Zodiac Academy 8.5: Beyond The Veil

Tumbling, rioting, thrashing. I lost my place in the world as the flames grew beyond my control, all that I was cast aside and forgotten, the person I’d been shattering as I descended into the chaos of my basest nature.

The blazing light and heat became all there was of me, this tremendous force unchecked and unbalanced, no desire beyond destruction, no form beyond the flames.

I was lost.

But some part of me fought the burn, some thundering bass in the furthest reaches of my soul was screaming to return to something.

I almost lost myself to the violent blaze of the flames, but before I could fall fully into fire, I felt them. All the souls which were tethered to mine, all the love I had in me for them, all the time we’d had stolen from us.

The fire grew hotter and hotter, the flames becoming a writhing pathway which led in two directions. One sang to me of power untold, of an end beyond endings, a temptation so potent it was hard to look away from it. But the other was like a cool breeze on the back of my neck, a whisper of something I knew I didn’t want to leave behind.

I had chosen to discard the visage of flesh which had been housing my soul since my arrival into death, and I could choose to reclaim it too.

The fire popped and blazed, a roar of pure power tearing from the flames as I drew on them, calling them back to the core of me.

I turned, looking along that flickering pathway, hungering for what still waited there. Follow the flames.

I rushed towards it, consuming the flames as I went, drawing them back into me and bellowing through the pain of holding so much. But it was all mine to begin with, my power, my energy, my destiny.

I fell back into the illusion of my body and slammed into The Veil hard enough to make it bend around me, letting me look back to the realm of the living, returning me to Roxy’s room in the R.U.M.P. castle.

I stumbled as I found myself at the foot of her bed, panting from the force of my arrival and looking around, expecting to see her.

But Roxy wasn’t here. She’d already left to seek out the Damned Forest. In her place I found Caleb and Seth, the two of them seemingly in the middle of some kind of spat.

Seth stalked across the room towards the bed and whipped the covers off with an “Ah-ha!” before staring blankly down at the empty sheets.

“Where is she then?” he asked.

I sighed, the pieces of myself slotting back together as I found myself with my brothers, one of the few places in this world that had always held such sanctuary for me.

“Who?” Caleb asked.

“Where’s Max?” I muttered, but obviously neither of them could hear me, their conversation continuing without any acknowledgment of my words.

“Tory, obviously,” Seth growled, and I took a seat on the edge of the bed. “Is she moisturising her perfect tits or lubricating her vag or doing something equally feminine somewhere?”

“That’s a weird set of fucking questions,” I growled, the jealous beast in me rising to the bait of his words about my wife, and I narrowed my eyes on Seth as he glared at Cal. I had to assume Caleb had eaten something Seth had had his eye on or some shit because he usually only got this pissy over food.

“She’s gone,” Caleb explained. “I dunno when she’ll be back.” He retrieved a note scribbled in Roxy’s handwriting and I snorted in amusement as I leaned closer to Seth to read what it said.

I’ve reached my limit with this shit, so I’ve gone to take my destiny back from the stars. Gerry, I love you – lead the rebels against the Court of Solaria like you suggested. Make that scaley bastard pay. The rest of you, try not to cry too much if I don’t make it back, I was a mean bitch anyway. x

“That’s pretty funny,” I commented. “But if either of you calls her a mean bitch, I’ll break your nose.”

“She can’t just take off,” Seth snarled, crumpling the note in his fist and tossing it aside.

“Who can stop her?” Caleb asked and my brows rose at the suggestion in those words because either one of them should have been able to do just that, but my girl wasn’t the untrained novice who had arrived at our academy all those months ago, she’d come into her own, a true queen, and I doubted there was any who could stand in her way now.

“We should have welcomed them home with open arms,” I said, wishing they could hear me, hoping they were starting to see that too, that they understood the way fate needed to turn now. It had taken my death for me to fully appreciate it, but the throne wasn’t meant for the four of us anymore. It never had been really.

Seth shook his head suddenly. “I need to go,” he muttered, stalking towards the door, his shoulder slamming into Caleb’s as he went, knocking him aside.

I frowned at the two of them. Seth didn’t often get pissed like this. I was missing something. I doubted even snack theft of the most delicious treats would have him this angry. So what was I missing?

