Here Be Sexist Vampires

Chapter Sixteen

(Sam)

God bless the excellence of vampire night vision. The forest floor was generally dark even in daylight due to the canopy overhead, so right now it was pitch black. The humidity was bad as well; if it wasn’t for the natural glamour that came with vampirism my hair would be frizzy and wild. Currently I was crouched beside the buttress roots of a canopy tree, letting my eyes scan through the scattered, interlaced hanging lianas and vines and climbers. I knew I’d hear anything before I saw it, but still I had all my senses on high alert.

The animal sounds that I usually loved about the rainforest were gone tonight. There was a tense hush; like each and every creature was holding its breath, waiting for the war to start. I knew that Alora – who hadn’t spent a single second away from Evan since that meeting in the conference room – had already whispered news of the upcoming attack to some of the animals so it would seem that word had got around fast.

Taking advantage of our intimate knowledge with this area, Jared and I had placed the squad members on different levels of the forest. It wasn’t the same for all rainforests, but here it could be broken up into five vertical layers. At the top you had the overstory which was the crowns of scattered trees; up there were David and Butch seen as they had better agility than the others. Next you had the canopy which was the ceiling of closely spaced trees; there Stuart and Denny were perched because they had the next best agility. Then there was the understory which was the layer of trees that were spaced further apart than those above; there we had Salem and Max as they were the best climbers. Then there was the shrub layer which was made of even more widely spaced trees, all of which were much shorter; covering that were Harvey and Reuben merely because Chico and Damien didn’t like trees – or, more specifically, they didn’t like the insects that crawled along them – so I had to put them on the forest floor. Jared was supervising the overstory, canopy and the understory. I was covering the shrub layer and forest floor, but both of us were keeping in contact using his telepathy.

It was comforting to know that he was just a, well, thought away. I knew that no matter what he was doing or what was happening if I called for him he’d come straight away. That was why I had no intention of calling for him if I needed help. Another person would weigh the situation wisely and if the situation was that I’d need to wait, I’d be left waiting. During an attack like this that was how it needed to be.

The idea that he’d come for me like that though gave me a warm feeling. Just as it had when he’d told me he saw me as his. Just as it had when he’d been inside me that last time before we fell asleep; every thrust had been leisurely, deliberate and sensual. He’d held my gaze with his the entire time, and nothing in my life had ever felt more intimate. It had scared me as much as it had electrified me.

I couldn’t work out whether when he said he thought of me as his he meant he actually wanted me to be. He’d said he couldn’t shake the feeling off, but he’d said it in such an aggravated voice that I didn’t know whether to take that as him meaning that he wanted to shake it off and it annoyed him that he couldn’t, or that he wasn’t going to try. There was a big difference between someone saying they felt like you were theirs and them wanting to claim you as theirs. Once a vampire claimed someone for their own they bound themselves to them with a Binding Ceremony (a vampy wedding) and they never took anyone else after that. I couldn’t envision Jared making that kind of commitment with anyone.

God, if anything at all happened to him…

Even the thought of that was a lot to bear. I already knew exactly what it would feel like to lose him because I’d felt it with Bryce. But I suspected that it would hurt more with Jared. What I knew for a downright fact was that if I lost him tonight to Bennington’s crew I’d kill every last one of them. Where the hell were they? It had to be around midnight now.

You okay? Jared. I guessed he must have sensed my mental restlessness.

Just wishing we could get this over with. Patience isn’t a quality of mine.

Oh but you do have plenty of qualities to compensate for that. There was no mistaking what kind of qualities he was talking about.

How you can be thinking about sex right now is anyone’s guess.

Thinking about you makes me think about sex.

I had to smile at that. Then don’t think about me.

I already tried that, failed miserably.

Try harder.

After about ten seconds he came back with, No, it’s still not working.

Please don’t tell me you have a hard-on, I joked. But there was no response. Nothing. It made the hush about the rainforest feel even worse. Jared? No answer. Jared, don’t ignore me you’ve got me nervous now.

