Chapter 13 Vyslan
Suggested Listening: Pass Me the Rum by Alfons, Marnik & Jungle Jonsson
There were very good reasons witchweed was banned on my world. As the haze dissipates and I look back at the moments spent chasing a pair of vampires around Treznor’s throne room, I can see where I fucked up.
Tomorrow I’ll come clean and make the recommendation that I skip the witchweed for the foreseeable future. I can be a responsible demon when I want to be.
Gracie’s arms tighten around my neck one last time before she slips into unconsciousness. She’d held on tooth and nail until we made it to the house. Between the car and her room? She lost that battle real quick.
“Don’t come in here,” Ezra snaps, most likely at Puck.
“Should I go?” Luciu asks. I’d herded him ahead of me on accident, giving him no option but to get swept along.
“Nah, mate. They got baggage.”
The door shuts with a hard thud.
“Sorry, Hausé,” Ezra mutters.
The bathroom and closet doors softly open and close before the bathroom door swings completely open.
“Wow,” Luciu mutters.
“I know, right?” I haven’t nailed down exactly what the house is, but she is remarkable.
Ezra’s voice wobbles a bit as he speaks. “I’m going to clean up.”
He was coming down off the adrenaline and stress of the last day, and is going to need some tending.
Closing my eyes, I press my lips to Gracie’s brow and tug the blanket up over her. She sighs and turns toward me, always seeking warmth.
“Luc?”
“Yeah?”
“Get into bed and keep Gracie company for me, yeah?”
“W-what?” he stammers.
I straighten and grin over my shoulder at him. “What?”
His glasses have slid down his nose, and his ears have gone bright red. And here I thought Ezra was easy to fluster. I’m going to have a lot of fun busting Luciu’s balls.
“You want me to…?” His mouth opens and closes a few times. “But we barely know each other.”
“True. But look at it this way, mate? You showed up in the darkest hour and helped get the man she loves get back safe and sound. You’ve racked up the points, whatever those are good for.
Not only that, but you’ve clearly got a thing for your—what did you call her?
Witch wife? That’s fucking cute. Now, both Gracie and Ezra need someone.
After what just happened, Ezra’s not going to open up to some strange new guy he might see as competition.
Try to remember Ezra’s only been a vampire for a year.
He’s still very human in the way he thinks.
So, I need to take care of him. But that leaves Gracie.
And while Puck might be the best suited for the job, both Ezra and Gracie have to clear shit up with him before either of them would react well to him being in this room.
So that leaves you. Not to discount Darius, but he’s kind of rolled into the Puck package right now.
Do me a favor and watch over her, okay? There has to be a reason you’re all worried about this loveroot stuff, so…
Keep her company. She likes to snuggle in her sleep, so embrace being a living pillow and enjoy it.
Maybe cop a feel. She tends to like that. ”
Luciu straightens and pushes his glasses up his nose. “O-okay. I can do that. You think Ezra’s going to be okay?”
I grin at him, already liking the way he fits with us. “Yeah, I think he’ll be okay. You got this?”
Luciu glances at Gracie, and his face softens. That’s the look of a man struck dumb with love. Okay, it might be lust at this stage in the game. I’m not immune to Darius’ talk of a future that sounds… Pleasant.
Besides, Luciu isn’t exactly the deceptive type. I can feel his desires. There isn’t a shred of darkness in him. He’s just a guy following his heart.
He draws in a breath, and I watch him center himself. “I’ll watch over Gracie.”
I slap his shoulder. “Good man. Now, let me go check on our vampire. Yeah?”
“Will he be okay?” Luciu asks quickly. There’s real concern in his voice.
“Ezra?” I grimace and sigh. “I hope so, mate.”
“Let me know if there’s anything I can do. Even if that means getting out of here for a while.”
I can’t say that request won’t happen. “Will you call the shop and let Briella and Poppy know we’re back and everything’s… Okay? Maybe leave out the details?”
“Sure. I can do that.”
“Great.”
I’m stalling, and that knowledge sends me heading for the bathroom and my vampire. The witchweed might have lubricated my words in the car, but now I’m thinking a little clearer. It’s been a long time since I was vulnerable with another being, and it didn’t go well back then.
I open the bathroom door and slip into the steamy room. Ezra’s clothes are shredded on the floor, and he stands in the foggy shower, hands braced against the tile, head bowed.
My existence has spanned many human lifetimes.
It’s hard to say how many. Time between our worlds is a strange thing.
Time in general matters very little to us.
It’s more of a human construct, seeing as we exist until we’re consumed.
We don’t expire the way humans do. Over the course of my existence, I’ve been captured and tortured many times.
But those are in the distant past. I can barely recall what happened.
But I do remember the way my limbs shook in the aftermath.
I shed my clothes and step into the shower.
The water running off Ezra is mostly brown still.
