Sunset Coven 19

It's 2am and I'm starving. Nope. Not edited.

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The window cracked, the mirror shattered, and Jack, Jime, and mustang Jack all flew backwards by the sheer force of power, more like distress, of the high pitched wail that ripped from Suri’s throat. “Numira. Daboor,” she spoke frantically. An invisiblity shield pulsed around her. The wall Jack, the car, destroyed when he flew into the house repaired, the shattered remains rising from the floor fitting together like a puzzle. She sighed. Suri had never been more humiliated and embarrassed in her life. “Un!” She tensed as a pain ripped through her abdomen. A whimper escaped and she buckled down for round two. That’s it. She was never touching another item from McDonalds again. Those golden arches did not lead to heave, that was for certain.

With nothing left in her to empty, she hoped, Suri stripped, wrapped a towel around her, and turned the shower on. It’d been over a day but she had yet to clean Toren’s blood and scaled from her skin and clothes. She didn’t want to. Not really. Yes, she wanted to clean once more, but leaving herself covered in his flesh was her punishment for playing with the dark. It would be a lie if she said she didn’t enjoy it, hadn’t reveled in it. Opposite of her normal behavior, the darkness was wild, hot, and alive. That was why she felt the need to punish herself. She enjoyed it too much at the cost of Toren’s beautiful and treacherous scales. At that rate, she’d end up like her dad.

Looking at her reflection in the ever steaming mirror, Suri shook her head. Now that was just going over hoard. She and her dad shared the same eye color, same hair color, but other than that, their similarities ended. She was small and slim just like her mother. She braided her hair just like he mother. But one thing Suri lack from both parents was their anger. At least she thought she did, but what she did to the dragon Warlord was an act committed out of pure anger. He gave her over to the enemy, and then he gave her his scales.

When the mirror fogged completed, Suri used a finger to write an incantation onto the glass. The spell worked swarmed into a circle as the mirror grew black. The glass vibrated. And again.
“Suri. Baby!” her mother’s face filled the screen.
“Hi mom.”
“Where are you? Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been?” Angelica asked.
“I think I have an idea.”
“Baby, come home. Now.”
Suri shook her head. She missed her mom. She really did, and this was the first time she’d seen her mother since she stole away in the night with Jime over a year again. Worrying her parent’s wasn’t something she was proud of, but damn it, she was no longer a child. She could not tuck her head and head home just to please mommy and daddy. Not anymore. “I can’t,” she said. “I won’t. Not yet anyway. There’s something I must do. I’m worried about pahwah,” she referred to Jime in her mother’s native tongue Paiute.
“What’s wrong with her?”
“She’s sun obsessed.”
Angelica frowned. “I don’t think I want you hanging around a sun obsessed vampire.”
“And living at home with a black mage in safe?” Suri chuckled dryly. “Sorry mom, but no.”
The infamous anger seeped into her mom’s eye. “I will not argue with you, daughter of mine.”
“Neither will I.”
“I’ve heard rumors about you that I don’t like. You will come home.”
“Eventually.”
“NOW!”
Suri shook her head again. “Can’t do it.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Doesn’t make a difference. I said I would help her and I’ve never backed broken my word before. You know how dangerous it is for a witch when she breaks her word.”
At that, Angelica’s anger deflated. It was then Suri noticed how tired her mother looked. Her eyes were more slanted than usual. The warm tanned glow of her skin ashen. “Are the nightmares back?” she asked concerned.
Angelica nodded.
“Will something happen to daddy? Do you need me?”
“Something has already began to happen. Your father will lose the darkness. I see it in my dreams.”
“That’s good right?”
“No, baby, it’s not. Because it’s wrapping around you. Suri, please, come home.”
“I will mother. Eventually. I just wanted to talk to you. You go rest now. I’ll send a slumber spell to you in your sleep.”
“Suri,” Angelica said before her daughter could end connection. “There’s something else in my dreams about you that worries me.”
“And that is?”
Angelica hestitated.
“Mom! Tell me. If it’s something bad, I can protect myself better if I know what to look for.”