A few seconds later he responded: They’re here. That was Evan contacting me. A few of the animals told Alora that a load of vamps have just been teleported to the outer edge of the North.

That meant they were no less than a hundred feet away. Stretching out my senses, I searched our surroundings. I can hear them. Alert the squad. I waited while, telepathically, he relayed to the recruits what he had told me. We’ve been over this formation a thousand times so they better remember it or I’ll jam bamboo up their arses.

As the vampires neared, the tension in the rainforest seemed to increase. There were eight in total. Most had red tints to their irises whereas two had amber. Their nervousness and apprehensiveness was apparent in the air. I watched as, wearing clothes as dark as ours, they moved separately and stealthily through the trees. No covering each other’s backs or working as a team? This couldn’t be Bennington’s real army of firecrackers then; these were obviously the expendables sent in to test the waters.

Things were going exactly as Jared predicted then.

As he’d suggested earlier, we let the group of expendables pass by. Letting Bennington believe he’d found himself a safe passage was the way to draw him out. An effective method to getting to people who were difficult to reach was to make them come to you. We knew Evan’s and Lou’s squads could take care of the expendables.

Minutes went by but there were no more vamps. I wondered if any had teleported to the South, East or West yet. We doubted that Bennington would attack from all sides; he was too much of a Bulldozer. He liked to just barrel right into the thick of things. But his allies were a different matter.

Evan’s just been in touch; the expendables are nothing but ashes now, Jared told me.

Good.

It was a few minutes later before there was more movement. This time it was a group of ten and they were all Pagoris. I literally held my breath as I waited for the squad to act as Jared and I had instructed. Suddenly, the ten stopped dead and swerved their heads slightly – and I knew that Max had stolen each of their senses. Quick as anything Chico appeared from behind a protruding tree trunk and shot the ten with thorns, and because Reuben had amplified Chico’s gift the thorns had placed the vamps into a long but temporary coma. Of course we could kill them but we didn’t want the scent of blood in the air or a lot of noise going on and we especially didn’t want to waste time and energy on people in comas. Besides, Antonio had expressed a wish to have some live captives.

Before the ten vampires’ bodies could flop to the ground, Max, Salem, Reuben, Harvey, Stuart and Denny were there silently hurling them up on to the tree branches to be hidden. A silent sigh of relief left me. It was over in seconds. So far so good.

More minutes of nothing passed and I started to wonder if something had tipped Bennington off. Then I heard a large number approaching.

Twenty heading this way, announced Jared. I knew that each time he announced something to me he was also informing the squad. We let them pass us and then pick them off from behind using the formation we went over at dusk.

This cluster of Pagori vamps was more covert than the others. They each moved fluidly and silently, covering each other and reaching out with their senses. As such, they got a terrible shock when Max stole them. Before they could blindly use their gifts and hint at what was happening, Chico was there again exhaling his thorns while Salem dealt some psychic punches and Denny reached out from the canopy, shooting green, sticky ooze out of his hands to trap some of the vamps and bounce them up to him. Again the squad hid them in the trees and again I gave a silent sigh when all went effectively.

It was only about forty seconds or so before more came. Thirty this time. Because they were all slightly spaced out it meant that Max couldn’t encompass all of them to steal their senses. Shit. Do you think if we let them pass Evan could take care of the first ten or fifteen and then we’ll pick off the rest from behind?

That was exactly what I was thinking. If they pass they can’t retreat. Five seconds or so later Jared informed me, Evan’s squad will be taking on the first half.

Just as covert as the last lot, these Pagoris noiselessly made their way along the forest floor. One came dangerously close to where I was hid and then halted. The amount of energy I had absorbed was begging to be released, and I was expecting that I would need to do exactly that to defend myself. But then the tall, stocky Pagori continued onwards. Relief coursed through me. If we could get rid of this group without drawing attention we would have gotten rid of fifty eight in total and that was bound to make Bennington feel confident and secure and get him moving.

