“A Little Magic in Me”
by Avery Vanderlyle
“Dude, I always knew we’d end up like this.”
Raavi, boneless and unconscious at my feet, didn’t answer. Our latest portal-cracking job had gone awry. After some complicated moon magic, the door opened onto a cathedral filled with mist where two angry Changelings had been offended at the presence of a filthy human (me) and fired off some kind of magic blast.
Raavi had stepped in front of me to take the hit.
My instincts take over in a crisis, and I’m never sure if they’ll be useful or counter-productive. I threw my arm back to catch the door before it closed, and the magical bracelet on my left wrist flared to life. The door stayed open. I ducked another blast and dragged Raavi back through into his magical hideout. He called it his “fastness” and I teased him constantly about how medieval that sounded. “Hideout” made us sound like superheroes — or famous gangsters.
The magical blast hadn’t left a mark on him, but his pulse was faint and his brown skin had a gray tinge. I could feel the damage through the matching tattoos we’d gotten.
After Raavi had invited me along on his magic portal-opening adventures, he’d realized I needed some protection. The bracelet, a knife, a couple random doohickeys, and tattoos that connected us. Yes, we were the kind of guys who got magical tattoos that allowed us to sense each other’s locations, but never talked about our feelings. And now he was dying… the chivalrous oddball of a wizard that I was continually astonished wanted me around.
The lights flickered and dimmed. This magical place was tied to Raavi’s magic. If he died, I might be trapped here, too. I could only hope my bracelet had enough juice stored to open the door again.
Maybe I should do that now. Get to familiar surroundings, then call Raavi’s housemates and hope they could get here in time to help him.
But every one of those unreliable instincts said to stay by his side.
Raavi had wanted us to get the tattoos so he’d know where I was, and if I was hurt. I hadn’t been sure to what extent they worked both ways. But now I could feel his life force draining away. I didn’t have much time.
Useless mortal. That’s all I was. With Raavi’s help, I’d tried reaching for the uncanny Insight that gave Changelings glimpses into the future. Nothing. I’d tried shaping and calling the energy of Otherness. Nope. Our link was through the tattoo, and I could feel him dying but I didn’t have any way to help.
But I’d helped him before. We’d met when he needed me for a sex magic ritual. My sexual energy had helped fuel his power, and had enabled him to open the door to this hideout for the first time.
Could I use sex now?
I didn’t have his training. No time to set up candles or crystals or pick the right color of salt. I’d have to hope I could stir up enough energy, and use the connection to get it into him.
The pillows from the original ritual were within arms’ reach. That bit of continuity would help – maybe. I grabbed them; their silver threads glinted eerily in the dull light. I settled Raavi’s head on one, and nudged him into an approximation of a comfortable position. I unbuttoned his shirt so I could see his tattoo. It was the Fay rune for “Joining”–something like a Korean Hangul character, but with added spikes and flourishes. The ink was red and glowed–but the glow was fading.
I took my clothes off and knelt on the other pillow. My tattoo matched his…and it was also dimmer.
He’d sucked me off for the ritual and I hadn’t had a chance to reciprocate before the spell took effect. I could imagine it, though, and filled in the details from the many other times we’d fucked.
I loved his cock, thick and just long enough to fit down my throat when I wanted that. His pubic hair was surprisingly soft and smelled like fresh-baked bread. His balls were sensitive, almost ticklish. He’d learned how I liked to have my hair pulled just a little when I was giving head, and to read the tension in my shoulders when I’d had too much deep-throating and needed to pull back.
I was hard now. I imagined my sexual arousal as a spark, an energy that I could pass into him using the connection made by the tattoos. It fell into a void…
I teetered on the edge, like peering down into an abyss. I felt the downdraft, and goosebumps sprouted from my skin. If I wasn’t careful, I could push too much energy into him and drag myself down.
“It would be worth it,” I told him. “If I can’t help you, if I die here, too. I don’t regret a single minute of it.”
The lights went out.
