Shards of Ecstasy

by TJ Michaels

  The man smiled at his handiwork and Dee had to give him his props. This was beyond amazing.

  But now it was her turn.

  “Move us farther out over the water, Faze.”

  In a whoosh of wind and a flurry of fog they were quite a ways out into the Sound. The echo of the water slapping just below them was a comfort to Dee. She was at home here. And now it was time to show the man what she could do.

  In tandem they dropped to their knees facing each other. The typical chill of the Sound was strangely absent and Faison knew that Dee somehow controlled the temperature of the water as the fog became walls of warm water surrounding them and keeping them from view. Smoothly, it wrapped round and round them until they were within a column of seething, churning water. It was like being in a hot tub with the water swirling around you like a whirlpool but not actually touching you.

  Floating an arm’s distance away, the woman almost took his breath and his concentration when she aimed a number of slim columns of water his way. They moved over his body, tweaked his nipples and skimmed over his chest like little loving fingers. Then another water column appeared, wrapped around his cock and fisted up and down his shaft.

  God, it was like a full body blowjob!

  Knowing that Dee controlled it, that he was completely at her mercy sent his arousal into the stratosphere.

  “Dee, god, I can’t take much more. I need you. Need to be inside.”

  With complete trust and no hesitation she laid back on the cushion of air he’d created for her. Knees in the air, she spread herself for him. Faison licked his lips at the candy pink flesh glistening between cocoa folds, so juicy and inviting. But he needed to feel her wrapped around him, squeezing him, wrapping around him like the fist of water that had just receded into the swirling sea around them.

  “Come to me, Faze. Give it to me.”

  “Put me inside.”

  Her movements were jerky, hurried as she reached down, took his swollen dick firmly in her hand and positioned him at her gate. Moving him back and forth, she coated his cock with her juices.

  “Enough.” Faison took over and worked his cock into her body. An inch in to coat himself with more of her cream, an inch out. Two inches in. God it was killing him. Three inches in. Unable to take it slow a second longer, Faison plunged inside and reveled in the loud moan and decadent sighs of both him and his woman that could still be heard over the din of the water. The friction of his flesh as it moved within hers. The press of her heels into the meat of his butt to pull him deeper. The strength of her arms around his back and neck as she rolled her hips to urge him deeper. The fingernails that scratched gently at his skin from scalp to ass. And the heat and indescribable slickness of her pussy.

  Honeyed eyes gazed deeply into his. And the words that came out of that woman’s mouth, about how much she loved it, how much she needed him? God, it was almost too much for a man to bear without blowing like solid rocket fuel on a NASA launcher.

  Releasing his gift completely Faison let the wind whip around them in a frenzy, just as wild and uncontrolled as his thrusts into Dee. And the more he gave her, the more he wanted, the more she demanded.

  Withdrawing for the slightest second, Faison flipped Dee over, pulled her up on her knees and rode himself into oblivion.

  Faison felt his whole world tighten and focus on the woman beneath him. When it released, his orgasm blasted him apart.

  “Holy fucking shit!” Dee’s orgasm surged at the same moment her powers and her crystal exploded. Sparkles and light reflected off the bluish green walls of water surrounding them until it was blinding.

  Still floating just a smidge above the water, Dee’s legs slid out from under her. She landed flat on her stomach with a splash in a happy heap with a yummy Faison on top of her, arms still wrapped around her body and holding tight.

  After a few moments, she could breathe again, well almost breathe considering Faison’s considerable weight plastered across her back.

  “Faze, roll off so we can get up.”

  She felt him shift and almost groaned at the loss of the girth of his cock when he pulled out. Now if he would just get off her she could work on getting her lungs to behave normally.

  “What the…?”

  “What? What’s wrong?” A sated Dee pushed up slightly on one elbow and rolled. Only nothing happened. “Faison, move baby. You’re getting heavy.”

  “I can’t.”

