In the Shadow of the Ocean (CasualVelociraptor x PhoenixRising82)

[CasualVelociraptor]

Alice only snatched back a moment of lucidity when she was placed against the couch by Jareth with strength she didn’t know he had for someone with a cane, and then he walked away. She used it to flip him off for his insufferable joking, but just before John enfolded her she also reflected on what the hell had just happened. What fire had almost sparked into life between her and the titan of industry.

A little lick on her nipple, a caress on her breast, a hand that threatened to claim the source of her pleasure, heck, even just a kiss on the forehead had made her jelly in his hands.

If John hadn’t been there to intervene and stake his claim to her, then Alice was both excited and filled with trepidation about what she might have done tonight. Or rather, what Jareth would have done to her.

She’d felt his cock poke at her pants and demand entry, and that sealed it for Alice.

She had a feeling John wouldn’t want exclusivity. She wasn’t looking for a relationship with him to begin with, and knew she wouldn’t want anything of the kind with Jareth either. But an evil determination filled her drug influenced and horny mind.

One day, she’d fuck every ounce of cum out of Jareth Williams. That, as she liked to say, was a scientific fact. Or at least, it could be soon.

She suspected, however, that it would be the other way around once they did; in other words that he would be the one keen on fucking her until whatever furniture they had broke. But she wasn’t a pillow princess and if Jareth wanted to have her, he would have to (consensually of course, and she knew he was a gentleman) wrestle her down and slam his cock into her until she couldn’t say anything but animal noises.

All this thinking about Jareth clouded Alice’s mind more than the drugs and alcohol, so she knew what she must do. She needed to sate her need for a midnight snack of cock here and now, and John would do just fine.

“Pants. Off. NOW!” Alice ordered, but instead of waiting for him to disrobe she yanked his trousers and underwear down in one stroke and started spitting and licking on the underside of his shaft. Then she rapidly bobbed on the middle of his hard meat with tight suction. And to conclude her opening move, Alice sucked the tip up and down repeatedly, every now and then coming up for air for erotic effect.

 

[PhoenixRising82]

John threw Jareth a glare and the finger as well.

”Least I’m hung like one....”

His come back slurred a bit before he cracked a lopsided grin at his friend as he left the room.

His attention swiveled back toward Alice, his hands reaching up to pull her down from the arm of the couch. Until she wiggled free of his grasp, not that it was entirely hard to do.

”Yes ma’am....”

John giggled in his grass and liquor induced high. His tongue poking jokingly from the corner of his lips as he reached for the waist of his pants.

He grunted when her hands flew in around his, his gaze drawing toward her, barely having time to lift his hips before she was tugging his clothes from his body. He was all too happy to let her too.

”Fuuck.....”

He muttered in a breathy gasp, his eyes pinning hers as she looked up at him. Demanding his attention. He and his cock happily obliging as it twitched against her tongue.

A breath hitched in his chest as the warm wet cavern of her mouth engulfed him repeatedly and a heedy groan echoed through the study as his head dropped back against the couch. Muscle and vein pulsed against her lips. A hand drifted to grab at her hair, rocking his hips in time with her.

It wasn’t long, in his state, before he felt the pressure rising in his groin, his balls tightening almost painfully. He wasn't in complete control of his faculties, the thought that he shouldn’t bust a nut in her mouth never crossed his mind. Just that he needed to and it happened too fast for him to stop it at any rate.

He barely had time to warn her that he was cumming before he did. His free hand gripping his shaft, holding it against her lips as it jerked and squirted against her tongue. A heavy groan escaped him, his grip loosening in her hair. He panted, watching her with heavy eyes. A slow, sleepy, boyish grin tugged at his lips as a chuckle formed in his throat. His head dropped back against the couch again, his hand rubbing over his chest.

”Damn babe....that....whew.....”

The words slurred and murmured from him. Everything hit him hard, all at once. The adrenaline, the booze, the grass, the high from such a quick and intense release and before he could even offer to return the favor, he was out. Sleep grabbed him by the balls and dragged under. A soft snore replacing anything else that he might have had to say.

***************​

Jareth stalked off with a smirk, no reply because he knew who the bigger man was. They’d been through this contest before. And he was far from worried.

Instead, there were a ton of other things on his mind as he slipped into the private pool. So wrapped up in his thoughts, he didn’t notice that the door hadn’t closed all the way and locked behind him.

He went through the same process as before. Sliding his ring onto the tip of the cane to find it easily and sliding his body into the water. He had Amara and her sneaking activity on his mind. He had Alice and everything he wanted to do to her on his mind, a raging hard on because of it too. John’s possessiveness over her lingered there as well. All floating in the cloud of brandy and grass and frustration. With an angry flick of his tail he raced from one end of the pool to the other. Still none the wiser of the door being ajar.

 

[CasualVelociraptor]

It was often said that humans couldn’t wield magic naturally without the assistance of an artifact, which was extremely rare since after the Cataclysm roughly 11,000 years ago the elves destroyed as many of them as they could as their grand civilization crumbled for reasons unknown. But Alice thought she might have magic in her mouth. Perhaps from the sweetgrass or maybe years of practice, but whatever it was she barely had any time to work it before John busted in her mouth, leaving her just as horny as before.

What she didn’t realize was that there was magic in John’s jism too. A minute after swallowing his spunk, Alice began to hop and skip around the mansion, still naked but now moving at the speed of thought. And the poor woman was so tightly wound up from all the teasing tonight that she knew that with John asleep the only one in the house capable of blunting her lust was Jareth.

Now it became increasingly difficult for her to turn back as her body moved of its own accord to his bedroom. Not finding him there, her foggy mind finally remembered he said he was going to go for a swim. Hearing splashing noises as she approached the private pool meant she was close and her pussy ached and throbbed at the thought of what she was preparing for.

“Alright, Jareth, you dog, you win! I’m ready to FUCK!” Alice cried as she originally shoved the door open and then gasped in surprise when she noticed...

That the man who had been annoying her and drawing her in came with a hidden extra feature- a sleek, gray, dolphin like tail. She was rubbing her eyes, she had to be hallucinating (which was rare but possible with certain strains of sweetgrass) since there was no way he could be a merman, could he? Either way, with all the nervous energy running through her, she simultaneously shook from confusion and arousal in the doorway, staring at him dumbfounded.

 

[PhoenixRising82]

He heard her voice, but she moved so quickly he had no time to get himself out of the water and the ring back on his finger.

As the door swung open, she’d see his tail slap, almost angrily against the water before he disappeared beneath the ripples.

”Shit!”

The expletive echoed off the stone within and followed him below the surface. As she stared, he lifted himself from the pool where he popped back up at the edge, showing that the tail went up to to his torso and faded into his skin.

He hurried to slip the ring back on his finger, muttering under his breath, mostly at himself for being so damned careless. If she ran, he’d call for Xen to stop her.

He glanced over his shoulder at her, still standing, gaping softly at him, as he pulled his feet up and stood, his back to her, he threw his towel around his waist before bending to pick up the cane.

”What are you doing in here!”

He hisses softly at her as he stalked toward her. He had one thing on his mind....damage control and he needed to handle it quickly. The closer he got to her though, the smell of her skin, the thud of her heart, the words she’d cried out before what she’d seen fully registered......ok, two things on his mind.

Before she knew what hit her, he pressed his bare, wet chest against her. Gently forcing her back against the doorframe. She’d find his lips crashing against hers as his free hand snaked up behind her neck, fingers curling around her nape demandingly as his tongue sought entrance between her lips.

