#pls send it to me if you find one based on their powers this session

[deadmountaindaughter]

wild life smp superhero au when. please i need it this was my favorite episode

[irisintheafterglow]

Heyy, van I get a suguru geto x reader based on this playlist pls? Creative freedom, I just enjoy the playlist and your writing

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVNLTHYHuG3QRkaWiIAoNztVS2Ad51M3j&si=R_K3McCdTLK9Vc3H

tell me that you love me, love me till my lips turn blue

summary: for the first time in what feels like forever, you're paired with suguru on a mission. he gets...distracted.

wc: 1.13k

cw/tags: best friends to lovers, some language, canon-typical violence, mutual pining, suguru is the #1 lovesick idiot when you're not around, a little suggestive toward the end but nothing explicit

note: HIII you always have the best requests!! this is short and sweet but i was listening to the playlist nonstop while i was writing and oh MAN was it an experience. like ok powerful reader and powerful bf duo with doja playing in the background?? and then a good ol' makeout session at the end? delicious. hope you like this, thank you for your ask!!!

likes, reblogs, and replies are always appreciated :)

“They’re practically lining up, hmm?”

“Guess they’re excited,” you smile contemptuously at the Curse syndicate in front of you, all seven of the most wanted Jujutsu defectors this side of the prime meridian. Your partner on the mission huffs out an incredulous breath and you see him scowl out of the corner of your eye. “Do you need a–”

“Yeah,” he mutters and you wordlessly hand him the black hair tie from your wrist. You always kept extras when you were working together because he was sure to lose the one he brought; it was basically tradition, at this point. “You wanna take this round while I fix my hair?” 

“Sure, be right back,” you say carefreely as you shoot him a wink over your shoulder. He rolls his eyes lightheartedly at your antics and you decide to show off a little bit. Let’s gamble…25%. You stretch your limbs from side to side before raising a hand, sharply pulling it into a fist when you latch onto the energy signatures of the group in front of you. With such a low gamble, the effect of the additional energy is instantaneous; a quarter of the energy for every enemy in front of you basically over-replenished your own reserve. With the supplemental energy and your opponents temporarily stunned from the energy-theft, you send a single arc across the entire group and render them on the verge of unconsciousness. You mentally kick your technique up to 80% and absorb the remaining Cursed energy, leaving the syndicate groaning and incapacitated. After texting the higher-ups to dispatch a cleaning crew, you check on Suguru’s progress with taming his unruly hair. “You good?”

“Mmm, yeah. Just gimme a little longer,” he says absentmindedly, pulling his hair back over and over again until he’s satisfied with it. “I don’t know why I’m bothering with this, since the mission’s basically over. On paper, at least.” 

“Any idea where that last defector went?”

“I sent out a few Curses to go find him, but chances are he’s long gone by now. Satoru will probably end up catching him.”

“Oh, he’s gonna be so mad that he has to, you know, do his job,” you joke and he chuckles softly under his breath. It sounds like sunshine. “Any hard feelings that you didn’t get to save the day?”

“The opposite, actually,” he corrects and the look he gives you has your face burning. “I’m happy I got to see you in action. It’s not often that we’re paired together.”

“I know, and I’m sure you miss your awesome, amazing, gorgeous, talented best friend.” Your elbow knocks against his bicep and he shoulder bumps yours in response.   

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he drawls, waving a dismissive hand and your jaw drops in fake displeasure. “Just admit you missed me, already.”

“Not if you won’t admit it first,” you reply nonchalantly, in stark contrast to the increasing rhythm of your heartbeat. You were walking the ledge of that dangerous cliffside again, on the verge of completely falling for your best friend without knowing shit about his own feelings. It was selfish, allowing yourself to love him, but you couldn’t find the motivation to stop. “Let’s get out of this shithole; I’m craving some of that taiyaki we saw earlier on the–” 

Your words are abruptly cut short by Suguru’s hand gently but firmly covering your mouth while the other hand tugs you into a dark nook of the cave. He quietly shushes you and glances in the direction of the footsteps approaching from around the corner. You don’t focus on anything he’s trying to tell you, though, because your mind is short-circuiting from his proximity and the fact that he hasn’t taken his hand away from your arm. In fact, whether consciously or not, his fingers rub little circles onto your skin and your vision becomes a little starry. You weren’t sure if the affection was to relieve his anxiety or yours, but you sure weren’t complaining.

“Stay here, yeah?” He briefly takes his hand away from your mouth but doesn’t go far, repositioning it beside your head due to the cramped space he’d pulled you into. He’s close enough that you can feel his breath, minty from the gum he stole from you in the car. 

“Where are you going?” 

“Gonna take care of that last asshat out there and then come back and,” he inhales, eyes flicking down to your lips for a nearly imperceptible moment, “probably do something stupid.” Before you have the chance to ask what he means, he slips away and you hear the sound of faint rumblings. Chunks of rock crumble on the floor, the thuds mixing with distant pleads for mercy. The iridescent scales of Suguru’s dragon cast rainbows on the walls in the dim light and, before you know it, he’s back in the corner with you, slightly more flushed but just as handsome as minutes prior. “Miss me?”

“Cocky asshole,” you mutter half-heartedly, absolutely sure that he could hear your blood pounding in your ears from sheer adrenaline. He looked intoxicating, staring at you so intensely that your knees were buckling against the wall. The tension was suffocating in the stuffy, dusty atmosphere and your impatience reared its ugly head. “Well?”

“Well,” he breathes, unable to tear his eyes away from your face. 

“You gonna do that stupid thing yet or not?”

“I’m thinking about it,” he admits quietly, one hand brushing the side of your cheek tenderly. “Can I–”

“Stop thinking and just do it, Suguru. I’m not getting any younger–oh,” you murmur, melting into him when he grabs your chin and kisses you with pure devotion. His hand against the wall next to your head turns into his forearm when you pull him as close to you as humanly possible, the other finding your hip and drawing more of those infuriatingly loving circles. When you finally break away long enough to catch your breath, his lips stay on your skin, pressing feather-light kisses to your cheek, neck, and anywhere he could reach. When he finds your ear, he whispers the sweetest little promises that make your head spin. 

“I would die for you, you know,” he says in a low tone that you want to bottle up and inject into your veins. “I miss you so much when you’re out on missions; it drives me out of my mind.”

“I gotcha,” you grin and he raises a sharp eyebrow in question. “I got you to admit you miss me.” 

“Time for you to keep up your end of the deal, sweetheart.” His forehead rests against yours and he lets you greedily pull him even closer, humming when you pull the tie loose and card your fingers through his hair. “Say you missed me too.”

“Mmm. I missed you too, you love sick fool.”

“Takes one to know one, pretty.”

hear that? yeah that's me barking

[bisexualoftheblade-old]

how many wips do you have? like what are they all, and not the number of wips in a fandom? what are all the names?

okay. fuck you. fuck you so much. fuck you.

i’m putting this under a read more cut no one else deserves to see this shit. a lot of these are requests, and for those i will just write out the request itself

Shadowhunters:

domestic polycule fluff with tem, jessa, and will because im not a coward

Supernatural

- hehe hoho i request destiel hehehe

- request 61/? cai cai cai cai i need you to rewrite the destiel scene but yk. GOOD. not like i'm in the know about the spn fandom or anything, it's been years for me. but DO IT

Bright Sessions

- caleb/adam grisha AU

- mark bryant vs. united states aka sue the AM

- caleb/adam college fluff

Umbrella Acaademy

- request 31/? i want a ben and klaus drabble please spare me some brotherly bickering

- AND SO BEGINS NIGHT 4 with request 13/? oooh oooh can i get a raymond and allison playlist??? i think their vibes together would SLAP

- hi there night 2 is technically morning 3 but who's counting not me anyway request 5/? can i get a ben moodboard? gotta rep my tua bb

Percy Jackson

- request 9/? can i get a percabeth moodboard or quote edit?? like god they're the og couple goals take me back to high school cai

- For the 100 follower things :D Jercy getting caught in the rain

- request 29/? a drabble about literally anything to do with pjo. i’ll be happy with anyone and anything i’m love these children

- *somersaults in like I’m a real fancy acrobat* hello ello ello may I request some camp half blood chaos possible involving *does a flip* ✨side characters✨ <3

Penumbra Podcast 

- request 52/? drabble about the penumbra podcast. this is for ren bc ren likes it and i don't actually know anything about it. juno? i think? that's the one ren likes. write it for ren

- Tpp ghost hunting / buzzfeed unsolved au

- sad juno smut

- final resting place fic go brrrr

Marvel

- request 6/? i'm going to my roots y'all can i get a spider-man playlist? if not a playlist then i'd honestly be happy with literally anything involving spider-man

- request 15/? i'm going crazy this is recorded evidence of me actually losing it ANYWAY can i get a quote edit for something from iron man? literally anything that man says is gold so cai's choice :D he deserved better in endgame i'm still bitter

- request 42/? do another spidey thing that differs from the other spidey thing

- request 73/? you have Opinions. rant about infinity way and/or endgame. go.

- request 74/? quote edit for deadpool!!

- spideytorch relationship character study

- peter parker as a tired grad student monitoring the young avengers (send help)

Six of Crows

- okay listen i wasn't going to request anything bc i worry about you but also? if you want to/have the time hit me with a playlist for our girl nina zenik

- request 43/? fuckin give me the ending anya should have had. she is alive and with her new son and having a great time

- request 45/? inej moodboard?

- request 47/? will you make literally any meme of your choosing for six of crows?

- request 48/? write a drabble for kaz, my favorite bastard

- okay so i don't actually like nina or mattias that much but i still wanna hear about your thoughts (and also see if you'll change my mind)

- kaz brekker turning 18 fic. birthday party, everyone singing, whole shebang. i need it stat

- religious trauma fic aka i started shipping kaz/alina/inej and i can’t stop

- kaz trauma soup (he has D.I.D. and you can’t prove me wrong)

- my two redacted fics for @grishaversebigbang​

- wesper fake dating

- six of crows bright sessions crossover: everyone gets therapy

TMA

- uhh... s1 gang having a nice time? melanie getting to have some Pride™️? some "fun" horror thing?

- request 7/? spare steph and jason bonding? please sir? spare some for a humble child such as myself?

- okay so this was meant for night 3 but i had midterm shit SO this is honorary night 3 let's DO THIS request 8/? i want a moodboard of extremely out of context magnus archives shit like i mean confuse the FUCK out of me i don't go here i know Nothing about it

- request 11/? OKAY so i need tim stoker meeting tim drake now i need my timmy to meet your tim plus i want to see character differences no i'm not trying to create a tim stoker in my head so i can read a's fic while NOT thinking of tim drake whaaaaaat you're crazy

- request 18(i think)/? i need a quote edit of every time within the first like. 15 eps of tam where jon is like “sounds fake but go off” thank u bb

- request 40/? i challenge you to write a tma drabble based only on the episodes i've heard. i'm currently halfway through episode 23

- Jon being lovingly bullied into taking a break. I'm aware this has been written a million times but it is one of my favorite things.

- spiral!sasha AU

- extinction martin go brrrrr

- high school era timsasha. they've both been friends for years, and everyone always asks when they will be a couple. they decide to fake date, to prove everyone wrong and show what a bad couple they would be. turns out that's a bit trickier than they thought

- after sasha comes back, tim is broken. he can't let go, scared that if he looks away for even a minute he'll lose her again. sasha suggests shibari as a way for him to give up control

- sasha pov mag 19 au, sacrificing herself to save the others, knows that if she gives herself up to the not!them it will let the others live

- this is the "tim finds a polaroid of sasha" trope

- early archives days,, long nights in research,,, clothes sharing,, somft. late nights and falling asleep at their desks warm and safe in the other's presence

- two parts: timsasha as kids, each picking a constellation that is "theirs". just soft kid antics. tim at sasha's grave glancing up to see their constellations

- continuing your job’s a joke (you’re broke)

DC Comics

- TIMSTEPH HADESTOWN AU,,,

- my redacted fic for @batfam-big-bang​

- request for you to get a decent amount of sleep? serious answer, dickkori, SAL's Venus

- request 4/? timsteph morning after 👀 mayhaps?

- a concept: nonbinary stephanie brown

- teehee hi mom, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, but can i request damian angst for your accomplishments 100 followers?

- hi you can ignore my first request if you want, or you can ignore this one. but bls possibly write some bikini ra’s? -the bikini bitch

- request 27/? jay is asking through me for a jondami playlist but tbh i also want it so win win yk?

- "I don't know how to help you but I can help you find someone who does" with bruce and jason? im just craving bruce being a good day to jason for once

- “I am putting you in time out because you need to understand the consequences of your actions.” with steph and jason as dumbass disaster bi best friends pretty please?

- request 32/? timsteph patrol date!!!

- request 33/? timsteph *gala* date? mayhaps??

- request 37/? tim drake drabble but make it Edgy cai

- request 39/? drabble of a prank war between tim and damian

- joyfire cuddly fluff please? or like just any outlaw fluff if joyfire isnt your thing (feel free to add every member of the outlaws, dont feel like u gotta stick with jason, kori, roy i love them all)

- barbara and robin! jason fluff? bonding over books or something?

- request 62/? i need a drabble about the chaotic trio jason, tim, and steph i'm love them ty

- request 63/? batfam x mcu crossover. batfam meets ironfam. give me ALL the cliches. ALL OF THEM

- request 64/? young justice x young avengers - jay cuz idk SHIT about the young avengers

- request 66/? jondami moodboard pls and ty

- request 67/? timsteph moodboard!!!!!!

- request 69/? HEHEHE kinky 😏 i would v much like a timsteph drabble of the almost first time. does that make sense? like i don't want you to go all the way NSFW cuz i know that's against the rules and i'm a rule follower. but like they *almost* go all the way. this could be fade to black or some shit i don't care just make it a lil steamy and have Fun

- i request damian angst! all of it

- hmm... maybe i request? jondami?

- mayhaps,,,,some batfam,,,,,committing crimes? ily be gay do crime <3 - lu

- How about a ficlet with Steph and Cass?

Found Family Bingo Prompts

- no powers au

- tunnel

- first day

- join the club

- hurt/comfort

- experiment

- playing favorites

- hold on

- possession

- 10 o’clock

- singing

- road

- snitch

- curfew

- timer

- fantasy au

- zombie au

- dreams

- campfire

- are you okay

- movie night

- games

- scared

Miscellaneous

- a request: Write A Drabble, Coward

- is it too late to request a moodboard for me?

- request 20/? i’m going off book because i’m in a Chaotic Mood™️ can you just absolutely vibe check me like go off cai demolish me

- request 21/? i formally request that you pick a favorite cai. i don’t care what that favorite pertains to, just pick a favorite something

- request 23/? roast me

- request 24/? can i have a buzzfeed unsolved spoopy playlist but spoiler alert it’s not spoopy bc shane doesn’t believe does this make sense it has been a Day™️

- request 25/50 i want a jake and amy fic make it Soft cai i’m love them b99 is so good

- request 28/? i know nothing about the lord of the rings so make something that will confuse the shit out of me

- request 34/? malvie and jaylos moodboards 😈

- request 35/? a moodboard for the bbb mods!! perceive all of us!!!

- request 36/? moodboard for the tua mods too???? mayhaps??

- request 41/? doctor WHO? idk but i want a drabble of him and the one character i know from doctor who which is rose

- request 46/? make an alignment meme with our group, have fun!!!

- request 49/? i want you to kin assign me a character from every fandom you can/want to. go feral

- request 50!!!!/? this is a special request. the most special request. can you make a bastards tbh playlist? i want our vibes encapsulated. i want us in music form. i want to hear those songs and be like "that's me and cai" and smile.

- requests 51/? i know jack shit about good omens. explain it to me in the most confusing way possible. make me know less by the end than i know now

- request 53/? can you write a mel aesthetic? i'm Curious

- request 54/? give me a list of book recs cai i want some good book recs pls

- request 56/? edit a picture of US together too

- request 58/? oooh can i have a disney edit? like. hm. i just really love disney and i want anything to do with disney. like a quote or an aesthetic or an aesthetic edit i just want disney.

- request 59/? i would v much like a recipe for carbonara. i've never had it but it sounds fucking delicious

- request 60/? ooh hey can i get a makeup tutorial? i know you like makeup, i'm shit at doing makeup. teach me

- request 65/? i need the most emo playlist you can make that vibes with dear evan hansen thank you

- request 68/? i want a superwholock moodboard. this can be serious, with the actual fandoms in mind, or literally what the era felt like. the insanity. the horror.

- request 70/? ooh ooh ooh do you have a good bread recipe?? i wanna get that bread

- request 71/? i want a playlist with the vibes of summoning a demon. please don't ask questions. i don't have answers. and if i do, no i don't.

- For the requests, how about writing something based on a friend?

- request 75/? MMMM i want literally anything to do with natasha, pierre, and the great comet of 1812

- request 76/? i want some healthy recipes. help a girl out

- a feral bbb quote or two?

- you perceive my plant but now I dare thee to perceive mine own visage

- okay this is a two for one request. 1. you did the bee movie script so now we need a shrek two script edit 2. sleep please

- Pansexual mb for my lil queer soul?

- my (probably) final request is just for you to ramble about something, i don't really care what

- HI ILY CONGRATS AS WELL CAUSE IM LATE BUT CONGRATS. could i request a pirates of the caribbean (or just pirates) or whatever you what to do, free range.

- mood board for the beluga whales who got brought to the animal sanctuary in Iceland please?

- 100 follower request: Moodboard for my stuffed cow Oaky?

[starlocked01]

Beautiful Mistakes

AO3 @tsshipmonth2020

Masterpost- Previous- Next

Summary-  Remy can't think before he has his coffee and that causes problems for him and his soulmate.

A/N- Slightly altered so that the marks disappear a few minutes after they’ve been received.

Day 9 Remile- Whatever you draw on your skin shows up on your soulmate

Emile could feel the slight itch on his cheek that indicated a message from his soulmate had appeared. He flushed with embarrassment but kept his composure. He quickly scrawled on his wrist.

Not now, Rem. I'm with a client.

He turned back to his patients with a smile and his wrist itched as Remy replied.

Oops

"Doc, you okay?"

"My apologies, my soulmate likes to send messages when he wakes up. Except he works… at night," Emile sighed, affectionately yet exasperated.

"Well the flags look cute, I guess as long as you're okay with your patients knowing..." Dot smiled and nodded encouragingly.

Emile paled, "he didn't…"

"I think he did," Larry replied.

Emile put a hand to his cheek, "it's a pride flag isn't it?"

"Oh don't worry, Doc! It's so cute! Larry, isn't it cute?"

"He's going to be rather upset with me. I can't check it, and he's not out at work yet… but enough about me, back to Dorry! Or if you prefer, Larrydot?? " Emile grinned despite the looks of confusion the couple were giving him. His cheek and wrist continued to itch but he insisted on staying focused on the session.

By the time Larry and Dot were leaving, the itching had crawled up his forearm. Remy must be rather upset.

He checked his watch. The next appointment was in 20 minutes. He could take 5 to read through the tirade and would still be able to review notes for the next couple. He rolled up his sleeve to see a block of text that grew more frantic the farther it got up his arm.

Babe check out the drawing!

I worked hard on that girl pls appreciate me

Em i have work in an hour

Look. At. Your. Cheek.

This isn't funny!

Okay it was supposed to be funny but i can't have a gay flag on my face at work they will kill me!!!!

Bitch

Bitch

You don't love me im gonna die because you don't love me

No one is gonna believe me if i have to lie about this

Please????

>:[

Emile chuckled and wrote back quickly.

This is your fault for drawing on your cheek. You know I work and can't check messages right away.

He checked the time again and pulled out his phone, opening the camera app. He admired the little gay flag crossed with a pan flag. He took a quick selfie to preserve the drawing on his phone. It really was sweet, if unfortunately timed. Luckily, most of his clients would be fairly understanding. Remy's coworkers on the other hand would not.

The tirade on his arm had faded and  been replaced with a new line from Remy.

Don't judge me I didn't have my coffee yet girl

Emile chuckled and pulled his sleeve back down, finding the file and notes he had for the next couple's session.

Remy sat in his car, obsessively checking the mirror until the flags on his cheek faded away. The last thing he needed was to get outed by a soul mark. He was usually late anyway because of the line at Starbucks, what harm would one more day do?

A lot of harm, apparently.

His boss was waiting by the loading dock, impatiently tapping his foot as Remy strolled up.

"'Sup? What are we-"

"Don't even bother clocking in. You don't do shit here and this is the fifth time you've been late this month. You're done."

Remy sputtered, "this is homophobic!"

His boss stared hard at him, eyes narrowing, "You're lazy and you're gay? You're FIRED!"

"Whatever! Your loss, you prick!" Remy turned and flipped the man off as he walked back to his car. He got in and locked the doors, taking some deep breaths. He considered writing to Emile, but decided this was probably an in-person topic.

