9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Mari jolted in Dante's arms. "You could see him?"

"It was weird and slow somehow. I couldn't understand what you were saying, but I saw you talking."

"That's my…I don't know what he is."

"When he touched me, it hurt, but I also couldn't imagine wanting to try to get away." He looked down at his chest where Dohal had touched him, as if he could see the imprint of Dohal's hand there.

She reached to touch his face. "He did seem to like you, but I don't know what that means."

Cisco stepped back into the room with one arm draped around Rio. They both looked extremely satisfied. "You shook the house again. It must have been good." His expression sharpened when he picked up on the tension. "What happened?"

"Dohal. Dante can see him."

They had a lengthy conversation over some hydration, bringing everyone up to speed. Cisco asked a few questions about the surge that seemed to happen between them.

"Our magic resonates really well." Dante gestured between Mari and himself. "I get off on providing pleasure, and she's basically a pleasure amplifier."

"It's a feedback loop I wasn't ready for," Mari said. "Next time I won't get caught so long."

"The issue isn't how long you got caught, but where did the magic go?"

"I'm not sure."

Dante shook his head. "I don't know either."

"It didn't go into the wards," Pricilla said as she entered the playroom. "I felt the discharge. Hell, your neighbors probably felt it. But a chunk of power that large is not in there."

Mari's cheeks heated. How many people had she assaulted with that blast of pleasure? It was one thing to do it at the club where everyone was expecting things like that to some degree. "This is so embarrassing."

"It's astonishing. A particularly talented sex witch can project a handful of feet at most. And even full-blood incubi can only get maybe fifteen feet. You just projected, what, a hundred? Possibly even more." Pricilla walked to where Dante sat. "May I?"

"You can touch me anywhere you want, pretty witch." He smiled wide as he glanced up at her.

She ignored his flirting and rested a hand on his shoulder. Her eyes fell closed. "Oh, a unicorn."

"Mmhmm." He leaned into her touch. "Normally I would offer to take you for a ride, but I'm a little tapped right now."

Pricilla chuckled and opened her eyes to regard Mari. "You drained a unicorn. Never thought I'd see the day."

"And not to blow my own horn too loudly." Dante preened a bit under her attention. "But I'm a unicorn who has been working as a submissive for decades in a city of profound magic. I'm a particularly deep reservoir, even among my kind."

She stared down at him in wonder. "How has Esmé not snatched you up yet to add to her private harem?"

Dante grinned impishly. "She's tried. I like my independence too much."

Mari held back the possessive grumble that wanted to burst from her as she thought about Esmé trying to claim him. Where had that urge even come from? "So do we think Dohal is interested in him just for the magic, or something else?" Mari asked.

"It's difficult to say since we can't tell where the magic is going." Pricilla pursed her lips in thought. "I can't imagine he needs more than you can make for him on your own, but since we don't know exactly what he is it's pretty hard to guess what he needs the magic for."

"He made it seem like he needed to gather magic to get out of wherever it is that he's held." Mari swallowed. "And he said once he's free he would have his revenge on those who captured him."

"Well, at least that's not you," Pricilla said after a moment.

"The problem is, I don't have any idea who that is. For all I know he considers the entire city complicit in his captivity." Mari let out a sigh. "I don't want to give him his freedom if it means I'm sentencing innocent people to his vengeance."

Pricilla tapped one finger against her lips. "So we need to figure out what sort of creature he is. I don't suppose you've tried to just ask him?"

"He doesn't really like to share information like that, and as far as I can tell he hates answering questions of any kind."

"Of course he does." Pricilla folded her arms. "Well, you told me he looks like a demon. Let's start there."

"He's not a demon," Dante said after a moment. "His magic didn't taste like that." He rubbed the place on his chest where Dohal had touched him, seemingly without noticing. "He tasted like kin."

Pricilla tilted her head. "A fae?"

Dante nodded. "Something like it, anyway."

"That's puzzling." She tapped a finger on her chin. "A satyr maybe? They present a little like demons."

Dante's forehead wrinkled. "I don't think so. It was more primal than that. Older maybe." He shrugged. "It wasn't like anything I've ever experienced. He desired me. And I don't mean in the usual way. I'm used to that."

"Avarice." Mari nodded. "That's what it is. Like every fiber of his being has been honed by wanting for centuries."

Pricilla shivered. "That either sounds like the best or the worst time and I honestly can't decide which."

"That checks out." Mari hummed.

"Yup," agreed Dante.

"Well, I'll ask around," Pricilla said. "I have some contacts in paranormal academia who might know more about legendary beings of ridiculous power."

Mari glanced at Cisco. "Does this mean we should stop the exploration of…my appetites? That sounds weird. Urges? I don't know what to call them."

