by Gabi Moore
"Now. You need to tell me where this engagement ring is at, or I am going to do everything in my power to make sure that every one of those sperm is a dead ringer for your eggs. Are we clear?"
She was scared shitless, and I knew I had one.
I walked around the two of them for a moment, pushing on her occasionally so I could feel the sexual energy rise between them. He was doing everything in his power not to explode, and I didn't want to make things too easy for him either.
"No more privileged single girl lifestyle. No more nights on the town. If I have my say, you'll have one child dangling off of each sagging tit for the next two years of your post partum depression."
Her eyes grew wide, and she turned back to look at her man, commanding him not to cum, but all he could do was sweat in response.
"Of course, I could go get Rita and bring her up here. I'm sure she'd love to understand where the engagement ring disappeared to..."
"Okay!"
She strained trying to push herself off, and then finally slumped back down on the cock, bringing a groan out of her boyfriend.
"I didn't pawn it or anything."
"Yet."
She glared at me.
"It's in my room, under the ballerina statue. Code 0069."
"Nice."
I had to laugh.
"Be back soon."
"Hey. Untie me!" HEY!"
As soon as I passed through the barrier, I didn't hear anything. I didn't want to think about what might have happened if I had been wrong. Intuition told me to turn left right out of the bathroom, at which point I found the young woman's room. It was locked, of course, but that didn't matter. I was only in the room for a minute before finding the dancer in question.
Lifting the statuette up from its place on the desk, I saw a tiny safety box, which hardly needed a lock at all. For formality and irony more than anything else, I entered in the code.
"0 - 0 - 6 - 9"
The lock popped open, and low and behold, there it was, a beautiful and ornate engagement ring. I let out a sigh, picked up the ring, and then walked downstairs.
In order to retain the effect of the spells, I would need to continuously meditate on them for about as long as we were inside of the house. Otherwise, the bubble of silence would pop, and the two lovers would only have to deal with cum and hair stuck to their bodies.
The part about the impregnation was a farce. I can't do that shit. Wouldn't even want to, if I could, but they didn't know that, and the drama had been interesting for me.
Walking down the stairs, I decided I was curious to know what would happen if things just stopped. I let go of the enchantments, and immediately heard the sound of her boyfriend orgasm from the bathroom.
Nice...
The sound had also gotten the attention of Rita, who now stood at the base of the stairs with Erol.
In a casual flip, I tossed the ring through the air to Erol, who to my surprise caught it without fumbling.
"Took care of it Rita. Just make sure you pay my man all right. C'mon Erol, it's time to go."
"What?"
The woman was incensed, and had completely snapped out of whatever hypnotic state Erol had managed to put her in while I was upstairs. Just then, the girl came out with a towel wrapped around her breasts, crying.
"Stop them!"
Erol's eyes widened, and he shoved the engagement ring into Rita's hands. Rita was about to release her anger in our direction, and then realized that I had in fact found the object she was looking for. Being a quick woman, she turned that anger immediately to her daughter instead.
"Samantha! You lied to me!"
"Thank you, Rita. Sorry for the inconvenience, but I’m glad my partner could help you out. The money will be in your account by tonight, Erol. Good day."
I smiled and took him by the elbow.
"Time to go ... Partner."
Poor bastard, I thought. Can't take care of shit if left to his own devices.
We made our exit.
Chapter 9
“How did you do that?”
The inquisition didn’t start until well after we had left the neighborhood. At least this time, Erol had the common sense not to stick around after a potential conflict. Sticking around at the scene of the crime, as it were, was not exactly the wisest thing to do for someone who wanted to get by unnoticed. I ignored him for a while, and thought about why this time he was so interested in leaving, but back at the laundromat, he had been so reticent.
He stewed in his own bitterness for a moment, but I let him be.
“You just show up, cause some trouble, and think you can slide by without an explanation?”
“Yep.”
The guy was getting on my nerves.
“You know, I thought you would be less of a bitch.”
“Wait, you thought?”
“That’s right, I hoped you would be at least a little more forward with things, but it turns out you’re just a pandering coward who gets paid to feel up old ladies.”
“What do you mean, you thought? Thought implies that you have been watching me; that you had some sort of precognitive observation.”
“Don’t bother giving yourself too much credit. I might have been simply talking about a character evaluation based on the time I have spent with you since yesterday.”
“That’s not what it sounded like.”
“Are you one of those paranoid types too? Think that somebody is out to get you, and that you have some sort of secret that they are struggling to obtain?”
“I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”
“You are. Well, that’s nice.”
“Look, why don’t you just tell me where you live, and I’ll drop you off at home. Not that I don’t enjoy being pushed into the threat of excitement every couple of hours, but I think we had better stop this before it gets any worse.”
“That’s a real bitch thing to say.”
That really got him.
