Excessica Anthology BOX SET Winter (101 page)

“Yes,”
Rafael whispered. He himself was amazed at this human form, how it was made,
what it could do, and the pleasure of it all.

Taking
Rafael’s one word as encouragement, Diego eased the head of his cock inside
Rafael. With an animal-like grunt, he forced himself in further, deeper.
Diego’s hips began to pump in a quick rhythm as he discovered how right this
felt, without even need for lubrication. Rafael’s body was as slick and
yielding as it needed to be.

Downstairs,
Diego’s fellow priests were getting ready for lunch. Diego didn’t need to worry
about them hearing what he and Rafael were doing or finding out. When Rafael
took on his human form, he also took Diego out of ordinary time. There was no
clock, no hours or minutes, no past or future. There was only this one
extraordinary moment, this one incredible act of love.

As
Diego made love to him, Rafael kept his eyes closed and his cheek pressed
against Diego’s. He found himself longing for the tension to return, for the
moment when Diego was near to release, so he could finally look into his mortal
lover’s eyes. The feel of Diego’s body, his muscles and bones, moving on top of
him was thrilling, and the feeling of Diego inside him was more blissful than
he could have imagined. It was no wonder why human beings enjoyed this practice
so much.

Diego,
having denied himself this basic need for so long, seemed to have boundless
enthusiasm and energy. Every time he seemed to be near orgasm, Diego stopped
himself, pulled out of Rafael, and gave himself a moment to breathe before
easing his cock back in. These pauses kept him from losing himself, and Rafael
was glad Diego allowed himself to draw their lovemaking out.

With
this last pause, Diego put his hand on the back of Rafael’s head and brought
Rafael’s lips to his. They kissed fiercely. Rafael shifted his body,
encouraging Diego’s cock back inside him, and Diego gladly accepted the
invitation. As they kissed, Rafael began to move his body in time to Diego’s,
creating a new rhythm and intensifying the friction between them. Diego
responded verbally with a long, drawn-out, “Oh.”

At
that moment, Diego opened his eyes to look at Rafael’s face. Rafael opened his
eyes at the same time, and suddenly Diego found himself staring into pure love.
His eyes filled with tears, but even as the tears started to fall, he found
himself swept up in an overwhelming orgasm. Diego wept openly, struggling to
breathe as his hips bucked and his come filled Rafael.

To
his utter amazement, Rafael found himself coming along with Diego. He shouted,
overcome by the intensity of this sensation, a sensation he’d never experienced
firsthand before. He had never known unhappiness in his long life, but Rafael
now understood that this, in this human body, was true happiness. His wings
unfurled from underneath his back and stretched to the ends of the narrow
bedroom.

They
uncoupled, and Rafael held Diego in his arms as Diego continued to weep. “You
cry as if I’m going to leave you,” Rafael said close to Diego’s ear, stroking
his hair. “I will always be with you, as near to you as your very breath. When
you die, I will take you in my arms and fly you to the Creator, where you will
live in eternal joy. Even then, I will not leave you. When your mother and
father made you, your soul was joined to my being, and my being was joined to
your soul. Through eternity we will be together, Diego.” Rafael paused. “Why
are you still crying?”

“Tears
of joy,” Diego said, wiping his face with the back of his hand. “I didn’t know
how much I was suffering until you took it away.”

Rafael
just nodded, knowing he’d accomplished what he had been sent to do.

About
Erin O’Riordan

Erin
O'Riordan lives in the Midwestern United States with her husband. Her erotic
stories, essays, and film reviews have been published in numerous magazines and
websites. Though she has written about everything from professional basketball
to great literary sex scenes, the intersection of spirituality and sexuality
remains one of her favorite themes. Readers can view more of her work at
aeess.com
. Midsummer Night is the second in the
twelve-part Pagan Spirits series.

Shadow Love

By
Bekki Lynn

Chapter
1

“Well,
guys, work calls,” Carla said, rising from the stool. She finished off her drink
and set the glass down. Eyeing her high school buds, she told them, “I guess
I’ll see you in five years.”

