Cantrips: Volume #1: Minor Magics Crafted to Amuse and Entertain

by Joey W. Hill

  Unfortunately, in this contest, Daegan was more than his opponent. He was the damn referee and judge, the only authority who could call off the match. Or declare a winner.

  Part Three

  Round Three

  Daegan took him into Anwyn’s playroom. Since Gideon had been with her, she’d added some diabolical-looking things to it, including something she called The Spider Web, a series of crisscrossed manacles, ropes and other suspension equipment that would allow her to hang a submissive in a variety of poses for her viewing pleasure. She hadn’t really done much with it yet, but she’d been poring over books of Japanese rope bondage and suspension techniques with the fervor most women saved up for interior decorating catalogs. Daegan had glanced at them with her, pointed out things here and there that Gideon tried his best to tune out, but he hadn’t seemed as enthusiastic as she was about it.

  Now, as he moved toward that area with a purposeful air, Gideon wondered if what he had taken as lack of enthusiasm was actually confident familiarity. Stopping in the center of the platform, he gestured to a manacle hanging at eye level. “Put your left wrist in this, Gideon. Latch it.”

  His dominant hand. “Not sure you can handle me if you do the right instead?”

  Daegan didn’t smile. Just waited. Gideon moved to the steel cuff, stared at it and the forest of other ones around it. He didn’t want this shit to be about other things, but he couldn’t help it. Something seemed to be holding him frozen in front of that manacle. Sweat, darkness. Cruel laughter. A lash, hitting him over and over again, fangs scraping his nipple…

  “Easy, vampire hunter.” Daegan was right behind him, the denim of his jeans brushing Gideon’s bare ass as he settled a hand on his shoulder. Daegan’s breath was at his ear, so Gideon closed his eyes and made himself grasp the manacle, though he stopped there, just holding onto it until Daegan spoke, a sensual murmur.

  “I will give you pain, Gideon. Pain that you desire. I will restrain and bind you in ways that free so many other things. You are my servant, my slave. I cherish you, and will never abuse the gift of what you are to me. Do not let the past take away from that. And those two vampires? The ones who had the audacity to torture you? If you had not killed them yourself, I would do so now, with or without Council decree, because I take care of what is mine. I will exorcise your demons. Put your wrist in the manacle.”

  Gideon tightened his jaw. He wasn’t a pussy; he could do this. Cognizant of Daegan’s hands still resting on his shoulders, he seized the manacle, slapped it on his wrist and latched it. He was trapped now. That cuff, the chain that held it, were built to hold a fledgling vampire, like Anwyn. Most of the restraint systems in this room had been beefed up to help her if she was having a really bad day. It offered some variety in how she had to be restrained until the seizure passed, and hey, life was all about variety, right?

  When they’d made that overall design change to her playroom, Gideon remembered the sadness that had been in her eyes. Occasionally despair would take her, the worry that she’d always have to deal with a control problem. Gideon had knelt at her feet, taking her hands as Daegan slid his arms around her from behind. While Gideon kissed her palms, her wrists, making the pulse trip a little faster, Daegan had put one hand over hers on the catalog page and spoken against her ear. I like this change. If I want to tie up the strong Mistress who submits to me as her Master, I know she won’t be able to get away while I do as I wish to her. Or when I order our servant to lick her pussy until she screams.

  She’d pushed him away with a smile and a swat, but her shoulders had eased. Daegan was good at that. At reaching into their heads and making things better. But this was admittedly a tough one.

  Gideon tried to shrug it off, telling himself it would be okay. Once Daegan started walloping him with that punishment strap, his mind would pretty much phase out. That was the weird thing about it. When Anwyn punished him, at a certain point…he was just all about her and nothing mattered. He’d experienced it before, when they both decided to flog him or inflict pain in some way, but he wondered if he could lose himself with Daegan that way, given that all he could feel right now was his heart beating like a damn conga drum and his breath shortening.

  “We talked about how you have difficulty simply staying still. Even with one hand tied like this, you could kill a human, perhaps even an equal third marked servant. You probably know a few tricks against vampires as well, else you wouldn’t have gotten away from those other two.”

  “They thought I was done, that they’d taken the fight out of me.”

