Out of the Night: Escape

"When I tell you to, you are going to imagine the energy entering the jewel. Understand?"

"I understand."

"Good."

Damien moved behind me, his hands never leaving me. He moved a hand down and teased my entrance. I could feel that I was already wet as his finger easily gilded between my lips. I sighed, relaxing into him as he continued.

He didn't spend too much time on foreplay, and there wasn't much need for it. I was more than ready. One hand on my lower back bent me forward until my hands were touching wood floor. The jewel was directly below my core.

A hand supported my hips as the other lined up his cock. I felt the smooth head press between my folds, teasing my entrance. I ached to be filled and pressed back. Damien chuckled softly, but thankfully didn't keep me waiting.

Pressing forward, I was stretched to accommodate his length. He moved into me, taking his time so that I felt nothing but pleasure as he filled me. By the time his entire length was sheathed and his head pressed against my cervix I was panting.

"Breath," Damien reminded me.

He held himself still until my breathing slowed and I once again focused on the flow of energy which was vibrating in every place our skin touched.

Where our bodies met, it felt like our muscles were buzzing, and my walls contracted, sending waves of pleasure though my entire body. My mind clouded with the sensations. When he thrust shallowly, rotating his hips I was on the brink of climax.

Damien felt how close I was and slowed, placing a hand around my neck and pulling my back flush to his chest. "Not yet," he commanded.

I nodded, squeezing my eyes shut and trying to hold back my orgasm. He pressed my legs further apart with his own. He thrust hard then, chasing his own pleasure. The change in pace both sharpened my focus and forced my pleasure toward its peak.

I moved my hands to my breasts, pinching my nipples hard, hoping the sharp pain would help me hold off. The sound of our intercourse became louder as a gush of fluid was forced out of me, running down my legs and dripping onto the floor and jewel beneath us. I rode the razor edge of climax. It was by Damien's will alone that I didn't explode.

Heavy breathing and slapping skin was drowned out by the rush of blood in my ears. I could feel as Damien became closer to his own orgasm. His pace increased and his hands gripped me harder. Groaning, he slammed into me hard and commanded, "Now! Come for me now!"

My body released the pent up pressure and I screamed my own release. Together we climaxed, energy exploding out of us. Through my orgasmic haze, I could feel Damien guiding the energy through us and below us, into the jewel that sat in the center of the circle.

When he pulled out of me our combined fluids flowed out of me, dripping onto the jewel. Glowing softly, it absorbed the fluid that hit its surface.

Breathlessly, I made a face. "That's kind of gross..."

Damien chuckled, catching his breath much quicker than me. "No one ever said magic wasn't gross."

...

"Lookie what I have!" Adam interrupted our breakfast by slamming a six foot spear onto the table. I caught my glass before orange juice spilled onto my lap.

The weapon looked to be solid steel. "Where did you get this?" I asked, running my hand along the smooth cold handle.

"I made it," Adam responded, exaggeratingly puffing out his chest, looking proud.

"You're very talented," Damien remarked sarcastically, clearing dirty plates from the table, swiping spilt crumbs off the book he had been reading.

"Yes, I am! Thank you!"

"Did Manny help you?" I asked, remembering all the metal working tools in the mechanics shop.

Adam's bravado dropped slightly. "He begrudgingly lent me the tools."

"Begrudgingly?"

"He's still upset that I slept with your roommate. He'll get over it."

Before I could get myself into trouble by offering some unsolicited advice, Damien placed the jewel we had imbued with magic into an opening in the hilt of the spear, reciting a spell. The metal became momentarily liquid, wrapping itself around the jewel, sealing the weapon together.

Adam frowned. "Doesn't look very impressive."

"Doesn't need to," said Damien. "Just needs to do its job."

...

Damien and I stood across from Adam in the meadow between the house and the grove. The sun was high, pleasantly warming my cheeks.

When Adam had suggested we practice channeling magic, Damien had suggested we move outside, worrying about the destruction of ancient texts or his expensive furniture. "Without fucking," Adam had clarified when I expressed my unwillingness to do anything with Adam.

I shifted from one foot to the other, filled with nervous excitement. I had no idea how this was going to work, but the idea of being able to control magic was very exciting. When Adam revealed what he had brought with him, that excitement waivered. He held a long, deadly looking whip.

