A Dangerous Legacy Pt. 18

©Nora Quick 2014

One might think that knowing I had to die would leave me desperate to live. I suppose anyone else would have eaten everything they could, fucked their wolves repeatedly, enjoyed all magic, but I couldn't. Contemplating the end to all I k new, the end of myself, I retreated into human need.

I held each man in turn, they held me, and I refused to speak or share my thoughts. They would only try to talk me out of any course out of love, but I couldn't change the world for them. There were over a thousand witches depending on me, an equal number of sorcerers, and god knows how many dragons and wolves. And if magic was out of balance it was surely affecting the human world. So with the weight of the world on my back I cuddled, couldn't sleep, and only used magic in the wee hours of dawn to refresh myself. My lovers had drifted off.

I slipped from the bed and Andre rose, but Liv peeked in and assured him she would watch me. She ordered room service and followed me and Diego downstairs to take the dog out.

The sun was rising over the mountains and it was a beautiful sight. I froze as Diego did his business. This was why I was likely a deist, but never a theist. The alps were things of terrifying beauty and the sun made them momentarily majestic. I knew in that moment what it was that called men's souls and made them climb. I suddenly understood that the world was beyond us, and a greater purpose lay where we could find it. If there was any meaning in this life, surely it was that search.

"Liv?"

"Yes, Anna?"

"How do you and Jerry do it?"

"Do it?" She was shivering so I called up a warmth bubble. "Thank you."

"You love each other but you had to...service others. You've even expected, I dunno, maybe invited, me to share it. How can you do that?"

"You know most wolves, not all, are the child of both witch and wolf, yes?"

"You know, I never asked. You said not all?"

"Not all. Sometimes a witch for whatever reason does not want a child with his of her wolves, so he or she seeks another such pack to create children. I am the product of such, pure wolf, raised with wolves alone."

"Hunh." I wanted to ask more, but I wanted my question answered, so I bit my tongue.

"We should get back, the food will arrive soon."

"Talk while we walk, please." I used magic to clean Diego's mess, and into the hotel's trash bins it went. He yipped at the magic happily and ran to us for petting from both, and then we slipped inside.

"As a child nothing is hidden from us. We know that when we grow older we will become wolves and the joy of it is revealed to us. We are also protected from some of the more sordid aspects of our parent's slavery, usually our mother's as we are typically raised by our mothers in cases like mine.

"Still, we know they are at the beck and call of all witches. To prepare us for sexual slavery sex is discussed openly and frankly, but appropriate for each age. I was taught from a young age to find joy in the act, hold it sacred even if my partners did not.

"As such, I was taught that sex and love are two different things. One can bring the other, but not always. Still, I admit I had given up on love until I began to work with Jericho. They were remodeling the theater and we both worked on the demolition crew. We talked, we shared our dreams, our hopes, our fears.

"It wasn't instant and it wasn't easy, but it was love. Still, we could not make love until we were bidden. We volunteered for wolf chess in the hope we could...and we did. So it became a special place for it.

"When I have sex with anyone else it is fun, as much as it can be. It's like dancing with someone aside from your love, or sharing a meal. I just treat sex as something simple and basic, a function of the body that may or may not be of the heart."

We reached our suite as the waiter came out of the elevator, so we held the door as he wheeled in the groaning cart of food. I signed the bill and then Liv insisted I sit and she would make plates.

Everything she told me was the same logic swingers used. Once, in what felt like a lifetime ago, I had been a swinger. It didn't work, somebody always fell in love with someone new, and out of love with someone old. But I supposed it was different with wolves. Near immortality and slavery made the free will to choose who you loved non-existent.

And as one of the monarchs of magic I had more free will than anyone, but arguably as much freedom as any wolf.

"Why do you ask?" She handed me a plate of scrambled eggs with cheese, hash browns, bacon, and a frosted Danish. Pretty simple fare compared to what I was used to. "I ordered American, or what Americans tend to get on Thunder Island," she said at my surprised look.

"Thanks. I'm not sure, just wondering." I wanted my best friend, Diane. I didn't want to bring her into this world, but if anyone could tell me what to do about Malachai, it would be Di. And it had only been a short time since I had seen her, but so much had changed it felt like an ocean of time.