I hadn’t wanted to use David so early; he was only young and I knew this was his first ever battle. Not that I thought he wasn’t up to the challenge; I just wanted him to have a chance to get a grip on his nerves. However, it was imperative that we completely assassinated this lot discreetly and so I needed David’s gift.

Jared, tell Harvey to telekinetically bring David down here after Max has done his thing: we’re going to need him. Then he can take him back up.

Roger that, baby.

The very second the last Pagori intruder had passed, Max did his thing. Then Chico, Salem, David and Denny were there as quick as anything. Chico and Salem put their targets into a coma while Denny wrapped his in ooze. David, as Reuben had amplified his gift, put an end to the life of his own targets. It was done and dusted in the space of three seconds. Thankfully there was no chance of us running out of trees and so were we able to successfully hide the fifteen vampires.

Evan’s attack was just as successful, Jared informed me. After a pause there was a: Goddammit.

What is it?

On the plus side, Bennington and his little army are on their way over.

The downside?

Some of them are using the trees.

Crap. How big’s his army? Please say no more than one-hundred!

There are forty vampires surrounding him but there’s an additional eighty encircling them. Time to unite the squads, baby. No more letting people pass. None of them are to get near The Hollow. On my signal, we attack.

I might have griped about him talking to me like he was my superior if I wasn’t so tremendously focused on the approach of the vampires. One hundred and twenty?! That meant that he’d brought, in total, one-hundred and sixty eight: a number that exceeded Antonio’s legion. Worse still, he had his allies lurking somewhere.

Suddenly an arrow of fear shot through me. Not for myself, but for Jared and the squad. I’d come to care about each and every one of them. I loved how protective Chico was of them all. I loved how Butch could look so calm even as he was plotting someone’s death. I loved how Damien could make any damn thing funny just by his mannerisms. I adored Denny’s innocent face and smile. I enjoyed watching Salem constantly bounce around like a boxer in the ring as if he actually believed he was there. I loved that proud expression Stuart wore every single time he’d travelled around as molecules. I could listen to Reuben’s distorted French accent all day long and never get bored of it. I liked the way, even when he was being a wanker, Max could always make me laugh. I even liked Harvey’s cockiness. I loved David’s vulnerability that lay beneath his maturity. And as for Jared…well I loved that sexist twat just because.

As Bennington’s vamps got close, I peered up at Max who was watching me from his place on the understory layer, waiting for my signal to act. One thing I’d always been especially clear on was that they should never give the enemy the chance to make the first move; not when you were dealing with vampires as you never knew just what gift they had. Finally, when the first row of vamps – some Pagoris, some Kejas – was directly in front of me, I nodded to Max.

Quicker than lightening Max paralysed the senses of the twenty he was able to encompass. While Harvey, David, Denny and Jared attacked them, Damien was astral projecting to the far right, distracting a chunk of the other vamps. While they were distracted, Chico, myself and Salem dealt with them. Then there was a battle-cry from one of Bennington’s vamps and then everything went bloody mental.

Vampires were zooming around thanks to Harvey’s telekinesis or my air blasts. Others were being hit with deadly electric discharges complements of Jared. Some were wrapped in ooze or itching like crazy after having met Denny. Many others were in comas thanks to Salem and Chico. Then there were those wondering aimlessly due to Max. Others were dying by psionic boom courtesy of David who, as I predicted, was an immediate target of Bennington’s army but being protected by Butch’s shield. Then there were others twirling constantly as Damien and Stuart constantly distracted them. And of course there were vampires who were being hit by energy balls, energy beams, energy bolts or an energy whip. Plenty found themselves alight, but only for as long as it took for someone else to kill them – then I put the flames out as I didn’t want the rainforest catching fire.

