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“Uhhhhh…”

“Good morning sunshine!” he roared in her ear.

I’m gonna KILL this fucking reaper, Death!!!

Her ears were ringing from Byron’s crowing shout. This was the worst hangover she’d ever endured, EVER.

And she’d had some doozies. Even her demigoddess system couldn’t purge it fully. Nїx pinched her eyes closed, moaning agony.

“What in the fucking hells!?” She rubbed her fingers over her forehead. “Please, no. All the hells, ever! Please, Mom, just let me diiie...”

“Ah, no, for your Mom’s sake, I can’t allow that now, demigoddess,” the reaper was keeping his voice quiet now. Byron was rubbing her neck tenderly.

Her stomach lurched. “Gonna throw up…”

“Nah, you’re a tough girl,” he caressed a little harder. “You can handle this one. Few minutes, hang on.”

She guttered the next inhale. His fingers skillfully worked her shoulders and neck. That soothing touch was all that grounded her. Eventually her immortality and strength caught up and brought her out of the haze. Nїx didn’t even try counting the seconds, minutes or hours.

When it was over, all she knew was she would never stomach reaper’s brew, ever again. Damn it to hells! It had been such an amazing flavor.

“Gods above. Perhaps next time, I need to heed you.”

“Mmm, maybe.”

She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Did I throw up?”

“Once.”

“And still this bad?”

“Yep.”

“I don’t taste vomit… wait.” She slicked her tongue over her teeth and fangs. “Crest?”

“Yep. I brushed your mouth out for you.”

She struggled, rubbing her head. “Ugh. I’m sorry.”

He hummed, “No trouble.”

“Yes I was,” she complained.

“Well, you were out for a long time,” Byron answered. “But my guess is you needed the rest.”

“Wait, huh?” She’d been out? Nїx thought back through it. She couldn’t even remember dreaming. “What do you mean? How long was I asleep?”

The reaper was looking at the sky, estimating. Then he made a clucking sound with his lips, “Uh, thirty hours?”

“WHAT?!”

She tried shooting up and then immediately fell back again. That wave hadn’t been pretty. Her stomach wanted to come out of her mouth all over.

“Hey, easy!” Byron growled. “Damn, girl! You’re gonna put yourself over like that.”

The reaper rubbed her neck some more. She let go a heavy moan while he worked out another kink in a tight muscle. He was whispering, “It’s fine. Vacation, remember? Paid vacation? When’s the last time you slept?”

She blinked, squinting a bit through the light shining from a cloud overhead, then shook her head. “Does it matter?”

“Oh, Lord give me patience,” she heard him mutter, then his voice came closer to her ear. “Valkyrie, there is such a thing as taking care of oneself? Anyway, weren’t you always saying to folks that you were taking a vacation?”

Nїx sniffed. “I always say that when I’m off to do something important.”

He gave a heavy huff. “Of course. Never let’em see you sweat, eh? Well, this time, shut up and do it for once. You can’t even remember the last time you slept. For an immortal, that’s a clear sign of overworked and underpaid.”

She peered at him, thinking over what this reaper said of himself earlier. Male pot had a point, but he was calling the female kettle black. “Yeah,” she grumbled. “What’s that say about you?”

“Hey, aren’t you the one saying I’m young?”

Nїx moaned, “Yeah, and you don’t have a clue on how to have fun.”

“Sure, I do!” he coughed a bit. “I got to watch a demigoddess with the body of life crawling in that river. She was giggling like a schoolgirl, cooing, “Here, wittle snake, mommy loves you, c’mere wittle snake-y.”
Her eyelids flew open, and she swiveled up from under the robe he’d covered her with. “You lie!”

He’d backed up just out of swiping range. Byron held up a smartphone with his victory grin, “Really? I got the video right here, Nїxie.”

He tapped the screen. Nїx only had to see thirty seconds of the footage to know she was in Abyss-deep shit. A goddess-to-be wandering around in said river with only her panties and t-shirt on, chasing a tiny green snake. The water was plenty cold, her nipples erect.

Adrenaline coursed through her veins fast enough to make her very sharp and very pissed. Oh, all the hells and shit! Gods above, if the Pravus perverts get that… No!

The reaper traced to a far robe before she took three steps. Her mouth fell in outrage. “Byron, you give that phone over, now!”

“Ohhhh, nooo.” He shuffled the phone into a random pocket of a robe and threw it away to Limina Mortis.

Nїx shrieked. Byron only tilted his head a little with a grin. Oh, this male… this male was going to see wrath like no one…

She made an absolute command. “Byron Dekker, you will summon that robe back to this realm, right – this – instant!”

