Chapter 13

So, I have gotten a lot of questions about the story. First and foremost, I am amazed and honored that anyone out there follows this and thinks it is good, so thank you so much. As I have mentioned a couple times, I work as a Realtor, so I am just now getting out of my busy season. I am not holding back because I want to; I am holding back because I am trying to write something worth reading in the time I have. I have tossed a couple of flash stories out over the last couple months, but those are pretty much unedited one-offs that I write in a day. A note asking how the story is progressing is wonderful. A note telling me that I am a loser for not writing more is not so helpful. :) Thanks so much for reading, and thanks to Archangel_M for his editing prowess.

-Ahaz

My phone was buzzing. Why was my phone buzzing? I reached across Sofia’s delectable nipples and grabbed the phone from the nightstand. On the opposite side of me, Xandra snuggled in a little tighter and reached for my dick. Her hand was absently moving around her pussy as she started to jack me off. I expected her to be looking at me with those beautiful lavender eyes, but instead she just gave a small snore. She was asleep. Shaking the cobwebs from my head, I recognized that this phone call was important; no one who knew me would have bothered me when I was here in my villa. I reluctantly took Xandra’s hand off my member and managed to extricate myself from the two women. Sophie rolled over and went to snuggle in at the same time Xandra rolled over to snuggle. They met in the middle and gave each other a cuddle. Xan kept rubbing herself with her left hand and I mischievously took her right hand and moved it to Sophie’s quim. Xan started rubbing and Sophie shifted to give her a better angle. I watched, fascinated, until the buzzing started up again. Looking at the phone the number was blocked but, whoever was calling must have been important. I slid my finger to answer the call.

“This better be world-shattering. Like, literally, the world will shatter if I don’t take action. I am on vacation,” I answered.

“Martin my friend, I am hurt that you think I would waste your time,” came the heavily-accented voice through the speaker.

I walked out to the balcony and collected my thoughts to talk to Sheik Agrieb.

“Agrieb, my old friend, how may I help you?” I asked. This was going to be interesting.

“I must say, Martin, the next time I have an incorrigible relative I will send him to you.” I heard a smile through the heavy accent.

“Does this mean I get my Yenko back?” I asked.

“Let’s not get hasty, my friend.” He replied quickly. “That Yenko is a work of art and I am sure you are happy that it is someplace where it is being appreciated.” I again heard the smile through the phone.

“I must admit your methods are smooth,” he continued. “To be able to thoroughly wipe out two hundred people and not leave a trace is impressive and disconcerting. If you have access to an agent that kills so neatly and cleanly I know quite a few people who would be interested in it.”

He thought I’d poisoned them. If he only knew. Six succubi who were empowered to suck the soul out of anyone conspiring to abuse underage girls would leave a lot of bodies. Two hundred was a bit of a shock, though; I hadn’t realized that the human trafficking ring went that deep.

“Agrieb, my friend, I am afraid I have no idea what you are talking about. I was worried you might have taken offense at the way I treated your brother-in-law. Hopefully he is doing well?” I didn’t try overly hard to sound sincere.

There was a good minute’s worth of laughter on the other line.

“So you have not heard the news?” I could hear the sarcasm in his voice. “He has passed on. He was front and center of a human slave auction when something happened that killed all those in attendance other than the ... ah, merchandise. Your CIA was more than a little miffed to find a few of their contacts dead. Right now there is a lot of money and power getting thrown around, and I suspect a shift in the politics of the region in the coming months. The field is ripe for expansion. I know there will be more than a few options for control of oil fields that could be very profitable with the right investor.”

I knew Agrieb didn’t need my money to start buying up the oilfield rights. That meant he wanted my name. I was going to be used either as a shield or a sword over in the Middle East, and I had to make sure that my reputation would grow from it, not diminish.

“I would need some more information, but I am always looking to expand my influence,” I replied seriously.

I knew he would get the underlying meaning. Money wasn’t what I was interested in. I had very few contacts in the Middle East, and I didn’t like having to react to situations that would come up. It would be worth it to lose millions of dollars on speculative oil ventures if I could keep a finger on the pulse of the area.

“I will send your lovely assistant more information. I now have a gift for you: my workers came across an unusual find, and I took the liberty of sending it to you. I know how you like the oddities, and this is perfect. My only request is that you take care of my least-favorite nephew; he is even more of an ass than his father.” He laughed uproariously at his own joke.

“What can I say, old friend?” I replied. “The world is a dangerous place.”

He laughed even harder as he made his goodbyes and left me in deep thought.

My last foray into Middle Eastern politics had left a bad taste in my mouth. I was approached about routing heroin shipments through my South American holdings. I decided to reject the offer when I found links between the drug money and the funding of Islamic Fundamentalist terrorist organizations. If a person wants to ruin their lives with drugs, that is their choice. If that money is going to fund blowing up innocent women and children trying to get an education, then I don’t need to be a part of it. I guess my “morality” was ... fuzzy?

I walked back into my room and looked at my two lovers. Xandra had snuggled into Sophia and was sleepily rubbing her thigh. Sophie has the best set of legs I had ever seen. I slid into bed and spooned up to my Valkyrie. Of course the inevitable hard on happened, and I felt my succubus soulmate gently stroke my rod and slide it into Sophia’s warmth. What followed was some of the softest, most sensual lovemaking I had ever been a part of. Kissing and caressing replaced the usual groping and slamming. After I reached climax, Sophia and Xandra continued to make love to each other. I realized that this was what I wanted. I decided then and there to start planning my exit strategy from my business and supernatural life in general. I could work some spells to keep this villa safe from weather, and we could set up shop here. I would kick the shit out of Luthair, finish up my project, complete Xandra’s and Chloe’s training, then retire. I started to work out plans for my businesses, but decided I was on vacation and stopped. I drifted off to sleep to the sexy sounds of my lovers having fun.

