Happy V-Day, Friendslist! ^___^
Hee! Hope everyone had a wonderful day full of yummy candy. ;3
And some ficlets for the occasion!
Thank you ma dear! *tackle glomps*
*****
Donnelley had to be, hands down, the worst demon ever. Ever, ever. In the history of demonkind, there was never a screw up bigger than Donnelley, he’d go down in the annuls as the laughingstock of all demonkind. His father, who was never happy with anything he did for good reason, was going to have a coronary when he discovered what Donnelley had done this time. “And that’s kind of how it is,” he told the trussed up demon sitting in the field of daisies in front of him.
In itself the scene was something out of any well respected demon’s worst nightmares. Most normal demons had blood red skin, the hand sized horns, and the tail. It was usually accompanied by the usual paraphernalia that came with being a demon. They had the pelts of conquests attached to spike studded belts, jerkins made from the skins of the demons they’d battled and slayed.
This demon, however, had a huge rack of antlers and his skin was a muted brick red, which actually went rather well with his blood red eyes. Thick black eyebrows were on a pronounced forehead, but he didn’t have that silly unibrow going on that Donnelley’s father did. Instead of a simple belt with pelts, this particular demon had a cape of them, and there were patches within the cloth that were obviously demonskin and given the color of those skins, they were much higher levels than Donnelley ever hoped to aspire to in his wildest dreams. More than his father, even, hoped to reach.
“So,” Kalal murmured with deceptive softness. “The reason you’ve brought me here is…?”
“You’re the sacrifice?” Donnelley winced, and closed his eyes in anticipation. Really? He’d practically been asking for it his entire life. In fact, it was amazing that he’d lived as long as he had. If demons were petunias, then Donnelley was a weed of the blackest kind. Except, in this case, it was more like he was the pansy in the midst of a briar patch.
“So,” Kalal drawled again, and Donnelley dared to open an eye and peek as he’d yet to be ripped from limb to limb. “You’ve captured me so that I can be the sacrifice. In a ritual that’s being performed in my honor.” Kalal raised a massive eyebrow, obviously amused.
“Er,” Donnelley fiddled with his tail nervously, “yeah, that’s about it.” Actually, it was sad really. He was a scrawny demon. He was more of a purplish blue instead of red. His belt was empty and the spikes were more like rounded beads than actual spikes. His jerkin was simple cotton and the idea of actually skinning anything, let alone a demon, was a bit hard for him to stomach.
“Huh,” Kalal grinned, and it was obvious to Donnelley that Kalal was barely suppressing his urge to laugh. Which in itself was something of a relief. Laughter, in Donnelley’s book, was always better than blood and guts.
“It’s okay. I know, I know,” he gave a self deprecating laugh and a lopsided grin, much used to this sort of reaction. “Go ahead and laugh. Trust me, I’m used to it. And of course, I won’t be sacrificing you. To tell the truth, I’ve never actually sacrificed anything. Pathetic, but true. The only reason I was able to trap you in the first place was a bit of charmed luck. I know a pixie who knows a pixie,” Donnelly shrugged.
By some miracle, Kalal didn’t bust a gut laughing. Instead, he looked thoughtful.
Which in turn made it difficult for Donnelley not to bust a gut laughing as a blue bird landed on one of the massive antler-horns and started twittering a happy song. “Um,” Donnelley managed as Kalal raised a sardonic eyebrow at him.
“You think this is funny?”
“Uh, yes?” Donnelley admitted hesitantly. Not that it really mattered. In all honesty, this was going to be the final nail in his coffin, he was sure. If Kalal wasn’t going to rip him apart, his father certainly was once he learned of what had happened. And there was no way he wasn’t going to learn about it. One didn’t capture one of the High Demons without the story somehow getting around.
And really? It had been a nice life. Maybe he’d never please his father, but he’d made friends. Granted, very few of them had been demons, but in the long run, he’d had a good time with the other varied denizens of their world.
“Good,” Kalal winked. And Donnelley stepped back, tripped on an exposed root and landed with a thump on his pathetic demon butt as he blinked in shock. “I’ll see you tonight at the ritual.”
He was so toast, Donnelley decided as Kalal disappeared in a poof of black smoke. On the other hand, at least he knew who tonight’s sacrifice was going to be.
Him.
They’d drugged him. And that was just fine by Donnelley. If he were to be sacrificed to the nice handsome demon with the antler-horns, he’d rather be experiencing it in a pleasurable blur than in the stark and rather harsh realm of reality.