“What?
Whoa, now,” David responded. “You’re not coming to the dinner tomorrow night?”

“Nope.
Working,” she answered while zipping up her jacket. “It’s Halloween. I work
midnight to midnight.”

“I
thought your interest in the occult was a teenage trend,” Pete piped up with
his cocky manner.

“Where
have you guys been, she’s written and published many articles on local haunts
and is obtaining quite a reputation in the paranormal field,” Tina informed
them. “Carla Kingston and her side kick, Zackary Rumble are the paranormal
queen and king of Chillicothe, Illinois.”

“Want
some company?” Bobby asked.

Carla
cocked her head and looked at him. One dance, few words all evening and he
wants to hang out with her. What for? She was sick, a nutcase and needed a
psych evaluation, so he flung at her ten years ago. Not bothering to respond,
she addressed Pete, “Paranormal, not occult, and no, it’s never been a trend,
hobby or anything else deemed a passing fancy.”

“Where
do you find ghosts around here?” asked Sara, who’d come with Pete.

She
leaned over and slowly spread her fingers into the air. “They’re everywhere,”
she whispered. “If you live in an old home, chances are someone died there, if
you buy antiques, chances are they have a previous owners spirit attached.” The
woman’s eyes widened, and she couldn’t resist. “If you’ve ever felt someone
watching you, felt a sudden chill in the warmth of your home, you can be sure
it’s not due to poor insulation.”

Sara
moved closer to Pete. “I don’t think it’s nice to try and frighten people,” she
told her.

“Are
you sure that’s all it is?” Carla cocked an eyebrow, straightened and scanned
the table. “Happy Halloween.”

“This
Zack, he was one of the class nerds, right?” David asked with a disdain that
irritated her.

Some
things never change. Ignoring the jibe at her partner, she told them, “Have a
great time tomorrow night. I’ll look forward to the stories on the alumni
site.” She walked away relieved to be going to a place where she was more
comfortable. These people would never understand what drove her, especially the
one who at one time mattered to her more than anyone.

Carla
pushed through the crowded bar, almost regretting she’d come. She had to, she
had to see Bobby, to close a door on their past. Give up on him and stop
thinking about the
if only
scenarios when her mind wandered. Ha!

He
hadn’t changed all that much, unless more handsome counted. Ten years was good
to him. His crisp blue eyes, and the dark hair cut short to curb the curls
which annoyed, weren’t kind to her. They awakened too much.

Even
being in his arms, pressed against his firm torso as they danced to an old
familiar ‘80’s song from their past, had her wanting to rip the shirt off him
to see the six pack she used to drool over in the weight room. Shivers raced
down her spine.

Memories,
she cautioned herself. It’s what class reunions were all about? Go to work and
it’ll all go away.

A
hand came around her and pushed the back door open before she could. She walked
through the door and Bobby came up alongside her.

“I’ll
walk you out.”

They
walked, in silence, the half block to her little beater, her old and barely
viable Firebird. Not her choice of rides, but it was a freebie from her brother
when he landed his illustrious position with Caterpillar so many years ago.
Twelve if she counted the number of vehicles he’d had and traded in.

“Wow,
I can’t believe you still have her.” He looked over the car under the street
light while she unlocked the door, opened it.

“She
gets me where I want a go.” He came to stand on the other side of the door.
“Thanks for walking me out, I need to run.”

“Carla,
I would like to see what you do. Spend some time with you there. I assume it’s
the Duncan house. You always were fascinated with it,” he said, resting a hand
on the top of the door.

“Yes.
And you made your feelings pretty clear.”

“What
did you expect? You told me something had sex with you. You actually believed
it. It scared me.”

“Assaulted,
not sex, there is a difference.” It was the past that came between them and she
didn’t want to go there. Clearly, he still felt the same. “Look, Zack and I are
a team. He’s waiting on me.”

“Are
you two…” He gave a rolling hand gesture when he couldn’t bring himself to say
what he meant, but she knew he meant a couple.