He wasted little time and with a frustrated grunt as he pulled his lips away, he dropped his arm down to circle around her waist, jerking her off the floor in one fluid motion, holding her against him, he settled his cane between their bodies and drew his other hand down behind her thigh and jerked her leg up to circle around his waist and then the other as he started moving.

Damage control. Fucking the object of not only his general frustration but sexual frustration as well, senseless, make her forget what she’d seen. It was all that went through his brain as his lips peppered her throat until he found her lips again, his teeth scraping against her bottom lip before consuming them hungrily as he kicked his bedroom door open and stormed across the expanse of the room.

With a heated growl he tossed her onto the bed. The cane clacking to the floor at his feet and the towel sliding from his hips. It had been held in place by her body as he’d carried her. He stood staring hungrily down at her, sprawled in the center of his bed before he took a step forward to join her.

 

[CasualVelociraptor]

“Shit!” she heard him scream out, making Alice freeze in confusion. “What are you doing in here!” seemed more like an accusation than a question but before she could answer he was kissing her. And oh, it was more electric than kissing John, certainly, and maybe even more so than kissing Abigail either (since the reunion sex between them had been blunted by Abigail’s admission that she had a girlfriend). Part of it was probably the sudden touching of her soft chest against his hard abs, and another was how he pushed her against the wall.

Plus one thing she liked about guys in general was their obvious need. With women you generally had to touch their pussies to check their arousal. Men might be able to compose their minds, but penises had minds of their own, and his was making its thoughts plain against her crotch through the towel as his hands held her ass.

Once they reached his bedroom, Jareth walking forward was a big mistake, as she pulled on his left shoulder to yank him down and turned around on him to sit on him with him face down and her massaging and biting and clawing and sucking on his back in various places.

Soon enough, they were wrestling, and for her size she was strong enough to take him on. But Jareth eventually wore her down like he and she both wanted and he had her arms pinned while she was on her back, his dick teasing her wet entrance with precum, waiting for her plea to pound what was his. Maybe even while she was face down.

Alice’s senses came flooding back to her, though, and she shoved him off and cried, “N-No! We can’t! I’m your employee and it would be...” She didn’t finish her sentence before running off to her room to plop on the bed and try to wildly masturbate the burning need away.

 

[PhoenixRising82]

He’d waited for that plea. His eyes heavy with desire as they watched her. His chest rising and falling in a heavy cadence as his hips rocked, achingly slow against her slit. His cock twitching softly against her, almost as if begging her to say the word.

”Say it....”

He demanded in a soft pant. His grip on her wrists tightening slightly before loosening as he drew back, grinding a little tighter against her heated mound. He was so focused on having her, that the push threw him off, literally and figuratively.

Falling onto the large mattress with a frustrated groan, he let her go, while he lay still. His cock throbbing madly against his stomach. He smelt her, lingering in the air and the heat from his need teasing his senses with the wetness that lingered along his length.

Finally he growled and rolled himself to the edge of the bed. His feet hitting the floor as a frustrated hand rubbed over his eyes and then back through his hair.

He was her employer, true enough but he’d been Amara’s as well. So clearly that didn’t shake him. He stood, shaking the cane from beneath his towel and started making his way toward her room. Not to mention, he hadn’t paid Alice any physical monetary compensation for her employment yet....so she was full of shit. And he was intent on having her, whether he’d wanted to admit it or not, he’d been intent on doing so since he’d watched her pleasuring herself by the pool.

There was no knock, no preamble as he opened her door. He stood in the doorway, cock aching, heart racing. His rebuttal to her fleeing words falling silent on his lips as he was greeted once again with a much closer view of thighs parted and shaking with the force and speed of her fingers as she pleasured herself, sprawled at the end of her bed.

He stalked with the precision of lion until he stood at the end of the bed, his thigh brushing against her foot where it anchored against the edge of the bed. Her scent drifted to him again, stronger and more heated than before and he reveled in it a moment before he reached forth, letting his fingers trail behind her own, flicking over and around her engorged clit several times before pulling back.

Lifting his fingers to his lips, he licked them clean as he watched her. A primal grumble emanated from him.

”You are delicious....”

Licking her taste from his lips, his gaze turned primal as well. She shook him to his core and brought the animal to surface it seemed in just about every sense.

With a soft growl, he bent forward, grabbing her hips and not giving her much of a chance to stop it, he flipped her onto all fours, planting his knees between her calves, he drew up onto the bed behind her.

Despite his animalistic craving, he wouldn’t take her without her saying she wanted him to, though it took great will not to do so currently. With a barely controlled need, he merely let his cock brush against her wet slit. With a heavy groan he leaned forward, his frame forming heatedly against hers. His arm circled around her hip, fingers teasing not only against her petaled lips but himself as well for a moment before his palm slid over her torso, cupping her left breast in his hand, wet fingers pinched her nipple between them as he leaned in further to whisper in her ear as he teased her.

”Technically, I haven’t paid you yet....so how wrong is it?”

He asked breathily as he continued to tease against her.

 

[CasualVelociraptor]

From the moment Jareth had said, “Say it” in that commanding yet gentle tone Alice’s will to resist him had been taken from her slowly by her own mind and her bald, dripping pussy. And when he’d touched her clit and tasted her arousal, Alice almost begged him to fuck her into oblivion right then and there.

Now the tip of his determined member was pushing on her portcullis, he had a hand around her breast, and he was whispering in her ear, melting her argument against workplace fraternization like so much snow in a blazing inferno. By his logic, for another ten days before he paid her for two weeks of work they could fuck like bunnies with abandon. And oh, how she wished they could.

It would be so easy. All it would take to start off one of the best nights of her young life at the hands of a man ten years her senior would be a word.

“Yes” or...

“Please” or...

“Fuck” or, simply...

“Go.”

An arch of her hips downward to raise her ass and give his thick, turgid penis the best angle to conquer the pussy he’d masturbated to earlier.

A single thrust.

And she would be done for.

Alice knew that once he was settled in, he’d most likely arch her back to lean down and kiss her. And he wouldn’t ever stop kissing her, even while he had her pinned on the bed and his cock slammed deep inside her would keep her face down like his good girl, indeed his cum dumpster rather than John’s as he filled her up with his potent seed, likely too voluminous and effluent to be contained by her dainty vagina as she quivered from multiple orgasms.

Yet giving in and letting him have her was somehow much harder than doing the same thing for John. Was it that he was arrogant and she didn’t want him to have this over her? Perhaps because she was still offended he’d peeped on her? Maybe it was her nagging hypothesis that he was secretly a merman and thus he’d been keeping valuable information for the case from her? It was all these things and none of them at once. Alice hadn’t been this torn since Elizabeth had healed her heartbreak over Abigail after Alice returned from war, only for Alice to find out her true profession.

Her mouth got ahead of her brain and she groaned, “Doooooo...”

But her last shred of integrity intervened and she concluded, “NOT!” while death gripping the sheets.

Then Alice gently pushed him off of her, crawled under the blankets, and started to shudder from her mixed feelings as she told him, “I’m sorry I don’t have an airtight reason, but I...just need you to leave. If you care about me at all, Jareth, you’ll go” and sobbed quietly into her pillow.

 

[PhoenixRising82]

His lips fell open in anticipation as the word began to drag from her lips. He shifted ever so slightly, preparing for the sweet surrender of her agreeance but still holding himself back until she’d asked him to take her, completely.

Her denial shot an ache through his stomach and groin but he was already pulling away even as she gently pushed him away. Resting on his hands and knees a moment, gathering himself as he tried to steady his breathing, to stamp down the animal trying to claw its way to the surface.