He restarted the car and drove home, mentally preparing for a lot of explaining.

Emile was surprised to see Remy's car in the driveway when he got home and more than a little concerned. He parked and hurried inside. He found his soulmate sitting in the dark, sipping coffee, and scrolling instagram.

"Remy? Are you okay?"

"Got fired."

"Oh my stars! What happened?"

Remy gave an exasperated sigh, "he didn't like me being late. He also blamed me being gay so idk maybe there's a lawsuit there."

"Was it because of the flags? I tried to check as soon as possible…"

"No… I'm usually late anyway," Remy sank deeper into the couch and Emile moved to sit down next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Maybe it was time for a career change. You can find somewhere more accepting with less crazy hours."

"Maybe I'll become a stripper. They make good money right?" Remy mused, leaning into Emile’s side. The other man wrapped him in a one armed hug.

"While I am sure you'd be a natural, I'd be very concerned for your safety as a sex worker, dear. What about something you're passionate about?" Emile tried to be encouraging, numbers running through his head calculating exactly how long they could live off a single salary.

The outlook was not super promising.

"Don't worry, babe, I'll do some research tonight and fill out some applications. Promise," Remy gave Emile a smile that was skin deep, "what do you want for dinner? I'm starving."

After a week of Remy submitting applications and hearing nothing back, Emile was about ready to suggest the exotic dancer route himself. It wasn't that they were under financial stress (yet), moreso that Remy was a lot more rambunctious being cooped at home during the night. He kept waking Emile up too early and the loss of sleep was starting to affect his clients.

"Hey Doc? You're kinda unusually quiet today…"

Emile shook himself back to alertness, "sorry about that Elliott, where were we?"

"Um," they tapped their fingers together while thinking, "I think I was talking about how my soulmate never writes back. They check every message but I never get any from them. It doesn't… feel good."

"Remember what we've said before, Elliott, your worth isn't based on your soulmate. Whatever reason they choose not to write back, the fact of the matter is that you're still an amazing and powerful person in your own right."

Emile was interrupted by an itching on his wrist. Remy would usually still be asleep by now it was late enough in the morning.

He resisted the urge to check the mark as he spoke with Elliott and he could feel the itch crawling up his arm.

After the session, Emile quickly pulled up his sleeve, praying for good news.

I GOT IT!!!

Finally got an interview for tomorrow!!

<3 <3 <3

There were several more hearts and Emile allowed himself a small smile of relief. He doodled back a heart or two for Remy before returning his focus back to work.

They could celebrate when that interview turned into a position.

He greeted the next couple with a broader smile and a tad more exuberance, much to their dismay.

Remy was nervous. This job sounded too good to be true and they'd practically hired him on the spot. He wasn't about to let his soulmate down though.

He followed the man down the hall, sipping his tea for comfort.

"Honestly just don't let anyone eat anything inedible or hit each other and you'll do great," the man smiled, showing Remy into a room with a dozen kids and two other frazzled looking adults.

Piece of cake right?

Emile was in the middle of a session when he felt the itch on his cheek. He tried to smile through it, but then he felt more itches on his legs and arms and nose. His clients were too preoccupied actually talking through their issue with each other so Emile checked his arm to find a rainbow of scribbles that kept growing.

He put a hand to his face to cover his nose and cheek. What had Remy gotten himself into?

Pretty soon his clients were used to seeing Emile with colorful marks all over his face. He explained that his soulmate worked with kids and almost everyone nodded knowingly. He did ask that if they ever saw an inappropriate drawing they let him know so he could check it right away.

Some days he would draw little cartoons for the kids to fill in. They loved that and he always sent them little hearts back when they did a good job (they always did a good job).

And most importantly, Remy was having a great time with his job and got to be home at nights, so they saw each other a lot more often. They both enjoyed that.

[nayutai]

Chasse Á L’amour

» Pairing Incubus!Taehyung x Original Character

» Rating 18+

» Genre angsty horror smut 

» Word Count 20.626

» Warnings explicit violence, gore, mentions of pedophile behavior (not by main characters), mentions of sexual assault (not by main characters), major character death, minor character death, twisted romance, oral sex (m receiving), unprotected sex (pls use condoms)

» Summary Taehyung is an interesting being. He’s spent several centuries fucking for survival but he never takes the life of someone that doesn’t deserve it. He makes it his duty to rid the world of those with enough power to inflict their evil upon the masses. When that darkness strikes close to home, he’s nearly overwhelmed by the pain. However, getting his revenge isn’t the cake walk he thought it would be.

Phoenix hummed and hawed as she stretched out across her bed. The man that had occupied it with her at the start of the night was long gone as she’d told him to be. She relishes in the soreness that spread through her limbs when she finally separated herself from the sheets. Annoying as he had been at the bar, her chosen conquest had been quite the lay just as she’d predicted him to be.

Freshly showered, she settles in at her kitchen table with a bowl of oatmeal and some fruit. Her laptop whirs to life in front of her ready to supply her with an inbox full of people needing help of the supernatural variety. Most of the people that email her don’t actually need her help. For instance, Molly from New York believes she’s got a vengeful spirit on her hands because her makeup products are continuously vandalized even though her husband, who has expressed his distaste for makeup, swears it’s not him. She needs a marriage counselor, not Phoenix. Then there’s Elijah from Colorado. He’s complaining of some sort of creature that eats all his food and leaves the cabinets open. The number 420 and the fact that Elijah chose to write his entire email in green Papyrus font suggests that he has a weed problem not a supernatural infestation. 

An email halfway down her screen actually shows some promise. A young newlywed couple, Malina and Trevor McAvoy, have just moved into a fixer upper that they found in a quiet, little suburb of Detroit. Phoenix balks at the sheer length of the email they’ve sent her but as she skims through it, she can tell that the McAvoys are one of the unlucky bastards that are actually in need of her help. She starts tapping away at her keyboard. Her phone vibrates against her left breast, halting her email session. It’s one of her hunting buddies, Derrick Yates. 

“Hey, asshole.” Phoenix answers jovially. She can practically see Derrick rolling his eyes in the exaggerated fashion that he’s known for. He claims to love her like family but Phoenix is almost positive that Derrick seriously hates her for all her antics.

“I’m going to pretend like you didn’t say that, especially since I actually called you with a friendly offer.” 

“You have my attention.” Phoenix closes her laptop so that she can give Derrick her full attention. 

She listens intently as Derrick details the small demon coven that he and his partner Patrick Brewer have been tracking for the past week or two. They’d received reports of the demons wreaking havoc on society and were aiming to put a stop to it. Apparently, they’d followed them to Iowa and stumbled upon a demon hangout of sorts. By their count, there are at least twenty demons milling about the large house they’d found in the middle of the woods.

“So, what exactly is this offer?” Phoenix inquires curiously.

“We’re about to go in guns blazing and fuck shit up. Do you wanna come?”

“Send me the location.” She drops her phone onto her kitchen table unceremoniously, going back to her email to the McAvoys. It shouldn’t take long to help Derrick and Brewer dispatch of the demon nest they’ve happened across and afterwards she’ll head out to Detroit to deal with the vengeful spirit that’s been terrorizing them. 

The door of her trusty Jeep shuts with a low thunk as Phoenix hops out of it in front of the low end motel that Derrick and Brewer told her they’ve chosen to hole up in. She grabs her overnight bag from the trunk and walks closer to the building. Her eyes scan the doors for the number 215, finding it off to her right. 

She knocks seven times. Five long two short based on a code they’d devised years ago to announce themselves. A knock for each letter of their name in a cadence of their choosing. Derrick opens the door with a chicken bone hanging from his lips like a cigarette and a chicken leg awaiting the same fate in his free hand. He’s shirtless as per usual and his olive toned skin is glistening as if he just recently got out of the shower. Phoenix reaches out to twist one of his tanned nipples before he can stop her, enjoying the girlish scream he lets out as the pain grips him. 

“You, bitch.” He grunts out when she slips by him, giggling. His partner Brewer emerges from the bathroom then and immediately pulls Phoenix into a tight hug. 

“Don’t hug her. She just tried to kill me.” Derrick whines. Both Brewer and Phoenix flip him off in response which sends him into a rather creative fit of curses about the lack of loyalty and respect he’s “forced” to endure.

Derrick passes Phoenix a beer out of his highly decorated Yeti cooler despite the fact that he was just cursing her life not even five seconds before. He’s truly a frat boy at heart and looks the part with his curly hair that flops over his hair and his preference for khaki shorts and Sperry’s outside of hunts. 

It’s all business from there as the three of them go over the best plan of action to hit the demon hive. Demons are most active at night although not for the reason that most lore claims. The sun doesn’t burn them like most aware humans count on. Most debauchery occurs at night so they’re sleep cycles follow that pattern. That’s probably the most interesting thing about demons. The fact that they actually sleep when they deem it necessary. All demons were humans once and thus a good night’s sleep can actually help them recharge just as it did when they were still human. 

“I’m not saying I’m a genius or anything but I have the perfect plan.” Derrick gloats from his seat with a shit eating grin on his face. Brewer rolls his eyes which only intrigues Phoenix even more.

“I swear to God if this involves that stupid fucking thing you rigged up I’m gong to shove this beer bottle right up your ass.” Brewer warns as he watches Derrick’s grin grow that much wider. He makes some lewd comment about girth and anal stretching that makes Phoenix groan in disgust while Brewer looks more than a little intrigued.

“Now I have to know what this is about.”

“Wait right here, m’lady.” Derrick looks almost manic as he slides a black case out from under the bed. He pops the latches with such reverence you’d think it was the holy grail he had in there. “Say hello to my,”

“Please don’t do it.” Brewer begs fervently.

Derrick presses on as if he hadn’t even heard his partner say a single word. “…little friend.”

Curses fly haphazardly out of Brewer’s mouth much to Phoenix’s delight. Her laughter is replaced with confusion when Derrick pulls some sort of crossbow-shotgun hybrid from the case. 

“Derrick, what the hell is that?”

“Are you blind? It’s a grenade launcher, you imbecile.”

“It looks like fucking trash.” Phoenix mumbles as she lifts her bottle to take another sip of her beer only to realize that it’s empty. Derrick protests when she reaches for his bottle instead but she downs it anyway.

“Now why don’t you tell her what you planned to do with this grenade launcher?” Brewer pipes up, interrupting his own brooding session. He crosses his arms smugly as he waits for Derrick to explain his genius plan and how his knockoff grenade launcher factors into that. 

Based on the stakeouts they’d done in the previous few days, Derrick and Brewer had observed that the demon house of horrors was most active at around four in the morning. All of them seemed to slink back from their soul stealing then and would congregate together to drink and continue to be merry throughout the day. According to Derrick, that is the time to strike. He’s concocted a grenade of sorts but instead of shrapnel he’s rigged them up to spray a mixture of holy water and frankincense in an eight foot radius. 

“I say we hit ‘em with the grenades hard while they’re all pissy drunk then take ‘em all out” Derrick smacks his open hand on the table for emphasis which earns him a flick on the forehead from Brewer. 

“That’s actually not a bad plan, but why the frankincense?” Phoenix questions. The holy water makes obvious sense but she’s never heard of any hunter using frankincense to disarm any kind of supernatural being before.

“It honestly serves no purpose. I only put it in there because it has a cool name and I like the way it smells.” Derrick promptly explains.

“I’m sorry I asked.”

“You and me, both.” Brewer mumbles as he chugs the rest of his beer.

It takes Derrick one day and half a dozen beers to rig up two more of his contraptions and enough holy water grenades to coat every wall of the house with holy water. Brewer has never seen Derrick pray that much in all the years he’s known him. That night, the three of them suit up and head out to cause some mayhem. 

The forest is quiet as they slink through the woods towards the old farmhouse that the demons have taken over. This far off the beaten path, the sounds of wildlife should be at a pretty decent volume but the present of evil seems to have sent the forest residents packing. That makes their approach a bit trickier as they don’t have the noise to cover the sounds of their movement. As they get closer to the house; however, they realize that the demons themselves are providing the necessary cover for their own demise. Their laughter and joyous noises can be heard quite a ways off as they keep the party going amongst themselves. 

As planned, Phoenix and Brewer split off to cover the left side and the back of the house while Derrick takes the front. Phoenix finds a chick copse of bushes to crouch behind and waits for the first shot. Her cue to send her own grenades flying. Adrenaline is pumping through her veins and it take a herculean effort for her not to jump the gun and get things going herself. The anticipation is nearly too much for her to handle when she finally here the tell-tale sound of a gun being fired. It’s show time.

The laughter quickly changes to anguished shouts as Derrick’s homemade grenades spray holy water on every conceivable surface. Phoenix unholsters the gun on her hip as she waits a second to see if a demon is going to run out of the back door in an attempt to escape. A young female takes the back door clean off its hinge as she tries to get away. Large flaps of skin hang from her limbs from the caustic effects of the holy water. Phoenix puts a bullet in her head before her feet even leave the small back porch. The bullet won’t kill her but it will keep her down until she can be properly dealt with. Phoenix drags her back inside, relishing in the way her skin sizzles like bacon as she comes in contact with the water that covers the floor of what looks like a small kitchen. A hiss brings her attention to another demon off to her left that’s crouched and ready to strike despite the fact that its face is nearly completely burned away. Phoenix puts that one down too. She takes a deep breath in through her nose. The smell of burning flesh singes her nose hairs and she loves it.

Most of the mayhem seems to be contained in the front part of the house if the demonic shrieks and screams are anything to go on. Derrick and Brewer are swiftly moving through the horde of smoking demons with ease. Phoenix is about to jump into the mix to when movement in the hallway off to her right catches her attention. Satisfied with how her friends are handling their own situation she sets off to investigate. 

The door to the room at the very end of the hallway is still ajar. Since Phoenix hadn’t heard the sound of a door closing, she decides to start there. The small bedroom is quaint and sparsely decorated. It also appears to be empty. Whatever had been in this room seems to have disappeared. No sooner has that thought crossed her mind when another blur of motion leaves her barely enough time to dodge what would have been a brutal attack. Spinning on her heel, she comes face to face with a pissed off demon that seems to have made it through their blitz attack relatively unscathed. She’s tiny, probably five foot and a buck twenty on a good day but Phoenix knows better to underestimate her. 

Her eyes looks more like chips of obsidian as the demon hisses. Phoenix is ready for her when she attacks this time. They’re dancing around the room, striking with increasing amounts of force and hatred as they seek the opening they need. The heel of Phoenix’s foot connects with her opponent’s rib cage, sending her flying into the wall. Not one to let good fortune go to waste, Phoenix unsheathes the emergency knife she keeps by her ankle before she’s descending on her pray once more. 

Phoenix grabs her foe by the throat as she struggles to her feet, dragging her up the wall until she’s eye level. To her credit, the demon doesn’t scream once though she does continue to try and strike at Phoenix despite the lack of oxygen she’s currently getting. Phoenix readjusts her hand so that she has enough room to press the blade of her knife against the demon’s throat. 

“Any last words, bitch?” Phoenix teases as she drags the blade across  the demons cheek. A thin line of blood follows in its wake. “No? Okay then.”

With the precision of a trained assassin, she slices through the delicate skin of the demon’s throat. Her victim chooses that exact moment to strike out at Phoenix one last time. She catches Phoenix in the ribs with a well-aimed kick that leaves her gasping for breath as the arterial spray from the demon’s mouth bursts forth from the wound Phoenix has just opened up. Phoenix drops the demon like a sack of potatoes as she frantically tries to spit out the blood. 

She’s vaguely aware of the tiny piss ant gasping for breath right next to her. Apparently, the kick had saved her from the instant death that would’ve befallen her if she hadn’t kicked Phoenix when she did. Despite that, she’s not going to last much longer. She uses her last breath to make one final stand.

“Hinkku….imnum” She sputters out before finally succumbing to her injuries.

It’s as if every muscle in Phoenix’s body seizes up at once. Her limbs are violently flailing around as she slowly starts to lose feeling in her extremities. The force with which her head is banging against the hardwood floor should’ve taken her out already but she can’t even feel it. She can barely feel anything anymore. Derrick’s terrified face comes into view. He must be holding her head up. She’s not sure but he remains in her field of vision so it must be true. The ice that had invaded her bloodstream runs it’s course. Derrick feels like his throat is closing up as he tries unsuccessfully to bring her back around. 

If there’s one thing Taehyung loves, it’s the warmth that spreads through his limbs when he stands in the sun. He hasn’t been human in almost half a millennia but that’s one aspect of his former existence that he’s held on to all this time later. His face is currently tilted towards the heavens as he stands on the balcony of his latest conquest’s spacious mansion, stark naked, soaking in the rays.

He takes a final deep breath before turning to step back inside. A cocky smirk tilts one side of mouth up as he takes in the sight of his handiwork stretched out across the California king bed in front of him. Carlotta had been her name. A bitch in the most extreme sense of the word. Her ivory skin is marked up from his teeth and nails making her look just like the child laborers used and abused in the factories that supplied her multiple businesses with inventory. She’d been on Taehyung’s radar for a while, but when he caught wind of her cutting the pay in half for factory workers to recoup the cost of her brand new private jet, that had been the final straw. 

Nine days, two glasses of champagne, and one very expensive tuxedo had lead to this very moment. Taehyung standing over the lifeless body of an evil business mogul that the world is undoubtedly better off without. He can’t help the demented little giggle that slips from his mouth as he recalls Carlotta’s face when she realized what was happening to her. If he breathes deep enough he can still smell the terror that had bled into her pheromones when his true nature had been revealed. It had made him orgasm almost instantly as the last vestiges of her shit stain of a soul are absorbed into his being. 

Deciding that he’s spent enough time reminiscing, Taehyung moves around the room as he redresses himself. His hand dips into the breast pocket of his jacket, pulling out the flash drive containing the evidence of Carlotta’s atrocities. He swiftly clips it to the chain holding the gaudy gold cross that he’d insisted she keep on as he’d ravaged her. The irony of it is still just as funny to him now as it was when he’d first noticed it around her neck. Even if he hadn’t taken her soul, there’s no way she’d be going anywhere near heaven.

The scenery is a blur as Taehyung speeds away in the Tesla from Carlotta’s garage that he’d helped himself to. A constant vibration against his thigh alerts him to a phone call coming through. 

“Marcus! What’s u-” Taehyung’s attempts at catching up with his long time friend is interrupted by a sudden plea for help. Everything that follows afterwards is a jumbled mush as all of Marcus’ words run together in his haste to get the story out.

“Slow down, man. What’s going on?” Marcus takes several deep, ragged breaths to get himself together. 

“The B&B got hit last night. I popped in last night and it was…” Silence takes over the line as Marcus trails off, searching for words to describe what’s happened. “Taehyung I’ve seen some fucked up shit and done even worse but this made me physically ill.”

Taehyung has to focus intently on not ripping the steering wheel clean off as Marcus recounts the horror show he’d discovered at the B&B. He has fond memories of the quaint farmhouse that had been owned by a kind human who everyone had affectionately called Mama Dee. To this day, Taehyung isn’t sure how or why Mama Dee’s home had become a safe place for the supernatural creatures of the world to rest and recuperate but she was a saint in their eyes. The turnout for her funeral when her body had finally succumbed to old age had been a hunter’s wet dream as the subject’s of history’s folklore had gathered to show their respects. To know that Mama Dee’s had been the backdrop of something so foul that Marcus was still having trouble getting it out made his blood boil.

“I’m catching the next flight out.” Taehyung didn’t wait for a response as he ended the call and tossed his phone into the seat next to him. His foot pressed the accelerator harder as he pushed the Tesla to its limits.

Whatever happened. Whoever was responsible. Someone would pay for it.

“Open this fucking door, Astinil!” Derrick bellows as he aggressively kicks at the solid oak door of the shaman’s home. He’d nearly killed the three of them as he tossed his knowledge of traffic laws out of the window of his Jeep. Brewer’s fingers are glued to Phoenix’s pulse as her head rolls around on her shoulders from Derrick’s frenzied kicking. It’s growing more and more faint by the minute but for now her heart is still beating. 

The shaman in question finally opens the door, looking less than happy to see Derrick on the other side of it.

“You are not welcome here, Derrick.”

“Fuck, I know that. Do you really think I’d be here if I had any other options? My friend is dying and you’re the only one who can save her.” Astinil glances at the young woman lying limp in Derrick’s arms obviously in need of his help. 

“Astinil, please. I’m begging you to help me. I can’t lose her.” The emotional cracks weaving through Derrick’s words makes the shaman’s decision for him.

“Bring her inside.” Derrick nearly sobs with relief. He’s not naive enough to believe that Phoenix is out of the woods yet but her chances just got astronomically better. He gently lays her out on the sofa in the sitting room. 

