~*~
A string of expletives escaped Nic as he heard the elevator door slide closed after the old demon. He banged his fist against the solid air that trapped him in the stall.
Trapped. He was trapped. No clean air, no room to run. He might as well be chained. The reminder of chains brought him out of his panic spiral. He wasn’t alone in this prison.
The mare was backed into a corner, her ears flat against her head. She stamped her front hoof against the stone floor of the stable, striking sparks. Her lips were curled back from her teeth—teeth that didn’t look normal. Several of them were pointed.
“Shit,” he muttered, spreading his hands at his side. Trapped in a stall with a man-eating mare. A mare who should be able to shift, but didn’t…or couldn’t. And he had to teach her to shift because he sure as hell wasn’t going to play stud. Not for that freakshow, Fritz.
“Steady, Alcippe. Steady, girl.” He took a few steps to the side, circling until he reached the stone manger to which she was shackled. The chain was sunk deep into the rock. No help there. Alcippe had retreated from him, pulling the tether until her leg stood out, leaving her off balance.
The only way to get the chain off was for her to shift. A slender human foot would slide right through the cuff.
Easy. He snorted.
“All right, girl.” The mare tossed her head.
“Sorry. Alcippe. Not girl.” He put his hands down. “Let’s start over. My name is Nic Hippotakis. I’m like you.”
A faint voice touched his mind. “Not like me. Never like me.”
He smiled. There she was.
“I’m just like you, Alcippe. Do you know what you are?”
“I know what I was. I was not born here. I know that I was free.”
“What happened? Do you remember?”
“Not well. I was only a foal. Wolves. I think there were wolves.”
Nic ground his teeth. The bastard had stolen someone’s baby. And if he’d used dogs or wolves, the dam was probably dead.
“Do you remember when this happened? Do you know how old you are?” From the looks of her, she was in her prime. Age was relative with his breed. They were born as horses and lived their youth running wild. They had to have reached sexual maturity to begin their two-legged lives, and when they shifted for the first time, they emerged as adult humans.
“That man tells me that years have passed. But I can’t trust what he says.” She shoved her head forward, knocking his shoulder back. “I still don’t know if I can trust you.”
Nic sighed and looked around. “I only know one way to prove to you that I’m as you are. Stay back.”
It had been so long since he’d let this side of him rule. Too many obligations in the human world kept him on two legs. He always meant to find time to shift and run free, but time never seemed to find him.
A shock of electricity ran through his body, suspending him as he changed. The buzzing wore away and he shook his head. His forelock fell into his eyes and he shook his head again.
Alcippe stood shivering, but not screaming. Slowly, she reached out her nose, ears pricked forward.
“You…you…”
“I told you. I’m like you.”
She blew through her lips. “No. Not like me. You’re still different.”
“A different breed. I’m Andravida. You look like a Spanish horse. Andalusian, perhaps.”
“What’s Andravida?”
“The mares who were our dams were all different breeds. We looked different, with different characteristics. When we were freed by Hercules, we moved across the world. My dam stayed in Greece and we became a breed known as the Andravida. I’m descended in a direct line from her.”
“I know nothing of descent or of my line.”
“When we escape, it won’t be difficult to find out who you are.”
“And how are we going to escape? I’ve tried everything. This chain keeps me here.”
“The chain can’t hold you if you become human.”
“Human? Like you? Like that man?”
“Fritz is no man. He’s evil. A wizard who works black magic.” Nic snapped his jaws together, finding satisfaction in the one feature that differentiated him from other horses. His teeth. “When we get out, I’m going to tear that man limb from limb.”
“I thought you said we didn’t eat the flesh of men.”
“For him, I’ll make an exception.”
Alcippe whinnied and he joined her.
“First, you need to shift.”
She backed away from him. “I don’t know how. I’m afraid. What do I know about being human?”
“I’ll help you, Alcippe. But I won’t lie. The first time is painful. Even though I was warned, it still took me by surprise. Have you ever been stung by a bee or a wasp?”
“Never. At least not that I remember.”
“You’d remember this. Your first shifting will feel like a hundred bee stings. I wish I could tell you different, but you have to keep moving through the pain.”
She shuffled her legs restlessly, the chain clanking an ominous toll.
“Keep an image of being human in your mind. Two legs, two arms, standing upright. I’m going to change at the same time. Are you ready?”
Alcippe nodded. Nic was sweating. He remembered his first change and he’d have done anything to take the pain for her. But she had to get through it on her own. As a horse, she lived only half her life. The rite of passage would make her wholly Diomedan, the best of both species.
And so it began. He waited for the waves of power to recede, then changed. When he opened his eyes again, they were both human. And both nude.
