The Witch and Her Second Chance

9 | Afterglow

"How do you feel?" Verin massaged Jo’s hip, still wanting to feel her creamy flesh. His eyes traveled across her body, her freckles spattered around her body where she'd allowed the sun to kiss it. It made him smile, she'd sunbathed nude at least once from the placement of her freckles.

She just hummed her response. She lay with her hips to the side, but her shoulders were flat on the bed so she could look up at him.

He glanced down at the condom still on him. He looked around beseechingly. Jackie clocked his question, coming forward and took it from him. He watched how she did it, like she'd done it many times before. She swiftly returned to the bed after throwing it away.

Jo stretched as she curled up on her side, Jackie pulling her into her chest. Verin had never cuddled afterwards except with Celeste. Feeling it was expected, and because he wanted to, he curled behind Jo, setting himself against the curve of her behind.

"You believe in the Goddess?" Verin asked suddenly.

"Hmmm?" Jo hummed absently. "Oh. Yeah."

Jackie snorted. "As if a dude created all this."

Verin chuckled. "Well, yes. Fair point."

"Is there a specific goddess?" His voice was casual, but the question made Jo frown.

"Why do you ask?"

"I'm just curious. I like hearing others' beliefs."

She was thoughtful before answering. "I believe in Wicca."

She said it in a way she expected him to know what that was. He committed the term to memory along with the many others from the night. When he'd heard her utter the cry to the goddess, he'd had a moment of pause but was sure Jo was human. He couldn't sense any magic from her.

“Are you Hindu or Muslim?” Jackie asked.

Verin took a moment to answer, “Neither. I don't follow a specific doctrine.”

They lay in contentment for a while longer, winding down and enjoying each other's touch. Verin felt when it was time to leave. He extracted himself and pulled his clothes on. Jo lazily rolled over to watch him. She had a sleepy look on her beautiful face, a small smile cast his way. He stepped back to steal a kiss before pulling his shoes on.

"I assume the two of you will let me know the next steps here," he hesitated for a second and realised he didn't know how to get back to the hotel. "Uh…"

"You got your phone?" Jo asked.

He stood there dumbly. Celeste had it. First thing the next day, he needed to get his own. He only had the wallet she'd given him. He pulled it out and looked in it. It had money in it. Okay, well that should help.

"I'll call you a cab," Jackie climbed off the bed and walked past him to get her phone. She brushed against him lightly, the skin on the side of her hand brushing against his. They smiled at each other.

Jo climbed off the bed and pulled her robe on.

"That was pretty great," she purred, placing her hands on his chest. He hooked her hips and pulled her to him, kissing her deeply.

"I would very much like to do this again."

"We'll be in touch shortly," Jo promised.

He cast his gaze around her face, committing it to memory. She was exquisite.

"Where are you going?" Jackie asked, returning with her phone up to her ear. Verin gave her the name of the hotel as Jo and he untangled from one another.

Jackie frowned but relayed the message. After she completed the call she turned to Verin. "I thought you lived here."

Shit. "Yes but when I have business in the city I stay there–it's easier than commuting." He hoped that was convincing enough. He'd need to understand a lot more about humans if he was going to spend more time in this realm.

Jo saw him out, gifting him one last steamy kiss before he left.

~*~

Celeste slumped in the chair across from him. She was wearing a bright red boiler suit, appealingly tight with the top four buttons undone, showing the front of the black lace bra and her impressive cleavage.

Her hair was out and wild. She had a pair of large sunglasses on.

"Are you only just getting back?" He asked, amused. He was sitting in the hotel's restaurant for breakfast.

"Oh," she made a little noise, "I had a big night."

He smiled despite himself and took a sip of his coffee.

"And what about you?" She asked, reaching forward and snagging his coffee from him and drinking the remainder of it.

With a sigh, he indicated to a server that he'd like another, thinking about it, asking for two.

"Well?" She pressed, taking food off his plate.

"It was good." His smile grew. Celeste looked pleased.

"Will you tell me about it?" She leant back in her chair a bit and licked her lips.

He took a moment to think about whether to talk to her about this. A part of him wanted to, so that his description would further cement it into existing.