Astinil directs Derrick and Brewer to sit in the corner and not bother him as he sets about crushing various herbs with his mortar and pestle. The acrid smell of demon blood is nearly overpowering and he knows that he must work quick. He has no idea how much blood the young woman ingested nor how long the poison has been pumping through her system. 

A few drops of holy oil turns the crushed herbs into a paste. Normally, he’d pour in enough for it to be drinkable but there is no time for that. Less conventional methods have to be used with this one. Brewer has to physically hold Derrick back when Astinil produces a knife from his pocket and slashes Phoenix’s wrists. The shaman quickly covers the wounds with a thick layer of the paste. He utters a prayer as he repeats the process on the other pulse points that he can reach. 

The remainder of the mixture is piled under her tongue. Astinil continues to pray as he uses holy oil to draw a cross on her forehead. Nothing happens. The convulsions that normally accompany such a strong spiritual cleans e are absent and it’s with a heavy heart that Astinil realizes that his efforts are coming too late in the game. Her heartbeat has grown stronger though and that puzzles the healer. He wipes the paste from her skin only to grow even more confused. The wounds he’d created have nearly healed and the surrounding skin looks as if it’s been chemically burned. The same can be said for her forehead when Astinil wipes away the holy oil. The puzzle pieces are all falling into place for him now.

“Is she going to be okay?” Brewer asks fearfully. Derrick had long fallen silent from the shock that the adrenaline had been warding off. He stares unseeing at his friend’s still body.

“She will live.” Astinil answers carefully. Probably forever he adds internally. “Come, you two can sleep in the spare room. We must let her rest.” 

Brewer stands from the stool he’d found to perch himself on but Derrick refuses to leave Phoenix by herself. He stretches himself out on the floor next to the couch, pulling Phoenix’s hand down so he can hold onto it. Brewer’s heart aches at the sight. He knows all too well just how important Phoenix is to Derrick. The thought of what losing her could do to him makes him want to pull Derrick into his arms but he knows Derrick well enough to know that that’s not what he needs right now. With a heavy sigh, he turns to follow Astinil down the hall instead.

Phoenix awakes with a start. Her head is pounding from all of the different scents and sounds assaulting her senses. She has no clue where she is and her first thought is how to escape. The last thing she remembers is running into the demon hive they’d hit but everything afterwards leading up to this very moment is a mystery to her. Not to mention the fact that she feels different. Not banged up or bruised like she would’ve expected be after being so incredibly outnumbered. In fact she feels as though she could do the job over again solo and still come out on top. 

A groan followed my unintelligible mumbling grabs her attention. Her brow burrows as she leans over the edge of the couch to see Derrick curled up in the fetal position on the floor. Stress mars his features even deep in sleep. The faint sound of footsteps approaching has her tensing up. An unfamiliar man rounds the corner, regarding her warily as she draws in on herself. Ready to attack at the first sign that he has ill intentions. He’s tall and looks to be somewhere in his fifties but something tells Phoenix that she’d be a fool to underestimate him. He exudes an aura of power that indicates he’s not to be messed with.

“Come. We have much to discuss.” Whoever this man is, he doesn’t wait for Phoenix to respond as he turns to walk back down the hallway he’d emerged from. As if he just expects her to follow him like a curious puppy which is exactly what she does. 

She barely catches him disappearing through a door near the end of the hallway after taking the time to put her boots back on. The sweet smell of dewy grass and various flowers greets her upon passing through the doorway that leads into some kind of private garden. The man she’d followed is perched upon a wooden bench with his head tilted towards the heavens, eyes closed to the waking rays of the sun.

“What do you remember?” He questions.

“Who are you?”

“Answering a question with a question is in poor taste.” Phoenix glares at his side profile but decides to play nice.

“I remember running into a house full of demons but nothing after that.” He hums thoughtfully. Eyes still shut. Head still facing the clouds. 

“Astinil is my name. Sit and I will fill in what you’re missing.” Phoenix nearly trips over her own two feet in her haste to sit on the bench. She has no idea what day it is or how long she was knocked out. All she knows is that she’s missing something. Something big. She doesn’t realize how big until Astinil retells the happenings that lead to her being passed out on his couch. The longer he talks, the more memories from that night she’s able to retrieve.

“Did the demon say anything that didn’t sound like English?” Phoenix racks her brain, gasping when the mental image of the demon she’d slain muttering something with her dying breath creeps up behind her eyelids. Hinkku Imnum. Astinil hums thoughtfully.

“That confirms my theory.” According to the shaman, hinkku imnum is in fact not English. It’s Akkadian, a language that predates the Bible and was last used by ancient Babylonians. “Literally, it means ‘death to you’.”

“But, I’m not dead.” Phoenix holds her hand to her heart just to double check. She’s relieved to feel the muscle beating as normal.

“It’s a transformation spell. Long ago, demons discovered that if they grew powerful enough they could use this transformation spell to turn people into demons without having to go through all the trouble of bargaining for their souls.” Astinil takes a deep breath before he continues. “In this case, the death is restricted to everything that makes you human when the transformation takes place.”

“No, no, no. I have a heartbeat!” She insists, hoping that this fact saves her from what Astinil is leading up to. The look on the healer’s face is pinched as though he smells something bad.

“And yet, you’re not totally human. Not anymore.”

Marcus is sat on the front steps of the B&B when Taehyung arrives exactly fifteen hours after their phone call. His eyes follow Taehyung’s movement but they look far away. The smell of burned and rotting flesh hanging heavy in the air makes Taehyung wrinkle his nose. Bile rises in his throat but he manages to keep himself together. 

Taehyung is hesitant about entering the house. He knows that all of the beautiful memories he has in this house will be tainted once he crosses that threshold. His hand shakes slightly around the brass door knob before the door is creaking open. It’s worse than he’d thought. He recognizes a few of the faces that aren’t burned beyond recognition. The shells of his friends lay dismembered and disfigured across the living room floor. Without stepping foot inside the house, Taehyung slowly shuts the door, laying his forehead against the wood.

“Do we know who did this?” He chokes out around the lump in his throat. His eyes burn with unshed tears as he waits for the answer he so desperately craves. 

“I’ve heard rumors of Phoenix Emery being seen at a gas station just north of here.” He should’ve known when he saw the brutality of what had gone down that she would have been involved. 

Phoenix Emery has been on Taehyung’s shit list for a while now but tracking her down was no easy feat. The woman is almost as untraceable as the ghosts she exorcises. Every time he stepped foot on American soil, he did his best to oust her but she always seemed to be one step ahead of him. He’d all but given up on taking her out but with this latest stunt she’s made herself a top priority. 

There was a time when Taehyung had considered himself some sort of demonic vigilante. The number of hunters running around with their guns half-cocked and their brain cells half-firing had risen to an alarming number. Stupid as they may be, even the most inept hunter knew how to sniff out a demon. The average human as well although they tend to just blame it on some lame “sixth sense”. However, incubi are the exception to this rule. It simply wouldn’t do for a creature that survives on sex to arouse the ingrained suspicion of every human they encounter. 

While an incubus is low key enough to fly under the radar, Taehyung is the only one bold enough to actually target hunters. He makes sure to go after the most egregious ones just like with his other kills. The ones that get drunk and beat their wives. The ones that use their skills to be morally corrupt contract killers on the side. The ones who make their kills unnecessarily violent. As evidenced inside Mama Dee’s house, Phoenix Emery and the hunter couple Taehyung has heard she frequently works with fall squarely in that third stereotype. All three of them will pay the same price his friends did inside those four walls. He’ll make sure of it.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Derrick asks for what very well may be the millionth time since the three of them had piled into his jeep. 

“If you ask me that one more time, you won’t be okay. I’m fine, Derrick, I promise.” Physically that is. 

Phoenix had made Astinil swear that he wouldn’t tell Derrick and Brewer what had actually happened to her. She hasn’t even attempted to try to process it and right now she doesn’t really want to. The irony of it all would be funny if it wasn’t her reality. A hunter whose specialty is killing demons is now some strange demon-human hybrid. Her mind drifts back to her conversation with the shaman as they’d watched the sun rise over the garden. He’d been able to stop the spell from completely transforming her into a demon but it wasn’t within his powers to reverse the damage that had already been done hence her halfling state. Before the trio had left his residence, he’d pulled Phoenix aside to give her a warning. 

Your humanity is dependent on your safety. Should you suffer a fatal injury, you will not die but rather the transformation will complete itself.

Those parting words play on a constant loop as she watches the trees blur past the speeding vehicle. Hunting is all Phoenix has ever known. Both of her parents were hunters as were their parents before them. It’s in her blood to snuff out the supernatural bullies in this world. How can she give it up? How can she just give up her life’s purpose like this?

Derrick’s eyes keep drifting to his friend in the backseat. She told him that she’s fine, but he can see through that bullshit. The turmoil swirling around her mind is plain as day. He’s used to her telling him everything that goes on in that scary brain of her so this new ice out method is both new and frightening. She feels far away even though she’s sat in his backseat and he doesn’t know what to do with that. His stomach is twisting into knots again as he thinks about just how close he’d come to losing her. The feeling of Brewer’s fingers tightening around his own brings him back to reality. He leans over to kiss him on the apple of his cheek when a disgusted noise comes from the back of the car.

“Can you losers keep your lips to yourselves up there? I just escaped death and now y’all are trying to kill me by being in love at 80 miles an hour.” Brewer chuckles, reaching back to flick Phoenix on the knee as she continues to rant. “Just push my lonely ass out of the car before y’all the dicks make an appearance. My virgin eyes do not need to see that.” Derrick can barely contain his laughter. Maybe he doesn’t have anything to be worried about. Maybe Phoenix really is okay

“Virgin, my ass!” Derrick shouts above his boyfriend’s hysterical laughter. “Brewer, get on the mainline and call Jesus. I want this lying heathen struck down immediately.” 

Phoenix flips them both off before going back to staring out of the window. For those few minutes, she was normal. She was simply Phoenix Emery, the girl who can never let her best friends be a couple in front of her without acting like a disgusted toddler. Not the Phoenix Emery that is newly demonic. She decides then and there that if she doesn’t acknowledge what happened then it can’t affect her. It might not the best course of action but it’s all she’s got. Her first order of business? Getting to Detroit to divest the McAvoy’s of their nasty poltergeist problem as well as her $2,500 fee. 

Tracking down the trio of hunters responsible for the death of his comrades had been a little harder than Taehyung had originally expected. Three months later and the only information he’d been able to get on Phoenix is that her kills had gotten more brutal since her and her friends had hit The B&B. He’d thought her two friends would be easier to start with but he’d still only just been able to pin down Derrick Yates and his boyfriend Patrick Brewer. According to the call he’d received the day before from Irene, a werewolf that had frequented The B&B, the two lovebirds are holed up in a motel just outside of Kansas City. Fresh off a kill. During his search, Taehyung had learned that the couple liked to celebrate successful hunts by fucking each other brains out for a few days. Getting his revenge may have just gotten even easier. He just had to get in that motel room. 

It took two whole days of waiting but the door to the two hunters’ hotel room finally opened. Only one of the men emerged from the room, the one Taehyung now knew to be Derrick Yates. From his research, he’d learned that his history with Phoenix Emery spanned more than two decades. The two had grown up in the same circles with both of them coming from households where hunting was the encouraged profession so naturally they’d developed a bond that had seemingly lasted the test of time. Phoenix’s family had even taken young Derrick in when his intolerant parents had kicked him out upon discovering their son was gay. It dawned on Taehyung then that killing Derrick and Patrick would surely make Phoenix surface. A wicked smile took over his face at how everything was lining up as he followed Derrick to a nearby gas station. 

Weaseling his way into the seedy motel room was surprisingly easy. Taehyung got the feeling that Derrick and his boyfriend liked to invite other people into their lovemaking quite often. In less than hour, Taehyung found himself drinking copious amounts of beer and smoking some weed Derrick had bought from some old lady three doors down. The weed had to be laced with something potent as it had Taehyung flying amongst the clouds despite his demon nature which normally afforded him near immunity to such things. 

Taehyung was staring off into space, contemplating just what the hell they were smoking when a large hand groped him over his jeans, bringing him back to the moment at hand. He slowly blinks as Patrick’s face comes into focus mere inches away from his own.  

“Why the fuck isn’t he answering?” Phoenix grumbles as she angrily tosses her iPhone down on the kitchen table. It has been over a week since she’s heard from Derrick or Brewer and it’s starting to grate on her nerves. In their line of work it isn’t too uncommon for one of them to go off the grid for a while but they never go this long without checking in with each other. She goes back to angrily scrolling through her email inbox as she laments about why her best friend is ignoring her. He better be dead or I’m going to kill him myself.

Her laptop pings with a google alert and her heart stops. There is only one reason that she would be getting that ping. Someone she loves is dead and the news has gotten a hold of it. Phoenix had set alerts for exactly three people. Derrick, Brewer, and Betty White. Her hands shake as she slides her finger across the trackpad to click on the notification. 

Ice flushes through her veins as she clicks play on the news clip that pops up at the top of the page. One of Derrick and Brewer’s many mugshots are plastered on the screen over a video of a county coroner rolling two body bags out of some run down motel. The sound of the newscaster listing out all of the crimes Derrick and Brewer had committed over the years melts the ice in her bloodstream as it’s replaced with white hot rage. Phoenix is seconds away from putting a bullet through her laptop screen when her ringtone blares. She freezes at the familiar instrumental tone of Will Smith’s Wild Wild West. The ringtone she’d set specifically for one Derrick Yates. She says nothing as she answers the phone, waiting for whoever is on the other end to speak first.

“Hello, Phoenix.” A voice as lush as the fleece blankets she’s partial to caresses her ear drums but there’s something off about it. A hard edge that’s sharpened by malice. Still she says nothing.

“I’m sure you know about your friends’ demise by now if all these news trucks are anything to go on.” Her grip tightens dangerously around the phone in her hands. 

The now familiar red haze that clouds her vision when the bloodlust of her demon half threatens to overwhelm her tints the world around her a deep crimson. She’s never felt it this strong before but losing the two most important people in her life, the only two people remaining in her life, is a pain she hasn’t dealt with before. Even when her parents had been killed in a plane crash of all things, she hadn’t felt this out of control. This off kilter. Phoenix is so lost in her own head that she doesn’t realize that the other end of the line has fallen silent as well until they start speaking again.

“You and your friends should’ve never entered that farmhouse.” Phoenix laughs bitterly at that one. That fucking farmhouse has been the catalyst to all of her problems. No one wishes more than her that they’d all stayed far away from it. 

“What do you want?” 

“Your bleeding heart in my hands.” The smooth-talking stranger begins. “Your friends had the luxury of going out with a…bang. You, on the other hand will not be so lucky thanks to your brutally impressive track record.”

“Aw shucks, thanks for noticing.” Phoenix smiles gleefully at the frustrated growl that comes from the mystery man on the other end. She’d already figured that he was some demon looking for revenge for his fallen comrades and that demonic rattle rising from his throat is only confirmation. He rattles off an address about a day’s drive south from her house and a date before hanging up the phone.

Phoenix knows this is a trap. She knows that whoever that was killed Derrick and Brewer and is gunning for her next. As she loads up her SUV with enough artillery to arm a small militia, she’s vaguely aware of her eyes shifting from their normal dark brown to the black chips of obsidian that showcase the less human side of herself. It had freaked her out the first time it happened but now she revels in it. Loves the shocked faces of the other demons she snuffed out in her hunting endeavors. Apparently she’s just human enough to not tip off other demons. She’s banking on the fact that whatever supernatural being she’s headed to meet is unaware of her status. It’s her one ace in the hole. 

Taehyung lounges leisurely among the wildflowers growing abundantly in the meadow. It’s been a while since he’s had the time to just stretch out in an empty field and be one with nature. He takes a deep breath, humming joyously at the sweet smell of the flowers. Part of him doesn’t want to desecrate such beauty with the murderous actions he’s about to partake in but it must be done.

He picks up on the sound of a truck approaching from the west. Taehyung isn’t surprised to hear the engine cut out a few hundred feet away as Phoenix chooses to make her final approach on foot. He doesn’t budge from his position in the slightest as he counts her footsteps. A low thud followed by a hiss that sounds suspiciously like a tire being slashed has him raising his head. Sure enough, Phoenix is pulling a knife out of his front driver side tire and walks around the rented SUV to do the same to the back passenger tire. The car is outfitted with run flat tires but Taehyung is sure they’re not built to withstand a blade stabbing through the side wall. He’s intrigued to say the least. 

It’s when she turns to finally face him that Taehyung gets the shock of several lifetimes. Staring back at him is not the hunter that he was here to kill but the woman who’d stolen his heart. A woman whose hand he’d clung to desperately as she walked out of his life.. Something that had nearly ripped him apart. But that was in 1748. There’s no way in hell that the woman he’d loved all those years ago should be shoving knives into his tires today. Her friends’ phones had been noticeably devoid of any pictures of her though he guess that isn’t entirely uncommon amongst hunters. Bile rises in his throat at the thought of killing someone who looks so much like his beloved Arabella but it must be done. He steels his nerves and sets his jaw. 

Her curly hair has been pulled back into a bun and she looks like she’s dressed for a Tomb Raider convention with all of the holstered weapons she’s sporting. The cargo pants she’s wearing do absolutely nothing to conceal her impressive figure. If she wasn’t such a menace to his kind then maybe Taehyung would’ve considered giving her the same treatment her friends had received. Unlike them however, Phoenix seem to find some sick and twisted pleasure from killing demons with as much brutality as possible. She doesn't deserve to meet her end wrapped around his cock as he brings her to a screaming orgasm. No, she deserves exactly what she dishes out. Cruelty.

“What was the purpose of that?” He questions as she returns her knife to the holster strapped to her unfairly shapely thigh.

“Don’t want you running away.” She replies calmly as she places her foot on the back bumper to give herself the necessary boost to climb onto the roof of the now useless vehicle. She mirrors the cross-legged position that Taehyung has taken on. They sit and regard each other in silence until Phoenix just can’t take it anymore.

“You killed my friends. My brothers.” She hates the way her voice cracks. The emotions that she’s been frantically shoving down are catching up to her at the worst possible time.

“It’s what they deserved. It’s what you all deserve for what you did to my friends.” Taehyung grits out. His hands curl into fists as he thinks back on the brutality that he’d seen. The remnants of as his friends laid in blistered pieces around what was supposed to be a safe place. The anger coursing through his veins all but erases the nostalgia that had nearly overwhelmed him.

Phoenix moves into a crouch then. “Well what are you waiting for? Give me what I deserve.”

Taehyung regards his opponent carefully as he remains seated on the ground. There is something…off. Something other than her outward appearance. He can’t quite put his finger on exactly what it is but something isn’t right. Apparently, he’s taking too long to get to the main event as he just barely rolls to the side in time to dodge the knife that would’ve sliced through his torso like butter if not for his quick reflexes. Phoenix is still crouched on top of his useless vehicle. If it weren’t for the blade sticking out of the soil to his left he would’ve never guessed that she’d even moved. That only adds to his suspicions. No hunter he’s ever encountered has ever been so precise and quick in their movements to the point they almost got the drop on him. He doesn’t have the time to dwell on that though as yet another blade is whistling through the air in his direction at an astonishing speed. Once again, he’d barely seen her move.

“That’s it. No more games, bitch.” Taehyung mumbles to himself. He has to get her off of that car now. As long as she’s up there, she has the upper hand and it’s time to even the playing field. 

Taehyung narrows his eyes at Phoenix. She has the audacity to grin at him, taunting him even now. A growl rises from his chest as he launches himself at the side of the car. It rocks violently when he strikes it. The glass from the drivers side exploding around him. He steps back and notices that Phoenix is no longer perched on top of the SUV like a bird of prey. The human-sized dent in the side of his rental tells Taehyung that she should’ve definitely been thrown somewhere but when he walks around to the other side Phoenix is nowhere to be seen.

“What the…” Taehyung doesn’t get to finish that sentence. He’s too preoccupied by the hand grasping a fistful of his hair to slam his head into the side of the car hard enough to shatter one of the remaining windows. 

He hits the ground when the unknown hand releases him. Looking up, every muscle in his body tenses up when he sees three women staring down at him. Taehyung screeches and thrashes around as she pours what can only be holy oil directly onto his face. 

“Huh, so you are a demon.” Phoenix murmurs as if she hadn’t been totally sure what type of being Taehyung was. 

Though agony still holds him firmly in its grip and he’s still seeing more than one Phoenix, Taehyung pauses. Demon. It would explain everything. She shouldn’t have been able to move faster than his eyes could keep up with and yet, she did. She should have been thrown several yards and injured when he’d flung himself at the car he was currently lying next to and yet, she wasn’t. He’d rented the SUV from an armored car company so she shouldn’t have been strong enough to break the reinforced glass with his skull and yet that’s exactly what she did. His vision finally stabilizes at the same time as the blisters on his face finish healing when Phoenix crouches to press the business end of a pistol she pulled from God knows where against his forehead.

