Neon Blue E Frost (speld decodable readers .TXT) 📖

though it was what he wanted and needed – to always have sex on someone else’s terms. It’s not rape, but it’s a kind of violation.

I touch his arms tentatively, and when he doesn’t move, hug him, giving him time to draw away if he doesn’t want the embrace. I’m sorry, Jou. I didn’t realize.

He slides his arms around me. That’s okay, sweet meat. I’m the one who can read your mind, not the other way around.

But you’ve told me what it’s been like for you . . . I should have guessed.

You’re such a fuckin’ softie. He kisses my forehead. I want it the way it was last night. Slow an’ sweet an’ no interruptions. An’ I want to be able to say ‘no’ when I don’t want it.

Of course. Of course you can.

Then let’s go see these inedible ducks. Then we’ll go back to your place and roll around in your bed where I don’t have to worry about another demon or elemental rainin’ all over my parade.

I hadn’t thought of that. Yes, okay.

We are gonna roll around in your bed all night. So don’t worry about that.

I shake my head ruefully. No, of all the things I’m worried about, that’s not one them.

My immortal soul. His propensity for killing everything we meet. The fact that I like him more and more all the time, and that I don’t know what I’ll do if I figure out a way to send him back to Hell . . . those I worry about. Whether we’re going to have sex tonight, well, I guess that’s one thing in my life that’s a certainty.

The duck tour’s nearly a disaster.

Everything’s fine at first. The demon’s good mood continues as we board the amphibious craft, find our seats and begin rolling through the city. He drapes his arm around my shoulders, points out sights that particularly impress him. The gold dome of the State House captures his attention for a while and I wonder what it reminds him of. He doesn’t tell me, just nuzzles my ear when I fail to show the required enthusiasm. He joins the other tourists in quacking at the pedestrians whenever prompted by the ConDUCKtor, his deep voice booming over the others. He’s grinning all the way to the point when we make a sharp turn at the Charles River Dam and splash down into the murky river.

He rises half out of his seat, and I don’t think it’s from the impact of the boat in the river.

We’re in the water. His mental voice drops to a growl.

Of course we are. It’s a duck tour.

I thought we were goin’ to meet the fuckin’ ducks, not bathe with ‘em. He rises all the way out of his seat, dragging me up with him.

I try to push him back down. Relax. It’s perfectly safe. We’re supposed to go in the water. Didn’t you hear the ConDUCKtor at the beginning?

He turns toward me and I see the shimmer of horns above his head. Feel the lick of heat across my cheeks. He didn’t say anything about being surrounded by water. C’mon, we’re offa this thing.

I glance at the receding dock. We can’t just get off now. How do you plan to get back to shore?

His eyes ignite, burn blue. Make that quacking fuck turn this thing around. Or I will. The shadow of his scythe appears in his hand, grows more solid as I watch.

Stop, Jou! Anyone with the Sight will see. Tell me what’s going on. I can’t just stop the tour. Not without a good reason.

I’m fuckin’ surrounded by water. That’s a good reason.

You’ve been in water before. I hold my hands out to him, trying to understand. You took a shower just a few hours ago.

I wasn’t immersed. He glances over the side and a shudder runs through him.

It’s okay. We’re not going to sink. I’ve never heard of one of these things capsizing.

He grabs me, fingers digging into my upper arms. Bruising-hard. I try to control a flinch. Fail. He eases off and pulls me tight against him. I can feel tiny tremors running through him.

I get a hand free and work it under his jacket. Stroke his back. Lean into him. Make soft, soothing noises. Nothing helps. He’s shivering harder. The scythe keeps flickering in the edge of my vision. It’s only a matter of time before he uses it on the hapless ConDUCKtor. Or me.

He’s staring past me, at the shore. Longing fiercer than when he watched the jet climb through the blue sky burns in his eyes.

Jou, what do you need? I ask in desperation. It hurts to see him like this. Even if he is a demon.

Contact with the Earth.

Well that, at least, I can give him.

I close my eyes and reach, pulling familiar sensations to me. The hard-packed dirt floor of my hearth-room, the crumbling black soil of my flower-beds, the gritty roll of dust across my skin when I call the corners.

Earth flows across and through me. Swirls around the demon. Its touch does what mine didn’t; it grounds him. I feel the fire spirit in him leap in response. Under my hands, the rigid muscles of his back relax. He sinks back into the padded seat. When I open my eyes, he meets my gaze with eyes gone dark and calm.

Better? I ask, blinking and muzzy from calling power.

Yeah. He settles in the seat. Stretches out his legs. Tucks me against his side. You really are somethin’.

I watch Harvard’s stately buildings slide by beyond the boat’s railing. Keep my connection with the Earth open and flowing into him. How’s that?

For a moment, I thought you’d done it on purpose.

I look up into his face. Done what on purpose? I had no idea you were afraid of the water.

Immersing a demon in running water’s one way to . . . you know.

It takes me a moment to follow what he’s saying. Can you be killed that way?

Maybe, maybe not, but it’d send me back, and it’d hurt a fuck of