Fall Thru Ch. 05

"This isn't what I had in mind, Fever," I wheezed as I bent over and clutched my stomach. The last round of punches hurt, and the magical tea Fever was giving me to heal my broken bones and fractured ribs had lost its appeal five cups ago.

She bounced on the balls of her feet, fists up, movements erratic. "You wanted to do this, Tilly. And you're doing well for a human, just need to work on your speed and ability to function under pressure."

Laying on my stomach and groaning while she pummeled me was apparently not "functioning under pressure." I staggered, shook the hazy pain out of my eyes, and righted myself. I survived four weeks of training, getting my ass kicked and doing very little ass kicking of my own, there was no way I was going to wuss out now.

I spat blood and teeth, too used to it to be grossed out. "Bring it, demon."

"My pleasure, human."

As Fever delivered a fresh round of blows, I maneuvered and rolled, dodging a few and catching others in places that wouldn't kill me. The training area was a wide square, situated outside in the western gardens on the patterned brick work. Most of the minotaurs and satyrs roamed here, and further in the distance was the river that fed into the giant waterfall outside my bedroom.

Fever feigned a right punch, but I anticipated it. I slapped my hand on her shoulder, tossing myself up and over her body in a fancy gymnastic move. The demon whistled low as she spun around. "Lookin' good, Tilly. Glad to see you were paying attention."

I spared her a chipped tooth smile as she resumed her assault.

Apricot city was super big. A collection of mountains, valleys, rivers, streams, forests, and flat land. It stretched in a big swath of patchwork teal, reminding me of Scotland. I'd gotten a bird's eye view from one of Tessa's dragon friends, a hulking mass of a beast called Chariot.

"Concentrate!" Fever yelled as she punched me in the gut. I was propelled backwards into a bush of weeping bells. The flowers cried out in their mournful melody as I landed ass first, back second.

I covered my ears and screamed at Fever. "Ya couldn't have thrown me in the dirt?"

She rotated her shoulder and neck until they popped. "Get up or quit. Pick one. Now."

Fever was all teeth and blood when we trained, egging me on to quit, giving me the chance to decide when our breaks were, and when we ended for the day. I fell for it the first time and Duke had come to me beaming, ecstatic that I changed my mind.

Fever shrugged when I approached her about it. "Thought you wanted to quit. You weren't working like you wanted to stay." Her eyes pierced me, golden sun, too damn hot and too damn bright. "This ain't Earth, Tilly, and I'm not a human. You want to work like one of us, well I'm going to train you to fight, think, and act like one of us."

"But you're a demon," I'd argued.

"And D's a Vampire, Cherry's a Ladon, and Tessa's a dragon." She clicked he tongue. "We're all different species but we cross over because we live in a society and abide by its dictates. What you are doesn't define who you are."

I let the memory fade away as I struggled from the bush. I put my fists up, widened my stance, and tried not to wince when my broken ribs creeked.

Fever smiled wide and then zig-zagged to me in a series of steps I still couldn't see. She was a blur of brown limbs as I tried to dodge and protect my sore parts.

"Stop," a voice called out.

The demoness diverted her attention from me for a split second, but it gave me enough time to swipe her leg out and pin her to the ground with one arm tight around her throat and the other wrapped tightly around her hair. Fever was a Cherufe (fire demon), so squeezing her throat stopped the fire. It only worked for a few minutes, but it made it a lot easier to beat her.

Footsteps reverberated off the steps as someone descended to our arena. The cultured tone let me know who that someone was, "Very good, Tilly. Seems you're improving."

I pinned Fever a second longer, watching her cheeks turn a bright blue. At first I thought that meant she was suffocating, trial and error told me it was her blood heating.

I unclenched my hand and jumped back at the same moment Fever jumped up. "Playing dirty, girl," she rasped.

I shrugged, and bit back a cry as pain shot through my body. "Learned from the best," I wheezed, gripping my sides so I didn't keel over and die.

Fever's eyes skipped to the side and she nodded to Duke. "Hiya, D. That you screaming, Caster? Lost my concentration because of you."

