Excessica Anthology BOX SET Winter (79 page)

We
saw a lot of each other over the next few weeks. Jake loved to do things
outdoors. We threw the flying disc in park, sometimes just the two of us and
sometimes with Beth and Rick. Tsuyoshi, much to my relief, always seemed to
have other plans when Jake called him. We had picnics and rented a canoe. Jake
never pushed me to let him spend the night, but he didn’t turn down an
invitation, either. I was glad when he stayed. Even though he swore he’d only
had two girlfriends before me, he definitely knew what he was doing in bed. Either
one of the two trained him well, or he was one of the rare breed of men with
natural talent.

The
funny thing was, he never asked me over to his place. One night, as we sat on a
park bench, watching the city lights sparkle over the river, I asked him about
it.

“Jake,
how come we never go to your place?” I asked.

“My
bachelor pad?” he answered, laughing. “It’s a mess.”

“I’ve
seen a man’s house before. A little mess isn’t going to bother me. I want to
get to know you better, Jake. Will you show me where you live?”

He
laughed, then looked suddenly serious. “I can’t do that,” he said.

I
stood up. “What are you hiding? You’re married, aren’t you?”

“I’m
not married!” he said.

“Then,
what? You live with your parents, and they’re really embarrassing? I’d be a
fool not to believe you’re trying to hide something from me, Jake.”

He
stood, laid one hand on each of my arms, and looked me in the eyes. “You’re
right,” he said. “I have been hiding something from you.”

“I
can’t do this,” I said. I tried to pull away, but he held out my arms with
gentle strength. “I can’t be with someone who hides things from me.”

“I
didn’t tell you because you wouldn’t believe me,” Jake said. “Hell, I wouldn’t
believe me if I were you.”

“Believe
you?” I said. “What are you talking about?”

“Maybe
I should show you.” He let go of my arms and stepped backwards, standing
against the railing separating us from the river. He held out his arms and
looked upward at the starry sky. Chills went up my spine; I remembered my dream
of Tsuyoshi, the way he turned from a butterfly to a man before my eyes. As I
watched, dumbfounded, Jake’s body did the reverse. Suddenly he had wings, four
enormous Blue Morpho wings that shimmered and seemed to glow in the moonlight.
He flapped them, and his feet lifted off the ground.

“What
the hell?” I said out loud. “I’m asleep; I have to be. I must be dreaming
again.”

“You’re
not dreaming,” Jake said. “I’m a fairy. We’re all fairies: Beth, Rick,
Tsuyoshi, and me.”

“Impossible,”
I said. My knees felt suddenly weak, and I slumped back down toward the bench.
At that moment, Jake’s toes touched the ground.

“Rare,
but certainly not impossible. I haven’t invited you to my home because
¾
well, you’ve already been there.”

“You
live in the park,” I said.

He
nodded. “We rarely leave. When we do, we still have to be near enough to touch
plants, animals, or earth. If we spend too long away from any of those things,
we start to get sick.”

“What
about Tsuyoshi?” I asked. “He hardly ever came out to play with you guys.”

Jake
sighed. “Tsuyoshi’s a little…different. He moved out of Shiojiri Nawa and into
his own place a couple of months ago.”

“His
own place? As in a house?”

“A
cave,” Jake said seriously. “Tsuyoshi is getting increasingly intolerant of
sunlight. Pretty soon, he’ll only be able to come out at night.“

“Is
that something that happens to fairies?“ I asked, though I couldn’t believe the
words were coming from my lips.

He
shook his head. “Just the opposite; we love the sun. Shortly before he came to
America, though, Tsuyoshi had a sort of injury.”

“Injury?”
Although I urged him to continue, cold fear was knotting my stomach. I had a
feeling I didn’t want to know everything about Tsuyoshi. I had a feeling I
wasn’t going to like this.

“He
was bitten,” Jake explained. “By a bat. Ever since then, he can turn into a
bat. That‘s why he had to leave Japan; Old World fairies tend to be less
tolerant of differences than those of us in North America.”

I
thought of Tsuyoshi’s words in my dream: “Sometimes a butterfly, sometimes a
bat, sometimes a wolf.” “Jake,” I continued, “is there anything else you want
to tell me about Tsuyoshi? Is he…dangerous?”