As was the norm, they’d tied him to the stake in the center of the hall, a ring of thorns holding his arms close to his chest as it rested just below his shoulders. The thorns were drawing blood, and distantly, Donnelley could feel the trickle of it as it trailed down his bare chest and pooled on his scalpless belt.
Returning home without a sacrifice meant that, in turn, he’d become the sacrifice. And in a haze, he listened as his father led the chants that would attempt to summon the massive demon he’d captured earlier in a field of daisies. He’d wisely decided to leave that particular part of his failed escapade out of his explanation when he’d been questioned.
The more intense the chanting, the more he bled, which made sense as it was blood and blood letting that attracted higher level demons to accept the sacrifice and bestow upon the lower levels their blessings and maybe a word or two of solemn wisdom.
By the time their was a booming pop and a puff of black smoke, Donnelley was well on his way to dizzy exhaustion.
“Who has summoned me here to this place,” Kalal’s voice boomed, and Donnelley wanted to cover his poor, somewhat tattered ears as the booming voice seemed painfully loud.
“I lead this ritual, oh Great One,” his father started per tradition. “I have here a sacrifice for you in the hopes that you will bless us with your presence.” His father bowed low, and Donnelley managed a small giggle at the sight of his father bowing down to anyone.
“You have drugged the sacrifice,” Kalal frowned, and that was even funnier as Donnelley’s father’s expression went from satisfied to ‘oh shit’ in three seconds flat. Donnelley laughed. Hey, no one said the sacrifice had to abide by the solemnity of the occasion they found themselves sacrificed for.
“He’s a demon, milord. A high ranking sacrifice such as this requires a bit more,” Donnelley’s father paused to pick his words, “restraint than your ordinary sacrifice.”
And if that weren’t hysterical, Donnelley didn’t know what was and he laughed himself almost to tears as Kalal rolled his eyes and moved across the hall to him.
“Donnelley,” Kalal murmured softly. So softly that Donnelley barely heard him and he knew that the rest of the demons present sure as hell hadn’t.
“You’re pretty,” he announced, giving Kalal a toothy smile. “I like you a lot.”
Donnelley could hear his father cursing him and the day of his birth, quite loudly in the background. “Good,” Kalal informed him, “I rather like you, too.” He pulled off the ring of thorns and Donnelley fell to the floor with a disoriented plop.
“I always knew I was going to be eaten. But I like that it’s you and not someone who’s going to make fun of me the entire time they do it,” he nodded solemnly at Kalal. “Make it quick?”
“Idiot,” Kalal snickered before thwacking him, hard, between the eyes.
“Ow!” he yelped, bringing his hands up to his head as he frowned up at Kalal.
“As fun as you are drugged, I’d rather have you lucid for this,” Kalal grinned, as Donnelley rubbed his forehead.
Unfortunately, the thwack had brought with it sobriety. Blushing a dark red, Donnelley hung his head in shame as he caught a glimpse of his father’s infuriated face.
He’d rather Kalal had eaten him in one gulp. Then he made the mistake of saying as much.
Kalal blinked, and then threw back his head and laughed. “It is often frowned upon to eat one’s mate. Makes one’s sex life a bit difficult.” Kalal winked.
Donnelley’s jaw dropped.
Pandemonium ensued.
“You want me as a mate?” Donnelley hollered over the noise.
“Of course,” Kalal returned with a laugh as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“You’re crazy!”
“Why on earth would you choose a demon like me to be your mate?” Donnelley demanded, more than a little suspicious as his teeth chattered.
“You’re perfect for me,” Kalal shrugged, plopping a blanket over Donnelley’s shoulders and then wrapping massive arms around Donnelley as he settled in behind him. “I’d be a fool not to reach out and take you.”
“Were you dropped on your head when you were a wee demon?” Donnelley twisted slightly, trying to get a better look at the demon he’d begrudgingly been bonded to by his family.
Kalal laughed. “No. I don’t think you quite grasp your particular appeal.”
“No, I just don’t get what it is that you think my appeal is. I’m a lousy demon. Ask anyone.” Donnelley frowned.
“Well,” Kalal pulled him back against his chest, “for one, you’re not intimidated by me. You can’t imagine how dull it gets when everyone cowers in your presence and begs for your mercy. Makes actually talking to them rather difficult. But you? You don’t seem particularly intimidated by anyone.”
“If I were, I’d be living my entire life terrified of everyone,” Donnelley told him plainly. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but everyone is more powerful than me.”
