by L. A. Boruff
Raising an eyebrow, I gave him a knowing look as his hard cock pressed against me. He was so ready.
Snickering, I wrapped my hand around the back of his neck and pulled him close so I could kiss him. His energy danced along my skin and sunk into my pores to circulate through me. I hummed at the sensation and let him take the led as he deepened the kiss. I opened up for him and his tongue swept inside of me. My hands skimmed along his bulging arms, over his expansive chest and then around to his firm ass. I squeezed and he jumped at the touch, his cock pressing against my pussy. I laughed into his mouth and he growled before lifting my sweater so his hands touched my skin. His fingers danced up my ribs and then back down to the waist of my jeans. Frustration grew inside of me when he stopped at the band of my jeans. Damn clothes were always in the way.
I pulled away from him and stared into the dark inferno of his eyes framed by his auburn hair. The look on him was hot and it felt like he'd light me on fire if I dared to touch him. I grabbed my sweater and yanked it over my head. Someone sputtered and said something, but in my little bubble, there was only Alijah and me. His eyes dipped down to my breasts as they rose and fell with each breath. My nipples hardened as awareness crawled through my body. I needed his touch. Now.
Pulling him to me, I kissed him hard, and he knew exactly what I wanted as he cupped my breasts. I moaned when his fingers tweaked the nipples through my bra and my hips moved forward to press against his hard member. I wanted more. Needed it.
"Okay!" the female bartender laughed. "You win."
I blinked as realization dawned on me. Davies and Elliot stared at me with hungry eyes while the others tried to block us from everyone else's view.
"That was awesome," the succubus laughed and walked away. "You win."
Dwight scowled and passed me my sweater. I gave him a small smile as Alijah helped me pull on my clothes.
When the incubus stepped forward, four different growls had him tossing two envelopes onto the table and holding his hands up before walking away. I laughed as Dwight grabbed the two envelopes. He handed one to Alijah and the other to Davies.
"Go to the next location. We'll be there shortly. We're going to hang for an extra few minutes to see if we can pick anything up."
Alijah didn't let me hop off the bar, instead grabbing me and carrying me out. I wrapped my legs around him, my body still on fire.
He moaned. "You're not being fair."
I snorted. "When have I ever?" I asked and bit his earlobe. He stumbled, his grip on me tightening as he pushed out of the bar and onto the streets. "I need more," I whispered.
"Not now," he growled.
"Yes, now."
"What's wrong?" Rhett asked. Everyone except Cyril and Dwight were with us.
"She's horny."
"Super horny," I said, nodding with a sympathetic look. "Make me feel better."
Davies chuckled. "We don't have time, Babe, we need to get to the next location."
I moaned and bumped my head against Alijah’s shoulder. "You're all mean," I whined.
I ignored them as they went over the next location, trusting them to figure it out. Instead, I tried to get my hormones under control. Otherwise, I was going to create a barrier for privacy and have my way with all of them. My body burned for them and they were letting me smolder. That wasn't nice. I contemplated the ways I could get back at them as Alijah still held onto me and we walked to our next bar. The sun was now on its way down. Time was moving faster than I realized. It only felt like we were in there for a short while, but the succubus wasn't lying when she said time moved differently. We lost a couple hours in there.
If we wanted to win, we definitely had to get to moving.
"Are you okay?" Alijah asked.
"I'm horny and you won't help me," I said truthfully. "No, I'm not okay."
He chuckled. "I promise, when this is all over, I'll make you feel a lot better."
"You promise?"
"Definitely."
I grinned wide and buried my face into his shoulder.
5
We had just gone into the fourth bar when my skin tingled and then a punch was thrown. Right in front of me. The being receiving it wasn't fazed and decided to return the favor, tenfold. So, that was how a gargoyle punched out a necromancer. I wish there was a joke in there somewhere, but there wasn't. Just one angry person going after another in an act of revenge. The blood thirst sent everyone else in the bar over the edge, and fists were flying everywhere.
