Cantrips: Volume #2: Minor Magics Crafted to Amuse and Entertain

by Joey W. Hill

  Gideon.

  As the blood helped his world steady, Anwyn withdrew. She didn’t say anything to him, but he felt her slip from the room. She would have her reasons, beyond powdering her nose or flossing her fangs. With that connection between their minds that was second nature to him now, making him a constant silent guardian in her head against the gremlins, he would know if she needed anything from him.

  He licked at Daegan’s throat. Along with the scent of the blood, he inhaled the aftershave Daegan used, the scents of the restaurant they’d visited tonight, the humid sea air that clung to his skin. Being a third mark came with some major perks. He’d never realized how arousing smell could be.

  He didn’t have the blood clotting agents that Daegan did, but the vampire healed so quickly, all Gideon had to really do was leave off the feeding and tease the area around the bite marks to keep blood from dripping down his shoulder, his chest, until the flow stopped. No hardship, that, but on second thought…

  He let one drop escape and make its crimson path down the vampire’s chest as he shifted in front of him. The blood met the nylon rope at the lower curve of Daegan’s pectoral and fattened out there. As it was absorbed into the braid, it turned it pink. Gideon had crossed the rope at the sternum and made two columns of diamond sections down the ridges of Daegan’s abdomen. Since that rope cross at the sternum highlighted Daegan’s superior pecs in a way too tempting to resist, Gideon decided he needed a little clean up.

  To get to its present point, the blood had rolled over a nipple. Gideon laid his fingers on the firm flesh beneath the binding, stroking it as he leaned forward and licked the trail upward from where the blood had met the rope. When he went over the nipple, he earned a flex of that powerful body. It inspired him to linger a good minute, teasing the tight nub with teeth and tongue.

  Daegan was sensitive around his nipples, so it was a pure pleasure to feel that jerk and quiver through his muscles, to look down and see his jeans straining to contain the erection beneath the denim. When Gideon finally moved up, he nudged Daegan’s head up. Feeling Daegan give way, drop his head back on his shoulders and offer his throat—a move Gideon had been savvy enough to be sure the ropes did allow—was an indescribable feeling.

  Just to make sure Daegan kept his head there, Gideon slid his hand up to the vampire’s nape and took a nice handhold on the thick strands. They were just long enough to get a good grip.

  It was amazing to feel the changes in Daegan’s body. It was as if Gideon was caressing a panther, all coiled muscle that could become deadly in an instant. When he constricted his hand in his hair and the vampire let out a hiss of breath, that sense became even more pronounced, such that the flexing of Daegan’s fingers in his bonds put Gideon in mind of the cat’s lethal talons.

  Fuck, he wanted to take him right now. But he wouldn’t rush it. This wasn’t going to be over in a slam-bam-thank-you-ma’am way. All the hours Daegan and Anwyn put into restraining Gideon, drawing it out, making him come again and again, using him, driving him, cherishing him in that crazy-assed way that made him feel helpless and powerful at once, all of it had taught him the power of denial. With it, they could make him insane to serve them however they needed, his mind destroyed by everything they did to him, taking him deeper into his soul and making him more willing to be theirs, every time, in ways he couldn’t articulate.

  He backed off several steps, but not to retreat. He needed to take a breath, pull himself out of sappy mode. He fully intended to poke this particular cat with a stick, aggravate him a little. Yeah, it was his nature, Daegan wouldn’t expect anything different, but it was more than that, too. This wasn’t about payback, but about giving Daegan a taste of that indescribable feeling, as close as Gideon could bring him to it. To get there, he needed to knock the vampire more off balance. What was more fun than getting Daegan riled up? Almost nothing. It ranked right up there with whiskers on kittens and bright copper kettles.

  Right on cue, Anwyn returned. Gideon didn’t have to look to feel her come back into the room. But when he did, he saw she’d changed clothes and was leaning against the wall again. Had she anticipated him that well, even while restraining herself from dipping into his mind as he’d requested? He guessed the answer to that was under the thin silk robe she wore, so short the hem caressed her upper thighs.

