by Zelda Knight
I felt a flicker of awareness from time to time. The car ride of shock and awe, with a brief side trip of losing everything I had eaten in the past week into a gutter, only embarrassed me more in front of strangers. Across parts of New Orleans, my dignity lies in ruins, the glory of the moment destined to be erased one day. As I stepped out of the vehicle after the long trip, my butler Maisy helped me out of the vehicle. It was good to know I was in excellent hands. The expert hands would call Elouise when I was asleep, but I would still be at home safe.
"What the hell happened to her? Who are you?" Her clipped tones demanded. I forget someone else had brought me home, not on my accord. I just wanted to get inside, slip into the darkest hole.
“Ms. Basu came to us, but she suffered a migraine during the process. She will receive her car shortly, but getting her home now was more important," I heard nearby. As much as I wanted to explain myself, only a bubbling burble came out of my mouth instead.
She dismissed him with "Understood.". She took control of the situation. It was almost impossible for me to function, much less take over anything. “Let’s see what you got yourself into, missy.”
She escorted me into the downstairs bathroom. Thankfully, the lights were dim, where she helped undress me to tuck me into the shower. Sitting on the bench, I sat under the shower, away from the smell of everything I had lost. She handled me as if I was a child, an old habit of hers. I had hired Maisy when I had arrived in America once I had made enough money to survive and thrive. Maisy took care of the house and cared for me when the migraines were commonplace, back when I was using my powers often, and now she is still the handler of everything that goes on around the home. She knew the aftermath and cared for me the same as before. She scrubbed off the remains and wrapped me in the soft cotton robe. I followed her to the dark guest room on the bottom floor, tucked into the smaller double bed to watch her close off all the curtains once it settled me. Maisy sat on the edge, placing her hand over my burning head.
“Now, where did you go, young miss?" I felt her concern pressing against my aura. I didn’t even bother opening my eyes. I smiled weakly.
“Jiera sent me a letter from home,” I began. Once I started, the rest rushed out. I barely heard her agreements in a few clucking noises.
“We will hire more security,” Maisy stated. A major reason I hired her was her efficiency. “Does Lou know?”
“Not yet. She has been visiting her parents in Dallas,” I whispered. I won’t disrupt her time. Her being away might save her, but somehow, I doubted I would be that lucky.
“She’ll be home soon enough. Now you must sleep, recover,” I heard. I must have made some sort of agreement. She made me take one of my beautiful pills that would handle the headache that had emerged from one level of hell. Darkness swept over, along with the drug-induced nightmares that would wait for me. It will probably be my ex-fiancée, Parijat, leading the charge. He had been on my mind too much of late since the letter had arrived. His old torments, his steady nitpicks of why I was not what he wanted. All of it waited and pounced when I was most vulnerable.
Even within the dream, I knew it wasn’t real. I wanted the comfort of being within the Nest. The rest of the snakes came back around me. Scales and cool temperatures accompanied by the scent of dampness. I had buried them all deep, but my mind never forgot even here in my nightmare of being chased through the ancient temple, the twists and turns that kept shifting in impossible Escher-like labyrinths. Stripped of all the priestess garb, I was in full Naga. I can embrace my authentic self within my mind. With my people, something hidden, given away to be free.
“Liar,” I heard him whisper. He was next to me, faster than my eyes could comprehend. “You miss everything. My life, me, all of it. You cannot abandon it."
“I have to. I can’t be this anymore,” I said. I was a liar. I wanted parts back. The power, the gifts, but not him, not the dynamics of the world, and never being under anyone’s thumb again. I had discovered I enjoyed being the boss. Being on top was a thrill. Being a submissive little woman was never in the cards again.
It cut me off from oxygen before I could blink by his hand clamping over my throat. “You are always ours, Devi. There will be no freedom for you,” his fangs descended. In order to defeat him, I had to fight. There was no way out. Nothing moved. I couldn’t do anything before he stuck his venomous fangs into my throat. I felt the poison paralyze me. We could paralyze with our venom… or kill if he didn’t release soon—the bastard. I tried to shift, flicker, anything. To destroy our own this way was to say I was a traitor. I wasn’t. He banished me because he wanted another.
