Blood Mage 2 Read online

  Chapter 1

  “You’re up early,” Ariette’s voice singsonged from my bed.

  I turned and smiled at the beautiful blonde elf beside me. She lay on her stomach, both hands under one down pillow as she used it to prop her head up, and her long thick hair splayed out like a curtain over her porcelain back. She blinked up at me sleepily and yawned.

  “Just enjoying the quiet,” I said with a soft smile as I lifted my arm in invitation. “And the beautiful view.”

  Instantly, Ariette curled up into my side, and her soft fingers stroked lightly across my bare chest. The feeling of a Fae’s touch was something else, and I loved it. My Hand of Blood may have made me more seductive to all women, but there was something so strong and inviting about the connection with a Fae, especially Ariette.

  “Don’t get too comfy, HC,” the elf whispered into my chest. “Those of us employed by this Guild never go too long without some excitement.” Playfulness edged her voice as she swept her finger over the line of hair on my stomach.

  “I take it you’re done with the nice, calm quiet then,” I replied with a laugh.

  Her ocean-colored eyes looked up at me seriously, but the impish smile that twisted at the ends of her lips ruined the effect.

  “When it’s quiet, that means the bad guys are planning and plotting!” she exclaimed. “Soooo, yes, I am very much done with this quiet. I’m ready to start slaying monsters again.”

  “Well, alright, but I think I need a shower first before I do too much slaying,” I countered and wiggled my eyebrows. “Last night’s activities made me a little … sweaty, to say the least.”

  “Isn’t that the sign of a true warrior?” Ariette giggled. “If you’re not sweaty, then you’re not trying hard enough.”

  Then, in a blink of an eye, the Fae was on top of me. She straddled my stomach with one knee on either side of my ribcage as she leaned over my face. Her breath was warm and soothing as it washed over the tip of my nose, and Ariette looked deeply into my eyes. But then, just as fast as she’d jumped on top of me, the elf used her Fae agility to hop off the bed and head toward my bathroom. I watched her nude form retreat, and my jaw went slack at the way her pert butt swayed in unison with her hips.

  On the way to the door, she hovered her hand over the golden medal I had been presented with a few days ago as a thank you from the Guild for defeating Fernell. Just before Ariette stepped from the plush carpet to the cool tile of the bathroom floor, she paused to throw a flirtatious glance over her shoulder.

  “I thought you needed a shower?” she questioned with a wink. “There’s plenty of room in here for two bodies, if you so desire.”

  I didn’t need to be told twice. Instantly, I leapt from the bed and dashed after her. The elf fled into the bathroom laughing, but I grabbed her waist and nuzzled into her soft neck. Ariette let out a gleeful shriek as she tried to pull herself away, but quieted down and pushed up closer once she realized escape was not an option.

  “You’ll have to try harder than that,” I whispered into her hair.

  Her scent was so unique, I took time to appreciate it whenever I could. It was a mixture of flowers and vanilla and something nameless, almost like strength if strength was a smell. Goosebumps rose on my arms as the elf she stroked along my biceps.

  “Milton, the mighty elf-catcher,” she cooed as she chuckled and leaned over to turn on the shower.

  “What do I get for my bounty?” I playfully growled as I nipped at her pointed ear.

  Ariette threw a smirk over her shoulder and then rolled her hips back against mine as we waited for the water to heat up.

  Like my upgraded room, my new bathroom was much larger than the first one I had at the guild. The pristine white room was stocked with soaps that smelled of cinnamon and flowers, fluffy white towels, and a separate marble bath and shower. My bathtub boasted an array of different sized jets in it, and it was large enough for two people to fit inside comfortably. It was more luxury than I’d had in my entire lifetime, and I loved it.

  The moment the shower was hot enough for her taste, the blonde stepped under the stream. The cascading water made the Fae’s long, platinum blonde hair stick to her skin, and her beautiful naked body glistened in the shimmer of the shower lights.

  Ariette looked up at me curiously. “Aren’t you going to get in?” she balked.

