We arrived back at the house before sunset and had a quick snack, then checked the place, and gave the shisa an appreciative pat on the head. The guardian seemed to enjoy that, then kept on patrolling. I connected with him for a moment, sending my appreciation and feeling that several observers had been detected while we were gone, but nothing more.
When my attention returned to my surroundings, I noticed Steph giving me a sideways glance. I was about to ask what that was about, when she ran her tongue along her lips and motioned toward the bedroom.
“A shower before the fight sounds good, don’t you think?” Steph said.
I nodded in eager anticipation. We made straight for the shower, undressing as we went. She had it turned on and was cleaning herself before I managed to remove my pants. I only paused long enough to check on the Liahona in my jacket. In a moment, I was back with her, kissing her neck and then more.
A glance back out through the open door showed orange and purple streaks in the sky. “We don’t have much time.”
“I look forward to it,” I admitted, soaping up as she stepped out of the tub to find a towel. Soon, I was out, too, drying myself off.
My eyes went to the window, the dark sky. The blue glow returned to the gargoyles and their stone broke free. Ebrill and Kordelia turned to see us, both naked but covering ourselves somewhat with towels.
Kordelia arched a brow at the sight of us. “You have nothing better to do?”
“Actually,” Steph countered, “we found the hideout.”
“Spare me the details.” Kordelia tossed me a shirt from my open suitcase. “And get dressed before you blind us all with your pale rear.”
“I like that pale rear,” Ebrill noted, finding the whole situation quite humorous.
Ignoring the comment, Kordelia strode to the window and looked out into the early night. “They’ll be here soon, I imagine.”
“Then we need to get on with our attack,” Steph said.
“Actually.” I held up a hand for attention. “I’ve been thinking. If we wait a bit, I can see about controlling the house from somewhere nearby, make it seem like we’re within and putting up a fight. Then, when they’re working to counter our barrier spells and break their way in, we’re on our way to their base.”
“And you think Fatiha will have your aunt at their headquarters?” Ebrill asked.
“She has to realize I know by now, and that I’ll be after the tree.”
“Tree?” Kordelia asked.
“It’s… a long story. Basically, what’s left of my aunt—er, Gertrude, is in some sort of magical tree. It’s small. Fatiha wants the Liahona so she’s pressing the attack, but if we get access to that tree and Gertrude, we open the gateway and gain access to the magic of Avalon. Of course, she’ll press the attack, but also guard that tree with a strong force.”
“Let’s be ready for her, then,” Ebrill said. “And be ready to make our getaway.”
We all agreed, finished dressing, and made our way out of there. Steph had demonstrated foresight by parking the car a couple of blocks away earlier, and now we slipped out the new back—set up since I had rearranged the place with my transmutation magic—and kept low. Ebrill used her cloaking spell now that the memory of it had come back to her. At this point, she explained as we went, she felt that most, if not all, of her memories had returned.
We reached the perfect spot, hidden among the trees of a nearby house on a hill. From here, we could see my aunt’s house and the surrounding area. At the moment, all was calm. Not even a wind to sway the trees, or a dog’s bark to break the quiet. The purr of an electric car sounded. The car appeared down the street a moment later and drove by, but other than that, nothing.
As we waited, I glanced up to see Kordelia watching me. Curiosity mixed with maybe a bit of seductive interest. I nodded her way, and she cocked her head, eyes not leaving mine.
“What?” I asked.
“For a small man, you’re… hot,” she whispered. “And pleasant to look at.”
“He’s not so small,” Ebrill said from my left, earning a grin from Kordelia.
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“Not where it counts,” Kordelia agreed, causing me to blush.
“I thought size wasn’t supposed to matter,” I interjected.
Steph cleared her throat, holding up a finger. “To an extent.”
“Says the tiny woman.” Kordelia licked her teeth, then shrugged. “Maybe to some it doesn’t. To me, it does.”
“Me too,” Ebrill said. “I hate to be shallow, but… yeah. Good thing we’re not working with a shrimp here.” She cupped my package.
I frowned. “Aren’t we supposed to be working, here?”
“They’re giving you a compliment,” Steph said. “Take it and say thank you.”
“Thanks,” I said but shook my head. “Now focus.”
“Until they get here, does it matter?” Kordelia asked. “You focus on what you want to focus on, let me focus on you.”
This time I turned in confusion. “Sorry, but… what? You left the room back there.”
“Wondering if I made a mistake.”
“Oh.” I glanced at Ebrill, trying to judge whether Kordelia was fucking with me, but she was smiling my way like she was ready for more.