The next day, all of us went out into the ocean and played. We had chicken fights, with Gwydion and I being the horses. If there was a better way to spend the day than having a beautiful woman’s legs wrapped around your head while fighting another woman, I have no idea what it is. The five of us were sitting in a covered cabana on the beach with a couple of pitchers of margaritas when Sofia finally broke.

“What happened to you, Martin?” she blurted out. “I’ve been following your actions, and the last five years or so you’ve gone so much darker than I thought you could. Was it all because of me?”

I noticed the Gwydion and Chloe perked up and took interest. Xandra just sat back in her beach chair and reached out for my hand. I should have realized that Sofie blamed herself for my “fall.”

I took a minute to collect my thoughts and decided to open up completely.

“You need to get over yourself, woman.” I said with a smile. “There was so much more going on. You were only the smallest part of it.” I drew in a breath and brought up memories I had buried for a very long time.

“After you dumped me, I went on a bit of a pity party. I found myself in Louisiana for Mardi Gras. After a good couple days of complete debauchery, I decided it was time to sober up and get on with my life. That was when I met Stephen. He was a 16-year-old kid living on the streets. He offered me a BJ for 15 bucks. I instantly felt sorry for him, and convinced him to let me buy him lunch. I noticed he had a ton of magical potential. Turns out his story was pretty much boilerplate for a child on the streets; he was orphaned, put in with overcrowded and abusive foster parents, ran away, turned to prostitution to survive. The one thing I admired about him was that he had a survival instinct. Life had shit on him, but he managed to eke out an existence and wasn’t beaten down. I tracked down his pimp and sent that bastard to Hell. Literally. Then I started teaching Stephen the ways of the Warlock.” I poured myself a tall margarita.

“It turns out the kid was almost a savant when it came to Summoning. There are a few different aspects to being a Warlock. One is the art of The Deal. Being able to convince people to give up their souls, and then trade them in for currency and power on the Lower Planes is a serious skill set. Another facet is blasting power. Some take it upon themselves to learn the fastest way to take down others. These guys will hunt down rogue demons occasionally, but mainly they run around taking out other supernaturals for power or items. Then there’s Summoning. This is where Stephen excelled. His concept of planar energy and interaction went far beyond anything I could fathom. He figured out a way for me to be able to snap-summon over six separate demons. I could pull one or two at any given time, but working it without a circle took a lot out of me. I incorporated his technique into building and personal defense.”

I looked out at the ocean, but really didn’t register anything. I had only talked about Stephen once before, and that was to Droga. This whole “opening up” thing was supposed to be helpful and cathartic, but all it was doing was bringing back painful memories. I continued the story.

“There are places on earth where the boundaries between the planes ... thins out, for lack of a better term. Stephen had worked them out and came across a convergence. Apparently the boundary was close enough to pull actual elemental Chaos and elemental Order into this plane. At the time, I didn’t understand enough about it to realize exactly what he was doing. I encouraged him to go for it, thinking I was being a good mentor. We were going to meet and handle the gates together; he would work the chaos angle and I would work the order side. I was sure I could close the gates; after all I was the badass Warlock, right?”

I noticed my drink was empty and poured another one. Taking a long sip, I continued talking to the ocean.

“It was a clusterfuck right from the get-go. Knowing what I know now, we screwed things up big time. The gate got away from him almost from the start. Elemental Chaos poured through and obliterated him within seconds. I know now the only thing that saved me was my proximity to the gate of elemental Order. WIthout getting too technical, reality will force balance. I was able to open the Order gate and allow elemental Order to flow freely. The resulting backlash knocked me out. I have no idea how it happened, but when I came to there was a portal to elemental Chaos and a portal to elemental Order open within 6 feet of each other. I had no idea how to close them without setting something off, so I did what I could. I wove barrier upon barrier of magic over the area. I made sure that no demon or angel could get through, then I sank the area five hundred feet into the earth. So when it was all said and done, I had gotten my apprentice killed and torn two holes into the fabric of reality. The amount of power that could be drawn from those gates is inconceivable. My arrogance and ignorance killed my friend and put literally the entire universe in danger.”

There were no tears. There was anger. There was pain. There was even some remorse. But no tears.

“I knew I had to do something, so I started information-mining in the lower planes. This is when I pushed for souls here on the Prime Material Plane, I pushed deals and negotiated with more and more powerful demons until I scored an audience with Asmodeus himself. I sat down at his table in Hell with a view of a frozen lake of lava and questioned him. I was able to get enough information to start forming a plan. I also learned more about the “thin spots” and how they could easily turn into gates for powerful extraplanar creatures. I figured out how to close those gates permanently. The key was the twin portals that we had opened. It will be Stephen’s legacy when I work it so that this entire plane of reality will be sealed off from extraplanar creatures, unless summoned by a Warlock. The added bonus is that, once activated, the portals will be unable to be manipulated and will for all intents and purposes be useless for anything other than keeping the Prime Material Plane safe.”

I looked back at my friends and saw that they were staring at me. Gwydion and Xandra especially looked shocked, I think they were the two that realized exactly what I had done. Chloe threw herself at me and gave me a big hug.