She slid a plate to Diego, what looked like a skillet with sausage. I wondered what the hotel staff thought of all this food, I knew Europeans tended to go light on breakfast. No wonder we had bought out the hotel.

It suddenly occurred to me I was retreating from the human world. I didn't want to. It was what I had known for thirty one years, the witch world for just officially a week. And what a fucking week it had been.

I didn't want to die. Feeling like screaming I instead conjured up cigarettes and an ashtray and lit one. I slid the pack to Liv if she wanted and she too set down her food and lit up. It was funny, I thought. Smokers know the risks of cancer, heart disease, all of it. You only smoked if you didn't like yourself or you hated the world, you only smoked if a part of you wanted your ticket punched early so you could escape the tragic comedy of life. Yet still it soothed me, even knowing damn near eternal life could be mine. I just had to sell my soul and murder thousands.

"Liv, I need some privacy. I need to call a human friend, talk about some things. I'm going to cast a spell since you wolves have that extraordinary hearing. I mean no offense."

"Cast it now."

I did, a bubble between us, and she turned to face me fully. "Anna, I have seen the way Malachai looks at you."

I damn near dropped my cigarette at that.

"I don't know much of sorcerers, but he being their king he is discussed often on the island. He is the king of the dark, magic given to the sexual over the sensual, or so they say. He loves his dragons, it is plain to see, but he is a man bred for temptation. It is often said that sorcerers live to seduce married humans."

"I get the feeling many witches do too."

"Not for the same reasons. Witches can be too foolish in matters of the heart. Malachai lives to muddy the pure."

I sighed, catching her drift. "So what you're saying is to Malachai I am forbidden fruit, and the fact that I love my men and am determined to remain faithful is the sole reason he...desires me."

She nodded. "And I do not blame you for being tempted. When I met Jericho I was young for a wolf, merely one hundred. He was thousands of years older. Experience in a man is tempting to us all. I doubt I could have withstood him if I really tried."

"So what exactly are you saying?"

"Something is bothering you, all of this, but something new. If it is Malachai, you must fight magic with magic."

"How?"

"Witch magic is of love, sorcerer of lust. You alone hold dominion over love. Cast a spell on him so he feels true love for his dragons. Give him happiness and remove temptation from your own life. It's either that or give in to temptation. Once he has you he will tire of you."

"I can't do that to my loves."

She sighed. "You are young, so young in this world of magic. Perhaps you made a vow in all earnestness, but also in a folly of youth."

I squeezed my eyes shut. God, the future me had a child somehow by two men, neither of them men I loved, but she also killed capriciously. In one year I would have the child, who by appearances would be conceived soon. So the choice was before me. Soon I would have to become a murderer and adulteress, or die.

"Not yet," I said as an idea occurred to me.

"Anna?"

"Trust me on this." And with that I used magic to disappear.

With luck I found the sister dragons eating breakfast, the sound of a shower in the bath off the bedroom told me Malachai wouldn't intrude. "I'm going to need a favor."

"Interesting," Francine said and sat back. "What now?"

"I need to go back into the future, to just before the future me goes back to Changzhou and starts this mess."

"Why?" Her sister asked.

"I need to kill myself."

Back in my rooms I now took the time I needed. My lovers were still asleep. In bed they looked peaceful, my lanky artist, my bulky warrior, my dark general. I needed them all, wanted them alone, and so I playfully pulled the sheet from Julian and leaned down to take his soft cock into my mouth.

He woke quickly, hardening, and with magic I emptied his bladder and freshened his breath, not wanting to wait.

"Come on."

I pulled him to the dressing room off the bedroom and conjured a door. He was still half asleep, long bangs partially covering his eyes. Gorgeously naked, the erection we'd begun was flagging already.

"Anna?"

"I want you alone right now." Impatiently, I used magic again to remove my clothes and then straddled him on the couch. "Please, Julian, I want you so bad right now."

"Far be it for me to abandon a woman in need." He reached up and cupped my head, bringing me down into a slow, searing kiss. I tasted him purely, a sweet, intriguing flavor I adored.

