Lost at Sea Bk. 02 Ch. 21

Jack laughed, knowing she'd been beaten. "Completely ruined my nicest sheets."

"Now who's the monster?" Will teased.

Jack let out a dramatic sigh. "Rawr."

Friday laughed so hard she choked and finally had to stop sucking. Bella pet Friday's hair while she stifled her own laughter.

"This is by far the most entertaining ritual I have ever been a part of," Friday mused, slowly stroking Will's shaft.

"Are you laughing too?" Jack asked.

"Yes, Mistress," Quinn rumbled.

"At me?" Jack asked pointedly.

"Apologies, mistress," Quinn answered without a hint of chagrin.

"Sorry Quinn," Bella giggled.

"I know what you're doing, Bella," Jack said, her tone suddenly colder.

"I'm not sure what you mean," Bella said, hoping she sounded convincing. She felt a pang of nervousness dance through her, and some excitement. She knew that tone. Jack was always reserved until she felt challenged. Bella had been worried this whole idea wouldn't work because of how Jack's reservations might mix with the complex feelings she had for Bella and Will. Bella had gambled on being able to tap into Jack's love of a challenge. The long build up, the teasing, the offer to join, the story about the cards, it had all been to try to draw out Jack's other side.

Apparently making Quinn laugh was Jack's tipping point.

"You do," Jack said, sounding like sweet poison. "You know exactly what I am talking about. You've been doing it since you first asked me to join you."

Bella's nervousness surged. "You're right," she admitted. "Should I not have?"

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to be," Jack said. "I've missed you too."

Bella blushed. She hadn't expected Jack to be sweet. That wasn't usually how she responded to being teased. "Well, good-"

"You are baiting me," Jack said. Her voice was even, but full of fierce challenge.

Bella grinned. There she was. This was the Jack she wanted.

"And?" The witch asked.

"And fine," Jack answered. "You want a monster, I'll give you one." There was a rustle of blankets and skin as Jack and Quinn repositioned. "You know what I want," Jack said in a throaty whisper.

"I do." Quinn said. "But you must speak it."

"Permission granted," Jack said fiercely.

"There you are, Jack," Bella said quietly. "I've missed you."

"Your wards are nice and strong, right?" Jack asked sweetly.

"Yes..." Bella blinked.

"Good," Jack said simply.

"You know I was joking, right?" Bella asked, sounding more serious than she had a moment earlier.

"So we probably won't all explode? Even if you get distracted?" Jack asked.

"Of course not," Bella said reassuringly. "There are five interconnected wards. Honestly, it is probably overkill, but I wasn't sure how Quinn's involvement would-"

"Let's find out," Jack said. "Quinn, I want you to fuck me hard enough they feel it."

______________

"We need to talk, old man," Tonya said, hopping up on Will's table and letting her feet swing.

Caine was pouring himself a drink from Will's sideboard. He gave her a suspicious look over his shoulder. "There's never been a good conversation that started like that."

"We gotta figure out what's wrong with us," she explained.

"Us?" Caine asked. "I'm fine."

"The hell you are. You died," Tonya said pointedly.

"Happens sometimes," Caine shrugged. "Wasn't exactly my fault."

Tonya rolled her eyes and sighed. "Look, I said I was sorry-"

Caine waved her off dismissively, taking a long pull of his glass. He coughed a bit and gave the glass a judgemental look. "He can afford the good stuff, but still drinks rotgut rum."

Tonya took his glass and sampled it and shrugged. "Wait, what do you mean it happens sometimes? Dying isn't usually repeatable." She downed the rest of the glass.

"It is for me," Caine said as he poured himself another glass.

Tonya held out the glass she'd claimed. "So you were already a zombie?" Caine opened his mouth, but didn't get a word out. Tonya's eyes went wide. "I fucked a zombie!?"

Caine gave her a long, flat stare.

"What?" Tonya asked. "I think it's an important thing to know." She waved her still empty glass at him.

Caine put the decanter on the table next to her and sat down in Will's big chair. "Was this really what you wanted to talk about?"

Tonya poured herself another drink. "Not originally, but it sure as hell is now!"

"I'm not a zombie. I am perfectly alive. For me, death is temporary," Caine said flatly.

"Why?" Tonya demanded.

"I made a deal with the devil," Caine deadpanned.