Alcippe the woman was stunning. It didn’t surprise Nic because every woman in his family was stunning. They weren’t always gorgeous, but every one of them was eye catching.
But this woman had it all. Long, lean legs, slender hips, trim waist. Her breasts were high and firm. Not large, but definitely there. Her entire body was that of an athlete. Well-defined with muscle, and just enough body fat to make her feminine. Atalanta reborn.
Her face reflected the delicacy found in the beautiful Andalusian mare she’d been. Carved out cheeks and a straight nose complemented her almond shaped eyes. Waves of golden hair cushioned her shoulders. Her full lips were slightly parted and he gathered her close.
“Alcippe, wake up.”
She opened her eyes. She smiled. And Nic’s heart flipped over in his chest.
Alcippe moved her legs and the rattle of the chain broke the spell. She propped herself up on her elbows and Nic moved to kneel at her feet. The manacle slipped right off.
“We’re out of here,” he said, offering her a hand. Wobbly as a newborn foal, Alcippe leaned on his shoulder, learning how to operate her new legs as they made their way to the elevator.
The doors dinged just before they parted and Nic pushed her back into the shadows.
Fritz stepped out, bringing the scent of evil back to the stables.
“Stay back,” Nic whispered. He had to keep her away from Fritz at all costs. She deserved the freedom that had been taken from her and he meant to see her run with the wind in her mane. If the gods were kind, he meant to run beside her.
Fritz muttered to himself as he charged past the niche where the two hid. Something about his ungrateful daughter. Nic’s lip curled. He had a daughter? Hera help him if she was the vicious counterpart to her father. But one problem at a time.
The wizard pulled up short outside the now-empty stall, his shoulder rising in tension, though his voice was smooth.
“Well, well, Mr. Hippotakis. I see you managed to teach Alcippe to speak. Where is she? I’d like to see her…in the flesh, as it were.” Fritz eyed Nic up and down. “Didn’t you have clothes on the last time I saw you?”
Nic grinned, unashamed of his nudity.
“Hey, we’re all naked under our clothes, Fritz. But I think the lady and I would rather leave now.”
He stepped forward an
d the wizard moved back, his eyes shifting uneasily to the black space beyond Nic.
“I’m afraid that’s out of the question. This day hasn’t gone quite as I’d hoped and I simply can’t let my favorite breeding program slip away without a fight.”
Nic knew that if it came down to a fight, he’d lose. In this human body, he had no real power against a wizard. But he could at least keep Fritz occupied while Alcippe made a run for the elevator.
Fritz was reaching for something in his jacket pocket when Nic felt the air crackle with familiar electricity. From out of the night, a golden equine bolt of light shot forward, knocking the wizard off his feet. Alcippe pawed the air in righteous fury.
“You wanted to hear me speak, old man, so listen closely. I am Alcippe. Descended from the wild mares of Diomedes. My fore-dams ate the flesh and drank the blood of the man who enslaved them. What makes you think you’ll escape his fate?”
The midnight chill of her voice reached into Nic’s heart and drew out the hot thrill of victory. She was a goddess in her own right. The dank closeness of the stables fell away and Nic smelled only her heat. And the wizard’s blood.
Her teeth flashed in the darkness and Fritz screamed, his fear adding to the delicious scent of prey. Nicolas Hippotakis was as the gods had made him. He and his mate. Together, they visited the doom of Diomedes on the man who had tried to bend them to his puny will.
Nic trumpeted his victory to the world as Alcippe screamed her own cry in the night. They were covered in blood and Fritz was no more. As the wizard’s life drained away, the stones themselves heaved under their hooves, giving up the ghosts of those who had been imprisoned here before.
The sound of the elevator door brought them back to themselves and Nic watched with pride as Alcippe effortlessly reclaimed her human form.
A voice reached into the darkness.
“Mr. Hippotakis?” Amanda Bast’s pupils were widened to make use of all the light available. Alcippe retreated behind Nic and the feel of her breasts pressing into his shoulder blades caused an involuntary reaction below his waist.
“Right here, Amanda.”
She looked around. “Mr. Fritz?”
“No more Mr. Fritz,” he answered.
“No big loss. Business will be better without him.” She shrugged, a lithe movement, as insouciant as her namesake goddess.
“Amanda, you’re the best casino hostess I’ve ever known. But you need to work on your timing.”
“Seems to me I got here at exactly the right moment. The words ‘hung like a horse’ seem appropriate. I think the Deathly Buzzings Marital Aid company might like to talk to you about modeling for one of their products. I think it would be a best-seller.”
