Storm Born Chapter Nineteen

Dorian wasnt nearly as impressed as he should put wizard across been by the storm.You couldnt control it, he told me. It did you no good. Until you ensure the sm in every(prenominal) things, youll never control the large ones. Theyll control you.He didnt seem up chasten he simply showed that infinite patience and good-natured attitude he always had. Still enchanted by mankind stuff, he needed us to take him into the city and show him entertaining things particularly the aforementioned women with blue inhi instantions. Considering the car ride would have literally killed him, we ordered pizza instead.You could tell it was crystalize of a letdown for him, exclusively he still enjoyed it. He effectuate am hold in everything, I realized. Well except for those extreme moments of boredom that seemed to plague him, although even in those he still managed to find many sort of joke. I didnt know many people comparable that.I motto him once more(prenominal) that week, this ti me at his place. He made me repeat the boring pissing experiment five times, however it only yielded the exact same results. At least this time I didnt conjure any storms. When I asked if we could do or sothing else side by side(p) time, he laughed and sent me home.The day before Dorians ball, I mustered up the courage to do something Id been thinking about for a long time now witness Wil Delaney.He still left messages with Lara almost every other(a) day, besides that wasnt what finally made me go see him over again. Ever since my moms visit, I hadnt been able to milk shake the idea of her locked away, miserable and alone, in Storm Kings castle. The ail of that image transferred to my impressions of Jasmine, and no matter how reluctant the girl had been to leave, I knew she was still a victim. I wanted to do something anything to help her solely had no idea where to start or even how to do it, considering last times disaster. Talking to Wil again seemed like a semireasona ble beginning.Kiyo went with me, movement us in his rental car since his poor Spider was out of commission. This car was a brand-new Toyota Camry that seemed pretty nice to me, though it obviously caused him colossal distress.When we knocked on the door, Wil didnt answer by rights away.You sure hes here? Kiyo asked.Yeah. I dont think he ever leaves. Were probably being thermal-scanned or something.Kiyo gave me a puzzled look. meet wait, I warned.A minute later, I heard the legion of locks and bolts being undone, and Wils saying appe atomic number 18d.Oh, my God, he gasped, face lighting up. Youre cover charge. Wait. Whos that?A friend. Now let us in.Wil gave Kiyo a hesitant look and finally open the door wider. As we walked in, I could tell from Kiyos expression that he was having exactly the same reaction Id had to the outlandishness of Wils lair. In particular he paused in front of a magazine lying open on a coffee table. An articles large headline indicate THEYRE USING YO UR DNA TO TRACK YOU WEAR A HAIRNET WHEN LEAVING THE HOUSEI knew youd come around, Wil burbled out, leading us into the kitchen. When are we firing back?I dont know that we are, Wil.Then why I held up a hand to silence him. I barely want to talk right now, thats all.His face fell, but he nodded and walked to the refrigerator. You want something to drink?Sure. What do you have?He opened the refrigerator. Inside were about ten jugs of water whose labels guaranteed ultra-ultra-ultra purification and refinement against impurities.Water, he tell. virtually soft drinks are laden with Waters fine.He poured three glasses and sat down with us, watching me expectantly.I want to know more about Jasmine, I explained. If were ever able to go back Again, that pale face loomed in my mind. I swallowed. It might not do us any good if she doesnt want to go. Is there anything about heranything you can tell us that might sort of explain that?The fanatical gleam left his eyes, replaced by somethin g sober and sad. I dont know. I mean, I guess half of its being fourteen, you know? not that she ever seemed all that impressionable. I guess she could have been brainwashed. Theres lots of documentation on that the authorities does it all the time. I imagine even fairies have conditioning techniquesHe started going off on that, and I felt Kiyos hand rest on my thigh under the table and give a slight squeeze. It was less of a sexual thing and more of a What the hell have you gotten us into?Keeping my expression blank, I finally interrupted Wils lecture. Can you give us any information about her? managewhat she was into? Likes? Dislikes? If we could just maintain some idea about that, it might help us understand her better.Well, he said doubtfully, I could show you her room.He took us farther into the house, which was just as dark as the kitchen, and into a small room that smelled of dust and disuse. Probably making a great sacrifice to his values, he flipped on the lights. For ha lf a second, I was relieved that Jasmines room did not mirror the rest of Wils crazed existence. It looked like a normal teenage girls room.At first.Then I saw the fairy posters.They were interspersed with other airbrushed day-dream pictures unicorns and dreamscapes but fairies definitely made up the dominant theme splashed against the rooms rose-pink walls. These images werent accurate representations of the very humanlike gentry but depicted