  “I don’t know.” I said coyly. “Are you sure your hand of electricity isn’t going to shock me to death? Water is a conductor, you know.”

  “Please,” the Fae chuckled, “Electrical magic is not the only thing my hand’s good for.”

  Without warning, Ariette reached out and pulled me directly under the spray.

  “Oh my God!” I yelped when the water hit my body. The shower’s temperature must have been raised to a billion degrees, and I could already see the elf’s pale skin turn bright red from the heat. Quickly, I jumped out of the direct line of the water, but unlike me, Ariette didn’t seem to notice or care about the liquid fire the shower head spewed over us. She just tipped her head back into the water and sighed.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked with wide eyes.

  I rubbed my arms and squeezed myself as tightly as possible into the far corner to avoid any stray water droplets.

  “How can you stand this heat?” I demanded, still in awe of the fact that the elf just stood under the water as if it was room temperature.

  “Huh? Ohhhh.” A smile played at the edges of her lips as she figured out why I was so shocked. “I like my water like I like my men.”

  “Scalding and intense?” I asked jokingly.

  The elf waggled her eyebrows at me, and then she shrugged as she picked up the soap. “Something like that,” she mused.

  Ariette met my eyes seductively as she began to lather her torso, and her ocean blue gaze practically oozed sex appeal. I watched one hand cup her breast as she washed herself.

  “You are such a tease,” I groaned as I stepped back under the assault of boiling spray and quickly reached around her to turn the temperature down to something much more reasonable. As I fumbled with the shower handle, my eyes locked onto the Fae’s pink nipples, which were now hard with the attention she gave them.

  “Hey!” she protested when I grabbed her by the hips, but I didn’t give her much time to think. My dick already throbbed with need as I watched the white suds stream down her perfect body, and I roughly caught her full lips up in a kiss and cut off her protests.

  Immediately, her body responded to me, and melted into my own. Her nipples brushed the hard muscles just above my abs as she reached one hand slowly down my torso until she brushed her fingers gently over my pelvis. Then she took my penis in her soft hand and rubbed me gently.

  The sensation was incredible, and I let out a guttural moan. “God, yessss.”

  “Somebody’s very happy this morning,” Ariette mumbled against my lips. Then one long creamy hand brushed the outside of my thigh as she wrapped it around my hip. She widened her stance, and the head of my dick made light contact with her warm pussy as she met my movement with her hips.

  My dick slid into her easily, and both of us let out a moan of satisfaction at the feeling.

  “Damn,” I hissed as my hips jerked against hers and I delved deep inside her. “How do you feel this tight every time?”

  Ariette whimpered in response and wrapped her arms around my neck before she tugged me down for a kiss. I thrusted my tongue in her mouth, and it danced in time with my thrusts into her pussy. Her muscles clenched around me, and she let out another gasp of pure ecstacy. Even through the scalding water, she was warm and wet, and my nerves were on fire as she pressed her back against the wall to get better leverage.

  The elf rose up on her tiptoes as she tried to m
atch my movements, but she kept slipping on the wet shower floor. I growled against her lips, wrapped my hands under the curves of her ass, and hoisted her up against the wall. Then, I pushed her tight against the tiles of the shower and slammed my hips forward.

  “Milton!” Ariette gasped as she threw back her head, and my dick entered her fully.

  I dove forward and nibbled on the pale column of her throat as I ground my cock as deep as I could inside her. Ariette moaned and scraped her nails down my back as she bucked her hips to meet mine. Our rhythm grew until I was nearly jackhammering into the slight elf, and I could feel the familiar knot twist in my lower stomach. I pressed Ariette as hard as I could into the wall, made sure my left arm was gripping her tightly, and then I slid my right hand into the space between us.

  My fingers zeroed in on her clit, and her tight pussy spasmed around me.

  “Come on, Ariette,” I whispered into her mouth as I nearly bruised her lips with the force of my kisses. “Come for me.”

  “Y-yes!” The elf jerked against me, and her lustful ocean-blue eyes found mine for an instant before they rolled back into her head. Then her body snapped taunt as she came, and I slammed my mouth against hers as I bottomed out and emptied deep inside her pussy.