“Fire. It’s fire. You’re surrounded by fire.” And for a witch, fire was synonymous with death. Angelica’s lip tighten, her eyes narrowed. “Your father has returned.”
Suri heard her mother mumble “worthless.”
“I must go,” she said.
“No, wait--” Angelica started to speak but Suri ended the connection and scattered the magic. Sage would be able to trace her call if she was connected. Angelica was a seer and didn’t have that kind of power. Her magic was in her dreams, her fortunes, and communications with the spirits when they felt like making contact. A dark mage could easily trace a simple video call through a mirror. Mirror’s amplified their gifts. She waited a few moments to see if scattering the magic had prevented her dad from finding her. The mirror remained just that, a simple mirror. Suri twisted her hair up into a know, dropped the towel, and stepped into the hot shower letting the water beat again her injured back.

~~~~

Jime pushed herself off the floor with a groan. When Suri’s scream sent them flying, she smacked into Jack, the car, before awkwardly landing on Jack, the man. And what a man he was. Not too slim, not to big. Sold. Just the way she liked her men. Also, the way she remembered him from way back when. Her fingers had glifed over his chest with a familiarity. Her lips against his was a homecoming she didn’t know she was looking for. But she’d have to deal with Jack later, after she finished spanking her niece.

On her feet, she walked across the dinning room and living room, that’s how far back they flew, to the bathroom door. Five feet from it, she stopped. She too another step but moved no further.
“It’s that shield again. I can feel the same magic from the hotel.”
“Suri!” Jime yelled at the shield. Suri was invisible to them, but they weren’t invisible to her. For all she knew, Suri could be standing front in front of them. “Let us in.”
Jack placed a hand on her should. “Uh...maybe we should wait until she’d finished doing whatever.”
Jime shrugged his hand off her shoulder. “You stood in the King’s court after a bloodlust and you’re nervous about a barely immortal witch on the toilet? Unbelievable. You really just lost what few cool points you just gained.”
“I’m not nervous,” Jack sounded put off, “But your niece is in a volatile mood, and if she shoots me with some spirited arrow like she did her mate, I can’t promise not to kill her. Those things hurt.” He rubbed his shoulder to dislodge a ghost pain.
“Shut up. She’s not going to shoot you.” Jime paused. “I think. And she’s not that dragon’s mate.”

Jack didn’t respond to that. He arched a brow and shook his head. If Jime didn’t know, prehaps Suri didn’t tell her or there was the possibility Suri didn’t know. His vote was on the latter and suddenly he wasn’t so sure allying with the dragon was a smart idea.

Jime huffed. She walked back across the room and sat on the hood on honey-poo. “She’ll come out eventually. If not and she teleports away, I can trace her energy or honey-poo can find her again. Although after what he just did, throwing me into a occupied bathroom and all, I don’t think I want anything to do with this mustang for a while. And by a while I mean about an hour.”
he growled at her. “First of all, it’s honey-BOO and he’s a she.”
“What was that?”
“What”

She tapped the mustang. “That crashing through the wall and ejecting us like I’m some WW2 fighter pilot?” She pinned him with a glare. “Exactly what did you do to this car Jack. You treat it the same way you treated those skii’s of yours you lost when you lost your godho--” she gasped and how fast he moved, at his hand being around her neck, at how close his lips were to her.
“Jimena. Jimena,” he whispered, trailing one finger across her jaw. “Some things are better left unsaid.”

For a moment, she remembered why so many, mortal and immortal alike, feared Jack Jammers of the Sinn-Jammers. Only a brief moment. She whipped her head back and smacked it again his in the ultimate head butt. No one put their hands on her neck.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A sense of total despair and embarrassment tore through him, yanking him from a deep healing slumber. Toren’s eyes snapped open. Though he could not see his reflection, he knew they glowed. Using his elbows, he pushed his front off the bed.

A hand closed over his neck forcing his front down to the bed. That hand was too small to be Rivers, too soft to be male. He swore in the language of the old ones.
“Explain to me why I come in here to find my Prosecutor Princess DVD you stole from me but instead find my little brother spread out across his bed like a skinned fish, because your lackey won’t talk.”