His gaze drifted up to find her huddling at the head of the bed, buried beneath the blanket, he could feel the soft shudder against the mattress beneath him. He drew in a calming breath and looked away, back down at his hands before he made his way off of the bed.

Before he took his leave, he leant back over the edge of the bed, fingers brushing lightly through her hair as he pressed his lips tenderly against the side of her head, just above her ear. His nose brushing against her as he whispered.

”I’m sorry.”

There was no arrogance, no snark. Jareth Williams, known for his commanding presence, his demanding demeanor could and did in fact show a measure of sincerity.

She’d hear the soft rap of his cane as he exited, gently closing the door behind him. Making his way back to his room, a shower was in order. If for no other reason to take care of the issue at hand, despite her denying him, he was hard as a rock, still frustrated and admittedly a little angry....with himself. As he stroked away the problem, he forced himself to try to think of anything other than Alice. After seeing her shaking, because of him, it felt wrong.

With a sigh as he finished, he quickly washed up and exited. Without even drying himself off he trapsed to his bed and fell into it, tired.

The mix of everything finally consuming him in blissful slumber, this time in a dreamless sleep......at least, at first.

The seas darkened at the surface, baleful clouds blocking the light that had been shimmering below. He cast his eyes upwards, noting several large bodies drifting above. When he broke the surface, he noted it was not in fact clouds at all but a baleful fleet of airships overhead, as he watched, chaos rained down around him but never so much as touched him.

What he thought at first were the cries of land birds, diving into the seas turned out to be coming from beneath him. Ducking back below the surface, he watched in horror as his home, his people, cried out in pain and anguish as the beautiful city exploded into ruin before his eyes.

He felt the sea shift over him as something dropped into the water behind him. He had no time to register the charge before it exploded just beneath his tail and sent him reeling from the water. Darkness consuming him.

His fathers voice echoed through the black, drawing him awake.

”Enough foolishness, Son. Do you see what will become of everything you love? You’re needed, here. Not there. You must come home or this will be your fate, on land or in sea.”

He felt wet and sand beneath him, his tail flicking unsteadily as water lapped hungrily at him. A wild wave crashed around him, carrying him a little further into land until stopped by a massive obstacle. Opening his eyes to find he’d been tossed about by the angry seas and thrown against the very thing that’s made his empire there on land. Decimated as horridly as his underwater home had been. A large chunk of meat blown out of the side of the whale that had stopped his motion. And scattered around it were humans and merpeople alike. Motionless. Dead and decaying. People he knew and loved on both sides of the sea and people he didn’t know, innocent people.

”Come. Home!”

The voice boomed in his head.

A wail followed him from the nightmare. Echoing against the bedroom walls as he flailed against the blanket. It took him a moment to realize that it was in fact, just his blanket. He was in his bed. And a moment longer for him to realize that the wailing sound echoing back to him was his as he came scrambling up from the nightmarish vision, courtesy of his father once again.

He sat up and in the center of the bed. Panting heavily as he rested his face in his hands.

 

[CasualVelociraptor]

Alice had braced herself for Jareth to be indignant at being rejected, maybe even yell at her or call her names, in an attempt to pressure or intimidate her into taking him back. In this world, saying no to a man was always a risk for women, and so she was tightened up in case he attacked.

Instead, she relaxed as he kissed her face and apologized. Something that she’d been searching for from him surfaced in that single, fleeting, tender moment, and made her turn for a moment to perhaps offer for him to come back after all, only for Alice to observe that Jareth had gone, just as she’d asked.

Alice now cried a little into her pillow from how much she hurt Jareth as she still attempted to relieve herself because of her overwhelming sensitivity. And so she jumped her legs on the sheets and squeezed them over and over again, desperate to cum and be done with this emotionally draining night.

And then she heard the wailing coming from his bedroom next to hers. Without even a single thought paid about herself, and the fact that she was naked still, Alice sprinted across the way and pushed open the door. She knew that pain; that was the sound of all consuming fear, and her heart had made that many times before. Within seconds, she sat by Jareth and touched his shoulder, whispering, “I- Jareth, it’s me. I heard screaming. Are- are you okay?”

 

[PhoenixRising82]

His body tensed slightly as her hand fell against his shoulder. He wasn’t used to anyone being here to really hear when his father decided to play mind games with him, literally. The King was upping his game though and these, the last two, had been particularly brutal. They were meant to truly terrify him.

His hands dragged down his face, his cheeks puffing slightly as he exhaled. His heart thudding wildly in his bare chest. He glanced sideways at Alice. His gaze staying on her face, dancing over her features as she peered at him in concern. He did glance away and down, making sure the blanket was covering him. Fingers rubbing across his eyes briefly before he shot a non-chalant glance back to her.

”Yeah, I’m good.”

A bald faced lie but what could he really say? She’d caught him in the private pool but she hadn’t said a word about it. She hadn’t made a single mention of it and she could have at any time. Maybe she hadn’t seen a thing. Maybe he had been quick enough to his it from her, he could hope. Maybe she’d just been shocked to have caught him nude? Maybe. Until she brought it up, he couldn’t risk telling on himself just yet. He couldn’t very well tell her that his father, King of Olsea, was invading his dreams as he slept in an attempt to get him to come back home before something truly horrific happened.

It was just easier to tell her that he was ok.

A hand reached out, sweeping and tucking a strand of hair back behind her ear, his head tilting in more concern for her than for himself.

”I didn’t wake you, did I?”

He asked quietly, changing the subject from himself to her, his features cast half in shadow from the moonlight streaming through the window.

 

[CasualVelociraptor]

“Trust me, I understand being ‘good’ versus actually good,” Alice said.

“I also know what it’s like to be terribly burdened by a secret. I won’t ask what yours is, because I also know what it’s like to live in fear of being found out. But just know that whenever you do want to talk about what’s going on that’s eating you, then I will do my utmost to support you in your time of distress.” With that, she kissed his cheek as he had done to her, in a way trying to reciprocate his small measure of kindness.

“And um, I...no, you didn’t wake me up,” Alice sighed, leaning into the gentle touch of her hair, and then yawned.

“I’m tired for sure and yet having trouble falling asleep. After two dorks left me hanging- well, I left a really nice guy hanging, but I digress,” she added with a sigh, rubbing her arm and putting her head on Jareth’s broad shoulder now, apologetically, “I have a lot of energy still for some reason, even through all the pharmaceuticals I imbibed should make me slow down. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. Quite exciting, also unfamiliar and scary.”

Which could also easily describe her situation with Jareth at the moment.

Then Alice blushed and admitted, “My, er, usual method of relieving stress and then relaxing, if you will indulge my metaphors, has not produced any desired result either, though I’ve attended to the...problem for a while now.”

As she was saying this and touching her forehead to his, the way the moon Nefaris shone on her through the window meant that only her hair was irradiated, while the rest of her body was covered in darkness.

 

[PhoenixRising82]

Pleasantly surprised by the kiss to his cheek, his head dipped to the side and he flashed her a broad smile.

He let his fingers fold into his palm and brush the tops softly along her jawline, the smile lingering lazily against his lips.

”Touché. Alright how about...I will be good, yeah?”

Resting his head against the top of hers, he chuckled softly. Playfully tapping her nose with his thumb before dropping his hand to his lap.

”Shhhh now, that’s definitely a secret that can’t get out. If people start finding out I’m a nice guy, it’ll be utter chaos.”

He was quiet for a second, soaking in her statement and silently cussing John out at the same time as he contemplated how to approach it.

”You sucked all the energy right out of John. It’ll pass.”