  God, I would never get tired of this.

  “Holy fuck,” I muttered as Ariette shifted slightly to lean against the wall and hold herself up. The change of angle was nearly enough to do me in, but I held on until I felt her walls stop fluttering and clenching around me. Then I slowly let her down onto the slick floor.

  Ariette didn’t move for a moment. She simply leaned back against the tile of the shower wall, eyes screwed shut and chest moving erratically. Her pink nipples rose and fell quickly atop her heaving chest as she regained her breath, and then she finally opened her big, blue eyes and looked at me with a dopey grin plastered to her face.

  “If that was just a tease,” she giggled breathily, “maybe I should be a tease more often.”

  “I won’t say no to that idea,” I responded as I lathered shampoo in my hands and ran it through my hair. I watched Ariette the entire time, but she made no move to finish her shower as she leaned back against the wall.

  “Hopefully I didn’t take too much energy out of you,” I joked as I stepped out of the water and wrapped a towel around my soaking form. “I’d hate to eat breakfast alone.”

  “You wouldn’t dare,” she gasped in mock anger.

  “You’re right,” I shot back as I wandered out of the bathroom to get dressed. “There’s just something about eating alone in the dining hall that’s depressing. Hurry up, and we can go grab some grub.”

  I walked over to the patch of golden sunlight that streamed through my open curtains. My room looked beautiful in the early morning sun. The space was wide and airy, and the bright white walls and plush tan carpet made the room seem even larger than it already was. I loved it.

  I rolled my ankles, stretched my arms and back, and then lazily stepped over to the thick glass window that overlooked the fields around the Jefferson Guild. About a mile away, I could see the beginnings of Jefferson City, and I knew from experience it would already be bustling with people beginning their days. The bakers would have already placed their fresh baked bread out on display for commuters to gawk at as they walked to work, shops would be almost ready to unlock their doors and welcome in the flood of housewives ready to do some serious shopping while their kids were at school, and my old boss Bill would have already sent his delivery boys on their package routes.

  Even though it had only been two weeks since that early morning bustle was part of my everyday life, it might as well have been two years. Between the fact that I absorbed the Hand of Blood from an Unseelie Fae, became part of an elite special operative team in the Seelie Guild of Jefferson City, and met three badass female warriors who had become my best friends in such a short period of time, I couldn’t fathom my previous life being only fourteen days ago.

  But then again, the lack of sleep I’d had while the team and I hunted down Fernell Tamber and his immensely destructive hybrid monsters didn’t help much with my sense of time.

  As I watched the grassy fields below me sway in the breeze, a familiar head of snow-white hair sprinted down the man-made trail that wrapped around the guild. There was Maaren, out on her usual early morning run. Yesterday at breakfast, I’d challenged her to run ten miles in eleven minutes this morning. I’d been very sure even a hunter with the magical lightning fast speed of the Fae couldn’t do that. I’d find out for sure in an hour or so, though, when we all met up for breakfast, and she revealed her time.

  As if she could sense me watching her, the half-Fae glanced up at my window as she sprinted past, and even from four floors up, I could see the shit-eating grin on her face. I had agreed to clean Maaren’s weapons for the next month if she won our bet, and it looked like that was coming closer to being a reality.

  Oh well. It would bring a great amount of happiness to the half-Fae to have her weapons cleaned, and the challenge forced her to level up her skills. It was a win-win situation either way. When Ariette finally emerged from the bathroom, skin pink from head to toe, she flashed a bright smile in my direction.

  “I’m sorry I almost melted your skin off, HC,” she explained as she yanked a T-shirt on over her head. “Sometimes I forget not everybody has a climate-controlled body like me.”

  “No biggie,” I promised. “I still have at least half of my flesh attached to my bones, and the second half of the shower more than made up for it. We should do that more often.”

  I whipped the towel from my waist and tossed it playfully at the Fae. Ariette caught the wet garment in mid-air and then tossed it into the laundry hamper.