Straddling him I felt his cock hardening once more, and I slid my hand around to stroke his impressive length. In my arms he trembled, and I felt like a goddess, sinking beneath the ancient power of lust and love.

He kissed over my cheek, down my neck, and I shivered, nipples hard, pussy aching. He thrust up through my hand and slid along the seam of my cunt, wetting his cock with my juices. I gripped his shoulder and stroked him harder.

"Julian," I moaned and it sounded like he purred back. "I want you inside me. I want to ride you slowly, now!"

"No," he groaned just before his teeth surrounded my nipple.

Rapidly his tongue flicked my sensitive flesh and the blood rushed around my body, making me burn.

"Julian, Julian, Julian, don't make me wait."

With a wolf-like growl he suddenly stood up, holding me with ease. I jerked my hand from his cock to his shoulder to hold on and wrapped my legs around his waist. But he didn't push me to the wall as I thought he would, but set me down on the couch where he had sat, and kneeled between my legs.

"Let me take you, Anna. I love it when you're beneath me and you shatter."

"You don't need to ask," I said, looking into those deep green eyes.

I laid back and he slid in, slowly, inch by inch, holding my gaze. "Anna, you are mine."

I felt my eyes widen. I knew he was an omega, but I also understood that simply meant he was less wolf than the others, but apparently he was no less dominant when he wanted to be.

"Say it!" Our hips met and he refused to move.

"I'm yours."

"Do you mean it?"

"Of course!"

His eyes narrowed. "Then you'll stop taking stupid risks with your person."

As incongruous as that comment was, it was quickly forgotten as he began to move with near violence. I was lost to it. Yes, my body craved pleasure, but what I wanted was the feel of him against me, the reality of being in his arms, the elation of being surrounded and filled by Julian.

His pleasure was mine to enjoy, but damn him, when he came, he fell back, jerking me atop him to straddle him as I had originally intended. Locked together as his cum flowed, he cupped my head and brought my lips to his as his other hand snaked between us and began to massage my clit.

I came quickly, screaming into his mouth, and again he brought me right on the ending edge of that orgasm. And again, and again, and again, all while he trembled and shook with his own culmination. Time slowed and it felt as if our skin melted where it touched. His heartbeat echoed mine and then it was one. It had never been like this before with him or any other, and I dared not fight the sense of losing myself.

The fear never came, and the reward was immense. Peaks and movements ceased to matter, it was just the two of us as one, the world faded. If I had been in my right mind I would have given in to the urge to use magic to make it last forever, but all too soon it ended.

After I laid sprawled across him, our panting breaths slowing together in rhythm.

"You're thinking something dark."

"And you guessed it," I said before kissing his chin gently. "That's why you said what you did earlier."

"Anna." He caught my cheek and forced me to meet his eyes. "I know you by now. I understand your thoughts just as my brothers do. Guilt at what you fear will come to pass fills those beautiful green eyes now. You are thinking you will have to give this all up to stop it."

"Shh." I put my finger against his lips. "Do not speak of this again. After breakfast we will be attending a meeting, all of us. I promise you I will not do anything without the consent of all, and if there is a way to fix this and keep us together, we will find it."

He sat up, forcing me back, still inside me albeit soft. "Then you'll want time with my brothers. Keep your word, my love."

"I swear it."

He left for the shower in Liv and Jerry's room, and the other two were still in bed, though awake.

I kissed them both but Pierre I bid to join me in the bathroom.

In the shower we came together passionately. He bent me over and filled me from behind. His shocking thickness filled me even deeper this way, and he rocked us beneath the spray of water. This time I came along with him and still he brought me to shuddering, wailing climaxes two more times.

After we washed each other. I knew with wolf hearing he knew what I had said to Julian, and Pierre didn't bring it up. Instead he insisted on washing me slowly, rubbing the soap over my body with his bare hands. My pussy he insisted on cleaning with his mouth and once more I was brought to heaven.

For a long moment after we were both fully cleaned, we simply held one another. I began to wonder if Julian had been right and they knew me so well, or if somehow they had heard my long discussion with the dragons.

At long last the water turned cold and we stepped out. I used magic to dry us and dress him, and he kissed me again and walked out into the bedroom. To my surprise Andre was up and dressed, his hair damp from his own shower. Well, that explained the lack of hot water.