As if she can see the gears turning in Taehyung’s head, Phoenix’s irises along with the whites of her eyes disappear entirely until nothing is left but darkness. A smug, toothy grin exposes her teeth in a way that gives him pause. He’s really thrown for a loop now. Taehyung had heard stories of demons that had devised a way to simply create demons but until now he’d thought it was just bullshit to scare humans. As Phoenix continues to stand over him, seemingly amused at Taehyung’s realization, he remembers the one thing that set the made demons apart from the rest. Their eyes would turn solid black unlike the red irises that presented in demons who’d bargained their way into their situation. Everything made sense and yet it didn’t. Phoenix Emery has a heartbeat. Taehyung could hear it from a mile away whereas other demons like Taehyung were noticeably devoid of one.

“What are you?”

She shrugs as if he’s just asked her a math question she doesn’t know the answer to. “I’m someone you shouldn’t have messed with.”

BANG.

Taehyung sits on the balcony of his swanky New York hotel room soaking in the sun’s rays. The sound of the waves beating against the rocks far below provide a serene soundtrack to his chaotic thoughts. A deep inhale fills his nostrils with the salty air tinged with the scent of a small, but busy donut shop somewhere along the beachfront. Everything about his surroundings should relax him but his shoulders are still tense, thoughts still jumbled together.

He absentmindedly fiddles with the bullet that Phoenix had put through his skull. It had been lodged in the soil beneath his head when he finally came to several hours later. He’s been confused ever since his eyes had slowly blinked open to the dazzling sight of stars twinkling down at him. His life had been spared and he has no clue why. She had to know that the bullet wouldn’t kill him. The only surefire way to kill a demon is dismemberment preferably followed up by burning the pieces. She hadn’t done any of that just left him lying on the ground with a hole in his head.

Not only had Phoenix left him alive but she has seemingly gone off the grid. Despite all of his searching, Taehyung hasn’t been able to find a trace of her in the weeks following their meet up in the meadow. He hates the phrase “going ghost” but that seems to be exactly what she’s done. 

He’d tried calling her from her friend’s phone only to discover that she’d changed her phone number. Some arm twisting had gotten him an address but when he’d shown up at the modest brick house it was boarded up. It didn’t look like anyone had been there in a while. The question of why she’d left him alive bounces around his brain incessantly. He can’t rest until he finds out why. 

Despite the hell she’d helped rain down on his comrades, Taehyung isn’t all that sure that he wants to kill Phoenix anymore. Taehyung has always been and excellent judge of character and he had seen flashes of genuine emotion and humanity in her eyes in that meadow. Sure, she killed demons for sport but she wasn’t all bad. In other words, he’s torn on what to do when he finally tracks her down. On one hand, he’d promised Marcus to avenge their fallen friends but on the other he had his own moral code to adhere to as well. He’d promised centuries ago that he would only take the lives of those that were too evil to be allowed to live. He’s not sure you fit that criteria anymore.

He lets out a resigned sigh as he returns the bullet to the pocket on his button up. The mangled piece of metal serves as a daily reminder of his new purpose. Finding Phoenix a second time is already proving to be one of the hardest tasks he’s ever undertaken in his lengthy existence. 

“That pie must be shit.” A hand slides into Taehyung’s line of sight, taking his fork right out of his hand to take a bite of the mediocre blueberry pie in front of him. A gag follows soon after. “That’s awful.”

“Phoenix…” He breathes her name out in shock as if he can’t believe she’s actually sat in front of him in some shitty diner in Phoenix, Arizona of all places. He’d come here for the irony of it all since she’d taken over his thoughts for the past seven months. Now here she is in the flesh. His eyes roam over her face, taking in every detail. She’s just as beautiful now as she was more than 200 years ago.

“I thought we would’ve had round two forever ago but one of us is actual shit at finding people.” She sends him a pointed look as she waves away the waitress that had come to take her order. Her mouth is open to speak again, but Taehyung interrupts her.

“Why didn’t you kill me?” He whispers. If his heart still beat, it would be racing right now. His fingers grip the edge of the wooden booth so hard he can feel the wood splintering. 

Phoenix considers him carefully. Even by demon standards, he looks crazed and out of control. She’s done her homework on him since their first physical interaction. Kim Taehyung is not to be underestimated. Though an incubus he may be, he’s old, wily, and dangerous. His own ignorance and rage had worked to her advantage before but now that he knows her secret she doubts that she will have the same luck a second time around. She really should have ripped him apart and lit him up like a Christmas tree but it didn’t feel right. Her hands had cradled his head in her hands with every intention of wrenching it from his shoulders with the brute strength stored in her arms but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Phoenix recalls the anguish that had flowed through her at her failure to properly get justice for Derrick and Brewer. Her fingers had carded through the bloody strands of his hair with what could only be described as tenderness. She couldn’t understand. Still can’t understand even after all the time that’s passed. Ultimately, she’d left Taehyung lying in that field a bloody mess and she still can’t quite explain why. 

“I know you’ve probably agonized over this for months, but I don’t have the answer you’re looking for because I don’t even know myself.” Taehyung is taken aback. How could she not know? Phoenix Emery never leaves a job unfinished and yet here he sits, alive and kicking. She crosses her arms across her chest and Taehyung can’t help the way his eyes are drawn to her ample breasts as they threaten to pop out of the thin tank top she’s wearing.

“Stop looking at my apple dumpling shop.” Phoenix chastises as she covers her cleavage with her hands. Taehyung’s eyes widen in shock once more. Apple dumpling shop. He hadn’t heard anyone utter that phrase in almost two hundred years. In fact, he’d only ever heard one person use it in his presence. Arabella.  

“I have to go.” Phoenix is a picture of confusion as Taehyung sends his chair toppling to the floor when he shoots out of his chair. He drops a few bills on the table and all but runs out of the diner. His legs don’t stop moving until he’s locked in the safety of his hotel room. 

This can’t be. This just can’t be. Taehyung isn’t naive enough to think that reincarnation isn’t possible. He’s heard of it happening. He knows it’s more common than most probably think but never did he consider the possibility that the one woman he’d given his heart to would ever reappear. Arabella Cardinal had been her name. Part of him had hoped that her soul never found its way back to Earth just so that he wouldn’t have to have to watch as she lived her life without him again. He can clearly recall the pain he’d felt when she’d finally gotten tired of him rejecting her advances not knowing that he was doing so in order to keep her alive. Taehyung would’ve given anything to know her in that way but it was an impossibility that he had no way of solving. 

He had thought that nothing could be worse than having the woman of his dreams reject him for something he couldn’t control but he had been wrong. So very wrong. Watching Arabella meet and marry the local blacksmith who gave her everything Taehyung so desperately wished that he could had nearly been his undoing. He’d wanted to leave. Wanted to get as far away from the happy couple and their growing family but he was greedy. He couldn’t stand not being near her. Hearing the sound of her laughter as she conversed with the other married women at the market had been the only thing to keep him sane when it felt like it would all become too much. It had nearly killed him to leave the small village but people had started noticing that he wasn’t aging. He couldn’t afford to arouse suspicion. An entire century and then some stretched between then and now yet the pain was still just as fresh. Now here she is again to torment him. Close enough to touch and she may as well be a million miles away. 

Taehyung has absolutely no way to confirm that Phoenix Emery really is the reincarnation of his beloved Arabella. He could have this all wrong. It could all be one nausea-inducing coincidence. There’s a feeling deep in his gut though that tells him its not. Phoenix can’t explain why she didn’t kill him all those months ago but maybe he can. His Arabella had been one of the kindest souls he’d ever known but everyone in the village had known that she kept a blade between her full breasts that she had no problem using if she felt she had to. Many a handsy drunk had known the truth of that fact. Taehyung stretches out across his mattress, staring at the ceiling as he mind finds the similarities between  and Phoenix. Little mannerisms that he hadn’t even really noticed until now. He needs to get out of Arizona before he does something crazy. Taehyung hastily collects his things before checking out of his hotel.

“Fuck you.” He hisses angrily at the ground as he steps outside into the heat. A few passerby give him strange looks but he doesn’t care. Only Satan himself is twisted enough to try and torment him like this. Taehyung is opening the door to his rental to drive to the airport when a hand reaches around him to shut it. 

“Leaving so soon? I thought we were going to finish this once and for all.” Phoenix whispers huskily against the shell of his ear. Taehyung couldn’t have stopped the shiver that runs down his spine even if he’d wanted to. Arabella had loved to “sneak up” on his to whisper filthy shit in his ear. He hadn’t been able to tell her that he always heard her coming. Phoenix on the other hand truly did catch him off guard.

“You let me live. We’re even now.” Taehyung mumbles before he yanks the door open once more. Phoenix keeps her hold on the door, preventing him from closing it as she stares him down. Silence stretches between them as all of the background noise of their surroundings fades to nothing. She releases the door form her grasp and takes a step back, allowing him to drive away as she watches after him. 

Phoenix can’t explain this…pull she feels towards Taehyung, but she knows that she doesn’t like it. Her eyes follow his vehicle until he turns off of the main road and disappears from sight. She needs answers and there’s only one place she knows to go get them.

Phoenix is almost nervous to be knocking on Astinil’s front door. The shaman doesn’t seem surprised to see her in the slightest. He doesn’t even greet her, simply turns to walk back into his home and she follows him in. It’s not till she’s seated on his sofa with a mug of peppermint tea in her hands that Astinil finally speaks. 

“To what do I owe this pleasure, Ms. Emery?” Like a dam giving way to a storm surge, Phoenix launches into the tale of everything that happens since she last was on this very couch. Astinil expresses his condolences for Derrick and Brewer’s deaths but otherwise he remains mute as Phoenix presses on. 

“I don’t get it, Astinil.” She all but yells in frustration. “I put a bullet in his head. I could’ve ripped him apart with my bare hands and everything would’ve been over but I couldn’t do it. I just…couldn’t.” 

“And why do you think that is?” Astinil looks like he knows something that she doesn’t and it’s honestly starting to piss her off. Why can’t he ever be forthcoming with information? Why does he always make her work for it?

“I was hoping you would tell me that.” 

“Nothing is ever that simple, Phoenix.” Astinil takes a final sip of his tea before venturing back into his kitchen with Phoenix hot on his heels. 

“Come on.” She whines. “You have to know something. Have a clue at least.” The hope in her eyes makes her look like a small puppy but Astinil is resolute.

“I know you came here looking for a helping hand in find the answers you seek, but your answers are not here. Try Paris.” Astinil gives her shoulder a comforting squeeze before leaving her in the kitchen with her thoughts. She lingers there for a bit as she watches Astinil, who is now in the garden pruning hedges, through the window above his sink.

Well this was useless.

Phoenix hits the freeway and just drives. She has no real destination as she maneuvers through the slower vehicles. A sign indicating there is an airport at the next exit prompts her to finally exit off of the highway. She digs around in her stash of documents coming up with two passports, American and France, drivers licenses from six different states, about two grand in cash, and several credit cards. She drops the cash, all of the credit cards, and the French passport into her backpack before assessing her clothing situation. Seeing as how she’s been practically living out of her car, she’s got enough clothing for at least a month or two.

As she makes her way inside the airport, she still has no idea what the hell could possibly be waiting for her in Paris but she’ll just have to figure it out when she gets there. The flight board shows one flight to Paris, France with a connection in New York City. As if some unseen force is guiding her hand, Phoenix finds herself swiping her card for a one-way ticket to Paris as opposed to the round trip she’d originally planned for. Her brain seems to have taken a vacation and left her baser instincts to take over. She has no idea what awaits her in the City of Love but whatever it is better be worth the $800 it’s costing her to get there.

It’s official. Taehyung is losing his mind. After his realization in Arizona, he’d returned to his villa in France to go back to his own life pre-Phoenix. Everything had been going fine until today. Venturing into the city usually brings him peace as he strolls down the streets. He’s doing just that when he spots someone that looks suspiciously like Phoenix Emery. Taehyung hastily returns back to his home on the outskirts of the city. Sure that he’s just going crazy, he goes back to planning the next corrupt target he’s planning to eliminate. A politician by the name of Jacques Bourdain with a penchant for brutally assaulting the hired women his assistant often supplied him. 

Taehyung is knee deep in surveillance videos when his phone vibrates next to his laptop. He sends it to voicemail after taking a look at the caller ID to see that it’s one of his former hookups Mattilyn. She was a bit too clingy for Taehyung’s liking hence why she’s a former hookup and yet she still finds the need to call him periodically to try and win him back. It’s when Mattilyn has called for the fourth time that Taehyung gets frustrated to pick up.

“What the fuck do you want, Mattilyn?” He barks into the phone speaker. His interest is immediately piqued by the sound of what can only be described as all out warfare. 

“Tae Tae I know you don’t want to talk to me, but a hun-” Mattilyn doesn’t get to finish her sentence. Taehyung picks up on the whistle of a blade slicing through the air right before Mattilyn is cut off. He’s frozen in his seat as the sickening thunk of metal chopping through flesh meets his ears.

Taehyung’s car is screaming down the highway towards the hangout spot that Mattilyn is known to frequent when he hears a familiar voice over the bluetooth speaker. The voice is as smooth as honey even though they’re slightly out of breath.

“Tae Tae, is it? If you’re coming to avenge your little friends, don’t bother. They’re beyond saving.” A loud clatter indicates that she’s dropped the phone to the stone floor but the call remains connected. Taehyung mashes the gas pedal that much harder. He’d thought that he’d been going crazy when he saw Phoenix earlier in the day but hearing her sadistic laughter preceding the striking of a match tells Taehyung that he is still very much in control of his mental faculties.

The lavish bar is ablaze when Taehyung slides into the parking lot. He can practically smell the holy oil used as some sort of sanctified accelerant. It irritates the sensitive lining of his nose to even breathe in the heated air. He looks around for any sign that Phoenix is still here. The hunters that normally patrol this part of the country are nowhere near bold enough to hit and torch a known demon hangout. As he jogs around the building, it dawns on Taehyung that a a particular vehicle is noticeably absent from the parking lot. Mattilyn has driven a flashy purple BMW for as long as Taehyung has known her. He knows for a fact that her body is one of the ones burning along with the bar and yet her car is mysteriously not present. 

Quickly approaching sirens spur Taehyung into action as he hops back into his car and speeds away. Mattilyn’s car is equipped with a tracking device. A safety measure she took after a couple of joy riding teens decided to take it for a spin since she’d been stupid enough to leave it unlocked with the keys still in the ignition. He plans to head straight for his laptop to start trying to track the sports car down. As it turns out, he doesn’t have to go to the trouble. When he reaches the end of his winding driveway, the car is idling at his front steps.

Taehyung reaches into the glove compartment for the nine millimeter that he keeps there for emergencies. He’s still not sure what the hell kind of demon Phoenix is but a bullet will definitely slow her down even just a little a bit. He approaches the BMW with caution, gun drawn and ready to go. The driver seat is empty. Taehyung’s anger only rises as he realizes that she must have went inside his house. The picked lock confirms his suspicions. The lush carpeting muffles his footsteps as he enters his home. 

“Put that thing down and come upstairs, will you? I have some questions.” Taehyung looks almost comical as his head flips around to locate the source of the voice. He spots Phoenix leaning against the banister on the second floor. He doesn’t hesitate to fire a shot in her direction. He misses.

“Now, that’s just mean.”

Phoenix returns Taehyung’s bullet fire by throwing a knife that she pulled from only God knows where with deadly accuracy. Something Taehyung is realizing to be a go-to of hers. She’d aimed for the center of his chest but, thanks to his quick movements, the knife only grazes him. He snarls at the feeling of the sharpened blade opening up a large wound along his rib cage. In the time it takes him to look down at his side and back up again, Phoenix is on him. Slamming her fist into his rib cage.

Fuck she’s fast.

“When you wake up, remember I didn’t want to do this.” She grabs his head in both hands, twisting it violently to the right. Taehyung crumples at her feet. His gun skitters across the floor like a spooked mouse.

Taehyung comes to with a start. The first thing he notices is that he’s restrained. Tied to a chair he notices as his senses come back to him. A glance out of his open bedroom window shows the sun just starting to set over the horizon so he couldn’t have been out that long. He cranes his neck from side to side, working out the kinks. When he lifts his head, he notices Phoenix standing in front of him. She’s turned away from him as she gazes at the various surveillance pictures of the politician Taehyung is after taped to the wall. That’s about to prove very foolish for her. 

The restraints on his wrists and ankles are no match for Taehyung’s superior strength. His fist is flying towards the back of Phoenix’s skull when suddenly she’s not there anymore. He stops short, confused, as he spins around to come toe to toe with the smirking hunter. She knees him in the gut before guiding him back to the chair by his ear. 

“You’re not nearly as fast as you think you are, Taehyung.” She appraises him carefully as he does the same from the chair she’s shoved him into. “Now be a good boy and answer my questions. I’d hate to have to break your neck again.” Taehyung’s glare only intensifies at the reminder of how she’d viciously snapped his neck earlier. 

“I told you to leave me alone and instead you follow me here and kill more of my friends and now you want me to answer questions?” Taehyung spats out vehemently. “Have you ever fucking heard of Google?”

“First of all, I didn’t follow you anywhere so let’s get that straight.” Phoenix begins. “I was told that Paris held the answer to an important question so I came here. Your friends killed a kid and laughed about it when I confronted them. They deserved to burn and I won’t apologize for it.”

Taehyung’s eyes search her face for any hint of her story being a lie but he can’t find one. His shoulders droop defeatedly. He would like to believe that his friends weren’t the type to kill an innocent child but his gut is telling him that she’s being truthful and he hasn’t survived this long by not trusting his gut so there’s no reason to not believe it now. 

“Fine, I believe you. What more do you want from me?” 

“I just want you to answer a few questions.” She takes his silence as acquiescence to her desires and grabs another chair to take a seat in front of Taehyung. “Why do you have so many books on reincarnation.”

“Personal fascination. Next question.” Taehyung handles the question with ease but inside he’s a lot less composed. He’d almost forgot the ancient texts about reincarnation he’d rounded up the second he’d returned to France. 

“Why did you leave Phoenix like your ass was on fire?” She inquires with a tilt of her head that Taehyung would probably find cute if she wasn’t such a pain in his ass. 

“Because I was tired of being there, anything else?” Phoenix doesn’t believe him one bit and Taehyung knows it but what he doesn’t know is why she chooses not to acknowledge his obvious lie. She slouches back in her chair and folds her arms across her chest. 

“What’s with all the pictures of Jacques Bourdain?” She lifts a hand to point at Taehyung’s offender wall before folding it back across her chest.

“How do you know who he is? He’s pretty low on the politics totem pole.” He questions with a lift of his eyebrow.

“I managed to get into some swanky party my second or third night here. That fucker groped me at the bar then had me thrown out when I punched him.” Just thinking about his vile hands on her body makes Phoenix seethe. She shoots out of her seat much the same way Taehyung had in that Arizona diner. He realizes then that Phoenix may actually be useful to him. He may as well make the most of her presence since the universes seems so keen on forcing her into his life. 

“What if I told you that I could help you get revenge?” Phoenix returns to her seat, eyeing Taehyung intently.

“If it involves that bastard’s blood on my hands, I’m in.” Taehyung nods once before crossing the room to his computer. He opens his file on the bastard in question and shares his screen with the massive tv mounted to the wall.

“How much do you know about me?” Taehyung questions as he turns to face Phoenix once more. 

“I know you’re an incubus with a dick that’s supposedly the size of the empire-state building but my contacts were pretty much mute on everything else.” Phoenix replies with a not so subtle glance at the front of Taehyung’s slacks. “Looks kinda average to me though.”

Taehyung can’t help but preen at the praise about his cock that Phoenix was obviously quite loathe about receiving. It seems that his recreational romps with a fellow demon here and there has built up quite a reputation for him over the years. 

“Allow me to fill in the blanks for you.” Taehyung turns back to his computer, fingers flying across the keys. Pictures of people that Phoenix has only seen on international news channels appear on the screen in rapid succession. “In terms of the humans I go to bed with, my preferred type are the most immoral shit stains I can find. Modern-day slave owners like Amanda Pine? Dead. CEOs that cut off basic resources to entire populations of indigenous people to steal their land like Jason Blackwell? Dead. Homophobic fashion house owners like Donatello Bianchi that put out hits on the small creatives that they steal designs from while putting up a homosexual front to sell said designs? Dead.” 

Phoenix is admittedly in awe as Taehyung continues to list the names of the powerful people and their heinous crimes that he’s punished them for. Her entire existence until this very moment has been built on the notion that demons are inherently evil and bring nothing but destruction to the world and the people around them. Thus, they have to be put down like rabid animals. Now, now she’s not so sure that that wide-sweeping assumption was correct. 

