by D. R. Rosier
Possibly, like any other man, I’ve never said the words let me just hold you tonight, but I wasn’t going to overanalyze it either. I did like to cuddle after and before sex, always had. Maybe that plus her pheromones was responsible for making me want to hold her all the time. Whatever, point was I enjoyed doing it. I was also sure I was falling for my guardian, hard. I hadn’t missed what she’d said either, it was how they shared love and approval, which made me think that she just might feel the same way.
“Mix of things I think.”
We just existed together for a while. I played with her hair, and she caressed my chest, face, and hair. She also liked to nuzzle a lot. All good things end though, and when Lilith got back with coffee, I got back to my studying, and Lilith and Julia chatted on the couch in a low murmur that was more relaxing than disturbing…
“She’s downstairs,” Katia said after looking at her phone. Text message I supposed.
Julia stood up, “I’ll get her.”
“Just a moment.”
Until the deal was made, she was a potential danger, even if I really didn’t think she was, there was no point in taking chances. I cast all the usual spells. Instead of summoning demons I cast protection from general magic, physical, and the protection from elements spell onto Katia, then I nodded to Julia.
Julia headed for the elevator.
I inhaled the last piece of bacon on my plate, finished up my coffee, and headed toward the elevator myself to greet her there, and walk her to the office. While I waited, I muttered the spell to connect me to the wards. Home field advantage.
When the elevator opened, I took her in. She was wearing a long dark blue dress that started from her neck, and went down below her knees in a pencil skirt. It clung in a few places and looked good, but was also professional enough to wear in any human office building. She looked very good in it, it showed just enough of her willowy dancer’s body to fire the imagination.
Her strawberry blonde hair was half up, the sides pinned up revealing her petite ears and neck, but the back was still flowing down her torso, a few stray hairs teased her neck and shoulder. Her intelligent piercing green eyes glinted with excitement, and nervousness, and she had a cautious smile on her face.
“Samantha, it’s good to see you again, though I’m sorry for the troubles that landed you here.”
She seemed to lose focus for a second, and then smiled a little wider.
“It’s good to be here, seems when one door closes another one opens.”
I nodded, “This way, we can talk, make sure we understand everything?”
She walked forward, and I noticed Julia was carrying a suitcase.
I raised an eyebrow.
She blushed, “I’m keeping my place, but Katia offered a room, and I thought there would probably be late nights…” she trailed off, and blushed again.
I was dying to know what prompted that.
“Of course, that would be more convenient for both of us, I do work strange hours.”
Julia put the suitcase down at the end of the hall, and followed us to the office, walking next to Samantha. Samantha was more graceful than I remembered, she… floated across the floor.
We reached the office, and sat on the couch at an appropriate distance. She reached into her purse, and pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to me.
Huh, we had something similar already drawn up for her perusal, but I started reading over it anyway. It outlined she wouldn’t betray or harm us, through word or dead, for the length of her employment, plus two weeks. That was a little different, but tilted even further in my favor than the contract I’d drawn up. The salary and bonus structure were all the same as discussed, and it mentioned the room as well which was the same. Her duties were listed as analyst, instructor, protection, and field work with the right of refusal.
I said, “You like to be prepared.”
She nodded, “I do. Do those terms meet with your approval?”
“Could you explain the right of refusal?”
She bit her lip, “I have no problem defending you, but I won’t take actions which violate my own morality. Field work is a rather broad thing to say, so I included a blanket caveat in case I find something you assign me distasteful. I don’t think that will happen, but it seemed… prudent to add it.”
I couldn’t decide if I was offended or not, but settled on not. I had a feeling her council’s betrayal had thrown a few of her certainties into the wind. She wouldn’t trust anyone blindly after a betrayal like that, not with such a blanket term.
“I think we have a deal, as is outlined here. This might be… a little intense.” I held out my hand and invoked the spell on the amulet.
She reached out and took my hand… and exploded in ecstasy. She collapsed into me, gripping my shirt as she trembled and shook. Her voice was incredibly sexy, which resulted in cute and sexy sounds that went right to my libido. Her eyes were wide as she looked up into mine…
Chapter Fourteen
Samantha was a bit lost staring up into his hazel eyes. She should have felt violated, but she’d known it was coming, and she’d never come so hard in her life. She felt strangely safe in his arms, and against his chest.
He asked, “Are you alright?”
She blushed, and wondered how long she’d been staring. Then she noticed her hand was gripping his shirt tightly. She got a hold of herself, let go of him, and backed off, still feeling hot, and her panties were absolutely drenched. What was wrong with her? She’d just had the best orgasm ever, and she wanted more. If he’d asked her to she’d… she shook her head cutting that thought off.
“I’m fine Andrew, I just… need a minute to freshen up.”
He smiled, “Welcome to the team. Julia will show you your room, take a minute to unpack and I’ll see you back here when you’re ready. There’s a pot of coffee in the kitchen, feel free to help yourself.”
She nodded, “Thank you.”
