by S. E. Smith
Legend stepped forward and opened the door for the general and waited for him to enter the room before he stepped inside and to the side. His gaze swept over the small office before settling on the man behind the desk. Dr. Jorge Steinberg, psychologist and self-proclaimed occult specialist.
His gaze turned to the file on Jorge’s desk – and the amulet next to it. Jorge looked up at the same time and their gazes clashed. Legend noticed Jorge sliding the amulet off the desk and into his pocket before the general was aware of its presence.
“What have you discovered?” General Reitchoff demanded.
“I have evidence that proves magic and magical beings exist,” Jorge Steinberg replied, glancing up from the file he was studying.
“You said that a month ago and a month before that,” General Reitchoff snapped. “We want results, Dr. Steinberg, not falsified evidence and excuses.”
“Do you think I do not know that?” Jorge snapped before calming. He closed the file he was studying. “I believe I have found what we are looking for. The problem is the location.”
“What is it and where is it?” General Reitchoff snapped.
“It is a place called Magic, New Mexico. It is in America,” Jorge stated, rising from his chair. “I need a way to get there. I have to see the place for myself.”
General Reitchoff was silent for several seconds before he slapped his gloves on the palm of his hand and turned to Legend who was standing silently by the door. There was no missing the glitter of anger in the general’s eyes. His lips pursed into a straight line before he nodded to Legend.
“Captain Von Wrinkle will get you in,” General Reitchoff stated before pulling open the door to the small office and stepping out.
Jorge winced when the door slammed shut behind the general. He turned his gaze to Legend. A sneer curved Jorge’s lips.
“How much do you know about America, Captain?” he demanded, his gaze moved to the name tag on the uniform.
“Enough,” Legend replied with a grim nod.
“And New Mexico?” Jorge pressed, leaning forward on the desk.
“I’ve heard of it,” Legend replied, deliberately vague.
“Make the arrangements for our departure. It is imperative that you get me where I need to go and out again as quickly and quietly as possible,” Jorge said before he gripped the side of the table when the building shook.
Both of them glanced up at the ceiling when dust rained down on them. The sound of explosions shook the building again. There was the sound of glass breaking and shouts from the other room.
Pulling the door open, Legend stepped outside of the office. The lab was in disarray. A large crack was forming along the ceiling and light fixtures dangled from the weakened structure. Personnel in lab coats were abandoning the victims of their satanic tests.
Legend gripped the doorframe when another bomb exploded nearby. The crack along the ceiling spread until it ran down the far wall near the cage where the two children were. Stumbling forward, Legend dodged falling debris in an effort to get to the children before the wall collapsed on top of them.
He shielded his face when another bomb shook the underground facility. It must have landed nearly on top of the structure. The force of the blast blew the doors off of the hinges. The scientists and lab technicians fighting to get to the doors were thrown through the air. A fireball, channeled by the long corridor, swept through the opening and engulfed those still struggling to stand.
Legend grabbed a metal IV pole and with all his strength brought it down on the lock trapping the two children. He hit the lock two more times before it finally fell away. Opening the door to the cage, he motioned for the children to get out.
“Hurry, the wall is about to collapse,” he warned.
“Forget them! Get me out of here,” Jorge frantically ordered.
Legend motioned for the children to move away from the wall and to the center of the lab. Three more bombs shook the facility with enough violence that it threw all four of them to the ground. Legend rolled to shield the children when the corridor leading out of the lab collapsed and a rush of dust flooded the interior.
“Can you get out of here?” Legend asked the two children.
Both of them silently nodded. He reached out and touched each of their cheeks. He fervently hoped that their parents had survived and would be able to find them. The only thing he could do was guide them to safety.
“Focus on this thread of energy,” he instructed as a swirling thread of magic appeared above his hand. “Grasp it and follow it. It will take you to a place where you will be safe.”
“What about you?” the boy asked as he tightly clutched his sister’s hand.