“Which brings me to my next point. You’re uniquely suited to inter-species diplomacy.”
Donnelley twisted around again to look at him and assess the possibility that he might have sprouted a third horn. Since he hadn’t-at least not on his head-Donnelley could only assume he meant it. “And what do you need with inter-species diplomacy? Cause I have to tell you now, I’m not going to help you make my friends pelts.”
Kalal frowned. “Of course not. It always pays to have other species on your side as the gods often take their side over ours. Plus, some things are simply easier to obtain through negotiations than through brute force.”
Donnelley blinked. “So I’m not scared of you and I have connections. And this made you think ‘Oh baby, oh baby, he’s the one!’ You have to be pulling my tail,” he said flatly.
Kalal did indeed have his tail, and he was brushing it thoughtfully against his lips, which, truth be told, was beginning to turn Donnelley on. “You’re awfully cute, too,” Kalal told him before stealing a kiss.
And as Donnelley returned it with as much heat as Kalal was dishing out, he decided that those reasons were probably as logical as everything else about his life to this point had been.
Which was to say that none of it really made that much sense.
And that was just fine by him.
*****
And the second one!
Thank you!
*****
“This is not funny,” Caleb growled as the horse underneath him shifted nervously.
“You have to admit, it kinda is funny,” Aiden chuckled, pulling off his Stetson and running a hand through his wavy dark hair. Caleb shot him a dark scowl and inched carefully back father on the saddle, trying to release some of the tension that the noose around his neck was creating.
“I’m not a damned witch.”
It was stupid to deny it as everyone in town knew it, his parents had known it. Hell, Aiden had known it from the moment he’d first laid eyes on the man. He had bright red hair and green eyes and he was all knees and elbows, but the witchcraft in his blood was simply undeniable.
“Fine,” Aiden shrugged easily, leaning back against the tree that the rope was strung up on, arms crossed over his chest. “You’re a whatchamacalit,” he gestured vaguely, “a warlock.”
Caleb gave him by far the dirtiest look Aiden had ever seen from the man. Of course, since Caleb had mostly brought this on himself, Aiden merely gave him an easy grin. Caleb wiggled around, trying to weasel his bony wrists out of the clean white rope that Aiden was certain had come from Mr. Kowalski’s brand new boat. It was a hopeless endeavor though, as Aiden was sure that little Mike Green had tied the knots and everyone knew that boy had mastered every knot he’d been able to find-and made quite a few in everything he could get his hands on-in order to get his merit badge last month. Plus, Jared, the town’s token goth teenager, had made the noose which now lay fairly tight over the top of Caleb’s knobby adam’s apple.
The horse, which Aiden recognized as Terry White’s oldest and orneriest mare, took a step forward to get at a better patch of clover and Caleb grunted as he extended his skinny body farther back to keep the pressure off his neck.
“Okay, all right. I confess. I’m a witch,” Caleb muttered before shooting Aiden a disgruntled glare. “I just don’t think it’s a hanging offense, sheriff.”
Aiden chuckled again and slapped his hat back on his head. He wasn’t tall by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, he knew Caleb was a good four or five inches taller than him. But he was stocky, and broad shouldered, and he figured that certainly made up for whatever he might have gained with extra height. “Well, now, the good citizens of our fair town don’t seem to agree.”
“That’s because they’re all batshit crazy. The little monster who tied my hands together was a vindictive pirate in a former life. And that kid with the eyeliner who did this noose? He’s got more than a few vampiric qualities, I’ll tell you. And this damned horse is a demon in disguise,” Caleb grumbled sullenly, kicking out a long, bony leg. The geriatric horse didn’t even blink.
Of course, that was part of Caleb’s magic. The same damned horse would’ve hung Aiden long before now and bitten a hunk out of his ass out of sheer spite if their positions had been reversed.
“They’re just trying to help,” Aiden murmured, getting close enough to rest his forearm on Caleb’s thigh. Caleb rolled his eyes, and then his features softened slightly as he sighed.
“I know. But I’m just not that kind of witch. I don’t know how the hell they expected me to get out of this mess. I’m not that good. Hell, I barely have the kind of power it takes to practice in the first place.” Caleb looked positively forlorn at the mere thought of it.
And Aiden had to think that it was a bit ironic that Caleb seemed to be the only one that doubted his abilities when the rest of the town not only swore by them, but advertised them to everyone who dared step past the city limit sign on county road. “Now see, it’s that kind of face,” he tapped Caleb’s chest to get his attention, “that drives them to do these crazy things to you, you know.”