Toren pushed again her hand. Despite her strength, she pinned him with care to avoid his injury which made it easy to slip from her hold and sit up, legs crossed.
“I’m waiting.” She crossed her arms, smashing the over sized gray sweatshirt that exposed one shoulder against her chest.
“What does your shirt say?” He hadn’t had a chance to take a good look at what the bold black letters said, but his eyes spotted one word.
When she didn’t respond, River spoke from his position in the corner of the room. “I’m going to make you fuck my body.”
Joslyn blew steam from her nose in his direction. “Be a good lackey and shut up.”
Even if he was 527 years old, which gave him a lot of time to get around the world, and even if Joslyn was pushing 650 but still looked 19 in her black leggings, ballet flats, sweatshirt, and hair cut in a fashion that belonged in a Korean boy band, he didn’t want to think of anyone fucking her body. If the rumors were true, they were, Jos has had many bodied. She lied to lure her pray with her innocent appeal. Unless the more mature and experienced attituded worked in her favor. Her ability to adapt and get the job done was why she was his left hand, third in the nest. She would bully him all day but if that didn’t work she’d...”Stop pouting,” he said to her.
Her breathing became choppy, her gold eyes bright with tears. “Tell me what happened. Why are you hurt?”
She sound liked she would cry. Scary part was, she would. “That doesn’t work on me, Jos. Hasn’t for centuries.”
“I just want to know what happened to my baby brother.”
He looked at River who looked like he just swallowed a dozen raw eggs at Joslyn’s “I’m really a loving sister” act.
She caught his glance. “You’re lackey knows, but you won’t even tell me?”
“I tripped. Fell down a mountain side. Skinned my back.” He shrugged a shoulder and winced. It would take time for damage of this size to heal. The salt made the process slower.
She turned to River. “Where you there?”
“Yep.”
“Then why aren’t you injured? I keep you around to protect him, lackey.”
“He didn’t trip. And you don’t keep him around. I do.”
The territorial battle over him had been waged between the two since he arrived. River snorted. He stayed because the nest welcomed him, was good for him and too him. When his own people wanted to kill him, they welcomed him with opened arms. That’s why he stayed. Besides. Watching those two argue and fight was hilarious.

Joslyn’s attention shifted back to her brother. “You yelled just before you woke up. Nightmare?”
He recalled the flash of intense emotions that weren’t his and tasted of Suri. “Something like that.”
She looked him over again, er eyes locking on his neck. “Where’s your necklace?” She fingered her own.
Again, he looked at River.
“On the bedside table.” River had picked it off the ground when Suri flashed away with Toren leaving it behind.
All eyes went to the table. Empty.
“Where’s your necklace?” she asked again.
“I put it on the table,” River repeated.
“So, it was on the table and now not on the table.” She dropped the loving sister act. Her eyes brightened. “Where’s your necklace little brother?”
His eyes gave River a silent comment to keep quiet. Only River had the ability to trace him through the necklace. Joslyn could trace River and everyone else in the best, but that didn’t benefit her seeing as River was right beside her.

Receiving no answer, she turned fully to River. “Okay. I’m being kept out of something and you’re going to tell me now, River, since he won’t talk. Someone better explain to me why he,” she pointed at Toren, “was last seen at the Tavern right before it blew up, why it blew it, why Amor and his lover came looking for you two after that, what the hell happened to his scales, and where’s that necklace before shit goes to hell in a hand basket.”

And her ability to switch personalities so quickly, Toren thought, was why she wasn’t his second. Joslyn was bipolar. If you let her explain it she’d say something like, “I’ve been around for over 600 years. It gets boring just being myself. So I created an alter ego. A couple dozen of them.” She’d shrug and say, “Works in my favor. No one wants to cross one dragon let alone one dragon who rolls thirty-six deep.”  

But at least that answered one question. Amor did show up.

River shifted and propped one foot up against the wall. “It all started at Jack’s bar.” And then, the lackey began to snitch.

Chapter 18.

Ho ho ho! A little J+J background! I'd come up with tons of flashbacks but decided to go with the first time they met... mwahahaha!