"You're going to have to learn to channel Damien's magic more reliably," Adam began. "While we would all enjoy the show of two of you having sex in the middle of a fight, it would be a little too distracting."

The whip unfurled in his hand, dragging over the grass, trailing a couple feet as he started walking around us in a wide arch.

Adam pointed at a tree with young green apples freckling its branches.

"Channel Damien's magic and ripen the apples."

I glanced nervously at the whip splitting the grass, then glanced at Damien who nodded toward the tree encouragingly. "Like before, feel it move through you. Then direct with your intention and it will follow."

Thinking back to the day before, I shifted my focus to the tree. My breathing slowed, I felt my heart beat, my body grew warm. I reached out with my mind, locking on to that everpresent bond.

My concentration broke when a burning sting filled my mind. Arching my back against the pain, I spun around to see Adam holding the whip, looking at me innocently. In that moment I realized that Adam hadn't struck me. The tear in Damien's shirt and the red stain blooming across the fabric made it clear that the whip had found a different target.

"What the hell was that for?!" I raged, making Damien feel a small burst of warmth that I cared for his well being.

Adam's expression remained unchanged as he said, "Your bond with Damien is both your strength and your weakness. As you draw on his magic, you will feel what he feels, emotionally and physically."

"How do you even know any of this?" I was still mad, but tried to refocus, the stinging of the whip lingering.

"Dagr was both mine and Damien's maker. The bond with one's creator is similar to your's with Damien. More unbalanced and stifling, but the same concepts apply. Now focus."

I pushed air through my nose, refocusing. Right as I felt the energy start to move through me, pain sliced through my right shoulder. This time I was expecting it and I pushed the pain to the back of my mind. I directed the magic toward the tree, imagining the apples growing large, sweet, and red. The whip hit again, and again.

The leaves on the tree rustled and the apple started to grow.

Damien keeled over, a groan finally escaping him. The only other time I had heard that sound from him was when he had had that nightmare. Already open to his emotions, I felt the feelings from that night starting to surface as Damien struggled to push them back down.

"Stop! Stop hurting him!" The apples slowed their growth as I struggled to focus.

"Dagr won't stop. He will focus his attacks on the strongest of us, and he will be much harsher than me."

Adam wasn't holding back anymore, and the whip drew blood with every strike. I forgot the apples, running to Damien, wrapping myself around him. With the physical contact, I felt his pain sharper. The trauma of his past was rising to the surface as he fought to keep it from consuming him.

The whip continued its rain, and even as I used my body to shield his, the blows that landed on me were transferred to Damein, breaking his skin when it should have broken mine. His eyes were closed and his brow wrinkled. His breath hitched with each contact.

"I get it! That's enough, please, you're hurting him! Stop, Adam!"

"Make me."

I whirled on him, and summoned the magic that was still waiting for a direction to be released. I sent a force straight through Adam, attempting to knock him off his feet. Adam was expecting it and stood his ground.

Another strike of the whip curled around my shoulder, burning through Damien's shoulder behind me.

Adam looked at me, prepared to strike again. His face was grim, but it looked like he was enjoying himself. A crazed glint reflected in his eyes. It was a side I hadn't seen of this man and it was terrifying. He wouldn't stop.

"The tree, May," Damien bit out quietly, from his knee.

Right, the tree. That was the task. I turned away from Adam to face the tree and refocused my intent, moving quickly and powerfully. The leaves turned up as if it were about to storm and the apples grew, changing color from green, to yellow, to red.

The first apples to ripen fell from their branches as hundreds of apples grew, bending branches, snapping a few.

I released my hold on Damien's magic and felt it snap back to the man still kneeling behind me. By the time I felt the magic return to its origin, over ripened apples littered the ground and branches were heavy with an overabundance of fruit.

The three of us breathed hard, each for a different reason. Adam had finally stopped and Damien stood, walking up behind me. He wrapped his arms around me, already healed physically.

Adam pulled out a handkerchief and cleaned his whip, wiping blood from the twined material.

"You did good," Damien said, wiping tears from my chin that I hadn't noticed gathering there. I pulled myself free from his embrace and stormed up to Adam, tearing the whip from his hands. I thrust the handle into his face, shaking with anger.

"You will NEVER do that again!"

