by Kiel Nichols
“My God,” she breathed. “That was the most incredible thing that ever happened to me.”
“You’re not upset?” Gideon asked, amazed.
“Not at all, why should I be?”
Gideon didn’t know if she didn’t realize that Kristano was there for the whole thing. He didn’t know if she realized that Kristano had seen the entire thing.
“I knew he was watching,” Raina said, blushing furiously. “Just the thought of it was so hot that I couldn’t stop coming.”
“Really?” Gideon was a little embarrassed that he had forgotten that Kristano was in the room when he had taken her. He found himself feeling sorry for Kristano. All that sexual energy and he didn’t...
“Yes, he did,” Raina said.
“Oh,” Gideon decided to let it go. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it, but considering the power of the orgasm that ripped out of him, he couldn’t find it in himself to be upset. As a matter of fact, the very thought of what happened made him hard again.
Raina shifted on him and gasped as his cock hardened even more inside of her. “You’ve got to be kidding,” she said.
Gideon thrust up into her.
Raina gasped, “Guess not.”
Gideon shifted them so that Raina could lean back against the arm of the chair. They were sitting sideways on the large arm chair. He gently leaned her back and reached between their bodies. Her clit was hot and swollen. He stroked it gently, making Raina shudder.
“I don’t think I can come again,” she said.
“Oh, I know you can come again,” Gideon replied with a diabolical grin.
Gideon rubbed the nub harder while jibbing into her with short hard thrusts. In moments, Raina was screaming out her pleasure. Gideon slowed his thrusts as Raina came down from her orgasm.
“What about you?” she asked.
“I’m fine,” he said, lazily moving in her.
Raina reached between their bodies and wrapped the base of his cock in her thumb and index finger. Every time he pulled out of her slightly, she stroked upward. Her grip was so tight it was just this side of painful. He’d never been jerked off while he was fucking and the pleasure was overwhelming. It wasn’t long before he came again. He felt like his balls were being wrung dry.
When he was done, Raina kissed him softly. Gideon had never felt so loved.
* * * *
Kristano had reappeared in his spacious living room next door. His décor was surprisingly homey, considering that he hadn’t lived in that house very long. He had others around the world, but he had just recently bought this one. He convinced the owners to sell it to him right after Raina was attacked.
Truthfully, he hadn’t thought that the prophecy would happen in Raina’s lifetime, but he needed to make sure that she would be alive to hand down the responsibility of keeper. He had waited so long for the prophecy to begin that he had doubted it would ever happen.
As soon as he had gotten home, Kristano plunged the room into darkness. He needed the quiet of the night to think. He lay down on his couch with his hands linked behind his head. With very little magic, he was able to clothe himself in clean sweatpants and a sweatshirt.
He needed some time alone after what had happened. He’d had sex many times in his long life, but nothing had ever affected him like that. He had a feeling that what he saw was a small taste of what he would have if he found his lifemate.
He wished he still didn’t know.
Thousands of years, thousands upon thousands of years, he existed. He fought in wars, saw the decimation of entire villages by invading armies, watched bodies thrown into the street during the Black Death, saw the results of the atomic bomb, and wondered if the world would destroy itself before Adder had the chance. He’d had sex with more women than he could count and taken blood from even more than that, yet he never experienced the human connection that he did with Raina and Gideon.
He’d always been alone, but he never truly understood what that meant. He’d never been lonely.
Kristano turned on his side and willed himself to sleep.
Chapter 11
The dream began the way all dreams seem to...in a corridor. A long corridor with doors off the sides and no one else wandering the halls. Raina could feel a sense of herself, but also she could feel another self. She knew that she wasn’t the one walking down the hallway. Rather, she was hitching a ride with someone else, becoming a mere shadow in his mind. She had the sense that this had already happened, and she was experiencing a rerun.