Chapter
2

“No.”
She ran a finger over the white mark of his ring finger. “I don’t do rebounds
either.” Her gut twisted at the thought that he’d found someone else while she
couldn’t. No one else was him.

He
glanced down where her finger caressed. “My divorce was final last month, but
the marriage has been over for years. Almost since we said
I do
.”

“I’m
sorry.” She wanted to know more, but it’d been his choice to exclude her from
his life. Time wasn’t on her side, anyway.

“So,
Zack’s parent’s place is across the street from the house, right?”

“It’s
his place now, but yes.” She jerked her hand away from his when she realized
she still touched him. “I really have to go.” She climbed in the car, put the
key in the ignition and turned it, hoping it didn’t choose this moment to not
start. It roared to life and she gave a hand wave then headed across town where
her equipment hummed, waiting for mamma.

Carla
pulled up behind the metal box in Zack’s driveway three minutes later and blew
out, wanting to extract the feelings fresh with desire and loss. She looked
across the street at the two story house with its many turret-like corners. The
architecture was more interesting than the actual layout inside, still she
loved it; always had a fascination with it. Part of the draw was the talk of it
being haunted, but more than that, she felt a deeper connection to the place.
It loved her, too.

By
the time she was eighteen, she knew for a fact the place was haunted. She’d
experienced it in ways she’d never heard of until she hooked up with Zack.
Together they researched and compiled amazing documentation, and her best
friend was never there to share the excitement with.

Carla
sighed. She didn’t have time to have a pity party. She left the car and walked
up to the dented door of what once was her parent’s summer home on various
lakes, unlocked it and stepped inside. “Hey, kids. Miss me.” She unbuttoned her
jacket and hung it on the hook inside the door while she scanned the downstairs
rooms on the first monitor, the second level on the second monitor, then she
verified the base temperatures were still holding on the thermal surveillance.
Her most recent addition to their arsenal along with K2 digital recorders, and
as yet she still had no idea who or why the Terrance Hall Foundation took such
an interest in them. Or why they received unsolicited grant money from them
every year for the last four years. Enough so they no longer had to take on second
jobs to fund their own little parties.

“Five
minutes to Halloween day, aren’t you excited? Let me get settled and we’ll see
what’s in store this year. Maybe we’ll be surprised with something new.” She
reached into the refrigerator and pulled out her veggie tray and her third
ginger ale of the night.

Carla
sat down at the console where a couch used to be and put on her headphones.
“How’s things looking, Zack?”

“You
know, if it was anyone else on this end, they’d have you committed for talking
to your equipment.”

“Aw,
hear that puddin’s, Zack’s jealous.”

“Hardly.”

“Did
you see that?” she mumbled against her soda can as she drank. “A camera in the
master bedroom flickered.”

“Yeah,
been doing it off and on for the last hour, but no activity registers.”

“Maybe
the mount has loosened from the wall,” she suggested while opening a container
of spinach dip.

“So,
is Bobby in town for the reunion?”

She
deliberately crunched a carrot in the microphone.

“Woman,
that’s rude.”

“You
could have come.”

“Hell
no! Perfectly happy sitting right here where I’m appreciated.”

“Aw,
still having nerd anxiety issues?” She set the carrot down. “The kitchen camera
went black, then white and back to the room.”

“Saw
it. Would you like me to run over and check to make sure everything is secure.”

“I
would, yes.” She pulled her log book over. “Logging it all in case it pans into
something more. If it is, it’s certainly earlier than previous years.”

“All
right, going to walk the perimeter first and see if I make anyone nervous.”

A
few minutes later, she heard the basement door of the house open and close.
Zack gave the trailer a couple slaps as he passed by and waved through the
window. She watched him and the monitor showing them the yard. Six cameras were
set up, but there’d never been outdoor activity at this location. It more or
less helped to see if pranksters or the curious wanted to trespass on the eerie
night of Halloween.