  Dee would have thought he was just being funny if not for the true confusion and the hint of bewilderment that laced his words.

  She looked down to where his hand rested between her breasts. Well, his fingers hadn’t grown into her skin so why couldn’t he move his hand? She pushed back on her knees. Faison seemed to get the gist of what she was doing and shifted with her, yet still his hand remained plastered to her chest.

  “Hey, wait. My arm doesn’t bend that way, Dee,” he grumbled.

  After some impressive maneuvering Dee sat Indian-style with her sweaty back plastered against Faison’s chest and his softening cock beneath her ass.

  That’s when she saw it. A stone she was as familiar with as her own skin. Only it wasn’t her crystal, yet it was. Bigger and more brilliant, it hung from both the silver diamond cut chain around her neck and the metal of the distinct looking cuff bracelet around Faison’s wrist.

  The two stones had fused, and straight-up fused together as if they’d been dug from the rock this way.

  Oh my gods! It happened just like it had with Memory and Marco. The legends of The Chosen and the Hearts of Fire manifested before her very eyes. Fai’s crystal had indeed bound itself to the stone in her pendent.

  And She purred about it all.

  Chapter Six

  Faison had tiptoed out of Dee’s house early this morning. Thinking back on the way Dee had called the fog in from the Sound and subtly surrounded them until they made it naked back to her house, all he could do was wonder at his good fortune. He’d been picked to be a Chosen. While he didn’t relish the idea of saving the world from a big, bad demon, he did see himself spending his life with Dee.

  In fact, he wanted nothing more than to spend the day in bed with her but couldn’t simply disappear altogether knowing that his manager and band would be looking for him to rehearse for the next performance tomorrow night.

  In fact while he’d been writing a note for her to let her know he was going home to shower, nap then head to rehearsal, twice he’d almost said “screw it” and returned to her side. In the end he’d left the note on the kitchen counter and practically run out the door just to keep his resolve to go take care of his business.

  As he walked back to the venue where his concert had been held the previous night Faison slammed to a halt. Someone was tailing him. He could feel it. He took his time and dropped to one knee as if he had to tie his shoe. Using the position to look around him Faison was at a loss. There was no one around. He shouldn’t have been surprised given the early hour, yet the malintent souring the air was almost palpable. Hell, was palpable.

  Back at his car parked on a side street near the now empty amphitheater tent he blew out a sigh of relief when the vehicle started and he was on his way home.

  And for the millionth time his mind drifted back to Dee. Damn, there just seemed to be no way to get his mind off the mind-blowing experience with her last night. Just the thought of kissing her, touching her, loving her chased the feeling of doom clear out of sight. The woman was spectacular, even when she was nowhere around.

  Faison laughed out loud, then laughed again when he realized he couldn’t remember the last time he’d smiled like this, enjoyed life like this. And it was all Dee’s fault, thank the gods.

  But the feeling didn’t last long. Leaving his underground lot Faison headed toward the bank of shiny silver elevators that would take him up to his apartment. There was that sense of doom again. It slithered up his spine like a venomous insect too small to be seen but whose sting was easily felt. Faison wra
pped his fingers around his wrist—a wrist that no longer sported the silver cuff with its embedded crystal that had always given him a bit of comfort in the midst of his fears. He’d never known why the thing calmed him, had never truly appreciated it until now when he needed it and didn’t have it.

  So what the hell was going on, exactly? First he met Dee and his crystal went berserk. Then he discovered that she was just as drawn to him as he was to her. Then they fucked like drunken bunnies and he felt closer to her than anyone for as far back as he could remember. And she was an elemental just like him, well sort of like him. What were the odds of that? Having matching crystals was strange enough, but meeting another elemental knocked the notion of “strange” out of the park. And the evil stalking him was what exactly?

