Chapter 9

“Can we please talk Martin? I have so much I need to tell you.” Sofia said. She looked like she was searching my face for any sign of what I was thinking.

What I was thinking was that I was damn tired. If I wasn’t so beat down I probably could have stopped the flood of emotions that came from seeing her after 5+ years. Her eyes filled up with tears as the look on my face must have betrayed something.

“Sofia, I just got my ass handed to me by an angel I summoned to save your brother. This comes the day after I went toe to toe with the lost prince of Hell and made him my bitch. Four days ago I picked up a necromancer apprentice who is probably more powerful than any force of nature you care to think of. Tomorrow I have to listen to two depositions so I can try to get the latest auto manufacturer out of hot water with the government for faulty air bags. Then I have to be smiling and shaking hands with my employees to hand out their quarterly bonuses while listening to a ton of bad April’s fools jokes. After all that, I have what is probably an arcane sniper to track down so I will be able to challenge a top tier wizard to a duel in retaliation for hurting one of my friends. Plus I have to find time to create a world encompassing dweomer device that not only will track down open gates to other planes but shut them down as soon as they open. Did I mention I have to figure out the mathematics of how to power it for eternity? So no. We can’t talk because I am going to get some sleep. Besides you said everything you needed to say 5 years ago. Your silence since then has continued to speak for you. If you still want to talk about anything relationship related you have to deal with Xandra. She is handling my emotional baggage these days and she seems to want to stick around. At least so far she hasn’t left me hanging in a mall food court.”

I really wasn’t even angry. I was just spent. I had mud and dirt in streaks from my hair to my boots. Every muscle seemed to ache. I had to take a shower and then get as much sleep as I could. I kissed Chloe on the top of her head and gave Xandra a nice kiss on her delicious lips before I stumbled to my bedroom. I stopped and turned at the doorway.

“It was nice to see you Sofie, you still look damn good.” I said as I walked out.

I pushed the button to activate the hot water system and started stripping down. The only clean area on my body was where the boxer briefs kept most of the soil off of me. When the light turned green I stepped into the shower and felt the water from ten shower heads gently start to take all my aches and pains away. As I started washing my hair I was kinda hoping Xandra would come give me a hand. Seeing Sophia again had rocked me on a level I wasn’t sure existed anymore. Sophie was “The One” for the longest time. We met as freshman at the University of Michigan. I was a scholarship kid and she was a legacy both for U of M and for the Paladins. After a rocky start we hit it off and were a couple all through college. She was always an idealist and I was always a pragmatist. It made for interesting conversations and discussions but we could always find a common ground in our love. Our love of sex, our love of dogs, and our love of each other. Gwydion was a year behind her and when he joined we were the three musketeers.

I had summoned an avarice demon named Sareth early on when I had money from my parents life insurance that wasn’t spent. After one of the most intricate contracts I ever worked up I let him go on the stock market. Putting a demon who epitomized greed into a capitalist utopia like the worldwide stock exchange almost seemed unfair. The contract I had him sign was basically the bare bones rules against any form of illegal trading. I didn’t want to get caught after all. By the time I was ready to enter law school I had made my first million. By the time I started my own firm my net worth was just beginning to touch 75 million. When Sareth’s contract was up he actually wanted to renegotiate for a longer term of service. Apparently he was having too much fun and gaining quite a bit of power and clout on the lower planes. Who was I to argue? I had bought a monster engagement ring for Sophia and planned to propose to her in the mall food court where we first kissed. Before I could get around to asking her she gave me the four words no man wants to hear. We need to talk.

She dumped me. She had talked to her family about me and they had showed her that she could never be with a summoner of evil beings. She had an opportunity to join the Praetorian Guard, the elite combat division of the Paladins, and she needed to focus on that. It was better if it was a clean break so I shouldn’t plan on talking to her and would I please make it easier on both of us by avoiding her as much as possible for the rest of our collegiate careers. The only serious fight I ever heard Gwydion and Sofia get into was about whether he should continue to be my friend or not. She tried to convince him that I was going to go bad eventually and that if they were both in the Guard they would probably be sent to hunt me down. That is when Gwydion showed me what a straight up guy he was. He refused the invitation to join the Praetorians and went his own way within the Paladin ranks. It took a while but it actually worked out better for him. His current non status gave him a huge amount of leeway and his unofficial trouble shooter gig gave him a dangerous reputation within the Paladins. He managed to pull off things that other Paladins were unable or unwilling to do and still kept a decent moral compass. Of course, it helped that he had a friend who lived in the various shades of grey. Gwydion was one of the the three beings on this plane that I would truly be afraid of facing in a fight. Four now that Chloe was coming into her own.

