Just Calamarried, page 4
Loch perked up.
“They learned how to change their shape,” she said, excitement rising in her voice. “Not just the Asra, but all of the everlasting people. And they got spells to glamour themselves, found places to hide! And later they actually married mortals and had children. The children would look perfectly normal, but then every few generations—” She gestured to herself. “—you might get a really big surprise.”
“Yeah, I can imagine.” Sloane nodded, and he touched his stomach. For the first time, he wondered what his and Loch’s child would look like. “So there’s people running around now who are descendants of mortals mingling with the everlasting races?”
“There’s probably thousands.” Daphne shrugged. “A lot of them may not even know. That is, unless they’re born with obvious, ahem, signs.”
“Is your brother, uh, like you?”
“Yes. We both use glamour charms to hide what we really look like. You know, the little pieces of jewelry that cover zits or whatever, but a very powerful one. Mine broke a few weeks ago, and I’ve been having trouble getting a new one. We were sharing his so I could still go to work, and well… I had to take some time off. I can’t go to work like this.”
Sloane couldn’t explain why, but he got the feeling Daphne was embarrassed.
“It’s okay.” Sloane smiled. “You didn’t come here to tell me all about your personal business, although I certainly appreciate you sharing about your family. It’s really amazing.”
“Thank you.” Daphne smiled, clearly relieved.
“You need help finding your brother, yes?”
“Right.” Daphne seemed to relax, but she then noticed Loch staring at her. She blinked a few times. “Uh, yes?”
“Yes, you kidnapped your brother,” Loch challenged, “or yes, you can hear me?”
“The second one! Wait! What?”
“Loch,” Sloane said between clenched teeth.
“The Absola’s tusks are quite beautiful, but they often interfere with verbal communication.” Loch leaned over Sloane’s desk, still staring Daphne down. “They developed a language of hand signals, very similar to human’s sign language, and oh, also, they’re telepathic.”
“Wow.” Daphne was impressed. “Are you some kind of scholar? Most Sages don’t even know that.”
“Not quite.”
“Yeah, uh, I can hear thoughts when they’re really loud or emotional.” She narrowed her eyes at Loch. “Do you really think I kidnapped Nate?”
“No,” Sloane said.
“Possibly,” Loch mused. “We must entertain all the possibilities.”
“Please.” Sloane grabbed at Loch’s waist and pulled him back. “Uh, so. Right. Let’s try to get back on track here. Your brother went to work two weeks ago, everything totally normal, but he never came home?”
“Right.”
“Any friends he might have gone to stay with? Boyfriend, girlfriend, anyone like that?”
“Well.” Daphne cringed. “He might maybe have gotten involved with a coven. There’s… well. It’s just….”
“What is it, Miss Ware?”
“Guilty conscience?” Loch accused.
“Okay, maybe a little?” She sighed, and her tail dropped by her feet. “Since I haven’t been able to get a new glamour charm yet, I haven’t really been able to leave the house. I maybe sort of teeny tiny bit lied about talking to the police. I was afraid they’d want to see me in person.”
“And your appearance would cause mass panic?” Loch said knowingly.
“That and I’d be hauled off to some government lab for experimentation.” Daphne grimaced. “No one can know we exist. Our hidden world has to stay hidden! No one can find out. We’d be hunted again, we’d be—”
“Trust me,” Sloane interrupted gently, smiling. “Your secret is safe with us. I always give my clients one hundred percent confidentiality.”
“Thank you.”
“So, tell me what happened with your brother. From the beginning.”
“Right. We’ve never been that religious, but we tried to keep the sabbaths and be good Sages. A few weeks ago, we started hearing stories about the gods returning. There are people, right here in Archersville, who swear they saw two gods battling it out in Babbeth’s Orchard. Nate got really excited, did some research, and started talking to this coven he found online. He seemed to like it, but he was suddenly going all the time.”
“Did anyone at the coven know what Nate really was?”
“He said no, but I think he told the coven leader, this man named Ziol. They talked on the phone a lot. Like way a lot. He went over to his house all the time too.”
“Ah.”