“But--”
“No, Caleb,” he said in his best no-nonsense voice, “you’re an excellent witch. We all know it. You’re the only one who doesn’t seem to get it.”
“But--”
“Caleb,” Aiden interrupted again, “shut up.” He reached up and started to untie the knots that Mike Green had made. For a five year old, the kid certainly knew how to make knots that not even Houdini would be able to get out of. “The whole town got together to do this so that you could prove to yourself what you were capable of. Best you can do now is be appropriately appreciative of the gesture and learn something from it.”
“Oh, I’ve learned something from it all right. I’ve learned that they’re all certified lunatics. I’m beginning to think they’re all born that way. It’s gotta be something in the water,” Caleb ranted. “How the hell was this supposed to prove anything? I can’t untie myself with magic. I can’t displace my body out of the situation. Hell, I can’t even cast a simple quick growth spell to get the branch to release me. My baby brother Jimmy could do that when he was eight, and I’m a grown man.”
Aiden rolled his eyes as the last of the knots finally came loose and Caleb immediately brought his hands in front to rub his bony wrists. “You are the densest man alive,” he had no trouble informing Caleb.
“Excuse me,” Caleb frowned as he pulled the noose loose and off of his head.
Shaking his head as Caleb dismounted, Aiden sighed. “It’s a different kind of magic, Caleb. The whole town’s been telling you for years, and maybe it’s time you sat up and paid attention.” Grabbing Caleb’s warm cheeks between his rough palms, he pulled the string bean down to his height. “They put you on Maybelle, the orneriest horse in three counties. You are out here in the middle of the woods where no one in their right mind would ever think to look for you or expect to find you. Now, how is it, do you imagine, that you’re not hanging lifeless from that rope right now?”
“Dumb luck?” Caleb suggested between his slightly squished lips.
“No, moron, it’s because you have a Gift. It’s so strong in you that you don’t even know you’re using it. You can make Maybelle as calm as a kitten. You can call me from over fifty miles away to come to your rescue. How could you possibly think that you aren’t capable of strong magic?”
“That’s different. It wasn’t hard to get your attention. You were already thinking about me,” Caleb muttered doubtfully.
Aiden frowned. “Even so. I was almost to the state line on my way to visit my parents when I got the urge to see you. And while, I’ll admit, I always want to see you, my parents are expecting me to drive up within the next twenty minutes, and yet, here I am with you.”
“Sorry,” Caleb looked guilt stricken.
“No,” Aiden growled, before letting his features soften. “Don’t be sorry. Understand how much power you have. And how much we care about you. How much I care about you.” He glanced uncertainly at Caleb to see how he’d take the confession.
“Aiden?”
He looked very confused, Aiden decided. Jury was still out on whether that was a good thing or not.
“Look, you have managed to matchmake every couple in town. You know how to ease everyone’s broken heart and help mend every hurt soul you come across. But you’ve been really dense when it comes to the lovesick way I look at you and think about you and want you. Was that just because you don’t return any of it? Cause if that’s the case, now would be the time to say something,” Aiden murmured, baring his heart to the one person in town who should have already known what was in it.
However, from the way Caleb’s mouth was hanging open and from the completely floored look on his face, Aiden was beginning to suspect that Caleb hadn’t suspected a thing. “Ah, you’re going to catch flies with your mouth open like that,” he grumbled, self consciously as Caleb’s lips worked without the gift of sound for a few seconds.
“You--”
“Yeah.”
“--and me--”
“Yup.”
“Since when?”
“Oh, pretty much the first time you came up to me and informed me that in spite of the fact that I was a complete hardass, I had a tender heart,” Aiden gave him a lopsided grin.
“You are and you do,” Caleb returned his grin and then bent down, sealing his lips over Aiden’s. By the time Aiden pulled away, Caleb’s fingers were intertwinded with his, Caleb’s big thumbs slowly stroking the backs of Aiden’s hands. “Silly man, of course I love you,” Caleb whispered against his lips. “Why else do you think you were the one I called despite the fact that little Mike Green is hiding back there behind the old pine to make sure I really don’t strangle myself.”
Aiden threw back his head and laughed. “So you admit you have power.”
“No, but I’m sure you’ll pester the hell out of me trying to convince me,” Caleb smiled back sheepishly.