Nic flushed. There had been a time in his life when he’d have taken her up on the invitation in her eyes, but Alcippe pressed her teeth into the top of his shoulder. He grinned.
“I don’t think so, Amanda. We’d like to get out of here, though.” He covered Alcippe firm flanks with his hands as the elevator rose to the Lobby level. “How’d that ParaPleasures Expo go for you guys?”
“Huge hit. I think we’ll definitely be doing it again next year. After all, even the Dunvegas crowd can use some shaking up every now and again.”
“Forgive us if we don’t show up for it. I think we’ve shaken up Las Vegas enough for one year. Anyway,” he said, turning to give Alcippe a hug, “I feel the need to get out in the fresh air.”
The doors opened and Nic let the rush of magic overtake him. Beside him, Alcippe tossed her mane and trotted out through the crowd of humans and not-quite-humans alike.
The desert called as he and his mate turned east toward Colorado. Time to let his NightMare live out her dreams.
(Return to Table of Contents)
Vegas Magic
By Ember Case
Rain was pouring from clouds every bit as dark as her mood when Mia Tarone dashed through the heavy doors into Dunvegas. Bright flashes of lightning were answered with snarls of thunder. The storm had sprung to life in an otherwise clear Vegas night sky when she was only feet from the entrance, triggered by any one of the many paranormal battles being waged for fun and sport inside the resort.
With demons and druids, witches and warlocks, shifters and succubi all sharing the convention grounds, there was no way for her young mage senses to tell what forces from this world or any other had triggered the meteorological outburst. She would have to take down her meta shields to tell, an act akin to bathing in blood before dining with a vampire. Going unshielded into the ParaPleasures Expo would be literal suicide for her.
Mia was many things—desperate, unschooled, furious, and at times over the past year she’d flirted closely with the idea she might not be totally sane. Suicidal had not yet appeared on her radar.
Shaking the water from long, black hair dampened by the downpour, Mia paused by the matched pair of shockingly green hell hounds frozen statue-like by spell lock at the front door. They looked pissed, a natural state for a hell hound even if he weren’t currently decorating a lobby. Their irate expressions were probably due to the unsophisticated attempt at Emerald City humor someone had forced upon them.
She bit back a grimace and murmured a phrase in the ancient tongue. Letta heluta.
The hounds’ skin shimmered faintly, and the green color bled to deepest black. Mia saw a glow of what she hoped was gratitude in their crimson eyes. Briefly she considered freeing them from their stone-like prisons.
“You were always a soft touch. Kept you from being the top baccarat dealer that your hands could have made you.” There was both affection and scorn in Amanda Bast’s voice. The curvy blonde had snuck behind her on quiet cat feet.
“I was the top dealer on the Dunvegas staff for two years. I’d still be here if—”
“Still thinking in if’s and could-have-been’s? I thought you’d had that scared out of you months ago. I never would have called you to let you know Xin Li had checked in if you hadn’t convinced me you were past that kind of thinking, Mia.”
“No worries, Amanda. Momentary lapse.” Mia forced herself to hold the unblinking gaze of the suddenly doubtful hostess, hoping that she was managing to look more sincere than pissed. And that the smell of her lie wasn’t even now being picked up by Amanda’s sensitive shifter senses.
An uncomfortably long moment later, Amanda nodded. “All right, then. But don’t let your anger rule your actions, little one. Mr. Li was not in a peaceful mood when he checked in this evening. He’s not a man I’d like to see the bad side of.”
“I’ll be careful. I don’t have nine lives to try to get this right.”
She was rewarded for her attempt at a joke with a sultry chuckle. “You only need one life if you play your cards right. Xin was entranced with you a year ago. I’ve never known him to look twice at a woman when he’s here on a trip, before he laid eyes on you. He’s shut me down more than once.”
Even knowing the hostess could no more help her sensual nature than she could avoid an attraction to catnip, the very thought of the passionate, demanding lover she’d known so briefly passing a night with her very sensual friend brought a snarl to Mia’s lips.
Amanda gave her an unapologetically seductive smile. “I’m just saying. Deal him a straight hand, with no deceptions, and there’s no reason to think he won’t be able to answer your questions, Mia.”
Mia bit back a snort of disgust. If there was anything she had learned in the last year, it was that mages never played anything straight. She was putting an awful lot of trust in what had been a one night stand with the powerful fifth level mage. “I have no doubts about exactly what Xin Li is. What I need to know is what I am, what I’ve become. And I know with complete certainty that I won’t last another year if I don’t get some answers from Xin Li before he disappears again.”
If she didn’t get on the good side of Lady Luck soon, she’d be lucky to last another week.