He doesn’t acknowledge my presence, but I don’t take that personally.
I grab some of the scentless shower gel he bought and squirt it into one of the foam things he and Gracie seem to like.
Since he hasn’t yet acknowledged my presence, I move in slowly, keeping to the side so I know he can see me.
The last thing I want is to startle him into punching me the way he did his sire.
Holy hellfire, that was a sight I will never forget.
It was like the world stopped, and all those little, nagging thoughts I’ve been having solidified into the realization that I’m seeing the makings of inter-dimensional history.
But I’ll put a pin in that. I doubt any of us are ready to open that can of worms yet.
Not until the business with the coven and this family is sorted once and for all. I think we have that much time.
I reach out and place the sponge on Ezra’s chest where he can see the touch coming.
He doesn’t flinch or react, so I begin swiping it over his skin.
When he continues to not react, I bring my other hand to his side, where he can still see me, then slide it around to his back.
I press my chest to his side, then slip around behind him.
There’s tension in his limbs, but he isn’t pushing me away. So I pull him back against me.
Ezra eases back, arms dropping from the wall and his head falling onto my shoulder.
“Good boy,” I mutter.
He snorts, but otherwise the mood stays dark.
We don’t speak as I clean his chest.
Whatever wounds they inflicted are gone. There’s no indication he was harmed at all, save for the old, silvery scars that will be lost to time soon.
“Are you really staying?” Ezra asks.
His voice is so soft it's almost lost in the pitter-patter of the shower.
I pause my attentions and stare at the wobbly reflection of our faces off the tile. It’s more an impression of our figures than a true reflection. But it’s enough.
“Yes,” I say.
His hand tightens on my forearm. “You mean it?”
I place my hand on his shoulder and gently turn him in place.
“When you went to meet with Farid, Gracie gave me a stern talking-to. She wanted to know what my intentions were toward you. When I was summoned, I had no aims beyond selfishly satisfying my own needs. But there you were. Ready and willing to sacrifice yourself on my cock out of love. I don’t know what will happen, or if my presence will put this little family in danger, but I don’t want to leave.
I won’t lie to you and say I’m in love with you, but I am falling.
You are an unexpected surprise. The both of you.
But you? Ezra, you have no idea how special you are to me. ”
I drop the sponge and cup his face in both my hands, tilt his chin up a bit more. Until we’re nose-to-nose.
“Incubi are typically weak creatures because we are so interwoven with our emotions. I grew strong out of necessity and opportunity. I’ve seen cruelty, and I have tried to shield myself from it.
We share similar experiences. People we trusted were cruel to us.
Took from us. And subjected us to terrible things.
But neither of us altered who we are on a fundamental level.
You are still a kind, empathetic being regardless of what your parents and Treznor have done.
There isn’t any other creature whose strength and tenderness could match my own.
You might be my perfect partner, Ezra. That’s not something I’m going to give up. ”
“And Gracie?”
“What I feel for her is different, but no less powerful. There’s an earnestness about her that makes it easy to strip away the pretext of a situation and be in it.
She’s strong in her own way. But it’s your ability to match me that I have yearned for.
I want you, for you, Ezra. I want to stay.
And I want to fall, if you’re willing to catch me. ”
He stares up at me with those big blue eyes looking more and more like a puppy.
I love it when we are strong. But I also love that we can have these moments. That with Ezra, I don’t have to carry the weight of the world. He has no idea how precious this is to me.
I pull him to me and wrap him in my arms.
Right now, he’s feeling broken and uncertain. All those dark memories are clouding the present. The doubts are written on his face.
“Here’s the thing you aren’t seeing, Puppy Daddy,” I mutter in his ear. “Until you’re ready to catch me, I’ll hold you together. Got it?”
His arms come around me, clutching me so tight it’s hard to breathe, and he buries his face against my neck. The tension that’s been coiled inside him relents, and he goes boneless, letting me hold him up.
Ezra has no idea how strong he is, but I’ll show him.
Leaning in, I capture his lips and let my hands wander over his back and down to that firm ass.
He leans back quickly, glancing away. “Sorry, I don’t… I mean…”
I cup his face. “Eyes on me.”
His hair sticks to his face, and he looks up at me with a touch of fear.
“I’m not here just for the smoking hot and dirty sex, Ezra.
I get it. Let me comfort you. We can ignore our dicks.
It’s natural to not be able to get it up for a while after something like this or just not want to.
What you’re feeling, everything going through your head—it’s normal.
And I’m going to be with you through all of it.
You aren’t alone. You survived. And you conquered. Got it?”
He jerks his head in a nod, and I pull him in, holding him tight to my chest with his head tucked under my chin. My concentration must have slipped because I feel my tail wrap around his leg, anchoring us together a bit more.
They’re never going to get rid of me. I’m here until the end of time.