Jake
considered his answer carefully. “He’s never bitten a human, if that’s what you
mean. But you’re right, there is more to the story. Tsuyoshi wasn’t bitten by
an ordinary bat. She was a vampire.”

“’My
best friend’s a vampire’ is usually something you tell a girl on a first date!”
I yelled at Jake. “Right after you tell her you’re a fricking fairy! Damn it,
Jake, I was falling in love with you. Now you’re telling me things that, if I
tell anyone else, will get me locked up in a mental health facility. Yet they
must be true, because I’m looking at your wings!”

“You
were falling in love with me?” Jake asked, a huge smile creeping across his
glowing face.

My
feelings were in such a free-fall, I didn’t know how to respond. My brain was
cruising along at a mile a minute, though. “If you know Tsuyoshi’s a vampire,
why haven’t you staked him or something?”

“He
hasn’t hurt anyone except some rabbits and groundhogs, Lacey.”

“He
hasn’t hurt anyone
yet,
” I said. I told Jake about my dream. “Can
fairies get into people’s dreams?”

“Some
of us can,” Jake admitted. “Our Queen Mab, she was…well, the queen of getting
into people’s minds while they slept. I’ve never done it myself, but the elders
used to talk of it.”

“If
Tsuyoshi was really in my head that night, do you think I’m in danger? Maybe
he’s tired of rabbits and groundhogs.”

“I
hope for Tsuyoshi’s sake you’re wrong,” Jake said seriously. He took my hand and
helped me to my feet. “I need to find out for sure. You should go home, Lacey.
I’ll call you as soon as I find out.”

“Where
are you going?” I asked him. “To confront Tsuyoshi? Alone?” He nodded. I
grabbed his arm. “I can’t let you do that, Jake. What if he gets angry? What if
you get hurt?”

“It’ll
be far less dangerous for me than it will for you,” he insisted.

“At
least take Rick and Beth with you,” I said. It was the last sentiment I had
time to utter before an enormous black shape swooped out the sky, knocking Jake
and me off our balance. I fell to the concrete; Jake fell the other direction,
but flapped his butterfly wings and took to the air before he hit the ground.
The black shape swooped low to the ground again, touched down, and became
Tsuyoshi. His fangs were bared, and his terrible claws flashed like silver in
the moonlight.

“So,
you told the human my little secret, hm?” he asked, his eyes boring into
Jake’s. “Bad idea, insect.”

Tsuyoshi
reached back, ready to slash with his claws. “Look out!” I shouted at Jake, who
dodged out of the way. Tsuyoshi missed Jake’s face, but tore the tip of his
wing. “Stop it!” I yelled at Tsuyoshi. “He didn’t do anything to you!”

Tsuyoshi
turned to me, fangs bared, an evil look in his eyes. “Your kind can’t know what
we are!” he thundered. “I can’t let you leave. I’ve been wondering what you
taste like since we met.”

“Stay
away from her!” Jake shouted. He jumped onto Tsuyoshi’s back, clamping his arm
around Tsuyoshi’s throat. “Lacey, run!”

“I’m
not leaving you,” I said. He may have been a fairy, a fact he hid from me, but
I was still falling in love with Jake.

Tsuyoshi
snorted. “Your bitch is brave,” he said. “She smells delicious, too.” With
great effort, he heaved Jake from his back. Jake went flying, then hit the concrete.
He lay there, his wings folded down over his motionless body. Tsuyoshi laughed
as he inched closer to me.

“Jake!”
I screamed. Every instinct in my body was telling me to run, though I was
desperate to know if Jake was still alive. I ran. Tsuyoshi chased me, turning
back into a bat as he ran. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him black form
looming closer and closer. I ran down the grassy bank, thinking if I could get
to the water, he wouldn’t be able to follow. Evil spirits can’t cross running water,
I told myself.

I
didn’t make it. Tsuyoshi’s arm reaching out and grabbed me seconds before my
feet would have hit the water. He pulled me backwards, slamming me against him.
His hand brutally shoved my head to the side a split second before I felt the
blinding pain of his teeth sinking into my neck. The world went pitch-black.

* *
* *

The
first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was green. I blinked, and realized I
was looking up at a canopy of leaves.

“She’s
awake!” It was Beth. “Lacey, don’t move.”

“Where
am I?”

“In
a tree,” a familiar male voice said.

“Jake?”

