Good Intentions (28 page)

Minutes later—Molly would’ve waited much longer if it had come to it—Onyx’s eyes fluttered open. Clearly, she had known Molly was there al along, but she kept her concentration despite the new presence. “Hey,” Molly smiled softly. “How are you, love?” Onyx sniffed. “How do I look?” “Like you’re afraid and mixed up,” Molly said, “but not cursed or sick. You look cleansed, except you’ve been on an emotional roller coaster and no cleansing ritual fixes al that by itself.” Onyx nodded, looking at Molly with a quivering lip and moistening eyes. Molly shifted to her feet to step into the circle and gather Onyx up into her arms, ignoring the fact that she was still largely soaking wet. Onyx clung to her. “What’s going on?” Molly asked, kissing her forehead while she held her close. “It’s Alex.” “He didn’t hurt you, did he?” “No. No, it was…wonderful,” Onyx said with a mournful tone. “We hit it off. Really hit it off. He’s awesome. I…I had sex with him, Mol y. It was real y…” she shrugged, having a hard time coming up with the right word. “Incredible.” Molly stepped on her reactions. Onyx needed support, not badgering. “I told you I was okay with it. You’re not worried about that, are you?” “A little.” “Ssshh. Whatever it is, we’l work it out, okay? I love you. I’m not mad. I’m…a little surprised, but I’m not mad. I told you this was fine, and I meant it.” “I love you, Mol y. So much.”

“I know. I know. Tel me what’s wrong.” “Alex has…I think he’s got a demon over him.” Onyx felt her lover’s body tense up. “I saw it. Her. I was looking at his aura just before I left and I saw her. I wouldn’t have seen her if I wasn’t using the sight.” “Holy fuck,” Molly blinked. “Yeah. I don’t think she knows I spotted her. I bul shitted my way out and pretended not to really notice when she tried to whisper in my ear and I just hauled ass out of there. I told him I had places to be.” “What’d it look like?” Onyx huffed. “Like one of those chicks in a ‘hot secretary’ porno shoot, except a million times better-looking. She had a tail, though. I saw it.” “They’re supposed to have wings and horns.” “I know. I didn’t see wings. And I think she lost her horns or something. It looked like there were scars on her forehead, like the horns were ripped out or something. Not very big, though.” “Fuck,” Molly murmured again. She looked around, spotted the towel on the supply shelf and reached for it to throw over Onyx’s shoulders. “I’m not too cold. I’m fine. It’s warm in here,” Onyx murmured. Molly shrugged, still holding her tight. “I didn’t see anything like that in his aura.” “I didn’t, either. It’s not there. I mean, you saw his aura. He’s like a textbook good guy. And it al fits with the way he acts. God, he was so nice to me. Bought me lunch, didn’t pressure me about anything. Obviously he likes me, but I don’t know if he really thought we were going to wind up in bed.”

“You think he knows she’s there?” Onyx nodded. “I do, a little. I mean I’m not a hundred percent, ‘cause I didn’t stay to watch, but when he passed by her he kind of paused as if he knew she was there but didn’t want to let on. I think he sees her. He told me he had just started seeing someone, but it wasn’t monogamous. Explicitly. Didn’t say much more than that. I think he was talking about her.” “Do you think maybe he’s a Practitioner? Maybe he summoned her or created her? Some ritual or tradition we don’t know?” “Hel no,” Onyx huffed. “He screams mundane except for that woman.” She paused. “The only unusual thing was just that he seems like a really old soul. It’s kind of in the things he says, and his aura. I read his palms, too. I think he’s been here a bunch of times, and I don’t think it’s ever gone well ,” Onyx mused sadly. “But everything about him says, ‘stable, moral, kind.’ Everything except for that woman being there. If it wasn’t for her, I’d say he’s someone a stranger could trust with his life, y’know?” “And she talked to you?” “On my way out the door, yeah. She reached out and touched my hand and whispered in my ear. She said, ‘He wants you. He wanted you from the moment he first saw you, and will want you again. You can trust him. You’re safe with Alex.’ Really sexy and soothing, or would’ve been if I wasn’t so freaked out.” “Did that seem like a spel or something?” Onyx shrugged. “Something. Her touch felt kind of unnatural. Good, but weird. But…we had been in bed for awhile, and then Alex got up to get me some water and I watched him go down the stairs and that’s when I saw her. That freaked me the fuck out, so I went into the bathroom and cast extra wards over myself and got dressed. She only talked to me on my way out. I think if I wasn’t protected, she might have done something to me.” A long, thoughtful moment of silence passed between them. Molly knew her well enough to know that her worries were layered, but one matter had to be addressed before the other. “So you’ve warded and cleansed yourself?”

