This Is Forever (15 page)

Finding their elevators to the room was an adventure but after three wrong turns and a detour through the craps tables, they were ascending towards the nineteenth floor and a few hours of sleep. She hoped. The ride in from
Utah was bumpy and not conducive to sleep. Since Chicago they had eight other dates in Kansas, northern Texas, Denver, and Salt Lake City and the tour was starting to take its toll on everyone. Almost thirty days on the road already and they were only about halfway through their projected dates. Thankfully they were in Vegas now, for a week, with only two dates to play which meant a little bit if R&R for everyone. It was needed.

The room was spacious as most upscale rooms were in Vegas and was more
than enough for the two of them. Winter had let them in, dropped his messenger bag and pilots case and flopped on the over large couch. She followed suit and snuggled in.

“Nice room.” She said as she laid her head on his chest.

“Yeah. Good views too. I’m so damn tired. All I wanna do is take a shower and sleep for about twelve hours.”

“That sounds like a fine idea.” She agreed. “So we should do that, and then order room service? Or maybe before we pass out for the duration?”

He nodded. “Food would be good…” he said and yawned and closed his eyes, letting out a deep breath.

She woke up in the same position a couple of hours later, completely unsurprised she had passed out.
Winter’s rhythmic breathing has lulled her into relaxation quickly. She levered herself off his chest and sighed. “Sweet Jesus we fell out.”

Winter
opened his mouth to answer her when his phone went off. It was a song she didn’t hear from it before. He sat up. Who the hell was No Use For A Name’s
Hail to the King
for?

“
Shit. I gotta take this.” He said and got off the couch as he hit the button on his phone.

“Hey!” she heard as he walked into the bedroom.
There was some murmuring and then he walked back in. “Yeah… Room nineteen-seventeen. Gimme like twenty yeah? You got it.” He hung up the phone and smiled at Lola.

“Who the hell was that?”

Winter set his phone on the coffee table. “Murphy.” He said and sat down.

“Who is Murphy?”

“The short answer is family. He’s in town for the show. Apparently a surprise for me. Wants to have brunch or something.”

“Oh.” She said and blinked.

“You wanna come?”

“Sure? I mean I never heard about this…”

His phone rang again, the beat from Daft Punk’s
Around The World
. He grinned. “It’s Stoli.” He said and answered it. “Hey Stoli,” he said and waited. “Yeah one second.” He handed the phone to Lola.  “It’s for you.”

She frowned and took the phone. Why would one of
Winter’s collectors wanna talk to her. “Hello?”

“Hey Lady Hotness!
We made an appointment for three at the Bellagio Spa. You down?”

Lola blinked again.
Lady Hotness?
Two girls she barely knew, aside from a cursory meeting backstage were asking her to hangout. “Umm…” she started and Stoli cut her off.

“We know you just got in but
it’s like super relaxing.”

“I don’t know…” she said with
reluctance. Stoli wasn’t having any of it.

“
Well how’s this. We are down in the lobby and will be waiting for the next fifteen minutes. Decide, come down. If not, no problem but…” She trailed off. “Cool?”

“Cool.”

“Fifteen minutes. See you in a few.” Stoli disconnected.

She looked at
Winter. “They want me to go to the spa with them.”

He
didn’t look surprised at all. “You should. The girls are pretty fun, and not anything like your thinking.”

She frowned.
After their talk about Winter being on the website, and his subsequent convincing her that none of them meant shit to him, she wasn’t sure she really wanted to see the other side of the coin, and how he had effected the fairer sex.

“I know exactly what you’re thinking.”

She gave him a small smile. “Oh yeah?”

He nodded. “Your thinking it will be super weird to hang out with chicks that I have hooked up with. It won’t be, not really. Stoli and Gats
are decent people, and I can guarantee you this won’t be a weird experience for you. They probably just wanna be friends.”

“And you’re cool with that?”

He nodded. “Why not? Go. Get pampered.” He winked. “It’s not like I’m sitting around here alone.”

“Well I did wanna meet this mysterious Murphy.”

“You will. Promise. Now get your ass downstairs and have some fun. Okay?”

She kissed him on the cheek and went into the bathroom, grabbing her overnight bag as she went. Ten minutes later she was refreshed,
teeth brushed, Chapstick on and was descending towards the lobby and an adventure she wasn’t sure she wanted to have.

TWENTY

Seeing Murphy was never like seeing other royalty. For one, the guy hated being reminded that he was king of the Strigo, or time demons. Throw in the fact that the Strigo were always treated like the bastard children of the demon world, due to other demons’ prejudice and lack of understanding of just how powerful their race from the mountain
s of the Afterverse really were and Murphy would rather not identify.

But
Winter knew. And Winter admired them. Of all the demon races, the Strigo were the most down to earth, the least predisposed to nefarious doings. They lived, they loved, they kept to themselves, and aside from the Conglacio ice demons, they had the youngest monarchy in all of the Afterverse. They were progressive, and very ahead of the times and curve. 

It was why he bargained with Murphy for his powers. He liked the guy, respected him. And the powers were a means to an end. Even if the reason didn’t matter now, he wasn’t regretful of his actions. His powers gave him an edge, and the sparse times he had used them more
than made up for the price he paid for them.

Murphy was singular in his way of thinking when it came to his bargains though, and he considered those he did business with family, and friends.
Winter saw in him an older brother, albeit extremely older as the guy was well over four hundred years old, but it was never strained or uncomfortable when he was around. It was why he was looking forward to the visit.

After Lola left for her spa day he had hopped in the shower and then gotten ready in record time. The knock at the door had sounded just as he was slipping his sneakers on.