  Gideon heard the fierce smile in Daegan’s voice. “They obviously don’t know you. You’ll be dead long before the fight goes out of you, Gideon Green. You’ll arrive in the afterlife, fully armed and swinging your fists.”

  It eased the tension in him, a little. “That last vampire, I got away when he took me off the rack, planning to move me somewhere else.”

  To an iron maiden. It would have killed him, an agonizing claustrophobic death, impaled on short spikes arranged strategically to puncture areas that resulted in terminal blood loss…eventually.

  Daegan moved around to his front now, fingers caressing his hip, Gideon’s ass. His dark eyes flickered, a hint of crimson, revealing a more intent emotion. “You were ready for him.”

  “He wasn’t ready for me. And I got lucky.”

  “Be still, Gideon. Show me that you can stay still, and just feel.”

  Daegan slid a hand in his hair, stroked it. Gideon moved his gaze to the male’s shoulder, the smooth line of biceps. He couldn’t look Daegan in the eye when he was doing that. But Daegan touched his jaw with the other hand and guided his face back up. “Look at me, vampire hunter. Watch me when I touch you.”

  His knuckles moved to Gideon’s nape, as they’d done on the couch. Then he slid that hand down Gideon’s chest. He flicked a thumb over Gideon’s nipple, teased him there, his dark eyes lowering to watch the cock Gideon could feel stiffening, despite the dampening of enthusiasm it had felt during the manacle part of things. He breathed through the discomfort, quelling the instinctive panic as his cock swelled enough to press harder against the prongs. Anwyn had taught him that as well. That you could breathe through pain, find pleasure on the other side of it.

  Daegan descended to the abs. As he traced every individual muscle, he was unhurried, watching intently as each quivered and flexed with Gideon’s breath. Then his gaze flicked upward, noting Gideon’s hand closing into a fist in the manacle.

  “Loose, Gideon,” he reminded him. “Keep your fingers loose, every part of you loose. No fists clenched around me, not ever. You’ll add to your punishment if I see that again.”

  “You think I’m scared of that?”

  “No. But I don’t think you want to disappoint me.” Daegan moved to the other side, started doing that tracing thing again. Once again different from the violent passion of their times before, a continuation of the same disturbing lesson, apparently. Daegan was studying Gideon’s body, not jumping right into the fucking, hot kissing or grabbing hold of his cock. It made things swirl strangely in Gideon’s belly. The male’s head was bent, focusing on what he was doing. He touched the scars Gideon had brought with him, before he was turned into a servant. Daegan knew what had caused each one, and now the memories moved through Gideon’s mind. Bullet, knife, burn…the knife fight was the bad one. Not the scar in front, but the back one. That had nearly lost him his kidney.

  “You know, I’ve got a line from Pretty Woman going through my head,” he said, trying to ignore the odd feelings rising in him. “The part where she says ‘I appreciate the whole seduction scene, but here’s a tip – I’m a sure thing.”

  “Hmm.” Daegan moved to the work bench on the side of the room. Instead of drawers and drawers of manly tools, it had bunches of nifty stuff Anwyn had collected, a Mistress’s weapons cache. Or in this case, a Master’s. When Daegan turned back around, he was carrying a thick butt plug, still in its wrapper, one she h
adn’t yet used. He stopped in front of Gideon. “Open your mouth.”

  Gideon nodded. Then he slammed his head into Daegan’s, put his weight against the manacle and hooked Daegan’s right leg, pulling it right out from beneath him.

  It was pure instinct, no thought. The only thought he had came right after. He was fucking crazy. No idea why he’d done that, except he was trapped and needing to feel something different from what Daegan was making him feel. Damn it, he’d agreed to the punishment. So why was Daegan doing this other shit instead?

  He wasn’t surprised that the vampire rolled out of it faster than he could follow, and was back behind him. He steeled himself for whatever Daegan would choose as his retribution. Probably shoving that butt plug in his ass with the force of a jackhammer.

  Instead, Gideon suppressed a frustrated moan as Daegan started doing the same thing behind him that he had done in front. Light trails of his fingertips over Gideon’s shoulder blades, then the muscle groups of his back, resting on that kidney scar. Daegan moved in. When he was close enough, his breath soft on Gideon’s neck, Gideon tried to hook and tangle his legs again. Daegan evaded the maneuver and managed to curl his fingers around Gideon’s cock. Or rather, that cock harness. And squeezed.