"Out, now," Venni snapped.
Alijah didn't need to be told twice, but when he turned around we were blocked in by shifters who had changed into their animal forms and were trying to tear into each other. A wolf, coyote, and cougar rolled around, snarling and growling. The smell of sweat and blood filled the space and set me on edge. Alijah was even worse, his breathing growing heavier.
"Alijah?" I asked, grabbing his square jaw so I could look at his eyes. I gasped as the red in them were prominent, his jaw clenched. He shifted us just in time for a body to fly past us. He growled, and when I rested my hand against his chest, I could feel it rumble. If something didn't change, he was going to shift and tear into everyone.
That was dangerous. Alijah's favorite hobby was fighting. Every couple of months, he liked to hop into a cage and fight an opponent filled with just as much bloodlust as he was. They called him Ripper for a reason. Ami, my best friend, had told me once that if Alijah wanted to become the undefeated champ, it would be an easy thing for him to do. He didn't do enough matches now to gain that title, but he was still dangerous. I was pretty sure the current champion was also scared of him too.
I saw his fights. He was ruthless, fast, and cunning. His tiger was massive, powerful and determined.
"Alijah, focus on me," I said.
They fought around us, but my men surrounded us, creating a barrier. I bit at my lip, worrying about them, but I couldn't do anything. I wasn't strong like them, I didn't have the experience. I'd been training to fight, but a lot of these being were seasoned. They'd eat me alive, bones and all.
"Laila, keep him distracted," Rhett warned and then he disappeared, only to reappear a moment later on the other side of us as he headed off another vampire. The two of them were a flurry of movements until the other vampire was on the ground and out. Not dead, just out.
My skin prickled again and I could feel it building in the air. No one else noticed, too distracted with not getting their faces punched in. Magic. Someone was riling them up with magic. It was so subtle that I almost missed it, but as an elementalist, I was more sensitive to magic and energy than the average supernatural. Besides, the magic was easily overlooked because everyone was focused on making the others bleed. It was a smart move on the caster's side.
"Magic," I yelled, hoping someone heard me over the snarling, growling, and bellowing.
No one seemed to notice. Davies and Elliot were teaming up against a fae. Rhett had his sights on another vampire, and Venni was too distracted shoving others away from us. The only person who could potentially listen to me was the man holding me, and he was too busy fighting against his instincts to join in on the fighting.
"Alijah," I said and pinched his cheeks. His eyes narrowed onto me, his facial bones shifting. He shook his head and it stopped. "Someone is using magic," I said.
He didn't say anything for the longest time and I thought he was too busy fighting himself to have heard me. "Where?" he finally said.
I focused, tracing the magic back to its source. The magic was spicy on my lips, making them tingle. Only my strong barriers kept me safe from its influence. Plus, I’d never been a bloodthirsty kind of person. I hated fighting and avoided it. It was harder to make someone feel something they rarely felt. "Corner. A witch."
He snarled, his hands tightening on me.
"Alijah?" I asked, unsure of what was going on with him.
"Kiss me," he said through his teeth, which were longer now.
"What?"
He didn't have to ask me twice. I grabbed his face and bit his bottom lip hard. That caught his attention and his lips smashed into mine. I wrapped my legs tight around his waist, determined to feel his body. The drink from the challenges had been making me steadily horny and I'd never been one to deny my guys a request. And so I kissed him like he was life and I needed to breathe every part of him in.
With desperate hands, he grabbed my ass and pulled me closer. I moaned, feeling his hardness at my core. The only thing separating us were our clothes. I tried to remove my shirt, but Alijah still had some ounce of thought left in him because he bounced me to grab my attention.
"No, Laila. Clothes stay on."
I whined, wanting to feel his hot skin against mine. Before I could continue, he pulled away and set me down.
"No," I moaned.