The rest of our legion also came forward and those other gifts with ours created the party of a lifetime. But Bennington’s army were in good shape also. There was that bloke who kept shooting acid at me; if it hadn’t been for my energy shield I’d be dead by now. There was one who was turning some of the vamps to stone with his breath and who almost got Jared; he then instantly died from an energy beam to the heart. There was the one who kept reducing himself to sand every time anyone aimed anything at him. Stuart and Denny chased him around and eventually got a grip of him. The most distracting was the Keja who had the ability to mentally project; in other words, he could manifest your thoughts which could be your fears or memories which meant my squad and Evan’s kept seeing things that weren’t there. Reuben eventually got close enough to touch him and then reduced the power of his gift – one of Evan’s squad then conjured a stake and killed him. There was also the vamp who had the power of suggestion and was trying to rule the minds of those around him. He very nearly got Chico to shoot himself with his own thorns but Salem threw his psychic punch in time.

When it looked as though Bennington’s numbers were decreasing swiftly I started to think that maybe it was too good to be true. Jared, ask Evan if Alora has heard anything from the animals about any more attacks on the other sides of the rainforest.

Seconds later he replied with: He’s not answering. He’s not dead, but I think he might be unconscious. I’m going to track him through our twin-link.

Feeling terribly distraught and irate at the thought that something might have happened to Evan, I increased the force of my air blasts until even the trees looked likely to topple over. Then I saw something that riled me even more: Bennington was turning back.

Oh he did not think he could cause this and then scarper off, did he?

Wrapping my energy shield around me I dashed at vampire speed after Bennington and what was left of his army; there appeared to be about eighteen to twenty. Ripples of power and various weapons bounced off my shield as other vamps targeted me but I didn’t stop. It was only when I got close that I heard the screech. I turned to see Alora being dragged along by two Pagoris. That was when I noticed other vamps being also dragged along. It hit me then: Bennington was collecting himself some more powerful vamps. Right now, however, I only had eyes for Alora; Evan would never forgive me if anything happened to her and I didn’t want him to know that feeling of losing someone you cared about.

I shot both Pagoris restraining her with energy balls and she dropped to the floor like a sack of spuds when they disintegrated into ashes. “You alright?”

She nodded and gripped my hand as I pulled her upright. “Thank you so much. They knocked Evan unconscious. Is he okay? Where is he?”

I was just about to wrap my energy shield around us both when suddenly she was sucked away from me as if by a vacuum, but instead she was in the arms of a Keja. Before I could act I found myself in a large frosted cube. No matter how many beams or bolts or balls I hit it with, it remained strong. “Bastard,” I hissed at Bennington as he approached and studied me curiously.

“I had to have you, Samantha. There was no way I was going to leave without taking you with me. You had to have known that.” His smile was self-satisfied and slimy.

“If you honestly think you’ll leave here alive you’re dafter than Victor was.”

“Oh things may not be going so great over here, but then I had expected Antonio’s legion to be the strongest. My allies are having a lot of success attacking the other sides, thankfully. The Hollow will be mine.”

“Let me ask you a question, Bennington. If your little helpers are winning the battle on the other sides, what makes you think they’ll hand The Hollow over to you?” His smile faded. “The Hollow’s not exactly an apartment building, is it? I can’t see someone handing such a grand place over to you like that. It strikes me that whoever penetrates the walls will be the one who apprehends it. Looks like that won’t be you, eh.”

“Then perhaps I shall use my new Feeder to aid my cause.”

“I’d sooner see to my own death before I’d help you.”

“Don’t worry, baby. It won’t come to that.” Jared’s voice sent a bolt of warmth through me.

Bennington chuckled as his army gathered around him and the cube. “You really are very fond of your consort, Jared. Victor was much the same. I must assume, then, that she is quite the performer in the bedroom. Perhaps I should take a leaf out of yours and Victor’s book and take her as my consort as well as having her in my army.”

I snickered as I appraised him. “Sorry, your Monopoly Man look does nothing for me.”

“She’s not my consort,” said Jared. His voice was dripping with rage and a need to kill.

“Oh? Then what?” Bennington seemed confused.

“She’s mine.” He left no doubt of what he meant by that. He must have felt my shock because he nodded slightly at me to assure me of his honesty. Bennington’s confident smile faltered. When a vampire chose someone for their own it was considered an extremely serious thing: they each belonged to the other and had the right to stage a full-scale war over them. It had happened plenty of times. Taking the Heir’s chosen was as good as signing your death warrant; Bennington would be automatically putting a bounty on his head. If Jared didn’t kill him, some random vampire could and would just to collect on whatever reward came with his death.

