Witch's Fury, page 17
“This is something that might work,” Gilly said, tapping her finger on one page. She nodded, and then closed the Grimoire and laid it on her nightstand. “It just might work.”
“What is it?”
“A different healing spell. One that I’ve never used before. Neither has Evee or Gilly to my knowledge. But there are a lot of spells in these books we’ve never used before. The one I just found for healing is different... I hope.”
Gavril took her by the hand and pulled her up and close so that she stood between his legs. “I’ll take care of you through this. You’re not alone, Gilly. Neither are your sisters. Lucien and I are going to be right beside you. We’ll find Viv and Nikoli, as well. If you can heal Viv, I trust that you can heal Nikoli.”
Gilly looked down at him solemnly. “Unless he’s dead. I can’t bring back the dead.”
“That’s a given,” Gavril said, “but I don’t believe he is. I still feel him, the essence of him, if that makes any sense. If he was dead, I’d know it, just like I knew Ronan was gone when the Cartesian first slashed him. There’s an empty spot that I carry in my heart because he’s gone for good, but I don’t have that same sensation when it comes to Nikoli.” Gavril pulled Gilly closer, reached up and put a hand behind her head and kissed her. “We’ll hope for the best, right? I don’t want to do dead family again. Ronan was enough for a lifetime.”
“For the best,” she said. Then Gilly leaned into him, their mouths parted and their tongues touched ever so gently. Before she knew it, Gilly had pushed Gavril back onto the bed. She straddled him, kissing him as she always did with the ferocity of an animal that hadn’t eaten in days. Starving for food, craving, always craving. She kissed him, and then lowered her lips to his throat, licked him, the essence of him—the scent of musk and male and fresh spring soap. As her lips moved over to his Adam’s apple, she began to unbutton his shirt and lowered her mouth even farther. She pulled the shirt from the confines of his pants and pushed it away from his chest. She licked his nipples. First the left, which she teased and toyed with using her tongue; she scraped it with her teeth, and then slid her tongue across his chest to his right nipple and did the same. Only this time, she bit down a little harder.
She continued to lower her mouth down the ripples of his stomach muscles, and as she licked there, flicking her tongue and sucked on his skin, her hands began to work on his belt and the zipper of his pants. When both were undone, she tucked her hand inside of his pants and freed his hardness from its confines. Once she had him, she stroked him once, twice, three times. After the time it took for her mouth to travel south, she was able to take him into her mouth. The taste of him was exquisite. It was like tasting the essence of him, times a thousand. She wanted to consume him right then and there.
Gilly lowered her mouth, for even as big as he was, she wanted the entire length of him as far back in her throat as she could get it. She was only able to manage a little over half before her gag reflex kicked in. She tried to relax and take more of him. When she reached the deepest point, her mouth and throat would allow, Gilly raised her head, licking the head of his penis. Then, lowering her mouth again, she sucked on him. She used her right thumb and forefinger to circle the bottom of his cock that her mouth couldn’t reach and stroked him.
While she licked, and then sucked on him hard, she heard Gavril groan and moan her name. “Gilly... Oh, Gilly...”
She didn’t want to hear what he had to say, only wanted to feel him in her mouth. She wanted him to come inside her there so she tasted all of him, all of who he was and more. She kept her lips moving up and down, lower and higher, and then moved one of her hands up and across his stomach to his nipples, teasing first one, and then the other. She used a thumb and forefinger to pull them, flick them, rub them.
Then Gilly took the hand that had been stroking him and moved it lower until it covered his balls. She squeezed them gently, and then released. Squeezed. Released. Just as she felt them tighten in her hand, heard his breathing grow fast and shallow, Gavril suddenly grabbed Gilly by the shoulders and pulled her up.
Gilly had only a second to feel confusion when Gavril quickly flipped her over on the bed so she was beneath him. Gilly fought like a cat, wanting to be back in the same position he’d pulled her from. But he had her on the back, and he was too strong for her to flip over. “No... Gavril...”
Gavril held Gilly’s hands over her head, pulled off her blouse and bra, so that her breasts were exposed, and this time he was the teaser. He ran his tongue over her left nipple. He bit down on it and pulled until she cried out, and then he did the same with the other. He encircled them with his lips, suckled on them, scraped them between his teeth. Then he lowered his lips down to her stomach, as low as he could manage to go and still hold her hands over her head.
He put her right nipple into his mouth and sucked and licked, all the while working her pants with one hand, pushing them down, along with her panties, until they were at her knees. From there, she worked her clothes off her body with her feet, until she lay naked from the waist down.
Gavril stopped for a moment and looked into her eyes. “If you move your hands away from where they are right now, I’ll stop and walk out of this room. Got it?”
“Don’t threaten me, big man.”
“Oh, it’s no threat, my sweet.” Gavril grinned. “It’s a promise.”
Gilly whimpered and nodded, and Gavril lowered his mouth down the length of her body, down to the sweet part of her that was already soaked with her juices. He teased her, nipped her, and then set his mouth and tongue over her mound with its swollen nub, until she screamed his name.