“This is cool and all but I’m not sure how I fit into that. You obviously have a…system that’s working for you.” Phoenix trails off as she looks over the pictures on the screen once more.

“Jacques Bourdain is straight as an arrow and toxically so. My system as you call it won’t work on him and that’s where you come in.” Taehyung leans back against his desk as he watches Phoenix for a reaction. Her expression is carefully devoid of anything that would allow him to gauge what’s going on insider her head. “If you help me then I don’t have to spend weeks planning a new approach.”

“Let’s do it.”

“How do I look?” Phoenix asks, doing a quick twirl in the red cocktail dress that just barely covered her ass. Sky high platform heels adorned her heels, the red bottoms almost the exact same shade as her dress. Cartier diamond studs from his own personal collection glittered whenever they peeked through the thick curls that seemed to bounce whenever she walked.

“Bewitching.” Taehyung replied and he means it wholeheartedly. The dress is perfectly suited for the luxurious curves of her figure. He’s already enraptured with her from one glance. She should have no problem catching Bourdain’s attention tonight. 

The drive to the nightclub is spent going over every fine detail of their plan. Phoenix is confident and assured as she repeats everything to Taehyung with perfect accuracy. This is just like any other hunting mission to her only this time she’s hunting a different kind of demon. 

According to some intel from one of Taehyung’s contacts, the corrupt politician will be at an exclusive night club called Deux, his current favorite spot for picking up girls. Potential patrons dressed to the nines give Taehyung and Phoenix strange looks as they stride to the front of the line. Taehyung can hear whispered words about how they’ll never get in in passing, smirking to himself. The confused ogling becomes outrage when the bouncer at the door steps aside to let them in immediately. 

“That’s how it’s done.” Taehyung murmurs almost to himself as he follows Phoenix up the narrow flight of stairs. 

He nearly misses a step when the action of climbing the stairs causes her dress to ride up enough for the curvature of her ass to start peeking through. He reaches forward to hold the hem down while doing his best not to stare. Taehyung nearly groans when his fingertips meet the warm flesh of her thigh. All of his centuries spent fucking for survival and this one woman has him flustered like some prepubescent schoolboy without even trying. Unacceptable. 

Bourdain isn’t hard to spot once they reach the top of the stairs. He’s perched in the VIP area like a hawk, nursing a drink as he scopes out which unfortunate young woman he deems pretty enough to make his victim for the night. Taehyung makes sure to disappear immediately as planned, leaving Phoenix to her own devices. He watches with rapt attention as she quickly gains entrance to the VIP section. Taehyung recalls the advice he’d given her when they were deciding on what she should wear tonight. If you look like you belong no one will question if you actually do. Looks like Phoenix had taken him seriously and it is already working in their favor. 

Taehyung grabs a seat at the bar and signals for the bartender. He quietly sips on his whiskey when it comes as he watches Phoenix do her thing. She boldly takes a seat next to Bourdain who looks a bit surprised to see her. They strike up a whispered conversation that quickly turns heated, presumably because of the mention of the security camera footage of him assaulting Phoenix stored on the flash drive tucked between her breasts. Bourdain’s gaze falls to her breasts when she suggestively runs a single finger over her cleavage. Phoenix parts ways with the politician and with a knowing glance exits the club. Bourdain looks deranged as he downs the rest of his drink, the fingers of his free hand roughly yanking through his hair. It’s not long before he’s following the same path Phoenix had taken towards the exit a few minutes prior.

When he reaches the street, Taehyung follows the sweet citrus scent of Phoenix’s perfume. There is an alley a few blocks down from the hotel that the two of them have deemed the perfect spot to give Bourdain what he deserves. Taehyung’s step falters when Phoenix’s scent trail suddenly cuts off before he’s even reached the alleyway. He looks around only to realize he’s standing next to a near empty parking lot.

“Fucking hell, Phoenix.” His steps are quick as he heads in the opposite direction to his own vehicle. Just when he thought that she’d learned to follow directions, the wench has proved him wrong by going horribly off script. 

He doesn’t expect her to answer, but he calls her phone anyway just to say he made the effort. Phoenix picks up on the second ring much to his surprise. If demented killer clowns were ever recorded giggling they would sound exactly like the woman on the other end of the phone call. Blood thirsty and psychotic. 

“Phoenix, where the hell are you?” 

“Jacques wanted to go somewhere a little more private. I’ll be back soon don’t worry.” She cuts the call before he can get another word in. 

“God damn you, Phoenix Emery.”

Four hours twenty nine minutes and thirty eight seconds. Taehyung is seated at the bottom of the main staircase when Phoenix finally struts through the front door of his home like she owns the place. There is a pleased gleam in her eyes that only shines brighter when she smiles at him. Taehyung hates the fact that his anger dissipates at the sight of such joy on her face. Thankfully, he’s able to maintain the scowling expression he’s been sporting ever since he’d last spoken to the woman in question.

“Look I know you’re mad that I didn’t follow the plan but that bastard definitely got what was coming to him. I promise I’ll do everything your way next time.” She has the decency to look almost sheepish as she stands in front of Taehyung’s seated figure.

“What makes you think there will be a next time?” He arches an eyebrow in question. “For one, you’ve already proved that I can’t trust you to stick to the script. Plus, I don’t actually need you, especially considering this is the only way I get to feed.”

“Oh, come on. I’m sure Jacques Bourdain isn’t the first loser you’ve gone after that doesn’t like dick and I’m sure he won’t be the last. Let me help kill bad guys, Taehyung.” She looks almost desperate as she pleads for him to let her stay. “You took away the last bit of good I had in my life when you killed my Derrick and Brewer. You owe me this. You owe me this and more, Taehyung.”

“Fine,” Taehyung breathes out after a moment. “but only on one condition. You tell me what you are.”

“Thought we covered this right before I put a bullet in your brain.” Her eyes become engulfed in darkness just as they had that afternoon in the meadow before returning to their normal dark brown. 

“And yet, you have a heartbeat.” Taehyung points out. 

“The demon that tried to turn me couldn’t get the job done. I’m still human if only just a little bit.” Phoenix replies with a shrug of her shoulders as if they’re discussing the weather. There is tension in her shoulders that suggests she’s not as okay with the subject matter as she’s trying to portray. Part of Taehyung wants to press the issue, but a larger part of him decides to leave it alone for now. She’s human enough to not arouse the suspicions of full-blooded demons which she’s obviously used to her advantage as she also happens to have enough demon blood in her to give her access to some of their more supernatural abilities. 

“We’re not done discussing why what you did tonight wasn’t okay, but we’ll pick that conversation up again tomorrow.” Taehyung rises to his feet and looks over the woman in front of him appraisingly. “For now, you’re welcome to any of the extra bedrooms upstairs. Good night.”

Taehyung is chopping strawberries when the newscaster interrupts her piece on a recent factory fire to report on some breaking news. According to the overly bubbly reporter, the body of Jacques Bourdain had been discovered about an hour ago. The politician had apparently been found parked in his car outside of a known brothel that catered to people in his tax bracket. The reporter on site looked visibly ill. After hearing how both of Bourdain’s hands along with his penis had been detached and placed on the hood of his car, Taehyung could understand why.

“Officials say there was a flash drive was found hanging from the victim’s neck but no word on what that flash drive may have contained. Back to you, Mila.” 

Taehyung goes back to his strawberries as the sound of Mila and her cohost discuss the implications of Bourdain’s death. It’s only a matter of time before the contents of that flash drive come to light. The “beloved family man” reputation that Bourdain had worked so hard to curate would go up in flames. 

“Good morning.” Taehyung turns to face Phoenix as she enters the kitchen and he almost wishes that he hadn’t. He must have stored some clothing in the guest room she’d ended up in as she is clad in one of his t-shirts and not much else from the look of it. “Hope you don’t mind that I borrowed your shirt. I realized that all of my bags are still in my hotel and I was not about to sleep in that dress.

“S’fine.” He offers her some of his strawberries which she gladly accepts. She stares at the tv thoughtfully as she perches on one of the barstools and munches away on the juicy fruit. 

It’s a struggle for Taehyung to keep his eyes off of her thighs as she spins slowly on the stool. His grip on the knife is tight enough for his knuckles to turn white. She’s tormenting him and, judging from the way she’s dedicating her attention to the news, she has no idea she’s even doing it. 

“The dismemberment was a nice touch.” Taehyung points out, breaking the silence. Phoenix turns to face him with a pleased smile. 

“A known rapist and abuser like him deserved that and more. I just hope all of his past victims can find peace in knowing he can’t hurt them or anyone else ever again.” She snags a few more strawberries before turning back to the television. She’s practically radiating with joy at hearing the media talk about the brutally gruesome aftermath of her rage. 

“So, who’s next on the hit list?” Phoenix questions when the news program goes on a commercial break. She looks affronted when Taehyung denies her attempt at snagging more strawberries but she stays silent. 

“Next up on the agenda is Johnson Danville. His company has caused a wave of childhood cancer by dumping its waste in a nearby town’s water supply and he thinks he’s above the law because he has enough money to thwart any legal action.”

“What’s our approach?” She’s all business now. Brow furrowed, jaw set, and fists clenched as images of her snuffing out the life of such a horrid man probably play on loop in her head.

“There is no our. I’m doing this one on my own.” Taehyung silences her instant protests with a single raised hand. “Consider this your punishment for not following the plan last night.” The cute way she pouts at his decision makes her look like a child that’s been denied candy. Taehyung is tempted to give in just so she’ll stop looking at him like a kicked puppy. Thankfully, the doorbell rings and saves him from making a rash decision out of his own weakness.

“That should be your bags.” She doesn’t seem particularly concerned about how I found which hotel she was staying in to have her luggage delivered which doesn’t go unnoticed by Taehyung. He makes a mental note to explore why that is later. 

Phoenix is seated at the bottom of the stairs waiting for him when Taehyung emerges from his room. His steps falter for a second but he gets himself together before she has a chance to notice.  He busies himself with his cuff links as he hurries down the stairs. She can pout all she wants but Taehyung is determined to remain firm in his decision. If she wants to be a part of what he does, then she has to learn that what she did with Bourdain is something that won’t be tolerated. 

“Sitting at the bottom of the stairs like a lost puppy won’t change things, Phoenix.”

“Oh come on. You’re acting like I did something so wrong.” She protests vehemently. “You were going to kill him anyway so why are you so mad that I freestyled a little bit?”

“It’s not about that. It’s about trust.” Taehyung makes final adjustments to his suit in the mirror by the door, staring at Phoenix in the reflection. The puppy eyes she’d been sporting when he first came downstairs have been replaced with indignant anger. “I can’t work with a wild card.”  

Taehyung gives Phoenix one last appraising look before disappearing through the ornate front door. Phoenix finds herself staring at the carved wood for a few seconds. Her first instinct is to go out and kill something to release the rage coursing through her. She races upstairs to the guest room she’s chosen to occupy. 

She hadn’t been able to bring any of her own weapons save a few ceramic knives that she’d been able to sneak through airport security. She’d rectified that as soon as she landed in Paris by securing a few firearms. It’s as she’s tucking her nine millimeter into the waistband of her jeans that she catches sight of herself in the full-length mirror in the closet. Staring back at her is not her own reflection but rather the image fo her mother. She can hear her voice clear as day repeating the mantra that she’d parroted to Phoenix every time she’d done something self-destructive. 

“Your future is manifested through your own actions.”

Phoenix closes her eyes, trying to hold on to her mother for as long as she can. The person staring back at her looks eerily similar to the woman who’d brought her into this world, but there is a pain in her eyes that is deeply rooted in her soul. Before common sense can catch up with her, Phoenix draws her weapon and fires. Once. Twice. Three times. Until the image of her own despair lays shattered at her boot clad feet.

Taehyung returns the next morning rejuvenated and expecting to walk into an empty house. He’d fully expected for Phoenix to work herself up into an enraged fit and leave. The first thing he notices when he steps into the foyer is the lingering smell of a gun that’s recently been fired. The air is still, undisturbed. Taehyung is relieved to not be able to pick up on the smell of blood but he is still uneasy. He draws his own weapon from his waistband. After checking the first floor, he creeps up the stairs. The first room he checks is Phoenix’s. He finds his new roommate stretched out across her bed with a gun on the mattress next to her. He gives two short knocks on the door, startling her awake. 

“Woah, woah, woah it’s just me.” Taehyung shouts when Phoenix immediately draws the weapon next to her. He definitely should’ve expected that. “Why have you been shooting a gun in the house? Was someone in here?”

Her eyes get comically wide as she glances towards the closet. Taehyung can tell she probably didn’t mean to do that when she winces immediately after. His eyebrow raises in confusion. He’s never seen her show so little restraint over her actions in all the time he’s known her. Though she tries to stop him, Taehyung strides over the walk-in closet. The remnants of the antique mirror that had once stood in the closet lay in sad, little pieces at his feet. 

“Do want to talk about this?” Taehyung murmurs as continues to survey the damage. He can almost hear the gears in her brain whirring, trying to find an answer that doesn’t make her sound unstable. 

“My future is manifested through my own actions. I don’t want to mess up again.” He turns slowly to face Phoenix where she stands in the doorway of the closet. She feels small under his piercing gaze but she doesn’t shy away. Taehyung is silent for a long while.

“Okay then. Come, we have work to do.” He slides by her and returns to his bedroom with Phoenix following behind him. Neither one of them can really put their finger on it, but something has shifted. She follows him dutifully to his bedroom.

“Now, before we do anything I want you answer one question.” Taehyung starts as he takes a seat in the leather chair in front of his computer. “What are you?” Phoenix was afraid of this question. It’s been months and she still hasn’t fully accepted the truth of it herself.

A lie is on the tip of her tongue. Taehyung must be able to sense it because he raises an eyebrow as if challenging her to let the lie fall from her lips. Phoenix bites down on her bottom lip as she contemplates what she wants to do. Her mother’s words play again in her head so she takes a seat on the end of his bed and tells him everything. Taehyung has never heard of such an occurrence and if he couldn’t hear her heartbeat clear as day, he wouldn’t even believe that something of this nature could even happen. He is absolutely floored though in hindsight he probably shouldn’t be. The evidence has always been right there in front of him.

“That’s…” Taehyung trails off as he searches for the right words. “That’s definitely something. I’m sure you’ve had a hard time coping with that.” Phoenix laughs humorlessly. He doesn’t even know the half of it. 

A single tear slides down her face and she does her best to keep the rest of them at bay. Taehyung feels a physical ache in his arms at not being able to reach out and comfort her. Arabella had always told him that she felt better about whatever was going on whenever he held her but he has to continuously remind himself that the woman in front of him is not Arabella. So he comforts her in the best way he knows how, turning to his computer to bring up a profile on the next person he plans to eradicate.

Phoenix hums to herself as she steps inside of the modern split-level that Taehyung has summoned her to. The tangy scent of fresh blood caresses her senses like a fleece blanket. According to the text message she’d received about half an hour ago, things had gotten…messy and he needed new clothes to wear. She whistles lowly when she finally sets foot into the kitchen where Taehyung had chosen to take care of business.

“Maybe you shouldn’t have tried to kill someone in a room with quite this many knives.” Phoenix observes as Taehyung sheds his shirt and drops it into the trash bag she’s holding open for him. It’s littered with bloody puncture marks from obvious stab wounds and yet his skin is tanned and unmarred. She whistles lowly, wiggling her eyebrows when he drops his pants to the ground to drop those into the bag as well. Taehyung makes some lewd comment about his dick being to die for if she ever felt like going full demon which earns him a kick to the knee.

“Duly noted, sensei.” He mutters with a roll of his eyes. Phoenix just snickers, tying up the bag holding his ruined clothes while Taehyung changes into the hoodie and jeans she’d brought for him. Conversation continues to flow easily between the two of them as if there isn’t a corpse at their feet. She glances at the pool of blood around Taehyung’s latest snack, an art teacher by the name of Aleyna with a taste for prepubescent boys. Her throat is slashed clean through to her spinal cord.

She drops to a crouch next to the bloody body on the linoleum. She pulls out the small pocket knife she keeps tucked between her breasts. Taehyung looks on curiously as Phoenix carves the word pedophile into the bare chest of his victim. He’s about to remark on how neatly spaced her letters are when he hears sirens approaching the house.

“Time to go.” He mutters as he grabs Phoenix by the hand. Judging by how close the sirens are, it’s too late to hop in the car and speed away. He remembers Aleyna mentioning something about the home having an expansive basement that was converted into a wine cellar. Hopefully, that means that there’s another exit.

The locked cellar door is no match for Taehyung’s superior strength as he wrenches it open. He can hear the front door being broken down. Aleyna must have had some sort of silent alarm that she’d managed to trip. He curses to himself at the inconvenience of it all. Part of him wants to tap into the renewed power thrumming in his veins and take out the law enforcement team currently sweeping the home, but the more rational part of him reminds him that while his DNA is untraceable, Phoenix’s is not. He can’t risk her getting nicked by a blade or a stray bullet and leaving evidence at the scene of a murder. Taehyung’s eyes go wide when he hears the tell-tale sound of a silencer being twisted into place. 

“What the hell is that for?” He whispers incredulously.

“CYA, my friend. CYA” She whispers back with a devilish smirk as she hands Taehyung the extra firearm she had tucked into the waistband of her jeans.

Thankfully, the wine cellar is equipped with a second entrance as they slip out into the night. Phoenix and Taehyung take down the two officers patrolling at the back before they get the chance to even think about calling for backup. They drag their bodies into the shrubs. The car is a lost cause with all of the police activity going on at the front of the house so they’re forced to make tracks through the woods.

They don’t make it far before things go plummeting down hill. A loud shout has Phoenix twisting in place to fire off a few shots. Unsurprisingly, she hits all of her intended targets, but this time she’s not quick enough to prevent the officers from getting off a shot of their own. Rage floods Taehyung’s entire being at the quickly growing stain growing in Phoenix’s left shoulder. He lifts her into his arms and runs faster than he can ever recall running before. Her slowing heartbeat spurs his legs to move even quicker. This is exactly what he was afraid of.

Over the past few months that they’ve been working together he’s learned just how much Phoenix treasured her humanity. Despite her perceived recklessness, she’s never put herself into a situation that she had any real doubts about fighting her way out of. A few bruises and scrapes here and there but never has she incurred anything as serious as the gun shot she’s just incurred. Taehyung is less than two minutes away from the closest hospital when he hears it. The steady thump, thump, thump that he’s been so used to hearing falls silent. The absence of it is so deafening that his steps falter.

“Phoenix?” He jostles her in his arms expecting, hoping for her to come back around. Her head simply lolls around on her shoulders. 

Taehyung’s heart hasn’t beat in over four hundred years and yet he could swear that the muscle is constricting violently in his chest. When he’d lost Arabella he’d been in absolute agony, but she had still been alive when she’d left him. His knees buckle from the weight of the range of emotions threatening to drag him under. Deep down he knows that she’s not truly dead, but it hurts all the same. They’re close enough to the city now for the sounds of people and cars to reach his ears but none of it matters. He hugs Phoenix’s limp body to his chest. In spite of how they came together, she has become not only his partner in crime but one of his closest friends. Taehyung nearly leaps out of his skin when something touches the back of his head.

“You smell like sex, blood, and adrenaline. It’s awful.” Phoenix croaks out, pushing him away with a pinched expression on her face. Taehyung laughs despite himself. It doesn’t matter if she technically just died, Phoenix can never let him live.

“I’ll shower later. We have to get out of here.” Taehyung hauls them both off of the ground, dusting the dirt off of Phoenix’s jeans despite her protests. She tries to yank her hand out of his when he latches onto it to pull her along, but Taehyung is having none of it.

When Taehyung had said that they needed to get out of here, Phoenix thought he meant get out of the woods and back to his house to hide out. It wasn’t until he told the driver of the cab they hailed to take them to the airport that she realized he meant that they were getting out of the country entirely. She had nothing on her but her American drivers license, forty euros, and a black cat sticker and yet she was sitting on a private jet headed for the Maldives in less than two hours. That was nearly three weeks ago and Phoenix can’t exactly say that she’s upset at that. At first, she’d been positive that she would get bored of not having a clear and purposeful goal for her time but that notion had quickly been squashed. 

These days she spends her days exploring the island with Taehyung or lounging on the private section of beach in front of the massive villa that they’ve been staying in. Today, they’re in search of a small cave that the locals say is home to a hot spring that Taehyung is dying to take a dip in. Phoenix is just about tired of navigating the precarious path of slippery rocks when Taehyung suddenly shouts. She nearly loses her footing but recovers in time to see him dashing off towards the cave she figures is the one they’ve been searching for. By the time she catches up to him, he’s already waist deep in the water.

“You couldn’t even pretend to wait for me?” She asks playfully as she strips off her clothes, dropping them in a pile on top of his. He totally submerges himself in the crystal clear water as opposed to answering her question.

