Simple Things, page 8
part #13 of The Valens Legacy Series
"Hey! She's the one who demanded that I be sent here!"
Chad laughed. "You're trying to apply logic to a woman; you should know better than that!"
Chad 'oofed' then as Max cuffed him on the back of the head.
"Watch it there, Stinker!" she growled.
"Anything I need to know about before I go face the firing squad?" Adam asked.
"We know some of the devils were able to break out of containment," Max told him. "We don't have any kind of count on it yet. Let Rox and the others know we'll update her and the rest once we know more."
Adam nodded and limped over towards one of the helicopters unloading food and supplies; he'd catch it for the return trip.
"And don't worry so much!" Chad shouted after him. "You did good out there."
Adam lifted his right hand and waved without looking back, then pulled himself up through the open hatch and into the back of the Blackhawk.
"She's going to kill him, isn't she?" Max whispered to Chad.
"She damn well better not! He rallied the troops and turned a loss into a win."
"A very expensive win." Max sighed, looking over the battlefield as the number of living demons was quickly approaching zero.
"Not his fault. Those idiots in the jets really messed us up. Now do me a favor, call up Rox, and use your secret code of the sisterhood to make sure she leaves Adam alone."
"And why would I do that?" Max asked, grinning.
"How does a backrub, bubble bath, and some of those Belgium chocolates I conned Steve's parents out of sound?"
"Wow, somebody really wants to keep Roxy from skinning Adam alive!" Max said with a laugh.
"You saw him; he's committed now, and the troops like him. If we lose him, it's luck of the draw all over again."
Max smiled. "Good point. I'll have a few words with her.
"Thanks, Max."
"Hey, if I didn't accept your bribes, they'd stop coming!
"So, how'd it go?" Roxy asked Adam as he dragged himself into her office, where she and the others were waiting. What little armor he'd had when he left to go back to the fighting was all but destroyed. His left hand was still missing, though it was growing back very slowly. She really should let him eat, rest, and regenerate—literally in his case—but she was still angry with him for what had happened with the colonel.
Oh, from everything she'd heard, the asshole had deserved what he got. Whether or not it elevated Adam in the eyes of the others…she'd see what everyone was saying tomorrow morning, after they'd had some down time.
"Some of them got away; we don't know how many."
"What do you mean, you don't know how many?"
"If you're going to shoot, shoot. Don't talk," Adam growled, weakly. "Have I mentioned how much today sucked? Besides, I'm sure you've already talked to Chad and know exactly where things stand."
Roxy smiled at him. "Guilty as charged."
"So how much trouble am I in?"
"Well, Steve talked to the president."
"Who's Steve?"
"Sean's best friend."
"Oh, great, bet he's thrilled I'm messing up Sean's work, too."
"Actually, no. I think Tisha went to bat for you."
"Thank the gods for small miracles. So what happened with the president?"
"From what I'm hearing, while they're mad at you for what you did, no one’s looking to nail your hide to the door."
"Other than you, right?" Adam grumbled.
"Look," Roxy said with a heavy sigh. "If you need to do something like that, fine, I get it. But at least use your brains and don't do it in front of witnesses! Thank god Tibbets went to bat for you; he was pretty pissed at Vance, as well, for destroying his base and getting his people killed, too."
"Yeah, yeah, don't be a bad boy. Right, got it."
"You must have driven your mother crazy." Roxy sighed.
"Still do." Adam chuckled.
"Well, before I let Ryla in, I want to say, all things considered, you did a good job today. If that idiot hadn't had those planes bomb you, I know things would have turned out okay."
"But he did," Adam said with a tired sigh.
Roxy nodded. "Let me go get Ryla. You look like shit."
"Gee, thanks."
Roxy got up to open the door, and Ryla came rushing in. She took one look at Adam, hugged him, kissed him, then threw him over her shoulder.
"I'll take care of you, Hon. Don't you worry about a thing!"
