Shadowed Magic (The Enlightened Species Novella) (5 page)

Eros slid into the driver's seat. The powerful engine rumbled nearly silently through the darkened street. Aymee placed her injured hand on his forearm though she seemed to rest, as if seeking his presence.

His gaze returned her face many times during the drive through the city and into the desert where he and his sons had built their homes. Only Daniel and Jacob were in residence. His other four sons were on assignment for the SOSC. There were four homes built in close proximity. He passed the dark windows of Baden and Brock's followed by Othos and Victor's homes. A few lights were on in Jacob and Daniel's. Daniel had contacted him telepathically earlier and informed him that he and the females had hit a dead-end in their search for the injured assailant. The last house along the private drive belonged to him. Small, at only two thousand feet not including the full basement beneath it, Eros counted it as one of the favorite homes he'd lived in during his long life. He loved to cook and the entire house had been designed to embrace the modern kitchen area.

Beyond his home loomed the largest structure. The twelve car external garage supplemented the individual double garages attached to each home. Within the garage were his sons' greatest passions. The boys loved vehicles and had collected many over the last few years. Eros clicked the button to raise the garage door for his home and pulled the viper inside the space next to the Harley he rode as often as he could.

Aymee rousted slightly when he turned off the engine and shut the garage behind them. He grabbed the bag of medicine, slid out of the car and stepped to the passenger side. “Hi.” She blinked up at him when he opened her door. Blue eyes smiled and his chest constricted as the air rushed from his lungs.

“Hi, yourself.” He unclasped her seat-belt and lifted her into his arms again.

Her arm came around his neck and she giggled. “I don't know what they gave me. I'm sorry to be so out of it.” He carried her into his home sending out pulses of kinetic energy to turn on the lights. Standing with her in his living room, he felt a sudden panic. What was he supposed to do with her? Aymee gave him direction. “Eros, you think I could … Will you help me ...” She shuddered against his chest. “Take a shower … or a bath?”

Without comment, he strode toward his bedroom and the master bath. It had a large jetted tub, though Eros had never used the device himself. He'd heard it was a good way to relax. He nearly tripped over the unfamiliar bag inside his bedroom door. Jacob must have dropped off Aymee's things. He hoped his son had gotten the things she would like to have. He sent a pulse of kinetic energy to the water controls in the tub, starting the water for her. He set her gently on the edge of his bed and set the vital bag of medication on the bedside table.

Aymee struggled to raise the T-shirt over her head. Eros didn't know whether to turn his back or help her. She met his gaze. He felt himself falling into the blue pools pleading with him for … something. “What do you need of me, Aymee?” His voice sounded thick from emotions he knew he shouldn't feel but couldn't seem to stop when it came to her. The dignity with which she'd faced everything awed him. Her inner strength and sense of self were amazing. Aymee was the kind of woman that knew who she was. She'd done what she had to without ego or false drama. Eros would do anything for her.

“I'm going to need help.” She gave a half snort laugh, “It's not like you haven't seen …
everything
, already. Would you mind helping me?”

Seeing her body in a stark impersonal hospital room, he'd been able to remain somewhat detached. Especially since it took every ounce of his concentration to keep his anger at bay. Touching her? Bathing her? He swallowed hard several times while he removed her clothes. How could he deny her desire to feel clean? The scent of female in his bedroom filled the space. “Do you want me to carry you?”

Naked, she shook her head. “Just lend me your arm.”

He held his arm out gallantly to her in an old world fashion he was far more comfortable with. Aymee grinned and took it. Her unblemished breast pressed at his side. Eros nearly groaned. This might be the most difficult task of his life. He led her slowly into the steam-filled bathroom and turned the water off in the filled tub kinetically.

“If I could have one Volaticus ability it would be that one. It beats the hell out of 'clap on' switches.” She chuckled. Eros had no idea what a 'clap on' was so he merely smiled at her. Umbrae's friends often used terms and phrases that confused him. Modern slang completely eluded him. Sometimes he'd ask his sons or Umbrae what things meant later, often he simply ignored it. There was much even his sons and Umbrae didn't understand though they had no hesitation about asking Jess, Aymee, Jerika or Irsu when they didn't know something. They were also sociable. Eros preferred books and writing.

