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Souls of the Night
132.
"Thank moonlight," Alexander sighed, dropping back onto his pillow.
"'They've turned the corner.' What a relief. Watching you stare into the crystal ball every hour was really a pain," Flora commented next to him as she let her vines, which were growing out of her body, crawl out from under the covers, grab the crystal ball, and gently set it down on the floor. "Maybe now you can enjoy your sojourn here."
"Haven't I already?" said Alex, letting his hand wander over her bosom, which felt like velvety skin and yet wasn't. Flora was one of Oberon's children. Actually, a child of Persephone and Hades - and although Flora had inherited some of her mother's abilities, as far as Alex knew, she had been only one of many nameless scattered seeds of the Greek gods. Lower spirits on Avalon were servants at best and playthings at worst, which is why the majority of them mostly hid from the more powerful children. Just as Flora hid in the plants she could grow. One of many lowly nymphs without a name and mostly without a fixed form because they had power over a part of nature but not the kind of magic that was respected on Avalon and among the children. Until Alexander started to talk to her during his last stay instead of ignoring her or teasing her as the highborn children often did.
And when he gave her a name, it meant the world to her, for names raised disembodied and weak spirits from insignificance. Gods without names were shadows, powerless and withering away. Which probably explained why the fewest children gave names to their bastards (or left them in the human world if they were halflings with human blood). Because the sooner these beings "withered" again the better. Not so Flora, who was able to cling to the energy signature of the magically strong boy who had baptized her, even after he had returned to the human world. She hadn't been strong enough to take that form of a woman then- but she had tugged from his energy like an ivy sapling from a mighty tree. And had been able to do with him on his present visit what she had resolved to do for months (Avalon time). And how pleased she had been that Alexander - quite unlike other children of Oberon - had not pushed her as a weaker creature out of his bed after he was done with her. No! He was now lying next to her and he still gave her the feeling of being worthy of him. And although that thought hadn't fully manifested itself in her yet, Flora knew she couldn't let him go this time.
"I'm just glad," Alexander said with a sigh. "I really didn't think they'd take this long."
"Those gargoyles are your family. Of course, it's been weighing on you. Did you anticipate that this Nathaniel would petrify in response to your spell? Or the fire part?"
Alex shrugged his bare, muscular but not bulky shoulders. "Magic is not an exact science especially not by halflings like me. But what I saw when I turned him ... that creature - and what he just told the others - I don't even know what that was or is supposed to be. Whether it had any effect at all on these side effects or on their disappearance-."
"Maybe there's more to this little human than you thought."
"Whatever that is, I may not find out until I return home and brainstorm with Puck."
"I loved the scene when Lexington almost killed his human shell - that was better than streaming." Giggling, she took the joint from the redhead's mouth and took a drag. She probably didn't get a kick out of it because she had created the marijuana leaves out of her body herself but it was kind of sexy to share indirect kisses like that and even more so that Alex allowed it.
"Oh, you with your streaming addiction. That Oberon would allow that," Alexander teased her, feeling thick tendrils lick over him like snakes under the bedsheet.
"What do you want him to do? He's totally into Shadow and Bone and Sex in the City - his uproarious laughter can be heard in every corner of the castle. He considers humans' little problems to be hilarious, and these magic series even funnier. Oh what have we here? That's not one of MY tendrils," Flora said and Alex grunted as something (he knew exactly what it was) tightened around his dick.
"You could at least have left a message for them to fuck each other to avoid any side effects," a voice came from next to Alexander and he turned his head with a grin.
Ares rose from the pillow of the massive bed on his other side, and his three-fingered tail (how Alexander loved that tail, what Ares could do with it! Heavens- THAT was magic!), plucked the joint from Flora's lips and guided it to his own orange-red ones. As he did so, his forearm spikes grazed Alexander's bare chest and so he shuddered intensely.
"Oh! `Fuck`? What a vulgar human word for a member of the Avalonian Honor Guard!", he exclaimed feignedly, stroking the temple of the gargoyle, who was slimmer but taller than he and whose clawed feet extended beyond the end of the bed. The previously so cold and proud creature rumbled inhumanly and nuzzled into his hand like a grateful puppy. "Besides, it wasn't about fucking - I'm quite sure of that."
"So? Isn't that what it's always about?" asked Flora, stroking Ares' mouth with one of her appendages. The latter handed the cigarette to Alex, opened his lips and snapped at her tendril at which Flora squealed and giggled.
"It was about becoming a gargoyle," he said with dignity. "That's what you made him for, right?"
"Yes- physically. But he had to become a gargoyle entirely. His mind, his consciousness, his sense of self. With all the abilities and challenges that went with it. Honestly - as it looked - in the crystal ball - probably not the sex was the deciding factor but the gliding. The first real flight."
"Oh yeah- THAT's gargoyle essence," Ares confirmed thoughtfully snatching up the butt again and Flora shot him a challengingly cheeky look.
"And I thought your gargoyle essence runs out of my-."