No, this was still just a nightmare, nothing more. It just felt natural. Wake up, I shouted to myself.
Wake up!
“Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results, but that’s not why we do it.”
By Richard P Feynman
* * *
“Devi, Devi,” I heard several times in my ear. One of my eyes opened thankfully, and it seemed able to focus. Oh, what a glorious moment. The pain was gone. Finally, the nausea, all of it was just gone. I was over the worst of the migraine, and I could think again. Now I just had to figure out how much time I had lost. I blinked a few times to focus, staring into the brown eyes I knew as well as my own. Lou was home. She wasn’t due back for days, but here she was, and worry streaked over her entire face. Her beautiful dark skin creased in lines of unnatural concern. Her short black and gold hair spiked everywhere, likely from her raking it back out of her face. The haunted look I had given her dark, deep-set eyes told me everything. She knew, damn Maisy.
“You know,” I spoke. The rough, tearing sound of my voice was raw, shredded from who knows what I had done in the drug-locked slumber.
"Damn skippy I know, and you should have goddamn told me Dev,” Lou stated. When she started swearing like her naval officer father, I knew it was going to get worse for me. “What the holy fuck? I had to hear it from Maze. You should have called the moment the letter got here from India.”
"You had family time, maay jaan,” I replied.
"So, what, are they are threatening you?” her voice dropped a whole octave. I saw the shine of the red cross her gaze. Ah, my beautiful hyena was beyond the pale of pissed off.
"Elouise,” I began. I wanted her to attempt to be calm.
"Oh no, there is no ‘Elouise’ this or that bullshit Devi. When are they going to be here?”
“Saturday,” I said. No playing around, and now I just had the answer somewhere roaming my neural pathways, or at least I thought I did. If the Song did what she promised, I had all the answers. Now, if I could only recall what that was, that would be wonderful.
“Tomorrow, good, we have time to figure out something,” she snorted. “Why are they coming?”
"That was not explained other than they are here to retrieve me,” I explained.
“Retrieve you, my ass.” I could hear the snarl from deep within her chest. I reach out to pet her over her arms, and anywhere I can reach. Her warm skin rippled under my touch, and thankfully she was wearing one of her muscle shirts, allowing me access to lots of skin. She ran so much warmer than my oh-so-cooler temperatures. I didn’t need her overreacting to the tense situation. “We have guns for these situations, and I can eat cobras when I’m in hyena form.”
"Let’s not make you ill,” I tried not to laugh at the idea of her chasing down Naga to attempt to eat them.
"Speaking of illness, how did you get so sick? Something you ate, because if it was food poisoning again…” she noticed something cross over my face. Her nose buried into my neck to sniff deeply; her nose could smell things I couldn’t. I used my tongue to smell better than with my nose. “Good grief, where did you go, some grandmother’s house?”
“I went to see the Song,” I replied.
"What did she want in return?” she yanked back from my neck. I listed off the strange and unusual things she had asked for. “Not the worst things, and what plan d
id she give you?”
“It is roaming loose in my brain, but it set off the migraine.”
"It has been what, nearly two years since you have had one of those fuckers,” she said. I counted twenty-two months and three weeks since one had hit me. So yes, nearly two years since one had taken me down. Close enough.
"I just need to relax and remember what she put in there before the Nest of Horror arrive,” I replied. Twenty-four hours and change, splendid.
"Oh, relax and calm down,” her dark eyebrows wiggled suggestively at me. “Do we have the time?”
“I am sure we can squeeze in a few minutes,” I murmured back. Lou rubbed her head close. Our foreheads touched, nuzzled. The warm scent filtered through my senses, musky, vanilla, and cinnamon. Something uniquely attached to Lou, part desert from her place of origin and Texas mixed to uniquely blend to her. Our lips came together, the old and new feelings begun anew. Something fresh as the first time she kissed me years ago when I didn’t know that women could even dare be together and familiar as a few days ago when she left to visit her family. Her lips brought me closer to a home I always searched for, the house I would always fight for, my heart, my love.