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Pain, death, so thirsty… why won’t the thirst go away? It hurts! Things are blurry, she can’t seem to be able to focus. There are some screams in the distance, are they far away? They sound human. She wonders for a second about it but the pain comes back, it drowns her inside its black hole, she swings her arms, trying to swim out of the Bloodlust, but it’s no use. BLOOD! Suddenly, there’s blood. She opens her mouth, she must drink it, it will quench her thirst for a while, but not for long, sweet release, so fleeting and ephemeral, she wishes for a magical fountain of blood that never dries out… maybe there are things like that out there in the world, who knows? Anything is possible, now that she knows such nightmares as what she had become actually exist.
The blood she swallows soothes her pain, it engulfs her in the usual delirious euphoria, so good. It’s gone too quickly! No! The pain comes back doubled, it licks her insides like fire, it burns her. It must be the flames of Hell. Damnation is inside her now. This is Hell on Earth.
She must find more blood! But there’s something blocking her path, she kicks, what is it? Wood, stone? It feels so soft, it’s nothing to her, like walking through spider webs. She runs, the overpowering stench of death and decay that continues to surround her slowly decreases, maybe she should turn back, there’s no blood when the air becomes clean, she must go somewhere else.
The burning continues, it becomes all she knows, her skin burns now too, why? Why? Why must this happen? The pain is too unbearable, she drops on her knees. She looks up. It’s too bright. Is it morning? There’s something coming down to where she is, is it a figure? A man? Storms surround him, something starts to collect on her skin… snow?
It calms her… it’s cooling her… she closes her eyes… she lets the cold seep inside, maybe the man’s magic will put out the fires of hell burning inside her…

♥

Jack had long hair the first time Jime saw him falling from the sky. It was shiny silver and the way it moved around him made it seem like it had a life of its own, it was beautiful, she kind of envied him for it. Whenever they fought she used to grab it and yank him around by it, very dirty girl-fight, but it worked. Now though, it seems he finally learned, because he had it cut short since the last time they fought back at his club. Jime reached for it almost by natural reflex and grabbed air. Jack snorted. They continue to grapple with each other. Jack landed a hit on her shoulder, Jime twisted around and took hold of his hand, crushing the bone. A millisecond opening presented itself while Jime used her force on his hand, Jack took the chance to put his arm around her neck, locking her with his body.
The front seats they were fighting on suddenly collapsed and they fell backwards.
Jime kicked her legs out in an attempt to disentangle herself but Jack managed to get his wrapped around hers, Jime threw her fingers at Jack’s eyes, poking them viciously, he scream from the pain and his hold slackened a little, allowing her to once again twist around and while doing so she got on top of him, pinning him down.

♥♥

She was a vision, a red vision. While he descended, after his joke of a death in Asgard, he thought life on earth would be at the very least boring, but look what was waiting for him down there. A red woman. He wondered for a second if humans had changed since the last time he came into contact with them and somehow had become obsessed with painting themselves entirely in one color, but as he got closer to her he realized she was only covered in blood.
Old blood and new blood, she was also covered with bits and pieces of stuff -human clothing, human meat, human bones and the like- what was she? How intriguing.
He could now see her blood-shot black eyes, they seemed tormented, she was suffering from something, the pain radiating through, and somehow they were beautiful. She was also burning now that he looked closer, huh, maybe he could do something about it.
He casted a snow storm to surround her, ice forming in all the places where she had caught fire.

She closed her beautiful eyes, her expression reflecting some peace. He was glad.

She was now fully encased in ice, but she hadn’t died like a normal human would have, confirming the fact that she was something else. Her heart had slowed and she slumbered.

♥♥♥

The temperature inside his car had risen, Jime was always hot, literally too, and she always made everything rise. Jack chuckled to himself. That was she, still the red vision caught in fire, stirring things inside him. He wondered when she would finally realize she needed him to cool her. When his eyes (and his hand) came to normal once again he opened them to find himself staring at her face, this time she looked down at him, she was straddling him.

“I can’t say I’m disliking this much.” He rubbed his lower half against hers. Things always rose when next to her.

