Cursed with Life and Death

Something Weird

“Yes, I'll make sure my guest doesn’t.. lose control.. here again. We were just leaving anyway.” I grin at Xander who shuts his eyes in realization that he lost our bet. The guy nods and walks away.

I grab Xander’s hand and pull him, beelining for the limo, not bothering to stop for our friends. We can come back for them.

He lets me pull him through the club and out the front door. The line is still giant but the bouncer immediately opens the rope, letting us out. I head towards the limo out front. The driver sees us and scrambles, but doesn’t get to the car door before we do.

“Drive around until I say otherwise,” I bark at him and turn and jump Xander, wrapping my legs around him and kissing him passionately, not waiting for the door to be unlocked to start tearing into him.

Xander ducks us into the limo, my back hitting the seat. We hear cheers, laughs and cat calls from the line of people who are watching this unfold in front of them while they’re waiting to get into the club.

“Anklet Jade” Xander growls at me once the door is closed, not bothering with full sentences as we claw to get closer. He keeps kissing me everywhere as I try to ground myself enough to make a scent and sound barrier in the limo.

It takes me a minute but I manage to make one. I reach down and pull off my anklet, tucking it into my purse.

“Your call baby - what am I doing?” He grins down at me with eyes blazing as he takes a deep inhale.

“Me,” I yank him back down and kiss him feverishly again, my legs wrapping around him as we lay back.

“Be more specific Jade,” he says, his hands finding their way between my legs and pushing the small triangular thong I’m wearing aside.

“Make me c*m. I can’t wait,” I pant out, I’ve been waiting all night for this.

“How many times, you’re in control here.” He smiles at me as he slides a finger inside me.

“Twice. Once immediately and once with you. Then you can torment me with more at the club.” I don’t hesitate as I push my hips up against his hand.

He growls in approval and I grab his face again, kissing him deeply before breaking the kiss by pushing his head down and against the most sensitive part of me.

He chuckles against me and gets to work, not holding back in the slightest as he drives me crazy.

“Oh my god Xander yes.. like that.. I’m so close already.. please..” I moan out.

“You don’t need to ask, baby. This is on your terms.” He says against me before returning to making out with my cl*t while his fingers push into me.

It doesn’t take long before I dig my hands into his hair and release screaming his name, convulsing around him.

He rips my thong off and undoes his pants as I continue to tremble against his mouth.

He slides up, and pushes into me with a few thrusts, grunting as I stretch around him. I grab him and start grinding against him, kissing him again, still pulsing from my org*sm.

He pins my wrists above my head and lets loose driving into me hard and fast, his animalistic instincts taking over.

The car stops quickly and we go flying off the seat crashing onto the ground, not even stopping.

I flit us back onto the bench and mount him, causing him to let out a groan on impact. I push back, putting him back deep inside me and he growls at me again. I grab the back of the limo seats to help give me more leverage as I ride him - The horns and sounds from the city blaring around us as the soundtrack.

I resist the urge to rip his black dress shirt open and instead hastily undo the buttons. I break the kiss briefly to drag my nails across his muscles, admiring how freaking hot he is. I use a little magic to ride him faster than I could normally, causing us both to cry out at how amazing this feels.

“You’re so sexy Jade, I can’t hold on much longer with you riding me so wildly.” He warns, playing with my cl*t again, urging me to get closer.

“Lose yourself in me baby,” I pant out.

He hooks his hands around my garters and uses them as straps to pull me down on to him as he picks up the pace and hits the deepest part of me.

I cry out and kiss him again hungrily, clenching around him. I’m so close, the ferocity in the way we’re going at it has me trembling around him.

“Xander.. I want to feel you pulsing deep inside me as you explode,” I moan out.

He groans and twitches almost violently inside me as he releases, setting me off around him. We continue to kiss each other completely captivated as we explode intertwined together, grinding our org*sms out together somewhere in the middle of New York City.

I pant a little, slowing the kiss and pull back, grinning at him and laughing softly.

He smiles back at me and pulls off the lace mask I forgot I still had on, brushing my cheek with his hand and giving me a soft kiss before we begin the untangling process.

