Bayou Bishops Box Set: Books 1-12

CHAPTER 9

Ethan eyed the Seer as he made his way with Cat toward the Basilique. She’d taken hold of his hand, and it amazed him how something so little could have so much power. They were on another level he realized. No words needed. She needed to feel him, and he needed to feel her, and then they were touching. Just like that.

With every step they took toward the man with divine eyes, his fears danced in and out of the excitement Cat put in his blood. The fear was different than before, and he knew without a doubt what changed it. Her love confession. His body filled again with that surge of adrenalin, wishing he could drag her back home that instant and begin teaching her. God, he’d already made long lists of supplies to turn her into his most feared, most lusted, most loved Sadist.

That word. Love. Her idea and his were worlds apart. Hers was pure and angelic. Selfless. To have such a miracle for himself was something. Having it from her was everything. For him, all his emotions were driven by data, controlled by analytics, and perfected by algorithms. It’s the only thing he knew. And the only thing that worked for him.

“Wow, I don’t remember him being so handsome,” she whispered.

“Watch it,” he muttered.

She gave a low laugh and his hunger picked out a sadistic glee that filled his balls with a raging pulse.

“Little Ethan,” Seer said as they climbed the steps of the Basilique. “Been a marsh minute,” he said, pulling his hand from his black preacher coat and reaching toward him with it.

Ethan stopped before him, staring at the divine weapon now aimed at him. Cat squeezed his other hand, reminding him she was there. His beautiful warrior with the sun-kissed skin and silk-spun hair. He raised his gaze to the Seer’s bright blue eyes and put his hand in his.

Ethan watched as his perfect mouth tugged with a hint of a smile as his eyes glazed over then slowly closed. A full minute in, Ethan’s pulse quaked through his blood as something swam around hungry inside him. Something dark, something… cold and ugly.

Seer released his hand and Ethan’s breath blasted from his lungs. He blinked, realizing he’d closed his own eyes. He looked at the Seer now eyeing Cat. He watched as his hand stretched out toward her.

“Je’ boo-swan-deh vwah set-awnge,” he said, his voice a whisp of silk.

She looked up at Ethan and he nodded at her, squeezing her hand the way she had his. If heneededtoseethisangel, then he surely would.

She looked at him and stared at his hand the way he had. What was she thinking? Was she afraid? If so, of what? With a gasp, she grabbed hold of his hand and Seer’s eyes closed instantly with a pull in his brow.

“Pour-quet set awnge ahtil pur?” he pled, softly, the question stirring that dark thing Ethan felt seconds before. What did Seer mean by, ‘whatisthisangeldoing?’

She let out a gasp and he realized she was crying.

Seer made soothing sounds, covering her hand with his other, then stroking it while mumbling in a language Ethan didn’t recognize.

He suddenly moved their hands to Ethan and Seer opened his eyes, nodding. Ethan took her hand and Seer placed both of his around their joined hands.

“The two shall be one flesh,” he said, staring at him. “And what God has joined together…allow no darkness to break it.”

He looked at Cat who still cried quietly, wiping her eyes. “There’s a false idol blocking your path. Until it’s removed, you will not reclaim the lost land.”

He winked at Ethan then gave a blooming smile at Cat. “Cup of coffee before we head out?”

****

Nitro groaned, opening his eyes. He stared at a ceiling, his heart hammering hard and fast in his chest. Where was he? What was wrong?

He moved and heard metal clank. Looking, his breaths turned labored. Chained… “Hey…” he called, the word getting cut off as he coughed, wincing from the pain in his throat. And body. He lifted his head, panic filling him at seeing blood on him. “Hey!” he yelled, again choking on the agony in his throat.

“He’s awake!”

He jerked at the voice beyond the door. “Felix,” he called. “FELIX!”

“I’m right here, I’m here baby. Let me go get Patches.”

“Fuck, what happened?” he gasped. “What is this blood?” he croaked, panting then succumbing to a violent round of coughing.

“Lesion and Patches are coming.”

“What did I fucking do? What did I fucking do!” he roared. “I need to see you.” He jerked on his restraints, biting down on a sudden rage. “Felix, what did I do, what did I fucking do?” he begged, tears burning his eyes. “I hurt you, I fucking know I did, I can…taste you,” he strained, gasping for air as agony ripped his chest open.