  Holy fuck. As a distraction, it worked wonders. Gideon bit down on a near scream at the pain that lanced through him. Shit, he had to have broken skin. He had to be bleeding. Looking down, he was surprised to see that wasn’t the case. The damn thing was just engineered to dish out a lot of pain without maiming. Daegan eased his grip, fingers moving down to circle the part of Gideon’s cock without the harness. He stroked, pulling the skin up toward the head, pumping in that way men knew so well. Gideon’s cock got even more turgid, which meant the painful pressure of Daegan’s fist was replaced by something else just as devastating. The prongs bit in anew.

  “Jesus.”

  “You will not pull any more shit like that. Easy, Gideon.” Daegan moved in front of him. Cupping the side of Gideon’s face, he made him look at him once again.

  “Fuck you,” he muttered weakly. Hell, he was a broken record, wasn’t he? I don’t know how to do anything but fight. Don’t you get it?

  “That’s why I’ll teach you how to do something different. Still, Gideon. Just stay still.”

  He had to close his eyes, he had to, but this time, Daegan was okay with it. At the last moment, as Gideon’s eyes closed, Daegan’s mouth settled on his. Not hard and punishing, not demanding. This was a tease of tongues, an almost playful nip with fangs, a slow, sensual rub of mouths coming together in heated, moist intimacy. Deep, languid, the way he’d seen Daegan kiss Anwyn. There was tenderness, quiet passion, enduring care…love.

  He chose a dirty defense this time, snapping down on Daegan’s lip, biting as hard as a vampire would ever think to do. When he yanked back, he intended to take flesh with him. But Daegan had a hand at his nape and pressed on the hinge of his jaw so it reflexively opened, just like a horse being made to release or take a bit. He’d probably learned that in his billion years of life, the bastard. Gideon tried to wrench his head back, but Daegan held him so he could only manage a few inches of space between them.

  “Let go of me,” Gideon said. “Stop.”

  As Daegan licked the blood off his own lip, Gideon noticed the darkness of his eyes had expanded, taking up most of the sclera, a trait unique to the vampire, likely because of his unique parentage. It told him the drawing of blood had roused Daegan’s warrior instincts. His blood roared eagerly in answer. Rough, violent sex, that’s what it needed to be. Pain, punishment, lust and passion.

  “I’m going to kiss you again, Gideon,” the vampire said in a low voice. “And you will remain still through all of it, no fighting. Look at me. Meet my eyes. Don’t be a coward.”

  That snapped his gaze right up, and what he saw in Daegan’s eyes was terrifying. He wasn’t pissed. He was patient. Patient as time itself. He would go at this all night if needed. And probably intended to do just that. “Now, lick the blood off my mouth.”

  He came closer, no hesitation, no apparent worry about what Gideon might do next, even though so much of it so far had been fight-or-flight instinct, little thought passing through his head to tip Daegan off about his next move. But the guy was an assassin. He anticipated things.

  Gideon licked the blood off his lip. It tasted like Daegan, hot and sweet, and since it was still seeping from where he’d bitten him, it made him want more. He suckled it from that wound, feeling Daegan’s hand curve around his nape once more, then Daegan tapped his chin, made him lift his mouth, and began the kiss again.

  The same, devastatingly tender warmth. Tongue slowly tangling with Gideon’s, a lazy penetration and exploration, Daegan making an approving noise as some of the tension went out of Gideon’s shoulders, even while things below the waist got way more rigid. Jesus, he hoped Daegan knew his adjustments, because it was possible those prongs would impale him like an iron maiden in truth before this was over.

  I am very familiar with the diameter of your cock, Gideon. Never fear.

  Gideon leaned forward against the chains, realizing belatedly he was leaning into Daegan’s body. The vampire had an arm around his back and waist, was holding him against him in a full embrace. His palm descended, cupped Gideon’s ass, fondled and squeezed. Fingers dipped in between, rubbed the rim and made him clench there in need. He needed to fight. Needed to get away from this feeling. But his eyes were closed, and he was feeling that kiss.