“Nate was getting obsessed, and he was convinced the gods were really walking here amongst us. I got mad at him, told him he was taking all of this too far. We had a big fight… and well, the next day, that’s when he didn’t come home.
“I saw him at the protests on the news, so I knew he was still with the coven, but then he wouldn’t answer any of my calls. I kept thinking he’d come back home, so I waited. But then yesterday afternoon, he sent a really weird text, and that’s, well, that’s when I called you.”
“May I see the text?”
“Here.” Daphne handed her phone over.
“Thank you.” Sloane read it and tilted it so Loch could read it as well.
Don’t trust anyone. I’m in trouble. Please don’t believe what they’re going to say about me. It’s not true. Ziol is gonna help me. I love you.
“I don’t know what it means,” Daphne said softly, “but I have to find my brother as soon as possible. I’m really worried about him.”
Sloane grimaced and looked to Loch. They needed to tell her the truth.
“Wait, tell me what?” Daphne flinched.
Right. Psychic.
“Your brother is wanted for a heartless, bloody murder—”
“Loch!” Sloane snapped.
“What?” Daphne gasped in horror. “No, no, that can’t be true!”
“Miss Ware, I’m very sorry to be the one to tell you this, but it’s true.” Sloane grimaced. “You’ve seen the protests on TV, so I’m sure you know there’s been some fighting between the Sages and Lucians. Well, the deacon was murdered yesterday. Someone broke into his home and killed him. And, uh….” Sloane grimaced. “Mr. Ziol was also killed yesterday.”
“By all the gods!” Daphne’s eyes widened, and her tail curled around her feet.
“The police believe your brother found Ziol murdered and killed the deacon for revenge,” Loch said, pausing to add, “which would have been justified a few thousand years ago, but everyone frowns on that now.” He rolled his eyes. “Prudish mortals.”
“No.” Daphne hugged her tail to her chest, and her eyes were glistening with tears. “No… that… that can’t be. My brother is a dumbass, okay, but he’s not a killer! There’s no way he killed anyone!”
“I’m really sorry, Miss Ware, truly, and I want to help you,” Sloane said earnestly. “I want to help your brother too.”
“Ha, do you mean find him and turn him over to the cops? Turn us both in for being monsters?”
“No. Nothing like that. I have no intentions of turning him in to the police unless I am convinced he is guilty.”
“I can prove he’s innocent!” Daphne insisted. “You said this deacon guy’s house was broken into, right?”
“Yes?”
Daphne vanished from the chair and was now standing on top of Sloane’s desk.
“Oh!” Sloane jerked back in surprise. “You can, uh, teleport. Without saying a spell. Or using your hands. Or a glyph. Or… wow, okay.”
In another blink, Daphne was back in the chair. “We have Faedra in our family. We can teleport at will, always could, me and my brother both. He would never break into someone’s home.”
“Because he wouldn’t need to,” Loch observed, looking thoughtful now. “You know, if he’s cleared of the murder charges, he would make an excellent thief.”
“But to be clear, he hasn’t actually been charged with anything yet,” Sloane said quickly. “There’s no warrant or anything. The police only want to talk to him.”
“Hmmph.” Daphne didn’t seem convinced.
“You know I can’t tell them he’s part Faedra, and I can’t say he teleports because then they’ll hit him for using unregistered magic.”
“Why do they think it’s him?”
“Apparently he made some threats against the deacon, and they have him on camera fleeing the crime scene.”
“Shit.” She squeezed her tail. “I get how that can look bad, but you believe me, don’t you? My brother would never hurt anyone.”
“We are reserving judgment at this time,” Loch declared.
“Ignore him,” Sloane said. “We believe you, and we’re going to help you.”
“Thank you!” she gushed. She sank back in the chair, clearly relieved. “Thank you so much!”
“So, uh, any ideas where your brother might be?”
“There are a few places, secret places, where people like us go. I should warn you, they can be… well….”
“What’s wrong?”
“They’re a little rough.” She grimaced. “One is a bar that’s run by hidden people. It’s called Dead to Rites.”
“Ah, I’m familiar with it.”