Aymee tried to step into the tub by herself and lost her balance. Eros found her plastered against his chest, holding her in his arms. Aymee grinned up at him. “I am so woozy.”

Eros settled her into the water dousing the sleeves of his shirt in the process. He stripped it off and sat at the edge. Her gaze traveled his bare chest. Did she mean to lick her lips like that? Could she be attracted to him, too? Eros shook the thought away. Aymee needed his care not his desire.

He soaped a washrag as she watched him. “Might I ask an … odd question of you, Aymee?” He stuttered.

“Oh, Eros, the way you talk. Need you ask?” She grinned. He wasn't sure if 'the way you talk' was a question or an answer. He waited for her to clarify, when she didn't he decided to consider her response an acceptance of his request.

“You only have a small triangle of pubic hair at your pelvis bone. I have never seen a woman grow hair like that. Is it … by design?” Eros hoped his query wouldn't make her uncomfortable.

Aymee laughed. The pure joy of the sound rippled through him with a power that filled his jeans instantly. She laughed with her whole expression and body. Exquisite. His breath caught in his throat. The question he'd asked completely forgotten, it took him a moment to realize what she meant when she answered. “It is most definitely … and painfully, by design. It's called a partial Brazilian wax.”

“Wax? You burn your hair with a candle?”

Aymee looked hard at him. “You really don't know, do you?” Eros hesitantly shook his head. “It's a hot wax that's sticky, like honey. When it cools it … traps the hair. Then you rip it off and the hair goes with it.”

Eros knew his jaw gaped open. “Why in the universe would someone
do
that?” He had to know.

Aymee shrugged. “Well.” She puckered her lips adorably while considering the answer. Eros longed to kiss her. “It's cleaner for women who menstruate, and I think it makes my 'girlie' prettier. And, it makes me feel sexy.”

“What is a 'girlie'?” Every answer she gave him created another question. It was frustrating and intriguing.

Aymee waved her hand over her private female area. “Girlie.” She answered. “That's what my mom always called private parts. I guess the term stuck with me. I hate the word
vagina
. It sounds vulgar coming from anyone other than a doctor or in some kind of professional capacity. A girlie is a likable, friendly term.”

Girlie.
Eros mentally filed the word as special to Aymee. He still didn't understand why she would torture her 'girlie' by ripping the hair out of it … or most of it anyway. Volaticus Elven and Hulven were hairless from the neck down. Nature's way of streamlining them for flight.

“You going to use that or just play with it?” Aymee asked. Eros looked at her trying to figure out what she meant … again. Aymee's chin indicated the washcloth and soap he still held in his hands.

“I'm going to … use it.” Aymee smiled and lifted her injured hand off the edge of the tub. Eros lathered her hand being careful to avoid her most injured digit before working his way up her arm and shoulder.

“So what do you call your
penis
.”

Eros's gaze snapped to her face but Aymee's eyes were looking at the bulge in his pants. A bulge that he felt grow under her inspection. “I've never thought of a name.”

“Oh come on. Really?”

“Maybe I just don't understand your question. That seems to happen a lot.” Eros figured he better confide his antiquated perception to her now rather than later. He liked talking to her. She displayed an open lack of judgment he found refreshing.

“Guys call them things like Johnson, woody, sex-tool, cock, dick, baby-maker, one-eyed-snake, wang, pecker ...” The list went on. Eros found himself laughing at some of the terms Aymee tossed out as he use the soapy cloth to barrier his hand from her soft skin though he was acutely aware of her warmth.

“I believe I have occasionally referred to my phallus as my … manhood or member.” Eros admitted when she seemed to run out of slang terms.