“My time has come to an end. Do you have the thread?” Legend asked, turning to look at the little girl.
She nodded and glanced at her brother. The boy gazed back at her before he nodded and returned his gaze to Legend. Legend held his hands out and helped the two children stand up.
“Go,” he urged.
“What are you doing?” Jorge demanded, standing behind Legend.
Legend turned, his lips tightening when he saw that Jorge had a pistol raised and pointed at his chest. He needed to give the two children time enough to gather their magic. He wasn’t sure how strong they were, but it was their only chance of surviving.
“You were right, Dr. Steinberg. There are magical creatures that walk among us,” Legend stated, lowering his glamour so that Jorge could see what he really looked like. “You will never find what you are looking for. I will make sure of that.”
Jorge’s eyes widened in stunned disbelief as his gaze moved over the tall man with a head of white hair standing before him. Excitement and greed flared as Jorge briefly turned his gaze on the room. The beds and chairs that had contained his possible magic-users were empty. Only those already dead from his experiments or killed in the blast were left.
“How…?” he demanded.
Legend saw the gun in his hand tremble as reality struck. The building shook as more bombs began to rain down around the compound. The walls surrounding them began to crumble and he heard the children behind him whimper.
“We have always lived among you,” Legend replied before striking out to rip the gun away from Jorge.
Legend turned with Jorge in his hands just as the two children raised their own in unison. Soft words wove through the air, surrounding him and Jorge. Legend opened his mouth to protest but it was too late. He could feel the vortex opening up. Jorge slipped from his hands just as they were both dragged into it. The last things he saw were the shimmer of the two children as they disappeared and the collapse of the ceiling. Then, everything went black.
Legend released a deep sigh and stood up. “Your mother found me, nursed my wounds, and led me back to her village. We both agreed it would be dangerous for anyone else to know my true identity. When we arrived at the village, I discovered that while Jorge and I had been pulled from Earth by the same portal, we did not arrive here in the same time period. He had arrived several years earlier and had established himself as the Spiritual Leader for the village. I wanted to take your mother away, but she insisted that it was too dangerous with the Vikar raiders for us to leave. After several attacks on the village, I realized she was right.”
Legend paused, deep in thought before he continued. “I slowly learned that this world does not have magic like we do back home. Over time, your mother and I made a home in the village where I could keep an eye on Jorge. I had no proof that the Amulet of the Heart had survived the journey. I didn’t know if perhaps he had lost it when we were transported here. For years, he remained isolated from most of the villagers, leaving them alone. It wasn’t until your mother was pregnant with Dru that I wondered if Jorge may have brought something else with him. I felt the awakening of magic – but this magic was darker. I hoped it would kill him. Those who meddle in magic they are not born with tend to perish quickly from it,” he explained, glancing over at Ka’ya.
“He saw you for who you were,” she murmured.
“Yes,” Legend replied. “I felt the spell settle over the village. There was little I could do without revealing who I was to the other villagers and endangering your mother, brother, and you. Once he knew I was there, his only hope was that I would be killed if I was banished from the village.”
“Why would the villagers accept Jorge as their Spiritual Leader? Surely, they would have mistrusted him as well,” Alexandru asked with a frown.
Legend gave Alexandru a grim look. “He brought items they had never seen before and claimed they were given to him by the Goddess. I suspect he had the Amulet of the Heart with him and showed it to them with dire threats of what could happen if they opposed him,” he said.
Alexandru rose to his feet. “If he masters how to use it….” A soft curse escaped as more memories returned.
“He would have control of the underworld and be able to travel wherever and whenever he wishes,” Legend finished with a somber nod.
“What are you talking about? Control over the underworld? What is that?” Ka’ya demanded.
Alexandru turned to look back at Ka’ya. “He could control those who are dead – and travel back to our world and finish what he started back in 1944 or go even further back before the war. If he controlled the citizens of Magic, he could control the world,” he explained.