The spend the next half hour frolicking around, dunking each other under the water. Taehyung has just bucked her off of his shoulders when they decide to take a break and just float around. Head tilted back, arms outstretched, Phoenix is almost asleep as she drifts around on her back when Taehyung interrupts her solace.

“Do you want to talk about it now?” His voice is so soft that she almost doesn’t hear him even with her enhanced hearing. Even so, she contemplates ignoring him anyway just to avoid the conversation he’s trying to have. 

This isn’t the first time he’s tried to get her to talk about her emotions and she’s tempted to give him the same answer she’s given him on his previous attempts. No. She doesn’t get the chance to do so though. Phoenix gasps out loud when she’s suddenly flipped upright and lifted out of the water to sit on a large rock next to the hot spring. Taehyung’s hands remain firmly planted on her hips to ensure she doesn’t try to escape. She’d discovered a while ago that Taehyung is actually quite clingy with people he trusts so she’s not surprised when he lays his head in her lap with his arms wrapped tightly around her and threatens to keep her trapped that way until the sun explodes unless she talks to him.

“Taehyung, this is madness. Move.” She nudges him with enough strength to send a human man flying, but he doesn’t move an inch. They fall into a stubborn silence as they both wait for the other to make their next move. As Phoenix expects, Taehyung cracks first.

“If I tell you a secret, will you talk to me?” He murmurs against the damp skin of her thigh. She feels more than hears his words.

“Depends on what the secret is.” Phoenix kicks her legs lazily on either side of Taehyung’s body. He takes a long, shuddering deep breath that intrigues her enough that her legs stop moving.

“The reincarnation books I have in my room. It’s not just a personal fascination.” Taehyung falls silent as if he’s gathering the courage to get to the root of what he’s trying to say. Phoenix had already assumed that there was a deeper reason for the massive tomes that Taehyung hoarded but she’d never felt like it was her place to intrude. 

“I was in love once. It was the 18th century and I met this firecracker of a woman that made more heart beat fast for the first time since being turned.” Phoenix listens dutifully as Taehyung describes the woman that had held his heart in her hands. The more he talks, the more she feels this odd sense of familiarity. As if she knew this woman personally. Her brain connects the dots right as Taehyung gets to the gist of his tale.

“Wait,” She stops him before he can get the words out. “are you about to say what I think you’re about to say? Because if you are, I have an assload of questions.”

“Do I think you’re the reincarnation of my Arabella? Yes. Can I prove it beyond a reasonable doubt? No.” He confirms. Phoenix pushes at his shoulders and Taehyung allows himself to be moved. Judging by Taehyung’s expression, the panic sitting like a stone in her gut is manifested on her face.

“How long have you thought this?” 

“Since I first laid eyes on you in that field. I’d gone through your friends’ phone but they didn’t have a single picture of you. I nearly got up and left when I saw you.” Phoenix snorts as she replays that day in her mind as she often does only this time with Taehyung running for the hills the second he sets his eyes upon her face. 

“This probably sounds ridiculous, but I feel this…connection to you.” Taehyung explains with a sheepish look on his face. “It’s like you’re a planet and I’m a moon being pulled into your orbit.”

She doesn’t have the courage to admit that she feels the same way. Phoenix slips back into the water now that Taehyung is no longer physically restraining her. He says nothing as she moves behind him to wrap her limbs around him. She allows a few moments of silence to pass before she unloads everything she’s been holding back. The disgust she feels at what she’s become. The shame of feeling like she’s let her parents down considering she is now the very creature they dedicated their lives to hunting like rabid dogs. Her fears for the future and the possibility that darkness that is practically inherent in demons could one day overtake her. 

“Do you think I’m evil?” Taehyung probes.

“Well, no, not really.” She answers without missing a beat. Her original assumption of Taehyung had proven to be quite false despite the events that had allowed them to opportunity to build the friendship they have today.

“So why do you think that you’ll suddenly become some sort of degenerate just because you’ve lost your human side? You’re still the same Phoenix Emery as you were before the change. Demons make their own choices and have to live with the consequences of them just like everyone else.” His words hang in the humid air, marinating into her psyche. She’s not entirely sure that she believe him but the thought of being able to hang on to some sense of normalcy give her hope for the centuries to come.

“Taehyung, do you love me?” Phoenix voices into the still air in the double bedroom she and Taehyung share. The villa has four other rooms with single beds and yet for whatever reason they’d decided that this room was perfect.

“If this is a ploy to get me to sing Drake again, I’ll kill you.”

“No, seriously. Do you love me? Since I’m probably the reincarnation of your dead girlfriend or whatever.”

“I care for you deeply and I think your ass is perfectly perky and round, but no I do not love you the way I loved, Arabella because you are not her.” Taehyung responds matter of factly. An inkling of regret is creeping in. Maybe telling Phoenix about Arabella hadn’t been the best idea.

“Don’t get so full of yourself, Taehyung. I’m not looking for you to pledge your undying love for me. I just wanted to know.”

Taehyung stays quiet for so long that she’s beginning to think he’s said all he plans to say. “Phoenix, have you ever been in love?”

“Once. At least I thought it was love but then he made me choose between him and hunting and I hesitated.” Taehyung whistles lowly, flipping over in his bed to face her in the darkness of the bedroom. He analyzes her side profile as she continues to focus her eyes on the ceiling. His lips tingle with the urge to ask her more questions but he remains silent, waiting.

“I last saw him about two years ago. He’s married now with a kid and a dog and a white picket fence. I’m happy for him because I don’t think I could’ve given him that.” She whispers solemnly. Her tone is flat and even but Taehyung can hear the emotions that she’s not voicing.

“Would you do it differently if you could go back in time?” He asks curiously. Phoenix doesn’t turn over but she does glance at him fleetingly.

“Honestly, no. I’m a sadistic motherfucker that like to hunt and kill beings I deem unworthy of living. That’s not the type of person who settles down with 2.5 kids and a dog.”

“Touché”

“What about you? If you could’ve turned Arabella, would you have done it?” Taehyung should’ve expected her to turn his own question back on him but it catches him off guard all the same. A few months ago, he would’ve said yes without a shadow of a doubt. Now? He’s not so sure.

“I don’t know that I would. I’d always thought that I’d do anything to bring her back, but I don’t think she’d be happy this way.” Phoenix hums thoughtfully. 

“Well at least you have me. Annoying but cute.”

“What have I ever done to deserve such a blessing.” Phoenix lashes out with one of the extra pillows on her bed, using it to get revenge on Taehyung for the sarcasm dripping from his words.  There’s no way the fluffy down pillow has any effect on him but it makes her feel better all the same. 

“Sarcastic bastard.” She spits out only for him to playfully stick his tongue out at her with a childish giggle.

“Aw, should I kiss it and make it better?” Taehyung teases. His eyes nearly bug out of his head when Phoenix says yes.

At first, he thinks she’s just kidding until she gets out of her own bed and into his. She slips underneath the covers and scoots close enough to Taehyung for every inch of her body to be pressed up against him. The air in the room feels thick with the pheromones and sexual tension radiating from the both of them. He can already feel himself rising to the occasion but he doesn’t want to read too much into it although a blind man could see that there is only one way to interpret what’s happening right now. 

“What are you doing?” He whispers. She’s brought her face so close to his that every word is punctuated by the slight brushing of his lips against hers. Her eyes sweep over his face.

“Research.” Taehyung practically growls when she presses her lips against his. Not kissing her back doesn’t even cross his mind as her tongue traces against the seam of his lips and he lets her in without protest. He explores and plunders her mouth just as they’ve done with the various caves and forests they’ve ventured into during their time in the Maldives, with reverent excitement.

His large hands slink underneath the t-shirt she’d stolen from his dresser and he’s pleased to discover that there isn’t much to be found beneath it other than her supple skin. Their lips remain connected even as Taehyung pulls her body on top of his. He can feel her hardened nipples through her shirt and he’s overcome with the need to feel her skin directly on his. The thin fabric doesn’t stand a chance against him when gathers it into his fists, yanking until she’s totally free of it. She makes some comment about his eagerness that he chooses to ignore in favor of covering her chest in as many marks as he feels fit to create. 

Phoenix rearranges her legs so that she’s straddling Taehyung’s lap. The new change in position means the sizable bulge barely contained by his boxer briefs is now pressed perfectly against her clit. Her hips start moving practically on their own, settling into a pattern of slow, purposeful grinds. Taehyung grabs at her ass with both hands to help her along. Even in the dark, he can still see the growing patch of wetness on the grey material that remains between them. The soft whimpers she makes every time he bumps against her clit could rival even the world’s greatest symphony. Her breasts swing tantalizingly in his face, but just as he goes for them again, she pulls away. 

His protests fizzle out when she tugs on the waistband of his boxers. He lifts his hips to help her out, reaching down to slowly stroke himself once he’s free of them. The shocked look on her face is definitely something he plans to tease her about for the next few decades, but for now Taehyung is more focused on getting his cock shoved down her throat as quickly as possible. 

“Taehyung, that’s an excessive amount of dick.” Phoenix can’t take her eyes off of the stiff appendage between his toned thighs. She’d always thought that the rumors of him having a dick the size of the Empire State Building were just that, rumors, but she’s quickly discovering that he definitely gives the popular landmark a run for its money in the size department. She’s both incredibly turned on and more than a little hesitant about fucking someone with that much to work with.

“Scared?” The smirk on his face lets her know that he knows exactly what that does to her. She feels challenged and Phoenix Emery never backs down from a challenge. She’ll die trying to prove him wrong and he knows it.

She gives him a firm squeeze when she takes his length into her hand. His head falls back as a groan rattles around his chest. Taehyung gasps at the unexpected sensation of Phoenix suckling on his balls as she continues to stroke him just the way he likes. She licks a stripe up his cock from base to tip, sucking on his leaking head before repeating the process. He hisses when she finally envelopes his cock in her mouth. His hips push forward on instinct to get as much of himself into the warm, wet cavern of her mouth as he can. 

“Fuck your mouth is so good.” He murmurs. She hums around his cock in her mouth, burying her nose in the finely trimmed hairs at the base of his erection. Taehyung has never been to heaven but in that moment he swears he can see God. Euphoria spreads throughout his body as Phoenix continues to bob her head up and down on his cock. It’s sloppy, messy, and delightfully amazing. He can feel his balls drawing up, on the verge of an orgasm when she pulls her head away from his lap.

She walks on her knees until she’s straddling him once more. She leans down to kiss and suck at the tanned skin of his neck, making her way up and along his jaw. Taehyung is only too happy to reciprocate when she presses her lips against his insistently. He could spend the rest of his existence kissing her and it would make him the happiest man alive. His lips are wrenched from hers when she suddenly flips the both of them over so that Taehyung is hovering above her. His cock, still damp with her spit, rests against her pubic bone. He stops her when she grabs his cock and moves it to where she needs him most.

“Wait, but don’t you want me to finger you first? Or eat you out?” He questions. “You said yourself that I have an excessive amount of cock and I have to make sure you’re wet enough for it.”

“If I get any wetter, we’re both going to drown now stop making excuses and fuck me.” Phoenix drives her point home by grabbing his length again and dragging it through her drenched folds a few times before lining him up with her entrance. Taehyung doesn’t need any more convincing than that. He joins them totally with one strong thrust.

One thrust turns into two which turns into two more until Taehyung is sliding in and out of her like a well-oiled machine. He pauses long enough to press her knees into her chest before he resumes his movements. The change in position has his name flying out of Phoenix’s mouth like the darkest of curses. Her nails are digging into his thighs and the pain only adds to his pleasure. The image of Taehyung covered in sweat as he tosses his head back with his teeth bared like some sort of feral animal is one that Phoenix never wants to forget. She does her absolute best to keep her eyes open to commit this moment to memory. The sound he makes when she tightens her inner muscles around him could only be described as a growl.

His hands release her legs in favor of latching on to her bouncing breasts instead. She keens when he rolls her sensitive nipples between his fingers. Taehyung switches gears from his relentless pounding to a more purposeful grind of his hips, making sure to press his pelvis into her clit on every thrust. Phoenix grabs at both of his wrists and pulls in an effort to bring him closer to her. He obliges her with a chaste kiss to the tip of her nose. She wraps her limbs around him and holds on tight as the waves of pleasure begin to drag her under. Taehyung follows her over the edge with a harsh bite to her shoulder that makes Phoenix want to cum again. They fall asleep in a tangled mess of limbs and feelings that will be left to sort out when they wake. 

“Good morning, Sunshine!” Taehyung sing-songs. He yanks open the curtains to let in the light and isn’t surprised when his actions are met with a creative string of curses that would make even the most depraved demon cower in fear.

“I will rip your toe nails off and shove them in your eyes. Go away!” Phoenix buries her face into one of the few pillows that had managed to stay on the bed during their late night frolic but to no avail. Taehyung is quick to snatch it away from her along with anything else she could possible use to hide away.

She eventually realizes that resistance is futile and sits up in bed. Taehyung is momentarily  distracted by the small bruises and bite marks that have yet to fad away. They’ll be gone in the next few hours and part of him wants to take a few pictures to hold onto for his own personal use. 

“I think we should talk about last night.” Taehyung crawls back onto the bed, pulling Phoenix into his arms just because he can. She twists around in his hold until their face to face. 

“What is there to talk about?”

“Oh, I don’t know maybe why?”

“Remember the ex I told you about right before…that?” Taehyung nods his affirmation. There is an inkling of fear that what she’s about to say is going to kill the domestic dream that had danced across his mind’s eye all night.

“When he asked me to choose between him and hunting, I couldn’t do it but just the mere thought of not being with you despite how we ended up together physically pains me.” Phoenix distracts herself by dragging her finger across Taehyung’s chest in a nonsensical pattern. She can’t handle looking him in the eye while she talks about her feelings this way. “We’ve both hurt each other in major ways but, as twisted as it is, I think it was meant to happen this way. Fate and all that other mushy shit, you know?”

“Yeah, I know.” Taehyung nuzzles her cheek with his nose which she recoils from with protests about cooties. He shuts her up with a kiss that he hopes conveys all of the words he has no idea how to say.

[esseastri]

Megan Reads Oathbringer (part 4)

sometimes I wonder about labeling the parts of the liveblog with “part 1, part 2, etc” ‘cause like...that doesn’t mean it’s part 4 of the book. just part 4 of the liveblog? idk, I jUST realized that might be confusing in a book split up into five parts, but it’s too late now...

I’m still in part one, for those keeping track.

Part 4 encompasses pages 240-326 (previous parts)

I genuinely cannot imagine Dalinar marrying someone quiet and shy and it’s just. wild.

“his bracer clocks” bless Navani for inventing wrist watches and calling them something delightful instead

nooooooo don’t bring Taravangian here!!!! Don’t let him see the center of your power!

crap, now we’ve got, like...all the factions together, right? Taravangian and the diagram people. the Ghostbloods. Amaram and whatever he’s doing. And us....everyone who knows stuff about the end of the world, all in one convenient place. What could possibly go wrong?

Oh, except Jasnah. She’s out there, somewhere. When will my love return from the war

seriously, it’s been 240 pages, where is Jasnah.

“He’d been a friend to Gavilar and that was enough for Dalinar.” like. okay. sure. but you know your brother was trying to end the world to bring back the gods, right? like? ARGH.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm hey do we have a way to tell Radiants from normal Shardblade holders?

I’m not saying I don’t trust Taravangian and his “newest Radiant” Malata, but... I DON’T TRUST TARAVANGIAN AND HIS NEWEST RADIANT MALATA

seriously, what is in Kholinar that all the parshmen are headed there? or...being driven there by their weird glow spren?

“Men of blood and sorrow don’t get an ending like that.” DAMN STRAIGHT THEY DON’T, YOU MURDEROUS CURMUDGEON

mmmmm she’s a Dustbringer? Our first one... “I don’t like how she smiles.” same though? I’m. concern.

oohh, I didn’t even think she might have an honorblade. where would Taravangian have gotten another honorblade. I remember reading something about there being more honorblades out and about in the world, but we don’t know whose, do we?

I. Am. Concern.

...........it’s not the bond. #confirmed by the stormfather. so there goes my theory about the the stormlight healing Dalinar’s memories.... hm

Taravangian getting all self-righteous about the Shin “murderering all those monarchs” like. even on a not-so-smart day he’s clever enough to deflect blame, to reinforce the idea that he’s just a harmless old man, would never command an assassin to kill off everyone’s kings. He’s terrifying, tbh.

mmmm, everyone thinking Dalinar is gonna attack them, I mean...good assumption but for once, you’re wrong!

omg

Dalinar, please, please do not go to war with the whole world all at the same time. Please.

I...don’t think that’s a spren...I don’t know what it is, but I don’t think it’s a spren. unless...can cities have spren? There are enough people, right? Can they manifest an incarnation of themselves? That’s basically what spren are, right? forces of nature made manifest, so...why not forces of civilization, too?

oh god

how long has it been alone?

this......is another story I wrote because it was sad, not because I wanted it. oh god. ooohh god. Urithiru...

OH ROCK!! ARE YOU OAK--okay, he’s okay.

wait

so it’s not just murders...it’s any sort of violence? the copycat is copying...all violence? or...just the criminal kind? surely it’s not copying all the violence of the army training or sparring. But...why? what’s to be gained from repeating the same crime a second time?

how long has this spren been alone and how mad is it?

does it think...violence is the way to be more human? to remember more? I’m...concerned and confused and. aaahhhhh

“Let me be stronger than those who would kill me.” punk!Dalinar, pls. you can pray for better things than that...

Dalinar keeping Navani’s prayer in his pocket like...my dude u r gettin married. the pining is. wow.

umm. #y i k e s

no wonder Kadash goes and joins the ardents...

Dalinar just...murdering a hundred people including some of his own men? is? really...like, okay, here’s the thing: We knew from the previous two books that Dalinar had done some bad shit. And we were told repeatedly that he’d changed dramatically. But being told and having it spelled out in...child murdering and unthinking friendly fire is...something else. The character development of this man is wild. and mildly uncomfortable. Like...his bad shit wasn’t just a few battles and some brutality of conquest. this was. really, really bad shit. And to see how far he’s come and how much he’s trying to atone for is. sure a thing.

and somehow people DIDN’T figure out that the Thrill is bad before now???

“This is a mercy” ARE YOU SURE?

AND THEN HE JUST GOES AND KILLS SOME MORE, JUST FOR FUNSIES

BUDDY. MY DUDE. YOU NEED TO STOP AND RECONSIDER YOUR LIFE AND YOUR CHOICES. PLEASE.

seriously, how does anyone think the Thrill is a good thing here.

Shallan really needs to look into her budding multiple personality disorder.

OKay, but are they siding with “the enemy” or are they siding with some parshmen who are now in workform and just want to be treated as real people instead of slaves? ‘cause like...you guys are all basing your strategy on the idea that EVERY parshman went stormform and started rampaging about killing everything in sight. And that definitely hasn’t happened yet.

Why hasn’t Kaladin mentioned this to you guys?? like?? oh, I guess he got his spanreed stolen, right? I just....... there’s a lot going on here, but there’s a certain amount of...maybe consider what the negotiations with the parshendi/parshmen/whatever they are now really are before you just...write them all off as evil?

Then again, these are Alethi lighteyes, who don’t really understand the concept of not generalizing a population they consider below themselves.

this is why the whole dudes not writing thing is ssooooooooo stupiiidddd. Kaladin can’t tell you guys ANYTHING unless he finds a nice lady to scribe for him. God, Vorinism is so stupid sometimes.

“Spark” is a good name for a spren tho, maybe she’s legit? I still don’t trust her. at all.

a flying bridgeman, Shallan, PLEASE

he’s a flying captain of the guard, at the very least.

nooo

NOOO

NO I DON’T WANT THIS

NOW I HAVE TO DEAL WITH FUCKING AMARAM THAT RAT BASTARD ALL THE TIME????? NOOO

NOOOOO

IALAI NO. YOU COULD HAVE JUST TAKEN OVER YOU’RE SMART ENOUGH YOU COULD HAVE BEEN THE FIRST HIGHPRINCESS AND IT WOULD HAVE BEEN AWFUL BUT ALSO AWESOME BUT NO. NO YOU HAD TO JUST DRAG FUCKING AMARAM THAT RAT BASTARD INTO THIS.

I DON’T WANT THIS TAKE IT BACK, BRANDON.

“Highprince.” “Highprince.” “Bastard.” GOD BLESS ADOLIN, BOY WONDER.

oohhhhhh Adooolliinn. babe, you can’t just--okay. there is is. The Thing.

Shallan. “Oh.” UH HUH. OKAY THEN. SO MUCH FOR THAT SECRET though it wasn’t really a secret. just a miscommunication. but still. I sort of wish that Kaladin had been able to tell Shallan himself about Helaran--though, he still didn’t know it was Helaran.