“Member? Sounds like someone you meet at Gold's Gym. Of course, that kind of works since the guys there are dicks usually.” Aymee gave him a grin that indicated she was being sarcastic. The nuance he understood and he knew what a gym was. He assumed Gold's Gym was an establishment with men who resembled male members. Was it a gathering place for bald men perhaps? “I like the phallus name though.” Her eyes glanced at the front of his jeans again. “I usually call it junk in conversation.”

“Junk?” How was he ever going to grasp her style of speaking? “How would you use that in a sentence?”

Aymee did the pucker thing with her lips. “Let me think-- how's this? Eros leaned against the wall scratching his junk.”

Eros burst out laughing sure he'd done that very thing many times. Aymee smiled at him triumphantly. Her ability to use him in the sentence and gain a spontaneous response from him might have pleased her. It definitely made him feel better about asking for clarification from her on the things she said that eluded him. “Shall we attempt to wash the blood from your hair now?”

Her expression filled with trepidation as she slid down to slowly submerge her head in the water. Her breath hiss on a sharp intake when the water level reached the fresh stitches, yet she kept going until her bangs were wet then lifted back out. Her eyes, pinched closed, declared the pain simply water had caused her. He applied a small amount of shampoo to his hands trembling slightly at the idea that he would hurt her. It couldn't be helped. He steeled himself and tried to be gentle though she grimaced anyway. The sight of red bubbles and her discomfort renewed his rage toward her attackers. His dentes slid into his mouth. He gnashed his jaws together trying to think of something else, anything else. The suds running down the gentle slope of her neck, chest and breasts worked like a charm though it did nothing to alleviate his dente eruption. In fact, they began to throb for a taste of her. When he was sure her thick black locks would rinse clear, he lifted his hands. Aymee took a deep breath and dunked her hair. Her complexion paled making the bruise on her cheek stand out further and her almond-shaped eyes clenched closed, yet she endured silently, slowly swishing the lather from her hair in the water.

Eros studied her beautiful face. Fine laugh lines etched the corners of her eyes. The only indication of her thirty years of life. The rest of her face was smooth, overall she appeared several years younger than she actually was … for a human. Lean defined muscles attested to her lifetime of martial arts training and discipline. Add her many attributes to the light that shone from within her … she was absolutely magical. Eros turned away before she caught him staring at her and grabbed an oversized towel from the rack next to the tub. He splayed it open across the counter before reaching into the water and lifting Aymee out. Droplets ran down his chest, saturating his jeans. He carefully set her on the towel and grabbed a second one to blot her skin lightly with.

“You'd make a hell of a nurse, Eros.”

Eros chuckled, “I make a hell of an assassin, Aymee.” As much as he appreciated her willing surrender of her care to him, he still felt more comfortable in things of a darker nature.

Aymee tried not to wince while Eros toweled her off. Her pain bothered him far more than he tried to let on. Almost as if it hurt him, too. In truth, the bath had relaxed her somewhat. Mostly she felt less … dirty. The realization of how close she’d come to suffering far worse than cuts and bruises had hit her while the doctor patched her up.

Eros blotted the ends of her hair avoiding her scalp, then he draped the towel over her shoulders and stepped from the room before returning with a bag that looked like one of hers. “Did that come from my apartment?”

“I sent Jacob to pack you some items after he delivered the car to us.” Eros kept his eyes on the bag when he answered. Aymee could just imagine what Jacob had packed her. She had hung out with Jacob and his brothers many times, the guy had a warped sense of humor.

Eros started pulling out every item from her lingerie drawer. Figures. Did he pack her vibrator too? Eros pulled out a long silk black nightie and held it by the spaghetti straps. “I believe this is the most appropriate item my son packed for you. I must apologize on his behalf. I dare say he doesn’t have much …
conventional
experience with women or females in general.”

Aymee knew what Eros referred to. His six sons had no problem with women. Far from it, the times she’d gone out with them in a group setting, women flocked to the Sicarius males like moths to a flame. She’d also never seen any of them with the same girl twice. “Hey I’m surprised I got more than panties.”