“They have a very dismal shrine for Azaethoth the Lesser,” Loch said sourly. “It’s insulting.”
Sloane and Loch had visited the bar before when they were trying to help Merrick and Chase track down the Salgumel cultists. Rough hardly began to describe it.
“There’s also a strip club, the Velvet Plank,” Daphne went on. “Not quite as scary, but it’s definitely packed full of hidden people. Just be careful. They don’t like when strangers come around asking a bunch of questions.”
“That’s okay,” Sloane reassured her. “We can be very discreet.”
“Yeah, well, be super discreet.” Daphne laughed. “They say the man who runs it is a gangster. I mean, they also say he’s an old god in disguise, but pffft, that’s just crazy.”
“Says the troll girl,” Loch griped under his breath.
“What was that?”
“We’ll check out the bar and the club,” Sloane said smoothly. “Do you have anything of your brother’s I could have for a tracking spell?”
“We’re both warded against it.” Daphne made a face. “Most hidden people are. We make it a habit not to be able to be found if our identity is ever compromised.”
“Right.” Sloane glanced over her tail and tusks. “If you’d like, I could create a glamour charm for you? It wouldn’t last very long, but hopefully until you can get a proper replacement.”
Daphne brightened. “You’d do that for me?”
“Of course.” Sloane smiled. “You’ve gotta get back to work, right? And it’s one less thing you have to worry about. Do you have something I can enchant?”
“Please! Yes!” She patted her wrist. “Huh, I swore I had my watch on.”
Sloane stared expectantly at Loch.
Loch batted his eyes.
Sloane cleared his throat.
Loch shrugged.
Sloane pointed emphatically at his crotch and shook his head.
Loch’s eyes widened, and he conceded, “Fine. Yes. Oh! Here it is!” The watch appeared in his hand. “You must have dropped it.”
“Ah, great! Thank you!” Daphne smiled. “I really appreciate this. Thank you, Mr. Beaumont. And thank you, too… uh…. Wow. I’m so sorry. With all of this going on, I never got your name!”
“I am Azaethoth the Lesser—” Loch began, puffing out his chest and smiling wide.
“Lochithoth Leslie,” Sloane blurted out. “Loch for short. Lochithoth Leslie Beaumont. My husband.”
“I never agreed to take your last name,” Loch huffed.
“Oh! Well, it’s nice to meet you.” Daphne smiled, and her tail wagged. “I’m so glad I found you. As soon as I saw the Sage’s Cross on your logo, I knew you were the right one.”
Sloane laid the watch over his desk, and he focused his magic. A simple glamour charm wasn’t too complex for his starlight’s power, and he finished the spell with a clap. “There we go.”
“Thank you.” Daphne took the watch back and buckled it on her wrist. Her tusks and tail vanished, and her skin took on a normal hue. She ran her hands through her hair and pushed her hood back. “Wow! Seriously! This is amazing.”
“My husband is a talented witch of starlight,” Loch said proudly. “There is nothing he cannot do. Including but not limited to finding your brother.”
“Thank you.” Sloane was honestly touched by the sweet compliment, and he half expected Loch to say something crass to ruin it. When nothing came, he was even more pleased.
“Is there anything else you need from me?” Daphne asked. “Anything else that might help find my brother?”
“Normally I would ask for some sort of personal item for tracking or hope for a watchman’s spell, but you guys are all warded against that.” Sloane cracked a little grin. “It’s okay. We’ll have to do this the old-fashioned way. Don’t worry. I’ll find him.”
Standing, Daphne said, “Okay. And you’ll call me if you guys find anything?”
“Of course.” Sloane stood to shake her hand. “Thank you for trusting us with so much, Miss Ware. We won’t let you down.”
“Thank you, Mr. Beaumont. Mr. Leslie.”
They waved farewell, and Sloane sunk back into his chair as soon as the door shut. “Well, holy crap. That was… something.”
“What’s wrong, my love?” Loch petted Sloane’s hair. “Are you angry that your pleasure was denied?”