  Suddenly with a clarity that shook him to the very foundation of his faith, Faison knew where to find the answers—his great uncle’s journal. The thing had been stashed away in one of his trunks up in the storage space in his apartment for ages. Great Uncle’s daughter had sent it to Faison when Uncle died three years ago. Faison had been on tour when his favorite relative in the entire world passed. A wave of sadness passed over him at remembering how he hadn’t even had the chance to say goodbye to the man who had spent so much time with him as a child. Uncle had taught him to fight, taught him to hold to his beliefs and not be talked into doing what others wanted him to do. He’d taught him that he was special, not cursed, and encouraged him to explore and develop his elemental gifts. That same man had given him a custom silver cuff on his eighteenth birthday and told him he was destined for great things, including a great life, great power and a once-in-a-lifetime great love.

  Once inside his apartment, Faison tore through the house and headed straight to the storage room. Locating the journal was easy. He took it with him to the bathroom and showered, then carried it to the kitchen for a bite to eat. Strange, he just didn’t want to let the thing out of his sight. Even with the little he remembered of his uncle’s words regarding the crystal’s origins, he was sure that what he needed to know was in this book.

  Finally settled in for a nap before his rehearsal, he sent Dee a text message letting her know he was thinking about her. Carefully he opened the journal. Noting the age and experiences of his uncle seemed etched into the very leather of the cover, Faison began to read. And what he found both energized and terrified him.

  But one thing was for sure—Dee had to be protected at all costs. He knew very little of what a Chosen was, but from his uncle’s writing, which seemed to be interpretations of dreams, he knew that these people were pivotal to the survival of all mankind. And his woman was one of them.

  * * * * *

  Faison opened his eyes and froze. The shades were up and revealed a coal black sky. Black? What time was it? He remembered falling asleep reading the journal but it had been broad daylight, barely nine o’clock this morning. How much time had passed? And wasn’t he supposed to be somewhere? Damn. His mind went blank as a freshly washed old-fashioned chalkboard.

  He sat up in bed and found himself slammed back down to the mattress.

  “What the hell?”

  “No, human, the question is who the hell.”

  It was that guy who had been harassing Dee last night. Dev… Uh, Dal…? D-something-or-other? “How the hell did you get in here?”

  “I will ask the questions before I kill you, but unfortunately for you I don’t have any questions.”

  “What? You’re not making any goddamned sense. What the fuck do you want?”

  “Again, wrong question. It’s who the fuck do I want.”

  Faison tried to get up again. Crap. Couldn’t move an inch.

  “What are you?” Though in truth, he knew he faced a demon if Uncle’s journal was correct. A demon who wanted the Chosen for his own ends. This was so not good. At least Dee was nowhere around.

  “Finally a question that makes sense. I am your undoing. I am the one that will fuck your little water elemental until she begs for more, then begs me to stop. Until I drill a hole through her body straight into her soul. Then I’ll fuck her some more before devouring her life’s energy.”

  Oh hell no! This pasty-faced asshole threatened to hurt Dee?

  “You won’t touch her, Devon, David or whatever the fuck your name is.”

  “This body’s name is Devon.”

  “Fine, then whatever your real name is.”

  The thing moved fully into the room then dropped its illusion of being a Seattle techno-geek. A mouth full of razor-sharp teeth looked completely out of place in the handsome face of the demon. He truly was an angel of light, gorgeous to look upon but with an aura so dark and perverted it almost caused Faison physical pain to be in the same room with it.

  “Damn, you are one ugly motherfucker,” Faison taunted.

  The thing laughed. The sound was a mix of chimes and the sound that metal makes when it scrapes across metal, like a train trying to come to a screeching halt on the tracks.

  “Your Chosen should have been mine.”

  “Listen, I don’t choose who the woman is interested in, so don’t be mad at me.”

  “Enough!” It lifted a hand and Faison’s two-hundred-ten-pound self was tossed through the air like a measly lightweight. But at least he was no longer stuck to the bed flat on his back.