“The Heir has claimed a Sventé vampire?” Bennington chuckled nervously.

I scowled at him. “If you see Sventés as such low-lives then you’ll have no qualms with handing me back to Jared, will you?”

“I have to say I’m surprised you have allowed anyone to claim you, Samantha. I saw you as too much of a free spirit for that.”

“Stop stalling, Bennington,” ordered Jared. “Give her back to me.” He didn’t follow that up with an ‘or’, and that made his words sound all the more threatening. His tone made it clear that there was no room for bartering or negotiating or making any deals. Bennington was to hand me over: The End.

I heard a slight crack and frowned. Then there was another. I swerved to see a large crack forming in the wall of the cube. On the other side of the cube was Reuben, palms up against it, trying to weaken the strength of it. He nodded at me and shrugged as if to say the rest was up to me now. I sucked the energy around me into my palms and then I placed my hands on the wall of the cube as Reuben had done. Then I released a scorching heat near the crack. As I’d hoped, the crack widened and then split until more cracks were branching off it. I kept emitting the heat, conscious of Bennington and Jared talking but not hearing their words. Then the cube began to tremor and quake as the split ran through the floor of it. I absorbed more energy into my palms and then slammed a massive energy bolt into the ground of the cube. The entire thing cracked and fragmented.

Everyone turned to look at me and then, taking advantage, my squad appeared and attacked using their formations. Jared then created and projected an extremely high voltage bolt of lightning and aimed it at a distracted Bennington. The sad little man shook and convulsed and made the most ear-piercing noise as the electricity ran through his body, stealing his life. I almost danced at the sight of his ashes. Instantly Jared was there, holding me tight to him. At the same time those who were left of Bennington’s army suddenly looked unsure and apprehensive and while some surrendered completely, others fought harder as if they’d sooner die than be caught – we happily indulged them in that. Within seconds it was over and all was quiet around us. There were still sounds of battle in the distance, but at least Bennington was dead.

Jared scrunched his hands in my hair and rested his forehead to mine. “I could kill you for getting caught.”

“I didn’t do it on bloody purpose.”

He kissed me hard. “I’m still strapping you to the bed.”

“Coach! Look!”

I turned to see Denny pointing through a part in the trees. I gasped at the sight. At least three hundred more vampires had just teleported. Twat. The Monopoly bloke had had more allies than they’d expected. Or were they allies? It seemed more likely that they had acted as though they were working in league with Bennington but were in fact planning to let Bennington fight most of the fight and then jump in at the last minute to steal the victory.

Suddenly there was a lot of cursing and shouting and movement and the squad retreated to join the others and prepare for the new invaders. But when Jared tried to drag me along behind them I resisted and shook my head. “We can’t fight off that many, you know that.” He was going to electrocute me for this but I couldn’t see any other choice. “Don’t resist it.”

“What?”

That was when I merged into him. Just like last time, there was that sensation of fusing and melding with this other body as though I was encasing myself in an all-in-one suit. Each of my five senses came to me, one by one. And then there was that burning pain as though I was melting into this suit, into Jared, and our cells knitting together. Again, I felt totally and utterly omnipotent. But unlike with Joy, there was another feeling: that I was complete, which made no sense but it was there.

I examined first my hands and then the rest of me; my hands were slightly larger and calloused, I was burlier and taller. I was exactly as I was in that vision that I’d had via Luther. Just like in that vision, I felt more alive than ever; my entire body buzzed with power and energy. Jared’s energy was fifty times the strength of Joy’s. Two things unsettled me. One, I wasn’t sure I could channel such a large concentration of power of both mine and Jared’s combined. Two, I didn’t seem to care that I might not be able to channel it. I was filled with this sense that nothing could happen to me. All I could think of was releasing this caged power against the attackers.

Sam, no! The voice reverberated around my head. You need to unmerge with me right now. I told you not to do this; you can get drugged on the power!