“I’m going to kill him,” he swore, his saliva turning acidic and bitter. “I’m going to kill Lesion for doing this. No, no, no, don’t cry baby, fuck. Please.”

“It’s not his fault,” she sobbed at the door. “It’s mine!”

“No! No, it’s not your fucking fault.”

“He texted me the dosage,” she wailed. “I never even saw it. I was too busy…I was too busy…I don’t know what I was even doing,” she cried, her broken heart bringing a sudden biting fury that made him pull on the chains till he roared and thrashed.

“I need to see you!”

His breaths bellowed out in half growls as the sound of clanking metal outside the room reached him along with other voices. They’d had to lock him in. Chain him to the fucking bed. What had he done?

The door opened and he jerked his head up, panting, spotting his wife behind Patches and Lesion. “Felix.”

She pushed through the two and ran to him, kissing him right on his dirty mouth. “What happened?” he barely whispered, moaning at the feel of her. “What did I do? God, I’m so thirsty.”

“He needs water,” she said over her shoulder, her anger bringing pricks to his skin as she returned to kissing him with a delicate tenderness. It brought a helpless rage to be free, to touch her like he needed, like she needed.

“Felix, would you go get Nitro a water while we talk to him?” Patches asked.

She nodded, her tears falling right on his face. He leaned and kissed her before she pulled up. “I’ll be right back,” she whispered, wiping her tears off him.

He realized she wore a long sleeve, high neck sweater and knew without asking it was to hide what he’d done.

He waited for her to leave before he demanded, “Tell me what happened, don’t fucking lie to me,” he growled.

Patches moved next to him and his gaze dropped to the bruises covering his chest.

“Oh fuck,” he whispered, his gaze shooting up. “What happened?”

“You had another episode,” Lesion answered, moving next to him.

He looked at him. “I thought I was fucking getting better?”

“I don’t know what happened yet. But we found equipment that will allow us to monitor your levels in real time. If I know your levels, I can prescribe the antidote to bring them back to normal within seconds.”

“What…how?”

“I would implant a biometric device under your skin. It comes with a program that monitors whatever I input. When your levels get unstable, I’m alerted. 8-Bit will write a program that allows you to monitor yourself and administer the required dosing of the antidote, allowing you to live normally until I find a permanent solution. And I’m very close. I currently have every antidote to counter all your current symptoms. We just need to be able to administer them before these imbalances become dangerous or until you learn to naturally control them.”

He shook his head at him. “What if I won’t want to fix it? When this… thing takes over…” He eyed both of them, his breaths shaking. “I don’t hate it. I love it,” he whispered, looking again at Patches’ chest. “I don’t remember anything,” he said. “I’m fucking…sorry,” he croaked, sick at what he’d done to him. “What…did I do to her? She’s wearing that sweater to hide it.”

“More biting and blood drinking,” Lesion said, his tone low.

“Oh, is thatit?” he grit, fury surging till he clenched his jaw. “How bad was it?” he had to know. “And why is she blaming herself?”

“She found the text I sent her,” Lesion said. “I tried to tell her it was my fault, I should’ve called and double-checked that she got the text and understood. I gave her the dosage over the phone, and she said she was writing it. I don’t know if she lost it or just forgot but none of that matters. If I could have lied to her and said otherwise, I would have,” Lesion assured. “The last thing I want is her blaming herself with everything else.”

“Right,” Nitro gasped at the ceiling. “Like her husband raping and mauling her in front of whoever wants to watch.”

“Here’s something else,” Lesion began, his eagerness making him want to bite his face off. “Her bites…seem to heal quickly. Unlike with bats, you create something in your saliva when you perform the mating ritual that allows for clotting and rapid regeneration. But with the bite you inflicted on Patches, it did not clot, it bled freely. It seems the chemical makeup in the saliva when you bite to kill and bite to mate are very different.”

“She tried to stop you,” Patches said. “No matter what she did to you—and she tried everything she could—you never hurt her.”

He closed his eyes. “She will never be able to trust me now. She’ll always wonder when I’m going to turn into an animal and start…” He shook his head. “Do what you have to. Right now,” he whispered, looking at Lesion. “How soon before I can get out of this bed, this fucking room? I need to be with her. I know that being away from her makes whatever is wrong with me a lot more wrong.”