  He extended a hand. Meeting his gaze, she came to him like the mysterious, exotic creature she was, with sensuous sway of hip, elegant arm movements, a toss of her hair. When she put her hand in his, she moistened her lips in that way that made a man’s mind go straight to a vision of smoky dark bedrooms and sweaty, to-die-for sex. But she wasn’t a porn flick. She was a goddess, inviting a male into her bed to worship every inch of her, beg for the bite of her nails, the arch of her body, the exultation of going off that pinnacle with her.

  Since her blue-green eyes glowed like luminescent topaz in response, he suspected she wasn’t completely managing to stay out of his head, but he wouldn’t be chastising her for it. She wasn’t as adept at that as Daegan and, if she was catching a stray thought here or there, that one certainly wasn’t a bad one for her to overhear. Especially since he needed her complete cooperation for this next part, and he expected she was going to have a WTF moment when she realized his full intent.

  He hadn’t really talked to her about how she could participate, but she had a scary grasp of things like this. She’d know how to enhance the experience for all of them, just as she’d know when to back off and give Gideon his full due. Despite his earlier words, she wouldn’t do that because he’d ordered it—never that with her, though he was still at a loss at why she could make him hunger as much to serve her as to overwhelm and take. She’d do it because she knew being a Mistress to him, both of them belonging to Daegan, being linked the way they all were, was never a straight line, but a maze, like a wild mix of adult Candyland and Chutes-n-Ladders.

  His lips twisted wryly. Yeah, that was him. Mental poetry one minute, preschool Dick and Jane the next. But that was all right.

  He’d imagined doing all sorts of things to Anwyn while Daegan could only watch. Daegan had done that to Gideon plenty of times, had trussed him up like a calf while the vampire went down on Anwyn. He’d have her screaming and writhing while Gideon’s cock ached in whatever steel-pronged contraption Daegan clamped on it, so he was unable to release the lava boiling in his balls. One time, Daegan had put his lips over Gideon’s after. His mouth stretched by a ring gag, Gideon could do nothing but fucking whimper as Daegan licked his lips, teased his restrained tongue and brought him the scent of his Mistress’s cunt, a single stingy taste. Afterwards, he’d thrust his cock into Gideon’s mouth, made him suck him off. Then he’d let Gideon come.

  So maybe this part was a little bit of payback.

  Gideon eased her between the two of them, turning her so she was facing Daegan. Not close enough for Daegan to touch, perhaps a couple feet between them. Gideon gathered up that thick, lustrous hair, pulling it off the closer side of her throat so he could taste her there. She shivered in reaction. It was one of a vampire’s most erogenous areas. For Anwyn, who’d known how to savor the erotic to its fullest measure even before she became a vampire, it might even rank at the top, depending on the circumstances and provocation.

  Putting his hands at her waist, Gideon fingered the sash of the robe, his slight pause a weighted request. She tilted her head and met his gaze. He held that look as he slipped the sash, let it fall and the fabric part. Then he let his attention wander downward.

  Anwyn had definitely gotten into the spirit of things. She wore something Gideon had never seen on her before, a black waist cincher and nothing else, so her generous breasts spilled over the top and her hips flared beneath. Her bare, neat pussy was visible, the clit already flushed and swollen. She wore thigh-high boots that fit her legs like a second skin.

  “Holy God,” he said reverently, and her lips curved. When he cupped those ripe, irresistible breasts, she melted against
him, her thighs parting over his knee as he insinuated it between them, let her ride it as he caressed the pink tips and made her purr. As he put his hand over her throat to hold her still and bite her shoulder, he got the reaction he’d sought. A growl—unmistakably Daegan’s.

  Gideon lifted his gaze to meet the vampire’s. The irises were gone and his fangs were showing.

  “You can push this too far, vampire hunter, by taunting me with what I have first claim on.”

  Holding his Master’s gaze, Gideon let his hand drop. Anwyn drew in a breath against him as he cupped her mound, thumb passing over her clit, the manipulation spreading the heady scent of her arousal in the air between them. “Just testing that wild animal instinct of yours.”