The hot shower was doing wonders for my sore body but was also making me so damn sleepy. I realized I had dozed off when my head hit the tiled wall. Now that I was clean it was time for bed. Maybe Xandra would be there warming it up. No such luck. As I rolled into the warm bed I had just enough mental energy to worry about my current and ex girlfriend comparing notes. Then I was asleep.

I came around slowly with my arm around a warm body tucked close to me. I woke up and started rubbing a shoulder when I realized that this felt different. For one thing Xandra never snored. For another thing Xandra never wore pajamas to bed. I carefully opened my eyes and saw the small form of Chloe curled into the fetal position under my arm. She was drooling on my chest. She looked like she could have been fourteen instead of eighteen. I didn’t even fight the paternal feelings I felt for her. I wrapped her in a big hug and made a promise to myself that if anyone hurt this little girl I would literally rain down the fires of hell upon them. She looked up at me with those big brown eyes and said those despicable words.

“We need to talk.”

She sat up on the edge of the bed and stretched like a cat. No doubt about it my little girl had the body to attract a lot of attention. I was seriously considering Xandra’s earlier offer of a shotgun.

“What do I do about Gwydion?” She asked.

My blank face must have not have been a good enough answer. I was still shaking the cobwebs out of my head. Why do I get so emotional in the morning?

“You said it yesterday, I am in love with him. He is old yeah but he is in great shape, he is super nice, super cute, and super strong. I held his soul in my hands Martin. Now that I realize what it is, I see how so many people are corrupt and dirty. Even good guys like you. Gwydion is fresh and clean. Plus I think I did something to him because I have a special place in my head now where i can feel what he thinking. Not words, more like a general ... Feeling.” She continued

Well now I knew I was an old man with a corrupt and dirty soul. Things I already knew for sure but it still kinda hurt hearing it put so plainly. Ok time to shut this down. I am not going to encourage her to come to me for relationship advice.

“Chloe I love you like a daughter I never knew I wanted. I will rip the balls off of any guy or girl that even tries to hurt you. But I will NOT talk about relationship stuff with you okay? I had to summon a sex demon to get laid after my girlfriend broke up with me five years ago. It turned out alright but that is only because she is way too cool for me. All I will say is that the one thing Gwydion respects above all else is honesty. I don’t know how to seduce anyone without a contract and a summoning circle but if you are going to run at him make sure you have no deceit. As for the feeling you get from him, if you anchored your soul to his to keep it close then you could have a soul bind situation. If that is the case you guys better get your relationship hammered out quick because you are carrying a bit of his very being and essence inside of you and he is carrying a bit of your being and essence inside of him. It is going to make for some very blurry personal boundaries. I can point you to a book that talks about soul bindings and let you figure it out from there. As for seduction advice what would Xandra do?”

She looked at me with those adoring puppy dog eyes.

“Thank you so much Pops. You are the best!” She bounced up and gave me a big hug. As she went to skip out of the room she passed Xandra coming in and stopped to talk to her for a second. Xandra smiled and hugged her then continued walking toward me. Chloe closed the door behind her as Xandra started to peel off articles of clothing. Despite Chloe prancing around in her thin pajamas I was still soft. That changed as Xandra stripped off her blouse and revealed a bustier. Things got a lot harder when she unzipped her dress and revealed only thigh high stockings. I barely had time to drop my sleeping pants. When she got to the end of the bed where I was sitting she dropped down to her knees and took my almost hard cock deep into her mouth. After three very wet up and downs on my now rock hard member, she stood up and threw a leg over my lap. With a practiced ease she lined herself up and almost dropped herself down onto my thighs. My cock felt so good inside her warm tight sex. She start undulating her hips, squeezing me with her cunt muscles in time to the up and downs. She gave me an almost violent kiss and smashed my face into her wonderful chest. I was so enraptured with my sex goddess I almost missed those damn words for the second time this morning.

“We need to talk.” She grunted.