“Where is your world?” she asked quietly.
“Earth,” Alexandru and Legend stated at the same time.
13
“What is he to you, Ka’ya?” Legend asked later that evening.
Ka’ya glanced at her father and pursed her lips. She returned her focus to the arrows she was making. After everything she had learned earlier this evening, she wasn’t sure she was ready to talk to him. She still had a lot to process.
“He’s my husband,” she said without thinking before she bit her lip and silently groaned.
“Good,” her father said with a nod.
Ka’ya’s head jerked up in surprise. “Good! You are not upset?” she demanded in astonishment.
She watched her father’s face soften. “It will save me having to kill him. Vampires are not easy to kill,” he stated with a shrug before turning when Dirt called out to him. He turned back and gave her a brief smile. “You made a good choice. He is a fierce fighter and a smart man.”
Ka’ya watched her father walk away in stunned silence. She hadn’t meant to lie to him. The words had slipped out before she had realized it. Claiming Alexandru as her husband had been what she planned to do in Perth if she needed an excuse.
“It would have been easier to have just let him go over the cliff or let you eat him,” she grumbled unhappily to the wolfhounds.
A soft groan escaped her when all three of the wolfhounds tilted their heads and whined in what she hoped was sympathy and not at her stupidity. How was she going to explain that she hadn’t meant it the way it sounded? She released a string of expletives. This was just another example of how crazy her life had become since she met Alexandru.
Snatching up the arrows, she placed them in the quiver and picked up her bow and sword. She would confess that she hadn’t meant that Alexandru was really her husband – she had just planned to use that as an excuse if she needed to when she reached the city.
She had only taken a few steps when the sounds of delighted laughter and the loud yells of the men warned her that something was going on. Her eyes widened when she saw Alexandru turn to look at her with a stunned expression that turned to amusement. Her father was slapping Alexandru on the shoulder and talking to the men around them.
Ka’ya stumbled back several steps when the women rushed toward her. She was shaking her head at their excitement. Before she could protest, one of the women had removed her quiver and bow while another took her sword.
“The only sword you’ll need tonight is that of your husband!” one of the women teased.
“I… What are you doing?” Ka’ya demanded as they surrounded her and began ushering her backwards.
“Did you have a ceremony joining you?” a woman asked.
Ka’ya’s head was turning to try to see who was talking. Between the dark and the excitement, it was hard to see who was who. She finally gave up and shook her head in frustration. The women seeing her shaking head mistook it for her not having a proper wedding.
“No, I mean. I… Wait… You don’t…,” Ka’ya tried to protest.
She gave up when the women pushed her into a medium-sized tent. In a flurry of activity, her clothing was quickly removed while other women brought in a large tub and buckets of hot water. She wanted to growl at them, but they talked right over her protests.
A gasp escaped her when they practically pushed her into the tub. The younger women giggled and teased while two older women sprinkled lavender soap in the water and poured water over her head to wash her hair. Ka’ya, shaken by all the attention, drew her legs up to try to retain some form of modesty among the half dozen women flowing in and out of the tent with pillows and blankets.
Nearly an hour later, she was wrapped in a finely woven silk robe and a brush was being run through her hair one last time while the tub was carried out. She looked up when the flap of the tent opened. A rare blush rose in her cheeks when Alexandru was pushed inside followed by her father, Dirt, two other men and the older women who had bathed her. She nervously stood up and stared at Alexandru. He looked breathtakingly handsome. His hair was still wet from his bath and he was wearing new clothing of finely woven fabric. The black pants hugged his thighs. Instead of a shirt, he wore a black jacket - the well-defined muscles of his chest clearly evident.
“Father, I have to tell you…,” she started to say.
Her voice died when Alexandru stepped forward and lifted his hand to caress her cheek. She stared up at him in confusion, unsure if he understood exactly what was happening. Her lips parted but the words never came. Instead, they were caught when he captured her lips in a deep, soul-searching kiss that left her breathless.