He opened it to see his Monarch and friend standing there with a smile on his face. A smile that wasn’t forced or sinister.  Murphy was happy. Genuinely happy?

Winter
gave a slight bow and Murphy waived it away. “Please.” He said and stepped through to the room proper and then shook Winter’s  hand.

“How you doing kid?”

“Decent. You look happy. You run over a vegan or something?”

The monarch laughed.
“Hardly. Things are good recently, I’m letting my smile out to play. I was told I needed to more often.”

He walked
past Winter and sat on the couch. Winter followed suit and sat in the chair across from him. “Ah yeah? Told by who? Surely it wasn’t Cash or the rest of them.”

Murphy gave him a wistful smile. “The princess I am courting, Lady Fiona.”

Winter raised an eyebrow. “No shit? Well congrats are in order then man. About fucking time.”

Murphy nodded. “I could say the same about you.
And where is the fetching Natasha Cavendish?”

“Out with two of my friends for a spa day.”

“I had hoped to meet her.” Murphy said and frowned.

“Oh you will man, no worry on that.
She’s curious about you.”

“My dashing good looks?
Powers over time? Or the villa in Borra…”

Winter
laughed. “None of that.”

Murphy smirked. “Listen to us sitting here like two fucking girls gossiping. I don’t know about you but
I’m fucking starving and I made a reservation at Strangeways for brunch.”

Winter
nodded. “Sounds good.”

Thanks to Murphy’s teleporting ability, or blinking, they were at the restaurant in a matter of seconds and seated soon after in a semi private room filled with giant palm fronds and a courtyard style fountain that bubbled and gurgled softly.
The waitress came, Murphy ordered a pitcher of mimosas. The girl, a young, comely thing, tried to flirt with Murphy while he ordered. The king was polite, and gave the illusion of flirting but the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. Winter knew that look well. It was exactly what he was doing with the fans and the feather hopefuls. They didn’t really know the difference because they didn’t wanna know. The girl walked away with an exaggerated sway to her just this side of too thin hips, and Murphy turned to Winter with a wry smile.

“So I noticed your heart just wasn’t in it.”
Winter said to the other man and sat back in his seat, trying to get comfortable.

Murphy shrugged. “Takes one to know
one I guess. Honestly no one compares to Fiona, and no I’m not a pussy for saying so. The woman is utter perfection, perfection I have waited several lifetimes for.” He smiled as the girl came back with the pitcher, poured two glasses and then told them she would be back for their order in a few.

Murphy nodded and as she left again smirked. “I’m not fucking that up for a chick that’s lying about her age to keep her job at a casino.”

“How the hell do you know that?”

Murphy laughed.
“King of the Strigo. I know everything about time.”

True story.

Winter
nodded. “Yeah. Walked into that one. So what’s up? I mean don’t get me wrong, it’s good to see ya, it’s been a while. Why you in Vegas?”

“Business crap, and see you guys play.
Fi is coming with me.”

Winter
arched a brow. “So you’re going to bring a Succubus princess to my show tonight? Thank god Rhys is attached.”

Murphy gave him a droll look. “Kid,
Fi isn’t some junior trainer at the succubus courts. She isn’t going to leak energy anywhere, though she will be leeching it I can guarantee that. The shit those girls throw off, hell even I feel it.”

“Understood.”

The waitress came back and they ordered, or rather Murphy did for the two of them. Full steak and eggs plates, Danish and croissants, and scones, though the latter were to be boxed and brought to the table with a box of chocolate strawberries.

The girl left and Murphy took a sip of his mimosa. “So tell me about this girl.”

Winter, for as much as he didn’t want to sound like a chick gushing over his crush, had no problem talking about her. He told Murphy how things came back from what he considered the relationship graveyard and where he hoped they were heading. Murphy gave him a wry smile.

“And your powers?
She know yet?”

Winter
shook his head. “No. She asked about my brand, but I pushed it off as a tattoo.”

“Which it is.
I don’t give full demon status to just anyone Tulane. I like ya, and I know you don’t and won’t abuse the power given to ya. It’s why I want you in my corner when you are ready. It’s also why she needs to know. If you’re planning on forever with this chick…”

He shrugged. “I will tell her, plan to, you know? I mean it’s not like it’s something I can hide really. I just don’t know how she’s going to react and at this point, I don’t wanna fuck anything else up more than I have.”

“Kid, you didn’t make this easy on yourself that’s for damn sure.” He offered as their food came.

“Tell me about it. And then there’s something Toro said about her own little secret, so I don’t really feel bad about keeping this from her.”

“Because if her secret is worse, and shit goes south, you wouldn’t have revealed something so personal. On the right track?”

Winter
nodded.

“You will muddle through. Nothing worth having is ever easy. Look at me and
Fi, or my sister and the Arcuo prince Alexander? Neither were easy or a straight road. But the juice was worth the squeeze. Just gotta decide on if that’s true of you and Natasha.”

***

Winter
mulled over what Murphy had said for the tenth time since leaving his monarch over an hour ago. Lola was still out with the girls, hopefully enjoying herself if the lack of texts or calls was any indication.

Lola was worth everything to
Winter. And he did feel like a shit ass for not telling her about his little bargain, or the long term effects of it, but really, Murphy had hit the nail on the head. He was playing it close to the vest incase she couldn’t accept it. Because if she couldn’t, he didn’t know how to go forward with her. His powers and his bargain were a non negotiable part of himself now and her knowing what it was, or worse, why he did it and not accept it? It was set him back down the destructive path he was going down before she came back into his life.