It was meant to come across in jest, despite the literal truth of it. He had no idea how literal, he’d seen John sprawled on the couch in the study, drawers down around his ankles but he knew not what exactly had transpired to get him there.

He shifted slightly, letting his gaze find hers as her forehead rested against his. His eyes dancing over her own for a moment before his hands rose, one finding her hip, the other stroking his fingers against her jaw.

”Trust me?”

It was more of a plea than a question as he gently tugged against her hip, pulling her into his lap so that her back rested against his chest and stomach. He tugged the blanket up between them, back into place, before letting his hands slide slowly around her hips to her belly. Giving her plenty of time to run for the door should she wish to again.

His hands came to rest against her stomach, just below her belly button, fingers sweeping softly against her skin as he peppered a couple kisses against the back of her shoulder before whispering.

”Let me help you?”

He asked tentatively.

 

[CasualVelociraptor]

“Trust me?”

Trust. There was a hard word for Alice, because she had gotten it broken over and over again by nearly everybody that she cared about. He, a powerful man used to breaking people who stood in his way, was asking, in essence, for the power to snap her heart in twain.

So, no, Alice didn’t, couldn’t trust him completely. Trusting simply wasn’t in her nature; she surmised it had been beaten out of her. But as she was gently pulled in towards his washboard chest by his strong arms around her belly, Alice could definitely feel his erect dick against her back even through the blanket, and then...he didn’t make any moves to grab at her. That was a nice change of pace from even the most sensitive virgins she’d bedded, and so she could let her guard down a little for now.

And so, to his shoulder kisses and to the question he posed, Alice reached around behind her to pet his hair and head, turned her head sideways to kiss him, and let her tensions dissolve and herself melt into his mental and physical hold on her. After all, she didn’t have any words- no quips, sarcasm, or empirical observations. Just a simple sidelong glance and an emphatic nod.

Alice Guthrie, emphatic logician, was about to make a risky leap with her heart. If it failed then she was sure in her high state that she would swear off men altogether. If it worked...what could that hold? The thought enticed her greatly as she gave in to a tight and tender hug from behind.

 

[PhoenixRising82]

His head tilted into her hand, his eyes shuddering closed briefly as her fingers tangled into his hair. Reveling in the electric touch.

He couldn’t lie, he couldn’t hide it completely but even being so close and skin to skin, her touch sending fire through his flesh indeed turned him on, he grew hard beneath the blanket but he was far more intent on her, her pleasure. Her need. He kept the beast within caged, no matter how hard it fought to get out.

Being of the sea, he liked to boast he couldn’t be drowned so easily and yet, here he was, drowning in the sweet taste of her lips against his, the warm stroke of her fingers across his stubbled jaw. When she broke the kiss, it seemed to steal his breath away. His chest rising and falling heavily against her back, she’d feel his heartbeat galloping as she melted against him.

His lips fell warmly against the side of her neck, dragging lightly along the slender column as her head tilted, just a brush of their warmth taunting with the promise of kisses, all the way to her ear and down again.

His fingers tangled and tightened softly against hers as she grasped them. Holding her warmly as he concentrated on her shoulder and neck. Stretching his legs out slightly, he carefully hooked her ankles against his feet and drew her legs apart as he wriggled his right hand free from her grasp, his palm swept slowly over the soft curve of her belly and lower, fingers teasing against the soft rise of her pelvic mound, lingering tentatively for a moment before sliding further still.

His hand slid over her aching, unsated lips, letting the warmth of his touch settle against her before he started rubbing in a slow rhythm.

His left hand still held her fingers intertwined with his, he squeezed her fingers gently before guiding it upward, letting both of their fingers slide against her skin as he sought to capture a breast in his grasp. His fingers splayed out, palm brushing hotly against her nipple before he let his fingers and hers sink into the soft mound of flesh. A gentle squeeze. A breathy groan against her throat as he felt the tender nub harden against the palm of his hand.

A finger dipped and slid between her moist folds, seeking the small pink jewel that lay hidden beneath. Once it was found, he swept his finger around it in slow circles before sliding lower, teasing against her quivering hole before rising to tease against her clit again and repeating.

Despite his raging hardness, his quickened breath and heightened heartbeat, the brush of the blanket against him as she or he moved, his attention and mind were solely on her. All of her. And only her.

 

[CasualVelociraptor]

Every kiss felt fiery against her ear, face and neck, both from Alice’s impacted nerves telling her to moan, which she did, and from her brain telling her this was wrong. Another part of her head also claimed that he was just helping her out as a friend, that somehow this didn’t cross her ethical line of “helping out” a client because she wasn’t technically doing anything, just letting him do something to her.

Alice’s nipple was screaming out “blaaaagh” in pleasure so it wasn’t very helpful.

Her belly was telling her, “He holds you so nicely. I bet he’d hold you when you’re DOIN IT even more sweetly.”

“Wait, hold up, what?!” her brain struggled to interject through the cloud of pleasure hanging over Alice as she moaned from how well he was slowly stroking around her clit (as most women knew to do to her, since they’d done it to themselves) instead of just furiously flicking it as most men did.

“You’ve known Jareth for all of four days, you horny, slutty bitch,” it added. “What could you possibly like about him other than his unit and his abs and uh...I’ll stop talking or we’ll be here all night.”

Yes, good point. What did she like about him, aside from a scrumptious body? She’d focused on the negative so much- his arrogance, his self righteousness, his need to win at every conversation, his probable greed at the expense of an entire species of marine mammal (okay, there was a lot to dislike)- that she hadn’t reflected on the positives yet.

“Ohhh, Jareth,” she groaned into his neck and nibbled on it. “You at least know how to stay awake.”

After laughing at her own joke for a little bit, Alice said, “You smile and the whole room smiles just a little bit with you.” That made her stroke a hand down his abs, causing the blanket to fall over and reveal his cock; that magnificent, exotic creature.

“You have excellent taste in food,” she proffered as she crossed another invisible line by stroking his dick between her hand and her ass cheeks.

“You certainly do have a heart despite what the papers say and care for the people you love,” Alice purred as she started getting into her own rhythm of moving back to pressure his shaft and then forward to meet his fingers. “Otherwise why hire a top notch private investigator?” she asked in a sarcastic promotional plug. “And in my experience, people for whom the self is their only going concern don’t have nightmares.”

“Above all you...you are certainly persistent,” Alice said. Maybe that was sarcastic too, but she certainly meant it as she turned to face him and her pussy lips teased his member.

“And that persistence,” Alice whispered against his face while kissing him and raising her hips until she hovered over his reddening tip, “is going to get us both into trouble.”

Then Alice made one of the most momentous decisions of her life. Maybe she was too hormonal, too lonely, too pained, too covered in the blood on her hands, too hard on herself and on everybody she dared to get close to to be doing this without there being consequences for them both.

She didn’t fucking care.

Alice told logic to go take a hike for once.

One simple motion later, and her pussy swallowed his glorious penis in one gulp as she showed him her surprisingly bubbly ass.

Then she kissed him again, this time while they were joined. Now they were irrevocably set in the dance as old as life. In contrast to her fears, this felt totally natural.

Right.

 

[PhoenixRising82]

His head tilted, throat stretching softly against her lips. As if the soft shifts of her hips weren’t taunting the beast enough as it was, the faint scrap of her teeth against his flesh sent a shiver through him. The moan of his name sent him reeling, to actually hear it from her lips rather than just imagining it.

The quip about staying awake took a moment to register through the chaotic thoughts, when it did a small laugh slid from his throat, his tongue dragging over his bottom lip.