“You pig-” Jime used her knees for leverage to separate herself from him, but put too much force into it and ended up hitting her back against the roof of the car, which made her ricochet back on Jack’s body.
They both lost breath from the force of it, among other reasons. 

♥♥♥♥

“Give her to me.” He said, stepping closer to the woman in ice. These ants sure were impudent, did they think he was someone to trifle with? Humans or not, he would get what he wanted.

“No. She belongs to me. You interrupted something here, whoever you are…” The self-proclaimed King of Vampires started to wonder out loud with his annoyingly snide voice if this man was an ice elf of some sort, he certainly looked the part, too tall, too silver white, cold seemed to come out of him, and he had his set of bow and arrows strapped on his back; but he didn’t have the tell-tale physical signs like the long ears, then again he could be changing his appearance with glamour. He also didn’t seem faced at all to be surrounded by an army of vampires.

“Let us exchange goods.” Maybe a transaction was all that was needed here, he must remember that he couldn’t smite others anymore. But battling was always fun, so he was half-expecting the man to say no so he could shake his bones a little bit. Do some exercise.

“I doubt you have anything I could want.” The king made his move.

He growled, excited about the coming violence, the king seemed happy to have pissed off his opponent, the fool.

“I will take her by force then.” He thought this would end fairly quickly, such a shame, but a nice way to begin his life on earth.

The so-called vampires unsheathed their swords and other weapons while he screamed his battle cry. The king flashed to a near-by hill to watch the proceedings, coward. His army was taking a beating though, and he wasn’t even using his arrows. The king looked like he came to a decision and suddenly a new power emanated from him, connecting him to his lackeys. They dropped their weapons in unison and started to attack with inhuman force, they had grown claws that were obviously poisonous, and others seem to have plenty of different tricks up their magical sleeves.

He was thrown off guard for a few moments, he didn’t have all his powers anymore, and now these vampires were using powers he didn’t know about. A twist, how entertaining. They were still flesh and bone though. The gruesome fighting continued, but he was careful to direct it away from the woman in ice, he didn’t want to break her.
After a while the vampire numbers dwindled, while he remained. Like always.

“Stop.” The king said, flashing back into the battle field.

The vampires froze in place while he walked to stand in front of him. What an arrogant bastard, he wondered how he controlled his lackeys like puppets.

“I see you have much power. You are good in a fight.” He caressed his chin while he seemed to ponder, what an ass. “I have decided we can come to an arrangement. If you join my group, you can have all the time you want with the woman, her name is Jimena by the way and she also belongs to my group. I will not get in your way if you wish to be with her.”

There were many things the king wasn’t saying, it was clear. Some of the soldiers had weird expressions on their faces when they heard this deal, a few from the group that was the toughest looked pained, a couple disgusted, and one looked at him with murderous eyes. This was all very interesting, he was intrigued and desired to learn more about them all, but most of all about Jimena. He made his decision.

“Fine.”

The king extended his hand for him to shake. “You haven’t told me your name.”

“Call me Jack.” He said.

♥♥♥♥♥

“Let go!” Jime yelled while Jack was doing everything in his power to keep her in a wrestling lock, in his arms. She always managed to get away from him, maybe this time- Jime concentrated her power and divided her body into bats, it was a difficult trick, her consciousness split into pieces that only her will power could bring back together, she hated to use this so soon after she discovered it, and now Jack would know she could do it, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

“What the hell?” Jack yelled while bats flapped all around him, trying to fly inside the car, screeching. They forced him to sit awkwardly in the back seat.
The black blurs seemed to regroup again in the front of the car and melted into Jime once more.

Jack and Jime looked at each other, in a stand-still.

“You always surprise me.” He half-smiled.

“You always underestimate me.” She half-smiled back.

They lunged at each other once again.

♥♥♥♥♥♥

She had been floating inside a white space, or so it seemed to her mind, the latest Bloodlust a thing of the past. Cold had her in its grip and it felt so soothing, like final peace. She had almost convinced herself that it was all finally over and she had actually died when heat started to sneak up into her soul. Bloodlust heat.

“No!” She couldn’t help but scream when she opened her eyes, the word coming out of her lips before she could stop it.