Everywhere I could reach I caressed, pulling off her loose muscle shirt to ghost my fingers over her muscles. I loved her arms, how strong they were, and that they seemed to hold up our world. She leaned down against me, breaking our lips apart, before trailing kisses over my face. I gasp for air as her hands spread over my body. One through my thick hair exposing my neck for her mouth to find all the sensitive spots to nibble over. My focus was lost on the moment, lost in sensory overload.
I held on, digging in with my fingernails which just urged Lou further on. She nudged me down to start kissing down my neck to continue down. Her hand continued down, finding my breast, stroking it gently. The pleasant ripples began, being sensitive from endorphins and after the migraine everything was heightened. Her mouth followed, licking and nibbling.
"I missed these,” Lou muttered reverently. Her hand caressed my other breast, gently running her fingertips over the nipple, aching for attention. I heard my gasp, pushing up for more. She cupped my other breast, giving the attention I need, as she suckled the erect nipple she was playing with.
"You always miss my breasts when you leave,” I moaned out.
"I could write entire epics to them,” she changed breasts to start sucking on the other. I arched at the feel of her hand, leaving the breast to scrap down my midsection to drop lower. Lou's hand found the remaining bit of cloth, my underwear, to rid me of them with some help from me before she went straight to going down on me.
Oh stars, it was past time. Her mouth nipped my upper thigh, stretching my legs apart, her fingers stroked up and down. I shivered with deep satisfaction. I rolled my hips, seeking more, wanting all the friction I could get. I bucked when her mouth replaced her hand to start working me up and down with her tongue. She knew everything I wanted. I grabbed onto the sheet and held on as the climax ripped through me. I moan her name with passion and love intertwined.
After a moment of breathing and coming back off my high, I rolled around to return the favor to move on top of Lou’s beautiful lean body. Our bodies are so different from one another. I could always appreciate the contrast. Her deep skin compared to my golden tan, I began to kiss my way down, licking over her silky muscular frame and sensitive breasts that always brought her to a near climax. I played down her body to find every sensitive spot, playing until I nuzzled into her clit to lick her to her first screaming climax. She is much louder than I ever was. I loved her vocal edge. She never told me what she wanted, how she felt, or what I did to her body. It was glorious.
* * *
Sweat-covered and sexually sated, we finally rolled together in a brief moment of sleep. I could sleep with my love, my Lou. My Elouise, even if she hated when people called her by her full name.
Now I just had to see when we woke if this plan somewhere rolling in my head from the Song would work out. Or the bits and pieces stored back there would make any sense. Anything to save her, my beloved. I would do anything to protect us from the Nest coming to bring ruin upon us. The oncoming storm they rode on to destroy everything in their path. I had long ago accepted my past, being abandoned, left to rot and I had risen above it. This life, the life I had somehow created from nothing.
“For there is nothing lost that may be found if sought.”
By Edmund Spenser
* * *
The aroma of spicy chai tea wafted past my nose, perking me into awareness. My surroundings filtered through, coming back in. The jade walls of the guest bedroom, in the smaller bed than the regular master bed. Glancing up, Lou’s dark eyes met mine with her lopsided grin. I grabbed the oversized vermillion mug, drinking every drop greedily. The caffeine and warmth kicked through my sluggish system, reminding me I was still in human form and had a shit ton to catch up on today. My old Nest jailers would be here soon to attempt to drag me, kicking, screaming back home. The fragments of an operational plan I had flashing in the recesses of my mind continued to play on repeat until I dealt with each piece. After the pain, sex, and now tea, I would be able to start working.
How long did we nap?” I asked.
"About an hour, not much off the ticking clock,” Lou purred towards me.
“Not bad, I can work with that. I need a few supplies and I have a meeting with a work friend,” I began with a smile, “of yours.”
"What, you’re going to surprise some Naga with some strippers? Not a route I would go with,” she chuckled.