*****
Much love to my friendslist. ^_______^ *tackle glomp hugs* Hope you guys are having a good week. *huggles*
And some ficlets for the occasion!
Thank you ma dear! *tackle glomps*
*****
Donnelley had to be, hands down, the worst demon ever. Ever, ever. In the history of demonkind, there was never a screw up bigger than Donnelley, he’d go down in the annuls as the laughingstock of all demonkind. His father, who was never happy with anything he did for good reason, was going to have a coronary when he discovered what Donnelley had done this time. “And that’s kind of how it is,” he told the trussed up demon sitting in the field of daisies in front of him.
In itself the scene was something out of any well respected demon’s worst nightmares. Most normal demons had blood red skin, the hand sized horns, and the tail. It was usually accompanied by the usual paraphernalia that came with being a demon. They had the pelts of conquests attached to spike studded belts, jerkins made from the skins of the demons they’d battled and slayed.
This demon, however, had a huge rack of antlers and his skin was a muted brick red, which actually went rather well with his blood red eyes. Thick black eyebrows were on a pronounced forehead, but he didn’t have that silly unibrow going on that Donnelley’s father did. Instead of a simple belt with pelts, this particular demon had a cape of them, and there were patches within the cloth that were obviously demonskin and given the color of those skins, they were much higher levels than Donnelley ever hoped to aspire to in his wildest dreams. More than his father, even, hoped to reach.
“So,” Kalal murmured with deceptive softness. “The reason you’ve brought me here is…?”
“You’re the sacrifice?” Donnelley winced, and closed his eyes in anticipation. Really? He’d practically been asking for it his entire life. In fact, it was amazing that he’d lived as long as he had. If demons were petunias, then Donnelley was a weed of the blackest kind. Except, in this case, it was more like he was the pansy in the midst of a briar patch.
“So,” Kalal drawled again, and Donnelley dared to open an eye and peek as he’d yet to be ripped from limb to limb. “You’ve captured me so that I can be the sacrifice. In a ritual that’s being performed in my honor.” Kalal raised a massive eyebrow, obviously amused.
“Er,” Donnelley fiddled with his tail nervously, “yeah, that’s about it.” Actually, it was sad really. He was a scrawny demon. He was more of a purplish blue instead of red. His belt was empty and the spikes were more like rounded beads than actual spikes. His jerkin was simple cotton and the idea of actually skinning anything, let alone a demon, was a bit hard for him to stomach.
“Huh,” Kalal grinned, and it was obvious to Donnelley that Kalal was barely suppressing his urge to laugh. Which in itself was something of a relief. Laughter, in Donnelley’s book, was always better than blood and guts.
“It’s okay. I know, I know,” he gave a self deprecating laugh and a lopsided grin, much used to this sort of reaction. “Go ahead and laugh. Trust me, I’m used to it. And of course, I won’t be sacrificing you. To tell the truth, I’ve never actually sacrificed anything. Pathetic, but true. The only reason I was able to trap you in the first place was a bit of charmed luck. I know a pixie who knows a pixie,” Donnelly shrugged.
By some miracle, Kalal didn’t bust a gut laughing. Instead, he looked thoughtful.
Which in turn made it difficult for Donnelley not to bust a gut laughing as a blue bird landed on one of the massive antler-horns and started twittering a happy song. “Um,” Donnelley managed as Kalal raised a sardonic eyebrow at him.
“You think this is funny?”
“Uh, yes?” Donnelley admitted hesitantly. Not that it really mattered. In all honesty, this was going to be the final nail in his coffin, he was sure. If Kalal wasn’t going to rip him apart, his father certainly was once he learned of what had happened. And there was no way he wasn’t going to learn about it. One didn’t capture one of the High Demons without the story somehow getting around.
And really? It had been a nice life. Maybe he’d never please his father, but he’d made friends. Granted, very few of them had been demons, but in the long run, he’d had a good time with the other varied denizens of their world.
“Good,” Kalal winked. And Donnelley stepped back, tripped on an exposed root and landed with a thump on his pathetic demon butt as he blinked in shock. “I’ll see you tonight at the ritual.”
He was so toast, Donnelley decided as Kalal disappeared in a poof of black smoke. On the other hand, at least he knew who tonight’s sacrifice was going to be.
Him.
They’d drugged him. And that was just fine by Donnelley. If he were to be sacrificed to the nice handsome demon with the antler-horns, he’d rather be experiencing it in a pleasurable blur than in the stark and rather harsh realm of reality.