“Loch!” Sloane gestured helplessly around them. “Did you not fully process what she told us? That there are everlasting people here on Earth? It’s incredible!”
“Yes, I have processed. I am quite pleased, even if these hidden ones are but mere shadows of their ancestors.”
“Did you see how she teleported? That was so cool!”
“I fail to see how that’s so fascinating when you are wed to true godliness and I can whisk you away to your very own private world with a thought.”
Sloane reached over to pat Loch’s arm. “Mm, I’m sorry. You are the most amazing god ever.” He sucked in a breath. “But….”
“But what?”
“It’s still cool, isn’t it? Just think! All of these hundreds of years, and these hidden people were here with us!” Sloane grinned. “I wonder if Asta and the other Asra know?”
Loch turned up his nose.
“I owe you a very sincere thank-you, by the way.”
“Of course you do.” Loch paused. “But what for specifically this time?”
“For mostly behaving and not revealing your true godly nature. Our little secret club is at capacity, you know.”
“We should be much more discerning moving forward.”
“Agreed. Okay, so.” Sloane struggled to get his thoughts together. He was having some trouble focusing, and he tried not to let it frustrate him. “If Nate can teleport, that would explain how he got in and out of Ziol’s house without setting off the wards.”
“He wouldn’t have been able to get through mine.”
“Well, you’re a god.”
“I’m just making sure you have your facts gay.”
“Don’t you mean straight?”
“No.” Loch grinned at his own joke.
Sloane laughed. “By all the gods, I really do love you.”
“Mmm, and I love you, my beautiful Starkiller. Now! Let’s continue making sure our facts are very gay. That only explains how he was able to get into the house. It does not absolve him of guilt.”
“I know. And we still have him on camera fleeing the deacon’s house.” Sloane frowned. “I wonder, though… do they have him entering the house?”
“A good question to ask my uncle and Chase.” Loch’s tentacles slithered out and rubbed Sloane’s shoulders.
“Maybe Nate went to talk to the deacon about the tree, or maybe Ziol even sent him there for something. I don’t know. He pops in, but then some crap goes down, and he can’t teleport so he runs.”
“And fleeing the home breaks the wards.” Loch zeroed in on a particularly sore muscle. “How’s that, my love?”
“Mmm, very good.” Sloane closed his eyes as his aches melted away beneath Loch’s magical touch. “He could have even witnessed the murder… damn, Loch. That’s amazing.”
“Of course it is.” Loch preened. “I’m a god.”
“Mmm….”
“There is a problem with your theory, though.”
“What?”
“By assuming Nate’s innocence, you eliminated our only suspect, and there are two treacherous murderers afoot.” One of Loch’s tentacles massaged Sloane’s chest. “We should fetch some more suspects.”
“More suspects, mmm….” Sloane’s pulse climbed as the tentacle slipped inside his shirt, rubbing over his nipple. Another tentacle crept down his stomach and teased along the zipper of his pants. “We… should….”
“Yes, my sweet Starkiller?”
“We should talk to the deacon’s followers too,” Sloane said firmly as he tried to resist Loch’s advances. It felt good to struggle, especially when he knew he was going to give in. “We should go look at his house too. Look, uh, look for clues.”
“Oh, I love clues.” Loch leaned over Sloane’s shoulder, sliding his hand over Sloane’s chest as his tentacles opened up Sloane’s pants.
“Clues! Hmmm. The, the killer… maybe left more clues….”
“We shall find all the clues,” Loch promised. “Now, I believe I had some relief to bestow upon you.”
“Just… mm… lock the door.” Sloane panted, and he groaned excitedly when Loch’s tentacle enveloped his cock. It was hot, tight, and he bucked up instinctively. “Ah, fuck!”
“I will take care of you.” Loch kissed along Sloane’s neck, and his other tentacles curled around Sloane’s arms and waist.
The tentacle sucking his cock was intense, and Sloane knew he wouldn’t last long. He was shivering, his hips twitching, and he loved how Loch’s other tentacles were wrapped all around him.
He weakly thrusted into the divine heat, letting his head fall back as he moaned. Loch’s mouth was working up by his ear now, and he turned into the sensation.