"Maybe," he said non–committedly. "I want to go and get myself a mobile device."

"Oh. Of course." She looked disappointed that he wouldn't need her for this anymore. "You think they'll want to hook up again?" She asked not ready to give up on the topic.

"Yeah."

She reached across the table and touched his hand. "Did you pleasure them at the same time?"

"No, but I think Jackie would be receptive."

She looked like she wanted to say more but instead switched tracks, "I got in touch with the dragon shifter. There's apparently something happening in the Netherrealm and all able bodied dragons were called to arms. Who the f**k knows what's going on there at the moment."

"It's okay. I think I know how it works. I'll head home this afternoon."

Celeste looked surprised but said nothing. She gratefully accepted her fresh coffee when it arrived.

"So, have you heard of a condom?" He asked her once the waiter had moved on.

"No, what is it?"

He reached out for her device which she offered to him. He did a quick search and turned it around. "It's a sleeve you place on your c**k before you have sex." He'd been to the business centre in the hotel and used the internet there, looking up all the things he'd heard the previous night.

Celeste shook her head, "None of the guys I've taken suggested they wear one."

"Apparently apart from capturing sperm to avoid unwanted pregnancies, it protects from diseases that humans can transmit sexually."

"What?" Celeste had a horrified look on her face. "Ew… can we catch those?"

Verin shrugged, he'd not heard of that. Warlocks were gluttonous sinners but they were healthy. They didn't often suffer from diseases of the body. The mind, sure.

"How do we check?" Celeste asked worriedly.

"I'll look into it when I get back. You can get tests here but I'm not sure if that would be a red flag if they had our blood. If I knew what to look for I might be able to tune a sensing spell."

"Well, do that please. Dirty things… Hmmm." She looked displeased with the news.

~*~

He read and reread his new assignment five times. Close eyes. Inhale, one, two, three, four, five. Exhale. One, two, three, four, five, six. He repeated this multiple times.

He'd handed in the dragon communication report the previous day. The difference in the dragons tech was that they did not send a message spell to travel as sound along a recognisable wave. And that was because they simply used magic in its purest form. The psychic energy in everyone's brains, no matter how innate–even humans had it–was the trigger to submit a message spell from one device to another. It just appeared there. It did mean that you couldn't intercept it during transmission, though he'd given a couple of options to tap into the devices themselves, if they could target specific people's devices to monitor. Most needed a physical component added.

He'd hoped he'd have a few days to work on his own inventions.

The new assignment was to investigate a phenomenon where a portal between witch covens and human realm closes. There had been a series of covens lost, over the years, their fate unknown. The cause was a mystery. There had been another one a decade earlier and there was rumour that it was reopening.

He wasn't a field researcher. He didn't understand why they had given him this assignment. He had felt that his assignments had been ramping up in difficulty. They had also restricted his freedom of self guided research. He didn't understand to what end their pushing him was. Perhaps he was overthinking it. He was prone to that.

The brief didn't even say what outcome they wanted. He needed to see the Grandmaster in charge. He looked at the front of the report he'd received with the request. Jorg. He shuddered. Figures.

Verin had declined his advances once, earning him derision from the Grandmaster since–before then, Jorg would fawn over the then-young warlock.

Verin took a moment to rest his head back and think of the girls. They'd messaged each other a few times during the week. He was planning to see them the next night. He hadn't visited the temple since he'd returned to Therein, not interested in s*x with anyone else at the moment, even to harvest.

He'd spent a lot of his down time, and even his work time thinking about their encounter. He could understand how any man they brought into that would fall in love. He knew he had to make sure that didn't happen. He'd spoken with his physician on making adjustments to his dose. It had laid him out for the day but it had worked. He was feeling nicely numb. The older man had been clear that this was the last option he had.

He'd also spoken to the physician about the human STIs. Too horrific a thought for the kind of society warlocks lived in to ignore. He didn't know much of human diseases but he hadn't heard of any warlocks with those symptoms. That in itself appeased Verin. All the races of Therien were hearty people.

Humans intrigued him...

~*~