A.O.E.M.: Under Your Spell Read online

  Niko stood up from his working table, straightening the sleeves of the long black robes he favored in his chambers. First, he would be certain of a comfortable resting place with his mate. Had everything been arranged properly in Jamie’s quarters?

  “Sprite, servant of Air!” he commanded, clapping his hands.

  The small entity popped into being on a mortar, arms akimbo as it stared up at him. “You called, called, called?” It screwed its face up into a miniature grimace. “So demanding.”

  “Impudence!” Niko pushed it off the magical implement. As it sprawled on his table, stunned, he ordered, “Show me my mate’s room. I wish to see that all is as I desire it.”

  With a filthy look at him, the sprite flitted over to a mirror and flew in circles around it. Obediently, a scrying mist appeared within the frame, clearing into the picture of a quaint, octagonal room with an excellently large bed… covered in a fluffy, quilt-patterned bedspread. Were those roosters? Cocks? A horrible joke! Absolutely no hangings draped the walls, and the drawers on the bedstand and dresser stood a little open, quite empty.

  Niko growled in frustration. Such idiots as staffed the island! Whether they had done such a shoddy job out of ignorance or deliberately, he would have to correct their mistakes, and quickly.

  First, the bed. He would never take a man on such a -- homely -- covering. Calling on his magic, he twitched the offensive comforter away, stuffing it into a closet and locking the door. He unlocked it again to let sheets and pillowcases, decorated in the same ugly print, follow the thing into hiding.

  Now… he tented his fingers beneath his chin, thinking. What would he like best? Silk? Yes, something to entice the senses and invite the caress of naked flesh. A flickering of his fingers summoned black silk from the laundry stores, along with a thickly lined duvet. He hung curtains of the same silk around the four posters, to make of the countrified look a dark cave of delights.

  There. Now it satisfied him.

  As for the rest of the room, much work remained. The drawers and chests he had arranged for were there in plenty, but they lay empty or worse -- as he looked closer -- were filled with small samples of Chimera soap and shampoo. Making another noise of disgust, Niko opened the closet a third time and bundled the lot in. He would have no tackiness awaiting his mate.

  “Can no one do a job properly?” he asked the sprite impatiently. “Must I do it all myself?”

  Not waiting for it to answer, he slid his sleeves back and began. Casting his glance through time and earthly space, he summoned forth everything that pleased him -- dildos carved of ivory and marble or blown from glass, scented unguents Cleopatra might have smoothed on her skin, which he would use to ease his passage deep within his mate. Soap and shampoo from the finest salons in existence. Big, lushly colored bottles in colors designed to attract the eye, not puny samples stamped with the island logo.

  Next? Well, he supposed his mate might investigate the stone-and-clay bottles and amphorae, but not know what the various lotions were intended for. To ease Jamie’s mind, and leave no doubt as to what was intended, he opened the drawer of the bedstand and stole, using magic to take them and make them appear in their places, items from racks on the mainland: lubricants in various flavors, from strawberry to white chocolate, and condoms of all makes and marks. As a pleasant afterthought, he added massage oils of different sorts, each one spicy and silky-textured when rubbed into pliant flesh. He preferred materials from older times, but after all, Jamie was a modern man. He would put his mate at ease if he could -- but neither would he leave him in any doubt as to what he had been brought there for. Jamie would be his, make no mistake.

  As a last touch, he called forth more of the black silk to drape the bare wooden walls and cover up a few ugly art prints of lakes and kittens. There. Just what it needed. Now it looked like a proper seduction chamber, not a bed and breakfast lodging. A proper place for making love. Jamie would know his fate exactly when he stepped inside, no matter how travel-weary or fuzzy-headed he might be.

  “Are you pleased?” The sprite flitted to a landing on an urn. “You have created an Arabian Night.”

  “None of your sauce,” he said tartly. “Yes, I am pleased. Close the scrying mirror now. I have seen enough. Come again when I call you.”

  “As you wish.” The picture of the newly redecorated room vanished into thin air, and the sprite popped out of existence on this plane.

  Niko sighed, collapsing back into his chair. Really, would that he had no need for such chicanery. Had he grown farther in the arts of scrying when his grandfather-trainer had died, he would be able to do without them. He had learned much since then, but he still needed a tool to visualize what lay beyond.