  Instinctively he put a cushion of air between himself and the quickly approaching door. Nothing like meeting the backside of a wooden door to ruin one’s day. His gift was slow to respond but thankfully he was able to manipulate the now stifling air into enough of a pillow to keep from having his forehead bashed in on impact.

  Before he could form his next thought a lick of what felt like fire lashed him in the back. The pain was indescribable. An irrepressible scream left his throat raw as it erupted from his body to vibrate against the vaulted ceiling.

  Faison wrapped himself in a bandage of air from head to foot, trying to keep the skin from being stripped from his body an inch at a time.

  He knew in his gut who or rather what he faced. And according to his uncle’s journal Faison also knew that without Dee he could never defeat it. But maybe he could escape to warn Dee or at least slow the thing down. Something. Anything to keep her safe just long enough to get away. Gathering what breath and focus he could, Faison reached out to the element around him—the air—and prayed it would be enough.

  The crash of wood banging against a wall told him the gods weren’t listening. The shredding of his front door heralded the arrival of the one person he wanted far away from here. A pissed-off growl preceded, “Back the hell up, Asmo!”

  Hurricane De’alla had arrived.

  Fuck. The Chosen wasn’t supposed to be here. When he’d left off watching her place she’d been sound asleep, deep under his spell. How did she know he was here? Did she know who he was?

  He sure as hell hoped not. Seducing her would be impossible if she saw him tear the skin off her lover in thin little strips without a weapon. He’d already failed to acquire her sister Memory’s crystal. In fact, he’d almost had to return to the lower realms long before he was ready because the energy he’d expended fighting her and that damn mate of hers had practically drained him.

  Still he refused to accept it. There was no way these mortals would defeat him, not even temporarily. Not this time.

  How Memory and Marco had known to summon the one thing that he had no weapon against was still a mystery to him. But this Faison had no crystal and no power that Asmodeus could sense. So that left Dee, and her powers were known to him. Yes, Asmodeus knew exactly how to take her out, crystal or no.

  Asmodeus set his mind to the task of super heating the air around them to remove all the water from it. No water meant no power for De’alla.

  But in the meantime, the woman had succeeded in one thing—breaking his focus just long enough to cause him to lose his grasp on the Faison idiot. With a thump the man fell to the floor. Asmodeus ignored him and went back to heating things up a bi
t.

  “Faison? Faison, are you okay?”

  Asmodeus fought with himself to keep the disgusted curl from his lip as the woman spoke to the puny human who called himself her man. He didn’t deserve a woman like De’alla.

  She touched and shook him with one hand and clutched that damn crystal with the other. Well, he wasn’t walking out of here tonight without her and that fucking stone.

  Suddenly Faison’s energy spiked so powerfully it practically knocked Asmodeus off his feet. The human male roared with a ferocity that was almost impressive. And he was fully restored? Now that was a surprise.

  Chapter Seven

  The howl of the gale that she knew was Faison’s doing echoed in her ears. The shard of the lemon quartz crystal that rested between her breasts began to pulse and glow a deep yellow at its core. Without thought Dee wrapped her fingers around it. The expected calm did not disappoint. It was there immediately, easing her fears and amplifying her gift.

  But this time was different. This time her elemental gift came into play at the same time as a spike of energy surged through the crystal and into Faison’s body. The next thing she knew, Faison was up on his feet and ready to brawl. It was like a burst of healing mixed with caffeine shot straight into the man’s bloodstream.

  Faison gritted his teeth and braced himself as if ready to do battle. He directed his words toward Dee but never took his focus off their foe.

  “Dee, unleash your power!” Faison yelled over the tempest. Unleash it? Was he crazy? She’d never given her powers free rein. Just controlling the little bit she did release, even during practice, was a challenge. Gods knew what she’d destroy if she simply let it go. Wait. Let it go…? Destroy? That was it! Faison knew how to destroy, or at least weaken, Asmodeus!

  “Dee! Do it now. If you trust me, do it.”