"Pierre, go enjoy breakfast. Leave us alone."

Andre's tone was somber enough Pierre had no glib reply and simply did as bid, closing the door behind him. I was left with my alpha who brimmed with anger. I found myself shaking, unsure suddenly of my own decision in the face of his anger.

"Sit," he ordered me, pointing at the bed.

Suddenly, unreasonably, I had a flashback to childhood. I could remember seeing my father come in, my mother drunk on the couch. Maybe he'd had a bad ride, or some hooker had stiffed him, or he'd run low on meth, but for whatever reason, he was angry. I'd had a seizure and had been sick hours afterward. There was no dinner, lunch dishes were still dirty in the sink. He ordered me to sit, and then his belt came off.

"No," I whispered, fighting the terror.

"Anna." Instantly his demeanor changed and his posture relaxed.

I flinched as he took a step forward, feeling shame at that. "I'm sorry, it's just-"

He went steady, like a predator in wait. "Anna, who hurt you?"

I had shown the men dark thoughts of my past once in my kitchen, but I hadn't shown them that. I had instead shown them what a year on the streets had done to me. How I had mugged people, broken into houses and caused grief. I had shown them how I had gotten into fights, delighting in every broken nose, every bleeding wound, as if the universe owed me the blood I had taken from me for sixteen years. I had shown them quick flashes of my arrest, my trial, my time in juvenile detention.

"It doesn't matter," I whispered.

"It does. If you think for one minute I would ever raise my fist in anger to you, you're not seeing me. You're seeing some monster, someone who is not me, standing in my place.

"I love you, Anna. I love you in a way I never thought possible. It's terrifying and complete, and I would die for you, I would kill for you, most of all I will live for you. And anyone who hurts you now must face your anger, your magic, and your wolves. But somewhere in your past when you were fragile and human, someone hurt you. Whoever it is that made you fear me must die."

"No!" God, I wished he would understand. "You loved Sigrid, and she treated you as a slave. She made you believe you were less than a person. She abused you and you loved her. Would you have wanted her dead?"

"No," he said after a pause.

"I faced my demon. I loved him, and even now I don't know why but I still love him. But I stood up and slammed my knuckles into his face, I stood on my own two feet. It's over and done."

He dropped to his knees beside the bed but still kept his distance. "In your mind, I know what you showed us. I saw the beginning. You remembered walking ten miles in a torn dress and someone else's boots. You remembered crying, tears freezing on your face."

"I hate that you could read my mind."

"Witches made us with our powers, I did not ask for them. I am sorry I could not tell you, but that was and always has been part of the tests. Anna, it could not have been some bumbling foolish boy that made you leave the safety, or what should have been the safety, of your home. It was your father."

"Don't," I whispered. If he made me open up now the wounds of ages past would crash into the wounds I was now facing, and any god help me, I wasn't that strong. "Andre, I'm sorry, but I can't. Not now. Someday, when this is all over, I promise I will tell you my story the way you told yours. But not today. The weight of the world is on me. Don't push me any further."

He stood and turned, walking to the windows where the late morning sun gleamed down on the pristine snow. "Malachai heard you speaking with his lovers. He came to us, found Liv, and with magic he relayed your conversation. We know what you're planning."

Shit. I had thought Malachai was in the bathroom a while, but boy, had I been stupid. "Well, what more is there to say? It's an experiment. I read the spell in my line's books."

"And I lived with a queen for two hundred years. Sigrid never could have attempted such a spell!"

"I'm not her!" I rose, glad to feel my own sense of rage. Anger always gave one the illusion of control, but I would happily grasp at any straws to pull myself from despair. "This can be done, with Malachai's help."

"So you're going to go into the past, and cast a spell dividing reality. In one we will remain as we are now, and in the other you will stop the vampire slaughter, stop the murders. Which means you may cease to exist!"

"The spell ensures I am tied to this reality, so will Francine and Nadine be. Actually, as dragons, under their own power they are tied to this reality. But this spell will keep me safe, and they will be my backups. No matter what happens, even if I cannot close the spell to the other reality, I will return."

"And what if the dragons die? What if you cannot execute the spell properly? What if you are stuck there?"