As was the norm, they’d tied him to the stake in the center of the hall, a ring of thorns holding his arms close to his chest as it rested just below his shoulders. The thorns were drawing blood, and distantly, Donnelley could feel the trickle of it as it trailed down his bare chest and pooled on his scalpless belt.
Returning home without a sacrifice meant that, in turn, he’d become the sacrifice. And in a haze, he listened as his father led the chants that would attempt to summon the massive demon he’d captured earlier in a field of daisies. He’d wisely decided to leave that particular part of his failed escapade out of his explanation when he’d been questioned.
The more intense the chanting, the more he bled, which made sense as it was blood and blood letting that attracted higher level demons to accept the sacrifice and bestow upon the lower levels their blessings and maybe a word or two of solemn wisdom.
By the time their was a booming pop and a puff of black smoke, Donnelley was well on his way to dizzy exhaustion.
“Who has summoned me here to this place,” Kalal’s voice boomed, and Donnelley wanted to cover his poor, somewhat tattered ears as the booming voice seemed painfully loud.
“I lead this ritual, oh Great One,” his father started per tradition. “I have here a sacrifice for you in the hopes that you will bless us with your presence.” His father bowed low, and Donnelley managed a small giggle at the sight of his father bowing down to anyone.
“You have drugged the sacrifice,” Kalal frowned, and that was even funnier as Donnelley’s father’s expression went from satisfied to ‘oh shit’ in three seconds flat. Donnelley laughed. Hey, no one said the sacrifice had to abide by the solemnity of the occasion they found themselves sacrificed for.
“He’s a demon, milord. A high ranking sacrifice such as this requires a bit more,” Donnelley’s father paused to pick his words, “restraint than your ordinary sacrifice.”
And if that weren’t hysterical, Donnelley didn’t know what was and he laughed himself almost to tears as Kalal rolled his eyes and moved across the hall to him.
“Donnelley,” Kalal murmured softly. So softly that Donnelley barely heard him and he knew that the rest of the demons present sure as hell hadn’t.
“You’re pretty,” he announced, giving Kalal a toothy smile. “I like you a lot.”
Donnelley could hear his father cursing him and the day of his birth, quite loudly in the background. “Good,” Kalal informed him, “I rather like you, too.” He pulled off the ring of thorns and Donnelley fell to the floor with a disoriented plop.
“I always knew I was going to be eaten. But I like that it’s you and not someone who’s going to make fun of me the entire time they do it,” he nodded solemnly at Kalal. “Make it quick?”
“Idiot,” Kalal snickered before thwacking him, hard, between the eyes.
“Ow!” he yelped, bringing his hands up to his head as he frowned up at Kalal.
“As fun as you are drugged, I’d rather have you lucid for this,” Kalal grinned, as Donnelley rubbed his forehead.
Unfortunately, the thwack had brought with it sobriety. Blushing a dark red, Donnelley hung his head in shame as he caught a glimpse of his father’s infuriated face.
He’d rather Kalal had eaten him in one gulp. Then he made the mistake of saying as much.
Kalal blinked, and then threw back his head and laughed. “It is often frowned upon to eat one’s mate. Makes one’s sex life a bit difficult.” Kalal winked.
Donnelley’s jaw dropped.
Pandemonium ensued.
“You want me as a mate?” Donnelley hollered over the noise.
“Of course,” Kalal returned with a laugh as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“You’re crazy!”
“Why on earth would you choose a demon like me to be your mate?” Donnelley demanded, more than a little suspicious as his teeth chattered.
“You’re perfect for me,” Kalal shrugged, plopping a blanket over Donnelley’s shoulders and then wrapping massive arms around Donnelley as he settled in behind him. “I’d be a fool not to reach out and take you.”
“Were you dropped on your head when you were a wee demon?” Donnelley twisted slightly, trying to get a better look at the demon he’d begrudgingly been bonded to by his family.
Kalal laughed. “No. I don’t think you quite grasp your particular appeal.”
“No, I just don’t get what it is that you think my appeal is. I’m a lousy demon. Ask anyone.” Donnelley frowned.
“Well,” Kalal pulled him back against his chest, “for one, you’re not intimidated by me. You can’t imagine how dull it gets when everyone cowers in your presence and begs for your mercy. Makes actually talking to them rather difficult. But you? You don’t seem particularly intimidated by anyone.”
“If I were, I’d be living my entire life terrified of everyone,” Donnelley told him plainly. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but everyone is more powerful than me.”
