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

by Joey W. Hill

I’m still thirsty. I want…to take it from your throat.

  He opened his eyes, stared into Daegan’s. Because of that freaky snake charmer eye thing the vampire had going, he couldn’t really tell what Daegan was thinking, but he knew the male was a hundred and fifty percent involved in this moment, in Gideon’s every move, his expression, the slight, not-the-least-bit-unmanly break in his mind-voice.

  The intercom buzzed.

  While it wasn’t unusual for Anwyn to receive a call from upstairs, she had a very competent staff and those interruptions were minimal. Since they’d been made aware she now had a “health problem” that sometimes indisposed her, their competence had only increased. They also knew she was gone for the weekend, so the only reason they’d be buzzing down was if they had a security problem. Gideon backed up James, the head of security, when needed. As such, Daegan’s eyes immediately returned to normal, his hand dropping from Gideon’s neck, both of them going on alert.

  “Intercom on,” Gideon called out, since the speaker system fortunately responded to voice commands. “Yes?”

  “Gideon? It’s Ella.”

  Fortunately, the staff submissive sounded nervous but not too rattled. “Yeah, Ella. What’s up?”

  “We have a problem with one of the sessions planned for tonight. We need a favor. Um…the other girls didn’t think I should bother you, but I thought it was something you might consider. Can I come down and ask you something, or would you be willing to come up?”

  Realizing it wasn’t a security emergency, Daegan had decided to entertain himself. He closed his hand around Gideon’s cock in a firm squeeze, fingers stroking with diabolical purpose. Though Gideon had twitched in his arms when the intercom first buzzed, Daegan hadn’t allowed Gideon out of his seated position between his thighs. Gideon had been sort of okay with that, but he didn’t know how he felt about his dick being fondled while he was talking to Ella.

  Jesus. The vamp had a skilled touch. His dumbass cock shouldn’t be asking for more after this many orgasms, but Gideon was hardening. Though Ella couldn’t see him, it still felt…disturbing. While he had a friendly relationship with most of the subs on staff, she was the submissive toward whom he felt most protective. A few weeks ago, he’d helped James pull her out of a sticky situation with a Dom who shouldn’t have gotten through the door. A guy who’d been vetted when Anwyn wasn’t on her game the way she usually was. So Ella knew Gideon as an alpha guy who sometimes helped James with security, not some…

  Daegan squeezed harder, uncomfortably tight. Slave? His mind tone was heat and coolness at once, a warning and a withdrawal. While it raised the hackles on Gideon’s neck, unexpected regret speared through his gut, given where they’d been a moment or two ago, on the edge of…something. Now he’d done something to turn Daegan off.

  Wrapping his fingers back around his throat and jaw, the vampire turned Gideon’s face so his mouth captured Gideon’s, raw and hot. You can piss me off, Gideon. You couldn’t turn me off if you tried.

  “Fuck,” Gideon muttered. Daegan let go of his mouth, but his hand down there got even more insistent, fist-pumping him slow and sure. He closed his hands on Daegan’s thighs. He knew better than to try and stop the vamp. Though of course he could if he wanted to.

  Of course you could. Not.

  “What was that?” Ella had apparently picked up Gideon’s expletive, but she also had something else to get out, so she didn’t wait for a response, thank God. “Oh, and if you’re agreeable, it-might-involve-Mr.-Jones-too.”

  That rushed finale stopped Daegan. His fingers flexed, making Gideon go cross-eyed. In just that short time, his thighs had started to get drum tight, his ass rising off the floor in tune with that firm stroke. Hell, he shouldn’t have had that thought. Wouldn’t want Daegan to get smug.

  I know exactly what effect I have on your body, Gideon.

  Gideon glanced back at that little stress, but Daegan shifted, pushing him off so they could get up, though at least the shove had the tone of roughhoused affection. “Yes, Ella,” Daegan replied for both of them. “You can come down. We’ll punch up the security code.”

  Gideon imagined Ella had blanched at that unexpected voice. The Atlantis staff knew Anwyn lived with two males, but Daegan kept a pretty low profile with them, not difficult since the guy could move way faster than any human could detect. James and a few of the staff had met him, but Anwyn made it clear that “Mr. Jones” preferred his privacy. Since their business was all about discretion, the staff respected that.