more of what pop culture perceived fairies to be like small and winged, playing with flowers and fireflies. Those sorts of beings did exist in the Otherworld, though technically they were pixies.You didnt think this was germane(predicate)? I breathed, gazing around.This is fluff, said Wil dismissively. Stuff girls are into. Shes liked this stuff since she was little.I walked farther into the room and knelt in front of a small bookcase. J. R. R. Tolkien. C. S. Lewis. J. K. Rowling. More and more fantasy titles. A shrine to escapism.Glancing around, Kiyo seemed to be thinking along the same lines I was. Are there any photos? Any friends of hers?Wil shook his head. She didnt have a lot of friends. He sat down on the ruffled pink bed and found a small album on the floor. Here are a few pictures.Kiyo and I sat next to him. The album was sort of a record of Jasmines childhood. There were some baby pictures and some uncertains of her as a little girl. Wil figured into a lot of the pictures, but we saw little of their parents. I recalled his bitter comments about their chronic absence. We did find a few pictures of her with other children, but as she grew older, those became more rare. Mostly these seemed to be candid shots that someone Wil, most likely had snapped while she was busy with something. One showed her curled up with a book, another(prenominal) found her lying in a backyard hammock while bright sunshine lit up her strawberry-blond hair. She had noticed the photographer in that last mentioned one and regarded the camera with a sad, sweet smile.What did she do for fun? I asked when Wil closed the album. Hobbies? Sports?He gestured to the shelves. She liked to read, obviously. And she liked being outside. She went for walks, sometimes planted flowers. Wasnt truly into sports or anything like that.She must have hung out with some people, I pointed out. Didnt you say she was at a party when she was taken?Yeahkind of surprising, actually. provided she went to things like that once in awhile. Not often. But sometimes. I mean, she did things with me sometimes too. We went to Disneyland once. Saw movies. But mostly she was alone.Do you know why?No. I thinkI think she just had trouble relating to kids her age. She was smart, always sort of ahead of her time.His voice was wistful, and I realized no matter how unstable he might be in some ways, he did truly love and miss his sister.Was she this reclusive before your parents died? asked Kiyo gently.Yeah. She was always kind of this way.After a bit more investigating around the room, we finally left. Wil pushed me hard on what I was going to do about Jasmine, but I had no answers to give him.Well, Kiyo said subsequently a few quiet minutes on the path, that was depressing.I didnt answer right away as I stared off at the road ahead of us.Eugenie? You all right?No. Not real. I sighed. That poor girl.Starts to make more sense, though, doesnt it?Yeah. Isolated from the real world, she starts living in a fantasy one. Then suddenly Aeson gives her the chance to actually live in that one.He nodded his agreement. Of course, abduction and rape probably werent the ways she envisioned escaping off to fairyland.I stared off again for a while. She reminds me of me.The glance he gave me was wry. You dissociated into a make-believe world that you hoped would become real?No. But I was kind of a loner too. I think I had more friends than her, admittedly, but I always had trouble relating to others. It got worse once Roland made me his appr entice. Hard to get excited about male child bands when youre learning to exorcise ghosts.I dont think you missed anything there.I rewarded him with a smile as I continued thinking. nevertheless though I didnt have many friends, I always wanted them, wanted to be noticed. If Jasmines the same, then she probably likes being Aesons mistress, as sickening as it is. He probably showers her with attention.Youre rightthough I wonder if theres more to it.How so?I think a lot of teens feel disconnected sometimes, like no one understands them. I mean, I felt that way lots of times. Not sure I would have welcomed what happened to her as some sort of salvation. Me either. But I suppose everyone copes in different ways. I took up solitary things. Running. Swimming.Puzzles?Hey, I said. Howd you know about that?Because you have about a hundred of them in your closet.I laughed, then reconsidered something hed just said. What was it like for you, growing up? You knew from the beginning what you w ere, right?Yeah. My parents never made that a secret. They accepted that they were from different worlds literally and didnt fight that. Growing up with that dichotomy sort of became second nature. Like I said before, I like both worlds, which is why I certainly dont want to see some advantage of this one. Of course, I had plenty of times in my life, particularly when I was young and moody, when Id get mad at one of my parents. Then Id swear Id be all kitsune or all human, depending on whod pissed me off.Your teenage angst must have been a terrible thing, I teased.You have no idea.Are your parents still in concert?No. Still amicable. My mom finally stayed in the Otherworld for good once I got older. I see her from time to time. It broke my dads heart he was sore about her but he remarried and seems to be better off.I leaned back against the seat. Now that I know what I amI kind of