I shimmy my dress back into place and frown about how I now have no underwear. I sigh, figuring I should intercom the driver to head back.

I freeze. We’re not moving. I look around and can’t see anything. Are we inside?? Panic sets in as I hear a knock on the door.

I dive for my purse and throw my anklet on. Trying to get a look at the person knocking. They look too big to be the driver. I inhale - vampires.

I look at Xander. *I don’t like this. I think we should bail*

*That would be more suspicious. We should see what they want.. worst case we can probably take them.*

The guy bangs on the door aggressively and I grab Xander’s hand taking a few breaths to be ready to teleport away.

He smashes the window with one hit and I count back with eyes shut, hearing the familiar crack of thunder..

We appear in the doorway of the master bedroom at the penthouse.

“You didn’t even wait and see who they were??” Xander says, stumbling back. “Now they’re going to know you’re magic!”

“Drunk and cornered in a limo didn’t seem like the best thing to stick around for.” I shoot back at him.

“We could have taken on a couple vampires,” he says with a bit of annoyance in his voice.

“Maybe. But we are still reeling from the crazy limo s*x. I wasn’t ready to risk it.”

“Well now you’re risking having more people after you!”

“Better than risking losing you too.” I hiss back.

He pauses for a moment.

“Jade.. You’re not going to lose me.” He softens, closing the distance between us.

“You don’t know that.” I say not able to look at him, realizing how deeply terrifying the thought is of saying goodbye to him too.

“I do.” He pauses. “We still have a lifetime together. I mean.. you’re going to be the mother of my children one day.” He kisses my cheek helping me simmer.

“Children? I don’t know if I’ll want more than one.” I smile up at him allowing myself to be distracted.

“We have a lot of time to figure it out.” He kisses me again, making me feel safe as he pulls me into his arms.

I take a deep breath, simmering from the extreme emotions we just went through in the last little while.

“Can we talk a little about what happened at the club?” He asks, still holding me against him.

I nod. “I was so angry and jealous when I left my meeting and saw you flirting with those two girls.”

“I wasn’t flirting with them but I’m sorry. I definitely didn’t mean to make you feel like I would ever go around flirting with other girls. They came up and kept trying to talk and get free drinks.. I figured the easiest way to send them on their way was to just give them a shot while you were coming back so they’d see I was taken but they would leave pleased that they got a drink. Win win.. I didn’t expect you to stop and pick up a vampire.” He says calmly.

“I didn’t stop to pick up a vampire. I was just chatting over a drink.” I reply defensively.

“Right. How is that different from what I was doing?” He looks down at me with his eyebrows up.

Fair point.

I sigh. “I’m sorry as well. I guess I used Victor to get a reaction out of you both to make you feel what I felt when I saw those girls and to win the bet.” I look over at him.

“It worked. I tried to ignore my feelings by drinking with Vi but then I saw you dancing and the way he was looking at you and.. well I lost control.” He takes a breath again. “Maybe next time we both just try talking to each other instead of manipulating the situation?” He says.

“That sounds a little too reasonable.” I smile up at him.

“We’ve never really been out partying like this together.. and certainly not since we committed to each other." he brushes my hair over my shoulder to expose my marking. "I’m sure we’ll have some hiccups as we settle, but we'll figure it out together.” He kisses my temple again.

“Xander?” I say stifling a yawn.

“Yeah baby?”

“Can we bail on our friends and rain check on the s*x club? I just want you to hold me in bed.” I say quietly, feeling his warmth around me, the adrenaline of the whole evening wearing off.

He nuzzles into my hair “I’ve been wanting that for days. Why don’t you get changed, I’ll tell the others.” He unzips my dress and I smile as he pulls back and watches it fall.

I scurry away and find a long silky midnight blue nightgown with a slit up the front - it looks like it belongs in the 1920s. So soft and classic. I smile and pull it on, leaving my necklace on and using the mirror to soften my magic makeup. I quickly brush up in the bathroom and rush out to find Xander.

When I emerge I see him staring out the window again, taking in the city view. He stills when he turns and sees me. “You’re so beautiful Jade.”

I blush fidgeting a little as I look over at the bed.

“I’ll be right back,” he ducks away while I make my way over to the bed. I sigh. At least I know Travis wasn’t sleeping here.

