by Nichols, TJ
The circle closed, and as one, the mages and Angus sat. The rocks were still warm from the sun. He shivered, but it was from nerves not the cold. He was glad that he could feel heat and cold again. That had to be a good sign. He glanced sideways at Saka, but Saka was looking straight ahead. His breathing deep and even, lifting his chest.
The mage who seemed to be in charge talked as though expecting everyone to obey and listen. Since Angus was part of the circle, he did. He didn’t want a demotion to captive in the middle. It was one thing to know it was done, but another to see them and be acutely aware of what was happening. To be a human on the side of the demons.
Where were his loyalties? Those humans had done something to warrant being sent across, but what? Were they like him, sent across because they’d annoyed the wrong person or had they been plucked out of prison, their life sentences to be served—and shortened—on Demonside?
While he tried to follow the meditation, he kept feeling that he shouldn’t be there. Humans didn’t join in from this side—was being on this side any different? There was going to be sex, lots of sex. It wouldn’t really matter if he were demon or human. Mage or warlock or ordinary. The whole idea was to delay that moment.
Would Saka be begging by the end? It would almost be worth it to see him on his knees and desperate to let go. Saka was so much better at holding back, all the mages would be.
Ah. That’s why there were no apprentices here. They were still learning.
He was still learning. He was so out of his depth.
But he didn’t have to do anything except stay afloat… then it didn’t matter how deep the water was. He could do that. He was more than a little excited to be part of something so big. That, coupled with his uncertainty, made his heart beat faster.
The meditation lost all words. It had become a song without words. Or maybe they were words and he didn’t know them. After a while he began to feel the repetition. After a little longer, he found himself murmuring along. The air seemed thicker, his skin warmer.
He was getting hard.
That realization was enough to drop him out of the comfy zone he’d been in. He peeked beneath his lashes and saw a delicate magenta mist roiling over the ground, bubbling around the humans in the middle. They no longer looked concerned. Their eyes were bright with lust. He envied them in that moment. He was still thinking way too much.
He tried to find the song again but couldn’t.
Then people were moving. Saka’s tail traced up his back. Angus breathed slowly. The magic kept bubbling and swelling and ebbing within the circle. The song was still there but fading as people became caught in the moment and they fell into the magic.
Angus wasn’t quite sure what to expect. He saw mages lead a human away and form a cluster, but he couldn’t see what was going on because of the mist. Saka kissed him, drawing his attention away from what was going on.
“Stop thinking and relax.” The demon’s voice was soft. His touch was sure.
This was normal for a mage? He couldn’t imagine any warlock ever doing anything like this.
While Angus felt very exposed and too naked, no one else was worried. No one else was even looking, and after a few minutes of Saka’s gentle coaxing, Angus had found that place again. The place where the magic was thrumming within him and nothing else mattered.
Right up until someone else touched him. Their hand slid down his back, then along his jaw. Their lips brushed the back of his neck, and Saka pushed him back. Another horned demon caught him, and he landed in her lap. She cupped his face and caressed. Someone else was touching her lips. Angus watched, mesmerized. She wouldn’t let him turn his head, but he could feel Saka’s touch going lower.
It was still Saka… wasn’t it? Panic leapt in his chest, and he tried to sit up. He couldn’t. The woman kept caressing Angus, tracing his collarbone. The repeated motion was calming. There was nothing demanding in her touch. His breathing steadied and followed the rhythm of her touch. With each touch it became easier to give in to the magic again.
Saka’s tongue flicked along Angus’s shaft. He gasped, but there was nothing more. It was all touching and teasing. The woman turned her head to the other mage, kissing him deeply. Angus watched them.
And he grew braver, moving to touch someone he didn’t know. When the attention was returned, a shimmer of lust burst through him. They wanted to touch him and see who this warlock was, but they were letting him make that first move.
He found himself caught up in what was happening, or not happening.
Even though no one was having sex, the mist was thickening, and growing darker. Bodies moved through it and vanished into it. Saka was never too far from his side… then Angus stopped looking.
He had fallen into the lull of lust being created.
Different demons felt different to touch. While Saka’s skin was silken, some were rough, or scaly. Their lips tasted different. On more than one occasion, he found himself in the arms of a female mage. He’d never even kissed a human woman.
But at the time, it felt right. The demons were more than happy to play with him… he was a novelty. Their touch was kind and curious, much like his. He was hard but not achingly so. He was starting to have an odd kind of fun as the rest of the world ceased existing and he could barely think beyond his next breath.
Then Saka was back with him, pushing him down and moving over him, claiming his mouth and lowering his hips to grind against Angus’s. “Things are about to go up. Can you feel the shift in energy?”
Angus blinked and struggled to understand the words. His brain had forgotten what they were for a moment. Now that Saka had said it, he could feel the change. There was a hunger, a need behind each touch.
“Yes.”
“Touch will get more personal….” His tongue dipped into Angus’s mouth. “I will find you toward the end.” His nails skimmed down Angus’s chest and lower, to give Angus’s shaft a casual stroke.
