by L. A. Boruff
A naughty twinkle entered his eyes. “Are you a rip the band aid off kind of girl, or do you try and take it off slow and easy?” I gave him a puzzled look before replying.
“I rip it off, why?”
Durriken thrust in hard, giving me no chance to work myself up. There was a small burn and almost popping sensation before he was fully seated within me. He waited there, his breathing picking up. His arms straining, the muscles popping on his arms.
I don’t think I or my body knew what to think. Shifting a little uncomfortably at the fullness and stretching sensation, my clit rubbed against his dick, the movement reminded my body it liked what had been done to it so far. I did it again, shifting my hips to rub my clit over and over until that spark relit with purpose. Durriken slowly withdrew and then thrust back in adding a whole new dimension to this love making. Over and over he sunk into my depths hitting something different inside me that had me almost gushing. He set a rhythm as he pounded into me, his groin hitting my clit over and over with each grind at the end. That same delightful, delicious feeling built and built. My pace and hips rose to meet his as I wound tighter and tighter. Almost there, almost there.
“Durriken,” I screamed as my body went into convulsions.
In the real world, my body throbbed along with the memory.
I could feel myself clamp down on him, but he didn’t stop his pounding, it only increased until he grunted explosively pouring himself into my depths joining me as our bodies spasmed together. Our bodies made little movements until we both collapsed in exhaustion. His lips found my head and placed little kisses over it, even as I felt him pumping the last of himself into me.
Bringing his lips to mine in a long, slow, languid kiss that curled my toes.
5
October 12, 2026
I laid on the bathroom floor as my mind and body had a flashback to end all flashbacks. Yes, it had been way too damn long. We’d spent most of that night loving each other. When morning came, he’d fallen into an exhausted slumber. I kissed his forehead before returning to my room to shower and change. After a few hours of sleep, I went back to his room to see if he wanted to get breakfast, but he was already gone. Stopping at the checkout desk on my way to see if he’d left anything, I was surprised to be handed a small card with my name on it. All it said was, Until we meet again.
Over the last three almost four years, I’d tried to find him to let him know of our daughter, but nothing ever came of it. I had no idea if he was dead or alive. Occasionally, I wondered if he’d known anyway. I knew Kia didn’t always see things about herself, but she could get readings of those around her. Getting back to my feet, it took a moment for me to gather my scattered wits about me again. My body was still flushed and trembling slightly. A memory, I treasured.
Bringing myself back to the present, I looked over my true features. Something, I rarely get to see anymore. It was a graceful, slightly exotic, delicately shaped face. The black eyebrows and thick lashes offset my natural eyes and beneath them was a refined nose that sat above full lips. My ears angled back slightly and were sharply pointed and reached just above my hairline. My hair was unique in that it was silver like my mothers, but mixed within were the jeweled reds, black, and greens of my father’s scales. It had gotten long in recent years, and I usually kept it braided or in a ponytail.
What no one ever saw were the horns and tail that was a part of my natural form. I was of average height, around five feet seven. My dad would say I was fiercely, delicate looking, but that would be deceiving as every bit of me was built to be a guardian, yet undeniably I was female in all her glory. I saw both my father and mother in me, and Kia showed all of the signs of being a wonderful blending of my mom and me with only hints of Durriken here and there.
Reinstating my glamour, I looked again and only saw my long auburn hair, green eyes with the same delicate face and body but with normal ears, no horns, or tail. It was what had become familiar to me over the past six years. The only time I let my glamour go anymore was making sure Kia knew what I looked like in both forms and if we were going to be safe for a while. Kia too had a glamour on ninety-nine percent of the time; she was still working on her control.
Re-braiding my hair into two braids, I dropped my glamour once more since we would be here for the foreseeable future. Wrapping each braid around the base of my horns that spiraled around, following the contour of my head to point out a few inches from the back of the old noggin. The surprising thing when seeing them is they matched my hair colors. I had to admit, it was very striking. I also had what you would call a prehensile tail more along the lines of a tiger’s tail but with a curled bulbous stinger at the end holding a highly poisonous pouch. Grabbing the end of my tail, I released the stinger at the end and studied it. The stinger was approximately six inches long with needle-like protrusions similar to that of pine needles running the length of it.
Each one contained multi-levels of toxin, from one that would instantly kill a human if they were ever scratched to a milder venom that would knock out even the most powerful of the Kindred, Breeds, or Other which was what we called the supernaturals in our world. The main stinger contained enough toxin to kill almost anyone within seconds. There were several Kindred that were affected differently, depending on the type of species and their level of strength. I did have the ability to release one or multiple needles, so no matter what, I always had a weapon on my person. Although, with my other guardian abilities, I was a weapon. We were made that way. The needles themselves were clear and looked like crystals attached to a silver Christmas tree that blended in with the hair, further disguising it.
Most of the time, it was wrapped around my right leg. Walking to the walk-in closet, I scanned what was available. Grabbing a pair of jeans and a black long-sleeved Henley t-shirt off the hangers, I then opened the drawers and pulled out a package of underwear, bra, and socks, before going into the sitting room to finish dressing. Feeling clean for the first time in more days than I could count, I stood up to go check on Kia.