She got up from the couch, and to her embarrassment her legs shook for a moment. She followed the woman Julia, who made her both jealous, and doubt her sexual orientation. She’d never been attracted to a woman before, but Julia was... Damn, the shifter could probably scent her arousal, she just gave up the idea of having privacy at that point, all her emotions would be on display to the insanely sexy woman.
She could shield it, but that might make the shifter paranoid about her intentions, so she’d have to live with it.
Julia picked up her luggage, and carried it down a hall on the other side of the home, this place was unbelievably spacious, and it had a homey kind of feel to it, which was only magnified when she saw her bedroom for the first time. Wood floors, red oak dresser and bed frame, amazing view out the windows. Damn, her bedroom here was the size of her living room and kitchen combined.
Julia touched her arm, and she looked up into her eyes. They were a dark amber, but had a surprising warmth in them.
“I don’t share what I pick up with my nose, unless it’s a threat to us. I also don’t judge, so try not to worry about it.”
She blushed, and nodded, “I’ll try.”
Julia said, “I’m glad you’re here. I’ll let you get settled in. If it matters, the attraction is mutual.”
She frowned as her thoughts went to Andrew, “I thought you didn’t share?”
Julia smirked, and winked, “I was talking about me. As for Andrew, that you’ll have to discover on your own.”
She blushed, not sure how to take that. Strange way to start a job, but this was the house of a warlock, she had no doubt they were all mussing the sheets together. Andrew wasn’t the same as most warlocks, but in some respects...
After Julia left, she gazed around the room, and blew out a breath. She was pleased she was here, both for the opportunity and a new direction for her life after the council ousted her from public service. She was also nervous, not about the job, that would be easy enough, she knew magic. It was the rest of it, she’d never been good at making or
keeping friends, and she didn’t want to screw this up.
There was also a part of her that wanted even more that, but she knew that was impossible. He was quite… claimed already.
She unpacked quickly and put her clothes in the dresser, and then headed into the bathroom, to freshen up, and change into a new pair of panties…
Samantha found Andrew to be incredibly easy going, it was just an hour later, and she sat in the chair across the desk from him with her legs crossed, sipping a coffee. She actually preferred tea, but the coffee was pretty good.
He finished the spell, and a ball of light popped into existence. He looked at her with a little frustration, which was impressive because he’d been failing for an hour now. Either the ball of light appeared, or he lost the spell completely.
She tried to explain again, “There’s a split-second cusp, between when you intone the last word of the spell, and when the magic rushes out of you to make it happen. You need to… pause the magic. Hold it back with your will while concentrating to maintain the spell. It might help to visualize flash freezing it in place instead of a dam. Once it’s successfully frozen, you can pass it to a partition.”
He sighed, “Do most mages learn this?”
She shook her head, “No. It’s an advanced skill, but the benefits are obvious, and many. I have some spells of my own creation that take almost forty seconds to cast, and I have a copy of them fully casted and ready to launch in my partitioned mind.”
It was true enough, the diaphanous stealth spells for wards, and to bypass shields over time, weren’t simple spells at all, they were very complicated. She kept a few different versions of them casted and frozen in her partitions, for whenever she might need them. Some for tracking, some that were offensive. All it took to release them was a thought passed to her partitioned mind.
She continued her explanation, “Fully casted, but stopped at the cusp before potential magical energy becomes active magic. In your case, you could keep a banishment spell on hand in your partitioned mind, a twenty second spell is entirely too long if you’re fighting a vampire. In the future, you’ll find more spells you’ll want to keep in ready reserve.”
He nodded thoughtfully, “I’ll keep trying, it sounds like a skill that would give me an edge, but right now I’m already using my twenty-thread partition limit, with partition and the four free threads in my primary, do you know a way to train that up to the top level faster?”
She nodded, “You aren’t going to like it. You need to stop releasing all your protections when at home. Mine have been active over eleven years, with a short exception I will strive not to repeat. Eventually, your mind will become accustomed to having it active all the time, and you’ll hold it without conscious thought. Then it will one day reach the point it simply expands out to another partition. Some mages try to train without partition, by holding five spells, and then they just keep trying to add a sixth without losing concentration. That’s a valid approach, but unnecessary and frustrating.
“Your partitions being full of twenty spells, and you holding just partition active in your primary mind will eventually push you over into thirty-six thought threads and five extra partitions, which is the limit of the spell. But only if you keep partition active and full all the time, to let your mind adjust and grow to it.
“Another obvious reason for keeping it all the time, is that you never know when an emergency will strike, or the five minutes to cast all your spells may cost lives.”
He sighed, “I usually release them so I can relax, and study without the cluttered mind.”
She pondered that for a moment, “That awkwardness will pass quickly. It may take months, or even more than a year to expand from five to the maximum of six partitions, including the primary partition, but it will only take a few days for your mind to settle down to the point it won’t be distracting or interfere with your studying. You’re just not holding it long enough to get there. After all, you can hold five thoughts in your primary mind, but will only be holding one spell, which leaves you four to study.”