We were in the middle lane on a major thoroughfare. He cranked his head backward, straining to see if there were any cars passing though on the right hand side. The lane was blocked, and I could see his frustration building.
When the river of traffic moved to carry us forward, I decided to lay off for a while. I lowered my seat backward in the car with a loud thump.
“I’m hungry,” I announced. “I just saved your ass with that old woman, so why don’t you treat me to lunch?”
He was still furious, but I had a point. Likely it would have been a couple of months worth of sensual massage before he uncovered any clues that would have lead him to the fact that the daughter was hiding there ring all along.
“How do I know you aren’t trying to steal my client from me?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Erol, she’s obviously mad for you. I’m not sure I’d be ale to provide the same services you offer.”
I offered a smile from the seat, and propped my feet up on the dashboard once more.
“I’m new to the area, so you should just pick some place out for us to eat, and take me there. Lots of hard work finding that ring, and I need some food before we continue.”
He could have kept going, but I wasn’t going to encourage him in any way whatsoever. I needed food, and I needed some time to think.
One of the main reasons I helped him out was because I knew we needed to be on our way. I didn’t have time for this guy to fuck around with Rita for the next three months, on the basis that he needed the money. There was no reason at all in my mind why we should have to go about delaying working on important matters, simply because he needed to get some cash.
I didn’t have time to deal with that kind of shit.
He cooled off for a minute, and I allowed my eyes to close. I didn't really care where he took me to get food, as long as it was edible, and we got back to business afterward. I tried to relax, and let some of the pressures of the future slip past my mind and out the open window of the car.
The day was peaceful in spite of it all. If I let myself fall into it, the world around me on the Material plane was a pleasant place to be — at least it seemed like it might be if given a chance.
My thoughts strayed back to the Fae Realm, and I felt guilt.
It wasn’t that I was being inactive. Far from that, it’s just that I kept getting this feeling like people on this realm didn’t quite appreciate the fact that their existence kept moving right along. Surely, this planet faced struggles on par with the Fae world. Everything the scientists had been discovering suggested that it was the case.
What got me more than anything else was how perfectly oblivious these people were to any problems outside of their own petty squabbles and relationships.
I shook my head, still thinking about that brat back in the mansion.
“What kind of world do you think she occupies?”
“Who? Rita?”
I hadn’t meant to speak out loud, but the words came unfiltered, and Erol met my contemplations head on.
When I opened my eyes, I saw that we had passed beyond the edge of town. The strip malls and congested roadways had been replaced by thick stands of trees. In between the trees, long stretches of wild grassland seized every piece of ground except for the highway. The vegetation was thick, and wonderful.
In my mind, I couldn’t help but think about the intense levels of competition and violence which were implicit in an ecosystem like that one. On the surface, it looked like such an idyllic place, but just beneath, there was a near endless chain of death. The grass choked out all but the most stubborn of wildflowers. The trees out shaded the grasses, or emitted sub-surface level toxins to prevent them from even taking root.
The whole observation reminded me of the pain that our own realm was going through.
I thought about the approach of the Void in terms of a larger perspective. It could be that our way of life was quite naturally supposed to be eliminated. If there was a reason that the Fae Realm could no longer support the life of the Capitol, why should it be personal?
What right did we have to suck the life-force out of the Material Plane, like some vampiric parasite, desperate to maintain whatever half life had brought us to that position in the first place.
A shade grew over my disposition, and just like that, the depression was back.
“What are you so concerned about?”
The question caught off guard.
We had only been in the car for twenty minutes or so. He didn’t have that much time to get over whatever imagined chaos he had suffered at my hands back at his client’s house. I turned to him, my eyes still sour.
“Some of your inborn sensitivities coming out?”
I didn’t have to be so callous, but I had enough excuses to where it didn’t really matter.
“Just worry about making sure we get some food, and we’ll talk about the rest later.”
He nodded, and we continued down the forested highway.
“Look, I’m not sure how you did that back there, but if you’re really not trying to fuck me over then I owe you a bit of thanks. This place ought to do it.”
He turned off the right hand side of the road into a small cleared inlet, surrounded by trees.
’Heaven and Hearth’ said the sign above the building. It was broad daylight, so there wasn’t much spectacular about the building. In fact, compared to the rest of the forest surrounding it, the building itself was kind of an eyesore. The driveway to the building was nothing more than a dirt lot, worn down by excessive abuse by tires.
“I came here once a long time ago by myself — it was actually the night that I moved to this town. I always thought it would be nice to go here with someone else. I think you’ll like it. They have a lot of good food, but it’s all pretty high quality stuff.
The two of us got out of the car, and I looked grimly at the building. It wasn't that the building itself was problematic, it was the way my mood soured everything else I was experiencing. The passion was gone, and I didn't seem to have a way fo getting things back on track.