“They learned how to change their shape,” she said, excitement rising in her voice. “Not just the Asra, but all of the everlasting people. And they got spells to glamour themselves, found places to hide! And later they actually married mortals and had children. The children would look perfectly normal, but then every few generations—” She gestured to herself. “—you might get a really big surprise.”
“Yeah, I can imagine.” Sloane nodded, and he touched his stomach. For the first time, he wondered what his and Loch’s child would look like. “So there’s people running around now who are descendants of mortals mingling with the everlasting races?”
“There’s probably thousands.” Daphne shrugged. “A lot of them may not even know. That is, unless they’re born with obvious, ahem, signs.”
“Is your brother, uh, like you?”
“Yes. We both use glamour charms to hide what we really look like. You know, the little pieces of jewelry that cover zits or whatever, but a very powerful one. Mine broke a few weeks ago, and I’ve been having trouble getting a new one. We were sharing his so I could still go to work, and well… I had to take some time off. I can’t go to work like this.”
Sloane couldn’t explain why, but he got the feeling Daphne was embarrassed.
“It’s okay.” Sloane smiled. “You didn’t come here to tell me all about your personal business, although I certainly appreciate you sharing about your family. It’s really amazing.”
“Thank you.” Daphne smiled, clearly relieved.
“You need help finding your brother, yes?”
“Right.” Daphne seemed to relax, but she then noticed Loch staring at her. She blinked a few times. “Uh, yes?”
“Yes, you kidnapped your brother,” Loch challenged, “or yes, you can hear me?”
“The second one! Wait! What?”
“Loch,” Sloane said between clenched teeth.
“The Absola’s tusks are quite beautiful, but they often interfere with verbal communication.” Loch leaned over Sloane’s desk, still staring Daphne down. “They developed a language of hand signals, very similar to human’s sign language, and oh, also, they’re telepathic.”
“Wow.” Daphne was impressed. “Are you some kind of scholar? Most Sages don’t even know that.”
“Not quite.”
“Yeah, uh, I can hear thoughts when they’re really loud or emotional.” She narrowed her eyes at Loch. “Do you really think I kidnapped Nate?”
“No,” Sloane said.
“Possibly,” Loch mused. “We must entertain all the possibilities.”
“Please.” Sloane grabbed at Loch’s waist and pulled him back. “Uh, so. Right. Let’s try to get back on track here. Your brother went to work two weeks ago, everything totally normal, but he never came home?”
“Right.”
“Any friends he might have gone to stay with? Boyfriend, girlfriend, anyone like that?”
“Well.” Daphne cringed. “He might maybe have gotten involved with a coven. There’s… well. It’s just….”
“What is it, Miss Ware?”
“Guilty conscience?” Loch accused.
“Okay, maybe a little?” She sighed, and her tail dropped by her feet. “Since I haven’t been able to get a new glamour charm yet, I haven’t really been able to leave the house. I maybe sort of teeny tiny bit lied about talking to the police. I was afraid they’d want to see me in person.”
“And your appearance would cause mass panic?” Loch said knowingly.
“That and I’d be hauled off to some government lab for experimentation.” Daphne grimaced. “No one can know we exist. Our hidden world has to stay hidden! No one can find out. We’d be hunted again, we’d be—”
“Trust me,” Sloane interrupted gently, smiling. “Your secret is safe with us. I always give my clients one hundred percent confidentiality.”
“Thank you.”
“So, tell me what happened with your brother. From the beginning.”
“Right. We’ve never been that religious, but we tried to keep the sabbaths and be good Sages. A few weeks ago, we started hearing stories about the gods returning. There are people, right here in Archersville, who swear they saw two gods battling it out in Babbeth’s Orchard. Nate got really excited, did some research, and started talking to this coven he found online. He seemed to like it, but he was suddenly going all the time.”
“Did anyone at the coven know what Nate really was?”
“He said no, but I think he told the coven leader, this man named Ziol. They talked on the phone a lot. Like way a lot. He went over to his house all the time too.”
“Ah.”