“Which brings me to my next point. You’re uniquely suited to inter-species diplomacy.”
Donnelley twisted around again to look at him and assess the possibility that he might have sprouted a third horn. Since he hadn’t-at least not on his head-Donnelley could only assume he meant it. “And what do you need with inter-species diplomacy? Cause I have to tell you now, I’m not going to help you make my friends pelts.”
Kalal frowned. “Of course not. It always pays to have other species on your side as the gods often take their side over ours. Plus, some things are simply easier to obtain through negotiations than through brute force.”
Donnelley blinked. “So I’m not scared of you and I have connections. And this made you think ‘Oh baby, oh baby, he’s the one!’ You have to be pulling my tail,” he said flatly.
Kalal did indeed have his tail, and he was brushing it thoughtfully against his lips, which, truth be told, was beginning to turn Donnelley on. “You’re awfully cute, too,” Kalal told him before stealing a kiss.
And as Donnelley returned it with as much heat as Kalal was dishing out, he decided that those reasons were probably as logical as everything else about his life to this point had been.
Which was to say that none of it really made that much sense.
And that was just fine by him.
*****
And the second one!
Thank you!
*****
“This is not funny,” Caleb growled as the horse underneath him shifted nervously.
“You have to admit, it kinda is funny,” Aiden chuckled, pulling off his Stetson and running a hand through his wavy dark hair. Caleb shot him a dark scowl and inched carefully back father on the saddle, trying to release some of the tension that the noose around his neck was creating.
“I’m not a damned witch.”
It was stupid to deny it as everyone in town knew it, his parents had known it. Hell, Aiden had known it from the moment he’d first laid eyes on the man. He had bright red hair and green eyes and he was all knees and elbows, but the witchcraft in his blood was simply undeniable.
“Fine,” Aiden shrugged easily, leaning back against the tree that the rope was strung up on, arms crossed over his chest. “You’re a whatchamacalit,” he gestured vaguely, “a warlock.”
Caleb gave him by far the dirtiest look Aiden had ever seen from the man. Of course, since Caleb had mostly brought this on himself, Aiden merely gave him an easy grin. Caleb wiggled around, trying to weasel his bony wrists out of the clean white rope that Aiden was certain had come from Mr. Kowalski’s brand new boat. It was a hopeless endeavor though, as Aiden was sure that little Mike Green had tied the knots and everyone knew that boy had mastered every knot he’d been able to find-and made quite a few in everything he could get his hands on-in order to get his merit badge last month. Plus, Jared, the town’s token goth teenager, had made the noose which now lay fairly tight over the top of Caleb’s knobby adam’s apple.
The horse, which Aiden recognized as Terry White’s oldest and orneriest mare, took a step forward to get at a better patch of clover and Caleb grunted as he extended his skinny body farther back to keep the pressure off his neck.
“Okay, all right. I confess. I’m a witch,” Caleb muttered before shooting Aiden a disgruntled glare. “I just don’t think it’s a hanging offense, sheriff.”
Aiden chuckled again and slapped his hat back on his head. He wasn’t tall by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, he knew Caleb was a good four or five inches taller than him. But he was stocky, and broad shouldered, and he figured that certainly made up for whatever he might have gained with extra height. “Well, now, the good citizens of our fair town don’t seem to agree.”
“That’s because they’re all batshit crazy. The little monster who tied my hands together was a vindictive pirate in a former life. And that kid with the eyeliner who did this noose? He’s got more than a few vampiric qualities, I’ll tell you. And this damned horse is a demon in disguise,” Caleb grumbled sullenly, kicking out a long, bony leg. The geriatric horse didn’t even blink.
Of course, that was part of Caleb’s magic. The same damned horse would’ve hung Aiden long before now and bitten a hunk out of his ass out of sheer spite if their positions had been reversed.
“They’re just trying to help,” Aiden murmured, getting close enough to rest his forearm on Caleb’s thigh. Caleb rolled his eyes, and then his features softened slightly as he sighed.
“I know. But I’m just not that kind of witch. I don’t know how the hell they expected me to get out of this mess. I’m not that good. Hell, I barely have the kind of power it takes to practice in the first place.” Caleb looked positively forlorn at the mere thought of it.
And Aiden had to think that it was a bit ironic that Caleb seemed to be the only one that doubted his abilities when the rest of the town not only swore by them, but advertised them to everyone who dared step past the city limit sign on county road. “Now see, it’s that kind of face,” he tapped Caleb’s chest to get his attention, “that drives them to do these crazy things to you, you know.”