If Angus hadn’t felt the increase in tension before, he did then. He also realized that this was the bit where he was rapidly going to come unstuck and prove how inexperienced he was. Saka glanced up at whomever was behind Angus. Saka might not be with him, but he was keeping an eye on what was happening.
Angus glanced around to see who it was… the horned woman again. She smiled, and her tail flicked out and across his jaw. As he watched she licked along the length of a green cock. He turned over, intending to help her out, but a hand on his stomach, followed by a mouth, and a tongue that licked his belly held him still.
The horned woman grasped Angus’s hand with her tail and guided it to her slit. He hesitated, but she didn’t release him. He wasn’t sure what to do. Now wasn’t the time to be fussy. It was about the magic. He could make her want more without wanting her. His finger sank into her, and she eased her legs a little farther apart. Her tail remained around his wrist, guiding him.
His breathing deepened as the mouth on his shaft took him deep. Angus placed his hand on the shoulder of the demon sucking his cock. He needed a moment. The demon understood without Angus saying anything. They didn’t want their ritual stuffed up. The mage, a white skinned vampry, moved, and Angus sat up. He eyed the jutting pale shaft for a moment, then gave a mental shrug. He ran his fingers along the narrow shaft, then took it in his mouth.
There were words for people like him on the other side of the void, and none of them were very flattering. The Warlock College would have him thrown out for sleeping with demons, being part of their rituals, and doing sex and blood magic. Now that the thought was there, he stalled. The lust and fun he’d been experiencing fell away. He glanced up.
The vampry smiled but pulled away. A hand landed on his lower back, and he was pushed to his stomach. Someone was on him. He tried to get up; he didn’t want to be pinned down.
Lips were by his ear. “Relax… nothing that happens here matters outside of the circle.” It was Saka’s voice. The tips of his claws were in Angus’s shoulders, grounding
him in the present.
He took several breaths and tried to concentrate on the way Saka’s body pressed against his. The heat of the demon’s skin and the length of his hard cock between them. He’d already been thrown out of the college and left for dead. He let those thoughts go. Saka’s hold eased.
This time when Angus pushed back, Saka let him turn over. The magenta mist was no longer soft. The mist had become a living thing, crackling as though lit by lightning. He didn’t need to be an expert to know what was happening. Every breath he took was laced with the energy and lust, and every exhale contributed.
It was easier to stop fighting and stop thinking. Just breathe it in and be part of it. Tomorrow in daylight he could think and ask questions. He could ponder who he was, what he was becoming, and what that meant.
Saka moved against him, kissed him. Yes.
Every touch sparked in the crackling air. The shocks raced through his blood and made his dick throb. Angus didn’t remember getting so aroused, but now he wanted release.
Saka sat up, still straddling Angus, and took an offered cock into his mouth as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Angus watched as his demon sucked another. It was desire, not jealousy, that consumed Angus. Without taking his eyes off the display, he reached down and grasped Saka’s and his own cock. A shudder ran through him. He had to keep it together for a little longer, but his palm was slick with precome.
The horned woman leaned over and kissed him, distracting him just a little. Angus slid his hand down her body; her skin gleamed in the roiling storm of magic. His finger touched her slit, and then a tongue brushed his fingers—someone else was also playing with her. The magic was becoming too thick for him to see what exactly was going on.
Saka’s tail wrapped around Angus’s wrist, stopping him.
Angus tried to breathe, but he was drowning in the crackly magic. It was sharp like a storm, no longer soft like a breeze, and it was invading every part of him. The currents passing through him and needling his skin on the inside.
He wanted, no needed, to fuck. And at that moment, he didn’t care what or who. The woman tugged his hand away. She lay down on her back and licked her lips. Angus took that as an invitation. He moved, but not far enough. Saka had caught his hips.
The woman slid under him, her tongue brushed the head of his cock. It would be so easy to sink into her mouth. Saka’s tongue slid down the crease of Angus’s butt as the demon gripped him. Around him, he was aware of moans and sighs, that the woman who was teasing his cock had her legs wrapped around someone else.
A tiny part of his brain warned that this was debauched. The very reason sex magic was frowned on and condemned as being cheap thrills that required no skill.
How wrong the college was.
He could’ve come a dozen times, if not for someone else being hyper aware of him and his low level of experience, but the time wasn’t right. It was getting close now. The magic was changing in feel, in weight and texture, with every breath. Noticing the changes was helping to keep him sane, instead of going under. Did people lose their minds and never find a way out?
It seemed entirely too possible. Who would want to leave such a place when everything—even the digging in of claws—felt good?
Saka pressed the head of his cock against Angus’s ass. He pushed back with a groan. That was what he wanted. But there was no frenzied fucking to the finish. Time seemed to slow. His breathing was loud in his ears. He couldn’t see his own hands on the ground in front of him. Was something happening to his skin? Every time he blinked, the world seemed to have changed.
Had he died at some point?
