Courts and Cabals 2 G.S. D'Moore (the little red hen read aloud .txt) 📖

I was pretty sure I was dying as more and more sludge came out of me. Eventually, I had nothing left, and I sat with my head on the cold porcelain as my hand felt around for the flusher.

“Master,” Fern got there first, and the smell lessened as the hotel’s plumbing took care of the problem.

“Whoa,” Dani stopped at the door and waved her hand in front of her face. “Did you drink your weight in wine last night?”

“Last night?” my memory was a little hazy. The only thing on my mind was the purple tinge to the cream-colored wall behind the toilet.

“Your time with Venus,” Dani knelt down next to me and gave me a closer look. “You son of a bitch, you actually did it.” I peeked an eye open and saw the dwarf smiling. “If you fucked her, I’d smell her cream all over your dick. Since you smell like ass, and clearly haven’t showered, you actually resisted Venus fucking Venitas. Color me impressed.”

As she spoke, the details of the night came back to me. “You told me yourself,” I struggled to my feet, and wobbled enough Fern reached out to steady me. My stomach physically hurt from the puking, but I felt better. “Sometimes it’s not about fucking. She made dinner, we talked, and apparently I drank too much,” I shrugged as I moved back toward the bedroom while ignoring the cramping in my gut.

Dani didn’t lose the respectful expression, and I knew word of this would make its way back to Lilith. That made me happy. Resisting her mother’s charms, even if she never put the moves on me, was going to be good for our little harem.

“Happy succubus, happy life,” I made a tweak to the old saying, but it still worked.

“You not getting sucked off by the boss is great and all, but we’re still going to be late,” Dani stood over where I sat on the edge of the bed.

“Shit,” now I remembered what she was talking about.

Training with Peter had been scheduled this morning; partly, I’m sure, because he knew I was having dinner with Venus and wanted to fuck with me. I had training scheduled all day, starting with the other First to assess my abilities, and later with Lark. The Fae was going to try and instruct me on the new gifts I possessed. If I did well enough, I’d be able to go to the porn expo where Dani and Lilith had bought me a VIP pass.

I felt like if I had a solid month, I could learn just about anything after what Dani, Xamira, and I had gone through leading up to the fight with the troll knight. This time, I only had a week, and that was pushing it. Sure, I was motivated; who wouldn’t be if they had a backstage pass to titty and ass central station? I was still an eighteen-year-old, red-blooded, American man; even if my definition of “man” might have slightly changed.

“This is gonna suck,” I groaned, but bucked myself up. Worst case scenario, I unleashed a projectile vomit attack on Peter. The Pegasus might just let me go back to sleep after that.

“Master, what shall I do?” Fern just stood in the middle of the room as Dani and I headed for the door. I’d passed out in shorts and a t-shirt, and that was good enough to fight in.

“Why don’t you clean up,” my mouth answered before my brain caught up.

My face paled, and I turned to apologize. I didn’t want Fern scraping my dried vomit off the bathroom wall. Talk about demeaning, but she was standing there with a big smile on her face. If I didn’t know any better, I’d have thought she’d just been given a raise and the day off.

“Yes, Master!” she beamed and practically skipped to the bed to strip it and run a laundry load.

“That girl is weird,” I tried not to think too much about it. I had other things to concentrate on.

We rode the elevator down to the subterranean levels. Unlike the magically-enhanced penthouse space, these floors were done the old-fashioned way; dug out of the earth, reinforced with steel, concrete, and shoved full of everything a supernatural, paramilitary force needed to train. The workout section was fucking huge. It followed an open concept design, and despite it being early, there were dozens of people present.

There was a uniform vibe from the young men and women sparring on the mats, engaging in some yoga, tai chi, or Pilates, and lifting in the weights section. Hell, the hyperdense metals used in supernatural workout equipment weighed a few hundred pounds a plate, and some of the stronger-looking fellas were lifting a solid half-ton. It was pretty clear everyone here was an imp. They were the backbone of the cabal; working in everything from VIP protection to cyber security. There was a grace, speed, and strength to them that spoke to their half-supernatural bloodline.

Most ignored Dani and me as we passed them, but a familiar mocha-skinned woman with two full tattoo sleeves gave us a smile, wave, and walked over to intercept us.

“You look better,” I gave Xamira a smile.

She did. There was a bit of a glow back to her features, and her eyes weren’t puffy and red. She’d had time to mourn her dead brother, and while she hadn’t moved on, there was acceptance in her stance.

“And you look like shit,” she raised an eyebrow at Dani.

“Looks like her whit is all better too,” I shook my head and smiled. Over the past few days, I’d missed the imp who’d trained me how to fight dirty.

“You know you’re representing me this morning,” Xamira frowned as she looked me over. “Did you have to go on a binger last night?”

“I will have you know . . .” I