Chapter 8
Eight
Hikaru
Were all warlocks this unbearably stuffy and organized?
Hovering high in the corner of Warlock Danzig’s office, I took in the lackluster decor.
For a moment, I thought I’d accidently translocated to a drafty old European castle.
Maybe that’s where Danzig traced his roots.
I’d found that a curious hobby across many species living within the New World.
That’s what the America’s had been called during colonial exploration and colonization.
Maybe Danzig had been one of those early interlopers.
If so, he obviously hadn’t adapted with the times. At least Niki’s home was modernized. This place looked like a museum. I had a feeling it was all pomp and no substance.
Danzig was reading through an application. I was annoyed to see it wasn’t mine. I would have loved to see the look on his face as this archaic blowhard read through my alter ego’s sexual preferences.
Alas, that wasn’t to be. Instead, I was stuck here, little more than whisps of barely held together atoms. I’d already disabled Danzig’s wards, at least where I was concerned.
Danzig’s magic didn’t recognize me as foreign or threatening.
Instead, it lapped along the edges of my consciousness, as if it longed for a different type of magic to interact with.
While that might sound arrogant, it was easy for me to see how disturbed Danzig’s magic appeared. It was nothing like Niki’s.
Niki’s magic couldn’t get enough of him.
It swirled around him, caressing his skin and teasing his fingertips.
The magic that had been pulled into Danzig’s orbit hovered, maintaining its distance, remaining as far away as it was allowed.
Danzig’s magic wasn’t nearly as diverse as Niki’s.
Its colors were dark, and it vibrated with malice.
I wasn’t certain if that malice was directed inward or outward.
Regardless, had I been in a solid form, it would have made my skin crawl.
Increasingly uncomfortable and growing more agitated by the second, I’d just decided to head back to Niki’s place when Danzig’s phone rang. I was still on my way out, but a single name caught my attention.
“Boone isn’t in Mississippi? Where the fuck is he?”
Boone. That was Niki’s son, Erasmus. Suddenly, Danzig had my full attention.
“Honeymoon?” Danzig’s back straightened, his muscles taught. “He’s a necromancer. Who in the hell would bind themselves to…that?” Disgust was so ingrained in Danzig’s tone I thought it would take a sledgehammer to dislodge.
Danzig grunted while leaning back in his chair. “Sounds about right. Humans are disgusting creatures in their own right.”
Rage shot through me. I wasn’t certain why.
I wasn’t human and shouldn’t take offense.
Still, it seemed horribly hypocritical considering warlocks relied on human women for the continuation of their species.
Danzig’s own mother would have been human.
Danzig’s completely blackened fingers and nearly all-white hair meant his human mother was long deceased.
“When is he expected back?” Danzig’s face scrunched and I wasn’t certain if he was upset or not by what he heard.
With a long-suffering sigh, Danzig slouched, as if the weight of the world was now resting on his elderly shoulders.
“It might be for the best.” Danzig pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Boone somehow managed to defeat Huxley. We may not know how but—” Danzig was cut off and his cheeks flushed red.
“We don’t know that for certain.” Another pause before Danzig scoffed.
“That’s little more than hearsay. Honestly, a helpful djinn?
” Danzig waved a dismissive hand in the air. “It’s an idiotic thought.”
Now, that was interesting. It seemed not everyone was privy to what went down in that dilapidated Mississippi house.
Were these fools truly ignorant of Aurelia’s presence and her admittedly odd attachment to the one creature who could truly do her harm?
It would seem so. Maybe they weren’t so much ignorant as too arrogant to believe what they’d heard.
Instead, Danzig dismissed the idea as little more than dark fantasy.
“Regardless of how he managed it, Boone made it out of Huxley’s trap alive. I still say we don’t need him to get to Holland. There are other ways.”
Danzig’s words threw gasoline on my simmering rage. I remained calm, reminding myself that this was important intel.
“No, I haven’t heard anything.” Danzig grunted. “It’s just like Holland. He probably thinks he’s too good to respond.”
Pot, meet kettle, I mused while continuing to listen.
“I know you don’t like it. You’ve made your position perfectly clear, as have I.
Holland is too…” Danzig’s nose scrunched, and his mouth twisted into something that appeared distinctly uncomfortable.
“Holland has a different sense of morality. No, I don’t understand it either.
All I know is that he will never stand for our plans.
He needs to be out of the way before we proceed.
” There was another pause and Danzig’s skin deepened to an angry scarlet.
“No, I don’t…that’s not what I said.” Danzig’s voice raised to an alarming crescendo.
“Leave it to me. There’s more than one way to destroy someone…
I’ll handle it, just like I always do.” Danzig didn’t offer any form of goodbye.
He simply ended the call, steepling his fingers and leaning his chin on them.
I didn’t like the smarmy smirk tilting his lips. No, I didn’t like that smirk at all.
I stayed for a few more moments, hoping Danzig might let slip a bit of his scheming. He didn’t. Danzig sat there, tapping a pen against the file on his desk. Deep burgundy magic swirled around his blackened fingers, but it seemed more an unconscious action than anything more sinister.
The seconds ticked by until Lottie’s voice came through a small box on Danzig’s desk. “Excuse me, sir, but are you ready for the next applicant?”
Danzig’s dark eyes grew focused on the papers in front of him as he gruffly responded, “Send her in.”