Tonya's eyes went wide again. "Really?"

No," Caine sighed. "Just feels that way sometimes."

"How many times have you died?" Tonya asked, leaning in on one arm, clearly intrigued.

"Twelve," Caine said. Then his eyes narrowed and he glanced over Tonya's shoulder. "Fine. Thirteen."

Tonya looked over her shoulder, confused at what he had seen. There was nothing there. She gave him a suspicious look, but barreled on with her questioning. "How?"

Caine shook his head. "Nope."

"Seriously?" Tonya demanded. "You're just not going to tell me?"

Caine took another drink and pointedly didn't answer.

"You're awful," Tonya glared.

"I can live with that," Caine shrugged.

"Clearly!" Tonya pouted.

"How about we get back to the other thing?" Caine asked.

"It's sorta related, don'tcha think!?" Tonya snarked in frustration.

Caine looked confused. "Not really. You blew up and killed me. I got better. I guess you're lucky I was the one you blew up, but beyond that they don't seem related."

"You don't think whatever weird magic is going on with us now has anything to do with whatever weird magic you already had going on?" Tonya asked sarcastically.

"No," Caine shook his head. "I took a look. There's definitely a new enchantment, but it doesn't seem to be interacting with any of the other stuff."

"You took a look?" Tonya asked, suspicious again.

"At my aura," Caine explained. "Or whatever you call it."

"You can see auras?" Tonya blinked. "I thought only inquisitors could do that?"

Caine took another drink and made another face at his glass. "They usually can, but they aren't the only ones."

"What the hell are you?" Tonya asked.

"A zombie," Caine smirked.

"I'm going to blow you up again," Tonya glared.

"Wouldn't advise it," Caine chuckled, gesturing around with the remains of his liquor. "This place isn't an old fortress like Mary's. You go off here, you'll bury us all."

Tonya bit her lip worriedly and looked around. "Alright, good point."

"Anyway, I have someone looking into what's going on with us and this new enchantment. She'll figure it out," Caine finished his glass.

Tonya looked surprised and a little worried. "Who?"

"That's another trade secret," Caine shook his head.

"I'm going to figure all this stuff out you know," Tonya glared. "Not telling me just makes me want to know more."

"Once you figure it out, you'll be proud you did it on your own," Caine smirked.

Tonya gave him a pouty, flat look. "I'm starting to understand why so many people killed you."

"See?" Caine smiled. "Figuring things out all by yourself."

Tonya pivoted on the table, grossing her legs and sitting directly in front of Caine. Her night dress stretched across her knees and lifted a bit, giving Caine a faint but direct view between Tonya's legs. She didn't seem to notice how exposed she was. Caine pointedly looked, making no effort to hide what he was doing, then looked back up at her face again. Tonya rolled her eyes. "Like I care! You want to look, go ahead." She lifted her night dress to give him an unobstructed view of her smooth womanhood, stuck her tongue out at him, then pushed her dress down between her thighs, hiding his view again.

Caine barely held in a laugh and rubbed his forehead with his hand. "What were we talking about?"

"Whatever this enchantment thing between us is," Tonya said flatly. "It's making me crazy."

"Because you were a pinnacle of sanity before?" Caine smirked.

Tonya glared. "If I can't blow you up, I'll just have to hex you. I'm a witch. I can do that,"

"You sure that's a good idea?" Caine asked.

Tonya took a haughty sip off her drink. "Sure seems like a good idea right now."

"I guess that's one way to test whatever's going on," Caine said thoughtfully.

"What?" Tonya said with furrowed brows.

"We might learn a lot from seeing how an unexplained magical connection reacts to one of us being hexed. I'm no expert. Don't you essentially craft them on yourself and then transfer them to someone else?"

"Pretty much," Tonya noted. "That's why you need stuff like hair or fingernails." She poked him in the shoulder with her stockinged foot. "Or something more direct."

"Wonder if you'd have an easier time hexing me now?" Caine scratched his chin.

"Lets find out," Tonya said with sarcastic sweetness.

"Might just loop right back to you though. Or hex us both," Caine mused.

Tonya stared at him for a few moments, then flopped to her back in frustration. "You are the most frustrating person I've ever met."

Caine chuckled. "You're not the first person to tell me that today."

"Nothing about this makes any sense," she said to the ceiling. "I can't cum with anyone else. Or even with just myself! And when you make me cum, I blow up!" She stretched her legs out and hung them off the table right into Caine's lap.