“Not a chance in any hell.” The male snickered and crossed his arms over his chest. “I got the reaper’s debt over an immortal goddess-to-be with that kinda footage? I’m an idiot, but I’m not completely stupid.”

She’d never met a more flustering but damnably cute and intelligent male in her life! Nїx stomped her foot hard, “Byron I vow-”

His finger was on her lips.

Tracing reaper… I’m standing on his robes, shit… uhh, and he smells so good.

Byron’s face held impending doom, crinkled smile and all. “Vow to any such thing concerning that, Phenїx, that video hits every Lorean Internet, and gets sold on burner DVD to those poor demons that don’t have Internet dial-up or satellite yet. And I don’t vow, I promise.”

AHHHHHHHHH!!!! This was what the witches felt!

She shouted pitifully, “That’s my threat, godsdammit, reapeerrr!”

“See shoe, see other foot.” He winked. “What’s it make you do?”

She looked him over, then gave up a mumbling, “Think twice.”

“Mmm-hmmm!” He wagged his eyebrows. “You’re catching on.”

Nїx crossed her arms. “Isn’t videoing a demigoddess in that state a major form of blasphemy?”

“No,” he wagged a finger in front of her nose, chuckling heavily. “No, no. Don’t pull that one on me, there, queen. I warned you to only take two at most. This shit?” He tinkled the glass, and his eyes turned to glittering fire. “It’ll kick your ass if you even think you’re a heavyweight. And there’s no fancy concierge spas with the IVs out here to rehydrate ya.”

Her heart stuttered. That victorious look on him was just too tantalizing to witness. Gods, those eyes…

He pressed a glass with a dollop of the foul stuff in her hand. “Drink. It’ll settle you.”

She pushed it back. Three grand of experience with this! Hells no, thank you! “No! Didn’t you ever go on a bender? I’ll vomit!”

He nodded to the glass. “Smell it.”

“No!”

“So now you’re a pussy?” he quirked his brow.

Her eyes flamed to life. Ooo, you did not just…

Nїx snarled and lifted the glass almost to her nose. She readied herself. Prepare for a nice vomit show, you arrogant, sexy-ass reaper. And kiss those sweet wingtips goodbye. Wait, Nїxie, aim right, yesss, there! The left foot. And now, finale!

She inhaled slowly. A second passed.
Then another. What the f-?

She sniffed again. Her tongue flicked the air over the glass. Nothing.

Was it the same reaper’s brew? It still smelled delicious, mouthwatering. Her eyes went back to him. “How…?”

Byron’s body was shaking that suppressed chuckle, “Death apparently made this shit himself. The magick in it changes the chemical bonds. Even if you slam yourself on it, you’ll always want another taste.”

Phenїx shook her head in wonder before giving off a hard giggle.

Okay, really hot to think that the god of Death would make such a wicked… mmm, now I know why they like to be called that. Damned wicked good. She frowned. Ooooo, he knew it, too!

Addictive as all the hells and heavens once you got a taste, enough to make you want it, even if you were strung out on it… Nїx nibbled on her lips just a bit. Kind of like this one she had in front of her.

She slipped a little of the liquid between her lips. Slow, diamond taste, closer to a Scotch now, easy, smooth on the way down, and warm in the stomach. Sure enough, her migraine was gone.

O, Death! You’re one hell of a partier when you wanna be…

Nїx giggled and sipped down the rest. “I’m thinking your primordial really knows how to have a party.”

“When he’s off-duty? Hells, yes, I’ll bet on it!”

Byron added another dollop to her glass, which she added to her stomach. Once more she was starting to float a little more in the present.

The reaper took a sip of it himself from the tiny silver flask he kept in another pocket, smacking his lips. “I drink it every once in awhile on patrol. It keeps the limbs loose. And, it helps me stay warmed up whenever I go somewhere cold.”

She looked at him plaintively, “Byron, please? Can’t we talk about the video?”

He leaned closer. That scent of male was lingering heavily over her. Then he chuckled. “Not even a chance, gorgeous demigoddess.”

Nїx looked over that arrogant face, Gods, he really will do it… and I… Her mind lit up. Hmmmm!

She shook her head and leaned in, pressing her breasts up against his chest. “Reaper baby…”

Byron jerked back. A low, grated, “Shit…!” erupted from his throat.

Mmm-hm. Not holy yet, but will be soon, reaper. She followed, sliding her fingers over his bare shoulder, “Come on, there’s gotta be something I can offer.” She looked up and let her tongue flick a fang.