Caleb whirled on him, a snarl building in his throat which almost certainly equalled a fight. I glanced to my right, half expecting to see Max there so that the two of us could place our bets on who would win this time, but he wasn’t there, and I guessed I wasn’t either.

I sighed, hating this, being with my brothers and yet not being there at all.

“There’s been a lot of shit going down beyond The Veil,” I told them, knowing it was pointless really, but just wanting to hang out with my best friends the way I always had. “We’ve been tracking down the Guild Stones and-”

“You got the tattoo,” Caleb said, drawing my focus to the two of them where they stood by the door, Seth glancing over his shoulder with one hand on the doorknob, the position showing off the new ink between his shoulder blades.

“No fucking way.” I grinned, getting up and moving to stand beside Cal so that I could take a closer look. “The detail on this is sick,” I commented, studying the crescent moon with a wolf perched upon the curve at its base while a bat hung from the curve above. Within the moon was a clock with no hands, only a ring of numbers and shattered cogs spilling out beneath it. “Never thought you’d actually bite the bullet and break your tattoo virginity.”

“Yeah,” Seth grunted, replying to Caleb who was just kind of staring at it, giving no real comment at all because this wasn’t his bag. This was all me and dammit, I needed Seth to hear my fucking opinion.

“You added stuff to it,” Caleb said.

“Whose work is this?” I demanded, but Seth only answered Cal.

“Yeah,” he said.

“What does it mean?” Caleb asked.

“It means he’s gonna get a Dragon next in memory of me, asshole,” I muttered, looking to Seth like he might laugh at the joke but no, still nothing for me.

Seth shrugged, saying no more. Knowing him he’d just gotten it because it looked cool because the longing in the eyes of that Wolf on his skin wasn’t something Seth was even interested in feeling for one person.

Caleb shot closer to him, coming to a halt right behind him and reaching out to trace the lines of ink with his fingertips.

“It’s beautiful,” Caleb murmured, and I rolled my eyes.

“Fucking poetic, that is. Point out how badass that shading is and look at the linework around the moon’s craters. I need to know who did this piece. Ask him that. Ask him how long he sat for it. Ask him if he howled like a little bitch while getting it done.” I tried elbowing Caleb to get some reaction from him, hoping he might ask at least one relevant question, but my elbow just sailed straight through his arm, bringing a huff of irritation to my lips.

“Stop,” Seth growled.

“Why?” Cal asked.

“Because you’re stroking him like he’s a pet cat and it’s fucking weird, man,” I pointed out, arching an eyebrow at Caleb and wondering if he was thirsty or something because he was being a bit of a lurker, and touchy-feely wasn’t usually his thing.

Caleb started to move his hand again, but Seth whirled on him, snatching his wrist into his grasp and throwing him back against the wall, pinning him there with a feral snarl.

I barked a laugh. “Told you, you were being weird,” I pointed out, almost feeling like I was a part of this little hang out, back with my boys again. “Can one of you call Max?” I asked but they still didn’t react to me.

“I said stop,” Seth snarled.

I leaned against the wall, watching the show, deciding to place my money on Seth winning this little spat because whatever had started it, the Wolf in him looked near feral with pent up anger.

“And I asked why,” Caleb bit back.

Seth growled a little, staying where he was, pinning Caleb to the wall. It was kinda weird that Cal hadn’t pushed him off yet. Unless…he had a plan. Huh, maybe I was gonna put my money on Caleb instead.

“Max, where are you?” I yelled, wanting his input, but he wasn’t here. Probably off with Grus. I sighed, but hanging out with two of my bros was better than none.

“You were an asshole tonight,” Caleb said, sounding all kinds of butt hurt and I arched a brow at him.

“Why the fuck are you whining like a little bitch? Just slap him with a boulder and let me see if I win the bet or not,” I urged, not sure why I was bothering because I was still nothing to them here.

“I’m an asshole every night, Cal, you just like to forget that when it suits you or when it isn’t aimed your way,” Seth replied.

“Truth,” I agreed.