His
face loomed over me; his wings were hidden again. “Glad you’re finally moving
around. We were worried about you.”

“You’re
all right!” I said excitedly. I sat up, so quickly I almost bumped heads with
Jake. As soon as I could look around, I saw I
was
in a tree. Rick was
there, too. He and Beth straddled the branch, though it was wide and thick
enough for Jake to crouch beside me. If I moved too suddenly, there was a
chance I could fall, but if I was careful I was perfectly safe. I let Jake wrap
his arms around me, then asked him, “Where’s Tsuyoshi?”

“Gone,”
he said.

“Dead?”

“He’s
never coming back,” Rick said. “The less you know about it, the better.”

“Technically,
he was already dead,” Beth added.

I
reached for my neck and felt the scabs of the bite mark. “He bit me,” I said.
“Does that mean I’m going to turn…”

“No,”
Jake said. “He didn’t turn you. You would only turn if you’d ingested any of
Tsuyoshi’s blood.”

“You’ll
be sensitive to sunlight,” Beth explained. “You’ll never have to avoid it
totally, though.”

“Good,”
I said. “It’s hard to see a flying disc in the dark.”

Jake
smiled. “Do you still want to hang around with us, after all that’s happened?”

“Yeah,”
I said. “When Tsuyoshi tossed you and you hit the ground, I realized I wasn’t
just falling in love with you, Jake. I do love you.”

He
held my face in his hands and kissed me long and deep. “I love you, too,” he
said.

It
was hard at first, dating a fairy who lived in the local park. We worked out
the kinks, though. Eventually, Jake agreed to move in with me…but only after we
built a large flower and vegetable garden in the back yard.

About Erin O’Riordan

Erin O'Riordan lives in the midwestern
United States with her husband. Her erotic stories, essays, and film reviews
have been published in numerous magazines and websites. Though she has written
about everything from professional basketball to great literary sex scenes, the
intersection of spirituality and sexuality remains one of her favorite themes.
Readers can view more of her work at
aeess.com
. Midsummer Night is the second in the
twelve-part Pagan Spirits series.

Fearless

By
Morgan Sierra

Prologue

My
name is Nick, and I own this parlor. It’s old, but clean. And most importantly,
reputable. The smell from the bakery next door sometimes wafts in, and I
consider that a plus. No matter what, this baby is mine. I own her free and
clear. Been in this business a long time, and I plan on working until the day I
drop.

People
come to see me when they want to decorate themselves with piercings or tats. I
understand the urge to do it. Hell, I’ve got enough holes to start a mining
company, and enough colors to be called a walking rainbow.

But
sometimes I wonder about the people who come to see me. What makes them decide
which piece of art represents them
so much
that they want a permanent
reminder?

Most
times, I just do the job they pay me to do. Sometimes I ask about it, though.
And more times than not, they’re willing to share.

When
I asked for the details behind the sexed up she-devil I started to etch onto
his shoulder, this is what he told me…

Chapter
One

Leaves
tumbled and rolled out of the way to avoid being crushed by rubber tearing
through their fallen carcasses at ninety miles an hour. The air threatened Eric
with snaps of cold meant to send him back indoors, but there was no way he’d
miss out on tonight. Sadly, October came only once a year and the wonderful
special night marking its departure always ended too quickly for him.

The
air shimmered around him and he felt her presence. If he didn’t have to keep
his eyes on the lonely stretch of road, he would have closed them and basked in
the soft, sensual feel of her wrapping around him like a warm blanket.

His
thighs spread instinctively as his grip on the bike’s throttle eased. The Ninja
slowed, and accepted her body molded against his without complaint. The same as
the day he purchased her, the engine purred its contentment.

Laura
faced him, so that he could glance down into her deep chocolate colored eyes.
Blonde hair shorn almost to the scalp stayed out of his way. The last thing
either of them needed was an accident caused because flyaway hair that whipped
into his eyes and hindered his vision.

He
afforded himself a quick glance at her plump lips and threw fate to the wind. A
brief dip was all he needed. But he had to have it. He had to feel her mouth
against his for the first time all year. She accepted his kiss with a seductive
smile and his heart thundered. In another mile or so, he'd wipe that smile away
when he dove in for more of her taste. So much more.

