Chapter 4 #2
I liked Medusa. We’d bonded when I thought she’d been just an emerald python, carrying through to the big reveal of her being a shifter. I’d definitely made a friend, or at least it seemed so.
Fingers crossed.
I drew luck down my chest to keep up this blossoming friendship.
“Is Silvanus okay?” I asked, a sense of calm falling over me now.
“He’s holding up,” she answered. “Like we all are, I suppose.”
“We’ve got no other choice,” I replied.
Man, I kind of hated how much I missed him. As kind as Medusa’s back rub was, I wanted it to be the vampire’s hands there.
Not just there, either. Back on my dick, his lips going wherever they wanted, fangs breaking my skin to taste my blood again.
Shameful…
No. Kissing him had been a mistake. Sure, it’d been a welcome release, but we’d have to file it as a lapse in judgment. Things were complicated enough.
Tell that to my simmering desire.
Opening my eyes, I got to my feet, stretched my limbs, and rolled my shoulders.
“You can talk to me,” Medusa offered. “About the vision, about anything you like.”
So kind. “Thanks, but I’m sweetcream.”
“No, you’re not.”
I shrugged, eyes on the fire. “I’ll be closer to it after a nice shower.”
If I washed the king’s touch and citrussy aroma off me, maybe I could also take my lust off the heat and get my head straightened out a bit. After all, I had a lot of pondering to do without any more of these horny distractions.
Make that shameful, horny distractions.
Dust. Mermaid. Sinkhole. Dagger.
Yeah, yeah. How about show me the details, then?
No such luck.
Beyond ready for a shower, I headed for the stairs.
“Can I make you anything?” Medusa asked. “A nice hot drink?”
“Any beer?”
She sauntered into the kitchen. “Let me check the fridge.”
I joined her for a look, curious to know what a vampire stocked, apart from blood.
There were eight bottles of beer in the fridge, along with a block of cheese, a tub of butter, and a bottle of champagne.
Interesting.
In one of the cupboards, we found a box of teabags, a jar of coffee, some sugar cubes, and a packet of ginger biscuits.
Yuck to the ginger. My kingdom for a slab of caramel shortbread, which wasn’t anywhere to be found.
“Here you go.” Medusa handed me a beer and a bottle opener.
“Thanks.” The fizzy pop of the cap coming off was music to my ears, the cold pour down my throat heavenly. “Ah. So good.”
She joined me, taking a gulp. “Agreed.”
We clinked bottles in a cheers.
Who was the champagne for? A lover? Elio, maybe? After all, he was the king’s favorite thrall. A fellow elf who’d tried shooting me, clearly jealous of my proximity to Silvanus.
I guess after tonight he did have something to resent me for.
Not so favorite anymore, huh?
Wait. No, he didn’t! In fact, I should encourage the king to return his desires to Elio again. Leave me out of it, pretty please, pangs of my own jealously be dammed.
“If it’s any consolation, he only brought Elio here once,” Medusa said.
Huh? Did she read that on my face? “Why are you telling me that?”
She shrugged, swigging her beer.
Damn her insight.
“Okay, shower time,” I announced, heading back for the stairs.
“Enjoy, sugar.”
“Thanks.”
Upstairs, I found more of the same décor and flowers. I greeted them, my mood brightening in their presence.
The bathroom was white and green tiled, and I was happy to see towels and soap there, as well as a toilet. Phew. I really needed to pee.
After taking a leak, I inspected the bedroom. The room only had one bed facing the window, and a small wardrobe. What an awesome view to fall asleep or wake up to.
Kind of romantic, too.
I placed my beer on the bedside table and sat on the green bedspread, wondering if he’d fucked Elio here. Lying back, I put my hand on my crotch.
“I bet he did,” I mumbled.
My dick fluttered.
I sat up, grabbing my beer. Hell no. We weren’t going down this road. I’d already decided to shut this shit down. Let him plow whoever he wanted, just leave me out of it. There wasn’t room for this in my life, not with a storm brewing on the horizon.
Shameful…
“Be focused. Be ready,” I told myself. “Maybe take a vow of celibacy.”