Onyx nodded. “As much as I can here. I warded him, too. Just a quick one as I left. Subtle, y’know? He couldn’t have even noticed. It’l last until sunrise for whatever good it does. But as for me, I don’t feel any different. Just mixed up inside. Mol y, I’m so sorry.” “Hey. I’m not mad. You look like you did everything right to me,” she said, gesturing to the ritual circle and their rainwater. “But if we want to be safe, we should try a natural setting, too.” Onyx nodded, and Molly added, “I don’t think anything got done to you.” “Not anything I can see or feel, but Mol y, this seems al wrong to begin with. And we know how limited our knowledge is! What if this is al just beyond us? What if—” “Then we’l deal, okay?” Molly broke in reassuringly. “We’l deal. We’re in this together. I love you. Look, let’s go down to Golden Gardens tonight and run the ritual again there, alright? Nobody’s going to be down there, anyway. It’l be cold for you, and that’s gonna suck, but we’l have to just tough that out. At least it’s been a little warmer than usual this time of year.” They had dealt with worse. If there was one thing the Practice had taught them both, it was self-discipline. Onyx silently agreed. She was quiet for a good, long moment, still very worried but also not wanting this moment to end. Molly was there with her. She loved her. It meant everything. But she had to come clean. “There’s the other thing,” Onyx said finally. Molly twisted around to get face to face, taking Onyx’s hands and looking at her directly in the eyes. Her voice was firm and assertive as well as reassuring. “I love you. I trust you. You would never do anything to hurt me, and I know it. You ready to talk about this now?” “Yeah. I don’t want to leave it waiting. He’s…he’s really great, Mol y,” Onyx admitted. “This wasn’t just casual sex. I don’t think he can do that. Not with me, anyway.” “Yeah? You gonna leave me for him?”

“No!” Onyx burst. It was not too quick, nor too much. She looked at Molly pleadingly. “I love you so much, and if you say you never want me to see him again I’l total y—” “Then we’re good,” Molly assured her. “Look, I’m just…your first half-ass date? Seriously? After it took us how long to get to sleeping together?” “I know,” Onyx shrugged. “I feel bad about that. hell , I feel bad about making you wait so long, but…I don’t know. You and I happened before I learned to really see people, and I was freaked out about so many other things back then. But this…we just clicked. It felt right. I don’t feel bad about doing it with him so much as I feel like a jackass for rushing things compared to you.” Molly shrugged. “Well . Whatever. We’l deal. So don’t hold anything back. Tel me.” Her lips quivered. She wasn’t sure how to say this. “It was amazing.” “Scale of one to ten?” Onyx hesitated, but finally ventured a movie reference: “His goes up to eleven.” Mol y’s eyebrows arched. “That good, huh? I’ve got a rival?” “You can both do things the other can’t,” Onyx explained. “But he just…God, we went on and on and it was so incredible. He was so good to me. He was overwhelming but at the same time he was so nice. I didn’t…I’m not saying I didn’t want to be with you, but I kinda didn’t want to leave, either. If it wasn’t for that woman, I don’t know when I would’ve come home. I would’ve, but probably not so soon.” Molly laughed a little. “Well , ultimately you had my permission, Speedy Gonzalez. If it turns out that al this is okay, I’m fine with you seeing him again.” “You are? I just…it feels wrong to be so intimate with someone else.”

“Why?” “Because I’m in love with you!” “And that’s not going to change,” Molly said solemnly. “I can’t put into words how sure I am of us. I’m not worried about this.” Molly rose up on her knees, coming closer to Onyx and kissing her softly and deeply. Onyx whimpered, running her hands through Mol y’s short red hair before clutching at her body and pulling her close. Molly took the towel off Onyx’s shoulders and held it behind her. She pushed Onyx backward to lay her out on the floor beneath them. There was only wet concrete there, but al the candles had made the room very warm and they often enjoyed playing in less than comfortable spots. The two had developed an affectionate habit of expressing their intimacy almost anytime and anywhere. “I’m glad you had a good time,” Molly said. “I’m glad you may have made a new friend. I’m even a little jealous now.” “I don’t want you to be jealous,” Onyx said in a soft voice. “I’l stop if it makes you jealous. I don’t want anything to ever come between us.” “I didn’t say I was jealous over you,” Molly winked. She crept downward over Onyx’s now very vulnerable body. Molly trailed soft kisses across her col arbones. As her mouth moved lower and lower against Onyx’s body, Mol y’s hands trailed behind, her arms stretched out as she drug her fingernails lightly down Onyx’s flesh. “Ooooh,” Onyx breathed, “you’re really going to do this now?” She reached out, fumbling around until she found the pile of her clothes in the corner. It was a rhetorical question, after al . Onyx would need a makeshift pil ow, which she busily prepared while the rest of her body was offered up to her partner. She could no more turn away from this emotional reassurance than she could deny that she was, even a couple of hours later, still sexually revved up by her afternoon. “I totally am,” Molly said wickedly. “I think we both need a very physical affirmation of our love right now.” “You’re not even undressed,” Onyx observed softly.

