Page 67 of Concluded
Nobody questioned Dee’s confidence, Achilles least of all.Not after what Dee had already accomplished.And when both vampires stared at Dee in wonder, Achilles felt as proud as if he were the one wielding fancy magic.This washisdjinn.
The rest was simple.Marek handed Dee a silk handkerchief and Dee did his thing.Marek made a wish.Then everyone watched as Clay and Marek walked out the back door into the postage-stamp yard and turned their faces up to the bright sky.When Marek fell to his knees and Clay went to comfort him, though, everyone else returned to the living room to give them some privacy.
And Dee, whose jeans were sporting a noticeable bulge, blurted, “Excuse us!”and dragged Achilles into the vestibule, pushing him into a wall and plastering himself against him.“Wishes turn me on,” he panted.
“Apparently,” Achilles laughed.He grabbed Dee’s ass and encouraged him to dry-hump Achilles’ thigh.
“Can I…?Do you mind…?”
Deciding to do Dee one better, Achilles wedged a hand between them, unfastened Dee’s jeans, and grabbed his eager dick.Although Achilles had usually preferred private locations for sex, he found this entire situation incredibly hot, especially when he squeezed and Dee whimpered.“Gonna make this quick and dirty,” Achilles warned.Or maybe promised.
“Yes.Please.”
Achilles was a man of his word.He maneuvered them so that Dee was backed into him, ass tight against Achilles’ crotch, body pinned in place by Achilles’ arm.While he worked Dee’s cock with hard strokes, he licked his neck, nibbled on his earlobe, whispered obscene promises in his ear, and finally—maybe influenced by recent time spent with vampires—bitat the junction of neck and shoulder.
Dee came with a howl and collapsed back, shuddering.“J-Jesus fucking Christ.Let me?—”
“Not now.You can owe me for later.”Because while Achilles was also sort of desperate to get off, he thought a little bit of waiting would do him good.He needed to work on his patience.
Tenrael and Charles were waiting in the living room, Charles with a long-suffering expression.There was no sign of Marek and Clay, who were presumably still frolicking in the sunshine.Achilles couldn’t help smiling at the thought of Clay White frolicking.Did magicked vampires have to worry about sunburns?
“Not sorry,” Achilles announced, knowing that he and Dee had been perfectly audible even to human ears, let alone demonic or angelic ones.He didn’t feel remotely apologetic.
“Is this… usual?”Charles asked.Despite his long-time career and hardboiled nature, he still had the vestiges of a person born during the Victorian era.Which was sort of charming, really.
“Kind of,” Dee replied.“When I do my thing, it always feels sort of, uh, tingly.If it’s a reallybigthing, like when we left the black hole, it’s tingly while I’m making the charm, but then I’m so drained that I collapse afterward.Also….”He glanced at Achilles, seemed to consider for a moment, and then shrugged.“It’s all a lot more when Achilles is near.”
So was Achilles sort of his booster battery?Whether the effect was magical, physical, or psychological, Achilles liked it.He was a pretty ordinary guy, but if he could help make Dee even stronger, that was awfully damn special.
Charles looked intrigued too.“I’d love for you to have some discussions with my science people.Once we have the time… and I have science people again.”
“Sure,” said Dee.“As long as those discussions don’t involve scalpels or probes.”
“Perhaps we can….”Charles stopped and frowned in thought.“This just gave me a thought about where we might find refuge for Ish.Ten, what about Gunderson?”
Achilles recognized the name.“Art Gunderson?The guy who ran the lab?”Achilles had never met him in person because the lab was located in northern California, almost at the Oregon border.But they’d talked on the phone a few times before Gunderson retired.He’d seemed like a calm, steady sort of man.But he had to be close to eighty years old and was, as far as Achilles knew, entirely human.
“Why him?”Achilles asked, maybe somewhat too bluntly.
“His home is extremely remote.It’s not approachable by land vehicle and is a strenuous hike on foot.Airplanes can’t get there, and helicopters can’t land.”The corner of his mouth twitched.“Crespo can get in.I think he visits sometimes.Also, Gunderson’s partner remains formidable.”
“Not human?”Achilles guessed.
“Half Sasquatch.Dee, do you think there’s some way you could get Ish to them?I can give you the coordinates of their cabin.Unfortunately, I have no way to contact them.”
“So… you want me to just zap him there?Like, ‘Hi guys, I’m a genie and this guy’s a traumatized angel.Can you please babysit him while what’s left of the Bureau tries to avert the end of the world?’”
Charles sighed.“Something like that.”
Achilles wasn’t sure what he thought about Dee acting as a transporter beam.Moving between dimensions, or whatever the black hole travel entailed, was one thing.But moving across physical space?He’d been taught that magic was simply stuff that science didn’t understand yet—nothing more than unexpected bends in physics, chemistry, and biology—but this seemed like an especially big leap.
“I’ll give it a shot,” Dee said.
“What about what you said the other day?”Achilles asked.“The part where we didn’t want to end up likeThe Fly?”
“I’m stronger now.”
Achilles believed him.