Gilly felt herself tense. She had to move her hands. Had to touch him. Grip him. Gavril must have sensed the same from her, despite the order he’d given her, because he reached up and grabbed her hands once more, holding them over her head. This time he lay atop her, holding his weight up with one hand so her body wouldn’t have to bear it. Then he pushed himself inside of her, his hardness deep into her hot, wet slit.
Gilly immediately bucked up against him, matching him thrust for thrust. She wanted it hard. She wanted it fast. She always wanted it that way. But Gavril took his time, driving into her slow and deep, until she thought she’d go insane. She moved with him. Slow and deep. Deeper, slightly faster. Over and over and over, until she exploded around him.
“More,” Gavril said. “I want it all. All of you.” Then he shoved himself inside of her again, touching a spot she didn’t even know existed. It felt like fireworks suddenly went off in her body, and it threatened to take her head with it...into orbit...into Wonderland. And in that second, her body erupted into an even stronger orgasm than her first. This one soaked him, soaked the sheets beneath her, leaked down her thighs. Only then did he allow himself to release inside of her.
Gavril’s orgasm had him calling out her name. He held on to her tight.
When Gavril let go of her hands, Gilly wrapped her arms around him, and he laid there, his head nuzzled in the crook of her neck. She shivered, waiting for the throbbing in her body to slow. He shifted his body ever so slightly so he lay beside her and pulled her close. She curled her body against his, and he smoothed her hair with a hand, stroking slowly, softly, over and over. Her eyes closed, and her breathing grew steady and easy.
With her eyes closed, Gilly had never felt so relaxed in all her life. She had to fight sleep. They had to get up and get dressed. Lucien would be back soon. They had to get up...
Just not this second.
Chapter 18
Gilly lay face up and naked, in a huge vat of whipped cream. She didn’t care that it covered her hair or got into her ears. It felt luxurious as it lapped over her body, like a thousand silk ribbons caressing her body. It made her feel relaxed, and she didn’t want to leave it. Something in the back of her mind kept niggling at her, though, reminding her that it would be someone else’s turn soon, and she’d have to relinquish her little piece of heaven. She pushed the thought away and just allowed herself to float, moving her arms and legs ever so slightly, so that the cream covered her breasts, rolled over her thighs and between her legs. It felt sensual. Glorious. She couldn’t remember how she’d gotten into the vat of whipped cream to begin with and really didn’t care. All that mattered was she was here.
“They’re here.” Gilly felt her body suddenly tense when a strange voice seemingly came out of nowhere.
“They’re here. You need to get up.”
With a start, Gilly realized she’d fallen asleep and had been having one of the best dreams of her life. A place where she floated without trouble, concern or worry. Her eyes blinked open, and she saw Gavril looking down at her.
“I hear them downstairs,” he said. “The Elders, Evee and Lucien. They’re back. We need to get downstairs and meet them before they come up here looking for us.”
Gilly’s brain jolted to full consciousness, as did the realization that she’d just had sex with Gavril. She sprang out of bed, straightened her clothes, put on whatever clothes she was missing, and then hurried to her dresser mirror to make sure she looked as normal as possible.
As she panted and fluttered, Gavril buttoned his shirt and tucked it into his pants. He combed his hair with his fingers.
Gilly grabbed a brush from the top of her dresser and ran it through her short crop of hair, which was sticking up and disheveled.
When she was done, she eyed Gavril, gave him a nod, indicating that he looked about as guilty as she did, but they’d done the best they could.
“I’ll go down first,” Gilly said. “You follow later. If they ask what we were doing, I’ll tell the truth. That we were looking through the Grimoire. Evee will give me hell about having you there while I went through the Grimoire, but I’ll deal with her about that later.”
As Gilly hurried down the stairs, she caught a loud tumble of voices coming from the sitting room. Amid the mayhem, she heard Arabella, Taka, Vanessa, Evee and Lucien talking over one another.
When Gilly made it to the sitting room, she found them all standing near the fireplace, all gibbering at the same time.
“You should have never—”
“—could have gotten killed!”
“I should have let—”
“—you had no choice.”
“I can’t believe—”
“We were that close.”
“We had no business—”
“It was our business, can’t—”
“I should have figured right from the—”
“—and you had no way of knowing.”
“Well, we know now.”
“—that was a stupid move.”
“What an ass he was.”
Gilly let out a shrill whistle, which stopped their conversation dead, and everyone turned to look at her.
“Oh, Gilly,” Evee said. “You’re not going to believe this!”
“Where’s Gavril?” Lucien asked.
Gilly looked over her shoulder. “Must be in the restroom. I’m sure he’ll be here any second.”
As if by command, Gavril suddenly appeared at the sitting room doorway. “What’s all the hubbub in here?” he asked. “All of you are talking over one another like a gaggle of squawking geese.”
“You’re not going to believe this,” Lucien said to him. “We know who the leader of the Cartesians is.”
“What?” Gavril and Gilly said in unison.
“It’s Trey Cottle,” Lucien said.
“Get out,” Gilly said.