He grunted, backpedaling.

Thank you, Mother, I love my fangs so much sometimes. She leaned in closer, sniffing him. I love the smell of this male and he’s not even my mate… do all reapers smell this amazing?

Nїx purred, “Uh-hmm, Byron, baby, what’s that about those bananas you really enjoyed?”

His whole lean body tensed and coiled, ready to snatch her. Her nipples tightened on the idea. “Not fair, vixen, you’re so…”

“I know… bad girl.” She tilted her head to the side, gauging how high she would need to leap to get herself in his arms.

“Mm, but you remember what you said about the Lore playbook…?”

His eyes closed tight. “Guh. Shit.”

“Shoe, other foot…” She giggled. When his eyes snapped wide she felt a thrill shock her heart. The fire there now burnt heavily. Just there…

-CRACK!- Lightning struck close enough they could taste the ozone. They startled apart, staring where it hit.

“WHAT?!” she shouted. “That wasn’t me!”

Byron looked up. “Uh, wuh oh.”

Swirling clouds were rapidly forming into a stormfront. Rain started coming down in slow, heavy plops. She shook her head. “Wait, it’s not that bad, it’s just rain and a little lightning, we can make a tent with your capes!”

Byron gulped, then tilted his head, shouting over the thunder, “Ever been on a jungle floodplain in a tropical storm, Nїxie?”

Oh. Oh!

“Uh, yeah, not a good idea…” She waved a hand dismissively. “But it’s okay! So we get up in a tree, make a little fort. It’ll be nice and cozy.”

He considered it, nodding. “Sounds-”

Another lightning strike hit. This one blasted a ten-foot-wide mahogany tree apart like it’d been hit by a 2,000-pound bomb. They both stared openmouthed at the devastation. Then the reaper turned back to her.

“That’s a goddess’ wrath lightning, Nїxie.”

Nїx threw her hands up, “Oh, who the hells pissed this one off?!”

Byron snagged her up and traced her to the nearest cloak. “I think there’s a cave network by the big waterfall! Let’s roll!”

By the time they’d gotten their makeshift camp gathered up, the downpour was hard enough it was a deluge. It took them almost fifteen minutes to get over the boulders and rocks of the miniature waterfalls upstream. They scarcely avoided a flood that almost washed them away.

“Reaper, your vacation rating just fell to two stars!”

He didn’t bother arguing with her for a change. Perhaps because he was too busy scanning the cliff face.

Then he had lifted her in his arms and leapt up to a rocky outcropping. Once he’d set her down, he leapt back down and collected a few log pieces that had fallen by the wayside.

Returning, he led her along the outcropping to a ledge that widened into an opening. Once they’d made it out of the downpour, he split several of the logs and set about putting them into a pile. The cavern itself appeared to go deeper into the cliffs.

Having put on the cloak he’d given her, she was relaxing against one wall, allowing the cloak to heat and dry off her body. “Reaper, you’re not going to get a fire started with the wood so drenched. Remember, this is a rain forest?”

Byron gave her a look, then turned back to the logs and set about pouring a sharp-smelling liquid on from a bottle he had in one cloak pocket. Then he struck a match and set the wood alight.

Her eyes widened. “Ooo… that’s cheating.”

She scrunched her nose at him. The small smile he gave her in turn was half a smirk, half confident male.

“Mortals may not have magicks, but we did come up with a few things.”

Within a few minutes the fire was crackling, and in spite of the heavy thunder that resounded outside, much of the interior remained dry.

Byron took the time to summon several more cloaks and form a partition from the outside, and then dug into a pocket, producing a face mirror and a pocket mirror. “Your family and friends called, by the way. They’re wondering how you’re doing.”

She peered at him strangely. Then he tapped the pocket mirror with a finger.

Mariketa’s face appeared there. “Oh for the love of Hekate! How’d he even- Nїx!”

Nїx grasped the pocket mirror. “Mari!”

“Girl, how are- damn, Nїx, lookit your eyes!”

Seeing her favorite Wiccan-type person gape at her like that made Nїx feel twenty times better. Byron had already walked outside the partition he’d made. She looked around. “Byron?”

He stuck his head back between two of the robes and mentioned, “The face mirror can also act as a portal. So feel free to go visit if you like.”

Nїx blinked at him. “What?”

“Just what I said.” He smiled. “But if you can be back in a couple hours, it’d save me a lot of headaches. The blocks I put on Sabine’s mansion only keep the trackers’ noses scattered for a short while. And uh, don’t wander off, please.”
 

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