Given my deteriorating mood, I figured I might do something immensely foolish, like reveal myself if I stayed and listened to Danzig try and cajole the next desperate human female into agreeing to carry the ensuing warlock generation.
With that in mind, I thought of Niki’s home.
Reemerging in Niki’s living room, the sound of crashing waves was muffled against the closed windows.
I took an initial step towards Niki’s workroom but didn’t get far.
Niki wasn’t inside. Standing, legs braced apart and body facing into the wind, stood my warlock.
Niki was a vision of strength and grace.
Hands stuffed into his pant’s pockets, Niki’s dark hair danced with the raging wind.
The sleeves of his white shirt were rolled up, exposing his powerful forearms and his black pants clung to his legs where the wind tugged against them.
He was a rock—solid and moored to the ground below.
Comfort filled me, settling into the exposed nooks and crannies Tenzen’s betrayal had exposed.
This is what I longed for. Having not grown up amongst other kitsune, I had no idea if this was what all my species desired.
I was chaos and while I loved what my chaotic actions wrought; chaos needed an anchor.
I’d thought that anchor was Tenzen Huxley. I hadn’t exactly been wrong, but I’d sorely misjudged Tenzen’s intentions. Niki was different. Niki didn’t need or want anything from me. While that hurt on some levels, it was reassuring on others.
I could have stood there, staring at him until the sun set. But I was a kitsune and I could rarely remain still, even when faced with such a delicious sight.
Instead of dissipating again, I opened the door to the backyard and headed out.
The salty breeze tugged at my clothes and flattened my furry tails.
It wasn’t exactly difficult to walk against, but it did make one hesitate.
It also felt exhilarating. The wind was a kindred spirit—always moving, always restless, always one step away from annihilation.
“You’ve returned,” Niki said, voice flat. I could sense his desire to keep those two words emotion free. With any other, Niki would have likely succeeded. Had I not been able to read the relief in the magic dancing around him, I would have believed his disinterest.
“Hmm, that I have.” I stared out toward the ocean. Its vastness never failed to amaze even me.
“And if I asked where you’ve been?” Niki barely turned his head my direction, a single eyebrow raised.
Moving closer, I wrapped Niki in my tails, allowing the tip of one to brush his cheek. “I suppose that depends on how you ask.” I added a little purr into my voice. Niki’s flushed cheeks were my reward.
“Foolish kitsune.” I allowed Niki to bat my tail away from his face.
“I’ve been called worse.” And wasn’t that the truth.
“I can get more creative if you’d like.”
Laughter bubbled from deep within my chest, filling the air before being carried away by the wind. Niki could always make me laugh. “I wouldn’t be opposed,” I answered with a grin.
That earned me a dramatic eyeroll. “Back to the point at hand, was there a reason you found it necessary to trash my living room and then take off without so much as a thank you for allowing you to spend the night and feeding the endless pit in your belly?”
I took immediate offense to his impression of his living room.
“I did not trash your living room.” Perking up, I gave Niki my most winning smile.
“I made it better.” Before he could protest, I said, “It was far too neat. I don’t know how you can rest in an area that…
sterile.” I gave a dramatic shudder, quivering my tails for extra effect. “It’s damn near criminal.”
Niki’s teeth ground together. “It is how I enjoy my space. My space. Not yours.”
“You say potato and I say potato.”
I found Niki’s answering glower more amusing than threatening. “You are insufferable.”
“Again, I’ve heard—”
“Worse. Yes, I’ve little doubt that is true.”
Leaning into Niki’s warmth, I rubbed my face against his shoulder. “You like me insufferable.” Niki’s answering grunt wasn’t the denial he probably thought it was.
Niki’s silence was tempered by the constant roar of the ocean. Seconds ticked into minutes before Niki finally said, “You left. I wasn’t certain you’d return.”
“I got bored.”
“I suspicion that is a constant danger with you.”
“You suspicion correctly.” I considered what I’d heard in Danzig’s office.
“This time, you should be grateful for my boredom.” At Niki’s raised eyebrows, I proceeded to regale him with my little adventure, even temporarily transforming into the female form I’d taken while filling out that invasive form.
“Really, Niki. The questions on that form are…” My mouth screwed up as if I’d tasted something sour.
“It’s archaic. Demeaning too. I can’t believe Lydia went through with such a thing.
” I could better see her throwing the questionnaire in someone’s face.
“Lydia didn’t fill it out. She… Erasmus’s mother and I met under different circumstances.” Niki didn’t sound entirely comfortable discussing how he’d met his son’s mother. I had no desire to hear the details and obligingly moved on.
“Danzig has boring taste.” I dramatically yawned for emphasis. “Is it really that difficult to evolve with the times?”
Niki’s lip twitched as he fought a smile. “For some.”
“His taste in decor is as outdated as his opinion regarding just about everything else, including humans and necromancers.”
Niki’s body tensed. “What did you hear?”
I spent the next few moments relating the conversation I’d overheard. Each passing second increased the ozone popping around me. Niki’s fingers flexed, the magic surrounding him eager to do his bidding. It was so unlike how Danzig’s magic reacted.
Ominous quiet descended. Even the sound of the ocean and wind hushed in deference to Niki’s fury. It was a glorious thing to behold. Niki’s mastery was awe inducing and made my blood rush further south, thickening my cock.
There was a fine line between aphrodisiac and terror when it came to power. As far as Nikodemus Holland was concerned, all that power dancing at his fingertips caused an embarrassing wet spot in my pants.