I closed my eyes. I needed a scenario hot enough to drive everything else out of my mind. The time by the river…. The night he fucked me while I looked up at alien stars after we opened a portal to another world. The morning after I’d DJ’d a rave organized by my ex… He came looking for me at dawn as we were closing out the last set. We’d blown each other in the bathroom. I shoved the intensity of those moments, of our lust and our reasserting our connection, through the link between the runes.
I felt a subtle updraft from the void. I shivered. A tiny ember had lit up. It wouldn’t sustain itself for long, though.
He needed more.
Got it. Yes. The time we’d fucked after I’d met his housemate, Trey Lin. Changelings were flawed Fay, exiled to Earth, but many still had that unearthly, fantastic beauty, like Tolkien elves cranked up to 11. Trey Lin had it in spades, while Raavi looked human: a bit round, a bit of a belly, warm kind eyes, strong solid limbs.
Raavi wouldn’t believe I was attracted to him after meeting his fellow Changeling.
“You think I’m into that pretty boy?” I pushed Raavi against the wall, grinding up against him. “He looks like he’d break in a strong wind.”
I kissed him, tongue pushing deep into his mouth. He tasted like the scent of flowers in the abandoned lot behind the trailer park where I grew up. He was just as intoxicating as his delicate friend. I kissed him and rubbed against him until his skin was flushed and his eyes were wild.
“You really–” he stopped with a gasp when my hand squeezed his dick.
“Yes, I really. I want you.” He was nice and hard. His prick pulsed in my grip. “C’mon.”
We didn’t even make it up the stairs. I went first, feeling his hungry gaze on my ass. I stumbled; he reached to steady me. His hands were on my hips. Then pulling my pants down, and I spread my legs and braced my arms and groaned when he nipped at my butt cheek.
Raavi whispered a spell and my whole body relaxed, tingling with pleasure. Magic as foreplay was one of my favorite tricks of his. His hands settled on my hips again and his cock pushed into me.
“Do it. Fuck me,” I growled. He didn’t waste any time in setting up a pounding rhythm, balls slapping me and his dick hitting that sweet spot inside me perfectly with every stroke. He urged me forward till I was sprawled, groaning. Was Trey Lin listening? I hoped he was.
The lights flickered on. The void was filling up.
My dick was wet from pre-come; my grip sliding, taut. The memory kept me going: how he’d filled me, how he’d bitten my shoulder and dug his fingernails into my hips. Raavi swore in an ancient feral language as he fucked me, and I came before I’d reached to touch myself.
“Yeah.” I jerked myself, pushing the pace. Remembering how he’d kept fucking me through a second orgasm, and how we’d stumbled into the shower afterwards to grope each other sleepily, magically, into a third.
“Yes! Fuck!” I came, shuddering, cupping my other hand to catch my come. A fire roared inside me, between us, and I hoped it had worked.
When I opened my eyes a moment later, Raavi was staring at me. And breathing hard.
“Wow. Um.” I couldn’t think of anything to say. I wiped my hands on my shirt hastily. “Are you okay?”
“I think I am.” His gaze drunk me in. “Jonah, did you just concoct your own sex ritual?”
“You were hurt. And it worked that other time…”
He smiled and reached for me. “Thank you. You may very well have saved my life.”
I slid into his arms and felt the tie between us, solid and strong.
“I guess I have a little magic in me after all.”
–
Avery Vanderlyle is a Boston-based writer of sci fi, fantasy, erotica and romance — sometimes all at once. Her stories for Circlet Press include “Deflowered,” which was selected for inclusion in Superlative Speculative Erotica: The Best of Circlet Press 2012-2017. Raavi and Jonah first met in “Passage, Performance, Passion” in Circlet Press’ Like a Spell 2: Fire. Their adventures continued in “If Not for the Rat” in the charity anthology His Magical Pet, edited by Rachel Brown. Avery lives with her spouse and five cats. She is on twitter at averyvanderlyle and blogs infrequently at https://averyvanderlyle.wordpress.com/