  The pseudonym might be a decidedly unoriginal name, but generic names served a purpose. They didn’t stand out, and emphasized that Anwyn didn’t invite questions about him, though anyone who encountered Daegan was unlikely to forget him, even if his name was John Fucking Doe. Even at a distance, he’d made enough of an impression Ella was probably rethinking her audacity.

  Come to think of it, Gideon himself was pretty surprised Daegan had spoken up. But Daegan didn’t offer an explanation, just a hand to pull him off the floor. The vampire picked up his own jeans and yanked them on bare-assed. “You might want to get dressed before she gets down here,” he suggested. Moving to the wall, he punched in the security code to open the elevator doors one level up.

  Gideon retrieved his jeans and pulled them on, glad Daegan had cleaned him up with the sponge bath. Else he would have had to perform a lightning fast shower between the time Ella stepped into the elevator and the ten seconds before the doors opened, which was beyond even a third mark’s enhanced abilities. Though maybe not Daegan’s. That was one thing Daegan never rushed. The guy loved a hot shower and, from his own violent career path, Gideon knew it helped wash off the sense of blood, though nothing got rid of it entirely. Not once you’d been immersed in enough of it, way too many times.

  Apparently his libido still hadn’t settled, because that serious thought couldn’t erase the visual of him and Daegan in the shower together, Daegan giving him an even more thorough washing, pushing him down so the heels of his hands were on the tub edge as Daegan lubed himself up and sank deep into him again, the hot water beating on both of them, steam swirling over slick, rippling muscle…

  Daegan lifted his head and met his eyes. There was something a little dangerous in that expression, just like when he’d caught Gideon by the throat. “I’ll consider that, vampire hunter,” he murmured.

  Gideon concealed the hot flush that swept over his upper body by pulling his T-shirt over his head. As he did, the elevator made the noise it did right before it opened. The double doors parted.

  Ella had an hourglass Marilyn Monroe figure with lush curves. Along with her long red hair and a doe’s dark brown eyes, she could get a guy hard in a blink. She had a unique grasp of her submissive personality, such that she could tailor it for the needs of different clients. Whether she was feisty brat or docile servant to the paying Master or Mistress, her underlying nature, the desire to serve, was deep, true and real, and made her a valuable asset to Atlantis.

  She was also well liked by the team of long-term employees who considered one another family, thanks to Anwyn’s intuitive hiring skills and the fact she was a damn good boss. Good professional subs were as valuable as good professional Doms, due to the exceptional talent both required to handle an ever-rotating client base. At least, that’s what Anwyn said. While he didn’t know about that, Gideon knew he liked Ella, liked her forthrightness. Her only drawback was she was often all intuition and feeling. Which was a double-edged sword, because what made her popular with clients could also endanger her, in the wrong situation. Like many subs, Ella could get lost in her head and the Dom’s desires and forget to protect herself.

  As a result, Anwyn particularly screened the clients who requested Ella, making sure they were the kind who never forgot a Dom’s responsibility to care for a sub, no matter how deep or intense a session became. His Mistress had the right touch not only for vetting clients wanting to hire a sub for the night, but for pairing them up to the right staff
member.

  The night Ella had needed to be bailed out from a Dom who stepped over the lines had been a bad night. It had shaken Anwyn’s confidence in herself deeply. After ensuring Ella was all right, that consequence had been Daegan and Gideon’s primary concern.

  But it was also that night which had won Ella a permanent place in Gideon’s heart. When Anwyn was falling to pieces over it in her office later, Ella had slipped in at that key moment. She’d gone to her knees in front of his formidable Mistress and put her arms around her.

  “I love you, Mistress,” the young woman had said, calm and clear-eyed. “The very first day I was hired, you told me that mistakes are always going to happen. The key is keeping them to a minimum and being prepared when they do happen. You were prepared. James and Gideon came. You keep us safe. I’m never afraid here, and we don’t want you to be, either.”

  Other staff members had come in then, hugged her as well. It wasn’t just Daegan and Gideon who wouldn’t let Anwyn back away from being who she was to Atlantis. She was its heart, and they all knew it.