Adam put up his hands, waving the blood soaked handkerchief in surrender. "Understood." I didn't miss the mocking tone and narrowed my eyes.

A hand on my shoulder pulled me a step back and Damien gently took the whip from my hands. I allowed it. "It's ok, May," he soothed. "You did good. I was prepared to last much longer than that. You're a natural"

I raised a skeptical eyebrow, remembering the war of emotions and past traumas I had felt in him. He leaned in and kissed it.

I was surrounded by crazy, damaged men.

...

It took five days to prepare. The trap required dozens of spells and hundreds of ingredients. I lost track of spells early on and instead practiced channeling Damien's magic. Lighting a candle. Moving a book. Knocking over whatever Adam was working on.

I got reprimanded once for spilling Adam's glass of water onto his lap when it also spilled onto an old tome. Other than that, Damien seemed to enjoy the small torments against his brother.

We didn't train with the whip again, Adam claiming that everyone needed to build their strength. I was hoping he might also be feeling a little guilty for hurting Damien, but every time I remembered the sadistic joy I had seen in his eyes, I doubted it.

The spear had sat in the corner of the room, leaning up against a bookshelf. I kept feeling my eyes drawn to it, an energy rippling off of it that made me uneasy. On the third day I had approached the spear, inspecting its surface, touching the handle. The simple form was mesmerizing and I found myself running my fingers over the embedded jewel and toward the spearhead.

My hand was snatched away, making me jump, pulled abruptly from my trance.

"Don't," Damien had warned, taking my hand gently in his and kissing it. It was moments like this that confused me about Damien. One moment he was rough, the next gentle and loving. He let me do what I wanted, as long as I didn't stray too far, providing an illusion of freedom. But I didn't try to run again. I hadn't been lying when I had told Damien that I wouldn't leave him, and I had no desire to. At least for now.

For now, I wanted to see this through. I had felt how deeply scarred Damien was, and if I could help remedy that by assisting in killing the man responsible, I would. We could revisit the future of our relationship when this was all over.

By the time everything was ready, the three of us had sat together, with nothing else to wait for except for someone to announce that it was time.

Adam was the one who had finally broken the silence. "Well, I guess it's time to meet our maker."

...

The room buzzed with magic as the final spells were cast. A summoning spell and a binding spell were cast at the same time. A spell to muffle dark magic followed after that. Dark smoke filled the room before being sucked to the center of a binding circle where it solidified into the grotesque form of a tall, skeletal body.

Dagr stood where the smoke cleared, looking surprised for only a moment before schooling his features.

"The two who got away," he hissed unpleasantly, smiling. "To what do I own this happy reunion?"

All three of us felt the impressive strength of Dagr's magic pressing against the walls that were keeping him in place. The spells held.

Damien stepped forward, gripping kwīnati moti in both hands. "Goodbye, Dagr. You won't be missed." He stepped and thrust, aiming for Dagr's chest.

He had moved quick, but as the spear came close, it slowed, as if Damien were moving through molasses. It came to a stop an inch from Dagr's chest, Damien frozen in place.

"That wasn't seriously your plan, was it?" Dagr laughed, sounding more like a wheeze. "I'm disappointed in you boys."

I heard a roar and a massive red eyed bear filled the room. Adam rushed forward, distracting Dagr long enough for Damien to regain mobility. He thrust forward again, but Dagr was no longer standing where he had been standing. Still bound to the circle, he reappeared a foot to the left, using Damien's momentum to throw him across the room.

Damien hit a bookshelf, the spear flying from his hands. It skipped across the floor past my hiding place behind the desk. I hopped out from behind the desk, diving for the spear.

Dagr spotted me, Adam now lying on the ground, shaking clear his now human head.

"NO!" Damien shouted, running toward Dagr who was preparing a spell intended for me. When Damien intercepted, Dagr redirected it, entering Damien's mind and filling it with nightmarish memories.

I felt his anguish as he collapsed. It took everything in me not to collapse as well. I made for the spear, but was stopped by Dagr, who reached out with his magic, past the binding circle, rooting me in place.

I tried to rip my feet from the ground, but it was like they were cemented in place. The spear started to slide across the floor, toward Dagr's outstretched hand.

No! I couldn't let him get his hands on it!