Cisco smiled. "I think you should call them whatever feels right. And no, I don't think we should stop. This is something you have to figure out if you ever want to understand your power. Hiding from it isn't going to make it go away."

"I agree." Pricilla inclined her head. "I think it's best not to try and avoid something having to do with your magic just because we don't understand it yet. It might mean some adjustment to your training, but we can work it out."

They continued talking for a while with Pricilla and Cisco discussed different training ideas, but Mari stopped listening after a few minutes.

She couldn't shake the images of Dante that had filled her head during the vision. The lines between pleasure and pain that she'd thought were so firm and unyielding didn't seem that way now. And she had to admit to herself that she craved both in equal measure. She didn't want to think about what that said about her.

* * *

The next morning at breakfast, Rio sat next to Willow. They talked back and forth excitedly. Mari was next to Rio on the other side and didn't share their enthusiasm for the topic of exactly what sort of paranormal Dohal was.

"You said he looks like a demon?" Willow moved the remains of their pancakes around on their plate, staring off into the middle distance. "Can you be more specific as to the type?"

"I don't know very much about demons, I'm afraid." Even as Mari said it, she knew it sounded ridiculous. Her father had been a demon. "Definitely not an incubus," she hurried to add. "More like a cambion?"

Willow sniffed delicately. "A cambion isn't a type of demon, it's more a class of demons."

"I don't know the difference?" Mari hated how sheltered her father her kept her in moments like this. She felt unprepared for the world.

Willow gestured with their fork. "A cambion is to demons what a nephilim is to angels." When their explanation didn't seem to create any lightbulbs they continued, "They are the offspring of a human and something else. You would technically be a cambion because your father is an incubus."

Mari blinked. She didn't want to tell any more people than she already had that she might be the child of something else altogether, something even more terrifying than her father had been. "Well, he doesn't look like me."

"Can you give me a little more to go on?"

"Huge horns. The blackest skin I've ever seen with glowing red symbols carved into him. Hooves." She took a sip of her coffee. "He's just really fucking big. And kind of scary." Only he didn't scare her, did he? She had never been afraid of him. Not from the first moment. She was wary, certainly, but not afraid.

"That doesn't sound like any demon I know about." Willow hummed. "Lots of things that aren't demons have horns. Is that the only reason you think he's a demon?"

"I guess just his whole vibe seems a little demon-y. With the deep booming voice and his tendency to show up when I'm doing sinful things."

Willow huffed. "Sin isn't real. That's some puritanical bullshit. And the hells and the heavens aren't divided up by morality. They are opposed to each other, certainly, but those are more philosophical differences than moral ones."

"I don't follow," Mari said carefully.

"You have to stop watching so much television," Willow said primly. "Demons and angels have opposing energy. It's just two axes of magic. Magic of the body and the mind; the incarnate and the ephemeral."

Willow continued on in a tone that belonged more in a lecture hall than around a dining room table, "Your magic is magic of the body. It's visceral, carnal. My magic is more cerebral, more intellectual. I manifest magic from my will rather than from my body." As they spoke they put two pieces of pancake on either side of their plate and gestured between them.

"Where do shifters fit in?" Rio asked.

"There's a third house of magic," Willow said as they repositioned a bit of pancake into a third spot on their plate. "Natural magic. It's the magic of animal spirits and the land. These beings are magic. This covers everything from fairies to dragons."

Rio nodded. "And that's the magic that's native to Earth?"

"Exactly right. Incarnate magic comes from the hells. Ephemeral magic comes from the heavens. And natural magic comes from the Earth. As far as we know, everything paranormal fits into one of those houses." Willow pointed their fork at Mari. "But that doesn't mean any type of magic is evil or good or moral or sinful just because of where it comes from." They scoffed. "That's a failure of language and nuance rather than anything inherent in the beings."

"An angel can be evil," Rio said in a low voice. "I know that from personal experience."

Willow put their hand on Rio's and squeezed. "Any word on finding him yet?"

"No, we're getting his location narrowed down. We hope to have it taken care of and have everyone back before the party."

"And no word yet on Cisco's friend?"

"Not yet. We're hopeful she's with someone else and not Vincent."

Willow nodded. "Anyway, your strange stalker does seem particularly carnal in nature, so he might be a demon, but there are quite a few species of natural magic creatures that are also pretty into the more body-focused things. Shifters and many of the fae come to mind." They leaned back in their seat. "And the astral projection stuff seems more ephemeral to me. There's a lot going on with him."

Mari laughed. "You don't know the half of it. He just about threatened to eat Dante whole."

Willow tittered politely. "Oh my. Well, Dante is very popular. He's very good at his job. And easy on the eyes."

"Unicorns are natural magic?" Mari asked.

"Uh huh," Willow said. "Like I said some of the natural species are pretty body oriented too. Why?"