”Yeah, John’s got to work on his party skills.”

His gaze dropped to watch her giggling at her own words, watching her lips form the words she spoke, thinking he could watch, just watch her for days and never grow bored. That smile curling the corners of his lips. He watched the way her jaw tightened as she laughed, her throat vibrating with the sound. His lips dropped against the sensitive flesh just beneath her earlobe, suckling gently against it before peppering a trail of kisses down and slowly back up as he felt her hand sliding between them. His muscles tightening as he groaned quietly against her ear. Her touch sent shock waves through him.

”Alice....”

The whispered word fell upon her ear, meant at first as a tender warning. It was supposed to be about her, her pleasure, her need being sated. Not his. However, her name tumbling from his lips again, rattling in a heady groan. He knew she wouldn’t do anything she didn’t want to do.

In response, his fingers stroked the full length of her wet slit, dipping a little deeper between her folds and capturing her engorged clit between his finger and thumb, a gentle pull before he rolled it between them, once, twice and a third time before releasing the burning little bulb, letting his fingers massage over it in a slow rhythmic dance as she rocked and stroked against him.

Her words weren’t lost on him but he stored them away for now. Making note that she saw in him things that so few else saw or wanted to see. He added that to his own list in fact.

Drawing in a deep breath as she turned and teased against him, his hands brushing against her skin as she moved comong to rest against her hips, brows lifting in acceptance. He was persistent, that he wouldn’t deny.

”Well, I’m ok with that, if you are?”

His tone half teasing, half serious. Despite the beast clamoring for release, he wasn’t going to push his luck a second time, he‘d keep his need for control under control and let her lead this dance, at least the majority of it.

His lips fell open in a breathy gasp as her wet warmth enveloped him, his eyes dancing over her pretty face. One hand slid down to her thigh, fingers gripping it softly as the other swept around the small of her back and he gently pulled her forward. Tighter against him as his entire length filled her, his head fell back slightly, a husky groan escaping him until she pulled him back, her lips crushing against his.

His hands swept to the plush rounds of her ass, gripping handfuls as he returned the kiss, remaining still within her for a long moment. He broke the kiss, drawing her bottom lip between his teeth as he gripped her ass again, gently pulling her forward as he shifted his hips to greet her, as he did. His gaze steady and solely on her.

 

[CasualVelociraptor]

What Jareth didn’t realize as he was focusing on taming his beast was that Alice had a beast of her own in her pussy that had been waiting to pounce and feast on him. Alice had thought so much about him pulling her in that she forgot that she was also instinctually capable of ensnaring him.

Alice uttered a single, long groan when she initially settled at the base of his cock. Then looked at him with an intensity that he hadn’t seen in almost any woman he’d been with before. That was followed by a sexy moan as she pushed his shoulders down until his head gently rested against the headboard, and then rolled every Kegel muscle hard against his cock with her hips.

His cock was the thickest she’d ever had, and its girth pushed her walls out and filled her so strangely as a result. But it brought such satisfaction every time the feeling of fullness traveled up and down her tunnel that soon she forgot about any awkwardness it brought.

For her paramour’s benefit, Alice now closed her eyes and hung her mouth open with her hands on her breasts. “Ooh, Mr. Williams,” she cooed, “you like how hard you’re making my nipples? How wet I am and how easily I glide up and down your cock? Because the thought of giving you another show- one that I’m agreeing to this time- is making me shake.” It was true; her legs were trembling as her hips splayed wide to accommodate him.

“I’m getting a show too, so it’s more fair this time as well,” Alice winked. “And maybe a snack,” she whispered, kissing his neck and nibbling his ear.

After that transpired, Alice took a moment to hold him, skin to skin, stop riding and just breathe on his neck and lazily kiss it. It was a moment of tender weakness for Alice as she once again turned to jelly from even the throbbing of his heart that was echoed in his cock.

It seemed like it was an eternity, but the moment disappeared and Alice began riding him again while touching herself and letting him play with her nipples. Five more little eternities later, Alice leaned down to passionately kiss Jareth and never stopped.

That was, until the point of no return arrived. Since she’d already worked herself up without a release for a while and he’d been touching her so expertly, if it was a contest she was going to lose, something Alice was not used to at all. She finally broke off from him to lean her head back, still rubbing her swollen clit, and yell out his name and various melded together obscenities as she came.

Hard.

For Jareth motherfucking Williams while his penis was wrecking her insides.

Alice would have laughed at the thought four days ago. But now she was collapsed on top of him, a sweaty, wide eyed mess as she begged:

“Please, master, I’m yours to do with what you will for the rest of tonight. I...I trust you in this and I need you to fuck your little detective senseless.”

After she admitted that, Alice bit her lip and laid back on the bed, briefly parting from his dick and feeling empty. She knew it would only be a moment before he’d mount her, however, and mark her as his territory.

 

[PhoenixRising82]

Giving up so much control was a foreign concept to Jareth and he almost fought her on it as her hands pushed him away.

His fingers scraping softly over the skin from her hip to her thighs as he leaned back against the headboard. Dimpling the flesh as a growl rattled in his throat, his gaze dark and intense, threatened to burn right through her as he watched her hands roaming and playing with her breasts, her belly and legs shaking. He was momentarily mesmerized by their bodies connection, watching as she rode his cock, leaving it wet with her juices as her velvet walls clutched around him. His tongue chased another groan from his lips, his fingers tightening against her shuddering thighs as he bit his bottom lip. Rolling his hips up in answer to her question, stroking her walls with rigid precision. Oh, he was no doubt enjoying the show, up close and personal this time and it was everything he’d hoped it would be.

A hand relinquished it’s hold on her thigh, palm scraping inward, fingers tickling along the quivering curve of her stomach as his attention rose to her as she was leaning in. She’d feel a gasp of breath along her own ear and shoulder.

His chest rose and fell, catching his breath as she leaned against him, the muscle surrounding his cock twitching softly against him and while she didn’t move, he did.

His left hand sliding around her back, fingers tickling slowly, sensually up along her spine as he held her close. Reveling in the feel of her plush lips tasting his skin, his own gracing the gentle dip of her shoulder, scraping his teeth lightly against the skin here and there. The hand against her stomach shifted between them, fingers curling in to his palm, tickling against her stomach even as he gently slid his thumb lower, pressing it warmly against her tender clit in slow circles, as tender and lazy as her kisses that peppered his throat. He could have stayed in that moment for an eternity. Pleasuring her, wrapped in her heat, both throbbing and begging for release.

He grunted as she shifted against him, shaking his control. A control he’d learned what seemed like ages ago. The minor slip present as his hips jerked against her, present in the way his hands possessed her breasts, fingers demanding the attention of her nipples as they played across the sensitive little nubs. His heated, lust filled gaze shifting between watching her pretty face contort in erotic pleasure and watching her fingers dance across her wet lips, brushing teasingly against his cock as it slid in and out of her.

He groaned against her lips, his hands cupping the sides of her head, as he straightened and pressed his chest to hers. He continued to work his hips up and against her slowly as they’re tongues danced a heated rhythme.

The kiss broke with a sharp breath and he dropped back on an elbow, panting, his right hand dropped to her hip, clutching softly, holding her as he watched with a hot look as she rolled through her orgasm. So concentrated on hers, watching her shake and shudder on top of him.

The cry of his name as he felt and watched as her juices washed over him in a rush, not only puffed his chest but his ego, the beast rattling at its cage persistently until she collapsed against him.