  Remembering that moment now, he gave her a look of warm reassurance. From her wary expression, he knew she wasn’t sure what to make of Daegan being actively part of the conversation. As she stepped out of the elevators, her eyes went right to the vampire, leaning against the couch in her direct line of sight. Since he wasn’t wearing a shirt, just those jeans and bare feet, Gideon was already in motion. He caught her as she pretty much stumbled over the threshold. Yeah, Daegan had that effect on women. Okay, sometimes men, too.

  No, I’m not going to feed your ego and say it, Gideon thought testily as Daegan gave him the expected raised brow and ironic glance.

  The vampire’s eyes glinted, but he rose to his feet. “What may we do for you, Ella?”

  Daegan took the leadership role, surprising Gideon, but Ella seemed to take that in stride. Of course, she was a skilled, professional submissive. It probably took her three seconds to realize “Mr. Jones” was a formidable Master. So what did she think Gideon was?

  Slave. The word echoed in his mind again. Gideon tightened his jaw, firmly deciding to focus on Ella. She might faint if Daegan took a couple steps toward her, so he better be ready to catch her.

  Fortunately, she displayed the fortitude he’d come to expect from her.

  Her lashes swept down as she inclined her head to Daegan, a deferential gesture. “I’m so sorry to bother you both, but I think this is pretty important. We have an appointment scheduled tonight that’s hit a snag. The Dom, Aaron, paid for a session for his fiancée Shannon. It’s for her birthday. She’s loved vampires since she was a little girl, so he’s been working with Anwyn for a couple months to engineer a fantasy where she surrenders to a vampire and his servant.”

  Gideon wondered if Daegan was having as much trouble keeping an impassive expression as he was, given that Ella was unknowingly facing a vampire and his servant right now. However, Gideon did telegraph a confirmation to Daegan. Anwyn had vaguely mentioned something about a fantasy of that sort. All types of scenarios were choreographed for clients, some for exorbitant fees, depending on how elaborate they were. She didn’t always mention all of them to Gideon, but this one had come up briefly, a humorous topic, for obvious reasons.

  “It’s a test run for them,” Ella continued. “They’re both pretty new to the scene. It’s the first time she’s been part of a BDSM session in a club environment like this. The fiancé is still learning the ropes about being her Dom. He planned to watch, and then come in toward the end, take over. Two birds with one net.” Ella’s glance strayed to Gideon, probably seeking a little encouragement, because so far Daegan’s expression wasn’t revealing whether he was going to be affable or try to eat her.

  Gideon wasn’t sure he gave her what she needed there, because she accelerated the dialogue in that fascinating way women had—dumping a huge load of information in less than ten seconds.

  “Richard and Dave were supposed to do the honors, but Richard came down with a twenty-four-hour flu, and Dave of course only works with Richard. Unfortunately, Richard has been so sick, he forgot to call it in, and Dave thought he already had. We don’t really have any other male Master/sub pairings used to working in tandem with each other on the floor tonight, and this is a complicated role playing scene. Aaron and Shannon are driving in from a couple hours away and we can’t get in touch, because they’ve already left their hotel. They’re on a month long trip in the States, visiting from Australia. This is the last week of the trip, the grand finale. We have the info on all the boundaries and limits for the session—”

  “Okay, we’re getting the situation,” Gideon interjected. “But what is it you need from us?”

  Ella turned toward him with relief, though the tension in her shoulders said she was well aware of Daegan’s unwavering scrutiny. “Forgive me if I seem a little direct about this”—a flick of her gaze toward Daegan indicated exactly whose forgiveness she was soliciting—“but a few weeks ago, I saw you two together, in the corridor outside the elevator. The way you were with each other… I’ve seen you with Mr. Jones a couple times since then and…” She gave a helpless little shrug. “Perils of the job, I’m afraid. It seems pretty clear that he’s your Master, and you serve him, as well as Mistress Anwyn. So I didn’t know if you’d even consider it, but I had this feeling, maybe. The fiancé doesn’t want actual sex. Just playing around the edges, give her release… But if you’re not at all interested, I’ll go back upstairs and see what we can figure out. And please don’t get me fired.”

