Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75457 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75457 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
I let my gaze slide to my drinking companion. She’s very pretty and I could easily have her. But I decide to tell her about my world instead. “Truly, there aren’t many demons that walk in the First Dimension—your mortal realm—but there are plenty of evil Dark Fae.”
“And you kill them?” she asks, feigning true belief.
“I do. And other nasty creatures.”
“Are you like… a superhero?”
I suppress the urge to roll my eyes because Batman and Iron Man are pure fiction. “A demigod, created to serve at the whim of the gods.”
“There’s more than one?”
“Five. Gods of Life, Fate, Conflict, Humanity, and Nature.”
She frowns, tipping her head. “But I thought there was one God?”
I shrug. “I suppose there is. Never met him or her, but there are rumors that God expelled a slew of angels from the heavens for plotting a rebellion. Some fell to Hell and became Dark Fae. Some fell to this mortal realm and became Light Fae.”
Resting her chin on the palm of her hand, she smiles. “Do they have powers or something?”
“Some do.” I pick up my refreshed mug of beer and take a sip. “Most magic comes from a meteor that crashed to Earth a long time ago. It was chipped away and those who possess it can do amazing things.”
She runs her finger around the edge of her wineglass, fully invested in what she believes is a fictional story. “And do you have part of it?”
“The meteor?” I ask. She nods with doe eyes. “Don’t need it. The gods have given me immeasurable power and immortality, along with powers to conjure and bend distance.”
“Bend distance?”
“Pulling one physical place to me so I can step into it.” Her brow furrows in confusion. “It’s kind of like teleporting.”
A grin breaks out on her face, and she nods in understanding. “Like… beam me up, Scotty.”
Not like that at all, but I smile. “Exactly.”
Her expression turns coy for a moment, then determined. Her hand comes to my arm and she walks two fingers up it. “How about we get out of here, and you can show me what a demigod could do to a mere mortal woman like me?”
My eyes warm with empathy for her. It’s a come-on most men in here would jump at, but I’m not a man at all. Taking her hand from my arm and giving it a squeeze, I shake my head. “I’m sorry, love. But there’s only one woman I want.”
I get a pout in return. “Then why aren’t you with her?”
Why indeed? There’s absolutely no good reason I’m sitting here and not with Zora.
“It was a pleasure,” I say, standing from my stool and throwing a hundred-dollar bill on the bar. “Have some more drinks on me.”
“Wait,” she calls out as I walk away, but I don’t look back.
Outside the bar, I turn down the nearest alley and bend distance straight into Zora’s house in Switzerland.
* * *
I could be well-mannered and bring myself to her front door where I’d ring the doorbell politely.
But I’m not a polite being most of the time, so I opt to appear inside her dwelling because if I give her the choice of whether or not to let me in, there’s a chance she’ll deny me. Zora is completely unpredictable in that way.
By coming right inside I have a bit of a chance she’ll let me stay.
I manifest in her living room by the door that leads out onto the deck. It’s night when I arrive but house lights twinkle down in the valley, so it’s not overly late. The living room is dim, lit only by a healthy fire in the hearth and a small table lamp at one end of the couch.
Zora is there, curled up reading. She’s got her knees drawn in with a book resting there. I quickly take in Mattia, one of her two Bernese Mountain Dogs, curled at her feet. I don’t see Uorsin anywhere.
I stand perfectly still, using this unfettered opportunity to watch her. I met her a year ago when we weren’t sure if the world was going to end. She was a mere human when we first fucked and still a human when I started losing my heart to her.
Back then she was so closed off and wary of everyone. She’d lived in Hell for her entire life and didn’t understand the brightness and complexities of the First Dimension.
She most certainly didn’t understand relationships. Even basic friendship was a conundrum to her.
Zora did understand sex though. She’d had plenty of it with Amell, once she was old enough, a fact that causes rage to burn within me. I hate that motherfucker for having her first and for still having a piece of her heart, whether she admits it or not.
The woman is a complete mystery, but she doesn’t try to be. She’s someone who’s been shot through dimensions like a pinball slamming against bumpers, having her life turned upside down over and over again. Zora’s been a god for a year now, gifted that status in recognition of her sacrifice, and she’s like a lamb just learning to walk.