. “Yes, mate.”
“All I’m gonna say is be happy—however you fellas move forward. Glad the tension’s gone. That was driving me crackers.”
Dean’s expression was relaxed, despite where we were going, and despite the fact that Greg was talking about us—whatever we were right now. He didn’t really join with the group chat stuff that much, taking more of a back seat in things. Now he was fully up front, driving …
… me! I’m the car, and he’s making my engine purr!
Right.
“We’re all getting laid,” Nay added. “Though I’m not getting my fill quite as much as you lot. Sam so needs to get her backside out of The Mermaid and over to the mansion. I’m climbing the walls.”
Greg snorted. “You poor thing.”
“Only so much my own hand can do.”
�
��True that,” Dean agreed.
Nay positively cracked up with laughter.
Again, it was the same old story with my face igniting rouge.
Dean lifted my hand and planted a kiss on it.
The anxious flips in my tummy were joined by perky butterflies, fluttering away as I locked eyes with my … lover. That’s what he was, right? My lover. Not my boyfriend, not my husband, but a friend who I had sex with. So, not a lover per se. Wasn’t that just an excuse? I mean, Dean had done some cute things for me on Valentine’s Day. That wasn’t a friend with benefits, that was lover with a capital L.
Boyfriend.
Lover.
Shit.
Dean wasn’t into being labelled, so why did this have to have one slapped on it right now? It was me! I seemed to be obsessed with putting things in boxes for my mind to process—like Dean’s sexuality. Granted, I’d moved on from that. It didn’t matter. He wanted me in his bed, and I didn’t need to question him about it. No one had the right to do that. He kissed whom he wanted to kiss, slept with whomever tickled his fancy—and I’d tickled that on numerous occasions! But here I was again, with my pack of labels just waiting to get sticking.
Man, I exhausted myself sometimes.
Greg turned the car off the main road onto a country lane cutting through the forest.
The day was as dark as it had been yesterday—gray and cold and miserable. Within the thick gathering of trees, the light was pushed away, almost becoming night. Headlights lit the way ahead.
Why did it have to be so bloody creepy? Even if it’d been summer, the skin-prickling factor would still be in full swing.
Crap. I shuffled in my seat. That was it, any trace of sweet butterflies killed off by full blown nerves. Sure, I had all my skills and had taken down some pretty fucked up beasts, but that didn’t stop my bladder feeling weak.
I watched the trees go by, my hand still in Dean’s. Another squeeze from him confirmed his reassurance but didn’t stop me from wanting to run for the hills.
No, I had this. There was no choice but to have this.
My sparks burst to life.
“Shit!” I yelped.
Greg slammed on the brakes.
“What is it?”
“Fucking hyena beasts again,” Greg answered. He got out of the car.
I followed with Nay and Dean right behind me.
There were four of them on the road, yellow eyes beacons of hate in the dark.
“You’re brave,” Nay said, “coming this close to the facility. Thought you lot were scared shitless of this place.”
“We will free our master.”
God knows which one was speaking as their jaws didn’t move.
“Good luck with that,” I retorted.
“Weapon!” they all hissed as one—or so it sounded.
“That’s me.”
“Our divine Supreme will destroy you, bathe in your blood.” Only one of them said that.
“Great.”
“Your luck is draining away, Jake Winter. All of this, everything you have done to survive, is nothing more than a fluke. Your existence is a travesty that will be undone. Do not think for one moment that the foolish goddess has—”
I charged like the wild fool I was, done listening to the bollocks coming out of their unmoving gobs. Training kicking into gear, I threw myself at them, getting myself a jaw locking onto my arm for my efforts. Pain tore through me as the hyena’s teeth pierced my flesh. The fucker had risen on its hind legs, as they could do, and I dangled there like a fish snagged on a hook.
I unleashed my shield and the beast went flying away from me in an instant, my watery, inky black bubble was great at pinging beasts through the air.
Dropping the shield, I was back on my feet. The healing magic rose up to sort out the pain in my arm as I killed the hyena beast nearest to me.
Coming back from the place of fog, it turned out that four was the magic number of beasts. Four of them, four us—one each. Every one of them had been quickly incapacitated, howling or spitting crap about me being doomed to die.
“Yeah, well,” I drawled as I approached Greg’s broken prey. “It’s not gonna be something you’ll ever see. Goodnight, wanker.”
Another one dead.
I made short work of the remaining two.
Greg put himself in front of me. I looked up into his warm amber eyes. “I’m sure we’ve had a chat before about you diving in at the deep end, right?”
When a dog has done something wrong, like wrecking the furniture, it does that cute little head bow of shame. I did just that, wanting forgiveness for my brash dash into a scrap.
“Don’t pull that move on me, Jake.” Ah, that failed. “Get in the bloody car.”