He chuckled. "I'll be right back." He was gone, disappearing after saying those words. I stood there dumbfounded. Rhett nudged me to the side, tightening the circle so the guys crowded in on me.
Something snarled, something else howled. Another supernatural made a yelping noise and someone keened. Then there was a pop and the magic dissipated in the air, leaving nothing behind but confusion. As if strings were cut, everyone stopped fighting and glanced around confused. People moved around and had to step over those who were knocked out cold.
"What happened?" Davies asked, straightening from his fighting stance.
Alijah was back at our side. "Missed her," he said.
"Missed who?" Venni asked.
"It's Cyril’s prey," I said. "She cast a subtle spell so that the slightest bit of aggression evolved into the brawl."
"What the hell?" Davies wiped at his jaw where a bruise was forming. "This is fucked up."
"Why would someone do that at these events?" Elliot asked, looking thoughtful.
"Probably because they like chaos," I said.
"Or to hide their murder," Rhett said. "The best way to kill someone is at an event like this where everyone is inebriated, and at their weakest. A perfect disguise."
"Who's going to look into the death of someone getting their faced pounded in?" I asked.
"No one." Davies frowned hard and glanced toward the bar. He sighed. "We should call it. I'm not comfortable bringing Laila around if people are throwing magic around to cause bar fights."
"No," I said. "Fuck no. We're doing this."
"Laila, it's dangerous," Alijah said.
I rolled my eyes. "Everything's always dangerous. No. Other than the fighting, I'm having fun. It's not often I have a chance to see some male on male action."
"Fuck," Davies said. "I need you to forget about that. It never happened. Just a figment of your imagination." Davies rubbed my head as if that would work.
I smacked his hands away. "No, we're doing this."
"I agree with them, Laila," Elliot spoke up. "It might be better if we leave. This is becoming too dangerous."
Pretending to be shot, I stumbled back against Rhett. "You wound me, Elliot. You should be on my side."
"I'm always on your side, just not when you're in danger and you’re being too stubborn to realize it."
"Please," I asked. "I want to finish. I haven't had this much fun in a long time." I gave them my puppy dog eyes.
"Fine!" Davies threw his arms up in the air and I smiled big. He glared at me and grumbled something I couldn't pick up.
"Laila, take your team and do the next challenge. The rest of us need to help clean this up and find out what the hell is going on.
"Thank you!" I kissed Rhett and then hopped over to the bartender. The bartender was male, his hair sticking up all over. One eye was swollen, and blood stained his upper lip. He had been dragged into the fight too.
“Here,” he said and passed us two envelopes.
“We didn’t do anything.”
He shook his head. “Your tiger chased off the witch, ending this bullshit. This is my thanks. Take it and go. I need to clean this shit up.” Grumbling, he walked away, ignoring the teams who got enough of their wits about them to ask for the challenge. A smaller female came out and took his spot, dealing with the customers with a quiet calm.
“Awesome, that’ll get us ahead,” Davies said.
“But I want to do the challenge,” I said.
“Let’s just get out of here. A lot of the beings are worked up now and I’d rather not be here when someone steps on someone else’s toes and it turns into another fight,” Venni said. He scanned the crowd, looking for threats, his expression hard.
Wanting him to lighten up, I looped my arm through his and tugged him to the door. Alijah was near the front, so I passed him his envelope before leaving.
The evening air was cool against my skin and I didn’t realize how oppressive it was in the bar until we stepped outside. Venni leaned into me and glared at a group of guys as they went into the bar with a smirk.
I nudged him. “What was that for?” I asked.
“You’ve been worked up one too many times,” he replied in a gruff voice.
“What does that mean?”
“You smell.”
Instead of nudging him, I rammed my elbow into his stomach, and he hissed out a breath. “What the hell?” I asked. I lifted my arm and smelled my armpits. “I smell fine.”
“You smell horny,” Alijah said, coming out. “And definitely had sex already. The others are picking up on it.”
“I cleaned up,” I said.