  Someday, he would see about correcting the annoyance. For now, though, he would gather his strength. Rather than use magic, he lifted a small, slim phone from its cradle by his side. “Food,” he spoke crisply into the mouthpiece. “Herb-roasted chicken. Soft sourdough bread. Tart, fresh grapes. Aged Stilton cheese. Wine, white and dry, the best vintage in our cellars. All of it brought to my quarters. Now.”

  He hung up without waiting for an answer. Those in the kitchens disliked his manners, but what did he care? The food would come regardless, and they feared him too much to tamper with it. He did not doubt its timely arrival, nor did he think for one moment they might not have what he requested. After all, were they not used to serving up everything from platters of raw meat chunks to decanters of human blood? A little chicken and bread should cause them no trouble.

  Niko settled down, crossing his arms, to wait. By all the gods, he hated exercising patience, yet he recognized he had no choice. Jamie’s plane would land soon, true, but decency demanded he let the man settle in and rest first. He had hours yet to go before he might bury himself in Jamie’s arms and teach him what it meant to love a sorcerer.

  Unless he thought of another way…

  A knock sounded at the door. Niko tilted his head in curiosity. The food, already? “Come,” he ordered without moving.

  The door cracked open a bit. “Niko?” a voice called hesitantly. “Hello?”

  Niko stifled a groan. “Adrian,” he said, already bored. Typical of his breed, or at least as romance novels would paint his sort, the Vampire had a perfect beauty about his long limbs, angular face, and sweeping red hair that bored Niko to tears. Add in the fact that he was and always would be a fool, and Niko had no time for the creature.

  Among all his faults, he was also oblivious. Bursting inside, Adrian rushed to Niko with eyes full of hope. “Niko, I’m so glad you’re here,” he gushed. “I heard the mate I’m to be paired with is on the plane with yours. I wonder, could you possibly show me? I’m dying to get a glimpse of her.”

  You are already dead, you fool. Niko gave Adrian a flat stare. “I might,” he said, “but it will cost you. Are you willing to pay?”

  Adrian hesitated. “I -- I have some money --”

  “Tcha! Not money,” Niko said impatiently. “I ask you for a future claim. When I call on you for a favor, you will have no choice but to grant it. Do you agree?”

  Adrian blinked. “Is that all? You know you can ask me for anything, anytime.”

  “Do you mean what you say?” Niko said, soft and dangerous.

  “My word on it.”

  Such a fool! Niko sketched a sigil in the air binding Adrian’s hasty words into law, then stood. “Come to the table,” he directed. Scrying, again. How very dull. Still, it remained Niko’s tool of choice to give the Vampire what he desired.

  Adrian followed him, eager as a puppy, and hung over Niko’s shoulder as he skimmed the table for some useful object. Ah, there -- a bowl of water he had been using to mix with powders to create a stimulant for himself. He found sleep a waste of time, and coffee far too bitter. Better to use herbs snatched from the times of great scholars.

  A small pool of water remained in the bowl’s bottom. As the image he sought had nothing to do with him personally, or touche
d the spell he had cast on his mate, he needed no spritely help to accomplish the task. With the barest flick of a wrist, it turned milky, opaque. Adrian gave a flinch behind him, as if Niko created a marvel. “Hush!” Niko ordered. He twisted the magic this way, then that, and…

  Ah, yes, there. The image cleared, showing them the picture of a small, pert, pixyish redhead who was currently… eating a sandwich. A ham sandwich, if Niko wasn’t mistaken. Devouring it in great mouthfuls. Adrian gave a great, lovelorn sigh. “She’s beautiful,” he whispered. “Such fairness of face. Such dainty limbs.”

  Niko rolled his eyes. “Look your fill,” he said, turning away. He couldn’t see Jamie in the picture, and therefore it had no interest for him.

  Adrian lifted the bowl, careful not to tilt it and mar the picture. “May I -- may I take this with me?” he asked hesitantly. “What do you want for it?”

  “Take it and have done,” Niko said in dismissal. “I have all I want from you.” A future claim. So very useful. The image would dissolve as the enchantment faded, but there was no need to tell Adrian so. Besides, he could always summon more water.