Erol led me into the building, and as soon as I entered, the first thing I noticed was the sound of stringed instruments playing in the background. The whole place was empty, but for some reason, there was an overwhelming glut of food everywhere.
There were cakes on the widow seals, and bowls of fruit on the tables. I remember seeing pitchers of water and juice everywhere, and then smelling some type of barbecued animal coming out from the kitchens in the back.
My senses were completely overwhelmed with decadence. The only way it would have been more incredible is if the cakes themselves had been served on Thane's naked body.
Gods, I thought to myself. I need to hurry up and get home. It's pretty obvious that I'm getting bored with this place. I've grown reckless here, and this new form is not helping my emotions whatsoever.
"Welcome to Heaven and Hearth. How can I help you?"
"Do you still have seating by the Hearth in the back?"
The woman smiled and nodded in our direction.
"Great, we'll go back there."
"Right this way."
We were lead through the rows of kitschy booths into a back patio area with rustic wooden furniture. There was an overhead canopy, so if it rained, the whole area wouldn't get soaked, and in the middle of the patio, there was a fire. The Hearth, as it was, was probably the most impressive component of the restaurant.
I felt like I was in a blacksmiths shop while they fired weapons of war. The fire was incredible, and all contained within a series of cob walls that held the flames at bay.
"They use the fire for roasting pigs, and making their oven fired breads. I remember the last time I was here, it really felt like a blast into the renaissance era or something."
The waitress just smiled, and the two of us took a seat at a comfortable distance from the hearth. Had it been nighttime, and a bit colder, the fire might have been more revitalizing. As it was, I felt more of a strange oppressive heat coming off from the flames. In spite of the lack of comfort, I couldn't quite take my eyes from off the center of the fire.
The waitress disappeared for a moment, and then came back shortly with a pitcher of ice water and several trays of frozen deserts.
"You're kidding, right?"
She simply smiled, and sat the tray on the table. I picked up a frozen banana, and put it to my lips. The feeling was soothing and refreshing compared to the heat of the day. My mind went blank as I sucked and nibbled on the tip of the fruit.
This isn't so bad after all...
The thought was in my head for only a moment, before I had to laugh at the absurdity of it all. Meanwhile Erol was busily sucking a strawberry, while daintily holding it between thumb and index finger.
"You've only been here once?"
"Yep. Just that one time."
He smiled and waved his hand around the table.
"No reason to treat myself to this level of pleasure on a regular basis. "
Just then, something drew his attention to his pocket. He pulled out a small phone, and opened it up while tossing the remainder of the strawberry in his mouth. I turned away from him once more to give my attention to the fire, and then to the woods beyond.
"Well, lunch has been taken care of."
I squinted at him like the sound of his voice was an interruption to some deep, private thought.
He shut the phone, and smiled at me, totally at ease with himself.
"That was Rita. Well, actually, that was the bank, but she made a deposit into my account just now."
I couldn't give a shit, but I gave him a response regardless.
"Good news."
"Yea, she usually takes forever to pay, but after this, I won't have to work again for some time. That means I'll have tons of time to devote to personal projects. Pretty neat."
He flagged down the waitress, and asked her to bring some smoked salmon and tonic water.
"Fancy."
"Things a
re really looking up I guess. You never know when something is going to just fall into your lap like that. Thanks a lot for the help."
"Don't trouble yourself."
"I'd love to share the cut with you. After all, you were the one that did all of the hard work. If you wanted to talk about splitting responsibilities in the future, I mean I guess we could talk about being partners."
"Erol..."
"I'm sorry,” he continued, “for giving you such a hard time earlier. Who am I to question your methods? As long as nobody gets hurt, and my clients are satisfied, then I don't see much of a reason to--"
"Erol."
"What?"
"There's something in the fire."
I could feel his attention change immediately.
The air was definitely getting warmer by the second, though chills ran down the center of my spine. My pupils dilated, and my body grew tense.
Just then, I saw the telltale sign of faerie magic drifting through the flames of the hearth. The sign was small, and could have been missed by anyone who wasn't intimately familiar with their meaning.
Without wasting another moment, I stood up so quickly the table flipped in front of us. While the table was in mid air, I grabbed Erol and dove backward on the ground behind us. As we fell, the table burst into flames, the waitress screamed and our drinks fell to the ground.
Still grabbing ahold of Erol's collar, I twisted him in my direction and stared straight into his eyes.
"Stay out of my fucking way."
Chapter 10
Before I could say anything more, and before Erol could respond, another blast of energy cracked the table into pieces, leaving us exposed and on the ground.
I rose up and took a knee in front of Erol.
Flaming bolts of energy shot past my face and around my person. Magic had begun to emanate out from within me. All I could hope for was that I might be able to provide the two of us with enough passive defense so I could figure out who it was that was attacking us. For a person to take a stand and attack two targets in broad daylight meant that they didn't care who saw, and they were not planning on leaving any witnesses.