hankering Id known sooner. I would have liked to get a head start on my magic and go blow Aeson s castle apart and get Jasmine back.You dont know that you can actually do that, he warned. Youre half-human. You may not have gotten all his force out.Did you get everything your mom has?He hesitated. Yes.I cant leave Jasmine there. Not knowing what I know. But I dont know how to get her back.Kiyo reached over and squeezed my hand. Well think of something. Dont worry.It was a little comforting, but I think we both knew it was the sort of empty, kind statement you say to make someone feel better. I doubted he had any better ideas than I had on how to get Jasmine back.Kiyo didnt have to bailiwick until the next morning, so we decided to go hiking at Sabino Canyon. Physical exertion seemed like a good way to forget about abducted girls, and it was. The temperature pushed into triple digits, and we were jade and perspirationy as we finally made the return trip down, both of us greedily drinking from water bottles.I saw him watching me at one point while we stopped to take a break. There was a content and admiring expression on his face, not purely sexual, for a change.What? I asked.Your hair. I never realized how red it is. The sun lights it up like a flame.Is that a good thing?Very good.The comfortable look on his face shifted, and I saw the familiar glint of need surface. We didnt say much after that. The rest of our hike and subsequent ride home proceeded in silence, but the air burned between us, hotter than anything wed felt outside.Tim was nowhere to be found when we arrived home. Just as well. I turned on the shower, eager to remove the sweat and grime, and Kiyo hopped in with me.Were here to get clean, I warned.Sure, he said, pushing me up against the wall.Water poured down on us as we kissed and touched and attempted some semblance of washing ourselves. I dont know how good a job we did. I think some parts got significantly soaped down more than others.I wouldnt have minded sex in the shower, but we had no condoms in there. Sometimes I thought the do uble birth control was overkill in eighter from Decatur years, Id never had problems with the pill. But we both knew how high the stakes were. A condom was a small thing to ask.We fell onto my bed, still kind of slick and soapy. He slipped the condom on in like two seconds, and I moved on top of him. Foreplay apparently wasnt going to play a unfit role in our relationship. His hands grasped my hips, halting me for a moment.You took your pill today?Yes, yes, I assured him.He relaxed and released me, letting me move down and take him into me. A soft sound, half-groan and half-sigh, escaped his lips. He opened his eyes and smiled at me.You arethe most right thing in my world.I smiled back, knowing exactly what he meant. We felt good and right together, like the last months tension hadnt existed. We were where we should be, picking right up after our first night together.His hands clenched my sides, his nails miserable my back as my body shifted up and down. A tingle of apprehension r an through me whenever those fingers came near my back, but he continued to show restraint. The scratches were finally healing, albeit slowly.He let me stay on top only about a minute or so before he flipped me onto my stomach and took me from that position, all trespass and furious passion. I slyly tried shifting us once, and he playfully returned me back. Maybe it was the fox thing, or maybe it was just his own human nature, but something in him liked being the dominant one. I decided not to fight it, far too busy swimming in the joy and fire of him lamentable inside of me.When he finished, he rolled off and pulled me to him. Happy, I buried my face against his body, drinking in his scent and feel like an intoxicant. Clinging to each other, we listened to our ragged breathing calm down. For the first time in awhile, I felt safe and at peace. Things were exactly as they were supposed to be.He stayed with me that night, and our bodies wrapped around each other in the darkness. My body fell into its old bad habits, and I found myself lying awake long after hed fallen asleep. I twisted and turned, counting stars on my ceiling and attempting to force my mind into calmness.I tried too hard, apparently, because my mind slipped into trance, one off from sharp-sighted consciousness but not really asleep either. Recognizing this, I started to shift out of it until an image appeared in my mind, a familiar one of a waste area I didnt recognize and a dark, crowned figure standing over me.The memory Id half-started in the sauna returned, flooding my minds eye. I suddenly found myself looking up at Storm King. The fear was there, the fear that I couldnt escape him and that he would take me away.Then, just as before, I reached for something both at heart and without. Power surged through me, and the air grew thick. Dark clouds formed out of nothing, covering the sky. Soft thunder echoed around us. I still couldnt see his face in this memory, but I could sense his amus ement.Are you going to try to fight me, little one? A different power built up around us as he gathered his own magic. I like your attitude though youre fighting a losing battle. For now, at least. Come with me, and Ill show you how to really use your gifts.He gently nudged his power toward me, attempting to quell mine. I sucked in more of my magic, letting