"Ahhh you naughty girl!" roared Alexander, throwing himself at her that she shrieked with delight.
Ares laughed and stretched one of his wings over Alex and Flora at the same time, pulling them both into his embrace. The vine creature squealed, the human laughed, and the joint in the corner of Ares' mouth trembled as his chest vibrated with his deep exhilarated rumble.
And where Alexander had thought just a few hours ago that Ares loathed him, hated him for some undefined reason, Ares' vicious behavior had had a WHOLE different motive. Not hatred had been his drive - but frustration. About the boy with the orange-red hair (the same shade his own skin had) and who had told him how cool his spikes were. And who had looked at him during his next visit as if he didn't know him anymore! The fact that years had passed for Alex between his visit as a twelve-year-old and as a fifteen-year-old boy, and only a few weeks for him as an Avalonian Gargoyle, had not mattered to Ares. He had been terribly offended and simply did not understand. Why the grandson of Titania had been nice to him once and then only gave him a polite nod of the head like all the other Gargoyles except Gabriel.
And Ares- perplexed, even disappointed about this behavior but out of pride unable to take a step towards Alexander himself and address the matter had only watched him. Out of the shadows when he was alone. In the torchlight of the castle courtyard when he fought and trained his growing skills or in the dining hall with the other children. But it was only when Alexander, who had matured into a man, had become involved with the Banshee a few months ago (for Alex it had been years), and Ares had not killed a SINGLE animal during the hunt that evening, that he realized why he could not take his eyes off the boy who, from his point of view, was growing at breakneck speed. The boy had become a man. A pale child had become a fighter and powerful magic caster, whose eyes still sparkled with energy even after a fight. And even worse - from a friendly boy he had grown into a kind, good man, which he proved again and again, even if he could be quite devious sometimes, which Ares liked more than a little. And then he FUCKED the BANSHEE! And even if Ares had heard during Alexander's visit in his 21st year that he had separated from the screamer again, he couldn't bear to just watch the halfling anymore. He wanted to punish him - for his bad choice, which had almost cost him his head. For his rapid growth, which by now made him older than Ares himself, and that every visit could be Alexander's last if Oberon decided that his step-grandson's training was complete and the boy chose NOT to live on Avalon. And Ares had fought with him in a practice battle - and lost, of course. But since that visit Ares dreamed of the man he had briefly lain under - as he had lain under him yesterday. And these dreams explained why he had been able to pleasure one or two of his clan sisters if they had wanted to - but he had never been able to choose one as his mate. Because they simply didn't have a dick. And not that lovely red hair. And not that cheeky smile! And not those delicate clawless human hands that could knead his ass like it was clay that Alex could mold to his will.
Gabriel, of course, had noticed the growing distress in Ares and he entrusted himself to his clan leader with the rather clear idea that Gabriel would instruct him to put the silly ideas out of his head and rather invest his seed in one of his conspecifics, since the breeding season would be coming soon. But his clan leader had only smiled, nodded and looked at him as if he knew what it was like to love without being able to express it. Ares found it dishonorable to look for a mate where his mind would always be on Alexander Xanatos. They could have his seed but not his heart. He knew, however, that he had no right to make advances to Titania's grandson. The humiliation would be too great if Alexander-though he knew he had a good heart-would not return his affection.
And Ares would have continued to grumble, giving Alex hateful looks and piercing him with his arrows as an unspoken punishment that Alex himself did not notice how Ares felt. Until Alexander would have completed the last training session on Avalon and perhaps left forever.
Silly little boys, Flora had thought, watching the amateur theater, hidden in the shadows of the trees from which Ares had scraped the bark sorrowfully and frustrated whenever he had watched Alexander. For she had noticed that it was not hatred that guided the proud archer. A sun could nourish more than one plant - Flora knew that. And because she was a child of Oberon and did not share the same ridiculous morals as the humans, she knew that Alexander did not share them either - especially not with two role models like Elisa and Goliath in front of him when growing up. Which is why her plan to have the two (Alexander and Ares) talk to each other had worked so wonderfully. The fact that she had been able to join in and that both males had gladly accepted was just a bonus. Alexander was wonderfully relaxed now that the problem in his real home was solved. Flora had two lovers at once and should one get carried away with the other she knew "home remedies" which could make them both steadfast again.
And as if on command, Alexander responded to her caresses, which did not escape Ares' notice.
"If you start the third round, not without me," he said.
"Never without you, how could we, Prickly?" Alex purred, and Ares' spines stood up at this humiliating yet affectionate nickname.
Flora also let her tendrils creep over Ares' wings, who looked at her grumbling (almost purring) and pressed a kiss on her artificial lips, which was more gratitude than love but which expressed deep affection. The dark veil over the gargoyle was gone. He could share. Gladly, in fact. If only he got his share of the red-haired mage.
Ares sighed blissfully as he felt Flora's small vines move over his skin and a human hand grasp his cock as well. He loved happy endings - preferably more than one.
Thanks for reading, Q.T.