Her
hand snaked beneath his leather jacket and scraped across bare flesh. The
corners of his mouth turned up in his own smile when she slid her hand back and
forth across the expanse of his chest. She'd always loved to trail her fingers
through the black curls of his chest hair. He'd worn as little as possible
without inviting an indecent exposure arrest so that she could play with him to
her heart’s content. Black leather jacket, matching black jeans and boots were
all that separated his skin from her touch.

Eric
didn't have to look down to know what she wore. It was always the baby doll top
with its lacy border and a skirt short enough to make anyone with a heartbeat
do a double-take. When she hopped aboard the bike with him, the heat between
her thighs warming up his ass in ways the bike couldn’t even come close. Sure,
there was something so incredibly sexy about having all of that power between
his legs—and having the bike there too—but having her arms wrapped
around his waist sent a rush through him like nothing else could.

She
wouldn’t be able to hear him, but he had to say it. “I’ve missed you, woman.”

Perhaps
she’d heard after all. Her arms tightened around him and her delicate breasts
pressed against his chest. She ground against his hardening cock, sending bolts
of pleasure shooting through his balls and thighs. Oh yeah. He’d missed the
hell out of her.

Fuck
waiting. He gave the bike gas and leaned into the wind as they shot forward.
Laura’s soft giggle wafted next to his ear and it spurred him into moving
faster. The thrill of speeding, of flirting with death had always been a turn
on for both of them. Just half a mile to go and he’d show her just how turned
on. Like she didn’t know. Her hand had long since left the warmth beneath his
jacket to stroke the bulge in the ever tightening space of his jeans.

She
leaned closer, her lips grazing over his cheek and touching the lobe of his ear.
“Prove it. Show me how much you’ve missed me.”

Over
the roar of the engine, between the whistle of wind caressing over them, he
shouldn’t have heard her. But he caught every breathless sound as if they stood
alone in a room by themselves. He heard the hoarse whisper of every single
word. The intent behind each enunciated syllable.

Something
primal within growled a nonsensical response. His cock twitched and impossibly
hardened even more. If she teased him just one more time, he’d face the very
real possibility that it might break through the denim. Steel had nothing on
him at this point.

His
body remembered hers all too well. The changing of seasons, the moment the heat
of summer had left and the air cooled and invited autumn to play, he found
himself day dreaming of her. And the nights? Almost nightly he had to stroke
himself to miserable satiation. He had to relieve the pressure of his cock or
go mad from it. The thing of it was, the more he did it, the less satisfaction
he found. His touch could not compare to hers; his body would be satisfied with
nothing less. He needed to be with her, in her, if only for this one night when
her ethereal body became corporal, he had to have her.

Eric
turned down the lonely dirt road and slowed as they approached the desolate
cabin. He paid good money to ensure its upkeep and the property management
company knew to have it prepared for his annual stay. Without stepping through
its doors, he could already smell the mustiness of the closed-in space. Despite
that, the bed would be made, no dust to be found on any of the furniture. A
case of bottled water would sit inside the humming fridge. He had no need for
food tonight; dehydration was his biggest concern. Electricity and running
water would be available in ample supply anyway. If push came to shove, he
could make use of the canned items in storage.

Like
his body, the cabin seemed to anticipate her arrival. It would release a slow
exhale of relief when they crossed the threshold.

Yeah,
he knew this obsession for Laura was unhealthy, and maybe a few would say
unnatural. But who gave a fuck about what others thought? If his woman could
find her way each Halloween to the world of the living, he would never refuse
her.

Never.

Chapter
Two

Her
hands worked frantically on pulling the zipper down, her mouth hot and hungry
against his. The bike jolted to a stop, a last second instinct the only thing
that made him remember it. Eric stood to engage the brake, but lifted Laura
with him, unable—unwilling—to lose her touch for the scantest
moment.

A
whole God damned year without her. Without her touch. Her scent. Her taste.

He
molded his mouth against hers, learning all over again what it meant to kiss
this woman. Her mouth burned against his, moist heat greeting his tongue as he
pushed it against hers. They could have gone up in flames for all he cared. At
this moment in time, he needed this.

Cool
air blasted his exposed chest, but Laura sparked another conflagration there by
running her nails over his erect nipples. Finding them unerringly in the curls
on his chest. She flicked over them, shooting sparks of pleasurable pain in
those two points. The pleasure raced straight to his cock, exciting more nerve
endings there.