But there would have been something satisfying in that being just...between the two of them. Them working that out and him probably apologizing and her probably not forgiving him and there would just be. delightful angst before they eventually decided to be friends. But Adolin telling her gives her time to prepare, I guess? for seeing Kaladin again? I still don’t think she’s going to forgive him which will make for veerryyy interesting dynamics when he returns.

Listen, I just really wanted Shallan to pull her Blade on Kaladin, and have him trying to avoid her attacks while apologizing a lot even though he was perfectly in his rights to defend his at-the-time commanding officer from a threat. That would have been delicious angst.

Hopefully she doesn’t hate Adolin for being the messenger, though...

“Everything would have been better off if he’d just let Amaram die.” TRUER WORDS, ADOLIN. tbh, how much do you think Kaladin thinks about that very exact same thought? The answer is: A FREAKING LOT

well, shit. destroying the Oathgate seems a reasonable option, but also it’s gonna make saving the world a heck of a lot harder...

I wonder...if they’d had literally anyone else do the negotiations, if this would be going differently. People know Dalinar, they know he’s the Blackthorn, or used to be, and they don’t know him well enough to know how much he’s changed. If the Blackthorn had come to me and been like, “yo, I want to open a portal to your city center and send you soldiers to help you rebuild” I would ALSO assume he was going to invade my city and try to conquer me and I would also refuse him. But like...if Shallan or someone completely unconnected had tried, I’d be a little more likely? to agree? Idk I feel like they are definitely being hindered by Dalinar’s reputation here.

Just don’t let Taravangian do it. Don’t let him do anything. Oh god.

“a unified Vorin coalition” OH GOOD NOW IT’S A RELIGIOUS WAR. or an Inquisition. Nobody expects the Vorin Inquisition.

I love that Dalinar just....knows how to do shit. Like, Kaladin and Shallan have been practicing and had training sessions with their spren to figure out their powers and even Lift is REALLY BAD at Friction, and Dalinar’s just like. Adhesion. Got it. No problem.

aaaAAAHHH Dalinar holding Oathbringer again and it’s...not screaming it’s whimpering and I’M. SAD. ABOUT A SWORD. DANGIT.

DON’T GIVE HIM THE SWORD. AMARAM DOESN’T DESERVE A SWORD. DON’T DO THAT

okay, but Amaram calling Dalinar a hypocrite is like... POTS AND KETTLES, MY DUDE.

Taravangian: “I sound like a madman, don’t I?” No, you sound like a man for whom the ends justify the means.

Here’s the thing: I see the practicality in Taravangian’s stance. There’s always a practicality in sacrificing a few good ones to get rid of all the bad ones. And yeah, Dalinar’s desire to always save all the good ones, even if it means sparing the bad ones, is just a tad idealistic. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. Idealism is never something that we should give up on, is never something we should ignore or stop working towards. We shouldn’t always have to settle for practicality.

hoooo cool. The Stormfather can just...send Dalinar to other people in visions wth that’s really cool. Like a Kyprioth/Aly situation except the destination person knows they’re there.

“Shallan had nothing to do, but Veil was useful.” No, Shallan. You’re useful. You are Veil. It’s not. It’s not a different person. It’s just you adsfghjkl just. YOU’RE ALICE, PARKER. GOD.

“Veil liked watching people. She shared that with Shallan.” THAT’S BECAUSE YOU’RE THE SAME PERSON. YOU ARE ALICE.

omg, I love that Pattern just...brought both Kholin bros and all of Bridge Four.

“go do something stupid without letting me watch” OMG PATTERN, BBY.

I have missed Bridge Four, hello darlings

THEY’RE JOKING WITH RENARIN AND HE’S SMILING AND THEY’RE FRIENDS AND I’M SO HAPPY AAHH

THIS IS SO CUTE I LOVE THEM AAH

omg, I didn’t realize there was a staircase, I thought they were just going to be jumping into a void.

dear god, roshar has a Sisyphus equivalent that’s delightful.

sooo, I’m assuming that’s...Odium, Honor, and Cultivation in those mosaics? I’m genuinely amused that Shallan thinks they’re “pagan symbols”

Bridge Four took point even though there were two Shardbearers and an extra Radiant and MY BBYS I LOVE THEM I LOVE THEM SO MUCH

NOPE

NOPPPPPEEEE

NOOOOOOOOOOPPPEEEEE

DON’t DIE?

DON’T DIIIIIIEEEE

I DID NOT SIGN UP FOR THIS HORROR NOVEL SHIT

NOOOOPE

ADOLIN NO! YOU STORMING FOOL DO NOT CHARGE THE DARKNESS UNMADE EVIL THING WHAT THE FUCK NO

NOOO

I’M OUT

BYE

if any of Bridge Four die, so help me, I will drive back to Utah and yell at Brandon personally. To his face.

NOOOPPE THIS IS CREEEEPPY AS FUUUCKK WHAT THE NOPE

ooohh Renarin’s a good, he’s healing them, that’s my boy

okay, the illusory army is preTTY DANG COOL GET IT GIRL

but also the Unmade thing is freaking terrifying and I’m nope

...I’m assuming that since Dalinar saw nine shadows and the champion that there’s one Unmade for each of the ten orders of Radiants? LIke, this one, the Midnight Mother can be directly countered by Lightweaving. So maybe another one is designed to be defeated by Windrunners or Elsecallers or whatever. And it’s one for each?

I genuinely love that the new Radiant’s don’t call their swords Shardblades. It’s Sylblade, Glysblade, Patternblade. I love it.

“Adolin [...] charged into the room, bursting right through the middle of an illusion of his father.” Well, ain’t that just storming appropriate. How beautifully poetic.

also, Adolin and Renarin fighting back to back is A LOT AND I’M LOVE THEM

ooohh my god, it’s trying to bond with her?? trying to rip Pattern away and bond with her that’s... YIKES.

oohhh shit....corrupted creationspren. ooohhhh my god.

Odium, why you gotta ruin everything good in this world, you jerk

ooh...it was...bound. by a Lightweaver. bound like the Parshendi’s gods? like the parshmen? how are we binding people? I’m getting the idea that maybe binding people is bad.

I’m getting the idea that Ishar is bad. but that’s a theory for another time.

okay, so...the pashmen weren’t...going to Kholinar. they were going to a tiny city a week’s walk from Hearthstone...to...besiege it? why

what. is. happening.

also omg Kaladin’s never been to a real city, someone take this child on a sightseeing vacation, asap.

how...did they take the city and what...are they gonna do with it?? I’m all for giving them land and lives but I’m worried about stormform. and voidbringers. and a lot of things.

the parshmen calling him Kal is murdering my soul

oooh noooooooooo there’s a highstorm coming and the people are all outside and the parshmen are camping, and I...am worried.

Yixli? that’s a terrible name. though I guess she’s a questionably evil spren of odium, so.

Fused? okay, that’s a fun word for Stormform.

Kal, babe, you need to get out of there.

Ah. Good choice.

Syl whacking at the gloryspren and telling them “Mine!” about Kaladin is FRIKKIN ADORABLE HI I LOVE SYL

of course it’s all perception, Kaladin, everything is different if you change your point of view. That’s what makes being a person so difficult.

“Treat them better than they treated you.” AMEN. THAT’S THE ONLY WAY THINGS GET BETTER.

it’s hard and it sucks a lot, but it’s the only way.

oh shit

oh sHIT

what. dark stormlight? what the?

SHIT

THERE’S LIKE, THREE OF THEM?

okay, only two. buT STILL

Why can they do Lashings? do sotrmform voidbringers whatever the fuck they are have Radiant orders too? WHAT IS HAPPENING

“You can’t save all of them.” BUT HE’S DAMN WELL GOING TO TRY

HE’S SO GOOD

SO GOOD

WHAT

WHAT

THAT’S?? MAGICAL. WHAT. MAGIC WINDSPREN SHIELD????? CAN HE DO THIS NORMALLY OR IS THE STORMFATHER HELPING OR?? WHAT

omg, just...deposit him in front of Urithiru. That’s convenient. Why thanks.

YAAAASSSS

SHE’S HERE!!!!!

SHE’S BACK!!!!!!!!!

SHE’S HEEERRRREEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YEESSSSSS

me: can I squeeze the interludes onto this part of liveblog? also me: *scrolls up to the top of this post forever me: Maaayyybe not.

[kaceyrps]

Under the cut are some plots I would love to do. If there’s a couple you like, I am more than open to doing more than one rp with the same person, or even making a mumu out of it. If you like anything on the list just send an im, or like this and I’ll message you.

Muse A is the typical nerdy, smart girl who gets straight A’s and spends the majority of her time either studying or reading. Muse B is her tutor student, not the most popular guy, but he is in the right crowd. People know his name, he is on the basketball team, and he gets invited to all the parties. To say the two are on opposite ends of the social spectrum would be an understatement.  Where Muse A only sees him in an academic sense and more of dumb jock then anything, Muse B wants to see if he can break her out of her shell or prove that she is just as much as a teacher’s pet as people say. After endless sessions of pestering and calling her stuck up, Muse A agrees to let Muse B take her to some sort of party. One weekend Muse B takes Muse A to a party, seeing if she’ll let loose, which she finally does. After that night, Muse A and Muse B see each other in a different sort of way. Their friendship develops and Muse A begins to show her true colours, while Muse B does the same, proving them to be more alike then they thought.

broadway au: two girls that are the leads of the rival shows (sort of like smash tbh???) they are the complete opposite of each other, one is super fucking into musicals and like it’s their passion and it’s all they have ever wanted and the other is like naturally talented and loves it but like wasn’t introduced to it until like late into high school and they butt heads but always end up seeing each other at different events

I really want to do a 1x1 where Muse A and Muse B, met at a bar one night and ended up having a deep conversation that culminated in a make-out session. Muse A promised to call Muse B, but never did and Muse B didn’t have Muse A’s phone number. A couple of months passed with Muse B thinking about their night with Muse A - not being able to find that connection with someone else. Then Muse B finally meets Muse A again, only to find Muse A is dating their best friend. Despite both parties trying to push aside their feelings after meeting again, things get complicated. (They could either decide to keep things friendly or it would lead to a relationship, depending on how the rp goes).

we hate each other but had to do this dumb project together au

ok but what about a m/f plot where he is the innocent and kind one who volunteers at the hospital and walks old ladies across the street, while she is the stereotypical delinquent who drinks and fights and goes through hearts faster than cigarettes. and everyone disapproves of them because he is a distraction and she is a terrible idea, but it’s all irrelevant in the end because she shows him the world, and he shows her the goodness within it.

pls can someone give me a really domestic f/f plot kind of based on the fosters where they have a bunch of kids and they all just love each so much and one wants to have more kids but the other is kind of hesitant because they already have four kids and like there’s planning kids’ birthday parties and family outings and then anniversary dates that are interrupted and adopting pets from the shelter AND FUCK I NEED THIS.

you’re my best friend / wingman and this horrible, obnoxious human being has been hitting on me for an hour and wont take the hint so you come up and make out with me and wow i wan’t expecting to see stars au

13 going on 30 plot where they were really close when they were younger, and then they both went there separate ways. and then they meet up later on, and they just start spending a lot of time together and start becoming best friends and then they slowly start to fall in love with each other (✿◠‿◠) liKE PLEASE I NEED THIS!!

famous au where we played child best friends in a tv show when we were really young now its been like fifteen years and now we play love interests in this new teen hit tv show plot tho

i’d give anything for a mumu based on the secret circle (book series/short lived tv show). six young adults involved in a coven. most of them grew up together in a small, new england fishing town where everyone knows everyone. one day, they learn that they’re witches and warlocks, powers that were hidden from them because of their parents not wanting to get them involved in dark things. they’re supposed to use their powers to battle the forces of evil, to be good. what do they do instead? one makes it storm when her mother won’t buy her a new car. another changes their hair color every two weeks because they’re bored.  one of them makes it so music randomly plays whenever they walk into a room to get attention. there’s another that’s on the volleyball team at their college and they use magic to help them win. instead of using their powers for some epic battle of good and evil, they use them like any other millenial would – to get free breakfast, a few extra minutes of sleep, a nice apartment to live in, etc. we could each play three characters or maybe we have more than one mun involved but pleASE!!! someone give this to me!! i want a group of six young witches & warlocks being reckless as hell and loving life!! plus, imagine a giant brotp or poly ship?? like, PLEASE

Muse A and Muse B hate each other, and they’re not even sure why. They’ve never really spoken, but their personalities clash in almost every way possible. When they get paired together for the baby project in health class, neither of them are pleased about it. Especially since no matter how much they beg, the teacher refuses to let them switch partners, so they’re forced to try and find a way to at least work together or risk failing the class.

Muse A was dating muse B’s sister, but broke it off when he found out his girlfriend had cheated on him. Muse A and muse B had always been friends, and while muse B understood why muse A broke up with their sister, they had to take their sister’s side – which meant letting go of their friendship. Until muse A and muse B where picked to be the leading roles in the school – made complicated by the fact the lines between a staged and real romance begin to blur.

Muse A just had their heart broken and decided to shy away from relationships, so their friends dragged them out for a night to get them out of the house. Enter muse B. Someone who spends the night flirting with muse A, but gets nowhere. Muse B gives muse A their number, saying if they change their mind to call. Muse A, after some prompting from friends, calls muse B and they go out on a date – one they both enjoy. But just as muse A comes around to the idea of a new relationship, muse B finds out that muse A’s ex, is muse B’s sibling.

Muse A and muse B had the perfect marriage. They were happy, just bought their first house and had a baby. Until muse B tragically died – or at least that’s what muse A thought. Muse B had witnessed a crime, and had to be put in witness protection. Not wanting to risk the life of muse A and their child, muse B let them believe that they were dead. When the trial is finally over with, and the threat is locked away, muse B is left to go back to their old life but has no idea how to tell muse A about what happened.

Muse A and muse B attend the same boarding school, but have never gotten along. Muse B is friends with muse A’s former best friend, and has only heard bad things about muse A. Muse A thinks muse B isn’t as smart as he seems to think he is. The only problem is that their names are right next to each other on the register, so they keep getting paired together. As time goes on, the more they seem to hate each other and they just refuse to work together. Until one of their teachers finally has enough, and tells them if they don’t work together they’ll fail the course. Being forced to work together, they actually get to know each other – and while they still might not get along too well, they are learning they don’t hate each other quite as much as they thought they did.

[multifandombitxh]

Title: Devil in the Details (ch.4) Pairing: Cassian Andor x Fem!Reader Genre: Fluff/Smut Warnings: Mentions of IVs/Blood, Sexually explicit content/Unprotected sex(pls be safe). The two don’t correlate, I promise. A/N: I’ve made it pretty obvious that smut isn’t my strong suit, but I decided to put that insecurity aside since a lot of people were asking for Cassian/Reader smut. This was extremely hard to write, I’ve written so many different variations of this chapter and this was the one I was happiest with. Hope it’s alright! I kinda half-assed proofreading so if anything sounds weird, that's probably why. Important note: no bras in space. You’d be strangled to death. <3 Edit: I cannot believe I didn’t put unprotected sex in the warnings when I first posted this. Like I don’t know how that went right over my head. Anyway hi I’m a piece of shit lmao Tag list: @badwolfandtimelords @geeky-girl-394 @princeofsassgard @the-glasses-are-my-disguise @wisestydia14 @seargantbcky (if you’d like to be added or removed from the list, pls let me know!) Chapters 1-3: (tumblr) (AO3)

IV: Penumbra

“Y/N, I have to leave.”

“So leave then.”

“What, no goodbye?”

“I’m tired, Cass. We were up late.”

“We’re always up late.”

“Which is exactly why you should let me sleep in.”

Cassian shifted behind you and you felt his arm wrap around your waist. He moved closer and pressed his body against yours, his warm breath hitting the back of your neck and sending goosebumps all across your skin. A pair of lips kissed from the base of your neck to your ear slowly and you welcomed the embrace, taking a deep breath through your nose and smiling.

Two months had passed since that day in the clearing, and things were a lot different than they were before. Not so much in your work, but in your personal and social life. Apparently, against his better judgement, Cassian told K-2SO about your kiss, which was a bad move. Thanks to his lack of a filter, the droid made jokes about it to anyone who would listen, being especially ruthless when either of you were around. Because of this, keeping your relationship a secret was completely out of the question.

It didn’t change how you treated each other, but it definitely made things around the base more difficult. Like all rumors, the news of your relationship spread like wildfire, and there wasn’t a single person who didn’t know you and Cassian were together. You were grateful that most of the rebels were mature, level-headed adults who didn’t care and minded their own business. There were, of course, a few people who couldn’t keep their mouths shut and made jokes from time to time. They were mostly harmless, but annoying nonetheless.

Even if everyone and their droid knew you were dating, Cassian still tried to keep the PDA to a minimum. There was no point in putting yourselves out there anymore than you already were, so you didn’t get much more than a wink or two from across the room during the day. Sometimes, if he was feeling particularly affectionate, he would sneak kisses from you in secluded hallways, or hold your hand under tables.

When you were alone, on the other hand, he didn’t try to hide it in the slightest. What he was lacking during the day he would seek out at night, whether that was a deep conversation, a heated make-out session, or something in between. You spent every single night together, seeing as though it was the only real time you had to be alone with each other. It became a habit to stay up far too late, which is exactly what you’d done the night before, and you regretted it every morning without fail.

“As much as I’d love to stay,” Cassian said after he’d finished pressing butterfly kisses to your neck, “I have a lot to do today.”

“Does any of it involve getting your girlfriend out of work?”

“Only if she wants to disassemble blasters and put them back together all day.”

“I’ll stick to IV training then.”

Cassian rolled out of bed and began putting on his boots as he spoke. “They’ve already got you doing IV’s?“

“Blood work, too,” you sighed, rolling over to face him. “I don’t like it. I stabbed someone four times the other day because I couldn’t find their stupid vein.”

“I’ll remember not to go in on your shift the next time I need blood taken, then.”

“Way to be supportive, jerk.”

“I do it out of love,” Cassian grinned. He stood from the bed and turned to press a kiss to the top of your head. “You’ll do fine. I’ll see you later tonight?”

“As always,” you said, smiling up at him. He left your room, pulling on his jacket as the door closed behind him. You rolled over and decided you deserved at least five more minutes of sleep before getting up for the day.

As per the usual, work was chaotic. You’d come to expect it at this point, if you were being honest. Not a day went by where you weren’t challenged physically and emotionally, and it was beginning to take a toll on you. Every time someone mentioned the words “IV” or “Syringe” you had a mini heart attack, and it was getting old quick. You wondered if you’d ever get used to it.

As if Cassian had predicted it, a blood drive was held that day, much to your dismay. Lucky for Cassian, he was too busy to donate blood. At least that prediction hadn’t come true. You’d just finished up with the last donor and you were still washing your hands when K-2SO came into the infirmary.

“Y/N,” he said as he approached you.

“Hey, what’s going on?” you asked, shooting the droid a smile and drying off your hands.

“Cassian is looking for you,” he replied, “I’m here to take you to him.”

“Oh,” you said, “Um, alright, lead the way.”

You followed the towering droid, feeling exceptionally small as you walked beside him. He took much larger strides than you did, so you had to power walk just to keep up.

“Did he say why he was looking for me?” you asked, beginning to lose your breath.

“No. He doesn’t tell me much these days,” he said in a sarcastic tone.

“Is that... my fault?” you questioned.

“If you want my opinion, yes,” he said simply, “But he likes you, so I am trying to as well.”

“You don’t have to pretend to like me if you don’t, K.”

“Cassian cares for you. If he does, then so do I.”

“Thanks, I think.”

K-2SO, having abandoned your little chat, led you outside to Cassian’s U-Wing where he was waiting. He was leaning against the side of the ship, his arms folded across his chest and his jacket thrown over his shoulder. A gentle breeze blew his hair about his face and the sunlight brought out his highlights, making him look much more handsome than usual, as if that were even possible.

“You’re sure you don’t want me to come with?” K asked as you approached.

“We’ll be fine,” Cassian answered, climbing into his ship and offering you his hand to pull you up.

”Y/N,” you heard K2 say, locking eyes with you. “Be careful.”

You nodded, his statement making your stomach turn over. “Always am.”

After helping you into the ship, Cassian shot his friend a warning glance, knowing exactly what he was talking about.

He hadn’t been very convinced that Cassian was actually with you. K-2SO gave him all sorts of hell for leading you on, even though he wasn’t. Cassian was reminded every day of his guilt, and K wasn’t exactly helpful of that. It ate him up inside, knowing that he was prepared to use you to his advantage. He knew it was wrong to keep it from you, and he probably should have told you when you began seeing each other officially. The problem was, he just didn’t have the heart to tell you. It would crush you, and he knew that, so a secret it remained.

K-2SO watched as the door closed behind the two of you before mumbling, “Irresponsible,” and wandering away.