That was not smart, if the Bloodlust was back it meant she was still suffering the king’s latest punishment which meant she should not show signs of any weakness lest the king be near-by.

Yes, he was there, right in front of her, laughing out loud, of all the languages she had learned there wasn’t a single one that described the level of hate she felt for him. Her vision started to blur, signaling the Bloodlust’s commencement of insanity yet again, but before it took hold it suddenly stopped.

She was shocked, it was over? She couldn’t believe it, no punishment had lasted… how long had it been? 1 year was it? She could only be sure of the lucid times in between the crazy spells in the induced Bloodlust of the king’s making, but still, one year was too short a time. He usually liked to follow her path of destruction, reveling in the aftermaths, herding her to the places he wanted to destroy, it was all so funny to him he liked to have at least a few years of front-row seat entertainment. She had counted on that.
And this time… she had done everything so meticulously, had been so careful in her manipulating and setting things up…  she should have been able to get away from his power long enough to break the sire bond, the potion Sage had made working itself slowly into her system, powered by the Bloodlust, even her team had been sure it would work… but not enough time had passed! Her big plan had failed! Why did he break his Bloodlust so soon!
She noticed she was on her knees inside the king’s throne room, she looked up, searching for her team, she suddenly feared the king had wised up to her plan and had done something to them, and they were there, all in one piece, and they all looked defeated. Damn.
She focused her attention on the king, who was whispering something to a man standing next to him, she didn’t know this man. What was happening now?

The man was tall, had a swimmer’s body, lean muscles almost sculptured, he was attractive, very attractive. His coloring was white, too white, he wasn’t human, his long silver hair moved ethereally, it reminded her of something, as if she’d seen it before, it was mesmerizing. His face was hidden behind a full beard but she could tell he was gorgeous. It all was very masculine put together though, features that sounded feminine in writing looked manly on him, that kind of pissed her off, he suddenly looked right at her, gray eyes that seemed to hold storms inside them pierced her soul, what the hell?

The king spoke then. “His name is Jack, Jime. You two should get to know each other.”

“Over my dead body.”

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

“Stop it or-” Or he was going to embarrass himself, yet again.

Jime and Jack continued to wrestle, rubbing up and down against each other, they both acknowledged inwardly that this specific bout of fighting had turned into something else at some point, but they would never say so out loud. Never. Too much water under the bridge as people say, they had centuries of on-off love/hate push and pulls, and it had been almost impossible to even begin to clear the air between them, and after that one time when they had gotten together… and it all exploded in Jime’s face, she just didn’t want to go there. Jack, on the other hand, still didn’t understand what went wrong.

Mustang jack had other plans though.

While Jack and Jime started to get hot and heavy, mustang jack turned on the radio. Kylie Minogue’s (also known as Aphrodite) “Cupid Boy” started to play.

♫ If only you knew, I shimmer for you, oh the very thrill of it, I’m hooked on your line, under your spell, your love is king…  ♫

“Eh?” Jime was distracted from the fight for a second, Jack took advantage and pinned her down, silently thanking his honey-boo.

♫ So why don’t you thrill me like you did before? Why don’t you give me a little bit more? Why don’t you call me, start hittin’ me up? hittin’ me up, hittin’ me up… ♫

They stared at each other’s eyes, and the inevitable happened. They kissed.

♫ Cupid boy, when we touch, I’m in heaven in your arms, fire me up, they way you love, feels like heaven in your arms, sky rocket to Mars, straight through to your heart, every time we touch, I’m shoottin’ the stars,
Cupid Boy, when we touch, I’m in heaven… ♫

A long time had passed since the last time they did this, they were so involved in deeply kissing they missed how Mustang jack had found Suri and with super-sonic speed crashed through the wall of the place to get to her.

Suri gasped and was so shocked she didn’t have time to teleport away again, she was frozen sitting on the toilet she was in the middle of using.

Mustang jack’s roof disappeared, he catapulted Jack and Jime off of him using the seats and they landed inside the tub.

“What-?” Jack snarled.

They three of them looked at each other, speechless.