4. Torin
4
TORIN
I stare at my phone, thumb hovering over the screen. How the fuck am I supposed to text my dead dad? “Hey, heard you’re not dead anymore. What’s that like?”
Growling in frustration, I shove the phone back into my pocket. This is bullshit. I didn’t ask for him to come back. I didn’t want him back.
A chill runs down my spine, and I whirl around, fangs dropping instinctively. Something’s wrong. The air feels off. Charged with an unfamiliar energy that we definitely caused. This is a shitshow, but unlike other shitshows in the past, we have no idea how to fix this one. Unless somehow Bram can use that fancy new magick of his to move us back into the proper timeline. I don’t even know how that could happen, but we’ve seen a lot of crazy shit go down these last few weeks. So, who knows?
Crossing over the campus, I see Ivy crouched by a tree, looking a bit lost. I go to her and crouch next to her. “You okay?”
“We fucked up. I don’t know how we can fix it.”
“Yeah, tell me about it.”
Her blue eyes meet mine. “I’m sorry.”
Frowning at her, I place my hand on her knee. “You have nothing to be sorry for. We all did this, and we would do it again for the rest of eternity if we had to.”
She gives me a sad smile. “Thanks, Torin. But I feel responsible. I’m supposed to be Death now, maintaining the balance, and instead, I’ve thrown everything into chaos.”
I squeeze her knee gently. “We’ll figure it out.”
She nods, but I can see the weight of responsibility still heavy on her shoulders. Before I can say anything else, my phone buzzes in my pocket.
“Fuck,” I mutter, pulling it out. Sure enough, it’s another call from my dad.
Ivy raises an eyebrow. “You should probably answer it.”
I grimace. “Yeah, I know.” Taking a deep breath, I hit accept, putting it onto speaker. “Yeah.”
“Torin. We need to talk. Now.”
“Yeah, I figured,” I reply dryly. “Where are you?”
“Behind you.”
Ivy’s gaze meets mine before it flicks over my shoulder. She raises an eyebrow. “Yeah, that’s the vampire I killed.”
“Well, finished off,” his voice says over the speaker, and I cringe.
“Sorry,” she mutters.
He snorts and hangs up. I roll my eyes and straighten up, turning to face down my back-from-the-dead dad. Fun fucking times.
I steel myself to confront my dad. He appears exactly as he was. Although I’m not sure what I expected. Zombie vampire? Zompire?
“Torin,” he says coolly.
“Dad,” I reply, matching his tone. “I see reports of your death were greatly exaggerated.”
His eyes narrow. “Cut the crap, Torin. What the hell is going on?”
I clench my jaw, resisting the urge to tell him exactly where he can shove his questions. “What do you remember?”
“Dying by beheading. One assumes I crumbled to ash, but here I am. What do you know?”
“It’s complicated. The short version is we fucked with time to save Ivy and Tate. It looks like it had some side effects.”
Dad’s gaze shifts to Ivy, who’s standing beside me.
“You’re Death now,” he states flatly.
Ivy nods. “As of about an hour ago, yeah.”
He curses under his breath. “Perfect. Just fucking perfect. You idiots have no idea what you’ve done, do you?”
“Hey, watch it,” I growl. “We did what we had to do.”
“Watch it?” Dad snarls, his fangs dropping. “You arrogant little shit. You’ve thrown the entire supernatural world into chaos because you couldn’t handle losing your girlfriend.”
I’m ready to throw down, but Ivy speaks up. “Look,” she says calmly, “we know we messed up. But what’s done is done. Now we need to figure out how to fix it.”
Dad laughs bitterly. “Fix it? You can’t just ‘fix’ altering the fabric of reality. Do you have any idea how many ancient beings you’ve probably unleashed? How many cosmic balances you’ve upset?”
“Oh, I'm aware,” she growls. “Trust me. I’m fucking aware.”
I glance at her with narrowed eyes. Who has she come across already?
“We’re aware of the risks,” I grit out. “That’s why we’re trying to assess the damage.”
He shakes his head. “Unbelievable. I always knew you were reckless, Torin, but this? This is a whole new level of stupid.”
I clench my fists, barely holding back from decking him. “You don’t get to judge me. You lost that right a long time ago.”
Dad snarls and lunges, but Ivy moves into the space between us quicker than I can react. She slaps a palm against his chest, and he stops dead in his tracks. Before any of us can say a word, Dad starts to dissipate into a black mist that Ivy sucks up into her hand.
“Oh, you didn’t,” I snort in amusement. “Did you just take him back?”
“Looks that way,” she says, wiping her hand on her top as a shudder goes over her body.
I can see the black soul under her skin, and I stifle the urge to gag. “Is he gone?” I croak, hopefully. I don’t think I can fuck her ever again if he is there, watching.
She shakes out her shoulders. “Yeah, I think so. Not sure where to, but he’s gone.”
“Thank fuck for that,” I mutter, and she shoots me a sharp glare. I clear my throat. “Who did you come across?”
“Lilith,” she says with a frustrated sigh. “As in… the .”
I blink. “Okay, that’s not good.”
“You think, Captain Obvious?”
Chuckling, I grab her wrist tightly and pull her closer. Pressing her up against a nearby tree, her annoyed expression turns sultry.
“You want it right here?”
“You willing?” I murmur, fangs already dropping.
She tilts her head to the side, and I press my mouth against her exquisite neck. The scent of her blood pumps through her veins, and I let out a soft mewl before I bite down sharply. She hisses and writhes in my arms. I grind my painfully hard cock against her pussy as her blood coats my tongue.
I groan against her skin. Her fingers tangle in my hair, pulling me closer.
“Fuck, Torin,” she gasps.
I slip a hand under her shirt, palming her breast roughly as I continue to drink. Her taste is different now - darker, more potent. It makes my head spin in the best way.
Ivy’s hips buck against mine desperately. “Please,” she whimpers.
Without hesitation, I unzip her jeans and slip my hand inside. She is wet and slippery. I groan as my fingers slide over her clit.
Thrusting two fingers into Ivy’s sweet cunt, I reluctantly pull back from feeding from her. She moans, her pussy walls clenching around me.
“More,” she demands, rocking against my hand.
“Fuck, you’re so wet,” I murmur.
Ivy whimpers and rocks her hips, fucking herself on my hand. I twist my fingers to hit that spot inside her that makes her pant harder.
“Torin!” she cries out.
I can feel her getting close. Her pussy clenches around my fingers as I stroke her G-spot relentlessly. With my thumb, I rub her clit in time with my thrusts.
“Come all over my hand, bitch,” I snarl, wishing it was my dick inside her.
She comes hard with a strangled cry, clamping down on my fingers. I keep pumping slowly, drawing out her orgasm.
“Fuck, that was hot,” she pants.
I smirk and bring my fingers to my mouth, sucking them clean. “Delicious.”
Ivy’s eyes darken with renewed lust. “Any chance we can ditch real-life shit and head back to my house to continue this?”
“Who said we have to go back to yours? I’m game right here.” I smirk.
“With all these students watching? Huge pass.”
“The forest then,” I murmur and take her hand, pulling her across campus with her jeans undone, my dick aching to get wet just for a few minutes before we have to fix the world.