I followed her gaze to Duke and a dude beside him. I was almost bowled over by the other guy. Six feet something of muscle covered with midnight skin. Tattoos like stars only enhanced the effect.

My jaw went lax, eyes half-lidded, breasts became heavy, nipples hard, and I was so wet that Niagara Falls looked dry in comparison. I opened my mouth to speak, but couldn't form words.

"Ugh," Fever groaned. "When was the last time you fucked someone, Caster? You smell like a Centaurian male at the Gathering."

"Watch your language, Fever. If your parents heard you talking like that, they'd put your head under water," he growled in a voice that reminded me of a cat purring, vibrations went right to my soft spot. I moaned low, totally against my will.

Midnight guy whipped his head to me, and looked me up and down. His eyes were bright silver, pupils piercing black. He really did remind me of night, vast and unending. I wondered if he was cool. If I touched his skin would I be transported to a world without light, one where touch was dominant and all those senses I took for granted were paramount?

"You smell like a witch on Samhain," he spat angrily. "Fix it."

I didn't even know what that meant, but from the way he said it, I doubted it was a compliment. I half-moaned, half-gasped, "You . . . fix it!"

"Seriously, Caster," Fever forced out through clenched teeth, skin cracking as lava ran down her to drip on the floor with a sizzle. "It's effecting me. You need to get that—that shit under control."

The midnight guy growled before he spun on his heel and stalked toward the opposite side of the garden. I watched him catch a nymph around the waist, then spin them into the shade of a tree and behind its trunk.

It was an uncomfortable couple of seconds while Fever and I pulled ourselves back together. Then it was a tense, blush-inducing few minutes while Caster pulled himself together behind a tree. If the gasps, moans, and keening cries of ecstasy weren't picture-painting enough, the commentary to go along with it sure helped.

"Thank you, Goddess. The pleasure—my Goddess the pleasure. He's so big, I don't think he can. Sweeeeeeet three . . . horned . . . mother . . . Godesssssss!"

I looked at Duke, forcing the pain I felt aside, and spoke over the sex sounds. "What can I do for you, Duke?"

Fever moved around, unaffected by the porno behind us, and grabbed the bottle of revitalizing tea. She tossed it to me and I gagged down the horrible liquid, wincing as my bones and tissue fixed. I was itchy for a few seconds, desperately wanting to scratch a layer of my skin off, before I healed completely.

"Five more have gone missing in the weeks you've been training, Tilly." His face was a blank pale slate as he addressed Fever, "You are to report to Blue and resume your regular schedule. Starting now."

"Duty calls," Fever drawled as she moved past Duke, up the winding brickwork, and into the mansion. She waved a hand over her shoulder. "See ya later, dirty girl."

"Tilly." Duke drew my attention back. "Caster will be your new partner. The minute he is finished with his meal I will introduce you."

"His meal?"

Duke nodded to the tree still eliciting sounds of ecstasy. "Caster is an incubus."

I frowned, both from the dampness of my panties and confusion. "Incubus as in sex demon?"

He tilted his head in affirmation. "The very same. Remember how I told you this Galaxy contains three planets?"

I nodded.

"Each houses a different evolved species. Demons to Nagios. Fae is home to Yenos. And Magically evolved to Janos."

Magically evolved was the nice way of saying Humans drew the short end of the evolution stick and we could have been magical creatures. There were a few instances on Earth—real witches and magical practitioners—but they were shunned and treated like freaks of nature.

"Okay, got it," I said. "And he's my partner for the Bookkeeper thing?"

"He is."

There was a keening cry from the tree before a soft thud. I stared for a second before my new partner stepped around the truck and started toward me. If anything, the man looked hotter. Sexy without the sexual edge.

He stopped in front of me. "I would shake your hand—"

"But I'd have to burn it afterwards," I finished with a smile. "Tilly."

"Caster," he returned.

Duke clapped his hands and we turned to the vampire. "Fever assured me three days ago that you were ready to go out—"

"Three days?" I blurted.

"—but I wanted to confirm that for myself," he finished pointedly. He looked me up and down quickly, and nodded his assent. "Get cleaned up. You and Caster leave for the centaurian village in an hour."