  Gideon blinked, spoke slowly. “So, based on seeing us together a couple times, you think we can roleplay vampire and servant in a paid session with a woman we’ve never met? While her fiancé watches?”

  Ella beamed brightly. “Yes. That pretty much sums it up. There’s a dramatic tension between you…it meshes. I thought you could pull it off really well, if you’re comfortable with it. Since you’re with Mistress Anwyn, and have been staying at the club awhile, I know you’re pretty experienced.”

  Triple scoops of irony on a banana split sundae. Fuck. No one on staff except James knew what Daegan was, after all. Hell, they didn’t even know Anwyn was a vampire.

  “You see him as a vampire?” Gideon hooked a thumb in Daegan’s direction. “Really? I think that’s kind of a stretch.”

  “Him, no stretch at all.” Ella arched a brow, apparently more sure of herself now that he was teasing her. “You, as a servant? That would be the stretch.” She sobered. “And you’re not, not really. Except with him, and Anwyn. It comes out real strong with them. I notice things.” Ella shrugged, sighed. With visible effort, she turned back toward Daegan, but kept her eyes fastened to his chest. Or perhaps wandering over it was more accurate.

  “Mr. Jones, I don’t want to offend you, so if this is completely inappropriate, I’m sorry. I’ll go back upstairs.”

  Daegan shifted, lips pursing in a very distracting way. It even made Ella’s glance flicker up for one brave moment. “Do you have the paperwork with you?”

  “Yes, definitely.” Ella slipped a folder out from under her arm. She was closer to Gideon, but when he reached for it, Daegan made a quelling noise that brought their attention to him. He extended his hand. “Give it to me, Ella.”

  She handed the file to Daegan, who was ignoring Gideon’s narrowed glance. Planting his fine ass back on the edge of the couch, he looked through it, silent. Ella shifted her attention to Gideon during. As she gave him a questioning look, he shrugged, trying to act casual.

  “You want a soda or anything?” Gideon asked, though his mind was whirling.

  Was Daegan really considering this? Why wasn’t he telling her no fucking way, sending her back up? Gideon didn’t want to see Ella called down for it, though. And truth, Anwyn likely wouldn’t chastise her, because she appreciated staff initiative to make their clients happy, but that didn’t mean that this was doable.

  You are very doable, Gideon.

 
Bite me.

  Before Ella interrupted, I believe your desire was to bite me.

  Gideon chose not to respond to that, increasing his concentration on Ella to laser fierceness. “Soda?” he prompted again, through gritted teeth. “Or chocolate milk and cookies?” He really wasn’t entirely comfortable, even in his mind, dealing with this side of Daegan and him in front of her. Hell, he still had trouble with it when it was just the two of them.

  But it didn’t seem to bother Ella at all. She made a face at him and stuck out her tongue the same way she’d do if he was picking on her upstairs. She apparently didn’t even consider it a bump in the road, thinking of him as Daegan’s submissive.

  What would it be like if it wasn’t such a problem for him, if he could let go of this nagging self-consciousness about it when he was around others? It was an oddly wistful, unexpected thought.

  Ella moved a stepped closer, tilting her head up to study Gideon’s face. Wetting one of her long-nailed fingers, she smoothed a stray strand of his hair at his temple. “You have head mask hair,” she said, with a teasing smile.

  He caught her wrist, lightly pushed it away. “Brat.” He’d gotten used to the girls petting and teasing him. The Mistresses did it, too, but in a kind of a different way. It all made him feel good. Like he was part of the family Anwyn had created here. Like Atlantis had become his home.

  “Ella?”

  She immediately turned her attention to Daegan. “Yes, sir?”

  “While I agreed to let you come down to see us, you interrupted a session. I think that’s obvious.”

  She colored about three shades of rose and stepped back from Gideon as if she’d been hit by a Taser. “My apologies, sir. I shouldn’t have touched him.”

  What the hell? Gideon looked between them, but it was as if he wasn’t even there, Daegan’s total attention on Ella and hers on him, though her gaze was lowered. She looked ready to kneel if Daegan ordered it.

  “Not without your permission,” she amended.

  “Hmm.” Daegan handed the folder back to her. “Your behavior toward him is fine; you merely should have asked first. How long before they arrive?”