"Definitely strange," Caine agreed, eying Tonya's feet with a mixture of amusement and indulgence.

"Why? What does that?" Tonya thumped a tiny fist into the table to punctuate her feelings on the subject. "Is it happening to you too?"

Caine put his cup down and picked up one of Tonya's feet. She lifted her head enough to give him a suspicious look. He started slowly digging his thumbs into her arch. Her eyes went wide and her mouth rounded in unexpected pleasure. She laid her head back down. He squeezed her whole foot with his strong hands. "No. Nothing like that. I've just felt... tired."

"Poor you," she said bitterly.

"I don't get tired," Caine continued.

Tonya snorted. "Everyone gets tired."

"Not me. It's part of why I don't stay dead. Usually I'm only tired after I die, or when I get really badly hurt. Whatever this is with us feels similar. In the hot springs, I wasn't sure I'd be able to come back. I thought I might not have enough energy."

Tonya looked at him again. "You might have died for real? Because of me?"

Caine shrugged, continuing his foot rub. "I didn't know. I managed, but ever since I've felt like I could sleep for days. Except for when we were... together. That made me feel... normal, at least for while we were doing it."

"What the fuck?" Tonya propped herself up on her elbows and shook her head. "So fucking me makes you not tired?"

"Sort of." Caine's brows furrowed in thought. "I've been thinking about how it all played out. My... let's just call it energy. It's not easy to replenish. There's a lot of it, so I don't have to worry about it often. Whatever went wrong with Bella's ritual wiped me out. Then, when we were in the hot springs, I went from feeling completely drained, to... back to normal."

"So you're better now?" Tonya asked, curious and concerned.

Caine moved his thumbs to the ball of her foot and dug in below her toes. She closed her eyes and made a small noise of pleasure. He shook his head and continued. "I'm drained again."

"Why?" Tonya asked.

"That's what I've been trying to figure out," Caine shrugged. "It's happened twice now. Same thing, both times. I cum. You cum. Boom."

Tonya's mouth opened wider. "You came too?!"

Caine raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. Does that matter?"

"Yes it matters!" she grinned. "Orgasms are powerful energy releases. Transferring magical energy through sex is easiest and strongest during orgasm, especially from a man to a woman."

"Huh," Caine grunted.

"It sounds like you just... gave it all to me," Tonya said happily, thrilled to have figured out something new.

"And that made you blow up?" Caine raised an eyebrow.

She grinned. "Yup."

"Alright," Caine nodded, sounding dubious but not really having any other ideas. "That still doesn't explain why, or even how. It just tells us more about what's going on."

"It gives us something to work with," Tonya shrugged. "Want to try it?"

"What?" It was Caine's turn to look suspicious.

"An experiment," She nudged him with her other foot. "It sounds like as long as you don't cum in me, you won't make me blow up."

"You really are crazy," Caine shook his head. He trapped her other foot against his chest and started working on it.

"Why not?" Tonya asked excitedly. "You said yourself, it happened the same way twice. We just have to not do that again." She took hold of the hem of her nightdress and started tugging it inch by inch up from where it was bundled between her legs, exposing more and more of her creamy thighs.

Caine eyed her wanton display with amusement and caution. "This is a terrible idea."

"Why does getting you to fuck me always have to be a godsdamned argument?" Tonya said flatly. "We both know how this goes." She tugged her nightdress up to her waist, fully exposing her smooth mons and her reddened nether lips. Her hand dipped between her legs and started gently stroking, teasing herself open and giving him an inviting look full of promise and challenge. "You protest, we call each other names, and I annoy you until you give in."

Caine stopped rubbing her foot and gave her a flat look, trying to ignore her shameless display. "You left out the part where you ignore everything I'm trying to be cautious about."

She shrugged, then quickly peeled off her nightdress, letting it fall to the floor in a pile. "I figured that was lumped in with annoying you."

Caine leaned back in his chair. "Sounds like we already did everything on your list."

She slid her feet down the outsides of his thighs and slithered off the end of the table until she was straddling him. "So how about we skip to the end?" she asked, sliding her hands up his chest.

He trapped her hands and gave her a long-suffering look. "You are the most uppity-"

"Yup," she agreed, then sealed his lips with hers.