  Adrian’s pale, sculptured face nearly glowed. “Thank you!” he exclaimed, holding the bowl carefully close to his chest. “Until she arrives, at least I can watch her.”

  “I’m sure,” Niko said, voice dry. “Now, unless you needed anything else?”

  “No, Master Niko.” Adrian ducked his head in lieu of a bow, so as not to upset the bowl. He backed away, toward the door. “Thank you again -- thank you!”

  “Of course.” Niko flicked the door open with a twist of magic, in a less than subtle hint. Adrian, addlepated though he might be, could hardly fail to pick up on such a prompt. The Vampire glanced behind him in surprise, then edged out carefully, cradling his precious scry.

  “Enjoy it,” Niko murmured as the door closed, smiling to himself. “For as long as it lasts, that is. All of it.”

  He had no doubt very few of the matches made on Chimera would last. Men and women, no matter what forms they wore, were fickle of heart. None of them had the foresight to seize their mate’s free will and ensure he would stay by their side for as long as they chose.

  Amused, and not ill-pleased, Niko settled in his chair and sent out mental tendrils, testing the bond of magic between himself and his mate. Tethered to the other end of the magical cord, he found Jamie’s consciousness. He had fallen asleep, lulled by the white noise of the aircraft and the classical music playing in his ears.

  “Ahh,” Niko whispered. “You rest, then? Perhaps we will play a bit early.” Why not?

  He had learned, many and many a year ago, how to slip into someone’s dreams and summon their astral form to the Summer-Shadowlands. Child’s play. But he had it in mind, now, to play like a grown man.

  “Jamie,” he whispered, letting himself sink into the trancelike state that would give him entrance to the man’s subconscious mind. “Jamie, your master calls. Time to play…” He concentrated. A bit like balancing cards, this trick -- just a hairsbreadth between the reality of his chambers and the dreamscape of Jamie’s mind -- but -- ah -- there!

  In his light, fitful sleep, Jamie saw himself as sitting on the banks of a brook, feet bare, idly tossing rocks into the water for the pleasure of watching them splash and ripple. He wore shorts and nothing else. Niko chuckled to see that even in his sleep, Jamie sported the erection tormenting him in the waking world. The spell on his mate-to-be was working well, then. By the time they met, Jamie would be so desperate for sex he would fall into Niko’s arms as if he were dying of thirst, and Niko was the only draught that could possibly quench him.

  Preliminaries could wait until later, if preliminaries were needed. Playful, Niko pounced upon the peaceful man by his brook, rolling him over and over in his arms on the sun-warmed grass until he lay atop Jamie, braced on his arms, grinning down at him.

  Jamie looked startled for a bare moment, and then comprehension settled. “You,” he breathed. “I saw you in the window.”

  “As I meant for you to see me. And now you see me again. But there, close your eyes,” Niko said, dipping down to breathe the words across Jamie’s so-tempting lips. Not kissing -- he did not kiss -- but very close. “Shut your mind to questions, and the everlasting why, why, why. Simply be, do, and feel. Feel this.” He thrust against his mate, letting him feel a matching erection through his robes. Jamie’s eyes shut tightly. He arched upwards, teeth nipping at his lip.

  “It is good, yes?” Niko brushed a strand of hair from Jamie’s forehead. “I can give you this, and so much more. Only say you want it.” He knew Jamie did, that he had no choice, but to hear it out loud would make it all the sweeter.

  “Yes. God, yes,” Jamie said, his arms coming up to wrap around Niko’s back. “More. Please? More.”

  “With pleasure.” Niko thrust against him again, setting up a slow and lazy pace, giving Jamie time to savor the feel of cock against cock through clothing. “A needy little thing, are you not?” Niko chuckled. He bent to bite at one pebbled nipple, just where he planned to pierce it. Yes, yes, sensitive as he had thought. Jamie bucked beneath him at the touch, wantonly writhing, wanting still more of the pleasure-pain. “Wanton,” he said in approval. “I have plans for you, ones you’ll hear of soon.”

  Jamie’s eyes slitted open. “Tell me now,” he said, in a voice like a needy purr. “I want to know.”