The last view Roxy and the rest of them had of Adam was him looking back at them from over Ryla's shoulder with a bemused expression on his face.
"So, what next?" Daelyn asked after Roxy closed the door behind the departing couple.
" Chad wants to switch everyone over to rifles as soon as possible. He said the steel ammo worked a lot better than he expected it too, so he needs more. How long before your friend Garth can start churning stuff out?"
"At least a week," Daelyn said unhappily. "An' the supplies are gonna be limited."
"A week? Why so long?" Peg asked.
"Because they ain't got any of those machines that can make ammunition, and buying or building one o' those is gonna take a couple months. Everything we're gonna get from them between now until then is gonna be handmade."
"They're going to be making rounds by hand?" Roxy said, surprised.
"Not exactly. They're gonna buy all the ammo they can get their hands on, and pull the old bullets out. Then they'll seat a new bullet in the case and re-crimp it. So they ain't gonna actually make cartridges from scratch. They'll just reuse what's already there until the machines ta' make new are done."
"That's clever," Jolene said.
Daelyn smiled. "Of course it's clever! They're dwarves!"
"The only problem with this," Cali said, speaking up, "is now we must re-train everyone. Using and fighting with firearms is not the same as with a sword."
"Are we going to continue to give them swords?" Roberta wanted to know.
Cali and Roxy both nodded.
"A sword cannot jam," Cali said.
"It also doesn't run out of ammunition," Roxy added.
"What about the tanks and artillery they're moving in?" Peg asked.
"What about them?"
"Can we get Dae's friends to make special ammunition for them? I mean, once we start using guns and stuff, I'm sure the demons are going to come up with better armor or something. Maybe even use magic. At least their leaders are. Having something big to even the score might be a good idea."
Daelyn laughed and looked at Roxy. "Ya know, I like the way she thinks!"
"What about those bullets Jack was taking about?" Roberta asked. "The ones they were going to send out here?"
Roxy shook her head. "With the runway at Stead damaged, they can't land there. So they're going to be flown to Herlong, and shipped down here from there, once the approval is given. Whenever that is."
"Why can't they just fly them into the Guard base at the Reno airport and truck them over from there?"
"Because some idiot in the Army doesn't want to turn all that ammo over to an Air Guard base," Roxy said with a shake of her head.
"So we just steal them from there instead," Peg said with a grin. "It's not like it's that far from here."
"But we don't know anyone who works there, and," Roxy growled, "both you and Sheila are too close to your due dates to go up there and steal it."
Peg patted her belly and laughed. "Yeah, it is getting a little bit hard to sneak around now, with having to run to the bathroom every thirty minutes!"
"Why don't we just ask Jack to deal with it?" Roberta suggested. "Wasn't he the one planning to 'borrowing' it in the first place? He's Army. I'm sure he'll know what to do."
The others all nodded.
"That brings up the next issue," Jolene said.
"Which is?" Roxy asked.
"Those demons…
"Djevels," Cali corrected with a smile.
"…djevels," Jolene said with a grin, "that got away. I don't know how much progress my uncle has made on getting a warning barrier set up, but even if he has, we're going to need to put together a team to hunt them down."
"Good point," Roxy said with a frown, "I hadn't even considered that. Why don't you grab Rob and go talk to your uncle? When you get back here, we'll grab Oak, Hunter, Demon, and Maitland and see what's what."
"What do you want me for?" Roberta asked, surprised.
"Because you're also a magic user. I'd send Peg, but…"
"You know the doc says I’ve got almost two weeks to go, right?" Peg said, smirking.
"I also know you're always early," Roxy said with a wink.
"Okay, okay. But I would like to be included in the meeting back here. I gotta do something."
"Sure, Peg, you don't have to ask for that."
"Because if she said no, you'd still be there anyway," Jolene said with a snicker.
"Let's be about it. Rob, Jo, you can head out in the morning. Cali, Dae, could you both help me go over the gear and see what needs fixing and what needs replacing?"