When he (they) reached the end of the hallway there was an open waiting room. A stern faced woman sat behind the desk. In a recess of her mind, Raina recognized her. She was the woman being tortured by Adder in her vision. Raina tried to struggle free of the man’s consciousness, but couldn’t.
“He’s ready for you,” the woman said. Raina could tell that she was relieved that she wasn’t the one going into the office. Given what she saw in her vision, Raina couldn’t blame her for it.
She could feel the dread inside the man about to enter the office. He was nervous. She knew he’d never been on Adder’s bad side because he was only nervous. Raina was terrified.
He (They) walked into the office and stood in front of Adder’s desk.
“Director Cascaval, I understand you wanted to see me. If it’s about the Kallan incident, I can’t tell you what happened until I investigate it. It is possible that they do periodic sweeps for explosives and found them. I’m surprised that they were able to disarm them all so quickly, they were set with trip wires, but...”
Adder held up a hand to cut off the explanation. “Do you think I care for your excuses?” He rose from behind his desk and turned to stand in front of it, looking at him (them) calmly.
Adder flicked his hand toward the south wall of the room. When he did, the wall disappeared. Raina could feel the man’s amazement. The wall didn’t recede into the background. It completely disappeared.
What was behind it made his (their) blood chill. Raina recognized some of the instruments of torture, but not all of them. The man recognized nearly all of them, and, through him, Raina learned more about torture techniques than she ever wanted to know. She could hear him chanting in his head, He’s just trying to scare me. He’s not going to actually use those on me. No one would remain loyal to him if he tortured them every time they fucked up.
Adder snapped his fingers, and the man (they) began moving toward him. Raina hadn’t had any control of the body she inhabited, but the man suddenly found himself also unable to control his own body. He walked toward Adder, but he was trying not to move. Raina could feel his confusion.
“One of the things I told you, Jensen, was that I didn’t tolerate fuckups.” Adder got right into Jensen’s face. Raina felt like he should have known that she was hitching a ride in Agent Jensen’s consciousness. Adder was so close that she could see the striations in his eyes. She was startled to realize that what was about to happen was, to some extent, her fault. Jensen was going to be punished for failing to kill her.
“You didn’t know what you were getting into when you took this job, did you? Just thought that you’d be able to act with impunity.” Looking as intently into Adder’s eyes as she was, Raina didn’t miss the change that took place. His eyes went from ice blue to pure black. His canines extended.
Raina heard Jensen’s scream, even though it was only in his head. She began to shake. It was as though she was physically there, but because it had already happened, she couldn’t affect a change.
Adder snapped again, and the room shimmered.
“Soundproof,” was all he said.
Jensen could suddenly move his (their) head. He was also able to speak. “What the hell is going on?” he asked.
He laughed and got right up into Jensen’s face. He (They) could smell Adder’s fetid breath. “I’m going to give you pain like you’ve never known before, and when I’m done you are going to go back to work and kill that Kallan bitch for me.”
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Still denying what was right in front of his eyes, Jensen said, “You torture me now, I’ll be no good to you later.” Jensen was thinking that if this happened, he was gone. He thought about the stash he had in the bank deposit box. He could just make himself disappear. Raina wanted to shout at him to shut up, to stop thinking.
“Ah, you think you’ll be able to run? I’ll tell you what, I’ll give you a head start.” Adder moved back and gestured for the door. “Go ahead, run!”
Jensen tried to move toward the door, but he couldn’t. He was frozen in place.
“Good choice,” Adder said sardonically. “Take your punishment like a good boy then get back to work.”
Adder walked over to the shelf and picked up a long thin knife. He snapped his fingers again, and Jensen (they) were naked. Adder placed the knife, flat, on his (their) pectoral muscle. Then he started to slide it down, angling it slightly until a long strip of skin and part of the nipple was removed. The pain was exquisite. Jensen locked his teeth together, intending to prove that he was tough enough to take it. Once the strip was removed, Adder put his tongue on the open would and began to lick the blood away. The acidic burn of Adder’s tongue finally loosed Jensen’s (their) scream.