“I know. This’l be really one-sided. See how devoted I am to you?” Molly winked. “Onyx. I love you more than anything else in the world. Now shut up and let me be kinky.” Onyx’s eyes crossed, then fluttered closed. For al the potential worries and dangers and this new supernatural wrinkle in their lives, there was still this. They were going to stay here until Onyx had climaxed at least once, and then they were probably going to wind up either in bed or in the shower or both for awhile before they did anything else. It was very obviously going to be another one of those weekends. There would be another cleansing ritual later that night, out where the water met the land. There would also be a heartfelt ritual of thanks for al that the universe had given Onyx in this accepting, nurturing, devastatingly sexy redhead. * “I can’t believe how lucky I am,” Alex said. His hand brushed through Lorelei’s hair as he stared into her eyes. They lay intertwined on his bed. His previous partner had only been gone for a short while. The scent of her hair conditioner lingered on the pil ows. The room was growing a bit dim now as the sun was just beginning to set. “You have gone to great lengths to earn this luck,” Lorelei replied, but Alex shook his head. “Not like this. People go their whole lives doing good deeds and risking their lives and they get nothing for it. Bad things happen to good people al the time.” “Bad things have already happened to you, Alex.” She traced the scar on his chest. “Bad things may yet happen. I would note, however, that you have a habit of paying forward for your fortunes.” “I’ve been in danger a little bit this week. I got shot but immediately healed. I faced what was apparently a tiny demon

and I only came out on top because my friends bailed me out.” “Alex. You do not understand the magnitude of al that you have done. Another person may have done the same, yes, but that isn’t for you to worry about. I guarantee you that most people would turn away and choose easier paths than you do when faced with such decisions. Many would have good reasons to run regardless of their courage.” She let that sink in and then asked, “Do you regret your fortune?” “No. Of course not. I’m just…I don’t know what I’m saying. Maybe I shouldn’t be taking advantage of al this just because I can. Maybe it’s wrong?” “Should a rich man feel guilty for his success? Should celebrities regret their fame? So your fortune takes a different form. You’ve harmed no one. What’s wrong with it?” He frowned thoughtful y, searching for words, but Lorelei put a finger over his lips. “Did you ever for a moment disregard the wants or needs of your partner? feel less than grateful for your time with one of them? With me? “I know what I am to the eyes of men. Men and women have abandoned everything they have, even their lives and honor and souls to slake their lusts and possess me. Here I am, completely within your power. I have no recourse should you take a firm hand with me, and what has dominated your thoughts in every moment with me?” Her eyes seemed to sparkle. “‘ How can I make this up to her? How can I make her happy? ’ Those are not the thoughts of a petty or selfish person, Alex.” “How do I make you happy?” “You see?” Lorelei chuckled, and then kissed him lightly. “You already do, Alex.” “Yeah, I know, you’ve said,” he nodded softly. “But still . I’m asking.” “Keep treating me as you have,” Lorelei answered. “It seems to be working out wonderfully so far.” “Don’t you want to be free? Even if I can’t give you real freedom, wouldn’t you want as much as you could have?”

“That’s complicated. I wanted my freedom when we first bonded, yes. I have always wanted my freedom. But I was created to respond sexually to my master as a way to keep me under control. It was used to punish and humiliate me by beings so awful…” she shook her head. “I’m a hedonist. I do what brings pleasure. Submission to my masters felt good, but at the cost of self-loathing. Even hell ’s pleasures are usually cruel and humiliating. You’re nothing like them. The more you embrace me and what I am, the better it feels for both of us. You have tested the waters and found them wellcoming. Why do you not dive in?” “I don’t know if I can accept that,” Alex said. “Now more than ever.” “Why not?” “Because when we first met I felt like…wel , it was wrong. I’d still say slavery is wrong. But now I just don’t know if I can even play at it.” “It’s different now. You know this. This may have been forced upon us, but one can hardly cal it slavery when you have my consent. We both know that being the master arouses you. We need only take that as far as we are both comfortable, and we will still be friends and more. “I’m not asking you to push me around or abuse me. You’ve been good to me since we met, and we have only become closer and more comfortable together. So what else has changed?” “I love you, Lorelei.” It hung there, in the few inches between their eyes. He had changed her entire world again. “You don’t have to say anything you don’t feel,” Alex said. “I don’t want you to. I need you not to, real y. But I just need you to know. I’ve fall en in love with you, Lorelei.” “I felt this, tied into your desires,” she murmured, plainly awestruck. “But I did not dare give it that name. I didn’t know if that’s what it was.”