Venni shook his head. “Magic doesn’t hide it all.” He leaned closer and his voice dropped. “When you reach orgasm, neurochemicals are released through your system.” He reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and I shivered from the gentle touch. “Your whole scent changes, you become alluring, attracting everyone around you.”
Venni’s nose trailed along my neck as he turned us so we faced each other. I whimpered against him, loving the feel of all his attention on me. If having an orgasm worked him up like this, then I needed to do it more often.
“Okay, breaking this up,” Davies said and wedged himself between us. Seeing the two of them so close together reminded me of the body shot Davies took off of Venni and I grinned big.
As if sensing my thoughts, Davies shuddered and pushed me back so there was more space between him and Venni. Venni smirked, his eyes dark and focused, stalking his prey as he watched me.
“What’s the clue for the next place?” Elliot asked, trying to break up the tension.
I couldn’t look away from Venni. He looked hungry and I was more than willing to feed him. I stepped toward him, wanting to make my fantasies real. Elliot grabbed me and turned me to face him.
“One more bar,” he said. “Then you can enjoy your night anyway you wish.”
Unable to help myself, my grin widened, knowing exactly how I wanted to spend that time. But first, the competition. Right. We can win this. Clearing my throat I grabbed the envelope I had stuffed into my pocket and opened it. A small card fell out and I read it.
“What do you call an Irishman who keeps bouncing off the walls?”
“These riddles aren’t all that hard,” Davies said.
“I think the real challenge is getting them in the first place,” Elliot said.
Venni held his phone out. “I’m guessing it’s another name,” he said. He listed off names of bars, but none of them stood out.
“What about the name of the owner or the bartender there?” I asked.
“Why are you still here?” Alijah asked, coming out with Rhett.
“We’re just solving the riddle,” I answered.
Alijah opened his envelope and read the clue. He frowned as Rhett leaned over. He snorted.
“You know?” Davies asked.
“I do.”
“Where to?” I asked.
Rh
ett chuckled. “Of course the old man would participate. This is right up his alley.”
“Who?” I asked, poking him rudely in his side. When I went to do it again, he grabbed my hand. Instead of letting go, he held on, weaving our fingers together.
“Rick O’Shea,” he answered and led me across the street and down a narrow alley. “He’s an Irish vampire. Immigrated here a couple of decades ago. He’s eccentric so this should be interesting. Just keep an eye on your surroundings.”
It didn’t take long to get to the bar. It was only a twenty-minute walk and when we got there, Cyril and Dwight were already there waiting.
“We heard,” Dwight said.
Cyril looked hungry as he said, “We’ll find her.”
I wasn’t sure what to say as Rhett herded me inside. They looked pissed, but Cyril also seemed excited as we piled into the bar. Either way, they were the ones working, not me. So I got to have all the fun I wanted and if what Rhett said held any truth, this would be the best challenge yet.
6
The bar was called The Irishman's Club.
Walking in was a mash of confusion. The people in the bar were vampires dressed as leprechauns. There was a sexy female leprechaun moving in between the crowd, handing out free shots with a sway to her hips. I had a suspicion that if we took a shot, we would screw ourselves over from the competition. Some of the other groups had no such inclination as they knocked back the glowing green liquid.
"So the question is, how do we do the challenge?" I looked around. There had to be a dozen groups in the room and none of them were at the bar, nor did any of them look like they were on the verge of winning or doing any kind of challenge.
"Let's go talk with O'Shea," Rhett said and led the way to the bar. He greeted one of the bartenders, and I got a closer look at the man as I stepped around Rhett and leaned against the edge.
The Irish vampire stood around six-feet tall, with pasty white skin, sharp blue eyes, and blond hair. His well-built frame filled the black jeans and button up green shirt that he wore. When he moved, the soft bar lights caught the fabric just right so that it shimmered. His lips turned into a huge grin when he spotted Rhett, his incisors peeking out.