“My daughter has claimed you, Alexandru. I accept her claim,” Legend said behind them. “Nabuta jut tamua. In the words of my people, may your lives forever be bonded in peace,” he added before he turned and left them alone.
“What have I done?” Ka’ya whispered, gazing up at Alexandru in despair.
“I believe you just married me,” Alexandru replied with a slow grin. “In the words of my people, I may now kiss the bride.”
Ka’ya’s lips parted under his. Her hands slid up his chest and wound around his neck. Warmth spread through her, spreading a tidal wave of pleasure through her when he released the belt of her robe and it fell open.
“I like the words of your people,” she whispered when he released her mouth and moved his lips along her jaw to her throat.
“We have another saying,” he breathed against the side of her neck.
“What…. What is it?” Ka’ya breathed out as the fire of desire ignited into a raging inferno inside her.
Alexandru ran his tongue in a small circle. “You may now bite the bride,” he murmured.
“Oh, yes!” Ka’ya cried out.
The same wild exhilaration filled her when she felt his teeth pierce her skin. The flash of pain turned to white hot pleasure that left her melting in his arms. He slid his arm down and caught her when her knees gave out. Stepping forward, he lowered her onto the bed, following her without ever releasing his hold on her.
Her body arched toward him as the pleasure intensified until she felt the first uncontrollable release sweep through her body. Warmth pooled between her legs and they fell open, waiting for him. She fought to contain her cry of pleasure when his hand slid down her body and he slid his finger over her swollen nub.
“I want you inside me,” she groaned.
Alexandru’s hand slid across her stomach and under her. He silently lifted her hips and aligned her channel with his cock. The moment he was aligned, he thrust forward, imp
aling her. She reveled in the movement of his hips and the feel of his skin against hers. The slight tug on her neck where he drank from her sent a wave of heat cascading through her.
Yet, she craved more. She wanted to taste him the way he had tasted her. Her hands moved restlessly over his heated flesh. She couldn’t get enough of him.
He released her neck, sliding his tongue over the area he had punctured before sitting up, pulling her with him and holding onto her thighs while he watched her face. Ka’ya reached up and cupped her breasts. A smile curved her lips when Alexandru grunted and leaned forward just enough to grasp her hands and encouraged her to play with her breasts.
“Squeeze your nipples,” he ordered, rocking his hips back and forth. “Harder, like this.”
Ka’ya gasped when Alexandru reached down and pinched her nipples and pulled them up as if he were sucking on them. The combination of the pleasure and pain make her vagina clench around his cock. A wicked smile curved his lips and Ka’ya eyed him warily.
“You like that,” he said. “I felt your body react to it.”
“What else would my body like?” she asked daringly.
“Do you trust me?” he asked with a wicked smile.
Ka’ya immediately nodded. She could feel the excitement building inside her. She felt curiosity about what he meant.
Her lips parted in protest when he pulled out of her. She had been on the verge of another orgasm. She decided they were something that she could get very used to. The pleasure leading up to them was nothing compared to the burst that soared through her when she came.
She gasped when Alexandru rolled her over and pulled her up onto her hands and knees. The feel of him sliding his cock back and forth along the crack of her ass sent a shiver of awareness through her. This was a position that left her vulnerable – yet, also empowered. She spread her legs wider and glanced over her shoulder at Alexandru. He was gazing down at where he was sliding his cock back and forth.
He leaned forward when she tilted her hips back and lowered her upper body onto her arms. This position opened her wider for him. A soft groan escaped him and he slid his cock deep into her. Cupping her breasts with his hands, he began moving again. His slow movements soon became hard and desperate. His hand tightened on her nipples, rolling them between his forefinger and thumb and pinching them until she cried out and thrust her hips back against him. Her head lowered and she bit into the covers of the bed to keep her loud cry from sounding throughout the camp.