Doubting every word, I stripped and got into the shower. The hot spray helped, relaxing my mind a little and unknitting the tension in my muscles, the traces of Silvanus washing away.
See ya!
Clean, smelling of cherry soap, I dried off, facing myself in the mirror above the sink.
“You looked exhausted,” I told my reflection, pushing a hand through my damp silver hair.
The puncture marks on my neck were gone, thanks to the wolf in my blood. I touched the area, wondering if the king would reopen them tonight.
Absolutely fucking not!
Anyway, check out those bags under my eyes. Someone needed a long sleep and an escape to a sunnier climate.
One day I’d take a vacation to the sunny beaches of Coral Sands in the Mer Domain.
Speaking of all things mer, the mystery mermaid’s timing had been interesting in light of this vision. Pretending to care about poor little me collapsing on the bridge, offering me the charity of coin.
Clearly, she’d been crying before our meeting. Why? What’d been her ulterior motive?
“Looks like a mermaid hunt is on the cards,” I mumbled.
Done with the mirror, I dressed, dumping my cum-stained boxers in the bin. A waste really, but, well, yeah. I’d rather go commando.
I lit up a mistrock cig, picked up my beer, and went to the window.
Watching the gentle twinkle of the stars on the inky blanket of the sky, I enjoyed a moment of peace.
I even yawned, feeling weirdly relaxed despite everything.
Well, apart from wondering what the hell my twin sister Pearl would be thinking about this.
Ashamed? Horrified? Disgusted? She’d been murdered by a vamp, and here was her twin brother getting tossed off by the vampire king. But she’d been infected with Aidan’s rotten lies, believing in a cause that’d come crashing down like a glass roof in a meteor shower.
“I’m sorry, Pearl,” I whispered.
I didn’t mean for this to happen, and I’d make sure to curb these feelings.
At the same time, I couldn’t ignore Silvanus.
There would be no walking away from him until we got answers.
Maybe when every stone had been turned, flipped, and smashed, I could finally leave the Human Domain; make a life for myself in the forest in the domain of my people.
Live like an elf should amongst the trees, no more towns and cities for me.
Finally free to start my life properly.
“Yeah, because things are that easy,” I chided myself, taking a deep drag on my cig.
“How are you doing up there?” Medusa called from downstairs.
“Sweetcream,” I returned. “I’ll be down in a sec.”
I just wanted a bit longer looking up at the stars, dreaming of better days.
A rhythmic thrumming sounded nearby.
“What the hell?” I moved closer to the window, elfy ears pricked and listening.
“Can you hear that?” Medusa called.
“Yeah.” I pressed my face to the glass, unable to see anything from this angle. But the volume went up, the sound becoming clearer.
Helicopter.
My stomach flipped. Instinctively, I knew this was going to be bad. Really bad.
I hurried downstairs, finding the front door open, swinging in the wind. My heart leaping into my throat, I darted outside. Medusa stood on the garden path, eyes on the skies.
“There,” she said, pointing.
The white copter flew over at that moment with a roar, red lights blinking, gun turrets attached to its underside.
Warchopper, a staple of the Human Domain, rarely deployed since peace was declared with the vampires. Armed with twin gun turrets, and a missile launcher between them. Real beastly things designed to make things go boom.
My guts heaved. “By Aidan—” I swallowed the dirty name, a tight ache of terror in my chest. “Where did it come from?”
What was east of here? There were many islands scattered around the oceans beyond the main continent of Quintrealm. Plenty of outposts with dormant warchoppers ready to be deployed.
Medusa walked further along the path, her eyes trained on it.
Heading west for the mainland and—
“Oh no,” I gasped, that terror becoming an icy stab in my heart.
A second warchopper flew over the house, followed by two more.
“Shite!” Medusa hissed.
A spear of guilt jabbed into me repeatedly. I couldn’t breathe, legs feeling like they were filled with lead.
I knew why they were up there.
“Paris?”
No. No. No. “They’re…” I’d forgotten about this in all the drama.
“Paris?”
Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.
“Talk to me,” Medusa said, closing in on me.
After a painful swallow, I finally answered her. “They’re going to attack the palace.”