  Anwyn moaned as he skillfully teased her clit in the way he knew she liked. While Gideon felt her pleasure as a woman and admiration as a Mistress for the path he’d chosen, he also detected some tension, as she grasped the hazardous game Gideon was playing.

  While only a complete fucking idiot pulled a pin from a grenade and then stood right on top of it to get an up close view of how it went boom, Gideon was willing to take the risk. He wanted to push Daegan until he would abandon his sense of honor, let go of control entirely and act. Anwyn knew him inside and out, and she was a Mistress through and through. He didn’t have to explain it to her. She’d gone after Gideon in a similar way when she was human, after all.

  He put aside the recollection that he’d practically put her through a stained glass window as a result, and Daegan was a lot stronger than a human woman. That feral light in Daegan’s eyes was a territorial surge, a response to Gideon challenging his dominance over Anwyn, over them both. Gideon had deliberately set the torch alight. Let the games begin.

  “When this is over, I will punish her for allowing you to taunt me this way. Is that what you wish?”

  “That only made her wetter,” Gideon remarked. He lifted his fingers. “Want to taste?”

  Daegan’s face became that still mask. Imagining the vampire’s lips wrapping around his fingers made Gideon’s own hard-on worse. He had a fleeting thought that the blood surge might split his cock open like a banana, but it might be worth it. However, he had another plan for Anwyn’s honey. Under the laser intensity of Daegan’s attention, he put his fingers in his own mouth.

  Sliding his arm around his Mistress’s waist, he moved her forward, putting her fully against Daegan. He saw that still mask flicker, a flash of lust-filled reaction as those gorgeous tits pressed against Daegan’s bare chest. Anwyn torturously straddled Daegan’s thigh the way she had Gideon’s, rubbing her pussy against it as her arms circled the vampire, her fingers finding a hold in the rope at his back. Since she hadn’t tied the harness, she didn’t realize her first choice of anchor point was the one that put pressure on his throat. Gideon clasped her arm and gently directed her to a different point. Daegan held against the pressure on his windpipe as if it didn’t exist, his burning gaze never leaving either of them.

  Having hunted with Daegan, Gideon knew how silent and still the vampire grew the closer they came to their prey. It was like he turned inside himself, became more predator than man. He was seeing some elements of that now. Gideon decided he’d take that as a good sign.

  Anwyn had apparently decided in for a penny, in for a pound. Putting her mouth on Daegan’s chest, she teased the flesh between the openings of the rope as Gideon had, following that same track over the opposite nipple. As she did that, Gideon hooked the stool he’d left within reach, pulled it over and stepped onto it. With Daegan stretched upward like this, he needed a little more height for what he intended to do next. Plus he wanted to be a few inches taller than him.

  The position let him reach down, dig his fingers into Daegan’s hair, and kiss him the way he’d kiss a girl. With an alpha’s pleasure, conveying the demand to surrender, to give him everything. As he leaned in to underscore the message, it sandwiched Anwyn between them even tighter, an altogether pleasant side effect, her ass pressed against him.

  Daegan’s eyes lifted to his, that fierce light reacting to the kiss, to the taste of Anwyn’s cunt lingering in Gideon’s mouth, to her proximity between them. Expecting the bite, Gideon didn’t flinch as the fang scored him, but when Daegan bit, something coiled up and released at once inside him.

  Clamping his other hand under Daegan’s jaw, he crushed his lips against the vampire’s, tasting his own blood and feeling the fangs slice more tender areas of his lips and mouth. He made no move to defend himself, instead offering one of the few weapons he’d learned was effective against his Master. His full, uninhibited passion, revealed through the ferocity of the kiss. He tightened his grip on Daegan’s neck and dove deep. He didn’t care that Daegan might be biting him with savage purpose or as incidental passion, because either way he was kissing Gideon back just as insistently.

  He almost lost himself then and there. He’d forgotten how lethal a weapon Daegan’s mouth could be. He wanted to end this, wanted to sink balls deep in him, take them both to that conclusion together.

  Anwyn didn’t help. Reaching back to grasp his thighs, she ground her backside against his legs. She couldn’t rub her ass against his cock with the difference in their heights, but it didn’t matter. The sensation strummed right up his thighs into his balls. He couldn’t stifle the groan. His capricious Mistress would switch allegiances as the mood struck her, and he felt the balance of power starting to shift decidedly back toward the vampire side of the field.