“I should have known,” Arabella said. “Right from the beginning. There were signs. The way they stayed cloistered, always up each other’s behinds. Their evasiveness, then sudden attentiveness. Their eagerness to help when things really started to turn sore.”
“What kind of signs?” Taka asked. “Other than him being a jerk like always?”
“You can’t blame yourself,” Vanessa said to Arabella.
“Wait a sec,” Gilly said, holding her hands up. “How did you find out he was the leader?”
Arabella took the lead and told Gilly and Gavril how they’d convinced Lucien to stop at Trey’s apartment.
“And you listened to them?” Gavril said to Lucien.
Lucien shrugged. “I know, I know. I’ve been beating myself up about it since it started.”
“Are the three of you out of your minds?” Gilly asked the Elders.
“Do you want to hear the rest of the story, or are the two of you going to bitch and complain the entire time Arabella’s trying to tell it?” Taka said.
“No, I’m sorry,” Gilly said. “Please continue. But I think I’d better sit down for this one.” And she plopped down onto a couch.
When Arabella got to the part of the story where Trey began to mutate into a Cartesian, everyone, including those who’d been with her, seemed to be holding their breath.
“What did Shandor do while all this was going down?” Gilly asked.
“Die,” Arabella said.
“Huh?” Gavril said.
“Trey had those long black talons, and he swung back to strike at me,” Arabella said, “but when he swung back, Shandor was standing in the wrong place, at the right time. Trey’s talons wound up in Shandor’s gut. He kept trying to shake him loose, but those hook-like things on the ends must have gotten caught on Shandor’s entrails, because every time Cottle tried to shake him loose, Shandor just jiggled around like a ragdoll. No way Shandor survived that.”
Gilly swiped a hand through her hair. “Sweet mother earth. Then what?”
Arabella sighed heavily as if saying anything more would lead her into a coma stemming from exhaustion. “Gunner got us out of there. We took off from Cottle’s and jumped into Gunner’s Buick. There was more room in there, anyway. We told Lucien and Evee to follow us here. The thing is, we’ve got to get out of here. Go and find Viv and Nikoli, of course, but we have to leave.”
“Yeah,” Taka said. “’Cause the first place he’s going to come looking for us is our house, then here.”
“Where’s Gunner now?” Gavril asked.
“After he dropped us off here,” Vanessa said, “I heard him say something about going to his house to get tools. He plans on helping us find Nikoli and Viv and figures we might need something to either get into the warehouse or help them out of wherever they’re trapped. Things like bolt cutters, screwdrivers, a hammer and heaven only knows what else. He said he’d be back here to pick us up so we can all go to the pier.”
“Y’all aren’t going to the warehouse,” Gilly said. “There’s no way. I just have this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that Viv and Nikoli are at the warehouse, but Cottle, if he is the Cartesians’ leader, put them there as bait. He’s waiting for us all to go out there and look for them so he can take us out in one fell swoop.”
“If you think you’re leaving me behind,” Taka said, “you’re crazy. We’re the ones who found out who Cottle really was. We deserve to be there and help.”
“We want to find Viv and Nikoli,” Vanessa said. “Viv is one of our own. We have every right to be there to look for her. Besides, we’ll have you, Gilly, Lucien, Gunner and Gavril there to help protect us. If these creatures come out of rifts from the sky, they can’t reach us in the building.”
“That may be true,” Gavril said, “but you have to get from the car into the building, then back out again. We have no idea what kind of shape Viv or Nikoli will be in, so it may take us some time to get them loaded into the car. It’s putting too many people at risk if we all go. It leaves no one here.”
“That’s our point,” Arabella said. “What good would just one of us being left behind do if the rest of us get destroyed by Cottle? His intention may be to collect us all in one place, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to win. We just have to keep our wits about us, find Viv and Nikoli and do what we have to do to get out of that place as quickly as possible.”
“He’s got hundreds, if not thousands, of Cartesians at his command,” Gavril said. “If he calls them all to one place, we might as well kiss our asses goodbye. It won’t matter how many of you are left. I don’t know how we’ll get past his army.”
“Pretty down-and-out talking for a Bender,” Gilly said.
“I’m only being realistic,” Gavril said. “You’ve fought them with us. You know how long it takes to close a rift. Imagine a thousand opened at one time.”
“But can all of the Cartesians get to our dimension all at the same time?” Gilly asked.
“For all we know, Cottle could have them waiting in the very next dimension, which would take nothing for them to rip into ours,” Lucien said. “All Cottle would have to do is issue the command.”
“Well, we’ll drive right into that damn warehouse if we have to,” Arabella said. “We wouldn’t even have to get out of the car. We’d just slam right into the building.”
“Uh, you said the D-word,” Taka said.
“Oh, get real,” Arabella said. “I’ve got a few more choice words to give this whole issue.”
“Hopefully, it won’t come to that,” Gavril said. “We have no idea how many steel struts hold up that place. We might wind up slamming headlong into one, killing all of us before Cottle gets a chance to. Maybe Gunner’s bolt cutters will help us get the job done.”
“Wait,” Gilly said. “Since Gunner is a sorcerer, Cottle wouldn’t harm him, would he?”