“You aren’t a stripper. You’re a bouncer,” I replied, leaning in to kiss her. “But neither is what I am looking for, isn’t the seamstress a Voodoo Priestess?”
"Titania? Yeah, she only works part-time, but I have her number. What do you need a priestess of a different pantheon for?” Lou leaned back on her ankles and knees, tilting her head at me, bathing in the sunlight and nudity. Her midnight skin gleamed in the light, stunning as always. I wanted to lick honey off it. I need to focus on something else. After a week apart, we usually spent time together frolicking. We will be able to once we survived this and then we can enjoy time reconnecting.
"I need someone currently connected to the Gods,” I replied. “I need to get a dagger.”
“I will set up a meeting for this evening. She usually works in the back for the girls on weekends. We probably can see her in the back of the Naughty Pussycat,” she explained. Lou rolled out of bed to land on her feet. She took my mug to place on a nightstand and help me up. I returned her hug and swung up over the bed. My feet landed on the plush rug, sinking into the thick fibers. “Now time for a shower. We should together, of course, in order to save water.”
"I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
She swung me over her shoulder to help me up the stairs to the main bedroom with our actual closet, bedroom, and everyday life. I laughed the entire way up the stairs feeling ridiculous, staring at the carpeted stairs. Lou dumped me on our perfectly made-up bed to get ready for the shower in the best, well-biased best shower since it had recently been remodeled to have far too many showerheads.
“Come on, sleepy-head,” Lou called out. “Time for a shower!”
"Coming, my love,” I replied with a smile. I got back up to follow her into the lush bathroom to attempt to feel more like myself and less like a drowned version of me.
Once we finished showering, taking far too long and probably not saving a lick of water. I certainly was far more awake afterward. Settling onto the vanity chair, I began to braid my waist-length dark brown hair that nearly appeared black in most lights. I didn’t want to spend the hour-plus it would take in drying it. The braid would keep it smooth and out of my way. I dressed in loose silk maroon pants with a cream tank top with a long blue scarf, feeling close to being back to myself, almost as good as my usual Naga magical self I had lost many years ago. I grabbed my purse, unplugged the phone Maisy had set to ch
arge, and kissed Lou goodbye as she left. She jumped in her open jeep, makeup-free with her golden and black hair. I had no idea how she could be ready so fast wearing just a pair of jean shorts and a crop top. I still had to put my face on, buff out the few scrapes over my nails, and add the few elegant jewelry pieces to feel complete for the day.
I left with the travel mug of tea from Maisy, and the GPS coordinates to the shop Juniper ran in central New Orleans. It was challenging to find, given the magic hiding it. Currently, it was hidden behind a flower shop.
“During the negotiation, information is more valuable than eloquence.”
By Amit Kalantri
* * *
I was stepping out of my red BMW in front of the local herbal shop that supplied rare and unusual supplies—passing the facade of the flower shop that did brisk business, through the hazy glamour to keep the mundanes out of the back room. An organ song moaned through the walls from an old television show I never could remember. Lily, the clerk, had given up the gothic look again, now she was back into a cheerful bleach blonde hair with a hot pink halter top that appeared spray painted on, and her cut-off jean shorts that showed her pockets. Her color still was a shocking white, remaining from her pasty stage.
“Afternoon, Ms. Basu,” Lily’s smoky voice purred out. Her voice was considered pure sex, screen siren if she had a lick of acting talent or presence other than being a beautiful stick. “Whatcha need?”
"Is Juniper available today?” I gave a smile. Lily was not always the easiest to get along with, but she was one of the best spell designers in the city. Juniper, I needed to help find supplies and books.
“I dunno, check the back,” Lily went back to ignoring me to flip through a new leather-bound Grimoire. With a shrug, I wander through the jam-packed shelves of stones, books, avoiding the pair of cats that roamed freely through the store. The one-eyed older one, Tattoo, hissed at me as I passed, as normal I hissed back, only showing a hint of fang. Tattoo’s good eye peered me up and down before allowing me to pass, with his half tail twitching to bounce to another shelf. Ignoring the cat, I passed through the translucent curtain and the cold veil to the back room.