With her words, he felt himself losing the control he’d cultivated over the years. The ability to keep himself in check, to let go when he wanted to. She came and begged so beautifully, for him and it shook him. With a stroke of her cheek, he groaned when he slipped from her.

Some of his control snapped back as she fell in sprawled, desirous supplication to him. A primal gaze greeted her as he rose and climbed toward her, hands sliding along the insides of her knees, parting her thighs as his mouth fell against the warm velvet flesh, lightly pinching the skin between his lips as he kissed higher and higher.

He stilled, breath washing over her moist slit, his gaze burning up along her frame to watch her a moment before his lips consumed her hungrily. His tongue slowly lapping along her slit, drinking her in with a chest rattling groan. Just enough to drive her to the edge again before he made his way further up her body, belly, breasts, shoulders. Teeth and tongue teasing and taunting every nerve ending, setting them on fire anew. He nipped her chin before following the curve of her jaw, to her ear.

”Mine.....”

He whispered, his hands brushing over her arms until he reached her hands, gently dragging them up above her head, lacing his fingers into hers, as he positioned himself between her thighs and slowly slid into her once again. Taking little time to find a steady rhythm, she’d had him almost there before and it wouldn’t be much longer.

As he drew closer, he leaned in, lips a breath away from her own as he stared into her eyes.

”Cum for me....”

The soft demand whispered against her lips as his hips rocked heavier against her. He throbbed and twitched, almost painfully within her. His lips claimed hers hotly, his pace quickened, his fingers tightening gently against hers, claiming her wherever he touched. With a heavy groan against her lips, he buried himself inside of her. Cock twitching as his seed spilled hotly against her walls. His lips relinquished hers as he buried his face against the crook of her neck and shoulder.

”Alice.....”

Her name whispered breathily against her skin as he rested against her.

 

[CasualVelociraptor]

"I'll give you one more thing I like about you," Alice panted and giggled at the same time as she came down from her third orgasm, just after Jareth's cock finally surrendered its load. Fortunately for him, and unbeknownst to her, his semen's energy only gave her enough energy for this conversation.

"You really do know what you're doing in bed. You're the only man that I've been with that's made me cum three times in a row."

She knew that would inflate his already planet-sized ego, but she'd already done more than enough to inflate both his erection and his ego while she was in the throes of passionately fucking him. Yet she knew that this time, a compliment was definitely in order. There had been many moments that had driven her to near catatonic revelry while they were mating. And it was as raw and powerful as any rutting in nature.

Her control over him had been tenuous at best when she was riding him, and it soon collapsed when he took the initiative. As she expected. As she wanted. As she didn't know she needed.

For instance, she'd raked her nails across his back, leaving little scratch marks as he kissed her all over. When he'd gone down on her and, as he'd threatened and promised, took his time with making her pussy his appetizer, she'd moaned, "Yours, yours, yours, YOURS!" after exploding her arousal in his mouth, in response to his growl.

Once he'd hypnotized her with those strong eyes and demanded that she cum for him again as he was thrusting, Alice Guthrie realized for the first time since Elizabeth what it was to truly be controlled by someone while in the bonds of coitus, and it both terrified and excited her.

She just hoped he wouldn't hurt her like everybody else had. She didn't know how long it would take for her heart to heal if he crushed it. But all that was put aside soon enough as her pleasure climbed.

When their orgasms started melding into each other and Alice didn't know where she ended and he began, every nerve ending was on fire, her legs wrapped tightly around his hips with her feet on his ass, her knuckles turned white as she gripped his fingers back, her clit swelled up in the midst of bumping against his pubic hair, and as he thrusted expertly inside of her she said, "Y-Yes master Jareth, I'm gonna CUUU-" before being cut off by the kiss that once again showed his peculiar combination of tender and rough and made her start to...

Fall. Just a little.

Both against the bed as they both were exhausted. And maybe a little in love with this side of him that he'd shown. Which was far more dangerous.

Now all Alice could think to do in her delirious state, once they reluctantly separated and his ejaculate that had flooded her with warmth leaked out of her shaking quim, was turn her back to him, wrap his hands around her waist once again, whisper "Jareth" dreamily, and then add with a giggle, "Come snuggle with me, and you'll get one additional plus on your list" as she started feeling sleepy.

 

[PhoenixRising82]

His head tilted against her shoulder, lips pressing sensually against her throat. A broad smile curving his lips. Three times, not bad. Definitely an ego inflating confession, that he was the only man to get her there.

”I was taught well.”

He admitted softly, though he didn’t admit who had been the teacher. He rested a few minutes more against Alice, his breathing slowing. The scratch marks she’d left softly burning in the afterglow. His cock slowly shrinking as it rested inside of her. He did idly worry that having shot his load inside of her, that she’d be running around the house again but he would handle it, should he need to.

With a satisfied groan and a gentle pull of his hips, he fell out of her. His dick flopping, sated, against his thigh as he rolled onto his back beside her. A hand rubbing against his chest as he expelled a breath.

His brow furrowing slightly as his head turned at her movement, watching her roll, her back to him before he’d feel her hand reaching back for his.

As she pulled him closer, he lifted onto his left elbow, peering down at her profile, a dopey grin filling his lips.

”Oh....we’re making lists now, hmm?”

He quipped with a throaty chuckle. His hand dipped lower around her stomach until he had a decent grip on Alice and in one swift, albeit not entirely smooth motion he lifted her off the mattress and held her against him as he shifted their position from the foot of the bed back up.

”Well, I guess I shouldn’t expect anything less from my little detective, now should I?”

He murmured against the back of her shoulder as he moved. Gently setting her back down, her head resting on a pillow, he pulled the blanket up to their waists before he laid back down himself. Carefully sliding his arm beneath her, the other taking its place around her belly once more he spooned around her.

”My list: You’re smart. You’re witty. You’re a mystery. You challenge me. You see me.”

With every point in his list, he dropped a brief kiss against the back of her arm and shoulder, trailing upward. Sliding from her stomach, his hand lifted, brushing hair from her neck as his kisses continued, as did his list.

”You’re beautiful.....”

Another kiss behind her ear.

”You are....mind-blowingly sexy.”

The last was whispered in her ear. The weight of the words spoke less about her physical being and more about everything all rolled into one, which did in fact make her just incredibly sexy to him. He wouldn’t lie, to her or himself, she was physically sexy and that was the first thing he’d encountered when he was watching her in the pool but everything had since coalesced into the total package and he found himself incredibly taken by it and certainly by her.

Once more he wrapped his arm around her, nestling in comfortably behind her. His face gently buried in the mess of hair at her neck.

 

[CasualVelociraptor]

"I'll have to thank her someday," Alice said very seriously. "And yes, lists are my love language," she partially joked, then blushed at the use of that four letter word. “It's always nice to be organized...to have things under control. And then sometimes it's wonderful to lose control. You taught me that."

All she could really say after that, while he was whispering less wordy but no less endearing compliments into her ear that made her shudder with desire for him all over again, was, "You're beautiful too, and it's an honor to be your little detective, Jareth Williams." Soon afterwards she succumbed to sleep, and for the first time in a while, dreamed of what being in love with someone new might be like.

When the morning dawned, Jareth would find a note on the nightstand, rather than Alice's supple form beside him.

