Unethical Magic Chapter 1 scene 4

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"Hezekiah Grace.”  His voice made a caress of my name.  He stood with a tall proud stance, all of his lightly clad self displayed, open to my gaze.  My mouth went dry at the sight of him, all that juicy prime beef.  He didn't look chilly in the cold night air, no shivering or goosebumps.  He looked--aroused, a bulge in his tight, worn jeans that I tried to ignore.  Looking away gave me a view of ripped abs and strong arms.  Tan throat.  Face both impish and powerful with laughing eyes and sensual mouth.  Strong jaw.  Broad shoulders.  The buckskin cloak caressed his shoulders, writhing against the wind in a way that made the pie I’d eaten unsettle itself.

I met his eyes full-on instead, and for a different reason, wished I hadn't.  They captured me, spoke to me as if all his deepest thoughts and longings were there for me to read, as uncovered as his body.  He wanted me.

And--what was wrong with me, I never felt this way--I wanted him too, with a hot liquid yearning.

It might have been smart to keep on running, but my feet--cold.  No where to go but here.  Besides, he could probably pop in anywhere.  I firmed my shoulders.

I glared and tried to feel fierce from my lower position on the bottom step.  "My name is Ki.  What do you want?"

"So many things. To talk. To taste.  To touch.  To tempt and torment.  But I'll settle for a thank you. I did stop Lavina from kicking your ass, after all."  His odd eyes held a secret smile now, as if he knew something I didn’t.  Lots of somethings.

Who‘s going to save me from you? Lavina's words came back to me. You didn't tell me you belonged to Cudougny.  

"I could have handled Lavina.  With my cross and holy water."  Way to go, Ki.  Piss off the mysterious and powerful supernatural being.

His eyes burned red around the pupils, and I took a step back from whatever freaky mojo he might pull.  “There's a lot you don't know.  Crosses and holy water don't work.  You pull them out, it's just a signal to the vampires that you're immune to their glamour.  Most of them want a little affection and admiration with their dinner.  So seeing them as they are puts you right off the menu.  Unless they get mad and decide to try to scare your sight away--or kill you.”

What he was saying went against everything I'd believed.  I could hardly take it in.  “Huh?”

"Some people, if they get a bad enough scare from a vampire, they just can't see them as they are anymore.  It's like they accept the glamour rather than be terrified like that ever again."

"Really?"

"Really.  I doubt it would work on you though.  You have too much power for that."  

Shame.  Fear.  He knows about the curse.  "No.  I don't have power."

He watched my face, lingered over my too-pale eyes.  

A moment of outrage.  He was the freaky-eyed one, not me.  Attractive, yes.  Freaky, more so.  “Thanks for telling me.  Now leave me alone.”

“I’m afraid it’s too late for that.”  He was beside me in one invisible motion, like a movie special effect, only faster, more seamless.  Hands on my shoulders

The warmth of his hands made me lean toward him.

He stroked my arms through the fabric of my coat.  

Warmth, radiating everywhere.  Sharp stinging need.  I was on fire, floating, aching for more.  A frantic voice in the back of my mind reminded me this wasn't real, I'd been having weird sexual feelings for months now--but nothing like this.  I stepped closer, pressing against that body I'd admired, wanting to worship it.

He bent, lips against my ear.   "I can't think of anything else since I saw you earlier.  The whole city could fall and I might find it hard to care as long as I could be with you, look into your eyes, touch your skin.

At the moment, I couldn't find anything wrong with that plan.  I rubbed my face against his toffee-colored lips like a friendly cat leaving her scent.

He pulled me tight against him.  His heartbeat hammered under the thin shirt he wore.

Our collision gave me a kick like a big engine motorcycle changing gears.  The bliss came with an anguished need for more of that and faster.  I writhed against his firm body, how wonderful he felt, not humanly possible, had to be some mojo.  "Wow.  You should figure out how to bottle that.  It would put all the energy drinks off the market."

A hand behind my head, warm at the base of my skull.    Eyes burning down at me.  Lips on mine, close mouthed at first as if our lips were being introduced.  Then abruptly, he lunged into the dark cave of my mouth, gliding, tasting, quickening my greedy response.

I sobbed and twisted against him, not sure if his strong grip prevented me from escaping or held me up off the snowy ground.  Horrified, I realized that my soaked panties and jeans, my heavy breathing had passed the point of no return.  I tensed, eyes shut, hardly breathing, but helpless, exctatic, I couldn't stop the urgent climax from ripping through me.  I saw spots behind my eyes, and the stars above us seemed to spin and fall like snowflakes. I throbbed with afterquakes for what seemed like a very long time.

When I could open my eyes again, Cudougnay still held me tight against him.  My feet dangled off the ground, my head hung limp on his shoulder.  He crooned my name as he rocked against me.  A wet spot by his groin told me I hadn't been alone at this little orgasm party.

This had never happened, not from a kiss.  Not with my clothes on.  Outdoors.  What if someone had seen us?  This wasn't like me.  Even during sex I usually had to work hard at the orgasam part.  This had to be some kind of a spell he used to get his way.  If he could make me feel like this with clothes on, what would full-out lovemaking be like?  Oh God, this must be what he wanted--to make women his slaves.  I'd cast curses night and day for another taste of that.  My blindly groping fingers touched the edge of his shawl and something twitched.  Repulsion helped me overcome the need to beg this magnificent being to take me upstairs and ravish me again on my little twin bed.  I kicked my feet.

Finally, he put me down.  

Feeling wobbly, I stepped back.

Cudougnay smelled of beeswax, dusty and sweet.  His lips looked kissable.  My captured gaze tracked him up and down and found every part perfect.  Magic.  I was spelled.  I shuffled half a step closer, leaned toward him like a sunflower hungry for the light.  

He smiled.  "What a passionate woman you are."

"What do you want from me?"

"Marriage.  Or a less formal arrangement, if we must."

"What about the power you say I have?"

“You are powerful, but untaught.  I will teach you how to protect yourself.  How to use coercions on your enemies."

"Coercions?"

"Magic.  Rituals and spells and such. I want you to attend some private lessons with me."  He winked at me, grinned.  "Seriously, it's unusual to find someone with your abilities and no training.  You'd be a lot safer if you knew more."

Me and spells.  What a great idea.  My body trembled with the need to touch him.  I forced my voice hostile.  "Magic and me don't mix," I told him.  "I don't need more--that kind of--trouble."

“Oh, I think you do.”  He leaned in toward my lips again.

His lips hot on mine, passion building again, I cast frantic eyes upward.  Tree Girl stood on the roof of my apartment building, legs apart, twitching in indecision.  Obviously, she wanted to pee on Cudougnay.  But I’d threatened her with no more hamburgers if she ever did that again.

A few pints of sticky sap in the hair might distract Cudougnay from seducing me.  It sure worked on Jim Bob.  But Cudougnay was too much of an unknown, too powerful for Tree Girl to handle.  Since I couldn’t shake my head, I twitched my eyes side to side, trying to tell her no.  It was up to me.