I reached for Damien's magic, solidifying our bond and allowing his anguish to seep into my own mind. I lifted my hands, blindly summoning the spear, using all the magic I could manage to channel.

I felt it make contact and opened my eyes to the spear gripped in my hands. Adam had managed to regain his footing and reached for the spear. I held it out to him, handle first, and he took it from my hands.

The spear slipped from my grasp, grazing across my palms.

Adam thrust forward and the spear made contact, entering from under Dagr's chin and exploding out the top of his skull. His scream was gargled in blood and he fell to his side, twitching. It was a full minute before he stilled, dead.

I looked at my hands, a single razor thin line of blood crossing them.

Damien met my eyes, looking down to his own hands where two thin cuts had opened across the surface. He opened his mouth to say something, but it was cut off by a seizure that raked across his body, sending him to his back.

Released from Dagr's hold, I ran to his side.

"Damien! Damien, I'm so sorry! Please, tell me what to do!" I tried to hold on as his body convulsed. When he stopped I choked out a sob. "No..." I whispered.

Adam had joined me by his side, and got my attention. "May! Tell me what happened!"

"He... I... The spear... It cut me..." I managed between sobs.

He sat back hard on his heels. "Well, fuck."

"What can we do Adam? Please... this can't... this can't be it!"

He remained silent and we both watched Damien who was breathing shallowly, veins slowly turning black.

The door creaked open, and we met the gaze of the wide eyed butler. The silence must have signaled the end of the battle and he peeked in to assess the damage.

When he saw Damien on the ground between us he stepped hesitantly into the room.

"Do you need anything, Miss May? Master Adam?"

I let out a broken laugh that turned into a sob. "I don't think tea would help right now, thanks."

"We need a life," Adam requested, staring grimly at the butler, knowing he had procured many humans for Damien in the past. I, myself, had suspected as much, but during my stay here, Damien had only fed from me.

"Why? Does he need blood?" I asked, already pulling up my sleeve, ready to offer my own.

"No." Adam stopped me, a firm hand on my wrist. The first time he had touched me since I had burned him in the garage. "We need a life. If we act fast, I think I can transfer the curse to another living soul. Like it was transferred from you."

"I... I'm sorry sir," the butler apologized. "Master Damien requested that all personnel vacate the premises."

"Then why are you here?!" Adam accused, angry he hadn't gotten what he asked for.

"I'm always here. I owe Damien my life... you can use me..."

"What?" I asked, shocked he would just offer himself up.

Damien took a shuddering breath and my attention snapped back to him. His skin was grey and his muscles were twitching in small spasms all over his body.

"You're sure?" Adam asked, surprising me that he was asking permission.

"Yes, I'm dying anyway. Tell me what to do."

"No!" I shouted, not believing that we were having this conversation. "We aren't going to just kill an innocent person!"

"It's him or Damien. And that man is far from innocent." Adam snarled the last part. I didn't know the history there, but Adam clearly knew something I didn't. I didn't say anything else as the butler was directed to lay next to Damien where Adam pulled out a knife. He cut open the butler's shirt and carved a rune into his chest making both the butler and I grimace.

Adam placed a hand on each of their chests, chanting something under his breath. As I watched, color started to return to Damien. Black veins flowed out of Damien, through Adam, and into the Butler who groaned as the curse enveloped him.

The butler turned grey and convulsed, overtaken by seizure, foaming at the mouth. In moments, it was over. The butler was dead.

Damien opened his eyes.

He looked first at me, reaching to touch my cheek. He smiled and I leaned into his hand. I was filled with relief, even though I wasn't yet sure how I felt about how it had happened.

Sitting up with Adam's assistance, he saw the butler laying beside him, dead, chest carved and bloody. "Thank you," he said sadly, reaching over to shut the sightless eyes.

"Good riddance," Adam said, standing.

Faster than I could see, Damien stood and grabbed Adam by the neck, slamming him to the wall.

"Don't disrespect the dead. He might have made mistakes, but he was a good man. Don't speak of things you do not know."

"Sorry," Adam gasped when Damien released his windpipe. "He volunteered to save you, so that's good enough for me."

Damien walked over to Dagr, who was slowly turning to a pile of dust. The spear clanged to the floor as the body fell apart. Reaching for a box that had been prepared, Damien swept the remains into a pile, transferring the dust to the box. He handed the box to Adam.