"Dear Jareth,

"I have gone to Edinar in order to investigate some of the leads at your company's secondary dock." Through his hangover, he would recall this was just southwest of Radiant, and one of the stops that Amara made with the Intrepid. "As we discussed, it would be helpful if you found any manifests and captains' logs from the Intrepid that might be in your company archives. At the same time, I received a scroll this morning, which one of your Xen servant machines delivered. It explained that there was also an explosion in that same city a few miles away from your dock, which the local government has asked me to look into since I have some personal connections there. (Do not attempt to ask him what that might be, as I've done a little digging around in his clockwork and learned a very valuable way of altering it to my whims.) You have to trust that it is related to our case. I feel that strongly, but I need to look into this on my own before I come to you with it. I have given you an expense report for my train and airship trip there. I shall endeavor to write you when I am able and will return in a few days.

"Yours,

Alice"

A few days turned out to be eight, after which time Jareth heard nothing. The only things he'd be able to hold on to as he went back and forth between work and home paralyzed with worry is that John had volunteered to set out for Edinar himself to keep an eye on Alice, and that Octavia would be visiting in a couple days; the need for Alice to see one of her heroes and give her feedback on her machines was what would hopefully return her to him swiftly and safely.

 

[PhoenixRising82]

He drifted off to sleep with the thought that Alice would soon get to meet the woman that had taught him plenty. He drifted to sleep hoping his father was done for the night with his insane visions. He drifted off with Alice’s scent and warmth clinging to him. He slept peacefully and better than he had in a long time.

A chill greeted his waking, his hand sweeping over the empty spot of the bed before he even opened his eyes. Squinting against the light that drizzled in through the window, he spied the note on the bedside table, even as he chanced a glance behind him as he rose onto his elbows, his hungover brain hoping that maybe she’d just gotten up for something and returned and on the other side of the bed.

Seeing the bed empty except for him, he sighed and rubbed his face lightly before reaching for the note. Edinar. So she’d gone southwest of Radiant, chasing a lead in the case. He couldn’t complain, she was doing what needed done. It was better than a Dear John letter. Speaking of John, he wondered idly how his morning was. He refused to let himself wonder if Alice had mentioned their tryst to his friend. He refused to examine his feelings further on the subject as well.

Tossing the covers off, he rose and made his way to the shower. Quickly washing up and dressing. He himself had things to do. He needed to get down to the South Bend docks and get his paramour what she needed.

On his way out the door, he was curious as he stopped Xen3.

”Xen, what is Alice doing in Edinar? What are her connections, hm?”

The servant stopped in his dusting and turned to face the master of the house and pointedly answered.

“Maybe I’ll tell you what my connections are to Edinar, if you go swimming outdoors and let me watch you this time, Mr. Williams.”

While the voice was robotic, the tone was very distinctly that of his witty little detective. A short, clipped laugh shot at Xen3 and with a stroke of his chin, he pointed a finger at the mechanical servant.

“I....I’m going to dismantle you but first, finish cleaning the house and wash my bedding, snarky pile of gears.”

He couldn’t help a chuckle though as he turned on his heels and made his way to the waiting auto driven carriage waiting for him.

Several days came and went, he’d kept busy but that didn’t stop his mind from wandering. He found himself not sleeping well again, though this time it had little to do with nightmarish visions or even a ponderance about his father or the Olsea.

He found himself feeling out of sorts, like he hadn’t been before, sleeping alone in his bed. He was....feeling. Not unlike the way he’d felt with Amara but...this was somehow...different. Each time his mind began to wander down that path, he found something to do. Training, keeping in physical shape in the gardens with the defunct machines or taking a swim. He had even taken to tinkering with Xen3, trying to find what Alice had done to the servant and reverse it. Problem was, he wasn’t all that mechanically inclined and his concentration was often broken by smart and snarky responses from the machine itself.

He was elbows deep in the gears when John stuck his head in. Jareth nearly jumping out of his skin when his friend spoke.

”Adamaris, we need to talk.”

Jareth peered around John’s broad shoulders as he reached for a towel, wiping his hands and arms as clean as possible.

”Is Alice with you?”

”No, but that’s what we need to talk about.”

Jareth nodded and followed John to the study. Preparing himself for another fight, physically and verbally, he suspected.

What John laid on him however, wasn’t what he was expecting. John had lost track of Alice momentarily and by the time he’d found her again, he stated that he’d seen her conversing with a shadowy man. A tinge of jealousy rippled through him, admittedly and he could see that John was just as concerned. A small hint of fear crept along his spine as well. Amara has been seen in a similar fashion....before she’d been killed.

With a huff and a wave of his hand at John, as if trying to brush off his concerns even as he tried to contain his own, he snorted.

”Master Jareth will have to ask her about it when she returns.”

John stared at him for a second, confusion etched across his features.

”Wait....what?“

John’s lips pursed, his fingers curling into his palm. Jareth realized what he’d said a second too late. With his mind on Alice, their night together and everything else that centered around her, so heavily, his brain didn’t stop his mouth when it should have, he fought to find a way to retract the slip up but nothing came and he merely ended up staring across the space between himself and John.

”You didn’t?”

John’s indignation was written all over him and on some level Jareth hurt for his friend but he was rarely one to pull punches.

”You passed out on her, after you wound her up tighter than a clock, with your love juice. Which I told you not to do. She came to me.”

Jareth said bluntly and continued.

”It was her choice, same as it was Amara’s choice.”

Mildly defeated, John shook his head and sighed.

”I can’t do this again, man.”

Jareth watched his friend as he exited the room. His lips pursing briefly before he sighed, truth was, he wasn’t sure he wa and himself exited, heading for his office to see if there was any message from Alice herself.

A few days turned into a week, just over actually. Before the alarm sounded that someone or something was on approach and preparing to land unexpectedly.

Jareth slid the goggles up to his forehead, after Xen3 squirted oil at him during his previous attempt two nights previous, he wasn’t taking any chances. He made his way up the stairs and out onto the lawn.

Leaning on his cane, he watched as the aeroplane rolled and weaved, showing off it seemed, just a bit before it glided lower and finally touched down with a bit of a bounce.

A wide smile formed over his dirty face. There was no mistaking who was piloting the nightmarish contraption, even if he didn’t recognize the model.

His thoughts were soon confirmed, as Octavia Richards, his former Mistress and Mentor, 10 years his senior but didn’t look much older than he, bound from the pilots seat and glided toward him. Octavia was was all grace and poise, even in her excitement.

Her hands clapped softly against Jareth’s dirty cheeks and she didn’t shy away from leaning in to plant a sweet kiss against the corner of his lips.

“Still trying your hands at machinery, dear Jareth?”

She smiled and brushed a hand through the back of his hair as she turned, standing beside him as they stared at her plane. Jareth was actually staring at the second figure emerging.

“What a beautiful little one you have found, love. She is sweet as candy and oh so smart. Just as you said, delightfully excited and exciting.”

A soft sound trickled from his throat as he nodded. Missing the tone and meaning behind her final word completely, he was focused on Alice. Relieved and pleased to see her again.

 

[CasualVelociraptor]

“Woo!” Alice yelled as she got out of the flying machine, took the helmet off from her flying outfit, wrapped an arm around Octavia, and pumped her fist from exhilaration.

“I thought I enjoyed being in one of the zeppelins on the way down to Edinar, Octavia, but in this- holy shit, we have got to go flying again in one of these ‘death traps’ sometime!” she laughed, cutely referring to Jareth’s nickname for them, which had granted her and Octavia a few shared chuckles at his expense. They’d had a few grand days indeed in the charming little suburban city with Octavia proving a most excellent brainstorming partner.

That was when her face fell as she glimpsed Jareth and John. She was glad he was still happy to see her after she’d disappeared like that. Alice knew that she hadn’t vanished on purpose, that circumstances had prevented her from writing him, and yet she still felt guilty.