For the love of god, why now? I was close. Xandra was an expert at her craft and her craft was getting me off. I was feeling the pent up energy beginning to pool up in my body. All the things I had done over the past week seemed to be breaking down and getting distilled into a pool of energy that needed to be released. There was nothing arcane about this at all but it was a primal feeling that washed over the two of us. Perhaps this was the original magic. Now I was turning into a motherfucking philosopher. Xandra started moving faster and gripping tighter. I could feel my release was imminent. She stopped cold and looked at me with those beautiful purple eyes as she pulled my head from her chest.

“You need to move Sofia in here and take her as a friend and lover.”

With that she smashed my head back into her chest and rode me like a stallion who had never been saddled. As I started spraying the inside of her warm love I realized what she had just said.

What. The. Hell.

I must have gone to sleep after my session with Xandra because I woke up spooned up to her with a hand on her delectable breast. Now that I had gotten sleep and gotten laid I realized just how tricky my succubus lover was. The idea had been planted in my head at the exact moment I would have been most receptive. Then I slept before I was able to properly stew about it. I ran a couple cantrips over myself and sure enough found the remains of a light sleeping spell dissipating. The clever little minx. God she was beautiful. I heard the door open and turned to see who it was. Sofia stood there looking at us.

I went to get up and realized that my sleep pants were still bunched up at the foot of the bed. Damned if I was going to be embarrassed for being naked in my own bedroom. I got up and stretched, giving Sofie a clear shot of what she had been missing all these years. I bent down to pick up and put on my sleeping pants and noticed she was red faced. Good, I needed to keep control of this conversation otherwise I was going to end up toast.

I nodded to the door behind her and we quietly slipped out of the room so as not to disturb my fire haired sex goddess. That was another change for Xandra, she never seemed to need sleep before but now she liked to nap for a couple hours each day.

We walked in silence over to the room that held the kitchen and dining room on this floor. I had a standing order with the cook to have two eggs over easy with whole wheat toast and a glass of orange juice for breakfast. That is why I was surprised when I saw that there was a hamburger with onion rings waiting for me. I looked out over the Detroit River skyline and saw it must be about noon. I summoned my tablet and saw that Xandra had scheduled Johnson and Bates to take the depositions about the airbags. I had about an hour before I had to be downstairs handing out bonus checks. Xandra knew that I wanted to do that personally.

I used my tablet to order a chicken cobb salad for Sofia and started eating my burger. She was staring at me intently which was rather disconcerting. I swallowed my bite and returned the stare.

“So you and Xandra must have had quite the talk last night.” I commented.

“We did Martin, she is wonderful. I never thought I would say that about a demon but she is wholly devoted to you. It took me a good half hour to convince her that I wasn’t here to screw with you. She even made me go through a truth telling spell before we could talk. I passed by the way.” She smile a little at that last part.

“Frankly Sophie I am going to be a much harder sell than Xandra could ever think of being. So let’s get this over with. What do you want.” I bit into the burger again to help mask my facial expression.

“You Martin. I had you and I fucked up so fucking bad. I never told you how much my parents hated you and the thought of me dating you was repulsive. Dad tried to use his influence with the council to get you blacklisted at one point. He was willing to risk the lives of every Paladin you came across by forcing them to try to take you in. Thankfully the council saw through what he was trying to do. I think even back then they knew enough about you to tread lightly. Every time I went home they would be on me to dump you and to find a nice Paladin boy to play house with and raise 2.5 Paladin babies with a Paladin dog. I was tired and worn out. Then they sprung the offer of the Praetorian Guard on me. I was naive enough to think that I had earned it on my own. So I dumped you and went and joined the holy equivalent of SEAL Team Six.”

The salad was brought by a member of my staff. Jacques, good kid, trying to get into medical school. Former Los Lobos gang member.

Sofia picked at her salad halfheartedly then continued.

“So here I could join an elite unit of brothers in arms, get away from my overbearing family, and try to do some good in the world. Yeah right. My own brother practically disowned me, I was told in no uncertain terms I was expected to wash out. And I broke the heart of the guy I loved. All in all not a very wise move.”

She took a bite of her salad and continued while eating.

“Since I threw everything away for the Guard there was no way I was going wash out. They made everything twice as hard for me even down to my grunt nickname. I was “Princess”. I made it though. I viewed it as my penance for the way I treated you and I kept going even when my body wouldn’t physically respond. I managed to get the respect of my peers. My call sign when I graduated was Valkyrie.”

Her eyes shone with pride and for the first time I could tell that she was happy with herself. Then they darkened. She wasn’t trying to convince me anymore. This felt like a confession. This was the girl I fell in love with long ago. Strong yet vulnerable.