“But--”
“No, Caleb,” he said in his best no-nonsense voice, “you’re an excellent witch. We all know it. You’re the only one who doesn’t seem to get it.”
“But--”
“Caleb,” Aiden interrupted again, “shut up.” He reached up and started to untie the knots that Mike Green had made. For a five year old, the kid certainly knew how to make knots that not even Houdini would be able to get out of. “The whole town got together to do this so that you could prove to yourself what you were capable of. Best you can do now is be appropriately appreciative of the gesture and learn something from it.”
“Oh, I’ve learned something from it all right. I’ve learned that they’re all certified lunatics. I’m beginning to think they’re all born that way. It’s gotta be something in the water,” Caleb ranted. “How the hell was this supposed to prove anything? I can’t untie myself with magic. I can’t displace my body out of the situation. Hell, I can’t even cast a simple quick growth spell to get the branch to release me. My baby brother Jimmy could do that when he was eight, and I’m a grown man.”
Aiden rolled his eyes as the last of the knots finally came loose and Caleb immediately brought his hands in front to rub his bony wrists. “You are the densest man alive,” he had no trouble informing Caleb.
“Excuse me,” Caleb frowned as he pulled the noose loose and off of his head.
Shaking his head as Caleb dismounted, Aiden sighed. “It’s a different kind of magic, Caleb. The whole town’s been telling you for years, and maybe it’s time you sat up and paid attention.” Grabbing Caleb’s warm cheeks between his rough palms, he pulled the string bean down to his height. “They put you on Maybelle, the orneriest horse in three counties. You are out here in the middle of the woods where no one in their right mind would ever think to look for you or expect to find you. Now, how is it, do you imagine, that you’re not hanging lifeless from that rope right now?”
“Dumb luck?” Caleb suggested between his slightly squished lips.
“No, moron, it’s because you have a Gift. It’s so strong in you that you don’t even know you’re using it. You can make Maybelle as calm as a kitten. You can call me from over fifty miles away to come to your rescue. How could you possibly think that you aren’t capable of strong magic?”
“That’s different. It wasn’t hard to get your attention. You were already thinking about me,” Caleb muttered doubtfully.
Aiden frowned. “Even so. I was almost to the state line on my way to visit my parents when I got the urge to see you. And while, I’ll admit, I always want to see you, my parents are expecting me to drive up within the next twenty minutes, and yet, here I am with you.”
“Sorry,” Caleb looked guilt stricken.
“No,” Aiden growled, before letting his features soften. “Don’t be sorry. Understand how much power you have. And how much we care about you. How much I care about you.” He glanced uncertainly at Caleb to see how he’d take the confession.
“Aiden?”
He looked very confused, Aiden decided. Jury was still out on whether that was a good thing or not.
“Look, you have managed to matchmake every couple in town. You know how to ease everyone’s broken heart and help mend every hurt soul you come across. But you’ve been really dense when it comes to the lovesick way I look at you and think about you and want you. Was that just because you don’t return any of it? Cause if that’s the case, now would be the time to say something,” Aiden murmured, baring his heart to the one person in town who should have already known what was in it.
However, from the way Caleb’s mouth was hanging open and from the completely floored look on his face, Aiden was beginning to suspect that Caleb hadn’t suspected a thing. “Ah, you’re going to catch flies with your mouth open like that,” he grumbled, self consciously as Caleb’s lips worked without the gift of sound for a few seconds.
“You--”
“Yeah.”
“--and me--”
“Yup.”
“Since when?”
“Oh, pretty much the first time you came up to me and informed me that in spite of the fact that I was a complete hardass, I had a tender heart,” Aiden gave him a lopsided grin.
“You are and you do,” Caleb returned his grin and then bent down, sealing his lips over Aiden’s. By the time Aiden pulled away, Caleb’s fingers were intertwinded with his, Caleb’s big thumbs slowly stroking the backs of Aiden’s hands. “Silly man, of course I love you,” Caleb whispered against his lips. “Why else do you think you were the one I called despite the fact that little Mike Green is hiding back there behind the old pine to make sure I really don’t strangle myself.”
Aiden threw back his head and laughed. “So you admit you have power.”
“No, but I’m sure you’ll pester the hell out of me trying to convince me,” Caleb smiled back sheepishly.
*****
Much love to my friendslist. ^_______^ *tackle glomp hugs* Hope you guys are having a good week. *huggles*