  “Hush, hush. Time, there is time,” Niko said, voice soft, rocking against him. He let his hands rove over Jamie’s body, feeling out the planes and angles of bone and muscle. Running his fingers across the smooth chest, and down to the trail of hair leading to his swollen, sticky cock. “This dream can seem to last forever, though you will wake when the plane lands. And when you are in your bed at night, I’ll come to you then, and make fantasy reality…”

  Niko’s heart swelled with pleasure. Oh, yes. Who had need of free will when taking it away brought them both such enjoyment?

  He planned to keep Jamie under his spell for a long, long time indeed.

  Chapter Four

  Jamie opened his eyes.

  Warm. He felt warm. Was it springtime, maybe? He could hear birds chirping, squirrels chattering, and thought if he listened closely enough he’d pick out the sounds of earthworms popping from their holes. A gorgeous day. Grass soft beneath his back. A babbling brook somewhere close by.

  And, oh yeah -- a naked man on top of him, braced on his arms, grinning down like a cat who’d just found a bowl full of rich, thick cream.

  Yep. He definitely had to be dreaming.

  Well, since he was dreaming, why not enjoy it? Jamie reached up, threading his fingers through the man’s short, loose dark hair. It had the texture of satin, running smoothly across his palm. The man’s smile softened at his touch. He turned his cheek in the direction of Jamie’s hand, nearly purring. “Good,” he said, oh, so quiet. “You learn well.”

  “Learn?” Jamie asked, letting his fingers trail down the man’s neck. “Is there a lesson going on?”

  The man’s eyes sparkled with some secret Jamie felt certain he wasn’t about to tell. “You are handsome as I pictured you,” he murmured, lowering himself a little to rest more of his weight on Jamie’s chest, pressing their cocks together again. “You like that?” the man asked. “My prick against yours?”

  “I’m gay, not stupid,” Jamie said once the tide of tingles had ebbed enough to speak. “Of course it feels good. You’re beautiful as a fallen angel. It feels wonderful.”

  The words seemed to amuse him. “A fallen angel!” He laughed. “If you only knew, Jamie. But you will learn. In time you’ll know it all.”

  “Why not now?”

  “Ssh, shh.” The man dipped his head to nuzzle beneath Jamie’s jaw, dropping a light love bite on the angle where it met his ear. “Some things are all the sweeter for waiting.”

  “But I want to know.” Jamie drew back to look up at him, open and frank. “You’re going to make love to me, are
n’t you?”

  “In a way, yes.” The man leaned on one arm and began to draw patterns, intricate loops and whorls, on Jamie’s bare chest with his newly freed hand. “In a way, no. Again, you’ll understand soon.”

  “How can you make love to someone and not make love to them at the same time?”

  “So many questions!”

  “If you’d just answer me --”

  “In time! Have patience. Soon, you will know the answers to all you seek.” The man bent his head again to drop a line of small, sucking bites along his collarbone, leaving behind a trail of small marks shaped and colored like raspberries. “But why do you waste time talking?” he murmured against Jamie’s skin. “Why speak, when one could act? Make love, as you say? Fuck, as we would both rather call it, I think?”

  Jamie reached up with one hand and planted it in the center of his chest. “One thing,” he said, struggling against the ripples of pleasure spreading and suffusing his body from where the dark man had brushed him. “Your name. I don’t sleep with anyone without knowing their name.”

  The man tilted back his head to laugh. “Sleep? I do not intend to sleep with you. I intend to seat my cock so deep inside you, you will feel me for days after the fact. And sleep -- you realize you are asleep right now, do you not?” He chuckled again. “Such a riddle.”

  “Riddle or not, I want your name,” Jamie insisted.

  The man smiled at him indulgently as he would at a puppy. “Niko,” he said. “You may call me Niko. I would rather ‘Master,’ but again, all good things come with time, and I am willing to wait.”

  “No man is my master.”

  “Yet.” Niko trailed his hand further down Jamie’s chest, between them, to his cock. Nestled in its golden curls, it had already awakened to half-hardness, and it took only the touch of Niko’s slim, white fingers for it to stiffen into full life. “You will call me Master some day, and be glad of it.”