I glance over at the fireplace and a flame appears for a nano second before disappearing immediately.

What the hell? I stare at it trying to figure out if I imagined it.

I walk over and touch the glass but it’s cold. I must be drunker than I thought if I’m imagining things.

Xander comes up behind me. “Everything ok?”

“Yeah I thought I sa-” I turn to look at him and the thought disappears. He’s standing in just a pair of boxer briefs, looking unbelievably sexy. My mouth gapes open involuntarily. How does he always look like an underwear model?

His eyebrows raise and he smirks at me, obviously enjoying that he still gets this reaction out of me. He takes my hand and pulls me into him, kissing me passionately. I hum at the minty taste and barely register that he moved us across the room to the bed. I start letting my hands wander but he slows us, pulling back, rolling us and wrapping himself around me as he spoons behind me.

“Mmm I missed this.” He pulls me closer against him.

“Me too” I whisper. I shut my eyes and enjoy feeling the safe warmth I get being wrapped up with him.

. . .

“Angel, there you are. I missed you,” Travis says his cold hands travel down my back, making me shiver.

“Travis! I thought I lost you!” I wrap my arms around him trying to pull him close, the bright white light surrounding us is blinding me a little.

“You’ll never lose me so long as you don’t forget about me.” He smiles at me and pulls my hair gently, tilting my face to his.

“I could never forget you Travis.” I vow leaning into him, inhaling his familiar scent that I've missed so deeply.

He brushes his lips against mine but something feels wrong. The tingly feeling he gives me is missing.

I pull back to look at him.

. . .

“Jade!” it’s Xander’s voice instead.

I gasp, waking up and bolting up in bed, overheating.

“Shh Jade, it's just a dream. ” Xander says but I can feel his worry.

I look over and see the fireplace has a full roaring fire in it. I take some deep breaths and will the fire to go out.

I blink and get my bearings trying to calm my racing heart. Xander props up on his side, eyeing me closely.

“Was it about him?” He whispers.

I nod still raw with emotion.

“Do you want to talk about it?” He asks softly.

“There’s not much to say. It felt real. Like I was dead and we were meeting in passing again.”

“Again?”

I nod, looking away as a single tear rolls down my face. “I don’t really want to talk about it right now if that’s ok.” I say quietly.

“Of course. Did you want to take a breather before going back to bed? I could use some water.” he smiles at me, his voice a little scratchy.

I look over and see his blue eyes shining at me and I feel instantly more calm.

“Thank you for being there for me, Xander. I’m so sorry you’re pulled into this mess with me.. I honestly don’t know what I’d do without you.” I say, hoping he knows I appreciate him.

“You mean other than fliting around as a sexy billionaire fairy Princess?” He grins and sits up. “Trust me, despite all the drama over the past few months, and all the hurt that’s clouding things right now.. I’m still the one who lucked out with you. Before you stumbled in dumping coffee all over yourself I thought I would be stuck with Harmony for the rest of my life.”

I grimace.

“Exactly.” He laughs, pulls the covers off and goes into his bag to grab some sweats. I watch him get changed, immediately distracted, not exactly helping calm my heart but certainly improving my headspace.

He turns and holds his hand out to me, silently asking me to make my way to his side. I join him and we head to the kitchen, half dressed, but together.

He hands me a water bottle and I pull out a couple croissants, passing him one and hopping up onto the island. I pick at mine and drink some water, not caring that I’m getting crumbs everywhere.

He comes over having already devoured his pastry and stands between my legs, leaning in for a quick kiss. I catch him with my legs, wrapping them around him and pull him against me, my body humming to life as my fingers brush against his bare back.

The front door flies open and I hear the cackling of the group, returning from their night. I sigh and pull back but he doesn’t let me. He kisses me again, not stopping until he is ready to.

“Guys seriously?? You turned down the s*x club to do it on the counter?? We eat there!!” Katie laughs.

“Jaaaade, can you invite our guests in!” Av calls over.

My stomach turns. They invited vampires back here??

I hop down and walk over to the door.

“Fancy seeing you here,” Victor grins at me from the doorway with Nikki and Eric just behind him.