“I’m going to put the implant in as soon as you eat.”

“I’m not hungry,” he snapped, not wanting to wait.

Lesion looked at Patches. “Then we’ll do it now.”

Patches nodded and put a hand on his shoulder. “The sooner the better, right? Kinda sick of looking at you. Plus, the hot chick from Texas who brought this equipment is stuck here for the Hurricane. She volunteered to help me, so I might need this basement to commit a little fornication.”

Nitro’s guts loosened at hearing the prospect of him with another woman. Like he’d been secretly suspecting him of making a move on his wife.

He was truly losing it.

****

Ethan wished he gave more of a shit about things not Cat related but until he understood the Seer’s words, he couldn’t function as a leader of anything. He was evilly thrilled to be done with the business of her brother and he sure didn’t need divine eyes to see the man needed a second opinion about his condition. With the advances in science, there was a high chance something existed that could help him. Her brother was taking Jason to their Hatche’s hurricane shelter so they were safe from the storm. His own Hatch was secured and ready. That left him and Cat and what the Seer said.

Arriving at his home, Ethan hopped out and helped Cat out. He realized he’d never once looked forward to going to any place he called home. But as he stared at her on the dock, his body and blood vibrated with an energy he could easily call happiness. She gave him that. He took her face in his hands and kissed her softly. He asked her around gentle nibbles, “What do you think the Seer meant by what God has joined together, let no darkness break it?”

Her lips spread under his and he moaned at the feel of her fingers sliding along his scalp into his hair. “I…actually think he may have married us right then.”

He paused, pulling up. “Seriously?”

“It’s what the holy man says when two are joined in marriage.”

That energy bubbled in his veins until it made him smile. He scooped her off her feet and cradled her in his arms, her laughter making that stuff in his body leap around. “That would make this our honeymoon?”

She nodded with a secret smile then leaned up and kissed him. The boldness sparked against his masochism like a match on flint as he pulled up. “I need my eyes to walk, sadly.”

She settled for kissing his neck as he hurried along the pier, wondering. “What should we do first?”

“Maybe have coffee,” she said, sounding giggly.

“Please say you’re joking.”

“So much,” she laughed. “I think you know what I want.”

His pulse jackhammered in his chest as he maneuvered through the side gate. “I’d rather not make guesses for this one. Are you giving me a hickey?” he asked as she moaned and sucked his neck hard.

“Yes, I’m marking my territory,” she whispered, her breaths hot as she moved to another spot and sucked again, making him groan.

“That feels fucking amazing,” he confessed, at the back door now. “Where’d you learn that?”

“From you.”

“Tera, I’m home. No updates,” he called before muttering, “I never gave you one of those yet.”

“Don’t matter,” she whispered, licking along his skin. “You still taught me. You just gotta stand there being sexy, and I start learning things I never knew before.”

Everything quit being funny now that they were where he was desperate to be with her. He walked in and locked the door then carried her to his room. “

He leaned and put her on the bed, only to have her cling to his neck and pull him down with her. “Fuck, I want to shower,” he whispered around her lashing tongue.

“I’ll wash you,” she gasped, her hand on his cock.

He took hold of it and brought it to his mouth, kissing it and sucking her fingers, ready to test this entirely new dynamic unfolding. “Let’s do it.”

He pulled her up and into the bathroom, letting her undress him while watching her mouth constantly devouring everything she uncovered. “You are so perfect,” she kept saying between ravenous sucks and licks that had him winded. Once he was naked, he yanked the sleeves of her dress down in one go, diving on her naked breasts. They were so fucking tight and perfect. He smeared his open mouth all over them, growling as his touch went on a hot descent. He pulled up at feeling she covered her pussy with both hands and looked at her.

Seeing fire in her eyes and worry pressed new buttons that made him want to bite that fucking hand hiding what he wanted. “Move,” he ordered, nipping at her mouth as he slid his hand in her panties with a harsh groan. He felt the perfect shape of her, the skin reminding him of his face a day after shaving. He suddenly couldn’t wait to feel that on his mouth.

“I have to shower!” she shot out, holding his head back when he knelt before her. “Please,” she begged, her tits rising and falling with her breaths.

He stood and pulled her to the shower, putting her back against his chest, his heart drumming as he held out his hand to the soap dispenser. The air filled with steam as the automatic sensors adjusted the spray to the perfect temperature. He rubbed the soap together in his hands. “Hold my neck.”