“Nate was getting obsessed, and he was convinced the gods were really walking here amongst us. I got mad at him, told him he was taking all of this too far. We had a big fight… and well, the next day, that’s when he didn’t come home.
“I saw him at the protests on the news, so I knew he was still with the coven, but then he wouldn’t answer any of my calls. I kept thinking he’d come back home, so I waited. But then yesterday afternoon, he sent a really weird text, and that’s, well, that’s when I called you.”
“May I see the text?”
“Here.” Daphne handed her phone over.
“Thank you.” Sloane read it and tilted it so Loch could read it as well.
Don’t trust anyone. I’m in trouble. Please don’t believe what they’re going to say about me. It’s not true. Ziol is gonna help me. I love you.
“I don’t know what it means,” Daphne said softly, “but I have to find my brother as soon as possible. I’m really worried about him.”
Sloane grimaced and looked to Loch. They needed to tell her the truth.
“Wait, tell me what?” Daphne flinched.
Right. Psychic.
“Your brother is wanted for a heartless, bloody murder—”
“Loch!” Sloane snapped.
“What?” Daphne gasped in horror. “No, no, that can’t be true!”
“Miss Ware, I’m very sorry to be the one to tell you this, but it’s true.” Sloane grimaced. “You’ve seen the protests on TV, so I’m sure you know there’s been some fighting between the Sages and Lucians. Well, the deacon was murdered yesterday. Someone broke into his home and killed him. And, uh….” Sloane grimaced. “Mr. Ziol was also killed yesterday.”
“By all the gods!” Daphne’s eyes widened, and her tail curled around her feet.
“The police believe your brother found Ziol murdered and killed the deacon for revenge,” Loch said, pausing to add, “which would have been justified a few thousand years ago, but everyone frowns on that now.” He rolled his eyes. “Prudish mortals.”
“No.” Daphne hugged her tail to her chest, and her eyes were glistening with tears. “No… that… that can’t be. My brother is a dumbass, okay, but he’s not a killer! There’s no way he killed anyone!”
“I’m really sorry, Miss Ware, truly, and I want to help you,” Sloane said earnestly. “I want to help your brother too.”
“Ha, do you mean find him and turn him over to the cops? Turn us both in for being monsters?”
“No. Nothing like that. I have no intentions of turning him in to the police unless I am convinced he is guilty.”
“I can prove he’s innocent!” Daphne insisted. “You said this deacon guy’s house was broken into, right?”
“Yes?”
Daphne vanished from the chair and was now standing on top of Sloane’s desk.
“Oh!” Sloane jerked back in surprise. “You can, uh, teleport. Without saying a spell. Or using your hands. Or a glyph. Or… wow, okay.”
In another blink, Daphne was back in the chair. “We have Faedra in our family. We can teleport at will, always could, me and my brother both. He would never break into someone’s home.”
“Because he wouldn’t need to,” Loch observed, looking thoughtful now. “You know, if he’s cleared of the murder charges, he would make an excellent thief.”
“But to be clear, he hasn’t actually been charged with anything yet,” Sloane said quickly. “There’s no warrant or anything. The police only want to talk to him.”
“Hmmph.” Daphne didn’t seem convinced.
“You know I can’t tell them he’s part Faedra, and I can’t say he teleports because then they’ll hit him for using unregistered magic.”
“Why do they think it’s him?”
“Apparently he made some threats against the deacon, and they have him on camera fleeing the crime scene.”
“Shit.” She squeezed her tail. “I get how that can look bad, but you believe me, don’t you? My brother would never hurt anyone.”
“We are reserving judgment at this time,” Loch declared.
“Ignore him,” Sloane said. “We believe you, and we’re going to help you.”
“Thank you!” she gushed. She sank back in the chair, clearly relieved. “Thank you so much!”
“So, uh, any ideas where your brother might be?”
“There are a few places, secret places, where people like us go. I should warn you, they can be… well….”
“What’s wrong?”
“They’re a little rough.” She grimaced. “One is a bar that’s run by hidden people. It’s called Dead to Rites.”
“Ah, I’m familiar with it.”