“Does the mixture of the moon and Venus make you think you’re some kind of sex guru then?” Caleb bit out. “Because you seemed all too keen to tell me how much better you think you can fuck than me, and then you went on to try and convince others of the same thing. Were you going to join in with Rosalie’s pack once you got done telling them how to fuck too?”

“Seriously?” I barked a laugh. “You’re having this argument over which one of you can fuck better? I know it’s tempting to try and claim the crown from me, but it ain’t happening, assholes.”

“What if I was?” Seth shrugged, pushing away from Caleb and prowling across the room, his back firmly to his best friend.

“Shit, Cal, are you just gonna let him turn his back on you like that? Slap him with some vines or set his hair on fire already!” I called.

“You didn’t seem up for the challenge I gave you, so why not get my kicks elsewhere?” Seth said, leaving me lost again because I had no idea what they were talking about but apparently that was the insult required to make Caleb snap at last and I whooped as he finally started the fight.

Caleb shot towards Seth with a snarl, his fangs snapping out as he went for him, but he instantly collided with an air shield, the force of the impact breaking his damn nose as he hit it at full speed and stumbled back.

“Oh shit,” I laughed, knowing that if he could have heard me, he’d be coming for me next but come on, asshole, that was a rookie mistake.

A vine snapped around Caleb’s ankle and threw him across the room onto the bed, blood pissing down his face from his broken nose.

“Oooh,” I cringed on Cal’s behalf as Seth handed his ass to him, watching as Seth snarled like a beast and pounced on him. He caught Caleb’s wrists in his hands, pinning them above his head as he straddled him, snarling like a heathen.

“That was embarrassing, man,” I told Caleb, crossing the room to the bed, and dropping down beside them to look at him. “Are you just gonna lie there and take that?”

“You look good down there, Caleb,” Seth taunted. “Wanna know how good it can feel subbing for me too?”

Weird choice of taunt, but okay.

Caleb bared his fangs, trying to buck Seth off, but he still wasn’t using his magic to try and fight back.

“Are you tapped out, man?” I asked him, tilting my head to assess him. “I’d offer you a bite but I’m kinda lacking in a body right now.” I snorted at my own joke which really was pathetic when I thought about it. Here I was lingering on the fringes of life, hanging out with my friends who couldn’t even tell I was here, making jokes about my own demise which neither of them could appreciate and laughing to myself.

“I think subbing suits you better,” Caleb hissed, yanking on his arms which Seth had secured with vines now too. “You practically melted for me when I called you a good pup.”

“I thought I was your perfect dom fantasy, Seth?” I joked. “Have you really moved on already? I feel like you could have picked Dante or someone a bit more rugged though – Cal is too pretty to really pull off the daddy vibes, don’t you think?”

Seth scoffed darkly, his eyes flashing, not seeming to find any amusement in Caleb’s teasing or my joke – which, okay, he couldn’t hear, but it still pissed me off.

“Nah, I just let you think that. I wanted you to feel good about yourself as the big, bad Vampire, but really, when it comes down to it, you’re just a scared little boy, aren’t you, Caleb? You thought you’d play with the Wolf and see if you liked it, but now you’re in over your head, wondering if it’s safer to go crawling back to your ex and her tits and-”

“Why the fuck are you so obsessed with Tory’s tits?” Caleb snapped.

“Where the hell did that come from?” I barked, my amusement shattering and a snarl rolling up the back of my throat which drowned out whatever the fuck they were saying to each other as the possessive Dragon in me fought to break free of my flesh. “Don’t talk about my wife like that you assholes. Her tits are none of your fucking business.”

Caleb jerked on the vines restraining him, snapping them with his Vampire strength then flipping the two of them over, the fight breaking out at last and I snarled at them, wishing I could throw a few punches too and give them a good kicking for that comment.

Except they weren’t punching each other; Caleb tried to pin Seth beneath him, but the Werewolf flipped them again, his hand locking around Caleb’s throat, shoving his head back and-

“What the fuck is this?” I roared, leaping to my feet as my two best friends started kissing each other with the force of a wrecking ball, the tension in the room shattering around them as they devoured each other’s mouths like the stars would fall from the heavens and set the whole world alight if they didn’t.

“Prove it,” Seth growled against Caleb’s mouth, biting his bottom lip and making him groan as they ground against each other.