“Guys what the hell?!” I don’t bother acknowledging him and turn to my very drunk friends instead.

“Hey you’re the one who f*cked your alpha in the limo, getting your fae smell all over it, then teleported away in front of them.” Vi says handing out beers.

Xander shoots me an ‘I told you so’ look.

“We’re not here to harm you, Princess. I promise.” Victor says with his hands up.

I glare at him. “Forgive me if I’m not immediately trusting of the people who smashed the limo window in while I was c*mming.”

He grins and laughs. “We waited until the limo stopped rocking before knocking!”

I groan.

“Seriously though, how am I the only one who hasn’t had the pleasure of seeing the Jade Xander show?!” Vi whines appearing next to Xander giving him a beer with a once over.

“You’re not the only one! We really aren’t going around putting on shows for people.” I snap at her so she stops staring at how sexy Xander is shirtless.

“I mean what you did at my place was not, not putting on a show” Av says laughing, also eyeing Xander.

My turn to glare at him.

“I’d love to hear all about your sexy shows if you wanted to invite us in,” Victor says from the door.

“No. Sorry but I sleep here and I don’t know you.” I say to them bluntly.

“What if I did a spell to guarantee they won’t harm you? Then could they stay and party?” Av steps forward.

“You’d let us put some magic restrictions on you?” I ask the vampires at the door.

“To not harm any of you? Sure,” Nikki says.

“Fine.” I walk over to Victor and snap by his eyes saying "focus" - like Av did to me. I tap his forehead once I lock eyes with him. “You will not harm anyone in this penthouse ever, you will not tell anyone what I am, and you will help protect me if I get attacked while you’re around.” I say, tapping him again, sneaking in a protection clause.

I repeat on the other two and invite all three of them in, shutting the door behind them.

“So.. fae Princess? I knew there was something curious about you.” Victor says standing a little too close to me again.

“Let’s play a game!!” Katie squeaks from where her and Jackson are snuggling on the couch. She looks noticeably more docile.. I bet they had fun at the club.

“What’d you have in mind?” Nikki asks, taking a sip of her beer.

“We could do dealer's choice - truth or dare, or never have I ever?” Jackson suggests.

“How do you play?” I ask, moving away from Victor and over to stand by Xander again.

“Whoever’s turn it is picks a question - for example - never have I ever had s*x in a stretch limo. Then if you’ve done it you have to drink.” Xander, Vi, Nikki, Victor and I all swig our beers. Jackson laughs, “Easy.”

“How about never have I ever kissed a human,” Katie says.

Only the vampires and I drink.

“Never have I ever had a threesome,” Victor says. My heart pounds as I watch Xander take a drink.

Who the hell did he have a threesome with?? He avoids my eyes.

“Down girl, it’s just a game he doesn’t need to explain everything.” Vi calls me out.

I growl involuntarily and she laughs.

“Never have I ever gone skydiving.” Nikki says.

My head suddenly feels like it’s going to explode as I twitch and start shaking. I drop my beer, shattering and spilling it.

F*ck. Av’s block. I can’t confirm or deny but I don’t have a third option here. If I don’t drink it’s denying, if I drink it’s confirming.

I start convulsing.

Av flits over to me and grabs my face catching my eye. “The block on your week with Travis is removed.” she taps my head and the pain in my head immediately subsides. Xander shifts his weight and his heart rate skyrockets.

Oh sh*t.

I blink and see Vi hand me another drink - a vodka cran. She zooms around for a second and cleans the beer up before reappearing on the couch.

“Are you ok?” Victor asks, taking a step closer to me.

I nod.

“I believe she asked if you had ever been skydiving.” Xander says, his voice is lower, with the familiar rough edge he gets. I take a breath, avoiding his eyes and take a large gulp of my drink.

“Never have I ever had s*x on a plane,” Eric asks.

Whelp guess we’re getting it all out there now.

“Define s*x,” I say, not sure if the mind control crazy hookup thing we did actually counts as s*x.

“Jade, if you have to ask, the answer is probably yes,” Jackson says laughing.

“Let’s just say hooked up on a plane then, to be clearer,” Eric says. I take a drink and push away Xander’s emotions as he takes a few deep breaths.