“They have a very dismal shrine for Azaethoth the Lesser,” Loch said sourly. “It’s insulting.”
Sloane and Loch had visited the bar before when they were trying to help Merrick and Chase track down the Salgumel cultists. Rough hardly began to describe it.
“There’s also a strip club, the Velvet Plank,” Daphne went on. “Not quite as scary, but it’s definitely packed full of hidden people. Just be careful. They don’t like when strangers come around asking a bunch of questions.”
“That’s okay,” Sloane reassured her. “We can be very discreet.”
“Yeah, well, be super discreet.” Daphne laughed. “They say the man who runs it is a gangster. I mean, they also say he’s an old god in disguise, but pffft, that’s just crazy.”
“Says the troll girl,” Loch griped under his breath.
“What was that?”
“We’ll check out the bar and the club,” Sloane said smoothly. “Do you have anything of your brother’s I could have for a tracking spell?”
“We’re both warded against it.” Daphne made a face. “Most hidden people are. We make it a habit not to be able to be found if our identity is ever compromised.”
“Right.” Sloane glanced over her tail and tusks. “If you’d like, I could create a glamour charm for you? It wouldn’t last very long, but hopefully until you can get a proper replacement.”
Daphne brightened. “You’d do that for me?”
“Of course.” Sloane smiled. “You’ve gotta get back to work, right? And it’s one less thing you have to worry about. Do you have something I can enchant?”
“Please! Yes!” She patted her wrist. “Huh, I swore I had my watch on.”
Sloane stared expectantly at Loch.
Loch batted his eyes.
Sloane cleared his throat.
Loch shrugged.
Sloane pointed emphatically at his crotch and shook his head.
Loch’s eyes widened, and he conceded, “Fine. Yes. Oh! Here it is!” The watch appeared in his hand. “You must have dropped it.”
“Ah, great! Thank you!” Daphne smiled. “I really appreciate this. Thank you, Mr. Beaumont. And thank you, too… uh…. Wow. I’m so sorry. With all of this going on, I never got your name!”
“I am Azaethoth the Lesser—” Loch began, puffing out his chest and smiling wide.
“Lochithoth Leslie,” Sloane blurted out. “Loch for short. Lochithoth Leslie Beaumont. My husband.”
“I never agreed to take your last name,” Loch huffed.
“Oh! Well, it’s nice to meet you.” Daphne smiled, and her tail wagged. “I’m so glad I found you. As soon as I saw the Sage’s Cross on your logo, I knew you were the right one.”
Sloane laid the watch over his desk, and he focused his magic. A simple glamour charm wasn’t too complex for his starlight’s power, and he finished the spell with a clap. “There we go.”
“Thank you.” Daphne took the watch back and buckled it on her wrist. Her tusks and tail vanished, and her skin took on a normal hue. She ran her hands through her hair and pushed her hood back. “Wow! Seriously! This is amazing.”
“My husband is a talented witch of starlight,” Loch said proudly. “There is nothing he cannot do. Including but not limited to finding your brother.”
“Thank you.” Sloane was honestly touched by the sweet compliment, and he half expected Loch to say something crass to ruin it. When nothing came, he was even more pleased.
“Is there anything else you need from me?” Daphne asked. “Anything else that might help find my brother?”
“Normally I would ask for some sort of personal item for tracking or hope for a watchman’s spell, but you guys are all warded against that.” Sloane cracked a little grin. “It’s okay. We’ll have to do this the old-fashioned way. Don’t worry. I’ll find him.”
Standing, Daphne said, “Okay. And you’ll call me if you guys find anything?”
“Of course.” Sloane stood to shake her hand. “Thank you for trusting us with so much, Miss Ware. We won’t let you down.”
“Thank you, Mr. Beaumont. Mr. Leslie.”
They waved farewell, and Sloane sunk back into his chair as soon as the door shut. “Well, holy crap. That was… something.”
“What’s wrong, my love?” Loch petted Sloane’s hair. “Are you angry that your pleasure was denied?”
“Loch!” Sloane gestured helplessly around them. “Did you not fully process what she told us? That there are everlasting people here on Earth? It’s incredible!”