Nothing was solid or real. It was too bright, too dark. Every sense was too alert, and then there was nothing until it all rushed back. He turned his head, not sure if he was still upright or if he’d fallen over. Never in his life had he been so disconnected from his body.
He did still have a body?
The world crashed back into him, taking his breath as though he’d slammed into the mountain from a great height. His hips jerked as he came in the mouth below him. Claws dug deep into his butt and thighs. The heat of demon come pumped into him.
He blinked, and all the magic was gone, not a trace of the mist remained. The ground seemed to shudder and sigh. He wanted to collapse, so he did. He rolled to the side and then lay on his back and looked up at the stars.
It took a while before he remembered how to breathe. He lifted his hands. They were still there, and they were still his. They were no longer lost in the magic. He wriggled his fingers. Fingers. They mesmerized him as he lay there. He knew he needed to ground himself, but he didn’t quite have the will to move more than his fingers. He splayed his hand.
Fascinating.
Then his arm got too heavy to hold so he let it fall to the ground. He breathed deeply and tried to remember exactly what had happened, but there were only vague impressions. He shivered as his skin evoked the sensation of being touched by many all at once. He knew he’d done something he wouldn’t usually do.
This whole night was something he couldn’t have imagined. He knew that he’d only scratched the surface of what was possible. He’d let others do things to him. He hadn’t been in control of anyone—he’d barely been in control of himself. Yet he knew that was a part of it because Saka had kept him on the edge that first time in his tent. From that first cut, there had been no relief until Saka had offered it.
That time he thought he’d try something with Jim had been a weak attempt at something powerful. He was embarrassed even to think about it.
Exhaustion weighed him down. But no one seemed to be in a rush to move. The night was warm. The rocks were warm… there was one digging into the back of his thigh, but it wasn’t painful enough for him to move. Not yet anyway.
Saka lay next to him. He had one arm over his eyes, the other on his stomach.
Angus thought about reaching out, but that would require effort and moving. And in his next breath, he realized that he didn’t want to be touching anyone. He wanted to be alone.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Saka rolled over and moved closer to Angus. After the late night, made later by the walk down the mountain after a short grounding ceremony of water and bread, he had no plans on getting up early. His tent was already lit, the sun was up, and people were going about their business. Tonight the mages would start initiating apprentices. One at a time. This year there were ten. Each would get a night of testing, and then they’d be admitted. The demons would spend the last few days of the gathering doing other rituals, discussing any issues that had come up between the leaders and reassigning mages to different tribes if needed. Or even making new tribes, halving big ones or merging smaller ones.
Today he would take Angus out to look at the rivers they had lifted and to talk. There hadn’t been much of that last night. From what he’d gathered, Angus’s father had decided that his son was a liability. That meant that his father was afraid.
He liked the idea of the college being afraid since it meant that there was still a chance to turn things around. Ideally the first lot of underground wizards would arrive before the end of the gathering.
Saka turned over again, knowing he wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep even though he was tired. Angus was still asleep. It wouldn’t be fair to wake him. When they’d reached the tent last night, Saka had continued the healing he’d started on top of the mountain. Angus had been asleep before he’d finished. This morning the warlock’s skin was no longer red and painful looking.
Last night when the hunters had delivered Angus, Saka had thought Angus too far gone, but apparently, humans were more resilient than they looked. That would be a good thing to keep in mind when training them.
After a few more moments of deliberation, Saka got up. He’d wash and get something to eat. By the time he got back, hopefully Angus would be awake. Hopefully no one would pull Saka away and distract him with duty when he wanted some personal time.
/> Many people in the tribe heard that Angus was back. Some wanted to know for how long. Saka had no idea. The unspoken question was how was he going to get home? But no one was rude enough to ask.
If he had to, Saka would send him to Guda so she could return him to the right side of the void. However, that was a dilemma for another day.
Miniti stopped him in the market. “Your warlock is back.”
“He is. I have yet to get the full reason, but it seems his father didn’t like Angus supporting Demonside.”
Miniti flicked her hand. “Who cares what his father thinks. What about his mother?”
Most demons knew who their father was, but it wasn’t an issue and they had very little impact. A woman’s child was a child of the tribe. “She isn’t a warlock. Humans have a different structure. They mate for life.”
“How odd. So the father is in charge? How does he know that the child is his?”
Saka shrugged. “I don’t pretend to understand.”
Miniti frowned. “I am glad Angus is here. There has been much talk already.”
“So I have gathered.”
“Will you be teaching him while he is here? He is the first warlock apprentice after all.” Miniti was thinking how Angus could lift the status of the tribe. As long as Saka’s plan worked, everything would be fine. If Demonside dried up, Saka would find himself attached to a post in the desert, waiting for death.
He’d been thinking of returning Angus as quickly as possible, but maybe it was better that he stay awhile. Saka could call him an apprentice. The trouble would be getting the scattered human apprentices home before they started to weaken or died. That was something they still needed to discuss.
“Yes. I will teach him some more. The humans need to learn.”
“Be careful they do not learn enough to destroy us.” She turned and swept away, her red dress brushing the sand behind her.