"Of course," Cali said with a smile as Daelyn nodded.
Watching and Waiting
It was late, not that anyone could really tell the difference, as far as Sean was concerned. He'd spent most of the time since he got here helping to build a palisade, along with setting up a lot of punji sticks. For all that Estrella was a good swordswoman, she wasn't the most knowledgeable about defenses.
Sean, having been lectured countless times by Chad, as well as having to deal with some fiendishly clever ideas when attacking places Chad had made in his D&D games, had absorbed enough to be dangerous. He figured it would take another two days to have the hellige completely surrounded with the palisade, but it wasn't like they had anything else to do.
He wasn't sure exactly when the next window would open, because he’d never bothered to memorize the tables, and he'd been unconscious long enough he had no idea what day it was anyway. But before he called it quits and went to bed, he wanted to take a few moments to examine the big stone ring.
Walking up to it, it appeared to be the exact same size as one of the small gateways. He wondered if the gateway appeared inside it, or if the outer ring of stone matched up with the edge of the gateway? Opening his enchanting framework, he put his hand on it and tried to get a feeling for what it was.
Immediately he felt an energy flow, and his fur started to bristle like he was being charged with static electricity. Looking into it, he couldn't make heads nor tails of what was going on inside. It wasn't the same as the enchanting he'd learned so far, from either his father's books or what his great uncle had taught him.
The only thing he could tell was the spells inside were active, they were huge, and he was starting to pick up a charge from them. A very uncomfortable charge, as it wasn't any kind of magic or mana he was familiar with.
Removing his hand quickly, he moved away from the stone ring and could actually feel it as the charge drained out through his feet and into the ground.
Shaking his head, he walked around the entire structure slowly. The ramps that ran up to either side of the ring, almost pinching it between them, were old and weathered, but he couldn't find any cracks in them. They appeared to be made of the same substance as the ring, but when he tried to assess them magically, there was nothing there.
"So, figure out how they work yet?" Estrella asked, coming up to him.
"I've never seen anything like it at all," Sean told her, "but to be honest," he looked at her and grinned, "I've only been practicing magic for about a year, and I'm almost completely self-taught."
"Why do I get the feeling there's a story involved here?"
"Because there is?" Sean said with a laugh. "I'd say my last year was pretty rough, but somehow, after seeing what you've had to put up with for the last fifteen hundred, I don't think I'd get any sympathy from you."
"Sympathy is definitely not one of my better traits," she agreed. "Anyway, we've done as much as we can for the day, we might as well get some rest."
"Did any of your scouts come back with anything on the force that attacked us?"
"Not yet. But I'm starting to think, from the size of what we ran into back there, somebody big is making a play on Ansigt's holdings before he can come back."
"Think they'll succeed?"
She shrugged as she led the way to the building near the gateway. Sean hadn't been in there yet, but he was sure she'd claimed a room.
"Are you watching my ass again?" She laughed as they walked.
"Yes, ma'am!" Sean purred as he looked down at her butt under the long train of black hair. Her tail was dancing a little more than usual, almost rising up enough to be considered an invitation. Sean smiled; she was teasing him! Hopefully that meant she wasn't thinking about getting rid of him anymore. Then again, she had passed up a chance to kill him earlier this morning when he was both wounded and drained.
"Don't you ever stop?" she teased.
"What kind of a lion would I be if I did that?" he teased back.
"A celibate one, I'm sure."
"So how long do you think before someone shows up to challenge us?"
"I figure Ansigt will be back tomorrow, then it'll take him a day or two to gather his forces. After that," she gave her tail a flick, causing him to smile, "I guess it depends on how many others are opposing him."
She led him inside and into a room that was fairly plain, but there was some sort of a sleeping platform both of their bedrolls had been laid out on. Securing the door behind him, he turned and watched as she removed her armor.
"You going to get out of yours? Or were you planning to spend the night as a lion again?"