He nodded, “Alright, they’re full now, I’ll just keep holding them. Let me try that other spell again.”
She waited patiently while he casted the simple five-word light spell again, it was a good spell to practice with, because it didn’t take long to cast. She knew once he found the trick of it, and the timing, it would carry over to all the other spells. By the look on his face, this time the spell had fizzled.
It was an advanced technique, but she thought him capable of it with a little effort. She’d been amazed he was already up to the second to last level of the partition spell, his mind was already strong, but he wouldn’t advance without hard work. Hopefully, she’d talked him into truly making the effort…
It was about thirty minutes later when he succeeded for the first time.
“Good job.”
He gave her a skeptical look, “It took me ninety minutes, and hundreds of tries.”
She smiled, “It took me a lot longer, of course I was fourteen at the time. I am pushing you, you’ve an agile mind, and strong.”
He nodded thoughtfully, “So tell me about yourself, family, ambitions? I think we’ll work well together, if you don’t kill me or drive me insane with your teaching methods,” he smiled in amusement.
She tensed for a moment, this was the part she sucked at. He was reaching out to her to get to know her better, in friendship, and probably for an easier working relationship. She took a sip of coffee and decided not to overthink it. His presence was easy going and had her relaxed, she didn’t want to ruin that. Despite that, he still had a confidence and intensity about him. His ambitions, were more about the people around him than himself, and she sensed that.
“Alright, but I want you to practice over and over until you get it right every time.”
He said, “Deal.”
They spent about two hours just chatting then, to get to know each other. She told him about her estranged family, or at least the bare minimum, and spoke about her passion for magic, and finding new ways to use it. At the same time, she learned a bit about him, the three women in his life, and his own ambition to carve out a modest but stable place in Seattle, do what he had to for the pact, be there for his allies, and otherwise enjoy life. She also discovered he had a passion about learning magic that quite possibly equaled her own, he wanted to know it all, and know it now, so he could start making his own spells.
They also talked briefly about the mages, and what he could do to stop them from going after him, short of war and death. Unfortunately, she had no idea. The council wasn’t what she had thought, and their justice was taking a back seat to greed and fear. She told him that, but had no idea how to stop things from escalating, after that they moved back to more personal subjects again.
She also knew she was doomed, because the longer they talked, the more handsome and attractive he became in her thoughts and feelings. She’d also never felt her body react so strongly to a man, not even while she was in bed with them, and Andrew was sitting three feet away. She couldn’t help but wonder what he could make her feel if they were touching.
Why did she have to want the one guy she couldn’t have? She knew she wasn’t unattractive, but compared to the three women that doted on him she didn’t think she’d even register that way. Still, by the time the morning moved towards noon, it almost felt like her first successful date, instead of her first day at work on a new job. She was all tingly…
Carlos wondered what the hell happened now, as he saw the look of vicious glee on that idiot Jake’s face. He’d wanted to just put the whole distasteful thing behind him. Sometimes he wished he was a dictator, sometimes the council pulled him in directions he’d rather not go. But, the council had wanted both Moore and Antonin watched, still afraid of both despite the way they’d ousted Samantha from any possible return to politics, and the fact the warlock hadn’t attacked them.
Given Jake’s face, he guessed they were about t
o hear something that would get Samantha in trouble.
He reluctantly asked, “Jake Crandall, you have a report for this council?”
Jake stood and walked closer to stand before them.
“Samantha Antonin entered the warlock’s home early this morning, with luggage.”
Carlos suppressed the sigh on the tip of his tongue.
“For what purpose?”
Jake said, “I haven’t been able to discover that, but the short meeting between her and the warlock’s guardian in the lobby looked… rather cozy.”
Carlos raised an eyebrow at that, he knew Jake had been obsessed with Samantha’s grace, carriage, and nonchalant confidence. He was almost sure that’s where Jake’s unprofessional sexual insinuation had come from, the idiot had never gotten over being turned down. He wondered why they even put up with him, except of course, he was powerful, both in magic and political backing. He shook his head, beside the point.
Jake added, “The vampires also seemed to have backed off, for now anyway.”
Edith said, “It sounds like she’s gone rogue, moving in with a warlock, and she knows everything about our government, people, and assets. We have to take steps.”
He really should have seen that coming. Edith’s answer for everything seemed to be to kill it.
Sara added, “If the vampires backed off, we may have no choice but to see to this ourselves.”
He felt a little sick to his stomach as he said, “All in favor of declaring Samantha a rogue and marked for termination?”
He really didn’t have a choice, it was his job to call for a vote on issues. Edith and Sara agreed, which was enough to force a council vote.
The vote was five for, and three against. His vote didn’t matter at that point. His stomach turned.
He said, “Jake, I want you to watch their movements, come up with a plan, and run it by the council for approval. We can’t just attack them at his residence, his wards are formidable, the elevator access limited, and I have no doubt if Samantha is truly a rogue she’ll have fortified them even further by now. Figure out a way to lure them out, and give me options.”