  That thought helped pull him back. He wasn’t going to lose his one chance at this. No matter how sweet losing would be, winning was going to be the memory of a lifetime.

  As he eased back, panting, he gave Anwyn a narrow glance. Her own expression was full of erotic mirth. He wondered what she’d do if he gave that gorgeous ass a healthy slap of reproof. Tempting as that was, he gave it a pass, since he had all he could handle trying to top one Dom. One mega-uber-Dom.

  He nudged her out of the way with a look that had her gorgeous lips quivering with amusement and dire promises to be fulfilled at a later time, but she slid away. Moving back to the sidelines, she perched demurely on a stool, an effect seriously undermined by her keeping the robe open, a pleasure and temptation to the two males.

  Gideon stepped back to the floor, pushing the footstool out of the way. He forced himself to calm down and steady his breathing. Licked his own blood from his lips. Daegan watched him, missing nothing, saying nothing. The tips of the vampire’s fangs were still showing. His desire to break free was a heated blast of air, but before Gideon’s eyes, the vampire reined himself back with that insane level of control only Daegan had. Gideon could well imagine what he would do if he let go of it, though. Daegan would knock him to his knees, hold him there, stiff cock pressed against Gideon’s ass as the vampire drank deep, made it clear who owned whom. And that would only be the beginning.

  “You remember what I’ve told you,” Gideon said, making sure his voice was steady. “The vampire who gets overconfident is the one who ends up getting staked. You’re going to get staked either way, so to speak, but just saying.”

  Daegan blinked once. Slowly. “I never underestimate you, vampire hunter. I trust you not do the same with me.”

  Not a chance of that, but Gideon gave him a suitably dismissive sneer. Daegan’s brow quirked in response, then the vampire lay his head back, rolling his shoulders as if releasing some tension there. It was an entirely uncalculated move, but one that was such pleasure to watch, he heard Anwyn hum in approval. It stretched Daegan’s body even further out of the jeans, so they got an even lower glimpse of that triangle of muscle pointing from his hips to his groin, which inevitably led the eyes to the impossible-to-miss erection just below the button of his jeans.

  Circling behind Daegan, Gideon went to the supply cabinet to retrieve more rope. This time he chose the thinner parachute cord he’d picked out specifically for this and loosed it from its figure eight coil. As he shook it out, he doubled
it then came back to drape it around Daegan’s shoulders, a good holding place. Reaching out, Gideon hooked his fingers into the waistband of those stretched jeans and slipped the button. As he worked the zipper down, he had the pleasure of brushing the glans with his knuckles, but he didn’t allow himself more than that. He was going to keep his eye on the ball from here on out.

  Daegan was wearing his usual dark designer underwear beneath. They were made out of the softest cotton Gideon had ever felt, but that didn’t keep him from teasing Daegan about his skivvies costing as much as his overpriced shirts. Maybe when he’d lived centuries, wearing comfortable underwear would be important enough to pay as much for it as a good steak dinner. When his Master and Mistress chose to let him wear underwear, that is.

  He bent to remove Daegan’s shoes and the thin socks. As he did, he ran his thumbs over the arches. Even the guy’s feet were absorbing, which just showed Gideon had lost his mind when it came to Daegan Rei. He remembered crystal clear the first time he’d willingly put his mouth to his Master’s feet. He’d fought exhaustion to do it, at the time feeling like there was nothing more important in the world than doing that one thing.

  That was when he’d resolved the ownership question in his own mind. He knew he belonged to them both. It was because of that this was being permitted to happen. He wondered if they knew he realized that. Probably. As usual, he would probably have an even deeper understanding of the nature of that ownership before it was over. Anytime he challenged them like this, it usually resulted in that, didn’t it? Maybe that was why he enjoyed the challenge so much…and so did they. Sometimes he thought it did the same for them. He hoped it did. This time, he hoped he’d show Daegan something about their relationship even the all-powerful, all wise bastard didn’t already know.