Chapter 22 Cas
CAS
In the ages of memories I had, I recalled many women, including those considered the most beautiful in the world—Aphrodite, Helen, Kichijōten, Nefertiti, and yes, even the original Freya.
I’d fucked many of them. As a mortal for my first twenty-six years, I had little time for the fairer sex, but I certainly made up for it the following century, drowning my sorrows in tits and cunts.
Sex was as natural as breathing, as inconsequential as drinking a glass of water, on Olympus especially.
I couldn’t say why touching Silver was different.
My cock was rock hard as I sank my fingers between her thighs, bypassing flooded panties. I’d barely even touched her, yet I was overcome with a feral need for her.
I knew this was all for show, part of our assignment.
It shouldn’t have mattered. But I found that nothing else did.
I didn’t give a single shit about the energy reserves.
Those fuckers could have them. The important thing was the slender woman panting on my lap as I fucked her pussy with my fingers.
I took my time, slowing down when I could feel her walls tightening around me, strangling the digits I curled inside her heat.
Silver’s neck was highly sensitive, I learned as my tongue ran along it, from right under her ear to the crook between her neck and shoulder.
My free hand, I brought to her tit, palming it softly.
In truth, I wanted direct access to her skin, but she wore long sleeves, so that would have involved uncovering her tits, and then I’d have to kill all those humans for daring to look at her.
She was mine to behold. Mine to touch. Each of her desperate moans were mine, mine, mine.
The man in the stupid hat came to deliver our drinks, and started to smirk as he looked at us—at her. Then he caught my gaze and had the sense to scurry away without a word.
“Please,” Silver moaned, wriggling on my lap.
Fuck, she was so desperate for my cock she was ready to beg for it. I was moments away from getting it out and fucking her from underneath when the guy in the hat decided to risk life and limb.
“Hey, friends. Zey’re selling the magic stones now, if you’re still interested.”
“Yes,” Silver croaked weakly, straightening up a little. “Yes,” she repeated. “I want more magic.”
I didn’t. All I wanted was more of her moans, so I wrenched one more out of her with my thumb right at her clit.
That was when Silver tapped my thigh. Three times.
Fuck.
I let go immediately, my glare steady on the interloper with a death wish. “Whatever the lady wants. Lead the way.”
Hat Dude stood behind the bar, the box full of crystals open for the small audience, most in various states of undress, but I noted some looked like dealers more than customers.
He spoke in rapid-fire French that I wouldn’t have understood perfectly, but a short woman by his side translated each time he paused. “You’ve all tried the merchandise—it’s the best quality magic I’ve seen in my entire life, and you can have ten for two fifty, twenty for four hundred—”
A man alone, in a suit, interrupted the sales pitch. “How about the whole lot?” he asked in a southern American accent. “What kind of a deal can you make for the full stock?”
The dealer’s eyes widened, greed evident as he considered his answer. “Zere are two ’undred in there. If you want it all, we can make a deal at erm—”
“Hey, I want some!” Silver whined, pouting at me. “Please, darling, that was so much fun.”
I shrugged. “As the lady commands.”
The sharply dressed dealer sized us up. “I’ll pay two grand for the two hundred. Cash.”
“Two and a half,” I countered casually.
The dealer ground his teeth. “Two thousand seven hundred.”
“Three,” I said with a shrug, glad I had the Gold Bank provide me some euros for the trip.
“Look, here, I’m in the business. What would you even do with two hundred pieces?”
“Whatever my woman wants, man. No offense, but what she says goes.”
He redirected his glare down to Silver. “Your whore looks like a fucking kid, she’s so short. Definitely not worth three fucking grand.”
I moved without considering the consequences, my fist crashing against bone until blood splurged out of what was left of his nose. I smiled as iron hit my nostrils.
I reached for a paper towel on the bar to wipe my knuckles in the stunned silence. “Sorry, friend,” I told Hat Dude. “No one talks shit about my woman. I’ll throw in an extra hundred for your cleaner. You understand.”
Whether he understood or not, he nodded as I retrieved my wallet and started counting fifty-euro bills. I slid sixty-one across the bar, shut the box, and turned to Silver, to press my lips against hers.
I meant it as a peck, telling myself I was playing a role: the man so devoted he’d harm anyone who insulted her, and couldn’t get enough of her. But the moment we touched, a ravenous need seized me, demanding more, more, more.
I don’t know if I would have ever stopped devouring her if I didn’t suddenly feel a shift around us. I made myself pull away, scanning the crowd around us.
Something was wrong. I felt it to my marrow.
“Let’s get you back to our room, doll,” I drawled, my tone as casual as I could make it.
We had what we came for, and we needed to get out of here.
We were downstairs, almost to the door when the scream started. One, then another, and a third.
We got a clear view of the dance floor from the vantage point near the entrance.
The woman in pink—the first to have used a crystal, was pulling at her dress, ripping it off her as though it felt like acid against her. Then she started to claw at her own skin, drawing blood.
Someone from the staff approached her, trying to reason with her, to push her away from the crowd, and with a strength that shouldn’t have been hers, she slapped him back, so hard his neck twisted almost all the way back.
He fell with a hollow thud as more people started to scream, rushing towards the entrance.
We were closer, but we stepped aside to keep watching.
The woman, bloody, scratched, dress discarded, fell to her knees, moving like a beast, her eyes bright blue, all of the white gone.
“Runes,” Silver breathed.
It took me a second to realize what she meant: she hadn’t just scratched herself, she’d drawn runes all over her body.
Those blue eyes seemed to search wildly, looking for something.
I could guess what.
“We need to get out of here,” I told Silver.
“But she’s a human. We can—”
“That’s no longer a human,” I told her, dragging her to the door as fast as the crowd allowed.
I could tell Silver was confused. We were both immortal Olympians—me more so than her, but she could take most mortals without even trying.
“That’s an enthused elder beast, filled with Zeus’s will, unless I’m mistaken,” I explained quickly. “And she needs more of what we just got our hands on. Which means we need to run.”