  Other hand in the air, Gideon.

  Lifting it, guided by Daegan, he felt the vampire close a manacle over his other wrist. It still sent an uneasy tremor through him, but he pushed himself in that kiss, tried to push the darkness away. Then Daegan eased back from him. He was still close enough to continue the kiss, but Gideon’s eyes sprang open as the vampire hooked the corner of his mouth with a finger and pushed the plug into his mouth. Gideon tried to expel it, but of course Daegan had his hand on the back of his head. “Take it, vampire hunter. Take it the way you’ve taken my cock.”

  It slid in deep, stretching his mouth at the flared base. Daegan adjusted the strap, cinching it around Gideon’s head to hold the gag in place.

  What the hell does this do? I can still talk in your head.

  Daegan didn’t answer him, didn’t acknowledge him, though Gideon was sure he’d heard him. But it underscored the point. There was an inexplicable sense that being able to speak was an advantage, a requirement to be noticed, to have one’s rights taken into account. Daegan had just taken that away. And more than that. Daegan had gone back to the work bench and now returned, carrying a full head mask.

  No. Don’t.

  Gideon tried to jerk his head out of range, but of course he couldn’t. Daegan fitted it on, and the world disappeared into darkness, the close material hugging Gideon’s face, blinding him. Daegan positioned the ear pieces so his sense of hearing was also dulled. He was taking away all the senses he used to protect himself.

  Gideon thrashed, fought, panic rising in him. Daegan caught him around the chest from behind, pressing his body full length against Gideon’s naked one once more. He had his head right up next to Gideon’s, his hand stroking his chest, palm pressing over Gideon’s racing heart. He still didn’t speak in his head, but he used his warmth, his presence, to remind Gideon his Master was here, was close. Those powerful hands that could kill in less than a second were almost tender, easy, petting his chest, his abdomen. Daegan’s lips pressed against the side of the mask, and the material over the cheekbones was thin enough for him to feel the pressure. Daegan’s very aroused cock, a hard, impressive package under denim, pushed against the seam of his buttocks. The vampire pinched Gideon’s nipple, a rough caress, making Gideon’s cock flex in its pronged cage.

  His feet were still free, he reminded himself. But more than that, Daegan’s calming touch was helping him steady, breathe. He was here. And now Daegan was putting pressure on his back, telling him to walk, pulling
those cuffs along their track with him. Daegan stopped him a couple steps short of where Gideon knew the wall was, and put a different kind of pressure on his back, making Gideon bend forward. It was a move that made his balls tighten, wondering if Daegan was about to give him that hard, rough fuck. Somehow, he already knew it wasn’t going to be that easy. Not that anything about this ever seemed easy.

  The manacles came down toward the floor with him, so the vampire must have the remote that activated the pulleys in the ceiling, paying out slack in the chains. Daegan kept up the weight on his back until Gideon was bent over in a full fold, chest to knees, feet spread out so he was like a triangle, his ass the top point. Gideon had felt the crown of his head brush the wall as he bent toward the ground. Now Daegan had his hands on Gideon’s hips. In one unexpected and impressive show of strength, air slipping under the soles of Gideon’s feet, the vampire closed the distance between Gideon’s body and the stone wall, putting his upside-down back firmly against it.

  As the slack in the chains disappeared, and panic made a leap in his chest, Gideon realized what Daegan was doing. By then it was too late. As the chains retracted to the ceiling, they pulled his arms back up, increasing tension on his shoulders, as well as decreasing the angle of his bent over position. With the wall pressed into his back he couldn’t flip over, especially now. His fingers scraped stone as Daegan locked a manacle around his left leg. He tried to move, but Daegan was too damn fast. The right one was manacled in a blink, and then he felt those chains draw taut. His feet were short-tethered to the floor, his wrists drawn up to counter balance, his body doubled over so his chest pressed against his knees. His head was upside down, face practically pressed into the open space between his spread knees, thanks to Daegan’s ruthless angles on those chains and the pressure of the wall against his back.

  That also meant his ass was fully exposed above his head and his cock and testicles in their shiny choke collar were just hanging out there, vulnerable. And he couldn’t see a damn thing, could barely hear. Couldn’t speak, because that thick phallus pressed down his tongue.