“Yes, I have processed. I am quite pleased, even if these hidden ones are but mere shadows of their ancestors.”
“Did you see how she teleported? That was so cool!”
“I fail to see how that’s so fascinating when you are wed to true godliness and I can whisk you away to your very own private world with a thought.”
Sloane reached over to pat Loch’s arm. “Mm, I’m sorry. You are the most amazing god ever.” He sucked in a breath. “But….”
“But what?”
“It’s still cool, isn’t it? Just think! All of these hundreds of years, and these hidden people were here with us!” Sloane grinned. “I wonder if Asta and the other Asra know?”
Loch turned up his nose.
“I owe you a very sincere thank-you, by the way.”
“Of course you do.” Loch paused. “But what for specifically this time?”
“For mostly behaving and not revealing your true godly nature. Our little secret club is at capacity, you know.”
“We should be much more discerning moving forward.”
“Agreed. Okay, so.” Sloane struggled to get his thoughts together. He was having some trouble focusing, and he tried not to let it frustrate him. “If Nate can teleport, that would explain how he got in and out of Ziol’s house without setting off the wards.”
“He wouldn’t have been able to get through mine.”
“Well, you’re a god.”
“I’m just making sure you have your facts gay.”
“Don’t you mean straight?”
“No.” Loch grinned at his own joke.
Sloane laughed. “By all the gods, I really do love you.”
“Mmm, and I love you, my beautiful Starkiller. Now! Let’s continue making sure our facts are very gay. That only explains how he was able to get into the house. It does not absolve him of guilt.”
“I know. And we still have him on camera fleeing the deacon’s house.” Sloane frowned. “I wonder, though… do they have him entering the house?”
“A good question to ask my uncle and Chase.” Loch’s tentacles slithered out and rubbed Sloane’s shoulders.
“Maybe Nate went to talk to the deacon about the tree, or maybe Ziol even sent him there for something. I don’t know. He pops in, but then some crap goes down, and he can’t teleport so he runs.”
“And fleeing the home breaks the wards.” Loch zeroed in on a particularly sore muscle. “How’s that, my love?”
“Mmm, very good.” Sloane closed his eyes as his aches melted away beneath Loch’s magical touch. “He could have even witnessed the murder… damn, Loch. That’s amazing.”
“Of course it is.” Loch preened. “I’m a god.”
“Mmm….”
“There is a problem with your theory, though.”
“What?”
“By assuming Nate’s innocence, you eliminated our only suspect, and there are two treacherous murderers afoot.” One of Loch’s tentacles massaged Sloane’s chest. “We should fetch some more suspects.”
“More suspects, mmm….” Sloane’s pulse climbed as the tentacle slipped inside his shirt, rubbing over his nipple. Another tentacle crept down his stomach and teased along the zipper of his pants. “We… should….”
“Yes, my sweet Starkiller?”
“We should talk to the deacon’s followers too,” Sloane said firmly as he tried to resist Loch’s advances. It felt good to struggle, especially when he knew he was going to give in. “We should go look at his house too. Look, uh, look for clues.”
“Oh, I love clues.” Loch leaned over Sloane’s shoulder, sliding his hand over Sloane’s chest as his tentacles opened up Sloane’s pants.
“Clues! Hmmm. The, the killer… maybe left more clues….”
“We shall find all the clues,” Loch promised. “Now, I believe I had some relief to bestow upon you.”
“Just… mm… lock the door.” Sloane panted, and he groaned excitedly when Loch’s tentacle enveloped his cock. It was hot, tight, and he bucked up instinctively. “Ah, fuck!”
“I will take care of you.” Loch kissed along Sloane’s neck, and his other tentacles curled around Sloane’s arms and waist.
The tentacle sucking his cock was intense, and Sloane knew he wouldn’t last long. He was shivering, his hips twitching, and he loved how Loch’s other tentacles were wrapped all around him.
He weakly thrusted into the divine heat, letting his head fall back as he moaned. Loch’s mouth was working up by his ear now, and he turned into the sensation.