Stopping to stir the stew, I leaned over to sip from the spoon, not bad, but I added a little more garlic and pepper. My stomach grumbled at me in protest as I walked to the other bedroom but stopped as I heard Kia talking. I peeked around the corner to see her playing with the same toys I had once played with as a young girl. She was talking to the stuffed bear I’d named Berry, the Brown Bear. Not very original, I thought, as the old memory surfaced. My dad had won the bear for me when we had gone to Coney Island. That had been a good day.
“Hi, Mommy.” Kia said in her sweet child’s voice. “Where have you been?” I smiled.
Kia hadn’t looked up; her expression was focused and solemn as she straightened the bear's outfit.
Walking over to her, I sat down facing her before answering. “Hey, baby. I was getting cleaned up and making some dinner. Sorry I wasn’t here when you woke up.”
“It’s alright Mommy. I was playing with Cory.” Kia held up the bear to indicate that was her new friend Cory without looking at me, as she grabbed the bear’s shoes and began trying to wrestle them on.
“That’s, good sweetie. Do you need to go to the bathroom?”
“No, I went already,” she told me without looking up.
I wanted to see those beautiful eyes but worried she wasn’t looking at me because she’d just seen some horrid visions. When that happened, Kia rarely looked at anyone and she mostly withdrew into herself as she worked to process what she saw.
“Did you remember to flush and wash your hands?” I asked already knowing the answer.
“No, Mommy. The water too high for me to reach,” Kia explained.
Kia was three and would be four in December, and while she was long-limbed, she was also petite, which was why I could still get away with carrying her in the body carrier. She was tall for her age, but still too small to reach the sink by herself.
“Come on rug rat let’s get your hands clean and a bath, then you can play with
Cory until dinner is ready.”
She finally looked up at me at last and saw that I was out of my glamour. She dropped her’s immediately with excitement. It was so rare that we got to do this, that it was a treat for her. Normally she had the same auburn, curly locks as me, along with the same green eyes, but she was cute as a button to me rather than average looking. Now with the glamour removed, her striking toddler features showed the first hints of the beauty she would grow into.
Her one silver eye with black undertones and her one black eye with silver undertones looked back at me and sparkled with her excitement. A head of silver hair like mine but streaked with black highlights replaced the auburn locks, while her horns were a pure black with tiny silver striations, and her tail was again a mix of silver and black.
She was not like most human toddlers who were somewhat ungainly. As a primordial, she already had the long, lean body that she would grow into and was naturally graceful. When walking, she had a flowing gate that was hard to disguise for a child of close to four. When asked, I always had to give her age to be around six or seven even though she’s much shorter than that age group and that she’d had martial arts training since she could walk.
She was a smart cookie, but most of the time, she had haunted eyes and was much too serious for her age, so I was always glad when she acted like the young child she was and not a much older child.
We trained each day without fail since our lives depended on it. Martial arts being the main focus, along with learning to shift into our different animal forms, then there were the practice swords I’d carved for her to train on. We were a very gifted species, but it still required me to teach her the proper use of her gifts both physically, mentally, and of our nature.
A big smile graced that cupid bow mouth as she stood up and took my hand. “Will it be a shower or a big tub?” Kia asked, even as she vibrated with suppressed joy at getting to play in water.
Kia loved water. Sometimes, I thought she was more fish than anything else.
I looked down into those mesmerizing eyes and flashed her my own smile. “Bigger. Come on, and I’ll show you.”
6
October 22, 2026
It was taking me longer to fall asleep than normal. All day, the Earth had been rumbling. Then there were the storms, winds, and other acts of nature that were pounding the buildings and sidewalks outside our fortress. Gaia was making her presence felt, and she was building her energy up. You could sense it on the currents in the air, hear it in the wind, and feel the earth protesting. The charge, building around the Earth, had made it difficult to fall asleep. All the newsies were scratching their heads the world over.
Kia was lying next to me, clutching my arm as she stirred in a restless slumber. I used my other hand to gently rub her back hoping to push her deeper, so that she could get some decent rest. Tonight, Kia refused to sleep in her new room.
A chime sounded through the house, snapping me out of the sleepy haze you get when you’re desperate to sleep but you’re not awake enough to read or watch TV. I froze, my heart pounding, as I tried to think of where I’d heard that sound before. I very carefully moved my daughters’ arm from mine and put the bear in its place. Kia clutched it tightly to her as she turned over before settling down again. I gently pulled the covers to her neck, and she settled even further into the comforter like a turtle seeking to retreat from the world.
Another chime had me scrambling out of the covers and picking up my weapons, which I’d laid out neatly along the top of the chest a drawer. A memory surfaced of a doorbell ringing, something I hadn’t heard in well over six years. This was both alarming and surprising. This place had sort of a look away ward placed around the building. People knew something was here but had no interest in finding out what the warehouse contained or who owned it. If they were persistent, the closer they got the more they wanted to get away.