It
was always like this. This want. At the end of each night with her, he vowed
the next time he would be more in control. Better able to take things slow and
love her the way she deserved. Inevitably, every year, he acted like a virgin
on prom night in his haste to get into her panties. They hadn’t even left the
damned bike yet and he was halfway to naked, his tongue down her throat, his
hands gripping her ass like his world started and ended there.

Their
first time here, she’d been concerned that someone might see them going at it,
but now, five years later, he all but welcomed an audience. If she cared any
more, damned if he knew. When she began to work on the fly of his jeans, he had
his answer.

“Babe,
you don’t want to go inside?” he asked almost breathlessly. Just for
propriety’s sake. Out here in the middle of buttfuck, there’d be no one around.

She
kept pressing her mouth against his, plunging her tongue inside. Her need for
air ended the night she died, but he was still very much alive and had to keep
talking just for the sake of grabbing some. “I love you, Laura,” he murmured.
“I’ve missed you and God, how I need you.”

Her
dark eyes bore into his, a hint of a smile in them. A small gasp escaped his
lips because in his moment of inattention, she’d found her prize. Cool hands
freed his cock from its cloth prison and he lifted his hips to allow her to
free him completely. Laura wrapped her tiny hand around his shaft and pumped.
“You still love me, Eric?”

He
swallowed hard, the sensations she caused tortuous. “Always.”

She
threw a leg over his, settling close. The other one soon followed suit until
all he could feel against his erection was the heat of her pussy, so very, very
close. “Show me.”

He
leaned forward, dropping his hands down the sides of her calves, caressing the
soft sides, moving up, sliding, learning her legs all over again. He touched
behind her knees, stroked over them until he met the inside of her thighs. She
spread them of her own accord, but he gripped her harder, baring her open for
his scrutiny.

As
always, she wore nothing beneath that scrap of a skirt and the pink folds of
her pussy glistened before him. He sucked in a breath as his thumbs came so
close to the center of her core. She was primed for him, ready for him to
impale her with his cock, but his senses had returned if only for the moment
and he wanted to drag this out.

The
twin straps of her barely-there shirt had fallen down her creamy arms. Any
gentleman would have pushed them up or ignored the sultry way her breasts now
peeked out as a result, but Eric had never considered himself a gentleman. He
curled his fingers around the strips, pulling them down and exposing her pink
nipples to the air. Laura arched her back, and her breasts thrust into his
face. He kissed down her neck, tasting her skin with each inch he covered, but
the twin temptations drew his attention.

“Lovely,”
he whispered almost to himself before taking the first one into his mouth.
Jesus, how could she be so soft, so supple? And her taste…every single time
they met, no matter how much time had passed, he inhaled the clean scent of
soap and tasted its simple freshness on her. She was like a walking commercial
for Ivory.

He
loved the way her breasts fit in his hands. The ideal size for palming their
perfect roundness. And when she made that little sound in the back of her
throat as he teased her nipple, it was enough to make him come right there and
then.

Laura
twisted her hips, rocking herself closer to his cock. The fine curls on her
pussy grazed his head and he almost lost concentration as blood went
free-falling into the lower part of his anatomy. He clamped his teeth around
her nipple and focused his attention on retaining control. A smug sense of
satisfaction warmed him when she hissed out a startled breath.

“Don’t
tempt me again, little devil,” he said around her breast. Her throaty chuckle
betrayed her intentions to do so again, to hell with the consequences. Besides,
they both knew his punishment would be a reward for them both.

“And
if I do?” Her purr sent a shiver down his spine.

This
time he eased forward, touching himself against her pearl nub. Her body
shuddered, her fingers tightening on his arms. “Then you don’t get what I came
here to give you.”

His
plan back fired when she rocked her hips again, sliding forward and capturing
him in one smooth move. Eric rested his forehead against her sternum as she
eased further, taking him inside her warmth, his body stock still and too
engrossed in sensation to assist.

She
put her fingers beneath his chin, tilting his face toward hers, then pressed
her mouth softly to his. Her eyes flashed at him. “Baby, I think I will.”

Chapter Three

Thank
God the bike was made of sturdy stuff. Yeah, he had long legs and with a little
maneuver, he could rest the sole of one foot on the ground still. But the other
one he lifted onto the bike, using it to balance them both on the seat not
meant to take this kind of treatment.