Mari shook her head. "I'm not sure. Dante said his magic tasted like kin. Whatever that means. Maybe it's why Dante can see him?"

"Hmm. Unicorns are a relative of the fae. That could mean Dohal is some type of fae." Willow made a considering noise. "I'll do some digging."

Mari rose with her coffee. "Okay, I've got to get to training."

"How's that going?" Willow asked.

"Good. Tell Esmé I said thank you for the recommendation whenever you talk to her next."

"Will do." Willow started to collect their papers that were arrayed all around them. "Party meeting over lunch?"

"Yup, you can try to convince me to do an orgy again. It'll be great." Mari grinned and waved.

"Listen, all I said was that an orgy would be amazing publicity." Willow laughed. "The viral social media posts alone will be worth it."

Rio held the door for her as she walked through on her way to the office. When it swung closed behind them, he said, "We wouldn't let anyone get close to you if that's what you wanted, if that's your worry."

Mari nodded. Her worries were much less about people she didn't know being too close, and more about how little control she still had over her urges in the moment. But sharing that felt too much like admitting that she'd already failed. "I know. I trust you guys to look out for me."

The only one she didn't trust was herself.

* * *

Although there were so many things Mari looked forward to now, movie night was still one of her favorites. She had a heaping nest of blankets already set up on one of the couches in the media room and a jug of Giselle's tasty margaritas ready to pour.

"Hey, babe." Tilly bounced in with a huge tub of popcorn and set it on the side table. "What are we watching?"

"Hot lady action movie or tearjerker?"

Tilly scoffed. "No contest. Hot ladies all the way."

"Thought so." Mari hit a few buttons on the remote and got herself settled while Tilly poured the margaritas. "Speaking of hot ladies…"

Tilly flicked a glare her way. "Nope."

"Come on, you have to give me something."

"Do I?" Tilly wrinkled her nose. "You didn't give me any details at all about what the fuck exactly happened when you made the entire house shake!"

Mari felt her cheeks heat. Fair was fair. "It was my first time really topping someone. Cisco coached me through it while Rio watched me flog Dante. And then after that he fucked me so thoroughly that some weird magic thing happened we still don't understand. Is that enough or do you want more?"

Tilly stared as though she was still processing the mountain of information Mari had hurled at her. "Holy shit." She laughed. "Well I don't have anything nearly that exciting. Kima is a bitch. She continues to be a bitch every time we have to interact at all."

"Aw, come on." Mari sulked. "There has to be more than that. What's the deal with Bren? Do we hate him?"

Tilly sighed. "No, we love Bren. He's her best friend. Has been forever. He's very sweet and he's definitely Team Matilda." She ruffled her feathers. "It's complicated, okay? I know she cares about me. But the Basilio years left a mark and a lot of us aren't over it yet."

Mari frowned. She knew that scarring intimately. "She thinks if she admits her feelings it puts her and you in danger."

Tilly nodded. "Used to be I let her fuck me whenever she looked at me sideways just to be close to her, but I put my foot down after the last time she walk-of-shamed out of my room at three in the morning and didn't talk to me for two days after. I don't need that shit."

That made Mari's heart hurt. She knew how much Tilly cared about Kima, and being treated that way sucked. "Ouch. You really don't."

Tilly frowned. "Anyway, now she's bitchy that I won't put out and she lets me know every chance she gets."

"She was trying to push the issue during the soccer game?"

Tilly pulled some of the blankets up over her. "Yeah, she was rubbing all over me and whispering dirty things in my ear to try to convince me that I'd made a mistake and I got pressed about it."

Mari put an arm around her and rested her head on the harpy's shoulder. "I don't blame you. That would make me mad too."

Tilly hugged her back. "Anyway, maybe one of these days she'll realize that she just has to admit how she feels and all will be forgiven."

"Well, let me know if the time limit on that lapses and we can have an ice cream and vent night instead of a movie night."

"Yeah, I might need it." She shook her feathers loose. "I just don't know what to do if I don't love her, you know?"

Mari nodded. "If she doesn't come to her senses then you do what you have to do to move on. Because you don't deserve to just be hanging around hoping that someday she comes around."

Tilly smiled, a little sadly. "Thanks, I think I really needed to hear that."

"I'm here for you. No matter what."

Tilly sniffed. "Okay, no more of that. I demand hot ladies. What are they blowing up in this one?"

"I think it's cars." Mari pressed the play button.

Tilly snuggled down against her. "Ooh, good. I love a car chase. Maybe a car fucking scene for good measure."

They shared an evening full of strong margaritas, good company, and a thoroughly terrible movie. Mari couldn't remember laughing so hard in a long, long while. Possibly ever. She headed off to bed in good spirits, snuggled between Rio and Cisco and everything was perfect.