I walked to the exit, placing my palms on the stone surface leading into the small office. There were two mirrors on either side of the exit door. I ran my hand over the surface waking up the magic. Two women came into view. One was facing the door while the other was facing the street keeping watch, her head swiveling back and forth along the sidewalks.
The one facing me was very lean and long. She had curves but they were more on the boyish side, with small breasts and hips. The face was delicate, an oval shape, button nose, full lips, cut cheek bones, but it was the eyes that drew you in. They were a bright, faceted jewel-tone blue canvassed by long, thick white lashes, and while they didn’t take up the whole face, they stood out and were set beneath delicate arching white eyebrows. Another draw was her lush, gleaming, fine white hair that flowed down to her lower back in wavy locks. Looking past the one facing me, I saw the other had the same white locks high in a ponytail waving to the left as the wind blew through it. She had the equivalent height and body weight as the one at the door. Leading me to believe they were related. Both were wearing jeans, tight black t-shirts, and black hiking boots. I noticed on the back of each were well used dark-brown backpacks, both full.
It took me a moment to get past the look away when I saw a hazy spot above each backpack. A look away was a spell placed on weapons or something else you wanted to keep hidden. If you had the ability to see past it, you would first see a hazy spot. With concentration, it could be broken. There were two crossed swords in harnesses across their backs. The muscles along my right arm tensed, causing the leather to creak on the hilt of the sword I held. My left hand brushed the hilt of the long dagger hanging along my leg in its harness. The dagger was always on my body day or night, clothed or unclothed.
Sigrid? Who do you think they are? I asked my bonded crow.
They have approached carefully, but I have never seen them. Sigrid’s tone of voice had always been on the haughty side, why I had no idea.
Most of the time, I was pretty sure he thought he was better than all of us. Why do I believe this to be? He told me so of course. Remembering that conversation had my lips twitching upwards. I knew he was huddled up in the eves of this warehouse. He’d decided to keep watch the same with my other two bonded companions. Grim, a giant male timber wolf from the Carpathian Mountains huddled across the street in an alley just behind a dumpster. Most of the time people confused him with those Irish wolf hounds I’ve seen pictures of, or people thought he was a cross breed of some sort with the help of a little glamour. Then there was George, a bigger than normal black rat from the ship we’d used to cross over into Italy, who was currently hiding in the drainage pipe across the street. He was quick, agile, and protective of Kia the same as Grim. Both had been accidents; I hadn’t meant to bind either of them to me. I’d been extremely lucky not to have a whole zoo following me.
Sigrid and I bonded when I was fourteen, which was unheard of since most bondings didn’t happen until we guardians reached our majority at eighteen. Looking back, I think my mom and dad knew they weren’t returning the night they died, so they tried to prepare me the best they could. One of those was teaching me how to bond with an animal. Sort of like a familiar but more along the lines of a lifelong companion. My mom had burned my channels open early, which allowed the bonding, but it did have a negative effect on me. Since I was so young and had not yet learned what I needed to about bonding to a companion, I hadn’t learned to shield.
My mom also did what I termed a delayed memory transfer of my family’s entire history as well as everything primordial guardians were taught. The lessons were only released as I mastered each section. I was still learning and gaining knowledge to this day. When I mastered the next lesson, another file would open to continue my education. The problem back then was I hadn’t even begun the training for a bonded partner when I was allowed Sigrid, so those files came later. Too late to stop the process with my other two partners. Although, I wouldn’t change our relationship for the world.
Grim? You getting anything? I asked my wolf.
Smell snakes, was the extent of his rep
ly.
Snakes? Like the slithery kind in the grass? I asked, just to be sure, since we’d had a talk about human snakes in the grass a few times.
Yes, dangerous. That was my wolf, sweet and to the point.
The door rang again. It was going to wake up Kia if I wasn’t careful.
I prepared myself, getting a good grip on my sword, checking to see that my dagger was loose in its sheath on my left leg. Reaching up, I entered the code next to the door and stepped back. Even though, it was two on one. I could take them even in my weakened state. I hoped.
“Who are you and what do you want?” My voice clipped and harsh.
The one behind the one facing the door turned at my words. I couldn’t help staring as they were identical. I couldn’t find one thing different about them. Talk about pod people.
“Hello, the Mother of us all sent us. Are you the guardian?” asked the one in front in a soft, sweet, lilting voice.
I was stunned. Only the ones who’d been chasing me knew there was a guardian still in the world.
The one in the back had turned her head in my direction when the door opened, gave me a half smile, and a little wave before going to back to scanning her surroundings.
All I could do was stand there frozen in shock. It was a good thing neither of them attacked in that moment. What do I do? How can I verify this?
“Mommy?” I spun around, my heart in my throat. How had she opened the door?
“Baby, it’s not safe! Close the door,” I urged in my calmest voice; it was then I realized my mistake.
I spun back to face the two strangers; my sword raised believing I was going to be attacked for my stupidity. They hadn’t moved. I backed up, hoping to reach my daughter, I wasn’t lowering my weapon. Crap, I couldn’t believe I’d turned my back on them.
“Mommy, Gaia did send them,” Kia said in a happy child’s voice and like she knew them.