“Jareth...I need you to trust me once again. I think this may be a candidate for the murder weapon because its long, thin syringe matches with what I remember of the hole in Amara’s heart, and because I found it pierced in the heart of another victim who was horribly burned in the explosion, but nothing else I say will make sense until I get it down to the lab to analyze it.”

The unusual thing has a long needle and a tankard of blood on it.

As Alice showed it to them both, it bore burn marks left behind by the blast, and part of the needle tip was broken off from where it likely fell off inside whatever unfortunate woman now lay in a mass grave burned and mangled beyond recognition. But crucially, its glass casing still held fresh blood to analyze.

“C’mon Octavia! We haven’t got time to lose! I simply must make sure that your machines are handled properly.”

Alice waved goodbye to Jareth, John, and the various Xens (who all waved back), grabbed Octavia by the arm, and ran shouting a string of consciousness with the bizarre medical implement in the air like a woman possessed until she reached the laboratory and locked the door to it behind her.

Several hours later, Alice and Octavia were both sweating from being inside a closed room full of hot machines that spread steam everywhere. But Alice had a huge grin on her face. “I’ve got the motive for both the murder in Edinar and Amara’s. Thanks again for troubleshooting this technology, by the way. It’s simply fascinating how you’ve managed to create so much sophisticated machinery when everyone else doubted you.”

After rubbing Octavia’s shoulder, she bounced her idea off the much older woman, who was craning her head over Alice’s to see what was going on on the messy lab table, which had the extractor with Jane Doe’s blood, the bottles of the boys’ samples, slides of Amara vagina scrapings, and birth effluence from a dolphin that had had a calf in Jareth’s tank.

“The first thing that struck me as odd was how this blood...glowed. Then I remembered that when I, um, ingested Jareth and John’s sperm”- the poor detective lit up at admitting that- “both sets of semen also glowed, as they do now, and gave me an unusual amount of energy. And now, as we can see, Amara’s vaginal muscle has...changed to be virtually identical on a cellular level to the dolphin vaginal samples after fourteen days in the analysis machine. (That was when I thought things were contaminated so thank you again.) It’s...remarkable to have such odd behavior for different fluids exposed to liquid from four different people.”

Alice sighed, “I don’t make this inference lightly, because it could hurt a lot of lives, but- based on that and what I told you of my night with Jareth I can think of no other conclusion. Even though I can’t be 100% sure, Amara, Jane Doe, Jareth, and John matching the scientific description of Homo delphinus- merfolk, in common parlance- would explain a lot. It’s reasonable to conclude, then, that whoever is using this weapon is targeting merfolk and extracting their blood with a form of artificially produced toxin that mimics the behavior of vampire toxin- but for what purpose do they need all the blood in each victim’s body? It’s baffling.”

“Perhaps the answer will lie with whoever the owner of the mysterious third sperm sample is that caused the tearing along Amara’s vagina that we agreed was consistent with sexual assault.”

It wasn’t IM possible that Jareth or John did it too or exclusively, but based on what she knew of them, Alice did not think it likely. Of course, people had a hard time of finding out about sexual assault under normal circumstances, let alone when merfolk were involved, as they were feared by society at large and so bore a justified fear of reporting anything to the authorities in return. So there wasn’t any way to prove this one way or the other, with the victim now dead. But Alice had to go with her gut that it could only be a mysterious third, spurned suitor that did this.

A mentally exhausted Alice now sank into her chair and teared up as various emotions flooded her all at once. “I just hope the band of cockamamie brutes calling themselves Arm of Vitalis is able to find Rose. I, I’ve already lost so much, and I can’t lose her too. I should have been there sooner, once I heard about some of the violence happening lately, but I...” She then slumped her head on the desk too. It could all be overwhelming, even for a mind as brilliant as hers. “Thank you for everything, Octavia,” she whispered. “I don’t know how I would have coped hearing about it without you.”

 

[PhoenixRising82]

He offered a smile, a small chuckle escaping even at the joke about his dislike of air travel, when she glanced his way but it fell slightly when he noticed the shift in her own gaze. His head tilted softly. Was she not as happy to see him as he was her? His brow furrowed gently and a quiet huff escaped, briefly bringing both John and Octavia’s attention to him. Their casual glances went unnoticed as he was in thought as he watched Alice draw closer. Sometimes it was a damn curse only being able to read and share thoughts with his own. He couldn’t read the human mind, which would be handy at the moment....or would it be?

Her exclaimed explanation drew his attention to the object she came carrying. He cringed and cast a mildly terrified look at John, as he rubbed a hand on his own chest. If that was the same thing that had killed Amara.....he shuddered to think about it. As did John.

Turning back, his lips falling open to speak but Alice excitedly addressed Octavia and started pulling her in the direction of the house. Blinking, his lips clapped shut for a second as he watched and listened.

”Hey, what about my machine, woman!”

He called out after her. He heard a snorting laugh escape John before his friend clapped him on the shoulder heartily and laughed, the sound echoing over the lawn.

”Looks like your machine will not be serviced by either of those lovely ladies today, my dear friend.”

Jareth cast John a sideways glance before shaking off his hand and grunting.

”Shut up. I meant Xen3, you......prehistoric troglodyte.”

A moment of quiet passed between the both of them before the pair were laughing and shoving each other.

”Come on, I’ll help the “Master” try to fix his servant.”

John quipped and snickered as the pair disappeared into the house as well.

***************​

Octavia politely and intently listened as Alice pattered on about the case. Everything the young, smart detective said made sense but she kept quiet because she knew she couldn’t say too much without outing Jareth completely. Alice had said herself she wasn’t entirely sure of what she’d seen. It wasn’t her place to speak on the matter and she made sure to divert things when the girl poked too close to the truth.

She concentrated instead on what she could freely speak on. Her feet shifted as she came to stand beside Alice, a hand coming to rest lightly against her head. Well manicured nails gently combing through the weeping girls hair. Partially kneeling beside her, her free hand dropping to rest on Alice’s thigh.

“Shhh. You’re doing a wonderful job for Jareth and I know he appreciates it. You’ll find the answers soon enough.”

Her hand stroked from Alice’s hair, over the back of her neck to her back and tilted her head so she could see the girl a little better.

“You’re welcome, I’m just sorry I couldn’t help you find your sister, dear one. I know it must be hard.”

Her voice was low and comforting. Her hand rubbing gently against Alice’s thigh, inner to outer and back again in sensual, slow and comforting strokes.

 

[CasualVelociraptor]

Alice sighed pleasantly at Octavia’s gentle touches, shivering once the older woman’s delicate reached her neck. “Yeah, it is...I just have to hope she’s alright. But it’s worth repeating that you- you’ve made it so much easier, Octavia.” She wiped her eyes on her arm. “I’ve always looked up to you, Ms. Richards, as a tough, no nonsense aviator and inventor, and now I’ve seen that you’re a wonderful person too, and I’m so lucky to be around you.”

Once Octavia’s hand landed on Alice’s thigh, Alice felt hot under the collar of her flight suit in a hurry. “A-Are you sure you meant to do that?” Then Alice noticed that Octavia was rubbing back and forth along her inner thigh and realized that it was, in fact, very intentional of the older mechanic. So, the woman twenty years her junior turned in her seat to face her fellow scientist, stroked her face, and made a leap by tentatively rushing forward to plant her lips on Octavia’s.

“Would you like to do that again? I would like to...do so much more, if you’ll let me,” Alice gulped. “And- if, if this is all that we’ll do, then let’s please keep this to ourselves.”

Normally, she would be way more confident around other women, but kissing her lifelong heroine made her heart a very nervous hunter.