* * * *
Gideon was cooking up a storm. He had energy to burn and decided to put it into a big meal. He had to go out to the lake and practice with the Waterfire again later, but for now he wanted to make a good meal for Raina. She seemed to be exhausted lately. Between all the research into the prophecy, practicing her precognition, trying to control the clairvoyance, and their seemingly unrelenting sex life, her energy level was low. All of the activity energized Gideon, but Raina didn’t seem to be so lucky. She was sleeping on the couch, trying to rest up.
Not surprisingly, Bryce had come over to study and hang out. That was one of the reasons why Gideon decided to cook. He and Raina were careful around him. They tried to be completely casual. Bryce might be able to sense the attraction between Gideon and Raina, but he had yet to see evidence that they began a relationship.
He was going to have to deal with it eventually, but Gideon didn’t want to have problems with his brother on top of all the other shit going on. Gideon had tried to send Kristano a “message” about dinner, but he didn’t know if it was received. He knew that Kristano could sense Raina, but he wasn’t sure if it was only when she was in trouble.
Gideon had just put the chicken in the oven when a scream rent the air. After the scream, there was a shout and the sound of furniture breaking.
Gideon ran into the living room to find Bryce rolling around on the floor with Kristano while Raina screamed hysterically on the couch. Gideon ran to Raina and tried to gather her in his arms, but she was stiff. He heard Kristano say “sleep” and then the wrestling match on the floor stopped.
“What’s happening?” Gideon asked as he tried to stroke Raina’s hair off her sweaty face. “Raina, honey, wake up. Wake up!”
He looked at Kristano out of devastated eyes, “I can’t wake her up. What do I do?”
Kristano looked as stunned as Gideon felt. “I don’t know.”
Raina kept screaming, high-pitched keens of agony.
“I’ll try to get inside her mind,” Kristano suggested. “Maybe I can see what’s going on.”
Kristano sat on the floor cross-legged and held Raina’s hand. After a moment, he went stiff and groaned. Raina’s scream cut off abruptly.
* * * *
Raina felt Kristano’s presence, and the pain immediately dulled. It became like surgery under a local anesthetic. She could feel the pressure, but not the pain.
Thank you.
What’s going on? Kristano gasped. He seemed to be absorbing the pain so that Raina didn’t have to feel it.
Adder tortured Jensen for failing to kill me, and I think I’m here to experience it. I don’t think this is happening now because I have no control and Jensen isn’t aware of me. I think this is a memory.
Kristano could hear the guilt in her voice. It’s not your fault.
She didn’t say anything. Kristano called to Gideon. Next thing she knew, Gideon was there, and even the pressure was gone. It was like her consciousness was there, but she was no longer a part of Jensen’s body.
I need to see what’s going on. You need to keep the pain from her until we can figure out how to get her out.
There was yet another shift of sensation. Raina realized what they were doing. Don’t take it on. It’s too much. Just get me out of here.
When the full force of the pain hit Gideon, he couldn’t stop the scream from escaping. Raina immediately forced some of it back on herself. Because it had already happened, their three consciousnesses shared Jensen’s pain, yet in no way relieved him of it. Jensen’s screams echoed in the chamber.
A moment later, Kristano returned. The sight of what Adder was doing to the man sickened him. There were slices removed from Jensen’s flesh all over his body: his chest, arms, legs, buttocks, genitalia. There were also bite marks on his body, some buried in the raw flesh where the skin was removed. It made him sick that Raina felt that as it was being done.
They tried to pull her out, but Raina could not break free. They managed to share the pain between the three of them, so that no one person bore the brunt of it. The men tried to keep it off Raina entirely, but she wouldn’t allow it. At least by sharing it, she could pay attention to the room and to what was happening. There had to be a reason why she was sent there.