She clamped her hands tight, and he kissed along her face, moving his palms over her perky tits first, feeling every inch of her. Her sharp moans brought each of his fingers to tease the thick tips till she pushed her ass into his cock. Realizing how hard he still was, a brutal hunger sent his hand straight to her pussy, the fire in his blood turning his touch greedy, pressing into the plump silk while he sucked her neck with the same cruel measure, marking her with his hickey now.

He turned her into the water, rinsing her when her arousal reached desperate. His hand turned rough over her pussy lips, and she gasped in response, lifting her leg for him. He groaned, spreading her silk folds and pressed his palm on her clit, dipping his finger inside her with each firm pass. He pulled her harder into his body, grinding her ass against his cock while his mind shot out in new directions, his cock sliding between her tight ass cheeks till he was burning.

“Fuck me,” she gasped. “Please.”

The dirty word and weakness in her beg put a vicious pulse in his cock, and every raging chemical demanded more like that. More filth, more desperate, more begging. He followed the urge and pressed her into the shower wall, the sight of it feeding something in him he knew on some level but never experienced.

“Open your legs,” he ordered at her ear while sliding his hand up and down her pussy from behind, watching her ass as she did as told. He slid his cock over that tight silk and she gave a sharp gasp of worry, spiking this new hunger with a devious lust. “You like that baby?” he whispered at her ear. “You know my cock is too big for your sweet pussy, right?” he shuddered, pressing the head at her opening.

Her moans mixed with frantic gasps and her fear hit him like a punch in his dick. He devoured it, letting it coat his mind. “Don’t be scared of the pain, baby,” he said in her ear. “Let it feel good.”

He pushed the head in, and her muscles quivered, her sharp cry hitting his veins like a drug. “Fuck…baby,” he gasped, realizing he was teaching her. He’d wanted her to understand his need for pain and pleasure but never thought of having her experience it. “You’re taking my huge cock for me?”

“Ethan,” she panted. “It’s… toobig.”

“Fuck,” he gasped, holding her hips in a vice grip. “And you’re too tight.”

“Oh God,” she panted, worried. “It’s going to hurt.”

The hurt word wrapped in pain and fear detonated a sadistic lust that demanded he crush his masochistic lover. With a single shove of his cock, he gripped her hair and caught her first scream with a greedy, devouring kiss. She gave another with his next thrust, opening his veins to receive the ultimate high as he drove his cock to the very bottom of her over and over, her every scream a shockwave of pleasure that sucked his orgasm closer.

It was seeing her face pressed into the tile and her oval mouth pouring with moans and whimpers that brought clarity to the power growling in his chest. This was the power of the sadist. And it was its own hard core drug. He remembered what was at stake and managed around breaths, “Tell me what you want.”

“Please,” she panted, her eyes slits of fire. “I need you,” she gasped.

He looked between them and tilted her hips with his hands, bringing that frantic worry to her moans again. “You like it? You want it so fucking hard in your tight cunt?”

“Yes,” she gasped, trembling.

His fingers dug into her soft hips, getting ready.

“I want it, I need you, Ethan!”

He shoved her up the wall and sheathed his cock when she dropped back down. This time her scream snatched his self-control and his orgasm came like a whirlwind. A lust-rage cut free in him, and he was on the other side of the looking glass, the sadistic master orchestrating pleasure and pain till he wondered how he’d never only wanted that.

“I love you, I love you,” she cried on every breath when his thrusts finally slowed.

Those words. Ethan stared at her mouth half against the tile, her breaths bursting out with whimpers. He pulled his cock out of her and held her against his body in a tight embrace. Ten seconds without the lust-haze driving him brought in the full reality of his actions. “I hurt you,” he barely said against her face, a familiar disgust slithering through his veins.

“I didn’t hate it.” The soft confession rode her moans, a console full of mild surprise.

His muscles suddenly let go and he turned, putting his back against the shower. The shakes he often got after a session hit him, saying it was all real. He’d used his first time with his wife to dunk her in his filth and hold her down till he fucking got off. “You didn’t even orgasm,” he croaked. “I didn’t plan that, Cat. It just…you were begging me and you’re…I just wanted to give you what you begged for. And now I sound like a sick predator blaming the victim when I’m the one who deliberately brought you to that edge.”