“There will be more opportunities,” I said.
“Wait a second.” Ebrill moved close to me and crouched at my side, hand on my abs. “Isn’t it true that your powers kind of amplify when you’re in contact? Like we did before.”
I gulped and eyed her and then Kordelia, nervously. “Yes.”
“Then it’s settled. Kordelia, you can touch it.”
“Hey,” I started to protest, but Ebrill was already undoing my pants.
“It’s not like we have to fight, here, or run. Not at first, right? You’re going to connect to the building, make them believe we’re inside, and make them regret sending their forces. So, this,” she put a hand on my chest, skin to skin, “will help.”
Kordelia looked to Steph first, who, smiling, gave her a nod to go ahead. Kordelia reached out. One cold finger found my neck. My eyes closed and she gently caressed the soft area beneath my ear, and then I was there, spreading out from the house and nearby streets, able to sense the incoming danger.
“They’re here,” I said, and felt her caress again. This time the flash came with a line of surging darkness that pushed through the ground, forcing its way up as it moved for the house. I mumbled something about not stopping, and then felt another hand on my cheek, the other side, even lips nibbling at my ear.
“Not so much that I break focus,” I had to say, but hated those words at the moment. I craved their touch, but if we fucked up our attack, literally, everything could be ruined.
“Sorry,” Steph’s muffled voice said. The mouth then moved off my cock.
I was the house. I was old pieces of armor and blades, and moved through the floor and walls, even the outer grounds to rise and meet the enemy in their charge. They hit, then, and I unleashed. A bit too much, maybe, but then again, with three women’s hands on me, how could I contain myself?
The first wave was completely immobilized, and I was pulled back to the gargoyles and Steph as I waited for another strike.
“What happened?” Steph said, hand under my shirt and caressing my chest.
Looking at her there, I had to smile. “Wiped out the first round. No contest.”
“Damn,” Kordelia said, hand moving along my neck, then through my hair.
Tingles moved up my spine. “Careful now...”
She laughed, going back to the gentle caress. “Suit yourself.”
“Can you use your ice and other magic when in there?” Steph asked. “From the house, I guess?”
“I’ll try.” My hand up, I turned back to meet another incoming attack. “Here goes.”
This time I was in there and ready for them with what felt like a haunted fun house. The floor undulated and the walls shook and smashed. I tried my ice magic but nothing happened, so I turned to my ability to warg.
At first, I tried it on a demon, but was pushed back with a painful sensation. The way I figured it, the more intelligent the enemy was, the less likely I would be able to take it over. Or, maybe it had to do with magical power? Either way, I went instead for a lumbering brute of an orc and managed to make it work.
Three good slashes with its serrated sword ended three enemy lives, and then I was out as a blast of magic came its way. The orc exploded, but I moved through the walls, wanting to try something else. Seeing the caster of the magic, I tried warging again—it worked! My theory had been that magic users were drained right after using magic, so maybe that would be a time I could take over. In the body of this seemingly low-level sorcerer, I spun and let loose on the nearby enemies with my ice magic. I didn’t have much, yet, but my frost footing hit and then I created several ice walls to block the enemy in, so that as they slipped about they accidentally cut into each other. Some even got mad and burst into a killing frenzy, so that I turned their less-intelligent fighters against each other.
“Where are you?” a voice asked. It echoed through the house and then hit the body I was in, sending pain shooting through me until I was forced to pull out.
I was still one with the house, but couldn’t tell where the voice was coming from. Instead of waiting to find out, I gave them one more round of haunted funhouse-style of attacks and pulled out. The first thing I saw when my vision returned to normal was that I had leveled up. We needed everything we could get, so I assigned points and checked to see my new spells. The screen read:
Level 5 MAGE
Statistics
Strength: 15
Defense: 14
Speed: 13
Luck: 10
Charisma: 10
Mana: 450
Recent Spells
Gorffwys (sleep); Frost Footing; Ice Wall; Ice Claw; Frost Bite
As excited as I was to find out how ice claw and frost bite worked, we needed to get our plan into action before it fell apart.
“Go!” I hissed, pulling back with much regret. Kordelia let out a heavy sigh, while Ebrill gave me a mock pout.
“Don’t die,” I said as we started to move, “and we’ll have plenty of time for that.”
The idea that two women—gargoyle women, no less—were sad over not being able to kiss and caress me was intriguing. It was so unlike any reality I had ever faced. Then there was Steph, making it three, and we had our own weird background.
But what I said held some truth. We needed to live, or none of that would matter. We needed to succeed, or there would be worse problems.