“Truth or dare, Xander.” Vi asks.

“Dare.” He says, I can still feel his attention on me.

“I dare you to let me watch you two hook up.” Vi grins.

“Don’t you have to ask me as well?” I cut in before he answers.

“Jade. Please. I wasn’t born yesterday.” Vi laughs.

I turn and look over to see what he’s going to say, he catches my eyes.

*What do you think, Princess? You want to let her watch?* He asks in my mind.

“So alpha? We have a deal?” Vi asks again.

I take a breath. *I'll leave it up to you.* I reply through mind link, happy he stopped and asked me. Look at us.. getting better at talking.

“When your club’s up and running you can watch in one of the rooms.” He agrees, still starring at me.

Well then.

“Excellent.” She grins.

I sigh and down my drink as Katie and Av “oooooh” in the background. Vi vanishes and appears with a new one for me cheersing me with a wink.

“I think it’s your turn Jade,” Jackson says.

“Never have I ever killed a human.” I say, eager to change the subject.

All vampires and Jackson take a drink. Katie’s eyebrows shoot up at him.

“What the hell?” She accuses him.

“Hey it’s just a game we don’t have to go into details now,” he says.

If looks could kill.

“I think it’s Xander’s turn,” Av says.

“Truth or dare, Katie?” He asks.

“Truth.”

He pauses for a moment.

“We heard what Av thinks.. But as her best friend, I’m curious what you think. If Jade had a choice, who do you think she should have chosen?”

“It doesn’t really matter what I think Xander.. it matters what she does.” She says.

I knew I picked the right best friend.

“I don’t think that’s how the game works, Katie.” Av says with a smirk.

Katie considers it for a moment. “Well.. is both an option? Because you both brought different things to the table for her.”

“Can you actually see them sharing her?” Vi asks sarcastically. “They hated each other.”

I hold my breath. Do I want to know what she thinks?

“Fine. I would have wanted her to pick you. He probably treated her better overall with all the romantic things he planned and the way they seemed to be more open in communicating about their feelings.. but it sort of felt like it was always going to be you. She was talking about you from the moment I met her. You’re the one who consistently kept her safe and alive. Sure he was fun, but he put her in a lot of danger. You can give her a family and a pack, he could only offer her a life as a rogue.” She lists off her justification, making decent points. “Basically as long as you keep your sh*t together and treat her more like an equal.. I think you’re actually better for her in the long run.” He nods softly considering her words.

Av scoffs. “IF you can treat her like an equal? She’s a f*cking princess. She should be worshiped, not striving to be equal to some werewolf with an ego problem.”

“It’s a game, Avalon, we didn’t ask your opinion of Xander.” Katie snaps at her.

“Okok truth or dare Jade.” Jackson says moving the focus before a cat fight breaks out.

“Dare,” I say, not wanting to keep rehashing this in truths.

“I dare you to conjure up something weird. I want to see some cool magic.” He grins.

I blink at him. Not what I was expecting.

Ok something weird.

What’s weird?

I look around for inspiration and see a national geographic coffee table book with a platypus on the cover.

… I guess that’s weird?

I close my eyes and will the platypus to come out of the book. It makes a weird squawk quack and takes off, hopping off the table in one jump.

It starts waddle-slithering around as everyone starts cackling and diving out of the way to let it by.

Vi appears by it and picks it up. “What the f*ck is this??? It’s like a furry lizard duck?!”

Right on cue it bites her, almost looking offended at her description. She yelps, dropping it again, releasing it to keep slither-waddling around.

Jackson is howling he's laughing so hard. “Can you make it dance?!?”

I chuckle and close my eyes, willing the platypus to use it’s strange flippers to break out into a tap dance.

“Oh my god!!” He howls more.

“Jade..” Xander looks at me, not overly amused.

I will it to tap dance over to him, getting it to twerk it’s weird tail at him. He shakes his head at me, a smile showing up on his lips. Even he can’t hold back a small laugh at how weird this is.

Satisfied, I will the platypus to disappear back into the book with a small bow.

Jackson falls on the floor he’s laughing so hard, finally turning to me and chuckling out,

“F*cking perfect!”