“Stop,” she begged, forcing his face to hers. “I’m not a dumb duck,” she whispered. “I knew what was going on. I know this is a battle to do something different. Do you realize what you did?”

He stared at her, clueless and now curious with her smile.

She pulled him to her mouth and gave him little kisses. “You… had…an orgasm…” she said between pecks on his lips, “without…pain.”

Holy shit. He stared at her. “I did.” He was instantly suspicious. Anything with his sexuality had to be treated like a convicted felon on death row looking for escape opportunities.

“Isn’t that amazing?” she scolded lightly, still pecking on his lips.

He realized he was ruining her moment. And it was surely her moment because she took credit for this suspect anomaly. He decided to be straight with her. “I want to celebrate that, but my shit doesn’t work so nicely.”

“What do you mean?”

He stroked her disappointed face and the wet hair along it. “Know first that anything that’s fucked up about me will never be about you. Anything good, yes, all you.”

“Well… this is good?”

He kissed her nose and forehead then lips. “It does seem like it. But I know this thing. It’s cooperative if it means getting something it wants.” And that his addiction was okay with sadism was hardly a reason to rejoice since it was the faithful spouse of masochism. The two were equals in their own domains with one feeding off the other.

“Well…it could want this?”

He slid his hands along her back and covered her cute ass, loving the beautiful look of hope in her eyes. Hope for him. And them. “It could,” he said, deciding to protect it. Feed it. “If anybody can break this cycle, it’s you, ma petite menou.” But really, she was too good. The wrong kind of good. He’d take advantage. And he’d continue pushing her boundaries. Till she was letting him do things that weren’t safe or sane or legal. Most of all, he’d crave the delectable absence of her consent.

He pulled her pussy against his leg, ready to give her that orgasm she should’ve gotten. He froze when she winced in pain. “Fuck, you’re hurt,” he said, or remembered. Fucking moron.

“It’s a good kind of pain,” she whispered.

“Big G, run a lavender bath,” he called. “Set the temperature to accommodate open wounds,” he added. “Fuck.”

“Accommodating to your specifications.”

She tilted her head at him, her smile huge, confusing him. “Why are you happy?” he demanded, wanting her to be pissed at him.

“Because you’re beating yourself up for me.”

He scooped her up, cradling her in his arms and making his way to the filling tub.

“Mmmm, I love that smell.” She swung her lower legs and wrapped her arms around his neck, laying her head on his chest. “I like when you carry me. I feel like a princess.”

“You are.”

“And you’re my dark prince?”

He sat her on the edge of the tub. “I’ll get something for pain.”

“No!” she cried with a laugh. “It’s not that bad, lordy.”

“I’ll kiss it all better after you bathe.”

He chuckled at how her eyes widened, then filled with instant heat. “I can’t believe you’d do that.”

“Will,” he assured. “You’ve imagined it, I’m sure.” He climbed in the tub and sat, holding his hand out for her.

“You’re bathing with me?” She climbed in and sat between his legs, hissing. “Ouch.”

“Mmm, poor baby,” he murmured at her ear. “When I’m done licking and kissing it, you’ll feel better.”

“I…can’t wait,” she said, stroking her hands over his legs. “You’re so gorgeous,” she murmured, leaning back against him. “Did you notice I lusted after you when you first came to my house?”

He grinned, kissing her temple. “Maybe.”

“God, I looked like total crap that day. Feels like a month ago, right?” she gasped, amazed. “How did you bewitch me so quickly?” she wondered, bringing his chuckles.

“I have this bewitching app of course.”

She laughed, nodding. “Of course, you do. You’ll need to trash it now.”

“Already did,” he said, kissing her other temple now. She angled her head, giving him access to more and he took it, smiling. “You like my kisses?”

“So much,” she whispered, sliding her fingers in his hair. “I could let you do that all night. All over me.”

“Then I will.” He stroked his fingers over her arms then the outer swell of her breasts.

“You like em?”

He paused. “Your tits?”

“Yes,” she hesitated.

He considered how to answer that.

“Oh lord, you don’t like them.”

“I’m trying to find the right words.”

“Well…are they good words?” she wondered, mildly annoyed, making him laugh.

“So very good, ma petite menou.”