She
watched Zack round the side of the house and then he disappeared from her view
via the window, but she was more concerned when he didn’t turn up on camera
four. “Zack, where are you? I have no visual.”

“Kitchen
window.”

“I
see it, but you’re not showing up.”

“Hold
on. See me now.”

“No.
Do you have a thermal meter with you?”

“Checking
for activity now. I can see the camera and it looks fine from here. The red
light is on. At daylight, we can bring it down for a check. No activity.”

“Well,
check the inside vids and come on back.” She sat back in the chair, waiting and
relaxed when she saw him enter the kitchen.

Carla
watched while he checked the kitchen camera then moved through the house to the
master bedroom to check the camera she really couldn’t afford to lose.

 “The
mount is secure, so is the camera,” Zack told her.

“All
right. It is the first time we’ve mounted on that wall. Maybe it’s more
sensitive to underground tremors.”

“Possible.
On my way out.”

“Any
way we can set up one of our thermal units in the yard tonight?”

“I’m
out of cables.”

“I’m
bothered by the lack of visual out there. It’s weird that it’s on and I see the
yard and house, but nothing that moves through it.”

“Well,
we’re here for the weird.”

She
chuckled. “True. Thanks for checking the cameras.”

He
appeared on screen when he entered the front yard. “Am I visible now?” he asked
while he danced a waltz and dipped an invisible partner.

Laughter
bubbled up and out of her. His bouncer build and long, layered wavy hair was
hard to miss, hence the camera issue. “Goof-ball, get back here before you
attract visitors of the living.”

He
danced his way across the street, circling a couple of times while humming in
her ear. The man was priceless and she loved him for everything he was and
wasn’t. “Ok, ok, get back in your dungeon and behave,” she told him, fighting
back more the laughter.

“Now,
who’s jealous?”

“Of
what? Having to dance alone so you don’t mash toes.”

“Oh,
sweetheart, twinkle toes doesn’t step on toes.” He smacked the window as he
passed.

“I
seem to recall—”

“In
my defense, I was fallen-down drunk so that doesn’t count.”

“I
don’t remember it that way.” She heard him go inside the house and sat down
again. “One drama down, so were you able to find anything else about this Henry
Duncan, who supposedly died on the property in 1896?” she asked, getting back
to the business at hand. If he was who she thinks he is, there was something
she wanted to try this year and it required as much information as she could
find.

“Not
much, but I emailed you an article of sorts with a photo. It’s old, dark and
fuzzy. He was young.”

“Was
it murder, suicide, disease?” she asked while her laptop booted up. “Why here?
Was he visiting? Did he live there? Was there foul play?”

“Maybe
you can go in the house and ask.”

“I’m
wondering out loud.” She opened outlook and let it download her mail.

Chapter 3

When
she clicked on the link to the story the photo struck a chord in her. He was
young, handsome with a smile both genuine and lively. “So, what happened that
day, Henry?” Carla turned to the write up, such as it was.

Twenty
year old Henry Duncan died from a knife wound to the chest. His Uncle Ben and
Aunt Myrtle found him in the dining room with his bible in one hand and
newspaper in the other. While the family isn’t under suspicion, they feel
guilty and responsible since they had promised to care for him when his parents
passed on when he was a youngin’. Henry was going to school out east with plans
to return here and open his own office to care for the sick.

“Nothing
like today’s reporters, it’s enough that I feel it’s safe to do what I want to
do,” she commented.

“If
he died under anything less than the up and up, you could be stirring up a
nest.”

“I
know, but you’ll protect me. Won’t you?”

“Knight
Zachary to the rescue.”

She
smiled. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d come to her rescue. “Get some
shut-eye while it’s quiet. I’m going to check some forums and see if anyone has
responded to my inquiries.”

“Yes,
ma’am.”

* *
* *

Carla
jumped two feet off her chair when a pounding on the door startled her. A quick
glance at the clock had her raising an eyebrow. It was three in the morning,
who the hell would have the nerve to walk up to a trailer in someone’s driveway
and knock?