  “We really should,” she cooed. “It’s too bad you don’t get that dirty more often. Well, that nice hot shower put me in the mood for some breakfast,” Ariette replied and patted her toned stomach.

  “Oh yeah, I’ve got to see if I won the bet.” I grinned as I tossed on some pants and a T-shirt and then swept open my bedroom door in a very gentlemanly manner.

  “You know Maaren’s gonna win, right?” Ariette laughed as she gracefully stepped out into the hall. “She’s never been one to back down from a challenge.”

  My stomach chose that moment to rumble loudly and remind me it had been nine hours and one very intense workout since I’d last eaten.

  “We’ll see about that. Race ya!” I shouted as I sped off down the hallway and left her in the dust.

  “No fair!” Ariette called back, but her voice was already faint.

  My legs pumped, and the blood rushed through my veins at a nice, even pace as I navigated the twists and turns of the guild. After spending the last twenty-four years as a regular old human, I took every opportunity I could to use my Fae powers. Heightened sense, super speed, and strength were only part of what Oragon had given me, but they were wondrous.

  Before I knew it, I screeched to a stop in front of the dining hall. My leather boots made a loud sound on the shiny tile, and a few heads turned my way. I saw Arendor, my elven rival, give me a disapproving look.

  “Hey buddy, how are you?” I shot finger guns at the elf as I walked proudly into the dining hall.

  His only response was to frown more, but that just made me laugh.

  “You seem like you’re in a good mood, today,” Ariette joked as she came up beside me. “Guess I put a little pep in your step?”

  “I think I’m the one who put a little something in you,” I said as I wiggled my eyebrows.

  “Little?” the Fae cooed. “That thing was anything but little.”

  “Poor choice of words,” I corrected myself. “But yes, our rhythms of love from this morning was just what I needed. I feel like a million bucks.”

  I leaned over the piles upon piles of food in the dining hall and inhaled happily. Even after two weeks, the amazing smells that hit my nose granted me by new Fae senses were still a marvel to me, and mouth-water
ing, I made a beeline to the counter, very ready to order my absolute favorite breakfast.

  “Hey, Sal, how are you this morning?” I asked the jovial dwarf behind the omelet bar. Sal was my favorite worker in the dining hall. The rotund dwarf always wore a smile behind his red beard and never failed to ask how my day was going. Conversely, the other workers really didn’t seem to care, no matter how many times I tried to make conversation. So, by default, Sal had become my favorite.

  “Happy as a clam, Milton!” he exclaimed as he cracked an ostrich egg into a bright yellow bowl. “How about you? You want the usual?”

  “Absolutely, you make the best ostrich egg omelet with bacon and cheddar in the guild! Give me extra bacon and make sure that cheddar is super melted, please,” I replied with a grin. “Still celebrating our win, so I am doing good!”

  I drummed my fingers on the steel counter as Sal stirred in crispy bacon crumbles and small strips of cheddar cheese with the giant yellow egg. The mixture rapidly came together into one large, gooey dollop of golden soup, and then he poured it onto a sizzling griddle to form an omelet.

  “Gertrude had her spelling test yesterday,” the dwarf said as his pale grey eyes watched the egg bubble.

  “Did she remember how to spell colossal?” I asked enthusiastically. “That one always seems to get me.”

  Gertrude was the youngest of Sal’s seven children, and only two days ago, she sat behind him during the breakfast rush and anxiously spelled out the words her teacher would quiz her on. Colossal had been a huge frustration of hers.

  “She did!” he said proudly as he folded the cheese-filled omelet in two. “Spelled that as her extra credit word.”

  “Well, you tell her I said congratulations!” I replied almost as proudly.

  Sal slid my now finished omelet onto a shiny copper plate, and I couldn’t help but marvel at its glory.

  As always, the dwarf did his job perfectly. Before me sat a large, golden-brown omelette smothered with cheddar cheese and topped with a garnish of bacon bits. I could feel the saliva forming in my mouth as I daydreamed about how the delicious, greasy morsel would melt atop my taste buds.