“Prove what?” I demanded, backing up a step and glancing towards the walls as if they might part for me and draw me back away into the embrace of The Veil, but no, if anything they seemed more solid than ever before as I stood in a room with two of my best friends in the world while they kissed each other in a way that said in no uncertain terms that this had happened before.

“When did this start?” I snapped at them. “How long have you been lying to me and Max? When were you planning on telling us that the two of you were-” My eyes bounced between the two of them as Caleb broke their kiss, a look passing between them which was so heated that I was surprised he hadn’t set fire to the damn bed. My wife’s damn bed.

Caleb dropped back against the pillows, lifting his chin and I just fucking gaped at him as he bared his throat to the Wolf who loomed over him.

“Are you…what is this?” I demanded. “Ah shit, Seth, please don’t go all Wolf kink while I’m right here watching. If I have to see you do that nipple thing in the flesh, I’m gonna come back to life simply to kick your hairy ass.”

Seth lunged forward, driving his teeth into Caleb’s throat and I was gifted the wholly unappealing sound of hearing him moan and curse with pleasure, the two of them grinding against each other, and the mood descending fast into debauchery.

I gaped at them as Seth began to unhook the buttons of Caleb’s shirt. This was actually happening. I was standing in the afterlife, haunting two of my closest friends in the world, watching as they shattered all the parameters I thought had existed within their friendship and-

Oh for fuck’s sake, I did not need to see Caleb’s cock.

I turned away, heading towards the door, but my foot hit something which lay discarded on the floor, and I looked down at it instead.

Was that…oh hell no.

I crouched down to get a better look at the box on the floor. Was that an old photo of me? My mouth fell open as I looked from the photo to the product it was advertising, a full set of sex toys based on my cock in both Fae and Dragon form stared back at me in dazzling gold plastic.

“Why the hell have you got this?” I demanded, looking back to the bed right in time to watch as Seth finished jerking Caleb off, making him come all over his own chest.

“Gah!” I fell backwards as cum shot towards my fucking face, managing to avoid it before remembering that I was a ghost, and it would have sailed straight through me anyway.

Either way, that was a fuck no from me.

“Good boy,” Seth purred, scooping some of Caleb’s cum onto his fingers before sucking them clean. There was a mental image which was going to haunt me for the rest of time. “But don’t go thinking I’m done with you yet. You wanna learn from the big, bad, Wolf? Then I’m going to make sure you get a really thorough lesson.”

“Seth,” Caleb growled.

“You want to learn this lesson or not, pretty boy?” Seth taunted, grabbing Caleb’s hair.

“Not,” I barked. “He’s all good. Maybe find a cloth or something for him and fuck off out of my wife’s bed though, yeah?”

“You look like you want to hurt me,” Caleb said and one look at Seth did kinda confirm that, but I officially didn’t want to know any more about this. I’d seen enough to have discovered their sneaky secret and I planned to give them hell for lying to us about it if I ever made it back to life myself, but right here and now, I was good to leave. I just needed to figure out how the fuck I was supposed to do that.

“Are you gonna tell me why you’re so pissed at me or are you just looking to hate fuck it out of your system?” Caleb demanded.

“I could never hate you, Cal,” Seth muttered.

“I’m angry too,” Caleb replied. “Angry at the whole fucking world. For Lionel, our fate, for our terrible fucking luck. For Darius-”

“Don’t bring me into this shit,” I snapped because they had already done that, hadn’t they?

“-for everything. But I don’t feel like that when I’m with you. You make me forget, even if it’s only for a little while.”

“You make me forget too,” Seth said, shadows passing behind his eyes and I felt their grief, guilt tearing at me as the depth of the pain they felt over losing me rose between them. I was glad they’d found something good in each other, especially if it was helping them deal with that pain, but I did not need to see any more of the show. There were a lot of things I’d enjoyed discovering from the afterlife but snooping on my friends’ sex lives was not one of them.

“Good.” Caleb kissed him and I groaned because it wasn’t over. Of course it wasn’t fucking over.

I shoved against The Veil, snarling furiously as it refused to welcome me back into its embrace.