Although his words didn’t quite penetrate, Jared’s voice still somehow snagged my attention.

That’s it, baby, just think for a minute. Think. I know the power feels good to you but it’s too much, it could take over you! It could kill you!

That couldn’t be right. I was invincible. Wasn’t I?

That might be how it feels but it’s not real. Baby, please, listen to me: you have to unmerge with me right now.

He was right, I finally fully realised; I could be hurt, the power really could overwhelm me. But I couldn’t unmerge with him like he wanted. Not when I knew the attackers were coming. I could even hear them. I have to do this, Jared.

Fuck, no!

With my Sventé agility and Jared’s Pagori strength and speed all mixed together, leaping from tree to tree in my ascent was practically effortless. Finally I reached the overstory layer where I perched myself steadily on the top of a large, sturdy tree.

Sam, baby, please don’t do this?!

I need to do this, you know I do. We do. Now stop resisting or this won’t work. Please?!

From where I stood I had a clear view of the approaching vampires. I could also see flashes of energy and light in the distance where the others were battling. I raised my arms straight above my head, shoulder width apart, with my hands balled into tight fists. I then closed my eyes as I tapped into the eager power inside me that seemed to have a life of its own. It was like it was impatiently clawing at my insides, bumping against my organs and making me feel as though I was going to burst. For a moment I wondered if Jared was right, if it was too strong for me to channel. But then he spoke and although I wasn’t sure what he said his voice grounded and anchored me.

Using the combination of my ability to tap into the natural elements and Jared’s gift of electrokinesis, I opened my fists and it was as though the energy streamed out of me as I released it and manifested it into a massive grey cloud; a cloud that increased in size with each second. I watched as it continued to grow and darken until it was like a smoky blanket hanging over the island. A harsh wind picked up and then there was a loud clap of thunder.

Then came the lightening. I directed the bolt at the High Master vampire, Winston Jones, who had been fast approaching until the storm began. Instantly he was ashes. Seeing that his vampy friends were ready to make a run for it I sent a massive gush of wind at them, sweeping each one of them up and then I shaped the wind into a gigantic tornado; a tornado that touched nothing but what I instructed it to. I was sweating and shaking as I directed it West, sweeping up each and every enemy that I could see – it was easy to tell them apart from the friendly vamps because they were the only ones running away. Any that somehow managed to escape the tornado got struck by a lightning bolt. I then moved the tornado to the South, collecting more of the surviving foes, and then onto the East to gather the rest of the attackers I could see. Then I lifted the lid on the last bit of power I had contained inside me and created a large ball of fire that engulfed the tornado and every vampire within it.

And then I collapsed, greeting an unconscious state with gratefulness.

(Jared)

She obviously wanted me to kill her. That was the only explanation I could think of as to why she’d place herself in that much danger. I’d felt how it had been for her when she Merged with me and our energies clashed; it was as though she was standing at the edge of a precipice, fighting against a wind that could possibly throw her over the edge. I sensed each time the power almost overwhelmed her enough to throw her over that edge into oblivion. And I hadn’t been able to do a goddamn thing about it. I’d tried over and over to undo what she’d done but as the Merging gift was hers I had no choice but to be nothing more than a voice in her mind, grounding her.

“Sam, baby, wake up,” I coaxed as I lay her on the forest floor. As soon as she’d collapsed with exhaustion her own body had peeled away from mine, leaving my skin itching like crazy for a minute, and I’d had to then carry her down the bulky tree. I squatted beside her, running my hand through her hair. “Come on, wake up.”

Becoming aware of a presence behind me, I turned to find Antonio, Luther and Sebastian being teleported by one of the guards.

“How is she?” Antonio immediately asked.

“Totally wiped out. She’d known from what happened with Joy that she could drain me if she wasn’t careful, but she’d ended up draining herself.”

“Thank God it wasn’t to the point of death,” said Luther.

“A coma?” enquired Chico as the entire squad suddenly appeared from the trees with Alora.