After an interminable amount of time, Adder stopped and assessed his work. His cheeks were flush, and Raina could almost feel the magic crackle through the room. It had a different feel than Kristano’s magic, a darker edge.
Adder snapped his fingers, and Jensen was clothed and the worst of his pain had disappeared. He was left with weakness and the echo of pain. Except for one wound, the first one on his chest. There was a bandage over it, but it was still there.
Adder walked over and pinched the area where Jensen’s nipple would have been if it hadn’t been peeled off. Jensen let out one last scream, but Adder cut if off with a thought.
“You will kill Kallan for me. I own you now. Any time I want you, all I’ll have to do is to think about it. You will not let me down again, or this little session will seem like a vacation. Do you get me?”
Raina could feel Jensen’s desire to escape, even if that meant dying. She could also feel that he no longer controlled his own free will. He couldn’t commit suicide. Adder would never let him.
“How did you get into the FBI?” Jensen gasped. “Don’t they know what you are?”
“Don’t forget, this isn’t the FBI. This is the Center. And here, I am god.”
Jensen shuddered.
The next thing they knew, Raina, Kristano, and Gideon were back in Raina’s living room. Raina got up and ran for the bathroom. She made it to the toilet just in time to void the contents of her stomach.
When she came back out, she was weak and shaky. She walked through the living room and headed up to her bathroom. There she took a blistering hot shower and brushed her teeth. Gideon must have known that she needed space because he left her alone, sending only waves of reassurance and love through their mental connection.
Downstairs, Kristano cleaned up the room with a snap of his fingers. The gesture reminded Gideon of Adder, and Kristano realized it immediately so he stopped doing it and waved his hand instead. They placed Bryce on the couch under a blanket and opened his book on his lap, as though he fell asleep studying. Kristano then made the memories vague, like in a dream.
“What happened?” Gideon asked him. “How did you and my brother end up fighting?”
“I heard her distress and appeared in here by her side. He looked up at her scream, just in time to see me appear. He must have thought I was hurting her.” Kristano smiled a bit. “Your brother has the heart of a warrior. He didn’t hesitate to defend Raina. He’s young yet, but when the prophecy is fulfilled, he’ll make a fine membe
r of the Fire tribe.”
“What?” Gideon asked.
“You have the same parents, yes?”
Gideon just nodded.
“Then he is also a member of the Fire tribe. If he was born first, he would have been the keeper. If something happened to you before you had children, he would have become the keeper. It’s the way it works.”
Gideon supposed that made sense. It was a little nerve-racking to think of Bryce as a warrior, but he was also proud of him. Bryce was a fine man. He just needed to grow up a little.
“Are you staying for supper?” Gideon asked casually as he headed back into the kitchen. He paused at the doorway. “I sent you a message, but I wasn’t sure if you got it.”
Kristano looked away. “I’m not sure if I should.”
Gideon waited for a heartbeat then walked back toward Kristano and held out his hand. “You should. You’re a part of the family, and it’s Sunday. Mom and dad always used to have dinner at their house on Sunday. I’d like to think that Raina and I will take up the tradition.”
Kristano grasped Gideon’s forearm in a warrior’s handshake. “I’d like to stay. I’ll just check in with Raina when she gets out of the shower.”
Gideon just nodded and turned back to the kitchen. Just before he went through the door, he said, “She’s out now and dressed. Why don’t you go see her upstairs?”
Kristano knew what that was, a declaration of absolute trust. Even though Gideon was already in the other room, Kristano said softly, “Thank you, my brother.”
* * * *
Raina was sitting on her bed when she heard the sound of soft tapping at her door. She knew it was Kristano on the other side.
“Come in,” she said. She didn’t get up from the bed, but continued to sit with her hands linked on her lap.
“Are you OK?” Kristano asked.
A tear slipped down Raina’s face. “I guess. I don’t think Jensen is, though. I felt his desire to die.”