“They’re kinda little,” she said, helping him.

“They are so very… cute is not the right word.”

“Well, it’s not a terrible word either,” she said, sounding on the verge of pleased. “But they don’t sag either and I don’t hardly wear a bra.”

“Perky, yes. So… fucking perky.” He captured her nipples between his fingers, bringing her gasp and ass against his cock. “And lickable,” he added, gently rolling them. “Suckable. Mmm, so fucking edible.”

“I like when you cuss about it,” she said, breathless.

“I’m cussing because there are no fucking words to properly define your beautiful tits and what they do to me.”

She moaned and covered his hand with hers, then moved it down her stomach.

“Baby,” he whispered, watching. “Open those perfect fucking legs for me.”

She did, wrapping her hands around his upper legs as he stroked along her inner thighs.

“You’re so perfect.” His finger moved carefully over her clit. “I love every inch of you.”

She sucked in a breath and opened wider, pushing into his cock till his breaths turned ragged.

“It’s so good right here, baby?” He barely pet her clit.

“Yes, so good. Ethan,” she barely whispered. “I…I touched myself in the tub…that night…when you called.”

Fuck, he’d been dying to know. “Tell me everything. What you were thinking.” He moved his finger in slow circles right on the tip of her hard bud.

“You,” she gasped, digging her fingers into his legs. “Oh God, yes.”

“Fuck, that’s it, open wider. Is that what you did? While thinking of me? You opened your legs like this?”

“Yes,” she gasped, her back arching. “I thought…of you…putting your mouth on me.”

He sucked her cheek then licked as he picked up speed on her clit. “Right where my finger is? Is that where my tongue was?”

“Yes,” she cried.

“Was I sucking or licking you?”

“Oh God,” she shot out, her orgasm fucking close.

“You pumped your fucking hips like this?”

“Yes!”

“Yeah,” he shuddered wiggling his finger fast now. “You were pumping my fucking mouth, pulling my fucking hair. That’s what you’re going to do when I suck you tonight.” He kept talking dirty while she came and fuck, she came hard. “Take it all baby, don’t stop. Ah yeah, look at you, so fucking nasty for me. I can’t wait to fuck you again.”

Her hands were clenched in his hair when she spiraled back down.

“I fucking love watching you orgasm.” He stroked her face with one hand and everywhere else he could reach with his other, addicted to the feel of her.

“Wow,” she gasped.

The water shut off at three fourths full. “Good?”

“Soooooo good.”

He grinned, his blood singing with that energy she always brought.

“So…how is it for you?”

“For me?”

“When you…do that thing with the…pain stuff. I want to know how it works. What do you like?”

Fuck. He wanted to redirect the conversation but already knew he would do no such thing. He would have to tell her eventually. “When I was engaging in it…At first I went to the Dungeon once a month.”

“What is this dungeon?” she wondered, curious. “You said it was here in the swamp?”

“Yes. It’s actually here, at my home.”

“The dungeon?”

“Yes. It’s virtual.”

She let out a soft sound of fascination. “Wow. Is it something I can see? Or only you can see it? I don’t know how this technology stuff works, sorry if I sound stupid.”

He stroked her face with his, closing his eyes as his dark urges clawed at him from the inside. “Not stupid angel. And yes…you can see it.”

“I can?”

His cock jerked as he realized she thought he meant let her physically see it.

“When can I? I just want to understand.”

Fuck, and she should understand. Maybe if she did, she might see why he couldn’t let her near it. Maybe he should… “I can show you what I do.”

“Really? Are you sure you’re okay with that?”

“I think…you need to know.”

She nodded against his chest. “I agree. I can’t really know how to help if I don’t know what you’re up against. But no rush, whenever you’re ready.”

“Now,” he said quietly.

“Now?”

“Yes.”

She angled her head on his chest, peering up at him. “Are you sure?”

“I’ll tell you what I am, Cat. I’m desperate out of my mind to have it again. And if I do this, I’m opening that door. And even if I don’t do it, the door is open in my mind, beckoning me. It will never stop.”

“We’ll do this together. We’ll find a way, that’s all there is to it. I am not about to let this thing push you around, that’s my place.”

“Fuck, you know what that does to me? You talking about pushing me around?”

“I do know. And I’m ready to become what you need. But…I do think I need to see what that looks like.”