I heard some of the guys cursing in. “She’s just unconscious,” I assured them. “But she’s sapped.”

“So she’ll be okay?” David was swallowing hard in panic.

I nodded. The only thing I could think of that might rouse her from this state was blood. I slid my hand under her upper back and raised her slightly, allowing her head to fall back a little. Then I bit hard into my wrist and swiftly put it to her mouth. Although the skin quickly healed itself I still managed to get a few drops onto her tongue. “Come on, Sam.” Nothing; no movement, no sounds, not even the flicker of an eyelid. “Sam, I swear to God if you don’t wake up I’ll spank your ass.”

Bastard, I heard in my head.

Instantly a smile curved my mouth. “She’s alright, she’s waking up.”

Denny raised a brow, still tense and anxious. “How can you tell?”

“She’s just telepathically called me a bastard.” There were laughs at that but the air was still filled with worry. Then she inhaled a long breath through her nose and everyone seemed to sigh and sag in relief. Aquamarine eyes found mine and she smiled a little. I raised her and pulled her onto my lap as I sat down. “Hey baby.”

“I told you not to call me that.”

“Was there a reason why you felt it necessary to turn into Storm out of the X-Men?”

“Oh shut your noise.” She looked up at Antonio then. “Many casualties?”

He smiled. “Not as many as what I would have expected, given how outnumbered we were. It seemed that Rupert’s legion suffered the worst. Although I think things would be very different if you hadn’t…turned into Storm, as Jared so aptly put it.”

“It was so cool,” said Harvey with a wide smile. I shot him a scowl.

She turned to the squad and smiled, her eyes flicking to each one of them. “I don’t mind saying I’m proud of you lot.” They each grinned. “But if you let it get to your heads and rods reappear up your backsides it’ll be storm time again, alright?”

They each chuckled but nodded.

“If you think we’d risk your wrath you’re crazy,” said Damien.

Jared? It was Evan, anxious.

“Evan’s awake,” I told her. “I stashed him out of sight further into the rainforest when I found him unconscious.”

Alora dashed forward. “Can you take me to him? Please?”

I nodded then stood upright, Sam still in my arms. “See all you guys later.”

“Put me down.” She kicked her legs until I planted her on her feet, an arm around her waist, waiting while she steadied herself before grabbing Alora’s hand. In under a second we were stood before Evan who stopped in his anxious pacing and quickly locked his arms around Alora who, to my surprise, eagerly returned the embrace.

I looked at Sam. “That was fast work for Evan.” She only smiled. Then her smile wobbled a little and she suddenly seemed nervous. “What is it?”

She cleared her throat but when she opened her mouth she didn’t say anything, as if she wasn’t sure she should say whatever it was. I encouraged her with a look. “When I Merged with you…it meant I could access – I wasn’t snooping, it’s just part of the Merging – your thoughts and memories and…feelings.”

I knew where this was going. I’d suspected that the process would allow her to do that.

After a second, she murmured in disbelief, “You love me. Or at least you think you do.”

I smiled. “I know I do.” I wrapped my arms around her. “And you love me.” Her eyes widened; clearly she hadn’t known that I’d had the same access to her mind as she had to mine. “If you sensed I love you then you must’ve also sensed that I meant it when I said I was claiming you as mine. And no, I’m not asking, and the reason I’m not asking is because the answer ‘no’ is unacceptable. I want the Binding Ceremony – everything.”

A wicked, crooked smile formed on her face. “If I do say no…will you strap me to the bed for longer than a month?”

My smile mirrored hers. “You’ll leave me no choice but to have to. And then, of course, I’ll have to spank your ass, bite your nipples, and tease your clit with my tongue until you change your mind.”

“Then the answer is definitely a resounding no.”

“Note that I’ll also be giving it to you up the -”

“Bro, we can hear you over here,” whined Evan. “Those are visuals I could live without.”

I sighed while Sam giggled. “Come on, time to go to my apartment and get started on that spanking.”

The second we arrived at my apartment she smirked. “You’ll have to catch me first.”

And then the insane bitch turned back into Houdini.