“Help!” I yelled, wondering if some spirit might take pity on me and pull me back. Every time I’d done this before it had happened so naturally that I couldn’t pinpoint what specifically had drawn me away to replicate it.

Seth and Caleb were moving on the bed, and I was looking pretty much anywhere but at them, blocking out their heated words, pretending I did not hear Caleb ask Seth to show him how he liked it because I didn’t want to know. I. Did. Not. Want. To. Know.

“Merissa?” I yelled, wondering if she might be able to help pull me back. She’d been dead far longer than me, so she had to know how to reach me.

“Yes?” Merissa asked as she appeared before me, and I groaned as Hail materialised at her back.

I tried to move between them and the two Heirs who were now half naked and- yeah, Caleb was basically choking on Seth’s dick, so that was fucking peachy.

“Did you just summon your mother-in-law to watch your friends fucking?” Hail asked in outrage, and I groaned, trying to block Merissa’s view of the bed while she made no attempt at all to look away, a laugh falling from her lips.

“No,” I snapped. “I was calling for help because they won’t stop doing…that.” I waved my hand in their general direction upping my voice to try and cover Seth’s as he cried out in ecstasy behind me.

“Shit, Caleb, I can’t keep holding back,” Seth panted.

“And I can’t leave,” I added loudly, pretending not to hear Caleb’s reply.

“Then stop holding back,” he commanded, and we all heard him. Me, my mother-in-law and my father-in-law. Brilliant.

“Why can’t you leave?” Hail demanded and I scowled at him.

“I don’t know, that’s why I called for help.”

There was a lot of groaning and moaning and out of the corner of my eye I could see a lot of thrusting going on and I really needed to get the fuck out of here.

Seth howled loud enough to rattle the damn walls as he came, Caleb groaning as he fucking swallowed and I was caught holding eye contact with Hail motherfucking Vega the entire time.

There was a beat of silence that followed where we all tried to think of the appropriate thing to say but luckily Seth filled that with yet another filthy declaration of just how long this experience was set to last.

“Stop,” he panted. “I’m the only one making you come tonight. So keep your fucking hands to yourself or on me.”

The bed slammed into the wall as Caleb lunged at him and for some unknown reason I looked around at the noise, gaining a view of him biting Seth, the two of them near naked, smeared with cum, still in my wife’s star damned bed, in full view of Roxy’s parents.

“By the stars, where is the lube when we fucking need it?” Seth hissed.

“Get me out of here,” I begged, looking back to Merissa who seemed for too amused by my predicament.

“You just have to want to leave,” she replied.

“That’s a lie,” I snarled just as Caleb spoke again.

“There’s some here,” he said, and as one, all of us looked to the box of unlicensed sex toys which sat on the floor between us and the bed.

“How would you know that?” Seth growled, his Wolf rising in his expression.

“Because I found this earlier.” Caleb leaned down and grabbed the box from the floor, ripping it open.

An enormous, golden Dragon dick vibrator fell out and smacked Seth on the chest, followed by the rest of the contents which tumbled onto the bed beside them.

“Is that your face on the side of that box?” Hail asked, stepping closer.

“No,” I snapped but it obviously was me and Merissa pressed her lips into a flat line as she fought a laugh. “It’s not licensed,” I protested.

“Oooh, blind bag!” Seth cooed, and Caleb knocked the Dragon dick vibrator from the bed, causing it to fly straight through Hail’s ass. My lips parted, but honestly, what the fuck was I supposed to say when a golden Dragon cock had accidentally penetrated him?

“How vanilla are you feeling, Altair?” Seth purred, licking a fucking butt plug and I was done. I was done.

“Get me out of here,” I snarled as Merissa gave up on holding back and started laughing loudly.

She offered me her hand and I took it, The Veil finally showing me mercy and hauling me away from the realm of the living. For once, I was glad to leave it behind.

I was gifted one last glimpse of two of my best friends in the world fucking each other like it wasn’t the biggest secret either of them had kept and I scowled at them. When I got back to life, I was going to make them pay for keeping this from me and for doing it on Roxy’s bed too. Oh yes, I was going to have a lot of fun with my best friends when I saw them again, and they would rue the day they used unlicensed sex toys with my face on them.