“Is he okay?” you asked once the doors shut.

“He’ll be fine,” Cassian said, “He just gets jealous sometimes. I wouldn’t worry about it too much.”

“Jealous of..?” you trailed off.

He smiled and kissed your cheek. “You.”

“I think K should have come with us,” you said nervously from the other pilot’s seat, “He’s way more qualified for this than I am.”

“I told you, all you have to do is flip that switch when I tell you to and I’ll take care of everything else,” Cassian said.

“Where are we even going?” you asked.

“You’ll see when we get there. You’ll love it, I promise. Flip the switch.”

“That’s pretty vague, even for you, Cass.”

“The switch, Y/N.”

“Right, sorry.”

It had been nearly half an hour since you’d first left and you were growing impatient. You silently wondered what the deal was with Cassian and secret surprises. First it was the clearing, and now this. It made you curious about what else he had up his sleeve.

The ship came to a stop and idled. Beside you Cassian unhooked his safety restraints and stepped down from the cockpit, so you did the same, with his help, of course. He knew you didn’t need it, but that wasn’t about to stop him. It helped eased his conscience to do little things like that, even if it was annoying from time to time. You’d told him a million times that you didn’t need him to open every single door for you, or that you could put on a jacket without his help, but he never listened. It was sweet, in its own way.

“So, where are we?” you asked, taking his hand and stepping down from the platform.

“Nowhere in particular,” he said, offering you a grin. “Close your eyes.”

You cocked an eyebrow at him but complied, then followed as he carefully led you into the back of the ship. He sat you down in one of the seats and sat on your right side, still grinning like an idiot.

“Okay, open your eyes.”

When you did, you weren’t completely sure what you were looking at. A large, sparkling cloud of purple and sapphire dust stretched in front of the window, seemingly far away, but close enough to touch at the same time. What looked like red veins framed the nebula, adding a whole new dimension to the scene. The cloud cast a faint, violet glow on the inside of the ship, making everything inside look far more beautiful than it actually was.

”I don’t see these very often,” Cassian said, “But I passed this one the last time I was out here and had to show you.”

“So this wasn’t just your way of getting me alone?” you joked, nudging him with your shoulder playfully.

“Well, there’s that too,” he chuckled, nudging you back.

That same comfortable silence settled in as you gazed out the window together, taking in the beauty of the galaxy. Minutes passed and you watched in amazement as the cloud shifted and changed shades. You whispered a hushed “wow” and Cassian smirked, having just thought the same thing.

He wasn’t focused on the nebula, though. He’d started watching you instead, finding himself much more bewitched by your expression than the mist outside the window. Your comment from earlier flashed in his mind and he was reminded that you were completely alone together, with no distractions and no interruptions. There was no threat of anyone walking in on you, none whatsoever. The thought made him shiver.

He placed his left hand just above your knee and let his thumb stroke the area lazily. No going back now.

You tore your gaze from the scenery to look down at his hand, your eyebrows drawn together. When you turned to ask him what he was doing, your expression softened and realization hit you. You knew exactly what he was doing, just based on the wanton look in his eye.

Any open space between you became nonexistent as Cassian pressed his lips against yours. He wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you onto his lap without breaking the kiss, both of your legs on either side of his body. One of his hands slid up the back of your shirt gradually, the feeling of his fingers against your warm skin sending a tremor through your veins. Your shirt was removed and tossed to the side, leaving you bare in front of him.

His eyes- as well as his hands- trailed over your exposed torso, making a mental map of every scar, birth mark, and freckle. Naturally, you felt the urge to cover yourself again, your skin flushing pink from your cheeks to your nose and stopping at your ears. Sensing your discomfort, Cassian took your chin between his thumb and forefinger and locked his eyes with yours.

“You don’t need to be nervous,” he said softly, “I want you as you are.”

With your confidence restored, you reattached your lips to his and draped your arms over his shoulders, your fingers becoming lost in his hair. You felt him smile into the kiss as he stood with you in his arms, laying you down on the floor and his hips colliding with yours. He abandoned your lips to pressed open-mouthed kisses from your ear to your collarbone, the act making your head spin. He undid the button on your jeans with the zipper following soon after and continued to mark your neck with his lips, something you’d have to scold him for later.

As he slid his hand into your trousers, his middle finger brushed that especially sensitive bundle of nerves in just the right way. You whined and squirmed against his touch, your hips lifting off the ground involuntarily. Cassian caught on and caressed the spot once more, a little more forcefully this time.

“Tell me if you want me to stop,” he murmured into your ear. His hot breath against your neck paired with the wonders he was doing to your clit was making it incredibly difficult to focus on anything but finding release, but you managed to form words anyway.

“Do not stop,” you said, your throat having gone dry. Cassian chuckled darkly, the sound sending a spark straight down your spine.

“I won’t.”

His finger picked up the pace by a fraction and he leaned in to kiss your lips, swallowing the moans you began emitting as he brought you closer and closer to the edge. His movements were slow but firm, like he was trying to draw out your pleasure as long as he possibly could. It was driving you crazy, to say the least.

He abandoned your clit to explore your entrance, coating his fingers in your fluids before slipping one inside of you carefully. You gripped his bicep as he did this, waiting for your body to adjust to the feeling before relaxing and releasing a sigh.

“Is this alright?” he asked, looking into your eyes.

You nodded in response, unable to find your voice. He began moving the digit in and out of you slowly while he reattached his lips to your neck, the tip of his tongue hitting your skin every so often and making you shudder in delight. The pressure in your abdomen began steadily building again as he worked you, your hips grinding down against his hand in an attempt to create more friction. His thumb applied pressure to your clit once again, making you gasp and constrict around his fingers more tightly.

“Try not to break my fingers, please,” he said jokingly against your neck.

“Seriously?” you quipped, “Of all things to say, Cassian.”

“I’m sorry,” he laughed, “Let me make it up to you.”

His fingers thrust deeper inside you and his thumb began rubbing harsh circles, all gentleness abandoned. You swore loudly, the sudden change in pace catching you off guard. Soon he had you reduced to a moaning puddle beneath him, your body reacting to his movements instinctively and your mouth hanging open to release sounds of approval, be them whimpers, gasps, or curses. Every reaction you gave incited him to bring you closer to the brink, but he underestimated just how close you really were. By a lot.

The first one hit you strongly and unexpectedly. You tried to warn Cassian, but it was so suddenly upon you that you didn’t have time to. You cried out and threw your head backwards, the abrupt, intense pleasure taking you by surprise. He coaxed your orgasm out of you, maintaining the same speed and rhythm he’d built up. Once your moans turned into labored breathing and your body went slack, he removed his fingers as gently as he could.

“You’re louder than I thought you would be,” Cassian said, smiling at you playfully. “We would have been caught if we tried to do this back home.”

“Did you want me to be quieter?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Thought so.”

The remainders of your clothing were stripped away between sweet, brief kisses and gentle laughter. Once fully exposed to one another, Cassian hovered above you, a smile on his lips and a hunger in his eyes.

“I love you more than anything,” he whispered as he toyed with a strand of your hair.

Though your heart was already beating faster than it ever had before, it somehow managed to beat even faster as his words hung in the air. Neither of you had said it yet, so the gravity of the statement was pretty heavy. Nevertheless, you figured it was as good a time as any to drop the L bomb.

“I love you, too,” you replied, your voice soft but full of meaning.

“You’re positive that this is what you want?” he asked, suddenly serious.

“One hundred percent,” you answered with a nod.

Cassian smiled and captured your lips in a single kiss before positioning himself. He slid into you easily, your core still slick from your earlier orgasm. Even so, he took his time, letting you adjust to his length and watching your expression for any signs of discomfort. It was taking everything in his power to not thrust into you in one fluid motion, but the last thing he wanted to do was hurt you. Luckily, you were just as aroused as he was, so there was little to no pain as he slipped past your entrance.

Once he was fully situated inside of you, you both released the air you’d been holding in your lungs. You were still sensitive, but not enough for it to hurt when his thumb found your clit for the third time. If he’d learned anything, it was that the clitoris is a powerful part of female anatomy that was a force to be reckoned with, so he used that newfound knowledge to his advantage.

Cassian began rolling his hips against yours, gliding in and out of you with ease. You were getting drunk on the low growls that he made with every calculated thrust, each one making your head swim. His thumb gave attention to your clit while he kept the pace building. His movements were slow at first, but soon you were both too hellbent on release to bother keeping a steady rhythm. At this rate, neither of you were going to last very long.

That same pressure from before had returned and every thrust drove you closer to the breaking point. Every muscle in your body was on fire in the best possible way. The faster he moved his thumb and his hips, the faster your body reacted. No matter how hard you tried to hold out, you couldn’t seem to keep the waves at bay and they just kept crashing over you.

Not before long, your body and mind both became overwhelmed and you couldn’t hold on anymore. “Cassian-”

“I know,” he said, his voice just as breathless. “It’s alright, go on.”

You came undone for the second time, the intensity of your orgasm making your ears ring. Wave after wave of pleasure pulsed through your body like currents of static electricity. Your head fell backwards as strangled moans and obscenities left your lips, all of which were music to Cassian’s ears. He groaned when he felt your nails dig into the flesh of his shoulders, leaving harsh, red crescents in their wake.

Cassian soon came tumbling after like clockwork, joining you in the throes of bliss. The sounds that came out of his mouth were purely sinful. His body trembled as he unraveled alongside you, his head falling forward and his eyes squeezing shut as he rode out his high.

Once you both came back to reality, neither of you wanted to move, your breath mingling and your bodies covered in a thin layer of sweat. You cracked a breathless smile and let your eyes flutter closed as he pressed his forehead against yours. The air around you was hot and thick and definitely didn’t help the whole dripping-in-sweat thing, but you were past the point of caring. All you cared about was regaining your composure after that brush with ecstasy.

“We should probably get back,” Cassian mumbled.

“Or we could just stay here forever,” you said jokingly.

He chuckled and kissed the tip of your nose. “If only.”

When you returned to Yavin, the sun had already set and had been replaced with a light rainstorm. The clouds made it difficult for Cassian to find his way back to the temple, but he managed, with minimal cursing, of course. If you had crashed, at least it wouldn’t have been your fault. All you had to do was flip one switch.

Cassian helped you down from the ship, his arm lingering around your waist after your feet hit the ground. He removed his jacket and placed it over your shoulders, so you slipped your arms inside the sleeves and thanked him with a kiss to his cheek. The doors closed behind you with a hiss and you began walking back together, the earth squishing beneath your boots and splashing cold water onto your jeans with every step you took. You didn’t get very far before you were approached by one of the medical staff who had a very concerned look on her face.

“Y/N, I know you’re off the clock but we really need your help,” she said, sounding exasperated.

“What happened?” you asked, pulling away from Cassian.

“I’ll explain on the way, come on.”

“I’ll see you later,” you called over your shoulder as you were dragged away, to which Cassian responded with a small wave.

He stood there for a while, his hands shoved in his pockets as he watched you wander away. A chill shook his body as the cold rain hit his skin, reminding him that you still had his jacket. At that, he began his own trek back to the temple, during which K-2SO joined him.

“I assume it went well?” he asked, walking alongside Cassian.

“It went very well,” he said, eyes trained forward and a permanent smile on his face.

“Cassian,” K said, stopping in his tracks. “I care very deeply for you and do not want this to go on any longer. You’re going to get yourself hurt.”

“How many times do we have to discuss this?” Cassian said impatiently, “I’m not faking it.”

“No, maybe not,” he replied, “But you still have yet to disclose your previous intentions. When she finds out, she’ll never forgive you, and you’ll never forgive yourself.”

“She won’t find out,” Cassian sighed, turning and walking away.

“If you don’t tell her,” K-2SO called after him, “I will.”

[kaceyrps]

Under the cut are some plots I would love to do. If there’s a couple you like, I am more than open to doing more than one rp with the same person, or even making a mumu out of it. If you like anything on the list just send an im, or like this and I’ll message you.

Muse A is the typical nerdy, smart girl who gets straight A’s and spends the majority of her time either studying or reading. Muse B is her tutor student, not the most popular guy, but he is in the right crowd. People know his name, he is on the basketball team, and he gets invited to all the parties. To say the two are on opposite ends of the social spectrum would be an understatement.  Where Muse A only sees him in an academic sense and more of dumb jock then anything, Muse B wants to see if he can break her out of her shell or prove that she is just as much as a teacher’s pet as people say. After endless sessions of pestering and calling her stuck up, Muse A agrees to let Muse B take her to some sort of party. One weekend Muse B takes Muse A to a party, seeing if she’ll let loose, which she finally does. After that night, Muse A and Muse B see each other in a different sort of way. Their friendship develops and Muse A begins to show her true colours, while Muse B does the same, proving them to be more alike then they thought.

pleeeaaaase give me a plot where muse a is a popular cheerleader, and a total bitch. muse b is a little nerd guy who can be a little feisty at times, but generally sticks to himself. not very many people know that he’s got an attitude, so muse a is dared to court and date him so she can go to prom with him and dump him in front of everyone in the student body. mean, right? well, muse b is probably one of the only guys not lusting after the head cheerleader — at least, that’s what he wants to think. we start off this plot from the beginning, and obviously sees what happens but muse a is totally going to start falling for muse b whilst she is making him fall for her. cliche, right? idc i need this so badly

broadway au: two girls that are the leads of the rival shows (sort of like smash tbh???) they are the complete opposite of each other, one is super fucking into musicals and like it’s their passion and it’s all they have ever wanted and the other is like naturally talented and loves it but like wasn’t introduced to it until like late into high school and they butt heads but always end up seeing each other at different events

I really want a 1x1 in which a girl finds out she’s pregnant with her ex’s baby, but since he’s the one who broke up with her, she feels like if she tells him, he’ll think that she’s trying to manipulate him into getting back with her. But at the same time, she wants to keep the baby, so she has to basically hide it all. Which technically shouldn’t be that hard, since the two of them are now done with university, and have stable jobs. But of course, things can’t be that easy, and she ends up stumbling upon him when she’s on vacation of all places. After seeing her way too pregnant for it to be a new thing, he doesn’t take long to put two and two together, and let’s just say that he’s not too happy about the whole thing. So while he tries to hide her and what happened from his inquisitive family (whom he’s on vacation with), he also tries to get answers out of her. Like, why did she think it was okay not to tell him anything, and why did she decide to keep the baby even though she was on her own, etc. So yeah, it could be angsty as fuck, and like eorgjeroigjeroigje someone please do this with me.

I want a plot where muse A and muse B got together when they were young, and married each other shortly after they turned eighteen. However, due to not really being ready for marriage muse a cheated on muse b. When muse B found out they were angry and demanded a divorce, something muse A didn’t try to fight against. Although it took them some time, muse A and muse B became friends again and they became each others confidant – something that seemed to get in the way of their new relationships. Whenever muse A or muse B began to date someone else, they would say that there was no romantic feelings left for the other, but their new partners always felt as if they were second best which lead to neither of them having long lasting relationships. Over the years, they occasionally found themselves sneaking in a kiss or ending up in bed after one too many glasses of wine – but they always promised themselves it was just a mistake. Now in the latter stages of their twenties, muse A and muse B find themselves both single with their feelings for the other muse beginning to grow again – but neither of them know how to bring up the topic in case they lost the friendship they built up.

I really want to do a 1x1 where Muse A and Muse B, met at a bar one night and ended up having a deep conversation that culminated in a make-out session. Muse A promised to call Muse B, but never did and Muse B didn’t have Muse A’s phone number. A couple of months passed with Muse B thinking about their night with Muse A - not being able to find that connection with someone else. Then Muse B finally meets Muse A again, only to find Muse A is dating their best friend. Despite both parties trying to push aside their feelings after meeting again, things get complicated. (They could either decide to keep things friendly or it would lead to a relationship, depending on how the rp goes).

your friend paid me to go on a date with you but i actually kind of like you but whoops you find out about the bribe au

we hate each other but had to do this dumb project together au

soulmate au where they hate each other and when they find out they’re soulmates they’re like “where’s the fuckin’ gift receipt because I want to return this defective piece of trash”

ok but what about a m/f plot where he is the innocent and kind one who volunteers at the hospital and walks old ladies across the street, while she is the stereotypical delinquent who drinks and fights and goes through hearts faster than cigarettes. and everyone disapproves of them because he is a distraction and she is a terrible idea, but it’s all irrelevant in the end because she shows him the world, and he shows her the goodness within it.

pls can someone give me a really domestic f/f plot kind of based on the fosters where they have a bunch of kids and they all just love each so much and one wants to have more kids but the other is kind of hesitant because they already have four kids and like there’s planning kids’ birthday parties and family outings and then anniversary dates that are interrupted and adopting pets from the shelter AND FUCK I NEED THIS.

you’re my best friend / wingman and this horrible, obnoxious human being has been hitting on me for an hour and wont take the hint so you come up and make out with me and wow i wan’t expecting to see stars au

i proposed to you as a joke but my mom (who’s been wanting me to settle down) thought it was serious and we’re kind of going along with it until we can break it to her gently

you need a plus-one for your brother’s wedding so i’m going as a favor but there’s been a misunderstanding and now your whole family thinks we’re engaged

13 going on 30 plot where they were really close when they were younger, and then they both went there separate ways. and then they meet up later on, and they just start spending a lot of time together and start becoming best friends and then they slowly start to fall in love with each other (✿◠‿◠) liKE PLEASE I NEED THIS!!

I wanna do that thing where we pick FCs and names but put them in different aus. We can have tons of threads going on for different plots. Saw a new plot today? We could make a new verse for our characters. Every plot we ever wanted to do could be incorporated. Not feeling a thread or plot anymore? We could drop it and start a new one. It’s kind of like a 1x1 indie account. Imagine all the places we could take our characters. Someone do this with me.

famous au where we played child best friends in a tv show when we were really young now its been like fifteen years and now we play love interests in this new teen hit tv show plot tho

i’d give anything for a mumu based on the secret circle (book series/short lived tv show). six young adults involved in a coven. most of them grew up together in a small, new england fishing town where everyone knows everyone. one day, they learn that they’re witches and warlocks, powers that were hidden from them because of their parents not wanting to get them involved in dark things. they’re supposed to use their powers to battle the forces of evil, to be good. what do they do instead? one makes it storm when her mother won’t buy her a new car. another changes their hair color every two weeks because they’re bored.  one of them makes it so music randomly plays whenever they walk into a room to get attention. there’s another that’s on the volleyball team at their college and they use magic to help them win. instead of using their powers for some epic battle of good and evil, they use them like any other millenial would – to get free breakfast, a few extra minutes of sleep, a nice apartment to live in, etc. we could each play three characters or maybe we have more than one mun involved but pleASE!!! someone give this to me!! i want a group of six young witches & warlocks being reckless as hell and loving life!! plus, imagine a giant brotp or poly ship?? like, PLEASE

Muse A and Muse B hate each other, and they’re not even sure why. They’ve never really spoken, but their personalities clash in almost every way possible. When they get paired together for the baby project in health class, neither of them are pleased about it. Especially since no matter how much they beg, the teacher refuses to let them switch partners, so they’re forced to try and find a way to at least work together or risk failing the class.

Muse A was dating muse B’s sister, but broke it off when he found out his girlfriend had cheated on him. Muse A and muse B had always been friends, and while muse B understood why muse A broke up with their sister, they had to take their sister’s side – which meant letting go of their friendship. Until muse A and muse B where picked to be the leading roles in the school – made complicated by the fact the lines between a staged and real romance begin to blur.

Muse A just had their heart broken and decided to shy away from relationships, so their friends dragged them out for a night to get them out of the house. Enter muse B. Someone who spends the night flirting with muse A, but gets nowhere. Muse B gives muse A their number, saying if they change their mind to call. Muse A, after some prompting from friends, calls muse B and they go out on a date – one they both enjoy. But just as muse A comes around to the idea of a new relationship, muse B finds out that muse A’s ex, is muse B’s sibling.

Muse A and muse B had the perfect marriage. They were happy, just bought their first house and had a baby. Until muse B tragically died – or at least that’s what muse A thought. Muse B had witnessed a crime, and had to be put in witness protection. Not wanting to risk the life of muse A and their child, muse B let them believe that they were dead. When the trial is finally over with, and the threat is locked away, muse B is left to go back to their old life but has no idea how to tell muse A about what happened.

Muse A and muse B attend the same boarding school, but have never gotten along. Muse B is friends with muse A’s former best friend, and has only heard bad things about muse A. Muse A thinks muse B isn’t as smart as he seems to think he is. The only problem is that their names are right next to each other on the register, so they keep getting paired together. As time goes on, the more they seem to hate each other and they just refuse to work together. Until one of their teachers finally has enough, and tells them if they don’t work together they’ll fail the course. Being forced to work together, they actually get to know each other – and while they still might not get along too well, they are learning they don’t hate each other quite as much as they thought they did.