"I always spend the night as a lion." Sean snickered, but he started to remove his armor as well, going over to a shelf and stacking it as he removed the arm and leg pieces first. He needed to do some repair work on it, he realized. He'd been waiting for another gateway to open so he'd have the mana available to do it, but with a ley line right here, he could handle it easily.
Glancing over at Estrella, he saw her bending over facing away from him, re-arranging her armor on a shelf. As he unfastened the main body piece and pulled it over his head, he couldn't help but appreciate the view when she flashed him completely.
Looking down at his crotch as he set the main body piece down, he had to shake his head. It had only been a week, and he was as randy as a goat.
"Something wrong?"
"Oh, just give me a few minutes to calm down and I'll be fine," Sean said with a laugh.
"Did my ass get somebody all excited?" she purred.
"You're not helping, you know," Sean grumbled.
"Maybe I want to help?"
Putting his hands on his hips, Sean turned to face her. She was standing there smiling, and as he watched, her eyes slowly went down his body and then stopped. And widened.
"Well, I can certainly see how you ended up with six wives," she muttered, looking at him.
He was about to retort when she unexpectedly dropped to her knees before him. Reaching out, she stroked his erection.
"Is somebody entertaining thoughts?" Sean asked, surprised.
"It's been fifteen hundred years, dammit! I'm well past entertaining!" She opened her mouth and took the head of his shaft into her muzzle as the other hand came up to cup his sack.
Putting his hands on her head to steady himself, Sean was surprised at the sudden onslaught. It might have been a long time since she'd had sex, but apparently she hadn't forgotten much. She had a very talented tongue, and no gag reflex to speak of. Even Jolene would have been impressed.
It didn't take her long to push him over the edge, and she didn't hesitate to drink down all he had to offer. When she was done, she kissed him on the tip, leaned back on her heels, and smiled up at him.
Dropping down to his knees, he gently pushed her back with a hand.
"Now it's my turn!" he purred, smiling. Lowering his head, he put her legs over his shoulders and zeroed in on her sex immediately. He wasn't surprised to find her enthusiastic about the idea of him going down on her, and she lasted almost as long as he had, which perhaps wasn't very long at all.
Letting her legs slip off of his shoulders, he slowly kissed his way up her body until their lips met. He was already stiff as a board and rubbing over her entrance with his shaft; he wasn't surprised to feel her arching up to him.
"Somebody definitely wants something," he rumbled.
"And I better get it, too," she growled in a husky voice.
Reaching down between them, Sean grabbed his shaft, slowly brought the head to her entrance, and worked his way in.
"Damn, you're tight!"
"Fifteen hundred years, remember?" she growled.
"Oh, I am so going to enjoy this!" He laughed.
"Just make sure I…oh!" she growled, then moaned as he entered her and slowly worked his way in until their hips finally met. Wrapping her legs around his waist, she shivered beneath him.
"It's been so long," she whispered, "so very, very long."
Bracing his elbows on the floor, Sean took her face in his hands and kissed her, slowly and tenderly.
"I'll take care of you, Stell. I promise I'll take care of you."
Reversing himself, he pulled out almost all the way, then slowly sank in to her depths, getting her used to the size of him. By the third stroke she was moaning and purring loudly on the floor beneath him, and all ten of the claws on her hands sank into his ass as she urged him on.
With that he let go and took her hard and fast.
It was educational as well as a complete ego trip. Estrella went crazy beneath him, turning into a completely wanton wild animal. It was beyond primal for him, and when he finally hit his peak, he didn't even slow down, just kept right on driving. She'd already hit hers several times by then, her body bucking and bridging beneath his as she let out a low-pitched growl and shivered against him.
He had no idea how long it went on; every time he stopped to catch his breath, she immediately started in on him with her hands and her lips, working him back up, then they'd couple again. They christened every surface in the room, and eventually, when they finally wound down, it was on the bedrolls on the sleeping platform.
