Echoes of the Past

Chapter 13

Annie lay motionless on the cot where they’d left her before. Eric looked down at her in sympathy … mixed with nausea. Apparently Charlene’s spell over him was still strong. Annie’s ample chest rose and fell as he inhaled and exhaled, and yet he felt nothing sensual about it.

“I don’t know how I can break the spell,” David murmured. “Not without my amulet.”

“Where is it?” Eric asked.

The redhead shrugged and shook his head, frowning as he looked the sleeping girl over. Gwendolyn had covered Annie’s scantily clad torso with a sheet for modesty. When Eric and David had rescued her from Charlene’s house, she wore little more than her top and a pair of panties.

“She’s deep under, too,” David mused. “Charlene wanted to make damned sure she would be waiting for her final session.”

The thought of the witch draining the last of Annie’s strength and breaking her completely gave Eric a strong shudder. That sour-faced bitch needed to be destroyed. Why wouldn’t David just take him already and end it all. As if reading his mind, the redhead suddenly looked over at him and shook his head, and Eric understood the meaning. He would discuss the matter with him privately later. The dark haired man was okay with that, deciding he’d given Gwendolyn enough amusement for a while.

“I have to look away,” he sighed. “The sight of her for too long makes me want to hurl.”

David peered at him more closely and his eyes widened. “She cast a spell upon you, too,” he seethed.

“Yeah. She thought I was you and wanted to keep me from interfering with her … power source.”

“I really wish my ancient sire hadn’t tried to spare my mother’s feelings.”

Eric felt bad for David. It wasn’t enough that he suddenly had to contend with his best friend’s newfound sexuality. No, he also had to suffer under the assault of thousands of years’ worth of memories of a psychotic and powerful half-demon sister-witch hell bent on destroying him and said best friend so she can take over humanity and bring it to its knees before her. Why did that always have to be the way things went, huh?

“It’s what someone would do for his soul mate, right?” he asked with a smirk.

“No offense,” David replied, “but I would never allow you to birth a demon seed.”

“Uh, that’s cool!” Eric grinned. “Especially me not having a uterus, and all.”

David let out a bark of laughter and shook his head. “See? It’s times like these that keep me going.”

Eric shrugged and sat back down in the outer room while David and Gwendolyn tried to figure out how to break the spell. An hour later, they emerged from the room frowning.

“What?” he asked.

“There’s only one way to get my hands on my amulet right now,” the redhead replied. “At least until I figure out where it is.”

“When was the last time you had it?”

“It’s been three lifetimes. I’m not completely sure.”

Gwendolyn went to the kitchen and put a pot of water on the stove to heat, taking out some tea bags and a couple of cups. Eric quirked an eyebrow up at her while she worked quietly then turned back to David.

“Can’t you conjure up some mojo to find it?”

“Some mojo?” the redhead laughed. “Nope. Sorry. Until I get my hands on the amulet, I can’t work magic in this form.”

“But, our mating …?” Eric was annoyed to find himself flushing as he said it.

“That’s different,” David waved it off. “But that’s also not going to happen until you’re ready.”

“To save the world?” Eric huffed. “I’ll get ready!”

“Eric,” David leaned forward. “This is more than just saving humanity and killing off a demon.” He held Eric’s dark eyes as he spoke. “It’s about us finally completing our destiny. And that can’t be rushed.”

Eric sighed but nodded nonetheless. He was ready to let David take the lead in this whole thing anyway, not really happy with his own progress thus far. “So, how do we get you your amulet?”

Gwendolyn placed the tea cups on the table between the men and quietly slipped out of the room. David looked down at the tea and back up at Eric then handed him a cup. “Tea break,” he said, picking up his own cup and taking a sip.

Eric briefly wondered why they couldn’t just talk about it now, but decided to just go with his friend’s decision and took a long sip from his cup. David leaned back in his chair and took another sip and smiled, watching the dark haired man closely as he did the same. Eric began to feel a bit dizzy and put his cup down.

“D-David?”

“Take a nap, baby,” the redhead slurred.

Then everything went dark.

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Charlene fumed in her den. She needed more power to cast the summoning spell she wanted to do on Annie. She’d already used her mind’s eye to search Eric’s apartment and no one was there. This was the only way to get the slave back, and she had to do it now, while the girl was still asleep. But Deirdre was still recuperating from her first session and she couldn’t risk damaging her new power supply before she was fully trained. Damn her brother! She paced to and fro as she thought about what she could do. She frowned when the doorbell rang and traipsed over to the door, ripping it open.

What?” she growled at the perky woman on the other side of it.

“Hello, my name is Sally,” said the pretty brunette. “I’m from Mary Kay. Can I interest you in a free makeover?”

Before she launched into a tirade and kicked the saleslady out of her house, Charlene was struck by her own fortunate luck. Smirking at her she stepped back to allow her in.

“How about we take this into the den?” she said, closing and locking the door behind her.

“Great!”

Charlene led the woman into the windowless room then shut and locked that door as well. The smile on Sally’s face dimmed a bit as she noted Charlene stood between her and the door but she placed her case on the desk.

“So, your name is …?” she asked nervously.

“Charlene,” the witch said, grabbing the pretty girl’s arm. “But you can call me Mistress.”

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“You drugged me?” Eric yelled as David straddled his hips.

“I needed you to sleep,” the redhead pouted, fingering the amulet around his neck. “You and Gwendolyn talked about it earlier.” He leaned down to run his tongue along Eric’s jaw line, smirking at the moan he received for his trouble.

“But I was joking about conking you over the head.” Eric didn’t even try to pull away anymore, letting David pull his shirt off and explore his chest at will. “This is so freaking insane!”

“It’s fun though.”

“I wasn’t talking about this,” Eric frowned and glared up at him.

“What then?”

David pulled back to look down at him in question, still running his hands all over Eric’s broad chest and tweaking his nipples.

“I mean that you’ll only touch me here and not … up there!”

“Oh, I’ll more than touch you … up there,” the redhead grinned. “But I want to make sure you’re ready!”

“I keep telling you I am!”

“And I know you’re not yet.”

“But …”

“Shhh! Listen to me!” David assumed a rare reproachful look as he covered Eric’s lips with one of his hands. “She has dictated everything we’ve done so far, right?” Eric nodded. “Well, not this. It’s the most important thing we will ever do.”

“I know,” Eric murmured against the hand.

“Then how can you let her influence it? It’s not right until you’re absolutely ready and you understand that it will bind us together permanently.”

“More than we are now?”

“Much more,” David nodded. “You’ll also gain some of my powers.”

Eric’s dark eyebrows shot up. “I will?”

David nodded, removing the hand over his lover’s mouth and smiling. “Everything I am, you will become, and everything you are, I will possess. It’s an intense, irreversible step.”

“Why would we want to reverse it?” Eric asked. “Don’t you think we’ll want to be bound like that forever?”

“I know I definitely will.” David leaned in and kissed Eric deeply.

“You’re worried I won’t though?”

David shrugged and kissed him again, moaning into his mouth and running his hands down to Eric’s zipper. The pants were coming off. The dark haired man didn’t protest and lifted his hips to help get them down. David pulled them off with a flourish and then started working on the briefs.

“I know what this involves, Dave,” Eric sighed as the redhead hit an erogenous zone. “I think know what I want …”

“Mm. I’m sure you’re coming to understand that, too …”