I looked back up to see he wasn’t happy with me. Like a submissive puppy, I scurried back to the car and kept my mouth firmly shut.
“Cocky bastards,” Nay said as she closed her door. “Coming so close to the facility.”
“Course they are,” Greg added, getting the car moving again. “They’ve got so much to be cocky about. Why doesn’t that bitch just hit us with what she has?”
It was so damn frustrating. All of our investigations into where Lilisian was had drawn up blank after blank.
“All we can do is hope that the truth potion works on Purple.” My mouth was firmly open again. “If not, we’ll just have to be ready.”
I caught Greg’s eyes flicker to me in the rear-view mirror. “Waiting to get attacked. That’s us.” He shook his head and sighed. “I think we should talk to Karla about you killing Floyd, Jakey.”
He called me Jakey! He was no longer pissed. Well, maybe not … “I’d be happy to.” I hated that talking beast head who lived in the mansion. Lately, he just rambled about the beast priesthood without giving us any answers.
“Not sure she’ll go for that,” Nay countered.
“I’ll work on her,” Greg offered. “I think he knows a shit load and wont spill because he wants to hold on to his life.”
Hang on … “Have you tried a truth spell on him?”
Nay turned in her seat to face me. “Yes, babe. It fizzled out before it could penetrate. It’s that blood magic he has—builds a resistance.”
“The bastard!”
“I know.”
“Time to start a petition,” I suggested. “Think we can rope Mr. Douglas into it?”
“I think he’d be happy to jump on board,” Greg replied.
The road veered left and downward.
“We’re approaching the facility,” Dean said.
A black cuboid building sat in a clearing within the trees at the end of the country road. There was one floodlight above a single metal door.
Greg turned in his seat to face me. “Ready?”
I nodded and opened my door.
“Is that it?” I asked as we approached as a foursome, boots crunching on snow. “One door?”
My hands erupted into white sparks once again.
“No,” Dean answered. “There’s a backdoor for the beasts to be taken through. You won’t be seeing that.”
“Okay.”
“Trust me, that’s a good thing.”
“This is the visitor entrance,” Nay added.
My right brow cocked. “They get visitors?”
“Well, no.”
The door opened, and a man stepped out dressed all in black, his face almost translucent, his head bald. He was all big arms and legs and neck, really mean-looking. I guess that was a good way to be in a place like this.
“Look who it is,” he addressed Dean.
“All right, Jim?”
“As peachy as always.” Wow, there was more bitterness in the delivery than the sourest of lemons.
“You know I had no choice but to leave, Jim.”
“Yeah, cheers, Tseng. I love being a man down. Really love it more than anything else in this whole stinking shit hole of a city.”
“Beautiful words,” I retorted.
“Jake,” Dean countered. “Don’t.”
Jim’s mean blue eyes fell on me as if he hadn’t noticed me yet—which was some feat considering my hands were blazing merrily away.
“So, this is the famous weapon. Interesting. I’ve seen stronger twigs.”
What a dick. “Compared to your bulk, I’m a twig, yeah.”
I did so well with first impressions.
“No wonder shit is still the same if this is all we have as a last resort.”
“Shut your face, prick,” Greg spat.
“Take his advice,” Nay added.
Dean was silent.
“Seriously, Tseng? You left an honest job to hang out with these … fools? Jesus! We’re never getting free. The world’s going down the shitter, and we all need to realize that.”
Greg squared up to him. “You should be on your knees, thankful you’re still breathing.”
“Thankful for what?” Jim got in my golem friend’s face. “Huh? That I’m still stuck here? That one of my own deserted me for him?” He gestured at me. “You think I give two flying fucks what he can do? ‘Cos I don’t. I really pissing well don’t. Nothing’s changed for me. He’ll end up dead—why won’t he? Hope left this place a long time ago.”
“You really are a ball of sunshine,” Nay responded.
Jim looked squarely at me. “I’m counting down the days until I hear you’re just another corpse in Coldharbour.”
Dean flew at him, chewing up the distance between them in a flash. He had a hand around the big man’s throat, slamming him up against the wall.
“I’m gonna rip your fucking tongue out!” he spat.
Dean was muscular in an athletic way. Jim was all bulk and brute strength, similar to Greg’s huge frame. Seeing Dean overpowering him seemed like a bend in the rules of nature. Yet there he was, powerless in Dean’s fury.
“We didn’t come here to listen to your horse shit, Jim. And I’m not about to let you even mention Jake and being dead in the same sentence again. You got that? You keep it fucking zipped.”
Jim gave a slight nod.
Dean released him, and the big man sucked in air.
I hurried over to Dean, touching his arm. “You okay?”
“Stupid prick,” Dean replied. “Always has been.”
Jim scowled at me, at the way I held onto Dean. It was instinct, his body now something I wanted to be near, to touch for reassurance—for him and me. It was … intimate.