it course through me. It burned, but it was wonderful. Amazing. Like nothing I had ever felt before or could have conceived of. I was more than a human in that moment, more than Eugenie Markham, more than a god. It filled me, but even then, I could not control it. Not yet. Lightning flared above us, followed immediately by thunder.Storm King was still pushing against me. I dont think I was really more than a match for him, but he hadnt quite expected this much of a fight. I tried to focus my power, to get ahold of it and use it against him. It was slippery, though I couldnt keep a hold. Lightning blazed again, and I reached out with my mind to seize it, willing it to strike him down.Only my aim was off. It hit me instead.I screamed, pain ripping through me as I became the lightnings conduit, its means of grounding itself. It couldnt kill me, however it couldnt even really hurt me that much. I was one with the storm, and the magic Id summoned was my own. It shot into my body, terrible and magnificent, a burning pain laced with pleasure, an ecstasy I didnt ever want to let go of.I jerked upright in bed, gasping for air. Immediately, Kiyo was beside me, request what was wrong. I couldnt answer right away. That fiery, exultant power was emblazoned in my memory. Yet, even as I sat there, I could feel the memory fading, the remembered sensation going with it. Some part of me cried out for it, willing it to stay. But it was going.Eugenie? I think it was the hundredth time hed spoken my name. Whats wrong?A dream, I murmured, closing my eyes. Even with that magic gone gone for years, really my body shivered with delight. I felt alive, my flesh tingling with an awareness of both itself and the world around me. I opened my eyes and turned to Kiyo, resting my hands on his arms, curling my fingers into his skin.Whats the mmm.His words were swallowed by my kiss. My mouth fed so ferociously at his that I tasted blood from where Id bitten his lip. In an instant, I felt his animal lust answer my own as his hands gripped my hips and tried to pull me down. But I was already pushing him down, moving myself on top of him.Dont fight me on this, I growled, digging my nails against him.He smiled. I think he thought I was joking, little knowing the power and aggression suddenly churning through me. His hands slid over to my wrists. Gripping them tightly, he rolled me over, pressing his full weight down on my body. A little fightings not bad, he teased.No. My words were fierce. Unchallengeable. Still wrapped up in the dreams fleeting power, I surprised both of us and flipped him over. It was a lot like wh en wed had sex earlier today, only now the roles were reversed. My own strength astonished me.Dont fight me, I repeated, voice low and dangerous.His eyes widened in the near-darkness. There was only a heartbeats pause. Anything you want. Ostensibly, he sounded excited and amused, but there was an undercurrent of nervousness there too.Burning and exultant, I moved my mouth and hips down. We both gasped as I took him inside me. No condom, nothing between us. I shuddered at the contact, growing aroused at the thought of him directly feeling me and all my wetness. Skin to skin. Maybe I should have moved slowly, letting him savor the new sensations, but my body was too impatient. I rode him as fiercely as he had me earlier, something within me needing to assert my dominance and claim him as mine. My nails drew blood, and he cried out each time our hips slammed together.I felt powerful, in control. Like I could do anything and conquer anyone. The warmth and bliss of orgasm started buildin g up inside of me, and some very small part of me wondered if I was getting off on thrusting him inside of me or simply on the thrill of domination. And if it was the latter, whom was I exerting my control over? Kiyo? Storm King?The ecstasy in my lower body grew more intense, more urgent. I pushed aside the nagging speculation and gave myself up to my own selfish wants. I stared down at Kiyo he looked back as though he scarcely recognized me.Mine, I gasped, holding back my release. Right now, right in this moment, youre mine.Kiyo made a strangled noise of pleasure, head tipped back.I was on the edge I couldnt hold my body back much longer. I didnt want to hold back much longer. I was the powerful one here. I was taking what I wanted. But first, I needed to make sure he knew that.Say it, I told him between heavy breaths. Tell me youre mine. Tell me, and Ill let you come. Ill let you come in me. Ill let you explode in me.Eugenie he moaned when I started to slow my pace.Youre mine, I told him again. The lovely agony between my thighs was almost too much to bear. I was going to lose it.But Kiyo lost control first. Yesyes. Oh, God, Eugenie. Im yours.The power of that admission set me off, both physically and mentally. Crying out, I threw back my own head as I came. I didnt need to see his face to know he was coming too. I could feel it, feel it in the way his body spasmed inside of mine. Squeezing him tighter, I earned another moan of pleasure from him and another orgasm for me. It was glorious. We both shook from the force of our own reactions.When we finally collapsed apart, sweating and panting, neither of us could say a word. Finally Kiyo rested his head on my chest as though seeking comfort or protection.Yours, he murmured at last, just before falling asleep.